Kaise sundar phoolan ke haar
Posted on: October 28, 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 a 85 year old film Haar jeet-1940.
I find so many similar film titles in the film index that sometimes I feel like taking up this issue also as a “Same title Confusions” problem. Luckily there is one trick to clarify among these similar titles and that is its year of making ! Therefore it is necessary that whenever a film is mentioned, its year must also be mentioned to avoid the possible ‘Same Title Confusion’ ! There were 4 films of this title made in 1940, 1954, 1972 and 1990. In addition, I also found 2 more Har jeet films which were left incomplete.
1940 was a period when New Theatres, the makers of Haar jeet-1940, were in top speed and in its Golden period. The film was directed by Amar Mullick. Music was by R.C.Boral-considered as the ‘Grand Old man’ of film music in India. His contribution to the film industry is unforgettable.
Raichand Boral (R C Boral)’s place amongst the early composers is on the Top. In fact he is the Music Director who introduced the concept of Playback singing in India in 1935. Thus his name is written along with Dadasaheb Phalke, Ardeshir Irani and Phirozshah Mistry, in the annals of Indian Film History as an early pioneer.
Raichand was the son of a famous singer and Pakhawaj player-Lalchand Boral. He was born on 19-10-1903 in a family where Music was the staple food. Though the conditions were very conducive and favourable,the sudden and unexpected demise of his father changed the situation. He had to depend on his elder brother. He was taught music by Pt. Vishwanath Rao, Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan and Ustad Majid Khan. His Tabla playing became the toast of many Mehfils and soon he was invited by Indian Broadcasting Co. (which later became A.I.R.) as the Head of their Music Department.
Later he joined New Theatres on a call by B N Sarcar, where he gave a new look to their orchestra conduction. He used Flute, Organ and other western music instruments to make Rabindra Sangeet and Traditional Thumri and Gazal,as simple as possible for the common man. Thus the early songs of Hindi films made in Calcutta’s new Theatres had hummable and simple tunes. He dispensed with the classical way of singing in films.
That is the reason why Hindi songs in films made in Calcutta from 1931 to say 1940 were superior and more popular on All India basis than those made in Bombay-which still depended upon classical and Natyasangeet base.( Examples are ALL Saigal songs, ALL Pankaj Mullick songs and songs from New Theatre Hindi films made during this period.)
In those days, when almost every Music Director sang songs in films, R C Boral was one who kept away from singing songs. One reason was that his singing base was weak and secondly his voice was not that good.
R C Boral used to look almost like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, with the same heavy build, height and large fearsome moustaches. His looks were exactly opposite to the melodious music that he gave !
According to the famous Film Music Historian Dr. Ashok D. Ranande, Boral made a significant contribution to Film Music. First, he gave a lot of importance to Background Music to enhance the effectiveness of screen images. Secondly, he developed the concept of Prelude and Interlude in film songs. Thirdly, he is credited with the introduction of playback singing in films. Boral gave the present tune to the National Anthem “Jana gana mana” in his film Hamrahi-44.
R C Boral made many actors/singers STARs like Sehgal, Kanan Devi, Uma Shashi, Pahadi Sanyal, Asit Baran etc. He made Saigal Hero in his first 3 films- Muhabbat ke Aansoo, Subah ka tara and Zinda Laash all in 1932. Saigal sang many songs in these but I believe, none of these are available now. The first major break came to Saigal in Pooran Bhagat-1933.
R C Boral gave such classics as Rajrani Meera, Chandidas, Daku Mansoor, Rooplekha, After the Earthquake, Devdas(Bangla),Dhoop chhaon (First Playback), Maaya, Anath Ashram, Mukti, President, Vidyapati, Abhagin, Street Singer, Jawaani ki Reet, Sapera, Haar jeet, Lagan, Saugandh, Waapas, Hamrahi, Wasiyatnama, Anjangarh, Pehla Aadmi, Dard e dil, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.Swami Vivekanand-55 was his last Hindi film. He gave music to 33 Hindi films. Most of them were bilinguals made in Bangla and Hindi, in Calcutta.
He left films in 1960, but he was connected to A.I.R. and as a consultant to Sangeet natak Academy, which also honoured him with an award. Dadasaheb Phalke award came to him in 1979. R C Boral-the doyen of Hindi film music, died on 25-11- 1981.
The story of the film was….
It is the story of two theatrical companies competing with each other. Kamala (Kanan Devi) is the star actress of the Ruby Theatre. Narendra (Pahadi Sanyal) is the star actor of the Bina Theatre. Narendra leaves Bina Theatre and joins Ruby Theatre. Here he falls in love with Kamala. They get married in a rural setting among the peasants and stay in the rural area. In keeping with the rural setting, Narendra forbids Kamala from acting in the theatres. However, she does not heed his advice and continues to act in the plays of the Ruby Theatre. They are separated.
After staying among the peasants for some time, Narendra also re-joins Bina Theatre. While the Bina Theatre achieves success, Ruby Theatre goes bankrupt. This is regarded as the punishment for Kamala who has refused to be a dutiful housewife. At the end, Kamala and Narendra are united.
The songs of this film were written by Arzoo lucknowi and Kidar Sharma. There were 9 songs. Kidar Sharma had actually left New Theatres around 1937 itself, so I wonder how his songs were included in this film of 1940. Maybe just one song which had remained unused from some earlier film. In the absence of individual credit for each song in HFGK, it is difficult to guess anything about which and how many.
The cast of the film included Kanan devi, Pahadi Sanyal, Nawab, Nemo, Meera Dutt, Shor, Puttan and many others. from this list I find actor Nemo as a very exclusive person who had other achievements, besides film acting. Let us know more about him….
Nemo-real name Mirza Muhammad Begg- was born on 27th december 1903 at Calcutta. He passed his Senior Cambridge. One day he, along with some friends, visited New Theatres to see a film shooting. Mirza Muhammad Begg merely wanted to watch the shooting of ‘Yahoodi Ki Larki’ (1933) but, as luck would have it, his visit to the New Theatres studio in Calcutta led to a small role in the same film. The part was that of a Roman king and little did Begg know back then that he’d soon be turning to Latin to fish out a lasting identity.
A year later, he was invited by New Theatres’ founder B.N. Sircar to work as the production manager of ‘Karwan-e-Hayat’ (1935) and another chance role beckoned. A female actor who was supposed to play an old witch in the film failed to turn up for the shooting and Begg volunteered for the part. The make-up department stepped up to the challenge and Begg, unrecognisable in the get-up, did the job (and always considered it his best effort). What happened next is even more interesting. Once the film was ready, the makers felt apprehensive about revealing to the public that a man had played the witch’s role. Begg came up with a solution – a gender-ambiguous screen name for himself. And in a delightfully wacky move, he picked a name that means ‘nobody/nothing’ in Latin – ‘Nemo’.
The name stuck on and this was the beginning of Nemo’s steadfast association with New Theatres – one that resulted in a string of features like ‘Karodpati’, ‘Dushman’, ‘Doctor’ and ‘Zindagi’. He was Vidushak, the royal jester, in ‘Vidyapati’, a rigid but caring father in ‘Jawani Ki Reet’ and the devoted caretaker Dharamdas in P.C. Barua’s ‘Devdas’. These diverse characters earned him appreciation from audiences and critics alike. Further, the story of the Saigal hit ‘The President’ (1937) was based on his idea and he was duly credited for the same. Alongside his work in films, he also edited and published ‘Akkas’ – a very popular Urdu (and later, Urdu-English bilingual) film magazine in those days. Its surviving copies now serve as an important archive of the early talkies. His last film with New Theatres was Kashinath. When Calcutta was bombed by Japan in late 1942, Nemo migrated with his family to his ancestral hometown, Lucknow. He later went over to Bombay for a short while to work in Mazhar Khan’s ‘Pehli Nazar’ (1945), and then returned to Lucknow to settle into a life far removed from the studio lights.
In the middle of it all lies an extraordinary fact – at the time he entered the movies, M.M. Begg was a national billiards champion! He won the inaugural Indian Open Billiards Championship in 1931 and never left the game thereon, despite a busy and flourishing film career. He won the trophy again in 1937, and between the 2 wins, he was the runner-up thrice. Not to mention, he represented the country at international tournaments and also headed various administrative organisations related to the game. His contributions towards establishing and popularising billiards and snooker in India are widely mentioned, and always in glowing terms. He was also obsessed with Racing.
It was nearly a decade after ‘Pehli Nazar’ that Raj Kapoor managed to pull Nemo out of his sabbatical for 2 memorable final acts in ‘Shree 420’ and ‘Jagte Raho’. In both, Nemo played similar roles of manipulative, corrupt seths who hide their sinister designs behind a facade of respectability. If he was jittery about facing the camera after a long gap, it doesn’t show (unless Seth Sonachand’s trembling chin is not a mannerism 😄). He was particularly effective in ‘Shree 420’, where he puts on the most evil smile possible and hisses to Raj Kapoor, “Aap se mulaqaat ho gayi, is mein fayda hi fayda hai.” He also did 2 more films- Raja Vikram-57 and Nag Champa-58.
Nemo worked for 19 films of New Theatres and 6 others, totalling 25 films in all. His Filmography – Yahudi ki ladki-33, Karwaan E Hayat-35, Devdas-35, Karodpati-36, Manzil-36, Vidyapati-37, Anath Ashram-37, President-37, Dushman-38, Dharti Mata-38, Abhagin-38, Jawani ki reet-39, Badi Didi-39, Zindagi-40, Haar Jeet-40, Doctor-40, Aandhi-40, Lagan-41, Saugandh-42, Paheli Nazar-45, Shri 420-55, Jaagte Raho-56, Raja Vikram-57, Nag Champa-58 and Choron ki Barat-1960
It is believed that he died in Bombay on 18-8-1960. Cinema, publishing, sports – Mirza Muhammad Begg distinguished himself in everything he touched. And chose to call himself NEMO – a nobody. ( based on information from Filmdom-1946, HFGK, muVyz, my notes and an article by Yasir Abbasi ji, with thanks.)
Here is a song by Kanan devi from today’s film. As per the speciality of R.C.Boral this song too has a long prelude. So far I have found that a song in film Raag Rang-1952 (MD-Roshan) had the longest prelude of 1.50 minutes out of a total 3.0 minute song, “aree aali “. Enjoy today’s song sung in an early film song style….
Song-Kaise sunder phoolan ke haar (Haar Jeet)(1940) Singer- Kanan Devi, Lyricist- Not specified, MD- R.C.Boral
Lyrics
kaise sundar phoolan ke haar
kaise sundar phoolan ke haar
naaree ke gun piyu ka singaar
kaise sundar phoolan ke haar
naaree ke gun piyu ka singaar
jitnee lambee birha ke ghadiyaan
jitnee lambee birha ke ghadiyaan
utna hee lamba haar
piya udhar aangan beech pahunche
piya udhar aangan beech pahunche
idhar haar taiyyaar
kaise sundar phoolan ke haar
naaree ke gun piyu ka singar
kaise sundar phoolan ke haar
aakar saajan daras dikhlaayen
main pehnaaoon haar
aa aa aa aa aa
samay bina kaise ho o
sajnee
prem ka ye byopaar
aa aa aa aa aa
kaise sundar phoolan ke haar
naaree ke gun piyu ka singaar
kaise sundar phoolan ke haar
4 Responses to "Kaise sundar phoolan ke haar"
October 28, 2025 at 11:09 pm
Good Evening Sir,
Old is gold.
Thanks for sharing this valuable jewel.
Blessings
Uma🙏
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
October 28, 2025 at 10:32 am
Arun Ji,
Thanks for the post. I appreciate the detailed information on R C Boral.( something I have not been aware before)
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October 28, 2025 at 1:18 pm
Thanks.
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