Kal honge Raaja Raam
Posted by: Atul on: January 8, 2026
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 duet from a Mythological milestone film – Bharat Milap-1942.
Mythological films have been an important part of Indian films for a long time and this was evident from the fact that there was hardly any production house that did not make a Mythological film. The period of 1940 to 1965 can be called an age of meaningful religious films. In this too, the 1950 to 1960 period was the peak period for this genre. Later on the production of such films dwindled and these days, of course, one has to make efforts to find such a film, with a large magnifying glass !
Why this change ? When one goes into the details of the kind of films that are made these days, one will surely find that today’s films centre around blatant crime, Love stories and Special effects. Unlike earlier times, there are practically no films that are made on Mythology, History, fantasy, Costume Classical novels or family issues. The change in the genres is very prominent. Surprisingly, the Southern Film Industry has not changed to this extent and one can still find-albeit in less numbers- films made on the topics deleted from the Hindi films.
Have people become un-religious ? Have people forgotten our culture/history ? Not really. But the need for such topics has vanished. During the 40s these topics were used to give hidden messages of patriotism. After Independence, films were used to build and strengthen the concepts of’ family values ” and joint families. There was a need to hold on to our culture and preserve it.
Over a period of the last few years ,these needs are no longer relevant. In fact, Joint families are now found only in TV Serials, books and old films or in the fabulously rich families. In the age of Nuclear families, with just one or no child, religion and age-old cultural values are now confined to the four walls of one’s own house. The cut throat competition to survive and prosper have made the films only a means of 2 hours’ entertainment. High cost of cinema tickets and limited time availability do not welcome time consuming family or religious dramas in films. These are now relegated to Television. Thus mythological serials and joint family stories have become the staple of television today.
However, in the 40s and 50s some of the best mythologicals were made. Actually, there used to be a set of Actors( Manhar Desai, Shahu Modak, Prem Adeeb, Shobhana Samarth, Durga Khote etc),Composers ( S N Tripathi, Shankar rao Vyas, Avinash Vyas, Vasant Desai etc),Lyricists ( Bharat Vyas, S K Deepak, Pt. Indra, Pt. Bhushan etc), Directors (Jayant Desai, Vijay Bhatt, Shankar Bhatt, Raja Nene, Damle, Chaturbhuj Doshi etc), Production houses (Prakash Pictures, Sagar, Ranjit, Rajkamal, Prabhat etc) specific to such Mythological films.
Amongst these, Prakash Pictures was the No. 1 . Though they did not make many such films-just 14 from 1940 to 1967-but the films which they made created History. Films like Bharat Milap and Ramrajya became legends and milestones and also made Prem Adeeb as Ram and Shobhana Samarth as Seeta, etched forever in people’s minds. The brains behind Prakash Pictures were Vijay Bhatt and his brother Shankar Bhatt.
The success story of the famous Prakash Pictures (1934 to 1971) is also a success and hard work story of two brothers-Vijay and Shankar Bhatt. The sons of a railway guard, Vijay Bhatt, along with his elder brother and his lifelong partner, Shankar bhai Bhatt, shared a fascination for theatre and films.
The mid twenties brought them to Bombay, where Vijay Bhatt enrolled in St.Xavier’s college and studied upto Inter-Science. While Shankarbhai took up a job in a store selling readymade garments. In order to secure a steady, lucrative job, he obtained a Diploma in Electrical Lighting and Traction from the International Correspondence School, London. Quitting college, he joined the BEST and worked for 3 years rising to be an officer with the designation of Drawing Office Superintendent.
He quit his job after two months and both the brothers decided to take on the world of showbiz. A flair for writing led him to get involved in a humble way as a storywriter.
It was Ardeshir Irani, the ‘Father of Indian Talkies’ and the maker of ‘Alam Ara’, who would show them the way. At that time, he was the managing director of The Royal Studios. He glanced through the stories, selected one of them and asked the brothers to meet the proprietor of the studio, Seth Aboo Hussein. ‘Show him the story and then come back to me. If it is all right for him, it is all right for me’ they were told.
The story was approved and Ardeshir Irani took it upon himself to teach Vijay Bhatt how to write Screenplay. Every evening after the day’s work and dinner, the Bhatt brothers would make their way to Majestic Cinema, built by Ardeshir Irani in 1918 in partnership with the exhibitor, Abdulaly Yusoofaly. Irani would be here every evening with his friends. And it was here that Vijay Bhatt scripted his very first screenplay, ‘Vidhika Vidhan’, which was made into a film by director K.P.Bhave.
Ardeshir Irani made two more films based on the stories of Bhatt brothers. They were ‘ Paani mein Aag’ and ‘ Ghulam’-1929, both of which were directed by Nagendra Muzumdar. Their third film featured a newly recruited actor from Peshavar, Prithviraj kapoor.
By now, Ardeshir Irani had founded his own Imperial Studios and drawn to it a host of artists and technicians. The Bhatt brothers too had gathered enough experience and ventured to make films on their own. They soon founded the Royal Film Co., in partnership with a cousin and the first film to be produced under this banner was Black Ghost. It starred Master Vithal and Madhuri and was photographed by V. M.Vyas. With Vijay Bhatt at the helm of the creative affairs and Shankarbhai in charge of the business aspect, they made seven silent films under the banner of The Royal Film Company in an open air studio in Juhu. Among them was ‘Heer Ranjha’, where Vijay Bhatt gave A.R. Kardar, a poster maker for foreign film distributors, his first acting assignment.
Then came the year of Talkies and the Bhatts too switched over to this new medium with ‘Alif Laila’-1933, which was based on an Arabian Nights story and made under the banner ofRoyal Cinetone. This was followed by 3 other talkies made under the banner of Kardar Studios. He then founded a film distribution concern, Royal Pictures Corporation, which acquired the distribution rights of ‘Sohni Mahiwal’ for North India for Rs. 11,000 – a sensational amount at that time. For, as he often used to say, “In those days, it cost just about Rs. 8000 to make a film 8 -9 thousand feet in length!”
By now Vijay Bhatt had evolved into a director to be reckoned with. It was time to set up his own production company. And Prakash Pictures was born. Prakash Studios was built in 1934 at Andheri. That time Andheri was an undeveloped suburb of Bombay and not many facilities like roads, Lights etc were available easily there. The place where the studio was to come up was a very big open area. Except for huge open grounds, there was one double storey bungalow. All offices were kept in that. The first film to be made there was the film ‘Actress’-1934 ( Bambai ki Mohini), written and produced by Vijay Bhatt.
After a few more stunt films, a shooting floor was constructed and they made ” Khwaab ki duniya” in 1937. In 1938 they made State Express, Passing show, Challenge and Top ka Gola etc. By that time their reserves for stars included Sardar Akhtar, Pramila, Ratnamala, Ranjana, Jayant, Umakant, Prem Adeeb etc. Harsukh Bhatt and Raja Nawathe were assistant directors. By making stunt films they made good money and completed the second shooting floor also with that money. The famed torch of Prakash Pictures continued to shine over decades and in all, 64 films were made in various Genres, in black and white as well as colour. Vijay Bhatt directed 23 films. He also wrote lyrics for the film Snehlata-1936.
Because of hectic activities in the studio and the traffic to the studio,that part of Andheri became developed with street lights, cement roads, Bus stops etc. Their next film Purnima-38 did excellent business. Bhatt brothers were impressed with Gandhi’s favourite bhajan ” Vaishnav jan to “. They made a film ‘ Narsi Bhagat’ in 1942 with Vishnupant Pagnis and Durga Khote. It ran so well that Prakash made ‘ Bharat Milap’ in Hindi and ( भरत भेट ) in Marathi. The tremendous success made them make ‘Ram Rajya’ ( again in Hindi and Marathi) and Prakash became famous all over India, making name, fame and a lot of money.
From 1945 to 1948, Prakash faced a spate of flop films. Bhatta brothers kept silent for 4 years, renting its studio to other producers. Prakash was planning a Love story. Their friend Naushad suggested them Baiju Bawra. They made the film with less famous Bharat Bhushan and Meena Kumari. The film created Box office records.
Goonj uthi Shehnai-59, Hariyali aur Rasta-62 and Himalay ki God mein-65 did well but again few flop films…. Bhatt brothers decided to stop making films from 1971 and sold the studio and all the land.
Vijay Bhatt died on 17-10-1993 at Bombay. Vijay Bhatt played an important role in the careers of some major stars. He was the person who gave Mehzabeen (Meena kumari),the name Baby Meena. He also gave her the first major heroine’s role in Baiju Bawra-52.Till then she did roles in B and C grade films.
O K Dhar Kashmiri was given the name ” JEEWAN “,when he did Narad’s role in Bharat Milap. Later he did Narad’s role in over 100 films.
Suraiyya got her big singing role in Station master-42. Manoj Kumar was made hero in Himalaya ki God mein-65.
Today on that land many factories are erected. Few Housing societies and a Marriage Hall ” Vishal” came up too. Thus ended a glorious chapter of a film making studio called “Prakash Pictures”- a guarantee for wholesome entertainment ! (information for this article is used from vijaybhatt.com, a book ” तीन भिंतींची दुनिया ” by Bhai Bhagat, with thanks and my notes.)
During the period 1931 to almost the end of the 1950’s decade, there was a Studio System ” well entrenched in the Hindi film industry. This used to be almost a ‘One man show ‘. While it was necessary to establish and nurture a studio, this same thing was responsible for the end of this system, in most cases. Of course, for every studio reasons were different, but the common cause was the very person who started the studio.
Today’s film Bharat Milap-42 was a Bilingual film in Hindi and Marathi(as Bharat-Bhet). Main characters were Prem Adeeb as Ram,Shobhana Samarth as Seeta and Shahu Modak as Bharat. Durga khote was Kaikeyi and Vimla Vashishta was Manthara. The story of Bharat Milap is too well known and it is to the credit of Bhatt brothers that they kept the story line true to original,supported by several books and curators as well as scholars. This was the first major mythological film of Prakash and they did not spare efforts or money to raise spectacular sets, costumes and war scenes ( when Bharat is attacked by Nishad raja’s army).
It was a delight to see this film. There were no scenes of Miracles. I saw this film in its second run, sometime in the end of the 40s, but the memories are still fresh. In fact this film became a yardstick for all subsequent mythological films, in my mind. Shahu Modak who was Bharat in this film was popular as Krishna in such films.
Like any other language, there are writers and authors in Marathi too, who write on old films and old actors etc from the vintage Hindi films. One such author calls himself ” Babu Moshoi “. His articles are published regularly in newspapers, magazines etc. He has written several books. His real name is Hemant Desai. Another such writer in Hindi and Gujarati is Vithal Pandya. I have many such books in my library. Through these books I get to know old actors and their information, sometimes. I get surprised at many names as I read about some names about whom I had never known. For example, do you know who did King Dashrath’s role in films Bharat Milap-42 and Ramrajya-43, or the role of Kanva Muni in film Shakuntala-43 ? Who was the actress in Kaushalya’s role in Ramrajya-43 or Ram Vivah-49 ?
This actor was I.T.Nimbalkar and this actress was Shanta Kothari (nee Shanta Kumari). These were artists from the Silent film era, spilled over the Talkie films. They started as Hero and Heroine, but shifted to character roles, as the time went by. In our film industry, such cases are not new. In fact such type of actors who remained practically unknown to later generations of audiences, were highly respected by film people during shootings. Their seniority and work was respected.
This is a very good practice in the industry, by directors and other actors to give respect to old timers. Raj Kapoor used to send his car to fetch Bhudo Advani for shootings of film Boot Polish scenes. Hrishikesh Mukherjee kept a special chair for Master Shiraz, during the shooting of the film Guddi. He also ensured to feature Shiraz in the film credits. These are only samples to stress what I have said. Not every such matter is published but it is a special feature of the industry.
I try to gather information on such unknown and forgotten artists and write about them. Not every time I am successful, but I have written about many such actors, directors, MDs etc. Some of them are Omkar Devaskar, Zunzar rao pawar, Ganapat rao Bakare, Shankar rao Vazare, Naseem Junior, Shamim Jr, Altaf, Urmila, Ranjana, kusum Deshpande, Vasant rao Thengadi, Jamshed ji etc etc. Today let us know something about one of the cast members of this film and singer of today’s song- Kaushalya.
Kaushalya was born at Lucknow on 12-12-1929. She was the daughter of the famous dancer Lachhoo Maharaj and actress Daya Devi. Being brought up in the house of dancer and actor, Kaushalya picked up Dance, Music and acting very early. She appeared as a child artiste in films from 1936, when she was just 7 year old. She worked in 11 films as a child artiste. After the film Devbala-38, she did roles in Bhole bhale and Uski Tamanna-both in 1939, made by Sagar Movietone. She even sang in both films.
Then came films like Darshan and Ghar ki laaj, both 1941, and Baraat, Bharat milap, Rai Saheb, Station master and Swapna, all in 1942. The work poured on her till 1946, when she got married to a boy from Calcutta, when she had gone there to do films. After marriage she found it difficult to work in films, but continued for some more films, till her last film Ek Do Teen-1953.
In all Kaushalya acted in 27 films and sang more than 100 songs in about 35 films, in her short career. As a Heroine she had worked with Prithviraj Kapoor, Ulhas, Kumar, Ishwarlal, Trilok Kapoor etc.
Today’s song is sung by Kaushalya and Madhusudan Bhatt. Enjoy….
Song- Kal honge Raaja Raam (Bharat Milaap)(1942) Singers- Madhusudan Bhatt, Kaushalya, Lyricist- Pt. Anuj, MD- Shankar Rao Vyas
Lyrics
kal honge raaja raam
kal honge raaja raam
raaja raam raam raam re
kal honge raaja raam
bhaj raam raam raam re
kal honge raaja raam
raaja raam
haan raam
kya kal
haan kal kal kal kal
kal honge raaja raam
bhaj raam raam raam raam re
kal honge raaja raam
chun chun phoolon ko laaoon
shree raam ko bhent chadhaaoon
chun chun phoolon ko laaoon
shree raam ko bhent chadhaaoon
main ek sundar haar banaaoon
sita jee ko pehnaaoon
ek sundar haar banaaoon
sita jee ko pehnaaoon
main bhanwra ban kar charan kamal ka bhanwra
main bhanwra ban kar charan kamal mein
sada karoon aaraam re
kal honge raaja raam
bhaj raam raam raam re
kal honge raaja raam
main mahakavi ban jaaoon
nit kavita nai banaaoon
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
main mahakavi ban jau
nit kavita nai banaaoon
main koyal bankar gaaoon
main koyal ban kar gaaoon
moron ko naach nachaaoon
moron ko naach nachaaoon
titlee ban kar jag se udd kar
raam ke darshan paaoon
kar lo darshan baithen dekho
kar lo darshan baithen dekho
hirday singhaasan raam re
kal honge raaja raam
bhaj raam raam raam re
kal honge raaja raam
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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