Bhaiyya torey chhote nanadi kaahe karoon singaar
Posted on: August 11, 2023
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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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In the mid-1930s, Fearless Nadia was making waves in the role of a stunt woman in Wadia Movietone films, ‘Hunterwaali’ (1935), ‘Miss Frontier Mail’ (1936) ‘Hurricane Hansa’ (1937) and ‘Lutaaru Lalna’ (1938). So, films in the genre of ‘action/adventure’ becomes one of favorites of many film producing studios. Vijay Bhatt of Prakash Pictures also fell in line and made action/fantasy films around mid-1930s. They produced ‘His Highness’ (1937), ‘State Express’ (1938), ‘Hero No.1’ (1939) etc. ‘Bijlee’ (1939) was another Prakash Pictures’ film in this genre which was directed by Balwant Bhatt. The star cast included Jairaj and Pramila in the lead role supported by Munshi Khanjar, Zahoor, Shirin Bano, Athavale, Gulab, Jaal Writer, Shyam Sundar, Lallubhai Nayak etc.
I could not find the synopsis of the film’s story on the websites. However, a few lines on the film’s story have been found in http://www.indianfilmhistory.com according to which the life of a sweet looking girl (probably Pramila) living with her family changes when all her family members are killed by an evil man. She turns herself into a fearless and brave girl to take revenge. In her deadly path, another brave man (probably Jairaj) helps her to overcome the odd she faced in her fights for revenge. I do not know as to how the story ended. But going by the story of most of the stunt films, the end would be the triumph of good over evil.
I have a photo from ‘Bijlee’ (1939) in which Pramila and Jairaj are dressed as pilots with a plane standing in the background. I have also seen a photo of her in this film in which she had dressed more or less, like Fearless Nadia in ‘Hunterwaali’ (1935). With these photos, it becomes clear that Pramila was depicted as a strong female protagonist who fought for the justice. It is said that in ‘Bijlee’ (1939), she had done stunt scenes herself like jumping from a running horse.
Pramila (30/12/1916 – 06/08/2006) whose real name was Esther Victoria Abraham, was one of the earliest models, actors, and producers who acquired a star status in Hindi film industry. She started as a dancer in a Parsee theater. Her film career happened more as a coincidence rather than the planned one in Bombay (now Mumbai). She was a teacher in one of the Jewish schools in Calcutta (Kolkata). During the school’s vacation, Pramila was on a short visit to Bombay in 1935 to spend some time with her cousin, Miss Rose and her sister Miss Sophie Abraham (Romilla) who had just started their acting careers in Hindi films. RS Choudhary, who was to direct ‘Return of Toofan Mail’ for Imperial, met her. He took the screen test and selected her not only for this film but also for the next 4 films under the banner of Imperial Films. Unfortunately, the film was never completed.
[Editor’s Note: A film by the same name – ‘Return of Toofaan Mail’ was released in 1942; it was a Ranjit-Wadia Movietone production directed by Aspi, with Arun and Shamim as the lead pair.]
Pramila’s first released film during her Bombay stay was Kolhapur Cinetone’s ‘Bhikaran’ (1935) for which she was loaned to them by Imperial Pictures. She was given a new name, Pramila by Baburao Pendharkar. She did the role of a westernized vamp. Next, she was in ‘Sarla’ (1936), ‘Mahamaya’ (1936), ‘Hamaari Betiyaan’ (1936) and ‘Mother India’ (1938) for Imperial Pictures, ‘Janmabhoomi’ (1936), ‘Jeevan Naiyya’ (1936) and ‘Achhut Kanya’ (1936) for Bombay Talkies, ‘Jungle King’ (1939) for Wadia Movietone, ‘Hukum Ka Ekka’ (1939) and ‘Bijlee’ (1939) for Prakash Pictures. By this time, Pramila had become a star actor doing mainly the roles of vamp and stunt actors.
Before Pramila shifted to Bombay in 1935, she was married to a theatre person, Maniklal Dangi in Kolkata. She also had a son. However, her parents pressurised her to divorce him. In 1939, she got married to M Kumar, who was her co-actor in her first 3 films made by Imperial Pictures.
In 1942, M Kumar and Chandramohan floated their film production company Silver Films along with Pramila who devoted much of her time in film production. ‘Jhankar’ (1942) was their first film as producers, followed by ‘Bhalaai’ (1943). ‘Bade Nawab Sahib’ (1944), ‘Naseeb’ (1945), ‘Devar’ (1946), and ‘Dhun’ (1953) etc. ‘Bahaana’ (1960) was her last film as a producer. In 1947, Pramila participated in the first Miss India competition at the age of 31 and pregnant with her 5th child, and she won.
Pramila and her husband M Kumar lived in Mumbai for over 2 decades. However, sometime in 1963, M Kumar decided to migrate to Pakistan. Pramila was not interested in settling in Pakistan. M Kumar migrated to Pakistan with his first wife and children while Pramila with her children stayed back in India in a bungalow in Shivaji Park, provided by her father which she named as ‘Pramila Villa’. She kept herself busy in bringing up children at the cost of her film career. Neither Hindi film industry nor Pramila approached each other for work. The last time she was seen in public was at the time of the release of Amol Palekar’s bilingual film in Marathi and English, ‘Thang/Quest’ (2006) in which she did a cameo role of a grandmother. Pramila died on August 6, 2006, in her bungalow at a ripe age of 89. [Sourced mainly from an article published in ‘The Daily Eye’, April 25, 2018, by Aparajita Krishna].
All her children are associated with films one way or the other. Haider Ali, the youngest son has acted in many films since 1975. He also wrote screenplay for ‘Jodha Akbar’ (2008). He became popular as an actor in TV serial, ‘Nukkad’. Pramila’s only daughter, Naqi Jahan started as a model. She won Miss India title in 1967 thus becoming the only mother-daughter pair winning this title. Naqi Jahan also acted in ‘Aakhri Khat’ (1966), ‘Mr Murder’ (1969), ‘Samaaj Ko Badal Daalo’ (1970) and ‘Ek Khilaari Baawan Patte’ (1971). She left film industry after marrying a Gujarati businessman, Vikram Kamdar and adopted a new name, Nandini Kamdar.
‘Bijlee’ (1939) had 9 songs, all penned by Pandit Anuj. Songs were set to music by Shankar Rao Vyas and Lallubhai Nayak. However, allocation of individual songs between the two music directors are not available. HFGK does not mention the name of the playback singers for any song.
I am presenting the first song from the film, “Bhaiyya Torey Chhote Nanadi Kaahe Karoon Singaar” to appear on the Blog. The song is written by Pandit Anuj. HFGK does not mention the name of the singer for the song. Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji has identified the singer as Shirin Bano which seems to be correct when compared with her voice in a couple of other songs.
Shirin Bano was the second wife of director, Nanabhai Bhatt and the mother of Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt.
Audio Clip:
Song-Bhaiyya torey chhote nanadi kaahe karoon singaar (Bijlee)(1939) Singer-Shirin Bano, Lyrics-Pt Anuj, MD-Shankar Rao Vyas/ Lallubhai Nayak
Lyrics
bhaiyya torey chhote nanadi
kaahe karoon singaar
haan main kaahe karoon singaar
solah baras ki bholi umariya
solah baras ki bholi umariya
baaroh hai bhartaar
haan main kaahe karoon singaar
nanadi kaahe karoon singaar
mo se bole god mein le le
kar le mo ko pyaar
mo se bole god mein le le
kar le mo ko pyaar
ras ki reet na jaane rasiya
ras ki reet na jaane rasiya
beeti chaar bahaar
haan main kaahe karoon singaar
nanadi kaahe karoon singaar
sej chadhat mori paayal baaje
chhun chhun sun jhankaar
sej chadhat mori paayal baaje
chhun chhun sun jhankaar
hamre balma dar ke bhaage
hamre balma dar ke bhaage
ang lagey angaar
haan main kaahe karoon singaar
nanadi kaahe karoon singaar
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
भैया तोरे छोटे ननदी
काहे करूँ सिंगार
हाँ मैं काहे करूँ सिंगार
सोलह बरस की भोली उमरिया
सोलह बरस की भोली उमरिया
बारहो है भरतार
हाँ मैं काहे करूँ सिंगार
ननदी काहे करूँ सिंगार
मो से बोले गोद में ले ले
कर ले मो को प्यार
मो से बोले गोद में ले ले
कर ले मो को प्यार
रस की रीत ना जाने रसिया
रस की रीत ना जाने रसिया
बीती चार बहार
हाँ मैं काहे करूँ सिंगार
ननदी काहे करूँ सिंगार
सेज चढ़त मोरी पायल बाजे
छुन छुन सुन झंकार
सेज चढ़त मोरी पायल बाजे
छुन छुन सुन झंकार
हमरे बलमा डर के भागे
हमरे बलमा डर के भागे
अंग लगे अंगार
हाँ मैं काहे करूँ सिंगार
ननदी काहे करूँ सिंगार
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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