Hum baabu naye niraale hain
Posted on: May 17, 2022
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, 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.
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A singing Hero is not a novelty for those who are old film lovers, because in the initial era of Talkie films, most actors sang their own songs in the films. Though the Playback singing was introduced in 1935 in Calcutta and in 1937 in Bombay, it took a few more years to become fully prevalent in all films.
When the Talkie films started in 1931, one of the conditions for the newcomers to join as an actor/actress for lead roles, was that he/she should be able to sing properly. Since most actresses came from singing families (read Tawaifs), just a reasonably good face and a figure was good enough as they knew how to sing. But not all males knew how to sing. So, almost all heroes sang their own songs and so you will find songs by actors like W.M.khan, Kashinath,Khaleel,Master Mohammad, Master Nissar, master Shiraz, Ashraf Khan, Govindrao Tembe, Saigal, panchotiya, Shahu Modak, Marutirao pehelwan etc etc in the films from 1931 to 1937. Many times if the Hero is not able to sing, roles for the Music directors were created and he would act and sing songs in the films for his roles. After this, genuine singers like Surendra, Motilal, Ashok kumar started acting and singing and by the end of the 30’s decade playback was firmly established in all films.
However few popular heroes never sang any songs-like Master Vithal, Jairaj, Prithviraj kapoor etc. Amongst these Non-Singer Heroes of the early era, the story of Jairaj is very interesting. Paidi Jairaj or P. Jairaj ( 28-9-1909 to 11-8-2000 ) was a very handsome and well built young man,when he joined films. After doing 11 silent films,he made his first Talkie,’ Shikari” in 1932. It was produced by a Hyderabad company-Eastern Films.He acted in 170 films and had received the Phalke award and Padma Bhushan in 1980.
In the early phase of Talkie films,there used to be,on average 15 to 20 songs in every film. It was compulsory for every Hero and Heroine to sing their own songs live( playback came in 1935 and became common in 38-39 only). To help the non-singer actors,studios used to keep trained classical experts. Otherwise also most MDs in those days were classical singers themselves.
Thus,Jairaj too was expected to sing songs. He did not like singing,because he was horrible at singing. The MD of film Patit pawan-33 was Prof.B.R.Deodhar,who was a classical singer himself.(Later on he settled with running a musical school). he was determined to make Jairaj sing a song. Finally a song was recorded and filmed-“prem magan sakhi”. Jairaj had sung it so bad,that the song was removed from the film from the second show itself. Jairaj is a Hero of those days who never sang in films. Even after playback was used regularly,in his 170 films,Jairaj has sung less than 20 songs on screen !
This was the case of all Genre of films except Stunt films For stunt films, heroes were required to have a Muscular body, ride Horses, fight criminals, Jump from heights, drive Car / Motorcycles, do fencing etc. C. Ramchandra, the famous Music Director , started his film career as an actor and in his first film itself he became the hero of film Naganand-1935. The film was a great flop in its First day First Show itself where only 6 people came to see the film ! He lost the job and started visiting studios to get a job. One day, he was called by JBH Wadia for an interview. CR was very lean. Though good looking, he did noit have good clothes, so he appeared for an interview in Shirt and Pyjama only.
Wadia saw him and asked,” Any experience ?”
CR gave him the Naganand film booklet and said proudly,” I have worked as a Hero”.
Wadia did not even touch the booklet and asked,” Can you ride a Horse ?’
” No”
” Can you fight with 10 goons ?”
” No”
” Can you jump from 20 feet ?”
” No”
” Then what sort of a Hero you were. Get out .” The interview ended. Wadia was famous for making Stunt films. Same CR became a popular composer and a successful singer later on !
I am telling all this to emphasize that actor-singers were first a necessity and later an utility, till playback took over. Today’s song is a song sung by Raj kapoor (14.12.1924 to 2.6.1988), when he was just 21 year old budding actor in his father’s Drama Company.
Prithvi Theatre was founded in 1942, by Prithviraj Kapoor, as a travelling troupe with 150 members, which staged productions across India. Its maiden performance was Kalidasa’s classic “Shakuntala”. In subsequent years the theatre staged more than 2,600 plays such as “Deewar” (Wall), “Pathan” (a community comprising Hindus and Muslims of North India), “Ghaddar” (Traitor), “Aahuthi” (Offering), “Kalaakar” (Artist), “Paisa” (Money) and “Kisaan” (Farmer). Prithviraj starred as the lead actor in every show. His work in the Indian film industry funded the activities of the company .
Prithviraj Kapoor’s dream was to have a permanent place for his theatre company. In 1962 he managed to lease a plot of land in Juhu on which to create a theatre space. Unfortunately his ill-health and subsequent death in 1972 delayed his dream turning into reality. The year he died the lease on the land expired and was offered on sale to his family. Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer decided to make Prithviraj’s dream a reality by buying the land, and setting up the ‘Shri Prithviraj Kapoor Memorial Trust & Research Foundation’ in his memory with the intention of building a space to promote Hindi theatre and the performing arts.
Prithvi Theatre was inaugurated on 5 November 1978 in Mumbai. “Udhwastha Dharmashala”, written by G P Deshpande, staged by Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Benjamin Gilani was Prithvi’s first play. This was followed by a play by the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), a political satire, “Bakri”, directed by actor-director M. S. Sathyu.
Music had a dominating influence on Raj Kapoor. As Prithviraj’ s son, he had an opportunity to come close to K L Saigal and the master composer Rai Chand Boral, when Prithviraj worked in New Theatres.. Even while in Bombay, Saigal was his neighbour at College Street in Matunga.
His ambition to be a filmmaker did not allow Raj Kapoor to pursue his passion for music, though he did learn its rudiments from Pt Jagannath Prasad who was closely associated with Khemchand Prakash and K L Saigal and also taught music to Premnath, Mukesh and the members of the Kapoor clan.While visualising a song situation Raj Kapoor showed remarkable judgement in selecting the right tunes. He never hesitated to adapt tunes (such as ‘Is libe dis, I love you’ and ‘Dost dost na raha’, both in ‘Sangam’) which had appealed to him, without worrying about the sources from where they came.
If Raj Kapoor had not been a filmmaker he would have been an excellent composer and a good singer as well. He proved his ability as a singer early in his career, when he sang ‘Hum babu naye nirale hain'(Music: Ram Ganguli/N 2666 1) in Prithvi Theaters’ stage-play ‘ ‘Deevar ‘. He displayed an admirable sense of rhythm and melody in the song. With a little more effort he could have been a successful singer.
He also sang in ‘Chitod Vijay’ (1947/S D Burman)’Jail Yatra’ (1947, Ninu Majumdar),’Dil Ki Rani'(1947/S D Burman),Neel Kamal'(1947/B Vasudeo) and ‘Gopinath'(1 948/Ninu Maiumdar/record not released).Eventually Raj preferred the sonorous voice of Mukesh from ‘Aag'(‘Zinda hoon is tarah ki ghame’/ 1948) to ‘ Mera Naam Joker’ (‘Jane kahan gaye woh din’/1970).
Raj Kapoor used to do all sorts of work in Prithvi Theatres. He acted in few dramas and even sang a song in the drama Deewar in 1945. The song became very popular and HMV took out a Gramophone record of the song. The song was written by Saraswati Kumar Deepak, who generally wrote all dialogues and songs of Prithvi dramas. For a long time this record was not available on YouTube. Last week, a kind soul, a generous Record Collector Syed Zafar Shah posted this song on RMIM and YT. When I complained to him that the song had too much disturbance, he very kindly sent me a cleaned and improved song on my personal Whatsapp account. He also uploaded it on YT. I sincerely thank Zafar Bhai for his generous posting of this and many other rare songs on YT for the music lovers. May God bless him. May his tribe increase !
Raj Kapoor understood music and was deeply involved in his film’s music. After Shankar-Jaikishan , Laxmikant Pyarelal pair came to him, but his interference was not acceptable to them and so they too parted. Raj Kapoor wanted not only a good composer but one who will listen to him and tolerate his interference in the music selection. With Ravindra Jain, it was accomplished. Anyway that is besides the point.
The song is very good and firmly establishes Raj Kapoor as one who understood music and as a good singer !
(I have used some information from Nalin Shah’s article on Raj Kapoor’s Music, in July 1988 issue of ” Playback and Fast Forward” issue, wiki, C Ramchandra’s Marathi autobiography and my notes)
Song- Hum baabu naye niraale hain (Raj Kapoor NFS)(1945) Singer- Raj Kapoor, Lyricist- Saraswati Kumar Deepak, MD- Ram Ganguly
Lyrics
hahahaahha
hahahahaa
wawawa
wawawa
wawawa
sun re
ae ae ae ae ae ae
hum baabu naye niraale hain
baabu naye niraale
hum baabu naye niraale hain
baabu naye niraale
ab rang naye
ab dhang naye
ab ye sansaar naya apna
aa aa aa
baabu naye niraale
hum baabu naye niraale hain
baabu naye niraale
sun re ae
ae ae ae ae ae ae
hum baabu naye niraale hain
baabu naye niraale
ghar ke saare rang jo badle
ghar ke saare rang jo badle
apne bheetar dhang jo badle
hey ae
ab mahal naya ab gali nayi
ab badal gayi poshaak(?) dekh lo
badal gayi poshaak
?? ke jagah ab pyaale hain
hum gitpit bolne waale hain
Darling
How sweet
hum gitpit bolne waale hain
hum gitpit bolne waale hain
hum baabu naye niraale hain
baabu naye niraale
hum baabu naye niraale hain
baabu naye niraale
sun re ae
ae ae ae ae ae ae ae ae
hum baabu naye niraale hain
baabu naye niraale
hum baabu naye niraale hain
baabu naye niraale
maalik badlaa aa aa aa
maalik badlaa
naukar badlaa
badal gaya gharbaar
maalik badlaa
nakar badlaa
badal gaya gharbaar
jo meri wo Lakshmi badle
to jaanoon sarkaar
ke ham bhi kismat waale hain
hey jo meri wo jorua badle
to jaanoon sarkaar
ke ham bhi kismat waale hain
hum baabu naye niraale hain
baabu naye niraale
hum baabu naye niraale hain
baabu naye niraale
sun re ae ae
8 Responses to "Hum baabu naye niraale hain"
May 17, 2022 at 3:12 pm
Arun Ji,
Thanks for the post .Enjoyed reading about Prithvi theatre, its initial days, early plays. Delighted to hear Raj Kapoor’s singing ( first time). I knew Raj had an ear for music and that he used to contribute to the music in his films, but did not know about his singing.
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May 17, 2022 at 3:59 pm
Satish ji,
Thanks for liking the post.
2 songs of Raj Kapoor are already on this Blog.
You may listen those too.
Thanks.
-AD
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May 18, 2022 at 6:21 am
Dear Arun Kumar ji,
I am pleasantly surprised to see my name referred by you in this article. I very much appreciate your kind gesture for acknowledging me as the source for this rare non-film song of Raj Kapoor.
My record collection has a family history of two generations before me. My grandfather, Syed Ahmed Shah started this collection. It was greatly enhanced by my father Syed Akbar Shah. After his passing away in 2012, I am continuing with this work.
I am familiar with AtulSongADay blog, as one of your group member, Sudhir Bhai, is a very close friend.
I once again thank you for the acknowledgement.
Sincerely
Syed Zafar Shah
“””
May 18, 2022 at 9:40 am
@Syed Zafar Shah,
I also note your posts/ contribution on one of the WA group. I immensely like them.
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May 18, 2022 at 10:12 am
Zafar bhai ji,
Thanks for your comments.
There are many record collectors in India and the world, but most collectors do not share rare songs, for reasons best known to them. In this way, you are certainly different from others. Besides the songs from drama Deewar-1945, you have been, of late, uploading and sharing lot many rare songs, which is a feast for old music lovers.
Thanks to you. May God Bless you.
-AD
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
May 17, 2022 at 11:09 am
Arunji,
Congratulations and thanks a lot for this wonderful post. It is not about a song, but history of an important theatre institution. The name ‘Prithvi Theatre’ evoked admiration since I was a school kid. So much was written about it in different journals. I also got to read ‘Pathan’ in book form in Hindi (I think Hind Pocket Books brought it out in paperback).
Raj Kapoor’s singing is very competent. I was impressed by his singing quality since I came across his ‘O duniya ke rahnewalo bata kahan gaya chitchor’ from ‘Dil Ki Rani’ (1947).
I admire Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kendal for giving a permanent venue to Prithvi Theatre. I am not a Mumbaikar, but I understand it became a hangout place for theatre personalities and their daughter Sanjana also looked after the place. It played a big role in popularising Marathi Theatre, besides Hindi, English and adaptations from foreign languages.
One can contrast this with the apathy of multimillionaires of Raj Kapoor branch who decided to sell of RK Theatres rather than preserve it as an important part of our cultural history.
AK
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May 17, 2022 at 11:40 am
AK ji,
Thanks for your appreciation.
What you said about PT being a hang out for Theatre people is true. once I had also been there along with a friend from Theatre movement. The atmosphere there was just so full of activities that anyone could get inspired and motivated.
Indeed, sale of RK studio is a loss in our eyes, but may be, the family looked at it as a saving tool from their financial misery. Who knows ?
-AD
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