Bandhu re mere bandhu re
Posted on: January 12, 2025
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 Ummeed-1941.
The film was made by Ranjeet Movietone. The M.D. was Khemchand Prakash who was with Ranjeet as a salaried M.D. from 1940 to 1945. In this period, he gave music to 20 films. Before him, Gyan Dutt was their M.D. from 1937 to 1940 and he did 15 films. After Khemchand left, his friend Bulo C. Rani joined in his place.
How and why Khemchand left Ranjeet has a story behind it. Khemchand was friendly with many producers of the film industry. Chandulal Shah did not approve of this. He suspected that Khemchand was trying to change the job and he started behaving differently with him. Their rift came to a head when Chandulal refused to let him use a new singer. He said ” I do not want any new, unknown singer in my films”. he actually warned Khemchand. That very moment Khemchand Prakash walked out of Ranjeet. The ” new, unknown” voice was that of Lata Mangeshkar ! Lata was recommended to him by Anil Biswas and he had taken instant liking for her mellifluous voice.
After Ranjeet, Khemchand went to Bombay Talkies to give music to the film ” Ziddi”-1948. Lata’s song ” Chanda re ja re ja re” from this film was unanimously acclaimed by the Indian audience, vindicating Khemchand’s stand on Lata’s capabilities !
Film Ummeed was directed by Manibhai Vyas. The cast of the film was Ishwarlal,Prabha, Noorjehan Sr. Brijmala, Dikshit, Ibrahim, Kesari and many others. The film was reviewed by Film India in its may 1941 issue and its story as appeared therein was ….
A self-made wealthy man has a daughter, Suman (Noor Jahan Sr.) who is in love with Anil (Ishwarlal), a happy-go-lucky son of a banker. Suman’s father does not approve of her choice of man as he considers Anil a worthless man. Despite this, Anil and Suman go for some escapade which is considered outrageous by the society. Photograph of two lovers in a ridiculous state enrages both the parents and Anil is expelled from the house.
But Anil cannot remain quiet. He acts as a poor motor driver and gets chummy with a poor girl Leela (Prabha) He creates an illusion that he is in love with her. She falls to his overtures not knowing that he continues to be in love with Suman. Obviously, complications follow with both Leela and Suman vie with each other. After several coincidences, one of which is when Suman is caught in fire and survives the accident with an amputated leg, both the girls realise that they are in love with the same person, Anil.
After the fire accident, Anil becomes loyal to Suman. However, as a disabled girl, now she does not want to marry Anil. She sacrifices her love for Anil in favour of Leela and gets her married to Anil.
This film was made by the film producing machine of the Industry- Ranjit Movietone. The huge set up of the studio, having a galaxy of stars on its roll, had at one time, as many as 300 persons on its payroll. Most of the workers used to live in studio premises or around it. The Government had opened a Ration shop in the studio campus, for the benefit of their families.
I said it was a film machine, because at a time 5 to 6 films’ shootings took place on the 6 floors of the studio and films for future were planned at the same time. As per a News item published in Film India Magazine of November 1942, the studio had films ready for release…Gauri, Chhoti Maa, Bhakta Surdas, Dukh Sukh, Fariyad, Andhera and Iqrar. The films on the floor were Tansen, Vish kanya, Sati Parvati, Kalidas, Shrawan kumar, Rakhi and Jaydev. Due to this continuous activity, the studio staff was always busy and one could hear the musical rehearsals from near the Music Department.
Like all studios, Ranjit too had a system of employing Music Directors on a monthly basis for long terms. In 1942, it was Khemchand Prakash. Hailing from Sujangarh in Rajasthan, Kemchand Prakash, born on 12-12-1907, was an accomplished Kathak dancer and a classical singer. The earthy music of Rajasthan flowed in his veins and helped him infuse irresistible charm into his compositions.
He learned Dhrupad *gaayaki* from his father Govardhan Prasad. He then went to Nepal and lived there for eight years under the patronage of the Maharaja. His career in films began when, on his return, he joined New Theatres (Calcutta) as an assistant to Timir Baran on a monthly salary of Rs.120. When he left New Theatres in 1939 he was drawing Rs. 500 p.m.
As Baran’s assistant he was said to have composed Saigal’s “baalam aaye baso more man me.n” (in Raag Kafi) and “dukh ke ab bitat nahin” (Raag Des) in Devdas.’ He even enacted a comic scene and sang a song “lo kha lo madam khaanaa” in ‘Street Singer’ at the suggestion of the director, Phani Majumdar.
Khemchand migrated to Bombay with Prithviraj Kapoor and Kidar Sharma in search of independent assignments and joined Ranjit Movietone. Khemchand was employed by Ranjit Movietone from 1940 to 1945, in place of Gyan Dutt who was in Ranjit from 1937 to 1940 ( 15 films). Khemchand gave music to 20 films in a 5 years period. When he left Ranjit, his friend Bulo C. Rani joined in his place. However ,by that time Ranjit was already going downhill due to financial difficulties caused by the gambling of Sardar Chandulal Shah. With ‘Meri Ankhen’ (1939) he proved himself as an independent composer. Followed ‘Pardesi’, ‘Shaadi’, and ‘Umeed’in 1941 which gave him a firm foothold in the Bombay industry.
One of the most popular songs composed by him during the early phase was sung by Khurshid: “pahele jo mohabbat se inakaar kiyaa hotaa.” “But Khurshid,” recalls Pandit Jagannath Prasad, a cousin and close associate of Khemchand, “was reluctant to sing the song.” And an angry Khemchand gave her the ultimatum: “Sing or get out.”
Unwilling to offend a composer of Khemchand’s calibre, Khurshid finally gave in and rendered the song. Khurshid had her own reason for hesitating to sing the song, which was a recognizable rehash of Begum Akhtar’s famous ghazal,”deevaana banana hai to.” She didn’t want to risk a comparison with the great Begum, for she was never really sure of her own calibre as a singer. Ironically, “pahele jo mohabbat” brought her unprecedented laurels!
Khemchand had more hits in 1942–like ‘Chandni’ and’ Khilona.’ But it was ‘Tansen’ (1943), which sent hsi stock soaring. Based on the immortal singer’s life, ‘Tansen’ inspired Khemchand to come out with a veritable feast of light classical songs, which pleased both the connoisseur and the uninitiated. The film paired Saigal, who had been lured to Bombay by monetary considerations, with Khurshid. And Khemchand gave them a wide range of hummable songs to sing. “more balapan ke saathi” (Khurshid,Saigal), “dukhiyaa jiyaraa” and “baraso re” (Raag Megh Malhar–Khurshid), “ghata ghan ghor ghor” (Raag Sarang–Khurshid), “rumjhum rum jhum chal tihaari”(Raag Shankara–Saigal), “diyaa jalaao” (Raag Deepak–Saigal) and “sapt suran teen graam” (Raag Hameer in Dhrupad–Saigal) were all brilliant compositions, which contributed in a big way to the film’s commercial success.
Khemchand’s sway over the Hindi film music scene continued unabated even after the influx of the robust Punjabi brand of music. He stuck steadfastly to classical and Rajasthani folk music and ghazals. His compositions in ‘Bharthari’ (“chandaa desh piyaake jaa”–Amirbai), ‘Bhanwara’ (“ham apna unhe bana na sake”–Saigal) and ‘Shahenshah Babar'(“mohabbat mein sara jahaan jal rahaa hai”–Khurshid) became a rage.
‘Ziddi’ launched another eventful career–that of Kishore Kumar’s. In spite of his reputation as a ‘master yodeller’ and a singer of the frothy, light numbers, Kishore invariably excelled as a singer of sad songs. Khemchand Prakash was the first to discover this talent in Kishore. Besides the sad ‘Ziddi’ number (“marne ki duayen kyon maangu”), he gave him another pathos-ridden song in ‘Rimjhim’ (jag mag jag mag kartaa nikalaa chaand poonam ka pyaara”).
A line in the song–“meri chaandani bichhad gayi mere ghar mein huaa andhiyaara”–proved ominously prophetic a fortnight after he’d composed the song, when his wife died, which made him a sad, lonely man, and perhaps accounted for the pathos recurring in his later compositions.
Nevertheless, Khemchand wore the facade of a ready-witted jovial person. He had an incorrigible weakness for good food and liquor. In his white dhoti and silk kurta, he was often mistaken for a rich Marwari, while he actually led a frugal existence. At Ranjit Novietone, Khemchand was paid Rs. 1000 p.m. When he composed music for his last film at Bombay Talkies, he drew a salary of Rs.1,500. Producers for whom he freelanced seldom paid him his dues in spite of making the best use of his exceptional talent. Once, to collect the two thousand rupees Kishore Sahu owed him, he told the producer-director that he needed the money desperately to perform the last rites of his grandmother. When lyricist Bharat Vyas heard of this ‘bereavement’, he went to Khemchand to offer his condolences. The composer smiled wryly and said, “My grandmother is 90 and fit as a fiddle. I have been ‘killing’ her again and again only to collect my dues from the producers.”
In spite of his meagre earnings, Khemchand was a large-hearted man. He went out of his way to present a radio set to the general ward of Bombay’s K.E.M. Hospital where he had once undergone treatment. (“The antique piece is still working,” says his now physician, Dr. Hindlekar).
Khemchand never allowed his financial worries to affect his creativity. He exhibited his versatility in every composition of his of his–whether it was based on a classical raag (“kukat koyaliyaa kunjan mein”/raag Sarang/Kajjan/’Bharthari’); a Rajasthani folk tune (“silvaa de re sajanavaa mohe/Paro, SushilSahu/’Sindoor’); a ghazal (“dil lagaane mein kuchhmazaa hi nahin”/Khurshid/’Shahenshah Babar’); abhajan (“prabhu ke gun gaoon main”/Khurshid,chorus/’Shadi’); a romantic song (“ye kaun aaj aayaare”/Kishore, Lata/’Ziddi’); or a heart-reding musical wail (“o roothe hue bhagwan tum ko kaisemanaaoon”/Amirbai/’Sindoor’). Even as his stock went up as a musician and he came to be acknowledged as one of the best ever composers the film industry had known, Khemchand suffered an acute feeling of loneliness towards the later stages of his career after his wife’s sudden demise, and he began drowning himself in liquor.
During this phase, when he was hospitalized for abdominal ailment, he fell in love with a pretty nurse, Sridevi, who was to be his inspiration in times to come. Khemchand was in poor health when,unexpectedly, Kamal Amrohi assigned the music of Bombay Talkies’ ‘Mahal’ to him. Ashok Kumar had just come back to take over the reins of Bombay Talkies in a desperate attempt to prevent a great institution from crumbling. But the choice of Khemchand as the music director raked up a controversy, as doubts were raised about his ability to meet the needs of a changing breed of filmgoers. The music scene in the Bombay film industry had begun to change with breezy, catchy tunes taking over from the slow, classically oriented numbers. The rhythmic, rustic and fast-paced Punjabi folk music was becoming immensely popular. Would the ‘slow’ style of Khemchand suit the changing scene? When he heard the *mukhda* of”aayega aanevaala” in its formative stages, one of the producers of Bombay Talkies, Savak Vachcha, lost his temper, and asked Khemchand, “But when will it(the song) come?” (referring to “aayega” which is repeated five times in the song.) In his faltering Hindi the genial Parsi is said to have asked, “Aap to ‘aayega, aayega’ karte hain, vo aane wala kidhar hai?”, which provoked the composer to walk out of the room in a fit of fury.
Sometime later when Kamal Amrohi (who directed ‘Mahal’) was asked as to what had influenced the choice of Khemchand Prakash for the film, the 69-year old veteran said, “I’d been greatly impressed by Khemchand’s talent when he was with Ranjit. There was always an undercurrent of pathos in his music which reminded me of *marsia* (a dirge) and *noha*(the mournful songs of Muharram). But he was reluctant to work with me because of my abusive tongue. When I wrote the first part (“khaamosh hain zamaane..”) of “aayega aanevaala”–the rest of the song was written by Nakhshab–and showed it to him,he instantly moved his fingers on the harmonium and played a tune… and I approved it on the spot. Though Nakhshab was angry with me for accepting the very first tune, Khemchand was relieved that I wasn’t such a difficult person after all! Nobody at Bombay Talkies, barring me, was confident of the success of ‘Mahal’ or its songs.”
The film and its music, however, went on to make history. “aayega aanevaala”, based on a Rajasthani folk tune, not only became the film’s major draw,but has remained a perennial favourite of music lovers. The song also opened a floodgate of opportunities for Lata Mangeshkar.
Rajkumari, Khemchand’s favourite singer, also sang five memorable songs in ‘Mahal’ (including”ghabaraake jo ham sar ko” and “haaye mera dil”). Though, unfortunately, one of them (“suno mere nainaa”) had to be deleted from the film.
When ‘Mahal’ was released on October 13, 1950 at Bombay’s Roxy cinema to overwhelming response, Khemchand Prakash wasn’t alive to see the fruits of his labour. He had died two months earlier at the Harkisandas Hospital–on August 10, 1950–at the young age of 42.
At the time of his death, Sridevi was beside him. As she wasn’t married to Khemchand and had no legal rights over what he’d left behind, she was left high and dry.
Today, many years after Khemchand’s death, nothing seems to have changed for Sridevi. She still lives in the past, on the pavements of Borivli. Khemchand’s old physician, Dr. Hindlekar still treats her with great care, but she’s no longer in a position to respond to anybody’s sympathy. The only sound which brings her back to ‘life’ is the strains of “aayega aanewala.” Whenever she hears the song she stands still on the road, clutching at her only possession–a small sack of clothes and memories of a ‘melodious’ time.
( adapted from articles by Nalin Shah, Satish Chopra, Pankaj Raag and my notes, HFGK, MuVyz and Mid Day 12-2-1999. Thanks to Harish Raghuwanshi ji )
Let us now enjoy the 84 year old Triad, sung by Ishwarlal, Gulab and Kantilal….
Song-Bandhu re mere bandhu re (Ummeed)(1941) Singers-Ishwarlal, Kantilal, Gulab, Lyrics-D N Madhok, MD-Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics
bandhu re ae ae
mere bandhu re ae
bandhu re ae ae
mere bandhu re
bandhu re ae ae
mere bandhu re
bandhu re ae ae
mere bandhu re
door na jaiyo o
door na jaiyo o o
door na jaiyo o
door na jaiyo o o
door na jaiyo o
door na jaiyo o o
saawan kahe ghar aaiyo re ae
mere bandhu re
bandhu re ae
mere bandhu re
bandhu re ae ae
mere bandhu re
jeewan naiya jag ka saagar
jeewan naiya jag ka saagar
hum tum naav chalaayen aen
hum tum naav chalaayen
paar lagaa ke jeewan naiya
paar lagaa ke jeewan naiya
duniya ko dikhlaayen aen
duniya ko dikhlaayen aen
duniya ko dikhlaayen aen
duniya ko dikhlaayen aen aen
mere bandhu re
bandhu re ae
mere bandhu re
bandhu re ae ae
mere bandhu re
bade bol na bolo sajnee ee
bade bol na bolo sajnee
ye jag bairee hoye
ye jag bairee hoye
do dil milte bairee jag mein
do dil milte bairee jag mein
dekh sake na koi re ae
dekh sake na koi re ae
dekh sake na koi re ae
dmere bandhu re
bandhu re
mere bandhu re
bandhu re ae ae
mere bandhu re
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 14, 2025 at 11:01 am
Arun Ji
Thanks for the post. I have known Khemchand Praksh as MD of ‘Mahal’ and not beyond. It was nice to know more about him. Was sad to read about nurse Sridevi. A film plot coming alive in real life :((
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January 16, 2025 at 1:38 pm
Thank.
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