Ye shaab mera ye memshaab thheek hai thheek hai
Posted on: July 19, 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.
The blog completes 15 years of its existence today (19 july 2008-19 july 2023).
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Blog Day : |
5479 | Post No. : | 17904 |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THIS BLOG !
CONGRATULATIONS for completing 15 years of the Magic of Music !!
Here is wishing many more years of giving joy, pleasure and happiness to your readers and listeners !!!
Today’s song is the First released song of singer S. Balbir aka Balbir Singh, from the film Karwat-(1949).
There is a similarity between this film and the life of S.Balbir. No, No. I am not talking about this film’s story and the life story of Balbir. On the contrary, what I meant was that we do not have any information on the film Karwat like its story, name of the producer, artistes behind the screen or other details. Similarly we have hardly any information on S.Balbir like, how and where he was brought up, his education, his training in music and singing, family (wife and children, parents) or even how and when he died and in what circumstances.
It is so strange that a competent singer, who sang songs which became very popular and some have even broken the time barrier by being as likeable today as they were when first released-that too for more than 20 years in Bombay’s film world, has left no trace of his beginning or the end. It is like ” न आदि न अंत ” !
To get information on him was a great challenge and I have spent a few days exclusively to collect this information. Still, I was not very successful, though I have atleast got a better quantum of information on him, compared to what was available till now, through several sources like books, Internet Blogs and sites . Here we go….
A significant number of young people and virtually everyone from that era have a clear recollection of legendary singer Mohammed Rafi and his contemporaries. But can you say the same about S Balbir aka Balbir Singh ? Yes, the scantily talked about Singer Balbir was second to none in all parameters. At that time, he was matching the likes of Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh and Lata Mangeskar among others. Despite being vastly talented and giving noteworthy songs, S Balbir hardly received the glare of media and Hindi film industry which he deserved.
Even if you try to find academic or basic details about him, your struggle will be futile. There are very few people who know S Balbir was or where he came from. There is hardly any information about his initial upbringing. To make his career in the Hindi film industry, Balbir came to Bombay to prove himself. Afterwards, he got success in the 50s. He started singing in Hindi films with a mix of Punjabi words. He was born on 22-8-1926 at Amritsar. He came to Bombay at the age of 20 years, to become a singer.
In his nearly one-and-a-half decade of singing career, he gave many songs that had a remarkable impact on the listeners. Just like the songs in”Jagte Raho”, as stated-above, he voiced the iconic song “Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka“, alongside Rafi. The patriotic song was released in the Dilip Kumar-starrer movie “Naya Daur” in 1957. Since then, this patriotic song has left an indelible mark on the listeners and filled everyone with pride for the motherland. The song has been played on loops on every significant event and cherished by millions, if not billions.
During his career, he sang 165 songs in 120 films. His songs were an important part of many prominent films like Jaget Raho (1956), Sadhna (1958), Barsaat Ki Raat (1960), Dharmaputra (1961), Jaanwar (1965), Aadmi Aur Insaan (1969), Heer Ranjha (1970) and Mere Humsafar (1970) among others. When he came to Bombay, he first recorded 6 songs in the film Afsana. There were 4 solos and 2 duets, one with Asha Bhosle and Umadevi each. Then he sang a duet with Shamshad Begum in the film Intezar. Both these films of the late 40’s remained unreleased. His first released solo song was in the film Karwat-1949. His last song was in the film Insaan aur Insaan-1978. However, there was his one song in the inordinately delayed and released film Love and God-1986 also. He is mainly remembered for the qawalis that he sang in films like Sadhana, Dharamputra, Jagte Raho,Naya Daur, Barsat ki raat etc. He sang for almost all famous music directors like S-J, K-A, Jaidev, Madan Mohan, Lachhiram, Sardar Malik, O.P.Nayyar and many others.
In the 1970s, S Balbir, the legendary singer who voiced Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka, disappeared all of a sudden. As per musician Omi Ji, it was sometime around the 1970s that S. Balbir had to attend the funeral of a relative. After that event he disappeared from the scene. But no specific information is available about what happened or where did he go? Was he killed or kidnapped? As per some claims, Balbir had gone to his village, and then went missing from there. Omi Ji claims that when some people went to find out about him, they found that the situation was different. Reportedly, when he reached the village, he had a fight over the land in his village with his nephews. It is alleged that his nephew wanted to usurp the area. This resulted in a violent fight between the two and perhaps his own nephews killed S. Balbir. The veracity of these claims is yet to be ascertained. But it is for sure that after his departure from the Hindi Film industry, a large void remained which has not been filled ever since. The unfortunate thing is that the industry did nothing much to commemorate the legacy of the great artist and keep him alive through his work. ( Compiled from information gathered from articles in tfipost.com, wiki, book Hindi film singers by Prof.Yadav, book Swarsagar by S.S.Porey, HFGK, muVyz and my own notes. Thanks to the sources.).
Film Karwat-(1949) was made by Shri Gopal Pictures, Bombay. Its director was Prakash, as per HFGK. However, I have read some reports where they claimed that it was B.R.Chopra under the name of Prakash. In some other reports, it was claimed that Prakash left halfway and Chopra was called in to complete the film. On one site I found Chopra’s photo as the director of this film. The Music Director was Master Hansraj Behl. He was one of the 2 MDs who were called Mastersaab. The other one was Master Ghulam Haider.
The film had 12 songs(8 already covered here) written by a record team of 6 Lyricists, consisting of Saifuddin Saif, V.N.Madhok (some people think it was D.N.Madhok, but he was indeed a different Madhok), B.R.Sharma, Saraswati Kumar Deepak, Charandas and Pardesi Balam. The cast was Geeta Nizami, Satish, jeevan, Paro devi, leela Mishra, Kesari and others. Film’s Heroine Geeta Nizami was an interesting person.
The real name of Geeta Nizami was Rashida Begum. She was born in Lahore on 24-6-1926. At the age of 14 only, she was married to Barkat Nizami – uncle of actress Mumtaz Shanti. This person had a knack of discovering talents for films. First he discovered Mumtaz Shanti. He was a businessman to the core. Though Mumtaz Shanti was his niece, he had a contract with her for films. According to that 50% share of her income was to be given to Barkat and 25% to Barkat’s son from his first marriage. The balance was given to Mumtaz Shanti.
However, after her marriage to Wali Saheb, he stopped getting this money. So, he married Geeta and continued the same contract. He used to call it more of a business deal than a marriage. Geeta made her Debut in Shalimar Film’s film Mann ka meet-1944. In her first film Mann ki jeet-44, she acted and had a song and dance. The song was ” More jubna ka dekho ubhar ” sung by Zohrabai,written by Josh Malihabadi and composed by S.K.Pal. The dance Geeta did on this song was very sexy. She was shown emerging from a blooming Lotus and at that time she did such provocative actions that soon the song became the talk of the town. The then Bombay Government, led by Morarji Desai, promptly banned the song, but in the rest of India the song became very popular.
Her second appearance was in Navyug Chitrapat’s propaganda film, “Panna”-(1944). She did excellent acting and surprised everyone. In recognition of her brilliant performance, she is perhaps the only artiste of the Hindi films to have been rewarded Rs. 9000 from Government of India.
Famous author Manto says in his book, ‘Dastavej ‘ Vol 5, that after this film, Geeta Nizami left Barkat Nizami, refusing to give him any share of her earnings. He went to the court and his case lingered, meanwhile he migrated to Pakistan also. Geeta Nizami then married several times and was known for that.
Geeta Nizami could not continue as a Heroine in films. She was the lead actress in only 7 films. The reason why she did not get more roles as a Heroine was found in a book by a well known author. According to this author, Geeta took a bath only once a week, smelt horrible and her head was full of Lice. No actor was ready to do a close up scene with her. ( I remember another actress of the early 60s- Kalpana, with the same reputation. Columnist Devi was on record saying that Kalpana smelt very foul as if she probably took bath only once a month. Shammi Kapur had refused to work again with her in any film, after Professor-62. Even Kalpana’s career was short-lived.)
Geeta did just 13 films in India. She acted in Mann ji jeet-44, Panna-44, Gaon ki Gori-45, Sassi Punnu-46, Room No. 9-46, Paro-47, Moti-47, Rehnuma-48, Gajre-48, Karwat-49, Beqasoor-50, Hulchal-51 and finally Ek tha Ladka-51. Her last film was ‘Ek Tha Ladka’ (1951). After this she migrated to Pakistan. In Pakistan she formed a dance troupe and did shows in various cities of Pakistan. She died on 28-4-2008.
Let us now enjoy the Debut song of Balbir from this film. This seems to be a comedy song.
Song-Ye shaab mera ye shaab mera ye memshaab thheek hai thheek hai (Karwat)(1949) Singer- Balbir, Lyricist-Pardesi Balam, MD- Hansraj Behl
Lyrics
Thheek hoi thheek hoi
Ye shaab mera ye shaab mera
ye memshaab ye shaab mera
ye shaab mera ye memsaab
thheek hai thheek hai
shaab udaaye pair(?)
mem udaaye dhuaan
mem bulaaye ae
mem bulaaye ae
arre o Hariyaa aa aa aa
arre o Hariyaa aa
Hariyaa
Hariyaa
arre o Hariyaa
jhhatpat jhhatpat
phatpat phatpat
main boloon jee maa maa maa maa maa
na na na na na na na na
jee haan haan
tak tak tak
gitmit gitmit gitmit gitmit
gitmit gitmit mem kare
gitmit gitmit mem kare
shaab kahe
thheek hai thheek hai
thheek hoi thheek hoi
ye shaab mera
ye shaab mera
ye memshaab
thheek hai thheek hai
memshaab ka lamba kurta
aur sandel le aaun
shaab ko apne
suit pehnaaun
boot pehnaaun
aur shalute lagaaun
mem jee apna suit pahan ke
ant shant ban jaaun
ho Hariyaa
ant shant ban jaaun
Mem shaab ko lekar phir main
shair shapaate jaaun
Shiyapati Ramchandar ki jai
Shiyapati Ramchandar ki jai ae ae ae ae
haan theek hai thhek hai
thheek hoi thheek hoi
ye shaab mera
ye shaab mera
ye memshaab
thheek hai thheek hai
thhumak thhumak kar
matak matak kar
geet prem ke gaaun
my my my my my my my my my dear
my my my my my my my my my dear
my dear
shaab bane raaja
ye raani ee ee
haay haay haay haay
haay haay haay haay
haay haay haay haaaay
main waaree jaaun
kyon bhai Yahya
ye jodee kaisee
arre keh do naa
thheek hai thheek hai
thheek hoi thheek hoi
ye shaab mera
ye shaab mera
ye memshaab
ye shaab mera
ye shaab mera
ye memshaab
thheek hai thheek hai ae ae ae ae ae
4 Responses to "Ye shaab mera ye memshaab thheek hai thheek hai"
July 19, 2023 at 1:43 pm
Congratulations to Atul ji and all the blog members on completing 15 years of the blog…..
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July 19, 2023 at 3:23 pm
I feel very happy to read information about S. Balbir and feel enriched to know the above details about him. It is very sad that he was forgotten easily by Bollywood. But then this would have happened in many cases either by circumstances or by people’s treatment to the subject.
Enjoyed the song a lot !!!
Thanks for the information about Geeta Nizami. This also enrich us with wealth of information after your article on Mumtaz Shanti earlier.
A very happy birthday to ‘Atul’s Song a Day’ and thanks a lot to Atul ji for this blog.
Regards,
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
July 19, 2023 at 9:14 am
Congrats to all followers & contributors of the blog on the momentous occasion of completing fruitful 15 years. Looking forward to many many more.
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