Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs

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.

Today’s song is from the film Husn ka chor-53.

The film was made by Basant Pictures owned by Homi Wadia. He was the Producer, but surprisingly the film was directed by his elder brother J.B.H.Wadia (13-1-1901 to 4-1-1986 ). JBH had also written its story, screenplay and dialogues too. Another surprise was that this film was a Costume/action film. The brothers had separated in 1942 on the issue of Wadia Movietone continuing making stunt films or to start making social films. JBH wanted to make social films and Homi Wadia (22-5-1911 to 10-12-2004) advocated for continuance of stunt films. He separated from JBH and started his own Basant Pictures. The third surprise was that for the first (and the last) time JBH wrote part of the lyrics of one song in this film. Today’s song is that song.

The cast of the film was Usha Kiran, Mahipal, Brij Mohan (B.M.Vyas), Azeem Dalpat, Sardar Mansoor, Agha Shapoor, Bismilla etc.etc. The wadias, known for fantasy and stunt films, always made new stories by rehashing old stories from Arabian Nights. This was also one such movie. I had seen this film.

The lead pair was Mahipal and Usha Kiron. one speciality of Wadias was that in their films, the credits list used to be very lengthy ,as they were keen on writing almost every small actor’s names also.

Qamar(Mahipal) was a compulsive thief.Once he steals Princess Husn’s(Usha Kiran) jewels,but he is so dazed by her beauty and innocence that he returns her jewels.When several foreign Princes come to propose to her,he also goes there by disguising as a prince.Husn selects him,but the secret is revealed by Nadira(Lalita kumari),a dancer who loves Qamar.The king could not digest the selection by Husn. Qamar is put in Jail, from where he is rescued by Nadira and friends.One Faqir tells Qamar to become a real prince to win Husn.
Qamar sets out on a magic flying horse to meet Moon Fairy to get the Magic wish bowl.The Moon fairy is rescued by him from the custody of evil genie by killing the genie.

Meanwhile Husn’s father faces mutiny and death if Husn is not married to the Vazir. Qamar arrives on a flying carpet and takes away Husn to the Moon.
The End.

In the last scene this line is Flashed ” Heaven dwells in pure Hearts “.

It was great fun to watch such types of movies.The audience also participated in the ongoings on the screen by appropriately scolding, encouraging or clapping loudly.There was no need to think logically. It was pure entertainment, and a timepass.

Actor Brij Mohan aka B.M.Vyas was one artiste who started as a singer, became a drama actor and then ended up as a villain, character actor. B.M.Vyas was born as Brijmohan Vyas on Vijayadashami (22 October) day of 1920 in Churu, Rajasthan. He is the younger brother of the well-known poet and lyricist, Bharat Vyas. He was married at the age of 17 when his wife, Jamna was just 11. They had 71 years of marital bliss before Jamna passed away in 2008. They had six daughters and a son. After acting in over 200 films in various languages, Vyas quit acting in the early 1990s. Then he moved to his residence in Kalyan. Having seen various shades of life, Vyas lived a contented life with his children and grandchildren.

On 15 January, 1944, actor Prithviraj Kapoor realised his dream when Prithvi Theatre, his own drama company came into being. Mahakavi Kalidas’ classic Shakuntala was chosen to be their first performance. The play’s cast included Uzra Mumtaz (younger sister of Zohra Segal) to play Shakuntala, Prithviraj Kapoor to play Dhushyant, K N Singh was cast as Rishi Kanva, Shakuntala’s foster father, Sati Devi (Bijoya Ray’s sister, Ruma Guha Thakurta’s mother) as Gautami, caretaker of Kanva Ashram who raises Shakuntala, and Hemavati (Daya Kishan Sapru’s wife) to play Shakuntala’s friend Priyamvada, among others. A young, 24 years old, B M Vyas was recruited as a singer by the drama company to sing songs in their play at a monthly salary of 75 Rupees.

Once when rehearsals for their maiden show were in progress and Vyas was done with his singing rehearsals, he was watching rehearsals of the cast. One of his songs for the play was “Bitiya Rani Kahan Kahan Tapasvi Log, Milna Julna Rehgaya Nadi Naav Sanjog”. The cast was rehearsing for a scene which needed Rishi Kanva to recite a mantra in Sanskrit, but actor K N Singh was having trouble reciting it. Prithviraj was trying to help him but was also faltering in saying it perfectly. Vyas , an expert in Hindi and Sanskrit, having immense knowledge of Ved Mantra was witnessing the proceedings for two days. It was possibly the blessing of Goddess Saraswati that inspired him to say the mantra aloud. On hearing him intone the mantra with such Brahminical precision, Prithviraj was very impressed and asked him to help K N Singh in saying the mantra correctly. But soon K N Singh informed Prithviraj ji that he will not be able to speak Devbhasha (Sanskrit) and that he should look for another artiste for the role. Prithviraj asked Prithvi Theatre’s manager Ramesh Saigal to approach Vyas for the role. Vyas , who had already acted in a Rajasthani play Ramu Chanana earlier, readily agreed and stepped into the role and thus started his journey as an actor.

While the rehearsals were still on, Vyas suffered a personal tragedy and had to go back home in Bikaner, Rajasthan. There he fell sick with typhoid. Here rehearsals were in full swing as the play was to premiere on 9 March, 1945 at the Royal Opera House. The final date was about a month away so Prithviraj asked him to come back as soon as possible. Vyas returned with his wife though he was still unwell. On the day he resumed his rehearsals he couldn’t do much due to frequent blackouts. The medication he was on, did not seem to help him much. He remembers the doctor from Kalbadevi who treated him for free; with his medication, Vyas ji’s health improved considerably in just three days.

The final round of rehearsals was done and finally the day of Prithvi Theatre’s first play to be staged, arrived. For the first performance of Shakuntala, many known names of the film industry were present at Royal Opera House. In the scene where Rishi Kanva makes an entry on stage he was required to raise his hands for blessing but Vyas was still weak and his hands started shaking. He tried a lot to control them but to no avail. He then remembered that he had seen many old people whose hands and head would involuntarily shake, so he started to shake his head too. The end result was so effective that during the play’s interval Prithviraj came and hugged him. He asked him how he developed that body language, Vyas told him about his genuine problem. Prithiviraj told him that he did a wonderful job and should continue with the same every time the play was staged.

Vyas had a long association with Prithvi Theatre, from 1944 to 1955. During this period he toured with the group to various cities and got an opportunity to showcase his singing and acting skills in various plays like – Deewar, Pathan, Aahuthi, Gaddar, Kalaakar, etc. The dedication with which this iconic actor prepared for his roles can be observed from the fact that he could mouth dialogs from plays he participated in over six decades ago.

Vyas was interested in music since childhood. He is a self-taught singer. They had a Harmonium at home which Vyas learnt to play on his own. He liked to be around musically inclined people. He would listen carefully and learn. He fondly remembers the blind musician from his home town who would give him a free hand to play the various musical instruments he had. He never really had a Guru he could learn from but he says he learnt the art of teaching singing. He gave music tuitions when he was in Bikaner before moving to Mumbai.

In the early 1940s Bharat Vyas called his younger brother to Mumbai. Soon Vyas ji got the opportunity to act and sing as many as twenty songs for the Rajasthani play Ramu Chanana written by Bharat. Music Director Naushad Sahab’s assistant Ghulam Muhammad who hailed from Rajasthan was very impressed when he heard Vyas’s voice in the play. He took him to meet Naushad Sahab who was working on the soundtrack of the film Pehle Aap (1944). Vyas got an opportunity to sing a group song “Hindustan Ke Hum Hain, Hindustan Hamara; Hindu Muslim Dono Ki Aakhon Ka Tara” with established singers G. M. Durrani and Shyam Kumar along with a new singer Mohammed Rafi. Since this song was supposed to be sung by soldiers on screen, Vyas and Rafi Sahab had to wear heavy boots and do a rhythmic march while singing to give an effect of an army troop. Such effects could not be added to a song with the technology available then; it all had to be done in real time. However the first ever song Vyas sang for a film was “Alakh Niranjan, Jai Jai Jai Manaranjan” from Bhartrihari (1944) which was picturized on Arun Ahuja (Govinda’s father).

After Vyas joined Prithvi Theatre as a singer, he had to do regular riyaz at home. A music teacher who often heard him sing once asked if he would be willing to give music tuitions. Since his monthly salary was 75 Rupees then, Vyas agreed as this would give him additional income. The teacher took him to meet Jaichand Kapoor and soon Vyas started giving music tuitions to his elder son, Brijmohan. However his younger brother seemed more inclined and started learning music from Vyas. This youngster was none other than our legendary playback singer, Mahendra Kapoor who always acknowledged that B M Vyas was his first Guru.

Vyas gave playback in four films – Bhartrihari (1944, MD: Khemchand Prakash), Pehle Aap (1944, MD: Naushad), Maharana Pratap (1946, MD: Ram Ganguli) and Naulakha Haar (MD: R C Boral) before destiny took him on a different path. He remembers meeting Rafi Sahab years later who sweetly said “Pandit ji you changed our line (singing)” to which Vyas admitted that he did not see much of a future for himself in singing and hence switched to acting.

After Prithvi Theatre’s first play Shakuntala was staged, Devika Rani (owner of Bombay Talkies) was keen to know who played Rishi Kanva. When she saw the 24 yrs old Vyas she was surprised, she never expected to see such a young man. She offered him a role in a Bombay Talkies film to be directed by actor Jairaj but the film was never made.

When Ramesh Saigal moved away from Prithvi Theatre, he joined Chetan Anand’s company India Pictures as Production Manager. They were working on their next film Neecha Nagar (1946) when Ramesh Saigal offered Vyas a small role (protagonist’s elder brother) in the film. Prithvi Theatre never laid any restrictions on their actors; they could take outside work while working in their plays. Vyas was eager to face the camera and accepted the role with open arms. He is credited as ‘Vyas ji’s in this film. Soon he played a small role in Raj Kapoor‘s Aag (1948) where he is credited as ‘Brijmohan’. But the role that gave him recognition in the film industry was in Barsaat (1949) where he played actress Nargis’ father. For this film he is credited as ‘B. M. Vyas’. Thus Vyas ji’s film career took off and he never looked back.

He has had a long and very successful career of more than four decades and has been part of many memorable classics. He has always been a character artist who started his career with portraying old characters. His last film most probably was Maa (1991).Vyas was very keen to work with the great filmmaker V Shantaram and approached him for work. Shantaram was planning Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957) and was busy casting actors to play six prisoners in the film. He did not tell him that he is Bharat’s younger brother who was the lyricist of the film. When Vyas approached him, Shantaram was initially a bit apprehensive due to his height but soon cast him as one of the prisoners, Jalia Nai. They had a month-long schedule in Kolhapur. When the reels were sent to Rajkamal Studios for processing, it was found that due to dirt particles on the lens there were lines all across the frame in all the reels and the whole month’s hard work had gone to waste. They had to reshoot the entire thing. Vyas had a tough time managing schedules due to this re-shoot as he had other films in hand too. My favourite scene of this film is where Jalia comes with an intention to kill the Jailor played by Shantaram himself. That scene showcases Vyas ji’s ability as a performer, his entire body language, facial expressions, use of eyes and voice in this scene is a class act, beyond words.

About the classic scene from Sampoorna Ramayan (1961) Vyas said when he was offered the role of Ravan he was thrilled, being Shastri in Sanskrit he had read so much about this mythological character. Hence he was really keen to play the part but Ravan is expected to have a powerful physique while Vyas ji had a lean frame. To overcome this hurdle he got cotton padded clothing made for the role to look fuller. The rising temperature due to lights in addition to studio heat, he would sweat profusely in those cotton padded cloths but he did not let it hinder his performance. That innovative scene where Ravan is interacting with his nine heads was a collective brainchild of Babubhai Mistry and Homi Wadia. Vyas had to enact from a fixed position in front of a stationary camera for fifteen days but the end result was very effective.

On being asked about the most memorable and satisfying moment from his entire career Vyas narrated this incident. Prithvi Theatre’s play Gaddar was being staged in which he was playing the role of Maulana. Once filmmaker Kidar Sharma came to see the play, and was very impressed with his dialog delivery in Urdu. He asked Vyas to meet him. Sharma was working on his next film Shokhian (1951) and was looking for an actor to play the role of Baba Ghani. He gave Vyas a long dialog written in Urdu which Baba Ghani had to say to inspire the soldiers who are running away from the battle field to come back. Vyas said that he can’t read Urdu. Sharma was surprised and asked then how he played the role of Maulana in Gaddar. He said he rehearsed his lines written in Devnagri script and played the part. He asked Sharma to get the dialog written in Devnagri, and promised to prepare and say them the next day.

Next day he said the lines with such perfection that Sharma gave him a small Silver Coin as a token of appreciation. After that Sharma would often ask him to say the lines whenever important people came to meet him. Once actor Dilip Kumar came and he was asked to say the lines in front of him as well. Dilip Sahab was very impressed and remembered that he had heard this voice before. Vyas told him that he may have seen Raj Kapoor’s Barsaat (1949) where he played actress Nargis’ father. Dilip Sahab then recommended Vyas ji’s name to play actress Naseem’s father in the film Baaghi (1953), produced by his brother Ayyub Khan. Fortunately copies of Shokhian (1951) are available and this scene is here for all of us to see. It was heartening to see Vyas recite the same dialogues with such enthusiasm even today, after almost sixty years.

B M Vyas acted in 175 films. His first film was Neecha Nagar-46 and last film was Oh,Darling ! yeh hai India-95.

Vyas ji left for a better world on 11 March, 2013. (Adapted from articles from Maitri Manthan and Blog beete hue din, with thanks.)

Today’s song is a comedy song, sung by Mohd. Rafi, Asha Bhonsle and chorus.

Song-Ho gaya tere Majnu ko Ishq ka bukhaar (Husn Ka Chor)(1953) Singers- Rafi, Asha Bhonsle, Unknown male voice, Lyrics-Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, MD-Bulo C Rani
Chorus
All

Lyrics

ho gaya ho gaya ho gaya ho gaya
ho gaya
ho gaya
tere majnu ko ishq ka
bukhaar bukhaar bukhaar
hmm hmm
haay haay re haaye re
hoye hoye re hoye re
haay haay re haaye re
hoye hoye re hoye re
ho gaya tere majnu ko ishk ka
bukhaar
bukhaar bukhaar
haay haay re haye re
hoye hoye re hoye re

zara apni nabz mujhe dikha aa
o mere beemaar
haay haay re haaye re
hoye hoye re hoye re
arre o mareez
khaaya thha kya
teer-e-nazar
teer-e-nazar
arre o mareez
piya thha kya
khoon-e-jigar
khoon-e-jigar
arre o mareez
dekha thha kya
arre patli kamar
haaye patli kamar
uyi tauba
tujhe bhoot ban ke
chimat gaya hai kisi ka pyaar
haay haay re haaye re
hoye hoye re hoye re

main koi hakeem bulaati hoon
tere dil ka dard mitaati hoon
main koi hakeem bulaati hoon
tere dil ka dard mitaati hoon
ae haseenaaa
ae hasena
waqt na bekaar ho
main mareez-e-ishq hoon
meri dawa parde mein ho
main mareez-e-ishq hoon
meri dawa parde mein ho
is tarah se kis tarah
karoon tera aitbar
haay haay re haaye re
hoye hoye re hoye re
haay haay re haaye re
hoye hoye re hoye re
hoye

mera majnu shor machaaye re
mera majnu shor machaaye re
mera sanam to bichhda jaaye re
ae ae ae ae
bichhda jaaye re
koi aaye re aaye re aaye
bachaaye re
paani ee
paani o paani
paani
ho ho paaaani
nahin kuchh jaan baaki
ab mohabbat karne waale mein
mohabbat karne waale mein
mohabbat karne waale mein
khuda bakhse bahut si
khoobiyaan ki marne waale mein
aji haan marne waale mein
aji haan marne waale mein ae ae

hoye hoye
hoye hoy re hoye hoy
ho ho hoy
utar gaya mere majnu ka ishk ka
bukhaar bukhaar bukhaar
haay haay re haaye re
hoye hoye re hoye re
haay haay re haaye re
hoye hoye re hoye re
haay haay re haaye re
hoye hoye re hoye re
hay hay re haye re
hoye hoye re hoye re
hoy hoy