Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/hindi_bollywood/s/movie_name.8651/

Agle janam mohe bitiya ..... Anu Malik and Javed Akhtar have scored a home-run with this emotional treasure of a number for the new Umrao Jaan (released late 2006). I don’t know if the song is circumstantial , as in if it plays in the movie during a particular event or incident, but it has a very universal message that has moved me tremendously. The lyrics are soulful and hint 'resignation' all over it. The melancholy of Richa Sharma’s voice point to an eventuality that the situation isn’t going to get any better.

It is essentially a humble grievance , in a very conversational manner, from a mother to the creator that something is not quite right in the world of the girl child. She is not furious at her condition but is just expressing her inability and helplessness to change the status quo. Her hands are tied but she has not given up altogether. A very subtle layer of ‘respect for the almighty’ comes through intertwined with a woman’s ability to ‘communicate her frustrations’. And that delicate fusion adds beauty to this musical creation. While she is at it, the singer uses the opportunity to express her dissatisfaction over the fact that her lover/ husband/ partner has abandoned her and she hints that she could almost have another session about that aspect of her life. But for now she is focused on the plight of the daughter.

Knowing a little bit about the movie (courtesans of the Nawab era in Lucknow), one can visualize the setting as being the very ugly and shameful side (aka the flesh trade) of all that ‘pehle aap’ and courteous culture that happened in the name of art and royal living.

It is a relatively short song and as it gets more intense, one then wishes to want to hear more of it, partly out of a feeling to want to give the singer a stage to express more. It quietly shook me out of my sense of complacency about the 'girl child' and other women’s issues. Of course the song was penned, maybe, in early 20th century Lucknow, but so much of it remains true even today in large parts of the Indian society and also the world over.

After this expression of her distraught state, I would not be surprised if the woman went right back to the chores of her mundane life and nobody in the house would even have noticed her state. She will still love her family the way she always does. Any mother cares for her children more than anything else in this whole world. She will not discriminate between genders and will cherish her kids with utmost concern.

Wow, there is a lot I can try to deconstruct from the lyrics and the mood, but I shall recommend you to hear it for yourself and think about it. Al in all, a rare gem of a musical product when you least expect it!