Charnon kee Daasee Hoon main
Posted on: March 2, 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 an obscure film Vakil Saheb-1943.
The second world war started in 1939 and ended in 1945. The effects of wartime started being felt to people in the world, whether involved or not in the war. Shortages of essentials due to transport restrictions and Petrol shortages were acute when the war continued unabated and spread to almost every part of the world. Major powers like England , Japan, Europe, Russia and America dragged countries which were under their rule or influence and those who were friendly to them. This included India too.
Like all other industries, the film industry was also affected by the war fever,in India. The rule ‘where there is action, there is reaction’ applies here too. As such, in general, society affected films and then films reflected the society in their stories. The government not only brought strict censorship but also a drastic cut in the availability of Raw film allocation. In addition the government announced a concession in price of Raw film and sanction of extra quota to those producers who made films supporting British War Efforts. To avail this facility, few films like Lieutenant-1944, Panna-1944 and Badi Maa-1945 were made. Actress Geeta Nizami even got a prize of Rs.9000/- from the Government for her acting in the film Panna-1944 !
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 play “Navaanna”. 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 was 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.
“Hospital”- excellent songs by Kanan Devi.
“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 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.
Film Vakil Saheb-1943 was directed by Mohan Sinha (grandfather of actress Vidya Sinha) and the music was provided by Annasaheb Mainkar and P. Madhukar. The cast included Madhuri, Trilok Kapoor, Ghulam rasool, Rajkumari Shukla, Shehzadi jr., Badri Prashad, Mumtaz Begum (younger sister of singer Mubarak Begum), Khan Mastana etc.
Today’s song is composed by P.Madhukar. He was one of those Music experts who tried their hand at Hindi films. He gave music to only this one film and then returned to his original expertise – classical vocal and instrumental music in Marathi.
Madhukar Gangadhar Pednekar, (27 February 1916 – 20 July 1967) was popularly known as P. Madhukar. He was a master in playing Harmonium. He was a harmonium player and noted music director. He composed music for Marathi, Hindi and Telugu feature films.
P. Madhukar was born in a family of musicians on 27 February 1916 in Bombay, Bombay Presidency, undivided India, now Mumbai, Maharashtra. He began his initial training in harmonium at the age of eight under his maternal uncle, Shankarrao Rajapurkar (Gunijan). His rigorous practice and talent won him appreciation when he received a gold medal from the noted vocalist Sawai Gandharva. Later, Madhukarrao started taking lessons from Bahulkar, a well-
known harmonium player of Mumbai.
P. Madhukar’s passion to attain the best led him to becoming a disciple of Annasaheb Mainker of Sangli, a harmonium player and noted music director. Madhukarrao benefited immensely from his association with Annasaheb Mainkar. Belonging to a wealthy family, Mainkar had spent a huge fortune in pursuing his love for music. Luminaries like actor-singer and theatre producer Bal Gandharva, tabla player Ahmed Jan Thirakwa and sarangi player Qadir Baksh Khan often stayed at Annasaheb’s residence. Recitals featuring such reputed artistes left an indelible mark on Madhukarrao and enriched his playing. He was also influenced greatly by Mainkar’s progressive thinking, his imagination and his quest for experimentation in music. Mainkar had made a departure from the routine parameters of harmonium playing and introduced several new techniques in his playing.
P. Madhukar also assisted Mainkar in composing music for cinema & gradually became a successful music director himself. He composed music for Marathi, Hindi and Telugu feature films like Chokha Mela, Chaliteel Shejari, Vakil Saheb, Dharampatni, Savitri, among others and also composed music for theatre. In c. 1934, he was employed by His Master’s Voice Company.
P. Madhukar’s playing displayed unimaginable speed and forcefulness, which were a result of his natural technique and the lightness with which his fingers were positioned on the keyboard. He had diligently practised special paltas to gain total command over the instrument. He had also composed unique gats, which he practised at various speeds.
P. Madhukar’s consummate skill rendered it possible for him to accompany vocalists in keeping with the stylistic features of their gharanas. At ease with any raag and taal being presented, as well as with any tempo, form of music or key that the vocalist chose. Madhukarrao would also add some of his musical ideas to the performance.
P. Madhukar improvised on and experimented with the art of playing harmonium and devised a unique way of presenting the instrument on the concert platform. He incorporated various phrases like dir-dir of the sitar and draan of veena and played different sitar jhala patterns on the harmonium. There was therefore a more lively combination of tantkari and gayaki in his performance style. His command over laya was equally good.
Harmonium playing became second nature to him and the magic in his fingers permitted him to achieve what would otherwise have seemed impossible. He composed many gats for harmonium solo and repertoire, which reflected his keen aesthetic sense and understanding of the intricacies and finer points of art music. He was well versed with minute aspects of vocal music like alaap, upajang, gamakang, taan, boltaan and could reproduce and express the same with precision and ease. His taanpaltas have broadened the vision of harmonium playing.
P. Madhukar also made a thorough study of gayaki, raga rules and shrutis, and regarged Acharya Brihaspati as his guru in matters related to theory. A devotee of the Kirana gayaki, he looked up to Ganpatbuva Behre as a mentor.
P. Madhukar was an extraordinarily intelligent, imaginative and hard-working artiste. An outstanding researcher, he had mastered the art of tuning and making the instrument. In his efforts at establishing a respectable place for harmonium in the world of music and at enhancing its functionality, he had tried to produce meend by placing a string in response to every note in the instrument. Much before synthesisers became popular in India, Madhukarrao attempted to adapt modern technology by electronically displaying the notation of music played on the harmonium. His experiments with introducing electric attachments to several instruments had met with success. He was one of the earliest musicians to have introduced the clavioline to North Indian art music, which he had bought for a sum of Rs. 6000/-.
Madhukarrao played many instruments & started a music class at his residence, called Tansen Sangeet Vidyalaya. His harmonium demonstrations had been recorded by the committee appointed by the All India Radio for reassessing the decision to ban harmonium from AIR broadcasts.
P. Madhukar died on 20 July 1967, but left behind noted disciples like Anant Kemkar, Tulsidas Borkar, Vishwanath Pendharkar, Chandrachud Vasudeo, Anant Rane, Datta Jogdande, Lavekar, Laxman Kanse and Arondekar. These disciples have propagated his style and have in turn trained a large number of students, many of who are rapidly gaining recognition on the contemporary concert circuit.
( based on information sourced from Dr. N. R. Marulkar, Gomantakiya Sangeetkar Swarmanch, Madgaon (Goa),Marathi Chitrapat sangeetkar Kosh by Madhu Potdar and my notes).
Director Mohan Sinha directed 32 films from “Fashionable India”-1935 to “Shaan E Hind”-1960. As a Lyricist, he also wrote 62 songs in 7 films. Today’s song is also written by Mohan Sinha. Its mukhda reminds us of an old film ‘Charnon ki Dasi’ made in 1941 and also in 1959. However, its similarity ends there only.
Song- Charnon ki daasi hoon main (Vakil Saheb)(1943) Singer- Raj Kumari, Lyricist-Mohan Sinha, MD- P Madhukar
Lyrics
charnon ki daasi hoon main
charnon ki daasi hoon main
ghar ki laaj sambhaaloongee
sambhaaloongee
apne khaandaan ki izzat
zindgi bhar bachaaungi
charnon ki daasi hoon main
ghar ki laaj sambhaaloongee
sambhaaloongee
apne khaandaan ki izzat
zindgi bhar bachaaoongee
apne ghar ki laxmi ban kar
prem ka jhoola jhooloongee
haan jhooloongee
apne ghar ki laxmi ban kar
prem ka jhoola jhooloongi
haan jhooloongi
saugandh tumhaari is bandhan ko
mar kar bhi nahin bhooloongi
saugandh tumhaari is bandhan ko
mar kar bhi nahin bhooloongi
charnon ki daasi hoon main
ghar ki laaj sambhaaloongee
sambhaaloongee
apne khaandaan ki izzat
zindgi bhar bachaaoongee
paise se izzat roti milti hai
dikhaaungi
haan dikhaaungi
paise se izzat roti milti hai
dikhaaungi
haan dikhaungi
dharmatma ban mahaatma ko main
duniya kya hai bataaoongi
dharmatma ban mahaatma ko main
duniya kya hai bataaoongi
charnon ki daasi hoon main
ghar ki laaj sambhaaloongee
sambhaaloongee
apne khaandaan ki izzat
zindgi bhar bachaaoongee
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 3, 2024 at 4:02 pm
Arun Sir,
Thank you for sharing this enlightening information on P. Madhukar! His dedication to mastering the harmonium and his innovative contributions to both film and classical music are truly inspiring.
I’m also curious: How many other music composers, like P. Madhukar, have given music to only one Hindi film in their career?
Gandhi Vadlapatla
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March 3, 2024 at 10:05 pm
gandhivp ji,
There are a number of Mds who have given music to just one film, either individually or jointly. Offhand I remember names of Qazi Nazrul Islam ( National Poet of Bangladesh) and Pt.Sureshbabu Mane ( brother of Hirabai Badodekar).
-AD
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