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 very old – almost 83 year old – film, from the first decade of Talkie films – Khudai Khidmadgar-1937. The film was made by Bharat Lakshmi Pictures, Calcutta. It was directed by the all rounder Vithaldas Panchotia, who also did an important role in the film. Music was by Nagardas Nayak. All the 12 songs in the film were sung by 6 singers and songs were written by Arzoo lucknavi.

In the early years of Talkie films Arzoo Lucknavi was an important and well known personality in the Calcutta Film circle. Since 1932, he was under a contract with New Theatre, where he wrote stories, dialogues and songs for their Hindi films. Due to his contract, he could not officially use his own name as a Lyricist for this outside film, hence he gave the name of his son – Tanvir – as the Lyricist.

Aarzoo Lakhnavi was one of the most respected poets of his era. His father Mir Zakir Hussain Yas, who was a disciple of Jalal Lakhnavi and his elder brother Mir Yusuf Hussain Qayas, both were poets. Arzoo, who was born on 26-2-1893 as Mohammed Hussain, was brought up in a cultured and fairly well-off household. He did his early education at home. Later, he learnt Arabic and Persian from some famous scholars of Lucknow.

His career as a poet began with the composition of a Marsia at the age of twelve. As a poet, he wrote Ghazal, Najm, Marsia, Kaseeda, Nath, Rubai, Salaam, Masnavi, Geet etc. Guided by Jalaal Lucknavi, he soon became skilled in the art of poetry. After Jalal passed away, Aarzoo was accepted as his heir to guide his disciples.

He came to Calcutta in 1932 and joined The New Theatres to write songs and dialogues of Hindi films. His Hindi was simple. He used to use minimum Arabic or Urdu words in Hindi songs. In Calcutta, he started writing songs,stories and dialogues for Hindi films. After 21 films in Calcutta, he moved to Bombay in 1942, where he wrote lyrics and dialogues for 32 more (Total 53 films and 246 songs) films.

Later, he migrated to Karachi after partition and joined Radio Pakistan. However his songs continued in our Hindi films till 1967. Though he had also written plays and other forms of poetry, he rose to fame mainly because of his ghazals. Three collections of Aarzoo’s ghazals, viz., Fughan-e-Aarzoo, Jahan-e-Aarzoo and Nishan-e-Aarzoo have been popular with the Urdu readers.

In Pakistan he participated in the competition to write the National Anthem. His poem was rejected because it talked of Secularism, Equality and Humanity. Another poem having 99% Arabic words was selected. He died in Karachi on 17th April 1961.

When I had first read this film’s name some years ago,I was under the impression that this could be a film on some story connected with the Political organization, Khudai Khidmadgar, in the pre-independence era. It was originally an organisation started for the upliftment of Afghan people. The literal meaning of these words is ‘ God’s servant’. Later, it became a political movement under the leadership of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan or Sarhad Gandhi. It was also called a “Red shirt” organisation.

During the mid 1930’s, the British Government was very strict, so obviously the film had nothing to do with politics. It was a plain simple Costume drama about a Saint like personality who helps people, thinking himself as ‘ God’s servant’. The film depicted how the cruel and unkind king changes, because of the teachings of this Saint.

The year 1937 was a year of Revolution for the newly started Talkie Film. Initially the films were mainly based on Folk tales, Parsi dramas and Mythological stories. 1937 was a year in which the Film industry was trying to drop its old skin and don a New Avtar. From this year, a variety of subjects were used to make films. If we briefly look at some path breaking, landmark films using Novel themes, we will understand how the film industry was attempting to change itself.

The newly established Minerva Movietone made a film on the importance and benefits of Celibacy in the film ‘Atma Tarang’.
Some artistes made their Debuts in 1937, like Ghulam Mohd.,MD for film Banke Sipahi, Comedian V H Desai in film Captain Kirti Kumar, Kishore Sahu in fil Jeevan prabhat, the eternal Mausi of Hindi films, Leela Mishra debuted in film Gangavataran. This was also a Debut film for Dadasaheb Phalke in making a Talkie film. David made his Debut in ‘Zambo-the ape man’.

Prakash films tried their hand at Stunt films with ‘ Challenge’ and ‘His Highness’, using Veterinary actors like Dogs, Horses and a Motorcycle. Prabhat’s iconic film ‘ Duniya Maane na’ shook All India audiences with its story. Shanta Apte sang an English song in it. Bombay Talkies made its first and last Mythological film ‘ Savitri ‘ with Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani.

Gangavataran was a film made by Dadasaheb Phalke. it was his First, the only and his last Talkie film too.

Imperial made India’s first indigenously made First colour film-Kisan Kanya. With this film, however, Master Nissar ended his ‘Hero’ ship as an actor.
Wadia Movietone made India’s first songless talkie film,’ Naujawan ‘, facing the ire of its audience for ‘cheating ‘ them !
‘Zambo – The Ape man ‘ became the first Tarzan type Indian talkie film, beginning a new Genre !
Maadan theatres Calcutta pulled its shutters down with their last Talkie film’ Zinda Bhoot ‘.

1937 was real path breaking for 2 solid reasons….One, for the first time, Playback singing started in a Bombay film with ‘Mahageet ‘. The song was sung by Anil Biswas, its MD and it was filmed on Hiren Bose, in the role of a beggar, near a crematorium (Smashan Bhoomi), as per book ‘ Music without Boundaries’ by Dr. Ashok Ranade,pp183-186.
Secondly,for the first time, in an Indian film successful special effects were used in film ” Khwaab ki Duniya ” -a film by Prakash Pictures, based on the popular novel “The Invisible Man” by H G Wells. A Hollywood film by the same name was made in 1933. The trick scenes in this indian film were as good as the Hollywood film. Credit goes to Babubhai Mistri for creating actions of an Invisible man , on the screen. He was nicknamed ” Kala Dhaga ” after this film.

Today’s film Khudai Khidmadgar-37 was made with all these path breaking film carnivals. The cast of the film was. Vithaldas Panchotiya, Khaleel Ahmed, Mazhar Khan, Dar kashmiri, Shyam Sundar, Radha Rani, Ram Pyari, Sarla Devi, Snehlata, Master Fid Hussain and others.

Just before the advent of Talkie films, Parsi theatre and other drama companies were the only Entertainment sources. Parsi Theatre was famous and most successful because it travelled all over India to perform. They used special reserved Trains to carry people and sets,drapery etc for their company from kashmir to kanyakumari and Gujarat to Rangoon. The success of Parsi Theatre was attributed to Pt. Narayan Prasad Betaab, Pt. Radheshyam Kathavachak, Agha Hashra Kashmiri and Master Fida Hussain – called the four Pillars of Dramas.

Our Sadanand Kamath ji has already written about Betaab, Kashmiri and Kathavachak. Today I will write on the remaining Pillar – Master Fida Hussain to complete the quartet.

Fida Hussain (11/03/1898 to 10-7-1999) was born in Moradabad (UP) in a conservative family. Right from childhood, Fida Hussain was fond of singing. It is quite likely that he got interested in singing because of the travelling theatres and nautanki groups that visited his town. Fida Hussain’s father and uncle did not like his interest in singing. Almost every day, the young Fida Hussain used to get beatings from his uncle for singing, though his father despite the dislike for the singing and music, spared him from beating.

But the more beatings he got, his fondness for singing increased. He also started watching the free shows of nautanki (folk theatre) which culminated into his love for the acting as well. This enraged his married elder brother who instigated his wife to do something to affect his voice. One day, she served him paan with vermilion powder which resulted in loss of his voice for nearly six months. After getting his voice back thanks to a visiting Sadhu who gave him some prescriptions, Fida Hussain started attending nautanki shows with a greater vigour than before.

In 1917, Fida Hussain joined a local drama club and got training for six months before being given a female role in the drama ‘Shahi Faqeer’. In this way, the path toward theatre opened for him. Soon, with the recommendation of his local drama club’s President, he went on to join the New Alfred Theatrical Company which was touring around Delhi for staging ‘Veer Abhimanyu’. In January 1918, Fida Hussain ran away from his home in Moradabad for Delhi leaving his newly married wife at home.

The New Alfred company never employed female actors. Hence the female roles were performed by the male actors like Master Nissar. Fida Hussain also got mostly the female roles in New Alfred.

Once when New Alfred was staging a show in Meerut, one of the boys from his neighbourhood recognised Fida Hussain and promptly reported the matter to his father. His father-in-law promptly lodged a complaint with police and an arrest warrant was issued. This entire episode is too big to cover here. The conclusion of this episode was Fida Hussain got a reprieve from his father, who allowed him reluctantly to continue with his passion after getting assurances from him that he would never indulge in intoxication (of any form), gambling, always keep high morality and keep in touch with his family by visiting his hometown.

With his domestic issues getting resolved amicably, Fida Hussain could now concentrate fully on theatres. His association with New Alfred continued until it closed down in 1930. His most popular dramas under New Alfred were ‘Parivartan’ (1922), ‘Veer Abhimanyu (c 1923), ‘Parambhakt Prahlad’ (c 1923), ‘Shri Krishna Avatar’ (1924-25), ‘Ishwar Bhakti’ (1928), ‘Laila Majnu’ (1930). Except for ‘Laila Majnu’, Fida Hussain played the female roles in all these plays.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Fida Hussain got associated with many theatre companies all over north, east and west India, the prominent being Alfred, Madan (pronounced as Maadon), Shah Jahan, Narsi, Mohan and finally taking up the reins of Moonlight Theatre owned by Marwadi brothers in Calcutta (now Kolkata). During this period, Fida Hussain worked in ‘Nal Damyanti’, ‘Yahudi Ki Ladki’, Khoobsoorat Balaa’, ‘Seeta Banvas’, ‘Chalta Purza’, ‘Bhakta Narsi Mehta’, ‘Bharat Milap’, ‘ Krishna Leela’ and many more.

In 1939, he donned the title role of Narsi Mehta in the play ‘Bhakt Narsi Mehta’. The play became a hugely popular hit and it played for over 1000 nights. Because of this, Fida Hussain was honoured with the title ‘Narsi’ which he proudly used as a suffix to his name as Fida Hussain ‘Narsi’.

With the advent of talkies, Fida Hussain, like many other artists from theatres, was associated with a few Hindi films during 1934-46 as an actor-singer. The first film he worked was ‘Ramayan’ (1934) followed by ‘Insaf Ki Tope’ (1934), ‘Kunwaari Ya Vidhwa’ (1935), ‘Diljaani’ (1935), ‘Dil Ki Pyaas’ (1935), ‘Daku Ka Ladka’ (1935), ‘Balidaan’ (1935), ‘Khudaai Kitmadgaar’ (1937), ‘Matwali Meera’ (1940), ‘Bambaiwaali’ (1941), ‘Arabian Nights’ (1946) and ‘Toote Sapne’ (1946, Unreleased).

Except for ‘Bambaiwaali’ (1941) which was produced in Bombay (Mumbai), rest of films in which Fida Hussain worked were produced in Calcutta (Kolkata) where he was associated with Moonlight Theatres. I find that barring one or two films, he had small roles in the rest of his films. It is quite possible that due to his immense popularity on stage as an actor-singer, the producers of the films may have taken him in their films to attract his large fans to watch the films. My guess is that Fida Hussain did not have much interest in working in films as his heart was with the theatre.

Fida Hussain continued his association with Moonlight Theatres, Calcutta (Kolkata) where he was the boss. The owners (4 Marwadi brothers) did not interfere in any aspects of the Moonlight Theatre so long as they earned profit from this venture. I am surprised as to how Fida Hussain could successfully compete with Hindi films and run the Moonlight Theatres profitably in the 1950s and 60s. In 1968 when Fida Hussain completed 50 years in Parsi Theatre, he decided to retire from the theatre activities and spend the rest of his life with his extended family in Moradabad. With his retirement, the Moonlight Theatre was closed and with this the glorious years of Parsi Theatre came to an end.

However, Fida Hussain remained busy during most of his post-retirement years. Being the only living legend of Parsi theatres, his knowledge about the old theatrical styles were utilised for those interested in theatre. He became a regular visiting faculty for the National School of Drama, New Delhi until the 90s. He also conducted workshops for students who were pursuing their interest in the theatre. He was often one of the invitees to symposiums and seminars on Indian theatres. In 1985, Fida Hussain received the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in recognition of his contributions to Indian theatres. In 1978, he received the Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for acting. Fida Hussain passed away on 10-7- 1999.

Fida Hussain may be one of the few theatre personalities who commanded not only the respect but also kept his reputation high even during his poet-retirement years. He was also one of a few artists who judiciously used his earnings to create a bright future for his two sons and two daughters. At the time of his death, Fida Hussain was the owner of two brassware business firms in Moradabad which were run by his two sons.

During his theatre days, Fida Hussain recorded more than 200 songs with HMV. However, his filmy songs are few (may be less than 20) and it seems some of them were not issued on gramophone records.

Harmandir Singh Hamraz ji , who compiled the Hindi film geet Kosh, told an anecdote about Fida Hussain. During the data collection work of his geet kosh, Hamraj got the address of Fida Hussain in Moradabad. He wrote him a letter, requesting for an appointment to collect some data. For many days there was no reply. Suddenly, one day in the morning, Hamraz was astonished to see Fida Hussain at his doorstep. Fida Hussain said, ” I got your letter, but I wanted to see who this person is, who wants to know about the matters of 50 years ago. So I came here.” Hamraz ji kept him in his house for a week or so and he also gave all possible valuable information to Harmandir Singh Ji. This story is told by Harmandir ji himself.

Today’s song is sung by Master Fida Hussain, who did the role of a General of Army in the film. This song was repeated 4 times in the film, as told by Fida Hussain himself.

( My thanks for information from book ” The stages of Life” by Kathryn Hansen, Listener’s Bulletins, book ” पूर्वसुरींचे सूर ” by Dr. Suresh Chandvankar, Flashback by Isak Mujawar and my own notes over the years)

Song-Khoti duniya badi Rangeeli dekh na dhokha khaana baaba (Khudaai Khidmatgaar)(1937) Singer- Master Fida Hussain, Lyricist-Arzoo Lucknowi, MD- Nagardas Nayak

Lyrics

Khoti duniya badi Rangeeli
dekh na dhokha khaana baaba
phool mein kaantaa chhupa hua hai
mumkin hai chubh jaana baaba

is jeene ka kaun bharosa
ye jeena kya jeena aa aa
chalti saans hawa ka jhonka
ye aana wo jaana baaba

na thhe jin zaalimon ke zulm se
aman o amaan baaqi
mite aise ke ab khud bhi nahin unka nishaan baaqi
sukh mein sukh hai
dukh mein dukh hai
jo dena so paana baaba

lamba rasta kos kade hain
aur akele jaana aa aa
khaai kuyen se se bachte rehna
samajh ke paaon badhaana baaba

jaane waale aake mein(?) rang e chaman dikhla gaye
chaar din mein chaal gul mahke
khile murjha gaye
do din ka hai hera phera
aaj aana kal jaana baaba
do din ka hai hera phera
aaj aana kal jaana baaba
khoti duniya badi rangeeli
dekh na dhokha khaana baaba
phool mein kaanta chhupa hua hai
mumkin hai chubh jaana baaba aa aa aa