Tarara naav naav
Posted on: October 29, 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 a funny, ‘Anokhe Bol’ song from an iconic 86 year old film-Aadmi-1939.
The year was 1939 and the British Government had declared war against Germany and Japan, as soon as the WW II began. All countries ruled by Britain were – willingly or unwillingly, drawn into the war efforts and its effects. The war began in the month of September and soon various restrictions came into operation – like rationing, blackouts, shortages etc. The film industry which was still under its development stage suffered. It also realised the importance of remaining united as one industry. However, all that came after 1 or 2 years. In 1939 there was not much effect seen on the film industry.
The industry had its own problems. In spite of the playback system in operation, their problem was that because there was no technique of recording from the film negative yet, the singers had to sing twice. Once for the actual film shooting of the song, and later, with the same set of orchestra, for commercial records. Sometimes, the original singer was not available due to any reason, some other singer had to sing for commercial records. Thus we have many such examples, where the singer in the film song and the record is different. However, this problem continued only till mid 50’s when the Tape and the required technique became available. With just one time recording, the film and commercial recording were taken care of.
Khemchand Prakash. K.Datta (Datta Koregaonkar), Rafiq Ghaznavi and Anupam Ghatak made their Debut as Music Directors. Kavi Pradeep wrote his first film song for film Kangan. In 1939, 2 most Unusual songs were presented, for the first time . One was a Multi-Lingual song from film Aadmi-39, a film by Prabhat….Kis liye kal ki baat. This song was in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bangla, Tamil and Telugu. ( In its Marathi film version-” माणूस “, this song was only in one language-Marathi.) Different Lyricists and MDs were used for each language. The song became very popular.
Second unusual song was from film ‘Ghareeb ka Laal’-1939. The song lyrics had the names of 32 artistes, operating in Hindi films that time. Top Heroes and Heroines were mentioned in this song. The beginning of the song was ” Tuze Bibbo kahoon ya Sulochana, Uma shashi kahoon ki Jamuna “. This song was sung by the comedian Mirza Musharraf. In later years many songs with film artistes’ names came but none had so many names. Thus this record is still unbroken, in case of this song.
Besides these songs, let us quickly take a look at some films of 1939….
Aadmi – Prabhat’s hit film, a remake of the Marathi film ” माणूस “. It had some good songs by Shanta Hublikar, Sundarabai Jadhav and Ram Marathe.
Adhuri Kahani – a trend of Tragedy films set by the effect of film ‘Devdas’. All the 3 main characters of this film commit suicide in the end.
Badi Didi – A New Theatres film.
Brandy ki Botal – Master Vinayak’s comedy remake of Marathi film ‘ ब्रॅंडीची बाटली ‘.
Dil hi to hai – Debut of Kidar Sharma as a Director and Ramola as a Heroine in a Hindi film.
Dushman – New Theatres’ film of Saigal, with only his 4 songs.
Ek hi Raasta – Sagar presents first film with 3 Heroes in one film.
Ghazi Salauddin – Debut of Khemchand Prakash as M.D.
Hukum ka Ikka – First film with a Triple role by Umakant Desai ( who later specialised as Lakshman in 7 films, including Ramrajya-43).
Imaandaar – Debut of actress Shamim Akhtar.
India in Africa – This was the First Hindi film to be shot abroad (in Africa). The Hero B. Nandrekar had also gone to Africa for its shooting. Naaz-54 was not the first such film, though HFGK mentions it so.( Ref – pp 69, Maharashtra-The Birthplace of Indian cinema by Isak Mujawar)
Kangan – First of the 4 Hit films of Ashok kumar and Leela Chitnis, made by Bombay Talkies. Kavi Pradeep’s Debut as a Lyricist in this film.
Kapal kundala – New Theatres. Pankaj mullick’s hit song ‘ Piya milan ko jaana ‘.
Leather Face – Debut of Meena kumari as a child artiste.
Navjeevan – Debut of Hansa Wadkar as a Heroine- Bombay Talkies film.
Pukar – Hit film from Minerva Movietone. Naseem Bano sings ” Zindagi ka saaz bhi kya saaz hai….”
1939 was also an year in which some iconic and milestone films were made. One of them was today’s film-Aadmi-1939. When Saigal featured in his famous film Devdas-1935, made by Calcutta’s New Theatres, it created a wave. Saigal songs from Devdas became All India famous. The tragic ended film alsobecame a lesson for the other filmmakers of Indian languages and a wave started of making tragedy films. This wave was so intense thatits effects lasted for almost a decade or more.
In Hindi films, the wave of tragedy films overtook the film industry and with Dilip Kumar as the Hero, these tragedy films made its die before the film ended. Several films in a row of Dilip Kumar were made, in which he died at the end. This affected him mentallyt and he had to consult a well known psychiatrist in London to find a remedy !.
When the wave of such tragedy films with Hero’s death started with Devdas-1935, V. Shantaram was disturbed. he was of the opinion that ‘ Life is for Living’ and in that mood he made a film in Marathi- Manoos-1938. It was remade as Aadmi in 1939 as a Hindi film. he wanted to achieve two things in this film. One was to stress that the Policemen also are human beings and they too have normal emotions in life like other people. Secondly, he stressedhis philosophy that Alcohol was not the solution for tragedies like ‘Love failures’ in life. Life is precious and Life is for living. he achieved both his points through the film Aadmo-1939.
The story of the film is somewhat like this…..
Aadmi’s Hero is Moti(Shahu Modak),who is a Police Constable.He falls in love with Kesar(Shanta Hublikar),who is a Kothewali girl.Kesar detests her singing profession and wants to quit.Moti’s family is very traditional.His old mother gives her consent for the marriage,without knowing who is the girl.When kesar visits Moti’s mother and sees the family set up,she realises that she canot fit into it. She goes away etc etc.
The point I want to make here is ,in those days Shantaram was lauded for depecting the human side of the Policeman and for trying to bring to the notice of the society that Policemen also have natural feelings,like other members of the society. The entire focus was only on depicting the human aspect.
It is true that there is a scene where the Hero,Moti is dejected and wants to have drinks,and his wellwishers desist him from doing so saying,Drinks do not solve problems,they add to it.But the story revolves around the human aspect mainly. Moti refuses the drink and tries for a normal life after the heart break.
The cast of the film was Shahu Modak, Shanta Hublikar, Sundarabai, Ram marathe, Gauri, manju and many others from the Prabhat stable.
Ram Marathe was a child artiste. In this film he did a ‘Chaiwala boy’s role’. Such boys are usually seen at the Tawayaf’s kothas. he became very popular in his child roles. However, after few years, he left the films and pursued his first love- singing. In due course, he became an All india famous classical singer.
There was yet another similar child actor- Firoz Dastoor, who too left films and became a famous classical singer. There are few more such cases. Offhand, I remember the case of Shashi (chand) Kapoor- a popular child artist in Hindi films. He too left films after doing 21 films in 11 years (1944 to 19550, continued his education , became a Ph.D, went to USA and became a Professor in an American University, he retired in 1997.
There was one more such case. Mukund Rai, a young man ofjust 23 years, joined films to become a Music Director. he made a team with Frank Fernandes calling themselves as ” Frank-Roy” music directors. Theygave music to film Gogola-1966. However, Mukund realised that films were not his cakes. he left films and joined his family business of Mining in M.P. He became a millionnaire and then a Congress MP from M.P.state !
Today’s song is sung by Ram Marathe. This song has some Anokhe Bol in its Mukhada.
Child actor Ramchandra ( Ram) Marathe was born on 23-10-1924 in Poona and studied in Bhave school up to 10th. He and his brother ( Anant Marathe aka Anant Kumar) worked in films as child actors, due to family conditions. They started work from 1936 onwards. Ram Marathe had an edge over his brother,in that he could sing too. Starting with Shahu Chor in 1936, he worked in Sagar movietone (6 films), Ranjit (3 films) and Prabhat (2 films), in addition to other companies like prakash, Mohan Pictures, Imperial etc. he acted as a child star in 16 films. he sang 11 songs in 6 films. After this Ram left films and started training in classical music-his liking. Here is a short bio of Ram Marathe, adapted from meetkalakar.com….
Ramchandra Purshottam Marathe (1924-1989) began his early career as an actor and singer in films produced by the Prabhat company. His formal training in music assumed a definite direction when he came under the tutelage of Master Krishnarao (Phulambrikar). Later, he trained under accomplished musicians such as Mirashibuwa of Gwalior and Vamanrao Sadolikar of Atrauli-Jaipur. His quest for widening his musical horizons culminated in a long-lasting discipleship (15 years) under Jagannathbuwa Purohit (“Gunidas”). As a consequence of his broad training and background, Rambhau’s music integrated the best of Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur styles. Rambhau was a stalwart in the field of Marathi Natya Sangeet. He was also known as a composer. Among his pupils is Ulhas Kashalkar.
Pt. Ram Marathe had performed in all the prestigious musical festivals at various places like Jalandhar, Patna, Lahore, Delhi, Gwalior, Calcutta, Banaras,Amritsar and almost all over Maharashtra. His contribution to Indian classical music was recognized with several Awards for his unique and successful performances. He was “A-top grade” Hindustani Classical Artist of All India Radio.
Since he had undergone proper Tabla training, he had a great command on Taal and Layakari. He had special command on Rare–Anvat Ragas & Jod Ragas and he was highly recognized for his clear and fast tankriyas and also for Purity of Ragas. He always used to enrich his audience with various semi-classical forms like Khayal, Tarana, Tappa, Natyasangeet, Thumri, Dadra & Bhajans in his concerts. Unlike the present classical singers, his concerts used to last more than 5 hours with the powerful intensity and stamina.
He started his stage career under the perusal of Natvarya Shri Ganpatrao Bodas in 1950 as a leading character in old classical musical dramas like Saubhadra, Sanshaykallol, Swayamvar, Ekach Pyala, Manapman etc. with veteran actor and actress such as Balgandharva, Hirabai Badodekar, Vinayakbuwa Patwardhan, Nanasaheb Phatak etc. Despite his busy schedule in concerts, he performed in 22 old & new Sangeet Natak with more than 5000 stage shows. This is purely out of his dedication and commitment towards Sangeet Rangbhoomi.
Composed music for more than 10 dramas such as – Mandarmala, Suvarna Tula, Meghmalhar, Tansen, Baiju etc. and acted in the play as a leading character role.
His disciples include many eminent classical singers like Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, Sudhir Datar, Ram Pratham, Vishwanath Kanhere, Vishwanath Bagul, Yogini Joglekar, Shashikant Oak, Madhuwanti Dandekar, Sanjay Marathe & Mukund Marathe etc. (more than 50) and have got the training from him under the traditional Gurukul way of learning.
Maharashtra Government honoured the “Sangeet Bhushan” degree in 1961.
• Recognition by Government of Maharashtra in 1981 for successful completion and continuous 30 years of career in Marathi Sangeet Rangbhumi.
• Honoured “Sangeet Chudamani Degree” by Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Puri.
Appointed by AIR, New Delhi on the Northern (Hindustani) Music Audition Board Committee. Also Advisory Nagpur and other Universities in India.
More than 100 Records and number of CDs and LPs to his credit and composed more than 50 Bandish in various Ragas.
Ram Marathe died on 4-10-1989.
Enjoy the Anokhe Bol song by Ram Marathe….
Video
Song- Tarara naav naav (Aadmi)(1939) Singer- Ram Marathe, Lyricist- Munshi Aziz, MD- Master Krishna rao Phulambrikar
Lyrics
taarara naav naav
taarara naav naav
tarao tarara naav naav
taraao taarara naav naav
tarao
naav
nara na na na
naraanaa na
na ??
tara fanaanaa
tarata fanana
na farfarara
na farfarara
tarara naav naav
tarara naav naav
tarao
lo fafofo
laa fofo
lo fafofo
laa fofo
tatarane
tararane
tata nane
nane taataa
tahar tatar
nanaa re
nana re
tata re nana re
la far la far
la far
la far la far
la far
tarara naav naav
tarara naav naav
tarao
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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