Shatrangi chaal hai
Posted on: November 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.
Here is a song from film called Parichay-54. This song is sung by Lata Mangeshkar. The song is a different type of a fast paced song, the like of which Lata is not normally known for. The pace of the song reminds me of another fast paced song, “Mohe lagaa saraa jag feeka feeka re balam, which Lata sang for film Jhanjhar-53 under the baton of C.Ramchandra. The story of Jhanjhar-53 was set in Malaysia and hence C.Ramchandra had used a Malaysian fast tune in that film. However, in film Parichay the story is set in India, But the Music Director of this song had used a fast tune to suit film situation.
Film Parichaya-54 was produced by Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala under the banner of J.J.Films, Bombay and it was directed by Satyen Bose, whose famous film “Jagriti “- 54 was also censored in the same month. Film “Parichay” was released in Opera House,Bombay on 17-12-54, whereas Filmistan released their film Jagriti in “Naaz”, Bombay on 11-2-55. The cast of film Parichay was Shashikala, Abhi Bhattacharya, Pranoti Ghosh ( later married to Abhi Bhattacharya), Sajjan, Zebunnisa,Panchotiya, Shakuntala etc etc.
There were two Music Directors in it, namely Sailesh Mukherjee and Vedpal (Verma). Sailesh composed 5 songs and Vedpal composed 3 songs- including the only Kishore Kumar song in the film. Sailesh composed 3 songs for Lata, 1 for Rafi and 1 for Asha Bhonsle. All his 5 songs were of different types.
During last few years, I came across some people who were closely related/associated with famous yesteryear cine artistes. This gave me an opportunity to gather more and intimate information on their personal life. Some of these artistes were Bhudo Advani, Parshuram, Mukri, Indurani, Latika, Mirza Musharraf and Chitragupta. Few months back I got to know Ms. Meeta Mukherjee- Daughter in Law of Actor, singer and music Director Sailesh mukherjee. From her I got some hetherto unknown information about Sailesh Mukherjee, who was a multifaceted artist. For the benefit of our readers I present here my exclusive interaction with Ms. Meeta Mukherjee….
Born on 3rd June 1926 in Calcutta, Sailesh Mukherjee completed his Matriculation and came to Bombay in 1946 to become a Music Director. He met Anil Biswas-also from Bengal- and got an opportunity to sing in film Milan-1946. That is how his singing started and he sang in films like Andhon ki Duniya-47 and Vanvasi-48,Aaag-48 (2 songs),Anmol Moti-49 with Shamshad,The last Message-49 with Uma Devi,
Deepak-51 with Uma Devi,Suhag Sindoor-53,Samaj-54 with Asha.
In Andolan-51 he sang ‘Vande Matharam’ with Manna Dey,Parul Ghosh and Sudha Malhotra.
He last sang in Naya qadam-58.
His dream of becoming a Music Director was still not getting realised. Finally he became a Music Director, a joint one with Suresh Kumar-in the film Suhag Sindoor-1953. Even in this film, his partner made him sing two songs, under his baton !
Anyway, later Shailesh gave music to Parichay-54 and Savera, in 1958. While recording songs for Parichay, Shailesh played Tabla himself in all songs. In film Savera his songs became very popular. Songs like “Chhuppa chhuppi Aagad Baagad jaayi re” by Lata and Manna Dey, ” Nadiya ka pani” by Lata and “Jane na,Jane na” by Geeta became hits.
Inexplicably, despite good and hit songs, he stopped getting any more films, either as a Music Director or as a singer. So Shailesh changed his gear once again and he became an Actor. He became Hero in ” Miya bibi raazi”-1960, ” Pyar ki Pyas”-1961 and ” Monica”-1962. As a Hero he had taken a new name SHRIKANT GAURAV. The films did not click.
By chance I bumped into Ms. Meeta Mukherjee, Daughter-in-Law of Sailesh Mukherjee. Here is some conversation, with her, and some more information on him.
Meeta Mukherjee….. Mr. ARUN KUMAR DESHMUKH, I thank you from the core of my heart for forwarding this post pertaining to Shree Sailesh Mukherjee. Mr. Mahesh Kaul had made him sign a contract wherein he was not allowed to act in any other banner other than his. In Bandish-55 he had played the role of Dada moni’s friend. In Miya Biwi Raazi and Pyaar Ki Pyaas he was the hero but the remunerations what was offered to him was comparatively lower than other banners. Hence he gave up acting.
Music was his passion. He was a multi talented man. Later on he became an Interior Designer and used to compere a programme in Calcutta wherein he would interview all the leading top artist of Calcutta e.g Uttam Kumar etc which was sponsored by Horlicks. He had designed Mala sinha aunt’s bungalow too. The first recording studio at Natraj for Shakti Samanta was designed by him. Today both my husband and son are qualified Architects. My father in law had expired in the year 1998 when my son was just in school. But I have fulfilled his dream of his grandson becoming an Architect. He seeks all your blessings.
Meeta Mukherjee…. ARUN ji beautiful writeup about SHREE Sailesh Mukherjee and I shall always remain indebted to you. He never went back to Calcutta but since he had influential friends like Mr. Nagpal etc he changed his profession and became an Interior Designer and flourished.
He used to fly to Calcutta to interview Bengali film stars. Since he had a very good voice and a great command and knowledge about Bangla literature he would lend his voice for documentaries too. He was very passionate about nature and gardening hence he had bought 11 acres of land in Karjat. V used to have regular sessions of his songs at our farmhouse. He used to sing Madhushala with lots of passion. Rabindra Sangeet was his favorite. Warm regards !!!
Arunkumar Deshmukh….. Meeta ji,as I said, not much info was available on him as to what he did after films. Now that you have enlightened us about his life after films,we are wiser and are thankful to you for this information. The problem with old time artistes’ information is that it is difficult to come by,unless some near and dear one informs. Thanks once again, Meeta ji.
In film Parichay-54, the other MD, along with Sailesh Mukherjee was Vedpal ( Verma). Yo must have heard the famous Radio and TV jingle of Nirma washing powder. Vedpal was the composer of this jingle. Those who were old enough to see TV and listen to Radio in the late 80s and 90s can not forget this catchy jingle, played repeatedly and which was sung by every child in the homes, along with jingle on the TV !
This and 300 other similarly popular jingles ( Vicco, Paan parag, Frooti, Rasna etc) were made by Vedpal Varma, the Music Director of film Parichay-54. But that was when he had stopped getting films or rather when the industry had forgotten this talented composer, who could never cross the B grade movie barrier. He made jingles, gave music to documentaries and stage dramas and even wrote lyrics in B grade films, like Maa Behan aur Biwi, Aayi phir se bahaar, Sunehri nagin, Bacchhe mere saathi, Hum junglee hain and Wafaadaar only to survive somehow.
Vedpal Varma was born in an Arya Samaj family in Sirsa (Haryana). After getting regular training in music, he joined AIR (before that he worked as a mechanic also). Lyricist Madhukar Rajasthani brought him to Bombay to become a singer. After an unsuccessful struggle to become a singer, Lyricist Ramesh Shastry recommended him to producer Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala and he became a joint Music Director (with Sailesh Mukherjee) for film Parichay-54. He gave music in a dubbed(from Tamil) film, ‘Aayi phir se bahar’ but the film got stranded and got released in the 70s. His other film “Saarang” was not released at all. He gave music in a Bangla film ‘Sorry Madam’ and a Punjabi film ‘Chhoriyan di toli’.
His other films were, Bholanath-63, Sant Tukaram-65, Gunehgaar-67, Maya Sundari-67, Bhima mera Haathi-73, Hum Junglee hain-73, Kore Badan-74, Vafaadar-76, O Bewafaa-80, Zakhmi Dil-84, Sautan ki Beti-88, Mera pati meri zindagi-93 and Piya ka ghar-97.
During his career, even Ravindra Jain acted as his assistant in his early stages. Most of the existing and new singers were used by Vedpal. He also made some NFS records with HMV. But all in all, Vedpal Varma remained an unsuccessful composer. He used to live alone in an one room tenement on the third floor of Prasad Shopping Centre, Goregaon west, Bombay, where he breathed his last on 19-12-1996 and one more name quietly disappeared from the music field !
The story of film Parichay-54 was…
In Lucknow Shankar became a mining Engineer. Geeta stayed near his house. She fell in his love,but being a very hesitant and coy type of a girl, she could never express her love to him. She thought that he will somehow understand her love, but that never happened. At least he never showed it. Eventually, Shankar was transferred to Assam.
While working in Assam Shankar met with an accident. He hwas carefully nursed by the Local Homeopath doctor’s daughter Shivani. Shankar and Shivani fall in love and decide to get married. Meanwhile Geeta is worried about Shankar’s welfare and comes to Assam to see him. Here she has to see that he got married to Shivani happily. One fine day, Shankar comes to know that Shivani was earlier married to someone else, who had died later on. This fact was not told to Shankar before marriage as it was an old story when Shivani was a child. But Shankar is upset and thinks of leaving Shivani.As Geeta is available, Shankar now thinks of marrying Geeta and starting a new life. However Geeta is averse to this plan. She convinces Shankar that what he is thinking is not right and it will be injustice to Shivani. To ease out the matters Geeta returns to Lucknow without telling Shankar, thus sacrificing her love to do justice to another woman !
There were 8 songs in film Parichay. Today’s song will be the 3rd song to be posted here. I have selected Lata’s song from this film because it is a very special song. This type of songs are rare from Lata. This is not her comfort zone song, still Lata has done full justice to this unusual song and hence this has been selected to become her 3100 th song in this Blog. Yes, Lata completes 3100 songs- the maximum by ANY singer in this Blog. This song shows her versatility in singing any type of song. Later on, of course, she stopped singing such songs. Enjoy this unusual song from Lata Mangeshkar.
Song-Shatranji chaal hai (Parichay)(1954) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Akhtar Yousuf, MD-Sailesh Mukherji
Lyrics
shatrangi chaal hai
chahat ki baazi
shatrangi chaal hai chahat ki baazi
dekh khilaadi ee
maat na khaana
na na na na
shatrangi chaal hai
chaahat ki baazi
shatrangi chaal hain
chaahat ki baazi
dekh khilaadi ee ee
maat na khaana
na na na na
shatrangi chaal hai
preet ki kasmen
pyaar ke vaade
ret ke naazuk mahal hain saare
preet ki kasmen
pyaar ke vaade
ret ke naazuk mahal hain saare
jhooth hain teri rooh ke pyaare ae ae
jhooth hain teri rooh ke pyaare
jhooth hain inke chaand sitaare
nainon mein kho kar
khud ko dubo kar
mushkil bahut hai saahil pe aana
shatrangi chaal hai chaahat ki baazi
shatrangi chaal hai chahat ki baazi
dekh khilaadi ee ee
maat na khaana
na na na na
shatrangi chaal hai
apne dil ki khair mana le
patthar dil hain kaanch ke putle
apne dil ki khair mana le
patthar dil hain kaanch ke putle
apna daaman dekh bacha le ae ae ae
apna daaman dekh bacha le
ghhaat mein hain ye nange shole
nainon mein kho kar khud ko dubo kar
mushkil bahut hai saahil pe aana
shatrangi chaal hai chaahat ki baazi
shatrangi chaal hai chaahat ki baazi
dekh khilaadi ee ee
maat na khaana
na na na na
shatrangi chaal hai
7 Responses to "Shatrangi chaal hai"
November 13, 2016 at 7:42 pm
Nothing to beat “Jalke Dil Khak hua” by Lataji from the same film. Dear Arunji, nice to know that you have come around to Sailesh Mukherjee after all . I recall in an earlier Blog on the same Film , you had credited Sailesh Dave as being the Music Director of “Parichay”.
Chaliye , der aaye , durust aaye !
Warm regards
PARTHA CHANDA
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November 14, 2016 at 8:05 am
PARTHA CHANDA ji,
Thanks for your comment.
The earlier article by me on a song from Parichay-54 was on song ‘mera ghoda hai nigoda’ on 6-1-2014. In that article I had correctly written about Sailesh Mukherjee.
However in a comment dated 3-11-2011, by me on the first song of this film,’Dil ke phophole’, I did say about Sailesh Dave. I accept that it was wrong.
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February 4, 2017 at 4:52 pm
Arunji,
I came to know about you through this blog only , that too very recently. Nowadays I spend at least one hour reading your old posts on this blog and elsewhere. Wonderful info about Shailesh and Vedpal . I have 78 rpm of Parichay and Bhootnath ( Bhulese kar liye pyar) but never expected to get such a detailed information about the MDs. Similar is the case with the song Dillise Aaya Bhai Painu.( Ek thi Ladki).
Thanks a tonne from this wonderful research. What Meeta Mukharjee said to you is absolutely right : ” We are heavily indebted to you ” and will always be so.
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February 5, 2017 at 6:03 pm
Dhananjay Kurane ji,
Thanks a million for your comments.
Such comments encourage me to continue doing my work.
I am glad that you liked my posts and got some additional information.
Thanks again.
-AD
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February 5, 2017 at 10:57 pm
Dear Arunji ,
Some additional info. which perhaps you are aware of – in which case for your readers who may not be in the know . The Story of “Parichay” was written by Marxist Writer SWARNAKAMAL BHATTACHARYA and the name of the Bengali Story TATHAPI was made into a Film of the same name in 1950 which also starred debutante PRONOTI GHOSH as the deaf-mute girl . It was directed by MANOJ BHATTACHARYA and also had the famous Director RITWICK GHATAK in the Cast . The Screenplay was by BIMAL ROY and is believed to have helped with the Direction .
With warm regards
PARTHA CHANDA
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February 6, 2017 at 11:46 am
Thanks Partha Chanda ji for this information, which is new to me.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
November 12, 2016 at 5:31 pm
The best song of Sailesh is by Rafi>
kismat ka likha na tale na koi bas chale
yeh kya hai zindagi
yeh kya hai zindagi
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