Kaise kaise rang dikhaaye kaaree ratiyaa
Posted on: November 27, 2024
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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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There are many coal mines in India, mostly located in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh etc. Post-independence, there have been at least half-a-dozen disasters in coal mines in India with high casualties. Coal mines are prone to explosion because of the presence of gas and coal dust which are inflammable. The main causes of explosions have found to be the violation of safety rules, poor ventilation, weak management system, and breach of statutory permissions.
Yash Chopra’s ‘Kaala Patthar’ (1979) is said to be the first coal mine disaster film based on Chasnala mining disaster which happened near Dhanbad on December 27,1975 in which 375 miners lost their lives. The main cause of the disaster was an explosion which weakened the wall between the mine in operation and an abandoned mine on which there was an accumulation of estimated 30-50 million gallons of water. The thin wall between the two mines gave away with accumulated water forcefully gushing through the mines trapping the miners in the mine pit. With this background, one can imagine as to how tough it would have been to recreate the scene of gushing water in the coal mine for the film. Yash Chopra called the Hollywood technicians to recreate the scene. The film was moderately successful at the box office.
About three years after the release of ‘Kaala Patthar’ (1979), Shatrughan Sinha who was one of the main actors in the film, decided to produce a similar genre of film, ‘Kalka’ (1983). Probably, he got the idea of making this film during his stint with ‘Kaala Patthar’ (1979). However, in his film, he decided to give emphasis on the exploitation of coal mine workers by the mafia under the patronage of coal mine owners. Although it has not been formally acknowledged on the credit title, the film’s story is said to have taken a lead from the coal mine disaster of Dhori Colliery near Dhanbad which happened on May 28, 1965, due to an explosion resulting in the death of 268 miners. The mine was owned by Raja of Ramgarh at that time.
‘Kalka’ (1983) was produced by Shatrughan Sinha under the banner of Ramayana Chitra. The film was directed by debutant Loksen Lalvani, who is a well-known documentary filmmaker for Films Division. The star cast included Shatrughan Sinha, Raj Babbar, Rameshwari, Sarika, Amjad Khan, Ranjeet, Nitin Sethi, Arun Govil, Kunal Singh, C S Dubey, Rajesh Vivek, Viju Khote, Mazhar Khan, Benjamin Gilani, Paintal, Sudhir Pandey, Dinesh Anand, T P Jain etc.
In the biography of Shatrughan Sinha, ‘Anything But Khamosh’ (2015), there are a couple of paragraphs specifically devoted to the making of the film ‘Kalka’ (1983). Shatrughan Sinha was determined to make this film as realistic as possible if not an off-beat film. A major part of the film was shot on the location of coal mines near Dhanbad known as ‘mafia land’ despite the fact that the film was against the mafia. Some of the mafia gang members did come to him to enquire whether the film was against the mafia. He said that the film was against the system. With this, they were satisfied. The only request they made was that he should also listen to their side of the story. During the shooting, every day, thousands of persons would witness the shooting, but they did not create any disturbance. After all, it was the film made by a Bihari Babu.
The sum and substance of the story of ‘Kalka’ (1983) is that there is a nexus between mine owners, labour union, coal mafia and the politicians. The result is that there is blatant violations of the labour laws that affect the wages, security and the compensations for the miners. More importantly, there is a huge loss to the exchequer by smuggling of coal by mafia gang. How an ordinary miner is determined to unite the miners to raise the voice of revolt against the mine owner for injustice meted out to them by the nexus. At the end, the miners win but after much of a bloodshed and at the cost of the life of their leader.
The gist of the story of the film is as under:
The film starts with miners digging the coal in a mine pit and other labourers carrying the coal to put in a trolley to carry them outside. One labourer points out to the mine supervisor that there is a need to strengthen a part of the coal mine by supporting the roof with strong wooden planks before further coal is dug out. But the mine supervisor, Pandey disregards the suggestion by saying that coal production is more important than the lives of a couple of labourers. There is one miner who gets asthma attack, but the supervisor forces him to continue the work. Otherwise, he will be dismissed. Then there is Accountant who deliberately note down less numbers of coal tubs carried by labourers to save cost of wages to the coal mine owner.
The labourers are recruited from the nearby villages of the coal mines with promise of good wages, food and staying arrangements for them. When they report for work, all are first put in a labour camp. The Labour Camp supervisor (Viju Khote) and his men keep a close watch on them in the camp, virtually making them like inmates of a concentration camp when not working in the mines. On the day labourers are paid wages, they are required to pay a part of their wages to Labour Camp supervisor. If labourers give extra output, they are rewarded with the bottles of country liquor instead of extra wages.
Ugra Narayan Singh alias Netaji (Amjad Khan) controls the nexus between coal mine owner (Nitin Sethi), leader of labour union, labour contractor and the coal mafia who smuggles coal from the mines and sell them directly to the factories. A newspaper journalist who has published the nefarious activities of Netaji has been found to be fatally injured when hit by a truck while cycling to his office.
On the coal mine front, a miner, Kalka (Shatrughan Sinha) takes objection to Pandey directing a labourer to stop the cock of a pump where poisonous gas had started leaking. But labourer is forced by the mine superviosr which results in his death by poisonous gas. For the first time, Kalka confronts with Mine Manager (Rajesh Vivek) and hold mine supervisor to be responsible for the labourer’s death. But none of the labourers/miners including an union functionary (Raj Babbar) who were present is ready to give testimony to Mine Manager against mine supervisor out of fear. In the event, Mine Manager’s men trash Kalka for inciting the labourers. Kalka’s brother who is an union leader (Mazhar Khan) and a part of the nexus, tries to persuade him by telling that in the field in which they are working, it is better to keep quiet, for the nexus is very powerful. In fact, he suggests Kalka to join the nexus to improve his financial position. But Kalka declines.
After a couple of more accidents and death of coalminers, Kalka decides to organise the labourers and coalminers independent of coal workers union. Initially, he finds difficulties mainly because of the workers’ fear of wage cut or loss of work which they cannot afford. However, after a serious disaster in the coal mines in which 85 miners died. Kalka takes up the issue of compensations to the dead miners. However, mine owner manipulate the record of dead from 85 to 20 in connivance with Netaji. Kalka rejects the compensation and tells workers not to work for the mines until all the dead gets compensation. He cautions the workers to be prepared to a long struggle.
After the series of incidences in the mines, workers are so strongly agitated that they are prepared to face any consequences. Netaji with the help of coal mafia goons threatens them with violence. The workers also get ready for the counter defence. A fight ensues between workers and mafia goons – fight between bows and arrows on one hand and the double-barrel rifiles on the other hand, in which many people get injured on both sides. In the meanwhile, Netaji and his cronies come on the scene to neutralise Kalka. However, the verbal fight between Kalka and Netaji results in the latter firing at Kalka thus seriously injuring him. The angry workers now target Netaji and his cronies by throwing at them hard coal rocks in which which they die. The film ends with seriously injured Kalka asking all coal workers that their struggle against the exploitation should continue even after his death.
There is a subtle hint in the film that the nexus between coal mine owners, union leaders and coal mafia under the patronage of politicians would continue. Coal miners would be exploited, and coal smuggling would continue to take place. The film is gloomy from start to finish except the songs to bring some light moments. The film did not fare well at the box office.
The film had five songs (excluding one traditional taraana) which were written by Satyanarain, Madhosh Bilgrami and Dinesh. These songs were set to music by Jagjit Singh-Chitra Singh. All the five songs were written and composed with local folk flavours. I am presenting the first song from the film, ‘kaise kaise rang dikhaaye kaaree ratiyaa’ rendered by Jagjit Singh on the words of Satyanarain, a popular Hindi poet from Bihar who has written ‘Bihar Geet’ – the Bihar State’s Song which was adopted in 2012. He has received Nagarjuna Puraskar in 2023 for his contribution to Hindi literature. Incidentally, Satyanarain was one of the poets, who actively participated in movements started by Jaiprakash Narayan in 1975.
The song is picturised on Nitin Sethi who is the owner of the coal mines. Benjamin Gilani is on the percussion who is a doctor by profession. The background to the song is that an accident has taken place in a mine pit, seriously injuring a mine worker. Kalka (Shatrughan Sinha) rushes him to hospital which refuses to admit him. He then rushes to the house of mine owner who directs Bejamin to go out and check. Benjamin Gilani checks the injured and pronounces him dead. He orders Kalka to take the dead body away from the place. The doctor goes back to play the percussion when the song is resumed. The whole scene smacks of inhuman treatment of the injured and later dead miner. And the irony of the situation is that the mine owner is singing a Birha song.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Kaise kaise rang dikhaaye kaaree ratiyaa (Kalka)(1983) Singer-Jagjit Singh, Lyrics-Satyanarain, MD-Jagjit-Chitra
Lyrics (Based on Audio Clip):
aaaaaaaaaa aaa aaaaa
aaaaaa aaaa aaaaaaaaa
ae ae ae ae
ae ae ae ae ae
ae ae ae ae aaaa
ae ae ae aaa
kaise kaise rang dikhaaye kaaree ratiyaa
kaise kaise rang dikhaaye kaaree ratiyaa
hamko hee hamse
hamko hee hamse
hamko hee hamse churaaye kaaree ratiyaa
kaise kaise rang dikhaaye kaaree ratiyaa
kaise kaise rang
maaya kee nagariyaa mein sone kee bajariyaa
naach naach haaree raama baawree gujariyaa
maaya kee nagariyaa aa aa
nagariyaa aa
nagariyaa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aaa
maaya kee nagariyaa mein sone kee bajariyaa
naach naach haaree raama baawree gujariyaa
naach naach haaree raama baawree gujariyaa
rah rah naach nachaave kaaree ratiyaa
kaise kaise rang dikhaaye kaaree ratiyaa
kaise kaise rang
jeh din aaihen piyaa ke sandeswaa
ud jaihain sugnaa
chhoot jaihain deswaa
jeh din aaihen piyaa ke sandeswaa
ud jaihain sugnaa
chhoot jaihain deswaa
roye roye hamko
roye roye hamko
roye roye hamko bataaye kaaree ratiyaa
kaise kaise rang
sa ga ma pa ga ma re sa
ga re sa ga
kaise kaise rang
ma dha ni sa ni dha ma
re ga ma pa ga a re sa
sa ni sa dha
sa ni sa dha
ga re sa ga
ga ra sa ga
sa re sa ga
sa re sa ga
kaise kaise rang dikhaaye kaaree ratiyaa
hamko hee hamse ae
hamko hee hamse churaaye kaaree ratiyaa
kaise kaise rang
kaise kaise rang
kaise kaise rang
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
November 27, 2024 at 3:52 pm
If I remember correctly, both Kala Pathar & Kalka was in the making at the sme time.
We can see Rameswari with Shatrughan Sinha when he is at the owner’s house. Sarika & Rakesh Pandey (hope I am identifying correctly) among the mourners.
This must be the only song that Nitin Sethi got to sing in films and Benjamin Gilani getting to be part of a song😃
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November 27, 2024 at 8:33 pm
The identities of actors you mentioned are correct. I have noticed now that Paintal was also in the frame outside mine owner’s house.
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