“जिस तरफ होती है नज़र तेरी, उस तरफ काईनात होती है…”

There are a few pairs of wonderful old Hindi songs that strike me as so similar to each other in tune and theme that they remind me of the famous line by Oscar Wilde (or Charles Caleb Colton) “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” I won’t go into the rest of that quote, because I don’t believe there is any mediocrity in either song. Perhaps a bit of self-flattery, as both were penned by none other than Anand Bakshi. All I want to say is that these two gems could be twins…

Judge for yourself.

The lyrics on the left, “Zikr hota hai jab qyamat ka” is from the 1970 movie My Love starring Shashi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore, music by Daan Singh, and sung by Mukesh. The one on the right, “chaand aahen bharega” from the 1963 movie Phool Bane Angaare starring Raaj Kumar and Mala Sinha, music by Kalyanji Anandji, sung by, again, Mukesh. Beautiful, just beautiful.

Bye for now…