Sunaaun kisko man ki baat
Posted on: December 21, 2012
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
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Unknown composers Composer 5-Badri Prasad
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Hindi films have seen many beautiful actresses. Some beauties were legendary, not only in their times, but also for ever, e.g. Leela Naidu. There were some handsome actors also like Nandrekar, Chandramohan, Nazmul Hussain, Prithviraj Kapoor etc.
All these actors grew old gracefully. One graceful old actress today is Waheeda Rehman.
Many heroes and Heroines, when they stopped getting Lead roles, shifted to character roles, like Ashok Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Bharat Bhushan,Lalita Pwar etc. It is but natural in case of actors, but what must a singer or composer do when he stops getting songs or films ? There is nothing like character singing or character composing,so what must be they doing after retiremant ?
Most retire and do nothing.
However there are singers like S.D Batish who established a music Academy in USA and also wrote books on Music, or Laxmishanker, who taught young singers,or Nirmala Devi(Govinda’s mother) who did only classical and ghazal singing stage shows.
Singers like Umadevi (Tun Tun) and Shyam kumar did character roles when their stinging stopped.
What about the Composers ?
There is just one composer who switched to doing character roles and Choreograhy for next 40 years, after his career as a composer ended.
His name is BADRIPRASAD.
Yes he is the same Badri Prasad whom you must have seen in several films doing side roles of father, Uncle etc. His roles which I remember even today are Bhagwan’s father in Albela-51, Shashikala and Smriti Biswas’s Uncle in Bhagam Bhag-54(His role name was also Badri Prasad in that film) and Nalini Jayawant’s lost father in ‘Huma sab chor hai’-56
His contribution to the film industry is tremendous.
As actor he acted in 112 films,
As a singer he sang in 18 films(His last song was in Ahinsa-79,with Asha,Rafi and chorus),
As a composer he gave music to 16 films in 8 years and
As a Choreographer he worked in about 30 films.
As a lyricist he wrote in 7 films-10 songs
He also produced and Directed 1 film each.
( I can think of only Kishore kumar who did many things in his own films,except choreography.)
BADRI PRASAD was born in 1910 (?),in Benaras, UP. He started acting in Ramleela in the Bhelpura area in Benaras. From there he reached Calcutta, spent time with New Theatres and other studios and then landed in Bombay in 1932. His first film as actor was Hatimtai-1933. Then he worked as an assistant to some composers and gave music first time to Bala Joban-1934. Then came Vishnu Bhakti, Fashionable India, Romantic India, Badhe Chalo, Swaraj ke Sipahi, Anuradha, Double cross, Himalaya ki beti, Yangrila, Zambo the ape man, Zambo ka beta, Jhooti Sharm, Madhusudan, Vanmala and his last film as a composer was Zevar-1942.
Then he continued working in character roles. In 1949 he first did Choreography in Namoona-49. After that for next 40 years he choreographed in films till his last film Shoor veer-1988.
He continued acting till his last film Dhoop chaon-1977- a period of 44 years.
As a composer many famous singers sang for him, like Amirbai Karnataki,Noorjehan, Snehlata, Shyamsunder, Radharani, Sarla Devi, Ameen, Gauhar, E Rama Rao, Ramanand, Vatsala Kumthekar , Vimla Kumari, Iqbal Bibi etc etc.
Badriprasad was a learned man with command on Hindi, Urdu,English and Sanskrit. He wrote many plays for AIR also.
He was a man of few words,so his fabulous career remained unkown and he was known only as a character artist.
Today we will hear a song,composed by him and sung by Sarala Devi,for the film-Zambo The Ape Man-1937.
The song is written by Badri Prasad himself.
This film was the Debut film of DAVID (David Abraham Cheulkar, a Bene Israeli Jew from Raigad in Maharashtra), a charater actor in later years.
Not much info is available about Sarla Devi,except that in the early 50s she acted as asst.MD to B.S.Kalla in mr.Sampat,Do Dulhe,and Bahut din huye.
V Sarala Devi acted and sang songs from Aansuon ki Duniya-1935 to Bahadur Lutera-1960.(No confusion with south Sarala Devi in Hindi films).
Here is the song.
Song-Sunaaun kis ko man ki baat (Zambo The Ape Man)(1937) Singer-Sarla Devi, Lyrics-Badri Prasad, MD-Badri Prasad
Lyrics
sunaaun kis ko man ki baat
sunaaun kis ko man ki baat
it ut bhatkat
din bekat hai
it ut bhatkat
din beetat hai
taare gin gin raat
taare gin gin raat
ek do teen chaar paanch
chhe saat aathh
taare gin gin raat
sunaaun kis ko man ki baat
sunaaun kis ko man ki baat
yah kathor sansaar hamaara
jiske rang ne mann har pyaara
bhaaloo cheete sher bhediye
bhaaloo cheete sher bhediye
basen yahaan din raat
sunaaun kis ko man ki baat
sunaaun kis ko man ki baat
jharna bhi kal kal chalta hai
prem josh mein yeh chadhta hai
taaron mein is chand ko dekho
taaron mein is chand ko dekho
kaisi sunder raat
sunaaun kis ko man ki baat
sunaaun kis ko man ki baat
23 Responses to "Sunaaun kisko man ki baat"
December 21, 2012 at 9:54 am
jiske rang na manhar pyara…
taron me iske dukh dekho
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December 21, 2012 at 10:10 am
I think, actress Pratibha, who had acted in very few films, was Badriprasad’s daughter. Her most famous role was in ‘Anupama’, where she sings ‘Dheere dheere machal..’ on screen!
Please correct me if I am wrong.
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December 21, 2012 at 10:43 am
Nayan ji,
That song in ANUPAMA is sung on the screen by actress Surekha Pandit in the role of Anupama’s mother before her birth and it was shot on Surekha and Tarun Bose,her husband in Film and also in real life.
-AD
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December 21, 2012 at 10:49 am
Arunji,
Is Surekha Pandit same as Surekha Parkar? Please let me know. Also it will be great if u can list a few movie names where Badri Prasad worked as a singer/lyricist.
Regards.
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December 21, 2012 at 12:17 pm
Whatever her name, Surekha or Pratibha, I think, she was the daughter of Badriprasadji!
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December 26, 2012 at 1:51 pm
Nayan ji,
For your information,I contacted ms.Shilpi Bose,d/o actor Tarun Bose and she has confirmed that Surekha ji is NOT daughter of Badriprasad ji.
-AD
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December 26, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Arunji,
Thanks for correcting me. I don’t know why I had the wrong impression !
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December 26, 2012 at 11:17 pm
Arunji I do not know why some people are under the wrong impression that Surekha Pandit who played dad’s wife in Anupama was dad’s wife in real life too. How did this story emerge I have no clue. By the way Arunji I said that I was not related to Badriprasad I did not say that Surekha Pandit was not related to him. In fact Nayan Yagnik has got it right Surekha Pandit is indeed Badriprasad’s daughter. So I hope all is clear now.
This is a nice article I too had no clue that he was a composer and singer, though I think I did hear he was a choreographer.
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December 27, 2012 at 9:15 am
Shilpi,ji,
Thanks for clarifying the issue.I too do not know how this info has been passed on wrongly.I am extremely sorry for being a part of the mis-carriage of information and apologise for hurting your feelings.
-AD
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December 27, 2012 at 9:18 am
Nayan ji,
After reading Shilpi Bose’s comments,things must be clear to you and I regret having contradicted your statement based on wrong information provided to me.
The actress is Surekha pandit and she is the daughter of Pt.Badriprasad,indeed.
-AD
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December 27, 2012 at 9:22 am
I believe in this movie, she was credited as Surekha Parkar. So may be after marriage, she became Parkar from Pandit, now that we know she wasnt related to Tarun Bose.
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July 10, 2018 at 2:28 pm
Her name was Surekha pandit and you are right about other information.
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December 21, 2012 at 11:49 am
Wow! Never knew Badri Prasad sang, composed, wrote, choreographed songs and was a producer and director also.
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December 21, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Arun ji,
Thanks for such detailed and informative post about this versatile artist. If I am not wrong, he is one of the two lead male actors in film ‘Dard’ (1947). He had a commanding presence on screen. I remember him as the wheelchair ridden father of Zahida in the film ‘Anokh Raat’ (1967), playing a pivotal role of a once eminent, but now helpless man, at the mercy of moneylenders. Despite being confined to wheelchair, he still gave a powerful performance.
Your post is invaluable, as always. 🙂
Rgds
Sudhir
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December 21, 2012 at 7:29 pm
Arun ji, Atul ji,
Some corrections to the lyrics.
The line
“it ut bhatkat
din bekat hai”
should read
“it ut bhatkat
din beetat hai”
The line
“jiske rang ?? manhar pyaara”
should read
“jiske rang ne mann har pyaara”
The lines
“jharna bhi kal kal karta hai
prem josh mein yeh behta hai”
should read
“jharna bhi kal kal chalta hai
prem josh mein yeh badhta hai”
The lines
“taara main is ?? ko dekho
taara main is ?? ko dekho”
shoul read
“taaron mein is chand ko dekho
taaron mein is chand ko dekho”
Rgds
Sudhir
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December 21, 2012 at 8:00 pm
Bechat (Vechat) is the correct word, meaning spending or ‘killing time’
It is a satire “Sunaoon kisko mann ki baat”.
Hence, ‘Taron me iske DUKH dekho; Kaisi SUNDAR raat’
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December 22, 2012 at 12:34 pm
White mustache suited him very much; it reminding of our grandfather replete with dhoti and black topi. He used to stay at Shivaji Park, Mumbai
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December 26, 2012 at 11:36 am
What an informative post Arun ji! Thanks a lot!
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March 19, 2019 at 10:09 pm
Wow I am writing 7 years after this post. Some weeks ago I heard the Jaimala program on Vividh Bharati. Badriprasad mentioned about two daughters – one was Surekha and the other he said was his mooh boli beti Lata Mangeshkar.
Nitinji – you have given us so such useful information.
Arunji – what an interesting write up.
Surekha Pandit had a forgettable role as a house maid in Kishore Kumar’s Do Dooni Char 1968. In 1969, she married a Gujarati businessman and settled in Andheri East. This is the news on the web.
When did Badriprasad die?Any idea.
He was most memorable as Zaheeda’s dadaji in Anokhi Raat. His dialog delivery was superb.
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May 18, 2019 at 10:34 pm
Very informative discussion. Arunkumar ji actually I am curious to know whether Surekha Pandit is same actress who acted in ‘Sant Dyaneshwar’ in the song ‘Khabar mori na li tune bahut din bite’ ?
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
December 21, 2012 at 9:00 am
Arun Ji, I had never heard of either Sarla Devi or Badri Prasad. Thank you for such an informative post.
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