Armaan kuchh to dil mein tadapte hi rah gaya
Posted on: October 24, 2019
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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 other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws
|
Blog Day : |
4115 | Post No. : | 15268 | Movie Count : |
4196 |
Hindi Songs in Bangla Films – 3
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
I came to know about actress Chhaaya Devi for the first time some time in 2011 when I found her name mentioned in Kidar Sharma’s autobiography, ‘The One And Lonely Kidar Sharma’ (2002) in the context of the shooting of the film ‘Vidyapati’ (1937). At that time, I thought her to be one of many female actors connected with New Theatres who had short acting career. For me, the only female actor of that time who mattered in Kolkata film industry was actor-singer Kanan Devi. What a wrong impression I had about Chhaya Devi when I came to know later that she had a long filmy career of over 5 decades – both in Bangla and Hindi films.
Being born in Bhagalpur and a part of her schooling done in Delhi, Chhaya Devi (1914-27/04/2001) was proficient in Hindi besides her mother tongue, Bengali. Sometime in early 1930s, her family shifted to Kolkata when she was put under the tutelage of K C Dey, the singer and music director. She was trained in Hindustani classical music and sang Khayal and Thumri on All India Radio. She was also trained in Kathak dance. It was on the recommendation of K C Dey that Chhaya Devi got her first bilingual film in Bengali and Hindi under the banner of New Theatres (NT), ‘Sonar Sansaar’/’Sunehra Sansaar’ (1936) which was directed by Devaki Bose.
Chhaya Devi’s next bilingual film for NT in Bengali and Hindi was ‘Vidyapati’ (1937) in which she did the role of Queen Laxmi, which brought her fame. Another NT film, ‘Abhinetri’/’Haar Jeet’ (1940) in which she acted did not find favour with the audience. Outside NT, she did ‘Chowranghee’ (1942) for Fazli Brothers.
After having worked in Kolkata in about 15 films, Chhaya Devi worked in Mumbai with her first film ‘Mera Gaon’ (1942) directed by Sarvottam Badami in which Jairaj was the hero. Probably, she came to Mumbai along with her mentor K C Dey who was the music director for the film. From her filmography, it appears that she had 2-year hiatus from the film industry (1943-45).
From the late 1950s onward, Chhaya Devi had already shifted to doing character roles in films. It is interesting to note that it is during this phase of her career that she became hyper active in doing Bengali films. For example, in the 1960s, she did around 40 films and in the 1970s, the figure was about 30. Her last film was ‘Tomar Rakte Amaar Sohag’ (1993). In all, she worked in about 120 films.
Some of the Hindi films in which Chhaya Devi worked were ‘Sunehra Sansaar’ (1936), ‘Vidyapati’ (1937), ‘Haar Jeet’ (1940), ‘Mera Gaon’ (1942),’Chowranghee’ (1942), ‘Shri Ramanujam’ (1943), ‘Uttara Abhimanyu’ (1946), ‘Ratnadeep’ (1951), ‘Mamta’ (1966), ‘Tu Hi Meri Zindagi’ (1965), ‘Zindagi Zindagi’ (1972), ‘Alaap’ (1977), ‘Rang Birangi’ (1983). These films were mostly bilingual or the remakes of Bengali films.
Recently, I have watched about half a dozen Bengali films directed by Tapan Sinha in which Chhaya Devi had acted in them. I have also watched a few of her other films. What I have realised with my limited exposure to some of her Bengali and Hindi films that Chhaya Devi was a versatile actress. If she was widow, Anandima in ‘Apnajan’ (1968) who is virtually a peacekeeper between two warring groups of unemployed youth, she is equally good in portraying the villainous looking but soft at heart madam (Baijee) in ‘Uttar Falguni’ (1963)/’Mamta’ (1966). Also, her portrayal of a dominating mother was effective in ‘Saat Paake Bandha’ (1963) which was remade in Hindi as ‘Khora Kaagaz’ (1974). In Hindi films, we have Lalita Pawar, Achala Sachdev, Meena Kumari doing their respective specialized roles very convincingly. In my view, Chhaya Devi was ‘three-in-one’ for Bengali films.
Chhaya Devi was not only a talented actress, she was also a good singer. She had the potential to becoming one of the leading singer-actors in Bengali film industry. Alas! It was not to be. While apart from talent, the luck factor plays an import role in making a film artist successful, I feel that in the case of Chhaya Devi, there was another factor which may have put a sort of speed breaker in the early part of her filmy career. And that factor was the successful emergence of actor-singer Kanan Devi, the first female super star of the Indian film industry.
When Chhaya Devi joined the Bengali film industry, Kanan Devi was already on a threshold of becoming a successful actor-singer. Kanan Devi’s stint with NT during 1937-41 and thereafter with M P Productions of P C Barua in 1942-48 did not give Chhaya Devi the much scope to show her histrionic. Incidentally, Chhaya Devi never got opportunity to worked with K L Saigal and also with P C Barua, an eminent director.
One of the Tapan Sinha’s films in which Chhaya Devi has portrayed the role of madam (Baijee) of a brothel was ‘Harmonium’ (1976). In this film, she sings two songs on herself. The film is available for viewing in 5 parts on a video sharing platform. The story in brief as I understood from the film is as under:
In this film, harmonium has been used as props. The harmonium which was first purchased by an aristocrat widower for her daughter for learning music has to be auctioned as the father dies and his estate manager forges his property paper to his name making the daughter orphaned. All through the harmonium’s journey through various section of the society, it is branded as ill luck to the family owning it.
The harmonium now goes to a middle-class home and then to a brothel. The harmonium is used for singing and dancing activities of the brothel. However, a murder takes place in the brothel forcing Baijee to leave the place with the harmonium. Finally, harmonium is bought by a Government officer for his daughter to learn music where the aristocrat’s orphaned daughter is the governess. After seeing the harmonium which was the same as the one bought by her aristocrat father, the governess is painfully reminded of her childhood days and is worried about the ill luck it may bring to the family. The film ends with a song which the governess is teaching to the daughter of Government officer.
As I have mentioned earlier, in this film, Chhaya Devi sings two songs one of which is in Hindi. I am presenting the song ‘armaan kuchh to dil mein tadapte hi rah gaya’. It is a short thumri of less than 2 minutes, written in a ghazal format. The name of the lyricist is not known though in one of the audio clips, the song is attributed to Gulzar saab. But I have not been able to get it confirmed from any other reliable sources. The song has been set to music by Tapan Sinha. I thought that at least the audio clip of SAREGAMA (HMV) may have full song. But it is also of the duration of less than 2 minutes.
This song is one more example of Chhaya Devi’s versatility in acting and singing. Note how nicely she uses the ‘harkat’ and ‘taan’ when she repeats the lines. Also note her gestures, ‘mudras’ and expressions. She may have learnt all these from her training in classical singing and kathak dance training.
Video
Audio Clip:
Song-Armaan kuchh to dil mein tadapte hi rah gaya (Harmonium)(Bangla)(1976) Singer-Chhaaya Devi, MD-Tapan Sinha
Lyrics
aa aa aa
armaan
armaan kuchh to dil mein tadap…a a a
te hi rah gaya aa
te hi rah gaya aa
kuchh aansoo banke
banke
kuchh aansoo banke
banke
aankhon mein…en en en
aaya ke dhal gaya
haay
aaya ke dhal gaya
aa aa aa
karte khuda se ishq gar
aur ban jaayen aur bhi kuchh
bandon ke ishq ne mujhe
ae ae ae ae
banda bana diya
haay
banda bana diya
4 Responses to "Armaan kuchh to dil mein tadapte hi rah gaya"
October 24, 2019 at 3:29 pm
Pradeep ji,
Thanks for clarifying about of roles of Chhaya Devi and Meena Kumari respectively in ‘Apnajan’ (1968) which was made in HIndi as ‘Mere Apne’ (1971). I missed to write this information in my post.
LikeLike
October 24, 2019 at 9:08 pm
Sadanand ji,
Thanks for a very informative post. The post shows how much efforts you take for making your posts authentic and full of new information.
Actually, I too was looking up to writing on Chhaya Devi, but good that you wrote. My article would not have been so good !
As for Chhaya Devi’s Hindi films, I doubt if she acted in the Hindi version of Sonar Sansar-i.e. Sunehara sansar-1936. Her name does not appear in the cast of film in HFGK. Her role was done by Rampyari as a Heroine of Vijay Kumar, a very handsome actor from Shimla.
Similarly, I think she was also not in the Hindi version of Abhinetri-i.e. Haar Jeet-1940. Her name does not feature in the cast. In both films, she must have acted only in the original Bangla versions.
In film Chouranghee-42, Heroine was Mehtab and not Chhaya Devi. Her name is not found in the starcast,given by HFGK. May be in its Bangla version she would be there. Please see my post on this film.
In film Mera gaon-42 the Heroine was Hansa Wadkar, opposite Jairaj, according to her autobiography-“Sangte aika”.
-AD
LikeLike
October 24, 2019 at 10:22 pm
Arun ji,
Thanks for the appreciation of the post.
I am sure you will have opportunity to write on Chhaya Devi in the future as i have not dug out more on her early life as well as on her early filmy career. As you must have experienced, the information about yesteryear artists often gets updated over a period of time.
I am also thankful to you for pointing out about ‘Sunehra Sansaar’ (1936) and ‘Haar Jeet’ (1940) in which Chhaya Devi’s name did not figure as per HFGK. Actually, I had already noted from IMDb that her name did not figure in these two films. While writing about Sonar Sansaar and Abhinetri in the article, I had in my mind to mention only their Hindi versions film as a part of information. I did not realise that by writing the names of Hindi version films along with the names of Bengali versions, it would lead to ambiguity. Instead of short cut like ‘Sonar Sansaar’/Sunehra Sansaar etc I should have written as ‘which was made in Hindi as ‘Sunhera Sansaar’ etc.
For ‘Chowranghee’,(1942), I have merely mentioned that Chhaya Devi had acted in this film. Her name appears in the star cast in the advertisement of the film in ‘Filmindia’ Magazine.
For ‘Mera Gaon’ (1942) also, I have merely mentioned in the article that she had worked with hero Jairaj. In fact, I feel that the film had a triangular love story where both Hansa Wadkar and Chhaya Devi are in love with Jairaj. Incidentally, in the advertisement of the film, only Chhaya Devi’s picture is used. In another picture, Jairaj has been shown only with Chhaya Devi.
LikeLike
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
October 24, 2019 at 12:38 pm
Sadanand Kamat ji,
I had read about Chhaya Devi in connection with her Bengali movies and it was mentioned there that she had acted in a ‘ few’ Hindi movies as well. But, I had absolutely no idea that I had seen her in MAMTA and ALAAP!
You have mentioned about Meena Kumari doing, in Hindi, Chhaya Devi’s role in Bengali.
Although all of the readers will know which role was that I am mentioning it here.
Naani Maa in MERE APNE, 1971, Gulzar’s directorial debut… with Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha….. remake of APNAJAN.
LikeLike