Agar ye muskuraa den haaye to samajh lo maut aayee hai
Posted on: September 10, 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 a qawwali from the film Bade Bhaiya-1951.
The film was made by Super Pictures. produced and directed by the Banner owner- Aspy Irani, who was the husband of actress Husn Banu, daughter of yesteryear actress Shareefa. Aspy Irani was Aspindiar Hormusji Irani, an expert famous for handling Action films and C grade movies. From 1936 to 1986 he directed 55 films. Some of his known films were Johnny Walker’s Naya Paisa, Qaidi No. 911, Shabnam, Baadal etc. One day he left his home for work on 23-11-1986 and simply disappeared into thin air ! Rigorous searching by the Bombay Police did not succeed and he was declared a “missing person” forever !
The cast of this social film was Nirupa Roy, Suresh, Husn Banu, Agha, Naaz, Yakub and many more. The Music Director was Premnath (Wadhava). He was always mistaken for the actor Premnath (Malhotra), most of the time crediting his films to the actor.
In the cast you can also see the name of (Baby) Naaz. She was a living tragic example of how talented child artistes were used miserably by their greedy parents for money ! Even Daisy and Honey Irani were also such victims.
Naaz (20 August 1944 – 19 October 1995) was known for Boot Polish (1954), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) and Bidesiya (1963). We know her better by her stage name Baby Naaz. Boot Polish was Naaz’s 12th film. No one knows how she got the role. According to her actor-husband, Subbi Raj, Nargis once spotted Naaz doing a show & was highly impressed. She recommended the child to Raj Kapoor, who was equally impressed and cast her in Boot Polish.
So impressive and spontaneous was Baby Naaz’s performance in Raj Kapoor’s “Boot Polish” that, even after she grew up, got married and became a mother, she was still known as Baby Naaz. Her role in Boot Polish, released in the early 1950s, won several international awards and brought fresh acclaim to R. K. banner. Even in 1995, she won a special jury mention at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in the film. Naaz had in Boot Polish, a credible storyline, excellent technical effects, wonderful performances by veteran David, Master Rattan, catchy music & John chacha, tum kitne ache, Nanhe munhe bacche teri mutti mein kya…. & Lapak jhapak.. and then, ofcourse, her own performance.
Baby Naaz was born on 20 August 1944 in Bombay, Bombay Presidency, as Salma Baig. Naaz was born into a family obsessed with showbiz. Her father tried his luck in the film industry, but was not much of a success. Her mother pushed her into films and, very soon, Naaz was the family’s sole earning member.
The young girl debuted on stage when she was four, and in films when she was eight. Her father, Mirza Dawood Baig, was an unsuccessful story writer and somehow over time, Naaz became the only earning member of the family. At the age of six or eight, she was taken to the studios daily where her mother coaxed producers and directors to give her a chance and however she got the role, it was with Boot Polish that she became a celebrity, even beyond Indian borders, and the first choice as child artiste.
“I wanted to study, but unfortunately I had no time to breathe and had to forget about school. I left studies, for my mother didn’t stop accepting films on my behalf and my father stopped working. My mother was too used to making money out of me and didn’t want to forgo this easy life. She wanted me to work for her comforts and I was both too young and in awe of my parents to refuse.” She had said in an interview.
With a troubled family life, Naaz could never graduate to the big league. There was no one to manage her career and her mother accepted any and every role that came by. Raj Kapoor wanted to send Naaz to a Swiss finishing school for five years, intending to launch her under his banner after she returned. But Naaz recalled that her mother had wanted to go along with her to Switzerland too, and turned down the offer when she realised that would not be possible.
Naaz became the highest paid child artiste and worked in around 120 films. But her reality was that she was being neglected by her parents who were constantly fighting with each other. Sometimes, after coming home from the day’s shoot, she would fall asleep without having dinner. By the time she turned 12, her parents separated and Naaz had to stay with her mother, who remarried when Naaz was 16 years old.
Like Tabassum, Daisy Irani & other famous child artistes, Naaz did not make it as a heroine. It could be because there was no one to advise her on how to pick roles. And her mother was excessively eager to make Naaz a heroine. She dressed her daughter in loose, grown-up garments, cake her face with heavy makeup and tried to pass her off as a woman. The ploy worked with some producers, but Naaz was the ultimate sufferer. But that Naaz was excellent as a child artiste, there is no doubt. She worked with leading directors in outstanding films including Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Musafir, Bimal Roy’s Devdas, K. A. Abbas’ Munna and the Nargis-Balraj Sahni starrer, Lajwanti.
Naaz played the heroine in about 30 eminently forgettable films. But her roles, in Nader Shah with Feroz Khan, Lambe Haath with Mehmood, Rocket Girl with Sudesh Kumar & Gangu with Chandrashekhar did not challenge her undoubted talent, only her drawing power. She also starred in Mera Ghar Mere Bachche and Dekha Pyar Tumhara opposite Raj Kapoor’s cousin, up-and-coming hero Subbi Raj Kumar.
They fell in love and, after a five-year courtship, were married in 1965, despite some initial opposition from their families and the industry. Naaz continued to work after marriage but family came first. She was never pushy and, in an industry known for its cut-throat competition, never sought favours from producers and directors. Soon, she matured into a character actress and bagged good roles in films like Bahu Begum, Kati Patang and Sachcha Joota (where she played Rajesh Khanna’s crippled sister).
Occasionally, Naaz did feel her talent had been ill-used by the industry. As a result, she became more family-oriented. Naaz had an exquisite voice & spoke beautifully. Not many are aware that she transitioned into a second career as a dubbing artiste. Before Sridevi started using her own voice, Kumari Naaz dubbed for her in the early Hindi hits of the 1980s. It was a far cry from the status she enjoyed during her early years in Hindi cinema.
And then, one day, Naaz complained of stomach pain and slight difficulty in swallowing. Sonography revealed tumours, which had spread all over the liver. Surgery and chemotherapy were ruled out and she tried Japanese therapy to reduce the pain. On October 16, 1995, Baby Naaz began slipping. Subbi Raj, who was shooting in Jammu, rushed back to Bombay. But she quietly drifted away in her sleep three days later, on October 19, 1995.
The story of the film Bade Bhaiya-1951 was….
Astrological predictions sometimes do come out to be true as it happened in the case of Bankey( Suresh) and Bansi ( Agha), two small kids, about whom the Astrologer foretold that they will feed thousands of hungry souls when they grow up. As they grew up they found themselves employed in a restaurant serving food to thousands of people daily. They however could not stick to their jobs for long, due to their virtue of being too honest. Bade Bhaiya and Chhote Bhaiya, as they fondly called each other, got jobs in a touring carnival little knowing what hazards the fate had in store for them.
However Bade Bhaiya, through sheer strength of his will, used to infuse such a high degree of confidence in Chote Bhaiya that Chote Bhaiya managed to perform most dangerous feats such as MotorCycle jump, Dare devil ride on motor bike in well of death & plunging into a fire tank from a height of 100 ft. They became the heroes of the carnival very soon but they lost no time in losing their her hearts as well. Bade Bhaiya -Agha- fell for Madhuri-Nirupa Roy- the beautiful daughter of the carnival owner and Chhote Bhaiya went mad after another Carnival girl named Bijli-Husn banu.While the two heroes were trying to win over the love of their respective sweethearts another drama was being enacted between a Jagirdar and his son Manohar( Yaqub), not very far off. The father insisted that the son should marry Lalita-Naaz-, an orphan, brought up by himself, while Manohar, the son, having little belief in marriages refused to accede to this fathers wishes and left his abode and got himself employed as motor driver, to Madhuri. His good looks and his talent as a conversationalist won him a soft corner in Madhuri’s heart. Finally,in spite of the machinations of Manohar, Madhuri realises her love for Bansi and Manohar goes back to marry Lalita. Bankey and Bijli too are united.
Today’s song – a qawwali – is a video in which you can see Nirupa Roy singing as a qawwali girl. In those years Nirupa Roy was famous for Mythological films, doing roles of different Devis. For the audience, it was very painful to see her in this scene singing and clapping. As per the reviews published in papers and magazines, it became a major reason for the film’s failure at the Box office.
Actually, Nirupa Roy was a great artiste doing various types of roles in different categories of films. See her Role analysis here….
Nirupa Roy who acted in 280 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.
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).
See Nirupa Roy (real name Kokila Balsara) in this qawali video song now….
Song- Agar ye muskuraa den haaye to samajh lo maut aayee hai (Bade Bhaiyya)(1951) Singers- Shamshad Begum, G.M.Durrani, Lyricist- Manoharlal Khanna, MD- Premnath (MD)
Female Chorus
Male Chorus
Lyrics
aa aa aa aa
haseen jalti huyi shamaayen hain
unke paas mat aana
jo aaoge to jal jaaoge
dekho haal e parwaana
haaye mohabbat wo kare inse
mohabbat wo kare inse
ke jiski shaamat aayi hai
ke jiski shaamat aayi hai
ke jiski shaamat aayi hai
ke jiski shaamat aayi hai
ke jiski shaamat aayi hai
agar ye muskura den haaye
agar ye muskura de
to samajh lo maut aayi hai
aa aa aa aa aa aa
agar ye muskura den haaye
agar ye muskura de
to samajh lo maut aayi hai
aa aa aa aa aa
humhi shaagird hain
farhad ke majnu ke chele hain
ye husn o ishq ke paapad
hazaaron baar bele hain
haaye magar wo gham uthhaaye hain
magar wo gham uthhaaye hain
ke naani yaad aayi hai
ke naani yaad aayi hai
ke naani naani naani naani naani yaad aayi hai
agar ye muskura den haaye
agar ye muskura den
to samajh lo maut aayi hai
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
agar ye muskura den haaye
agar ye muskura de
to samajh lo maut aayi hai
aa aa aa aa aa
hoye ae ae
ulajhna inki zulfon se
hai kaanton mein ulajh jaana
samjhe
phir aakar unki lakdi
bana dete hai deewaana
haaye ye paagal-khaanon ki duniya
ye paagal-khaanon ki duniya
inhone hi banaayi hai
inhone hi banaayi hai
inhone hi banaayi hai
inhone hi banaayi hai
inhone hi banaayi hai
agar ye muskura den haaye
agar ye muskura den
to samajh lo maut aayi hai
haseenon ki wafa mein bhi chhupi ek bewafaayi hai
agar ye muskura den haaye
agar ye muskura den
to samajh lo maut aayi hai
agar ye muskura den
haaye
agar ye muskura den
to samajh lo maut aayi hai
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
September 11, 2024 at 10:18 am
Arun Ji
Thanks for the post. Felt sad to read about the life of Naaz, a talented actress. Of course I knew about her second career as a dubbing artiste.
It was interesting to note Nirupa Roy wrote the song ‘Mujhe dekh Chhand…” :))
After reading, I heard the song again :))
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September 11, 2024 at 11:59 am
Thank you, Satish ji.
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