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Re mann kaahe soch kare

Posted by: Atul on: November 15, 2020

In: Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Rare song | Song of 1936 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Yearwise breakup of songs
4 Comments

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

Blog Day :

4503

Post No. :

16041

Today’s song is from an early era film- Jeewan Naiya-1936.

The film was produced by Bombay Talkies. This was their just the second full length Talkie film, since the company was started. How Bombay Talkies was conceived, established and became one of the India’s top film studios has been told several times- here and on the Internet. They were pioneers and pall bearers of making films on social evils of Indian society, led by their senior in this field – Prabhat Film Co., which was started a few years earlier.

Himanshu Rai the owner of BT (Bombay Talkies), was born in an illustrious Bengali family in 1892.After graduation, he was sent to England to practice Law. But once he landed in London, he became a participant in London’s Theatre scenes. Devika Rani- the grand niece of Rabindranath Tagore and daughter of Col. M N Chaudhary was born at Waltair (now Vishakhapatanam) in 1908. At the age of 16, she sailed for England on a scholarship from Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and also R.A. of Music-both at London. Rai was introduced to her at a party, He offered her a job of designing Costumes for his films. After 3 years, they got married.

They came back to India and in 1934, Bombay Talkies was established. In 1935, its first Talkie film ” Jawani ki Hawa “-35 was made with Devika Rani and the handsome Najmul Hasan, as the lead pair. During this film, they fell in love. The shooting of the next film started. The film was ” Jeewan Naiya-36′. About 40 % shooting was done and suddenly, the lead pair of Devika Rani and Najmul hasan eloped to Calcutta. BT was shattered. Shashadhar Mukherji rushed to Calcutta and met Devika Rani in Grand Hotel. he managed to convince her to return to Bombay. At this time, she is said to have made a partnership deal with Rai for BT as the price to return. They both came back….without Najmul Hasan !

Actually, Himanshu Rai was already married once to an Austrian girl. They had a son also. He was 16 years older than Devika Rani, but still he married her, considering the benefits his film company would have if a ‘ Home Heroine” was available. He was highly business minded and Devika Rani knew this. She understood that situation and wanted her price to come back to Himanshu Rai’s professional married life. Her shrewdness came out in open after Rai’s death in 1940 and when she handled BT affairs dictatorially.

As a replacement to hero Najmul Hasan, Ashok Kumar was selected. In his screen test the cinematographer Joseph Virsinghe approved him but director Franz Osten had objections. Despite that he was selected by Himanshu Rai. He also changed Kumudlal Ganguly’s name to only ASHOK KUMAR. 4 films – Jeevan Naiya, Achhoot kanya, Izzat and Janmabhoomi were planned for next one year, roughly one film every 3 months. The staff of Bombay Talkies was unhappy with Devika Rani after what she did to Himanshu Rai, but Shashadhar mukherji took a meeting and tried to convince the staff. This had a reverse effect. Devika Rani thought that he instigated the staff against her and their relations soured. This ultimately resulted in Shashadhar and few others leaving BT and starting Filmistan in 1942.

There is another story of the entry of Ashok kumar into the film……Najmul Hussian played the lead role opposite Devika Rani when shooting began. Rani developed a strong crush on her hero, and on a break during the shoot, she ran away with him. The producer Himansu Rai, was Rani’s husband, and he was up in arms at this situation. However, Rani returned to him soon after, but he was in no mood to work with Hussain again. As the film was already half done, this presented a problem. One of his colleagues suggested that he finish the film by casting his laboratory assistant, whose side profile matched that of Najmul Hussain’s, and use creative lighting and shadows for the rest of the scenes so that the audience is not aware of the ‘switch’. This idea clicked with Rai and he successfully completed the film with the new hero. That lucky lab assistant was Ashok Kumar, and thus began his acting career. (Thanks to IMDB)

This was the background of the film Jeewan Naiya-1936. The story was written by Niranjan pal. The story was

“Lata (Devika Rani), daughter of a dancing girl, is brought up by social worker Mathuradas (Prasad) and is engaged to marry the rich Ranjit (Ashok Kumar) when the villain Chand (S.N. Tripathi) arrives to blackmail her with her undisclosed ancestry. Lata is forced to disclose the truth to Ranjit and the assembled wedding guests. Ranjit disowns her but they are reunited when Ranjit, blinded by an explosion, is nursed back to health by a devoted woman who turns out to be his wife. ”
(Thanks to IMDB) .

The film’s dialogues were by J S Casshyap, production incharge was N R Acharya and the film was directed by a German-without knowing Hindi- Franz Osten.

Very few people know that Indian Cinema had a little known connection with the rise of Hitler in Germany in 1932-33. A group of men , engaged in Cinema in Germany, flocked to India in the 30’s and played a vital role in Indian Cinema and the arts of that time. After Hitler took over Germany in 1933, the German Cine Studio’s glory days were over and they were turned into Nazi Propaganda Machines !

It was at this time that several of its men ( mostly persecuted Jews) left the studio and some arrived in India, and contributed to Indian cinema’s formative years.

The foremost among them is Frantz Osten, a German whom Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani met at the UFA when they went to train there (they worked with Lang and Marlene Dietrich). Osten had already been directing films for the couple since 1925, when he made Light of Asia for them from Germany.

In 1934, he came to India and the next year, after Rai founded Bombay Talkies ‘ the legendary film studio in Malad that now lies in ruins,’ Osten directed its first film, ‘ Jawani ki Hawa’-1935.

He went on to direct the famous Devika Rani-Ashok Kumar starrer, Achhut Kanya, without much knowledge of Hindi. The film, which featured the song “Main ban ke chiriya”, was shot by Cinematographer Joseph Wirsching; the sets were designed by Karl von Spreti, the laboratory was headed by Zolle, and the sound recordist was Len Heartley. This was Osten’s team of UFA ex-members who worked for Rai’s state-of-the-art studio.

Osten and his fellow Germans directed 16 films for Rai. It was a remarkable feat for people who knew little Hindi, mistaking the word “bulbul” once, for a pair of bulls.

“It’s not clear if they had anything to do with the Nazi ideology, either way,” said film historian Amrit Gangar.

“If they did, it did not show in their films. But there were two other people who almost certainly migrated to India because of the persecution of Jews.”

Franz Osten(23-12-1876 to 2-12-1956) Hindi director, was born in Munich as Franz Ostermayer, the elder brother of successful producer Peter Ostermayer. They set up a travelling cinema, Original Physograph (1907) and founded Munchner Kunstfilm (1909) after Osten had been making shorts for Pathé, Gaumont and Eclair. Their first feature: Die Wahrheit (1910). Osten’s début as director: Erna Valeska (1911). War correspondent in 1915. Joined Peter’s company Emelka (later Bavaria Film) in 1918. Made Der Ochsenkrieg (1920) with young cameraman Frank Planer of later Hollywood fame, one of Osten’s several contributions to a budding genre that after WW2 became known as the Heimatfilm. In fact, the Ostermayr/Osten brothers claimed to be the originators of the genre.

When Himansu Rai and Emelka made a deal to produce Prem Sanyas aka Light of Asia, Osten was assigned to direct. Continued directing Rai’s productions, often shooting in India as well as in Europe, in addition to directing for numerous companies in Berlin. Moved with cameraman Josef Wirsching and set designer Karl von Spreti to India to work at Himansu Rai’s Bombay Talkies (1934).

While in Bombay, became a member of the Nazi Party (1936). He was interned by the British at the outbreak of WW2 while shooting his last film there, Kangan. Released and allowed to return to Germany (1940). Employed by Bavaria Film until 1945, for casting and setting up its film archive. In addition to Indian films, directed 33 silent features and 10 sound films.

After WW2 became manager of a Bavarian spa. His Indian films, following UFA tradition, were huge Orientalist spectacles with elephants, camels and expansive vistas often shot in deep focus. Effective authorship shared by producer Rai and scenarist Niranjan Pal. Adopted European conventions to introduce main actors, e.g. backlit mid-shots in soft focus gradually becoming more contrasted; also used mobile outdoor shots as in the railway-crossing sequence of Achhut Kanya. Strongly influenced younger Bombay Talkies film-makers Amiya Chakrabarty and Gyan Mukherjee, though they used his techniques for very different purposes.

Filmography-1925: Prem Sanyas, 1928: Shiraz, 1929: Prapancha Pash, 1935: Jawani Ki Hawa, 1936: Achhut Kanya, Janmabhoomi, Jeevan Naiya, Mamata, Miya Bibi, 1937: Izzat, Jeevan Prabhat, Prem Kahani, Savitri, 1938: Bhabhi, Nirmala, Vachan, 1939: Durga, Kangan, Navjeevan.

Who was Najmul Hasan and what happened to him later ? Najmul Hasan was born on 5-9-1910, into a noble family of Lucknow. He was tall and very handsome and was bitten by the urge to act in the films. He left his Law studies and headed for Bombay. He met Sarojini Naidu, who was a family friend. She recommended his name to Himanshu Rai Strongly. His Screen test was taken in which he passed. Though at first sight, Himanshu Rai was not impressed with his manner of behaviour, he still selected him for the First film of Bombay Talkies, opposite Devika Rani in Jawani ki Hawa-1935.

During Jawani ki Hawa-35- which was loosely based on Agatha Christie’s “Murder On The Orient Express”, published in 1934 only- Devika Rani fell in love with Najmul Hasan and they decided to elope. Their second film- Jeewan Naiyya-36 was on floor and the love birds flew to Calcutta. There was a great commotion in Bombay Talkies. Shashdhar Mukherji the production manager was close to his Bengali Boss Himanshu Roy. Mukherjee traced the couple to Calcutta, met Devika Rani and convinced her to return to Himanshu. Devika Rani returned, Himanshu Roy pardoned her, but not Najmul Hasan.

Najmul Hasan did not come back to Bombay. He joined New Theatres in Calcutta and did films like Anath Ashram-37,Dushman-38,Kapal kundala-39,Jawani ki Reet-39 and Nartaki-40. Even in Calcutta, Najmul Hassan had a rocking affair with superstar Jahan Ara Kajjan. After doing film Meenakshi-42, Najmul Hasan decided to migrate to Pakistan in 1947. In Pakistan he did some films like Eid-1951, Ashiyana, Doctor, Mirza Jatt, Taxi Driver and Heer Ranjha etc.

Najmul Hasan, a very bitter man for the treatment he received in Pakistan, died in 1980 in Pakistan.

Today’s song is sung by Chandraprabha. With this song she makes her debut on this Blog as a singer. This is a typical song of the 30’s, fully impacted with Parsi Theatre music.

(information for this post has been taken from thebigindianpicture.com, Bombay Talkies-an article by Ambarish Mishra, indiancine.ma and my notes. Thanks to all.)

Song-Re mann kaahe soch kare (Jeewan Naiyya)(1936) Singer- Chandraprabha, Lyricist- J S Casshyap, MD- Saraswati Devi

Lyrics

Re mann kaahe soch kare ae
Re mann kaahe soch kare ae
ye jeewan hai
hansne ke jiye
ye jeewan hai
hansne ke jiye
re man kaahe
soch kare
hari shyam ghata
ke aanchal se
?? mukhda
?? hai
??
?? ghadiyaan
dil se gham ko
?? jaati hai
dukh jaata hai
sukh aata hai
kat’te hain din hanste hanste
re man kaahe soch kare ae
re man kaahe
re man kaahe soch kare ae
ye jeewan hai hanse ke liye
re man kaahe
re man kaahe
re man kaahe

Tags: 1936, Chandraprabha, J S Kashyap, Jeewan Naiyya, Saraswati Devi

Tum tulsi maata pyaari

Posted by: Atul on: October 19, 2020

Blog Day :

4476

Post No. :

15978

Today’s song is from the film Village Girl aka Gram Kanya-1936.

Nine years later, Ramnik Productions made another film with the same title in 1945 with the famous singer Noorjehan singing under the baton of Melody maker music director Shyamsundar. So, when the name Village Girl is mentioned, one’s mind thinks only of the 1945 film of Noorjehan- Village Girl aka Gaon ki Gori-45.

The 1936 film was made by Sagar Movietone. Though Sagar made Talkie films right from the first year of the Talkie era-1931, their films did not make much mark in the film world, till Motilal and Sabita Devi pair came on the scene in 1934 end with ” Shehar ka jaadu”. The new pair clicked famously and Sagar became a name to reckon with. This successful pair did 8 films together for Sagar.

During this period actor singer Surendra came on the scene with his film ” Deccan Queen”-1936, with Aruna Devi. The two Heros then worked with different Heroines of Sagar company. While Motilal worked with Shobhana Samarth, Bibbo, Maya Banerjee and Rose, Sabita Devi worked with Kumar and Surendra. Both Motilal and Surendra came together in the film Jagirdar-36. For the young pair of Surendra and Sabita Devi, film Village Girl was the first film together. They did only one more film together- For Ladies Only-39. Both the films were directed by Sarvottam Badami.

S.Badami is an example of what the Cinema industry is. For some, it is a ditch which destroys the entrant and for a few lucky ones it plays ” Philosopher’s Stone (Paras)”, which turns their lives into Gold. He is one of the two examples, where an ordinary Motor Mechanic makes it as a famous member of the cinema industry. Besides Badami, the other such example is Poet-Director Gulzar (Sampooran Singh Kalra), who was also a Motor Mechanic.

Sarvottam Badami was born in 1910 at Channapatna in Karnataka,to a revenue officer working in Mysore. He passed his SSLC and worked as a garage mechanic and then a projectionist in Select Picture House, Bangalore, both of which were owned by Dr. Ambalal Patel. Patel moved to Bombay and financed Ardeshir Irani of Imperial Film Company, and Chimanlal Desai as a partner forming Sagar Movietone in 1930.
At the age of 19 years, Badami went to Bombay to study automobile engineering. He was asked by Ardeshir Irani who met him at a wedding to help out with the recording equipment he had purchased from abroad.

Badami helped in the sound recording department for the first Talkie in India, Ardeshir Irani’s Alam Ara (1931). Around that time a German director making the film Harishchandra left half-way and Badami offered to complete it, the co-director was Raja Chandrasekhar, although the co-director credit has also been cited as T. C. Vadivelu Naicker. The film turned out to be successful. He was contracted by Sagar Movietone (Sagar Film Company) to direct three films, two in Telugu and one in Tamil: Galava Rishi (Tamil), Rama Paduka Pattabhishekam and Shakuntala in Telugu. The success of these films established him as a director. His working team had people like the cinematographer Faredoon Irani, music director Anil Biswas and the Sagar Movietone favourites Sabita Devi and Motilal.

Initially, to avoid embarrassment to his family he requested not to be credited in the regional language films. He did not know Hindi but from 1932-1947, he worked for Sagar Movietone and also directed nearly 30 films in Hindi, for many others. His first Hindi film was Chandrahasa (1933) starring Noor Mohammed Charlie. He was paid Rs 2000 per film with the complete film being made within Rs 50,000. He worked with most of the top actors of the time like Motilal, Nargis, Ashok Kumar and Pahari Sanyal. He brought Mehboob Khan who was then doing roles as an extra out of obscurity and gave him the role of Sabita Devi’s father in the film Vengeance is mine(1935).

He made several films based on novels. Some of the writers whose work he used were K.M.Munshi, Sarat Chandra and Ramanlal Vasanthlal Desai. The film Aap ki Marzi (1939) was inspired by the Hollywood film Paradise for Three (1938). He became known for his satirical comedies and “socially relevant films”.His film Grihalaxmi (1934), which starred Jal Merchant and Sabita Devi had the woman getting into marriage only if her doctor husband agreed not to want children. The success of the film mitigated the enraged public reaction at the time.

He showed his understanding of media publicity required for films when in 1937, Badami resorted to woo audiences by announcing cash prizes of Rs.500, Rs.200 and Rs.100 for the best reviews of his newly released film Kulvadhu (1937). The promotional gambit worked sending audiences to the theatres. According to an interview, most of Badami’s films didn’t survive as the negatives were burnt to extract the silver from the silver nitrate.

After Aap ki Marzi-38, he followed his mentor, Dr. Patel and joined Sudama Pictures, when in 1939, Sagar Movietone merged into National Films. Badami

also worked in Famous Cine Laboratories, from 46 to 48.

Apparently, in 1948 Deputy Prime Minister Vallabh bhai Patel, who was then also in charge of the Information Ministry, on a visit to the Cine Laboratories Bombay, asked Badami to help set up a Newsreel and Documentary section. The Films Division was established in 1948. He became chief producer in the newsreel department and made several documentaries. He worked in the Films Division making documentaries from 1948-1952. After that he stopped making films and returned to Bangalore to retire as “I was a forgotten man in the feature film world”. He became an industrialist by starting a manufacturing business. Later he worked as a Consultant for Kamani Group of Industries also. He died in 2005 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

FILMOGRAPHY: 1932: Harishchandra; Galava Rishi; Paduka Pattabhishekham; Shakuntala; 1933: Chandrahasa; 1934: Grihalakshmi; 1935: Dr. Madhurika; Vengeance is Mine; 1936: Jeevan Lata; Grama Kanya; 1937: Kokila; Kulavadhu; 1938: Three Hundred Days and After; 1939: Aap Ki Marzi; Ladies Only; 1940: Chingari; Sajani; 1941: Holiday in Bombay; 1942: Khilona; 1943: Prarthana; 1944: Bhagya Lakshmi; 1945: Ramayani; 1946: Uttara Abhimanyu; 1947: Manmani; 1951: Vinoba Bhave (Doc);1952: Roof over the head

(Ack: Sapnon ke saudagar by Vithal Pandya, Sagar Movietone by Biren Kothari, HFGK, muVyz, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, and my notes)

The cast of the film was Sabita Devi, Surendra, Yakub, Aruna, Kayam Ali, Sankatha Prasad and many others. The film’s story was written by Dr. Jayant Shyama. The story is about a young man Kumar (Surendra) who loves Vilasini (Aruna), but has to marry Bansari (Sabita Devi) due to family obligations. The film shows the complications in their lives.

Kumar’s father (Sankatha Prasad) has taken a loan from sheth Dinanath (Kayam Ali) for Kumar’s education, on condition of Kumar’s marriage to his daughter Bansuri. Unknown to this precondition, Kumar falls in love and impregnates Vilasini. Due to parental obligations, Kumar is forced to marry Bansuri and abandon Vilasini. As the days pass by, Kumar’s father gets killed accidentally by Kumar himself. Vilasini tries to take the blame on herself. In the court the truth comes out and Bansuri comes to know about her love and pregnancy from Kumar. Bansuri frees Kumar from her bond and the lovers unite.

Now we come to the Music riddles of this film. The film, as mentioned in the book “Sagar Movietone” by Shri Biren Kothari ji gives the name of Bhaskar Rao as its Music Director and also for film ‘ Captain Kirti Kumar-37’. Who is this Bhaskar Rao ? A. Bhaskar Rao was a writer ( Aadmi-39) and asstt. Director(Padosi-41) in Prabhat. Hailing from south Karnataka, Amembal Bhasker Rao’s elder brother A.Sunder Rao was an expert Harmonium player. His younger brother A. Dinkar Rao aka D. Amel, was with A.I.R. as a Musician for 40 years. A.Bhasker Rao was a Tabla player and a disciple of Master krisna Rao Phulambrikar.

However, HFGK gives the name of MD as only ” Rao”. The uploader of the song claims that the MD is Shankar Rao Khatu. Dr. Ashok Ranade, in his book “Music beyond Boundaries”, on page 342, mentions the name as Shankar Rao Khatu. I wrote to Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji, who says it is Shankar rao khatu. Now, this Khatu was a famous Bhajan singer. He had dabbled in films too by acting in film Vasant Sena-34, sang a song in film ” Khwabon ki duniya-37″ and gave music to film Sagar kanya-36. In all these films his name appears as Shankar Rao Khatu and nowhere as only “Rao”. I feel this confirms that Rao does not mean Shankar Rao Khatu. In western India like Maharashtra and Gujarat, people from Karnatak or southern states are referred to only as Rao. All these pointers take me to feel that the MD is A.Bhaskar Rao. Moreover, for two successive Sagar films he was the MD.

PS-Shri Biren Kothari has subsequently clarified that the music director was Shankar Rao Khatu.

There is confusion about the singer also. HFGK lists the singer as Rajkumari. When I listened to the other songs of Rajkumari from the same film, I felt that this voice was different. Isuru kariyawasam, the Sinhalese expert on old Hindi films commented on YT that the singer is Sabita Devi. The uploader, Shalin Bhatt agrees to some extent about voice but insists on the name of Rajkumari. Girdharilalji claims it to be Rajkumari Calcuttewali ! I feel it is unlikely because Pullobai did not sing in any film outside Calcutta or films made by other than Calcutta producers. So I have gone the safe way by saying that Rajkumari is the singer of this song.

I request experts to opine. I am not a voice expert.

Song-Tum Tulsi maata pyaari (Village Girl)(1936) Singer-Rajkumari, Lyricist- Unknown, MD- Shankar Rao Khatu

Lyrics

Tulsi maata pyaari
tum Tulsi Maata pyaari
tum Tulsi Maata pyaari
sati ho dukh nivaari
tum devi sankathaari
sati ho dukh nivaari
tum devi sankathaari
sabke rog taaro tum
sabke rog taaro tum
jeewan nav ka taaro
sabke rog taaro tum
sabke rog taaro tum
jeewan nav ka taaro
Tulsi mata pyaari
tum Tulsi Mata pyaari

mahima sabne maani
mahima sabne maani
murli waala gun gaaya
mahima sabne maani
haan aan aan aan aan aan aan
mahima sabne maani
murli waala gun gaaya
murli waala gun gaaya
murli waala gun gaaya
poojan ko aayi daasi
poojan ko aayi daasi
vinti karat tori main
vinti karat tori main
vinti karat tori main
Tulsi maata pyaari
tum Tulsi Maata pyaari

sati ho dukh nivaari
tum devi sankathaari
sab ke rog taaro tum
sab ke rog taaro tum
sab ke rog taaro tum
jeewan nav ka taaro
jeewan nav ka taaro
Tulsi maata pyaari
tum Tulsi Mata pyaari

Tags: 1936, Rajkumari, Shankar Rao Khatu, Village Girl

Samjha kya hai duniyaa daana

Posted by: Atul on: August 3, 2020

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

Blog Day :

4399

Post No. :

15776

—————————————————
Blog 10-Year Challenge (2010-2020) – Song No.49
————————————————–

In my younger days, I remember to have watched Marathi film ‘Kunku’ (1937) on Bombay Doordarshan (now ‘Sahyadri’ Channel). At that time, I was not aware that ‘Duniya Na Maane’ (1937) was its Hindi version. Even it did not occur to me that the subject chosen for the film was very bold. I have no much recollections of the songs of the film but Shanta Apte’s performance has remained in my mind as it was quite different as compared with the theatrical acting by most of the actors of that time. Even her song renditions were looking natural as against the ‘fixed gaze’ style of song renditions witnessed in most of the films at that time.

After about 3 decades when I had watched the Hindi version on a video sharing platform, I still found that even in the present juncture, the subject handled in the film appears bold. I sometime feel that V Shantaram, the director, must be having a knack of convincing his other partners in Prabhat Films to agree to produce the film with a bold subject who may have thought that the film would receive the brickbats especially from the orthodox segment of the society after the release. That the film was a box office hit proves the capability of V Shantaram as a director for handling the bold subject in a way that convinced a large number of cine-goers about the evil of mismatched marriage

14-year old Nirmala (Shanta Apte) is married through a deciet by her uncle to a widower (Keshavrao Date), a lawyer, who is old enough to be her father. But she does not accept him to be her husband. While she takes care of the family as a housewife, she refuses to consummate the marriage by saying that while sufferings can be borne, injustice can not be tolerated. Over a period of time, her husband feels guilty and treat Nirmala as his daughter. He release her from the marriage but the conservative society does not accept this arrangement. In the end, the widower commits suicide with a note to Nirmala that she is free to remarry.

In selecting Shanta Apte in the role of Nirmala, V Shantaram must have observed her as a woman of substance who would perform her reel role of an enlightened woman who fights for her rights in a same way as she had done in her real life. In this film, there is a scene in which she gives a trashing with a cane to her college going step son for misbehaving with her as well as with his father and forces him to seek forgiveness from his father. I recall an instance when she had gone to ‘Filmindia’ office with a cane (or whip?) to trash Baburao Patel, the firebrand editor for writing some unpleasant comments about her acting. It was reported that to avoid trashing, Baburao Patel had to hide below his table.

10 years back, one song from the film ‘Duniya Naa Maane’ (1937) was posted on the Blog. So far, 5 songs from the film have been posted on the Blog details of which are as under:

Songs	Name of the Film
ek thha raaja	03/08/2010
in the worlds broad field of battle	04/08/2010
man saaf tera hai ya nahin	12/11/2012
jai ambe gauri maiyya	09/10/2013
saawan jhoola jhool ke nikla	19/03/2014

I am presenting the 6^th song, ‘samjha kya hai duniya daana’ from the film which is rendered by actor-singer, Shanta Apte. The song is written by Munshi Aziz which is set to music by Keshavrao Bhole. In this song, there is no musical interludes. I liked the way, Shanta Apte sang the line ‘kisi ki chup’ followed by a very brief pause and then continuing singing ‘walwala kisi kaa’.

One of the features of the film was that the music director, Keshavrao Bhole did not use orchestra for all its songs, Instead, he relied on using a couple of musical instruments. Two of its 12 songs (including the one under discussion) were sung by Shanta Apte by playing gramophone records.

Video Clip:

Audio Clip:

Song-Samjha kya hai duniya daana (Duniya Na Maane)(1937) Singer-Shanta Apte, Lyrics-Munshi Aziz, MD-Keshavrao Bhole

Lyrics

samjha…aa kya hai duniya….aa ….aa
aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa
daana
yahaan pe aake har ek apni
yahaan pe aake har ek apni
niraali duniya bana raha hai
niraali duniya bana raha hai
deewaana daana zamaana kya kya
deewaana daana zamaana kya kya
hamein tamaashe dikha raha hai
hamein tamaashe dikha raha hai
kisi ki chup
walwala kisi kaa
chhuri kisi ki
gala kisi kaa
kisi ki chup
walwala kisi kaa
chhuri kisi ki
gala kisi kaa
bura kisi ka
bhala kisi kaa
bura kisi ka
bhala kisi kaa
dharam yahi kya sikha raha hai
dharam yahi kya sikha raha hai
sitam kaa sahna
sitam kaa sahna
har ek taakat
badhega dil aur badhegi himmat
sitam ka sahna
aa aa aa aa
sitam ka sahna
har ek taakat
badhega dil aur badhegi himmat
hai ye bhi ek zindagi ki daulat
hai ye bhi ek zindagi ki daulat
suno ye aaj suna raha hai
suno ye aaj suna raha hai

Tags: 1937, Actor-Singer, Duniya Na Maane, Keshavrao Bhole, Munshi Aziz, Shanta Apte

Bhool jaa

Posted by: Atul on: July 19, 2020

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

Blog Day :

4384

Post No. :

15736

———————————————–——————————-
Blog 10-Year Challenge (2010-2020) – Song No. 41
——————————————————————————

Today 19^th July 2020 is the thirteenth birthday of this blog. I wish Atul ji, Sudhir ji, our seniors and all team members on the blog a very happy birthday of the blog today and my greetings and best wishes to all on this occasion.

Ten years ago, on this day i.e. on 19.07.2010, four songs were posted on the blog. And they were posted in a pattern which I liked when I became a member of the blog and also this was a regular pattern in those years i.e. 2012 to 2014 (I think).

In this pattern, songs were discussed in chronological order. The early morning post cover a song from the early years of Hindi cinema (for example from 1930 to 1950 or 1960). As the day wore on, songs from later years would be covered. The last song of the day would be a song from recent years say 1970 or around seventies-eighties.
(I had mentioned about this ‘pattern’ in a discussion on the ‘WhatsApp group’ of Atulites or may be on the blog 🙂 )

The four songs represented on the blog on 19.07.2010 were as given below;

Song	Movie title-Year	Remarks
Aaj hamen ban behad bhaataa	AmarJyoti-1936	06 songs posted
Sataayegaa kise tu aasmaan jab ham nahin honge	Sheesham-1952	07 songs posted
Main rickshaw waalaa	Chhoti Behen-1959	All songs covered
Aayegaa koyi hamraaz mere pyaar kaa	Phoolon Ki Sej-1964	05 songs posted

Today’s song is from the movie ‘Amar Jyoti-1936’.

I had originally planned to discuss a different song for today’s special occasion. When I checked the songs for ‘blog ten-year challenge’ today,I realised that as many as three movies were eligible for this challenge. I decided to present a song from the oldest eligible movie, preferring to enjoy the writeup of others for the ‘newer’ songs.

‘Amar Jyoti-1936’ was directed by V. Shantaram for ‘Prabhat Chitra’, Poona. It had Durga Khote, Shanta Apte, Vasanti, Karunadevi, Chandramohan, B. Nandrekar, Gajendra, K. Narayan Kale, S. Kulkarni, Vasant Desai and other.

As per HFGK Vol-1 (1931-1940) this movie had eleven songs, all written by Pt Narottam Vyas and music was composed by Master Krishnarao.

Our respected Arun ji has provided the details of his movie while discussing the song –Karte rehnaa mismaar duniya zulm o jafaa ki on the blog.

Following six songs from “Amar Jyoti-1936” have been posted on the blog so far;

Song	Posted On
Aaj hamen ban behad bhaataa	19.07.2010
Suno suno ban ke praani	29.06.2012
<a href=”https://atulsongaday.me/2012/09/22/jeet-jyot-tez-chamak-raha-hai/”Jeet jyot tez chamak rahaa hai	22.09.2012
Ab maine jaanaa hai	12.10.2012
Karte rehnaa mismaar duniya zulm o jafaa ki	08.09.2017
Ankhiyan ke tum tare pyaare	23.09.2018

Today’s song, the seventh song from this movie, is sung by Vasant Desai.

As mentioned above lyrics are by Pt Narottam Vyas and music is composed by Master Krishnarao.

Lyrics of this song were sent by Prakashchandra.

Today we start the day on the blog with a song from the same movie with which the day started ten years ago. Maybe we will follow the same chronological order while covering the songs of the day. 🙂 except for the movie already ‘Yippeeee’ed’ on the blog, of course 🙂 .

Let us enjoy this song and also wish our blog a very happy birthday….

nihaan hai nigaahon mein ae
tasveer teri
jidhar dekhtaa hoon
udhar tu hi tu hai …

Song-Bhool jaa (Amar Jyoti)(1936) Singer-Vasant Desai, Lyrics-Pt Narottam Vyas, MD-Master Krishnarao

Lyrics (Provided by Prakashchandra)

bhool jaa aa
bhool jaa aa
bhoolaaun kaise
bhoolnaa muhaal
bhoolnaa muhaal
muhaal
bhoolnaa muhaal

bhulaa do mujhe
garche ye kehti tu hai
bhulaa do mujhe
garche ye kehti tu hai
bhulaa doongaa kaise ae
meri hasti tu hai aye
meri hasti tu hai aye
meri hasti tu hai
nihaan hai nigaahon mein
nihaan hai nigaahon mein ae
tasveer teri ee ee
jidhar dekhtaa hoon
udhar tu hi tu hai
udhar tu hi tu hai
udhar tu hi tu hai

bhool jaa aa
bhool jaa aa
bhulaaun kaise
bhoolnaa muhaal
bhoolnaa muhaal
muhaal
bhoolnaa muhaal
———————————
Devnagri Script lyrics (Provided by Avinash Scrapwala)
———————————
भूल जा आ
भूल जा आ
भुलाऊं कैसे
भूलना मुहाल
भूलना मुहाल
मुहाल
भूलना मुहाल

भुला दो मुझे
गरचे ये कहती तू है
भुला दो मुझे
गरचे ये कहती तू है
भुला दूंगा कैसे ए
मेरी हस्ती तू है अय अय
मेरी हस्ती तू है अय अय
मेरी हस्ती तू है

निहाँ है निगाहों में
निहाँ है निगाहों में ए
तस्वीर तेरी ई ई
जिधर देखता हूँ
उधर तू ही तू है
उधर तू ही तू है
उधर तू ही तू है

भूल जा आ
भूल जा आ
भुलाऊं कैसे
भूलना मुहाल
भूलना मुहाल
मुहाल
भूलना मुहाल

Tags: 1936, Amar Jyoti, Master Krishnarao, Pt Narottam Vyas, Vasant Desai

Khoti duniya badi rangeeli

Posted by: Atul on: July 13, 2020

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

Blog Day :

4378

Post No. :

15723

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lyrics

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

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

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

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

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

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

Naach rahi hai Maaya Maaya

Posted by: Atul on: July 8, 2020

Blog Day :

4373

Post No. :

15711

Movie Count :

4330

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Filmography-
——————–

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

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

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

Lyrics

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

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

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

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

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

Mujhe Raam se koi milaa de

Posted by: Atul on: June 19, 2020

Blog Day:

4354

Post No. :

15670

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lyrics

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

koi kahe wo basey Avadh mein
koi kahey Vrindaawan mein

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

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

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

Auron ke kyun pag padta hai

Posted by: Atul on: June 8, 2020

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

Blog Day :

4343

Post No. :

15646

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lyrics of this song were sent to me by Prakashchandra.

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

Lyrics (Provided by Prakashchandra)

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

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

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

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

Yauwan mein rut basant aayi

Posted by: Atul on: May 5, 2020

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

Blog Day:

4309

Post No. :

15583

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

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

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

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

(information from Film Index by Hamraz ji)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

” Lalita, an actress and a gentlewoman !

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lyrics

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

priytam aawan ka sandesa
priytam aawan ka sandesa
koyal kook sunaaye

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

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

Shehron Mein Wo Baat Kahaan

Posted by: skapur01 on: April 11, 2020

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

Blog Day :

4285

Post No. :

15533

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KL Saigal – the magic continues, the legend sustains.

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

Lyrics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Yauwan mein rut basant aayi

Shehron Mein Wo Baat Kahaan

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