Chhote se balma morey aangna mein gilli khelen
Posted on: June 19, 2014
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
THE JOY OF NFS (Song No. 2)
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When films started ‘ Talking’, the industry needed actresses who could look good and sing well. Already hard pressed to get girls from educated respectable families, the producers turned to professional singers (Tawayafs) or the Courtesans. These girls knew Hindi/Urdu well, were trained in singing and were experts in handling people. They could and actually did replace the Anglo Indian girls, who had been in the industry since the Silent era, but who found it difficult to talk or sing in Hindi/Urdu. There were some enterprising Anglo Indian girls like Sabita Devi or Irina Gasper, who learnt speaking Hindi and singing just to continue their careers successfully. Later on she made a Hit pair with Motilal in many films, starting with Shehar ka jaadu-1934.
During this period,there was an unwritten procedure as to how the names of the female artistes were to be written. All those girls, who came from the singing families added suffix ” Bai “, to their names, like Amir bai,Zohrabai, Jaddanbai, Waheedanbai, Rattanbai etc. Those who came from mixed descent, were educated in English and who continued with their real names added the Prefix ” Miss “, like Miss Rose, Miss Patience Cooper, Miss,Violet, Miss Pearl etc. Marathi actresses used their full names like Shanta Apte, Snehprabha Pradhan, Durga Khote, Leela Chitnis, Shobhana Samarth etc.
Thus,in most case, just the name was enough to know about the actress. Later on, as time passed,this system of nomenclature disappeared slowly and Heroines were called just by their First or the assumed names, like Nutan, Suraiyya, Noorjehan, Nargis, Mridula etc etc.
In the early era there was another problem- that of the common names. Amongst the courtesans, some names were very popular and so there were many Amirbais, Zohrabais, Khurshids, Zubeidas and Zebunnisas, to quote a few names. Most Khurshids changed their names (like actress Shyama, for example), or added senior or junior to their names (like Meena kumari’s sister,junior Khurshid), or some added town names, like Ambalewali, Karnataki or Kanpuri etc. The rest continued creating confusions and leaving hard work for the future Film History writers to differentiate them from each other, for instance Rattanbai-the singer actress and Ratanbai-Shobhana Samarth’s mother.
Before Zohrabai Ambalewali came on the scene there was another Zohrabai Agrewali ( 1868-1913). She was a famous Agra gharans Thumri, Gazal and Khayal singer. She had recorded her songs in the same period as Gauhar Jaan. She was trained by Ustads Sher Khan, Kallan Khan and Mehboob Khan. The Gramophone company had made a contract with her for Rs. 25000 for 25 songs every year in those days. Her 18 by now rare songs were released on Tape in 1994 and as CDs in 2003.
There was also a singer Zohar jaan in the 30s and the 40s, who sang songs in Himmat-41,Panchhi-44,Raagini-45, which are credited to Zohrabai Ambalewali in HFGK, by mistake (ref. RMIM). She was with Imperial Movietone from the beginning of Talkie films. She acted and sang songs from Anang sena-1931 onwards. However Zohrabai Ambalawali never sang in any films made in Lahore, therefore differentiation among the two Zohras can be made despite wrong crediting.
Then there was the grand old Zohra Begum aka Zohra Sehgal, who was with IPTA and started acting career from Dharati ke laal-1946. Singer Zohrabai Ambalewali NEVER acted in any film.
Zohrabai Ambalewali was born in Ambala, Punjab,in 1922. Her family did not like her singing, but her maternal grandfather supported her. At the age of 13, a recording company made her song records. Today’s NFS may be one of them. She started singing on A.I.R. stations like Peshawar, Lahore and Delhi. She came to Bombay in 1938. Anil Biswas gave her first break in ” Gramophone Singer “-1938. She went on singing in many films. In 1944, film RATTAN changed her luck and her name reached every corner of India. Then there was no looking back.
Naushad used her in many films till Mela-48. Bulo C Rani, in film ‘ Bela “-1947, gave all 10 songs to her alone.
After 1949, she started feeling the pinch of new singers and her songs reduced. From 1951 to 1957, she sang only 19 songs in 14 films. When she got only 1 line to sing in a song of ” Teen batti chaar rasta”-53, she lost all interest in singing. Her last song was in film ‘Nausherwan e Aadil’-1957.
After retirement, Zohrabai spent time with husband, Ustad Fakir Mohammed and dancer daughter Roshan Kumari. In her last days, she could not remember her songs and could sing just 2 lines in a function in 1984. She died on 21-2-1990.
The song which we will hear is possibly from 1934-35 period when she was about 13 year old.
Enjoy this NFS from Zohrabai Ambalewali and watch this space for more songs.
Song-Chhote se balma morey aangna mein gilli khelen (Zohrabai Ambalewaali NFS)(1935) Singer-Zohrabai Ambalewaali
Lyrics
chhote se balma morey aangna mein gilli khelen
chhote se balma morey aangna mein gilli khelen
aangna mein gilli khelen
aangna mein gilli khelen
aangna mein gilli khelen
aangna mein gilli khelen
chhote se balma morey aangna mein gilli khelen
karne rasoi gayi
yoon kahe godi mein le le
karne rasoi gayi
yoon kahe godi mein le le
yoon kahe godi mein le le
yoon
maaroongi phulkon ki maar
wo to ?? doley
maaroongi phulkon ki maar
wo to ?? doley
chhote se balma morey
paniya bharan gayi
yoon kahe
godi mein le le
paniya bharan gayi
yoon kahe
godi mein le le
maaroongi rasiyan ki chot
wo to ?? doley
maaroongi rasiyan ki chot
wo to ?? doley
chhote se
apni sajariya gayi
yoon kahe godi mein le le
apni sajariya gayi
yoon kahe godi mein le le
maaroongi jobna ki maar
wo to ?? doley
maaroongi jobna ki maar
wo to ?? doley
chhote se balma morey aangna mein gilli khelen
5 Responses to "Chhote se balma morey aangna mein gilli khelen"
June 19, 2014 at 5:03 pm
Arun Sir, Atul ji, Sudhir ji
Extremely rare songs and informative series.
I know its asking for too much without contributing anything, but can we have have separate folders for such series of Arun ji and Sudhir ji.
Expecting some pre-1940 NFS of Mukesh if any.
Thanks a lot.
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June 19, 2014 at 6:54 pm
This should be an interesting series. Lots of info on Zohrabai for which many thanks
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June 19, 2014 at 8:01 pm
Arunji,
Wonderful song and post. Thank for the information on vintage period.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
June 19, 2014 at 12:15 pm
Great post!
?? sounds like “hansaei” (हँसेइ) –
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June 19, 2014 at 9:34 pm
hanstai (हंस्तइ) ? doley …
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