Archive for the ‘Rare song’ Category
Mere angnaa kaag na boley
Posted on: September 11, 2022
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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5168 | Post No. : | 17137 |
Today’s song is from yet another Historical movie-Padmini-1948. Like the last post, even this film story is connected with Rajasthan, by coincidence.
The film was made by the Punjab Film Corporation, Bombay – owned by the Producer, Director and Lyricist of this film – Wali Sahab. Music Director was Ghulam Haider and the cast consisted of Mumtaz Shanti (wife of the director Wali Sahab), Ashok kumar, Mumtaz Ali, Maya Devi, Neelam, Sultana, A.Shah and others.
Film Padmini-48 was the second Historical movie in which Ashok Kumar had ‘acted’. The first one was ” Humayun”-1945. In that film, according to Isaq Mujawar, author of several books on old films and artistes,” Ashok kumar was ridiculed by the theatre audience for his feminine acting and running with the war gear on the screen. he looked so funny in that attire that whole audience was laughing loudly at him” (book-Screenplay). Obviously, Ashok Kumar, who had an image of a simple romantic Hero in the Bombay Talkies films with Devika Rani and later with Leela Chitnis, was a misfit in the Historical role. Looks like he did not realise this or did not care for it and accepted the second such film again.
Same case was with Ashok Kumar’s Mythological films. The first mythological film that he acted in was ‘ Savitri”-1937 with Devika Rani as Savitri. Ashok Kumar was still a new actor and this was his only 4th film. He had yet to get branded as a Romantic hero, but the Mythological role of Satyawan did not suit him at all. When one sees some photos of this film, one will be confused as to who is Satyawan and who is Savitri. Even in the photos he looked so odd and awkward. In Spite of this, he acted in another Mythological film ” Uttara Abhimanyu “-1946, with Shanta Apte. Here, he was Abhimanyu and did not suit the role at all due to his age, which was 35 years. Shanta Apte as Uttara was also over 30 years old. Thankfully, good sense prevailed and Ashok Kumar did not act in such films in the Hero’s role thereafter !
In the film Padmini-1948, actress Sultana had done a role. Her sisters Zubeida and Shehzadi had quit films in late 30’s after their marriage, but Sultana continued in films. Sultana, also known as Sultana Razaaq, was one of the earliest film actresses from India and acted both in silent movies and later in talkie movies. She was daughter of India’s first female film director, Fatima Begum. Zubeida (leading actress of India’s first talkie film Alam Ara -1931) was the younger sister of Sultana. The youngest sister was Shehzadi-also an actress. Actress Mehtab (Sohrab Modi’s wife), whose real name was Najma, was the step sister of these girls. Najma was the daughter of Marium, one of the wives of Nawab of Sachin.
Sultana was among the few girls who entered films at a time when it was not considered an appropriate profession for girls from respectable families, let alone Royalty. Born in the Surat city of Gujarat in western India, Sultana was a stunningly beautiful Muslim princess, the daughter of Nawab Siddi Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan III of Sachin State and Fatima Begum. She had two sisters, Zubeida and Shehzadi, both actresses. However, there is no record of a marriage or a contract having taken place between the Nawab and Fatima Bai or of the Nawab having recognised any of her children as his own, a prerequisite for legal paternity in Muslim family law. Actually, the Nawab had 3 wedded wives and Fatima was an ‘ outside’ arrangement.
Sultana was a popular actress in the silent movie era, usually cast in romantic roles. She started her career as an actress in Veer Abhimanyu (1922) film in 1920s and later performed in several silent films. Later, she also acted in talkie movies. Sultana did sexy roles in films and earned a name as “Sultry Sultana”. She acted in 20 Silent films. She continued acting after the Talkie films started and worked in 19 Talkie films. Her last film was ‘ Girdhar Gopal ki Meera’-1949.. She came into limelight when she filed a case against Yassir Hussain Lalji, son of the chief of Bombay Municipality, in 1931, claiming to be his wife and demanding a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs in those days !
When India was partitioned in 1947, she migrated to Pakistan with her husband, a wealthy man named Seth Razaaq. Her daughter, Jamila Razaaq, was also encouraged by her to act in Pakistani films and she produced a film in Pakistan, named Hum Ek hain (1961), written by famous scriptwriter, Fayyaz Hashmi. The film was partly shot in colour, which was rare those days, but it failed miserably and Sultana stopped producing any films afterwards.
Sultana’s daughter, Jamila Razaaq, married the well known Pakistani cricketer Waqar Hasan, who is the brother of filmmaker Iqbal Shehzad. He runs a business under the name National Foods at Karachi. (Author’s note- This is based on information collated from the book ‘Asli Nakli Chehere’ by Vithal Pandya, Blog of P.Kamalakar, 1946 Film Directory, pak.mag site and my notes, with thanks to all)
Another unknown name in the cast is A.Shah. Here is some information on him. An actor who was quite a popular comedian those days was A Shah aka Aziz Shah. He was born in 1910, at Sialkot. He did not have much schooling, except primary education at Lyallpur and at Islamia High School, Lahore. Due to his rich and sweet voice, he used to recite Holy Quran, on farmaish. He wrote poetry also.
He joined Saroj Movietone in 1930, under Mohan Bhavnani as an artiste at Rs.40 p.m. He acted in ‘Shakuntala’-31 and ‘Gul Bakavli’-32. He had to take a 2 year break, due to an illness. Back in Bombay, he worked in the film ‘Fidai Tohid’-34 as a hero. He gave music to the film ‘Gunehgar’-36. He wrote dialogues for ‘Mother India’-38 and ‘Daughters of India’-39. His first comic role was in Ranjit’s ‘Mirza Sahiban’-35. He became famous with his role in Punjabi film ‘Kurmai’-41.
His best role came in ‘Sharada’-42, as Munshi Udharchand Shikarpuri. This was repeated by him in the film ‘Keemat’-46. Some of his 11 films were, ‘Dhandora’-41, ‘Armaan’-42, ‘Sukh Dukh’-42, ‘Kanoon’-43, ‘Sanjog’-43, ‘Geet’-44 and ‘Ek Din Ka Sultan’-45, and Padmini-48.After 1948, he stopped acting and wrote lyrics in films like ‘Raat Ki Rani’-49, ‘Namoona’-49 and ‘Ek Teri Nishani’-49. After this he possibly migrated to Pakistan and we have no further information about him anymore. Baburao Patel of Film India magazine was his fan.( Adapted from Film Directory-46 and pak.mag with thanks.)
Today’s song is from the early career of Geeta Roy when she was new, not very well known and with a fresh melodious voice. The song is very sweet. Music is by Ghulam Haider, who was in a hurry to migrate to Pakistan. He was one of the very few popular and successful MDs in undivided India, who went to Pakistan and did not do that well there. Not only that, he suffered from Cancer and died within 2 years of going to Pakistan. This is in contrast to many other MDs, who were ordinary and not so popular in India, became highly successful, popular and famous in Pakistan Some such examples are Nissar Bazmi, Tufail Faruqi, G.A.Chishti (Babaji) etc etc.
The producer, Director and lyricist of this film was Wali Saheb who also migrated to Pakistan soon after, along with his wife Mumtaz Shanti. Just for information, Mumtaz Shanti’s mother was a Hindu named Shanti and father was a Muslim-Mumtaz Shah. That’s how she called herself Mumtaz Shanti.
I am not giving the story of this film, because the story of beautiful queen Padmini and her Jauhar, along with hundreds of other women, to save their honour from the army of Allauddin khilji is very well known.
Song- Mere angna kaag na boley (Padmini)(1948) Singer- Geeta Roy, Lyricist- Wali Sahab, MD- Ghulam Haider
Lyrics
Mere angna kaag na boley
ke nain mere ae kajle bharey
mere angna kaag na boley ae
mere angna kaag na boley
ke nain mere
ke nain mere kajle bhare ae
kajal bharey
mera dhak dhak jiyra doley
ke nain mere kajle bhare ae
kajle bharey
mere angana kaag na boley
tere nain baan man bhaaye re
tere nain baan man bhaaye re
man piya piya nit gaaye re
man piya piya nit gaaye re
koi piya ko jaa ke bataaye re
ke nain mere
ke nain mere kajle bhare ae
kajle bhare
mere angana kaag na boley
nain mere kajle bhare ae
kajle bharey
mere angna kaag na boley
mere man ke meet harjaai re
mere man ke meet harjaai re
meri gaaon gaaon ruswaai re
meri gaaon gaaon ruswaai re
main to preet kiye pachhtaai re
ke nain mere
ke nain mere kajle bharey ae
kajle bharey
mere angna kaag na boley
nain mere kajle bharey ae
kajle bharey
pehle kar ke pyaar ki batiyaan
haay pehle kar ke pyaar ki batiyaan
paachhe bheji na prem ki patiyaan
paachhe bheji na prem ki patiyaan
maine nainon mein kaati saari ratiyan
ke nain mere
ke nain mere kajle bharey ae
kajle bharey
mere angna kaag na boley ae
mere angana kaag na boley
nain mere kajle bharey ae
kajle bharey
mere angna kaag na boley
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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5163 | Post No. : | 17128 |
Today’s song is from the film Adab Arz-1943. The film was made by Amar pictures, Bombay – which was started by Chimanlal Desai after Sagar Movietone closed and he also left National Studios. The film was one of the 8 films that his son-Virendra Desai – directed in his failed career. Music was provided to the 12 songs written by Rammurthy Chaturvedi, Kailash G Matwala and Pt. Indra, by Gyan Dutt who had recently left his long association with Ranjit Movietone. The cast of the film was Nalini Jayawant, Karan Dewan, Kamla Chaterjee, Ansari, Pratima Devi, Dulari, Mukesh, Nagendra M, M Kumar, and many others.
Not much information is available about this film anywhere. This is one great obstacle in writing about old films. Maybe the people who collect records and Film Booklets have its booklet giving some extra details and an incomplete storyline. otherwise such stories are available only in the reviews appearing in Film magazines of those times. Magazine Film India was a good source of such stories, but unfortunately issues of 1943 year are not available on the Net-like other years.
Luckily, at least HFGK gives the data for film songs of most films of the year. Here also there are films for which absolutely on information – except the film title – is available. I do not know why it is so, but surely HFGK makers must be helpless in such cases. I know how much effort Har Mandir Singh ji and his team took in collecting the data for films for compiling one volume for each decade.
In the year 2012, I had bought all the then available Volumes (5 Volumes) for the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, and the 70’s decades. Of late, volumes for next decades are also available, but I have not bought them, as I don’t generally write on films made after the year 1980. However, I have got the Book of filmography from 1981 to 2000, published by Hamraz ji. Except song details, it has all other details about films made in these 20 years.
The HFGK volumes for 1930 to 1960 which I have, are in complete tattered condition. This is due to its constant-almost daily- use for the last so many years. The cardboard covers have separated from the rest of the papers and the pages are in “divorced” condition with other pages ! Even then I use the same volumes in ” as is where is ” condition (they are beyond ‘gumming’), because of the hundreds of the small notes I have made on each page and each name, song and each detail. Buying new volumes means losing all this information being used as a reference or maintaining all 10 volumes, at a time, which will be cumbersome !
HFGK has been one of the tools I have used in writing my more than 1100 articles. I can not imagine how I would have done it without them. HFGK provides names of major and minor actors, the director, the MD and the song details which makes it very easy for finding the songs on social media like YouTube etc. Kind song collectors upload “new” old songs from time to time. There are music collectors who collect only the songs of the old films (without collecting 78 RPM records), like, for example Dr. Surjit Singh ji. He allows any song lover to download these songs for FREE. A real social worker, I would say. My friend Shri Abhay Jain from the USA has given me more than 6000 songs from films of the 30’s and 40’s alone !
Many times HFGK provides names of some actors, singers , MDs, or Directors who evoke my interest as they are not commonly seen and I spend months collecting information about them from various sources. Even in today’s film cast I find 2 interesting actor names, Nagendra M. and A.N.Ansari. Today I will provide information about Nagendra M here.
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.
He 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 for 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 Aladdin aka Aladdin II-36, Lehri lutera-37, Talwarwala-46 and Swadesh Sewa-46.
When offers for direction became few, he started acting in films. He acted in 12 films. When K L Saigal came to Bombay, Nagendra wanted to work with him. In the film Tansen-43, he did the role of Tansen’s (Saigal’s) father and he was very happy. Other films that he acted in were Kanchan-41,Beti-41, Khilauna-42, Bhakt Surdas-42, Armaan-42, Tansen-43, Gauri-43, Adab Arz-43, Bharthari-44, Prabhu ka Ghar-45, Ghazal-45 and Dhanna Bhagat-45.
His last 2 films came in 1946, but his health was not cooperating for quite a few years. He gave up work and took a 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, Lakshmi, Jayant Desai films, Yagnik films etc etc.
I have information about Ansari also, but the post will be too long and I know from my own experience that nowadays long posts are not read by most people. Ansari will have to wait for some other time, another day.
Lastly, a little information about Director Virendra Desai and the heroine of this film Nalini Jayawant. They got married in 1943, when Virendra was 15 years older than the 17 year old Nalini and when he was already married having 2 daughters and 1 son too ! Their marriage was not successful and they divorced in 1948. Virendra Desai led a dejected and defeated life personally after this, whereas Nalini married again and shone a lot in Hindi films as an actress. When she died, she was living alone and her body was discovered after 3 days. The ‘ May-December ‘ marriage was not lucky for both of them !
Today’s song is the second song from this film in this Blog and is sung by Nalini Jayawant again.
(Author’s note- Information for this article is collated from various sources like Listener’s Bulletins No. 40 of Feb-80 and No.145 of July 2010, HFGK, muVyz, Sapnon ke Saudagar by Vithal Pandya, Silent films by Dr.Verma, Lost Treasures by Kamlakar P., Sagar Movietone by Biren Kothari ji and my notes.)
Song- Kheton pe chale bhaiyya kisaan re (Aadaab Arz)(1943) Singer- Nalini Jaywant, Lyricist- Rammurthy, MD-Gyan Dutt
Lyrics
kheton pe chale bhaiyya
kisaan re ae
kheton pe chale bhaiyya kisaan re ae
thumak bhaagi (??) peechhe jaaye re
thumak bhaagi (??) peechhe jaaye re
aage badha hindustan re ae
aage badha hindustan re ae
talwaar sang sang jaaye re ae
talwaar sang sang jaaye re ae
kheton pe chale bhaiyya
kisaan re ae
kheton pe chale bhaiyya kisaan re ae
thumak bhaagi (??)
haan haan
thhumak bhaagi (??)
haan haan
thhumak bhaagi (??)
peechhe jaaye re
hare bhare haaye khet humaare
hare bhare haaye khet humaare
bhaiyya ke sariya(?) pagariya daari
bhaiya ke sariya(?) pagariya daari
gori bhaabhi ?? samjhaaye
gori bhabhi ?? samjhaaye
jhanda tiranga jaise phahraaye re
jhanda tiranga jaise phahraaye re
kheton pe chale bhaiyya
kisaan re ae
kheton pe chale bhaiyya kisaan re ae
thumak bhaagi (??)
haan haan thhumak bhaagi (??)
haan haan thhumak bhaagi (??)
peechhe jaaye re
thhumak bhaagi (??) peechhe jaaye re
Kaun hai wo wo kaun hai
Posted on: September 3, 2022
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5160 | Post No. : | 17123 | Movie Count : |
4619 |
Today’s song is from an obscure film of 1942 – ‘Nari’. It was made by Venus Pictures, Bombay and was directed by Raja Yadnik. I have no information about this director, except that he had directed 13 films – from ‘Magic Horse’ (1935) to ‘Anarbala’ (1961), averaging 1 film every 2 years ! From his list I find that none of his films were popular or a hit film. The music for the film ‘Nari’ was given by H.C. aka Harishchandra Bali.
Harishchandra Bali aka HC Bali was born on 10-3-1906 at Jalandhar, Punjab. He received early training in music from Pt Tola Ram and Ustad Maula Baksh of Talwandi Gharana. He was also a disciple of Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale and Pt Dilip Chandra Vedi. He adopted their styles. Bali came to Bombay. He entered film by acting as a Hero in the film ‘Naqsh-e-Sulemani'(1933). In later life also he acted in a few more films. As an MD, his first film was ‘Aurat Ka Dil’ (1933) and last film was ‘Janta’ (1947).
He gave music to 26 films. Among these were first films of Prof Pt Ramanand Sharma, ‘Watan Parast’ (1934), first film of actress Pramila, ‘Bhikarin’ (1935), first film of Debaki Bose in Bombay, ‘Jeewan Natak’ (1935). In the film ‘Pati Patni'(1939), Naushad was his assistant and composed a few songs also. In 1942, Bali gave music to ‘Aple Ghar’ the Marathi version of ‘Apna Ghar’ (1941). He was the MD for the last film of Vishnupant Pagnis, ‘Mahatma Vidur’ (1943) and in film ‘Janta’ (1947), he gave the opportunity to lyricist Rajendra Krishna for the first time.
Bali also gets the credit for bringing KL Saigal to limelight. Both he and Saigal were from Jalandhar. When Saigal was in Calcutta for his job as a typewriter salesman, Bali was living with RC Boral. Bali told Boral about Saigal’s singing and the rest is history. Bali came into news in the late 50s, when he said that Lata had sung 4 songs for his film ‘Seedha Rasta’ (1941) and thus claimed to introduce her to the film singing. However, Lata clarified that till her father Dinanath’s death in 1942, she was in Kolhapur and there was no question of her singing in films in 1941. Thus Bali’s claim got scuttled.
After 1947, Bali retired from films and returned to Jalandhar. He started his own Music School, ‘Sangeet Vihar’. He became famous as a Music Guru to many singers in later years. Bali also sang on Radio and was an A grade artiste of All India Radio. He also wrote a few books on Music. ‘Sangeet Vigyan’ in 4 volumes and ‘Sangeet Prakash’ in Punjabi language. These books were published by Punjab State University Text Book Board in Chandigarh. Harishchandra Bali died on 24-6-1976 at Jalandhar.
The cast of the film was Trilok Kapoor, Urmila, Kamla Warerkar, Lalita Pawar, Jilloo Bai, Majid, Anant Marathe and others. The lyricists were Pt Phani and Bashir Jamali. I always had a curiosity about Pt Phani. I tried all books, net sites, blogs and other documents like newspaper and magazine articles, but nowhere I could find his real and full name. Anyway, this is the case with many lyricists. Barring a few ones who remained in limelight due to their non-poetic activities – like Sahir, Majrooh, Shakeel and the likes of them, lyricists have always been in the last part of priorities of authors and blogs. Even in books on lyricists, not much information can be found except their filmography, thanks to HFGK. Blogs which writers on singers and MDs rarely write on lyricists.
Pt Phani started with the film ‘Yangrila’ (1938) and ended his career with the film ‘Bansari Bala’ (1957). He wrote for 32 films and his songs numbered 219. He was also a dialogue writer for a few films. His films were divided between social and B/C grade films – like mythologicals, almost equally. This is all I know about Pt Phani.
The story of film ‘Nari’ was written by MG Dave and dialogues were by Pt Phani. The story of the film was,
Saroj Mehta lived with her mother Harganga in the chawl of Seth Hiralal. She earned by singing on radio and studied for a Montessori course. Mahesh – son of Seth Shivlal came to her school one day to meet his cousin whose name was also Saroj. Due to the same name confusion, he met Saroj Mehta. They liked each other, love bloomed and they decided to get married. His father also agreed.
But the chawl owner Hiralal wanted Mahesh to marry his daughter Manjula, who was uneducated and a vagabond. To break the proposed marriage many untrue stories were spread around about Saroj’s mother. Due to this Shivlal breaks the marriage and Mahesh gets married to Manjula.
Saroj shifts to another city. She loses her mother. She starts a school for children. Mahesh begets a son. After 4-5 years Mahesh gets transferred to the same city and his son starts going to the school of Saroj. She trains all children nicely and Shivlal and Mahesh are very happy with their son’s behavior and progress. One day Mahesh meets Saroj and the old love blooms again.
Knowing this development, Hiralal and Manjula plan to kill Saroj and finish the problem. However, in the commotion created at time of murder, Hiralal by mistake kills Manjula. He is arrested and jailed. Mahesh and Saroj get married at last.
The heroine of the film was Urmila. She is one of the Same Name Confusion pairs, as there was another Urmila (Bhatt) in Hindi films. However, more about Urmila Bhatt some other time. Now we will know about this Urmila first. You will find the name Urmila – in some films she is named as Urmila Devi, and Urmila Gupta also. She was not a very good looking actress, but she compensated for it with her good acting. Urmila Gupta was born on 31-3- 1921 at Panja Sahib, Rawalpindi district of United Punjab. Her father, who was a Civil Contractor, died when she was only 5 year old. She did not get much education but could read and write as well as talk fluently in Urdu, Hindi and English.
She started her career with a small un-credited role in the film ‘Mirza Sahiban’ (1933). She was the younger sister of Mirza in this film. After some more small roles, she got her major role in the film ‘Aansuon Ki Duniya’ (1936). After this, she did not look back and did ‘Punjab Lancers’ (1937), ‘Talwar Ka Dhani’ (1938), ‘Kahan Hai Manzil Teri’ (1939), ‘Hurricane Special’ (1939), ‘Flying Ranee’ (1939), ‘Desh Bhakt’ (1940), ‘Sasural’ (1941), ‘Sajjan’ (1941), ‘Mere Sajan’ (1941), ‘Naari’ (1942), ‘Das Baje’ (1942), ‘Call Of Youth’ (1942), ‘Badal’ (1942), ‘Apna Paraya’ (1942), ‘Tamasha’ (1942), ‘Kirti’ (1942), ‘Salma’ (1943), ‘Bansari’ (1943), ‘Refugee’ (1948) etc. Urmila got married to Vinod Talwar, a businessman and stopped working in films, for some time, maybe for raising a family. She resumed working in films and acted in another 20 odd films till 1952. She had sung 12 songs. In all, she worked in about 55 films.
There is another actor Majid in this film. Majid’s name was Abdul Majid Syed. He was born at Farrukhabad in UP in 1915. His father was an overseer. After completing his matric in 1929, he started his business of leather in Akola, Maharashtra. In 1935, actor, director and producer Nazeer of Hind Pictures, introduced him to SK Daryani and he got a small role in ‘Sher Ka Panja’ (1936) and ‘Sangdil Samaj’ (1936). However, from film ‘Bulldog’ (1937), he got side roles and lead roles in films like ‘Gentleman Daku’ (1937), ‘Insaaf’ (1937), ‘Rajkumari’ (1938), ‘Masterman’ (1938), ‘Zamana’ (1938), ‘Apni Nagariya’ aka ‘Mud’ (1940), ‘Saubhagya’ (1940), ‘Swami’ (1941), ‘Swaminath’ (1942). He also acted in more films like ‘Najma’ (1943), ‘Babar’ (1944) and ‘Zeenat’ (1945).
In all he did over 100 films till 1947. After partition, he migrated to Pakistan with Nazeer and Swarnalata. In Pakistan he did just 7 films. He died on 24-9-1959.
Today’s song is sung by Lalita Parulkar. There was Lalita Pawar also. Luckily Lalita Pawar had stopped singing long back, otherwise there would have been another pair of Same Name Confusion. By the way Lalita Pawar had sung 10 songs in 3 films in her early career. Lalita Parulkar was actually a Marathi singer. She sang 19 songs in 6 films. ‘Nari’ was her debut film as a singer in Hindi films. She last sang in the film Kul Kalank-1945.
With this song, film ‘Nari’ (1942) makes its debut on this blog.
Song- Kaun hai wo wo kaun hai (Naari)(1942) Singer- Lalita Parulkar, Lyrics-Pt Phani, MD-Harishchandra Bali
Lyrics
kaun hai wo
wo kaun hai
koi bataaye
kaun hai
aankhon se jo dil mein aaye
aankhon se jo dil mein aaye
dil mein aa kar jo bas jaaye
dil mein aa kar jo bas jaaye
bas ke dil mein jo muskaaye
bas ke dil mein jo muskaaye
jo muskaa ke baanchhe(?) laaye(?)
jo muskaa ke baanchhe(?) laaye(?)
kaun hai
jiske aate aayi jawaani
jiske rahte rahe rawaani
kaliyon par hai jiske saaye
phoolon par jo par phailaaye
kaun hai
preet kahen ise preet ke maare
preet kahen ise preet ke maare
prem kahen ise premi pyaare
prem kahen ise premi pyaare
sneh kahen ise saajan saare
kaun hai
kaun hai wo
wo kaun hai
koi bataaye
kaun hai
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
————————————————
कौन है वो
वो कौन है
कोई बताए
कौन है
आँखों से जो दिल में आए
आँखों से जो दिल में आए
दिल में आ कर जो बस जाये
दिल में आ कर जो बस जाये
बस के दिल में जो मुस्काए
बस के दिल में जो मुस्काए
जो मुस्का कर बाँछें(?) लाये(?)
जो मुस्का कर बाँछें(?) लाये(?)
कौन है
जिसके आते आए जवानी
जिसके रहते रहे रवानी
कलियों पर हैं जिसके साये
फूलों पर जो पर फैलाये
कौन है
प्रीत कहें इसे प्रीत के मारे
प्रीत कहें इसे प्रीत के मारे
प्रेम कहें इसे प्रेमी प्यारे
प्रेम कहें इसे प्रेमी प्यारे
स्नेह कहें इसे साजन सारे
कौन है
कौन है वो
वो कौन है
कोई बताए
कौन है
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5158 | Post No. : | 17121 |
Today’s song is from the film Dhoomketu-1949.
No,no, this film is not on any Astronomical topic. The name Dhoomketu is the name of the film’s Hero, whose name in the film is Inspector Comet ! This was a regular stunt film from the stable of Homi Wadia’s Basant pictures. It featured Fearless Nadia, John Cawas in the lead along with the usual stunt film actors like Boman Shroff, Azeem Bhai, Dalpat, Habeeb, Rajani, Sona Chatterjee and others. The film was directed by Homi Wadia, the music was by A.Kareem and the songs were by Kareem and Rajjan.
Most of us like to see films, be it on a TV, in a cinema hall, or through DVD. Some like old films, some like new films. Did you ever see films like, Khooni Khanjar, Dagabaj Doctor, Shaitan ka paash, Char chakram, Daku Rani Talwarwali, Jaadu ka dandaa, Zinda Laash, Revolver Rani, Sinbad-Aladdin-Alibaba, Flying man, Fighter Sheela, Khooni Darinda, Tarzan aur Jadugar, Tarzan aur Jadui Chiraag, Golden Gang, Murde ki jaan khatare mein, or Jadui putli ?
I bet none of these movie names have been even heard by you ever. These are all STUNT FILMS or in other words ‘C’ grade films. In India I really wonder how the classification or Grading of films is done, or who is the person or the body authorised to do it. Because Censor Certificates do not label A, B or C grades at all.
Then how does this happen ?
My guess is that films are graded on 2 counts- One, The cost of production or Budget and the class of stars in it and Two, The class of people for whom the film is made or directed, like the Rich, middle and the Poor class. Whatever the basis, there is a very thin line between A and B grade films, while between these two and the C grade films, the line is very Bold and thick indeed !
Stunt films, Costume films, fantasy films and purely Religious films are normally treated as C grade films. These film do not carry any prestige, the actors working in them are exclusive to C grade films, the production values and the budget is quite low and most important, they are ALWAYS shown in theatres situated in older parts of the town, single screens, or only for Morning shows or in Theatres generally frequented by lower strata of society. A person seeing/loving or craving for such films is generally considered a ‘Low’ creature and a person with ‘child brain’.
In India ,this is the fate of C grade films. Actually these films have everything that A and B grade films have, like, story, songs, dances, fights etc, but still, the treatment given to handling of the story etc. in the films is very poor or lacking in expertise.
Stunts have improved, Technology has evolved but the participation of Zippy the Monkey, Tiger the Horse, Moti the Dog, parrots, snakes and khatara cars named Rolls Royce ki beti and Austin ki Bachhi is missing ! The contribution of Fearless Nadia in making Stunt films popular can not be denied, but then she had the backing of companies like Wadia Movietone. Basant pictures, Ranjit, Sagar, National etc. When you read the stories of these films please don’t employ Logic or common sense to it. This is a different world altogether. The set of actors is fixed, many times the composers are unheard of or they are known composers now in bad shape, the Directors are typical and the production houses are exclusive to churn out such films.
It is, nevertheless, a fact that many well known and famous actors and actresses of the 40s and 50s evolved from the stunt films of yore. Examples are Jairaj or Master Bhagwan.Can you believe that this roly-poly Bhagwan dada was a great body-builder when he started in stunt films in the late 30s ? Lalita Pawar(Amboo), Madhuri, Rampyari, Miss Moti, Sabita Devi, and Sulochana (Ruby Myers) are some female examples who graduated to Social films via Stunt films.
C grade films were those films which were made by not so famous banners, almost unknown actors, directors and composers. Usually C grade films used to be action/stunt films, made on shoestring budgets, having a fixed storyline resembling Tarzan, Hercules or Hollywood action films of Robin Hood, with the background of a jungle, Tribal people, King-Queen-wicked Vazir and similar stories. C grade films were always quickies, made on shoe-string budgets. During the late 30s and 40s, Master Bhagwan action films used to be completed in about Rs. 50,000 only- including studio rent, sets, artistes’ fees and other expenses. C grade films had a captive audience comprising factory workers, daily wagers, Low grade earners and students. However, such films used to rake in big profits to the film makers. Therefore, even top class banners sometimes made C grade films, to make up for their losses in big film flops.
There were certain production houses specialised and thriving on such films, like Paramount films, Jagriti films, Mohan pictures, Wadia Movietone etc etc. The actors and actresses of such films were fixed. Since the studio system was in vogue, the film studios usually had their actors and directors fixed. Music directors were of no consequence, so anybody would do. Well known composers like C.Ramchandra used to take another name while composing music for C grade action films. Music assistants of famous composers used to give music to such films. Well known composers falling on bad days also gave music to such films. C grade films rarely made Commercial records for their film songs, so such songs are a real rarity even with big collectors.
Some common and regular names one found in Action/Stunt films are, Nadia, Boman Irani, Sayani, Bilimoria bros, Cooper sisters, Zohra Khatun, Ameena Khatun, Khatun Bai, Prakash, Adjania, Noorjehan (sr.), Moosa Pehelwan, Vasantrao Pehelwan, Baburao Pehelwan, Marutirao Pehelwan, Azim bhai, Basheer, Ali, Bachha, Chandra Rao, Harishchandra Rao, Shankar Rao, Master Bhagwan, Mirajkar, Jamshed, John Cavas, Lalita Pawar, Navin chandra…and many such names. Barring a few names like Lalita Pawar, Bhagwan, Nadia etc, all the other action film actors remained unknown. No one knows anything about them.Actors like Baburao pehelwan, Marutirao Pehelwan ( He was the Hero in the First Gujarati Talkie film ‘ Narsi Mehta ‘), Chandra Rao, Sayani etc were quite famous in their times, but except their Filmography (thanks to HFGK), nothing more is known about them. All of them ended with only mere names !
In my younger age I was fond of stunt films and used to travel to theatres in the Old city part of Hyderabad, to watch films featuring Kamran (father of famous choreographer and Director Farah khan and Director, comedian, Anchor Sajid Khan), Naazi, Bhagwan and many such actors.” Adventures of Captain Marvel” and “Trip to the Moon” were my favourites from Hollywood’s Republic Serial productions.
In the 50s and 60s, some respectability to these stunt films was brought by actors like Mahipal, Ranjan, Dara Singh, Azad, Hemant Birje etc. The set of Heroines was also set to Mumtaz, Tabassum,Vijaya Chaudhary, Indira, Nishi etc. Mumtaz started with Stunts and graduated to greater heights and was counted in Top actresses of her days. Costume and Stunt films like Baaz, Insaniyat and Azaad etc were made respectable by the stars acting in them. Over a period the picture changed and nowadays every alternate film has breath-taking stunts done by almost all top Heroes, thanks to SFX, of course !
This film featured Fearless Nadia. There are plenty of articles on her on the internet. Even the Grandson of J.B.H.Wadia- Roy Wadia has written on her. So I will only give a short bio of Nadia here, without many small details. ‘Circus Queen’-1959 is almost the last film of Fearless Nadia. After this film, she just did one more token film, ‘Khiladi’ in 1968. Starting from the 1933 film ‘Laal e Yaman’, Nadia did about 43 films. Most of them were for Wadia Movietone and later for Basant pictures of Homi Wadia. Here is a short note on Nadia…
In the 1930s, when the silent era was giving way to the Talkie films, there appeared on Hindi Film screens a dashing young woman who ruled over men and told them “Don’t ever take women for granted. If the nation is to be freed, the women have to be freed first.” (dialogue from the film ‘Diamond Queen’ (1940).)
Mary Evans (Fearless Nadia’s real name) was a devout catholic. She was born on 8-1-1908 to a Scottish father and a Greek mother, in Perth, Australia. The family later traveled to India. Her father, a British Army soldier, was based in Bombay. She wanted to be a singer and a dancer. She learnt dancing from father and singing from mother. She sang in the local church choirs on Sundays. In 1915, when her father died in WW I action, they shifted to first Peshawar and then returned to settle in Bombay. She joined a dancing troupe.
One Mr. Eruch Kanga, owner of Lahore cinema saw her performance in the troupe and told the Wadia Brothers, who were looking for a heroine. They called her for an interview. After seeing her, the brothers realized the difficulty in making a white woman a Heroine in Hindi films. In the interview, JBH Wadia said, “I have never heard about you before”, to which she retorted,”I too had not heard your name till this morning”. The brothers were impressed and she was appointed in Wadia Movietone. To test her, she was given small roles in films which were in the making, like Lal e yaman and Noor e yaman, while she studied speaking Hindi.
She was launched with the film ‘Hunterwali’ -1935, a dramatic story of a princess trying to rescue her kidnapped father and salvage his empire. It was an unconventional role and a new subject for the Indian audience.
The film opened in Super cinema on Lamington Road, Bombay and became an instant hit. It was like a revolution. Audience was thrilled to see a white woman, donning a mask and cracking a whip at her tormentors. They were awed, happy and mesmerised, wanting more of it .She was named NADIA based on an astrologer’s advice. They added FEARLESS for her in the ads. Hunterwali was only a prelude to a remarkable career. Encouraged by the success of ‘Hunterwali’, films were made on the cause of social injustice, women’s emancipation, corruption, land grabbing and exploitation of the poor. She always played roles like King Arthur and Robin Hood.
Her films had a set of characters. There was her pet horse – Punjab Ka Beta, Gunboat the Dog and her jalopy was called Rolls Royce Ki Beti (later when Homi Wadia started Basant Pictures with her, there was Horse Rajput, Dog Moti and the car – Austin Ki Bachhi). In her films, usually the villain was Sayani (his stock line was “Dekha Jaayega”). John Cawas and Boman Shroff – the heavyweight bodybuilders usually played the Heroes. Her stunts became more dangerous and death defying with every film. She did all her stunts herself, breaking her bones many times while performing them. From 1933 to 1968 she did about 43 films. Her pet name in many films (starting with ‘Hunterwali’) was Madhuri.
She had married and divorced early and also had a son. Later she was in love with Homi Wadia, but could not marry him due to the opposition of his mother. They married in 1961 after his mother died. She was 53 years old by then. In her last days she was frequently seen in the lanes of Colaba in Bombay, taking her dogs for walks. I remember going to Colaba in the early 1980s with a friend, only to see her. In 1993, her great grand nephew Riyad Vinci Wadia made a documentary on her, in which she had appeared.
She died peacefully on 9-1-1996.
I met NADIA !
Nadia has a special place in my memories. Sometime in 1972, one of my friends, Mahesh Sharma, who lived in Colaba, Bombay, told me that he frequently sees Nadia in a Garden where he went for his morning walks. She lived near his apartments. Anxious to meet her and talk to her, I stayed with Sharma ji overnight. Next day morning, we both went to that garden. Sure enough, after some time Nadia entered the garden with two of her dogs. She sat on a bench and her servant took the dogs for their walks. Mahesh had a casual acquaintance with her. He greeted her and said ” this is my friend Mr. Deshmukh. He is your great fan “. I greeted her and recited names of her 10-15 films which I had seen. She looked suitably impressed . She smiled and we talked for a few minutes and left. Alas ! In those days, there was no Mobile phone, otherwise I would have had my photos with her as a prize possession. Anyway, I will never forget my meeting with her- the great Stunt Queen, The Fearless Nadia !
Today’s song is a duet. After hearing this song I felt that this tune is familiar, but I could not pinpoint the song. In case you get that song’s name please do inform me.
Song- Tu hai mujh se door main tujhse door (Dhoomketu)(1949) Singers-A Karim, unknown female voice, Lyricist- Karim, MD- A Karim
Lyrics
Aao o o o
aao o o o
Tu hai mujhse door
main tujhse door
jiya ghabraaye
ghabraaye
bhala ab kaise dil ki baat ho
Tu hai mujhse door
main tujhse door
jiya ghabraaye
ghabraaye
bhala ab kaise dil ki baat ho
tu Poona main Agra
mere dil se nikle haaye
haaye ke kaise tera mera saath ho
tu Poona main Agra
mere dil se nikle haaye
haaye ke kaise tera mera saath ho
ya to tu aa jaa ya mujhko
apne paas bulaa le
ya to tu aa jaa ya mujhko
apne paas bulaa le
paas na aana
door hi rahkar dil ki dheer bandhaa le
paas na aana
door hi rahkar dil ki dheer bandhaa le
dil ki dheer bandhaana ho to
muhko apna bana le
dil ki dheer bandhaana ho to
muhjko apna bana le
hum donon mil jaayen
to itni mere paas aa jaaye
mere haathhon mein tera haath ho
Tu hai mujhse door
main tujhse door
jiya ghabraaye
ghabraaye
bhala ab kaise dil ki baat ho
khade khade photo khinchwaana
hade khade photo khinchwaana
hanskar dil par teer chalaana
tujhe yaad rahe
door door se baaten banaana
door door se baaten banaana
jalti dhoop mein dil ko jalaana
tujhe yaad rahe
koi jalaa karey
mara karey
gala karey
sadaa karey
jalne waale jalaa karen
ho jalne waale jalaa karen
jab kismat apne saath ho
Tu hai mujhse door
main tujhse door
jiya ghabraaye
ghabraaye
bhala ab kaise dil ki baat ho
tu Poona main Agra
mere dil se nikle haaye
haaye ke kaise tera mera saath ho
Saara din chhat peeti
Posted on: August 26, 2022
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5152 | Post No. : | 17115 |
Today’s song is from the film ‘Charanghee’ (1942). It is a very special film in the Indian Film Industry because this was the only film in which the National Poet of Bangladesh – Kazi Najrul Islam wrote some songs and also gave music.
This is a special flm also because it was a debut film not only for Kazi Najrul Islam but also for music director Pt. Hanuman Prasad and for the director of the film – Sibtain Fazli (of the Fazli Bros.- pioneers of Muslim social films in India).
It was also a special film because it had the poetic works (gazhals) of 3 great and prominent shayars namely, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Ghalib and Jigar Moradabadi, along with the 2 comparatively lesser poets – Arzoo Lucknowi and Partav Lucknowi.
The word ‘Chauranghee’ evokes a lot of loving memories of Calcutta for me. During my professional marketing career of over 40 years, I visited Bengal and Calcutta in particular more than 100 odd times. The hotel I stayed at was next to the AC market, adjacent to the Chauranghee Road.
Many times in the evenings, I used to take a walk on Chauranghee and enjoy the crowd of the elites. Whenever I had to stay in Calcutta on Sundays, I always took a stroll on the Chauranghee Road from the Grand Hotel to beyond Park Hotel and the famous petrol pump of Park Road. On every Sunday, the footpaths of Chauranghee were full of second hand books arrayed on the footpaths on both sides and in the nearby lanes. Bengali people are mad about reading books and on Sundays, one must see their crowds on the roadside book shops. Bengali people are so fond of reading books that many roads in Calcutta are named after famous Indian authors including a road called ‘Shakespeare Road’. I have seen most of the world. I consider Bengali people next only to the British in their love of reading books. One must visit the ‘BOOK FAIR’ held annually on ‘The Maidan‘- a part of the Chauranghee area to understand the Bengali people’s love for reading and buying books. Hats off to Bengal for this !
Chauranghee, today a Hi-Fi business area, was once known for kothas, tawaifs and singing families. Actually, it seems, in ancient times a society of any state was divided in 4 classes. 1) The King and the Royalty 2) The Knights, Ministers, Generals etc. 3) The common people including ‘Bhadra Lok‘ and 4) The entertainers (read the class of people whose job was to please the customers). The last one was the ‘Chaturang’ or the Fourth Estate or the Chauranghee !
Film ‘Chauranghee’ was a Muslim social, which depicted the storm that hit a tawaif family on Chauranghee and its aftermaths on that family. The film was made by Fazli Brothers, who were the first to make a series of Muslim social films in the 1940’s decade. The first such film was ‘Qaidi’ (1940), then came ‘Masoom’ (1941), ‘Chauranghee’ (1942), ‘Fashion’ (1943), ‘Ismat’ (1944) and ‘Mehndi’ (1947). The Fazli brothers were two. The senior one was Hasnain Fazli and the younger one was Sibtain Fazli. After partition they migrated to Pakistan. Sibtain remained in Pakistan. He directed and produced 4 films, including the most popular film of Madame Noorjahan in Pakistan, namely film ‘Dupatta’ (1952). Hasnain returned to India, directed two more films and went back to Pakistan.
The star attraction of this film was Kazi Nazrul’s poems and his music. Kazi Nazrul Islam is to Bangladesh, what Rabindranath Tagore is to West Bengal. While, to my knowledge, Tagore never wrote any Naat or a Muslim religious verse, Kazi wrote hundreds of Bhajans and Geets on Lord Rama and Krishna. Though many films – Bangla and Hindi – are based on the stories or novels of Tagore, Kazi has not contributed anything directly to any Hindi film (I do not know about Bangla films). On the other hand he has written the story of film ‘Sapera’ (1939) and provided lyrics and music to film ‘Chauranghee’ directly. Like Tagore’s Rabindra Sangeet, it was Nazrul Geeti in Bengal. I am not comparing them. Both were great souls.
The life story of Kazi is full of ups and downs. His last few years were spent in glory but in very bad health. There were several deaths in his family. His wife became paralytic and he spent time in a Mental Hospital in Ranchi. After the formation of Bangladesh in 1971, the new country invited him, bestowed honors on him, declaring him ‘The National Poet’. The Bangladesh government also took good care of him in his last 4 years, but he was medically unfit to enjoy his glory.
Kazi Nazrul Islam (24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) composer and songwriter was born in Burdwan District, Bengal. With Tagore he was the major influence on popular Bengali music in the 20th century. Known as the Bidrohi Kavi or the ‘Rebel Poet’ and directly associated with radical nationalist movements (e.g. through the journal Dhoomketu which he edited in 1922, leading to his imprisonment on a charge of sedition), his poetry constitutes the first radical intervention into Hindu and Muslim devotional music, e.g. his famous addresses to the goddess Kali, his ghazal compilations (Chokher Chatak, 1929) and Islamic devotional ssongs (Zulfikar, 1932). Much of his music, continued by the IPTA’s Bengali song repertoire, was polemically seen as a radical-romantic use of the ‘tradition’ (e.g. Salil Choudhury, 1955). One of the first composer-writers to sign contracts with major record companies in Bengal (for Megaphone and Senola and later HMV) and with the Indian Broadcasting Corp., opening up new employment opportunities to a generation of younger composers such as Anil Biswas, SD Burman, Kamal Dasgupta and even Kishore Kumar (whose song “Ai Ek Dui Tran Char Gili Gili, Bam Chick Boob Chick Badhke Bol” in ‘Kehte Hain Mujhko Raja’ (1975), adapts Islam’s famous “Cham Chiki Ude Gelo”). Created an urban variation of tribal jhumur music for Sailajananda Mukherjee’s ‘Pataal Puri’ and wrote the songs for ‘Nandini’ (1941) and ‘Dikshul’ (1943). Some sources credit him as director for ‘Dhruva’, in which he played the Hindu sage ‘Narada’. Started Bengal Tiger Pics with Abbasuddin Ahmed. Their film of Islam’s novel ‘Madina’ remained unfinished.
A significant impact of Nazrul’s work in Bengal was that it made Bengali Muslims more comfortable with the Bengali arts, which used to be dominated by Bengali Hindus. His Islamic songs are popular during Ramadan in Bangladesh. He also wrote devotional songs on the Hindu Goddess Kali. Nazrul also composed a number of notable Shyama Sangeet, Bhajan and Kirtan, combining Hindu devotional music.
Bengali polymath, poet, writer, musician, revolutionary and philosopher. Popularly known as Nazrul, his poetry and music espoused Indo-Islamic renaissance and intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. Nazrul’s impassioned activism for political and social justice earned him the title Bidrohi Kobi (The Rebel Poet). His musical compositions form the avant-garde genre of Nazrul geeti (music of Nazrul). Accomplishing a large body of acclaimed works through his life, Nazrul is officially recognized as the National Poet of Bangladesh and highly commemorated in India and the Muslim world.
Born into a Bengali Muslim Quazi (Kazi) family, Nazrul received religious education and worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned of poetry, drama, and literature while working with theatrical groups. After serving in the British Indian Army, Nazrul established himself as a journalist in Calcutta. He assailed the British Raj in India and preached revolution through his poetic works, such as Bidrohi (The Rebel) and Bhangar Gaan (The Song of Destruction), as well as his publication Dhumketu (The Comet). His nationalist activism in the Indian independence movement often led to his imprisonment by British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul wrote the Rajbandir Jabanbandi (‘Deposition of a Political Prisoner’). Exploring the life and conditions of the downtrodden masses of the Indian subcontinent, Nazrul worked for their emancipation. His poetry and music fiercely inspired Bengalis during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
During his visit to Comilla in 1921, Nazrul met a young Bengali Hindu woman, Pramila Devi, with whom he fell in love, and they married on 25 April 1924. Brahmo Samaj criticised Pramila, a member of the Brahmo Samaj, for marrying a Muslim. Muslim religious leaders criticized Nazrul for his marriage to a Hindu woman.
Nazrul’s writings explore themes such as love, freedom, and revolution; he opposed all bigotry, including religion and gender. Throughout his career, Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best known for his poems, in which he pioneered new forms such as Bengali ghazals. Nazrul wrote and composed music for his nearly 4,000 songs (including gramophone records), collectively known as Nazrul geeti (Songs of Nazrul), which are widely popular even today. In 1942 at the age of 43 Nazrul himself fell ill and gradually began losing his power of speech. His behavior became erratic, he started spending recklessly and fell into financial difficulties. In spite of her own illness, his wife constantly cared for her husband. However, Nazrul’s health had seriously deteriorated and he grew increasingly depressed. He underwent medical treatment under homeopathy as well as ayurveda, but little progress was achieved before mental dysfunction intensified and he was admitted to a mental asylum in 1942.
Spending four months there without making progress, Nazrul and his family began living a quiet life in India. In 1952, he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital in Ranchi. Through the efforts of a large group of admirers who called themselves the “Nazrul Treatment Society”, Nazrul and Promila were sent to London, then to Vienna for treatment. The examining doctors said he had received poor care, and Dr. Hans Hoff, a leading neurosurgeon in Vienna, diagnosed that Nazrul was suffering from Pick’s disease. It was rumoured that this was because of slow poisoning by the British Government. His condition was judged to be incurable, Nazrul returned to Calcutta on 15 December 1953. On 30 June 1962 his wife Pramila died, and Nazrul remained in intensive medical care. He stopped working due to his deteriorating health.
On 24 May 1972, the newly independent nation of Bangladesh brought Nazrul to live in Dhaka with the consent of the Government of India. In January 1976, he was accorded the citizenship of Bangladesh. Despite receiving treatment and attention, Nazrul’s physical and mental health did not improve. In 1974 his youngest son, Kazi Aniruddha, a guitarist, died, and Nazrul soon succumbed to his long-standing ailments on 29 August 1976.
His Filmography – ‘Bidyapati’ (1937) (writer), ‘Gora’ (1938), ‘Sapurey’ (1939) (writer), ‘Sapurey’/’Sapera’ (writer), ‘Chauranghee’, ‘Chauranghee’ (1942), ‘Chattagram Astragar Lunthan’ (1949), 1972: ‘Padi Pishir Barmi Baksha’ (1972) (Lyricist).
[Information adapted from Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, en.banglapedia.org and my notes].
Today’s song is sung by Miss Anis Khatun and chorus. Some readers might remember her role and song from Shantaram’s famous film ‘Padosi’ (1941). Actually there were two actresses/singers named Khatun, operating at almost the same time. One was Anis Khatun – who acted in 9 films, from ‘Prithvi Putra’ (1938) to ‘Dil’ (1946) and sang 14 songs in 5 films. The other one was Zarina Khatun who worked in 59 films, from ‘Abul Hasan’ (1931) to ‘Ibrat’ (1954) and sang 25 songs in 12 films from ‘Premi Pagal’ (1933) to ‘Chingari’ (1940). To further complicate matters and torture the film historians, there were other small time actresses like Ameena Khatoon, Zohra Khatun, Khatun Bai etc. It is a difficult task to separate the various same-name artistes and credit them with their genuine films.
I thank Abhay Jain ji from the US for giving me this song and our own Sadanand Kamath ji for uploading it for me.
Song- Saara din chhat peeti (Chauranghee)(1942) Singers- Anis Khatun, Lyricist- Kazi Nazrul Islam, MD- Kazi Nazrul Islam
Chorus
Unknown female voice
Lyrics
saara din chhat peeti
haath hoon dukhaai re
saara din chhat peeti
haath hoon dukhaai re
tabhoon to pet bhar ke
khaaye khaana paai re
tabhoon to pet bhar ke
khaaye khaana paai re
saara din chhat peeti
haath hoon dukhaai re
saara din chhatpeeti
bol bahin aaj gharhe
kya kya pakaai hai
bol bahin aaj gharhe
kya kya pakaai hai
chulho tak baaro nahin
bachcha bhukhaaye hai
chulho tak baaro nahin
bachcha bhukhaaye hai
ham hon kuchh khaao nahin
bhaato banaao nahin
ham hon kuchh khaao nahin
bhaato banaao nahin
saas meri julmi badi
bahut oo sataaye hai
saas meri julmi badi
bahut oo sataaye hai
bairan nanad mori bahute harjaai re
bairan nanad mori bahute harjaai re
saara din chhat peeti
haath hoon dukhaai re
saara din sar peeti
haath hoon dukhaai re
tabhoon to pet bhar ke
khaaye khaana paai re
tabhoon to pet bhar ke
khaaye khaana paai re
saara din chhat peeti
haath hoon dukhaai re
saara din chhar peeti
inki mehraaroo dekho
jaise sookhi paati
inki mehraaroo dekho
jaise sookhi paati
(??) lakwa hai do man ka
?? jaise haathi
(??) lakwa hai do man ka
?? jaise haathi
kohu paawe na dhoop
kohu dekhe na chaand
kohu paawe na dhoop
kohu dekhe na chaand
gharka bheetar band rahe
gharka bheetar band rahe
kaahe na murjhaai re
saara din chhat peeti
haath hoon dukhaai re
saara din chhat peeti
haath hoon dukhaai re
tabhoon to pet bhar ke
khaaye khaana paai re
tabhoon to pet bhar ke
khaaye khaana paai re
saara din chhat peeti
haath hoon dukhaai re
saara din chhat peeti
haath hoon dukhaai re
- In: Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | expression of love | Feelings of heart | Geeta Dutt songs | Guest posts | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Rare song | SN Tripathi Song (as a Singer) | Songs of 1940s (1941 to 1950) | Songs of 1945 | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 4 Comments
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5149 | Post No. : | 17111 |
Today’s song is from the film ‘Aadhaar’ (1945).
This film was made by Geeta Pictures, Bombay. It was directed by Ramanlal Desai and this social film had music by SN Tripathi. The lyricist was MA Razi and the film cast was Umakant, Kokila, Yaqub, Shehzadi, Firoza, Ramesh, Usha , Ahmed and many others.
When film making started in India with silent films in the first decade of the last century, the filmmakers faced an unexpected difficulty. The difficulty was in getting actresses for films. No women were ready to act in the films, as it was considered a very low level profession. Dadasaheb Phalke wrote in his reminiscences how he tried to invite even prostitutes to work in the films and how even they refused saying it was a lower job than even being a prostitute !
Sensing an opportunity in this field, many European, Anglo-Indian and Jew girls joined films as actresses. Since the films were silent, their zero knowledge of Hindi or any regional language was not an obstacle. The dialogues were shown as strips of typed sentences on the screen. The girls also had no objection to giving romantic scenes or even kissing on the screen. Some actresses in those days were Ruby Meyers (Sulochana), Marcia Solomon (Vimla), Rachel Sofaer (Aarti Devi), Miss Rose, Iris Gasper (Sabita Devi), Susan Solomon (Firoza), Effie Hippolet (Indira Devi), Bonnie Bird (Lalita Devi), Esther Abraham (Pramila), Renee Smith (Seeta), Beryl Classen (Madhuri), Winnie Stewart (Manorama), Florence Ezekiel (Nadira), Muriel Alexander (Meera) and many others.
In the second part of the second decade i.e. from 1915 onward, some Indian girls from tawaif families also joined and as a result the count of ‘white skin’ girls started diminishing. After the advent of talkie films, speaking Hindi and singing – if needed, became a requirement for the actresses and automatically the Jew, Anglo-Indian and the European girls disappeared from films. Only a few, who learnt Hindi and singing, survived for a few more years, like Sabita Devi, Meera, Pramila, Sulochana, Madhuri and Firoza etc. Those who left early had no problem, but those who continued had to face the competition with the newer and younger local artistes and one by one they too ended their careers. However, not all ended happily. There was one Jew actress whose life in the last part of her career ended pathetically, in penury and she died unsung. We all know of such ends of many actors like Master Shiraz, Master Nissar, Bhudo Advani etc., but the sad story of the once famous actress is not known much. She acted in this film and her name was FIROZA.
Firoza (real name Susan Solomon) was born in a village in Konkan, Maharashtra on 30-7-1905, into a Bene Isareli Jew community. By the time she finished her education, she was proficient in Hebrew, Marathi, Hindi and English. In spite of opposition from family, she started working in silent films and soon became popular. Some of her films also became famous and hits. She continued working in silent films till 1934, when silent films stopped being made. Due to the family’s opposition, she had to leave her house. She stayed in Bombay.
With the advent of talkie films, she naturally entered talkie films, with ‘Noor E Yaman’ (1935), in a small role. She acted in films like ‘Bhikaran’ (1935), ‘Aansuon Ki Duniya’ (1936), ‘Bharat Ke Laal’ (1936), ‘Jeevan Jyoti’ (1937), ‘Dukhiyari’ (1937), ‘Veerbala’ (1938) etc. Due to her success in films, she fell a prey to false promises and dreamt of working in Hollywood films. She wasted 3 years in this and dejected, started working in films again here with ‘Ek Raat’ (1942), ‘Circus Girl’ (1943), ‘Duniya Diwaani’ (1943), ‘Bhagta Bhoot’ (1943), ‘Andhi Duniya’ (1943), ‘Din Raat’ (1945), ‘Aadhaar’ (1945), ‘Lal Batti’ (1947), ‘Daulat Ke Liye’ (1947), ‘Haatimtai’ (1947), ‘Dilwaale’ (1948) etc.
She became an alcoholic and a chain smoker. She made the mistake of refusing offers from Bombay Talkies and other big banners. Meanwhile she fell in love with actor Chandra Mohan and wished to marry him, but he became a drunkard and died in 1949. Her financial condition became worse. She did small roles in Marathi and Hindi films. ‘Yasmeen’ (1954) was her last film.
She lost her parents and lived alone in a single room, where she died unnoticed one day in early 70s. She was one of the top 5 Jew actresses, included in the Documentary ‘Shalom Bollywood’ made by Danny Ben-Moshe in 2003. Thus ended a talented artiste !.
[Note – There was another Firoza Begum, wife of music director Kamal Dasgupta. She is different. She was a Bangladeshi singer.]
[Ack: Information culled from ‘Beete Kal Ke Sitare’ by S Tamrakar, ‘The Untold Story of Jews in Indian Cinema’ in Sunday Guardian, ‘Women in Hindi Cinema’ by Bhavna, Jigna and Supriya, theoneminute.com and my notes.]
The lead pair of the film ‘Aadhaar’ was Umakant (Desai) and Kokila. Despite my efforts I could not get any information on this actress. First I thought that she is Nirupa Roy, because the real name of Nirupa Roy was Kokila. But this Kokila has been in films since 1937 when Nirupa Roy was only a 6 year old girl. First film of this Kokila was ‘Meri Bhool’ (1937). She also acted in films like ‘Gentleman Daku’ (1937), ‘Dukhiyari’ (1937) in which she sang 1 song also, ‘Prem Sagar’ (1939), ‘Gareeb Ka Laal’ (1939), ‘Wayda’ (1940), ‘Jagat Mohini’ (1940), ‘Meri Khwahish’ (1941). ‘Aadhaar’ seems to be her last film. She appeared like a flash and disappeared like a comet !
Let us know something about the director Ramanlal Desai. There were 2 directors in the film industry- Ramanlal (Lalbhai) Desai and Ramanlal (Bhimbhai) Desai. Both operated in almost the same period. Luckily Ramanlal Bhimbhai Desai was known as ‘The King of Mythologicals’ and the other Desai directed all types of films. Ramanlal Lalbhai Desai was born on 6-9-1915 at Ahmedabad (some sources indicate different year and place). His father was a station master in the BBCI Railway (Bombay-Baroda and Central India Railway). He was educated in Bombay and he studied up to Inter-Arts. He soon left his studies to work as an assistant cameraman and assistant director for ‘Thief of Baghdad’ (1934). In 1935 he shifted to Ganesh Movietone but then came back to Paramount. He was assistant director in ‘Fairy of the Flute’, ‘Guru Ghantal’, ‘Black Ghost’, ‘Burqawali’, ‘Aladdin’, ‘Vagabond Lover’, ‘Madhur Bansari’ etc. He co-directed films like ‘Patriot’, ‘Darpan’ and ‘Mere Saajan’, in Rex Pictures. He was a good editor and a musician.
He became a full fledged director with ‘Daughter of the Jungle’ (1942), ‘Muhabbat Ki Jeet’ (1943), ‘Circus Girl’ (1943), ‘Bhagta Bhoot’ (1943), ‘Rangeela Dost’ (1944), ‘Aadhar’ (1945), ‘Kismat Ka Dhani’ (1946), ‘Jadui Putli’ (1946), ‘Tiger Man’ (1947), ‘Naqali Heera’ (1948), ‘Dhanwale’ (1948), ‘Dilwale’ (1948), ‘Roshni’ (1949), ‘Sangeeta’ (1950), ‘Aab e Hayaat’ (1955), ‘Hum Bhi Kuchh Kam Nahin’ (1958), ‘Minister’ (1959) and ‘Zalim Tera Jawab Nahin’ (1960). He turned to Gujarati films and directed ‘Sole Saaj Singar’ (1977) and ‘Kul Deepak’ (1978). He was working as a Production Supervisor for the film ‘Nastik’ (1954) (credited).
[Thanks to Shri Harish Raghuwanshi ji for allowing me to use some info used here].
Film ‘Aadhar’ was unique, because it featured 4 artistes falling in the category of ‘same name confusion’ – namely, Ramanlal Desai, Shehzadi, Firoza and Kokila. Today’s song is a duet sung by Geeta Dutt and SN Tripathi – the MD himself.
Song- O mere man ke meet aa gaayen suhaane geet (Aadhaar)(1945) Singers- Geeta Roy, SN Tripathi, Lyricist-M A Razi, MD-SN Tripathi
Geeta Roy + SN Tripathi
Lyrics
o mere mann ke meet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
o mere mann ke meet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
ye mann karta hai gaa re
ye mann karta hai gaa re
cham cham ye chamakte taare
cham cham ye chamakte taare
chanda bhi kare ishaare
chanda bhi kare ishaare
aapas mein kitni preet
aapas mein kitni preet
saawan mein kitni preet
o mere mann ke meet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
ye nadi taraane gaaye
ye nadi ee ee
ye nadi taraane gaaye
ulfat ke saaz bajaaye
ulfat ke saaz bajaaye
kyun mann mein aag lagaaye
kyun mann mein aag lagaaye
ye lehron ka sangeet
ye lehron ka sangeet
ye lehron ka sangeet
o mere mann ke meet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
aa gaayen suhaane geet
o mere mann ke meet
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
————————————————
ओ मेरे मन के मीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
ओ मेरे मन के मीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
ये मन करता है गा रे
ये मन करता है गा रे
चम चम ये चमकते तारे
चम चम ये चमकते तारे
चंदा भी करे इशारे
चंदा भी करे इशारे
आपस में कितनी प्रीत
आपस में कितनी प्रीत
सावन में कितनी प्रीत
ओ मेरे मन के मीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
ये नदी तराने गाये
ये नदी ई ई
ये नदी तराने गाये
उल्फ़त के साज़ बजाए
उल्फ़त के साज़ बजाए
क्यों मन में आग लगाए
क्यों मन में आग लगाए
ये लहरों का संगीत
ये लहरों का संगीत
ये लहरों का संगीत
ओ मेरे मन के मीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
आ गायें सुहाने गीत
ओ मेरे मन के मीत
Tadap kar jaan labon tak aa gayi
Posted on: August 12, 2022
- In: "Broken heart" song | Actor-Singer song | Calling the beloved | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Rare song | sad song | Songs of 1940s (1941 to 1950) | Songs of 1947 | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 2 Comments
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5138 | Post No. : | 17096 |
Today’s song is from film ‘Director’ (1947).
The film was made by Don Films, Punjab. It was directed by S Shafaqat, MA There were two MDs – Lachhiram Tamar and Fateh Ali Khan. Tufail Hoshiyarpuri and Aziz Kashmiri wrote all the 9 songs. HFGK does not credit any song with a singer’s name. However, the uploaders give the details when they upload a song, as given on the actual records. The cast of the film was Salim, Raza, Zeb Qureshi, Zahoor Raja, Arif, Mohini Das, Hafiz and others.
During the years of political turmoil in 1946-1947 and 1948, there was a huge exodus of Hindus and Muslims from both countries, India and the newly formed Muslim country Pakistan. It not only disturbed the whole nation but also created a short time chaos in the Hindi Film Industry. Many Muslim artistes, directors, producers and financiers left for Pakistan. Before going they hurriedly completed the projects on hand somehow. This resulted in a record number of films produced in 1947 as well as a huge number of meaningless films.
In a hurry to complete a film, any person associated with films would direct, act, write songs or even give music. Thus many of such names were never heard again. S Shafaqat, MA, director of this film also seems to be one such case. While migrating to Pakistan during this period or even at a much later time, some producers and directors cheated their Indian colleagues, friends, creditors and ran away stealthily. Here are a few examples.
WZ Ahmed, the owner of Shalimar Pictures, Poona, a producer, director and a studio owner left with his wife Neena. While leaving, he not only carried negatives of all his films, but also conveniently ‘forgot’ to pay salaries and wages of his employees for the previous 3 months. After he left, to recover their dues, some ex-employees got together and produced a film ‘Rangeela Rajasthan’ in 1949. All ex actors, MDs, Lyricists, directors and others connected with the Shalimar studio worked free in the film. The film was not a great success, but they got some money.
The second case is of the famous actor, producer, director and studio owner of Hind Studios, Dadar. During the riots of 1947, his studio was burnt before his eyes. He had lots of bank loan dues and there was no income. He decided to sell his car, house etc. secretly. Then he visited some of his friends in the film industry and borrowed cash money. With all this he coolly and secretly left for Pakistan along with his wife Swarnalata Siyal and the sold out car too !
The third case is of actor Sheikh Mukhtar. He produced a film ‘Noorjahan’ (1967), by investing all his savings. The film flopped. He had a lot of bank loans and also income tax dues to be paid. He quietly took prints of his films and one night escaped to Pakistan !
The point is most of the films produced in 1947 were of no value and people somehow completed their projects. Film ‘Director’ was also one such film. We do not know its story or even its release dates. One of the music directors of this film was Fateh Ali Khan. During the same period, there was another famous qawwaali singer Fateh Ali Khan (he was the father of Pakistan’s famous singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), who also indulged in cinema in Pakistan. Due to the same names there was a confusion and most people, sites, wiki and even books mixed up these two names and a question on who actually was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s father ! Even initially I was also confused but then my Facebook friend Khwaja Irfan Anwer guided me to a Blog in Pakistan, where I got the correct information. Thanks to him. So, here is some information on music director Fateh Ali Khan of India.
Ustad Fateh Ali Khan is said to have been born in 1911. He was five years old when he became interested in the famous sitar. His uncle, Ustad Mehboob Ali Khan, was also an expert in music and this instrument. When Fateh Ali Khan grew up, he learned the mysteries and secrets of this art from him.
Ustad Fateh Ali Khan also spent a long time with Master Ghulam Haider. He continued to perform with him in Lahore and Bombay as a sitar player and his skills on this instrument. During this time he also learned the intricacies of music and melodies and the subtleties of art. He later composed music for several films, most notably ‘Aaina’. One was film ‘Aaina’ (1944), along with Gulshan Sufi and the other was film ‘Director’ (1947), along with Lachhiram Tamar. After partition he migrated to Pakistan with all his family. In Pakistan, however, he had better luck in films. He gave music to ‘Do Kinaare’ (1950), ‘Harjaai’ (1952), ‘Shola’ (1952), ‘Bedaari’ (1957) ( a copy of our film ‘Jagriti’ (1954)), ‘Saathi’ (1959) and ‘Tum Na Maano’ (1961). He also sang in the films ‘Waada’ (1957) and ‘Raagini’ (1958). Ustad Fateh Ali Khan was the foremost sitar-player and film music composer of the 1950’s in Pakistan. His compositions in ‘Bedaari’ (1957) became run-away super-hits in Pakistan because they were a heart-felt tribute to the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and the public’s sentiments about patriotism.
He moved to Rawalpindi in the 1960’s where he joined Radio Pakistan. After the establishment of the Pakistan National Council of Arts, for some time there also trained novice artists to play the sitar. His son, Raees Khan is also an expert sitar player.
Ustad Fateh Ali Khan was also awarded the Presidential Medal for Excellence in Music in Pakistan. (Thanks to irshadgul.com).
One of the cast members of film ‘Director’ was Zahoor Raja. He was a multi-talented person. He was born on 7 July 1918 at Abbottabad (now in Pakistan) and died in England in 1992. He was a well known Hindi/Urdu Film Actor, Producer, Director, Editor, Writer, Singer, Lyricist & Music Composer in Pre Partition Indian cinema. He graduated from editing and story writing to become a producer-director in 1943.
Zahoor Raja was born in a wealthy family in Abbottabad, Pakistan. 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 AR Kardar. Since he was a very handsome and well built man, getting into the Bombay film industry was not difficult. At that time, Kardar was directing Punjabi film ‘Mirza Sahiban’ (1939) for Ranjit Movietone. Kardar took Zahoor Raja as hero in the film.
Within a year after the release of the 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 in the mid 1940s.
Zahoor Raja later worked as a Hhero 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 ‘Mazaaq’ (1943) which he also directed, acted in a negative role and composed its music. He also acted in the film ‘Bhai’ (1944). 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 Hamein Bhi Na Yaad Aaya Karo” along with Naseem Akhthar in the Movie ‘Ghazal’ (1945) composed by Gyan Dutt. His last movies in India before moving to Pakistan were ‘Anmol Ghadi’ (1946) and ‘Director’ (1947). He acted in 9 films, directed 5 films, sang 15 songs in 5 films (‘Pooja’ (1940), ‘Sewa’ (1942), ‘Badal’ (1942), ‘Ghazal’ (1945) and ‘Director’ (1945)), wrote lyrics in 1 film (‘Dhadkan’ (1946)) and was MD for 1 film(‘Mazaaq’ (1943)).
After partition, Zahoor Raja returned to Pakistan in 1950 and he was active in the Pakistani film industry until 1966. After 1966, he migrated to England, married an English lady and later died in 1992 in England.
Today’s song is the second song from this film to be featured here. It is sung by Zahoor Raja himself.
Song- Tadap kar jaan labon tak aa gayee (Director)(1947) Singer- Zahoor Raja, Lyricist- Tufail Hoshiarpuri, MD- Fateh Ali Khan
Lyrics
tadap kar jaan labon tak aa gayee
kya tum na aaoge
tadap kar jaan labon tak aa gayee
kya tum na aaoge
jawaani par udaasi chhaa gayi
jawaani par udaasi chhaa gayi
kya tum na aaoge
jawaani par udaasi chhaa gayi
gaye ho chhod kar jab se
gaye ho chhod kar jab se
mujhe tanha jawaani mein
mujhe har ik khushi thhukra gayi
mujhe har ik khushi thhukra gayi
kya tum na aaoge
mujhe har ik khushi thhukra gayi
nigaahon mein jidhar dekho
andhera hi andhera hai
andhera hi andhera hai
muqaddar par syaahi chhaa gayi
muqaddar par syaahi chhaa gayi
kya tum na aaoge
muqaddar par syaahi chhaa gayi
meri barbaadiyaan aakar
meri barbaadiyaan aakar
kabhi kya tum na dekhoge
tumhaare dil mein kya baat aa gayi
tumhaare dil mein kya baat aa gayi
kya tum na aaoge
tadap kar jaan labon tak aa gayee
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
————————————————
तड़प कर जां लबों तक आ गई
क्या तुम ना आओगे
तड़प कर जां लबों तक आ गई
क्या तुम ना आओगे
जवानी पर उदासी छा गई
जवानी पर उदासी छा गई
क्या तुम ना आओगे
जवानी पर उदासी छा गई
गए हो छोड़ कर जबसे
गए हो छोड़ कर जबसे
मुझे तन्हा जवानी में
मुझे हर एक खुशी ठुकरा गई
मुझे हर एक खुशी ठुकरा गई
क्या तुम ना आओगे
मुझे हर एक खुशी ठुकरा गई
निगाहों में जिधर देखो
अंधेरा ही अंधेरा है
अंधेरा ही अंधेरा है
मुकद्दर पर सियाही छा गई
मुकद्दर पर सियाही छा गई
क्या तुम ना आओगे
मुकद्दर पर सियाही छा गई
मेरी बर्बादीयां आ कर
मेरी बर्बादीयां आ कर
कभी क्या तुम ना देखोगे
तुम्हारे दिल में क्या बात आ गई
तुम्हारे दिल में क्या बात आ गई
क्या तुम ना आओगे
तड़प कर जां लबों तक आ गई
Mujhe kho jaane do
Posted on: August 4, 2022
- In: Blog Ten Year Challenge (2012-2022) | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Feelings of heart | Kishore Kumar solo | Kishore Kumar songs | Lyrics by Prakashchandra | Lyrics contributed by readers | Poignant Song | Rare song | sad song | Songs of 1970s (1971 to 1980) | Songs of 1971 | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 1 Comment
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 : |
5130 | Post No. : | 17083 |
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Blog 10-Year Challenge (2012-2022) – Song No. 78
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This date ten years ago (viz 4 August 2012) saw as many as eight songs from eight different movies getting covered in the blog.
Here are the details:-
| Blog post number | Song | Movie (Year) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6367 | Wo thhi ham thhey ham thhe wo thhi | Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi(1958) | Movie YIPPEED by now |
| 6368 | Jin raaton ki bhor nahin hai | Door Gagan Ki Chhaaon Mein (1964) | Movie YIPPEED by now |
| 6369 | Tum bhi chalo ham bhi chalen chalti rahe zindagi | Zameer (1975) | Movie YIPPEED by now |
| 6370 | Na aaj thhaa na kal thha | Pati Patni Aur Woh ( 1978) | 4 songs coovered out of 5 |
| 6371 | Khuda hi juda kare to kare | Aap To Aise Na Thhey (1980) | Movie YIPPEED by now |
| 6372 | Arre nazar lage na saathiyon | Des Pardes (1978) | Movie YIPPEED by now |
| 6373 | Jis ka koi nahin uska to khuda hai yaaron | Laawaaris (1981) | Movie YIPPEED by now |
| 6374 | Jeewan se na haar o jeene waale | Door Ka Raahi (1971) | 6 songs covered out of 9 |
One can notice that six movies (out of eight) whose songs were covered on this date ten years ago on 4 august 2012 have since been YIPPEED. That leaves us with two movies that are eligible for Blog Ten YEar Challenge today on 4 August 2022.
We also notice that all the eight songs featured the voice of Kishore Kumar. That was to mark the occasion of Kishore Kumar’s birth anniversary which falls of this day. This gives us an idea how prolific this blog used to be ten years ago, when six and more songs used to get covered in the blog with ease.
“Door Ka Raahi”(1971) is one movie that is eligible for Blog Ten Year Challenge today. This movie was produced and directed by Kishore Kumar. The movie had Ashok Kumar, Tanuja, Abhi Bhattacharya, Ganga, Amit Kumar, Bambi, Hiralal, Yograj, Iftikhar, Padma Khanna, Shivraj, Asit Sen, Keshto, Radheshyam, Gautam Mukherji, Ratan Gaurang, Abhay Shah,Baby Deepa aka Rajni Sharma, Kishore Kumar, Moni Chatterjee, Sameer Kumar etc in it.
The movie had nine songs in it. Six songs from the movie have been covered so far.
Here is the seventh song from ‘Door Ka Raahi’ (1971) to appear in the blog. This song is sung by Kishore Kumar. Though HFGK is silent about the lyricist, the record label mentions A Irshad as the lyricist. Music is composed by Kishore Kumar.
Only audio of the song is available. It is almost certain that the song was picturised on Kishore Kumar himself in case this song was picturised. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturisation of the song.
Lyrics of the song were sent to me by Prakashchandra.
We take this opportunity to pay our tribute to Kishore Kumar (4 August 1929- 13 october 1987) on the occasion of his 93rd birth anniversary.
audio link:
Song-Mujhe kho jaane do (Door Ka Raahi)(1971) Singer-Kishore Kumar, Lyrics-A Irshad, MD-Kishore Kumar
Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)
mujhe ae
kho jaaney do o
duniyaa kee
nigaahon se parey ae
jahaan na dhoondh sakey aen
koyee ee nazar
meraa aaa nishaan…aan
koyi aawaaz naa aa pahunchey
koyee ee
aansoo na bahey ae
kisee tinkey ae
kisee zarrey ae
ko na ho o o
meraa gumaan
meri laash par..rrr
rakh dey aey ae ae
kudrat hee ek safed kaffan..n
rooh ko o meri nazaaron mein hee
kho jaaney do o
daastaan..aan
meri hawaaon ko hee..ee
dohraa..aaney ae do o o
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
————————————————
मुझे
खो जाने दो
दुनिया की
निगाहों से परे
जहां ना हूनह सके
कोई नज़र
मेरा निशां
कोई आवाज़ ना पहुंचे
कोई
आँसू ना बहे
किसी तिनके
किसी ज़र्रे
को ना हो
मेय गुमाँ
मेरी लाश पर
रख दे
कुदरत ही एक सफ़ेद कफन
रूह को मेरी नज़ारों में ही
खो जाने दो
दास्ताँ मेरी
हवाओं को ही
दोहराने दो
Hai kaun des tumhaara musaafir
Posted on: August 3, 2022
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5129 | Post No. : | 17081 |
Today’s song is from the film ‘Tamanna’ (1942).
This was a film made by Laxmi Productions, Bombay. It was directed by Phani Mujumdar and for songs written by SK Kalla, the music was provided by India’s first blind music director KC Dey. In later years there were two more blind MDs. One was Manoharlal Sonik – of the Sonik-Omi duo of MDs and the other was Ravindra Jain. This film was released on 20-6-1942 at the Royal Opera House theater in Bombay.
Film ‘Tamanna’ was an ordinary film, but it became famous afterwards, when it became known that the famous singer Manna Dey had made his debut as a Playback singer in Hindi through this film. However, besides this point, there were few more matters which made this film a special film. In addition to being the debut film for Manna Dey, it was also the debut film for the Banner-Laxmi Productions. Further, it was the first film of its heroine Leela Desai, in the Bombay film world.
People who write on old songs and old films generally write about actors, actresses, directors, lyricists, MDs, singers and also occasionally on the arrangers and the cinematographers. But very rarely, something is written about a producer. Actually it is the producer who conceives the idea of the film, who arranges the finances for the film, who selects a team of director, MD and the cast of the film, still he is not paid much attention. It is because of the producer, an artiste can make debut or an MD gets praise for his music etc, but the producer remains unsung.
Today, we will talk about an enterprising producer of film ‘Tamanna’ who had made several well known films, gave opportunities to many actors, directors and MDs. His name is Chimanlal Trivedi.
Chimanlal Trivedi, was one of the major filmmakers of the 30s and the 40s decades. He was more a producer businessman than a director. While he directed hardly 7 films, he produced close to 50 films – all having A grade actors, directors and composers !
Born on 19-3-1909 at a village near Anand in Gujarat he was from a Brahmin family. He did his schooling in Ahmedabad and technical graduation from Baroda. Being an expert in weaving, he took up a job as a weaving master in Calcutta. Fond of writing, he started writing dramas, which were staged in Bengal and Gujarat. He was attracted towards cinema and tried some work in New Theaters. Knowing that the real playing field is Bombay he reached there. He wrote stories for the film ‘Chevrolet’ (1936) and ‘Danger Signal’ (1937) for Mohan Pictures.
He established his own production company CIRCO (Cine Industries Recording Company) in 1937. By 1943, he had made 12 films. He preferred not to direct his films, but appointed directors like Mohan Sinha for ‘Laxmi’ (1940), ‘Anuradha’ (1940) and ‘Vanmala’ (1941), Balwant Bhatt for ‘Suhag’ (1940) and ‘Madhusudan’ (1941), AR Kardar for ‘Swami’ (1941) and ‘Nai Duniya’ (1942) and Debaki Bose for ‘Apna Ghar’ (1942).
He had the art of getting the most popular stars for his films like, Prithviraj Kapoor, Chandramohan, Durga Khote, Mazhar khan, Bibbo, Surendra, Jairaj, Sitara, Jeevan, Yaqub, Shobhana Samarth, Prem Adeeb, Vishnupant Pagnis, Leela Desai, Pahadi Sanyal, Shanta Apte and many others. Even big directors like Debki Bose, Nitin Bose, Kardar, Mohan Sinha, Sarvottam Badami, Nandlal Jaswantlal, Profull Roy, Sudhir Sen, RS Chaudhary, Phani Majumdar, Balwant Bhatt etc. worked for him. From Prabhat he brought Shanta Apte for Rs. 1,000 pm, and also Chandramohan, Pagnis and Mazhar Khan. His friend Chandulal Shah followed his way and brought KL Saigal from New Theaters !
CL Trivedi was an expert in gathering funds for his films. After CIRCO at Parel, he started Laxmi Productions at Andheri, in 1942. He made ‘Mera Gaon’, ‘Sharafat’, ‘Bhagya Laxmi’, ‘Kadambari’, ‘Tamanna’, ‘Inkaar’, ‘Mohabbat’, ‘Miss Devi’ etc. In 1951, it was Supreme Pictures, then Trivedi Productions in 1952, Kala Kendra in 1953 and with Chitra Bharati in 1954, he made 13 films upto 1961. Top composers like Timir Baran, Ashok Ghosh, Rafiq Gaznavi, KC Dey, Saraswati Devi, Husnlal-Bhagatram and Naushad gave music to his films.
In the end, he turned to stage and started Abhinay Bharati. He staged many dramas in Bombay and Gujarat. Chimanlal always went for big names. He had close relations with Nehru, Menon, Morarji Desai, and other national leaders. His wife Kantaben was a leader herself. Chimanlal Trivedi died on 25-11-1973. His wife, 3 sons and a daughter settled in the USA.
It may be a coincidence, but Gujarati businessmen like Chimanlal Trivedi, Chimanlal Desai, Chimanlal Luhar, Chaturbhuj Doshi, Chimankant Desai, Chunibhai Desai and Chandulal Shah made sizable contribution to Hindi cinema in the first 20 years of the Talkie era. All names started with ‘CH’ ( ? ) !
[Author’s Note: Thanks to Harish Raghuwanshi ji for his book “बॉलिवूडमा गुजरातीयो” in Gujarati, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, muVyz and my notes.]
This was also the first film in Bombay for the film’s heroine Leela Desai, a famous and well known name in Bengal made films, till then. She was especially invited by Chimanlal Trivedi for this film. Later she did many of his and others’ films in Bombay. Trivedi had also called 7 different technicians from Calcutta for this film, according to Baburao Patel – editor of Film India in its June 1942 issue. This was to make the film technically superior quality. These technicians did it, but the film had a very weak story. Actually, in those days it was the first film on ‘Village Uplift and Cottage Industry’ – a favorite topic for speeches of Gandhi ji. The story was built around ‘a typically Bengali idea of Platonic Love’, seen in many earlier New Theaters films from Calcutta.
Leela Desai was cast opposite Jairaj. They fall in love. She is very rich, but will get her wealth only after marriage. Jairaj works in a company on a high post. He spends half his salary on research and half on village development. Due to a misunderstanding, on her offering money for Jairaj’s work, they separate. Leela marries Karan Dewan to get the money. She anonymously gives that money to Jairaj for his project. Karan Dewan comes to know the entire story and magnanimously divorces Leela. Jairaj and Leela get married.
Leela Desai was the daughter of Dr. Umedbhai Lalbhai Desai-a Gujarati and his wife Satyabala Devi – a Bengali from Bihar, who was a famous and prominent singer of the 1930s. Leela Desai was born on 1-1-1909 in Newark, New Jersey, America, where her parents had gone for a 3 year work trip. She grew up in India. She learnt dancing from Amla Devi (who married Uday shanker), as well as from Lachhu Maharaj and Sohan lal. She also learnt music at Morris College, Lucknow.
Leela Desai was the 4th of the 5 children born to Dr Umedram Desai from Gujarat and Satybala Devi, daughter of a Bengali landlord settled in Bihar. It was a second marriage for both of them as Satyabala Devi lost her husband during childhood while Dr Umedram Desai got married to his first wife in his childhood through whom he had two sons. Later, Dr Umedram Desai married Gunobati Mitter, a Bengali Christian, for the third time with whom he had 6 children. Before her marriage, Gunobati Mitter worked as a tutor for the children of Dr Umedram Desai and Satyabala Devi in Rampur. So apart from her own 4 siblings, Leela Desai had 8 step brothers/sisters.
Leela Desai was trained in the Bhatkhande Music Institute established in Lucknow in 1926. It has played a vital role in training generations of performing artistes, dedicated gurus and gifted composers. Lucknow has contributed music directors, (like Naushad, Madan Mohan, Roshan), actors and actresses (like Kumar, Iftekhar, Akhtari Bai, Bina Rai, Yashodhara Katju, Swaranlata), singers (Talat Mahmud, Anup Jalota, Dilraj Kaur, Krishna Kalle), writers (like Amritlal Nagar, Bhagawati Sharan Verma, Achala Nagar), lyricists and dancers. Lachhu Maharaj was a very successful choreographer for many films. Pahadi Sanyal, Leela Desai and Kamlesh Kumari of New Theaters at Calcutta were all trained here.
In one of her stage performances in Lucknow, NT’s Director Hem Chander saw her and invited her to Calcutta for work in films. She worked in the film ‘President’ (1937) as the sister of Kamlesh Kumari, opposite Saigal. It was followed by ‘Vidyapati’ (1937), ‘Dushman’ (1938), ‘Kapaal Kundala’ (1939) and ‘Nartaki’ (1940). She also did ‘Adarsh Mahila’ (1937) with Ideal Film company.
Leela Desai had been invited by the students of the Intermediate College in 1941. Bangalore had the distinction of holding festivals of films made by New Theaters and Prabhat Film Co.
BN Sircar’s empire introduced personalities of the stature of PC Barua, Bimal Roy, Debaki Bose, Leela Desai, Phani Majumdar, Timir Baran, Uma Shashi, Nitin Bose, KL Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Nemo, Sisir Kumar Bhaduri and Jamuna, all of whom later earned all India fame, under the banner of New Theaters. Among his technical achievements were the bringing of sound to Calcutta for Bengali films, and the introduction of the playback system. The elephant logo of New Theaters acted as a magnet to draw crowds throughout the country.
Chimanlal Trivedi brought her to Bombay to act opposite Jairaj in the film ‘Tamanna’. She acted in 5 films of Chimanlal Trivedi. After ‘Tamanna’, Leela Desai acted in films like ‘Sharafat’, ‘Paraya Dhan’, ‘Nagad Narayan’, ‘Inkaar’, ‘Mujrim’, ‘Miss Devi’, ‘Kaliyan’, ‘Meghdoot’, ‘Maharani Minal Devi’, ‘Magadhraj’, ‘Kamla’, ‘Dev Kanya’, ‘Soorat’ and last film ‘Geet Govind’ (1947).
She acted opposite leading actors like KL Saigal, Najmul Hasan, Jairaj, Pahadi Sanyal, Surendra, Chandra Mohan, Khalil, Baburao Pendharkar etc. She worked under top directors like Debaki Bose, Nitin Bose, Kedar Sharma, Phani Majumdar and others. Her sister Monica Desai (who married Phani Majumdar) was also in films. In 1944, Leela also acted in the movie ‘Kaliyan’ with Ramola. Ramola also acted in the film ‘Lalkar’ in the same year. In a span of just 10 years, Leela Desai acted in 21 films and then left films.
She settled in Darjeeling with her mother. Leela Desai owned a house in Darjeeling called ‘Lily Cottage’. Her mother Satyabala Devi lived there until her death. It is possible that Leela knew Manjula or Sumitra Sanyal in Darjeeling. Leela Desai is mentioned in Bollywood actress Sumitra Sanyal’s site.
Today’s song is sung by an unknown male, female and a chorus. I feel it must have been sung by some street singers or in the background in the film. Anyway, enjoy the song….
Song – Hai Kaun des tumhaara musaafir (Tamanna)(1942) Singers- Unknown Female voice, Lyricist – SK Kalla, MD – KC Dey
Male voice + Female voice
Chorus
Lyrics
hai kaun des tumhaara musaafir
kaun des tumhaara musaafir
kahaan ke
haan haan haan
kahaan ke
rahnewaale ae
tum kahaan ke rahnewaale
tere bolon ne praan jagaaye
teri baani se hum yahaan aaye
tere bolon ne praan jagaaye
teri baani se hum yahaan aaye
aa ha ha ha
hum bane kisaan dulaare
maata dharti ke pyaare
hum bane kisaan dulaare
maata dharti ke pyaare
haath bane hathhiyaar hamaare
hum mazdoor hain saare
haath bane hathhiyaar hamaare
hum mazdoor hain saare
hum hain lohaar
hum hain kumhaar
hum hain kapda bun’ne waale
hum hain lohaar
hum hain kumhaar
hum hain kapda bun’ne waale
haath bane hathhiyaar hamaare
hum mazdoor hain saare
haath bane hathhiyaar hamaare
hum mazdoor hain saare
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
————————————————
है कौन देस तुम्हारा मुसाफिर
कौन देस तुम्हारा मुसाफिर
कहाँ के
हाँ हाँ हाँ
कहाँ के
रहनेवाले
तुम कहाँ के रहनेवाले
तेरे बोलों ने प्राण जगाए
तेरी बातों से हम यहाँ आए
तेरे बोलों ने प्राण जगाए
तेरी बातों से हम यहाँ आए
आ हा हा हा
हम बने किसान दुलारे
माता धरती के प्यारे
हम बने किसान दुलारे
माता धरती के प्यारे
हाथ बने हथियार हमारे
हम मज़दूर हैं सारे
हाथ बने हथियार हमारे
हम मज़दूर हैं सारे
हम हैं लुहार
हम हैं कुम्हार
हम हैं कपड़ा बुनने वाले
हम हैं लुहार
हम हैं कुम्हार
हम हैं कपड़ा बुनने वाले
हाथ बने हथियार हमारे
हम मज़दूर हैं सारे
हाथ बने हथियार हमारे
हम मज़दूर हैं सारे
Laa Do Sajan Mohe Baajuband
Posted on: August 1, 2022
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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5127 | Post No. : | 17079 | Movie Count : |
4614 |
Today’s song is a duet from the film ‘Her Highness’ (1946).
The year 1946 was an year which saw many changes in the film industry. The 2nd World War had just ended. Rationing and control on many items had created black marketing. This made many people millionaires. The extra income started getting invested in film making. The increased cost of raw films made film making 7 to 8 times costlier. A film which was made in about 1 Lakh rupees in 1940, needed 8 Lakhs now. Studio system was waning and artiste rates increased in lakhs instead of thousands. In 1945, only 74 films were made. This number increased to 153 films in 1946. Some quality films were made in 1946, indicating the changing face of film making.
Film ‘Dharati Ke Lal’ (1946) was made by IPTA people and it became the first film to be exhibited in Russia. ‘Neecha Nagar’ (1946) won the Grand Prix award in the French Film Festival. Film ‘Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani’ (1946) was dubbed in English as ‘The journey of Dr. Kotnis’. It was shown in the USA and then in the Venice Film Festival. Two musical films – ‘Anmol Ghadi’ and ‘Shahjahan’ were made in 1946. Year 1946 also saw the debut of several stars and artistes. In fact one can call 1946 as the ‘debut year’ of the Hindi film industry. See this….
Nirupa Roy debuted in film ‘Amar Raaj’.
Geeta Bali debuted with a dance in film ‘Badnami’
Geeta Roy sang her first film song in film ‘Bhakta Prahlad’
Balraj Sahni debuted in the film ‘Insaaf’. It was a small role, though.
KA Abbas-Director, Pt. Ravi Shankar-MD, Balraj Sahni as hero and Damayanti Sahni as heroine made their Debut in film ‘Dharti Ke Lal’
Meena Kapoor sang her first Hindi film song in film ‘Eight Days’
Sudhir Phadke debuted as MD in film ‘Gokul’
PL Santoshi as Director, Dev Anand, Rehman, Rehana and Kamla Kotnis debuted as actors in film ‘Hum Ek Hain’
Chitragupta did his first film as MD in ‘Lady Robin Hood’
Ram Ganguly became MD with film ‘Maharana Pratap’
Abhi Bhattacharya debuted in film ‘Milan’
Chetan Anand as Director, Uma Anand and Kamini kaushal as actresses debuted in film ‘Neecha Nagar’
Hansraj Behl debuted as MD with film ‘Pujari’
Madhubala (as Baby Mumtaz) sang her first song in film ‘Pujari’
Majrooh Sultanpuri wrote his first Hindi film song in film ‘Shahjahan’
SD Burman as MD and Kishore Kumar as an actor debuted with film ‘Shikari’
So, you will find the year 1946 was truly an year of change. The winds of Partition were already blowing and the second line of supplementary artistes was ready to replace the migrators, after the Partition.
‘Her Highness’, a stunt film was made by Bharat Talkies. The cast of the film consisted of the usual members of action/stunt films. Sarla Devi, Dilawar, Mehdi Raja, Madhukar Gupte, Meerabai, Prakash, Agha Peerjaan, Narmada Shankar etc. Lyricists were Roopbani and Madhup Sharma. However HFGK does not credit any Lyricist for any specific song. It also does not mention the singers’ names of any song.
The film was directed by stunt film veteran – Balwant Bhatt. He was the elder brother of Nanabhai Bhatt, who too was an expert in directing B and C grade films. One sees this kind of close relatives following each other from the very beginning of the talkie films. Even Zubeida, heroine of the first talkie – ‘Alam Ara’ (1931) had her 2 sisters and mother in this profession. If I start listing such names, it will be a long list. One interesting feature of Balwant Bhatt was that he had also directed the film ‘His Highness’ in the year 1937. If there were films like ‘Momma Highness’ and ‘Papa Highness’, I am sure Balwant Bhatt would have directed those films too !
The elder brother of Nanabhai Bhatt, Balwant Bhatt was born at Porbandar,Gujarat on 13-1-1909. Balwant started his career by assisting Naval Gandhi in 1930-31 and Pesi Karani at Imperial Film company and then NB Vakil at Sagar Studios in 1932.
A prolific director of second tier, action oriented films, Bhatt’s first film as a director was Royal Film Company’s 1932 silent thriller ‘Passing Show’ which featured popular stunt-film actor Navinchandra. He turned director with the advent of talkie films and joined Prakash Pictures with ‘Bambai Ki Mohini’ (aka ‘Actress’) (1934) starring Miss Panna and Miss Alaknanda. His last one was ‘Nagin Aur Sapera’ (1966). He directed 33 films, mostly stunt and C grade films.
Bhatt directed action star Fearless Nadia in ‘Delhi Express’ (1949) and ‘Circuswale’ (1950) as well as the comedian Bhagwan in ‘Joker’ (1949) and ‘Jodidar’ (1950), and even had opportunities to work with bigger name’s such as Bibbo in ‘Suhaag’ (1940), Maya Banerjee in ‘Madhusudan’ (1941), and Prithviraj Kapoor in ‘Aankh Ki Sharam’ (1943). But the vast majority of Bhatt’s output was in the category of B-grade films.
He directed some Gujarati films like ‘Sansar Leela’, ‘Seth Sagsha’, ‘Divadandi’, ‘Snehlata’ etc. He was the producer of ‘Dillagi’ (1942), ‘Gunehgar’ (1953), ‘Alif Laila’ (1953), ‘Sindbad The Sailor’ (1952), ‘Son Of Sindbad’ (1958), ‘Police Detective’ (1960) etc. etc. ‘Diwadandi’ (1950) became famous for its song – ”Taari Aankhni Afini”, sung by Dilip Dholakia with music by Ajit Merchant. His film ‘Mordhwaj’ (1952) was the debut film for MD Narayan Dutt. Balwant Bhatt died on 7-2-1965, at Bombay.
Today’s song is a rare song, but we do not know who wrote or who sung this duet. HC Bali was the music director.
Harishchandra Bali aka HC Bali was born on 10-3-1906 at Jalandhar, Punjab. He received early training in music from Pt. Tola Ram and Ustad Maula Baksh of Talwandi Gharana. He was also a disciple of Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale and Pt. Dilip Chandra Vedi. He adopted their styles. Bali came to Bombay. He entered film by acting as a hero in the film ‘Naqsh-e-Sulemani’ (1933). In later life also he acted in a few more films. As a MD, his first film was ‘Aurat Ka Dil’ (1933) and last film was ‘Janta’ (1947).
He gave music to 26 films. Among these were first films of Prof. Pt. Ramanand Sharma, ‘Watan Parast’ (1934), first film of actress Pramila, ‘Bhikarin’ (1935), first film of Debaki Bose in Bombay, ‘Jeewan Natak’ (1935). In the film ‘Pati Patni’ (1939), Naushad was his assistant and composed a few songs also. In 1942, Bali gave music to ‘Aple Ghar’, the Marathi version of ‘Apna Ghar’ (1941). He was the MD for the last film of Vishnupant Pagnis, ‘Mahatma Vidur’ (1943) and in film ‘Janta’ (1947), he gave the opportunity to lyricist Rajendra Krishna for the first time.
Bali also gets the credit for bringing KL Saigal to limelight. Both he and Saigal were from Jalandhar. When Saigal was in Calcutta for his job as a typewriter salesman, Bali was living with RC Boral. Bali told Boral about Saigal’s singing and the rest is history. Bali came into news in the late 50s, when he said that Lata had sung 4 songs for his film ‘Seedha Rasta’ in 1941 and thus claimed to introduce her to film singing. However, Lata clarified that till the death of her father Dinanath Mangeshkar in 1942, she was in Kolhapur and there was no question of her singing in films in 1941. Thus Bali’s claim got scuttled.
After 1947, Bali retired from films and returned to Jalandhar. He started his own music school, ‘Sangeet Vihar’. He became famous as a music Guru to many singers in later years. Bali also sang on radio and was an A grade artiste of All India Radio. He also wrote a few books on music – ‘Sangeet Vigyan’ in 4 volumes and ‘Sangeet Prakash’ in Punjabi language. These books were published by Punjab State University Text Book Board in Chandigarh. Harishchandra Bali died on 24-6-1976 at Jalandhar.
Here is the rare song from the film ‘Her Highness’. The names of the singers of this duet are not even mentioned on the gramophone record, but I feel the song must have been sung by the cast members itself, to save expenses. Such tactics were followed by the producers while making stunt C grade films.
With this song, film ‘Her Highness’ makes it’s debut on the Blog.
Song- La Do Sajan Mohe Baajuband (Her Highness)(1946) Singers-Sarla Devi, Dilawar, Lyrics-Unknown, MD-HC Bali
Lyrics
la do sajan mohe baajuband
la do sajan mohe baajuband
nahin jaee hoon
nahin jaee hoon
nahin jaee hoon main naihar ko aaj
o o o o
jaee hoon main naihar ko aaj
la do sajan mohe baajuband
la do sajan mohe baajuband
nahin jaee hoon
nahin jaee hoon main naihar ko aaj
jaane ka naam na lo
ro doonga
jaane ka naam na lo
ro doonga
nanhi see
nanhi see
nanhi see
zindadi main kho doonga
jaane ka naam na lo
ro doonga
nanhi see zindadi main kho doonga
haaye haaye
choolha jalaate mori jhulsen ungaliyaan
haaye haaye
choolha jalaate mori jhulsen ungaliyaan
kuchh to karo
tum laaj
aa aa aa aa
jaee hoon main naihar ko aaj
jhagdo na saajan nithhalle
jhagdo na saajan nithhalle
sambhaalo ye peetal ke chhalle
sambhaalo ye peetal ke chhalle
ye hansuli
ye mundri
ye paanwon ki paajeb
ye hansuli
ye mundri
ye paanwon ki paajeb
jhumke hamelon ke saath
ho o o
main to jaaoongi naihar ko aaj
bigdo na sajni
baat baat par
bigdo na sajni
baat baat par
paaon dabaaun torey
paaon dabaaun torey
raat rat bhar
bigdo na sajni
baat baat par
paaon dabaaun tore
raat rat bhar
kaadun nihore tore
kaadun nihore tore
roothho na sajni mose
kaadun nihore tore
roothho na sajni mose
laa doonga baajuband aaj
ho o o o
tumhe laa doonga baajuband aaj
khaao kasam mori
haan haan kasam tori
khaao kasam mori
haan haan kasam tori
laa doge baajuband aaj
haan haan haan
baba laa doonga baajuband aaj
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
————————————————
ला दो साजन मोहे बाजूबंद
ला दो साजन मोहे बाजूबंद
नहीं जई हूँ
नहीं जई हूँ
नहीं जई हूँ मैं नैहर को आज
ओ ओ ओ ओ
जई हूँ मैं नैहर को आज
ला दो साजन मोहे बाजूबंद
ला दो साजन मोहे बाजूबंद
नहीं जई हूँ
नहीं जई हूँ मैं नैहर को आज
जाने का नाम ना लो
रो दूँगा
जाने का नाम ना लो
रो दूँगा
नन्ही सी
नन्ही सी
नन्ही सी
जिंदड़ी मैं खो दूँगा
जाने का नाम ना लो
रो दूँगा
नन्ही सी जिंदड़ी मैं खो दूँगा
हाय हाय
चूल्हा जलाते मोरी झुलसे उँगलियाँ
हाय हाय
चूल्हा जलाते मोरी झुलसे उँगलियाँ
कुछ तो करो तुम लाज
आ आ आ आ
जई हूँ मैं नैहर को आज
झगड़ो ना साजन निठ्ठल्ले
झगड़ो ना साजन निठ्ठल्ले
सम्भालो ये पीतल के छल्ले
सम्भालो ये पीतल के छल्ले
ये हँसुली
ये मुँदरी
ये पाँवों की पाजेब
ये हँसुली
ये मुँदरी
ये पाँवों की पाजेब
झुमके हमेलों के साथ
हो ओ ओ
मैं तो जाऊँगी नैहर को आज
बिगड़ो ना सजनी
बात बात पर
बिगड़ो ना सजनी
बात बात पर
पाँव दबाऊँ तोरे
पाँव दबाऊँ तोरे
रात रात भर
बिगड़ो ना सजनी
बात बात पर
पाँव दबाऊँ तोरे
रात रात भर
काडूँ निहोरे तोरे
काडूँ निहोरे तोरे
रूठो ना सजनी मोसे
काडूँ निहोरे तोरे
रूठो ना सजनी मोसे
ला दूँगा बाजूबंद आज
हो ओ ओ
तुम्हें ला दूँगा बाजूबंद आज
खाओ क़सम मोरी
हाँ हाँ क़सम तोरी
खाओ क़सम मोरी
हाँ हाँ क़सम तोरी
ला दोगे बाजूबंद आज
हाँ हाँ हाँ
बाबा ला दूँगा बाजूबंद आज
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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