Archive for the ‘Shanta Apte songs’ Category
Paani ke raaja machhariyaa ho
Posted on: March 11, 2021
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 : |
4619 | Post No. : | 16262 |
Today’s song is from a film of the early 40s – Apna Ghar-1942. One song from this film was discussed about 5 years back here. That makes today’s song its second song. This film was made by Circo Productions, belonging to a professional- Chimanlal Trivedi. The film was directed by Debki Bose. This was his first Hindi film in Bombay after he moved from New Theatres, Calcutta, due to some differences.
Debaki Kumar Bose, Bengali and Hindi director was born in Akalpoush, Burdwan Dist., West Bengal on 25-11-1898.He was the Son of a noted solicitor, Madhusudhan Bose. Influenced by Sisir Bhaduri, his teacher at Bidyasagar College, Calcutta (1920), he left university to join the non-co- operation movement of Calcutta Congress (1920). He was caught and jailed. After coming out,his father threw him out. He started selling ‘Gamachhas’ on the road. He started and Edited journal, Shakti, from Burdwan (1927-8). One day he was seen and hired by Dhiren Ganguly as actor and scenarist for Dinesh Ranjan Dass’ Kamonar Aagun (1930), Devotee of Vaishnava evangelical movement. He joined British Dominion Films (1927) as scenarist, then director.
He became friendly with the Cinematographer Krishna Gopal, with whom he went to Lucknow where they made a film ” A shadow of dead”. The film flopped and Debki returned to Calcutta, but Krishna Gopal was held hostage by the producers till he paid their investment. Debki took a loan from P C Barua and paid that amount to get Krishna Gopal released.
He joined P.C. Barua’s Barua Pics (1930), then entered New Theatres (1932-4) together with Barua, directing the studio’s first hit, Chandidas, after 7 consecutive flops by New Theatres.. This was the First film in India,with Background music. Its cinematic validation of a major stage genre – the quasi-legendary biographical – helped lessen Bengali cinema’s dependence on the Calcutta Theatres for its themes as well as its literary, musical and acting talent. Early work known mainly for his free and inventive approach to established genres, esp. the mythological and the Saint film, creating a Bengali quality cinema (e.g. Aparadhi and Chandidas). He was the one who promoted film music as a mix of Rabindra sangeet and Indian Classical music. It helped New Theatres to make its film songs popular all over India.
He also made Pooran Bhagat-1933. Handsome actor Mijjan (Syed Hasan Ali Zaidi) was the Hero. When the film was ready and about to be released,communal riots started in Calcutta,between Hindu and Muslims. After the peace returned,New Theatres was worried about Mijjan’s name in this Mythological film. Debaki kumar Bose,who hailed from a rich Zamindar family,told Mijjan “dont worry. From today I give you half of my name-Kumar.” Mijjan’s name became Kumar and he went on to become a big actor. After this,Debaki Bose himself never used the suffix Kumar to his name,in his life.
He made Rajrani Meera in 1933. During this film making he had a quarrel with director Nitin Bose and he decided to leave New Theatres.
After this he Went to East India Film (1934-6) where he made the lyrical Seeta which launched Prithviraj Kapoor and Durga Khote as a star duo. Seeta became the First Indian film to be sent to the International film festival at Venice. Here the film won a Diploma too and thus Debaki Bose was the first Indian artiste to win an International award for his film. He then Returned to New Theatres (1937-41), on invitation of B N Sarkar, making the classic Bidyapati.
In 1942 he left Calcutta and came to Bombay. His first film here as a Director was Circo’s Apna Ghar, made also in Marathi as ‘ आपले घर ‘. This also he directed.
His independent Debaki Bose Prod. (1945) with stars from the Hindi and Marathi cinemas paved the way for other Calcutta cine artistes after the decline of New Theatres in the early 40s. Made Arghya, a documentary on the caste system, based on four narrative poems by Tagore to celebrate the centenary of his birth. Debaki Bose was not just a director,but he was an actor (3 films),a producer (1 film) and also a writer (14 films). He was given the Sangeet Natak Academy award in 1957 and a Padmashree in 1958. He was India’s star director.
He died on 17-11-1971 at Calcutta. In his career of 31 years he made 50 films,in Bangla,Hindi,Marathi,Tamil and English.
FILMOGRAPHY: 1930: Kamaner Aagun (only act); Panchasar (also act); 1931: Aparadhi; Shadows of the Dead; 1932: Nishir Dak (all St); Chandidas; 1933: Puran Bhakt; Meerabai/Rajrani? Meera; Dulari Bibi; 1934: Seeta; 1935: Inquilab; Jeevan Natak; 1936: Sonar Sansar/Sunehra? Sansar; 1937: Bidyapati/Vidyapati?; 1939: Sapurey/ Sapera; 1940: Nartaki; Abhinav; 1942: Apna Ghar/Aple Ghar; 1943: Shri Ramanuja; 1945: Meghdoot; Swarg Se Sundar Desh Hamara; 1946: Krishna Leela; 1947: Chandrasekhar; 1948: Sir Shankarnath; 1949: Kavi; 1951:Ratnadeep/Ratnadeepam; 1953: Pathik; 1954: Kavi; Bhagwan Shri Krishna Chaitanya; 1955: Bhalobasha; 1956: Chirakumar Sabha; Nabajanma; 1958: Sonar Kathi; 1959: Sagar Sangamey; 1961: Arghya (adapted from Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema,with thanks)
The cast of the film Apna Ghar-42 was Shanta Apte, Chandra mohan, Maya Banerjee, Jagdish Sethi, Jeevan, Nimbalkar, Mahesh Kaul, David, Gope etc.etc. This film was also made in Marathi and that also was directed by Debki Bose. Chandra mohan, who started his career with Prabhat’s film Amrit Manthan-1934 could not act in its Marathi Version as he did not know Marathi. His role was done by Keshavrao Datey, in the Marathi version. Chandra Mohan felt very bad and with some difficulty started learning Marathi and in a period of few months he became fluent in it. With this added qualification he acted in 3 Marathi film versions, including Apna Ghar, which was titled ‘ आपले घर ‘. Hats off to his determination. The other two films were Jwala-38 and Geeta-40 ( he had a double role in it). He used to speak only Marathi on the sets of these films.
From the day silent films started being made, till today, thousands of people must have joined this film industry as actors and in many other departments, from a Clapper Boy to a big producer. By one estimate about 7000 people had joined film industry between 1913 to 2000. I wonder how so many people joined an industry which did not provide any security, nor did it assure continuous earnings. Leave aside the stigma of working in” films” in olden times, but this industry neither had permanent jobs nor a fixed income or a Pension. Take a look at any film-Silent or Talkie-only a handful people were credited. Later in the Talkie films, this list became larger. One can see this in any volume of HFGK of 30s or 40s. But then, if you exclude the names which got repeated in films, the total list of actors may not cross 2-3 thousand, perhaps. Then there were nother department people also.
Barring the main and known actors, most other actors are not even identifiable for the general public. Names without faces! Such actors constitute the bulk of numbers in the industry. If you take a look at the cast of a film, more than half of names are unknown or known by only repeat value in many films. These names have no faces. Information about them is not available in any books. They remain only names, replaced by other names after few years. The extras or junior artistes who are seen on screens in many scenes, throughout the film are also members of the industry.
Like any other language, there are writers and authors in Marathi too, who write on old films and old actors etc from the vintage Hindi films. One such author calls himself ” Babu Moshoi “. His articles are published regularly in newspapers, magazines etc. He has written several books. His real name is Hemant Desai. Another such writer in Hindi and Gujarati is Vithal Pandya. I have many such books in my library. Through these books I get to know old actors and their information, sometimes. I get surprised at many names as I read about some names about whom I had never known. For example, do you know who did King Dashrath’s role in films Bharat Milap-42 and Ramrajya-43, or the role of Kanva Muni in film Shakuntala-43 ? Who was the actress in Kaushalya’s role in Ramrajya-43 or Ram Vivah-49 ?
This actor was I.T. Nimbalkar and this actress was Shanta Kothari (nee Shanta Kumari). These were artistes from Silent film era, spilled over the Talkie films. They started as Hero and Heroine, but shifted to character roles, as the time went by. In our film industry, such cases are not new. In fact such type of actors who remained practically unknown to later generations of audiences, were highly respected by film people during shootings. Their seniority and work was respected.
This is a very good practice in the industry, by directors and other actors to give respect to old timers. Raj Kapoor used to send his car to fetch Bhudo Advani for shootings of film Boot Polish scenes. Hrishikesh Mukherjee kept special chair for Master Shiraz, during the shooting of film Guddi. He also ensured to feature Shiraz in the film credits. In one of the film related functions, I have myself witnessed how Amir Khan, Anil Kapoor and others treated yesteryear actress Susheela Rani, with great respect. These are only samples to stress what I have said. Not every such matter is published but it is a special feature of the industry.
I try to gather information on such unknown and forgotten artistes and write on them. Not everytime I am successful, but I have written about many such actors, directors, MDs etc. Some of them are Omkar Devaskar, Zunzar rao Pawar, Ganapat rao Bakare, Shankar rao Vazare, Naseem Junior, Shamim Jr, Altaf, Urmila, Ranjana, Kusum Deshpande, Vasant rao Thengadi, Jamshed ji etc etc. Today, we will know more about one such old time actor who was prolific and worked in films of Bombay and Calcutta.
I.T. Nimbalkar aka Indurao T. Nimbalkar ( he was always credited as only ‘ Nimbalkar ‘ in all films) was born on 6-12-1893, in Kolhapur state. This was the time Kolhapur was slowly developing as Kalapur (hub of arts) and the seeds of film making were being planted there. Baburao Painter, one of the original film makers had started his ” Maharashtra Film Company” on 1-12 1917.
Baburao, Damle, Fattelal etc were taught painting By Anandrao painter, who was an extraordinary painter of those times. All these people, along with V Shantaram, Keshavrao Dhaiber and few more also joined Baburao painter’s Maharashtra Film company. True that, film making had started even earlier in Maharashtra, but Baburao painter is credited with making films a form of art and spreading it on a larger canvas of India.
Indurao Nimbalkar grew up in this atmosphere in Kolhapur. He passed his Matriculation exam and also did a diploma in Printing. Nimbalkar was six feet tall and had a good physique. He was expert in riding, swimming and wrestling. He did 1000 sit-ups every day. Shahu Maharaj, the king of Kolhapur encouraged all arts as well as development of lower castes. Arya Samaj had a ‘ Gurukul’ in Kolhapur. Impressed with Nimbalkar’s education and body, Shahu ji appointed him as Editor of the weekly ‘ Arya’ and secretary of Gurukul.
One day Baburao Painter, along with assistant V Shantaram visited his press and offered Nimbalkar a role in his proposed film Sairandhri. Shahu Maharaj also permitted and encouraged him ,so Nimbalkar joined the film line. He was already famous due to his fiery editorials and now people came to see his shootings too. However, due to money shortage, the film did not complete. ( It was later made in 1919, but with different cast. V Shantaram made coloured Sairandhri in 1933 with Nimbalkar again).
Nimbalkar acted in many silent films like Baji Deshpande, Khazanchi (directed by Moti Gidwani- England returned), Lanka, Kismet (directed by Baburao Patel) etc etc. After the closure of Maharashtra F. Co., Nimbalkar was invited by V Shantaram to do Vishvamitra’s role in its first Talkie film ” Ayodhya ka Raja” -1932, in Hindi and Marathi. After this, he did Jalti Nishani-32, Sairandhri-33, Maya Machhindra, Sinhagadh etc.
After this, Nimbalkar went to Calcutta on invitation and worked in films made by Radha Films, Laxmi Studios, Devdatta films and New Theatres. From 1934 to 1938, he acted in 12 Hindi films. He was provided a Bungalow, car with driver, servants etc. His son studied in local school there. Returning to Bombay he worked as an assistant director to Keshavrao Dhaiber for film ‘Nandkumar’, made by his Jayashree Films. Next 2 years he shuttled between Calcutta and Bombay. He did King Dashrath’s role in Prakash films’ Bharat Milap-42 and Ramrajya-43 in this period.
He was invited by V Shantaram for acting in his first film under banner of Rajkamal- Shakuntala-43. Nimbalkar did the role of Kanva Muni in it. He later also acted in Jeevan yatra, Subah ka tara, Parchhain, Teen batti char rasta, Toofan aur Diya, Z Z Payal baje. Earlier he did Aapki sewa mein, prarthana,Nal Damayanti, Seedha Rasta, Gokul, Apna Ghar, Maharathi karna, Seeta Swayamvar. He worked in Pyasa, Mera Naam Joker, Amar Prem etc etc. From 1928 to 1970 he acted in over 250 films.
His wife Sushila was also educated and looked after his home and children. She never visited any sets in her life time. Nimbalkar died on 17-1-1973 at Kolhapur. (Thanks to an article in book Chandraat-चांदरात by बाबू मोशाय ).
Today’s song is sung by Shanta Apte, an unknown male and Chorus. This could be one of the early Fishermen songs.
Song-Paani ke raja Machharia ho (Apna Ghar)(1942) Singers- Shanta Apte, unknown male, Lyrics-Pt Narottam Vyas, MD-Harishchandra Bali
chorus
Male voice + chorus
Shanta Apte + Male voice + chorus
Lyrics
Paani ke raja Machharia ho o o
mahariya ho
paani ke raaja
ho paani ke raaja
machhariya ho o o
mahariya ho
nadi pe jaana
jaal bichhaana
nadi pe jaana
jaal bichhaana
machhri pakadna patariya ho o
machhri pakadna patariya ho o o o
mahariya ho
Paani ke raja Macheria ho o o
mahariya ho
laayenge seepi
seepi ke moti
laayenge seepi
seepi ke moti
moti jadaau gagariya ho
moti jadaau gagariya ho o o
mahariya ho
chaandi ki hansulee
sone ke jhumke
chaandi ki hansulee
sone ke jhumke
laana rangeelee chunariya ho
laana rangeelee chunariya ho o o
mahariya ho
shaan se aayenge
cheezen bhi laayenge
shaan se aayenge
cheezen bhi laayenge
jaise bahaadur sipahiya ho
jaise bahaadur sipahiya ho o o
mahariya ho
roti khilaayengee
hukka pilaayengee
roti khilaayengee
hukka pilaayengee
tumhree sajaayen sejariyaa ho o
tumhree sajaayen sejariyaa ho o o
mahariya ho
raani ke raaja
hum paani ke raaja
tum raani ke raaja
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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4590 | Post No. : | 16213 |
Today’s song is from a less known Mythological film, from a decade which had not given many religious films – the 40’s. The film is Uttara Abhimanyu-1946.
In the decade of the 40s, few films were made on religious subjects – compared to the 30s or the 50s. But it is also true that the few such films made in the 40s, like Bharat Milap-42 and Ram Rajya-43, underlined the fact that there was plenty of scope for such films and this fructified in the 50’s decade, which can be called as ” The Golden period of Religious Films”, after it churned out the maximum ever – 124 – Mythological films in 10 years’ time.
These religious films had a direct impact on my early life. Ours was a joint family and our Grandparents were the family heads. In those times ( I am talking of the early 40’s period), not much discussion was entertained on the children’s education. Elders in the family had faith in the school teachers. In those days, teachers worked for their principles to impart knowledge to the children. The fad of ‘ English Medium’ had not yet blossomed fully and usually the primary education was in the Mother tongue only. Our Hyderabad state was a Tri-lingual state, with 8 Telugu speaking districts, 5 Marathi speaking districts and 3 Kannada speaking districts. Being a Muslim ruled state, the official language was Urdu, but to be fair, there was no compulsion of Urdu in education.
I studied in Urdu medium upto 4th standard, about 2 years in Sanskrit when we were in Banares (U.P.), and when finally settled in Hyderabad, I studied in Marathi medium from my 5th to 12th class. Then on, of course it was in English medium only. Though I studied in Marathi medium, the quality of English and Hindi teachers being excellent, my English and Hindi was above average standard. And my 2 habits also helped. One reading books in these languages and seeing films in many languages like Hindi, Marathi, English, Telugu, Kannada and even Tamil.
I was the family ‘Chaperone’, to take the elders of the family to theatres to watch religious films. This made me a lover of these films. This also increased my knowledge about our Mythology and Vedic history. This way, I must have seen almost all the religious films of the 50s and some from the 40s too . However, I don’t remember if I saw the film Uttara Abhimanyu-46.
This Mythological film was directed by Sarvottam Badami and the music was by the specialist S.N.Tripathi. The cast of the film was Shanta Apte (Uttara), Shahu Modak (Abhimanyu), Chhaya Devi (Subhadra), Ashok Kumar (Arjuna), S N Tripathi (Virat) and others. I am surprised why Ashok Kumar’s name was not shown in the Cast in HFGK. It created unnecessary debate whether he was there or not. Some people even opined that Ashok Kumar gave playback to Shahu modak. The fact is, Ashok Kumar was very much there in the film. He never ever gave a playback to anyone in his career. (another such lapse is found in the cast of the film 1857 of 1946. Here the Hero- Surendra’s name is missing from the cast. His solo and duet songs are mentioned. These things happen when such a massive work is done by a single person with great efforts.)
Ashok Kumar was famous as a Romantic hero of Bombay Talkies films. Initially he was very shy to act with Devika Rani and this very style was loved by the audience. In the early part of his career, all his films were Romantic or simple love stories. From film Anjan-41 and then from film Kismet-43 his role type extended to different styles, but he was comfortable in it and in later period of 50s and 60s, he did many such roles. By mid 40s he was an actor with 10 years’ experience.
Our Indian audience keeps fixed images of actors, which is Type casting. Ashok Kumar was with an image of a Romantic hero or a crime film. So, he was not acceptable in any other Genres. He too was awkward in such roles. In the film ‘ Humayun’-45 he had to do a Historical character and here his limitations became evident. The audience laughed at him, when in war gear,in one scene, he had to run some distance. He looked so feminine ! In the same way, in his first Mythological film ” Savitri”-37, where he played Satyavan, he was very uncomfortable. Similarly, in the film Uttara Abhimanyu also he was a clear misfit. Thank God he realised it and never again tried such roles !
The story of the film’s director – Sarvottam Badami – was a real case of “Rags to Riches”. From a lowly Garage Mechanic he rose to become a big name in commercial and Govt. films and then a businessman and a consultant to a big Business House. His whole story is astounding !
Sarvottam Badami was born in 1910 at Channapatna in Karnataka,to a revenue officer working in Mysore. He passed his SSLC and worked as a garage mechanic and then a projectionist in Select Picture House, Bangalore, both of which were owned by Dr. Ambalal Patel. Patel moved to Bombay and financed Ardeshir Irani of Imperial Film Company, and Chimanlal Desai as a partner forming Sagar Movietone in 1930.
At the age of 19 years, Badami went to Bombay to study automobile engineering. He was asked by Ardeshir Irani who met him at a wedding to help out with the recording equipment he had purchased from abroad.
Badami helped in the sound recording department for the first Talkie in India, Ardeshir Irani’s Alam Ara (1931). Around that time a German director making the film Harishchandra left half-way and Badami offered to complete it, the co-director was Raja Chandrasekhar, although the co-director credit has also been cited as T. C. Vadivelu Naicker. The film turned out to be successful. He was contracted by Sagar Movietone (Sagar Film Company) to direct three films, two in Telugu and one in Tamil: Galava Rishi (Tamil), Rama Paduka Pattabhishekam and Shakuntala in Telugu. The success of these films established him as a director. His working team had people like the cinematographer Faredoon Irani, music director Anil Biswas and the Sagar Movietone favourites Sabita Devi and Motilal.
Initially, to avoid embarrassment to his family he requested not to be credited in the regional language films. He did not know Hindi but from 1932-1947, he worked for Sagar Movietone and also directed nearly 30 films in Hindi, for many others. His first Hindi film was Chandrahasa (1933) starring Noor Mohammed Charlie. He was paid Rs 2000 per film with the complete film being made within Rs 50,000. He worked with most of the top actors of the time like Motilal, Nargis, Ashok Kumar and Pahari Sanyal. He brought Mehboob Khan who was then doing roles as an extra out of obscurity and gave him the role of Sabita Devi’s father in the film Vengeance is mine(1935).
He made several films based on novels. Some of the writers whose work he used were K.M.Munshi, Sarat Chandra and Ramanlal Vasanthlal Desai. The film Aap ki Marzi (1939) was inspired by the Hollywood film Paradise for Three (1938). He became known for his satirical comedies and “socially relevant films”.His film Grihalaxmi (1934), which starred Jal Merchant and Sabita Devi had the woman getting into marriage only if her doctor husband agreed not to want children. The success of the film mitigated the enraged public reaction at the time.
He showed his understanding of media publicity required for films when in 1937, Badami resorted to woo audiences by announcing cash prizes of Rs.500, Rs.200 and Rs.100 for the best reviews of his newly released film Kulvadhu (1937). The promotional gambit worked sending audiences to the theatres. According to an interview, most of Badami’s films didn’t survive as the negatives were burnt to extract the silver from the silver nitrate.
After Aap ki Marzi-38, he followed his mentor, Dr. Patel and joined Sudama Pictures, when in 1939, Sagar Movietone merged into National Films. Badami
also worked in Famous Cine Laboratories, from 46 to 48.
Apparently, in 1948 Deputy Prime Minister Vallabh bhai Patel, who was then also in charge of the Information Ministry, on a visit to the Cine Laboratories Bombay, asked Badami to help set up a NewsReel and Documentary section. The Films Division was established in 1948. He became chief producer in the newsreel department and made several documentaries. He worked in the Films Division making documentaries from 1948-1952. After that he stopped making films and returned to Bangalore to retire as “I was a forgotten man in the feature film world”. He became an industrialist by starting a manufacturing business. Later he worked as a Consultant for Kamani Group of Industries also. He died in 2005 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
FILMOGRAPHY: 1932: Harishchandra; Galava Rishi; Paduka Pattabhishekham; Shakuntala; 1933: Chandrahasa; 1934: Grihalakshmi; 1935: Dr. Madhurika; Vengeance is Mine; 1936: Jeevan Lata; Grama Kanya; 1937: Kokila; Kulavadhu; 1938: Three Hundred Days and After; 1939: Aap Ki Marzi; Ladies Only; 1940: Chingari; Sajani; 1941: Holiday in Bombay; 1942: Khilona; 1943: Prarthana; 1944: Bhagya Lakshmi; 1945: Ramayani; 1946: Uttara Abhimanyu; 1947: Manmani; 1951: Vinoba Bhave (Doc);1952: Roof over the head
(Acknowledgement: Sapnon ke saudagar by Vithal Pandya, Sagar Movietone by Biren Kothari, HFGK, muVyz, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, and my notes)
The story of the film Uttara Abhimanyu-46 is not known. Abhimanyu was the son of Subhadra (ShriKrishna’s sister) and Arjun. Uttara was the daughter of king Virat, in whose palace the Pandavas spent the last year of their Adnyatvas ( living incognito). It is believed that while in his mother’s stomach, Abhimanyu had learnt the technique of entering a Chakravyuh in war ( a certain formation which is very deceptive to come out of it). At the Mahabharat war, he entered the Chakravyuh of the Kaurava army but was unable to come back, not knowing the technique. In such circumstances, the Kauravas and Karn, Dronacharya etc killed him going against all war rules. However his son Parikshit took revenge after the war.
As far as actress Chhayadevi is concerned, she was a famous actress in Bengal. She just did 11 Hindi films, some of which were Bi-lingual in Hindi and Bangla. She also sang 3 songs in 1 Hindi film. Our Sadanand kamath jii has written a nice Bio on her. Interested readers can read it on this Blog, at this link
Let us now enjoy today’s song by Shanta Apte.
Song-Aaj mere jeevan pathh par kaun ye saathi mila (Uttara Abhimanyu)(1946) Singer- Shanta Apte, Lyricist- Saraswati Kumar Deepak, MD- S N Tripathi
Lyrics
Aaj mere jeevan path par
kaun ye saathi mila
saty hai ki swapn hai ye
kya saty hi main
?? ardhy ?? pushp
abhimanyu ke ban gaye
uttara satya hai ke
swapn hai ye
more man ka mol mera
nitya rahta thhaa akela
more man ka mol mera
nitya rahta thhaa akela
aaj wo itna adheer kyon
aaj wo itna adheer kyon
aa gayi main charnon ke chanchal chaal mein
aa gayi main charnon ke chanchal chaal mein
kis chatur nar ne nootan ye nartan bhara
saty hai ki swapn hai ye
aaj mujh yauwan ke aangan mein
atithhi ye kaun aaya
aaj mujh yauwan ke aangan mein
atithhi ye kaun aaya
aur tan man ki ?? ko
kisne ?? bajaaya
aur tan man ki sakal ?? se kisne
?? par bajaaya
titliyaan ??
ur mein
??
titliyaan ??
cheer ur mein
??
kanthh mein sangeet ye
kisne bhara
kanthh mein sangeet ye
kisne bhara aa
saty hai ya swapn hai ya
saty hi mein hi
veer Arjun putr
Abhimanyu ki ?? hai
uttaraa aa aa
Samjha kya hai duniyaa daana
Posted on: August 3, 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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4399 | Post No. : | 15776 |
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Blog 10-Year Challenge (2010-2020) – Song No.49
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In my younger days, I remember to have watched Marathi film ‘Kunku’ (1937) on Bombay Doordarshan (now ‘Sahyadri’ Channel). At that time, I was not aware that ‘Duniya Na Maane’ (1937) was its Hindi version. Even it did not occur to me that the subject chosen for the film was very bold. I have no much recollections of the songs of the film but Shanta Apte’s performance has remained in my mind as it was quite different as compared with the theatrical acting by most of the actors of that time. Even her song renditions were looking natural as against the ‘fixed gaze’ style of song renditions witnessed in most of the films at that time.
After about 3 decades when I had watched the Hindi version on a video sharing platform, I still found that even in the present juncture, the subject handled in the film appears bold. I sometime feel that V Shantaram, the director, must be having a knack of convincing his other partners in Prabhat Films to agree to produce the film with a bold subject who may have thought that the film would receive the brickbats especially from the orthodox segment of the society after the release. That the film was a box office hit proves the capability of V Shantaram as a director for handling the bold subject in a way that convinced a large number of cine-goers about the evil of mismatched marriage
14-year old Nirmala (Shanta Apte) is married through a deciet by her uncle to a widower (Keshavrao Date), a lawyer, who is old enough to be her father. But she does not accept him to be her husband. While she takes care of the family as a housewife, she refuses to consummate the marriage by saying that while sufferings can be borne, injustice can not be tolerated. Over a period of time, her husband feels guilty and treat Nirmala as his daughter. He release her from the marriage but the conservative society does not accept this arrangement. In the end, the widower commits suicide with a note to Nirmala that she is free to remarry.
In selecting Shanta Apte in the role of Nirmala, V Shantaram must have observed her as a woman of substance who would perform her reel role of an enlightened woman who fights for her rights in a same way as she had done in her real life. In this film, there is a scene in which she gives a trashing with a cane to her college going step son for misbehaving with her as well as with his father and forces him to seek forgiveness from his father. I recall an instance when she had gone to ‘Filmindia’ office with a cane (or whip?) to trash Baburao Patel, the firebrand editor for writing some unpleasant comments about her acting. It was reported that to avoid trashing, Baburao Patel had to hide below his table.
10 years back, one song from the film ‘Duniya Naa Maane’ (1937) was posted on the Blog. So far, 5 songs from the film have been posted on the Blog details of which are as under:
| Songs | Name of the Film |
|---|---|
| ek thha raaja | 03/08/2010 |
| in the worlds broad field of battle | 04/08/2010 |
| man saaf tera hai ya nahin | 12/11/2012 |
| jai ambe gauri maiyya | 09/10/2013 |
| saawan jhoola jhool ke nikla | 19/03/2014 |
I am presenting the 6th song, ‘samjha kya hai duniya daana’ from the film which is rendered by actor-singer, Shanta Apte. The song is written by Munshi Aziz which is set to music by Keshavrao Bhole. In this song, there is no musical interludes. I liked the way, Shanta Apte sang the line ‘kisi ki chup’ followed by a very brief pause and then continuing singing ‘walwala kisi kaa’.
One of the features of the film was that the music director, Keshavrao Bhole did not use orchestra for all its songs, Instead, he relied on using a couple of musical instruments. Two of its 12 songs (including the one under discussion) were sung by Shanta Apte by playing gramophone records.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Samjha kya hai duniya daana (Duniya Na Maane)(1937) Singer-Shanta Apte, Lyrics-Munshi Aziz, MD-Keshavrao Bhole
Lyrics
samjha…aa kya hai duniya….aa ….aa
aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa
daana
yahaan pe aake har ek apni
yahaan pe aake har ek apni
niraali duniya bana raha hai
niraali duniya bana raha hai
deewaana daana zamaana kya kya
deewaana daana zamaana kya kya
hamein tamaashe dikha raha hai
hamein tamaashe dikha raha hai
kisi ki chup
walwala kisi kaa
chhuri kisi ki
gala kisi kaa
kisi ki chup
walwala kisi kaa
chhuri kisi ki
gala kisi kaa
bura kisi ka
bhala kisi kaa
bura kisi ka
bhala kisi kaa
dharam yahi kya sikha raha hai
dharam yahi kya sikha raha hai
sitam kaa sahna
sitam kaa sahna
har ek taakat
badhega dil aur badhegi himmat
sitam ka sahna
aa aa aa aa
sitam ka sahna
har ek taakat
badhega dil aur badhegi himmat
hai ye bhi ek zindagi ki daulat
hai ye bhi ek zindagi ki daulat
suno ye aaj suna raha hai
suno ye aaj suna raha hai
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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Today’s song is from an obscure, unknown film, Bhagya Laxmi-1944.
The film had a good star cast like, Shanta Apte, Prem Adib,Vasanti, Rajkumari Shukla, Jagdish Sethi, Moni Chaterjee etc. The few songs of this film, which I have heard make me feel that music too was good. ‘Proof of the Pudding is in its eating’-listen to today’s song and you too will like this very melodious song. Shanta Apte can not be called a very good singer- she was OK. But the Lyrics and the tune of the song has taken her voice to a new height. It is genuinely an excellent song indeed.
Both the lead actors had tremendous track record of successful films. Additionally, the film was directed by Sarvottam Badami, a real quality Director, who rose from being an ordinary Motor mechanic to a person whom Vallabh Bhai Patel-India’s Home Minister requested for help in setting up a News Reel and Documentary section,in 1948. The songs and music was good, better than many other films of 1944. Even then, the film did not become a Hit. It is one of those films which did not become well known for whatever reasons.
Now, this is the LUCK factor in film industry. There is no fixed formula to make a film Hit. It is the very strong good luck of one of the members of the film, which makes it a successful film. This was the first film in which two successful artistes Shanta Apte and Prem Adib were acting together. After this film, they worked in film ” Subhadra”-46 again and it was the last time that the two were together in a movie. In this film Shanta was Subhadra and Prem was her brother Krishna.
When I heard Prem Adib’s name first time in my younger days, I thought that he was a Muslim, because Adib sounded like Abid. However, when I saw film Ram Rajya-43, I was impressed with his good looks and personality. Generally, most Kashmiri actors are good looking( except Jeevan, but his son Kiran Kumar was good looking). After film Ramrajya-43, his name and fame spread wide unbelievably. I remember, somewhere in 1948 or 49, we had received a Calender, with Prem Adib and Shobhana Samarth as Ram and Seeta, in multicolour photograph. Even after the year was over, that calender remained on the wall, till it got torn.
Prem Adib was one of those actors who leave an indelible mark on their generation due to an extraordinary portrayal of a film character. Prem and Shobhana ruled the hearts of their generation in the roles of Ram and Seeta. They worked together in 12 films, in all but they played Ram and Seeta only in 4 of these films. Just one Ram Rajya would have been enough, actually ! One may feel that Prem Adib specialised in Mythological films, but just about 30% of his films were religious. The rest were social, Historical and other genres.
Famous as Cine world’s Ram, Shiv Prasad Adib was born on 10th August, 1916 in a Kashmiri Brahmin family in Sultanpur (Audh, Uttar Pradesh). His father Pandit Ramprasad Dhar was a lawyer. Ramprasad’s forefathers were known in the field of Literature. Impressed by his Litterateur personality, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah had conferred him with the title of ‘Adib’ (meaning Pandit-Vidwaan). In future, this title became their family name (surname).
At the age of 13 years, after watching a silent film ANAARBALA, Prem decided to join films. After matriculating from Jodhpur in 1932, he studied for 2 years in college, but the passion for films had not reduced. So in 1934 he gave up studies and headed straight to Calcutta. For 8 months he went to different studios there, but with no luck. From there he went to Lahore. After failing to get work in Lahore also, he arrived in Mumbai. Finally his wish was fulfilled and he got a job in Rajputana Films.
Director Mohan Sinha (Grandfather of Vidya Sinha) gave Shiv Prasad a small role in the film ROMANTIC INDIA and gave him his film-name: Prem Adib. Prem also got some small roles in Dariani Productions films like: PRATIMA (Premmurti), FIDA-E-VATAN (Tasveer-e-wafa) and INSAAF (1937). He also acted in Minerva Movietone’s social films like KHAN BAHADUR (1937) and TALAAQ (1938).
His first film as a hero opposite Shobhana Samarth was NIRALA HINDUSTAN (Industrial India). This film had 3 music directors. Naushad was an assistant to one of those three, Mushtaq Hussain. He appeared once again as a hero in GHUNGHATWAALI, Sagar Movietone’s BHOLBHOLE and SADHANA (1939). In SAUBHAGYA (1940), again as a hero with Shobhana Samarth, Prem Adib also sang the songs. In this way, from 1936 to 1940, there were 11 films released with acting by Prem Adib.
In terms of popularity, the decade of the 1940s was his career’s best phase. In that decade, besides acting in 28 films, he also produced 3 films. These were: DEHAATI, KASAM (1947) and RAM VIVAH (1949). He was also the director of RAM VIVAH. In the early 40s, Prem Adib joined the prestigious organization Prakash Pictures. Prem Adib’s starting salary was fixed at Rs. 700 per month. Prakash Pictures films in which Prem Adib acted were: DARSHAN, BHARAT MILAP, CHUDIYAAN, STATION MASTER, RAMRAJYA, POLICE, VIKRAMADITYA and RAM-BAAN. Pleased with Prem Adib’s performance in BHARAT MILAP (BHARAT-BHET in Marathi), his salary per month was increased by Rs. 300.
When the film was awarded gold medal in Calcutta, Kanhaiyalal Munshi was also present at the ceremony. He suggested Vijay Bhatt to make LUV KUSH. Gandhiji was heading the independence struggle for the country and he repeatedly said that the independent India of his dream would be like Ram-Rajya. Keeping in mind Kanhaiyalal Munshi’s suggestion, Vijay Bhatt did make the movie about Luv Kush but instead of calling it LUV KUSH, he named it RAM RAJYA. Released at Super Cinema in Mumbai this film scaled the peaks of popularity. It ran continuously for 108 weeks.
People started worshipping Prem Adib as Ram after BHARAT MILAAP and RAM RAJYA. Even though Prem Adib used to smoke cigarettes and eat non-vegetarian food in real life, he gave them up while filming RAM RAJYA. During the shooting he also read Ramayan every day.
Gandhiji, who had talked about Ram Rajya, had never ever watched even one movie. Since the Art Director of Vijay Bhatt’s films, Kanu Desai was a Gandhian and as a result of his efforts Gandhiji agreed to see RAM RAJYA. Once when Gandhiji had come to Bombay to rest because of illness, his Doctor Sushila Nair gave him permission to watch the film for only 40 min. After this time was over, when the doctor asked that the film be stopped, Gandhiji signaled that the film be continued and saw the whole film.
During that time, Prem Adib got married to Krishnakumari (alias Pratima), the daughter of a leading citizen Rai Saheb Rajeshwarnath Kaul, on 26th February, 1943 in Lahore.
In the 1950s, Prem Adib had 28 film releases. Most of them were religious films. ANGULIMAL in 1960 was his last film. His film RAM BHAKTI (1958) was censored again as BHAKT RAAJ and released in 1960. Prakash Pictures also compiled (put together) scenes from its own earlier films BHARAT MILAAP, RAMRAAJYA and RAM BAAN and made a film RAMAYAN in 1954.
Prem Adib died in 1959 following a protracted illness which began in a car accident and a botched kidney surgery. On 25th December, 1959 Prem Adib had gone to a party with his wife Pratima. During the day he was healthy and fine, but after coming back he had an attack of brain hemorrhage due to high blood pressure. His wife fainted at his untimely and unexpected death. His last rites were taken over and completed by his relatives present at that time. When his fans came to know they complained that if they had been informed they would have given him a farewell befitting Ram.
Prem Adib did Ram’s role in 8 films- Bharat Milap-42, Ram Rajya-43, Raam Baan-48, Ram Vivah-49, Ram Navmi-56, Ram Hanuman Yudha-57, Ram Laxman-57 and Ram Bhakta Bibhishan-58. He worked in about 75 films, directed 1 film and sang 26 songs in 9 films.
Another interesting actor in this star cast was Vasanti.In Hindi films, male child actors rarely made it to adult Hero roles, with few exceptions. But many of the female child artistes became Heroines in their adulthood. Examples are Meena kumari, Nargis, Madhubala etc etc. Even Nanda and Shakuntala became adult Heroines, though, for a long time the prefix ‘Baby’ stuck to them.
One such child artiste was Vasanti- who was good in acting and singing. She was in great demand too.However, after 15 films and 56 songs in 14 films, she left film world, at the age of just 19 years, to settle as a housewife after her marriage. Had she continued, I am sure, she would have been a successful Heroine also.
Vasanti Vinayakrao Ghorpade,was born on 23-3-1925 in Kolhapur. her father’s sister Tanibai was a famous classical singer. Married to Bapusaheb Kagalkar,she was active in films till 1931 in Kolhapur.
Vasanti was trained by Pt. Vamanrao Sadolikar and Ustad Bamman Khan. She first acted in Dharmatma-35 as a child artist. Then came Amarjyoti-36 and Duniya na maane-37. Her songs in these films were popular. She left Prabhat in 1939 and joined Ranjit.
She did Sant Tulsidas-39, Aapki Marzi-39, Musafir-40, Diwali-40, Achoot-40, Beti-41, Sukh Dukh-42, Bhaktaraj-43, Kurbani-43, Meena-44, Bhagya laxmi-44 also. She sang 56 songs in 14 films. She did not sing in Bhagya Laxmi-44 and Meena-44, but sang in Holi-40.
In 1944, during the shooting of film Bhagya Laxmi-44, she married Indubhai Patel and settled in Bangalore. Her last film was Bachhon ka khel-46,which was the first film of Meena Kumari, as an adult.
Enjoy this melodious song in the voice of Shanta Apte. With this song, film Bhagya Laxmi makes its Debut on this Blog.
( Information for this post has been used from Harish Raghuwanshi ji’s Gujarati book ‘ Inhe na bhulana’ Screen play by Isak Mujawar, Cinema Diary by Padmakar Pathakji, maitrimanthan.com, Vidur Suri ji with thanks and my notes).
Song- Khaali hai Daaman-e-Muraad(Bhaagya Laxmi)(1944) Singer- Shanta Apte, Lyricist- Not known, MD- G M Durani
Lyrics
Khaali hai Daaman-e-Muraad
Khaali hai Daaman-e-Muraad
umr tamaam ho gayi
umr tamaam ho gayi
mujhko to ek haal mein
mujhko to ek haal mein
subah se shaam ho gayi
subah se shaam ho gayi
lab pe hua hai aah hai
lab pe hua hai aah hai
hasti e dil tabaah hai
raaz mein thhi jo daastaan
raaz mein thhi jo daastaan
aaj se aam ho gayi
aaj se aam ho gayi
aah se mujh ko kaam hai
aah se mujh ko kaam hai
mujhko ?? hai ??
meri tamaam zindagi
meri tamaam zindagi
dard ke naam ho gayi
dard ke naam ho gayi
gham ne bada maza diya
gham ke nisaar jaaun main
gham ne bada maza diya
gham ke nisaar jaaun main
hans ke jo do chapat pade
hans ke jo do chapat pade
rone pe shaam ho gayi
rone pe shaam ho gayi
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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