Mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
Posted on: November 15, 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 Hindi film industry, there are some well-known cinematographers who have turned directors. Some of them had a successful stint as director while some had to revert to cinematography. A few of the names who graduated from cinematographer to director were Nitin Bose, Bimal Roy, Fali Mistry, Ravi Nagaich, Govind Nihalani, Santosh Sivan etc. Some of them worked simultaneously as a cinematographer and a director in some films.
I guess, it must be a challenging for a cinematographer to be a director and a cinematographer at the same time in a film. While a cinematographer is mainly concern with light, the composition of shots, the camera movements etc, a director is mainly concerned with the performances of the actors facing the camera as detailed in the screenplay written in consultation with him. The scenes conceived by the director have wider perspective through his eyes while the cinematographer sees them performing through his camera lenses. Sometime the coverage area of performances as watched by the director may not fit in the camera frames. Hence it becomes necessaity for a director-cinematographer to have an experienced chief assistant director to assist him.
I find from the online sources that Ravi Nagaich, the Cinematographer and Director has a good number of films in which he was director-cinematographer. And he had a good success ratio in such films in terms of box office results. Most of his films belonged to the genre of spy thriller/action which required some trick photography and the special effects.
I came to know about Ravi Nagaich for the first time when I watched his first Hindi film as a director, ‘Farz’ (1967) in the theatre. I was attracted to this film because it was a spy thriller in the format of James Bond films. I had already watched two James Bond films, ‘Dr. No’ (1962) and ‘From Russia With Love’ (1963). I was curious as to how the film was adapted to the Indian setting. With ‘Jigri Dost’ (1969), ‘Himmat’ (1970), ‘Keemat’ (1973 and ‘Kaala Sona’ (1975), Ravi Nagaich’s name had become synonymous with action/thriller films providing pure entertainment for the audience.
Born in Atruali (Aligarh district), Ravikant Nagaich (05/07/1931 – 06/01/1991) was regarded as a wizard of the special effects cinematography. Unfortunately, he is one of the least discussed film personalities on the internet. I did not find a detailed profile on him except a couple of short articles which did not give any background as to how he landed in the Telugu film industry in early 1960s. The earliest reference to his association with the film was in Wadia Brothers’ ‘Zimbo’ (1958) where his name appeared as an assistant to photography. So, his initial training in cinematography and special effects may be from the Wadia Brothers under their regular, Babubhai Mistry, a wizard in special effects.
Those days, Telugu film producers used to prefer mythological films, mostly with N T Rama Rao as the lead actor. Ravi Nagaich with his experience in trick photography and special effects got an early opportunity to become an independent cinematographer for Telugu film, ‘Seetha Ram Kalyanam’ (1961). After working as cinematographer in about half-a dozen Telugu films, Ravi Nagaich directed his first Hindi film, ‘Farz’ (1967) which was based on a Telugu hit film, ‘Gudachari 116’ (1966) for which he was the cinematographer. The film became a runway hit making Jeetendra in the role of a ‘deshi’ James Bond, a star and Ravi Nagaich, his successful foray in the film direction.
Ravi Nagaich’s subsequent Hindi films such as ‘Jigri Dost’ (1969), ‘Himmat’ (1970), ‘The Train’ (1970), ‘Haseenon Ka Devta’ (1971), ‘Keemat’ (1973), ‘Kaala Sona’ (1975), ‘Surakasha’ (1979), ‘Waardaat’ (1981), ‘Saahas’ (1981), ‘Raksha’ (1981) and ’Shapath’ (1984) followed his trade-mark genre of action-thriller with fast paced narratives. He had also directed a few films in the genre of romantic dramas such as ‘Pyaaar Ki Kahaani’ (1971), ‘Mere Jeevan Saathhi’ (1972) etc. While in the 1970s, most of his films became box office hit, in the 1980s, his preferred genre of films was becoming out of date resulting in a series of flop films for him. ‘Duty’ (1986) with Govinda was his last Hindi film as a director which failed at the box office. Probably Govinda in the role of a tough cop in the film was not what the audience expected to watch him. He directed his last film in Kannada, a 3D children’s film, ‘Super Boy’ (1986).
During his filmy career, Ravi Nagaich directed 25 Hindi films. His films followed the format of mainstream cinema with emphasis on pure entertainment for the audience. Ravi Nagaich had groomed Teja, his assistant in Cinematography while in Mumbai. Unfortunately, Ravi Nagaich passed away on January 6, 1991, depriving him of watching the success of his protégé, who has now become one of the top most producer-director-cinematographer in Telugu film industry.
‘Rani Aur Lalpari’ (1975) was Ravi Nagaich’s only film in the genre of children’s musical fantasy (one can also tag the film as ‘Fairy Tale’) for which he was the director and the cinematographer. The film was produced under the banner of Guru Enterprising Movies, Madras (now Chennai). Baby Rani was in the lead role with Reena Roy in the role of Lalpari. Rest of the cast was star-studded which included Rajendra Kumar, Asha Parekh, Jeetendra, Neetu Singh, Prem Nath, Feroz Khan, Agha, Ramesh Deo, Seema Deo, Aruna Irani, Mahipal, Padma Khanna, Jagdeep, Janakidas, Lalita Kumari, Narendra Nath, Preeti Ganguly, Deny Denzongpa etc. The film’s story and screenplay were written by the well-known Marathi poet, lyricist and writer, G D Madgulkar.
The story of the film is as under:
Rajendra (Rajendra Kumar) and his wife, Kamla (Asha Parekh) live with their daughter Rani (Baby Rani), her maternal uncle, Ramlal (Satyen Kappu) and the aunt (Lalita Kumari). Rajendra leaves for a long business tour leaving Kamla and Rani with her selfish uncle, Ramlal and his cruel wife. After the completion of his business trip, Rajendra is on his way back home when the family gets the news that he has died in a plane accident. Shortly thereafter, Rani’s mother, Kamla goes into coma, and she is almost clinically dead. This leaves Rani to face the cruelty of her aunt and the uncle Ramlal.
Pappu (Master Abbas) is Rani’s best friend with whom she shares her problems with him about the aunt who treats her cruely. After listening her, Pappu tells her that her story is the same that of Cinderella. He tells her the story of Cinderella in which Lalpari takes Cinderella to heaven. He suggests Rani to meet Lalpari (Reena Roy) who will take her to heaven to bring her mother to life. From here onwards, Rani is in her imaginary travel to heaven.
Lalpari takes Rani to heaven, and she pleads with Yamaraj (Prem Nath) to make her mother alive so that she can take her back to the earth. Yamaraj says that those who come here cannot go back. He says that other than this, he can give her any boon. She asks Yamaraj to give her a younger brother. He gives her that boon and asks her as to where her younger brother is. She says that he is yet to be born. By asking this boon, Rani has actually tricked Yamaraj to make her mother live. Thus, Rani succeeds in bringing back alive her mother. She also meets her father who is also alive, as he was only injured in the plane accidents.
The film had 8 songs written by Balkavi Bairagi and set to music by Vasant Desai. Two of the songs are very longish in duration. The first one is the song depicting the story of Cinderella which is of nearly 20 minutes duration. It is picturised mainly on Jeetendra, Neetu Singh and Reena Roy. The second longish song depicts the story of Gullivar (Feroz Khan) which is of nearly 8 minutes duration. In this song, there is a lot of trick photography and special effects.
I am presenting the first song from the film which is a different song than the two longish songs discussed above. The song is ‘mera phool badan kumhlaaye re’, rendered by Asha Bhosle. The song is picturised on Aruna Irani in the role of Menaka, the celestial nymph to seduce Chitragupt (Jagdeep) to get information on whereabouts of Rani’s mother and father from his records.
Video Clip:
Song-Mera phool badan kumhlaaye re (Raani aur Laalpari)(1975) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Balkavi Bairaagi, MD-Vasant Desai
Chorus
Lyrics
hmmhmmhmm
hmmhmmhmm
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
o piya baadal banke barso
o piya baadal banke barso
o mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
o o o
o o o o
meri kanak chhadi si kamar
kamar mein bhanwar
bhanwar bhi gehra aa aa aa
mera sone jaisa rang
rang mein racha basa har ang
ang pe kaamdev ka pehra aa aa aa
bin maali baag sukhaaye ae ae ae
o mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
o o o
o o o o
main chandan van ki gandh
gandh mein palken karli band
adhar par rasbheeje angaare
anoothi aag kare manoharee
kahaan hai ras ki madhur phuhaar
baras ja ek nahin sau baar
ye tapan sahi na jaaye ae ae ae
o mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
o piya baadal banke barso
o piya baadal banke barso
mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
mera phool badan kumhlaaye re
7 Responses to "Mera phool badan kumhlaaye re"
November 15, 2023 at 1:20 pm
Sadanand ji,
Thanks for the bio of Ravi Nagaich. Initially I had considered him a director from south, but once I discovered that the surname Nagaich was common in U.P., I was surprised . I tried casually but did not get his bio easily.
Thanks for your foray into films of modern India, since few months, I tend to agree with you that even today good films are made.
This confirms my own statement” everything made before 1970 is not good and everything after 1970 is not bad” as far as films made are concerned.
-AD
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November 15, 2023 at 7:26 pm
Arun ji,
Thanks for your comments.
I started writing articles about the new films because I felt that ,most of them were non-mainstream and obscure films in which melodious songs were weaved with good lyrics.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
November 15, 2023 at 11:01 am
Sadanand Ji
Thanks for the post. Though I remember Ravee Nagaich , as director of ‘Farz’ , I had no knowledge of more details. I always thought he is a pucca South Indian.
As to cinematographer(s) turned director, we may add famous cinematographer Radhu Karmakar, who directed ‘Jis Desh me Ganga behti hai’
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November 15, 2023 at 7:13 pm
Satish ji,
My first impression about Ravi Nagaich was also the same – that he was from the South India mainly because his first 5 or 6 assignments as Cenimetographer were for Telugu films. Also some of his Hindi films such as ‘Farz’ (1967), ‘Jigri Dost’ (1969), ‘Pyaar Ki Kahaani’ (1971) were produced by South based Sunderlal Nahata. His other films like ‘Himmat’ (1970), ‘Keemat’ (1973) and ‘Suraksha’ (1981) were produced by P Mallikkarjuna Rao.
I did not include the name of Radhu Karmakar in the list of Cinematographer-Director because it was said that he was a ‘ghost’ director for Raj Kapoor in ‘Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1962)., the only film he officially directed.
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November 16, 2023 at 7:20 pm
Sadanand Ji,
I had a gut feeling that Radhu Karmakar might have been a ghost director for RK. But,this is the first time another source (you) is expressing the same. However it beats me why RK, a seasoned director himself, should pose another person as the director.
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November 17, 2023 at 9:15 am
Satish ji,
Raj Kapoor did not direct his own banner films like ‘Aah’ (1953), ‘Boot Polish’ (1954), ‘Jaagte Raho’ (1956) etc. While it is difficult to get the authentic reasons as to why he did not direct these films, I feel that he rewarded his trusted loyalists in his production team to direct the film. Examples, Raja Nawathe for ‘Aah’ (1953), Prakash Arora for ‘Boot Polish’ (1954) and Radhu Karmakar for ‘Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai’ (1962). While the first two were Assistant Directors to Raj Kapoor in ‘Aag’ (1948), ‘Barsaat’ (1949) and ‘Aawaara’ (1951), Radhu Karmakar was associated with R K Films as a Cinematographer since ‘Aawaara’ (1951).
The second reason could be that due to uncertainty of the success of these films with unusual plots, probably Raj Kapoor did not want to be officially associated with these films as director in the backdrop of his successful stint as a director in the previous films. ‘Originally, ‘Aah’ (1953) had the sad ending with Raj Kapoor dying due to TB and Nargis getting married to Pran. Likewise, ‘Boot Polish’ (1954) was planned as a songless film. It was only after the failure of ‘Aah’ (1953) at the Box office, RK did not want to take risk and added songs to ‘Boot Polish’ (1954) which he is said to have himslef directed the song sequences. ‘Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai’ (1962) was a dacoit film which was a new genre for RK Films.
One more reason could be that after entrusting to direct these films to newcomers, RK may have realised that the films were not shaping well as per his plan. So, he would direct the most part of the such films without changing the name of the directors in the credit title.
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November 17, 2023 at 9:26 pm
Thanks, Sadanand Ji. What you have stated looks a good analysis why RK gave charge of direction to others.
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