Safar'' (1971)

  “Zindagi ka safar”, is the title song of the movie “Safar'' (1971) and has Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore playing the lead pair.  Other star cast includes Ashok Kumar, Feroze Khan, IS Johar, Aruna Irani, Nadira  and others. The film was produced by Mushir Riaz and directed by Asit Sen.  Lyrics were penned by Indeevar and music was composed by Kalyanji-Anandji.

The film is based on a Bengali film ‘Chalachal’ which was also directed by Asit Sen in 1956 based on a Bengali novel written by Ashutosh Mukherjee. This is one the 15 solo super-hits of Rajesh Khanna during the period 1969-71 and I can say that his performance is the highlight of the movie apart from the super-hit songs.  It can be said that he virtually carried the film on his shoulders, giving the best performance (even better than that of ‘Anand’) as a person living with cancer and hanging onto life by a slender thread.

I posted a couple of songs from this movie earlier.  This was one of the most successful films of Kalyanji-Anandji and all its songs were immensely popular with the audience.  All the songs (5 in total) capture different moods and situations.  The duo did a splendid job in composing a variety of songs for this movie.  This song is in the voice of Kishore Kumar and is lip synced by Rajesh Khanna.  Sharmila Tagore is a silent spectator to the ‘dard-bhari’ song.  I am in awe of Kishore Kumar’s soulful rendition of this song.   It shows what a versatile singer he was - he had all the range from peppy/comic songs to the sorrowful songs like this one.  On the other hand, Indeevar’s lyrics are so meaningful and philosophical.   What a wonderful way to compare the shortened life to that of a flower-bud which falls off before blooming! Amazing!

Now enjoy this soulful and sad song of Kishore Kumar hitting the bed. 

Trivia:

Asit Sen got the Filmfare’s “Best Director” Award.

IS Johar and Aruna Irani played the roles of husband and wife in the movie.  In reality IS Johar is older than her by more than 30 years. 

Whenever Feroze Khan meets Sharmila Tagore in the movie, an instrumental music piece is played in the background.  The same music piece was used in two films by Kalyanji-Anandji in Qurbani and Dharmatma.  Both these films are Feroze Khan starrers.