Archive for the ‘Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940)’ Category
Door. . . Bahut Door
Posted on: January 17, 2020
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.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 : | 4200 | Post No. : | 15384 |
Today’s song is from the first decade of the talkie era and from one of the very popular Saigal films coming from New Theatres, Calcutta, ‘President’ (1937).
Ardeshir Irani of Imperial Film Co. won the race with Calcutta’s Madon Theatres and released the first talkie film of India – ‘Alam Ara’ (1931) and a revolution took place in the Indian Film Industry ! With just one shot, scores of Anglo-Indian actresses of the silent era became jobless, because they could not speak Hindi or sing a song. Smaller producers of silent films just shut their shops, because now, a single talkie film needed 4 times more investment compared to cheaper varieties of silent films produced earlier. The financial wizards understood the new opportunity of making money by investing in talkie film production. The number of staff of film companies increased and the big players with sound finances, became ready to grow bigger.
By 1934, the production of silent films ceased completely. Some of the noted film makers like V Shantaram, for example, who had shunned the talkie films initially as a temporary aberration, now took keen interest in making talkie films. They realised that talkie films could be an excellent vehicle for giving out social reform messages to the society. Initially, though the talkie films were made on folk tales, Parsi dramas and mythological stories, after 4-5 years the trend changed in its content and we can see a variety of genres in films then.
The playback was introduced in 1935 at Calcutta and in 1937 at Bombay – both by Bengali MDs. So, in 1937 films became mature. The other major highlights of 1937 were. . .
1.The first songless film – ‘Naujawan’ – was made by the Wadias
2. First English poem was used as a song in a Hindi film – which is available even today.
3. Younger MDs like Gobind Ram, Gyan Dutt, Ram Gopal Pande etc started their film careers.
4. Prabhat Films brought out their first film on social reforms – ‘Duniya Na Maane’. Same time New Theatres gave ‘Mukti’, ‘Ánath Ashram’ and ‘President’, on social issues.
5. First colour film – ‘Kisan Kanya’, indegenously shot and processed by Imperial, was released.
In 1937, a total of 176 films were made in India, out of which 102 were Hindi films. 14 films were made in Calcutta, 2 in Poona, 1 each in Kolhapur and Lahore and 83 films were made in Bombay alone, establishing itself as the undisputed Capital of Film Industry. In Bombay, the major players (film companies) made films in 1937 alone, thus – Prabhat-2, Ranjit-8, Sagar-6, Bombay Talkies-4, Minerva-2, Huns Pictures-3, Wadias-4, Prakash-3 and the maximum films were made by Imperial-9. The rest films were made by dozens of smaller production houses and individual producers under their banners. The major companies made 41 films, which was a major chunk of the 83 Bombay made films, in 1937.
Out of this, some notable films were – ‘Khwab Ki Duniya’ made by Prakash, was based on the famous novel and a subsequent Hollywood film ‘The Invisible Man’ (1933). The trick scenes were lapped up by the audiences. ‘Mahageet’ made by Sagar, heralded the playback singing in Bombay. ‘Savitri’ made by Bombay Talkies, was Ashok kumar’s first mythological film (he acted in another film ‘Úttara Abhimanyu’ (1946) later on). ‘Naujawan’ was Wadia’s first songless talkie film of India.
By 1937, the film music had also undergone total change. From stage drama style music, now MDs tried various other original melodies. Thus music became one of the major attractions of a film. Particularly some film songs are such that they occupy a special place in our heart. Many such songs of Hindi films are known to all of us and at some point of time we all had also got carried away with such songs. The other day, I was reading the book- “Golden period of film music 1931-1960” by film historian and writer Isak Mujawar ( चित्रपट संगीताचा सुवर्णकाळ १९३१-१९६०), in which he has related an anecdote…
When Producer Director Raj Khosla was a small boy, his father used to love Saigal songs. They had an ancient type of gramophone and his father would always play Saigal’s song “Ik Bungala Bane Nyaara” from film ‘President’-1937. It was his favourite song. Even Raj used to like this song. As he grew older he always used to remember his father and this song. In 1969, when he made film “Do Raaste”, he created a scene in it, in which Balraj Sahani – the eldest of the three brothers in the film, always listens to this song on his gramophone. The same song is played in the film many times. In fact,the entire film story is built around that song.”
(free translation from Marathi).
When I read this, out of curiosity I opened my laptop and went to You Tube. I searched for the film ‘Do Raaste’ and watched it. Lo and behold ! The song indeed is played by Balraj Sahani and I too – along with Balraj Sahani – enjoyed the song again. Nowadays, we find in many films, old songs are played. Our own Sudhir ji is also running a series of such songs on this blog.
About a month back, I came across 2 song snippets, from film President-37, which I found were not covered in the Blog so far. The problem was, one song was of only 40 seconds and the other was of 50 seconds. Next day, I had urgent engagements till next 10 days, so I left the matter at that. However, when I became free, I sent those snippets to Atul ji and Sudhir ji. Sudhir ji informed me that the shorter song was opening part of the famous song “Ek Bangala Bane Nyaara” and was already covered in the blog. However the other 50 second snippet needed some work on it. Sudhir ji restored it by editing, cutting, joining and adding the missing song lines to it, etc. to make it a song of respectable duration of 2+ minutes. It included some dialogues also. He even uploaded it. I thank Sudhir ji for mending, amending and sending the song to me for presentation.
As per HFGK, there are 8 songs in film President. 6 songs are already discussed. In these posts, lot of information about the film and related matters has already been given , so there is nothing left to write about these matters. However, I have found that the synopsis of the film given by the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema takes a different angle of the story than what is already given in the blog. So I am reproducing it here to know what it means. . .
A famous Saigal musical narrating a strange love story set against 1930s industrialisation and worker-management relations. The 16-year-old Prabhavati (Chandrabati Devi/Kamlesh Kumari) inherits a mill and turns it into an extremely profitable enterprise.
Prakash (Saigal) is a worker who designs a more efficient machine for the factory for which he first gets sacked and then is re-employed. He falls in love with Prabhavati’s sister Sheila (Leela Desai), who later makes way for Prabhavati who is also in love with Prakash.
Her withdrawal distresses Prakash, causing him to bully the workers who then go on strike. Prabhavati realises the problem and presumably commits suicide (she disappears into an office and locks the door) for the good of her sister and of the business. The hint is about her death.
The unmistakable thrust of the story is that the ‘personal’ (i.e. relations with women) should not be allowed to interfere in male pursuits like business or management, equated with social good. The film has Saigal’s classic number Ek bangla bane nyara. The plot echoes the Guru Dutt script for the unfinished Baharain Phir Bhi Ayengi.
Let us now listen to this reborn 7th song. Some dialogues come free with the song…
Song – Door. . . Bahut Door (President) (1937) Singer – Bikram Nahar, Lyricist – [Unattributed], MD – Pankaj Mullick
Leela Desai
Jagdish Sethi
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
[jeejee
ae ree jeejee
toone jo kiya thheek kiya
tujhe ye sab kuchh chhod kar chala jaana hoga
door
bahut door
bahut door]
door
bahut door
phir bhi tum itne nahin door
jitna aankhon se noor
phir bhi tum itne nahin door
jitna aankhon se noor
[damn it
daam aankhen
damn noor]
ras bhari vaani se to
man ki kali
khil gayi
khil gayi
hic
theeeeeeee
kathor vachan
hic
sunte hi
murjhaayi
hic
[Vikram
ye bakwaas band karoge ya nahin]
[. . .]
[..clipped dialogues..]
[. . .]
[apne us rascal se keh dena ki
uski daal ab yahaan nahin galegi
Sheela darling us’se nafrat karti hai
Sheela dear. . .]
[tum isi laayak ho
raat khatm hone waali hai
jee bhar ke ro sako to ro lo
savere tak dil ki bhadaas nikal jaayegi
ghabraane ko koi baat nahin]
mere nainan ke tat pe shnaan
birha ki kaali raat
karti hai jis bhaant(?)
ho jaati hai parbhaat
mere nainan ke tat pe shnaan
birha ki kaali raat
karti hai jis bhaant(?)
ho jaati hai parbhaat
haar mein hoti hai jeet
yahi ee
hai
preeet ki reeeet
————————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
————————————————————
[जीजी
ए री जीजी
तूने जो किया ठीक किया
तुझे ये सब छोड़ कर चला जाना होगा
दूर
बहुत दूर
बहुत दूर]
दूर
बहुत दूर
फिर भी तुम इतने नहीं दूर
जितना आँखों से नूर
फिर भी तुम इतने नहीं दूर
जितना आँखों से नूर
[डैम इट
डैम आँखें
डैम नूर]
रस भरी वाणी से तो
मन की काली
खिल गई
खिल गई
हिक
थी॰॰॰
कठोर वचन
हिक
सुनते ही
मुरझाई
[विक्रम
ये बकवास बंद करोगे या नहीं]
[. . .]
[..संवाद कट..]
[. . .}
[अपने उस रास्कल से कह देना कि
उसकी दाल अब यहाँ नहीं गलेगी
शीला डार्लिंग उससे नफरत करती है
शीला डियर ॰ ॰ ॰]
[तुम इसी लायक हो
रात खत्म होने वाली है
जी भर कर रो सको तो रो लो
सवेरे तक दिल कि भड़ास निकाल जाएगी
घबराने कि कोई बात नहीं]
मेरे नैनन के तट पे श्नान
बिरहा कि काली रात
करती है जिस भाँत(?)
हो जाती है परभात
मेरे नैनन के तट पे श्नान
बिरहा कि काली रात
करती है जिस भाँत(?)
हो जाती है परभात
हार में होती है जीत
यही॰॰॰
है
प्रीत कि रीत
Wo man nagari mein aayenge
Posted on: January 16, 2020
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.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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4199 | Post No. : | 15382 | Movie Count : |
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Today’s song is a very rare song from an obscure and unheard of film – Anjaam-1940. Films with the title Anjaam were made in 1940, 1952, 1968, 1978, 1986 and 1993. Today’s film was the first and then in every decade one film was made on this title. First I thought that this title wins the highest number, but NO. The honour of ‘same title maximum films made’ goes to INSAAF, which was made 7 times !
It gives me a pleasure to write about rare, obscure old films. Mainly because, it is a challenge to gather or literally excavate information from various different sources about the film, director, MD, the actors or the singers. Many times, some names are so obscure that it takes several days or even months to get the information. While reading an article, the readers rarely realise the hard work that has gone into the presentation. Not all information is available on beck and call. Sometimes a windfall comes with plenty of information from unexpected sources, but that is rare. Many times days and months are blank. I call this as a challenge.
Film Anjaam-40, made by Vishnu Cinetone- owned by Dhirubhai Desai, was a Costume drama. The music for the film was by Shanti kumar Desai and the cast was Anil kumar, Meher Sultana, Yeshwant Dave, Rajkumari, Samson, Bulbule, Fazlu etc. All the songs were written by Munshi Qabil. The film was directed by Kanjibhai Rathod.
The name Kanjibhai Rathod will not ring any bells in the ears of any reader. That is because, this was his last film as a director. Since his directorial career ended 80 years ago, it is unlikely that any reader has even heard his name. I had come across this name earlier, but there was no opportunity to write on any song from his films. So, when I finally got hold of this rare song, I knew this was my last chance to write about him as this was his last film as a director. Of course, he was very much in the film industry for another 20 odd years, but as a Production manager.
After I got this song, it took me almost one month to collect enough information about Kanjibhai Rathod. I had to literally dig out information from quite old articles. I knew if at all his bio is available, it had to be in Gujarati alone. So I scanned Gujarati articles. Harish Raghuwanshi ji also helped me in this and also provided his own Gujarati article on Kanjibhai Rathod.
In the Hollywood filmdom, in the early years, Blacks were not given any jobs. Over a period, this changed and Blacks became a part of film industry. Similarly, in early years, in Indian film world, backwards and Dalits were not preferred except for menial jobs. However, it is to the credit of the Gujarati filmdom that they encouraged Kanjibhai Rathod and gave him opportunities to showcase his skills as an actor and a very successful silent film director. Kanjibhai Rathod was a Dalit.
Kanjibhai Rathod from Maroli village in south Gujarat, was considered the first successful commercial director in Indian cinema. His rise to fame was in an era when most people stayed away from films, due to a peculiar stigma attached to the filmdom.
Not much is known about Rathod’s personal life. Film historian Virchand Dharamsey writes, “Kanjibhai was coming from a Dalit family and he can be considered the first successful professional director of India.”
Rathod began as a still photographer with the Oriental Film Company, owned by a U.S. trained film maker Sachet Singh,in Baroda. His experience earned him a job in Kohinoor Film Company and its owner Dwarkadas Sampat made him a director. Till then he worked as an actor in many silent films. In film Narsi Bhagat, he did the Hero’s role.
Rathod’s ‘Bhakta Vidur’ released in 1921, was perhaps the first criticism of the British colonialism in a popular feature film.
This mythological allegory directly alluded to political issues, particularly the controversy over the Rowlatt Act.
An adaptation from a section of the Mahabharata, this film showed the British as the Kauravas and its protagonist Vidur as Gandhi. Sampat himself played the role donning the Gandhi cap and khadi shirt. The film raised a storm – while a big hit in Bombay, it was banned by the British in Karachi and Madras, write historians.
Rathod was the first film-maker to direct a crime thriller in 1920s on contemporary events. His Kala Naag (1924) was based on famous double murder case in Bombay. Rathod introduced Zubaida to film industry with his Gulbakavali.
By the time he left for Saurashtra Film Company in Rajkot in 1924, Rathod had enough work on his name. At the launch of Krishna Film Company, he returned to Mumbai in 1931, the year of first talkies.
Dharamsey writes in his ‘Light of Asia: Indian Silent Cinema 1912–1934’ that Rathod directed five talkies out of 17 made in 1931. The films were, Chintamani, Ghar ki Laxmi, Harischandra, Laila Majnu and Paak Daaman, all for Krishna Movietone. He remained active in the industry even in 1940s, but he was not as successful directing talkies.
In the early film making, the contribution of Gujarati men is substantial. Out of the 1313 silent films made during 1913 to 1934, more than half were made by Gujarati producers. Companies like Sagar, Kohinoor, Shrikrishna, Sharda etc at Bombay and Elphinston Film co. at Calcutta were owned by Gujaratis. They not only did business, but also made many Gujarati and Non Gujarati artistes. Gujarati writers always provided story lines.
From 1921 to 1924, Kanjibhai Rathore directed 31 silent films for Kohinoor Film Co. For Shrikrishna film Co. of Maneklal Patel, he directed 21 silent films. For some time he did work for Saurashtra Film co. at Rajkot also.
Kanjibhai directed total 59 silent films and 16 Hindi Talkie films and 1 Gujarati Talkie film . A grand total of 76 films in all. Quite a substantial number. Kanjibhai Rathod was much ahead of times. In one silent film-Sati Anusuya-1921, an actress, Sakeena, was shown fully naked. During silent film era major actors like Raja Sandow, Jaleel, Fatima Begum, Ermelin, Gohar, Putlibai, Gulab, Rampyari etc worked for him. In Talkie era, actors like Sardar Akhtar, Prem Adib, Charlie, Navinchandra, Azuri, Marutirao pehelwan etc acted in his films.
Kanjibhai joined as Production Manager in Chandrakala Pictures of Dhirubhai Desai, after retiring from direction. Dhirubhai remade several of Kanjibhai silent films as Talkie films, like Bolti Bulbul-42, Devkanya-46, Bhakta Prahlad-46 etc. Kanjibhai had 2 wives. He wedded Kanta Ben in a traditional way and he wed Ganga Ben in Arya Samaj style. Ganga Ben gave him a son, Suresh. unfortunately, he died at the age of just 16 years. Then Kanjibhai retired and lived in village Ponsara in Gujarat. He died peacefully on 31-12-1970. Thus ended a superb career.
Film Anjaam’s hero was Anil kumar. Actor Anil Kumar (Sardar Gul) was born in 1915 at Calcutta.His father had a fruit business. They were from Peshawar (just like Dilip Kumar). He was not much educated but could speak Hindi, Urdu and English fluently. Once he went to Bombay to meet a friend. There he met an old acquaintance, who took him to Sohrab Modi.
The good looking Sardar Gul was liked by Modi and he offered him the lead role in his film ‘ Saed E Havas’-36. Sardar Gul was given a screen name of Chandra Kumar. The film was based on a translation of William Shakespeare’s drama- King John, by Agha Hashra Kashmiri in 1907. Sardar Gul was to get Rs. 200 for this work. The film was a flop and Sohrab Modi refused to pay him more that Rs 50. Annoyed, he left Bombay and returned to Calcutta.
However he came back in 1938 and did his first film with a new screen name Anil Kumar. The film was Talwar ka Dhani-38. Soon he was well known and acted in 10 films in next 3 years. As the decade of the 40s saw many new actors, producers and directors, he was reduced to Character roles and side roles. By 1950, he was almost like an extra. He did work in many films, but only few films credited him, as his roles were negligible. We find his name in just 30 films, where he was credited, the last such film being Tarzan and Deliailah-64.
The side hero in this film was Yeshwant Dave. It was not uncommon during the days of early cinema for people to hang around studios and filming locations in the hopes of being discovered. One such intrepid soul was Yeshwant Dave (or Yashwant Dave), who was at Kohinoor Studios observing a picture being made by producer J.B.H. Wadia. The handsome and athletic Yeshwant cornered Wadia, insisting that he would make a fine hero for an action film.
Wadia agreed to test Yeshwant by having him jump from the roof of one set piece to another. He did so successfully, and J.B.H. decided to cast him in a film that he was to direct for Young United Players, the 1931 silent THUNDERBOLT (aka DILER DAKU) featuring Mumtaz as the heroine.
Yashwant was again directed by Wadia in TOOFAN MAIL (1932) and there after became a sought after action star appearing in the stunt films of other directors like Aspi, Dhirubhai Desai, Nari Ghadiali, Chunilal Parekh, and Harshadrai Mehta. Some of his films include BHARAT VEER (1932), JADUI JUNG (1934), BOMBSHELL (1935), VASANTBENGALI (1937), FLYING RANEE (1939), MAGIC CITY (1940), TORPEDO (1941), ROYAL MAIL (1946), and KAUN PARDESI (1947).
Growing out of the stunt hero persona, he turned to character parts and made infrequent onscreen appearances throughout the 1950s, including in SHEIKH CHILLI and MAKKHEE CHOOS both released in 1956 and starring comedian Bhagwan. What became of Yeshwant Dave afterwards is anybody’s guess, as the once popular action star faded into obscurity and, sadly, is barely remembered today.
Today’s song is sung by Meher Sultana and chorus. Not much information is available on Meher Sultana. From HFGK, we find that she featured in 19 films as an actress and sang 6 songs in 3 films also. Her songs in this film were her last songs. Her first film as an actress was Bhool ka Bhog-1935 and last film was O Jaanewale-1948. Today’s song, though 80 year old is of good quality and pleasantly sung in tune, to listen to. Enjoy…
( Information for this article is culled from 2 Gujarati articles of Shri Urvish Kothari ji, a Gujarati article by Harish Raghuwanshi ji, wiki, Filmdom-1946, cinemajadu.com. muVyz.com and Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. My thanks to all.)
Song- Wo man nagari mein aayenge (Anjaam)(1940) Singer-Meher Sultana, Lyricist-Munshi Qabil, MD- Shanti Kumar
Lyrics
Wo man nagari mein aayenge
man nagri mein aayenge
hans hans ke bhaag jagaayenge
hans hans ke bhaag jagaayenge
wo man nagari mein
man nagari mein
man nagari mein aayenge
main dulhan ban sharmaaungi
main dulhan ban sharmaaungi
munh pher pher ithhlaaungi
munh pher pher ithhlaaungi
aur darshan ko tarsaaungi
aur darshan ko tarsaaungi
wo ghoonghat aap uthaayenge
wo ghoonghat aap uthaayenge
Mohan ki murali baajegi
Mohan ki murali
Mohan ki murali baajegi
chhum chhum chhum Raadha naachegi
chhum chhum chhum Raadha naachegi
mridang jhaanjh bajaayenge
mridang jhaanjh bajaayenge
madhuwan mein raas rachaayenge
madhuwan mein raas rachaayenge
wo man nagari mein
man nagari mein
man nagari mein aayenge
hans hans ke bhaag jagaayenge
hans hans ke bhaag jagaayenge
wo man nagari mein aayenge
wo man nagari mein aayenge
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Posted on: December 9, 2019
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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4161 | Post No. : | 15329 | Movie Count : |
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Today’s song is from film Mera Imaan-1934.
I have been writing on old films and songs since 2012. Most of my posts are for films of the 30s and the 40s. However, I have also done innumerable posts on songs and films of period 1951 upto as latest as 2018. That is because, I believe, good music and good films exist in all eras. Only their percentage differs. Additionally, one’s likings generally decide what is ‘Good music’, based on his taste. Taste develops depending on one’s exposure. If I don’t listen to a song of 2019, how am I to conclude if it is good or bad ? Without analysing these factors, people are in a hurry to brand films and songs as good or bad.
Older generations like old films and old songs, mainly due to Nostalgia. Their memories are attached to these films/songs. It is said that old songs have a longer shelf life. But are not older people keeping old music alive ? As the times elapse, decade by decade, the older songs will be forgotten decade wise.
As on today, how many people enjoy songs of the 30’s ? To like these songs, the person has to be of the age of 90 to 100 years. Naturally, 30’s songs are out of favour now. To like songs of the 40’s, the person has to be in the age group of 70 to 85 or so. Hence today some songs of 40s are still popular. In another 10-15 years, songs of 30s and 40s may not be in circulation to that extent, because people who remembered and enjoyed them will be one.
This is Life. As Lord Tennyson said, “The old order changeth yielding place to New….”. Does that mean old films and songs have to be dumped now ? Absolutely not. On the contrary, they must be discussed elaborately, using information to make it available to the coming Generations. Towards this end, this Blog is playing an Yeoman’s role in preserving old and very old songs at one place. I am sure that History will thank Atul ji, for his Blog and for making old songs and highly credible information available to the coming Generations.
I have observed one thing here. During the period 2012 to 2016, for every old song of 30s and 40s, there used to be many comments from the readers and healthy discussions took place, emanating newer information about older films and songs. However, for the last 3 or 4 years, the comments have dried up so much that sometimes I start feeling if these posts are read by anyone at all ? Should I stop writing ?
Then I realise that the posts are written not for getting Claps and Bouquets, but to record History to preserve information and above all, with a noble intention to share knowledge, before it goes to Dust with the writer ! With this philosophy, I continue writing more enthusiastically.
Today’s film Mera Imaan-34 was a Stunt film, directed by Nagendra Majumdar. The songs were written by Dr. Dhaniram Prem. The name of the Music Director is not mentioned in HFGK. The cast of the film was Madhav Kale, Gauhar Karnataki, N.Majumdar, Athavale, Baburao Apte (brother of Shanta Apte), Madhukar Gupte, Miss Amirjaan etc etc.
Film’s director, who had also acted in it, was Nagendra Majumdar. He was the father of Music Director Ninu (Niranjan) Majumdar. Nagendra was born in a happy family in the year 1894 in Bombay. After his father died, “Pearl Dairy” established by his father ran very well doing good business. Suddenly, Nagendra’s wife fell seriously ill and despite taking her full care, she expired. Due to neglect of the Dairy in this period, Dairy also closed down.
Her shifted to Baroda and worked as a State Police Inspector. Later he worked as Watch and Ward Inspector in Baroda Railways. He left the job and started working as a hero in dramas of famous dramatist R.V.Desai. Heeralal, the owner of Laxmi Film Company, Bombay was impressed with his personality and took him to Bombay in 1926 to act in his silent films. Thus started his film career. In those days Silent films used to be completed within a month. He worked as a Hero in films of Laxmi, Jagdish and Imperial film companies.
In the same year, he directed a film ‘Paani mein aag’-1926, made by Royal Arts. Then came two more films made by Kaiser E Hind films. He also directed films of other companies. In all he directed 15 Silent films by 1932. By then, the Talkie had arrived. In the next 14 years he directed 12 Talkie films like – Ras Vilas-32, Sassi Punnu-32, Patit Pawan-33, mirza Sahibaan-33, Mera Imaan-34, Kala Wagh-34, Rangila nawab-35, Kimiyagar-36, Aaj ka Alladin aka Alladin II-36, Lehri lutera-37, Talwarwala-46 and Swadesh Sewa-46. When K L Saigal came to Bombay, Nagendra wanted to work with him. In film Tansen-43, he did the role of Tansen’s (Saigal’s) father and he was very happy.
His last 2 films came in 1946, but his health was not cooperating for quite few years. He gave up work and took rest. However, he suffered from paralysis and died on 22-8-1951. His son Ninu Majumdar worked in Bombay A.I.R. as head of Gujarati programmes, since 1937. By the time Nagendra died, Ninu had already started working as a Music Director.
As a Director, Nagendra had worked with the best of his times like, Master Vithal, Zubeida, Jillo, Billimorea brothers, Madhuri, Navinchandra, Durga Khote Jairaj, Sultana, Noorjehan sr and such luminaries of those days. He had worked for Ranjit, Imperial, Sharda, Jayant Desai films, Yadnik films etc etc.
Now let us know something about Dr. Dhaniram Prem – a Medical Doctor, who came into films like a Meteor for few years in the 30’s period. Dr.DHANIRAM “Prem” (Born 26 September 1904 – Died 10 November 1979) Lyricist, Story and Dialogue Writer in Hindi Films, an extraordinary person, was born on 26-9-1904 at Dariyapur, Aligadh, UP. He completed his MBBS from Bombay and then he went to UK for further studies under assistance from a charitable institution.
He came back, started his practice and repaid all loans first. From childhood he was fond of writing. He wrote several books and articles in National papers. From 1932 to 1936 he wrote Stories, dialogues and Lyrics for 14 films. In the first 2 years he wrote for only Ranjit studio films. Later he was a freelancer and wrote for others too. Gol Nishan aka Mark of Zoro-36 was the last film for which he wrote the Story and some songs..
Then he went to UK and practiced there, engaging himself in social causes. He was highly respected by the British. In 1964 he declared that he would contest the U.K. Prime Minister elections. A special pediatric ward was named after him in his honour while he was alive. He got several awards in U.K. for his excellent work. Indian government gave him Padmashree.
On 29-10-1979 he came to India and stayed in Delhi, but in two day’s time he met with a scooter accident and he died on 10-11-1979. His specialty was that in every film lyric, he used the word ‘Prem’ as a signature word. This trait was picked up later by some more Lyricists in Hindi films.
The hero of this film was Madhav Kale. Madhav Kale was born in Nashik in 1903. After his school education at Nashik, he joined Deccan college at Poona and passed Intermediate course. He was interested in playing in dramas, which was opposed by his mother. But he used to take part in dramas while in college. He was a good singer too. Wanting to join films, he sent applications to many companies. Saroj and sharda companies responded. He acted in several silent films like Mukti sangram, kanak kesari etc. He entered the Talkie films with Vikram Charitra-32, Mera Imaan-34 and Vishnu Bhakti-34. During this period, he got married in 1934.
He acted in 21 films. His last film was Gokul ka chor-59. He even directed one film, Sacha Sapna-42. He sang 13 songs in 7 films till 1942.
There is no information about him after this.
After writing this bio of Madhav kale, I came to know that after the films, Madhav went back to Nashik, where he was active in local politics. He became a Municipal Councillor, but lost Assembly elections, which he was very hopeful of. He died somewhere in 1980.
Today’s film Mera imaan-34 was based on a Marathi drama – Amche imaan (आमचे ईमान ), staged by Lalit Natak Samaj.
(I have collated information for this post from various sources like Listener’s Bulletins No. 40 of Feb-80 and No.145 of July 2010, HFGK, Sapnon ke Saudagar by Vithal Pandya, Silent films by Dr.Verma, Lost Treasures by kamlakar P. and my notes.)
Song-Sab kaliyaan khile aaj (Mera Imaan)(1934) Singer-Gauhar Karnataki, Lyricist-Dr. Dhaniram Prem, MD- Not known
Lyrics
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
??
??
soonghat ras ki daali
soonghat ras ki daali
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
sugandh basey man mhaare
man aur sugandh base ae
aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
sugandh
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
??
??
??
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
sugandh basey chaaron
chaaron ?? kunj ??
chaaron ?? kunj ??
chhaayi rahi hariyaali
chhaayi rahi hariyaali
??
??
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan
aa aa aa
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan
sab kaliyaan
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan
Aaye sajni shubh din aaye
Posted on: November 16, 2019
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.
| Blog Day : | 4138 | Post No. : | 15298 |
Today’s song is from film Manzil-1936.
The film was made by Calcutta’s New Theatres. It was directed by P C Barua – who also acted in the film. P C Barua (24-10-1903 to 29-11-1951) had acted in 8 Hindi films and directed 14 films in Hindi. In film Jawab-42, he even sang one song. The lyricists for this film were Arzoo Lucknowi and A H Shor. The music was composed by R C Boral, duly assisted by Pankaj Mullick. Though there were 9 songs in the film, it seems only 4 songs were issued on commercial records. 2 songs are already discussed and today’s song will be the 3rd song from Manzil-36. The cast of the film was Jamuna, Molina Devi, P C Barua, Prithvirasj Kapoor, Nimo, K C Dey, Harimati, Sitara, Shor etc.etc.
In the first decade of Talkie films, films made by New Theatres, Calcutta were more popular than Hindi films made in Bombay. There were 3 reasons. One- Bangla films were strong on story content. Two- music was appealing – especially of Saigal films and three- their distribution network was very wide and strong, thereby reaching a larger audience. It covered, South, West, North, in addition to East and Burma.
The story content was strong, because almost every film was based on famous Bangla novels. This ensured that the audience was familiar with the theme and now they wanted to see and hear the characters from the book. Film makers from Bengal were all well educated and rarely resorted to made up stories. They invariably made films on famous novels. Films from Bombay were made either from folk tales, Parsi-Gujarati- Marathi stage dramas or on stories cooked up by the so called ” story Departments” of the studios.
While there were films based on stories by authors from many languages, the most such films were based on works from Bengal.The reasons were simple. The film makers from and in Bengal were educated and secondly,those film makers who shifted from Calcutta to Bombay, followed the same pattern. Thus many films were made on novels from Bengal. One name stands out ,whose works outnumber all other authors on whose novels Hindi films were made and that name is SARAT CHANDRA CHATTOPADHYAYA (Chatterjee)-1876-1938.
Other famous authors like Bankimchandra Chatterjee etc. were also used, but to my knowledge, more films were based on Sarat Babu’s novels. Except perhaps Devdas, his novels generally were spun around misunderstandings between Lovers,friends, relatives etc. and ended with happy events. These were entertaining, surely.
Some of his novels on which films were made are…
1. Devdas…1935,55,2002 and 2009. 16 films in 7 languages
2. Parineeta…1953 and 2005
3. Swami…1977(H) and 2008(B) (Antaratma)
4. Apne paraye…1980 (Nishkriti)
5. Chhoti Bahu…71 and 84 (Bindur Chhele)
6. Iti Shrikant…2004 (Shrikant)
7. Khushboo…54 and 75 (Pandit Mashai)
8. Majhli Didi…67 (Mejdidi)
9. Manzil…36 (Grihdaah)
10. Biraj Bahu…54 (Biraj Bahu)
11. Mana Desam…49 NTR’s Debut…Telugu (Vipradas)
12. Vagdanam-61 Telugu (Datta)
( This list is only indicative and not exhaustive)
Today we will listen to a song from film MANZIL-1936, produced by New Theatres, Calcutta. This film is based on Sarat’s “GRIH DAAH” (The inflammed Home).
The novel Grih Daah was first serialised in Bangla paper ‘Bharatbarsha’ in 1919. The novel was published on 20-3-1920 in Calcutta. The central theme of the novel was the conflict between the Bramho Samaj and the Traditionalists in those days.
To understand this theme one must know the background. In the late 19th century BRAMHO SAMAJ was established in Bengal by those Bramhins/ Bhadraloks who thought that it was now time for the Renaisance of the Bramhins who were stuck in the age old outdated customs and rituals. But there was a large group who strongly believed in Traditional ways, values and the customs. In the end of 19th century and the begining of 20th century this battle between these two groups became fierce. Bramhos wanted to be upto date with modern times.
Saratchandra belonged to the Tradionalists. Most of his novels advocated this. Ofcourse,his novels had captivating situations, literary values and very firm and strong Heroines which made his novels very popular. His stories were mostly woman-centric.
One point I must admire in Bengali film makers and that is that they were very loyal and true to the storylines on which the films were made. There was neither compromise nor ” Cinematic liberties” taken at all.
Manzil-36 was a story of this conflict.
MAHIM (Pramathesh Barua) is a poor but educated young man. His friend Suresh (Prithviraj Kapoor) is a rich playboy. ACHALA ( Jamuna ) is brought up in a modern Bramho family, who has the liberty to choose her own life partner. Both Suresh and Mahim love Achala. She chooses Mahim, impressed with his intellectual power and education, though she is also impressed with the riches of Suresh. After marriage, both move to another town. In a short time Achala gets disillusioned about Mahim, due to his poverty. She remembers Suresh. Once Mahim gets this doubt and they fight. Their relations become strained. Mahim falls ill seriously. Meanwhile Suresh arrives in that town and meets Achala. While treating and nursing Mahim, Achala is in two minds.
One day she elopes with Suresh, but in a month’s time she realises her blunder. She sees the playboy ways of Suresh and realises that he is not loving her truly. With remorse, she shows the courage to return to her husband Mahim. He also,with great magnanimity,forgives her and accepts her. Thus the traditional principals have won over the modern outlook.
The cast of this film includes Jamuna and Molina Devi, about whom, not much information was available here. Jamuna’s name is a ” same name confusion” case. I know atleast 3 Jamunas, who worked in Hindi films. Luckily, they all operated in almost different time periods, still Internet makes lot of mistakes in their Filmographies.
Jamuna ( 10-10-1919 to 24-11-2005) was the fourth of the six daughters of Puran Gupta, a resident of a village near Agra, India. Each of the sisters was named after an Indian river like Ganga, Jamuna, Bhagirathi etc. As destiny would have it, Jamuna came to reside in Calcutta, a leading film producing city in India. Originally from Gauripur of Assam’s Goalpara district (undivided), Jamuna was married to the legendary actor director Pramathesh Barua, or P.C. Barua, who died in 1951. She began her acting career in her husband’s famous production Devdas in 1936 and was the film’s lead character Parvati or Paro. She went on to make a number of memorable movies in Assamese, Bengali and Hindi, notably Amiri, Mukti, Adhikar and Sesh Uttar. She stopped acting after Barua died.
Jamuna made her film debut in the 1930s and played a small role in Mohabbat Ki Kasauti (1934), Hindi version of Rooplekha (Bengali), directed by P.C. Barua. A romance started although Barua, hailing from the native Indian state of Gauripur, Assam, was already twice married. As the actress, who was to play Parbati in Barua’s next venture Devdas (1935) reported inability to attend the studio on the very first day of shooting, Jamuna was called from Barua’s residence (she was living with him by then) and was asked to get down to work straight away without any preparation whatsoever. Thus she came to be the first Parbati of Indian talkies- Miss Light had played the role in the silent version of the enormously popular Sarat Chandra novel. Aishwarya Rai happens to the last so far and Devdas has been made and re-made a number of times. Jamuna played the same role in the Hindi version also and was accepted in this very first proper exposure as an actress in her own right.
She continued to act in Barua’s films like Grihadaha (1936), Maya (1936), Adhikar (1939), Uttarayan (1941), Shesh Uttar (1942), Chander Kalanka (1944) and the respective Hindi versions of each film. Barua had left the prestigious New Theatres in 1940 and was directing as well as producing his films. Thereafter she acted in a number of Barua directed Hindi movies like Amiree, Pehchan and Iran Ki Ek Raat. These films however did not add to the prestige of either to Barua or to Jamuna. Jamuna also acted outside Barua direction in three Bengali films Debar (1943) and Nilanguriya (1943) where she proved herself without Barua’s influence. Her last film Malancha (1953) was also outside Barua’s direction. She also starred in its Hindi version Phulwari (1953).
Barua’s death in 1951 when he was only 48 changed Jamuna’s life altogether. She had three sons by Barua, Deb Kumar, Rajat and Prasun. They were all minors at the time and the Gauripur estate refused to take any of their responsibilities. She had to wage a legal battle with the powerful and influential royal family to get her and her children’s dues and recognition. Time settled the matters and she was allowed ownership of the house with its vast adjoining land and also an allowance. Jamuna spent the rest of her life after Barua as a housewife, busy in bringing up her minor sons. She had to complete the unfinished film Malancha of course but bid adieu to the film industry soon after. Later in her life she did attend a number of functions to celebrate the centennial year of husband P.C. Barua and received felicitations from the Government of India and the state Government of Assam as the first Parbati of Indian talkies.
Her last days were not very comfortable and she was bedridden for more than six months prior to her death. She is survived by her three sons and their families and a host of relatives. According to her family members, she had been ill for some time, and the cause of death was illness related to old age. She died at her residence in South Kolkata. She had acted in 13 Hindi films. Her last film was Phulwari-51.
Molina being an uncommon name there was no other actress of this name. Molina Devi was born in 1917. She received training in acting from Aparesh Mukherjee, and made her debut, at the age of 8, in a silent movie. She was acknowledged as one of the leading actresses of the Bengali stage, with her professional career spanning more than three decades.
In 1924, she debuted in a silent film while at the age of 8 and thereafter worked as dancer mainly in the mythological and historical plays. She performed some memorable roles in Bengali as well as Hindi films. She got a break through in Puran Bhagat and, Molina played the title role in the movie, Rani Rasmani. She took various roles, even vamps in her early career such as in Pramathesh Barua’s Rajat Jayanti in 1939. She also directed a Kolkata based theatre troupe, M. G. Enterprises.
Molina worked in Rangana theatre as chief artist. She performed as a singer on radio and contributed for formation of Mahila Silpi Mahal, a welfare association for female artists of Bengal. Molina Devi’s high creative excellence had found expression in such diverse media as the stage, the film and the radio. As a founder of the M. G. Enterprise, now in its twenty-third year, she had been responsible for the success of such well-known plays as ‘Thakur Sri Sri’, ‘Rani Rasmoni’, ‘Jagatbandhu’ and ‘Bholagiri’.
She had been honoured and decorated by many eminent organisations and learned bodies. For her eminence in the field of Drama and her contribution to its enrichment , Molina Devi received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Acting.
Her first husband was Jolu Boral and the second husband was actor Gurudas Banerjee.
Molina died on 13 August 1977 in Kolkata. She acted in 22 Hindi films. Her first Hindi film was Raaj Rani Meera-33 and last film was Babla-53. She also sang 11 songs in 4 Hindi films.
The singer of today’s song, Harimati Dua was one of the three singers of the First playbback song in Hindi Film History recorded for film Dhoop Chhaon-1935, along with Parul Ghosh and Suprova Sarkar.
She acted in 2 films and sang 9 songs in few films like, Manzil, Dhoop chhaaon, Maya, Ananth Ashram and Khudai khidmatgar.
Song-Aaye sajni shubh din aaye sab ki bigdi Raam banaaye (Manzil)(1936) Singer- Harimati, Lyrics- Aarzoo Lucknowi, MD- R C Boral
Lyrics
Aaye sajni
shubh din aaye
Aaye sajni
shubh din aaye
sab ki bigdi raam banaaye
sab ki bigdi raam banaaye
dekh dekh ke man lalchaaye
dekh dekh ke man lalchaaye
aankh mili
dil bhi mil jaaye
aankh mili
dil bhi mil jaaye
moh ka rasiya ras barsaaye
moh ka rasiya ras barsaaye
jalti agni maar bujhaaye
jalti agni maar bujhaaye
Aaye sajni
shubh din aaye
Aaye sajni
shubh din aaye
sab ki bigdi raam banaaye
sab ki bigdi raam banaaye
?? nahin hansi ye ro dena
?? to nahin hansi ye ro dena
na apni na wo kahin aap hi se ro dena
na apni na wo kahin aap hi se ro dena
sadabahaar bane ye tumhaara raaj suhaag
sadabahaar bane ye tumhaara raaj suhaag
jo sukh dukhon se mila hai
wo phir na kho dena
jo sukh dukhon se mila hai
wo phir na kho dena
ye rog wo hai jo dil ?? ke jaan leta hai
ye rog wo hai jo dil ?? ke jaan leta hai
usi ki jeet hai jo haar maan leta hai
usi ki jeet hai jo haar maan leta hai
Aaye sajni
shubh din aaaaaaaye
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 sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws
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4120 | Post No. : | 15273 | Movie Count : |
4200 |
Today’s song is from a film belonging to the first decade of Talkie films in India- Khan Bahadur-1937.
The film was made by Minerva Movietone and it was directed by Sohrab Modi. B S Hoogan was the Music Director. The film cast included, Sohrab Modi, Prem Adib, Naseem Banu, Sheela, Shareefa, Eruch Tarapore, Sadiq Ali, S.Kapadiya and others.
Incidentally, Khan bahadur-37 was the Debut film for Prem Adib, as a Hero. In later years, he became famous in the role of Shri Ram, along with Shobhanaq Samarth in the role of Seeta, in films made by Prakash pictures. While he was in Minerva, a special teacher was appointed to teach him singing. It was here that he fell in love with actress Indurani and they had a Love child.
In this world, everyone makes a mistake. But those who learn from their mistakes and mend ways, have better chances of succeeding in achievement of their goals. Sohrab Modi was a person who had plenty of ambitions. He knew his own capabilities and understood the need to change with the changing times. Khan Bahadur -37 was his just second movie. The first movie,- Atma Tarang-37-, that he made with his newly established production company had taught him a bitter lesson. He learnt from it and mended his ways for his second venture. It is interesting to know how and why Sohrab Modi committed that mistake. For this, we will have to, once again, go through his revised early life, his entry into acting field and his film making activity.
Sohrab Merwanji Modi was born in a Parsi family on 2nd November, 1897. His parents were Parsi civil Servants. For few years he stayed in Parsi community in Bombay. Sohrab Modi’s childhood was spent with lot of activities. As he grew up, his more interest was in exercise and sports. Though in childhood many times he was severely sick and few times he was also hospitalized, due to which, he looked tall but he was thin. Later he was very active. In school he was an average student, he never got hooked to History subject. Many times teacher complained to his parents for his lagging behind in history subject. His parents turned all the stones to make him study but it all went in waste. Sohrab was good in sports and from childhood he was interested in exercise which helped him to develop his personality in stage acting. Later he shifted with his family to Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. At the age of 14 -15 his mind absorbed many interesting things in acting as he watched silent movies. Soon his mind got diverted toward stage acting.
At the age of 17 years, he worked as a travelling exhibitor in Gwalior. Elder brother Rustom Modi, along with his close friend Ittefaq, set up Arya Subodh Natak Mandali theatre group in 1923.
In start Sohrab Modi only acted as an extra or side role which was not that important. But Sohrab was looking for the opportunity where he could act as a leading actor. Very soon he got an opportunity and he broke the ice. Soon He earned the reputation as Shakespearean actor. Sohrab Modi’s elder brother Rustom helped him in stage acting and people really appreciated the Sohrab acting. Sohrab played Jahangir (Hamlet) opposite Naseem Bano (Ophelia) in Khoon ka Khoon, one of the biggest Urdu stage Hits of the 20s. As Sohrab was growing up, his personality kept developing. His personality suited the role of a king. His two plays ‘Khoon Ka Khoon’ and ‘Saed-E-havas’ added flying colors to his acting.
In 1931 Hindi movie ‘Alam Ara’ was released with sound. On one side ‘Alam Ara’ was a big leap for Hindi cinema. But on other hand introducing of sound in movies created very big crack in theatre business. People started getting interested in watching movies than watching theatre plays. To save theatre art, Modi brothers set up the Stage Film Company in 1935. From this year Sohrab Modi never looked back in acting career.
Sohrab modi talents soon reached the ears of ‘Dadasaheb Phalke’ ears. Though Sohrab Modi had worked in few silent movies before, but Dadasaheb Phalke never appreciated Sohrab Modi’s acting. One day Phalke Saab personally went to see Sohrab’s play ‘Alexander the great’.
Sohrab Modi is remembered fondly by the film buffs for his towering personality, solid voice and his forceful dialogue delivery. Actually, Modi was much more than that. He was the first and the only film maker who took up Historical subjects to make films that left a long lasting impression on the film goers. He loved to do the roles of Historical persons ( actual or mythical) and deliver long dialogues in his resonant voice, clear diction and superb voice modulation.
Sohrab Modi developed these qualities from his stage acting days. In his growing up age at Rampur, he had spent hours in the library of the local Nawab, where his father worked as a Superintendent. This gave him a command on Urdu language. Added to this was his brother Rustom’s drama company ” The Arya Subodh Natak Mandali” in which he acted. In 1935, the brothers set up the ” Stage Films ” to film the two dramas, namely Hamlet aka Khoon ka khoon-35 and Sayeed E Hawas-36, based on Shakespeare’s play King John, as movies. However, these movies did not do too well, as the audience had seen them on stage several times. But this failure didn’t stop Sohrab Modi in acting. Taking a clue from this, Modi decided to start a new company, Minerva Movietone to produce independent films on different stories of merit.
Minerva Movietone was started by Sohrab and brother Rustom Modi in 1936, when they realised that the stage dramas, filmed as Feature films did not get the public approval. Logo of his banner was the Lion. Does this personally symbolize Sohrab Modi personality? Production from Stage films- their first film production enterprise- was suspended till Minerva became successful. ” Aatma Tarang-37″ was the new company’s first film. C. Ramchandra was the Harmonium accompanist for M.D. Habib Khan and Bundu Khan. He also did a small role in Aatma Tarang and earlier Saeed E Havas-36. Minerva’s first film proved to be a let down.
Sohrab found that there were hardly 20 to 30 persons in the audience on the very First show. The film was based on the power of ‘ Bramhacharya’ (Celibacy). In those days, Sohrab was greatly influenced by the teachings of Ramkrishna Mission. Seeing the poor response, he was upset. Thoughts of quitting the film production line were crowding in his mind. Suddenly, he saw four men coming towards him. They came, confirmed that he was Sohrab modi and told him that his film was very good. They further advised him to keep making such good films and one day he will be on Top. Later on he learnt that these gentlemen were the Judges of Bombay High Court.
This gave lot of motivation to Modi. As such he was sure of his success in films, but now he learnt that he must make films on subjects of interest of the public and not his own philosophy, if he wants to succeed commercially. His second film was Khan Bahadur-37, based on the bravery and generosity of a Muslim king who became famous for his bravery. The English rulers gave him the title of Khan Bahadur. The film did a reasonable business.
This incident infused him with new hopes and enthusiasm. This changed his life. Initially he focused on making films on social evils like Drinking (Meetha Zehar-38), Husband-wife separation ( Divorce-38) and Incest ( Bharosa-40 ). Enthused with this experience, he made successful films and took his company to the Top. Renowned for big budget historical films, Minerva benefited from Modi family’s distribution interests in Gwalior, expanded by his third brother Keki Modi into western India. At one time he controlled a chain of 27 theatres in 10 cities. In 1952, they established India’s first Technicolour Laboratory.
As far as the title of the film is concerned, I was wondering as to what it meant. After a search on internet, this is what it means. Khan Bahadur – a compound of khan (leader) and Bahadur (Brave) – was a formal title of respect and honour, which was conferred exclusively on Muslim and other non-Hindu subjects of the British Indian Empire. It was a title one degree higher than the title of Khan Sahib.
The title was conferred along with a medal and a citation (or sanad) and the recipient was entitled to prefix the title to his name. The title was conferred on behalf of the British Indian Government by the Viceroy and Governor-General of India.
The title “Khan Bahadur” was originally conferred by the Mughal Empire on Muslim subjects in recognition of public services rendered and was adopted by the British Indian Empire for the same purpose and extended to cover other non-Hindu subjects of the Indian Empire. Hindu subjects of the British Indian Empire were conferred the title of “Rai Bahadur”.
The MD’s name is B S Hoogan. Frankly, how many of us have really heard this name ? May be, only a few. Till about 8 years ago, even I was not 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 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 enjoy discussing matters relating to people and places in old Hyderabad of the 40s and 50s,when we were youngsters.Later on, he migrated to 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. Plus Kamalakarji himself had also written about Hoogan,from his interaction with people who had met Hoogan in Hyderabad. I wrote to kamalakar ji in 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.
B.S.Hoogan was not a foreigner,he was very much an Indian.His name was BALWANT SINGH HOOGAN. He was tall,wheat comlexioned and of medium build. He was born in 1901 at Firozpur, Punjab, where his family was settled. He was a Kashmiri Brahmin. According to C.Ramchandra also,he was originally from Kashmir.
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 giving 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 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, 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.
B.S.Hoogan died in Ferozpore in September 1938, at the age of 37 only.
Today’s song is a duet by Prem Adib and Naseem Banu. Incidentally, they were the cutest and most beautiful couple on screen in those days. Prem Adib was a Kashmiri Bramhin and Naseem had earned a title “Pari Chehra” (face of a Fairy) and truly so. However, both were singers by force. They were not singers but made to sing. Actually, that time Hero and Heroines had to sing their own songs ( exception- Jairaj. That was because everyone, including the MD and directors dreaded his terrible singing. He was probably the only Hero from the 30s and 40s, who never ever sang own songs !).
Prem Adib sang 26 songs in 9 films, from Industrial India-38 to Police-44. None of his songs became popular. Thank God, he was not asked to sing a song in the role of Shri Ram. Probably Prakash pictures were well aware that making him sing in Bharat Milap-42 or Ram Rajya-43 would surely kill the film ! Naseem was more dangerous than him in this matter. She actually sang 39 songs in 13 films – from Vaasanti-38 to Mulaqat-47. Luckily for her, one song – just only one song – from film Pukar-39 ( zindgi ka saaz bhi kya saaz hai, baj raha hai aur be aawaaz hai), sung by her had become popular in those days. However, for this song, in my opinion, the MD- Meer Saheb should get the credit for its tune.
The famous composer Naushad is on record for saying that he always rued that as a MD, he had to make non-singers to sing his songs…till full time playback singers like Rafi and Lata became available.
Anyway, today’s song- the duet- is reasonably good in tune and rendition. With this song, film Khan Bahadur-37 makes its Debut on this Blog.
Song- Pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave (Khan Bahadur)(1937) Singers- Prem Adib,Naseem Bano, MD- B S Hoogan
Both
Lyrics
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
Prem pawan se jiya lahraave
prem pawan se jiya lahraave
sudh budh man se sab bisraawe
sudh budh man se sab bisraawe
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
?man ??
har waqt se ban saj kar kaisa bhaawe
har baat se
har baat se
ban saj kar kaisa bhaawe
jaane ulfat phool khilaawe
jaane ulfat phool khilaawe
bhanwra khush khush geet sunaawe
bhanwra khush khush geet sunaawe
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
mast banaawe
jiyara lubhaave
ban ban phool na barsaawe
mast banaawe
jiyara lubhaave
ban ban phool na barsaawe
pyaar ki batiyaan
sab din ratiyaan
kaliyan ko apnaawe
pyaar ki batiyaan
sab din ratiyaan
kaliyan ko apnaawe
ae ae
preet ke ye sab khel hain nyaare
preet ke ye sab khel hain nyaare
nain samaaye
man ko lubhaaye
preet ki duniya basaaye
aa aa aa
nain samaawe
man ko lubhaawe
preet ki duniya basaaye
pyaari pyaari
aaj ulfat ki nazar aawe
man kare kaisa suhaawe
pyaari pyaari aa aa
Mujhe mil jaayegi unki dagariya
Posted on: October 22, 2019
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 : | 4113 | Post No. : | 15264 |
Today’s song is from an old film Ek hi Rasta-39. The film was made by Sagar movietone. It was directed by Mehboob Khan and the music was by Anil Biswas. These two legends actually established themselves in the cinema industry through Sagar Movietyone, which rightly included their names in their list of ” Jewels of Sagar “.
Anil Biswas (7-7-1914 to 31-5-2003), however, had already done 9 films as a Music Director (Dharam ki Devi-35, Bharat ki Beti-35, Bal hatya-35, Shokh Dilruba-36, Sher ka panja-36, Sangdil Samaj-36, Prem Bandhan-36, Pratima -36 and Pyar ki Jogan-36) before coming to Saqgar Movietone. Of course, none of these films were famous or hits. He got success with his film Manmohan–36 from Sagar, first time. The film was also a Milestone for Sagar. Director Mehboob Khan (9-9-1907 to 28-5-1964) also had already directed one film – Al Hilal-35 very successfully and Manmohan- 36 was his second film as a director in Sagar, equally successful again.
The two became thick friends. Anil Biswas used to call him ‘ Mawali ‘ and Mehboob khan called him ‘ Bangali ‘. Cameraman Faredoon Irani also joined them and three friends enjoyed work and life together in Sagar and in National Studios, till, due to differences of work philosophies, these friends parted ways and Anil Biswas separated from the two others, never to work together ever again in life. They had worked together in 6 films (5 Sagar and 1 National Studios). Mehboob Khan directed 8 films for Sagar and 2 for National Studios. Anil Biswas was MD for 11 Sagar films and 2 films of National.
Film Ek hi Rasta-39 or The Only Way, was the first Multi-Hero film in India. It had 3 Heros and 2 Heroines. Heros were Shaikh Mukhtar, Harish and Arun Ahuja and Heroines were Anuradha and Jyoti. The real name of Anuradha was Khurshid Akhtar (same as Shyama). She was the youngest sister of actresses Miss Zohra and Mushtari. After Miss Zohra separated from her husband Rafiq Ghaznavi, Anuradha had married him. Jyhoti’s real name was Sitara Bai. She was singer actress Wahidan Bai’s younger sister. Nimmi was Wahidan’s daughter- who married singer G M Durrani.
Film Ek hi Rasta was based on two Hollywood films, namely ‘ The road back’-37 and ‘ Seventh Heaven’-37. The second world war had just begun. Mehboob tried to depict the ill effects of war in an artistic way in this film. The main Hero of the film was Arun Ahuja.
Arun Ahuja’s real name was Gulshan Singh Ahuja, a Sikh, born on 26-1-1918 at Gujaranwala (now in Pakistan). After the school education, he joined Mughalpura Engineering college and secured an Engineer’s degree in 1937. During his college life he had won the Best Football player of the year award. Mehboob Khan was on a Talent Hunt in Lahore. From among the 100 and odd candidates, his choice fell on the well built, athletic, dashing and handsome Gulshan. He was selected and brought to Bombay to act in film Ek hi rasta-39, with a screen name of Arun Ahuja. He was variously billed as Aroon, Arun, Aroon Kumar, Arun Ahuja etc.
His first film was an outstandingly successful hit film. Arun got roles in Bhole Bhale-39 and Civil Marriage-40. Later Mehboob khan took him for film Aurat 40, which he directed for National Studios. The versatile actor acted in over 25 films in 6 years, some of his films were Kanchan, Holiday in Bombay, Beti, Nurse, Savera, Return of Toofan Mail, Shankar Parvati, Andhera, Bharthari, Caravan, Amrapali etc. From 1945 onwards he became a Free lancer.
During the film Savera-42, he fell in love with his co-star – Nirmala. They got married on 5-5-1945. After marriage Nirmala (7-6-1928 to 15-6- 1996) completed 4 pending films and stopped working. Her last film Sudhar was released in 1949. In this film also she paired with Arun. Thus her last film also had her life partner. She acted in only 12 films, but she sang 63 songs in 23 films.
Arun Ahuja was in demand. He continued working in films. He set up his own production company – Arun Productions and he produced 2 films. One film Sehra was released in 1948, but the other film ” Jo hai saajan” remained unreleased for some reasons. Film Sehra was also a huge flop. Arun suffered heavy losses. He tried to work in films to compensate it, but now due to competition from new stars, new films were slow to come, so he did not get many films. His last film was Aulad-54. He had to sell all his property, bungalow, cars and jewellery. He shifted from his bungalow in Bandra to a chawl in far off suburb Virar, with his family, in 1962. Here his last son Govinda was born in 1963.
His health deteriorated. Nirmala decided to revive her singing, to help the financial difficulties of the family. . Composer A R Qureshi arranged her stage programme in Calcutta. It went off with tremendous success and offers started pouring in. She became famous as a Thumri singer. She did many jalsas in India and abroad. Their financial position improved. Their son Govinda also became a big star. He bought a house in Juhu and the family shifted to Juhu for the sake of convenience. However, Arun Ahuja continued to stay in Virar. He did not shift to Juhu.
Arun Ahuja died on 4-7-1998, two years after his dear wife’s death on 15-6-1996.
Film Ek hi rasta-39 was a hit film. Though it was a debut film of Arun, the benefit of the film being a hit went to the other Hero- Shaikh Mukhtar. The tall, strong and not so good looking actor had a meaty role in the film.All the sympathy of the audience went to him when he kills the person who accuses him falsely.
The second world war had just begun in 1939. The film, however, tried to stress that no problem is solved with a war. War is not a solution.Of course, wars do not care what films say. The II WW went on till August 1945, when the Germans were defeated and Hitler committed suicide, along with his lover, after marrying her in the last hour of their life. The Japanese had already surrendered. The film’s story has already been provided in one of the song-posts of this film, so I will not repeat it . The duet song was sung by Wahidan Bai and Anil Biswas.
Not much information is available on Waheedan Bai. Her younger sister Sitara Bai aka Jyoti and her own daughter Nawab Banoo aka Nimmi were actresses. Waheedan Bai was from a Tawayef family. Her daughter Nimmi, had always denied this-understandably too, but Waheedan Bai’s name gave away the true story.
Waheedan Bai belonged to a small town Fatehabad, near Agra. Her father’s name was Basheer khan. She was second amongst 4 sisters. The youngest was Sitara Bai aka Jyoti. Waheedan was a trained and good singer, but Tawayafs did not get social status, so she got married early to one Abdul Hakeem from Nasirabad, settled in Meerut. He had met Waheedan in a shrine in Agra, where she recited verses from Koran.
Soon after their marriage, His father, a contractor with Military, died and Hakim inherited the business. He was a novice and was cheated by his manager and they lost everything. The family moved to Calcutta to start a Leather business. Here also he failed. In Calcutta, their neighbour was director A.R.Kardar. Through his wife, Bahar, Kardar was contacted and he gave a small role to him in a film. Here again he got terrified and ran away, at the time of shooting.
Waheedan came forward and after hearing her singing, she was given a song in the film and it was recorded. Meanwhile Chandulal Shah offered her roles in his films. They shifted to Bombay and she joined Ranjit Movietone. Her first film was Toofani Toli-37. Prithvi Putra-38 was the second film. Her songs in her films were liked and became famous.She worked in other films like Prof. Waman, M.Sc.-38, Rikshawala-38, The Secretary-38 and Thokar-39.
She got acquainted with Mehboob Khan and he offered her lead role opposite Surendra in film Alibaba-40, a Sagar Movietone film initially, but later on sold to Ranjit of Chandulal Shah, in a game of gambling. Film Alibaba-40 was made in Hindi and Punjabi. The film songs became very popular. When Sagar merged into National Studios, she worked in film Sanskar-40.
Waheedan contracted T.B. and left films. She acted in only 8 films and sang 26 songs in 11 films-including her 8 films. She died in 1942.( based on information from the book- Sagar movietone by Biren kothari ji and my notes)
Here is the song. This will be only the 3rd song from this film to feature here. There were 12 songs in the film and the singers were Jyoti, Waheedan bai, Anil Biswas, Harish and Arun Ahuja.
Song-Mujhe mil jaayegi unki dagariya (Ek Hi Raasta)(1939) Singers-Anil Biswas, Wahidan Bai, Lyrics-Pt Indra Chandra, MD-Anil Biswas
Both
Lyrics
mujhe mil jaayegi ee
unki dagariya
mil jaayegi ee
unki dagariya
haan mil jaayegi
chaahe ghir-ghir aaye badariya
chaahe ghir-ghir aaye badariya
mil jaayegi ee
unki dagariya
mil jaayegi ee
unki dagariya
haan mil jaayegi
chaahe panchhi na bole
chaahe panchhi na bole
chaahe chandrmaa aankh na khole
chaahe panchhi na bole
unhe dhoondh nikaalegi hamri najariya
dhoondh nikaalegi hamri najariya
mil jaayegi ee
unki dagariya
mil jaayegi ee
unki dagariya
mil jaayegi
dwaar naya chhat nayi naya ghar
ghar ka sab saamaan naya
dwaar naya chhat nayi naya ghar
ghar ka sab saamaan naya
phir bhi sakhi kahin tikti nahin hai
phir bhi sakhi
phir bhi sakhi kahin tikti nahin hai
vyaakul
vyaakul hamri najariya aa aa
vyaakul
vyaakul hamri najariya
mujhe mil jaayegi unki dagariya
haan mil jaayegi ee unki dagariya
haan mil jaayegi
Chakho prem ka maakhan aay
Posted on: August 8, 2019
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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4038 | Post No. : | 15162 | Movie Count : |
4165 |
Today’s song is from film Talwar ka Dhani-1938. It is a very rare song. The film was made by Vishnu Cinetone and the director was its owner Dhirubhai Desai, who became well known for C grade action / stunt and costume films, later on. The MD for this film was Kikubhai Yagnik. The lyricist was Pt. Gauri shankar lal ‘ Akhtar ‘. The cast of the film was, Anil kumar, Putli, Shaikh, Gulab, Anwari, Moosa Pehelwan, Urmila, Meher Sultana and others. There were 8 songs in the film, Names of Anil kumar, Meher Sultana and Urmila are given for 4 songs. The balance 4 songs remain uncredited in HFGK.
20 years later, there was another film with the same title, Talwar ka Dhani, featuring Manhar Desai, Nadira etc etc. This too was a stunt/Costume film like its earlier version.I remember having read in one interview of Dwarka Khosla, Director of the latter film, that this was a only a remake of the earlier film of the same name. No wonder, because many films were remade from old films of early era. One example I remember off hand is that of film Gunsundari. Original silent film Gunsundari – 27, was remade as Talkie Gunsundari in 1934.The Heroine was same-Gauhar Mamajiwala. Both films were directed by Sardar Chandulal Shah. 14 years later, Chandulal Shah’s nephew Ratilal Punatar made Gunsundari in 1948, with Nirupa Roy in the lead role. The story was same in all 3 versions.
The story of Talwar ka Dhani was woven around a routine, commonly used story of a lone queen, her abandoned son, ambitious and cruel Head of Army, desirous of usrping the throne and how the lost son defeats the Army chief and gives relief to the kingdom’s subjects- while reuniting with the Queen Mother. A love story was also inter woven.
The Hero of the 1938 film, Talwar ka Dhani was Anil kumar. This name is obscure and there is no chance that our readers will know anything about this actor of the 30s and 40s films.His real name was not Anil Kumar, but it was Sardar Gul. He was a Muslim.During the era of Silent films and Talkie films of the early years, it was a trend to take on a Hindu name for films. Whether the actor was Jew, Anglo-Indian, European or a Muslim, a Male or a Female, an actor or a singer, this trend was predominant. Of course, not all artistes changed their names- some continued with their real names, but made them shorter, like Majid, Masood, Rehman etc.
Most name changes were found in actresses. Some examples are Sabita Devi (Irene Gasper), Feroza (Susal Soloman), Indira Devi (Effie Hippolet), Lalita Devi (Bonnie Bird), Pramila (Esther Abraham), Sulochana (Ruby Myers), Seeta Devi (Renee Smith), Madhuri (Berryl Classen), Manorama (Winnie Stewart), Nadira (Florence Ezekiel), Meera (Muriel Alexander), Mohna (Mona Cabral), Kammo (Kamarjehan), Shyama (khurshid Akhtar), Purnima (Meher Bano), Indurani (Ishrat jehan), Ameeta (Qamal Sultana) etc etc.
Some examples of Males- Dilip kumar (Yusouf Khan), Kumar (Syed Ali Hasan Zaidi), Jagdeep (Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed), Ajit (Hamid Ali) etc etc.
Actor Anil Kumar (Sardar Gul) was born in 1915 at Calcutta.His father had a fruit business. They were from Peshawar (just like Dilip Kumar). He was not much educated but could speak Hindi, Urdu and English fluently. Once he went to Bombay to meet a friend. There he met an old acquaintance, who took him to Sohrab Modi.
The good looking Sardar Gul was liked by Modi and he offered him the lead role in his film ‘ Saed E Havas’-36. Sardar Gul was given a screen name of Chandra Kumar. The film was based on a translation of William Shakespeare’s drama- King John, by Agha Hashra Kashmiri in 1907. Sardar Gul was to get Rs. 200 for this work. The film was a flop and Sohrab Modi refused to pay him more that Rs 50. Annoyed, he left Bombay and returned to Calcutta.
However he came back in 1938 and did his first film with a new screen name Anil Kumar. The film was Talwar ka Dhani-38. Soon he was well known and acted in 10 films in next 3 years. As the decade of the 40s saw many new actors, producers and directors, he was reduced to Character roles and side roles. By 1950, he was almost like an extra. He did work in many films, but only few films credited him, as his roles were negligible. We find his name in just 30 films, where he was credited, the last such film being Tarzan and Deliailah-64.
The Heroine of this film was Putli or Putlibai. She was from a Bohra Muslim family of Delhi – originally from Kutch, Gujarat. She started her career by acting in stage dramas, duly shifting to Silent films. She did 23 silent films. She was the mother of Gauhar Mamajiwala- wife of Sardar Chandulal Shah. She entered Talkie films and did 26 films. Some of her films were, Raj Tarang-35, Matwali Jogan, Jungle ka Jawan-38, Farzand E Watan-39, Civil marriage-40, Mere Saajan-41, Inkaar-43, Reporter-46 etc. Her last film was Chunnu Munnu-49.
As I have stated many times, it is very difficult to get information about old time artistes and it entails lot of hard work. From the HFGK, we can get their Filmography easily.
In the cast, you will find a name Urmila- in some films she is named as Urmila Devi, and Urmila Gupta also. She was not a very good looking actress, but she compensated it with her good acting. Urmila Gupta was born in 1921 at Panja Sahib, Rawalpindi district of United Punjab. Her father, who was a Civil Contractor, died when she was only 5 year old. She did not get much education but could read and write as well as talk fluently, Urdu, Hindi and English.
She started her career with a small uncredited role in film Mirza Sahiban-33. She was the younger sister of Mirza in this film. After some more small roles, she got her major role in film Aasuon ki Duniya-36. After this, she did not look back and did Punjab Lancers-37, Talwar ka Dhani-38, Kahan hai manzil Teri-39, Hurricane special-39, Flying Ranee-39, Desh Bhakt-40, Sasural-41, Sajjan-41, Mere Sajan-41, Naari-42, Das Baje-42, Call of youth-42, Badal -42, Apna Paraya-42, Tamasha-42, Kirti-42, Salma-43, Bansari-43 etc etc. Urmila got married to Vinod Talwar, a businessman and stopped working in films, for some time, may be for raising a family. She resumed working in films and acted in another 20 odd films till 1952. She had sung 12 songs. In all, she worked in about 55 films.
Today’s song is a rare song and it appears on You Tube for the first time,kindly uploaded by our Sadanand Kamath ji. I thank him for this. With this song both, singer Meher Sultana and the film Talwar ka Dhani-38 will make a Debut on the Blog. The Lyricist, Pt. Gauri Shankar Lal ‘ Akhtar’ was a well known writer in Hindi and Urdu. Some of his Urdu books are available.
(some information used in this post is courtesy Isuru Udayanga Kariyavasam, Sri Lanka- presently in UK, and from the All India film Directory-46, Statistics are from MuVyz and CITWF. My notes are also used herein).
Song- Chakho prem ka maakhan aay (Talwaar Ka Dhani)(1938) Singer- Meher Sultana, Lyricist- Pt. Gauri Shankar Lal ‘Akhtar’ , MD- Kikubhai Yagnik
Lyrics
??
Chakho prem ka makhan aay
prem prem chhalkaay
maakhan sundar
prem bhi sundar
maakhan sundar
prem bhi sundar
man sundar tarsaaye
sundar man ??
mohan sundar aa man mandir
mohan sundar aa man mandir
?? ter suna
bhavsaagar se tar jaa
chakho prem ka maakhan aay
prem prem chhalkaaye
daras dikha ke
?? chura ke
daras dikha ke
?? chura ke
aaye aaye phir jaaye
aaye aaye phir jaaye
natkhat natwar neha lagaa ke
natkhat natwar neha lagaa ke
darshan ko tarsaaye
sakhi kaun un ko samjhaaye
chakho prem ka maakhan aay
prem prem chhalkaaye
chhalkaaye
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 sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Today’s song is not only unique and rare,but it is also one of the few real early songs of the Talkie Films. It is from film Vikram Charitra aka Rajkumar Thaksen – 1933. Thanks to Mr. Shalin Bhatt, who has uploaded this rare Gem, sung by Gauhar Karnataki.
When you see the title of the film, one feels that it is about King Vikramaditya, but when you see the other title Rajkumar Thaksen, you know that this is something else. When Talkie films started, it had profound influence of stage dramas, because that was the only accepted form of entertainment in India, till films arrived…Silent or Talkie. Parsee, Gujarati and Marathi theatre stories, Natya Sangeet and the artificial way of stage acting were things followed in early films,cent percent. Fairy tales, folk tales, Panchatantra stories and Traditional Grand ma stories started appearing as films, after some time.
When I first bought the 5 volume set of HFGK, I started going through the films of 1930s. I read this film title and I suddenly remembered the story of Raja Vikram and Rajkumar Thaksen I had read, when I was about 10-12 years young. That was one of my favourite stories and I felt it was a good competition to Arabian Night stories of Alibaba, Alladin or Sindbad. The Thaksen story had Indian background and felt closer to heart.
However, during the growing years, the tastes changed and the Thaksen story went into the background. Now, when I decided to write on this film song, I tried to recollect the story, but could not recall it fully or cohesively. Despite searching on the net for several days, the story eluded me. Suddenly, one day I bumped into a children’s story book ” Raja Vikram and Rajkumar Thaksen”. I simply can not put into words, how much joy I got after reading this story all over again !
The story of King Vikram, his queen Shashikala and Rajkumar Thaksen was first filmed in 1929, as Prince Thaksen, by Aryan Film company, Poona, in which the role of Thaksen was done by the handsome Nandram Pehelwan. This was a Silent film. In the Talkie era, the first film on Thaksen was this- Vikram Charitra-1933 by Sharda Movietone. In 1933 itself a sequel to this film was made as ” Rambha raniaka Stree Charitra” made by same company, with the same cast and team as Vikram Charitra. This was followed by another film ” Bhedi Rajkumar aka The Mysterious Prince aka Rajkumar Thaksen” in 1934, by Saraswati Cinetone, Poona belonging to R G Torney. After a gap, ” Vikram Shashikala ” was made in 1949, by Chitravani productions, Bombay featuring Master Vithal as Thaksen.
In short, film makers were attracted towards the story of Thaksen. What is this story all about. The story, in short, is thus described in the book….
Raja Vikram of Avanti Nagari was having 7 queens, but he loved queen Shashikala most and used to take her on tours with him. This made the other queens jealous and they conspired to teach her a lesson. When the king came to them, they unanimously complained against Shashikala that she criticised the king on his back. This enraged the king and he deserted Shashikala. She was kept far away in a fortress, surrounded by a water trench all around, with only one entrance. The queen was pregnant, but the king was not aware of it.
In due course, Shashikala gave birth to a handsome prince, who was named Raj Ratan. The king was duly informed, but he never came to see his son. As the Prince grew, he became an expert in the Bird’s and Animal’s languages. He also learnt how to disguise skilfully. Once he tricked even his mother and mother lovingly called him Thaksen ( one who cheats). This name became his name for all purposes.
One day Thaksen came to know about what Raja Vikram did to his mother and he prepared to take revenge. Despite mother’s request, he started for the capital.
To cut the story short, how he reaches the king, teaches him a lesson, saves the king from foreign aggression, how he falls in love with Rambha Rani etc has to be read from the original book itself. It is full of adventures, magic and stories of Thaksen’s valour. In the end, all is well and Shashikala is honourably recalled to the Capital by Vikram etc etc.
The film was made by Sharda Movietone and was directed by Harshadrai Sakerlal Mehta. The cast of the film consisted of Baburao Apte (as Vikram) and Madhav Kale (as Thaksen), along with Gauhar Karnataki, Dulari, Shivrani etc etc. Baburao Apte is the same as elder brother of actress Shanta Apte-about whom I wrote just last month. We do not know the names of the Lyricist or the Music Director, as HFGK is silent on these.
It is a well known established fact that in the early years, women artistes came from lower classes, singing families or Tawayafs and similar types. Most of these girls joined the film line in order to get a a rich Seth ji or a suitable husband and spend the rest of the life respectfully. There are many examples of such ‘ planned’ marriages in the early era. However, this process continued even in later times.
Film industry is one industry where men and women have to work together. Whether it is Actor-director or Singer-Composer, for the sake of work they have to spend much time together. No wonder then that Cupid does his work overtime. Sometimes there are mutual attraction and at times there are one sided fires burning. In most cases the one sided fire is extinguished in a very painful way, like what P L Santoshi faced with actress Rehana or the slap Sanjiv Kumar got from actress Nutan.
There were cases when love of Dilip kumar for Madhubala, died in the High court witness Box, when he gave evidence against her father in the ‘ Naya Daur ‘ legal case. Dev Anand’s love with Suraiyya ended happily for Dev Anand with him marrying Kalpana Kartik, but Suraiyya stayed “Unmarried”, in his ” yaad”, throughout her life. Here the villain was her so called ” Grand mother “, who actually was her own mother, as documented in the book “Stars from another sky” by Saadat Hasan Manto !
The successful 2-way traffic usually ended with a marriage. We can see marriages between producers and Actresses( Himanshu Rai-Devika rani and W Z Khan and actress Nina), directors and singers/actresses ( Nalini jaywant-Virendra Desai, Shaukat Hussain-Noorjehan, Geeta Dutt-Guru Dutt, Lalita Pawar-G.P.Pawar, Rattanbai-Hafiz Khan), Actors and Actresses ( Arun Ahuja-Nirmala devi, Snehprabha Pradhan-Kishore Sahu, Dev Anand-Kalpana Kartik, Dharmendra- Hema Malini, Rajesh Khanna-Dimple Kapadiya, Amitabh Bachchan-Jaya, Abhishek-Aishwarya, Kishore Kumar-Madhubala, Premnath-Bina Rai, Karan Dewan-Manju Desai, Marutirao Pehlwan-Tara Devi.)
There were some odd combinations like Satyendranath Athiah-Bhanu Athaiya (Lyricist-Costume designer),Lyricist-Singer (Amar Verma-Manik Verma), Singer-villain (Shakti Kapoor- Shivangi Kolhapure),Music teacher-student ( Roshan-Ira Moitra, Hemant Kumar-Bela Mukherjee, C.Ramchandra-‘Ben’ Ratan Thakur), and even a singer-Orchestra player (Vinita Amladi-Krishna Chakravarty) and lastly between singer-singers ( Jyoti-G M Durani, Gauhar Karnataki- Bal Gandharva). There were those pairs who were singers-actors ( Amirbai- Himalayawala,Rafiq Gazanavi- Anwari bai).
The interesting group, however,was that of Composer-Singers ( Sudhir Phadke-Lalita Deulkar, Asha Bhosle-R D Burman, Naashad-Premlata, Anil Biswas-Meena Kapoor, Pannalal Ghosh-Parul Ghosh, Khayyam-Jagjit Kaur, Ghulam Haider-Umrao Zia begum, Kamal Dasgupta-Firoza begum, Ninu Majumdar-Kaumudi Munshi).
The Heroine of today’s film- Gauhar karnataki was also one such artiste who did a ‘planned’ marriage. Her life story is interesting. Tabla player Hussain khan,living in a small town Belagi,near Hubli,had 6 daughters. The first was Allamma(Ahilya),then Amirbai,next was Gauhar(Born in 1908),then a series of badi Munni,Chhoti Munni and Nanhi Munni. Son was Dastgir.
Being from a singing family,Amirbai and Gauhar(Gauramma) worked in a drama company called Vanivilas Natak mandali. Since Hubli, Dharwad, Belgaum came under Bombay Presidency and also near Sangli/Miraj and Kolhapur, the sisters were experts in Marathi too.
Brother Dastgir went on to study B.Sc and did a job in AIR, Belgaum. From the beginning only, Amirbai and Gauhar did not get on well with each other. May be professional jealousy. Gauhar got classical music training from a blind teacher NIlkanth Panchakshari Buwa. Great classical singer Mallikarjuna Mansur’s brother Basavanna wrote songs for Gauhar and also accompanied her on Harmonium.
Marathi singer actor Chaphekar took the sisters to Bombay for working in films. Gauhar and Chaphekar stayed as companions in Bombay for few years. Meanwhile Gauhar got a daughter Ashamma. Her father’s name is not known. Ashamma remained with Gauhar till her death.
Gauhar started acting in Marathi and Hindi films. She acted,sang and also composed her own songs,but no records were brought out.
Gauhar was mesmerised by the famous Marathi singer actor BAL GANDHARVA. She first met him in 1937,in actor Himalayawala’s flat(Amirbai karnataki’s cruel Husband). It is widely believed that Gauhar used Black magic to attract Bal Gandharva to her. As expected he fell in her love and Gauhar joined his Balgandharva Natak Mandali in 1938. After her arrival into the Mandali, all senior artistes left the company as they were afraid of Gauhar’s black magic.
From 1938, Gauhar remained with Balgandharva till she died in 1964. Balgandharva’s wife died in grief in 1940 and Gauhar married Balgandharva in 1951.
She acted in films like Raas vilas-32,Kala pahad and Sohni mahiwal-33,Kala vagh and Shak karta Shivaji(M)-34,Pyar ki Maar-35,Bansriwala,Gol Nishan and Graduate-36,kala Bhoot and Chabuk swar-37,Vijay Danka-38,hawai khatola and swadesh sewa-46. chabuk swar-37 was a stunt film a-la Fearless Nadiya style wherein she did some stunts and fencing too. (Thanks to lifekidhun,warren senders,wiki and HFGK for some information used above.)
Gauhar is mentioned as Gauhar karnataki or Gauhar from Bijapur in the HFGK. She must have sung at least 100 songs but since there were no records, there is no information.As her many films were C grade, no records were issued even for them. However she has sung many Marathi natyageet and Bhajans.
There can not be any comparison with her sister Amirbai since Amirbai was in a higher league and her records were also made. She had many composers and singers to sing along.
Film Vikram Charitra-33 was written by C M Luhar, who became a well known director later on. There were 15 songs in the film. This song was recorded by Gauhar Karnataki in June 1934, according to the uploader. Since hardly any records of Gauhar Karnataki are available, this song becomes a rare song. let us enjoy this 85 year old recorded song. With this song, film Vikram Charitra-33 makes its Debut on the Blog.
Song-Raaja ke chaman se laayi manke ki maala (Vikram Charitra)(1933) Singer- Gauhar Karnataki, Lyrics- Not Known, MD- Not known
Lyrics
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
Manke ki maala
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
Manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
manke ki maala
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
Raaja ke chaman se
hamaara kaam hai
sabhi ne ??
sabhi ne ??
sabhi ne ??
sabhi ne ??
??
aa aa aa
jaise nihaar ??
jaise nihaar ??
jaise nihaar ??
jaise nihaar ??
manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
manke ki maala
Raaja ke chaman se laayi
manke ki maala
joohi manke ki maala
Raaja ki
Kaase main kahoon piya hiya ki baat
Posted on: May 31, 2019
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 sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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3969 | Post No. : | 15053 | Movie Count : |
4130 |
Today’s song is from a film of the first decade of the Talkie, ” Yangrilla “-1938. The song is sung by Sarla. No information is available about this singer. The cast of the film was Enakshi Rama Rau, Nayampalli, David, Gyani, Saalu, Shareefa, S L Puri, Fatty Prasad and few others.
It is generally said that in the early era, most actors and actresses came from poor families and most artistes had no or had negligible education. While it is true to a great extent, it is not 100% true. It is not that even in this period, there were no educated persons in the film industry. Right from the beginning of the Silent era to Talkie film era up to the end of the 40s decade, there were actors, actresses, directors,producers and musicians who were quite educated. Some of them had even been trained in western countries.
Take the case of Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani and their team of writer like Niranjan Pal, from the silent era. They were all highly educated and from rich. cultured families. Niranjan Pal was the son of the Freedom fighter Bipin chnadra Pal. B.N.Sircar is another example. Director Nanubhai Vakil was actually an advocate with B.A. LL.B degree. Surendra was BA, LL.B. Motilal was a graduate, so were Ramchandra Thakur, Nandlal Jaswantlal, Jayant Desai, Jairaj, Umakant Desai. Ashok kumar, Dev Anand and his 2 brothers etc.
Among actresses, Leela Chitnis, Shanta Apte, Durga Khote, Renuka Devi were graduates. Vanmala was BA,BT. Kamini Kaushal was BA. The point here is, there were educated and people with respectable family background were also a part of film industry. But of course, initially their number was smaller compared to others who were either illiterate or less educated. For example, the beautiful Meena Shorey and Sitara Kanpuri could not even sign- leave alone reading and writing !. That is why, they were cheated in their contracts by Sohrab Modi and W.Z.Ahmed ( of Shalimar Pictures and husband of actress Neena).
In today’s film, Yangrilla-38, the Hero, Heroine and the Director were all highly educated. The Heroine, Enakshi Rama Rao was the daughter of an ICS officer of Madras Presidency. She came to England for her graduation. After graduation, she took part in some stage dramas, where she got introduced to Niranjan Pal and Himanshu Rai. When Himanshu Rai decided to make a silent film on Tajmahal story, he asked Niranjan Pal to write the film story. Sita Devi aka Renee Smith was selected for the Vamp’s role and Enakshi was selected for the main role of Selima ( who was later named Mumtaj Mahal by Prince Khurram- who was later known as Shahjehan.). The film was named Shiraz.
Enakshi is a very unusual name. Comparatively, Meenakshi is a well known name. Meenakshi means ” one with eyes like Fish “. Enakshi means ” one with the eyes of Doe or Deer”. In other words, Enakshi means Mrignayani. Except name of this actress, I have never ever come across this name (Enakshi) in my life elsewhere !
Her work in film Shiraz was applauded in England, Germany and India. When she returned to India, She met Bhavnani, who made a silent film Vasantsena-31, with her in the lead role. More than as an actress of Silent and Talkie films, Enakshi’s name was known in Elite circles for different achievements, after she stopped working in films.
Not many of us know that Meenakshi Bhavnani ( Enakshi Rama Rao before her marriage ) has done an enormous service to expose Indian dances and Designs to West. No lesser is her contribution to expose Kashmir Crafts and Designs ( Fabric , Wood and Papier Mache ) to west. An American Tourist told in Kerala recently about her detailed work on Kashmir Designs ( shawls , Jackets ).This side of Meenakshi’s personality and work is in addition to her contribution as a Dancer, photographer and actress .Two scholarly Books written by Meenakshi Bhavnani were also published. Both the books are preserved in American Museum of Natural History.These are ..
(1) Folk And Tribal Designs of India
(2) The Dance of India: The Origin and History Foundation, Art and Science of the Dance in India .
This exceptionally talented woman stayed in Kashmir for sometime in 1950 and met cross section of people connected with Arts and Crafts . She had been a visitor thereafter as well . She also visited Leh and kargil for her Book. During this period she also clicked some photographs in Kashmir portraying its rich culture and scenic beauty.She also shot a Documentary “ VALEY OF KASHMIR “ during this period..
Meenakshi was an active member of the Crafts Council of India, which was founded in 1964 to support artisans and keep their crafts relevant and marketable amid rapidly changing economies at home and abroad.
The Photographs clicked by her have also appeared in National Geographic Magazine especially her series.
And in her book on folk dances of India , Meenakshi covers all forms of Kashmirian folk dances .
Enakshi married film maker Mohan Bhavnani ( 1903-1962 ) who was trained in Germany and Hollywood. She was a dancer , Actor , Photographer and writer on Arts , Crafts and culture. From 1929 to 1938, She acted in six films as a leading lady . Out of these six films five ( Vasantsena-31 , Trapped-31 ,Jagaran-36 , Himalaya ki Beti-38 and Yangrilla-38 ) were directed by her husband Mohan Bhavnani . Only Shiraz ( 1929 Produced by Himanshu Roy ) was directed by Franz Osten .
Producer Director Mohan Bhavnani was a learned and illustrious person. This is what the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema says about him-
Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani (1903-62)
Hindi director born in Hyderabad, Sindh. Studied at College of Technology, Manchester (1921-4), then studied film-making in Germany at UFA (1924). Contracted to Kohinoor (1925- 6) where his Sulochana films were the earliest efforts in the Indian cinema to create a Hollywood-type movie star, e.g. Cinema Ni Rani where she plays a famous actress with whom the painter hero falls in love, or Wildcat of Bombay where she played multiple roles. Joined Imperial (1927-9), where he made Khwab-e-Hasti, adapted from the novel Dreamland (later also adapted by N. Taurog’s Strike me Pink, 1936). Scripted by A.S. Desai, this film is not to be confused with Kashmiri’s play of the same title. Vasantsena was the first Kannada intertitled film. Became independent producer with Indian Art Prod. (1931-2). Returned to Germany to study sound film technique. Started Ajanta Cinetone (1933-4) and his own Bhavnani Prod. (1935-48). Sound de´but was a flop, but it introduced Durga Khote. Hired Premchand to script Mazdoor, representing the author’s only direct encounter with film, following it with the unemployment melodrama Jagran. Produced and directed the first full-length colour film shot on 16mm Kodachrome and blown up to 35mm, Ajit. Joined Films Division and became its first Chief Producer (1948-55). In 1958 Bhavnani followed up an invitation from Zhou En-Lai to make a documentary on China and travelled extensively throughout the country shooting with cameramen Kishore Rege and S.K. Kulkarni. His wife Enakshi Rama Rao, who acted in Vasantsena, had earlier played the lead in Shiraz (1928) and became a noted dancer and author of the book The Dance of India (1965).
FILMOGRAPHY: 1925: Cinema Ni Rani; Matri Prem; Veer Bala; Seth Sagalsha; 1 9 2 6 : Pagal Premi; Diwan Bhamasha; Mena Kumari; Ra Kawat; Samrat Shiladitya; Bhamto Bhoot; 1 9 2 7 : Naseeb Ni Lili; Daya Ni Devi; Trust Your Wife; Wildcat of Bombay; Gamdeni Gori; 1929: Hawai Swar; Khwab-e- Hasti; Mysore, Gem City of India (Doc); Khedda (Doc); 1 9 3 0 : Vasantsena (all St); 1 9 3 1 : Shakuntala; Farebi Jaal; Lafanga Langoor (Sh); 1 932: Veer Kunal; 1 933: Afzal; Rangila Rajput; 1 9 3 4 : Dard-e-Dil; Mazdoor; Sair-e-Paristan; 1935: Jung Bahadur; Navjeevan; Shadi Ki Raat; 1936: Dilawar; Garib Parwar; Jagran; Wrestling (Doc); 1 9 3 7 : Zambo the Ape Man; 1 9 3 8 : Double Cross; Himalay Ki Beti; Yangrilla; 1 9 3 9 : Zambo Ka Beta; 1940: Jhoothi Sharm; PremNagar?; 1945: Biswi Sadi; 1 946: Rang Bhoomi; 1 948: Ajit; 1 9 4 9 : Vale of Kashmir (Doc); 1 9 5 0 : The Private Life of a Silkworm (Doc); 1 9 5 1 : Lest We Forget (Doc); 1 9 5 2 : Kumaon Hills (Doc); 1 9 5 3 : Folk Dances of India (Doc); Republic Day Record (Doc); 1 9 5 5 : Republic Day 1955 (Doc); 1 956: Operation Khedda (Doc); 1 957: The Himalayan Tapestry (Doc ).
Like the Heroine, the name of the film was also strange. I tried very hard to find out what the word Yangrilla meant, but I could not get it. Finally, undaunted, I started going through the list of books on line. Lo and behold ! I bumped into a book with a title ” Rilla of the Inglewood ” written by Lucy Maud Montgomary, published in 1921. Some part of the book was available for reading online and while reading it, I found that ” Yangrilla ” in Swahili language meant a Hunter. Not going into the book and its boring story, I was glad that at last I decoded the word Yangrilla…a Hunter. Considering that the film ‘ Yangrilla’-38 was a Costume drama, I can guess that this film’s story must have been connected with hunting, Jungle and such other interesting and thrilling matters. Film Yangrilla-38 was financed by Ramnarayan Dubey, who in later years swallowed Bombay Talkies with its Land and started an Industrial complex on its land with about 250 to 300 manufacturing units. Recently his grandson was in news for announcing revival of Bombay Talkies !
The Hero of this film was Nayampalli. S.B. Nayampally (or Nayampalli) was working at the firm of Killick, Nixon and Company, in Bombay when he was discovered by film director P.Y. Altekar at a gym where Nayampally regularly exercised. Altekar felt that Nayampally very much resembled the famous French boxer Georges Carpenter and would be perfect for the stunt films that had become popular at the time. At Altekar’s urging, Nayampally joined Imperial Studios and was quickly cast in his first film, Wedding Night(1929), opposite the popular actress Jilloo. When he arrived at Imperial to begin his first day of filming he was amused to find that the building now used for the studio had formerly housed the school he’d attended as a child.“Wedding Night was a stunt film of the Robin Hood type,” Nayampally explained in a 1964 interview. “It had a little more of a plot to it than many films of the same class. My next film, Hell’s Paradise (1929), I remember for three reasons. One, it was based on a real-life episode involving an Indian prince and a foreign girl, described as an adventuress. Two, Mama Warerekar, the noted writer, did the story. Three, the film had a kissing scene, probably the first ever in an Indian film.”
Nayampalli was cast in Imperial’s Noorjehan (1931), which was initially to be a silent picture, but because of the success of their film Alam Ara (1931), which was India’s first talkie, the studio decided to make Noorjehan partly with sound. Nayampally was not originally cast in Noorjehan, but a chance meeting with the film’s director, Ezra Mir, got him the role of Prince Salim in the film.Nayampally then played Karna in Imperial’s next sound film, the mythological Draupadi (1931), but the actor considered his best mythological role to be that of the wily Shakuni in Mahatma Vidur (1943), a part that was appreciated by critics and the public, alike.
As sound films came in, silent actors were being discarded in favor of those with stage backgrounds and could not sing, so Nayampalli joined the Grant Anderson Theatrical Company which specialized in Shakespearean plays. After gaining some experience he tried to rejoin films, but without much luck. His previous roles had been leads, so he decided if he wanted to work regularly, maybe he should take a different approach and he offered himself up for character parts.His break came in the role of a hunchback in love with the heroine in Ezra Mir’s Zarina which starred Jal Merchant and Zubeida. The dentures he wore for the role were created specially by a dentist named Jimmy Gheista who had trained abroad with the dentist who had made similar dentures for Lon Chaney.
Nayampally had learned early on how to apply make-up for his roles and, in fact, he became so good at it he eventually came to specialize in horror make-up, which earned him the nickname “The Indian Lon Chaney.” Indeed, Chaney, Erich von Stroheim, Emil Jannings, and John Barrymore were the actors that Nayampally most tried to emulate. Boris Karloff was another of his role models. He was able to put his make-up expertise to good use for the film Sair-e-Paristan (1934), where he was a vampire-like devil, and in Zingaro(1935), in which he played a monster created by a mad scientist, and then as a the hairy “missing link” in Zambo (1937) and its sequel Zambo Ka Beta (1938). For Kalkoot (1935) he created a make-up to resemble the wrinkled effect that Karloff had used in The Mummy(1932).
Nayampally continued working in films throughout the 1940s and 50s, particularly in mythologicals and costume pictures including Raj Nartaki (1941), Nagad Narayan (1943), Vishwas 1943), Taramati(1945), Urvashi (1946), Jhansi-Ki-Rani (1953), Durgesh Nandini (1956), Basant Bahar (1956) and Shiv Parvati (1962) His last credited film appearance was in 1970’s Priya.
After the career in films ended, he started making Documentaries. He made about 35 documentaries. He won ‘Silver Dolphin’ award for his documentary in the International Film Festival at Teheran in 1970. He died on 7-5-1994, in Mumbai.
Pt. Badri Prasad was the Music Director of film Yangrilla-38. He used 6 different singers for 11 songs in the film. Besides issuing records for its songs, the producer also floated 2 records of ‘ Bhavnani Productions orchestra ‘.
The uploader of today’s song, our own Sadanand ji Kamath has certified this song to be ” rarest amongst the rare ” songs. With this song, film Yangrilla-38 makes its Debut on the Blog.
Song- Kaase main kahoon piya hiya ki baat(Yaangrilla)(1938) Singer- Sarla Devi, Lyrics- Unknown, MD- Pt. Badri Prasad
Lyrics
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
Kaase main kahoon
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
Kaase main kahoon
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki
kaun sunega prem kahaani
kaun sunega prem kahaani
aur usey phir meri zabaani
aur usey phir meri zabaani
yah duniya to preet ki bairan hai
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
kaase main kahoon
is duniya ke rahne waale
is duniya ke rahne waale
kapti paapi man ke kaale
kapti paapi man ke kaale
paap(?) hi inka ghar(?) aur joban hai
Kaase main kahoon
piya hiya ki baat
kaase main kahoon
kaase main kahoon
kaase main kahoon
Ham ban gaye sab bade doctor
Posted on: May 23, 2019
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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3961 | Post No. : | 15039 | Movie Count : |
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Today’s song is from a very old film-Do Deewane-1936. The film was made by Sagar Movietone. It was directed by Chimanlal Luhar and the music was by Pransukh Nayak.
The film was a Comedy film. Originally made in Gujarati as ” Be kharab jan “, it was based on a play written by the famous Literary figure of Gujarat- Kanhaiyalal Munshi ( 30-12-1887 to 8-2-1971 ). He was an activist in Independence struggle, a Politician ( Home Minister and Governor), a writer and an educationist (founded Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan). Munshi had dabbled in film industry and many Gujarati and Hindi films were made on his plays and stories in almost every decade.
All the 11 songs of the film were written by the famous Gujarati poet ” Raskavi ” Raghunath Bramhabhatt. He was born on 13-12-1892. He was a famous Gujarati poet and also a popular playwright. He was aptly called ‘Rasakavi’ or ‘Poet of rasa’. He began his career by writing erotic poems that became very popular. His plays mainly tackled mythological and historical subjects, such as Buddhadev i.e. ‘The God Buddha’, Sringi rishi i.e. ‘Mountain Sage’, Ajatsatru, Saraswatichandra, Sneh mudra i.e. ‘Ring of Affection’. He followed Sanskrit dramaturgy i.e. a novelty when Shakespearean adaptations ruled the Gujarati stage. His adaptations of Nanalal Kavi’s verse plays and Govardhanram’s novel, Saraswatichandra, were highly appreciated by audiences. He is accepted in literary circles as a major dramatist, a rare recognition for a writer of the old professional theatre. His autobiography Smaran manjari i.e. ‘Cluster of Memories’ in 1955 traces the history of Gujarati theatre over three decades beginning from 1910.
Darpana’s productions of his play Kalyan rajya i.e. ‘Benevolent Kingdom’ in 1962 points to his ability to attract the experimental theatre.Raghunath Brahmbhatt died on 11-7-1983. He wrote lyrics for just 6 Hindi films- Do deewane-36, Baaraat-42, Mera Gaon-42, Ashirwad-43, Bhakta Bilwamangal-48 and Roop sundari-49.
The film cast was Motilal, Shobhana Samarth, Yakub, Aruna Devi, Sankata Prasad, Bhudo Advani and others. The name of Aruna Devi may be a new one for many. She started acting in films with film Village Girl-36. The same year, she also acted in Mard ka Bachha, Lagna Bandhan,Do Deewane and Deccan Queen ( she did a double role in this film. She also sang 2 songs in this film.) and in 1938 she acted in her last film Asha-38. After this she got married to a businessman Mr. Nanavati and settled in England- ending her very short career as an actress.
Do Deewane was the first film in which Motilal and Shobhana Samarth acted together. In later life, however, besides acting, they lived a life together also in real life. The film was directed by Chimanblal Luhar.
The 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 film line as a lab Assistant in Kohinoor studios in 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.
Film Do Deewane took a satirical look at the practice in society, the character of a father, forcing his daughter into a marriage for monetary incentive, was at the heart of this film. The daughter runs away from home and meets a lot of people. In his original stage drama, Munshi had brought different people speaking in different languages- creating kind of a humour, however in the Hindi film version it was only Hindi language spoken by different people…still creating laughs by their grammar and pronunciation.
While doing the shooting, Motilal was quite hesitant and shy in love scenes. There was a scene in which he was supposed to take the Heroine in his arms. But even after trying several times Motilal could not do it. Fed up of waiting for long, it was Shobhana who jerked him towards her and embraced him ! Imagine who must have blushed in this scene !!
In another scene, Shobhana is sitting on a swing. Motilal had to come from behind and push the swing to frighten her.While doing the rehearsal of this scene, Motilal gave a hard push to the swing to look realistic. As a result Shobhana not only fell off the swing but promptly became unconscious also. It was then that Motilal came to know that she was pregnant. Later on 4-6-1936, Shobhana gave birth to Nutan !
The story of the film was the usual conflict between Generation thinkings and values. Since the time unknown, newer Generations have always felt that the older people were not keeping up with current times. This was so 100 years ago and is very much true even today. The film which was made about 80 years ago tried to discuss this conflict, cinematically. Millionaire Ramdas wants to marry his daughter as per his choice. Not agreeing to this daughter Miss Rambha (Shobhana Samarth) runs away from home and in her quest of peace, meets Dr. Mohanlal (Motilal). They fall in love. At the end it is revealed that Mohanlal was the original choice of her father. So, all is well.
The film had subplots to create comic situations. However, as per the review of the film posted in Film India magazine, the comedy did not induce most people in the audience to laugh and acting of most actors was mediocre. The technical side was much appreciated. Anyway, Baburao Patel of Film India magazine rarely appreciated or had good words for any film, so nothing new in this review also.
There were 11 songs in the film. The composer was Pransukh Nayak, who started his career with film Sati Sone-33 and ended with film Kulvadhu-37, giving music to 27 films in between this period and composed 293 songs.
In Sagar Movietone, many actors, actresses, directors and technicians got first opportunity or got opportunity to develop their existing careers. The Regular artistes of Sagar Movietone were called ” The Jewels of Sagar “. They included Motilal, Surendra, Kumar, Charlie, Yakub, Bhudo Advani, Sh. Mukhtar, Kanhaiyalal, Sankata Prasad, V H Desai, Sabita Devi, Bibbo, Waheedan Bai, Jyoti, Maya Banerjee, Nalini Jaywant, Ezra Mir, Ramchandra Thakur, mehboob, Sarvottam Badami, Zia Sarhadi, Faredoon Irani, Kaushik Dholabhai and Anil Biswas.
Today’s song is a fun song. From the lyrics, it sounds like a group of freshly graduated Doctors. The song has many medical terms and mentions of Medical instruments etc. This is a Chorus song. With this song, film Do Deewane makes its Debut on the Blog.
( I am thankful to the book ” Sagar Movietone”, by Biren kothari ji for information used herein.)
Song-Hum ban gaye sab bade doctor (Do Deewaane)(1936) Singer- Chorus, Lyricist- Raghunath Bramhabhatt, MD- Pransukh Nayak
Lyrics
Hum ban gaye sab bade doctor
physician aur Surgeon
patient hamaara dilbar
chaaku hamaara nashtar
Hum ban gaye sab bade doctor
physician aur Surgeon
patient hamaara dilbar
chaaku hamaara nashtar
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
patient hamaara ho mister(?)
patient hamaara ho mister(?)
phir mauj kare kheese bhar kar
phir mauj kare kheese bhar kar
bane hunarwar chale akadkar
badhe position ghar ghar
bane hunarwar chale akadkar
badhe position ghar ghar
MBBS
FS(?)
ab kaun hai hamse badhkar
ab kaun hai hamse badhkar
ham ban gaye sab bade doctor
physician aur Surgeon
patient hamaara dilbar
chaaku hamaara nashtar
ham ban gaye sab bade doctor
physician aur Surgeon
patient hamaara dilbar
chaaku hamaara nashtar
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
koi nine pills aur powder
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
tonic lotion aur tincture
patient hamaara ho mister(?)
patient hamaara ho mister(?)
phir mauj kare kheese bhar kar
phir mauj kare kheese bhar kar
bane hunarwar chale akadkar
badhe position ghar ghar
bane hunarwar chale akadkar
badhe position ghar ghar
MBBS
FS
ab kaun hai hamse badhkar
ab kaun hai hamse badhkar
ham ban gaye sab bade doctor
physician aur Surgeon
patient hamaara dilbar
chaaku hamaara nashtar
ham ban gaye sab bade doctor
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