Matwaali muraliya baaji re aadhi raat
Posted on: November 26, 2020
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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, November 26, 2020 is the 31st Remembrance Day of Chand Usmani (03/01/1933 – 26/11/1989). She excelled in the roles of a suffering woman – as a wife, a sister and later as a mother. Though she was a fan of Hindi films in her teens, she did not think about an acting career in Hindi films. Her first preference was to complete her higher education in keeping with her family tradition. But her fate was written to be an actress.
Chand Usmani (Full name: Chandbibi Khanam Usmani) was born in a well-educated Pathan family in Agra. After completion of her Matriculation examination in 1949, she came to Mumbai on holiday and was staying with her relatives. During her stay in Mumbai, she saw an advertisement of the Kardar-Kolynos-Teresa Talent Contest which she participated just for a fun. She was surprised when she was selected for the participation in the contest. She was more surprised when, in the final round, she was selected as a runner-up in the contest. Producer-director A R Kardar was one of the sponsors and judges for the contest.
Even though Chand Usmani was a runner-up in the contest, A R Kardar was impressed by her presentations in the contest. He offered her the lead role in ‘Jeewan Jyoti (1953) produced by him and directed by Mahesh Kaul. Her lead actor was Shammi Kapoor for whom it was his debut film as well. The film was a box office failure but Chand Usmani’s role of a suffering wife was appreciated by the critiques.
I had watched Chand Usmani’s debut film ‘Jeewan Jyoti’ (1953) a few years back. Her performance in the role of a suffering wife of Shammi Kapoor was so natural that it did not occur to me at that time that this was her first film. With this film, Chand Usmani got type-casted for the role of a suffering wife and a suffering sister in almost all of her subsequent films of 1950s. She was a discarded wife in otherwise light comedy film, ‘Baraati’ (1954), a suffering beloved of Bharat Bhushan and a sister of villain Pran in ‘Amaanat’ (1955), an innocent flower girl in ‘Baap Re Baap’ (1955), a blind girl in ‘Rangeen Raaten’ (1956), Dilip Kumar’s sister in ‘Naya Daur’ (1957) and Rajendra Kumar’s sister in ‘Do Behanen’ (1959).
Some of the melodious songs pictuirsed on Chand Usmani in her films of 1950s in which she had lead/second lead roles are as under:
| Film | Song | Singer |
|---|---|---|
| Jeewan Jyoti (1953) | tasweeren banti hai kiranon se chhanti hain | Asha Bhosle-Shammi Kapoor |
| Baaraati (1954) | aa phir se mere pyaar ki kismat sanwaar de | Lata Mangeshkar |
| Amaanat (1955) | meri wafaayen tumhaari jafaayen | Asha Bhosle |
| Baap Re Baap (1955) | raat rangeeli chamke taare aaja sajanwaa | Asha Bhosle |
| Rangeen Raaten (1956) | ham jaage jag soye ri aali | Lata Mangeshkar |
| Do Bahenen (1959) | jhuk jhuk jhola khaaye re badariya | Lata Mangeshkar -Mahendra Kapoor |
Chand Usmani’s early films in which she got lead roles did not fare well at the box office except ‘Baap Re Baap’ (1955). She had to switch over to supporting roles by the end of the 1950s and thereafter. Some of her films in the 1960s with supporting roles were ‘April Fool ‘(1964), ‘Haqeeqat’ (1964), ‘Kohra’ (1964), ‘Anita’ (1967), ‘Khilona’ (1970), ‘Pehchaan’ (1970), ‘Khel Khel Mein’ (1975), ‘Kaadambari’ (1976), ‘Yaaraana’ (1981) etc. She got the Filmfare Award for the best supporting actor for her role in ‘Pehchaan’ (1970). From mid-70s through 80s, she did elderly roles.
Chand Usmani had a long and active filmy career till her last, spanning over 3 decades during which she worked in around 125 films. Her last released film was ‘Lohe Ke Haath’ (1990) though a couple of her delayed films were released later than 1990.
In an old interview of her in the TV programme, ‘Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan’, Tabassum had ‘chided’ Chand Usmani that she did not do any ‘acting’ in most of her films because she was in reality depicting her own personality. This may be the reason that in most of her films, Chand Usmani’s performances looked natural and convincing. Even in the midst of acting as a suffering woman, she portrays the role of a warm-hearted person with her innocent smiles. In the same interview, Chand Usmani said that she had two regrets which remained with her throughout in her life. First, she did not complete her higher education and second, she did not get chance to do variety of roles in the films.
Chand Usmani was acquainted with Mukul Dutt, when she was working in Bimal Roy’s ‘Prem Patra’ (1962) for which he was Assistant Director to Bimal Roy. Subsequently, they got married. Mukul Dutt directed box office hit films like ‘Aan Milo Sajna’ (1970), ‘Raaste Ka Pathhar’ (1972), ‘Chhalia’ (1973), etc. However, he could not carry the success as director in his subsequent films. He also intermittently worked as lyricists in many Bangla films during 1965-2002.
Chand Usmani died of cancer on November 26, 1989 at the age of 56 leaving behind her son and the husband.
On the occasion of 33rd Remembrance Day of Chand Usmani, I am presenting a song, ‘matwaali muraliya baaji re aadhi raat’ which is picturised on her in the film ‘Zindagi Aur Hum’ (1962). The song is rendered by Lata Mangeshkar on the words of Pandit Shivkumar which is set to music by Roshan.
I like the picturization of the song which gives me a feel of a real rural atmosphere. Just observe how natural Chand Usmani looks while throwing grains to pigeons.
In the beginning of the song under discussion, actors who appears on the screen are Naina, Dinesh and thereafter Nalini Jaywant. When prelude music is played, the song heard in the background is the theme song of the film which is intermittently heard in the background in low sound. The tune of the song under discussion is melodic and both the prelude as well as the interlude music are in keeping with the devotional mood of the song.
With this song, all the six songs (including a two-part song) of ‘Zindagi Aur Hum’ (1962) have been covered in the Blog.
Audio
Video
Song-Matwaali muraliyaa baaji re aadhi raat (Zindagi Aur Hum)(1962) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Pt Shiv Kumar, MD-Roshan
Lyrics
matwaali muraliya baaji re aadhi raat
matwaali
matwaali muraliya baaji re aadhi raat
soyi thhi main apni atariya
soyi thhi main apni atariyaaa
sapne mein dekhi pi ki nagariya
soyi thhi main apni atariyaaa
sapne mein dekhi pi ki nagariya
chaunk padi ho
chaunk padi aadhi raat
muraliya baaji re aadhi raat
matwaali
matwaali muraliya baaji re aadhi raat
soyi gaam soyi gaam ki galiyaan
soyi gaam soyi gaam ki galiyaan
soyi sangee soyi rangreliyaan
soyi rangreliyaan
soyi gaam soyi gaam ki galiyaan
soyi sangee soyi rangreliyaan
soyi rangraliyaan
dhoom machi ho
dhoom machi aadhi raat
muraliya baaji re aadhi raat
matwaali
matwaali muraliya baaji re aadhi raat
le gayi sudh budh chheen muraliya
kar gayi mann ko leen (?) muraliya
jaadu bhari ho
jaadu bhari aadhi raat
muraliya baaji re aadhi raat
matwaali
matwaali muraliya baaji re aadhi raat
2 Responses to "Matwaali muraliya baaji re aadhi raat"
November 30, 2020 at 1:19 pm
Thanks for this wonderful songs. ROSHAN has delivered very melodious songs in Barati and Zindagi aur ham, sadly not under POPULAR category. Thanks for bringing our this Gem.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
November 26, 2020 at 11:01 am
Sadanand Ji, Thanks for a post on Chand Usmani, I Loved her performances. I had no idea that she starred in 125 films.
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