Mere birha ki rain thhi ik to badi
Posted on: June 26, 2021
- In: Ameerbai Karnataki solo | Ameerbai Karnataki songs | Blog Ten Year Challenge (2011- 2021) | Guest posts | Lyrics by Prakashchandra | Lyrics contributed by readers | Missing the loved ones | Pathos | Post by Sadanand Kamath | Separation song | Songs of 1940s (1941 to 1950) | Songs of 1943 | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 2 Comments
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular 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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Blog Day : |
4726 | Post No. : | 16441 |
Blog 10-Year Challenge (2011-2021) – Song No.28
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After the successful release of Prabhat Film’s ‘Padosi’ (1941) on January 25. 1941, V Shantaram, the director, remained inactive for more than one year in Prabhat Films which was unusual for him. His next directorial venture was ‘Shakuntala’ (1943) under his own banner which was released sometime in the second half of 1943. Apparently, there was something unusual happening in Prabhat Films.
To know what was going on in Prabhat Films in general and with V Shantaram in particular, I browsed through the available issues of ‘Filmindia’ magazine of the yeas 1941 and 1942 wherever there were references to Prabhat Films and V Shantaram. What I gathered from the various columns of the magazine is summarized below which explanins as to why V Shantaram got sidelined in Prabhat Films:
(1) The grapevine was that all was not well among the 5 partners of Prabhat Film Company after the release of ‘Padosi’ (1941). It was speculated that some of the partners were not on the speaking terms and they rarely met to discuss the future plans. This discontentment was evident from the fact that in January 1941, there was an announcement that V Shantaram will direct Prabhat’s next film, ‘Omar Khayyam’ with Jayshree in the lead role. The screen-play and dialogue writing were completed and film was to go on shooting floor in April 1941. But no progress was made beyond screen-play and dialogue writing. Eventually, the film was shleved.
(2) Sometime in the middle of the year 1941, Prabhat Film Company had spared the services of V Shantaram to Government of India as the Chief Producer for its Film Advisory Board (later called as Film Division) at a remuneration of Rs.2500/- per month. He was the first Indian to head the Film Advisory Board of the Government of India. Although he was allowed to work for Prabhat Films whenever his services were required, Prabhat Films did not give him any assignment.
(3) Around the same time, V Shantaram married Jayshree Kamulkar who was the lead actress in Prabhat Film’s Marathi version of ‘Padosi’ (1941), titled as ‘Shejari’. Earlier, one of the partners of Prabhat Films, Keshavrao Dhaiber had married actress Nalini Tarkhud who was the heroine in Prabhat’s ‘Rajput Ramani’ (1936). For this, he was made to exit from the partnership of Prabhat Films. Since then, there was a rule in Prabhat Films that any partner marrying the actress in the payroll of the Company would have to leave the partnership. This rule would also apply to V Shantaram.
Since V Shantaram did not immediately exit from the partnership of Prabhat Films after the marriage, it is quite possible that sparing his services to the Film Advisory Board was a way out to keep V Shantaram out of Prabhat Films. This arrangement may have also suited V Shantaram as he got the time to plan for his future film ventures before he finally exited from his partnership in Prabhat Films.
V Shantaram exited from the partnership of Prabhat Films in May 1942. He continued with his new assignments with Film Advisory Board until September 1942 when he resigned his post as the Chief Producer. By this time, he had set up Silver Screen Exchange, his film distribution company for Western India and was in advance stage of setting up of his film production company. He had already announced ‘Shakuntala’ (1943) as the first film under his newly set up banner, Rajkamal Kala Mandir. He had almost finalised buying National Studio for Rs.7 lakhs and he had already made the announcement to this effect.
But unlike doing business in Kolhapur and Pune, Mumbai was highly competitive. When the news of his buying National Studio became known in the film industry, Keki Mody, the Chief of Western India Theatres put his bid for National Studio at much higher price and snatched away the deal from V Shantaram. It was a setback for V Shantaram as he had planned to start the shooting of ‘Shakuntala’ (1943) soon after the acquisition of the National Studio.
The necessity of buying a studio become a prestige issue for V Shantaram more than for the immediate requirement for the commencement of shooting for his first film. So, he immediately bought Wadia Movietone’s studio for Rs.2 lakhs – much lower price than his bid for National Studio. But it had a hidden cost – the cost of renovation and the resultant delay of about 3 months to commence the shooting of ‘Shakuntala’ (1943).
The shooting of ‘Shakuntala’ (1943) started in January 1943 and got completed in July 1943. Therafter the film was released. It ran for 104 weeks in a single theatre in Mumbai. Thus the two years of inactivity of V Shantaram in commercial cinema was rewarded with a grand success of ‘Shakuntala’ (1943).
10 years ago on this date (26 June 2011), one song from the film ‘Shakuntala’ (1943) was posted on the Blog. So far, 10 songs (out of 13) from the film have been posted on the Blog, details of which are as under
| Sr. No. | Song | Posting Date |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Jeewan ki naao na doley | 09/06/2011 |
| 02 | Kamal hai mere saamne | 25/06/2011 |
| 03 | Pyaari pyaari ye sukhad maatribhoomi apni | 26/06/2011 |
| 04 | Jhooloongi jhooloongi | 30/06/2011 |
| 05 | Tumhe prasann yoon dekh ke | 04/05/2014 |
| 06 | Chaand sa nanha aaya | 06/05/2014 |
| 07 | Na jaane kahaan ka ye jaadoo kiya hai | 24/07/2017 |
| 08 | Chali apne ghar ko Shakuntala | 18/08/2018 |
| 09 | Mere baba ne baat meri maan li | 04/08/2019 |
| 10 | Ek prem ki pyaasi bani banwaasi | 25/06/2021 |
I am presenting the 11th song, ‘meri biraha ki rain thhi ek to badi’ from the film ‘Shakuntala’ (1943). The song is rendered by Amirbai Karnataki. There were two lyricists – Diwan Sharar and Ratan Piya for the film. However, for the song under discussion, individual accreditation is not available.
The song is picturised on a dancer whom I am not able to identify. The situation of the song is that as soon as King Dushyant gets to see the ring which he had presented to Shakuntala after his marriage with her, his memories of the time he spent with Shakuntala is restored. He becomes restless and is eager to see Shakuntala. This song is the reflections of what is going in the mind of King Dushyant.
Lyrics of the song were sent to me by Prakashchandra.
Audio Clip:
Video
Song-Mere birha ki rain thhi ik to badi (Shakuntala)(1943) Singer-Amirbai Karnataki, MD-Vasant Desai
Lyrics (provided by Prakashchandra)
mere birha ki rain thhi ik to badi
dooje badhti ee gayi
aur badhti gayi
mere birha ki rain thhi ik to badi
uthhi rang(?) ki siyaahi se kaali ghataa
kaali raat ke chadhti ee
chadhti ee gayi
mere birhaa ki rain thhi ik to badi
hai biyog ki lambi kahaani meri
kabhi ant main uska likh naa saki ee
kabhi likhti rahi
kabhi padhti gayi ee
phir likh likh
likh kar
padhti gayi
mere birha ki rain thhi ik to badi
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
June 27, 2021 at 5:37 pm
It`s a treat to read your informative post about the Shakuntala, Thanks and again thanks for ……….
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June 27, 2021 at 6:44 pm
Thanks Prakashchandra ji for liking the post.
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