Jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
Posted by: Atul on: February 24, 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 very old-as many as 87 years- film Brahmachari-1938.
When Talkie films started, all the filmmakers looked for ways to make their films cater to a wider area and bring a lot of profits. One sure way was to tap the All India market, which would fulfil their desires. Initially the film productions were in very limited cities – Bombay, Kolhapur, Lahore, Calcutta and Madras. For going to All India, the filmmakers in Bombay, Lahore and Kolhapur had no problems, but for Calcutta and Madras, language was an obstacle. Who would see Bengali and Tamil/Telugu films in North and East India ?
The only solution was to make films in Hindi. Filmmakers decided to make films simultaneously in Local and Hindi languages, Thus, Marathi-Hindi, Tamil/Telugu-Hindi and Bengali-Hindi films started being made. As such, films made in Western India were already in Marathi and Hindi versions. Now they had a competition from the East and the South.
Film giants like V.Shantaram and Master Vinayak started making films on novel themes to attract audiences all over India. Social evils, Comedy and Tragedy were common points for all India. While Shantaram stuck to Social evil films, Vinayak chose making Comedy films on priority, which appealed to all types of people, all the time. Vinayak established his own film company – Huns pictures. He was a genius and had a knack of discovering and retaining talented artists.
Talking of Master Vinayak, it was Shantaram who helped shape his career. In Kolhapur, the 3 families- Bhal G. Pendharkar, V Shantaram and Master Vinayak were closely related. Bhal ji Pendharkar (Bhalchandra Gopal Pendharkar) was the son of Dr.Gopal Pendharkar, the Royal Physician of Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur state and his partner Radhabai. Dr. Gopal was already married to another lady. This couple gave birth to Bhalji and Baburao Pendharkar. Their mother Radhabai left Dr. Gopal Pendharkar and married Damodar Karnataki. They had two sons- Master Vinayak (father of Baby Nanda), famous actor, director, producer and a studio owner and his brother Vasudev- who became a Cameraman. Kamalabai, the younger sister of Radhabai married Rajaram Vankudre and they had 2 sons- V.Shantaram, famous actor, director,producer and a studio owner and his brother V. Awadhoot- equally famous Cinematographer.
Master Vinayak Karnataki ( 19-1-1906 to 19-8-1947) was born in Kolhapur. Many of his cousins and family members were already in the Film line.His half brothers Bhal ji and Baburao Pendharkar, maternal cousin V. Shantaram and his brother V.Avadhoot ( cinematographer) were in films. His own brother Vasudev also became a cameraman. Master Vinayak was working as a Teacher in a school, but Bhalji brought him in films. Initially Vinayak was with Prabhat, working under Shantaram and learning many things. He started his own company ” Hans Pictures” in partnership with Baburao Pendharkar and cameraman Pandurang Naik. Their first film was Chhaya-36. (almost all films made by Vinayak till 47 were bilingual in Marathi and Hindi-sometimes with different Titles ( like Ardhangi in Marathi became Ghar ki rani-40 in Hindi etc.)
While Shantaram stressed on technical aspects of film making successfully, Vinayak was keen on a strong story. Therefore he used the works of Top class writers in Marathi like V.S.Khandekar, P.K.Atre, Mama Varerkar etc. ( V.S.Khandekar, later won Sahitya Akademi award, Jnanpith award, Padma Bhushan award and many honours like D.Litt etc. The Government issued a Postage stamp after his death also). Film Chhaya won many awards and was commercially successful. Next were Dhrmaveer-37 and Premveer-37 ( The Heroine in this film was Ashalata). Then came the film Jwala-38, with Chandramohan in both versions-Marathi and Hindi. He learnt to speak excellent Marathi for this film. Later he did 3 more Marathi films also. Unfortunately, the film Jwala was a resounding flop-not because of anything else. According to V.S.Khandekar, Vinayak had meddled with the story too much. ( this looks to be a chronic ailment of the film line !)
Vinayak fell back on comedy and made Brahmachari-38 and Brandi ki botal-39. Both were successful, but the loss due to Jwala was too big. Even one more comedy- Ghar ki rani-40 could not salvage the damage and Hans pictures was dissolved to form another company Navyug Chitrapat, which added P.K.Atre as a partner. Navyug was the first film company to offer 100 rs. shares directly to the public. ( Bombay Talkies had shares with only the directors, initially). The first film was Lapandav-40. Though successful, P.K.Atre left the company- (along with its Heroine Vanmala- his consort) and established his own company Atre Pictures.
After another comedy, Navyug made Amrit-41. In the year 1942, Navyug made the film ‘ Pahili Mangalagaur”-42, in which Lata Mangeshkar made her debut as an actress and singer. She sang her first ever film song with Snehprabha Pradhan- under the baton of Dada Chandekar. There was a kissing scene of Snehprabha and Shahu Modak in this film. During the making of this film, Vinayak left Navyug and started his own ” Prafull Pictures”. Vinayak made several Hindi and Marathi films including Badi Maa-45. Vinayak died on 19-8-1947, just 4 days after Independence.
Vinayak acted in 18 Hindi films, from Jalti Nishani-32 to film Mandir-48. He also directed 13 Hindi films, from film Nigah E Nafrat-35 (debut film of Shobhana Samarth) to film Mandir-48. He sang 22 songs in 10 films. But from film premveer-37 onwards he could not sing properly due to his tooth problems, hence Master Vasant Eric used to sing his songs for the balance 6 films, though mostly Vinayak is credited for these songs.
Master Vinayak died too early and very young. here is an excerpt from a book, about his last days of life……
” August 15, 1947. master Vinayak, the rare comic genius of Marathi (and indeed, Indian) cinema, is lying critically ill in his bed, when someone tells him that, at last, India has won her freedom. He asks to be taken to the verandah from where he can see the fluttering Indian tricolour and breathe in the air of Free India. His wish is instantly complied with. The great director can barely stand up for a few minutes after which he asks to be taken to his bed. A few days later, on August 19, 1947, the filmmaker who gave so much to Indian films and still had so much to give passed away into Eternity at the young age of only 41 years, leaving behind a wife, two daughters, one son and one incomplete masterpiece film Mandir. ”
Film Brahmachari-1938 was made in Marathi and Hindi. The Heroine – Meenakshi Shirodkar was new. It was her first film. When Huns needed a new Heroine, their search started. Pandurang Naik and Baburao Pendharkar, two Managers of Huns went to Dr. Pandurang Shirodkar (Meenakshi’s husband). Naijk knew him well. She used to sing on A.I.R. and do some roles in a few dramas. She was not ready initially for films, but her husband and the visitors convinced her and she came to the studio. When Vinayak saw her simple looks, he was disappointed and fired the two who brought her.
However, once she got used to the studio atmosphere and after some rehearsals, she was perfect. master Vinayak changed his opinion and started praising her.once her first film – Brahmachari-1938 – became a Hit and ran for 25 weeks in Bombay and 50 weeks in Poona, he was overjoyed. She became a fixture in his films as a Heroine. They acter together in Brahmachari, Brandi ki botal, Devta, Ardhangi, Amrit, Mera Ladka, Gajabhau, Sukhacha Shodh, Lapandav, Sangam and Chimukala Sansar, as lead pair or under his direction. His other Heroines were Vanmala, Leela Chitnis, Ratnaprabha, Ashalata and Shanta Apte, but Meenakshi used to be in those films also.
Meenakshi Shirodkar (16-12-1916 to 2-6-1997) Born Ratan Pednekar, Meenakshi joined the All India Radio as an artiste to work in the radio plays (1935). After her marriage to Dr. Shirodkar in 1936 she was approached by Pandurang Naik, one of the partners at Huns Pictures to act. Initially refusing to do so she made her debut with Brahmachari-38, after her husband was convinced of her potential.
She was renamed ‘Meenakshi’ by P.K. Atre. Her appearance on screen wearing a swimsuit created quite a stir in the thirties and was considered extremely bold for the period. The song ‘Yamuna Jali Khelu Khel Kanhaiyya Ka Lajata’ ( Yamuna bich khelu khel Kanhaiya, aao na), which was sung in her own voice was extremely popular amongst the youth of many generations to come. After retiring from major roles around 1950, she joined the Nutan Sangeet Natak Mandali and acted in several Marathi Sangeet Nataks like Mruchhakatik, Maanaapmaan, Ekach Pyala, Sanshaykallol, Saubhadra, Bhavbandhan, Udyacha Sansar etc etc.
Some people and a few internet sites say that actress Baby Nanda was the daughter of Master Vinayak and Meenakshi. This is not true. Susheela bai Wadkar was Vinayak’s wife and Nanda’s mother. Meenakshi was already married before joining films.
Filmography….1938: Brahmachari (M), Brahmachari (H), 1939: Brandichi Batli (M), Brandy ki Botal (H), Devata, Mera Haq, Sukhacha Shodh, 1940: Ardhangi, Lapandav 1941: Amrit, Amrit, Sangam, 1943: Chimukla Sansar, Mazhe Bal, 1944: Ramshastri, Ramshastri, 1945: Badi Maa, 1952: Pedgaonche Shahane (Singer).
The story of the film Brahmachari-1938 was……
Bramhachari was the story of a simple young man Kanhaiyya( Master Vinayak-he was Audumbar in marathi version), who gets unduly sold on the foolish idea of a Lifelong celibacy( Aajanma Bramhacharya), espoused by a fake Acharya Chandiram(played by Damuanna Malvankar-Marathi’s leading comedy Hero. His daughter Bharati later married Hridaynath Mangeshkar)-who himself indulges in illicit relations and also by the speeches of a pseudo leader-Deshbhakta Jata shanker(played by Javdekar)-who himself indulges in hoarding, bribes and Black marketing.
One day Kishori(Meenakshi Shirodkar), the naughty young daughter of a Forest officer(V.G.Jog) visits the Ashram, along with her father. Here Kanhaiya is doing all odd jobs for the Acharya,like sweeping, washing etc. She falls in his love and tries to entice him with a seductive swim suit and a song in the swimming pool.
Over a period,with the help of Kishori, Kanhaiya realises his folly and exposes the fraud of Acharya Chandiram and politician jata shankar, who are arrested by the Police. (Some information from book ” Marathi cinema in retrospect” by Sanjit Narwekar, “Chitra ani Charitra” by Baburao Pendharkar, “Gatha Marathi Cinemachi” by Isak Mujawar, muVyz, HFGK, and my notes are used in this post).
Now let us enjoy an 87 year old song from this film….
Song- Jahaan charkha chale matwaala (Brahmchaari)(1938) Singer- Vinayak , Lyricist- Pt. Indra, MD- Dada Chandekar
Lyrics
charkha
sirf bhakti nahin
wo mahamayee shakti hai
charkhe ka mahaageet chaaron taraf goonjne do
hamaare desh par phaile huye dukh aur vishaad ke kaale baadal door honge
aur sukh ka sunahra soorya ugega
aaj hamaare dev mandir mein moortiyon mein naheen
charkhe mein viraajmaan hain
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
chale charkha
chale charkha
chale charkha jahaan matwaalaa
wahaan hoga sada bolbaala(??)
haan
wahaan hoga sada bolbaalaa(??)
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
?? kee
?? kee
mehnat karo
mehnat karo
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
Mahatma Gandhi jee kee jai
din raat rahegee deewaalee
din raat rahegee deewaalee
din raat rahegee deewaalee
?? desh ka “”
?? desh ka ka “”
??
??
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
wahaan hoga sadaa bolbaala(??)
haay
wahaan hoga sadaa bolbaalaa(??)
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
jahaan charkha chale matwaalaa
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