Thursday, April 12, 2007
Photoblog : Ha Khel Savlyancha
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Ha Khel Savlyancha
(The play of shadows)
Home
Boston, Massachusetts
Many years ago, when I started listening to Marathi music, I came into the possession of an album of bhavgeet by Asha Bhosle sung under the baton of her brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar, a composer who often gets shortchanged when judged on the basis of his Hindi output, but who has done far brilliant-er work in Marathi.
The CD, titled Aawaz Chandanyache, is a must-have for anyone who likes Marathi music, be it a beginner feet-wetter or a connoisseur. Hridayanath, who is renowned for his complex and intricate compositions, is also known for reserving his best for his sisters. This album is no different. Be it the incredible raaga Puriya Dhanashri composition jivalagaa raahile re duur ghar maazhe, the sensual tarun aahe raatra ajunhi, or the delicate and nuanced kevhaa tarii pahaate, every song makes one marvel at the singer’s ability to traverse the complex notes with such remarkable ease and grace. There should be a law against it somewhere, methinks.
But the song from the album that makes all this babble relevant is one called kaajal raatina odhuun nela. The melody of this will be familiar to Hindi film music listeners as the Lata Mangeshkar sung khudse baatein karte rehna from the Ketan Mehta directed and Hridayanath composed Maya Memsaab (1992). The low and high notes and chord changes in this gorgeous roller-coaster number make it a joy to hear and a challenge to sing. The song is from a Marathi movie called Ha Khel Savlyancha (1976). I have no idea what the movie is about, but its intriguing name stayed with me, skulking around in the backbenches of my mind. And today, on seeing this picture, it ran up to the front of the class to the teacher handing out chocolates, waved its hand excitedly and said — Me! Me! Pick me! And so here we are.
Coming to the picture — every once in a while, the evening sun reflects off a neighbor’s porch door, streams in through my kitchen window, gets partially blocked by a wall and finally casts a spot of light on my living room’s vertical blinds, illuminating the leaves of my ficus plant. It takes a very specific set of conditions for this to occur, and when it happens, it lasts for just a minute. But while it does, it is an incredibly beautiful and moody sight to watch. The orange glow of the sun contrasting with the blue-ish light slipping through the chinks in the blinds. The fascinating play of the many hues of light. And more so, the play of shadows. Ha khel savlyancha.
Frozen in time. Vewy pwetty it is.
Is that a marijuana plant though? :D (yesh.. I yam here all week!)
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 1:34 AM
Wow … thats a perfect name for the picture!
Though the movie is something related to ghosts and all. The song ‘Kajal Raati’ works as background score throught out the movie…. kinda spooky. Me too huge fan of marathi songs by Hridayanath Mangeshkar :-).
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 3:47 AM
[Respectful bow]
all the 4 songs and the album happen to be my favourite too.
immense nostagia!
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 5:54 AM
You did this on purpose to get the indignation and wrath of the entire Nimus family and their pitch cutlery onto my head, did you not, o’ mean-and-merciless-but-pretending-to-be-all-an-appreciator-of-beauty-n-all blogdiva?
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 9:59 AM
Aah, the “title” song “Ha Khel Savalyancha” is also a very good one. As you can probably guess by the songs, this is a kind-of ghost story.
That photo looks spooky…
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 10:46 AM
Great pic! And an interesting blog too that I discovered only recently via the funny post at http://www.stochastica.net.
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 10:54 AM
Oh Mother of God!!! Speechless! Breathtakingly perfect. Not you.. the symphony of the circumstances that led to this! M2M indeed!
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 12:11 PM
Neat.. Very Neat.. One more amazing pic from your collection..
And ya, the title is very apt..
Regards,
Ganga
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 1:03 PM
Someone once remarked to me how admirable a quality it is to find beauty in everyday life. Kudos on a wonderfully taken picture. It’s simply stunning. I love the name too. Very poetic, very appropriate.
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 1:31 PM
Hi!
Haven’t posted anything for the only reason that nothing suitable came to mind. I have been reading the past couple of blogs and loved them all (especially the mutter one). I have heard some of the songs you have mentioned, but love the title song and the movie. I don’t know if you are aware, but the movie starred Dr, Kashinath Ghanekar … my favorite actor. You can find a little more info about it on this site - http://www.ultraindia.com/movies/filmography/filmography.php?choice=1&na=HA%20KHEL%20SAVALYANCHA
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 1:40 PM
Sorry I forgot to mention. Cool Pic. It would be nice if you could add a little info below, about the pic. eg. the camera used, the ISO speed, the exposure time, the shutter speed etc.
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 1:45 PM
Very neat picture. Looks like modern art :). I love the colors and the blue streaks. Haven’t heard much marathi music before (even though I had lived in Mumbai for few years). But I am glad I heard the song “tarun aahe raatra ajunhi” recently and I will tell you this, its a very soulful and sensual song that you will just love to hear again and again. Very nice writeup!
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 4:10 PM
[Sriram] Thankoo. And grr. Wasn’t the clapping loud enough for you last time?
[Ashley] Glad you thought so! It was the first thing that came to mind on seeing the picture. Nice to meet a fellow fan :) Did not know that the movie was about ghosts, but with an intriguing name like that, it does fit nicely. Thanks for the info. And welcome to the blog! :)
[Ojas] Thankoo. And glad :)
[Revealed] Ah? And pray tell how does my talking about Marathi songs and/or moody pictures, get the members of the pitch-flatware-loving Nimus family to want your head on a platter?
[Fleiger] Ooh yes, I liked the title song muchly. Found its video on Youtube yesterday! What surprised me is that this soundtrack has two non-Marathi singers in it. Mahendra Kapoor for the title song and then there’s the Asha-Hemant Kumar duet - gomu sangteen majhya tu yesheel kaay, which is also present on the same bhavgeet CD. I know Hemant-da has sung the famous koligeet - mi dolakara dariya cha raajaa, but I wasn’t aware he had a lot of other output in Marathi. Does he?
[Shantanu] Thank you!
[Mythili] Thankoo! Glad you likey! And na na, didn’t think it was about me. My contribution ended with being in the right place at the right time!
[Gangadhar] Thank you! And glad you liked..
[Sudo Nimus] Thank you for the kind words. I think I was just fortunate enough to be near a camera when the moment happened. Happy that you liked.
[Amol] Thank you for the link. I liked the title song a lot too. I think it’s beautifully sung by Mahendra Kapoor, although I cannot vouch for the authenticity of his pronunciations, since I don’t speak the language much. In fact, I think I like this voice of Mahendra Kapoor better than his more popular mere desh ki dharti-type numbers in Hindi. Did not know about Dr Kashinath Ghanekar. The only info I had about the movie is that it was directed by Vasant Joglekar, who has the distinction of directing the first movie in which Lata Mangeshkar sang a film song. Of course this was way back in 1942, much before any shadows were playing anywhere, so this is only relevant for trivia sake.
As for the exif data - the details on all the pictures I post are available by simply clicking on the image itself, and also on Flickr. For your convenience, here is the direct link. Go to the section below the image and click on ‘Show Exif Data’ to see more details.
[gvenum] If you liked tarun aahe raatra ajunhi so much, I highly recommend that you give the other songs on this album a listen. I am sure you won’t be disappointed. And thank you. Glad you liked!
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 11:52 PM
megha, itkya utkrushta chhayaachitraa-karita tujhe abhinandan kelya shiwaay rahile gele naahi. tu ullekhit keleli hi gaani maraThi bhaashechya anmol geet-ratnaanpaiki aahet. maajhya kaahi premaachyaa aThavani ya gaaNyanmadhe guntalelya aahet. tarii barech varshaat hi gaaNi mii aiklii nhavati. smaraN karaviNyaakaritas tulaa anek dhanyavaad.
Thursday, April 12, 2007 @ 11:54 PM
Before I reply to [vedepaNaa]’s comment, I’m attempting to translate it for my readers’ and my sake. Since some of you are native Marathi speakers (and I am not) pliss to correct any translation errors that I might have made? Thankoo.
Translation:
Megha, I cannot stop myself from congratulating you for such an excellent photograph. The songs you have highlighted are some of the most priceless gems of the Marathi language. Some of my fondest memories are intertwined in these songs. Yet I haven’t heard these songs in many years now. Many thanks to you for reminding me of them.
Friday, April 13, 2007 @ 12:32 PM
wow! awesome light …
beautiful!
Friday, April 13, 2007 @ 1:57 PM
Words eaten - gorgeous pic
Friday, April 13, 2007 @ 3:42 PM
Awesome translation
Saturday, April 14, 2007 @ 9:35 AM
Oh well, my knowledge of singers in Marathi movies, stops with the “big” marathi names. So sorry :(
The video and the movie are really spooky. And if you like Marathi, try “Pachhadalela” on you-tube. Great comedy, and spooky movie…
Sunday, April 15, 2007 @ 8:46 PM
[vedepaNaa] Thank you. Am glad it brought back fond memories for you. And gave me a chance to exercise my Marathi skills too :)
[ricercar] Thank you!
[Drifting] :) Hungry? Glad you liked.
[Amol] Aha. Goodie!
[Fleiger] Ah? The entire movie’s available on YouTube, is it? Ooh, let me go hunt!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007 @ 3:44 PM
Ati Sundar!
GBU
Arti
Friday, April 20, 2007 @ 5:20 AM
I have been trying to open this picture and the other one (sepia tinted..) but for some reason, I am unable to do so. Is there a way to view them without having to see multiple line of incoherent codes?
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 @ 6:16 AM
Goood Lord,
That is an actual picture? I had to stare at it for half a minute before i realized it was not some animation-thingy!
:)
Awesome wonly
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 @ 12:03 PM
I was googling for Sobhan Babu and stumbled across your lovely site. Loved the post on Izzazat and
“jiivalagha raahile” mentioned here is one of my all time favorites. I strongly recommed Shridhar Phadke’s collaboration with Asha; Rutu Hirawa. To completely assess Asha’s capabilities
and to measure her up against Lata, one needs to explore her body of work in Marathi.
Keep up the good work.
Sunday, October 14, 2007 @ 10:06 PM
No Wonder the title Ha Khel Savlyancha is intriguing because the movie is also too good. Mistakes done in the past come to haunt you…….. that is the crux of the movie. The song that you are talking about (Raatricha kaali) is a haunting song sung by a lady who goes mad when her husband dies after falling down from a coconut tree ON A STORMY & RAINY EVENING. (He was despatched to do this task by the little girl who on a stormy day throws tantrums that she wants Coconut water and her unnecessary demand becomes the cause of her servant’s death).
His ghost comes to wreck revenge when she grows up (to become the heroine)……………….Superb movie. I am not the one who gives spoilers to kill the spirit of the film. Go watch it the title is available on eagle video.
Saturday, March 29, 2008 @ 3:21 AM