I am admittedly a big fan of old hindi songs and I listen to them quite frequently. My choice of songs depends on my mood and tonight I was in the mood for some old hindi patriotic songs. But this post is not about my favourite songs.
It was whilst searching for some of my favourite hindi songs that I discovered something very interesting. You may have listened to the very popular songs from the Indian movie ?Jagruti?. I don?t know whether you know this, however, that a carbon copy of these songs existed in Pakistan around the same time. The tune, the pitch, the context? everything was exactly the same. Here are the two songs for your reference:
?Hum laye hai toofan se kashti nikal ke? (film Jagruti from India)
Now I am not sure who?plagiarised?whom, if anyone plagiarised at all, but that?s hardly the matter of discussion here. What I found curious were the lyrics of these two songs. Much of them are the same but then again, their appeal is worlds apart!
This is the Pakistani version from the film ?Bedari?:
If you pay careful attention to the last stanzas of the two songs, you will notice that the Indian version exhorts the pupils to ?aim for the sky?, implying that a lot is to be done in this newly formed nation and that sky is the limit whilst on the other hand, the Pakistani version appeals its pupils to ?go win Kashmir?! There are a few other hidden hints of difference in these two songs. For instance, whilst the Indian version of the song advises it?s audience to stay focused on the task (of nation building) ahead and not get embroiled in the politics of the world, the Pakistani song suggests that its audience adhere to the Qur?an!
The same goes for another song. The first video is an Indian version, ?aao baccho tumhe dikhaye? is from the same movie ?Jagruti? and the second is the Pakistani version:
Notice again the equally stark similarities and differences between these two songs. The Indian version is largely about sacrifice and optimism. Although the Pakistani song does pay tribute to the martyrs of Pakistan, it also smacks of aggression, jingoism and machismo – images of burning Indian flag, references to children brought up with guns, very blatant references to Islam and Qur?an?
May be I am over-analysing these songs. May be the composers didn?t mean to send such starkly different messages. May be it?s just an insignificant coincidence. Or may be it is not!
Could it be that these songs reflect the different mindsets of India and Pakistan? Could it be that these songs reflect the different attitudes, world views and aspirations of the people of India and Pakistan? Could these songs be symbolic of the different directions India and Pakistan took post independence and where they?ve ended up 68 years down the line?
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