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Khoti duniya badi rangeeli

Posted by: Atul on: July 13, 2020

In: "Advice" song | Cynical song | Guest posts | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Rare song | Song of 1937 | Song with a message | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Yearwise breakup of songs
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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.

Blog Day :

4378

Post No. :

15723

Today’s song is from a very old – almost 83 year old – film, from the first decade of Talkie films – Khudai Khidmadgar-1937. The film was made by Bharat Lakshmi Pictures, Calcutta. It was directed by the all rounder Vithaldas Panchotia, who also did an important role in the film. Music was by Nagardas Nayak. All the 12 songs in the film were sung by 6 singers and songs were written by Arzoo lucknavi.

In the early years of Talkie films Arzoo Lucknavi was an important and well known personality in the Calcutta Film circle. Since 1932, he was under a contract with New Theatre, where he wrote stories, dialogues and songs for their Hindi films. Due to his contract, he could not officially use his own name as a Lyricist for this outside film, hence he gave the name of his son – Tanvir – as the Lyricist.

Aarzoo Lakhnavi was one of the most respected poets of his era. His father Mir Zakir Hussain Yas, who was a disciple of Jalal Lakhnavi and his elder brother Mir Yusuf Hussain Qayas, both were poets. Arzoo, who was born on 26-2-1893 as Mohammed Hussain, was brought up in a cultured and fairly well-off household. He did his early education at home. Later, he learnt Arabic and Persian from some famous scholars of Lucknow.

His career as a poet began with the composition of a Marsia at the age of twelve. As a poet, he wrote Ghazal, Najm, Marsia, Kaseeda, Nath, Rubai, Salaam, Masnavi, Geet etc. Guided by Jalaal Lucknavi, he soon became skilled in the art of poetry. After Jalal passed away, Aarzoo was accepted as his heir to guide his disciples.

He came to Calcutta in 1932 and joined The New Theatres to write songs and dialogues of Hindi films. His Hindi was simple. He used to use minimum Arabic or Urdu words in Hindi songs. In Calcutta, he started writing songs,stories and dialogues for Hindi films. After 21 films in Calcutta, he moved to Bombay in 1942, where he wrote lyrics and dialogues for 32 more (Total 53 films and 246 songs) films.

Later, he migrated to Karachi after partition and joined Radio Pakistan. However his songs continued in our Hindi films till 1967. Though he had also written plays and other forms of poetry, he rose to fame mainly because of his ghazals. Three collections of Aarzoo’s ghazals, viz., Fughan-e-Aarzoo, Jahan-e-Aarzoo and Nishan-e-Aarzoo have been popular with the Urdu readers.

In Pakistan he participated in the competition to write the National Anthem. His poem was rejected because it talked of Secularism, Equality and Humanity. Another poem having 99% Arabic words was selected. He died in Karachi on 17th April 1961.

When I had first read this film’s name some years ago,I was under the impression that this could be a film on some story connected with the Political organization, Khudai Khidmadgar, in the pre-independence era. It was originally an organisation started for the upliftment of Afghan people. The literal meaning of these words is ‘ God’s servant’. Later, it became a political movement under the leadership of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan or Sarhad Gandhi. It was also called a “Red shirt” organisation.

During the mid 1930’s, the British Government was very strict, so obviously the film had nothing to do with politics. It was a plain simple Costume drama about a Saint like personality who helps people, thinking himself as ‘ God’s servant’. The film depicted how the cruel and unkind king changes, because of the teachings of this Saint.

The year 1937 was a year of Revolution for the newly started Talkie Film. Initially the films were mainly based on Folk tales, Parsi dramas and Mythological stories. 1937 was a year in which the Film industry was trying to drop its old skin and don a New Avtar. From this year, a variety of subjects were used to make films. If we briefly look at some path breaking, landmark films using Novel themes, we will understand how the film industry was attempting to change itself.

The newly established Minerva Movietone made a film on the importance and benefits of Celibacy in the film ‘Atma Tarang’.
Some artistes made their Debuts in 1937, like Ghulam Mohd.,MD for film Banke Sipahi, Comedian V H Desai in film Captain Kirti Kumar, Kishore Sahu in fil Jeevan prabhat, the eternal Mausi of Hindi films, Leela Mishra debuted in film Gangavataran. This was also a Debut film for Dadasaheb Phalke in making a Talkie film. David made his Debut in ‘Zambo-the ape man’.

Prakash films tried their hand at Stunt films with ‘ Challenge’ and ‘His Highness’, using Veterinary actors like Dogs, Horses and a Motorcycle. Prabhat’s iconic film ‘ Duniya Maane na’ shook All India audiences with its story. Shanta Apte sang an English song in it. Bombay Talkies made its first and last Mythological film ‘ Savitri ‘ with Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani.

Gangavataran was a film made by Dadasaheb Phalke. it was his First, the only and his last Talkie film too.

Imperial made India’s first indigenously made First colour film-Kisan Kanya. With this film, however, Master Nissar ended his ‘Hero’ ship as an actor.
Wadia Movietone made India’s first songless talkie film,’ Naujawan ‘, facing the ire of its audience for ‘cheating ‘ them !
‘Zambo – The Ape man ‘ became the first Tarzan type Indian talkie film, beginning a new Genre !
Maadan theatres Calcutta pulled its shutters down with their last Talkie film’ Zinda Bhoot ‘.

1937 was real path breaking for 2 solid reasons….One, for the first time, Playback singing started in a Bombay film with ‘Mahageet ‘. The song was sung by Anil Biswas, its MD and it was filmed on Hiren Bose, in the role of a beggar, near a crematorium (Smashan Bhoomi), as per book ‘ Music without Boundaries’ by Dr. Ashok Ranade,pp183-186.
Secondly,for the first time, in an Indian film successful special effects were used in film ” Khwaab ki Duniya ” -a film by Prakash Pictures, based on the popular novel “The Invisible Man” by H G Wells. A Hollywood film by the same name was made in 1933. The trick scenes in this indian film were as good as the Hollywood film. Credit goes to Babubhai Mistri for creating actions of an Invisible man , on the screen. He was nicknamed ” Kala Dhaga ” after this film.

Today’s film Khudai Khidmadgar-37 was made with all these path breaking film carnivals. The cast of the film was. Vithaldas Panchotiya, Khaleel Ahmed, Mazhar Khan, Dar kashmiri, Shyam Sundar, Radha Rani, Ram Pyari, Sarla Devi, Snehlata, Master Fid Hussain and others.

Just before the advent of Talkie films, Parsi theatre and other drama companies were the only Entertainment sources. Parsi Theatre was famous and most successful because it travelled all over India to perform. They used special reserved Trains to carry people and sets,drapery etc for their company from kashmir to kanyakumari and Gujarat to Rangoon. The success of Parsi Theatre was attributed to Pt. Narayan Prasad Betaab, Pt. Radheshyam Kathavachak, Agha Hashra Kashmiri and Master Fida Hussain – called the four Pillars of Dramas.

Our Sadanand Kamath ji has already written about Betaab, Kashmiri and Kathavachak. Today I will write on the remaining Pillar – Master Fida Hussain to complete the quartet.

Fida Hussain (11/03/1898 to 10-7-1999) was born in Moradabad (UP) in a conservative family. Right from childhood, Fida Hussain was fond of singing. It is quite likely that he got interested in singing because of the travelling theatres and nautanki groups that visited his town. Fida Hussain’s father and uncle did not like his interest in singing. Almost every day, the young Fida Hussain used to get beatings from his uncle for singing, though his father despite the dislike for the singing and music, spared him from beating.

But the more beatings he got, his fondness for singing increased. He also started watching the free shows of nautanki (folk theatre) which culminated into his love for the acting as well. This enraged his married elder brother who instigated his wife to do something to affect his voice. One day, she served him paan with vermilion powder which resulted in loss of his voice for nearly six months. After getting his voice back thanks to a visiting Sadhu who gave him some prescriptions, Fida Hussain started attending nautanki shows with a greater vigour than before.

In 1917, Fida Hussain joined a local drama club and got training for six months before being given a female role in the drama ‘Shahi Faqeer’. In this way, the path toward theatre opened for him. Soon, with the recommendation of his local drama club’s President, he went on to join the New Alfred Theatrical Company which was touring around Delhi for staging ‘Veer Abhimanyu’. In January 1918, Fida Hussain ran away from his home in Moradabad for Delhi leaving his newly married wife at home.

The New Alfred company never employed female actors. Hence the female roles were performed by the male actors like Master Nissar. Fida Hussain also got mostly the female roles in New Alfred.

Once when New Alfred was staging a show in Meerut, one of the boys from his neighbourhood recognised Fida Hussain and promptly reported the matter to his father. His father-in-law promptly lodged a complaint with police and an arrest warrant was issued. This entire episode is too big to cover here. The conclusion of this episode was Fida Hussain got a reprieve from his father, who allowed him reluctantly to continue with his passion after getting assurances from him that he would never indulge in intoxication (of any form), gambling, always keep high morality and keep in touch with his family by visiting his hometown.

With his domestic issues getting resolved amicably, Fida Hussain could now concentrate fully on theatres. His association with New Alfred continued until it closed down in 1930. His most popular dramas under New Alfred were ‘Parivartan’ (1922), ‘Veer Abhimanyu (c 1923), ‘Parambhakt Prahlad’ (c 1923), ‘Shri Krishna Avatar’ (1924-25), ‘Ishwar Bhakti’ (1928), ‘Laila Majnu’ (1930). Except for ‘Laila Majnu’, Fida Hussain played the female roles in all these plays.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Fida Hussain got associated with many theatre companies all over north, east and west India, the prominent being Alfred, Madan (pronounced as Maadon), Shah Jahan, Narsi, Mohan and finally taking up the reins of Moonlight Theatre owned by Marwadi brothers in Calcutta (now Kolkata). During this period, Fida Hussain worked in ‘Nal Damyanti’, ‘Yahudi Ki Ladki’, Khoobsoorat Balaa’, ‘Seeta Banvas’, ‘Chalta Purza’, ‘Bhakta Narsi Mehta’, ‘Bharat Milap’, ‘ Krishna Leela’ and many more.

In 1939, he donned the title role of Narsi Mehta in the play ‘Bhakt Narsi Mehta’. The play became a hugely popular hit and it played for over 1000 nights. Because of this, Fida Hussain was honoured with the title ‘Narsi’ which he proudly used as a suffix to his name as Fida Hussain ‘Narsi’.

With the advent of talkies, Fida Hussain, like many other artists from theatres, was associated with a few Hindi films during 1934-46 as an actor-singer. The first film he worked was ‘Ramayan’ (1934) followed by ‘Insaf Ki Tope’ (1934), ‘Kunwaari Ya Vidhwa’ (1935), ‘Diljaani’ (1935), ‘Dil Ki Pyaas’ (1935), ‘Daku Ka Ladka’ (1935), ‘Balidaan’ (1935), ‘Khudaai Kitmadgaar’ (1937), ‘Matwali Meera’ (1940), ‘Bambaiwaali’ (1941), ‘Arabian Nights’ (1946) and ‘Toote Sapne’ (1946, Unreleased).

Except for ‘Bambaiwaali’ (1941) which was produced in Bombay (Mumbai), rest of films in which Fida Hussain worked were produced in Calcutta (Kolkata) where he was associated with Moonlight Theatres. I find that barring one or two films, he had small roles in the rest of his films. It is quite possible that due to his immense popularity on stage as an actor-singer, the producers of the films may have taken him in their films to attract his large fans to watch the films. My guess is that Fida Hussain did not have much interest in working in films as his heart was with the theatre.

Fida Hussain continued his association with Moonlight Theatres, Calcutta (Kolkata) where he was the boss. The owners (4 Marwadi brothers) did not interfere in any aspects of the Moonlight Theatre so long as they earned profit from this venture. I am surprised as to how Fida Hussain could successfully compete with Hindi films and run the Moonlight Theatres profitably in the 1950s and 60s. In 1968 when Fida Hussain completed 50 years in Parsi Theatre, he decided to retire from the theatre activities and spend the rest of his life with his extended family in Moradabad. With his retirement, the Moonlight Theatre was closed and with this the glorious years of Parsi Theatre came to an end.

However, Fida Hussain remained busy during most of his post-retirement years. Being the only living legend of Parsi theatres, his knowledge about the old theatrical styles were utilised for those interested in theatre. He became a regular visiting faculty for the National School of Drama, New Delhi until the 90s. He also conducted workshops for students who were pursuing their interest in the theatre. He was often one of the invitees to symposiums and seminars on Indian theatres. In 1985, Fida Hussain received the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in recognition of his contributions to Indian theatres. In 1978, he received the Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for acting. Fida Hussain passed away on 10-7- 1999.

Fida Hussain may be one of the few theatre personalities who commanded not only the respect but also kept his reputation high even during his poet-retirement years. He was also one of a few artists who judiciously used his earnings to create a bright future for his two sons and two daughters. At the time of his death, Fida Hussain was the owner of two brassware business firms in Moradabad which were run by his two sons.

During his theatre days, Fida Hussain recorded more than 200 songs with HMV. However, his filmy songs are few (may be less than 20) and it seems some of them were not issued on gramophone records.

Harmandir Singh Hamraz ji , who compiled the Hindi film geet Kosh, told an anecdote about Fida Hussain. During the data collection work of his geet kosh, Hamraj got the address of Fida Hussain in Moradabad. He wrote him a letter, requesting for an appointment to collect some data. For many days there was no reply. Suddenly, one day in the morning, Hamraz was astonished to see Fida Hussain at his doorstep. Fida Hussain said, ” I got your letter, but I wanted to see who this person is, who wants to know about the matters of 50 years ago. So I came here.” Hamraz ji kept him in his house for a week or so and he also gave all possible valuable information to Harmandir Singh Ji. This story is told by Harmandir ji himself.

Today’s song is sung by Master Fida Hussain, who did the role of a General of Army in the film. This song was repeated 4 times in the film, as told by Fida Hussain himself.

( My thanks for information from book ” The stages of Life” by Kathryn Hansen, Listener’s Bulletins, book ” पूर्वसुरींचे सूर ” by Dr. Suresh Chandvankar, Flashback by Isak Mujawar and my own notes over the years)

Song-Khoti duniya badi Rangeeli dekh na dhokha khaana baaba (Khudaai Khidmatgaar)(1937) Singer- Master Fida Hussain, Lyricist-Arzoo Lucknowi, MD- Nagardas Nayak

Lyrics

Khoti duniya badi Rangeeli
dekh na dhokha khaana baaba
phool mein kaantaa chhupa hua hai
mumkin hai chubh jaana baaba

is jeene ka kaun bharosa
ye jeena kya jeena aa aa
chalti saans hawa ka jhonka
ye aana wo jaana baaba

na thhe jin zaalimon ke zulm se
aman o amaan baaqi
mite aise ke ab khud bhi nahin unka nishaan baaqi
sukh mein sukh hai
dukh mein dukh hai
jo dena so paana baaba

lamba rasta kos kade hain
aur akele jaana aa aa
khaai kuyen se se bachte rehna
samajh ke paaon badhaana baaba

jaane waale aake mein(?) rang e chaman dikhla gaye
chaar din mein chaal gul mahke
khile murjha gaye
do din ka hai hera phera
aaj aana kal jaana baaba
do din ka hai hera phera
aaj aana kal jaana baaba
khoti duniya badi rangeeli
dekh na dhokha khaana baaba
phool mein kaanta chhupa hua hai
mumkin hai chubh jaana baaba aa aa aa

Tags: 1937, Aarzoo Lucknowi, Khudaai Khidmatgaar, Master Fida Hussain, Nagardas Nayak

Naach rahi hai Maaya Maaya

Posted by: Atul on: July 8, 2020

Blog Day :

4373

Post No. :

15711

Movie Count :

4330

Today’s song is from a film of early cinema-Bharosa-1940. There was a film of the same name- Bharosa in 1963, but the stories were entirely different. That film was more popular for Mehmood-Shubha Khote’s side story. Today’s film Bharosa-40 was made by Minerva Movietone. It was quite a serious film with an unusual, daring story for its time. The history of making this film is very interesting.

Sohrab Modi, in his earlier career used to work as an actor in his elder Brother’s – Rustom’s- ” Arya Subodh Natak Mandali “. After the Talkie films started, they felt it to be a threat to their stage dramas and decided to make Talkie films. ” Stage film company” was established in 1935 and to play safe, they decided to film their most popular drama ‘ Hamlet aka Khoon ka Khoon’ and market it, followed by their next best hit drama ‘Saeed E Havas aka King John’. Accordingly both were filmed and released as Talkie films. Unfortunately, their hopes were belied. Most people, having seen these dramas, did not see the films. The Modi brothers realised that making a Talkie film was a different ball game altogether !

They floated Minerva Movietone and produced the film ‘ Atma Tarang-37’. Those days Modi was influenced by Ramkrishna Mission teachings. Bachelor Modi used a story of ‘Celibacy’ (ब्रह्मचर्य ). In the period of 1935 to 1940, many Romantic films by Bombay Talkies and others were attracting the audience. People expressed their displeasure by not coming to this film. Consequently, this first film of Minerva Movietone also flopped. Luckily another film “Khan Bahadur’ was also made at the same time and this clicked.

Sohrab Modi understood and decided to make films on social issues, like Prabhat and New Theatres. Accordingly, he first made ‘Meetha Zaher’-38 on the evil of drinking alcohol, ‘ Jailor-38’ on illicit passion and ‘Divorce-38’ on separation after marriage. After a breather – Pukar-39 – he ended his quartet of reform Films with ‘Bharosa-40’. This film handled a very unusual subject like ” unintended Incest ” .(In 1941, film Bahen also touched on this topic subtly). According to the comments in magazine Film India,of those times,this film was not as successful as expected. Possibly due to the background of a more successful film ‘Pukar’, only the earlier year. Chandra Mohan was a common actor in both films, naturally his roles were compared by all.

The film was directed by Modi and the music was composed by G P Kapoor, who was a director (Nazrana-42), Singer and MD for 5 films, including Bharosa-40. Film’s story, screenplay, dialogues and songs were written by L C Bismil. The cast of the film was Chandra Mohan, Sardar Akhtar, Mazhar khan, Maya Devi, Sheela, Naval, Eruch Tarapore, Gulab, Menaka, Ram Apte and others. The film was released on 15th August 1940 at Minerva Theatre, Bombay. The story of the film Bharosa-40 was…..Gyan(Mazhar khan) and Rasik(Chandra Mohan) are good friends. When Gyan has to go to Africa, he leaves his wife-Shobha(Sardar Akhtar) with Rasik and his wife Rambha(Maya Devi). Rasik has always liked Shobha secretly and he develops intimacy with her. When Rambha goes to Maika, these two come together and Shobha gets pregnant. She delivers a daughter-Indira(Sheela).

As Indira and Madan(Naval)-Rasik’s son, grow together, they fall in love. Meanwhile Shobha dies and Gyan decides to marry Indira and Madan, though, knowing the secret, Rasik resists this marriage. But Gyan has his way and the marriage takes place. Rasik feels remorseful and reveals the truth to the newly married couple, who are actually Brother and Sister. Both commit suicide.

In the issue of Film India of September 1940, Baburao patel appreciated the direction of Sohrab Modi and called this film a better film than Pukar-39. The name of Maya Devi is not known much. Maya Devi was from Bombay and started her career from silent films in 1928 with Anarkali by imperial. Her first Talkie film was Kunwari ya widhva-35. Her real name was Leela. She became a favourite of Bombay Talkies and she did 6 films with them in 37 and 38. In all she did 5 silent films and 31 Talkie films till 1949. Her last film in India was Raaz-49. She got married with a Muslim and then migrated to Pakistan, where she did 19 films and then retired in 1964. Her first film in Pakistan was Phere-1949. She died in Lahore on 1-2-67. She did films in Gujarati and Punjabi also.

Another new name is Eruch Tarapore. He was a distant relative of Sohrab Modi and he worked only in Modi’s films. He worked in 16 films, right from Modi’s first film Hamlet-35 up to 1948. Eruch sang one song each in 3 films, Meetha zehar-38, Jailor-38 and Phir milenge-43. He died in 1948.

Sohrab Modi was a very strict person and when he entered the studio, there used to be total silence.C Ramchandra had spent the first 3 years of his career in Minerva and learnt the basics of composing music, under different MDs employed by Minerva. In due course, he became a big name and very successful. He described one memory associated with Minerva and Modi to film historian Isak Mujawar thus…

When Sohrab Modi sent a call to him to come for composing songs for one of his films, C Ramchandra remembered all this. While in Minerva, he knew Modi as a strict disciplinarian and a kind soul. In the subsequent period, C Ramchandra was impressed with the extraordinary success of Minerva movies like Pukar-39, Sikander-41 and Prithwi Vallabh-43. Afterall, his and Minerva’s careers had started together only ! Though he had become a famous and successful Music Director now with films like Shehnai, Saajan, Nadiya ke paar and Khidki etc amongst his 30 odd films, he went to meet Modi.

There was a tremendous change in circumstances when he left Minerva in 1938. When Minerva requested him to work for them in 1948, he had become so big that he could have easily refused to work for them, but he was not ungrateful. C Ramchandra has described this meeting to one of his friends, Isak Mujawar thus…

” When I entered the office of Minerva, after 10 years, I realised that while I had grown in my stature, Minerva had lost some of its sheen and its place among the top studios. Whatever I had learned while working here had made my foundation so strong that I could never repay Minerva’s debt fully. As I entered, I saw the same tall, well built Sohrab Modi and by his side Mehtab was sitting next to him. As soon as I crossed the door, both of them stood up. I was embarrassed. I went ahead and touched his feet. He murmured something and hugged me. I did Namaste to Mehtab ji. Modi talked briefly about his film and their expectations about the music. Then with a little hesitation, he asked me for my fees. I smiled and said, “Give me just One Rupee, sir. That’s my fees for Minerva”. However, they did not agree and a nominal token fee was fixed. I signed the contract “.

Those were the days when artistes gratefully acknowledged the help they received in their early careers !

Today’s song is sung by Menakabai. This is a Same name Confusion case. There were two Menakas. One singing this song was from Bombay.

Menaka/Menakabai / Menakabai Shirodkar ( Bombay )
—————————————————-
Menaka was born in Lahore in or around 1910. She was from a professional singer family and got training in classical singing. The family was originally from Belgaon and her maiden name was Menaka Belgaonkar. Later she was married and became Menaka Shirodkar.

At the age of 23-24 she landed in Bombay to try her luck in films. In those days such girls from singing families used to get into films easily, due to their singing capability. She joined Minerva and sang in their films, starting with Pukar-39,in which she got only one song.
She was more interested in classical singing and hence concentrated on singing more than acting. However, she did act in 5 films, in which she also sang.

After her film Gul Bakavli-47 she devoted her full time in singing and holding jalsas. Soon she became a known figure in singing circles. After marriage she got two daughters. One of them Shobha became a famous singer and was known as Shobha Gurtu.

After her singing was over Menakabai Shirodkar-as she came to be known later- retired and settled in Ponda,Goa.

She died on 23-12-2003 at the age of around 93 years.

Filmography-
——————–

Title	Comments
Pukar-39	1 solo song
Paak Daman-40	Acting and 3 solos+ 1 Duet
Main Haari-40	1 solo, 2 Duets
Bharosa-40	Acting and 2 solos, 1 Duet
Sikandar-41	1 solo
Ulti Ganga-42	1 solo, 1 Trio
Phir milenge-42	Acting and 3 solos
Prithwi Vallabh-43	2 solos, 2 Duets and 1 Trio
Bhakta Raidas-43	Acting and 1 Duet as Menakabai
Dr. Kumar-44	1 solo
Gul Bakavali-47	Acting and 4 solos, a Duet..all as Menakabai

With today’s song film Bharosa-1940 makes its Debut on this Blog.

Song-Naach rahi hai Maaya Maaya (Bharosa)(1940) Singer- Menaka Bai (Bombaywali), Lyricist-Lalchand Bismil Peshawari, MD- G P Kapoor

Lyrics

Naach rahi hai Maaya Maaya
Naach rahi hai Maaya Maaya
Naach rahi hai Maaya
Naach rahi hai Maaya Maaya
Naach rahi hai Maaya
ma ga re sa re sa ma ga pa ma ga
ma ga dha ni
dha pa dha ni dha pa sa
sa re sa
da ni dha
??la sabke saath milaaya
??la sabke saath milaaya
n n n n n n n n
naach rahi hai Maaya Maaya
naach rahi hai Maaya

Baaj rahi hai anvat(?) veena
naach rahi hai ?? Maaya
Baaj rahi hai anvat(?) veena
naach rahi hai ?? Maaya

saat suran mein ?? bandhe(?) hain
saat suran mein ?? bandhe(?) hain
?? apna rang jamaaya
apna apna rang jamaaya
n n n n n n n n
naach rahi hai Maaya Maaya
naach rahi hai Maaya

Maaya
naache
Maaya
dekhe
Maaya ne hai swaang banaaya
Maaya ne hai swaang banaaya
ajab khilaadi hai ye maaya
ajab khilaadi hai ye maaya
jisne ye adbhut khel rachaaya
jisne ye adbhut khel rachaaya
n n n n n n n n
naach rahi hai Maaya Maaya
naach rahi hai Maaya

Tags: 1940, Bharosa, G P Kapoor, Lalchand Bismil Peshaawari, Menka Bai

Mujhe Raam se koi milaa de

Posted by: Atul on: June 19, 2020

Blog Day:

4354

Post No. :

15670

Today’s song is from the film Sant Tulsidas-1939. The first film on Tulsidas came in 1934, the second in 1939 and the third in 1972. In all, there were 13 films on various saints of India. Sant Dnyaneshwar (40, 64, 81), Sant Janabai-49, Sant Raghu-57, Sant Ravidas-2007, Sant Ravidas ki amar kahani–83, Sant Sakhu-41, Sant Tukaram-48 and Sant Tulsidas-34, 39, 72.

Basically, Indians are religious minded, – Indians means, of any religion, be it Hindu, Muslim or Christian or any other faith. Our common culture is like that. Most traditions are similar in all religions in India. For example, Hindus say ” Atithi Devo Bhava ” (अतिथी देवो भव ). Guest is God. All Indians, irrespective of their religions, give due respect to their guests. ” Respect the elders ” is another tradition. This too is followed by every Indian-of any religion- in India. Sometimes I feel, in India, our lives are more governed by the culture than religion. One can occasionally find an Atheist, but you can never find an Indian without following culture and traditions. This is a major difference between an Indian and the other Nationals.

If you take a look at our religion, it is not just ‘ one of the ‘ , but the only tolerant religion in the world, which is also adaptive to times. There is enough elasticity in Hinduism to make suitable changes in the implementation of Karmkand, as per the needs of the times. This has made it survive for thousands of years. For example, once Untouchability was a great ill, but due to the hard work of our saints over the years, this is eradicated. Women’s entry into temples, only Male Pujaris and several such matters are corrected and accepted. The main principle is ” different religions are different roads to reach God “. So, every road is respected. Due to this principle, with 80 % population of one religion, many other religions have happily thrived here. What’s more, in most eras, Minority rulers were accepted by the Majority.

Our culture allows opposition to its principles. It respects the ” other ” point of view too. In which other country would you find temples for its religious enemies ? Only in India, you have not just one, but several temples of villains like Ravan, Duryodhan, Shakuni etc. There is a Ravan temple one each in Bisrakh-U.P., Mandsaur-M.P., Kakinada in A.P. and in Jodhpur-Rajasthan- where Ravan is considered as their Son In Law, because Mandodari was born here.

There is a Duryodhan Temple in Kollam, Kerala and a temple for Shakuni also in the same town. There are also other temples like for Gandhari in Mysore, Karna in Uttarkashi, Hidimba in Manali-H.P., Draupadi in Bangalore and also for Jatayu in Nashik district !

The point I am trying to stress is that in India, several saints came, but none has preached hatred against other religions. They all taught us good ways of living with all and how the ultimate aim should be to be with God. Sant Tulsidas was also no different than others . His biggest work was to translate Valmiki Ramayan into an easy to understand common man’s language.

Film companies developed interest in making saint movies, when Prabhat’s Marathi film ‘ Sant Tukaram ‘-36 became successful. It won praise throughout the world, won several awards and the international Film Festival at Venis declared it as one of the 3 Greatest films of the world ! The film ran for 57 weeks at Central Talkies, Bombay and all over India, it grossed over 7 lakh rupees in those days. The acting of Vishnupant Pagnis in this film was appreciated much.

Considering all this, the commercial potential of such films was understood by Sardar Chandulal Shah of Ranjit Films. He decided to make a Bilingual film on Tulsidas, with Pagnis in the lead role. However Pagnis was on contract with Prabhat films. Chandulal met Shantaram and negotiated a deal to borrow Pagnis and story writer Shivram Vashikar for film Tulsidas.

The director of the film was Jayant Desai and MD for the Hindi version was Gyan Dutt and for Marathi it was Vishnupant himself. As against 14 songs in the Hindi version, there were 21 songs in Marathi version. Almost all songs of this film became popular. The Prabhat film Tukaram was devoid of any Miracles or trick scenes, but Chandulal decided to include as many trick scenes and Miracles, as possible in film Tulsidas.

The songs were written by P L Santoshi and Pt. Indra. For Marathi version, S A Shukla was the lyricist. Naren Mukherji was the assistant to Gyan Mukherjee for this film. The cast of the film was Vishnupant Pagnis, Leela Chitnis, Keshavrao Datey, Bandopant Sohoni, Ram Marathe, Vasanti, Kantilal and others.

Vishnupant Pagnis was born in a small place Chikodi, near Kolhapur, on 1-11-1892, in a lower middle class family. After formal education, he was assisted by Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur state to join a Drama company at the age of 10 years. He sang naturally, without any training from an expert. He was a popular artiste doing female roles, till his entry in films. He shifted to work in various drama companies including “Lalit Kaladarsh” of Mama Varerkar- a name connected with many Marathi and Hindi films of that time. In 1913, he floated his own company ‘Jagchitradarsh’, only to wind up after two years in 1915. He continued working in dramas and doing female roles, for which he was famous in those times.

After a few years, he left drama acting. In 1920, he worked in a silent film, Surekha Haran. In this film V Shantaram had also acted. After this he worked as a Music Teacher in Municipal school at Girgaum in Bombay. After his wife died, he lived with his friend Petkar. They started a Gold Jewellery shop “Pagnis Petkar and Mandali” in Girgaon.

When Prabhat Film company planned to make Sant Tukaram, a search was undertaken for the main role and the main female role. This was in early 1936 and he was selected for the role of Tukaram, while a worker in the Prabhat company-Gauri – was selected as his wife. The Director duo of the film- Damle and Fattelal- were not happy about his selection, because his name was associated with female roles. But this became his strong point for the film in which he portrayed a soft, kind and loving Tukaram. He did the role so well that the film Sant Tukaram became an International Hit, in addition to running to full houses in Non Marathi areas like Madras Presidency, covering Andhra, Tamilnadu, Kerala and Karnataka and also in Bengal and Punjab. He became an actor in great demand for Saint films. After the film Sant Tukaram, hundreds of people used to crowd in his shop at Girgaum to pay respects and touch his feet as Tukaram. He also always dressed like Tukaram thereafter !

Vishnupant Pagnis worked in 4 more such films, namely Sant Tulsidas-39, Narsi Bhagat-43, Bhakta Raj-43 and his last film Mahatma Vidur-43. He also gave music to 2 films, Sant Janabai- 38 and Sant Tulsidas-39 (Marathi). These two and Mahatma Vidur were also made in Marathi language. His most famous film Sant Tukaram was released in Hindi only in 1948, but without his songs, because he had died on 3-10-1943. The MD- Snehal Bhatkar sang his songs in the Hindi version.

Vishnupant Pagnis did the immortal role of Tukaram in his first film and then lived the role throughout his life, though he did 4 more films in the same Genre of Saint films. His name became famous not only in India but also in other countries, when this film was hailed as “one of the 3 Best films in the world” at the Venice Film Festival, where it won accolades. Records of his Bhajans from this film created records ( we too had these records in our house in the 40s.) Even today this film is shown and discussed in the film Institutes of many countries. Many books, essays and articles are published on this film. His performance as Tukaram has become a major reference-point in debates about Indian performance idioms: e.g. Kumar Shahani’s essay The Saint Poets of Prabhat, 1981; Geeta Kapur’s Mythic Material in Indian Cinema, 1987 etc etc.

The story of Tulsidas is well known. Ranjit Studio’s big-budget miracle-laden saint film was on Tulsidas (16th C.), who rewrote Valmiki’s Ramayana in Hindi. To the despair of his teacher Narahari Guru (Sohoni), who hopes that Tulsidas (Pagnis) will make the classic text accessible to the people, the poet spends time with his beloved wife Ratnavali (Chitnis). The dramatic pivot of the story comes when Tulsidas discovers his life’s location amid howling wind and a river in spate. He becomes an ascetic and settles down in Benares where his translation threatens the Brahminical clergy, until then sole proprietors of the wisdom of the Sanskrit text. Their representative, Batteshwar Shastri (Datey), persecutes Tulsidas who is rescued through divine intervention.

Today’s song is a solo song by Vishnupant Pagnis. It is dripping with Bhakti Ras.

(Ack: information for this post is culled, with thanks, from books – ” A Primer of Hinduism” by D S Sarma, Santpatanchi Santwani (संतपटांची संतवाणी ) by Isak Mujawar, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema and my notes)

Song-Mujhe Raam se koi mila de (Sant Tulsidas)(1939) Singer- Vishnupant Pagnis, Lyricist- P L Santoshi, MD- Gyan Dutt

Lyrics

Raam se koi mila de…
mujhe Raam se koi mila de
mujhe Raam se koi mila de
bin laathhi ka nikla andha
bin laathhi ka nikla andha
raah se koi lagaa de ae
mujhe Raam se koi mila de
mujhe Raam se koi mila de
mujhe Raam se koi mila de

koi kahe wo basey Avadh mein
koi kahey Vrindaawan mein

koi kahe wo basey Avadh mein
koi kahey Vrindaawan mein
koi kahey teerath mandir mein
koi kahey milte ban mein

koi kahey teerath mandir mein
koi kahey milte ban mein
dekh sakoon main un ko man mein
dekh sakoon main un ko man mein
aisi jyot jagaa de ae
mujhe Raam se koi mila de
mujhe Raam se koi mila de
mujhe Raam se koi mila de
bin laathhi ka nikla andha
bin laathhi ka nikla andha
raah se koi lagaa de ae
mujhe Raam se koi mila de
mujhe Raam se koi mila de
mujhe Raam se koi mila de

Tags: 1939, Actor-Singer, Gyan Dutt, P L santoshi, Sant tulsidas, Vishnupant Pagnis

Auron ke kyun pag padta hai

Posted by: Atul on: June 8, 2020

This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Blog Day :

4343

Post No. :

15646

—————————————————————————
Blog 10-Year Challenge (2010-2020) – Song No. 35
—————————————————————————

This date ten year ago, viz 8 June 2010 was a relatively prolific day by the then prevailing standards of the blog. As many as four songs were covered that day. Here are their details:

Song	Movie title-Year	Remarks
Nadi kinaare baithke aao	Jaageerdaar (1937)	3 songs covered out of 10. The movie made its debut on this date.
Bhar bhar aayen ankhiyaan	Samrat Chandragupta (1958)	The movie has been YIPPEED by now
Aapne yoon hi dillagi ki thi	Mehndi Lagi Mere Haath (1962)	The movie has been YIPPEED by now
Aao jhoome gaayen	Paraaya Dhan(1971)	The movie has been YIPPEED by now

One can see that four songs from four different decades were covered on 8 june 2010. It was my standard practice in the past to cover around six songs in a day, all belonging to different decades. This practice had become difficult to follow during the last months of 2009 and initial months of 2010 because of disruption due to my transfer. By June 2010, I was finally settled in Nagpur and I was trying to regain the glory days of the blog. And this date was the one when I perhaps decided to shift gears and press the accelerator.

It is to be noticed that the first song of the day was from the decade of 1930s. 1930s was the earliest decade of HFM. Songs of that decade were difficult to come by and so very few songs of that decade were covered by that time. Sudhir Jee has the details. According to him:

On 8th june 2010, the fiilm “Jaagirdaar” of 1937 had made its debut. It was the 690^th day of the blog. “Jaagirdaar” was only the 11^th film from the 1930s to appear on our blog. And the song was only the 19^th song from that decade. Almost two years into this endeavor, and the blog had just scratched the surface of the decade of 1930s. Today that count stands at 210 films and 443 songs from the years 1931-1940. Just for additional information, the approximate total availability of the Hindi film songs of 1930s in public domain is in the range of around 1100.

So we have added considerably to the songs tally of 1930s in the blog and by now we have about 40 % of all available songs of 1930s in the blog.

Coming back to “Jaageerdaar”(1937), this movie was directed by Mehboob Khan for Sagar Film Company, Bombay. The movie had Surendra nath(B.A.L.L.B), Motilal, Bibbo, Maya Bannerjee, Ramchandra Marathe, Yaqoob, Pandey, Sankata, Ziya Sarhadi, Pesi Patel, Bhudho Advani, Mani, Jaaver Bhai Qaiser, Soli Kapadia, Miss Gulzar, Rajkumari etc in it.

The movie had ten songs in it. Three songs have been covered in the past. Here are the details of the three songs covered in the blog:-

S N	Song	Post number in blog	Date of posting
1	Nadi kinaare baithke aao	2521	8-June-2010
2	Pujaari morey mandir mein aao	7951	22-April-2013
3	Baanke bihaari bhool na jaana	13656	14-October-2017

The movie made its debut on this date ten years ago. As “Blog ten year challenge”, here is another song from the movie. It is sung by Rajkumari. Zia Sarhadi is the lyricist. Music is composed by Anil Biswas.

Only the audio of the song is available. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturisation of the song.

Lyrics of this song were sent to me by Prakashchandra.

Song-Auron ke kyun pag padta hai (Jaageerdaar)(1937) Singer-Rajkumari, Lyrics-Zia Sarhadi, MD-Anil Biswas

Lyrics (Provided by Prakashchandra)

auron ke kyun pag padta hai
auron ke kyun pag padta hai
aap lagaa de paa aaa aar
aap lagaa de paa aa aar
auron ke kyun pag padta hai
auron ke kyun pag padta hai
aap lagaa de paa aa aar
aap lagaa de paa aa aar

apni apni naiyyaa ke sab
apni apni naiyyaa ke sab
aap hain kewanhaa aa aar
aap hain kewanhaa aa aar
auron ke kyun pag padta hai
auron ke kyun pag padta hai
aap lagaa de paa aa aar
aap lagaa de paa aa aar

himmat haari sab kuchch haaraa aaa
himmat haari sab kuchch haaraa aaa
paayega jab tu na kinaaraa
paayega jab tu na kinaaraa
doob chukaa qismat ka taaraa
doob chukaa qismat ka taaraa
tujhse hai bezaa aa aar
tujhse hai bezaar
aan aan aan aan
apni apni naiyyaa ke sab
apni apni naiyyaa ke sab
aap hain kewanhaa aa aar
aap hain kewanhaa aa aar
auron ke kyun pag padta hai
auron ke kyun pag padta hai
aap lagaa de paa aa aar
aap lagaa de paa aa aar

Tags: 1937, Anil Biswas, Jaageerdaar, Rajkumari, Zia Sarhadi

Yauwan mein rut basant aayi

Posted by: Atul on: May 5, 2020

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

Blog Day:

4309

Post No. :

15583

Today’s song is from an old film Duniya kya hai-1938.

Silent films era started from 1912, when 2 silent films were made and exhibited. However, they were not feature films made completely by Indians. The cinematographer was British and the films were processed in England. Thus Dadasaheb Phalke’s totally indigenously produced feature film ‘ Raja Harshchandra’-1913 became the first fully Indian Silent film and it was hailed as the beginning of the Silent film era. In that year one more film ” Mohini Bhasmasur” was also made.

One would think that after this, the silent films were made rapidly by ambitious people. However, the fact is that it took a while to get the momentum in silent film making, for whatever and for various reasons. The following table will show the progress and the ultimate decline of silent films, after Talkie films came.

Year	Silent films
1912	2
1913	2
1914	1
1915	2
1916	1
1917	5
1918	4
1919	8
1920	16
1921	45
1922	67
1923	52
1924	63
1925	87
1926	96
1927	93
1928	115
1929	146
1930	201
1931	211
1932	68
1933	42
1934	8

(information from Film Index by Hamraz ji)

Harish Raghuwanshi ji informs that the last silent film was ” Shareef Badmash”, made by Shri Ganesh film company.
Censor Certificate No. B-13975 dated 2-11-1934.

There were hundreds of actors, directors, producers, companies and allied artistes involved in making silent films. The cost of making a silent film was around 20000 rupees only. After the Talkie films started, except the actors, almost all other artistes came over to the Talkie films. However, the actors and actresses now needed a good knowledge of speaking Hindi/Urdu and a reasonable singing (for lead actors). In this test, most Anglo-Indians, Jews, European etc actresses failed miserably. Some actors like Master Vithal too had difficulties. Only a handful of the actresses survived, as they quickly learnt this language and singing. Artistes like Ruby Meyers (Sulochana), Beryl Claessen (Madhuri) and Iris Gasper (Sabita Devi) are such examples, from among others.

Some silent actors spilled over the Talkie era and survived for another 10 to 15 years- a few upto upto the 70s, like Wazir Mohammed khan, for example, ( his first Talkie was Alam Ara -31 and the last film was also Alam Ara-1973 !). As I can remember, P.Jairaj and Lalita Pawar were the notable long survivors in Talkie films, coming from the silent era. Both died 2 years apart in the years 2000 and 1998.

Today’s film Duniya Kya Hai-1938 was produced by Lalita Pawar and directed by her husband G P Pawar. The film was based on Count Leo Tolstoy’s famous novel, ” Resurrection”, published in 1900. The cast of the film was Lalita pawar, Madhav Kale, Indira Wadkar, Begum Fatma, Bipin Mehta and many others. The MDs – Annasaheb mainkar and Kikubhai Yadnik composed songs written by Munshi Aziz.

In the film industry, there were 3 people only, who were called Annasaheb. Incidentally, all were Music Directors. They were Annasaheb Mainkar
(Shankar Vinayak Mainkar), K. Datta (Datta korgaonkar) and C.Ramchandra ( Ramchandra Narhari Chitalkar). Even the prefix ” Masterji’ was used with only 3 MDs, if I remember right.

The composer of this film, Annasaheb Mainkar is not a name known to many people. Born in 1904 at Sangli, Maharashtra, he was trained in classical music at Poona,Baroda,Indore, Mysore and Lucknow. Before joining the film line, he had cut many discs of his songs.

His first film was AWARA SHEHZADA-1933.Incidentally,this was also India’s first film having a double role. Shahu Modak had done the roles of a Rajkumar and a commoner Bholaram in it. It was also the first film of Master Vithal as a Director. He himself was the first to do a double role in a silent film in 1928.

Annasaheb worked for Saraswati cinetone, Imperial, Venus, Huns, Atre and Sunrise films. He gave music to 21 Hindi films, composing 187 songs. His singers were,Master Vinayak, Vanmala, Shahu Modak, Shanta Hublikar, kalyanibai, Sarla Devi, Vatsala Kumathekar etc. His last film was Ashirwad-1943. He died young at 41 yrs.in 1944.

Kikubhai Yagnik was a small time composer from 1933 to 1938 and was not very popular. He had given music to 10 films, composing for 86 songs.

The film Heroine Lalita Pawar was one of a kind artiste. One of the major actors who succeeded in both Silent and Talkie films equally,that too for 70 active years,was LALITA PAWAR.
Today’s generation probably knows Lalita Pawar only as an actress doing crooked Mother in law’s roles only, but in her hay days she was called a ‘ SEX BOMB ‘ !
Born Ambika Laxmanrao Sagun on 18-4-1916, at Indore, her father was a rich person.She started acting very early when she was 10-12 years.Her first silent film was ‘Patitodhar’-1928.

She became a heroine soon and acted in as many as 30 silent films. In the silent and early Talkie era,she did adventurous and stunt films,just like Fearless Nadia did. Because of her boldness she did sexy and romantic roles.I have seen some of her costumes from her early films and those will match any sex-siren of today,I can guarantee !

She was a Heroine till 1942,when while shooting a scene for “Netaji Palkar”-1942, her co-star slapped her during a shot, so hard that she suffered from facial paralysis and damage to her eye.
Inspite of 3 years’ treatment she became unfit for heroine’s roles and at the age of just 25-26,she switched over to character and supporting roles.
She acted in some 7oo Hindi and Marathi films.Some of her roles like the Kelewali in Shri 420,mrs.D’sa in Anari(she won Filmfare award for this role) and Manthara in Ramayana,are quite memorable,though mainly she is known for her wicked roles.
In case of marriage,she competed with Noorjahan(4 marriages) and Meena Shorey(5 marriages).Lalita Pawar’s first husband was Hanuman More,second was G.P.Pawar,her director for stunt films.This marriage went sour when he had an affair with Lalita’s younger sister. Then she married a film producer Rajprakash Gupta, who established Ambika Studios in Bombay.

Her death was tragic. She was found dead-for 2 days-when her husband, son and daughter in law had gone to Mumbai. She was staying alone in her bungalow in Aundh, a suburb of Pune.
She died on 24-2-1998 and it was known on 26th February 1998.

I reproduce here, an obituary as appeared in a Marathi Newspaper of Pune, after her death…(Freeway translation from Marathi)

” Lalita, an actress and a gentlewoman !

Lalita Pawar, the renowned actress of yesteryear who passed away in Pune early this week, enjoyed a most chequered career on the silver screen.

In her seven decades on screen, she has played roles of all variety — from a heroine of the silent era to the squint-eyed mother-in-law of the talkies.

Born as Ambika Laxman Sagun on April 18, 1916 at village Yeole in Nashik district, she made her debut as a child artist in the film Patittodhar. Arya mahila was her first film as a teenaged heroine.

In a career spanning 72 years, she acted in more than 800 Hindi, Marathi, Gujarathi and Bhojpuri films. She was the leading lady of the silent era and, later, a character artiste till she retired from the celluoid.

Her classic silent films include Thugsen Rajputra and Chatursundari. She also tried her hand at the production of Himmat-e-marda and Duniya kya hai. But the films did not do well. Lalita acted as heroine to Baburao Pendarkar’s Netaji Palkar and Jai Malhar. An accident on the sets abruptly ended her career as a leading lady. During the shooting of Jung-e-azadi, Master Bhagwan had to slap her. Her left ear started bleeding profusely. The left part of her face was paralysed and she developed a squint in the left eye.

Talk about courage and turning what would have been a fatal blow to her career into a distinct advantage. That squint alone possibly made her into a famous woman in all her mother/mother-in-law roles.

The Bombay film industry mourned the death of this ‘actress par excellence’ and ‘fine human being’. Shammi Kapoor, with whom she worked in evergreen classics Junglee and Professor said she was a thorough professional. “It is sad that age catches up with people,” Dev Anand said, “We have losta tremendous artist.”

Jairaj, a veteran actor from the silent era, described Lalita Pawar as a capable actress who had a mind of her own. “She expressed herself very well,” he said, “We acted together in Kirtiwhich was remade as Sharda starring Raj Kapoor and Meena Kumari many years later. She also acted as the leading artiste in my home production Mohar.”

The Marathi film Sasurvashin, where Lalitha played the role of a wicked mother-in-law, earned her much popularity. In the Gujarati Mehndi rang laee, which was remade in various languages, Lalitha acted in all the remakes.

In Raj Kapoor’s Shri 420, Lalita was a banana vendor which earned her the Filmfare award. She had this to say about the film: Raj Kapoor gave her a clean and ironed Maharashtrian nine yard saree and dialogues with neat Hindi diction and accent. She told the showman she was prepared to do the role, but would rather do it her way. She improvised the dialogues into the typical Maharashtrian colloquial Hindi and got a very old and shabby saree. Accordingly, she performed the role and won rave reviews.”

The Hero was Madhav Kale. Madhav Kale was born in Nashik in 1903. After his school education at Nashik, he joined Deccan college at Poona and passed Intermediate course. He was interested in playing in dramas, which was opposed by his mother. But he used to take part in dramas while in college. He was a good singer too. Wanting to join films, he sent applications to many companies. Saroj and sharda companies responded. He acted in several silent films like Mukti sangram, kanak kesari etc. He entered the Talkie films with Vikram Charitra-32, Mera Imaan-34 and Vishnu Bhakti-34. During this period, he got married in 1934.

He acted in 21 films. His last film was Gokul ka chor-59. He even directed one film, Sacha Sapna-42. He sang 13 songs in 7 films till 1942.
There is no information about him after this.

After writing this biography of Madhav Kale, I came to know that after the films, Madhav went back to Nashik, where he was active in local politics. He became a Municipal Councillor, but lost Assembly elections, which he was very hopeful of. He died somewhere in 1980.

In the cast there is one more name Indira Wadkar. Hansa Wadkar’s father had three sisters, Kesharbai, Indirabai and Sushilabai. Sushila was married to Master Vinayak, a renowned actor-director of the early era of Indian cinema. The elder sister as well as Indira Wadkar were acting in films and Indira was a classical singer as well. Indira acted in several films including Duniya Kya Hai (Resurrection) (1937) and in Vinayak’s production company “Hans Films” like Devata (1939) in Marathi. Indira used the surname Wadkar to avoid using the family name Salgaokar, for fear of reprisal from society against women acting in films. Her older sister, Kesharbai, was working in a film made by M.G. Rangnekar and suggested that Wadkar work in films to sustain her family. She acted in 11 Hindi films. She was popular mother in law in Marathi films.

Today’s song is sung by Lalita Pawar herself. I have got it confirmed from Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji. Lalita Pawar sang 10 songs in 3 films. Today’s song is her last song in her career, as a singer.

Song-Yauwan mein rut basant aayi (Duniya Kya Hai)(1938) Singer-Lalita Pawar, Lyrics-Munshi Aziz, MD-Annasahab Mainkar

Lyrics

Yauvan mein rut basant aayi
Yauvan mein rut basant aayi
prem badariya chhaayi
prem badariya chhaayi

priytam aawan ka sandesa
priytam aawan ka sandesa
koyal kook sunaaye

koyal kook sunaaye
sajni basant aayi
Yauvan mein rut basant aayi
Yauvan mein rut basant aayi
sajani prem badariya chhaayi
sajani prem badariya chhaayi
ankhiyaan tarasen tumhre daras ko
ankhiyaan tarasen tumhre daras ko
?? kyun na bhaawe
?? kyun na bhaawe
man ko chain na aaye
man ko chain na aaye
sajani basant aayi
Yauvan mein rut basant aayi
Yauvan mein rut basant aayi
sajani prem badariya chhaayi
sajani prem badariya chhaayi
Yauvan mein rut basant

Tags: 1938, Actor-Singer, Annasahab Mainkar, Duniya Kya Hai, Lalita Pawar, Munshi Aziz

Shehron Mein Wo Baat Kahaan

Posted by: skapur01 on: April 11, 2020

This article is written by Sudhir, 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.

Blog Day :

4285

Post No. :

15533

Divinity remembered today. Divinity – as in the voice of the divine – KL Saigal.

A hundred and sixteen years ago, this day, 11^th April in 1904, was born a child who would be a legend within his own lifetime, short as it was, and forever be one. The legend continues to sustain more than a hundred years hence. The sound of the songs rendered by him continue to enchant generation after generation of listeners whose constancy of devotion has not, cannot be influenced by the superfluity of singing voices that have also performed since then. Saigal is Saigal, in his own might, in his own dimension – a voice that has not been matched in its depth, in its sentimental expression, and the effect it has on the minds and hearts of the listeners.

In his obituary, Baburao Patel, the publisher of the iconic ‘Film India’, wrote thus, and I quote a small portion of it,

For a week, after the daily papers flashed the news of Saigal’s death, riots, politics and Pakistan went out of the news and Hindus, the Muslims, the Christians, the Jews, the touchables and the untouchables – one and all reverently discussed the sad and sudden death of Kundan Lal Saigal, the greatest singer the Indian screen has ever produced in its long history of misadventures.

People didn’t merely love Saigal. They revered his glorious voice and called it divine. In his death died the music of millions of souls and it was no wonder to find every person, with a musical ear, a mourner with millions of music lovers all over the country.

Trains, buses, trams, taxis, streets, theatres, parks, race-courses – wherever one happened to be it was the dead Saigal that lived again in the memory of his affectionate fans. Men and women, boys and girls, the young and the old, the rich and the poor – one and all told one another what a great singer Saigal had been an each according to the mould of his mind quoted a different song the greatest memory of the dead artists.

Saigal was the one single person who had given the screen music a rare emotion that soothed the aching souls of people in the travails of modern life.

Millions wept with him when in ‘Devdas’, his unforgettable song ‘Dukh ke din ab beetat nahin’ came from the screen with its agonizing melody and yet in its very agony gave to the millions a rare soothe, for, in Saigal’s rare voice there was pathos and joy, pain and pleasure, a stab and a soothe all at once, wedded to an incomparable melody never before heard on the screen anywhere in the world. Saigal was easily the world’s most emotional male singer.

The one phrase I may take a liberty to add to in this scintillating praise written by Baburao Patel – that it was not only “. . . an incomparable melody never before heard on the screen. . .”, but also “not ever since. . .”.

Back in June of 2017, when I had introduced the song “Nidniya Mori Bairan Oye Hoye Re”, from the film ‘Karwaan e Hayaat’, (then newly traced film from 1935), I had summarized the story line of the film as follows.

Watching this clip, this film, seems like a journey through time, a journey to another dimension, another world – world that I had not seen ever before. The story of the film is about Parvez, a prince who has a lively and romantic outlook in life. The queen mother arranges for a betrothal for her son, and the prince, fearing the bonds of a matrimonial household and no romance, disappears from the palace and joins a band of gypsies, disguised as one himself, and changes the name to Naazu. This secret is known only to his very close friend and sidekick, Suhail (role played by Bikram Kapoor). There is another side of the story unfolding. The Emir of Tikkim, an adjoining kingdom (role played by Nawab) also fancies the same princess, with whom the queen mother has arranged the alliance for Parvez. He has the princess kidnapped, and as destiny would have it, hides her in the very same camp of gypsies. Parvez encounters the princess in the gypsy camp, and they fall in love. Parvez, who is prone to playful antics and pulling legs of others, does not disclose his true identity, and continues to romance the willing princess. Other complications intervene. The Wazir (prime minister) of the state, traces Parvez to the gypsy camp. The Emir of Tikkim comes to the camp with his soldiers to claim his kidnapped bounty. And Zarina, a beautiful gypsy girl at the camp (role played by Ratan Bai) falls in love with Parvez. All the circumstances rolled together, make for a real fun movie, which is a treat to watch. And the premium icing on the cake of course is KL Saigal, and the songs which were not released on gramophone records.

I bring on board today, another lost song from this film, which was not released in gramophone record. It is another wonderful group song that is presented in the ambiance of the gypsy camp that has been infiltrated by Parvez, masquerading as a commoner. On screen, we see the inimitable Saigal, performing this joie de vivre song of free spirit in the company of the band of gypsies who have arrived to set up another temporary camp in their nomadic travels across the land. Accompanying him on screen are Miss Molina, in the role of Sonia, a gypsy girl, and Pahadi Sanyal in the role of Rahat, a young gypsy man. There is a host of other members of the gypsy clan that join in chorus. In a brief scene, we also see Nemo, in the role of the old gypsy witch, sitting with young girls and reading their palms.

The song tells of the comparison between their life in the forest, and the life of the cities – “Shehron Mein Wo Baat Kahaan Jo Jungle Jungle Aawat Hai”. Listen, view and enjoy this rare original clip from the film, that has been restored to public domain recently.

KL Saigal – the magic continues, the legend sustains.

Song – Shehron Mein Wo Baat Kahaan (Karwaan e Hayaat) (1935) Singer – KL Saigal, Molina, Pahadi Sanyal, Lyrics – Hakim Ahmed Shuja Pasha, MD – Mihir Kiran Bhattacharya
Chorus

Lyrics

shehron maa wo baat kahaan jo
jungle jungle aawat hai jo
jungle jungle aawat hai
shehron maa wo baat kahaan jo
jungle jungle aawat hai jo
jungle jungle aawat hai
shehron maa wo baat kahaan jo

baandhe paanv maa painjaniya jab
bhor suhaani aawat hai
baandhe paanv maa painjaniya jab
bhor suhaani aawat hai
har ek chidiya apna gaana
komal sur maa sunaavat hai
har ek chidiya apna gaana
komal sur maa sunaavat hai

mehakat aavat purvaiya
ya mast suhaagan aavat hai
mehakat aavat purvaiya
ya mast suhaagan aavat hai
shehron maa wo baat kahaan jo
jungle jungle aawat hai jo
jungle jungle aawat hai
shehron maa wo baat kahaan jo

pachham maa jab suraj sunehri
kiran jaa ke chhipaawat hai
pachham maa jab suraj sunehri
kiran jaa ke chhipaawat hai
saanjh chadariya kaari odhe
saanjh chadariya kaari odhe
dheere dheere aawat hai
aawat hai
shor macha hai jungle maa ke
raat suhaani aawat hai
shor macha hai jungle maa ke
raat suhaani aawat hai
shehron maa wo baat kahaan jo
jungle jungle aawat hai jo
jungle jungle aawat hai
shehron maa wo baat kahaan jo

prem ki bansi rain hamaari
chaaron oar nachaavat hai
prem ki bansi rain hamaari
chaaron oar nachaava hai
chaand aur taaran ke akaash pe
sunder phool khilaawat hai
toot giri jo koi kali wo
toot giri jo koi kali wo
jugnu ban ke aawat hai
shehron maa wo baat kahaan jo
jungle jungle aawat hai jo
jungle jungle aawat hai
shehron maa wo baat kahaan jo

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

शहरों मा वो बात कहाँ जो
जंगल जंगल आवत है जो
जंगल जंगल आवत है
शहरों मा वो बात कहाँ जो
जंगल जंगल आवत है जो
जंगल जंगल आवत है
शहरों मा वो बात कहाँ जो

बांधे पाँव में पैंजनीया जब
भोर सुहानी आवत है
बांधे पाँव में पैंजनीया जब
भोर सुहानी आवत है
हर एक चिड़िया अपना गाना
कोमल सुर में सुनावत है
हर एक चिड़िया अपना गाना
कोमल सुर में सुनावत है

महकत आवत पुरवैया
या मस्त सुहागन आवत है
महकत आवत पुरवैया
या मस्त सुहागन आवत है
शहरों मा वो बात कहाँ जो
जंगल जंगल आवत है जो
जंगल जंगल आवत है
शहरों मा वो बात कहाँ जो

पच्छम मा जब सूरज सुनहरी
किरण जा के छिपावत है
पच्छम मा जब सूरज सुनहरी
किरण जा के छिपावत है
साँझ चदरिया कारी ओढ़े
साँझ चदरिया कारी ओढ़े
धीरे धीरे आवत है
आवत है
शोर मचा है जंगल मा के
रात सुहानी आवत है
शोर मचा है जंगल मा के
रात सुहानी आवत है
शहरों मा वो बात कहाँ जो
जंगल जंगल आवत है जो
जंगल जंगल आवत है
शहरों मा वो बात कहाँ जो

प्रेम की बंसी रैन हमारी
चारों ओर नचावत है
प्रेम की बंसी रैन हमारी
चारों ओर नचावत है
चाँद और तारन के आकाश पे
सुंदर फूल खिलावत है
टूट गिरी जो कोई काली वो
टूट गिरी जो कोई काली वो
जुगनू बन के आवत है
शहरों मा वो बात कहाँ जो
जंगल जंगल आवत है जो
जंगल जंगल आवत है
शहरों मा वो बात कहाँ जो

Tags: 1935, Hakim Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Karwaan e Hayaat, KL Saigal, Mihir Kiran Bhattacharya, Miss Molina, Nemo, Pahadi Sanyal, Ratan Bai

Kaun tujhe samjhaaye

Posted by: Atul on: April 9, 2020

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.

Blog Day :

4283

Post No. :

15530

—————————————————————————
Blog 10-Year Challenge (2010-2020) – Song No. 19
—————————————————————————

Regulars on the blog would be surprised to see my post covering a song from the forties or rather from the decade of ‘thirties’-1931-40.

My forte is the movies from the ‘seventies’. But, yes, I have from time to time shared songs from movies before the years of ‘seventies’ too.
As a music lover, I love the songs from the ‘golden period’ or ‘pre-golden period’ of Hindi cinema. I have a great admiration for the stalwarts of that era and a great fascination of the movies and songs of that era.

During my childhood days, I got to watch many movies of the ‘black & white’ era e.g. ‘Dillagi-1949’, ‘Dard-1947’, ‘Dulaari-1949’ etc. during the regular weekly screening of movies at our colony recreation club.

I don’t think I have ever watched a movie from the decade of 1931-1940. So, when I noticed this movie ‘Nartaki-1940’ falling under ‘blog ten year challenge’ of today 09.04.2020 I browsed its pending songs, and when I found that a song from the great Pankaj Mallick is pending to be posted, it was enough reason for me to share this song.

A few years back I got to watch a documentary on ‘New Theatres’ on ‘Doordarshan’ and I got to watch it more than once. The great Pankaj Mallick and songs sung by him have special place in my heart so I am more than happy to share this song here today.

HFGK Vol 1 1931-1940 mentioned this song in two versions (i.e. Male version and Female Version by Roop Kumari). The audio/video links of the song available were only for the male version sung by Pankaj Mallick or some mentioned them as Pankaj Mallick and chorus.

As the movie was available online, I decided to watch this movie. For me this is the oldest movie I have watched till date. And, for me, the current ‘situation’ makes it a special occasion and a very ‘special movie’ to watch and to remember as a ‘memory of these days’.

(Imagine what record I have created for me :). I have watched a movie released twenty-eight before I was born and I have watched a movie seventy-nine years after it was released. 🙂 (This movie was passed by the then Bengal Board of Censors on 18.12.1940).

After watching this movie, I can say that there is no female version sung by Roop Kumari for today’s song as mentioned in HFGK. (And I think this needs to be corrected in HFGK).

Coming back to the movies represented ten years back on this day we have the following songs represented on the blog on 09.04.2010 including a song from this movie ‘Nartaki-1940’;

Song	Movie title-Year	Remarks
Dene waala jab bhi detaa …	Funtoosh-1956	All songs covered (08)
Dil mein hamaare kaun samaayaa…	Adhikaar-1954	All songs covered (08)
Beqaraar hai koi	Shama Parwaana-1954	All songs covered (11)
Prem ka naataa chhootaa	Nartaki-1940	05 of 08 songs covered

So far, following songs from “Nartaki-1940” have been covered on the blog;

Song	Posted On
Prem ka naataa chhootaa	09.04.2010
Madbhari rut jawaan hai	21.09.2011
Ye kaun aaj aayaa sawere sawere	15.03.2011
Aankh moond kar dhyaan	10.06.2011
Teri dayaa se ae daayee	12.10.2011

let us now enjoy this song for today …

(video) (Part-1)

Video (Part II)

Audio (Record version)

Song-Kaun tujhe samjhaaye (Nartaki)(1940) Singer-Pankaj Mullick, Lyrics-AArzoo Lucknow, MD-Pankaj Mullick

Lyrics
——————————-
Video (Part I)
——————————-

kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye
kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye

prem parikshaa(?)
ulte seedhe donon baan chalaaye
ae ae
bhed chhipaaye
marey ghut ghut ke
kahe to maaraa jaaye ae
bhed chhipaaye
marey ghut ghut ke
kahe to maaraa jaaye ae
moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye
kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye

(conversation between the actor & actress, not included)

kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye
kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye

prem juaa aur laabh ki aasha
jo hai ye bhi jaaye ae ae ae
prem juaa aur laabh ki aasha
jo hai ye bhi jaaye ae ae ae
man maujan ki ulti Gangaa
jeeta daanv haraaye
moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye ae

(song continues in the background as the actor & actress are shown walking together)

kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye
apni chaal badalnaa maanjhi
ee ee ee ee
apni chaal badalnaa maanjhi
mauj bhanwar naa sataaye
swarg ghaat ko jaati naiyya
narak pahunch na jaaye ae
swarg ghaat ko jaati naiyya
narak pahunch na jaaye
moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye ae

———————————
Video (Part II)
———————————-

kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye ae
kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye ae
prem juaa aur laabh ki aasha aa
jo hai ye bhi jaaye ae ae ae
prem juaa aur laabh ki aasha
jo hai ye bhi jaaye ae
man maujan ki ulti Gangaa
jeeta daanv haraaye
moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye ae

(dialogues, not included)

apni chaal badalnaa maanjhi
ee ee ee ee
apni chaal badalnaa maanjhi
mauj bhanwar naa sataaye ae
swarg ghaat ko jaati naiyya
narak pahunch na jaaye ae ae …

—————————————————-
(chorus) (record version)
—————————————————–
kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye
kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye
prem juaa aur laabh ki aasha
jo hai ye bhi jaaye ae ae ae
prem juaa aur laabh ki aasha
jo hai ye bhi jaaye ae ae ae
man maujan ki ulti Gangaa
jeeta daanv haraaye
moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye ae

prem parikshaa (?)
ulte seedhe donon baan chalaaye
ae ae
prem parikshaa(?)
ulte seedhe donon baan chalaaye
ae ae
bhed chhipaaye
marey ghut ghut ke
kahe to maaraa jaaye ae
bhed chhipaaye
marey ghut ghut ke
kahe to maaraa jaaye ae
moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye

apni chaal badalnaa maanjhi
ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee
apni chaal badalnaa maanjhe
mauj(?) bhanwar naa sataaye
swarg ghaat ko jaati naiyya
narak pahunch na jaaye ae
swarg ghaat ko jaati naiyya
narak pahunch na jaaye ae
moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye ae
kaun tujhe samjhaaye moorakh
kaun tujhe samjhaaye

Tags: 1940, Aarzoo Lucknow, Nartaki, Pankaj Mullick, Singer-MD

Tu ban ka raaja tu ban ki raani

Posted by: Atul on: April 7, 2020

In: "Raani" song | "Raja" song | expression of love | Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Rare song | Song of 1939 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Yearwise breakup of songs
5 Comments

Blog Day :

4281

Post No. :

15523

Movie Count :

4279

Today’s song is from an old film Baaghi-1939. Same title films were also made in 1953, 1964, 1990 and 2000. In addition the word Baaghi was used as a prefix in few more films, like Baaghi Aurat-2000 or Baaghi Sipahi-36 etc .

Today’s film was made by Vishnu Cinetone and it was directed by the banner’s owner Dhirubhai Desai, a veteran in Costume and other C grade films. The film had other names like ‘ Bandkhor (बंडखोर )’ and ‘Sarfarosh’. This double or treble name system was prevalent in film industry since the Silent films. For silent films such multiple names were justified and necessary, because silent films ran in different language regions. So, for the benefit of local audience, these films were advertised in different names. Somehow this system continued even after Talkie films started, though its utility had diminished when films had dialogues and were shown all over the country, but still, one finds that this trend continued. Nowadays, I find that almost every film has an indicative Tag line.

In the Hindi film industry,there are 4 types of people.

The first type is of those people,who join this industry,struggle very hard and succeed in fulfilling their dreams,for example Guru Dutt, Mehboob, Johnny Walker, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohd.Rafi etc. who are well known to all by now.

The second type of people are those who join the industry,struggle very hard ,do not succeed and leave dejected.

The third type is those people who have a filmi connection or a strong luck,who join,struggle a bit and succeed, like for example,Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip kumar, Rakesh and Rajesh Roshan, Anand Milind, Nanda, Nargis, Meena Kumari etc.

And….. the fourth type is those people who join the industry, struggle very hard and succeed partly, but end up doing something else,to keep them sustaining here.

The industry is full of people of the 4th type. People who come with dreams in their eyes, but end up doing something else. People who start as a Hero in 2-3 films,settle for side roles and finally character roles, like Dev Kumar, Sujit Kumar, Jeevan etc.

Not only this but we have examples where they started with something else and ended with a totally different thing and succeeded.For Example,Guru Dutt started as a Choreographer/dance Director (Lakharani-45) and ended up Actor/Director, Ashok kumar started as a Lab Technician in photography but became a great actor and Amiya Chakravarty who started as a Canteen Manager in Bombay Talkies,for which, later, he directed finest movies. Kanhaiyalal and Mirza Musharraf came here to become Lyricist, but ended as Comedians.

All such cases do not end happily. In most cases, the artiste has to make compromise with his fate. One such artiste was Music Director Jimmy, who came to films to make a career as a singer. He did not succeed as a singer, but having settled for a career of a Composer, here too he was not much successful. Today’s duet is sung by him.

Composer Jimmy is one of those little known composers who never got fame or name in spite of their Talents. His real name was JAMES SINGH. He was a Christian sikh from Ludhiana. He was educated in Delhi.He started his career in Hindi films as a singer in Chorus. He sang 7 songs in 6 films (Imandar-39, Baghi-39, Pyar-40, Anjaam-40, Jadoo Nagri-40, and Maaya Nagri-44). He could play many western instruments, especially all types of Guitars.When he failed as a singer, he became assistant to many composers. Finally, he got his chance to compose few songs for film ‘Muqaddar-50’, though with Khemchand Prakash and Bhola Shreshtha. He composed 2 duets of Asha and Kishore. The credit of composing the First ” Yodelling ” song of Kishore kumar goes to Jimmy. Kishore ‘yodelled ‘ first time in this film.

Jimmy then gave music to 14 more films like, Shrimatiji-52, Smuggler-59, Awara Shehzadi-56, Sher e Baghdad-57, Nek khatoon-59, Pathan-62, Miss chaalbaz-61, Tarzan and Gorilla-63, Duniya hai dilwalon ki-66, Pyar ki Baazi-67, Tarzan in fairy land-68, Aakhir-84, Khoon aur sazaa-86 and his last film, Sachhi Ibadat-1987. Inspite of giving sweet and melodious songs of a variety, Jimmy never came up to A class. He always remained a composer for C grade films. Anyway, as long as Kishore’s yodelling is heard,Jimmy’s name will be remembered. For singing,he used the name James Singh and as a Music Director he used Jimmy. (Like Chitalkar and C Ramchandra) .

The cast of film Baaghi-39 was Mehtab, Shamim, Amirbai karnataki (who sang as Amir jan), Anwari, Anil kumar (real name Sardar Gul), Ashraf Khan, Master Shiraz and many others. Actress Anwari, who acted in this film , was from a Tawayaf family of Lucknow. She started her acting career with film Heer Ranjha-32 opposite Rafiq Ghaznavi and then she acted in film Pooran Bhagat-1932, along with K L Saigal. She did the role of Rani Uchharan.

She joined East India Film co. and worked in films like Aurat ka pyar-33, Night Bird-34, Nagin-34 and Mumtaz Begum-34. She had also acted in another NT film Chandidas-34. She shifted her base to Bombay and worked in several films for next four decades. Her last film was Chaitali-1975. In all she did 140 films. She was known as ‘ Pride of Lucknow’ during her peak period. She was credited variously as Anwari Begum, Anwari, and Anwari bai.

Actress Anwari was the second wife of Rafiq Ghaznavi with whom she had a daughter, Zarina. Later, Zarina changed her name to Nasreen and worked in director A.R. Kardar’s movie, ‘Shah Jehan’ and Daud Chand’s movie, ‘Aik Roaz.’ Later Zarina married Liaqat Gul Agha, a rich Jeweller of Pakistan and they settled in London. She became Zarina Agha. Further, Zarina Agha’s daughter, Salma Agha, achieved great name and fame as a singing star. She expired somewhere in early 80s.

Anwari and Rafiq Ghaznavi were divorced (or separated) after Zarina/Nasreen’s birth, and Anwari then married a rich Hindu businessman named Jugal Kishore Mehra ( Maternal uncle-Mama- of Raj Kapoor). In order to marry Anwari, Jugal Kishore Mehra abandoned not only his family but also his religion; he became a Muslim and took the name Ahmed Salman. Since Anwari had a child, Jugal Kishore Mehra effectively became the father of the infant Zarina/Nasreen.

The most interesting name in the cast is that of Master Shiraz. He was one of the most popular and very famous Heros in the silent era. Like many others, when the Talkie era began, he too was relegated to the background and with great difficulty could get character roles in films. His first Talkie film was Mast Faqir-1934. He sang one song each in 2 films- Baghdad ka chor-34 and Chalta Purja-34. He continued doing roles in films.

During his good times, he had learnt the art of Massaging, as a Hobby and this became his last straw for survival. When film roles were not available, he used to roam about with his kit and do Massaging to earn a living. After doing about 26 films, till Naiya-47, he stopped getting credited in the cast. Now he worked as an extra.

He was last seen in film Guddi-1971- doing massage to Omprakash in one scene. In that film, Dharmendra tells Jaya Bhaduri (Guddi) that Master Shiraj was a star in silent film era. Director Hrishikesh Mukherjee ensured that Shiraj got his name in the film credits of Guddi-71.

Master Shiraj was just one of those unfortunate film artistes who spent their end-time in a very pathetic manner. Some other examples are- actor/singer Parshuram- died on road as a beggar, Singer Vatsala Kumthekar- died on road as a mad beggar,Wasti was seen begging near Liberty cinema and Rattanbai was seen begging near Haji Ali. There are many more such stories. The world of films is the most unpredictable and unless the artiste is wise to secure his future, there is no light at the end of the tunnel !

Today’s song is sung by Shamim and James Singh. The song is composed by Shanti Kumar Desai and is of average quality, but it has special importance as it is sung by James Singh, whose songs are not available much. With this song, film Baaghi -39 makes its Debut on the Blog.

( information used in this article is culled from various sources like Encyclopedia of Indian Films, Film Directory-46, The Lost Treasure by Kamlakar Pasupuleti, our beloved Pakistan by Anis Shukur, HFGK and my notes. Thanks to all)

Song-Tu Ban ka Raja tu ban ki raani (Baaghi)(1939) Singers- Shamim, James Singh, Lyricist- Gaurishankar Lal ‘Akhtar’, MD- Shanti Kumar Desai
Both

Lyrics

Tu ban ka Raja
tu ban ki Raani
Tu ban ka Raja
megha banke garje chaaron oar re
tu ban ki Raani
bijri ban ker chamke chaaron oar re
Tu ban ka Raja
megha banke garje chaaron oar re
tu ban ki Raani
bijri ban ker chamke chaaron oar re

main kaise tumhen rijhaaun
aur kya kya ban kar aaun
main kaise tumhen rijhaaun
aur kya kya ban kar aaun
main saagar ban kar dhoom dhaam se
chaaron taraf lahraaun
main sarita bankar us saagar ki dhaar se dhaar milaaun
main saagar ban kar dhoom dhaam se
chaaron taraf lahraaun
main sarita bankar us saagar ki dhaar se dhaar milaaun

main baadal ban ka
jhoom jhoom kar swaati jal barsaaun
main papeeha ban kar wo jal dhaara
pee ke amar ho jaaun
main baadal ban ka
jhoom jhoom kar swaati jal barsaaun
main papeeha ban kar wo jal dhaara
pee ke amar ho jaaun
ho ban ka raaja
ban ki raani
ham hain ban ke
raaja raani
ham hain ban ke raaja raani

Tags: 1939, Baaghi, Gaurishankar Lal 'Akhtar ', James Singh, Shamim Bano, Shanti Kumar Desai

Aao mil jul ke

Posted by: Atul on: March 23, 2020

Blog Day?:

4266

Post No.:

15492

Today’s song is from an old film Baghbaan-1938. There was one more film Baghbaan made in 2003, but the story was different. One film having similarity in name was film Baadbaan made in 1954. This too was a different one.

Baghbaan-38 was the first film of A R Kardar as a Director in Bombay, after his very successful foray in to the Calcutta Film world. This film was made by General Films, Bombay.The music was by Mushtaq Hussain, who had a young, ambitious and talented assistant for this film, whose name was Naushad. Yes, he is the same Naushad, who paired with Kardar in later years and gave us unforgettable music from many films.

The name of Music Director Mushtaq Hussain may not be known to today’s music lovers. Mushtaq was famous as a Classical singer and was called a Ustaad. He started giving music to films in 1933. His first film was Aurat ka pyar-33. He gave music to few films only, like Sauteli Maa-35, Balaa ki raat-36, Jaljalaa-36, Bhedi Trishul-38, Baghbaan-38, Pati patni-37, Kanyadaan-40, Baadal-42, Chhed chhad-43, Do or die-44, Daasi ya Maa-46 and his last film was Bombay- 49. After this, perhaps he realised that the public taste was changing and he left films. During the period of 1938, Naushad worked as his assistant in his struggle days and learnt few things.

The cast of the film was Bimla Kumari, B.Nandrekar ( one of the most handsome actors of Hindi films ), Sitara Devi, Yasmin, Putlibai, Ashraf Khan, Lala Yakub, K N Singh, R Wasti and many others. The 11 songs of the film were written by Hafiz Jallundhari and Mirza Musharraf, who wrote with a Pen name of Mirza Shauq. He had also acted in this film as a comedian. His typical style of mixing Urdu dialogues with English words was very popular in those days. Comedian of the 70s-Ram Avtar made his Debut with this film.

The film was a roaring success and brought many lucrative directorial offers to kardar from big banners like Ranjit and Circo etc. This also gave Kardar a confidence that he can himself own and start a studio and production company in Bombay. He had his pioneering small production company in Lahore, but that was for Silent films. Making Talkie films in Bombay was entirely different.

!942 was an year in which many ambitious and talented artistes established their own companies. There was Mehboob Khan, V.Shantaram, Homi Wadia, and the splinter group from Bombay Talkies also established Filmistan company. Abdul Rashid Kardar too plunged into the flowing river and established his own Kardar Studios. His first film was Sharda-42, which released on 23-1-1943. It was a Hit film. That way, Kardar’s life was full of adventures.

Abdul Rashid Kardar (1904–1989), often abbreviated as A.R. Kardar, was an actor and film director/film producer. He is credited as establishing the film industry in the Bhati Gate locality of Lahore, British India (now in Pakistan).

Kardar was born on 11-10-1904 at Lahore in a rich family. He was provided with all facilities and put into a very good school. Kardar was more interested in bunking school and seeing films and dramas than his studies. As a result he failed in his Matriculation examination. By the time he was 18 year old, he came to Bombay in 1922 to join films. He met director Homi Master in Kohinoor film company. With his good looks and good manners, he was employed as an extra, but there was no work. he used to visit the sets where shootings were taking place in the studio. One day the Cameraman Narayan Devre found him meddling in the shoot and he asked the owner Dwarkadas Sampat to throw him out of the company.

Dejected, he returned to Lahore and studied Calligraphy and Painting, in which he soon gained excellence. Kardar started as an arts scholar and a calligraphist making posters for foreign film productions and writing for newspapers of the early 1920s. His work would often lead him to meet filmmakers around India.

In 1924, the first silent film, The Daughters of Today was made and released in Lahore at a time when the city only had nine operational cinema houses. Most of the films shown in theatres in Lahore were either made in Bombay or Calcutta, besides ones made in Hollywood or London. The Daughters of Today was the brain-child of G.K. Mehta, a former officer with the North-Western Railway, who had imported a camera into the country for this very project from London. He asked Kardar to assist him as an assistant director on the project and ended up giving Kardar his début role in his film as an actor. Muhammad Ismail, his friend and fellow calligraphist, accompanied Kardar in the making of the film.

In 1928, with no work left after their maiden venture, Kardar and friend M. Ismail sold their belongings to set up a studio and production company under the name of United Players Corporation, the foundation stone for the film industry in Lahore. After scouting for locations, they settled for their offices to be established at Ravi Road. Although, the dim-lit area presented with much difficulties after the studios were established. Shootings were only possible in the day-light but nevertheless the area had some very important landmarks like the Ravi Forest and the tombs of Mughal emperor Jahangir and his wife Nur Jahan.

It is reported that the team working at the studios would commute on tangas and even lost equipment once while travelling on the bumpy roads on the horse-drawn carriage.However basic and crude their working conditions, Kardar believed in his work and in 1930 he produced the first film under the studio’s banner.

With this film, Husn Ka Daku a.k.a. Mysterious Eagle, Kardar made his first directorial début. He also cast himself as an actor in the male lead opposite Gulzar Begum with Ismail in a supporting role. The film featured an American actor, Iris Crawford, as well. The film had mild success at theatres but prominently established Lahore as a functioning film industry. Kardar vowed on not acting in any other film and instead focusing on direction.

Immediately afterwards the studio released the film Sarfarosh aka Brave Heart, with Gul Hamid playing the lead role with more or less the same cast as in the previous film. This production proved equally appealing but was able to stir noise about this industry in film production circles throughout India. Kardar made 12 silent films at Lahore.

When the Talkie era started, he closed down making silent films and produced his first Talkie film ” Heer Ranjha” in 1932 , with Rafiq Ghaznavi and Miss Anwari in the lead. Ghaznavi was the MD also. The film was a big flop.

Kardar shifted to Calcutta after this; and joined the East India Film Company, where he made about seven films for them. He acted in a costume drama-Aab E Hayat-33, as a Hero. Later he directed 6 films for this company. Almost all films were successful. After the company closed down in 1937 he moved to Bombay and joined Film City (in Tardeo) where he made one film Baaghban-38, for General Films, Bombay. It won the Gohar Gold Medal starring Bimla Kumari, B. Nandrekar and Sitara Devi.

Subsequently he joined Ranjeet Movietone towards the end of 1937 and made only three movies with them. He also made film Pooja-40 for National Studios. From here he moved to Circo Productions Ltd., and made 2 films for them .But just one year later, in 1942, when Circo Productions Ltd. went into liquidation, Kardar bought out the company and started Kardar Productions. In the same compound, he also started Kardar Studios and started making movies under the Kardar Productions banner from 1942 onwards. His first film was Sharda-42, which released on 23-1-1943. Kardar Studios was one of the best equipped studios in those days and also the first to have air-conditioned make up rooms.

In 1946, Kardar gave a commercially successful film with K. L. Saigal and composer Naushad, Shahjehan (1946).Claimed as a “masterpiece”- the film songs became all hits.

Following Partition in 1947, A. R. Kardar and his co-brother Mehboob Khan both left for Pakistan. However, according to Bunny Reuben, as quoted by Mihir Bose, they returned to India, but no reason was given for their return. In this connection Journalist and author of several books, Ambarish Mishra writes, ” when I asked Kardar about his Pakistan visit, he told me that after the Partition, Mehboob immediately went to Pakistan. He was disturbed with the news of Hindu-Muslim conflicts in Bombay Film Industry. It was said that Hindus will not allow Muslims in film industry – which was totally wrong and only a rumour. He wanted to take an idea about his future in this new country. He was keen on settling there. After a month or so, I went there. Being from Lahore, I understood that the film conditions were not conducive for our growth there, as nothing was in order. Everything was in a mess there. I convinced Mehboob somehow and we both came back for good. I told him, as long as Nehru was there, they had no problems in India.” By coincidence, Nehru died and next day Mehboob also died !

Kardar went back to film making and directed Dard (1947), which starred Suraiya and had music by Naushad. Dillagi (1949), a romantic tragedy, was a commercial success at the box-office. Inspired by Wuthering Heights (1939), Kardar later used the plot in Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966). Dillagi’s music by Naushad became extremely popular, especially Suraiya’s song “Tu Mera Chand”. Dulari (1949) had equally popular music, with a memorable Mohammed Rafi song “Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki”.

Dastan (1950) a tragic melodrama, was inspired from the film Enchantment, and was cited as “one of the biggest commercial hits”. Jadoo (1951) and Deewana (1952) marked the parting of ways between Kardar and Naushad. Dil-E-Nadaan (1953) had popular music by Ghulam Mohammed. He made three more films before starting Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966), which again had music by Naushad. Kardar’s last film was Mere Sartaj (1975)

He introduced many artists to the Hindi film industry who went on to become renowned in their own right, such as Naushad, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Suraiya. The legendary singer Mohammad Rafi got his first hit from the song, ‘Suhani raat dhal chuki’ – from Kardar’s film Dulari. He also started the Kardar-Kolynos Contest, to find new talent and through this contest he discovered and introduced to the industry, Chand Usmani and Mahendra Kapoor.

kardar was popularly called as Miyan ji. He directed in all 37 films in his career. He had acted in one film Aab E Hayat-1933.

Mehboob Khan’s wife Sardar Akhtar was the sister of Bahar, Kardar’s wife. Kardar was the step-brother of Pakistan’s famous cricketer A. H. Kardar (Abdul Hafeez Kardar). Kardar’s marriage to Bahar has an interesting story.

Sardar Akhtar and Bahar were sisters and were singers and dancers in Lahore’s famous Heera Mandi. They were known as Daari and Beharo. Bahar was very good looking. Kardar selected her as a Heroine for his film, opposite himself as a Hero and the shooting started. Kardar fell in her love, but Bahar was guarded closely by her escorts and sister Sardar Akhtar. Kardar was wondering how to go about. He opened his mind to friend M.Ismail. a 6 feet tall,and hefty friend. Ismail went to Bahar’s residence and lifted her on shoulders and brought her to Kardar. They hurriedly got married. Meanwhile Sardar Akhtar came to know this and made a Police complaint. The police came , arrested kardar and all shooting artistes. He spent 2 days in Police custody. Then it was Bahar herself who gave in writing that she was an adult and she married Kardar by her consent only. Kardar and others were released then. Few years later Sardar Akhtar married Mehboob Khan and Kardar became his Co-brother.

Kardar, who lived in Marine Drive, died at the age of 85 years, on 22 November 1989, in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Kardar supported and helped composer Naushad in his struggling times. Naushad was in a contract with Kardar studio, even when he had become famous, but he never left Kardar on his own. Kardar also took advantage of Naushad. Kardar also helped directors S U Sunny and M Sadiq. Sunny was working as a gatekeeper in Maadan Theatres of Calcutta. That time Kardar took him as an assistant. M.Sadiq’s father was a Tailor and he was looking after Kardar Studio’s costume department. He requested that his son may be taken by Kardar. kardar took him also. Both were initially paid Rs. 300/-. Slowly it became Rs.3000/- and then they learnt the art of direction and became independent.

Film Baghbaan (Gardener, Maali) was slated to be released on 16-7-1938, but just one week prior to its release date , Prabhat Film Company filed a case against film’s hero B Nandrekar and applied for a stay on film’s release. B Nandrekar aka Baba Saheb Nandrekar had acted in Prabhat’s famous film “Sant Tukaram-36″ (Marathi Version. Its Hindi version came only in 1948). That time Prabhat had signed a 3 year contract with him. But after Tukaram, Nandrekar was not given any film, so he acted in film Baghbaan. The case came up in the court on 13-7-1938. His advocates were Jinnah and Setalwad. He won the case and the court refused to give a stay. The case was summarily dismissed. The film released and became a Hit film. Nandrekar was a very popular actor. The chappals he used in film Baghbaan became famous as ” Nandrekar Chappals” and sold hundreds in market.

The story of film Baghbaan -38 was…..

SARUP (Nandrekar) is a disciple of Sadhu Bhagat Ram(Ashraf Khan). One day the Sadhu starts singing a devotional love song, but Sarup, without understanding its real meaning gets lost in thoughts of love. Seeing his condition, the Sadhu sends him to a janmashtami fair. In the fair also Sarup walks thinking about love, not knowing where he is going or what he is doing. The police suspect him, arrest him and he is sent to jail.

In the jail, Sarup is given the gardener’s job at the Superintendent’s bungalow. In one jail riot, he is injured. Seeing this,Durga ( Bimla Kumari),the jail Superintendent’s daughter, along with her friend Shanta(Sitara Devi) takes Sarup inside the house and Dr. Hansraj, father of Shanta is called. On arrival Dr. Hansraj suspects that Sarup is his long lost son, feared drowned, after marriage to Durga. Since then Durga is treated as a widow, but no one knows this. Durga takes care of Sarup, who is now a free man also. Slowly they develop love. The parents of Durga want to remarry Durga to somebody now. Ranjit (Yakub),a spent young man, wants to marry Durga. he spreads the news that Durga is a widow, so that no one will marry her.

As expected his marriage is fixed with Durga, much to the ire of his earlier lover kammo (Yasmin). Durga asks Sarup to go back. Sarup comes to Sadhu Bhagat Ram and tells everything. The Sadhu reveals that actually Sarup is Durga’s long last Husband and son of Dr. Hansraj.

They hurry up to Durga’s house, where the marriage ceremony has started. The Sadhu enters the mandap and utters Bollywood’s famous Dialogue- ” Yeh shaadi nahin ho sakti “. There is a great commotion. Then the Sadhu explains that Sarup is the long lost husband of Durga. As a proof, he produces the locket which Sarup had in his childhood.

Suddenly Kammo enters the mandap and shoots at Ranjit, killing him. She then kills herself also.

The long lost Husband and wife reunite and all are happy !

Today’s song is the 3^rd song from this film to appear on this Blog. It is sung by Sitara Devi and Bimla Kumari.

(For this article, information has been culled from ” Music and arts in Hyderabad Deccan”-Kamlakar pasupuleti, ” Ateet ke Sitare’-Nand kishore, “सुंदर ती दुसरी दुनिया ” – Ambarish Mishra, ” Asli nakli chehere’ – Vithal Pandya, wiki, muVyz, HFGK, Film India-Sept-40 issue and my notes. Thanks to all)

Song-Aao mil jul ke (Baaghbaan)(1938) Singers-Sitara Devi, Bimla Kumari, Lyricist- Not mentioned in HFGK, MD- Mushtaq Hussain (Asst-Naushad )

Lyrics

Aao gale mil ke
Aao gale mil ke
jhoolen
padat phuhaar sajani ee ee
ae aao mil jul ke
aao mil jul ke
lotten fasle bahaar sajani ee ee
ae aao mil jul ke ae
aao mil jul ke

rut barsaat ki
rut barsaat ki re
rut barsaat ki
aayi ?? malhaar sajani
ae ae
kaali kaali badali ye
kaali kaali badali
chaaayi man mein ?? sajani
piya bina naahin re
piya bina naahin

?? zulfon ka ?? sajani
ae ae
piyaa binaa naahin te
piyaa bina naahin

jiya lalchaave
jiya lalchaave ae
jiya lalchaave ae
jiya lalchaave ae
jiya lalchaave
ke jiya lalchaave
?? charan piya sajani
ae ae
jiya lalchaave te
jiya lalchaave

man mandir mein ae
man mandir mein ae
man mandir mein ae
man mandir mein ae
man mandir mein
ke man mandir mein
aao karo upkaar sajani
ae ae
aao gale mil ke
aao gale mil ke
jhoole padat phuhaar sajani
ae ae
aao mil jul ke te
aao mil jul ke
looten fasl e bahaar sajani
ae ae
aao mil jul ke
aao mil jul ke

Tags: 1938, Baaghbaan, Bimla Kumari, Mushtaq Hussain, Sitara Devi

Chot maar lyo ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa

Posted by: Atul on: March 20, 2020

Blog Day :

4263

Post No. :

15488

Movie Count :

4269

Today’s song is from a very old film, Moti ka Haar-1937. The song is sung by Ashiq Hussain. The song begins with few sentences in English. The music is by Jaddanbai. The film was produced by Jaddanbai,under the banner of her own Sangeet Film Company, Bombay. It was directed also by Jaddanbai. Though she sang few songs in this film, she did not act in it. However, her daughter Baby Rani aka Fatima Rashid aka Nargis in adult life, acted in this film.Her son, Anwar Hussain also acted in this film. The other cast in the film was Mehtab, Ashiq Hussain, P L Santoshi, Mirza,Yusuf and many more.

Jaddanbai came from a Tawaif family. In the initial stage of the Indian films,whether silent or talkie,it was difficult to get girls from good families and background. Slowly this picture changed. When Talkie started many Tawaifs, singing girls and girls from such families joined films as they fulfilled the requirement of singing and looking good, in addition to their ease on Hindi/Urdu language.
At this time, slowly many educated and girls from high society as well as middle class families started joining films. So,to distinguish these women from each others, a system of nomenclature was followed.

All the Girls coming from Singing families and Tawaif background added the suffix “Bai” to their names, like Jaddanbai, Waheedan bai, Zohrabai,Amirbai etc. The Anglo-Indian and middle class girls took the prefix of ‘ Miss” like,Miss Moti,Miss Rose,MissTara,Miss ajmat,Miss Pearl etc.Those girls who were from high society were called Devi,like Sabita Devi,Kamla Devi,Renuka Devi etc. All Marathi actresses used their full names like Shanta Apte,Minaxi Shirodkar etc.

Another point, this nomenclature was only unofficial and traditional. So some Tawaif actresses took advantage of this to hide their roots.Like, Rampyari who was from a singing family of Hyderabad, sometimes called herself as Miss Rampyari.

Do you know the meaning of the word Kaneez ? Not many may be aware of it. To understand this word,we have to go back in History. There were 565 Princely states in India before Partition. Due to patronising of fine arts like music and dance by these Princes, a new class of Nautch Girls emerged in the 19th century. All Nautch Girls were not the same. Author Michael Kinnear, in his book “The Gramophone company’s first Indian Recordings 1899-1908 “, has explained the classification and Nomenclatures of these Nautch Girls. As per that, there were 4 types…

Lowest Class…..IV	Name – Khanki	Prostitutes/Sex workers
Class III	Name – Kaneez	Daasi or servant
Class II	Name – Bai ji	Singing/Dancing
Class I	Name – Jaan	Top class singers

They all were called collectively as Tawayafs. The readers will now understand the difference between Amirbai, Waheedanbai, Jaddanbai and Tamancha Jaan, Gauhar Jaan, Malika Jaan, Zohra Jaan etc etc. In the first decade of Talkie films, almost 90% actresses were from Tawayaf families. As the time went by, their percentage went reducing as girls from respectable families started opting for a film career.

Few of these Tawayaf actresses proved to be extraordinary and they set exemplary lifestyles. I would especially mention 4 names of such actresses, who were different from the rest and did an unexpectedly praiseworthy job. They are – Indurani, Mehtab, Gohar Mamajiwala and Jaddanbai. Indurani, was educated in a Convent school in initial years and understood the importance of education. She ensured high quality education to her children and after retirement from films, settled in US with her children. ” Knowledge is the greatest wealth” – her favourite life philosophy is engraved on her Grave stone in America.

Mehtab and Gohar Mamajiwala, both managed their husband’s cine studio companies with great efficiency. Both sacrificed their film careers to be with their husbands in thick and thin and ensured that they remained a great strength to their extended families. Both these women were highly respected in film industry.

The best among the four, however, was Jaddanbai. She was a multifaceted artiste. She was an excellent singer in her early career, where she was in great demand, receiving invitations from various princely states across the Indian subcontinent. In later life, she was a screen writer, Lyricist, Music Director, Actress, Director, producer and owner of a film production company. More than this, she had earned a high reputation in the film industry. She personally knew big guns like Mehboob, Karadar etc. Jaddanbai had undoubtedly earned a special status in the industry.

Her ability to settle complex personal and professional industry disputes, her generous open kitchen for co-workers, her penchant for colourful language and the high premium placed on her advise and recommendation made her a veritable institution in Indian film industry of her times.

Not only she wrote screenplays for all her films, she also helped her estranged son-Akhtar Hussain’s ” Nargis Art Films”, by writing screenplays for his films ” Anjuman-48″ and ” Darogaji-49″. Jaddanbai was proficient in Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Persian, Arabic and English too. Jaddanbai’s films were made to boost good morals and promote Swadeshi values. Even her first film “Talash E Haq-35” was a story of a wayward actress Feroza, who had many lovers etc, but she finally goes for Search of Truth, denouncing all worldly matters in her life.
JADDANBAI was born in 1892. She was the love child of Motilal Nehru and her mother Daleepabai, who was a beautiful Tawaif. Daleepabai was originally from a Brahmin family,but was abducted and trained as a Tawaif. Jaddanbai was picked up from a mela of kothewalas, when she was only 5 yr. old and was trained as a Tawaif.

A close look at the special feature of Nose in Nargis,Indira Gandhi,Pt.Nehru,Rajiv Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi will confirm the similarity in the Nehru clan feature. Jaddanbai used to tie Rakhi also to Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. ( from an article by Rajnikumar Pandya ji.)
Jaddanbai started learning music under the Ustad Moinuddin Khan, Barkat ali khan, Chhaddu khan and Laabh khan. For this she shifted to Calcutta in her teens only. Though she was born in Benaras, she grew up in Allahabad, the Nehru’s home town.

She started singing gazals and soon became so famous that she cut several Gramophone records. She was invited by many kings and states like, Rampur, Indore, Gwalior, Bikaner etc. She was very popular. A Lahore based film maker, Hakim Ram Pershad was also charmed by her singing and offered her a film role. At that time she was almost 40 year old, but she was not hired for her beauty but her singing. She did the role of Gopichand’s mother in this film. She was offered a role in film Raja Gopichand-1933, by Play Art Photo tone Co. of Lahore. She did that film and also did Insan ya shaitan, also in 1933, Sewa Sadan, Prem Pariksha and Naachwali, all in 1934 in Lahore and Karachi.

After these films, she decided that she had earned a lot so far and she wanted to enter the film business. She left the well earned fame and riches to relocate to Bombay to do a film career. Those days, Calcutta was for Bangla films, Lahore for Punjabi films and Madras for Tamil/Telugu films, so only Bombay catered to Urdu/ Hindi films. Naturally Jaddanbai’s choice became Bombay.

She started her own company – Sangeet Film Co. and produced ‘Talashe Huq’ in 1935, in which her daughter Baby Rani (later Nargis) made her debut. ( actually Baby Rani had also worked earlier in film Nachwali-34, but it was uncredited ). Jaddanbai was an actor,singer, director and she also gave music to few films. Thus she became the second female music Director(after Bibbo) in India.

As an actress her films were- Raja Gopichand-33, Insan ya shaitan-33, Sewa sadan-34, Prem Pariksha-34, Naachwali-34, Talash e huq-35, Hriday Manthan-36 and Madam Fashion-36.

She also Directed few films-Madame Fashion-36, Hriday Manthan-36, Moti ka Haar-37 and Jeewan Swapna-37.

As a Music Director,her films were-Talash e huq-35, Madame fashion-36, Hriday Manthan-36, Moti ka Haar-37 and Jeewan Swapna-37.
As a singer her famous songs were- pardesiya re jara-Naachwali-34
range mehfil na raha-Prem pariksha-34
Aaina rakh do -Sewa sadan-34
Dil me jabse kisi ka-Talash e huq-35
Khoone dil ka kahin-Hriday manthan-36 and
Ho pyala mad se bhara-Madam Fashion-36.

Her singing was very enchanting and even Saigal was her fan.

She had 3 husbands in three marriages and 1 child each from every one.

First she married Narottamdas Khatri,the financier of her first film.He converted to Islam and became Bachhi Babu to marry her. She got Akhtar Hussain from him.

Her second husband was Ustad Irshaad Meer Khan, from whom she got Anwar Hussain.
Her third husband was Mohan Babu. This Uttamchand Mohanchand Tyagi was an orthodox Mohyal Brahmin from Rawalpindi. He was going to London for studying Medicine. He heard Jaddanbai’s singing and fell for her. Against all resistence from his family, he converted to Islam, became Abdul Rashid and married her. She had at last found true love and till the end, they loved each others. He was known as Mohan Babu. He was handsome,rich and good natured. From him Jaddanbai got a girl child called Fatima Rashid or Baby Rani or NARGIS. It is believed that due to her love for Mohan Babu she adopted a Hindu name of Jaya Devi Tyagi also.
Her elder son Akhtar kept away from the family, became a Director, but later started his own business away from these people. Anwar Hussain and Nargis entered films.

Jaddanbai was very well read, cultured and a social person.

She died on 8-4-1949.

The hero of film Moti ka Haar-37 was Ashiq Hussain. Not much information is available on him, except that he hailed from U.P. and that he was educated up to Matriculation, in those days. He was one of the young and good looking heros of those days. He acted in 25 films, starting with Jaddanbai’s film Talash E Haq-35 and his last film was Utho Jaago-47 – a film produced by actress Shehzadi. After the film was complete, they got married and later migrated to Pakistan. There, Ashiq Hussain turned into a full time producer and made many films. Unfortunately no information about him in Pakistan is also available. Ashiq Hussain sang 32 songs in 13 films in India.

Today’s song is sung by Ashiq Hussain. The song has some English lines in prose, before the actual song starts. Surendra and Bibbo made this style famous, with their popular song “Tumhi ne mujh ko pyar Sikhaya’in film Manmohan-36, in which at the beginning, Bibbo asks ” क्या मैं अंदर आ सकती हूं ? ” This different style of song was liked by public and then some more songs with same style were brought in by other composers. May be this song too was an attempt in this direction. With this song, film Moti ka Haar makes its Debut on the Blog.

( I thank for information used in this article from writings of Jill Nelmes and Jule Seibo from book “Women Screen writers- An International Guide”‘, article by Debashri Mukherji, titled “Screen writing and Feminist Rewriting”, article by Michael Kinnear, site http://www.pak.mag.com, http://www.muVyz.com, Film Directory 1946 and my notes).

Song-Chot maar lyo ghoonghatwa ki oat janiya (Moti Ka Haar)(1937) Singer- Ashiq Ghulam Hussain, Lyricist- Jaddanbai, MD- Jaddan bai

Lyrics

aa aa aa aa
you told me
you told me
to come with your home
tomorrow morning
jab ham wahaan pe gaye to
cheez ka pata nahin mila
I am very much ?
I am very much ??
I love and I do for you

chot maar lyo
chot maar lyo
chot maar lyo
ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa
ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa
chot maar lo

chot maar lo
ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa
o chot maar lo
ghoonghatwaa ki oat jainiyaa
chot maar lo

phooli hai bagiya
ghata lahraayi
sooni sejariya se tu naahin bhaawe
aa jaa sejariya ki oar janiyaa
haan aa jaa jhopadiya ki oar janiyaa
haan raaja jhopadiya ki oar janiyaa
chot maar lo
ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa
chot maar lo

haan
?? joruen pyaari
main shauhar unka laadlaa aa aa
main shauhar unka laadlaa
aur ghar ka numberdaar
in sab joruan ke bech kar
main utaroon ganga paar
chot maar lyo ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa
chot maar lyo

Tags: 1937, AAshiq Ghulam Hussain, Actor-Singer, Jaddan Bai, Lyricist-MD, Moti Ka Haar

Older Entries

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

Archive for the ‘Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940)’ Category

Khoti duniya badi rangeeli

Naach rahi hai Maaya Maaya

Auron ke kyun pag padta hai

Yauwan mein rut basant aayi

Shehron Mein Wo Baat Kahaan

Kaun tujhe samjhaaye

Tu ban ka raaja tu ban ki raani

Aao mil jul ke

Chot maar lyo ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa

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