O re zamaane dekh liya tera zamaanaa
Posted on: November 2, 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 “one of a kind” of a film – Kinaara-1949.
This was a film made by New India Theatres, Bombay. It was directed by Ambalal Dave, for whom it was the only and the last individually directed film. Same year he had directed one more film jointly with Narayan Patel (another first and last timer) – Roop Sundari-1949. Not only this,but Madhusudan Acharya had written the film’s story, screenplay and dialogues too. He had acted in this film as a Hero and also sang one solo and one duet in the film. These again were the first and last time songs in any Hindi film. Now the readers will realise why I called this film “one of a kind’ film !
Madhusudan Acharya was not an ordinary person. He was a trained singer, visited USA 9 times, UK once and has sung on BBC Radio also. He had written several stage dramas and was a famous and well known figure on Gujarati Stage !
Bombay is a Maya Nagari. People from all over the country come here to make money and a career. Not everyone succeeds, but that has not dampened the people’s attraction for Bombay till today. In addition, Bombay has a pulsating Cinema Industry. If one succeeds here, he can earn Millions, be famous and popular and get the best in life. This ” if ” is ignored by most people and hordes of them rush to Bombay in search of a successful career – may be in acting, singing, directing, composing or whatever.
There are 3 types of results for such people. One- the person gets only one or two chances- does not succeed and quits for ever. Two- gets few chances, succeeds moderately but quits after some time voluntarily. And Three- succeeds and lives here till the end comes to him.
There are examples in every category. In the first category, I remember off hand, at least 2 examples. The first is the only Trio of MDs – Lala, Sattar and Asar, who came together in 1965 to compose songs for 2 films – Sangram and Jahan Sati wahan Bhagwan. They failed and this group broke. Asar left for ever. The second example is the MD pair of Rai-Frank, who gave music to film Gogola-1964. After this film Rai- who was Mukund Rai Trivedi, son of a Mine Owner in M.P. left the film industry to join the family business.
In the second group there are more examples. I remember Shashi Kapoor Sr. who acted as a Child Artiste in 21 Hindi films, quit films, continued his studies and became a Maths professor in a University in USA for the rest of his life. The second case is of Arjun Bakshi, who failed as a Hero in film Malhar-51 and 2 other films, left acting, tried writing screenplays etc. and then migrated to Canada, opened a Music shop and lived there forever. Yet another case is of Ashraf Khan, who after a successful acting and singing career on stage and in films, quit all and became a Sufi Saint !
In the third group, there are several examples which we all know. The point is, Madhusudan Acharya fits into the first category. Lets know more about this person. Information on him was scarcely available. However, Acharya had lived in Surat, Gujarat, from 1977. The good old (Late) Film Historian, Comiler, Author and Hindi film expert Shri Harish Raghuwanshi ji had interviewed him on 18-4-1984 and this interview was published in Listeners’ Bulletin No. 59 of November 1984.
Since I have all the issues of L.B, published by shri. Har Mandir Singh Hamraz ji since October 1071 ( It was first published as ‘Radio News”. It’s name was changed toListeners’ Bulletin from the 11 th issue, published as a joint issue of June/July 1973), I found this interview. It was in Hindi so i roughly traslated in into English for the benefit of our readers. here is that adaptation about Madhusudan Acharya.
Hindi films only know him as an actor, singer, composer and producer, but there is much more to him in different fields. Madhusudan was born on 28-11-1911 at Acharyawadi in Ahmedabad city. After completing education upto SSC , he jumped into the agitation called out by Gandhi. There was a Lathi charge on 20-8-1930 and he was arrested and jailed for 2 months.
After release from jail he went back to home, but his mother fired him so much that he left home again. After 8 years, his uncle found him and brought him back home. Meanwhile, he learnt music from Ustad Abdul Kareem khan and later from his disciple Balkrishna Buwa Kapileshwari from 1931 to 1933, as well as from Roshan Ara Begum. Due to his good nature and sweet tongue, he was popular. In 1939, he went to Japan, with a team of Ahmedabad Mill owners. In Tokyo, he did a stage show and sang songs. He came to Bombay in 1947 and stayed here for the next 30 years.. He wanted to make a Drama Theatre to be let out at a very nominal rate. He also wanted to make 2-3 films.
He produced the film Kinara-49. He became the Hero. He composed its music giving 12 songs. He sang 3 solo songs himself in this film. He selected Geeta Bali as the heroine, because he was impressed with her acting in the film Suhag Raat-1948. The film took about 15 to 16 months to be ready. It was censored in June and released in Swastik Cinema, Bombay, where it ran for 9 weeks, a reasonable success. 14 prints were made of the film, which were all destroyed in a fire at the Chembur Godown.One print of the film was stolen and it was released in Pakistan. Due to inexperience and wrong decisions, the film gave him a huge loss. However he professed, ” loss is nothing but the bother of profit and every setback is the root cause of the Rise.”
C.Ramchandra and Husnalal Bhagatram were his good friends. He praised R C Boral and Khemchand prakash. Among actors, he liked P C Barua, Mazhar Khan, Chandramohan and Nawab. Lata Mangeshkar sang only one song for this film, because by 1949, she became a very busy artiste. However he recorded one more song by Lata for his next film- which never materialised.
Acharya wrote many dramas in Gujarati. ” Mangal Murti ” a drama based on the film Kinara became so successful that it did 3500 stage shows. His plays were staged in Bombay and Saurashtra. He had a good income from his estate in Ahmedabad. he wanted to go to the USA and settle there. He went to the USA first time in 1967 and later 8 more times, but could not settle there. In 1976 he went to London. He was invited on BBC where he sang a classical song.
Looks like this film,Kinara-49, played as a Trial field for the hero, singer, MD, Producer and the Director too ! Incidentally, there are 2 duets in the film, one by Harish and Shanti Sharma and another by Harish and Ram Pyari. This singer Harish Bhatt was the younger brother of singer Yashwant Bhatt. He was an ardent fan of Saigal. He sang many songs in Gujarati but the film Kinara was the only Hindi film where he sang. Another unique feature of this film was that the famous Shenai player Bismilla Khan acted in this film and played Shehnai too. His name features in the cast credits. For this, he was called specially from Banares twice, adding to the cost of the film. As per my information, this is the only film in which Bismilla Khan acted in his lifetime.
The cast of the film was Geeta Bali, Madhusudan Acharya, Ramsingh, Sharda, Kanta Kumari, R.S.Dubey, S.Nazeer, Bismilla Khan and few others. I never saw this film. We do not know anything about the film’s story. One of the names in the cast is Ram Singh. His life story was very interesting.
The actor Ram Singh’s name is not very famous or well known, but in his times, he did Hero’s and Villain’s roles in many films. .His entry in films and life story is very interesting.
During the 1942 ‘Quit India’ movement, there was a riot in Allahabad. Police opened fire and along with several other people, the Secretary of All University Students Union also was killed. Fearing a backlash from college students, the Government closed down all colleges and vacated Hostels.Two persons became homeless. One was Ramchandra Dwivedi – who later on became well known as Kavi Pradeep- and the other was Ramsingh- who became an actor. After the riots, instead of informing his family about his welfare, Ramsing left for Bombay and then to Poona, to become an actor. He was tall,fair and handsome. V.Shantaram hired him as an assistant in the studio. His family thought that he must have been killed in the riots and grieved, when he never returned.
One day one of the villagers came to their house and told excitedly that he had seen a Hindi film and in that film, an actor looked exactly like Ramsingh. The family went to the town and saw the film.Lo and behold ! There he was. Looking just like Ramsingh. Anxiously a group of elders reached Prabhat Studio in Poona and enquired. The officials brought out their own son- Ramsingh before them !! Everyone was happy. It seems he did not contact his household just to avoid the Police investigations, as he too was an active participant in the agitation.
Ramsingh was born into a rich Zamindar family of village Ishanpur in Pratapgarh (U.P.), in 1920. After graduating, while doing his M.A. he joined films. His first film was Ramshastri-44, then came Chand-44, Lakhrani-45 and Hum ek hain-46….all Prabhat films. While in Prabhat, he became friendly with Dev Anand and Guru Dutt. In his later years, they gave him roles in almost every film..
In his other films, Ramsingh worked with Heroine Ranjit Kumari ( real name Ranjit Kaur), to whom he got married later on. He was already married while in school and also had 3 children from his first wife. From the second marriage he had 4 children.
Ramsingh played Hero, Villain and character roles in 69 films. Some of his notable films were, besides 4 Prabhat films, Gaon-47, Shaheed-48, Khidki-49, Aparadhi-50 ( He was the Hero, opposite Madhubala), Sargam-50, Sangram-50, Shrimati ji-52, Jaal-52, Baaz-53 etc etc. In his later career, he only got insignificant roles in B and C grade films and Mythologicals. His last film was Sati Sulochana-69. ( 2 more films Veer Chhatrasal-71 and Mere Bhaiya-72 were released after he left films).
Ramsingh returned to his native place with Ranjit kumari and children in 1970 and started doing Agriculture. The U.P. Chief Minister H.N.Bahuguna was his classmate and a very good friend. Ramsingh approached him. Bahuguna, to help him, immediately established ” U.P. Film Corporation ” and made Ramsingh its Chairman. However, due to political turmoil in the country, Bahuguna left congress and joined Congress For Democracy, against Indira Gandhi. As a result the film corporation was wound up and Ramsingh returned to the fields again. Ramsingh started drinking, against medical advice and died in 1984, in his village.
( adapted, with Thanks, from Javed Hameed’s book ” Kuchh kalakar, kuchh yaden “, Vithal Pandya’s book Asli Nakli Chehre, Bapu Watve’s book ” My Prabhat days” and my notes).
Today’s song is sung By Madhusudan Acharya. Enjoy this 75 year old song….
Song- O re zamaane dekh liya tera zamaanaa (Kinaaraa)(1949) Singer- Madhusudan Acharya, Lyricist- Neelkanth Tiwari, MD- Madhusudan Acharya
Lyrics
o re zamaane
dekh liya tera zamaana
haan tera zamaana
o re zamaane
dekh liya tera zamaana
haan tera zamaana
hans hans ke tujhe aata hai
dukhiyon ko rulaana
dukhiyon ko rulaana
o re zamaane
dekh liya tera zamaana
haan aan tera zamaana<
jhankaa ke mere dil ke toone taar taar tode
dukh dard mein rone ko do aansoo bhi nahin chhode
chaaron taraf se lut gaya kya mere paas hai
ye toota sa ek taara mere dil ki laash hai
hai aansuon mein dooba hua mera taraana
bedard zamaana
o re zamaane
dekh liya tera zamaana
haan tera zamaanaa
aaya tha phool banke main duniya ke chaman mein aen aen
ab jaata hoon lipta hua mitti ke kafan mein
bekas ke aansuon se bhara tera khazaana
bedard zamaana
o re zamaane
dekh liya tera zamaana
haan tera zamaana
ae duniya bata
ae duniya bata
tujhmein hai imaan nahin kya
insaan tere
insaan tere dil mein hai bhagwaan nahin kya
nirdhan dukhi
laachaar bhee hai bhai tumhaare ae
nirdhan ki phatee jholee dekho
tum ko pukaare
insaaniyat ka farz hai roton ko hansaanaaaaa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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