Hum hain mata-e-koocha-o-baazaar ki tarah

Hum hain mata-e-koocha-o-baazaar ki tarah
Hum hain mata-e-koocha-o-baazaar ki tarah
Uthhti hai har nigaah khareedaar ki tarah
Uthhti hai har nigaah khareedaar ki tarah
Hum hain mata-e-koocha-o-baazaar ki tarah

Woh toh kahin hain aur magar dil ke aas paas
Woh toh kahin hain aur magar dil ke aas paas
Dil ke aas paas
Firti hai koi shay nigaah-e-yaar ki tarah
Firti hai koi shay nigaah-e-yaar ki tarah
Hum hain mata-e-koocha-o-baazaar ki tarah

Majrooh likh rahe hain woh ahal-e-wafa ka naam
Majrooh likh rahe hain woh ahal-e-wafa ka naam
Ahal-e-wafa ka naam
Hum bhi khade huve hain gunahagaar ki tarah
Uthhti hai har nigaah khareedaar ki tarah
Hum hain mata-e-koocha-o-baazaar ki tarah

Movie: Dastak (1970)
Director: Rajinder Singh Bedi
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Lyricist: Majrooh Sultanpuri
Music Composer: Madan Mohan

Majrooh Sultanpuri was born Asrar ul Hasan in Nizamabad. Although everyone agrees that his date of birth is October 1, there is confusion about his year of birth. Regardless, Hasan began writing poetry at an early age under the pseudonym ‘Naseh’ (religious preacher). In his youth, he fell in love with a girl but she did not reciprocate his feelings. His friends suggested the pseudonym Majrooh (wounded), which he accepted and used until his death.

He trained to be a Unani physician but practiced for only a few years. He studied Arabic, Persian, and classical Hindustani music. In 1945, the famous Urdu poet Jigar Muradabadi noticed Majrooh’s talent and took him to Mumbai. When Muradabadi was asked to write songs for the film Shahjehan, he recommended Majrooh. The rest, as they say, is history.

Majrooh had a successful career spanning six decades. He won the Filmfare Best Lyricist Award in 1965 for Chahoonga Main Tujhe in the film Dosti. In 1993, he became the first lyricist to be awarded the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He breathed his last on May 24, 2000.

Majrooh was a staunch communist and a member of the All India Progressive Writers’ Association (AIPWA). This is reflected in this song Hum hain mata-e-koocha-o-baazar ki tarah he wrote for the movie Dastak. It conveys the anguish of women who dislike being constantly watched, as though they are goods at the market, by people with calculating gazes like buyers.

The song, a classically rich composition rendered with excellence and ease by the great Lata Mangeshkar, is probably the only one in which Majrooh has included his name.

A great poet like him will always be remembered for as he said:

Main akela hi chala tha janib-e-manzil magar

Log saath aate gaye aur karvan banta gaya

~ S