Ban titlee ban titlee
Posted on: December 1, 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 Bhabhi-1938.
When the film ‘Bhabhi’ is mentioned, we first remember the 1957 AVM film Bhabhi, which had very good songs like ” Chal ud jaa re panchhi” in 3 parts or “Chali chali re patang meri chali” etc. This was a very successful and a popular film – a truly ‘Family Picture’, in those days. There were 3 movies with the same title ‘Bhabhi’ released in 1938, 1957 and 1991.
Today’s film Bhabhi-1938 was a Bombay Talkies film directed by a German, Franz Osten- who knew India very well. The MD was Saraswati Devi and the Lyrics were by J.S.Casshyap Natwaan(he did Mahatma Gandhi’s role in ” Nine Hours To Rama “). The cast was P.Jairaj, Renuka Devi, Pithawala, V.H.Desai, Meera, Maya Devi, Rama Shukul, Agha Jani Kashmiri(the lyricist-who was the younger brother of actor Nawab kashmiri, a fixture in calcutta films), Lalita Deulkar(later Mrs.Sudhir Phadke), Bimladevi, Surve etc etc. There were 11 songs in it sung by Renuka Devi, Meera, Saroj Borkar and S.N.Tripathi. This was only the second film of the heroine, Renuka Devi. But who was Renuka ‘Devi’ ?
In the initial stage of the Indian films, whether silent or talkie,it was difficult to get girls from good families and backgrounds. Slowly this picture changed. When Talkie started, many Tawaifs, singing girls and girls from such families joined films as they fulfilled the requirement of singing and looking good, in addition to their ease of speaking Hindi/Urdu language.
At this time, slowly many educated and girls from high society as well as middle class families started joining films. So,to distinguish these women from each other, a system of nomenclature was followed.
All the Girls coming from Singing families and Tawaif background added the suffix “Bai” to their names, like Jaddanbai, Waheedan bai, Zohrabai,Amirbai etc. The Anglo-Indian and middle class girls took the prefix of “Miss” like, Miss Moti, Miss Rose, Miss Tara, Miss Ajmat, Miss Pearl etc. Those girls who were from high society were called Devi, like Sabita Devi, Kamla Devi, Renuka Devi etc. All Marathi actresses used their full names like Shanta Apte, Meenakshi Shirodkar etc.
Another point, this nomenclature was only unofficial and traditional. So some Tawaif actresses took advantage of this to hide their roots. Like, Rampyari who was from a singing family of Hyderabad, sometimes called herself as Miss Rampyari.
Few years ago, I bought one book and when I read this book – ” A woman of substance-Begum Khursheed Mirza”’ I realised that Begum Khursheed Mirza is none other than the famous Heroine of the 30s and 40s-Renuka Devi. She was perhaps one of the most educated, upper class, sophisticated and highly cultured Muslim ladies, who ever joined the film industry then. One more striking feature of Renuka Devi was that she was one of the very few actresses who joined films after their marriage. The other such examples I remember offhand are that of Meenakshi Shirodkar (Bramhachari-38 fame), Shobhana Samarth and actress Neena ( real name Shahida- first wife of Mohsin Abdulla, brother of Renuka Devi).
Renuka Devi had studied upto Masters degree in English Literature, from Aligarh Muslim University. The only other nearest example I remember offhand is that of actress Vanmala (real name Susheela Devi Pawar), who had done B.A and B.T. and was a Teacher in a college before joining films, at the behest of writer, journalist and Director P.K.Atre.
The story of Renuka Devi is quite interesting. Khursheed jehan was born in Aligarh on 4-3-1918, to Shaikh Abdulla and his wife Waheed jehan Beg. She was the 6th of 7 siblings. Her father Shaikh Abdulla (1874-1965) was originally a Hindu. He was the son of a rich jahagirdar and Landlord from Poonch, Kashmir. They were Kashmiri Brahmins. His name was Thakur Das. He embraced Islam in 1890, while studying in Aligarh. When his family learnt about it he was disowned by them. He took the name Shaikh Abdulla.
He became a leading Advocate of Aligarh. After he married Waheed Jehan Beg, they both- being of progressive thinking- decided to work for the Muslim womens’ education. They faced a lot of resistance from the fundamentalists, but they established a Muslim women’s college in Aligarh. To provide students for this college, a school was also started for Muslim girls. Soon girls started joining the school and college. Shaikh Abdulla ensured that all his children were educated. One daughter became a Doctor, another Advocate and two daughters did master’s degrees and later on became Principal of the women’s college. Khursheed also studied upto masters but due to her marriage could not complete it. ( she completed her masters in English Litterateur in 1963, at the age of 45 years, later).
Khursheed jehan was married to Akbar Mirza, a Police Officer in Aligarh. Soon she gave birth to 2 sons. Her husband, Akbar Mirza, was a well-placed official in the colonial police force and she enjoyed playing the part of hostess and homemaker. At a women’s club fundraising event organized by her, a senior British official commented that she had a flair that would be perfect for a film career. This set the 21-year-old Khurshid thinking and when her brother, Mohsin Abdullah, told her about “the professional atmosphere at the [Bombay Talkies] studios and the charming Mr Himansu Rai and his wife Devika Rani”, she could not resist. She wrote to Rai enquiring about a job, even sending him a recent photograph. What ensued was a struggle between the claims of domestic life and the increasing attractions of an independent and lucrative career.
This she did without informing her husband. She received a letter from Devika Rani,inviting her to Bombay for an interview. Now she confided in her husband and he wholeheartedly supported her. Akbar stood by his wife in the face of stiff opposition from both their families. Precisely because she had anticipated controversy, Khurshid had adopted the screen name “Renuka Devi” but it could not protect her identity. In her autobiography she says, “My mother wrote asking me not to visit Aligarh until the hue and cry had died down. As a result, I did not meet my family for nearly two years.” Later on she went to Calcutta, did some films, returned to Bombay, again did few films and retired from films in 1944. In 1947 she and her family migrated to Pakistan.
Like Renuka Devi, her hero in this film Jairaj was also educated and from a rich family. He came from the Nizam state of Hyderabad. He started his film career in 1929 with the silent film ‘Jagmagati Jawani’ and his last film was Karate-1983. He did 11 silent and 152 Talkie films. Though Jairaj was a good actor, handsome and disciplined etc, he detested singing. There is a comic incident about his singing a song, in his early career.
In the early phase of Talkie films, there used to be, on average 15 to 20 songs in every film. It was compulsory for every Hero and Heroine to sing their own songs live( playback came in 1935 and became common in 38-39 only). To help the non-singer actors, studios used to keep trained classical experts. Otherwise also most Music Directors in those days were classical singers themselves.
Thus, Jairaj too was expected to sing songs. He did not like singing, because he was horrible at singing. The Music Director of the film Patit paawan-33 was Prof.B.R.Deodhar, who was a classical singer himself. (Later on he established a musical school). He was determined to make Jairaj sing a song. (Durga Khote, in her Marathi autobiography has mentioned that all others, including herself, tried to desist Deodhar from it, but he was determined.) Finally a song was recorded and filmed-“prem magan sakhi”. Jairaj had sung it so badly that the song was removed from the film from the second show itself. Jairaj is probably the only Hero of those days who never sang in films. Even as a lip syncer of songs (after playback singing became the norm), Jairaj has sung less than 20 songs on screen despite acting in nearly 170 movies!
Jairaj was from Hyderabad and was extremely popular there. His every film used to be housefull in Hyderabad, as he was called ” Hyderabad ka beta” ( ” manawadu”, in Telugu). As far as his singing a song on the screen, there is a heart touching story. He sang (i.e. lip synched a song) a song “Parwar digar e Alam” in this film. When the film Hatimtai-1956 came to Hyderabad, the Nizam of Hyderabad expressed a wish to see that film . A special show was arranged for Nizam and his family in the theatre “Palace Talkies” in the Abids area. While the film was running, this song came. The Nizam was so impressed with this song that he requested to run the song 5 times ! Next day all local newspapers gave the headlines about this incident and it reached Bombay and other centres also. I was very much in Hyderabad that time and can vouch for its authenticity.
The story of the film Bhabhi-1938 was……
Kishore Chand(Jairaj) is a good natured young businessman, having a big friend circle. His best friend is dying and Kishore gives him a promise that he will take care of Bimala(Maya Devi),his wife.
Basant dies and Kishore brings Bimala to his house. The society and his parents disapprove of their relationship as brother and sister and they are disowned and thrown out. The rent a house. After a few days, one Mr. Vinay Babu (V.H.Desai) comes as their neighbour with his daughter Renuka(Renuka Devi). Kishore and Renuka fall in love, much to the annoyance of Anupam Babu(Rama Shukul) who too is a suitor for Renuka.
There is one more lover. Bela(Meera),a friend of Renuka, also loves Kishore. Anupam spreads foul stories about Bimala and Kishore creating misunderstandings between the lovers. Luckily, Deshbandhu Upadhyaya(Pithawala) , ex-teacher of Kishore helps to clear all misunderstandings and the film ends in Hero-Heroine’s marriage.
Now enjoy this 86 year old song sung by an Anglo-Indian actress Meera (Muriel Alexander)…..
Song –Ban Titlee ban titlee (Bhaabhi)(1938) Singer – Meera, Lyricist – J.S.Casshyap ‘Natwa’, M.D. – Saraswati Devi
Lyrics
ban titlee
ban titlee
main phool phool par jaatee
ras paatee
ud jaatee
ban titlee
ban titlee
ek phool se baat banaatee
dooje ko rang roop dikhaatee
donon se ras paatee
ud jaatee
ban titlee ban titlee
main phool phool par jaatee
ras paatee
ud jaatee
ban titlee
ban titlee
teeje se main aankh milaatee
chauthe se main aankh chhupaatee
donon se ras paatee
ud jaatee
ban titlee
ban titlee
main phool phool par jaatee
ras paatee
ud jaatee
ban titlee
ban titlee
ek do teen chaar paanch chhah saat aath
sabhee ko padhaatee
ek hee paath
muskaatee
man bhaatee
ras paatee
ud jaatee
ban titlee
ban titlee
main phool phool par jaatee
ras paatee
ud jaatee
ban titlee
ban titlee
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
December 1, 2024 at 10:27 pm
Arun Ji,
Oh, how wonderfully quirky the early days of cinema were!
It’s like everyone had their own little title – “Bai” for the singing queens, “Miss” for the classy ones, and “Devi” for the high-society ladies. It’s almost like a Bollywood version of a school roll call!
And then, we have Rampyari cleverly sneaking in a “Miss” to hide her Tawaif roots – talk about playing the name game with style!
“It’s amusing and interesting how these little traditions added so much character to the world of Indian films.”
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December 2, 2024 at 7:16 am
I am happy that you enjoyed this post.
Thanks for your comments.
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