Mere dil ko sajan samjha do
Posted on: January 31, 2013
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
During my childhood days, I had heard more about Suraiya than any other contemporary female actors like Mudhubala, Nargis etc. As I know now, both Madhubala and Nargis were more successful in terms of their box office hit films than that of Suraiya in the 50s. But it was Suraiya who was the most discussed star at that time. I guess that her charismatic personality invited keen interest from cinegoers and her fans in the same way as was the case with Rajesh Khanna in the 70s. The building in which she used to stay at Marine Drive was an important ‘tourist spot’ in those days for the visitors in the city. People would to wait for her ‘darshan’ which eluded most of them . After many years, this type of adulation was witnessed outside Rajesh Khanna’s bungalow in the 70s and Amitabh Bachchan’s bungalow even now.
Suraiya ( 15/06/1929 – 31/01/2004) never aspired to become an actor or singer in Hindi film industry but offers came to her on a platter. A visit to the set of ‘Taj Mahal’ (1941) with her actor-uncle Zahoor for watching the shooting culminated in getting an offer from Nanubhai Vakil, the film’s director for a role of the young Mumtaz Mahal in the film. This marked the real beginning of her filmy career though she had earlier worked as a child artist in ‘Usne Kyaa Sochaa’ (1937). In ‘Taj Mahal’ (1941), she sang two songs – probably on herself. Music Director Naushad heard her singing for the first time on All India Radio, Bombay (Mumbai) for a children’s programme some time in 1941. He liked her voice so much that he prevailed upon A R Kardar, the producer-director to select her as a playback singer for Mehtab in his film ‘Sharda’ (1942). In this film, Suraiya sang two songs and one of her songs panchhi jaa peechhe rahaa hai bachpan meraa was supposed to be her first song as a playback singer. However, according to Naushad, Suraiya’s first song as a playback singer was ‘boot karoon main polish’ for ‘Nayi Duniya’ (1942) in which she lent her voice for a boy under his music direction. Probably ‘Sharda’ (1942) may have been released first though Naushad may have recorded her song of ‘Nayi Duniya’ (1942) first.
Suraiya got a real break as singer-actor in ‘Station Master’ (1942) in which she sang three songs on herself under Naushad’s music direction. Her career as a singing star took off from the film ‘Hamaari Baat’ (1943) after which she did not lend her voice to any other actor until ‘Shama’ (1961) where she sang Dhadakte dil ki tamanna ho mera pyaar ho tum (Shama) on herself and also gave playback to Nimmi in the song. It is said that originally, Suman Kalyanpur was to sing for Nimmi but as she could not make it for dubbing and Suraiya’s voice was retained in the sound track. Her two songs recorded for an unfinished film ‘Apna Khoon’ (1955) in which she was the lead actor were later used in ‘Taqdeer’ (1958) in which she did not act. In both these films, Dhaniram was the music director.
After the migration of top singer-actors like Noor Jehan and Khursheed to Pakistan in 1947, Suraiya was the only real singer-actor who dominated the Hindi film industry in the late 40s and early 50s. Her box office hit films like ‘Pyaar Ki Jeet’ (1948), ‘Badi Behan’ (1949) and ‘Dillagi’ (1949) made her the highest paid female actor of that time. However, in early 50s, most of her films flopped at the box office. With the emergence of Lata Mangeshkar as a top playback singer, the concept of the female singing actor ceased to be an important factor. Perhaps this factor coupled with her failed romance with Dev Anand in 1950 affected her filmy career. Her last film was ‘Rustam Sohrab’ (1963) after which she voluntarily retired from the film industry at an age of 34. In the next four decades, she continued to live in her Marine Drive flat in seclusion rarely making public appearances. In this context, I am reminded of her song rahiye ab aisi jagah chal kar jahaan koi na ho which was apt for the situation in which she was placed. Perhaps she took her life philosophically, drawing inspiration from yet another song of her parwaanon se preet seekh le from the film Bilwamangal (1954). Suraiya left for her heavenly abode on January 31, 2004.
On the occasion of the death anniversary of Suraiya on January 31, I have chosen one of her songs ‘mere dil ko sajan samjhaa do’ from the film SHARDA (1942). The film was produced and directed by A R Kardar under the banner of Kardar Productions. The star cast included Ulhas, Mehtab, Nirmala Devi, Wasti, Badri Prasad, Shyam Kumar, Amir Bano etc. D N Madhok was the lyricist and Naushad was the music director of the film. The song is preceded by a somewhat longish (1:24 minutes) music prelude. Only the audio clip of the song is available but going by the interview of Naushad, this song was picturised on Mehtab. It is said that initially, Mehtab was not sure about the suitability of 12 year old Suriaya’s voice on her. But after the popularity of this song as well as panchhi jaa peechhe rahaa hai bachpan meraa from this film, Suraiya sang for Mehtab in her subsequent films ‘Kanoon’ (1943) and ‘Sanjog’ (1943).
As per http://www.myswar.com, there is also a duet version of this song sung by Suraiya and Nirmala Devi. However, I could not lay my hand on the audio clip of this version on the internet.
Song-Mere dil ko sajan samjha do(Sharda)(1942) Singer-Suraiyya, Lyrics-D N Madhok, MD-Naushad
Lyrics
mere dil ko sajan samjhaa do
haan haan jee
samajhaa do
ke ghadi ghadi bhar na aaye
mere dil ko sajan samajhaa do
haan haan jee
samjhaa do
ke ghadi ghadi bhar na aaye
kaali raaten ghar soona meraa
kaali raaten ghar soona meraa
main teri par tu na meraa
main teri par tu na meraa
meri jaan tumhi batlaa do
haan haan jee
batlaa do
akeli mohe dar na aaye
mere dil ko sajan samjhaa do
haan haan jee
samajhaa do
ke ghadi ghadi bhar na aaye
ram kare main (??) ban jaaun
ram karen main (??) ban jaaun
phir bhi na badle saare dishaayen
phir bhi na badle saare dishaayon
phire kahate phire unhen laa do ??
haan haan jee
unhen laa do
saari raat ghar na aaye
mere dil ko sajan samjhaa do
haan haan jee
samajhaa do
ke ghadi ghadi bhar na aaye
6 Responses to "Mere dil ko sajan samjha do"
January 31, 2013 at 1:52 pm
Kamath ji,
Thanks for this melodious Suraiya song and a short resume on her.Here are some more tit bits…..
Suraiya used to do the Radio programmes along with Raj kapoor and Shammi (Shammi aunty) in the children’s programme.
She is the only Heroine who acted opposite Saigal in 3 films, Tadbir,Omar Khayyam and his last film Parwana.
Once she was rehearsing a song on the sets of ‘Chadragupta’ by Jayant Desai, Saigal dropped in and listened to her singing.He praised her very much and asked Jayant Desai to cast her with him in Tadbir-her first film with Saigal.
She was an avaricious reader of urdu,persian and English books,even on the sets.Her favourites were Somersette maugham,khalil Gibran and Marie correlli.
She was very keen on meeting Gregory Peck,her idol.In 1954,while on his way to Ceylone for the location shooting of ‘Purple Rain’,he broke journey at Bombay,specially to meet her and went to her sets giving her a pleasant surprise of her life !
-AD
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January 31, 2013 at 6:25 pm
Thanks for the tit bits.
I had read somewhere on the internet that initially, Suraiya was not keen to do radio programme but it was Raj Kapoor and Madan Mohan, her neighbours, who persuaded her to do the children’s programme on the radio.
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January 31, 2013 at 3:22 pm
There were few more songs:
a) Panchi Jaa Pichhe Raha Hai Bachpan Mera>Suraiya
b) Tum Nahi Aate Ho To Yaad Se Keh Do>Nirmala Devi
c) Balhari Re Kukadakun Bol>G. M. Durrani
d) Aa Balam Mere Mann Mein Uthe Uchale>Nirmala Devi
e) Beech Bhanwar Mori Naav>Nirmala Devi
f) Duniya Mein Sab Jode Jode>G M Durrani
g) Ghir Aayi Badariya>Nirmala Devi
h) Ith Jaaye Uth Jaaye>G M Durrani
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January 31, 2013 at 6:42 pm
Two songs from the above list viz. (a) and (e) have already been covered in the blog.
Atul,
The song (a) has been erroneously shown under ‘Saadhna’ (1942) instead of under ‘Shaarda’ (1942) both in the ‘List of Songs-Music Director-wise’. and in the ‘List of Songs – Moviewise.
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February 1, 2013 at 9:56 pm
Really its great to receive somebody who is one’s ideol
and all of sudden comes to see his fan like SURAIYA on
the set ….both are very very lucky.Very rarely such
incidents heppen.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 31, 2013 at 11:54 am
hullo Atul
there is some problem with the audio link. it is over in 6 seconds. please look in to it
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