Zindagee kaa aasraa jaataa rahaa
Posted on: May 3, 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 the last song from the film Guru Ghantal-1956.
We got Independence in 1947 and the most delighted industry in India was the Film Industry. The reasons were simple.
Some reasons were….
1. Unjustified restrictions on the storylines were now removed.
2. Stories and songs would be free from any constraints.
3. Raw Film prices would be controlled and its availability assured.
4. No force on making ‘ War Effort’ (propaganda) films anymore.
5. An Independent union of filmmakers, without Government intervention was now possible.
6. More facilities for the industry could be expected. etc etc.
The film production resumed with a new enthusiasm. Initially, i.e. for the first 5-6 years, films on Patriotism were made. However, when the euphoria settled down, films were made on what the Indian people desired now – like joint families, elders, conjugal problems, evils in the society, Mythology, social films etc. Films of the decade of 1950 reflected these changes.
1956 was the Silver Jubilee year of Indian Talkie Films. This year, the most successful films were entertainers. There were of course some films carrying social messages. One of them was ‘Jaagte Raho’ (‘Ek Din Ratre’ in Bangla), which tried to bring out the upper middle class hypocrisy in a metro city like Bombay. Initially, the film did not make any ripples, but after it won International awards, it became very popular. (People of other nations have to tell us that our film is good !). A social message, excellent music and solid story – the hallmarks of an RK film were all there in it.
Then, the film ‘Ek Hi Raasta’ tackled the issue of widow re-marriage and acceptance of a new father by the child. Comedy entertainer ‘Nai Dilli’ emphasized the need for inter language marriages in India. Satyajit Ray’s ‘Aparajita’- the sequel to ‘Pather Panchali’ (1955), hit the screens in India after winning accolades internationally.
Musical entertainers like ‘CID’, ‘Chori Chori’, ‘Basant Bahar’, ‘Rajhath’, ‘Bhai Bhai’, ‘Funtoosh’ and ‘Inspector’ were quite popular. Amongst all these, a powerful tear-jerker like ‘Toofan Aur Diya’ from Rajkamal stood out. It also brought actress Nanda into limelight and made her drop “Baby” from her name.
Film Guru Ghaqntyal-1956 was also one such film, which tried to expose the so-called “Magic healers” which crop up in every city now and then. There are enough gullible and superstitious citizens who want quick solutions instead of scientific treatment for their health issues. In the 1950’s India had a literacy rate of less than 20 % ( exactly 18.33), which had a significant hopeful increase from 12 % of 1947.
Today it is 77.7 % (Males 84.7 and Females 70.3). In those years people did not think logically, they thought emotionally and based on their age old beliefs. If today, some woman is not conceiving, she goes to a doctor to know the reasons and have a treatment thereof, but in the 50’s people preferred “Magic Healing” to doctors !
The central theme of the film Guru Ghantal was this. The story of the film was given by me in another post early in April 2025, hence I am not repeating it here. The cast of the film had 2 interesting actresses. One was Vijaybala. Real name is Mumtaz Begum. She was the sister of singer Mubarak Begum (hamari yaad aayegi). The other one was actress Ushakiran.
Usha Kiran was one of the leading heroines of her times. Maharashtrian girls have always been in the forefront and they were the single largest community in the early years, which provided heroines to Hindi films and sometimes Gujarati films too. Right from Kamlabai Gokhale, Vasanti (Ghorpade),Shanta Apte, Shanta Hublikar, Snehprabha Pradhan, Leela Chitnis, Durga Khote, Lalita Pawar to Nalini Jaywant, Meenakshi Shirodkar, Shobhana Samarth, Vanmala, Shakuntala, Jayashree, Sundarabai, Vatsala Kumthekar etc down to Nutan, Tanuja, Shashikala, Shubha Khote etc etc are a testimony to the contribution of Marathi Heroines to Hindi film industry.
Slowly, the number of Marathi girls diminished over a period and today the number of Marathi girls in the Industry can be counted on one’s fingers.
Usha Kiran was probably one of the last batch of Marathi heroines in Hindi films.
USHA MARATHE ( her real name) was born on 22-4-1929, in a middle class Marathi Brahmin family. Her father was very ambitious and he encouraged his daughters to act in stage plays. She started acting on stage. Since her father had left his job, she became the family’s sole bread earner. During one such stage show, famous dancer Uday Shankar saw her and took her to Madras to do a small role in his ambitious dance film “Kalpana” ( which was finally released in 1948). But unfortunately Uday Shankar got annoyed with her behaviour on sets and removed her role from the film.
She started doing small roles in films to earn money. She acted in her major film “Lalaat”-47. In this film, she was credited as Usha Marathe. The film did not do any good to her. Finally, the famous director Amiya Chakravarty spotted her and gave her the lead role in his film ” Gauna”-1950. Her name was changed to Usha Kiran. The film went flop. Another film also flopped, but her third film with Amiya Chakravarty, opposite Dev Anand-” Patita”, became a Hit and then there was no looking back for her.
An interesting point about her films. She acted in film “Parivaar”-56, which was directed by Asit Sen, who later on became a Roly-poly comedian in films. She also acted in the film “Mehendi”-83,which was directed by Asit Sen who was exclusively a Director throughout his career.
Some of her important films were Madhosh, Daag, Patita, Baadbaan, Adhikar, Musafir, Kabuliwala, Bahurani, Mili, Bawarchi, Chupke chupke etc. She acted with almost all leading heroes of her times.
She got married to Dr. Manohar Kher in 1954. She got a son Advait and a daughter-Sanhita or Tanvi, who eloped to marry Baba Azmi, brother of actress Shabana Azmi.
Usha Kiran acted in 61 Hindi, 32 Marathi and 4 Gujarati films. Her last film was Bahurani-1989. She got Filmfare award for best Supporting actress for Baadbaan-54.
Usha Kiran was Sheriff of Mumbai City in the year 1997. She died on 9-3-2000.
Here is a part of her interview,where she talks about her personal ‘affair’-
” Coming from a very simple middle-class Maharashtrian Brahmin family, I was the second of five children. My father was an extremely ambitious man. He wanted us children to do great things for the family. That was the reason he pushed my elder sister and me towards the theatre. In the beginning, I hated it and was reluctant to even do simple stage shows. All I wanted was to marry, have a few kids and settle into oblivion. But destiny had other things in store for me. During a stage performance at the now Excelsior Theatre, the great Udayshankar spotted me. He hauled me off to Madras with my father, where I was to play a big part in his feature film Kalpana. My father was thrilled, even though it was such a small role.
Once in Madras however, catastrophe took place. I was thrown out of the film and sent packing back to Bombay. It was just a misunderstanding, coupled with Udayji’s mercurial temperament and my militant naivete. For a dance sequence, I had to wear a transparent Manipuri costume. Since I was conscious of it, I wore a white slip underneath. Mrs. Uday Shankar asked me to remove it for the shot, since it would have looked very awkward. I didn’t pay heed to it. So later, Udayji noticed it and yelled at his wife for not taking care of the costumes. She in turn screamed at me. After that incident, I used to hang around the set with a permanent sulky expression. This used to get on Udayji’s nerves and one day he bellowed once again. ‘Don’t you know how to smile?’ I in turn, replied hotly, ‘No! You teach me how to smile! ‘ And that was the end. In retrospect, I would still credit him with shaping my inherent talent, more than anyone else. He is an education in acting and dancing for any actress.
My father was hell-bent on making me an actress, and wouldn’t rest till I had got a role in every film possible. But, it was rejection, and more rejection. It didn’t bother me one bit. In fact, I was secretly happy. My father was so desperate that he even produced a film which flopped miserably. Of course, there were bit roles in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati films. But they hardly helped, except for keeping the kitchen fires burning. My father had even quit his job. So the family was totally dependent on me.
Finally, his patience paid off. Amiya Chakraborty came into my life and changed everything. He offered me my first role as a heroine in Gauna. The film bombed, but I was signed again for his next film. I was to play Shashikala’s mother. And I was only 22 years old. Shashikala might have been my age, if not a few years old (Chuckles). It was sheer compulsion that made me do it. We needed the money to get my sister married off. Thankfully, that film also flopped, otherwise I would never have made it as a heroine. But in a way this film also proved lucky for me. Because soon after, I began doing lead roles in Gujarati and Marathi films. I even started getting good Hindi films.
Patita, was my first major hit. Soon after that came Dushman, Baadmaan with Dev Anand, Musafirwith Dilip Kumar. Nazrana with Raj Kapoor, Kabuliwaala, Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere with Balraj Sahni, Dhobi Doctor and Adhikar with Kishore Kumar. There were also many others with Ashok Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, etc. Simultaneously all my bilingual films started doing very well. And I was right at the top. I used to work in two shifts, which was so uncommon in those days.
But along with success came the biggest emotional turmoil and subsequent heart break. I fell madly in love with Amiya Chakraborty. I guess it was my extreme youth that responded to his older charm. Although he was sixteen years older than me, he had an extraordinarily attractive personality. We got involved recklessly. The heartbreak was that he was a married man and there was nothing I could do about it. I came from a Brahmin family where mistresses were unheard of. So it was quite a big scandal. Since I was basically an above board person, my days and nights used to be tormented with guilt. Till one day Amia’s wife decided to meet me.
She was a very magnanimous lady. She told me that she realized that her husband and I were really in love with each other. It was not a casual affair. She was willing to step out and give us our freedom. That really jolted me. For a long time, I didn’t say anything. And then I made the biggest, wisest, and yet the most painful decision of my life. I assured the lady that I would never ever seek her husband again no matter what happened. I knew that there was only one way out. And that was marriage. By God’s grace I didn’t have to look far. There was already someone who I had at the back of my mind. A very handsome, well educated young man who used to frequent a relative’s house. I met him and had a very long heart to heart talk with him. I emptied all my emotional baggage, and asked him whether he was still willing to marry me. He smiled and agreed. I became Mrs. Kher in 1954. ”
Today’s song is the last song of this film and the film will be YIPPEED. Enjoy this 70 year old song by 23 year old Asha Bhosle….
Song- Zindagee ka aasra jaata raha (Guru Ghantaal)(1956) Singer- Asha Bhosle, Lyricist- Khawar Zaman, MD-Lachchiram Tomar
Lyrics
zindagee ka aasra aa jaata raha
zindagee ka aasra aa jaata raha
wo gaye saara jahaan jaata raha
wo gaye saara jahaan jaata raha
zindagee ka aasra jaata raha
do dilon ko kar diya aa toone juda
do dilon ko kar diya aa toone juda
o zamaane tere haath aaya hai kya
o zamaane tere haath aaya hai kya
aaya hai kya
dil se ab ye bhee gila aa jaata raha
dil se ab ye bhee gila aa jaata raha
zindagee ka aasra aa jaata raha
hum to duniya mein akele rah gaye
hum to duniya mein akele rah gaye
haaye bas ashqon ke mele rah gaye
haaye bas ashqon ke mele rah gaye
rah gaye
kya bataayen humse kya aa jaata raha
kya bataayen humse kya aa jaata raha
zindagee ka aasra aa jaata raha aa aa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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