Mera maikaa ho ya sasuraal
Posted on: February 13, 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 film of Nargis as a Hindi film heroine – Taqdeer-1943.
The film was made by Mehboob Khan for his banner, Mehboob productions, Bombay.
In the history of Hindi Cinema, Mehboob Khan’s name would be written prominently as one of the great directors, who rose from scratch to a height attained by few other directors. Mehboob Khan directed 8 films for Sagar, 3 films for National and 11 films for Mehboob productions.
After starting his own studio, his first film Najma-43 ( his daughter’s name was Najma), with Ashok Kumar and Veena was a Hit film. It was followed by Taqdeer-43, Humayun-45,Anmol Ghadi-46, Elaan-47, Anokhi Ada-48, Andaaz-49, Aan-52, Amar-54 and his Magnum Opus Mother India-57. After the high of Mother India, Mehboob aimed to fly even higher with Son of India (1962) but the film was a total misfire and, in fact, his weakest film.
In the beginning of 1943, when Mehboob Khan was in a hurry to give finishing touches to the first film of his own Mehboob productions- Najma, Jaddanbai came to see him. She was very friendly with Mehboob. The purpose of her visit was to request Mehboob to make a film with her daughter Nargis (Baby Fatima/Baby Rani) as a Heroine. Mehboob was sceptical as Nargis was only 14 year old and it would be like buying a lottery ticket, if he made a film with her. Jaddanbai was very persuasive and she even offered to partly finance the film. She was sure that with Mehboob launching her daughter she would have a bright future. Finally Mehboob agreed.
Nargis was called in and Mehboob talked to her alone. She was confused and afraid to become a Heroine. Mehboob convinced her saying that he would lose a lot of money if she refused. Nargis agreed after this.
Film Taqdeer-1943 was a Mehboob Production film, directed by Mehboob, Music by R.Gaznavi, and Lyrics by Mahrul Kadri. There is one song in the film written by Agha M.Shirazi(who also acted in the film) and one song by Anjum Pilibhiti also. There were 10 songs in the film, 2 chorus songs, 4 solos of Shamshad begum and 4 duets of Shamshad and Motilal.
The cast of the film was Chandramohan, Motilal, Nargis, Jilloobai, Kayam Ali, Ansari, Shirazi, Laddan etc. The Story was by Ghulam Mohammad and screenplay and dialogues were by Agha Jaani Kashmiri.
It was a lightweight comedy about Justice Gangaprasad(Chandramohan) and a Theatre owner Seth Badriprasad(NM Charlie),who lose their daughter and son in Kumbh Mela( This is where this trend started for future films, especially Manmohan Desai type films) respectively. The children are found but exchanged and Gangaprasad brings up Baby(Motilal) as a rich playboy and Badriprasad raises Salma(Nargis) as a dancer in his Theatre. They fall in love, causing a problem of class Difference. This is revealed when their identities are revealed. Funny thing is Gangaprasad’s wife(Jilloo bai) raises Motilal thinking that he is a Girl. The scene when it is revealed that he is a Boy, is very hilarious.
There is a song in the film, ’Meri Mata Bharat Mata’,in which Nargis is shown holding a sickle and a cloth bundle, with waving fields behind her. This reminds us of her role and posters of ‘Mother India’-1957 (also a Mehboob production.)
Here are some Titbits….
Baby Fatima (Nargis) was only 14 when she became Heroine of this film.
When Mrs. Mehboob was doing her makeup and wrapping her up in a Saree, she was mugging up the dialogues.
She was also very happy, when told that all her songs will be sung by Shamshad begum.
She had to wear high heels to match the height of her first hero, Motilal.
Taqdeer was a Hit film.
By 1964, Mehboob was a tired man. Mehboob had been neglecting health in spite of suffering Heart attacks. In May 1964, he suffered another attack but survived. His financiers were after him for repayment and he was worried. He called Rajendra Kumar and asked for a loan of 4 lakh rupees against his studio to be made in his name. Rajendra Kumar refused to take the studio and promised to give him the amount next day at 11 am, without any mortgage. In the evening, news of Nehru’s heart attack came. A die-hard Nehru fan, Mehboob became restless. Soon the death news came and Mehboob became grief stricken. Akhtar gave him sleeping pills, but he had to be admitted to Nanavati Hospital. He too died at 2 am on 28th May 1964. At the time of his death, Mehboob Khan was harbouring ambitions to make a film on the life of Habba Khatoon, the 16th century poetess-queen of Kashmir.
Film Taqdeer was directed by Mehboob himself. His friend Mahrul Qadri wrote lyrics and another friend Rafiq Ghaznavi composed the film’s music. Film Taqdeer was the last film of Rafiq Ghaznavi as a M.D. in India. In the wake of the Partition, he left for Lahore.
Rafiq Ghaznavi was a multi-faceted artiste. He acted in 18 films, directed 1 film, sang 30 songs in 15 films and gave music to 22 films composing 191 songs.
Private life of a celebrity has always been a matter of curiosity for the common man and if the celebrity is from the show world like films ,then there are all attempts to dig out the ‘ behind the scene’ stories about the famous people.
In the early era, the female artistes were from the courtesan or the singing families. Most males too were not much educated. Thus there were many cases of illicit relationships and children out of wedlocks. For the rich producers, having an ‘extra facility’ was a matter of a few thousands. In those days social media and the film magazines were not common, hence such matters hardly came into the open. The insiders, however, knew many stories. Few personalities like actor Shyam, Rafiq Ghaznavi, Prem Adeeb,C.Ramchandra were some of the artistes who were claimed to be involved in ‘ extracurricular activities ‘. So were some Producers and Directors.
When careers are on the rise, talents are bright and the work is extraordinary, it hardly matters what the artists do in their private lives. People are happy with their work. Yesteryear Actor, Singer and Music Director RAFIQ GHAZANAVI was one such person.
Rafiq was born on 15-11-1907, at Lahore. Rafiq was a singer from his school days and he became famous by the time he completed his Matriculation. He had learnt music from a blind expert. He was called by H.M.V. to Lucknow and several records were made of his songs.
He completed his graduation. He was an expert in Hindi, Urdu, English, Punjabi, Pashto and Afghan Persian languages fluently. He was a voracious reader of English books. He edited a magazine “Raavee”. His stage shows were always housefull. He was honoured by the American Art Society with a Gold Medal. He was famous in the art circles of Lahore.
His first film as a composer was ”Pavitra Ganga”-1932. Then came Prithviraj Sanyogita-33 and Deewaani-34 etc. He was a good friend of producer Director Mehboob Khan. The voice accompanying the Mehboob Productions Logo is that of Rafiq Ghazanavi, “Muddai lakh bura chahe to kya hota hai, wohi hota hai jo manzoor-e-Khuda hota hai”. The famous Logo consisted of a Hammer and Sickle, indicating the socialistic inclination of Mehboob Khan, who was a great follower of Pandit Nehru’s ideology. When 14 year old Nargis was offered the heroine’s role in Mehboob’s ” Taqdeer”, the music was entrusted to Rafiq Ghaznavi. Shamshad Begum was brought from Lahore specially to sing her first songs in Bombay for “Taqdeer” and Rafiq Ghaznavi was directing her songs. This was Rafiq’s last film as M.D. in India.
Famous writer Saadat Hasan Manto, in his book “Stars from another sky“, had devoted a full chapter to Rafiq. Manto, in his inimitable style has described all his ‘extra ‘ activities in detail, as he was an observer for most of them. Rafiq was tall and handsome and had the magical quality to attract women. Wine and women were his weaknesses. But there was much more to Rafiq than only running after lowly women. He was never a one woman man. He had married 2 sisters, one after another, but never remained faithful to any one of them. As far as his music was concerned, he was very strict and never mixed these two things. He always tried to give his best in every film. Here is an adapted , short Bio from a Pakistani source-pakfilms.net, some years ago.
Born to an enlightened family in 1907, in Rawalpindi, Rafiq Ghaznavi was full of life since his earliest days. He passed his childhood amidst scenic, natural beauty, surrounded by mountains, valleys and lakes. After receiving his matriculation examination degree, Rafiq Ghaznavi moved to Lahore. In Lahore, he completed his intermediate examination from Islamia College, Lahore. Then he graduated from the Punjab University.
During those days if a handsome, enthusiastic young man was endowed with acting talents, he was more inclined towards the glamorous movie business. Rafiq Ghaznavi was no exception. Let us go seventy-five years back in time and see how movies were made in that time period. Those were the days of silent movies. Though the vocal film ‘Alam Ara’ was released in 1931, still silent movies were in vogue for quite some time, just like black and white movies continued to flood the market after the advent of color movies.
Visionary movie director, Mian A.R. Kardar, is considered the discoverer or ‘Columbus’ of the Lahore film industry. Moved by Rafiq Ghaznavi’s powerful voice and good looks, Kardar signed him as hero for his silent movie, ‘Brave heart’, while the latter was studying in college.Thus, Rafiq Ghaznavi debuted in the film ‘Brave heart’ in 1931 at the age of twenty-four. Soon Rafiq Ghaznavi began to outlive his town and his time while his companions were thinking what to make of their lives.
Director A.R. Kardar, on the other hand, made his first talking film, ‘Hoor Punjab’ in 1932. Later, he changed its name to ‘Heer Ranjha’ and it was released under the banner of Play art photo tone. Handsome, as Rafiq Ghaznavi was, Kardar picked him up for the romantic lead role of ‘Ranjha.’ While actress Anwari played the lead romantic role of ‘Heer Seyaal’. Additionally, Rafiq Ghaznavi composed music and lent his impressive voice to all the songs. Hence, he was the hero-composer-singer in the film ‘Heer Ranjha.’ Since all the songs were pictured on him he was also the singing star.
After working in ‘Heer Ranjha’, Rafiq Ghaznavi migrated to Bombay and worked diligently for the Bombay film industry. Rafiq was a multi-talented man. He acted in 18 films. He directed 1 film-Prem pujari-35. He sang 30 songs in 15 films and he gave music to 22 films, composing 191 songs.
Dwelling on his personal life, Rafiq Ghaznavi married film actress Zohra Jaan and had a daughter, Shahina, from her. Shahina grew up and made her mark as an actress in movies like ‘Beli’, ‘Nigar’, ‘Aankh ka nasha’, ‘Bharosa’, and ‘Intiqaam.’
Rafiq Ghaznavi also had a son, Murad, from his first wife, Zohra. In due course of time, Rafiq Ghaznavi divorced Zohra. She married director A.M. Mirza and so was known as Zohra Mirza.
Actress Anwari was the second wife of Rafiq Ghaznavi with whom he had a daughter, Zarina Agha. Later, Zarina changed her name to Nasreen and worked in director A.R. Kardar’s movie, ‘Shah Jehan’ and Daud Chand’s movie, ‘Aik Roaz.’ After Rafiq left Anwaribai, she married Jugal Kishore Mehra ( Raj kapoor’s Mama), who converted to Islam and became Ahmed Salman. He was also the director of Radio Pakistan. He adopted Nasreen and got her married to Aga Liyaqat Gul Tajik. He settled in London doing Diamond business. Further, Nasreen Agha’s daughter, Salma Agha, achieved great fame as a singing star.
Actress Anuradha, whose real name was Khursheed Akhtar, was the third wife of Rafiq Ghaznavi, with whom he had a son, Ayaz Mehmood. Furthermore, one of Rafiq Ghaznavi’s daughters married popular writer-director, Zia Sarhadi. Zia Sarhadi’s two sons, Khayam Sarhadi and Bilal Sarhadi attained fame in show business. Interestingly enough, two wives of Rafiq Ghaznavi were real sisters and they hailed from Amritsar.
Rafiq Ghaznavi, who was such a charismatic figure, a talented composer of the highest grade and a visionary, passed away on 2-3-1974, in Karachi, at the age of sixty-seven.
All the songs from the film Taqdeer-1943 were very good. They had a major share in the success of the film. Today’s song is sung by Shamshad Begum and Chorus. The video is also quite good. Enjoy this 83 year old video song….
( information on Mehboob is culled from various sources, especially from upperstall.com and the book ” Mehboob Khan” by Shashikant Kinikar and my notes. Info for Rafiq Ghaznavi is from Pakistani Blogs and sites, a book by Saadat Hasan Manto and my notes.)
Song- Mera Maika ho ya sasuraal (Taqdeer)(1943) Singer- Shamshad Begam, Lyricist- Mahrul Qadri, MD- Rafiq Ghaznavi, B.A.
Female Chorus
Lyrics
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mujhe donon taraf ka khayaal
haan haan haan
mujhe donon taraf ka khayaal
haan haan haan
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mujhe donon taraf ka khayaal
haan haan haan
mujhe donon taraf ka khayaal
haan haan haan
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
meri doli ko laaye kahaar
meri doli ko laaye kahaar
mere jeewan ka pehla singaar
mere jeewan ka pahla singaar
meri sakhiyon ko hoga malaal
han han haan
meri sakhiyon ko hoga malal
haan haan haan
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mere maathe kee bindiya jagmag jagmag jagmag
mera maathe kee bindiya jagmag jagmag jagmag
mere hirday kee naiyya dagmag
mere hirday kee naiyya dagmag
main to ho gayee abhee se nidhaal
haaye raam
main to ho gayi abhi se nidhaal
haan haan haan
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mujhe donon taraf ka khayaal
haan haan haan
mujhe dono taraf ka khayaal
haan haan haan
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mere joban ka pyaala chhalke
mere joban ka pyaala chhalke
mere sar se dupatta dhhalke
mere sar se dupatta dhhalke
mere saajan tu mujhko sambhaal
haay raam
mere saajan tu mujhko sambhaal
haan haan haan
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mujhe donon taraf ka khayaal
haan haan haan
mujhe donon taraf ka khayaal
haan haan haan
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
mera maika ho ya sasuraal
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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