Veer abhimaan se badhhta hua shaan se
Posted on: August 8, 2020
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusaist 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.
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Today’s song is from the film Taramati-45. This is an obscure film. None of its songs are available on YouTube or with Saregama. I was lucky to get hold of this rare song from one of my friends. Taramati-45 was produced by Ramniklal Shah, under his banner Ramnik Films. Yes, he is the same Ramniklal Shah, who married actress Indurani. Ramnik productions were known to make action/stunt films or C grade adventure films. Sometimes they would go for Mythological films. Actually, this was their first Mythological film.
Right from the silent era, the studio system was quite strong. Every notable studio had its own group of actors, directors and composers, along with technical staff. Most were on monthly pay rolls. They were tied up to the studio by a written contract. After the entry of Talkie films, studios became more alert in keeping or holding their people with them. This actually became a limitation for the actors and directors, who wanted to fly high and earn more. The second world war added to the woes of studios. Increasing costs, shortages of raw film and demanding artistes virtually broke the studios.
In or around the early 40’s, the studio system started giving away. When the studios broke up, they gave way to new establishments. Sagar gave way to National and Mehboob studios, Bombay Talkies fragmented into Filmistan, N R Acharya films and later filmalaya, New Theatre directors started their own companies like Bimal Roy, Barua, Nitin Bose etc., Prabhat made way for Rajkamal, Nene production, Alhad Chitra of Dharmadhikari etc.
Film Das baje -42 was a film made at the time when Prabhat’s disintegration had started. Shantaram had already walked out to start Rajkamal. After the film Das Baje-42, during 1943, another batch of Raja Nene, Shantaram Atavale, Datta Dharmadhikari and Keshavrao Bhole left Prabhat, while film Ramshastri was in the making. K.Bhole however, completed the music composition of film Ramshastri before leaving Prabhat and the balance film was directed by Gajanan Jahagirdar.
All this team joined Mohan studios. Some of the actors too joined them to make the film Taramati-45. The young director Raja nene, with a lot of experience in acting and of being the assistant director in Prabhat with the stalwarts like Shantaram, Damle and Fattelal was appointed Director of this Mythological film. He also had the experience of independently directing a successful film Dus Baje-42. Pt.Mukhram Sharma wrote the dialogues and songs. The story was developed by G P Pawar and Shantaram Athavale The music was looked after by Keshavrao Bhole and Ramchandra Pal. The cast included, Shobhana Samarth, Vasant Thengdi, Baby Shakuntala, Ananth Marathe and others. The film was released on 8-9-1945 at the Roxy Cinema in Bombay.
Raja Nene was born in a small village in Konkan, on 18-12-1912. His real name was Gajanan Hari Nene. His early education was done in his hometown and he graduated from a college in Ratnagiri. He was the nephew of Vishnupant Damle, a partner in Prabhat Films. After his graduation, Damle employed him in Prabhat as an assistant Director.
Raja assisted Shantaram in the film Vasantsena-35 and Amar Jyoti-36. During the making of the film Sant Tukaram, he was shifted to Damle-Fattelal duo as their assistant Director and he became a key figure in making that film. Subsequently, he continued with Damle – Fattelal duo in their other ventures like Gopal Krishna-38 and Sant Dnyaneshwar-40. For film Sant Sakhu-41, his name was included as one of the directors, along with Damle-Fattelal. In between, he also acted in the film Duniya na maane-37.
In 1942, he directed his first independent film ” Dus Baje” a Marathi-Hindi bilingual. Meanwhile, V Shantaram, a mentor for all junior aspirants and his proteges, left Prabhat to start his own studio-Rajkamal Kalamandir. Same time, a new film of Prabhat-“Ramshastri” was given to Nene for direction. However, a group of Shantaram loyalists – Athavale, Dharmadhikari, Mukhram Sharma, Raja nene and Keshavrao Bhole – decided to leave Prabhat. The incomplete film Ramshastri-44 was completed by Gajanan Jagirdar, in addition to doing the lead role in the film. Keshavrao Bhole also completed his work before leaving Prabhat.
The entire group joined Mohan studios. After the film Taramati-45, Nene started his own company – Raja Nene Productions and made the film ” Shadi se Pehle”-1947. Nene not only acted in the film, but also directed it along with Debutant director Datta Dharmadhikari. After Rajkamal, Nene Productions was the next big production house to emerge from Prabhat Films. It was followed by Alhad Chitra of Datta Dharmadhikari.
After directing film Lalat-47 ( debut film of actress Ushakiran), Nene turned to Marathi films, acting and directing hit films like, Patthe Baburao and Ketakichya Banaat, Sant Ramdas etc. He returned to Hindi films and directed Shri Vishnu Bhagwan-51, Bhai ka pyar-51, Rajrani Damayanti-52, Lanka Dahan-52, Indrasen-52, Radha krishna-54, Pehli Tarikh-54, Hanuman Janma-57 and Gauri Shankar-58.
In between and after 1958, Nene directed only Marathi films, but acted in few Hindi films. His film Pehli Tarikh-54 was a hit film and the famous Kishore song, ” Khush hai zamana aaj pehli tarikh hai” was filmed on him only. Film Pehli Tarikh was remade in Kannada and Tamil by P. Neelkantham as Modaltedi-55. Raja Nene expired on 21-2-1975 at Bombay. He directed 16 Hindi films and acted in 14 Hindi films from 1937 to 1975. ( Ack: based on information from ” Marathi Cinema in Retrospect” by Sanjit Narwekar and Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, Film India-Nov.45 with thanks.)
There is one unusual name in the cast of the film – Vasant Thengdi. Vasant Thengadi was born on 11-1-1910 at Nagpur. He was the son of Congress leader Dhaniram Thengadi. Vasant had his education in Poona. He could not join the Army, because of his father’s political connections. He had to leave his Engineering college after his father’s death. Being very handsome,tall and with good physique, he started working in Marathi dramas and films. He started his Hindi work with film Dhuwandhar-35. ( This was also the Debut film for Leela Chitnis and Meera Alexander). He started doing Villain roles and became popular and famous. Besides Marathi films, his Hindi films were Taramati-45, Phir bhi apna hai-46, Mera Ladka-38, Din Raat-45, Ten o clock-42 etc. Later he also worked as assistant director to Raja Nene.
Today’s film, as the name suggests, is a well known story of Harishchandra-Taramati. This is a story which appears in Aitareya Bramhanya, Mahabharat, Markendeya puran and Devi Bhagwat. This story has been quite popular with our filmmakers from the earliest era. As we all know, the first Silent feature film was Raja Harishchandra-1913, made by Dadasaheb Phalke. In the silent era there were 3 films called Raja Harischandra-in 1913, 1917 and 1927. There were two films called Harishchandra in 1928 and 1929. There were two Talkie films, Raja Harishchandra in 1952 and 1979, There was also a Satyavadi Harishchandra in 1931 itself. The story was so well known, that no wonder, film Taramati-45 did not do well at all at the box office.
Today’s song is sung by Baby Shakuntala. When I requested our Sadanand Kamath ji to upload this song for me, after listening to the song, this is what he said, ” This is one of the rarest songs which, to my mind, even SAREGAMA does not have mp3 clips of any song from the film.
Also, this is one of those marching songs which has been composed with a subdued orchestra giving more emphasis on the lyrics to inspire the listeners. The voice of Baby Shakuntala is neither ‘baby’ nor ‘adult’ but has the correct resonance for the marching song.” Very true.
Song-Veer abhimaan se badhta hua shaan se (Taramati)(1945) Singer – Baby Shakuntala, Lyricist – Pt. Mukhram Sharma, MD – Not known (Keshavrao Bhole or Ramchandra Pal)
Lyrics
Veer abhimaan se
badhata hua shaan se
Veer abhimaan se
badhta hua shaan se
thhakta nahin
thhakta nahin
veer kabhi thhakta nahin
veer kabhi thhakta nahin
aapas ki maar se
chinta ke bhaar se
aapas ki maar se
chinta ke bhaar se
jhukta nahin
jhukta nahin
veer kabhi jhukta nahin
veer kabhi jhukta nahin
shok ke pahaad se
dukhhon ki baadh se
rukta nahin
rukta nahin
veer kabhi rukta nahin
veer kabhi rukta nahin
khelta hai jaan par
khelta hai jaan par
mit’ta hai aan par
mit’ta hai aan par
hat’ta nahin
hat’ta nahin
veer kabhi hat’ta nahin
veer kabhi hat’ta nahin
kartavya ke maidaan se
veer kabhi hat’ta nahin
veer kabhi hat’ta nahin
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
August 8, 2020 at 1:49 pm
Arun ji,
I was familiar with the name of Raja Nene as a director and his association with Prabhat. But I had no idea as to his background and how he got connected to film industry. So one more from Konkan region of Maharashtra who joined Prabhat in addition to many including Vasant Desai. Thanks for the write-up on Raja Nene.
Whenever I see the pictures of Vasant Thengdi, I start comparing him with B Nandrekar. I always felt that Vasant Thengdi despite having good personality did not click in HIndi films as much as B Nandrekar with his an average acting ability. Nandrekar acted in nearly 25 Hindi films in the course of his two decades in the film industry. As against this, Vasant Thengdi got to act in only 6 HIndi films during 1935-49. Probably, Vasant Thengdi might have shifted to Marathi films or plays.
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August 8, 2020 at 4:52 pm
Sadanand ji,
Thanks for your comments.
To get information on Raja Nene was a real challenge and I was striving for it since many months. My interest in him aroused after I came to know that the famous song of Pehli Tarikh-54 was filmed on him.
Babasaheb/Babalal aka B.Nandrekar could be counted among the most handsome actors of Hindi cinema of yore. He became more circulating because he knew Urdu very well, being a Muslim. Those days films were not made by dozens, otherwise he would be seen in atleast 100+ films.
A story about Nandrekar… In the 40s, when he needed work, he contacted Kardar for work several times. He usually donned white Dhoti,shirt and a black coat and Chappals…looking like a Puneri Bramhin. For many days, Kardar kept him on hopes till one day he saw Nandrekar doing Namaz in a corner of his studio. He was shocked. Then he came to know that he was a Muslim. (No wonder, Kardar immediately employed him !)
One major problem with Marathi actors like Vasant Thengdi was poor Hindi pronunciation. This problem existed since Master Vithal in the 30s. This restricted their flow and delivery of dialogues in Hindi, resulting in less number of films. Good looking actors with attractive personality, from Marathi like, Suryakant and Arun Sarnaik or good actors like Kashinath Ghanekar could not do well in Hindi for this reason only.
-AD
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August 9, 2020 at 1:54 am
Missing word
“shok” ke pahaad se
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August 10, 2020 at 12:49 pm
Thanks for the missing word.
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