Mere Mohan kee leela hai nyaaree
Posted by: Atul on: February 27, 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 a very old film – almost 86 years old – Gopal Krishna-1938.
Modern Technology has made wonders possible, otherwise finding such old songs unthinkable. The first year of the Talkie Cinema saw the release of 24 films in its first year-1931. None of these films are available now. The oldest Hindi film that is available today is the film ” Ayodhya Ka Raja”-1932 in Hindi and Marathi (as अयोध्येचा राजा ), made by the Prabhat Film Company of Poona, Maharashtra. Same year, Prabhat also made another film ” Shyam Sunder”-1932. This was the Debut film of Shahu Modak, as young Krishna and also Shanta Apte as his mother-Yashoda. This too was made in Hindi and Marathi.
Film Gopal krishna-1938 was made again on the life of young Krishna. Here Shanta Apte played the role of Yashoda again. However, this time, the role of Krishna was done by another Debutant Ram Marathe. This film was bilingual-in Hindi and Marathi. In the early era, Hindi films were made mainly in Bombay and Calcutta. Calcutta churned out the Hindi versions of almost all popular films for the All India market. Before new Theatres, Calcutta, Prabhat had started this trend. Being nearer to Bombay and within Maharashtra, Prabhat had the natural advantage of getting Hindi speaking actors easily, whereas . From the beginning, New Theatres had to look for artistes who could speak Hindi or use dubbed dialogues.
For the first 5-6 years, Prabhat and new theatres virtually ruled the Movie world in India. Even the posters of films made by them flanked the Banner’s name prominently like ” Prabhat Presents ” or “New Theatres presents”. The films were sold and seen by the audience on their names. Names of actors and actresses were not even mentioned on the film posters, only their photos were used thereon.
This system was,however, broken by the First Superstar actress Sulochan (Ruby Myers). She was the highest paid star of those days, with a salary of Rs. 5000 pm. She had her own Chauffeur driven car to come to the studio. One day she saw a film poster of her film and was shocked to find that no names of any actors were mentioned there. She exploded and threatened to stop work of all actors, unless her and other main actors’ names were mentioned on the film posters. Due to her insistence, the producers immediately started mentioning the cast names on the posters. This was around 1935.
The case was different for Gramophone records. In the first place the producers and the Gramophone companies were not enthusiastic about bringing out film song records. But soon, they found that it was yet another source of making money as Talkie films quickly became popular all over India. Initially the First 2 commercial records were issued for 4 songs of film Madhuri-1932 (N-5622 and N-5623, HMV Label). For a few years the singers’ names were not mentioned on the records. Only the composer and film name was mentioned. Later when the Play-back system came in vogue, the name of the role in films who sang the song on the screen was given on the records. An example is – “Kamini” was the role-name of Madhubala in the film “Mahal”-1949. The famous song by Lata, “Aayega aanewala” from Mahal had the name of Kamini on its record and not Lata’s name !. Soon this changed and singers’ names were given on the records. Lyricists were the last to appear on records.
Film Gopalkrishna-1938 depicted the childhood life of Krishna( Ram Marathe) in Gokul. The king of Mathura (maternal uncle of Krishna,in relation) Kansa-played by Ganapatrao- also ruled Gokul. He was the killer of 7 siblings of Krishna,after their births,while Vasudev and Devki were in his jail. He also wanted to kill Krishna (because he knew he would destroy Kansa one day),but all his efforts so far had been foiled.
The various incidents in the film are taken from Bhagwat Puran and Vishnu Puran. Once Kansa sends his Commander in chief Keshi Rakshasa -played by Haribhau- in disguise to capture and kill Krishna,but Krishna’s lame fast friend Pendya and others expose him and he is killed by Krishna. Angered by this Kansa finally,with his magical powers,creates heavy rains and floods in Gokul so that all people and cattle die in it. Krishna however,lifts the mountain Gowardhan on his little finger of left hand to make it an umbrella for the people and cattle. This is how Krishna got his name ‘Gowardhan Giridhari’.
For various shots in the film Prabhat wanted hundreds of cows,which were not available in Poona. Here more buffaloes were available. The search team of Prabhat found several herds of cows in Dombivali, near Bombay. These cows were hired on a daily basis from their Tabelas (stables) and brought to Poona in a special train,for shooting. Such was the commitment of Prabhat in those days for reality in films.
The cast of the film was Ram Marathe, Shanta Apte, Parshuram,Ulhas and many others. Songs were written by Pt.Anuj (S.L.Srivastava) and Music was by Master Krishnarao. This name was from a pair of “Same Name Confusion”. There was another Master Krishnarao (Chonkar), who was an actor and singer as well. Film’s MD was Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar.
Krishnaji Ganesh Phulambrikar (1898–1974), popularly known as Master Krishnarao, was a musical genius – a vocalist, classical musician and composer of Hindustani music. He was credited with the creation of three Hindustani ragas and several bandishes. Phulambrikar was a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.
Krishnarao Phulambrikar was born on 20-1- 1898 at Devachi Alandi, a town in the periphery of Pune, in Maharashtra to the Deshastha Brahmin couple Ganesh Phulambrikar (who was Vedmurti) and Mathura bai. He also ventured into Marathi theatre as a child artist by performing as an actor-singer in Sant Sakhu, a musical drama produced by Natyakalapravartak Mandali. He acted in other musical dramas produced by this drama company. And at this drama company, he first got a chance to learn Indian classical music from Sawai Gandharva who used to act in the musical dramas of this company. Later, he approached the renowned singer, Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale in 1911 who trained the young boy in Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur gharanas of Hindustani music and their guru-shishya relationship lasted till Bakhale’s death in 1922. The tutelage under Bakhale also gave him the opportunity to meet and get associated with Bal Gandharva, who would later go on to become a noted Marathi singer. His first solo concert was when he was 13 years of age (he was awarded the title of Sangeet Kalanidhi in 1930 by Jagadguru Shankaracharya Dr.Kurtkoti), which preceded several concerts in India and abroad, including a trip to China as a Government of India delegate in 1953.
Phulambrikar served as the director of Pune Bharat Gayan Samaj, a music academy founded by his mentor Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale in Pune. Besides his career as a classical vocalist and as a film music composer, he scored music for several plays which included Menaka, Savitri, Asha-Nirasha, Amritasidhhi, Kanhopatra, Nand Kumar and Vidhi Likhit for Gandharva Sangeet Natak Mandali, a drama company founded by Bal Gandharva, during the period 1915–1933 and acted in a few of them. Later, he also composed music for a few plays such as Kulavadhu, Ek Hota Mhatara, Kone Eke Kali and Bhagyoday for Natyaniketan where the lead singer and actress was Jyotsna Bhole. On the academic front, he compiled the compositions taught to him by Bakhale as well as his own compositions and published them as a 7-volume book, Raag Samgraha. Besides his notations are available in print under the titles, Rashtra Sangeet, Shishu Sangeet, Amar Sangeet, Mohan Maal, Natya Geet Notations and Chitra Geet Notations. He also tutored several musicians, film and drama artists. Ram Marathe, Yogini Joglekar, Saraswati Rane, Haribhau Deshpande, Anjanibai Kalgutkar, Madhusudan Kanetkar, Jaymala Shiledar, Dr.Pabalkar, Bapurao Ashtekar, Dattopant Bhope, Pitre buwa, Suhas Datar, Sudhakar Joshi, Ravindra Joshi, Mohan Karve, Rangnath Karkare, Shivram Gadgil, Balwant Dixit and his daughter, Veena Chitko are some of his notable disciples.
Soon after he received the Sangeet Kalanidhi title from Dr. Kurtkoti, the Shankaracharya of Karvir Peeth, he was contracted by Prabhat Film Company owned by V. Shantaram and other partners, to compose music for its forthcoming film, Dharmatma, where he was reunited with his old associate, Bal Gandharva, who played the role of Sant Eknath, the protagonist of the movie. The film which was released in 1935 had sixteen songs, many of them sung by Bal Gandharva. A year later, his next hindi film was released under the name, Amar Jyoti, again a Prabhat Film Company production. The film was reported to have been critically acclaimed and was the first Indian film to be screened at the Venice Film Festival. Wahan, another Prabhat production released in 1937, this time with a new director, K. Narayan Kale, was his next film, followed by the musical Gopal Krishna in 1938 directed by Damle and S Fattelal. He composed music for 15 films which included Padosi, another Shantaram film and the film featured a ten-minute song, Lakh lakh chanderi, reportedly with complex choreography. He played the lead role of Sant Savata Mali in the movie Bhakticha Mala released by Rajkamal Kalamandir. He composed the music for this movie and also sang his own songs in this movie. Many aspiring composers of that period – Vasant Desai, C.Ramchandra, Sudhir Phadke, Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, Snehal Bhatkar, Dinkarrao Amembal (alias D Amel) and Gajananrao Watve got inspired by his school of musical thought.
In the Hindi film arena, he gave music to 10 Hindi films (Dharmatma-35, Amar jyoti-36, Wahan-37, Gopal krishna-38, Aadmi-39, Padosi-41, Vasantsena-42, Mali-44, Lakharani-45 and keechak Vadh-59). In these 10 films he composed 104 Hindi songs. He sang 11 songs in 2 Hindi films – Mali-44, Meri Amanat-47 and Pooja-54. He acted as the main lead in Hindi film Mali-1944.
Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar received the Vishnudas Bhave Gold Medal of the Government of Maharashtra in 1969 and the Government of India awarded him the civilian honor of the Padma Bhushan in 1971. He was the first recipient of the Balgandharva Gold Medal. The Sangeet Natak Akademi honored him with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Puraskar in 1972. In 1961, he suffered a facial paralysis which forced him to abandon his career as a singer in 1969. On his 60th birth anniversary, a 9-day long music conference was staged in Pune in which many notable musicians from all over India took part. He did not survive much longer and the death came on 20 October 1974, when he was 76 years of age. The story of his life has been documented in his biography, Bola Amrit Bola (बोला अमृत बोला ) which was published posthumously in 1985. Every two years an award in his memory is presented to a music critic or author of a music book by Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, Pune. Since his family originated from Phulambri in Marathwada, a drama theatre has been named “Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar Natyagruha” in Jalna, Marathwada in his honour. Every year Pune Bharat Gayan Samaj celebrates his birth anniversary and death anniversary. His daughter, Veena Chitko, who died in September 2015, was a notable light classical musician. ( Based on wiki, Marathi book पूर्वसुरींचे सूर by Dr. Suresh Chandvankar and my notes).
The other Krishnarao was …..Master Krishnarao Chonkar.
Master Krishnarao Chonkar was born on 25-12-1908, in Bombay. He studied upto Matriculation. Then he joined Gandharva Natak mandali as a Hero in dramas. After films came he shifted to films.
In music, he was trained by Govindrao Dhurandhar, Mohan Palekar, Shankar rao etc.
He used classical music on his stage performance mainly. From 1932 to 1934, he worked in films like Amirzadi, Kala Vadya, Saubhagyalaxmi, Payam E Ulfat and other C grade films. Then he went to Gujarati dramas.
Though he sang in early films, no records are made. From 1940 to 1960, again he worked in films like Mali-44, Chhatrapati Shivaji-52 etc . His songs in films Pooja-54, Rani Roopmati -59 and Hamara Hindustan, etc. In 1962, he directed a Marathi film Nandadeep.
He had 2 daughters and one son. The elder daughter Nalini also worked in films-Marathi and Hindi. Later she opened a Music and Dance school in Andheri, Mumbai.(12-6-1938 to 26-6-2005). Krishnarao lived in Mumbai till his death.
Today’s song is sung by Parshuram, about whom I have written several times. I had interviewed his daughter in 2013. He played the role of “Pendya” in this film. Pendya was a close friend of Krishna in Gokul. He was lame by one leg. This character is found only in Marathi and not in Hindi or even in the Bhagwat Puran. Perhaps this was created in Marathi for comedy. Now let us listen to the song…..
Audio
Vimeo
Song- Mere Mohan ki leela hai nyaari (Gopal Krishna)(1938) Singer- Master Parshuram, Lyricist-Pt. Anuj (S.L.Shrivastav), MD- Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar
Lyrics
Kisan
kisan pe jaaun vaari vaari
mere mohan ki leela hai nyaari
chhavi nyaari tori hai muraari
tum brij ke dulaare
tum brij ke dulaare
mohan pe jaaun vaari vaari
mere mohan ki leela hai nyaari
chhavi nyaari tori hai muraari
kahoon gwaal baal bane
kahoon pratipal bane
kahoon pratipal bane
natvar chhaliya bhaari
natvar chhaliya bhaari
tum brij ke dulaare
mohan pe jaaun vaari vaari
mere mohan ki leela hai nyaari
chhavi nyaari tori hai muraari
jamuna ke jal mein
gopaalon ke dal mein
sab mein samaaya
jamuna ke jal mein
gopaalon ke dal mein
sab mein samaaya
tero ant nahin paaya
tori leela balihaari
tero ant nahin paaya
tori leela balihaari
tum brij ke dulaare
mohan ki leela
murli waale ki leela
nand lala ki leela hai nyaari
tum brij ke dulaare
tum brij ke dulaare
mohan ki leela
bansi waale ki leela
nand lala ki leela hai nyaari
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 7, 2024 at 12:44 pm
Arun Sir,
Thank you for sharing this fascinating insight into the early days of Indian cinema. It’s interesting to learn about the significant role played by Sulochana (Ruby Myers) in demanding recognition for actors on film posters, breaking away from the tradition of anonymity.
It’s also noteworthy that even Lata insisted on her name being included in gramophone records, as seen in the case of “Ayega Aanewala…” from Mahal.
The evolution of crediting singers and lyricists on gramophone records and on film credits further highlights the changing dynamics of the industry.
It’s remarkable how these small shifts, including the demand by Salim-Javed for their names on Sholay’s poster, paved the way for a more transparent and inclusive representation of talent in the world of cinema and music.
Gandhi Vadlapatla
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March 7, 2024 at 1:45 pm
Thanks for your comments . It is very heartening to see knowledgeable readers like you expressing appreciation for our efforts.
No doubt we do this work because we like it, but an occasional pat on the back gives us a sense of fulfillment of our hard work.
May your tribe grow !
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