Main maina aazaad ban mein udne waalee
Posted on: September 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.
|
Blog Day : |
6275 | Post No. : | 19420 |
Today’s song is from the film Akela-1941.
Produced by Kikubhai Desai for his own banner Great India Pictures, it was directed by Pesi Karani. Music was given by Khan Mastana, who was basically a singer. Songs were written by P.L.Santoshi. The cast of the film included Mazhar Khan, Bibbo, E, Billimoria, Miss Moti, Hadi, Bose, Pratima Devi and others.
There were 3 films with the same title, made in 1941, 1963 and 1991. Then there were variations like Akeli, Akele Hum Akele tum, Akeli Ladki and Akeli mat Jaiyo (last film made by Ranjit Studios in 1963).
This was a social film and its story, as per the September 1941 issue of Film India magazine was…..
Budhwa (Mazhar Khan), a blacksmith by profession, leads an honest life. He is successful in his venture. His ugly appearance does not fetch him a life partner and he is too shy to woo one. He has his companion, Kalwa who assists him in his work. Both of them are content and happy with what they are until Chelkaka, a bird fancier, brings up the question of Budhwa’s marriage.
Budhwa, at first, is diffident but soon warms up at the prospects of getting a life companion. He agrees to the marriage. Chelkaka finds him a nice girl Maina (Bibbo) who is already in love with Vasant Thakur (E Billimoria), a young jagirdar of the place.
However, against the wishes of Maina, the marriage with Budhwa is fixed by her parents. On the wedding night, Maina runs away to meet her lover Vasant Thakur and to have a tryst with him. Unfortunately, Vasant cannot keep his words to Maina due to ruses used by her cousin Seeta (Miss Moti) who is also in love with Vasant.
Now Maina cannot go back to her parents as she has been outcast by the community. She ultimately decides to go back to Budhwa and spend her life in the service of Budhwa as repentance for what she did for him on the wedding night. Instead of walking to Budhwa’s house, fate takes her to him by way of an accident. Budhwa, without knowing the identity of the victim, treats her like his sister. In the meanwhile, Vasant has agreed to marry Seeta despite his love for Maina.
Once again, Chelkaka, the bird fancier, comes into the picture to know about the Maina who has taken shelter in Budhwa’s house without revealing her identity. Maina explains the whole story to Budhwa. After knowing her side of the story, Budhwa rushes to Vasant who finds him at the altar ready to get married to Seeta. In the climax, the dirty tricks played by Seeta are exposed and she confesses her wrong doings. Maina gets back Vasant. Budhwa is once again alone (akela) and this time without his work companion, Kalwa.
One of the cast members was Pratima Devi. For many years, I was searching for information on her, but could not get it. Recently, i found her Bio – based on an article by her nephew Shiraz Sharief – published on an internet site- Cinemaazi. I paid their charges and got the bio. I also found her bio on a YouTube video by Krishna Prachi in a series of Indian Cinema History. Using both these sources, coupled with my notes, here is her information.
The real name of Pratima devi was Khairunnisa Suleiman. She was born in 1910 in Gujarat. She was the eldest of the 3 daughters of Suleman Shivji, who hailed from Gujarat. Later the family shifted to Bombay. Khairunnisa was married to a distant Khoja relative, but after a son was born, they separated and the son also died within a few days.
Once she went to Bombay Talkies, along with a friend who was giving a screen test there. The friend failed in the test, but Himanshu Rai offered a film role to Khairunnisa. However she denied it. Then Himanshu Rai gave her an open offer. After a few months her family’s financial condition became bad and she went to Bombay talkies for work. She was given the role of Ashok Kumar’s mother in the film Nirmala-1938. She was also given the new screen name of Pratima Devi, by Himanshu Rai. She did 5 films there and then joined Kishore Sahu’s film company in 1940.
Later she worked for Prabhat film company and then she became a freelancer. In her career, she was the standard mother to about every big actor like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Ashok Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Amitabh bachhan and even to Omprakash also ! She worked in 127 films in all like Albela, Devdas, Paigham,Sangdil, jogan,Adalat, Parineeta, Seema, Daastaan, Dulari, pakiza etc etc. She was in many films of Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar etc. She appeared in many films made in Madras.
During the film shooting of film Benaam-1974, Amitabh Bachhan came very late on the sets and all the actors were waiting for more than 6 hours. As soon as he came, Pratima Devi fired him openly. Amitabh apologised to her and all and after that he became the most punctual actor ever till today. Those were the days when seniors were respected. Her favourite directors were Mahesh kaul and Shantaram. She was short tempered but good of heart. She was very fond of playing Rummy and every Sunday there would be a session at her house.
She died on 29-1-1993.
The Music Director of this film was Khan Mastana. Actually he was using the name Khan Mastana as a singer and Hafiz Khan as an MD (there was another MD Hafiz Khan and this caused confusion of same names). However HFGK mentions his name as Khan Mastana as MD as well as singer. His life story is a typical ” Riches to Rags” story in the Hindi film industry of the 1930’s and the 1940’s. He not only died in extreme poverty but also as a drunkard and a beggar.
His real name was Hafiz Khan. Hafiz khan was born in 1917 in Agra. His father Ustad Wahid Khan, from Etawah Gharana, was a famous musician. He sent his two sons, Hafiz and Aziz, to his elder brother Ustad Inayat Khan at Calcutta to learn Sitar. However, both brothers were more interested in film music than learning Sitar.
Ustaad Waheed Khan was a well known and respected player of Sitar and Surbahar. His place in the Etawah Gharana was high up. He had 3 sons. Bande Hassan,Hafiz khan and Aziz Khan. Waheed khan was very keen that his sons should continue his profession,earn a name and shine in classical music of Etawah Gharana. He thought working for music in films was below their dignity and a shame. Bande Hassan specialised in vocal music and became a famous qawali exponent. Second son Hafiz khan,after initial training in classical music turned to film singing,without father’s knowledge. Not only that,he also accepted the pen name of Mastana-awarded by composer Meer Sahib- to hide his identity from father. The third son Aziz Khan also went the film route,using the name Aziz Hindi sometimes.
Though Aziz Khan did not continue his family profession, he ensured that his son Pervez took the training and became an International Sitarist,settling in the USA. Even the son of Pervez- Shakir became a famous Sitarist. He continues the Etawah gharana tradition now.
Hafiz came to Bombay in the mid 30s and sang a song in the film Bahadur Kisan-1938, music by Meer Sahib. Meer Sahib took him to Minerva and he was employed as a singer. He sang in films like Talaq-38, Jailor-38, Main haari-40 and Sikandar-41. Looking at his jolly nature, Meer Sahib gave him the name Mastana and he became Khan Mastana. Later in his professional life, he wrote Khan Mastana as a singer and Hafiz Khan as a MD.
As a Composer he started with Wasiyat-40, then came Virginia-40, Akela-41, Muqabla, 42, Raahgir-43, Neelam-45 etc. In all, he gave music to 29 films, composing 215 songs. As a singer, he sang 152 songs in 83 films. He also acted in 9 films and directed 1 film- Paramount-41. As a singer he last sang in the film Nek Khatoon-1959 and as a composer his last film was Gunehgaar-53. As an actor his last film was Shikarpuri-47.
Khan Mastana became quite rich. He had 5 flats in Bombay. He had a professional competition with singer G.M.Durrani. It is alleged that once Khan Mastana tried to make Durrani eat a ” Pan ” laced with Sindoor(mercury), so that he can never ever sing again. However, Durrani suspected and vomited immediately. Later, when its analysis was done, the fact came out. Anyway, thanks to Durrani, he did not make it a public issue. Only 17 years after Khan Mastana’s death, Durrani spilled the beans, but did not take Khan Mastana’s name, even then. Only his close friends knew this.
When Mastana was at the height of fame and work, he was invited by the Prince of Hyderabad State to teach music to his Begum. Due to some reason, the Prince became angry with Mastana and he was kept captive for a long time in Hyderabad.
By the time he returned to Bombay. The film industry had changed a lot. Many new singers had appeared. The music pattern had also changed. Khan found it difficult to get singing assignments. However, he continued to compose music. When the bad times continued, he had to sell all his flats, cars etc. He became so poor, that he had to beg near the Mahim Masjid. He also started drinking and taking drugs. Once Naushad saw him there. He tried to help him but drinking had spoiled him completely. Finally he died on 6-3-1972. One of his sons was still begging near the Masjid.
There was a time when in the film Laila Majnu-45, he was the main singer and Rafi was in Chorus. When the bad days came, in the film Laila Majnu (incomplete), Rafi was the main singer and Mastana was in the Chorus ! That is Destiny !!
Here is a song from this 84 year old film, sung by Bibbo aka Ishrat Sultana (the first female music director in Indian cinema). Enjoy….
Song- Main maina azaad ban mein udne waalee (Akela)(1941) Singer- Bibbo, Lyricist-P L Santoshi, MD-Khan Mastana
Lyrics
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
is daalee se us daalee
is daalee se us daalee
us daalee se is daalee
us daalee se is daalee
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
bandhan mein na aane waalee
geet khushee ke gaane waalee
bandhan mein na aane waalee
geet khushee ke gaane waalee
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
ban kee raanee
man kee raanee
ban kee raanee
man kee raanee
kartee phirtee hoon manmaanee
kartee phirtee hoon manmaanee
naheen kisee se darne waalee
main maina aazaad
haan
naheen kisee se darne waalee
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
main maina azaad
ban mein udne waalee
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
Leave a comment