Sej sukh kee hai khushee kee raat hai
Posted on: September 20, 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 an 88 year old film- Duniya Na Mane-1937.
The film was made by the Prabhat Film Company, Poona. It was directed by a 36 year old ambitious and capable actor/director V.Shantaram. Music was provided by a veteran of prabhat-Keshav Rao Bhole, for songs written by Munshi Aziz. The cast included Shanta Apte, Keshav Rao Datey, Shakuntala Paranjpye (mother of Sayee Paranjpye, director), Raja Nene, Gauri, Vasanti, Vimla Vashishtha, Master Chhotu, Parshuram and others.
In the early era of Talkie films, the Film Companies which were well known were Imperial,New Theatres, British Dominion,Kohinoor,Krishna,Maharashtra,Ranjit,Saraswati,Sharada film co. etc. Most of these companies continued from the silent era. Slowly many film companies stopped or got merged with existing companies.But one name stood out even in those days and that was PRABHAT FILM COMPANY or PFC.
Prabhat was established in 1929 at Kolhapur by a group of dedicated professionals. It included V.Shantaram,Fatelal,Damle,Dhaiber(till 1937 and then it was Baburao Pai in his place), and S.B.Kulkarni-the financier. In 1933 PFC shifted to Poona and built an uptodate huge studio with 4 floors and 6 set capability. After V.Shantaram left in 1942 and Damle became very ill, PFC saw bad days. Around early 1950 it stopped working, was auctioned in 1952 and finally closed down formally on 13-10-1953.
Prabhat had made 6 silent films and 45 Talkie films in its time.
Prabhat which had its glorious days in the 30s and 40s has given the world cinema some of the most renowned films of the early Talkie era. The significant factor of PF classics was the variety of genres in which its films were made. Never at the beginning of the talkie era (not only in India,but worldwide too) had filmmakers tried to tackle such a variety of subjects to create films on social awareness.It is a matter of great pride for Indian Cinema to go down memory lane and acknowledge this fact.
At a time when Indian filmmakers were making Mythological and Historical films-which were based on similar plays-Prabhat chose subjects which were sensitive, explosive and controversial for the society. These films dealt with subjects like abolition of human and Animal sacrifices,Untouchability,Women’s emancipation,Notions of Bhakti,Evil of forced marriages and eradication of prostitution, thru films like,Amrit manthan, Dharmatma, Amarjyoti, Sant Tukaram, Duniya na mane, Aadmi, Padosi, Ramshastri and others.
Prabhat was run by a team of dedicated artists, directors and technical staff.
Duniya Na Mane-1937 was a milestone in Indian Cinema because First Time women’s cause and a voice against mismatched forced marriages was taken up. It was Directed by V.Shantaram. The Cinematographer was V.Avadhoot, Dialogue and Lyrics were by Munshi Aziz and the Music was by Keshavrao Bhole.
The cast was Shanta Apte, Keshavrao Datey, Raja Nene, Vasanti, Shakuntala Paranjape (mother of Sai Paranjape and d/o Wrangler Paranjape of Poona), Master Chhotu, Vimlabai Vashishtha, Gauri, Karmarkar, Parshuram etc. There were 12 songs in it and songs were sung by Shanta Apte,Vasanti and Parshuram.
DUNIYA NA MANE-1937 was a subtle treatment to a subject that haunted Hindu Society from many years-the cruelty towards young women (read girls) married to older men.(There was a famous Marathi Drama SHARADA depicting marriage of a 13-14 years young girl to a rich old man of around 60).The film tells of a story of an young, valiant and aspiring woman-Nirmala(Shanta Apte), married to an old widower and her life of tribulations. Instead of meekly surrendering to tragic fate,she takes it up as a challenge and makes her old husband realise the folly he has made.
She does remain in the house as a dutiful wife but refuses his sexual desires and rejects his emotions. Full of repentence, he commits suicide , setting her free of the bondage for ever. She thus makes it clear that such social injustice is wrong and should not happen again.
An orphan Nirmala grows in her Old uncle and his young wife’s home. They are eager to see her married to someone who would give them money.Thus an old Keshav or kakasaheb
(Keshavrao Datey) who is rich,widower and ready to marry is identified and in exchange of money,she is conned into marrying him.She had thought that she was getting married to a young person who had accompanied kakasaheb,when he came to see her. After the marriage she realises the cunning of her Uncle.S he cuts off all relations with them and enters a new home, where there is Sushila, the widow daughter of Kakasaheb and his son Jugal (Raja Nene) who has an eye on her. She engages herself with reading books,singing and getting encouraging advice from Sushila.
Her constant opposition to husband and also her comments finally take a toll on the husband. He realises his blunder and decides to mend matters. He commits suicide, leaving a note for Nirmala that she is free to marry some suitable boy.
The film was based on the Marathi novel “Na patnari Gosht” ( non acceptable matter), written by a noted novelist of Marathi literature – Narayan Hari Apte ( 11-7-1889 to 14-11-1971). He also wrote the screenplay and dialogues of the film. There were several silent films made on his stories and also a few films in the Talkie era, like Rana Hamir, Amrit Manthan, Rajput Ramani, Duniya na mane, Pratibha, Gangavataran, Dhruv Kumar, Sajni etc.
Film Duniya na mane was shown in the Venice Film Festival. It also won the Gohar Gold medal in 1938. The film was a pioneer in starting the system of Trailers. This was the first ever Trailer in Indian Cinema. It was the First Hindi film to be screened at Elphinstone Cinema, Bombay.
An interesting artist in the cast was Parshuram. In 2012, I had written an article on this Blog, referring to Parshuram. One of the readers from Australia drew my attention to a comment made by a person on Parshuram’s song on YouTube. He had claimed to be Parshuram’s grandson. I was thrilled. I immediately wrote to him, and to my delight, found that he indeed was Parshuram’s grandson.
Mr. MANGESH BARDE, grandson of Parshuram( Daughter’s son ), was settled in New Zealand, with his family (wife and Son ). Later he shifted to Australia. He not only responded to my EMail, but also got in touch with his mother in Mumbai and asked her to get in touch with me. Sure enough,I got a call from his mother and after confirming my credentials and genuine interest,she agreed to meet me in early January 2013.
On the appointment day,I went to her residence in Bandra, Mumbai,where she stays alone after her husband’s death. She was working in Indian Customs Dept. till she retired sometime back. Her two daughters are married happily. One stays close by on Pali Hill,Bandra. She too joined us, after some time.
On her own request, I can not reveal her identity, name or address.
From her home, we spoke to her son in Newzealand, via the SPIKE facility. Mangesh is a very handsome young man. He works for an airline company there. We 3 had a lot of discussions and I got a fairly good amount of information about Parshuram. His daughter had kept some very old photographe and cuttings of an article from a Marathi magazine, on Parshuram-which did not have much information and whatever was there, was mostly incorrect, as per her.
PARSHURAM LAXMAN SONNIS was born in a small village of Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, in a very poor family. From the childhood, he was fond of acting and singing. He used to do mimicry and regale people.Due to poverty,his education did not go beyond 4th std,but he was fond of reading and used to read himself many books or whatever came to his hands.This improved his language and also his knowledge.
When he was around ten, his father shifted to Bombay. He tried to fix Parshuram as an extra in Ranjit Movietone.After an year or so, after realising that there was no scope, he left it. Then his father would take him on shoulder and look for jobs, while Parshuram used to sing songs from films. One day when they were doing this, V.Shantaram crossed them. Hearing Parshuram’s song, He followed them and then asked his father to leave Parshuram in his custody at Prabhat Film co. at Poona to groom him to become an actor. Delighted, this father agreed and left him at Prabhat. Thus started a journey of life.
In Prabhat, he was on a salary of Rs.5 pm plus food, shelter and clothing were the perks. In Prabhat Parshuram took the opportunity to learn music from stalwarts like Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar and Keshavrao Bhole-big names in classical and film music that time. Being a good learner Parshuram picked up singing quickly.
His first break came when he was given a singing role of a beggar boy in Prabhat’s iconic milestone film -Duniya na mane-1937. The song was ” Man saaf tera hai ki nahi”. He sang the song so beautifully that Shantaram and all others at Prabhat were very much pleased. His acting was also flawless. He sang in the film’s Marathi version-Kunku too. The song became very popular and it opened doors for another role soon.
In 1938, Prabhat made a Bilingual film( Hindi and Marathi)-GOPALKRISHNA. Parshuram got the meaty role of PENDYA- the childhood friend of Krishna and a leader of the Gope children of Gokul. The role was important and big. He sang 3 solos and a duet in this film.The duet was with Shanta Apte and Ram Marathe both expert singers,but Parshuram sang with them with equal expertise. Same year he acted in yet another Bilingual (Hindi/Marathi) film of Prabhat- Mera ladka-38 (Maza Mulga in Marathi). In this film he sang just one song, with Master Chhotu, a stage and Drama artist of repute.
As per those days’ customs it was time for him to get married,as he was about 18 now. He got married to LEELABAI, a girl selected by his father. This was in 1940. V.Shantaram gave Rs.500 for his marriage. In those days, it was a big amount and the entire marriage was done with that money without any problem.
Parshuram was very happy. He was sure that his career will take off from here now, but Alas ! He was not given any role in any of the Prabhat films, after this . This was the time when V.Shantaram was having problems in Prabhat and it was rumoured that he was leaving it.As Parshuram was an actor of his ‘camp’, he was shunted aside and he continued being only a servant of Prabhat doing household work in Directors’ houses. Frustrated, he left Prabhat. He got a role in National Studio’s Meri Duniya-1942.He sang 3 songs in it but no records were made for any of the film’s songs.
Meanwhile V.Shantaram also left Prabhat and started his own Rajkamal Kalamandir Studios and production company. He called Parshuram and employed him on an 80 rupees pm salary. Parshuram got a role in Rajkamal’s first film ” SHAKUNTALA”-1943. Parshuram did the role of KANVA MUNI- the foster father of all Ashram Girls including Shakuntala. In this film he sang 2 songs, with Jayashree (Shantaram’s wife) and Zohrabai Ambalawali.
His family needs were increasing and no new films were offered to him after Shakuntala. With Shantaram’s consent, he started doing films outside. However he also did some films of Rajkamal whenever called.He acted in Jeevan Yatra-46,Matwala Shayar-47(Marathi version Lokshahir Ramjoshi),Apna desh-49,Teen batti Char Raasta-53 and Geet gaaya patharon ne-64,all from Rajkamal stable.
He started getting regular films from Chor Bazar-54,H.No.44-55,Jagte raho-56,Bhagam Bhag-56.
His big break came when Bharat Bhushan called him for an important role of court singer in his home production, BASANT BAHAR-1956.He sang on screen the all time famous song of Bhimsen Joshi and Manna Dey ‘ Ketaki gulab Juhi champak…”.Perhaps he is the only one, in those days, to get a playback from Bhimsen Joshi !.
Then came Khuda ka Banda-57, Khazanchi-58, Barkha-59, Shriman Satyawadi-60, Saranga-61, King Kong-62, Aashiq-62, Main chup rahungi-62, Aap ki Parchhaiyan-64, Rustam e Hind-65, Bheegi Raat-65, Bharat Milap-65, Laadla-66, Ram aur Shyam-67, Majhli Did-67, Suhag Raat-68, Safar 70 and Man mandir-71.
He also worked in 6 Marathi films-Kunku, Gopalkrishna, Maza Mulga, Lokshahir Ramjoshi, Amar Bhoopali and Vyjayanta. He had good relations with AVM bosses and he used to go to Madras by Air in those days for shooting.
After 1968, his bad period started. He met with an accident, broke his leg and a rod had to be fixed in his leg. He started limping now.Films were not coming. His type of singing and acting was out of date. He got into bad company and started drinking, in frustration. Even on sets he used to go drunk. Somehow he worked in a few films as Extra-uncredited. His family life was devastated due to his drinking. His wife and son deserted him. They too had to make two ends meet somehow. Parshuram started asking, borrowing money from everybody for drinks. People avoided him. He became almost a beggar.
One day actress Tabassum saw him at the Lucky Hotel traffic light at Bandra, Mumbai. She recognised him as she had acted with him in some films. Her film based TV show “Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan” was in full swing in the 76-77 period. She stopped her car,took him to the TV station. Fed him , cleaned him, gave him some clothes and did a live Talk show with him in her programme. She gave him Rs.1000 on the spot. After this interview was telecast,many people were moved by his story and wanted to help him.Shiv Sena announced a pension of Rs. 100 pm to him. However, the money was never paid.
His condition was so bad that he was unable to do any work. Rejected by family and spoiled by Alcohol, he was found unconscious on the footpath, one day (his daughter was already married and was away). Some good samaritans took him to Bhabha Hospital and informed his family. Neither his wife nor son went to see him. By the time daughter came to know, he was dead, on 24-1-1978. His daughter did his last rites etc.
His wife died soon after on 26-6-81 and son died in 1982.
Here is a short song from this film. The singer’s name is not known.
Song-Sej sukh kee hai khushee kee raat hai (Duniya Na Maane)(1937) Singer- Not known, Lyricist- Munshi Aziz, MD- Keshavrao Bhole
Lyrics
aa aa aa
sej sukh kee hai
khushee kee raat hai
sej sukh kee hai
khushee kee raat hai
phir bhee jeete jaate(?) hai kya baat hai
guzree baaton ka jab aata hai khayaal
bhool jaatee ??
ho ho kar nidhaal
sej sukh kee
sej sukh kee hai
khushee kee raat hai
kyun dukh mein samay sab khota hai
jeene se haathh kyon dhota hai
dukh hee ke paas hai sukh ka ghar
us ghar pe naheen kya teree nazar
maidaan mein dukh ke ladne jaa
aur paas mein sukh ka baagh banaa
aur paas mein sukh ka baagh banaa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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