Archive for the ‘Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940)’ Category
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4655 | Post No. : | 16322 |
Today’s song is from the film “Mera Haque aka In search of Happiness”. This was made by Master Vinayak’s Huns Pictures, Bombay. Directed by Parshwanath Alatekar, it had music by D.P.Korgaonkar , popularly known to us as K.Datta. The story writer and lyricist was Pt. Anand kumar. This film was a remake of Marathi hit film ” सुखाचा शोध ”. The common cast of the film was Baburao Pendharkar, Minakshi, Damuanna Malwankar, Vimal Sardesai, Usha Mantri, Dinkar Rao alias Dada Salvi, V S Jog, Shanta Thaker etc etc.
In the early era of the cinema there was a trend to make films in 2 languages – Local and Hindi. Therefore most films made by Marathi filmmakers at Bombay, Poona and Kolhapur were made in Marathi and Hindi. The consideration was only commercial.Local language for local audience and Hindi for All India market. Similarly, in the South too Bilinguals were made. However here the languages were Tamil and Telugu. The other two Language films Malayalam and Kannada started a bit late. Some films, however, were made even in 3 languages or sometimes dubbed in other languages. Hindi films from south started quite late,in 1948, with Chandralekha made by S S Vasan. After its success, for the next 8 to 10 years southern bilinguals were made in Local and Hindi languages.
Even in Calcutta, films were made in Bangla and Hindi, with the same commercial angle. In Calcutta, some Hindi films too were made by film companies other than New Theatres. This trend of Bilinguals from Calcutta was a regular feature since 1935 for about 15 years – longer than south or Marathi films.
One feature of these Bilinguals was that Local language actors appeared in the Hindi version. For Marathi actors, speaking dialogues in Hindi was not much of a problem, so many such local actors worked in Hindi versions. Comparatively, southern and Bangla actors found it difficult to speak Hindi, so less number of local artistes appeared in Bilinguals. many times their dialogues had to be dubbed by some other artiste.
From Marathi, one such local popular artiste was Damuanna Malvankar. His full name was Damodar Rajaram Malvankar. He was born in a poor Bramhin family at Nippani (near kolhapur) on 8-3-1893. He had only the basic education. In those days, there were no films, but stage dramas were very popular. Getting a job as an actor was easy. Damu had a natural squint and he skillfully used it as his best weapon.
At the age of 15 or so, he joined Keshav Rao Datey’s theatrical company ” Maharashtra Natak mandali”. He used to get only comedy roles. After a few years, he joined Deenanath Mangeshkar’s ” Balwant Sangeet Mandali’. When Talkie films started, he joined cinema along with director Vishram Bedekar. He did films with master Vinayak and Acharya Atre.
Like all others, he too worked in the Hindi versions of Marathi’s successful films. In all, he acted in 11 Hindi films. They were Krishnarjun Yuddha-34, Andheri Duniya-36, Bramhachary-38, Mera Haque-39, Ghar ki Rani-40, Amrit-41, Sangam-41, Badi Maa-45, Jeevan yatra -46, Subhadra-46 and Main tera Hoon-47.
Damuanna was a very popular comedy actor in Marathi films. He worked in over 50 Marathi films. At one time he used to get more than double of what the Hero of the film used to get for his role. His most famous film role was that of ” Chimanrao” a fictional character in Marathi literature. His companion used to be ‘ Gundyabhau” acted by V.S.Jog. This comedy pair was a household name during their peak time.
His only daughter Bharati Malavankar was a Heroine in Marathi films. Damuanna had very cordial family relations with the Mangeshkar family, from the days he had worked for Deenanath’s drama company, when all these children were too young. This culminated in Hridaynath Mangeshkar marrying Bharathi Malvankar. This comedian, Damuanna Malavankar died on 14-5-1975.
The other Marathi actor in this film and the singer of today’s song is Vimal Sardesai. The lead actress Vimal Sardesai hailed from the Konkan area and started her film career as baby Vimal. She acted in only 7 Hindi films. Her first film was Saathi-38. This was the Hindi version of Marathi film Savangadi-38, starring Durga khote and Mubarak Merchant. Her second film was Mera haq-39. It was her first film as a Heroine. This too was a Hindi version of Marathi film ‘ Sukhacha Shodh”. Then came Narsi Bhjagat-40 made by Prakash pictures, Alakh Niranjan-40 was a Hindi version of Marathi film Gorakhnath-40, Apna Ghar-42 was a Hindi version of Marathi film Aaple Ghar-40- directed by Debaki Bose, his first film in Bombay, Wadia’s Shobha-42 and her last film was Mahatma Vidur-43, a Hindi version of Marathi film of the same name. This was also the last film of Parshwanath Altekar the director.
After this film Vimal Sardesai was traceless. Probably she got married and left films.
The story writer and the Lyricist of this film was Pt. Anand Kumar. Pt.Anand Kumar was born in Delhi in 1907. He was a producer, director, writer and Lyricist. From childhood, he was not interested in studies in English medium. He was taught Urdu, Hindi and Sanskrit by his poor Brahmin Shastri father. When he was 15 year old, he entered a business. He was always discontented. He wanted to become an actor, but family resisted. He tried fasting and even suicide. Then he stole some money and ran to Bombay. He could not get into any studio and after money finished, he returned to Delhi, only to take more money and run to Bombay again. Even after this failure, he went back to Delhi and started writing stories.
His first book ‘Mera Huq‘ became a hot seller and he started earning money. He was invited by film people and he went to Bombay nth time. He wrote stories, dialogues and Lyrics of scores of films and earned name and money. He produced a film ‘Zameen’-43, under his own banner Anand Brothers. He directed 5 films,including a Hit marathi film, Gora Kumbhar-42. Some of his films as a Lyricist were Suvarn Mandir-34,Katle aam-35, Pratibha-37, Divorce-38, Saathi-38, Alakh Niranjan-40, Punarmilan-40, Charnon ki Dasi-41, Raja Rani-42 etc. As a writer some films were, Divorce-38, Honhaar-36, Saathi-38, Vasant sena-42, Rang mahal-48 etc etc.
Now let us enjoy the song by Vimal Sardesai.
Song-Jhun jhun jhun jhun baje jhunjhuna (Mera Haque)(1939) Singer- Vimal Sardesai, Lyricist-Pt. Anand Kumar, MD- D P Korgaonkar
Lyrics
Jhun jhun jhun jhun baje jhunjhuna
sun sun bhanvra Naache ae
Jhun jhun jhun jhun baje jhunjhuna
sun sun bhanvra Naache
bole pihu pihu ke bol
bole pihu pihu ke bol
bhanvra pihu pihu ke bol
bhanvra pihu pihu ke bol
Jhun jhun jhun jhun baje jhunjhuna
sun sun bhanvra Naache ae
sun sun bhanvra Naache
naache
sun sun bhanvra Naache ae ae
sun sun bhanvra Naache
naache
sun sun bhanvra Naache ae ae
??
aisi baani bol
??
aisi baani bol
?? se
?? se
leke nindiyaa ghol
leke nindiyaa ghol
bhanvra
aisi baani bol
bhanvra
aisi baani bol
Jhun jhun jhun jhun baje jhunjhuna
sun sun bhanvra Naache ae
Jhun jhun jhun jhun baje jhunjhuna
sun sun bhanvra Naache ae
Morey ghar aao sajan re
Posted on: April 13, 2021
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4652 | Post No. : | 16317 |
Today’s song is from a ‘not so famous’ film from New Theatres – which had been making popular and musical films for the last few years. The song belongs to the film ” Sapera aka The Snake Charmer”-1939. The song was written by Kidar Sharma and the music was by R C Boral-The Doyen of Film music in India. The film was directed by Debaki Bose and the cast was Nawab, Kanan Devi, Pahadi Sanyal,Prithviraj Kapoor, K C Dey, Menaka Devi and others.
Today’s song is sung by Kanan Devi. I have memories that I first heard her singing “Toofan Mail” from the film Jawab-42, sometime in the end of the 40s, when I was about 10 year old. We had a “Phono” (Gramophone) with a lot of records in 2-3 Record boxes. My father was fond of Pankaj Mullick songs, so we had many records of his film and non-film songs. Also Saigal songs, but I only remember vividly the song of Kanan Devi-Toofan mail, ye duniya hai Toofan mail. Later on, as I grew older, other film songs took over, but even today, whenever I hear this song, I get a nostalgic feeling. That was the magic of her singing !
Kanan Devi is a true example of “Rags to Riches” story. She rose from a very low level, but ended up with earning all the honours and respect a successful artiste can have ! When I first read her autobiography-‘ My Homage to all’, tears came to my eyes. Famous film writer late Pran Neville called her “an unlettered slum girl, who rose to become a much sought after social celebrity”. She did not know who her father was, she faced a failed love affair and a broken marriage, but won over all these things to become the winner.
If one sees the history of early cinema in Bengal, about 70% of the cine artistes (in all departments of filmmaking) were educated and from well to do families. Some were foreign returned, some were very rich and very few came from low level. Kanan was an example. In her childhood, she faced days when she had nowhere to go, but in the end, she led the way to other strugglers.
Kanan Devi, the melody queen and superstar of the 1930s and 40s, was a remarkable personality. An epitome of beauty, glamour and grace and the recipient of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1976), Kanan’s life story (1916-1992) transcends that of Eliza Doolittle in “Pygmalion” and “My Fair Lady”. Her memoir “Sabare Ami Nami” (I pay my respect to everyone) provides a fascinating account of her transformation from an unlettered slum girl into a much sought after social celebrity. The most astounding aspect of her persona was her grit, determination and courage which led her to attain the pinnacle of fame and glory and thus become a legend and an institution in her lifetime.
Kanan was born on 22 April 1916 in Howrah, West Bengal. In her autobiography, entitled ” My Homage to all”, Kanan has observed that those she considered as her parents were Ratan Chandra Das and Rajobala, who lived together. After the death of her adoptive father, Ratan Chandra Das, young Kanan and Rajobala were simply left to fend for themselves. Her life story is a true tale of rags to riches. Some say she did her schooling (not completed) from Howrah’s St. Agnes’ Convent School.
A well wisher, Tulsi Banerji, whom she called Kaka babu, introduced Kanan when she was only ten to Madan Theatres/Jyoti Studios, where she was cast in a small role in Jaidev (1926), followed by Shankaracharya in 1927. She was known as Kanan Bala.
By now, she was known as a good singer. By 1929, she was recording several songs. In this year, Kanan Bala met handsome Hiren Bose and a new chapter in her life seemed to be blooming. Hiren Bose was highly educated and had earned titles of “Vidya Bhushan” and “Sangeet Ratna”. In the years 1928 to 1932, Hiren had joined HMV as a Music Director. Here he became a close friend of Kazi Nazrul Islam and Dhiren Das. Both Kazi and Hiren wrote lyrics for songs in HMV .
Around 1929,a new , young and attractive singer came to HMV. Her name was KANAN BALA. She came to record songs. Soon the handsome Hiren cast his spell on Kanan and she started considering him as her mentor in HMV. They were a quartet of friends, Kanan, Hiren, Kazi and Dhiren. In HMV Kanan recorded many songs set to tune or written by Hiren Bose. In 1932,this team left HMV, on the issue of Royalty and joined the newly formed Megaphone Recording company. Here too after 2 years, this team left Megaphone and joined Columbia recording company. By 1934,Hiren wrote in his autobiography- JATI SMAR (My memories)-later that he had lost interest in Kananbala. She was broken-hearted.
Kanan did at least five films with Madan Theatres productions, (1926–1932) Rishir Prem (1931), Jorebarat (1931), Vishnu Maya (1932) and Prahlad, playing even male leads in the last two. She then worked with Radha Films from 1933 to 1936, then with New Theatres from 1937 to 1941, with MP Productions 1942 to 1948 and finally set up her own label Shrimati Pictures, 1949 to 1965.
From silent film roles as a child artist, Kanan made the successful transition into talkie films and was noticed with Jorebarat (1931), Manomoyee Girls School, Khooni Kaun and Maa (1934).
Her films with Jyotish Bannerjee included Joydev (1926), Rishir Prem (1931), Jorebarat (1931), Vishnumaya (1932), Kantahaar (1935) and Manomoyee Girls School (1935). Her films with Prafulla Ghosh were Sree Gouranga (1933), Char Darvesh (1933), Maa (1934) and Hari Bhakti. Others with Radha Film Company were Kanthahar (1935), Krishna Sudama (1936), Bishabriksha (1936) and Char Darvesh (1933).
New Theatres’s P.C. Barua wanted her to play the lead in his Devdas (1935), but, due to contractual reasons with Radha, she could not act in the film, a factor she regretted all her life.
The films of New Theatres, owned by Biren Sircar, established her as a superhit singer and her films ran to packed audiences. She had to travel under constant protection, given her huge fan following. During her years with New Theatres, Calcutta from 1937, she played the lead in Barua’s Mukti (1937), which was perhaps her finest performance, making her the studio’s top star. Apart from Mukti, she did Vidyapati, Saathi (1938), Street Singer (1938), Sapera (1939), Jawani Ki Reet (1939), Parajay (1939), Abhinetri (1940), Lagan (1941), Parichay (1941) and Jawab (1942). She became known as Kanan Devi from this point.
She came in contact with the music maestro Rai Chand Boral, who not only coached and familiarized her in the Hindi accent, but experimented with many classical Western and Indian forms in his music. She received her initial musical training under Alla Rakha. She was employed as a singer at the Megaphone Gramophone Company, receiving further training under Bhishmadev Chatterjee. She later learnt Rabindra Sangeet under Anadi Dastidar. Kanan remained the top star of New Theatres until she resigned her contract in 1941 and began to freelance in Bengali and Hindi films.
She worked with the biggest names in Indian cinema with K. L. Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Pramathesh Barua, Pahari Sanyal, Chabi Biswas and Ashok Kumar.
M.P. Productions’ Jawaab was perhaps her biggest hit. Her song Duniya Yeh Duniya, Hai Toofan Mail was well received. She repeated the same feat in Hospital (1943), Banphool (1945) and Rajlakshmi (1946). Kanan Devi’s last Hindi film was Chandrashekhar (1948), with Ashok Kumar. In all, she worked in 20 Hindi films. She also sang 86 songs in 16 Hindi films.
In 1947, she went abroad to educate herself with the goings on in the western world of cinema. She was glad to visit Hollywood and meet legends like Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Robert Taylor and others. On her return she resumed her professional career and worked in some films before setting up her own Shrimati Productions. Kanan turned producer with Shrimati Pictures in 1949 and later launched the Sabyasachi Collective with the film Ananya (1949). Her own productions were mainly based on the stories of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay.
Kanan married Ashok Maitra in December 1940. He was the son of the staunch Brahmo Samaj educationist Heramba Chandra Maitra. Despite their best intentions, the marriage could not withstand the severe condemnation by the then conservative society. Even the poet Rabindranath Tagore, who sent a token gift to the married couple received scathing criticism for blessing the couple. The main issue was that Kanan was not expected to be working in films after her marriage. She filed for divorce in 1945. Despite the pain of the divorce, Kanan expressed her immense gratitude towards her first husband for giving her social recognition through marriage for the first time in her life. To Kanan’s credit, she maintained excellent relations with Rani Mahalanobis, sister to Ashok Maitra and her husband, the famous social scientist P.C. Mahalanobis and with Kusumkumari Devi, Ashok Maitra’s mother, even after the marriage was severed.
Kanan married Haridas Bhattacharjee around 1949. Haridas Bhattacharjee was then ADC to the Governor of Bengal. He eventually left the naval service to join Kanan in her filmmaking venture and became a competent director. While raising their son Siddharth in Calcutta, she also formed and worked as the president of Mahila Shilpi Mahal, an organization to help senior female artists and other charitable and community causes, including those for the betterment of Bengali cinema.
It was quite an uphill task for Kanan Bala to transform herself into Kanan Devi in those days when women liberation was unheard of. She had to struggle and with her strong determination and independent personality, she virtually forced the society to shower their respect and esteem on her when she became a celebrity in her own right. In her old age, she fondly remembered her days at New Theatres, full of joy and laughter. She was deeply impressed with K.L. Saigal and had the greatest regard for him.
Kanan Devi virtually stopped singing after 1947. Her last concert was at the India House in London when she was invited by Shri Krishna Menon, the High Commissioner, to perform on 15th August 1947. She mentioned it as the greatest moment in her life as a singer. Kanan inspired a whole generation of later day singers, the foremost being Lata Mangeshkar. She lived a full life both as an artiste as well as a woman. A great devotee of Lord Krishna, during her last years she spent most of her time in worshipping her lord and reading Geeta for her self-realisation and inner peace.
Kanan Devi, as the first lady of the Bengali screen, received many honours for her contribution to Indian cinema. An honorary degree from Vishwabharati, the Padma Shree in 1968 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1976.
She died on 17 July 1992 in Bellevue Clinic, Calcutta when she was around seventy-six years of age. ( based on some information from Wiki, an article by Pran Neville, book ‘ My homage to all’ by Kanan Devi, muVyz, and my notes, with thanks.)
In the film’s cast the name Menaka Devi appears. She is a part of Same Name Confusion, as another Menaka was also active at the same time. Luckily this was from Calcutta and the other one was from Bombay. However, by working in Bombay films and Calcutta films, both Menakas did create enough confusion. Let us know more about this Manaka Devi- Calcuttewali.
Menaka Devi was born in Varanasi on 23-1-1921. Her mother was a resident of the holy city although her father was from Bengal. She studied upto Matriculation. She could speak fluent English and Hindi, but not much of Bangla, having been raised in Varanasi. Her interest in music and dance took her to Bombay where she starred in a couple of films like Prince Thaksen (1929), Uttara Abhimanyu, Ishwar Ki Maut and others as a child artiste. When the Talkie started she acted and sang in Bhedi Rajkumar-34, Pyara Dushman-35 and Krishna Shishtai – 35.
Reportedly, she met the legendary film director Debaki Bose of Bengal during a train journey and he was so impressed by her that he decided to cast her in the lead role of his next venture in the Hindi version of the bilingual Sonar Sansar (1936 in Bangla and Sunehra Sansar-36 in Hindi) and thus began the illustrious career of Menaka Devi.
Her devotion to work was such that she learnt Bengali, her mother tongue although she was anything but fluent in it having spent all her life till then outside Bengal, so that she could play the same role (that of Alka) in the Bengali version also. Dhiraj Bhattacharya was her first hero on the screen. P.C.Barua, who was on the lookout for a young and fresh face to play Jharna in his forthcoming production Mukti (1937) selected her for both the versions ( Bangla and Hindi) and a flow started whereby she starred in films like Adhikar (1939), Abhigyan (1938), Bardidi (1939 in Bangla and Badi Didi in Hindi), Rajat Jayanti (1940) and others.
She decided to try her luck in Bombay around 1944 and starred in a few films there and definitely made her presence felt although playing the second lead most of the time. Kishore Sahu procured her services for Hamari Duniya (1952). She was married to Pannalal Shrivastav and had 1 daughter ( Jaya Ganguly). She turned producer also and this proved her undoing. Both her films as producer, Apna na Huye Apne (No information of this film,probably incomplete) and Jeene Do-48, both starring herself with prominent Bombay stars flopped.
She returned to Calcutta a broken woman and found to her dismay that roles were not coming to her. She joined the MG Enterprise, a drama group of Molina Devi and performed on the stage to continue to live as an actress. She even arranged magic shows along with husband Pannalal Srivastava while small roles came pouring in films like Ekti Raat (1956) and others. The feature that strikes even today while seeing her performance is the spontaneous nature of her acting. Why good roles eluded her is a mystery. She was last seen on the screen in Bhombal Sardar (1983). In all, she acted in 60 films-Bangla and Hindi together.
Her end came on 22-1- 2004 after a prolonged fight not only against poor health but also poverty. Her death was reported only in one Bengali daily although her death news received good coverage on television.
Filmography- Only Hindi
——————————–
| Title | Place of production | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Bhedi Rajkumar-34 | in Bombay | Acted and sang 1 solo |
| Pyara Dushman-35 | ” | Acted and sang 2 solos |
| Krishna Shishtai-35 | ” | Acted and sang 2 solos |
| Sunehra Sansar-36 | in Calcutta | Acted and sang 1 solo |
| Mukti-37 | “ | Acted and sang 1 solo |
| Abhagin-38 | ” | Acted |
| Badi Didi-39 | “ | “ |
| Sapera-39 | “ | “ |
| Mahakavi Kalidas-42 | ” | “ |
| Shrikrishna Arjun yuddha-45 | Bombay | Acted |
| Shravan Kumar-46 | ” | “ |
| 1857-46 | ” | “ |
| Chitod Vijay-47 | ” | “ |
| Jeene Do-48 | ” | ”( produced also) |
| Hamari Duniya-52 | ” | “ |
| Do Bigha Zamin-53 | Calcutta | “ |
Now that we have seen the life stories of Kanan Devi and Menaka Devi-Calcutta Wali, let us enjoy the song from the film Sapera-1939.
Song-Morey ghar aao saajan re (Sapera)(1939) Singer- Kanan Devi, Lyricist- Kidar Sharma, MD- R C Boral
Lyrics
Morey ghar aao sajan re
ae morey pyaare sajan
Morey ghar aao sajan re
ae morey pyaare sajan
roop ki bagiyaa
baras(?) rahi hai
roop ki bagiyaa
baras(?) rahi hai
man ki maina chahak rahi hai
haan aan aan aan
man ki maina chahak rahi hai
ae morey pyaare sajan
Morey ghar aao sajan re
ae morey pyaare sajan
Morey ghar aao sajan re
leti hai angdaiyaan
piyaa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
leti hai angdaiyaan
pi ee
sooni hai hirday ki basti ee
sooni hai hirday ki basti ee
aao ab aan baso re
ae morey pyaare sajan
aao ab aan baso re
ae morey pyaare sajan
Morey ghar aao sajan
leti hai angdaiyaan
piyaa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
leti hai angdaiyaan
pi ee
sooni hai hirday ki basti ee
aao ab aan baso re
ae morey pyaare sajan
Morey ghar aao sajan re
ae morey pyaare sajan
Morey ghar aao sajan re
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4637 | Post No. : | 16292 |
Today, March 29th 2021, we are celebrating Holi, the festival of joy and merry-making albeit in a subdued manner due to COVID-19 guidelines, banning public and private celebrations of Holi.
During Holi, the most popular genre of Hindustani semi-classical music is Hori which, in Brajbhasha means ‘happiness’. (I understand that in Brajbhasha region, people pronounce holi as ‘hori’). The ‘hori’ songs are written mostly in Brajbhasha or Awadhi. Obviously, hori singing is popular in Uttar Pradesh and a part of Bihar. The joy and merry-making mood come in the background of the expectation of a good Rabi harvest. The blooming of flowers in the spring season (Phagun) and the mustard fields with yellow flowers create a colourful atmosphere in North India. The mood of the rejoice among the farmers and villagers create the spirit behind the Holi celebration which has, over a period of time, percolated all over the country.
The tradition of playing with colours during Holi is linked to Radha-Krishna Leela (divine play) especially in Brajbhasha region of Uttar Pradesh. Hori singing reflects Krishna’s revelries and playing pranks with Radha. Hori is generally rendered in Thumri style and conventionally, the song will have a mukhda and an antara. One of the various names of Krishna such as Shyam, Kaanha, Nandlala, Banwari, Baanke-Bihari etc would appear either in mukhda or antara part of the hori song.
In the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh and the Mithila region of Bihar and Jharkhand (also some part of Nepal), hori singing also centres around Lord Ram. The earliest recorded hori song which I have come across is ‘Jamuna tath Ram khelen hori’ by Janaki Bai of Allahabad (Chappan Churi), recorded in 1910 which is a ‘Ram Hori’ song. Pandit Chunnilal Mishra has rendered even ‘Shiv Ki Hori’.
The traditional hori songs are based on the folk singing of the particular region and are thus embedded with the rural atmosphere. I guess, over the years, the folk songs rendered during the holi festival became so popular that some of the Hindustani classical vocalists adapted the traditional hori songs in their concerts, rendering mostly in the form of Thumris. On the video sharing platforms, some of the hori thumris rendered by Ustad Faiyyaz Khan, Kesarbai Kerkar, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Kumar Gandharv, Begum Akhtar, Shobha Gurtu, Girija Devi, Siddheswari Devi etc are available.
The popularity of hori songs attracted Hindi films when talkies came in 1931. The hori songs in Hindi films have now been adopted as holi festival songs, written and sung in typical Bollywood style. There are hundreds of holi songs picturised in Hindi films. As of now, we have on our Blog as many as 62 songs tagged as ‘Holi Songs’. On the basis of the movie-wise listing of the songs available on-line, the credit for the first traditional hori song used in Hindi film was ‘mope daar gayo saari rang ki gagar’ in ‘Ghar Ki Laxmi’ (1931). Probably, in the film, this song may have been rendered by Rampyari, the then famous singer-actor-dancer whose name I found in the star-cast. Unfortunately, neither the film nor the gramophone records of the songs from this film are available. It may be noted that in the early years of talkies, many film songs were not released on the gramophone records.
Luckily, I got a rare mp3 clip of the traditional hori song with the same mukhda as in ‘Ghar Ki Laxmi’ (1931) in the film ‘Comrades’ (1939) which I am presenting on the occasion of the Holi festival. The song is rendered by Wahidan Bai, the mother of Nimmi. The lyrics are traditional but it has been attributed to Dr. Safdar Aah Sitapuri. Probably, he may have changed a few words. For example, in my view, the line ‘kaisa dhokha diya’ seems to have been added in the traditional lyrics as these are in pure Hindi. The song is set to music by Anil Biswas.
The song is a typical hori thumri having a mukhda and an antara with the name of Krishna appearing as ‘Shyam’ in the antara. Being trained in Hindustani classical singing, Wahidan Bai has tendered this hori thumri with elaborations and ornamentations. It is worthwbhile to note that as to how elaborately she has rendered the line ‘bin rang daare jaane na doongi’ with ornamentations. The ‘murki’ element in the song while singing jaa….ne na doongi..ee, jaa…..ne na doongi..eeeee is my favourite.
This song becomes the earliest ‘holi song’ from Hindi films to be covered in the Blog though are a few more ‘holi songs’ pertaining to the Hindi films were released prior to 1939.
Audio Clip:
Song- Mo pe daar gaye saari rang ki gagar (Comrades)(1939) Singer-Wahidan Bai, Lyrics-Safdar Aah Sitapuri, MD-Anil Biswas
Lyrics
aaaaaaaa aaaaa
aaaaa aaaa aaaaaaaaa
aaaaa aaaa aaaa
aaa
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
kaisa dhokha diya aa aa aa
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
main to bhool se dekhan laagi udhar
main to bhool se dekhan laagi udhar
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
main to bhool se dekhan laagi udhar
main to bhool se dekhan laagi udhar
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
bin rang daare jaane na doongi
bin rang daare…ae
jaa….ne na doongi..ee
jaa…..ne na doongi..eeeee
haa…n
jaane na doo…ngi
bin rang daare jaane na doongi
bin rang daare jaane na doongi
Shyam kaho ab jaat kidhar
Shyam kaho ab jaat kidhar
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
kaisa dhokha diya aa aa aa
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar
Phool le lo phool
Posted on: March 25, 2021
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4633 | Post No. : | 16287 | Movie Count : |
4425 |
Today’s song is from an obscure ‘never heard of’ type film of the early times of the Talkie era – Kaun Kisi ka-1939. The film was made by Hindustan Cinetone. It was directed by Chimanlal Luhar, a talented person. He was a rarity in those days as he was a Science graduate. In times when there were very few educated people in the film industry, he was respected everywhere.
Director CHIMANLAL MULJIBHOY LUHAR ( 1901-1948) was a Chemistry graduate from Bombay University. He started writing as a critic and author in journals like Beesvin sadee, Navchetan and Bombay Chronicle. He joined the film line as a lab Assistant in Kohinoor studios in his early 20s. Soon he became a noted cameraman for several documentaries, with K.D.Brothers, Bombay,under a British cameraman of Prince of Wales’ official entourage. After a brief stint at Rajkot with Saurashtra Films and a longer one at Krishna Films-where he shot 20 films, he joined Sharada Studios with ‘Dagabaz Duniya-1926 and several stunt films by Master Vithal. He turned a producer for a few stunt films.
Later he was a partner in Sharda films and a Director with Sagar Movietone(1934-1940). From 1941 to 46 he worked for Prakash Pictures. He directed Sassi Punnu-32,Silver King-35 Talash-E-haq (first film of Nargis, made by Jaddanbai)-35, Do deewane, Kharab Jaan, Capt. Kirtikumar, Dynamite, Kaun kisika, Sewa Samaj, Saubhagya, Darshan, Station master, School Master, Uss paar and Bindiya. He died at the young age of 47 years,in 1948. He had established his own production outfit ‘Sun Art Pictures’ in 1943, but he made only 3 films with it -School Master-43, Uss Paar-44 and Bindiya-46, before he died, after a prolonged illness.
FILMOGRAPHY: 1932: Sassi Punnu; 1935: Silver King; Talash-e-Haq; 1936: Do Diwane/Be Kharab Jan; 1937: Captain Kirti Kumar; 1938: Dynamite; 1939: Kaun Kisika; Seva Samaj; 1940: Saubhagya; 1941: Darshan; 1942: Station Master; 1943: School Master; 1944: Us Paar; 1946: Bindiya.
The Music Director of this film was Rafiq Ghaznavi, Lyricist was Munshi Dil and the cast of the film was Padma Devi, Shobhana Samarth, Khurshid, Nazir Ahmed, Mubarak, K N Singh, Maruti Rao, Khalil Ahmed, Gope etc.etc. Most of these actors, director and the MD disappeared by the end of the 40’s, because many of them were the spill overs from the Silent Era. Except a few like K.N.Singh, Gope, Mubarak or Shobhana Samarth, none of the other names will mean anything to our readers in the age bracket of 40 to 60 years. The Partition further precipitated this condition and made matters difficult to track old artistes and get their information. Considering the poor conditions in India of preserving and documenting events, information and life stories of old time artistes, it became a Herculean task to collect information on such persons.
I have written articles on films of the early cinema i.e. from the decade of the 1930s. In these articles, I have introduced few unknown or less known heroes and heroines of those times, to our readers. Some of these are Vijay Kumar, Ram Singh, Shankar Rao Vazare, Gul Hamid, Prakash and heroines like Shamim, Nazma, Anjali Devi, Shahzadi, Menaka, Radha Rani, Meera Mishra, Meera Devi etc. Today also we will talk about yet another less known artiste of the silent and early talkie films – Master Khalil Ahmed.
From the lot of the “brought forward” actors and actresses from the silent to the talkie films, two heroes were the true super stars. Master Khalil and Master Vithal. Since they had started their careers from the silent era of the 1920’s, they did not go beyond the 1940’s, when their competition increased and the newer breed of heroes took over with ease!
Though world’s first first feature film, originally presented as a talkie ,’The Jazz Singer’, released in October 1927, it took about 4 years more for talkie films to come to India. When it did come in March 1931, there was tremendous enthusiasm amongst the film makers. Initially, however, there was skepticism in the minds of well established silent film makers. Famous film makers like Dadasaheb Phalke and even V Shantaram are on record having expressed their views that talkie films will not survive. However, the same people later on, not only supported the talkie, but V Shantaram became one of the best proponents of Hindi talkie films. Even Dada Saheb Phalke ended his career by making his only Talkie, ‘Gangavataran’ in 1937. (Leela Mishra had acted in it.)
The coming of sound to films changed the film making for ever. Till then what was a fragmented production activity, slowly became an industry. Earlier, silent films were made at a cost of 8 to 10 thousand rupees. Now the talkie needed 25 to 50 thousand per film. Automatically, the hobbyists and poorer film makers disappeared. So did the acting crew who could not speak Hindi fluently or sing a song.
One finds that suddenly, there was a deluge of talented, creative and enterprising people from various professions and different backgrounds to take up the challenges of this new industry. The changing society in India is partly responsible for this deluge. Due to education and attraction to cities, many people were rapidly getting uprooted from their traditional occupations and they looked forward to these opportunities. For example a motor mechanic Sarvottam Badami became a sound recordist (and later, a director too) and a traditional carpenter like S Fattelal became the great set designer in Prabhat films. An ordinary poster painter, Baburao Painter became a director. Many such examples are available. The deluge was made up of producers, directors, sound recordists, writers, lyricists, singers, technical staff and of course the actors and actresses.
Among the first generation of heroes, namely Khalil, Sandow, Sohrab Modi, Master Nissar, Chandramohan, Prithviraj Kapoor, Motilal, Ashok Kumar, Master Vithal, Jal Merchant, Bilimoria brothers and Saigal emerged as the main players. Among actresses Mehtab, Bibbo, Kajjan, Gauhar, Sitara, Sita Devi, Zubeida, Cooper sisters, Sabita Devi, Leela Chitnis, Durga Khote, Devika Rani, Naseem, Jamuna, Kanan Bala etc. became popular.
Master Khalil Ahmed (variously mentioned as Khalil, Master Khalil, and Khalil Ahmed) was the first ever star of the silent era as well as talkie films from 1920 to 1940s. Born in 1903, he became a hero in Kohinoor’s ‘Gul E Bakavali’ (1924), opposite Zubeida. He was the first handsome and macho hero of those times. He acted with all top heroines of his time. Some of his 30 silent films are, ‘Kaala Naag, ‘Kulin Kanta’, ‘Lanka Ni Laadi’, ‘Cinema Queen’ etc.
He featured in his first talkie film, ‘Draupadi’ (1931), made by Imperial, opposite Ermeline (aka Sudhabala ). Then came ‘Daulat Ka Nasha’ (1931), ‘Bharati Mata’ (1932), ‘Niti Vijay’ (1932), Do Rangi Duniya’ (1933) and ‘Saubhagya Sundari’ (1933). In 1934 Khalil went to Calcutta on the invitation of East India Films. His first film in Calcutta was ‘Kismet Ki Kasauti’ (1934). Then he joined Tollywood Studio (Madon Theatres). Here his first film was ‘ Gaibi Gola’ (1935), in which Baby Noorjehan made her debut as a child star.
He was in great demand in Bombay also, so Khalil started doing films in Calcutta and Bombay, by frequently travelling between the two cities. This caused a lot of stress on him, but he always kept his commitments. During this period, he also got married and got children. He settled in Calcutta and travelled often to Bombay to do films there.
Khalil did different roles, including Hindu Gods. He never changed his name. in those days very few Muslim actors kept their real names. Incidentally, during his peak time, there were two more artists named Khalil. One was Khalil Aftab, who was a lyricist and he acted in film ‘Dard E Dil’ (1934) and ‘ The Mill’ (1934) (this latter film was banned and was released later in 1936 as ‘ Ghareeb Parwar’). The other actor was Khalil Khan, who had acted in film ‘Deepak Mahal’ (1940). In all, Khalil acted in 28 Talkie films. He died quite young, on 28-11-1941, at Calcutta. Too much travelling and stress must have taken its toll on him. He was only 38 year old. He left behind a wife with 5 children.
Khalil did 13 films in Calcutta – ‘Kismet Ki Kasauti (1934), ‘Gaibi Gola’ (1935), ‘Miss Manorama’ (1935), ‘Jawaani Ka Nasha’ (1935), ‘Divine Sacrifice’ (1935), ‘Raj Dulari (1936), ‘Bulbul e Iran’ (1936), ‘Parivartan’ (1936), ‘Adarsh Mahila’ (1937), ‘Aflatoon’ (1937), ‘Karmaveer’ (1938), ‘Abla Ki Shakti’ (1941) and ‘Merchant Of Venice’ (1941).
In Bombay, he did 15 films in Bombay – ‘Draupadi’ (1931), Daulat Ka Nasha’ (1931), ‘Bharati Mata’ (1932), ‘Niti Vijay’ (1932), ‘Do Rangi Duniya’ (1933), ‘Saubhagya Sundari’ (1933), Typist Girl (1935), ‘Shaitan Ka Paash’ (1936), ‘Khudai Khidamadgar’ (1937), ‘Kiski Pyaari’ (1937), ‘Kaun Kisi Ka'(1939), ‘Hamara Desh’ (1940), ‘Pyaar’ (1940), ‘Waayada’ (1940) and ‘Taj Mahal’ (1941).
Khalil acted with most of the leading heroines of his time like, Noorjehan (Sr), Jilloo (Zulekha Ibrahim – she was known by Jilloo Bai in her later career), Kajjan- 6 films, Mushtari – 3 films (She died too young, in her teens only), Miss Rose – 2 films, Violet Cooper – 2 films, Radha Rani, Ram Pyari, Begum Akhtar (she was then known as Akhtari Faizabadi), Sulochana, Ameena, Leela Desai, Indurani, Gulab, Ermelin and Sheela etc. Khalil was very good natured and a popular actor among his co stars and producers.
A Muslim by birth, he performed a variety of roles in films. His initial acting phase included roles of Shri Krishna and Shri Ram. Disenchanted by the communal riots during those times, he gave a speech in the Indian Motion Picture Congress, on 4th May 1939. Baburao Patel’s Film India published this extract from his speech- “I have played Hindu Gods in films. I worked under Hindu producers only. I am disturbed by these riots. I am popular among Hindus and Muslims. We are the devotees of Art and Art has no religion.” Indian Film Industry is perhaps the only industry which is mostly a secular one, since its inception. Master Khalil Ahmed was an example of that.
I could not get any information about this film, its story or other details. I was surprised that this song was available on the You Tube channel. The song is sung by Khurshid, Nazir Ahmed and chorus. With this song, film Kaun Kisi Ka-39 makes its Debut on this Blog.
Song-Phool le lo phool (Kaun Kisi Ka)(1939) Singers-Khursheed, Nazeer Ahmad, Lyrics-Munshi Dil, MD-Rafiq Ghaznavi
Chorus
Lyrics
Phool le lo phool
Phool le lo phool
aayi basant ki saari bahaar
joban barsaaya hai singaar
ae man ??
jhoole jhool
ae man ??
jhoole jhool
Phool le lo phool
Phool le lo phool
kaisa ?? hai tera singaar
phoolon mein lipti ho jaise talwaar
madam jee sadqe
hum donon ??
joban ke badle
hum donon ??
haaan
aankhon mein teri daaloon dhool
aankhon mein teri daaloon dhool
Phool le lo phool
Phool le lo phool
aayi basant ki saari bahaar
aayi basant ki saari bahaar
gali gali par barse phuhaar
gali gali par barse phuhaar
aayi basant ki saari bahaar
aayi basant ki saari bahaar
baaghon se maalan laayi sandes
baaghon se maalan laayi sandes
aate hain preetam apne des
hey ae ae es
aate hain preetam apne des
sun sun kaliyaan sej sajaawo o o
sun sun kaliyaan sej sajaawo o o
phool bechaaron ho na malool
phool bechaaron ho na malool
Phool le lo phool
Phool le lo phool
aayi basant ki saari bahaar
aayi basant ki saari bahaar
kali kali par barse ??
kali kali par barse ??
aayi basant ki saari bahaar
aayi basant ki saari bahaar
Kaali jo ghataa chhaayi hai
Posted on: March 24, 2021
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4632 | Post No. : | 16286 |
With the advent of sound films in India in 1931, many actors faced difficulties in on-screen performances with their voices. Only few actors of silent films who could, fluently or otherwise, speak Urdu and Hindi made a transition from silent to talkies. Master Vitthal, Master Nissar, Mazhar Khan, Prithviraj Kapoor, Baburao Pendharkar, Raja Sandow, Hiralal, Patience Cooper, Zubeida, Sulochana (Ruby Mayers), Gohar Mamajiwala, Madhuri (Beryl Claessen), Sabita Devi (Irin Gasper), Gulab, Jillo Bai, Lalita Pawar, Durga Khote etc were some of the actors who switched over from silent to talkies without much of difficulties. A few of them even learnt speaking Hindi and Urdu during the transition.
The makers of talkies faced another difficulty. They realised that most of the actors did not have a good voice for singing on-screen. While some actors could get away with their less than average singing ability due to their popularity with the film audience, the film-makers felt the need for new actors who could sing better and/or the trained singers who could also act. So, in early 1930s, a new category of actors who could also sing with good voices emerged in Hindi film industry. In this category, K L Saigal, Kanan Devi, Asit Baran, Ratan Bai, Uma Shashi, Pahadi Sanyal, Rajkumari Dubey, Shanta Apte, Surendra, Bibbo, Sitara Devi, Shahu Modak, Sardar Akhtar, Vatsala Kumthekar among many others emerged. Barring few exceptions, most of actor-singer (and singer-actor) lasted in the Hindi film industry as singers until system of playback singing was firmly established by early 1940s. Some of them continued to act in the films, their on-screen songs being lip synced by the playback singers.
In the early 1930s, there was one more category of singers in which film-makers were interested in taking them as singer-actor because of their popularity as Hindustani classical singers on All India Radio and in private concerts. Apart from filling up the void in singers for Hindi films, these trained singers were regarded ‘icing in the cake’ in the films for their box office success.
While most of the ‘hard-core’ Hindustani classical vocalists kept distance from the Hindi films, some of the popular singers of the semi-classical genres such as thumri, dadra and ghazal got attracted to work in Hindi films as singer-actor. Thus, the popular Hindustani semi-classical singers like Mukhtar Begum, Jahanara Kajjan, Akhtari Faizabadi (Begum Akhtar), Jaddan Bai, Indubala, Kamala Jharia among others entered the Hindi film industry during the early 1930s. Some of their large repertoire of semi-classical singing was replicated on the screen albeit in shorter forms. One can judge the importance of these songstresses for attracting the film audience when posters of a few Hindi films of early 1930s had their names in the bold letters of the same size as that of the films’ titles.
It is worthwhile to note that mostly female Hindustani semi-classical singers got associated with Hindi films as singer-actor in the early phase of sound films. Most of them were having their background as tawaifs or private concert singers. They mostly sang thumri, dadra, ghazals and other semi-classical genres. The male Hindustani classical singers felt it below their dignity to sing or record songs in these genres especially up to the beginning of early 20th century. It was only when Hindustani classical singing maestros like Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, Ustad Faiyyaz Khan, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan etc started singing thumri and dadra in their concerts in early 1930s with their respective gharana style, these sub-genres of Hindustani semi-classical music attained respectability.
In this context, I recall that even in post independent period, Ustad Amir Khan who was an exponent of Khayal singing, never sang thumri, dadra and ghazals in the concerts nor did he record songs in these genres. The only exceptions he made was that he sang a Ghalib ghazal, rahiye ab aisi jagah chalkar jahaan koi na ho, composed by Pandit Amarnath Chawla, his senior-most disciple, for a documentary film ‘Mirza Ghalib’ (1969). And he rendered this ghazal in Khayal style. (Ref: ‘Indore Ke Maseeha’, 2008 by Bindu Chawla). The second exception was for a Bengali film ‘Kshudito Pashan’ (1960) in which he sang a dadra under the music direction of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
Among the Hindustani semi-classical singers, Wahidan Bai of Agra was one of the late entrants in Hindi films. Although she was trained as Hindustani classical vocalist and was an occasional singr on All-India Radio, she did not like to pursue the career as a professional singer due to stigma attached to this profession. So, she got married to a businessman and settled as a housewife in Agra. However, the business went in doldrum and they shifted to Calcutta (Kolkata) in early 1930s to start a fresh business. Even the new business incurred losses and the couple were in dire financial condition. At this point of time, she approached A R Kardar who was her neighbour in Kolkata, for a role in the film. She got a song to sing in a small role and everyone was impressed with her voice.
Chandulal Shah, the owner of Ranjit Movietone offered Wahidan Bai to join his company as actor-singer. In Ranjit Movietone, she worked in ‘Toofaani Toli’ (1937), ‘Ban Ki Chidiya’ (1938), ‘Prithvi Putra’ (1938), ‘Professor Waman, M Sc’ (1938), ‘Rickshawala’ (1938), ‘The Secretary’ (1938) and ‘Thokar’ (1939). In all these films, she sang semi-classical genres of songs most of which became popular.
Wahidan Bai switched over to Sagar Movietone and played a lead role opposite Surendra in ‘Alibaba’ (1940), made in Hindi and Punjabi. In this film, she rendered for the first time a waltz music-based song, ham aur tum aur ye khushi with Surendra which became very popular. With the merger of Sagar Movietone with National Studios in 1940, Wahidan Bai worked in ‘Sanskaar’ (1940) as actor-singer which was her last film. Thereafter, she was mostly bed-ridden as she suffered from tuberculosis from which she did not recovered and died sometime in 1942. During her short filmy career, Wahidan Bai was associated with 11 films and rendered 26 songs.
[Note: Information on Wahidan Bai is mainly based on a chapter, ‘Jewels of Sagar’ in the Book ‘Sagar Movietone’ by Biren Kothari (2014), translated in English by Parth Pandya].
‘Thokar/The Kick’ (1939) was Wahidan Bai’s last film with Ranjit Movietone. The film was directed by A R Kardar. The star cast included M Kumar, Madhuri, Yakub, Noor Mohammed Charlie, Ishwarlal, Wahidan Bai, Wasti, Ram Marathe, Suresh, K N Singh, Dixit etc.
A short synopsis of the film’s story as given in http://www.indiancine.ma is reproduced below:
This is story about wealth not bringing happiness. The blind Mohan (Kumar) lives in a village with his ward Radha (Madhuri). He wins a fortune with a sweepstake ticket sold to him by the tramp Ramesh (Charlie), who claims his due and begins to take over Mohan’s life, making him move to the city and getting him married to Chinta (Wahidan Bai), a prostitute. When Mohan’s eyesight is restored, he finds that his wife is having an affair with Ramesh. Mohan takes revenge and eventually lands up in his old village, a poor man, but with Radha still unchanged, waiting for him.
There were 10 songs in the film – all written by P L Santoshi which were set to music by Gyan Dutt. One song from the film has been covered in the Blog. I present the second song from the film ‘kaali jo ghata chhaayi hai’ rendered by Wahidan Bai in the semi-classical singing style.
Audio Clip:
Song-Kaali jo ghata chhaayi hai (Thokar)(1939) Singer-Wahidan Bai, Lyrics-P L Santoshi, MD-Gyan Dutt
Lyrics
aa aa aaa
aankhon aankhon mein
pila di mere saaqi ne mujhe
ab na sheeshe ki zuroorat hai na paimaane ki
kaali..eee
kaali….eeee ee ee
kaali jo ghata chhaayi hai
haan haan jee ghata chhaayi
zulfen saaqi..ee.ee.ee ee
saaqi mujhe yaad aayi hai
haan haan mujhe yaad aayi
gudguda…aa deti hai
ae ae
deti hai dil ko zaalim
deti hai dil ko
shokh a a kitneeeee…ee ee ee
kitni teri angadaayi hai ae ae
haan teri angadaayi hai….ai
haan teri angadaayi
hum hain beemaa…..r e
beemaar-e-mohabbat
jab se…ae ae ae
na maseeha ho aa aaa aaa
maseeha na maseehaaayi hai…..ai
maseeha na maseeha aaye hain
haan na maseeha aaye
kaali ghata chhaaye hai…ai
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 : |
4630 | Post No. : | 16283 | Movie Count : |
4423 |
Today’s song is from the film Dil hi to hai aka Aulad-1939. It was made by the Film Corporation of India, Calcutta. The film was directed by Kidar Sharma. This was his first film as an independent Director. Kidar Sharma (12-4-1910 to 29-4-1999) went on to direct 35 more films. His last film as a Director was Sehme huye Sitare-1994. Sharma acted in 8 films.He even sang 1 song each in 2 films – Inquilab-35 and kavi Sammelan-72. As a Lyricist, he wrote 312 songs for 44 films, from Inquilab-35 to Jalo Tarang-49. Some of his famous films as a Director were Chitralekha-41, Bhanwar-44, Neel Kamal-47, Jogan-50, Bawre Nain-50, Hamari yaad aayegi-61 and others.
The music for the 12 songs written by kidar Sharma was composed by Acharya Bhishma Dev Chatterji. He was born on 8-11-1909 in Hooghly, West Bengal. He studied upto M.A. in English. He became a Teacher and taught English in a college. Few years after learning Music from stalwarts of Bengal, he left the job of teacher and joined Megaphone Record Company as a Composer. He used to meet Kidar Sharma in the Recording studio.
Taking permission from his company, he became a Music Director for his First film – Dil hi to hai aka Aulad-1939, made by the Film Corporation of India, Calcutta. He composed some Ghazals, which Ramola and Ramdulari sang. After this film, Bhishma Dev gave music to 3 more Hindi films – The Rise-1939, Qaidi-1940 and Hamara Hindustan-1940. All films made by Film Corporation of India and in Calcutta. This was the end of his Hindi film music .
Bhishma Dev was highly respected in Bengal for his knowledge of Classical Music. Even S D Burman learnt music from him. His nature was saintly. He cut many records on Dhrupad sangeet. I am not aware of his contribution to Bangla films.
Suddenly, one day, he left his job, work, music, family, everything and he became a Sanyasi. He remained so till he died on 8-8-1977.
The film was originally titled and censored as Dil hi to hai, but advertised itself in Magazines and Newspapers as ” Aulad” and in brackets ‘ Dil hi to hai ‘. All the records were issued in the name of Dil hi to hai. Looking at the short synopsis of the film, as given in Film India magazine, I feel the title of ” Aulad” was more appropriate. The story deals with traditional parents and their modern thinking children. The film ends with the heroine (Ramola) committing suicide.
It was the first film of Ramola as a Heroine and she had to die at the end of the film ! There is a story behind how Ramola, who was a small time actress in Bangla films initially, got the heroine’s role in Kidar Sharma’s first Directorial venture. Sharma has described it in his autobiography.
Actress Ramola (real name- Rachel Cohen) was born in a Jew family on 5-7-1917, at Bombay. Her father Hayam Cohem was a school Teacher. Her initial education was done in Bombay. Later they shifted to Calcutta where she completed her matriculation and joined films. Her first film was ‘ Graher fer’-38,a Bangla film. She did a few small roles and then came ‘Khazanchi’-41 from Pancholi of Lahore. This changed her career and she became a popular actress. She did films like Masoom,Khamoshi manchali.etc etc.
Initially, Ramola was a small time actress. First she acted on stage along with her two sisters. Then she got a Bangla film. It was Jagdish Sethi who introduced her to director/lyricist/dialogue writer Kidar Sharma. According to Kidar Sharma,
“She was smart and a charming young lady. Her only drawback was her height. She was not tall, just about 5 feet, but she had lofty ambitions. One day she came to see me and I promised I would personally take her to the director of her choice. She said, “I would like to be introduced to Mr. Nitin Bose, and no one else.” I took her to Mr. Bose, and was sure that her charm and talent would impress him.
Mr. Bose scanned her, from top to toe, while I praised her talent and her choice of a director, like Nitin Bose. After a long silence, Mr. Bose addressed me and said, “When you brought her to me, why did you forget to bring some bricks for her to stand on?” Poor Romola was hurt and heart-broken by this great director’s caustic remark. She quietly said, “Goodbye” and walked away from his office.
I followed her and found that she was in tears. ‘I was moved by the plight of a struggling youngster having high hopes, being ridiculed for something for which the nature was responsible. I knew what it felt like to be ridiculed. I had experienced it often enough. I escorted her to the tram junction and there she bid me goodbye. To encourage her, I said, “Please, Romola, don’t be heart-broken. One day, when I become a director, you will be my first heroine, and we will prove to Mr. Bose and the world, what a great star you are.” Romola laughed and said,- “Poor Mr. Kidarnath, the dialogue-writer will never be a director and I will never be a heroine.” So saying, she jumped into the tram.”
However, Kidar Sharma kept his promise and cast her in his first film as director Aulad / Dil Hi To Hai (1939). Aulad/Dil Hi To hai was a down-to-earth story of a middle-class father, who had sacrificed all his life to educate his son and his darling daughter, hoping that they would be worthy children to the society and to the family. Little did the old man know that the generation gap would present a different, horrifying reality, which would destroy him completely. The modern college Miss, who destroys the dreams of her old father, the aged struggling middle class man, was played by Ramola.
Later Ramola appeared in many films including Qaidi, Khazanchi, Khamoshi, Swan Aya Re, Rim Jhim etc. When she acted in Pancholi’s famous film Khazanchi-41, she became famous all over India and film offers started pouring on her. She looked so cute in her Punjabi dress- Salwar and Kurta- in that film, that this dress became famous and popular as Khazanchi dress amongst the women in India.
The cast of the film Aulad aka Dil hi to hai-39 was Ramola, Ramdulari, Nand kishore, Amarnath, Purno Chaudhari, Ibrahim etc.etc. There is one interesting name in the cast, for whom this film was his Debut film as an actor. He was only in his Teens, but with a good personality. His Name – Amarnath.
Amarnath (Bharadwaj) is one of the “same name confusions” victims. There were two Pt. Amarnath Music Directors, 1 actor Amar, 1 actor Amarnath and 1 actor/Director (K.) Amarnath.
This Amarnath was born in Hafizabad, in Gujranwala district of Punjab (Now in Pakistan) in 1922. He started acting in 1939 with Kidar Sharma’s “Dil hi to hai”. Graduating from doing small roles he made it as a Leading Man in Dalsukh Pancholi’s film “Patjhad”, started in 1947 opposite Meena (Shorey). Pancholi had to flee Lahore due to Partition riots, but he carried the negatives of Patjhad. Though the film was censored in India in 1948, it seems it was never released.
Amarnath starred as Hero in many other films,like Naghma E Sehra-45, Papiha re-48, Barsat ki ek raat-48, Swayam sidha-49, Nai Bhabhi-50, Kamal ke phool-50, Sheesh Mahal-50, Jalte Deep-50, Johri-51, Nai zindagi-51, Nirmohi-52, Nirmal-52, Izzat-52, Bahu Beti-53, Nav Durga-53, Toofan-54, Danka-54 etc. Then he switched over to side roles. In all, he worked in 81 films (CITWF data). His last film was Kaun ho tum-70.
Today’s song is sung by Ramdulari. This is a very rare song. It was given to me by Mr. Abhay Jain (US) and uploaded for me by our own Sadanand Kamath ji, as he always does for all my songs. With this song, film Dil hi to hai aka Aulad-1939 and Bhishm Dev Chatterji as MD, make their Debut on this Blog.
Song- Hoga na vaidya se ilaaj mori peer ka (Dil Hi To Hai)(1939) Singer-Ram Dulari, Lyrics-Kidar Sharma, MD-Bheesmdev Chatterjee
Lyrics
Hoga na vaidya se ilaaj mori peer ka aa
Hoga na vaidya se ilaaj mori peer ka aa
dil to shikaar hua nainwa ke teer kaa
maiyya mori peer ka
bhaiyya mori peer ka
daiyya mori peer ka
peer ka
peer ka
Hoga na vaidya se ilaaj mori peer ka aa
Hoga na vaidya se ilaaj mori peer ka aa
Hoga na vaidya se ilaaj mori peer ka aa
main jamunaaaa jal
bharne ko nikli aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
main jamuna jal
bharne ko nikli
haaaaaan
main jamuna jal bharne ko nikli
main jamuna jal bharne ko nikli
main jamuna jal bharne ko nikli
main jamuna jal bharne ko nikli
milna thha Shyam se
bahaana kiya neer ka aa
milna thha Shyam se
bahaana kiya neer ka
maiyya mori peer ka
bhaiyya mori peer ka
daiyya mori peer ka
peer ka
peer ka
Hoga na vaidya se ilaaj mori peer ka aa
Bahti Ganga Kaashi teerath aaya
Posted on: March 19, 2021
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4627 | Post No. : | 16278 | Movie Count : |
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Today’s song is very special. It is from a totally unknown film- Sach hai-1939. Still, it is a special song. I say so because it is the First song sung by Suresh babu mane on this Blog. I know, nay, I am sure that 99 % of our readers may raise their eyebrows with this name, because they will not know who he was.
Suresh Babu Mane was an expert Classical singer in the late 30’s and 40’s decades. He was the first child of Abdul Karim Khan c- founder of the Kirana Gharana. The name of Kirana Gharana came because Abdul Karim Khan was born in village Kirana in Uttar Pradesh.
It is as if Hindustani Classical Music and Hindi Film Music have inimical or hostile relationships. Hindi film music is music for the masses, where as classical music was born in Palaces and Temples and had Royal patronage. It was understood and enjoyed by and meant only for the connoisseurs. For the common public, classical music was anethema and they could never identify themselves with it. As a result, classical music was kept at a distance by common people.
When the Film Music prospered, spread everywhere and became the people’s choice, the classical singers kept a distance with it. Most were averse to singing for films. It was considered below their dignity to sing for films. If you see the Hindi film song list, you will find that songs by the well known classical singers are not even 1 % of the total songs, so far !
I just casually found out the number of songs that some well known classical singers have sung in Hindi films and this is what I found (not an exhaustive list) –
| S No | Singer | Films | No. of songs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | D.V.Paluskar | 1 | 1 |
| 2. | Bade Ghulam ali khan | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Bhimsen Joshi | 6 | 12 |
| 4. | Ram Marathe | 6 | 11 |
| 5. | Shobha Gurtu | 16 | 19 |
| 6. | Manik Verma | 13 | 17 |
| 7. | Hirabai Badodekar | 3 | 9 |
| 8. | Saraswati Rane | 11 | 26 |
| Total Songs | 98 | ||
From Carnatic Musicians, I only know that M.S.Subbu Lakshmi sang 17 songs in her only Hindi film ” Meera”-1947. They were all Meera Bhajans. Singer Ram Marathe’s 11 songs mentione above are only as a Child Artiste. Once he left films and dedicated himself to Classical music, he never sang again in Hindi films, as far as I know. Experts may know better. There may be some more classical singers and songs other than what is shown above as only an example, but the end result would not change in any case !
It was Naushad, who first understood this predicament and strongly advocated mixing classical music (Raagas) and Folk music for film songs. He actually did this in his films, like Baiju Bawra and some others and we can see that he honestly tried successfully too. Shankar-Jaikishen, C. Ramchandra, S.D.Burman and some other composers followed suit and we had some excellent songs based on classical music (Raagas).
No wonder, then, thast Suresh Babu Mane the Classical singer ( elder brother of Hirabai Badodekar and Saraswati Rane), gave music to only 2 Hindi films in the 30′;s period. Let us know more about Suresh Babu Mane.
According to archives in history, Tarabai Mane was the daughter of Sardar Maruti Rao Mane, one of the brothers of the Rajmata of Baroda.
During her childhood years in the early 19th century, Tarabai Mane used to learn music from Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, who was a mere court musician in Baroda. The two gradually fell in love, a feeling that was not supported by any of the family members precisely because of the gap between their status and ranks in the society. The couple had no other option but to flee Baroda to settle in Bombay city. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and Tarabai Mane, had fled from the city of Baroda to settle in Bombay after their affair was not accepted by their extended families. However, their fleeing away from their roots did not mean the end of the road to the music career their children had. Tarabai Mane and Abdul Karim Khan married in Bombay and gave birth to five children, two sons and three daughters.
Khansaheb became very busy with his many tasks and concert tours throughout India. As a result, he could not attend to the needs and music education of his children. Compounded with some household family problems, Tarabai decided to separate from him and left him in 1918. In the beginning, she stayed in Bombay for some time and then moved to Pune with her five children.
She decided to change their Musilm names. She was the daughter of Sardar Mane of Baroda state. She used Mane and Barodekar as the surnames. Barodekar was derived from her native place whereas Mane was her surname before marrying Khansaheb. Thus Abdul Rahman became Suresh (god of music notes) babu Mane. Out of her 5 children, Champakali became Heerabai Badodekar, Sakina or Chhotu tai became Saraswati Mane and after marriage Sarawati Rane.
The original name of Suresh Babu Mane was Abdul Rahman. He was the eldest son of Ustad Abdul Kareem Khan and Tarabai Mane alias Tahirabibi, born in 1902. His pet name, in house, was ‘Babu’ and later ‘Baburao’ among his friends, and family members. His first teacher was father Kareem Khan and he also learnt music along with the first batch of disciples of the Arya Sangeet Vidyalaya founded by his parents. His voice, swar lagao and style were ditto to his father. He received talim till the age of sixteen years when his parents separated. He had by then become a teacher and concert singer. Like his father, his thumri was a speciality and listeners would name it as a ‘Maharashtri’ thumri. He was not only an expert vocalist but also could play harmonium, tabla, sarangi, tabla tarang, kashtha tarang, jal tarang, shahanai, and piano.
Tarabai opened up new music school ‘Nutan Sangeet Vidyalaya’ with Sureshbabu as a teacher along with other teachers and students. Sureshbabu also began to teach his sister Heerabai. However, they were all in their teens, and hence Tarabai persuaded and appointed uncle Abdul Wahid Khan as the teacher for children. Later on, with the help of Sawai Gandharva (Rambhau Kundgolkar) she opened up drama wing of Nutan Sangeet Vidyalaya. They staged several old and new drama and all brothers and sisters played roles. Sureshbabu and Heerabai also played roles in Hindi and Marathi films during 1930-40. Sureshbabu also gave music to 2 films, composing 25 songs. (Sant Tulsidas-34 and Sach hai-39). He acted in 2 films – Amrit Manthan-34 and Chandrasena-35 and sang 7 songs in 2 films too – Chandrasena-35 and Sach Hai-39.
In 1926, with the efforts of Bai Sunderabai, HMV recorded two songs sung by Sureshbabu – ‘Balam mora naina tere rasile’ (Khamaj thumri) and Marathi pad ‘Ram Ayodhya nagari’. This record (HMV P 8756) was issued on black label and is very very rare. In 1930, Odeon record company released two songs of Mr. N. S. Phadke from his drama ‘Yugantar’ staged by Nutan Natak Company. In 1940, Columbia company released four songs – ‘Balam nainoka jalim’ (Dadra), ‘Bajuband khul khul ja’ (Bhairvi), ‘Piya tirchee najariya’ (Khamaj thumri), and ‘Dekho Jiya bechain’ (Tilang thumri). He has sung for Marathi film ‘Devayani’ and Hindi film ‘Sach Hai’. His voice from these two films is available on the gramophone records. One record featuring ‘Chandrama ha saticha’ song from Marathi drama ‘Khalvadhu’ written by Barrister Khasgiwale is also available. He used to broadcast from All India Radio frequently. Shuddha Kalyan recording of a radio program is a collector’s item.
Sureshbabu was not successful as a performer and he did not pursue this as a career. However, he was an excellent teacher. Some of his welknown disciples are: Heerabai Barodekar, Saraswati Mane/Rane, Prabha Atre, Vasantrao Deshpande, Menkabai Shirodkar, Vitthalrao Sardeshmukh, Bhimsen Joshi, Arvind Mangrulkar, Dattopant Deshpande, Madhu Kanetkar and Gajananrao Watve. Towards the end of his career he turned to mysticism and alchemy. This had a very bad effect on his health. At the young age of just fifty years, this ‘Cursed Gandharva’ left this world, leaving behind just over one hour’s recordings. He died on 15-2-1953.
Film Sach hai-1939 was made by Saraswati Cinetone of Dadasheb Torne (who had earlier introduced Indurani also). It was directed by a veteran R.S. Chaudhari and the cast was Motilal, Rose, Jagdish Sethi, Usha and others. i do not know what was the film story, but from the advertisement of this film in 1939 issues of Film India, I guess it was a Love story which was unusual and which wins at the end.
With this song, film Sach Hai-39 makes its debut on this Blog. The lyricist makes his debut as well in the blog. Suresh Babu Mane, who had earlier made his debut in the blog as a music director, makes his debut in the blog as a singer with this song.
Song- Bahti ganga Kashi teerath aaya (Sach Hai)(1939) Singer- Suresh babu Mane, Lyricist- Pt. Niranjan Sharma ‘Ajit’, MD- Suresh babu Mane
Lyrics
Bahti Ganga
Kashi teerath aaya
Bahti Ganga
Kashi teerath aaya
Bahti Ganga
Kashi teerath aaya
Bahti Ganga
dho le sadho mann ki maaya
dho le sadho
dho le sadho
dho le sadho
dho le sadho
mann ki maaya
jhoothh hai kanchan kaaya
bahti Ganga
Kashi teerath aaya
Bahti Ganga
dho le sadho
mann ki maaya
dho le sadho
dho le sadho
mann ki maaya
jhoothh hai kanchan kaaya
bahti Ganga
Kashi teerath aaya
bahti Ganga
Kashi teerath aaya
devi thakur poojen saare
devi thakur poojen saare
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
devi thakur poojen saare
man ke andar Ram ko paaya
man ke andar
man ke andar Ram ko paaya
jhoothh hi man bharmaaya
bahti Ganga
Kashi teerath aaya
Maiyya soona mandir tera
Posted on: March 16, 2021
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4624 | Post No. : | 16273 |
Today’s song is from a film of the first decade of the talkie era – Adhoori kahani-1939.
In the first decade of the Talkie era, Calcutta’s New Theatres was far ahead of other film studios of India in presenting musical and successful films. However, when its successful film Devdas-1935 came, it, possibly, unintentionally stressed on the painful dark emotions of Human Behaviour. It also, almost, glorified a failed Love, alcoholism and death of the Hero. I understand that the film was based on a famous novel by Sharat chandra Chatterjee. New Theatres being the leader in the industry, other filmmakers followed suit and there was a spate of films depicting Sadism, Pessimism, Tragedy, Perversion, Psychoti Behavious and similar not so good Human Emotions in their films.
Thus we had, in and around that period films like Minerva’s ‘Jailor’ (1938) and ‘Main Haari’ (1940), Ranjit’s ‘Adhoori Kahaani’ (1939), Kardar’s ‘Paagal’ (1940) and ‘Pooja’ (1940), Prabhat’s ‘Aadmi’ (1939), New Theatre’s ‘Badi Didi’ (1939) and ‘Dushman’ (1939), Sagar Movietone’s ‘Ek Hi Rasta’ (1939), Mehboob’s ‘Aurat’ (1940), Circo’s ‘Geeta’ (1940), New Theatres ‘Nartaki’ (1940), Mehboob’s ‘Behan’ (1941) and few other films.
In these circumstances, came a welcome relief from Bombay Talkies, in the form of pure, innocent, romantic Love stories featuring a cute Ashok Kumar with heroines like Devika Rani, leela Chitnis and others. This again changed the trend and the audience had good, healthy, entertaining musical films, till the mid 40’s, when the Crime stories invaded in the form of Kismat, Geeta and others, taking the film trend in a different way.
Today’s film Adhoori Kahani-39 had a tragic story, was directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi and the music was by Gyan Dutt. The cast was Durga Khote, Prithviraj, Rose, Keshav rao Datey, Ila Devi, Ishwarlal,Yaqub, Khatun, Mirza Musharraf and others. During the early era of talkie films, till the 1960s, there was a horde of Gujarati directors and producers. Bhatts, Trivedi, Thakur, Shahs, Desais, Pancholi, Doshi, Daves were some names frequently found directing various genres. Usually they specialised in certain class and type of films. The Bhatts (Shankar and Vijay) liked to do Mythological films, Ramnik Shah handled stunt, action, fantasy films, Jayant Desai was social film oriented etc.
Chaturbhuj Doshi (1894–1969) was a Hindi and Gujarati writer-director of Indian cinema. He was one of the top Gujarati screenplay writers, who helped script stories for the Punatar productions. He is stated to be one of the leading figures who launched the Gujarati film industry with work on notable films like ‘Gunsundari’ (1948) and ‘Nanand Bhojai’ (1948). He was ‘well known’ for his family socials and had become ‘a celebrity in his own right’. He made a name for himself as a journalist initially and was referred to as the ‘famous journalist’ & publicist by Baburao Patel, editor of Filmindia.
His debut film as a director was ‘Gorakh Aya’ (1938), produced by Ranjit Movietone, though he joined Ranjit in 1929, as a scriptwriter. In 1938, he directed another film for Ranjit, a social comedy, ‘The Secretary’, and both films were box-office successes for Doshi. His forte was socials, regularly adapting stories and novels for films. He worked initially on comedies like ‘Secretary’ and ‘Musafir’ (1940), but then ‘shifted to more significant films’.
Chaturbhuj Anandji Doshi was born in 1894 in Kathiawad, Gujarat, British India. He was educated at the University of Bombay, after graduation he started work as a journalist for a daily, Hindustan (1926), working for editor Indulal Yagnik. His entry into films was working as a scenarist in the silent era for directors like Jayant Desai, Nandlal Jaswantlal & Nanubhai Vakil. He joined Ranjit Movietone in 1929, and wrote stories and screenplay for several of Ranjit films.
Film ‘Gorakh Aya’ (Gorakh has come) in 1938, was the first film directed by Doshi. It was produced by Ranjit Movietone with screenplay by Gunvantrai Acharya & dialogues by PL Santoshi. The music, termed ‘good’ was composed by Gyan Dutt. ‘The Secretary’ (1938), was a “riotous comedy”, starring Madhuri, Trilok Kapoor. Charlie. The music was composed by Gyan Dutt, who became a regular in most of the films directed by Doshi. Musafir in 1940 was a comedy costume drama, which had Charlie playing a prince.
‘Bhakta Surdas’, a devotional film directed by Doshi in 1942, is stated to be the “most famous” of the several versions made. It starred KL Saigal and Khursheed “the singing idol(s) of millions”, winning “unprecedented popularity” everywhere.
‘Mehemaan’ (1942) starred Madhuri, Ishwarlal, Shamim and Mubarak. Music director Bulo C. Rani had come to Bombay in 1942, and joined Ranjit Studios assisting Khemchand Prakash in music direction.
Doshi helped enormously in the development of the Gujarati cinema. During 1948-49 he directed three successful Gujarati films which “brought immense success to the industry”. The success of the Gujarati film ‘Kariyavar’ in 1948, directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi from a story by Shaida, called Vanzari Vaav, helped establish the Gujarati film industry along with other films like ‘Vadilo Ne Vanke’ (1948) by Ram Chandra Thakur and ‘Gadono Bel’ (1950) by Ratibhai Punatar. His next Gujarati film was ‘Jesal Toral’ (1948) based on folk-lore, which proved a big box-office success. In 1949, Doshi directed another Gujarati film, ‘Vevishal’, an adaptation of Meghani’s novel of the same name.
He also wrote stories, and one of his stories ‘Pati Bhakti’ was used in the Tamil film ‘En Kanawar’ (1948) produced by Ajit Pictures, which starred the Veena maestro, Sundaram Balachander, who was also the debut director and music composer for the film. In all he directed 24 Hindi films. His last Hindi film was ‘Sanskar’ (1958). He had also written few songs in the film ‘Maya Bazaar’ (1932).
Chaturbhuj Doshi died on 21 January 1969 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India. Filmography
1932: Narasinh Mehta (Writer), 1934: Sitamgarh (Writer), 1938: Gorakh Aya, Secretary, 1939: Adhuri Kahani, 1940: Musafir, 1941:Pardesi, Sasural, 1942: Bhakta Surdas, Dhiraj, Mehmaan, 1943: Chhoti Maa, Shankar Parvati (Director, Writer), 1944: Bhartrahari, 1945:Murti, 1946: Phulwari, 1947: Bela, Kaun Hamara, 1948: Jesal Toral, Kariyavar (Director, Writer), Sati Sone, 1949: Bhakta Puran, Vevishal, 1950: Akhand Saubhagya, Kisi Ki Yaad, Ramtaram, 1954: Aurat Teri Yahi Kahani, 1956: Aabroo, Dashera, Dassehra, 1957: Khuda Ka Banda, Shesh Naag, 1958: Sanskar, 1960: Mehndi Rang Lagyo (Writer, Lyricist).
In the early era of cinema, there were many Marathi heroines in films. Naturally so, because Bombay was the biggest film making centre and it was in Maharashtra. Out of these early Heroines,- Shanta Apte (1916-1964), Snehprabha Pradhan (1920-1930 ), Leela Chitnis ( 1912-2003), Durga Khote (1905-1991), Shobhana Samarth (1915-2000), Hansa Wadkar (Ratan Salgaonkar in real life (1924-1971) and Shanta Hublikar (1914-1992) had few things common.
They operated in films almost same period.
They were educated and hailed from upper castes.
They all were rebellious in nature.
They all had failed or no marriages.
They all worked in Marathi stage dramas and
They all ( except Shobhana Samarth) wrote Autobiographies in Marathi …. Shanta Apte- Jau mee Cinemaat ? means- shall I join films ? , Snehprabha Pradhan-Snehankita, Hansa Wadkar- Sangte Ayka means- Listen to me (A Hindi film – Bhoomika-1977, with Smita Patil- was made based on this book ). I, Durga Khote by Durga Khote, Chanderi Duniyet by Leela Chitnis and Kashala Udyachi baat by Shanta Hublikar.
One of these actresses was Durga Khote, whose life story is very inspiring. A girl from a well to do family marries and after her husband dies, fights the circumstances, going against the existing society norms and becomes successful. Despite the major ups and downs in life she maintains her reputation of being an actress without a blemish or controversy in her professional career. She ends her life with a success story.
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 silent 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 Aachary 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 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. For the last part of her life, she moved to Alibaug, near Mumbai. Durga Khote died in Mumbai on 22 September 1991. ( Thanks to her autobiography, wiki, muVyz and my notes.)
Today’s song is sung by Durga Khote and an unknown male, with chorus.
Song-Maiyya soona Mandir tera (Adhoori Kahaani)(1939) Singers-Durga Khote, unknown male voice,Lyricist – P L Santoshi, MD- Gyan Dutt
Chorus
Durga Khote + Chorus
Lyrics
Maiyya
soona Mandir tera
Maiyya
soona Mandir tera
dhoop nahin hai
deep nahin hai
koi nahin pujaari
dhoop nahin hai
deep nahin hai
koi nahin pujaari
chhaayi hai andhiyaari
chhaayi hai andhiyaari
tan-man ke jag deep jalaaye
kar de door andheraa
tan-man ke jag deep jalaaye
kar de door andheraa
maiyya
soona mandir teraa
maiyya
soona mandir teraa
madhuhaasini
priya bhaashini
dukh naashini
maateshwari
maateshwari
sukh taarini(?)
var daayini
hitkaaarini
pooja karne laal badhenge
praanon ke balidaan karenge
pooja karne laal badhenge
praanon ke balidaan karenge
bhakti bhaav ke thhaal sajenge
nav prabhat ke shankh bajenge
bhakti bhaav ke thhaal sajenge
nav prabhat ke shankh bajenge
jaag uthhega Bharat saara
hoga sarvatr(?) saveraa
jaag uthhega Bharat saara
hoga sarvatr(?) saveraa
Maiyya
soona Mandir tera
Maiyya
soona Mandir tera
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