Salil ji --I call your attention this this para in the article I posted:
Milansar pointed out that ghazals that adhere to the format, such as "Dikhayi Diye... " in Bazaar, were not composed specifically for the film. Though we tend to assume all that Javed Akhtar writes for films are ghazals (because of his use of Urdu diction and imagery), only one of his film songs is a classic ghazal — "Tumko dekha to yeh khayal aya" from Saath Saath.
Not sure if someone else has already pointed this out.
I am surprized that the above comments could come from Milansar Ahmed, a man well versed in Urdu literature and a programme executive with the All India Radio. I am quite sure that the author of this article did not know what she was writing and has wrongly put this on his name. Tumko dekha to yeh khayal aya is not a ghazal at all --- just because Jagjit Singh sung it does not make it a ghazal.
tumako dekhaa to ye Kayaal aayaa
zindagii dhuup tum ghanaa saayaa
aaj phir dilane ek tamannaa kee
aaj phir dilako hamane samajhaayaa
This song does not follow any ghazal rule -- matla, radif, kaafiyaa.
Milansar then drew the attention of the audience to a crucial socio-political factor that has made ghazals particularly rare in films. I am again surprized here. With little effort, so many people could find so many ghazals in Hindi film that PERFECTLY fit in ghazal structure. More surprizing is the fact that the songs that we never thought as ghazals were actuallly turned out to be ghazals-- structure wise. And as it has been said many times that ghazal need not be only about love, beloved person, deception, sorrow etc. Ghazal can be on the happy side of the life too. I find it difficult to accept the fact that ghazals in its strict structure are said to be very rare in Hindi films. Don't agree here again. So many shayar from all different backgroud wrote ghazals for films. Yes, there are many so called ghazalnumas in films but there are many many that are real ghazals too. My opinion differ here again. Madan Mohan saab and Ravi ji composed some of the best ghazals (in the most demanding format) as you can see from many posts here. And I feel that they did perfect justice to the form.
Most Urdu poets who wrote lyrics for early Indian films came from the progressive movement (with exceptions like Shakil Badayuni) and were not particularly keen on the ghazal form which carried with it the feel of a decadent socio-cultural ambience.
Chiranjeev Singh, former IAS officer and a connoisseur of Urdu literature who was in the audience, added that Urdu songs in films could be better described as ghazalnuma, or ghazal-like compositions.
"The format of a ghazal is demanding like that of a sonnet," he said. Only highly academic composers such as Anil Biswas, who chose their lyrics first and then set them to music, did justice to the form.
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