Hai billee ek hamaaree
Posted on: June 17, 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 Billi aka The Cat-1938.
The film was made by the Ranjit Movietone, Bombay, which was known to offer a wide variety of Genres in their films. Family drama, Love story, Comedy, Tragedy Historical, Mythological Stunt and many others , except probably Jungle films like Tarzan etc.
From the beginning, Ranjit was in the big league, having a large spacious studio with all amenities and a battalion of A-1 grade artists in various fields like acting, direction and the technical side. It was called a ” Cine Factory”, because, on all the 8 shooting floors of its studio, continuous shooting went on. Not only their own films, but outside producers also took the floors on rent and made their films. All the material like cameras, helpers, editing and sound facilities, mini theatre and all that was required to make a film was available in Ranjit, including actors, actresses, Lyricists, M.D.s, Directors and what not !
Sardar Chandulal Shah used to say proudly, ” come with only a story and a budget and take away your completed film from here.”
In its heyday, Ranjit had more than 300 people on its monthly payroll. It was said that the Government had opened a Ration shop (during the war and later period) in its premises to facilitate its workers. The famous quote of Chandulal Shah was ” Ranjit has more stars than they are in the sky” !. According to ‘Cine Advance’ dt. 5-12-1980, New Theatres, Calcutta made 177 films in its existence and Ranjit was close behind it with 175 films in its lifetime. Ranjit had made 31 Silent films, 1 Talkie each in Tamil and Marathi and the rest were Hindi films, from 1929 to 1963.
Ranjit Studio’s decline started in 1944, when Chandulal Shah lost more than 1 Crore rupees in Cotton Betting (1 crore in 1944 is almost 80 crores today, after adjusting for inflation). Things were still manageable till almost 1950 but after that it was on slide and after 1963 the chapter closed.
1938 was an interesting year in the early life of the Talkie films. The film making studios had firm footing with a studio system and they tried a variety of subjects in their films. In the 88 Hindi films produced in 1938, one finds almost every Genre of film subjects, except perhaps the usual Folk stories and Historical themes. Comedy, Tragedy, Fiction, Jungle stories, Costume, Socials, Musicals, Mythologicals, you name it and you had it. Content and technical expertise had improved as films on famous novels were made.
Well known studios like Imperial, Sagar, New Theatres, Prabhat, Ranjit, Bombay Talkies, Praksh, Vishnu Cinetone, Huns Pictures, Wadia Movietone, Saroj Movietone etc. were very active bringing out 3 to 4 films each. Huns and Prabhat continued bilingual films in Hindi and Marathi, while New Theatres made Hindi and Bangla films. Many new actors debuted. Many new actors matured and the old scrap from silent films slowly disappeared giving way to new entrants. The Imperial film company, which had the honour of making India’s first Hindi Talkie film – Alam Ara in 1931, downed its shutters in 1938. The last of the Southern languages, Malayalam, produced its First Talkie film BALAN in 1938. Film Industry celebrated its Silver Jubilee -from 1913 to 1938 and several programmes were held all over India.
Let us take a look at some of the films of 1938….
ABHAGIN – Debut film of actor Chaman Puri (eldest brother of Madan puri and Amrish Puri)
ADHIKAR – Music Director Timir Baran Bhattacharya. After Independence, he was invited to West Pakistan and East Pakistan to give music to their films. Film Adhikar was on the importance of how bringing up makes a person.
BAGHBAN – Debut film of Ram Avtar
BAHADUR KISAN – First directorial venture of Master Bhagwan. During this film’s making he developed a lasting friendship with C.Ramchandra, who assisted Meer Sahab, the M.D.
BHABHI – Renuka Devi’s second film and first with Jairaj.
BILLI – Based on P.G.Wodehouse novel ” Damsel in Distress”
BRAHMACHARI – Debut film of Minakshi Shirodkar. She appeared in a swimming suit, first time in Hindi films. It created a sensation.
DHARATIMATA – Complete film was shot outdoors. Saigal and Pankaj Mullick created havoc with this musical film. The song ” Duniya rang rangeeli baba’ is still popular.
DIVORCE – Minerva’s film on Husband – Wife relations.
DUNIYA KYA HAI – Lalita Pawar’s production. Based on Tolstoy’s ” Resurrection”.
GRAMOPHONE SINGER – Sagar’s musical with Bibbo and Surendra. Zohrabai sings for the first time for Anil Biswas.
GOPAL KRISHNA – Hit film from Prabhat. Trick scenes were superb.Ram Marathe as Krishna,lifting Govardhan Parvat on a finger produced clapping from audience for several minutes.
HIMALAY KI BETI – Bhavnani production with Enakshi Rama Rau-his wife.
JAILOR – Minerva’s film on a Psycho-Neurotic person. Remade in the 50’s again.
MERA LADKA – Story of an unwed mother. Marathi and Hindi versions from prabhat.
MR. X – Stunt film with Rattanbai , from Prakash
NIRMALA – Bombay talkies. Devika rani- Ashok kumar. After this film, the Germans In Bombay talkies, including director Franz Osten were arrested by the British as Nazis and jailed in Igatpuri during the Second World War.
PROF. WAMAN, M.Sc. – Ranjit presents a Sci Fi fiction film about travels into the future.
SAATHI – Durga Khote and Mubarak produced in Hindi and Marathi (as Sawangadi).
STREET SINGER – Saigal’s musical feast from New Theatres.
VASANT BENGALI – Last film from Imperial film co., after 109 Silent films and 52 Talkie films in several languages. Just one year ago, i.e. in 1937 Madon Theatres of Calcutta- once a giant in film production, had closed down with their last film ‘ Zinda Laash’.
Today’s film Billi-38 was based on the famous novel ” Damsel in distress” by P.G.Wodehouse. Wodehouse (15-10-1881 to 14-2-1975) was from England but stayed in the US for most of his life. ( He is my favourite writer and I have many of his novels with me.) Wodehouse was famous for his British humour filled novels spun around characters like Jeeves, Bertie Wooster, Psmith, Blandings Castle and Lord Emsworth and Mr. Mulliner. His most famous novel Damsel in Distress was first serialised in ‘ The Saturday Evening Post’ in May and June 1919. It was published as a book on 4-10-1919 in the UK and on 15-10-1919 in the US. A stage play based on this novel, gave 234 performances in the UK in 1928 and a Musical Comedy on it was made in 1937 in the US.
In India, many films were made based on successful books. In this matter New Theatres of Calcutta was on top. 90% of its films were either made on books or adapted from the stories of well known authors. There is nothing wrong in making films based on famous novels, but when producers, directors, actors twist the story, add their own stuff and make a ‘ Khichdi ‘ of the novel, think what the author must be feeling. ( In film Guddi, a writer called Deshpande, describes what the filmmakers do to the stories, to Prof. Gupta played by Utpal Dutt). A case in point is Film Guide. It is on record how R K Narayan was disgusted with the Cinematic liberties the filmmakers took on his novel, and how he stopped attending shootings and vowed never to allow another producer to buy his stories !
Trouble comes when the film is made on a western novel like ” Damsel in Distress “. First thing is to adapt the novel to Indian context and traditions. While doing this , most times, a mess is created. The story of this novel takes place in London and shifts to a village nearby later. In the Indian version you have to show an Indian city ( Bombay) and a village. I read the review of this film in Film India- October 1938 issue. Baburao Patel- who rarely appreciated a film and was very partial to few directors and actors- tore apart the film. Every aspect of the film was criticised. However, despite his attempt, the film did very well and was a success. It is shown in this film that after meeting just once, the hero and heroine, in their subsequent meeting, do not recognise each other and a Cat, gifted by hero to the heroine in their first meeting, helps in getting them together again.
The cast of the film had E. Billimoria, Sunita, Ishwarlal, Kantilal, Ila Devi, Mazhar, Ram Apte, Ghory and others. There were 11 songs in the film. Today’s song is sung by Ishwarlal and Sunita Devi. I knew Ishwarlal, but Sunita Devi is not known to me. Another singer in the film, Iladevi, was a new name. Even after efforts no information was available to me about her. From the question-answer column of the magazine Film India, I learnt that Ila Devi’s original film name was Miss Ilmas. I do not know in which religion or community this name is used. After making her debut in Hindi films in ‘ Nishan -E- Jung ‘-1937, she changed her name to Ila Devi and acted in 6 more films. Four films in 1938 (Billi, Bazigar, Rikshawala and Gorakh Aaya) and two films in 1939 (Adhuri Kahani and Kahan hai teri manzil). After this her name is not found in any films, when I checked.
One name in the cast is Mazhar Khan. He was born on 18-10-1905, in the princely state of Dhar in M.P. After Matriculation, he joined the Police force due to his build and height, but soon he was fed up and resigned. He straightaway headed for Bombay looking for work in films. Director Durga Prasad Mishra took him to Imperial studio and he did about 19 Silent films starting with Challenge-1929, at a salary of Rs. 60 pm, which was 10 rupees more than his Police job.
When Talkie films started, he went to Calcutta, joined New Theatres and worked with K L Saigal in ‘Subah ka Sitara’-1932. For East India Film co.,he did ‘ Ek din ka Baadshah-33’and Raat ka raja-34 in which he did 8 roles in the film. After a few more films, he returned to Bombay and worked in Ranjit and Minerva Movietone films. His career best role came in 1941 in Shantaram’s Padosi, in which he did the famous role of Hindu Friend Thakur, while Gajanan Jagirdar did the role of his Muslim friend. In the prevailing tense communal atmosphere in the country those days, this film was hailed as a milestone depicting the lifelong friendship of a Hindu and a Muslim. In all, he acted in 44 films.
His wife was a Hindu and she had freedom to remain as Hindu and do everything like Pooja etc. He had one son, Anwar.
In 1942, he became Director and did Meri Duniya-42, Marvi-42, Yaad-42, Badi Baat-44, Pehli Nazar-45, Sona-48, and Dil ki Duniya-49. His noteworthy films were Noorjehan-32, Bharosa-40, Padosi-41 and Ulzan-42. This role was that of a Blind singer-like K C Dey. His last film was Usha Kiran-52. He died on 24-9-1950, before its release.
Here is an 87 year old song sung by a 27 year old Ishwarlal and Sunita Devi…..
Song- Hai billee ek hamaaree (Billi)(1938) Singers- Ishwarlal, Sunita devi, Lyricist-P.L.Santoshi, MD- Gyan Dutt
Both
Hai Billee ek hamaaree
kaaree see pyaaree pyaaree
hai billee ek hamaaree
kaaree see pyaaree pyaaree
hai billee ek hamaaree
ajab kahaanee hai billee kee
ajab kahaanee hai billee kee
aao tumhen sunaaoon
aao
bol uthhogee sun kar tum bhee
bol uthhogee sun kar tum bhee
myaaoon
myaaoon
myaaaaoon
hahahahahaha
bahut dinon tak billee royee
bhhookhhee rahee bechaaree
bahut dinon tak billee royee
bhhookhhee rahee bechaaree
ek din dhong rachaane kee phir
usne kee taiyyaaree
hmm
ek din dhong rachaane kee phir
usne kee taiyyaaree
phir
let gayee murdaaa ban kar wo
choohe aaye saare
dekh rahee thhee billee sab kuchh
bechaaree man maare
soch rahee thhee chupke chupke
unmein kisko khaaoon
bol uthhee bas yahee sochte
myaaoon
myaaoon
myaaoon
myaaoon myaaoon myaaoon sun choohe bhaage
le kar senaa saaree
myaaoon myaaoon myaaoon sun choohe bhaage
le kar senaa saaree
bhookhhee rahee bechaaree
wo billee ek hamaaree
bhookhhee rahee bechaaree
wo billee ek hamaaree
hai billee ek hamaaree
kaaree see pyaaree pyaaree
hai billee ek hamaaree
kaaree see pyaaree pyaaree
hai billee ek hamaaree
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
June 19, 2025 at 11:07 am
oh! such a cute song! Meeow Meeow
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