Ham banjaare sang hamaare
Posted on: January 12, 2016
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a 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.
Today is the birth anniversary of C.Ramchandra, one of the Best Music Directors the Hindi film industry had. He has left us long back, but his iconic songs live on, giving us pleasure even today and they will continue to do so in future as well, no matter what the current generation likes. Looking at the Remixes of C Ramchandra’s famous songs like, “Mere piya gaye Rangoon”, or “Sunday ke Sunday”, or even “Gore gore,o baanke chhore”, it is certain that his songs have a magical spell even over New Generations !
C Ramchnadra’s golden period started from the film “Safar”- 46 and it lasted up to 1958 ( till Lata Mangeshkar parted ways). After that his graph went downhill rapidly. What songs he gave us during the period of his peak! He was one of those few composers to whom Tunes came naturally and very easily. He took hardly more than 10-15 minutes to for tuning any song.Unlike today’s Music Directorss, he needed Lyrics first in his hands, of course. He always wondered how a Lyricist could write a meaningful song to fit an already prepared tune !
The story of how he composed and recorded the 9 songs of film Aazaad-55 is too well known to be repeated here and mind you all songs became popular. Composers like Naushad ( who had rejected the same film earlier), would need at least 6 to 9 months for 9 songs. Of course that was his style. Quality wise he was in no way less than C.Ramchandra.
C.Ramchandra was not a specialist or bound to any particular type of songs, though his comedy and lighter songs became more popular. He composed Ghazals,Bhajans, Qawalis,Happy songs, Sad sangs, Comedy songs,Classical songs etc with equal ease. His Lori, “Aaa jaa ri nidiaya”from film Albela-51 was composed during a 10 minutes car ride from his house to the Recording studio, because he got the Lyrics at the last minute. This lori remains an iconic Lori song in Hindi film music.
Among singers, his infatuation with Lata is legendary, ignoring-sometimes even unjustly-other female singers. Among male singers, he had no favourites. He used Rafi more than others. Manna Dey and Mukesh did not sing much for him. He himself, having a classical education base, sang many songs-solos and duets. His duets with Lata, Shamshad and Binapani were especially more popular.
During 1947, the political and social atmosphere in India was quite disturbing. India’s Independence was on the anvil and it was certain that a Muslim country “Pakistan’ would be carved out of India, on the basis of Religion. Film industry had a sizable population of Muslim artistes among Actors, Directors, Lyricists,Composers and singers. Some of them had decided to migrate to the new country and were in a hurry to complete their assignments here, before the declaration of Independence. An atmosphere of fear,distrust and inhibition prevailed upon the artistes. In the remote areas,some communal riots were taking place and such news were making Bombay an explosive place. The film industry, by and large,still remained secular and nuetral barrig few isolated instances of arson like, burning of ‘ Hind Studios “, in retaliation to burning of Pancholi studios in Lahore.
For C.Ramchandra of course, all this was nothing.In 1947 itself he did 8 films (Ahinsa, Bahadur Pratap, Leela, Madadgaar, Matwali, Saajan, Shaadi se pehle and Shahnai). Out of these, Shehnai,Saajan and Leela were social films and the rest were stunt and action films. All the 3 social films had record breaking music and the songs became popular.
Saajan-47 was a film made by Filmistan in which Ashok kumar was also a partner. He was the film’s Hero, opposite Rehana. Till this film, Ashok kumar was singing his own songs in the films. Even in Saajan he was to sing two songs- one solo and one duet with Lalita Deulkar. In those days Ashok kumar was living in Fort-Colaba area in south Bombay and Filmistan studio was in Goregaon west- a western suburb. One of the most famous songs of Hindi films, “Humko tumhara hi aasra” from film Saajan-47 was to be recorded at Filmistan. He had done the rehearsals also. The atmosphere in Bombay had become tense and explosive due to communal riots. Ashok kumar did not or could not come all the way to the recording studio from far off Fort-Colaba to Goregaon in this situation. The song recording was a must. C.Ramchandra decided to give this song to Rafi and quick rehearsals were done. The songs- solo and duet were recorded in Rafi’s voice. Later this song became so famous that it helped establish Rafi as a Playback singer.
For Ashok Kumar however, this was the last chance. After this he never sang in films…till Aashirwad-68, a period of 40 years.
Can you ever imagine Ashok Kumar on screen without a cigarette ?-barring his early films, that is. He was not only a chain smoker in real life but in almost all his films,Cigarette was an inseparable part of his persona on screen. You will be surprised that from his first film, Jeevan Naiya-36 till Jhoola or Anjaan in 1941, he had never smoked. However he always felt that his hands were in an awkward position in his films.He really did not know what to do with his hands.
While doing the role of a Journalist in film “Naya Sansar”-41, opposite Renuka Devi ( in the credits of the film, her name was First and Ashok kumar’s was second), first time he held a cigarette in his hand. This actually changed his life. His acting became natural and he felt relaxed and happy doing his roles. From then on Cigarette became an integral part of his reel and real life. He got Asthma due to smoking, but he never left smoking. He reduced it to just 90 cigarettes a day-on doctor’s advise !
From 1967, Ashok kumar started doing character roles from film ‘Meherbaan’-67. In that film he is shown a chain smoker. His daughter in Law( shashikala) shows him how smoking is destroying his health and wealth and in the film, he quits the smoking for ever permanently. However in actual life he never stopped smoking.
How many of us know that Ashok kumar had done roles in Mythological films and a Historical film ? Ashok kumar did the role of Satyawan in film “Savitri’-37, opposite Devika Rani and then became Abhimanyu in film “Uttara-Abhimanyu”-46, opposite Shanta Apte. He acted as Humayun in film “Humayun”-45. Ashokkumar looked funny in these roles. Famous film Journalist Badri Kanchwala( second husband of Amirbai Karnataki) says, “In Humayun-45, there was a scene in which Ashok kumar runs with a spear in his hands. Those days,Ashok kumar used to look quite feminine and so this scene used to evoke loud laughter in the theatre ridiculing him”. Filmistan had announced a film on Lokmanya Tilak,with Ashok kumar as Tilak. Thankfully,the project was shelved and Lokmanya Tilak and the Indian audience was spared ! More about Ashok kumar some other time.
Here is the Anokhe Bol song from the film “Saajan”-47. The song is sung by Rafi, Geeta Roy and Lalita Deulkar with chorus. The lyrics are by Moti B.A.
Song-Ham banjaare sang hamaare (Saajan)(1947) Singers-Rafi, Unknown male voice, Lalita Deulkar, Geeta Dutt, Lyrics-Moti B A, MD-C Ramchandra
All
Lyrics
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
hum banjaare
hum banjaare sang hamaare ae ae ae
dhoom machaa le jhoome jaa
hoye mauj udaa le jhoome jaa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
apne pairon ki thokar se
raah bana le
apne pairon ki thokar se
raah banaa le ae ae
dhoom machaa le jhoome jaa
hoye mauj udaa le jhoome jaa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
hum hain mast bade albele
ae ae ae ae ae ae
hum hain mast bade albele
nisdin toofaanon se khelen ae ae
sardi garmi tan par jhelen aen
nagar nagar mein
dagar dagar mein
jahaan jahaan jee chaahe gaaon basaa len
jahaan jaha jee chaahe gaaon basaa len ae ae ae
dhoom machale jhoome jaa
hoye mauj udaa le jhoome jaa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
meri ghaat ki madaiya
aa aa aa aa aa aa
chaandi sone ki talaiya
aa aa aa aa aa aa
pyaara bachhda pyaari gaiya
aa aa aa aa aa
apni duniya peethh pe laade ae
apna bojha apne kaandhe ae
tera jahaan jahaan jee chaahe
rang jamaa le
tera jahaan jahaan jee chaahe
rang jamaa le ae ae
dhoom macha le
jhoome ja
hoye mauj udaa le jhoome jaa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
3 Responses to "Ham banjaare sang hamaare"
January 12, 2016 at 2:38 pm
He sang later in Padmini-48; Kangan-72, Khubsoorat-80, Shaukeen-82
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3 | Bharat Upadhyay
January 12, 2016 at 6:08 pm
Arunbhai,
Your typist typed “Aa Jaa Ri Nindia”, even though you dictated to him “Dheere Se Aaa Jaa Ri Nindia”.
Being soft hearted, as we all know you are, you did not even told him about the mistake.
This is the inside story, that nobody knows except yours truly. Always remember that this source is the first and only one to reveal such tidbits.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 12, 2016 at 11:37 am
Hahaha !!! Lovely writeup….after reading it I was trying to visualize Ashok Kumar with the spear…..as you have said thank god the movie on tilak was not made
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