Veer ras ka Gulaal!

The music of Gulaal has been around for a while and I had heard snippets here and there. Then I heard all of the track called Aarambh and was instantly hooked. I listened to that number all day before moving on to other songs. Infused with fervor and vigor, this call to battle is one of the most energizing songs in a long long time. It harks back to our Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh “Dinkar”.

Here from Vijayi ke Sadrish Jiyo Re:

Choro mat apni aan sees kat jaaye
Mat Jhuko anaya par bhale vyom phat jaaye
Do baar nahin yamraaj kanth dharta hai
Marta hai jo ek hi baar marta hai!!!

See the parallel in Piyush Mishra’s Aarambh:

Jeet ki hawas nahin kisi pe koi vash nahin
Kya zindagi hai thokaron pe maar do
Maut ant hai nahin to maut se bhi kyun darein
Yeh jaa ke aasmaan mein dahaad do!

In Dinkar’s Rashmirathi (the epic poem on an epic battle) Karn says to Krishna:

Sangram sindhu lehrata hai, samne pralaya gehraata hai,
Reh reh kar bhuja phadakti hai, bijli si nasein kadakti hain!
Chahta turat main kood padoon, jeetoon ya samar mein doob maroon!

And in Aarambh, Piyush invokes this epic battle as he says:

Aarambh hai prachand bole mastakon ke jhund
Aaj jung ki ghadi ki tum guhaar do
Aan baan shaan ya ki jaan ka ho daan
Aaj ek dhanush ke baan pe utaar do
Man kare so pran de, jo man kare se pran le
Wohi to ek sarv shaktimaan hai
Vishwa ki pukaar hai, yeh Bhagwat ka saar hai
Ki yuddh hi to veer ka pramaan hai
Kauravon ki bheed ho ya Pandavon ka need ho
Jo lad saka hai wohi to mahaan hai!

Another interesting parallel can be drawn to the call for battle in Jhansi ki Rani by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan! Here it is a wronged woman who lets out a battle cry and fights the British for her rights, until she leaps off a cliff on her horse, rather than be captured:

Sinhasan hil uthe rajvanshon ne bhrikuti tani thi,
Boodhe bharat mein aayi phir se nayi javaani thi,
Gumi hui azaadi ki kimat sabne pahachaani thi,
Door phirangi ko karane ki sabane man mein thaani thi.
Chamak uthi san sattaavan mein, vah talvaar puraani thi,
Bundele harbolon ke munh hamane suni kahaani thi,
Khoob ladi mardaani vah to jhansi vaali raani thi.

There is something utterly inspiring and uplifting in these poems – somehow they help us coalesce our passion around a cause. Other poems (used as songs in films) include Ram Prasad Bismil’s:

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab humare dil mein hai
Dekhna hai zor kitan baajue qaatil mein hai!

Is it our history of two centuries of subjugation that has embedded some deep fear of enslavement in our psyche? I do not know if other cultures respond similarly to such stirring songs of battle. In much of the West Patriotism seems to be a misguided and useless passion. Walter Scott wrote:

Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself has said
This is my own my native land
Whose heart has ne’er within him burned
As home his fotsteps he has turned
From wandering on some foreign land?

Thank you Piyush Mishra for stirring our souls again, and for reminding us of the major battles past! I said nothing about the music – minimal instruments are used, drums, trumpets, a conch shell, and the resonant voice of Rahul Ram is sufficient to get the blood rising. Piyush Mishra seems set to take on the mantle of a pure poet lyricist – one we had not seen since Gulzaar.