Ho saathh ka dulhaa
Posted on: March 4, 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 obscure but good film Apni Chhaya-1950.
The film APNI CHHAYA-1950, literally means ‘our own shadow’. The story is such that what happens to the father when he is young, happens to his son as well. Only difference is he is the hero in the first case and the Villain in the second phase. The film was made by Chitralaya limited Bombay. The story and Direction was by P L Santoshi, who had also written all songs of the film. The music was by Hanuman Prasad and Husnlal-Bhagatram. There were 10 songs and 7 singers were used. The cast of the film was Balwant Singh, Sulochana Chatterjee, Radhakishen, Mumtaz Ali, Sajjan, Tiwari, Jawahar Kaul etc. Except perhaps the Husnlal Bhagatram duo, major contributors to music, direction, lyrics, acting etc were on the declining stages in their careers.
The story of the film was…..
In a certain village, Sukhiya is an orphan girl who grows up with her maternal uncle and his harsh wife. Sukhiya is beautiful but her marriage is fixed with a 60 year old person from another town. She is very sad but helpless. Ramnath is the village vagabond. He is unemployed and a rebel, but helps everybody and is a popular figure. He resents this marriage and goes and makes a scene in the marriage pandal, criticising the mama for taking money and marrying the poor Sukhiya to an old man. The people challenge him and in a fit of chivalry, he gets married to Sukhiya in the same mandap.
He has no job and to survive the couple decides to go to another town and try their luck there. Ramnath really prospers and gains not only name and fame but also lots of money. They have a son. When so much money is there, bad people flock automatically. Banka babu gets friendly with Ramnath and gets him addicted to wine and women. He takes him to another town to enjoy. Poor Sukhiya and her son leave the place and go to another town. Her son Prakash grows up and falls in love with the rich Zamindar’s daughter Jyoti. But despite their love affair, Jyoti’s marriage is fixed with Ramnath by Bankelal. On the day of the marriage, Prakash enters the mandap and starts creating nuisance by criticising the Zamindar and Ramnath-without knowing that he is his father.Ramnath remembers everything of his past, is full of remorse and gets Prakash married to Jyoti. Sukhiya comes forward and all meet together for a happy end to the film.
The Music Director duo of this film- Husnlal-Bhagatram was one of my favourite composers in Hindi films. Some of their songs are evergreen. Their contribution to Hindi films, especially in the period of the “Golden Era’ can never be forgotten. Most of us consider H-B as the first ever Composer Duo, but it is not so.
In the early era, when the Talkie films started in 1931, as early as 1932 itself a pair of two composers worked for a film-Indrasabha-1932, which had a record 71 songs. Composer Vazir Khan made the tunes and composer Nagardas Nayak played them on Harmonium. Though only Nagardas Nayak’s name is mentioned as its Music Director, HFGK has put up a footnote giving this information, quoting the name of composer Fida Hussain. OK, forget them.
Rewashankar Marwadi and Gangaprasad Pathak gave music together for Gunsundari- 1934 as well as the film Raat ki Raani-35. Forget them also.
Rewashankar Marwadi then made a pucca pair with composer Banne Khan and this pair gave music to 12 films as a pair. ( Barrister’s wife-35,College girl-35, Qeemati aansoo-35, Noor-e-watan-35, Chalaak chor-36,Raj Ramani-36, Dil ka daaku-36, Sipahi ki sajani-36, Matlabi Duniya-36, Lehri lala-36, Ghazi Diler-36 and Mitti ka putla-37 ). In my opinion, they, and not Husnlal Bhagatram, should be considered the first pair of Music Directors as well as Trend setters. Of course the number of films that the Husnlal Bhagatram team did was more ( 52), but that is because the speed of making films increased after 1935. More films were made in the 40s and the 50s than in the 30s. Moreover many composers left for Pakistan in the late 40s, so more films were available for less composers. Numbers aside, lack of enough knowledge about the early films and artists has led to much injustice to the Pioneers, for sure !
Husnlal-Bhagatram was one of the most popular composer pairs of their times. They started in 1944 with Chand. Their peak was achieved in 1949 and their magic ended with the sixth decade. They gave music to 49 films and most films’ music became popular. Although Bhagatram was the Elder of the two brothers, their name was famous as Husnlal – Bhagatram. During the peak of their career, the handsome,good looking Husnlal’s name was linked to the upcoming singer of those days-Lata Mangeshkar. This episode is described by C. Ramchandra in his autobiography in Marathi.
Elder brother Bhagatram had given music to 9 films in 1939 and 1940, independently, under the name Bhagatram Batish, but the brothers prospered only after Husnlal joined his brother and they gave music as Husnlal-Bhagatram.
Pandit Husn Lal was born in Kahma Village, district Jalandhar, Punjab, on 8-4-1920. He was initiated into music by his father, the Late Devi Chand and elder brother Pandit Amar Nath, (the famous music composer of the ‘40s). Later he became the disciple of Sangeet Maha Mahopadhyaya Pandit Dilip Chandra Vedi Ji.
Pandit Husn Lal’s first passion was playing the violin, and he learned further under Ustad Bashir Khan. Pandit Husn Lal was a performer par excellence in Khyal, Thumri, Dadra, Gazal, and Bhajan. He had a voice range of three octaves and was an accomplished master of complicated patterns of Taans, like his Guru Vedi Ji.
Pandit Husn Lal was an accomplished Violinist, a renowned Classical singer and an ace Music Director. He, along with his elder brother Bhagat Ram (an ace harmonium player, born in 1914), were the first prolific Hindi film music directors to work as a duo and went by the name of “HusnLal-Bhagat Ram”. The beauty and command over the violin can be seen in different compositions of the duo’s songs in films. They popularized Punjabi folk music as an art form, with a range of music that has a rare lilt and rhythm, yet soulful and poignant, thus becoming the most sought after composers. Their first hit was a film named Chand, after which they never looked back. They gave super hit melodies for more than 80 Hindi films. One point to be noted is that most of his films celebrated their Golden Jubilee with a credit to the music compositions and songs.
Their film Badi Behan (1949) was a classic in the history of Indian cine music. Besides the most popular song, ‘Chup chup kharay ho…‘ there are other seven numbers which gave the audiences the pleasure of music as an art form – ‘Wo pass rahein, ya door rahein‘, ‘Tum mujhko bhool jao, ab hum na mil sakeinge‘, ‘Likhnein waley ney likh dee meri taqdeer mein barbaadi likhnein waley ney‘ and ‘Bigree bananey wale, bigree banaa dey‘ (Suraiya) and ‘Muhabbat ke dhoke mein koi naa akey‘ (Mohammed Rafi).
In ‘Chaley janaa nahin‘ and ‘Jo dil mein khushi ban kar ayey‘ Lata Mangeshkar was perhaps at her best and there could not have been a better return gift to the composer Husan Lal on her 20th birthday (Lata Mangeshkar was born in 1929). The utterance coming straight from the singer’s heart, at times makes the listener cry, as a spontaneous outcome of eternal pleasure. The quality of a diamond cutter in master violinist Husan Lal can be visualized through these two immortal melodies of Lata Mangeshkar. The Punjabi style dholak played by their musician, Shanker (of Shanker-Jaikishan fame) was again a notable landmark!
The song “Suno Suno Aye Duniya Walo Bapu Ki Yeh Amar Kahani”, sung by Mohammed Rafi, was a milestone in the history of music. This song was composed by the duo within a record time of just 24 hours; soon after the demise of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation. More than a million copies of a set of two 78 rpm discs of this recording were sold, within one month.
Husn Lal-Bhagat Ram worked with famous playback singers like Ameerbai Karnataki, Suraiyya, Shamshad Begum, Zohrabai Ambalawali, Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt, Suman Kalyanpur, and Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, amongst others. He also composed and played alongside Pandit Ravi Shankar and Pandit Jasraj.
Pandit Husn Lal performed as a violinist on All India Radio and at other renowned music festivals and concerts and taught music to his music-loving disciples. In the late 60s,this pair parted company with each other. Husnlal’s father in law was an influential person. With his help,Husnlal settled in Delhi and started teaching music to aspirants.
One day morning,while on a morning walk, he fell dead in a garden. Someone recognised him and informed his family. The day was 28-12-1968.
Bhagatram too spent his last days in pathetic condition,working for other composers.one day in 1973,he died in Bombay. His son Ashok,who uses the surname Sharma, is an artist with Doordarshan. ( I had the opportunity to speak to Shri Ashok Sharma ji, about his father,a few months back).
Once Lady Luck turns her back on someone,Destiny plays strange games. Here is a comment by a leading composer of the 50s, about Husnlal-Bhagatram’s destiny..
“some things happen in life differently……for example, as Shankar was a good dancer, he danced with ‘dholak’, in ”pyar ki jeet”, for which , story, screenplay, dialogues and few songs were written by the song writer, Rajendra Krishan, under the banner of famous pictures….. and the music directors were the then first pair of hindi film music, Husnlal Bhagatram, and incidentally both were brothers to join the film industry……Husnlal was a good violinist and Bhagatram was a harmonium master……when they were assigned the film ”pyar ki jeet”, Shankar was their assistant and played on dholak and tabla and being a dancer himself, danced in the film as stated above……
….it is destiny, that Shankar made a pair with Jaikishan and both with a brilliant mind, went on to become the most successful of music directors, and Husnlal Bhagatram, went into oblivion with the passage of time….
…Husnlal’s father-in-law was a well established person and supported his son-in-law, after being failure as music director, with Bhagatram…..and then Husnlal took to play violin….and Bhagatram…..sorry to say….being alone , started to play harmonium under the direction of his disciple, none other than Shankar, who once played dholak and tabla under his direction………what would you call it….destiny? “
Here is their Filmography yearwise– 1944: Chand; 1946: Hum Ek Hain; Nargis; 1947: Heera; Mirza Sahiban; Mohan; Romeo and Juliet; 1948: Aaj Ki Raat; Lakhpati; Pyar Ki Jeet; 1949: Amar Kahani; Balam; Badi Bahen; Bansaria; Hamari Manzil; Jal Tarang; Naach; Raakhi; Sawan Bhadon; 1950: Adhi Raat; Apni Chhaya; Birha Ki Raat; Chhoti Bhabhi; Gauna; Meena Bazaar; Pyar Ki Manzil; Sartaj; Surajmukhi; 1951: Afsana; Sanam; Shagun; Stage; 1952: Kafila; Raja Harishchandra; 1953: Aansoo; Farmaish; 1954: Shama Parwana; 1955: Adle- Jehangir; Kanchan; Mr Chakram; 1956: Aan Baan; 1957: Dushman; Jannat; Krishna Sudama; 1958: Trolley Driver; 1961: Apsara; 1963: Shaheed Bhagat Singh; 1965: Tarzan And The Circus; 1966: Sher Afghan. ( Thanks to the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema for this information).
Additional information…..
Bhagatram was the elder brother, Husnlal was the younger brother. Have you anytime wondered why the younger brother’s name comes first in this pair ?
Normally, when a pair of brothers is referred, it is the elder brother’s name that comes first. For example, Ram-Laxman or Balram – Srikrishna or even Kalyanji – Anand ji, Jatin-Lalit or Anand-Milind. For many years, this matter was bothering me, but I could not find any justification for this unusual way of pairing. I was sure that there must be some story behind this.
The Blog ” Songs of yore ” published the second part of Husnlal-Bhagatram post on 11-8-2017, based on the interview of Dinesh Prabhakar, son of Husnlal and Ms. Nirmala Devi, wife of Husnlal. During her talk, Nirmala Devi explained the reasons for calling the pair as Husnlal-Bhagatram, in spite of Bhagatram being the elder one and more experienced of the two. Bhagatram had already given music, individually to 9 films, in the late 30s and early 40s, before the pair was formed. Her statement answered my long awaited query about the unusual name of the pair. Here is the related portion of her interview….
” The 90-year old Shrimati Nirmala Devi is an amazing lady. She still has a razor-sharp memory and superb knowledge of music and music personalities of that era. She gave me a lot of interesting information, not available elsewhere – for example, the reason why the younger brother Husnlal’s name comes first in the duo’s name. Her talk also revealed that other family commitments, too, in Delhi were contributory factors for their decline in the film music.
Shrimati Nirmala Devi speaks about her husband (late) Pt Husnlal….
“DD Kashyap, who was directing Chaand (1944) for Prabhat Films, wanted to engage Pt Amarnath based in Lahore, who was a towering figure in music. As he was heavily preoccupied, he strongly recommended his younger brother Pt Husnlal who was staying with him and assisting him in Lahore-based films of Pancholi and others, assuring Kashyap that Pt Husnlal was no less talented than him. Pt Amarnath was like a father-figure to his younger brothers, especially to Pt Husnlal. A music session was organized to demonstrate Pt Husnlal’s talent. Kashyap was highly impressed. When it was time for Pt Husnlal to proceed for Poona/Bombay, Pt Amarnath, out of concern for his kid-brother, suggested to Kashyap to also engage Pt Bhagatram with him. Kashyap expressed difficulty in arranging the payment for two as the contract was already made out. Pt Amarnath assured him that he should not bother about increasing the fee, but the two brothers must work together. Thus it was that Bhagatram got appended to Husnlal, forming the duo HB. ” Another reason why the younger brother’s name preceded the elder brother was simply the aesthetics – Husnlal-Bhagatram sounding better than the other way around. (Thanks to Blog “songs of yore” for this additional information.)
Let us now enjoy the 75 year old song from this film, sung by G.M.Durrani and chorus….
Song-Ho saathh ka dulha (Apni Chhaaya)(1950) Singer- G.M.Durrani, Lyricist-P.L.Santoshi, MD- Husnlal-Bhagatram
Chorus
Unknown male voice
Lyrics
o o o o
o o o o
o o o o
waah waah waah waah
waah waah waah
solah ki dulhaniya
ho solah ki dulhaniyaa
ho saathh ka dulha
ae ho jee saathh ka dulha
ae ho jee saathh ka dulha
solah ki dulhaniya
ho barah ki dulhaniya
ho chaudah ki dulhaniya
kaisee deewaanee hai
ye duniya
ye duniya
ye duniya
ho saathh ka dulhaa
ae ho jee saathh ka dulhaa
ae ho jee saathh ka dulhaa
solah ki dulhaniya
ho barah ki dulhaniya
ho chaudah ki dulhaniya
poonam ka chaand
suhaag kee raaat
hey ae ae
sab hon khaamosh
na koi kare baat
he he he he he he he he
dulhe ki khon khon
dulhe ki khon khon
dulhe ki khon khon
khaansee chale re
jab baaje dulhan kee paajaniyaan
jab baaje dulhan kee paajaniyaan
ho saathh ka dulhaa
hoy hoy saathh ka dulhaa
hoy hoy hoy saathh ka dulhaa
solah ki dulhaniya
ho barah ki dulhaniya
ho chaudah ki dulhaniya
jab saawan kee kaalee ghataa aa chhaaye ae ae
to boodhhe ka dil bhhee bal khhaaye ae
haaye bal khhaaye
ishhaare se goree ko o paas bulaaye
to goree ke munh se nikley
haaaye
haaaye
haaaye
jab barse ho rimjhim boondaniyaan
jab barse ho rimjhim boondaniyaan
ho saathh ka dulhaa
hey goree saathh ka dulhaa
hey goree saathh ka dulhaa
solah ki dulhaniya
ho barah ki dulhaniya
ho chaudah ki dulhaniya
jab phaagan kee bahaaren hon
prem bharee pukaaren hon
rangon kee bauchhaaren hon
jab phaagan kee bahaaren hon
prem bharee pukaaren hon
rangon kee bauchhaaren hon
haaan aan aan
ho boodhhe ke haanthh kanpe ?? saaree
aur dulhan kee rahe
adhh-bheegee saaree
aur taanaa maare ho padosaniya
aur taanaa maare ho padosaniya
ho saathh ka dulhaa
ae ho jee saathh ka dulhaa
ae ho jee saathh ka dulhaa
solah kee dulhaniya
ho barah ki dulhaniya
ho chaudah ki dulhaniya
ho saathh ka dulhaa
ho ?? saathh ka dulhaa
ho ?? saathh ka dulhaa
ho ?? saathh ka dulhaa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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