Gaao badhhaai ree suhaagan aangan aayee
Posted on: November 16, 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 the film Bhakta Dhruva-1947.
It was a film by Prakash Pictures, which had become famous for religious films, after their blockbuster film Ram Rajya-1943. The film Bhakta Dhruva-1947 was directed by Shanti Kumar and the music was by the veteran Shankar Rao Vyas, who tuned the lyrics by Pt. Indra and Moti, B.A. ( he was actually M.A.).
Hindi films have always catered to all tastes. One can find a mix of themes in the films produced in an year easily.There have been love stories, Historicals, mythological, Stunts, comedies, tragedies, horror, musicals etc etc. However ONE Genre is permanent or rather was permanent, from the beginning of Silent films up to 1970 end. The Genre is RELIGIOUS FILMS.
The 1940s too included several religious films during every year starting from 1941 to 1950. In fact some of the All time Hit films in this genre were made in this decade only. Films like Bharat Milap-42, Ram Rajya-43 and Har Har Mahadev-50 are some examples. This trend continued during the next decade too and the 50s saw some very interesting religious films.In the 60s it was much less and in the 70s, probably you could count them on fingers. From the 80s onwards,there were no religious films,barring few,perhaps and in the last 25 years there has been no religious film, worth a mention even.
Does this mean that people have become Atheists ? No, their thirst for religious films is quenched by the Television, on a daily basis through Serials, featuring various stories. Also there were the Mega Serials,like Mahabharata and Ramayana on TV.
Traditionally all Indians are religious minded. Just look at the crowds at major Temples like Tirupati,Varanasi,Calcutta or Vaishno Devi. The Holy towns of Haridwar and Hrishikesh overflow with visitors in season. Tour operators in every state have their trips to religious places always booked full. In fact many Tour operators thrive on these trips alone.
Religion is not only our mind set, but it is our culture. When foreigners and outsiders attacked India in historical times,several Saints and Holy personalities did the job of awakening and uniting the masses. India being a multi racial,multi language nation,it was necessary to bind the people with one common thread and it was religion.
During the Bhakti Movement in India, from the 7th century, starting from Tamilnadu up to the 16th century India had many Saints who operated in either their own language areas or were known all over India, and all of them contributed towards keeping the Indians united culturally.
The film industry has, from time to time,made films on many of them and either reminded or introduced regional saints to All India audiences. from the silent films onwards, films were made ( sometimes 2 or 3 on one saint) on the following Saints..
Sant Ramdas, Tukaram, Gyaneshwar, Tulsidas, Kabir, Rahim, Janabai, Raghu, Ravidas or Raidas, Sakhu, Gora kumbhar, Eknath, Meerabai, Namdev, Sena, Narhari, Dhanna, Sadhana, Narsi Bhagat, Ramanuja etc.
Like Saints, Indian cultural history is replete with ‘Great souls’ or ‘Bhakts’, who not only worshipped the God, but also helped the masses to remove castes and unwanted rituals in society. Films were made on such Bhakts too,like… Bhakta Cheta, Bilwamangal, Dhruv, Pundalik, Prahlad, Shrawan, Pooran, Shriyala, Surdas, Raj Ambarish, Damajipant, Laxmidas, Peepajee, Sudama, Vatsala, Vidur, Vijaya, Bodana etc.
Apart from these, India had several social reformers like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Vivekanand, Shri Ramkrishna Paramhans, Madhwacharya, Adi Shankaracharya, Vallabhacharya, Ramanand Teerth. Filme were made on some of these too.
Out of all these, I have special affection for Bhakta Prahlad and Bhakta Dhruv, because in both cases their own fathers were against them. In case of Bhakta Prahlad, his father had to be killed by Narsimha and in Dhruv’s case he himself attained an unassailable position in the sky permanently. We call it Dhruv-Tara or the North star.
Film Bhakta Dhruva-1947 was made in an year when the industry as well as the country was in turmoil due to Partition of India. The year 1947 is a reminder not only for the Independence of India, but also for the upheaval that took place in the film industry that time. More than in any other industry in India, Muslims were plentiful, working in different sections and departments of the Hindi film industry.
Majority of them migrated to the newly formed Muslim Nation of Pakistan. This did create a lot of disturbance in the film industry. Right from the beginning of 1947, there were signs that soon the British would leave India – after dividing it into two Nations, India and Pakistan. When the month and date became known for the Partition, there was a great hurry among the filmmakers to complete their projects on hand and in process, compromising many factors like quality of the film, number of songs and such other things.
This resulted in the record number of films made in 1947 alone – 181 Hindi films and about 100 films in other languages in India. This was a record which remained unbroken till 1985, when 187 Hindi films were made. Thus from 1931 to 1985, this record remained unbroken for more than 50 years ! Obviously, this resulted in a big compromise on quality to achieve quantity with many films produced half heartedly. Most or rather many films made in 1947 remained obscure, unheard of and many flopped due to poor quality. Actually only few films were released in 1947, because many films were released in 1948 and 1949, with some films being released in Pakistan too.
Did you ever hear about films Amar Asha, Angoorbala, Attention, Barrister, But Tarash, Chalte Chalte, Chandrahas, Dagabaz Dost, Dehati,Ek kadam,Gaurav,Giribala, Heera, Intezar ke baad, Jhalak,Jurmana, Khaufnak aankhen, Lalaat, Mangalsutra, Moti, Sewa gram, Stage girl, Tohfa or Utho jago ? Of course not all films were below standards. Some of the landmark films were also made in 1947, like Shehnai, Mirza Sahiban, Jugnu, Saajan, Naatak, Meera, Elan,Aap ki sewa mein, Dard, Do Bhai, Neel Kamal or Parwana etc. However by and large the picture was like this only.
The cast of this film was Child artiste Shashi Kapoor (Sr.), Mrudula, Leela Mishra, Ramesh Sinha, Jeevan, Master Laxman and many others. The child artiste Shashi Kapoor was different from the youngest of the Kapoor khandan brothers Shashi Kapoor (Jr.) I have written several times on them, so I will not repeat it here. When the cast was finalised, the Director Vijay Bhatt was very much worried because he had not yet found a suitable actor for Narad’s role. One day, when he was sitting in his office, a person came in with Narad’s get up- clean shaven head with a shikha at the back, Ektara in one hand, cymbals in the other, Pitamber etc etc. Vijay Bhatt was so impressed that he gave the role immediately to that actor. His name was Omkar Nath Dhar,or Dhar Kashmiri as he was known in the industry then. Vijay Bhatt also changed his name to JEEVAN, who went on to do more than 60 roles of Narad in his career.
Actor Jeevan did Narad’s role for the first time in this film, only to repeat the role more than 60 times in subsequent films till the 60s. From the 60s onwards he started working as a Villain (My God ! What a 180 degree turn around ! ).
Jeevan or Omprakash Durgaprasad Dhar ( or OK Dhar as he was fondly known in his early days) was born in Srinagar on 24-1-1915. His mother died in childbirth and he lost his father when he was just 3 year old. Jeevan was the last of the ….24 siblings ! His first film as a Hero-Madhav- was Fashionable India-1935. He worked in more than 300 films. His last film was “Tera karam mera dharam’-87. The Film “Aakhri sangharsh”- was released in 1997, almost 10 years after he had acted in it. From 1946 to 1978, he worked in almost every film of Dev Anand. He was also in many Manmohan Desai films.
One of the cast members was Mrudula. Mrudula ( real name Chandrakanta) was born on 2-11-1924 at Almora, but was educated in Delhi. When she was in college doing her graduation, Amiya Chakravarty of Bombay Talkies came to Delhi on a Talent Hunt. He contacted her and gave her an offer. She signed a 5 year contract with Bombay Talkies and Devika Rani became her Mentor, teaching her everything. She was paid 2500 rupees salary with a furnished house. Her first film was “Jwar Bhata”-44, opposite another Debutant Dilip Kumar (Yousuf Khan). After Himanshu Rai’s death, Bombay Talkies was already in disarray. Many people had left the company due to differences with Devika Rai. A group of them formed Filmistan.
She got married to her lover Mr. G C Andley. However the marriage was unsuccessful and she went back to Delhi. She spent a miserable life selling whatever she had to survive. She got divorce and came back to Bombay to work in films, in 1954. She worked in 53 films in all. Her last released film was Saboot-80, though she had married again and retired some time before that.
Mridula was also a victim of her contract with Bombay Talkies. It destroyed her career as a Heroine forever. Devika Rani was her Mentor in Bombay Talkies. However, after Himanshu Rai’s death, no one was listening to her in the company due to groupism. Disgusted, Devika rani left Bombay Talkies,having sold all the shares. Mridula got stuck in the company without work, due to her 5 year contract. It was Vijay Bhatt of Prakash Pictures who somehow convinced Bombay Talkies to loan her to him and she got roles in 2 of their films. In the film ‘Bhakta Dhruva”-47, she played mother to 16 year old Shashi kapoor (sr) when she herself was about 23 year old only ! But she had no choice. The film and her role became famous, but she lost her chances of becoming Heroine in any film thereafter.
Till 30-9-2016 she was living in Worli, Mumbai all alone. Her only daughter stayed nearby and looked after her. There is no news about her anymore.
The story of Bhakta Dhruva is well known in India. The film story was…..
King Uttanapada (Ramesh Sinha) left his first wife Suniti ( Mridula ), because she had not given him a son. He married the beautiful Suruchi (Shanta Rin). By coincidence both queens delivered boys at a time. Suniti’s boy was named Dhruv (Shashi kapoor,Sr.) and Suruchi’s son was called Uttam (Master Laxman). Due to the machinations of Suruchi and her evil Dassi Kumati (Leela Mishra), the king drives Suniti and Dhruv away from the palace.
When Dhruv becomes 8 year old, he comes to know that the king is his father. He goes to the king and introduces himself. The king is happy and makes him sit on his lap. Suruchi sees this. Angrily she removes Dhruv from the lap and throws him out. Humiliated, he returns to his mother and asks who is bigger than the King ? She replies Narayan is bigger than the king. That night, Dhruv goes to the Jungle and starts his Tapasya. Narad muni meets him and guides him. Few years pass and Lord Vishnu appears before Dhruv to grant him his wish. But he does not ask anything, simply smiles with happiness of seeing God. Lord Vishnu grants him a permanent place in the Universe, surrounded by the Saptarshis (The 7 sages), in the sky. Today we call it Dhruv Tara or the North Star.
Here is a video song from this film, sung by Lalita Deulkar(who became Lalita Sudhir Phadke in her later life) and chorus. See and enjoy….
Song- Gaao badhaai ree Suhaagan aangan aayee (Bhakt Dhruv)(1947) Singer- Lalita Deulkar, Lyricist- Pt. Indra, MD- Shankar Rao Vyas
Female chorus
gaao badhaai ree
suhaagan aangan aayee
gaao badhaai ree
gaao badhaai ree
suhaagan aangan aayee
gaao badhaai ree
rahe amar suhaag tihaaro
rahe amar suhaag tihaaro
sakhee neha naihar ka bisaaro
sakhee neha naihar ka bisaaro
maango ree tumhree kalaayee ree
suhaagan aangan aayee
gaao badhaai ree
gaao badhaai ree
suhaagan aangan aayee
gaao badhaai ree
sakhee god mein laal khilaao
sakhee god mein laal khilaao
kul gaurav maan badhaao
kul gaurav maan badhaao
deen dukhiyon ka dukhda mitaao
deen dukhiyon ka dukhda mitaao
jaano ree peer paraayee ree
suhagan aangan aayee
gaao badhaai ree
gaao badhaai ree
suhaagan aangan aayee
gaao badhaai ree
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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