Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs

This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Today’s song is from an almost unknown film called Zamin Asman-46. The film was made by Saubhagya Pictures, but was promoted and distributed by Prakash Pictures. While HFGK mentions name of Saubhagya, the film booklet and other records show the name of Prakash Pictures. In fact, with this film, not only the rights of this film but the company Saubhagya Pictures was taken over by the Bhatt brothers for Prakash Pictures.

The film was directed by Dwarka Khosla (born in 1904), who started from silent film era. His first Talkie film was Josh E Jawani-35 and he directed, in all, 33 films till his last film Reporter Raju-62. All songs of today’s film were composed by Faiyaz Hashmi (1920 to 29-11-2011), who wrote lyrics for only 9 Hindi films in India. The Music Director was Kamal Dasgupta and today’s song is sung by Jagmohan Sursagar and Kalyani Das.

Kalyani is a name fit for ” Same name Confusion” and I find that though kalyani Bai and kalyani Das were two different singers, most sites, Blogs and even the well known book ” Swaron ki yatra” by Anil Bhargav ji, makes a mix up and they are treated as one person. Let us know who they were….

First Kalyani Bai. Hailing from Turkman gate in Delhi, Kalyani Bai was a born singer. She took lessons from Ustad Vazir khan and in no time started singing on A.I.R and HMV. She recorded many Ghazals, Khayals and Thumris. She was taken to Calcutta at the age of 13 years to act and sing in film Pardesi, which was shelved halfway, but she was offered a job by New Theatres at Rs. 250 pm. Her nickname was Kallo. R C Boral changed her original name Zarina to Kalyani bai.

She acted and sang in 4 films of New Theatres- Anath Ashram, mukti, president and Vidyapati till 1937. She acted with all big stars of that time. Later Chandulal Shah called her to Bombay with Rs. 800 per month and she joined Ranjit in Bombay, doing her first film Toofani Toli-37. After doing 9 films, she left Ranjit and worked for several production houses. In 1945, she was in the famous All Women Qawali in film Zeenat-45- Aahen na bhari, shikve na kiye.

After her marriage in 1948, she left films to raise a family. However, she had to come back to films after after many years to do some films in 1975 onwards. After doing some films with small roles, she realised that her time was gone and she retired completely. Her last years were spent in financial difficulties. She died on 1-10-2009. kalyani Bai acted in 26 films and sang 68 songs in 41 films.

Kalyani Das was born and brought up in Calcutta. She was born in 1927 in Calcutta. Her first Hindi film song came up in film Jawab-1942, but her solo song came in Kurukshetra-45, under the baton of Pt. Ganpatrao. When Kamal Dasgupta went to Bombay, he called her and she sang in film Meghdoot-45, Bindiya-46, Zamin Asman-46, Prem ki Duniya-46, Manmani-47, Faisla-47,Giribala-47, Swayamsiddha-49 and Iran ki ek raat-49. She sang 37 songs in 11 Hindi films in addition to several songs in Bangla films.

Kalyani Bai left Calcutta in 1937 and kalyani Das started in 1942 in Calcutta. Kalyani Bai never sang for Kamal Dasgupta or any imported Bangla composer. kalyani Das sang only for Kamal Dasgupta (8 films) and in one film each for Ganpat rao, Subal Dasgupta and Prafulla Choudhari. Therefore there need not be any mix up, but you know how it is in Hindi film industry ! Shortcuts are popular.

After Partition in 1947, it did not take long for things to become normal in the Indian film industry. This was mainly because ready replacements were available in plenty to fill the vacancies caused by migration. As far as producers and financers were concerned, almost all producers and film makers had arrived here from Lahore. It was actually Lahore which felt the absence of Film makers. Pakistan film Industry was somehow managed well by the experienced people who went from India and Pakistan enjoyed a ” GOLDEN AGE OF FILMS AND MUSIC ” from 1959 to 1977. Once the old generation retired, there was no second line to take over from them.

The film industry in Pakistan was never an organised one. Moreover the often changing Goverments did not bother to do anything to protect, sustain, help or develop the infrastructure of Film industry. Unlike India, there was neither a Films Division, nor was there anything like Film and Television Institute to build local artistes in different fields.

By 2010,the film industry in Pakistan was in such a poor shape that, against India’s film production of 13526 films in 2011, Pakistan had produced only 7 films in that year !

While Indian films were distributed in over 90 countries, there was no International market for Pakistan films.

All studios in Pakistan were in ruins and Theatres had been demolished.

Can you believe, In the entire Islamabad city, there is ONLY ONE Theatre-a multiplex of 4 screens ! (info from-Filmistan-Javed Shaikh 0n pk.politics.in dated 10-4-2014 )

We heard songs composed by the Music Directors who migrated to Pakistan,i.e. West Pakistan. Today we will talk about a famous and talented composer of Hindi/Bangla films, who migrated to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). His name is KAMAL PRASANNA DASGUPTA or simply, Kamal Dasgupta.

It is a moot point whether Kamal should be called a Film composer or a NFS composer in Hindi and Bangla. He can be called the Originator or the Pioneer, who established NFS during the period from 1935 to 1955. It was he who introduced the word ” Hindustani Song” for NFS on the 78 RPM records.

Kamal Prasanna Dasgupta was born on 28-7-1912 in village Narail,Jessore district in East Bengal. He matriculated in 1928 and did his B.Com. Then he earned a doctorate in music from the Banares Hindu University. His father Tara Prasanna died early. Kamal, his brother Subal and sister Sudhira were brought up by the eldest brother Bimal Dasgupta.

In 1935, he joined HMV as a Music Director. Here he met Kazi Nazrul Islam, who was also employed there. Kamal was a singer himself and sang many songs in Hindi, Bangla and also Tamil. He tuned almost 400 songs written by Kazi as Nazrul Geeti. It was here that he met and developed the talents of singer Juthika Roy and Jagmohan. The modern songs tuned in Rabindra and a mixed ghazal style were labelled as ” HINDUSTANI SONG ” and soon became popular all over the country. Lyricist Faiyaz Hashmi was the third person in the team of Kazi, Kamal and Faiyaz. Besides Jagmohan, Kamal Dasgupta also helped Talat Mehmood and Hemant Kumar to get established with NFS in Hindi and Bangla. His close ties with Juthika Roy were ‘special’. She wanted to marry him, but when it was clear that it was not possible, she chose not to marry at all and remained a spinster throughout her life.

He gave music in 16 Hindi films like Jawab, Hospital, Rani, Meghdoot, Arabian Nights, Bindiya, Krishna Leela, Pehchan, Zameen Aasmaan, Faisla, Giribala, Manmaani, Chandrashekhar, Vijay yatra, Iran ki ek raat and Fulwari. However, except for Jawab and Hospital his songs did not become very popular. Kanan Devi became a National name after she sang “Ye duniya Toofan mail” in Jawab-42. He also gave music in 22 Bangla films.

Kamal was a chain smoker and suffered from Gall Bladder stones. Instead of an operation, he started taking Morphin injection for pain relief, but then he became its addict. His elder brother died and all the family responsibility fell on his shoulders. He had earned a lot, but all his money was lost when his bank went bankrupt. In Calcutta, New Theatres was almost on the verge of closing down. Arrival of new blood in music field took away focus from him and he felt neglected. He became a depressed person. Around 1958 he migrated to Dhaka-East Pakistan. He converted to Islam, changing his name to Kamal Islam. He also married singer Firoza Begum. The got 3 sons and a daughter.

After the emergence of Bangla Desh, the Government tried to help him, but it was too late by then as he had become disillusioned and depressed. In frustration he wrote to a friend “The pictures you see in front, everybody remembers them and praises them. But nobody wants to know the people who work behind the scenes, nor talk about them. That is the nature of the world.”

His was not in good terms with his wife. In his final days, he contracted T.B. Finally he said Good-Bye to this world on 20-7-1974. The originator and populariser of NFS in India and a maker of memorable songs like “Toofan mail” left us forever-unsung !

The Heroine of this film was Ranjana. Now, hardly anyone knows about this actress who had worked as a Heroine with Dilip Kumar also in his early career. One can not get any information about her in any book or on the internet. here is some information about her, for our readers.

Ranjana’s real name was Ratan Shantaram Deshpande. She was born in Nagpur on 20-10-1927. While studying in St. Ursula High School, she learnt dancing and music from well known ustads. After passing her 6th standard examination, she came to Bombay to her elder sister, Kusum Deshpande, who was already working as actress with Minerva Movietone films. Kusum married Vasant Thengadi, a handsome actor in Hindi films of those times.

Kusum arranged for specialised dancing for Ratan in the holidays. later Ratan was taken to Vijay Bhatt of Prakash pictures for an interview. She was immediately selected and got a role in the famous film Ramrajya-1943. In this film she was Chitralekha, Sita’s sakhi. Vijay Bhatt also changed her name to Ranjana. She was on pay roles of prakash for Rs. 2000 pm. She acted in films like police-44, Vikramaditya-45 and Hamara Sansar-45. Next films were Nai Maa-46 and Zamin Asman-46.

Ranjana was called by Bombay Talkies to do Heroine’s role opposite Dilip Kumar in film Milan-46. This film was based on Bangla film Nauka Doobi written by Tagore. She did the role of Hem Nalini in this film’s Hindi version. The same role was done by Meera Sircar in the Bangla film Nauka Doobi.

After this film, Ranjana was in great demand, but she wanted to quit films and get married to live a simple life. But as the Luck would have it, she had to continue working in films till 1975. She also worked in many Marathi films. In all, she worked in about 35 films or so. Ranjana worked with many big stars of her times like, prem Adeeb, Prithviraj Kapoor, Jairaj,Dilip kumar,Jeevan, Umakant etc etc

It is interesting to note that her sister and her brother in law acted with her in few films. Some such films were Zamin Asman-46 and Shadi se pehle-47. In film Saajan ka Ghar-48 all three had worked together. Her sister Kusum Deshpande was born on 20-11-1914 at Nagpur. She came to Bombay in 1930 and worked in Minerva as an apprentice, without pay. She worked in A.I.R. and some Marathi dramas and films. Her first Hindi film was Ghar ki Rani-40. She also did Charnon ki Daasi-41, Village Girl-45, Wamaq Azra-46 and Zamin Asmaan-46. In all she did 20 Hindi films. She married actor Vasant Thengadi on 30-11-1944.

We have many families like this in Hindi films. I remember Zubeida and her mother and sisters, Sitara Devi and her 2 sisters, Nargis,her mother and brothers, Kapoor family, Dilip kumar, his brother and sister in law, many film couples and families of several film people are examples. Ranjana was perhaps one early example. Thank God this Ranjana was not around when yet another Ranjana came to Hindi films. She was Ranjana Deshmukh, niece of actress Sandhya(nee Vijaya Deshmukh). This Ranjana, however , worked mainly in Marathi films and did only 4 Hindi films starting with the famous film Chaani-77. Unfortunately, she first met with an accident and then died of Heart attack at the age of just 40 years or so.

Film Zamin Asman-46 was about a love triangle. Baburao Patel severely criticised this film and especially Jeevan- the Hero, in his film magazine Film India issue. The film was released on 12-7-1946 at Lamington Theatre, Bombay. The story of the film as outlined in this magazine was-

Nanak Chand (Ramesh Sinha) owns a sugar mill in partnership with Ravi (Jeevan)- son of his dead partner Pooran Chand. Ravi’s marriage with Nirmala (Kusum) is already announced, before he went to England for higher studies, but Ravi is not interested. Ravi is distressed by the plight of his factory workers, he meets Kamala (Ranjana) in a jungle ashramcalled Bharati Ashram. They fall in love.
There is a conflict between Nanak Chand and his workers. Ravi takes workers’ side. Finally, Nanak chand has to bow down and Ravi and Kamala unite.

Here is a duet sung by Kalyani Das and Jagmohan Sursagar. Jagmohan has not sung many songs in Hindi films. He was more interested and famous for his wonderful NFSs. Therefore it is more enjoyable. I like the voice of kalyani Das.

( Thanks to http://www.beetehuedin.blogspot.com for information culled from Kalyani Bai’s interview by Shishir Krishna Sharma ji )

Song-Ek geet sunaana hai hamen ek geet sunaana hai (Zameen Aasmaan)(1946) Singers-Kalyani Das, Jagmohan Sursagar, Lyrics- Faiyaz Hashmi, MD- Kamal Dasgupta
Both

Lyrics

Ek geet sunaana hai hamen
ek geet sunaana hai
Ek geet sunaana hai hamen
ek geet sunaana hai
rone waalon ko hansaana hai
duniya ko swarg banaana hai
hamen naach naach ke gaana hai
hamen jhoom jhoom ke gaana hai
hamen naach naach ke
jhoom jhoom ke
gaana hai ae ae
ek geet sunaana hai hamen
ek geet sunaana hai

aansoo bhi hansi ban sakte rhain
haan aan aan aan
aan aan aan aan aan
kaanten bhi kali ban sakte hain
haan aan aan aan
aan aan aan aan aan
aansoo bhi hansi ban sakte hain
kaanten bhi kali ban sakte hain
ye kar ke hamen dikhaana hai
ye kar ke hamen dikhaana hai
hamen naach naach ke gaana hai
hamen jhoom jhoom ke gaana hai
hamen naach naach ke
jhoom jhoom ke
gaana hai ae ae
ek geet sunaana hai hamen
ek geet sunaana hai

thhirak thhirak kar jaise baati
aanchal bhar bhar jyot lutaati
ee ee
waise hi
auron ke liye jal jaana hai
jal jaana hai
hamen naach naach ke gaana hai
hamen jhoom jhoom ke gaana hai
hamen naach naach ke
jhoom jhoom ke
gaana hai ae ae
ek geet sunaana hai hamen
ek geet sunaana hai

ab na rahen ye sapne adhoore ae ae ae
ye geet hamen kar denge poore
ae ae ae
jo khoya hai so paana hai
paana hai ae ae
jo khoya hai so paana hai
hamen naach naach ke gaana hai
hamen jhoom jhoom ke gaana hai
hamen naach naach ke
jhoom jhoom ke
gaana hai ae ae
ek geet sunaana hai hamen
ek geet sunaana hai