Deendayaal sakal dukhbhanjan
Posted on: December 27, 2012
This article is written by Vidur Sury, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a new contributor to this blog.
Thanks to Atul Sir, now I have the pleasure of writing a series on songs by immortal singer Amirbai Karnataki Ji.
My first song will be the earliest among those not yet on this blog, and this is from Narsi Bhagat (1940), one of her early famous films.
Amirbai Ji, who was born around 1906, in Bilgi, Karnataka belonged to a family of musicians. After rigorous training in Hindustani classical music and singing for HMV for a long time as a child artist, she debuted in films with Vishnu Bhakti (1934). Her younger sister Gauharbai was already a famous heroine, popular for stunt films. Amirbai did several films as a singer – actress: Vishnu Bhakti (1934), Bharat Ki Beti (1935), Yasmin (1935), Fida – E – Watan (1936), Pratima (1936), Prem Bandhan (1936), Dukhiyari (1937), Gentleman Daku (1937), Insaf (1937), Zamana (1938), Baghi (1939), Alibaba (1940), Ek Hi Bhool (1941), Hamara Desh (1940), Narsi Bhagat (1940), Sardar (1940), Vijay Kumar (1940) and Darshan (1940). Her first song to gain fame was ‘Bhagya Chakra Nit Chalta Hai’ from Pratima (1936), and two more songs, which have been discussed earlier, ‘Is Paap Ki Duniya Se’ from Insaf (1937) and ‘Ae Dard Zara Dam Le’ from Zamana (1938) were also very popular. But she could not gain individual fame yet.
Narsi Bhagat was one of the blockbuster films of the year 1940, and was based upon the life of the renowned Gujarati saint – poet, Narsi Mehta. The title role was played by Vishnupant Pagnis Ji, who was popular for playing singing lead roles of saints very well, for which his fans adored him. He had earlier done the famous Sant Tukaram (1936, Marathi) and Sant Tulsidas (1939) and this film proved to be a triad of famous devotional films based on the lives of great saints. The audiences were also attracted to religious and mythological films. His wife Manekbai was played by young Durga Khote Ji, who was till then playing heroine and also used to sing her songs, and later became a dear grandmother to most Hindi cinegoers 🙂 Pande, Ram Marathe, Vimla Vashishta, V. Adhikar, Baby Indira and Aundhkar were also among the cast of the film. All roles were played very convincingly and appealed to the audiences a lot.
Music was by Shankarrao Vyaas Ji, a great classical musician. He was the most prominent among music directors who composed for 1940s’ mythological films and played a definitive role in popularising classical music which was used in them. Majority of the songs were by Vishnupant, and gained widespread fame at that time. Amirbai played a supporting role of ‘Ratan Maami’, a relative of the leading role. She was already very popular as a singer, and sang 3 songs for this film, which were very very popular, and took her to new heights as a singer. She was already playing elderly roles since she was about 34 years already. ‘Jhulna Jhulave Nandlala’, a Hindi version of the famous Gujarati Bhajan by Narsi Mehta himself, ‘Vaishnav Jan To’ and a duet with Durga Khote, ‘Deendayal Sakal Dukhbhanjan’ were sung by her for this film.
After this, she became a playback singer around 1941 with the films Mala and Mere Saajan. In 1942, she gained popularity as a playback singer through the song ‘Huwa Kya Qusoor’ from Basant (1942). In 1943, she sang for film Qismat which was an all – India all – time blockbuster and that made her the most sought after playback singer of that decade. This maestro sang hundreds of memorable melodies, giving hit after hit, of various kinds which we can enjoy now. Estimates vary, but it is possible that she may have sung maximum number of songs in the 1940s, some 377 songs. Some sources claim that Zohrabai Ji, another stalwart sang more than a 1000 songs but only 370 are presently known and it does not seem possible that she may have sung 1000 songs. Amirbai is truly an immortal and incomparable singer with a very unique and versatile voice, and one of the best and most unforgettable singers in Hindi films.
Here is the duet sung by Amirbai and Durga Khote. In most sources the song is wrongly credited as a solo by Amirbai, but in fact, the first part is by Durga. She used to manage her songs quite well at that time. Durga starts the song with ‘Deendayal Sakal Dukhbhanjan…’ and Amirbai’s part, which is probably set in Raag Brindavanisarang, begins with ‘Prabhu Ke Darshan Paayi Maine’. A very melodious song sung with great devotion. Amirbai sang a number of Bhajans after this film.
Song – Deendayal Sakal Dukhbhanjan(Narsi Bhagat)(1940) Singers – Amirbai Karnataki, Durga Khote, Lyrics – Sampatlal Shrivastav Anuj, Baalam, MD – Shankarrao Vyaas
Amirbai Karnataki + Durga Khote
Chorus
Lyrics
deendayal sakal dukhbhanjan
deendayal sakal dukhbhanjan
anand kand murari
anand kand murari
kabse tujhe pukar rahe ham
kabse tujhe pukar rahe ham
rakh lo laaj hamaari
rakh lo laaj hamaari
(dialogue): dhanya ho mere nath
prabhu ke darshan paaye maine
prabhu ke darshan paaye
prabhu ke darshan paaye maine
prabhu ke darshan paaye maine
prabhu ke darshan paaye maine
prabhu ke darshan paaye
rom rom mora naachan laaga
rom rom mora naachan laaga
rogheen bhayi kaaya
rogheen bhayi kaaya
janam – janam ke shubh karmon ka
janam – janam ke shubh karmon ka
maine ye phal paaya
soye bhaag jagaaye maine
prabhu ke darshan paaye maine
prabhu ke darshan paaye
bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe radhe
radhe govind bhajo radhe
bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe radhe
radhe govind bhajo radhe
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
bhajo radhe govind bhajo radhe govind
7 Responses to "Deendayaal sakal dukhbhanjan"
December 27, 2012 at 10:56 am
Funny, how some of actors manage to look perennially old even in their salad days; Nana Palsikar, Krishnakant, Nazir Hussein, Durga Khote, Leela Chitnis. Our friends can add to the grist.
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December 27, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Vidur ji,
What a pleasant surprise !
Welcome to the group of Music yatri s here.
I enjoyed this one and I look forward to your coming articles as well.
-AD
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January 5, 2013 at 9:46 am
nice upload with an interesting writeup. I am pleasantly surprised that a much older film Narsi Bhagat (1940) has received good coverage, whereas Narsi Bhagat (1957 ) is yet to get that benefit. Another beautiful film öf 1957 :”Durga Mata” has also not received coverage.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
December 27, 2012 at 9:03 am
Hearty Welcome Vidur ji !!!
and thanks for this informative write up with a beautiful bhajan ! Great Start ! wishing you all the best in this ‘team-Atul’ ‘s musical journey and all the best for your mission to bring us the rarest gems from Hindi films’ music.thanks,
@ Atul ji – thanks !!!
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December 27, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Thank you for the hearty welcome Sir! I certainly will do all that I can for you 🙂 Watch out for many rare and wonderful songs in this series of Amirbai Ji songs! It is my great pleasure that I have joined the team.
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