Hey bhanwre tu na sataa
Posted on: February 6, 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 first decade of the Talkie i.e. the 1930’s. The film is Mera Ladka-1938. Made by Prabhat Film company, Poona, it was directed by a person who wrote his name in the most unconventional way – K.Narayan Kale. His actual name was Keshav Narayan Kale. Instead of the usual custom like Keshav N. Kale, he hid his own name and gave prominence to his father’s name ! This radical journalist’s life was full of ” in and out”of the film industry !
K.Narayan Kale (Keshav Narayan Kale), was born on 24-2-1904 in Khed district of Maharashtra. After his graduation in Arts he became a radical Journalist and to give expression to his ideology joined films, as an actor, Director and writer. He acted in major films like Amar Jyoti, Dharmatma, Parakh, for which he wrote the story and screenlay also.
In 1931, he became the Editor of two Marathi magazines (Ratnakar and Pratibha). He was also active on stage dramas for Natya Manvantar. He joined Prabhat as a writer and Lyricist, but soon left to complete his Law Graduation.
He returned to films to direct Hindi film Wahan-37 and Mera Ladka-38 (माझा मुलगा in Marathi). He then joined Navyug films and directed two Marathi films- Lapandav-40 and Baeelveda-43. In between he also directed one more Marathi film Municipality-41. He left films again and wrote several books on Stage Techniques. He continued writing and editing Marathi magazines. He returned to films again to direct Marathi film Ammaldar-50 and Hindi film Didi-1959.
He acted in 13 films, Directed 7 films and wrote for 3 films, starting with Prabhat’s Wahan, which he also directed. He died on 20-2-1974 at Bombay.
Film mera Ladka-1938 had music by a veteran Keshav Rao Bhole. The film had only 7 songs – much less than usual in those days, when the average songs per film was more than 9 songs per film. 1938 was an interesting year in the early life of the Talkie films. The film making studios had firm footing with a studio system and they tried a variety of subjects in their films. In the 88 Hindi films produced in 1938, one finds almost every Genre of film subjects, except perhaps the usual Folk stories and Historical themes. Comedy, Tragedy, Fiction, Jungle stories, Costume, Socials, Musicals, Mythologicals, you name it and you had it. Content and technical expertise had improved as films on famous novels were made.
Well known studios like Imperial, Sagar, New Theatres, Prabhat, Ranjit, Bombay Talkies, Praksh, Vishnu Cinetone, Huns Pictures, Wadia Movietone, Saroj Movietone etc. were very active bringing out 3 to 4 films each. Huns and Prabhat continued bilingual films in Hindi and Marathi, while New Theatres made Hindi and Bangla films. Many new actors debuted. Many new actors matured and the old scrap from silent films slowly disappeared giving way to new entrants. The Imperial film company, which had the honour of making India’s first Hindi Talkie film – Alam Ara in 1931, downed its shutters in 1938. The last of the Southern languages, Malayalam, produced its First Talkie film BALAN in 1938. Film Industry celebrated its Silver Jubilee -from 1913 to 1938 and several programmes were held all over India.
Let us take a look at some of the films of 1938….
ABHAGIN – Debut film of actor Chaman Puri (eldest brother of Madan Puri and Amrish Puri)
ADHIKAR – Music Director Timir Baran Bhattacharya. After Independence, he was invited to West Pakistan and East Pakistan to give music to their films. Film Adhikar was on the importance of how bringing up makes a person.
BAGHBAAN – Debut film of Ram Avtar
BAHADUR KISAN – First directorial venture of Master Bhagwan. During this film’s making he developed a lasting friendship with C.Ramchandra, who assisted Meer Sahab, the M.D.
BHABHI – Renuka Devi’s second film and first with Jairaj.
BILLI – Based on P.G.Wodehouse novel ” Damsel in Distress”
BHAMHACHARI – Debut film of Minakshi Shirodkar. She appeared in a swimming suit, first time in Hindi films. It created a sensation.
DHARATIMATA – Complete film was shot outdoors. Saigal and Pankaj Mullick created havoc with this musical film. The song ” Duniya rang rangeeli baba” is still popular.
DIVORCE – Minerva’s film on Husband – Wife relations.
DUNIYA KYA HAI – Lalita Pawar’s production. Based on Tolstoy’s ” Resurrection”.
GRAMOPHONE SINGER – Sagar’s musical with Bibbo and Surendra. Zohrabai sings for the first time for Anil Biswas.
GOPAL KRISHNA – Hit film from Prabhat. Trick scenes were superb.Ram Marathe as Krishna,lifting Govardhan Parvat on a finger produced clapping from audience for several minutes.
HIMALAY KI BETI – Bhavnani production with Enakshi Rama Rau-his wife.
JAILOR – Minerva’s film on a Psycho-Neurotic person. Remade in the 50’s again.
MERA LADKA – Story of an unwed mother. Marathi and Hindi versions from prabhat.
MR. X – Stunt film with Rattanbai , from Prakash
NIRMALA – Bombay talkies. Devika rani- Ashok kumar. After this film, the Germans In Bombay talkies, including director Franz Osten were arrested by the British as Nazis and jailed in Igatpuri during the Second World War.
PROF. WAMAN, M.Sc. – Ranjit presents a Sci Fi fiction film about travels into the future.
SAATHI – Durga Khote and Mubarak produced in Hindi and Marathi (as Sawangadi).
STREET SINGER – Saigal’s musical feast from New Theatres.
VASANT BENGALI – Last film from Imperial film co., after 109 Silent films and 52 Talkie films in several languages. Just one year ago, i.e. in 1937 Madon Theatres of Calcutta- once a giant in film production, had closed down with their last film ‘ Zinda Laash’.
The story of the film Mera Ladka-1938 was…..
I saw MERA LADKA-1938 sometime in the fag end of the 40s, in a Prabhat Film Festival, at Hyderabad. The story was an offbeat one, not the usual love-story. The cast included Shanta Hublikar,Shahu Modak, Ulhas, Vasantrao Thengdi, Balakram, Master Chhotu, Vatsalabai Joshi etc.
Diwakar (Shahu Modak) is a young man full of new ideas, has hot blood and a rebellious thinking. He is a radical Journalist having his Printing press and editing a Newspaper. He has a rich girl Nalini (Shanta Hublikar) as his girlfriend. She has a son out of wedlock, but this fact is hidden from all. The child is kept in an Orphan House, where she pays a monthly donation.
She sympathises with Diwakar but does not share his radicalism. His middle class father does not like all this. He wants Diwakar to do a 9 to 5 job like any other person.
His father expresses his displeasure to the cunning and scheming political friend of Diwakar, Vithal Rao (Vansant Rao Thengdi), who takes advantage of the situation. He arranges a strike in the press and when it closes down, takes over it.The father is happy, but Diwakar does not yield. Instead of doing a 9-5 job, he decides to contest against Vithal Rao in the Municipal election.
Nalini also contests. First she joins the group of Vithalrao to know his tactics and then shifts to Diwakar’s camp. She even campaigns for Diwakar.In the elections, Nalini wins, Diwakar loses,but he gives a speech,claiming a Moral Victory for him,as Vithal rao is defeated. Diwakar and Nalini want to get married. The defeated candidate Vithal Rao is hurt to the core . He learns about Nalini’s son. He gets the boy in a function to celebrate the victory of Nalini. All are stunned. However, with a big heart, Diwakar gives a long speech and finally accepts the child as their adopted son. They get married. Vithalrao faces another defeat but he appreciates the couple and attends their marriage, with a big gift !
Film director Kale, being a radical journalist himself before entering films ,got so much involved in the film that after the film, he actually wrote a long essay ” Mera Ladka-Some Musings” in a local newspaper in 1939 ! (In Marathi it was titled ‘ Majha mulga’ chya Nimittane…)
Excellent performances by Shanta and Shahu modak earned them the coveted roles in Aadmi(Manoos in Marathi)-1939, which happens to be a Milestone film in India.
In the early phase of Prabhat film company, they had some very good actresses for their films like Nalini tarkhud, Durga Khote, Shanta Apte, Shanta Hublikar etc. Besides being educated and from good families they contributed substantially to Indian Cinema. The other day, I came across a lengthy article which listed their time spent in Prabhat company and what they contributed to indian films. Here is a part about Shanta Hublikar, Heroine of the film Mera Ladka-1938, from that article for our readers…..
Shanta Hublikar was born in 1914 in the village Adargunchi, near Hubli. In 1932, fascinated with the screen and armed with an impeccable singing talent, she moved to Kolhapur to pursue her filmic dreams. In 1934, she bagged a minor role in Bhedi Rajkumar (Dir. R.G. Torney) produced by Kolhapur Cinetone. Struggling to get noticed, in 1937 she sang in the Natraj films’ Saathi. Her performance in Shalini Cinetone’s Kanhopatra (Dir. Bhalji Pendharkar) finally grabbed V. Shantaram’s attention. He cast her for the film Mazha Mulga/Mera Ladka (Dir. K. Narayan Kale, 1938). The film was received with mild enthusiasm though Hublikar’s performance and singing was appreciated. The songs of the film became so popular that Young India Records released gramophone discs with Hublikar as the star singer in 1939.
At Prabhat, she worked in Manoos/Aadmi (Dir. V. Shantaram, 1939). The film was touted as ‘a picture for the intelligent and discriminating filmgoer, the social reformer and intellectual.’ Her multilingual song ‘Kis liye kal ki baat’ was sung in six different languages (Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Gujarati and Bengali) and was a treat for the audiences and ensured her nationwide popularity. Shantaram was applauded for his portrayal of romance between a policeman and a prostitute.
Apart from its progressive storyline, what was striking for contemporary audiences was the sequence when Shahu Modak and Shanta Hublikar’s characters encounter a crew shooting a romantic scene for a film Premka Prem. In the sequence, the Anglo-Indian actress delivers her lines in an affected inflection, drawing a few drags from her cigarette in between the shots. Her anglicized pronunciation draws uncontrollable laughter from Modak and Hublikar. They find this filmy articulation of romance comical and ridicule the crew. As they walk off the set, they break into their own romantic song; soon the music director with orchestra and the entire crew follow them. This self-referentiality to the filmic apparatus and its method is an interesting moment in the film. Not only does it point to the process of film-making but also draws attention of the viewers into the discourse on female performance. At the end of the song, the director in the film is ecstatic at Hublikar’s performance and offers her a role in his film. She and Modak run away, almost horrified at the thought of working in a film. The Anglo-Indian actress, visibly upset by now, takes off her jewels and saree and throws it at the director and struts off in a sexy western dress.
Prabhat was among the influential and reputed studios engaged in attempts to alter the image of the studios. While the Anglo-Indian, Jewish and Eurasian women were the first group of women who joined the film industry, by the late 1930s, they faced stiff competition from other actresses and began to be cast in secondary roles. Their gradual effacement from the top order of stardom in the film industry was related to the discourse of respectability that was at its pinnacle during this time. In an article Baburao Patel writes:
Goaded by the impulse of applying sex appeal in our pictures, some of the producers departed on the disgusting practice of engaging these girls as ‘extras’ for community dances and as maids in scanty costumes…Perfectly hermaphrodite, they neither appeal to men nor to women. For a tenner a day which they get, they come with rouge and lipstick, shake their hips and legs, pocket the money and go away…Driven to live on their wits, modern life has made some of these girls the most detestable scums of society. Barring a few exceptions none of these girls ought to have been allowed within a mile of a Studio with any pretentions in catering for art… Some of these girls misbehave so boldly in the Studio while working, that to kick them in the face would be a mercy. We have seen a couple of girls bursting out into sudden affection and kissing the director with warmth that would have scorched the cheeks of a rhinoceros. And this happened in a Studio that boasts of a clean atmosphere…We have no objection to a few good girls from the Anglo-Indian community seriously taking up screen as a career…There are already some really useful top liners from this community. But the material we have described above must not be admitted in our studios to suffer a stain of utter debasement in our pictures.
Patel’s misogynistic vitriol against the Anglo-Indian actresses underscores the resentment and challenge that these women posed to the respectability drive of the studios. It is no surprise that the disparaging sequence in Aadmi ridicules the Anglo-Indian actress and celebrates the presence of Shanta Hublikar. In a complicated play of signs Kesar (Hublikar’s character) appeared as the virtuous Indian woman who was forced by circumstances to prostitution, but Hublikar’s off-screen status as a cultured society lady was also mobilized by Shantaram.
In 1941, Hublikar worked in Ghar ki Laaj and Tarun Pictures’ film Prabhat both directed by V. M. Vyas. She acted in a New Huns Pictures comedy film Pahila Palna (Dir. Vishram Bedekar) with Baburao Pendharkar as her co-star in 1942. Her stint with Prabhat was over and while she worked in films sporadically till the 1950, her fame was short-lived.( adapted from sahapedia dated 25-7-2016, with thanks.)
Enjoy today 87 year old song sung by Shanta Hublikar for this film….
Song-Hey bhanwre tu naa sataa (Mera Ladka)(1938) Singer- Shanta Hublikar, Lyricist- Pt. S.L.Shrivastav ‘ Anuj’, MD- Keshav rao Bhole
Lyrics
Hey bhanware tu naa sataa
Hey bhanware tu naa sataa
goonjan se kya kahta
kyon mujhe bahkaata
He bhanware tu naa sataa
naa sataa
goonjan se kya kahta
kyon mujhe bahkaata
phoolon ka lobhee
bhanwra tu kaalaa
aa aa aa
phoolon ka lobhee
bhanwra tu kaalaa
??
bhoree ??
aa aa aa aa aa aa
???
bhoree main ??
aa aa aa
sapna ??
bhoree main ??
sapna ??
bhoree main ??
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
??
main hoon nawelee
main hoon nawelee
hoon niraalee
tu ??
naheen chaahiye raanee
main albelee
main hoon nawelee
hoon niraalee
tu ??
naheen chaahiye raanee
main albelee
hey bhanwre tu na sataa
goonjan se kya karta
kyon mujhe bahkaataa
hey bhanwre tu na sataa
goonjan se kya karta
kyon mujhe bahkaataa
hey bhanwre tu na sataa
na sataa
na sataa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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