Kaase main kahoon piya hiya ki baat
Posted on: May 31, 2019
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.
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Today’s song is from a film of the first decade of the Talkie, ” Yangrilla “-1938. The song is sung by Sarla. No information is available about this singer. The cast of the film was Enakshi Rama Rau, Nayampalli, David, Gyani, Saalu, Shareefa, S L Puri, Fatty Prasad and few others.
It is generally said that in the early era, most actors and actresses came from poor families and most artistes had no or had negligible education. While it is true to a great extent, it is not 100% true. It is not that even in this period, there were no educated persons in the film industry. Right from the beginning of the Silent era to Talkie film era up to the end of the 40s decade, there were actors, actresses, directors,producers and musicians who were quite educated. Some of them had even been trained in western countries.
Take the case of Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani and their team of writer like Niranjan Pal, from the silent era. They were all highly educated and from rich. cultured families. Niranjan Pal was the son of the Freedom fighter Bipin chnadra Pal. B.N.Sircar is another example. Director Nanubhai Vakil was actually an advocate with B.A. LL.B degree. Surendra was BA, LL.B. Motilal was a graduate, so were Ramchandra Thakur, Nandlal Jaswantlal, Jayant Desai, Jairaj, Umakant Desai. Ashok kumar, Dev Anand and his 2 brothers etc.
Among actresses, Leela Chitnis, Shanta Apte, Durga Khote, Renuka Devi were graduates. Vanmala was BA,BT. Kamini Kaushal was BA. The point here is, there were educated and people with respectable family background were also a part of film industry. But of course, initially their number was smaller compared to others who were either illiterate or less educated. For example, the beautiful Meena Shorey and Sitara Kanpuri could not even sign- leave alone reading and writing !. That is why, they were cheated in their contracts by Sohrab Modi and W.Z.Ahmed ( of Shalimar Pictures and husband of actress Neena).
In today’s film, Yangrilla-38, the Hero, Heroine and the Director were all highly educated. The Heroine, Enakshi Rama Rao was the daughter of an ICS officer of Madras Presidency. She came to England for her graduation. After graduation, she took part in some stage dramas, where she got introduced to Niranjan Pal and Himanshu Rai. When Himanshu Rai decided to make a silent film on Tajmahal story, he asked Niranjan Pal to write the film story. Sita Devi aka Renee Smith was selected for the Vamp’s role and Enakshi was selected for the main role of Selima ( who was later named Mumtaj Mahal by Prince Khurram- who was later known as Shahjehan.). The film was named Shiraz.
Enakshi is a very unusual name. Comparatively, Meenakshi is a well known name. Meenakshi means ” one with eyes like Fish “. Enakshi means ” one with the eyes of Doe or Deer”. In other words, Enakshi means Mrignayani. Except name of this actress, I have never ever come across this name (Enakshi) in my life elsewhere !
Her work in film Shiraz was applauded in England, Germany and India. When she returned to India, She met Bhavnani, who made a silent film Vasantsena-31, with her in the lead role. More than as an actress of Silent and Talkie films, Enakshi’s name was known in Elite circles for different achievements, after she stopped working in films.
Not many of us know that Meenakshi Bhavnani ( Enakshi Rama Rao before her marriage ) has done an enormous service to expose Indian dances and Designs to West. No lesser is her contribution to expose Kashmir Crafts and Designs ( Fabric , Wood and Papier Mache ) to west. An American Tourist told in Kerala recently about her detailed work on Kashmir Designs ( shawls , Jackets ).This side of Meenakshi’s personality and work is in addition to her contribution as a Dancer, photographer and actress .Two scholarly Books written by Meenakshi Bhavnani were also published. Both the books are preserved in American Museum of Natural History.These are ..
(1) Folk And Tribal Designs of India
(2) The Dance of India: The Origin and History Foundation, Art and Science of the Dance in India .
This exceptionally talented woman stayed in Kashmir for sometime in 1950 and met cross section of people connected with Arts and Crafts . She had been a visitor thereafter as well . She also visited Leh and kargil for her Book. During this period she also clicked some photographs in Kashmir portraying its rich culture and scenic beauty.She also shot a Documentary “ VALEY OF KASHMIR “ during this period..
Meenakshi was an active member of the Crafts Council of India, which was founded in 1964 to support artisans and keep their crafts relevant and marketable amid rapidly changing economies at home and abroad.
The Photographs clicked by her have also appeared in National Geographic Magazine especially her series.
And in her book on folk dances of India , Meenakshi covers all forms of Kashmirian folk dances .
Enakshi married film maker Mohan Bhavnani ( 1903-1962 ) who was trained in Germany and Hollywood. She was a dancer , Actor , Photographer and writer on Arts , Crafts and culture. From 1929 to 1938, She acted in six films as a leading lady . Out of these six films five ( Vasantsena-31 , Trapped-31 ,Jagaran-36 , Himalaya ki Beti-38 and Yangrilla-38 ) were directed by her husband Mohan Bhavnani . Only Shiraz ( 1929 Produced by Himanshu Roy ) was directed by Franz Osten .
Producer Director Mohan Bhavnani was a learned and illustrious person. This is what the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema says about him-
Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani (1903-62)
Hindi director born in Hyderabad, Sindh. Studied at College of Technology, Manchester (1921-4), then studied film-making in Germany at UFA (1924). Contracted to Kohinoor (1925- 6) where his Sulochana films were the earliest efforts in the Indian cinema to create a Hollywood-type movie star, e.g. Cinema Ni Rani where she plays a famous actress with whom the painter hero falls in love, or Wildcat of Bombay where she played multiple roles. Joined Imperial (1927-9), where he made Khwab-e-Hasti, adapted from the novel Dreamland (later also adapted by N. Taurog’s Strike me Pink, 1936). Scripted by A.S. Desai, this film is not to be confused with Kashmiri’s play of the same title. Vasantsena was the first Kannada intertitled film. Became independent producer with Indian Art Prod. (1931-2). Returned to Germany to study sound film technique. Started Ajanta Cinetone (1933-4) and his own Bhavnani Prod. (1935-48). Sound de´but was a flop, but it introduced Durga Khote. Hired Premchand to script Mazdoor, representing the author’s only direct encounter with film, following it with the unemployment melodrama Jagran. Produced and directed the first full-length colour film shot on 16mm Kodachrome and blown up to 35mm, Ajit. Joined Films Division and became its first Chief Producer (1948-55). In 1958 Bhavnani followed up an invitation from Zhou En-Lai to make a documentary on China and travelled extensively throughout the country shooting with cameramen Kishore Rege and S.K. Kulkarni. His wife Enakshi Rama Rao, who acted in Vasantsena, had earlier played the lead in Shiraz (1928) and became a noted dancer and author of the book The Dance of India (1965).
FILMOGRAPHY: 1925: Cinema Ni Rani; Matri Prem; Veer Bala; Seth Sagalsha; 1 9 2 6 : Pagal Premi; Diwan Bhamasha; Mena Kumari; Ra Kawat; Samrat Shiladitya; Bhamto Bhoot; 1 9 2 7 : Naseeb Ni Lili; Daya Ni Devi; Trust Your Wife; Wildcat of Bombay; Gamdeni Gori; 1929: Hawai Swar; Khwab-e- Hasti; Mysore, Gem City of India (Doc); Khedda (Doc); 1 9 3 0 : Vasantsena (all St); 1 9 3 1 : Shakuntala; Farebi Jaal; Lafanga Langoor (Sh); 1 932: Veer Kunal; 1 933: Afzal; Rangila Rajput; 1 9 3 4 : Dard-e-Dil; Mazdoor; Sair-e-Paristan; 1935: Jung Bahadur; Navjeevan; Shadi Ki Raat; 1936: Dilawar; Garib Parwar; Jagran; Wrestling (Doc); 1 9 3 7 : Zambo the Ape Man; 1 9 3 8 : Double Cross; Himalay Ki Beti; Yangrilla; 1 9 3 9 : Zambo Ka Beta; 1940: Jhoothi Sharm; PremNagar?; 1945: Biswi Sadi; 1 946: Rang Bhoomi; 1 948: Ajit; 1 9 4 9 : Vale of Kashmir (Doc); 1 9 5 0 : The Private Life of a Silkworm (Doc); 1 9 5 1 : Lest We Forget (Doc); 1 9 5 2 : Kumaon Hills (Doc); 1 9 5 3 : Folk Dances of India (Doc); Republic Day Record (Doc); 1 9 5 5 : Republic Day 1955 (Doc); 1 956: Operation Khedda (Doc); 1 957: The Himalayan Tapestry (Doc ).
Like the Heroine, the name of the film was also strange. I tried very hard to find out what the word Yangrilla meant, but I could not get it. Finally, undaunted, I started going through the list of books on line. Lo and behold ! I bumped into a book with a title ” Rilla of the Inglewood ” written by Lucy Maud Montgomary, published in 1921. Some part of the book was available for reading online and while reading it, I found that ” Yangrilla ” in Swahili language meant a Hunter. Not going into the book and its boring story, I was glad that at last I decoded the word Yangrilla…a Hunter. Considering that the film ‘ Yangrilla’-38 was a Costume drama, I can guess that this film’s story must have been connected with hunting, Jungle and such other interesting and thrilling matters. Film Yangrilla-38 was financed by Ramnarayan Dubey, who in later years swallowed Bombay Talkies with its Land and started an Industrial complex on its land with about 250 to 300 manufacturing units. Recently his grandson was in news for announcing revival of Bombay Talkies !
The Hero of this film was Nayampalli. S.B. Nayampally (or Nayampalli) was working at the firm of Killick, Nixon and Company, in Bombay when he was discovered by film director P.Y. Altekar at a gym where Nayampally regularly exercised. Altekar felt that Nayampally very much resembled the famous French boxer Georges Carpenter and would be perfect for the stunt films that had become popular at the time. At Altekar’s urging, Nayampally joined Imperial Studios and was quickly cast in his first film, Wedding Night(1929), opposite the popular actress Jilloo. When he arrived at Imperial to begin his first day of filming he was amused to find that the building now used for the studio had formerly housed the school he’d attended as a child.“Wedding Night was a stunt film of the Robin Hood type,” Nayampally explained in a 1964 interview. “It had a little more of a plot to it than many films of the same class. My next film, Hell’s Paradise (1929), I remember for three reasons. One, it was based on a real-life episode involving an Indian prince and a foreign girl, described as an adventuress. Two, Mama Warerekar, the noted writer, did the story. Three, the film had a kissing scene, probably the first ever in an Indian film.”
Nayampalli was cast in Imperial’s Noorjehan (1931), which was initially to be a silent picture, but because of the success of their film Alam Ara (1931), which was India’s first talkie, the studio decided to make Noorjehan partly with sound. Nayampally was not originally cast in Noorjehan, but a chance meeting with the film’s director, Ezra Mir, got him the role of Prince Salim in the film.Nayampally then played Karna in Imperial’s next sound film, the mythological Draupadi (1931), but the actor considered his best mythological role to be that of the wily Shakuni in Mahatma Vidur (1943), a part that was appreciated by critics and the public, alike.
As sound films came in, silent actors were being discarded in favor of those with stage backgrounds and could not sing, so Nayampalli joined the Grant Anderson Theatrical Company which specialized in Shakespearean plays. After gaining some experience he tried to rejoin films, but without much luck. His previous roles had been leads, so he decided if he wanted to work regularly, maybe he should take a different approach and he offered himself up for character parts.His break came in the role of a hunchback in love with the heroine in Ezra Mir’s Zarina which starred Jal Merchant and Zubeida. The dentures he wore for the role were created specially by a dentist named Jimmy Gheista who had trained abroad with the dentist who had made similar dentures for Lon Chaney.
Nayampally had learned early on how to apply make-up for his roles and, in fact, he became so good at it he eventually came to specialize in horror make-up, which earned him the nickname “The Indian Lon Chaney.” Indeed, Chaney, Erich von Stroheim, Emil Jannings, and John Barrymore were the actors that Nayampally most tried to emulate. Boris Karloff was another of his role models. He was able to put his make-up expertise to good use for the film Sair-e-Paristan (1934), where he was a vampire-like devil, and in Zingaro(1935), in which he played a monster created by a mad scientist, and then as a the hairy “missing link” in Zambo (1937) and its sequel Zambo Ka Beta (1938). For Kalkoot (1935) he created a make-up to resemble the wrinkled effect that Karloff had used in The Mummy(1932).
Nayampally continued working in films throughout the 1940s and 50s, particularly in mythologicals and costume pictures including Raj Nartaki (1941), Nagad Narayan (1943), Vishwas 1943), Taramati(1945), Urvashi (1946), Jhansi-Ki-Rani (1953), Durgesh Nandini (1956), Basant Bahar (1956) and Shiv Parvati (1962) His last credited film appearance was in 1970’s Priya.
After the career in films ended, he started making Documentaries. He made about 35 documentaries. He won ‘Silver Dolphin’ award for his documentary in the International Film Festival at Teheran in 1970. He died on 7-5-1994, in Mumbai.
Pt. Badri Prasad was the Music Director of film Yangrilla-38. He used 6 different singers for 11 songs in the film. Besides issuing records for its songs, the producer also floated 2 records of ‘ Bhavnani Productions orchestra ‘.
The uploader of today’s song, our own Sadanand ji Kamath has certified this song to be ” rarest amongst the rare ” songs. With this song, film Yangrilla-38 makes its Debut on the Blog.
Song- Kaase main kahoon piya hiya ki baat(Yaangrilla)(1938) Singer- Sarla Devi, Lyrics- Unknown, MD- Pt. Badri Prasad
Lyrics
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
Kaase main kahoon
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
Kaase main kahoon
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki
kaun sunega prem kahaani
kaun sunega prem kahaani
aur usey phir meri zabaani
aur usey phir meri zabaani
yah duniya to preet ki bairan hai
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
kaase main kahoon
is duniya ke rahne waale
is duniya ke rahne waale
kapti paapi man ke kaale
kapti paapi man ke kaale
paap(?) hi inka ghar(?) aur joban hai
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
kaase main kahoon
kaase main kahoon
kaase main kahoon
8 Responses to "Kaase main kahoon piya hiya ki baat"
June 1, 2019 at 7:16 am
Such well written and well-researched article for this ” Rarest of the Rare ” songs !KUDOS !
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June 1, 2019 at 9:31 am
We stand to gain from the discussions on the topic in question among
erudite author and responses/comments from readers. Words are
hollow to express the labour of love put in by Arun ji. Accept my sincere appreciation.
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June 1, 2019 at 10:56 am
Manohar Lal Dave ji,
Thank you very much for your kind words. Such comments are a tonic to writers and motivation to do more.
Many people read and enjoy, but only few put their comments. These are like mirrors to us. I wish more readers be kind enough to put their views too.
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June 2, 2019 at 11:41 am
Dear Arunji,
It would be correct to presume that the Music Director BADRI PRASAD is none other than the Character-Actor Badri Prasad of many films of the Fifities.
Apropos SHANGRI-LA, while James Hilton never visited Tibet, he did visit the Hunza Valley (presently in POK). Read below :
“In 1931 the British writer James Hilton traveled to a remote valley now in North Pakistan and found a place so beautiful, so wild and so remote he christened it Shangri-La, an earthly paradise. Way down in the valley the Hunza river thunders along like a freight train, rising above that are endless terraces of orchards, maize, tomatoes, pumpkins, all irrigated by the water from the glaciers that crowd the sides of the huge mountains towering above us,
Hunza is sited at the crossroads of three of the world most stupendous mountain ranges, the Karakorum, the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. Alongside the Karakorum Highway you see glimpses of the old track that made up the Ancient Silk Route. This old track was once the only way of entering the Valley, used in ancient times by wary traders from China.
The friendly and smiling people from this beautiful valley are well known for their longevity. While walking along the road or by the irrigation water channels you will encounter with many locals either working in the fields or coming to home or leaving towards their fields will always give you a smile”.
Further, SHANG was the name of one of 4(four) Districts of Ancient Tibet. Its southern border was marked by the Himalayas and the name TSANG-PO (Tibetan for BRAHMAPUTRA) is a derivative.
With warm regards
PARTHA CHANDA
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June 3, 2019 at 10:45 am
Partha Chanda ji,
Thanks for additional information.
As far as Badriprasad is concerned, he was an actor, producer, director, composer, Lyricist and a Choreographer, besides being a pandit of Sanskrit and Farsi language.
Read about him here…https://atulsongaday.me/2018/04/13/bichhudo-ri-ghaali-peehar-chaali-saa-aali-jaa/
Thanks.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
June 1, 2019 at 3:34 am
Dear Arun ji,
I would like to present another interpretation of the word ‘Yangrilla’.
In 1933, James Hilton, a British author (later an American citizen post 1948), published one of his most celebrated novels – ‘Lost Horizon’. In this book, the author has invented a mythical utopia – a permanently happy land, a paradise on earth, which is isolated from the rest of the world. The inhabitants of this place do not age, enjoy wonderful health, and are mentally sound and at peace. The novel tells the story of a plane crash in the Himalayas, and the survivors being rescued by the people of this land. They (the survivors) start living in this place, and begin to enjoy the quality of life and health. In fact one of the passengers is a lady who has been diagnosed with a terminal ailment – she begins to gain health, and becomes free of her ailment.
The book identifies the location of this mythical place as one of the isolated valleys in Tibet. James Hilton, the author, had never traveled to Tibet, and it is indicated that he based the description of this land on a few articles on trekking and mountaineering in Tibet, published in the National Geographic.
In 1937, this novel was made into a film, also titled ‘Lost Horizon’ by Columbia Pictures, directed by the legendary Frank Capra. The making of this film, its release, and its fate over the subsequent decades, is a very interesting history in of itself.
The name of this mythical place in the book is Shangri-La. Over the decades, this book and the film have attained a cult status, and in the English language, Shangri-la has become a word to symbolize utopia, or a utopian idea.
The title of this Hindi film from 1938,’Yangrilla’, is a take off on the name of the utopian place in the Hollywood film from 1937. I cannot locate any information on why the producers of the Indian film chose not to use the original name – since the English film is titled ‘Lost Horizon’ there could not have been copyright issues.
I have read ‘Lost Horizon’ during my college days. When I started my music collection and came across the film name ‘Yangrilla’, my mind immediately connected with the novel and the mythical place called Shangri-La. The main reason – the alternate name of ‘Yangrilla’ is listed in Geet Kosh as ‘तिब्बत का जादू’ (‘Tibet Ka Jaadu’). Given the topicality of the English film in 1937-38, it can be surmised that producers of this film were influenced by the Hollywood film, to recreate it in Hindi.
Given that the alias name of this film is ‘Tibet Ka Jaadu’, there is very little reason to believe that it will have any African/Swahili connection and a hunter’s theme. The alias name strongly indicates the connect to Shangri-La and the 1937 film ‘Lost Horizon’.
Rgds
Sudhir
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June 1, 2019 at 7:25 am
Sudhir ji,
Thanks for your detailed comment.
Your theory sounds more credible in this case.
Thanks for another angle.
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