Chalo sipaahi karen safaai
Posted on: December 5, 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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Today’s song is from a very old film-Bramhachari-1938.
When this film was released in 1938, it created a sensation, because the film’s debutante Heroine, Meenakshi Shirodkar had sung a song in a swimming pool donning only a one piece Swimsuit ! 85 years ago it was a very very daring and shameful act which would ‘spoil the young and the innocent’ children. The Traditional puritan society could not tolerate it. The film was made in Marathi and Hindi. When the Marathi version was released in Maharashtra, the ‘Sanatani’ section of the society of Poona protested by having an agitation in front of the theatre. Long articles criticizing this appeared in local papers and some people even threatened to go to the court, if these scenes were not removed from the film immediately. Conversely, these scenes also attracted huge crowds who enjoyed such scenes on the screen for the first time in a Marathi film !
The film was made by Master Vinayak, under his own banner Huns Pictures, Bombay. It was directed by Vinayak himself and he also did the lead role in it. Before releasing the film, the team had expected an adverse reaction from the Puritans, but they were ready for it. To understand this situation, one must first understand the conditions prevailing in the decade of the 1930’s and the overcoming of the film industry over it.
The 1930s saw the emergence of the Talkie in its beginning only with Aalam Ara-1931. Things were new and in a constant state of flux, and lots of experiments and innovations were tried out throughout the decade. The two major centres of Hindi film production, Calcutta and Bombay began to attract aspirants from all over who thronged to these places to try their luck in this new form of entertainment.
Although the era of Silent Films had plenty of Anglo-Indian Heroines and uneducated but handsome Heroes, the Talkie required knowledge of Hindi/Urdu, a flair for singing and and good looks with acting ability. This gave opportunity for educated Indian men and women in the film industry.
While Calcutta made Bilingual films in Hindi and Bangla, Bombay was replete with films in Hindi/Marathi and occasional Hindi/Gujarati films.
Doors were opened to learned Dramatists, writers, poets, classical singers and stage actors. Bombay films initially had a Parsi/Gujarati theatre influence, but soon the powerful Marathi Theatre took over. Many production houses like Kolhapur Cinetone, Huns pictures, Prabhat films, Saraswati cinetone, Sagar movietone, Ranjit Studios, Paramount, Sharada, Bombay Talkies, Imperial, Bharat, Vishnu etc made films in Hindi/Marathi using mythological themes.
It was Navyug/Atre films, Huns pictures of Vinayak, Prabhat of Shantaram, Bombay Talkies, Saraswati and Kolhapur cinetones etc which dared to handle different topics for their films. Social, cultural and comedy films soon became very popular. As such in the 30s and 40s, India was undergoing an upheaval of values coupled with reforms in social, political and cultural fields, and it all showed in the films of that period. Films made on social evils like, child marriage, Dowry, untouchability, alcoholism, prostitution, education and health problems were met with extraordinary reception from the public. Huns pictures of Vinayak handled these topics with comedy.
P.K.Atre (Acharya Pralhad Keshav Atre), a noted novelist, dramatist, poet, educationist, editor of newspaper etc, of Maharashtra in those days, joined hands with Director/producer master Vinayak and this duo made memorable films like Dharmaveer, Premveer, Bramhachaari, Brandi ki Bottle ,using satire of Atre and comedy of Vinayak. In Dharmaveer, they tackled problems of fake Religious Babas, In Premveer-love struck collegians, in Bramhachari-the pseudo Deshbhakts and foolish sadhus, babas and impractical celibacy rules. All such films were liked by the audience.
Noticing that the ‘Reform’ films of Prabhat were becoming Hits, Minerva and Bombay Talkies also followed suit. Minerva made films on social ills like Alcoholism, falsehood of Celibacy, Divorce and even Incest ! Bombay Talkies went the Socialistic ways. Films were made by them on Untouchability (Achhut kanya)and similar Moralistic topics.
The cast of the film Bramhachari-1938 was master Vinayak, Minakshi Shirodkar, D.S.Salvi, Jog, Damuanna Malavankar and many others. Minakshi Shirodkar was one of those rare actresses who were already married before coming into films. I find that on the internet several sites say that Minakshi was Vinayak’s wife and Baby Nanda was their daughter, which is totally wrong. Master Vinayak was married to Susheelabai (Wadkar), who was the paternal aunt of Hansa Wadkar, the actress. Their daughter was Baby Nanda.
One of the names in the cast of this film is D.S.Salvi, who later on became a very popular and famous actor in Marathi films. Let us know more about him….Dinkar Shivram Salvi (04 December 1904 – 29 October 1980) better known as screen name “Dada Salvi”, was an actor of the silent & talkie era of Indian Cinema. He was a part of the first Indian talkie film “Alam Ara” (1931). He has acted in 20 silent movies. He has worked in Hindi & Marathi movies.
Dinkar Shivram Salvi aka Dada Salvi was born on 04 December 1904 in a village Phansob in Ratnagiri, Bombay Presidency undivided India, now in Maharashtra. After completing his education, he joined the Police Department. During service period, he was taking part in plays. Shri Tipnis, a well known play master saw Salvi and advised to come to Bombay. Acting in plays became a part of his life, so he decided & he left the job and came to Bombay.
In Bombay, Tipnis introduced Salvi to K. B. Athawale, working as manager, actor, director in Excelsior Film Company owned by Seth Wazeer Aziz. The company was searching for talented actors and Athwale offered Salvi to join Excelsior Film Company on a monthly salary of ₹. 25. Salvi accepted the job & joined Excelsior Film Company.
Salvi’s first silent film was “Khoon-e-Nahaq” (1928) and became very popular. Looking to his potential in acting, The Imperial Film Company offered Dalvi work with higher monthly pay. After joining Imperial Film Company, Salvi acted in 20 silent films like Madanmanjri, Indira BA, Bhola Shikar, Cinema Girl, Hamara Hindustan, Raat Ki Baat, Khuda Ki Shan and many more. It is said, while working with Imperial Film Company, Salvi fell in love with his co-actress Sakhubai & later they married. Probably it was the first love Marriage of the first Maharashtrian acting couple of Hindi Films.
Salvi has worked with Jayant Desai in the film Poladi Pahelwan – Iron Man (1931) for Paramount Films. He also acted in Marathi films like Aut Ghatkecha Raja, Bhakta Prahlad, Chatrapati Sambhaji, Thaksen Rajputra under Dadasaheb Torne of Saraswati Cinetone. Salvi’s role in “Chatrapati Sambhaji ” as Sambhaji’s evil advisor ‘Kalusha Kabji’ won him great acclaim. Impressed with the acting of Salvi as “Kalusha Kabji”, Huns Pictures, Kolhapur, invited him to join them on a three figure salary. Salvi left Imperial and joined Huns.
“Premveer” (1937) was Salvi’s first film with Huns Pictures. This was a turning point in his career where he came to be associated with Master Vinayak & Marathi Films. Their team led to many wonderful performances. He was then seen mostly in Marathi Films with an occasional Hindi film. In Brahmchari, Salvi played role of a father of the heroin. Salvi acted in Marathi films like Savangadi, Brandi Chi Batli, Devta and many more.
Later Huns Pictures changed to Navyug Chitrapat and made Amrut (1941). Salvi then worked in many Hindi and Marathi films with Master Vinayak, V. Shantaram. After 1947, Dada Salvi mainly worked in Marathi films. Dada Salvi died on 29 October 1980 in Poona (Pune), Maharashtra.
Bramhachari-1938 was the story of a simple young man Kanhaiyya( Master Vinayak-he was Audumbar in Marathi version), who gets unduly sold on the foolish idea of a Lifelong celibacy( Aajanma Bramhacharya), espoused by a fake Acharya Chandiram(played by Damuanna Malvankar-Marathi’s leading comedy Hero. His daughter Bharati later married Hridaynath Mangeshkar)-who himself indulges in illicit relations and also by the speeches of a pseudo leader-Deshbhakta Jata shanker(played by Javdekar)-who himself indulges in hoarding, bribes and Black marketing.
One day Kishori(Meenakshi Shirodkar), the naughty young daughter of a Forest officer(V.G.Jog) visits the Ashram, along with her father. Here Kanhaiya is doing all odd jobs for the Acharya,like sweeping, washing etc. She falls in his love and tries to entice him with a seductive swim suit and a song in the swimming pool.
Over a period,with the help of Kishori, Kanhaiya realises his folly and exposes the fraud of Acharya Chandiram and politician Jata shankar, who are arrested by the Police.
Today’s song is a Chorus song. In the film this is a very comic scene. While doing ‘safai’, the hero is only looking for the heroine all the time. The film is available on YT.
Song- Chalo sipaahi karen safaai (Brahmchaari)(1938) Singers- Chorus song, Lyricist- Pandit Indra, MD- Dada Chandekar
Lyrics
Chalo sipaahi karen safaai
haathh dharen jhaadoo
Chalo sipaahi karen safaai
haathh dharen jhaadoo
jahaan kahin ho kooda kachraa
jahaan kahin ho kooda kachraa
wahin pade jhaadoo
wahin pade jhaadoo
subah saanjh karti iski poojaa
saanjh karti iski poojaa
mrignayani ko hi(?)
mrignayani ko hi(?)
isko salayu(??) karte
saare salaami bharte
isko salayu(??) karte
saare salaami bharte
charkhe ki dhhaani jhaadoo
charkhe ki dhhaani jhaadoo
Chalo sipaahi karen safaai
haathh dharen jhaadoo
jahaan kahin ho kooda kachraa
wahin pade jhaadoo
Chalo sipaahi
Chalo sipaahi
Chalo sipaahi
karen safaai
haathh dharen jhaadoo
haathh dharen jhaadoo
haathh dharen jhaadoo
haathh dharen jhaadoo oo oo
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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