There are 2 versions of this song – one happy and the other sad. I have chosen the happy version because it is a duet.
Movie: This song appears in the 1961 movie Chhaya (Shadow), produced by A V Meiyappan and directed by the legendary Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The star-cast included late Sunil Dutt, Asha Parekh, late Nirupa Roy, late Nazir Hussain, late Lalita Pawar and Mohan Choti. Nirupa Roy bagged the Best Supporting Actress Award from Filmfare that year.
Manorama (Nirupa Roy) goes to Lucknow with her infant daughter after her husband’s death, searching for her maternal uncle. Then she finds that her uncle had sold the house and expired. At that time, she does not know what to do and has nowhere to go.
Her daughter becomes sick because of the lack of nutritious food and shelter. Desperately, since she does not have any other alternative, she leaves her at the entrance of a wealthy man Seth Jagatnarayan’s (Nazir Hussain) house. Having no children Jagatnarayan adopts her and calls her Sarita. Manorama comes to the man’s home after a few days and gets the job of her own daughter’s nanny.
Jagatnarayan decides to go to Bombay (Mumbai now) to start a new life and hide the fact that Sarita was an adopted child. Manorama accompanies them to the new city. There they are joined by his cousin sister (Lalita Pawar) and naïve son Lali (Mohan Choti).
Sarita grows up and becomes a carefree, beautiful and intelligent young girl under the care of her father and nanny. A poor young man, Arun (Sunil Dutt) is appointed as a tutor for Sarita. Sarita is a fan of the poet Rahee, which is actually the pen name of Arun. Sarita wants to meet her idol and Arun says that he is his best friend but would never help her meet him. Sarita finds another way to meet him, i.e. through her friend, Jia. Jia’s uncle (Asit Sen) happens to be the publisher of a magazine in which Arun writes as Rahee. One day, Jia takes her friend to her uncle’s home to meet Rahee. But Arun does not show his face to her. Sarita is so enamored by his poems that she requests him to sing one of his poems. He says that he would sing only when she sings some parts of the poem.
That is when they sing this song.
Song: The lyrics of this song were penned by Rajinder Kishen and music was composed by Salil Chaudhury. This song was inspired by Mozart’s Symphony.
The man says, “Don’t increase your love for me because I am a homeless cloud. How can I support someone else because I am myself a poor homeless person?”
The girl replies, “I love you because you are a homeless cloud. I have been with you for several births. I am the water in you.”
The man continues, “I can’t rest at one place. I can’t stop at one place. Where all will you accompany me? I am a nomad traveling to distant places.”
The girl answers, “O Crazy man moving in the blue sky. You do not recognize my love. I will stay with you until you say that I lose.”
The man then asks, “Why do you become naïve in love and become the desire of a madman?”
The girl responds, “It is difficult to go back now because I have left the world behind.”
Some songs do not need to be explained. They are self-explanatory. I love the symbolism in this song.
Video: Cinematography is by Jaywant Pathare and T.B. Seetaram.
The video begins with white clouds in a dark gray sky and swaying tall trees. Suddenly the shot changes to Sunil Dutt. He is wearing an ordinary Indian dress. The shot again changes to the verandah of the house. Asha Parekh is also wearing ordinary Indian dress, but with expensive jewelry. Then he sees her shadow through the window and sings looking at that. He then comes to another window and looks at the sky. He compares himself with the clouds in the sky while singing.
He looks at Asha Parekh singing in the verandah from the window that opens into the verandah. But she doesn’t see him. There are some creepers with flowers hanging in the verandah. The video ends with Sunil Dutt and Asha Parekh standing on either side of a closed window.
Artists: The playback singers are Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar. Onscreen performances are by Sunil Dutt and Asha Parekh.
Cultural Influence: Situations can arise, where 2 people who are attracted to each other meet. They might have to face each other in the presence of other people. In such occasions, they will talk to each other indirectly. This is cinema, so taking the cinematic liberty; the same words have been woven into a song.
