Archive for the ‘Semi Classical song’ Category
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 : |
4990 | Post No. : | 16882 |
Today’s song is from the film Do Behnen-1959.
The film was made by Brij kala Mandir, Bombay. Produced by J P Sehgal and Kailash Kapoor, it was directed by Kedar Kapoor. Music was composed by Vasant Desai and all the 7 songs were written by Kavi Pradeep. The cast of the film was Shyama, Rajendra Kumar, Chand Usmani, Radha Kishen, Tiwari, Ram Mohan, Leela Mishra and many more.
The director Kedar Kapoor (2.9.1927-5.6.1987) directed 35 films from 1954 to 1983. In his career he was branded as Dara Singh Specialist, because he directed as many as 19 films of Dara Singh. His daughter Madhu kapoor was also an actress, in those days. The pair of composer Vasant Desai and Kavi Pradeep was unusual. They came together only in 2 films of 1959, namely south made School master and Do Behnen. Kavi pradeep was not acceptable to many well known Music Directors of those times, because Pradeep insisted on singing at least one song in every film and he used to force the composer to use the tunes he made for his songs. Due to this, MDs who were famous, could afford to deny working with him, like Naushad for example. Even Vasant Desai had to give one song from both his films to Pradeep to sing.
The story of Do behnen-59 was a story of twin sisters who were poles apart in nature. Shyama did a double role for both sisters. Earlier K.A.Abbas’ story in film ” Anhonee’-1952 had handled such a story. But that too was not the first one. In 1942, the film “Muqabala” depicted 2 sisters having different natures. In that film the Stunt Queen Fearless Nadia did the double role of sisters.
Having a double role in films was not a new thing. Let us take a brief look at the history of Double roles in films. As far back as into the initial era of making silent films, a male actor, Anna Salunke, had done the double role of Shri Ram and Seeta in film ” Lanka Dahan”-1917, made by Dadasaheb Phalke. Later on actress Patience Cooper did double roles of Twin sisters in silent film “Patni Pratap”-1923 and then again as Mother and daughter in silent film “Kashmiri Sundari”-1925. Master Vithal did a double role in the film Raj Tarang-1927.
When Talkie films started, the first film to have a double role was “Awara Shehzada”-1933.The Hero was Shahu Modak. The film was based on Mark Twain’s popular novel “The prince and the pauper’ in 1881. With this film India had beaten Hollywood in this race, because the first Talkie film on this novel was made in Hollywood only in 1937, with the same title of novel. The film featured the handsome Erol Flynn. Another popular film was ” The prisoner of Zenda’ based on the novel of same name by Anthony Hope in 1894 in 1937 and 1952.
In Hindi, a major hit film on double roles was Geeta-1940. In this film the hero-Chandramohan did a role of Father and son and the Heroine Durga Khote did the double role of Mother and wife. The film advocated the principle for the first time in films that ” Crime never pays”. This theme was later used in many films like “Kismat”-43 and “Sangram”-50. Film Geeta became so popular that it was remade as “Ustad’-1957 and “Karmayogi”-1978. Ashok kumar and Raaj Kumar did double roles in these films.
In the south made film “Chandralekha’-1948, the Hero Ranjan had a double role as twin brothers. The trend of making films with double roles went on increasing steadily. I have the statistics of such films from 1931 to 2014. As per this, the double role films were 3 in the 40’s, 11 in 50’s, 37 in 60’s, 63 in 70’s, 62 in 80’s, 81 in 90’s, 45 in 2000 and 17 till 2014.
Leading actors did double roles in films thus –
Amitabh-15 films
Rajesh K. – 11 films
Mithun Ch. -11
Govinda -10
Jeetendra -9
6 films each by Akshay kr., Hema M., Rishi K., Sanjeev kr.,and Shri Devi
5 films by Anupam K., Dilip kr., Mehmood and SRKhan
4 films by Ajay D, Anil k., J.Shroff, KK, Rekha, Sadhana, Salman Khan, Shashi K.
3 films by 15 actors. 2 and 1 by many actors. I have all the names but it will be too long a list.
So much for films with double roles.
The story of Do Behnen-59 was written by eminent writer Pt. Mukhram Sharma ( 29-5-1909 to 25-4-2000): The most famous writer of stories with social themes in the fifties, Pandit Mukhram Sharma had a long association with B. R. Chopra. He had written stories for many of his hit films. Some of his notable films are Ek Hi Raasta, Aulad, Sadhna and Dhool Ka Phool. Pt. Sharma had also won Filmfare awards for Sadhna, Vachan and Aulad. His other hit films include Santaan, Do Kalian, Jeene Ki Raah, Raja Aur Rank, Dadi Maa, Gharana and Talaq. Pt. Mukhram Sharma won Sangeet Natak Academy Award (1961).
Before coming to Bombay, he was a teacher in Meerut. In 1939, he came to Bombay, but could not get any job. He moved to Poona and joined Prabhat films as a Tutor for Marathi and Hindi. In Poona, he married a Marathi actress Shanta Mujumdar.He was with Marathi films till 1952, then he came to Bombay and got the first Filmfare award for Best story for his film Aulad-54.
Then there was no looking back. After winning Filmfare awards 3 times, Academy Award and Lifetime achievement Zee award, Sharma retired in 1980 and went back to Meerut.
The story of Do Behnen-59 was……….
Bombay-based look-alike twin sisters, Vasanti and Malti ( Shyama ), live a wealthy lifestyle with their parents. Their father, Raghunath ( S.K.Prem), arranges devout Vasanti’s marriage with Ramesh ( Rajendra Kumar), who lives with his widower father, a doctor ( Tiwari), and a sister, Rekha ( Chand Usmani). After the wedding, Raghunath is shocked to find Malti singing and dancing with a male named Anokhey( Ram Mohan) in a nightclub.
He brings her home, admonishes her severely and forbids her to leave the home. In response, she elopes with Anokhey, travels to Poona and books a room in Paramount Hotel. Shortly thereafter Anokhey shows his true colors, squanders her money, starts drinking, and frequenting prostitutes. He then takes her jewelry and walks out of her life. In order to recover the rent, the Hotel Manager contacts the Mathurs, and Vasanti and her mom ( Mumtaz Begum) attend to take Malti back home.
While traveling home, the train meets with an accident and Vasanti passes away. Her mother tells everyone that it is Malti who has passed away, and compels Malti to take over as Vasanti, which she does reluctantly.
After going to her house, she finds it very difficult to adjust to the sati savitri type behaviour. However, slowly she starts loving the new house and also her husband. Ramesh many times gets puzzled with her behaviour, but ignores it.
Finally the truth is out one day, but by that time Ramesh starts liking her and so a New Malti takes over her dead sister’s place officially.
Today’s song is the 7th and the final song of this film. It makes the film ” YIPPIED ” ! It is a good song too. Enjoy….
Song-Chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan bichhua bole (Do Behnen)(1959) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Kavi Pradeep, MD-Vasant Desai
Chorus
Lata + Chorus
Lyrics
ho ho ho
papapapapa
papapapa
hahahahaha
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
sa re sa re ma ha ma dha pa
pa ma ga re ma ga re sa
sa sa sa
ma pa dha
dha ni re sa
sa sa
chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan
bichhuwa bole re
tan dole
man dole
chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan
bichhuwa bole re
tan dole
man dole
sakhi dekho jawaani aayi ban thhan ke
aayi ban thhan ke/font>
jeevan mein madhu ras ghole
tan dole
man dole
chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan
bichhuwa bole re
tan dole
man dole
o o
kis manzil pe aaj hum aaye
aaj hum aaye
dekho naazuk badan lahraaye
ho lahraye balkhaye
dekho nas nas mein hai bijli tadapti
nas nas mein hai bijli tadapti
ang mein bhadke shole
tan dole
man dole
chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan
bichhuwa bole re
tan dole
man dole
badal gaya sab roop rang
sakhi badal gayi hai chaal ree
chaal ree
dhak dhak dhak mere dil ki dhadkan
dene lagi hai taal re
taal re
o o
nain nachaa le gori teer chala le
nain nachaa le gori teer chala le
aaye khushi ke jhakole ae
tan dole
man dole
chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan
bichhuwa bole re tan dole man dole
chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan chhum chananan nanan
Saawan Ki Raat Kaari Kaari
Posted on: March 3, 2022
This article is written by Avinash Scrapwala, 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 : |
4976 | Post No. : | 16852 |
‘Meharbaan’ was directed by A Bhim Singh for AVM, Madras’. It was produced by AV Meiyappan.
It had Ashok Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Nutan, Mehmood, Sudesh Kumar, Bhalla, Shaymlal, Jankidas, Umesh Sharma, Ramavtaar, Rajkishore, Mukri, Sulochana, Shashikala, Shyama, Raj Mehra, Ramesh Deo, Ashim Kumar, Kumari Padma, Master Levi, Jayanthi, Bharathi and others.
‘Meharbaan’ had seven songs that were written by Rajinder Krishan. Following is the list of songs as mentioned in HFGK Vol-IV (1961-1970).
| SNo | Song Title | Singer/s | Posted On |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Mera Gadhaa Gadhon Ka Leader | Mohd Rafi, Mehmood | 09.12.2016 |
| 02 | Aayega Aayega Ik Chhail Chhabilaa Aayega | Mohd Rafi | |
| 03 | Ik Raaja Ki Sun Lo Kahaani | Lata Mangeshkar, Rafi | 06.06.2021 |
| 04 | Saawan Ki Raat Kaari Kaari | Asha Bhonsle | |
| 05 | Ae Mere Dost Ae Mere Humdum | Mohd Rafi | 21.01.2013 |
| 06 | Saari Duniya Mein Dekhe Hain Do Anpadh Naadaan | Lata Mangeshkar | |
| 07 | Ik Raaja Ki Sun Lo Kahaani | Mohd Rafi | 06.06.2021 |
This movie made its debut on the blog on 21.01.2013 with its song “Ae Mere Dost Ae Mere Humdum” which I had myself shared then as a ‘lyrics contributor’ on the blog. This song is a solo song by Rafi Saab. The second song from this movie, “Mera Gadhaa Gadhon Ka Leader“, which appeared on the blog was sung by Rafi Saab and Mehmood. This song was posted on 09.12.2016 which is almost after a gap of four years.
The most beautiful and well known song from this movie ” Ik Raaja Ki Sun Lo Kahaani“, a multiple version song – one duet and other solo – was posted on the blog on 06.06.2021 and that was almost after a gap of four and half years from the second song posted on the blog.
I had read about this movie (‘Meharbaan’) earlier when the movie ‘Swarg’ (1990) was released. I had watched ‘Swarg’ then for Rajesh Khanna.
So the name of this movie ‘Meharbaan’ had in my memory since then. When I became associated with this blog, I was under the impression that the songs from this movie should be already there. However, I was in for a surprise when I realized that none of the songs from this movie ‘Meharbaan’ were posted on the blog. I listened to the songs from this movie and noted down the lyrics of all the songs then itself in 2013. This movie will be completing its ten-year run on the blog.
All the songs of ‘Meharbaan’ are composed by the legendary music director Ravi Shankar Sharma known to us as Ravi. Today 3rd March, 2022 is the ninety-sixth birth anniversary of music director Ravi (3 March 1926 – 7 March 2012). On this occasion let us listen to this composition of Ravi. It is sung by Asha Bhonsle. This song, a semi classical song is the only song that Asha Bhonsle sung in this movie.
Only audio of the today’s song is available. (This was the case even then in 2013) I think this song may not have been included in the movie. I would request knowledgeable readers to throw more light on this song and today’s movie.
Song – Saawan Ki Raat Kaari Kaari (Meharbaan) (1967) Singer – Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics – Rajinder Krishan, MD – Ravi
Lyrics
saawan ki raat kaari kaari
saawan ki raat kaari kaari
jiyara sataaye morey piyara na aaye
haaye baat takat main to
haari haari haari
saawan ki raat kaari kaari
saawan ki raat kaari
baahar barsat badra pal pal
aur idhar ankhiyan mein jal thhal
baahar barsat badra pal pal
aur idhar ankhiyan me jal thhal
main wo abhaagan radha
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa
main wo abhaagan radha jiske
roothh gaye baanwaari
ee ee ee
saawan ki raat kaari
kaari
saawan ki raat kaari
naina jitna neer bahaaye
aur bhi man ki agan bhadkaaye
naina jitna neer bahaaye
aur bhi man ki agan bhadkaaye
saawan se keh do ab jaaye
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
saawan se
saawan se
saawan se keh do ab jaaye
raakh bhayi phulwaari ee ee
saawan ki raat kaari kaari
saawan ki raat kaaaaaari
saawan ki raat kaaaaari
saawan ki raat kaaaari
saawan ki raat kaari
raat kaari
raat kaaaaari
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
————————————————
सावन की रात कारी कारी
सावन की रात कारी कारी
जियरा सताये मोरे पियरा ना आए
हाए बाट तकत मैं तो
हारी हारी हारी
सावन की रात कारी कारी
सावन की रात कारी
बाहर बरसत बदरा पल पल
और इधर अखियों में जल थल
बाहर बरसत बदरा पल पल
और इधर अखियों में जल थल
मैं वो अभागन राधा
आ आ आ
आ आ आ आ
आ आ
मैं वो अभागन राधा
जिसके रूठ गए बनवारी॰ ॰ ॰
सावन की रात कारी
कारी
सावन की रात कारी
नैना जितना नीर बहाये
और भी मन की अगन भड़काए
नैना जितना नीर बहाये
और भी मन की अगन भड़काए
सावन से कह दो अब जाये
आ आ आ
आ आ आ आ
सावन से
सावन से
सावन से कह दो अब जाये
राख़ भई फुलवारी॰ ॰ ॰
सावन की रात कारी कारी
सावन की रात का॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰री
सावन की रात का॰॰आ॰॰री
सावन की रात का॰॰॰री
सावन की रात कारी
रात का॰॰॰री
रात का॰॰आ॰॰री
This article is written by Avinash Scrapwala, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4902 | Post No. : | 16707 |
Today 19th December’2021 is the 102nd birth anniversary’ of actor Om Prakash (19.12.1919 – 21.02.1998) whom we have watched performing in many character roles in the Hindi movies.
When I think of the movies of Om Prakash where I watched and liked his performance, it is a long list. I must say I liked his performances in all the movies where I have watched him.
The oldest memory of Om Prakashfor me is the movie ‘Patang-1960’, then ‘Chowkidar-1974’, ‘Sadhu Aur Shaitaan-1968’, ‘Mere Hamdam Mere Dost-1968’, ‘Sajan-1969’ ‘Dus Lakh’ etc. etc. when I was still growing boy.
As a grown-up boy I watched his ‘Laawaris’, ‘Namak Halal’, ‘Rang Birangi’, ‘Naukar Biwi Ka’, ‘Sharabi’, ‘Alag Alag’, ‘Insaniyat Ke Dushman’, and I think ‘Kalyug Aur Ramayan’ was his last movie that I watched.
In between there were many movies from the end-sixties to all seventies like ‘Khandan’, ‘Padosan’, ‘Zanjeer’, ‘Gopi’, ‘Nehle Pe Dehla’, ‘Chupke Chupke’, ‘Roti’, ‘Maa’, ‘Golmaal’ etc etc.
It would be surprising if I say that I have yet to watch ‘Amar Prem’, but I do not remember of watching it.
I may have also missed to note some of his prominent movies in the above list, but then the names I mentioned above are only few for example. I hope to add his list of movies later in future on the blog (may be with a song from his movies).
As I said above, I do not remember any of Om Prakash movies where I do not like his performances (mostly in character roles). He also got to lip sync songs in movies and today on his birth anniversary we are going to enjoy a song from the ‘1973’ movie ‘Archana’ which is performed on screen by Om Prakash.
I had come across this song in November last year when I had shared a song from this movie.
‘Archana-1973’ was directed by for ‘Vikram Pictures’ Bombay. It had Mala Sinha, Sanjeev Kumar, Snehlata with Jagdeep, Manmohan Krishna, Bobby, Jagridar, V. Gopal, Sulochana, Shabnam, Madhu, Sushila, Shibana and Om Prakash and others.
Jr Mehmood makes a special appearance in this movie.
Story of this movie was written by Prof. Tamhane, and screenplay was written by Madhusudan Kalelkar. Dialogues for this movie were written by Anand Romani, editing of this movie was done by Govind Dalwadi.
This movie was passed by Censor Board on 1st October’1973.
This movie has six songs written by Hasrat Jaipuri, Indeevar and Neeraj.
Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Mohd Rafi and Manna Dey give their voices to the songs in movie.
Music for this movie was composed by Shankar-Jaikishan.
Here is the list of these six songs as per HFGK Vol-V (1971-1980). So far only two songs from ‘Archana-1973’ have been posted on the blog.
| S.No. | Song Title | Lyricist | Posted on |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Jaise …. preetam se pyaar badhha jaaye | Hasrat Jaipuri | |
| 02 | Jab ham hain tere saath… janamdin tujhko | Indeevar | 15.11.2020 |
| 03 | Jiyaa mein laaga more baan preet ka | Hasrat Jaipuri | Being discussed today |
| 04 | Tan mann tere rang rangoongee | Neeraj | 04.01.2012 |
| 05 | Jaane kis roop ki jaadubhari parchhaayi ho | Hasrat Jaipuri | |
| 06 | Jo dil mein chubha… ab bas mein kahaan | Hasrat Jaipuri/Indeevar |
Let us now enjoy today’s song as a tribute to actor Om Prakash who had given us many of his ‘character roles’ to cherish, and songs performed by him remind us of his versatility and effortless performances, in his characteristic style.
In today’s song he is performing in a ‘musical mehfil’ like set up with music artistes around him. There is a ‘Nataraja murti’ in front of him and on the walls of the place he is sitting, there are portraits of famous music artistes around.
Today’s song is sung by Manna Dey, and lyrics are by Hasrat Jaipuri.
As mentioned above music is composed by Shankar-Jaikishan.
Editor’s note:-With this song, Hasrat Jaipuri completes 700 songs in the blog as a lyricist.
Let us enjoy today’s song now …
Video
Audio
Song-Jiya mein laaga more baan preet ka (Archana)(1973) Singer-Manna dey, Lyrics-Hasrat Jaipuri, MD-Shankar Jaikishan
Lyrics
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka
ghaayal hai armaan preet ka aa
ghaayal hai armaan preet ka
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka aa aa aa
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka aa
bin kaajar thhe nainaa kaaley
ae ae ae ae
bin kaajar thhe nainaa kaaley
bin kaajar
bin kaajar
bin kaajar thhe nainaa kaaley
thhe chitwan ke baan niraale ae
haar na maanen ham dilwaale ae
ham dilwaale ae
ham dilwaale ae
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka
ghaayal hai armaan preet ka aa
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka
tarpat tarpat rain guzaaroon
tarpat
tarpat
rain guzaaroon
rain guzaaroon
tarap
tarap
tarap
tarpat tarpat haan
tarpat tarpat rain guzaaroon
saari rainaa panth nihaaroon
ban ke papeehaa aa
pi ko pukaaroon oon oon oon oon
pi ko pukaaroon
pi ko pukaaroon oon
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka
ghaayal hai armaan preet ka aa
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka
man ki agan se deep jalaaun
oon oon
dha ni
dha ni
dha ni
dha ma gaa aa
ma dha re sa
dha ni dha pa maa ga re sa
saa
saa
maa aa aa aa
man ki agan se deep jalaaun
hardam deepak raag sunaaoon
saari umariyaa aa
gaanaa gaaun
gaanaa gaaun
gaanaa gaaun
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka aa aa
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka
ghaayal hai armaan preet ka aa
ghaayal hai armaan preet ka aa
jiyaa mein laagaa more baan
preet ka
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
Bedardi preet nahin jaani
Posted on: October 29, 2021
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
This article is his 700th post in the blog.
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Blog Day : |
4851 | Post No. : | 16641 |
O P Nayyar was an odd man out in Hindi film industry as a music director. He did not have the formal or informal training in the music. He did not undergo ‘apprenticeship’ under any music directors. He did not work with Lata Mangeshkar during his entire career as a music director. The top three star-actors of 1950s and 60s – Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor avoided him as a music director after working with him for one or two films. He did not work with Raj Khosla after his spate with him in ‘Ek Musaafir Ek Haseena’ (1962). His egoistic, stubborn, ‘calling spade a spade’ type of nature and some shades of eccentricities should have made him persona non grata in the Hindi film industry. Despite all these odds, he attained the status of one of the top music directors of Hindi films during 1950s and 1960s.
I always felt that O P Nayyar was the ‘Eklavya’ of Hindi film music – a self-trained music director who got inspirations from more than one Dronachaya of music directors – R C Boral, Pankaj Mullick, Ghulam Haider and Anil Biswas. As a teenager, O P Nayyar was fascinated by the films of New Theatres which he watched in Lahore. He was mesmerised by the songs of K L Saigal and Pankaj Mullick which guided him to pursue the singing career. He was a regular singer of bhajans and ghazals on AIR, Lahore in the 1940s until the partition. Two of his Kabir dohas which he used to recite on AIR. Lahore were recorded and released on HMV disc in 1943. He composed his first recorded song – a non-film, ‘preetam aan milo’ in the voice of C H Atma in 1945 which became very popular.
After shifting to Mumbai following the partition, O P Nayyar’s first three films – ‘Aasmaan’ (1952), ‘Cham Chama Cham’ (1952) and ‘Baaz’ (1953) turned out to be the flop films. It was only after a huge box office success of ‘Aar Paar’ (1954) that O P Nayyar established himself as music director and remained one of the top music directors of Hindi films until about end-1960s.
O P Nayyar achieved his musical career progression despite the handicap of his stubbornness and other traits. The same handicap also resulted in his downfall. In 1966, he had a spate with Mohammed Rafi during one of the songs recording of ‘Saawan Ki Ghata’ (1966) after which he did not work with Rafi for a long time. In 1974, Asha Bhosle, his muse of over 15 years, decided to part with him in what appears to be the clash of egos. By this time, Asha Bhosle had also become a force to reckon with in Hindi film music.
O P Nayyar’s musical journey virtually ended by mid-1970 though he did a few sporadic films until 1995. He spent rest of his life in isolation away from film industry and his family until his death in January 2007.
The question that may come to the minds of many Hindi film music enthusiasts as to how O P Nayyar could churn out many beautifully crafted songs based on Hindustani classical raags. In this context, it is worth mentioning the observations of Ustad Ameer Khan when he heard all the 11 songs of ‘Phaagun’ (1958). When O P Nayyar met Ustad Ameer Khan in some context, the latter asked him as to why he had composed all the 11 songs in Raag Pilu. O P Nayyar had no answers except to tell him it was just a coincidence that his compositions matched with Raag Pilu. Incidentally, Ustad Ameer Khan rendered for O P Nayyar, a bandish, jogiya mere ghar aaye in raag Lalit in ‘Raagini’ (1958). In the later years, Ustad Ameer Khan pointed out to him that in akeli hoon main piya aaa from ‘Sambandh’ (1969), he has used about 16 different raagas. Probably, music composition was God’s gift to O P Nayyar.
O P Nayyar has composed many raag-based songs, some of which are semi-classical compositions in the films like ‘Aasmaan’ (1952), ‘Naya Daur’ (1957), ‘Raagini’ (1958), ‘Phaagun’ (1959), ‘Kalpana’ (1960), ‘Phir Wohi Dil Laaya Hoon’ (1963) etc. Almost all of his semi-classical songs have been covered on the Blog. But there is one semi-classical song which did not get as much attention from the Hindi film music lovers as it deserved. The song is from an obscure film ‘Qaidi’ (1957) which is yet to be covered on the Blog.
‘Qaidi (1957) was produced by F C Mehra under his banner, Eagle Films and was directed by Mohammed Hussain. The star cast included Padmini, Suresh, Anwar Hussain, Helen, Agha, Ragini, Leela, Johny Walker, M Kumar, Kamal Mehra, Rajan Kapoor etc. It was a ‘B’ grade action-oriented film. The film was released in January 1957.
The film had 8 songs of which 6 songs have been covered on the Blog. All the songs were written by Jaan Nisaar Akhtar which were set to music by O P Nayyar. I am presenting the 7th song, ‘bedardi preet nahi jaani’ which is a semi-classical song rendered by Asha Bhosle and Usha Mangeshkar. The video clip of the song is not available on any of the video sharing platforms. There is one audio clip which is available with an average sound quality. I have, therefore, made a new video clip from a mp3 clip of the song with me in a better sound quality and have uploaded the same.
From the lyrics as well as taraanas, the song appears to be picturised on two dancers. From the star cast, there are 4 dancers in the film – Padmini, Ragini, Helen and Leela. From the available video clips of the songs, it is observed that Asha Bhosle has sung both for Padmini and Helen in the film. In addition, Shamshad Begum has also sung for Padmini. If the song is used for the dance competition, it is quite likely that the dancers could be Padmini and Ragini as both are trained Bharatnatyam dancers and in the film, Ragini plays the role of Padmini’s friend.
I am not able to tell on which Raag the song has been composed. However, the tune closely resembles that of ae ri jaane na doongi from ‘Chitralekha’ (1964) which, according to Swarganga, is based on Raag Kamod.
Note: In this article, I have taken some inputs from an interview of O P Nayyar which appeared on http://www.cinemasangeet.com. and also from an article on O P Nayyar which was published in millenniumpost.
Audio Clip:
Song-Bedardi preet nahin jaani (Qaidi)(1957) Singers-Asha Bhonsle, Usha Mangeshkar, Lyrics-Jaan Nisaar Akhtar, MD-O P Nayyar
Both
Lyrics
tana naadir dirta ni ta nata taani ee
tana naadir dirta ni ta nata taani ee
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
main to roothhi sajanwaa
jaa tum sang nahin bo….loon
naahi boloo..n
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
jaa jaa jaa jaa re sainyyaan more
kaahe hamri bainyyaan marore
aaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaa
jaa jaa jaa jaa re sainyyaan more
kaahe hamri bainyyaan marore
aaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaa
jaa jaa jaa jaa re sainyyaan more
kaahe hamri bainyyaan marore
ghoonghat ke pat main nahin kholoon
ghoonghat ke pat main nahin kholoon
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
tana naadir dirta ni ta nata taani ee
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
main to roothhi sajanwaa
jaa tum sang nahin bo…loon
naahi boloo…n
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
main na tere bas mein aaun
jaa re jaa nahin ankhiyaan milaaun
aaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaa
main na tere bas mein aaun
jaa re jaa nahin ankhiyaan milaaun/font>
aaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaa
main na tere bas mein aaun
jaa re jaa nahin ankhiyaan milaaun
kaahe sainyyaan main teri ho loon
kaahe sainyyaan main teri ho loon
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
tana naadir dirta ni ta nata taani ee
main to roothhi sajanwaa
jaa tum sang nahin bo….loon
naahin boloo…n
bedardi preet nahin jaani ee
tana naadir dirta ni ta nata taani ee
Man bhaawan sangeet suhaawan
Posted on: October 24, 2021
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4846 | Post No. : | 16634 |
The song, tum jo aao to pyaar aa jaaye zindagi mein bahaar aa jaaye was from a ‘B’ grade film, ‘Sakhi Robin’ (1962) sung by Manna Dey and Suman Kalyanpur. The song was written by a then struggling lyricist, Yogesh Gaud which was set to music by Robin Banerjee who was trying to establish himself as the music director in Hindi films but did not succeed. If this song was to appear in an ‘A’ grade film, probably this duet would have been sung by Mohammed Rafi or Mukesh with Lata Mangeshkar. Another popular song, na jaane kahaan tum thhe na jaane kahaan ham thhe from ‘Zindagi Aur Khwaab’ (1961) was sung by Manna Dey with Suman Kalyanpur set to music by Dattaram who was also trying his best to graduate from assistant to Shankar-Jaikishan to an independent music director since 1957.
Personally, I was very happy that these two romantic songs were sung by Manna Dey with Suman Kalyanpur as they broke the monotony of our ears getting flooded with the familiar voices of the topmost male and female playback singers of that time. These two songs became popular as they were regularly played on Vivid Bharati.
What made me to remember these two songs is the 8th Remembrance Day of Manna Dey today, October 24, 2021. It is Manna Dey’s bad luck that his singing versatilities could not be fully exploited by the music directors. He could not become the mainstream playback singer as his contemporary playback singers, Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood and later Kishore Kumar were preferred by producers, directors and actors. Nonetheless, Manna Dey who commenced his playback singing career in Hindi films in 1942 continued to sing until 1990s – a period of 5 decades during which he sang close to 1375 songs in diverse genres in Hindi films and composed songs as a music director for 15 Hindi films.
Probodh Chandra Dey, known by his pet name, Manna Dey (01/05/1919 – 24/10/2013) had the initial training in music from his uncle, K C Dey. When K C Day decided to shift to Mumbai in the early 1942 on the invitation of Chimanlal Trivedi of Laxmi Productions, Manna Dey accompanied him to assist him both in his filmy career as a music director as well as to look after his uncle who was blind. It was K C Dey, who gave Manna Dey his debut song, a duet with Suraiya, jaago aayi usha panchhi bole jaago in ‘Tamanna’ (1942). Neither the songs nor the film created any ripple on the box office front. He also got opportunity to sing three songs in ‘Ram Rajya’ (1943) which was first offerred to K C Dey but declined the offer by saying that he sang only his self-composed songs.
While Manna Dey continued to assist K C Dey, he was entrusted to Ustad Aman Ali Khan of Bhendi Bazar Gharana by his uncle to get him trained as a vocalist in Hindustani classical music. He also took training in learning Urdu to improve his diction. In 1946, K C Dey returned to Kolkata after which Manna Dey assisted music directors Hari Prasanna Das, Khemchand Prakash and S D Burman. Somehow, he detested the work of music direction and instead concentrated on playback singing.
Manna Dey started his playback singing career at a time when Mukesh had started his career as a singer-actor in 1941 followed by Mohammed Rafi in 1944. It would be interesting to know as to how they fared in their initial play-back singing career in the 1940s. As I expected, Mohammed Rafi topped among them with around 325 songs, followed by Mukesh (around 160 songs). Manna Dey came a distant third with around 60 songs only. It was apparent that Manna Dey getting branded as a specialist in classical singing and singing for character actors in the genre of prayer or philosophical songs, had affected his playback singing output significantly.
In the 1950s also, Manna Dey was not yet in the reckoning as one of the main playback singers for the lead actors. The producers/distributors of the films preferred Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, and Talat Mehmood in that order. Manna Dey would get the chance to sing for the lead actors only if the song was based on a classical raagas. Even in other genres of songs, he got only limited opportunity to sing for the lead actors.
In one of his interviews, Manna Dey had revealed that sometime in 1954, he had contemplated to quit the Hindi film industry out of the frustration of not getting opportunity to sing for the lead actors and also in diverse genres. It was his wife, Sulochana Kumaran who encouraged him to give up the defeatist attitude and prove that he could sing any type of songs.
A major opportunity came to Manna Dey in the film ‘Shri 420’ (1954) when Mukesh after singing two songs for Raj Kapoor excused himself from singing more songs as he had signed a contract with the producer of ‘Maashooqa’ (1953) which prohibited him singing in other films until the release of the film. This gave opportunity for Manna Dey as he was chosen to sing for Raj Kapoor for 3 remaining songs. He also sang for Raj Kapoor in ‘Chori Chori’ (1956) and in ‘Parvarish’ (1958). All these songs became very popular. With these success, Shankar-Jaikishan got confidence to make Manna Dey sing 4 songs for Shammi Kapoor in ‘Ujjala’ (1959). But thereafter it was back to square one as in the 1960s, producers and actors preferred Mohammed Rafi and Mukesh over Manna Dey.
Probably, to prove his point that he could sing any genre of songs, in the 1960-70s, he sang a few beautiful non-film songs of the diverse genre such as nazaaron mein ho tum khayaalon mein ho tum, ye aawaara raaten ye khoyi si baaten, ‘nathhili se toota moti re’, ‘saawan ke rimjhim mein thirak thirak naache’ and many more.
In the 1960s, Manna Dey sang diverse types of songs some of which were not to his likings. But he accepted such songs to prove a point that he could sing any genre of Hindi films songs. Since he was regarded as a specialist in classical rendition, some music directors started using his classical rendition in the comical situations. For instance, he sang a Bhairavi thumri, arre hato kaahe ko jhoothhi banaao batiyaan in ‘Manzil’ (1960) which was made very famous by Ustad Faiyyaz Khan. In the similar situation, Manna Dey also rendered phool gendwa na maaro in ‘Dooj Ka Chaand’ (1964). He was also the main voice in one of landmark qawwalis of Hindi films, na to kaarwaan ki talaash hai in ‘Barsaat Ki Raat’ (1960).
Manna Dey also sang fun songs mostly for Mehmood in the 1960s like main tere pyaar mein kya kya na bana dilbar in ‘Ziddi’ (1964), aao twist karen jaag uthha mausam in ‘Bhoot Bangla’ (1965), o meri maina maan le mera kehna in ‘Pyaar Kiye Jaa’ (1966) and the iconic song, ek chatur naar kar ke singaar in ‘Padosan’ (1968).
Despite Manna Dey proving himself to be a versatile singer, he never got his dues that he deserved from Hindi film industry. From his interviews most of which he gave after he took the ‘self-imposed exile’ from Hindi film industry in the 1990s, his frustration about the way he was treated by Hindi film industry is quite apparent. In his interviews, Manna Dey gave a few instances where producers openly said their preference for Mukesh in front of him for the songs he was to sing. Fortunately, in most such cases, the concerned music directors stood for him. One such instance which Manna Dey did not reveal openly but shared with Pulak Bandyopadhyay, the lyricist for Bangla films and non-films songs:
When Manna Dey was rehearsing the song, tere naina talaash karen from ‘Talaash’ (1969) with S D Burman in his music room, O P Ralhan, the producer-director of the film walked in and listened to the song. In the presence of Manna Dey, O P Ralhan asked Burmanda as to why not Mukesh sing. Burmanda replied that Mukesh can not sing this song. O P Ralhan’s repartee to Burmanda was that why did he compose song which could not be sung by Mukesh ? Burmanda lost his cool and told O P Ralhan that if he wants S D Buirman’s music for ‘Talaash’, this song will have this tune and it would be sung by Manna Dey only. If he does not like this arrangement, he can look for another music director. O P Ralhan retreated from his stand. On the day of celebration of the silver jubilee of the film, O P Ralhan said ‘S D Burman Saab, you are our Dada – our eternal Dada’ [from Pulak Bandyopadhyay’s autobiography in Bengali ‘Kathay Kathay Raat Hoye Jay’ quoted in ‘S D Burman – The World of His Music’ by Khagesh Dev Burman (2013)].
Probably, Manna Dey lacked the ‘glamour’ quotient which his contemporaries, Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood and later Kishore Kumar had due to their large and strong fan-followings many of them could turn out to be the ‘fanatic’ fans. A large fan-following drives the box office demand for a playback singer. Nonetheless, Manna Dey has left with us scores of his immortal songs as a proof of his versatility to cherish his memory.
On the occasion of 8th Remembrance Day of Manna Dey, I have selected one of his trade mark semi-classical songs, ‘man bhaawan sangeet suhaawan’ which is the only remaining song from ‘Chandramukhi’ (1960) to be covered on the Blog. The song was written by Bharat Vyas which was set to music by S N Tripathi.
‘Chandramukhi’ (1960) had 8 songs of which 7 songs have been covered on the Blog as under:
| Songs | Date of Posting | Singers |
|---|---|---|
| Nain ka chain churaakar le gayi | 29/03/2010 | Mukesh |
| Aaj rituon ka raaja aaya | 18/04/2011 | Rafi-Suman Kalyanpur |
| Tera man mera man miley preet yoon khile | 20/05/2012 | Lata-Mukesh |
| Nadi kinaare koi pukaare | 09/12/2012 | Geeta Dutt-Rafi |
| Nainon se nainon ki baat huyi | 08/02/2013 | Lata |
| Chaandni jhilmil kare taaron bhari ye raat hai | 03/12/2016 | Sudha Malhotra-Lata |
| Bas gayi hai aankhon mein | 18/12/2020 | Manna Dey-Suman Kalyanpur |
With the last song being covered now, all the songs of ‘Chandramukhi’ (1960) have been covered on the Blog.
————————————————————————————————————————–
Note: The information used in this article on the life sketch of Manna Dey has been taken from his interviews which appeared on print as well as electronic media.
Audio Clip:
Song-Manbhaawan sangeet suhaawan (Chandramukhi)(1960) Singer-Manna Dey, Lyrics-Bharat Vyas, MD-S N Tripathi
Chorus
Lyrics
O…….m
man bhaawan sangeet suhaawan
man bhaawan sangeet suhaawan
madhur madhur madhu been bajaawan
sa ma ma ga dha
pa ma dha ri
sa ni dh pa ma ga ri sa
man bhaawan sangeet suhaawan
aadi bramah lay sur upjaaye ae ae ae
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aadi bramah lay sur upjaaye
sapta suran ke haath sajaaye
mahaguni Naarad ne apni
veena par kiske gun gaa..ye
man bhaawan sangeet suhaawan
saraswati ki taan sureeli
sunkar dharti dol uthhe
aaaaa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aaa
saraswati ki taan sureeli
sunkar dharti dol uthhe
jan jan ki sangeet sudha se
dason dishaayen bol uthhe
ma…aa
ma ma dha
ni re gaa re gaa re saa
ni re saa
paa ni saa
jal thhal dole ambar dole
dhara kaa kan kan bol uthe
mahadev kaa maharaag sun
sheshnaag bhi dol uthhe
[Tabla notations recited by
Manna Dey and an unidentified male voice]
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aaa
man bhaawan sangeet suhaawan
man bhaawan sangeet suhaawan
This article is written by Peevesie’s Mom, 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 : |
4455 | Post No. : | 15925 |
“Man Pasand” (1980 – censored on 26-6-1980 and released on 11-7-1980) was among the first few movies whose music cassette was purchased by my father along with “Yaarana” when they hit the market. And since then I am a huge fan of their songs. I Know almost all of them by heart.
This was a movie produced by Amit Khanna and directed by Basu Chatterji. Rajesh Roshan was the music director and Amit Khanna himself wrote the lyrics. The movie itself was inspired by the famous stage play by George Bernard Shaw – ‘Pygmalion’ (first published in 1913), and also on the hugely popular iconic film ‘My Fair Lady’ (1964 – Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn). The movie stars Dev Anand, Tina Munim, Girish Karnad, Simple Kapadia, Leela Mishra, Jalal Agha (appears as a guest in the song with this post), Piloo Wadia and Mehmood.
The movie has Dev Anand and Girish Karnad playing best friends, bachelors and musicologists. They encounter a loud and foul-mouthed vendor of ‘datun’ {neem branches} in the late-night local trains of Mumbai. Then and there, Dev (Pratap) throws a challenge that he can transform the unpolished girl into a graceful and talented singer and Karnad (Kashinath) picks up the bet and agrees to marry the girl if Pratap is successful.”
The above is from the last post that I wrote for this movie, in 2018 to celebrate Dev Anand’s 95th birthday.
We revisit the movie today. It has songs in the voice of another legend. When this movie was being made i.e. at the time of recording the songs of this movie, our Nightingale or Saraswathi- incarnate (as she is addressed by her ardent fans) must have been in her late 40s or just turned 50. She had been in the industry for nearly 37-38 years having stepped into the film world at the young age of 13, with the sole aim of supporting her family after the untimely death of her father. There was a time when she was rejected by Sashadhar Mukherjee for having a “thin-voice”. But it is that same “thin-voice” which was used in later years for songs that were filmed as early morning songs- “jaago mohan pyaare jaago” (Jaagte Raho); “jyoti kalash chalke” (Bhabhi Ki Choodiyan); “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” & “Bhor bhaye panghat pe” (Satyam Shivam Sundaram); and the bhajan which Saira Banu lip syncs in the morning hours in “Shaagird” – ‘Kanha kanha aan padi main tere dwar’. These are only a sample of what India’s Nightingale -Lata Mangeshkar – has given us over a career span of about 66-67 years. From the discography available on various websites it looks like she has stopped singing film songs sometime in 2010- that is why I have said that the career span is about 66/67 years. Of course, there was a time when she used to sing for actresses who were 50 years younger to her; then she switched to singing one or at the most two songs per movie after 2001 but has kept her date with recording songs by bringing out non-film albums and bhajans etc. I read somewhere that after a 14-year hiatus she recorded a song for some movie called “Dunno Y—Na Jaane Kyun” (2010).
She is a recipient of various awards including the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1989, the Padma Bhushan (1969), Padma Vibhushan (1999) and finally the Bharat Ratna in 2001. She definitely is India’s Ratna (Gem), don’t know if we will have another like her ever!!!!
Coming back to the song for this post. This is the song by which Pratap (Dev Anand) introduces a fully trained & graceful Kamli (Tina) to upper class, high-society, party-going friends of his. He showcases her as an accomplishment of his scientific method of music coaching. The song which is composed by Rajesh Roshan as a semi classical number was picturised on a young Tina Munim and gives us a sample of what the ‘Koyal Kanthi’ Lata Mangeshkar is all about. Why I say sample is because this is a very short song. There are other songs where she has sung full classical and semi classical for close to ten minutes or even more. Here I remember another song where, in a Dev Anand movie, S D Burman has given Lata Didi (as the film industry addresses her) an 8½ minute song which has various ragas incorporated in it (any guesses which song I am referring to).
“Man Pasand” has had a rather slow journey on the blog. The movie has 8 songs of which the first one in Mohd. Rafi’s voice was posted in March of 2009. The previous song posted was in 2018 on the occasion of Dev Anand’s birth anniversary.
Here is the penultimate song the post for which began a day before Devsaab’s birth anniversary in 2019.
I can write a lot more about the song and the near-parallel careers of Devsaab and Latadidi in the film industry. But I choose to halt here.
Wishing our dear Lata Mangeshkar, a very Happy 91st birthday. Salute to her on her long innings in the industry.
Audio
Song-Suman Sudha Rajni chanda aaj adhik kyun bhaaye (Manpasand)(1980) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Amit Khanna, MD-Rajesh Roshan
Lyrics
suman sudha
rajni chanda
aaj adhik kyun bhaaye
suman sudha
rajni chanda
aaj adhik kyun bhaaye
suman sudha
prem singhaashan piya biraaje
pankha jhaloon main haule
mohit mugdh unhin ko taakoon
ban mayur mann dole
suman sudha rajni chanda
aaj adhik kyun bhaaye
suman sudha
rajni chanda
aaj adhik kyun bhaaye
suman sudha
ooo aaaaa mmmmm aaaaa
pratibimb meri aashaon ka
tum santosh ho mera
aalingan sundar sapnon ka
khushiyon ka kosh ho mera
suman sudha rajni chanda
aaj adhik kyun bhaaye
suman sudha
rajni chanda
aaj adhik kyun bhaaye
Bhar bhar aayin mori ankhiyaan
Posted on: July 6, 2020
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in 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 : |
4371 | Post No. : | 15705 | Movie Count : |
4329 |
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Hindi Songs in Bangla Films : 34
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‘Jalsaghar’ [(1958), Music Room] was Satyajit Ray’s third film (4th film in terms of the date of release). After the box office failure of his second film, ‘Aparajito’ (1957), Satyajit Ray decided to make a popular film which would cater to the taste of Bengali audience. ‘Jalsaghar’. the short story of Tarashankar Bandopadhyay was the basis for the film which had the popular subject of the declining fortunes of zamindars (landlords) who patronized arts and music. So, there would be scope for songs and dances which would attract the audience.
But how could a director of the stature of Satyajit Ray succumb to make a commercial film whose heart was attuned to making the intellectual films? So, the net result was that when ‘Jalsaghar’ (1958) shooting was completed, the popular subject of declining aristocracy became a serious subject. The popular music associated with such subject was turned into the hardcore Hindustani classical songs and a classical dance. In other words, the film took the shape of an artistic film and won the National Film Award, 1959 for the best feature film in Bengali.
It took quite a long time to search for a dilapidated palace in West Bengal for shooting the film. At last, someone from Murshidabad suggested Nimtita Rajabari in Murshidabad which suited well as a palace for a zamindar whose fortunes are on the decline. It was a great coincidence that later on, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay revealed to Satyajit Ray that his short story was inspired by landlord Upendra Narayan Chaudhury who stayed in Nimtita Rajabari. His descendants have now settled in Kolkata.
The film is available for viewing on one of the video sharing platforms in 10 parts with English sub-titles. While watching, I felt that the original film may have been edited to some extent. However, the continuity of the story seems to have been maintained. The film’s story is set in the mid 1930s and centres around Chhabi Biswas in the role of an aged music-loving landlord. He is present in almost all the frames of the film. Rest of the main actors like Padma Devi, Gangapada Bose, Tulsi Lahiri, and Kali Sarkar have subsidiary roles. The story as depicted in the film is as under:
Biswambar Roy (Chhabi Biswas) is an aged feudal landlord who lives in his dilapidated palace on the banks of a river. He has lost his wife, Mahamaya Devi (Padma Devi) and the only son, Khoka some years back when their boat capsized in the river during a storm. He has lost much of the land-holding due to the soil erosion created by the river. He has only one servant, Ananta (Kali Sarkar) and the Estate Manager (Tulsi Lahiri) to his company besides his horse and an elephant. To maintain his status as an aristocratic landlord, he indulges in lavish spending and pleasures like hosting concerts in his music room, high quality drinks etc. Much of his assets including the remaining land and jewelries have been mortgaged or sold.
While old Biswamber is resting in his room reminiscing his golden days as a wealthy landlord, Mahim Ganguly (Gangapada Bose), his neighbour and a neo-richman, visits the palace to invite him to attend his son’s thread ceremony. While Biswamber declines to attend giving an excuse that because of his old age, he has stopped going out of his palace. But this event reminds him of his son’s thread ceremony which he had conducted in pomp and show worthy of a landlord which included a grand firework in the night followed by a musical concert in his jalsaghar (music room) where all his guests were served choicest drinks. He also remembers that in the same night, his wife resented his spending on concerts too, by mortgaging her jewellery.
Biswamber also remembers that he had arranged a next musical concert on the day his wife and son were to return to the palace after the visit to her mother’s place, to celebrate the new year. This was also to show his might to his new-rich neighbour, Mahim even though for this, Biswamber had to sell some of his antique furniture and some more jewellery. While the concert was in the mid-way, he got the news that his wife and the son drowned in the river while returning on a boat.
After the death of his wife and son, Biswamber has been living in the palace alone with a servant to attend to him. His music room has remained locked for many years. He has become a recluse. He is in no mood to accept his neighbour Mahim’s personal invitation to attend his newly constructed house-warming ceremony and a dance concert. But it reminds him of his music room which has been closed for years. He orders his servant to open it at once. He spends some time inside the music room reminiscing of his glorious days.
In order to spite his neighbour, Biswamber decides to organise a dance concert of a famous kathak dancer from Banaras for which he spends his last cash reserves of Rs.500 for refurbishing his music room, arranging drinks to his guests and giving his last of the precious stones as a gift to the dancer. After the concert, though he has become almost bankrupt, a drunk Biswamber is very happy that he could effectively replicate his past glory to spite his neo-rich neighbour, Mahim.
However, as the night progresses, he observes that one by one the candles in the chandeliers of his music room are getting over, making the room dark. A frightened Biswamber linking the candle light-off to the end of his own life, calls his servant, Ananta who apprises him that the dawn is approaching. He would open the windows and the sunlight would make the room brightened. As the morning sun rises, in his last show of grandeur of his aristocracy, Biswamber mounts his favourite horse and rides at a faster pace away from the palace. But he is thrown out of the horse and dies at the banks of the river – the same river which is also responsible for the erosion of his land and the death of his wife and son.
The moral of the story is that though Biswamber knows that his fortunes are on the decline, he is not ready to adjust to the reality of the situation. Every effort is made to maintain his lavish spending even in the background of facing the adverse financial position. There is no need to compete in terms of prestige with the neo-rich, Mahim who has improved his economic condition by his business acumenship. On the other hand, Biswamber should have taken the clues from Mahim to diversify into some other business ventures. In both the cases – the decline of Zamindars and the emergence of non-Zamindar neo-rich, Satyajit Ray has very well explored human psychology of showmanship.
The highlight of the film is the superb performance by Chhabi Biswas in the role of an aged landlord. The entire film lies on his shoulder. It may be worthwhile to note that in reality, actor Chhabi Biswas belonged to an aristocratic family. He has personally witnessed the downfall of aristocracy. With this background, it comes naturally to him to perform his role of a falling aristocrat. In fact, there is so much of a genuineness in his performance that those who have watched the film would sympathise with him at the end of the film notwithstanding the fact that it is his ego and the false prestige which are responsible for his downfall.
One of the scenes in the film which I liked the most is when Biswamber enteres his jalsaghar (music room) for the first time after keeping it locked for some years. He spends about 5-6 minutes inside jalsaghar without any dialogue and the background music, observing each and every item – portraits of his forefathers, each and every chandeliers, furniture and fixtures etc. This scene reminds me of a similar scene in ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ (1959) when an aged Guru Dutt visits his studio and glances the entire studio, reminiscing of his glorious days as a successful director. He touches the camera and sits on his director’s chair in the dark studio never to get up.
Satayjit Ray has used the camera as well as the expression and gestures of the main actors to move forward the story of the film more than the dialogues. My guess is that of 100 odd minutes of the film, the dialogues in the film would have cumulatively consumed not more than 40 minutes. Ustad Vilayat Khan has used mainly Sitar and Flute for background music which goes well with the ambience of the palace as well as the genre of the story.
Like ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ (1959), ‘Jalsaghar’ (1958) had also the same fate of failure at the box office. The reviews of the film after its release in India were mostly adverse. It was only after a couple of years when the film was released in the US and the UK, it received a cult status. Over a period of time, the film has been one of the widely discussed classic films of Satyajit Ray like ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ (1959). In June 2018, the film was shown in the Siri Fort Auditorium, the only Indian classic film shown at Navras Duende World Film Festival.
‘Jalsaghar’ (1958) has two songs – both rendered in Hindustani classical raags. In addition, the film also has the 8-minute of Kathak dance by Roshan Kumari, the daughter of playback singer, Zohrabai Ambalewaali. I am presenting a traditional thumri ‘bhar bhar aayi mori ankhiyaan piya bin’ rendered by Begum Akhtar. The song is picturised on Begum Akhtar herself up to say 01:45 of duration. Thereafter, the actress singing the song is different until Begum Akhtar surfaces again towards the end of the song. However, the entire duration of the song is rendered by Begum Akhtar. The Thumri was set to music by Ustad Vilayat Khan.
The background of the song is that Biswamber Roy remembers his olden days when after the thread ceremony of his son, he had arranged a concert in the night in his jalsaghar where all the guests had been served with drinks. All the money spent for the event was raised by selling his wife’s jewellery.
The director’s camera captures many other details while the singer is rendering the Thumri. The camera pans over the entire jalsaghar to show the grandeur of the music room. The camera also captures other subsidiary activities simultaneously going on, both physically and mentally. The camera focuses on Chhabi Biswas who is shown to be listening very intensely. But behind the intensity, he is also thinking something else as his eyes remain static, probably remembering many such music soirees of the past. His neighbour, Gangapada Bose is inhaling snuff but at the same time, he is embarrassed as to whether any of the guests has noticed his action. The camera also captures him in trying to control his sneeze following inhaling the snuff and thereafter searching for a glass of drink.
This film, in my view, is a ‘must see’ for those who believe the films as the director’s medium and also for the excellent performance of Chhabi Biswas as an aged landlord.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Bhar bhar aayi mori ankhiyaan piya bin (Jalsaghar)(Bangla)(1958) Singer-Begam Akhtar, MD-Ustaad Vilaayat Khan
Lyrics
aaaaaa
aaa aa aa aaaa
aaa aaa aaaaaa
aaaa aaa aa
aaaaaaaaa aa
aaaaaaaaaaaaa
aa aa
aa aa aa aaaa
aaaaaaaaa
aaa aaa aaa aa
aa aa aa aa aaa aa
aa aa aaaa aa aaaa
ae bhar bhar aayin mori ankhiyaan
piyaa bin
bhar bhar aayin mori ankhiyaan
piyaa bin
bhar bhar
bhar bhar aa………yin
bhar bhar aa………yin
aa aa aa aaa aaa
ae ae ae
bhar bhar aayin aa aaa
bhar bhar aayin mori ankhiyaan
piya bin
bhar bhar aayin
bhar bhar aayin
aa……yi
aa……yi mori ankhiyaan
bhar bhar aayin mori
bhar bhar aayin mori ankhiyaan
piya bin
ghir ghir aayin…een een een…… een een
ghir ghir aayin..een kaari ee ee badariya aa aa
ghir ghir aayi..ee
aa…..aa….yi
ghir ghir aayin
o o ghir ghir
ghir ghir aa..yin een kaari ee badariya
dharkan laagi mori chhatiyaan
piya bin
dharkan laagi
Baa..dal Ghumadh Badh Aaye
Posted on: June 5, 2020
- In: "baadal" song | "saawan" song | Guest posts | Kavitha Krishnamurthy Solo Songs | Kavitha Krishnamurthy Songs | Multi Version Song | Post by Sadanand Kamath | Rain song | Semi Classical song | Songs of 1990s (1991 to 2000) | Songs of 1997 | Stage song | Suresh Wadkar solo | Suresh Wadkar songs | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 5 Comments
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusaist 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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Sai Paranjpye has so far directed 8 feature films in Hindi. She has written story and script for all these films. Each of these films has some interesting background as to what prompted her to make those films. In this article, I am covering her film ‘Saaz’ (1997) which was produced by Amit Khanna under the banner ‘Pulse Films’ of the Plus Channel of which he was the managing director during 1989-2000.
Sometime in 1995-96, Plus Channel decided to produce some ‘middle-of-the-road’ films. Directors like Shyam Bengal, Basu Chatterjee, Sudhir Mishra, Aruna Raje, Gautam Ghosh and Sai Paranjpye were enlisted to direct such genre of films which resulted in the release of films, ‘Sardari Begum’ (1996), ‘Gudgudee’ (1997), ‘Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi’ (1996), ‘Bhairavi’ (1996), ‘Gudia’ (1997) and ‘Saaz’ (1997), respectively.
Shabana Azmi had worked with Sai Paranjpye in ‘Sparsh’ (1980) and ‘Disha’ (1990). As per Sai Paranjpye’s Marathi book, ‘Sai – Maaza Kalapravaas’ (2016), one day Shabana came to her with a proposal on behalf of Plus Channel to direct a film with a woman-oriented story in which she would like to work. Sai Paranjpye accepted the proposal. The subject of sibling rivalry in the professional fields had attracted Sai Paranjpye but she had not thought of making a film on the subject. With this proposal, she thought as to why not make a film on sibling rivalry.
We are aware that there have been many instances of sibling rivalries – be in epics, history, business, media, industrial houses etc in India where there was thin line of difference between the professional and personal rivalries. According to Sai Paranjapye, sibling rivalry of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle is unique in the sense that their personal relationship by and large has remained intact over the years in the midst of their professional rivalry. And Sai Paranjpye wanted to bring this uniqueness in the film.
When Sai Paranjpye worked on the script of the film, she realised that the film was leaning towards making of a biopic on Asha Bhosle. She felt uncomfortable to make a film on such a script involving the personal lives of the siblings. Furthermore, she has no acquaintance with both the sisters. The idea of making a film depicting Asha Bhosle was, therefore, dropped. However, in the revised script, the main theme of two playback singing sisters were kept in mind with some twists in the stories just to segregate her story from the real life story of Lata and Asha Bhosle. However, a couple of events which actually happened during the lives of Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar were incorporated as they were in the public domain, written by those who had witness those events.
The star cast of ‘Saaz’ (1997) included Shabana Azmi, Aruna Irani, Parikshit Sahani, Raghuveer Yadav, Ayesha Dharker, Zakir Hussain, Amar Talwar, Brijbhushan Sahani, Bhupen Hazarika etc. The story, script and dialogues were written by Sai Paranjpye who also directed the film. The film was mostly shot around Mumbai. Some last part of the film were shot in Seychelles.
The film was certified by the Censor Board on 31-12-1996. But film failed to get release in theaters. The reason is stated to be the ban put by the Theater Owners Association on the exhibition of films produced by Plus Films due to the non-payment of arrears of rent from Plus Channel to some theater owners. I am not aware whether the film was released in the theater after this ban. Probably, the film got released later on TV. It was only after reading some parts of the script of the film published verbatim in Sai Paranjpye’s Marathi book referred to above that made me to watch the film. I am pleasantly surprised to note that she has handled the theme of sibling rivalry of playback singing sisters very delicately and objectively. There are some poignant moments between the two sisters which are very heart-touching.
The film’s story has been told in a flash-back mode during Bansi’s (Shabana Azmi)’s sessions with a psychiatrist played by Parikshit Sahani. She needed this treatment as she has lost the will to sing after the death of Hemang Desai (Zakir Hussain) with whom she was in love and would have married him. In all her sessions, Bansi reveals events from her childhood to playback singing career as to how she was always played second fiddle to her elder sister. How she broke the relationship with her didi for 10 years due to snatching of her chance to sing on India’s Independence Day at Delhi. But after the sudden death of her elder sister, Bansi feels guilty of depriving her elder sister of spending time with her daughter. Towards the end of the film, Bansi gets a good news that her daughter has won the award as a promising playback singer. This pleasant news makes Bansi to sing live in front of the audience in Seychelles. The tape of her singing is sent to psychiatrist who comes at the airport to receive her and announces that she does not need any more treatment. So his relationship with Bansi as a doctor and a patient is over. Instead, he wants now to be her friend. The films end with both them walking together out of the airport.
In my view, this film is not one of the best among the films Sai Paranjpye has directed. Probably, in trying to make the film different from that of the sibling rivalry of Lata and Asha Bhosle, too many characters were introduced. As a result, about last one hour of film does appear some disconnect from the first part of the film which has some brilliant stamp of Sai Paranjpye. However, I feel that she has succeeded in creating sympathy of the audience for the younger sister without their malice towards the elder one.
In keeping with the subject of the story, ‘Saaz’ (1997) has as many as 11 songs (including a multiple version song). Songs are written by Javed Akhtar which have been set to music by 4 music directors – Ustad Zakir Hussain, Bhupen Hazarika, Raj Kamal and Yashwant Deo. The reason given by Sai Paranjpye for multiple music directors is that since sisters are playback singers working with different music directors, the songs in the film should reflect the different style of music direction. Two of the music directors, Ustad Zakir Hussain and Bhupen Hazarika also acted as music directors in the film.
Out of the 11 songs of the film, 3 songs have been covered in the Blog, all by Peevesie’s Mom. I am presenting the 4th song from the film which is a multiple version song. The song is “Baadal Ghumad Badh Aaye”. The male version of the song is sung by Suresh Wadkar and Kavita Krishnamurthy sings the female version. Both the versions of the song are set to music by Yashwant Deo in Raag Megh-Malhar. In the credit titles of the film, only Javed Akhtar’s name appears as a lyricist. But in reality, both the versions of the song have been written by Sai Paranjpye. There is an anecdote as to why Sai Paranjpye had to write the lyrics of the song as revealed by her in her Marathi book referred to above.
Javed Akhtar has written all the songs except the one under discussion which was last to be written. Despite repeated reminder, Javed Akhtar could not write the song. Yashwant Deo who was to set the song to music had booked the recording room and taken the dates of Suresh Wadkar and Kavita Krishnamurthy. All the musicians were also booked for the date of recording. Now only two days had left for the recording of the song but both the version of song’s lyrics was not yet ready. Just one day before the song recording date, it came to light that Javed Akhtar has gone to Khandala with a film producer. The cancellation of recording of the song would have entailed a huge loss and also the shooting schedules would have been affected entailing further loss.
Yashwant Deo mentioned to Sai Paranjpye that even if he gets the song in the morning of the song recording date, he can manage somehow to complete the rehearsals and record the song at the appointed time at noon. Sai Paranjpye came home at night and completed the lyrics of two versions of the song, foregoing her sleep. In the morning, she handed over the lyrics to Yashwant Deo and recording of the songs took place as schedule.
On return from Khandala on the next day, Javed Akhtar was shocked to learn that the songs have already been recorded. He got annoyed on Sai Paranjpye. After 3-4 days, an executive from Plus Films came to her asking for her lyrics which Javed Akhtar wanted to read. He took lyrics to Javed Akhtar. There was no further development which meant that Javed Akhtar had no issue with the lyrics. On this issue, Shabana Azmi remained neutral.
Javed Akhtar won the National Film Award for the best lyrics in ‘Saaz’ (1997).
It is not an easy task for a novice to write lyrics based on Hindustani classical raags. The choice of words shows that Sai Paranjpye has hold over Sanskritised Hindi. For the first time, I have heard the word kanakalankrit bhor (dawn of golden colour). While the male version of the song is reflective of the onset of the rains, the female version of the song signals the end of the rains and the sun is shining giving a dawn of hope. This is symbolic for the resurgence of playback singing career of Bansi (Shabana Azmi) after she lost her will to sing.
Suresh Wadkar version of the song is pictuirsed on Raghuveer Yadhav who has played the role of a father of singing sisters, Mansi and Bansi. The picturization of the song is based on a true story in the life of Dinanath Mangeshkar who had gone to the house of Vishram Bedekar (Marathi and Hindi film director) in the midnight, drenched under heavy rains to borrow money to quench his thirst for alcohol. Bedekar taunted him by saying that it did not behove well for such a great artist to beg for money. Dinanath Mangeshkar retorted by impromptu singing a bandish in Raag Megh-Malhar and after completing the bandish, he took money from Bedekar as a present for his rendering.
Enjoy both the version of the songs in the backdrop of the approaching monsoon season.
Video (Suresh Wadkar Version)
Audio (Suresh Wadkar Version)
Video (Kavita Krishnamurthy Version)
Audio (Kavita Krishnamurthy Version)
Song – Baa..dal Ghumadh Badh Aaye (Saaz) (1997) Singer – Suresh Wadkar, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Lyrics – Sai Paranjpye, MD – Yashwant Deo
Lyrics
Suresh Wadkar Version
baa…dal ghumad baddh aaye
baa…dal ghumad baddh aaye..e
kaali ghata ghanghor gagan mein
kaali ghata ghanghor
baa…dal ghumad baddh aaye
baa…dal ghumad baddh aaye
kaali ghata ghanghor gagan mein
kaali ghata ghanghor gagan mein
andhiyaara chahun o..or
andhiyaara chahun o..or
ghan barsat utpaat pralay kaa
pyaasa kyon manmo..or
pyaasa kyon manmo..o..or
baa…dal ghumad baddh aaye
baa…dal ghumad baddh aaye..e
kaali ghata ghanghor gagan mein
kaali ghata ghanghor
ghanghor
ghanghor
ghanghor
kaali ghata ghanghor gagan mein
andhiyaara chahun o..or
ghan barsat utpaat pralay kaa
ghan barsat utpaa..aa..aa..t
aa aaa aa aaa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
ghan barsat utpaat pralay kaa
pyaasa kyon manmo..or
pyaasa kyon manmo..or
baa…dal ghumad baddh aaye
baa…dal ghumad baddh
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
baa..dal ghumad
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
baa..dal ghumad
baa..dal ghumad
baa…dal ghumad baddh aa..aa..aa..ye
Kavita Krishnamurthy Version
baa..dal ghumad baddh aaye
baa..dal ghumad baddh aaye
kaali ghata ghanghor gagan mein
kaali ghata ghanghor gagan mein
andhiyaara chahun o..or
ghan barsat utpaat pralay ka
pyaasa kyon manmo..or
pyaasa kyon manmo..or
baadal baras ab maun bhaye
baadal baras ab maun bhaye
ravi ujjwal prajawalit gagan mein
prajawalit gagan mein
gagan mein
gagan mein
gagan mein
ravi ujjwal prajawalit gagan mein
kanakaalankrut bho..or
jai mangal jai ghosh gagan kaa
jai ghosh gagan kaa..aa..aa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
jai mangal jai ghosh gagan kaa
shubh utsav chahun o..or
shubh utsav chahun o..or
baa..dal baras ab maun bhaye
baa..dal baras
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
baadal baras ab maun bhaye..ae
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
baadal baras
baadal baras
baadal baras ab maun bha..ye..ye
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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