Mhane chaakar raakho jee
Posted on: August 19, 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.
|
Blog Day : |
5510 | Post No. : | 17954 | Movie Count : |
4866 |
‘Meera Ka Chitra’ (1960) was produced by Children’s Film Society of India (now merged with National Film Development Corporation) and was directed by Kidar Sharma. The cast included Preetibala in the role of Meera Bai, Hiralal, Urmila, Sujata, Farida etc. The film was on the life of Meera Bai, as brought out on the screen in the simplest form so that the children can easily understand the story. The film was about 45 minutes’ duration.
The director of this film, Kidar Sharma has made Hindi feature films such as ‘Chitralekha’ (1941), ‘Bhanwara’ (1944), ‘Neel Kamal’ (1947), ‘Baawre Nain’ (1950), ‘Jogan’ (1950), ‘Rangeen Raaten’ (1956), ‘Hamaari Yaad Aayegi’ (1961), ‘Fariyaad’ (1964), ‘Chitralekha’ (1964) etc. So, it was surprising as to what made him make films for Children’s Film Society of India. There is an interesting story as narrated by him in his autobiography ‘The One and Lonely Kidar Sharma’ (2002). I have paraphrased the relevant parts from his autobiography as under:
One day while Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was having his breakfast, he heard one of the songs from ‘Suhaag Raat’ (1948) on the radio. He liked two lines from the song, ‘mujhe toone kya pilaaya, jis taare per nazar padi wo taara ladkhdaaya’. He asked his staff to find out as to who wrote these lines as he was keen to meet him whenever he comes to Delhi. The song was written by Kidar Sharma. Accordingly, his meeting was arranged with Pandit Nehru.
Apart from talking on poetry, Pandit Nehru discussed with Kidar Sharma the status of films made for children. He was not happy with the qualities of children’s films. So, with the setting up Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI) in 1955 under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Pandit Nehru requested Kidar Sharma to make some children’s films for CFSI. He also revealed that he had invited Mary Fields, the authority on children’s films in the UK, who will be in Bombay (Mumbai) for 15 days. He requested Kidar Sharma to meet her every day for 2-3 hours during her stay in Mumbai and learn the nuances of making children’s films. So, after his meetings with Mary Fields, Kidar Sharma made the first children’s film, ‘Jaldeep’ (1956) for CFSI. The film was screened at the Venice International Children’s Film Festival held in 1957 where it won the first prize. Pandit Nehru was delighted. He requested Kidar Sharma to continue in CSFI.
Kidar Sharma made about a dozen films for Children’s Film Society of India which included ‘Ganga Ki Laharen’ (1957), ‘Bachchon Se Baaten’ (1957), in which Pandit Nehru appeared in a cameo role along with his grand-children, Rajeev Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, ‘Gulab Ka Phool’ (1958), ‘Scout Camp’ (1958), ‘Ekta’ (1959), ‘Chetak’ (1960), Mahateerth (1961) etc. In the later year, he made ‘Khuda Hafiz’ (1983) for CFSI.
‘Meera Ka Chitra’ (1960) had 3 songs – all the Bhajans of Meera Bai which were set to music by Anil Biswas. I am presenting the first song, ‘Mahne Chaakar Raakho jee’ to appear on the Blog which is rendered by Meena Kapoor and Swapan Sen. The song is picturised on Preetibala (later known as Zeb Rahman) and a male I am not able to recognise. This is one of the most popular Meera bhajans in Hindi films – from ‘Meerabai’ (1932) to ‘Meera’ (1979).
In this bhajan, Meerabai has expressed her extreme level of worship of Lord Krishna in the sense that she is prepared to serve him as his servant (daasi). Even in this, Meerabai finds herself in a beneficial position as she would get Lord Krishna’s darshan every day. I have attempted the English translation of the bhajan as under:
Giridhari lala
mhane chaakar raakho jee
Ae Giridhari, allow me to serve you as your servant (chaakar).
chaakar rahansoo
baag lagaansoo
nit uthi darsan paansoo
brindaban ki kunj galin mein
teri leela gaansoo
I will serve you, my Lord. As a servant, I will maintain the garden, Thus I will have your ‘darshan’ the first thing in the morning the moment I get up every day. I will sing and spread your divine acts in the by lanes (avenue) of Vrindavan.
chaakri mein darsan paaun
sumiran paaun kharchi
bhaav bhagiti jaageeri paaun
teenu baata sarsee
Serving you will get me your darshan and give me an opportunity for your remembrance which will be like my ‘pocket money’ (kharchi). My devotion to you itself is my wealth equivalent to an estate. In this way, I would get the happiness in attaining my three ambitions.
oonche oonche mahal banaaun
beech beech raankhoo baari
saanwariya ke darsan paaun
pahir kusummi saaree
I will make high palaces with small gardens around. I will wear saffron-colour (kusummi) saaree to have darshan of Lord Krishna from the garden. [ Here ‘Baari’ is interpreted as बाड़ी, meaning small garden. ‘Baari’ also means window which would suggest the palaces with windows in-between].
Meera ke prabhu gahir gambheera
sada raho jee dheera
aadhee raat prabhu darsan deenhen
Jamuna jee ke teera
prem nadi ke teera
Ae Meera’s Lord, it is my deep ambition with patience to get your darshan at midnight on the shore of Jamuna, the shore of the river of love.
Video Clip:
Song-Mhane chaakar raakho jee (Meera Ka Chitra)(1960) Meena Kapoor, Swapan Sen, Lyrics-Meera Bai, MD-Anil Biswas
Both,
Chorus
Lyrics
Girdhar…..
lala…aaaaa aa aaa
mhane chaakar raakho jee
mhane chaakar raakho jee
mhane chaakar raakho jee
Giridhar lala
chaakar raakho jee
chaakar rahansoo baag lagaansoo
nit uthi darsan paansoo
chaakar rahansoo baag lagaansoo
nit uthi darsan paansoo
brindaban ki kunj galin mein
brindaban ki kunj galin mein
teri leela gaasoon
teri leela gaasoon
mhane chaakar raakho jee
mhane chaakar raakho jee
Giridhar lala
chaakar raakho jee
chaakri mein darsan paa…un
chaakri mein darsan paaun
sumiran paaun kharchi
bhaav bhagiti jaageeri paaun
bhaav bhagiti jaageeri paaun
teeno baataan karsee
teeno baataan karsee
mhane chaakar raakho jee
mhane chaakar raakho jee
Giridhar lala
chaakar raakho jee
oonche oonche mahal banaaun
beech beech raakhoon baari
oonche oonche mahal banaaun
beech beech raakhoon baari
saanwariya ke darsan paaun
saanwariya ke darsan paaun
pahir kusummi saari
pahir kusummi saari
mhane chaakar raakho jee
mhane chaakar raakho jee
Giridhar lala
chaakar raakho jee
Meera ke prabhu gahir gambheera…aa
Meera ke prabhu gahir gambheera
sada rahyo jee dheera..aa
Meera ke prabhu gahir gambheera
sada rahyo jee dheera
aadhee raat prabhu darsan daihe
aadhee raat prabhu darsan daihe
Jamuna jee ke teera
prem nadi ke teera
mhane chaakar raakho jee
mhane chaakar raakho jee
Giridhar lala
chaakar raakho jee
mhane chaakar raakho jee
chaakar raakho jee
Giridhar lala
chaakar raakho jee
Giridhar lala
chaakar raakho jee
Giridhar lala
chaakar raakho jee
Giridhar lala
chaakar raakho jee
Giridhar lala
chaakar raakho jee
4 Responses to "Mhane chaakar raakho jee"
August 22, 2023 at 7:58 am
Sadanand Sir,
Kidar Sharma’s association with Children’s Film Society of India is an interesting news to me. We get to know many such unique stories through this blog.
Thanks for this post Sir.
Gandhi Vadlapatla
LikeLike
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
August 21, 2023 at 11:10 am
Sadanand Ji
Thanks for the post. It was interesting to read about Jawaharlal Nehru & Kidar Sharma and how he came about making childrens films. As matter of fact I had not noted, earlier, about his association with Childrens film society
Nice song .
LikeLike
August 21, 2023 at 6:49 pm
Satish ji,
Thanks for your comments.
LikeLike