Chalte chalte – the pièce de résistance in Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah (1972) – continues to beautifully describe Sahib Jaan’s knotty state of mind. Here was a courtesan, the educated poet and performer of the early 20th century and yet considered a fallen woman, who while performing for a nawab was also hinging herself on the idea that a tawaif, too, probably had the distant possibility of finding love. A spectacular piece of music; set along a looped tabla groove in Keherva, and Lata Mangeshkar’s fine voice, it comes with a haunting prelude – the pitch-perfect sarangi melody, romantic and traumatic in the same space, which defines the courtesan’s disposition. The prelude and the piece that followed remain etched in one’s memory.
Played by sarangi maestro Pandit Ram Narayan, who gave 21 takes for composer Ghulam Mohammad for the same before Mangeshkar sang Kaifi Azmi’s gentle poetry, Narayan’s sarangi riffs accompanied Sahib Jaan throughout the film. He plays the way the song is sung, imitating the sound of the voice on the instrument – a short-necked fiddle, played with a bow, infamous for being one of the hardest to tame and play. In K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam, under the exacting baton of composer Naushad, Narayan shifted gears in Akbar’s court. While he accompanied Mangeshkar in the iconic Mohe panghat pe, as Akbar celebrated Janamashtmi, he brought in the confident flourishes packing a punch along the rebellious courtesan who professes her love for the prince in open court in Pyar kiya toh darna kya. And who can forget the accompanying sarangi riffs in SD Burman’s breathtaking Hum bekhudi mein (Kaala Pani).
