Boley jaa boley jaa tu roop ke panchhee boley jaa
Posted on: July 6, 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 : | 6562 | Post No. : | 20428 |
Today’s song is from an obscure film-Aasra-1941.
Produced by National Studios, Bombay, it was directed by Lalit Mehta and Chimanlal Gandhi. Music was by Anil Biswas. All the 11 songs of the film were written by Dr. Safdar ‘Aah Sitapuri. The cast of the film included Sardar Akhtar, Amar, Husn Banu, Veena Kumari, Kanhaiyalal, Bhudo Advani and Debutant Actor- Director N.A.Ansari along with many others.
This was not a popular film. In fact, it was a failure at the Box-Office. The film was The film was a light social comedy. The story was concerned with the problems which bachelors face when they come to Bombay (Mumbai) in search of employment. Among the problems is difficulties in getting housing accommodation for bachelors. Probably, the problems for the lead actors (Sardar Akhtar and Amar) turns into a situational comedy in that they have to act as husband and wife to get the housing accommodation. The owner of the house has a daughter, Husn Banu. So one can visualise the hilarious situation. In later years many successful films on this theme were made and they became popular too. The difference, I suppose, was in handling the story by the directors, for whom this was the first film. The film did not attract attention even in this Blog and in the last 18 years, there is only one song discussed here. Today’s song will be its second song.
The Music Director was Anil Biswas, called the Bheeshma Pitamah of the Hindi films. A lot has been written about him on this Blog. I have written many times about the different aspects of his life. However, I noticed one thing that his early years are not mentioned anywhere. Hardly anyone knows about his early life. Today, I present here, in his own words, a narration about his early life, just before coming to Bombay.
” I was born on the 7th of July, 1914, at Barisal which is now in East Pakistan. Whenever I think of my childhood I naturally remember my mother. Ours was a very poor family and during this difficult time my mother encouraged my artistic leanings. My mother was musically inclined by nature. It seems I could sing when I was four years old. People have seen me playing the tabla when I was five or six years old, and at ten, I could act well. Those days I would take part in dramas. When I was older I was often requested to sing at music concerts — and I would sing where seasoned artists would perform. I composed my own songs, and the listeners would be surprised to hear my new songs at these concerts. At this time, I was in the Matric class. A wave of patriotism swept the country and there was not a single boy of my age in Bengal who was not willing to sacrifice his life for his coun- try. My desire to see my country attain freedom was responsi- ble for my becoming associated with a revolutionary party. But it was because of this association that I had to face many difficulties, and a simple boy like me ended up making and throwing bombs! There were the usual results which go along with such a life– my studies were interrupted. I went to jail six times during my childhood. My friends in jail were Niren Ghosh, a communist member of the Rajya Sabha, and the Principal of the Shastriya degree college in Bina (M.P.), Satyavrata Ghosh. Many of my friends died in jail.
During this period, I escaped in disguise to Calcutta from Barisal. The year was 1930. My father had passed away. I left home with five rupees in my pocket. I bought a ticket for 17 paise and came by steamer to Jokati and from there to Hul- larhat. There I stayed on the veranda of the local post office for three days. I got a job as a coolie-cum-servant and managed to reach Khulna, from where I travelled to Calcutta by train. I was in bad shape. I knew nobody in Calcutta except my childhood friend Pannalal Ghosh. Panna was shocked to see me. His elder sister took charge of the situation and asked me to stay in her house. I stayed only four days with Panna’s brother-in- law, Lalit Chandra Roy.
I started life once again in Calcutta. I started washing dishes in a hotel. At the same time I kept looking for other jobs. A magician called Manoranjan Sarkar used to come for his meals to this hotel and I became friendly with him. One day he heard me singing to myself and asked me to accompany him to a music concert. We went to the residence of Rai Bahadur Agornath, a big officer in the Education Department, who was an exponent of music. There were many other people there, among them Kavi Jeetendranath Bagchi and J.N. Ghosh, who was the owner of the Mega phone Gramophone Company. Sarkar told them I could sing well. On being asked to sing, I at once prayed to numerous _devataas_ and started singing shyama sangeet in a clear, unsophisticated voice. My song was appreciated by all the elders there.
When I look back today, I feel it was that day I gained the knack to gauge the mood of a mehfil ! I ate a good meal after many days. Rai Bahadur Agornath asked me to stay at his place and teach his grandchildren. Every night I had to sing religious songs for him. However, I soon got tired of this pattern of life. I did not like being a guest–and being served good food all the time. I left after eight days as I got a job teaching music to the daughter of Dr. Pasupati Mitra for five rupees a month. I was soon to realize the consequences of being a member of a revolutionary party. One day the police came to look for me at Pannalal Ghosh’s brother-in-law’s house. They also came to the residence of Advocate Mahendra Ghosh where I was staying and teaching his six children. I was arrested and sent to Elisium Row jail. I suffered for four months–the beating was, of course, a routine affair. The police could not find any evidence against me. Their treatment of me was so strange that it became difficult to distinguish between friends and enemies. Suddenly, they would turn violent against me.
When I was released, I was asked by the police to become a spy and give information about freedom fighters. As I was jobless, I agreed and gave them false information; however, this could not go on for very long. I could not fool them. Those days, Kazi Nazrul Islam used to work in the Megaphone Gramophone Company as a lyricist and music director. It is because of his efforts that _thumris_ and _ghazals_ influenced Bengali music. This influence opened the way to experiments which were applauded by Rabindranath Tagore too. I approached Kazida for a job as the police had found out that I was a `fake spy’ and I had no other means of livelihood. I had been influenced by Kazida right from childhood. In Spite of his encouragement, I found it difficult to come up. In the same Company, there was somebody who prevented my records from becoming popular. I learnt _ghazals_ from Manju Sahib who was happy about my singing. However, these records never saw the light of day. This is a very sad fact.
At this time, Nitai Motilal, who was related to Baval Rajvansh, heard my songs. Nitayida was one of the good music directors associated with Rangmanch. He gave me a job with the Rang Mahal theatre. Even today this theatre is in existence. In the forties, it had a revolving stage! Shri Satu Sen was the director of the plays. While working as assistant director to Nitida, I composed music for quite a few dramas. I sang, danced, and acted in the plays. You will be surprised to hear that my salary was only Rs. 40 a month. While at the Gramophone Company, I was paid five rupees for the lyrics and five for com- posing the music. I worked for three years at the Rang Mahal. This was the time I learnt the proper use of music and how to reach the people with it. My life in Calcutta was to undergo a change. I was becoming popular.
One day I happened to meet the film director Hiren Bose. Hirenda showed an interest in me and asked me whether I would like to work in films. He made it very clear that if I was, I would have to leave Calcutta. Till today I don’t know why I was ready to, because I was staying comfortably there. I did not spend too much time thinking about it, and agreed. The year was 1934. I remember Hirenda agreed to pay me Rs. 150 a month.” (MY JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF MUSIC By Anil Biswas. The article first appeared in `Madhuri’, Dec. 29, 1967. It was reprinted in `Saurabh’ annual issuem 1977. This version appeared in `Cinema Vision India’, Vol. II, No. II, 1983, pp. 57-59. ).
There is a name Veena in the cast of this film. This is not the famous actress Veena who worked in films like Najma, Humayun, Chalti ka naam Gaadi, Kagaz ke phool or Pakeeza. This was another actress with the same name. This Veena’s original name was Nurjahan. Her father was a landlord in Lucknow. She was born in 1916. As per customs of those times, she never went to school, but being well to do, got private tutors and she learnt Urdu and English sufficiently to read and speak. She was a typical good looking girl. She was very fond of seeing silent films with her father. When the Talkie films started, her interest grew much more and she decided to join films. She was a natural good singer too and this helped her get into films.
Her first film was Inteqam-33, where she worked without any fees. Here she was credited with her real name Nurjahan. In the 1939 film Swastik, made by Mohan Pictures, she became the Veena kumari-heroine of Jeevan. She continued working in films like Radhika,Asra and Kasauti- all 1941, Gharib and Zevar in 42, Pratigya, Bhaichara,Masterjee and Chiragh in 43, Mujrim-44, Gunjan and Shauhar in 48. Shauhar was made by her own banner-Dil-Sitan arts. The film was directed by her. Her last film was Basera-50. She sang 22 songs in 7 films. She was quite good at singing. When you hear her songs, you will agree with me.
Now let us see what proves they were 2 different persons. Firstly, Veena Kumari started her career much earlier than Veena. Secondly, Veena started acting in Punjabi films in 1941 only and then came to Bombay for films Yaad-42, Najma-43,Rajputani-44, Humayun-45 etc. Thirdly, Veena kumari was a B grade actress and her films were made by smaller banners, whereas, from the beginning, Veena was in the Big league of Mazhar khan, Ranjit, Mehboob, Kardar, K.Asif, Minerva etc. Fourthly, Veena kumari stopped working in 1950, while Veena continued till 1983. The most important point was, Veena could not sing, whereas Veena kumari sang 22 songs in 7 films. All this clearly separates them as different actresses.
Here is a song from today’s film, sung by Anil Biswas and Sardar Akhtar. Enjoy…
Song- Boley jaa boley jaa tu roop ke panchhee boley jaa (Aasra)(1941) Singers-Anil Biswas, Sardar Akhtar, Lyricist- Dr. Safdar Aah Sitapuri, MD- Anil BiswasLyrics:
Boley jaaboley jaa
tu roop ke panchhee
boley jaa
boley jaa
boley jaa
tu roop ke panchhee
boley jaa
ras bhar de man ke pyaale mein
ae roop ke panchhee
boley jaa
ras bhar de man ke pyaale mein
doley jaa
doley jaa
tu ban ke bayariya doley jaa
doley jaa
doley jaa
tu ban ke bayariya doley jaa
main phool phool saawan jhoomat hoon
tu ban ke bayariya doley jaa
main phool phool saawan jhoomat hoon
aa mukhda tera ??
jaa chaand chhup hai ghataa mein
aa mukhda tera ??
jaa chaand chhup hai ghataa mein
aa baandh ke apne bandhan mein
aa baandh ke apne bandhan mein
ye jag ke bandhan kholey jaa
ye jag ke bandhan kholey jaa
ae roop ke panchhee
boley jaa
ras bhar de man ke pyaale mein
ae roop ke panchhee
boley jaa
ras bhar de man ke pyaale mein
san san jo hawaayen chaltee hain
aashaayen man kee machaltee hain
san san jo hawaayen chaltee hain
aashaayen man kee machaltee hain
dil pade hain tere charnon mein
dil pade hain tere charnon mein
aao re(?) haule haule jaa
aao re(?) haule haule jaa
ae ban ke bayariya doley jaa
main phool phool saawan jhoomat hoon
ae roop ke panchhee
boley jaa
ras bhar de man ke pyaale mein
tu ban ke bayariya doley jaa
ae roop ke panchhee
boley jaa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
Leave a comment