An ode to Masakkalli

Today, on my way to the office I was listening to the song ‘Masakkali’ from the movie Dilli 6. I have heard this song earlier, but maybe I actually listened to it attentively today and enjoyed it completely. I think it captures the raw ‘dehati’ spirit of old Delhi in more ways than one. Firstly, ‘kabootar baazi’ is an art not practised anymore in the upcoming urban India. It’s a joy ful pastime from the era of nawabs, traces of which can still be found in ‘purani dilli’. In the circuitous gallis of Old Dehi, I will not be surprised to hear, if Mirza Ghalib had ever written a few heart warming couplets about the flight of pigeons. Till today, one can see clusters of pigeons on the sepia turned tombs of Jama masjid and Red Fort. They fly at a sudden disturbance; swoop and swerve in a sky for a quick flight only to come back just where they were.
Coming back to the song, I think that it beautifully captures this flighty nature of pigeons. ‘Zara pankh jhatak gayi dhool atak’ Notice the myriad adjectives used for sheer graceful movement of the bird. ‘lachak machak ke door bhatak’. It celebrates the sheer abandon and nonchalance in the behaviour. ‘Tadi se mud, hawa se jud...’ At a very metaphorical (it is actually quite evident) the song brings a parallel between the pigeon and a carefree girl.
While at one point the song takes the pigeon to an almost lofty level it brings back the ordinariness as the singer says ‘Dil tera saloni badal ki colony’. Man, I have heard such fantastic use of local hindi or Hindustani, to be more precise, after a very long time, and yet it is so brilliantly poetic. “thenga dikla de unko jo udna na jaane’ I think it can’t get cheekier and more rebellious than that.
Full credit goes to the singer who infuses life into the words. While listening to the song, I could picture a road side Romeo singing the song in Daryaganj (in undertones), in an ambiguous manner of teasing a girl. A girl, who can slap him right away if he is too direct with words. The singer, Mohit Chauhan captures the naughty spirit of the song, and sings as if he is casually talking in an alley.