Kabhee dhokhhaa kabhee yaaree kaisee duniyaa hamaaree
Posted on: March 23, 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 C grade Stunt film – Superman-1960. Most of us like to see films, be it on a TV, in a cinema hall, or through DVD. Some like old films, some like new films. Did you ever see films like, Khooni Khanjar, Dagabaj Doctor, Shaitan ka paash, Char chakram, Daku Rani Talwarwali, Jaadu ka dandaa, Zinda Laash, Revolver Rani, Sinbad-Aladdin-Alibaba, Flying man, Fighter Sheela, Khooni Darinda, Tarzan aur Jadugar, Tarzan aur Jadui Chiraag, Golden Gang, Murde ki jaan khatare mein, or Jadui putli ?
I bet none of these movie names have been even heard by most of you ever. These are all STUNT FILMS or in other words ‘C’ grade films. In India I really wonder how the classification or Grading of films is done, or who is the person or the body authorised to do it. Because Censor Certificates do not label A, B or C grades at all.
Then how does this happen ?
My guess is that films are graded on 2 counts- One, The cost of production or Budget and the class of stars in it and Two, The class of people for whom the film is made or directed, like the Rich, middle and the Poor class. Whatever the basis, there is a very thin line between A and B grade films, while between these two and the C grade films, the line is very Bold and thick indeed !
Stunt films, Costume films, fantasy films and purely Religious films are normally treated as C grade films. These film do not carry any prestige, the actors working in them are exclusive to C grade films, the production values and the budget is quite low and most important, they are ALWAYS shown in theatres situated in older parts of the town, single screens, or only for Morning shows or in Theatres generally frequented by lower strata of society. A person seeing/loving or craving for such films is generally considered a ‘Low’ creature and a person with ‘child brain’.
In India ,this is the fate of C grade films. Actually these films have everything that A and B grade films have, like, story, songs, dances, fights etc, but still, the treatment given to handling of the story etc. in the films is very poor or lacking in expertise.
Stunts have improved, Technology has evolved but the participation of Zippy the Monkey, Tiger the Horse, Moti the Dog, parrots, snakes and khatara cars named Rolls Royce ki beti and Austin ki Bachhi is missing ! The contribution of Fearless Nadia in making Stunt films popular can not be denied, but then she had the backing of companies like Wadia Movietone. Basant pictures, Ranjit, etc. When you read the stories of these films please don’t employ Logic or common sense to it. This was a different world altogether. The set of actors was fixed, many times the composers were unheard of or they were known composers now in bad shape, the Directors were typical and the production houses were exclusive to churn out such films.
It is, nevertheless, a fact that many well known and famous actors and actresses of the 40s and 50s evolved from the stunt films of yore. Examples are Jairaj or Master Bhagwan.Can you believe that this roly-poly Bhagwan dada was a great body-builder when he started in stunt films in the late 30s ? Lalita Pawar(Amboo), Madhuri, Rampyari, Miss Moti, Sabita Devi, and Sulochana (Ruby Myers) are some female examples who graduated to Social films via Stunt films.
C grade films were those films which were made by not so famous banners, almost unknown actors, directors and composers. Usually C grade films used to be action/stunt films, made on shoestring budgets, having a fixed storyline resembling Tarzan, Hercules or Hollywood action films of Robin Hood, with the background of a jungle, Tribal people, King-Queen-wicked Vazir and similar stories. C grade films were always quickies, made on shoe-string budgets. During the late 30s and 40s, Master Bhagwan action films used to be completed in about Rs. 50,000 only- including studio rent, sets, artistes’ fees and other expenses. C grade films had a captive audience comprising factory workers, daily wagers, Low grade earners and students. However, such films used to rake in big profits to the film makers. Therefore, even top class banners sometimes made C grade films, to make up for their losses in big film flops.
There were certain production houses specialised and thriving on such films, like Paramount films, Jagriti films, Mohan pictures, Wadia Movietone etc etc. The actors and actresses of such films were fixed. Since the studio system was in vogue, the film studios usually had their actors and directors fixed. Music directors were of no consequence, so anybody would do. Well known composers like C.Ramchandra used to take another name while composing music for C grade action films. Music assistants of famous composers used to give music to such films. Well known composers falling on bad days also gave music to such films. C grade films rarely made Commercial records for their film songs, so such songs are a real rarity even with big collectors.
Some common and regular names one found in Action/Stunt films are, Nadia, Boman Irani, Sayani, Bilimoria bros, Cooper sisters, Zohra Khatun, Ameena Khatun, Khatun Bai, Prakash, Adjania, Noorjehan (sr.), Moosa Pehelwan, Vasantrao Pehelwan, Baburao Pehelwan, Marutirao Pehelwan, Azim bhai, Basheer, Ali, Bachha, Chandra Rao, Harishchandra Rao, Shankar Rao, Master Bhagwan, Mirajkar, Jamshed, John Cavas, Lalita Pawar, Navin chandra…and many such names. Barring a few names like Lalita Pawar, Bhagwan, Nadia etc, all the other action film actors remained unknown. No one knows anything about them.Actors like Baburao pehelwan, Marutirao Pehelwan ( He was the Hero in the First Gujarati Talkie film ‘ Narsi Mehta ‘), Chandra Rao, Sayani etc were quite famous in their times, but except their Filmography (thanks to HFGK), nothing more is known about them. All of them ended with only mere names !
Sometimes Gems are found in these C grade films. Remember the famous qawali- Hamen to loot liya mil ke husn walon ne- which had the honour of becoming the prestigious 5000th song in this Blog ? This was from a C grade film- AL HILAL.
In my younger age I was fond of stunt films and used to travel to theatres in the Old city part of Hyderabad, to watch films featuring Kamran (father of famous choreographer and Director Farah khan and Director, comedian, Anchor Sajid Khan), Naazi, Bhagwan and many such actors.” Adventures of Captain Marvel” (seen 7 times) and “Trip to the Moon” (seen 5 times) were my favourites from Hollywood’s Republic Serial productions.
In the 50s and 60s, some respectability to these stunt films was brought by actors like Mahipal, Ranjan, Dara Singh, Azad, Hemant Birje etc. The set of Heroines was also fixed to Mumtaz, Tabassum,Vijaya Chaudhary, Indira, Nishi etc. Mumtaz started with Stunts and graduated to greater heights and was counted in Top actresses of her days. Costume and Stunt films like Baaz, Insaniyat and Azaad etc were made respectable by the stars acting in them. Over a period the picture changed and nowadays every alternate film has breath-taking stunts done by almost all top Heroes, thanks to SFX, of course !
The C grade stunt films were the cheapest ones to make. Compared to the investment, the profits used to be very good. Producers of stunt/action films tried their best to get the directors, Lyricists and the MDs at minimum rates. For this, sometimes they pretended to give opportunities to new aspirants. This had double benefits. One, being new, he depended upon the producers – thus the films were virtually directed by the producers only. Secondly they needed to be paid near to nothing. This way money was saved…to hell with quality !
The actors working in such stunt films were fixed with almost every studio or producer. They had no chances of working in big banners or Social films. They either knew no acting or their skills were specific to stunt films like say, fighting, Horse riding, jumping, sword fighting etc. Their charges were also very low. In case the producer himself was acting, then there was no question of making actual payment( though on paper they may be getting some payments). producers like Master Bhagwan, Chandra rao Kadam etc. used to follow this method.
The audience of stunt films did not come to see histrionic talents of the actors, or listen to heavenly music. All they wanted to see was DareDevil action, fighting, 2-3- ‘ maar Daala’ Dances and villain ki bharpoor ‘Kutai ” and “Pitai “. Therefore all matters concerning getting quality actors, famous directors or well known composers never arose for these films. It used to be a thrilling experience to see these action/stunt films in a theatre and enjoy the loud comments and active participation of the audience in the film. When dances were shown whistles were common and when the hero started beating the villain, the audience enthusiastically encouraged the hero and shouted ” Maar saale ko” or similar motivating phrases ! I have enjoyed all this first person, several times. I feel sorry that the current generation is missing all this fun. The kind of C grade stunt films which we saw, are no longer made.
The cast of today’s film was Nirupa Roy, Jairaj, Tiwari, Majnu, Tun Tun, Sheila Kashmiri, W.M.Khan and many others including a Dog and a Horse.The film was directed by Anant Thakur, who was a Sound Recordist. He was given an opportunity to direct a film by A.V.M., Madras, which was the famous film Chori Chori-1955. It was , however, rumoured that behind him it was Raj Kapoor who directed the film, Thakur being a novice. Superman-1960 was his second film. He later shifted to Marathi films. Music director was Sardar Malik.
Some readers may be surprised to see Nirupa Roy’s name in a C grade Stunt film.
Nirupa Roy – Real name…Kokila Balsara (4-1-1931 to 13-10-2004) was an enigma of Hindi Cinema. An ordinary lower middle class housewife turned into an actress due to a need to survive. Funny thing was that it was her husband – Kishore Chandra Balsara – who had visited the studio to get a job as an actor and the studio selected his wife instead ! Her name was changed to Nirupa Roy. Without getting any film roles, her husband also changed his name to Kamal Roy ! Nirupa Roy who acted in over 250 movies has been variously branded as a Goddess of Mythological films, a suffering wife of a poor farmer, a troubled housewife of social films, an acclaimed quintessential mother of Bollywood and even a Stunt film actress !
She has been a Heroine in 110 films ( out of a total of 280 films ), a mother in over 50 films,has been a Goddess in 50 Mythological films, a suffering wife in over 30 films and a Stunt girl in about 10 films. She sang Bhajans, romantic songs, Comedy songs, qawalis, sad songs and peasant folk songs on the screen.
Trilok Kapoor was very famous for his portrayal of Shiv ji in Mythological films, in which he paired with Nirupa Roy as his consort-Parvati. He did 7 films in a row for this role and in all those films Nirupa Roy was Parvati. (However, no one could ever beat the divine pair of Ram and Seeta enacted by Shobhana Samarth and Prem Adib in Ram Rajya-1943).
It was rumoured that Trilok Kapoor wore a real snake around his neck during shootings. In the shooting of Har Har Mahadev-1950, Nirupa Roy was scared of the real snake and she could not do any scene with Trilok ji. Finally, he had to remove the real snake and wear an artificial snake for this shooting.
She changed her Heroes like “Badalate hue saathi”. She did 18 films with Trilok Kapoor ( 50-65), 12 films with Balraj Sahni ( 53-72), 16 films with P.Jairaj ( 53-78), and maximum – 21 films with Ashok Kumar ( 56-89). She was Amitabh’s mother in 12 films and a stunt Girl in 8 films. She even wrote a popular film song for the film Samrat Chandragupta-58 ( Mujhe dekh chand sharmaye – Lata).
The 2 line story of the film Superman-1960 was…
A scientist’s daughter is killed by a gangster and he adopts a girl as his daughter. He makes a serum which bestows superhuman powers to humans and his daughter gets it and destroys the gangster’s empire and his attempts to rule the world.
Here is a song by Lata and chorus, from this film. Enjoy…..
Song- Kabhi dhokha kabhi yaari kaisee duniyaa hamaaree (Superman)(1960) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Prem Dhana, MD-Sardar Malik
Chorus
Lyrics
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
kabhi dhokha kabhi yaari
kaisi duniya hamaari
kabhi dhokha kabhi yaari
kaisi duniya hamaari
munh pe boley yaar yaar
maare peechhe se kataari
kabhi dhokha kabhi yaari
kaisi duniya hamaari
munh pe boley yaar yaar
maare peechhe se kataari
kaisi duniya hamaari
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
jo bhi yahaan (aa haa)pyaar kare (o ho)
aansu piye aahen bhare
jo bhi yahaan pyaar kare (aa aa aa aa)
aansu piye aahen bhare(aa aa aa aa)
aankhen milaana na
dil ko lagaana na
dhokha ye khaana na
na na na
kabhi dhokha kabhi yaari
kaisi duniya hamaari
kabhi dhokha kabhi yaari
kaisi duniya hamaari
munh pe boley yaar yaar
maare peechhe se kataari
kaisi duniya hamaari
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
sach ko yahaan (o ho) maut miley (o ho)
jhooth yahaan phoole phale (aa aa aa aa
sach ko yahaan maut miley (aa aa aa aa
jhooth yahaan phoole phale
phir bhi sach kahta jaa
jo aaye sahta jaa
marne se darna na na na
kabhi dhokha kabhi yaari
kaisi duniya hamaari
kabhi dhokha kabhi yaari
kaisi duniya hamaari
munh pe boley yaar yaar
maare peechhe se kataari
kabhi dhokha kabhi yaari
kaisi duniya hamaari
munh pe boley yaar yaar
maare peechhe se kataari
kaisi duniya hamaari
6 Responses to "Kabhee dhokhhaa kabhee yaaree kaisee duniyaa hamaaree"
March 24, 2024 at 10:30 pm
Arunji,
Thanks a lot for the wonderful write up. It gives us a good overview of the world of stunt films and also makes us less prejudiced about such movies.
AK
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March 26, 2024 at 11:53 am
Innumerable Thanks from the bottom of my heart, for this article, Respected Deshmukh Sir, which has made my day. You have given a new lease of life to an obscure movie Superman ,by your superb writing . Although the print of the movie ,obviously is no longer available, but I could get fair idea about the movie through your article . It is a revelation for me that like me, you are are genuine appreciator of stunt movies, which are considered as down market by high brow critics. There have been many stunt/ fantasy films made by obscure/forgotten film makers like A R Zamindar, Ram Rasila, Akkoo, A Shamsheer, Radha Kant, S K Sham ,B J Patel etc ,which have been lost forever and its lost is as precious as of many big banner films like Afsar, Sailaab, Shehan Shah, Smt 420, Badshah, Sardaar , Mad Bhare Nain and so many better known films. Just one point , Mr Anant Thakur ,before Chori Chori had directed another successful movie Pugree in 1948 ,which was remade by Mr Prem Narayan Arora in 1972 as Dil Daulat Duniya,before winding up his company.
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March 26, 2024 at 5:13 pm
M N Sardana ji,
Thank you very much for your kind words about my post.
It is indeed a great loss in losing most stunt films.
Also thanks for reminding me about film “Pugdi”-1948, which I missed from list of films directed by Anant Thakur.
In the original film ‘Pugdi’-48, comedian Dikshit had played the role of Ramuchacha, who carried a small dog Chikkoo all the time. In the remade film ‘Dil, Duniya, Daulat’ -1972, this role was done by Omprakash with a small dog called Pakkoo.
Thanks again.
-AD
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 23, 2024 at 1:33 pm
Arun Sir,
Great writeup on a less common subject like C-grade films of Hindi cinema.
C-grade films encapsulate the core elements of cinema, including catchy songs, vibrant dance numbers, and exhilarating action scenes, yet they often lack the refinement seen in higher-grade productions.
Despite this, I cherished the opportunity to watch 1or 2 movies per week during my school or college summer breaks, attending the 9 am shows with incredibly affordable ticket prices.
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March 23, 2024 at 4:22 pm
Thanks.
I am happy to read comments from someone who liked stunt movies, like me.
-AD
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