Main saajan ko man mein
Posted on: March 26, 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 an obscure, less known Historical film Maharani Minal Devi-1946.
Made by Laxmi productions, Bombay, it was directed by Chimanlal Trivedi, owner of the banner and the music was by Saraswati Devi- who had started her career from Bombay Talkies. The cast was Prem Adib, Leela Desai, Durga Khote, Jagdish Sethi, Sankatha Prasad, Moni Chaterjee etc.etc. There were only 7 songs in this film, written by Neelkanth Tiwari and Swami Ramanand. The number of songs-7 was below the average of 9.8 songs for the decade of 1940.
1946 was an important year in the history of Hindi films. This was the period when the impending Independence of India was on the Anvil and everyone knew that in the year 1947 it would take place. The second World War had just ended, which had created inumerable millionaires, fed on black marketing and illegal trades in the war period. Many of them were keen on investing their ill gotten wealth in the film industry. Thus, there was no dearth of finances in the industry. From 1946 to around the early years of the 50’s, some of these ” novo-rich” persons provided finance. Some even tried their hand at directing films or even acting in it. Let us see what other things happened during this period.
By 1946 to 1950 old towers shook hard to crumble. The studio system almost disappeared. Film industry could now boast of people highly educated, talented and hard working. Even artists with International experience and success like Dewan Sharar, Shakuntala Paranjpye, actor Ranjan, Balraj Sahni etc contributed to Indian films. The old horse of Calcutta-New Theatres broke down and actors, directors and Music specialists from Bengal made a Bee-Line to Bombay, thus making it the strongest ever film centre.
1946 was also an year of consolidation, in a sense that due to the iminent Partition of India on the basis of Religion, agreed upon by Gandhi-Nehru combine, made Muslim artistes and filmmakers plan to pack their bags and move over to the new Utopia across the border. Their vacancies were to be filled up by the waiting second line of actors, directors and MDs. The film industry was to have a complete new look within 1-2 years and the beginning was from 1946. Thus the year was very important.
The year 1946 was a year which saw many changes in the film industry. The II world war had just ended. Rationing and control on many items had created Black marketing. This made many people Millionaires. The extra income started getting invested in Film making. The increased cost of Raw Films made filmmaking 7 to 8 times costlier. A film which was made in about 1 Lakh rupees in 1940, needed 8 Lakhs now. Studio system was waning and artiste rates increased in Lakhs instead of thousands.
In 1945, only 74 films were made. This number increased to 153 films in 1946. Further, in 1947, the film industry produced a record number of films – 181, but of course that was due to Partition. The quality of films was sacrificed at the cost of the quantity of films made in 1946. However, some quality films were made in 1946, indicating the changing face of filmmaking.
Film Dharati ke Lal-46 was made by IPTA people and it became the first film to be exhibited in Russia. Neecha Nagar-46 won the Grand Prix award in the French Film Festival. Film Dr. Kotnis ki amar kahani-46 was dubbed in English as ‘The journey of Dr. Kotnis’. It was shown in the USA and then in the Venice Film Festival. Two musical films- Anmol Ghadi and Shahjahan were made in 1946.
Year 1946 also saw the Debut of several stars and artists ( 31, in different capacities). In fact one can call 1946 as the ” Debut year” of the Hindi film industry. See this….
Nirupa Roy debuted in film Amar Raaj-46
Nasreen (real name Zareena), daughter of Rafiq Gaznavi and Anwari bai had debuted in her first released film ”Shahjahan“-1946.
Geeta Bali debuted with a dance in film Badnami-46
Geeta Roy sang her first film song in film Bhakta Prahlad-46
Balraj Sahni debuted in the film Insaaf-46. It was a small role, though.
K A Abbas-Director, Pt.Ravi Shankar-MD, Balraj Sahni as Hero and Damayanti Sahni as Heroine made their Debut in film Dharti Ke Lal-46
Meena Kapoor sang her first released Hindi film song in the film Eight Days-46. She also recorded her first Hindi film song in the film ‘Door Chalen’-1946, which was released later than the film Eight Days-46.
Sudhir Phadke debuted as MD in film Gokul-46
P L Santoshi as Director, Dev Anand, Rehman, Rehana and Kamla Kotnis debuted as actors in film Hum Ek Hai-46
Chitragupta did his first film as MD in Lady Robin Hood-46
Ram Ganguly became MD with film Maharana Pratap-46
Abhi Bhattacharya debuted in Hindi film Milan-46
Chetan Anand as Director, Uma Anand and Kamini kaushal as actresses debuted in film Neecha Nagar-46
Hansraj Behl debuted as MD with film Pujari-46
Madhubala(as Baby Mumtaz) sang her first song in film Pujari-46
Majrooh Sultanpuri wrote his first Hindi film song in film Shahjahan-46
S D Burman as MD and Kishore Kumar as an actor debuted with film Shikari-46
Snehal Bhatkar as MD in –Rukmini Swayamvar-46
Vinod as MD in- Paraye Bas mein-46
Indivar as Lyricist in –Double Face-46
Actress Tasneem in Kuldeep-46
Actress Shashi in-Neera aur Nanda-46
Baby Tabassum in- Nargis-46
Nigar Sultana in- Rangbhoomi-46
Cuckoo as Co-Heroine, as Kishori in- Sona Chandi-46.
Till the end of 2000, Bombay film industry had made more than 10000 films, on various Genres, but its score on making films on Historical Indian personalities is very pathetic. While films on Mughal Kings, Queens and other personalities were made in all decades since the films started talking, not much focus was given on Indian history Hero and Heroines. Not that no films were made at all on them, but if you see its number, there can not be a justification for the large gap.
In the history of India, there were hundreds of such worthy sons and daughters who fought for the country, brought social reforms, did extraordinary work for the people and generally did things for which the country remembers them proudly. Actually,in every state of India, there are Heroes and Heroines who did a lot of good work for the people, in the past few hundred years. Sadly, Hindi films are very poor on this count.
However, I find that regional cinemas are way ahead of Hindi cinema in this matter. Particularly I would quote Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bangla films in the first list. The second list is of Marathi and Oriya films. Mind you, I am not talking about films on religious personalities and saints like Kabir, Tulsida etc. Even in this category, very few are the subject matter of Hindi films.
People like Rana Pratap, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore, Dhondo Keshav Karve, Rani Chennamma etc etc deserved Hindi films. The entire focus was on Mughals and those who came from outside.The regional films at least did some justice by making films on their Heroes/heroines. Tamil and Bangla films are leaders in this. The strong Regional Pride was the causal factor essentially but honouring heroes is a matter of appreciation. Films on Babar, Humayun, Shahjehan, Bahadurshah Zafar and the likes of them are made in plenty, for obvious reasons, but how many films were made on Savarkar, Shivaji, Rana Pratap, Ashoka the great, Jhansi ki Rani etc ? Leave the older ones. Are there films on Indira Gandhi, Nehru, Gandhi ? A British person had to come here to make a film on Gandhi !
ndhi !During British rule – till 1947 – it was probably not possible, allowed or was risky, but since 1947 till date what was the problem ? I feel sad at this state of affairs in making films. Luckily, in the last few years, some enterprising filmmakers have dared to make films on Indian Heroes. I do hope that the situation will improve further and films on Indian heroes/Heroines (there are plenty of them) will be made.
Film Maharani Minal Devi-1946 is a film on a brave, intelligent, kind and Patriotic personality from Gujarat. I could not get any information on her, the story of the film or other details. Fortunately, I found a site http://www.streeshakti.com, wherein I found a note on her. Here it is to get an idea who she was and what she did….
Minal Devi or Mayanalla, a famous queen of eleventh century Gujarat, is remembered as an able and just administrator. She was the daughter of Jayakeshin, a king of the Kadamba dynasty in Karnataka and was married to Karna I, a Chalukya king of Anahillapatanawada who met an early death, leaving his queen and young son Siddharaja Jayasimha. Minal Devi acted as regent for her son, who went on to become a legendary hero. An incident described in Rajashekhar Suri’s Prabandha Kosha testifies to the fact that she inspired him in many of his warlike exploits.
She also managed affairs of state, built several monuments and lakes and was responsible for the remission of the tax on pilgrims visiting the Somnath temple. Two lakes built in her period were Minalasar or Munsar near Viramgam and Malva at Dhavalakka or Dholka in Ahmedabad. According to legend, there was a house owned by a woman at the proposed site of the lake Malva, which needed to be demolished to give the lake a regular shape. The queen offered a big sum of money to the woman for her house, but she refused, saying, ‘I shall be famous with your lake,’ thus threatening to sacrifice her life if her house was touched. The queen did not coerce her, showing herself to be a just ruler. This event led to the Gujarati saying: ‘If you want to see justice, go to Dholka and have a look at Malva lake.’
Minal Devi is mentioned with high esteem in contemporary literature. A Sanskrit play entitled Mudritakumudachandra-prakarana depicts a learned dispute between the Digambaras and Svetambaras, the two major Jain sects. One topic in this dispute is whether a woman can achieve salvation. The Svetambaras here claim that women possessing sattwa (identity: an inner quality of goodness) could attain salvation and cite Sita from mythology and Minal Devi in the court of Siddharaja Jayasimha as examples.
The role of Minal Devi was done by Leela Desai. She was one of the many ‘Leela’s in her times- like Leela(Chandragiri), Leela (Mishra), Leela (Patel), Leela (Sawant) and a few others – all causing ‘ Same name Confusion’. I have written about these Leelas, from time to time, on this Blog and also in my Books. Leela Desai was daughter of a Gujarati doctor married to a Bengali from Bihar and she was born in the USA. Her younger sister Monica Desai was also an actress, who had married Phani Mujumdar, a Director.
Let us talk about this film’s director – Chimanlal Trivedi. He was was one of the major filmmakers of the 30s and the 40s decade. He was more a Producer businessman than a Director. While he directed hardly 7 films, he produced close to 50 films- all having A grade actors, directors and composers !
Born on 19-3-1909 at a village near Anand in Gujarat, he was from a Brahmin family. He did his schooling in Ahmedabad and technical graduation from Baroda. Being an expert in weaving, he took up a job as a weaving Master in Calcutta. Fond of writing, he started writing Dramas, which were staged in Bengal and Gujarat. He was attracted towards Cinema and tried some work in New Theatres. Knowing that the real playing field is Bombay he reached there. He wrote stories for the film Chevrolet-36 and Danger Signal-37 for Mohan pictures.
He established his own production company CIRCO (Cine Industries Recording COmpany) in 1937. By 1943, he had made 12 films. He preferred not to direct his films, but appointed directors like Mohan Sinha for Laxmi-40, Anuradha-40 and Vanmala-41, Balwant Bhatt for Suhag-40 and Madhusudan-41, A R Kardar for Swami-41 and Nai Duniya-42 and Debki Bose for Apna Ghar-42.
He had the art of getting the most popular stars for his films like, Prithviraj kapoor, Chandramohan, Durga Khote,Mazhar khan, Bibbo,Surendra, Jairaj, Sitara, Jeevan, Yaqub, Shobhana Samarth, Prem Adeeb, Vishnupant Pagnis,Leela Desai, Pahadi Sanyal, Shanta Apte and many others. Even big directors like Debki Bose,Nitin Bose, Kardar,Mohan Sinha, Sarvottam Badami, Nandlal Jaswantlal,Profull Roy, Sudhir Sen, R S Chaudhary, Phani mujumdar, Balwant Bhatt etc. worked for him. From Prabhat he brought Shanta Apte for Rs.1000 pm, and also Chandramohan, Pagnis and Mazhar khan. His friend Chandulal Shah followed his way and brought K L Saigal from New Theatres !
C L Trivedi was an expert in gathering funds for his films. After CIRCO at Parel, he started Laxmi Productions at Andheri, in 1942. He made mera Gaon,Sharafat,Bhagya Laxmi,Kadambari,Tamanna,Inkaar,Mohabbat,Miss Devi etc. In 1951, it was Supreme Pictures, Trivedi Productions was in 1952, Kala Kendra in 1953 and with Chitra Bharati in 1954, he made 13 films upto 1961. Top Composers like Timir Baran,Ashok Ghosh,Rafiq Gaznavi,K C Dey,Saraswati Devi,Husnlal-Bhagatram and Naushad gave music to his films.
In the end, he turned to Stage and started Abhinay Bharati. He staged many dramas in Bombay and Gujarat. Chimanlal always went for big names. He had close relations with Nehru, Menon, Morarji Desai, and other National leaders. His wife Kantaben was a Leader herself. Chimanlal Trivedi died on 25-11-1973. His wife, 3 sons and a daughter settled in the USA.
It may be a coincidence, but Gujarati businessmen like Chimanlal Trivedi, Chimanlal Desai,Chimanlal Luhar, Chaturbhuj Doshi, Chimankant Desai, Chunibhai Desai and Chandulal Shah made sizable contribution to Hindi cinema in the first 20 years of the Talkie era. All names started with CH !
(Thanks to Harish Raghuwanshi ji for his book ” बॉलिवूडमा गुजरातीयो ” in Gujarati for some information and my notes.)
Here is today’s song, sung by Rajkumari (Dubey). Enjoy….
Song-Main saajan ko man mein (Maharani Meenal Devi)(1946) Singer-Amirbai Karnataki, Lyricist-Neelkanthh Tiwari, MD-Saraswati Devi
Lyrics
main saajan ko man mein
main ek chaand(??) man mein
chhipaaye baithhee hoon
chhipaaye baithhee hoon
main saajan ko man mein
main ek chaand(??) man mein
chhipaaye baithhee hoon
chhipaaye baithhee hoon
meethhe meethhe sapnon ka mandir banaaoon
mandir mein pritam kee moorat sajaoon
moorat pe phool naheen
moorat pe phool naheen
phool kyun chadhhaaoon
pyaar bhara dil
pyar bhaara dil jo chadhhaye baithhee hoon
main saajan ko man mein
main ek chaand man mein chhipaaye baithhee hoon
chhipaaye baithhee hoon
gagan mein khilee hai taaron kee kaliyaan
nayan mein khilee mere ?? kee kaliyaan
main dhartee gagan mein hirday kee kaliyaan
main dhartee gagan mein hirday kee kaliyaan
ye pooja kee thhaliyaa
ye pooja kee thhaaliyaa
bichhaaye baithhee hoon
main saajan ko man mein
main ek chaand(?) man mein chhipaaye baithhee hoon
chhipaaye baithhee hoon
main anjaanee
banee hoon sayaanee
main anjaanee
banee hoon sayaanee
kehta hai chupke se koi kahaanee
kehta hai chupke se koi kahaanee
ek thhaa raaja
aur ek thhee raanee
saajan kee pyaar mein
preetam kee pyaar mein
saajan kee pyaar mein
preetam kee pyaar mein
apne ko bhee main bhulaay baithhee hoon
apne ko bhee main bhulaay baithhee hoon
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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