Timir Baran (10 july 1904- 28 march 1987) was a pioneer of Indian movie music. He was one of those who brought Indian movie music out of the influence of theatre music and enabled it to acquire its own distinct identity. He was a classically trained musician. Trained under Ustad Allauddin Khan of Maihar Gharana, Timir Bran was an expert in playing Sarod, Clarinet and banjo.
Moreover, he pioneered the use of orchestra in Indian music. He is regarded as the father of Indian Symphony orchestra who used Indian as well as as western instruments in his orchestra.
As a music director, he composed music in “Devdas”” (1935), “Kaarwaan e hayaat” (1935),”Pujaaran” (1936), “Adhikaar” (1937), “Deepak” (1940) “Kumkum the dancer” (1940), “Laxmi” (1940), “Suhaag”(1940), “Rajnartaki” (1941), “Sampati” (1949) for Calcutta based production houses. Then he shifted base to Bombay and composed music for “Baadbaan” (1954).
Laxmi (1940) was directed by Mohan Sinha for Circo Production, Bombay. The movie had Kumar, Bibbo, Maya Bannerji, Jeewan, Gope, Mehdi Raja, Ghulam Rasool etc in it.
Today (28 march 2013) is the 26th death anniversary of this forgotten genius. I became aware of today being his death anniversary thanks to the morning broadcast of Sri Lanka Broadcasting corporation. SLBC had only four records (8 songs) of Timir Baran avaialble with them and they played all these eight Timir Baran songs today in the “Puraani Filmon ke Geet” programme from 7-30 to 8 AM, thus fully devoting this programme to him.
On this occasion, here is a rare song from “Laxmi” (1940). This song, which I became aware of only today when I searched for a Timir Baran song is a superb composition. It is sung by Maya Bannerji. Mohan Sinha is the lyricist.
Only the audio of this song is available but it is clear that the song was picturised on Maya Bannerji herself. What a wonderful polished voice she had ! The lyrics are nice too, and the music to my mind is far ahead of its times.
bhool sakoongi kaise saajan
kaise main bhooloongi
bhool sakoongi kaise saajan
kaise main bhooloongi
bhool sakoongi kaise saajan
kaise main bhooloongi
bhool sakoongi kaise saajan
kaise main bhooloongi
bhool saka kab chaand chakori
chaatki pi pi bhooli
bhool saka kab chaand chakori
chaatki pi pi bhooli
bhanwra bhoola kab phoolon ko
bhanwra bhoola kab phoolon ko
koyal ban mein kook bhooli
koyal ban mein kook bhooli
bhool sakoongi kaise saajan
kaise main bhooloongi
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
aa
aaa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm
door hatoge
saaya bankar saath saath doloongi
door hatoge
saaya bankar saath saath doloongi
so jaaoge
to sapnon mein aakar main boloogni
so jaaoge
to sapnon mein aakar main boloogni
bhool sakoongi kaise saajan
kaise main bhooloongi
Atul ji,
From the older lot,Maya Banerjee was my favourite singer.She was very good looking too.In the film,’LAXMI’-1940 she had done the role of Rajni and the above song is sung by and filmed on herself only.
The Production company CIRCO PRODUCTIONS was from Bombay and not from Calcutta.
The director and the lyricist of this film Mohan Sinha is the father of actress VIDYA SINHA of ‘Rajnigandha’ fame.
Here is some more information about Timir Baran Bhattacharya-
Timir Baran Bhatacharya belonged to family of Sanskrit Scholars. He was born in 1904. He learned Sarod playing initially from Radhikaparsad Goswami and then remained a student of Ustad Allauddin Khan ( who also taught internationally famous Ravi Shankar). He toured Europe and USA after joining Uday Shankar’s Dance Troupe in 1930. He had an unrivalled reputation as a composer of dance music of that period. He was a symbol of passionate rendering. Worked in Madhu Bose’s Calcutta Art Players 1934 and visited Java and Bali. On joining the New Theatres, he composed music for “Devdas” .in 1935-“Balam Aao Baso Morey Mann Mein”. Other important films include “Pujaran” 1936 (“Jo Beet Chuki so Beet Chuki Ab Uus Ki Yad Satae Keun”) produced by International Film Craft and “Adhikar” 1938 of New Theatres. His other Hindi films are Sagar’s “Kumkum, The Dancer”1940, Circo’s “Laxmi” 1940 and “Raj Nartaki” 1941. Subsequently he joined All India Radio and conducted music for Tagore’s non-violence poetry in 1947. Later he composed music for Uma Production’s “Sampati” in 1949.
He then shifted to Bombay and worked at Sagar and Wadia studios. He directed music for films “Badbaan”(with S.K.Pal in 1954) at Bombay, Anokhi *(with Hasan Latif Lalik) at Karachi-Pakistan (1955- with songs of Zubaida Khanum filmed on Sheela Ramani), Fankar (W.Pakistan – 1956) and “Jog Biyog” (Bengali – East Pakistan – 1970). His earlier Bengali films include Bijoya 1935, Uttarayan 1941, Bondita 1945, Bicahrak 1959,Thana Theke Aschhi 1965,Diba Ratrik Kabya 1970 and Dak Diyajai 1978.
Afterwards he devoted himself to the music faculty of Tagor’s Shanti Naketan at Calcutta. He became eternal in 1987.(thanks to tripod)
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Thanks for the information about this movie as well as about Mohan Sinha. I have also read about a lyricist called Mohan Singh in those days. Was that a different person or just a typographical mistake.
You people are a treasure of information. Why not write this valuable data in a structured form? If interested, pl contact me as and when you feel like it. Waiting.
This blog discusses Bollywood songs of yesteryears. Every song has a brief description, followed by a video link, and complete lyrics of the song. This is a labour of love, where “new” songs are added every day, and that has been the case for over SEVENTEEN years. This blog has more than 19700 song posts by now. This blog is active and online for over 6000 days since its beginning on 19 July 2008.
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 28, 2013 at 5:34 pm
Atul ji,
From the older lot,Maya Banerjee was my favourite singer.She was very good looking too.In the film,’LAXMI’-1940 she had done the role of Rajni and the above song is sung by and filmed on herself only.
The Production company CIRCO PRODUCTIONS was from Bombay and not from Calcutta.
The director and the lyricist of this film Mohan Sinha is the father of actress VIDYA SINHA of ‘Rajnigandha’ fame.
Here is some more information about Timir Baran Bhattacharya-
Timir Baran Bhatacharya belonged to family of Sanskrit Scholars. He was born in 1904. He learned Sarod playing initially from Radhikaparsad Goswami and then remained a student of Ustad Allauddin Khan ( who also taught internationally famous Ravi Shankar). He toured Europe and USA after joining Uday Shankar’s Dance Troupe in 1930. He had an unrivalled reputation as a composer of dance music of that period. He was a symbol of passionate rendering. Worked in Madhu Bose’s Calcutta Art Players 1934 and visited Java and Bali. On joining the New Theatres, he composed music for “Devdas” .in 1935-“Balam Aao Baso Morey Mann Mein”. Other important films include “Pujaran” 1936 (“Jo Beet Chuki so Beet Chuki Ab Uus Ki Yad Satae Keun”) produced by International Film Craft and “Adhikar” 1938 of New Theatres. His other Hindi films are Sagar’s “Kumkum, The Dancer”1940, Circo’s “Laxmi” 1940 and “Raj Nartaki” 1941. Subsequently he joined All India Radio and conducted music for Tagore’s non-violence poetry in 1947. Later he composed music for Uma Production’s “Sampati” in 1949.
He then shifted to Bombay and worked at Sagar and Wadia studios. He directed music for films “Badbaan”(with S.K.Pal in 1954) at Bombay, Anokhi *(with Hasan Latif Lalik) at Karachi-Pakistan (1955- with songs of Zubaida Khanum filmed on Sheela Ramani), Fankar (W.Pakistan – 1956) and “Jog Biyog” (Bengali – East Pakistan – 1970). His earlier Bengali films include Bijoya 1935, Uttarayan 1941, Bondita 1945, Bicahrak 1959,Thana Theke Aschhi 1965,Diba Ratrik Kabya 1970 and Dak Diyajai 1978.
Afterwards he devoted himself to the music faculty of Tagor’s Shanti Naketan at Calcutta. He became eternal in 1987.(thanks to tripod)
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March 28, 2013 at 5:41 pm
Thanks for the information about this movie as well as about Mohan Sinha. I have also read about a lyricist called Mohan Singh in those days. Was that a different person or just a typographical mistake.
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March 28, 2013 at 6:05 pm
You are right.
There was a MOHAN SINGH as a Lyricist. He wrote lyrics in the film
‘ 1857 ‘-46.
These two are different persons.
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