Aisa jaam pilaa nazron se hosh rahe na baaqi
Posted on: August 7, 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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Today’s song is from a Costume drama-Jalti Nishani-1957.
There was another film Jalti Nishani made in 1932, by Prabhat Film Company of Poona. It was a bilingual film, made in Hindi and Marathi and the Marathi version was titled ” Agni kankan” ( अग्नी कंकण ). That was the usual story of an honest king, a bad Vazir, a runaway queen with her son and the revenge taken after 20 years. The 1957 film with the same title had almost a similar story with some variations. This film was made by Emsheth productions, produced aptly by a rich person called A.G.Dhanik. It was directed by Tara Harish and the melodious music was provided by the grand old man of Hindi film music – Anil Biswas.
The image of Anil Biswas carved in the minds of Music lovers is that of a smiling person who was respected by one and all in the industry. But few people know that behind that smiling face were many unpleasant events in his life. A failed marriage, loss of all earnings while settling the separation, loss of a dear friend-Mehboob, loss of an young son in Indian Air Force, a failed musician son, a pathetic end of his musical career field in Bombay and a life spent away from Bombay made Anil Biswas a Philosophical person at the end of his life.
I have full respect and liking for him as a person and also as a music melody creator in Hindi films. Today, in this post, we will take a short look at his life and a retelling of some interesting happenings of his life. In his Bio,you will find a less known story of his ambitious but unfortunate son who died untimely. I am not going into the details of his songs and music nor am I going to delve into the details of his interesting early life in Bengal, before coming to the Bombay film world scene. So, here we go….
Anil Biswas,the Bhishma Pitamaha of HFM,was a respected person in the industry.He started from the mid 30s and for the next 25 years or so,he created many everlasting gems in film songs. In Bombay,the Playback was first started by him in the film Mahageet-1937. By the mid 50s his magic started waning and by 1960,he was almost gone from the industry. Initially he did 10-11 films with Sagar,then with Mehboob for National studios and then in Bombay talkies- where his name became immortal with the film Kismet-1943.
He married Ashalata in 1936. Along with her he started variety pictures and they produced films like Laadli-49,Laajawab-50;Badi Bahu-51,Hamdard-53 and Bajuband-54. ( a less known fact is-Anil da had made a Guest appearance in the film Hamdard-53 as a barber.) He also acted in the film Mehman-53 (produced by Ashalata),as a Pujari and a song was shot on him.In both cases he did not get any payments. As a Producer he lost heavily, because Ashalata usurped all the money. Frustrated, he gave up everything and separated from her in 1954.
To sustain life,he bought a Truck and did a business of transportation. In addition he also took the contract for a canteen in Mehboob Studios. He failed in both ventures. By now,his relations with Ashalata were soured and sweet links were established with singer Meena Kapoor-25 years younger to him, since 1948 itself.According to some reports, they got married with each other on 19-3-1957. The death of Brother in law and close friend Pannalal Ghosh in 1960 and younger brother Sunil in 1961 as well as his eldest son- Pradeep,broke his heart. He left Bombay and joined A.I.R. at Delhi on 1-3-1963,where he worked upto 27-6-1975. Later he was a consultant for Nehru University for a few years.
Like many filmi couples,Anil da’s married life was also a failure. In Bombay,he used to stay in a huge bungalow,called ” Asha-Pradeep “, on Vincent Road. From Ashalata,he got 3 sons-Pradeep,Amit and Utpal and 1 daughter-Shikha. His son Utpal formed a pair as Amar-Utpal and gave music to few films. The other son Amit established the First Digital Recording Studio in Bombay. Daughter Shikha too got married and settled.
However,hardly anything is known about his eldest son Pradeep,anywhere. Here is some information,hitherto not known much,brought specially for our readers.
Pradeep was a very bright student and always topped in school and college. He passed his entrance exam and the interview,with flying colours for entry to NDA college at Poona,to join armed forces. He excelled even in NDA training.Not only was he very popular there but sang well too. He participated in the music Festival of Khadakwasla NDA and sang 3 songs,winning all prizes. He was also a NDA Topper.
Shri Gopinath Talwalkar,an A.I.R. Programmer at Delhi,used to interview the Toppers of NDA every year. That year Pradeep was the Topper, so he was interviewed. Though the interview was in Hindi, after the recording,Pradeep asked Talwalkar,in pure Marathi,whether his interview had been good. Talwalkar was shocked. Pradeep then explained that he was Anil Biswas’s son and he had learnt Marathi from his actress mother Ashalata. Pradeep knew Hindi,Marathi,English and Gujarati languages.
After completing his NDA training,he was posted as Flight cadet at Jodhpur. He was further promoted and became Pilot Officer in 1957. During one Training flight some altitude problems occurred and his plane crashed at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad, killing Pradeep instantly. This happened in 1961.
This was also the time of crisis for Anil da. He was struggling to survive. Films were not coming to him. Since he married Meena Kapoor, Lata Mangeshkar-a fast close friend of Ashalata , had gone against him and Meena’s singing career was suppressed. He had already lost Pannalal Ghosh and Sunil-his brother and now Pradeep’s death devastated him and he was literally forced to seek employment with Delhi A.I.R., when the opportunity came. After retirement, till his death on 31-5-2003, he spent his life in total anonymity and recluse. So sad for a composer, who was once a fountain of enthusiasm and who was considered Mentor by leading contemporary composers like C.Ramchandra.
Here is an anecdote about C.Ramchandra and Anil Biswas…
On the day of recording the first ever Hindi film song (a chorus song) of C.Ramchandra, (in 1942) all arrangements were done. Chorus singers were ready, musicians were ready and technicians were ready. Suddenly, a set of visitors arrived at the studio. The visitors were all top composers of the day like Anil Biswas, K.Datta, Naval Chatterjee and some others.They all had heard about C Ramchandra, his tunes and his work. They wanted to see how he operated. C Ramchandra had tremendous respect for Anil Biswas. He knew that the contributions of Anil Biswas to Hindi Film Music was praiseworthy. Anil Biswas was a master of harmonization technique in western and Indian music instruments.
C Ramchandra described this event thus-
” It was my great fortune that a senior composer whom I considered as my Guru was present at my first recording. To my greatest surprise all the visitors joined the Chorus group for singing. I just wanted to check if the final take can be taken. I said one ..two..three and the song and music started, but I felt something was wrong. One singer sounded different. I stopped and ran outside to the singers. To my shock it was Anilda who put a Teevr Nishad which was not in my composition. He smilingly asked, is it Ok ? I said respectfully, No Dada, this is not right. He very magnanimously and without further questions agreed and they all sang on my tune only !. ”
Here is one more anecdote about Anil Biswas and Dilip kumar…
A few interesting lines about the duet –‘Aa mohabbat ki basti basayeinge hum’. One afternoon Anil Da at his residence was in the company of celebrated actors –Dilip Kumar and Ashok Kumar. He played on his harmonium and hummed the serious tune of his forthcoming melody -‘Aa mohabbat ki basti basayeinge hum’. As to who will be the female singer, there was absolutely no doubt about Lata; but who will give the male voice? “Dada it should be Talat”-said Ashok Kumar. Whereas Dilip Kumar suggested –“Anil Da, in any case looking at the serious lyrical notes, male singer should be your favorite Mukesh.” Anil Da had something else in his mind. “How if Kishore sings with Lata”- said the maestro. “Kishore!’ –Dilip was taken aback; “if Kishore will sing such a serious song, then ‘Aapka joota aur mera sar (if Kishore will sing such a serious song, my head is ready for your shoe-beating)’” –added Dilip Kumar. “Mein joota le kar aataa hoon, sar tayyar rakho (Be ready with your head, I am bringing my shoe).”
Kishore Kumar was called, who at the first instance, bluntly refused to sing the said duet with Lata. But, the maestro’s conviction prevailed and eventually a heart-throbbing duet was created!
Film Girls school-49 has a very interesting History. As we know the film had 9 songs and there were 2 MDs-Anil Biswas and C Ramchandra (4 and 5 songs each).
This film was produced by Kavi Pradeep under the banner of Lokmanya Productions,Bombay. This was a company floated by him and Amiya Chakrawarty-director of this film. To understand the complexities of Girls school, we must go back a little. In 1942, Anil Biswas was invited by Ranjit @ 1500 pm and by Bombay Talkies @ 2500 pm. As National studio was winding up, AB wanted to make a change anyway, but due to the contract of national he could not join Bombay Talkies openly. He ,however , gave music to film Basant-42 and the name of his brother in Law, Pannalal Ghosh was used as its MD.
Finally when AB joined Bombay Talkies, there were already 2 groups there. One was led by Devika Rani and Amiya Chakraborty and the other was led by S. Mukherjee along with Ashok kumar, Gyan Mukherjee, Pradeep etc- a total of 15 artistes. AB was invited by Devika Rani and that too at 2500 pm,when Pradeep was getting 1500 pm. This irritated Pradeep to no end and he started troubling and finding faults with Anil Biswas. However Anil Biswas gave excellent music to film Kismet and then everyone was happy as the film celebrated jubilees everywhere.
With this background,Anil Biswas joined Girls school as a MD, mainly due to Amiya who knew his calibre. Kavi Pradeep being a producer and a Lyricist started interfering with Anil Bswas’s work and criticising him at every opportunity. AB was fed up. He had already recorded 3 songs and a solo by Lata , ” tum hi kaho,mera man udas kyun na rahe” was to be recorded. Anil Biswas had taken C Ramchandra as his assistant for this film. Though CR was already a popular and well known composer himself, still due to sheer respect for Anil Biswas, he had accepted to be his assistant here. When the tune for Lata’s solo was made, Pradeep passed caustic remarks about it being not so good. There was an altercation between Anil Biswas and Pradeep and Biswas quit then and there and went away.
Automatically, C Ramchandra had to take over as MD for the balance songs. Pradeep was very happy. Next day recording of Lata’s solo song took place under the supervision of C Ramchandra, as planned. Later when Lata came to know that Anil Biswas had left and C Ramchandra had replaced him,she was very angry and said that she would not have recorded the song had she known about AB’s exit. She objected to CR’s taking over and complained to the Artistes association too. (Remember, at that time Lata and CR’s relations had not formed yet, Lata was still with Husnlal.)
Later on in 1954, when O P Nayyar replaced Roshan for Mehbooba-54, Lata took up the issue with the MDs’ association. Anil Biswas was the chairman that time and OPN was boycotted. That time Lata quoted the film Girls school incident to prove that she was ” highly Principled” !
Anyway, this was how C Ramchandra became the next MD of Girls school-49,with 4 duets of Shamshad and 1 solo for Lalita Deulkar. All the 4 duets of this pair are very interesting. However, with all this jhamelas, film Girls school-49 was a total Flop. Pradeep lost heavily and closed the production company forthwith, after just one film.
One peculiar thing with Anil Biswas was that he liked to compose Chorus songs. That is why in almost every film you will find at least one chorus song. Right from his first film to his last film, I checked the song list. Even in his today’s film there are 2 chorus songs. Today’s song also has a chorus in it. It is a good song. Let us enjoy it.
(Information used in this article is from books Sagar Movietone, Mehboob Khan, Journey down melody lane, Ritu aaye Ritu jaaye- Marathi book Anil Biswas, by Sharad Dutt , notes from RMIM with thanks and my notes.)
Song- Aisa jaam pila nazron se hosh rahe na baaqi re (Jalti Nishaani)(1957) Singers- Hemant Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar , Lyrics-Qamar Jalalabadi, MD-Anil Biswas
chorus
Lata + Chorus
Lyrics
o o o saaqi ee re ae ae
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
hey ae ae
aisa jaam pila nazaron se
hosh rahe na baaqi re
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ae ae
aaj lage kyun ujda ujda
bhara hua maikhaana aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
jisko nazren dhoondh rahi hain
aen aen aen aen
aen aen aen aen
kaha hain wo deewaana ji
kaha hain wo deewaana
ye kaisi mehfil il il il il
ye kaisi mahfil hai jismein
pyaasaka hai khud saaki re ae ae
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
hey ae ae aisa jaam pila nazron se
hosh rahe na baaqi re
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ae
ek mein din hai raat ek mein
chhalke do paimaane
ae ae ae ae ae
ae ae ae ae ae ae
kiski kismat mein kya likha aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
ye kismat hi jaane he ji
ye kismat hi jaane
koi na jaane is mehfil mein
kaun rahega baaki re ji jee
kaun rahega baaki re
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
he ae ae ae
aisa jaam pila nazron se
hosh rahe na baaqi re
6 Responses to "Aisa jaam pilaa nazron se hosh rahe na baaqi"
August 7, 2022 at 8:37 am
Arun Ji,
Thanks for the post discussing Anil Biswas. Interesting anecdotes. Nice song too.
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August 7, 2022 at 6:34 pm
Thanks Arun ji for the rare information about Anil Biswas ji,Kavi Pradeep ji , those things about him I never knew……..You only can provide us such information…
By the way, I did sent Lyrics of all the remaining songs to this movie (Including this one) in connection with Blog 10 Year challenge……
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
August 7, 2022 at 8:35 am
Arun Ji,
Thanks for the post discussing Anil Biswas. Enjoyed the anecdotes.
The song is nice.
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August 7, 2022 at 10:54 am
Thanks.
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