Rang gayi aaj man ki bagiya
Posted by: Atul on: March 7, 2014
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Calcutta competed very well with Bombay in Film production,if not in quantity, at least in quality and this was true from the silent film era up to the 40s.
First it was Maadan Theatres, who missed,by a whisker, a chance to beat Alam Ara in releasing as India’s FIRST Talkie film-released on 14-3-1931. Maadan Theatre’s Shirin Farhad came a poor second(released on 30-5-1931) and lost its place in history. They compensated it by making ‘Indrasabha’-1932, including 71 songs in it- the highest number of songs in any Indian film so far !
Before Maadan theatres closed down its operations in late 30s, there was another Star on the horizon of Calcutta-not only to replace it but to leave it’s stamp of being an Institution, rather than just a Production company. It’s name was – NEW THEATRES,CALCUTTA.
B.N.SIRCAR-Birendranath Sircar( 1901-1980 ), was the son of shri Nripendranath Sircar-a well known Jurist and a member of the Viceroy’s committee. B.N.Sircar was a Civil Engineer from U.K. who developed an interest in film making. He left his very lucrative job at Martin Burn and Company in 1928-29 and made 2 silent films under the banner of International Film Craft. These were Directed by his First collegue Premankur Atorthy. After testing the film market this way, he founded New Theatres. He built 2 studios, one on the Chandi Ghosh lane and the other on Anwar Shah Road in 32-33.
He acquired Tanar equipment and services of Wilfred Denis, imported from Hollywood by Ardeshir Irani. New Theatres attracted major Technical and creative talents from silent studios, which were then on their last legs. Thus, “Indian Kinema” provided Directors Nitin Bose and Premankur Atorthy and stars Durgadas Bannerjee, Amar Mullick, Jiban Ganguly etc,” Barua Pics ” gave P.C.Barua and Sushil Mujumdar,” British Dominion Films ‘ gave Dhiren Ganguly etc.
B.N.Sircar was a firm believer that Cinema is a medium between a Novel and a Drama,so he depended upon famous Bangla literature for the plots for his films. The first Talkie of new Theatres, “Dena Paona”-31, was based on Sharat babu’s works. Though this film was a flop, he continued to depend upon novels of Sharat babu and Tagore to make his films. His first seven films were flops in a row. Their first big film was Chandidas-1934. New Theatres had many Directors on its payroll and used technological advances with recordist Mukul Bose.
At New Theatres, they had Directors like Premankur Atorthy, Nitin Bose, Debki Bose, P.C.Barua, D.N.Ganguly, Bimal Roy, Phani Mujumdar etc. Music was taken care of by R C Boral, K C Dey, Pankaj Mullick, Timir Baran Bhattacharya, Kamal Dasgupta etc. The stars at new Theatres were Saigal, Pritwiraj Kapoor, Amar Mullick,Pahadi Sanyal, Kanan Devi, Bharati Devi, Chandrabati Devi, Leela Desai etc. Along with recordist Mukul Bose, there were Cinematographer Yusuf Mulji and Editor subodh Mitra.
New Theatres was always on the look out for new talents and that is how ASIT BARAN was discovered.
Asit Baran was born on 19-11-1913 at Calcutta in a middle class family. His pet name was Kalo. He was not much interested in schooling. He learnt music and Tabla from Gyanprakash Ghosh. he became an expert in Tabla playing and did a few programmes on Calcutta A.I.R. also. In one of the All India Music Conferences,Pahadi Sanyal noticed him and invited him to New Theatres. Impressed with his good looks and singing capability, he got a role of Pahadi Sanyal’s younger Brother in film “Protishruti”-42. He acted in several Hindi and Bangla films of New Theatres.
His first Hindi film- Saugandh-42, was a remake of “Protishruti”. He did the same role in the original Bangla movie as well as in its Hindi remake. His songs became popular. In all, Asit Baran acted and sang in 43 films-Hindi and Bangla together. Some of his Hindi films were Saugandh, Jawab, Wapas, Arabian Nights, Parineeta, Suhag Sindoor, Kashinath, Wasiyatnama, Manzoor, Roop kahani, Faraar, Azadi ke baad etc. He left New Theatres in 1952 and came to Bombay on the invitation by Sailesh Mukherjee,to act in Suhag Sindoor. By this time, his voice had deteriorated and he was given playback by Sailesh Mukherjee. Same thing happened in Parineeta also.
Asit Baran returned to Calcutta and did some more Bangla films. He founded a Theatre group called “Rangorash” which spread the teachings of Shri Ramkrishna Paramhans ji.
He died on 27-12-1984 at Calcutta.
Today we will listen and enjoy Asit Baran’s FIRST FILM song from ” Saugandh “-1942. It is a duet sung by him and “Shanti”.
This “Shanti” is probably the name of the character in the film, because there was never a singer called “Shanti” in New Theatre group of regular singers. The booklet of “Saugandh” mentions the names of ‘ Arun and Shanti’ for this song. These are the character names in the film, on whom this song is filmed. The CD of New Theatres songs mentions the names of Asit Baran and Indrani Roy,for this song. Some people thought that it could be Shanti Sudha Ghosh, daughter of Parul and Pannalal Ghosh. However in 1942, Shanti Sudha Ghosh was very young and had given playback to Baby madhubala in film “Basant”-1942. The voice in today’s song is that of an adult lady singer,so it can not be her.
I think,it is one of those unsolved mysteries of HFM which may remain unsolved for ever,like many other songs. This is because of our poor record keeping of our historical heritage.
Forget about the controversy and just enjoy this First Film song of ASIT BARAN……
Song-Rang gayi aaj man ki bagiya (Saugandh)(1942) Singers-Asit Baran, Female singer, Lyrics-Pt Natwar, MD-R C Boral
Both
Lyrics
hmm hmm hmm
ee ee ee ee
rang gayi aaj man ki bagiya
rang gayi
kisne pichkari daali
rang gayi
ee ee ee ee
rang gayi aaj man ki bagiya
kisne pichkaari daali
chabb mein chhipkar chhidki kisne
chabb mein chhipkar chhidki kisne
hariyaali mein yoon laali
hariyaali mein yoon laali
rang gayi
ee ee ee ee
rang gayi
aaj man ki bagiya
kisne pichkaari daali
aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaaa
aaa aa aa aa
madbhari bahe purwaiyya
har khili kali muskaayee
madbhari bahe purwaiyya
har khili kali muskaayee
rasiya bhanwre ne aakar
kuchh aisi taan sunyaayi
rasiya bhanwre ne aakar
kuchh aisi taan sunyaayi
papeeha ne jis se pee paaya
koyal ne kook churaayi
papeeha ne jis se pee paaya
koyal ne kook churaayi
rang gayi
ee ee ee ee
rang gayi
aaj man ki bagiya
kisne pichkaari daali
rang gayi
aaj man ki bagiya
kisne pichkari daali
aa haa
aa haa
aa haa haa haa
phir baji vahi baansuriyaa
yamuna lay mein lehraayi
sajni sajan ke sang mein
ban thhan bahaar ban aayi
phir baji vahi baansuriya
yamuna lay mein lehraayi
sajni saajan ke sang mein
ban thhan bahaar ban aayi
sajni saajan ke sang mein
ban thhan bahaar ban aayi
nirjeevan mein jeevan chhaaya
nirjivan mein jeevan chhaaya
jeevan mein madira chhaayi
nirjeevan mein jeevan chhaaya
jeevan mein madira chhaayi
rang gayi
aaj man ki bagiya
kisne pichkaari daali
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 7, 2014 at 11:39 am
It gives a good and satisfying feeling to go through your blog as you create nostalgia with your stories of the bygone era. It is heartening to note that you always succeed in transporting the readers to travel with you.
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March 7, 2014 at 11:47 am
Thanks for your appreciation.
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