Torey bin mora jiyaraa kalpe hai saaree raat
Posted on: December 5, 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 an Unique film – Sardar-1955.
The film is unique not because its story was different or due to its cast. It had not won any award also and it was not an extraordinarily successful film. Then what made it a unique film ?
It was unique because it was the only Hindi film for which the NFS Baadshah, Jagmohan Sursagar had given the music. I had heard his name first when I was around 8 or 10 year old. One of my uncles, who was in the Indian Army, was a great fan of his Non Film songs. He had a gramophone and used to hear his songs very often, sometimes even singing along ! In those days, the private songs (NFS) were more popular than the film songs. Names like Jagmohan, Saigal, Hemant, Juthika Roy etc were very common. Similarly, in Marathi, Bhavgeets (NFS) were popular. I grew up listening to all these. In due course of time, the more attractive film songs coolly took over and the NFS era came to a close. However, people above 70 years still remember those non film singers.
When I started writing on old films and music, I wrote several posts on the NFS singers on our Blog. I still love those soft, emotional and sensitive songs and enjoy them too. Few months ago, one of my friends in this line informed me that the daughter of Jagmohan – Nupur Mitra – who lives in the Juhu area of Mumbai wanted to meet me and had asked him for my number. Within 2 days of getting my mobile number, she called me and expressed a desire to meet me for my help, as she was planning to write a book on her father.
She came to meet me. Having read many of my posts on this blog on NFS, she was keen to meet me. I gave her whatever material I had. Among his several songs with me, I had also collected many articles on him. It included an Obituary on him in a Bangla newspaper (translated in English) was also there. She had been searching for it for many years. She was not only delighted to get it from me, but after reading it, she could not stop her tears !
The famous writer from Gujarat and winner of Gujarat academy awards several times- Shri Rajnikumar Pandya ji, whom I had personally known for quite some time, has written a lengthy article on Jagmohan Sursagar in his book- ‘ Aapki Parchhaiyan ‘ (in Gujarati/Hindi/ English). With his permission, I wrote on Jagmohan, combining information from other sources and my own notes and using his article. Here it is….
Born on September 6,1918,Jagmohan whose real name was Jaganmoy Mitra came from a conservative family of landlords. Sometime before he was born, his father died of a stomach ailment, while his mother was still in her teens. Though Jagmohan had no problems in childhood, he was to grow up an ardent devotee of his mother.When she died in 1981,and was followed by the singer’s wife,in a few months time,Jagmohan felt a terrible void in his life, something that he appears to have been unable to fill ever.
There was an atmosphere of music in his maternal grandfather’s house where they went to live after Jagmohan’s father died.He literally grew up listening to dhrupad,khayal,thumri and tappa,surreptitiously learning from his uncle’s ustads ragas and raginis as also the tabla.It all paid off when after passing his matriculation examination, Jagmohan took part in all Bengal music competition ,topping the list in dhrupad,tappa,thumri,kritan and baul,religious folk music of Bengal.The year was 1937.In the same year,his professional singing career began at All India Radio.The next year,he stood first in khayal singing in an all India competition at Allahabad.
A music recording company, HMV, grabbed him for recording. Says Jagmohan: “I had a tune and had been trying to compose a song to suit it.But,an acquaintance, Hembabu asked me to see Kazi Nazrul Islam,the great poet.Hembabu took me to him and left me with the poet.The poet was a very kindly man and my diffidence vanished after a while. I sang the few lines I had composed.He praised my tune and music but offered to write a song for me to fit them.I sang the tune several times as the Kazi sat writing stanza after stanza;his words, as if poured after,and there nary was a change or scratching out of a word here or there.That was the song Saaton Ratey Jadi…. on which my recording was made.” It was a great hit.Then,in 1940,came two songs of Rabindranath Tagore,both approved by the Nobel prize winning poet. Tagore permitted him to record two more of his songs.
In 1945,Jagmoohan was given the award of Sursagar (ocean of music) in Bengal.The award has not since been given to anyone else,and the singer was only the second recipient of the honour.( The other recipient was Himangshu Datta ). In fact, most people have forgotten that Mitra is Jagmohan’s real surname; it has just become Jagmohan Sursagar, a name under which he also wrote an auto-biography in Bengali. It has recently been translated into Gujarati and brought out under the title of one of his more famous songs, Dil Dekar Dard Liya Hai Maine…
Gandhiji too had appreciated Jagmohan’s singing and the singer recorded Sapta Kanda Ramayana in six minutes at the Mahatma’s suggestion.Another national leader fond of his singing was Jay Prakash Narayan.
Jagmohan toured abroad also extensively and has been to among other countries East Africa,the U.K.,the U.S.A.and Can-ada, earning a vast fan following everywhere. Speaking at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto,Jagmohan held his audience spell-bound,claiming there essentially was no barrier to music.He sang a Bengali composition in Bhairavi and followed up with an English song ,rendered in the same raga.
He came to Bombay in 1950 to become a Playback singer, but the Bombay film world atmosphere did not impress him and he did not sing in any film. In fact after 1958, he did not cut any record. The only exception is film Sardar-55’s song, which he sang under his own baton, for the only Hindi film for which he was the composer.
A dignified individual, Jagmohan never turned bitter, became more of an introvert, paying heed to the calls of none but his inner voice. After the deaths of his mother and his wife in 1981, feeling lonely,he had moved residence thrice– from Bombay to Delhi for two years while he was a member of Censor Board, then to Calcutta and to Ahmedabad.
He did not seem to regard his moving from one city to another as something of great importance. He declared :”I crave affection ,respect and human warmth and go wherever my inner-self tells me to. I have followed the dictates of my inner-self only all my life.” “I can go away from a city,but I cannot go away from music”,he said.He had become so popular due to his NFS in Hindi and Bangla, that he had neither the time nor the desire to sing for films. However Jagmohan sang 23 songs in 12 films, The films were, Bhakta Kabeer-42, Bhaichara-43, Hospital-43, Arzoo-44, Subah Shaam-44, Ameeri-45, Meghdoot-45, Krishnaleela-46, Pehchaan-46, Zameen aur Aasman-46, Iran ki ek raat-49 and Sardar-55.
Despite many attempts, it is not clear as to how many Non film songs or Geets he sang in Hindi and Bangla. However. his songs are few on this Blog, so far( only 5).The generation born in the 40s grew up on Saigal,Jagmohan and Pankaj Mullick songs. There was a period when Non film Geets were extremely popular, even in the presence of film music, but gone are those days, when record collection was a respectful hobby. With this, the decline of such songs too came fast and only memories lived on.
In his book, Aap ki Parchhaiyan, Shri Rajnikumar Pandyaji has mentioned an incident when Jagmohan went all the way to a far off place, just so that a dying fan of his songs could listen to him while on deathbed. This is how Rajnikumar Pandya ji describes this incident –
” The patient was Manubhai Trivedi,father of my writer friend Niranjan Trivedi, I was knowing that Manubhai was an ardent fan of Jagmohan but due to his serious ailment it was not possible for him to come down to my place to see Jagmohanda who just arrived by morning train from Bombay .
“I therefore requested Dada to pay a visit to Manubhai. He reluctantly agreed to it, We went to Manubhais place which was just few minutes form my place, After seeing his serious condition he expressed his desire to sing a Bhajan before him though Manubhai was not in his senses, Anyway he sang a Bhajan “Ab tim kab sumiroge Ram, Jeevn do din ka mehman”. There were tears in the eyes of all who were present there including me and my small daughter who is partly seen in the photograph attached with this mail. ( he attached a photograph for me).
Manubhai passed away after a week of this incident. “The family members of the fan became eternally obliged to Jagmohan’s noble gesture.
Jagmohan returned to Bombay, after almost 2 years in Ahmedabad. He died on 4-9-2003, in Bombay. (based on details from the book “Aap ki Parchhaiyan”, by Shri Rajnikumar Pandya ji, with thanks.)
Film Sardar-1955 was produced and directed by Gyan Mukherjee under his own banner Gyan mukherjee productions. It was a social film about a sardar of dacoits. The cast of the film was Ashok kumar (he did innumerable roles in films on crime/mystery/detective/police and the likes of it, in the 50’s decade,so his name spelt only such films in that time), Bina Rai, Nigar Sultana, Jagdish Sethi, Rama Shukul, Iftekhar, Sheila Vaz and many others. Nana Palshikar was the Guest artiste. The story of the film was…..
Sardar (gang leader, Jagdish Sethi essaying the role) has been terrorising villages around dense forested and hilly tracks in the outskirts of Bombay for many years. The local police forces are helpless in tackling him. So the police headquarters deputed a police officer (Ashok Kumar) to this hilly terrain on the pretext of hunting crocodiles. He meets Thakur, the timber merchant who has a daughter (Bina Rai). During his stay in the village, Ashok Kumar often meets Bina Rai who has a soft corner for him. But he ignores her as his first aim is to capture Sardar. But over a period of time, both fall in love.
In his quest for capturing Sardar, Ashok Kumar lays a trap, luring him to rob some car passengers with police forces watching him from a distance. During the scuffle, Sardar manages to run away but he is injured in the process. He hides inside the deep forest but he has left a clue to the police – his mistress ( Nigar Sultana). To save herself from the clutches of the police, she discloses the whereabouts of Sardar. Now the police are on the look out for him who after knowing that his mistress had betrayed him gets her killed.. The police chase continues.
Based on the information given by Sardar’s mistress, Ashok Kumar continues the search and ends with a surprise. The Sardar is none other than Thakur, Bina Rai’s father ! He decides that Duty is bigger than Love and arrests Sardar, but Sardar dies in his arms, giving Bina Rai’s hand in his hands…filmy style !!!
Today’s song is sung by Asha Bhosle. Enjoy this 69 year old song….
Song-Tore bin mora jiyara kalpe hai saaree raat (Sardaar)(1955) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Uddhav Kumar, MD-Jagmohan Sursagar (Jaganmoy Mitra)
Lyrics
neend nigodee ee
ban gayee ee
bairan haaye
aaaj re
raha na jaaye
bin kahe ae ae
kabhoon to aaye raat
jiyara kalpe hai saaree raat
pardesee raaja
tore bin mora jiyara
kalpe hai saaree raat
pardesee raaja
tore bin mora jiyara
kalpe hai saaree raat
tarpat hoon aise jaise jal bin machhariya
tarpat hoon aise jaise jal bin machhariya
barsat hain ankhiyaan aise jaise badariya
more nainon mein laagee barsaat
pardesee raaja
tore bin mora jiyara
kalpe hai saaree raat
aaja hathheele tohe kab se pukaaroon
aaja hathheele tohe kab se pukaaroon
palkon se paakhee toree raahen buhaaroon
sakhee(?) aankhen ye ansuwaa baha
pardesee raaja
tore bin mora jiyara
kalpe hai saaree raat
kab lau jalaaye raakhoon aansoo ki baatee
kab lau jalaaye raakhoon aansoo ki baatee
kab lau banaaye raakhoon paththar kee bhhaantee
haay haay re
ghur(?) gayee raat
pardesee raaja tore bin mora jiyara
kalpe hai saaree raat
pardesee raaja
tore bin mora aa jiyara
kalpe hai saaree raat
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
December 6, 2024 at 5:12 pm
Arun Ji
Thanks for the post, writing on Jagmohan.
The incident where he went to see an ailing fan and sang a bhajan for him ,was moving.
It was also interesting to note about Jagmohan’s daughter visiting you and collecting certain material on her father from you.
I have liked all his NF Songs
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