Archive for the ‘Asha Bhonsle-Shaminder duet’ Category
Aaj masti mein gaa
Posted on: September 30, 2023
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.
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Today’s duet song is from an obscure film of the mid 50’s – Pensioner-1954.
Having an obscure film in the 50’s is not very common, because in this decade the film industry was taking a new shape and growing very fast. New actors, directors, new themes, new and emerging composers were giving a new hope to the industry. Lilting music and a vast audience encouraged the industry. In such a situation most films had something to offer, hence almost every film was successful. But as is said, success does not come to all just because you are in the group. Films which had nothing to please the audience naturally became flops.
Today’s film is also one such flop film. First of all the story was over worked out and therefore was unbelievable. Too many coincidences do not happen in real life. The film ‘Pensioner’ tried to promote the Government’s efforts on the ” Small Savings” theme which was heavily promoted to make the banks self-reliant and people oriented. Many films used such promotional themes, but as a tool of entertainment, whereas ‘Pensioner’ story looked like a highly improbable and far stretched one to stress the importance of ” Small Savings”.
Here was a film about which absolutely no information was available anywhere on any site, Blog or the internet in general. Finally I decided to write to Shri Vishwas Nerurkar ji, who has a large collection of film booklets. On my request, he promptly sent me the photos of its booklet. Thanks to Mr. Nerurkar ji. Here is the story of the film ” Pensioner”-1954 based on the film booklet and few other sources….
Karamchand wanted an extension in service but his company refused and he had to retire from service of 30 years.
He had never saved any money during his service. He was helping the needy to study, work and feed his family. For every needy person he had extended help. He earned a name and respect, but this alone can not be used to feed his family or get his motherless daughter married. He was now worried since his pension was not enough to run the house or face any difficult situation.
Unfortunately one day he met with an accident. A kind hearted young man-Mohan- took him to a hospital and informed the daughter-Neha. he also learnt about their poor financial position. Mohan was an officer in a big multinational company. He was all alone as his parents had died in his childhood. It was Karamchand who helped him to complete his education till the end.
Mohan contacted people who were helped by Karamchand and they pooled a huge amount as a fund to help Karamchand. By coincidence, the Hospital was owned by Dr. Purohit who was also helped by Karam chand. Thus his treatment became free and after he came out of Hospital, Mohan arranged a big function to give him his new Bank passbook having a very big amount. Meanwhile love bloomed between Neha and Mohan and they got married. Karamchand also stayed with them.
The film was produced and directed by actor Jagdish Sethi under his own banner, J.S.Pictures, Bombay. It was shot at Shrikant Studio, Chembur. The screenplay and dialogues were by Balraj Mehta and the music was by Hansraj Behl. The cast was Shyama, Ram Mohan, Jagdish Sethi, ratnamala, Nimbalkar, Cuckoo, kathana, Jagdish raj, Gulab, Amina bai (sister of actor B.Nandrekar) and others. Today, we will take a look at 2 artistes whose names are not very well known. One is an actor-Nimbalkar, who came from the silent film era and the other is a singer-Shaminder- who came to films with a desire to sing a duet with Lata Mangeshkar.
Like any other language, there are writers and authors in Marathi too, who write on old films and old actors etc from the vintage Hindi films. One such author calls himself ” Babu Moshoi “. His articles are published regularly in newspapers, magazines etc. He has written several books. His real name is Hemant Desai. Another such writer in Hindi and Gujarati is Vithal Pandya. I have many such books in my library. Through these books I get to know old actors and their information, sometimes. I get surprised at many names as I read about some names about whom I had never known. For example, do you know who did King Dashrath’s role in films Bharat Milap-42 and Ramrajya-43, or the role of Kanva Muni in film Shakuntala-43 ? Who was the actress in Kaushalya’s role in Ramrajya-43 or Ram Vivah-49 ?
This actor was I. T. Nimbalkar and this actress was Shanta Kothari (nee Shanta Kumari). These were artistes from Silent film era, spilled over the Talkie films. They started as Hero and Heroine, but shifted to character roles, as the time went by. In our film industry, such cases are not new. In fact such type of actors who remained practically unknown to later generations of audiences, were highly respected by film people during shootings. Their seniority and work was respected.
This is a very good practice in the industry, by directors and other actors to give respect to old timers. Raj Kapoor used to send his car to fetch Bhudo Advani for shootings of film Boot Polish scenes. Hrishikesh Mukherjee kept special chair for Master Shiraz, during the shooting of film Guddi. He also ensured to feature Shiraz in the film credits. These are only samples to stress what I have said. Not every such matter is published but it is a special feature of the industry.
I try to gather information on such unknown and forgotten artistes and write on them. Not everytime I am successful, but I have written about many such actors, directors, MDs etc. Some of them are Omkar Devaskar, Zunzar rao pawar, Ganapat rao Bakare, Shankar rao Vazare, Naseem Junior, Shamim Jr, Altaf, Urmila, Ranjana, kusum Deshpande, Vasant rao Thengadi, Jamshed ji etc etc. Today, we will know more about one such old time actor who was prolific and worked in films of Bombay and Calcutta.
I.T.Nimbalkar aka Indurao T. Nimbalkar ( he was always credited as only ‘ Nimbalkar ‘ in all films) was born on 6-12-1893, in Kolhapur state. This was the time Kolhapur was slowly developing as Kalapur (hub of arts) and the seeds of film making were being planted there. Baburao Painter, one of the original film makers had started his ” Maharashtra Film Company” on 1-12 1917.
Baburao, Damle, Fattelal etc were taught painting By Anandrao painter, who was an extraordinary painter of those times. All these people, along with V Shantaram, Keshavrao Dhaiber and few more also joined Baburao painter’s Maharashtra Film company. True that, film making had started even earlier in Maharashtra, but Baburao painter is credited with making films a form of art and spreading it on a larger canvas of India.
Indurao Nimbalkar grew up in this atmosphere in Kolhapur. He passed his Matriculation exam and also did a diploma in Printing. Nimbalkar was six feet tall and had a good physique. He was expert in riding, swimming and wrestling. He did 1000 sit-ups every day. Shahu Maharaj, the king of Kolhapur encouraged all arts as well as development of lower castes. Arya Samaj had a ‘ Gurukul’ in Kolhapur. Impressed with Nimbalkar’s education and body, Shahu ji appointed him as Editor of the weekly ‘ Arya’ and secretary of Gurukul.
One day Baburao Painter, along with assistant V Shantaram visited his press and offered Nimbalkar a role in his proposed film Sairandhri. Shahu Maharaj also permitted and encouraged him ,so Nimbalkar joined the film line. He was already famous due to his fiery editorials and now people came to see his shootings too. However, due to money shortage, the film did not complete. ( It was later made in 1919, but with different cast. V Shantaram made coloured Sairandhri in 1933 with Nimbalkar again).
Nimbalkar acted in many silent films like Baji Deshpande, Khazanchi (directed by Moti gidwani- England returned), Lanka, Kismet (directed by Baburao Patel) etc etc. After the closure of Maharashtra F. Co., Nimbalkar was invited by V Shantaram to do Vishvamitra’s role in its first Talkie film ” Ayodhya ka Raja” -1932, in Hindi and Marathi. After this, he did Jalti Nishani-32, Sairandhri-33, Maya Machhindra-32, Sinhagadh-23 etc.
After this, Nimbalkar went to Calcutta on invitation and worked in films made by Radha Films, Laxmi Studios, Devdatta films and New Theatres. From 1934 to 1938, he acted in 12 Hindi films. He was provided a Bungalow, car with driver, servants etc. His son studied in local school there. Returning to Bombay he worked as an assistant director to Keshavrao Dhaiber for film ‘Nandkumar’-38, made by his Jayashree Films. Next 2 years he shuttled between Calcutta and Bombay. He did King Dashrath’s role in Prakash films’ Bharat Milap-42 and Ramrajya-43 in this period.
He was invited by V Shantaram for acting in his first film under banner of Rajkamal- Shakuntala-43. Nimbalkar did the role of Kanva Muni in it. He later also acted in Jeevan yatra-46, Subah ka tara-54, Parchhain-52, Teen batti char rasta-53, Toofan aur Diya-56, Z Z Payal baje-55. Earlier he did Aapki sewa mein-47, Prarthana-44,Nal Damayanti-45, Seedha Rasta-41, Gokul-46, Apna Ghar-42, Maharathi karna-44, Seeta Swayamvar-48. He worked in Pyasa-57, Mera Naam Joker-70, Amar Prem-60 etc etc. From 1928 to 1970 he acted in over 250 films.
His wife Sushila was also educated and looked after his home and children. She never visited any sets in her life time. Nimbalkar died on 17-1-1973 at Kolhapur. (Thanks to an article in book Chandraat-चांदरात by Babu Moshoi, in addition to my notes, HFGK, muVyz, CRTWF, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema and Film India magazines).
Shaminder( also known as Bhai Shaminder Singh) belonged to a wealthy landlord sikh family in Muktsar Sahib district of Punjab. It is said that the family owned almost half of the village where they stayed. Since his childhood, he was fond of music. He was a fan of Mohammed Rafi and Talat Mehmood whose songs he would listen on the radio for hours and sing in sync with their songs. He adored Lata Mangeshkar as a Goddess. As he grew up, singing became his hobby and he could sing songs in the style of Rafi and Talat at ease.
As I said earlier, singing a duet song with Lata Mangeshkar was his obsession and to achieve his goal, he left his village for Bombay (Mumbai) some time in 1953 and met Sardul Kwatra, who was an upcoming music director. Sardul found that Shaminder had the quality of a professional playback singer. He felt that here was a man who could sing in a voice which had a blend of Rafi and Talat. So he decided to use him as a playback singer for songs in his Punjabi film ‘Vanjara’ (1954) which was being produced by Sardul’s family. In this film, there was a duet song which he was planning to get Shamshad Begum to sing with Shaminder.
However, Shaminder was bent upon singing this song with Lata Mangeshkar. To fulfil his obsession, he offered a carrot to Sardul by way of financing his Punjabi film. This trick worked with Sardul. I had read elsewhere that Sardul Kwatra was a charming person especially among women folks. Probably with his charm, he must have persuaded Lata Mangeshkar to sing a Punjabi song with a newcomer Shaminder. Fortunately for Shaminder, not only this duet song but all songs sungs by him in this film became hits with the masses of Punjab.
Having tasted success, Shaminder was now interested in singing in Hindi films and again his obsession was singing a duet with Lata Mangeshkar. He got the chance to sing with her in the film ‘Pilpili Saheb’ (1954). It is said that he also got a chance to sing with Asha Bhonsle in today’s film. He did get the chance to sing a song with Geeta Dutt in the film ‘Son of Alibaba’ (1954). I find that he sang almost all of his Hindi film songs under the baton of Sardul Kwatra. Later, S Mohinder also took him as a playback singer for Punjabi films.
Having fulfilled his obsession to sing with Lata Mangeshkar, he was no longer very much interested in playback singing. By late 50s/early 60s, he turned to acting in Punjabi and
Hindi films. In Punjabi films he mostly acted in lead roles while in Hindi films, he got side roles in about half a dozen films including ‘Aas Ka Panchhi’(1961) and ‘Anpadh’ (1962). In the latter film, one can see Shaminder with Bindu in the song picturisation of jiya le gayo ji mora sanwariya. Later on, he acted mainly in Punjabi films. He passed away some time in the early 90s.
Here is the duet of Asha and Shaminder for you….
Song- Aaj masti mein gaa (Pensioner)(1954) Singers- Asha Bhonsle, Shaminder , Lyrics-Naqsh Llayalpuri, MD-Hansraj Bahl
Female chorus
Male chorus
All chorus
Asha Bhonsle + Shaminder
Lyrics
Aaj masti mein gaa
fikr kal ki hai kya
Aaj masti mein gaa
fikr kal ki hai kya
jo bhee hoga
wo kismat mein teree likhaa
aaj masti mein gaa
fikr kal ki hai kya
lalalala
ho ho ho ho
laalaa
o o
o o o o o o
o o o o o
o ho ho ho
ho ho ho ho
dekho to duniya
dekho to duniya
socho to sapna
socho to sapna
dekho to duniya
socho to sapna
agar dil hai zindaa
agar dil hai zindaa
sab kuchh apna
sab kuchh apna
sab kuchh hai apna
aaj masti mein gaa
hahahaha
fikr kal ki hai kya
ho ho ho
aaj masti mein gaa
fikr kal ki hai kya
bahaaron mein jhoolen
bahaaron mein jhoolen
nazaaron mein jhoomen
nazaaron mein jhoomen
bhaaron mein jhoolen
nazaaron mein jhoomen
chalo hum gagan ke
chalo hum gagan ke taaron mein ghoomen
taaron mein ghoomen
taaron mein ghoomen
aaj masti mein gaa
aa haha
fikr kal ki hai kya
o ho ho ho
hoga jo kismat mein tere likha
aa ha ha
o ho ho
aaj masti mein gaa
o ho ho ho
fikr kal ki hai kya
o o
o o o o
o o o o
o ho ho ho
o o
o ho ho ho
thokar se raahen
thokar se raahen
banaata chalaa jaa
banaata chalaa jaa
thokar se raahen
banaata chalaa jaa
naya rang le kar
naya rang le kar
duniya pe chhaa
duniya pe chhaa
duniya pe chhaa jaa
aaj masti mein gaa
fikr kal ki hai kya
wohee hoga jo kismat mein teree likaa
aaj masti mein gaa
fikr kal ki hai kya
lalalaalaa
ho ho
laa laa
ho ho
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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