Wo kaun hai duniya mein jo naashaad naheen hai
Posted on: September 11, 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 film Ismat-1944.
This was a Muslim social film made by Fazli Brothers Ltd., Bombay. Films made on Muslim backgrounds were started from the very first Talkie film-Alam Ara-1931. In fact, the early filmmakers were making films mostly on Muslim background – be it a Historical, Religious or a Social film, folklore and films based on the Urdu and Parsee drama company stories. In 1931 itself, there were as many as 7 such films like Abu Hasan, Shirin Farhad, Laila Majnu, Noorjahan etc.
This pattern was common with most production companies. Prabhat made its first Talkie Ayodhya ka Raja-1932 and at the same time also made another film Jalti Nishani-1932, a made-up Muslim Historical film. In the East, all the first 3 Talkie films made by New Theatres had Muslim background. Mohabbat ke aansoo-1932 was a household story, Subah ka Tara-1932 was a Folk Tale and Zinda Laash-1932 was an Arabian Night story.
Historical films on Muslim kings, right from Babar to Bahadur Shah Zafar were made by different filmmakers. Minerva’s most early films were on Muslim background. Several films on the love stories of Mughal Kings like Shahjehan, Akbar and Prince Salim were made. Some early Talkie films on Muslim subjects were , Naksh e Sulemani-33, Bahar e Sulemani-35, Naadira-34, Farz e ada-35, Mumtaz Begum-34, Rashida-35 (First Muslim Social film), Noor e yaman-35, Qismat ka shikar-34, Adil e Jahangir-34, Anarkali-35, Jahan Ara-35, Shamsheer e Arab-35 and many more.
However, all these Muslim films were made on the basis of their commercial success. No other serious thought was behind these films. From the second decade of filmmaking, i.e. 1940 onwards, major filmmakers realised that films were a good tool to educate the backward Muslim community, to bring them to the levels of other communities. When Mehboob Khan left Safar Movietone connection and set up his own studio and Mehboob Productions Company, his first film from the new set up was ‘ Najma”-1943, which was a soft lesson in the garb of a Muslim social story. It is interesting to note that his first Directorial venture in Sagar Movietone was ” Al Hilal”-1935, a film about a Muslim King. Due to his film Najma-1943, many people think that Mehboob started the Muslim Social film trend in India. Nothing is farther from the truth. The filmmakers who initiated making Muslim social films with a view to educate the uneducated and traditional Muslim community with the intention of pointing out their improvement areas, so that they can come upto the level of the other progressive communities were THE FAZLI BROTHERS.
Whether it was the Fazli brothers or Mehboob Khan or even K. Asif (film Phool-1945), they were afraid of the opposition to such films from the Muslim fundamentalists. To be safe, Fazli brothers made their first 4 Muslim social films in Calcutta to avoid confrontation and repercussions in Bombay or the Hindi belt from the fundamentalists. Mehboob Khan was also worried about his film ” Elaan”-1947 that it may incur revolt from the fundamentalists. Considering this he even warned the film’s Heroine Munawwar Sultana about this danger and gave her a choice to leave the film at any stage. However she bravely expressed great faith in Mehboob Khan and continued the film till the end.
The film Ismat-1944 was produced by Fazli brothers, known to make films on Muslim background only.
The producers, Fazli brothers, were the sons of Khan Bahadur S M Fazal Rabb of Bahraich- about 125 kms from Lucknow in U.P. The elder brother was Hasnain and the younger brother was Sibtain ( born on 9-7-1916). Hasnain Fazli was born on 12-1-1912 in the United Province (today’s U.P.). Their family belonged to the noble Sayyads of Allahabad. Hasnain was a graduate of Allahabad University. Though his father was a Khan Bahadur, a Government Jahagirdar and lifetime Magistrate, Hasnain refused to do any service and did not complete his I.C.S. studies, as expected by the family.
He had a creative mind. He joined the film line. He was very keen on making a film on Muslim Society. In those days it was considered outrageous to produce a film on Muslim society for fear of the ire of the fundamentalists. However Hasnain broke the barrier and the first Muslim Social film Qaidi-40 was produced and directed by him under the banner of Film Corporation of India, Calcutta. Very cleverly, the film was made at Calcutta, ( though the film depicted life in Lucknow ), and not at Bombay to avoid any disruption in the making of the film. The film was made so well that it was received very well by all strata of the population, including the Muslims and became a hit film. After this Hasnain made more Muslim social films like Masoom-41, Chowringhee-42, Fashion-43 and Ismat-44. These films discussed Muslim family life and problems etc.
His first directorial film was in his 23rd year- Triya Charitra-35. Then came Sajiv Murti-35, in which Handsome Vijay Kumar from Himachal Pradesh was the Hero. Fazli brothers also made Dil-46, Mehendi-47, Duniya-49 and Khoobsurat-52. Hasnain was so talented that he himself wrote the film stories, screenplays and dialogues usually. Sibtain Fazli directed 3 films-Chowringhee-42, Ismat-44 and Mehendi-47.
After the Partition, Fazli brothers migrated to Pakistan. Sibtain remained in Pakistan and Hasnain returned to India to make 2 more films. Later Hasnain too relocated to Lahore and died there on 16-7-1957. His brother Sibtain ( 9-7-1916 to 25-7-1985) who had directed 3 films in India, made 4 films in Pakistan, including the most popular Urdu film of Madam Noor Jehan – Dupatta-52.
Film Ismat-1944 (meaning Chastity, Honour, Purity) had songs written by Shams Lucknowi and the Music Director was Pt. Goverdhan Prasad (for 5 songs) and Hari Prasanna Sharma ( for 2 songs). Pt. Govardhan Prasad was the father of the famous Music Director Khemchand Prakash. He was an expert Dhrupad Gayaki, which he taught to Khemchand Prakash also. Pt. Govardhan Prasad gave music to only one film in his life time, i.e. Ismat-1944.
The cast of this film was B. Nandrekar, Mehtab. Nargis, Ghory, Pratima Devi, Budho Advani and others. The story of the film Ismat-1944 was….
Aslam (Nandrekar) and Ismat (Nargis) get married. They both are from good traditional Muslim families. Same day Shafi Anwar (Ghori) and Ishrat (Mehtab) too get married. Both had tasted western culture and follow it merrily. in due course of time, the Eastern culture (Aslam/Ismat) couple is happy, but Western Culture couple (Anwar/Ishrat) can’t adjust or compromise and are divorced. Ishrat joins a Theatre company as a Dancer at a very good salary. Soon she becomes rich and famous.
Aslam goes to Bombay to look for a job and meets with an accident with Ishrat’s car. She takes him to her home and looks after him. In this accident, Aslam loses his memory and forgets about Ismat. One day Ismat and her brother see his photo with Ishrat in a newspaper. They learn everything about his accident and loss of memory etc.
Ismat goes to Bombay and works as a maid in Ishrat’s house. She tries to remind Aslam about his past, step by step. One day Ishrat discovers this and removes Ismat from the job. Dejected, Ismat sits down for nonstop prayer. After some time, due to its power, there is a storm, lightning and thunder. In this period, Aslam is affected and suddenly his memory comes back. He escapes from Ishrat’s home and returns to Ismat. Both get happily united again and Eastern Culture wins over Western Culture.
In 1944, there was another film “Daasi”-1944. This was a story of a Hindu family. Its story was similar to film Ismat’s story. What a coincidence !
In the cast appears a name B. Nandrekar. This name is not familiar to most people. He was an actor who easily transitioned from silent films to talkie films.
B.Nandrekar or Babasaheb Nandrekar was one of the very few really handsome actors Hindi films ever had. He was born in 1910, in Sangli district of Maharashtra, near Kolhapur. Being a Muslim, he could speak Urdu/Hindi fluently. He completed his schooling from Kolhapur and joined films. Vishnupant Damle (one of the founder partners of Prabhat Films) was making the silent film ‘Maharathi Karna’ (1928) for Maharashtra Film Co. He offered Nandrekar a role. Then he worked in other films like ‘Baji Prabhu Deshpande’ (1929), ‘Lanka’ (1930), ‘Kismet’ (1931) and ‘Dushman Ki Raat’ (1931).
His first talkie film was ‘Kurukshetra’ (1933). Prabhat gave him a role in ‘Sant Tukaram’ (1936) (its Hindi version came in 1948). He worked in ‘Amar Jyoti’ (1936) and became quite popular as a hero, opposite Shanta Apte. He was the hero in ‘Baghbaan’ (1938) opposite Sitara Devi.
In 1939, he became the first actor to go abroad to shoot scenes in the film ‘Africa In Hind’ – ‘हिन्द में अफ्रीका’ (1939). The shooting was done in Africa. Thus this became the first ever Hindi film to shoot in foreign country, and NOT film ‘Naaz’ (1954), as is popularly believed and also as mentioned in HFGK. Nandrekar had become very popular. The chappals he used in the film ‘Baghbaan’ became fashionable by the name ‘Nandrekar Chappals‘. This alone is enough to prove his popularity.
His lawsuit against Prabhat Film Company was a topic of discussion in the industry. There were differences between him and Prabhat over his contract with them. His lawyers were Mr. Jinnah and Mr. Setalwad, who won the case for him. He was also the first actor to work as a freelancer.
Nandrekar appeared in 23 Hindi films. His films were ‘Kurukshetra’ (1933), ‘Amar Jyoti’ (1936), ‘Jaadugarin’ (1937) (UR), ‘Baghbaan’ (1938), ‘Africa In Hind’ (1939), ‘Qaidi’ (1940), ‘Hindustan Hamara’ (1940), ‘Alakh Niranjan’ (1940), ‘Chitralekha’ (1941), ‘Mamaji’ (1942), ‘Duniya Tumhari Hai’ (1942), ‘Nai Kahaani’ (1943), ‘Andhi Duniya’ (1943), ‘Swarn Bhoomi’ (1944), ‘Lady Doctor’ (1944), ‘Ismat’ (1944), ‘Bachpan’ (1945), ‘Kamla’ (1946), ‘Jeevan Sikho’ (1946), ‘Parshuram’ (1947), ‘Meri Amaanat’ (1947), ‘Khandani’ (1947), ‘Sant Tukaram’ (1948) and last film ‘Bihari’ (1948).
He passed away in 1949. No definite information is available about his demise.
Today’s song is sung by Rajkumari. Enjoy….
Song- Wo kaun hai duniya mein jo naashaad naheen hai (Ismat)(1944) Singer- Raj Kumari, Lyricist-Shams Lucknowi, MD- Pt. Govardhan Prasad
Lyrics
wo kaun hai duniya mein jo naashaad nahin hai
wo kaun hai duniya mein jo naashaad nahin hai
intzaar ki ?? hai be?? nahin hai
intzaar ki ?? hai be?? nahin hai
be??
??
??
aabaad hai duniya meree barbaad nahin hai
aabaad hai duniya meree barbaad nahin hai
mar jaaungi ghut ghut ke magar uff na karoongee
mar jaaungi ghut ghut ke magar uff na karoongee
jo munh se nikal jaaye wo fariyaad naheen hai
jo munh se nikal jaaye wo fariyaad naheen hai
majbooriyan ??
majbooriyan ??
aise ?? yaad naheen hai
aise ?? yaad naheen hai
wo kaun hai duniya mein jo naashaad nahin hai
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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