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

Sundar naari preetam pyaari

Posted on: September 29, 2011


This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

The film ‘Manzil’ is a 1936 production from New Theatres Calcutta, directed by P Barua. The star cast includes Jamuna, Molina Devi, Prithviraj Kapoor, KC Dey, PC Barua, Nemo, Harimati, Sitaara, Shor, Indu Mukherjee. The songs of this film are written by Aarzoo Lucknowi and Asgar Hussain ‘Shor’. The music composition is by RC Boral, assisted by Pankaj Mullick. The screenplay is based on the novel ‘Grih Daah’ by Saratchandra Chatterjee.

Mahim (PC Barua) and Suresh (Prithiviraj Kapoor) are childhood friends. Mahim is from a poor and a traditional family, but is well educated. Suresh belongs to a rich family, but is a conservative person. Both incidentally fall in the love with the same lady, Achala (Jamuna). Achala is an educated lady with liberal views, and has a background of Brahmo Samaj upbringing. She decides to marry Mahim, and moves to his village with him. But in her heart she cannot let go of her memories of Suresh. This internal turmoil brings an unhappiness to their married life, and Achala’s frustrations take the form of severe resentment towards Mahim’s foster sister Mrinal (Molina Devi). Mrinal is an orphan raised by Mahim’s family. The destiny has worse things in store – their home in the village burns down and Mahim falls seriously ill. His friend Suresh enters their life again, and nurses back Mahim to good health. The doctors recommend Mahim to visit a health resort for recuperation. The three of them travel by train to the health resort. On a stormy rain swept night, Suresh and Achala give in to temptations and elope. The outcome of these events is not good, and after some more twists and turns in life, Achala finally returns to Mahim’s doorstep once again. There is a dubious reconciliation with undertones of hostility, as Achala accepts the traditional life followed by Mahim and his family. In the final recount, the participants in this drama of life manage a compromise forced by circumstances. It is not clear what the destination of life is and whether any of them have achieved it.

This song, rendered by Pankaj Babu, is a rare number that has fortunately been uploaded on YouTube. The music is by RC Boral. I have not been able to locate specific information about the lyricist, and request other knowledgeable participants to please add more information.
PS: According to a site dedicated to Pankaj Mullick’s(www.pankajmullick.com ), Aarzoo lucknowi is the lyricist of this song.


Song-Sundar naari preetam pyaari (Manzil) (1936) Singer-Pankaj Mullick, Lyrics-Aarzoo Lucknowi, MD-R C Boral

Lyrics

sunder naari preetam pyaari
pyaari chhab dikhlaa
pyaari
pyaari chhab dikhlaa
sunder naari preetam pyaari
pyaari chhab dikhlaa
pyaari
pyaari chhab dikhlaa
nainaa raseeley
baanke kateeley
nainaa raseeley
baanke kateeley
thaadi nain ladaa
sundar
thaadi nain ladaa
sunder naari preetam pyaari
pyaari chhab dikhlaa
pyaari
pyaari chhab dikhlaa

ik to birah agan sataaye
dooje lagi jalaaye
ik to birah agan sataaye
dooje lagi jalaaye
moh bharaa mann phool kamal kaa
moh bharaa mann phool kamal kaa
dhoop lage kumhlaaye
aaaaa
dhoop lage kumhlaaye

10 Responses to "Sundar naari preetam pyaari"

OMG! I heard this song after decades. I used to hear this song in eafly 50’s. Thereafter I completely forgot about this song until today.

As usual in those days, the rendition of this short and sweet lyrics are preceded by somewhat longish orchestration.which ends with a lovely flute recital before the actual singing starts. In between I get a feel of Saigal style of rendition, specially alaps.

Sudhir, thanks for discussing this rare gem of Pankaj Mullick in the blog.

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Very welcome, Sadanand ji, 🙂

Yes, a very lovely and a very rare song.

Rgds
Sudhir

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It sounds like a complex and layered story. It’s rare to see a woman in Hindi films with such gray shades.

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Banno ji,

Yes, it displays a complex charcterization for a lady, especially considering the times this film was made. It appears that such characterization may come either from literary works (like this film) or from biographical films based on real life characters (e.g. Bhumika (1977), with Smita Patil in lead role). I am sure there are many more such films where the leading actor or actress is portrayed with many shades of grey, but very few of them really made a mark in the minds of the film goers, may be a cultural accetability thing.

The lead role in film Guide (1965), Raju guide, is portrayed as a complex character, which has shades of negativity also. Once again, based on a literary work.

I am sure we can locate many other such examples.

Rgds
Sudhir

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Atul ji,

Checking on the online web site dedicated to Pankaj Mullick (www.pankajmullick.com), they are listing the lyricist for this song as Aarzoo Lucknowi.

Rgds
Sudhir

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Thanks for this information.

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Though I cannot speak a syllable in HIndi and much less Bengali, I have always considered the song “Sundara Naari Preetam Pyari” the greatest Hindi film song. In the late 1930s and much before the advent of the radio, my uncle ,the Late A.Vasudeva Murthy used to sing this number in our village home in the Hassan District of Karnataka, where nobody speaks Hindi even now. That only shows the popularity of the song. It was the songs rendered by K.L.Saigal, Pankaj Mullick , Kanan Devi or even Ashok Kumar which taught Hindi to South Indiians. Alas our film music in all languages has deteriorated. Being a journalist (former Resident Editor of The Hindu in Karnataka ) I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing Raichand Boral, the pioneer film music director. Unfortuately I never met Pankaj Mullick who had visited Bangalore in 1943 and 1953. I was born in the late 1940s. Thank you fro the information about the film Manzil.

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This post is not related to the song but the author of the song i.e., Arzoo Lucknowi. Besides A.H.Shor and Munshi Arzoo we find another Arzoo by the name of Hazrat Arzoo. He wrote lyrics in Jawani-1942,Nayee Zindagi-1943 and Paraya Dhan-1943 and no more; at least I failed to find out any other lyric by Hazrat Arzoo on the internet. Nor I could find a word about his activity in the Bolleywood. I have gone through all the lyrics written by Hazrat. They have a striking resemblance with the lyrics of Arzoo Lucknowi. The diction and the style is the same. Even his pet words like biriyan, madmaati, mundari and gharaunda find place in lyrics written by Hazrat. I have a hunch that Hazrat is in fact Arzoo Lucknowi. In Nayee Zindagi the music is composed by Basant Kumar Naydu who set the tune of Arzoo Lucknowi’s lyrics in the movie Lalaji-1942. The timing of Hazrat is very important. Arzoo had come to Bombay and had hardly settled by then. He did write for Lalaji-1942 but he was not having much on his plate. He was not averse to the idea of using various names for his lyrics. Can it be that he wrote under the pseudonym of Hazrat Arzoo? I am not sure. I would like to know it from Arunji, Sadanandji or Sudhirji whom I find very knowledgeable in matters related to film world.

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Are Munshi Aarzoo and Aarzoo Lucknowi the same lyricist?

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