Archive for the ‘Biography of Directors’ 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 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.
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Blog Day : |
4032 | Post No. : | 15154 | Movie Count : |
4160 |
This is the story of a Telugu man born in Hyderabad in an upper middle-class Naidu family. He completes his schooling in a Boarding school in Yercaud. After graduating in Chemical Engineering from Osmania University, he proceeds to USA and completes M.S. in Chemical Engineering. He gets a good job in the USA as an Environment Consultant. So far so good. The boy has met successfully, the sequential schedules of most of the middle and upper middle-class families – Good schooling and college, higher studies in the USA followed by a good job there. The next in the sequence is finding a good bride for the boy to settle down and showcase him among the family and friends. But at this stage, there a break in the sequence of our Telugu man.
During his stay of about a decade in the USA, our man develops interest in film-making. Perhaps, he was influenced by watching many Hollywood films during his stay in the USA. Slowly, this interest turns into a passion. Now, he finds his job monotonous. One day, he resigns from the job and enroll himself in film making and acting courses. Armed with the story, screen-play and dialogues for his film, he returns to India. He selects himself as the actor who is the protagonist in the story of his first film in the making. He finalises a couple of other actors and actresses who are fresh faces. But his first obstacle in making the film is finding a financier who can invest money in his film.
Our man spends about a year in Mumbai for studying the nuances of film making and also finding a financier. He is disillusioned by the way Bollywood works. He also fails to find a financier for the film. He comes to the conclusion that if he wants to make a film on his own terms, he needs to finance the film himself. So, he goes back to the USA, works there for about a year and saves US$40000/-. With this money, he returns to India for good. In his earlier visit to Hyderabad, he had met a lady who is the boutique fashion shop owner. After audition, he ropes her in the film as an actor and makes her the partner in his film production company. The film’s shooting commences and is completed in 17 days at the total cost of about 17 lakhs. The film is submitted to the Censor Board for certification. And here our man faces the second hurdle.
The Censor Board suggests about two dozen of cuts including a kissing scene to certify the film. Our man visits to meet the Censor Board officials. He finds that if he agrees to the cuts suggested by the Censor Board, the entire sensibility of the film is lost. On the other hand, Censor Board is not prepared to certify the film without the cuts suggested by it. He files an appeal to the Appellate Authority of the Censor Board for the review of the cuts. The Appellate Authority upholds the views of our man. The film is certified without any cut but a couple of words in the dialogues are muted. Now the film is ready for the release. Here our man faces the third obstacle.
The film remains in the cans for nearly a year as no distributor is willing to take up to release the film. First, the film is in English language. Second, the film maker is an unknown entity to the film world apart from the absence of star value in the film’s cast. Third, the film’s story would have attracted only a section of the audience. In desperation, our young man releases the film on Doordarshan in 1997 on a paltry sum of Rs.2 lakh. But this gave the film some exposure to the English-speaking audience.
In the meanwhile, the film is shown in MAMI film festival in Mumbai sometime early 1998 and receives encouraging responses from the festival audience including Shyam Bengal. On the recommendation of Shyam Bengal, one of the leading film distributors of Mumbai watches the film in a preview theater and agrees to distribute the film. The film is released and receives tremendous support from the audience as well as from the critics. The film is a box office success. A new name of the producer-director is added to the list of parallel film-makers in India.
The young Telugu man is Nagesh Kukunoor and his maiden film is ‘Hyderabad Blues’ (1998). The owner of the boutique shop is Elahe Hiptoola who became the partner in Nagesh’s film production company, SIC, besides acting in some of his films and assisting him in the direction. The film revolves around a NRI who after spending a considerable time in the USA, is caught in a cross fire of Indian and foreign cultures. The film was in English language though a few dialogues were in Telugu and Hyderabadi Hindi.
After the success of ‘Hyderabad Blues’ (1998), Nagesh Kukunoor has produced and directed films such as ‘Rockford’ (1999), ‘Bollywood Calling’(2001), ‘3 Deewaaren’ (2003), ‘Hyderabad Blues-2’ (2004), ‘Iqbal’ (2005), ‘Dor’ (2006), ‘Bombay To Bangkok’ (2008), ‘8×10 Tasveer’ (2009), ‘Aashaayein’ (2010), ‘Mod’ (2011), ‘Lakshmi’ (2014), ‘Dhanak’ (2016) etc. Although many of his films have been critically acclaimed, some of which got national and international awards, most of them had failed at the box office collections.
Nagesh Kukunoor also tried his hand in producing and directing a couple of the ‘middle of the path’ films by taking Bollywood stars. In ‘8×10 Tasveer’ (2009), he got Akshya Kumar to play the lead role. In ‘Aashaayein’ (2010), he roped in John Abraham. Both these films did not fare well at the box office. So he has reverted to parallel cinemas again.
‘Rockford’ (1999) was Nagesh Kukunoor’s second film in English which revolved around the story about ‘coming of age’ boy who is admitted to a boarding school. Film shows his transformation from a naive, scared boy into a confident teenager after facing some problems in adjusting to new environment. There is a scene in the film in which he develops a soft corner for the only lady teacher (Nandita Das) in the school. His day-dreaming about singing ‘shokhiyon mein ghola jaaye…’ from ‘Prem Pujaari’ (1970) with the lady teacher is hilarious. He then finds her sitting with PT teacher (Nagesh Kukunoor). Now his imagination takes him to Nagesh Kukunoor singing with the teacher. He becomes jealous. Watch the video.
‘Rockford’ (1999) have six songs of which 2 songs are in Hindi. The song ‘yaaron dosti badi hi haseen hai’ sung by KK is from his non-film album which is used in the film. The other Hindi song which I am presenting today is ‘aasmaan ke paar shaayad aur koi aasmaan hoga’ is rendered by Shankar Mahadevan who has also composed the music with his music partners, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendoca.
This song in CD version is of 6-minute duration. However, in the film, this song is used only for 1:35 minutes in the background of the main credit titles at the beginning of the film probably to set the mood of the film. A promotional video featuring Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and the three actors in the role of students in the film, namely, Rohan Dey, Imran Mirza and Kailash Athmanathan was also released. The theme of the music video is a trip to the down memory lane. Shankar Mahadevan, in his interview at the time of the release of this music video had revealed that he had composed this song in Raag Jog in combination with Raag Kedar. What a violin interlude between 2:51 and 3:22 in the audio clip in Carnatic music style!
There was no need for me to search as to who wrote lyrics for this song. A reading of the mukhda of the song with unusual imageries undoubtedly pointed to Gulzar. Yes, the lyrics are by Gulzar saab.
baadalon ke parbaton par
koi baarish ka makaan hoga
I like it.
Acknowledgement : The ‘story’ of Nagesh Kukunoor is based on a number of interviews he gave on visual and print media over the years.
Promotional Video Clip :
Audio Clip :
Song-Aasmaan ke paar shaayad aur koi aasmaan hoga (Rockford)(1999) Singer-Shankar Mahadewan, Lyrics-Gulzar, MD-Shankar Ehsan Loy
Chorus
Lyrics (Based on audio clip)
sansana
albela sansana
sansana
albela sansana
aasmaan ke paar shaayad
aur koi aasmaan hogaa
sansana
albela sansana
o
aasmaan ke paar shaayad
aur koi aasmaan hogaa
baadalon ke parbaton par
koi baarish ka makaan hogaa
main hawa ke paron pe kahaan
jaa raha hoon kahaan
kabhi udta huaa
kabhi mudta huaa
mera raasta chala
ho ho ho ho o
main hawa ke paron pe kahaan
jaa raha hoon kahaan
ho ho ho
ho ho ho
ho ho ho
ho ho ho
mere paaon ke tale ki
yeh zameen chal rahi hai
kahin dhoop thhandi thhandi
kahin chhaanv jal rahi hai
is zameen ka aur koi
aasmaan hoga
hogaa aa aa
aasmaan
ho aasmaan hogaa
main hawa ke paron pe kahaan
jaa raha hoon kahaan
in lambe raaston par
sab tez chalte honge
ho o o
in lambe raaston par
sab tez chalte honge
copy ke pannon jaise
yahaan din palate honge
shaam ko bhi subah jaisa
kya sama hogaa
hogaa aa
kya samaa aa
kya shama hogaa
main hawa ke paron pe kahaan
jaa raha hoon kahaan
aasmaan ke paar shaayad
aur koi aasmaan hoga
aur koi aasmaan hoga
baadalon ke parbaton par koi
baarish ka makaan hogaa
hoga
ho o o
main hawa ke paron pe kahaan
jaa raha hoon kahaan
kabhi udta huwa
kabhi mudta huwa
mera raasta chala
o ho ho ho
main hawa ke paron pe kahaan
jaa raha hoon kahaan
main hawa ke paron pe kahaan
jaa raha hoon kahaan
main hawa ke paron pe kahaan
jaa raha hoon kahaan
ho ho ho
ho ho ho
ho ho ho
ho ho ho
ho ho ho
ho ho ho
ho ho ho
ho ho ho
Hey Shiv Shankar, Hey Karunakar
Posted on: June 12, 2019
- In: Appealing to the Almighty | Bhajan | Biography of actors | Biography of artists | Biography of Directors | Classical composition | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Guest posts | Lyrics by Prakashchandra | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Sudhir | Rain song | Shiv bhajan | Songs of 1980s (1981 to 1990) | Songs of 1985 | Thanking the Almighty | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 5 Comments
This article is written by Sudhir, 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 : | 3982 | Post No. : | 15069 |
In some cases, it is the voice – some people will impress you, attract you with their voice. Girish Karnad’s voice has one of the most relaxing sound quality that I have heard. And his presence, his demeanor, his being in a scene, on screen or on stage, always had the same expression of comfort and relaxation as his voice. Seeing him, listening to him, one could never imagine if this person could be moved to a hasty or an impatient action.
He passed away, the day before. The news said that he was 82. I was surprised, it couldn’t be. Over the years since I had first seen him live in a drama in Delhi – almost a millennium ago, and then through films and media images, he always seemed to be the same, never changing, nor ageing. Be it the memories and images from the 60s, 70s, or even recent. He always appeared to be the same.
So when I read this one line in a media news item, I was very taken aback. Sure, I had not seen him active for the past few years, but the thought process probably had never projected far enough to make believe that he was past his 80th. In fact, as I reviewed his filmography in preparation for this article, I find that 5 of his upcoming films are slated for released through the rest of 2019.
Mid 1960s to 70s was an era for the theatre in India. One sees an upsurge in the quality of drama, the subject matter handling by the playwrights and the abilities of the dramatists. If it was Badal Sircar in Bangla (east), it was Vijay Tendulkar in Matathi (west); if it was Mohan Rakesh in Hindi (north), it was Girish Karnad in Kannada (south). These playwrights brought in some very incisive, some very timeless creations, that brought a completely fresh air, breaking new grounds in understanding the human psyche – how the humans interact, with each other and within themselves, how the social influences mould the individual behaviors, and in reverse, how the human expressions manipulate the social conduct. And together, how they shape the movement of history.
Girish K broke out a very crisp and a surprisingly innovative line of enquiry, with his very first play – ‘Yayati’. Most of the readers will be familiar with this episode from the epic, Mahabharat. Yayati is a king in the lineage of the Chandravansh, the lineage of Chandra, the Moon God. He is portrayed as an irresponsible king, consumed by his obsession with young age and the pleasures to be derived from it. He is afraid of getting old. His wife is Devyani, daughter of Rishi Shukracharya. Sharmishtha is the name of one of the ladies in waiting of Devyani. Actually a princess herself from another kingdom, Sharmishtha becomes a bounden server to Devyani due to certain events. As the events unfold furhter, Yayati has an extra marital affair with Sharmishtha, who bears three sons for him. Devyani too has three children, one daughter and two sons. Devyani complains to her father, who is the purohit (high priest) of the demon clan. Incensed by the behavior of his son-in-law, he curses him to a premature and a prolonged old age.
Yayati is shattered. He goes to Shukracharya, begs for forgiveness and removal of the curse. Shukracharaya tells him that his curse cannot be reversed, but it can be transferred to a person willing to take on such a curse. Yayati is overjoyed, but the joy is short-lived as he finds out that no one is ready to accept his curse. Finally, one of his sons, Puru, agrees to take on the curse of his father, wanting to bring peace to his father. Yayati enjoys another one thousand years of youth, donated by his son Puru.
This is a well known tale, and it has its own share of interpretations, analysis and philosophical discourse in literary critique over the ages. Girish K stepped in and asked a question that was never asked for many a millennia. What about Chitralekha?
It is not clear whether this character by this name exists in the annals of Mahabharat. Girish K is alluding to, and enquiring about Puru’s wife. A man goes ahead and takes on the curse of old age for a thousand years. There is name and fame, for this sacrifice. But no one ever asked, what about his wife? What happened to her life and her time, and whether and how did she endure this abnormally changed circumstance foisted upon her. With certain modifications to the original plot, Girish K is the first scholar to ask this question.
This play came about during Girish K’s journey to England by ship in 1960. The version of Mahabharat by C Rajagopalachari was published in 1951. This version of the epic influenced Girish K, and he went on to create two great plays based on themes from this epic. By his own account, ‘Yayati’ came so naturally to him, almost as if someone was dictating and he was just transcribing. The writing of this play was completed on this sea voyage of three weeks. He was traveling to London, having been awarded the Rhodes Scholarship at the Oxford University. During his stay and studies, he completed a triple MA, simultaneously in philosophy, politics and economics. The second play, that was born out of the influence of Mahabharat, sat in his mind for almost three decades, and then was born as ‘Fire and Rain’, which was staged first time in 1995.
His other most celebrated theatrical creation is another view into the history of India. Titled ‘Tuglaq’, this play took the theatre world, the audiences and the socio-political commentators by storm when it was first staged in 1966. In 1972, this play was enacted by the National School of Drama, directed by Ebrahim Elkazi, and presented on the ramparts of the Old Fort (Purana Qila) in Delhi. Using the ruins of the Old Fort as the backdrop, the play was enacted, to a very critical acclaim. Personally, that was my first introduction to Girish K. Quite enchanted by the theatre scene in Delhi, I have seen this enactment of the play while I still was in school.
The play covers the last 5 years of the reign of Mohammed Bin Tuglaq. The protagonist, is portrayed as having great ideas and a grand vision, but his reign was an abject failure. He started his rule with great ideals of a unified India, but his kingdom degenerated into anarchy. His proclamation to move his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad, resulted in a massive exodus that brought misery and sorrow to a huge population. This was seen by the commentators as an allegory to the Partition of the country in 1947, and mass movement of people from both sides of the border.
In his later discussions, Girish K has revealed that the play was not originally written with an intent to comment on the then current political scenario in the country. Writing about the commentary on his play, Girish K has stated – “I did not consciously write about the Nehru era, I am always flattered when people tell me that it was about the Nehru era and equally applies to development of politics since then. But, I think, that is a compliment that any playwright would be thrilled to get, but it was not intended to be a contemporary play about a contemporary situation.”
Girish K started his theatre career in Madras, with a drama group called the Madras Players. Starting with ‘Yayati’ we see the development of a multi-faceted career that has lasted for almost six decades – author, teacher, playwright, director, stage actor, film actor, director of FTII Pune, chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy – there is so much in his career to write and tell about.
His association with the cinema begins with ‘Samskaara’ (1970) and ‘Vamsh Vriksh’ (1972), both in Kannada, and both well recognized and well awarded films. Girish K was also the co-director of ‘Vamsh Vriksh’. The storylines for both films are a very strong statement on the evolving nature of human relationships, as each individual passes through his or her own pleasures, travails, dreams and anguish. The stories tell of compelling human emotions that drive human beings, to behave in manners that are quite out of the ordinary expectations. In ‘Samskaara’, Praneshcharaya (role played by Girish K), a devout Brahmin, is so convinced of moksha being the ultimate goal of life, and being so focused to achieve it, marries an invalid, so he can remain a celibate all his life. His antithesis is life is Narayanappa, a Brahmin who has given up the traditions – he eats meat and lives with Chandri, a lady of lower standing in the society. As the events unfold, Narayanappa passes away. His final rites become a controversy – a non-Brahmin cannot perform his rites, and no Brahmin in the village is ready to perform the rites for one who has fallen from the tradition. In the midst of all this, Praneshcharya one night wakes up in the lap of Chandri. Unable to reconcile with his own actions, he leaves the village in despair. Chandri secretly performs the last rites of Narayanappa and leaves the village too. In the last scene, Praneshcharya is seen returning to the village. Did he confess and atone for his actions? – the question remains unanswered.
‘Vamsh Vriskh’ is a complex narrative of the progression in a family, the interrelationships, the hidden connects and the invisible knowns. The protagonist, Srinivasa Shrotri, goes through many a tribulation in life, and tries to keep his mental peace intact. Having lost or settled all his affairs, he finally renounces householder’s life to become a sanyaasi.
In 1974, Girish K appeared in a children’s film ‘Jaadu Ka Shankh’. Not much more information about this film is locatable.
In the next three years, we see Girish K in three films that are outstanding statements of the new-wave cinema. In 1975, we see him in ‘Nishaant’ as the timid but principled schoolmaster, whose wife is abducted by the brothers of the landlord. The film has a kind of idealist ending, with the schoolmaster fatally attacking the landlord during a religious celebration and the entire village rising up against the landlord and lynching him and his entire family. In 1976 came ‘Manthan’ – the story of the white revolution in India. Girish K has played the role of Dr Rao, a chemist assigned in the rural areas, to help villagers determine the quality of their milk and to help free them from the clutches of the milk contractors by establishing co-operative societies. In 1977, we see Girish K in ‘Swami’, assaying the role of Ghamshyam, an upright and principled eldest son in the family, after passing away of his father, handling the family matters and his own personal life very maturely and with wisdom, in the presence of a hostile step mother.
In the next four decades , Girish K has appeared in almost 100 films, in Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malyalam and Assamese. I remember seeing him in ‘Man Pasand’ (1980), playing the role of Kashinath, a close friend of Pratap, the protagonist (role played by Dev Anand). Later, I have seen him in ‘Aasha’ (1980), ‘Ek Baar Chale Aao’ (1983), ‘Tarang’ (1984), till the waning interest in newer films kept me away. Ah yes, he was part of the dear ‘Malgudi Days’ series on the television, playing the role of Swami’s father. In his other directorial outings, he has directed ‘Godhuli’ (1977) and ‘Utsav’ (1984), films that have earned a lot of critical acclaim. He has also made a number of documentaries, like one on the Kannada poet DR Bendre (1972), ‘Kanaka-Purandara’ (English, 1988) on two medieval Bhakti poets of Karnataka, Kanaka Das and Purandara Das, and ‘The Lamp in the Niche’ (English, 1989) on Sufism and the Bhakti movement in India. Many of his films and documentaries have won several national and international awards.
Girish K’s accomplishment as an actor is simply his complete comfort with being the character he is playing. Watching him on the screen, one has this confidence that he knows all the ins and outs of the character he plays, and that in some incarnation he has lived that role himself. The authenticity of portrayal is simply magnificent.
In 1985, he appeared in the role of Pandit Shiv Shankar Shastri in the film ‘Sur Sangam’. The film, and his portrayal of the senior patriarchic exponent of classical music, are my all time favorite. I have written about this film in an earlier article with the song “Aaye Sur Ke Panchhi Aaye”. The film revolves around classical music and the story of Pt Shiv Shankar Shastri, one of the greatest living exponents of this art form. The story line brings in Tulsi (role played by Jayaprada), who is musically inclined and who reveres Shastri ji. The turn of events brings a certain unexplainable element – Tulsi is sexually assaulted, and the man responsible also throws down the portrait of Shastri ji. In a fit of violent anger, Tulsi slays the man with a shard of glass from broken portrait, runs off into the night, and boards a train departing from the local station. As destiny would have it, she barges into a first class coupe whose sole occupant is Shastri ji, who is traveling for participating in an out of town program. The two travel together, and return. Tulsi starts living in the same house as Shastri ji. He is a widower and has a girl child. Slowly, Tulsi becomes a part of the household. Being inclined for classical music, she also starts to practice while staying at Shastri ji’s home. One night, there is a special celebration at the temple of Lord Shiv. Shastri ji is to perform. Tulsi accompanies him, as usual. With the performance about to begin, Shastri ji motions Tulsi to pick up and play the taanpura in accompaniment. At this, all his participating disciples become incensed and leave the stage one by one. Tulsi rushes back home (and then leaves the household for good), the audience leaves and Shastri ji is the sole person left in the temple. In the absence of any accompaniment and musical support, he resolves to make his musical presentation regardless, to the Lord. And he presents this song, alone in a deserted temple, to Lord Shiv.
I picked this song specially, to highlight one aspect of Girish K’s artistic expressions, which was probably hidden until then. An accomplished performer, he has performed the dance steps as part of this song. Every review of the film at that time, commented on the dancer in Girish K. He revealed in an interview that he had taken on special dance training to prepare for this song. You can see the performance for yourself. It is no less than an accomplished and well trained dancer, presenting these steps in unison with the music.
This one song, in my humble opinion, is the best artistic performance that I have seen from Girish K. See the manner in which he starts his dialogue with the Lord. His singing, his facial expressions, his gestures and movements, all coalesce into a fluid expression of a conversation with Lord Shiv. No one else is present so this is a very private conversation, in which Shastri ji is telling the Lord to listen to His own sound coming from inside him. This entire clip is a one wonderful performance by Girish K that probably has not been surpassed.
It is a sad goodbye that we bid today. The person, the artist, and a scholar – it is truly a great loss to the cultural landscape of this sub continent that may never be made up.
One commentator has written about Girish K’s creations, that “. . . Girish Karnad allowed his characters to ask the questions, to struggle with the inconclusive, and hence his stories truly never ended.” Yes, that is the legacy of this multi-faceted artist – his creations, his stories, his characters – all still have a lot be explored for. That “struggle with the inconclusive” is so appropriate a passage dealing with the complex realities and relationships in the course of a human life. His stories have not really ended. And neither has his legacy.
Girish K – Rest in Peace. . . Enduring Peace
Audio
Video
Song – Hey Shiv Shankar, Hey Karunakar (Sur Sangam) (1985) Singer – Rajan-Sajan Misra, Lyrics – Vasant Dev, MD – Laxmikant Pyaarelal
Lyrics (Provided by Prakashchandra)
hey..ey..ey shiv shankar
hey..ey..ey karunakar
parmanand maheshwar
hey shiv shankar
hey karunakar
hey shiv shankar
hey karunakar
parmanand maheshwar
mere bheetar tum gaate ho
mere bheetar tum gaate ho
sun lo tum apna ye swar
hey shiv shankar
hey karunakar
parmanand maheshwar
maun gaan ka dhyaan jamaaya
maun gaan ka dhyaan jamaaya
yog raag ko hi maana
tum hi baney ho taan praan ki
tum hi baney ho taan praan ki
mere tan mann ko paawan kar
hey shiv shankar
hey karunakar
parmanand maheshwar
rudra been jhankar tumhaari
rudra been jhankar tumhaari
shudra janon se rahi ansuni
dhanya tumhi ho jaavo sureshwar
dhanya tumhi ho jaavo sureshwar
apne mukh se sun apna swar
hey shiv shankar
hey karunakar
parmanand maheshwar [
nabh chaaya ghan ghor bijuriya damke jhamke
adharon ki muskaan tumhaari cham cham chamke
aaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaaa aaaaaa
ghir ghir aaye megh bhayankar garaj garajte
goonja nupur naad tumhaara thirak thirkate
jhuk gaya matha ki tum ne haan kaha jis pal umapati
sheesh ki ganga dharaa par utar aayi chhal-chhalaati
ga ga re ni re ga ma
dha ni re ga re sa
geet ki har lehar par tum jhoom kar naacho nateshwar
aaj is anand varsha mein nahaao tum maheshwar
aaa aaaaaa aaaaaaj is anand varsha mein
nahaa..aavoo tum maheshwar
shiv shankar
maheshwar
shiv shankar
aaaa aaaaa aaaaaaa
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
हे॰॰ए॰॰ए शिव शंकर
हे॰॰ए॰॰ए करुणाकर
परमानन्द महेश्वर
हे शिव शंकर
हे करुणाकर
हे शिव शंकर
हे करुणाकर
परमानन्द महेश्वर
मेरे भीतर तुम गाते हो
मेरे भीतर तुम गाते हो
सुन लो तुम अपना ये स्वर
हे शिव शंकर
हे करुणाकर
परमानन्द महेश्वर
मौन गान का ध्यान जमाया
मौन गान का ध्यान जमाया
योग राग को ही माना
तुम ही बने हो तान प्राण की
तुम ही बने हो तान प्राण की
मेरे तन मन को पावन कर
हे शिव शंकर
हे करुणाकर
परमानन्द महेश्वर
रुद्र बीन झंकार तुम्हारी
रुद्र बीन झंकार तुम्हारी
शूद्र जनों से रही अनसुनी
धन्य तुम्हीं हो जावो सुरेश्वर
धन्य तुम्हीं हो जावो सुरेश्वर
अपने मुख से सुन अपना स्वर
हे शिव शंकर
हे करुणाकर
परमानन्द महेश्वर
घन छाया घनघोर बिजुरिया दमके झमके
अधरों की मुस्कान तुम्हारी चम चम चमके
आsss आssss आssss आsssss आsssss
घिर घिर आए मेघ भयंकर गरज गरजते
गूँजा नूपुर नाद तुम्हारा थिरक थिरकते
झुक गया माथा कि तुमने हाँ कहा जिस पल उमापति
शीश कि गंगा धरा पर उतार आई छल-छलाती
ग ग रे नि रे ग म
ध नि रे ग रे स
गीत की हर लहर पर तुम झूम कर नाचो नटेश्वर
आज इस आनंद वर्षा में नहाओ तुम महेश्वर
आ आ आ॰॰आज इस आनंद वर्षा में
नहा॰॰आवो तुम महेश्वर
शिव शंकर
महेश्वर
शिव शंकर
आsss आssss आssssss
Kaase main kahoon piya hiya ki baat
Posted on: May 31, 2019
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 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.
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Today’s song is from a film of the first decade of the Talkie, ” Yangrilla “-1938. The song is sung by Sarla. No information is available about this singer. The cast of the film was Enakshi Rama Rau, Nayampalli, David, Gyani, Saalu, Shareefa, S L Puri, Fatty Prasad and few others.
It is generally said that in the early era, most actors and actresses came from poor families and most artistes had no or had negligible education. While it is true to a great extent, it is not 100% true. It is not that even in this period, there were no educated persons in the film industry. Right from the beginning of the Silent era to Talkie film era up to the end of the 40s decade, there were actors, actresses, directors,producers and musicians who were quite educated. Some of them had even been trained in western countries.
Take the case of Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani and their team of writer like Niranjan Pal, from the silent era. They were all highly educated and from rich. cultured families. Niranjan Pal was the son of the Freedom fighter Bipin chnadra Pal. B.N.Sircar is another example. Director Nanubhai Vakil was actually an advocate with B.A. LL.B degree. Surendra was BA, LL.B. Motilal was a graduate, so were Ramchandra Thakur, Nandlal Jaswantlal, Jayant Desai, Jairaj, Umakant Desai. Ashok kumar, Dev Anand and his 2 brothers etc.
Among actresses, Leela Chitnis, Shanta Apte, Durga Khote, Renuka Devi were graduates. Vanmala was BA,BT. Kamini Kaushal was BA. The point here is, there were educated and people with respectable family background were also a part of film industry. But of course, initially their number was smaller compared to others who were either illiterate or less educated. For example, the beautiful Meena Shorey and Sitara Kanpuri could not even sign- leave alone reading and writing !. That is why, they were cheated in their contracts by Sohrab Modi and W.Z.Ahmed ( of Shalimar Pictures and husband of actress Neena).
In today’s film, Yangrilla-38, the Hero, Heroine and the Director were all highly educated. The Heroine, Enakshi Rama Rao was the daughter of an ICS officer of Madras Presidency. She came to England for her graduation. After graduation, she took part in some stage dramas, where she got introduced to Niranjan Pal and Himanshu Rai. When Himanshu Rai decided to make a silent film on Tajmahal story, he asked Niranjan Pal to write the film story. Sita Devi aka Renee Smith was selected for the Vamp’s role and Enakshi was selected for the main role of Selima ( who was later named Mumtaj Mahal by Prince Khurram- who was later known as Shahjehan.). The film was named Shiraz.
Enakshi is a very unusual name. Comparatively, Meenakshi is a well known name. Meenakshi means ” one with eyes like Fish “. Enakshi means ” one with the eyes of Doe or Deer”. In other words, Enakshi means Mrignayani. Except name of this actress, I have never ever come across this name (Enakshi) in my life elsewhere !
Her work in film Shiraz was applauded in England, Germany and India. When she returned to India, She met Bhavnani, who made a silent film Vasantsena-31, with her in the lead role. More than as an actress of Silent and Talkie films, Enakshi’s name was known in Elite circles for different achievements, after she stopped working in films.
Not many of us know that Meenakshi Bhavnani ( Enakshi Rama Rao before her marriage ) has done an enormous service to expose Indian dances and Designs to West. No lesser is her contribution to expose Kashmir Crafts and Designs ( Fabric , Wood and Papier Mache ) to west. An American Tourist told in Kerala recently about her detailed work on Kashmir Designs ( shawls , Jackets ).This side of Meenakshi’s personality and work is in addition to her contribution as a Dancer, photographer and actress .Two scholarly Books written by Meenakshi Bhavnani were also published. Both the books are preserved in American Museum of Natural History.These are ..
(1) Folk And Tribal Designs of India
(2) The Dance of India: The Origin and History Foundation, Art and Science of the Dance in India .
This exceptionally talented woman stayed in Kashmir for sometime in 1950 and met cross section of people connected with Arts and Crafts . She had been a visitor thereafter as well . She also visited Leh and kargil for her Book. During this period she also clicked some photographs in Kashmir portraying its rich culture and scenic beauty.She also shot a Documentary “ VALEY OF KASHMIR “ during this period..
Meenakshi was an active member of the Crafts Council of India, which was founded in 1964 to support artisans and keep their crafts relevant and marketable amid rapidly changing economies at home and abroad.
The Photographs clicked by her have also appeared in National Geographic Magazine especially her series.
And in her book on folk dances of India , Meenakshi covers all forms of Kashmirian folk dances .
Enakshi married film maker Mohan Bhavnani ( 1903-1962 ) who was trained in Germany and Hollywood. She was a dancer , Actor , Photographer and writer on Arts , Crafts and culture. From 1929 to 1938, She acted in six films as a leading lady . Out of these six films five ( Vasantsena-31 , Trapped-31 ,Jagaran-36 , Himalaya ki Beti-38 and Yangrilla-38 ) were directed by her husband Mohan Bhavnani . Only Shiraz ( 1929 Produced by Himanshu Roy ) was directed by Franz Osten .
Producer Director Mohan Bhavnani was a learned and illustrious person. This is what the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema says about him-
Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani (1903-62)
Hindi director born in Hyderabad, Sindh. Studied at College of Technology, Manchester (1921-4), then studied film-making in Germany at UFA (1924). Contracted to Kohinoor (1925- 6) where his Sulochana films were the earliest efforts in the Indian cinema to create a Hollywood-type movie star, e.g. Cinema Ni Rani where she plays a famous actress with whom the painter hero falls in love, or Wildcat of Bombay where she played multiple roles. Joined Imperial (1927-9), where he made Khwab-e-Hasti, adapted from the novel Dreamland (later also adapted by N. Taurog’s Strike me Pink, 1936). Scripted by A.S. Desai, this film is not to be confused with Kashmiri’s play of the same title. Vasantsena was the first Kannada intertitled film. Became independent producer with Indian Art Prod. (1931-2). Returned to Germany to study sound film technique. Started Ajanta Cinetone (1933-4) and his own Bhavnani Prod. (1935-48). Sound de´but was a flop, but it introduced Durga Khote. Hired Premchand to script Mazdoor, representing the author’s only direct encounter with film, following it with the unemployment melodrama Jagran. Produced and directed the first full-length colour film shot on 16mm Kodachrome and blown up to 35mm, Ajit. Joined Films Division and became its first Chief Producer (1948-55). In 1958 Bhavnani followed up an invitation from Zhou En-Lai to make a documentary on China and travelled extensively throughout the country shooting with cameramen Kishore Rege and S.K. Kulkarni. His wife Enakshi Rama Rao, who acted in Vasantsena, had earlier played the lead in Shiraz (1928) and became a noted dancer and author of the book The Dance of India (1965).
FILMOGRAPHY: 1925: Cinema Ni Rani; Matri Prem; Veer Bala; Seth Sagalsha; 1 9 2 6 : Pagal Premi; Diwan Bhamasha; Mena Kumari; Ra Kawat; Samrat Shiladitya; Bhamto Bhoot; 1 9 2 7 : Naseeb Ni Lili; Daya Ni Devi; Trust Your Wife; Wildcat of Bombay; Gamdeni Gori; 1929: Hawai Swar; Khwab-e- Hasti; Mysore, Gem City of India (Doc); Khedda (Doc); 1 9 3 0 : Vasantsena (all St); 1 9 3 1 : Shakuntala; Farebi Jaal; Lafanga Langoor (Sh); 1 932: Veer Kunal; 1 933: Afzal; Rangila Rajput; 1 9 3 4 : Dard-e-Dil; Mazdoor; Sair-e-Paristan; 1935: Jung Bahadur; Navjeevan; Shadi Ki Raat; 1936: Dilawar; Garib Parwar; Jagran; Wrestling (Doc); 1 9 3 7 : Zambo the Ape Man; 1 9 3 8 : Double Cross; Himalay Ki Beti; Yangrilla; 1 9 3 9 : Zambo Ka Beta; 1940: Jhoothi Sharm; PremNagar?; 1945: Biswi Sadi; 1 946: Rang Bhoomi; 1 948: Ajit; 1 9 4 9 : Vale of Kashmir (Doc); 1 9 5 0 : The Private Life of a Silkworm (Doc); 1 9 5 1 : Lest We Forget (Doc); 1 9 5 2 : Kumaon Hills (Doc); 1 9 5 3 : Folk Dances of India (Doc); Republic Day Record (Doc); 1 9 5 5 : Republic Day 1955 (Doc); 1 956: Operation Khedda (Doc); 1 957: The Himalayan Tapestry (Doc ).
Like the Heroine, the name of the film was also strange. I tried very hard to find out what the word Yangrilla meant, but I could not get it. Finally, undaunted, I started going through the list of books on line. Lo and behold ! I bumped into a book with a title ” Rilla of the Inglewood ” written by Lucy Maud Montgomary, published in 1921. Some part of the book was available for reading online and while reading it, I found that ” Yangrilla ” in Swahili language meant a Hunter. Not going into the book and its boring story, I was glad that at last I decoded the word Yangrilla…a Hunter. Considering that the film ‘ Yangrilla’-38 was a Costume drama, I can guess that this film’s story must have been connected with hunting, Jungle and such other interesting and thrilling matters. Film Yangrilla-38 was financed by Ramnarayan Dubey, who in later years swallowed Bombay Talkies with its Land and started an Industrial complex on its land with about 250 to 300 manufacturing units. Recently his grandson was in news for announcing revival of Bombay Talkies !
The Hero of this film was Nayampalli. S.B. Nayampally (or Nayampalli) was working at the firm of Killick, Nixon and Company, in Bombay when he was discovered by film director P.Y. Altekar at a gym where Nayampally regularly exercised. Altekar felt that Nayampally very much resembled the famous French boxer Georges Carpenter and would be perfect for the stunt films that had become popular at the time. At Altekar’s urging, Nayampally joined Imperial Studios and was quickly cast in his first film, Wedding Night(1929), opposite the popular actress Jilloo. When he arrived at Imperial to begin his first day of filming he was amused to find that the building now used for the studio had formerly housed the school he’d attended as a child.“Wedding Night was a stunt film of the Robin Hood type,” Nayampally explained in a 1964 interview. “It had a little more of a plot to it than many films of the same class. My next film, Hell’s Paradise (1929), I remember for three reasons. One, it was based on a real-life episode involving an Indian prince and a foreign girl, described as an adventuress. Two, Mama Warerekar, the noted writer, did the story. Three, the film had a kissing scene, probably the first ever in an Indian film.”
Nayampalli was cast in Imperial’s Noorjehan (1931), which was initially to be a silent picture, but because of the success of their film Alam Ara (1931), which was India’s first talkie, the studio decided to make Noorjehan partly with sound. Nayampally was not originally cast in Noorjehan, but a chance meeting with the film’s director, Ezra Mir, got him the role of Prince Salim in the film.Nayampally then played Karna in Imperial’s next sound film, the mythological Draupadi (1931), but the actor considered his best mythological role to be that of the wily Shakuni in Mahatma Vidur (1943), a part that was appreciated by critics and the public, alike.
As sound films came in, silent actors were being discarded in favor of those with stage backgrounds and could not sing, so Nayampalli joined the Grant Anderson Theatrical Company which specialized in Shakespearean plays. After gaining some experience he tried to rejoin films, but without much luck. His previous roles had been leads, so he decided if he wanted to work regularly, maybe he should take a different approach and he offered himself up for character parts.His break came in the role of a hunchback in love with the heroine in Ezra Mir’s Zarina which starred Jal Merchant and Zubeida. The dentures he wore for the role were created specially by a dentist named Jimmy Gheista who had trained abroad with the dentist who had made similar dentures for Lon Chaney.
Nayampally had learned early on how to apply make-up for his roles and, in fact, he became so good at it he eventually came to specialize in horror make-up, which earned him the nickname “The Indian Lon Chaney.” Indeed, Chaney, Erich von Stroheim, Emil Jannings, and John Barrymore were the actors that Nayampally most tried to emulate. Boris Karloff was another of his role models. He was able to put his make-up expertise to good use for the film Sair-e-Paristan (1934), where he was a vampire-like devil, and in Zingaro(1935), in which he played a monster created by a mad scientist, and then as a the hairy “missing link” in Zambo (1937) and its sequel Zambo Ka Beta (1938). For Kalkoot (1935) he created a make-up to resemble the wrinkled effect that Karloff had used in The Mummy(1932).
Nayampally continued working in films throughout the 1940s and 50s, particularly in mythologicals and costume pictures including Raj Nartaki (1941), Nagad Narayan (1943), Vishwas 1943), Taramati(1945), Urvashi (1946), Jhansi-Ki-Rani (1953), Durgesh Nandini (1956), Basant Bahar (1956) and Shiv Parvati (1962) His last credited film appearance was in 1970’s Priya.
After the career in films ended, he started making Documentaries. He made about 35 documentaries. He won ‘Silver Dolphin’ award for his documentary in the International Film Festival at Teheran in 1970. He died on 7-5-1994, in Mumbai.
Pt. Badri Prasad was the Music Director of film Yangrilla-38. He used 6 different singers for 11 songs in the film. Besides issuing records for its songs, the producer also floated 2 records of ‘ Bhavnani Productions orchestra ‘.
The uploader of today’s song, our own Sadanand ji Kamath has certified this song to be ” rarest amongst the rare ” songs. With this song, film Yangrilla-38 makes its Debut on the Blog.
Song- Kaase main kahoon piya hiya ki baat(Yaangrilla)(1938) Singer- Sarla Devi, Lyrics- Unknown, MD- Pt. Badri Prasad
Lyrics
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
Kaase main kahoon
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
Kaase main kahoon
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki
kaun sunega prem kahaani
kaun sunega prem kahaani
aur usey phir meri zabaani
aur usey phir meri zabaani
yah duniya to preet ki bairan hai
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
kaase main kahoon
is duniya ke rahne waale
is duniya ke rahne waale
kapti paapi man ke kaale
kapti paapi man ke kaale
paap(?) hi inka ghar(?) aur joban hai
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
kaase main kahoon
kaase main kahoon
kaase main kahoon
Ye maara wo maara
Posted on: January 13, 2019
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 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 : | 3831 | Post No. : | 14838 |
Today, January 13th 2019 is the 92nd birth anniversary of one of the prominent Hindi film producers-directors who debuted in early 1950s as a director. In the 1960s, he mostly produced and directed romantic and musical films. In the 1970s and thereafter, he produced and directed films with emotional contents. He is Shakti Samanta, a self-made man after struggling for almost a decade to get a firm foothold in Hindi film industry. He had made immense contributions to Hindi film industry.
Shakti Samanta (13/01/1926 – 09/04/2009) was born in Burdwan (now Bardhaman in West Bengal). His father was an engineer who died in an accident while Shakti Samanta was a child. So, he was sent to his uncle’s place in Dehradun where he did the schooling. After completion of his intermediate, he came back to Calcutta (Kolkata) and completed his graduation in 1944.
Shakti Samanta went back to his uncle’s place to help him in his business. During his school days, he had become a fan of films produced by New Theatres and Bombay Talkies for their emotional and romantic contents respectively. So he had a fascination for becoming an singer-actor in Hindi films. Obviously, he spent more time in acting in local drama theatres than in the business work for which he was reprimanded by his uncle. Sometime in early 1947, he decided to leave his uncle’s house for Bombay (Mumbai) to pursue his wish to become a singer-actor. He took a job of a teacher in a Urdu school in Dapoli, about 200 kms from Mumbai to sustain himself while he scouted for acting roles in Mumbai.
Since it was a Muslim-run school, every Friday, Shakti Samanta would visit Mumbai to take a round of studios and return to Dapoli by late evening. There were many Bengalis in the Bombay Talkies which enabled him at least to gain entry into Bombay Talkies studio. Eventually, he got a free-lance job without pay but with free food at the canteen of the Bombay Talkies. Since he was proficient in Hindi and Urdu in addition to Bengali, he got work of translating the scripts written in Bengali into Hindi for director, Phani Majumdar for which he was paid.
One day, he met S D Burman who was composing music for ‘Do Bhai’ (1947), to get a playback singing work. S D Burman told him that though his voice was good, it was not good enough for the playback singing. So he advised Shakti Samanta to look for work in some other departments though he offered to take him for chorus singing. With this, it was the end of his dream of becoming a singer but the acting bug in him remained.
It was Ashok Kumar who told him to forget about becoming an actor and instead concentrate on film direction. In Bombay Talkies, he became the First Assistant to Director, Phani Majumdar. At that time, Guru Dutt was the First Assistant to Director, Gyan Mukherjee. When Phani Majumdar had no assignment, Shakti Samanta used to work as Second Assistant to Gyan Mukherjee. On the other hand, when Gyan Mukherjee had no assignments, Guru Dutt used to work as Second Assistant to Phani Majumdar. So in 1947, Guru Dutt and Shakti Samanta were familiar with each other. While Guru Dutt could get his first directorial assignment for ‘Baazi’ (1951), it was a long wait for Shakti Samanta to make a debut as a director in 1955.
Post-partition, after the initial hiccups due to migration of film artists and technicians, Shakti Samanta got some assignments like assistant to the director Satish Nigam in ‘Sunhere Din’ (1948) and to Phani Majumdar in ‘Tamasha’ (1952) and ‘Dhobi Doctor’ (1954). He wrote script and dialogues for Bombay Talkies ‘Baadbaan’ (1954).
Shakti Samanta’s debut film as a director was ‘Bahu’ (1955) which he got by a sheer luck. The film was produced by Bikram Pahwa which was to be directed by the writer, Vijendra Gaud. However, he had already signed his first directorial venture, ‘Kasturi’ (1954) and Shakti Samanta was his Assistant Director for this film. Vijendra Gurd was under contract not to take up direction in any other film until ‘Kasturi’ 1954) was released. Shakti Samanta got the opportunity to direct his debut film ‘Bahu’ (1955) as director. The film did not do well on the box office.
During the making of the ‘Bahu’ (1955), Shakti Samanta was signed to direct A. A. Nadiadwala’s film ‘Inspector’ (1956) in which his mentor, Ashok Kumar was paired with Geeta Bali. The film became a hit and with this film, Shakti Samanta was tagged as a successful director for the crime thrillers. After directing ‘Hill Station’ 1957 and ‘Sheroo’ (1957), Shakri Samanta floated his own banner, Shakti Films in 1957.
The first film under his banner, Shakti Films was ‘Howrah Bridge’ (1958) in which his mentor, Ashok Kumar was paired with Madhubala. The film was also a crime thriller and became hugely successful in terms of box office. This gave him enough money to produce and direct a film in the genre of social drama, ‘Insaan Jaag Utha’ (1959). The film did the average business despite some excellent song compositions by S D Burman.
Shakti Samanta directed next two successful thrillers, ‘Jalli Notes’ (1960) and ‘Singapore’ 1960) for other producers. His association with Shammi Kapoor and Jaikishan of Shankar-Jaikishan started with the film ‘Singapore’ (1960) and thereafter they became close friends. The trios were known as Shammi, Shakki and Jackie.
With ‘Naughty Boy’ (1962), Shakti Samanta entered into his first romantic comedy genre with Kishore Kumar and Madhubala in the lead roles. When about 10 reels of film were shot, Madhubala fell ill. She was taken to London for treatment. Since there was some uncertainty in her resuming shooting, Shakti Samanta replaced her with Kalpana. All shots of Madhubala were reshot with Kalpana. The film took a long time to complete as Kishore Kumar also got busy with taking care of Madhubala. To make the matter worst, S D Burman, the film’s music director, also fell ill. As a result, except for one song, rest of the songs of the film were recorded by R D Burman and Jaidev.
The delay in the completion of the film put Shakti Samanta in financial difficulties. He approached his good friend, Shammi Kapoor for finance who advised him to produce a new film in which he would act and partly finance the film. So ‘China Town’ (1962) was conceived. The film was released in August 1962 and became a box office hit. With money flowing in from the success of ‘China Town’ (1962), Shakti Samanta completed ‘Naughty Boy’ (1962) and got released in November 1962. The film failed at the box office.
After the debacle of ‘Naughty Boy’ (1962), Shakti Samanta seems to have shifted the focus on producing and directing the genre of romantic and musical films. He had with him now Shammi Kapoor and Jaikishan to support such a genre of films. The film ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ (1964) was conceptualized with his two friends in mind. He had roped in a new comer, Sharmila Tagore whose parents were the family friend of Shakti Samanta, to act opposite Shammi Kapoor. It was a foregone conclusion that Shankar-Jaikishan would be the music director.
When O P Nayyar came to know about the new film, he requested Shakti Samanta to at least listen to his tunes before deciding on the music director. He also invited Shammi Kapoor for a musical sitting. Both were so much impressed with some 40 odds tunes O P Nayyar churned out, that both Shakti Samanta and Shammi Kapoor decided to take O P Nayyar as music director for ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ (1964) and selected 12 tunes out of which 9 tunes were used in the film and remaining 3 tunes were used in ‘Saawan KI Ghata’ (1966). The film was a blockbuster on the box office chart.
Shakti Samanta had lined up 3 films with Shammi Kapoor and Jaikishan combination. The first film, ‘Evening In Paris’ (1967) was a high budget film which were partly shot abroad. The film became successful at the box office. The second film ‘Pagla Kahin Ka’ (1970) was directed by Shakti Samanta for Ajit Chakravarty. The film was an average success. The third film, ‘Jaane Anjaane’ (1971) was in the planning stage when Shakti Samanta felt that Shammi Kapoor needed to reduce his weight before he started shooting for the film. He gave Shammi Kapoor six months’ time to reduce his weight. In the interregnum, Shakti Samanta decided to produce and direct a low budget social film ‘Aradhana’ (1969) which was his favourite genre inspired from the films of New Theatre. The saga of making of ‘Aradhana’ (1969) is interesting one.
Sometime in early 1960s, Sachin Bhowmik, the story, screen-play and dialogue writer had read out the story of Aradhana to Shakti Samanta. While he liked the story very much, he did not venture to make a film on the story as he felt that it would be difficult to get the lead actors to the roles envisaged in the story. This was also the views of Hrishikesh Mukherjee when Sachin Bhowmik had read out the story to him also. Since Shakti Samanta had now time to make a low budget film, he recalled the story of Aradhana and decided to make a low budget film.
Sharmila Tagore who was introduced in Hindi films by Shakti Samanta and Rajesh Khanna who was the discovery of United Producers-Filmfare Talent Contest (1965) in which Shakti Samanta was one of the judges, were taken for the lead roles. Sharmila Tagore was apprehensive of doing the mother’s role in her early filmy career. Rajesh Khanna had felt that his role had considerably lesser length than that of Sharmila Tagore whose presence in the film was from first to last frames. Shakti Samanta had to do a hard work to convince both the actors to remove their apprehensions as the roles were challenging from the acting point of view.
Since the story of the film was akin to the Bengali type of stories with emotional contents, Shakti Samanta was keen on S D Burman to take up the music direction of the film. However, here also he had to convince S D Burman to take up the music direction for the film. S D Burman rued that Shakti Samanta had so far engaged him as a music director only for his low budget films.
Just a day before ‘Aradhana’ (1969) was to start shooting, Surinder Kapoor, the producer of ‘Ek Shriman Ek Shrimati’ (1969) starring Shashi Kapoor and Babita invited Shakti Samanta to see rushes of the final climax of his film. He was shocked to see that the climax was the same as that was written for Aradhana. This was possible because both films were written by Sachin Bhowmick. The next day, Shakti Samanta had made up his mind to scrap Aradhana and asked Gulshan Nanda to work on his story, ‘Kati Patang’. But Gulshan Nanda along with another writer, Madhusudan Kalelkar convinced him that instead of scrapping the film, let there be some changes the second half of the story. Both of them reworked the second half of Aradhana in the next few hours and saved the film being scrapped.
When everything was set to start the shooting ‘Aradhana’, film distributors were not happy with casting the lead roles. They were of the view that the audience would not accept Sharmila Tagare in the role of mother who had so far done the glamorous roles. They also felt risky to give a new comer Rajesh Khanna the double role in the film. Again, Shakti Samanta was required to convince them that the lead actors would justify their roles.
‘Aradhana’ (1969) was completed in less than 6 months and was released sometime in October 1969. I had watched this film during the first week of its release as tickets were easily available. However, the box office collections of the film picked up from the second week onward mainly through words of mouth publicity. The film became the top grosser among the Hindi films released in 1969. The box office success of this film and later of ‘Bandhan’ (1969) and ‘Do Raaste’ (1970) made Rajesh Khanna a super star. In a print media interview, Shakti Samanta had acknowledged that from the gramophone record sales of ‘Aradhana’ only, he produced next five films. The records were dubbed and released in 5 languages, and were hits in every language.
With the success of ‘Aradhana’, Shakti Samanta ventured into producing more of social genre of films like ‘Kati Patang’ (1971), ‘Amar Prem’ (1972), ‘Anuraag’ (1972) which were also successful at the box office. However, after mid-1970, except for ‘Great Gambler’ (1979), Shakti Samanta could not get as much success at the box office as he got for his films in early 1970s. Just to balance the box office earnings, Shakti Samanta started producing bilingual films which were made in Hindi as well as in Bengali. He produced and directed the first bilingual film, ‘Amanush’ (1975) followed by ‘Anand Asharam’ (1979), ‘Barsaat Ki Ek Raat’ (1981), ‘Aar Paar’ (1985) etc.
In the 1990s, Shakti Samanta’s films could not match with the changing taste of the film audience. ‘Geetanjali’ (1993) was his last film as a director which failed at he box office. During this period, he had also become busy with his role as Chairman of the Film Censor Board for 7 years (1991-98) and as a Chairman of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata for 2 years. Hence, some of the films produced under the banner of Shakti Films were directed by his son, Ashim Samanta.
During his 5 decades of long filmy career, Shakti Samanta directed 37 films and produced 43 films under his banner, Shakti Films. He also co-produced and directed an Indo-Bangla Desh Bengali film in 1984 which became a super hit. He set up Aradhana Sound Service, the digital audio post-production facilities films. He received Filmfare Award for ‘Aradhana’ (1969), ‘Anuraag’ (1972) and ‘Amaanush’ (1975) under ‘Best Films’ category.
Shakti Samanta breathed his last on April 9, 2009 after a brief illness due to stroke.
For the occasion, I have selected a song from one of the films from Shakti Samanta’s struggling years to establish himself in the Hindi film industry. The song is ‘ye maara wo maara koi jeeta koi haara’ from ‘Hill Station’ (1957). The song is sung by Geeta Dutt on the lyrics of S H Bihari which is set to music by Hemant Kumar. From the lyrics and the tone of the song, it appears to be a club song probably picturised on Sheila Vaz.
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Note: The information on Shakti Samanta with some associated anecdotes have been sourced from many interviews he gave both to the print media as well as to the electronic media, mostly during the 1990s. Some information has also been sourced from the interview Ashim Samanta gave for a FM Radio Channel in 2016.
Song-Ye maara wo maara (Hill Station)(1957) Singer-Geeta Dutt, Lyrics-S H Bihari, MD-Hemant Kumar
Lyrics
ye maara
wo maara
ye maara
wo maara
koi jeeta aur koi haara
haar jeet kaa khel ye dekho
kitna hai pyaara
ye maara
teri zindagi mein
aise mauke suhaane naa aayenge
teri zindagi mein
aise mauke suhaane naa aayenge
tere yahi patte
tera bigda muqaddar banaayenge
yahi chamkega teri naseeb ka taara
haar jeet ka khel ye dekho
kitna hai pyaara
o maara
ye maara wo maara
koi jeeta aur koi haara
haar jeet ka khel ye dekho
kitna hai pyaara
ye maara
dekh o matwaale
aaj se apna daaman bachaaye jaa
dekh o matwaale
aaj se apna daaman bachaaye jaa
sun ae bhole bhaale
kabhi kismat se dhokha bhi khaaye jaa
rona hansna to jeevan ka khel hai saara
haar jeet ka khel ye dekho
kitna hai pyaara
ho maara
ye maara wo maara
koi jeeta aur koi haara
haar jeet ka khel ye dekho
kitna hai pyaara
ho maara
ye maara
wo maara
koi jeeta aur koi haara
haar jeet ka khel ye dekho
kitna hai pyaara
ye maara
Le chal ri saagar paar
Posted on: November 13, 2018
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.
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3770 | Post No. : | 14744 | Movie Count : |
4030 |
Kikubhai Desai who was the producer-director of many successful stunt films during 1930s and early 40s, may not be known to most of the present generation movie buff or even immediate preceding generation. However, if it is revealed that he was the father of Manmohan Desai, the producer-director of many block buster films during 1960s through 1980s, some of the movie enthusiastic especially the movie fans of Manmohan Desai, may develop interest in knowing Kikubhai Desai.
I first came to know about Kikubhai Desai in one of the old issues of ‘Filmindia’ magazine about 5 years back as a producer/director of a stunt film( I have forgotten the name of the movie). While covering rare songs from films of 1930s and 40s during 2015, I came across the information that Kikubhai Desai was the father of Subhash and Manmohan Desai ! This revelation generated interest in me to know about him in detail. In my article posted in the Blog about 2 years back, I had made a brief mention about the filmy career of Kikubhai Desai. Thereafter, I lost track and did not pursue the subject further.
Recently, while flipping through the pages of January 1942 issue if ‘Filmindia’ magazine, I came across a small news about the sudden death of Kikubhai Desai on November 26, 1941 when he was giving finishing touches to his comedy film ‘Sheikh Chilli’ (1942). This reminded me of my unfinished work to get Kikubhai Desai’s life profile and his filmy career more vigorously than before.
Kikubhai B. Desai (1902-26/11/1941) was born in Sandalpur (now in Navsari district of Gujarat) in an Anavil Brahmin family. Not much is known about his educational background. In 1925, Kikubhai Desai joined as Manager in Jupiter Film Company which was soon taken over by Nanubhai Desai, (father of actress Bindu), one of the two founders of Sharda Pictures, the other being Bhogilal Dave.
However, Nanubhai Desai retired from the partnership in Sharda Pictures and decided to join hands with Ardeshir Irani to set up Sagar Films (Later renamed as Sagar Movietone). Due to some last minute disagreement, Nanubhai Desai withdrew from Sagar Films before it was set up and started Saroj Pictures (later renamed as Saroj Movietone in 1931). He made Kikubhai to handle the film distribution in Punjab and Bangalore branches for Saroj Pictures.
In 1929, Kikubhai visited Bangalore (Bengaluru) and met Haribhai Desai, the proprietor of Surya Film Company who was also his relative. At that time, Surya Films was making its first silent film ‘Raj Hriday’. Haribhai told him that if he has come to enjoy only the colourful world of film industry, he would be sent back home. If he was prepared to work hard and learn the nuances of the film making, he will put him in production department. So Kikubhai started his work from the production department.
When ‘Raj Hriday’ was completed, Kikubhai Desai was made in charge of publicity department. Although compared to production department, publicity department was not a high profile work at that time. Kikubhai felt that he would miss working among the hero-heroines of the films with lot of activities and fun on the set. However, in the absence of any other work opportunity, he reluctantly accepted the change of work. Kikubhai tried new way of publicity for ‘Raj Hriday’ (1929). He got printed a large quantity of attractive pamphlets of the films and got them dropped from the plane in Mumbai. Such publicity was done for the first time. Kikubhai’s novelty in the publicity of the film impressed Haribhai so much that he made him Manager of his Bombay (Mumbai) distribution office.
In Mumbai, Kikubhai’s novel way of publicity of ‘Raj Hriday’ had a positive impact on the film which became a hit. Producers from other banners started giving him contract for the publicity of their films. He did this work for about 2 years during which time he had earned sufficient income to establish his own film production company, Paramount Films and the Paramount Studio at Andheri East in 1931. The banner produced its first silent film, ‘Fauladi Pahelwan’ (1931). Jayant Desai directed the film with Chandrarao Kadam and Miss Nirmala in the lead. In all, Kikubhai produced 8 silent films during 1931-33.
‘Husn Ka Ghulam’ (1933) was Paramount’s first talkie film made under the banner of Saroj Movietone. Thereafter, he produced on an average 3 films every year. None of the online sources give complete list of the filmography of Kikubhai Desai. Manmohan Desai had once mentioned, among other things, that his father had produced/directed 31 talkies during 1931-41. With this vital information, I set upon preparing the filmography of Kikubhai Desai. It was not an easy task to prepare an exhaustive list of films produced by Kikubhai Desai. Sometime his name was mentioned as K B Desai or K Desai. He had also produced films under the banners of India Liberty Films/ Great India Films in addition to his main banner, Paramount Films. I had to rely on the posters/advertisements of the films for confirmations.
Following is the list of films produced by him some of which he directed:
| Sr. No. | Name of the film | Director | Banner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Husn Ka Ghulam (1933) | J P Advani | Paramount/Saroj |
| 02 | Baghdad Ka Chor (1934) | D N Madhok | Paramount |
| 03 | Hoor-E-Baghdad (1934) | R N Vaidya | Paramount |
| 04 | Chalta Purza (1934) | R N Vaidya | Paramount |
| 05 | Khooni Khanjar (1935) | R N Vaidya /Kikubhai Desai | Paramount |
| 06 | Jaadui Danda (1935) | Dwarka Khosla | Paramount |
| 07 | Tufaani Tamancha (1935) | R N Vaidya | Paramount |
| 08 | Burkhawaali (1936) | Kikubhai Desai | India Liberty |
| 09 | Laal Panja (1936) | Kikubhai Desai | Paramount |
| 10 | Farz-E-Ada(1936) | A M Khan | India Liberty |
| 11 | Bansari Baala (1936) | A M Khan | India Liberty |
| 12 | Guru Ghantal (1937) | Kikubhai Desai | India Liberty |
| 13 | Kaala Bhoot (1937) | A M Khan | India Liberty |
| 14 | Taranhaar (1937) | Kikubhai Desai | India Liberty |
| 15 | Sinhaldweep Ki Sundari (1937) | Kikubhai Desai | Indis Liberty |
| 16 | Alladdin aur Jaadui Chiraag (1938) | Nanubhai Vakil | India Liberty |
| 17 | Baanke Saanwaria (1938) | Nanubhai Vakil | India Liberty |
| 18 | Madhraat Ka Mehmaan (1938) | Kikubhai Desai | India Liberty |
| 19 | Madhu Bansari (1939) | Kikubhai Desai | Paramount |
| 20 | Sunehri Toli/Golden Gang (1939) | Kikubhai Desai | Paramount |
| 21 | Sansar Naiyya (1939) | Nanubhai Vakil | Paramount |
| 22 | Reshmi Saari (1940) | G P Pawar | Paramount |
| 23 | Golibaar (1940) | Nanubhai Vakil | Paramount |
| 24 | Sneh Bandhan (1940) | J P Advani | Great India |
| 25 | Aflatoon Aurat/ Amazon (1940) | Kikubhai Desai | Paramount |
| 26 | Akela (1941) | Pessi Karani | Great India |
| 27 | Mere Raja (1941) | T S Mani | Paramount |
| 28 | Circus Ki Sundari/Circus Queen (1941) | Balwant Bhatt | Paramount |
| 29 | Sheikh Chilli (1942) | Kikubhai Desai | Paramount |
This list has been vetted by Harish Raghuvanshi ji, the Film Historian who added 4 films to this list making it 29 out of 31 mentioned by Manmohan Desai. The remaining 2 films may be the ones which were under production at the time of Kikubhai Desai’s death in 26/11/1941. Incidentally, for ‘Dashavatar’ (1951) produced under the banner of J K Films and directed by Jayant Desai, the name of Kikubhai Desai has been mentioned as producer. This may be one of the two unfinished films of Kikubhai Desai which may have been taken over by J K Films with new cast and crew.
From the titles of the films listed above, it is clear that Kikubhai Desai specialised in producing mainly stunt films. He seems to have shifted to producing romantic/social films like ‘Sneh Bandhan’ (1940), ‘Akela’ (1941) and a comedy film ‘Sheikh Chilli’ (1942).
I have noted from the star cast of the films produced under the banners of Paramount Films, India Liberty Films and Great India Films that Gohar Karnataki, Miss Pokhraj, Miss Moti, Shiraz, Gulab, Shankar Vazare, Navinchandra, Dalpat, Sardar Mansoor etc were the main actors. Damodar Sharma was the music director for as many as 23 films out of 29 films listed above.
As mentioned earlier, during the final touches to the film ‘Sheikh Chilli’ (1942) which was produced and directed by Kikubhai Desai, he collapsed and died of rupture in appendix on November 26, 1941 at the age of 39.
The sudden death of Kikubhai Desai created a void in his film production companies, Paramount Films and India Liberty Films/Great India Films. At the time of his death, besides ‘Sheikh Chilli’ (1942) which was at the editing stage, two more films were under initial stages of productions. All the works came to a standstill. His two sons, Subhash Desai and Manmohan Desai and a daughter were minors. With heavy liabilities and debts, Kikubhai’s wife decided to sell their big bungalow in Varsova with a fleet of cars and other assets of the film production companies except the Paramount Studio at Andheri (now Filmalaya Studio). She leased the Paramount Studio to Shiraz Ali Hakim on a monthly rental of Rs.500/- for the sustenance of the family. After selling the bungalow, the entire family shifted to Khetwadi in South Mumbai.
‘Circus Ki Sundari’ aka ‘Circus Queen’ (1941) was released on November 28, 1941 (2 days after the sudden death of Kikubhai Desai, the producer of the film) in Mumbai at Super Talkies. The film was directed by Balwant Bhatt. The star cast included Miss Moti, Jal Merchant, Gulab, S L Puri, Bose, Dhulia, A. Karim, Agha, Rekha etc.
The film was shot inside a real circus with its complete paraphernalia of artists and the wild animals. Probably, it was for the first time in India that a film was shot in the actual lions and tigers cages of a circus. Miss Moti must be a courageous girl do the shooting in the midst of lions and tigers. The story of the film runs more or less on the same lines which has been used in many stunt films of that time.
There is a weak King (S L Puri) who has a popular younger brother-prince named Pratap (Jal Merchant). There is a good prime minister and a wicked woman called Shyama Devi (Gulab) who lives with the King. Lastly, there is a gang of ruffians to complete the ingredients for a stunt film.
A circus is camped in the King’s capital in which an artist named Sundari (Miss Moti) acts with wild animals including lions and tigers. King is impressed with Sundari and wants her to be his mistress. He assigns this task to his henchmen. It so happens that Prince Pratap, King’s brother accidentally meets Sundari and they fall in love.
Now comes a third angle in the guise of Shyamla Devi who though lives with the King but likes to flirt with Prince Pratap. She hatches a plot to overthrow the King but on each occasion, the wise prime minister frustrates her efforts. So it is a three-way war for the supremacy – the King and his henchmen for bringing Sundari for him, Prince Pratap and Sundari to turn their love into a marriage and Shymala Devi and her ruffians to overthrow the King. All the three groups work simultaneously to achieve their respective goals. The end result is that Shyamla Devi dies in a large pot of burning oil. prince Pratap gets Sundari with the blessings of the King. The prime minister becomes victorious. [Paraphrased from the review of the film published in January 1942 issue of ‘Film India’ magazine].
The film had 10 songs which were written by P L Santoshi and A Karim. But the division of the songs between the two lyricists is not known. All the songs were set to music by Khan Mastana.
I present the first among 10 songs ‘le chal ri saagar par naiyya’ from the film ‘Circus Ki Sundari’ (1941). The song is sung by actor-singer Miss Moti.
With this song, ‘Circus Ki Sundari/Circus Queen’ (1941) makes a debut in the Blog.
Acknowledgements:
———————–
1. I am grateful to Harish Raghuvanshi ji for providing me with the material on the early life and filmy career of Kikubhai Desai. He also sent me the scanned copies of the 3 pages from the Gujarati book ‘Sapna Na Saudagar’ written by Vitthal Pandya. He also helped me in updating the list of talky films produced/directed by Kikubhai Desai.
2. ‘Manmohan Desai’s Enchantment of the Mind’ by Connie Haham. Some pages were available online through Google Books in which Manmohan Desai talked about his father and their early days in Khetwadi (South Mumbai).
3. ‘The Advent of Sound in Indian Cinema’ by Virchand Dharamsey – published in the ‘Journal of the Moving Image’ as a research article (Pages 22 to 49).
Audio Clip:
Song-Le chal ri saagar paar (Circus Queen)(1941) Singer-Miss Moti, MD-Khan Mastana
Lyrics
le chal ri saagar paar
naiyya
le chal ri saagar paar
saagar paar sunhari duniya
saagar paar sunhari duniya
rehti sada bahaar
roop jawaani raaja raani
roop jawaani raaja raani
mil gaayen malhaar
mil gaayen malhaar
naiyya
le chal re saagar paar
chalna haule haule
naiyya
chalna haule haule
beech bhanwar na dole
chalna haule haule
naiyya
chalna haule haule
beech bhanwar na dole
sang na khewanhaar
sang na khewanhaar
le chal ri saagar paar
naiyya
le chal ri saagar paar
naiyaa
le chal ri saagar paar
- In: "Advice" song | Ameerbai Karnataki Manna Dey duet | Ameerbai Karnataki songs | Bhajan | Biography of artists | Biography of Directors | Duet | Guest posts | Manna Dey songs | philosophical song | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Prayer | Rare song | Songs of 1940s (1941 to 1950) | Songs of 1947 | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 2 Comments
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 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.
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3748 | Post No. : | 14711 | Movie Count : |
4019 |
Today’s song is from film Sati Toral-47. This film was made by Laxmi Productions, Bombay and was directed by Nandlal Jaswantlal. The music was provided by a team of Hari Prasanna Das and Manna Dey. The song is sung by Amirbai Karnataki and Manna Dey. The lyrics were by Miss Kamal, B.A. This was a pseudonym of Kavi Pradeep. At that time, he was under contract with Bombay Talkies and could not use his real name . Under this Pen name, he wrote lyrics for four films, namely Kadambari-44, Amrapali-45, Sati Toral-47 and Veerangana-47. Incidentally, all these films were directed by Nandlal Jaswantlal.
Nandlal was born on 15-3-1907 at Bardoli in Surat. His father was Administrative Officer in Kohinoor films. He started his career by joining it in 1924. He assisted Chandulal Shah(1926-29) and also directed silent and Talkie films for Ranjit from 1929 to 1933. Nandlal left the job and went to Europe on tour. On his return he joined Imperial company(34-36) and directed some remakes of silent films of Sulochana into Talkie films. For one year-1937- he went to Madras and ran a Laboratory also.
His first Talkie film as a Director was Pardesi Preetam-33 and last was Akeli mat jaiyo-63. Both were Ranjit films. Due to his death in 1961, Akeli mat Jaiyo was delayed and completed by Chandulal Shah himself. Nandlal directed, in all, 24 films-5 Silent and 19 Talkie films. Some of his well known films were Indira M.A.-34, Bambai ki billi-36, Sati Toral-47, Sanam-51, Anarkali-53 and Nagin-56. (adapted from indiancine.ma)
Music Director Hari Prasanna Das or H.P.Das was born in Chitgaon, East Bengal, in 1905. He was a Bengali. He was assistant to Pankaj Malik in films Dushman and Kapal Kundala-1939. He gave music to Bangla film ‘ Nimai Sanyasi’-40, in which he gave singing opportunity to 20 year old young Hemant Kumar. His first Hindi film as a MD was New India Films’ Blood Feud (or Josh-E-Inteqam)- 1935. His other films were Mohabbat-43, Meena-44, Kadambari-44, Mazdoor-45, Begum-45, Insaaf-46, Veerangana-47, Sati Toral-47 and Hum bhi insaan hai-48. He died on 26-9-1989.
The cast of the film was Shobhana Samarth, Prem Adeeb, Sankata Prasad, Jeevan, Badri prashad, Rehana and others. Sankata Prasad was the elder brother of more famous character actor Kanhaiyalal, who entered film line first as a Lyricist only. Born in Banares in 1903, Sankata came to Bombay and joined Sagar Film company in 1929. From the beginning, he was a fixture in almost every silent and Talkie film of Sagar Film company, Sagar Movietone, National Studios and lastly Amar pictures. After the last connection, he became a free lancer. To be noted is a fact that Sankata Prasad is the only actor who worked in all 3 First Talkie films of Sagar Movietone, namely Veer Abhimanyu, Romantic Prince and Abul Hasan. His last film was Do Mastane-58. He acted in 65 films,in all.
Film Sati Toral -47 was based on a Folk Tale of Gujarat. Folk Tales are stories passed through generations by telling. They are built around Fairy Tales, Tall tales, Trick tales, Myths and Legends. The base of Folk tales is a true historical event , person or a story. Folk tales of loving couples have been very popular and have been subjects on which films in almost every language are made. Stories of Heer Ranjha, Mirza Sahiban,Sassi Punnu, Sohni Mahiwal, Momal Rano, Dhola Maru,Prithviraj Sanyogita, Bajirao mastani, Laila Majnu, Salim Anarkali, Shahjehan Mumtaz Mahal etc. are famous folk tales of lovers and films are made on them.
Similarly, Mythology and religious books provide plenty of scope for Folk tales. Several films are made in several languages on the folk tales of Satis in Hindu religion. Actually, 44 Talkie films are made, whose Titles contain the word ‘Sati’. The more popular Folk tales are on Sati Anusuya, Parvati, Ahilya, Anjani, Madalasa, Narmada, Mahananda, Pingala, Renuka, Savitri, Seeta, Sulochana, Toral, Vaishalini, Vijaya and Vimala to quote a few. Maximum 7 films are made on Sati Anusuya. As if only Sati is not enough, there are films like Mahasati Anusuya, Behula,Madalasa,Maina Sundari, Savitri, Tulsi and Tulsi Vrinda. You really must appreciate the creativity of Hindi film makers.
Like lovers and Religious persons, there are folk tales of Historical persons too, Like Rana Pratap ( and his Horse Chetak), Akbar, Shivaji, Amar singh Rathod, Razia Sultan, Chandbibi, Jhansi ki Rani, Birbal and Tenali Raman. Films have been made on most of these too.
Coming back to Film Sati Toral-47, I have not seen this film in Hindi or Gujarati, So, I was looking for the story of Toral. I found one on Wiki. There is a slightly different ( in details) story written by Amrit Ganger ji, the famous author in English and Gujarati on cinema and history. He has won the Gujarat Sahitya Academy Award too. This story is available on tellmeyourstory.in, for those who are interested.( I am happy to note here that I know Mr. Gangar and he has gifted me his latest book ” Walter Kaufmann in India 1934 – 1946″ ). So, here is the Sati Toral story from Wikipedia…
” Jesal, a young Kutchi Rajput, was a dreaded dacoit.
His brother’s wife once chided him that if he was truly brave, he should prove it by stealing Toral, an extraordinary mare belonging to a Saurashtra king. In the process of stealing Toral, Jesal’s hand got caught in a nail and his agonised cries brought the king running outside.Asked what he wanted, Jesal said “Toral”, not knowing that the queen too had the same name. The king, a devout daani (donor) who had sworn never to disappoint anyone, gave him three Torals – his queen, the mare and a sword by that name. But on the boat journey back home, Jesal realised that Toral was not an ordinary woman.
He was tormented by guilt at having taken away someone who, out of loyalty, did not even question her husband’s decision. It is said that the enlightened company of Queen Toral, remembered in Gujarati literature as a devotional poet who composed and sang songs, transformed Jesal completely and the two began spreading the message of God.
Their inseparable companionship as teacher and disciple is talked about, but in cautious tones. No one, not even the local scholars, wants to discuss the Jesal-Toral alliance as a man-woman relationship. “Even the Gujarati film Jesal-Toral did not suggest any such angle,” recalls photographer Vinay Thacker, who started his career in 1976 by selling photos of the twin samadhis outside the shrine.
However, people do accept their unusual affinity, which even death couldn’t change. It is said that when Jesal undertook samadhi, he called out to Toral from his grave to join him. Toral, who was travelling, heard his voice, came back to Anjar and immediately took samadhi.
Toral, the mare, too was buried outside the temple. A green and magenta chaddar now covers the equestrian grave. The destroyed roof of the shrine has been temporarily replaced with an asbestos sheet. ”
Today’s song is sung by Amirbai Karnataki and Manna Dey, with Chorus. HFGK does not indicate names of singers for this song, but the voices are unmistakable. This song is in Amirbai’s song list. Prof. Yadav, in his book ” फिल्म संगीतकार – सुवर्णयुगवाले” also mentions these two names for this song. This is quite a good song. “Sati Toral”(1947) makes its debut in the blog with this song.
Song-Chaar dinon ka hai ye mela re bhai(Sati Toral)(1947) Singer-Amirbai Karnataki, Manna Dey, Lyrics-Kavi Pradeep, MD-H P Das
Chorus
Lyrics
Chaar dinon ka hai ye mela re bhai
?? raha hai ??
hari ka sumaran kar le re
tera hoga bhala
mera hoga bhala
apne ?? ko bacha le
hai shaam ki bela
aur din dhala
khud ko kar de prabhu ke hawaale
door karega wo teri bala
apne man ka dhundhla darpan
apne man ka dhundhla darpan
tu hari bhajan se kar ujla
hari ka sumaran
prabhu ka sumaran
kar le re
tera hoga bhala
mera hoga bhala
ab to hari ko sumar le re bhai ee
saari umar toone yoonhi ganwaai ee ee
yoonhi ganwaai
tera prabhu tere bheetar chhupa hai
tera prabhu tere bheetar chhupa hai
tu apne man ka deepak jala aa
hari ka sumaran
prabhu ka sumaran
kar le re
tera hoga bhala
mera hoga bhala
ye duniya hai ek musaafirkhaana
yahaan ki dosti ka kya thhikaana
ye duniya hai ek musaafirkhaana
yahaan ki dosti ka kya thhikaana
aaj yahaan par hai rain basera
aaj yahaan par hai rain basera
kaun jaane kal kahaan ho dera
is zindagi ka kya bharosa
ye jal ki dhaara hai silsilaa(?)
hari ka sumaran
prabhu ka sumaran
kar le re
tera hoga bhala
mera hoga bhala
dil ka rakshak wo parmeshwar hai ae ae ae ae
unko is jag mein kiska darr hai
unko is jag mein kiska darr hai ae ae
kaun hai aisa ishwar ka banda
kaun hai aisa ishwar ka banda
ki jis ka sankat nahin tala aa
hari ka sumaran
prabhu ka sumaran
kar le re
tera hoga bhala
mera hoga bhala
Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam
Posted on: September 18, 2018
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 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.
| Blog Day : | 3714 | Post No. : | 14643 |
Today I present a really wonderful song of Jagmohan Sursagar, Anima Dasgupta and Munir Alam from film Subah Shaam-1944. The music of this film was by Subal Dasgupta, younger brother of the more famous composer kamal Dasgupta. The film was made and directed by P.C. Barua for Indrapuri Studios, Calcutta. The songs of this film were written by Faiyaz Hashmi and Munir Lucknowi ( different from the singer Munir Alam). The cast of the film was Pramathesh barua, jamuna, Purnima ( she was different from Purnima of
Bombay ), Indu Mukherji, Munir, Devbala, Tulsi Chakravarti etc etc.
Director P.C. aka Pramathesh Barua was born on 24-10-1903. A well educated and foreign trained prince from a Royal family came into the films only by chance. He established his own studio and made films. Impressed by his style and work, B.N.Sircar of New Theatres offered him a job in his company. Barua joined and made such films in New Theatres that the studio became famous all over India. His greatest contribution was his first film here, ” Devdas”-34 in Bangla. he did the main role and brought in a comparatively new actress jamuna for the role of Parvati aka Paro. With the fantastic success of Bangla version, Barua made its Hindi version in 1936, with K L Saigal as the Hero. This was mor successful than the Bangla version and became an iconic film for ever as a reference point. Then an Assamese version was also made in 1937.
With a very eventful, successful and satisfying stint in New Theatres, Barua developed serious differences with the owner-B.N.Sircar, who was known to be a disciplinarian who held the Institution ( of New Theatres) in place. New Theatres, in the 30s , was full of Titans having a larger than life images and it was inevitable that there would be clashes amongst the artistes and the owner. Like true Bengalis, they all had king size Egos and over estimated self respects.
The first crack came in 1933 when Nitin Bose and Debaki Bose clashed, resulting in Debaki Bose’s temporary exit. In the line was Barua, who had a grudge that he was not given as many films as his peers Nitin Bose and Hemchander Chunder got . The rift between Barua and Sircar was obviously born out of deep differences, because after Barua left, B N Sircar had said- “He was a remarkably innovative director who seemed to improve after every film. As an actor, he forged a style that was distinctively his own uniquely. But as a Man…..well,I would rather not discuss it”.
However, it was known to both of them and all others connected with NT, that both these Giants had tremendous love and respect for each others. In 1951, when Barua lay dying on his bed, he instructed that his body be taken past the house of B N Sircar, where he was lying sick on bed. When Barua’s funeral convoy reached Sircar’s house, the ailing Sircar hobbled painfully to the window of his elegant Elgin Road Residence, as the prince of Players paused beneath the window for a while and then proceeded. It was a poignant moment- an act symbolic of a reference point established a long time ago in a business which was notorious for callous and impermanent relationships !
After Barua Nitin Bose left, then kanan Bala and few more. Only pankaj Mullick, though hurt by New Theatre’s neglect, stuck till the end. P.C.Barua died on 29-11-1951. He acted in 8 Hindi films( Manzil-36, Mukti-37, Adhikar-38, Jawab-42, Ranee-43, Subah Shaam-44, Amiree-45 and Pehchan-46). He directed 14 frilms and sang 1 song in film Jawab-42.
Barua’s third wife Jamuna (10-10-1919 to 24-11-2005) was the fourth of the six daughters of Puran Gupta, a resident of a village near Agra, India. Each of the sisters was named after an Indian river like Ganga, Jamuna, Bhagirathi etc. As destiny would have it, Jamuna came to reside in Calcutta, a leading film producing city in India. Originally from Gauripur of Assam’s Goalp ara district (undivided), Jamuna was married to the legendary actor director Pramathesh Barua, or P.C. Barua, who died in 1950. She began her acting career in her husband’s famous production Devdas in 1936 and was the film’s lead character Parvati or Paro. She went on to make a number of memorable movies in Assamese, Bangla and Hindi, notably Amiri, Mukti, Adhikar and Sesh Uttar. She stopped acting after Barua died
In the thirties and played a small role in Mohabbat ki Kasauti(1934), Hindi version of Rooplekha (Bengali) directed by P.C. Barua. A romance started although Barua, hailing from the native Indian state of Gauripur, Assam, was already twice married. As the actress, who was to play Parbati in Barua’s next venture Devdas (1935) reported inability to attend the studio on the very first day of shooting, Jamuna was called from Barua’s residence (she was living with him by then) and was asked to get down to work straight away without any preparation whatsoever.
Thus she came to be the first Parbati of Indian talkies- Miss Light had played the role in the silent version of the enormously popular Sarat Chandra novel. Aishwarya Rai happens to the last so far and Devdas has been made and re-made a number of times. Jamuna played the same role in the Hindi version also and was accepted in this very first proper exposure as an actress in her own right. She continued to act in Barua’s films like Grihadaha (1936), Maya (1936), Adhikar (1939), Uttarayan (1941), Shesh Uttar (1942), Chander Kalanka (1944) and the respective Hindi versions of each film.
Barua had left the prestigious New Theatres in 1940 and was directing as well as producing his films. Thereafter she acted in a number of Barua directed Hindi movies like Amiree, Pehchan and Iran Ki Ek Raat. These films however did not add to the prestige of either to Barua or to Jamuna. Jamuna also acted outside Barua direction in three Bengali films Debar (1943) and Nilanguriya (1943) where she proved herself without Barua’s influence. Her last film Malancha (1953) was also outside Barua’s direction. She also starred in its Hindi version Phulwari (1953).
Barua’s death in 1951 when he was only 48 changed Jamuna’s life altogether. She had three sons by Barua, Deb Kumar, Rajat and Prasun. They were all minors at the time and the Gauripur estate refused to take any of their responsibilities. She had to wage a legal battle with the powerful and influential royal family to get her and her children’s dues and recognition. Time settled the matters and she was allowed ownership of the house with its vast adjoining land and also an allowance. Jamuna spent the rest of her life after Barua as a housewife, busy in bringing up her minor sons. She had to complete the unfinished film Malancha of course but said good bye to the world soon after. Later in her life she did attend a number of functions to celebrate the centennial year of husband P.C. Barua and received felicitations on behalf of the Government of India and the state Government of Assam as the first Parbati of Indian talkies.
Her last days were not very comfortable and she was bedridden for more than six months prior to her death. She is survived by her three sons and their families and a host of relatives.. According to her family members, she had been ill for some time, and the cause of death was illness related to old age. She died at her residence in south Kolkata.
In Hindi, we have seen few Brother composer pairs like Husnlal Bhagatram, kalyan ji -Anand ji, Anand- milind etc etc. I can not think of any such pair whose brothers individually very famous as composers, except perhaps Pt. Amarnath and Husnlal – Bhagatram, but here too no two brothers were famous individually. There were some other brothers like Timir Baran and Mihir kiran and Kamal Dasgupta and Subal Dasgupta. Neither Timir-Mihir nor Kamal-Subal worked as a pair and individually only one became famous in Hindi films. Mihir kiran gave music to only 1 film- Kaarvan e hayat-35 and Subal Dasgupta gave music to only 2 films Subah Shaam and Arzoo both in 1944.
Kamal Dasgupta ( 28-7-1912 to 20-7-1974) gave music to 17 Hindi films from Jawab-42 to Phulwari-51. Subal gave music to only 2 films as mentioned. He was, however, a prolific composer in Bangla films and NFS. The credit for composing music for Talat Mehmood’s First recorded NFS, ” sab din ek samaan nahi tha” goes to Subal Dasgupta. Some sites and You Tube erroneously mention kamal Dasgupta’s name as its composer , but it is wrong. I quote here an excerpt from the book ” Talat Mehmood-The Velvet touch” a biography by Manek Premchand,
“His first recording happened in September 1941, the song being Sab din ek samaan naheen tha, Ban jaoonga kya se kya main, iska to kuchh dhyaan naheen tha, written by Fayyaz Hashmi and composed by Subal Dasgupta. Present at this recording was the great singer-composer-actor Pankaj Mullick, who patted the young émigré for a job well done. In Calcutta, the young man started learning Bengali. After six recordings for HMV in Calcutta, Talat returned in 1942 to complete his studies at Marris and in the next couple of years, he heard a lot of Gangubai Hangal, Fayyaz Khan and Roshanara Begum. ” pp 13
Not much information is available on Subal in books or on the net. Even Dr. J.P.Guha has no information on him. Here is something from a Bangladeshi site.
Subal Dasgupta was born at Kalia (Narail) of the old Jessore district in Bangladesh. His parents shifted to Calcutta long before the partition of 1947. His eldest brother professor Bimal Dasgupta was a gifted musician, while his elder brother Kamal Dasgupta also emerged as one of the most successful music directors of his time. His sisters Sudhira, Indira, Basanti—–all were talented singers in their own rights. All of them had recorded songs under HMV banner. He belonged to an immensely accomplished musical family. At a very tender age Subal Dasgupta took lessons in classical music from Ustad Zamiruddin Khan, a renowned maestro of Kheyal and Thumri. It was here, that he met Kazi Nazrul Islam, the great poet , who also started taking classical vocal lessons from the same master. The meeting between the two, later turned out to be of historic significance.
When I first heard this song, I liked it very much. I am sure you too will love it. The singers are Jagmohan Sursagar, Anima Dasgupta and Munir Alam. These names are not mentioned in HFGK, but the stalwarts of RMIM, in their discussion have confirmed these names in the late 90s. Though the YT video mentions Hemant kumar, his voice is not there.
( Credits- RMIM forum, Talat Mehmood Biography, scroll.in, wiki, nazrul.com.bd, Sharmishtha Gooptu’s article ”The Glory that was” and my notes )
Audio
Song-Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam (Subah Shaam)(1944) Singers-Anima Desgupta, Jagmohan Sursagar, Munir Alam, MD-Subal Dasgupta
Lyrics
Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam
kuchh ghami hai subaho shaam
zindagi ke do hain naam
zindagi hai subaho shaam
Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam
kuchh ghami hai subaho shaam
zindagi ke do hain naam
zindagi hai subaho shaam
Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam
aish o raahaten bhi hain
dukh museebaten bhi hain
aish o raahaten bhi hain
dukh museebaten bhi hain
?? bhi hain
gham ki shaanaten bhi hain
gardish e jahaan mein
dillagi hai subaho shaam
Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam
kuchh ghami hai subaho shaam
zindagi ke do hain naam
zindagi hai subaho shaam
Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam
maut bhi hai yaas bhi
din ke baad raat bhi
maut bhi hai yaas bhi
din ke baad raat bhi
apni apni ?? hai
aadmi ke saath hai
apni apni ?? hai
aadmi ke saath hai
raushani ke saath saath
?? hai subaho shaam
Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam
kuchh ghami hai subaho shaam
zindagi ke do hain naam
zindagi hai subaho shaam
Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam
chaand mein chakor mein
jungalon ke mor mein
chaand mein chakor mein
jungalon ke mor mein
papeehe ke shor mein
papeehe ke shor mein
gulshanon ki ?? mein
bulbulon ki bekhudi(?)
keh rahi hai subaho shaam
Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam
kuchh ghami hai subaho shaam
zindagi ke do hain naam
zindagi hai subaho shaam
Kuchh haseen hai subaho shaam
Siddhraaj Jaago Aaj
Posted on: July 2, 2018
- In: Actor-Singer song | Appealing to the Almighty | Biography of actors | Biography of artists | Biography of Directors | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Guest posts | Lyrics by Sudhir | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Prof Ramanand Songs | Rare song | Song of 1938 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 5 Comments
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 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.
| Blog Day : | 3636 | Post No. : | 14464 |
Today’s song is from a very old film, ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ from 1938.
It is generally said that in this era, most actors and actresses came from poor families and most artists had no or had negligible education. While it is true to a great extent, it is not 100% true. It is not that even in this period, there were no educated persons in the film industry. Right from the beginning of the silent era to talkie film era up to the end of the 1940s decade, there were actors, actresses, directors, producers and musicians who were quite educated. Some of them had even been trained in western countries.
Take the case of Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani and their team of writers like Niranjan Pal, from the silent era. They were all highly educated and from rich, cultured families. Niranjan Pal was the son of the freedom fighter Bipin Chandra Pal. BN Sircar is another example. Director Nanubhai Vakil was actually an advocate with BA LLB degree. Surendra was BA, LLB. Motilal was a graduate, so were Ramchandra Thakur, Nandlal Jaswantlal, Jayant Desai, Jairaj, Umakant Desai. Ashok kumar, Dev Anand and his 2 brothers etc.
Among actresses, Leela Chitnis, Shanta Apte, Durga Khote, Renuka Devi were graduates. Vanmala was BA, BT. Kamini Kaushal was BA. The point here is, that educated and people with respectable family background were also a part of the film industry. But of course, initially their number was smaller compared to others who were either illiterate or less educated. For example, the beautiful Meena Shorey and Sitara Kanpuri could not even sign – leave alone reading and writing! That is why, they were cheated in their contracts by Sohrab Modi and WZ Ahmed (of Shalimar Pictures and husband of actress Neena).
In the film under discussion today – ‘Himalay Ki Beti, the hero, heroine and the director were all highly educated. The heroine, Enakshi Ram Rao was the daughter of an ICS officer of Madras Presidency. She came to England for her graduation. After graduation, she took part in some stage dramas, where she got introduced to Niranjan Pal and Himanshu Rai. When Himanshu Rai decided to make a silent film on the story of Taj Mahal, he asked Niranjan Pal to write the film story. Sita Devi aka Renee Smith was selected for the vamp’s role and Enakshi was selected for the main role of Selima (who was later named Mumtaj Mahal by Prince Khurram – who was later known as Shahjehan.). The film was named ‘Shiraz’ (1928).
Enakshi is a very unusual name. Comparatively, Meenakshi is a well known name. Meenakshi means ‘one with eyes like a fish’. Enakshi means ‘one with the eyes of doe or deer’. In other words, Enakshi means Mrignayani. Except name of this actress, I have never ever come across this name (Enakshi) in my life elsewhere!
Her work in film ‘Shiraz’ was applauded in England, Germany and India. When she returned to India, She met Bhavnani, who made a silent film ‘Vasantsena’ (1931), with her in the lead role. More than as an actress of silent and talkie films, Enakshi’s name was known in elite circles for different achievements, after she stopped working in films.
Not many of us know that Enakashi Bhavnani (Enakshi Rama Rao before her marriage) has done an enormous service to bring Indian dances and designs to the western world. She made immense contribution to bring the Kashmir handicrafts and designs (fabric, wood and papier-mâché) to the west. An American tourist told in Kerala recently about her detailed work on Kashmir designs (shawls, jackets etc.). This side of Enakshi’s personality and work is in addition to her contribution as a dancer, photographer and actress. Two scholarly books written by Enakshi Bhavnani were also published. Both the books are preserved in the American Museum of Natural History. These are,
(1) Folk And Tribal Designs of India, and
(2) The Dance of India: The Origin and History, Foundation, Art and Science of the Dance in India .
This exceptionally talented woman stayed in Kashmir for sometime in 1950 and met a cross section of people connected with arts and crafts. She had been a visitor thereafter as well. She also visited Leh and Kargil for her book. During this period she also clicked some photographs in Kashmir portraying its rich culture and scenic beauty. She also shot a documentary ‘Valley Of Kashmir’ during this period.
Enakshi was an active membmer of the Crafts Council of India, which was founded in 1964 to support artisans and keep their crafts relevant and marketable amid rapidly changing economies at home and abroad. The photographs clicked by her have also appeared in National Geographic magazine, especially her series. And in her book on folk dances of India, Enakshi covers all forms folk dances of Kashmir.
Enakshi married film maker Mohan Bhavnanai (1903-1962) who was trained in Germany and Hollywood. She was a dancer, actor, photographer and writer on arts, crafts and culture. From 1929 to 1938, she acted in six films as a leading lady. Out of these six films, five, namely ‘Vasantsena’ (1931), ‘Trapped’ (1931), ‘Jaagaran’ (1936) , ‘Himalaya Ki Beti’ (1938) and ‘Yangrilla’ (1938) were directed by her husband Mohan Bhavnani. Only ‘Shiraz’ (1928) produced by Himanshu Roy was directed by Franz Osten.
Producer director Mohan Bhavnani was a learned and illustrious person. This is what the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema says about him-
Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani (1903-62)
Hindi director born in Hyderabad, Sind. Studied at College of Technology, Manchester (1921-4), then studied film-making in Germany at UFA (1924). Contracted to Kohinoor (1925-6) where his Sulochana? films were the earliest efforts in the Indian cinema to create a Hollywood-type movie star, e.g. Cinema Ni Rani where she plays a famous actress with whom the painter hero falls in love, or Wildcat of Bombay where she played multiple roles. Joined Imperial (1927-9), where he made Khwab-e-Hasti, adapted from the novel Dreamland (later also adapted by N. Taurog’s Strike me Pink, 1936). Scripted by A.S. Desai, this film is not to be confused with Kashmiri?’s play of the same title. Vasantsena was the first Kannada intertitled film. Became independent producer with Indian Art Prod. (1931-2). Returned to Germany to study sound film technique. Started Ajanta Cinetone (1933-4) and his own Bhavnani Prod. (1935-48). Sound début was a flop, but it introduced Dur ga Khote. Hired Premchand to script Mazdoor, representing the author’s only direct encounter with film, following it with the unemployment melodrama Jagran. Produced and directed the first full-length colour film shot on 16mm Kodachrome and blown up to 35mm, Ajit. Joined Films Division and became its first Chief Producer (1948-55). In 1958 Bhavnani followed up an invitation from Zhou En-Lai to make a documentary on China and travelled extensively throughout the country shooting with cameramen Kishore Rege and S.K. Kulkarni. His wife Enakshi Rama Rao, who acted in Vasantsena, had earlier played the lead in Shiraz (1928) and became a noted dancer and author of the book The Dance of India (1965).FILMOGRAPHY: 1925: Cinema Ni Rani; Matri Prem; Veer Bala; Seth Sagalsha; 1 9 2 6 : Pagal Premi; Diwan Bhamasha; Mena Kumari; Ra Kawat; Samrat Shiladitya; Bhamto Bhoot; 1 9 2 7 : Naseeb Ni Lili; Daya Ni Devi; Trust Your Wife; Wildcat of Bombay; Gamdeni Gori; 1929: Hawai Swar; Khwab-e- Hasti; Mysore, Gem City of India (Doc); Khedda (Doc); 1 9 3 0 : Vasantsena (all St); 1 9 3 1 : Shakuntala; Farebi Jaal; Lafanga Langoor (Sh); 1 932: Veer Kunal; 1 933: Afzal; Rangila Rajput; 1 9 3 4 : Dard-e-Dil; Mazdoor; Sair-e-Paristan; 1935: Jung Bahadur; Navjeevan; Shadi Ki Raat; 1936: Dilawar; Garib Parwar; Jagran; Wrestling (Doc); 1 9 3 7 : Zambo the Ape Man; 1 9 3 8 : Double Cross; Himalay Ki Beti; Yangrilla; 1 9 3 9 : Zambo Ka Beta; 1940: Jhoothi Sharm; PremNagar?; 1945: Biswi Sadi; 1 946: Rang Bhoomi; 1 948: Ajit; 1 9 4 9 : Vale of Kashmir (Doc); 1 9 5 0 : The Private Life of a Silkworm (Doc); 1 9 5 1 : Lest We Forget (Doc); 1 9 5 2 : Kumaon Hills (Doc); 1 9 5 3 : Folk Dances of India (Doc); Republic Day Record (Doc); 1 9 5 5 : Republic Day 1955 (Doc); 1 956: Operation Khedda (Doc); 1 957: The Himalayan Tapestry (Doc)
The film ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ had 11 songs. Today’s song is sung by Prof Ramanand. He had 4 solos and 1 duet with Enakshi. She had 2 solos. One song was by Maya Chatterjee. There is no information in HFGK about the balance 3 songs. Pt Badri Prasad had given the music. I heard 4 more songs from this film, but all are copies of stage style songs. Prof Ramanand, the actor and the singer was different than Swamy Ramanand, the lyricist in few films.
The hero of the film was Prof Pt Ramanand Sharma. If you are a regular listener of radio early in the mornings,you would have heard many Bhajans sung by Sharma Brothers of Shriram Darbar. These four brothers – Gopal, Shukdev, Kaushalendra and Raghavendra are the sons of this Ramanand Sharma. These Sharma brothers have sung the famous Bhajan “Sooraj Ki Garmi Se” from the film ‘Parinay’ (1972). Ramanand was the singing hero of many early talkie films like ‘Noor-e-Islam’ or ‘Aurat Ka Dil’ (1934) and ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ (1938). He also sang many songs in other films. After his work in ‘Premnagar’ (1940), RC Boral of the New Theatres, Calcutta came down to Bombay and took Ramanand to Calcutta to act in films. But Ramanand was fed up with the film world and decided to only sing Ram Bhajans for his Shri Ram Darbar which he had established. He went back to Muzaffarpur and used to sing Ram Bhajans all over India. His 7 albums were released by HMV.
Here is a rare song from a rare film, ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ (1938). The film makes its debut on the blog.
[Author’s Note: Credits – Chinar Shade, autarmota.blogspot.com, HFGK, MuVyz, Wikipedia, indiancine.ma, and my notes.]
Song – Siddhraaj Jaago Aaj (Himalay Ki Beti) (1938) Singer – Prof Ramanand, Lyrics – Pt Narottam Vyas, Music – Pt Badri Prasad
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
jaaa..aa..aa..go..oo..o
sidhraaj jaago aaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
padi hai vipat gaaj
padi hai vipat gaaj
bigade banaawo kaaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
tum ho paropkaari
tum ho paropkaari
duniya jaanat saari
duniya jaanat saari
meri raakho laaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
charan pada hoon aaye
charan pada hoon aaye
sharnaagat sahaaye
sharnaagat sahaaye
tum naam di awaaj (??)
sidhraaj jaago aaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
sidhraa..aa..aa..aaj
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
जा॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰गो॰॰ओ॰॰ओ
सिद्धराज जागो आज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
पड़ी है विपत गाज
पड़ी है विपत गाज
बिगड़े बनावो काज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
तुम हो परोपकारी
तुम हो परोपकारी
दुनिया जानत सारी
दुनिया जानत सारी
मेरी राखो लाज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
चरण पड़ा हूँ आए
चरण पड़ा हूँ आए
शरणागत सहाय
शरणागत सहाय
तुम नाम दी आवाज (??)
सिद्धराज जागो आज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
सिद्धरा॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰आज
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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