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

This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Today’s song is from a ‘C’ grade stunt film – ‘Return of Mr. Superman’ aka ‘Superman Ki Wapsi’ (1960).

Hindi film industry is full of third grade, mindless and cheap copies of successful foreign films and stories. Indian films can not copy the costly scenes, sets and A grade actors for C grade films, so they make do with childish cheap sets, unknown producers or directors, actors who are at the fag end of their careers and overall an easy treatment to films. It is painful to see such films.

There was an era, when even action/stunt films carried some prestige. They were made by reputed or specialist film makers like, Wadias, Mohan Pictures, Imperial, Ranjit or even Master Bhagwan. They used to spend a fair amount on erecting sets or on outdoor shootings. Above all, their stunts used to be real and actually breath taking. Famous stunt actors like Azad, Prakash, John Cavas, Fearless Nadia, Vasantrao and Baburao Pehelwan etc. used to undertake thrilling stunts using trained animals like tigers, lions, horses, monkeys, dogs and even jalopy cars and motor cycles. The audience went to watch the stunts. Story, histrionics or music/songs were secondary.

Superman is a comics character popularised first in USA. The first cinema on Superman came in 1948 with actor Kirk Alyn as the hero. This was like a film serial. The feature film came in 1951 with George Reeves first and then the most popular Christopher Reeves. Many actors have done this role till now. A Superman with extraordinary powers has been a dream for mankind since a long long time. May be, perhaps, the Gods in almost every religion were endowed with such powers in fiction and the mythology.

Indian film makers were hardly to miss such stories. But I find that more than flying in the air or jumping from building to building, like Batman or Spiderman, Indian audiences lapped up the ‘Invisible Man’ theme more. The first such film was made by Prakash Pictures, ‘Khwaab Ki Duniya’ in 1938. Then came the successful 1957 film ‘Mr. X’ and lastly the most popular film came on this theme in 1987 as ‘Mr. India’.

On this background, no wonder, Superman, Batman or Spiderman never captured the imagination or fascination of Indian film audience. 1960 saw 2 films on Superman and one was in 1987. Comparatively, Tarzan films became more popular here. Creative producers combined Tarzan with any and every character of Arabian nights, gave him son, daughter and brought him to city or even Circus. Indian avatars of Tarzan like, Zambo and Zimbo were also popular. these films helped Dara Singh to establish himself in Hindi films. Anyway, gone are the days when action or stunt films had special audience. Neither that audience nor those films have any presence now.

Since the day SFX (special effects – an improved version of old trick scenes) became popular in India, every hero has become a stuntman himself. Except probably Ajay Devgan and Akshay Kumar, most other actors are stuntmen by SFX only.

Coming to today’s film ‘Return of Mr. Superman’, the film was made by Manmohan Films – owned by the producer, director and lyricist Manmohan Sabir. From 1952 to 1986, he had directed 10 films. Today’s film was his 6th film as a director. Some songs of the film were also written by PL Santoshi, Kaif Irfani and Anand Bakshi. The cast of the film was Jairaj, Sheila Ramani, Majnu, Naazi, David, Ram Mohan, Rajan Haksar, Master Navin and many others.

Music Director of this C grade stunt film was Anil Biswas, who was once upon a time an A grade composer and many other composers followed him as their ‘Guru’. Anil Biswas (7-7-1914 to 31-5-2003) started his career in music in the early 1930’s. Usually, one generation is considered as 25 to 30 years, but in film music the generation period is 12 to 15 years. So, in his career from early 30s to late 60s, Anil Biswas saw two generations of music lovers. It was easier for him to adapt to changing tastes of music from 30s to late 40s. However, to adapt to changed tastes from 50s to 60s, it became difficult for him. The audience tastes changed drastically from 1930s to 60’s music. In the 30s and the 40s , the music was closer to traditional Indian music, but in the 60s, the film music followed the world music trends like Rock N Roll, Twist and other types.

In this stage of his career, Anil Biswas was in two minds – whether to continue what he knew best or to change over to new way of film music demands. He chose to mix the two, but this took him nowhere. This film music was a compromise on his abilities. After this film, he did two more non descript movies – ‘Lucky Number’ (1961) and ‘Hamen Khelne Do’ (1962). At last he retired after completing his last film ‘Chhoti Chhoti Baaten’ (1965) and left for Delhi to serve at AIR (All India Radio), Delhi. He gave music to 90 films composing 767 songs. He also sang 59 songs in 31 films.

The heroine of this film Sheila Ramani was one of my early favourites, from the time I saw her with Dev Anand in film ‘Funtoosh’ (1956). Earlier too I had seen her in few films, but she looked quite attractive and glamorous in ‘Funtoosh’.

Sheila Ramani, a forgotten name today, but most of us still remember her in Navketan’s ‘Taxi Driver’ (1954) where she was cast as Anglo-Indian club Dancer – Sylvie. Sheila was born on 2-3-1932, in Sindh province. She was selected as ‘Miss Mussoorie 1948’ and adjudged ‘Miss Simla 1950’. Made her debut as Champa, the femme fatale of ‘Badnaam’ (1952), and revealed herself as a danseuse of charm in ‘Anand Math’ (1952). She was one of the few Sindhi actresses besides Sadhana, who made it big in Bollywood. She was mostly seen as upper class mod girl in the 50s, a role she enacted to perfection all through that swinging era in films like V Shantaram’s ‘Teen Batti Chaar Raasta’ (1953), Sheikh Mukhtar’s ‘Mangu’ (1954), ‘Meenar’ (1954), ‘Railway Platform’ (1955), and ‘Funtoosh’ (1956).

Her Uncle Sheikh Latif alias Lachchu was a famous Pakistani producer who produced films like ‘Pattan’ (1955), ‘Khizan Kai Baad’ (1955), ‘Darbar-e-Habib’ (1956) etc. Sheila visited Karachi – Pakistan on the request of her uncle, to play the lead in Pakistani film ‘Anokhi’ (1956). The film was based on Hollywood’s ‘Fabulous Senorita’. “Gaadi Ko Chalana Babu, Zara Halkey Halkey Halkey, Zara Dil Ka Jaam Na Chalkey” sung by Zubaida Khanum was the popular song from the film which did modest to good business in Pakistan. The movie’s great music was composed jointly by Timir Baran (a Bengali who came from India for this purpose) and Hassan Latif. Sheila went back to India and remained as a middle-of-the-range performer in Bombay films. In the later part of her career, she was reduced to obscure films with titles that sounded like ‘Jungle King’ (1959), and ‘The Return of Superman’ (1960). In all, she acted in 24 films. Her last film was ‘Awaara Ladki’ (1967).

Sheila was very fond of sports especially football and swimming. Ballroom dancing was a virtual addiction for her and she used to go out for dancing as often as she could. Sheila was 5 feet four inches tall, and was so fastidious that any dress she would wear won’t be repeated for six months to come at least.

According to her son Rahul Cowasji, she married late Jall Edi Cowasji (President of Bombay Dyeing) on 31st March 1963 and retired from acting in 1962. Part of her family that remained in Pakistan converted to Islam. She was a Hindu. She used to live in Bombay with her husband Jall Cowasji till 1981. They moved to Khartoum (in Sudan, Africa) for 3 years and then to Sri Lanka for 3 years. After her husband’s death in 1984 she migrated to Australia on her own in the late 1980’s and lived in Sydney and Surfer’s Paradise until health problems required her to return to India in the new millennium. She used to live in her husband’s ancestral home in Mhow, near Indore (Madhya Pradesh). She was frail and bed ridden for few years before her death on 15-7-2015.

Her favorite Hindi film of her career was ‘Taxi Driver’ (1954). Sheila was also the leading lady of India’s first Sindhi film after partition – ‘Abana’ (1958), in which, young Baby Sadhana played her younger sister’s role. (Thanks to Cineplot and Sheila’s son Rahul, for some of the information in this Bio).

One more person from the cast of the film – Ram Mohan – needs introduction to our readers with his short Bio. Ram Mohan Sharma, a young, handsome lad from Ambala, was born on 2-11-1929. He was a graduate (BA) and had come to Bombay in 1945 in search of a career in cinema.

The youngster, who was in his early twenties, with fair colour, curly hairs & sharp features, approached Jagdish Sethi to get work in movies as an actor.  Jagdish Sethi found him sincere and gave him a supporting role in ‘Jaggu’ (52), which he was to make. The movie had very good music, scored by Hansraj Behl & it had moderate success, when released. Later, Ram Mohan got small roles in few movies & in 1954, Sethi Sahab took him in the romantic role opposite Shyama in ‘Pensioner’. The movie did not do well & it was the end of Ram Mohan’s career as hero.

Life goes on and he decided to accept any role offered to him. Soon he was a known name in the film circles. In ‘Do Behnen’ (1959), which had Shyama in double role, Ram Mohan enacted the role of villain, which gave his career a big boost as bad man. Later he came in contact with Sunil Dutt & Nargis and forged a permanent friendship with them. Although Ram Mohan mostly got roles of tough characters, but inside he was soft hearted. He was a member of film artists association. He requested Sunil Dutt Ji who was feeling depressed after Nargis Ji passed away, to help the ‘Have Nots’ of film industry. Virtually an encyclopedia of film industry, Ram Mohan knew every technician, junior artists as well as old & forgotten artists, who needed help. Whenever they both were free, they used to visit the ailing artists in hospital or their residences, to give them moral and financial support. Charatcter actor Rajan Haksar was in a charity hospital, after failure of his kidneys. Both benevolent persons visited the hapless artist to boost his spirit. Ram Mohan was a confidant of Asha Parekh, the kind hearted lady who was president of the Artists Association & they together helped many artists, who were in dire need of assistance.

Ram Mohan was also the vice president of CINTAA (Cine and TV Artists Association) for 4 years and secretary for 6 years. Ram Mohan Ji had high reputation every where and when he came to know about the miserable condition of AK Hangal, he met a political leader and arranged the financial help through Maharashtra Govt, on a regular basis. At the time of bereavement, he made it a point to help the family till all religious formalities were over. Every one in the film industry used to address him as Ram Mohan Ji ,to show their genuine respect to him.

In his career of more than five decades, Ram Mohan appeared in more than 250 movies (the number varies from 240 to 277), mostly in negative roles. He did not believe in self publicity and did his philanthropic work quietly. Ram Mohan was keeping indifferent health for six months, when his pillar of strength, his life partner passed away. Ram Mohan Ji also followed suit and breathed his last on 06th December 2015 .

Ram Mohan had 3 sons and 1 daughter, all very well settled in life. He will always be gratefully remembered by thousands of anonymous film artists who were helped by him. His memories will be cherished by his admirers, who loved his work on and off the screen. Truly, to find people like him, in this era is rarity. Let us hope his selfless work will inspire other persons connected with the film industry to help their less fortunate colleagues and the tradition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam set by him will continue. He found an admirer in Gulzar Sahab ,who always referred him as Ram Mohan Ji. Please see the credit titles of Izaazat, where his name is mentioned as Ram Mohan ji. (Thanks to Blog – ‘Beete Hue Din’, and Shri MN Sardana ji, for some of this information).

Today’s song certainly reminds us the type of club music of the late 1950s and early 1960s. This, of course, is not a club song, but a love song between hero and heroine. The song does not have anything to suggest the famous Anil Biswas touch of yore. It is one of those routine songs of those times.

Song – Dekh o babu dekh (Return of Mr Superman) (1960) Singer – Meena Kapoor, Lyricist – PL Santoshi, MD – Anil Biswas

Lyrics

dekh o baabu dekh
o baabu dekh
dekh o baabu dekh
o baabu dekh
dil ki dukaan se main layi hoon ye cake
marzi ho to take baabu
marzi ho na take
o babu dekh
dekh o baabu dekh
o baabu dekh
dekh o baabu dekh

bahut hai mehngi
bahut hai sasti
gaahak ki jaisi ho hasti
bahut hai mahangi
bahut hai sasti
gaahak ki jaisi ho hasti
le jaayega koi dilwaala kismat waala cake
o baabu dekh
dekh o baabu dekh
o baabu dekh
dekh o ba abu dekh

dekh ke iski lazzat mister
ho jaayegi ulfat mister
dekh ke iski lazzat mister
ho jaayegi ulfat mister
lekin sun lo shart humari
doge na tum phenk
for godsake
dekh o baabu dekh
o baabu dekh
dekh o baabu dekh

hum to tumse pyaar karega
pyar ka hi iqraar karega
hum to tumse pyaar karega
pyar ka hi iqraar karega
chaahe ho nadiya ka kinara
chaahe romantic lake
o baabu dekh
dekh o baabu dekh
o baabu dekh
dekh o baabu dekh

dil se dil ka sauda kar lo
pyaar se apna pocket bhar lo
dil se dil ka sauda kar lo
pyaar se apna pocket bhar lo
beet gayi gar yoonhi jawaani
ho jaaoge late
o baabu dekh
dekh o baabu dekh
o baabu dekh
dekh o baabu dekh

———————————————————–
Devnagri Script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————–
देख ओ बाबू देख
ओ बाबू देख
देख ओ बाबू देख
ओ बाबू देख
दिल की दुकान से मैं लाई हूँ एक केक
मर्ज़ी हो तो टेक बाबू
मर्ज़ी हो ना टेक
ओ बाबू देख
देख ओ बाबू देख
ओ बाबू देख
देख ओ बाबू देख

बहुत है महंगी
बहुत है सस्ती
गाहक की जैसी हो हस्ती
बहुत है महंगी
बहुत है सस्ती
गाहक की जैसी हो हस्ती
ले जाएगा कोई दिलवाला किस्मत वाला केक
ओ बाबू देख
देख ओ बाबू देख
ओ बाबू देख
देख ओ बाबू देख

देख के इसकी लज़्ज़त मिस्टर
हो जाएगी उलफत मिस्टर
देख के इसकी लज़्ज़त मिस्टर
हो जाएगी उलफत मिस्टर॰॰र्र
लेकिन सुन लो शर्त हमारी
दोगे ना तुम फेंक
फॉर गॉड सेक
देख ओ बाबू देख
ओ बाबू देख
देख ओ बाबू देख

हम तो तुमसे प्यार करेगा
प्यार का ही इक़रार करेगा
हम तो तुमसे प्यार करेगा
प्यार का ही इक़रार करेगा
चाहे हो नदिया का किनारा
चाहे रोमांटिक लेक
ओ बाबू देख
देख ओ बाबू देख
ओ बाबू देख
देख ओ बाबू देख

दिल से दिल का सौदा कर लो
प्यार से अपना पाकिट भर लो
दिल से दिल का सौदा कर लो
प्यार से अपना पाकिट भर लो
बीत गई गर यूं ही जवानी
हो जाओगे लेट
ओ बाबू देख
देख ओ बाबू देख
ओ बाबू देख
देख ओ बाबू देख