Gandhi Jayanti: Remembering Bapuji through 5 evocative songs

To mark the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, in this post I pick five songs that evoke memories of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. The name of this series notwithstanding, this post is only marginally Bollywood.

Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram

‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’, popularly referred to as Ram Dhun, is an excerpt from Sri Nama Ramayanam by Lakshmanacharya. The most popular version of this bhajan was set to tune by the visionary Hindustani classical musician, Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar and was one of Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajans. The song’s popularity grew during the Dandi March as the marchers sang ‘Raghupati Raghav...’ to keep their spirits up. Pandit Paluskar passed away in 1931. We don’t have any recording of his rendition of the bhajan, but here is a rendition by his son, Pandit DV Paluskar.

Vaishnav Jan To Tene Kahiye

Mahatma Gandhi loved this bhajan so much that it was part of his daily prayer meetings. This bhajan and its message, written by 15^th century poet Narsinh Mehta, has stood the test of time and continues to be sung and heard centuries later. There are many excellent renditions of this song by the likes of MS Subbulakshmi, Lata Mangeshkar, Bhupen Hazarika and Kaushiki and Ajay Chakraborty. A version I’ve heard recently and come to love is this live performance with Ustad Rashid Khan’s vocals and Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan on sitar.

Gun Dham Hamare Gandhi Ji

It appears that SD Burman recorded two songs ‘Gun Dham Hamare Gandhi Ji’ and ‘Sab Desh Ki Janta Tumhe Ro Ro Ke Pukare’, when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. These songs remained obscure for a long time, till they were re-released by Hindusthan Records in 2007. The songs express gratitude for his contributions to India, sorrow at his passing away and remorse at having failed him.

Suno Suno Aye Duniyawalo Bapu Ki Yeh Amar Kahani

“Suno Suno…” was released in 1948 as an homage to Mahatma Gandhi a week after he was assassinated. Composed by composers Husnlal–Bhagatram, the song was one of the earliest successes of Mohammed Rafi and lyricist Rajendra Krishan. There is a reason this song is over 12 minutes long – it relates his life story right from his birth in Porbandar to his assassination at Birla Mandir.

Sabarmati Ke Sant Tune Kare Diya Kamal (Jagriti, 1954)

This is probably the most popular tribute to Mahatma Gandhi from Hindi films. Hemant Kumar cleverly merged a simple, bhajan-like tune with refrains of ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ and Asha Bhosle effectively rendered it with no frills. This was one of the many patriotic songs Kavi Pradeep wrote for Hindi films.