Zara nainon se nainaa milaay jaao re
Posted on: April 22, 2012
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
In the 30s and 40s, female actor-singers like Noor Jehan, Khursheed, Rajkumari, Amirbai Karnataki and Zoharabai Ambalewali dominated the Hindi film industry. These artists were based in Lahore and Bombay (Mumbai). Kanandevi who was based in Calcutta(Kolkatta) held somewhat higher status of a superstar actor-singer for nearly two decades both in Bengali and Hindi film industries. Today, April 22nd is the birth anniversary of Kanandevi who was born in Howrah to a poor family. Her adoptive father died early which forced her to take the responsibility of looking after her family at a young age of 10 years. A well wisher introduced her to Jyoti Studios where she was given a small role in a Bengali silent film Joydeb(1926). Thereafter she worked in some more silent films. It took about 10 years for her to be noticed as an accomplished actor in the film Khooni Kaun (1936).
Kanan devi came into prominence as an actor-singer during her stint with New Theatres in 1937-41. During her association with them, she worked in many successful films like Mukti (1937), Vidyapati (1937), Street Singer (1938) and Lagan (1941). During this period, she came into contact with music director R C Boral who trained her in music and Hindi diction. In 1941, she left New Theatres to pursue an independent filmy career. During this phase, she worked in Jawaab (1942) which became a super hit film. Some of her other successful films during this period were Hospital (1943), Banphool (1945)and Rajlakshmi (1946). In 1948, she moved to Bombay (Mumbai) but her stay there was shortlived as after marrying director Haridas Bhattacharya in 1949, she settled down in Calcutta (Kolkatta). She produced a few Bengali films mostly based on Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s stories some of which were directed by her husband. By late 60s, both of them had completely retired from the film industries.
In the later part of her life, she worked for the betterment of the aged and needy female film artists. She was awarded the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1976. She died on July 17, 1992 at Kolkatta. Apart from being one of the greatest actor-singers India has ever produced, Kanandevi was a catalyst in bringing respectability to female actors in the Indian film industry.
On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Kanan Devi, I have selected one of my favourite songs of her ‘zara naino se naina milaay jaao re’ from the film HOSPITAL (1943). The film was produced under the banner of M P Productions and directed by Sushil Majumdar. The star cast included Kanan Devi, Jawahar, Hiralal, Manorama and Krishna Kant. The song is written by Pandit Bhushan and set to music by Kamal Das Gupta. Not much information about this film is available on the internet but according to Indian Film Trade website, it was a social film in which Kanan Devi’s role was that of a nurse in a hospital.
I heard this romantic song for the first time a couple of months back and I liked it instantly for its liveliness, melody, rhythm and dholak beats. One song from this film has been discussed in this blog. Only the audio clips of songs from this film are available. Due to poor audio quality at few places in the audio clip, I am not sure whether I got the correct words of the song especially in the second stanza. I request the readers to point out any error in my deciphering the lyrics of this song.
Song-Zara nainon se naina milaay jaao re (Hospital)(1943) Singer-Kanan Devi, Lyrics-Pt Bhushan, MD-Kamal Dasgupta
Lyrics
zara nainon se naina milaay jaao re
morey baankey raseeley saanwariya
zara nainon se naina milaay jaao re
morey baankey raseeley saanwariya
baankey raseeley
o baankey raseeley
meethi baaton se
meethi baaton se man ko lubaay jaao re
morey baankey raseeley saanwariya
mohey man mein bithaaya na jaao
do nainon mein pyaare basaao
mohe man mein bithaaya na jaao
do nainon mein pyaare bassao
mere jeevan ki bagiyaa bichhaa de
daali daali pe hai hariyaali
ban ke maali
aa aa aa
ban ke maali re
ban ke maali ye bagiyaa basaay jaao re
morey baankey raseeley saanwariya
zara nainon se naina milaay jaao re
morey baankey raseeley saanwariya
jab baadal hai ghir ghir ke aaye
mere bheege chaman
mere bheege chaman ko badhaaye
jab baadal hai ghir ghir ke aaye
mere bheege chaman
mere bheege chaman ko badhaaye
mere jeevan mein khushiyaan badhaane
aa jaana kisi bhi bahaane
aa jaana kisi bhi bahaane
kyaa aaoge na
bolo bolo
bolo bolo na chutki lagaay jaao re
morey baankey raseele saanwariya
zara nainon se naina milaay jaao re
morey baankey raseele saanwariya
4 Responses to "Zara nainon se nainaa milaay jaao re"
April 22, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Kamath ji,
you have rightly pointed out that Kanan Devi gave respectibility to female actors in the industry and society.Those days,when learned,educated and girls from rich and prestigious families,was a rarity for film industry,artistes like Kanan Devi lived a very respectable life and showed that strenghth of character in a woman can make her successful in films without adopting dubious measures too.
HOSPITAL-1943 was a film depicting a different atmosphere and a novel story matter,which made it a film worth a decco.Added to it the melodious music by Kamal Dasgupta( a Muslim musician from East Bengal) and haunting songs by Kanandevi made the film a successful one at the Box office.
The film,a M.P.Production was directed by Sunil Muzumdar who was basically a writer.He used to write stories,Dialogues and Screen plays of films.Even in this film,he joined hands with Pt.Bhushan in Dialogue writting ,with manmath Ray in its story and with Premendra Mitra in writing the screenplay.lyrics were by Pt.Madhur and Pt.Bhushan.
Jayant is the son of Dr.Deen Dayal.he is educated but a vagabond and always in need of money.Once Deen dayal tells him that unless he gets married and does something for a living,he will not get any money.Dr.Deen Dayal is a widower and has established a hospital in a village for the benefit of poor people,in the memory of his departed wife.He goes to the Hospital from time to time.Jayant is introduced to Pratima(Kanan Devi) by Sandeep, her distant cousin and a friend of Jayant.
one day Jayant proposes to Pratima to act as his wife,only for a day,so that he can fool his father and extract some money from him.Pratima,after lot of cajoling,agrees to do so and they go to Dr.Deen dayal.The father is very happy to see his daughter in law.He not only compliments Jayanta for his choice but also gives him lot of money.The work having been achieved,Pratima wants to go away,but the Doctor would have none of it.He forces her to go with him to the village Hospital.
Dr.Bhatt,his asstt. is a hidden enemy of Deendayal and wants to throw him out to usurp the hospital.He suspects that Jayanta and Pratima are not married.He employs detectives and confirms this.In the meantime Jayant and Pratima start loving each other.Pratima also finds out that Dr.Bhatt has misappropriated Hospital money for Medicines.She exposes him before he exposes her and the Doctor is removed from the Hospital.
By now,Deen dayal also has found out that these two are not married.He gets them married.
-AD
339
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July 21, 2013 at 4:01 pm
To introduce Kamal Dassgupta as ‘a muslim’ from Bangla Desh is too harsh. He spent most of his life in India as a Hindu and did a great service to the Indian music. He was an extra ordinary music director who composed lyrics written by Fayyaz Hashmi and Arzoo Luchnowi and sung by the leading lights like Jag Mohan and Hemant Kumar. I would like to pay my humble tributes to the departed soul.
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November 19, 2014 at 8:16 am
The line “mere jeevan ki bagiyaa bichhaa de” in my hearing sounds as:
“mere jeevan ki bagiyaa NIRALEE”. Note that NIRALEE rhymes with “hariyaali” in the followup line.
Please note that I have a 78-rpm record of this song in my library. Unfortunately, in spite of very careful packaging, a corner of the record broke while bringing this (along with several other 78’s) from my home town Hyderabad, India to San Antonio, Texas, destroying the initial two or three grooves. These shellac based records get very brittle with age.
sas/
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
April 22, 2012 at 7:34 am
Aah Kanan Bala! What can I say about her? Whatever I say will be as superfluous as saying that the Taj Mahal is a beautiful monument! She had such a wonderful voice and such perfect diction. If you ask me to pick my favourite song sung by her, then it’s that racy…… “Toofan Mail, duniya yeh duniya….” from ‘Jawab’.
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