Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s Classic Prominently Featured In Lion

Garth Davis’ Lion featuring Dev Patel in the lead ,is getting the kind of raves showered on very few film on an Indian theme since Slumdog Millionaire.

The film makes telling use of Hindi film songs. Bappi Lahiri has already made sure that the whole world and its favourite deejay know that his song Come closer  from the Mithun Chakraborty starrerKasam Paide Karne Wali Ki features in Lion.

However it is another evergreen Bollywood track that serves as a turning point in the film, and it’s actually sung by the characters on screen, not played as part of the background score(as the otherBollywood songs in Lion).

It’s a harrowing sequence in an orphanage where the film’s little protagonist Saroo(Sunny Pawar)finds himself after being separated from his family. When a boy at the dingy orphanage is dragged out in the middle of the night for sexual abuse, a little girl begins to singChanda ko dhundne sabhi taarey nikal pade ,a song about little children searching for their parent in a big unfriendly city, from the film Jeene Ki Raah (featuring Jeetendra and Tanuja) released in 1969.

The little girl is joined by the other frightened children of the orphanage in the song.It is an incredibly poignant moment accentuated by the haunting melody.

The number composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal was sung by the sistersAsha Bhosle and Usha Mangeshkar, together with Hemlata.

The composing Pyarelal seems unaware of the song’s new avatar in an internationally celebrated film.