Archive for the ‘Bibbo Songs’ Category
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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 sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Who was the first female music director in Hindi film Industry? The answer to this question has changed thrice during the last few years.
It was believed that Saraswati Devi (real name: Khorshed Minocher-Homji) was the first female music director who composed songs for ‘Jawaani Ki Hawa’ (1935), produced under the banner of Bombay Talkies. Subsequently, it was established that Jaddanbai, who composed the songs for ‘Talaash-e-Haq’ (1935) was the first female music director, her film having been released earlier than ‘Jawaani Ki Hawa’. It will be interesting to know as to which of the songs from these two films were recorded first on the respective film’s sound track.
The latest is that the first female music director of Hindi films was Ishrat Sultana who composed songs for the film ‘Adal-e-Jahangir (1934). In the absence of any proper documentation of the history of Hindi films, it is quite possible that some other name for the first female music director may prop up in future especially when it is a well-known fact that for many films of 1931-32, names of the music directors are unknown as of now.
Ishrat Sultana, the first female music director of Hindi films, was none other than Bibbo, her better known name as the popular actor-singer of 1930s and 40s. Probably, her transition from music director to actor-singer was demand-driven. During the initial period of the talkies, good female singers were in great demand from the studios as actor-singer. Bibbo was a trained singer. Her mother Hafeezan Bai was a singer and a courtesan in Delhi. With a photogenic face and the good singing ability, she was soon employed by Ajanta Cinetone as actor-singer with her first film ‘Rangeela Rajput’ (1933).
After working for 8 films of Ajanta Cinetone during 1933-36, Bibbo joined Sagar Movietone to act in ‘Manmohan’ (1936) which was supposed to be its answer to New Theatres’s ‘Devdas’ (1935). For this purpose, director Mehboob Khan had taken Surendra as actor-singer who was groomed as ‘Bombay Saigal’. The film became a hit and the lead pair of Surendra-Bibbo became popular. They worked together in as many as 7 films of which 5 films were regarded as box office hits. Some of her other films with Surendra under Sagar Movietone were ‘Jaagirdaar’ (1937), ‘Gramophone Singer’ (1938), ‘Dynamite’ (1938), ‘Seva Samaaj’ (1939), ‘Ladies Only’ (1939) etc.
By 1939, Bibbo had become one of the top actor-singers and her popularity had reached the zenith. Her popularity can be judged by the fact that in the film ‘Gharib Ke Laal’ (1939), there is a song which starts with her name amongst the names of many actors of that time. The song is “Tujhe Bibbo Kahun Ke Sulochana” sung as a duet in accompaniment with Mirza Musharraf.
After the closure of Sagar Movietone in 1939, Bibbo became a free-lancer during which she did ‘Sneh Bandhan’ (1940), ‘Laxmi’ (1940), ‘Sohag’ (1940) and ‘Akela’ (1941) etc. There was a gap in her filmy career during 1941-44.
It is said that towards of the end of 1930s, Bibbo got married to S Khalil, her co-actor during her stint with Ajanta Cinetone who also directed ‘Adal-e-Jahangir’ (1934) in which she composed songs under the name of Ishrat Sultana. They shifted their base to Lahore. They jointly produced ‘Qazzak Ki Ladki’ (1937) in which she composed songs along with Dr Samad. However, the film failed miserably and Bibbo had to came back to Bombay.
Her second stint in the film industry during 1944-47 was not as rosy as the first one. She mostly got the side roles in films such as ‘Pehli Nazar’ (1945) and ‘Sassi Punnu’ (1946). ‘Pehla Pyaar’ (1947) was her last film in India after which she migrated to Pakistan where she continued to work in films getting character roles till 1966. Bibbo died on May 25, 1972 in Karachi.
‘Dynamite’ (alias name ‘Kis Ke Saajan’) (1938) was one of the films under the banner of Sagar Movietone in which Bibbo is paired with Surendra. The film was directed by Chimanlal Luhar. Others actors listed in the star cast of the film are Maya Bannerji, Yakub, Sankatha Prasad, Budho Advani, Jamu Patel, Qaiyam Ali, Pessi Patel etc. The film belongs to mystery/suspense genre. I have no idea about the story of the film. Going by a few photographs of the scenes from the film, it appears that Surendra had some sort of camouflage roles – one with Bibbo and another with Maya Bannerji.
The film had 7 songs written by Pandit Indra (6) and Zia Sarhadi (1) which were set to music by Anil Biswas. Here is the first song “Kaliyaan Raseeli Saiyaan Bhanwraa Ganwaar Hai’ sung by Bibbo and Surendra. The song is written by Pandit Indra.
I heard this song for the first time a few days back and liked it immensely. Going by the implicit meaning of the lyrics, Anil Biswas has given a soft touch to the composition of the song which have been rendered in line with its softness.
With this song, ‘Dynamite’ alias ‘Kis Ke Saajan’ (1938) makes its debut on our blog.
Song – Kaliyaan Raseeli Piya Bhanwra Ganwaar Hai (Dynamite) (1938) Singer – Bibbo, Surendra, Lyrics – Pandit Indra, MD – Anil Biswas
Bibbo + Surendra
Lyrics
kaliyaan raseeli saiyaan
bhanwraa ganwaar hai
kaliyaan raseeli saiyaan
bhanwraa ganwaar hai
kehti hain kaliyaan dekh deewaane
kehti hain kaliyaan dekh deewaane
do din dheeraj dhar mastaane
do din dheeraj dhar mastaane
hota huwa ye singaar hai
hota huwa ye singaar hai
bhanwraa ganwaar hai
kaliyaan raseeli saiyaan
bhanwraa ganwaar hai
jeewan mein ras dhaar bahegi
jeewan mein ras dhaar bahegi
pyaar bhari taqraar rahegi
pyaar bhari taqraar rahegi
swarg yahi sansaar hai
swarg yahi sansaar hai
bhanwraa ganwaar hai
kaliyaan raseeli saiyaan
bhanwraa ganwaar hai
chaatak pyaasa nadi kinaare
chaatak pyaasa nadi kinaare
rooth gayen hain bhaagya hamaare
rooth gayen hain bhaagya hamaare
dil ke ab armaan pukaare
dil ke ab armaan pukaare
toota huwa ye sitaar hai
toota huwa ye sitaar hai
bhanwraa ganwaar hai
kaliyaan raseeli saiyaan
bhanwraa ganwaar hai
———————————-
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————–
कलियाँ रसीली सैंय्या
भँवरा गंवार है
कलियाँ रसीली सैंय्या
भँवरा गंवार है
कहती हैं कलियाँ देख दीवाने
कहती हैं कलियाँ देख दीवाने
दो दिन धीरज धर मस्ताने
दो दिन धीरज धर मस्ताने
होता हुआ ये सिंगार है
होता हुआ ये सिंगार है
भँवरा गंवार है
कलियाँ रसीली सैंय्या
भँवरा गंवार है
जीवन में रस धार बहेगी
जीवन में रस धार बहेगी
प्यार भरी तकरार रहेगी
प्यार भरी तकरार रहेगी
स्वर्ग यही संसार है
स्वर्ग यही संसार है
भँवरा गंवार है
कलियाँ रसीली सैंय्या
भँवरा गंवार है
चातक प्यासा नदी किनारे
चातक प्यासा नदी किनारे
रूठ गए हैं भाग्य हमारे
रूठ गए हैं भाग्य हमारे
दिल के अब अरमान पुकारे
दिल के अब अरमान पुकारे
टूटा हुआ ये सितार है
टूटा हुआ ये सितार है
भँवरा गंवार है
कलियाँ रसीली सैंय्या
भँवरा गंवार है
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