Dil ko dukhaa ke baar baar
Posted on: January 19, 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 a Muslim Social film Fashion-1943.
This film was produced by Fazli Brothers, Bombay. It was directed by S.F.Hasnain. Music was by Shanti Kumar and the 10 songs of this film were written by Arzoo Lucknowi. The cast consisted of Sardar Akhtar, Chandramohan, Sabita Devi, Bhudo Advani and many others.
Like many other myths in the Hindi film industry, one myth is that Mehboob Khan was the pioneer in making Muslim social films in India. This probably originated because the first film of Mehboob’s own company Mehboob Productions was ” Najma”-43, a Muslim social film starring Ashok kumar, Veena, Sitara, Kumar, Yaqub etc. But the fact is different.
The first Muslim social film was ” Rashida”-35, made by Madon Theatres, Calcutta, featuring Kajjan, Effendi and others. It was directed by a Jew-Izra Mir. The name of the film indicated that it was about a Muslim girl. Somehow, I find a lot of Muslim social films made that had titles of girl’s names, Like Zeenat, Ameena, Najma, Shama, Heena, Zubeida, Salma, Ismat etc etc.
The beginning of serious Muslim social films was done by Fazli Brothers- Hasnain and Sibtain Fazli. They first made a Muslim social film Qaidi-1940, featuring Ramola,Mehtab, B.Nandrekar, Wasti etc. This was a period of struggle for Indian Independence. The fundamentalists in Muslims were active and due to the fear of their reaction, film makers were wary of producing such films.Even Fazli brothers were also afraid that there would be obstruction from these people to their film, so they decided to make the film in Calcutta. Their first Muslim Social film Qaidi-40 was very successful. Encouraged, they made 2 more such films (Masoom-41 and Chauranghee-42) in Calcutta. For film Chauranghee-42, the Fazli Brothers roped in famous Bangla poet (who later on became the National Poet of Bangladesh) Kazi Nazrul Islam- the creator of Nazrul geeti, as a Lyricist and MD for the film.
After 1942, Fazli Brothers shifted their activities to Bombay and made many Muslim social films like Fashion-43,Ismat-44, Dil-46 and Mehendi 47. So, in true sense, it is the Fazli Brothers who were the pioneers of Muslim Social films in India.
From the 40s to the 47, there was a line of Muslim social films lined with pride and confidence. Notable amongst them were Paak Daaman-40 by Rustom Modi, Masoom-41 by Fazli brothers, Muslim ka lal-41 by Mohan Pictures, Fashion -43 by Fazli Brothers, Najma-43 by Mehboob, Salma-43 by Nazir Ahmed, Ismat-44 by Fazli Brothers, Bade Nawab saab-44 by actor Kumar and Pramila, Bhaijaan-45 by United Films, Phool-45 by K.Asif, and Director Mazhar Khan’s Muslim social film ” Pehli Nazar’ in 1945. Amongst these, film ‘ Elan ‘-47 was a milestone film, produced by Mehboob. It dwelt upon the needs of improvements for Muslim community.
After 1947, India lost a very big market for its Muslim social films, when Pakistan-East and West- was formed. It does not mean that Muslim social films were not made after 1947 in India. Films like Kaneez-49, Nisbat-49, Parda-49, Hyderabad ki Nazneen-52,Darwaza-54, Chandni Chowk-54, Maalik-58, Maa ke aansoo-59, Pahli Raat-59 etc were all Muslim socials. They, however, were not successful, for whatever reasons. But the fun is films of muslim backgrounds but non social films like Anarkali,Mirza Ghalib,Hatimtai,Alibaba and forty thieves etc were good grossers and ran well. The first Hindi film to win the President’s Gold Medal (the first was Marathi film-Shyam chi aai ), was Mirza Ghalib-54. This indicated that there was no audience for Muslim social films now. Later on the conditions changed and Muslim social films like Chaudhavi ka chaand,Barsaat ki raat,Chhote Nawab,Bahu Begum, Mere huzoor, Pakeeza etc became quite successful. However,some opine that these films succeeded due to other reasons like Music, songs etc. One funny thing was that most Muslim social films-from the beginning- showed Lucknow as the background of the story ! (Film names being mentioned are only indicative and not exhaustive, so many names will be missing here.)
Though this was a Muslim social film, Fazli had gone for the handsome actor Chandra Mohan as its Hero. For many people it was a surprise.But then, till recent times, the Hindi film industry had always been a true secular entity. The religion of the artist never ever came in the way of his career development. Neither the Producer nor the Audiencehad any consideration for the religion of any actor, This was evident boldly as many Muslim, Christian and jew artists had reached the top of their careers as actors, directors and music directors.
There are countless examples of how Muslim/Christian actors were selected to do roles in social, mythological or religious films. A few examples can be quoted. V.Shantaram had selected actor Mazhar Khan to do the role of a Hindu friend and Gajanan Jahagirdar did a Muslim friend’s role in his immensely popular film ‘ Padosi”-1941. In the initial era, for the film ” Pooran Bhagat”-1933, an actor called Syed Hasan Ali Zaidi was doing the title role. However, just before release of the film, there were communal riots in Calcutta. To Avoid controversy and to ensure safety of the Hero, director Debki kumar Biose gave up ” Kumar” from his name to the Hero and he became actor M.Kumar thereafter. Mstood for his petr name Mijjan. Lastly, the glaring examples of actors Manhar Desai and Shahu Modak, who did countless roles of Shri Ram, Shri Krishna, Shri Vishnu and other Gods, were both Christians. No one in India had any objection for that.
Film Fashion-1943 was a film which stressed the superiority of Indian culture over the borrowed western fashionable lifestyle. The film story was….
Yusuf is an enterprising man, married to Razia. he was staying with his in-laws, which he did not like. They were very rich and he was also treated with respect, but he wanted to do his own earning and live separately. He started applying for jobs and got a job of Rs. 5o p.m. in Bombay. he took his wife and reached Bombay. Unfortunately he was late by one day in joining the job and hence he was denied the job.
he became very nervous and was thinking what to do now. Suddenly he sees a purse on the road, having Rs. 200 in it. Instead of keeping it himself, he goes to the owner and returns it . The big businessman is impressed with him. knowing all his story, he loans Rs. 5oo to him to start a small business. He also helps him to increase the business. Due to his hard work, shortly yusuf becomes a big businessman and rich.
He now mixed with rich people and visited clubs etc. One day he meets Farida, a beautiful and fashionable girl. Soon they get intimate and Yusuf marries her and brings her home. Razia is very cooperative with Farida and helps her. But Farida wants Razia out of their family. Meanwhile Razia had a son also. Farida hated both of them.
Farida being fashionable , spends quite a lot and Yusuf starts feeling the monetary pinch. He also sees Farida treating Razia like a servant.To remove Razia from their family, Farida tries to kill their son. Yusuf now realises his mistake. Seeing that she is likely to be caught, Farida runs away to Delhi. Yusuf and Razia start their happy life once again. (adapted from the book ” Forgotten Movies on Muslim Culture” by Kamlakar Pasupuleti ji, with thanks.)
The Music Director of this film was Shanti Kumar, a very talented but unlucky composer who rarely got support from any famous banner. His music was enchanting and tunes were superb, but Lady Luck did not favour him.
He was born in Amreli, Saurashtra, Gujarat state on 3-3-1908. His family was in service as Royal Musicians, so he was exposed to music from childhood.He was an expert Harmonium player. To start his career, he came to Bombay and worked in H.M.V. as a Broadcaster. Here he came into contact with many composers and learnt how they operated and made tunes etc. He was already giving music to Dramas, but wanted to join the Film line as M.D. He got his first film Navbharat – Jawanmard -1934. In those days Gujarati producers and directors used to prefer Gujarati MDs. Thus out of his 36 films, 18 were done with Gujarati Directors like Sohrab modi, Nanubhai Vakil, V.M.Vyas(4 films), Kanjibhai Rathod, Dhirubhai Desai etc. He also gave music to Gujarati films.
He gave music along with Madholal Master, Rafiq Ghaznavi, Pannalal Ghosh, Shyambabu Pathak etc. Famous singers like Rafi, Manna Dey, Zohrabai, Amirbai etc sang in his films during their early careers. Even Kishore kumar’s early film Sati Vijay-48 had music by Shanti Kumar Desai. He gave music to films of early era actors like Prem Adib, Mehtab, Sitara Devi, Leela Chitnis, Jal Merchant, Ashraf Khan, Rajkumari, Mazhar khan, Shanta Hublikar, Jairaj, E Billimoria, Kumar, Sardar Akhtar, Chandramohan, Shobhana Samarth, Durga Khote, Shahu Modak and Sulochana.
From 1934 to 1948, he gave music to 35 films and in 1964 his one film was released. He composed about 300 songs. He never got films from top banners like Bombay Talkies, Prabhat, Sagar or Minerva, otherwise his career would have been different.
He died on 6-1-1986. Some of his better known films were Bholi Bhikaran-36, Punarjanma-38, Anjaam-40, Suhaagan-42, Naukar-43, Ek din ka sultan-45 and Lav Kush-51.
Film Fashion-43 was a very neatly made film. The film and its music became quite popular. The film got the ” Best film of the year” award from Film India. Hasnain was also declared “The Best Director of the year” by Film India. The story of the film was woven around the usual conflict between the Fashionable woman v/s traditional housewife. After the success of the film Gunsundari from Ranjit, this type of story was made into films in many guises and various Titles. Film Gunsundari itself was remade in 1948 by Ratibhai Punatar- Nephew of Ranjit’s Sardar Chandulal Shah. Nirupa Roy did the main role in the 1948 version, while the original 1934 film had Gauhar Mamajiwala as the Heroine.
Let us now enjoy the 82 year old song , sung by Sardar Akhtar. You can feel that she is not a regular singer or a playback singer, from her style.
Song- Dil ko dukha ke baar baar (Fashion)(1943) Singer- Sardar Akhtar, Lyricist- Aarzoo Lucknowi’ MD- Shanti Kumar
Lyrics
Dil ko dukha ke baar baar
kehte ho muskuraaye jaa
dil ko dukha ke baar baar
kehte ho muskuraaye jaa
main yoon hee muskuraaye jaaoon
tu yoon hee gul(?) bujhaaye jaa
main yoon hee muskuraaye jaaoon
tu yoon hee gul(?)bujhaaye jaa
honthhon pe aaye kya hansee
dil hai yahaan bujha hua
palkon tak aansoo aa gaye
ab to na gudgudaaye jaa
palkon tak aansoo aa gaye
ab to na gudgudaaye jaa
haan meree dabdabaaiyaan
dekh bandhee rahe ye dor
wo bhee lagaaye jaaye aag
tu bhee lagee bujhaaye jaa
wo bhee lagaaye jaaye aag
tu bhee lagee bujhaaye jaa
maan lee kisne apnee haar
?? bataayegee
ham yoon hee tadpe jaayenge
tu yoon hee muskuraaye jaa
ham yoon hee tadpe jaayenge
tu yoon hee muskuraaye jaaaa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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