Garth Davis’ “Lion” featuring Dev Patel in the lead, is getting the kind of raves showered on very few films on an Indian theme since “Slumdog Millionaire”. The film makes telling use of Hindi film songs, including the classic “Chanda ko dhundne…” composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
Bappi Lahiri has already made sure that the whole world and its favourite deejay know that his song “Come closer” from the Mithun Chakraborty starrer “Kasam Paide Karne Wali Ki” features in “Lion”.
However it is another evergreen Bollywood track that serves as a turning point in the film, and it’s actually sung by the characters onscreen, not played as part of the background score (as the other Bollywood songs in ‘Lion’).
It’s a harrowing sequence in an orphanage where the film’s little protagonist Saroo(Sunny Pawar)finds himself after being separated from his family. When a boy at the dingy orphanage is dragged out in the middle of the night for sexual abuse, a little girl begins to sing “Chanda ko dhundne sabhi taarey nikal pade”, a song about little children searching for their parent in a big unfriendly city, from the film ‘Jeene Ki Raah’ (featuring Jeetendra and Tanuja) released in 1969.
The little girl is joined by the other frightened children of the orphanage in the song. It is an incredibly poignant moment accentuated by the haunting melody.
The number composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal was sung by the sisters Asha Bhosle and Usha Mangeshkar, together with Hemlata.
The composing Pyarelal seems unaware of the song’s new avatar in an internationally celebrated film.
By Subhash K Jha
