Prabhu Jee mujhe aasraa hai tumhaaraa
Posted on: March 27, 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 the film Maa Baap ki Laaj-1946.
1946 was an important year in the history of Hindi films. This was the period when the impending Independence of India was on the Anvil and everyone knew that in the year 1947 it would take place. At the same time when the country was to be divided on the basis of Religion and another muslim country Pakistan was to come into existence. Many of the muslims in the film industry were excitedly awaiting their departure from India to the Utopia. This would, naturally, create a lot of vacancies in every department of film making. However, there was enough talent available in the remaining India to fill up the void. Hence from the year 1946 itself there were several debutantes. This made the year 1946 an year of Debuts of several new actors, directors, MDs, Lyricists etc etc.
The second World War had just ended, which had created innumerable millionaires, fed on black marketing and illegal trades in the war period. Many of them were keen on investing their ill gotten wealth in the film industry. Thus, there was no dearth of finances in the industry. From 1946 to around the early years of the 50’s, some of these ” novo-rich” persons provided finance. Some even tried their hand at directing films or even acting in it. Let us see what other things happened during this period.
By 1946 to 1950 old towers shook hard to crumble. The studio system almost disappeared. Film industry could now boast of people highly educated, talented and hard working. Even artists with International experience and success like Dewan Sharar, Shakuntala Paranjpye, actor Ranjan, Balraj Sahni etc contributed to Indian films. The old horse of Calcutta-New Theatres broke down and actors, directors and Music specialists from Bengal made a Bee-Line to Bombay, thus making it the strongest ever film centre.
1946 was also an year of consolidation, in a sense that due to the imminent Partition of India on the basis of Religion, agreed upon by Gandhi-Nehru combine, made Muslim artistes and filmmakers plan to pack their bags and move over to the new Utopia across the border. Their vacancies were to be filled up by the waiting second line of actors, directors and MDs. The film industry was to have a complete new look within 1-2 years and the beginning was from 1946. Thus the year was very important.
The year 1946 was a year which saw many changes in the film industry. The II world war had just ended. Rationing and control on many items had created Black marketing. This made many people Millionaires. The extra income started getting invested in Film making. The increased cost of Raw Films made filmmaking 7 to 8 times costlier. A film which was made in about 1 Lakh rupees in 1940, needed 8 Lakhs now. Studio system was waning and artiste rates increased in Lakhs instead of thousands.
In 1945, only 74 films were made. This number increased to 153 films in 1946. Further, in 1947, the film industry produced a record number of films – 181, but of course that was due to Partition. The quality of films was sacrificed at the cost of the quantity of films made in 1946. However, some quality films were made in 1946, indicating the changing face of filmmaking.
Not only all this, but as many as 35 artists in different fields debuted in 1946, filling the expected void of migration. Here is the list of Debuts….
Actors….Balraj Sahni, Dev Anand, Rahman, Abhi Bhattacharya, Kishore Kumar.
Actresses….Nirupa Roy, Nasreen, Geeta Bali, Rehana, Kamla Kotnis, Uma Anand, Kamini Kaushal, Tasneem, Shashi, Baby Tabassum, Baby Mumtaz, Nigar Sultana, Cuckoo, Damayanti Sahni.
Singers…. Geeta Roy, Meena Kapoor, Madhubala.
Directors…. K.A.Abbas, P.L.Santoshi, Chetan Anand.
Music directors….Pt. Ravi Shankar, Sudhir Phadke, Chitragupt, Ram Ganguli, Hansraj Behl, S.D.Burman, Vinod, Snehal Bhatkar.
Lyricists…. Indivar, Majrooh Sultanpuri.
Film Maa Baap ki Laaj-1946 was made by Hind Pictures, Bombay, which was owned by producer, director and actor Nazir Ahmed Khan. However, this film was directed by Nanabhai Bhatt. This was a coveted Social film for Nanabhai, because he was known only to direct B and C grade stunt, action and costume films mainly. In this same year he had directed another social film from Wadia Movietone, ‘Muqabala’-1942, but in the name of Batuk bhai- his pseudonym.
Music was by the Tabla Maestro A.R.Qureshi (father of another expert Zakir Hussain, who died recently). The cast of the film included Swarnlata, nazir, Jayant, Kusum Deshpande, Majid, Gulab, Anwari bai etc.
Nazir Ahmad Khan (2-6-1910 to 28-8-1983) was a Indian / Pakistani film actor, director and producer. He was the first successful film hero in independent Pakistan. Nazir was associated with almost two hundred films during his career, which spanned over a period of 55 years. Nazir Ahmed was widely known as Bao Jee in the film industries in India and in Pakistan.
It was in the late 1920s when Nazir went to Calcutta along with A.R. Kardar, and appeared in a character role in Kardar’s Sarfarosh (aka ‘The Daring One’) in 1929. Kardar later made Heer in which Nazir played the role of the Qazi. Both these films are from the silent era. He also did a secondary role in Kardar’s Mysterious Bandit. Nazir went to Bombay. During this period he was cast in leading roles in Rajputana Ka Sher, Chandaal Chaukri, Badmaash Ka Baita and Pahari Sawar. In 1934 he went back to Calcutta on the request of his old friend Kardar to act in his productions of Chandra Gupta, Sultana, Milaap, Mandar, Night Bird and Aab-e-Hayat.
In Calcutta Nazir won laurels for his role of Chanakya in Chandra Gupta. To perform this role realistically, Nazir had his head shaved completely to authentically perform the role of the ancient Indian minister.
In 1939, both Nazir and Kardar moved to Bombay and under Kardar’s banner he performed his most well remembered and renowned character role in Baghbaan, which besides creating box office records also established him as a hero.
Shokh Dilruba, Sher ka Panja, Shamaa, Midnight Mail, Swami Pooja, Apni Nagaria, Laila Majnu, Wamaq Azra, Sandaisa, Kaljug, Society, Chher Chhar, Aabroo, Salma, Gaon Ki Gori, Maa Baap ki Laaj, Yaadgar, Malika and Abida and several other hit films of that era are credited to his name. He also produced and Directed many of them. Most of the films directed by him saw the milestones of being Silver Jubilees. He acted in 25 films and directed 8 films in India. He even sang 7 songs in 5 films.
Nazir’s studio and the offices of Hind Pictures were burnt down during the riots in 1946-47, because he had proudly put the Muslim League flag on the building. Nazir stood quietly outside his burning studio, smoking a cigarette and watching the ashes. In 1947, Nazir migrated to Pakistan. He left everything he had behind in Bombay and shifted to Lahore. He started from scratch and in the process became one of the pioneers of the Pakistan film industry.
He produced and directed Saachai, as his first film in the newly born Pakistan. It was followed by the first Silver Jubilee film of Pakistani Cinema, Pheray. Nazir completed Pheray in just one month, followed by Larey. His other movies include Shehri Babu, Anokhi Daastan, Shamaa, Heer, Khatoon, Noor-e-Islam and Azmat-e-Islam. During the 1960s, he disassociated himself from Pakistani cinema, with the decline in this industry. He could not reconcile himself with the qualitatively declining trends in this industry.
Nazir was first married to his cousin Sikandara Begum. He was the Maternal Uncle of K.Asif, Director of Mughal E Azam. Later he married Sitara Devi and before going to Pakistan, he married his Heroine Swarnalata. He died on 28-8- 1983.
The Indian Cine industry is full of similar names of people working in films, whether as actors, directors or singers or even M.D.s. This causes a syndrome called ” SAME NAME CONFUSION “. Similarities in names is a common cause of wrong information. It causes mistakes in filmographies too. Calling Nazir Hussain as Nasir Hussain makes a big difference because first was an actor and the second one was a Director. When Nazir Ahmed Khan was operating in India there were 2 more Nazirs. The first one-Senior most was S.Nazir. he started his career from 1934 film Veer Bharat. He worked in 112 films till his last film Irada -1971. He was seen in most films of Dilip Kumar. The other one was Nazir Kashmiri, who started in 1941 with the film Masoom and did 160 films. In the 1960 onwards, he mostly did household servant’s roles and became famous as ” RAMU KAKA”. His last film was Kala Pathar-1979. Then there was the famous actor who wept in almost every film- Nazir Hussain. He, however, started in 1950 onwards.
The story of the film Maa Baap Ki Laaj-1946 was….
A widow mother has 2 daughters-Bimla and Kamala. Elder one Bimla (Kusum) is in love with Sharat (Jayant) and both are modern minded. The younger Kamala (Swarnalata) is Traditional minded. Bimla’s marriage is fixed with Anup (Nazir), who is a traditional boy. Bimla, to avoid the marriage, runs away with Sharat. To save the family’s ‘Izzat’, Kamala is married to Anup. His mother Gangubai (Gulab) is shrewd and troubles Kamala very much, but she bears everything to make everyone happy. Slowly Gangubai’s opinion changes. All are happy with her now.
Meanwhile Bimla and Sharat’s life is miserable as his job is gone and money is gone due to their extravagant habits and modern style of enjoying life. They realise their mistake. Anup gets a job for Sharat. In the end all’s well that ends well.
Now enjoy a bhajan by Naseem Akhtar from this 79 year old film….
Song- Prabhu jee mujhe aasra hai tumhaara (Maa Baap Ki Laaj)(1946) Singer- Naseem Akhtar, Lyricist- Not known, MD- Alla Rakha Qureshi
Lyrics
Prabhu jee mujhe aasra hai tumhaara
Prabhu jee mujhe aasra hai tumhaara
bada zulm hoga jo mujhko bisaara
bada zulm hoga jo mujhko bisaara
Prabhu jee mujhe aasra hai tumhaara
Prabhu jee mujhe aasra hai tumhaara
tumhaare bina aur kisko pukaaroon
tumhaare bina aur kisko pukaaroon
bataao to jeewan ko kaise sanwaaroon
bataao to jeewan ko kaise sanwaaroon
tumhaare siwa kaun mera sahaara
tumhaare siwa kaun mera sahaara
bada zulm hoga jo mujhko bisaara
Prabhu jee mujhe aasra hai tumhaara
Prabhu jee mujhe aasra hai tumhaara
tumhaare bharosey hai jeewan ki naiyya
tumhaare bharosey hai jeewan ki naiyya
laga do isey paar mere khivaiyya
laga do isey paar mere khivaiyya
suna hai ke kitnon ko toone hai taaraa
suna hai ke kitnon ko toone hai taaraa
bada zulm hoga jo mujhko bisaara
Prabhu jee mujhe aasra hai tumhaara
Prabhu jee mujhe aasra hai tumhaara
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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