Ritu aaye ritu jaaye sakhi ri
Posted on: September 22, 2009
When Bollywood movie music was in its early decades, it was carefully nursed and nurtured by some of the finest musical talents available. Most of the music dirrectors in the industry at that time had solid grooming in classical music. They were quality conscious while creating their music, and they were quite innovative and imaginative too.
One of the finest musical geniuses that Bollywood was blessed with was Anil Biswas. Many of the playback techniques that are now taken for granted these days were his innovations. And thre kind of music that he created are of such high quality that one is amazed even today.
Anil Biswas had given some soul stirring music in a movie called “Hamdard” (1953). There is a song in this movie that goes “ritu aaye ritu jaaye”. This is a classical music based song where seasons (spring, rain and autumn) are described in the song. It is a wonderful song where different raga are employed to describe the mood associated with the season. When basant (spring season) is described, the song is based on raag Gaud sarang. In the next stanza, where rainy season is described, the raag changes to gaud malhaar. In the next stanza, where patjhad (autumn season) is described, sombre raag Jogiya is employed.
Most people run away from a mere hint of classical music, but this song is created so beautifully that even lay persons can enjoy listening to this song time and time again. That way, this song is a great treasure, similar to the classical music based songs of “Baiju Baawra” , “Basant Bahaar” etc.
One cannot praise the lyrics of Prem Dhawan high enough, and the singing of Manna Dey and Lata enhances this song. It is a less known song, but a gem of the highest order.
The movie version of the song has flute played by Pannalal Ghosh (brother in law of Anil Biswas) whereas in the audio version of the song recorded for the record company, flute was replaced by Sarangi played by Pt Ramnarayan.
The song is picturised on Shekhar and Nimmi.
Song-Ritu aaye ritu jaaye sakhi ri (Hamdard) (1953) Singers-Lata, Manna Dey, Lyrics-Prem Dhawan, MD-Anil Biswas
Lyrics
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ritu aaye
ritu aaye ritu jaaye sakhi ri
man ke meet na aaye
ritu aaye ritu jaaye sakhi ri
man ke meet na aaye
ritu aaye
jeth maheenaa jiyaa ghabraaye
pal pal sooraj aag lagaaye
jeth maheenaa
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aaa
aaa
aaa
jeth maheenaa jiyaa ghabraaye
pal pal sooraj aag lagaaye
dooje birhaa agan lagaaye
karoon main kaun upaay
karoon main kaun upaay
ritu aaye ritu jaaye sakhi ri
man ke meet na aaye
ritu aaye
barkhaa ritu bairi hamaar
barkhaa ritu bairi hamaar
jaise saasu nanadiyaa
barkhaa ritu bairi hamaar
barkhaa ritu bairi hamaar
pi darsan ko jiyaraa tarse
ankhiyan se nit saawan barse
pi darsan ko jiyaraa tarse
rowat hai kajraa nainan kaa
rowat hai kajraa nainan kaa
bindiyaa kare pukaar
barkhaa ritu bairi hamaar
barkhaa ritu bairi hamaar
barkhaa ritu bairi hamaar
barkhaa ritu bairi hamaar
pi bin soonaa ri
patjhad jaisaa jeewan meraa
pi bin soonaa ri
patjhad jaisaa jeewan meraa
pi bin soonaa ri
man bin tan jyun jal bin nadiya
soone soone binaa saanwariya
man bin tan jyun
jyon main sooni binaa saanwariyaa
auron ki to rain andheri
par hai meraa din bhi andheraa
pi bin suunaa ri
13 Responses to "Ritu aaye ritu jaaye sakhi ri"
September 22, 2009 at 3:22 pm
It is Prem Dhawan, indeed. It was absentmindedness on my part.
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September 22, 2009 at 3:32 pm
No problem.
As a matter of fact we are enjoying your absentmindedness 😉
Keep up the good work (clap).
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September 23, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Ah this is beautiful. I cannot listen to raags for very long, but this is lovely 🙂
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October 26, 2009 at 3:51 pm
These two songs based on shartriya sangeet are the best amongst from Baiju Bawra and Shabab.
Anil Biswas was a master and hailed from a musical family. Sister Parul Ghosh was a plaback singer and brother in law was no other than the great flute player Pannalal Ghosh.
The song is picturiesed on Shekhar and Nimmi.
Great to see it after decades.
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May 5, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Dear Atul,
I am fan of yours. This is a great work.
This song is my fav, but oddly it is never played full.
Even the Cd has only two stanza.
If I remember correctly, There is one more stanza, in this song, which goes
aayee madhu ritu basant bahaar rii
there is lot of saragam, also in this song.
the ability of lata and mannaa de, was never utilized to this stanard ever again.
regards,
Dinesh
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February 29, 2012 at 3:08 pm
To add to this comment…
The 4th and final stanza is in Raag Bahaar, I thinlk though I am not expert.
The words go…
aayee madhu ritu basant bahaar ri
Phhol phool per bhranwar gunjat
sakhi aaye nahin bhranwar hamaar ri
I agree with all the foregoing comments. The coordination between Lataji and Manna-babu has never since been repeated in any other duet. They match each other sur for sur across extremely complex taana in all four verses but particularly in the last one.
Those who have missed this duet are unfortunate.
Kudos and blessings to you for your amzing and painstaking work. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
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March 6, 2012 at 2:07 am
Aah. I have been longing for this and other songs of Humdard forever. I have not seen this movie but when I ws young I was fan of Shekhar and Nimmi. is it availalble on DVD?
Thanks Mr. Atul for this and many other songs I heard this morning from my childhood and teen years on this site. Too bad they can not be downloaded.
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November 22, 2014 at 6:40 pm
This morning I cam across a blog written by Reshma Hingorani (dated 13 July 2011) that copies most of the above information.
http://indian-classical-music-hindustani.blogspot.com/2011/07/ritu-aaye-ritu-jaaye-hamdard.html
I do not know much about classical music, nor have I seen Hamdard (I simply like many old songs 1949-1970 and some from the seventies and few from other periods).
Apparently, Ritu aayi song has four parts. Part I is in Gaud Sarang, Part II in Gaud Malhar, Part III in Jogiya and Part IV in Bahaar. There is a song available on YouTube called Pee bin soona re. This covers Parts III and Part IV. It is worth listening to. Ms Higorani mentions that this was shown towards the end of the film.
Current YouTube link:
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November 22, 2014 at 6:48 pm
As can be seen, portions of this writeup (posted in 2009)have been copied verbatim and without credits in that writeup (in 2011). Very disappointing, but by now I have become used to such plagiarism.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
September 22, 2009 at 3:13 pm
“One cannot praise the lyrics of Shailendra high enough” ….. Is it “Shailendra” or “Prem Dhawan”?
You have written “Prem Dhawan” (correctly, I think) below video link.
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