Main saawan kee badlee
Posted by: Atul on: March 15, 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 the film Service Limited-1939.
It was a Sagar Movietone presentation, directed by C.M.Luhar. Music was by Anupam ghatak – a famous and popular Bengali composer. The cast of the film consisted of Surendra, Maya Banerjee, Bibbo, Yakub, Harish, Kalyani, Zia Sarhadi, Bhudo Advani, Kanhaiyalal and his brother Sankatha Prasad and other Sagar regular artists.
Film Service limited-1939 was a Social cum Crime cum Mystery cum Comedy film. After the initial enthusiasm of making Mythologicals and Parsi Theatre type costume dramas, film makers of the late 30s started trying to present films based on imported themes or comedy films. While films were made on works of authors like Agatha Christie etc, there were directors who tried their hands on offbeat entertaining themes.
Because of the studio system, each studio had their set of Directors, Music Directors, actors and actresses. Ranjit and Sagar had the cream of the industry in their studios and they made films in quick succession.
Ranjit boasted of directors like Nandlal Jaswantlal, Jayant Desai and Chaturbhuj Doshi and Sagar had Sarvottam Badami and Chimanlal Luhar. Outside these two studios there was Kishore Sahu, who too made comedy films, taking inspiration from foreign films. (so this disease is present here from the beginning ! ).
In 1939, Sagar Movietone was on the peak of its existence from where it was soon to fall down. If one falls down from the first floor, the injuries are not fatal and soon he returns to normal life but falling from the 20th floor, the life becomes unrestorable ! In 1939, Sagar had made 7 films, 5 of which became successful. Unfortunately, this was also the year when the downfall of the company took place. I will not repeat this painful process, which was triggered by the owner Chimanlal Desai’s gambling habit and his bad luck ! It has been discussed here several times. Sagar movietone closed and Chimanlal became a partner in National Studios. Later this too was abandoned by him and a new company- Amar pictures was started.
This was just one example, but the 1930’s decade was quite eventful. The 1930s saw the emergence of the Talkie in its beginning only with Aalam Ara-1931. The entire decade was experimental. The two major centres of Hindi film production,Calcutta and Bombay became the Utopia for the aspirants from far and near towns who thronged here to try their luck in this new form of entertainment.
Although the era of Silent Films had plenty of Anglo-Indian Heroines and uneducated but handsome Heros,the Talkie required knowledge of Hindi/Urdu,a flair for singing and good looks with acting ability. This gave opportunity for educated Indian men and women in the film industry.
While Calcutta made Bilingual films in Hindi and Bangla,Bombay was replete with films in Hindi/Marathi and occasionally Hindi/Gujarati films.
Doors were open to learned Dramatists,writers,poets,classical singers and stage actors. Bombay films initially had a Parsi/Gujarati theatre influence,but soon the powerful Marathi Theatre took over. Many production houses like Kolhapur Cinetone,Huns pictures,Prabhat films,Saraswati cinetone,Sagar Movietone,Ranjit Studios,Paramount,Sharada,Bombay Talkies,imperial,Bharat,Vishnu etc made films in Hindi/Marathi using mythological themes.
It was Navyug/Atre films,Huns pictures of Vinayak,Prabhat of Shantaram,Bombay Talkies,Saraswati and Kolhapur cinetones etc which dared to handle different topics for their films.Social,cultural and comedy films soon became very popular.As such in the 30s and 40s,India was undergoing an upheaval of values coupled with reforms in social,political and cultural lives,and it all showed in the films of that period. Films on social evils like,child marriage,Dowry,untouchability,alcoholism,prostitution, education and health problems were made with extraordinary reception from the public. Huns pictures of Vinayak handled these topics with comedy.
An important point to be noted here. Most of the films in the 30s and the 40s were based on existing stories,dramas or novels,so they not only had credibility but also a guaranteed acceptance by the audience. For this purpose noted writers were used. Alternatively,whenever possible,such personalities were invited to write the story,dialogues or s/plays.this was the trend in all language films like Hindi, Marathi or Bangla.
Writers like premchand,Bhagwati charan Verma (who wrote the story and dialogues of Kismet-1943) etc for Hindi,V.S.Khandekar,Atre,Phadke,Madgulkar or H.N.Apte for Marathi and Bankim babu ,Sharat babu etc for Bangla films were used for their creations.
This trend diminished after the 50s and 60s and something called ” Story Department” was established in every production house,cooking up imaginary stories which were unbelievable and unpalatable,sometimes. This was also a major reason for lowering the quality of Cinemas.
From the time Talkie films started,90% of the films were based on Love themes only. Various permutations and combinations of Love Triangles were used. This film is also no different,but since it was the era of the emerging cinema,this subject or its plot had not yet become routine. till then.
Initially for the first 5 to 6 years,the posters and the advertisements of Films indicated only the production company’s names,for example- ” The Imperial Company presents” etc etc. There was no mention of any actor’s names on the posters,though sometimes Photos were added. The credit of including the names of Artistes on the film Posters and the Advertisements goes to the Superstar of those days-Sulochana (Ruby Myers). She was the most highly paid star of those days( Rs. 5000 p.m.) and used to come to the studios by chauffeur driven car,for daily work ! One day,she saw a film poster of her film and was shocked to find that no names of any actors were mentioned on it. She exploded and threatened to stop work with all other artists,unless her and other main actors’ names were printed on every film poster and the advertisements. Due to her insistence,the producers started putting main actors’ names on the posters. Over a period,it became a regular practice. This was from around the year 1935 onwards.
However,this was NOT the case of Film records. Though song records of films started commercially with MADHURI-1932, these records,barring few exceptions,did not carry the singer’s name on it,till almost 1949 !! A classic case is of the iconic famous song of Lata- ” Aayega Aanewala” from the film Mahal-1949. The name on this record is KAMINI-which was the screen name of madhubala in that film ! Lata’s name was NOT mentioned on the record !!
It was,probably,then onwards that the singers’ names regularly started appearing on the records. That is the reason most of the song records available from the 30s and the 40s are without names and one has to listen to them and guess the singers’ names. Unfortunately,till recently,the Lyricist’s name was not mentioned,making it extremely difficult to credit the song to any Lyricist. This is the case even in some famous songs. Now of course everything is available.
The story of the film Service Limited-1939 was…..
The story of Service Limited-1939 was very interesting and a little ‘hat ke’ than the usual films of that era. The film was a commentary on existing laws which are inadequate to prevent crookery or stop them. The criminals take advantage of this lacuna and operate without getting caught. The film tried to suggest that the crooks should be given a dose of their own medicines !
Shobhana Devi (Maya Banerjee) is a young, beautiful and very rich girl whose father Seth Ramnath is murdered by a gang by cheating him of lakhs of rupees. Jagmohandas(Yakub) is the chief of the gang which did this to Seth and Shobhana knew it. The law was unable to do anything without direct proof.
Her father had appointed a committee of 3 Trustees for her as guardians, consisting of a senior, Sir Motilal, his personal physician Dr. Mehmood and a young,brilliant Barrister Anil (Surendra,BA,LLB himself).
She decided to start a firm ‘Sewa Samaj’ or ‘Service Ltd’, to help the victims of this gang, whom the Police could not help. Barrister Anil, who loves her, helps her in this project.
Their first case is of a young girl Vasanti who is blackmailed by her ex-lover with her love letters. Anil meets Biharilal, the lover, as Vasanti’s bridegroom who wants to buy the love letters. In return Anil pays him with forged money. This money is forged by the Jagmohan’s gang only. Thus police arrest the lover.
The second case of Lady Sulochana and her stolen Necklace worth Two Lakhs,is also solved by giving the crooks a dose of their own medicine.
The third and final case is where Jagmohan’s goon has stolen a national Treaty copy to sell to an enemy country. With the help of Police Shobhana and Anil catch all the culprits and finally destroy Jagmohan’s Gang. Jagmohan is sent to Jail and Shobhana’s revenge is complete.
Anil and Shobhana unite.
The Heroine of this film MAYA BANERJEE was born in Calcutta in 1914, in a well-to-do family. Her real name was Ramola. From childhood she was interested in singing and acting. In school and later in college she participated in many programmes.She was also a very good sportswoman.
She arrived in Bombay and joined Sagar Movietone as a singer actress.her voice was melodious and had a Bengali sweetness too. She was brought to films by Surendra Desai of Sagar movietone, making her dream Debut in film Jagirdar-37.
Her films with Sagar company were Jagirdar-37,Dynamite-38,kokila-37,Mahageet-37,Postman-38,Service Ltd.-39,Uski Tamanna-39,Watan-38,Hum tum aur Voh-38,Comrades-39,Sewa Samaj-39, and Bhole Bhale
She continued working as an actress after 1940,but stopped giving Playback/singing.Instead she got playback by many other singers. She has sung 23 songs in 13 films.
After 1940,her some films were,
Lal haveli,Apna Ghar,Vidya,Dost,Insaan,Bichar,Awwaaz,Anuradha,Bhole bhale,dada,ghar ghar ki kahani,jharna,laxmi,manorama,nadiya ke paar,Nishan,Paraya Dhan,Ratnavali,Rekha,veer kunal etc. Her total films were 41 films.
Her last known film was Nishan-49. After that there is no information available. Possibly she returned to Calcutta and got married.
Here is some information on the film’s director-Chimanlal Muljibhai Luhar, collected from The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema……Chimanlal Muljibhoy Luhar (1901-48)
Hindi director. Chemistry graduate from Bombay University. Noted author and critic in early 1920s, e.g. in journals like Vismi Sadi, Navchetan and Bombay Chronicle. Started career as laboratory assistant at Kohinoor Studio in the 20s. Became noted cameraman working e.g. for several documentaries with Bombay-based production unit K.D. Brothers, apparently under tutelage of an English cameraman affiliated to the Prince of Wales’s official entourage during his tour of India. Following a brief stint at Saurashtra Film in Rajkot (1925), and a longer one at Krishna Film, where he shot around 20 films, he joined Sharda with Dagabaaz Duniya (1926). His later films at Sharda included several Master Vithal stunt movies (e.g. Gul Badan, Kanak Kanta, both 1928). Wrote and shot Harshadrai Mehta’s costumed spectacle Janjira Jankari (1927), praised by the ICC Report. Turned producer (1931) with partner Harshadrai Mehta (Mehta-Luhar Prod.) continuing in the Master Vithal vein of stunt and adventure thrillers starring Navinchandra. Then a partner in Sharda (1933) and a director at Sagar (1934-40), where he began signing his name to his films and introduced the stunt genre. Later directed Prakash Pics (1941-6).
FILMOGRAPHY: 1932: Sassi Punnu; 1935: Silver King; Talash-e-Haq; 1936: Do Diwane, Kharab Jan; 1937: Captain Kirti Kumar; 1938: Dynamite; 1939: Kaun Kisika; Seva Samaj; 1940: Saubhagya; 1941: Darshan; 1942: Station Master; 1943: School Master; 1944: Us Paar; 1946: Bindiya.
Today’s song is sung by Maya Banerjee and Surendra. Enjoy….
Song- Main saawan kee badlee (Service Limited)(1939) Singers- Maya Banerjee,Surendra, Lyricist- Pt. Indra Chandra, MD- Anupam Ghatak
Lyrics
Main saawan kee badlee
main saawan kee badlee
rimjhim rimjhim barsoon
rimjhim rimjhim barsoon
main hoon pyaasa panchhee
main hoon pyaasa panchhee
ik boond bina main tarsoon re
ik boond bina main tarsoon re
main hoon pyaasa panchhee
ik boond bina main tarsoon re
main saawan kee badlee
main saawan kee badlee
main mastee mein jab aaoon
main mastee mein jab aaoon
chanda ko ?? dikhlaaoon
chanda ko ?? dikhlaaoon
main banoon hawaa ka jhonka
main banoon hawaa ka jhonka
badlee mein ud jaaoon
badlee mein ud jaaoon
main hoon pyaasa panchhee
ik boond bina main tarsoon re
ik boond bina main tarsoon re
main saawan kee badlee
main saawan kee badlee
aao na preetam jhoolen
aao na preetam jhoolen
duniya kee baaten bhoolen
duniya kee baaten bhoolen
praanon se praan milen milaayen
praanon se praan milen milaayen
?? ek ho jaayen
ho jaayen
?? ek ho jaayen
ho jaayen
aao na preetam jhoolen
aao na preetam jhoolen
duniya kee baaten bhoolen
duniya kee baaten bhoolen
praanon se praan milen milaayen
praanon se praan milen milaayen
?? ek ho jaayen
ho jaayen
?? ek ho jaayen
ho jaayen
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