Archive for the ‘Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh’ Category
Aag dil mein lagaaye baithhe hain
Posted on: March 5, 2021
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4613 | Post No. : | 16246 | Movie Count : |
4417 |
Today’s song is a rare song, from an unknown film Suhagi-48. Yes, the title is Suhagi and NOT Suhag. It is rather an unusual and misleading title. There is a cluster of titles around the word Suhag. There were 4 films as Suhag and also 4 films as Suhagan. There was a film Suhag raat ke Pehle and then there were 3 films as Suhag Raat. 2 films as Suhag Sindoor. There were two films with funny titles like Suhag ka Daan and Suhag ka Balidan. And among all this cluster poor film Suhagi was hidden in a corner !
Made by Blue art pictures, the film was directed by A.Shakoor, who directed only one more film in his career- Paayal-48, also made by the same banner. Film Suhagi was produced by Ismaile Devjee and the MD was Shaukat Dehlavi.
1948 was an year in which all the industries-including film industry- were trying to come back to normalising their businesses. The new government had not yet changed any laws and rules, so there was peace on all fronts. The Black money which was being poured into making films was now used by Politicians and thus the film industry was almost back to genuine producers and filmmakers. Most of the famous studios were on the verge of ending the studio system and studio culture. Some big names like New Theatres, Prabhat, Sagar, Ranjit were now mere shadows of their earlier powerful existence.
While film makers lost an important topic of Patriotism( in a garb), they now concentrated on Indian culture, Mythology, History, Family values, Joint family importance, literacy and such development themes. This changed the face of films. However, stories based on Folk tales, Religion and Kings-Queens and evil Wazirs still continued with public patronage. Raj Kapoor emerged as a Director, Ashok Kumar became a middle aged Hero, Dilip and Dev prospered with love stories and young themes. Older Heroes, Heroines, Directors and character artistes started vanishing and a new crop of actors etc took over their mantle. Music was changing its tunes. Melody ruled over Lyrics now and Naushad, C Ramchandra, H-B, S – J, Madan Mohan and the likes of them started making names and films.
One major event that happened in 1948, was the entry of Southern producers into Hindi heartland, with a Bang, when S S Vasan brought his Magnum-Opus- ” Chandralekha”, with more than 600 prints for All Indfia release. The extraordinary success of this film paved the way of other big production houses of South, like AVM, L V Prasad etc. to push their Hindi remakes of successful Southern films into the Hindi markets all over India.
For the MD Shoukat Dehlavi of film Suhagi, it was only his second film as an MD. Do you know who this MD was ? He used 5 different names to compose music to 29 films in his career spanning from 1947 to 1965 in India. He composed 203 songs and also sang 3 songs in 3 films namely, Dildar-47, Aiye-49 and Baradari-55. His 5 names were 1. Shoukat Dehlavi, 2. Shoukat Hussain Dehlavi 3. Shoukat Ali 4. Shoukat Haidari and finally he took a permanent new name 5. NASHAAD.
I can remember only one more artiste who had 5 names in her life. She was known as Qamar Sultana, Indira, Indu, Jaijaywanti and AMEETA !
After Partition, there was a rush to migrate to Pakistan and artists continued to shift there from 47 to almost 1950. Some artistes like Noorjehan left immediately. There were few cases where some people borrowed money from friends and then left the country quietly, leaving the money lender high and dry. By about 49-50, almost everything was settled on both sides. The conditions in Lahore and Karachi had stabilised considerably for film making and lots of opportunities existed for film artistes there by mid 50s. That led to a second wave of migration to Pakistan at that time. Those who had continued in India completed their assignments here and went to Pakistan.
This type of Migration continued till almost mid 60s, when actor Kumar, MD Naashaad, producer actor Shaikh Mukhtar etc migrated to Pakistan. For the lucky ones, the talented ones and those who had preexisting ties in Pakistan sustained, prospered and were happy, but a few artistes suffered heavily. Once a popular Heroine, Meena Shorey, one of the most handsome actors of his times-Najmul Hasan and the hopeful Shaikh Mukhtar spent their last days in utter neglect, penury, disillusionment and sorrow. Actors like Noor Mohammed Charlie regretted their decision to migrate, but it was too late.
One of the later migrants was NASHAD, music director,who shifted in 1963 or so.
NASHAD was born as Shaukat Haidari,in Delhi,on 11-7-1923. He completed his schooling in Delhi, where he learnt playing the flute. He came to Bombay and worked as assistant/helper to many composers, learning to play different instruments. He even worked as assistant to Ghulam Haider and Naushad.
He was one composer who used several names to give music. His first film was Dildar in 1947. He used the name Shaukat Dehlavi for Dildar-47, Paayal-48, Suhagi-48, Dada-49, Ghazab-51 and Ram Bharose-51. He was Shaukat Hussain Dehlavi for Jeene do-48, Shaukat Ali for Toote Tarey-48 and Shaukat Haidari for Aiye-49.
He was considered a mediocre composer in India. Then one day he was called by producer Nakshab Jarchvi,who offered him a film,with a condition that he changed his name to Nashad. He accepted the offer and used the name Nashad throughout his life. After him his 15 children too used Nashad as their surname.
Nakshab Jarachavi wanted to make a film. Those days Naushad was the Top composer. Films were sold on his name. Naushad worked only for Top banners. Nakshab approached him and offered his film. Naushad scornfully said,” Hum kisi aire gaire ki film ko music nahi detey”. This infuriated Nakshab no end and he challenged Naushad that he will make another Naushad in the industry. He called the comparatively less known but talented Shaukat Haidari,changed his name to NASHAD (to resemble Naushad’s name) and gave him the film.
Nashad, on his part, tried very hard and gave the music to film Naghma. It was,though not like Nashad’s standard, but excellent songs were there and the film became a hit due to its music. Unfortunately, Nashad could not repeat his success again ever in India. As Nashad he gave music to 21 films (total 30 films),like Bara Dari, Bada Bhai, Naghma, Char chaand, Kaatil Jawab, Sabse bada Rupiah, Rooplekha, Darwaza etc
Nashad gave their first hindi movie singing breaks to Mubarak begum, Suman Kalyanpur and Sabita Banerjee.
His friend Nakshab Jarachavi had migrated to Pakistan after 1947 and was making films there. He called Nashad to Pakistan as a composer for his film Maikhana-64 (after his film Fanoos also crashed at the Box office in Pakistan). Nashad accepted his offer. Before leaving , Nashad married singer Premlata and both went to Pakistan. His first film became a major hit and Nashad was on top. He gave music to 64 films in Pakistan.
Nashad died in Lahore on 3-1-1981.
While in India, Nashad was always accused of plagiarism, to which he answered through an interview to Filmfare, dated 5th August 1955, ( Thanks to Cineplot) thus….
” Although no one says it to my face, I know that there is a section in the film industry who decry my music as “a rehash of familiar tunes.”
This amounts to a charge of plagiarism.I have no defense, no apology, to offer, except to say that, if I am a plagiarist, I am one unconsciously.
With only seven main notes, six ragas, thirty-six raginis and seventy-two sub-raginis, every “new” musical composition is bound to sound familiar in places.
Try to hum any popular film composition of today and then cast back your mind. Make a careful search for a parallel and you will easily find one in some celebrated songs of yesterday.I believe in popular music, music which people will like, humming and singing it in their homes—in moments of joy or sorrow. I try my-best to keep my compositions free from complicated “alaps,” “tans” and those notational cascades which the man-in-the-street (who has no musical training) cannot easily remember and hum.
Film music, to be good and popular, must always be the result of team-work. The ego of the music-director as well as that of the lyric-writer needs to be suppressed completely, even to the extent of accepting suggestions from everyone in the unit.
In the music of one of my forthcoming films, the appeal of the songs owes much to suggestions made by the producer and members of his staff. One of the tunes owes its origin to an air I heard the office-boy humming!
The producer was no professional musician, but I discarded two of my best tunes to fit in a completely different third one based on his suggestions.
I am glad that I do not live in an ivory tower and am not deaf to the music of ordinary people, I say to myself : “If this is the kind of music they love, it is absurd to give them a high-brow composition. Both in rhythm and structure, I stick rigorously to what is popular, even at the sacrifice of my own preferences.Such film music can be planned scientifically and with precision. My first job usually is to sit with the director and determine the musical “situations”. Once these are agreed upon, I start composing the melodies, in harmony with the “mood” of those situations. Then the lyricist writes the words of the approved tune.
After the song has been recorded, our work is ended and it now depends on the director to make or mar it in his picturisation of it. This, indeed, is a hurdle all film music must take.
Everyone has listened to film songs which sound good on the radio, yet have been “murdered” by poor picturisation. Everyone, too, has heard songs which on the air have sounded mediocre and of no particular merit, yet have been things of beauty in the film—thanks to clever directorial work. A really good song, given to a good director to picturise, seldom fails to go over in a big way with the public.
It is thus necessary for a music director to be careful in signing his contracts. It is important to him to make sure that the film for which he is employed to provide music will be directed by a competent man, so that not only are his songs not “murdered” in transcription to the screen but any possible shortcomings in them are glossed over by good picturisation.
Consequently I have always studied the directors of the films for which I am to provide music. One knows that one’s songs are safe with them and gain in appeal from attractive picturisation.
To these men, too, my tunes often sound “vaguely familiar”! But, then, what tune doesn’t ?
With only seven notes, six ragas, thirty-six raginis—but we’ve just gone over that! ”
Film Suhagi-48 had a starcast of Begum Para, Manorama, Sadiq Ali, Badri prashad, Jilloobai, Abu Bakar etc. The word Suhagi means ‘ Lucky ‘. However the name benefit does not seem to be got by the film, as it was not a famous or popular film.
I have no idea about the story of this film. From its ad.s in Film India, I guess the story was about a family’s bahu who is Lucky after marriage. Today’s song is sung by Rajkumari. With this song, film Suhagi-48 makes its Debut on our Blog.
Song-Aag dil mein lagaaye baithe hain (Suhagi)(1948) Singer- Raj Kumari Dubey, Lyricist- Not known, MD- Shaukat Dehalvi
Lyrics
Aag dil mein lagaye baithe hain
Aag dil mein lagaye baithe hain
apni duniya aa aa aa
apni duniya lutaayye baithhe hain
haaye
Aag dil mein lagaye baithe hain
haaye majbooriyaan
haaye majbooriyaan muhabbat ki
haaye majbooriyaan muhabbat ki
unko apna banaaye baithhe hain
apni duniya lutaayye baithhe hain
haaye
Aag dil mein lagaye baithe hain
toone kya kya aa aa
kya kya
toone kya kya sitam kiye hum par r
toone kya kya sitam kiye hum par r
yaad hai par bhulaaye baithhe hain
apni duniya lutaayye baithhe hain
haaye
Aag dil mein lagaye baithe hain
ashq aankhon mein hai
haaye ae
ashq aankhon mein hai
labon pe se haan
labon pe se haan
aan aan
dard dil mein dabaaye baithhe hain
dard dil mein dabaaye baithhe hain
haaye
aag dil mein lagaaye baithhe hain
aag dil mein lagaaye baithhe hain aen aen
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4604 | Post No. : | 16233 | Movie Count : |
4416 |
Today’s song is from a film which hardly anyone knows. The name was unknown, the director was unknown and the 3 Music Directors who composed 8 songs by two lyricists, did not become famous. The film is Bedard-1949. It was directed by B.N.Chouhan, who is credited with two more films for direction, namely Ret mahal-49 and Jungle ki Duniya-59.
There were 3 Music Directorss – Ramprasad Sharma, B.N.Bali and Mohd. Shafi. In the HFGK, out of 8 songs of the film only 2 are credited to Ramprasad. Other songs are uncredited. Luckily, today’s song is credited to Ramprasad Sharma.
Film Industry is one industry which grew very fast. Firstly, there was no competition (except from AIR for entertainment) and secondly, joining this industry needed no special qualifications. Moreover, from the beginning, the ROI (Returns On the Investment) ratio was quite high, once you took care of few parameters like, good actors, good songs and a mix of Romance and Comedy !
Thousands of aspirants, the Good looking, the Bad looking and the Ugly looking rushed to Bombay, Lahore and Calcutta to try their luck. Tawaifs and stage artists had an easy entry, so was for the Handsome and Muscular bodied males.
The studio system took care of grooming its employees. Most people were hired without any specific job description. When needed, the script writer or the Lyricist had to act in the film, and Choreographer-Dance Master in those days-had to take up Direction- if needed. Artists graduated from menial jobs to important positions. That is how Choreographer Guru Dutt became a Director and a Hero, Lyricist and writer J.S.Casshyap became actor/singer, or Amiya Chakrawarty became famous Director from being the Canteen Manager in Bombay Talkies, Ashok kumar became Hero from being a Technician in Camera Department and an Extra working as one of the 40 thieves in ” Alibaba and 40 Thieves”-1929, became the Movie Mughal, Director Mehboob Khan.
Those times were different. Industry needed people in all departments. Heads of Studios were like expert jewellers. They knew how to nurture talents. Successful strugglers had empathy towards existing strugglers and gave them an opportunity to showcase their skills. Studios got the right people for the right jobs. Real Talents survived, rest disappeared.
There were many One timers, who acted in only 1-2 films, directed just 1 film, produced 1 movie, sung only a few songs or gave music to only 1 or 2 films. Luck also played an important role. Artistes seeking opportunities in Music Departments like singing and composing were many. Most got chances, few prospered.
But it is important to note that every ‘One timer’ was contributing towards Industry’s growth. Like every drop makes an ocean, these one timers or short distance runners also gave their might to the industry. Those who disappeared after a short performance remained alive through their contribution on record. Hundreds of aspirants came to become Music Directors, only few made the grade, survived and the rest simply vanished. These short time passengers or composers had their time of glory too. Their songs were cherished but their names were forgotten.
Before I proceed further, can you tell me what is the common link in the following names ?
Pyarelal-Ganesh-Naresh-Mahesh-Anand-Gorakh.
They are all brothers and sons of Pandit RAMPRASAD SHARMA. He was a Music Director.
.
Pt. Ramprasad Sharma, born in 1900, belonged to Gorakhpur in the United provinces (today’s U.P.). Seeing his love for music, he was brought to Bharatpur State by the king’s bandmaster. He played Trumpet here, then played in Agra Military Band and ended up joining a Circus as a Band Master himself. He toured Delhi, Lahore and Calcutta ,where he settled for some time. He married a local Post Master’s daughter and also worked for Columbia and New Theatres. By now he was an expert in 10 instruments and knew all Ragas.
He came to Bombay in 1938 and played in many studios. His first film as MD was Nayi Baat-1947, then Taqdeerwale-48, Shakti-48, Bedard-49, Banu- 49, Anyay-49, Dolti Naiyya-50 and finally Magic Carpet-64.
His knowledge of Music was so deep that many Composers like Kalyan ji, Roshan, Uttamsingh, Hridaynath Mangeshkar etc came to him to learn notations in which he was a Master. Probably, having played as a Band Master helped him. Those days, very few musicians knew how to write music in Notations. This art was carried further by his another son Ganesh.
Despite his knowledge of music, he failed as a composer himself and worked/played for other Music Directors like Naushad, K. Dutta, C. Ramchandra etc. His trumpet playing in the famous song of Rafi ” Suhani raat dhal chuki” (film Dulari-1949) is unforgettable.
Pt. Ramprasad will be remembered by many composers as their teacher. Though his music was melodious and good, his Luck was not so good.
His 2 sons Pyarelal and Ganesh became famous composers.
Pt.Ramprasad died on 22-8-1995 at Mumbai.
The cast of the film was Majnu, Sudha Rao, Shanta kunwar, Ameenabai, Abu Bakar etc.etc. Majnu (real name Harold Lewis) came to Bombay after Partition. Bedard-49 was among the few films in which he was the Hero. A Punjabi Christian, he was born on 2-11-1913. He was the childhood friend of Roop K.Shorey. When Shorey wanted to make his second film, he chose Harold as a Hero. Majnu was introduced as a leading man opposite Shyama Zutshi by producer/director Roop K. Shorey in film Majnu (1935) — a musical comedy satirizing the old story of Laila Majnu, produced, directed and shot in Lahore with Ghulam Haider as music director. With daring motorbike stunts and special effects, audiences were thrilled at the sight of Majnu trapped on the railway tracks by the villain.
The film was a success and R. K. Shorey repeated Majnu as the leading man in his next film, Tarzan ki Beti (1938). Tarzan Ki Beti was hailed as the best jungle picture ever produced in India at the time. Filmed in the snowy Himalayas, the film topped its predecessor in its action sequences and placed Punjab on the entertainment map of India and the world.
He appeared in almost all of Shorey’s films. He was also doing films with other producers. In 1942 he did a double role in Nishani and in 1943 he directed his first film Paapi. Shorey also gave him a film Badnami-1946 for direction and it was here that Majnu met I.S.Johar who wrote the story and Dialogues of Badnami.
Majnu paired with I.S.Johar in EK THI LADKI-1949,the debut film of Johar, as an actor. Later they made a comedy pair in 10 films, including the hit HUM SAB CHOR HAIN-1956. His last film with Johar was Akalmand-66.
Majnu acted in 77 films. His first film was Majnu-35 and his much delayed and released last film was Shri Krishna Bhakti-73.
Majnu directed 8 films including,Paapi-43, Badnami-46, Son of Alibaba-55, Tatar ka chor-55, Malika-56, Basre ki Hoor-56, Baghi sardar-56, and his last film – Chandu-58.
Harold Lewis aka Majnu died on 26-3-1974.
The year 1949 was the beginning of the “Golden Era” of HFM. Let us take a quick look at some nteresting movies this year.
In the film Aiye, Mubarak Begum debuted as a singer.
Pushpa Hans debuted as an actress and a singer in the film Apna Desh.
Barsat introduced Shankar-Jaikishen and Shailendra.
Bhedi Bungla was the first Horror film by Master Bhagwan.
Chandni Raat- Lata sang her first song for Naushad.
Ek Teri Nishani was the last released film of Pt.Amarnath.
Ek thi ladki saw the debut of I.S.Johar as an actor. The song ‘ Lara Lappa’ made Meena Shorey immortal as the ‘Lara Lappa’ girl.
Darogaji had all 12 songs sung by Geeta Roy.
Dillagi- evergreen song ‘ Main tera chand tu meri chandni’.
Dulari- ‘Suhani Raat dhal chuki’ Rafi’s famous song.
Girls school- Debut of actress krishna Kumari
Kaneez – last film of Ghulam Haider in India.
Lahore – Shyamsundar excels in music.
Last message – Debut of Sudha Malhotra and Johnny Walker(uncredited)
Mahal – Film that made Lata famous. Khemchand Prakash died before the film released.
Main Abla Nahin Hoon – Shanta Apte tries at Music Direction.
Namoona – First solo song of Lata for C.Ramchandra.
Neki aur Badi – Debut of Roshan as MD.
Patanga – All songs Hits. ‘Mere piya gaye Rangoon’ becomes an iconic song.
Rangila Rajasthan – Poet Bharat Vyas tries to become MD.
Rimjhim – Mohana Cabral sings her only Hindi song.
Samapti – Talat Mehmood’s last film in Calcutta.
Some more noteworthy films were Shair, Manzoor, Naach, Parda, Jeet, Kinara, Laadli,Andaz, Badi Bahen,Duniya, etc etc. Compettition of Naushad (3 Hits out of 4 films) and C.Ramchandra (1 Hit out of 9 films) was won this year hands down by Naushad ! Geeta Bali worked in 9 films and Suraiya in 11 films. All in all, the biggest beneficiary was the Indian HFM lovers. The next few years provided enough good music to last a lifetime !
Today’s song, sung by Lalita Deulkar is an excellent one, composed by Ram Prasad Sharma. Enjoy…
With this song, film Bedard-49 makes its Debut on the Blog.
Song –Kya sach hai qasam woh bhulaane lage hain (Bedard)(1949) Singer- Lalita Deolkar, Lyricist – Abdul Gaffar Badar, MD – Ram Prasad
Lyrics
kya sach hai kasam wo bhulaane lage hain
bhulaane lage hain
mitaane lage hain
kya sach hai kasam wo bhulaane lage hain
bhulaane lage hain
mitaane lage hain
kasam wo jo haathhon ko haathhon mein lekar
mujhe waasta apni ulfat ka de kar
nibhaane ka waada bhulaane lage hain
bhulaane lage hain
mitaane lage hain
kya sach hai kasam wo bhulaane lage hain
bhulaane lage hain
mitaane lage hain
kasam wo jo aankhon ko aankhon mein daale
kasam wo jo aankhon ko aankhon mein daale
ye kahte thhe rah rah ke apna bana le
ye kahte thhe rah rah ke apna bana le
mujhe mere saathhi mitaane lage hain
bhulaane lage hain
mitaane lage hain
kya sach hai kasam wo bhulaane lage hain
bhulaane lage hain
mitaane lage hain
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.
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4600 | Post No. : | 16227 |
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Blog Day : |
4597 | Post No. : | 16223 |
Today’s song is from an obscure film of 1944 – Dil ki Baat. The film was made by Atre Pictures, partly owned by P.K.Atre and actress Vanmala. Their relationship was similar to what C.Ramchandra and Lata Mangeshkar had in later years. The film was directed by Atre himself. The only other film he ever directed was Parinde-1945. He believed in hiring directors rather than directing films himself.
The music was composed by C.Ramchandra for the songs written by Ram Murthy and the film’s story, screenplay and dialogues were also written by P.K.Atre himself. The cast of the film was Durga Khote, Ishwarlal, Vanmala, Dixit, Leela Mishra, Vasant Sawkar, Jayram Desai etc.etc.
The year 1944 was a time when the world knew that the end of World War II was near, however, till that time the Raw Film shortage was troubling the film makers in India. Black money generated through Black marketing was disturbing the industry. The cost of the filmmaking, which was about a Lakh or so in 1940, had escalated to 5 to 6 lakhs per film. Studio system was weakened due to individual production practices started by black money investors. Star salaries had inflated. Many stars worked on FreeLance basis. The law of war promotion movies was now forcefully implemented. Many producers made War propaganda movies to get the Raw Film at controlled rates. Government had increased the Entertainment Taxes in Bombay, Madras, UP and CP areas, so the cost of Cinema tickets had increased. Prithvi Theatre was launched by Prithviraj Kapoor. Film artistes gathered under the leadership of EVR Naicker in Madras to form DMK party. M. Karunanidhi was a prominent leader.
In Spite of all this, some good Musical films were made in 1944. Saigal, who arrived in Bombay from Calcutta for good, made his second film in Bombay. New composers, New Heros and New heroines brought a variety of Genres of films made in 1944. Some of the major films of 1944 were….
Bhanwara – Second film by Saigal and Khemchand Prakash in Ranjit in Bombay. Made in just 9 days’ shooting for Saigal, by director Kidar Sharma. It was the second film for Monica Desai too (sister of Leela Desai and wife of Phani Mujumdar).
Bharthari – Last film in India by singer actress Jahan Ara Kajjan who sang her last 2 songs in it. She migrated to Pakistan in the wake of Partition. Very good songs in the film, especially ” Bhiksha de de maiya” by Amirbai and Surendra.
Chal Chal re Naujawan – First film from newly established Filmistan, by the deserters’ group from Bombay Talkies, led by S.Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar. Ashok Kumar sang 6 songs in it for the first and the last time for Ghulam Haider. His song ” Bolo Har Har Mahadev” was very melodious and popular.
Chand – Debut film of Husnlal-Bhagatram team. They were recommended by elder brother Pt. Amarnath, who was the first choice of D.D.Kashyap. After V.Shantaram and his team left Prabhat, this was an attempt by Prabhat to join the mainstream by opting for the first time a Non Marathi star cast and Punjabi style musicians. 5 singers were used by H-B for 11 songs. A mild success film.
Daasi – it was a musical from Lahore by Pt. Amarnath- with his favourite Zeenat Begum.
Film Dost produced the evergreen Noor Jahan song ” Badnam – muhabbat kaun karen” composed by Sajjad Hussain. This one song alone made them both immortal.
Draupadi – a feeble attempt by Baburao Patel to make a Heroine out of his secretary Sushila Rani.
Gaali – Another film by Sajjad, but with only 3 songs to him and 9 to Hanuman Prasad.
Iraada – Pt.Amarnath brought Hemant Kumar two years after his debut in film Meenakshi-42.
Ismat – The first and the only film of the brothers Pt. H.P.Sharma and Pt. Govardhan pershad, as a composer team.
Jwar Bhata – Devika Rani’s discovery, Dilip Kumar’s first film. He was the side Hero and the Hero was Agha. Actress Mrudula also debuted as Dilip’s Heroine.
Krishn Bhakt Bodana – The only film of the Revolutionary Poet singer Master Vasant from Surat. Avinash Vyas, Shankar rao Vyas composed music, while S.N.Tripathi gave background music.
Musical film Lal Haveli – Only time when Noor Jehan and Surendra sang together under Mir Saheb.
Mann ki Jeet – W.Z.Ahmed brings new Heroine Neena, who sings in the voice of Debutante Sitara of Kanpur in all her films. Neena was a Non-Singer.
My Sister – Saigal goes back to Calcutta to complete a Musical film ” My Sister”. Pankaj Mullick gives excellent songs by saigal and others.
There were two films ‘ Panchhi’ and ‘ O Panchhi’ with average songs.
Panna – A war propaganda film based on ” Mata Hari” story, with a new Heroine Geeta Nizami. MD Amir Ali dies before the film is released. The credits in the film dedicate the film to Late Amir Ali.
Perhaps the best music was by Vasant Desai to film ” Parbat pe apna dera”. Vanmala and ulhas excel in acting in a story of sexual repression. All songs are excellent, especially Amirbai’s song ” Pareshan hoon main ” is simply divine.
Lastly, the Best one. Record breaking musical ” Rattan” gave superlative songs by Naushad. Barring 2 songs by Manju, the other 8 songs were all Hits. Rattan gave 200% returns on the film and song records, to the Producer.
The director of this film-P.K.Atre, known popularly in Maharashtra as Acharya Atre, was a writer,Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Journalist, Politician and a Newspaper owner. In his later years he became famous for his campaign of ” Samyukta Maharashtra” to get a separate Maharashtra state.
The heroine of the film, Vanmala was one of the only 3 Heroines who had Brown Eyes. The other two were Kamala Kotnis and Ragini.
Vanmala was one of those actresses, who not only came from a very respectable Royal family, but was also a highly educated person. In those days, these two things were valued highly. Veteran Marathi and Hindi actress Vanamala will always be associated with her roles in the landmark films, Sikandar (1941) opposite Prithviraj Kapoor and in particular the title role in Shyamchi Aai (1953), the first film ever to win the Best Film Award when the National Awards were instituted for Indian Cinema in 1954.
Vanamala was born as Susheela Devi Pawar on 23-5- 1915. Her father Lt.Col. Rao Bahadur Bapu Rao Pawar was a Minister in Gwalior state. Vanmala grew up in the Royal palace with Princess Kamla Devi. Vanmala graduated from Agra University in 1935 and did her B.T. from Bombay University in 1937.
At 21, Vanmala Devi, was a double graduate and a teacher in the progressive Agarkar High School of Poona. She felt she had a mission in life. Did she find what she was seeking? It is anybody’s guess but teaching was a first try and then she went on to films to find expression for her irrepressible talent.
There was a wrench. Vanala tore herself away from the forbidding regulations of a traditional Maratha family ruled by her father and the devotional orthodoxy handed down to her by her mother along with a love for nature and literature. Vanmala sought to reconcile the irreconcilables with the firm belief that, down the ages, all expressions of art in India were developed and presented by way of a sacred duty.
That was why, when necessary, she did not hesitate to turn her back on lucrative film assignments to appear on the Marathi stage. In fact, she worked gratis for the building fund of the Marathi Sahitya Sangh at Bombay. Her lead role in the Marathi version of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Lady Windmer’s Fan’ (शोभेचा पंखा), written by Prof. V.H.Kulkarni, is memorable. That was in the early forties.
She began her career in the late 1930s following her graduation and having become a teacher in Pune’s Camp Education Society. Vanamala entered films at a time when it was considered taboo for women from respectable families to work in films though women like Devika Rani and Durga Khote had started working in films by then. It was V.Shantaram who encouraged her to come into the film industry as an actress. Her first film was a Marathi film ” Lapandav”. Pricipal Acharya Atre became very friendly with her and brought her to Hindi films. Vanmala had unusual Brown eyes. Hindi film industry had only two actresses with Brown eyes. One was Vanmala and the other was Ragini, who migrated to Pakistan, after partition.
Prithviraj used to call her Diana the Moon Goddess. The lyrical Pahari Sanyal used to call her “Mala”. Motilal was more-down-to-earth and called her just plain “Bright Eyes”. In fact, it was her eyes that got her the role of Ruksana and it put her in the front rank of Indian film stars with the success of “Sikandar”. It was one of the early successes of Minerva Movietone and it has made film history in India.
Vanamala acted in both Hindi and Marathi Cinema. Among her Hindi films, Vanamala will always be best remembered for Sohrab Modi’s historical Sikandar and Sharbati Ankhen (1945), directed by Ramchandra Thakur for Wadia Movietone. In the former she played Alexander the Great’s love interest, a Persian woman, Rukhsana, who fearing for Alexander’s life extracts a promise from Porus that he will not harm Sikandar. Vanamala made a major impact in her role, her beauty coupled with her light-coloured lively eyes taking the audiences breath away. The film itself was a spectacle – its lavish mounting, huge sets and production values equalling the best of Hollywood then particularly its rousing and spectacular battle scenes. It was rated by a British writer as, “…well up to the standard of that old masterpiece The Birth of a Nation.”
The eyes that got Vanmala Devi the lead role of Ruksana in “Sikandar” had soon to be “disowned” in her next picture. In “Parbat Pe Apna Dera”, Vanmala Devi played the role of a blind girl with great effect. First Ulhas was seen, stick in hand, or rather his legs and the lower part of the stick. Then came Vanmala’s dainty feet taking each cautious step. Finally, the camera turned upwards to feature her full figure. She later told that she was so involved with the role that she actually felt blinded. Once, she had to blink her eyes before she could focus them and look at V. Shantaram who was trying to draw her attention.
In Sharbati Ankhen, her Brown eyes were again used to mesmerising effect, the film so aptly titled one feels, after her! The film has some of the earliest songs sung by Mohammed Rafi in his career including Pyaar Karna hi Padega and Bahut Mukhtasar Hai Humari Kahani. The music for the film was done by Feroz Nizami who went on to compose unforgettable music in a hat-trick of films with the great Noor Jehan (Jugnu (1947) in India and Chan Wey (Punjabi) (1951) and Dopatta (1952) in Pakistan).
However, the one role that undoubtedly immortalized Vanamala forever was the title role in the National Award winning Marathi film, Shyam chi Aai-1953, directed by PK Atre. The film, regarded as a cult classic today, is based on one of the most influential Marathi novels of the 20th century (1935), a fictionalised account of the childhood years of Sane Guruji (1899 – 1950). A nationalist influenced by Vinoba Bhave and especially Gandhiji, he was imprisoned repeatedly for his work among the peasantry and participation in the Quit India agitations. His book Shyamchi Aai, written in jail, has 45 episodes in which Shyam, a youth living in poverty in Konkan, recalls the teachings of his mother, a devoutly religious person with an earthy and practical philosophy. The hit film has remained a generic landmark in Marathi Cinema and especially so for Vanamala’s maternal prototype. Actor Madhav Vaze, who played the role of her son Shyam in Shyamchi Aai, recalls Vanamala as a woman of few words. “Her actions spoke for her. She was well-educated and a cultured woman who belonged to a noble family from Gwalior,” he said.
Some other films that Vanamala acted in include Payachi Dasi (Marathi)/ Charnon ki Dasi (Hindi) (1941), Vasantasena (1942), Dil ki Baat (1944), Hatim Tai (1947), Beete Din (1947) and Shree Ram Bharat Milap (1965). In all, she did 25 Hindi films. She sang 24 songs in 5 films in her career. For some time she was a partner in Atre pictures also. She produced the film Bramhan Kanya aka Khandani-1947.
Eventually she did build a bungalow at Khandala and rented out a flat by the sea in Bombay which she furnished with taste and equipped with a selective library. But that still didn’t make a “home”. The nearest she got to it could be when she settled down in Gwalior to look after her ailing father. Perhaps, she had almost arrived at a “home” when she bought over a studio and became the first woman to own one.
The supposedly demure Vanamala was a staunch nationalist and was deeply involved in the freedom movement along with stalwarts like Aruna Asaf Ali and Achyut Patwardhan. She was deeply involved in several social causes and was a member of the Chhatrapati Shivaji National Memorial Committee. She also ran a school to train children in traditional Indian arts and culture, The Haridas Kala Sansthan.
Vanmala Devi’s retirement from films was no surprise to her friends. She had realized that the crusading zeal and aesthetic values of the pioneering days were giving place to new norms of success. She found that filmdom could not afford her the avenue for expression which she wanted— or needed. She sublimated all her yearnings for expression in the worship of Lord Krishna at Vrindavan and later in the service of her father.
Vanamala who had been suffering from cancer, passed away in Gwalior on May 29, 2007.
(My thanks to Upperstall and Sumati Dhanawate ji-Vanmala’s sister, for using some parts of their articles on Vanmala, along with my notes.)
Songs of film Dil ki Baat-44 are difficult to get. Only 2 songs are available in circulation. With today’s song, both the songs are on this Blog. C.Ramchandra had not developed his trademark style of music cmposition. That was still two years into the future.
Song-Sun re sajan sun re sajan sun re sajan sun (Dil Ki Baat)(1944) Singer-Vanmala, Lyrics-Miss Vimal MA, MD-C Ramchandra
Lyrics
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
meri paayaliyaa ki
meri paayaliyaa ki tu
runan jhunan jhun
sun
sun
Sun re sajan
sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
aaj maine haathhon mein mehndi rachaayi
aaj maine haathhon mein mehndi rachaayi
aaj meri aankhon mein preet samaayi
preet samaayi
aaj meri aankhon mein preet samaayi
preet samaayi
alsi sajaayi maine
champa chameli sun
ho champa chameli sun
alsi sajaayi maine
champa chameli sun
ho champa chameli sun
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
o kaali koyaliyaa
kook uthhi re
o kaali koyaliyaa
kook uthhi re
man mein mere meethhi si hook uthhi re
man mein mere meethhi si hook uthhi re
goonj rahi door kahin bansi ki dhun
haan bansi ki dhun
goonj rahi door kahin bansi ki dhun
haan bansi ki dhun
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
meri paayal se praanon ki preet jhare re
aa aa aa aa
meri paayal se praanon ki preet jhare re
aa aa aa aa
meri paayal se pankh tere baat kare re
meri paayal se pankh tere baat kare re
gaaye kisi chhaliya chhabele ke gun
gaaye kisi chhaliya chhabele ke gun
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
meri paayaliyaa ki
meri paayaliyaa ki tu
runan jhunan jhun
sun sun
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4595 | Post No. : | 16220 |
Today’s song is the 4th song from the film Ghunghat-1946 to be discussed here. The first 2 songs were posted by Mrs. Nahm ji and then Atul ji discussed the 3rd one. What is so special about this obscure film that 4 songs are discussed here ? Nothing really. It’s just a coincidence. Actually, Rafi’s early songs attracted Nahm ji and I was also eager to listen to the fresh voice of Mohd. Rafi, from his early career.
If one takes a look at the Excel sheet of Rafi songs, so kindly made and given to friends by Muveen ji of the USA, one finds that in the first 7 years, i.e. from 1944 to 1950 (both included), Rafi had sung only 376 songs, which averages out to a poor figure of 4.8 songs – say 5 songs roughly – per month. Not a very encouraging figure. But mind you, this is only an average. Actually, the yearwise songs he sang are as following –
| Year | Number of songs | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 1944 | 3 songs | |
| 1945 | 12 songs | |
| 1946 | 39 songs | |
| 1947 | 28 songs | He had gone to his native place to look after family in view of the Partition, but came back in time to sing for film Saajan-47 |
| 1948 | 58 songs | |
| 1949 | 129 songs | |
| 1950 | 107 songs |
From 1951 there was no looking back and the graph was upwards till the end (even in the so-called “Kishore wave” of the early 70s). While reading the book “RAFINAMA” by eminent film historian Isak Mujawar, I collected some interesting data. Some of it was discussed about 4-5 years ago, but now I have added some more to it . Here it is for our readers.
Mohd. Rafi, no doubt, was a versatile singer. Like Lata, when he came on the scene of playback singing-after considerable hard work and struggle- one by one, he replaced the old singers who sang in the films.
Ashok Kumar’s singing spree stopped when Rafi sang for him in the film Saajan-47.
Ishwarlal stopped singing when Rafi sang for him in film Sharbati Aankhen-45.
Shahu Modak stopped after Chakradhari-54.
W.M.Khan after Aalam Ara-56.
G.M.Durrani after Lal Pathar-71.
Karan Dewan after Duniya-49.
N M Charlie after Zameen ke Tare-60.
Balak Ram after Shri Ram Bharat Milan-65.
Moti Sagar after Paak Daman-57.
Man Mohan krishna after Basant bahar-56.
Mohd. Rafi even sang for some composers who used to sing in films
S N Tripathi -Pawanputra hanuman-57
Snehal Bhatkar-Bawre Nain-50 ( he was doing a Beggar’s role) and
Sudhir Sen- Saat Phere-70
Rafi was the only male playback singer who sang with 3 major singer actresses
Noorjehan-Jugnu-47
Khursheed- Aage Badho-47 and
Suraiya- many (13) films.
Coming from a very humble beginning and after hard work and struggle, Rafi had his ups and downs in his career. Like any other big and popular star, he too had his critics,detractors and people who tried to use him. Though he understood their game, he never reacted adversely and always acted very professionally. Ace composer Anil Biswas never liked Rafi’s singing and he had openly passed a remark to that effect ( which,of course, he denied later). However whenever Anil ji called him to sing for him, Rafi always did it professionally, without indicating anything else. Similarly, C.Ramchandra, Roshan, Salil Chaudhari and R D Burman were also not amongst his fans, but he sang for them all, whenever called to do so.
Mohd. Rafi, on his part, had no enemies. He had a clash with leading singer Lata on two counts. One when Lata raised the Royalty issue and two, when Lata’s name came in the Guinness Book for 25000 songs. He however, patched up readily, when interested composers intervened, because his nature was not vengeful basically.
Rafi understood how a small singer would feel and he never refused or hesitated to sing with less known or small time singers( unlike Lata ). Thus Rafi sang with singers like Gandhari (Rane), Razia Begum (sister of actress Suraiya Zulfi), Chandbala, Chand Burke, Kumudini Dikshit, Malti Pandey, Paro Devi, Laxmi Roy ( Geeta Dutt’s sister and Pramod Chakravarty’s wife), Laxmi Shankar, Pramodini Desai Patkar,Nirmala devi, Ramola,Uma Devi, meena Kapoor,Pushpa Huns etc etc. Some of these became well known later on.
Rafi had sung with old timers like Rajkumari ( she was the first female playback singer to sing with him in his career), Zohrabai,Hameeda bano,Lalita Deulkar, Mohantara Talpade etc etc. However when these old timers eclipsed, he sang with the remaining major singers like Asha Bhosle ( 806 songs), Lata ( 344 songs ), Shamshad Begum ( 160 songs ), Suman kalyanpur ( 141 songs ) and also Geeta Dutt, Mubarak Begum, Sudha Malhotra, Usha Mangeshkar etc etc.
Rafi probably was the only male singer who sang for maximum number of father son pairs, viz:
Raj Kapoor- Randhir/Rishi Kapoor
Arun-Govinda
Mumtaz ali-Mehmood
Jayant- Amjad
Premnath-Prem kishen
Balraj-Parikshit
Agha- Jalal Agha
Jeevan- Kiran kumar etc etc
During his career Rafi saw many child stars graduating to adult Heroes. He sang for such actors like Suresh, Anant Marathe, Jagdeep,Vinod Mehra, Sachin, Mahesh kumar, Sudhir Kumar etc .
Among Heroes, he sang maximum songs for Shammi Kapoor-183 songs. In the film Basant, he sang 8 songs and in Kashmir ki kali, he sang 7 songs for Shammi kapoor. Rafi sang many songs for Dev and Dilip. For a long time Mukesh and Manna Dey were considered Raj Kapoor’s voice. Rafi sang 31 songs for Raj Kapoor – 7 solos and 24 duets. When Rafi first sang in the film Deedar for Dilip Kumar, Mehboob Khan told Dilip, ” This is your voice. Hereafter sing only in this voice.” Dilip followed the advice till he was lured by Kishore’s voice later on.
As far as Music Directors are concerned, Rafi sang maximum songs for Laxmikant Pyarelal, 369-186 solos, followed by Shankar Jaikishan, 341-216 solo. Surprisingly third number is Chitragupta with 247 songs, Ravi-235, R D Burman-222, O P Nayyar-197-57 solos, Naushad- 149-81 solos and Usha Khanna-114 songs.
Mohd. Rafi respected Chitragupta very much and had always given priority to his recordings. Rafi had said that he truly enjoyed singing Chitragupta’s songs due to their melody.
Of all the singers ( including Saigal) who sang Hindi songs, I consider Rafi a complete, versatile and perfect singer. He was, additionally, a very religious, honest, simple and kind person.
Film Ghunghat-46 was a social film made by Prakash Pictures. Directed by Dr. Shanti Kumar, its music was composed by Shankar rao Vyas, the favourite MD of the prakash Pictures. The cast of the film was Nirmala, Arun Ahuja, Ramesh Sinha, Umakant, Leela Mishra and Khurshid Jr.
Khurshid Jr. – the film’s Heroine – was the eldest daughter of Master Ali Baksh, Music Director and Iqbal Begum, film artiste and one time a famous and popular stage artist of Madon, Alfred and other Drama companies in the Eastern India. The family actually belonged to Sargodha in Punjab, but Khurshid was born in Bombay on 10-4-1930. Being born in a filmi family, the atmosphere was very conducive for Khurshid to join films.
After getting school education upto 12 years of age, she entered films. Her first film was Zameen-43 as a side Heroine. Then came Minerva’s Dr. Kumar-44 and Naghma E Sehra-45 – in which she was the Heroine of Master Vithal. Due to her good acting skill, there was no shortage of film offers. She had to add Jr. to her name , as there was a more famous actress singer Khurshid Bano, already in the film line, in the same period.
Khurshid’s younger sisters Baby Meena (later Meena Kumari) and Baby Madhuri Later actress Madhu- Mehmood’s wife) were also working in films. Khurshid Jr. married her handsome co-star Altaf. who did few films as a Hero but then shifted to side roles soon. After Partition, the couple considered shifting to Pakistan, but decided to stay here as both of her sisters were here and doing better.
As long as Meena Kumari was alive, they were comfortable, but after her demise, they became helpless and went down financially. They had to live in smaller tenement and roles also dwindled. Khurshid Jr. acted in 65 films. Her last film was Oh Bewafa-80. Altaf acted in just 21 films from Sipahi-41 to Pakiza-71. Even Khurshid had also acted in it.
Here is a duet of Nirmala and Mohd. Rafi from this film. Enjoy.
Song-Bhool jaa apne geet puraane naye taraane gaaye jaa (Ghoonghat)(1946) Singers-Nirmala Devi, Rafi, Lyrics-Ramesh Gupta, MD-Shankar Rao Vyas
Both
Both + Chorus
Lyrics
Laa
lalalalaalalalalaa
lalalalalaa
haan gaaye ja gaaye ja gaaye ja
bhool ja apne geet puraane
naye taraane gaaye ja
bhool ja apne geet puraane
naye taraane gaaye ja
door gaye vipda ke baadal
sukh ka sooraj aaya
sukh ka sooraj aaya
nayi umangen nayi tarangen
nayi raushni laaya
nayi raushni laaya
tu bhi apne armaanon ki dunia nayi basaaye ja
basaaye ja basaaye ja
bhool ja apne geet puraane
naye taraane gaaye ja
bhool ja apne geet puraane
naye taraane gaaye ja
chali hawa lahraati gaati
mahak uthi phulwaari
mahak uthi phulwaari
chali hawa lahraati gaati
mahak uthi phulwaari
mahak uthi phulwaari
jhoom rahi hai aaj meri aasha ki daari daari
jhoom rahi hai aaj meri aasha ki daari daari
naach naach mere man mor
naach naach mere man mor
?? milaaye ja milaaye ja milaaye ja
bhool ja apne geet puraane
naye taraane gaaye ja
laa
lalallalalalala
laalllaa
lalalala
gaaye ja gaaye ja gaaye ja
bhool ja apne geet puraane
naye taraane gaaye ja
bhool ja apne geet puraane
naye taraane gaaye jaa
door gaye vipda ke baadal
sukh ka sooraj aaya
sukh ka sooraj aaya
nayi umangen nayi tarange nayi roshni laaya
nayi roshni laaya
tu bhi apne armaanon ki
dunia nayi basaaye ja basaaye ja basaaye ja
gaaye jaa
gaaye jaa
gaaye jaa
gaaye jaa
gaaye jaa
gaaye jaa
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4592 | Post No. : | 16216 | Movie Count : |
4414 |
Today’s song is from a very rare film-Zanjeer-47. The name of the film immediately reminds us about the same name film of 1973, which catapulted Amitabh Bachhan to dizzying heights thereafter ! However, this film of 1947 was probably made to facilitate Black money into white. Since a lot of Black money generated during the war years had flowed into film financing, this was a regular practice of such producers.
The director of this film was Kishore Sharma, for whom it was just his second movie as a Director. He directed only 5 films – Dr. Kumar-44, Zanjeer-47, Middle fail-48, Biwi-50 and Shisham-52. For the film’s Music Director Krishna Dayal, it was his First film as a Composer. He went on to give music to only 4 more films, namely Lekh-49,Bawra-50, Malika Saloini-53 ( a song ” wo aaye hai, dil ko karar aa gaya” by Sulochana kadam is an Evergreen song !) and Vijaygarh-54.
The cast of this film was Begum Para, Balwant Singh, Jagdish Sethi, K.N.Singh, Gope, Latika and others. Other than this, no information about this film is available anywhere.
Such experiences are not new to me. Since the day I started writing on old films, its music and the people connected with it, I have encountered dead ends many times. In the HFGK, one finds several films, whose only Titles are printed. No other details whatsoever. For example, film Tera Sahara-49, Shabash-49, Sansari-49, Ram pratigya-49, Payal-48, Gumrah-48, Zalim-47, Woh Dono-47, Prem ki Duniya-46, Kismet ka Dhani-46, Khiladi 45 etc. etc. In every year, few such films can be found. Their presence in the HFGK means they were Censored, but no other information.
This is one problem. Another problem is that the general public does not realise the importance of recording or documenting history of films and that we do our bit towards contributing to these collective efforts. Actually, this is a different world altogether. The world of old films and the people writing on them. In the first place, the definition of ” Old Film” is different to different people, depending on their age. Just see this…
| For people between 20-30 | films of 70s are Old Films |
| For people between 30-40 | films of 60s are Old Films |
| For people between 40-50 | films of 50s are Old Films |
| For people between 50-60 | films of 40s are Old Films |
| For people between 60-80+ | films of 30s are Old Films |
When I tell someone that I write on old films,depending on his age he decides my work area. If he is say, 35 year old, he will think I write on films of the 60s era. So on and so forth.
Third problem is people don’t understand that we do this labour of love for self satisfaction, that we don’t earn anything from this and that many times spend a lot on computers and books etc. Some time back, one of my old friends, who has been happily settled in the USA for the last 40 years, came to India and we met one day at my place. After the usual casual talk, he asked me how do I spend my time, now that I am retired and do no job. He knew that after my wife’s demise, I lived alone for the last 7 years. Here is our conversation….
Friend – So Arun, how do you spend your time ?
Me – I write on old films and my articles are published on the internet.
Friend – Oh, I see. You mean you write on films like Awara and Paying Guest etc ?
Me – Sometimes, but mainly I write on films of the 30s and the 40s.
Friend – Do you earn enough in this ?
Me – Oh, no. I don’t get any money. I do it free and for my pleasure.
Friend – And who reads them ? Why do you waste your time like this ? Forget this crap. If you want you can work from Home and earn plenty.
Me – No. I enjoy doing this. There are millions of people all over the world who read such articles.
Friend – You are a big Fool ! I can understand if you wrote on current films. Some people will read at least, but films of the 30s and 40s ! Oh my God !! You are a gone case !!!
That night I added this to my prayers… God, please pardon my friend. He did not understand what he was speaking !
Whatever is said by whosoever, as long as people like Atul ji are there, we will continue contributing to the preservation of old film documentation.
There are many artistes who contributed to the glory of old films to a great extent, unknown or less known. Not much is written about them and their true life stories are never available in books, magazines or such other chronicles. They appear, shine for a while in their own way and fade away.
Actress Latika was one such actress. She was neither very beautiful like Madhubala, nor had histrionic talents like Meena Kumari, but she had her own way of performance. Sometime in the year 2014, I came across the daughter of Latika, when she commented on my post in this Blog. I followed her up and she kindly sent me a mail describing the life story of Latika, who had settled in England that time. I do not know her present status as there is no reply from her daughter to my mails.
In the year 2014, I got in touch with Ms. Sindy Bell, daughter of Latika and a resident of London, U.K. Sindy was kind enough to provide me with a brief note on her Biography. Latika had acted only in 13 films from 1944 to 1948.( Dr.Kumar-44, Parakh-44, Laat Saheb-46, Inaam-46, Saathi-46, Chalte Chalte-47, Jungle mein mangal-47, Zanjeer-47, Jugnu-47, Shanti-47, Bahadur Jeevan-48 and Gopinath-48 ).
” Latika was born 13th October, 1924 in Darjeeling. Her Tibetan name was Hungu-Lamou. Her mother was Tibetan. Her father was an Australian who adopted Buddhism, living in India as a race horse trainer for the Maharajas. He died when Latika was still very young leaving her with a newly born brother. As a child, Latika was sent to the Kalimpong girl’s orphanage also called ‘The Homes’ for her education by her mother and new step-father until she was 16. Her mother had four more children, her half-brothers and sisters.
The Homes (one for girls, one for boys) were founded by a Scottish missionary, so as a child, Latika was christened Agnes and this is the name she uses in England. Her mother was Buddhist, her step-father, an Anglo-Indian by the name of Webber, was a Protestant but Buddhism was the prevalent faith among her surrounding family of aunties and uncles in Darjeeling.
Latika’s step-father was an engineer who built bridges and due to his work, when she was a teenager, they moved to Mumbai. It was there that Latika made friends with a neighbour who was a kathak dancer and actress. She was invited to visit the Minerva film studios and was there spotted by the director Sohrab Modi and offered the opportunity to act. This was where she was given the stage name Latika, which she is still called by friends and family in India to this day.
In those days, all the scripts were in Urdu which she read beautifully and also learnt kathak dancing. I’m sure you already know the 12 films Latika acted in from the mid 1940’s to early 1950’s, in particular the film Gopinath with Raj Kapoor (1948), where she played the ‘femme fatale’ and her lovely dance sequence in Jugnu (1947).
Latika had always had a respect and interest in holy writings. It was during this period that she met a Jehovah’s Witness who was able to explain the bible, not as a church book, but as holy writings, it’s answers to the ‘big’ questions we all ask and it’s promised blessings. It satisfied all of Latika’s questions about life, so she became a Jehovah’s Witness.
It was while as an actress she met and eventually became friends with Gope at the studios. To this day, Latika says he was the kindest, most compassionate man she ever met. They married and, at Gope’s request, Latika retired from the film industry.
Latika did introduce Gope to the bible. He would read by himself (or as my mother would say, ‘exclaim in delight!’), passages from it, early mornings on the verandah before work. She said he was particularly taken with the accounts of Jesus and how tenderly he treated people. To her surprise, of his own volition, he too became a Jehovah’s Witness.
Gope had a large house in Juhu which also came to house all Latika’s family. When we saw it, it had become a hotel but I’m not sure what has happened to it now.
Before Gope’s death, they had two sons, Gope Jr, and Lalith. When Gope suddenly and unexpectedly died, when the boys were three and five, mum decided to join her siblings who had earlier migrated to the UK. I came from her second marriage.
Latika is still alive and very well and living in the UK. She is in her 90th year, still beautiful. My niece’s second name is Latika and Gope Jr’s two sons bear the (second) name of Gope also. Latika has a big family with grand-children and great grand-children, all from Gope’s lineage. ”
Let us now listen to this song sung by Shamshad Begum and Chorus. With this song, film Zanjeer-47 makes its Debut on this Blog.
Song-Dekho ji aaya khushi ka zamaana chale na jaana (Zanjeer)(1947) Singer- Shamshad begum, Lyrics-Unknown, MD-Krishn Dayal
chorus
Lyrics
Dekho ji aaya khushi ka zamaana
chale na jaana
ho chale na jaana
dekho jee aaya khushi ka zamaana
dekho jee aaya khushi ka zamaana
chale na jaana
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
jungle mein mangal manaane ke din hain
jungle mein
haan haan ji jungle mein
jungle mein mangal manaane ke din hain
baaghon mein
haan haan jee baaghon mein jhoola jhulaane ke din hain
?? jhoola jhulaana
chale na jaana
o chale na jaana
dekho jee aaya khushi ka zamaana
chale na jaana
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
o oar
kaale kaale baadal chahoon oar chhaaye
o o
kaale kaale baadal chahoon oar chhaaye
dekho jee manzil ?? le ke aaye
dekho jee manzil ?? le ke aaye
dekho jee karlo haan haan jee mauj kar lo
dekho jee karlo haan haan jee mauj kar lo
mauj karne ka hai ye zamaana
chale na jaana
o chale na jaana
dekho jee aaya khushi ka zamaana
chale na jaana
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
o jee o jee
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4590 | Post No. : | 16213 |
Today’s song is from a less known Mythological film, from a decade which had not given many religious films – the 40’s. The film is Uttara Abhimanyu-1946.
In the decade of the 40s, few films were made on religious subjects – compared to the 30s or the 50s. But it is also true that the few such films made in the 40s, like Bharat Milap-42 and Ram Rajya-43, underlined the fact that there was plenty of scope for such films and this fructified in the 50’s decade, which can be called as ” The Golden period of Religious Films”, after it churned out the maximum ever – 124 – Mythological films in 10 years’ time.
These religious films had a direct impact on my early life. Ours was a joint family and our Grandparents were the family heads. In those times ( I am talking of the early 40’s period), not much discussion was entertained on the children’s education. Elders in the family had faith in the school teachers. In those days, teachers worked for their principles to impart knowledge to the children. The fad of ‘ English Medium’ had not yet blossomed fully and usually the primary education was in the Mother tongue only. Our Hyderabad state was a Tri-lingual state, with 8 Telugu speaking districts, 5 Marathi speaking districts and 3 Kannada speaking districts. Being a Muslim ruled state, the official language was Urdu, but to be fair, there was no compulsion of Urdu in education.
I studied in Urdu medium upto 4th standard, about 2 years in Sanskrit when we were in Banares (U.P.), and when finally settled in Hyderabad, I studied in Marathi medium from my 5th to 12th class. Then on, of course it was in English medium only. Though I studied in Marathi medium, the quality of English and Hindi teachers being excellent, my English and Hindi was above average standard. And my 2 habits also helped. One reading books in these languages and seeing films in many languages like Hindi, Marathi, English, Telugu, Kannada and even Tamil.
I was the family ‘Chaperone’, to take the elders of the family to theatres to watch religious films. This made me a lover of these films. This also increased my knowledge about our Mythology and Vedic history. This way, I must have seen almost all the religious films of the 50s and some from the 40s too . However, I don’t remember if I saw the film Uttara Abhimanyu-46.
This Mythological film was directed by Sarvottam Badami and the music was by the specialist S.N.Tripathi. The cast of the film was Shanta Apte (Uttara), Shahu Modak (Abhimanyu), Chhaya Devi (Subhadra), Ashok Kumar (Arjuna), S N Tripathi (Virat) and others. I am surprised why Ashok Kumar’s name was not shown in the Cast in HFGK. It created unnecessary debate whether he was there or not. Some people even opined that Ashok Kumar gave playback to Shahu modak. The fact is, Ashok Kumar was very much there in the film. He never ever gave a playback to anyone in his career. (another such lapse is found in the cast of the film 1857 of 1946. Here the Hero- Surendra’s name is missing from the cast. His solo and duet songs are mentioned. These things happen when such a massive work is done by a single person with great efforts.)
Ashok Kumar was famous as a Romantic hero of Bombay Talkies films. Initially he was very shy to act with Devika Rani and this very style was loved by the audience. In the early part of his career, all his films were Romantic or simple love stories. From film Anjan-41 and then from film Kismet-43 his role type extended to different styles, but he was comfortable in it and in later period of 50s and 60s, he did many such roles. By mid 40s he was an actor with 10 years’ experience.
Our Indian audience keeps fixed images of actors, which is Type casting. Ashok Kumar was with an image of a Romantic hero or a crime film. So, he was not acceptable in any other Genres. He too was awkward in such roles. In the film ‘ Humayun’-45 he had to do a Historical character and here his limitations became evident. The audience laughed at him, when in war gear,in one scene, he had to run some distance. He looked so feminine ! In the same way, in his first Mythological film ” Savitri”-37, where he played Satyavan, he was very uncomfortable. Similarly, in the film Uttara Abhimanyu also he was a clear misfit. Thank God he realised it and never again tried such roles !
The story of the film’s director – Sarvottam Badami – was a real case of “Rags to Riches”. From a lowly Garage Mechanic he rose to become a big name in commercial and Govt. films and then a businessman and a consultant to a big Business House. His whole story is astounding !
Sarvottam Badami was born in 1910 at Channapatna in Karnataka,to a revenue officer working in Mysore. He passed his SSLC and worked as a garage mechanic and then a projectionist in Select Picture House, Bangalore, both of which were owned by Dr. Ambalal Patel. Patel moved to Bombay and financed Ardeshir Irani of Imperial Film Company, and Chimanlal Desai as a partner forming Sagar Movietone in 1930.
At the age of 19 years, Badami went to Bombay to study automobile engineering. He was asked by Ardeshir Irani who met him at a wedding to help out with the recording equipment he had purchased from abroad.
Badami helped in the sound recording department for the first Talkie in India, Ardeshir Irani’s Alam Ara (1931). Around that time a German director making the film Harishchandra left half-way and Badami offered to complete it, the co-director was Raja Chandrasekhar, although the co-director credit has also been cited as T. C. Vadivelu Naicker. The film turned out to be successful. He was contracted by Sagar Movietone (Sagar Film Company) to direct three films, two in Telugu and one in Tamil: Galava Rishi (Tamil), Rama Paduka Pattabhishekam and Shakuntala in Telugu. The success of these films established him as a director. His working team had people like the cinematographer Faredoon Irani, music director Anil Biswas and the Sagar Movietone favourites Sabita Devi and Motilal.
Initially, to avoid embarrassment to his family he requested not to be credited in the regional language films. He did not know Hindi but from 1932-1947, he worked for Sagar Movietone and also directed nearly 30 films in Hindi, for many others. His first Hindi film was Chandrahasa (1933) starring Noor Mohammed Charlie. He was paid Rs 2000 per film with the complete film being made within Rs 50,000. He worked with most of the top actors of the time like Motilal, Nargis, Ashok Kumar and Pahari Sanyal. He brought Mehboob Khan who was then doing roles as an extra out of obscurity and gave him the role of Sabita Devi’s father in the film Vengeance is mine(1935).
He made several films based on novels. Some of the writers whose work he used were K.M.Munshi, Sarat Chandra and Ramanlal Vasanthlal Desai. The film Aap ki Marzi (1939) was inspired by the Hollywood film Paradise for Three (1938). He became known for his satirical comedies and “socially relevant films”.His film Grihalaxmi (1934), which starred Jal Merchant and Sabita Devi had the woman getting into marriage only if her doctor husband agreed not to want children. The success of the film mitigated the enraged public reaction at the time.
He showed his understanding of media publicity required for films when in 1937, Badami resorted to woo audiences by announcing cash prizes of Rs.500, Rs.200 and Rs.100 for the best reviews of his newly released film Kulvadhu (1937). The promotional gambit worked sending audiences to the theatres. According to an interview, most of Badami’s films didn’t survive as the negatives were burnt to extract the silver from the silver nitrate.
After Aap ki Marzi-38, he followed his mentor, Dr. Patel and joined Sudama Pictures, when in 1939, Sagar Movietone merged into National Films. Badami
also worked in Famous Cine Laboratories, from 46 to 48.
Apparently, in 1948 Deputy Prime Minister Vallabh bhai Patel, who was then also in charge of the Information Ministry, on a visit to the Cine Laboratories Bombay, asked Badami to help set up a NewsReel and Documentary section. The Films Division was established in 1948. He became chief producer in the newsreel department and made several documentaries. He worked in the Films Division making documentaries from 1948-1952. After that he stopped making films and returned to Bangalore to retire as “I was a forgotten man in the feature film world”. He became an industrialist by starting a manufacturing business. Later he worked as a Consultant for Kamani Group of Industries also. He died in 2005 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
FILMOGRAPHY: 1932: Harishchandra; Galava Rishi; Paduka Pattabhishekham; Shakuntala; 1933: Chandrahasa; 1934: Grihalakshmi; 1935: Dr. Madhurika; Vengeance is Mine; 1936: Jeevan Lata; Grama Kanya; 1937: Kokila; Kulavadhu; 1938: Three Hundred Days and After; 1939: Aap Ki Marzi; Ladies Only; 1940: Chingari; Sajani; 1941: Holiday in Bombay; 1942: Khilona; 1943: Prarthana; 1944: Bhagya Lakshmi; 1945: Ramayani; 1946: Uttara Abhimanyu; 1947: Manmani; 1951: Vinoba Bhave (Doc);1952: Roof over the head
(Acknowledgement: Sapnon ke saudagar by Vithal Pandya, Sagar Movietone by Biren Kothari, HFGK, muVyz, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, and my notes)
The story of the film Uttara Abhimanyu-46 is not known. Abhimanyu was the son of Subhadra (ShriKrishna’s sister) and Arjun. Uttara was the daughter of king Virat, in whose palace the Pandavas spent the last year of their Adnyatvas ( living incognito). It is believed that while in his mother’s stomach, Abhimanyu had learnt the technique of entering a Chakravyuh in war ( a certain formation which is very deceptive to come out of it). At the Mahabharat war, he entered the Chakravyuh of the Kaurava army but was unable to come back, not knowing the technique. In such circumstances, the Kauravas and Karn, Dronacharya etc killed him going against all war rules. However his son Parikshit took revenge after the war.
As far as actress Chhayadevi is concerned, she was a famous actress in Bengal. She just did 11 Hindi films, some of which were Bi-lingual in Hindi and Bangla. She also sang 3 songs in 1 Hindi film. Our Sadanand kamath jii has written a nice Bio on her. Interested readers can read it on this Blog, at this link
Let us now enjoy today’s song by Shanta Apte.
Song-Aaj mere jeevan pathh par kaun ye saathi mila (Uttara Abhimanyu)(1946) Singer- Shanta Apte, Lyricist- Saraswati Kumar Deepak, MD- S N Tripathi
Lyrics
Aaj mere jeevan path par
kaun ye saathi mila
saty hai ki swapn hai ye
kya saty hi main
?? ardhy ?? pushp
abhimanyu ke ban gaye
uttara satya hai ke
swapn hai ye
more man ka mol mera
nitya rahta thhaa akela
more man ka mol mera
nitya rahta thhaa akela
aaj wo itna adheer kyon
aaj wo itna adheer kyon
aa gayi main charnon ke chanchal chaal mein
aa gayi main charnon ke chanchal chaal mein
kis chatur nar ne nootan ye nartan bhara
saty hai ki swapn hai ye
aaj mujh yauwan ke aangan mein
atithhi ye kaun aaya
aaj mujh yauwan ke aangan mein
atithhi ye kaun aaya
aur tan man ki ?? ko
kisne ?? bajaaya
aur tan man ki sakal ?? se kisne
?? par bajaaya
titliyaan ??
ur mein
??
titliyaan ??
cheer ur mein
??
kanthh mein sangeet ye
kisne bhara
kanthh mein sangeet ye
kisne bhara aa
saty hai ya swapn hai ya
saty hi mein hi
veer Arjun putr
Abhimanyu ki ?? hai
uttaraa aa aa
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4586 | Post No. : | 16205 | Movie Count : |
4409 |
Today’s song is from an obscure and unknown film of the early 40s, which is making its debut on this Blog. The film is Rahgeer-43. Rahgeer means Pathik or a Traveller. No information is available about this film anywhere, except what is provided in HFGK.
1943 was an year in which the IInd world war was in full swing. Both sides were almost equal. The effects of the war on India were… it faced the infamous Bengal Famine, caused by the war profiteering. Controls on film production were tightened by the Government. I.P.T.A. became operative with its first staged p0lay ‘ Nibanna’. Film Kismet became one of the biggests Hits ever. V.Shantaram’s Rajkamal Kalamandir debuted with Shakuntala, so did Mehboob with his film Najma. Government made showing of Newsreel before any film mandatory. Film Raj Nartaki’s english version The Court Dancer was exhibited in the USA, first time for an Indian film.
1943 produced 105 Hindi films, the highest number during the war years, 1939 to 1945. Many landmark and musical films appeared in this year giving a respite to the war torn audience of Indian Cinema. Let us take a look at some of these films.
Film Bhaichara had music by the only other ” Sursagar” musician – Himangshu Dutt ( the more well known being the singer Jagmohan Sursagar). C. Ramchandra had his first musical hit with film Bhakta Raj, made by Jayant Desai productions. Film Gauri from Ranjit became Monica Desai’s first Hindi film in Bombay. It was a very successful film with songs by Khemchand Prakash, based on Bangla Folk tunes. Kanan Devi gave some sweet songs in the film Hospital, under Kamal Dasgupta’s baton.
Bombay Talkies film Hamari Baat was the last film in which Devika Rani acted. Anil Biswas was the composer. Music Director Khurshid Anwar brought Gauhar Sultana from Lucknow to sing some songs in the film Ishara. Naushad'[s musical film Kanoon had some good Suraiya and Shyam duets. Film Kashinath was Nitin Bose’s last film in New Theatres, after he developed differences with B.N.Sircar.
Anil Biswas gave his career best musical Hit film ” Kismet”- the longest running film from Bombay Talkies. Nurjehan’s musical film Nadaan was popular with songs from composer K.Datta. Director Mehboob made his first film Najma, under his own banner Mehboob productions. Yet one more musical from Naushad- film Namaste. At last a musical hit for composer S.N.Tripathi- Panghat from prakash Pictures. Rajkumari Shukla sang her only Hindi song in this film.. (the film was remade as Chitchor-1976).
Film Paraya Dhan had music by Bengal’s famous musician Gyan Prakash Ghosh. Deena Pathak sang her only 2 songs in this film as Deena Sanghavi. Ghulam Haider makes merry again with Shamshad hit songs in film Poonji from pancholi, Lahore. Minerva Movietone blockbuster prithvi Vallabh had 5 songs from menakabai Shirodkar.
One more superhit film – Ram Rajya from Prakash Pictures had very good songs from composer Shankar Rao Vyas. Saraswati Rane gave 2 melodious songs. Yashwant joshi and Yashwant Nikam sang the famous song ” Bharat ki ek Sannari ki katha”. Ram Rajya had also a distinction as the only Hindi film that was seen by Mahatma Gandhi, on 2-6-1944.
( before this Gandhi had seen ” Mission to Moscow-43′ an English film, in Wardha, according to The Hindu (Kathmandu Ed.) dt.8-2-2010). The film had early songs by Manna Dey also. Naushad in full swing with his 3rd Musical Sanjog, where Suraiya gave playback to Mehtab, the Heroine. Vasant Desai gave excellent songs in hit film Shakuntala by V.Shantaram.
In presence of so many hit and musical films an ordinary film Rahgeer was nowhere to be counted. The film was directed by A.Rashid, for whom this was his first film as a Director. Later on he directed 3 more films- Airmail-46, Daulat ke liye-47 and Bulbul-51, for which he wrote some lyrics also. Hafiz Khan Mastan gave music and also acted in it. His case is a ” Rags to Riches to Rags” story.
Hafiz Khan was born in 1917 in Agra. His father Ustad Wahid Khan, from Etawah Gharana, was a famous musician. He sent his two sons, Hafiz and Aziz, to his elder brother Ustad Inayat Khan at Calcutta to learn Sitar. However, both brothers were more interested in film music than learning Sitar.
Ustaad Waheed Khan was a well known and respected player of Sitar and Surbahar. His place in the Etawah Gharana was high up. He had 3 sons. Bande Hassan,Hafiz khan and Aziz Khan. Waheed khan was very keen that his sons should continue his profession,earn a name and shine in classical music of Etawah Gharana. He thought working for music in films was below their dignity and a shame. Bande Hassan specialised in vocal music and became a famous qawali exponent. Second son Hafiz khan,after initial training in classical music turned to film singing,without father’s knowledge. Not only that,he also accepted the pen name of Mastana-awarded by composer Meer Sahib- to hide his identity from father. The third son Aziz Khan also went the film way,using the name Aziz Hindi sometimes.
Though Aziz Khan did not continue his family profession,he ensured that his son Pervez took the training and became an International Sitarist,settling in USA. Even son of Pervez- Shakir became a famous Sitarist. he continues the Etawah gharana tradition now.
Hafiz came to Bombay in the mid 30s and sang a song in the film Bahadur Kisan-1938, music by Meer Saheb. Meer Saheb took him to Minerva and he was employed as a singer. He sang in films like Talaq-38, Jailor-38, Main haari-40 and Sikandar-41. Looking at his jolly nature, Meer Saheb gave him the name Mastana and he became Khan Mastana. Later in his professional life, he wrote Khan Mastana as a singer and Hafiz Khan as a MD.
As a Composer he started with Wasiyat-40, then came Virginia-40, Akela-41, Muqabla, 42, Raahgir-43, Neelam-45 etc. In all, he gave music to 29 films, composing 215 songs. As a singer, he sang 152 songs in 83 films. He also acted in 9 films and directed 1 film- Paramount-41. As a singer he last sang in the film Nek Khatoon-1959 and as a composer his last film was Gunehgaar-53. As an actor his last film was Shikarpuri-47.
Khan Mastana became quite rich. He had 5 flats in Bombay. He had a professional competition with singer G.M.Durrani. It is alleged that once Khan Mastana tried to make Durrani eat a ” Pan ” laced with Sindoor(mercury), so that he can never ever sing again. However, Durrani suspected and vomited immediately. Later, when its analysis was done, the fact came out. Anyway, thanks to Durrani, he did not make it a public issue. Only 17 years after Khan Mastana’s death, Durrani spilled the beans, but did not take Khan Mastana’s name, even then. Only his close friends knew this.
When Mastana was at the height of fame and work, he was invited by the Prince of Hyderabad State to teach music to his Begum. Due to some reason, the Prince became angry with Mastana and he was kept captive for a long time in Hyderabad.
By the time he returned to Bombay. The film industry had changed a lot. Many new singers had appeared. The music pattern had also changed. Khan found it difficult to get singing assignments. However, he continued to compose music. When the bad times continued, he had to sell all his flats, cars etc. He became so poor, that he had to beg near the Mahim Masjid. He also started drinking and taking drugs. Once Naushad saw him there. He tried to help him but drinking had spoiled him completely. Finally he died on 6-3-1972. One of his sons was still begging near the Masjid.
There was a time when in the film Laila Majnu-45, he was the main singer and Rafi was in Chorus. When the bad days came , in the film Laila Majnu (incomplete), Rafi was the main singer and Mastana was in the Chorus ! That is Destiny !!
Today’s song is by Amirbai Karnataki. The song and the tune is quite good. With this song, film Rahgeer-43 makes its Debut on this Blog.
Song-Apni to zamaane se har baat niraali hai (Raahgeer)(1943) Singer- Amirbai Karnataki, Lyricist- Shevan Rizvi, MD-Hafiz Khan Mastana
Lyrics
Apni to zamaane se har baat niraali hai
apni to zamaane se har baat niraali hai
aankhon mein diye gham ke
daaman pe deewaali hai
aankhon mein diye gham ke
daaman pe deewaali hai
apni to zamaane se har baat niraali hai
apni to zamaane se har baat niraali hai
aankhon mein abhi se kyun
aansoo ye chale aaye
aankhon mein abhi se kyun
aansoo ye chale aaye
hamne to abhi dil se
hamne to abhi dil se
ik faans nikaali hai
hamne to abhi dil se
ik faans nikaali hai
apni to zamaane se har baat niraali hai
apni to zamaane se har baat niraali hai
gurbat ke zamaane ki
purdard kahaani ye
gurbat ke zamaane ki
purdard kahaani ye
sah daali magar phir bhi
sah daali magar phir bhi
ik baat chhupaani hai
sah daali magar phir bhi
ik baat chhupaani hai
apni to zamaane se har baat niraali hai
apni to zamaane se har baat niraali hai
rote hain zamaane ke
hansne ke liye ??
rote hain zamaane ke
hansne ke liye ??
soorat bhi kabhi roki
ab hamne zamaane se
soorat bhi kabhi roki
ab hamne zamaane se
apni to zamaane se har baat niraali hai
aankhon mein diye gham ke
daaman pe deewaali hai
aankhon mein diye gham ke
daaman pe deewaali hai
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4584 | Post No. : | 16202 |
Today’s song is from the film Bhanwara-1944.
It was a Saigal film. I had no chance to write about a song from any Saigal film, because there were better people to write on Saigal. Who can forget the efforts taken by Atul ji and Sudhir ji in ensuring that possibly all available Film and Non Film songs of Saigal are discussed and archived in this Blog. It is sheerly by coincidence that I am writing on a song from a Saigal film, because it is not sung by Saigal and it was till now, not available on YouTube.
K.L.Saigal ( 11-4-1904 to 18-1-1947) started his film career with Film Muhabbat ke aansoo-32. His first Heroine was Akhtari Moradabadi in this film. Surprisingly, the local newspapers had hailed her songs in the film but totally ignored Saigal. Later, she moved to Burma, joined the British Imperial film company and acted in some of their films. His second Heroine was Mehzabeen, in the film Zinda Laash-32. His next Heroine was Rattan Bai in the film Subah ka Tara-32. Radha Rani was his Heroine in the film Yahudi ki Ladki-33. However Saigal got recognition and praise for his songs, first time, in the film Pooran Bhagat-1933. Here , his Heroine was Anwari bai. I mentioned about Saigal’s early Heroines because they are never in the limelight, when Saigal is discussed. They remained in the dark all the time.
Out of huis 27 films, he did 20 films in Calcutta, mostly with New Theatres. The last 7 films were done in Bombay. He was invited by Ranjit Studios to come to Bombay to do films with them. They offered him a very lucrativeamount of Rs. One lakh per film, with other perks. Due to this and the disturbed conditions and Ego tussles in New Theatres, Saigal shifted to Bombay. As it is, many of his friends like Kidar Sharma, Prithwiraj kapoor, K.N.Sing etc had already shifted to Bombay.
The film Tansen-43, by Ranjit, was completed well before time and stii 9 days were remaining from his contract. The business mind of Chandulal Shah would not let go this waste. He requested Kidar Sharmas to make a Quicky, in which Saigal’s part shooting would finish in the 9 vacant days. Kidar Sharma immediately wrote a script, approved by Ranjit and film Bhanwara was made in a short period.
Bhanwara was a Comedy filmSaigal had no experience of a Comedy film work, but the deft direction of kidar Sharma made film Bhanwara a grand success. The cast of the film was Saigal, Arunkumar Ahuja, Kamla Chatterjee ( Kidar Sharma’s wife), Monica Desai ( actress Leela Desai’s younger sister and director Phani Mujumdar’s wife), Lala Yaqub, Brijmala and others. Here is a short Synopsis of the story of film Bhanwara-44.
Bhanwara-44 was a story of two friends- Pancham (Saigal) and Rikhab (Arunkumar Ahuja), who come to Bombay in search of employment. The chawl where they stay,in single room tenements, has a pair of sisters, Indu(Monica) and Bindu(Kamla Chaterji). Indu happens to work as a teacher in the same place where Pancham is working as a Music and singing teacher. They fall in love. His friend Rikhab loves Bindu but is too shy to express his love. In this, he is assisted by his neighbour friend Pehelwan (Lala Yaqub). With his help, Rikhab develops a great body and finally wooes his ladylove. At the end, both the couples unite happily. The film was full of comic sequences, particularly with Arun Ahuja and Bindu. All in all, it was a hilarious movie.
In this film, Arunkumar Ahuja was the second hero he was the father of popular Hindi film hero Govind, who was active during 1986 to 2000 period. Arun Ahuja’s real name was Gulshan Singh Ahuja, a Sikh, born on 26-1-1918 at Gujaranwala (now in Pakistan). After the school education, he joined Mughalpura Engineering college and secured an Engineer’s degree in 1937. During his college life he had won the Best Football player of the year award. Mehboob Khan was on a Talent Hunt in Lahore. From among the 100 and odd candidates, his choice fell on the well built, athletic, dashing and handsome Gulshan. He was selected and brought to Bombay to act in film Ek hi rasta-39, with a screen name of Arun Ahuja. He was variously billed as Aroon, Arun, Aroon Kumar, Arun Ahuja etc.
His first film was an outstandingly successful hit film. Arun got roles in Bhole Bhale-39 and Civil Marriage-40. Later Mehboob Khan took him for film Aurat 40, which he directed for National Studios. The versatile actor acted in over 25 films in 6 years, some of his films were Kanchan, Holiday in Bombay, Beti, Nurse, Savera, Return of Toofan Mail, Shankar Parvati, Andhera, Bharthari, Caravan, Amrapali etc. From 1945 onwards he became a Free lancer.
During the film Savera-42, he fell in love with his co-star – Nirmala. They got married on 5-5-1945. After marriage Nirmala (7-6-1928 to 15-6- 1996) completed 4 pending films and stopped working. Her last film Sudhar was released in 1949. In this film also she paired with Arun. Thus her last film also had her life partner. She acted in only 12 films, but she sang 63 songs in 23 films.
Arun Ahuja was in demand. He continued working in films. He set up his own production company – Arun Productions and he produced 2 films. One film Sehra was released in 1948, but the other film ” Jo hai saajan” remained unreleased for some reasons. Film Sehra was also a huge flop. Arun suffered heavy losses. He tried to work in films to compensate it, but now due to competition from new stars, new films were slow to come, so he did not get many films. His last film was Aulad-54. He had to sell all his property, bungalow, cars and jewellery. He shifted from his bungalow in Bandra to a chawl in far off suburb Virar, with his family, in 1962. Here his last son Govinda was born in 1963.
His health deteriorated. Nirmala decided to revive her singing, to help the financial difficulties of the family. Composer A R Qureshi arranged her stage programme in Calcutta. It went off with tremendous success and offers started pouring in. She became famous as a Thumri singer. She did many jalsas in India and abroad. Their financial position improved. Their son Govinda also became a big star. He bought a house in Juhu and the family shifted to Juhu for the sake of convenience. However, Arun Ahuja continued to stay in Virar. He did not shift to Juhu.
Arun Ahuja died on 4-7-1998, two years after his dear wife’s death on 15-6-1996.
The film Bhanwara-44 had 11 songs. Today’s song is the 10th song to be posted here. It is sung by Arunkumar (Mukherjee), it was lip synched by Arunkumar (Ahuja) on the screen and Arunkumar (Deshmukh) has written about this song here ! What a coincidence !!
Song-Ye to Malaria hai Muhabbat nahin huzoor (Bhanwra)(1944) Singer- Arunkumar Mukherjee, Lyricist-Kedar Sharma, MD-Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
muhabbat nahin huzoor
kaanpenge
kaanpenge haath paanv to
dhadkega dil zaroor
kaanpenge haath paanv to
dhadkega dil zaroor
dhadkega dil zaroor
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
muhabbat nahin huzoor
ye hai bukhaar sap pe
?? sawaar
?? sawaar
aur haddiyaan
aur haddiyaan huzoor ki
kar dega choor choor
aur haddiyaan huzoor ki
kar dega choor choor
kar dega choor choor
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
muhabbat nahin huzoor
honthon pe khoon ye ae ??
machchar se kam nahin
machchar se kam nahin
o jisko jahaan parhez rahe
inse door door
o jisko jahaan parhez rahe
inse door door
rahe inse door door
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
muhabbat nahin huzoor
jannat milegi aap ko o o
jannat milegi aap ko
ab haspataal mein
ab haspataal mein
har nurse jab ke saamne aayegi ban ke hoor
har nurse jab ke saamne aayegi ban ke hoor
aayegi ban ke hoor
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
muhabbat nahin huzoor
huzoor
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