Uthho sulakshan naar jhaadoo de do aanganaa
Posted on: April 16, 2026
- In: "Aangan" song | "Advice" song | "Bhartiya Naari" song | Actor-Singer song | Duet | Durga Khote Song | Durga Khote-Saraswati Rane duet | Guest posts | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Rare song | Saraswati Rane Songs | Songs of 1940s (1941 to 1950) | Songs of 1941 | Yearwise breakup of songs
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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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6481 | Post No. : | 20137 |
Today’s song is from a Bi-lingual (Hindi-Marathi) film Charnon ki Dasi-1941. In Marathi the title was Payachi Dasi.
The film was made by Atre Pictures, Bombay. It was directed by Gajanan Jahagirdar. MD was Annasaheb Mainkar. Dialogues, story, screenplay and songs were written by Pt Anand kumar. The cast of the film was Durga Khote, Vanmala, Master Avinash, Gajanan Jahagirdar, Kusum Deshpande, Sadashiv, prem Anand and many others.
The owner of the banner was Acharya Prahlad Keshav Atre, a famous name in Maharashtra later on as a Producer, Director, Studio owner, Writer, Lyricist, Dramatist, Novelist, a great Teacher, a journalist,a Newspaper owner, a well known public speaker and a popular leader and M.P., who successfully led the “Samyukta Maharashtra” agitation at the end of the decade of 1950’s.
Acharya Atre aka Pralhad Keshav Atre ( 13-8-1898 to 13-6-1969) was a Marathi-Hindi director and controversial literary figure in post-WW1 Maharashtra. Educated at the universities of Bombay and London; he studied experimental psychology under Cyril Burt and taught at Harrow before returning to India.
Owner-editor of populist down-market ” Maratha” newspaper; he was a one-time Congress Party MLA. Later he became anti congress. He was Author of 22 plays, 13 short-story collections, four books of poetry and a 4-volume autobiography (Atre, 1965-7).
He was Teacher and producer of several school textbooks, often calling himself Principal Atre in his film credits. Aggressive polemicist remembered for famous literary battles with N.S. Phadke and Mama Warerkar.
He owned Chitramandir Studio/Atre Pictures (1940), the Atre Printing Press (1944) and Atre Arts (1968). He started his Film career by adapting his own short stories for Master Vinayak (Brahmachari, 1938; Brandichi Batli, 1939). He became a leading independent scenarist (e.g. Raja Rani, 1942) and pioneered the entry of new literary modes emerging from non-fictional prose into post-Independence Marathi film. His chosen genre was political satire, usually directed against the realist conventions of pre-WW1 social reform novels with their caste biases and Anglophilia.
However, his best-known film as director was the bitter-sweet melodrama Shyamchi Aai. Wrote plays in many genres: thrillers (To Mee Navhech), tragedies (rewriting the reformist Sangeet Natak playwright Ram Ganesh Gadkari and his own Udyacha Sansar) and satire. Noted scripts: Dharmaveer, Premveer, Begunah (all 1937), Ardhangi/ Ghar Ki Rani, Lapandav (both 1940). Preferred to hire directors rather than to direct. Produced and wrote his own movies, often starring actress Vanmala, through his Atre Pics, founded in 1940.
These were the times when people from good, respectable families and highly educated persons were still a rarity and a welcome matter for films. Director Nanubhai Vakil who was really a B.A., LL.B and Dr. S.D. Narang who was B.Sc.,M.B.B.S., Ph.D were among the highly educated in the industry at one time. In those days, therefore, educated people used to flaunt their degrees and insisted on inclusion in the film credits. Like the Producer Acharya Atre, the film’s Heroine Vanmala was also B.A. B.T.
The lure of the films was so great that from the time Talkie films started, it attracted many famous and expert musicians of the Vocal and instrumental variety. In the early period, it was almost an unwritten rule to have a film’s Music Director with a classical background. Many were dragged into films and many came on their own.
Thus you had experts like Pransukh Nayak, Govindrao Tembe, Keshavrao Bhole, Ustad Zande Khan, Meer sahib, Annasaheb Mainkar, Dada Chandekar, Ustad Mushtaq Hussain, Firoze Dastoor, Suresh babu Mane, Hirabai Badodekar, Manik Verma, Saraswati Rane, Master Krishnarao, Shridhar Parsekar, Pt.Ganpat Rao, Pt.Jagannath Prasad and many others who made their contributions to film music.
During the subsequent periods, some more like Ghantasala, Pt. Amarnath (of Garam coat), Pt.Motiram, Shankarrao Vyas, Prabhakar Jog, Ustad Amir Ali, ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Bhaskar Chandavarkar, Shobha Gurtu, Kishori Amonkar, Sharang Dev, Ustad Dilawar Khan, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Balmurli Krishna etc also made their presence felt in the Film music.
Not only Classical Vocalists, but also some famous Instrumentalists like Bismilla Khan, Pannalal Ghosh, Pt.Ravi Shankar,Ram Prasad, Ali Akbar Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasiya, Pt.Shivkumar Sharma, ustad Vilayat Khan etc also contributed to HFM.
Like Musicians, stage actors too were attracted towards films and many of the famous and not so famous stage artistes vied with each other to get into films. Stage dramas were very popular in Maharashtra, and Bombay being the major film centre, it was natural that many Marathi stage actors came into Marathi and Hindi films. The problem was speaking Hindi dialogues. Many Marathi artistes could not pass this test and those who did pass, had a tough time speaking long Hindi dialogues. Thus very few stage artists remained in the film industry. Popular stage actors like Master Deenanath Mangeshkar, Nanasaheb Phatak, Master Avinash or even the famous Bal Gandharva tried their hand at films, but none could sustain their careers in the Hindi films, for whatever reasons-mainly diction problem, I guess.
The lead pair of this film was Vanmala and Master Avinash.They had acted in several stage dramas and Marathi films together and individually. Vanmala had a Royal connection. Vanmala was one of those actresses, who not only came from a very respectable Royal family, but was also a highly educated person. In those days, these two things were valued highly. Veteran Marathi and Hindi actress Vanamala will always be associated with her roles in the landmark films, Sikandar (1941) opposite Prithviraj Kapoor and in particular the title role in Shyamchi Aai (1953), the first film ever to win the Best Film Award when the National Awards were instituted for Indian Cinema in 1954.
Vanamala was born as Susheela Devi Pawar on 23-5- 1915. Her father Lt.Col. Rao Bahadur Bapu Rao Pawar was a Minister in Gwalior state. Vanmala grew up in the Royal palace with Princess Kamla Devi. Vanmala graduated from Agra University in 1935 and did her B.T. from Bombay University in 1937.
At 21, Vanmala Devi, was a double graduate and a teacher in the progressive Agarkar High School of Poona. She felt she had a mission in life. Did she find what she was seeking? It is anybody’s guess but teaching was her first try and then she went on to films to find expression for her irrepressible talent.
There was a wrench. Vanrnala tore herself away from the forbidding regulations of a traditional Maratha family ruled by her father and the devotional orthodoxy handed down to her by her mother along with a love for nature and literature. Vanmala sought to reconcile the irreconcilables with the firm belief that, down the ages, all expressions of art in India were developed and presented by way of a sacred duty.
That was why, when necessary, she did not hesitate to turn her back on lucrative film assignments to appear on the Marathi stage. In fact, she worked for the building fund of the Marathi Sahitya Sangh at Bombay. Her lead role in the Marathi version of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (शोभेचा पंखा), written by Prof. V.H.Kulkarni, is memorable. That was in the early forties.
She began her career in the late 1930s following her graduation and having become a teacher in Pune’s Camp Education Society. Vanamala entered films at a time when it was considered taboo for women from respectable families to work in films though women like Devika Rani and Durga Khote had started working in films by then. It was V.Shantaram who encouraged her to come into the film industry as an actress. Her first film was a Marathi film “Lapandav”. Principal Acharya Atre became very friendly with her and brought her to Hindi films. Vanmala had unusual Brown eyes. In those days, the Hindi film industry had only two actresses with Brown eyes. One was Vanmala and the other was Ragini, who migrated to Pakistan, after partition.
Prithviraj used to call her Diana the Moon Goddess. The lyrical Pahari Sanyal used to call her “Mala”. Motilal was more down to earth and called her just plain “Bright Eyes”. In fact, it was her eyes that got her the role of Rukhsana and it put her in the front rank of Indian film stars with the success of “Sikandar”. It was one of the early successes of Minerva Movietone and it has made film history in India.
Vanamala acted in both Hindi and Marathi Cinema. Among her Hindi films, Vanamala will always be best remembered for Sohrab Modi’s historical Sikandar and Sharbati Ankhen (1945), directed by Ramchandra Thakur for Wadia Movietone. In the former she played Alexander the Great’s love interest, a Persian woman, Rukhsana, who fearing for Alexander’s life extracted a promise from Porus that he will not harm Sikandar. Vanamala made a major impact in her role, her beauty coupled with her light-coloured lively eyes taking the audience’s breath away. The film itself was a spectacle – its lavish mounting, huge sets and production values equalling the best of Hollywood then particularly its rousing and spectacular battle scenes. It was rated by a British writer as, “…well up to the standard of that old masterpiece The Birth of a Nation.”
The eyes that got Vanmala Devi the lead role of Ruksana in “Sikandar” would be “disowned” in her next picture. In “Parbat Pe Apna Dera”, Vanmala Devi played the role of a blind girl with great effect. First Ulhas was seen, stick in hand, or rather his legs and the lower part of the stick. Then came Vanmala’s dainty feet taking each cautious step. Finally, the camera turned upwards to feature her full figure. She later said that she was so involved with the role that she actually felt blinded. Once, she had to blink her eyes before she could focus them and look at V. Shantaram who was trying to draw her attention.
In Sharbati Ankhen, her Brown eyes were again used to mesmerising effect, the film so aptly titled one feels, after her! The film has some of the earliest songs sung by Mohammed Rafi in his career including “Pyaar Karna hi Padega” and “Bahut Mukhtasar Hai Humari Kahani”. The music for the film was done by Feroz Nizami who went on to compose unforgettable music in a hat-trick of films with the great Noor Jehan (Jugnu (1947) in India and Chan Wey (Punjabi) (1951) and Dopatta (1952) in Pakistan).
However, the one role that undoubtedly immortalized Vanamala forever was the title role in the National Award winning Marathi film, Shyam chi Aai-1953, directed by PK Atre. The film, regarded as a cult classic today, is based on one of the most influential Marathi novels of the 20th century (1935), a fictionalised account of the childhood years of Sane Guruji (1899 – 1950).
A nationalist influenced by Vinoba Bhave and especially Gandhiji, he was imprisoned repeatedly for his work among the peasantry and participation in the Quit India agitations. His book Shyamchi Aai, written in jail, has 45 episodes in which Shyam, a youth living in poverty in Konkan, recalls the teachings of his mother, a devoutly religious person with an earthy and practical philosophy. The hit film has remained a generic landmark in Marathi Cinema and especially so for Vanamala’s maternal prototype. Actor Madhav Vaze, who played the role of her son Shyam in Shyamchi Aai, recalls Vanamala as a woman of few words. “Her actions spoke for her. She was well-educated and a cultured woman who belonged to a noble family from Gwalior,” he said.
Some other films that Vanamala acted in include Payachi Dasi (Marathi)/ Charnon ki Dasi (Hindi) (1941), Vasantasena (1942), Dil ki Baat (1944), Hatim Tai (1947), Beete Din (1947) and Shree Ram Bharat Milap (1965). In all, she did 25 Hindi films. She sang 24 songs in 5 films in her career. For some time she was a partner in Atre pictures also. She produced the film Bramhan Kanya aka Khandani-1947.
Eventually she did build a bungalow at Khandala and rented out a flat by the sea in Bombay which she furnished with taste and equipped with a selective library. But that still didn’t make a “home”. The nearest she got to it could be when she settled down in Gwalior to look after her ailing father. Perhaps, she had almost arrived at a “home” when she bought over a studio and became the first woman to own one.
The supposedly demure Vanamala was a staunch nationalist and was deeply involved in the freedom movement along with stalwarts like Aruna Asaf Ali and Achyut Patwardhan. She was deeply involved in several social causes and was a member of the Chhatrapati Shivaji National Memorial Committee. She also ran a school to train children in traditional Indian arts and culture, The Haridas Kala Sansthan.
Vanmala Devi’s retirement from films was no surprise to her friends. She had realized that the crusading zeal and aesthetic values of the pioneering days were giving place to new norms of success. She found that filmdom could not afford her the avenue for expression which she wanted— or needed. She sublimated all her yearnings for expression in the worship of Lord Krishna at Vrindavan and later in the service of her father.
Vanamala who had been suffering from cancer, passed away in Gwalior on May 29, 2007. ( This article is based on information taken from an article in Upperstall, an article by Sumati Dhanawate- Vanmala’s sister, The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, Beete kal ke sitare, Marathi Cinema in Retrospect and my notes. Thanks to all.)
The story of the film was a typical Marathi reform social film consisting of the age-old friction of ”Saas-Bahu“. Durga Khote was the evil mother in law, who tortures the educated daughter in law-Vidya (Vanmala), with husband Murari (Avinash) protesting meekly. After the interval and towards the last part, the husband decides to be tough with his mother and the shocked saas surrenders and makes the Bahu head of the affairs. However, true to the middle class philosophy, the good Bahu returns the honour to the Saas and requests her to continue as family head ( minus the torture part, obviously), gives a very big speech and all is well in the end. The spice was added by the widowed Nanad- Champa (Kusum Deshpande). Gajanan Jahagirdar played Anokheram, the village scoundrel flirt, who is duly punished by the bahu, in the end.
Today’s song is sung by Durga Khote and Saraswati Rane. All songs of Vanmala in this film were sung by Saraswati Rane, though the name on the records is of Vanmala. This was the Debut film for Rane as a Hindi film Playback singer. Durga khote had sung 32 songs in 13 Hindi films, whereas Saraswati Rane cut over 200 songs on 78 RPM discs consisting of Classical, Light and film songs. She was probably the Pioneering female playback singer in Hindi films.
Enjoy today’s duet…
Song- Uthho Sulakshan naar jhaadoo de do aangana (Charnon Ki Daasi)(1941) Singers- Durga Khote, Saraswati Rane, Lyricist-Pt. Anand Kumar, MD- Annasaheb Mainkar
Film- Charnon ki Dasi-1941
Uthho Sulakshan naar
jhaadoo de do aangana
uthho Sulakshan naar
jhaadoo de do aangana
de do aanganaa
jhaadoo de do aangana
uthho Sulakshan naar
jhaadoo de do aangana
?? chauka belo
baahar ??
saas nanad se ??
godee mein laalanwaa
uthho Sulakshan naar
jhaadoo de do aangana
nahaay dhoy Tulsee poojan kar
gauon ke pag lagna aa aa
gauon ke pag lagna
??
?? bharna
dhamdham kaaree bharna
uthho Sulakshan naar
jhaadoo de do aangana
kalash dhare kaandhe pe goree
kalash dhare kaandhe pe goree
panghat ko chalna
panghat ko chalna
rumjhum ?? dhol bajenge
rumjhum ?? dhol bajenge
jham jham paanee bharna aa aa
jham jham paanee bharna aa aa
chun chun kaliyaan
haar goondh
poojan kee thhaalee dharna aa
chun chun kaliyaan
haar goondh
poojan kee thhaalee dharna
chandan ??
??
sooraj aaye angnaa aa aa
sooraj aaye angnaa aa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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