Shyam bajaaye torey ghar mein muraliya
Posted by: Atul on: October 28, 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: | 6676 | Post No. : | 20654 |
Today’s song is from an obscure Costume film made by a famous film company – Lakharani-1945. The film was made by Prabhat Film Company, which was ,once upon a time, All India famous for its meaningful and entertaining films, generally made in Hindi and Marathi.
Although this was a film made by the great Prabhat Film Company of Poona, unlike earlier Prabhat films this movie never became famous or a landmark film. The reasons were many.
The main reason was that it was made in the period when the company had become very weak after V Shantaram left Prabhat Studios along with some of his chosen people from various departments.
Secondly, the storyline of this film was far away from the type of films Prabhat had made in the past. True to its tradition, however, the film had a central theme of “open entry for all castes into Hindu temples“. But it was told through a story of tribal folks and allied jungle people, with whom probably, the audience could not identify themselves.
Thirdly, the songs and music of this film was below average. The music director, Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar (1891-1974) had a reputation of being an Orthodox Sangeet Natak classicist. His songs never became popular except perhaps the multi-language song of Shanta Hublikar in the film ‘Aadmi’ (1939) (‘Manoos’ in Marathi). Even his contemporary Keshvrao Bhole gave more popular songs.
His only film giving good music was Rajkamal’s ‘Mali’ (1944), wherein he himself was the hero opposite Ameerbai Karnataki. The film was directed by Vishram Bedekar – more famous as a playwright and a script writer. His scripts used to be quite complex. He wrote the story of ‘Lakharani’, in addition to directing it.
In the early era of Talkie films, the Film Companies which were well known were Imperial, New Theatres, British Dominion, Kohinoor, Krishna, Maharashtra, Ranjit, Saraswati, Sharada film co. etc. Most of these companies continued from the silent era. Slowly many film companies stopped or got merged with existing companies.But one name stood out even in those days and that was PRABHAT FILM COMPANY or PFC.
Prabhat was established in 1929 at Kolhapur by a group of dedicated professionals. It included V. Shantaram, Fatelal, Damle, Dhaiber(till 1937 and then it was Baburao Pai in his place), and S.B.Kulkarni-the financier.In 1933 PFC shifted to Poona and built an uptodate huge studio with 4 floors with 6 set capability. After V.Shantaram left in 1942 and Damle became very ill, PFC saw bad days. Around early 1950 it stopped working, was auctioned in 1952 and finally closed down formally on 13-10-1953. Prabhat had made 6 silent films and 45 Talkie films in its time.
Prabhat which had its glorious days in the 30s and 40s has given the world cinema some of the most renowned films of the early Talkie era.The significant factor of PF classics was the variety of genres in which its films were made. Never at the beginning of the Talkie era (not only in India, but worldwide too) had filmmakers tried to tackle such a variety of subjects to create social awareness.It is a matter of great pride for Indian Cinema to go down memory lane and acknowledge this fact.
At a time when Indian filmmakers were making Mythological and Historical films-which were based on similar plays-,Prabhat chose subjects which were sensitive,explosive and controversial for the society. These films dealt with subjects like abolition of human and Animal sacrifices, Untouchability, Women’s emancipation, Notions of Bhakti, Evil of forced marriages and eradication of prostitution, through films like, Amrit manthan, Dharmatma, Amarjyoti, Sant Tukaram, Duniya na mane, Aadmi, Padosi, Ramshastri and others.
Prabhat was run by a team of dedicated artists,directors and technical staff.They were experts of world standards in their fields. This prompted Prabhat to make a film on an imaginary planet with a different type of story. Even there the humans had usual feelings and hence the film had an engrossing story. The film was “Wahan”- 1937. Remember, the Talkie was only 6 year old and making an experimental film was a challenge, but Prabhat did it.
Movie Lakhrani (1945) was directed by Vishram Bedekar, starring Durga Khote, Monica Desai, Urmila, Azoori, Sapru, Ram Singh, Gouri and Guru Dutt. It was an important early work for both Bedekar and Dutt, who also had an uncredited role. The film’s music featured songs with lyrics by Qamar Jalalabadi (real name Om Prakash Bhandari) and music composed by Master Krishnarao (Phulambrikar). Actor, director Guru Dutt began his career at Prabhat Film Company in Pune, where he worked on Lakharani as a choreographer before going on to a successful acting and directing career. Here is the storyline of the movie ….
Bichwa ( Mrs. Khote) is the queen of a devout Untouchable community not permitted to enter the temple. Her daughter Lakha ( Monica Desai), the best dancer in the community, marries the prince of a rival community of atheists and is excommunicated by her own people. The devout group has their devotion tested by economic setbacks and a major conflict erupts between them and the atheists but god materialises on earth, thus solving the problems of belief and its attendant conflicts. Untouchability is abolished and they can all join together to worship in the temple. This transparent piece of religious propaganda saw Guru Dutt’s acting debut in the minor role of Lachman, Lakha’s brother.
‘Lakharani’ is important for one reason – Guru Dutt made his acting debut with this film. Guru Dutt (9-7-1925 to 10-10-1964) did the role of Lachman, brother of the heroine Lakharani, in this film. After doing a basic course in dancing from the dance academy of the famous dancer Uday Shanker, in Almora, he joined Prabhat Studios as a choreographer. However, in his first film he was only an actor and an assistant director to Vishram Bedekar. In his second film ‘ Hum Ek Hain’ (1946), he worked as the choreographer and as an assistant to PL Santoshi, the debutant director of the film. Later he was assistant director to Anadinath Bannerjee for the film ‘Mohan’ (1947), to Amiya Chakravarty for the film ‘Girls School’ (1949) and to Gyan Mukherjee for the film ‘Sangram’ (1950). His first stint as an independent director came with the iconic film ‘Baazi’ (1951).
The main female lead in this film was played by Monica Desai. She was a famous Indian actress during the 1930’s and 40’s. She was the daughter of Dr. Umedram Lalbhai Desai and Satyabhama Devi, a well-known musician of the early 20th Century. Her father was a Gujarati, and her mother hailed from Bihar. Her father who was a reputed Doctor of that period died in the year 1930.
Monica Desai first worked for Bangla movie ‘Nimai Sanyasi’ which was released in the year 1940. She was an actress who represented the era of upcoming character actresses like Leela Mishra, Ram Dulari, who made debut along with her and later ruled the Indian screen.
Monica Desai acted under the direction of Phani Majumdar and Kidar Nath Sharma. She did not concentrate much on acting as she got married to Phani Majumdar, a pioneering Indian film director, who worked in Hindi cinema. Phani Majumdar is known for Meena Kumari’s classic films ‘Aarti’ (1962) and ‘Oonche Log’ (1965). Monica Desai had a sister named Leela Desai, who was a renowned actress in Hindi and Bengali cinema. Leela Desai has even acted in the film ‘Kapal Kundala’ (1939) directed by Phani Majumdar. After completion of the venture, Phani Majumdar married Monica Desai.
Monica acted with Prithviraj Kapoor in her career, in the film Gauri. ‘Gauri’ was an Indian Bollywood film that was the seventh highest grossing Indian film of 1943 and this established Monica Desai as an actress. This was her first film in Hindi in Bombay. There is an interesting story about her work in this film.
For film Gauri-1943 Kidar Sharma insisted to Ranjit owners that the Hero’s role of Khumar- the Idol Maker be done only by his friend Prithviraj Kapoor. His name was of course agreed upon. However, Goharbai queried as to who Sharma had in his mind to do the sensitive Heroine’s role. Sharma ji replied that he needed someone who looked fresh and innocent. He asked for some time. Actually he had thought of Monica Desai- the younger sister of famous actress Leela Desai. Monica worked as a school teacher in Calcutta. She had a small role in his film ‘ Chitralekha’-41. In those days Sharma was impressed with her and had assured her that when he gets stabilised as a Director and has a suitable script, he will give Heroine’s role to Monica.
Next day, Sharma ji told Chandulal Shah about her selection. Chandulal had confidence in his judgement. The big hearted Shah gave Rs. 5000/- to Sharma to send to Monica for coming to Bombay comfortably in First Class. Kidar Sharma sent the money to her and asked her to travel only by First class to Bombay, to get down at Dadar, keep the luggage in Cloak room and freshen up in the waiting room. She was asked to wear a silk saree also. Sharma asked her if she understood all the instructions and she confirmed. She was to visit Ranjit Studios at 2.30pm, when Sharma would introduce her to Sethji.
On the afternoon of her arrival day, the Shah couple and others waited anxiously for Monica’s arrival. In the afternoon, Monica arrived at the gates of the studio looking tired and untidy, along with all her luggage. Seeing her, Chandulal became nervous, but asked Sharma ji to arrange for her stay and food etc. Chandulal Shah was not only upset with Monica’s looks but also annoyed. Still without commenting, he left the studio immediately with Goharbai. Sharma as well as Prithviraj felt humiliated with the foolish Monica who came to the studio, not following Sharma’s instructions. This she did to save some money, but put everyone in an awkward situation. Anyway, Sharma made her staying etc arrangements.
Next day, Chandulal called him to his office and said that he will continue making film Gauri, as promised, but he will not participate in any shootings, recordings or other matters till the film is completed. He will, however, see the finished movie before it goes to Censors. It was too obvious that both the Shahs were upset about the ordinary looking and childish, immature Monica as Heroine.
Kidar Sharma gulped all this quietly and started work on the film quickly. The team went to Calcutta also and came back. When the film was completed, Sharma invited Chandulal and Goharbai to see it. Actually whenever such a preview was done all other Directors of Ranjit also attended it, but this time there were only the two of them-Chandulal and Goharbai. The entire team of the film was also present. Sharma had known that when Chandulal did not like the film, he usually abused loudly and sometimes even threw his chappals at the screen. With bated breath, Sharma showed him the film Gauri and waited for his reactions, expecting fireworks. Instead, Chandulal and Goharbai left the room and went to their office. Everyone,including Sharma was sure that Sharma has to leave the company now.
With great courage, Sharma went to their office to know their opinions. To his great surprise, Chandulal dug into his pocket and removed whatever money was there and gifted it to Sharma. He said,” this is my gift to you for making a sublime movie.” Gohar too appreciated it heartily. Both of them were spellbound with Monica’s performance. Shah offered Monica a 3 year contract, furnished house and a new car with a driver etc. Shah also increased Sharma’s salary to Rs.5500/pm.
Thus Monica Desai’s first film was a great success. ” GAURI” was a winner. Kidar Sharma was the winner.
Later, she featured in a film ‘Devdasi’ as a heroine that was also among the top seven grossing films at the Indian box office in 1945. She appeared in the film ‘Chitralekha’ which was the second-highest grossing Indian film of 1941, in this movie, she portrayed the character of Yashodhara. This film also was a debut film for actor Bharat Bhushan, who later achieved fame with ‘Baiju Bawra’ (1952). Monica Desai had also acted with a legendary actor and singer K. L Saigal.
Monica worked in only 9 Hindi films- Qaidi-40, Chitralekha-41, Bhakta Surdas-42, Gauri-43, Bhanwara-44, Lakharani-45, Devdasi-45, Rangeen Zamana-48 and Vikram Shashikala-49.
Here is a song from today’s film. We do not know who the singer is, but the song is good. Enjoy….
Editor’s note:- This forgotten song is a great example of a classical song being incorporated in Hindi movies of those days. This raag bhairavi song became a favourite song of classical singers. Whenever they sang rang Bhairavi, they often used the lyrics of this song. This song was often sung by classical singer Pt Ram Marathe in his concerts.
Song- Shyam bajaaye tore ghar mein Muraliya (Lakharani)(1945) Singer-Unknown female voice, Lyricst- Qamar Jalalabadi (Om Prakash Bhandari), MD- Master Krishnarao (Phulambrikar)Chorus
Lyrics :
Haan ShyamHaan Shyam
Haan Shyam bajaaye torey ghar mein Muraliya
chham chham naacho gaao
Shyam bajaaye torey ghar mein Muraliya
chham chham naacho gaao
???? waala
???? waala
haan mandir ka ujiyaara
ab amrit sudha ??
chham chham naacho gaao
chham chham naacho gaao
mohan kya laaya
haan gokul kee maala
haan
pag choomat ?? bagiya(?)
chham chham naacho gaao
chham chham naacho gaao
aao bhakton aao
aao bhakton aao
kutiya aaj sajaao
kutiya aaj sajaao
pyaar kee jyot jalaao
pyaar kee jyot jalaao
naacho naacho jhoom jhoomo gaao o o
bhagwan ki jai ho
bhagwan ki jai ho
bhagwan ki jai ho
bhagwan ki jai ho
bhagwan ki jai ho
bhagwan ki jai ho
naacho naacho jhoom jhoomo gaao o o
mandir ban gaye aaj nagariya aa aa
mandir ban gaye aaj nagariya aa aa
chham chham naacho gaao
chham chham naacho gaao
Shyam bajaaye morey ghar mein muraliya
chham chham naacho gaao
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
Leave a Reply