Bhar bhar ke pilaa…ab peena hai haan peena hai
Posted on: June 22, 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 Roti-1942.
The early 40’s were when the Socialistic pattern of the Communist philosophy was spreading fast all over the world. Nehru was fully sold to the Socialistic pattern of Governance and he enthusiastically used to propagate it in his speeches. The film industry was in awe with the impression of Nehru and a few major filmmakers openly echoed his thinking. producers like Mehboob Khan, Kardar, Bimal Roy and some Bangla filmmakers were influenced by nehruvian philosophy.
Thus Mehboob khan ensured that most of his films reflected this anti capitalistic philosophy in some way or the others. That is how he made films like Roti, Mother India, Son of India etc. Bimal Roy too followed in his own way by making films like Naya Daur, and Dharmputra etc.
Indian film industry has always been alive to the happenings in the country and reflects the national problems and important events in our films.1942 was a year when the II World War was on its peak and it had caused a severe food shortage in the world. Italy had made a silent film ‘Greed’ on this issue. Based on it.Mehboob Khan made a film , Roti’ in India. Mehboob was a socialist and a Nehruvian to the core and so his films like,Mother India or Son Of India were made on socialist principles. In 1942,Ramchandra Thakur also directed one such film,’Gareeb’.
Begum Akhtar (Akhtari Bai Faizabadi) was a ghazal and Thumri singer and was quite popular. Initially she had acted in few films like Nal Damayanti-1932, Ek din ka badshah-1933, Mumntaz begum-1934, Ameena-1934, Jawani ka Nasha-1935. Mehboob Khan was her fan. He took her in the film Roti as a Heroine opposite Chandra Mohan. 6 songs of Begum Akhtar were recorded for the film and the records were in the market before the film was released. However, she had written in her film contract that these songs should not feature in the film. Mehboob khan took it lightly and the film got released with the song. Begum Akhtar and her husband dragged Mehboob Khan to court and Mehboob had to remove these songs from the film . This information is from the book ‘ Golden Era of the Hindi films, 1931 t0 1960’ in Marathi, by Film Historian Isak Mujavar. ( चित्रपट संगीताचा सुवर्ण काळ १९३१ ते १९६० ). The released records were kept in the market, thus only the audios are available now.
ROTI was a movie depicting the tussle between Capitalism and communism. The movie had Chandramohan, Sheikh Mukhtar, Sitara, Ashraf Khan, Kaayam Ali, Jamshedji, Mishra and in a very rare appearance, Malika-E-Gazal Begum Akhtar, who was known as Akhtari Faizabadi in those days(She appeared in only 7 films, the last being Satyajit Ray’s Jalasaghar. She died in 1974).
There were 14 songs in Roti. 3 solos and 1 duet by Asraf Khan, 6 solos by Begum Akhtar, 3 solos by Sitara. One song was of Ashraf Khan with Chorus, one was with Ashraf and Anil Biswas, and one total Chorus song (Meghraj Aaye).
There were 4 Lyricists, Dr.Safdar Aah-5 songs, Arzoo Lucknowi-3 songs, Vajahat Mirza 1 song and Behzad Lucknowi-5 songs.
The film story was….
Although Mother India is considered to be Mehboob Khan’s magnum opus, his 1942 directorial venture ‘Roti’ is an exemplary production, and stands out as a very unique film even to this day. Created in a very theatrical style, it is the story of an imaginary country, where the economy of the urban lifestyle is juxtaposed against the barter system economy of the tribal folks in the forest. Sheikh Mukhtar (Baalam in the movie) and Sitara Devi (Kinaari in the movie) play the lead roles in this movie, as the couple from the tribal clan. The city slickers are played by Chandramohan (Seth Lakshmi Das) and Akhtari Bai Faizabaadi, aka Begum Akhtar (Darling). The movie is a blistering attack on capitalism and its oppression of the poor masses.
The story is very interestingly built up; the small biplane carrying Seth Lakshmi Das and Darling crashes in the forest. They are rescued by Baalam, and there is a set of very interesting episodes about the first meeting of these two cultures. However, Seth Lakshmi Das, is very eager to get back to his business but is not finding any means of transport to get out of that forest. One night he steals two buffalos, Changu and Mangu, that belong to Baalam, and leaves the village on them, with the help of Kinaari and another local villager. In his naïve and simplistic way, Baalam follows the rich man to the city to recover his animals, only to discover that he will now have to pay money to get back his animals. What follows is an intense confrontation between the two value systems and economies, with an idealistic ending. The tribal couple return to their forest with the animals, but the rich protagonist and his consort face a death of hunger and thirst in a desert, even as they are travelling in a car loaded with gold ingots.
One of the major attractions of the film was Ashraf Khan, a singing actor from Gujarat. Ashraf Khan shot to limelight with the film Baghban – 1938 . He played the role of a mendicant and rendered three lovely songs composed by Music Director Mushtaq Husain . Ro ro nain gavanvun, sajanwa aan milo was the most popular song among the three songs he rendered. The movie was a great hit and all the nine songs in the movie were popular. The movie was directed by AR Kardar. The lyrics were penned by the comedian Mirza Musharraf. He was paid Rs 90 / – for the nine songs he wrote for the movie. It is important to know how he progressed in his life and attained the spiritual powers with which he helped millions of people across the globe .
Ashraf Khan was born in Indore in 1901. He lost his father at a young age of seven. The burden of taking care of his widowed mother and a young sister fell on his shoulder. Indore was a famous city for wrestling and the wrestling competitions were held for all ages including children. He took up wrestling as a profession for some time. He later became a Shepherd boy and guarded the sheep .
He had a good voice and used to sing while taking the sheep in and out of the city. One evening while returning home from the outskirts he started singing loudly. A Gujarati’s drama company was stationed in a nearby bungalow. The owner of the drama company heard his song and he was called inside. The owner asked the boy if he was willing to work for the drama company. The boy replied Yes. There upon the owner asked him if he can play the role of a girl. The boy daringly replied No, will play the role of a boy . The owner was impressed and he got into the Gujarati drama company.
He started playing small roles and as he grew up was given the role of a hero . His salary increased gradually and by the time he was playing hero roles he was paid Rs 600 / per month. He used to give away his entire earnings to his mother. His mother used to give him four annas a day as his allowance as he had the habit of eating Paan( betel leaf ), but Ashraf Khan used to return back the four annas to his mother in the evening.
Ashraf Khan’s mother tongue was Urdu and Pushtu but he learnt to speak Gujarati with ease and he rendered his dialogues fluently. He gave record breaking performances in Malopati Manjh ( Prithvi Vallabh ). He played the role of a hero Prithvi Vallabh in three thousand shows. Prithvi Raj Chauhan was another stage performance in which he played the hero role of Prithviraj Chauhan in two thousand shows. Ashraf Khan’s heroine on the Gujarati stage was Sandhya, wife of V Shantaram. Ashraf Khan was associated with the Gujarati stage even after joining the films . He did 10 Hindi films and sang 15 songs in Hindi films.
With the advent of talkie he moved over to Bombay in 1932. With his experience on stage he was hired for three movies Bhartruhari, Gul-e-Bakavali and Veer Kunal. He played the role of a hero initially and later in life played character roles. He acted in more than a dozen movies. Mehboob Khan portrayed him as a mad professor in his famous film Roti – 1942. It was during the filming of Roti that he came in contact with Peer-o-Murshid ( Spiritual Guide) Ghulam Sarvar. Ghulam Sarvar belonged to Lahore and was employed in railways as a guard. He had many followers in Bombay. Ashraf Khan’s devotion towards his spiritual guide was so great that whenever he visited Bombay he used to carry his luggage on his head and escort him home .
Large crowds used to gather to meet Peer-o-Murshid Ghulam Sarvar in the 1940’s and among the film personalities the notable were A R Kardar, Mehboob Khan, Yaqub, Prithviraj Kapoor , Trilok Kapoor, Sardar Akhtar, Akhtari Faizabadi, Jaddan Bai etc etc to name a few. Akhtari Faizabadi and Jaddan Bai used to sing devotional songs during the assembly .
Taking care of the visitors foot ware was the first duty assigned to him by his Peer and Ashraf Khan never thought it was a menial job He knew that the peer is shedding his ego by assigning such tasks. Peer-o-Murshid Ghulam Sarvar was so pleased with his devotion that he handed over his Gaddi ( seat ) to Ashraf Khan. Ashraf Khan became a Peer .
His association with the Gujarati stage lasted till his end. In 1962 after his last stage show at Dhoraji in Gujarat he returned to the Dargah where he was stationed with his family . It was the ninth day of the Gyarhvi Sharif ( the eleventh month of Islamic calendar ). He lay down on his bed and spoke a few words to his wife and fell unconscious, but his lips started moving as if he was narrating verses from Ayat Sherief. This situation continued the whole of that night and the next day. His wife , family members and devotees remained at his bedside reading verses from Ayat Sherief He opened his eyes in the evening. His devotees asked him how he was and he replied that wherever he is, he is doing well .
He was brought to the hospital at Rajkot in this condition. Ashraf Khan passed away at eleven PM on the eleventh day of the Gyarhvi Sharif, the eleventh month of Islamic calendar. His mortal remains were brought for funeral to the residence of Dr Malik who was a friend and a devotee. His devotees were chanting holy verses from Ayat Sharif and Darood Sharif . Around 4 O’ clock in the morning he opened his eyes once again, looked all around him with a smile and closed his eyes. This was a surprising moment for all those who were present around him. A dead man opening his eyes and smiling was something strange. The crowd shouted Hazrat is alive, Hazrat is alive, call the doctor. There are several people alive today who witnessed this strange incident. Dr Malik examined him and pronounced him dead. He was buried at Ganj Shahda which is located on the Ahmedabad – Delhi highway . The Urs is celebrated every year and lakhs of devotees all across the globe visit his Mazaar ( Tomb ).
Among the film personalities who used to attend the Urs were Mehboob Khan, Sardar Akhtar, Zaibunissa, Mehtab, Begum Akhtar, Prithviraj Kapoor and Trilok Kapoor etc .
There are hundreds of families in Hyderabad whose vows were fulfilled by the spiritual powers of Hazrat Ashraf Khan. Each family has a different story to narrate. Many sickly people got cured, many got rid of financial troubles, rivals became friends, and many women became mothers after best efforts by doctors failed .
Amirbai Karnataki rendered a couple of devotional songs in his praise. Some disc collectors of Hyderabad had them in their collection .( This is adapted from the writings of shri Kamalakar Pasupuleti ji, as appeared on his Facebook Blog (now defunct), with his permission.)
Now enjoy this 83 year old duet of Ashraf khan and Anil Biswas….
Song- Bhar bhar ke pilaa…ab peena hai haan peena hai (Roti)(1942) Singers- Ashraf Khan, Anil Biswas, Lyricist- Dr. Safdar Aah Sitapuri, MD- Anil Biswas
Lyrics
??
??
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
?? hosh hawaas
aaye mazaa
aa aa aa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
??
??
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
jaataa hai par naheen aataaa hai
dhanwaalaa khoon ka pyaasaa hai
jaataa hai par naheen aataaa hai
dhanwaalaa khoon ka pyaasaa hai
gham kar de ghalat dukh dard bhulaa
gham kar de ghalat dukh dard bhulaa
aa aa aa aa a aa aa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
??
??
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
ab peenaa hai
haan peenaa hai
?? kee tarah se peenaa hai
ab peena hai
haan peenaa hai
?? kee tarah se peenaa hai
madhosh banaa makhmoor banaa
aa aa aa aa
madhosh mbanaa makhmoor banaa
aa aa aa aa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
??
??
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
bhar bhar ke pilaa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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