Main to na boloon na boloon
Posted by: Atul on: June 22, 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.
| Blog Day : | 6548 | Post No. : | 20378 |
Today’s song is from the film Amrapali-1945.
1945 was the year when the devastating II World War ended and the film industry heaved a sigh of relief. Many irksome regulations were relaxed. There was no force now to make Propaganda films for war, no shortage of Raw Film and plenty of Finance available through black money, generated during the war times. However, the year saw only 73 Hindi films made.
One of the most successful and famous film directors of Hindi films- Bimal Roy had a beginning in 1945. He was the director of the Bangla film “Udayer Pathe”, based on the story by Jyotirmoy Roy. It was remade in Hindi as ” Humrahi”. Both versions became Hit films. Thus a cameraman and editor Bimal Roy emerged as a big name in Hindi films. He got this opportunity as New theatres, Calcutta had dried up with its ace and famous directors, who left the company and had marched towards Bombay, even when NT was downhill. This film was also noteworthy because Tagore’s “Jana Gana Mana” was used in the film Humrahi-1945, which later on became India’s National Anthem (though it was written by Tagore to please and welcome King George V, on his visit to India in 1911).
Zeenat was another film whose music became popular, especially the All Women qawwali “Aahen na bhari”. Shashikala and Shyama faced the camera for the first time in this song.
Noorjehan’s “Village Girl” was a Hit, due to Shyamsunder’s melodious songs. Mohd. Rafi started his playback from this film with G.M.Durrani. Earlier he had sung a song in a chorus in film pehle Aap and few Punjabi films. Lata Mangeshkar’s first Hindi song in a Hindi film was in the film ” Badi Maa”. Mukesh also sang his first playback in Pahli Nazar. Saigal’s first film in Bombay-Tadbir was made by Jayant Desai. 2 Films on King Humayun were made. one by Mehboob was Humayun and the other was Ek Din Ka Sultan by Sohrab Modi.
Other successful films were Laila Majnu, Lakha Rani (Guru Dutt was the Choreographer in this film), Moorti, Panna Dai, Phool (K.Asif), Chaand Chakori etc. Devika Rani got married to Russian Painter- Roerich, left Bombay Talkies and settled in Himachal Pradesh, shifting to Bangalore after a few years.
Film Amrapali-45 story was by Ramchandra Thakur. Actually, this was based on Thakur’s own famous novel Amrapali. The dialogues were by Munshi Dil. The film, made under the banner of Murli Cinetone, was shot entirely in the Andheri studios of Lakshmi productions. The story of Amrapali is a real story, which took place in the times of Gautam Buddha. Although the original novel of Tamchandra Thakur depicted the reality in his book very nicely, the film story was twisted and under the guise of taking ‘ Cinematic liberty’, the main events of the story were drastically changed, twisting the history. Comparatively, the film ‘Amrapali’ made later in 1966 was much better. At least it did not change the original story. Amrapali or Ambapalika’s story is mentioned in old Pali language Texts and Buddhist literature.
The real story of Amrapali, who was a courtesan is….
Living around 500 BC in ancient India, Amrapali was a highly celebrated royal courtesan and court dancer of the Vaishali republic. After encountering Gautama Buddha and hearing his teachings, she renounced her immense wealth and status, donated her famous mango grove (Ambapali vana) to the Buddhist order, and became an Arahant (Buddhist nun). She was once known as “The Nagarvadhu of Vaishali”.
The cast of the film was Prem Adib, Sabita Devi,Jeevan, Arun Ahuja, Jagdish Sethi, Badri Prasad, Sankatha Prasad, Gulab etc.etc.
This film was special for its Heroine, because it was her last film as an actress. In the silent era, many Anglo Indian, Jew and European girls acted in films. They were preferred too, for their free uninhibited acting. Kissing and hugging was no problem for them. However, when the Talkie films arrived, most of these girls had to leave films, because they could not speak Hindi or sing a song. Only some few dedicated actresses from the lot like Sulochana (Ruby Meyers), Sabita Devi (Irina Gasper) etc, continued in films, because they learnt Hindi and singing, with great efforts.
From the Director to the artists, many were from the silent era. Director Nandlal Jaswantlal started his career from 1924, Miss Gulab also from 1924, Sankatha Prasad from 1929, Sabita Devi from 1930 and Badri Prasad from 1932.
Nandlal Jaswantlal was born on 15-3-1907 at Bardoli in Surat. His father was Admin. Officer in Kohinoor films. He started his career by joining it in 1924. He assisted Chandulal Shah(1926-29) and also directed silent and Talkie films for Ranjit from 1929 to 1933. Nandlal left the job and went to Europe on tour. On his return he joined the Imperial company(34-36) and directed some remakes of silent films of Sulochana into Talkie films. For one year-1937- he went to Madras and ran a Laboratory also.
His first Talkie film as a Director was Pardesi preetam-33 and last was Akeli mat jaiyo-63. Both were Ranjit films. Due to his death in 1961, Akeli mat Jaiyo was delayed and completed by Chandulal Shah himself. Best known for his later Filmistan musicals: Anarkali (with Bina Rai and music by C. Ramchandra) and Nagin (with Vyjayanthimala), one of the biggest post-Independence musical hits. Admired for his sophisticated lighting (with cameraman Pandurang Naik). Used extreme close-ups and unusual angles creating disjointed but dramatic and sensual spaces (e.g. the beginning of Anarkali). Last film Akeli Mat Jaiyo was completed by Chandulal Shah. Apparently filmed many of the famous song sequences of M. Sadiq’s musical Taj Mahal (1963).
FILMOGRAPHY: 1929: Jawani Diwani; Pardesi Saiyan; 1930: Pahadi Kanya; 1931: Premi Jogan; Ghunghatwali (all St); 1933: Pardesi Preetam; 1934: Indira MA; Kashmeera; 1935: Pujarini; 1936: Bambai Ki Billi; Jungle Queen; 1939: Jeevan Saathi; 1941: Kamadhenu; 1943: Pratigya; 1944: Kadambari; 1945: Amrapali; 1945: Sati Toral; Veerangana; 1951: Sanam; 1953: Anarkali; 1954: Nagin; 1956: Taj; 1957: Champakali; 1963: Akeli Mat Jaiyo (1963). (Thanks to Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema.)
The Music Director of this film was Sarswati Devi. Once upon a time she was famous for being a prolific female Composer. Many of her songs became popular. She also gave opportunities to a few new singers. In her later days, after leaving Bombay Talkies, at the end of her life she suffered much and died neglected by the film industry.
Saraswati Devi, born Khorshed Minocher-Homji(1912 – 9 August 1980), was a director of music and score composer who worked in Hindi cinema in the 1930s and 1940s. She is most noted for her score, Mein Ban ki Chiriyra Banke Bun Bun Bolun Re in Bombay Talkies’s Achut Kanya (1936). She, along with Nargis’ mother & Sanjay Dutt’s grandmother Jaddanbai is considered to be one of the first female music composers in Indian cinema.
Born in a Parsi family, she had a love for music. Realising this her father made her study Hindustani classical music under Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande who specialised in Dhrupad and Dhamar style of singing. Later she joined Marris College (later Bhatkhande Music Institute) at Lucknow and studied music.
With the setting up of an All India Radio station at Mumbai in the late 1920s she, along with her sister Manek, gave musical performances regularly. The programme, known as the Homji Sisters, was very popular with the listeners. The founder of Bombay Talkies, Himanshu Rai who was looking for a good classicalist for his movies, heard them on radio, got in touch with her, and invited her to visit the studio where she was shown the music room. He wanted her to take care of the music department and score music for his movies and Homji accepted the offer and took it as a challenge. Her first assignment was for the movie, Jawani Ki Hawa in 1935, starring Himanshu Rai’s actress wife Devika Rani. She had a difficult time making the actors sing and had to simplify the tunes and cover some areas with music instead of song as there were no singers and playback was still not introduced.
Jawani Ki Hawa was followed by her first hit movie Achhut Kanya (1936). Ashok Kumar, along with Devika Rani, where she spent several hours a day rehearsing for a song before it was filmed. Also in 1936, she gave the music for the film, Janmabhoomi, it was released during the Indian independence movement, and featured one of the first explicit nationalistic songs of Hindi cinema, “Jai Jai Janani Janmabhoomi” (Hail the land of our birth) written by J. S. Kashyap. Subsequently, a tune from the chorus of this song was used by the BBC as a signature tune for its Indian News Service.
There was a big uproar and a series of protests in the Parsi community. The board of directors of Bombay Talkies included some members from the Parsi community who objected to girls from their community being in the talkies. Rai defended them and Homji’s identity was concealed by giving her the name Saraswati Devi. Her sister, who acted roles for the company, was given the name Chandraprabha. Devi is the first prolific female music director in Hindi films.
Devi continued composing film music until 1961. She composed the song Koi Humdum Na Raha originally sung by Ashok Kumar in the film Jeevan Naiya (1936) and later sung by Kishore Kumar in Jhumroo (1961). She is also the original composer of the famous song Ek Chatur Naar KarKe Shringar originally sung by Ashok Kumar in film Jhoola (1941) later sung by Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar in film Padosan.
She never married and lived alone in her apartment. One day she fell down from a bus and fractured her hip bone. None of the film personalities ever came for her help. The only help she got was from her neighbours. Saraswati Devi died on 9 August 1980 at the age of 68 leaving behind unforgettable memories of an era of which she was a golden link.
Here is a duet song from this film, sung by an unknown female voice and an unknown male singer. Enjoy….
Song- Main to na boloon na boloon (Aamrpaali)(1945) Singer- Unknown female voice, Unknown male voice, Lyricist- Miss Kamal B.A. aka Kavi Pradeep, MD- Saraswati DeviLyrics
Main to na boloonna boloon
na na na boloon re
main to na boloon
na boloon
na na na boloon re
apne saajan ka naam
apne baalam ka naam
na boloon re
ek baat goree hamen bata jaa
kaun hai tere dil ka raaja
ek baat goree hamen bata jaa
kaun hai tere dil ka raaja
main apne saanwariya ka bhed kabhee na kholoon re
main apne saanwariya ka bhed kabhee na kholoon re
na boloon na boloon
na na na boloon re
main to na boloon na boloon
na na na boloon re
apne saajan ka naam
apne baalam ka naam
na boloon re
mera damroo baaje dam dam
dam dam dam dam
meree paayal baaje chham chham
chhan chhan
chhan chhan
o zam zam se aaja
main phoolon se boloon
o zam zam se aaja
main phoolon se boloon
main albelee naar
tumhaare sang mein na doloon
main albelee naar
tumhaare sang mein naahin doloon
na boloon
na boloon
na na na boloon re
main to na boloon
na boloon
na na na boloon re
apne saajan ka naam
apne baalam ka naam
na boloon re
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2 Responses to "Main to na boloon na boloon"
June 22, 2026 at 10:56 am
Arun Ji
Thanks for the post, writing about Saraswati Devi.
I note with interest
.”……… She composed the song Koi Humdum Na Raha originally sung by Ashok Kumar in the film Jeevan Naiya (1936) and later sung by Kishore Kumar in Jhumroo (1961). She is also the original composer of the famous song Ek Chatur Naar KarKe Shringar originally sung by Ashok Kumar in film Jhoola (1941) later sung by Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar in film Padosan.”
Though I knew existence an earlier version,of both songs, I did not know it was by Saraswati Devi
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
June 22, 2026 at 10:56 am
Arun Ji
Thanks for the post, writing about Saraswati Devi.
I note with interest
.”……… She composed the song Koi Humdum Na Raha originally sung by Ashok Kumar in the film Jeevan Naiya (1936) and later sung by Kishore Kumar in Jhumroo (1961). She is also the original composer of the famous song Ek Chatur Naar KarKe Shringar originally sung by Ashok Kumar in film Jhoola (1941) later sung by Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar in film Padosan.”
Though I knew existence an earlier version,of both songs, I did not know it was by Saraswati Devi
LikeLike