Chhanak chhanak chhan boley
Posted on: September 2, 2013
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular conributor to this blog.
This is the 7th song in the series ” Music Directors sing for other Music Directors “.
It is a song from the film Harihar Bhakti-1956, sung by Composer Snehal Bhatkar for the film’s Music Director K Datta or Datta Korgaonkar.
This song is a combination of three artistes who sadly failed to get their dues in this heartless Film industry. The three artistes are Lyricist- S.P.Kalla, singer- Snehal Bhatkar and the Music Director K Datta.
Bombay film industry has seen many talented artistes end their careers and lives sadly. S P Kalla is yet another such example.
TIME is not only a great healer but also a great crusher. Once upon a time, S P Kalla was moving in the Top bracket of the industry, but his TIME changed so much that he had to live all alone and one day end it all himself !
Sooraj Prakash Kalla or S P Kalla was a resident of Jodhpur, Rajasthan. In the early 50s he was having a nice job in the state Secretariat in Jaipur. He was a good writer of songs. During his service tenure, once he visited Bombay casually and then stayed back here only, leaving the lucrative steady job, to enter the film industry as a lyricist. His first film was ‘Lanka Dahan’-52, in which he wrote all 8 songs. Due to his easy and meaningful Lyrics he started getting film after films. After about 20-25 films, he turned to Film direction and succeeded in this too. Some of the films he directed were, Aastik, Naya kadam, Shyam ki Jogan etc.
Having won laurels here he became a Producer and that proved to be his nemesis. He lost everything he had earned. Family life became miserable and all friends deserted him. Finally he separated from his family and went back to Jaipur. There he got two Rajasthani films for direction. Then he got some serials and video films. Some of his serials on TV were ‘ Samay ki Dhara’ and ‘Teesmar khan’,which were popular.
He became an alcohol addict and closeted himself in a small room, where he ended his own life on 20-5-2007.
The singer of today’s song is Snehal Bhatkar. He worked in HMV as a Recordist. During this period he recorded some Hindi and Marathi bhajans, which became very popular.
When he left his job and became a full time independent Music Director for ‘ Hamari Beti”-1950,”he realised the difference between the circumstances. Earlier, while in service, he had already given music to 6 films, in different names like B.Vasudev, Snehal and B.G.Bhatkar. He had prided himself, while in HMV,that he understood very well what the public taste is. Once he became a Music Director himself, success eluded him in film after film, despite composing many melodious songs in these movies.
Simple living and High thinking never succeeded in film industry. Here one needs Luck. An ounce of Luck is equivalent to a Ton of Talent here ! And this, precisely, what he lacked in his career. He gave music in 28 Hindi and 12 Marathi films, but he was never counted amongst the front Line Composers.
K Datta or Datta Korgaonkar may not be a well known name to the younger generation, but Noorjahan Lovers and old timers will recognise this name. Born in 1907 in Bombay, Datta was a Music lover from the beginning. He started his career with Mera Haq-1939, a film made by Hans pictures of Master Vinayak. His peak came with Naadaan-1943, when he composed songs for Noorjahan. He created magical compositions in Noorjahan’s voice in this movie. Her song ” Ek anokha gham ek anokhi museebat ho gaya” in Bhairavi was a favourite of producer Director mehboob Khan and he said,” Dada,ye Gaana aapne Khuda ke Darbar mein baithkar banaya hoga ! ”
he reached his Zenith with the film ” Badi maa”-1945, again a Master Vinayak film. Noorjahan’s ” Diya jalaakar aap bujhaaya” and ” aa intezaar hai tera ” were super hits. Incidentally, Badi Maa-1945 was the Only film in which 3 (later to become) superstar singers of Hindi, acted and sang songs- Noorjahan, Lata and Asha (Asha in chorus).
In 1947, Noorjahan left India for Pakistan and Datta lost all his melody with her. He never came out of this shock. Though he continued to compose good songs, they did not have that charm in them. In all he gave music in only 17 films. After Ajnabee-1966, he totally retired from music composition. He spent his last few years in anonymity in his house doing Pooja-paath and indulging in his hobby of Astrology. He died on 23-12-1978. The noted Marathi journalist and writer Shirish Kanekar had taken his interview before he died. I will discuss the interesting parts of this interview in some of my future articles while discussing his songs.
Here is some information on the film Harihar Bhakti given by me on 27-7-2012.
HARIHAR BHAKTI-1956 is a story of the age-old feud between the Vaishnavites (Vishnu Bhakt) and the Shaivites (Shiv Bhakts). It tells us that the GOD is one, in different forms.
A Raghuvir chitra niketan film, it was produced and directed by C.Raghuvir. The music was by K.Datta(Datta Korgaonkar) and lyricists were S.P.Kalla, Odak and Agrawal.BANASUR the king of Rakshasas was a great Shiv bhakta and after a hard tapasya,he gets a boon from Lord Shiva that he will NOT die at the hands of any mortal.Powered with this boon,he starts torturing Vaishnavites and converting them forcibly to Shaivites.
Baanasur(Ulhas) has a daughter Usha(Asha Mathur). He wants her to marry only a Shiv Bhakta. Usha one day sees a young man Anirudha(Vivek) in her dreams and falls in his love. He is a grandson of Krishna. Chitralekha(Nayantara), her saheli brings Anirudha-in his sleep-to Usha and they get married. Baanasur learns this and fights with Anirudha, throwing Sarp-Astra over him. His grandfather Krishna comes to know this through Naradmuni and he is ready to fight Baanasur. Banasur calls for Shiva’s help.
Now Krishna and Shiva are against each others but knowing Krishna as an avtar of Lord Vishnu, Shivji allows him to kill Baanasur.
It was a very interesting film with lot of trick scenes and very melodious music by K Datta.
Now let us enjoy the melodious song written by S P Kalla, composed by K.Datta and sung by Snehal Bhatkar.
Song-Chhanak chhanak chhan boley (Harihar Bhakti)(1956) Singer-Snehal Bhatkar, Lyrics-S P Kalla, MD- K Datta
Lyrics
Chhanak chhanak chhan boley
chhanak chhanak chhan boley
door desh se aaya re jauhri
lelo gahne ji
mol kya iske kehne ji
albeli isko pehnegi
chhanak chhanak chhan boley
door desh se aaya re jauhri
lelo gahne ji
mol kya iske kehne ji
albeli isko pehnegi
arre shikaari tere teer se
tanik na mujhe daraana
arre shikaari tere teer se
tanik na mujhe daraana
nainon ke baan sahe hain dil par
main hoon wo deewaana
haan haan main hoon wo deewaana
tujhe muft mein kabhi na doonga
tujhe muft mein kabhi na doonga
kisi bahaane bhi
mol kya iske kehne ji
albeli isko pehnegi
chhanak chhanak chhan boley
door desh se aaya re jauhri
lelo gehne ji
mol kya iske kehne ji
albeli isko pehnegi
Mathura ka naami bala
kaanon ke pahnegi baala
bhai pahne pahne saala
haan
Mathura ka naami bala
kaanon ke pahnegi baala
bhai pahne pahne saala
haan
arre gokul gokul wale
paayal pahne matwaali
chhede to hai dil ki gadi
chham chham jhoomar
chham chham baali
lage suhaane geet
mol kya iske kahne ji
albeli isko pehnegi
chhanak chhanak chhan boley
door desh se aaya re jauhri
lelo gahne ji
mol kya iske kahne ji
albeli isko pahnegi
chandan haar dev ne jisko
apne haath banaaya
chandan haar dev ne jisko
apne haath banaaya
isko dekh sabhi pariyon ke
munh mein paani aaya
haan haan munh mein paani aaya
ye anmol bhent main laaya
ye anmol bhent main laaya
tumhe pinhaane ji
mol kya iske kahne ji
albeli isko pahnegi
chhanak chhanak chhan boley
door desh se aaya re jauhri
lelo gehne ji
mol kya iske kehne ji
albeli isko pehnegi
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
September 3, 2013 at 7:39 am
Arun Ji, thanks for a lovely post. It is indeed sad to see that some artists with such talent never get to make it. Life is certainly strange.
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