Maataa gau hamaaree
Posted by: Atul on: October 20, 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 chorus song from the film Gopal Krishna-1938.
The film was made by Prabhat Film Company, Poona. Prabhat was established in 1929 at Kolhapur, by 4 ex-employees of Maharashtra Film company of Kala Maharshi Baburao Painter. These 4 were, V. Shantaram, Keshav rao Dhaibar, Vishnupant Damle , S.Fattelal, along with their Financer Seetaram Kulkarni- who had a Gold shop at Kolhapur. Their first silent film was Gopal Krishna-1929, directed by V.Shantaram. The cast was Suresh, Kamala Devi (aka Gulab bai who featured in Prabhat’s Logo of a bent girl with a Tutari (Turahi). Later, she married one of the partners-S.Fattelal), Anant Apte (aka Bajar Battu. Brother of the stammering actor Madhu Apte. Later, he left films and became a noted Film Editor, who helped Dharmendra to get established as an actor) and others.
The company shifted to Poona in 1932 and made successful films like Jalti Nishani, Maya Machhinder, Sairandhri, Amrit manthan, Chandrasena, Dharmatma, Rajput Ramani, Amar Jyoti and Duniya na maane till 1937. In that year, one of the partners of Prabhat – Keshav rao Dhaibar – had to leave the company for breaking the company’s rule of ” not marrying a company’s employee “. He had married Prabhat’s Heroine Nalini Tarkhad. Later, in 1942 even V. Shantaram had to leave Prabhat for marrying actress Jayashree, a Prabhat employee.
Prabhat made a remake of its first silent film Gopal Krishna, as a Talkie film in 1932, with the same title. The film was , however, directed by Damle and Fattelal. The cast was Ram Marathe, Shanta Apte, Parshuram, Ulhas and many others. The songs were written by S.L.Shrivastav ‘ Anuj’ and these were musically composed by master krishna Rao Phulambrikar. There were 14 songs, sung by Ram Marathe, Shanta Hublikar, Shanta Apte and Parshuram.
The story of Gopalkrishna-38 was written in such a way that from the dialogues, at times,there was a message to Indian people to wake up against the Tyrants(the British). The film did not depend too much on Krishna miracles except a few major events. The story tried to describe and paint a positive picture of village life(probably,in consonance with Gandhiji’s views on Villages being Nation’s builders.), an all inclusive village population and the antics of naughty Krishna in his childhood.
The character of PENDYA (Krishna’s friend),is to be found only in the Maharashtrian version of Krishna’s childhood. It is not found in any other languages as far as I know.The child actor Parshuram,who was adept in singing too and who was Shantaram’s discovery, did this role. Later he also left Prabhat after Shantaram and did a role in almost every Rajkamal film,till he spoiled his life due to drinks.
Gopalkrishna depicted the childhood life of Krishna( Ram Marathe) in Gokul. The king of Mathura (maternal uncle of Krishna,in relation) Kansa-played by Ganapatrao- also ruled Gokul. He was the killer of 7 siblings of Krishna, after their births,while Vasudev and Devki were in his jail. He also wanted to kill Krishna (because he knew he would destroy Kansa one day),but all his efforts so far had been foiled.
The various incidents in the film are taken from Bhagwat Puran and Vishnu Puran. Once Kansa sends his Commander in chief Keshi Rakshasa -played by Haribhau- in disguise to capture and kill Krishna,but Krishna’s lame fast friend Pendya and others expose him and he is killed by Krishna. Angered by this Kansa finally,with his magical powers, creates heavy rains and floods in Gokul so that all people and cattle die in it. Krishna however,lifts the mountain Gowardhan on his little finger of left hand to make it an umbrella for the people and cattle. This is how Krishna got his name ‘Gowardhan Giridhari’.
For various shots in the film Prabhat wanted hundreds of cows,which were not available in Poona. Here more buffaloes were available. The search team of Prabhat found several herds of cows in Dombivali, near Bombay. These cows were hired on a daily basis from their Tabelas (stables) and brought to Poona in a special train,for shooting. Such was the commitment of Prabhat in those days for reality in films. With all the child pranks,melodious music and trick scenes,no wonder Gopalkrishna became a family favourite film in those days.
Music Director of this film Krishnaji Ganesh Phulambrikar (1898–1974), popularly known as Master Krishnarao, was a musical genius – an Indian vocalist, classical musician and composer of Hindustani music. He was credited with the creation of three Hindustani ragas and several bandishes. Phulambrikar was a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.
Krishnarao Phulambrikar was born on 20-1- 1898 at Devachi Alandi, a town in the periphery of Pune, in Maharashtra to the Deshastha Brahmin couple Ganesh Phulambrikar (who was Vedmurti) and Mathura bai. He also ventured into Marathi theatre as a child artist by performing as an actor-singer in Sant Sakhu, a musical drama produced by Natyakalapravartak Mandali. He acted in other musical dramas produced by this drama company. And at this drama company, he first got a chance to learn Indian classical music from Sawai Gandharva who used to act in the musical dramas of this company. Later, he approached the renowned singer, Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale in 1911 who trained the young boy in Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur gharanas of Hindustani music and their guru-shishya relationship lasted till Bakhale’s death in 1922. The tutelage under Bakhale also gave him the opportunity to meet and get associated with Bal Gandharva, who would later go on to become a noted Marathi singer. His first solo concert was when he was 13 years of age (he was awarded the title of Sangeet Kalanidhi in 1930 by Jagadguru Shankaracharya Dr.Kurtkoti), which preceded several concerts in India and abroad, including a trip to China as a Government of India delegate in 1953.
Phulambrikar served as the director of Pune Bharat Gayan Samaj, a music academy founded by his mentor Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale in Pune. Besides his career as a classical vocalist and as a film music composer, he scored music for several plays which included Menaka, Savitri, Asha-Nirasha, Amritasidhhi, Kanhopatra, Nand Kumar and Vidhi Likhit for Gandharva Sangeet Natak Mandali, a drama company founded by Bal Gandharva, during the period 1915–1933 and acted in a few of them. Later, he also composed music for a few plays such as Kulavadhu, Ek Hota Mhatara, Kone Eke Kali and Bhagyoday for Natyaniketan where the lead singer and actress was Jyotsna Bhole. On the academic front, he compiled the compositions taught to him by Bakhale as well as his own compositions and published them as a 7-volume book, Raag Samgraha. Besides his notations are available in print under the titles, Rashtra Sangeet, Shishu Sangeet, Amar Sangeet, Mohan Maal, Natya Geet Notations and Chitra Geet Notations. He also tutored several musicians, film and drama artists. Ram Marathe, Yogini Joglekar, Saraswati Rane, Haribhau Deshpande, Anjanibai Kalgutkar, Madhusudan Kanetkar, Jaymala Shiledar, Dr.Pabalkar, Bapurao Ashtekar, Dattopant Bhope, Pitre buwa, Suhas Datar, Sudhakar Joshi, Ravindra Joshi, Mohan Karve, Rangnath Karkare, Shivram Gadgil, Balwant Dixit and his daughter, Veena Chitko are some of his notable disciples.
Soon after he received the Sangeet Kalanidhi title from Dr. Kurtkoti, the Shankaracharya of Karvir Peeth, he was contracted by Prabhat Film Company owned by V. Shantaram and other partners, to compose music for its forthcoming film, Dharmatma, where he was reunited with his old associate, Bal Gandharva, who played the role of Sant Eknath, the protagonist of the movie. The film which was released in 1935 had sixteen songs, many of them sung by Bal Gandharva. A year later, his next hindi film was released under the name, Amar Jyoti, again a Prabhat Film Company production. The film was reported to have been critically acclaimed and was the first Indian film to be screened at the Venice Film Festival. Wahan, another Prabhat production released in 1937, this time with a new director, K. Narayan Kale, was his next film, followed by the musical Gopal Krishna in 1938 directed by Damle and S Fattelal. He composed music for 15 films which included Padosi, another Shantaram film and the film featured a ten-minute song, Lakh lakh chanderi, reportedly with complex choreography. He played the lead role of Sant Savata Mali in the movie Bhakticha Mala released by Rajkamal Kalamandir. He composed the music for this movie and also sang his own songs in this movie. Many aspiring composers of that period – Vasant Desai, C.Ramchandra, Sudhir Phadke, Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, Snehal Bhatkar, Dinkarrao Amembal (alias D Amel) and Gajananrao Watve got inspired by his school of musical thought.
In the Hindi film arena, he gave music to 10 Hindi films (Dharmatma-35, Amar jyoti-36, Wahan-37, Gopal krishna-38, Aadmi-39, Padosi-41, Vasantsena-42, Mali-44, Lakharani-45 and keechak Vadh-59). In these 10 films he composed 104 Hindi songs. He sang 11 songs in 2 Hindi films – Mali-44, Meri Amanat-47 and Pooja-54. He acted as the main lead in Hindi film Mali-1944.
Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar received the Vishnudas Bhave Gold Medal of the Government of Maharashtra in 1969 and the Government of India awarded him the civilian honor of the Padma Bhushan in 1971. He was the first recipient of the Balgandharva Gold Medal. The Sangeet Natak Akademi honored him with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Puraskar in 1972. In 1961, he suffered a facial paralysis which forced him to abandon his career as a singer in 1969. On his 60th birth anniversary, a 9-day long music conference was staged in Pune in which many notable musicians from all over India took part. He did not survive much longer and the death came on 20 October 1974, when he was 76 years of age. The story of his life has been documented in his biography, Bola Amrit Bola (बोला अमृत बोला ) which was published posthumously in 1985. Every two years an award in his memory is presented to a music critic or author of a music book by Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, Pune. Since his family originated from Phulambri in Marathwada, a drama theatre has been named “Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar Natyagruha” in Jalna, Marathwada in his honour. Every year Pune Bharat Gayan Samaj celebrates his birth anniversary and death anniversary. His daughter, Veena Chitko, who died in September 2015, was a notable light classical musician.
There was another Master Krishnarao Chonkar, actor and singer, who worked almost the same time in Marathi and Hindi dramas and films. Sometimes there is a “Same Name Confusion” as both were mentioned as Master Krishnarao. Of course the contribution of Phulambrikar was much more successful. ( Based on Marathi book पूर्वसुरींचे सूर by Dr. Suresh Chandvankar, wiki and my notes).
Today’s song is sung by Shanta Hublikar and Chorus. Enjoy this 86 year old song….
Song- Maata gau hamaari (Gopalkrishna)(1938) Singers- Shanta Hublikar, Lyricist- S.L.Shrivastav Anuj, MD- Master krishnarao Phulambrikar
Female Chorus
Male Chorus
All chorus
Lyrics
maata gau hamaari
praanon se tu hai pyaari
koi nahin jagat mein tujhsa paropkaari
gokul ke narnaari
tere banen pujaari
brajbhoomi ki tu hai shobha
jeewan ka hai sahaara
balwaan hai banaati
dekar sudha ki dhaara
dahi ki dhaara bahti jag mein
dahi ki dhaara bahti jag mein
?? yahaan wahaan
dahi ki mathaani ghoom ghoom ghoome
dahi ki mathaani ghoom ghoom ghoome
sheesh jhukaave
sab gun gaave
moorti mamta ki
maa hai tu hi
jai jag janani
sankat harni
sukhi hamen bana tu
sukhi hamen bana tu
?? doodh se??
?? doodh ??
chalo chalo mat der karo
chalo chalo mat der karo
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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