Jai Jai Jananee Janmbhoomi ham baalak hain tere
Posted on: December 30, 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 social film the early era -Janmabhoomi-1936.
This was sort of a hidden or disguised Patriotic film. In those days films were scrutinised minutely by the British Government to eliminate any scene, dialogue or a song, which they suspected was a criticism of the Government. This was to ensure that there should not be any room to create or spread criticism of the Government or to promote patriotism leading to a revolt.
The police became stricter during the war period and it became the reasonKavi pradeep had to go underground for a few months for writing a daring songforthe film ” Kismet”-1943. The song was ” Door hato aye duniya walo (move away, O outsiders)”, which invited the ire of the then Government.
The first Talkie film came in 1931. The first year had just 24 films, but within a span of 3 years, the Talkie films crossed the century mark, with 121 films in 1934, 152 in 1935 and 134 in 1936. Making a film was a complicated process which needed a studio, the latest machinery and a lot of money. This was difficult for a single person and thus the Studio System got established. The studios ruled the industry and the film making. Films were sold on the names of the studios and the actors had secondary appeal to the audience.
There were three major film centres in 1936 – Bombay, Calcutta and Poona. In Bombay, studios like Imperial, Bombay Talkies, Sagar Movietone, Ranjit etc were big names. In Calcutta, New Theatres and East India Film Corporation were major players. Prabhat film company was famous from Poona. This was the position in 1936. Like any other industry, the film industry too needed an organisation of the big players, so that the workers had no upper hand on them. Accordingly, “Indian Motion Pictures Association” (IMPA) was established first in Bombay, followed by Bengal Motion Picture Association in Calcutta. Poona, being in the Bombay Presidency, did not have a separate organization.
1936 saw the formation of Huns Pictures by Master Vinayak and Baburao Pendharkar. The year was noteworthy for Prabhat Film company as one of its directors, Keshavrao Dhaibar had to leave the company, for marrying one of the company’s employee-actress Nalini Tarkhud and thus breaking the company’s rule not to marry an employee ! Much later, even V.Shantaram had to leave Prabhat when he married actress Jayashree, an employee of Prabhat !! (S. Fattelal had also married actress Gulab Bai aka Kamla Devi, but before this rule was formed. So he was saved. Gulab Bai is seen in the Prabhat Logo, bent backwards, blowing a Tutari).
Let us now take a look at some important films of 1936….
The year was notable for the type of films it produced. The initial limitation of making films only on Mythologicals or folk stories slowly changed over to social issues and problems. As such, due to British rule Indians had started following a lot of western manners, dressing patterns and our traditions were giving way to modern ways of developing countries like Europe or the America.
From Calcutta came 3 films of New Theatres, Manzil, Maaya and Karodpati. Manzil was a love story of a rich boy and a poor boy loving the same girl. Maya was a story of a rich wayward girl and an orphan girl in her house loving the same boy. Karodpati was a comedy enacted by Saigal and Molina Devi.
Bombay Talkies had 3 films, but only 2 were noteworthy. The first was Jeevan Naiya, which saw Ashok Kumar becoming a reluctant Hero (he was only a Lab-Technician) opposite Devika Rani. The other film was Achut Kanya – a film based on the ills of Untouchability. (The third film was Janmabhoomi )
The year 1936 was memorable because of films from Prabhat, which made the film Amar Jyoti, showing Durga Khote as a Lady Pirate. The film was made on Grand scale and in such a way that it was much ahead of its time !
The other important film was Sant Tukaram in Marathi. The film ran for one year in Bombay theatres. The role of the wife of Tukaram was done by an actress, who was a sweeper in the studio before this film, but she excelled in her role. Her name was Tanibai Davari. This was the first film to celebrate the Golden Jubilee at many places. It won the honour of ” One of the 3 Greatest films of the world” award at Venice Film Festival in 1937.
Sagar Movietone launched actor singer Surendra with the film Deccan Queen. The other film was Manmohan, which copied the film Devdas, by becoming a tragedy of a heart broken lover. Some other notable films were Sunehra Sansar by East India company, introducing Vijay Kumar from Shimla and K.N.Singh. K.N.Singh also debuted as a Hero in the only film Bandit of the Air from the same company. There were films like Jay Bharat from the Wadias, Passing Show from Prakash films and Said E Hawas from Minerva Movietone. Film Maa from Prafull Pictures used ” Vande Mataram” for the first time in a film. Film Shokh Dilruba had 150 kissing scenes (there was no restriction from Censors then). First Talkie Seeta Vivah from Orissa also came.
Film Janmabhoomi-1936 was made by Bombay Talkies. It was directed by a German Franz Osten. The music was by Saraswati devi and the cast consisted of Devika Rani, a novice of only 2 films- Ashok kumar, pramila, Chandraprabha, Pithawala, Mumtaz Ali (father of comedian Mehmood) and others.Lyricist was J.S.Casshyap. Many people think that Sarswati Devi was India’s First Woman Music Director in Hindi films. Some think it was Jaddan Bai (mother of Nargis). But both were NOT. The actual ranking is as follows….
1. Ishrat Sultana aka Bibbo-1934 (2 films)
2. Jaddan Bai-1935 (5)
3. Saraswati Devi-1935 (33)
4. Munni Bai – 1935 (1)
5. Mukhtar Begum-1936 (2)
6.Gohar Karnataki-1937 (1)
7. Amirbai Karnataki- 1947 (1)
8. Shanta Apte- 1947 (1)
9. Usha Khanna-1959 (148)
The Director and the Cinematographer were Germans. Very few people know that Indian Cinema had a little known connection with the rise of Hitler in Germany in 1932-33. A group of men , engaged in Cinema in Germany, flocked to India in the 30’s and played a vital role in Indian Cinema and the arts of that time. After Hitler took over Germany in 1933, the German Cine Studio’s glory days were over and they were turned into Nazi Propaganda Machines ! It was at this time that several of its men left the studio and arrived in India, and contributed during the Indian cinema’s formative years.
The foremost among them was Frantz Osten, a German whom Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani met at the UFA when they went to train there (they worked with Lang and Marlene Dietrich). Osten had already been directing films for the couple since 1925, when he made Light of Asia for them from Germany. In 1934, he came to India and the next year, after Rai founded ‘ Bombay Talkies ‘ the legendary film studio in Malad that now lies in ruins, Osten directed its first film.
He went on to direct the famous Devika Rani-Ashok Kumar starrer, Achhut Kanya (1936), without much knowledge of Hindi. The film, which featured the song “Main ban ke chiriya”, was shot by Joseph Wirsching; the sets were designed by Karl von Spreti and the laboratory was headed by Zolle, Osten’s team of UFA ex-members from Germany, who worked for Rai’s state-of-the-art studio.
Osten and his fellow Germans directed 16 films for Rai. It was a remarkable feat for people who knew little Hindi ‘ mistaking the word “bulbul” once for a pair of bulls. While in Bombay, he became a member of the Nazi Party (1936). He was interned by the British at the outbreak of Second WW while shooting his last film there, Kangan. Released and allowed to return to Germany (1940).
Then there was Walter Kauffman, a scholar and composer interested in Oriental music, and Wilhelm Haas, a writer and a friend of Franz Kafka. Both were Jews, and Haas came to India because of Kauffman, who went on to found the Bombay Chamber Music Society. Kauffman arrived in 1934 after meeting director-producer Mohan Bhavnani at the UFA (where V. Shantaram also did a stint). Haas was in Czechoslovakia, but left the country for India just after Hitler’s invasion.
Kauffman, Haas and Bhavnani worked together in Premnagar (1940), Naushad’s first film as music director. Kauffman composed the background score; Haas wrote the screenplay. Kauffman is also the person behind the All India Radio signature tune. Haas was a member of the Indian chapter of PEN. Haas also wrote the script for Bhavnani’s Jhooti Sharam (1939).
The story of Paul Zils ( 1-6-1915 to 30-3-1979 ) stands out, though. Zils, believed to be a Nazi sympathizer, turned up in India under strange circumstances: he was bound for Indonesia in a steamer that got torpedoed by an Indian naval ship during World War II and he was taken prisoner.
After his release, because of his film experiences, the leadership of the sales department where Ezra Mir led a government documentary production company, called him to join Information films of India. End of October 1945, he came to Bombay and started his work. In March 1959 he returned to Germany.
As the studio system came to an end and individual producers took over, the days of the Germans in Indian cinema were over. Many, including Osten, went back to Germany. Set designer Spreti was appointed German ambassador to Guatemala and was later shot dead by terrorists. Josph Virsching-the Cinematographer, however, stayed back in India till his death in 1967. He did few Hindi films too.
Paul Zils directed 3 Dev Anand films, according to the documents. Hindustan Hamara-50 and Zalzala-52 are found in HFGK, but the third film called ‘ Shabash”, though listed in 1949, gives no details, except the film name. ( Information adapted from the book ” Walter Koffman” by Amit Gangar, with thanks and my notes).
(Incidentally, another foreigner – an American – named Ellis Roderick Dungan was in the Madras film industry from 1935 to 1950 and he directed over 20 Tamil films, not knowing a single word of Tamil language till the end. He went back to the USA but kept visiting India, making Hollywood films and Documentaries etc, till 1994. Just for extra information.)
The story of the film Janmabhoomi-1936 was….
Ajay(AK) and his beloved Protima(DR) fight for the welfare and justice of the Indian villagers. They invite the anger and enmity of the local Zamindar(Kaiser) and a conservative fanatic Sanatan(Pithwala). These two villains give a lot of trouble to the workers-these things occupy almost 7o% of the film scenes, but AK and DR jodi is not broken. Ultimately they are able to convert Zamindar and Sanatan to their side. Zamindar gives up his entire property for the cause of villagers’ welfare. Thus Class conflict is changed to class collaboration.
Here is an almost 90 year old song from this film, in a video. The song is sung by Ashok Kumar and chorus. Enjoy….
Song- Jai jai Jananee Janmbhoomi ham baalak hai tere (Janmbhoomi)(1936) Singer- Ashok Kumar, Lyricist – J.S.Casshyap ‘Natwa’, MD- Saraswati Devi
Chorus
Lyrics
gayee raat aaya prabhat
ham nidra se jaage ae ae
gayee raat aaya prabhat
ham nidra se jaage ae
Jai Jai Jananee Janmabhoomi
ham baalak hain tere ae ae
Jai Jai Jananee Janmabhoomi
ham baalak hain tere ae ae
gayee raat aaya prabhat
ham nidra se jaage ae ae
gayee raat aaya prabhat
ham nidra se jaage ae
Jai Jai Jananee Janmabhoomi
ham baalak hain tere ae ae
Jai Jai Jananee Janmabhoomi
ham baalak hain tere
dom chhed mochee bhangee
aao aao pyaare bhai
dom chhed mochee bhangee
aao aao pyaare bhai
saath saath ham gaam maat kee seva mein lag jaayen
saath saath ham gaam maat kee seva mein lag jaayen
kamar kas ke
kamar kas ke
kamar kas ke
ham nidra se jaage
Jai Jai Jananee Janmabhoomi
ham baalak hain tere ae ae
Jai Jai Jananee Janmabhoomi
ham baalak hain tere
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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