Moree gagaree kaa neer raaja chhalak na jaaye
Posted on: March 14, 2025
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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, March 14. 2025 is 112th birth anniversary of the music director, S N Tripathi who served the Hindi film industry for over 4 decades also a singer, writer, director and an actor.
Banaras born Shri Nath Tripathi (14 March 1913 – 28 March 1988) completed his B.Sc. from Allahabad University after which he enrolled in Marris College of Music (Now Pandit Bhatkhande Music Institute) in Lucknow and got the degree of Sangeet Visharad. He came to Mumbai in 1935 and became an assistant to music director Saraswati Devi in Bombay Talkies. He got his first independent assignment as a music director for the film, ‘Chandan’ (1941).
The box office success of his film, ‘Panghat’ (1943), in which his songs became very popular, S N Tripathi’s career as a music director took off. As a music director he did 15 films in the 1940s. The decades of 1950s and 1960s were very good for his career during which he composed music for as many as 62 films. Many of his songs composed by him during this period were very popular like in films, ‘Janam Janam Ke Phere’ (1957), ‘Rani Rupmati’ (1959), ‘Laal Kila’ (1960). ‘Sangeet Samrat Tansen’ (1962). In 1970s, his filmy career moved downwards with only 18 films. His last film as a music director was ‘Agent 1 2 3’ (1983).
S N Tripathi had a filmy career as a music director, singer, writer, director and actor. During his filmy career spanning over four decades, S N Tripathi composed music for over 100 films. He acted in about 90 films and directed 18 Hindi films of which 16 films belonged to the genre of mythological/costume/historical films. In addition, he directed three Bhojpuri films for which he was also the music director. Despite such a long filmy career with multi-faceted talents, S N Tripathi could not achieve the status of a front-ranked music director to get big banner films.
As stated above, ‘Panghat’ (1943) was a turning point in the career of S N Tripathi as a music director. All 11 songs of the film became popular with as many as six songs rendered by him. After the box office success of this film, S N Tripathi got a spate of assignments as a music director. So, it is fitness of the thing to discuss this film with one of its song on the occasion of his 112th birth anniversary.
‘Panghat’ (1943) was produced by Vijay Bhatt and Shankar Bhatt under the banner of Shri Prakash Pictures and was directed by K J Parmar and Mahesh Chandra. The cast included Umakant and Ratnamala in the lead roles supported by Jeevan, Rajkumari Shukla, Sushil Kumar, Leela Pawar, Pande, Baby Tara, Chiman Seth, Alaknanda, O P Sharma, Athavale etc. Shri Prakash Pictures remade this film as ‘Pyaase Panchhi’ (1961) with the same characters’ names as in ‘Panghat’ (1963). Mehmood and Amita replicated the roles of Umakant and Ratnamala, respectively.
The story of ‘Panghat’ (1943) in detail is as under:
Seth Durga Prasad Chaturvedi had constructed a well in his premises in Shivpur village for the use of villagers. After his death, his son, Seth Jamunaprasad (Jeevan) does not allow the poor villagers to draw water from the well as his wife (Rajkumari Shukla) is very conservative in following the caste system. Jamunaprasad’s marriageable sister Radha (Ratnamala) and her friends regularly meet at the Panghat (the space surrounding the well).
Jamunaprasad receives a marriage proposal for his sister, Radha from Kiran Kumar (Sushil Kumar), the son of wealthy trader in a neighbouring village. In connection with collecting the sales proceeds, Kiran Kumar’s father asks him to visit Shivpur and stay in Jamunaprasad’s house so that he can see Radha and decides about his acceptance of Radha as his bride. However, Kiran Kumar has to play his role in a drama with his sweet heart, Jyoti (Leela Pawar) on the same night. Hence he is reluctant to visit Shivpur. At the same time, he is afraid of saying ‘no’ to his father. So, he persuade his friend, Mohan (Umakant) who is his co-artist in the drama to visit Shivpur for collecting the sales proceeds without telling him about the second purpose of his visit to see Radha.
Mohan leaves for Shivpur on his cycle. On the way, near the Panghat, he falls from his cycles in the dirt spoiling his dress. All the girls at the Panghat including Radha have a hearty laugh looking at him. On the way to Jamunaprasad’s house, his cycle dashes with Radha while she was carrying the earthen waterpot which falls and breaks. Radha has some angry conversations with Mohan after which he reaches Jamunaprasad’s house for the night stay as instructed by Kiran Kumar. Seeing him and coming from the neighbouring village, Jamunaprasad and his wife take Mohan to be Kiran Kumar, their prospective son-in-law and they welcome him as such. His stay arrangement is done in their best guest room, and he is served best food. By this time, Radha has come to know that the person with whom she had angry conversation is none other than her prospective husband. Now she also treats him with her shy behaviour. Mohan is a confused person with his welcome treats.
Next day, he leaves Jamunadas’s house for his collection. His prospective in-laws are impressed with his simplicity and innocence. Radha is also impressed with his helpful nature when he requests Jamunaprasad to allow poor people to draw water from his well. Coming from the mouth of his prospective son-in-law, he reluctantly agrees. Mohan returns to his village and gives his trip report to Kiran Kumar. Mohan, after his initial hiccups, has also started liking Radha. He has also requested her to send the lyrics of the song which she was singing at the panghat which he will used in his drama.
Next day, Kiran Kumar’s father asks him as to how was the trip, and his impression about Radha. He just says that she is alright. He also gives the money to his father which he was supposed to collect in Shivpur, out of his earnings from last night’s drama. So, his father writes back to Jamunaprasad giving the consent to the marriage of Kiran with Radha.
In Shivpur, Radha writes a letter to Mohan as Kiran Kumar, giving him the lyrics of the song she was singing at panghat which Mohan wants use in one of his future dramas. Apparently, the letter is opened by Kiran Kumar who finds it amusing. He gives it to Mohan and tells him that he does not want to marry Radha as he loves Jyoti and would like to marry her. Mohan suggests him to write to Jamunaprasad accordingly and also tell his father about his liking for Jyoti. While he does the first, he is reluctant to tell about the second. It is only when Mohan reveals the truth about his visit to Shivpur, Kiran Kumar’s father realises seriousness of the issue. Jamunaprasad on the other hand threatens legal action against Kiran Kumar’s father for impersonation. Mohan assures Kiran Kumar’s father that he would take care of Jamunaprasad amicably and pleads for the marriage of Kiran Kumar with Jyoti.
Next day, Mohan visits Shivpur to reveal the truth about the whole incident to Radha who is not surprised by his revelation as she loves him as a person and not by the name. But Jamunaprasad and his wife are angry. They once again stop the drawing water from the well by the poor villagers. Mohan assures the villagers that he would get constructed a new well for the use of the entire village. For this, he and Kiran Kumar organise a charity drama in the village. Kiran’s father would make good any shortfall in the cost of constructing a well. The play appropriately named ‘Panihari’ is staged and collect the required money for construction of a well. But it would take a couple of months for the completion of the construction of a new well.
Meanwhile, Jamunaprasad having stopped the use of his well for the poor people of Shivpur, the water scarcity forces them to organise an agitation against him. So, Jamunaprasad sends his men to prevent the villagers from drawing the water from the well. Mohan leads the agitation, but Jamunaprasad is stubborn. Mohan directs poor villagers to forcibly draw the water from the well as it is on the Government land and therefore the well belongs to people of Shivpur village. There is shuffle between Jamunaprasad’s men and the villagers in which Mohan gets head injury, momentarily becoming unconscious. Radha after watching Mohan unconscious, jumps into the well to commit suicide. A shocked Jamunaprasad appeal to villagers to save his sister. In the commotion, Mohan jumps in the well and brings up Radha with the help of a rope pulled by all villagers. Jamunaprasad has a change of heart. He allows the poor villagers to draw the water from the well and agrees for the marriage of Radha with Mohan.
This is a beautiful film which initially I was hesitant to watch. It is a musical romantic family drama with a touch of light humour. The screenplay is very crisp which made watching the film interesting. The dialogues written by Pandit Indra are simple and are loaded with humour. Yet they are effective to convey the theme of the eradication of casteism without sounding preachy. The song picturisation in the film mostly follows the pattern of Marathi ‘sangeet natak’ (musical drama) in which songs carry forward the story.
‘Panghat’ (1943) had 11 songs including one song in two parts written by Ramesh Gupta (7) and Pandit Indra (4) which were set to music by S N Tripathi. Seven songs have been covered in the Blog. I am presenting the 8th song, ‘moree gagaree kaa neer raaja chalak naa jaaye’ rendered by Rajkumari Dubey and an unidentified male singer. The song is written by Ramesh Gupta. It is a stage dance song picturised on Alaknanda and the film’s choreographer, Chiman Seth.
The context of the song in the film is that Kiran Kumar (Sushil Kumar), who is a drama artist, has lined up his performance. After the end of his performance by way of a dance song, ‘door chalaa chal tu kaheen’, the dance song under discussion is presented in continuation as a part of the drama. While drama is in progress, Mohan (Umakant) has already reached Jamunaprasad’s house getting a welcome treat as his prospective son-in-law, Kiran Kumar.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Moree gagaree ka neer raajaa chhalak na jaaye (Panghat)(1943) Singers-Rajkumari Dubey, Unidentified Male Singer, Lyrics-Ramesh Gupta, MD-S N Tripathi
Both
Lyrics:
nainaa it ut bhatakte
vyaakul huaa shareer
tumhre daras ko tadaptee
jyon machhlee bin neer
ae ae mastak bindiyaa zulmee nain
gal taaron kaa haar
haay meraa dil le gayee..ee
panghat kee panihaar
moree gagaree kaa neer raaja chhalak na jaaye
moree gagaree kaa neer raaja chhalak na jaaye
toree chadhhtee jawaanee raanee dhhalak na jaaye
toree chadhhtee jawaanee raanee dhhalak na jaaye
moree gaagaree kaa neer raaja chalak na jaaye
cholee bheenge chunar bheenge lehangaa bheenge haay
cholee bheenge chunar bheenge lehangaa bheenge haay
sakhee sahelee mose poochhe
sakhee sahelee mose poochhe
sakhee sahelee mose poochhe
bolaa hee na jaaye
kachhu kahaa hee na jaaye
moree gagaree kaa neer raajaa chhalak na jaaye
toree chadhhtee jawaanee raanee dhhalak na jaaye
moree gagaree kaa neer raaja chhalak na jaaye
choree choree milnaa goree hamen na suhaay
choree choree milnaa goree hamen na suhaay
aazaadee kaa byaah rachaayen
aazaadee kaa byaah
uyee maan
aazaadee kaa byaah rachaayen panghat jaayen
goree Jamuna pe jaayen
toree chadhhtee jawaanee raanee dhalak na jaaye
moree gagaree ka neer raaja chhalak na jaaye
bhaiya poochhe maiya poochhe baapu naak chadhhaaye
bhaiya poochhe maiya poochhe baapu naak chadhhaaye
main to maroon sharm kee maaree
main to maroon sharm kee
kahaa bhee na jaaye
khuchh kahaa bhee na jaaye
moree gaagaree kaa neer raaja chhalak na jaaye
toree chadhhtee jawaanee raanee dhalak na jaaye
moree gagree kaa neer raaja chhalak na jaaye
kaale saasu sasure jee se kahiyo goree jaaye
kaale saasu sasure jee se kahiyo goree jaaye
hamne saajan dhoondhh liyaa hai
hamne preetam dhoondhh liyaa hai
kaahe sharmaaye
goree kaahe sharmaaye
mose haan kahaa na jaaye
mose na kahaa na jaaye
mose haan kahaa na jaaye
ho mose na kahaa na jaaye
laagee prem kataar
haay rahaa hee na jaaye
lagaa prem kaa teer
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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