Gore gore chand se mukh par

Gore gore chaand se mukh par kaali kaali aankhen hain
Gore gore chaand se mukh par kaali kaali aankhen hain
Dekh ke jinko neend ud jaaye woh matwaali aankhen hain
Gore gore...

Munh se palla kya sarkana
Munh se palla kya sarkana
Is baadal mein bijli hai
Door hi rahna door hi rahna
Door hi rahna inse qayaamat
Daanewaali aankhen hain
Gore gore chaand se mukh par kaali kaali aankhen hain
Gore gore...

Be-jinke andher hain sab kuch
Be-jinke andher hain sab kuch
Aisi baat hai inmein kya
Aankhen aankhen aankhen aankhen
Aankhen aankhen sab hain baraabar
Kaun niraali aankhen hain
Gore gore chaand se mukh par kaali kaali aankhen hain
Gore gore...

Be-dekhe aaram nahin hai
Be-dekhe aaram nahin hai
Dekhen toh dil ka chain gaya
Dekhnewaale dekhnewaale
Dekhnewaale yun kahte hain
Bholi bhaali aankhen hain
Dekh ke jinko neend ud jaaye woh matwaali aankhen hain
Gore gore chaand se mukh par kaali kaali aankhen hain
Gore gore...

Movie: Anita (1967)
Director: Raj Khosla
Singer: Mukesh
Lyricist: Aarzoo Lakhnavi
Music Composer: Laxmikant-Pyarelal

This is yet another week where there are no birth and death anniversaries of lyricists. So, I chose to feature Aarzoo Lakhnavi, one of the first lyricists who used simple Urdu words rather than lyrics influenced by ostentatious Arabic and Persian usages.

Lakhnavi was born Syed Anwar Hussain in 1873 into a family of poets. He learnt Arabic and Urdu and started writing poems at a young age. In 1942, he went to Mumbai, where he found immense success as a lyricist. He worked with great singers, such as Pankaj Mullick, K L Saigal, Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mahmood, and Hemant Kumar.

Lakhnavi wrote around 25,000 ghazals in seven collections, such as Fughan-e-Arzoo and Jaan-e-Arzoo. He was given the title Allamah, an Islamic honorific given to great scholars, based on these. After partition, he moved to Pakistan and joined Radio Pakistan. He died in 1951, at the age of 78.

This song is from the movie Anita. I don’t know how Lakhnavi’s song came to be used in a film made in 1967. It is also interesting that this is probably the only song played in full before the opening credits of the movie. Although I am not a great fan of either Manoj Kumar or Sadhana, the song is enjoyable. ~ S