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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.
This article is the 17000th song post for the blog.
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Blog Day : |
5077 | Post No. : | 17000 | Movie Count : |
4606 |
Mega milestone.
Mega event.
And a Mega Rare song being discovered.
Given the age of online proliferation and sharing, it is a great event that one chances to discover a film song that one does not even begin to imagine may even exist.
Of course yes, the song is identified and listed in the Geet Kosh. But as is the case with the majority of the listed songs in the 1931-40 volume of Geet Kosh (Volume I), we do not even pause to glance at the list of songs on page after page, unless we come across a fuller body of description for a film of that era. And verily so. Out of the close to 9,900 hundred songs listed for 930+ films that are slated for that decade, sadly enough, less than 1,200 are actually available at this time. That is the state of affairs we have at this time.
And that so, more acutely, for the first five years of that decade (1931-35) – total films are 433, total songs listed are approximately 5,000+. Films for which one or more songs are available – is just 53. And the songs – just about 152. [Note: These numbers are based on my familiarity of the songs available with myself and a few of the serious collectors within my circle of music lover friends. It is very possible that there are one/some/few more songs that may be existing in some collection, but the same are not known in public domain as yet.]
As is the case with this song. An obscure film from 1932. Geet Kosh has no details about the songs of this film. The film has been produced under the banner of Imperial Movietone. Yes, the very same company that carries the credit for releasing the first Indian talkie film – ‘Alam Ara’ in 1931. The film has two other alias names – ‘The Youth’ and ‘चन्द्रप्रभा’ (‘Chandraprabha’). The name of the director of this film is listed as BP Mishra (the Imperial Movietone company was founded and owned by Ardeshir Irani). As per the Geet Kosh information, the story of this film was also written by BP Mishra. The star cast of this film is listed as Master Vitthal, Armelin, Hadi, Jamshed Ji, Rustom Punawala, and Sakhu.
All that much, and no more. No more information available for the music and songs of this film. As I said, one would not even pause at the page to glance at this film.
But then surprise connections do turn up, which lead to discoveries that can only be termed as major, even though we may not want to use the ‘miraculous’ qualifier. Some years back, we had this sensational discovery of one 78 rpm record that carries two songs whose mukhda (song title) match with two songs which are listed for the 1931 film ‘Trapped’ aka ‘Farebi Jaal’. The credit for the discovery and sharing of the information goes to Dr. Jeetendra Shrimali of Baroda University.
And then, this song. About five weeks ago, I was at the Shah Music Center, near Jama Masjid in Old Delhi. Dear friend Zafar Shah had called me, to show me a set of 78 rpm records that he has recently acquired. A good number of these records are dated for the first decade of the Hindi film song – 1931-40. Majority of these records are in near pristine condition, as if the needle has not yet been placed on them even once. Just to see such rare beauties and to hold them in one’s hand is an experience that makes waves of joy and satisfaction pass through the heart.
And so, here is a very excited Zafar Bhai handing me these shellac discs one by one, and I am gazing at them in awe with a lump in my throat. Then he hands me a disc with an HMV label (back colored), which carries the record number as P5799. He asks me to check the label details. It just has these words on it – ‘Hindi’, ‘Duet’, ‘Azizan, Lateefan’, and a title for the song which reads “कदम तले आजाईओ कटीले काजलवाले” in Hindi, and then also in Urdu script. There is another number close to the bottom of the label – ‘12-14001’. Then Zafar Bhai pointed out a brief scribble in blue pen, on the label. Words written in three lines that read – ‘Zaalim Jawaani 1932’. Then quickly he picked up the GK volume I, turned to the page 58 where this film is listed at serial no. 83. And then pointed to the song no. 12 in the list of songs of this film. Yes, we have a mukhda match – and we have a rare and sensational discovery. I would like to add that incidentally, the 78 rpm record of the songs of film ‘Trapped’ was discovered by Akbar Shah, father of Zafar Bhai.
Since the time of the discovery of the record of ‘Trapped’, Zafar Bhai and I have occasionally discussed the situation of 1931-35. Many possible scenarios may exist. A song that is already released as a non-film song, was picked up for use in a film by the producer director. Most likely, in those years, no one thought of using the words ‘film song’ for the songs used in the film. And then also possible that the songs prepared for the film itself, were recorded and released on discs, not as film song, but as simply a song, with no reference to the film itself. It surely is an exercise of searching for such songs like searching for needle in a haystack. Examining the records of non film songs of that period and then attempting to match the title line with a song listed in GK Volume I. Mind boggling indeed it is. It is only in the next year i.e. 1932, we have the first instances of film songs being released on 78 rpm records, with the name of the film also printed on the label. The film ‘Madhuri’ of 1932 is likely the first film to do this.
And so, maybe short of an actual miracle, the discovery being shared today is of that proportion. And a proportion the merits and befits the humongous milestone that we reach today. Considering that the first five decades of the Hindi film song, we see listed almost 45,000+ songs. Give or take few hundreds for the later decades, we have today knocked on 17,000th door of this majestic an melodious mansion.
Statistics are always imposing and inspiring. And we do intend to take that route every time a milestone of certain significance is breached. So there are averages and rates and calculations galore. We present the numbers viewed from every which way / direction / perspective. No end to that presentation, as we continue to find more and new ways to slice and dice and present the numbers.
And I think so many times – enough about the numbers. We are all now convinced that this project is not replic-able. It is not surmountable – in any which way. The numbers are simply so huge that it is well nigh impossible to recreate a competitive idea. But then of course, we, our group, is not in here for any competition. When all is said/done/calculated/presented etc. the sublimate that remains is simply – an undying love for this art form, and a dogged persistence (pun intended 🙂 ) that in the final count, has made the difference for this presentation space across the entire and unlimited landscape of the internet.
And yet, the mind still wants to pause, and to savor, and yes, to even gloat about this wonderful flavor that simply says – Seventeen Thousand. A few midnight candles, and a few early morning sunrisers – are always awake every day of every week, of every month, of every year. And there is an incessant click somewhere on the clock of the universe – a tick that has AtulSongADay written on it.
The metronome continues to chime every so often. There is work to be done. There is an equal number, and more, of these musical vignettes that are still waiting – to be touched, to be embellished, to be praised and to be displayed.
And I am reminded of Robert Frost –
(We) . . . have promises to keep
Miles to go before I sleep
The promises are not to people and followers of this Grand Musical Bandwagon.
The promises are to these songs, and to this art form itself.
Yes, miles to go before I sleep
Good night and God bless.
Tomorrow, is another day, and another set of songs.
“तमन्ना है ये साथ चलते रहें हम ना बीते कभी ये सफर”
The sublime desire that remains is to keep traveling together
And that this journey may never cease
Song – Kadamb Taley Aa Jaiyo Ho Kateele Kaajalwaale (Zaalim Jawaani) (1932) Singer – Azizan, Lateefan, Lyrics – Unknown, MD – Unknown
Azizan + Lateefan
Lyrics
oo oo ooo
aa aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
kadamb taley ?? ??
aaa aaaa aaaa
kadamba taley aa jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
kadamba taley aa jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
ho raja ji mohe haro ri ranga de
raja ji mohe haro ri ranga de
haro ri ranga de
haro ranga de
peelo ranga de
?? laal ranga de
kadamba taley aa jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
sone ki thalia mein juna parosa
sone ki thalia mein juna parosa
juna parosa
aahe kadamba taley khaa jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
kadamba taley khaa jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
aahe soney ka garva ganga jal paani
soney ka garva ganga jal paani
ganga jal paani
kadamba taley pee jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
kadamba taley pee jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
aahe ?? paan ko beeda lagaaya
?? paan ko beeda lagaaya
beeda lagaaya
aahe kadamba taley khaa jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
kadamba taley khaa jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
kadamba taley aa jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
aahe kusum kaliyon ne sej bichhaayi
kusum kaliyon ne sej bichhaayi
sej bichhaayi
aahe kadamba taley so jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
kadamba taley aa jaiyo kateele kaajalwaale
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Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
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ओ ओ ओ
आ आ आ आ
आ आ आ
कदम्ब तले ?? ??
आ आ आ
कदम्ब तले आ जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
कदम्ब तले आ जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
हो राजा जी मोरे हरो री रंगा दे
राजा जी मोरे हरो री रंगा दे
हरो री रंगा दे
हरो रंगा दे
पीलो रंगा दे
?? लाल रंगा दे
कदम्ब तले आ जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
सोने की थाली में जूना परोसा
सोने की थाली में जूना परोसा
जूना परोसा
आहे कदम्ब तले खा जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
कदम्ब तले खा जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
आहे सोने का गरवा गंगाजल पानी
सोने का गरवा गंगाजल पानी
गंगाजल पानी
आहे कदम्ब तले पी जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
आहे कदम्ब तले पी जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
आहे ?? पान का बीड़ा लगाया
?? पान का बीड़ा लगाया
बीड़ा लगाया
आहे कदम्ब तले खा जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
कदम्ब तले खा जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
कदम्ब तले आ जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
आहे कुसुम कलियों ने सेज बिछाई
कुसुम कलियों ने सेज बिछाई
सेज बिछाई
आहे कदम्ब तले सो जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
कदम्ब तले आ जइओ कटीले काजल वाले
Ye bade sahab ka topaa hai
Posted on: April 22, 2022
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5026 | Post No. : | 16934 |
Today’s song is from the film Diwali-1940.
Going through the Film Index book, listing all Hindi films from 1931 to 2012, I was surprised to see that only one film was made with the title of Diwali. One more film was Diwali ki Raat-56. Similarly, only one film was made with the title Dussehra-1956. There are 2 films on Holi-1940 and 1984 while another was Holi ayee re of 1970. This is the end of Indian Festival films. 2 Films were made on Eid ka chaand in 1933 and 1964, Idd ka salaam-1976 and finally Idd Mubarak-1988.
I fail to understand, when so many films are made on Mythological stories, Gods, Arabian Night stories and Mughal Kings, why were the filmmakers disinterested in making films on Indian festivals ? It is ofcourse most unlikely, rather impossible, that any Indian producer will read my question and give a convincing answer. Likewise there are not many songs on Diwali or other festivals either. I found many songs on Holi and Rakhi, though. I don’t expect any explanation for this either !
I am not aware of the storyline or any other matter concerning today’s film. The film was made by Ranjit Movietone and was directed by Jayant Desai. Music was given by the inhouse MD- Khemchand Prakash. This was his first film with Ranjit. Before him Gyan Dutt was the resident MD who worked from 1937 to 1940. After Khemchand prakash left Ranjit, it was Bulo C Rani from 1945 onwards.
In the early era, Ranjit was one of the most powerful and famous filmmaking companies in India, boasting of famous and popular artistes on its payroll. owned by Chandulal Shah, Ranjit Movietone made,in all, 175 films during its existence. Calcutta’s New Theatres, however, stands tall at No.1 with 177 films to its credit.
Film Diwali-1940 had 13 songs, written by D N Madhok, Pt. Sudarshan and P L Santoshi, but HFGK does not credit any song to any Lyricist. The cast of the film was Motilal, Madhuri, Ishwarlal, Keshavrao Datey, Dikshit, Indubala, Suresh, Vasanti etc.etc. The name of Indubala is a misfit. She was a Bengali and did Hindi films mainly made by Calcutta producers in Calcutta and she acted during a period from 1932 to 1949. She sang 30 Hindi songs in 14 films She acted in 33 Hindi films. In most films, she did comic roles. Even in this film she is paired with comedian Dikshit ( of the Ghori-Dikshit pair of the 1930s films). Here is Indubala’s Biodata based on an article by Dr, J.P.Guha, with thanks to him.
Indubala’s mother was Rajabala, who along with sister Matibala and brother Tinkary worked in Motilal Bose’s The Great Bengal Circus, also known as Bose’s Circus or Professor Bose’s Circus. Harimati was the eldest sister of Rajabala and had a different life. Rajabala performed mainly as a trapeze artiste and got married to Motilal Bose at a temple in Ujjain, India. At the time he was then in his forties while Rajabala was still a teenager. The marriage was never accepted as legal by Motilal’s family. Motilal Bose’s first wife was Mrs. Annadamohini Devi.
Indubala was born in November, 1899 at Amritsar, where the circus party had gone for performance. Indu was born premature and Dr. Bidhumukhi Basu was taken to Amritsar from Calcutta to attend Rajbala. Such was the affection and concern of the husband for his young wife. Motilal’s interest in Rajbala dwindled later, supposedly because Rajbala showed no interest in going back to the circus after Indu’s birth and soon she was left to fend for herself. She came to Calcutta with her daughter and was given shelter by a Jiban Krishna Ghosh, who remained loyal to her till his death and also played a major role in establishing Indubala in her life as a performer. Once in Calcutta, Rajabala trained herself as a singer and Indubala’s first training in music was from her mother. The initial plan was to train Indu as a nurse and she was admitted as a trainee in a hospital in the Pataldanga locality of Calcutta. Indu did not take fancy in the job and ran away from the hospital, much to the disappointment of her mother, who never wanted her only daughter to be forced into a life of indignity.
After this incident Indubala’s musical training started. Although her father ignored wife Rajabala completely, he remained fond of his daughter and kept in touch with her and often invited her to his ancestral home where he lived during his brief visits to Calcutta and sent her a monthly pocket money of Rupees twenty till his death. Indubala’s first performance was at a gathering of distinguished guests where her mother was the chief entertainer. Each one of the guests appreciated Indu’s singing and thus began her formal training from Gouri Shankar Mishraji. Indu was only about twelve then. This also marked the entry of Indubala into the red light world. Amongst her trainers were Kali Prasad Mishra, Elaahi Bux and Miss Gauhar Jaan. Apart from music, Miss Gauhar Jaan, credited as Prima Donna of India, Indu also learned etiquette from the elder artiste and developed a close friendship with her. This association provided Indu with valuable musical knowledge and experience.
In later years she took training from Girin Chakraborty, Kamal Dasgupta, Subal Dasgupta, Jamiruddin Khan and Kazi Nazrul Islam. In time she came to be one of the major exponents of Nazrul songs and her songs along with those of Miss Angurbala and Kamala Jharia are still referred to for authenticity of lyrics and tunes of Nazrul songs. In 1916, Indubala recorded her first songs. She was brought into the record circle by Bhagabati Charan Bhattacharya and Mr. Manindra Nath Ghosh, alias Mantababu, himself a gramophone singer of repute. The first songs published as a record were Asha Phuraye Gelo, Sindhu Khambaj and Aar Mukhey Boley Ki Hobey, Kedara. The record number was P 4306. In the beginning she did not take any money from the Gramophone Company and as such was credited in the records as Miss Indubala (Amateur). She was not the first amateur artiste of the company but enjoyed the privilege of announcing her name at the end of each song saying “My name is Indubala”. The amateur status continued for a fairly long period. Later on she received Rupees two hundred per record and also received a royalty of five per cent over the sales. Her first songs of Nazrul on the disc were “Cheyona Sunayana” and “Rumjhum Rumjhum Ke Eley Nupur Paye”. The record number was P 11661. To Indubala also goes the credit of being the first Bengali artiste to record Hindustani songs for the Gramophone Company. For the Indian State Broadcasting Center, later named All India Radio, Indubala first sang on the second day of the radio company’s broadcasting in 1927 in Calcutta and went on singing in this medium for nearly fifty years. Over the radio, Indubala sang not only from Calcutta but from several other stations by special invitation all over India. Apart from discs and the radio, Indubala was well established by the thirties in cultural functions all over India. Frequent invitations used to come from Shahjahanpur, Pakur, Madras, Bangalore, Palanpur, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Oudh, Trivandrum, Vizagapattam, Ajmer, Coimbatore, Dacca and several other places.
In 1936 she was appointed court musician to His Highness, The Maharajah of Mysore. She received a monthly salary of Rupees two hundred and fifty and this continued till the time when the native princes faced withdrawal of privy purse. In all Indubala had recorded some two hundred and eighty songs, including about two hundred forty basic songs, the rest being from films. Indubala’s first stage appearance was in The Rambagan Female Kali Theatre, established by her mother Rajabala in 1922. Both mother and daughter took part in the plays and Indubala appeared in about twelve plays in this short-lived company which lasted for only two years and in 1924 she joined Calcutta’s most prestigious stage, The Star Theatre. She continued to appear on the stage mainly in singing roles and her songs were a major attraction in each of the plays. By rotation she acted in all the public theaters of Calcutta and even took part in the Hindi Parsee Theatre in 1945 and 1946, the plays being Ghar Ki Laaj and Jasoos. Her last appearance in the public stage was in the play Prithviraj in the role of Mehga at Star Theatre in 1950. Thereafter she worked in call shows till almost 1958.
Jamuna Puliney (1933) has been credited as her first film. This is probably because this was her first film contract although Ankh Ka Tara (1932) released before Jamuna Puliney. In all she acted in about forty eight films in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil languages. In most of them, she had songs as a major attraction or else did comic roles as in Bengali Indira (1937) and Hindi Diwali (1940) to name a few. She did the role of Dhai Ma in both the versions of Swayamsiddha (1947). Thereafter she was not seen on the screen. As a playback singer she lent her voice in films like Alibaba (1937), Chandragupt (1934) in Hindi, Ab E Hayat (1933) in Urdu and Dil Ki Pyaas (1935) also in Urdu. She did not act in these four films. Indubala did not receive any major award apart from the Gold Disc given on behalf of His Master’s Voice. The government of India never considered her name for any award. The Sangeet Natak Academy however honoured her with a lifetime achievement award in 1975. The government of West Bengal, India however did arrange for a pension for which a lot of running about had to be done.
In personal life, Indubala was most humble and polite and bold in her behavior and was never ashamed to admit or discuss her origin. Even when established as a major singing artiste with an all India fame, she refused to move out to a respectable place leaving her residence in Rambagan, a notorious red light area of Calcutta. Indubala got herself involved in voluntary work for the uplift of fallen women and worked actively for their rights in society through various organizations, which were patronized by top political leaders of the time. She had some interesting hobbies like writing poetry and collecting perfumes.
Even at old age all the empty perfume bottles were kept within her view. She was fond of jewelry too and had a great collection, either purchased or gifted by admirers. These valuables vanished when she was too unwell to keep track of them. Her contemporary artiste Miss Angurbala was a close friend with whom she confided and shared the joys and sorrows of life and this friendship lasted till the very end. Indubala adopted a nephew of her mother’s friend Jiban Krishna Ghosh. The boy’s name was Pranab Ghosh. This foster son did not look after her mother very much when in old age Indubala suffered from conditions like cataract and then paralytic strokes. It was Dr. Badan Sengupta who made necessary arrangements for her treatment. She could not afford nursing homes and therefore was treated at state government hospitals in all occasions of illness.
The end came on the thirtieth day of November, 1984 after a prolonged illness during which again Dr. Badhan Sengupta looked after her as his own mother. Perhaps by coincidence her friend Angurbala died the same year.
Today’s song is sung by Vasanti and Suresh. Vasanti was a very well known and popular Child star. So was Suresh. However Suresh became an adult star in later years. I know of only 2 child artistes, who left the film world, though they were in great demand. First was Vasant, who got married at an appropriate age and left films. The second was Shashi Kapoor Sr. who quit a quite flourishing film career to pursue higher education. He spent his life as a Professor in an US University.
Let us now listen to the duet of Vasanti and Suresh.
Song- Ye bade sahab ka topa hai (Diwali)(1940) Singer- Vasanti, Suresh, Lyricist- Not known, MD- Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics
Ye bade sahab ka topa hai
ye memsaab ka baja
Ye bade sahab ka topa hai
ye memsaab ka baja
ye dholak Natthu dhobi ki
ye Kalkatte ka Raja
ye dholak Natthu dhobi ki
ye Kalkatte ka Raja
Ye bade sahab ka topa hai
ye memsaab ka baja
Ye bade sahab ka topa hai
ye memsaab ka baja
ye dholak Natthu dhobi ki
ye Kalkatte ka Raja
ye dholak Natthu dhobi ki
ye Kalkatte ka Raja
Raja ke ghar saab aaya
gitpit gitpit boley
Raja ke ghar saab aaya
gitpit gitpit boley
Raja Rani pade soch mein
kaun kiwaade kholey
Raja Rani pade soch mein
kaun kiwaade kholey
Natthu dhobi aaya re
Natthu dhobi aaya re
sang mein dholak laaya re
sang mein dholak laaya re
dhanak dhanak dhan dhanak dhanak dhan
dholak baaje re
dhanak dhanak dhan dhanak dhanak dhan
dholak baaje re
raja ke ghar topey waala
saath biraaje re
raja ke ghar topey waala
saath biraaje re
maange sodawater
oye
maange sodawater
Raja ?? baaje
Raja ?? baaje
maange sodawater
maange sodawater
Raja ?? baaje
Raja ?? baaje
haa aa ha ha ha ha aha
aah ha ha ha h ah
haa aa ha ha ha ha aha
aah ha ha ha h ah
haa aa ha ha ha ha aha
aah ha ha ha h ah
haa aa ha ha ha ha aha
aah ha ha ha h ah
hey
Sukh chain ke din sab beet gaye
Posted on: April 18, 2022
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 5022 | Post No. : | 16930 | Movie Count : | 4596 |
Today’s song is from an obscure old film – Chhote Sarkar-1938.
My today’s post is No.32 of this year i.e. 2022. Since 1st January 2022, the pattern of my poists seems to have changed perceptibly. Earlier I was known for writing on films of the 30’s and the 40’s on priority, but this year, till my last post (31 posts), I have written only 3 posts on films of the 30’s, only 11 posts on films of the 40’s but 17 posts on films of the 50’s. Come to think of it, there is no intentional shift in my policy or any purpose in doing so, but it looks like it is happening inadvertently. My today’s post will be only the 4th post on a film of the 30’s this year.
Do I have an inclination towards antique films ? YES is the answer. I like to bring the unknown, the less known and the not so famous artistes of the early era to light, to bring the pillars of the film industry in Limelight, so that the younger generation knows about them and becomes aware of the difficult times through which the stalwarts carried our film industry towards today’s Glory !
While doing so, I had to do the hard yards to dig information about these forgotten artistes, contact several Historians, buy and read many books, spend hours on the Internet and collect and record the information. I was singularly Lucky to get a suitable platform to showcase my results, in the form of Atul ji’s Blog. Atul ji’s help in publishing my posts untiringly has helped not only me but the Blog has also now become a storehouse of Credible, Reliable Information on the old timers in the film world, for the use of future students of film history. Thanks a million, Atul ji.
During the writing of my posts here since 2012 till date, I have noticed one thing. I am not sure of anyone else, other than Atul ji, who has also noticed it. I observed that in the early times of this Blog from 2008, the number of visitors kept on increasing and many of the visitors took pleasure in putting in their comments on almost every post. Comments on popular film songs were naturally more, but later readers also commented on other posts, about the artistes, songs, film making, their experiences and provided additional information. Therefore, visiting the Blog was a pleasure not only to enjoy the songs posted, but also to read different comments from the readers.
I remember there were several readers from abroad who used to write comments. There were comments from readers from Singapore, Fiji, Malaysia, Australia, Newzealand, Africa, European countries, UK, USA, Dubai, Pakistan and also from several cities of India like Lucknow, Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, Pune,Andhra, Madras, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala – in fact from all nooks and corners of India and the world. Many of them were quite knowledgeable too.
Unfortunately, from somewhere from 2016-17 onwards I saw a steady drop in the number of comments from readers. Notably comments from readers from abroad diminished considerably and as of today, their number is almost nil. What could be the reason for this change ? One guess is that the older generation which commented is now too old and hence not active. The other guess could be that initially, as the Blog was new, most songs posted were the popular and well known ones, which the readers knew well, but slowly that stock, naturally, thinned out and unknown and unheard new but old songs were being discussed, which were not known to many present readers to comment upon.
The second guess seems to be more convincing. Nowadays younger contributors are posting songs from the 70’s, 80’s and the 90’s and comments are trickling from equally younger readers, though not so many as in the past. I believe the trend of appreciation, encouraging and commenting changes with the change of Readers’ Profiles.
Today’s film Chhote Sarkar-1938 was made by Sundar Movietone (never heard of it). It was directed by Homi Master. He was one of the directors of the First Generation of Hindi films of the early era, who was a spillover from the Silent Film Era. Since his career as a Director ended in 1946, there is no chance that the younger generation readers would know about him, so here is some information on him.
Homi Master (1900–1949) was an actor-director of early Indian cinema. His work extended from the silent era to the talkie era and up to his death. He produced his best films for Kohinoor Film Company and he has been referred to as “silent cinema’s most successful film-maker”.
He acted as Duryodhan in the then-controversial film Bhakta Vidur (1921), as hero in Kala Naag and Kulin Kanta. Some of his important films were Bismi Sadi, Manorama, Do Ghadi Ki Mauj (1935), Samaj Ki Bhool (1934) and Gul Sanobar (1934). He was active from 1921 to 1949 and made over seventy-eight films. His later films in Gujarati and Hindi were termed as B movies. He died in 1949.
At the age of thirteen, Master joined a famous Parsi theatre group called Bilwala. He soon became a popular stage actor, with his performance in Pakzaad Parveen being appreciated. Following a brief stint at the Phalke Film company, he joined Kohinoor Film Company working initially as an actor. He went on to direct films for them starting with Bismi Sadi.
Homi Master acted in three films before getting a chance to direct. The three films, Bhakta Vidur (1921) (in the role of Duryodhan), Ajamil (1922) and Vratasur Vadha (1923), were directed by Kanjibhai Rathod. He played the lead role in Kala Naag, a film he helped co-direct with Rathod in 1924. A crime drama, it was the first “recorded example” using real-life characters and was based on the Champsi-Haridas Murder case in Bombay.
In 1924, Master started his career as a director with Dwarka Sampat’s Kohinoor Film Company. His first film for Kohinoor was Bismi Sadi, starring Raja Sandow, Miss Moti and Noor Mohammed Charlie. The film was about a hawker who becomes a mill-owner and goes on to exploit the people working under him. Manorama (1924) was based on the famous Gujarati romantic poet Kalapi’s autobiographical poem “Hridaya Triputi”. The film was made in the fantasy genre and broke “all records” when it ran for fourteen weeks.
Other significant films at this time were The Telephone Girl (1926), also called Telephone Ni Taruni, produced by Kohinoor, and starring Ruby Myers, Gohar and Raja Sandow. Educated Wife or Bhaneli Bhamini (1927), was another Kohinoor film with Gohar, Vaidya and Raja Sandow. They were social films that were successful at the box office.
Gul Sanobar (1928) was a fantasy production from Kohinoor Film Company, based on Persian fairy tale romances, and directed by Master. It starred the then-popular star Khalil with Miss Yakbal. The film was later remade in 1934, with the same name, directed by Master and produced by Imperial Film Company. The cast included stars of the time like Sulochana (Ruby Myers), D. Billimoria and Zubeida.
His 1934 film Samaj Ki Bhool, was a social film promoting a widow’s right to remarry. It starred Jamshedji, Lalita Pawar, Jilloobai, Dulari and Rafiq Ghaznavi, with music composed by Pransukh Nayak.
In 1935, he directed three films Do Ghadi Ki Mauj a social film produced by Imperial, starring Ruby Myers and D. Billimoria; Ghar Jamai, a social comedy, a Hindi/Gujarati bilingual, produced by Premier Films with story by Mohanlal G. Dave. (A story about a “resident son-in-law” that became a “major success” at the box office). The third film, Naya Zamana was again produced by Premier Films and starred Heera and Ghulam Mohammed with music by Khansaheb.
It was said that Master was sent abroad to Europe to market Phalke’s films . He teamed successfully with scenarist Mohan lal Dave and cameraman D.D.Dabke with actress Gohar to make many popular films. Gohar called him the most dramatic director , better than Mohan Bhavnani or even Chandulal Shah. His first Talkie film was Saubhagya Sundari-1933 and the last was Chamkati Bijli-1946.
He continued to direct films making ‘B’ class films and some in the Gujarati language. According to the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, he worked as a production manager at Kardar Studios towards the end of his career. He died in 1949. ( based on The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, wiki, Film world-1946 and my notes).
The cast of the film was Jal Merchant, Leela Chitnis, Panna, Heera, Meher Bano, Raj kumari etc. Jal Merchant was a typical Parsi born on 15-1-1920 and brought up in the Parsi Colony area in Bombay. Though his family had a business, he did not join it as he was keen to make a career in films. Bombay being the centre of filmmaking he had plenty of chances. He did not have a masculine, wide chested body, but he compensated with his superb acting skills. He could also sing in his soft voice.
It was a colorful stellar team that Jal Merchant formed with Zubaida in the early talkies. But it was in mythological roles, and not romantic parts, that they first won the hearts of cinegoers. The first picture that made them a rage everywhere was Sagar’s “Veer Abhimanyu,” in which Jal played Abhimanyu to Zubaida’s Uttara. In the next one- Subhadra Haran-32, Jal was Arjun, Abhimanyu’s father, while Zubaida played Subhadra.
Like Zubaida, Jal Merchant joined films in the “silent days”. It was a change of medium for him, for he had been playing female roles on the Gujarati stage! His performance as the heroine of “Shankit Hriday,” a Gujarati play, proved a hit, and Nagendra Majumdar, who directed the play, induced him to switch over to screen acting. Jal joined the Imperial Film Company, and among his early films the most notable was “Vasant Bengali,” a social picture directed by R.S. Chowdhury. In those days, the screen hero generally had more brawn than brains, but the lead player of “Vasant Bengali” was called upon to show more intelligence than physical prowess. Jal did just that – and won instant fame.
After the advent of sound, Jal’s first four films for Sagar were mythologicals – “Veer Abhimanyu-1931,” Subhadra Haran-1932,” “Pandav Kaurav-1933” and “Mahabharat-1933”. For close-ups of these pictures, Jal used to wear trousers and only the upper part of his body was made up for his role. But in one close-up his pants were also visible! The shot was cut on the first day of screening in Bombay.
Gifted with a fine voice, he also delighted cinegoers with his singing. He sang 33 songs in 7 films-Meerabai-32, Pandav Kaurav-33, Mahabharat-33, Grihalaxmi-34, Aaj kal-34, Sone ka Shahar-35 and Toofan Express-1938.
In “Zarina,” written and directed by Ezra Mir, he was the tongawallah who falls in love with a dancing girl at a carnival. This poignant romantic tragedy won plaudits for both Jal and Zubaida. It was their last picture together for Sagar. Zubaida left Sagar and Sabita Devi took her place. Sabita and Kumar were the first stars imported from Calcutta. Sabita co-starred with Jal in “Phantom of the Hills,” directed by Ezra Mir, in which he played a dashing Pathan riding a white charger. In “Educated Wife” (Grihalaxmi), directed by Sarvottam Badami, he played a modern educated youth. In this role the versatile Jal revealed a genial personality. Sabita was again his co-star.
Jal and Zubaida played stellar roles together once again in “Aaj Kal,” directed by R.S. Chowdhury. This was the last important picture for both stars. Jal acted in about n15 Silent films and 29 Talkie films. His first Talkie film was Veer Abhimanyu-1931 and his last Talkie film was Armaan 1953.
Jal Merchant, who already had a family flourishing business, retired from the screen. Later, he started to live a quiet life in Bandra. Jal was an excellent shikari in his younger days. His screen associates also remember his soft voice, gentle manners and sensitive, handsome face. His pairing with Zubeida and Sabita Devi was very popular. He had all the gentle Parsee manners and was a popular co-star for the heroines.
I have read somewhere that Jal Merchant died in 1963 in Bombay. He was unmarried till the end, like many Parsis. ( information from an article by V.P.Sathe in Screen, ‘Screenplay’ by Isak Mujawar, HFGK, muVyz and my notes have been used in this post, with thanks.)
With today’s song by Rajkumari, film Chhote Sarkar-1938 makes its Debut on this Blog.
Song- Sukh chain ke din sab beet gaye (Chhote Sarkaar)(1938) Singer- Rajkumari, Lyricist- Pandit Amar, MD- Shanti Kumar Desai
Lyrics
Sukh chain ke din
sab beet gaye
dukh rain andheri chhaayee hai
sukh chain ke din
sab beet gaye
dukh rain andheri chhaayee hai
koi sang na saathi saath sakhi
koi sang na saathi saath sakhi
sapna sa ?? mein aayi
sapna sa ?? mein aayi
Sukh chain ke din
sab beet gaye
dukh rain andheri chhaayee hai
jhoothha prem ye jhoothhi aashaa
jhoothha prem ye jhoothhi aashaa
jhoothhi kaaya
jhoothhi maaya
jhoothhi kaaya
jhoothhi maaya
jhoothhe jag mein
???
jhoothhe jag mein
???
jhoothhi preet lagaayi hai
jhoothhi preet lagaayi hai
Sukh chain ke din
sab beet gaye
dukh rain andheri chhaayee hai
Prem ke pyaale de
Posted on: April 15, 2022
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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5019 | Post No. : | 16927 |
Today’s song is from an old and not much known early era film from Minerva Movietone – Khan Bahadur-1937.
Minerva Movietone was owned by Sohrab Modi. Its first film was ” Atma Tarang-1937″, which was an out and out big flop, with just 20 persons in the audience for the First Day First Show ! Basically, proper advertising was missing, so people did not know anything about the film. The two earlier films featuring Sohrab Modi-jointly with his brother- were stage dramas shot as films, so with this background Modi failed to declare that this film was NOT like that. The 20 daring persons who came to see the film regretted deeply having come there. The film was made on a subject which was very dear to Modi himself – Celibacy or Bramhacharya, truly a ‘Dry’ subject. The heroine was Prabha, who was very beautiful. She featured only in 3 songs, whereas Modi was in 6 songs out of the 12 songs of the film !
In those days Sohrab Modi was influenced by the teachings of Shri Ramkrishna Mission, but his audience was not. With the failure of this film, Modi learnt a lesson that he should make films on subjects of the liking of the people and not his own liking. Then he studied what type of films were successful and popular and then he decided to make a film on a Muslim King who was brave and who did many good things for his people. Thus, the film Khan Bahadur was made and as expected, it did a good business at the Box office. Later Modi made films like Meetha Zahar-38 on ills of drinking, Divorce-38 on Husband -wife differences and Bharosa-40 on Incest. He had learnt his lesson well !
What does Khan Bahadur mean ? Is it a name or a Title or a popular decoration ? 1937 was a British Raj period. In those days the British awarded different titles to Public Achievers, kings and those who were Loyal to the crown. As such ” SIR ” and ” KNIGHTHOOD ” were the highest decorations already, but they were given to highly educated or the members of Royalties of India only. So, the British introduced 3 level Titles for the other public and small kings etc.
First Grade level…. Nawab Bahadur ( for Muslims) or Dewan Bahadur (For Hindus)
Second Level…. Khan Bahadur (Muslims) or Rai Bahadur (North Indian Hindus) or Rao Bahadur (South Indian Hindus) and
Third level….Khan Sahib (Muslims) or Rai Sahib or Rao Sahib (Hindus).
The cast of the film Khan Bahadur-1937 was Sohrab Modi, Naseem Bano, Prem Adeeb, Sheela, Shareefa (mother of actress Husn Banu), Eruch Tarapore, M.Sadiq, Sadat Ali etc.etc. There were 12 songs in the film. The name of the lyricist is not known. The Music Director was B.S.Hoogan.
B.S.Hoogan…. Frankly, how many of us have really heard this name ? Maybe only a few. Until about 12 years ago, I was not even aware of this name. When I first came across this name B.S.Hoogan, in the list of Hindi composers,my first reaction was,what is this foreigner doing in Hindi Films ?
Further when I saw his name as MD in 10-15 films of the 30s, I became very curious and wanted to know more about him.As per my experience so far,I usually got information for any -or almost any-Film personality from my notes,Old cuttings,books,magazines,old articles etc ,or even from an obscure,less known Internet site,but in Hoogan’s case I always found myself at a dead end. There was simply NO information about him anywhere ! It was as if no one in India knew about him or as if he was from some alien planet.
I was perplexed.How can anybody from the Film industry,with so many films to his credit,be such an unknown person ? This was a challenge and I decided ,come what may,to find out about this elusive,dodging and unreachable B.S.Hoogan,at any cost.
Almost one year passed and I found a ray of Hope.
I visited the Blog of Mr.Kamalakar Pasupuleti ji. He is a writer on old films, music and an avid collector of old songs,besides having been an active RMIM worker.He is also a mine of information. Incidentally,he too is from Hyderabad-just like me,and being in the same age group,we enjoyed discussing matters relating to people and places in old Hyderabad of the 40s and 50s,when we were youngsters.Later on, he migrated to the USA.
On his Blog, he had written about Hoogan. He had located the nephew of Hoogan, in India and contacted him.He got some information from him about Hoogan. Although the info was not exhaustive, it was a great find. Kamalakarji himself had also written about Hoogan,from his interaction with people who had met Hoogan in Hyderabad. I wrote to kamalakar ji in the USA and he very graciously gave me permission to use all that material for this article.
At this juncture, my luck suddenly decided to cooperate and I found some info about Hoogan in a book.I even found out that the same nephew of Hoogan had uploaded 4 songs of Hoogan,(2 from Parakh-37 and 2 from Meetha Zahar-38) on Hamara Forum.
The nephew of Hoogan was one Prakash Raj. Once he appeared on the Internet forum through some member and he gave some more information. In addition Hoogan’s grandson- Mr. David Singh Hoogan, from Chittaranjan, W.B. appeared on Atul ji’s Blog and gave some more information as late as in 2020. With all this additional new information, I revised the old information and made up this revised new one. So it is not the same, as some may think. This Mr. Ashok Raj has written 2 books namely The Hero-Volume I, which has information on artistes of the Silent Era and upto Dilip Kumar. The second Book is also named The Hero-Volume II, discussing artistes from Amitabh to Khans and beyond. I have both these books with me. In these books the author has proudly mentioned that B.S.Hoogan was his Uncle. The books are also dedicated to Hoogan.
B.S.Hoogan was not a foreigner,he was very much an Indian.His name was BALWANT SINGH HOOGAN. He was tall,of wheat complexion and of medium build. He was born in 1901 at Firozpur, Punjab, where his family was settled. Earlier the family was in Lahore. He was a Kashmiri Brahmin. According to C.Ramchandra also,he was originally from Kashmir.
It seems Hoogan was keen to pursue higher studies in England, so he left Ferozpur. After reaching Bombay, he changed his mind and wanted to be in films being a Music Director.Before becoming a music director he seems to have learnt classical music and western music.He played many western instruments.
In the days of silent films,orchestras used to play in the theatres ,in front of or behind the screen.During the film also they played appropriate music pieces.It would add live pleasure with moving images. Hoogan learnt this music and conducting orchestra from his teacher, Mr.Victor Aimes,an Englishman,from the Albert Music Company. He learnt writing music in notations and conducting orchestra with a baton. He played in his orchestra of 12 musicians.
Hoogan looked impressive with a Black Tailcoat,Bow-Tie and Grey Trousers,as described by a Hyderabad Nawab,who had been personally introduced to Hoogan in Hyderabad in 1930.
B.S.Hoogan started his career as MD with Ajanta Cinetone of Mohan Bhavnani.He gave music to Afzal,Maya jaal,Rangeela Rajput(all 1933)Dard e dil,Dukhtar e Hind,Mazdoor,Sair e Paristan,Vasavdatta(all1934),Pyar ki maar,Registan ki Rani,Sone ka shahar,sherdil Aurat(all 1935), Begunah,khan Bahadur,Parakh(all1937),Meetha Zahar,Vijay marg(all 1938) and Sansar Sagar-1939.
Total films-18. Songs composed- 231.
Music Director C.Ramchandra, in his Marathi autobiography ( माझ्या जीवनाची सरगम ), wrote about Hoogan. When CR was working in Minerva, He worked with several Music Directors like Habib Khan, Bundoo Khan,Hoogan and finally Meer Sahib. CR learned something from every MD. Hoogan joined the company, in place of Habib Khan, the composer. He showed CR how the Desi Raag can be played on foreign musical instruments. He brought in many Goan orchestra players into the company. CR knew writing notations, Hoogan improved this. Hoogan liked CR very much. Hoogan would take CR with him to all big hotels of Bombay. Orchestras would be playing there. CR learned how those tunes could be indianised in his music here only.
Hoogan would make tunes and ask CR to write the notations. CR would hum those tunes and then improve the tunes. Hoogan would not know. Thus many of his tunes were used by Hoogan without knowing it. In the film Meetha Zahar-1938, Naushad was Hoogan’s assistant. Actors like Nissar, Bibbo, Sheila and Naseem Bano sang for him.
Hoogan had only one son-Avtar Singh. In Bombay, Hoogan contracted Tuberculosis. He started treatment and on doctor’s advise, left for hometown Ferozpur, with family. Soon his illness took a serious turn and B.S.Hoogan died in Ferozpore in September 1938, at the age of 37 only. In another few months, his wife too died and his son was taken care of by his maternal Uncle. The son Avtar singh got a job in Railways at Chittaranjan, W.B. and he moved there. He converted to Christianity. He had a son David who also settled in W.B. only. After conversion his family in Ferozpur broke off all contact with them. His story ends thus.
Prem Adib was new. He first started acting in the film Romantic India-36. Soon he came to Minerva and his film Khan Bahadur was released first and thus became his Debut film. In the early 40’s he became famous with his role of Shri Ram (along with Shobhana Samarth as Seeta) in the Mythological films of Prakash Pictures. Along with him, in this film, there was one more Debutante artiste, and her name was Sheela. Her real name was different. When she was named Sheela, she was the only actress with that name. However, later on many Sheelas entered Films, but luckily they did not cause any Same Name Confusion. Some other Sheelas were…..Sheila Ramani, Sheela Vaz, Sheela Mitra, Sheela Naik, Sheela Devi, Sheela Dalaya (only in the film Mughal E Azam) and Sheela Haldar.
SHEELA(real name-Roshan Ara) was born on 13-3-1925 at Solapur-Maharashtra. Her father was Station Master at Solapur Rly.Stn.
Once Sohrab Modi had come to Sholapur with his Drama company. He went to the station to make reservations and saw Sheela. They got to know each others and he proposed to give her roles in his films.Thus Sheela came to Bombay in 1936 and Joined Minerva Movietone as a singer/actress.
Her first film was Khan Bahadur-37, in which she sang and acted. Then came Jailor-38 in which she sang 4 solo songs under MD Mir Sahib.Then Divorce and Meetha Zahar came.
She became famous only after her songs in Pukar-39. Bharosa, Wasiyat and Sikander also gave her name and fame. In Sikander she had 6 songs out of total 7 songs. The famous song ‘ zindagi hai pyar se’ also had her voice in the chorus. She was Heroine in the film ‘ Wasiyat’-40,Ulti Ganga, Bhakta Raidas, Prithvi Vallabh,and Patharon ka Saudagar were all Minerva films.
She had also done films elsewhere- Aladdin and wonderful lamp, college Girl, gaibi Gola, jahan ara, keemti qurbani, Sansar naiya, Shaitan ka pash etc.
After 1943, she almost stopped working. Only in Beete Din-47 and lastly in Billi-49 she sang songs., which was a stunt film of Nadia and Cavas.
She had married the actor Rama Shukla, in 1947. He was a Kanauji Brahmin and they had terrible opposition to their marriage. The marriage was by Registration. Only 4 friends were present in the marriage. They had one son and one daughter. Rama Shukla died by Heart attack in the 50s.
Her voice had a peculiar mixture of Muslim style of Amirbai Karnataki and Marathi slant od Shanta Apte. There is an anecdote with one of her songs. When the film Pukar-1939 was in the making, C.Ramchandra was working as an assistant to MD Meer Saheb. He has mentioned in his autobiography also that in the absence of Meer sahib, he used to insert his tunes to songs as Meer saheb’s. This was known to many, except, maybe, Meer sahib himself. One of the very popular songs sung by Sheela ” Tum bin hamri kaun khabar le ‘ was actually composed by C.Ramchandra. This is supposed to be CR’s first composed song. The credit ,of course, went to Meer Sahib.
Today’s song is a duet sung by Sheela and Eruch Tarapore. Eruch Tarapore 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 more films, Meetha zehar-38, Jailor-38 and Phir milenge-43. He died in 1948.
Song- Prem ke pyaale de (Khan Bahadur)(1937) Singers- Sheela, Erich Tarapore, Lyricist-Unknown, MD- B.S.Hoogan
Lyrics
Prem ke pyaale de
Prem ke pyaale de
piyarwa bhole bhaale
piyarwa bhole bhaale
Prem ke pyaale de
Prem ke pyaale de
piyarwa bhole bhaale
piyarwa bhole bhaale/em>
dilbar ??
geet ?? ke geet suna de
dilbar ??
geet ?? ke geet suna de
Prem ke pyaale de
Prem ke pyaale de
piyarwa bhole bhaale
piyarwa bhole bhaale
nain se prem prem barsa
nain se prem prem barsa
aman ki ?? jaaye
nain se prem prem barsa
nain se prem prem barsa
aman ki ?? jaaye
gul khilaaye jaa daali daali
pyaare matwaale
gul khilaaye jaa daali daali
pyaare matwaale
bulbul buldul ?? bole bole
bulbul bulbul bole bole ja
?? tumhre kaale
piyarwa bhole bhaale
piyarwa bhole bhaale
Prem ke pyaale de
Prem ke pyaale de
piyarwa bhole bhaale
piyarwa bhole bhaale
Main tere gale ki maala
Posted on: April 12, 2022
- In: Actor-Singer song | Bibbo Songs | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Duet | expression of love | Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Love song | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Song of 1938 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Surendra - Bibbo Duet | Surendra songs | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 2 Comments
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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5016 | Post No. : | 16922 |
Today’s song is from an early talkie film ‘Gramophone Singer’ (1938).
The film was made by Sagar Movietone. It was directed by Ramchandra Thakur and Virendra Desai (owner Chimanlal Desai’s son and the first husband of Nalini Jayawant). The 15 songs of the film were written by Zia Sarhadi – who rose to great heights in the Indian film industry, but was humiliated, suspected and ill-treated in Pakistan. His end in Spain too was pathetic. Music Director for this film was Anil Biswas. The cast of the film was Surendra, Bibbo, Prabha, Bhudo Advani, Kanhaiyalal, Sankatha Oprasad, Gulzar and many others.
It is interesting to know the story of how Sagar Movietone came into being. Ardeshir Irani, the owner of Imperial Film Co. and the maker of India’s First Talkie film ‘Alam Ara’ (1931), was keen to get the famous and popular star of the films in those days – Master Vithal, into his stable. That time Vithal was with Sharada Film Company. He was unhappy there, because despite every film being a hit, his salary was never increased in spite of his request. To get Master Vithal with whatever means, Irani floated Sagar Movietone in 1929, so that his name was not involved in luring another company’s artistes. After an interesting episode of action in the High Court, Master Vithal joined Imperial through Sagar Movietone.
Once he got master Vithal, Irani lost interest in Sagar Movietone and he sold it to Dr. Ambalal Patel and Chimanlal Desai – his distributors from Bangalore to whom he owed money. After Irani separated, the company was wholly owned by Desai and Patel. Later Patel too left and Chimanlal became the sole owner of Sagar Movietone.
In those days, Sagar had a good collection of actors, actresses, directors and MDs on its payroll. Sagar went on to make several Hit films from 1931 onward. In 1934, Motilal joined the company and in 1935, the singing actor Surendra came. Sagar was on a victory roll and it became one of the major film making companies in India. In the form of Surendra, Sagar got an actor/singer, who would compete with KL Saigal of New Theaters, Calcutta as the “Bombay’s answer to Saigal” !
Surendra, however, was an educated (BA, LLB), intelligent person and he understood that Saigal was in a different league altogether. Instead of copying his style, Surendra cultivated his own identity. Sagar, however, ensured that the competition between the two got the desired reckoning and this showed in their pattern of films. As against ‘Devdas’ (1935), Sagar released ‘Manmohan’ (1936)’. After ‘President’ (1937) came ‘Jagirdar’ (1937) and after ‘Street Singer’ (1938) Sagar released ‘Gramophone Singer’ (1938). Nevertheless all these films became successful.
In the Hindi film industry, we read frequently about famous stars, actors/actresses of the early era who ended their last days in penury, illness, loneliness and misery. Many had to beg on roads for a living. Some of these cases are tear jerking too. However, even in those days there were some wise artistes who planned their afterlife thoughtfully and retired gracefully spending the rest of their life happily. Some names like SD Batish, Laxmi Shankar, Ranjan, Shashi Kapoor Sr., Mukund Roy Trivedi-MD, Durga Khote etc. come to mind in this connection. Actor Surendra too falls in this category. Before he retired from films, he established an advertising firm and made short films (Durga Khote also did the same). His sons expanded the business successfully.
‘Gramophone Singer’ was the debut film for both the directors, who bloomed in their careers later. Actress Prabha started with Sagar from this film onward. Kanhaiyalal became a regular actor with this film – instead of a Lyricist. Zohrabai Ambalawali sang her first song under the baton of Music Director Anil Biswas, in this film.
Surendra and Bibbo acted together in 6 films of Sagar Movietone. Their first film was ‘Manmohan’ (1936), in which their duet song “Tumhin Ne Mujh Ko Prem Sikhaaya” became a Hit in those days. Then came ‘Jagirdar’ in 1937 and ‘Dynamite’ in 1938. Like Motilal and Sabita Devi (* films), this pair too proved to be a ‘Hit Jodi‘. However, at the time of planning for the film ‘Gramophone Singer’, Surendra and Bibbo had some dispute and they were not on speaking terms. They even avoided each other. This problem was tactfully solved by director Ramchandra Thakur, who diplomatically lied to both separately that the other one was keen to work with her/him. Like true professionals both agreed and the film got through. Not only this, but they even worked in another 2 more films also !
The film is a story of a love triangle and Prabha did the role of Surendra’s wife in this film. Prabha is not known to most people. Let us know more about Prabha.
Prabha Rajpal was from a respectable Hindu family of Punjab. She was born on 6-6-1915 at Ludhiana. Her father was a high ranking government officer based at Lahore. All her education was done in Lahore. She was fluent in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and English.
Right from childhood, she was keen on working in films. Belonging to an orthodox family, there was opposition, but despite all this she entered films and her first film was ‘Jung Bahadur’ (aka ‘Dare Devil’) in 1935. After doing some films like ‘Dilawar’ (1936), ‘Awakening’ (1936), she left the Bhavnani camp and worked in Minerva’s film ‘Atma Tarang’ (1937) as the heroine opposite Sohrab Modi. She was very beautiful. Then she joined Sagar and worked in films like ‘Gramophone Singer’ (1938), ‘Ladies Only’ (1939), ‘Civil Marriage’ (1940). Later she became a freelancer.
In all she worked in 36 films in her career. She got married to Virender Ahuja, a cinematographer, and settled down after the film ‘Veerangana’ (1947). When her husband was one of the producers, she worked in the film ‘Shrimati ji’ (1952) and then retired from films. She died on 12-3-1975.
‘Gramophone Singer’ was a reasonably successful movie. Its lyricist was Zia Sarhadi. It had 15 songs, but only 4 Records having 8 songs came into the market.
The story of the film is….
Sundardas (Surendra) was a successful gramophone singer and lived in a town near Bombay. He was happily married to Mohini (Prabha) and had a baby boy also.The family was a picture of happiness, but….
Tilottama (Ishrat Sultana or Bibbo) was a famous singer of international reputation. She conducted foreign tours also. She lived in a luxurious flat in Bombay. She had heard the songs of Sunder and loved his voice. She was waiting to meet him.
Sunder had to visit Bombay often for song recordings etc. He was very friendly with Ghosh Babu (Bhudo Advani), owner of a Gramophone company. Rana ji (Kayam Ali) was a regular customer of Ghosh Babu. Once in a party given by Ghosh, Rana ji introduces Sunder to Tilottama. In the first meeting itself she fell in Sunder’s love. He too was impressed with her. Slowly their meetings increased and soon they were in deep love, Sunder forgetting about wife and child. Once they decide to go to Rampur – a resort. Here poor Mohini waits for Sunder for many days. The child falls ill too. Finally, Mohini decides to visit Bombay. There she learns everything about Sunder’s affair. She meets Madan (Sankatha Prasad), a singing partner of Tilottama, and a silent deep lover of hers too. They go to Rampur, but the pair is missing.
In the climax scene, Tilottama and Sunder are about to get married, when Mohini, her sick child and Madan reach the spot. Seeing his wife and ailing child, Sunder realizes his folly and returns to Mohini. Madan wins over Tilottama and the end is at Tilottama’s wedding party thrown by Ghosh Babu.
Today’s song is sung by Surendra and Bibbo.
Song- Main tere gale ki maala (The Gramophone Singer)(1938) Singers- Surendra, Bibbo, Lyricist- Zia Sarhadi, MD- Anil Biswas
Both
Lyrics
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
tu saagar main sarita
tu saagar main sarita
tu kavi main kavita
tu saagar main sarita
tu kavi main kavita
tu meri nazar ki jwaala
tu meri najar ki jwaala
main tere gale ki maala
tu meri najar ki jwaala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki mala
main tere gale ki mala
deepak bankar aag jala de
deepak bankar aag jala de
aag laga de aag laga de
aag laga de aag laga de
deepak ban sansaar jala de
deepak ban sansaar jala de
hans ab hans chal prem sikha de
hans ab hans chal prem sikha de
prem sikha de gwaala
tu prem sikha le gwaala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
————————————————
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
तू सागर मैं सरिता
तू सागर मैं सरिता
तू कवि मैं कविता
तू सागर मैं सरिता
तू कवि मैं कविता
तू मेरी नज़र की ज्वाला
तू मेरी नज़र की ज्वाला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
तू मेरी नज़र की ज्वाला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
दीपक बनकर आग जला दे
दीपक बनकर आग जला दे
आग लगा दे आग लगा दे
आग लगा दे आग लगा दे
दीपक बन संसार जला दे
दीपक बन संसार जला दे
हंस अब हंस चल प्रेम सिखा दे
हंस अब हंस चल प्रेम सिखा दे
प्रेम सिखा दे ग्वाला
तू प्रेम सिखा दे ग्वाला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
Nanhi bitiya byaah rachaaye
Posted on: March 27, 2022
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5000 | Post No. : | 16898 |
“Durga”(1939) was produced by Devika Rani and Himanshu Rai and directed by Franz Osten for Bombay Talkies, Bombay. The movie had Devika Rani, Rama Shukul, V H Desai, Mumtaz Ali, Peethawala, Saroj Borkar, Balwant singh, Lalita Deulkar etc in it.
“Durga”(1939) had ten songs in it. Two songs have been covered in the blog so far.
Here is the third song from “Durga”(1939) to appear in the blog.
Devika Rani is the singer. Lyrics are penned by Narendranath Tuli. Saraswati Devi is the music director.
Only the audio of this rare song is available. It is clear that the song was picturised on Devika Rani herself.
From the lyrics it is seen that the song is a “wedding” song. Whether it is a gudda gudiya wedding song or a real wedding song is not known, seeing that video of the song is not available.
Nevertheless, the fact that this song came to my notice just now and it is getting discussed today validates the oft made observation that some higher forces are overseeing this blog and it is these higher forces that often decide what songs are covered in this blog on what day. 🙂 The daughter of one of our regulars got married today and fate ordained that the blog celebrates the occasion with this song from the yore.
So we take this occasion to greet the recently wedded daughter of our regular contributor Avinash Scrapwala. We all wish Shivani and Jeegar a very happy, prosperous and long married life.
Song-Nanhi Bitiya Byaah Rachaaye (Durga) (1939) Singer-Devika Rani, Lyrics-Narendranath Tuli, MD-Saraswati Devi
Lyrics
Nanhi bitiya byaah rachaaye
dulha chadh haathi par aaye
Nanhi bitiya byaah rachaaye
dulha chadh haathi par aaye
baaje dhol mridang
?? rah jaaye dang
baaje dhol mridang
?? rah jaaye dang
laal chunariya kesari choli
sheesh chadhe chandal aur roli
laal chunariya kesari choli
sheesh chadhe chandal aur roli
kumkum pushp ka phool
maang bhare sindoor
kumkum pushp ka phool
maang bhare sindoor
baapu aaye doli chadhaaye
naina chham chham neer bahaaye
baapu aaye doli chadhaaye
naina chham chham neer bahaaye
maa ko bhaari ??
ghar ko ??
nanhi bitiya byaah rachaaye
dulha chadh haathi par aaye
baaje dhol mridang
chhalakat ??
Saanwariya se hamri naaheen bani re
Posted on: March 6, 2022
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4979 | Post No. : | 16859 |
“Main Haari”(1940) was directed by Gajanan Jagirdar for Minerva Movietone, Bombay. The movie had Navin Yagnik, Maya Devi, Naseeb Bano,Hari Shivdasani,Ghulam Hussain,Eruc Tarapore etc in it.
The movie had six songs in it. One song has been covered in the past.
Here is the second song from “Main Haari”(1940). The song is sung by Menaka Bai. Kamal Amrohi is the lyricist. Music is composed by Meer Sahab.
Only the audio of the song is available. I reuest our knowledgeable readers to thro light on the picturisation of the song.
Lyrics of the song were sent by Prakashchandra.
audio link:
Song-Saanwariya se hamri naaheen banee re (Main Haari)(1940) Singer-Menaka Bai, Lyrics-Kamal Amrohi, MD-Meer Sahab
Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)
saanwariyaa se hamri naaheen banee rey ae ae
saanwariyaa se hamri naaheen banee rey ae ae
saanwariyaa se hamree naaheen banee rey ae ae
bas ek baar charnon mein bichchney ki ??
bas ek baar charnon mein bichchney ki ??
aa aa haa aan aa haan aan aaa
aan aaan aa aaa
main sau baar sainyyaan ke paaiyyaan padee rey ae
main sau baar sainyyaan ke paaiyyaan padee rey ae
saanwariyaa se hamree naaheen banee rey ae ae
main ujdee bhee
sanwri bheeee
bigdi banee rey
main ujdee bhee
sanwri bheeeee
bigdi banee rey ae ae
ke paaoon unhein jaisey waisey sajee rey ae
ke paaoon unhein..aen jaisey waisey sajee rey ae
paseejey kisee baat se bhee na saajan..n.n.n.n.n
paseeje kisee baat se bhee na saajan
main royee main tadpee
main roothhee manee rey
main royee main tadpee
main roothhee manee rey
woh kaisey mujhey ae apney mann mein basaatey ae
woh kaisey mujhey ae ae apney mann mein basaatey ae ae
woh ho honthon se mere aey ae ae aey ae ae ae
woh ho hoke mere main thee hee bujhee rey aey ae ae ae
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4938 | Post No. : | 16788 |
Today’s song is from an early period costume film-His Highness-1937.
The film was made by Prakash Pictures, who were into making C grade stunt, action and Costume films, before they became famous for Religious and Mythological films in the early 40’s. There was nothing new in the film story, except that in addition to several villains, it had some animals opposing them along with good people. The film was directed by Balwant Bhatt, the elder brother of Nanubhai Bhatt-father of Mahesh Bhatt. The cast of the film was jayant, Sardar Akhtar, Shiriun bano, Umakant, Ismail, Radha, M.Zahoor and many others. There were 2 MDs. The usual MD of Prakash- Shankar Rao Vyas and Lalloobhai Naik. All the 12 songs of the film were written by Sampatlal Shrivastav ‘ Anuj’.
Today’s song is a Parody song. What is a Parody / ” Humorous imitation of a serious composition” is a simple definition. Like Comedy songs, Romantic songs, Childrens songs, Loris, etc, parody songs are also an important segment of poetry. Parody has a very long history. Actually one can say that a Parody is a type of comedy poem. In early Sanskrit Literature also we find Parody, which was called ” Vidamban Kavya” (विडंबन काव्य ).
When the Talkie films started, songs became an integral part of films. Once the set of film making became stable in initial 5-6 years, the films started having Parody songs in it. I remember, I had done a series on “Parody songs in Hindi films” from 16-3-2013 to 2-4-2013, on this Blog, featuring 10 Parody songs from films. In the first post of that series 9 years ago, I had given information on the first few Parody songs in Hindi films. I reproduce here a small relevant portion of that post, for the benefit of our new readers….
” The very FIRST Parody song in Hindi films came as early as 1936. It came from a film called ” Sunehra Sansaar”-1936. It was a Parody of a famous patriotic song by Dr.Iqbal-” Saare jahan se achha Hindosta hamara…” The parody song was ‘ Saare jahan se achha saabun bana hamara,hum kishtiyan hai iski…’
The lyricist was Vijay Kumar, B.A. and the Music Director was K C Dey. When the song was released, instead of becoming popular, it drew people’s ire for distorting a patriotic song. There was criticism and several protests.
Another Music Director Master Mohd. (who was well known for composing many patriotic songs in those days, in his films) decided to make a Parody of K C Dey’s famous song, ‘Jao jao aye mere sadhu…’ from Pooran Bhagat-1933.
He included this parody song in the same year in his film ‘ Miss Frontier Mail ‘-1936. The lyrics for this song were- gaao gaao aye mere aye mere sadhu…’.It was sung by Minu,the Mystique in the film. This Minu was actually Minoo Cooper, a regular singer in Bombay city Parsi circles. He used to sing in many Hotels in those days. He has also sung a few more songs in Hindi films later.
This retaliatory Parody song was well received by the audience and it became popular too.
So, parody songs entered Hindi films with an interesting History behind them ! ”
In addition to the above, there is an example of a famous Parody song which became popular in its time. The story is, when singer actor Surendra was discovered by Sagar Movietone, they decided to project him as Bombay’s answer to Calcutta’s K L Saigal. Impressed with Surendra’s singing capabilities, Sagar made him a hero in his first film ” Deccan Queen ”-1936. In this film Surendra was given a Parody song for saigal’s famous song ” Balam aaye baso mere mann mein” from film Devdas-1935. In this film the song was ” Birha ki aag lagi mere mann mein”.
Thus one finds that parody songs became instant hits in their first appearance in the initial years 1936-1937 itself. In the subsequent years many such Parody songs featured in films. The most important condition for a Parody song is that the Original song must be so popular that people will recognise it from the tune of the parody song itself. For presenting my series on parody songs, I had searched and collected about 250 parody film songs. A big list was available on the then popular group “Hamara Forum”, on the internet.
Coming to today’s parody song “Kabhi tum ko bhi hum se pyaar tha”, from film His Highness-37, it was a Parody of the famous Ghazal “wo jo hum mein tum mein qarar tha, tumhe yaad ho ke na ho” written by the famous Urdu poet Momin Khan Momin (1800-14-5-1852). he was also known as Hakeem Khan, due to his ancestral profession. He died from an accidental fall from his terrace.
The Hero of the film was Jayant. Jayant was born as Zakaria Khan,on 15-10-1912 at Alwar, Rajasthan. His father Syed Ahmed Khan was originally from Peshawar, but was working as a Sports Coach in the court of the Maharaja of Alwar,Rajasthan. Along with his elder brother Jahangir Khan, Jayant used to sell ‘Makka-Bhutta’ (Maize) on a roadside thela and thus earned his pocket money, with which he used to see films. When he grew up, he was taken by his father to the Maharaja, who recruited him as Second Lieutenant in his Army. Jayant soon got bored with this life, left the job and came to Bombay in search of a job in films. When he met Vijay Bhatt of Prakash pictures, this 6’1″ tall,handsome and young man was liked by him. Jayant also knew Horse riding and swimming. He was named JAYANT by Vijay Bhatt and offered a role in their film Nayi Duniya-1934. Rajkumari Banaraswali also debuted in this film.
Excellent Urdu delivery and handsome personality earned Jayant Hero’s roles in Bambai ki Sethani,Bombay Mail, Lal chithi, Shamsheer-e-Arab, Azadveer, Passing show, Snehlata, Top ka gola, Challenge, His Highness, Khwab ki duniya, Mr.X, State Express, Hero no.1, Sardar and Mala. By now his salary was 3700 per month. He was more at ease in Costume and stunt films than social flicks.
Khwaab ki Duniya-37 was based on the story of Invisible Man and this was the first film as a Director for Vijay Bhatt. Babubhai Mistry from Surat used Trick photography in this film,by using Black Thread on black background.
Jayant was married to 13 year old Kamarbano Sultan. His first son,Imtiaz khan was born on 15-10-42 and second son was born on 21-10-43. He was Amjad Khan (Gabbar singh of Sholay). As a child, Amjad khan was very frail and weak till his second year. Later in his youth, of course he expanded out of proportion. Jayant’s elder brother Jahangir Khan died suddenly in an accident. Jayant was very much attached to him. To forget the sorrow, Jayant started smoking and drinking. After he was out of Prakash Pictures, he was taken by Minerva for Sikander’s role. When Sohrab Modi saw him smoking and drinking on sets, he was summarily thrown out and the role went to Prithwiraj Kapoor, for whom it was a Milestone in his career.
Jayant worked in Aladdin, Laila, Bulbul e Baghdad, Mere saajan, Zewar and Dawat. He even went to Lahore to act in “Poonji” and “Shirin Farhad”. When Shirin Farhad became a resounding flop, Jayant stopped getting roles, but he never went to anyone to ask for roles. P N Arora went to Jayant’s house to sign him for Doli. After Partition, his finances became critical and he had to sell even family jewelry for his drinks. He acted in character roles in Amar ,Insaniyat, Madhumati, Maya, Memdidi, Son of India, Kabli Khan, Hakikat, Leader, Himalay ki God mein, Sangharsh, Do Raaste, Heer Ranjha, Mera Gaon Mera Desh etc. He worked in 105 films. Can you imagine Jayant singing ? Yes, he had sung a song in the film State Express-1938, along with Sardar Akhtar.
Jayant was a family man. Till the end he had only one wife and he followed the rule to partake the dinner at home with all family members daily. He contracted Cancer, lost his voice in 1970. His last film was ‘Love and God’,which was released 11 years after his death.
Jayant died on 2-6-1975. ( Thanks to shri Harish Raghuvanshi ji, for Jayant’s profile in his Gujarati book ,Inhe na Bhulana ).
The story of film His Highness was…….
When the king of Rajnagar dies, the Queen (Gulab) discovers that he had bequeathed the throne not to her mad son Pratap (Umakant), but to their nephew, the young Prince Kirit (Madhav). This made the queen very angry.
Captain Dilip (Jayant), Kirit’s bodyguard, takes the boy and his animal pals, Tiger (Dog Tiger) and Bahadur (Horse Bahadur), on an outing along with servants Ram (Lekhraj) and Rahim (Chhotejan). A group of ruffians surround Dilip and Kirit and attack them, knocking Dilip unconscious, and kidnapping Kirit. Bahadur gallops away to inform Ram and Rahim while Tiger takes off after the goons. Meanwhile, back at the palace, the aged prime minister (Jal Writer), Princess Asha (Sardar Akhtar), and Asha’s maid Kala (Shirin), are told of the kidnapping. Kala then overhears the queen planning to place the blame on Dilip for the kidnapping, thus doing away with him. Kala finds and informs Dilip that it is safest if he stays away from the kingdom for the time being.
Tiger finds Kirit but is unable to free him. However, the dog is able to lead Dilip, on horseback, to the cabin where the prince is being held. Dilip, Tiger and Bahadur put up a good fight against the ruffians, but the crooked Jalim Singh has Dilip arrested. Jalim attempts to take off with Kirit, but Ram and Rahim are able to rescue him.
The queen learns that the prince has been saved by some unknown persons and arranges that the boy should be found and killed, and that the killer will be appointed Prime Minister. Her plan is foiled by a masked man and eventually Kirit is returned safely to the palace.
But with Dilip having vanished, the minister must find someone else to play bodyguard. The Queen suggests her loyal follower Captain Ajaya (M. Zahoor), but the minister disapproves of that choice. When the Queen starts to form another dastardly plan, the mysterious masked man makes an appearance and cautions her to take no actions against Kirit. But the Queen soon ignores the warning and arranges a plot to frame the minister for some crime, thus leaving Kirit with no protection. But she didn’t count on the involvement of Asha, Kala, Tiger, Bahadur and Tommy (Dog Tommy) in trying to save the life of the child prince. (Thanks to pedrotheapebomb.com) .
let us now enjoy the Parody song,a Triad, sung by Rajkumari, Lallobhai and Ismail.
Song- Kabhi tum ko hum se bhi pyaar thha (His Highness)(1937) Singers- Rajkumari Dubey, Lallubhai, E.Ismail, Lyricist- Sampatlal Shrivastav ‘Anuj’, MD- Not known
Lyrics
Kabhi tum ko hum se bhi pyaar thha
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
Kabhi tum ko hum se bhi pyaar thha
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
wo wafa ki kasmein jo khaayin thhin
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
wo wafa ki kasmein jo khaayin thhin
kabhi chaandni mein jo khol kar
maine zulfen shaanon pe daal deen
kabhi chaandni mein jo khol kar
maine zulfen shaanon pe daal deen
mujhe tum ne dil se laga liyaa
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
mujhe tum ne dil se laga liyaa
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
kabhi ham bhi tum bhi thhe o sanam
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
na taka thha aapki jeb mein
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
wo anarkali ke baazaar mein
maine girvi rakkhi thhi chappalen
wo jo tumko lassi pilaayi thhi
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
tujhe yaad ho ke na yaad ho
na machine gun se na tope se
mujhe maara nakhron ke teer se
na machine gun se na tope se
mujhe maara nakhron ke teer se
main ?? ka jawaan thha
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho
tumhen yaad ho ke na yaad ho o o
Ab jaago Radha Rani
Posted on: December 16, 2021
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4899 | Post No. : | 16701 |
Songs from Artiste Name Films….Second Season….No. 10
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Today this series ends with a song from film Durga-1939. No prizes for guessing the name of the star of today’s post. Of course it is Durga Khote. Though she was not a part of this film, still I chose her, because lovers of old films know her too well, but as she ended her career almost 40 years ago, readers in the age group of 50-60 may not know her too well.
Film Durga – 1939 was made by Bombay Talkies, owned by Devika Rani and Himanshu Rai. The cast of the film Durga-39 consisted of Devika Rani, Rama Shukul, V H Desai, Mumtaz Ali, Peethawala, Saroj Borkar, Balwant singh, Lalita Deulkar etc. The film was directed by Franz Osten and the music was by Saraswati Devi. The year was 1939 and inits month of September, the World War started. It did affect Indian film industry too, but the effects were felt from 1940 onwards. In 1939, the industry was trying to free itself from the shackles of stage drama type music, an unnecessary stress on making films on Mythology and Folk tales and old styles of loud acting. New blood had flown in, replacing the spill over of silent movie actors and themes.
The year was 1939 and the British Government had declared war against Germany and Japan, as soon as the WW II began. All countries ruled by Britain were – willingly or unwillingly, drawn into the war efforts and its effects. The war began in the month of September and soon various restrictions came into operation – like rationing, blackouts, shortages etc. The film industry which was still under its development stage suffered. It also realised the importance of remaining united as one industry. However, all that came after 1 or 2 years. In 1939 there was not much effect seen on the film industry.
The industry had its own problems. In spite of the playback system in operation, their problem was that because there was no technique of recording from the film negative yet, the singers had to sing twice. Once for the actual film shooting of the song, and later, with the same set of orchestra, for commercial records. Sometimes, the original singer was not available due to any reason, some other singer had to sing for commercial records. Thus we have many such examples, where the singer in the film song and the record is different. However, this problem continued only till mid 50’s when the Tape and the required technique became available. With just one time recording, the film and commercial recording were taken care of.
Khemchand Prakash. K.Datta (Datta Koregaonkar), Rafiq Ghaznavi and Anupam Ghatak made their Debut as Music Directors. Kavi Pradeep wrote his first film song for film Kangan. In 1939, 2 most Unusual songs were presented, for the first time ( and this record is not yet broken even after more than 80 years.). One was a Multi-Lingual song from film Aadmi-39, a film by Prabhat….Kis liye kal ki baat. This song was in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bangla, Tamil and Telugu. ( In its Marathi film version-” माणूस “, this song was only in one language-Marathi.) Different Lyricists and MDs were used for each language. The song became very popular.
Second unusual song was from film ‘ Ghareeb ka Laal’-1939. The song lyrics had the names of 32 artistes, operating in Hindi films that time. Top Heroes and Heroines were mentioned in this song. The beginning of the song was ” Tuze Bibbo kahoon ya Sulochana, Uma shashi kahoon ki Jamuna “. This song was sung by the comedian Mirza Musharraf. In later years many songs with film artistes’ names came but none had so many names. Thus this record is still unbroken, in case of both songs.
Besides these songs, let us quickly take a look at some films of 1939….
Aadmi – Prabhat’s hit film, a remake of the Marathi film ” माणूस “. It had some good songs by Shanta Hublikar, Sundarabai Jadhav and Ram Marathe.
Adhuri Kahani – a trend of Tragedy films set by the effect of film ‘Devdas’. All the 3 main characters of this film commit suicide in the end.
Badi Didi – A New Theatres film.
Brandy ki Botal – Master Vinayak’s comedy remake of Marathi film ‘ ब्रॅंडीची बाटली ‘.
Dil hi to hai – Debut of Kidar Sharma as a Director and Ramola as a Heroine in a Hindi film.
Dushman – New Theatres’ film of Saigal, with only his 4 songs.
Ek hi Raasta – Sagar presents first film with 3 Heroes in one film.
Ghazi Salauddin – Debut of Khemchand Prakash as M.D.
Hukum ka Ikka – First film with a Triple role by Umakant Desai ( who later specialised as Lakshman in 7 films, including Ramrajya-43).
Imaandaar – Debut of actress Shamim Akhtar.
India in Africa – This was the First Hindi film to be shot abroad (in Africa). The Hero B. Nandrekar had also gone to Africa for its shooting. Naaz-54 was not the first such film, though HFGK mentions it so.( Ref – pp 69, Maharashtra-The Birthplace of Indian cinema by Isak Mujawar)
Kangan – First of the 4 Hit films of Ashok kumar and Leela Chitnis, made by Bombay Talkies. Kavi Pradeep’s Debut as a Lyricist in this film.
Kapal kundala – New Theatres. Pankaj mullick’s hit song ‘ Piya milan ko jaana ‘.
Leather Face – Debut of Meena kumari as a child artiste.
Navjeevan – Debut of Hansa Wadkar as a Heroine- Bombay Talkies film.
Pukar – Hit film from Minerva Movietone. Naseem Bano sings ” Zindagi ka saaz bhi kya saaz hai….”
As stated in the beginning, today’s star is Durga Khote. She was one of the most respected artistes from the early cinema. In her glorious and non-controversial career of over 50 years, she acted in 183 films and sang 35 songs in 14 early cinemas. At the end of her career, she wrote her autobiography in Marathi ” मी दुर्गा खोटे “, which was later translated into English by Shanta Gokhale. This book ( along with ” चंदेरी दुनियेत ” by Leela Chitnis ) is an authentic chronicle of Indian film industry development from infancy to adulthood, in addition to personal details.
Durga Khote (14 January 1905 − 22 September 1991) was one of the foremost leading ladies of her times, she remained active in Hindi and Marathi cinema, as well as theatre, for over 50 years, starring in 182 Hindi films and numerous theatre productions. In 2000, in a millennium issue, India Today named her among “100 People Who Shaped India”, noting: “Durga Khote marks the pioneering phase for women in Indian Cinema” as she was one of the first women from respectable families to enter the film industry, thus breaking a social taboo.
She also ranks among the top ten actresses in mother roles in Hindi cinema, most notable among them were as Jodhabai in K. Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam (1960); as Kaikeyi in Vijay Bhatt’s classic Bharat Milap (1942); her other memorable roles as mother were in Charnon Ki Dasi (1941); Mirza Ghalib; Bobby (1973) and Bidaai (1974). She has received the highest award in Indian cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1983), for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema.
Khote was born as Vitha Lad, to a family which hailed from Goa and spoke Konkani at home. Her father’s name was Pandurang Shamrao Lad and her mother’s name was Manjulabai. She grew up in a large joint family in Kandewadi. She was educated at Cathedral High School and St. Xavier’s College where she studied for B.A. While still a college-going teenager, she married into the Khote family and settled down with her husband. By the age of 26, Durga Khote was a widowed mother with two young sons; Bakul and Harin. She had to seek work in film to support her children. In doing so, she became a pioneer of sorts: She hailed from a traditional family and the film industry was regarded as the preserve of the base and the bawdy. Also, most of the female characters were played by men at the time.
Durga Khote debuted in a minor role in the obscure 1931 Talkie film Farebi Jaal or trapped, by M. Bhavnani. She had to sing 3 songs also in this film. Followed by Maya Machindra (1932) by Prabhat Film company.. She was soon promoted to play heroine in the 1932 double version (Hindi and Marathi) Ayodhyecha Raja, another Prabhat film, which was the first ever Marathi talkie, and proved to be a runaway hit, where she played the role of Rani Taramati. Indeed, she ventured yet another pioneering trend: Despite working closely with the Prabhat Film Company, she broke away from the “studio system” (exclusive contract with a studio to work in its films on a monthly salary) then in vogue and became one of the first “freelance” artistes of that era by working occasionally with the New Theatres, East India Film Co. (both at Calcutta), and Prakash Pictures.
In 1936, she played Saudamini in Amar Jyoti, which is one of her most memorable roles. The characters played by her were very much like her regal personality and she commanded a screen presence even in front of legendary actors like Chandra Mohan, Sohrab Modi and Prithviraj Kapoor. In 1937, she produced and directed a film titled Saathi ( Sawangadi in Marathi), making her one of the first women to step into this role in Indian cinema. The 40s opened for her in a big way, with award-winning performances in Aacharya Atre’s Payachi Dasi (Marathi) and Charnon Ki Dasi (Hindi) (1941) and Vijay Bhatt’s classic Bharat Milap (1942), both of which got her the BFJA Best Actress Award for two consecutive years.
Durga Khote remained active in the theatre circuit for many years, especially the Marathi theatre in Mumbai. She was actively associated with the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) and worked in several plays for the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh. In 1954, she famously performed the role of Lady Macbeth in V.V. Shirwadkar’s Marathi adaptations of Macbeth, as Rajmukut, (The Royal Crown), along with Nanasaheb Phatak.
Durga Khote played a wide variety of roles over a career that was not only long, but also untouched by scandal. She was the inspiration for several generations of Indian actresses, including veterans such as the late Shobhna Samarth, who frequently spoke of how she had been inspired by Khote’s example. During later years, she played several important character roles, such as the mother of the protagonist. Her portrayal of Jodhabai, the queen of Akbar torn between duty towards her husband and love towards her son in Mughal-e-Azam (1960) was well received. In 1963, she acted in Merchant Ivory’s debut film The Householder (1963).
She went on to play other widely appreciated character roles in later movies, such as the role of the grandmother of the heroine in Bobby (1973), the hero’s aunt in Abhimaan (1973), and the very memorable Bidaai (1974), where she played a mother, a very sensitive role that can make one cry and received the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. Her final memorable role was in Subhash Ghai’s Karz (1980), where she played the role of the mother of Raj Kiran and later, mother to Rishi Kapoor, who played the role of Raj Kiran’s reincarnation after the screen death of Raj Kiran in the movie.
She acted in 182 Hindi films in her career. Her last film as an actress was Daulat ka Dushman-1983. She had also sung 32 songs in 13 films. Her last song was in the film Panna Dai-1945. By the 1980s she successfully diversified into production of short films, ad films and documentaries by setting up Fact Films and later, Durga Khote Productions, which produced the Doordarshan TV series Wagle Ki Duniya.
Durga Khote was married when she was a teenager to Vishwanath Khote, a gentleman of her own caste and similar social background, in a match arranged by their parents in the usual Indian manner. It was a traditional marriage into an orthodox family, the couple lived a harmonious and happy life, and the marriage was blessed with two sons. Vishwanath was a mechanical engineer who had graduated from Banaras Hindu University. His family was upper middle class and professional, with modern English education and high social standing; his ancestors had been prominent bankers.
Unfortunately, Vishwanath Khote died young, when Durga was barely into her 20s. She and her sons continued to reside with her in-laws, as is traditional in India, but she was not comfortable with her dependent position, especially because her father-in-law was no more, and they were dependent on other family members for their expenses. She thus felt impelled to make a living any which way she could, and the opening in films happened entirely by chance. The fact that she came from a modern and English-educated family meant that, even as a widow, she was able to act in films, which was derided as a disreputable profession in those days.
She thus raised her two sons, Bakul and Harin, single-handedly. Both of them went on to become well-settled in life. But she suffered the loss of her son Harin, who predeceased her and died in his 40s. Harin was married to Vijaya Jaywant, and they were the parents of two sons. After Harin’s early death, his widow married a Parsi man named Farrokh Mehta and became famous as the film-maker Vijaya Mehta.
Durga Khote’s grandchildren (children of Bakul and Harin) include her grandson Ravi, a filmmaker; granddaughter Anjali Khote, an actress; and grandson Deven Khote, a successful producer who is one of the co-founders of UTV, and who has also directed a film. Deven Khote is noted for producing films such as Jodhaa Akbar and Life in a Metro.
Durga Khote’s brother-in-law, Nandu Khote (brother of Vishwanath), was a noted stage and silent movie actor. Two of Nandu’s children also became actors in the film industry. His son Viju Khote (1941-2019) was an actor perhaps best known for his role of “Kalia” in Sholay (1975). Nandu’s daughter is the actress Shubha Khote, who debuted in Seema (1955) and worked as a heroine in several films before moving to character roles. Still later, she moved to directing and producing Marathi films and also entered television in the 90s. Shubha’s daughter, Bhavana Balsavar, is also an award-winning TV actress who appeared in sitcoms like Dekh Bhai Dekh and Zabaan Sambhalke before deciding to settle down and raise a family. Thus, the acting profession which was pioneered by Durga Khote in her family has been fully embraced by her late husband’s family.
Later in life, Durga Khote wrote an autobiography in Marathi, entitled Mee, Durga Khote, which was translated into English as I, Durga Khote, and moved to Alibaug, near Mumbai. Durga Khote died in Mumbai on 22 September 1991. ( Thanks to her autobiography, wiki,muVyz and my notes.)
This ends my series on Artistes, on whose names film titles existed. This is of course only indicative and not exhaustive one. I wrote only on 20 such artistes, but still about 30+ such films are remaining, most of which are not available with their songs on the social media.
I had plans to revive some more old series again, but readers’ poor response does not motivate me to do so. Still, who knows…….
Song- Ab jaago Radha Rani (Durga)(1939) Singer- Balwant Singh, Lyricist- Narottam Vyas, MD-Saraswati Devi
Lyrics
Ab jaago Radha Rani
Ab jaago Radha Rani
?? bhayi ab hua sawera
jage jagat ke praani
ab jaago Radha Rani
?? bhayi ab hua sawera
jage jagat ke praani
ab jaago Radha Rani
ab jaago Radha Rani
sapne mein ??
sapne mein ??
?? prem kahaani
sapne mein ??
?? prem kahaani
ab jaago Radha Rani
ab jaago Radha Rani
nadi kinaare Kaanh tumhaare
nadi kinaare Kaanh tumhaare
bhar bansi mein baani
nadi kinaare ?? tumhaare
bhar bansi mein baani
?? aaye ??
ab jaago Radha Rani
?? des mein ??
??
ab jaago Radha Rani
ab jaago Radha Rani
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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