Set against the backdrop of the aftermath of the Operation Blue Star, “Maachis” is a political drama whose soul-stirring numbers on grief, separation and undying hope have been strumming chords within us even till this date.
With Gulzar’s riveting words and Vishal Bhardwaj’s composition, the film is indeed poetry on screen, where the songs play an essential and inevitable part.
While there are dark shades of agony and melancholy in songs like “Yaad Na Aaye” and “Tum Gaye”, we also see lighter shades of positivity and hope amid the darkness in evergreen numbers like “Chappa Chappa” and “Chhod Aaye Hum”. A seamless blend of Punjabi folk and Hindustani classical music, the songs act both as a driving force in the storyline and as the character’s cathartic experience.
“Chhod Aaye Hum” is believed to be the most popular song of the album. The rhythmic whistling sounds cut across the melancholy of the snow-clad mountains inhabited by the ‘anti-State’ forces. Flowing through the lush green meadows of the long lost village homes, the song shifts to the cold and dark realities with slowing tonal variations and intensifying background score as the song progresses. The shift becomes evident when we see references to the State’s brutality against the Sikhs through newspaper clips and pictures. The tonal variations pick its pace towards the end when the whistling sounds re-occupy the space, suggesting positivity, hope and happiness transcending the desolate realities.
With no background score during dialogue exchanges, songs become an essential part of the film in order to convey the emotions of the grieving characters.
The song “Yaad Na Aaye” serenades through the gloomy fields of the village where the intensity of grief and separation overpowers the picturesque rural fields. The flute is beautifully used to express the emotions of the sorrowful woman waiting for everything to get back to normalcy. The slow-paced flute variations restricted to the lower-middle octave conveys the melancholy of the empty streets, wells and houses. The gloomy flute tunes seamlessly blend with the spiritual sounds of ‘gurbaani’, keeping the hope alive.
This emptiness culminating into hope is also reflected in yet another song, “Tum Gaye Sab Gaya”, where Kripal walks through the empty houses of one of his training camps, remembering his lost glorious past. The honey-dewed voice of Hariharan adds to the emotional breakdown of the character who is seen agonised at his helplessness. The spirit of the situation (empty rooms) is translated onto the screen by recording it in echo mode with Hariharan’s voice reverberating across the dormant rooms.
Another song which continues to entertain the mass audience is the ‘charkha’ song which adds an enlivening touch to the grim realities of the post-84 period. Sung by Sukhwinder Singh, the song is composed in a Punjabi folk style, expressing the never dying spirit of the people living in training camps on the outskirts of Himachal Pradesh. The rhythm of the charkha is captured by the mild beats of rustic dhol, ghatam (earthen pot) and a sarod resembling instrument (used in Himachali folk songs). Unlike other songs on the album, this is a cheerful number that breaks the pensive emotional state of the characters battling the unpredictable challenges of life.
Out of all songs on grief, separation, hope and despair, the one song that beautifully captures the essence of the film is – “Paani Paani Re”. In continuity to a yet another song – “Bheje Kahaar”, which depicts desperation with the help of the sounds of a ticking clock, this song also expresses loneliness with various other emotions. With metaphors of water, hills and lost homes, the song is a repository of never dying hope, abandonment, grief and loss.
The emotions come live on screen with Lata Mangeshkar’s melodious voice and Vishal Bhardwaj’s beautiful composition. Vishal Bhardwaj uses natural sounds of flowing stream and wind chime to evoke the trapeze of emotions. The usage of flowing stream in almost every song is interesting in the context of the film which is titled “Maachis” (alluding to fire or flicker of fire).
The repeated references to water streams in the songs stand exactly opposite to the otherwise miserable and agonised life struggles, thereby acting as a channel of emotional purgation. This is also reflected in the intermittent plugging in of Mehdi Hassan’s timeless ghazals (“Ranjish Hi Sahi” and “Mohabbat Karne Vale Kum Naa Honge, Teri Mehfil Mei Hum Naa Honge|) within the story structure.
With metaphors of water streams and village life components, “Charkha”, “Galiyaan”, “Khaali Kuaan”, etc, the songs add to the emotional intensity of the film’s situation but also take the story forward while keeping the natural essence intact.
With rhythmic and quick-paced numbers in between, the songs also invoke less-intense and a hopeful emotional experience so that the story doesn’t get absolutely submerged into the dark and dreamy storyline with no channels of escape. The songs, therefore, manages to depict ‘Maachis’ as a metaphor for a scintilla of revolution against the State’s forces but also as a never dying flicker of hope.
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