Yaa rabba rabba ho
Posted by: Atul on: December 10, 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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The combination of Producer Dhanpat Rai and director B J Patel is known for their stunt/action genre of films. This combination has produced as many as 14 films in this genre beginning with ‘Silver King’ (1957) to their last film, ‘Phir Aaya Toofaan’ (1973). Most of the actors in their films had been those who can be identified with stunt/action films. The hero and heroines in their films may not be common but some of the characters actors in their films such as Nilofer, Rajan Kapoor, Habib, Vishwa Mehra, Master Bhagwan, Dalpat, Mirajkar, Babu Raje etc were repeated in most of their films.
‘Rocket Tarzan’ (1963) was one of Dhanpat Rai-B J Patel combination films. The cast included Inderjeet, Shanti, Nilofer, Rajan Kapoor, Bhagwan, Vishwa Mehra, Dalpat, Babu Raje, Sunanda, S K Sham, Shakeela Bano Bhopali, Polson, Zippy etc. The title of the film sounds a strange combination. Rocket is associated with the scientific advancement while Tarzan is a fictional character of African forest. The story writer thought of linking the rocket science with Tarzan. The scientist in the film sets up a laboratory in a deep forest away from the civilisation to keep the experiment of building rocket a secret. Tarzan, the king of the forest would surely help the scientist from his distractors.
In this film, Vishwa Mehra plays the role of one of the assistants of Professor Anil (Dalpat) in his laboratory. I had seen Vishwa Mehra’s name appearing in the credit titles of R K Films like ‘Aag’ (1948), ‘Barsaat’ (1949), ‘Aawaara’ (1951) as ‘Vishwa Mehra’ (Mamaji). I thought of him as a middle aged or old man. But in ‘Aag’ (1948), he looked young. It was much later I became aware that he was the maternal uncle of Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor and hence he was called Mamaji.
Vishwa Mehra (1926 –05/10/2022) was born in Peshawar. He had no inclination to be part of Hindi films. During the marriage of Raj Kapoor with Krishna in 1943, Vishwa Mehra came to Jabalpur after which he did not return to Peshawar. He got involved with Prithvi Theatres of Prithviraj Kapoor to manage the theatre activities. Gradually, he started getting small roles in the plays.
In 1947, Raj Kapoor set up R K Films and Vishwa Mehra joined as Production Manager. He has worked in many of the films of Raj Kapoor in supporting roles, starting with ‘Aag’ (1948) and ending with ‘Prem Granth’ (1996). He has also worked in the films of other banners. In all he has worked in about 55 films. His last association with Hindi film was as an Office-in-Charge during the making of ‘Aa Ab Laut Chalen’ (1999). Since then, Vishwa Mehra has kept himself away from Hindi films. His last public appearance was at the funeral of Rajeev Kapoor in February 9, 2021 and the picture of 94 year old Viswa Mehra went viral on social media. Vishwa Mehra passed away on October 5, 2022 due to old age.
‘Rocket Tarzan’ (1963) is available on one of the video sharing platforms. I have watched the film during which I felt that the film is majorly edited while making the VCD. The film can be tagged under the genre of ‘science fantasy action’. The story of the film is as under:
Professor Anil (Dalpat) is experimenting for building a powerful rocket to explore the moon. To keep his experiment secret, he shifts to set up his laboratory in a deep forest with his daughter Mala (Shanti). He has already successfully experimented with a preparation of a liquid formula which, if a person drinks, gives him tremendous strength to fight.
A King of the tribal hamlet has been suffering from stiff neck. His orderly calls Anil to examine the King’s neck. Anil sets it right King’s bent neck by hitting hard on his neck. King is impressed and he gives his hand of friendship to ensure that Anil’s laboratory remains safe as he is experimenting for building a rocket to take the human to the moon. However, King’s Adviser, Niranjan (Habib) is not happy with Anil’s laboratory in the forest.
One day Mala takes a stroll in the forest when she encounters wild animals. A tiger is following her and is about to target her when Tarzan (Indrajeet) comes to her rescue by fighting with the tiger. After taming the tiger, Tarzan accompanies Mala to drop to her house and gets introduced to Anil who reveals the details about his purpose of the experiments. This is secretly heard by one of Niranjan’s men. Tarzan catches him and bring him to Anil. He reveals that Niranjan is after the secret of rocket building. Unknown to the King, Queen (Nilofer), in connivance with Niranjan wants those Space Shoes which Anil has successfully experimented to lift the man up.
Anil’s experiment of building a rocket becomes successful. Niranjan and his henchmen storm the Anil’s laboratory and forcibly takes the Space Shoes. But Niranjan does not know how to operate. So, he kidnaps Anil to learn the operations of Space Shoes which he refuses to reveal. Mala seeks the assistance of Tarzan to get her father released. Tarzan reaches the den where Anil has been kept. However, through the deceit, Tarzan is captured and put into a drum to get him killed. His elephant saves him by lifting the entire drum and going deep into forest where Tarzan frees himself.
Having failed in his attempt to get the secret of the operations of the Space Shoes, Niranjan kidnaps Mala to put a pressure on Anil to reveal the secret of operations. While she was being taken, Tarzan rescues her and takes Mala to a safe place in his hideout. Mala develops a soft corner for Tarzan who has rescued her for the second time.
When King comes to know about Anil being held in captivity, he sets him free. The queen requests Anil that since now he is freed, he should take her to the moon in his rocket. Anil agrees on one condition that the King should arrange to search for Mala who is missing. King orders Niranjan to search for Mala and bring her to Anil. Niranjan with his armed team find Mala and Tarzan. A fight ensues during which Tarzan is captured and tied with a rope in a den. Mala is brought before the Queen who is happy that Anil would take her to the moon as per his condition.
Niranjan has a different plan. In the guise of taking Mala to Anil, he takes both of them in his captivity to get the secret of rocket formula. In the meanwhile, Tarzan gets freed by Anil’s assistant through the use of Space Shoes. He frees Anil who goes to the Queen and tells her that as per his condition, he would only take Queen to the moon and not Niranjan. Niranjan decides to sabotage the Rocket so that Queen is not able to travel to the moon. But before he does that, Anil, Mala and the Queen have already entered inside the Spacecraft. With the gun in hand, Niranjan forces Anil to fire the rocket to start. In the nick of the time, Tarzan jumps into the top of the Spacecraft.
After travelling through the outer space, the rocket lands on the moon. They all get down on the moon’s surface. An alien with the help of a Robot captures Niranjan. When the alien comes to know that Professor Anil is also on the moon, he takes Niranjan with him and send a Rabot to capture them. However, Tarzan kills Rabot and the alien after consuming the wonder liquid. Anil and Mala enter the space vehicle while Tarzan fights with Alein. While Anil and Mala had entered the Spacecraft for return journey to earth, Niranjan forcibly enters the space vehicle and force Anil to fire the rocket. In the last moment, Tarzan joins them. After facing a volley of missiles from the Alein, the Spacecraft safely lands on the earth. Niranjan captures Anil and ask him to share the rocket formula which he refuses once again. Tarzan who was travelling on the top of the Spacecraft, suddenly jumps on him and kills Niranjan. Mala goes with Tarzan to his dwelling in the forest.
While watching such type of films, one has to ‘switch off’ rational and logical thinking from the brain. As normally happens in the case of stunt/action Hindi films, this film also has a thin story line. The substance in the story is fit for a short film but is stretched to make as a feature film by adding fights, stunts, trick scenes with comic elements. The action scenes are meant to ‘fill in the blank’ to complete the story. .
‘Rocket Tarzan’ (1963) had six songs written by Yogesh Gaud and set to music by Robin Banerjee. All the six songs were rendered by Suman Kalyanpur. Three songs from the film have been covered on the Blog. I am presenting the 4th song, ‘yaa rabba rabba ho’. The song is picturised on Shanti who is on a stroll in the forest. Somewhere else in the forest, Tarzan (Indrajeet) is also riding on his elephant. Towards the end of the song, Shanti encounters wild animals.
The mukhda tune of the song is the exact copy from Berlin Melody by Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra (1961). I had liked it so much that sometime in early 1970s, I had bought 45 RPM Vinyl Record of ‘Berlin Melody’ with ‘Come September’ on the flip side of the record. Incidentally, Suman Kalyanpur has rendered a non-film song, “dil dhak dhak dhak dhadke” which is completely based on the tune of ‘Berlin Melody’.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Ya rabba rabba ho (Rocket Tarzan)(1963) singer-Suman Kalyanpur, Lyrics-Yogesh, MD-Robin Bannerjee
Lyrics:
yaa rabba rabba ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
kahaan jaataa hai dil le ke meraa
ai ai yo
yaa rabba rabba ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
kahaan jaataa hai dil le ke meraa
ai ai ho
ye nasheelee fizaa
behke huye hain kadam
ae dil thahar jaa zaraa..aa aa
tujhko hai meri kasam
yaa rabba rabba ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
kahaan jaataa hai dil le ke meraa
ai ai ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
kahaan jaataa hai dil le ke meraa
ai ai ho
aaj dil par mere
chhaayee hain behoshiyaan
armaan bikharne lage…ae ae
kaisee chalee aandhiyaan
yaa rabba rabba ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
kahaan jaataa hai dil le ke meraa
ai ai ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
kahaan jaataa hai dil le ke meraa
ai ai ho
keh rahaa hai samaa
aayegaa koi yahaan
apnaa banaa ke mujhe..ae ae
ban jaayega raajdaan
yaa rabba rabba ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
kahaan jaataa hai dil le ke meraa
ai ai ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
yaa rabba rabba ho
kahaan jaataa hai dil le ke meraa
ai ai ho
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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