Bolo bhee Bhagwaan
Posted by: Atul on: February 16, 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 from the film ‘Maa Baap ki Laaj’-1946.
The film was made by Hind Pictures – owned by actor, director and producer Nazir Ahmed Khan. However, in this film, though he acted as the Hero, he did not direct the film. The film was directed by Nanubhai Bhatt. For Nanubhai this film was a ‘ hard to come by’ social film for direction, because he was known as a director for B and C grade stunt and costume films only. The cast of the film was Swarnalata, Nazir, Jayant, Kusum Deshpande, Majid, Gulab, Anwari and many others.
The Music Director was Alla Rakha Qureshi, who became famous as an International Tabla Player (and the father of more famous son Zakir Hussain), after he left the film industry. This case of Alla Rakha is not unique. Hindi film industry has been a Mayanagari and an attraction for millions of indian people since the Talkie started. The experts of classical music- Vocal as well as instrumental-were not exceptions. The history of films has many such experts who could not resist its attraction and had joined it – albeit for a short period- before they returned to their first love and excelled in that field.
Names of expert vocal classical musicians who tried their hand at films are many. here are some names like Firoz dastoor, Manakabai Shirodkar, Ram Marathe, B.R.Deodhar, D.V.Paluskar, manik Verma, Shobha Gurtu, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, S.D.Batish , Laxi Shankar, Pt. Amarnath Chawla, Pty. Bhishmadev Chatterjee and the famous sibling trio of Hirabai Badodekar, Saraswati rane and Suresh babu Mane etc. This list is only indicative and not exhaustive, please.
Expert instrumentalista like Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar khan and Bismilla khan are also in this list. The case of Alla Rakha is one of these musicians.
Ustad Allah Rakha, born as Allah Rakha Khan Qureshi, was born in Jammu and Kashmir on 29-4-1919. He was an Indian tabla player who popularised the art of tabla playing all over the world. Allah Rakha was born to a soldier, who later returned from the army and worked as a farmer after that to earn his bread and butter. Being the eldest of seven sons, his father did not expect him to learn music and opposed his idea of learning classical music.
Ustad Allah Rakha, as a young boy of 12 years, found the instrument fascinating while visiting his uncle in Gurdaspur. His inclination towards Indian classical music and the Performing Arts made him run away to Lahore for further learning, as he found little scope of learning the art-form in his home-town. Allah Rakha studied at the Punjab school of classical music (gharana) where he became a student of Ustad Mian Khadarbaksh Pakhawaji (Mian Quader Bakshi). He was trained to be a singer under Ustad Ashiq Hussain.
Allah Rakha was also associated with theater as he lived in Pathankot for sometime and worked for a theater company. In 1930, Allah Rakha worked at radio station in Lahore. According to reports, he moved to Delhi after six years, in 1936, to work with All India Radio. In 1940, he moved to Bombay and worked with Pandit Ravi Shankar and again on All India Radio. He was the station’s first ever tabla solo player then.
After which he even composed music for 42 Hindi films from 1943 to 1958. His first film as a MD was Mahasati Anusuya-43 and the last released film was Idd ka chaand-64. He even sang 14 songs in 7 films between 1942 to 1949.He worked mostly in films made by Hind Pictures, Magnet films, Sunrise films and Mohan studios of Dave brothers. Barring 1 or 2 films like “Bewafa”-52, he got only C grade stunt films or Muslim ibadat films. He gave music in 3 Punjabi Films Madari -1950,Fumman-1951, Jagga-1964. He gave BG music in PYar Ki Baatein 1951. He acted in Aabida- 1947. Uma Devi (Tuntun) first sang in Wamiq Azra-46 under MD A R Qureshi.
Ustad Allah Rakha had married twice. He was first married to Bavi Begum and had three sons, Zakir Hussain, Fazal Qureshi and Taufiq Qureshi and two daughters Khurshid Aulia née Qureshi and Razia. Razia served him in his later years and was like a constant companion to her father. She died after a routine cataract surgery and Allah Rakha could not cope with the shock of her death and immediately slipped into a coma and passed away within 24 hours on 3-2-2000. Zakir Hussain is one of the most renowned tabla players of India.
Allah Rakha’s son Zakir Hussain grew up to be another legend in the country. Zakir Hussain has also been honoured with the Padma Shri in 1988 and the Padma Bhushan in 2002, by the Government of India. The honour that was bestowed upon his father by the Sangeet Natak Akademi came to him as well in 1990. Hussain has been working in films and on albums in India as well as abroad. Hussain owes his career to his father, who had made sure that he remained focused on this art-form.
Ustad Allah Rakha had established the Alla Rakha Institute of Music in Bombay in 1986 and imparted his knowledge of the instrument to all his disciples in the institute. Allah Rakha and sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar brought classical Hindustani music to Western audiences as well. He was honoured with the Padma Shri Award by the Government of India in 1977 for his contributions to elevate the reach of tabla playing as an art form across the globe. Later on, Sangeet Natak Akademi also honoured him.
Ustad Allah Rakha and sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar brought classical Hindustani music to Western audiences as well. Their partnership reached legendary heights with performances at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and the Woodstock Festival in 1969. The two performed together in many festivals and elevated the respect and popularity of tabla playing as an art form. Other than Pandit Ravi Shankar, he also worked with renowned Kathak dancers like Sitara Devi and Birju Maharaj.
Ustad Allah Rakha found fans not only in India but abroad as well. Reportedly, American percussionist, the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, was his huge fan. Hart always tried to learn from him even from single visits that Ustad used to make to his country. Hart was also quoted saying, “Alla Rakha is the Einstein, the Picasso; he is the highest form of rhythmic development on this planet.”
Other than the Grateful Dead drummer, Mickey Hart, Ustad Allah Rakha inspired George Harrison from The Beatles as well. Both of them performed together for a Concert for Bangladesh in 1971. Mickey Hart also collaborated with him for Rolling Thunder in 1972. The picture we have here is of Hell’s Angels member Terry The Tramp with tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha as they were set to perform together at the Monterey International Pop Festival, June 17th, 1967. He had collaborated with many prominent rock groups.
While Ustad used to generally team up with Pandit Ravi Shankar for his performances, he once collaborated with jazz drummer Buddy Rich for an album, Rich à la Rakha in 1968. Some of his greatest works have been in the form of albums Improvisations, West Meets East, Album 3 (with Ravi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin, Jean Pierre Rampel, Martine Gelliot), Angel (1976), Master Drummers with Zakir Hussain (1991), Tabla Duet, Chhanda Dhara (1994), Ultimate in Taal-vidya, Magnasound/OMI (1996).
Film Maa Baap ki Laaj-1946 was a story of 2 sisters who were not twins, unlike in an earlier film ” Muqabala”-1942 wherein the Fearless Nadia had played the roles of twin sisters, in a double role. The story of this film was…..
A widow mother has 2 daughters-Bimla and Kamala. Elder one Bimla (Kusum) is in love with Sharat (Jayant) and both are modern minded. The younger Kamala (Swarnalata) is Traditional minded. Bimla’s marriage is fixed with Anup (Nazir), who is a traditional boy. Bimla, to avoid the marriage, runs away with Sharat. To save the family’s ‘Izzat’, Kamala is married to Anup. His mother Gangubai (Gulab) is shrewd and troubles Kamala very much, but she bears everything to make everyone happy. Slowly Gangubai’s opinion changes. All are happy with her now.
Meanwhile Bimla and Sharat’s life is miserable as his job is gone and money is gone due to their extravagant habits and modern style of enjoying life. They realise their mistake. Anup gets a job for Sharat. In the end all’s well that ends well.
The Heroine of this film was Swarnalata, who was well known in the 1940’s decade. Swarnalata was born on 20-12-1924 in a Siyal Jat Sikh family in Rawalpindi. She came to Delhi to complete her education and then joined The Academy of music and Arts,at Lucknow. She lost her parents early and lived with her elder brother. She was spotted at a hostel in Lucknow when she got an offer to act in films. Her initial reaction was to refuse outright but the director, who had spotted her, convinced her brother who in turn convinced her and soon Swarnalata found herself in Bombay.
Swarnalata made her film debut in 1942 with Awaaz (1942). Followed films like Tasveer (1943) and Raunaq (1944) opposite Motilal and Ishara (1943) with Prithviraj Kapoor before she hit the big time with Rattan (1944). Old timers still fondly recall the image of her running after Karan Dewan, who is seated on the tonga, ‘singing’ the most popular song of her career in India and imploring him – Ankhiyan Mika ke Jiya Bharma ke Chale Nahin Jana. Rattan was a huge success launching the career of music director Naushad. Ironically, this tale of two young lovers separated when the woman is married off elsewhere was thought to be a commercially risky venture and the original distributors re-sold the film rather cheaply fearing the worst. The rest as they (always) say is history as Rattan became the biggest hit of the year. Another extremely popular song of the film was Sawan ke Badalon.
Swarnalata played leading lady to Dilip Kumar in only his second film, Pratima (1945), made at Bombay Talkies. The same year saw the release of Preet and Laila Majnu where Swarnalata was cast opposite Nazir in both films. The two fell in love and Swarnalata got married to Nazir and converted to Islam taking on the name Sayeeda Bano. However, she continued to retain her screen name for her films as an actress though she did give her Islamic name as producer. Following her last film Ghar Baar (1948) in India, Nazir and Swarnalata migrated to Pakistan. Recalling the shift, Swarnalata said it was no big deal. Nazir decided they should go to Pakistan so they did! Swarnalata was already an established heroine in Hindi cinema before she opted to migrate to Pakistan with husband Nazir, a prominent actor-producer-director, following the partition of India. Swarnalata enjoyed a successful career in Pakistan as well proving to be a popular leading lady in both Urdu and Punjabi films across the border.The first film they produced there, Heer Ranjha, ended in tragedy as whatever they shot was out of focus and so, the film had to be shelved. ( This Nazir was an actor,producer and director. He was the maternal uncle of K.Asif,maker of Mughal-e Azam. In his struggling days,Asif stayed with his mama. That time Nazir’s wife was Sitara Devi-who eloped with K.Asif to Delhi. Nazir gave her divorce and then married Swarnalata)
Swarnalata then officially made her debut in Pakistani cinema with Sachai in Urdu and Pherayin Punjabi, both the films releasing in 1949 with her cast opposite husband Nazir in both.Sachai, which unfortunately flopped, also saw Swarnalata become Pakistan’s first ever woman producer. However, Pheray, also directed by Nazir and based on Noor Jehan’s Village Girl (1945) that incidentally saw Nazir star opposite the legendary singing star, became Pakistan’s first ever silver jubilee hit film! Pheray’s music by the great GA Chisti proved extremely popular, especially Mainu Rab di Sohn Tere Naal Pyaar and Ki Kitta Taqdeer. The team of Nazir-Swarnalata-GA Chisti followed Pheray with Laarey the following year but unfortunately the film did not have quite the same impact even though it was a musically strong film.
After a somewhat lean period with flops like Anokhi Dastan (1950) and Bheegi Palken (1952),Shehri Babu (1953), a Punjabi film, produced and directed by Nazir, proved to be a huge blockbuster with the reigning top star of Pakistani cinema, Santosh Kumar, cast opposite Swarnalata. The film boasted of a superb musical score by Rashid Attre bringing to the fore singer Inayat Hussain Bhatti as an actor besides also featuring Zubeida Khanum’s early hit songs and remains one of the most popular films ever to come out of Pakistan. Swarnalata was now at the peak of her career in Pakistan.
Though not a conventional good-looker, Swarnalata was a more than capable actress besides being a graceful enough dancer as well. In one of her last interviews given on television in Pakistan, she emphatically stressed,
“Swarnalata ka apna style tha. Koi Swarnalata ko koi copy nahin kar saka. (Swarnalata had her own style. No one could copy her).”
Heer (1955) was undoubtedly Swarnalata’s best known and most popular film in Pakistan. Returning to the Heer-Ranjha legend, this Punjabi film was a huge success at the box office with Inayat Hussain Bhatti and Swarnalata playing the doomed lovers. But it was also to be the last high point of a glorious career.
Post Heer saw the decline in Swarnalata’s career as films like Sauteli Maa (1956), Sabira (1956) and Noor-e-Islam (1957) flopped at the box office. Singing star Noor Jehan was still around and younger heroines like Sabiha Khanum, Shamim Ara and Mussarat Nazir had begun to rule the roost in Pakistani cinema. The Swarnalata – Nazir combine still came out with the odd film like Shama (1959) and Billo Jee (1962) but by now, their glory days were clearly behind them. Swarnalata’s last roles saw her supporting Sabiha and Saloni in Sawaal (1966) and Zeba in Duniya Na Mane (1971) after which she retired gracefully from the silver screen.
Some other films of Swarnalata include Inkar (1943), Us Paar (1944), Shyam Savera (1946),Maa Baap ki Laaj (1946) and Abidah (1947) in India besides Naukri (1955) – a remake of the Indian film Aulad (1954) and Khatoon (1955) in Pakistan. Swarnalata died in Lahore in Pakistan on February 8, 2008.
So, here is a song from this film, sung by Naseem Akhtar. Enjoy….
Song – Bolo bhi Bhagwaan (Maa Baap Ki Laaj)(1946) Singer – Naseem Akhtar, Lyricist- Not known, MD- Allah Rakha Qureshi
Lyrics
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
kaisee rachaai toone maaya aa aa
kaisee rachaai toone maaya
kaisa ye sansaar banaaya
kaisa ye insaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
thhake tumhaari karke bhakti
thhake tumhaari karke bhakti
dekhee na koi tumhaaree shakti
kaise tum Bhagwaan
kaise tum Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo to kyun tumhen rijhaaun
bolo to kyun tumhen rijhaaun
pooj ke tumko kyun pachhtaaun
kyun ?? jeewan ??
kyun ?? jeewan ??
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
bolo bhi Bhagwaan
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4 Responses to "Bolo bhee Bhagwaan"
February 16, 2024 at 9:55 pm
AK ji,
I think you got mixed up with the romance of Snehprabha Pradhan with a British war officer.
Swarnalata was not the one in that story.
Thanks for your comments .
-AD
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February 21, 2024 at 3:59 pm
Arun Ji,
Thanks for the detailed account of Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi. A great exponent of Indian Classical music
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
February 16, 2024 at 7:31 pm
Arunji,
This post outdoes your other posts which are packed with great information.
About Swarnalata, I remember reading reminiscences of a British RAF officer. He got infatuated with her. She also visited England to check out the place and the family. After some time she came back as she decided against marriage with the officer. That officer was looked upon with jealousy among his colleagues. Have I completely mixed up?
AK
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