Chandan sa Badan - Saraswatichandra

There have been innumerable songs that describe love and how it feels to be smitten. In that enormous category, a sub-classification (if I could call it so) is describing your lady love. I would say it's an enormous avenue for drawing comparisons. And it's an endless opportunity - enough is never said, when you talk of your lady!

One such song that stands our for me is Chandan sa Badan. The language and the metaphors are rich -  sample some words: chitvan, kaam-kamaan, bhaune- does anyone use such good language any more? We are increasingly defiling love by calling it Kambhaqt Ishq and the likes; that's the sorry state of lyric writing today - the more crass and vulgar it is, the better (Actually that's fodder for another rant -so let me save it). The music itself is tasteful (based on Kalyani raga, apparently) and needless to say, it's highly romantic. It illustrates dignity while courting, which is rare to see these days. Often love is portrayed as 'sexy', lustful, sensuous - but the elements of purity, innocence or divinity is amiss now. And this song reminds me of how poetic and creative one can get. How he describes her is lovely - 

Her body - as if sculpted from sandalwood

Her mind - restless and playful

Her eyebrows - finely pencilled and bent like a bow

Her eyes - like a pond, lined with kohl (the eyes are like the pond, and the banks are lined with Kajra)

Her forehead - emblazed with the vermillion of the sun (referring to the Bindi)

Her lips - like the glowing embers

With such poetry, which lady wouldn't be bowled over? And I'd even liken this song to a great persuasive sales pitch. The man heaps praises on her - evoking her Attention, Interest and Desire. And ends up by saying, 'I've already suffered a lot without you, now please don't make me suffer any more!' - that's the Action she's supposed to take. Ergo, the AIDA model. See?

The picturization is interesting (and a bit naughty too). You can call it a bit clichéd also (but who hates clichés in romance?): we've the heroine going chori-chupe for a midnight rendezvous with her object of affection. I am impressed with Nutan; I haven't seen much of her movies, but how she acts in this song is lovely. Though I'm not convinced about Manish. He has this poker face (I feel) and he doesn't seem like he's madly in love with her. By the end of the video I went, 'She took the trouble of meeting him?' So yeah - he don't impress me much!

Here's the video (take a look - I've hyped it up so much already!)

Credits -

Movie: Saraswatichandra (1968) [Apparently the last Bollywood movie made in B'n'W]

Song: Chandan Sa Badan

Lyrics: Indeevar

Music: Kalyanji -Anandji

Singer: Mukesh

Lyrics- 

Chandan sa badan, chanchal chitvan,

Dheere se tera yeh muskana,

Mujhe dosh na dena jagwaalon,

Ho jaun agar main deewana.

Yeh kaam kamaan bhaune teri,

Palkon ke kinaare kajraare;

Mathe par sindoori suraj,

Honthon pe dehakhte angaare.

Saaya bhi jo tera pad jaaye,

Aabad ho dil ka veerana.

Tan bhi sundar, mann bhi sundar

Tu sundarta ki moorat hai;

Kisi aur ko shaayad kam hogi,

Mujhe teri bahut zaroorat hai.

Pehle bhi bahut mein tarsa hoon,

Tu aur na mujhko tarsaana.