Aankhon se milin aankhen iqraar ho gayaa
Posted on: August 29, 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 the C grade Costume film Simba-1951.
I was a great fan and admirer of C grade action/stunt/costume films from my young age. The decorative sets and the unusually long, shining and attractive costumes in the films, the daredevil stunts and the hand or the sword fighting in these films impressed me. Unfortunately, as I grew older, the number of such films was reducing and by the time I almost stopped running after films by the 1970 beginning, C grade action, stunt and Costume films almost disappeared from the theatres. Perhaps their regular audience thinned out or the stuntmen became old or producers of such films turned to other more respectable Genres. Whatever the reason, reality was that the end of such films had occurred !
Most of us like to see films, be it on a TV, in a cinema hall, or through DVD/CDs. 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 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- 1958 .
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 gave 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 !
Besides specific audiences of workers,daily wagers and such other lower social strata, the stunt films had their own fixed Producers, Directors and even the actors. Most times, a set of action film actors was regular and specific to the production houses. For example, Fearless Nadia, John Cavas, Sayani Atish, Boman Shroff, the Billimorea brothers, Basheer etc were fixtures in stunt films of Wadia Movietone. Master Bhagwan, Chandrarao, Harischandra rao, Azeembhai, Vasantrao and Baburao pehelwan, Leela Gupte, Prakash, Habeeb etc were with stunt films made by Bhagwan and Harischandra rao.
Besides the human actors , some trained animals as well as a car and a motorcycle were also fixtures in stunt films. What’s more, these non-living and non -human participants too were named. So, you had Punjab ka Beta (Horse), Gunboat (Dog), and Austin ki Beti (car) in films made by Wadia Movietone. For Basant Pictures, it was Rajpoot (Horse), Moti (Dog) and Austin ki Bachhi (Car), even the Motorcycle had a name-Ruuniyo !
In addition to all this, actors with odd and weird names were to be always found in stunt film casts. Have you ever heard actors with names like Bajar Battu, Phool kumari, Maruti pehelwan, Batata, Mitthoo Miyaan, Fatty Prasad, Boken Chattu, Minu the Mystic, Manchi Tuthi, Gareeb Raja, Kurbaan Jaoon, Pandit Dukhi, Vilayatu, Loveji Lavangiya, Adam Sandow, Sandow Safar, Dunlop, Chic Chak and a very strange name CHEMIST ! This name is found in 5-6 films.
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.
When I started writing on old films and songs, I happily realised that I was not the ‘Unique’ person in today’s times who liked action/stunt/costume films and there were many like me- not necessarily as old as me ! Mike Barnum-an American- who runs two sites…cinemajadoo and Pedro the Ape….exclusively for such films, has done a historical work by reviewing atleast 500 such movies of yesteryears, in different categories like Action, Stunt, Costume, Horror, Mystery, Jungle stories, Space travel, Ghost stories, Superpower people and such non-traditional types of films. Another fan of such films was Ms. Greta Kaemmer, who is more popular as ‘Memsaab’ and runs her own site memsaabstory.com, wherein she has discussed many such films of old times. The hundreds of comments she gets on her Blog is proof of how such films are popular even today. Her liking for old Hindi films is so strong that she has already visited Bollywood in Mumbai 2 times and has met several Heroes etc.
Coming to today’s film Simba-1951, I have not seen this film, but what I know is that it was a regular Costume film having a King, queen, beautiful daughter, wicked Vazir and a hooded Prince of neighbouring kingdom who makes the film’s end happy by destroying the evil goons and then marrying the Princess etc. The Music Director of this film was D.C.Dutt, not a very well known composer.
All of us know that Lata Mangeshkar had to struggle very hard in her initial attempts to get into Playback singing in Hindi films. In her early struggle, 3 Duttas helped her. The first was of course Datta Davjekar who gave her the first opportunity to sing a Playback song for his film Aapki sewa mein-1947. The second was K.Datta or Datta Korgaonkar, who, after his favourite singer Noorjehan left India, took Lata under his wings and gave her songs. The third Dutta was this-D.C.Dutt. No information is available about him whatsoever , except what is printed in HFGK and its duplication in Pankaj Raag’s book “Dhunon ki Yatra”. Thanks to this, we know that his debut was through the film Sona Chandi-1946. Out of 12 songs of the film, only two were his and one of them was by Lata Mangeshkar.
This Lata song has a history. Film Sona Chandi was censored first on 19-7-46 and released. That time these 2 songs of D.C.Dutt were not there. In January 1948,when Gandhi’s death took place, many songs on Gandhi were recorded by many singers and composers. One of the most famous,popular and successful songs was “Suno suno aye duniya walo, Bapuji ki amar kahani” sung by Mohd. Rafi in 4 parts and recorded by its composer Husnalal-Bhagatram. In this spate, even D.C.Dutt also recorded a Gandhi song by Lata in 1948. producers of film Sona Chandi got this and one more song ( by Saroj Borkar) included in the film and the film was recensored on 9-4-48. Thus an early song of Lata was in a film, because of D.C.Dutt.
D.C.Dutt later did some more films like, Sarai ke bahar-47, Dil ki Awaz-48, Anjana-48 ( he even acted in this film), Ram Darshan-50, Aahuti-50, Simba-51, Ranee-52 and lastly Sahil-59. Very surprisingly, after the film Sona Chandi-46, Lata did not sing a single song in any of his films. After 48-49, Lata had become a very busy and ‘in demand’ singer and she would sing only for established composers; we all know that she did not sing even in Madan Mohan’s debut film Aankhen-50, just because he was new. It is said that Lata had also not sung for Music Director Khurshid Anwar, when she learnt that he could not play any musical instrument.
Today’s song is sung by Sulochana Kadam. Let us enjoy the song….
Song- Aankhon se milin aankhen ikraar ho gayaa (Simbaa)(1951) Singer- Sulochana Kadam, Lyricist-Indeevar, MD- D.C.Dutt
Lyrics
aankhon se milin aankhen
ikraar ho gaya
pehchaan hote hote yoon pyaar ho gaya
aankhon se milin aankhen
ikraar ho gaya
pahchaan hote hote yoon pyaar ho gaya
armaan hai ye dil ka
tu saamne rahe
tu saamne rahe
armaan hai ye dil ka
tu saamne rahe
tu saamne rahe
tere baghair jeena dushwaar ho gaya
tere baghair jeena dushwaar ho gaya
aankhon se milin aankhen
ikraar ho gaya
pehchaan hote hote yoon pyaar ho gaya
laali ki kya zaroorat
kaajal ki kya padi
laali ki kya zaroorat
kaajal ki kya padi
kaajal ki kya padi
jab pyaar hi jeewan ka singaar ho gaya
jab pyaar hi jeewan ka singaar ho gaya
aankhon se milin aankhen
ikraar ho gaya
pehchaan hote hote yoon pyaar ho gaya
dil mein sama gaye ho
dhadkan mein bas gaye
dhadkan mein bas gaye
dil mein sama gaye ho
dhadkan mein bas gaye
dhadkan mein bas gaye
jab aankh band kar li
deedaar ho gaya
jab aankh band kar li
deedaar ho gaya
aankhon se milin aankhen
ikraar ho gaya
pehchaan hote hote yoon pyaar ho gaya
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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