Do gharon kee aag mein ghar hazaaron jal gaye
Posted on: February 2, 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 social film Namoona-1949.
Made by M & T Films, Bombay, it was directed by Heera Singh, who also acted in this film. The music was by C.Ramchandra and the songs were written by P.L.Santoshi (4 songs), Nakshab Jarachavi (2 songs), A.Shah Shikarpuri, Gulshan Jalalabadi and Raja Mehdi Ali Khan 1 song each. Out of the 9 songs of the film, 8 have already discussed here and today’s song is the last song. Thus all songs are covered and the film becomes YIPPEED.
The cast of the film was Kishore Sahu, Kamini kaushal, Dev Anand, Leela Chitnis, Gulab, Cuckoo, Protima devi, Heera Singh, Shyama Dulari, Madan puri and many others. Director working in a film as an actor is not a new thing. Earlier also multi faceted artists like Badri prashad, Govindrao tembe, keshavrao Bhole, S.N.tripathi etc did additional work as MD/actor, director/actor or even singer and actor etc, but that was what they did many times. People like Heera Singh who was director and actor in an isolated film indicated their power of money. After the II World War, people who had plenty of Black money invested in filmmaking and by virtue of their money power few of them tried their hand at direction or fulfilled their desire to shine on the silver screen as an actor. During the period 1945 to 1950 we found many such cases.
Many readers may not know that the famous music Director of the 40’s and the 50’s – C. Ramchandra actually started his film career by acting as a heroine a Hindi film. C.Ramchandra has written his autobiography in marathi, titled ” Mazya jeevanachi Sargam” which means The music of my life. In this book he has described how he failed miserably as an actor in the early phase of his career. here is that portion, translated in English by me…..
Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar was born in Puntambe in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra on 12-1-1918. As his family was originally from Chitali, a village nearby, their surname was Chitalkar.
His father was a Station master in Railways.(GIP Railway or Great Indian Peninsular Railway). He had 2 mothers. One, who gave him birth but did not love him because she wanted a girl baby, and the other who did not give him birth but loved him much till she died. CR and his real mother never had the bondage or good relations till her death.
C Ramchandra tells us hat when he was an infant, he would cry loudly if someone sang near him. This, he says, continued till he was about 5-6 years old. God knows how he became a Music Director and a singer in later life !
He was a favourite of his father who showed him Tamasha and also a circus. He was very weak in school studies. Father’s job being tranferrable, his education was in fits and starts. Looking at his dismal grades, his father put him to a music school when they were in Nagpur, where Sapre master taught him music. He picked it up so fast that soon he was called to sing on stage shows. He did dramas and even did a Girl’s role.
For further studies he was sent to Poona to his brother, but he continued to be poor in studies there too. He was keen to join films. His kind brother sent his photos to some studios in Kolhapur and he was invited for an interview with train fare to Kolhapur. He joined Lalit pictures there and got a role in “Pratima” film, which did not progress beyond rehearsals. He left Lalit and joined Shalini studios, but here also he did not see much scope.
One day a man came searching for him. He took him to Samrat Cinetone, where he was selected as a Hero for film NAGANAND, due to his singing skills. He was just 17 years then. Wamanrao Sadolikar was the MD, who gave him singing practice. This company was run by some businessmen of Kolhapur, who dealt in steel utensils. They had brought a South Indian, one Mr.Y.V.Rao, as a Director.
They were shooting in a garden while Master Vinayak was also shooting in an adjacent garden. Vinayak was handsome and string built. Compared to him C Ramchandra was nothing.
His director once told him, “Arey kya health hai yaar tumhara. Vinayak ko dekha ? Vaisa Hero mangta”. C Ramchandra asked him what could he do to become like Vinayak. The Directed told him,” Anda, Murghi khao, beer piyo”
One day C Ramchandra went to a bar and ordered beer. This was his first drink which continued till he died.
The film was completed and released. It created a record which no one wants. On the first show itself all the audience left the theatre in the interval ! There was no second show!!!
Coming back to today’s film, Namoona-1949, tell me who was the more successful actor -Dev Anand or Kishore Sahu ? what a question ! Even a small child will take Dev Anand’s name. But then that was the case after 1950. Before that, Dev was neither a succesful actor nor a popular actor. Comparatively Kishore Sahu was more impressive, stylish and had hit films behind him. That is why in the film’s credits, Kishore Sahu’s name stood first and Dev’s name was third – even after Kamini Kaushal’s name !
The film’s story had nothing to boast about. The film ran on the good songs by C. Ramchandra, who was on the run to overtake Naushad in popularity. The story of the film was……
The main characters of the film are, Rekha (Kamini Kaushal) the granddaughter of Baba Devdas (Sanyal), Jeevan (Dev Anand) a refugee boy who studies in the same college as Rekha. Barrister Kedar (Kishore Sahu), Advocate General of the City – rich, highly educated, an achiever and influenced by his stay in western countries. Baba has decided to marry Rekha to kedar.
Jeevan and Rekha get introduced and slowly fall in love. One day her grandfather, Baba, gets entangled in a murder case. The case starts in court. One old looking woman – Shyama (Leela Chitnis) stands for giving evidence and in the course, she reveals that she was raped by a respectable and rich businessman, with whom she was doing the Maid work. She declares that Rekha is her daughter from that rape. There is a great commotion and all are stunned.
In Spite of all this, kedar is firm on marrying Rekha as planned by her grandfather. Kedar takes the witness Shyama to his house. There she she sees the photograph of Kedar’s father and recognises him as the one who is Rekha’s father by the rape committed on Shyama.This makes kedar and Rekha siblings. Now Kedar wants to pay for father’s sins and helps Jeevan and Rekha to get married. He also keeps Shyama as his mother.
There is Cuckoo in the cast. We all know that she was a successful dancer in Hindi films, but how many of us know that she spent her last days in misery, illness and poverty ?
It was 1944. The talkies were already around for 15 years. Devika Rani and Shobana Samarth had already established their glowing presence but it was still a time when nice girls didn’t even become leading ladies, let alone do roles where they had to wriggle their hips — however tastefully — and bare flesh, which at the time meant shoulders and maybe a bit of leg. At such a time, a pretty, fresh-faced Anglo-Indian girl with eyes that danced as enchantingly as her feet appeared in two films — “Pehli Nazar”- 1945 (in which Mukesh made his debut with “Dil Jalta hai toh jalne de”) and “Mujrim -1944.” The girl’s name in the film’s credits was listed simply as “Cuckoo.” Cuckoo was perhaps the first of the most well known dancing queens of Indian Cinema. She was born on 4-2-1928. Her predecessors were many, including a dancer called Azurie, who it is said Cuckoo modeled herself on. But in terms of the sheer body of work and its impact, Cuckoo would have to be the first among Hindi cinema’s dancing queens. It was with her that “cabaret” became an almost indispensable part of films made between the 1950s and 1970s.
Her debut in 1944 was an instant hit and in the space of just the next five years, she had appeared in an incredible 49 films, including Mehboob Khan’s “Anokhi Ada” (1948), H. S. Rawail’s “Patanga” (1949) and Devendra Goel’s “Aankhen” (1950). The only major filmmaker of the time who did not feature Cuckoo in his films was V. Shantaram. In a lot of her films, her role was just a song but its impact was so electrifying that distributors considered it almost as indispensable as the heroine. Like the Helen-Asha combination later on, in many of these songs, Cuckoo’s screen `voice’ was Shamshad Begum. Together, they were responsible for some unforgettable hits.
Mehboob Khan’s films proved to be the turning points in Cuckoo’s career. Her dance numbers in his Anokhi Ada established her as the leading dancer of the time; and Andaz, a romantic melodrama featuring Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Nargis, gave the dancer an opportunity to showcase her acting skills.During her peak period,she was getting Rs.6000/- per dance appearance.
Cuckoo remained the top dancer of Hindi films till she was displaced by Helen and such dancer-actresses as Vyjayanthimala.Cuckoo gave dances in about 76 films. Ironically, it was Cuckoo who had initiated a 13-year-old Helen into films as a chorus dancer.Cuckoo continued to dance until the beginning of the 1960s, the last few years as part of the chorus dancing. It has been recently confirmed that Cuckoo’s real name was Cuckoo Moray. Cuckoo died a slow lingering death, due to Cancer on 30-9-1981 penniless and unattended. No one from the Film industry attended her cremation. (Thanks for some information from Cineplot and from the book “Tujhe mere geet bulate hain” by Sanjeev Tanwar).
Today’s song is sung by Shamshad Begum, with few lines from C.Ramchandra. Enjoy this 76 year old YIPPEE song….
Song- Do gharon kee aag mein ghar hazaaron jal gaye (Namoona)(1949) Singers- Chitalkar, Shamshad Begum, Lyricist-P L Santoshi, MD-C Ramchandra
Chorus
Lyrics
do gharon ki aag mein
ghar hazaaron jal gaye
bekusoor begunaah
kitne haay mar gaye
mar gaye
bhool kiski thhee
aur kis ko paaymaanee ho gayee
thhee jahaan jagmag deewaalee
raat kaalee ho gayee
raat kaalee ho gayee
chalne waalon ke saath sab chalte hain
girte huon ka daaman koi thaam le
himmat se koi kaam le
saahas se koi kaam le
himmat se koi kaam le
saahas se koi kaam le
nazar pher kar jaane waale ae ae ae
nazar pher kar jaane waale
ek baar to dekh zara
ek baar to dekh zara
hum to teree bhoolen hain
tu humko pehchaan le
himmat se koi kaam le
saahas se koi kaam le
himmat se koi kaam le
saahas se koi kaam le
bhool gaye vo vaade apne ae ae ae
bhool gaye vo vaade apne
jo laakhon ke beech diye
jo laakhon ke beech diye
muh pher chala jab waqt pada
haay bedardee samaaj ye
himmat se koi kaam le
saahas se koi kaam le
himmat se koi kaam le
saahas se koi kaam le
aage badhne se darte hain
bhaarat ke jawaan kyun
bhaarat ke jawaan kyun
jinke dil mein dard naheen hai
kehlaate insaan kyu
kehlaate insaan kyun
baithe hain ab tak mandir mein chup
baithe hain ab tak mandir me chup
ho ke bhagwaan kyun
dhartee kyun na phat jaaye
gir jaaye na aasmaan kyun
girte huon ka daaman koi thhaam le
himmat se koi kaam le
saahas se koi kaam le
himmat se koi kaam le
saahas se koi kaam le
5 Responses to "Do gharon kee aag mein ghar hazaaron jal gaye"
February 2, 2025 at 8:58 am
Sorry, please correct the typo in date of birth of C Ramchandra jee as 12.01.1918.
(Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar was born in Puntambe in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra on 12-6-1915)
Thanks and regards,
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February 2, 2025 at 9:21 am
Thanks, Avinash ji for pointing out the typo.
I have requested Atul ji to make the correction.
-AD
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
February 2, 2025 at 7:30 am
congratulations Arunkumar Deshmukhji & Atulji on YYIIPPEEEEing one more film.
so the number of YYIIPPEEEED movies is 1468?
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February 2, 2025 at 9:19 am
Thanks.
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