Shailendra’s magic: the untold story behind ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’
On lyricist Shailendra’s birthday, a look back at how the song ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’ from Kala Bazar was born on Juhu beach, as recalled by R.D. Burman.
One of the golden stories of the film world was the tale of the famous song “Khoya Khoya Chand, Khula Aasman…” from the film Kala Bazar. The story of its creation was as interesting as the song was melodious. The 1960 film, starring Dev Anand, was directed by Vijay Anand (Goldie), with music by Dada S.D. Burman. The lyricist was Shailendra, whose name stirred a special feeling in the hearts of lovers of Hindi film music.
At that time Shailendra was an extremely busy lyricist. He had no fixed base — sometimes he was with Raj Kapoor, sometimes with Shankar-Jaikishan, and sometimes on the set of another film. So when Dada Burman composed the tune for this special song for Kala Bazar, he badly needed the opening lines, but reaching Shailendra proved very difficult.
Finally, Dada Burman gave his son Pancham (R.D. Burman) the responsibility: no matter what, get Shailendra to write the opening lines that day. On his father’s orders, Pancham set out to find Shailendra. After a whole day of searching, he reached the house of composer Jaikishan, where Shailendra was busy with another song. Seeing Pancham, Jaikishan said, he is writing my song right now. But when Pancham said it was Dada Burman’s order, Jaikishan asked him to wait.
At about 11 pm Shailendra was free. He met Pancham and asked, “Do you remember the tune?” Pancham said yes. Shailendra then said, “Let’s go to Juhu.” The idea of going to a deserted seashore so late at night seemed odd to Pancham, but Shailendra insisted.
Reaching Juhu beach, the two sat by the sea. Shailendra began talking about this and that, but the restless Pancham kept asking for the opening lines. Then Shailendra suddenly asked him for a matchbox. Pancham smoked, so he had one in his pocket. Shailendra said, “Play the tune on this matchbox.” Pancham did so. Shailendra then took the matchbox in his hand, felt the tune, and suddenly, looking at the sky, said, “Look how beautiful the moon is today. Khoya-khoya chand… khula aasman… how can one sleep on such a night?”
This was the moment the opening lines of this immortal song were born. Pancham was stunned. Within a few minutes Shailendra put the whole song on paper. Two days later, the song was recorded with Rafi Sahab’s voice and Dada Burman’s tune.
Pancham Da himself shared this anecdote in an interview. He said that for Shailendra a song was not just a string of words but an atmosphere, a feeling, which turned into poetry in an instant.
When listeners heard this song, they felt not only Rafi Sahab’s voice or Burman Da’s tune but also Shailendra’s sensitive eye that turned the moon shining over the sea into a song.
And there could be no better occasion to recall this story, because 30 August was Shailendra’s birthday. Born in Rawalpindi in 1923, the lyricist gave Hindi cinema timeless songs such as “Awara Hoon”, “Sajan Re Jhooth Mat Bolo” and “Tu Pyar Ka Sagar Hai”. Every word he wrote still touched listeners’ hearts.
Vindhya Satta Samachar paid heartfelt tribute to Shailendra on his birthday.
