Taaron ki raushnee mein duniya nayee basaayen
Posted on: January 29, 2024
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 a duet from the film ‘Pehla Aadmi’ (1950). This was a film from New Theaters, Calcutta, which had a background of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s I.N.A. (Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauz).
Following the outbreak of World War II, Japan invaded Southeast Asia. At the time 70,000 troops were stationed in the region, most of them along the Malayan coast. Japan conducted a lightning campaign which culminated in the fall of the Malayan peninsula and Singapore in 1942. In the Singapore campaign alone, 45,000 Indian prisoners of war were captured. It was from these prisoners of war that the Japanese decided to create an auxiliary army which would fight against the British.
The first INA was formed under Mohan Singh, a former officer of the British Indian Army captured during the Malay campaign. Conditions in the prisoner-of-war camps, as well as resentment against the British in general, saw many prisoners of war volunteer to join the Indian National Army. The initiative received considerable support from the Imperial Japanese Army and from the ethnic Indian population of Southeast Asia. However, disagreements between Mohan Singh and the Japanese Army Command regarding the autonomy of the Indian National Army led to the disbandment of the first INA in December 1942.
Although Mohan Singh had angered the Japanese Army Command through his actions, they relented to form a second Indian National Army. Mohan Singh himself recommended Subash Chandra Bose for the leadership role. His reputation as a committed nationalist was known to both the Indian diaspora of Southeast Asia and the Imperial Japanese Army. As such, they were more open to the idea of a nationalist army led by Subash Chandra Bose. The activities of Subash Chandra Bose in India had forced the British authorities to imprison him, but he escaped and reached Berlin in 1941.
Although the German leadership were sympathetic to his cause, logistic problems prevented them from granting any support to his quest for raising an army to fight the British. However, the Japanese were ready to support him and upon their personal invitation, Subash Chandra Bose arrived in Singapore in July 1943 to take command of what would be known as the Second Indian National Army, now known by its alternative name, the Azad Hind Fauj.
Rash Behari Bose had founded the Indian Independence League in March 1942. During the Second World War, Bose convinced the Japanese authorities to support the Indian independence movement. He was instrumental in raising support for the Indian freedom movement abroad. In the League’s second conference in June 1942, it was decided to invite and appoint Subhash Chandra Bose as the President of the League. The Indian National Army (INA), built by Subhash Chandra Bose on the broad framework given by Rash Behari Bose, was the military arm of the League.
After Subhash Chandra Bose took command of the Azad Hind Fauj, there was a swell of volunteers looking to join the INA. Although Subash Chandra Bose agreed for the INA to remain subordinate to the Japanese Army, he saw it as a necessary sacrifice towards the fulfillment of the ultimate goal of freeing India from the British Empire. The Azad Hind Fauj participated in Operation U-Go, the 1944 Japanese campaign towards British India. Although the INA saw initial success during the early phases of the operation, they were forced to withdraw during the Battle of Imphal and the Battle of Kohima (Fought on April 4th, 1944) which saw a disastrous defeat for the Japanese Army at the hands of the British.
The INA lost a substantial number of men and materiel in this retreat. A number of units were disbanded or used to feed into new divisions of the now-declining Japanese Army. Following the Japanese defeat in World War 2, most of the members of the INA were captured by the British. Subhash Chandra Bose himself eluded capture and was reported to have died in a plane crash near Taiwan in September 1945. (adapted from notes by Karthik of Byju’s study PDF, with thanks).
The film was directed by Bimal Roy. This was his last film with and for New Theaters. The music was by Rai Chand Boral. The cast of the film was Smriti Biswas, Balraj Vij, Pahadi Sanyal, Zahar Roy, Asit Sen, Bela Bose and many others. The 11 songs of the film were written by Prakash BA, Shyamal Gupta, Anant Krishnan and Deshraj.
The story of the film was,
Vijay Kumar and Chaudhari are thick friends, living in Rangoon, Burma. They have a son Kumar and daughter Lata. The children fall in love when young, and decide to get married, with elders’ consent. The year is 1943. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose arrives in Singapore and tours Far Eastern areas. He invites the youngsters to join his INA to serve the motherland.
Kumar decides to join INA and promises Lata that they will get married after the war is over. Before going, Kumar’s father gives him a sword to use in the war. Kumar, after his training is over, is sent to the war front. During a battle, his leader is shot. Before dying he gives the Indian flag to Kumar and asks him to hoist it after victory.
The battle is won by Kumar’s unit and Kumar proudly unfurls the Indian Flag for the first time on a liberated Indian town. He becomes the ‘Pehla Aadmi’ to do so. Unfortunately, after hoisting the flag Kumar is shot dead. His body is brought to Rangoon for last rites. Lata is weeping. Kumar’s colleague in the war tells Lata to fulfill Kumar’s job in liberating the country. Lata too joins INA.
A cursory look at the Film Index book for 1931 to 2012, I found some names of films which were made on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Film ‘Samadhi’ (1950), like today’s film had a background of I.N.A. or Azad Hind Fauz.
Netaji Subhash-1947
Subhash Chandra Bose-1966
Subhash Chandra Bose-1978 and
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose – The forgotten Hero-2004.
While surfing on the Internet for more information, I found an article in The Economic Times dated 23-1-2023, which listed the names of 5 films that brought Netaji to life on screen….
1. ‘Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose- The Forgotten Hero’ (2004), written and directed by Shyam Benegal. The main actor was Sachin Khedekar.
2. ‘Bose – Dead/Alive’ (2017). This was based on the novel ‘India’s Biggest Cover Up or Netaji Rahasya Gatha’ by Anuj Dhar. The main actor was A Raj kumar Rao. This was a Web Series.
3. ‘Gumnami’ (2019). This was based on Mukherjee Commission hearings and the book ‘Counundrum’ by Anuj Dhar. Movie focusses on Bose’s retreat into anonymity post the plane crash and forging a career as a sadhu. He becomes known as The Gumnami Baba, an ascetic in Uttar Pradesh. The film starred Anirban Bhattacharya.
4. ‘Subhash Chandra’ (Bengali) (1966), directed by Piyush Bose. Shows his early years like student to a fighter, childhood and his ICS exam etc.
5. ‘Ami Subhash Bolchi’ (2011). Directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. Hero Mithun Chakraborti. this film is about the spirit of Netaji which motivates Deb Brata Bose to boost up his self confidence.
The story of ‘Pehla Aadmi’ was written by actor Nazir Hussain (ex INA), the lyrics were by Prakash (ex INA), and the music was by RC Boral. The film was directed by Bimal Roy, assisted by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. This was Bimal Roy’s last film with New Theaters. When he came to Bombay for the premier of the film, he met Hiten Chaudhari, who had worked in New Theaters earlier. He was the Pehla Aadmi to leave New Theaters and join Bombay Talkies in Bombay. Hiten took Bimal Roy to Bombay Talkies where he was offered the director’s position for the upcoming film ‘Maa’ (1952). Bimal Roy accepted it and settled in Bombay thereafter.
Bimal Roy was born on 26-7-1909, in Suvapur village in East Bengal. His father Hemchandra Roy was a very rich landlord. He was a simple and kind person. After he died, it was known that his servants had misappropriated all his money and land, and the family came on the road. The big family shifted to Calcutta in 1930-31.
Bimal Roy joined New Theaters as an assistant to Nitin Bose. He soon became an expert cameraman and shot films like ‘Chandidas’, ‘Devdas’, ‘Manzil’, ‘Grihdaah’, ‘Maya’, ‘Mukti’ etc. In 1937, he was married to Manobina Sen. He continued as a cameraman till 1942 doing more films like ‘Abhagin’, ‘Badi Didi’, ‘Abhinetri’, ‘Haar Jeet’ and ‘Meenakshi’.
By 1942, due to restrictions on supply of raw film and financial crisis, added to ego problems of big artistes and the management, New Theaters came into problems. One after another most artistes like Barua, Debaki Bose, Nitin Bose, Saigal, Prithviraj Kapoor, Kumar, Kidar Sharma etc left Calcutta and reached Bombay. Bimal Roy did a documentary on the Bengal Famine in 1943 and then directed his first Bangla/Hindi bilingual film ‘Udayer Pathe’/’Hamraahi’ in 1944. The successful film ran for an year in Calcutta and established him. Then came ‘Anjangadh’, ‘Mantramugdha’ and ‘Pehla Aadmi’.
Bimal Roy came to Bombay for the premiere of the film ‘Pehla Aadmi’ (1950). Here he met his old colleague Hiten Chaudhari,who was working in Bombay Talkies, which was supposed to be a hub for all artistes coming from Bengal. He took Bimal Roy to Bombay Talkies and he got his first film in Bombay- ‘Maa’ (1952), as a director. Then came ‘Parineeta’ (1953). Bimal Roy then established his own Bimal Roy Productions and made many films. He directed films like ‘Do Bigha Zamin’, ‘Naukri’, ‘Devdas’, ‘Madhumati’, ‘Sujata’, ‘Parakh’, ‘Prempatra’ and ‘Bandini’ for his own productions. For others too he directed films like ‘Biraj Bahu’, ‘Baap Beti’ and ‘Yahudi’. Bimal Roy Productions made films like ‘Amaanat’, ‘Parivaar’, ‘Apradhi Kaun’, ‘Usne Kaha Tha’, ‘Kabuliwala’ and ‘Benazir’ where other directors did the films.
Bimal Roy got 11 Film Fare Awards for Best films and Best Direction in all. He got several National and International awards too. He was a heavy smoker. In 1965, lung cncer was detected and he died on 8-1-1966
Bimal Roy was not only a very sensitive person, but he was like an institution for subordinates, who learnt a lot from him. He was like a complete school of film making and gave the film industry great filmmakers and writers like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar, Nabendu Ghosh, Basu Bhattacharya, and Salil Chaudhari. ‘Do Bigha Zameen’ (1953) was based on Salil Da’s story ‘Rikshawala’, written in the 40s. ‘Parakh’ was also his story. He also wrote the screenplay for ‘Prem Patra’ and. After Bimal Roy’s death, Hrishikesh Mukherjee dedicated the film ‘Anupama’ to his memory.
One special characteristic of Bimal Roy was song picturisation on character and unknown artistes (like Guru Dutt). Sachin Shankar sang ‘Parakh’ song “Kya Hawa Chali”. His production manager’s wife Dolly Kapoor sang 2 songs in ‘Bandini’. Rajdeep, a character artiste sang “Mat Ro Mata Laal Tere Bahutere” in the same film. Wazir Mohammed Khan sang in ‘Kabuliwala’. In the same film a small-time actor MV Rajan also sang a song.
Bimal Roy shot a major part of the film ‘Madhumati’ in Nainital. When he came back to Bombay, to his dismay, he found that 60% of the shots were spoiled. Without losing head, he shot all those scenes in Bhandardara, near Bombay and the film was edited so well that nobody felt any difference !
[Adapted, with thanks, from the book ‘Bimal Roy’ by Shashikant Kinikar.]
Today’s song is a duet sung by Aparesh Lahiri (father of Bappi Lahiri) and Sandhya Mukherjee. Aparesh Lahiri was the inhabitant of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. He was a famous Bengali singer. He was born in 1924. He used to sing in All India Radio, Calcutta. In one of the sessions, he met Bansuri Ghosh, a singer. They fell in love and got married.
Bappi Lahiri is the only child of Aparesh Lahiri. Aparesh Lahiri trained Bappi Lahiri about each and every aspect of music. The modern age of Bengali song can be said to have begun from the middle of the 19th century. Aparesh contributed quite a lot to this. Aparesh died on 28-5-1998.
Enjoy the song video. . .
Song-Taaron ki Raushni mein duniya nayi basaayen (Pahla Aadmi)(1950) Singers-Aparesh Lahiri, Sandhya Mukherjee, Lyrics-Prakash BA, MD-R C Boral
Both
Lyrics
o o o o o
o o o o o
taaron ki raushni mein duniya nayi basaayen
taaron ki raushni mein duniya nayi basaayen
rangeen bahaaren hain masti bhari fijaayen
rangeen bahaare hain masti bhari fijaayen
ye kaun aun
ye kaun sunaata hai mujhe prem ka gaana aa
ye kaun sunaata hai mujhe prem ka gaana aa
madhosh banaata hai mujhe kiska fasaana
afsaana nahin hai ye meri zindagi ka taar
afsaana nahin hai ye meri zindagi ka taar
duniya se door hamko basaana hai ye sansaar
raaten hon suhani khilen phoolon ki chaandni
phoolon ki chaandni
raaten hon suhaani khilen phoolon ki chaandni
phoolon ki chaandni
bajti ho mast jhoomke lehron ki raagini
lehron ki raagini
is prem ki duniya mein
is prem ki duniya mein
is prem ki duniya mein hamen do preet jhalak do
o o o
o o o
khaamosh nigaahon mein mohabbat ki chamak ho
o o o o
bedard zamaane ki wo baaten na sataayen aen aen
bedard zamaane ki wo baaten na sataayen
taaron ki raushni mein ham ek duniya basaayen
taaron ki raushni mein ham ek duniya basaayen
taaron ki raushni mein duniya nayi basaayen
taaron ki raushni mein
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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