O Worship the King

This hymn written by Robert Grant in 1833 is based on Psalm 104 (see the related post “Praising God for His Creation”

O worship the King
All glorious above;
O gratefully sing
His power and his love:
Our Shield and Defender,
The Ancient of days,
Pavilioned in splendour,
And girded with praise.

O tell of his might,
O sing of his grace,
Whose robe is the light,
Whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath
The deep thunder-clouds form,
And dark is his path
On the wings of the storm.

This earth, with its store
Of wonders untold,
Almighty, thy power
Hath founded of old:
Hath stablished it fast
By a changeless decree,
And round it hath cast,
Like a mantle, the sea.

Thy bountiful care
What tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air,
It shines in the light;
It streams from the hills,
It descends to the plain,
And sweetly distils
In the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust,
And feeble as frail,
In thee do we trust,
Nor find thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender!
How firm to the end!
Our Maker, Defender,
Redeemer, and Friend.

O measureless Might,
Ineffable Love,
While angels delight
To hymn thee above,
Thy humbler creation,
Though feeble their lays,
With true adoration
Shall sing to thy praise.

When a Cloud holds the Sunshine in

Suddenly There’s A Valley

When you’ve climbed the highest mountain
When a cloud holds the sunshine in
Suddenly there’s a valley
Where the earth knows peace with man

When a storm hides the distant rainbow
And you think you can’t find a friend
Suddenly there’s a valley
Where friendships never end

Touched only by the seasons
Swept clean by the waving grain
Surveyed by a happy bluebird
And kissed by the falling rain

When you think there’s no bright tomorrow
And you feel you can’t try again
Suddenly there’s a valley
Where hope and love begin

Suddenly there’s a valley
Where hope and love begin

- Sung by Gogi Grant in 1956

Filmy Weather (6): Raincoat

Raincoat (2004), was written and directed by Rituparno Ghosh, who is said to have drawn his inspiration from a short story of the same name by O. Henry.

What we essentially see and hear in this film is a long conversation between Mannu (Ajay Devgun) and Neeru (Aishwarya Rai) on a rainy afternoon in Kolkata. There are intermittent showers in the background, along with intermittent flashbacks to small town Bhagalpur, where the two are shown as young lovers. They are seen to part ways as Neeru’s parents decide to marry her to a man from a rich family, while Mannu sets off to his make his mark in life. As it happens, Neeru gets trapped in an unhappy marriage, and Mannu does not progress much in his career.

Years later, when they meet in Kolkata, Mannu presents himself as a successful television producer, and Neeru pretends to be a happy wife of a wealthy businessman. They indulge and continue in this make-believe, playing a sort of battle of wits, until it is time to part again. However, when Neeru has to go out in the rain for a while wearing Mannu’s raincoat, her landlord drops in by chance and tells him about Neeru’s real hardships. And in the raincoat pocket she finds a letter which reveals Mannu’s financial distress. But in spite of their own problems, they try to help each other quietly in their own ways. Mannu pays off a part of the landlord’s dues and Neeru leaves some of her jewellery in the raincoat pocket.

Although the film has a couple of sequences that have been shot in the heavy showers typical of the Kolkata monsoon, ‘Raincoat’ is not about rain or the use of raincoats and umbrellas. It is about love, and about how it is only true love that offers the best protection against the storms of life.

Shubha Mudgal is the theme vocalist for the film and she has given many powerful renderings, such as akele hum nadiya kinare, mathura nagarpati and particularly piya tora kaisa abhimaan, which is also sung by Hariharan. The poetry is by Gulzar, recited by him in his own voice.

Filmy Weather (5): Monsoon Wedding

It is typical of the media to portray the monsoon either as a reason to celebrate or as a cause for worry. The reality, however, is that life in India is accustomed to taking the monsoon in its stride. This is the message of the film, Monsoon Wedding.

The story is about the arranged marriage of Aditi (Vasundhara Das) with a groom from the U. S. Her parents Lalit (Naseeruddin Shah) and Pimmi (Lillette Dubey) are busy organizing the celebrations in their Delhi house. Family members, close and distant, young and old, get assembled for the wedding, a typical north Indian affair. But this 2001 Mira Nair film is unlike any other wedding films like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun or Dilwale Dulhaniyan Le Jayenge. The story has many twists and surprises and a subplot that develops in parallel. There are many tender scenes and emotional dialogues, mostly Naseeruddin Shah’s, that keep the viewers involved till the end.

At the beginning of the film we hear a song in the background that says, ‘Aaj mausam bada beiman..’ setting the scene for the untrustworthy monsoon. This song is borrowed from an old film, Loafer, and sung by Mohd. Rafi, but there is another rain song ‘Tauba tauba’ which is original.

The monsoon is shown in its fury when Aditi goes on an early morning escapade with her TV producer boy-friend, as ‘Aap jaane ki zid na karo’ plays in the background. The adventure ends up in an encounter with the police with the boyfriend getting soaked in the downpour.

Finally things are all sorted out, but just as the baraat or the groom’s family arrives on the scene, the skies open out, the groom on horseback has to be given an umbrella and the band plays in the rain. But the monsoon fails to dampen the spirits and everyone joins in a seemingly never-ending rain dance.

Filmy Weather (4): Badal, Under a Cloud

The equivalent of ‘cloud’ in Hindi is ‘Badal’ and a Hindi movie of this name was released in the year 2000. Bobby Deol played the title role of Badal, and Rani Mukherji was Rani in the movie too. The story briefly is that Badal’s family gives shelter to a terrorist and gets wiped out in an encounter with the police. Badal becomes a terrorist himself and seeking revenge remains his only mission in life.

In meteorology, clouds are classified according to their appearance and height above the ground, and given different names like cumulus, stratus, cumulonimbus and so on. ‘Badal’ does not fit into any of these known categories. This ‘cloud’ seems to be more ‘under a cloud’!

There was one more film, ‘Barsaat’, in which too Bobby Deol was the hero and had the name Badal.

Filmy Weather (3): Barsaat, a Shower of Films

Indian films have an obsession for rain. There have been three Hindi movies with the name ‘Barsaat’, or the monsoon shower.

The first one was released in 1949, starring Raj Kapoor, Nargis and Nimmi, and produced by Raj Kapoor himself under his R K Films banner. It had many beautiful songs sung by Lata under Shankar Jaikishen’s music direction, that are indeed unforgettable.

The second ‘Barsaat’ was released in 1995. It had the debut performances of star children Bobby Deol and Twinkle Khanna. The storyline had no connection with the title of the film, except one scene in which the hero and heroine are lost in a dense forest and get drenched in a sudden shower. They find shelter in a blind man’s home in the forest but the thunder and lightning continue in the background for quite some time. While there was not much of rain in the movie, a cloud was constantly present symbolically, as the hero’s name was Badal.

The latest and third film of the same name was released in 2005, also with Bobby Deol as the hero, but with Priyanka Chopra and Bipasha Basu as the leading ladies.

Then we have had the 1960 film ‘Barsaat ki Raat’ starring Bharat Bhushan and Madhubala, with its very popular song ‘Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi woh barsaat ki raat’. And there was another 1981 variant, ‘Barsaat ki Ek Raat’ with Amitabh Bachchan and Raakhee Gulzar.

We have heard of artificial rain-making, in which clouds are induced to produce rain by seeding with fine particles. But in Hindi films rain can be produced even in the absence of clouds. A 1963 film with Biswajit and Asha Parekh in the lead roles was titled ‘Bin Badal Barsaat’.

There was one more film that was not named ‘Barsaat’, but for a change ‘Baarish’, just another name for rain. This 1957 film had Dev Anand as the hero and Nutan as his heroine.

The stories of most of these films had no literal connection with the meteorological term rainfall. But Barsaat need not always be a shower of rain. It could be a shower of love, a shower of emotions, a shower of success, or even a shower of films.

Filmy Weather (2): Aandhi, A Political Storm

“Aandhi” is a short-lived and localized weather phenomenon that develops over the plains of north and northwest India in the summer months of March, April and June. These are the driest months of the year, in between the winter rains which are over and the southwest monsoon which is yet to come. The soil particles become loose, and the first thunderstorms result in throwing up enormous amounts of dust and sand into the air. There is not much of rain, as the rain drops get evaporated on their way before they can reach the ground. The result is a dust storm known locally in Hindi as “Aandhi”.

Over Rajasthan, some convective dust storms can be so intense that dust walls may be created even 30 km away from the main thunderstorm. Even when the storm has ended, the dust may remain suspended in the atmosphere for quite some time, produce haze and reduce visibility.

An Hindi film entitled “Aandhi” was released in early 1975. Directed by Gulzar, the film had powerful and sensitive performances by Suchitra Sen and Sanjeev Kumar. The music was given by R. D. Burman and the lyrics were Gulzar’s own. Three of the songs became the most popular, “Is mod pe jaate hain”, “Tum aa gaye ho noor aa gaya hain”, “Tere bina zindagi se koi shikawa to nahin”.

The film “Aandhi” has almost nothing to do with the meteorological phenomenon after which it is named. The story is about Arti Devi (Suchitra Sen), who is torn between her ambitious father (Rehman) who wants her to have a political career, and husband J. K. (Sanjeev Kumar) who is content with his job as a hotel manager and wants her to live as a simple housewife. Arti Devi opts for politics, and they separate. After nine years, they happen to meet again when Arti Devi who is on an election campaign, comes to stay as a guest in J. K.’s hotel.

The story had an unwitting similarity with the lives of known personalities and the film was even put under a temporary ban after its release.

“Aandhi” is set against the background of election rallies, political maneuvering, mud slinging, physical assault and all that goes on behind the scenes in an election. But amidst all this, Arti Devi and J. K. also take the opportunity to rediscover themselves and realign their relationships.

“Aandhi” is basically about stormy politics, but it is perhaps more about weathering the storms of life.

Marathi Article on Summer Weather in India

An article in Marathi by Prof R R Kelkar on weather in India during the summer season was published in the Marathi newspaper “Sakal” from Pune on 29 April 2008. Click here to read.

Filmy Weather (1): Sawan ki Ghata, A Rainless Cloud

Many Hindi films have been named after some aspect of the weather, even when the story has had little to do with it. One such film is ‘Sawan ki Ghata’, meaning the monsoon cloud, produced and directed by Shakti Samanta and released in 1966.

The story of ‘Sawan ki Ghata’ is based upon the proverbial love triangle, formed by Gopal (Manoj Kumar), Seema (Sharmila Tagore) and Saloni (Mumtaz), with Kailash (Pran) as the villain. While the film itself had little that could be called truly extraordinary, its songs sung by Asha Bhosle, Rafi and Mahendra Kapoor under the music direction of O. P. Nayyar, have remained unforgettable. ‘Meri jaan tumpe sadke’ sung by Mahendra Kapoor for Manoj Kumar and then by Asha Bhosle for Sharmila Tagore, are two intensely romantic songs. ‘Zara haule haule chalo mere sajna’ and ‘Aaj koi pyar se dil ki baatein kaha gaya’ are two other playful, melodious numbers sung by Asha Bhosle.

‘Sawan ki Ghata’ is set in some place in a hilly terrain which has lush green tea plantations, and also a lake, a waterfall and a fast-flowing river. The film begins with the titles written across colourful paintings of clouds, the colours as varied as orange, pink, blue, green and dark grey. The film also ends on a similar vivid rendering of the clouds. In between, shots of thunder, lightning and rain are repeated at appropriate times. Quite a lot of the shooting has been done outdoors in natural surroundings and most of the time, white fair weather cumulus clouds are seen prominently against the backdrop of a bright blue sky. Occasionally one sees sights of thin cirrus clouds or rising cumulonimbus clouds.

The story as such has no connection to its title. However, one of the songs has this to say: ‘Zulfon ko hatale chehere se, thoda sa ujala hone de, sooraj ko zara sharaminda kar, …ho jo mausam ko pata, yeh teri zulf hai kya, choom le maang teri, jhuke sawan ki ghata…’.

The Mahendra Kapoor song ‘Meri jaan tum pe sadke ahsaan itnaa kar do’ also has this yearning for the monsoon rains: ‘Ye tumhaari zulf jisko mili shokhiyaan ghataa ki, inhin baadlon ke neeche meri har nazar hai pyaasi, meri pyaas tum bujhaa ke ehsaan itnaa kar do. meri zindagi mein apni, chaahat kaa rang bhar do.’ As soon as this song ends, there is a cloudburst accompanied by thunder and lightning that forces the hero and heroine to take shelter in a temple. The parallel number sung by Asha Bhosle again uses the language of the weather: ‘Main hava ka rukh badal doon agar pyaar mile tumhara’. Indeed the power of love can make the wind change its direction! The song ‘Zara haule haule chalo’ describes the ‘bheegi bheegi rut’ but it is nowhere to be seen.

Hear these songs: they have not yet lost their charm!

Marathi Article on Winter Weather

An article by R R Kelkar on the weather of the winter season over India has appeared in the Marathi newspaper Sakal on 21 November 2007. Click here to read. It covers topics like western disturbances, snow, winter rains, fog, cold waves, etc.