Kaisa samay hai aayaa
Posted on: February 21, 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 an almost unknown film- Refugee-1948.
This film was made by Harishchandra Rao Kadam, for his banner Harishchandra Films, Bombay. He had also acted in this film. The film was directed by Harish and the music was by a Debutante- Ajit Merchant. The cast included Urmila, Harishchandra rao, Hamid (called ‘Ajit’ in later films ), Majnu, Dalpat and debutante actress Sulochana Kadam, , Kesarbai (eldest aunt of actress Hansa Wadkar) and others. Sulocahan Kadam had also acted in another film, Krishna Sudama-1947. However her film Refugee got delayed and was released after Krishna Sudama. Anyway, after these 2 films, she quit acting and concentrated only on singing.
1948 was a year in which its films reflected the Freedom struggle. Shaheed by Filmistan was one such film. This was also dilip kumar’s first Hit film. It was also a film from which he started ” dying” in films for the next 9 consecutive films. This caused him a depression problem and had to take treatment in London. After this film came Majboor, Aag by Raj Kapoor, Mela featuring Dilip and Suraiya’s Pyar ki Jeet.
One special and noteworthy feature of 1948 films was that they had very good songs which became the foundation for the films being Hits, irrespective of weak stories or direction. These films sounded like heralding the beginning of the “Golden Era” from 1949 onwards.
There was also a film Kalpana based on classical dances. It did well only in Bengal, elsewhere it got a lukewarm reception. Then came ” Chandralekha” which delivered a silent threat to Bombay films. Coming from the South, it won the hearts of the audience all over India with 600 film prints and releases on the same day everywhere. This film was made spending a colossal amount of Rs. 30 lakhs, in those days, but it got a profit of more than 2 Crores also !
Dev Anand’s Ziddi and Vidya and Raj Kapoor’s Gopinath confirmed the arrival of 3 Top heroes, including Dilip Kumar. Film Chunariya brought recognition for Asha Bhosle to limelight. Anokhi Ada, Grihasthi and Pagdi were other successful films.
Film Refugee-1948 was a film depicting the life story of a Hindu refugee from Lahore, who comes to Bombay and his love story. Though Harishchandra rao Kadam was basically an action/stunt film actor and director, this was his first and last attempt at making a social film. The film was not successful and Kadam went back to his comfort zone of stunt/action films. This Kadam was the one who gave the first opportunity of directing a film to Master Bhagwan and also to C Ramchandra as a Music Director of a Hindi film for the first time. That film was Sukhi Jeevan-1942.
His brother Chadra Rao Kadam was also a stunt actor and his studio at Kandivali in Mumbai is still working.
While the year 1947 saw the highest number of films made-181 films, the Indian film industry did not suffer so much, even after the exodus of film artistes,,because the sheer number of majority in the films was Hindus. Additionally, the vacancies were immediately filled by the II line of artistes in every department, waiting for their turns. Thus 1948 made a respectable number of films- 149, indicating the inherent strength of the film industry.
Partition did some damage to India, but as there was a second line waiting to take over, the impact was negligible. However, Pakistan had to build a new film industry with the help of the migrant artistes in almost all departments of filmmaking. Once this generation ended their career, unfortunately there was not much of a second line to take over in Pakistan.
Here is an excerpt from a book “The Travels of Bollywood Cinema ” by Anjali Geeta Roy, in this connection…….
” The rioting of 1947 set in motion irreversible, irrevocable migration. B R. Chopra and I S Johar were planning films in a big way for Lahore but had to run for their lives. Ramanand Sagar left in July, as did Gulshan Rai. Character actor Om Prakash (of Fateh Din fame, an all-time favourite skit relayed for years by Radio Lahore), comedian-bad man Jeevan and many others also left Lahore for Bombay. O P Nayyar recorded his immortal song Preetam Aan Milo/ Dukhia Jiya Bullai, Aan Milo at the His Master’s Voice studio in Lahore. He left Lahore only in 1948 when it became clear that people with the wrong religion were not going to return to their homes on either side of the Punjab. Writer Rajinder Singh Bedi escaped, sitting on top of a railway carriage carrying loads of Hindus and Sikhs out of Lahore. Song-writer Naqsh Lyallpuri began his literary career in Lahore as a journalist but had to leave in 1947. Punjabi singers Surinder Kaur and Prakash Kaur, and Pushpa Hans also left Lahore.
Migration in the other direction also took place. Nazir and his wife Swarnlata, Noorjahan and her husband Shaukat Husain Rizvi, character actor Alauddin and many others headed for Lahore. Manto came in January 1948, music directors Ghulam Haider and Khurshid Anwar followed some years later and director M. Sadiq probably in 1969 or 1970. Meena Shori, Khurshid and Mumtaz Shanti also immigrated to Lahore. Some Pakistani actors in Lahore continued to use Hindu filmic names. Santosh Kumar (Musa Raza) and Sudhir (Shah Zaman), the two most famous heroes of the 1950s and 60s represented such practice. On both sides, initially considerable goodwill existed between the two film communities.
Some families were divided. Thus for example, while Nazir shifted to Lahore, his nephew K. Asif stayed on in Bombay. Kardar stayed on but his brother Nusrat Kardar and son Rauf Kardar returned to Lahore. While Suraiya, her mother and grandmother settled in Bombay, many of her other relatives shifted to Lahore. Rafi stayed on to reign supreme in Bombay while his parents and siblings were in Lahore.
There were some cross-religion marriages that created peculiar challenges. Raj Kapoor’s maama (maternal uncle) Mr Mehra married a Muslim, converted to Islam and stayed in Lahore. A unique case of reverse migration took place as well: poet Sahir Ludhianvi (Abdul Hai) left Lahore for India.”
Following Partition in 1947, A. R. Kardar and his co-brother Mehboob Khan both left for Pakistan. However, according to Bunny Reuben, as quoted by Mihir Bose, they returned to India, but no reason was given for their return. Journalist and author of several books, Ambarish Mishra writes, ” when I asked Kardar about his Pakistan visit, he told me that after the Partition, Mehboob immediately went to Pakistan. He was disturbed with the news of Hindu-Muslim conflicts in Bombay Film Industry. It was said that Hindus will not allow Muslims in the film industry – which was totally wrong and only a rumour. He wanted to get an idea about his future in this new country. He was keen on settling there. After a month or so, I went there. Being from Lahore, I understood that the film conditions were not conducive for our growth there, as nothing was in order. Everything was in a mess there. I convinced Mehboob somehow and we both came back for good. I told him, as long as Nehru was there, they had no problems in India.” By coincidence, Nehru died and the next day Mehboob also died !
Film Refugee-48 is also an example of how the film industry reacted to the partition Blues. For the Music Director Ajit Merchant, this was his first film as an independent MD. Earlier he was working as an assistant to Ashok Ghosh and Anil Biswas. For actor Ajit (credited as Hamid), this was just his second film in a side role. Later he became the hero in the film Janampatri-1949. Singer Sulochana Kadam (later Sulochana Chavan) acted for the first time. She acted in one more film and then settled as only a singer.
After Partition, 10 to 20 million people became refugees on both sides, with at least 10 million people losing their lives. This was easily the largest Refugee crisis in the world. India was the only country which has faced Refugee problem several times in recent history. In 1937, Burma was separated. First ruled by Japan and then the Thais. Finally the British ruled it and Burma was free on 4-1-1948. Every time lakhs of refugees came to India. At Least 2 names can be quoted- Helen and V.K.Naidu, MD, who were Burma refugees. Ceylon’s independence in 1948 gave us refugees. Bangladesh refugees still give us trouble though Bangladesh was formed in 1971. Pondicherry in 1954 and Goa was liberated in 1961, without much refugee crowds, which were manageable.
There are two more books which give details of the impact of Partition on the Indian Film Industry.
1. Mourning the nation- Indian Cinema in the wake of Partition, by Bhaskar Sarkar and
2. Violent belongings-partition by Kavita Daiyya. For more information, readers can see these books.
The director of Refugee-1948, Harish may not be known much to many readers. Here is some information on him…..
Harish, also known as Tara Harish, was born on 23-10-1916 at Delhi. His real full name was Tarachand Anand Biharilal Mathur. He was distantly related to Motilal and Mukesh. His father died when he was just 3 year old. He was brought up by his brothers and uncle. He graduated in 1937. After trying and failing in a second hand car business, he decided to enter the film world and joined Sagar Movietone, where Motilal was getting established.
His first foray into films was in the film ‘ 300 days and after ‘. In this film, however, he was uncredited. He got roles in other films like Postman, Ladies only, Service Ltd, Hum,Tum aur Woh, Ek hi Raasta, Civil marriage, Aurat, Nai Roshni, Vijay, Haqdar etc etc. He used to sing in the films. As a Hero his last film was Amanat-43.
Harish took up Direction with the film Beda Paar-44, a stunt C grade film, but soon he directed many social films also. In his career he directed 21 films. Some of his films are Refugee-48, Toote tare-48, Ustad Pedro-51, Malhar-51 ( originally Harish was to be the hero, but he gave chance to Arjun), Daku ki ladki-54, Lalten-56, kali Topi laal rumaal-59, Do Ustad-59, Burmah Road-62. His last film was Awara Abdulla-63.
Harish acted in 21 films. He sang 39 songs in 16 films ( stats by MuVyz). He established his own production company- Omar Khayyam Films. When he was directing the film Ustad Pedro-51, he changed the name of actress Nargis Rabadi to Shammi, since another more famous actress of the same name was already existing in films.
Tara Harish died sometime in 1970.
Let us now enjoy today’s 77 year old song by Sulochana Kadam….
Song- Kaisa samay hai aaya (Refugee)(1948) Singer- Sulochana Kadam, Lyricist- Pt. Phani, MD- Ajit Merchant
Film- Refugee-1948
Kaisa samay hai aaya
kaisa samay hai aaya
bhaayion ne pher lee hain
bhaayion se apnee aaankhen
kaisa samay hai aaya
kaisa samay hai aaya
bhaayion ne pher lee hain
bhaayion se apnee aaankhen
har ek padosee apnaa
lagta hai ab paraayaa
har ek padosee apnaa
lagta hai ab paraayaa
aapas kee phhoot ne din
humko hai ye dikhhaayaa
aapas kee phhoot ne din
humko hai ye dikhhaayaa
kaisa samay hai aaya
nafrat ne phhoonk daalaa
gusse ne raund daalaa
nafrat ne phhoonk daalaa
gusse ne raund daalaa
barson ke pyaar se jo
hamne mahal banaayaa
barson ke pyaar se jo
hamne mahal banaayaa
kaisa samay hai aaya
apnon ka khoon bahaanaa
aapas mein lad ke marnaa
apnon ka khoon bahaanaa
aapas mein lad ke marnaa
seekhha hai tumne kis’se
kisne tumhen sikhhaayaa
seekhha hai tumne kis’se
kisne tumhen sikhhaayaa
kaisa samay hai aaya
mazhab kee aad lekar
ae khhoon bahaane waalon
mazhab kee aad lekar
ae khhoon bahaane waalon
tumne watan ke sar ko
duniya mein hai jhhukaayaa
tumne watan ke sar ko
duniya mein hai jhhukaayaa
kaisa samay hai aaya
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
February 21, 2025 at 3:25 pm
Thanks for this post Sir jee. The post gives a good details about migration of film personalities and other issues faced by them during partition of our country to people like me who were born much later. Thanks for the information about Harishchandra Kadam, his brother and the information on Director Harish who directed this movie and other artistes. And many thanks for a song sung by Sulochana Kadam.
The lyrics very well expressed the situation then.
Regards,
Avinash
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February 21, 2025 at 4:23 pm
Thanks, Avinash ji.
I am glad that you found the post informative .
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