Saanwariyaa re saanwariyaa
Posted on: October 7, 2021
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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‘Anjaan’ (1941) was produced under the banner of Bombay Talkies and was directed by Amiya Chakraborty who made his debut as a director with this film. The star cast included Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar in the lead roles supported by Girish, P F Pithawala, V H Desai, Gulab, David, Fatty Prasad, Yusuf Suleiman, Master Suresh, Baby Madhuri, Rewashankar, Arun Kumar etc. For Devika Rani, it was her ‘comeback’ film after her last film ‘Durga’ (1939) and after the death of her husband, Himanshu Rai in 1940.
Another ‘first’ for the film ‘Anjaan’ (1941) was that R D Mathur, the US trained photographer who was assistant to Josef Wirsching, the German cinematographer of Bombay Talkies, made his debut as a Cinematographer for the film. He got this opportunity as Josef Wirsching, being a German, was jailed in India during the World War-II. R D Mathur earned his name as an ace cinematographer for his works in films such as ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ (1960) and Razia Sultana’ (1983). He also completed the cinematography work for ‘Paakeezah’ (1971) after the sudden death of the film’s cinematographer, Josef Wirsching.
Since the inception of the film productions by Bombay Talkies in 1935, Saraswati Devi and Ramchandra Pal used to be the music directors of all the films of Bombay Talkies released till 1940. ‘Anjaan’ (1941) was the first film of Bombay Talkies for which instead of Saraswati Devi or Ramchandra Pal, the music direction of the film was entrusted to Pannalal Ghosh, who had shifted from Kolkata to Mumbai in 1940 with his wife and playback singer, Parul Ghosh.
Pandit Pannalal Ghosh (24/07/1911 – 20/04/1960), the renowned flautist, who was the pioneer in introducing the flute as the musical instrument in the Hindustani classical musical concerts, had to start his initial musical career in the film industry in Kolkata at the age of 17 when he lost his father. He started with playing flute during the exhibitions of the silent films. When the sound films came into being, he became the music assistant, first to Kazi Nazrul Islam and thereafter to R C Boral when he joined the New Theatres as a musician. He had assisted R C Boral when for the first time, playback singing Indian films was introduced for ‘Dhoop Chhaaon’/Bhagyachakra’ (1935).
Pannalal Ghosh’s association with the film industry was mainly to earn money to take care of his family. His interest was to become a Hindustani classical musician with flute as his musical instrument. He formally became the ‘gadabandh’ disciple of Ustad Khushi Mohammed Khan and after his death, the disciple of Pandit Girija Prasad Chakraborty. Besides working for New Theatres, Pannalal Ghosh regularly participated in the programmes of the All India Radio, Kolkata as a flautist.
In early 1940, Pannalal Ghosh shifted his base to Mumbai along with his family as he felt that there was no recognition to his work in Kolkata. In Mumbai, he followed the same strategy – working in the films for sustenance and pursuing his interest in Hindustani classical music. He immediately got his first assignment as a music director for Kikubhai Desai’s film ‘Sneh Bandhan’ (1940). This was followed by ‘Anjaan’ (1941), ‘Basant’ (1942), ‘Sawwal’ (1943), ‘Duhaai’ (1943), ‘Bhalaai’ (1943), ‘Police’ (1944), ‘Beesvi Sadi’ (1945) ‘Aadhar’ (1945) etc.
However, Pannalal Ghosh could not get satisfaction with his work because of the way the Hindi film industry worked. During this time, Ustad Allauddin Khan of Maihar Gharana, the exponent of multiple musical instruments like sarod, sitar, flute, Veena etc. was staying in Mumbai. Pannalal Ghosh became his disciple at a time when he was already started giving public concerts. ‘Aandolan’ (1951) was his last film as a music director.
From 1955-60, Pannalal Ghosh took up the job as a Composer and Director of All India Radio, Delhi Vadhya Vrinda (Orchestra) and stayed in Delhi with his family. His connection with Hindi films was limited to playing flute as and when music directors called him to Mumbai. The best exmaples of his flute recitals can be found in the song main piya teri tu maane ya na maane from ‘Basant Bahaar’ (1956) and in the song mohe panghat pe nandlal chhed gayo re from ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ (1960).
I have always thought that the flute was a tiny musical instrument – may be not more than 12-18 inches long. I realised that it was not so when I when I saw the photographs of Pandit Pannalal Ghosh and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia playing with their long flutes. The credit for elongating the flute’s normal length to as high as 32 inches goes to Pandit Pannalal Ghosh with an extra 7th hole so that the tiny folk instrument becomes capable of playing Hindustani classical music in various raags. Over a period of time, flute has become one of the concerts’ music instruments along with other music instruments. Probably, Pandit Pannalal Ghosh was the first Hindustani classical musician to play the solo flute in public concerts.
Pandit Pannalal Ghosh died of a massive heart attack on April 20, 1960 when he was 48. He has left a large number of his disciples to keep his legacy alive.
The story of ‘Anjaan’ (1941) as under:
Indira (Devika Rani) is employed by Ranima (Gulab), the widow of the landlord as governess to look after her two children. Ramnath (Girish) is the Estate Manager to Ranima who loves Indira and to get her on his side, he is ready to turn to the villainous acts. Indira falls in love with Dr. Ajit (Ashok Kumar) who often visits Ranima for her medical check-up. Now, this turns into a love triangle. The more love between Dr Ajit and Indira blossom, the more villainous Ramnath turns. Ramnath falsely accuses Indira of secretly visiting to Ajit’s house in the night about which he complains to Ranima. Indira gets her services as governess terminated.
After hearing from Ajit about the wrong doings by Ramnath, it is too much for Ranima for her already weak heart leading to the further deterioration of her fragile health. Ajit administers her injection to revive Ranima but in vain. She is dead. Ramanth finds a good excuse to implicate Ajit on the charge of the murder of Ranima.
The news of the alleged murder by Ajit unnerves Indira as Ramnath tells her that he is going the lodge the murder charges against Ajit. She agreed to marry Ramnath provided he lets Ajit free from the murder charges. Hereafter, she avoids meeting Ajit which creates misunderstanding in his mind about Indira. He decides to leave the place for the city. Ajit decision to migrate to the city is too much for Indira. She decides to meet Ajit at the railway station to tell him the truth. After listening her, Ajit tells her to wait for his return from the city.
Ramnath comes to know about the double crossing by Indira. He lodges the charge of murder on Ajit who is arrested in the city. To prove the motive for the murder of Ranima, Ramnath removes some costly jewelries and declares as missing, pointing finger on Ajit. In the trial in the session court, Ajit argues himself. The judge is impressed by his arguments. But the evidences are all against Ajit. However, it is the two children of Ranima whose evidences clinche the judgement in favour of Ajit. Ramnath is handed over to the police and Ajit gets Indira.(With inputs from the review of the film which appeared in the September 1941 issue of ‘Filmindia’ magazine).
The film had 10 songs of which 8 songs have been covered on the Blog as under:
| Songs | Date of Posting | Singers |
|---|---|---|
| Aayi paschim se ghata naunihaalon jaago | 02/03/2015 | Devika Rani |
| Main to tumse bandhi rahoon | 11/12/2015 | Devika Rani |
| Mere jeewan ke pathh par chhaayi ye kaun | 20/10/2020 | Ashok Kumar-Devika Rani |
| Chhalko chhalko na ras ki gagariya | 20/01/2021 | Rajkumari |
| Kheencho kamaan kheencho | 26/01/2021 | Ashok Kumar-Suresh-Rewashankar |
| Pyaare pyaare sapne hamare Triple version song | 06/02/2021 | Ashok Kumar-Devika Rani-Suresh-Rewashankar |
I am presenting the last and the final song ‘saanwariya re saanwaria’ which has two versions – a duet sung by Arun Kumar Mukherjee and Susheela and a solo sung by Arun Kumar Mukherjee towards the end of the film. The song is written by P L Santoshi which is set to music by Pandit Pannalal Ghosh. The audio clip of the song is longer by one stanza. Hence the lyrics of the song is based on the audio clip.
My guess is that Arun Kumar Mukherjee sings in both the versions of the song on himself. From the side profile of his face during the singing, I notice some resemblance of Ashok Kumar on his face who was his maternal cousin. In the star cast, the name of Arun Kumar is mentioned.
With this two-version song, all the song of ‘Anjaan’ (1941) have ben covered on the Blog.
Acknowledgement: Some of the information on the early life of Pandit Pannalal Ghosh has been sourced from pannalalghosh.com.
Audio Clip (Duet):
Video Clip (Duet):
Video Clip (Male Solo):
Song-Saanwariya re saanwariyaa (Anjaan)(1941) Singers-Arun Kumar Mukherjee, Susheela, Lyrics-P L Santoshi, MD-Pannalal Ghosh
Both
Lyrics(Based on Audio Clip)
saanwariya re saanwariya
saanwariya re saanwariya
chal chal re chal re saanwariya
chal chal re chal re saanwariya
saanwariya re saanwariya
chal chal re chal re saanwariya
ek nagariya ham donon ki
ek dagariya aa
ek nagariya ham donon ki
ek dagariya aa
chal re chal re saanwariya
saanwariya re sawariya
chal chal re chal re saanwariya
raah kanteeli door thikaana aa
raah kanteeli door thikaana
phir bhi hamko chalte jaana
raah katili door thikaana
phir bhi hamko chalte jaana
beet jaaye chaahe saari umariya
beet jaaye chaahe saari umariya
chal re saanwariya
haan
chal re chal re saanwariya
sawariya re sawariya
chal chal re chal re saanwariya
main tera rahoon tu meri rahe
main tera rahoon tu meri rahe
haan saanwariya re saanwariya
saanwariya re saanwariya
main tera rahoon tu meri rahe
jaise din ke saath ujhera rahe
main tera rahoon tu meri rahe
haan saanwariya re saanwariya
saanwariya re saanwariya
aabaad rahe ham tum donon
aabaad rahe ham tum donon
aabaad hamaara dera rahe
bajta rahe ye iktaara
bajta rahe ye iktaara
madhur preet ki baansuriya
madhur preet ki baansuriya
chal re saanwariya
haan
chal chal re chal re saanwariya
saanwariya re saanwariya
saanwariya re saanwariya
chal chal re chal re saanwariya
chal chal re chal re saanwariya
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
October 7, 2021 at 4:24 pm
Nice post Sir ji. Thank you for the information about Shri. Pannalal Ghosh.
Also thank you very much for the details of the story of this movie ‘Anjaan-1941’. I had shared the songs penned by Kavi Pradeep ji from this movie and enjoyed them very much. I liked the today’s song too.
Congratulations Atul ji and all for covering all songs of ‘Anjaan-1941’ on the blog and its joining to the ‘list of movies – all songs’ covered.
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October 7, 2021 at 4:48 pm
Avinash ji,
Thanks for your liking.
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