The night is still. The sleep is hard to come by. A soft, soothing song wafts through the air. Under its magical spell the tired mind slowly drifts into the tranquil ocean of dreams away from the stresses and the strains of this life - at least till the next morning!

Lori or a lullaby is a unique form of songs specifically designed to entice sleep. In one of his gyrating- to- glory-songs  Govinda proudly proclaims, Jahan maa ki lori sune bin, raaton ko na aaye nindiya, It happens only in India.

Well, I am sure that's not the case! Over the centuries all over the world lullabies have been sung and have served the purpose of putting troublesome babies and their tired parents to sleep. But for the sheer variety and virtuosity Hindi film music has excelled in bringing forth the best of this genre, so here is a trip down the memory lane to visit those sweet, 'sleepy' spots!

Earlier Loris

The first and foremost lori that comes to mind from the early era of Hindi film music is the inimitable  Kundanlal Saigal gem  - So jaa raajkumari so jaa. Set to tune by another master - Punkaj Mullick for the film 'Zindagi' this Saigal song still sounds as charming as ever.

From the same era, the 'Kismat' song composed by Anil Biswas and sung by Ameerbai Karnataki- Dheere dheere baadal dheere dheere so endearingly urges the clouds to tread ever so softly in the sky lest the loved one wakes up by its noise! Though not a lori in a strict sense this song still kindles those same sleepy feelings! Aaja ri nindiya aa jaa from 'Zeenat' is a more traditional lori from that era made memorable by Noorjehan's earthy rustic musical charm.

The fifties and the sixties represented the booming period for loris in films. The lori became an essential requirement for almost every soundtrack. As the commonest setting for such a song was a mother putting her son or the daughter to sleep, female domination of this genre was but natural. So we had Suman Kalyanpur singing Chaand kanwal mere chaand kanwal in 'Saanz aur savera', Asha Bhosle crooning  Khoyaa khoyaa chanda  in 'Door gagan ki chhaon mein' and Geeta Dutt whispering Nanhi kali sone chali in 'Sujata' to aid the screen mothers 'hypnotize' their little ones!

Best Of The Best

If you tell me to select the best ever lori composed for a Hindi film then I would have to decide it by the toss of the coin between Lata Mangehkar's two evergreen lullabies - 'Dheere se aaja ri ankhiyan mein' ('Albela'; Music: C.Ramchandra) and 'Aaja ri aa nindiya tu aa' ('Do bigha zameen'; Music: Salil Choudhury). No other song of this genre comes closer to these two in terms of softness, sweetness and soulfulness. The loving, caressing touch of these loris is enough to calm down any troubled soul!

As the reigning melody-queen Lata obviously got the best tunes ever conceived for the silver- screened lullabies. All the major composers contributed their bit to make her repertoire of loris a cherished treasure. Salil's Chale thumak thumak taare (Ek gaon ki kahani), Vasant Desai's Chanda dhale pankha jhale (Pyar ki pyaas), S.D.Burman's So jaa re so jaa (Jeevan jyoti), Shankar-Jaikishen's Aaj kal mein dhal gaya ('Beti-bete'), Madanmohan's Aa ri nindiya ki pari ('Rishte-naate') and Roshan's Hanse tim tim tim chhote chhote taare ('Sanskaar') bore enough testimony to the implicit faith of these composers in their voice of choice. Just listen to Lata singing Tim tim karte taare for Meena Kumari in 'Chiraag kahan roshani kahan' under Ravi's baton and tell me just how could one fault their choice! The silken grace and amazing emotional richness with which her voice invested all these lullabies made all those songs stand- outs.

Not all these loris depicted just the motherly or sisterly love. There were many like Beimaan tore nainawa, nindiya na aaye ('Taraana'), So gaya saara zamana ('Miss Mary') and Main jaagoon saari rain ('Bahuraani') which were steeped in pure romance.

Macho Loris

Male singers had their limited share of successes in this genre. Hemant Kumar's Chandan ka palana from 'Shabaab' was a worthy addition. Rafi's soothing voice did wonders in Main gaoon tum so jao in 'Brahmchari'. Kishore Kumar's macho voice showed its mellow side in the 'Mastana' lori Sui jaa taara and Mukesh gave his melodious best in Ram kare aisa ho jaaye- a lori from 'Milan'.

One particular not-oft-heard Kishore- lori from Bandi is among my favourites. Chup Ho Jaa Ameeron Ki Ab Sone Ki Ghadi Hai is a gem thanks to its social satirical value, Hemant Kumar's soothing composition and Kishore's brilliant rendition.

 Towards Extinction:

Over the years, loris have gradually become redundant in Hindi film music. The 80s and 90s- exceptions like Lata's Halke halke aayee chalke ('Apne paraaye'), Chaandani re jhoom ('Naukar'), Aa jaa nindiya aa ja ('Lori') and Door Kahin Ek (Zubaida) were few and far between. Yesudas's dreamy rendition of Surmai ankhiyon mein in 'Sadma' and Hariharan's Phoolon jaisi pyaari pyaari from 'Hum se hai muqabala' did their bit in keeping this dying song-form alive.

In today's world where the late nights and the full blast, 'high in energy, low on emotion' music have taken the front seat, loris represent a forgotten world of sleeping beauties.  A world of melody and love! A world of peace and dreams! A world perhaps lost forever!