Daadgar baniye
Posted on: November 6, 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 85 year old film- Paak Daman-1940.
The year 1940 was the end of the first decade of Talkie films. From 1931 to 1939 most of the film music was made and sung by people who were experts in Classical Music. Classical music has never been the area of common people. It was born in Temples and nurtured in the Darbars of Kings and Nawabs. When film music relied heavily on classical mode, it became an imposition on the masses. Luckily, from the last 2 years of the 30’s, film music started changing and the emphasis shifted to traditional and Folk tunes over the classical.
1940 saw the emergence of Naushad with his first film “Prem Nagar”, as an independent MD. He is the one who advocated the combination of classical with Folk music and this was accepted by other MDs. More people now turned to film songs.MDs like Naushad, Anil Biswas, C Ramchandra, Saraswati Devi, Gyan Dutt, Pankaj Mullick and their followers in the later part of the 40’s changed film music upside down.
National Studios emerged from the merger of Sagar Movietone and Mehboob gave his blockbuster milestone film “Aurat”. Himanshu Rai died untimely and the reigns of Bombay Talkies came into the hands of Devika Rani. Ranjit brought more popular films from its factory. Though there were signs of slow death, New Theaters still continued with musical films. Prabhat brought its third successive Saint film “Sant Gyaneshwar”. Wadias looked after their Stunt films with fearless Nadia and John Cavas.
In the south, S S Vasan started his Gemini Studios. Master Vinayak and P K Atre started Navyug Films. In August 1940, there was a big fire in New Theatres leading to heavy losses. The use of Harmonium was banned on A.I.R. Due to War Times, Raw Film controls were given to the Film Advisory Board. It also gave rise to Black Marketing of Raw film, in addition to already existing Rationing, and a new class of rich investors emerged in the film industry shaking its established Studio Systems and Culture.
The year 1940 made only 86 Hindi films, less than 100 for the consecutive third year in a row. Let us take a look at some important films of 1940.
New Theatres film Aandhi had good music and songs.
Bombay Talkies continued with Ashok Kumar and Leela Chitnis with the film Azaad, but it was not as popular as Jhoola, Kangan and Bandhan.
A dubbed foreign film -“Azadi E Watan” was the only Hindi film for which Malika Pukhraj had sung 2 songs.
Ranjit’s Achhut tackled a social evil, with good songs composed by Gyan Dutt.
A Stunt film of Shankar Vazare ” Aflatoon Aurat” had an English song in it.
Sagar’s last film ” Alibaba” by Mehboob was released. “Aurat” , a Landmark film by Mehboob for National Studios was the origin of its remake ” Mother India”-57.
Film ‘ Bharosa’ by minerva was based on an Incest story.
Sirco’s offering ‘ Geeta’ had a crime story, with double roles of Chandramohan and Durga Khote.
Prakash Pictures film ‘Narsi Mehta’ had Sant Tukaram fame Vishnupant Pagnis and some good bhajans.
Film Usha Haran saw the Debut of Sitara Devi.
Film Zindagi from New Theatres had very good songs by Saigal.
What is the meaning of the title “Paak Daman” ? The meaning of the word Paak Daman is Spotless Character. It has several other meanings depending on its usage. Generally this word is used to describe a woman of Chastest character and without any blemish.
Paak Daman was first made in 1931, the very first year of the Talkie films. Then it was made in 1940 and finally it was made in 1957. Paak Daman was a popular stage drama of the early 1900’s. There were many versions of this story with minor variations,like names and places etc. The Parsi Urdu Theatre version was written by Agha Hashra Kashmiri, then famously known as ” Shakespeare of India”. The Parsi Gujarati plays were written by various authors. Syed Yawar Ali penned the script for the ” Moon Parsi Theatre”. The Alfred Drama Company had their own version of the story. In 1932, a film called ” Paak Daman Raqaasa aka Innocent Rakkasa or innocent Dancer or निर्दोष नर्तिका ” was made by Elephanta Movietone, Punjab. But I guess it was not one of these versions, just like the 1957 movie.
Paak Daman-1931 with Rampyari and Hyder Shah was based on a Gujarati play and Paak Daman-40 was written by Agha Hashra Kashmiri for the Urdu Parsi Theatre. This was a small budget movie, with a not so popular star cast. Its shoe-string budget did not allow any advertisements in Film India or other film magazines or papers or any other media like Hoardings in major towns. For all such low budget films the usual method of making advertisement was by distributing handbills from bullock carts ( छकडा ) with a one piece band consisting of ताशा or ढोल. The handbills would be printed in Urdu or local languages and distributed in predominantly Muslim majority areas of the towns.
The film was produced by Stage Film Company and was directed by Rustom Modi. The film was censored on 20th October 1940 and released first in Lahore. Most of the film cast was drawn from Urdu Parsi Theatre to save money. Actors like Mohd. Ishaq (as Jaandaar, the King), Abu Baker(as drunkard), K.Pawar(as Bhangedi), Sonaba(as Afimi), Mehboob(as Baldy), Faqir Mohd(as Guardian) and Krishnabai as Dancer, were taken along with regular actors like Ghulam Mohammed(as Safadar Jung), Firoz Dastur(as Jameel). The female cast was Meera Devi(as Razia), Menaka Hyderabadi(as Sayeeda, the Heroine) and Leela Hyderabadi( as Nadira). These female actors were stage actresses from Urdu parsi Theatre in the 1930’s. They had played these roles so often on stage that all the dialogues were byheart to them. They had done small roles in films but went unnoticed,perhaps due to being uncredited.
Getting information about obscure and very old films is extremely difficult. More difficult is to get information about the old actors etc.I do not know what others do, but I depend on old time books or books which give this information as well as back issues of film magazines like Film India etc. In addition some tattered copies of film directories like Filmdom etc. Actually, to get these documents also one has to do a lot of spade work, contact people of equal interests, shops of ‘old Raddi’, chor bazar, search street book sellers etc.
Doing all these exercises, I have collected some unique books, journals, old issues of film magazines in Marathi, Hindi, English and Gujarati and 2 Film Encyclopedias. in addition, my library gets supplemented with ‘ complimentary copies’ of such books from the authors from time to time. I have some enviable documents and books, which I am proud of. With the help of these valuable documents, I try to make my articles full of information which is unique and not available elsewhere easily.
one can raise a question “if you are borrowing all this from other sources, what is your personal contribution ?” The truthful and simple answer is ” None” ! But then, remember, no one is born with all the knowledge. A simple equation like 2×2=? has to be learnt from your teacher in the school. World’s greatest Historians never met any Historical personalities nor were they present in any old wars. They got this information from various sources of documents from family treasures, old correspondence papers, old books etc etc. They get all this, systematically arrange it and publish their findings.
The credit is not for their books, but it is for their efforts and hard work to dig out information from various unimaginable and credible sources. Copying from IMDB, Google, Internet sites, various Blogs or Wikipedia and the likes of these is not very difficult, but most times, it lacks credibility, authenticity and genuineness of information. Most times mistakes and wrong information are just passed on from one source to another.
I am not trying to pat my own back but I want the readers to realise that your credibility depends on your genuine efforts to get information from the right sources. Many times when I get a really antique book or a very old magazine, I learn a lot which I never knew or my own knowledge is updated with the new evidence. I hope the readers are now in a better position to know the reality of old film information.
Film Paak Daman-1940 was directed by Rustum Modi, who was the elder brother of Sohrab Modi. To understand the background of the making of this film, we have to first take a look, in short, at the early build up of the careers of the Modi brothers.
Born on 2-11-1897, Sohrab Modi and his elder brother Rustom Modi spent their initial years in the Parsi community in Bombay, where their father was a Civil servant. The brothers were not good students in studies but were more interested in acting on stage. After their family shifted to Rampur in United Province (today’s Uttar Pradesh), when Sohrab was about 15 year or so, he used to read Urdu Books from the library of Nawab of Rampur, with whom his father worked as a Superintendent. This made Sohrab an expert in Urdu Language and diction. Coupled with his love for sports and bodybuilding, he soon became an impressive young man.
As he was growing, his brother Rustom helped him and he started doing small roles in stage dramas. At one stage his roles in “Khoon ka khoon”and “Saeed E Hawas” won laurels from the audience. By then Rustom had started his own drama company “The Arya Subodh Natak Mandali”. In 1931, Talkie films started and people were attracted to them. Sensing a danger to drama companies, Rustom Modi established “Stage Film Company” and filmed their “Khoon ka khoon aka Hamlet” and ‘Saeed E Hawas” in 1935 and 1936 respectively. However since people had already seen these dramas, these 2 movies did not click to expectations.
Sohrab Modi realised that filmmaking was a different game entirely. So, in 1936, the brothers started Minerva Movietone and a new film “Atma Tarang” was made. It was also received with a tepid response, with just 20 persons for the first show. Sohrab was disappointed, however, some critics appreciated his effort and encouraged him to go ahead. Soon he made successful films like Meetha Zahar-38, Divorce-38, Pukar-39 and Bharosa-40 and so on.
Rustom Modi, however, continued with his dramas and making films on dramas. On this background Rustom Modi made Paak Daman in 1940- again with his stage artistes. This time, there was a good response and the old timers enjoyed the film, reminiscing what they had earlier seen as a Urdu Parsee Theatre drama.
The film had a second title of “Shaheed Naaz”. The story, dialogues, screenplay and Lyrics were by Agha Hasra Kashmiri. The music director K.M.Pawar, besides doing a small role in the film, also doubled as a Choreographer along with Master Chhota.
The story of the film was…..
The king Jahandaar was a Noble and honest ruler. He used to roam about in his kingdom in a Fakir’s disguise. In his absence, his close courtier Safdar jung used to look after the kingdom. Safdar was a cruel and immoral person. He had deserted his own wife Nadira, after fully enjoying her chastity.
A young man named Jameel had used a girl Razia and abandoned her. She complained to Safdar Jung. Jameel was caught and sentenced to death. Jameel’s sister was Saeeda. Beautiful Saeeda goes to Safdar and begs for cancellation of the death sentence. Safdar asks her to spend one night with him as a gift in return to this favour. He gives her time to think and come back.
While returning, Saeeda meets the Faqir( king in disguise), who enquires what is wrong. Saeeda tells him all. King is very angry. He discloses his identity to Saeeda and asks her to find and bring Nadira. The three of them hatch a plot.
Next day, Saeeda informs Safdar that she is ready to do as he wants, provided there is total darkness and no talk in that period. He gladly agrees. In the darkness of night Nadira replaces Saeeda and Safdar spends time with her, thinking that she is Saeeda.
Next day Nadira appears in Darbar and asks Safdar to take her back. The Faqir also reveals himself and Saeeda tells the truth of the night. Safdar is stunned. The king orders Safdar to take back Nadira and leave the court-if not he will be executed. Jameel is released but has to marry Razia.
Jameel’s role was done by Firoz Dastur, who started with films, but became a well known classical singer of India. Firoz Dastur or Feroze Dastur (30 September 1919 – 9 May 2008) was an eminent vocalist of Kirana Gharana and a film actor. He acted in 16 films- from Laal e yaman-33 to Gul e Bakavali-47. He sang 60 songs in 19 films. Last he sang in the film Bhumika-77. He also gave music to 2 films,composing 17 songs ( Sunehra Baal-38 and Gul e Bakavali-47).Safdar’s role was done by Ghulam Mohd.
Today’s song is a duet by Menaka Hyderabadi and Leela Hyderabadi. Their style of singing is typical of the old stage drama style. It has a boring tune but has a Historical value. respect and try to enjoy….
( My thanks to ”Forgotten movies on Muslim Culture,1933-1947″, by Kamalakar Pasupuleti ji, “Stages of Life; Indian Theatre autobiographies ” by Kathryn Hansen, HFGK, MuVyz,www.pak.mag,Listener’s Bulletin and my notes).
Song- Daadgar baniye (Paak Daaman)(1940) Singers-Menaka Hyderabadi,Lyricist- Not known, MD-K M Pawar
Menaka Hyderabadi + Leela Hyderabadi
Lyrics
Daadgar baniye
bedaad se bade ?? nikla
daadgar baniye
bedaad se bade ?? nikla
mom samjhee thhee jise
haay to wo patthar nikla
mom samjhee thhee jise
haay to wo patthar nikla
raham kee jisase tawakkah thhee
sitamgar nikla aa aa
sangdil ?? se badtar nikla
aa aa aa
?? hum se
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
?? hum ??
na gayee ?? kee
waqt bad ?? aa tera
?? nikla
bala se hum se agar
waqt na ??
bala se hum se agar
waqt na ?? phir jaa
gale per apne gar
khanjar ?? phir jaaye
magar khuda na kare
humse wo khuda phir jaaye
magar khuda na kare
humse wo khuda phir jaaye
daadgar baniye
bedaad se bade ?? nikla
daadgar baniye
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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