Song of the Day

Let’s start the day with a Qawwali from , Ramkumar Bihar’s  1958 tantasy action drama film *”Al Hilal - Judgment of Allah”* directed by Akkoo.

The film starred Mahipal, Shakeela, Indira, Hiralal, Ruby Mayer, Nargis, Habib and Master Romi.

Today’s song is of one of my favourite genres of Hindi songs. It is a qawwali – and I absolutely LOVE qawwalis.

One of the sad things about Hindi films nowadays is that the qawwali seems to have almost completely disappeared from them. It is probably a reflection of the times and of the types of films being made nowadays. Most of the stories are very urban in nature and do not lend themselves very easily to qawwali scenes. Even if there is scope to fit in a qawwali, it is more likely that the qawwali will lose out to an item song. A case in mind is “munni badnaam hui” from Dabangg. Like I said, it is a reflection of the times and I cannot really complain. Films mirror society after all.

I always enjoy and am thankful for the qawwalis that we’ve had in the past – and we’ve had many lovely ones. It used to be a very common feature in films of the 1950s/60s and even in the 70s. It is only sometime in the 80s that they began disappearing from the scene. Many of the qawwalis of yesteryear are very popular to this day – those of Barsaat Ki Raat, Taj Mahal, Chaudhvin Ka Chand, Mughal-e-Azam are still favourites for many. Later on Amar Akbar Anthony, Hum Kisi se Kam Nahi and Zamane ko Dikhana Hai to name a few. 

Today’s song, a qawwali, is also well-known amongst qawwali lovers. “Humen to loot liya milka husnwaalon ne” from Al-Hilal is easily the stand-out reason the movie is remembered at all.

The movie itself is a B-movie starring Mahipal and Shakeela (though Shakeela was quite popular at that time). But this song is outstanding in that it just lifts your mood by the way in which it is composed and, if you watch the video, the way it is picturised. Clearly everybody is having a lot of fun.

What is particularly interesting about this lovely, iconic qawwali is that it is not composed by one of the usual maestros like Roshan or Naushad. It is composed by Bulo C Rani.

*”Hamen to Loot Liya Mil Ke Husn Walo Ne”* lyrics by Shevan Rizvi, composed by Bulo C Rani and sung by Ismail Azad.