Archive for the ‘Rare song’ Category
Door. . . Bahut Door
Posted on: January 17, 2020
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.This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 4200 | Post No. : | 15384 |
Today’s song is from the first decade of the talkie era and from one of the very popular Saigal films coming from New Theatres, Calcutta, ‘President’ (1937).
Ardeshir Irani of Imperial Film Co. won the race with Calcutta’s Madon Theatres and released the first talkie film of India – ‘Alam Ara’ (1931) and a revolution took place in the Indian Film Industry ! With just one shot, scores of Anglo-Indian actresses of the silent era became jobless, because they could not speak Hindi or sing a song. Smaller producers of silent films just shut their shops, because now, a single talkie film needed 4 times more investment compared to cheaper varieties of silent films produced earlier. The financial wizards understood the new opportunity of making money by investing in talkie film production. The number of staff of film companies increased and the big players with sound finances, became ready to grow bigger.
By 1934, the production of silent films ceased completely. Some of the noted film makers like V Shantaram, for example, who had shunned the talkie films initially as a temporary aberration, now took keen interest in making talkie films. They realised that talkie films could be an excellent vehicle for giving out social reform messages to the society. Initially, though the talkie films were made on folk tales, Parsi dramas and mythological stories, after 4-5 years the trend changed in its content and we can see a variety of genres in films then.
The playback was introduced in 1935 at Calcutta and in 1937 at Bombay – both by Bengali MDs. So, in 1937 films became mature. The other major highlights of 1937 were. . .
1.The first songless film – ‘Naujawan’ – was made by the Wadias
2. First English poem was used as a song in a Hindi film – which is available even today.
3. Younger MDs like Gobind Ram, Gyan Dutt, Ram Gopal Pande etc started their film careers.
4. Prabhat Films brought out their first film on social reforms – ‘Duniya Na Maane’. Same time New Theatres gave ‘Mukti’, ‘Ánath Ashram’ and ‘President’, on social issues.
5. First colour film – ‘Kisan Kanya’, indegenously shot and processed by Imperial, was released.
In 1937, a total of 176 films were made in India, out of which 102 were Hindi films. 14 films were made in Calcutta, 2 in Poona, 1 each in Kolhapur and Lahore and 83 films were made in Bombay alone, establishing itself as the undisputed Capital of Film Industry. In Bombay, the major players (film companies) made films in 1937 alone, thus – Prabhat-2, Ranjit-8, Sagar-6, Bombay Talkies-4, Minerva-2, Huns Pictures-3, Wadias-4, Prakash-3 and the maximum films were made by Imperial-9. The rest films were made by dozens of smaller production houses and individual producers under their banners. The major companies made 41 films, which was a major chunk of the 83 Bombay made films, in 1937.
Out of this, some notable films were – ‘Khwab Ki Duniya’ made by Prakash, was based on the famous novel and a subsequent Hollywood film ‘The Invisible Man’ (1933). The trick scenes were lapped up by the audiences. ‘Mahageet’ made by Sagar, heralded the playback singing in Bombay. ‘Savitri’ made by Bombay Talkies, was Ashok kumar’s first mythological film (he acted in another film ‘Úttara Abhimanyu’ (1946) later on). ‘Naujawan’ was Wadia’s first songless talkie film of India.
By 1937, the film music had also undergone total change. From stage drama style music, now MDs tried various other original melodies. Thus music became one of the major attractions of a film. Particularly some film songs are such that they occupy a special place in our heart. Many such songs of Hindi films are known to all of us and at some point of time we all had also got carried away with such songs. The other day, I was reading the book- “Golden period of film music 1931-1960” by film historian and writer Isak Mujawar ( चित्रपट संगीताचा सुवर्णकाळ १९३१-१९६०), in which he has related an anecdote…
When Producer Director Raj Khosla was a small boy, his father used to love Saigal songs. They had an ancient type of gramophone and his father would always play Saigal’s song “Ik Bungala Bane Nyaara” from film ‘President’-1937. It was his favourite song. Even Raj used to like this song. As he grew older he always used to remember his father and this song. In 1969, when he made film “Do Raaste”, he created a scene in it, in which Balraj Sahani – the eldest of the three brothers in the film, always listens to this song on his gramophone. The same song is played in the film many times. In fact,the entire film story is built around that song.”
(free translation from Marathi).
When I read this, out of curiosity I opened my laptop and went to You Tube. I searched for the film ‘Do Raaste’ and watched it. Lo and behold ! The song indeed is played by Balraj Sahani and I too – along with Balraj Sahani – enjoyed the song again. Nowadays, we find in many films, old songs are played. Our own Sudhir ji is also running a series of such songs on this blog.
About a month back, I came across 2 song snippets, from film President-37, which I found were not covered in the Blog so far. The problem was, one song was of only 40 seconds and the other was of 50 seconds. Next day, I had urgent engagements till next 10 days, so I left the matter at that. However, when I became free, I sent those snippets to Atul ji and Sudhir ji. Sudhir ji informed me that the shorter song was opening part of the famous song “Ek Bangala Bane Nyaara” and was already covered in the blog. However the other 50 second snippet needed some work on it. Sudhir ji restored it by editing, cutting, joining and adding the missing song lines to it, etc. to make it a song of respectable duration of 2+ minutes. It included some dialogues also. He even uploaded it. I thank Sudhir ji for mending, amending and sending the song to me for presentation.
As per HFGK, there are 8 songs in film President. 6 songs are already discussed. In these posts, lot of information about the film and related matters has already been given , so there is nothing left to write about these matters. However, I have found that the synopsis of the film given by the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema takes a different angle of the story than what is already given in the blog. So I am reproducing it here to know what it means. . .
A famous Saigal musical narrating a strange love story set against 1930s industrialisation and worker-management relations. The 16-year-old Prabhavati (Chandrabati Devi/Kamlesh Kumari) inherits a mill and turns it into an extremely profitable enterprise.
Prakash (Saigal) is a worker who designs a more efficient machine for the factory for which he first gets sacked and then is re-employed. He falls in love with Prabhavati’s sister Sheila (Leela Desai), who later makes way for Prabhavati who is also in love with Prakash.
Her withdrawal distresses Prakash, causing him to bully the workers who then go on strike. Prabhavati realises the problem and presumably commits suicide (she disappears into an office and locks the door) for the good of her sister and of the business. The hint is about her death.
The unmistakable thrust of the story is that the ‘personal’ (i.e. relations with women) should not be allowed to interfere in male pursuits like business or management, equated with social good. The film has Saigal’s classic number Ek bangla bane nyara. The plot echoes the Guru Dutt script for the unfinished Baharain Phir Bhi Ayengi.
Let us now listen to this reborn 7th song. Some dialogues come free with the song…
Song – Door. . . Bahut Door (President) (1937) Singer – Bikram Nahar, Lyricist – [Unattributed], MD – Pankaj Mullick
Leela Desai
Jagdish Sethi
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
[jeejee
ae ree jeejee
toone jo kiya thheek kiya
tujhe ye sab kuchh chhod kar chala jaana hoga
door
bahut door
bahut door]
door
bahut door
phir bhi tum itne nahin door
jitna aankhon se noor
phir bhi tum itne nahin door
jitna aankhon se noor
[damn it
daam aankhen
damn noor]
ras bhari vaani se to
man ki kali
khil gayi
khil gayi
hic
theeeeeeee
kathor vachan
hic
sunte hi
murjhaayi
hic
[Vikram
ye bakwaas band karoge ya nahin]
[. . .]
[..clipped dialogues..]
[. . .]
[apne us rascal se keh dena ki
uski daal ab yahaan nahin galegi
Sheela darling us’se nafrat karti hai
Sheela dear. . .]
[tum isi laayak ho
raat khatm hone waali hai
jee bhar ke ro sako to ro lo
savere tak dil ki bhadaas nikal jaayegi
ghabraane ko koi baat nahin]
mere nainan ke tat pe shnaan
birha ki kaali raat
karti hai jis bhaant(?)
ho jaati hai parbhaat
mere nainan ke tat pe shnaan
birha ki kaali raat
karti hai jis bhaant(?)
ho jaati hai parbhaat
haar mein hoti hai jeet
yahi ee
hai
preeet ki reeeet
————————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
————————————————————
[जीजी
ए री जीजी
तूने जो किया ठीक किया
तुझे ये सब छोड़ कर चला जाना होगा
दूर
बहुत दूर
बहुत दूर]
दूर
बहुत दूर
फिर भी तुम इतने नहीं दूर
जितना आँखों से नूर
फिर भी तुम इतने नहीं दूर
जितना आँखों से नूर
[डैम इट
डैम आँखें
डैम नूर]
रस भरी वाणी से तो
मन की काली
खिल गई
खिल गई
हिक
थी॰॰॰
कठोर वचन
हिक
सुनते ही
मुरझाई
[विक्रम
ये बकवास बंद करोगे या नहीं]
[. . .]
[..संवाद कट..]
[. . .}
[अपने उस रास्कल से कह देना कि
उसकी दाल अब यहाँ नहीं गलेगी
शीला डार्लिंग उससे नफरत करती है
शीला डियर ॰ ॰ ॰]
[तुम इसी लायक हो
रात खत्म होने वाली है
जी भर कर रो सको तो रो लो
सवेरे तक दिल कि भड़ास निकाल जाएगी
घबराने कि कोई बात नहीं]
मेरे नैनन के तट पे श्नान
बिरहा कि काली रात
करती है जिस भाँत(?)
हो जाती है परभात
मेरे नैनन के तट पे श्नान
बिरहा कि काली रात
करती है जिस भाँत(?)
हो जाती है परभात
हार में होती है जीत
यही॰॰॰
है
प्रीत कि रीत
Wo man nagari mein aayenge
Posted on: January 16, 2020
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.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 : |
4199 | Post No. : | 15382 | Movie Count : |
4241 |
Today’s song is a very rare song from an obscure and unheard of film – Anjaam-1940. Films with the title Anjaam were made in 1940, 1952, 1968, 1978, 1986 and 1993. Today’s film was the first and then in every decade one film was made on this title. First I thought that this title wins the highest number, but NO. The honour of ‘same title maximum films made’ goes to INSAAF, which was made 7 times !
It gives me a pleasure to write about rare, obscure old films. Mainly because, it is a challenge to gather or literally excavate information from various different sources about the film, director, MD, the actors or the singers. Many times, some names are so obscure that it takes several days or even months to get the information. While reading an article, the readers rarely realise the hard work that has gone into the presentation. Not all information is available on beck and call. Sometimes a windfall comes with plenty of information from unexpected sources, but that is rare. Many times days and months are blank. I call this as a challenge.
Film Anjaam-40, made by Vishnu Cinetone- owned by Dhirubhai Desai, was a Costume drama. The music for the film was by Shanti kumar Desai and the cast was Anil kumar, Meher Sultana, Yeshwant Dave, Rajkumari, Samson, Bulbule, Fazlu etc. All the songs were written by Munshi Qabil. The film was directed by Kanjibhai Rathod.
The name Kanjibhai Rathod will not ring any bells in the ears of any reader. That is because, this was his last film as a director. Since his directorial career ended 80 years ago, it is unlikely that any reader has even heard his name. I had come across this name earlier, but there was no opportunity to write on any song from his films. So, when I finally got hold of this rare song, I knew this was my last chance to write about him as this was his last film as a director. Of course, he was very much in the film industry for another 20 odd years, but as a Production manager.
After I got this song, it took me almost one month to collect enough information about Kanjibhai Rathod. I had to literally dig out information from quite old articles. I knew if at all his bio is available, it had to be in Gujarati alone. So I scanned Gujarati articles. Harish Raghuwanshi ji also helped me in this and also provided his own Gujarati article on Kanjibhai Rathod.
In the Hollywood filmdom, in the early years, Blacks were not given any jobs. Over a period, this changed and Blacks became a part of film industry. Similarly, in early years, in Indian film world, backwards and Dalits were not preferred except for menial jobs. However, it is to the credit of the Gujarati filmdom that they encouraged Kanjibhai Rathod and gave him opportunities to showcase his skills as an actor and a very successful silent film director. Kanjibhai Rathod was a Dalit.
Kanjibhai Rathod from Maroli village in south Gujarat, was considered the first successful commercial director in Indian cinema. His rise to fame was in an era when most people stayed away from films, due to a peculiar stigma attached to the filmdom.
Not much is known about Rathod’s personal life. Film historian Virchand Dharamsey writes, “Kanjibhai was coming from a Dalit family and he can be considered the first successful professional director of India.”
Rathod began as a still photographer with the Oriental Film Company, owned by a U.S. trained film maker Sachet Singh,in Baroda. His experience earned him a job in Kohinoor Film Company and its owner Dwarkadas Sampat made him a director. Till then he worked as an actor in many silent films. In film Narsi Bhagat, he did the Hero’s role.
Rathod’s ‘Bhakta Vidur’ released in 1921, was perhaps the first criticism of the British colonialism in a popular feature film.
This mythological allegory directly alluded to political issues, particularly the controversy over the Rowlatt Act.
An adaptation from a section of the Mahabharata, this film showed the British as the Kauravas and its protagonist Vidur as Gandhi. Sampat himself played the role donning the Gandhi cap and khadi shirt. The film raised a storm – while a big hit in Bombay, it was banned by the British in Karachi and Madras, write historians.
Rathod was the first film-maker to direct a crime thriller in 1920s on contemporary events. His Kala Naag (1924) was based on famous double murder case in Bombay. Rathod introduced Zubaida to film industry with his Gulbakavali.
By the time he left for Saurashtra Film Company in Rajkot in 1924, Rathod had enough work on his name. At the launch of Krishna Film Company, he returned to Mumbai in 1931, the year of first talkies.
Dharamsey writes in his ‘Light of Asia: Indian Silent Cinema 1912–1934’ that Rathod directed five talkies out of 17 made in 1931. The films were, Chintamani, Ghar ki Laxmi, Harischandra, Laila Majnu and Paak Daaman, all for Krishna Movietone. He remained active in the industry even in 1940s, but he was not as successful directing talkies.
In the early film making, the contribution of Gujarati men is substantial. Out of the 1313 silent films made during 1913 to 1934, more than half were made by Gujarati producers. Companies like Sagar, Kohinoor, Shrikrishna, Sharda etc at Bombay and Elphinston Film co. at Calcutta were owned by Gujaratis. They not only did business, but also made many Gujarati and Non Gujarati artistes. Gujarati writers always provided story lines.
From 1921 to 1924, Kanjibhai Rathore directed 31 silent films for Kohinoor Film Co. For Shrikrishna film Co. of Maneklal Patel, he directed 21 silent films. For some time he did work for Saurashtra Film co. at Rajkot also.
Kanjibhai directed total 59 silent films and 16 Hindi Talkie films and 1 Gujarati Talkie film . A grand total of 76 films in all. Quite a substantial number. Kanjibhai Rathod was much ahead of times. In one silent film-Sati Anusuya-1921, an actress, Sakeena, was shown fully naked. During silent film era major actors like Raja Sandow, Jaleel, Fatima Begum, Ermelin, Gohar, Putlibai, Gulab, Rampyari etc worked for him. In Talkie era, actors like Sardar Akhtar, Prem Adib, Charlie, Navinchandra, Azuri, Marutirao pehelwan etc acted in his films.
Kanjibhai joined as Production Manager in Chandrakala Pictures of Dhirubhai Desai, after retiring from direction. Dhirubhai remade several of Kanjibhai silent films as Talkie films, like Bolti Bulbul-42, Devkanya-46, Bhakta Prahlad-46 etc. Kanjibhai had 2 wives. He wedded Kanta Ben in a traditional way and he wed Ganga Ben in Arya Samaj style. Ganga Ben gave him a son, Suresh. unfortunately, he died at the age of just 16 years. Then Kanjibhai retired and lived in village Ponsara in Gujarat. He died peacefully on 31-12-1970. Thus ended a superb career.
Film Anjaam’s hero was Anil kumar. Actor Anil Kumar (Sardar Gul) was born in 1915 at Calcutta.His father had a fruit business. They were from Peshawar (just like Dilip Kumar). He was not much educated but could speak Hindi, Urdu and English fluently. Once he went to Bombay to meet a friend. There he met an old acquaintance, who took him to Sohrab Modi.
The good looking Sardar Gul was liked by Modi and he offered him the lead role in his film ‘ Saed E Havas’-36. Sardar Gul was given a screen name of Chandra Kumar. The film was based on a translation of William Shakespeare’s drama- King John, by Agha Hashra Kashmiri in 1907. Sardar Gul was to get Rs. 200 for this work. The film was a flop and Sohrab Modi refused to pay him more that Rs 50. Annoyed, he left Bombay and returned to Calcutta.
However he came back in 1938 and did his first film with a new screen name Anil Kumar. The film was Talwar ka Dhani-38. Soon he was well known and acted in 10 films in next 3 years. As the decade of the 40s saw many new actors, producers and directors, he was reduced to Character roles and side roles. By 1950, he was almost like an extra. He did work in many films, but only few films credited him, as his roles were negligible. We find his name in just 30 films, where he was credited, the last such film being Tarzan and Deliailah-64.
The side hero in this film was Yeshwant Dave. It was not uncommon during the days of early cinema for people to hang around studios and filming locations in the hopes of being discovered. One such intrepid soul was Yeshwant Dave (or Yashwant Dave), who was at Kohinoor Studios observing a picture being made by producer J.B.H. Wadia. The handsome and athletic Yeshwant cornered Wadia, insisting that he would make a fine hero for an action film.
Wadia agreed to test Yeshwant by having him jump from the roof of one set piece to another. He did so successfully, and J.B.H. decided to cast him in a film that he was to direct for Young United Players, the 1931 silent THUNDERBOLT (aka DILER DAKU) featuring Mumtaz as the heroine.
Yashwant was again directed by Wadia in TOOFAN MAIL (1932) and there after became a sought after action star appearing in the stunt films of other directors like Aspi, Dhirubhai Desai, Nari Ghadiali, Chunilal Parekh, and Harshadrai Mehta. Some of his films include BHARAT VEER (1932), JADUI JUNG (1934), BOMBSHELL (1935), VASANTBENGALI (1937), FLYING RANEE (1939), MAGIC CITY (1940), TORPEDO (1941), ROYAL MAIL (1946), and KAUN PARDESI (1947).
Growing out of the stunt hero persona, he turned to character parts and made infrequent onscreen appearances throughout the 1950s, including in SHEIKH CHILLI and MAKKHEE CHOOS both released in 1956 and starring comedian Bhagwan. What became of Yeshwant Dave afterwards is anybody’s guess, as the once popular action star faded into obscurity and, sadly, is barely remembered today.
Today’s song is sung by Meher Sultana and chorus. Not much information is available on Meher Sultana. From HFGK, we find that she featured in 19 films as an actress and sang 6 songs in 3 films also. Her songs in this film were her last songs. Her first film as an actress was Bhool ka Bhog-1935 and last film was O Jaanewale-1948. Today’s song, though 80 year old is of good quality and pleasantly sung in tune, to listen to. Enjoy…
( Information for this article is culled from 2 Gujarati articles of Shri Urvish Kothari ji, a Gujarati article by Harish Raghuwanshi ji, wiki, Filmdom-1946, cinemajadu.com. muVyz.com and Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. My thanks to all.)
Song- Wo man nagari mein aayenge (Anjaam)(1940) Singer-Meher Sultana, Lyricist-Munshi Qabil, MD- Shanti Kumar
Lyrics
Wo man nagari mein aayenge
man nagri mein aayenge
hans hans ke bhaag jagaayenge
hans hans ke bhaag jagaayenge
wo man nagari mein
man nagari mein
man nagari mein aayenge
main dulhan ban sharmaaungi
main dulhan ban sharmaaungi
munh pher pher ithhlaaungi
munh pher pher ithhlaaungi
aur darshan ko tarsaaungi
aur darshan ko tarsaaungi
wo ghoonghat aap uthaayenge
wo ghoonghat aap uthaayenge
Mohan ki murali baajegi
Mohan ki murali
Mohan ki murali baajegi
chhum chhum chhum Raadha naachegi
chhum chhum chhum Raadha naachegi
mridang jhaanjh bajaayenge
mridang jhaanjh bajaayenge
madhuwan mein raas rachaayenge
madhuwan mein raas rachaayenge
wo man nagari mein
man nagari mein
man nagari mein aayenge
hans hans ke bhaag jagaayenge
hans hans ke bhaag jagaayenge
wo man nagari mein aayenge
wo man nagari mein aayenge
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.
| Blog Day : | 4182 | Post No. : | 15361 |
Today’s song is from film Ranee-43. The film was made by Barua Productions, floated by producer, director, actor and singer, P C Barua, before he had joined New Theatres. He joined NT on the invitation of B N Sircar, though he had his own production outfit and studio. In fact, he wanted a merger of his company with NT, but Sircar declined and offered Barua a paid job at NT, on monthly basis.
While in NT, Barua gave hit films, one after another like, Rooplekha-34, Devdas-35, Maya-36, Manzil-36, Mukti-37, Adhikar-38 and Zindagi-40. During the making of film Zindagi, differences between him and Sircar thickened. The reason was Barua felt, he was not given as many films to make as Nitin Bose and Harischandra Chunder got. Ego of both the giants persisted and culminated in their separation.
In the History of Hindi Cinema,till the Golden 50s started,Bengal had a dominating position in films and music. Its meaningful,entertaining films and the Film and the Non Film music ruled the roost, from the early 30s. In this conquest of the East,the Lion’s share was that of NEW THEATRES-set up and owned by B N Sircar. New Theatres was not just a production company,but it was an Institution and a school for developing artistes in the 30s and the 40s.
Out of these 20 years,I would say the first almost 10 years was the Peak Golden Period for NT. 1940, being one of the best years for NT, also was the beginning of its end, with the First major shock, when P C or Pramathesh Barua left NT because of differences with B N Sircar. In the period of 1940 to 1950, one by one many people left NT. Most went to Bombay, in search of greener pastures.
There were 3 reasons. One, during the period 1946 and 1947, production at NT was almost Nil ( 1946-due to communal riots in Bengal and 1947- due to Partition blues), but NT had to pay salaries of their employees. In peak years, their salary bill alone amounted to about 45000 rupees every month. Secondly, one of their main markets for Bangla and Hindi films-East Bengal, had become another country-East Pakistan and they lost this market. Thirdly, the New Government imposed a heavy ‘Excess profit ‘Tax ‘ on successful companies like NT. This damaged them financially very much. Added to this,of course, B N Sircar failed to hold people together due to Ego problems, recognitions etc etc.
By 1950,according to Dilip Sircar-son of B N Sircar,” many people left, Finance was in disarray and we had many court cases slapped on us.” The result- B N Sircar closed the shop ! In 1954,NT was handed over to Arora Film company. Then in 1955, Deluxe Films took them over. In January-56, the company closed down officially and in August 56,a Receiver was appointed by the High Court. New Theatres went into Liquidation in March-62 and a Glorious Chapter came to a close for ever !
Even in the tumultuous and troubled final years,few Loyal artistes did not leave NT. Pankaj Mullick was one of them,who stayed with B N Sircar till the last,despite differences with him.Many others like Kidar Sharma, Kanan Devi, Uma Shashi, PC Barua, Nitin Bose, Debk Bose,Phani Muzumdar, Nabendu Ghosh, Bimal Roy, K N Singh, Prithviraj Kapoor, Kumar etc and above all, K L Saigal- the pride possession of NT, left, at different times. Most came down to Bombay.
But, you will notice that actors from this lot who came from Calcutta to Bombay, were all Non-Bangla people. From the very beginning, actors from Bengal or South, rarely came to make their acting careers. Those who came at all, majority of them were actresses, who were ready to learn Hindi to continue here or they had Non-Bangla backgrounds. For example- actress Smriti Biswas, though a Bengalee, grew up and started acting in Lahore.
There were 3 reasons why actors did not come to Bombay from Bengal or South…
1.Difficulty and reluctance in picking up Hindi language and coping up with Bombay culture.
2. King size Regional Pride and
3. Their own areas became big production centres and scope was available on familiar grounds.
Artistes from other disciplines like Direction, Music, Singing, Editing, Cinematography etc came here and prospered, but not actors, worth mentioning.
Film Ranee-43 was made as a Bilingual film in Bangla ( Chandaar Kalank) and Hindi. The MD was Kamal Dasgupta, Lyricist was Pt. Madhur and the cast was Jahar Ganguly, Kalavati, P C Barua, Jamuna, Patience Cooper, Vikram Kapoor (father of Meena Kapoor-singer and wife of Anil Biswas) and others. When I first heard this name “Jahar”, I was shocked, but then realised that this was a Bangla name. Obviously, its meaning must be something else,other than ” Poison”. I started searching on Google and at one place found that Jahar in Bangla means ” Gift of God “. My Bangali friend in Mumbai says it means ” Gem “.
Jahar Ganguly (October 1904 – 1969) was a Bengali film actor and theater personality. He received Best actor award in 6th Annual Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards in 1943 for his performance in Bandi.
Ganguly was born in undivided 24 Parganas Dist, British India. He worked in number of Bengali and Hindi films in 40s and 50s as a supporting actor in comedy counterparts to the dramatic lead. He got break through in Dena Paona directed by Premankur Atorthy. Ganguly acted under Satyajit Ray’s direction in Parash Pathar and Chiriyakhana. He also performed as stage actor until the 1960.
Information on actress Patience Cooper has not yet been given on our Blog. She was one of the 7 sisters, out of whom 3 sisters-Patience, Violet and Pearl worked in Hindi and Bangla films. Patience Cooper (1905–1993) was an Anglo-Indian from Calcutta. Cooper had a successful career in both silent and sound films. She was one of the early superstars of Bollywood. Cooper is credited with the first Female double roles of Indian cinema—as twin sisters in Patni Pratap and as mother and daughter in Kashmiri Sundari, even though earlier in 1917, actor Anna Salunke had played roles of both the male lead character Ram and the female lead character Seeta in the film Lanka Dahan.
Cooper began her career as a dancer in Brandmann’s Musical Comedy, a Eurasian troupe. She later joined Jamshedji Framji Madan’s Corinithian Stage Company as an actress. Cooper first made an impact with Nala Damayanti (1920). The film starred Keki Adajania as Nala and Cooper as Damayanti. The film was a big budget Madan Theatre production and was directed by Eugenio de Liguoro, known in Italy for his Orientalist spectacles like Fascino d’Oro (1919). Nala Damayanti was famous for its special effects at the time — Narada’s ascent of Mount Meru to heaven, the transformations of four gods into impersonations of Nala, the transformation of Kali into a serpent among others.
Her next film was Vishnu Avtar, released in 1921. De Liguoro also directed Dhruva Chartitra (1921), a mythological based on the legend of Dhruva whose quest for eternal knowledge and salvation was rewarded when he became the brightest star in the heavens, the pole star also known as Dhruvatara. The film was made as a bid for an international breakthrough for Madan Theatres and featured many Europeans in the cast along with Cooper who played the female lead, Suniti.
One of Cooper’s biggest successes was Pati Bhakti (1922). Cooper played Leelavati in the film, directed by the great JJ Madan himself, advocating that women should be devoted to their husband. The film is regarded as her greatest film and was also involved in a small controversy as in Madras, the censor demanded that a dance number be removed on the grounds of obscenity.
Cooper also played perhaps the first ever double roles in Hindi films — Patni Pratap (1923), where she played two sisters and Kashmiri Sundari (1924), where she played mother and daughter.
Cooper did films right through to the mid-1930s. One of her last major films was Zehari Saap (1933). The film was a typical Cooper vehicle about a medieval chieftain’s revolt against the good Nawab Bakar Malik. The nawab’s outlaw son vows revenge and finally all’s well that ends well. The dramatic conflict in the film sees the chieftain wanting to marry the princess, whom he had raised as his own daughter.
Cooper acted in over 40 films until she retired after performing in her last films, Iraada-44 and Khan Bahadur-46. Cooper was often cast in the role of a sexually troubled but innocent woman, always at the centre of moral dilemmas, often caused by the men in her lives.
A major aspect of Cooper’s star image was the successful achievement of the ‘Hollywood look’ in spite of different light and technical conditions. Her distinctively Anglo-Indian features, like dark eyes, sharp features, ebony hair and light skin tone, allowed technicians to experiment with the imported technique of eye-level lighting and achieve an appearance similar to Hollywood stars of the silent era.
The low number of women, especially Hindus, in the film industry during the 1920s (due to conservative attitudes) meant Anglo-Indian actresses like Cooper, were in demand. Her appearance in a string of successful films has led her to being called the first ever female Indian film star.
It is generally supposed Cooper married Mirza Ahmad Ispahani Saheb (MAH Ispahani), a well-known Indian businessman. In 1947, they migrated to Pakistan. Actually she was married to MAH Ispahani at the age of 21 and divorced soon after. She then married Gul Hamid Khan, one of the first early silent movie actors. He died six years later from Hodgkin’s Disease. She remained friends with MAH Ispahani till the end of her life. Cooper changed her name to Sabra Begum and lived the last of her days with her two adopted daughters Zeenat and Haleema in Karachi, Pakistan. Her foster daughter Syeda Nafees Rizvi lives in Houston, Texas, USA. She fostered and/or adopted 17 children during her lifetime. Cooper died in 1993. (adapted from wiki and upperstall, with thanks.)
After Partition in 1947, it did not take long for things to become normal in the Indian film industry. This was mainly because ready replacements were available in plenty to fill the vacancies caused by migration. As far as producers and financiers were concerned, almost all producers and film makers had arrived here from Lahore. It was actually Lahore which felt the absence of Film makers. Pakistan film Industry was somehow managed well by the experienced people who went from India and Pakistan enjoyed a ” GOLDEN AGE OF FILMS AND MUSIC ” from 1959 to 1977. Once the old generation retired, there was no second line to take over from them.
The film industry in Pakistan was never an organised one. Moreover the often changing Goverments did not bother to do anything to protect, sustain, help or develop the infrastructure of Film industry. Unlike India, there was neither a Films Division, nor was there anything like Film and Television Institute to build local artistes in different fields.
By 2010,the film industry in Pakistan was in such a poor shape that, against India’s film production of 13526 films in 2011, Pakistan had produced only 7 films in that year !
While Indian films were distributed in over 90 countries, there was no International market for Pakistan films.
All studios in Pakistan were in ruins and Theatres had been demolished.
Can you believe, In the entire Islamabad city, there is ONLY ONE Theatre-a multiplex of 4 screens ! (info from-Filmistan-Javed Shaikh 0n pk.politics.in dated 10-4-2014 )
We have heard songs composed by the Music Directors who migrated to Pakistan,i.e. West Pakistan. Today we will listen to a film song composed by a famous and talented composer of Hindi/Bangla films, who migrated to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). His name is KAMAL PRASANNA DASGUPTA or simply, Kamal Dasgupta ( 28-7-1912 to 20-7-1974.)
It is a moot point whether Kamal should be called a Film composer or a NFS composer in Hindi and Bangla. He can be called the Originator or the Pioneer, who established NFS during the period from 1935 to 1955. It was he who introduced the word ” Hindustani Song” for NFS on the 78 RPM records.
He gave music in 16 Hindi films like Jawab, Hospital, Rani, Meghdoot, Arabian Nights, Bindiya, Krishna Leela, Pehchan, Zameen Aasmaan, Faisla, Giribala, Manmaani, Chandrashekhar, Vijay yatra, Iran ki ek raat and Fulwari. However, except for Jawab and Hospital his songs did not become very popular. Kanan Devi became a National name after she sang “Ye duniya Toofan mail” in Jawab-42. He also gave music in 22 Bangla films.
He was not in good terms with his wife, Firoza Begum. In his final days, he contracted T.B. Finally he said Good-Bye to this world on 20-7-1974. The originator and populariser of NFS in India and a maker of memorable songs like “Toofan mail” left us forever-unsung !
Today’s song is the second song from this film. The story of this film was provided earlier by Sadanand Kamath ji, with the first song, so I am not repeating it here. The duet is sung by Anima Dasgupta (nee Sengupta…wife of Subal Dasgupta, MD) and an unidentified male. I liked this song .I hope you too will like it.
Song-Saawan ne boondan ki jhaalar daali (Raanee)(1943) Singers- Kamal Dasgupta, Anima Dasgupta, Lyricist- Pt. Madhur, MD- Kamal Dasgupta
Lyrics
Saawan ne boondan ki jhaalar daali
Sawan ne boondan ki jhalar daali
boondan ki jhaalar daali re ae
boondan ki jhaalar daali
Saawan ne boondan ki jhaalar daali
daali ee
boondan ki jhaalar daali
jhaank jhaank kar dil ki duniya
dekh raha hoon aaj
armaanon ke sar pe rakkha hai khushiyon ka taaj
chhupi huyi hai iske andar
chhupi huyi hai iske andar
jeewan ki hariyaali ee
Saawan ne boondan ki jhaalar daali
<em.Saawan ne boondan ki jhaalar daali
arre papaiyya
zara bataa aa
kyun piyoo piyoo raha pukaar
kyun piyoo piyoo raha pukaar
gulshan mein kyun aayi
kyun aayi hai
saj dhaj kar nayi bahaar
sada ye saawan ki kyun aaye
man ko harne waali
Saawan ne boondan ki jhaalar daali
ye jhaalar nahin hai
ye maikhaana
jiski boonden hain masti ka paimaana
pee pee kar dekho jhoom rahi hai
pee pee kar dekho jhoom rahi hai
aur ghata ye kaali kaali ee ee
Saawan ne boondan ki jhaalar daali
Saawan ne boondan ki jhaalar daali
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 a Non-Descript film-Mazaq-43. I call it a Non Descript film because no information is available on this film anywhere. As the film was released on 31-12-1943, its review was expected in the 1944 January or February issue, but as 1944 issues of Film India are not available in Internet Archive, it is not possible to know about this film. I did not see any film advertisement of Mazaq in any issue of 1943. Either I missed it or it was not there. The gist is, we do not know anything about who wrote the film story or what was the story, how it was received by the public etc.
The film was made by Raja Movietone, which was established by Zahoor Raja, after he directed film Badal-1942, made by Eastern Pictures, Bombay. Film Mazaq-43 was the maiden venture of Raja Movietone. It went on to make 3 more films. All four films were directed by Zahoor Raja and he acted in every film also. Only in film Mazaq-43, he tried his hand at composing songs, as Music Director. Thankfully, he never tried it again. Actress Radha Rani (Bombywali) also acted in all films with him.
The cast of the film was Madhuri, Pahadi Sanyal, Radha Rani (B), Zahoor Raja, Shyam kumar,Haroon and others. As far as Madhuri was concerned, she got married in 1941 and was in the process of ending her acting career. After this film, she completed few more films on hand and retired from film. In this film, the lead pair was Madhuri and Pahadi Sanyal. Zahoor Raja had done a negative role in the film.
ZAHOOR RAJA (Born 7 July 1918 Abbottabad (now in Pakistan)– Died 1992 England) Pre Partition Hindi/Urdu Film Actor, Producer, Director, Editor, Writer, Singer, Lyricist & Music Composer. He graduated from editing and story writing to become a producer-director in 1943.
Zahoor Raja was born in a wealthy family in Abbottabad. After schooling , he studied BA from Rawalpindi but could not complete his graduation as he was more interested in sports than in studies. His father, a Police Inspector, was keen in admitting him in Dehradun for a career in the army. But he ran away from home and landed in Bombay with a letter of introduction to Film maker A R Kardar. Since he was very handsome and well built man, getting into the Bombay film industry was not difficult. At that time, Kardar was directing ‘Mirza Sahiban’ (1939) for Ranjit Movietone and Kardar took Zahoor Raja in the film. The film was not completed.
Within a year after that film, V Shantaram invited him to join Prabhat Films and was taken on a contract of 3 years. His association with V Shantaram was not beneficial and he did not get much work. Kardar once again came to his rescue and got him employed in National Studios and got him a role in ‘Pooja’ (1940). Thereafter, he got a role in Minerva Moveitone’s ‘Sikandar’ (1941). During the making of the film ‘Sikandar’ (1941), he fell in love with his co-star Meena (Meena Shourie) and married her. The marriage did not last long and Meena later married another handsome actor, Al Nasir.
Zahoor Raja later worked as a Hero in ‘Sewa’ (1941). During this time, while looking for a change from his acting career, he got a chance to direct the film ‘Badal’ (1942) produced under Eastern Pictures where he also acted in the lead role. Though the film failed at the box office, his direction was appreciated by the critics. In 1943, he floated his own film production company, Raja Movietone and made its maiden film ‘Mazaq’ (1943) which he also directed, acted in a negative role and composed its music. His banner produced ‘O Panchhi’ (1944), ‘Ghazal’ (1945) and ‘Dhadkan’ (1946). In most of the films in which he acted, Zahoor Raja was paired with Radha Rani. He also sang the song ‘Bhulaane waale hamen bhi na yaad aaya karo’ along with Naseem Akhthar in the Movie ‘Ghazal’ (1945) composed by Gyan Dutt. His last Movie in India before moving to Pakistan was ‘Anmol Ghadi’ (1946). He acted in 8 films, directed 5 films, sang 15 songs in 4 films, wrote lyrics in 1 film and was MD for 1 film.
After partition, Zahoor Raja migrated to Pakistan. He was active in Pakistani film industry until 1966. After 1966, he migrated to England, married an English lady and later died in 1992 in England.
The heroine Madhuri was already 30 year old in 1943 and I wonder why Raja opted for this aged lady, who was on the verge of retiring from films – that too as a Heroine ! Of course, since we do not know about the story of the film, Raja gets the benefit of doubt, in this case. Madhuri was an actress coming from the Silent Era and early Talkie films. After retirement , she disappeared for almost 50 years, till she was traced for a function. Here is how…
Like many others,Madhuri too was an Anglo Indian. Her real name was Beryl Claessen. She was born on 3-11-1913 at Delhi. Her father was a big officer in Government. Her initial schooling took place in Nainital. She learnt music too,because she wanted to become a Music Teacher. However that she never became,but on a visit to Bombay she was picked up by producer Indulal Yagnik and she started acting in silent films.
Many Heroines in those days were Anglo-Indians,Europeans or Jew girls. Since silent films did not require speaking Hindi or Urdu ( or any language,for that matter),these girls were preferred,as Indian audience loved their fair colour (Gori Mem). Additionally,these girls did not hesitate to give intimate scenes like kissing or doing stunts themselves. Most girls knew Horse riding,fencing and fighting.
In 1928,there was a Silent film Madhuri,but actress Sulochana(Ruby Myers) did this role and in 1932 there was a Talkie film Madhuri,in which also Sulochana only did the role. When Talkie films era began most of the Anglo Indian girls became jobless,since they could not speak Hindi/Urdu nor could they sing a song-the two requirements for actresses in early era Talkie films. However,few intelligent and professional actresses learnt Hindi/Urdu language speaking. Madhuri and Sabita Devi (Irene Gasper) were two such clever girls who achieved proficiency in these matters.
Madhuri was very beautiful. After doing 17 silent films,she made her debut in Talkie films with ‘ Pardesi Preetam’-1933. Jaswantlal Nandlal directed his first film here. Her Hero was Raja Sandow. She did many films for Ranjit under the direction of Jayant Desai. From 1933 to 1942,she acted in 28 films. They were (not in order) Kashmeera, Mitti ka Putla, Noor e watan, Secretary, Lehri lala, Rangeela Raja, Sitamgarh, Prithviputra, Thokar, Raj Ramni, Diwali, Matlabi Duniya, Toofani Toli, Shama parwana, College Girl, Nadira, Veer Babruvahan, Zamin ka chaand, Ban ki chidia, Toofan Mail, Mehman, Sasural, Shadi, Ikrar, Vakil Saheb, Paapi, Mazaq and Dharm-45 …her last film.
In 1943,Madhuri got married and after completing films on hand, retired from Film line. After this, she simply disappeared for next 50 years without a trace,till the organisers of a programme located her. Bombay’s ” Amrut” and ” Cine Society of Bombay ” held a felicitation programme on 7-2-1999, for “Stars from the Silent Era”. For Madhuri it was a surprise,that the organisers found her out after living in oblivion for over 50 years. She was simply overwhelmed with the people’s affection and love. She and Jairaj were felicitated on that day.
The Hero,Pahadi Sanyal – an actor with a strange name, was a rare actor, who, in spite of being simultaneously in Bangla films, was a leading and singing Hero in Bombay’s Hindi films. Later on, few more Bangla actors did some Hindi films, but none were as prolific as Sanyal. He acted in 53 Hindi films and did Hero and side Hero roles, as well as character roles too. Pahadi Sanyal (22 February 1906–10 February 1974) was born in the midst of the serene beauty of hilly tract of Darjeeling. As he was born in the hills, thus his nickname became Pahadi .His real name was Nagendra Nath. He had completed his schooling from Lucknow but later joined Benaras Hindu University for Engineering studies. But he was never interested in studies and he chose a different path for himself .
He started taking lessons of Hindustani Classical Music from Morris College in Lucknow. He had learnt music under the tutelage of Ustad Md.Hussain, Chote Munna Khan, Nasir Khan . Ahmad Khan. Not only that, he was equally interested in instrumental music. Thus , he had also taken lessons of tabla from Rashbehari Sil and Abid Khan. He was deeply inclined to learn different types of songs. During his stay in Lucknow , he was in close contact with the Atul Prasad Sen and had hugely contributed to his songs.
Pahadi Sanyal was also fluent in Hindi and Urdu. In the personal front , he got married twice. He first tied his knot with the Vice Principal of Moradabad School. But unfortunately on 10th March , 1930 she died while giving birth to their child. Later , Pahadi got married to actress Meera Devi and had one daughter.
Pahadi was introduced to Director Devki kumar Basu by one of his friends. Devki kumar Basu took him to B.N. Sarkar of Star Theatre who helped him to make his debut with Rs.150 in the world of acting. In 1933, he got his first break in the film “Meerabai”. The movie “Vidyasagar” was a landmark in his career which made him a living legend of that time. Some of his notable movies are “Bhagyachakra”(1935), “Bidyapati” (1938), “Mahakobi Girishchandra” (1953), “Jomaloye Jobonto Manush”(1958), Aranyer dinratri (1970). He had even sung in some of his movies. In 1942, he went to Bombay for working in Bollywood films.
He acted in 53 Hindi films. His first Hindi film at Calcutta was Yahudi ki Ladki-1933 and the last Hindi film was Dharati-1970. During his career, he sang 45 Hindi songs in 19 films – first song being in film Chandidas-1934 and the last song was in film Milan-1946. The Door Darshan English News Reader Luku Sanyal was his daughter. This great legend passed away on 10th February, 1974.
Here is a duet from this film-Mazaq-43. The names of singers are not available, but my guess is that it is sung by Zahoor Raja and Radha Rani (Bombaywali). With this song, film Mazaq-43 makes its Debut on the Blog.
PS-The song is sung by Miss Tara, Pahadi Sanyal and Zahoor Raja. Thanks are due to Mr Sadanand Kamath for helping identify the singers.
Song-Chalti hain mast hawaayen kuchh gaayen laharaayen bahlaayen mohe (Mazaaq)(1943) Singers-Miss Tara, Pahadi Sanyal, Zahoor Raja, Lyrics-Abid Gulrej, D- Zahoor Raja
Miss Tara + Pahadi Sanyal
Lyrics
Chalti hain mast hawaayen
aa haa ha ha ha aa
Chalti hain mast hawaayen
kuchh gaayen
lahraayen
bahlaayen mohe
ho o o
Chalti hain mast hawaayen
kuchh gaayen
lahraayen
bahlaayen mohe
ho o o
laayi paighaam khushi ka
khushboo ek prem sandesa
aa ha ha aa
laayi
haan haan
laayi
haan haan
laayi paighaam khushi ka
kuchh ?? prem sandesa
hahaha ha
nikhra kaliyon pe joban
nikhra kaliyon pe joban
bahlaaye mohe ho o
Chalti hain mast hawaayen
kuchh gaayen
lahraayen
bahlaayen mohe
ho o o
koi unse kahde jaake
aa hahahahaha
koi unse kahde jaake
na chhedo
na chhedo
na chhedo mohe
ho o o
mera mera
mera mera
mera matwaala joban
naajon ka paala joban
na chhedo mohe
ho o
tu mere motor ka engine
main teri bagiyaa ka phool
tu mere motor ka engine
main teri bagiyaa ka phool
arre aaj to ghabra ke keh do
kar liya mujhko qabool
na chhedo
na chhedo
na chhedo mujhe
ho o o
Chalti hain mast hawaayen
kuchh gaayen
lahraayen
bahlaayen mohe
ho o o
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwaan
Posted on: December 24, 2019
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.
| Blog Day : | 4176 | Post No. : | 15350 |
Today’s song is from the film “Aankh ki sharm (1943). This bhajan is sung by one ‘Pande ji’. I am neither aware who this singer is, nor aware of any information on him. The Music Director of this film was Vasant Desai, who was known to be a Talent Hunter ( He had discovered MD S.Purushottam and singers Desai sisters – Pramodini and Vinodini ). May be Pande ji was also his discovery. However in later films of Vasant Desai I failed to find his name again. Possibly he was a ‘one film wonder’, like many others.
The film was made by Wadia Movietone. In 1942, the Wadia brothers – Homi and J B H Wadia separated, when the elder brother J B H Wadia proposed that the company should start making Social films, instead of only Stunt films. Homi Wadia established his own company Basant Pictures and continued making stunt films with Fearless Nadia – who sided with him, obviously, in the separation. Much later, Nadia married Homi Wadia and she thus became Nadia Wadia !
This was the second Social film ( after film Shobha-42) that Wadia Movietone made after the split. It was directed by Balwant Bhatt – elder brother of Nanabhai Bhatt who was a veteran in directing B and C grade films.
All the 11 songs of the film were written by Pt. Indra Chandra. The cast of the film was Prithwiraj Kapoor, Kaushalya, Trilok Kapoor, Nayampalli, Nalini Gupte, Moti, Gulab, Himalayawala, Agha, Dalpat, Indira etc etc. This must be one of the very few films (or was it the only movie ?) in which Prithwiraj and Trilok Kapoor were acting together in one film.
An interesting name in the cast was that of NALINI Gupte. I said interesting, because, in Hindi films, as many as 12 NALINIs acted/ sang in films at slightly different times. Add to this list the name of a Male actor ‘ Nalini Ranjan Roy ‘, who, thankfully, acceded to the suggestion to change his name to ‘Kanu’ Roy. ( It is another matter that even this name clashed with another Kanu Roy, who was MD, in the same period…causing serious ” Same Name Confusion”. ) The different NALINIs were…
Nalini Tarkhud…..many films
Nalini Jayawant…many films
Baby Nalini…Mera ladka-43
Nalini Nagpurkar…Krishnarjun yuddha-34, Chacha Chaudhari-53
Nalini Chonkar… many films
Nalini Borkar…singer
Nalini Dhere… Nagad Narayan-43
Nalini Gupte…Ankh ki sharm-43
Nalini Mulgaonkar…Didi-48, nakli Baap-49
Nalini Rao…Talash-43
Nalini Saraf (later Seema Deo)… Anand-70
Nalini korgaonkar… singer
Additionally, there were actresses called SuNALINI and MriNALINI too.
These Nalinis did not cause any Same name Confusion, because, being Marathi artistes, they wrote their names with Surnames, so their names remained different always. Easily, this name is the most ‘appeared’ name in the Hindi Film History !
Another interesting name ‘ Nayampalli’ always reminded me of the ” Nampalli” Railway station… which is another name for Hyderabad Railway station. This actor Nayampalli was leading a silent life of a middle class gentleman, doing a 10 to 5 job and raising a family, when he was invited to the glamorous world of Films.
S.B. Nayampally (or Nayampalli) was working at the firm of Killick, Nixon and Company in Bombay, when he was discovered by film director P.Y. Altekar at a gym where Nayampally regularly exercised. Altekar felt that Nayampally very much resembled the famous French boxer Georges Carpenter and would be perfect for the stunt films that had become popular at the time. At Director Altekar’s urging, Nayampally joined Imperial Studios and was quickly cast in his first film, Wedding Night(1929), opposite the popular actress Jilloo.
When he arrived at Imperial to begin his first day of filming he was amused to find that the building now used for the studio had formerly housed the school he attended as a child.“Wedding Night was a stunt film of the Robin Hood type,” Nayampally explained in a 1964 interview. “It had a little more of a plot to it than many films of the same class. My next film, Hell’s Paradise (1929), I remember for three reasons. One, it was based on a real-life episode involving an Indian prince and a foreign girl, described as an adventuress. Two, Mama Warerekar, the noted writer, did the story. Three, the film had a kissing scene, probably the first ever in an Indian film.”
Nayampalli was cast in Imperial’s Noorjehan (1931), which was initially to be a silent picture, but because of the success of their film Alam Ara (1931), which was India’s first talkie, the studio decided to make Noorjehan partly with sound. Nayampally was not originally cast in Noorjehan, but a chance meeting with the film’s director, Ezra Mir, got him the role of Prince Salim in the film.Nayampally then played Karna in Imperial’s next sound film, the mythological Draupadi (1931), but the actor considered his best mythological role to be that of the wily Shakuni in Mahatma Vidur (1943), a part that was appreciated by critics and the public, alike.
As sound films came in, silent actors were being discarded in favor of those with stage backgrounds, so Nayampalli joined the Grant Anderson Theatrical Company which specialized in Shakespearean plays. After gaining some experience he tried to rejoin films, but without much luck. His previous roles had been leads, so he decided if he wanted to work regularly, maybe he should take a different approach and he offered himself up for character parts.
His break came in the role of a hunchback in love with the heroine in Ezra Mir’s Zarina which starred Jal Merchant and Zubeida. The dentures he wore for the role were created specially by a dentist named Jimmy Gheista who had trained abroad with the dentist who had made similar dentures for Lon Chaney.
Nayampally had learned early on how to apply make-up for his roles and, in fact, he became so good at it he eventually came to specialize in horror make-up, which earned him the nickname “The Indian Lon Chaney.” Indeed, Chaney, Erich von Stroheim, Emil Jannings, and John Barrymore were the actors that Nayampally most tried to emulate. Boris Karloff was another of his role models. He was able to put his make-up expertise to good use for the film Sair-e-Paristan (1934), where he was a vampire-like devil, and in Zingaro(1935), in which he played a monster created by a mad scientist, and then as a the hairy “missing link” in Zambo (1937) and its sequel Zambo Ka Beta (1938). For Kalkoot (1935) he created a make-up to resemble the wrinkled effect that Karloff had used in The Mummy(1932).
Nayampally continued working in films throughout the 1940s and 50s, particularly in mythologicals and costume pictures including Raj Nartaki (1941), Nagad Narayan (1943), Vishwas 1943), Taramati(1945), Urvashi (1946), Jhansi-Ki-Rani (1953), Durgesh Nandini (1956), Basant Bahar (1956) and Shiv Parvati (1962) His last credited film appearance was in 1970’s Priya.
After his career in films ended, he started making Documentaries. He made about 35 documentaries. He won ‘ Silver Dolphin’ award for his documentary in the International Film Festival at Teheran in 1970.
He died on 7-5-1994, in Mumbai.
In the cast, there is another name which, apart from being very unusual, belongs to an actor, who earned considerably infamy in his private life. He is Himalayawala. His name was Mohd Afzaluddin. He was born in March 1916, at Dehradun. After school education he joined his brother, Mohd Misaluddin’s firm – The Himalaya Drug Company, a leading Pharma company of repute (even today). He worked there for 10 years and after a dispute with his brother, left the company. He came to Bombay to join films.
First he had thought of starting a company, but looking at the situation, he decided to do acting only. His first film was ‘Kiski Biwi’ (1942), directed by MA Mirza. His name was changed from Afzal to A Himalaywala (since he came from the Himalayan town of Dehradun, like Kashmiri from Kashmir), by Shaukat Hussain, husband of Noorjehan. However in many films he was credited as Afzal only. He worked in few films like, ‘Vishwaas’ (1943), ‘Ankh Ki Sharm’ (1943), ‘Dost’ (1944), ‘Kismatwaala’ (1944), ‘Zeenat’ (1945), ‘Humayun’ (1945), ‘Nal Damayanti’ (1945), ‘Jagbeeti’ (1946), ‘Samrat Ashok’ (1947) and ‘Elaan’ (1947).
He was an outspoken and straightforward person, fond of hunting, football and travelling by car. He toured all of India twice in his car. In 1943, he married actress singer Amirbai Karnataki. After marriage he banned her from acting in films. Within 2-3 years, on this and other issues, they could not get along. He used to hit her and take all her money. At last, it was rumoured that he gave her talaaq after taking 2 lakh rupees and her car. Even after this he was stalking her. She stayed with her elder sister Ahilya Bai. Then one day, she was kidnapped by Himalaywala, from the recording room. She was kept locked in a room and beaten daily. She somehow managed to inform this to her sister.
Ahilyabai then got in touch with her acquaintance Mr Rasiklal Vyas and his brother Chhailabhai Vyas – one of the best criminal lawyers of Bombay. With their political and social connections, they forced the police to register an FIR, which was refused due to Himalaywala’s bribe. Meanwhile Himalaywala was alerted by his cronies. Within few hours Amirbai was escorted back to her sister’s place, by Himalaywala. All this episode is described in full details in the book ‘Aap Ki Parchhaiyaan’, by Rajnikumar Pandya ji. Amirbai later married Gujarati Journalist Badri Kaanchwala.
After partition, Himalaywala migrated to Pakistan. There the lady luck smiled on him and he did very well. Urdu film Shahida (1949) was his first film in Pakistan, which celebrated silver jubilees in Delhi and Lucknow.
Hamaliawala was in leading role in Pakistan’s first silver jubilee Urdu film Do Aansoo in 1950. He was main villain actor in the most of 1950s movies. He played the Akbar The Great role in musical film Anar Kali in 1958. His other famous moves were Kundan (1950) Chan Way(1951), Ghulam (1953), Gumnam, Ruhi (1954), Shoni(1955),Qatil (1955), Sarfarosh (1956), Saat Lakh (1957), Gumrah, Naghma-e-Dil (1959), Farishta (1961), Watan(1960) and Azra (1962).
He was seen in 33 movies, only two of them were in Punjabi language. His last film was Yahudi Ki Larki in 1963.
Mohd Afzuluddin Himalaywala married Begum Perveen, in Pakistan. He died on 1st January 1984 in Lahore. (Thanks to Film directory-46, http://www.pak.mag.com, Shishir krishna Sharma ji, book Aap ki parchhaiyan by Rajnikumar Pandya ji and my notes, for information used herein.)
Now let us see the video of today’s song. The singer on screen is probably Pande ji himself. This is my guess. I find this song scene funny. Prithwiraj is seen, obviously in sick condition. The singer is singing before him and telling him that ” tu do din ka mehmaan” ! What must be the sick man’s condition, hearing this ! But, after all, there must be some background also for this situation in the film, I am sure. With this song, Pande ji makes his Debut on this Blog, as a singer.
Song- Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan (Aankh Ki Sharm)(1943) Singer- Vasant Desai, Lyricist- Pt. Indra, MD- Vasant Desai
Lyrics
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
tu do din ka mehmaan
tu do din ka mehmaan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
kal aayaa thha
kal jaayegaa
kal aayaa thha
kal jaayegaa
aaj ko soch vichaar
aaj ko soch vichaar
chhod ke bande
tu tu main main
chhod ke bande
tu tu main main
apna kaaj sudhaar
dhar murlidhar ka dhyaan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
kya lena hai
kya dena hai
kya lena hai
kya dena hai
kyon jhoothha janjaal
kyon jhoothha janjaal
bair birodh bisaar ke bande
bair birodh bisaar ke bande
bhaj Giridhar Gopal
bhaj Giridhar Gopal
bhaj Giridhar Gopal
nar kar jag ka kalyaan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 4166 | Post No. : | 15340 |
“Jyot Jale”(1968) was directed by Satyen Bose for Supra Pictures, Bombay. The movie had Mahaveer, Nirupa Roy, Abhi Bhattacharya, Tarun Bose, Pardesi, Kundan, Asit Sen, Krishan Dhawan, Shahu Modak, Shanu, Seeta, Anoop, Bhandari, Rajendra, Azeez, Anwar, Farooq Merchant, Mehmood, Farooq Kadawala, Arun Kumar, Prakash Mishra, Bhola, Jerry, Updesh, Vallabh, Manik Dutt, V Gopal, Anil Kumar, Madhup Sharma, Lalit Kapoor, Champaklala, Shekhar Purohit, Vinod Sharma, Ravikant, Bazid Khan, Kesari, Moolchand, Ujagar Singh, Darshan, Bihari, Vasundhara Devi etc in it.
The movie had seven songs in it. One song has been covered in the past.
Here is the second song from “Jyot Jale”(1968) to appear in the blog.
This song is sung by Rafi and chorus. Govind Moonis is the lyricist. Music is composed by Basant Prakash.
The song is picturised on several actors who are unfamiliar. I request our knowledgeable readers to help identify them.
Song-Koi bhala kahe chaahe koi bura maane(Jyot Jale)(1968) Singer-Rafi, Lyrics-Govind Moonis, MD-Basant Prakash
Chorus
Lyrics
hey
koi bhala kahe chaahe koi bura maane
man jo kahe wo hi karen hum to wo deewaane
hum to wo deewaane
hey
koi bhala kahe chaahe koi bura maane
man jo kahe wo hi karen
hum to wo deewaane
hum to wo deewaane
hum chalen to aise jharna koi jaise
parwaton ko tod phod chal paden
chal paden
bhaad mein bahaaren ret mein mila den
raah mein agar kahin koi ade
koi ade
roke nahin ruken kabhi koi baadha ni jaane
man jo kahe wo hi karen hum to wo deewaane
hum to wo deewaane
hey hey
koi bhala kahe chaahe koi bura maane
man jo kahe vo hi karen
hum to wo deewaane
hum to wo deewaane
laakh tum pukaaro haath paanv maaro
jaal se nikal ke kaun phir phanse
hahahaha
baat hai puraani sab ki jaani maani
chook jo gaya usi pe jag hanse
jag hanse
jaao ji bichhaao jaake kahin aur daane
man jo kahe wo hi karen hum to wo deewaane
hum to wo deewane
koi bhala kahe chaahe
hey hey
koi bura maane
man jo kahe wo hi karen
hum to wo deewaane
hum to wo deewaane
hum to hain wo baadal jo sada hi chanchal
poochhte magar nahin disha kabhi
disha kabhi
gher gher aate surya ko chhipaate
ya sajaate chaandni nisha kabhi
nisha kabhi
indr dhanush rache kabhi kalah lage dhaane
man jo kahe wo hi karen hum to wo deewaane
hum to wo deewaane
aha
koi bhala kahe chaahe koi bura maane
man jo kahe wo hi karen
hum to wo deewaane
hum to wo deewaane
aaaa haa
ae he
aaha haha
aa haa
o ho ho
oho
o ho ho ho
aha
aaaa aaha
ae hey
aaaa aaha
aa ha
o oho
o ho
o o o ho
aha
aa aaha
ae he
aaha aaha
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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Blog Day : |
4163 | Post No. : | 15334 | Movie Count : |
4225 |
Today’s song is from an obscure film from Calcutta,- Arzoo-1944.
It is my observation that barring very early Talkie films made by Madan Theatres, Calcutta, films made by other film makers of Calcutta – other than New Theatres – were, generally, not successful or popular in the Hindi belt. At the peak times in the 30’s, there were about 20+ film making companies in Bengal, but New Theatres alone had got the best of Hindi artistes in almost every department of film making and Music, available in the Eastern sector. Accordingly, even Arzoo, made by I.B.Films, Calcutta also did not create any ripples in the Hindi belt. It was directed by R N Vaidya (a successful Silent Film maker ) and M.Issa. The Lyricist was Khwaja Kidwai and the Music was by Subal Dasgupta. The cast of the film was, Dhiraj Bhattacharya, Panna, Pramod Gangully, Renuka Roy, Fazal, Shanta etc.etc.
In Hindi film arena, there were many brother pairs as Music Directors like Husnalal-Bhagatram, Kalyan ji-Anand ji etc. Most of them were prolific and successful too. But there were no cases worth noticing, where two brothers operated separately as MDs, in the same period but never worked as a Team. Two such cases were from Calcutta. The first was that of Timir Baran and Mihir Kiran and then Kamal Dasgupta and Subal Dasgupta. Neither Timir-Mihir nor Kamal-Subal worked as a pair and individually only one became famous in Hindi films. Mihir kiran gave music to only 1 film- Kaarvan e hayat-35 and Timir Baran did 11 Hindi films compsing 86 songs.Subal Dasgupta gave music to only 2 films Subah Shaam and Arzoo both in 1944, Kamal Dasgupta did 17 Hindi films and composed 157 songs.
Kamal Dasgupta ( 28-7-1912 to 20-7-1974) gave music to 17 Hindi films from Jawab-42 to Phulwari-51. Subal gave music to only 2 films as mentioned. He was, however, a prolific composer in Bangla films and NFS. The credit for composing music for Talat Mehmood’s First recorded NFS, ” sab din ek samaan nahi tha” goes to Subal Dasgupta. Some sites and You Tube erroneously mention Kamal Dasgupta’s name as its composer, but it is wrong. I quote here an excerpt from the book ” Talat Mehmood-The Velvet touch” a biography by Manek Premchand,
” His first recording happened in September 1941, the song being Sab din ek samaan naheen tha, Ban jaoonga kya se kya main, iska to kuchh dhyaan naheen tha, written by Fayyaz Hashmi and composed by Subal Dasgupta. Present at this recording was the great singer-composer-actor Pankaj Mullick, who patted the young émigré for a job well done. In Calcutta, the young man started learning Bengali. After six recordings for HMV in Calcutta, Talat returned in 1942 to complete his studies at Marris and in the next couple of years, he heard a lot of Gangubai Hangal, Fayyaz Khan and Roshanara Begum. ” pp 13
Not much information is available on Subal in books or on the net. Even Dr. J.P.Guha has no information on him. Here is something from a Bangladeshi site.
Subal Dasgupta was born at Kalia (Narail) of the old Jessore district in Bangladesh. His parents shifted to Calcutta long before the partition of 1947. His eldest brother professor Bimal Dasgupta was a gifted musician, while his elder brother Kamal Dasgupta also emerged as one of the most successful music directors of his times. His sisters Sudhira, Indira, Basanti—–all were talented singers in their own rights. All of them had recorded songs under HMV banner. He belonged to an immensely accomplished musical family. At a very tender age Subal Dasgupta took lessons in classical music from Ustad Zamiruddin Khan, a renowned maestro of Kheyal and Thumri. It was here, that he met Kazi Nazrul Islam, the great poet , who also started taking classical vocal lessons from the same master. The meeting between the two, later turned out to be of historic significance. This is all that could be collated about Subal Dasgupta.
Today’s song is sung by Jagmohan Sursagar. In older times, when when films had not yet become ” inevitable ” in the society, for the period 30s to 50s, Non Film Songs (NFS) ruled the nation. The A.I.R. regularly broadcast NF Bhajans, Geets and Gazals etc. These were extremely popular and their private records used to make a big sale too. Among the NFS male singers, the best was Jagmohan and in the female group, the best was Juthika Roy.
Somewhere in the late 2011 AK ji, of Songsofyore.com, had written on this Blog about the importance of NFS. After reading his views, I too wrote a rather lengthy comment supporting the inclusion of NFS on this Blog. Our contention was that, prior to the Hindi Film Music becoming popular all over India,it was those ghazals, Geets and Bhajans, privately sung and recorded by various artists which had ruled the tastes of music lovers. In fact many famous singers had recorded NFS in the beginning phase of their singing careers. Some names are Talat Mehmood, Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Jagmohan and JUTHIKA ROY !
I do not think there was a single singer in those days who had not sung a Non Filmi geet of some type like Bhajan or ghazal etc. I am sure many senior readers from this Blog must have grown listening to these NFS Bhajans and Geets. In fact more than a filmi song, may be these people have some old geet or Bhajan embedded in their memories with some persons, events or places.
Today’s singer Jagmohan Sursagar was very well known and close to Rajnikumar Pandyaji and he has elaborated his Bio data in the book ” Aap ki Parchhainyan”. The following information is adapted from this. Born on September 6,1918,Jagmohan whose real name is Jaganmoy Mitra came from a conservative family of land-lords.Sometime before he was born,his father died of a stomach ailment, while his mother was still in her teens. Though Jagmohan had no problems in childhood,he was to grow up an ardent devotee of his mother.When she died in 1981,and was followed by the singer’s wife,in a few months time,Jagmohan felt a terrible void in his life,something that he appears to have been unable to fill ever.
There was an atmosphere of music in his maternal grandfather’s house where they went to live after Jagmohan’s father died.He literally grew up listening to dhrupad,khayal,thumri and tappa,surreptitiously learning from his uncle’s ustads ragas and raginis as also the tabla.It all paid off when after passing his matriculation examination, Jagmohan took part in all Bengal music competition ,topping the list in dhrupad,tappa,thumri,kritan and baul,religious folk music of Bengal.The year was 1937.In the same year,his professional singing career began at All India Radio.The next year,he stood first in khayal singing in an all India competition at Allahabad.
A music recording company, HMV,grabbed him for recording.Says Jagmohan: ” I had a tune and had been trying to compose a song to suit it.But,an acquaintance, Hembabu asked me to see Kazi Nazrul Islam,the great poet.Hembabu took me to him and left me with the poet.The poet was a very kindly man and my diffidence vanished after a while. I sang the few lines I had composed.He praised my tune and music but offered to write a song for me to fit them.I sang the tune several times as the Kazi sat writing stanza after stanza;his words, as if poured after,and there nary was a change or scratching out of a word here or there.That was the song Saaon Ratey Jadi…. on which my re-cording was made.” It was a great hit.Then,in 1940, came two songs of Rabindranath Tagore,both approved by the Nobel prize winning poet.Tagore permitted him to record two more of his songs.
In 1945,Jagmoohan was given the award of Sursagar (ocean of music) in Bengal.The award has not since been given to anyone else,and the singer was only the second recipient of the honour.( The other recipient was Himangshu Datta ). In fact, most people have forgotten that Mitra is Jagmohan’s real surname; it has just become Jagmohan Sursagar, a name under which he also wrote an auto-biography in Bengali. It has recently been translated into Gujarati and brought out under the title of one his more famous songs, Dil Dekar Dard Liya Hai Maine…
Gandhiji too had appreciated Jagmohan’s singing and the singer recorded Sapt Kand Ramayana in six minutes at the Mahatma’s suggestion.Another national leader fond of his singing was Jay Prakash Narayan.
Jagmohan toured abroad also extensive and has been to among other countries East Africa,the U.K.,the U.S.A.and Canada,earning vast fan following everywhere. Speaking at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto,Jagmohan held his audience spell-bound,claiming there essentially was no barrier to music.He sang a Bengali composition in Bhairavi and followed up with an English song ,rendered in the same raga.
He came to Bombay in 1950 to become a Playback singer, but the Bombay film world atmosphere did not impress him and he did not sing in any film. In fact after 1955, he did not cut any record for Hindi films. In 1955, he sang under his own baton, for the only Hindi film for which he was the composer. This movie was “Sardaar”(1955).
A dignified individual, Jagmohan never turned bitter,became more of an introvert,paying heed to the calls of none but his inner voice.After the deaths of his mother and his wife in 1981,feeling lonely,he had moved residence thrice– from Bombay to Delhi for two years while he was a member of Censor Board,then to Calcutta and to Ahmedabad.
He did not seem to regard his moving from one city to another as something of great importance. He declared :”I crave for affection ,respect and human warmth and go wherever my inner-self tells me to. I have followed the dictates of my inner-self only all my life.”
“I can go away from a city,but I cannot go away from music”,he said.
He had become so popular due to his NFS in Hindi and Bangla, that he had neither the time nor the desire to sing for films. However Jagmohan sang 23 songs in 12 films, The films were, Bhakta Kabeer-42, Bhaichara-43, Hospital-43, Arzoo-44, Subah Shaam-44, Ameeri-45, Meghdoot-45, Krishnaleela-46, Pehchaan-46, Zameen aur Aasmaan-46, Iran ki ek raat-49 and Sardar-55.
After many attempts, it became clear as to how many Non film songs or Geets he sang in Hindi and the number is 75 songs. However. his songs are few on this Blog.The generation born in the 40s grew on Saigal,Jagmohan and Pankaj Mullick songs. There was a period when Non film Geets were extremely popular, even in the presence of film music, but gone are those days now when record collection was a respectful hobby. With this, the decline of such songs too came fast and only memories lived on.
In his book, Aap ki parchhainyan, shri Rajnikumar Pandyaji has mentioned an incident when Jagmohan went all the way to a far off place, just so that a dying fan of his songs, could listen to him while on deathbed. This is how Rajnikumar Pandya ji described this incident -in an E mail sent to me after I posted above information earlier. ” The patient was Manubhai Trivedi,father of my writer friend Niranjan Trivedi, I was knowing that Manubhai was an ardent fan of Jagmohan but due to his serious ailment it was not possible for him to come down to my place to see Jagmohanda who just arrived by morning train from Bombay .
“I therefore requested to Dada to pay a visit to Manubhai . He reluctantly agreed to it,We went to Manubhais place which was just few minutes form my place, After seeing his serious condition he expressed hid desire to sing a Bhajan before him though Manubhai was not in his senses, Anyway he sang a Bhajan “Ab tim kab sumiroge Raam, Jeevn do din ka maehamaan,’There were tears in the eyes of all who were present there including me and my small daughter who is party seen in the photograph attached with this mail. ( he attached a photograph for me).
Manubhai passed away after a week of this incident. ” The family members of the fan became eternally obliged to Jagmohan’s noble gesture.
Jagmohan returned to Bombay, after almost 2 years in Ahmedabad. He died on 4-9-2003, in Bombay.
The Hero of film Arzoo was Dhiraj Bhattacharya ( 5-11-1905 to 1959 ) worked in 10 Hindi films, namely Radha krishna-33, Seeta-34, Chandragupta-34, Balaa ki raat-36, Mandir-37, Kumkum the dancer-40, Arzoo-42, Wapas-43,Shri Ramanuj-43 and Irada-44.
Today’s song is not only a very rare song, but also an excellent Gazal. In the NFS, there is no parallel to jagmohan and Pankaj Mullick. You too will fall in love with this song, when you hear it. With this song, film Arzoo-44 makes its Debut on the Blog.
(I thank Rajnikumar Pandya ji, Manik Premchand ji, wiki and my notes for information used in the above article. )
Song- Hai kaun dil nahin jo pareeshaan e Aarzoo (Aarzoo)(1944) Singer- Jagmohan Sur Sagar, Lyricist-Khwaja Kidwai, MD- Subal Dasgupta
Lyrics
Hai kaun dil nahin jo pareeshan e aarzoo
Hai kaun dil nahin jo pareeshan e aarzoo
ye zindagi hai asal mein saamaan e aarzoo
ye zindagi hai asal mein saamaan e aarzoo
murjhaati hai jo ye ke to khilti hai doosri
murjhaati hai jo ye ke to khilti hai doosri
kaliyon se yoon bhara hai gulistaan e aarzoo
uske karam se ae ae ae
badhhta hai har dil ka hauslaa
uske karam se badhhta hai
har dil ka hauslaa
har dil ka hauslaa
phaila hua hai is liye daamaan e aarzoo
phaila hua hai is liye daamaan e aarzoo
maayoosiyaan bhi deti hain ummeed ko janam
maayoosiyaan bhi deti hain ummeed ko janam
naakaam e aarzoo ki to jaan hai aarzoo
shaayad isi tarah se khule girah phaans(?) ki
shaayad isi tarah se khule girah phaans(?) ki
girah phaans(?) ki
ham chhodte hain baandh ke paimaane aarzoo
ham chhodte hain baandh ke paimaane aarzoo
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Posted on: December 9, 2019
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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Blog Day : |
4161 | Post No. : | 15329 | Movie Count : |
4223 |
Today’s song is from film Mera Imaan-1934.
I have been writing on old films and songs since 2012. Most of my posts are for films of the 30s and the 40s. However, I have also done innumerable posts on songs and films of period 1951 upto as latest as 2018. That is because, I believe, good music and good films exist in all eras. Only their percentage differs. Additionally, one’s likings generally decide what is ‘Good music’, based on his taste. Taste develops depending on one’s exposure. If I don’t listen to a song of 2019, how am I to conclude if it is good or bad ? Without analysing these factors, people are in a hurry to brand films and songs as good or bad.
Older generations like old films and old songs, mainly due to Nostalgia. Their memories are attached to these films/songs. It is said that old songs have a longer shelf life. But are not older people keeping old music alive ? As the times elapse, decade by decade, the older songs will be forgotten decade wise.
As on today, how many people enjoy songs of the 30’s ? To like these songs, the person has to be of the age of 90 to 100 years. Naturally, 30’s songs are out of favour now. To like songs of the 40’s, the person has to be in the age group of 70 to 85 or so. Hence today some songs of 40s are still popular. In another 10-15 years, songs of 30s and 40s may not be in circulation to that extent, because people who remembered and enjoyed them will be one.
This is Life. As Lord Tennyson said, “The old order changeth yielding place to New….”. Does that mean old films and songs have to be dumped now ? Absolutely not. On the contrary, they must be discussed elaborately, using information to make it available to the coming Generations. Towards this end, this Blog is playing an Yeoman’s role in preserving old and very old songs at one place. I am sure that History will thank Atul ji, for his Blog and for making old songs and highly credible information available to the coming Generations.
I have observed one thing here. During the period 2012 to 2016, for every old song of 30s and 40s, there used to be many comments from the readers and healthy discussions took place, emanating newer information about older films and songs. However, for the last 3 or 4 years, the comments have dried up so much that sometimes I start feeling if these posts are read by anyone at all ? Should I stop writing ?
Then I realise that the posts are written not for getting Claps and Bouquets, but to record History to preserve information and above all, with a noble intention to share knowledge, before it goes to Dust with the writer ! With this philosophy, I continue writing more enthusiastically.
Today’s film Mera Imaan-34 was a Stunt film, directed by Nagendra Majumdar. The songs were written by Dr. Dhaniram Prem. The name of the Music Director is not mentioned in HFGK. The cast of the film was Madhav Kale, Gauhar Karnataki, N.Majumdar, Athavale, Baburao Apte (brother of Shanta Apte), Madhukar Gupte, Miss Amirjaan etc etc.
Film’s director, who had also acted in it, was Nagendra Majumdar. He was the father of Music Director Ninu (Niranjan) Majumdar. Nagendra was born in a happy family in the year 1894 in Bombay. After his father died, “Pearl Dairy” established by his father ran very well doing good business. Suddenly, Nagendra’s wife fell seriously ill and despite taking her full care, she expired. Due to neglect of the Dairy in this period, Dairy also closed down.
Her shifted to Baroda and worked as a State Police Inspector. Later he worked as Watch and Ward Inspector in Baroda Railways. He left the job and started working as a hero in dramas of famous dramatist R.V.Desai. Heeralal, the owner of Laxmi Film Company, Bombay was impressed with his personality and took him to Bombay in 1926 to act in his silent films. Thus started his film career. In those days Silent films used to be completed within a month. He worked as a Hero in films of Laxmi, Jagdish and Imperial film companies.
In the same year, he directed a film ‘Paani mein aag’-1926, made by Royal Arts. Then came two more films made by Kaiser E Hind films. He also directed films of other companies. In all he directed 15 Silent films by 1932. By then, the Talkie had arrived. In the next 14 years he directed 12 Talkie films like – Ras Vilas-32, Sassi Punnu-32, Patit Pawan-33, mirza Sahibaan-33, Mera Imaan-34, Kala Wagh-34, Rangila nawab-35, Kimiyagar-36, Aaj ka Alladin aka Alladin II-36, Lehri lutera-37, Talwarwala-46 and Swadesh Sewa-46. When K L Saigal came to Bombay, Nagendra wanted to work with him. In film Tansen-43, he did the role of Tansen’s (Saigal’s) father and he was very happy.
His last 2 films came in 1946, but his health was not cooperating for quite few years. He gave up work and took rest. However, he suffered from paralysis and died on 22-8-1951. His son Ninu Majumdar worked in Bombay A.I.R. as head of Gujarati programmes, since 1937. By the time Nagendra died, Ninu had already started working as a Music Director.
As a Director, Nagendra had worked with the best of his times like, Master Vithal, Zubeida, Jillo, Billimorea brothers, Madhuri, Navinchandra, Durga Khote Jairaj, Sultana, Noorjehan sr and such luminaries of those days. He had worked for Ranjit, Imperial, Sharda, Jayant Desai films, Yadnik films etc etc.
Now let us know something about Dr. Dhaniram Prem – a Medical Doctor, who came into films like a Meteor for few years in the 30’s period. Dr.DHANIRAM “Prem” (Born 26 September 1904 – Died 10 November 1979) Lyricist, Story and Dialogue Writer in Hindi Films, an extraordinary person, was born on 26-9-1904 at Dariyapur, Aligadh, UP. He completed his MBBS from Bombay and then he went to UK for further studies under assistance from a charitable institution.
He came back, started his practice and repaid all loans first. From childhood he was fond of writing. He wrote several books and articles in National papers. From 1932 to 1936 he wrote Stories, dialogues and Lyrics for 14 films. In the first 2 years he wrote for only Ranjit studio films. Later he was a freelancer and wrote for others too. Gol Nishan aka Mark of Zoro-36 was the last film for which he wrote the Story and some songs..
Then he went to UK and practiced there, engaging himself in social causes. He was highly respected by the British. In 1964 he declared that he would contest the U.K. Prime Minister elections. A special pediatric ward was named after him in his honour while he was alive. He got several awards in U.K. for his excellent work. Indian government gave him Padmashree.
On 29-10-1979 he came to India and stayed in Delhi, but in two day’s time he met with a scooter accident and he died on 10-11-1979. His specialty was that in every film lyric, he used the word ‘Prem’ as a signature word. This trait was picked up later by some more Lyricists in Hindi films.
The hero of this film was Madhav Kale. Madhav Kale was born in Nashik in 1903. After his school education at Nashik, he joined Deccan college at Poona and passed Intermediate course. He was interested in playing in dramas, which was opposed by his mother. But he used to take part in dramas while in college. He was a good singer too. Wanting to join films, he sent applications to many companies. Saroj and sharda companies responded. He acted in several silent films like Mukti sangram, kanak kesari etc. He entered the Talkie films with Vikram Charitra-32, Mera Imaan-34 and Vishnu Bhakti-34. During this period, he got married in 1934.
He acted in 21 films. His last film was Gokul ka chor-59. He even directed one film, Sacha Sapna-42. He sang 13 songs in 7 films till 1942.
There is no information about him after this.
After writing this bio of Madhav kale, I came to know that after the films, Madhav went back to Nashik, where he was active in local politics. He became a Municipal Councillor, but lost Assembly elections, which he was very hopeful of. He died somewhere in 1980.
Today’s film Mera imaan-34 was based on a Marathi drama – Amche imaan (आमचे ईमान ), staged by Lalit Natak Samaj.
(I have collated information for this post from various sources like Listener’s Bulletins No. 40 of Feb-80 and No.145 of July 2010, HFGK, Sapnon ke Saudagar by Vithal Pandya, Silent films by Dr.Verma, Lost Treasures by kamlakar P. and my notes.)
Song-Sab kaliyaan khile aaj (Mera Imaan)(1934) Singer-Gauhar Karnataki, Lyricist-Dr. Dhaniram Prem, MD- Not known
Lyrics
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
??
??
soonghat ras ki daali
soonghat ras ki daali
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
sugandh basey man mhaare
man aur sugandh base ae
aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
sugandh
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
??
??
??
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
sugandh basey chaaron
chaaron ?? kunj ??
chaaron ?? kunj ??
chhaayi rahi hariyaali
chhaayi rahi hariyaali
??
??
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan
aa aa aa
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan
sab kaliyaan
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan
Le gaya dil nikaal ke
Posted on: November 16, 2019
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 4138 | Post No. : | 15299 |
“Warrant”(1961) was directed by Kedar Kapoor for Shanti Niketal Films, Bombay. The movie had Ashok Kumar, Raj Kumar, Shakila, Cuckoo, Helen, Dhumal, Raj Mehra, Baburao etc in it.
The movie had six songs in it. One song has been covered in the past.
Today (16 november 2019) is the remembrance day of Roshan (14 July 1917 – 16 November 1967). On this occasion, here is the second song from “Warrant”(1961) to appear in the blog. This song is sung by Asha Bhonsle. Anand Bakshi is the lyricist. Music is composed by Roshan.
Only the audio of the song is available. It sounds like a club dance song to me. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the movie as well as the picturisation of this song.
Song-Le gaya dil nikaal ke (Warrant)(1961) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Anand Bakshi, MD-Roshan
Lyrics
le gaya dil nikaal ke
bin poochhe
o bin poochhe anaari
anaari
de gaya gham kamaal ke
bin maange
o bin maange anaari
anaari
hic
haaye
kal sadak par mil gaya thha ek begaana aa
kal sadak par mil gaya thha ek begaana aa
mujhse bola maangta hoon tujhko apnaana
dar gayi main
mar gayi main
kar gayi main haaye
khel khela kamaal ke
hic
khel khela kamaal ke
nainon ka
ho nainon ka khilaari
anaari
de gaya gham kamaal ke
bin maange
o bin maange anaari
anaari
roop mera phir milaaya chaand taaron se ae
roop mera phir milaaya chaand taaron se ae
pyaar apna phir milaaya gulbahaaron se
maine jaana
hai deewaana
thha sayaana haaye
rakhte kab tak sambhaal ke
haan
rakhte kab tak sambhaal ke
khud ko main
ho khud ko main bechaari
anaari
de gaya gham kamaal ke
bin maange
o bin maange anaari
anaari
aan
hic
haaye
aankhon aankhon maine bheji pyaar ki arzi
aankhon aanhkon maine bheji pyaar ki arzi
baaton baaton maine poochhi pyaar ki marzi
majnu chhaila
dil ka maila
bola laila haaye
maana bulbul ko daal ke
hic
maana bulbul ko daal ke
pinjre mein
ho pinjre mein shikaari
anaari
hic
haaye
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.
| Blog Day : | 4137 | Post No. : | 15296 |
Today’s song is from the film Maya Bazar-49.
There can not be a single person in India who does not know stories from Ramayan and Mahabharat. Whether the person is educated or uneducated, belonging to any religion or Caste, knows about these Epics. People other than Hindus, may not know much, but every Hindu knows Ramayan and Mahabharat stories.
We have heard and read various stories from these Epics, which were written several thousand years ago. The Mahabharat, which is approximately four times bigger than Ramayana has stories which are full of Adventure, Human qualities and Magic. These stories are more interesting than Ramayana stories, anyday.
The very fact that these Epics are age old, is also the cause of many newer stories getting added to the original ‘ Historical Document ‘ over several generations. Some highly imaginative and enterprising playwright of Yore created a new character in Mahabharat. This was supposed to be the daughter of Balram, the elder brother of Shri Krishna, and got her married to the son of Arjuna, in a very thrilling way. In the original epic, she is non-existent.
This first started in Maharashtra, where stage dramas were very popular. Different drama companies gave the imaginary daughter different names, to prove that their story was authentic. Thus two names- Surekha and Vatsala came into the stories for this fictitious character. Addition of Krishna and a Rakshas- Ghatotkach also added the required humour and magic. These dramas became very popular.
When Silent film era began, the then famous Maharashtra Film company of Kolhapur, belonging to Baburao Painter, made not one, but three silent films on this story. The first film was Vatsala Haran-1919, the second was Surekha-Abhimanyu alias Surekha Haran-1921 and the third film was Maya Bazar alias Vatsala Haran-1923.
The South was not to lag behind. They too staged dramas on this story, but the name of the daughter was changed to Sasirekha, to claim that their story was the original.The famous ” Surabhi Drama Troupe” of south made the play- one of the most crowd pulling popular show. In south a silent film on this story was made as ” Maya Bazar”-1925.
When the Talkie films started in 1931, in the very next year, film ” Maya Bazar”-32 was made by Sagar Movietone. Subsequently, movies on this title were made in 1949, 1958, 1971, and 1984 also. The south made a Talkie film Maya Bazar in 1936 with a title ‘ Sasirekha Parinay’, because Surekha/Vatsala was known as Sasirekha in south. However, one of the best ever films on this story was made by Vijay Vauhini Studios, Madras as ” Maya Bazar” in 1957 in Telugu and Tamil. The Kannada version- as dubbed film- came in 1958. This film was on Top in the list ” 100 greatest films made in India “, by CNN-IBN, for the period of 100 years-1913 to 2013. I have seen this wonderful film and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Our today’s film Maya Bazar-(Vatsala Haran)-49 was made by Manik Studios, Bombay. All songs of this film as well as the story and screenplay was done by Pt. Mukhram Sharma and the music was by Sudhir Phadke. The film was made Bilingual-in Hindi and Marathi. The cast was Durga Khote, Shahu Modak, Baby Shakuntala, Balakram, Kusum Deshpande and Vasant Thengadi ( they were Husband-wife pair in real life), Ganpatrao Bakre (one time a famous, popular and handsome Hero of silent films), Usha Marathe ( she changed her name to Usha Kiran and became famous in Hindi and Marathi films,later on), Master Chhotu etc.etc.
The film was directed by Datta Dharmadhikari. This was his first independent film as a director. Earlier he had joined Raja Nene for directing film Shadi se pehle-47. Datta Dharmadhikari was born on 2-12-1913 at Kolhapur in a lower middle class family. He studied up to Matriculation and started working in various film studios of Kolhapur. He first worked with Baburao pendharkar and then joined Prabhat. He learnt from almost every department of film making, except the Music department. He even acted a small role in film Sant Gyaneshwar -40, a bilingual in Marathi and Hindi. Having worked as an assistant director, he became joint Director with Raja Nene for film ‘Shadi se pehle ‘-47. Simultaneously, he directed some very successful films in Marathi.
He established his own production company “Alhad Chitra “. Alhad ( means joy ) was his son, who worked as a child artiste in all his films- Hindi and Marathi.Datta re-made some of his successful Marathi films in Hindi, like Nanhe Munne-52 ( Chimni Pakhare in Marathi), Mahatma-53 in 3 Languages- Marathi, Hindi and English and Suhagan-54 ( Suwasini in Marathi ).
When he produced film Mahatma-53 in Hindi and Marathi with an English version,he lost heavily and was forced to sell everything he had. Things were so bad that his wife had to cook Tiffins for people to run the house. However Datta came out of this all. He started accepting Directorial work from other producers, both in Marathi and Hindi. His last film was in 1982. Datta Dharmadhikari died on 30-12-1982.
He directed 21 Marathi and 11 Hindi films. His films in Hindi are Shadi se pehle-47, Maya Bazar-49, Nanhe Munne-52, Mahatma-53, Bhagyawan-53, Savdhan-54, Sudarshan Chakra-56, Deep jalta rahe-59, Subhadra Haran-64, Mujhe seene se lagaa lo-69 and last film Daulat ka Nasha-82. He gave break to a pair of Composers- Vasant-Ramchandra ( Vasant Pawar and Ramchandra Wadhavkar ) for 5 of his films in Hindi, but they could not get any work from other banners and their career in Hindi, as a pair, ended with these 5 films only.
The story of film Maya Bazar-49 was….
Subhadra (the sister of Balarama and Krishna) marries a Pandava- Arjuna. Their son Abhimanyu falls in love with Balarama’s daughter, Vatsala. The families consent to their marrying when they reach adulthood. When Abhimanyu and Vatsala have grown up, Krishna introduces them to each other. One day, the Pandavas are invited by Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas to join in a game of dice. Duryodhana’s uncle, Shakuni, manipulates the results of the game, thereby costing the Pandavas their wealth, their liberty and their wife Draupadi. Duryodhana’s brother, Dushasana, attempts to disrobe Draupadi. He is seen by Krishna, who, furious, comes to her rescue.
On hearing what happened to the Pandavas, Balarama decides to teach the Kauravas a lesson and travels to their capital Hastinapuram. Shakuni and Duryodhana approach Balarama with an insincere respectful manner, then seek his approval of a marriage between Vatsala and Duryodhana’s son Lakshmana Kumara. Their true goal is to force Balarama and Krishna to support them if the Pandavas wage war. Unaware of their real intentions, Balarama agrees to the marriage.Because of the ruined financial state of Pandavas, Balarama’s wife, Revati, refuses to honour her commitment to marry Vatsala and Abhimanyu and expresses her support for the alliance with the Kauravas. Krishna, who is aware of Duryodhana and Shakuni’s real intentions, orders his charioteer Daaruka to take Subhadra and Abhimanyu through the forests to Ghatotkacha’s hermitage.
Ghatotkacha, who happens to be Abhimanyu’s brother, at first thinks they are intruders in his forest and attacks them but later apologises for the misunderstanding. When Subhadra explains the change in the marriage arrangements, Ghatotkacha decides to wage war against both the Kauravas and Balarama. At the urging of his mother, Hidimbi, and Subhadra, Ghatotkacha abandons his plans and is advised instead to try some trickery in Dwaraka.
With the knowledge of Krishna and Vatsala’s servant, he carries the sleeping Vatsala in her bed from Dwaraka, and flies to his hermitage. Assuming Vatsala’s form, he returns to Dwaraka and, with the help of his assistants, wreaks havoc on her wedding to Lakshmana Kumara, preventing the marriage from being carried out.
With the help of assistants, Ghatotkacha creates a magical town consisting of an illusory marketplace and palace. He names the town Mayabazar and invites the Kauravas to stay there. Assistants introduce themselves to the Kauravas as servants appointed by Balarama to look after them. They manage to trick Shakuni’s lackeys. Ghatotkacha (in Vatsala’s form) makes Duryodhana’s wife rethink the marriage arrangement and teases Lakshmana Kumara. He plans the wedding of the real Vatsala and Abhimanyu in his hermitage which is attended by Krishna. Using his divine powers, Krishna also attends as a guest for the marriage taking place in the Mayabazar.
On the wedding day, Ghatotkacha appears before Lakshmana Kumara in various tantalising forms while, at the hermitage, Vatsala marries Abhimanyu. When Shakuni discovers what has really happened, he blames Krishna. Satyaki, Arjuna’s disciple, asks Shakuni to speak standing on a magical box. He proceeds to stand on the box, which makes him involuntarily explain the Kauravas’ real intentions behind the marriage proposal. Ghatotkacha then reveals his identity. After humiliating the Kauravas, Ghatotkacha sends them back to Hastinapur. Vatsala’s parents accept her marriage. They thank Ghatotkacha, who credits Krishna as the mastermind behind everything, including Abhimanyu and Vatsala’s marriage. ( just for information…. this Laxman Kumar is killed by Abhimanyu on the 13th day of the Mahabharat war).
Today’s song is a ‘Sales Pitch’ song- one of the earliest in its category. The singer is Sudhir Phadke, whose voice is so fresh. This was the first Hindi film, in which he sang a song. Same year he also sang in film Sant Janabai-49. That way, this is a rare song. Thanks to Sadanand kamath ji, who uploaded this song on my request.
(I also thank book “Silent Cinema” by Dr. R K Varma, baklol.com and The Hindu article of 30-4-2015 on this film, for information used herein.)
Song-Phatey puraane kapde phenko naye naye tum le lo (Maaya Baazaar)(1949) Singer- Sudhir Phadke, Lyrics- Pt Mukhram Sharma, MD- Sudhir Phadke
Lyrics
Ho o
Nagarvasiyon suno
dhyaan de kar suno
aisa swarn awsar phir kabhi haath na aayega
puraana do
naya lo
puraana
do naya lo
phate puraane kapde phenko
phate puraane kapde phenko
naye naye tum le lo
naye naye tum le lo
gaya samay phir haath na aaye
soch rahe kya le lo
soch rahe kya le lo
soch rahe kya le lo
makhmal pahno
resham pahno
mor mukut peetaambar pahno
maile chithhde phenko phenko o
maile chithhde phenko phenko
naye naye tum le lo
naye naye tum le lo
soch rahe kya le lo
aasmaani ?? chunariyaan
indrdhanush ki lagi chunariyaan
lagi chunariyaan
angiya mein hain chaand sitaare
aawo
le lo
le lo
aao le lo le lo
aao le lo le lo
soch rahe kya le lo
saadi le lo
hanse jawaani
hanse jawaani
hanse jawaani
phoohad pahne
bane sayaani
bane sayaani
bane sayaani
dhaani dhaani jaali waali
kaali peeli choli le lo
le lo
le lo le lo
aao le lo le lo
aao le lo le lo
soch rahe kya le lo
toote phoote bartan phenko
nakkaashi ke bartan dekho
toote phoote bartan phenko
nakkaashi ke bartan dekho
daan dharm ki lagin dukaanen
lagin dukaanen
daan dharm ki lagin dukaanen
lagin dukaanen
lagin dukaanen
muft maal hai le lo
muft maal hai le lo
soch rahe kya le lo
maanik moti heere pehno
ratan jadaau gehne pehno
maanik moti heere pehno
ratan jadaau gehne pehno
Laxmi ka bhandar khula hai
Laxmi ka bhandar khula hai
nagarwaasiyon aao le lo
nagarwaasiyon aao le lo
le lo le lo
le lo le lo
le lo le lo
le lo le lo
le lo le lo
le lo le lo
le lo le lo
le lo le lo
le lo le lo
le lo le lo
le lo le lo
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