Jab Dil Ko Sataave Gham
Film: Sargam
Composer: C. Ramchandra
Year: 1950
Raga: Devgandhar

The previous raaga Jogiya was from the early morning Bhairav cluster, both in terms of melodic space and the time of the day. As the sun rises higher in the sky, the Asavari thaat notes begin asserting themselves. The flagship raaga of this thaat is Jaunpuri. It is found to be most suitable for plaintive, pleading emotions although like most raagas it can be quite pliant in the hands of a master.

Jaunpuri is very popular on the concert stage as well as recording studios. Kishori Amonkar’s fabulous career started with a studio recording of Jaunpuri in 1967. She has sung Jaunpuri umpteen number of times since, and has even occasionally called it Jeevanpuri a la Kumar Gandharva (a renaming that is unwieldy as well as unnecessary). But the original rendition is iconic and retains its freshness 50+ years later. (Watch on Youtube).

Lata has sung a beautiful - and appropriately melancholy song based on this raaga, under the able guidance of Vasant Desai, ‘piyaa te kahaa.N gayo’ in the film Toofan Aur Diya. The traditional Meera bhajan has been adapted to this film situation quite nicely  (Watch on Youtube). 

The komal gandhar of Jaunpuri is quite prominent. When an arohi shuddha gandhar is injected into the essentially Jaunpuri fabric, a beautiful melody emerges. This is raaga Devgandhar. It is a mainstay of old Gwalior gharana masters. My first introduction of this raaga was through the 1986 documentary titled Khayal. The majestic voice of Pt. Krishnarao Shankar Pandit sings the lovely bandish “laadila banna ban aaya” - this has remained eponymous with Devgandhar in my mind. (Watch on Youtube.)

Many other classical renditions by stalwarts like Jitendra Ahisheki, C.R.Vyas, Sharad Sathe, etc. can be found easily. While it is an essentially Gwalior raaga, singers of other gharanas have also taken to it enthusiastically. It is to be noted that the Abdul Karim Khan record unfortunately labeled as Devgandhar by HMV is actually an unrelated Carnatic raaga named Devgandhari.

In the film Sargam (1950) C.Ramchandra’s composed the title song-'Jab Dil Ko Sataave Gham Tuu ChheD Sakhii Sargam' based on this raaga. It can be conjectured that the main melody line must have been Jaunpuri-inspired, but the word “sargam” traces the signature movement of Devgandhar with the aarohi shuddha gandhar. This is a stroke of genius, a musical metaphor of high sophistication. It is not clear whether the Devagandhar association is deliberate, but the result is astounding.

The most commonly heard version of this song features the voices of Lata and the Kirana gharana doyenne Saraswati Rane. The less common version has only Lata as the lead singer. The song packs quite a punch in terms of classical features. The compact initial alaap is just Jaunpuri. The key S R G m phrase is introduced for the first time with “chhe.D sakhii saragam”. There is an enticing aarohi taan right after the saat suron ke jhuule reference, and top-notch sargam taans (this song is replete with self-references!) later in the song. The longer on-screen version of the song ends with an excellent violin solo that is worth listening to as well. (Watch it Youtube).

Listen to the Lata-only version here.

Devgandhar had been previously used for non-classical music. As a matter of fact, Saigal’s first private song “jhulanaa jhulaao ri” is based on this raaga (Watch on Youtube). as is S.D.Burman’s private song “jodi dakhina pabana”  (Watch on Youtube). It is possible that these or one of the classical renditions might have inspired CR. It is to his credit that he grasped the melodic innovation so convincingly, and had it rendered so beautifully by Lata.