Maara maara firangee tirangee ne
Posted on: December 20, 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 obscure film – Uddhar-1949.
The film was made by Pratibha Chitra Mandir, Bombay. It was directed by S.S.Kulkarni (never heard this name !) and the music was provided by Vasant Desai. The cast of the film included Munawwar Sultana, Dev Anand, Nirupa Roy, Bharat Bhushan, Pratima Devi, D.S. Salvi, Narbada Shankar, Ram Singh, Ranjit Budhkar and others.
I used to like Dev Anand and saw almost all of his films in the 1950s and the 1960s. Though he was not a very good actor, his looks and his style mesmerised the audience. Right from his first film- Hum Ek Hai-1946, his initial struggle was quite a long period. Some of his films like Vidya-48, Ziddi-48, Namoona-49, Shair-49, Aram-51 etc saved his career due to excellent music and songs , but still he was not considered an “Actor” with a skill of acting (like Dilip or Raj).
It was from the film Bazi-51 and the friendship with Guru Dutt that changed his career and slowly but surely he walked towards success in gaining name and fame. In the 1952 film Zalzala, he even tried to copy Dilip Kumar by ‘ Dying ‘ at the end of the film, but it did not work. In his entire career, he ‘Died’ only in two films – Zalzala and Guide-1965.
Films like Jaal-52, Patitya-53, Taxi Driver-54, Munimji-55, C.I.D.-56, Funtoosh-56, Pocketmaar-56, Baarish-57 were some films in which he was unforgettable. More such films came till 1970 but after that, he was no more the Dev Anand who was adored by the audience. He started writing stories and directing his own films, which were not liked by his older fans. But he did not care and continued Self-Worship. For people like me, the old Dev Anand no more existed !
Dev Anand was the highest paid Hindi actor from 1957-1964 and the 2nd highest paid Hindi actor from 1965-1975. Dev Anand held the record for the most solo hero Hindi films starting from 1957 – when Dev already had 40 solo hero films and by 1985 he had 90 solo hero films, which was the maximum by a Hindi hero. Rajesh Khanna broke Dev Anand’s record in 1987 as by end of the year 1987, Rajesh Khanna became the only Hindi hero with maximum solo hero films (ie. film where the whole film revolves around his character and others support his character) with 92 released films and with 14 two hero released films. Dev Anand was the one of the Lead Actors in the World whose career spanned 8 decades–1940s to 2011.
Film Uddhar-1949 was the 10th film in his struggling period and this reflected in the film’s credits on posters too, where his name came after Munawwar Sultana ! The story of the film was horrible, with a background of Refugee camps set up after the Independence riots. The music was good by Vasant Desai, but not good enough to compete with the other Musical Films of 1949 like – Andaz, Apna Desh, Badi bahen, Barsat, Bazaar, Chakori, Dillagi, Dulari, Ek this ladki, Girls school, Kaneez, Laadli, Lahore, Mahal, Namoona, Patanga, Rimjhim, Roomal, Roshni, Shair, Sunehre Din etc.etc.
The story of the film Uddhar-1949 was….
This was a story that took place in the Refugee Camp of the town Sharanpur. When the young daughter of a woman named Karuna was abducted, no one was ready to help her. But one good person, Ishwar Chandra and his friend, a Doctor, set out to investigate the matter. The town’s villain, who was now the Town secretary, tries to outsmart them and drives away Karuna with her young child, from the camp.
Nevertheless, the two young men track the abducted girl and bring her back. Ishwar Chandra’s father is Rai Sahib Dhanpat Rai – the most respectable person in the town. His daughter, Shanta-Ishwar Chandra’s sister, gets into the evil web of a Goon, but the Doctor rescues her. Now the Doctor loves Shanta and Ishwar Chandra loves the rescued daughter of Karuna.
The film shows how their love stories succeed and the two couples unite happily, thus giving a new life to Karuna and Shanta.
( The story is adapted from the film’s Booklet, very kindly provided to me by Harmandir Singh ji Hamraz. He is very kind and helpful every time I request him. And very promptly too ! Thank you, Sir ji.)
One of the least known actors in the film’s cast is (Dada) Salvi. Dinkar Shivram Salvi (04 December 1904 – 29 October 1980) better known as screen name “Dada Salvi”, was an actor of the silent & talkie era of Indian Cinema. He was a part of the first Indian talkie film “Alam Ara” (1931). He has acted in 20 silent movies. He has worked in Hindi & Marathi movies.
Dinkar Shivram Salvi aka Dada Salvi was born on 04 December 1904 in a village Phansob in Ratnagiri, Bombay Presidency undivided India, now in Maharashtra. After completing his education, he joined the Police Department. During service period, he was taking part in plays. Shri Tipnis, a well known play master saw Salvi and advised to come to Bombay. Acting in plays became a part of his life, so he decided to leave the job and come to Bombay.
In Bombay, Tipnis introduced Salvi to K. B. Athawale, working as manager, actor, director in Excelsior Film Company owned by Seth Wazeer Aziz. The company was searching for talented actors and Athwale offered Salvi to join Excelsior Film Company on a monthly salary of ₹. 25. Salvi accepted the job & joined Excelsior Film Company.
Salvi’s first silent film was “Khoon-e-Nahaq” (1928) and became very popular. Looking to his potential in acting, The Imperial Film Company offered Dalvi work with higher monthly pay. After joining Imperial Film Company, Salvi acted in 20 silent films like Madanmanjri, Indira BA, Bhola Shikar, Cinema Girl, Hamara Hindustan, Raat Ki Baat, Khuda Ki Shan and many more. It is said, while working with Imperial Film Company, Salvi fell in love with his co-actress Sakhubai & later they married. Probably it was the first love Marriage of the first Maharashtrian acting couple of Hindi Films.
Salvi has worked with Jayant Desai in the film Poladi Pahelwan – Iron Man (1931) for Paramount Films. He also acted in Marathi films like Aut Ghatkecha Raja, Bhakta Prahlad, Chatrapati Sambhaji, Thaksen Rajputra under Dadasaheb Torne of Saraswati Cinetone. Salvi’s role in “Chatrapati Sambhaji ” as Sambhaji’s evil advisor ‘Kalusha Kabji’ won him great acclaim. Impressed with the acting of Salvi as “Kalusha Kabji”, Huns Pictures, Kolhapur, invited him to join them on a three figure salary. Salvi left Imperial and joined Huns.
“Premveer” (1937) was Salvi’s first film with Huns Pictures. This was a turning point in his career where he came to be associated with Master Vinayak & Marathi Films. Their team led to many wonderful performances. He was then seen mostly in Marathi Films with an occasional Hindi film. In Brahmchari, Salvi played the role of a father of the heroine. Salvi acted in Marathi films like Savangadi, Brandi Chi Batli, Devta and many more.
Later Huns Pictures changed to Navyug Chitrapat and made Amrut (1941). Salvi then worked in many Hindi and Marathi films with Master Vinayak, V. Shantaram. After 1947, Dada Salvi mainly worked in Marathi films. Dada Salvi died on 29 October 1980 in Poona (Pune), Maharashtra.
There was another actress Pratima Devi, who was well known but not written about anywhere. The article is written by Shiraz Sharief, nephew of Pratima Devi. 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.
Today’s song is sung by Narayan, Wali and chorus. I am not aware of these singers. Never came across these names. Anyway, try to enjoy the song….
Song-Maara maara firangee tirangee ne(Uddhaar)(1949) Singers-Narayan, Wali,Lyricist-Pt Narendra Sharma, MD-Vasant Desai
chorus
All
Lyrics
maara maara firangi tirangi ne
rang aaya
ho o o rang aaya
maara maara firangi tirangi ne
rang aaya
ho o o rang aaya
main to aaya rang
aaya rang aaya
ho o o rang aaya
kat kar mar kar jaan ganwaakar
hamne jeewan paaya
hamne jeewan paaya
hamne jeewan paaya
arre kat kar mar kar jaan ganwaakar
hamne jeewan paaya
maara maara firangi tirangi ne
rang aaya
ho o o rang aaya
jiye hamaare veer Jawahar
jeeve Vallabh Bhai
jiye hamaare veer Jawahar
jeeve Vallabh Bhai
arre jiye hamaare veer Jawahar
jeeve Vallabh Bhai
Bapu jee ke humraahee ban
naiyya paar lagaayee
Bapu jee ke humraahee ban
naiyya paar lagaayee
Bhaiyya naiyya paar lagaayee
Bhaiyya naiyya paar lagaayee
nirmal neel gagan mein apna chakkar dhwaj fahraaya
nirmal neel gagan mein apna chakkar dhwaj fahraaya
chakkar dhwaj fahraaya
chakkar dhwaj fahraaya
maara maara firangi tirangi nee
rang aaya
ho o o rang aaya
ho rang aaya
rang aaya
rang aaya
ho rang aaya
Bharat waalon se hil mil kar badhen Asia waale
Bharat waalon se hil mil kar badhen Asia waale
aaj naheen to kal mil jaayenge sab Gorey Kaale
bhaiyya sab Gorey Kaale
bhaiyya sab Gorey Kaale
saaree duniya per kal hogee prem satya kee chhaaya
saaree duniya per kal hogee prem satya kee chhaaya
hey ae ae ae ae ae ae ae
saaree duniya per kal hogee prem satya kee chhaaya
prem tathy kee chhaayaa
prem tathy kee chhaayaa aa aa
2 Responses to "Maara maara firangee tirangee ne"
December 20, 2025 at 8:49 pm
Elaborate write which has brought out many unknown aspects on a number of issues. Not much was known about Uddhar which also featured Premnath in one of the roles. Since the videos of the film or songs are unavailable it is difficult to form an opinion on its quality.
On Sat, 20 Dec, 2025, 5:00 am Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
December 20, 2025 at 9:56 am
Good Morning,
Very beautiful song. Narayanji voice sounds like Talatji.
It is very nice to know about these songs.
That was a golden era of pure music and films.
Thanks a ton for sharing these jewels with information.
Blessings.
Uma🙏
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