3 Responses to "Chale re chale Raam vanwaas"
January 28, 2018 at 11:50 pm
Dear Arunji ,
Wow ! When it rains , it pours . Two Posts in a matter of a few days . Thank you again .
No one can match your wealth of knowledge re: Indian Movies and one is sure that only space restricts you from informing us more about the little details.
It is with great trepidation , therefore , that I venture to add some trivia about the legendary Bimal Roy , which some of your readers might find interesting :
His first film as an independent Cameraman was for a Tamil Film made in Calcutta – “Nalla Thangal” in 1934 . Gradually, his work began to be noticed and even reached the ears of BN Sircar , the Supremo of New Theatres , and so it was that in 1943 , when Sircar was requested by the then Govt. to produce a 1000 feet Documentary on the Bengal Famine , he entrusted the job to this young man of a few words named BIMAL ROY , the successful Cameraman he had been so impressed by . Roy and his Crew initially faced stiff resistance from the masses during the shootings , but he managed to gain their confidence and the resulting Documentary was hailed as a landmark. ( Its main purpose was to attract attention both at home and abroad to the crisis at hand and to bring in aid , in cash and kind , to overcome the terrible tragedy ). By December of 1943 , the Famine had begun to be checked , but not before a few million had perished and many more later who suffered from the after effects of severe malnutrition . There is no trace of the Documentary in the Public Domain , except for this extract below , used in a British Documentary , with Credits to New Theatres – the language appears to be Punjabi , perhaps to generate aid from North India or the expatriate Punjabis in England and elsewhere :
( Bengal Famine – 1943 )
[ since the credit line mentions New Theatres , it would be reasonable to assume that the extracts are from the Documentary made by Bimal Roy – it is also logical to assume that since it was a Govt . funded Project , the Original Prints of the Documentary would be lying somewhere in the British Archives , now located in a distant suburb of London ].
Impressed by Roy’s capabilities as a Cinematographer , Editor and Director , all rolled in one , Sircar wished to reward the young man with an independent venture and then he recalled the story given to him by Jyotirmoy Roy , his in-house left leaning screenplay writer . In any case Sircar himself was tied up with a mammoth Production which had just gone on the floors of his sprawling Studio . The War was still on and Raw Stock was controlled by the Govt. and available at a Premium . He assigned “Udayer Pathe” on a shoestring budget to Bimal Roy , with the proviso that he could not touch the raw stock of the Production House (which , in any case, had been earmarked for the Big Projects) – he had to make do with the “cut-pieces” left over from previous Projects and lying unused in some corner of the Stores . The debutante Director took up the challenge and it was nothing short of a miracle how he pulled off a feat – with all his Artistes absolutely fresh faces (except his personal friend , Tulsi Chakraborty) .
“Udayer Pathe” turned out to be a landmark film , and in spite of the technical hurdles prevalent at that time , it showed film makers how films could be made .
Sircar could not believe that it was made out of cut-pieces , so deft was the editing , and it is said that he personally re-checked the Inventory of Raw Stock in the Studio, to re-confirm that nothing was missing !
“Udayer Pathe” turned out to be the biggest money spinner for New Theatres for all times ( and for good measure , that Mega Project that Sircar was betting all his efforts on , turned out to be a damp squib and a flop ).
In the Editing Department , Roy was ably assisted by one SUBODH MITTER ( affectionately known to all in the Studio as “kanchi-da ” – in those days , Editing was doubly more complicated , as it had to be done directly on the negative and required greater skill ). And “kanchi -da ” had a young Chemistry Graduate as his apprentice – his name , HRISHIKESH MUKHERJEE !
[ When Bimal Roy later left New Theatres and migrated to Bombay , one of the first persons he approached was Hrishikesh , who jumped at the offer – he travelled with Roy and his family (wife Manobina and two young daughters) in the same First Class Compartment ].
And in the context of the previous Post by dear Arunji , apropos Anthems, it would not be out of place to mention that “Udayer Pathe” was the first film to use “Jana Gana Mana” as a song . It was used as a background song for a Public Meeting in the Film , and it was the complete song , or almost , being 4 of the 5 stanzas as originally composed by Kabiguru . But somewhere down the line , the song was removed from the Film , although old timers who had seen the film swear that it was part of the Film . The mystery remains – if the British Censors did not find it objectionable (back then in 1944 , “Vande Mataram” was destined to be the eventual National Anthem of Free India) , who could have had the song removed after Independence ? To this day , it remains as much of a Mystery as Netaji’s disappearance !
The mystery deepens with the clue in the short video clip below :
[ The reference to “Humrahi” in the clip is the Hindi version of the Film made in 1945 , with more or less the same cast , but with Hindi dialogues written by one Mohanlal Bajpai ]
If we have to judge a Film Maker by only one of his works , then surely it is “Udayer Pathe” for Bimal Roy . Luckily , the Film is available in Parts on YouTube , and language should not be a barrier for a great work of Art .
With warm regards and looking forward to your next Post
PARTHA CHANDA
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January 29, 2018 at 11:55 am
PARTHA CHANDA ji,
Thanks for your detailed additions.
You have rightly said that space restricts the length of the article.
Though there is no restriction on the length of articles from Atul ji any time, I strongly feel myself that too much details or too many things narrated makes the focus on the music and the song weak.
Therefore I try to make my write ups compact-not too short and hopefully not too long, so that they serve the purpose of information distribution and yet do not diminish the importance of the song too.
It is like a photograph of newly wed couple. A crowd in the photo minimises the focus on the couple.
There are many interesting anecdotes of Bimal Roy still not covered here. May be I will write about them sometime again.
Meanwhile thanks for your appreciation.
-AD
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 28, 2018 at 5:45 pm
Opening lines sound like:-
?? – ‘Saanjh bhayee, bhanu chupe, chhaya andhiyara
Maa ke nainon se chupa naino ka taara’.
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