Main hoon miss Bambai
Posted on: March 5, 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.
|
Blog Day : |
6074 | Post No. : | 18863 |
Today’s song is from the comedy film ” Mr. Cartoon, M.A.-” 1958.
What a coincidence ! Last Sunday, I had selected a song from this film to be discussed today (usually I line up 3-4 songs for writing posts). However, the same song was discussed by our Sadanand Kamath ji, on Monday, 3rd March. Instead of going for another film song, I selected the only remaining song from this film for today’s post. Being the last song of the film, it will make the film YIPPEED today !
Since the cast and the story etc has already been discussed here just 2 days ago, I will refrain from repeating the same.
Humor or Comedy has always been a part of Human entertainment since ages, many Sanskrit dramas had a Vidushak (Joker or a Comedian) in them. Drama writers like Kalidas, Bhavbhuti, Bharat, Bhas etc gave due importance in their dramas to the comedian or the Vidushak. From the Gods to the mortal kings, all used to have a joker in their courts(Darbar0. Even in the Nav-Rasas of literature, the Hasya-Ras has a special place.
When films started, humour was an essential part in them In the Silent films too, films of comedians like Laurel-Hardy, Bud Abott- Louise Costello, Charlie Chaplin, Buster keaton, W.C.Fields, Ben terpin, John Bunny etc comedians’ films were crowd puller. In the early Talkie films famous comedians like Jerry Lewis- Dean martin, Harold LLoyd Jack lemmon etc. drew crowds to their films. In 1955, there was a comedy film The King jester, starring Danny Kay.
Indian Silent films too had its own comedians. In the early Talkie era, Ranjit Studio was the first to make a full length comedy film, “Bhutiya Mahal” as early as 1932 followed by its second comedy film, “Char Chakram”-1832, which also became very popular. Calcutta’s Madon theatres made the comedy film ” Muflis Ashiq” in 1932. Encouraged by the success of these films it was certain that Comedy would play a major role in subsequent films of any genre. The role of a comedian became an essential part – like songs – of every Talkie film. Even in a serious/ tragedy film comedians were used to ease the tension and anxiety of the audience.
The role of a comedian in a film has been an essential part since the beginning.There have been many great Comedians in Hindi films and the tradition continued till about the 80s. After this period, the format of Hindi films changed drastically and Comedians disappeared. The Heroes themselves started doing comedy, so there was no scope for a separate and individual comedian, as such.
Comedians like Mast Fakir, Harold Lewis ( later called Majnu), Noor Mohd. Charlie, Ghori and Dixit starred as comedians during the silent cinema period. After Talkie films started, Charlie, Ghory, Dixit and Kesari were comedians in the early era. Ghori and Dixit had copied the Laurel and Hardy style. There was a comedian called Durga mota in the Lahore films. Out of these, Charlie came in the limelight and became a famous comedian.
After these old comedians, a new crop of comedians like Damuanna Malavankar, Bhudo Advani and Mirza Musharraf became well known. During this period Yakub and V H Desai also made a mark, though later Yakub did villain and side roles. Then came Gope, Dhar Kashmiri or Jeevan as comedians. Jeevan however branched out as Narad in Mythological films and then became a comic villain till the end. Fatty Prasad was another comedian in those days.
Then after the 50s started,came Kishore kumar, Bhagawan, Omprakash, I S Johar, Rajendranath, Anoop kumar, Jagdeep,Mohan choti, Keshto Mukherjee, O P Ralhan, Asit sen, Ram Avtar, Sunder, Janakidas and many many more. However, in the 50s,there was one Comedian who proved to be the most popular and the Best Comedy actor. His name was JOHNNY WALKER.
Born on 11-11-1926 at Indore, as Badruddin Kazi, Johnny’s family shifted to Bombay. He wanted to act in films, so he started acting as an extra in films. His first film was ‘Aakhri paiham’-49. He was also working as a Bus Conductor, when one day Balraj Sahni heard his jokes and was impressed. He asked Johnny to meet him. Few days later when Balraj was riding his bike , Johnny stopped him and begged to help him get work in films. Balraj made a plan and called him to the Navketan office the next day to meet Guru Dutt, the director of Baazi, for which Balraj was writing the story. how Johnny impressed them and got a role in Baazi is too well known to be repeated here nth time.
Before Johnny got his big break in Baazi, he had acted in about 20 films, mostly as Extra and uncredited. However in Malhar-51 and Pyar ki baten-51, he was credited. After Baazi, the friendship of Johnny with Guru Dutt and Dev Anand formed the base of his tall building and there was no looking back.
Johnny created a situation in the film industry, where producers felt their film was incomplete if Johnny was not in it.Special roles and dialogues were written for him. He played Hero in 8 films. In 7 of these, his heroine was Shyama.Both had risen to lead roles from being extras first in the start of their careers. In the film ” Duniya Rang Rangili’-57 he was the Hero and Rajendrakumar ( later to become Jubilee Kumar) was the side Hero !
Johnny was a Teetotaller and a disciplinarian in private life. He never missed Lunch at 1.30pm and Dinner at 8.30pm. He avoided going to filmy parties. I f he had to go, he would finish his dinner at home and then go to the party. He was keen on educating his children. All 3 of his sons went to the USA for higher studies.
According to him he acted in about 300 films. Hamraz ji says about 150 and we have names of 190 films in which he worked. Johnny never posed any treat to any Hero in the film. “Scene Eating” was not for Johnny. Therefore he was a darling of all Heroes. Johnny never ever used any vulgar or double meaning dialogues to create humour. His was a Royal family comedy.
His peak period was from 1954 to 1960. During 1951 to 1960, he did 92 films, maximum being in 1955…tally of 20 films in a year ! The next highest was 16 films in 1958 and third highest was 14 films in 1956. He sang 140 songs on screen in his career. In 3 films, Chaudhvin ka chand-60, Gateway of India-57, and Taxi Driver-1954, Johnny used his typical voice in songs. Johnny directed one film-Pahunche hue log-89. His last appearance in film was Kamal Hasan’s Chachi 420 -1997.
In the late 60s and 70s, Mehmood entered the scene and by the 70s, he was all over the silver screen. Even in the year 1966, his name clone Johnny Whisky had more releases (10) than Johnny ( 7 ). Clearly his time was up. Johnny hung his boots and enjoyed family life. He breathed his last on 29-7-2003.
Music Director of the film Mr. Qartoon M.A.-1958 was O.P.Nayyar. For this film , he had Kaalu and Sebastian as assistants. Let us know more about arranger sebastian….A typical Goan likes to live life-“Sushegaat”- which loosely means “Araam se” or a carefree life. Their philosophy is Eat, Drink and be Merry. This Merry part included Music. Goa has given many musicians to India. Lata/Asha are from Mangeshi-Goa, though the family had shifted to Kolhapur, Music Directors Dattaram(Wadkar) and N.Datta(Datta Naik), Singers Kishori Amonkar, Kesarbai Kerkar, Shobha Mudgal, Hema Sardesai, Prabhakar Karekar, Remo fernandes, Lorna are from Goa.(The list is only indicative, not exhaustive).
Anthony Gonsalves was from Majorda-Goa. He worked for Naushad, O P Nayyar and Laxmikant Pyarelal (‘My name is Anthony Gonsalves’ song is a tribute by Laxmikant Pyarelal to him, as he taught Pyarelal so many things including Notations.)
Chick Chocolate aka Anthony Vaz from Aldona-Goa—he worked for C.Ramchandra mainly.
Chris Perry worked for Khayyam, R D Burman, Kalyanji Anandji, and Laxmikant Pyarelal.
Frank Fernando- worked with Anil Biswas, Kishore Kumar, Roshan and C.Ramchandra.
Sebastian D’Souza from Bicholim-Goa—worked for Shanker Jaikishen from 1952 to 1975 and also with O P Nayyar. Incidentally, he is the one Arranger who worked with a maximum number of different Music Directors,irrespective whether they were small, medium or big ones, new or old ones.
Most of the players of western instruments in the Orchestras were from Goa. Only some are mentioned.
Sebastian D’Souza was one of the most reputed arrangers in Bollywood, who did his best-known work with the duo of Shankar-Jaikishan between 1952 and 1975. His first break was with O. P. Nayyar. The first tune he arranged was “Pritam aan milo”, which was sung by C. H. Atma in 1955. He devised a system of notation that incorporated the microtones that characterised Indian melodies.
Sebastian was born on 29 January 1906 in Reis-Magos, Goa. He learnt to play the violin and piano in a local church school. While learning these instruments, he also learnt to write music notation. It was during this time that he listened to the famous symphonies of well-known composers of the western world, namely, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Haydon and Richard Wagner. Deeply interested in violin and piano, Sebastian continued his learning and went to places like Allahabad, Mussorie and Delhi. At Delhi, in Hotel Astoria, he started his own band and people appreciated it. In 1942, he went to Lahore, and in Hotel Stiffels, he started his own band. This continued until 1947. After partition, he went to Bombay and started his career as a violinist in the film industry. He played for well-known music directors like Anil Biswas, Naushad, Vinod, Ghulam Haider, Husnlal-Bhagatram, S. D. Burman, Sajjad Hussain and Shanker-Jaikishan.
He started his career as a Music Arranger in 1948-49 with O. P. Nayyar when Nayyar recorded his first song “Preetam aan milo…..” sung by C. H. Atma and written by Mrs. Saroj Mohini Nayyar (O. P. Nayyar’s wife) . After three years, Nayyar signed his first film, Dalsukh Pancholi’s “Aasmaan”, as an independent music director. At that time he called Sebastian to work as his Arranger. Sebastian, thus, started his career as an arranger with O. P. Nayyar in 1952 which he continued till 1973. The last film for which he worked with O. P. Nayyar was ‘Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye’. Incidentally this was also the last film of singer Asha Bhosale with Nayyar.
In 1952, Sebastian’s friend Sunny Castellino, who worked as an arranger for Shanker-Jaikishan, introduced Sebastian to the duo. So Sebastian started as Shanker-Jaikishan’s arranger from 1952 with Amiya Chakravarty’s Daag, and continued until 1975. Film Sanyasi was Sebastian’s last film with them.
In film Daag as an arranger, Sebastian’s most successful innovative work was the creation of a memorable counter-melody for a song sung by both Talat Mehmood and Lata Mangeshker –‘Ai mere dil kahin aur chal…..’. According to Sebastian, in this song he used the accordion for creating counter-melody along with violin and mandolin. And the result was excellent. Sebastian used accordion for interlude music in a number of songs but its use as the main instrument for counter-melody was rare.
Shankar-Jaikishan being lovers of Indian Classical Music, composed a LP record titled Raga Jazz Style in which they presented 11 Raga in Jazz style. Sebastian arranged the music and wrote the notations. Sebastian also worked for great music directors like Salil Chowdhury, Vasant Desai, S. D. Burman, Madan Mohan, Roshan, Dattaram and N. Dutta. Sebastian occasionally worked for Vinod, Sardar Malik, S.Mohinder, Kalyanji Veerji Shah, Kanu Ghosh, Iqbal Qureshi, Prem Dhawan, Shyamji Ghanashyamji and Nitin Mangesh as well. And he never forgot to express his gratitude towards renowned musicians such as Robert Correa and Mike Machado (the Pianists), Albuquerque, Verga, Simplicio D’Souza and John Gonsalves (the Cellists), V Balsara and Goody Seervai (the Accordionists), Duorado, Narvekar and Karnad (the solo Violinists) and David (the Mandolin player). He would also fondly recall his contemporary music arrangers such as Johny Gomes, Castellino, Chic Chocolate, Ram Singh, Rizbert and Franky.
When he died, on 9-3-1998, in his own Bungalow- “Seb-Maria“, he instructed that no money be spent on his funeral and all that was saved should go to charity; such is the modesty of greats. Sebastian left behind a rich musical legacy which will live into generations after his time.
Did Sebastian ever give music to any film as MD ? Yes. There is a reference available, which says that Sound Recordist D.O.Bhansali confirmed that the MD SOORAJ for film Street singer-1966 was none other than a team of Dattaram, Sebastian and Enoch Daniels. ( from RMIM archive). This was their only film.
Sebastian’s remarkable contribution was his ability to combine Western orchestra with the Indian. His are the songs which we remember even today due to the richness of his musical arrangements and the variations in his melodies. Sebastian was a complete musician. His music lovers will remember his music for years to come. (Thanks to an article by Dr. Padmanabh Joshi. Parts of his article have been used here with adaptations,along with an article from the book ‘Rahe na rahe hum’ by Shantaram Mankikar and my notes.)
From the mid 50’s, Indian film music was influenced by Jazz, Rock-N-Roll, Cha Cha Cha and such western foot tapping tunes. Today’s song is also on these lines. It is a funny song with ‘Anokhe Bol’, sung by Asha Bhosle. With this song, the film gets YIPPEED ! Enjoy….
Song- Main hoon Miss Bambai (Mr Qartoon)(1958) Singer- Asha Bhosle, Lyricist- Hasrat Jaipuri, MD- O P Nayyar
Chorus
Asha Bhosle + chorus
Lyrics
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
main hoon miss bambai
main hoon miss bambai
nazron se dil loot ke laayee
jahaan jahaan main gayee
main hoon miss bambai
aha main hoon miss bambai
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
(aa aa aa aa aa)
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
(aa aa aa aa aa)
rock and roll ke taal pe naacho
english band pe gaao
yeah
duniya rasta chhode jab main bas stand pe aaun
ek akeli jaan hai meri chaahne waale kai
main hoon miss bambai
are main hoon miss kalkatta
main hoon miss kalkatta
husn hai mera chikna chikna
jaise paan ka patta
main hoon miss kalkatta
main hoon miss kalkatta
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
(aa aa aa aa aa)
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
(aa aa aa aa aa)
ek ishaare se badloon dilwaalon ki takdeeren
jisko chaahun main pahna doon ulfat ki zanjire
aankho ki kainchee se kaatoon sabke dil ka patta
main hoon miss kalkatta
are main to hoon miss dilli
main to hoon miss dilli
dilwaalon ka rasta kaatoon ban kar kaali billi
main to hun miss dilli
ho main to hoon miss dilli
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
(aa aa aa aa aa)
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
(aa aa aa aa aa)
meri adaa mein meri jabaan mein bijli ki si tezi
hindustaani boloon ismein mix karoon angrezi
jo koi bhi lahaj(?) jatlaaye
keh doon oh you silly
main to hoon miss dilli
are main hoon miss bambai
main hoon miss bambai
nazron se dil loot ke laai
jahaan jahaan main gai
main hun miss bambai
arre main hoon miss kalkatta
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
anta banta oot patanta
duniya hai tanta kichi kichi danta
aa haa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 5, 2025 at 11:03 am
Thanks for the extensive write up on Johnny Walker and his role and performance in the hindi movies of fifties and sixties! In fact , he was indeed the hero or a parallel one in spite of the presence of big stars of the time in the movies and it was also said that most heroes also preferred them in their movies as his presence ensured the success of their movies .
LikeLike
March 5, 2025 at 1:44 pm
Thanks for your appreciation.
-AD
LikeLike