Film : Bandini. 

Singer : Asha Bhonsle. 

Composer : S. D. Burman. 

Lyricist : Shailendra. 

Bandini has always stayed in my most favorites. Its beauty lies in its simplicity and truthfulness. It may sound odd but to me, this is one of the best love stories ever made. "Main bandini piya ki.. main sangini hun saajan ki." -  to me, this is what the film is all about.

From the very beginning Kalyani knows somehow that getting closer to Bikas is like embracing the sun. Burning is inevitable. Dilema starts right from "meethi meethi agan ye sahe na sakungi.. and goes perpetually till "mat Khel jal jaayegi kaheti hai aag mere man ki...".  Still she chooses nothing but fire. Opts for being sangini saajan ki. And that's what 'Bandini' is - a prisoner behind the bars of her oven love and emotions. 

Kalyani is always loyal to what she feels.(quoting Sahir - maine jazbaat nibhaaye hai usoolon ki jagah) and so was Bimal Roy. (Did he try to justify/glorify Heroine's crime?) Both director and character conceive their very much own definition of integrity and that makes 'Bandini' one of a kind. 

Bandini is a film which makes you to leave your judgemental self far behind and appeals your sentimental self to the core. 

Kalyani was one of the most complex characters ever conceived in Hindi cinema. And the way Nutan lived the character was the height of interpretation and its execution by her. She was at her emotive best when given least spoken lines. Her silence, facial expressions, eye expressions, lip- biting, her hands and fingers seemed splendidly expressive through Bimal Roy's camera. In that Harsh and haunting sequence when Kalyani mixes poison in Bikash's wife's tea, Nutan stunnes you to the core by her eyes emoting fear and anger intermeshed.

It's height of depiction by Bimal Roy and portrayal by Nutan that even while watching Kalyani poisoning her love's termagant wife, your heart cries for her. The shade of her character is neither black&white nor grey. That's red. If nature is green then humane is red. Red is life, red is love. She loves and she does just everything which she feels needful to be with her love till the end. It's not being right or wrong. It's being in love. 

And this truthfulness, this loyalty, makes you adore her and your philosophical self comes to your help with the lines that there is a reason for everything.

Yes, there is a reason for everything. For Kalyani. For her crime. And so is for all the other women living behind the bar. While watching them, you start taking them more as victims (of circumstances) than criminals. This song intensifies this feel. 

Now tell me, if you are told to choose just one instrument for the sound of a bird tweeting, what it could be? 

??

I guess the reply of most of us will be the same. Flute. Right? 

When a composer with brain and heart chooses any instruments for any song or even for background score, it always has something to state, add, enhance or reveal. In this Bandini song, a 'Bandini' addresses a lonely little bird and dada Burman uses flute to support the lyrics rendered by the nightingale of Hindi Film Music - Asha ji.

This is a song of despair. And so the flute comes  here to sharpen the feeling of forlornness which gets etched on your heart with every note of it. 

Shailendra's pen flows like... 

Do nainan ke milan ko do naina akulaaye..

jab naina ho saamane to naina jhuk jaaye..

And you wonder, the reason for her laden eyes could be her coyness or culpability? 

 Little sound of strings in prelude. That sounds like Duitara - a beautiful folk instrument having soothing fragrance of the soil of Bengal. Also some percussions, triangle and tabla.. just to give the rhythm(which is fantastic) to the onscreen activities. Everything else is done by Ashaji, Shailendra and this wholesome instrument - flute.

Right from Ashaji starts singing mukhda, flute follows her as if it is joining the singing lady on behalf of all other ladies sitting and working there, asking the same question - 

bole tu kaun si boli!!  

What you are saying to us? Now what??

When comes in interlude, flute creates the perfect rustic feel matching the visuals and rhythm. Chinese woodblocks joins tabla and triangle for just a little while but charms you without fail. 

In first line of stanza, a bandini says, 

"Main hun panchhi.. pinjre ki maina.. 

pankh mere bekaar.. "

Flute comes here in high notes just like an arising pang. 

"Beech humaare saat re saagar.. 

kaise chalun us paar.. kaise chalun us paar.. "

And that helplessness is echoed by low notes here!

Dada has kept the same notes for second interlude too. Nothing changes here, just as nothing changes in the lives of these bandinis behind the bars. Same walls, same people, same cloths, same activities, same restless days and nights and same hopeless future sights. Their lives have almost similar state and same monotonous rhythm as if they too are like these crushing and grinding grains in a big chakki or mortar and pestle. Same 'sur' like this single flute which is blowing but its sound reaches to none except a lonesome bird who has entered in between the walls of prison by chance! (like Dharmendra?). 

Ashaji here sobs Shailendra's words. 

"phaagun mahina phuli bagiya, 

aam jhare amraai..

main khidaki se chup chup dekhun, 

ritu basant ki aayi.. ritu basant ki aayi.."

That lady stares at the blooming tree from the window only. No door is open to her to embrace the spring outside. Her slightly wetted eyes create clear contrast with her strained smile. It feels so unsettling, but that's what the song aims to! Legends has done their part with a terrific finnese.

https://youtu.be/0TaUiievthc