Musaafir kahaan hai tera des
Posted on: January 28, 2023
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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The Indian film industry has been absorbing and giving opportunities to all people in India, irrespective of their Caste, Culture, Language, Religion or Province. Maharashtra being ” The birthplace of Indian Film industry” (not my words, but a title of the English book by Isaq Mujavar), initially the film industry had a sizable majority of Marathi and Gujarati people. The Marathis had the talent and the Gujaratis had the money power. After some time, slowly people from all regions, religions and provinces joined the industry. By the time of the First talkie film came, the first film “Alam Ara”-1931 virtually reflected the representations of the variety of people operating in the film industry.
The producer director was a Parsee, the Hero was Marathi, the Heroine was a Muslim, the dialogue writer was a Jew and the cast included Punjabis, marathi, Hindu, Muslim and parsees. It even included an Afghani Muslim, who sang the first ever Hindi film song in the film. Indian films were made to entertain Indian people. No wonder along with Hindu Mythological films, many films with Muslim history and background were also made. Folk stories and Costume dramas were also popular. from 1931 itself, films with social content were made.
Majority films were based on Mythology, Romance, Folk stories, Costume films etc. Many films with Muslim backgrounds were made, but they were mostly on Mughal kings or Arabian Night stories. It is to be noted that the entire Hierarchy of Mughal Emperors has been the subject matter of Hindi films. Films were made on Taimur, Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shajehan, Aurangjeb and even Bahadur Shah Zafar. Comparatively muslim social films were less in the early era. The first ever known Muslim social film was Rashida-1935. There was no systematic effort to make Muslim Social films.
It is popularly believed that it was Mehboob Khan who made the first ever muslim social film, when he made the film ” Najma”-1943. It was his first film after he established his own Mehboob production and his studio. The film had prominent stars like Ashok kumar, veena, Sitara devi, Kumar and others. But this is not true. The honour of making a series of Muslim Social films must go to the Fazli brothers. Who were they ?
Today’s song is from the film Qaidi-1940. The film was produced by Fazli brothers, known to make films on Muslim background only.
The producers, Fazli brothers, were the sons of Khan Bahadur S M Fazal Rabb of Bahraich- about 125 kms from Lucknow in U.P. The elder brother was Hasnain and the younger brother was Sibtain ( born on 9-7-1916). Hasnain Fazli was born on 12-1-1912 in the United Province (today’s U.P.). Their family belonged to the noble Sayyads of Allahabad. Hasnain was a graduate of Allahabad University. Though his father was a Khan Bahadur, a Government Jahagirdar and lifetime Magistrate, Hasnain refused to do any service and did not complete his I.C.S. studies, as expected by the family.
He had a creative mind. He joined the film line. He was very keen on making a film on Muslim Society. In those days it was considered outrageous to produce a film on Muslim society for fear of the ire of the fundamentalists. However Hasnain broke the barrier and the first Muslim Social film Qaidi-40 was produced and directed by him under the banner of Film Corporation of India, Calcutta. Very cleverly, the film was made at Calcutta, ( though the film depicted life in Lucknow ), and not at Bombay to avoid any disruption in the making of the film. The film was made so well that it was received very well by all strata of the population, including the Muslims and became a hit film. After this Hasnain made more Muslim social films like Masoom-41, Chowringhee-42, Fashion-43 and Ismat-44. These films discussed Muslim family life and problems etc.
His first directorial film was in his 23rd year- Triya Charitra-35. Then came Sajiv Murti-35, in which Handsome Vijay Kumar from Himachal Pradesh was the Hero. Fazli brothers also made Dil-46, Mehendi-47, Duniya-49 and Khoobsurat-52. Hasnain was so talented that he himself wrote the film stories, screenplays and dialogues usually. Sibtain Fazli directed 3 films-Chowringhee-42, Ismat-44 and Mehendi-47.
After the Partition, Fazli brothers migrated to Pakistan. Sibtain remained in Pakistan and Hasnain returned to India to make 2 more films. Later Hasnain too relocated to Lahore and died there on 16-7-1957. His brother Sibtain ( 9-7-1916 to 25-7-1985) who had directed 3 films in India, made 4 films in Pakistan, including the most popular Urdu film of Madam Noor Jehan – Dupatta-52.
Film Qaidi was a Muslim Social film made by Film Corporation of India, Calcutta, to avoid disturbance by Muslim fundamentalists in Bombay. It was directed by Hasnain fazli, the elder brother. The cast of the film was Ramola, Mehtab, Nandrekar, Monica desai, Wasti, Leela Mishra Madhuri and others. Songs were written by Arazu lucknowi and the Music Director was Bhishmadev Chatterjee.
Prof. Acharya Bhishma Dev Chatterji. He was born on 8-11-1909 in Hooghly, West Bengal. He studied upto M.A. in English. He became a Teacher and taught English in a college. Few years after learning Music from stalwarts of Bengal, he left the job of teacher and joined Megaphone Record Company as a Composer. He used to meet Kidar Sharma in the Recording studio.
Taking permission from his company, he became a Music Director for his First film – Dil hi to hai aka Aulad-1939, made by the Film Corporation of India, Calcutta. He composed some Ghazals, which Ramola and Ramdulari sang. After this film, Bhishma Dev gave music to 3 more Hindi films – The Rise-1939, Qaidi-1940 and Hamara Hindustan-1940. All films made by Film Corporation of India and in Calcutta. This was the end of his Hindi film music .
Bhishma Dev was highly respected in Bengal for his knowledge of Classical Music. Even S D Burman learnt music from him. His nature was saintly. He cut many records on Dhrupad sangeet. I am not aware of his contribution to Bangla films.
Suddenly, one day, he left his job, work, music, family, everything and he became a Sanyasi. He remained so till he died on 8-8-1977.
The story of the film Qaidi-1940 was…..
There was a poor family of a Mother (Leela Mishra), Son Aziz (Nandrekar) and small sister Chanda (Madhuri). Aziz is B.A. but does not have a job. In frustration of not getting any job or a loan, he murders a rich man. His younger brother dies for lack of buying medicines. Aziz is arrested and jailed for 10 years. His mother and sister become beggars.
In the prison, Aziz assaults the jailor and runs away. To hide from the Police, he enters a rich man’s house and due to mental strain falls unconscious. The daughter of the rich man is Salma (Ramola). She nurses him. The rich man is a Dacoit. With his help, Aziz also becomes a dacoit and murder. Salma loves him. Laila (Mehtab), a dancer also loves him but not as a passion.
Police track Azizx. When they shoot at Aziz, Laila takes the shot on her and before dying in the arms of Aziz, reveals that she is Chanda, his sister and their mother has also died. She dies. Aziz tries to run away into a Mosque, but the Police fire on him and he dies in the Mosque.
Now let us listen to the song from the film Qaidi-1940. The singer is not known. This rare record was uploaded by Syed Zafar Shah, a close friend of our Sudhir ji.
( some of the information about the film Qaidi-1940 is taken, with thanks, from the book ” Forgotten movies on Muslim Culture” by P. Kamlakar ji).
Song- Musafir kahaan hai tera des(Qaidi)(1940) Singer- Not known, Lyricist-Arzu Lucknowi, MD- Prof. Bhishmadev Chatterjee
Lyrics
Musaafir kahaan hai tera des
Musaafir kahaan hai tera des
ranj mein hani hani hani hani hanki
tang gali se
ranj mein hanki
tang gali se
bhog(??) badalkar bhes
dil ka sheesha naazuk sheesha
dil ka sheesha naazuk sheesha
kahin laage na thhes
kahin laage na thhes
Musaafir kahaan hai tera des
Musaafir kahaan hai tera des
ranj mein hanki
tang gali se
ranj mein hanki
tang gali se
bhog(??) badalkar bhes
dil ka sheesha naazuk sheesha
dil ka sheesha naazuk sheesha
kahin laage na thhes
kahin laage na thhes
Musaafir kahaan hai tera des
Musaafir kahaan hai tera des
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 28, 2023 at 9:48 am
Enjoyed the post Sir ji. Thanks for this informative post about Fazli Brothers, and other information shared here.
Regards,
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January 28, 2023 at 12:50 pm
Thanks for your appreciation.
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