Koi ummeed bar naheen aatee
Posted on: May 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 Special film – Chauranghee-1942.
The film is special because, both the MDs- Kazi Nazrul Islam and Hanuman Prasad, as well as the Director of this film Hasnain Fazli, made their Debuts in a Hindi film. Another reason which makes this film a Special film, was that Kazi Nazrul Islam – the National Poet of BanglaDesh – made his Debut both as a Music Director and a Lyricist for his only Hindi film. Hanuman Prasad discovered Geeta Roy Dutt as a Playback singer in later times.
The Director Sibtain Fazli was one of the Fazli brothers who were the pioneers in making Muslim social films in Hindi. They were the sons of Khan Bahadur S M Fazal Rabb of Bahraich- about 125 kms from Lucknow in U.P. The elder brother was Hasnain and the younger brother was Sibtain ( born on 9-7-1916). Hasnain Fazli was born on 12-1-1912 in the United Province (today’s U.P.). Their family belonged to the noble Sayyads of Allahabad. Hasnain was a graduate of Allahabad University. Though his father was a Khan Bahadur, a Government Jahagirdar and lifetime Magistrate, Hasnain refused to do any service and did not complete his I.C.S. studies, as expected by the family.
He had a creative mind. He joined the film line. He was very keen on making a film on Muslim Society. In those days it was considered outrageous to produce a film on Muslim society for fear of the ire of the fundamentalists. However Hasnain broke the barrier and the first Muslim Social film Qaidi-40 was produced and directed by him under the banner of Film Corporation of India, Calcutta. Very cleverly, the film was made at Calcutta, ( though the film depicted life in Lucknow ), and not at Bombay to avoid any disruption in the making of the film. The film was made so well that it was received very well by all strata of the population, including the Muslims and became a hit film. After this Hasnain made more Muslim social films like Masoom-41, Chowringhee-42, Fashion-43 and Ismat-44. These films discussed Muslim family life and problems etc.
His first directorial film was in his 23rd year- Triya Charitra-35. Then came Sajiv Murti-35, in which Handsome Vijay Kumar from Himachal Pradesh was the Hero. Fazli brothers also made Dil-46, Mehendi-47, Duniya-49 and Khoobsurat-52. Hasnain was so talented that he himself wrote the film stories, screenplays and dialogues usually. Sibtain Fazli directed 3 films-Chowringhee-42, Ismat-44 and Mehendi-47.
After the Partition, Fazli brothers migrated to Pakistan. Sibtain remained in Pakistan and Hasnain returned to India to make 2 more films. Later Hasnain too relocated to Lahore and died there on 16-7-1957. His brother Sibtain ( 9-7-1916 to 25-7-1985) who had directed 3 films in India, made 4 films in Pakistan, including the most popular Urdu film of Madam Noor Jehan – Dupatta-52.
The cast of the film included Anis Khatun, Mehtab, Amjad, Nazir Kashmiri, Har Prasad and others. There were 13 songs in the film. However, HFGK does not give individual credits to singers, MDs or the Lyricists. Songs were written by 5 Lyricists – Kazi Nazrul Islam, Mirza Ghalib, Jigar Muradabadi, Partav Lucknowi and Arzoo Lucknowi.
The word ‘Chauranghee’ evokes a lot of loving memories of Calcutta for me. During my professional marketing career of over 40 years, I visited Bengal and Calcutta in particular more than 100 odd times. The hotel I stayed at was next to the AC market, adjacent to the Chauranghee Road.
Many times in the evenings, I used to take a walk on Chauranghee and enjoy the crowd of the elites. Whenever I had to stay in Calcutta on Sundays, I always took a stroll on the Chauranghee Road from the Grand Hotel to beyond Park Hotel and the famous petrol pump of Park Road. On every Sunday, the footpaths of Chauranghee were full of second hand books arrayed on the footpaths on both sides and in the nearby lanes. Bengali people are mad about reading books and on Sundays, one must see their crowds on the roadside book shops. Bengali people are so fond of reading books that many roads in Calcutta are named after famous Indian authors including a road called ‘Shakespeare Road’. I have seen most of the world. I consider Bengali people next only to the British in their love of reading books. One must visit the ‘BOOK FAIR’ held annually on ‘The Maidan‘- a part of the Chauranghee area to understand the Bengali people’s love for reading and buying books. Hats off to Bengal for this ! My last visit to Calcutta was in 2007.
Chauranghee, today a Hi-Fi business area, was once known for kothas, tawaifs and singing families. Actually, it seems, in ancient times a society of any state was divided into 4 classes. 1) The King and the Royalty 2) The Knights, Ministers, Generals etc. 3) The common people including ‘Bhadra Lok‘ and 4) The entertainers (read the class of people whose job was to please the customers). The last one was the ‘Chaturang’ or the Fourth Estate or the Chauranghee !
Film Chauranghee-1942 was a Muslim social film, which depicted the storm that hit a Tawaif family on Chauranghee and its aftermath on that family.
Now something about Kazi Nazrul Islam…..
Kazi Nazrul Islam is to Bangladesh, what Rabindranath Tagore is to West Bengal. While, to my knowledge, Tagore never wrote any Naat or a Muslim religious verse, kazi wrote hundreds of Bhajans and Geets on Lord Rama and Krishna. Though many films- Bangla and Hindi- are based on the stories or novels of Tagore, he has not contributed anything directly to any Hindi film ( I do not know about Bangla films). On the other hand Kazi has written the story of film Sapera-39 and provided Lyrics and Music to film Chowringhee-42 directly. Like Tagore’s Rabindra Sangeet, it was Nazrul Geeti in Bengal. I am not comparing them. Both were great souls.
The life story of Kazi is full of ups and downs. His last few years were spent in Glory but in very bad health. There were several deaths in his family. His wife became paralytic and he spent time in a Mental Hospital in Ranchi. After the formation of Bangladesh in 1971, the new country invited him, bestowed honours on him, declaring him ” The National Poet”. The Bangladesh government also took good care of him in his last 4 years, but he was medically unfit to enjoy his glory.
Kazi Nazrul Islam (24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) Composer and songwriter was born in Burdwan Dist., Bengal. With Tagore he was the major influence on popular Bengali music in the 20th C. Known as the Bidrohi Kavi or Rebel Poet and directly associated with radical nationalist movements (e.g. through the journal Dhoomketu which he edited in 1922, leading to his imprisonment on a charge of sedition), his poetry constitutes the first radical intervention into Hindu and Muslim devotional music, e.g. his famous addresses to the goddess Kali, his ghazal compilations (Chokher Chatak, 1929) and Islamic devotionals (Zulfikar, 1932). Much of his music, continued by the IPTA’s Bengali song repertoire, was polemically seen as a radical-romantic use of the ‘ tradition’ (e.g. Salil Choudhury, 1955). One of the first composer-writers to sign contracts with major record companies in Bengal (for Megaphone and Senola and later HMV) and with the Indian Broadcasting Corp., opening up new employment opportunities to a generation of younger composers such as Anil Biswas, S.D. Burman, Kamal Dasgupta and even Kishore Kumar (whose song Ai ek dui tran char gili gili/bam chick boob chick badhke bol in Kehte Hain Mujhko Raja, 1975, adapts Islam’s famous Cham chiki ude gelo). Created an urban variation of tribal jhumur music for Sailajananda Mukherjee’s Pataal Puri and wrote the songs for Nandini (1941) and Dikshul (1943). Some sources credit him as director for Dhruva, in which he played the Hindu sage Narada. Started Bengal Tiger Pics with Abbasuddin Ahmed. Their film of Islam’s novel Madina remained unfinished.
A significant impact of Nazrul’s work in Bengal was that it made Bengali Muslims more comfortable with the Bengali arts, which used to be dominated by Bengali Hindus. His Islamic songs are popular during Ramadan in Bangladesh. He also wrote devotional songs on the Hindu Goddess Kali. Nazrul also composed a number of notable Shyamasangeet, Bhajan and Kirtan, combining Hindu devotional music.
Bengali polymath, poet, writer, musician, revolutionary and philosopher. Popularly known as Nazrul, his poetry and music espoused Indo-Islamic renaissance and intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. Nazrul’s impassioned activism for political and social justice earned him the title Bidrohi Kobi (The Rebel Poet). His musical compositions are from the avant-garde genre of Nazrul geeti (Music of Nazrul). Accomplishing a large body of acclaimed works through his life, Nazrul is officially recognised as the National Poet of Bangladesh and highly commemorated in India and the Muslim world.
Born into a Bengali Muslim Quazi (Kazi) family, Nazrul received religious education and worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned of poetry, drama, and literature while working with theatrical groups. After serving in the British Indian Army, Nazrul established himself as a journalist in Calcutta. He assailed the British Raj in India and preached revolution through his poetic works, such as Bidrohi (The Rebel) and Bhangar Gaan (The Song of Destruction), as well as his publication Dhumketu (The Comet). His nationalist activism in the Indian independence movement often led to his imprisonment by British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul wrote the Rajbandir Jabanbandi (Deposition of a Political Prisoner). Exploring the life and conditions of the downtrodden masses of the Indian subcontinent, Nazrul worked for their emancipation. His poetry and music fiercely inspired Bengalis during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
During his visit to Comilla in 1921, Nazrul met a young Bengali Hindu woman, Pramila Devi, with whom he fell in love, and they married on 25 April 1924. Brahmo Samaj criticised Pramila, a member of the Brahmo Samaj, for marrying a Muslim. Muslim religious leaders criticized Nazrul for his marriage to a Hindu woman.
Nazrul’s writings explore themes such as love, freedom, and revolution; he opposed all bigotry, including religion and gender. Throughout his career, Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best known for his poems, in which he pioneered new forms such as Bengali ghazals. Nazrul wrote and composed music for his nearly 4,000 songs (including gramophone records), collectively known as Nazrul geeti (Songs of Nazrul), which are widely popular today. In 1942 at the age of 43 Nazrul himself fell ill and gradually began losing his power of speech. His behaviour became erratic, he started spending recklessly and fell into financial difficulties. In spite of her own illness, his wife constantly cared for her husband. However, Nazrul’s health had seriously deteriorated and he grew increasingly depressed. He underwent medical treatment under homeopathy as well as Ayurveda, but little progress was achieved before mental dysfunction intensified and he was admitted to a mental asylum in 1942. Spending four months there without making progress, Nazrul and his family began living a quiet life in India. In 1952, he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital in Ranchi. Through the efforts of a large group of admirers who called themselves the “Nazrul Treatment Society”, Nazrul and Promila were sent to London, then to Vienna for treatment. The examining doctors said he had received poor care, and Dr. Hans Hoff, a leading neurosurgeon in Vienna, diagnosed that Nazrul was suffering from Pick’s disease.It was rumoured that this was because of slow poisoning by the British Government. His condition was judged to be incurable, Nazrul returned to Calcutta on 15 December 1953. On 30 June 1962 his wife Pramila died, and Nazrul remained in intensive medical care. He stopped working due to his deteriorating health.
On 24 May 1972, the newly independent nation of Bangladesh brought Nazrul to live in Dhaka with the consent of the Government of India. In January 1976, he was accorded the citizenship of Bangladesh. Despite receiving treatment and attention, Nazrul’s physical and mental health did not improve. In 1974. His youngest son, Kazi Aniruddha, a guitarist, died, and Nazrul soon succumbed to his long-standing ailments on 29 August 1976.
His Filmography – 1937: Bidyapati (Writer), 1938: Gora, 1939: Sapurey (Writer), Sapurey/Sapera (Writer), 1942: Chauranghee, Chauranghee, 1949-Chattagram Astragar Lunthan, 1972: Padi Pishir Barmi Baksha (Lyricist) ( information adapted from Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema , book Cinerang by Isak Mujawar, Great poets by S.D.Paranjpe, wiki and Filmdom diary).
Here is a song written by Mirza Ghalib, from this film. It is sung by an unknown singer. The music is by Kazi Nazrul Islam, as per the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Enjoy….
Song- Koi umeed bar naheen aatee (Chowranghee) Singer- Unknown, Lyrics- Mirza Ghalib, MD- Kazi Nazrul Islam
Lyrics
Koi umeed bar naheen aatee ee
koi soorat nazar naheen aatee
aage aatee thhee haal e dil pe hansee ee ee ee
aage aatee thhee haal e dil pe hansee ee ee ee
ab kisee baat par naheen aatee
maut ka ek din mu’ayyan hai ae ae ae
maut ka ek din mu’ayyan hai ae ae ae
neend kyon raat bhar nahin aatee ee
Kaabe kis munh se jaaoge Ghalib
Sharam tumko o o magar naheen aatee ee
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
May 10, 2026 at 7:42 am
As always, encyclopaedic information.
I don’t think Kavi Guru Rabindranath Tagore has written any Muslim devotional poem because he had no respect for Muslim and Christian religions and he was very vocal about it.
On Sun, May 10, 2026, 05:00 Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi
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May 10, 2026 at 1:05 pm
Dr. ji,
That is what I have already said that RNT had never written any Muslim song of any type. I do not understand what you mean by repeating the same.
Whatever, thanks for confirming my statement.
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