Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs

This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Today’s song is from a relatively unknown or rather less known film ‘Vasanti’ (1938). The film was made by Minerva Movietone. The film was given to a novice for direction – KM Multani. He was with Sohrab Modi since his drama days and worked as a cinematographer for Modi’s first two films made by his Stage Films Company. After this first film, Multani also directed 4 more films, namely ‘Virginia’ (1940), ‘Vaseeyat’ (190,) ‘Ujala’ (1942) and ‘Umang’ (1944).

‘Vasanti’ had a pair of music directors. They were Govindrao Tembe and Meer Sahab. Meer Sahab joined Minerva in 1937 and gave music to its first film ‘Atma Tarang’ (1937). Though this film was a flop, he was continued to give music to few more Minerva films like ‘Vasant’, ‘Jailor’ and ‘Divorce’ in 1938, ‘Pukar’ (1939), ‘Main Haari’ (1940), ‘Sikandar’ (1941), ‘Phir Milenge’ (1942). ‘Patharon Ka Saudagar’ (1944) and ‘Lal Haveli’ (1944). either solely or with other MDs.

When Meer Sahab was giving music to an outside film ‘Bahadur Kisan’ (1938), his assistant was C Ramchandra during this period. He became very friendly with Master Bhagwan who was film’s director, hero and a singer too. Meer Sahab was an expert in classical music, but he used to forget tunes. That is why he was best when working with some other MD. In film ‘Vasanti’, his co-MD was Govindrao Tembe. Govind Sadashiv Tembe, popularly known as Govindrao Tembe (5 June 1881 – 9 October 1955), was a harmonium player, stage actor, and music composer. He grew up in Kolhapur and became attached to music early in life. He was largely self-taught as a harmonium player. He has acknowledged the debt of Deval Club for his initial forays into Hindustani classical music.

Tembe learnt his art from Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale and, although he never received direct guidance from Alladiya Khan of Jaipur Gharana, Tembe considered Khansaheb as his guru. He used to accompany Pt. Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale, and would also often perform solo, but later gave up harmonium for most part of his career. He composed music for the drama ‘Maan Apmaan’ in 1910, and also for the first Marathi talkie ‘Ayodhyecha Raja’ (1932). He also acted in both these productions.

He was a personal friend of Late Yuvaraja of Mysore, HH Sri Kanteerava Narasimha Raja Wadiyar. Prof Tembe was part of a large entourage of Yuvaraja during his trip to Europe in 1939. The troupe performed before the Pope and at other places during this trip. As World War II broke out, they stayed at London for a long time and ultimately returned in Jan 1940. Yuvaraja died soon after, at his Palace Anchorage (next to Hotel Taj) in March 1940 and Prof Tembe lost his patron.

Prof Tembe was part-owner of Gandharva Natak Mandali when it was formed in 1913. Two years later, he started his own company named Shivraj Natak Mandali. He wrote dramas and also the padas (songs) in them.

While in film industry, he dabbled in many departments. He was fond of acting. He acted in 6 films, namely ‘Maya Machhindra’ (1932), ‘Ayodhya Ka Raja’ (1932), ‘Seeta’ (1934), ‘Usha’ (1935), ‘Nand Kumar’ (1938) and ‘Krishna Sudama’ (1945). He sang 15 songs in his first 4 films, where he had acted. He directed one film – ‘Raj Mukut’ (1935) and he was a MD in 12 films, from ‘Ayodhya Ka Raja’ (1932) to ‘Saathi’ (1938).

Govindrao’s death was in a strange circumstance. His friend, VH Deshpande has written about it in an article, I found on http://www.parrikar.org, as follows.

Govindrao’s death was unexpected. Of late, he had taken considerable interest in the work of the Central Audition Board of All India Radio. He had gone to Delhi in connection with the work of this Board and suffered a heart attack on 29th September, 1955. Dr. Sumati Mutatkar conveyed the news to the Minister in charge of Information and Broadcasting Dr. B.V. Keskar and Shri P.M. Lad, I.C.S., who took keen personal interest and had Govindrao removed to Wellington Nursing Home. They also arranged for a thorough medical check-up and treatment by expert doctors.

It was felt that somebody from Govindrao’s family should go over to Delhi and stay with him. Shri P.M. Lad, Secretary to Government in the Department of Information and Broadcasting, wrote to Govindrao’s eldest son, Pilunana and called him to Delhi. For the first few days Govindrao was unable to move his hands and feet. But soon he rallied round and was well enough to send a telegram home saying – “I am feeling better. The A.I.R. officers have made excellent arrangements for my treatment. There is, therefore, no need for anybody from the family to come here. There is absolutely no cause for anxiety.”

In the meantime his youngest son, Bhaurao and his eldest daughter-in-law, Indirabai, had left Kolhapur for Delhi; but having seen (at Pune) the reassuring telegram from Govindrao they returned home. Fearing that the telegram might not have reached Kolhapur and that Bhaurao might have started for Delhi, Govindrao pressed Pilunana to go to the Delhi Railway Station to fetch him. Pilunana left the Nursing Home for the station. At 5.35 p.m. Govindrao suffered a heart attack apparently caused by a coughing fit which brought his life to an end in a matter of seconds. When Pilunana returned from the station at 7 p.m. he found that his father had passed away.

Officers of the All India Radio rushed to the hospital on hearing the news. Dr. Keskar too came to pay his respects to the departed soul. He gave
instructions to his officers in regard to the funeral. During this terminal illness of Govindrao, Dr. Keskar, Shri P.M. Lad and Dr. Sumati Mutatkar had
paid personal attention to Govindrao’s treatment and made every effort to make his stay at the hospital as comfortable as possible. They all felt a sense of guilt for the tragedy since it was in response to their invitation that Govindrao had gone to Delhi. “

Minerva Movietone was one of the major and famous film companies. Its initial films were very purposeful and tackled social evils like divorce, alcoholism and incest etc. Minerva was also famous for its grand historical movies and the solid dialogues delivered by Sohrab Modi. All this success did not come to him easily. He learnt through bitter lessons.

In the 30’s, when the talkie films started, there were about 9 big, famous and trend setting film companies. Most companies had graduated to talkie status after they made silent films. Only Bombay Talkies and Minerva Movietone started after talkie films had established a foothold. Let us see when these companies started their film making.

From this chart, it is clear that Minerva was the youngest of all these companies. Modi brothers had started a company called Stage Films Co. in 1935, which shot 2 films from a running stage drama. They were ‘Hamlet’ (1935) and ‘Saeed e Hawas’ (1936). Both were flops. Minerva Movietone was started by Sohrab and brother Rustom Modi in 1936, when they realised that the stage dramas, filmed as feature films did not get the public approval. Production from Stage Films- their first film production enterprise- was suspended till Minerva became successful. ‘Aatma Tarang’ (1937) was the new company’s first film. C Ramchandra was the harmonium accompanist for MD Habib Khan and Bundu Khan. He also did a small role in ‘Aatma Tarang’ and earlier ‘Saeed e Havas’ (1936). Minerva’s first film proved to be a let down.

Sohrab found that there were hardly 20 to 30 persons in the audience on the very first show. The film was based on the power of ‘Bramhacharya’ (Celibacy). In those days, Sohrab was greatly influenced by the teachings of Ramkrishna Mission. Seeing the poor response, he was upset. Thoughts of quitting the film production line were crowding in his mind. Suddenly, he saw four men coming towards him. They came, confirmed that he was Sohrab modi and told him that his film was very good. They further advised him to keep making such good films and one day he will be on top. Later on he learnt that these gentlemen were the Judges of Bombay High Court.

This gave lot of motivation to Modi. It also boosted his self confidence. As such he was sure of his success in films, but now he knew that he must make films on subjects of interest of the public and not his own philosophy, if he wants to succeed commercially. His second film was ‘Khan Bahadur’ (1937), based on the bravery and generosity of a Muslim king who became famous for his bravery. The English rulers gave him the title of Khan Bahadur. The film did a reasonable business.

This incident infused him with new hopes and enthusiasm. This changed his life. Initially he focused on making films on social evils like drinking (‘Meetha Zehar’ (1938)), husband-wife separation (‘Divorce’ (1938)) and incest (‘Bharosa’ (1940)). Enthused with this experience, he made successful films and took his company to the top. Renowned for big budget historical films, Minerva benefited from Modi family’s distribution interests in Gwalior, expanded by his third brother Keki Modi into western India. At one time he controlled a chain of 27 theatres in 10 cities. In 1952, they established India’s first Technicolour Laboratory.

In those days, every film company had its own committed audience. In addition, the language used in every studio’s films had a special touch e.g. Prabhat film language (i.e. dialogues and song lyrics) had a Poona Marathi influence, Ranjit films were Gujarati oriented and New Theatre’s language was ‘Bhoyankor and Bhishon’ – all words were rounded. Bombay Talkies brought in a day to day simple Hindi language. Minerva used Urdu and Farsi influenced words and pronunciations. It suited the long and forceful dialogues of Modi in his historical movies.

The cast of film ‘Vasanti’ was Naseem Banu, Navin Yagnik, Putli, Kusum, Sadiq Ali, Jamshed ji, Ghulam Hussain and many more. Something about the unusual name in the cast – Jamshed ji. His full name was Jamshed ji Bairam ji Khan Saheb. In some films, he was credited as Khan Saheb also. He was born in Bombay in 1889 as a typical Parsee. He was one of the oldest and most experienced actors having worked with several directors and over 25 years of acting.

He started with Silent films like ‘Pyaari Mamta’, ‘Madhuri’, ‘Sohni Mahiwal’, ‘Pooran Bhagat’, ‘Gulshan e Arab’, ‘Hoor e Baghdad’ and ‘Indira’. His first talkie film was ‘Daulat Ka Nasha’ (1931) and ‘Noorjahan’ (1931). He acted in about 50 films. His last known film was ‘Andaz’ (1949).

Jamshed ji, also gave music to 3 films- ‘Naya Zamana’ (1935), ‘Zaate Shareef’ (1936) and ‘Jagat Kesari’ (1937).

Hero of film ‘Vasanti’ was Navin Yagnik. Navin was a well known stunt film actor who did social films also with the same ease. Navin was born in Calcutta on 3-10- 1912. His father was from UP and mother from Bengal. During school days, he was more interested in sports, dramas and oratory. He did not complete his Matriculation, but ran away to Bombay, to become an actor-against the wishes of his family. He joined Sagar Films in 1930, as an extra, without salary. After few months he got Rs. 35 pm, but no credited roles. After a year or so, he left Sagar and joined Mohan Bhavnani’s Ajanta Film company. He first worked in film ‘The Mill ‘ (1934). Unfortunately, this film was banned for 2 years. The film was based on a story by Munshi Premchand and depicted the poor conditions of mill workers in Bombay. The Mill Owners’ Association brought pressure on Government and got the film banned. After 2 years, the film was released as ‘Ghareeb Parvar’ (1936) aka ‘Daya Ki Devi’. Two more films and Navin became hero in film ‘Pyar Ki Maar’ (1935).

In her autobiography, actress Hansa Wadkar says,”My hero in this film was one Navin Yagnik, a handsome boy from UP. He was very shy and after the shootings, he would quietly sit in one corner reading something. He never joined our drink parties, nor he participated in any other group activity. I was attracted towards him but he gave no response. He sent me invitation card of his marriage, when it was fixed.”

He also worked in Minerva Movietone, Prakash pictures, Filmistan and other good banners. Some of his well known films were, ‘Zambo-The ape Man’ (1937), ‘Meri Bhool’ (1937), ‘Divorce’ (1938), ‘Vasanti’ (1938), ‘Son of Zambo’ (1939), ‘Main Haari’ (1940), ‘Vasantsena’ (1942), ‘Raja Rani’ (1942), ‘School Master’ (1943), ‘Prithvi Vallabh’ (1943), ‘Chal Chal Re Naujawan’ (1944) etc. His last recorded film was ‘Bhagwat Mahima’ (1955). In all, he worked in 30 films.

Navin Yagnik died on 28-10-1977.

Today’s song is probably composed by Govindrao Tembe, but HFGK does not credit any song to individual MD in the duo. With this song, film ‘Vasanti’ makes its debut on this Blog.

Song – Roop Anoop Wahi Hai Sajani (Vasanti) (1938) Singer – Naseem Banu, Lyricist – Abdul Baqi, MD – Govindrao Tembe and Meer Saheb

Lyrics

roop anoop vahi hai sajani
roop anoop vahi hai sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave sajani
roop anoop wahi hai sajani
roop anoop wahi hai sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave

prem mein mann aisa kho jaawe
prem mein mann aisa kho jaawe
apna dhyaan na aawe ree sajni
apna dhyaan na aawe ree sajni
sab sudh budh bisraawe sajni
sab sudh budh bisraawe

yaad mein jeewan unke bita doon
yaad mein jeewan
aa aa aa aa aa
yaad mein jeewan unke bita doon
prem ki aag suhaave sajani
prem ki aag suhaave sajani
prem mein mann sukh paave sajani
prem mein mann sukh paave sajani
roop anoop wahi hai sajani
roop anoop wahi hai sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave

——————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
——————————————

रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे सजनी
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे

प्रेम में मन ऐसा खो जावे
प्रेम में मन ऐसा खो जावे
अपना ध्यान ना आवे सजनी
अपना ध्यान ना आवे सजनी
सब सुध बुध बिसरावे सजनी
सब सुध बुध बिसरावे

याद में जीवन उनके बिता दूँ
याद में जीवन
आ आ आ आ आ
याद में जीवन उनके बिता दूँ
प्रेम की आग सुहावे सजनी
प्रेम की आग सुहावे सजनी
प्रेम में मन सुख पावे सजनी
प्रेम में मन सुख पावे सजनी
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे