Do dil hotey saajnaa toh badaa mazaa thhaa
Posted on: March 19, 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 Insaan-1952.
The year of 1952 – It was just 5 years since we got our Independence and only 2 years after we became a Sovereign Democratic Republic, totally and actually free from the last contact with the British Empire, like being called a ‘Dominion Republic’. The General Elections were over and a Congress Government, as expected, took over as the new ruler. As far as the film industry was concerned, there was a huge crowd of new producers, who had a lot of black money to invest. This increased the number of films, but the quality was the victim.The proportion of quantity and quality was inverse. Film federation or the Indian government was unable to control this influx of outsiders.
The number of films rose from 97 in 1951 to 105 in 1952, only to go down to 98 in 1953. However, from 1954 (117 films) the number became steady till the China war in 1962. In the year 1952, the Government established ‘ Directorate of Film Festivals’ and from 24th January to 1st February 1952, an International Film Festival – the first in India – was organised in Bombay. Though it was our First festival, 23 countries exhibited 140 films. This gave many lessons to our filmmakers about the quality, content and the technique of films.
Let’s look at some noteworthy films of 1952. Mehboob’s colour film ” AAN “, made with a budget of 35 lakhs, earned 10 times more-3.57 crores. The film was shot as Black and white in 16 mm. The print was sent to the UK to blow it up to 35 mm and make it Technicolour. Dilip Kumar, Nadira, Nimmi and Naushad made this film memorable, with the story adapted from Shakespeare’s ” Taming of the Shrew” and lovely songs.
Baiju Bawra had songs which are popular even today. The first Hindi film of actress Padmini -Mr. Sampat was a comment on Indian politicians. Dilip’s Daag and Dev Anand’s Aandhiyan were ordinary films with good music. But Jaal, starring Dev and Geeta Bali was a Hit film. Anhonee had a double role of Nargis. Anand Math, based on the Independence struggle of 1857 had ‘ Vande Mataram’ in a different but loveable style . This was Hemant Kumar’s first Hindi film as a Music Director. Other good films were Yatrik, Ratnadeep and Chhoti maa.
O.P.Nayyar’s first film Aasmaan, Bewafa,Narayan Dutt’s first film Mordhwaj, Poonam with all 9 songs by Lata Mangeshkar, Parchhain by Shantaram, Debut film of Raaj Kumar (jaani fame) Rangeelee, musical film Sangdil were entertainers. Film Zalzala showed Dev Anand dying at the end. The only other film in which Dev Anand ever died was The Guide-1965. Dev Anand was not an expert in dying in films, like Dilip Kumar, who died in 7 films. Although Dilip earned the title of ” Tragedy King”, he paid heavily with his mental health and he had to seek psychiatric treatment. Azaad-1955 changed his track finally !
In all these films of 1952, the film Insaan was nowhere. It was just an ordinary film, but its songs were really and surprisingly very good. When you hear today’s song, you will agree with what I said. It was a social film, produced by G.J.Mohala. Directed by Jagdish Sethi, the film had music by B.N.Bali. The cast of the film was Prithviraj Kapoor, Ragini, Kamal Kapoor, K.N.Singh, Raj kumar, Chaman Puri, Roopmala, Kanhaiyalal, Cuckoo etc.
Actress Ragini, one time a famous and popular actress of hindi films of the 40’s had migrated to Pakistan after Partition. She was especially called to India to work in 2 films, namely Chamkee and Insaan, both in 1952. After these films she went back to Pakistan.
Ragini was born as Shamshad Begum, on 11-12- 1923, at Gujranwala, in a bazaar, where, to quote that great sage, Agha Hashr, “Days are dormant and nights wide awake.” Her mother named her Shamshad Begum, and her father, Seth Diwan Parmanand, happily allowed a Muslim name. But, her mother died during her childhood, and Diwan took this young girl from Gujranwala to Lahore.
Even this early, Ragini had the looks that made her noticeable. In those days, the classical sense of beauty was quite different. Large, sparkling eyes and a fair complexion was enough for any girl in the films to be termed beautiful. Aahoo Chashm Ragni and Pari Chehra Naseem (Saira Bano’s mother) were both considered the epitome of beauty, although young people question those attributes today as “just average”. Ragini had Brown eyes. In Indian cinema there were only 3 Heroines who had such Brown eyes. Ragini was one, Kamla Kotnis was second and the third was Vanmala.
Ragini was not able to go to school for undisclosed reasons, although she had a happy childhood. Diwan Sahab’s good friend, Roop K. Shorey was a well known film maker, and one day, while visiting his house, he noticed the girl child. “Isn’t she cute?” he said. “She has the looks of a fine film actress.” Although Diwanjee had some reservations about allowing the girl to join the industry, Shorey pledged that he would look after her at every step of the shoot. In those days, there were very few girls in the industry. To find a seventeen year old girl as the heroine meant that you had hit the jackpot.
Shorey cast Shamshad as Ragini, in Kamla Movietones’ Punjabi film, Dulla Bhatti in 1940. M.D. Kunwar was the hero, while Ragini played Nooran in the film. It was a hit and people were spellbound by her charm. Her next film, Sehti Murad did not make such a bang. She also did ‘himmat’ and ‘Raavipaar’. Later, she worked in many films before Partition, including her first Hindi film,Nishani-42,,naila,Anarkali,Poonji, Kaise Kahoon, Dasi, Shirin Farhad,farz and others. In Kardar’s film, Shahjahan, Ragini played Mumtaz Mahal, while her first hero, M. D. Kunwar, who had done Dulla Bhatt’s role, characterized Shahjahan with great aplomb. Kunwar was so enamoured of Ragini that he had requested Kardar for the role, to be close to Ragini. Unfortunately, Ragini did not respond to his romantic advances, and Kunwar sank himself in perpetual drunkenness, which led to his getting infected by tuberculosis and his death soon after that.
After Kardar’s Shahjhan, Ragini did a few more films before Partition, namely Nek Parveen, Farz, etc. Amongst these, director Niranjan’s film, Farz was Sudhir’s first film too, and Ragini played the lead with him. Ragini acted in 14 Hindi films, before her migration. Ragini got married to mian Mohd. Aslam in 1945 and took a break to raise a family. After Partition,she migrated to Pakistan and was welcomed with open arms in Pakistan. She worked as the heroine in films like Mundri, Akeli, Nazrana, Beqarar, Shararey, Mumtaz and Zanjeerin Pakistan. Radio Pakistan , during its creative days, used to play the hit songs of Beqarar, Naukar and Bedari in the 1960s. The song from producer S. Gul and director NazeerAjmeri’s 1950 film, Beqarar is still played on the radio. Dil ko laga ke kaheen thokar na khana. It was sung by Ali Bux Zahoor and Munawwar Sultana, and remains one of the earliest hit duets of Pakistani films.
Ragini was an expressive character actress, who did a variety of roles in films like Husn o Ishq, Anarkali, and Aab e Hayat She made a perfect Mumtaz Mahal in Naseem Saqlain’s Taj Mahal, although she wore a half veil in some of the scenes. It was a remarkable spectacle, but flopped because the local audience could not understand its historical significance. A huge expense to uplift it, with superb costumes, apart from the details taken care of during the royal procession shown in the film, are its high points. Ragini was able to use her arching eyebrows and expressive eyes brilliantly in Taj Mahal. Much has been written about her intimacy with famous producer, S. Gul, but he always maintained and proved by his actions that he had sympathy and reverence for her and shared her grief and heart felt fondness for the good times she had spent in the undivided India.
Ragini was invited to India to do two films, Chamkee-52 and Insaan-52. She completed these and went back to Pakistan. Later she divorced her first husband and married producer Gul. Her last days in Pakistan were very sad. She was thrown out of her house by her Son in Law,as he did not want an actress in his house..She was left alone and bedridden due to Arthritis in just one room.Despite many appeals on Radio and TV in Pakistan,nobody helped her,except one fan from India who went all the way to Pakistan and helped her to some extent.She died in misery and loneliness on 27-2-2007 at Lahore at the age of 85 years. (information collated from various sources like pak.mag, cinerang by Isaq Mujawar, muVyz, HFGK,Flashback,Chanderi Smriti Chitre by Samant and my notes).
The Hero of this film was Kamal Kapoor, whom our readers will recall as a badman in many films of the 80’s and the 90’s, especially due to his Eyes ! His snake-like eyes and fair skin made him look more like a KGB or Nazi baddie. Prithviraj Kapoor’s cousin, Kamal Kapoor, acted in over 600 films, spanning across three languages. He started off as a hero but with little success. From the Sixties onwards, Kapoor switched to playing a minor villain. His notable work includes Don, Gora aur Kala, and, of course, Mard, where he played the evil General Dyer.
Born on 22nd February 1920 in Lahore, Kamal Kapoor completed his education in Lahore. He started his career in 1944, with Prithvi Raj Kapoor, working in his theatre. Kamal Kapoor’s debut film was the 1946 release, ‘Door Chalein’. This movie, produced under the banner of Durga Pictures was directed by Phani Majumdar and the music composer was K.C.Dey while Kamal Kapoor and Naseem were the leading pair. Kamal Kapoor played Raj Kapoor’s father in ‘Aag’ (1948) which was also Raj Kapoor’s debut film as producer-director. Later he got numerous offers to play similar roles which he flatly refused to do.
Kamal Kapoor’s career as a villain started with the film “Johar Mehmood In Goa” which was released in 1965. This movie proved to be a big hit thus putting an end to the bad times for Kamal Kapoor. Soon he was flooded with work and was offered to play different characters in films like “Johar In Bombay”, “Johar Mehmood In Hongkong”, “Jab Jab Phool Khile”, “Raja Aur Rank”, “Dastak”, “Pakeezah”, “Paapi”, “Chor Machaye Shor”, “Five Rifles”, “Do Jasoos”, “Deewar”, “Khel Khel Me”, “Mard” and “Toofan”.
He once again got a chance to play Raj Kapoor’s father in the 1967 release “Diwana”. In his career spanning over five decades he acted in over 200 films in Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati languages. He played different kinds of roles from a gangster to a police officer. He played the role of Don’s right-hand man Narang in Don (1978). This blue-eyed actor always had a powerful presence on screen. He worked in 152 films – from Door Chalen-46 to Aakhri Sanghursh-97( last film). Kamal Kapoor died on 2nd August, 2010.
Today’s song is sung by Asha Bhosle. I liked this song very much. I am sure readers will also like it.
Song- Do dil hotey saajna to bada maza thha (Insaan)(1952) Singer- Asha Bhosle, Lyricist- D.N.Madhok, MD- B.N.Bali
Lyrics
Do dil hotey saajna to bada maza thha
do dil hotey
oye do dil hotey saajna to bada maza thha
ik dil detee dard ko
ik tumhen diya thha
ik dil detee dard ko
ik tumhen diya thha
do dil hotey
oye do dil hotey saajna to bada maza thha
do dil hotey saajna to bada maza thha
jab ghadee ghadee ik dil ro deta naam tumhaara leke
jab ghadee ghadee ik dil ro deta naam tumhaara leke
dooja dil usko parcha leta tasallee deke
in nit ke ghamon se jaan hamaari
in nit ke ghamon se jaan hamaari chhoot jaati ko kya thha
do dil hotey
oye do dil hotey saajna to bada maza thha
do dil hotey saajna to bada maza thha
phir nain kabhee bechain na hotey
phir nain kabhee bechain na hotey
ruktey na palakon mein aansoo aake
ruktey na palakon mein aansoo aake
kabhee dar dar ke main jaag na uthhtee
kabhee dar dar ke main jaag na uthhtee
nindiyaa se ghabraa ke
main naam na lab par laatee uskaa
jisne dard diyaa thhaa
do dil hotey
oye do dil hotey saajna to bada maza thha
do dil hotey saajna to bada maza thha
ik dil detee dard ko
ik tumhen diya thha
ik dil detee dard ko
ik tumhen diya thha
do dil hotey
oye do dil hotey saajna to bada maza thha
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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