Archive for the ‘Khan Mastana solo songs’ Category
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular 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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4801 | Post No. : | 16567 |
‘Parbat Pe Apna Dera’ (1944) was V Shantaram’s second film under his banner, Rajkamal Kala Mandir following a tremendous box office success of his first film ‘Shakuntala’ (1943). The film was released on August 8, 1944. The starcast included Vanmala and Ulhas in the lead roles supported by Shantarin, Madan Mohan, Kanta Kumari, P L Samant, Vijaya, Baby Nalini etc.
The lead actor of the film, Ulhas (real name: M N Kaul) had switched over to character actor’s roles when I started watching films in the theatre. So, it was a new experience to me when I first saw his performance as a lead actor in ‘Basant’ (1942) about 6-7 years back after which I saw his performance in the lead role in ‘Parbat Pe Apna Dera’ (1944). I have noted that Ulhas had worked in some films under V Shantaram – ‘Wahaan’ (1937), ‘Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani’ (1946), ‘Dahej’ (1950), ‘Surang’ (1953), ‘Toofaan Aur Diya’ (1956), ‘Do Aankhen Baarah Haath’ (1957), ‘Navrang’ (1959) and ‘Sehra’ (1963).
Ulhas’s connection with V Shantaram goes back to 1937 when he left his home town, Ajmer and reached Pune to try his luck as an actor. He met his fellow Kashmiri, Chandramohan who has become a well-known actor in Prabhat Film Company. He helped Ulhas in getting a side role in ‘Wahaan’ (1937) in which Chandramohan was a lead actor and V Shantaram was the director. After this, there was no looking back for Ulhas. He acted in over 150 films during his active filmy career of over 3 decades.
V Shantaram who had been making films with progressive themes like in ‘Duniya Na Maane’ (1937). ‘Aadmi’ (1939), ‘Padosi’ (1941) etc, chose a different theme for the film which he had not handled in his previous films. The theme was an unusual romance between an ascetic with a hilltop as his abode sans the worldly pleasure and a blind heiress staying in her palatial home. I have watched the film a couple of months back. The story of the film is as under:
Sadhu Ram Das (Ulhas) has renounced the world and made a hill top his abode Just below his hilltop abode is a Shiva temple. Meera Devi (Vanmala) an heiress who has lost her eyesight in the childhood, often visit Shiva temple along with her father (P L Samant) and her maid (Shantarin) to seek the blessing for curing her eyesight as modern medical science has not been able to restore her eyesight.
During one of her visits to Shiva temple, Meera Devi hears a singing voice from a distance which happens to be that of Sadhu Ram Das. Meera Devi is eager to visit the place to see the singer. Sadhu Ram Das does not like people visiting him as they distract his concentration during the prayer. First, he discourages her to come near him. But finding Meera Devi blind, he offers to cure her blindness within six days through his herbal eye drops.
On the sixth day, Meera Devi’s eyesight is restored. Now she wants to become a devotee of Sadhu Ram Das to serve him in his daily routine. But Sadhu turns her away as he does not want to get affected in his prayer and the concentration. After she leaves, Sadhu Ram Das is restless and feels her absence. Hence, when Meera Devi starts visiting his abode to help him in his daily routine, he does not object her presence. Slowly, he tastes the luxury of someone doing the work for him.
Meera Devi’s daily visit to the abode of Sadhu Ram Das creates a flutter among other sadhus staying nearby. She suggests Sadhu Ram Das to shift to her palatial residence which after some hesitation, he agrees. He soon gets used to the luxuries of life. He shades his beard and sadhu’s outfits. He starts flirting with Meera Devi and soon they get married.
After marriage, Sadhu Ram Das becomes Ram Babu who suddenly develops taste for enjoying the company of other ladies. During a boat ride with Meera Devi, he gets attracted towards a courtesan who is singing in her own boat. He clandestinely visits her boats every day and enjoy her company with wine. During one of his such visits, he is caught red-handed by Meera Devi’s father but decides not to tell his daughter after Ram Babu promises not to repeat the mistake.
Ram Babu’s addiction for the company of females results in breaking his promises to his father-in-law and flirts with a florist in the vicinity of his home itself. He is once again caught red-handed by Meera Devi who is hurt by his behaviour. She debars him from entering her home.
Now that his wife knows about his weakness for women, he now openly flirts with women during the Navratri festival. On the Dusshera day, he flirts with one of Meera Devi’s friends (Kanta Kumari) and attempts to molest her. To save herself, she throws a burning cracker towards Ram Babu which hits him in his eyes resulting in blindness.
When Meera Devi comes to know about the incidence, she goes with her father in search of him. Eventually, they find him in his hilltop abode. Meera Devi suddenly remembers his magic herbal eye drop bottle which she retrieves from his cave. Alas, on the way, it falls and bottle is broken. Finally, it is the continuous ringing of the temple bell by both Meera Devi and Ram Babu which restores his eyesight.
Most of V Shantaram’s films have some message to the society and ‘Parbat Pe Apna Dera’ (1944) is no exception. In the film, he sets out the message that it does not take much time for ascetic to turn hedonist. Afterall, an ascetic is also a human and is subject to the temptation of the worldly pleasures which are addictive in nature. The title of the film did make me hesitant to watch the film. But once I began to watch, the film unfolded like a smooth sailing.
There is nothing much in the story by Diwan Sharar. In fact, the story’s end is a tame affair. But his dialogues are crispy. It is V Shantaram’s direction which makes the story visually interesting. There are a few brilliant streaks of symbolisms in his direction. For instance, the ascetic’s abode on a hilltop conveys that his status is on a high pedestal. When he decides to shift to Meera’s palatial home on the plains and is walking with her to come down, a big bolder with accompanying rocks and stones roll down symbolising that the ascetic is walking down to a lower status to become a householder.
On the performances of the actors in the film, only 4 actors have a large screen presence – Ulhas, Vanmala, Shantarin and Madan Mohan (not to be confused with music director, Madan Mohan). All the four have given a good performance.
Another plus point of this film is the musical compositions of Vasant Desai. Most of the songs have pleasing tunes and good orchestrations which have been nicely picturised. All these three elements of the songs put Vasant Desai’s music being ahead of its time.
So far, six songs (out of 9) have been covered in the Blog. I am presenting the 7th song from the film, ‘sapanon mein aane waale’ rendered by Khan Mastana. The song is written by Diwan Sharar which is set to music by Vasant Desai.
The song is picturised on Ulhas who, after renouncing from asceticism and marrying Vanmala, has become a playboy. He sings this song during a festival gathering to attract female participants.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Sapnon mein aanewaale hamko jaga rahe hain (Parbat Pe Apna Dera)(1944) Singer-Khan Mastana, Lyrics-Dewan Sharar, MD-Vasant Desai
Lyrics
aaa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aaa
sapanon mein aanewaale
sapanon mein aanewaale
hamko jagaa rahen hain
hamko jagaa rahen hain
ham jinko dhoondhte thhe
ham jinko dhoondhte thhe
wo khud bula rahen hain
wo khud bula rahen hain
mehmaanon ki hai raunaq
mehmaanon ki hai raunaq
taanta sa lag raha hai
taanta sa lag raha hai
do chaar jaa rahen hain
do chaar aa rahen hain
do chaar jaa rahen hain
hairaan hain nighaaein
hairaan hain nighaaein
kya chaahen kya na chaahen
kya chaahen kya na chaahen
wo kuchch dikha rahe hain
aur kuchch chhupa rahe hain
aur kuchch chhupa rahen hain
doley ae
doley hain mann ki naiyya
doley ae
doley hain mann ki naiyya
aur bekhabar khaiwaiyya
aur bekhabar khaiwaiyya
bhooli huyi dagar mein aen
bhooli huyi dagar mein
ham dagmaga rahe hain
ham dagmaga rahe hain
sapanon mein aanewaale
hamko jagaa rahe hain
ham jinko dhoondhte the
wo khud bula rahe hain
sapanon mein aanewaale ae
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws
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Today’s song is from the film Duniya Tumhari hai-1942. This was a social film made by Pawar Pictures- owned by the Director G.P.aka Ganapatrao Pandurang Rao Pawar. The name G.P.Pawar instantly reminds us of Lalita Pawar. He was her first husband. Before and also after marriage Pawar was director of most films of Lalita Pawar. They had a son- Jai Pawar.
The marriage crashed on a rock, when Lalita discovered the love affair brewing between him and her younger sister. She immediately divorced him, but kept using the surname “Pawar” till the end , though she had married again. Their son Jay could never become an actor. He was a Producer of Parwana-71 and Manzil-79. Earlier he was assistant director during the film Mem Didi-61. His son too could never become an actor, though he tried hard.
The film’s Music Director was S N Tripathi and Lyricist was I.C.Kapoor. The cast was Kanta Kumari, B.Nandrekar, Madhukar Gupte, Sadiq, Ansari etc. There were 12 songs in the film.
In the Hindi film industry, in the early years, it was expected that the hero of a film must be tall, handsome, fair, strong and with an impressive personality. If not all, then most of the above qualities were expected in a Hero. Now, nobody can have ALL these qualities desired in one person. So slowly, the industry accepted the reality and instead of a tall, handsome etc etc Hero, compromises were made and his singing and acting ability became the desired qualities. Over a period, singing was dropped and only the histrionic capabilities became the desired quality and thus actors like Om Puri, Balraj Sahani, Shaikh Mukhtar, Nasiruddin Shah etc became Heroes and succeeded on the basis of their acting alone.
However, still the puppy faced, Chubby and Chocolate looking actors were popular. Actors like Pradeep Kumar, Karan Dewan, Bharat Bhushan etc. got dozens of films and the best and most beautiful Heroines, despite their lack of acting skills.
When I look back at different Heroes operating in Hindi films from 1931 onwards, I find that there were very few really handsome Heroes. I can quote names of at least 3 Heroes who were really handsome and attractive. They were B.Nandrekar, Najmul Hasan and Chandra Mohan.
There was an actor who easily transitioned from silent films to talkie films. This was B Nandrekar or Baba Saheb Dada saheb Nandrekar.
Nandrekar was one of the very few really handsome actors Hindi films ever had. He was born on 15th November 1910, in Sangli district of Maharashtra, near Kolhapur. Being a Muslim, he could speak Urdu/Hindi fluently. He completed his schooling from Kolhapur and joined films. Vishnupant Damle (one of the founder partners of Prabhat Films) was making silent film ‘Maharathi Karna’ (1928) for Maharashtra Film Co. He offered Nandrekar a role. Then he worked in other films like ‘Baji Prabhu Deshpande’ (1929), ‘Lanka’ (1930), ‘Kismet’ (1931) and ‘Dushman Ki Raat’ (1931).
His first talkie film was ‘Kurukshetra’ (1933). Prabhat gave him a role in ‘Sant Tukaram’ (1936) (its Hindi version came in 1948). He worked in ‘Amar Jyoti’ (1936) and became quite popular as a hero, opposite Shanta Apte. He was the hero in ‘Baghbaan’ (1938) opposite Sitara Devi.
In 1939, he became the first actor to go abroad to shoot scenes in the film ‘Africa In Hind’ – ‘हिन्द में अफ्रीका’ (1939). The shooting was done in Africa. Thus this became the first ever Hindi film to shoot in foreign country, and NOT film ‘Naaz’ (1954), as is popularly believed and also as mentioned in HFGK. Nandrekar had become very popular. The chappals he used in the film ‘Baghbaan’ became fashionable by the name ‘Nandrekar Chappals‘. This alone is enough to prove his popularity.
His lawsuit against Prabhat Film Company was a topic of discussion in the industry. There were differences between him and Prabhat over his contract with them. His lawyers were Mr. Jinnah and Mr. Setalwad, who won the case for him. He was also the first actor to work as a freelancer.
His sister Ameenabai was also an actress. Nandrekar acted in some Marathi films also.
Nandrekar appeared in 23 films. His films were ‘Kurukshetra’ (1933), ‘Amar Jyoti’ (1936), ‘Jaadugarin’ (1937) (UR), ‘Baghbaan’ (1938), ‘Africa In Hind’ (1939), ‘Qaidi’ (1940), ‘Hindustan Hamara’ (1940), ‘Alakh Niranjan’ (1940), ‘Chitralekha’ (1941), ‘Mamaji’ (1942), ‘Duniya Tumhari Hai’ (1942), ‘Nai Kahaani’ (1943), ‘Andhi Duniya’ (1943), ‘Swarn Bhoomi’ (1944), ‘Lady Doctor’ (1944), ‘Ismat’ (1944), ‘Bachpan’ (1945), ‘Kamla’ (1946), ‘Jeevan Sikho’ (1946), ‘Parshuram’ (1947), ‘Meri Amaanat’ (1947), ‘Khandani’ (1947), ‘Sant Tukaram’ (1948) and last film ‘Bihari’ (1948).
He passed away in 1949. No definite information is available about his demise.
One more interesting personality in this film was Ansari. Nisar Ahmed Ansari was the son of the late Dr. Ameer Ahmed Ansari. He was born on 29-8-1917 at Jhansi. His father had been serving in the Military for 11 years and he expired in 1938. He was well known in Jhansi as he practiced there for 40 years.
Ansari matriculated from Allahabad University in 1933. In 1935, he passed his Inter from Aligadh. By 1939 he was a graduate of Bombay University. He was keen to join films and in this, Mehboob khan helped him by recommending him for film Aasra-40, made by National Studios. It was directed by Mehboob’s assistant Chimanlal Gandhi.
By watching him, no one can ever visualise that a suave and respectable man like him can be a scheming villain . Competition for him was tough, initially when he joined the film industry, as there were many character actors already there, who were specialists in negative roles . But young and energetic Nisar Ahmad Ansari had faith in his potential .
He believed that it was not necessary that a villain should have thick eyebrows with roving eyes and have a permanent frown on his face. A person having negative traits may have a smiling face also ,to conceal his evil designs . Therefore in most of his movies, he was a well dressed person ,always beaming and had a friendly smile on his face. In his films, he used to be boss of a criminal syndicate and have an army of foot soldiers who carried out dirty work on his behalf. To keep a distance between master and servant, instead of calling them by their name he used to call his cronies by their allotted numbers like Number Ten Or Number Five.
With a hit movie ‘Mangu’, he became a director and later directed many successful movies like Black Cat, Tower House, Mr Lamboo, Zara Bach Ke, Wanted etc for various producers and after he established his own banner Bundel Khand Films, he made many memorable movies. Although he had to look after his own company and permanent staff ,he did not disappoint other filmmakers ,who wanted to have him in their movies in the role of villain. It is a fact that it was his Black Cat which helped G P Sippy to be a part of the league of big producers, but it is also true, Mr Sippy forgot him later and never acknowledged Mr Ansari’s contribution .
Mr N A Ansari, was essentially a dedicated film maker and had no false illusions about his own capabilities. His movies were never lavishly made and had average production value ,but it did not deter his fans and sizable majority of film viewers ,who adored him and his pictures to patronise his movies. Those who love the movies of the golden age, fondly remember his movies which used to have him in the role of villain, beside good music, suspense, comedy, dance with a plausible story and a strong message for society, that “Crime Never Pays”.
With producer/actor Sheikh Mukhtar, Nisar Ahmad Ansari had earlier worked as an actor in Dada, Dara & Ustad Pedro. Sheikh Mukhtar, aware of Ansari’s capability ,in 1954, offered him Mangu to direct. The big success of Mangu was a game changer for Ansari & O P Nayyar. They both were immensely benefited with the favourable outcome of the movie & it’s music. Mangu had predictable Jodi of Sheikh Mukhtar & Mukri ,with Nigar Sultana ,Sheila Ramani & Ansari himself, as a suave villain. Mangu had a breathtaking, thrilling climax, involving the speeding train. Some real shots, a few stock shots & rest studio shots with back projections (Aadhi Haqeeqat ,Aadha Fasana ),made the climax awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, the movie could not be preserved & the present generation has been deprived of witnessing Ansari’s first effort as director. Mangu is one of the most searched movies on youtube.
He again directed Mr Lambu, a big success, for Sheikh Mukhtar. This time with the classic beauty Suraiyya with music by O P Nayyar, but a similar tragedy happened, again. No print of the movie is available. In almost all his films N.A.Ansari played the role of an urbane & sophisticated Don. He always appeared, well dressed in impeccably tailored suits, fedora, trade mark pipe between his teeth & walking stick, in his hand.
Beside Sheikh Mukhtar,he directed movies, like Black Cat,Tower House,Jara Bach Ke,Wanted for other producers and playing the main villain .He had no qualm for working in the movies directed by other film makers & in this category, movies like Private Secretary,Fareb ,Do Thug ,Khota Paisa, Gunda,Ustad 420,Gunahon Ke Raaste can be named. Under his own banner Bundel khand Films he made Wahan Ke Log,Mulzim,Zindagi Aur Maut,Mr Murder, Jurm Aur Sazaa and Noor E Ilahi. The last one being his last production in 1976 & then he decided to hang his boots.It was a big journey for Ansari,who was discovered by Mehboob & given a role in Aasra, released in 1941.
He could not say “No” to film maker Sultan Ahmad,when he insisted him to appear in Dharam Kanta (1982 ) & later in Jai Vikranta. N.A.Ansari closed his eyes for ever on 11 Jan 1993, in Canada, thousands of kilometres away from his beloved city Jhansi ,much before the release of his last movie Jai Vikranta in 1995. As an actor he did roles in 77 films, starting with Aasra-41. He directed 11 films, from Mangu-54 to Jurm aur Saza-74.
(Based on information from Filmdom-46 and an article by M.N.Sardana ji, with thanks.)
With today’s song, film Duniya tumhari hai-1942 makes its Debut on this Blog.
Song- Hansi rahegi labon per jahaan rahe na rahe (Duniya Tumhaari Hai)(1942) Singer- Khan Mastana, Lyricist- Ishwar Chand Kapoor, MD- S N Tripathi
Lyrics
Hansi rahegi labon per
jahaan rahe na rahe
Hansi rahegi labon per
jahaan rahe na rahe
zameen rahe na rahe
zameen rahe na rahe
aasmaan rahe na rahe
haan
zameen rahe na rahe
aasmaan rahe na rahe
kam na hoga kabhi
shauk tere sijdon(??) ka
kam na hoga kabhi
shauk tere sijdon(??) ka
zameen rahe na rahe
zameen rahe na rahe
aasmaan rahe na rahe
haan
zameen rahe na rahe
aasmaan rahe na rahe
hansi rahegi labon pe
jahaan rahe na rahe
hansi rahegi labon pe
jahaan rahe na rahe
zameen rahe na rahe
zameen rahe na rahe
aasmaan rahe na rahe
ek apni duniya niraali
basaayenge dil mein
ek apni duniya niraali
basaayenge dil mein
bala se apni ye
bala se apni ye
saara jahaan rahe na rahe
haan bala se apni ye
saara jahaan rahe na rahe
udaas (??) chain se ujdi chaman mein bulbul ki
udaas (??) chain se ujdi chaman mein bulbul ki
bahaar aayi hai ab
bahaar aayi hai ab
aashiyaan rahe na rahe
haan
bahaar aayi hai ab
aashiyaan rahe na rahe
hansi rahegi labon par
jahaan rahe na rahe
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular 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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4750 | Post No. : | 16485 |
The tale of two brothers – Hafiz Khan and Aziz Khan, sons of the Ustad Waheed Khan of Etawaha Gharana is not only saddening but also contrasting in the end. After a promising start in Hindi films as a playback singer and the music director in the 1940s, Hafiz Khan died in 1972 in extreme poverty. Aziz Khan, on the other hand, after a brief stint with Hindi film industry as a music director, reverted to playing Sitar and trained his son, Ustad Parvez Khan who is now an internationally well-known Sitar player.
Etawaha Gharana popularised the Sitar and Surbahar and Ustad Waheed Khan was a famous exponent of both these musical instruments. He appeared in Satyajit Ray’s ‘Jalsaagar (1958) in which he can be seen playing Raag Bihaag on Surbahar in one of the scenes of the film. Ustad Waheed Khan was a court musician at the court of Holkar of Indore for 18 years, in the court of Maharaja of Patiala for 3 years and later in the court of Nizam of Hyderabad until 1948. Naturally, he wanted his two sons to continue the Gharana tradition of playing Sitar and Surbahar. With this aim in mind, Ustad Waheed Khan gave extensive training in Sitar, Surbahar and vocal music to his two sons. At the age of around 12 , Hafiz Khan was sent to Kolkata to receive further training in Sitar and Surbahar from his uncle, Ustad Inayat Khan (father of sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan) who found Hafiz Khan to be a promising student of Sitar and Surbahar. He used to accompany his uncle in his sitar/surbahar concerts.
In Kolkata, Hafiz Khan got mesmerised with the songs of K L Saigal and Pankaj Mullick. He was now more interested in becoming a singer in Hindi films than learning Sitar and Surbahar. On a visit to Hyderabad to spend some time with his father who had then become a court musician in the court of Nizam, Hafiz Khan got a chance to sing songs on Hyderabad Radio. Knowing fully well of his father’s strong aversion to film songs, he had to sing on the radio without revealing his name. He got some money for his singing on the radio.
Knowing that his father would never allow him to sing for Hindi films, one day Hafiz Khan ran away from Hyderabad with his money earned from radio singing to Mumbai some time in 1934. After doing some odd jobs in the film studio including small roles as actor, producer Chandrarao Kadam, who was producing ‘Bahadur Kisaan’(1938) for which Mir Sahab was entrusted with the music direction, gave him a chance to sing a solo song ‘baalam gaye pardes ri sajni’ which became his debut playback song in a film. With this song, Hafiz Khan became known as a singer. Since he wanted to hide his name associated with film songs from his father, Mir Sahab gave him a new name ‘Khan Mastana’ keeping in view his jolly nature.
After the release of ‘Bahadur Kissan’ (1938), Mir Sahab joined Minerva Movietone as the music director. He also took Khan Mastana to Minerva Movietone where he was taken as a playback singer on a 3-year contract. During this period, he sang songs in ‘Jailor’ (1938), ‘Talaaq’ (1938), ‘Pukaar’ (1939) ‘Main Haari’ (1940), etc. His songs from these films raised his popularity graph. During the last year of the contract with Minerva Movietone, Sohrab Modi wanted him to play sitar in addition to his contract as playback singer. Khan Mastana refused to play sitar as he did not wish to become a musician. He left Minerva Movietone. By that time, he had also got an offer from a film producer to work as a music director (probably for ‘Virginia’, 1940). Since Sohrab Modi did not want to lose Khan Mastana, he gave him a chance as a music director in his film ‘Vasiyat’ (1940) which he accepted as a free-lancer.
In around 1945, Khan Mastana’s younger brother, Aziz Khan had also joined Bombay film industry as a music director. To conceal his identity for his association with films, he had also changed his name to ‘Aziz Hindi’. By 1947, Khan Mastana had become a top male playback singer next only to G M Durrani and had given music direction to as many as 23 films. Everything was going very fine in his filmy career. He had money, fame and the luxury of staying in any one of his 5 flats in Mumbai. But his misfortune started when he paid a visit to Hyderabad sometime in 1947. His father who was a court musician at that time with Nizam, did not allow him to return to Mumbai. Instead, he pressurized Khan Mastana to learn classical music and sing in front of him rather than in the films. This continued for almost a year which led to delay in films for which he was committed to complete the recording of the songs as playback singer and as a music director. The producers of such films had to engage some other music directors to complete their films. Khan Mastana’s unprofessional attitude resulted in losing some prospective films as the music director.
In early 1948, Khan Mastana once again ran away from Hyderabad for Mumbai. One year of the absence from the film industry is sufficient for a film artist to be forgotten. Khan Mastana managed to get some playback singing assignments to re-establish himself in the film industry. One of the songs in which he sang with Mohammed Rafi was ‘watan ki raah pe watan ke naujawaan shahid ho’ from ‘Shaheed’ (1948) which became very popular. When Khan Mastana has just settled down in the film industry mainly as a playback singer in his second innings, his father came to Mumbai and forcibly took him ( also his brother, Aziz Khan) back to Hyderabad. This time, he was trapped in Hyderabad for about 2 years.
When Khan Mastana returned to Mumbai after 2 years – probably in 1951, he had not only faced the wrath of producers and music directors for his unprofessional behaviour, he had to face stiff competition of emerging playback singers like Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood and Manna Dey. Some new music directors had also emerged during his absence who were happy with the emerging playback singers. Khan Mastana realised that his days as playback singer and the music director were over. In his third inning in film industry, he could get only a handful of songs to sing. He sang his last song as a playback singer, zindagi hai yaa koi toofaan hai in ‘Zindagi Yaa Toofaan’ (1958) which became his swan song.
From the mid 1950s up to his death in March 1972, Khan Mastana lived a life of extreme poverty. During his heydays, he lavishly spent money on his friends who also made him addicted to some vices including drinking. So, he had not saved money for the future. He was staying with his family in a small room mocated in a lane adjunct to Mahim Dargah. He had got afflicted with paralysis in 1966. His only son got similar affliction at the age of 14.
Khan Mastana who had sung nearly 150 songs, composed music in around 30 films besides acting in around 10 films died unsung in abject poverty in March 1972.
What a sad end of a lineage from the Etawah Gharana. His nephew, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan (son of his brother, Aziz Khan) who is an accomplished sitar player of international repute is of the view that going by the recordings of his uncle’s Hindustani classical renditions and sitar/surbahar recitals available with the family’s archive, Khan Mastana would have become one of the leading exponents of Hindustani classical music if he had concentrated on playing Sitar/Surbahar and as a classical vocalist rather than in the Hindi film industry.
‘Muqabala’ (1942) was one of the films of Khan Mastana’s heydays for which he was not only the music director, he also sang for himself in the film and also provided playback singing for other actors. This film seems to have been produced at a time when Wadia Movietone was in the verge of a split between Wadia Brothers. The film was made under the banner of J B H Wadia Productions but it was a Homi Wadia presentation. The film was jointly directed by Batuk Bhatt (Nanabhai Bhatt) and Babubhai Mistry. The star cast included Nadia and Yaqub in the lead role supported by Srinivas, Rajni, Dalpat, Nazira, Agha, Jal Khambata, M K Hasan, Baby Madhuri etc.
The film had 9 songs of which 3 songs have been covred in the Blog. All the songs were written by A Karim. I am presenting the film’s 4th song, ‘mujrim hoon mohabbat ka jo chaahe saza dena’ which is picturised on Yaqub. Agha is also seen in the song picturization.
Almost all on-line resources mention Yaqub as the singer. But it is apparent that the voice in the song is that of Khan Mastana.
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Acknowledgement: Sometime last year, one of my friends sent me a photocopy of an article written by Madhup Sharma which was published in Hindi magazine, ‘Madhuri’ in 1969. This article was based on the interview the author had taken with Khan Mastana in his house. Much of the information about Khan Mastana in my article is based on this source with some updates.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Mujrim hoon mohabbat ka jo chaahe sazaa dena (Muqaabla)(1942) Singer-Khan Mastana, Lyrics-A Karim, MD-Khan Mastana
Lyrics
aa aa aa
haaa haaa
aaaa aaaaa
mujrim hoon mohabbat ka
jo chaahe saza dena
mujrim hoon mohabbat ka
jo chaahe saza dena
mujrim hoon mohabbat ka aa aa
haan aan
jo chaahe saza dena aa aa
par yaad rahe itna
dil se na bhula dena
par yaad rahe itna
dil se na bhula dena
main dil tumhen deta..aa hoon
lekin kahe deta hoo..n
main dil tumhen deta hoon
lekin kahe deta hoon
mujhko to mitaaya hai
isko na mita dena
mujhko to mitaaya hai
dil ko na mita dena
aaraam na hai din ko….o o o o
aur neend na raaton ko…o o o o
aaraam na hai din ko
aur neend na raaton ko..o o o
beemaar kiya tumne
ab tum hi dawa dena
beemaar kiya tumne
ab tum hi dawa dena
wo guzri huyi baaten
raaton ki mulaakaaten
wo guzri huyi baaten
raaton ki mulaakaat..en
bhoole se jo yaad aaye
do aansoo baha dena
bhoole se jo yaad aaye
do aansoo baha dena
mujrim hoon mohabbat ka
jo chaahe saza dena
par yaad rahe itna
dil se na bhula dena
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular 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 : |
4748 | Post No. : | 16476 |
Kishore Sahu, actor, producer, director and story/screen-play/dialogue writer must be a dynamic, ambitious and resourceful person. Otherwise, how could one explain the pace at which he turned producer after the release of only one film? He started his acting career with a lead role in Bombay Talkies’ ‘Jeewan Prabhat’ (1937). One film old Kishore Sahu set up a film production company, India Artists Ltd. As a managing director of the company, he produced ‘Bahurani’ (1940) which was released in June 1940. The film was commercially successful.
By 1945, Kishore Sahu had become a successful film producer, director, writer and actor. But before that he faced a ‘speed breaker’ in his career path. Sometime in the latter half of 1940, Kishore Sahu’s marriage with Snehprabha Pradhan, his co-star in ‘Punar Milan’ (1940) in September 1940 ran into trouble. In less than six months of their marriage, they separated. The long court battles and the resultant divorce sometime in 1942 affected Kishore Sahu to such an extent that he left Bombay in early 1941 and went into ‘hibernation’ for a year or so in his native town and Nagpur.
It is said that a person in a depressed mind for a long time is likely to experience change in his personality after he overcomes the depression. But in the case of Kishore Sahu, it appears that more than the likely change in his personality, the recovery from the personal problems changed his filmy career for the better. Kishore Sahu returned to Bombay with a story of ‘Kunwaara Baap’ (1942) which was his debut film as a director. He was also the lead actor opposite Protima Dasgupta. It was a social satirical film.
The box office success of ‘Kunwaara Baap’ (1942) encouraged him to direct two more films with similar theme – ‘Raja’ (1943) and ‘Sharaarat’ (1944) making them a trilogy of films with social satire as the theme. He was once again paired with Protima Dasgupta in both these films. While ‘Raja’ (1943) was a commercial success, ‘Sharaarat’ (1944) did not fare well at the box office. But his subsequent film, ‘Veer Kunal’ (1945) which Kishore Sahu produced and directed under the banner of Ramnik Productions was a commercially successful film. In this film, he played the lead role of Veer Kunal.
The next line of career progression took place in 1945 when he bought the banner, Hindustan Chitra Production and become the producer-director under his own banner. Films like ‘Sindoor’ (1947), ‘Saawan Aaya Re’ (1947), ‘Kali Ghata’ (1951) and “Mayur Pankh’ (1954) became successful at the box office. As a director, he saw success in ‘Saajan’ (1947), ‘Nadiya Ke Paar’ (1948). ‘Dil Apna Aur Preet Paraayi’ (1960), ‘Grihasti’ (1963) etc. He also acted in films of other banners.
As happens with many film directors, after his successful innings of around 10 years, Kishore Sahu, by and large, failed as a director in his later part of the career. After ‘Grahasti’ (1963), he could not attain the same level of success as in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s and 70s, Kishore Sahu produced and directed ‘Poonam Ki Raat’ (1965), ‘Hare Kaanch Ki Chooriyaan’ (1967), ‘Pushpanjali’ (1970) and directed ‘Dhuen Ki Lakeer’ (1974) but could not create ripples on the box office front.
Of these four films, I had seen ‘Poonam Ki Raat’ (1965) when it was released. The film was a suspense thriller. I found the film interesting with tightly maintained suspense coupled with outstanding song compositions by Salil Chowdhury. Around the same time, I had seen ‘Gumnaam’ (1965), and later, I had also watched on TV ‘Wo Kaun Thhi’ (1964), The common factors in all these three films were (i) suspense thriller, (ii) Manoj Kumar as the lead actor and (iii) melodious music and songs. While ‘Poonam Ki Raat’ failed at box office, the other two films were box office success. Can it be said that the young directors were more innovative and had read the pulse of the filmy audience of mid 1960s better than Kishore Sahu or was it simply a loss of his magic touch?
When Kishore Sahu was facing a downturn in his career as a producer-director, he started doing character roles in the films of other banners. Dev Anand seems to be fond of Kishore Sahu who acted with him in ‘Kala Paani’ (1958), ‘Kala Baazar’ (1960), ‘Guide’ (1965), ‘Gambler’ (1971) and ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ (1972). By the way, Dev Anand worked with Kishore Sahu for the first time in ‘Namoona’ (1949).
Kishore Sahu died on August 22, 1980 while on a family trip to Thailand. His last film, ‘Vakil Babu’ (1982) was released after his death.
‘Raja’ (1943) was Kishore Sahu’s third film as a director and the 5th film as an actor. He also wrote the story, screen-play and dialogues for the film. The star cast included Kishore Sahu and Protima Dasgupta in the lead roles supported by Ranibala, Moni Chatterjee, Gulab, Vijay Sahu, Wasker, Anant Prabhu etc.
There were 8 songs in the film of which one song has been covered on the Blog. I am presenting the film’s second song, ‘aankhon ki ye sharaab piye jhoom ke nikle’. The song is written by Amritlal Nagar which is set to music by Khan Mastana. Most of the on-line resources mention Kishore Sahu as the singer. But it is apparent that the voice in this song is that of Khan Mastana.
When I first listened to the song, it gave me an impression of a song of enjoyment. By the time I come to the last stanza of the song, it dawns to me that all is not well in protagonist’s love life.
Audio Clip:
Song-Aankhon ki ye sharaab piye jhoom ke nikle (Raja)(1943) Singer-Khan Mastana, Lyrics-Amritlal Nagar, MD-Khan Mastana
Lyrics
shar…..aab
shar….aab
ye shar…..aab
aankhon ki ye sharaab
aankhon ki ye sharaab
aankhon ki ye sharaab piye jhoom ke nikle
haan jhoom ke nikle
haan haan jhoom ke nikle
armaan mere dil ke
armaan mere dil ke ghaav choom ke nikle
haan choom ke nikle
haan haan choom ke nikle
aankhon ki ye sharaab
aankhon ki ye sharaab piye jhoom ke nikle
haan jhoom ke nikle
haan haan jhoom ke nikle
aankhon ki ye sharaab
main kis tarah bachoon
main kis tarah bachoon na ke madhosh banoon main
behosh banoon main aen
main kis tarah bachoon na ke madhosh banoon main
behosh banoon main
behosh banoon main
gar ?? khud sharaab
gar ?? khud sharaab bane jhoom ke nikle
haan jhoom ke nikle
haan haan jhoom ke nikle
aankhon ki ye sharaab
aankhon ki ye sharaab piye jhoom ke nikle
haan jhoom ke nikle
haan haan jhoom ke nikle
aankhon ki ye sharaab
toota huwa dil ek bhi apna sa na paaya
hamne nahin paaya
toota huwa dil ek bhi apna sa na paaya
hamne nahin paaya
hamne nahin paaya
ham pyaar ki duniya se
ham pyaar ki duniya se bahut ghoom ke nikle
haan ghoom ke nikle
haan haan ghoom ke nikle
aankhon ki ye sharaab
aankhon ki ye sharaab piye jhoom ke nikle
haan jhoom ke nikle
haan haan jhoom ke nikle
armaan mere dil ke
armaan mere dil ke ghaav choom ke nikle
haan choom ke nikle
haan haan choom ke nikle
aankhon ki ye sharaab
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 : |
4580 | Post No. : | 16192 |
Today’s song is from the film Shri Nagad Narayan-1955.
There is a little story on why I have chosen this song today for my post here. Only the other day, I was going through my mails, searching for some reference. while searching for it, i went back well upto 2014 mails. Suddenly my attention fell on a mail written on 25-8-2014, by our friend in ASAD group-Mr. Mahesh Mamadapur. The mail was addressed to me, Atul ji and Sudhirji. It pointed out that a song by Khan Mastana in the film Shri Nagad Narayan-55 was still uncovered and he had suggested that one of us should make a post on it, as it was a good song.
Out of curiosity, I immediately checked whether this song was covered on the Blog. I was also curious to know, finally who wrote the post on that song. To my utter surprise, I found that even after 7 years the song had still remained uncovered. Perhaps, in those days, all of us must have thought that the other would write on the song. Then I checked on YouTube if this song was available. After a little effort, I found the song also. I felt relieved and decided to correct the slip at least now. Perhaps it was my destiny to write a post on this song, afterall ! Thanks Mahesh ji for the song and here it is, dedicated to Mahesh ji !
The film Shri Nagad Narayan-55 was produced by S.N.Kanva-of Kanva Brothers Corporation, under the banner of their own Kamdhenu Films, Bombay. It was directed by I.S.Johar and the music was by Vinod. The cast consisted of Meena (Shorey), Motilal, Majnu, Omprakash, Badri pershad,Leela Mishra, Shirin etc. The director, composer and the lead pair reminded me of their earlier Hit film ” Ek Thi Ladki”-1949, where, for the first time I.S.Johar and Majnu had made a comedy pair on the lines of Bud Abott and Louise Castello. Later they acted together as a pair in almost every film of Roop K. Shorey, who considered them ” Lucky Mascot”. However, I liked this pair in the film ” Hum sab chor hain”-1956, which was a adapted copy of the film Ek this Ladki-49.
There was another film ‘Nagad Narayan” made in 1943. This was a remake of a Marathi film ” पैसा बोलतो आहे ” made by Bhal G. Pendharkar. I do not know the story of today’s film, but I guess it was a comedy film ( with ‘ Vinod’ as the appropriate MD !). The film had 11 songs written by Qamar Jalalabadi, P L Santoshi, Verma Malik and Madhup Sharma.
In the year 1981, when I was the Zonal Manager in Glaxo Laboratories in Bombay, I had come in contact with this Madhup Sharma. Our company was making an Audio-Visual presentation for our London Principles, for our Veterinary products. One Mr. Mahesh Sharma was making it for us. He knew Madhup Sharma, who was friendly with actor Ashok Kumar. In those days Ashok Kumar used to have a very large Poultry Farm at Lonavala (between Bombay and Poona). We needed to shoot there and also interview Ashok Kumar. Madhup Sharma took us to Ashok kumar in his Chembur bungalow. There I met Ashok kumar personally for discussions. I took many photographs with him at that time.
This Madhup Sharma was a character actor, who acted in 48 films, from 1970 to 1989. He also wrote Lyrics for 2 films, Dara-53 and Shri Nagad narayan-55.
From 1950 to 1960 period, the maximum number of films – 124 were made in 1955, but most films this year were Mythological, Religious, Costume, Comedy and Stunt films. Incidentally, for the same period, 1950 to 1960, there were maximum Mythological/Religious films made – 124. Here are some milestones of 1955.
Film Pather Panchali had a world premier in New York. Festivals of Indian Films were held in London and Peking. Children’s Film Society was established in 1955 and Journal of Film Chamber was started by the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce.
Taking a look at the 124 films of 1955, we find that…
A coloured Costume film ‘Azaad’, with A grade actors like Dilip Kumar, Meena kumari, Pran etc came from Madras stable.
Leela Chitnis tried to launch her son AJIT as a Hero in the flop film ‘ Aaj ki Baat’. 19 Popular Saigal songs were repeated in film Amar Saigal.
Comedy musical Baap re Baap and Naashad’s Baradari made ripples.
Ashok Kumar’s film Bandish…..on the night of 6-12-1955, when Ashok kumar and MD Arunkumar Mukherjee-his cousin, were returning from the Trial show of Bandish, Arunkumar Mukherjee, died in the car after a massive Heart attack, on Ashok Kumar’s lap.
Film Bhagwat Mahima had very good Bhajans by Hemant kumar.
Film Chingari had lovely songs by MD Manohar. Nalini Jaywant sang her last film song. This was the last film of actress Sunalini Devi also.
Om Praksh directed his first flop film Duniya Gol hai. The film had a record number of 13 Guest Artistes !
The only film of Pt. Amarnath Chawla,” Garm Coat” was renamed ‘ The clerk and the coat’.
Burman’s musical House No.44 became popular.
Another Costume film with A grade actors like Dilip kumar, Dev Anand, Beena Rai etc. from Madras again – Insaniyat. The Hollywood import monkey Zippy featured in Radio Ceylon advertisements for the film.
The evergreen dance and Music film from V.Shantaram – Zanak Zanak Paayal Baaje drew large crowds.
MD Jaidev debuted with a flop film Joru ka Bhai.
N.Datta debuted with film Milap.
MD Ravi debuted with the film Vachan.
Some other films were Mr. and Mrs. 55,Munim ji, Railway Platform (Sunbil Dutt made a Debut), a serious musical, Seema, the great film Shri 420 and Naushad’s Udan khatola.
In the cast of today’s film, you find the name Shirin Bano. Yes, she too is one of the artistes who joined films to get a suitable husband and lead a respectable and comfortable life. Shirin, Shirin Bai or Shirin Bano was from a tawaayaf mother from Lucknow. Her father was a Tamil Brahmin – Ram Seshadri Aiyar, who worked as an accountant with Kikubhai Desai (father of Manmohan Desai) in his distribution department. They were 5 sisters and 1 brother. Shirin joined films at an early age.
Her first film was ‘Maharani’ (1934). The same year she worked in ‘Vehmi Duniya’, ‘Sewa Sadan’ and ‘Bala Joban’. In 1935 her films were ‘Shamsher e Arab’, ‘Pardesi Sainya’ and ‘Bambai Ki Sethani’. In 1936, she worked in ‘Tope Ka Gola’, ‘Snehlata’, ‘Passing Show’ and ‘Azaad Veer’. ‘Khwab Ki Duniya’, ‘His Highness’ and ‘Challenge’ are her films from 1937, ‘State Express’ and ‘Purnima’ in 1938, and ‘Leather Face’ and ‘Hero No. 1’ from 1939. Total 18 films only.
Shirin alson sang 9 songs in 6 films – Maharani-34, Pardesi Saiyan-35, Khwab ki duniya-37, His Highness-37, Purnima-38 and Hero No.1-39
Her youngest sister Meher Bano also joined films with the name Purnima (she also married a producer / director Bhagwandas Varma). Shirin married producer / director Nanabhai Bhatt, who already had a wife and 3 children. They had 6 children – Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt are their sons.
Today’s song is sung by khan Mastana. In the last part of this song, there are lines “” Laila, Laila pukarun mein ban mein, meri Laila basi mere man mein”. These are famous lines from an original song by Master Nissar in film ” Laila Majnu”-1931, made by Madon Theatres. These lines are used in many other Hindi film songs too.
Song- Aata hai yaad mujh ko guzra hua zamaana (Shri Nagad Narayan)(1955) Singer-Khan Mastana, Lyricist-Qamar Jalalabadi, MD-Vinod
Lyrics
aata hai yaad mujhko guzra huaa zamaana
aata hai yaad mujhko guzra huaa zamaana
tu thhi meri deewaani
main tha tera deewaana
tu thi meri deewaani
main tha tera deewaana
aata hai yaad mujhko guzra huaa zamaana
chanda ki chaandni mein tu so rahi thi gori
aakar teri gali mein seeti mera bazaana
aata hai yaad mujhko guzra huaa zamaana
khidki mein tera aake chhupchhup ke muskuraana
ab tere ho chuke ham
ye kah ke bhaag jaana
aata hai yaad mujhko guzra huaa zamaana
ik din khabar ye aana
tu ban gayi hai dulhan
doli mein tera jaana ro ro ke mera gaana
laila laila pukaaroon main ban mein aen
meri laila basi mere man mein
laila laila pukaaroon main ban mein aen
meri laila basi mere man mein
laila laila pukaaroon main ban mein
Ham duniya ke ann-daata hain
Posted on: August 21, 2018
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 sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3686 | Post No. : | 14591 |
Today’s song is from a film Naya Tarana-43. The film was produced byAcharya Atre’s ” Navyug Chitrapat Ltd. Poona”. The cast of the film was Snehprabha Pradhan, P.Jairaj, David, Dar Kashmiri (Jeevan), Raja Paranjpe, Protima Devi etc etc.
The film was directed by Najam Naqvi, the Lyricist was Wali Saheb (with one song by Ali Sardar Jaffri) and the music was given by Amir Ali.
Film making had started in India in early 1900s and many enthusiastic lovers of making images were doing a lot of work in this field.By the time the First Talkie Film came in 1931, there were quite a few film producing centres engaged in making silent films, like Bombay, Calcutta, Lahore, Poona, Kolhapur, Bangalore, Madras, Hyderabad etc. However, Bombay, Lahore and Calcutta were the three main centres where bulk of movies were made. In those days, India was vertically divided into two parts-Calcutta on the Eastern part and Lahore and Bombay on the Western part,for Hindi films. Madras,Bangalore and Hyderabad were busy in making southern language films.
Film making at Lahore was a losing proposition for two reasons. One- geographically,its finished product i.e. Films had no market in its West or north side. They had to look at the entire Indian subcontinent as their market and Secondly- Once the actors,Directors or the composers got an experience in Lahore,they would run to Bombay for bigger opportunities and poor Lahore would end up only as a stepping stone or at best a Training and launching pad for artistes ! Pancholi’s Khazanchi-41,was perhaps the First film,where Lahore was a successful profit centre !
By the mid 40s,it was well known that the Partition would take place and so artistes were not interested to remain in Lahore,but preferred Bombay which was prospering as a wholesale Production Centre.
Calcutta had some disadvantages compared to Bombay,on 3 grounds. 1) Geographical- Their Hindi film market was only on its Western side,competing with 2 other centres. 2) Social- The Regional Pride was very prominent(even today,it is.) and hence,except films,everywhere,knowing Bangla was a MUST. In Bombay, one could( and still can) live for 50 years and not speak Marathi, but it was impossible to survive without speaking the local language in Calcutta or Madras. Further,the regional cinema in Bengal fiercely competed with Hindi films here, sharing the only production centre in the Eastern India. The result was,Hindi film production slowly diminished as Artistes made a beeline to Bombay. Not only the Punjabi or the North Indian artistes,but even Bangla Directors (Nabendu Ghosh, Bimal Roy, Satyen Bose, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee etc),Music Directors and Singers( Pahadi Sanyal, K C Dey, S D Burman, Salil Chaudhari, Anil Biswas, Hemant Kumar, even R C Boral) and few actors(Abhi Bhattacharya, Mala Sinha, Talat Mehmood, Pradeep Kumar etc) shifted base to Bombay.
Bombay welcomed one and all from entire India, grew bigger and became the only Hindi cinema production Centre in India. It had markets in East west,North and South. The number of Indian migrants to other countries was growing, it made an Overseas market for Hindi films. Regional pride did not interfere,as it had other centres too in Kolhapur and Poona. Local Language was similar to Hindi/spoken Urdu,the social and commercial aspects were friendly and the cosmopolitan culture was conducive and adaptable to all.
No wonder, then, that Local artistes were in majority in Bombay film world in early days. Heros like master Vithal,Bhagwan,Nandrekar in the early era,Heroines like, Shanta Apte,Shanta Hublikar,Vanmala.Hansa Wadkar,Ratnaprabha,Snehprabha Pradhan,Nalini Tarkhad,Nalini Jaywant,Durga Khote,Leela Chitnis Lalita Pawar (Amboo) etc in the 40s, and Nutan,Usha Kiron later on and composers like C.Ramchandra,Sudhir Phadke,Snehal Bhatkar,N.Datta,K.Datta,Datta Davjekar etc were famous in Bombay film world.
Out of these early Heroines,- Shanta Apte (1916-1964), Snehprabha Pradhan (1920-19930 ), Leela Chitnis ( 1912-2003), Durga Khote (1905-1991), Shobhana Samarth (1915-2000), Hansa Wadkar (Ratan Salgaonkar in real life,(1924-1971) and Shanta Hublikar (1914-1992) had few things common.
-They operated in films almost during the same period.
-They were educated and hailed from upper castes.
-They all were rebellious in nature.
-They all had failed marriages.
-They all worked in Marathi stage dramas
and
-They all ( except Shobhana Samarth) wrote Autobiographies in Marathi.
…. Shanta Apte– Jau mee Cinemaat ? means- shall I join films ? ,
Snehprabha Pradhan-Snehankita,
Hansa Wadkar– Sangte Ayka means- Listen to me (A Hindi film Bhoomika-with Smita Patil- was made on this book ).
Durga Khote– I, Durga Khote,
Leela Chitnis– Chanderi Duniyet
and
Shanta Hublikar– Kashala Udyachi baat.
Snehprabha Pradhan was born in 1920. Her mother became a widow, but married a social worker Vithalrao Pradhan. Her mother Tarabai could not decide between two names -Snehlata and Ratnaprabha,for her,so she combined parts of these names and named her Sneh-prabha. For first 10 years of her life were spent in different cities like Bombay,Nagpur,Poona, Lahore,Delhi and Calcutta and she learnt 4 languages (Marathi, Hindi, Urdu and Bangla) fluently. She attended college but could not get the degree as her mother fell sick and father left them high and dry. family friend Chiman bhai Desai offered her a film PUNARMILAN-1940, opposite Kishore Sahu,in Bombay Talkies.
She married Kishore Sahu,but they separated within an year. She got 3 more films in 1940- Saughagya, Sajni and Civil marriage. In 1942,she did Marathi film,’Pahli mangalagaur’ in which Lata Mangeshkar acted First time. Lata sang songs also with Snehprabha Pradhan. This Marathi film had earned ‘ A ‘ censor certificate, as there was a bedroom scene in which there is darkness on the screen, but hushed voices were heard. in those days some people came with Torches to the film, so that they could see ‘something’ in the dark scene ! She acted in 17 films. She also sang 56 songs in 13 films. Her last Hindi film was ‘ Birha ki Raat-50 ‘.
In 1946,when Tarabai-her mother died, she was so heartbroken that she contemplated suicide also. In the early 50s, she came in contact with the famous doctor of Bombay Dr. V.N.Shirodkar,with whom she stayed for another 40 years of her life. After leaving films, she did some noteworthy roles on Marathi stage. She wrote several books too, like her autobiography-” Snehankita” and ” Rasik prekshakanna saprem” etc. Snehprabha Pradhan died in 1993.
After she divorced Kishore Sahu, she got introduced to a British soldier on war duty in India-Edward Sparkes. Their romance became well known. They travelled all over India, but could not marry,as he had to return to England in 1947.
Snehprabha was the Dreamgirl of Dev Anand. He had acted with Nargis in Khel-1950 which was a flop. He never wanted to work with Nargis again in his life,but when a film ‘Birha ki Raat’1950 was offered to him opposite Nargis,he accepted it only because Snehprabha Pradhan was in it. Thus Dev Anand’s dream was fulfilled !
Film Naya Tarana-43 was directed by Najam Naqvi. He started his career from Bombay Talkies as an apprentice. One day there was an Earthquake in the company. The part owner and the Heroine of the company, Devika Rani had eloped with the Hero of the company, Najmul Husain. The trouble shooters of the company immediately started repairing work.
When the love affair of Najmul Hasan and Devika Rani fizzled out and Devika Rani returned to Bombay Talkies, 2 major things happened.
One- Bombay Talkies,in absence of its main lead,must now find a new Hero for their film ‘Jeewan Naiyya’-36,which was on the floor already. Here again Mukherjee came to Himanshu Roy’s help. He suggested the name of ASHOK KUMAR,who was a graduate,sang well,and also could act. He was working in Bombay Talkies as an apprentice in the Photgraphy Department. Ashok Kumar was sent for Screen test. Though the Directer Franz Osten rejected him,Himanshu Roy selected Ashok Kumar as their Hero and the rest is history,as they say !
Two- The whole episode of elopement had become a matter of embarrassment for a ‘continuity man’ working in the same studio. His name too was Najmul Hasan. Because of the same name, this innocent chap-who had nothing to do with the elopement drama-had to suffer staring eyes, wagging tongues and hush hush whisperings within the studio and the filmi circle of Calcutta !
He was Najmul hasan Naqvi, born on 11-4-1913 at Moradabad-UP. He was working in Bombay Talkies doing odd jobs-continuity man and even as an actor in ‘Achhut kanya-36’ He was a very hardworking person. After this episode he changed his name to a shorter edition-Najam Naqvi. He worked in the Direction department and his first film as an independent Director was PUNARMILAN-1940.
He went on directing films like Raja Rani-42,Tasveer-43,Naya Tarana-43,Panna-44,Prithwiraj Sanyogita-46, Nateeja-47, Parayee Aag-48, Actress-48, Nirdosh-50, Rangili-52 and last film-Samrat-54.
In 1955, Najam Naqvi migrated to Pakistan and directed 7 films from Kunwari Bewa-56 to Payal Ki Jhankaar-66.
Najam Naqvi died on 26-1-82 at Lahore. Due to same name, many sites including IMDB mix up the filmography of these two artistes.
All the songs ( except one song by Sardar Ali Jafri) were written by Wali Saheb. He was a person of one of a kind. He was an educated person fond of writing stories and songs, but he was also very orthodox in nature, So much so, that he had made it compulsory for his actress wife Mumtaz Shanti, to come for shootings in a Burkha, and was also a perfect Hypocrite who allowed her to act in films as a lover of the Hero ! He would put it it in her contract that the hero would not touch her during the shoots. To ensure this, he used to be present personally in her every shoot. After the shooting, she was to put her Burkha again and head straight to home, without speaking a word with anyone.
It seems, her uncle Barkat Nizami ( husband of actress Geeta Nizami) had brought her in films and he used to take away 75% of her earnings ( 50% for himself and 25% for his son). However, after her marriage to Wali saheb, this had stopped.
His name was Wali Mohd Khan. He was born at Poona in 1908. His family was from Punjab. He became a Compounder with a Doctor in Lahore till 1938. He used to write songs for the Recording companies, for a sum of Rs. 5 per song ! He entered film line as a story writer and Lyricist, with film,” Soni Kumharan” produced by East India Film Company.His songs became popular and he started writing dialogues too.He wrote songs, stories and dialogues for 36 films in all, with 280 songs. He worked for Kamla Movietone, Pancholi studios, Talwar productions, Cine art production etc.He even sang one song in film Udhar-1949.
After trying his hand at Direction in Venus pictures film ” Lady Doctor”-44, he went on to produce and direct film ” Dekhoji”-47, under his own banner, Punjab film corporation ltd. Bombay. He produced and directed 4 more films, Padmini-48, Heer Ranjha-48, Putli-50 and Zamane ki Hawa-52. In all these films, the Heroine was Mumtaz Shanti. He migrated to Pakistan, with his actress wife, in mid 50s.
The film’s music was by Amir Ali. He was working with HMV company and could not give music in his own name. In 1935, he gave music to film, ” Daksh yadnya”, but gave his younger brother Manzur Ali’s name as Music Director. Later on, when he left HMV service, he joined Rashid Atre as an assistant. Amir Ali gave music to film Pagli-43, Naya Tarana-43 and Panna -44. Songs of Panna became quite popular. One of the songs, by Rajkumari “Sanwariya re kahe maare” was heard after 42 years in film Mirch Masala-86. Naseeruddin Shah was shown listening to this song on his gramophone. Just before film Panna-44 was released, Amir Ali died after a short illness. He was credited in film Panna-44 as Late Amir Ali.
Today’s song is sung by Khan Mastana aka Hafiz khan Mastana alongwith chorus. I liked this song. Hope you too will like it. This song is the only song in the movie that is not writte by Wali Sahab but is penned by Ali Sardar Jaffri.
(credits-Film Directory, Dhunon ki yatra, Snehankita, HFGK, MuVyz and my notes)
Song-Ham duniya ke ann-daata hain(Naya Taraana)(1943) Singer-Khan Mastana, Lyrics-Ali Sardar Jafri, MD-Amir Ali
Chorus
Khan Mastana+Chorus
Lyrics
ham duniya ke ann-daata hain
ham duniya ke ann-daata hain
ham dhart maata ke bachche
ham duniya ke anndaata hain
ham duniya ke anndaata hain
saawan ki
ee ee ee
saawan ki ghanghor ghataayen
jab kheton par chhaati hain
saawan ki
saawan ki ghanghor ghataayen
jab kheton par chhaati hain
jab pyaasi dharti ke munh mein
wo amrit ras tapkaati hai
ham sab bhi mehnat karte hain
ham sab bhi paseena bahaate hain
ham sab bhi bhookhe marte hain aen aen
ham sab bhi bhookhe marte hain
ham sab bhi bhookhe marte hain
ham duniya ke anndaata hain
jab sooraj aag ugalta hai
aur garam hawaayen chalti hain
jab khet sunahre hote hain
gehoon ki baalen phalti hain
ham sab bhi mehnat karte hain
ham sab bhi dhoop mein jalte hain
ham sab bhi bhookhe marte hain aen aen
ham sab bhi bhookhe marte hain
ham sab bhi bhookhe marte hain
ham duniya ke ann-daata hain
dharti se sona ugta hai
dharti se sona ugta hai
dharti se chaandi ugti hai
dharti se chaandi ugti hai
dhanwaale sab le jaate hain
aur ham munh takte rehte hain aen aen
aur ham munh takte rehte hain
aur ham munh takte rehte hain
ham duniya ke ann-daata hain
ham dharti maata ke bachche
ham duniya ke ann-daata hain
ham duniya ke ann-daata hain
Aasha ki jyot jagaaye jaa
Posted on: December 5, 2017
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
“Dev Kanya” (1946) was directed by Dhirubhai Desai for Vishnu Cinetone, Bombay. This “mythological” movie had Leela Desai, Leela Chitnis, Ulhas, Wasti, Jillo, Indira, Pal Mahendra, Kashinath, Samson, Himmatlal etc in it.
Read more on this topic…
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
“Vakil Sahab” (1943) was directed by Mohan Sinha for Pradeep Pictures, Bombay. This movie, described as a comedy movie in its advertisements of those days, had Trilok Kapoor and Madhuri in lead roles, supported by Miss Shahzaadi, Rajkumari Shukla, Gulam Rasool, Badri Prasad, Khan Mastana,Munshi Khanjar, Malti Pande, Mumtaz Begam etc.
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Dil ko nahin hai chain haaye re
Posted on: June 17, 2017
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
“Ghazab”(1951) was produced by Raja Fatehlal Shah and M Shakir Lucknowi and directed by A Karim for Chitraleela, Bombay. This stunt film had Bhagwan, Baburao, Shanta Patel, Leela Gupte, Usha Shukla, Azeem Bhai, Sheikh, Ali, Maqbool, Jaani etc in it.
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Bansiwaare Shyaam pyaare
Posted on: December 20, 2016
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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 sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
DHANNA BHAGAT (1945) was produced under the banner of Ranjit Movietone and was it was directed by Kidar Sharma. The star cast included Kamla Chatterjee, Kamal Zamindar, Baby Mumtaz (Madhubala), N Kabir, Chandabai, Pesi Patel, Rajendra Singh, Shanta Kumari, Pandit Iqbal, Nazira, Anwari, Yeshwant Dave etc.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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