Sotee hoon ab sotee hoon
Posted by: Atul on: June 24, 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 : | 6550 | Post No. : | 20386 |
Today’s song is from an obscure social film Badi Baat-1944.
It was produced by Mazhar Khan who also directed it. The music was by Firoz Nizami and the cast was Swarnalata, Ulhas, Yakub, Mazhar Khan, Moti, Gulab, Madhusudan, Ram Marathe and others. We are not aware of the film’s story or other details of this film, as is the case of many such films of yore.
During the second world war period 1939-1945, a lot of Black marketing flourished and few anti-socials became rich having a lot of unaccounted money. As such, during the war period the British Government had imposed Rationing of various essential items including food items, sugar,oil, Kerosene, Petrol and even Raw Film supply. This provided a golden opportunity to these people to start Black of the rationed items. Needy people and those who could afford, enriched these people. Now, they did not know what to do with this unaccounted money.
Film making was considered as a good investment which could use this money effectively, giving better returns thus enhancing their money. That is why, many such people became finance providers for film production. Not knowing anything about production or its process, once money was provided they did not interfere till they got their profits However, some financiers fulfilled their desire to even direct a film. Thus, during this period one will find many strange names as film directors. Ofcourse, fake names were also used.
This, however, resulted in films without any quality to be produced. The best genre to give sure profits was Action/Stunt?Mythological films. Social films were also made. 1944 was a year, when it was almost well known that the war would end in a few months. Sure enough, it ended in August 1945, when Atom Bombs were used to defeat Japan. This affected film making and in 1944 only 86 Hindi films were made (the number went down to 74 in 1945), while in 1943 the number of films was 153 !
Raw Film shortage was troubling the film makers in India. Black money generated through Black marketing was disturbing the industry. The cost of the filmmaking, which was about a Lakh or so in 1940, had escalated to 5 to 6 lakhs per film. Studio system was weakened due to individual production practices started by black money investors. Star salaries had inflated. Many stars worked on FreeLance basis. The law of war promotion movies was now forcefully implemented. Many producers made War propaganda movies to get the Raw Film at controlled rates. The Government had increased the Entertainment Taxes in Bombay, Madras, UP and CP areas, so the cost of Cinema tickets had increased. Prithvi Theatre was launched by Prithviraj Kapoor. Film artistes gathered under the leadership of EVR Naicker in Madras to form DMK party. M. Karunanidhi was a prominent leader.
In Spite of all this, some good Musical films were made in 1944. Saigal, who arrived in Bombay from Calcutta for good, made his second film in Bombay. New composers, New Heros and New heroines brought a variety of Genres of films made in 1944.
The year 1944 was a time when the world knew that the end of World War II was near, however, till that time the Raw Film shortage was troubling the film makers in India. Black money generated through Black marketing was disturbing the industry. The cost of the filmmaking, which was about a Lakh or so in 1940, had escalated to 5 to 6 lakhs per film. Studio system was weakened due to individual production practices started by black money investors. Star salaries had inflated. Many stars worked on FreeLance basis. The law of war promotion movies was now forcefully implemented. Many producers made War propaganda movies to get the Raw Film at controlled rates. The Government had increased the Entertainment Taxes in Bombay, Madras, UP and CP areas, so the cost of Cinema tickets had increased. Prithvi Theatre was launched by Prithviraj Kapoor. Film artistes gathered under the leadership of EVR Naicker in Madras to form DMK party. M. Karunanidhi was a prominent leader.
In Spite of all this, some good Musical films were made in 1944. Saigal, who arrived in Bombay from Calcutta for good, made his second film in Bombay. New composers, New Heros and New heroines brought a variety of Genres of films made in 1944. Some of the major films of 1944 were….
Bhanwara – Second film by Saigal and Khemchand Prakash in Ranjit in Bombay. Made in just 9 days’ shooting for Saigal, by director Kidar Sharma. It was the second film for Monica Desai too (sister of Leela Desai and wife of Phani Mujumdar). Bharthari – Last film in India by singer actress Jahan Ara Kajjan who sang her last 2 songs in it. She migrated to Pakistan in the wake of Partition. Very good songs in the film, especially ” Bhiksha de de maiya” by Amirbai and Surendra. Chal Chal re Naujawan – First film from newly established Filmistan, by the deserters’ group from Bombay Talkies, led by S.Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar. Ashok Kumar sang 6 songs in it for the first and the last time for Ghulam Haider. His song ” Bolo Har Har Mahadev” was very melodious and popular. Chand – Debut film of Husnlal-Bhagatram team. They were recommended by elder brother Pt. Amarnath, who was the first choice of D.D.Kashyap. After V.Shantaram and his team left Prabhat, this was an attempt by Prabhat to join the mainstream by opting for the first time Non Marathi star cast and Punjabi style musicians. 5 singers were used by H-B for 11 songs. A mild success film.
Daasi – it was a musical from Lahore by Pt. Amarnath- with his favourite Zeenat Begum. Film Dost produced the evergreen Noorjehan song ” Badnam – muhabbat kaun karen” composed by Sajjad Hussain. This one song alone made them both immortal. Draupadi – a feeble attempt by Baburao Patel to make a Heroine out of his secretary Sushila Rani. Gaali – Another film by Sajjad, but with only 3 songs to him and 9 to Hanuman Prasad. Iraada – Pt.Amarnath brought Hemant Kumar as a Debutant singer.
Ismat – The first and the only film of the brothers Pt. H.P.Sharma and Pt. Govardhan pershad, as a composer team. Jwar Bhata – Devika Rani’s discovery, Dilip Kumar’s first film. He was the side Hero and the Hero was Agha. Actress Mrudula also debuted as Dilip’s Heroine. Krishna Bhakt Bodana – The only film of the Revolutionary Poet singer Master Vasant from Surat. Avinash Vyas, Shankar rao Vyas composed music, while S.N.Tripathi gave background music.
Musical film Lal Haveli – Only time when Noor Jehan and Surendra sang together under Mir Saheb. Mann ki Jeet – W.Z.Ahmed brings new Heroine Neena, who sings in the voice of Debutante Sitara of Kanpur in all her films. Neena was a Non-Singer. My Sister – Saigal goes back to Calcutta to complete a Musical film ” My Sister”. Pankaj Mullick gives excellent songs by Saigal and others. There were two films ‘ Panchhi‘ and ‘ O Panchhi‘ with average songs. Panna – A war propaganda film based on the ” Mata Hari” story, with a new Heroine Geeta Nizami. MD Amir Ali died before the film was released. The credits in the film dedicated the film to Late Amir Ali.
Perhaps the best music was by Vasant Desai to film ” Parbat pe apna dera“. Vanmala and Ulhas excel in acting in a story of sexual repression. All songs are excellent, especially Amirbai’s song ” Pareshan hoon main” is simply divine. Lastly, the Best one. Record breaking musical ” Rattan” gave superlative songs by Naushad. Barring 2 songs by Manju, the other 8 songs were all Hits. Rattan gave 200% returns on the film and song records, to the Producer.
In the cast you will find the name Madhusudan. This is not a famous name, but he was one actor who was involved in a Song-Singer controversy. In the history of Hindi films, there were few artists who acted and sang in a few films and then disappeared forever. Madhusudan was one such actor. Perhaps he would have remained forgotten but for the Song-Singer controversy.
Madhusudan Bhatt was born in Sangli in Maharashtra on 26-5-1926. His father was a temple priest. Through a recommendation, Madhusudan joined Prakash Pictures, Bombay. His first film was Darshan -1941 in which he sang one duet. Next was a Marathi-Hindi bilingual film Bharat Milap-1942. Here also he sang a duet. Then came Station Master. he sang 3 trios with Amirbai, Suraiya and Prem Adeeb.
The biggest film in his career was Ram Rajya-1943, a bilingual in Hindi-Marathi. He did the role of Kush. (Luv was done by Yashwant Nikam). They sang a famous and popular song on screen ” Bharat ki ek sannari ki….”. For many years, it was presumed that he and Ram marathe sang this song together. This was fortified by a wrong statement by the lyricist Ramesh Gupta. Many writers believed this.( including myself. I even made a similar comment on our Blog).
However, ultimately the truth came out. RMIM activist Dhananjay Naniwadekar of USA was informed by a Marathi film Historian-Bapu Watwe that this song was not sung by Madhusudan but by Yashwant Joshi- a professional classical singer and Yashwant Nikam (acting as Luv). It was true that Madhusudan had rehearsed the song but as he was not able to sing in high notes, Yashwant Joshi sang for him. Mr. Naniwadekar spoke to Yashwant Joshi personally and got this confirmed . Listener’s Bulletin No. 154 of November 2012 has given all these details.
Madhusudan Bhatt later acted in Badi Baat-1944, Hamara Sansar-1945, Darbaan -1946, Rang Mahal-1948 and finally Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu-1953, but his role was deleted before film release. His film career ended thus. He went back to Sangli and opened a shop. Later he too became a temple priest. He was then known as Madhusudan Jani. he was interviewed by Prof Khadilkar, on the request of Har Mandir ji, on 4-10 1988.
The producer, Director and actor in this film- Mazhar Khan was an interesting artist. Mazhar Khan (18/10/1905 – 24/09/1950) was born in Dhar (MP). He was sent to Indore for schooling from where he completed his matriculation examination. He was fascinated by the glamour of the film industry from his school days and aspired to becoming an actor. His father, a First Class Magistrate, was keen that he joined the law course. Probably, he took a middle path and instead joined the police force as the sub-inspector which has connection with law, a subject close to his father. He was posted in Dhar.
During his service in the police force, Mazhar got the opportunity to learn horse riding and other athletic activities. He was a polo player, a boxer, a football player and an athlete. But his fascination with the film industry continued. On the other hand, his father was pressuring him to leave the police job and join the law course. He did enroll for the law course but it was short-lived as he ran away to Bombay some time in 1927 to fulfil his ambition of becoming a film actor.
For Mazhar Khan, the situation in the film industry was not as rosy as he thought. It was not like the organised sector where one applies for the job and called for the interview etc. In the film industry, the first obstacle to meet the producer was the studio’s gatekeeper, generally a Pathan who would not allow anyone to enter the studio premises. Again, the studio owners had their own whims and fancies in selecting the actors.
One day, Mazhar Khan somehow managed to gate crash into one of the studios and met Director BP Mishra who gave him a role in Imperial Film Company’s silent film, ‘Fatal Garland’ (1927). This was the beginning of Mazhar Khan’s filmy career after which he never looked back. While the exact number of silent films in which he worked is not known, Wikipedia lists 18 films between 1927-31, mostly under the banner of Imperial Films. The actual number could be higher.
When talkies films came in 1931, Mazhar Khan got the opportunity to work in Imperial Film Company’s ‘Noor Jahan’ (1931). He shifted to Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1932 and worked with New Theatres’ ‘Subah Ka Sitara’ (1932) in which KL Saigal and Ratanbai were in the lead roles. In Calcutta, Mazhar Khan worked mostly in the films produced by East India Film Corporation. During his Calcutta period (1932-37), he worked in around 20 films.
In 1938, Mazhar Khan returned to Bombay (Mumbai) and joined Ranjit Movietone. He worked in ‘Rickshawala’ (1938), ‘Prof. Waman Msc’ (1938) ‘Ghazi Salauddin’ (1939) and ‘Achhoot’ (1940). He turned free-lancer and worked in Minerva Movietone’s ‘Bharosa’ (1940), CIRCO’s ‘Suhag’ (1940), Fazli Brothers’ ‘Maasoom’ (1941) and Great India Pictures’ ‘Akela’ (1941) among others.
Mazhar Khan got a role of his lifetime in ‘Padosi’ (1941) when director V Shantaram selected him for the role of Thakur among the many stalwarts who were vying for the role.
In 1942, he turned producer-director with his fist film ‘Meri Duniya’ (1942) under the banner of Mazhar Art Productions. This was followed by ‘Yaad’ (1942), ‘Badi Baat’ (1944), ‘Pehli Nazar’ (1945) , ‘Sona’ (1948) and ‘Dil Ki Duniya’ (1949). However, he continued to work as an actor in the films of other banners. In all, he worked in about 50 talkies during 1931 to 1950. His last film as an actor was ‘Usha Kiran’ (1953).(Thanks to Film India-March 1942).
Here is a song from this film, sung by Ameerbai Karnataki. Enjoy….
Song- Sotee hoon ab sotee hoon (Badi Baat)(1944) Singer- Ameerbai Karnataki, Lyricist- Sarswati Kumar Deepak, MD- Firoz Nizami
Lyrics:
Sotee hoon
sotee hoon ab sotee hoon
tu chanda mujhe jaga dena
Sotee hoon
sotee hoon ab sotee hoon
tu chanda mujhe jaga dena
jab sapnon mein bhee aayenge
jab sapnon mein bhee aayenge
tab tum kirnon ke teer chubhaa
tab tum kirnon ke teer chubhaa
chupke se mujhe jaga dena
Sotee hoon
sotee hoon ab sotee hoon
tum chanda
mere chanda mujhe jaga dena
main jaagoongee
main jaagoongee sharmaaoongee
main jaagoongee sharmaaoongee
main pritam kee ho jaaoongee
main pritam kee ho jaaoongee
main saajan ko o o o
painaaoongee
main saajan ko o o o
painaaoongee
chamkeele taaron ko chun kar
chamkeele taaron ko chun kar
tum aana
tum aana mujhe bana dena
Sotee hoon
sotee hoon ab sotee hoon
tum chanda
mere chanda mujhe jaga dena
Share this:
- Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
- Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
- Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
- Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
- Print (Opens in new window) Print
- Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
- Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
- Share on X (Opens in new window) X
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
Leave a comment