Jinke charnon mein rahte hain saare
Posted on: March 10, 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 from a film which is almost 90 year old – Jaagirdar-1937. It was made by Sagar Movietone, Bombay.
The talkie films started in 1931 and there was a great activity in the film industry. Major filmmakers from the Silent era were cautious about the future of the Talkie Films, but some people with a vision jumped into making Talkie films. At the same time some more adventurous people entered filmmaking and new studios and companies came up.
The first decade, i.e. from 1931 to 1940 was full of experiments. At a time many Genres were tried. Many experiments were undertaken. The industry was still under the influence of a silent era mentality, so those who could not cope up with the new approach soon eclipsed-like Madon Theatres. Intelligent directors understood that the Talkie films have to be made with a different approach- like V.Shantaram and Sohrab Modi, for example. They not only became famous but also lasted for longer periods.
Among the early years, the year 1937 was a real path breaking for 2 solid reasons….One, for the first time, Playback singing started in a Bombay film with ‘Mahageet ‘. The song was sung by Anil Biswas, its MD and it was filmed on Hiren Bose, in the role of a beggar, near a crematorium (Smashan Bhoomi), as per book ‘ Music without Boundaries’ by Dr. Ashok Ranade,pp183-186.
Secondly,for the first time, in an Indian film successful special effects were used in the film ” Khwaab ki Duniya ” -a film by Prakash Pictures, based on the popular novel “The Invisible Man” by H G Wells. A Hollywood film by the same name was made in 1933. The trick scenes in this Indian film were as good as the Hollywood film. Credit goes to Babubhai Mistri for creating the actions of an Invisible man , on the screen. He was nicknamed ” Kala Dhaga ” after this film.
Here are some more films of 1937….
Atma Tarang…. Minerva movietone’s first film. A resounding flop. Only 20 people for the first show !
Anath Ashram….By New Theatres, Calcutta
Asiai Sitara….By Haribhai Desai. Remake of his own silent film of the same name. Jenabai Pawar, wife of actor Zunzar Rao Pawar, an Anglo Indian (Jena Lawson) was Heroine and she sang few Hindi songs also.
Baanke Sipahi… Debut of Ghulam Mohd. as M.D.
Bhishma….First remake of a Tamil film of 1936.Music was by Mukhtar begum.
Bulldog….Indurani as heroine and singer.
Captain Kirti Kumar….Debut of comedian V.H.Desai
Dharam veer and Prem Veer….Both films by Huns Pictures of Master Vinayak.
Duniya Na Maane…. Prabhat film on social evil.
Gentleman Daku…Double role of Leela Chitnis.
Guru Ghantal…. Debut of Om Prakash (Uncredited)
Hurricane Hansa…. Nadia in Wadia’s stunt film.
Insaaf…. First film of total 7 films with the same Title.
Izzat, Jeevan Prabhat, Khan Bahadur, Khudai Khidmadgar, Kisan Kanya, Mahageet, Moti ka Haar, Naujawan, Pratibha, President, Qazzaq ki Ladki, Shadi ka maamla, Toofani Tarzan, Vidyapati and Wahan.
It was sometime in 2013. I was writing posts and articles profusely and in the limited circle of old Hindi Film lovers, my name became known soon. One day I got a phone call from Shri Biren Kothari ji of Gujarat. He wanted to meet me to get some information for his forthcoming book on Sagar Movietone. On the due date, he and a friend, Shri Vaidya came to meet me. We chatted for a long time and exchanged useful information.
Same year his book “Sagar Movietone” was released. The release function was held in Mumbai. I was cordially invited. I attended that function. Here I met for the first time another old film lover, Shri Shishir Krishna Sharma ji, who runs his blog beete hue din and also has a Youtube channel of same name. This was our first meeting. Our vibes matched and it turned into a friendship.
I also met many others at that function. Among them were the son and family members of actor, singer Surendra and the actress and dancer, 92 year old Susheela Rani Patel- wife of Editor Baburao Patel (his real surname was PATIL-a Maharashtrian) of Film India magazine. Many Bollywood actors were present, like Amir Khan (he actually released the book) and others.
The book “Sagar Movietone” is not only the history book of the studio, but a historical document for activities in the early era of Talkie films. I have used information from this book in many of my articles.
In the first decade after the Talkie Era started, Sagar Movietone was one of the major film making companies in Bombay. The Desai family, along with Dr. Ambalal Patel, were originally in the Film Distribution business, but decided to enter the actual film production. Sagar Film Company, which had produced 12 silent films, was converted to Sagar Movietone in 1931, after Desai and Patel joined it.
The personal involvement, unstinted finance availability and the growing demand for quality Talkie films and Music helped Sagar to soon become a great place to work with. On their part the Desai family got almost every eligible member of their family to share the responsibility to run this successful company. With their clean reputation and a professional approach with a personal touch to treat its employees, Sagar Movietone attracted the best available talent in the industry.
Sagar had the Top class Heroes and actors with them, like Surendra ( who was initially projected as an answer to K L Saigal of Calcutta), Motilal, Kumar, Shaikh mukhtar, N M Charlie, Yaqub, Bhudo Advani, Kanhaiyalal, V H Desai etc, heroines like, Sabita Devi, Nalini Jaywant, Jyoti, Waheedan bai, Bibbo and Maya Banerjee, Directors like Mehboob, Ezra Mir, Sarvottam Badami ( he was an ordinary Motor mechanic in Bangalore. He also directed Tamil and Telugu films for Sagar later), Ramchandra Thakur and Zia Sarhadi, Cinematographer Faredoon Irani, Sound recordist Kaushik Dholakia and above all Music Director Anil Biswas. All these star artists grew initially in Sagar. They were the “Jewels of Sagar “.
While doing shootings, the atmosphere on the sets used to be very informal. For the film kulvadhu-37, the Heroine Sabita Devi had to wear a Gujarati style Saree, which she did not know how to. She directly went to the owner’s house and learnt it from his wife Nanda Gauri.
Sagar had invented a novel method of promoting films. After the film Kulvadhu-37 was released, a contest for readers of the Film India magazine was arranged, asking a few questions about the impact of the film on society. There was a good response from viewers/readers, one of whom also won a cash prize of Rs. 250 ( a princely sum in those days).
Based on this experience, even for film Jagirdar-37, a feedback contest from the audience was thrown open via Film India magazine , announcing total prizes worth about a Thousand rupees or so. Additionally, a half page advertisement in Times Of India was given. Only one sentence was printed in the centre of the advertisement keeping the rest area vacant. The sentence written by Baburao Patel was ” The most kissable Mischief of the year- Maya Banerjee in the film Jagirdar, Directed by Mehboob Khan “. This gimmick generated enormous curiosity among the public and increased the multiple visits of the audience to the film.
Film Jagirdar was a tremendous success commercially. The cast included Surendra and Motilal, along with Bibbo and Maya Banerjee. The credit of Multiple Hero Films goes to Sagar. Not only this film, but later on in 1939, they cast 3 Heroes and 3 Heroines in the film ” Ek Hi Raasta ‘- 39. In film Jagirdar Surendra and Motilal- though contemporaries- played the roles of Father and Son !
There was an interesting anecdote about the Jagirdar shooting. In one scene, Motilal is shown becoming sentimental while remembering his mother. By chance, same morning Motilal had received a telegram informing him that his mother was very ill. While doing this scene Motilal just broke down and wept. Mehboob Khan stopped the shooting. It resumed after Motilal was pacified by all others.
Sagar movietone produced a total of 66 Talkie films from 1931 to 1940. The break up is 52- Hindi, 5- Tamil, 4 – Gujarati, 3 – Telugu, 1-Bengali and 1- Punjabi. Surprisingly, Sagar did not make any Marathi film or a Bilingual film to compete with Prabhat films !
The film was directed by Mehboob Khan with music by Anil Biswas. During their tenure in Sagar both, Mehboob and Anil Biswas became thick friends, but this friendship broke in 1940 when Anil Biswas accepted an offer from Bombay Talkies and left alone. Mehboob Khan felt let down since Anil Biswas had not even informed him before leaving. Due to this they never worked together again in their life.
( The article uses information from the book “Sagar movietone” by Shri Biren Kothari ji and Ency. of Indian Cinema by Ashish and Paul, with thanks ).
Film Jaagirdar had a cast of Surendra, Motilal, Bibbo, Maya Banerjee, Ram Marathe, Yakub, Bhudo Advani and others from the Sagar line of actors. The story of the film was….
Surendra is a Jagirdar. he loves Neela (Bibbo). They secretly marry and get a child also. In one sea voyage ship wreck, Surendra is believed to have died. Now the child is called illegitimate. Neela is about to commit suicide, but a poor farmer Shripati (Pandey) saves her and also marries her. The child grows as Ramesh (Motilal). he is in love with Sheela(Maya Banerjee).
Surendra survives and comes back. He has a big fight with Shripati over Neela. Ramesh opposes Surendra. Few days later Shripati is murdered and Surendra is suspected for this. When the gangster Narayanlal(Yaqub) comes into the picture, the father and son fight him together and the killer of Shripati is arrested.
All’s well that ends well.
Here is a song from this film, sung by Surendra. Enjoy….
Song- Jinke charnon mein rahte hain saare (Jaageerdaar)(1937) Singer- Surendra, Lyricist- Zia Sarhadi, MD- Anil Biswas
Lyrics
jinke charnon mein rahte hain saare
jinke charnon mein rahte hain saare
aaj mehmaan banenge hamaare
haan aaj mehmaan banenge hamaare
jinke charnon mein rahte hain saare
jinke charnon mein rahte hain saare
raat ko chandrma ban ke aayen
raat ko chandrma ban ke aayen
mere veeraan ghar ko basaayen
mere veeraan ghar ko basaayen
kuchh sunen hamse aur kuchh sunaayen
phool masoom munh se giraayen
haaye
phool maasoom munh se giraayen
ham to jeete hain unke sahaare
ham to jeete hain unke sahaare
jinke charanon mein rahte hain saare
jinke charnon mein rahte hain saare
raat ko chandrma ban ke aayen
raat ko chandrma ban ke aayen
mere veeraan ghar ko basaayen
mere veeraan ghar ko basaayen
phool maasoom munh se giraayen aen
phool maasoom munh se giraayen
ham to jeete hain unke sahaare
ham to jeete hain unke sahaare
jinke charnon mein rahte hain saare
jinke charnon mein rahte hain saare
aaj mehmaan banenge hamaare
haan
aaj mehmaan banenge hamaare
jinke charnon mein rahte hain saare
jinke charnon mein rahte hain taare
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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