Archive for the ‘Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh’ Category
Mann Mandir Mein Aa Ja Sajanva Aa Ja
Posted on: May 26, 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 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 : |
3964 | Post No. : | 15046 | Movie Count : |
4126 |
Today’s song is from an obscure film ‘Ye hai Zindagi’ from 1947.
Very few people must have heard about this film. That is probably because, it was made in 1947- the year of India’s Partition. As the year 1947 began, news was circulating about the partition. Like many other industries, film industry was also worried. There was an air of uncertainty. Who will stay and who will migrate was hotly debated in the privacy of homes, studios and clubs. People looked at each others with suspicion. Muslims were worried about their safety in India, in spite of the assurances by Gandhi and Nehru.
Crores of rupees were invested in films. After the second world war started in 1939, lot of black money was generated and much of it came into film industry. Investors, financiers and producers were worried about half made films. Everybody seemed to be in a hurry to finish his assignment on hand. Due to this, the quantity of films increased, sadly at the cost of quality. 1947 saw a record number of films made in 1947- 181 Hindi films, the highest ever since films were made. It took another 40 years to break this record in 1988, when 185 films were made.
Almost 75 to 80 % films of 1947 were obscure and forgotten within a short time.Films like ‘Aisa Kyun’, ‘Atom Bomb’, ‘Barrister’, ‘Beete Di’n, ‘Chalte Chalte’, ‘Chandrahaas’, ‘Dehati’, ‘Daulat Ke Liye’, ‘Extra Girl’, ‘Farz’, ‘Gaurav’, ‘Gudiya’, ‘Heera’, ‘Janata’, ‘Jhalak’, ‘Khandaani’, ‘Lalat’, ‘Manmaani’, ‘Mere Bhagwan’, ‘Mohan’, ‘Nai Baat’, ‘Pehla Pyar’, ‘Paro’, ‘Riwaaz’, ‘Shabari’, ‘Shahkaar’, ‘Tohfa’, ‘Toote Dil’, ‘Veerangana are some of the films made in 1947. How many of us even know about them? Actually, some of these were films in which well known and major stars of the times had acted. For example, ‘Mohan’ had Dev Anand as hero, ‘Lalat’ was the debut film of Usha Kiran (as Usha Marathe), Prem Adib and Vanmala had acted in ‘Chandrahaas’ etc.
Not that ALL films were bad. Certainly some famous and excellent films providing some milestones of Hindi cinema were also made in 1947, like ‘Aapki Sewa Mein’ (first Hindi playback song of Lata Mangeshkar), ‘Bela’ (all 10 songs by Zohrabai Ambalawali), ‘Dard’ (Debut song of Uma Devi), ‘Elaan’ (a bold Muslim social film by Mehboob Khan), ‘Jugnu’ (the only film of Dilip kumar and Noorjehan), ‘Meera’ ( all 18 songs by MS Subbulaxmi), ‘Mirza Sahibaan’ (last film of Noorjehan in India), ‘Neel Kamal’ (debut of Raj kapoor and Madhubala as lead pair), ‘Parwana’ (last film of KL Saigal), ‘Shaadi Se Pehle’ (first duet of Rafi and Lata) and ‘Shehnai’ (epoch making music by C Ramchandra).
Nevertheless partition did have an impact on the film industry, due to the migration of artistes from both countries. LAHORE, an important city in the undivided Punjab in the pre-independence days was one of the major film making centres in India. Talented actors and musicians from all Punjab and Sindh area tried their luck in the Cine Industry at Lahore. Nevertheless, the biggest centre of film production was Bombay and it was every aspiring artiste’s dream to go to Bombay and shine there.
Film ‘Ye Hai Zindagi’ (1947) was made in Lahore by Narang Productions – owned by SD Narang, actor, producer, director, studio owner, writer and lyricist too. The life story of Narang is simply fascinating. To know that such a highly qualified and educated person worked in films is in itself unbelievable. Here is his life story.
Here is a story which is stunning and unbelievable ! A young man was born on 18-6-1918, at Lyallpur, Punjab. He studied hard and got high education. First he did B.Sc., then completed M.B.B.S. and became a medical doctor. Later he submitted a thesis and got his Ph.D. All this from Lahore Medical College. He also wrote some research papers and 2 books. With this sparkling education, he could have had a luxurious living, but he chose to join the uncertain film world. True to his wont, he succeeded here too and became a hero, producer, director, studio owner, a lyricist and a writer.
Yes, in the early era of the late 30s,when educated people were a rarity, this highly qualified young man came into films. His name was SATYA DEV NARANG or simply, SD Narang (18-6-1918 to 25-1-1986 ). Here are some highlights of his life, adapted from site sdnarangsfan.com,
- During his life, from 1918 to 1986, he had served the Indian Film Industry, at three capitals of this industry, Lahore (1936 to 1946), Kolkatta (1947 to 1951) and Bombay (1952 to 1980), as hero, producer, director, writer and studio owner.
- He had the distinction of being the highest educated man in the film industry. He was B.Sc., M.B.B.S and Ph. D from Lahore Medical College.
- He had the credit of being the debut making leading man of ‘Khazaanchi’ which was the first Indian film to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.
- He was the youngest leading man in Lahore, who played the lead in ‘Khazaanchi’, ‘Raavi Paar’, ‘Zamindar’, ‘Patwaari’, ‘Gawaandi’, ‘Thekedar’, ‘Sahara’, ‘Ye Hai Zindagi’ (his first venture as producer-director) and ‘Kamini’.
- In Kolkotta he produced ‘Chittagong Armoury Raid’, which was India’s ‘First Revolutionary Film’. He also produced ‘Nai Bhabhi’, ‘Ek Raat’, ‘Aprajitha’, and ‘Chiner Putuland’, and also played the leading roles in these films. Apart from his own movies, he played the lead in ‘Iran Ki Ek Raat’ and ‘Kajari’, which were produced by outside producers.
- After partition, he had to leave Lahore, like a refugee, leaving all his assets and immovable property behind him. With his hard work and experience once again he was able to establish himself as the hero, producer, director, writer and studio owner at Delhi. But the studio proved disaster in disguise for him. Being a soft hearted person, he was giving credit to the producers, who used to shoot their films in his studio. They duped him and he had to suffer heavy losses. With this bitter experience he left the city and entered the City of Dreams and the capital of entertainment, Bombay, in 1952.
- Being a passionate movie maker, SD Narang was able to get himself settled in Bombay, within a very short span of time. He had already dedicated himself for the service of silver screen. Once again he arose alive from his own ashes, like a phoenix.
- He made his presence felt in a big way in the big City of Bombay.
He produced and directed many films with big stars. In ‘Tanhaai’ and ‘Darbaan’ he played the leading role himself. Some of the important films produced by him in Mumbai include, ‘Arab Ka Saudagar’, ‘Yahudi Ki Ladki’, ‘Dilli Ka Thug’, ‘Sagaai’, ‘Babul Ki Kaliyan’, ‘Do Thug’, ‘Ram Kasam’, ‘College Girl’, ‘Do Ustad’, ‘Kismatwala’ and ‘Nishaanebaaz’. He had also produced ‘Shehnai’, which was India’s first Air-Force film. - He was also the producer of ‘Bombay Ka Chor’, which was India’s first ‘Holiday-on-Ice’ movie.
- He has also the credit of producing India’s first under-water movie, ‘Anmol Moti’ – a Jeetendra and Rekha starrer.
- The movie maker with Midas touch, Dr. SD Narang, had spent his 50 golden years of his cinematic profession, in the service of Silver Screen (1936-86).
- Before venturing into film industry as the leading man, SD Narang, had an aptitude for research and while studying in Lahore Medical College, he did research on ‘Binocular Theory Of Vision’, which was published in his college Magazine. He bagged the Ph. D and became the Doctor of Philosophy, though he was already a Doctor of Medicine.
- Apart from being the author of a novel ‘Hippy Aur Yogi’ and ‘Human Psychology’, he had written a most praiseworthy book, ‘An Introduction To The Theory Of Bio-Economics’. It was actually a new approach to diagnosis and cure of inflation and poverty. If applied this theory on present global financial crisis, it can change face of fiscal fate of the world.
- In 1960 he got married to actress of his time Smriti Biswas, with whom he had played the lead in many films. After her marriage she stopped to sign new films, and decided to play the roles of faithful wife and caring mother. She preferred to prepare food for his beloved sons Rajiv Narang and Satyajeet Narang.
The cast of this film consisted of M Ismail, Kalavati, Begum Parveen, Roofi, Abu Shah, MA Mirza, Bina, Ibrahim, Narang and others. Most of these migrated to Pakistan. The hero of the film was M Ismail.
M.Ismail was born in 1902 in a jeweller family of Lahore. He was a very good designer and calligrapher.
M. Ismail was a resident of the Inner Bhati Gate in Lahore. Well built and fair complexioned, Ismail had blue eyes, and was quite attractive. Mian Abdul Rasheed Kardar (the famous AR Kardar), also belonged to the same area in Lahore. M Ismail used to work as a golden calligrapher, while Kardar was involved in sketching and illustration.
They went to Bombay in 1927, and according to Ismail, he and Kardar played the role of Kaedoo and side hero respectively, in Imperial Company’s ‘Heer Ranjha’. But conditions weren’t helpful, and the two young men had to return to Lahore. Fortunately, for them, during 1928, Premier Film Company started a film called ‘Daughters Of Today’. Both Kardar and Ismail were inducted into the cast, but the film remained incomplete.
Later, Kardar learned production and became well known as a brilliant technician. Kardar established his own film making firm in 1930, called United Players Corporation, and cast Ismail in his early silent movies like ‘Mysterious Eagle’ aka ‘Husn Ka Daku’, which also had Kardar in a central role. Others in the cast were Gulzar Begum, Ghulam Qadir, Ahmed Deen and an American actress, Aeris Crawford. Ismail also acted in Kardar’s film, ‘Safdar Jang’, and both these early silent films were very successful. This led Kardar to cast him in ‘Shepherd King’ (‘Gadarya’) and ‘Golden Dagger’ (‘Sunehri Khanjar’). In those days, every film used to have an English title and an Urdu one.
After ‘Alam Ara’ (1931) opened the way for talkies, Ismail became even more popular. In Kardar’s ‘Hoor e Punjab’, an adaptation of Heer Ranjha, Ismail again played the role of Kaedoo, the intriguing ice uncle of Heer, which he repeated yet again later, in film ‘Heer Siyal’, with his characteristic style. His other films in India include ‘Alif Laila’, ‘Dekha Jaega’, ‘Mast Faqeer’, ‘Raja Gopi Chand’, ‘Prem Pujari’, ‘Watan Parast’, ‘Sohni Mahiwal’, ‘Laila Majnoon’, ‘Zamindar’ and others.
In 1948, M Ismail came to Pakistan, and immediately got offers from seniors like Nazir, whose films, ‘Pherey’, ‘Laarey’, ‘Anokhi Dastaan’ and ‘Shehri Babu’ included him in their cast. His first film here was ‘Hichkole’ (1949). Observing his work, another promising and experienced director, Anwar Kamal Pasha offered him some good roles. His films – ‘Ghulam’, ‘Gumnaam’, ‘Qatil’, ‘Inteqam’ and others were the earliest hits of Pakistan. Luqman also cast him in ‘Patan’, and ‘Mehbooba’ was another one that was appreciated.
Similarly Nazeer Ajmeri’s ‘Qismat’ and ‘Paigham’, Munshi Dil’s ‘Hasrat’ and ‘Ishq e Laila’ and SM Dar’s ‘Saltanat’ and ‘Dulla Bhatti’ were also amongst his famous movies. His other films were ‘Darwaaza’, ‘Subah Kaheen Sham Kaheen’, ‘Patey Khan’, ‘Piya Milan Kee Aas’, ‘Jameela’, ‘Bada Aadmi’, ‘Zehr e Ishq’ and many others. M Ismail was a charming person, with a rural simplicity and a very forgiving disposition. Endearingly called Bhaiyya jee in the industry, M Ismail’s roles of good hearted, forgetful, careless and sometimes cynical man were the best that he did. But, in many films, he performed a perfect villainish role, including the earlier mentioned, ‘Hoor e Punjab’, which had a historic role of Kaedoo. This one was only bettered later, by that most sterling artiste, Ajmal, who made Kaedoo legendary with his gestures in Khwaja Khurshid Anwar’s ‘Heer Ranjha’.
In ‘Yamla Jat’ and ‘Khazaanchi’, in India, he did very fine title roles, while K Asif’s ‘Phool’ portrayed him as an old hakeem from Turkey, which he did to perfection. As a villain in Indian film, ‘Wamiq Azra’, he presented an individual style, with his full facial expressions. By full facial expressions means that most artistes use the eyes and the forehead, but M Ismail, with a tremendous mobility of his motor mouth, his sagging cheeks and his prominent and protruding jowls, used a tremendous expanse of his face, which aided him in doing old men’s roles very early in his career.
In those days, there was much importance of finding a characteristic face for films and not handsome or beautiful faces, which is the trend today. That was the reason that more such fine artistes were available to the screen. In Nazeer Ajmeri’s ‘Qismat’, he played a unique role of a man, who is too forgetful to even remember his own name. It was a most hilarious performance from a truly talented actor of his times. M Ismail got a Presidential Award for this role in ‘Qismat’.
His last film in Pakistan was ‘Maan Jawaani Da’ (1976) – released after his death. He died on 22-11-1975 at Lahore.
The music was composed by Baba GA Chishti, who too migrated to Pakistan. Unlike many others, he became a successful composer in Pakistan. He spent his last years as a Faqir.
Today’s song is sung by an unknown female voice and chorus. The lyricist is also not known. Actually there were 3 Lyricists in this film, namely Arsh Lakhnavi, GA Chishti and Pandit Madhur. However, HFGK does not provide any information on singer or the Lyricist.
(I am thankful to Narang’s site, Cineplot, Film Directory-1946, and my notes for information used herein.)
Song – Mann Mandir Mein Aa Ja Sajanva Aa Ja (Ye Hai Zindagi) (1947) Singer – Unattributed, Lyrics – Unattributed, MD – GA Chishti
Chorus
Lyrics
mann mandir mein aa ja sajanva aa ja
aa ja
nainan beech samaa ja
sajanva aa ja
aa ja
mann mandir mein aa ja sajanva aa ja
aa ja
nainan beech samaa ja
sajanva aa ja
aa ja
tere bina mann doley
haan doley
tere bina mann doley
bhed na kholey
kachhu na boley
aaa aaa aaa
tere bina mann doley
bhed na kholey
kachhu na boley
mann ki dheer bandha ja
sajanva aa ja
haaaaaan aaaaaaaa
mann ki dheer bandha ja
sajanva aa ja
nainan beech samaa ja
sajanva aa ja
aa ja
mann mandir mein aa ja sajanva aa ja
aa ja
nainan beech samaa ja
sajanva aa ja
aa ja
kyon tu ne mukh moda
haan moda
kyon tu ne mukh moda
mera dil toda
saath kyon chhoda
haaaaaan aaaaaaaa
kyon tu ne mukh moda
mera dil toda
saath kyon chhoda
itni baat bataa jaa
sajanva aa ja
haaaaaan aaaaaaaa
itni baat bataa jaa
sajanva aa ja
nainan beech samaa ja
sajanva aa ja
aa ja
mann mandir mein aa ja sajanva aa ja
aa ja
nainan beech samaa ja
sajanva aa ja
aa ja
joban par din aaye
haan aaye
joban par din aaye
jiya ghabraaye
aap na aaye
haaaaaan aaaaaaaa
joban par din aaye
jiya ghabraaye
aap na aaye
aa ja mere raja
sajanva aa ja
haaaaaan aaaaaaaa
aa ja mere raja
sajanva aa ja
nainan beech samaa ja
sajanva aa ja
aa ja
mann mandir mein aa ja sajanva aa ja
aa ja
nainan beech samaa ja
sajanva aa ja
aa ja
mann mandir mein aa ja sajanva aa ja
aa ja
nainan beech samaa ja
sajanva aa ja
aa ja
———-————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
———————————————————-
मन मंदिर में आजा सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
नैनन बीच समा जा
सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
मन मंदिर में आजा सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
नैनन बीच समा जा
सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
तेरे बिना मन डोले
हाँ डोले
तेरे बिना मन डोले
भेद ना खोले
कछु ना बोले
आ आ आ
तेरे बिना मन डोले
भेद ना खोले
कछु ना बोले
मन की धीर बंधा जा
सजनवा आ जा
हाँ आ
मन की धीर बंधा जा
सजनवा आ जा
नैनन बीच समा जा
सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
मन मंदिर में आजा सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
नैनन बीच समा जा
सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
क्यों तूने मुख मोड़ा
हाँ मोड़ा
क्यों तूने मुख मोड़ा
मेरा दिल तोड़ा
साथ क्यों छोड़ा
हाँ आ
क्यों तूने मुख मोड़ा
मेरा दिल तोड़ा
साथ क्यों छोड़ा
इतनी बात बता जा
सजनवा आ जा
हाँ आ
इतनी बात बता जा
सजनवा आ जा
नैनन बीच समा जा
सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
मन मंदिर में आजा सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
नैनन बीच समा जा
सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
जोबन पर दिन आए
हाँ आए
जोबन पर दिन आए
जिया घबराए
आप ना आए
हाँ आ
जोबन पर दिन आए
जिया घबराए
आप ना आए
आ जा मेरे राजा
सजनवा आ जा
हाँ आ
आ जा मेरे राजा
सजनवा आ जा
नैनन बीच समा जा
सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
मन मंदिर में आजा सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
नैनन बीच समा जा
सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
मन मंदिर में आजा सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
नैनन बीच समा जा
सजनवा आ जा
आ जा
Ham ban gaye sab bade doctor
Posted on: May 23, 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 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 : |
3961 | Post No. : | 15039 | Movie Count : |
4124 |
Today’s song is from a very old film-Do Deewane-1936. The film was made by Sagar Movietone. It was directed by Chimanlal Luhar and the music was by Pransukh Nayak.
The film was a Comedy film. Originally made in Gujarati as ” Be kharab jan “, it was based on a play written by the famous Literary figure of Gujarat- Kanhaiyalal Munshi ( 30-12-1887 to 8-2-1971 ). He was an activist in Independence struggle, a Politician ( Home Minister and Governor), a writer and an educationist (founded Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan). Munshi had dabbled in film industry and many Gujarati and Hindi films were made on his plays and stories in almost every decade.
All the 11 songs of the film were written by the famous Gujarati poet ” Raskavi ” Raghunath Bramhabhatt. He was born on 13-12-1892. He was a famous Gujarati poet and also a popular playwright. He was aptly called ‘Rasakavi’ or ‘Poet of rasa’. He began his career by writing erotic poems that became very popular. His plays mainly tackled mythological and historical subjects, such as Buddhadev i.e. ‘The God Buddha’, Sringi rishi i.e. ‘Mountain Sage’, Ajatsatru, Saraswatichandra, Sneh mudra i.e. ‘Ring of Affection’. He followed Sanskrit dramaturgy i.e. a novelty when Shakespearean adaptations ruled the Gujarati stage. His adaptations of Nanalal Kavi’s verse plays and Govardhanram’s novel, Saraswatichandra, were highly appreciated by audiences. He is accepted in literary circles as a major dramatist, a rare recognition for a writer of the old professional theatre. His autobiography Smaran manjari i.e. ‘Cluster of Memories’ in 1955 traces the history of Gujarati theatre over three decades beginning from 1910.
Darpana’s productions of his play Kalyan rajya i.e. ‘Benevolent Kingdom’ in 1962 points to his ability to attract the experimental theatre.Raghunath Brahmbhatt died on 11-7-1983. He wrote lyrics for just 6 Hindi films- Do deewane-36, Baaraat-42, Mera Gaon-42, Ashirwad-43, Bhakta Bilwamangal-48 and Roop sundari-49.
The film cast was Motilal, Shobhana Samarth, Yakub, Aruna Devi, Sankata Prasad, Bhudo Advani and others. The name of Aruna Devi may be a new one for many. She started acting in films with film Village Girl-36. The same year, she also acted in Mard ka Bachha, Lagna Bandhan,Do Deewane and Deccan Queen ( she did a double role in this film. She also sang 2 songs in this film.) and in 1938 she acted in her last film Asha-38. After this she got married to a businessman Mr. Nanavati and settled in England- ending her very short career as an actress.
Do Deewane was the first film in which Motilal and Shobhana Samarth acted together. In later life, however, besides acting, they lived a life together also in real life. The film was directed by Chimanblal Luhar.
The Director CHIMANLAL MULJIBHOY LUHAR ( 1901-1948) was a Chemistry graduate from Bombay University. He started writing as a critic and author in journals like Beesvin sadee, Navchetan and Bombay Chronicle. He joined film line as a lab Assistant in Kohinoor studios in early 20s. Soon he became a noted cameraman for several documentaries, with K.D.Brothers, Bombay,under a British cameraman of Prince of Wales’ official entourage. After a brief stint at Rajkot with Saurashtra Films and a longer one at Krishna Films-where he shot 20 films, he joined Sharada Studios with ‘Dagabaz Duniya-1926 and several stunt films by Master Vithal. He turned a producer for a few stunt films. Later he was a partner in Sharda films and a Director with Sagar Movietone(1934-1940). From 1941 to 46 he worked for Prakash Pictures. He directed Sassi Punnu-32,Silver King-35 Talash-E-haq (first film of Nargis, made by Jaddanbai)-35, Do deewane, Kharab Jaan, Capt. Kirtikumar, Dynamite, Kaun kisika, Sewa Samaj, Saubhagya, Darshan, Station master, School Master, Uss paar and Bindiya. He died at the young age of 47 years,in 1948. He had established his own production outfit ‘Sun Art Pictures’ in 1943, but he made only 3 films with it -School Master-43, Uss Paar-44 and Bindiya-46, before he died, after a prolonged illness.
FILMOGRAPHY: 1932: Sassi Punnu; 1935: Silver King; Talash-e-Haq; 1936: Do Diwane/Be Kharab Jan; 1937: Captain Kirti Kumar; 1938: Dynamite; 1939: Kaun Kisika; Seva Samaj; 1940: Saubhagya; 1941: Darshan; 1942: Station Master; 1943: School Master; 1944: Us Paar; 1946: Bindiya.
Film Do Deewane took a satirical look at the practice in society, the character of a father, forcing his daughter into a marriage for monetary incentive, was at the heart of this film. The daughter runs away from home and meets a lot of people. In his original stage drama, Munshi had brought different people speaking in different languages- creating kind of a humour, however in the Hindi film version it was only Hindi language spoken by different people…still creating laughs by their grammar and pronunciation.
While doing the shooting, Motilal was quite hesitant and shy in love scenes. There was a scene in which he was supposed to take the Heroine in his arms. But even after trying several times Motilal could not do it. Fed up of waiting for long, it was Shobhana who jerked him towards her and embraced him ! Imagine who must have blushed in this scene !!
In another scene, Shobhana is sitting on a swing. Motilal had to come from behind and push the swing to frighten her.While doing the rehearsal of this scene, Motilal gave a hard push to the swing to look realistic. As a result Shobhana not only fell off the swing but promptly became unconscious also. It was then that Motilal came to know that she was pregnant. Later on 4-6-1936, Shobhana gave birth to Nutan !
The story of the film was the usual conflict between Generation thinkings and values. Since the time unknown, newer Generations have always felt that the older people were not keeping up with current times. This was so 100 years ago and is very much true even today. The film which was made about 80 years ago tried to discuss this conflict, cinematically. Millionaire Ramdas wants to marry his daughter as per his choice. Not agreeing to this daughter Miss Rambha (Shobhana Samarth) runs away from home and in her quest of peace, meets Dr. Mohanlal (Motilal). They fall in love. At the end it is revealed that Mohanlal was the original choice of her father. So, all is well.
The film had subplots to create comic situations. However, as per the review of the film posted in Film India magazine, the comedy did not induce most people in the audience to laugh and acting of most actors was mediocre. The technical side was much appreciated. Anyway, Baburao Patel of Film India magazine rarely appreciated or had good words for any film, so nothing new in this review also.
There were 11 songs in the film. The composer was Pransukh Nayak, who started his career with film Sati Sone-33 and ended with film Kulvadhu-37, giving music to 27 films in between this period and composed 293 songs.
In Sagar Movietone, many actors, actresses, directors and technicians got first opportunity or got opportunity to develop their existing careers. The Regular artistes of Sagar Movietone were called ” The Jewels of Sagar “. They included Motilal, Surendra, Kumar, Charlie, Yakub, Bhudo Advani, Sh. Mukhtar, Kanhaiyalal, Sankata Prasad, V H Desai, Sabita Devi, Bibbo, Waheedan Bai, Jyoti, Maya Banerjee, Nalini Jaywant, Ezra Mir, Ramchandra Thakur, mehboob, Sarvottam Badami, Zia Sarhadi, Faredoon Irani, Kaushik Dholabhai and Anil Biswas.
Today’s song is a fun song. From the lyrics, it sounds like a group of freshly graduated Doctors. The song has many medical terms and mentions of Medical instruments etc. This is a Chorus song. With this song, film Do Deewane makes its Debut on the Blog.
( I am thankful to the book ” Sagar Movietone”, by Biren kothari ji for information used herein.)
Song-Hum ban gaye sab bade doctor (Do Deewaane)(1936) Singer- Chorus, Lyricist- Raghunath Bramhabhatt, MD- Pransukh Nayak
Lyrics
Hum ban gaye sab bade doctor
physician aur Surgeon
patient hamaara dilbar
chaaku hamaara nashtar
Hum ban gaye sab bade doctor
physician aur Surgeon
patient hamaara dilbar
chaaku hamaara nashtar
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
patient hamaara ho mister(?)
patient hamaara ho mister(?)
phir mauj kare kheese bhar kar
phir mauj kare kheese bhar kar
bane hunarwar chale akadkar
badhe position ghar ghar
bane hunarwar chale akadkar
badhe position ghar ghar
MBBS
FS(?)
ab kaun hai hamse badhkar
ab kaun hai hamse badhkar
ham ban gaye sab bade doctor
physician aur Surgeon
patient hamaara dilbar
chaaku hamaara nashtar
ham ban gaye sab bade doctor
physician aur Surgeon
patient hamaara dilbar
chaaku hamaara nashtar
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
patient hamaara ho mister(?)
patient hamaara ho mister(?)
phir mauj kare kheese bhar kar
phir mauj kare kheese bhar kar
bane hunarwar chale akadkar
badhe position ghar ghar
bane hunarwar chale akadkar
badhe position ghar ghar
MBBS
FS
ab kaun hai hamse badhkar
ab kaun hai hamse badhkar
ham ban gaye sab bade doctor
physician aur Surgeon
patient hamaara dilbar
chaaku hamaara nashtar
ham ban gaye sab bade doctor
Prem nagariya jaayenge hum
Posted on: May 19, 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 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 : |
3957 | Post No. : | 15033 | Movie Count : |
4121 |
Today’s song is from the film Jadu Nagari-1940.
In last 2-3 years, I find that a lot many collectors are uploading songs from films of the 30s and also rare songs. The HFM History students- like me- are highly indebted to them for their generosity.
Like in any other fields, here too some disturbing events take place. Some collectors upload incomplete songs, thinking that this will protect their monopoly. I feel this is very unfair. No one forces them to upload songs. If they do so on their own, why not complete songs ? Anyway, it is their thinking and choice. Fortunately, true connoisseurs, like Shalin Bhatt ji are highly dependable and his songs are not only complete and rare but he also adds some information to it. Many times the viewers’ comments on the song also gives important information pieces. May God increase his tribe !
Film Jadu nagari-40 was based on an imaginary story, like many such films. These films had writers, who flew the kites of their imagination, sometimes in a very comic way. For example, turning Humans into Animals or showing talking animals, birds and even Snakes. Of course since the film had Jadu in its title iteslf, all these things were within expectations only. Actually these things made the films very interesting and watchable. ALAS ! The era of such C grade films is gone for ever !
I selected a song from this film, because I found some unusual and rare points here, worth talking about.
Firstly, the film is directed by Baburao Apte ( variously spelt as Baburao, Bapurao or S R Apte), who was the elder brother of actress Shanta Apte. He had started his acting career from the silent era. He acted in 8 silent films. Starting with film Shyamsunder-32, he acted in his first Talkie film, as Radha’s husband- where Radha was his own younger sister, Shanta Apte. In all, he acted in 16 Talkie films, his last film being “Main abla nahin hoon”-49 directed by Shanta Apte herself. He had a very minor role in it-courtesy his sister. He also directed 8 Talkie films from Kala Pahad-33 to Jadu Nagari-40. yes, today’s film was his last film as a director.
And yes, he was the same person, who brought his own younger sister of 9 years to act in films. He would put a condition in the contract that no other actor will touch her while shooting. If she had a wife’s role, he would do the husband’s role. Fortunately for cine goers, as Shanta Apte grew up as a rebel, she defied this rule and Baburao started his acting and direction separately. He got married and lived separately.
Shanta Apte- though unmarried till end- had a daughter-Nayana Apte. However this news of her daughter was kept a secret. When Shanta Apte died on 28-2-1964, ten years later Nayana declared that she was Shanta Apte’s daughter. Film Historian Isak Mujawar, in one of his books, has said that Nayana was Shanta’s daughter from brother Baburao Apte only. Such matters have no credible proofs anytime. By the way, Nayana Apte became a popular actress on Marathi Stage and in Marathi Cinema. Obviously Baburao Apte was very creative indeed !
Secondly, in this film Rajkumari Calcuttewali (real name Pullo Bai) had acted and also sang 5 songs. Though HFGK is silent about which Rajkumari it was in this film, the noted Music Historian and collector Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji has confirmed this. Also the song’s uploader Shalin Bhatt ji also mentions Rajkumari Calcuttewali. Though she acted and sang only in films made at Calcutta, two films ‘Gorakh aaya’-38 and ‘Jadu Nagari’-40 indicate her participation.Later she married one Seth Motilal from Calcutta and left films.
Thirdly, Music Director in later times-Jimmy aka James Singh- sang a duet in this film with Rajkumari Calcuttewali. Composer Jimmy aka James Singh- is one of those little known composers who never got fame or name in spite of their Talents. His real name was JAMES SINGH. He was a Christian Punjabi from Ludhiana. He was educated in Delhi.He started his career in Hindi films as a singer in Chorus. He sang 7 songs in 6 films (Imandar-39, Baghi-39, Pyar-40, Anjaam-40, Jadoo Nagri-40, and Maaya Nagri-44).
He could play many western instruments, especially all types of Guitars.When he failed as a singer, he became assistant to many composers. Finally.he got his chance to compose few songs for film ‘Muqaddar-50’, though with Khemchand Prakash and Bhola Shreshtha. He composed 2 duets of Asha and Kishore. The credit of composing the First ” Yodelling ” song of Kishore kumar goes to Jimmy. Kishore ‘yodelled ‘ first time in this film.
Jimmy then gave music to 14 more films like, Shrimatiji-52, Smuggler-59, Awara Shehzadi-56, Sher e Baghdad-57, Nek khatoon-59, Pathan-62, Miss chaalbaz-61, Tarzan and Gorilla-63, Duniya hai dilwalon ki-66, Pyar ki Baazi-67, Tarzan in fairy land-68, Aakhir-84, Khoon aur sazaa-86 and his last film, Sachhi Ibadat-1987. Inspite of giving sweet and melodious songs of a variety,Jimmy never came up to A class. He always remained a composer for C grade films. Anyway, as long as Kishore’s yodelling is heard,Jimmy’s name will be remembered.
However, in this film Jimmy was not the MD. It was yet another little known MD- Shanti kumar Desai, a very talented but unlucky composer who rarely got support from any famous banner. His music was enchanting and tunes were superb, but Lady Luck did not favour him.
He was born in Amreli,Saurashtra, Gujarat state on 3-3-1908. His family was in service as Royal Musicians, so he was exposed to music from childhood.He was an expert Harmonium player. To start his career, he came to Bombay and worked in H.M.V. as a Broadcaster. Here he came into contact with many composers and learnt how they operated and made tunes etc. He was already giving music to Dramas, but wanted to join Film line as M.D. He got his first film Navbharat ( Jawanmard)-1934. In those days Gujarati producers and directors used to prefer Gujarati MDs. Thus out of his 36 films, 18 were done with Gujarati Directors like Sohrab modi, Nanubhai Vakil, V.M.Vyas(4 films), Kanjibhai Rathod, Dhirubhai Desai etc. He also gave music to Gujarati films.
He gave music along with Madholal Master,Rafiq Ghaznavi, Pannalal Ghosh, Shyambabu Pthak etc. Famous singers like Rafi, Manna Dey, Zohrabai, Amirbai etc sang in his films during their early careers. Even kishore kumar’s early film Sati Vijay-48 had music by Shanti kumar Desai. He gave music to films of early era actors like Prem Adib, Mehtab, Sitara Devi, Leela Chitnis, Jal Merchant, Ashraf Khan, Rajkumari, Mazhar khan, Shanta Hublikar, Jairaj, E Billimoria, Kumar, Sardar Akhtar, Chandramohan, Shobhana Samarth, Durga Khote, Shahu Modak and Sulochana.
From 1934 to 1948, he gave music to 35 films and in 1964 his one film was released. He composed about 300 songs. He never got films from top banners like Bombay Talkies,Prabhat, Sagar or Minerva, otherwise his career would have been different.
He died on 6-1-1986. Some of his better known films were Bholi bhikaran-36, Punarjanma-38, Anjaam-40, Suhaagan-42, Naukar-43, Ek din ka sultan-45 and Lav Kush-51.
The Hero of this stunt film was the Stunt King Yeshwant Dave…..ever heard his name ? Not a great chance, I know.
It was not uncommon during the days of early cinema for people to hang around studios and filming locations in the hopes of being discovered. One such intrepid soul was Yeshwant Dave (or Yashwant Dave), who was at Kohinoor Studios observing a picture being made by producer J.B.H. Wadia. The handsome and athletic Yeshwant cornered Wadia, insisting that he would make a fine hero for an action film.
Wadia agreed to test Yeshwant by having him jump from the roof of one set piece to another. He did so successfully, and J.B.H. decided to cast him in a film that he was to direct for Young United Players, the 1931 silent Thunderbolt (aka Diler Daaku) featuring Mumtaz as the heroine.
Yashwant was again directed by Wadia in Toofaan Mail (1932) and thereafter became a sought after action star appearing in the stunt films of other directors like Aspi, Dhirubhai Desai, Nari Ghadiali, Chunilal Parekh, and Harshadrai Mehta. Some of his films include Bharat Veer (1932), Jaadui Jung (1934), Bombshell (1935), Vasant Bengali (1937), Flying Ranee (1939), Magic City (Jaadoo Nagri) (1940), Torpedo (1941), Royal Mail (1946), and Kaun Pardesi (1947).
Growing out of the stunt hero persona, he turned to character parts and made infrequent onscreen appearances throughout the 1950s, including in Seikh Chilli and Makkhee Choos both released in 1956 and starring comedian Bhagwan. What became of Yeshwant Dave afterwards is anybody’s guess, as the once popular action star faded into obscurity and, sadly, is barely remembered today.
Today’s song is a duet sung by Rajkumari Calcuttewali and James Singh. There were 9 songs in the film. With this song, film Jadu Nagari-40 makes its Debut on this Blog.
(Thanks to cinemajadu.com, activeindiatv.com, Cinerang by Isak Mujawar, Harish Raghuwanshi ji of Surat and my notes for information used herein.)
Song-Prem nagariya jaayenge hum(Jaadoonagri)(1940) Singers- Rajkumari Calcuttewali, James Singh (aka Jimmy), Lyricist- Munshi Kabil Amritsari, MD- Shanti Kumar Desai
Both
Lyrics
Prem nagariya jaayenge hum
Prem nagariya jaayenge hum
Prem nagariya jaayenge
dharti pe swarg basaayenge
dharti pe swarg basaayenge
Prem nagariya jaayenge
Prem nagar ki har galiyan mein
Prem nagar ki har galiyan mein
prem bageech banaayenge
prem bageech banaayenge
prem panchhi ban kunj kunj mein
prem geet nit gaayenge
prem panchhi ban kunj kunj mein
prem geet nit gaayenge hum
prem nagariya jaayenge
kal kal karti prem sarit mein
prem mast ho ??aayenge
kal kal karti prem sarit mein
prem mast ho ??aayenge
prem sudha ras pi pi kar
tan man ka taap mitaayenge
prem sudha ras pi pi kar
tan man ka taap mitaayenge
prem nagariya jaayenge
ek pran ham do tan ho kar
phir bhi to bisraayenge
haan
ek pran ham do tan ho kar
phir bhi to bisraayenge
haan
prem devta ke kunjan mein
prem devta ke kunjan mein
jeewan sakal bitaayenge hum
jeewan sakal bitaayenge hum
prem nagariya jaayenge
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.
| Blog Day : | 3951 | Post No. : | 15027 |
Today’s song is from film Captain Kishore-1957. It is sung by Geeta Dutt under the baton of the magician of melody-Chitragupt.
Today I am deviating from my usual style of writing, because I am writing on my favourite singer- Geeta Dutt. So, no biography of any artiste and no other details. Only Geeta Dutt !
Long back, in our management class, our Professor conducted a survey in the class. He asked us to write the name of the Toothpaste we were using. Those days too, Colgate was the Brand leader. We were 30 students in the class. I was using Macleans’ (a brand that was available in India in those days), so I wrote Macleans’. Then he collected all 30 chits,added his own and started reading. The result was Macleans’-8, Kolynos-7, Colgate-7, Forhans-6 and 3 were using tooth powder. He explained to us that even the Brand leader, not necessary always, will lead in all consumer groups. It is a collective total which gives the leader its position.
The same is the case in any other field. Take the case of female playback Singers. From 1950s to 1970s, Lata was the Brand Leader, but personally I always liked Geeta Dutt. I simply loved Geeta’s voice which had so much flexibility and was also so soulful.
When you hear her sing Meera Bhajan, you get lost in Bhakti Ras, listen to her sad songs and gloom descends on you and hear her club/cabaret song,you feel like tapping or dancing. It seems like as if Geeta never bothered to be the No.1,she only wanted to be honest to her singing. She was a pure soul bearing no envy towards anyone. There is always a discussion whether she gave her best to S.D.Burman or O.P.Nayyar songs. Not many know that Geeta worked with more than 150 composers. I personally dont believe she ever compromised in her performance. Whether she sang for a well known composer,or an unknown one like M.A.Rouf, S.L.Pardeshi, Manohar, D.V.Gadekar, Kumar, M.Masurekar, T.K.Das, Ali Husain,Pt.Harbanslal or Rajhuns,she put all her soul and skill in rendering the song.
There is, however, always a personal liking. I always liked Geeta’s songs with O P Nayyar. Their association started with the film Aasman (1952). Though her songs like “dekho jaadu bhare more nain’ were very melodious and became quite popular,the film had flopped. The subsequent film Baaz (1953) was also the same story. Good songs-film flopped. But then Aarpar (1954), Mr. and Mrs.55, Musafirkhana (1955) and Miss Cocacola and C.I.D.-in 1956 brought commercial success. After C.I.D. in the year 1957, Geeta suffered on 2 counts. One,O.P.Nayyar started grooming Asha Bhosale and secondly Geeta was facing a lot of personal problems. The singing assignments coming her way were getting lesser and even she was cutting down on the same. In fact, she had expressed desire to completely stop singing in the year 1957.
In the year 1958 she got only 10 songs from O.P.Nayyar. But then she sang the iconic song in Howrah Bridge which made her name Amar in the history of Golden Age of HFM for ever. This incident has been narrated by the famous film/music writer Issac Mujaawar in the Marathi magazine Rasrang. When Howrah Bridge was being made,it was evident that all the songs will go to Asha. By that time ASHA had mastered the art of singing club/cabaret songs. It is said that rehersals were done for”Mera naam chin chin chu”. Shakti Samanta was the Director of the film. O.P.Nayyar never tolerated any interference fro the Producers or the Directors. Shakti da wanted that song to go to Geeta,as he genuinely felt that she is better suited to sing it. He called Nayyar one day and coolly explained to him the situation. Miraculously,Nayyar accepted the suggestion without a word of protest. May be his conscience was biting him,or may be he too thought on those lines. Whatever be the reason,Geeta was summoned next day and the song was given to her. The rest is History…….as they say !
The Dance Director was A Satyanarayana,who participated in almost every club dance he choreographed. He did an excellent job for this song and the song became the highlight of the film,along with Asha’s ‘Aayiye meherban’. This is my most favourite song for 3 reasons.One-the tune is very catchy, two-Geeta ji’s voice is very seductive here and three-the choreography of the song is just superb !
Now, cut to….
City- Bombay
Date- 20th July 1972
Place- Harkissondas Hospital,Bombay
Few people were standing in the corridor . Anxiety,sorrow,helplessness and a little hope was clearly writ on their faces.They were all quiet.No one was talking to anyone.Their body language gave away their agony and restlessness.
Suddenly,a Doctor came out of a patient’s room.All ran to him and then stopped.The Doctor’s face and the tears in his eyes told them what they were afraid of !
No one said anything.No one asked anything. The Doctor said, ” I am sorry.She is no more.” He left, dragging his heavy feet.
The end of an Angel had come !
Geeta Dutt was gone for ever !!
Only her memories and the inimitable voice was left behind !!!
Born on 23-11-1930 at Idlapur in Fareedkot District of East Bengal,to a big Zamindar,Devendranath Roy Chaudhury and Amiya Roy Chaudhury,Geeta inherited her mother’s love for music.She learnt Classical Music from Pt.Hirendranath Chaudhury,while studying in an Anglo-Bangla school.
When she was just 12 year old,the family had to run away from East Bengal,to save their lives-leaving all property behind- to Bombay. In Bombay,we all know how Pt. Hanuman Prasad,MD(ex husband of Lalita Pawar) discovered her for playback in Hindi films. Later when S D Burman heard her singing,he knew instinctively that this was the voice which will make him successful and establish in Bombay.Till then Burman had not succeeded much to his satisfaction. To give her songs in ‘ Do Bhai ‘-47, he had to convince Chunilal of Filmistan,with great difficulty.
Geeta did not disappoint.’ Mera sunder sapna beet gaya” and ” Yaad karoge” made history and put both Geeta and Burman in Top league overnight.
Do Bhai made other famous composers to sit up and take notice of this new voice. They lined up to give Geeta ‘ Gaaon’-47(Khemchand Prakash), Leela, Shehnai and Saajan-47 ( C.Ramchandra), Geet Govind-47 (Gyan Dutt), Actress-48 (Shyamsunder), Chunariya-48 (Hansraj Behl), Padmini-48 (Ghulam Hyder) and Ek thi Larki-49(Vinod).
1950 was Geeta’s year.Many hits came – Banwre nain, Har Har Mahadev and Jogan solidified her position on Top.Composers felt she was inevitable,for their success.
Before recording, Geeta used to sit with Lyricist,understand the words and the implied meanings, then hear the tune from the composer and then sing in her own style. Basically, Geeta was very Gifted and hence with just one rehearsal, she could record the song to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. This made her the darling of the Composers.
Now,the newer MDs like,Hemant kumar, Vasant Desai, Madan Mohan and O P Nayyar also vied with each others to take Geeta. While doing Baazi -51, she met Guru Dutt and they got married on 26-5-1953. She was earning thousands of rupees in singing,but that time Guru Dutt was not that successful.Some magazines and Papers,said that he married Geeta for her money. Guru Dutt was furious and asked Geeta NOT to sing for others,restricting her to only his films.This suffocated her and she rebelled against it,which spoiled their relationship further.
Geeta had a liking and flair for acting. In Calcutta,she had acted as a Heroine in Bangla film-‘ Badhu Baran”. She got many offers but once she decided to settle in Bombay she refused all offers. Few people know that in Bombay a Hindi film- ‘ Tera saath hai Pyaara ‘,with Geeta as a Heroine had started,but unfortunately,after few reels,the film got shelved. To give a chance to her and to mend their relationship, Guru Dutt started filming ‘ Gauri” with Geeta as a heroine. However due to reasons well known to all, Geeta gave up this Bangla film, half way. This made the couple more distanced from each others. We all know the story’s end…..
Somewhere in 1971,there was a programme ” Yaaden Shakeel ki” in Bhaidas Hall, Parle. I had gone to that programme and I saw Geeta Dutt there.Many singers had come there-Rafi, Mukesh, Mahendra kapoor, Chandru Atma and Lata. When Lata was to come for singing there was a flurry of activity on the stage with everybody trying to please Lata. Lata came,sang and left like a Queen. When Geeta came on the stage, hardly anyone did anything for her. This is how this world is ! Geeta came, drew Harmonium near her and sang a Gazal of Shakeel Badayuni. When she finished,there was a clapping louder than what Lata had received,from the Audience-people knew her value !!
Geeta was optimistic even in 1971. She used to say, ‘ If 2 hit songs in Aradhana can take Kishore Kumar to the Top, even 2 Hit songs for me will do the same.” But it was not to be. Even the regular composers like O P Nayyar turned their backs on her. The Destiny decided to call her back !!!
One of my regrets was that if only Naushad had supported Geeta, she would have gained eminence for his songs for ever, like Saigal, Surendra, Parul Ghosh, Zohrabai, Amirbai, Naseem Akhtar, Shamshad, Noorjehan, Suraiya, UmaDevi, Talat, Mukesh, Rafi and Lata….but Geeta’s name was not in this list. I am not a statistician,so I can not say how many songs she sang for Naushad, but I am sure it was almost nothing !
Geeta’s voice was typical Bengali.She sang sad songs most wonderfully. Burman da who gave her emotional songs in Do Bhai, also gave her peppy club songs in Baazi, to make use of the sexy tinge in her voice. Further O P Nayyar fully exploited this special feature in Geeta’s voice. Her voice was sometimes sweet sometimes Namkeen. It had a depth. In this case, Geeta was one step ahead of Lata. Geeta’s voice was different for every situation. When she sang,’ Baat chalat nayee chunari’, you felt she would have been a better singer- classical singer than Laxmishankar. When she sang,’ Main to Giridhar ke ghar jaoon ‘, you felt Oneness with God,hearing her Bhaktiras dripping voice.
Juthika Roy was famous for Meera Bhajans, but I always felt that her voice was same in any Bhajan, while Geeta’s Bhajans exuded different emotions in every Bhajan.
While singing Club songs, Geeta was a different person. Just recall that ‘Hey hey hey hey before Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le song or listen to O Babu O Lala or Mera naam chin chin chu, then you will realise what I am saying !
One very important point in Geeta’s singing is not highlighted by many. In Hindi films there are many Male and female versions of songs and many singers have sung them.While singing such female version songs, Geeta never lost to the male singers ! All Geeta versions were more popular than the Male versions.
Both Asha and Lata lost on this count.
You will remember Kishore’s ” Jeevan ke safar me raahi” but not Lata’s version. You will remember Talat’s ” Aye gham-e-dil kya karoon’ but not Asha’s version. Kishore was better than Asha in ” Zindagi ek safar hai Suhana” versions and also Kishore was better than Lata’s version of ” Khilte hai gul yahan’.
When it comes to Geeta, she never lost to male versions. C H Atma’s ” Preetam aan milo” is remembered by less people than Geeta’s ” Preetam aan milo” from Mr. and Mrs.55 (same song. Written by Saroj Mohini Nayyar, O.P.’s wife). Geeta’s “Kaise koi jiye (Baadbaan)” is much better than Hemant Kumar’s version. Similarly,” Hai ye duniya kaun si'(Sailaab) and ‘ Na ye chand hoga”(Shart). In both songs, Geeta is superior and more popular than Hemant kumar. (There is a story behind the song-Na ye chaand Hoga. Once a jilted young lover committed suicide under train at Patna. In his pocket these lines were written on a paper-Tumhare liye hain, tumhare rahenge, Na ye chand hoga, na tare rahenge, magar hum hamesha tumhare rahenge. Lyricist S.H.Bihari used these lines in his song).
On 22nd July 1972,just 2 days after Geeta’s death, there was a preplanned programme of Juthika Roy in Birla Matoshri Sabhagriha,Bombay. I had booked my tickets well in advance, so I went there. In the beginning everyone paid respects to Geeta Dutt, by standing for 2 Minutes. Talat, Jagmohan and Surendra were also there. Then Juthika Roy came on stage, drew Harmonium near her and started singing ‘ Pag ghungaroo bandh…” .
I was lost in Geeta’s memory and saw Geeta with a Harmonium singing ” Main to Giridhar ke ghar jaoon”………………….
( My thanks to Geet yatri by Madhav Moholkar, Smaranyatra-by Subhash chandra Jadhav, and Hamari yaad aayegi by Arun Puranik, and geetadutt.com ,from which I have used some information for this article.)
Song- Dekho ji dil na todo nahin to main ro doongi (Captain Kishore)(1957) Singer- Geeta Dutt, Lyrics- Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, MD-Chitragupta
Lyrics
Dekho ji dil na todo
nahin to main
ro doongi
chhodo jee zidd ye chhodo
nahin to main
ro doongi
dekho jee dekho
naye fashion ka zamaana hai
main to nayi hoon
mera sab zewar puraana hai
dekho jee dekho
naye fashion ka zamaana hai
main to nayi hoon
mera sab zewar puraana hai
necklace mangaa do jee
locket dilwa do jee
tik tik kare jo ghadi
chhoti si wo laa do jee
gahnon se mujhko saja do
nahin to main
ro doongi
dekho ji dil na todo
nahin to main
ro doongi
duniya dikha do
saare hawaai jahaaz se
haathhon mein chhatri le ke
utroongi main naaz se
duniya dikha do
saare hawaai jahaaz se
haathhon mein chhatri le ke
utroongi main naaz se
London mein ghoomoongi
Paris mein jhoomoongi
Roos ke laal laal phoolon ko main choomoongi
jaldi se ticket mangwa do
nahin to main
ro doongi
dekho ji dil na todo
nahin to main
ro doongi
baag ho bangla ho
American motor car ho
oonchi society mein
mera intzaar ho
baag ho bangla ho
American motor car ho
oonchi society mein
mera intzaar ho
naghme sunaaoongi
jaadoo jagaaoongi
apne ishaaron pe
main sab ko nachaaungi
yes keh ke mujh ko hansa do
nahin to main
ro doongi
Dekho ji dil na todo
nahin to main
ro doongi
Nirmala Kumari ban ki raani
Posted on: May 8, 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 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 : |
3946 | Post No. : | 15021 | Movie Count : |
4117 |
Today’s song is from a very old and obscure film, hardly noticed or heard by anyone- Ban ki Chidiya-1938. The film was from Ranjit, directed by Jayant Desai and had a very famous and popular star cast like, Madhuri, E. Bilimoria, Ishwarlal, Charlie, Ghori, Kesari, Ram Apte etc etc. The cast consisted of of the popular stars of those days, still, neither they could make it a popular film nor it provided anything to remember it for.
When I looked at the star cast carefully, I realised that it consisted of 2 actors who had their brothers also working as actors, in the same period. In the early era, when getting good actors/actresses itself was a challenge, every successful artiste used to call his/her sibling or a relative into cinema. This phenomenon was seen more among the female artistes. Though not equal, the males too joined this trend. So you will see that most artistes, directors, producers or actors in the early era were someway related to each others.
The females were ahead in this, simply because the actresses mostly came from singing families-Tawayafs- and these girls were keen to join films with an ulterior motive of catching a moneyed ” seth ji ” as a “Husband”, so that they could live a respectable and comfortable family life.
Thus the very first Talkie ” Alam Ara “-31 had a Heroine Zubeida, whose 2 sisters-Sultana and Shehzadi- were already Heroines in films. There were many such sister pairs in cinema like Amirbai and Gauharbai Karnataki, Violet and Patience Cooper, Pramila and Romilla, Kusum and Ranjana, Purnima and Shirin, Indurani and Sarojini, Leela Desai and Monica Desai, Shamim and Naseem Jr., etc etc. I have quoted names of only Heroines. There could be siblings working as character artistes, which, as on today, I have no information about.
Among the male brothers, off hand, I remember only 2 pairs. Bilimoria brothers in the 30s and Dilip kumar and Nasir khan in 40s and 50s. There were some other pairs of brothers in the same period, but they were not Heros in Hindi films. Names of some pairs are Ram Apte and Anant Apte aka Bajarbattu, Ram Marathe and Anant Marathe aka Anant kumar- hero in few films, and Sankata prasad and Kanhaiyalal (Chaturvedi).
D-Dinshaw and E-Eddie Bilimoria brothers were heros at the same time. How E.Bilimoria became a Hero is a very funny incidence and I think it is unique in the annals of any language Film History how a Mistaken identity can make someone a Hero ! Now read this…
In the early era of the Talkie films the Bilimoria brothers were very famous. First it was D (Dinshaw) and then came E (Eddie) Bilimoria.
Eddie was born at Bilimora,in Gujarat, in 1900. At the age of just 13 years he ran away from house to Kirkee (near Poona), to his uncle, to become a Fireman in Railways. Here, he became a Door keeper in a Cinema house and also learnt operating the film projector. Due to ill health, he was brought to Bombay.
One day he went to Imperial Studio to meet his brother Dinshaw. Mistaking him to be Dinshaw, make up was done to him and he played a role in film ‘Punjab Mail’. Then onwards he started working regularly in films. As a Hero his first silent film was ‘Raj Ramani’. He worked as Hero in 7 Imperial films and 10 films of Ranjit Studio. His Heroines were Putli, Shanta, Sultana. Madhuri, Padma, Panna and others.
When Talkie films started he was Hero in 32 films made by Ranjit, opposite Gauhar, Shanta, Kamla, Mehtab, Madhuri and Sitara etc. He worked in 15 films opposite Madhuri only. Fencing, shooting and horse riding were his specialties as a stunt Hero. He was the First in India to wear Cowboy dress in stunt films.
Char chakram-32, Miss 1933-33, and Nadira-34 were his Hit films. In film ‘ Sipahi ki sajni’-36, he jumped into Sea from a flying plane, without duplicate. Daredevil stunts were his hallmark. There were hundreds of stitches on his body.
After 1939 he stopped getting Hero roles, so he did other character roles. After 1953, he was reduced to only an Extra. He did acting till 1973 and then took up a job in a Fridge and AC shop. He stayed in a flat in Kemps corner in Bombay. His last days were not very happy. E.Bilimoria died on 18-2-1981 at Bombay.
He acted in 73 Talkie films, directed 1 film ( sone ki chidiya-48) and also sang 4 songs in 4 films. His first film was Radha Rani-32 and last was Honeymoon-73.
Eddie’s favourite Heroine Madhuri was in this film with him. Most actors, when they retire, they keep away from limelight-some willingly and most others automatically by the film industry. If an actor is not seen or heard for more than 10 or 20 years, normally it is presumed that he/she must have expired. However, if some artiste is suddenly brought into limelight after a gap of 50 years after he/she is retired, what will you say ? See what happened here….
Place- Shanmukhanand Hall,Mumbai
Date 7-2-1999
Time- 7 p.m.
Programme- Felicitation to ‘ Stars from the Silent Era’
Organisers- ” Amrut” and ” Cine Society of Bombay ”
The entire hall was overcrowded. Not only all the seats were occupied,but people were standing wherever possible. Everybody wanted to see the Two STARS on the stage-Jairaj and Madhuri. Both were in their late 80s,but looked radiant and smiling. For Madhuri it was a surprise,that the organisers found her out after living in oblivion for over 50 years. She was simply overwhelmed with the people’s affection and love. For Jairaj,these things were not new. He has been around all the time.
Madhuri and Jairaj were a Popular pair in Silent film era. They worked as a lead pair in 3 films,one each in 1930-Rasili Rani,1931-Warrior from the wild and 1932-My Hero. They came together after almost 70 years,on this stage.
Like many others,Madhuri too was an Anglo Indian. Her name was Beryl Claessen. She was born on 3-11-1913 at Delhi. Her father was a big officer in Government. Her initial schooling took place in Nainital. She learnt music too,because she wanted to become a Music Teacher. However that she never became,but on a visit to Bombay she was picked up by producer Indulal Yagnik and she started acting in silent films.
Many Heroines in those days were Anglo-Indians,Europeans or Jew girls. Since silent films did not require speaking Hindi or Urdu ( or any language,for that matter),these girls were preferred,as Indian audience loved their fair colour (Gori Mem). Additionally,these girls did not hesitate to give intimate scenes like kissing or doing stunts themselves. Most girls knew Horse riding,fencing and fighting.
In 1928,there was a Silent film Madhuri,but actress Sulochana(Ruby Myers) did this role and in 1932 there was a Talkie film Madhuri,in which also Sulochana only did the role. When Talkie films era began most of the Anglo Indian girls became jobless,since they could not speak Hindi/Urdu nor could they sing a song-the two requirements for actresses in Talkie films. However,few intelligent and professional actresses learnt Hindi/Urdu language speaking. Madhuri and Sabita Devi (Irene Gasper) were two such clever girls who achieved proficiency in these matters.
Madhuri was very beautiful. After doing 17 silent films,she made her debut in Talike films with ‘ Pardesi Preetam’-1933. Jaswantlal Nandlal directed his first film here. Her Hero was Raja Sandow. She did many films for Ranjit under the direction of Jayant Desai. From 1933 to 1942,she acted in 26 films. They were (not in order) Kashmeera,Mitti ka Putla,Noor e watan,Secretary,Lehri lala,Rangeela Raja,Sitamgarh,Prithviputra,Thokar,Raj Ramni,Diwali,Matlabi Duniya,Toofani Toli,Shama parwana,College Girl,Nadira,Veer babruvahan,Zamin ka chaand,Ban ki chidia,Toofan Mail,mehmanSasural,shadi and Ikrar. By the way, Iqrar – 42 was Madhuri’s last film.
In 1941,Madhuri got married and retired from Film line. After this she simply disappeared for next 50 years without a trace,till the organisers of above programme located her.
Today’s song is a funny one. From the lyrics, it looks as if it is addressed to a she monkey, which is obviously a pet monkey. The singers-both Ram Apte or E Bilimoria were not regular singers at all. Ram had sung just 4 songs in 3 films between his 25 films as a Child artiste during the period of 1933 to 1938. From the style of singing itself, one can make out a casual singer.
With this song, the film Ban ki Chidiya-38 and both the singers Ram Apte and E Bilimoria make their Debut on this Blog.
( My thanks to ‘ Inhe na bhulana ‘ by Harish Raghuwanshi ji, Beete kal ke sitare by Shriram Tamrakar, Screenplay by Isak Mujawar and my notes, for information used herein.)
Song-Nirmala kumari ban ki raani (Ban Ki Chidiya)(1938) Singers-Ram Apte, E Bilimoriya, Lyrics-Aarzoo Lucknowi, MD-Gyan Dutt
Lyrics
Nirmala kumari
Ban ki rani
bolo bolo
kook kook kook
Pratap
is bandariya ka naam kya hai
shrimati nirmala kumaari
ahahahahaha
Nirmala kumari
teri bahan ki tarah ladti jhagadti bahut hai
tumhaara kutta bhi to kam nahin
tumhaari tarah bhaun bhaun karta rahta hai
haha
dekh(?) ye bata
teri bahan haar gayi
dekho
wo tumhaarakutta bhaaga
neeroo
neeroo
idhar aao
Nirmala kumari
ban ki raani
bolo bolo
kook kook kook
nirmala kumari
ban ki raani
bolo bolo
kook kook kook
khel mere
?? khel mere ??
?? naach dikhaana
?? naach dikhaana
haan yaar bol bam bhola
haan yaar bol bam bhola
kya
hahahahaha
hohohohoho
ahahahahaha
ohohohoho
Nirmala kumari
ban ki raani
bolo bolo
kook kook kook
Nirmala kumari
ban ki raani
bolo bolo
chaal teri matwaali
gaalon pe tere laali
chaal teri matwaali
gaalon pe tere laali
bolo mahaaraani bolo
bolo mahaaraani bolo
hook hook hook hook kar
hook hook hook hook kar
nirmala kumari
ban ki raani
bolo bolo
kook kook kook
nirmala kumari
ban ki raani
hahahaaha
bolo bolo
hahahaha
Wo nazron mein samaate jaa rahe hain
Posted on: May 5, 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 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 : |
3943 | Post No. : | 15019 | Movie Count : |
4116 |
Today’s song is from film “Saathi”(1946).
This title seems to be quite popular because, films with the same title were made in 1938, 1946, 1968, 1991 and 2005 as Saathi.Moreover one film called Saathiya was also made in 2002.
The first film Saathi-38 was a bilingual film, in Hindi and Marathi. This film was made by Mubarak Merchant. He was the Hero and the Heroine was Durga Khote. The Marathi version was titled “Savangadi” mening Partner or Saathi.
The 1946 film was made by Central Studios- partly owned by Mehtab, the film’s Heroine. While the film was in the making, Mehtab got married to Sohrab Modi on 28th April-1946, which happened to be her own Birthday also. She already had a son from her first marriage to actor Ashraf Khan ( who later on became a Soofi Saint). Her son Ismail, stayed with her and Modi, after her second marriage as per the understanding between the couple. Mehtab got one more son from Modi-Mehelli. He was raised as a Parsee. He settled in USA later on.
In this film, the Hero was Sadiq Ali, who was called ” Prince of Minerva ” and was Modi’s favourite. I have written about Sadiq Ali, recently, so I am not repeating it. The other cast of the film included M.Ismail, Jyoti, Badri Parshad, Gulab, Majid, Latika etc etc.
M.Ismail was born in 1902 in a Jeweller family of Lahore. He was a very good designer and Calligrapher.
M. Ismail was a resident of the Inner Bhati Gate in Lahore. Well built and fair complexioned, Ismail had blue eyes, and was quite. attractive. Mian Abdul Rasheed Kardar (the famous A. R. Kardar), also belonged to the same area in Lahore. M. Ismail used to work as a golden calligrapher, while Kardar was involved in sketching and illustration.
They went to Bombay in 1927, and according to Ismail, he and Kardar played Kaedo and side hero respectively, in Imperial Company’s Heer Ranjha. But conditions weren’t helpful, and the two young men had to return to Lahore. Fortunately, for them, during 1928, Premier Film Company started a film called Daughters of Today. Both Kardar and Ismail were inducted into the cast, but the film remained incomplete.
Later, Kardar learned production and became well known as a brilliant technician. Kardar established his own film making firm in 1930, called United Players Corporation, and cast Ismail in his early silent movies like Mysterious Eagle a. k. a Husn Ka Daku, which also had Kardar in a central role. Others in the cast were Gulzar Begum, Ghulam Qadir, Ahmed Deen and an American actress, Aeris Crawford. Ismail also acted in Kardar’s film, Safdar Jang, and both these early silent films were very successful. This led Kardar to cast him in Shepherd King (Gadarya) and Golden Dagger (Sunehri Khanjar). In those days, every film used to have an English title and an Urdu one.
After Alam Ara opened the way for talkies, Ismail became even more popular. In Kardar’s Hoor e Punjab, an adaptation of Heer Ranjha, Ismail again played Kaedo, the intriguing ice uncle of Heer, which he repeated yet again later, in film Heer Siyal, with his characteristic style. His other films in India include Alif Laila, Dekha Jaega, Mast Faqeer, Raja Gopi Chand, Prem Pujari, Watan Parast, Sohni Mahiwal, Laila Majnoon, Zamindar and others.
In 1948, M. Ismail came to Pakistan, and immediately got offers from seniors like Nazir, whose films, Pherey, Larey, Anokhi Dastan and Shehri Babu included him in their cast. His first film here was Hichkole-49. Observing his work, another promising and experienced director, Anwar Kamal Pasha offered him some good roles. His films, Ghulam, Gumnam, Qatil, Inteqam and others were the earliest hits of Pakistan. Luqman also cast him in Patan, and Mehbooba was another one that was appreciated.
Similarly Nazeer Ajmeri’s Qismat and Paigham, Munshi Dil’s Hasrat and Ishq e Laila and S. M. Dar’s Saltanat and Dulla Bhatti were also amongst his famous movies. His other films were Darwaza, Subah Kaheen Sham Kaheen, Patey Khan, Piya Milan Kee Aas, Jameela, Bara Aadmi, Zehr e Ishq and many others. The Late M. Ismail was a charming person, with a rural simplicity and a very forgiving disposition. Endearingly called Bhaiyyajee in the industry, M. Ismail’s roles of good hearted, forgetful, careless and sometimes cynical man were the best that he did. But, in many films, he performed a perfect villainish role, including the earlier mentioned, Hoor e Punjab, which had a historic role of Kaedoo. This one was only bettered later, by that most sterling artiste, Ajmal, who made Kaedo legendary with his gestures in Khwaja Khurshid Anwar’s Heer Ranjha.
In Yamla Jat and Khazanchi, in India, he did very fine title roles, while K. Asif’s Phool portrayed him as an old hakeem from Turkey, which he did to perfection. As a villain in Indian film, Wamiq Azra, he presented an individual style, with his full facial expressions. By full facial expressions means that most artistes use the eyes and the forehead, but M. Ismail, with a tremendous mobility of his motor mouth, his sagging cheeks and his prominent and protruding jowls, used a tremendous expanse of his face, which aided him in doing old men’s roles very early in his career.
In those days, there was much importance of finding a characteristic face for films and not handsome or beautiful faces, which is the trend today. That was the reason that more such fine artistes were available to the screen. In Nazeer Ajmeri’s Qismat, he played a unique role of a man, who is too forgetful to even remember his own name. It was a most hilarious performance from a truly talented actor of his times. M. Ismail got a Presidential Award for this role in Qismat.
His last film in Pakistan was Maan jawani da-76- released after his death. He died on 22-11-1975 at Lahore.
The film was directed by M.Sadiq, who was one of the most successful Directors of Bombay who migrated to Pakistan in 1970. He was born in Lahore on 10-3-1910 and died in Lahore on 3-10-1971.
Sadiq was a Cinematographer, writer,screenplay and dialogue writer,producer and director-all in one. He started his career with Thokar-39 as writer. Around 1940, he shifted to Bombay along with his mentor A.R.Kardar, actor Suresh ( Nazim Ahmed), actor Amar and few others. While working as kardar’s assistant, slowly he developed into a Director who directed about 27 films.He directed films like- Namaste, Rattan, Anmol Ratan, Saiyan, Shabab,Musafirkhana, Chhoo mantar, Chaudhavin ka chaand, Tajmahal and Bahu Begum for which he also wrote story and dialogues.
After Khota Paisa-58 Sadiq fell on bad times. He had no films on hand.That was the period when Guru Dutt was also in problems of debts. he wanted to make a film but did not want to direct it. That time Johny Walker suggested the name of M.Sadiq, whose first movie Namastey and another movie Sanjog, both produced by A R Kardar,were released in 1943 & were big hits.His Rattan,released in 1944 ,broke the records all over, in box office sweep. Poonam, Shabab, Anmol Rattan, Pardes, Jawani Ki Hawa, Anjan, were few of his famous movies.The prolific director,how ever ,was now passing through a lean phase & of late he had made light comedies, like Chhoo Mantar, Duniya Rang Rangeeli, Khota Paisa, Musafir Khana etc.
M.Sadiq was brought in & he made the movie at break neck speed & released in 1960. Film Chaudhvin ka Chand needed a director who fully equipped with muslim background and observation of even small presentation of voice, etiquette, religious etc. It is all that M Sadiq performed but we must keep in mind Guru Dutt was behind the screen, though uncredited but he had lion share to beautify the film. The movie proved to be the biggest hit earned lot more than other movies made by Gurudutt. M.Sadiq proved to be the saviour for Gurudutt.Gurudutt,not only came out of the cesspool of debt , but earned enough money to plan his next movie.
The movie proved to be lucky for the good Samaritan M.Sadiq also who was recognized as a specialist of the movies having Muslim background.He got big movies Taj Mahal,Noor Jahan & Bahu Begum (1967),to direct.
Riding on the peak of popularity ,after Bahu Begum,Sadiq Sahab left India & migrated to Pakistan.In 1971,there under his own banner he decided to produce Baharo Phool Barsao & for the music and songs he signed Nashad & Shewan Rizvi,respectively.Both had already migrated to Pakistan from India.He started shooting at Lahore Studio.but a calamity struck & Sadiq Sahab passed away after a brief illness on 03-10-1971. The movie was completed by Hasan Tariq & was released in 1972. The movie opened to full houses and celebrated Golden Jubilee at many places in Pakistan. Even in the re-run the movie was a jubilee hit. M.Sadiq was destined to die at his birth place Lahore.
There were two more uncommon names in the cast- Majid and Gulab. Majid’s name was Abdul Majid Syed. He was born at Farrukhabad in U.P. in 1915. His father was an Overseer. After Matric in 1929, he started his business of Leather in Akola, Maharashtra. in 1935, actor, director and producer Nazeer of Hind pictures, introduced him to S.K.Daryani and he got a small role in Sher ka Panja-36 and Sangdil samaj-36. However, from film Bulldog-37, he got side roles and lead roles in films like Gentleman daku-37, insaaf-37, Rajkumari-38, Masterman-38, Zamana-38, Mud-40, Saubhagya-40, Swami-41, Swaminath-42, he also acted in more films like Najma-43, Babar-44 and Zeenat-45.
In all he did over 100 films till 1947. After Partition, he migrated to Pakistan with Nazeer and Swarnalata. In Pakistan he did just 7 films. He died on 24-9-1959.
The First actress from Kashmir to work as a Heroine in Hindi films was GULAB. Her real name was Saraswati Devi. She was born on 10-6-1908 at Jammu. She joined Krishna Film Company in 1924. Her first silent film’Krishna kumar’ came in 1925. She worked in 60 silent films. Her last silent film was ‘Dagabaz Dushman’-32, made by east India Film co.Bombay.
Her first Talkie film was Suryakumari-33, made by Vishnu Cinetone. It was directed by Dhirubhai Desai. She sang one song ‘more preetam jab ghar aaye’ composed bu Kikubhai Yagnik. Then came Baburao Patel’s ‘Bala Joban’-34, Sewa Sadan-34 and Nai Duniya-34 ( Debut film of Rajkumari and Jayant). In this film Gulab sang 2 songs.
Gulab was very beautiful and quite popular in film industry. Some of her films were Bambai ki sethani-35, Challenge-37, Bharosa-40, Pyas-41, Ek Raat-42, Station master-42, Gaali-44, Rattan-44, Mann ki jeet-44, Mirza Sahibaan-47, Lahore-49, Badi Behan-49, stage-51, Post Box 999-58, Chhabili-60 etc etc. She acted in 160 films. Her last film seems to be Haqeeqat-64. She also sang 22 songs in 11 films.
The lyrics were by Wali Sahab and the music was by Gulshan Soofi, about whom I have written recently. The song is sung by one of my favourite singers- G M Durani ( Ghulam MUstafa Durani). He was one singer who would make gold of a good melodious song anytime. I like almost all of his songs. I was very sad that his end came in very pathetic condition. Once an artiste is out of circulation in the film industry, he is quickly forgotten. I have not seen a more selfish and ungrateful industry in my life where no one even attends the last journey of a forgotten artiste.
This is a very good song, sung in even a better way. With this song, film Saathi-46 makes its Debut on the Blog.
( Thanks to cineplot, pakmag.com, wiki, cinerang, Filmdom-46 and my notes for information used herein.)
Song-Wo nazron mein samaate ja rahe hain ja rahe hain (Saathi)(1946) Singer-G M Durraani, Lyricist- Wali Sahab, MD- Gulshan Soofi
Lyrics
Wo nazron mein samaate ja rahe hain
ja rahe hain
hamen apna banaate jaa rahe hain
ja rahe hain
Wo nazron mein samaate ja rahe hain
ja rahe hain
ye dil pehloo se nikla jaa raha hai ae
ye dil pehloo se nikla jaa raha hai ae
jaa raha hai
wo shaayad a a
paas aate ja rahe hain
hamen apna banaate jaa rahe hain
ja rahe hain
main jitna aa
bhool jaana chaahta hoon oon oon
oon oon
wo utna aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
yaad aate jaa rahe hain
jabaan par haan
ishaaron mein meri
hai ae ae ae
jabaan par haan ishaaron mein meri
hai ae ae
wo deewaana banaate
jaa rahe hain
jaa rahe hain
hamen apna banaate jaa rahe hain
jaa rahe hain
Wo nazron mein samaate ja rahe hain
jaa rahe hain
Nain mohan prem bhare jaadoo najariya
Posted on: May 4, 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 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 : |
3942 | Post No. : | 15018 | Movie Count : |
4115 |
Today’s song is from a very old film Meetha Zahar-1938.
The title of the film is funny. Normally, we equate Poison taste with Bitterness, though, no one actually knows how poisons taste. There is a story about it, which I read in my childhood. Long time ago, a King was curious to know how the poison tasted. He asked many people but no one was able to give a satisfactory answer. His Prime Minister suggested a plan. He would give poison to a convict of death and ask him to write the taste of poison on a paper. If he writes it, he would be pardoned and a poison antidote will be given to him immediately.
Accordingly, a death convict was provided poison, paper and a pen. After drinking the poison, the convict started writing, but the strong poison killed him instantly and all that he could write was the letter ‘ S ‘ only. Now the question remained if the taste was Sweet, Sour or Salted ? However, Minerva Movietone had decided that the taste was sweet and hence the title of the film was Meetha Zahar !
After suffering initial failures with his first few films like Hamlet-35, Saeed E Hawas-36 and Atma Tarang-37, Sohrab Modi decided to make films on the social evils prevalent for a long time. Other big studios like Prabhat, Bombay Talkies and New Theatres were doing this already and they were making money. Modi decided to make films on separation in Marriage (Divorce aka Talaq-38), Alcoholism (Meetha Zahar-38), Illicit passion (Jailor-38) and Incest (Bharosa-40).
This stance changed the picture. His Historical film ” Pukar’-39 was a grand success, which brought him not only name and fame but also lot of money. Along with him, the Heroine of the film-Naseem Bano also benefitted greatly. After pukar-39, Naseem bano left Minerva. Naseem was launched by Sohrab Modi as a Heroine way back in Hamlet-35.
Naseem was born on July 4, 1916 in Delhi as Roshan Ara Begum, to courtesan-singer Shamshad Begum, better known as ‘Chhamiya’ and rich Nawab, Abdul Waheed Khan. She did her schooling at Queen Mary’s High School there with her mother harboring ambitions to make her a doctor. However, being a big fan of the movies and actress Sulochana in particular, after a family visit to Bombay, now Mumbai, in the 1930s, Naseem decided to make the movies her career. It was not easy. She had to fight hard with her mother to get her way, including it is said staging a successful hunger strike along with many tears!
Much of Naseem’s early work came at Minerva Movietone, owned by the great Sohrab Modi. He introduced Naseem in his adaptation of Hamlet, Khoon Ka Khoon (1935). Sadly for Naseem, the film flopped at the box-office. She then appeared in a series of films, mostly socials for Minerva including Divorce (1938), Meetha Zahar (1938) and Vasanti (1938)before hitting the big time with Modi’s epic historical drama, Pukar (1939). Pukar was a landmark film for Modi and its lead cast that included Chandramohan, Sardar Akhtar, besides Naseem. The film, in particular, makes splendid use of Naseem’s regal bearing casting her as Jehangir’s wife, the Empress Noor Jehan. It remains her most most well-known performance and one where she sang her own songs as well.
Following the success of Pukar, Naseem and Modi parted ways, and based on her strong impact as the Mughal Empress, Naseem signed two films with a rival studio to again play famous queens Cleopatra and Mumtaz Mahal respectively. Both films, however, failed to take off. But by now she had several well-known admirers including the son of the Nizam of Hyderabad. In this period Naseem also met childhood acquaintance Mohammed Ehsan who had returned from abroad armed with a agree in Industrial Chemistry. He launched a production house, Taj Mahal Pictures with the film Ujala (1942)starring Naseem and Prithviraj Kapoor. Through the course of the film and thereafter, Ehsan and Naseem fell in love and got married. Naseem then moved to Delhi along with Ehsan. The couple had two children, daughter Saira Banu, who also went on to become an actress and a son, Sultan Ahmed. For a while it looked like Naseem had bid adieu to films.
However, S Mukherji, who worked at Filmistan, convinced Naseem to come back and star opposite Ashok Kumar for Filmistan’s maiden production, Chal Chal Re Naujavan (1944). Though the build up for the film was huge, it only did moderate business at the box-office. More importantly though, Naseem was now back in the film industry for good. Ehsan and Naseem restarted Taj Mahal Pictures which would produce films starring Naseem. Some films produced by the banner include Begum (1945), Mulaqat (1947), and Chandni Raat (1949), the last also directed by Ehsan. Two of Naseem’s best performances came in Mehboob’s Anokhi Ada (1948) and Sohrab Modi’s Sheesh Mahal (1950), re-uniting her with Modi after more than a decade.
Naseem’s last lot of films include the swashbuckler Shabistan (1951), during whose filming leading man Shyam lost his life, Ajeeb Ladki (1952), Betaab (1952), which was her last film of note as a leading lady, and the stunt films, Sinbad The Sailor (1952) and Baghi (1953). Thereafter, she was seen in Sohrab Modi’sNausherwan-e-Adil (1957), where she impressively played the Empress of Iran.
By the time she completed Ajeeb Ladki, Naseem’s marriage to him was on its last legs. Ehsan migrated to Pakistan on his own taking with him all the negatives and prints of the films produced by Taj Mahal Pictures. He had these films screened there, making her an extremely popular actress across the border as well. Naseem then moved to England for a while as she sent her children to a day school there to give them the best of education. But finding England cold and aloof, the family finally returned to India.
Once her daughter, Saira Banu, entered films, Naseem, who ironically was dead against her joining the movie industry, designed clothes for her including some trendsetting beautiful embroidered saris in Aayi Milan Ki Bela (1964). And though well in her 40s by now, Naseem continued to get acting offers but refused them all. Naseem Banu passed away in Mumbai on June 18, 2002.
Like Naseem Bano, Modi was instrumental in helping and promoting the careers of many others like, Kamaal Amrohi, Chandramohan, Prithviraj Kapoor, Mehtab and many other smaller artistes like Sadiq Ali, Zillo bai, Eruch Tarapore, Sheela, Meena (Shorey), Al Nasir etc . Sadiq Ali was not only a regular, but was Modi’s favourite actor.
Sadiq Ali, was born on 6-10-1911 at Jullundhar, Punjab. His 2 cousins- Wazir Ali and Nazir Ali were famous Indian cricketers. Sadiq Ali completed his Engineering degree and worked in M.E.S. at Kanpur (Military Engg. Services). Due to strong desire to work in films and dramas, he resigned from his job after 5 years and joined Agha Hashr’s Drama company. When the company was closed, he joined The Burma Imperial film company at Rangoon. After few small roles, he came down to Bombay.
After working in some smaller companies, he joined Minerva Movietone. Starting with khan Bahadur-37, he worked in Minerva’s Pukar-39, Sikandar-41, Phir Milenge-42, Prithwiraj Sanyogita-43, Parakh-44 (only directed by Modi) and Ek din ka sultan-45, also in Sandesa-39,Black out, Duniya tumhari hai, Phir milenge, Ulti Ganga, Patharon ke saudagar,Jagbeeti,Nishana, Do Naina, Manjhdar, Mitti etc. In all he acted in 23 films. His last film was Ever Ready-46. After partition, he migrated to Pakistan.
First film in Pakistan Judai (1950 Shaheena,Nazar and Zeenat). Other film Shola (1952).
Sadiq Ali was a very successful and famous actor before partition and got the title of Prince of Minerva. He acted in many films in India, but in Pakistan,
Sadiq Ali could not be successful as he was in India. He was paralyzed in 60’s and could be seen sitting with Pan shop in Capitol Cinema lane, Karachi. Died on 12-7-1977 in Karachi. In his last days, he was seen begging on road.
Film Meetha Zahar was directed by Sohrab Modi. Screen play was by Gajanan Jagirdar. Munshi Irshad Ahmed wrote all the 9 songs of the film, which were composed by B.S.Hoogan, the MD.
When I first came across this name B.S.Hoogan, in the list of Hindi composers,my first reaction was,what is this foreigner doing in Hindi Films ?
Further when I saw his name as MD in 10-15 films of the 30s,I became very curious and wanted to know more about him.As per my experience so far,I usually got information for any -or almost any-Film personality from my notes,Old cuttings,books,magazines,old articles etc ,or even from an obscure,less known Internet site,but in Hoogan’s case I always found myself at a dead end. There was simply NO information about him anywhere ! It was as if no one in India knew about him or as if he was from some alien planet.
I was perplexed.How can anybody from Film industry,with so many films to his credit,be such an unknown person ? This was a challenge and I decided ,come what may,to find out about this elusive,dodging and unreachable B.S.Hoogan,at any cost.
Almost one year passed and I found a ray of Hope.
I visited the Blog of Mr.Kamalakar Pasupuleti ji. He is a writer on old films,music and an avid collector of old songs,besides having been an active RMIM worker.He is also a mine of information. Incidentally,he too is from Hyderabad-just like me,and being in the same age group,we enjoy discussing matters relating to people and places in old Hyderabad of the 40s and 50s,when we were youngsters.Later on, he has migrated to USA.
On his Blog, he had written about Hoogan. He had located the nephew of Hoogan, in India and contacted him.He got some information from him about Hoogan. Although the info was not exhaustive, it was a great find. Plus Kamalakarji himself had also written about Hoogan,from his interaction with people who had met Hoogan in Hyderabad. I wrote to kamalakar ji in USA and he very graciously gave me permission to use all that material for this article.
At this juncture, my luck suddenly decided to cooperate and I found some info about Hoogan in a book.I even found out that the same nephew of Hoogan had uploaded 4 songs of Hoogan,(2 from Parakh-37 and 2 from Meetha Zahar-38) on Hamara Forum.
B.S.Hoogan was not a foreigner,he was very much an Indian.His name was BALWANT SINGH HOOGAN. He was tall,wheat comlexioned and of medium build. He was born in 1901 at Firozpur, Punjab, where his family was settled. He was a Kashmiri Brahmin. According to C.Ramchandra also,he was originally from Kashmir.
Before becoming a music director he seems to have learnt classical music and western music.He played many western instruments.
In the days of silent films,orchestras used to play in the Theatres ,in front of or behind the screen.During the film also they played appropriate music pieces.It would add live pleasure with moving images. Hoogan learnt giving this music and conducting orchestra from his teacher,Mr.Victor Aimes,an Englishman,from the Albert Music Company. He learnt writing music in notations and conducting orchestra with a baton. He played his orchestra of 12 musicians.
Hoogan looked impressive with a Black Tailcoat,Bow-Tie and Grey Trousers,as described by a Hyderabad Nawab,who had been personally introduced to Hoogan in Hyderabad in 1930.
B.S.Hoogan started his career as MD with Ajanta Cinetone of Mohan Bhavnani.He gave music to Afzal,Maya jaal,Rangeela Rajput(all 1933)Dard e dil,Dukhtar e Hind,Mazdoor,Sair e Paristan,Vasavdatta(all1934),Pyar ki maar,Registan ki Rani,Sone ka shahar,sherdil Aurat(all 1935), Begunah,khan Bahadur,Parakh(all1937),Meetha Zahar,Vijay marg(all 1938) and Sansar Sagar-1939.
Total films-18. Songs composed- 231.
Music Director C.Ramchandra,in his Marathi autobiography, wrote about Hoogan. When CR was working in Minerva, Hoogan joined the company, in place of Habib Khan, the composer. He showed CR how the Desi Raag can be played on foreign musical instruments. He brought in many Goanese orchestra players into the company. CR knew writing notations, Hoogan improved this. Hoogan liked CR very much. Hoogan would take CR with him to all big hotels of Bombay. Orchestras would be playing there. CR learned how those tunes could be indianised in his music here only.
Hoogan would make tunes and ask CR to write the notations. CR would hum those tunes and then improve the tunes. Hoogan would not know. Thus many of his tunes were used by Hoogan without knowing it.In the film Meetha Zahar-1938,Naushad was Hoogan’s assistant. Actors like Nissar,Bibbo,Sheila and Naseem Bano sang for him.
B.S.Hoogan died in Ferozpore in September 1938, at the age of 37 only.
Today’s song is sung by one Shanta Dutt. This name is new to me and despite my efforts, I could not get any information about her. As per HFGK she seems to have acted in Divorce-38, Vaasanti-38 and Juari-39 and she sang one song each in film Divorce-38 and film Meetha Zahar-38. To this extent this is a rare song. With this song, film Meetha Zahar-38 and singer Shanta Dutt make their Debut on this Blog.
(I sincerely thank Shri kamalakar ji and shri Sukesh Hoogan ji (the nephew), for providing the above information about B.S.Hoogan. Some information is adapted from Upperstall.com and pakmag.com )
Song-Nain Mohan prem bhare jaadu najariya(Meethha Zahar)(1938) Singer- Shanta Dutt, Lyrics- Munshi Irshad Ahmed, MD- B S Hoogan
Lyrics
Nain Mohan prem bhare
Nain Mohan prem bhare
jaadu najariya
jaadu najariya
Nain Mohan prem bhare
Nain Mohan prem bhare
jaadu najariya
jaadu najariya
din mein aaj nain baandh chale
jigar pe aane lagi
prem ka dariya(?)
prem ka dariya(?)
Nain Mohan prem bhare
Nain Mohan prem bhare
jaadu najariya
jaadu najariya
mujhe jo aap charan haath lage
jigar jigar se mile
najar najar se mile
??ar ?? ar se mile
Go??har go??ar se mile
main aur aap hon ek dor bandhe
main aur aap hon ek dor bandhe
gale ka haar banen
aao sanwariya
aao sanwariya
Nain Mohan prem bhare
Nain Mohan prem bhare
jaadu najariya
jaadu najariya
mil ke saath sajan aao chalen
mil ke saath sajan aao chalen
prem ke oar chalen
prem ke chhor chalen
prem ke daur chalen
prem ke shor chalen
na koi ??air rahe
chain karen
na koi ??air rahe
chain karen
main aur aap hon
prem dagariya
prem dagariya
Nain Mohan prem bhare
Nain Mohan prem bhare
jaadu najariya
jaadu najariya
Wo din gaye hamaare
Posted on: April 28, 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 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 : |
3936 | Post No. : | 15011 | Movie Count : |
4113 |
Today’s song is from a film Gorakh Aaya-1938. The title of the film looks rather odd. Who is Gorakh ? May be a question in many readers’ minds. Let me explain that Gorakh is a short form of Gorakhnath- who was one of the early Navnaths, from Nath Sampraday. Have I made it more complicated ? So, let us first understand what it all means…
A brief description of the Nath Sampradaay. It is likely that some of our readers may not be familiar with the details behind these names. In the Hindu Sanaatan traditions the worship of Lord Shiva is called Shaivism and the worshippers and followers of Lord Shiva are called Shaivs. Nath Sampradaay is a sub tradition within Shaivism. The followers of this tradition consider Adinath or Lord Shiva as their first Lord. The word Nath implies Master. In this tradition, there is a lineage of nine Gurus or Teachers. The form of sadhna practiced by the followers of this tradition is called Hath Yog (हठ योग).
The first Guru in this lineage is Matsyendra Nath, who is better known as Machhindra Nath (मच्छिंद्रनाथ). The traditional history recounts that Matsyendra was born under an inauspicious star. This warranted his parents to throw the baby into the ocean. In the ocean the baby was swallowed by a large fish, and he lived and grew up inside the belly of the fish, for many years. The fish swam to the bottom of the ocean where Lord Shiva was imparting the secrets of yoga to Mata Parvati. Matsyendra overheard this discourse and learnt the secrets of yoga. He began to practice this yog sadhana inside the fish’s belly. After twelve years he finally emerged as an enlightened Siddha.
The second Guru is Gorakh. The story of Gorakhnath birth is- The first Guru Machhindra Nath went to a house for Bhiksha. The lady of the house, after serving him the Bhiksha, asked him if he can help her in any way to get a long desired child. Guru Machhindra Nath dipped his hand in his Zoli and took some some Vibhuti (ash) He gave it her and asked her to eat it and she will conceive a son. After he is gone , one of the neighbours of that lady tells her not to believe all this. The lady gets a doubt and throws the Vibhuti on a pile of garbage.
Time passes on. After 12 years, Machhindra Nath again comes to the lady and asks, how her son was. The lady, ashamed, tells him the truth. The Guru goes to the Garbage and gives a loud call, ” My son, come here “. From the garbage rises a son of about 12 years. He is Gorak Nath. Machhindranath takes him away with him and gives him the Deeksha (ceremony of bestowing the discipleship) of Nath Sampraday. Go means Earth and Rakh means to protect. So Gorakh is one who is protected by Mother Earth.
There is a list of Nine Nath Gurus, who are called Navnath. The first Nath Guru is Machhindra. The complete list is as follows
Machhindranath ( मच्छिंद्रनाथ )
Gorakhnath ( गोरखनाथ )
Jalandhar Nath ( जालंदरनाथ )
Kanif Nath (Kanhoba) ( कानिफनाथ )
Gahini Nath ( गहिनीनाथ )
Raja Bhartrihari Nath (Bharthari) ( भरथरी )
Revan Sidha Nath (रेवानसिधानाथ )
Charpati Nath and ( चर्पतीनाथ )
Naag Nath. ( नागनाथ )
The stories surrounding every Nath Guru, especially the earlier ones, are very exciting, thrilling and entertaining. One must read them from the original Nath Puraan or Nav Nath Pothi. I have read all of them. These stories are in no way less than any Arabian Night stories. Due to their entertainment value, several films in several languages have been made on the early Gurus like Machhindranath and Gorakhnath. Films on Machhindranath were made as ‘Maaya Machhindra’ in Hindi, in 1932, 1951, 1960 and 1975. Films on Gorakhnath as ‘Alakh Niranjan’, were made in 1940, 1950 and 1975. Films on Bharthari were made in 1932 and 1944. Films on other Naths were made as ‘Raja Gopichand’ in 1933, 1938 and 1950. Same way films on Naths in Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and other languages were also made. There could be some more films also on this subject.
The story of this film is quite interesting. The film was made by Ranjit Movietone. Screenplay was by Gunwantrai Acharya and dialogues and lyrics were by P L Santoshi. Cinematography was by Krishna Gopal and Music was composed by Gyan Dutt. The film was directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi- who made his debut as a film Director.
Chaturbhuj Doshi (1894–1969) was a Hindi and Gujarati writer-director of Indian cinema. He was one of the top Gujarati screenplay writers, who helped script stories for the Punatar productions. He is stated to be one of the leading figures who launched the Gujarati film industry with work on notable films like Gunsundari (1948) and Nanand Bhojai (1948). He was “well known” for his family socials and had become “a celebrity in his own right”. He made a name for himself as a journalist initially and was referred to as the “famous journalist” & publicist by Baburao Patel, editor of Filmindia.
His debut film as a director was Gorakh Aya (1938), produced by Ranjit Movietone, though he joined Ranjit in 1929, as a scriptwriter. In 1938, he directed another film for Ranjit, a social comedy, The Secretary, and both films were box-office successes for Doshi. His forte was socials, regularly adapting stories and novels for films. He worked initially on comedies like Secretary and Musafir (1940), but then “shifted to more significant films”.
Early life and career – Chaturbhuj Anandji Doshi was born in 1894 in Kathiawad, Gujarat, British India. He was educated at the University of Bombay, after graduation he started work as a journalist for a daily, Hindustan (1926), working for editor Indulal Yagnik. His entry into films was working as a scenarist in the silent era for directors like Jayant Desai, Nandlal Jaswantlal & Nanubhai Vakil. He joined Ranjit Movietone in 1929, and wrote stories and screenplay for several of Ranjit films.
Film Gorakh Aya (Gorakh has come) in 1938, was the first film directed by Doshi. It was produced by Ranjit Movietone with screenplay by Gunvantrai Acharya & dialog-ues by P. L. Santoshi. The music, termed “good” was composed by Gyan Dutt. The Secretary (1938), was a “riotous comedy”, starring Madhuri, Trilok Kapoor. Charlie. The music was composed by Gyan Dutt, became a regular in most of the films directed by Doshi. Musafir in 1940 was a comedy costu-me drama, which had Charlie playing a prince.
Bhakta Surdas, a devotional film directed by Doshi in 1942, is stated to be the “most famous” of the several versions made. It starred K. L. Saigal and Khursheed “the singing idol(s) of millions”, winning “unprecedented popularity” everywhere.
Maheman (1942) starred Madhuri, Ishwarlal, Shamim and Mubarak. Music director Bulo C. Rani had come to Bombay in 1942, and joined Ranjit Studios assisting Khemchand Prakash in music direction.
Doshi helped enormously in the development of the Gujarati cinema. During 1948-49 he directed three successful Gujarati films which “brought immense success to the industry”. The success of the Gujarati film Kariyavar in 1948, directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi from a story by Shaida, called Vanzari Vaav, helped establish the Gujarati film industry along with other films like Vadilo Ne Vanke (1948) by Ram chandra Thakur and Gadono Bel (1950) by Ratibhai Punatar. His next Gujarati film was Jesal Toral (1948) based on folk-lore, which proved a big box-office success. In 1949, Doshi directed another Gujarati film, Vevishal, an adaptation of Meghani’s novel of the same name.
He also wrote stories, and one of his stories Pati Bhakti was used in the Tamil film En Kanawar (1948) produced by Ajit Pictures, which starred the Veena maestro, Sundaram Balachander, who was also the debut director and music composer for the film. In all he directed 24 Hindi films. His last Hindi film was Sanskar-1958. He had also written few songs in film Maya Bazar-32.
Chaturbhuj Doshi died on 21 January 1969 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India. Filmography-1932: Narasinh Mehta (Writer), 1934: Sitamgarh (Writer), 1938: Gorakh Aya, Secretary, 1939: Adhuri Kahani, 1940: Musafir, 1941:Pardesi, Sasural, 1942: Bhakta Surdas, Dhiraj, Mehmaan, 1943: Chhoti Maa, Shankar Parvati (Director, Writer), 1944: Bhartrahari, 1945:Murti, 1946: Phulwari, 1947: Bela, Kaun Hamara, 1948: Jesal Toral, Kariyavar (Director, Writer), Sati Sone, 1949: Bhakta Puran, Vevishal, 1950: Akhand Saubhagya, Kisi Ki Yaad, Ramtaram, 1954: Aurat Teri Yahi Kahani, 1956: Aabroo, Dashera, Dassehra, 1957: Khuda Ka Banda, Shesh Naag, 1958: Sanskar, 1960: Mehndi Rang Lagyo (Writer, Lyricist).
The film had a cast consisting of Mazhar Khan, Trilok Kapoor, Rajkumari and Kalyani in lead roles, Ila devi as the Egyptian queen, Ram Apte, Sarla, Bhagwandas etc etc. Rajkumari Dubey made her debut in this movie as a playback singer. Till then she had only sung for herself.
The story of the film was…..
Machhindranath (Mazhar Khan) observes uncivil excesses in temples. Disgusted he leaves for Himalayas for Meditation. After 7 long years, he comes back with a conclusion that Women are the cause of all problems in this world.
Meanwhile the Egyptian queen (Ila Devi) plans to raid India and camps on the banks of the river Indus. A Rishi kanya (Kalyani) builds an army of women. Machhindranath also builds an all men army and defeats the invader.One day Tilottama-the head of women’s army (Rajkumari) and Machhindranath meet and they fall in love. He gets totally immersed in her love magic and forgets his duty also, spending life with Tilottama.
His disciple Gorakhnath(Trilok Kapoor) gets worried. He enters the women’s army camp stealthily, reaches Machhindranath and shouts in his ears “Utho Machhinder, Gorakh Aaya’. After few days’reminders, Machhindranath realises his folly. They both escape the women’s camp and continue their duties deligently as before.
This film was released on 30th July 1938 at West End Theatre in Bombay, Baburao Patel, in his magazine Film India, has praised the direction of Chaturbhuj Doshi. As a publicity gimmick, the opening day’s all shows were kept only for women. This helped greatly and in no time the film became popular and a Box Office success.
One of the singer actors was Ram Apte- the child artiste, who was no more like a child. Even Film India criticised him as a child artiste. Ram Apte had been working as a child actor from Vishwa Mohini-1933. Till 1938, he worked in 25 films in child roles. he also sang 4 songs in 3 films. After Gorakh Aaya-38, he gave up working as child artiste.
As I have not seen this film, I do not know on whom this song is filmed, but from the lyrics, it sounds as if it is between two friends. With this song, film “Gorakh Aaya”(1938) makes its Debut on the Blog.
Song-Wo din gaye hamaare (Gorakh Aaya)(1938) Singers- Rajkumari Dubey, Miss Kalyani, Lyrics- P L Santoshi, MD- Gyan Dutt
Lyrics
wo o o din gaye hamaare
wo o din gaye hamaare
wo din gaye hamaare
wo din gaye hamaare
main thhi chhail chhabeeli raadha
wo thhe mohan pyaare
main thhi chhail chhabeeli raadha
wo thhe mohan pyaare
khel rahe thhe swapn lok mein
aasha nadi kinaare
khel rahe thhe swapn lok mein
aasha nadi kinaare
wo din gaye hamaare
wo din gaye hamaare
wo din gaye hamaare
wo din gaye hamaare
wo din gaye hamaare
wo din gaye hamaare
prem ki jyot jaga jaa dete (?)
man mein preetam pyaare re
prem ki jyot jaga jaa dete(?)
man mein preetam pyaare
man mein preetam pyaare
pyaare
pyaare
ye din pyaare pyaare
ye din pyaare pyaare
main ban jaaun raseeli raadha
tum ban jaao kunj bihaari
main ban jaaun raseeli raadha
tum ban jaao kunj bihaari
dekh hamaari leela nyaari
hansen gagan mein taare
hansen gagan mein taare
taare
ye din pyaare pyaare
ye din pyaare pyaare
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.
|
Blog Day : |
3935 | Post No. : | 15009 | Movie Count : |
4111 |
Today’s song is from a film called Vachan-38. Films with the same title-Vachan were made in 1938, 1955, 1974 and 1996. Today’s film Vachan was produced by Bombay Talkies.
In the early era of Talkie films, Bombay Talkies had created great curiosity when it was established in the year 1934, mainly for 3 reasons. First reason was that both Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani, a highly educated, foreign returned couple, hailing from prestigious families, was behind Bombay Talkies. Secondly, It was the first ever film company established as a Registered company with Bombay Stock Exchange, with the most respected and very highly placed personalities of Bombay on its Board of Directors. They were Sir F.E.Dinshaw, Sir Chunilal Mehta, Sir Chimanlal Setalwad, Sir Phiroz Sethna, Sir Cawsaji Jehangir and Sir Richard Temple. Thirdly, there was a German Film Director Franz Osten and his team of Technicians consisting of Cinematographer Joseph Wirsching, Set Designer Karl Von Sreti, Sound Recordist Len Hartley and Lab Technician Wilhelm Zolle, to work in Bombay Talkies.
Germany had a very good name in India during the olden days i.e. during the early part of the last century. I remember my Grandfather ( who expired in 1975 at the age of 91 years) always praising Germany for so many things. In India,all things German were considered the Best- even better than the Vilayati or the British things !
Very few people know that Indian Cinema had a little known connection with the rise of Hitler in Germany in 1932-33. A group of men , engaged in Cinema in Germany, flocked to India in the 30’s and played a vital role in Indian Cinema and the arts of that times. After Hitler took over Germany in 1933, the German Cine Studio’s glory days were over and they were turned into Nazi Propaganda Machines !
It was at this time that several of its men left the studio and arrived in India, and contributed to Indian cinema’s formative years.
The foremost among them is Frantz Osten, a German whom Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani met at the UFA when they went to train there (they worked with Lang and Marlene Dietrich). Osten had already been directing films for the couple since 1925, when he made Light of Asia for them from Germany.
In 1934, he came to India and the next year, after Rai founded Bombay Talkies ‘ the legendary film studio in Malad that now lies in ruins ‘ Osten directed its first film.
He went on to direct the famous Devika Rani-Ashok Kumar starrer, Achhyut Kanya, without much knowledge of Hindi. The film, which featured the song “Main ban ke chiriya”, was shot by Joseph Wirsching; the sets were designed by Karl von Spreti and the laboratory was headed by Zolle, Osten’s team of UFA ex-members who worked for Rai’s state-of-the-art studio.
Osten and his fellow Germans directed 16 films for Rai. It was a remarkable feat for people who knew little Hindi ‘ mistaking the word “bulbul” once for a pair of bulls.
“It’s not clear if they had anything to do with the Nazi ideology, either way,” said film historian Amrit Gangar.
“If they did, it did not show in their films. But there were two other people who almost certainly migrated to India because of the persecution of Jews.”
Franz Osten(23-12-1876-2-12-1956) Hindi director, born in Munich as Franz Ostermayer, the elder brother of successful producer Peter Ostermayer. They set up a travelling cinema, Original Physograph (1907) and founded Munchner Kunstfilm (1909) after Osten had been making shorts for Pathé, Gaumont and Eclair. Their first feature: Die Wahrheit (1910). Osten’s début as director: Erna Valeska (1911). War correspondent in 1915. Joined Peter’s company Emelka (later Bavaria Film) in 1918. Made Der Ochsenkrieg (1920) with young cameraman Frank Planer of later Hollywood fame, one of Osten’s several contributions to a budding genre that after WW2 became known as the Heimatfilm. In fact, the Ostermayr/Osten brothers claimed to be the originators of the genre.
When Himansu Rai and Emelka made a deal to produce Prem Sanyas aka Light of Asia, Osten was assigned to direct. Continued directing Rai’s productions, often shooting in India as well as in Europe, in addition to directing for numerous companies in Berlin. Moved with cameraman Josef Wirsching and set designer Karl von Spreti to India to work at Himansu Rai’s Bombay Talkies (1934).
While in Bombay, became a member of the Nazi Party (1936). Interned by the British at the outbreak of WW2 while shooting his last film there, Kangan. Released and allowed to return to Germany (1940). Employed by Bavaria Film until 1945, for casting and setting up its film archive. In addition to Indian films, directed 33 silent features and 10 sound films.
After WW2 became manager of a Bavarian spa. His Indian films, following UFA tradition, were huge Orientalist spectacles with elephants, camels and expansive vistas often shot in deep focus. Effective authorship shared by producer Rai and scenarist Niranjan Pal. Adopted European conventions to introduce main actors, e.g. backlit mid-shots in soft focus gradually becoming more contrasted; also used mobile outdoor shots as in the railway-crossing sequence of Achhut Kanya. Strongly influenced younger Bombay Talkies film-makers Amiya Chakrabarty and Gyan Mukherjee, though they used his techniques for very different purposes.
Filmography-1925: Prem Sanyas, 1928: Shiraz, 1929: Prapancha Pash, 1935: Jawani Ki Hawa, 1936: Achhut Kanya, Janmabhoomi, Jeevan Naiya, Mamata, Miya Bibi, 1937: Izzat, Jeevan Prabhat, Prem Kahani, Savitri, 1938: Bhabhi, Nirmala, Vachan, 1939: Durga, Kangan, Navjeevan .
Film Vachan was a costume drama, first such film for Ashok Kumar. Some actors form an image in our mind. We accepted Ashok kumar as a simple hearted lover boy in early films like Jeevan Naiya, and Achhut kanya etc. Even his shaky songs became popular, because in those days all these social films with a cause were novelties. Most of the 7 films he did with Devika Rani were successful, but this film has to be rated a little on the lower side of the list. I have not seen the film, nor have I got any inkling about its story line, but from the comments in Film India Magazine of those days, it looks like a film of moderate success. It was released on 19-8-1938, at Roxy cinema, Bombay.
The cast of the film consisted of Devika Rani, Ashok kumar, meera, Mumtaz Ali, peethawala, Kamatha Prasad, Maya Devi, Pratima, Balwant Singh etc etc.
The name MEERA is one of those which cause ‘ Same Name Confusion’. Luckily, the other Meera (Mishra) started acting only in 1946, when this Meera was in the last phase of her career. Still many sites, books and writers mix up their filmography. Meera was an Anglo-Indian girl in Hindi films. During the silent film era a lot many European and Anglo-Indian girls acted in films. Few of them continued even after Talkie films started and very few like Sulochana and Sabita Devi etc. became successful even in the films for a considerable time.Some of these girls were, Ruby Meyers-Sulochana, Iris Gasper-Sabita Devi, Susan Soloman-Firoza begum ( not the singer), Effie Hippolet-Indira Devi, Bonnie Bird-Lalita Devi, Esther Abraham-Pramila, Renee Smith- Sita Devi, Berryl Classen-Madhuri, Winnie Stewert-Manorama Senior, Erine Issac Daniels-Manorama Junior, Florence Ezekiel-Nadira, Sophie Abraham-Romilla, Rose Musleah-Rose, Lilian Ezra-Lilian, Mercia Soloman-Vimla, Rachel Sofaer-Arti Devi, Rachel Cohen-Ramola Devi, Patience cooper, Violet Cooper, Ermelin-Sudhabala etc etc.
Meera’s real name was Muriel Alexander. She was born on 10-11-1919. She was from a respectable family. Her father was Superintendent-local Audit in AG’s office.Brother E. Alexander was an All India level cricketer. She passed her Inter science exam from Benaras Hindu University. It was through one Mr. Seal,who was a manager in Adarsh Chitra,she got her first break in film Dhuwandhar-1935. This was the Debut film of Leela Chitnis also. It is not known if she sang any song in that film,as no records are available.
My guess is that,besides acting,she must have sung few songs in that film.
Her name first appears as an actress and singer in film Bhabhi-38,in which she sang 3 solo songs. from 1935 to 1938,she must have sung many songs,but singers names are not mentioned. thus many singers’ credit must have been lost in those years.Same case was with Amirbai karnataki also. After Bhabhi,her name appears in Nirmala-38 and vachan-38 in which she sang 1 solo and 3 duets. She acted and sang songs in films of Ranjit,Prakash and Minerva Movietone films.
As per information available Meera acted in Dolti Naiya-34, Dhuwandhar-35, Bhabhi-38, Vachan-38, Adhoori Kahani-39, Tatar ka chor-40, Paak Daaman-40, Chingari-40, Armaan-42, Meri Duniya-42, Mauj-43, Krishna bhakta Bodana-44, Ji haan-45, Sham Savera-46, Ye hai Duniya-48 and Sansar-51. She only sang in Nirmala-38.
Another interesting name in the cast is Maya Devi. Maya Devi was from Bombay and started her career from silent films in 1928 with Anarkali by imperial. Her first Talkie film was Kunwari ya widhva-35. Her real name was Leela. She became a favourite of Bombay Talkies and she did 6 films with them in 37 and 38. In all she did 5 silent films and 31 Talkie films till 1949. her last film in India was Raaz-49. She got married with a Muslim and then migrated to Pakistan, where she did 19 films and then retired in 1964. Her first film in Pakistan was Phere-1949.She died in Lahore on 1-2-67. She did films in Gujarati and Punjabi also.
Today’s song is a song sung by Devika Rani, Meera, Lalita and Vimla. I do not know who these Lalita and Vimla were. This seems to be a friendly song of 4 of the sahelis, with dialogues in the beginning and the end of the song. With this song, film Vachan-38 makes its debut.
(For this post, I have used information from ” Walter Kaufmann in India 1934-1946″ by Amrit Gangar, The Big Indian Picture- Bombay Talkies-By Ambarish Roy Chaudhari, indiancine.ma, with thanks and my notes.)
Song-Naval Naveli Nyaari hum Kunwari baari(Vachan)(1938) Singers-Devika Rani, Miss Meera, Lalita, Vimla, Lyrics – J S Kashyap, MD- Saraswati Devi
Lyrics
hahahahaha
Malti
abhi aur khelenge
nahin Shama
ab ghar chalna chaahiye
bahut der ho gayi
kyon
darti hai
kahin pati mahashay khabar na len
hahaha
kyun nahin
pati ki dulaari hai na
hahahahaha
hum kunwaariyon ko koi fikr nahin
nahin nahin nahin nahin
hazaar baar nahin
hahahahaha
Naval Naveli Nyaari
hum Kunwari baari
Naval Naveli Nyaari
hum Kunwari baari
dosh nahin kuchh
hosh nahin kuchh
saral sahaj matwaari
dosh nahin kuchh
hosh nahin kuchh
saral sahaj matwaari
hum Kunwari baari
Naval Naveli Nyaari
hum Kunwari baari
khuli hawa mein nav kali ?? phoolen
khuli hawa mein nav kali ?? phoolen
pawan jhakoron mein madmaati jhoolen
pawan jhakoron mein madmaati jhoolen
tan man apna jeewan apna
tan man apna jeewan apna
ham ban ki chidiyaa
haan tum ??
maina
maina
maina
hahahaha
suna
jee
suna
aur guna bhi
aap ne abhi suna hi suna hai
guna nahin
hahahahah
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.
|
Blog Day : |
3934 | Post No. : | 15007 | Movie Count : |
4109 |
Today’s song is from a film of the first decade of the Talkie films- Rikshawala aka Bhola Raja-1938.
In India, documentation of old films, songs, actors and other artistes of the film industry, is extremely poor. The major part of the responsibility being with the Government, it was all the more in poor condition For Historical data maintenance work, dedicated people are required to do the proper caring. In Govt. offices, this was expecting too much. Thus occasional fires engulfing heritage films, books, documentaries etc and frequent theft or loss of books and other materials from the archives was not surprising.
Of course, everything and all the time, it was not that there were no good peoplein Govt. Agencies. It is because if such rare good and capable people only, we have today, whatever is available in the Govt. archives. The common feeling in India is that Govt. should look after everything under the Sun. Have the people no responsibility or accountability towards preservation of Heritage ? Go to any Heritage Temple, building or structure, you will invariably find that Lovers have carved their names on stones and walls, as if the world was eager to know ! So much for public awareness !! I feel, these things have to be taught from primary school level onwards only. We have failed miserably to inculcate National pride, Nationalism and Patriotism in our newer generations, from their childhood. These things have only remained to symbolically unfurl Flags and sing National Anthem on Independence Day !
Luckily, as far as Film history is concerned,there are some people who, on their own, try to preserve old film data and other related matters to the best of their capabilities. Record collectors, song collectors, old film magazine collectors, films and books collectors, poster collectors and those who open up their valuable collections to the general public free of charge are worthy of appreciation. They are doing a great service to preservation of history.
Apart from these, those who upload old and rare song videos on You Tube or other social medias, for use of anybody and everybody are also doing yeoman’s service to hindi film music. It is another thing that some selfish uploaders upload incomplete songs,but there are good people like Shalin Bhatt, Alaknanda, Girdharilal Wishwakarma ji, Sadanand Kamath ji,our own Sudhir ji, Atul ji, Javed bhai etc who upload not only complete but also rare songs on Internet. My sincere thanks to these Noble Souls.
In addition there are some less known Blogs who do a great job in this field. Most people are totally unaware of one such Blog run by an American-Mike Barnum ji. On his Blog Mike has written on atleast 100+ only C grade action and stunt films alone. He has made classification by different Generes also, like Jungle films, Mystery films, Murder films, Horror films etc etc. There are Photos, posters, cast details, film stories and short Bios of unknown C grade artistes. Once you go to his Blog, you get lost for a long time. It is a great work, involving a neglected Genre of Hindi films, which was once upon a time, a very popular film variety for certain audiences. I thank him profusely for this service. thanks, Mike Barnum ji.
Why I am writing all this is, most people are unaware of these things and they must know the good work done by these people also. Many times I use song videos uploaded by Shalin ji Bhatt. They are clean, clear, full and rare most times. Thanks, Shalin ji.
Today’s film, churned out from the Ranjit factory was not a stunt film, but a social film. The Music Director was Gyan Dutt. The lyrics were by the young Pyarelal Santoshi, who became very famous writer and a director later on. The cast consisted of Mazhar Khan, Ila Devi, Wasti, Indubala, Charlie, Dikshit and Ghori, Waheedan Bai, Tara bai etc. The film was directed by Ezra Mir.
Some of the Senior readers, in the bracket of 55 to 75 years of age would recollect the Indian Documentaries made by Ezra Mir, shown before almost every film in the theatres. Indian News Reel and these documentaries on various subjects were actually used as a facility to enter the theatre late and still catch the whole movie from the beginning. These documentaries were made mostly by Ezra Mir and the voice over used to be that of Pratap Sharma usually. ( his younger brother Mahesh Sharma was my good friend in those days).
Ezra Mir was one of the rare persons who worked in the famous Hollywood studios for a considerable time, before he came to India and got involved in making films here. He was also a rare person who, despite being in great demand in the commercial cinema, chose to join a Government organisation and did a monumental significant work for the future generations. For a long time, I was thinking him to be a Muslim man, but at a much later date, I came to know that he was a Jew person.
Ezra Mir ( real name Edwyn Meyers) was born on 26-10-1902 at Calcutta. After completing his education, he joined Madon Theatres in 1921. In 1923, he left for Europe and America to work in film industry. After doing bit roles in Rudolph Valentino’s films in Long Island, New York and working for First National Biograph Studios, he joined the Universal studios as a ” Film Cutter ” and later as a Scenario writer. By his diligent and hard work he became the chief of story Department in United Artistes. In 1929, he wrote and directed a film ‘ Simbolisque ‘, which created a sensation in the film circle there.
With the advent of the Talkie, he came back to India , joined Imperial Film co. and made film Noorjehan-31 in Hindi and English. In 32-33, he joined Sagar movietone and directed Zarina-32, Pagal premee-33 and Farzand e Hind-34. Then Ezra went to Calcutta. After doing some films he came back and made documentaries on second world war. In 1940, he was appointed by the Govt. on Film Advisory Board. In 1942, when V.Shantaram left as its head, he became the head. From 1942 to 1946, he made 170 documentaries.
In 1951 he joined Films Division and in 1956, became its President. In his tenure here, he made 400 documentaries. In 1970 he got ‘ Padmashri ‘. Ezra Mir died on 7-3-1993. His Filmography is Noorjehan-31, Zarine-32, Pagal premi-33, Farzand e Hind-34, Mera Pyara and Rasheeda-35,Jeevan Sangram, Parivartan,Rajdulari and Shaitan ka pash-36, Rikshawala-38,Sitara-39, Beete din-47, pamposh-54 and Raju aur gangaram-64.
Another interesting artiste in this film was Indubala. Indubala’s mother was Rajabala, who along with sister Matibala and brother Tinkary worked in Motilal Bose’s The Great Bengal Circus, also known as Bose’s Circus or Professor Bose’s Circus. Harimati was the eldest sister of Rajabala and had a different life. Rajabala performed mainly as a trapeze artiste and got married to Motilal Bose at a temple in Ujjain, India. At the time he was then in his forties while Rajabala was still a teenager. The marriage was never accepted as legal by Motilal’s family. Motilal Bose’s first wife was Mrs. Annadamohini Devi.
Indubala was born in Novenber, 1899 at Amritsar, where the circus party had gone for performance. Indu was born premature and Dr. Bidhumukhi Basu was taken to Amritsar from Calcutta to attend to Rajabala. Such was the affection and concern of the husband for his young wife. Motilal’s interest in Rajabala dwindled later, supposedly because Rajabala showed no interest in going back to the circus after Indu’s birth and soon she was left to fend for herself. She came to Calcutta with her daughter and was given shelter by a Jiban Krishna Ghosh, who remained loyal to her till his death and also played a major role in establishing Indubala in her life as a performer. Once in Calcutta, Rajabala trained herself as a singer and Indubala’s first training in music was from her mother. The initial plan was to train Indu as a nurse and she was admitted as a trainee in a hospital in the Pataldanga locality of Calcutta. Indu did not take fancy in the job and ran away from the hospital, much to the disappointment of her mother, who never wanted her only daughter to be forced into a life of indignity.
After this incident Indubala’s musical training started. Although her father ignored wife Rajabala completely, he remained fond of his daughter and kept in touch with her and often invited her to his ancestral home where he lived during his brief visits to Calcutta and sent her a monthly pocket money of Rupees twenty till his death. Indubala’s first performance was at a gathering of distinguished guests where her mother was the chief entertainer. Each one of the guests appreciated Indu’s singing and thus began her formal training from Gouri Shankar Mishraji. Indu was only about twelve then. This also marked the entry of Indubala into the red light world. Amongst her trainers were Kali Prasad Mishra, Elaahi Bux and Miss Gauhar Jaan. Apart from music, Miss Gauhar Jaan, credited as Prima Donna of India, Indu also learned etiquette from the elder artiste and developed a close friendship with her. This association provided Indu with valuable musical knowledge and experience.
In later years she took training from Girin Chakraborty, Kamal Dasgupta, Subal Dasgupta, Jamiruddin Khan and Kazi Nazrul Islam. In time she came to be one of the major exponents of Nazrul songs and her songs along with those of Miss Angurbala and Kamala Jharia are still referred to for authenticity of lyrics and tunes of Nazrul songs. In 1916, Indubala recorded her first songs. She was brought into the record circle by Bhagabati Charan Bhattacharya and Mr. Manindra Nath Ghosh, alias Mantababu, himself a gramophone singer of repute. The first songs published as record were Asha Phuraye Gelo, Sindhu Khambaj and Aar Mukhey Boley Ki Hobey, Kedara. The record number was P 4306. In the beginning she did not take any money from the Gramophone Company and as such was credited in the records as Miss Indubala (Amateur). She was not the first amateur artiste of the company but enjoyed the privilege of announcing her name at the end of each song saying “My name is Indubala”. The amateur status continued for a fairly long period. Later on she received Rupees two hundred per record and also received a royalty of five per cent over the sales. Her first songs of Nazrul on the disc were “Cheyona Sunayana” and “Rumjhum Rumjhum Ke Eley Nupur Paye”. The record number was P 11661. To Indubala also goes the credit of being the first Bengali artiste to record Hindustani songs for the Gramophone Company. For the Indian State Broadcasting Center, later named All India Radio, Indubala first sang on the second day of the radio company’s broadcasting in 1927 in Calcutta and went on singing in this medium for nearly fifty years. Over the radio, Indubala sang not only from Calcutta but from several other stations by special invitation all over India. Apart from discs and the radio, Indubala was well established by the thirties in cultural functions all over India. Frequent invitations used to come from Shahjahanpur, Pakur, Madras, Bangalore, Palanpur, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Oudh, Trivandrum, Vizagapattam, Ajmer, Qoembatore, Dacca and several other places.
In 1936 she was appointed court musician to His Highness, The Maharajah of Mysore. She received a monthly salary of Rupees two hundred and fifty and this continued till the time when the native princes faced withdrawal of privy purse. In all Indubala had recorded some two hundred and eighty songs, including about two hundred forty basic songs, the rest being from films. Indubala’s first stage appearance was in The Rambagan Female Kali Theatre, established by her mother Rajabala in 1922. Both mother and daughter took part in the plays and Indubala appeared in about twelve plays in this short-lived company which lasted for only two years and in 1924 she joined Calcutta’s most prestigious stage, The Star Theatre. She continued to appear on the stage mainly in singing roles and her songs were a major attraction in each of the plays. By rotation she acted in all the public theaters of Calcutta and even took part in the Hindi Parsee Theatre in 1945 and 1946, the plays being Ghar Ki Laaj and Jasoos. Her last appearance in the public stage was in the play Prithviraj in the role of Mehga at Star Theatre in 1950. Thereafter she worked in call shows till almost 1958.
Jamuna Puliney (1933) has been credited as her first film. This is probably because this was her first film contract although Ankh Ka Tara (1932) released before Jamuna Puliney. In all she acted in about forty eight films in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil languages. In most of them, she had songs as a major attraction or else did comic roles as in Bengali Indira (1937) and Hindi Deewali (1940) to name a few. She did the role of Dhai Ma in both the versions of Swamsidhha (1947). Thereafter she was not seen on the screen. As a playback singer she lent her voice in films like Alibaba (1937), Chandragupt (1934) in Hindi, Ab E Hayat (1933) in Urdu and Dil Ki Pyaas (1935) also in Urdu. She did not act in these four films. Indubala did not receive any major award apart from the Gold Disc given on behalf of His Master’s Voice. The government of India never considered her name for any award. The Sangeet Natak Academy however honoured her with a lifetime achievement award in 1975. The government of West Bengal, India however did arrange for a pension for which a lot of running about had to be done.
In personal life, Indubala was most humble and polite and bold in her behavior and was never ashamed to admit or discuss her origin. Even when established as a major singing artiste with an all India fame, she refused to move out to a respectable place leaving her residence in Rambagan, a notorious red light area of Calcutta. Indubala was got herself involved in voluntary work for the uplift of fallen women and worked actively for their rights in society through various organizations, which were patronized by top political leaders of the time. She had some interesting hobbies like writing poetry and collecting perfumes.
Even at old age all the empty perfume bottles were kept within her view. She was fond of jewellery too and had a great collection, either purchased or gifted by admirers. These valuables vanished when she was too unwell to keep track of them. Her contemporary artiste Miss Angurbala was a close friend with whom she confided and shared the joys and sorrows of life and this friendship lasted till the very end. Indubala adopted a nephew of her mother’s friend Jiban Krishna Ghosh. The boy’s name was Pranab Ghosh. This foster son did not look after her mother very much when in old age Indubala suffered from conditions like cataract and then paralytic stokes. It was Dr. Badan Sengupta who made necessary arrangement for her treatment She could not afford nursing homes and therefore was treated at state government hospitals in all occasions of illness.
The end came on the thirtieth day of November, 1984 after a prolonged illness during which again Dr. Badhan Sengupta looked after her as his own mother. Perhaps by coincidence her friend Angurbala died the same year.
I have not seen this film, nor have I got any idea about its storyline. 90% of Ranjit films were destroyed in a fire so there is no chance of seeing this film anymore. From the lyrics of the song, it seems to be a comedy song.
“Rickshaawaala” aka “Bhola Raja” (1938) makes its debut with this song.
( some information for this post has been used with thanks from an article by Dr. J.P.Guha in an adapted form, Filmdom-46, Bengali Cinema by B.C.Roy and my notes)
Song-Khatmal Ram ji Khatmal Ram ji tumko sau sau baar salaam (Rickshaawaala)(1938) Singer- Indubala, Lyrics- P L Santoshi, MD- Gyan Dutt
Lyrics
Khatmal Ram ji
Khatmal Ram
tumko sau sau baar salaam
Khatmal Ram ji
Khatmal Ram
tumko sau sau baar salaam
sone waale madhur neend mein
jab khurraate bharte
aa aa
sone waale madhur neend mein
jab khurraate bharte
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
sone waale madhur neend mein
jab khurraate bharte
lekar apni baaki toli
lekar apni baaki toli
tum ?? karte
Khatmal Ram ji
Khatmal Ram
tumko sau sau baar salaam
pahle pahar mein
bhogi jaage
dooje pahar mein rogi
hey ae
teeje pahar mein
???khu jaage
chauthe pahar mein jogi
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
apna apna kaam bhool kar
jo hain chup so jaate
aa aa aa
apna apna kaam bhool kar
jo hain chup so jaate
ang ang ek tedhi(?) kar ke
ang ang ek tedhi(?) kar ke
aake unhen jagaate
Khatmal Ram ji
Khatmal Ram
tumko sau sau baar salaaaam
Recent comments