Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs

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.

Today’s song is from the First film of Nargis as a Heroine – Taqdeer-1943.

1943 was an year in which the II world war was in full swing. Both sides were almost equal. The effects of the war on India were… it faced the infamous Bengal Famine, caused by the war profiteering. Controls on film production were tightened by the Government. I.P.T.A. became operative with its first staged p0lay ‘ Nibanna’. Film Kismet became one of the biggests Hits ever. V.Shantaram’s Rajkamal Kalamandir debuted with Shakuntala, as did Mehboob with his film Najma. Government made showing of Newsreel before any film mandatory. Film Raj Nartaki’s english version The Court Dancer was exhibited in the USA, first time for an Indian film.

1943 produced 105 Hindi films, the highest number during the war years, 1939 to 1945. Many landmark and musical films appeared in this year giving a respite to the war torn audience of Indian Cinema. Let us take a look at some of these films.

Film Bhaichara had music by the only other “Sursagar” musician – Himangshu Dutt ( the more well known being the singer Jagmohan Sursagar).

C.Ramchandra had his first musical hit with film Bhakta Raj, made by Jayant Desai productions.

Film Gauri from Ranjit became Monica Desai’s first Hindi film in Bombay. It was a very successful film with songs by Khemchand Prakash, based on Bangla Folk tunes.

Kanan Devi gave some sweet songs in the film Hospital, under Kamal Dasgupta’s baton.

Bombay Talkies film Hamari Baat was the last film in which Devika Rani acted. Anil Biswas was the composer.

Music Director Khurshid Anwar brought Gauhar Sultana from Lucknow to sing some songs in the film Ishara. Naushad'[s musical film Kanoon had some good Suraiya and Shyam duets.

Film Kashinath was Nitin Bose’s last film in New Theatres, after he developed differences with B.N.Sircar.

Anil Biswas gave his career best musical Hit film ” Kismet”- the longest running film from Bombay Talkies.

Nurjehan’s musical film Nadaan was popular with songs from composer K.Datta. Director Mehboob made his first film Najma, under his own banner Mehboob productions.

Yet one more musical from Naushad- film Namaste.

At last a musical hit for composer S.N.Tripathi- Panghat from prakash Pictures. Rajkumari Shukla sang her only Hindi song in this film;. (the film was remade as Chitchor-1976).

Film Paraya Dhan had music by Bengal’s famous musician Gyan Prakash Ghosh. Deena Pathak sang her only 2 songs in this film as Deena Sanghavi.

Ghulam Haider makes merry again with Shamshad hit songs in film Poonji from Pancholi, Lahore.

One more superhit film – Ram Rajya from Prakash Pictures had very good songs from composer Shankar Rao Vyas. Saraswati Rane gave 2 melodious songs. Yashwant Joshi and Yashwant Nikam sang the famous song ” Bharat ki ek Sannari ki katha”. Ram Rajya had also a distinction as the only Hindi film that was seen by Mahatma Gandhi, on 2-6-1944.
( before this Gandhi had seen ” Mission to Moscow-43′ an English film, in Wardha, according to The Hindu (Kathmandu Ed.) dt.8-2-2010). The film had early songs by Manna Dey also.

Naushad in full swing with his third Musical Sanjog, where Suraiya gave playback to Mehtab, the Heroine.

Vasant Desai gave excellent songs in the hit film Shakuntala by V.Shantaram.

Kanoon- another hit from Naushad.

Mera Khwab- MD Ghulam Mohammed’s Debut film

Najma- Mehboob Khan’s first film, on Muslim society.

Nurse- Gyan Dutt gave an excellent song of Rajkumari-‘ Vo gaye nahin’.

Prithvi Vallabh- A big budget costume drama made by Minerva, based on the story of K.M.Munshi. It had songs by Minakshi Shirodkar.

Tansen- Saigal’s first film in Bombay. Khurshid matches him song by song.

Taqdeer- Nargis aka Baby Fatima debuted as an adult. However her name comes third in the credits, after Motilal and Chandramohan.

In the beginning of 1943, when Mehboob Khan was in a hurry to give finishing touches to the first film of his own Mehboob productions- Najma, Jaddanbai came to see him. She was very friendly with Mehboob. The purpose of her visit was to request Mehboob to make a film with her daughter Nargis (Baby Fatima/Baby Rani) as a Heroine. Mehboob was sceptical as Nargis was only 14 year old and it would be like buying a lottery ticket, if he made a film with her. Jaddanbai was very persuasive and she even offered to partly finance the film. She was sure that with Mehboob launching her daughter she would have a bright future. Finally Mehboob agreed.

Nargis was called in and Mehboob talked to her alone. She was confused and afraid to become a Heroine. Mehboob convinced her saying that he would lose a lot of money if she refused. Nargis agreed after this.

Film Taqdeer-1943 was a Mehboob Production film,directed by Mehboob, Music by R.Gaznavi,and Lyrics by Mahrul Kadri.There is one song in the film written by Agha M.Shirazi(who also acted in the film) and one song by Anjum Pilibhiti also.There were 10 songs in the film, 2 chorus songs,4 solos of Shamshad begum and 4 duets of Shamshad and Motilal.

The cast of the film was Chandramohan, Motilal, Nargis, Jilloobai, Kayam Ali, Ansari, Shirazi, Laddan etc. The Story was by Ghulam Mohd. and screenplay and dialogues were by Agha Jaani Kashmiri.

It was a lightweight comedy about Justice Gangaprasad(Chandramohan) and a Theatre owner Seth Badriprasad(NM Charlie),who lose their daughter and son in Kumbh Mela( This is where this trend started for future films,especially Manmohan Desai type films) respectively. The children are found but exchanged and Gangaprasad brings up Baby(Motilal) as a rich playboy and Badriprasad raises Salma(Nargis) as a dancer in his Theatre.They fall in love,causing a problem of class Difference.This is revealed when their identities are revealed. Funny thing is Gangaprasad’s wife(Jilloo bai) raises Motilal thinking that he is a Girl.The scene when it is revealed that he is a Boy,is very hilarious.

There is a song in the film,’Meri Mata Bharat Mata’,in which Nargis is shown holding a sickle and a cloth bundle, with waving fields behind her. This reminds us of her role and posters of ‘Mother India’-1957(also a Mehboob production.)

Here are some Titbits….

Baby Fatima (Nargis) was only 14 when she became Heroine of this film.

When Mrs. Mehboob was doing her makeup and wrapping her up in a Saree, she was mugging up the dialogues.

She was also very happy, when told that all her songs will be sung by Shamshad begum.

She had to wear high heels to match the height of her first hero,Motilal.

Taqdeer was a Hit film.

In the history of Hindi Cinema, Mehboob Khan’s name would be written prominently as one of the great directors, who rose from scratch to a height attained by few other directors.

Born as Ramzan Khan in 1907 in Bilimora, Gujarat, Mehboob was from a Gujarati Muslim family. He never got a formal education in his young age, but he was keen on two things-5 times Namaz and seeing films. His father being in Police Department, films were free for him. One day he ran away to Bombay to become an actor. However his father found him out and brought him back. He was immediately married off, with a belief that he would improve.

Two years after marriage and one child, he ran to Bombay again and worked in Imperial film co. as an extra for Rs.30 pm. This too after he worked without any pay for 5 months due to the mistake of the clerk ! He worked in crowd scenes and sundry roles-without a dialogue, of course, starting as one of the 40 thieves of Alibaba. He worked in several films uncredited. His first, big and credited role came in the film “Shirin Khushru”-1929.

In 1927, after the Talkie film “The Jazz Singer” was shown in US, the world started making Talkie films. India too jumped into the bandwagon. In 1931, Imperial-competing with Madon Theatres of Calcutta- wanted to make a Talkie and started work fast. Mehboob Khan was almost finalised as the Hero. Even his costumes were made ready, but he was destined for something different, and Master Vithal was made the Hero of India’s first Talkie. Ardeshir Irani’s safety valve of minimizing the risk of the first venture by selecting the existing popular Hero, scuttled Mehboob’s dream. Somehow Mehboob was unlucky on quite a few occasions in his bid to become a Hero in films. First, he missed his chance in Torney’s silent film, when E.Bilimoria became the Hero, secondly he was replaced by Master Vithal as a Hero in India’s first talkie “Alam Ara’-1931 and lastly he was replaced by newcomer Motilal in ‘Shahar ka jaadu’ as a Hero. Mehboob understood that he was not made out to be an actor.

Meanwhile, Imperial started a new company,’Sagar Movietone’, along with Dr. Patel and Chiman Desai. Some artistes and techies were shifted to Sagar-including Mehboob- from Imperial. Mehboob continued to work in 12 silent films. Here, he met Faredoon Irani, Cinematographer and they became thick friends. Irani was with Mehboob till the end.

During this period, Mehboob wrote a film story and convinced the owners to allow him to direct this film. Owners were hesitant, naturally, to allow this young extra actor to direct a film. Lastly a deal was struck, that Mehboob and Faredoon should be allowed to shoot one reel film. If they like it, continue or else, scrap it and recover money from these two chaps. After one reel shooting the owners realised that they had struck Gold in the process and Mehboob completed his first Directorial venture ” Al Hilaal “-35. The film was a great success and Mehboob ‘chal pada’. Mehboob went on to direct 7 more films for Sagar. All his films were successful.

From film Jageerdar-37 Mehboob and Anil Biswas pair teamed up for 8 films-till Roti-42.

When Mehboob was making arrangements for his next film, Alibaba, the sudden news that Sagar is closing down hit them. Mehboob Khan contacted Imperial to allow him to shoot for his film in their studio, which Ardeshir gladly permitted. The film shooting proceeded til Sagar became National studios. Mehboob made 3 important films of his career in National studio, namely Aurat-40, Behan-41 and Roti-42.

When National studio also closed down all workers came on road. However, Mehboob decided to start his own company. One Mr. Lalaji of Manoranjan Distributors of Delhi promised capital. National studio was renamed as Central studio by the owner, K.K.Modi-elder brother of Sohrab Modi. He allowed Mehboob to use the studio till his own studio came up. Mehboob took a place nearby to start his office. In this period there was a rift between Mehboob and Anil Biswas and they separated for ever-albeit bitterly.

Mehboob wanted a Logo for Mehboob Productions. He selected a sher written by Agha Jani kashmiri for film “Al Hilal”….” Muddai lakh bura chahe to kya hota hai, vahi hota hai jo manjur e Khuda hota hai”. It was recorded in the voice of Rafiq Ghaznavi with appropriate prelude music and sound of lightening and clouds. He also took Sickle and Hammer for the Logo, and clarified that because he respected workers and certainly he was not a communist.

His first film Najma-43 ( his daughter’s name was Najma), with Ashok Kumar and Veena was a Hit film. It was followed by Taqdeer-43, Humayun-45,Anmol Ghadi-46, Elaan-47, Anokhi Ada-48, Andaaz-49, Aan-52, Amar-54 and his Magnum Opus Mother India-57. After the high of Mother India, Mehboob aimed to fly even higher with Son of India (1962) but the film was a total misfire and, in fact, his weakest film.

Mehboob was not an ordinary film maker. Though he was uneducated, he was a Genius with socialist beliefs. Even his Banner showed Sickle and hammer Being a Socialist and sold on Nehruvian philosophy, his popular films had a common theme- ”The oppressed poor V/s The oppressor Rich”. In films like Aurat, Roti, Aan and Mother India etc one can see this theme clearly. He made blistering attacks on Capitalists and their lust for money. In films like Andaz, however,he supported traditionalism, rejecting Platonic relationships.

In films like ” Elaan”-1947, he dared to challenge the existing shortcomings in Muslim society. He took a look at Indian Muslims from inside. Sometimes the film went into forbidden areas when he suggested Koranic reforms as the way out of the ills of Muslims, like illiteracy and backward thinking. This invoked anger from the Fundamentalists and the film was banned for 3 months, but he re-released the film without any changes or revisions.

The urbane director K.A. Abbas once referred to Khan Mehboob as the “great rustic” of Hindi cinema. Indeed, a certain mythology developed around Mehboob—that of the man with popular roots. This image owed much to stories about his origins (the small-town boy who worked his way up through the Bombay studios), and to certain films which dwelt on the travails of the poor and the destitute, such as Aurat (Woman) and Roti (Bread). In fact, however, Mehboob’s output as director was quite varied. After he founded his own company, Mehboob Productions, in 1943, he made historical works (Humayun) and fantasy spectaculars (Aan/Pride). Even films such as Anmol Ghadi (Priceless Watch) and Anokhi Ada (A Special Charm), which appeared to address the class divide, were variations of the triangular love story, the favoured convention of the Hindi cinema.

In these films social representation becomes incidental to the basic plot because the narrative spaces of a simple rural life or of urban destitution are constructed in an idealised rather than in a realistic way. The lighting style of such scenes show them as composed of smooth studio surfaces, and there is an indifference to the more squalid details of characterisation. The emphasis lies in the fullness of melodramatic sentiments—of loss and of romantic longing—which occasion the use of lushly orchestrated songs. All this is a pleasurable closing off of the cinema and its audience from social references, a tendency in Mehboob’s work best represented by his venture into the swashbuckling colour film Aan. Elements of this romantic mode are observable even in Mehboob’s “social” films. In Aurat and its later colour version, Mother India , rural life is often conveyed as a series of spectacularly choreographed scenes of harvesting, festivals, and the romantic engagement of its characters. Andaz (Style) , on the other hand, invites the audience to soak in the luxuries of the modern, upper-class settings in which its characters live.

In this sense, Mehboob was not simply a popularly rooted “rustic” artist, but engaged in creations of high artifice and escapism. However, these elements were often integrated with quite powerful constructions of meaning. Aurat , for example, achieves an almost anthropological view of gender roles. This is accomplished not by the accuracy of its observations about rural life, but by using the grim struggles of rural life as a way of drawing out the role performed by Indian women. This provides the basis for the film’s main interest, the melodrama of the unrelieved suffering of a woman (Sardar Akhtar) on behalf of her sons (Surendra and Yakub). The subsequent version of this film, Mother India , is an interesting contrast. The focus is still on the suffering of the mother (Nargis); but this capacity to suffer is transformed into a distinctly mythical power which moves beyond her immediate family to inspire the whole village community. In both films the woman is the bearer of a patriarchal inheritance for her son, but Mother India may have represented a new, mythicised role model for women, one whose power often co-exists uneasily with its conservative functions.

Perhaps most interesting is Andaz, a drama, at least implicitly, of illicit desire. The story is about Nina (Nargis) who, while faithful to her absent fiancé (Raj Kapoor), relates vivaciously to an attractive young man (Dilip Kumar). The heroine is shown to be a naive innocent who cannot perceive that relaxed social relations between men and women can lead to misunderstanding, and this generates the tragic events that follow. Yet the narration moves beyond, or perhaps deeper into, its own fascination with the settings and mores of its upper class characters, introducing an interesting, fantastical ambiguity. Nina’s denials that she is attracted to a man other than her husband are put into doubt for the audience through scenes depicting the hallucinations and dreams that assail the heroine. In this way the “rustic” Mehboob was surprisingly well equipped to convey certain strikingly modern problems of sexuality and desire.

Mehboob had been neglecting health in spite of suffering Heart attacks. In May 1964, he suffered another attack but survived. His financiers were after him for repayment and he was worried. He called Rajendra Kumar and asked for a loan of 4 lakh rupees against his studio to be made in his name. Rajendra Kumar refused to take the studio and promised to give him the amount next day at 11 am, without any mortgage. In the evening, news of Nehru’s heart attack came. Mehboob became restless. Soon the death news came and Mehboob became grief stricken. Akhtar gave him sleeping pills, but he had to be admitted to Nanavati Hospital. He too died at 2 am on 28^th May 1964. At the time of his death, Mehboob Khan was harbouring ambitions to make a film on the life of Habba Khatoon, the 16^th century poetess-queen of Kashmir.

Mehboob Khan directed 8 films for Sagar, 3 films for National and 11 films for Mehboob productions.( based on information from Upperstall, “Mehboob Khan” by Shashikant Kinikar and my notes).

Today’s song is a video song in which you can see a young Nargis and Motilal. The song is sung by Shamshad begum and Motilal. Enjoy….

Song-Aap kyun kyun aap kyun aayenge (Taqdeer)(1943)Singers- Shamshad Begum, Motilal, Lyricist- Mahrul Qadri, MD- Rafiq Ghaznavi

Lyrics

aap kyun kyun aap kyun aayenge
aap kyun kyun aap kyun aayenge

meri aankhon mein ab tak wohi khwaab hai
meri aankhon mein ab tak wohi khwaab hai
dil usi roz se mera betaab hai
dil usi roz se mera betaab hai
kya ye barkha ke din
hmm hmm hmm
kya ye barkha ke din bhi guzar jayenge ae ae
aap kyun kyun aap kyun aayenge
aap kyun kyun aap kyun aayenge

dil ki majbooriyaan rang laane lagin
hichkiyaan yaad ban ban ke aane lagin
dil ki majbooriyaan rang laane lagin
hichkiyaan yaad ban ban ke aane lagin
dekho dekho
haan dekho dekho
dekho dekho ke hum aap hi aa gaye
tumne chaaha to phir roz hi aayenge
tumne chaaha to phir roz hi aayenge
aap kyun kyun aap kyun aayenge
aap kyun kyun aap kyun aayenge

hai ye sapna
hai ye sapna ke sach-much tum aaye yahaan
aan aan
hai ye sapna ke sach-much tum aaye yahaan
aan aan
dil ki aankhon se dekho ke hoon main kahaan
dil ki aankhon se dekho ke hoon main kahaan
mil na jaaye kahin
hmm hmm hmm hmm
mil na jaaye kahin ye zameen aasmaan
aan aan
tum kahaan main kahaan
tum kahaan main kahaan
aap kyun kyun aap kyun aayenge
aap kyun kyun aap kyun aayenge
aap kyun