Ai Mere Watan Ke Logon completes 50 years

New Delhi, Jan 25: The year 1963. Date: January 27. Venue: A Republic Day gathering at Delhi's National Stadium. As India's nightingale Lata Mangeshkar began singing the song “Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon” to the tune set by C. Ramchandra and penned by poet Pradeep, the gathering listened silently, alongwith the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the dais. Tears welled in the eyes of Panditji, and others, as Lata's song mourned the martyrdom of brave Indian jawans fighting the Chinese troops in the 1962 Sino-Indian war. As a songtrack spool was offered to Panditji, the Prime Minister came up to Lata Mangeshkar and said: “Beti, tune mujhe rula diya” (Daughter, you made me weep). Says thespian Dilip Kumar, who was present there: “There was Dr Zakir Hussain, Dr Radhkrishnan and Panditji present on the dais. I was sitting below. I saw tears in Panditji's eyes.” Actor Manoj Kumar was also present.This is what Screen reported in its columns: “The lyrics of the song not only reflected Kavi Pradeep's sentiments but his nationalistic thinking of the country at large. With singer Lata Mangeshkar and composer C Ramchandra, he brought tears to every eye including Nehru's.”The song was originally written by poet Pradeep (original name: Ramchandra Dwivedi) in honour of Param Vir Chakra winner Major Shaitan Singh Bhati of 13 Kumaon Regiment, the hero of Rezang La battle. Shaitan Singh Bhati laid down his life defending the border in the Sino-Indian war of 1962. Pradeep, who was as despondent as every other Indian after the 1962 war, was walking on Mahim beach in Mumbai when the words suddenly came to him. He borrowed a pen from a pedestrian, ripped out the foil from his cigarette packet and penned the first stanza: “Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon/Aankhon Me Bhar Lo Paani/Jo Shaheed Huei Hai Unki/Zara Yaad Karo Kurbani”.Some weeks later producer Mehboob Khan approached him for an opening song for a fund-raiser he was organising at the Nation Stadium. Pradeep said he would do so but would not reveal any details. He then roped in Lata Mangeshkar and music director C. Ramchandra and the rest, as they say, is history.The vivid imagery of the jawan resting his head on his bayonet as he offers his supreme sacrifice, the final refrain of “Jai Hind! Jai Hind ki sena!”, were all so evocative that Nehru asked to meet songwriter Kavi Pradeep when he visited Mumbai later. Says Pradeep's daughter Mitul : “My father wrote the song in 1962 after the Indo-China war. The Indian film industry had decided to do a fundraiser for the army in Delhi, and filmmaker Mehboob Khan approached my father to write a song. “Lata Mangeshkar sang it at the National Stadium in New Delhi on January 27, 1963, in the presence of the president and prime minister.”Nehru asked to meet the writer but Kavi Pradeep had not been invited by the organizers.“Two months later on March 21, the prime minister visited Mumbai and repeated his request. My father met him at Raj Bhavan and Nehru requested him to sing at a function at Robert Money School that evening. Kavi Pradeep did so and presented the handwritten lyrics to him,” says Mitul.Says actor Manoj Kumar: “Mahakavi Pradeep has lamented the loss of our brave martyrs in this song. But he has also dealt a slap in the face of our citizens. “He exhorts them to fill their eyes with tears because patriotism as a virtue does not come naturally to us. “Did any family skip a meal in the honour of jawans during the Kargil conflict or when they were mutilated? Do mothers pray for their welfare? We take it for granted that they will protect us,” he says.Intersetingly, it was Asha Bhosle who was to sing the song, but when Pradeep came to know about this, he put his foot down, and insisted on Lata singing the song.Lata, who was not on good terms with the composer , C Ramchandra, agreed to give her voice only on one condition that it will be recorded as a solo, says a new book.“C Ramchandra had actually tuned ‘Ae mere watan ke logon' as a duet...Lata and C Ramchandra were not on talking terms by then. Kavi Pradeep played master reconciler.“This coincidentally was when Lata, out of the blue called around six one morning at Pradeep's Vile Parle home to express her keenness on singing ‘Ae mere watan ke logon', provided she could do it as a solo,” writes Raju Bharatan in his book “A Journey Down Melody Lane”.Bharatan says Asha had even rehearsed with the composer but was dropped when Lata insisted to record it solo.“Pradeep found C Ramchandra, too, to be jumping at this chance to have his very own Lata back to render such a hallmark number. Forgotten in a trice were C Ramchandra's long-spread rehearsals for the number with Asha Bhosle,” the book says. The song: ऐ मेरे वतन के लोगों, तुम खूब लगा लो नाराये शुभ दिन है हम सब का, लहरा लो तिरंगा प्यारापर मत भूलो सीमा पर, वीरों ने है प्राण गंवाएकुछ याद उन्हें भी कर लो, जो लौट के घर न आयेऐ मेरे वतन के लोगों, जरा आंख में भर लो पानीजो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी, जरा याद करो कुरबानी llजब घायल हुआ हिमालय, खतरे में पड़ी आज़ादीजब तक थी सांस लड़े वो, फिर अपनी लाश बिछा दीसंगीन पे धर कर माथा, सो गये अमर बलिदानीजो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी, जरा याद करो कुरबानी llजब देश में थी दीवाली, वो खेल रहे थे होलीजब हम बैठे थे घरों में, वो झेल रहे थे गोलीथे धन्य जवान वो आपने, थी धन्य वो उनकी जवानीजो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी, जरा याद करो कुरबानी llकोई सिख कोई जाट मराठा, कोई गुरखा कोई मदरासीसरहद पर मरनेवाला, हर वीर था भारतवासीजो खून गिरा पर्वत पर, वो खून था हिंदुस्तानीजो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी, जरा याद करो कुरबानी llथी खून से लथ-पथ काया, फिर भी बंदूक उठाकेदस-दस को एक ने मारा, फिर गिर गये होश गंवा केजब अन्त-समय आया तो, कह गये के अब मरते हैंखुश रहना देश के प्यारों, अब हम तो सफर करते हैंक्या लोग थे वो दीवाने, क्या लोग थे वो अभिमानीजो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी, जरा याद करो कुरबानी llतुम भूल न जाओ उनको, इस लिये कही ये कहानीजो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी, जरा याद करो कुरबानी llजय हिन्द, जय हिन्द की सेनाजय हिन्द, जय हिन्द, जय हिन्द !!