Mere chashmewaale sarkaar chale school chale school
Posted on: February 11, 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 Aage Kadam-1943. It was made by Acharya Art productions, Bombay. It was directed by N.R.Acharya for his own banner. There were two Music Directors. One was Madholal master and the other was Ramchandra Pal (who was earlier in Bombay Talkies). All the 8 songs of this film were written by Kailash Matwala. The cast included Motilal, Anjali devi, Mubarak, Rajkumari Shukla, Leela Mishra, padma banerjee, Master amritlal, Leela pawar, Narbada Shankar etc.
There were as many as 5 artists in the above list who were part of ‘Same Name Confusion’. Anjali devi (with Anjali Devi from South), Rajkumari Shukla ( with Rajkumari Dubey, Rajkumari Calcutta Wali and T.R.Rajakumari) Padma Banerjee (with Padma Devi), Master Amritlal (with Amritlal Nagar) and Leela Pawar (with Leela Desai, Leela Chandragiri, Leela Sawant, Leela Mishra, Leela Naidu and Leela Mehta). Those who had surnames in their names did not cause much damage but where only first names were used and operated in the same period played havoc with individual Filmographies. The only names that were not discussed earlier ( and in my books) were Master Amritlal and Padma Banerjee.
Master Amritlal caused a lot of confusion with another same name- Amritlal Nagar. Master Amritlal was originally a stage and silent film artist from Gujarat, who acted in 20 Talkie films. His first film was Vikram Charitra-1932 and his last film was Roop Nagar-1947. As an actor He sang 23 songs in 10 films from his film Vikram Charitra-32 upto Pagli Duniya-44.
The other Amritlal (Nagar) was a renowned author who spent his time in Hindi film industry from 1940 to 1947, after which he went back to his original profession as writer. Here is what the Encyclopedia of Indian films says about him…..
Amritlal Nagar ( 17-8-1916 to 23-2-1990). He was an extraordinary person. He handled almost every department of Literature-except perhaps Poetry and Autobiography. Short stories, Novels, dramas, travelogues etc etc were written by him During 1940 to 1947 period, he was in the film industry. He wrote stories, screenplays, dialogues of as many as 20 films in Bombay , Kolhapur and Madras. He dubbed M.S.Subbulakshmi’s Tamil film ‘ Meerabai’ into Hindi. he also worked to translate Russian films like Zoya and Bukhara into Hindi. He won innumerable awards, including Padma Bhushan and Sahitya academy award. He was one of the very rare Hindi Literature stalwarts to work in the film industry for such a sustained period. As a Lyricist he wrote 33 songs in 4 films- Sangam-41, Kunwara Baap-42, Kisiko na kahna-42 and Raja-43.
Film Aage kadam was an obscure movie, in the sense that no information about its story etc is available anywhere on the Net or Film India magazine issues. However, from the lyrics of its various songs, one can say that the film is about a love story set amidst Patriotic atmosphere. Of course, being British times, such films had to be careful, lest their raw material quota of Raw Film would get into trouble, during wartime controls. Further, the tablet of patriotism has to be sugar coated, so as not to get into legal tangles like perhaps ”Kismet” of Bombay Talkies !
Among the wartime films, from 1939 to 1945, I feel that the year 1943 was quite significant as many musical, noteworthy and successful films came up during this year. Taking a look at the films of 1943, we find that a total of 105 Hindi films were made in this year. For the 7 year period of 39 to 45, this was the highest number – the lowest being 1945 with just 74 films.
Films like Aabroo, Bhakta Raj, Hamaari baat, Hospital, Hunterwali ki beti, Ishara, Kanoon, Kashinath, Kismet, Mahatma Vidur, Manchali, Mazaq, Nadaan, Nagad Narayan (a remake of Marathi film-‘ पैसा बोलतो आहे ), Nai Kahani (one of the best songs of Hindi film history-” neend hamari, khwaab tumhare ” was from this film), Najma (first film of Mehboob productions), Namaste,, Pagli, Panghat (film Chitchor-76 had the same story), Paapi, Paraya Dhan (The only song by Deena Sanghvi Pathak), Poonji, Prithvi Vallabh (debut in a Bombay film by Meena Shorey), Ram Rajya (super duper Hit film), Sanjog (Suraiya’s playback to Mehtab), Shahenshah Akbar, Shakuntala (First film of Rajkamal Kalamandir of V Shantaram), Tansen (last film of Nagendra Majumdar-father of Ninu Majumdar,MD. He fulfilled his wish that in his life he would work with Saigal, atleast once in a movie), Vishwas, Wapas, and Zamin (debut of Khurshid Jr.), made 1943 an year full of content, Music, Acting and entertainment.
The film’s Hero, Motilal was one of the most natural actors Hindi Cinema had. Another such actor was Ashok Kumar from the same generation. Motilal debuted in 1934 and from day one, he was acting in a natural way. On the other hand, Ashok Kumar was a timid and artificial actor initially. He became a natural actor from his film Anjaan-1941, in which for the first time, he did smoking on the screen. This solved his problem of ” what to do with hands” syndrome. Motilal ended his career in 1966, with 84 films, while Ashok Kumar lasted up to 1997 (last film released in 2004 – 3 years after his death) with 291 films.
Born in Shimla on 4th December 1910, Motilal Rajwansh came from a distinguished family. His father was a renowned educationist, who died when Motilal was one year old. He was brought up by his uncle who was a well-known civil surgeon in Uttar Pradesh. At first, Moti was sent to an English school at Shimla and later, in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Thereafter, he shifted to Delhi where he continued with school and college.
After leaving college, Motilal came to Bombay to join the Navy, but he fell ill and could not appear for the test. Fate had other choices charted out for him. One day, he went to see a film shoot at Sagar Studios, where director K. P. Ghosh was shooting. Motilal, even then, was quite the man about the town and he caught Ghosh’s eye.
Motilal described this event in his inimitable style,in one of his interviews….
” The director Ghosh Babu looked towards me and said,” please come here”. I first thought he was calling someone standing behind me. I looked back and moved to one side. Nobody came forward, but Ghosh Babu came to me and pointed his finger at me and said, ” Yes, I am talking to you. Please come here” I went with him .” In 1934 (aged 24), he was offered the hero’s role in Shaher Ka Jadoo -1934 by the Sagar Film Company. Sabita Devi and Motilal’s first movie as a pair in the famous Sagar Movietone, the movie Lure of the City (aka Shaher ka Jadoo) released on 29th September 1934 at the Imperial Cinema, Bombay.
Mehboob Khan was earlier selected for the lead role and was later replaced by Motilal. This was actor Motilal’s debut film and Motilal – Sabita made the best pair in the Sagar Film Company. They acted together in many other movies under the banner of the Sagar like, Silver King -1935, Dr Madhurika -1935, Lagna Bandhan -1936, Jeevan Lata -1939, Kulvadhu -1937, Kokila -1937, Three hundred days and after -1938 and later at Sudama Films in Ap Ki Marzi -1939 and Minerva’s Prarthana -1944. He worked with Mehboob Khan in Jagirdar -1937 and Hum Tum Aur Woh -1938 under the Sagar Movietone banner, in Taqdeer -1943 for Mehboob Productions, and Kidar Sharma’s Armaan -1942 and Kaliyan -1944. He also acted in S. S. Vasan’s film Paigham -1959 (Gemini Studios), and Raj Kapoor’s Jagte Raho -1956. In 1965, he also acted in the Bhojpuri film Solaho Singar Kare Dulhaniya.
Perhaps the role for which he received the most critical appreciation was that of the gentleman crook in S. S. Vasan’s adaptation of R K Narayan’s book Mr Sampat -1952. He is most remembered for his role as “Chunni Babu” in Bimal Roy’s Devdas -1955, for which he won his first Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. Actor Naseeruddin Shah once described him as one of three all-time best actors of Hindi cinema, others being Balraj Sahni and Yakub.
Motilal was very suave and polished, and moved in high society, though towards the end of his life he was in financial difficulty. Although a thorough gentleman, he enjoyed gambling and races, and died almost penniless on 17th June 1965.
Motilal was an excellent Pilot and owned a small aircraft. He rarely travelled by train and always liked to fly. His family life was happy. His wife was a doctor.
He was in a relationship for several years with the actress Nadira. He was later involved with actress Shobhna Samarth after she separated from her husband, and he played Samarth’s real-life daughter Nutan’s father in Hamari Beti, Shobhana’s launch movie for Nutan. He also played her guardian in Anari, though this time the role had a villainous touch to it.
Motilal and Ashok Kumar were popular stars at the same time. Ashok Kumar was employed by Bombay Talkies and Motilal was employed by Ranjit. It is said that Sardar Chandulal paid Rs. One lakh to Motilal in those days. Motilal was a gambler. Once Chandulal Shah paid his debt of 75000 rupees which Motilal had lost in gambling, just to keep Motilal with Ranjit ! It is surprising that Ashok Kumar never worked with Motilal’s Heroines-Shobhana Samarth or Khursheed and Motilal never worked with Ashok Kumar’s heroines- Devika Rani or Leela Chitnis !
Actor Chandra Mohan treated Motilal as his son. During the last days of Chandra mohan, once Motilal had gone to meet him. Chandra Mohan was drinking from a costly foreign Whisky bottle, but he did not offer it to Motilal. Motilal was feeling bad and then Chandra Mohan said, ” I know you must be feeling bad that I am not offering you this Whisky, but trust me it is not whisky- I am drinking Bewada (country liquor) from this bottle and I don’t want my son to drink this dirty stuff ! ”
Motilal was the winner of Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Devdas -1955 and Parakh -1960. He is credited with being among Hindi cinema’s first natural actors.
He also directed the film Chhoti Chhoti Baatein -1965, but died before its release. At the 13th National Film Awards, it won the award for Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film and he posthumously won the Certificate of Merit for the Best Story Writer. ( adapted from some information from Vithal Pandya’s book-Asli Nakli Chehere, wiki, Star portraits, nett4you, the book Sagar Movietone, and Shirish Kanekar’s book- Yaadon ki Baaraat, with thanks and my notes.)
Today’s song is a duet by Leela Pawar and Amritlal. Let us enjoy this 82 year old song….
Song- Mere chashmewaale sarkaar chale school (Aage Kadam)(1943) Singers- Master Amritlal, Leela Pawar, Lyricist- Kailash Matwala, MD- Madholal Master
Lyrics
Mere chashmewaale sarkaar
chale school
chale school
mere chashmewaale sarkaar
chale school
chale school
seene se apne kitaaben lagaaye
seene se apne kitaaben lagaaye
dheere dheere chale harjaai
dheere dheere chale harjaai
mathhe pe bindiya hai
yauwan pe angiyaa
mathhe pe bindiya hai
yauwan pe angiyaa
kaise chotee mein phool rahe thhoons
kaise chotee mein phool rahe thhoons
mere chashmewaale sarkaar
chale school
chale school
bol chukee hoon
mujhe samajhnaa tu na bholee bhaalee
raste mein chheda to doongee
angrezee mein gaalee
raste mein chheda to doongee
angrezee mein gaalee
oonchee aedee kee sandal hai pahnee
oonchee aedee kee sandal hai pahnee
lachke body jaisee nimbuwaa kee tahnee
lachke body jaisee nimbuwaa kee tahnee
ud ud ke daaman hai leta balaayen
ud ud ke daaman hai leta balaayen
rahee kaanon mein jhoomar hai jhool
rahee kaanon mein jhoomar hai jhool
o jaa damnfool
wonder phir beauti phir
wonderfull
beautifull
dekho mainmaterani jee se keh doongee
dekho main master jee se keh doonaa
o masterani jee
o master jee
dekho chadhhtee jawaanee hai rule
dekho chadhhtee jawaanee hai rule
dekho aankhon mein ?? rule
dekho aankhon mein ?? rule
madmati mein jhoome jhoom
kaheen jaanaa na raastaa bhool
kaheen jaanaa na raastaa bhool
ham bhool gaye re
ham bhool gaye re
zara rasta bata do mister
o yes
aao baithho meree cycle par
aao baithho meree cycle par
ye chaltee hai jaise motor
ye chaltee hai jaise motor
aao hum sab chalen school
aao hum sab chalen school
ab karna na jhagda fizool
ab karna na jhagda fizool
haan
haan
mere chashmewaale sarkaar
chale school
chale school
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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