Chale gaye angrez english gaana nahin achcha
Posted on: May 5, 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.
THE VIBRANT 40s (Episode No. 11)
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None of my series is complete without a song by/from C Ramchandra. This not only indicates my love for his songs, but also highlights that he composed a variety of songs to fit into any series.
Hindi film industry has seen many talented composers in last 80 years. C Ramchandra was not only talented, but also a genius, who created songs that will be remembered for many more years to come. He believed in enjoying life to the fullest. Such people excel in professional life, but fail miserably in personal life. This is because they live only for their own pleasures. Of course, this attitude and a failed life does not diminish their professional greatness in any way.
C Ramchandra acted as a Hero in a film called ‘Naganand ‘ – 1935, which had less than 10 persons in audience for its First show and which had to be removed after only the First show, because not a single ticket for the second show could be sold. He failed as a film Hero, but later in life he drew millions to the Theatres to savour his songs that he composed for these movies.
After a very troubled and arduous beginning, he became a Music Director with “Sukhi Jeevan”-1942. After doing a few more films, his “Bhaktaraj”-43 became a hit and it also brought him an opportunity to work for a well known studio-Jayant Desai productions, on a monthly salary of Rs. 300/-. He was well settled now and his first film here,” Muskurahat”-43 was well received. His later films viz.Zabaan, Lalkar, Manorama and Samrat Chandragupta were also quite successful.
One day he heard that Jayant Desai production was bringing the great singer Saigal to do a film here. He was excited and dreamt of composing songs for Saigal. But his dreams were shattered when another news came that,some other composer called Lal Mohammed from Lahore was being brought for giving music to the Saigal film. His ego was hurt. He went to Jayant Desai’s office straightway and said,’ My salary must be increased now.’
Desai smiled and said,’ OK. How much do you want ?”
CR said,” I want 1000 Rs. per month”
Desai- “That’s not possible. I can give you 500 or 600 at the most”
CR- ” I want 1000 only”
Desai- “I was planning to give an opportunity to work with Saigal. After all Saigal is Saigal ”
CR was irritated and said,” If he is Saigal, I am also C.Ramchandra. I want 1000 or else…”
Desai- ” Or else… what ?”
CR- ” Or else…I quit ”
Desai- ” OK. You will leave today or tomorrow ? ”
C Ramchandra resigned immediately. he was now jobless. There was a wife and a house to run. When he was worried for this, one day Kavi Pradeep came looking for him. He took him to Filmistan owner Shashadhar mukherjee. C Ramchandra was immediately employed by Filmistan on his terms of Rs. 1000 and allowed to work outside when Filmistan work was not there. Regular income took care of his financial and family problems.
His first film at Filmistan, “Safar”-46 was a roaring success. His duet with Binapani Mukherjee,” kabhi yaad karke, Gali paar karke” became extremely popular. At Filmistan, C Ramchandra truly blossomed. Now his life was not only stabilised, but he also prospered and became quite famous. During his first film ” Safar ” he had a dispute with the film’s director Bibhuti Mitra when Mitra tried to interfere in his work. C> Ramchandra was a man of self respect and king size Ego. he could not tolerate interference. luckily B Mitra soon left Bombay and went to Calcutta.
His films at Filmistan, viz. Leela, Saajan,Shehnai, Nadiya ke paar, Sanwariya, Samadhi and Sangram-50 became all hits. He was on cloud Nine. Then came film Shabistan-51- Actor Shyam’s last film. To direct this film, Bibhuti Mitra was called again to Filmistan. After 3 songs ,at the 4th song, Mitra started creating trouble again and there was a problem between C Ramchandra and Mitra. This time however S. Mukherjee sided with Mitra. C Ramchandra was so upset that he left the film and Filmistan half way ( later it was completed by Madan Mohan) in spite of Mukherjee’s pleas not to leave. However,C Ramchandra promised Mukherjee that he would come back to Filmalaya again whenever they required him-and accordingly he did the music of Anarkali and Nastik etc for Filmistan after a few years.
While at Filmistan, a new composer was inducted to compose music to another film in 1946. C. Ramchandra, as a senior,was requested to help the new comer in orchestration etc. He agreed to do so, with a condition that his name should not feature in the credits of the film. The new composer was S.D.BURMAN for his Debut film-” Eight Days”-46.
When Sanwariya was being done in 1949, he was already in a rapidly developing relationship with Lata Mangeshkar. This was also a period in the film industry when slowly but surely many old composers and singers were waning away, giving way to newer singers like Lata, Asha,Geeta, Rafi, Mukesh, Talat, Kishore etc. Old composers like Husnlal Bhagatram, Anil Biswas, Govind Ram, K Datta, Bulo C Rani, Khemchand Prakash, Sajjad Hussain, Ninu Mujumdar, Shyamsunder, Dhaniram, Lachhiram, Ram ganguly, S D Batish, Snehal Bhatkar, B N Bali, Ramlal etc were either fading out or were getting less work. Many Muslim composers like Khursheed Anwar, Nissar Bazmi, Chisti, Rashid Atre etc were either gone or were about to leave for Pakistan.
Let us now enjoy a typical rare song sung and composed by Chitalkar for the film ” Sanwariya”-1949. P L Santoshi is the lyricist of this fun song.
Song-Chaley gaye angrez english gaana nahin achcha (Saanwariya)(1949) Singer-C Ramchandra, Lyrics-P L Santoshi, MD-C Ramchandra
Unknown female voice
Chorus
Lyrics
chhi
chhi chhi
nahin bhai
chale gaye angrez
english gaana nahin achcha
english gaana nahin achcha
jo raah chhod di hamne
uspe jaana nahin achcha
uspe jaana nahin achcha
chhodo piano clarinet
ye aind band sab phhodo
chhodo piano clarinet
ye aind band sab phhodo
chhi chhi chhi ke
aur bhhaun bhhaun bhhaun ke
chhin chhin chhi ke
bhhaun bhhaun bhhaun ke
saaz baaz sab phhodo
arre dholak laao
dholak laao
taak dhinaa dhin
laao manjeera
tinak tiniya
chhoom chhamaacham
ghoonghar baaje
naache sang sang saari duniya aa
chale gaye angrez
english gaana nahin achcha
english gaana nahin achcha
jo raah chhod di hamne
uspe gaana nahin achcha
uspe gaana nahin achcha
aur kya nahin achcha
hahahaha
mat malo gaal pe laali
ye hai chhin mein mitne waali
mat malo gaal pe laali
ye hai chhin mein mitne waali
ae ji apna asli rang chhupaana nahin achcha
rang chhupaana nahin achcha
5 Responses to "Chale gaye angrez english gaana nahin achcha"
May 6, 2014 at 4:56 am
That’s a wealth of information on Anna Saheb. Many thanks
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May 6, 2014 at 11:40 am
Arun Sir,
For me CR was all about Albela, Sagaai and Anarkali only. Then, many Lata solos from other films caught my fancy about his compositions.
Now, through you many of his rare gems as well as his interesting personal life incidents have come to light. Many thanks.
One very minor typo error in the second line of the conversation between CR and Desai in the post above. One more zero needs to be added to make it 1000.
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May 8, 2014 at 6:09 pm
Typical CR voice and beats! And the lyrics make even more sense today. Angrez tho gaye, par angrezi ( aur Amriki) cheez ka nasha sirf reh nahi gaya, aur bhi badh gaya! Dil kya, dimaag bhi ab Hindustani nahi raha!
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July 15, 2014 at 11:53 am
Annasaheb fancied such compositions and composed several songs..like Dilka ye angin sity bajay, kismat ki hava kabhi garam, mera pan muhobatwala, …there are hundreds of this type….PL Santoshi and Rajendra Krishna flourished their careers, enriched Filmistan…Master Bhagwan and all became wealthier… (2) Anna had helped the producer of film SHIKARI to complete the film music of which was entrusted to Burman da… I remember Annasaheb had mentioned to fans ( I included )…that the film completed later by Annasaheb though the credential was in the name of SDB,, the contract had mentioned ” under the supervision of CRamchandra “.. Of course, this needs more confirmation by other knowledgeable rasik friends.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
May 5, 2014 at 10:27 pm
Thanks for the write up on CR of 40’s. Hats Off Arunji.
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