Hum iss zameen ke hain
Posted on: January 26, 2013
This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
Greetings to all friends and readers on the Republic Day celebrations for today. The nation, in its latest incarnation as a the Republic of India, is 63 years old today. There are celebrations that are happening today across the country, with the main event being held in the capital city of Delhi.
On this blog also, we are celebrating this important anniversary. Today’s event is a salutation to the honor of this nation, and this land. The message of today’s celebration is the acknowledgement of the pride and dignity we associate with being Indians, and being the sons of this land. It is a bounden honoring of this land, its culture and its values which are steeped in the hoary past, stretching beyond any recorded history, to the time of sages and philosophers. It is a veneration of the people of this land, ourselves, who are the heirs and the keepers of this cultural values, that do not belong to any special period in history, any ruling dynasty, or any political system. In this current times, it is today’s date that has been earmarked for this celebration. But in reality this honoring, this celebration is life itself.
I present this song from a film that was made more than six decades ago, in a time when the nation had recently shed its shackles of domination by the British rule. And the people and land were looking forward with a renewed energy and expectation. A time when the rebuilding of the nation and its pride was the inspiration that guided the people.
The song depicts a group of school children, standing with their teachers, in the fields where farmers are working. The teachers begin this inspirational song of the land, its honor and our relationship with it, and the students join in a chorus.
The film is ‘Tigress’ produced under the banner of Basant Pictures in 1948, and is directed by Keshav Talpade. The cast of actors for this film includes Nadia, Prakash, Dalpat, Sona Chatterjee, Bomman Shroff, Radha, Qamar, Jaal Khambatta, Kareem, Salim etc. The film has five songs are written by MC Hunnur, and the music, is by Chitragupt.
On screen, the teachers’ role is played by Sona Chatterjee and Nadia. The singing voice or voices are not identified. My guess is that one of the voices may be Geeta Roy (Dutt), but not sure. I request other knowledgeable readers to please help to identify these voices.
Sadly, the full song is not available, and I have not been able to track down any other complete version of the song. But even in its partial form, one can realize how moving this song is.
hum is zameen ke hain, ye hai zameen hamaari
humko zameen apni, sau jaan se hai pyaari
We belong to this land
This land is our land
This land is more dear to us
Than a hundred lifetimes
izzat yehi hamaari, jeevan yahi hamaara
hai pyaar is se hum ko, hum hain isi pe waari
This land is our honor
This land is our life breath
We love it
We offer ourselves unto it
ye ho hari bhari to, jeevan hara bhara hai
When this land is fertile and bountiful
Then our lives are plentiful and prosperous
Song-Hum is zameen ke hain (Tigress)(1948) Singers-Female Voice 1, Female Voice 2, Lyrics-M C Hunnur, MD-Chitragupta
Chorus
Lyrics
hum is zameen ke hain
ye hai zameen hamaari
ye hai zameen hamaari
hum is zameen ke hain
ye hai zameen hamaari
ye hai zameen hamaari
humko zameen apni
sau jaan se hai pyaari
sau jaan se hai pyaari
hum is zameen ke hain
ye hai zameen hamaari
ye hai zameen hamaari
izzat yehi hamaari
jeevan yahi hamaara
jeevan yahi hamaara
izzat yehi hamaari
jeevan yahi hamaara
hai pyaar is se hum ko
hum hain isi pe waari
hum hain isi pe waari
hum is zameen ke hain
ye hai zameen hamaari
ye hai zameen hamaari
ye ho hari bhari to
jeevan hara bhara hai
jeevan hara bhara hai
ye ho hari bhari to
jeevan hara bhara hai
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
——————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
——————————————
हम इस ज़मीन के हैं
यह है ज़मीन हमारी
यह है ज़मीन हमारी
हम इस ज़मीन के हैं
यह है ज़मीन हमारी
यह है ज़मीन हमारी
हमको ज़मीन अपनी
सौ जान से है प्यारी
सौ जान से है प्यारी
हम इस ज़मीन के हैं
यह है ज़मीन हमारी
यह है ज़मीन हमारी
इज्ज़त यही हमारी
जीवन यही हमारा
जीवन यही हमारा
इज्ज़त यही हमारी
जीवन यही हमारा
है प्यार इस से हमको
हम हैं इसी पे वारी
हम हैं इसी पे वारी
हम इस ज़मीन के हैं
यह है ज़मीन हमारी
यह है ज़मीन हमारी
ये हो हरी भरी तो
जीवन हरा भरा है
जीवन हरा भरा है
ये हो हरी भरी तो
जीवन हरा भरा है
2 Responses to "Hum iss zameen ke hain"
January 26, 2013 at 9:57 pm
Thanks Atul ji, Sudhir ji for this post !!
This type of assertion is required more , because i personally believe that we can make progress, improvements, and fight for our country only when we accept its ‘ownership’, otherwise we tend to ignore things simply by saying ‘ what goes of my father’, ‘sab chalta hai’,! it also reminds of the song from the film Lagaan – o mitwa – ye dharti apni hai , apna ambar hai re ! thanks !
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 26, 2013 at 8:33 pm
Sudhir ji,
I never imagined that some day a song from this film will ever be posted on this Blog,for the simple reason that there is no mention of any record no. for songs of this film in HFGK.I was therefore thinking that no records were issued,but now it is obvious that records must be there as you got a song from this film.
TIGRESS-1948 is a film from an era when the charm of Fearless Nadia was waning.She had been doing stunt films for about 15 years by 1948,and most of the themes had been used up.But then for Nadia films,the story was the last thing people looked for,it was her antics and stunts that was the attraction.
After Hunterwali,there was a pattern of her films,and Wadias used various themes like,literacy,emancipation of women,law and order,land grabbing,exploitation of poor and such other subjects.
This film too is about Land Grabbing and exploitation of farmers by the mighty.
Basant pictures was established to continue stunt and fantasy film production,as JBH Wadia wanted that Wadia Movietone should turn to Social themes instead of stunt films.On this issue the brothers had separated.
TIGRESS-1948 was a Nadia centred film.In the newly Independent India,Railways were expanding and a Railway line was planned to come up near Garibnagar.This news reaches the Greedy Zamindar of the adjacent Basantpur thru his cronies and he plans to take undue advantage of the situation.He starts buying lands on the proposed Railway area,bu lure or force or by simply cheating the illeterate farmers.
Miss Raj (Nadia) is a Teacher in the village school.She suspects malafide intentions of the Zamindar and asks the poor farmers not to sell their land to him.For this she,other teachers of the school and children try to run a campaign to educate farmers about their land.This creates a dispute in her and the Zamindar.
He plays another trick.He tries to lure Bhagvati,a poor farmer,whose daughter Rani is to marry Jaggu,Raj’s brother.he tells Bhagwati to cancel the marriage and marry Rani to him.Additionally Jaggu is kidnapped.
Raj changes into “RAJKUMAR” with her trademark Mask,dog Moti,horse Rajput and a jalopy called “Austin ki Bacchhi”.Rajkumar saves farmers,rescues Jaggu from getting killed punishes the goons of Zamindar and generally does all stunts expected of her for half of the film time.
Finally RAJKUMAR secures documents to prove the guilt of Zamindar,gets him arrested and returns the land to the poor exploited farmers.
Clap,Clap,Clap…….
-AD
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