Archive for the ‘Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940)’ Category
Kyun hamne diya dil
Posted on: August 11, 2018
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog.This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3676 | Post No. : | 14564 |
Today’s song is from film Watan-1938.
This was a film made by Sagar Movietone. Those days, Sagar was a powerful film making company. They had the best of directors, big stars and MDs. Directors like Mehboob. Sarvottam Badami, Chimanlal Luhar, Ramchandra Thakur, Zia Sarhadi, Ezra Mir ( real name Edwyn Meyers), Virendra Desai,Nanubhai Vakil etc gave famous and popular films. However, not all films made by Sagar were High Class. Film ” Watan” was also one such film, which probably worked as a ‘ filler ‘ for Sagar. 1937 and 1938 were the Golden years for Sagar, in which the company gave popular films like Jagirdar-37, Mahageet-37, Gramophone singer-38 and 300 days and after-38.
Film Watan-38 had a cast of Kumar, Bibbo, Sitara Devi,Maya Banerjee, Yakub and other regulars of Sagar. The film also included Ram Marathe ( credited as Ramchandra), who became a very famous classical singer in later years. The film was directed by Mehboob and the music was by Anil Biswas. Initially Sagar had their favourite MD, S.P.Rane, who was a Maharashtrian from Gujarat. Out of Sagar’s first 18 films, Rane was MD for 15 films. Anil Biswas was associated with Sagar from film Manmohan-36, as an assistant to Ashok Ghosh. Independently, his first film was Jagirdar-37. Later he gave music to 11 more films of Sagar and 2 films of National Studios. he and director mehboob Khan teamed up in 6 films and were very good fiends-till a misunderstanding cropped up, after Sagar merged into National Studios. After this they never worked as a Team.( In 1956, Anil Biswas gave music to film Paisa hi Paisa, made by Mehboob Productions . However, the film’s director was Mehrish- who had insisted for Anil Biswas- and not Mehboob. During the film’s making, Mehboob avoided meeting AB and even left on foreign tour without meeting him even once ! ).
The Hero of the film Watan-38 was Kumar. Actually his real name was Syed Hasan Ali Zaidi. The change of his name to Kumar was part of an interesting story. Anyway, one can easily say that Kumar was the pre-cursor to the unlimited crop of various Kumars that we saw in the decades of 50s onwards.
In Hindi film industry, changing the name of the artiste was nothing new. One thing is sure. This trend of changing names was started by Kumar only. Many actresses changed their names after coming in films. Some did it because they wanted to hide their religion and some did it as there were artistes with the same name already in films. For example, Shyama. There were already 2-3 Khurshids in the films and her real name was Khurshid, so she changed it. Similarly, Meena Shorey’s name was also Khurshid. Some of the actresses who changed their names were, Jyoti, Renuka Devi, Purnima, Meena kumari, Madhubala, Rattanbai, Madhuri, Pramila, Sabita Devi, Bimla kumari, Indira Devi, Latika, Seeta Devi, Manorama, Nadira, Meera etc etc.
In case of male actors, the name changing percentage was mush less. Few cases like Ashok kumar, Kishore kumar,Ranjan,Dilip kumar,Manhar Desai and some more can be counted. Male name changing was seen in as late period as the 80s and 90s too. Cases in point are Rajesh khanna, Akshay kumar etc etc.
Actor KUMAR was born in the prestigious family of Syed s of Lucknow-UP in India,on 23-9-1903.His real name was SYED HASSAN ALI ZAIDI.
His family used to call him MIJJAN Miyan.
He was a handsome and tall person.He was keen on joining cinema,so he came to Calcutta and joined New Theatres. After doing side roles in Subah ka Tara and Zinda lash,he was hero in PURAN BHAGAT in 1933.Even Saigal was also in the film.The film was about to be released and suddenly communal riots broke out in Calcutta.The new Theatre management found it difficult to announce a muslim name of the hero of PURAN BHAGAT,in the tense atmosphere of Calcutta.The director of the film was kumar Debaki Bose,a person from a Royal family.He took a dicision and told Mijjan,” from today,I am giving you a part of my name.You will become KUMAR now.”This solved the film release problem and thus his name became KUMAR,then onwards.Truly enough,Debki Bose,thereafter, never used his name Kumar again in his life !
After doing Yahudi ki Larki,Kumar came to Bombay. First he worked in Sagar ( 5 films) , Imperial (2 films)and then joined Ranjit Studios.
In 1939,he married another actress PRAMILA ,who was actually a Jew, Esther williams. Pramila was later India’s FIRST Miss India in 1947.They got a son and a daughter Naqi Jehan(who too became a Miss India in 1967,exactly 20 tears after her mother. Naqi acted opposite Rajesh Khanna in Akhari Khat,as a Heroine.Later she married into the business family of Kamdar of Bombay and became mrs.Nandini Kamdar. Kumar had 3 sons from his earlier marriage.
Kumar did many films in Ranjit,but in 1942,he was removed from Ranjit.At the same time,his friend,CHANDRAMOHAN also left Minerva Movietone( reason-despite PUKAR-39 being a blockbuster,his salary was not increased inspite of a promise by Sohrab modi).They both decided to lauch own company and on 16-3-1942,SILVER FILM CO. was launched.Its first film was Jhankaar.They produced Bhalai,Bade Nawab Saab,Devar,Naseeb,Dhun and Bahana.Kumar acted in these films.he also directed Dhun and Bahana.
He produced and directed Aap-Beeti-1948 under his company,Kumar Studios.Then under Shama prodn. he made Nahle pe dehla,Dhoom Dham and Dilbar.
later in life he made badal aur bijlee and jungle king under Artists United films. Kumar worked in 73 films as an actor from 1932 to 1963.
From Najma in 1943,Kumar did only character roles in films like bhishm pratigya,Dayara,mahal,Shri 420,khiladi,Maalik,Baiju Bawra,yahudi ki ladki. His memorable role was in Mughal e Azam,that of the sculptor and a famous song-‘Aye mohabbat zindabad’ was shot on him. His last film was Raat aur Din (released in 1967)
In 1963, Kumar migrated to Pakistan, and started to work in Pakistani films without any delay. His son, S. A. Hafiz, who made Tauba, later became one of the best and well known directors of the country. Later he settled in USA. Kamal and Zeba played the lead in Tauba, which became a grand success. Kumar worked in quite a few Pakistani films, including Head Constable, Azad, Shabnam, Naela, Saiqa, Sajda (his own film), Hum Dono, Nadya Ke Paar, Ik Musaflr Ik Hasina, Baalam etc. Kumar died in 1982.
Film Watan-38 was directed by Mehboob Khan. He directed 8 films for Sagar and 1 (Aurat) for National Studios. This film, with a Muslim cultural backdrop, was released on the day of Eid. The film was dominated by grand sets and costumes. The story was usual. Conflict between Kazak and Tatar communities, lasted many generations. The film was a complete entertainment package, consisting of Dances, songs, war scenes, Enemity, Revenge, overwhelming costumes and love scenes, in a proportionate manner.
The music was composed by A.Biswas. All songs were written by Wajahat Mirza. Today’s song, ” Kyun hum ne diya dil ” by Sitara Devi was the most popular song of the film. There were total 10 songs. One of the songs-a duet by Anil Biswas and Bibbo was based on the tune made by kazi nazrul Islam ( Nazrul Geeti).
Today’s song is extremely enchanting and I would list it as the best song of Sitara Devi ( she sang 100 songs in 33 films). It truly sounds as a sad and remorseful song. The words of the song remind me of a duet by Surendra and Shamshad begum ” Kyun unhe dil diya” from film Anokhi Ada-48, composed by Naushad.
Song-Kyun hamne diya dil (Watan)(1938) Singer-Sitaara Devi, Lyrics-Wajahat Mirza, MD-Anil Biswas
Lyrics
Kyun ham ne diya dil
thha kiska ishaara
Kyun ham ne diya dil
thha kiska ishaara
aur kis ne kaha thha
ham tumse kahen kya
aur kis ne kaha thha
ham tumse kahen kya
Kyun ham ne diya dil
tha kiska ishaara
Kyun ham ne diya dil
wo khwaabon mein aana
dil mera churaana
wo khwaabon mein aana
dil mera churaana
aur deke ye jaana
aur deke ye jaana
kyun kaisa liya dil
aur keh ke ye jaana
kyun kaisa liya dil
kyun hamne diya dil
aankhon ka ishaara
kyun hamne diya dil
parwaana na aata
kyun shola jalaata
parwaana na aata
kyun shola jalaata
kabhi ishq bulaata(?)
kabhi ishq bulaata(?)
kaahe ko diya dil
ab ishq bulaata
kaahe ko diya dil
donon ne diya dil
aashiq(?) ka ishaara
kyun hamne diya dil
Kaahe ko byaahi bades
Posted on: August 7, 2018
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3672 | Post No. : | 14552 |
Today’s song is from film Jailor-1938, made by Minerva Movietone and directed by Sohrab Modi.
Thousands and thousands of actors, directors and musicians worked in this film industry, since films started. Not all of them are known or remembered by people. 95 % of these people are not remembered today. Most names had no faces. They were in the films without any specific personal identity. 5% names are known to many, but it is the special few names which became permanently etched in the minds of people.
You can ask 10 persons to list out 10 names of film personalities, who gave their major contribution or were famous so much that they can not be forgotten. On checking this list of 100 people, you will find certain names repeated in almost every list. Names like Saigal, Dilip kumar, Dev Anand, Rajkapoor, Ashok kumar and Sohrab Modi are certain to be in all the lists. Their contribution to Hindi cinema is unmatched.
Sohrab Modi is remembered fondly by the film buffs for his towering personality, solid voice and his forceful dialogue delivery. Actually, Modi was much more than that. He was the first and the only film maker who took up Historical subjects to make films that left a long lasting impression on the film goers. He loved to do the roles of Historical persons ( actual or mythical) and deliver long dialogues in his resonant voice, clear diction and superb voice modulation.
Sohrab Modi developed these qualities from his stage acting days. In his growing up age at Rampur, he had spent hours in the library of the local Nawab, where his father worked as a Superintendent. This gave him a command on Urdu language. Added to this was his brother Rustom’s drama company ” The Arya Subodh Natak Mandali” in which he acted. In 1935, the brothers set up the ” Stage Films ” to film the two dramas, namely Hamlet aka Khoon ka khoon and Sayeed E Hawas, based on Shakespeare’s play King John, as movies. However, these movies did not do too well, as the audience had seen them on stage several times.
Modi’s Minerva Movietone was established in 1936 by Sohrab Modi and his brother Rustom. It emerged from Stage Films, set up in 1935 to film the stage repertoire of Rustom’s group, Arya Subodh Natak Mandali. Renowned for big-budget historicals, the studio benefited from the Modi family’s existing distribution interests in Gwalior, expanded by the third brother, Keki Modi, into Western India Theatres, owning a chain of 27 theatres in 10 cities. Set up the first Technicolor laboratory (1952) with Film Group and made Jhansi Ki Rani (1953). From 1936 to 1960 Minerva made 28 films. A very impressive score indeed. Modi directed 20 of them. In all Modi acted in 32 films and directed 27 films.
In 1937, Modi made a film ‘Atma Tarang”…..which was a disaster at the box office with just 20 persons in the audience. He was devastated and decided to quit making films. After the show, 4 persons from the audience came to him and congratulated him for making this nice film. They wished him all the best for his future films and left. Later Modi came to know that they were Bombay High court judges. This incident infused him with new hopes and enthusiasm. This changed his life. Initially he focused on making films on social evils like Drinking (Meetha Zehar-38), Husband-wife separation ( Divorce-38) and Incest ( Bharosa-40 ).
However, making film Pukar-39 changed his outlook and set his goals for the future’ for Historical films. Pukar-39 was actually shot in real courts and Mughal Palaces to give it authenticity. For his next film Sikander-41, he brought in Prithwiraj Kapoor for the role of Sikander and he himself took the role of Porus. The film employed high values of Costumes and Props of that era. The entire film was , however, shot with only one camera. His third film was Prithvi Vallabh-43, which was an adaptation of K.M.Munshi’s novel. In this film Modi enacted a dangerous stunt scene of being trampled to death by an Elephant.
His last Historical film was “Jhansi ki Rani”-53. he had hired the best Hollywood technicians. it was shot directly on 35 mm film, and was in technicolor. Modi had borrowed real weapons from Defence ministry, for the shootings. His next film ‘ Mirza Ghalib-54’ won President’s Gold medal ( now called the National Awards), to become the First Hindi film to win it. However this and his next film ‘ Nausherwan E Adil’-57 could not save Minerva’s from running into loss. It made only 2 more films- Jailor-58 and Mera Ghar mere bachhe-60, before closing down production.
Sohrab Modi was probably the only film maker in Hindi films, who handled many genres like Historical, religious, musical, Costume, Social, Action, Reformative, War, psycho Analytical etc etc.
Sohrab Modi was born in Parsi family on 2nd November, 1897. His parents were Parsi civil Servants. For few years he stayed among Parsi community in Bombay. Sohrab Modi childhood was spent with lot of activities. As he grew up, he displayed more interest in exercise and sports. He was seriously sick several times during his childhood and he had to be hospitalized a few times as well. All that led to his tall but thin physique. Later on he was very active. In school he was an average student, he never got hooked to History subject. Many times teacher complained to his his parents for lagging behind in history subject. His parents left no stones unturned to make him study but it all those efforts went in vain.
But Sohrab was good in sports and from childhood he was interested in exercise which helped him to develop his personality in stage acting. Later he shifted with his family to Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. At the age of 14 -15 his mind absorbed many interesting things in acting as he watched silent movies. Soon his mind got diverted toward stage acting.
Sohrab Modi only acted as an extra or side role which was not very helpful to him in furthering his career. But Sohrab was bidding for his time looking for the opportunity where he could act as a leading actor. Very soon he got an opportunity and made his breakthrough. Soon He earned the reputation as Shakespearean actor. Sohrab Modi’s elder brother Rustom helped him in stage acting and people appreciated Sohrab Modi’s acting.
As Sohrab grew up, his personality kept developing. His personality suited the role of king. His portrayal of King in his two plays ‘Khoon Ka Khoon’ and ‘Saed-E-havas’ were additional feathers in his acting cap.
Sheesh Mahal was one of the better movies by Sohrab Modi. It was observed that even blind people were sitting on booked seats. But they put there head down and heard the voice and dialogues of Sohrab Modi. It was for first time in history of cinema that Blind people had tears in there eyes while hearing the dialogues of Sohrab Modi. When one Blind man wasa asked how he enjoyed movie without watching the set up, the Blind man replied that he watched the movie from his heart and heard the dialogues which enabled him to visualise what was going on and so he was able to understand the movie. Ticket Money of these audience were refunded.
In 1976 Sohrab had complained about weakness and headache which were cured by common home remedies and he kept acting in the roles of father and grandfather. Sohrab Modi health kept deteriorating and he had to be hospitalised in 1979 but the true cause of his sickness could not be diagnosed. Sohrab Modi himself never believed that he was sick and he never allowed any Doctor to do any proper diagnosis of his ill health. His common dialogues to doctors were ‘Sher kabi bimar nahi padta Aur agar main bimar Hu to mai jald theek ho jaunga’. His heavy voice was enough to reassure Doctors that all was well and he was discharged within two days.
Soon after completing Razia Sultan, he had started new movie ‘Guru Dakshina’. But unfortunately this film was never completed. In 1981 or 1982 he was again hospitaled.Whole Kapoor Family visited the hospital to convince him to get all checking done. Doctors were 90% sure that Sohrab had Cancer since the symptoms of Sohrab indicated that. Sohrab Modi was soon found to have cancer and immediately medications were bought from other countries. His condition led to his frequently hospitalisation. His kept losing weigh. He tried to involved himself to complete his ‘Guru Dakshina’ but his health did not allow him to do that.
On 2nd November 1984, at the age of 86, Sohrab Modi took breathed his last.
Today’s song is ” kahe ko byahi bides”. This was a famous song by Amir Khusro. This has been used in several films like, Jhankaar-42, Heer Ranjha-48,Nadir Shah-68,Suhag Raat-48, Maang bharo sajna-80 and Umrao Jaan-2009, in addition to today’s song from film Jailor-38. It is also sung as a NFS by many famous singers. Mostly in films, the original song is mixed with some new lyrics and the credit is given to film’s lyricist. In film Jailor-38 too, the lyricist’s name is given as Kamal Amrohi.
Amir Khusrow ( 1253 to 1325 ) was a Sufi mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya. He lived for 72 years, out of which 60 years he lived in the courts of as many as ten different rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. He was a poet as well as prolific musician. His primary language to write poems was Persian but he composed almost half a million verses in Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Braj Bhasha, Hindavi as well as the Khadi Boli. His Khaliq-e-bari, which is known as oldest printed dictionary of the world deals with Hindi and Persian words. He is regarded as the “father of qawwali”. He is also credited with enriching Indian classical music by introducing Persian and Arabic elements in it, and was the originator of the khayal and tarana styles of music. Khayal later reached to its zenith during the times of Mohammad Shah Rangile and today is integral part of Hindustani classical music. His association with various sultans enabled him to travel and stay in various parts of India and this gave him exposure to various local traditions. This helped him to assimilate diverse musical influences. He was patronized by three Khilji rulers successively.
Today’s song is a mixed song, but HFDGK shows it as 2 different songs in its list. The male singer is Eruch Tarapore and the female singer-seen in the video also- is Roshan Ara begum. Eruch Tarapore was a distant relative of Sohrab Modi and he worked only in Modi’s films. he worked in 16 films, right from Modi’s first film Hamlet-35 up to 1948. Eruch sang one song each in 3 films, Meetha zehar-38, Jailor-38 and Phir milenge-43. He died in 1948.
( credits- Cinestaan, Flash back-Isaq Mujawar, Hindi filmon ke geetkar, upperstall.com,MuVyz, HFGK and my notes.)
Song-Kaahe ko byaahi bades…Prem ka ek sansaar basaayen (Jailor)(1938) Singers- Eruch Tarapore, Roshan Ara Begum, Lyrics-Kamal Amrohi, MD-Meer Sahab
Lyrics
kaahe ko byaahi bades
??
baabal mora
kaahe ko byaahi bades
??
ham to baabul tore dhaabe(??) ki chidiya
ham to baabul tore dhaabe(??) ki chidiya
?? re
?? re
baabal mora
kaahe ko byaahi bades
prem ka ek sansaar basaayen
prem ka ek sansaar basaayen
apne soye bhaag jagaayen
apne soye bhaag jagaayen
madad karen ??
madad karen ??
prem ka ek sansaar basaayen
prem ka ek sansaar basaayen
prem ka ek sansaar basaayen
prem ka ek sansaar basaayen
Chahun oar chaandni chhitki hai
Posted on: August 6, 2018
- In: "chaayageet" song | Biography of actors | Biography of artists | Biography of singer | Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Rare song | Song of 1940 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Vatsala Kumthekar Solo Songs | Vatsala Kumthekar Songs | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 2 Comments
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3671 | Post No. : | 14550 |
Today’s song is from Anuradha (1940). There were two more films made with the same title- one in 1960 and the other in 2014. Film Anuradha-1960 was the most well known film of these 3 films. The song of today is ” Chahun oar chaandni chitki hai.” It is written by Lajpat Rai and tuned by the veteran composer Badri Prasad. The song is sung by Vatsala Kumthekar.
Vatsala Kumthekar was one of those many aspirants, who dreamt of a bright career, plenty of money,name and fame and a happy retired life. To fulfil this dream, it was customary to go to Bombay and join films.
This is a Maya Nagari. Those who thought that all that glittered was Gold, suffered the bitter fruits of reality. In reality, Hindi film industry is a great leveller. This industry has taken some people from Rags to Riches and some others from Riches to Rags !
There are many cases where an artist reached a particular height of his career in professional life but when the end came, he died unsung, unknown and unatteneded. There are instances like Parveen Babi and Nalini Jayawant, whose death went unnoticed for days together and when news spread their bodies were beyond recognition. For many, the end was violent, like Sayeeda Khan, Director Brij and Shankar Dasgupta.
But the worst is when Death does not come fast and the last days are spent in penury, begging and in bedridden condition unattended.
Master Nissar, who once boasted of owning the only car in Bombay, other than the Bombay Governor, died in Kamathipura slums in Bombay penniless. His last rites were done by the Cine Artists Association.
The beautiful bubbly Meena Shorey died in Lahore in utter poverty and her last rites were done by charity. One time popular hero WASTI was found begging near Liberty Cinema in Bombay. Rattanbai, the famous singer was seen begging at Haji Ali Darga in Bombay. The wife of Khemchand Prakash also was found begging there by Naushad. Mohd.Rafi found Khan Mastana begging near a Dargah. Rajkumari, Vimmi, Bharat Bhushan, Master Bhagwan, Khan Mastana spent their last days very humiliated, in poverty and obscurity. We all know, by now, the sad story of Mubarak Begum living off the meagre earnings of her Auto-driver son, in a Bombay Zopadpatti, till her recent death.
The story of PARSHURAM, once a popular actor/singer of 1930s and 40s is very pathetic. Tabassum,who ran the record breaking TV program ‘Phool khile hain gaulshan Gulshan’, once stopped at a traffic signal. From her car,she saw a familiar face begging at every car. She immediately recognised Parshuram. She got down quickly,took him in her car to the TV studio. He was the same Parshuram who sang the famous song of Duniya na maane-1937 ‘Man saaf tera….’. He was cleaned, fed and robed in fresh clothes. Then she did his live interview on the TV and paid him Rs.1000/- on the spot. Later he got 1 or 2 film offers, but then he disappeared forever. He was a habitual drunkard. He was seen begging again. One day he died on footpath and was cremated by Municipality as an unclaimed body, before his relatives reached to claim the body.
Chandra Mohan, Shaikh Mukhtar, Cuckoo…………so many stories of sorrow and sad ends…….This is Bombay Film Industry-the Maya nagari.
Inspite of all this,still millions of people come to Mumbai with dreams in their eyes…..
Today we see the case of one such singer who scaled heights of popularity and then went to the Nadir from the Zenith….
VATSALA KUMTHEKAR was born in Bombay in 1909.Her family was a noted singers family from Goa. After schooling she got regular music training fro Ustad Barkat Ali,the elder brother of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.She specialised in Thumaris.
Her beauty and sweet voice attracted many and she started holding Mehfils and Jalsas from 16-17 years onwards.her fame spread far and wide and she did programmes all over India. No wonder film companies ran after her.She started the career with Prabhat’s “WAHAN”-1937.
Then came Baanke Saanwariya, Madhu Bansari, Hurricane special, Jumbo ka beta, Aaj ki Duniya, Anuradha, Jai Swadesh, Aurat, Holiday in Bombay, Prabhat,Sangam,Lalaji,Aabroo, Jabaan, Aashirwad, Ishara and Rahat.
She was quite popular and many film personalities were keen to marry her. She got married in 1940, but her married life was bad. Her husband, Ibrahim Sheth, left her for another woman. After 3 years he returned to her. She readily accepted him and looked after him till he died. By now she had stopped getting films. After husband’s death, she almost became penniless and lost her mind. She shaved her head. She was seen roaming in Bombay like a mad woman and begging.
One day her dead body was found on Tardeo Bridge, Bombay. She was identified by some onlooker, but before the news reached the film industry, she was cremated by the Municipality as an unclaimed body.
Film Anuradha (1940) had a cast consisting of Maya Banerji, Trilok Kapoor, Jeevan, K N Singh, Vatsala, Shyamsundar, Anant Marathe , Agha etc.etc. Anant Marathe aka Anant kumar was the brother of actor and famous singer Ram Marathe. I was searching for his information for quite some time. My search ended when I found an article written by his son about his father.
Anant Marathe was born in 1936. In a career that spanned over 50 years, he was a witness to many changes and upheavals in the Hindi film industry. Born in Pune, in a family that was doing well for itself, he had three brothers and two sisters. Losing his father at the tender age of four, he was forced to give up education and begin work, to fend his family. In the process the family left Pune and came to Mumbai, the city that fed every soul.
The world of films, those days, was not an industry. It was just like a 9 to 5 job in an office. Anant Marathe, with his innocent looks, expressive eyes and inborn confidence, was chosen by Master Vinayak, to play a role as a child artiste in a hindi film, Chhayaa. In this film he played the role of a son, who for his own selfish means is used by his father, ( played by Late Shri Chandra Mohan).
The real breakthrough came when he was called for an audition at Prabhat Studios, the most distinguished film company of those days. This 1943-44 film was ‘ Ramshastri’, in which he was to play the part of Chhota (small) Ramshastri. Ramshastri Prabhune was the Supreme Judge of the Peshwa dynasty and known for his supreme judgement. Once he was selected for the role, his grooming as an actor really began. In the storyline, Chhota ramshastri was depicted as a boy who hates to study and loves to play whole day long. He would swim, roam about with his pet dog and enjoy life. For this role Anant marathe was made to learn swimming even though he was scared of water! He could not get along with the puppy dog, even though it was supposed be his pet. And to top it all, after shooting, the swimming and the sequences with the dog were edited from the film! The song, ‘Don ghadicha daav, yala jeevan aise naav” sung by him was very popular at that time. He received an award for his performance as Ramshastri from Bengal Film Journalists Association as the best supporting actor of the year. This film was screened in a number of National and International film festivals.
Film industry in South India was very active in early 50’s. Anant Marathe acted in a number of films produced by the South Indian film studios, namely AVM, Gemini studios etc. Shri Chettiar of AVM was planning a socio-mythological film on the life of a famous saint. The lead role was played Shahu Modak. The film in general was devotional and to bring in an interesting element, a comic character was created, in the form of the saint’s shishya ( pupil ). This role was offered to Anant Marathe and he displayed histrionics that astonished everybody on the sets.
The Director who groomed the great showman Raj Kapoor was Kidar Sharma and Anant Marathe had the privilege to work in one of his films, this time as a villain! The film was Hamaari Yaad Aayegi. This film also launched Tanuja, who would be known as a talented actress in the coming years. Anant Marathe played the role of a character called Pyarelaal, a very deceiving name for a villain! He is a suave character, moving about in the company of elite people but behind the cute face there is a monster of sorts, a wolf in sheep’s clothes. Anant Marathe, with his charming smile was very stunning, not only in his looks but in every move. Kidar Sharma was known to reward any actor who performed a great scene with a 4 anna coin, known as chavanni in those days. A chavvanni earned for a great shot was like an achievement. And Anant Marathe earned many, which he cherished till end.
His journey as an actor continued with great flourish. Since he could speak Marathi and Hindi fluently, he received offers from both Marathi and Hindi films. He was truly a bi-lingual actor.
Manoj Kumar was inspired by the life of Bhagat Singh, the great sikh patriot from Punjab and was planning a film on his life. Manoj Kumar and Prem Chopra were to play the roles of Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev respectively but casting for Raajguru, the third freedom fighter was still to be done, as Manoj Kumar wasn’t happy with the short-listed few, to play the role. Manoj Kumar heard about Anant Marathe, who had acted in many hindi and marathi films. Anant Marathe was asked to come over and meet Mnoj Kumar. One look at him and he had found his Raajguru! The experience of working in a truly patriotic film, that too with a thespian like Pran who played a cameo in Shaheed, was a very inspiring experience for him. Incidently Pran did not charge a single rupee for this role! Shaheed brought a wave of patriotism in the audience, they cheered and loved their heroes. The real mother of Bhagat Singh was felicitated at the premiere of this film at Delhi. She was moved by the performances of every actor in the film. What’s more, a special screening was arranged for the then Prime Minister of India, Late Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, who praised the film and awarded certificates of honour to all the actors.
Anant Marathe acted in over 250 Hindi and Marathi films, out of which 71 films are Hindi. he also sang 5 songs in 5 Hindi films.When he made his foray in Hindi films, he was not very fluent in Hindi so he took lessons from a tutor who taught him the nuances of Hindi, thus improving the pronunciations so he could speak the language flawlessly. He also learnt English to give his persona the required sparkle, so important for a lead hero. He had to give up formal schooling due to circumstances that prevailed and may be he made up for it in this manner.
Some of the films he acted in are, Bhakta Bilwamangal (Durga Khote), Bhakta Gopalbhaiya (Amir Kanataki), Geeta (Chandra Mohan, Durga Khote), Gokul ( Kamla Kotnis, Sapru), Jivacha Sakha (Durga Khote, Sulochana), Malti Madhav (Durga khote, Baby Shakuntala), Nanda Kumar ((Durga Khote), Sant Janabai (Hirabai Badodekar), Seeta Swayamvar (Durga khote, Baby Shakuntala), Jawaee Majha Bhala, Choravar Mor, Bhintila Kaan Astaat, Shri Krishna Darshan ( (Durga khote, Usha Kiran), Sampoona Ramayan, Bharat Milaap and many more.
In “ Barkhaa”, he played the role of a doctor opposite Nanda. The song, “ Ek raat mein do-do chaand khile…” became an instant hit. “Bada bhai”, a film starring late Ajit, had him playing Ajit’s younger brother with Amita as the female lead. In “Sanskaar” also he played the lead role opposite Amita. He acted in some Gujrati films also.
In the early stages acting was like a job for him but soon it became a passion. All these years, while he worked in front of the camera as an actor, he learnt the finer details of film making, by observing, making mental notes. He had a flair for writing. In fact, he was a habitual diary writer. He wrote poems for small children and later they were published in the form of a book.
He had a good voice and was planning to be a singer but destiny had something else in store for him, a career in acting.
He wielded the megaphone in year 1974, for a marathi film named “Sonarana Tochala Kaan”, starring comedian and an intense actor Nilu Phule in lead role with Usha Chavan as the female lead. It was inspired by a Hollywood caper with famous comedian, Bob Hope in lead. The film was a huge success all over Maharashtra.
Soon he was set to direct a film in Hindi. After a detailed script was worked out by him, the producer backed out. Losing hope but not the spirit, he turned a new leaf and began work on his next project, once again in Marathi. The name of the film was “ Bijlee”, meaning lightning.
Rangat-Sangat Pratishthan, founded by the wife of late Shri Shahu Modak conferred the Manus puraskaar, an award on him for life-time achievement. The name for this award, for obvious reason is Manus (meaning human), a film by this name had Shahu Modak in a memorable role as a Havildaar.
Anant Marathe lived a content life. Having worked in films from the age of 8 took its toll on him and he passed away in 2002.
Film Anuradha-40 had 12 songs in it- all written by Lyricist Lajpat Rai. He seems to have written songs for only one more film, Deepak-40. The music was composed by Badri Prasad.This is the first song from this film here.I was pleasantly surprised when I listened to few songs from this film, because, contrary to Badri prasad’s earlier music and songs, these songs were sounding fresh. Looks like he was trying to be with the changing tastes of the audience. Sadly, he stopped giving music to films after just 3 more films-Vanmala-41, Madhusudan-41 and Zevar-42. He was, however, active as an actor and later as a choreographer for many years, till late 70s.
( Credits- HFGK, MuVyz, http://www.writewrong.wordpress.com, Isaq Mujavar’s books, Sun jaa dil ki dastaan by J V Kulkarni and my notes)
Song-Chahun oar chaandni chitki hai(Anuradha)(1940) Singer-Vatsala Kumthekar, Lyricist- Lajpat Rai, MD- Badri Prasad
Lyrics
chahun oar
chahun oar chaandni chitki hai
taaron ki basti basti hai
chahun oar chaandni chitki hai
taaron ki basti basti hai
main haay akeli
aa jaao
birha ki aag sulagti hai
chahun oar
chahun oar
ye mand mand vaayu ki lahren
sukh ke geet sunaati hain
ye mand mand vaayu ki lahren
sukh ke geet sunaati hain
chhed chhed man ke taaron ko
aise saaz bajaati hain
rom rom thhar thhar kaanpe ae ae ae
rom rom thhar thhar kaanpe
nanhi si jaan machalti hai
nanhi si jaan machalti hai
main haay akeli
aa jaao
birha ki aag nikalti hai
chahun oar
chahun oar
door door saagar ka paani
prem ka naad sunaata hai
door door saagar ka paani
prem ka naad sunaata hai
mast bana paagal sa doley
mast bana paagal sa doley
parvat se takraata hai
dol rahi hirday ki naiyya aa aa naiyya
dol rahi hirday ki naiyya
kaise paar utarte hain
kaise paar utarte hain
main haay akeli
aa jaao
birha ki aag sulagti hai
chahun oar
- In: 10th Anniversary Celebration Song | Anil Biswas Solo Songs | Anil Biswas Songs | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Free Spirit Song | Guest posts | Journey Song | Lyrics contributed by readers | MD-Singer Song | philosophical song | Post by Mahesh Mamadapur | Song of 1939 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 20 Comments
This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3647 | Post No. : | 14481 |
ASAD 10th Anniversary Celebrations – 3
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“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
– Lao Tzu
main akela hi chala tha janib e manzil magar
log saath aate gaye aur karwaan banta gaya
– Majhrooh Sultanpuri
On 19 July 2008, a single step was taken by our Atul ji, the day on which the first song was posted on the blog. It was followed by yet another Roshan number the next day and the journey continues to this date and beyond, much akin to the above sh’er by Majhrooh Saab.
Looking back at the last decade, there is a deep sense of excitement and contention amongst all readers and especially the important contributors. However what is equally true is that the responsibilities and the hope of tracing and introducing obscure songs has only increased. This hope itself is the proof of the immense popularity that the blog enjoys all over the world. I am sure the blog has become a one-stop destination for all readers in search for old Hindi songs and the correct and reliable information that it serves and continues to provide. About 4000 movies and nearly 15,000 songs covered, the blog has a visitors hits number of more than 10.5 million. Mind-blogging numbers indeed and one can only feel proud of being a part of this great musical extravaganza.
Since it is a special occasion of a decade of the blog’s existence, I suppose, I am at liberty to write a few words about my association with it.
Old Hindi Film songs were a common feature in my house, especially with SLBC and its special program ‘purani filmon ka sangeet’, which is played to this day and to which I am addicted to this day (ask our whatsapp group 🙂 ). With the advent of internet facility, the hobby of listening and gathering information naturally started dominating the searches. And, for people with music interest this blog was a no-escape and also a welcome addiction.
In the initial days, I just tried to absorb and admire the contents. It was not long that the longing to be a part of the blog started to grow. A few comments and corrections here and there started. Seeing that a lot of songs known to self were yet to be represented, I toyed with the idea of sending the lyrics. I ended up sending lyrics for 3-4 songs, but the greed to get more involved did not stop.
It was then that I starting writing posts. After a few posts and with the ideas and plots for writing posts difficult to come by, I started a mini-series on Mukesh and his composers. There is a small contribution of self in this series with 14 posts and 04 posts in another series titled Mukesh and his co-singers. Apart from the posts on Mukesh, I feel proud to have written about Rafi saab, Talat saab and Lata Mangeshkar. There are individual posts on Shamshad Begum, Uma Devi, etc. I have also written about Ghulam Mohammed and Shankar Jaikishan whose compositions, I enjoy immensely.
Of the 30 odd posts, “Sab Thhaath Pada Reh Jaavegaa” has had a great influence on me and especially the verses.
jo paaya hai wo baant ke kha
kangaal na kar kangaal na ho o
jo sab ka haal kiya toone
ek roz wo tera haal na ho o
is haath se de us haath se le
ho jaave sukhi ye jag saara
There was time when some songs of Mukesh were not to my liking. This view is particularly for a few songs at the fag end of his career wherein you find him singing all types of songs without the Midas touch of late 1940’s and 1950’s. Not having understood the lyrics properly, I had counted the above song also in that category. However, while writing the post and especially after Sudhir ji’s English translation, the song seems to be nothing short of philosophy of life that one must follow.
And then, “Lo Mil Gayi Degree Pyaar Ki” had its own story before it was put up as a post. A virtual Kishore Kumar solo was converted into a Mukesh post just because he had two words in the song. It was the last song of Mukesh-Roshan to be introduced to the blog and there was no way, I could lose the opportunity. Many eminent personalities were contacted who held different views on how Mukesh could fit in as he was not part of the movie etc.
Lastly, “Gokul Nagri Jaana” remains the oldest song sung by Mukesh on the blog. I have special memories of writing this post, as I was aware that I had touched upon a gold mine of 06 special songs of his career. Two of them remain untraced to date, but then there have been many surprises on this blog and I am sure all six will be accounted for.
The past year has been hectic for me from job and work point of view. However, with this post, I have barely managed to avoid the guilt of not having contributed for an entire year. I expect saner time allotment for this hobby again.
Coming back to the blog, I consider the following to be a few unique and unparalleled aspects about it.
- Accuracy and authenticity of the contents
- Complete and correct lyrics
- Responsible, authoritative and sound contributors
- The classification and arrangement of songs under various heads
- Easy accessibility of information on Hindi songs
- Common platform for like-minded Hindi songs enthusiasts
- Due recognition and importance accorded to various artists
- Accurate statistics of songs and artists contribution.
There could more important USP’s of the blog; however, the following two aspects are also quite important.
- Opportunity for contributors to pen their thoughts on the blog
- A unique friendship circle amongst the regulars
I think every reader and especially the contributors can never thank Atul ji and Sudhir ji enough, to acknowledge and appreciate the opportunity given to us to pen down our thoughts and represent songs on the blog. This is a very selfless and noble deed of Atul ji. Like-minded people met online on this blog and started a very special and unique circle, with quite a few sessions, visits etc. A whatsapp group is also formed with a few of the regulars and is more active than the blog itself now. 🙂
For me personally, the opportunity to interact with Mr. Harish Raghuwanshi ji was a great personal fulfilment. He has always helped me with my lists in the posts and also with information which would have been nearly impossible to trace elsewhere. Similarly, being in touch with eminent film historians and authors and knowledgeable personalities such as Shri Arun Kumarji, Harmandir Singh ji and many others has added new dimensions to our lives. In a fast moving world with technological advances, catching up with matters of yesteryears is so soothing and heart fulfilling. When we talk of ‘good old days’, here is a platform that binds us together.
Coming back to the series on Mukesh, a sort of regret that will always remain with me is not having a post on the collaboration of Mukesh with composer Anil Biswas. People fond of Hindi music need no explanation to elaborate the influence of Anil Da and stepping stone in Mukesh’s singing career with reference to “Dil Jaltaa Hai To Jalne De”. Of the 22 odd songs that Mukesh sang for Anil Da, all have been covered on the blog. Not to give a sense of false hope, I would like to clarify that the song that I am presenting here today has nothing to do with Mukesh.
Instead, I would like to write on Anil Biswas.
What can one write about the ‘Bhishm Pitamah’ of Hindi film music that has not been written earlier. A pioneer of playback singing in India and the composer who gave the initial breaks to singers like Parul Ghosh, Meena Kapoor, Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, Sudha Malhotra etc. He is credited with coaching Lata Mangeshkar with breath control techniques during recording of songs. Begum Akhtar’s timeless classics in the film ‘Roti’ (1942) were scored by him. Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, Suraiya et al have sung several of their classic songs under his composition. Lata having sung under various composers has a lot of numbers under his composition too and these songs will always remain on a higher plane. The fame achieved by the songs in ‘Kismet’ (1943) will be discussed and mentioned for a very long time.
There is enough material on the net on Anil Biswas, his life in Mumbai and Delhi, the many pioneering aspects of his compositions, how the mighty composers of later-years were his assistants earlier etc. And then there is also a detailed wikipage dedicated to him. However, I would like to draw the attention of readers to AK ji’s blog songsofyore.com.
Seventh of July, last week was the birth anniversary of Anil Da. Four years back, 2014 was his centenary year and the AK ji’s blog has a wide range of tributes and had dedicated an entire year on Anil Biswas starting with his daughter’s introductory post which one can find here. The eighth and last post on this special series can be found here.
The last post referred above also contains in its first paragraph links to the other six posts on Anil Biswas posted in his centenary year. I think die-hard fans of Anil Da can look no further than these posts to enjoy the complete range of his compositions for various artists and well himself.
Yes, he did sing for himself and I present here one such song composed and also sung by him.
I have no words to express my happiness in writing this post and introducing the song composed as well as sung by Anil Biswas to the blog. The immense gratitude to Atul ji and Sudhir ji for giving me yet another opportunity to write goes without saying.
This solo song is from the film ‘Ek Hi Raasta’ (1939). Only one of the potential twelve songs in the film has been posted on the blog so far and this is only the second song from the film to be posted.
To conclude the post, I once again congratulate Atul ji and Sudhir ji on this stupendous achievement of one decade of existence of the blog. There is a long way to go and many more milestones to be achieved. As we complete one decade of existence and march into the second, then to silver jubilee and beyond, the journey itself has become the destination for Atulites.
Long live the music of vintage and golden era, long live the passion of Atulites and long live the longevity of the blog. 🙂
Song – Bhai Hum Pardesi Log Hamen Kaun Jaane (Ek Hi Raasta) (1939) Singer – Anil Biswas, Lyrics – Pt Indra Chandra, MD – Anil Biswas
Lyrics
bhai hum pardesi log
hamen kaun jaane
o bhai hum pardesi log
hamen kaun jaane
na koi apna na koi apni..ee..ee
sabhi paraaye log
na koi apna na koi apni
sabhi paraye log
hamen kaun pehchane re
bhai hum pardesi log
hamen kaun pehchane re
bhai hum pardesi log
hamen kaun jaane
khud hi rijhaaen khud man jaaen
chaahe ramaaye jog
khud hi rijhaaen khud man jaaen
chaahe ramaaye jog
chaahe bane diwaane re bhai
chaahe bane diwaane re bhai
hum pardesi log
hamen kaun jaane
sab se milte phir bhi akele..ey..ey
sab se milte phir bhi akele..ey..ey
apne dil ka rog
apne dil ka rog
koi kya jaane re bhai
koi kya jaane re
bhai hum pardesi log
hamen kaun jaane
o bhai hum pardesi log
hamen kaun jaane
na koi apna na koi apni
sabhi paraaye log
na koi apna na koi apni
sabhi paraaye log
hamen kaun pehchane re
bhai hum pardesi log
hamen kaun pehchaane re
bhai hum pardesi log
hamen kaun jaane
o bhai hum pardesi lo..o..ogg
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Devnagri script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
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भई हम परदेसी लोग
हमें कौन जाने
ओ भई हम परदेसी लोग
हमें कौन जाने
ना कोई अपना ना कोई अपनी॰॰ई॰॰ई
सभी पराये लोग
ना कोई अपना ना कोई अपनी
सभी पराये लोग
हमें कौन पहचाने रे
भई हम परदेसी लोग
हमें कौन पहचाने रे
भई हम परदेसी लोग
हमें कौन जाने
खुद ही रिझाएँ खुद मन जाएँ
चाहे रमाएं जोग
खुद ही रिझाएँ खुद मन जाएँ
चाहे रमाएं जोग
चाहे बने दीवाने रे भाई
चाहे बने दीवाने रे भाई
हम परदेसी लोग
हमें कौन जाने
सबसे मिलते फिर भी अकेले॰॰ए॰॰ए
सबसे मिलते फिर भी अकेले॰॰ए॰॰ए
अपने दिल का रोग
अपने दिल का रोग
कोई क्या जाने रे भाई
कोई क्या जाने रे
भई हम परदेसी लोग
हमें कौन जाने
ओ भई हम परदेसी लोग
हमें कौन जाने
ना कोई अपना ना कोई अपनी
सभी पराये लोग
ना कोई अपना ना कोई अपनी
सभी पराये लोग
हमें कौन पहचाने रे
भई हम परदेसी लोग
हमें कौन पहचाने रे
भई हम परदेसी लोग
हमें कौन जाने
ओ भई हम परदेसी लो॰॰ओ॰॰ओग
Siddhraaj Jaago Aaj
Posted on: July 2, 2018
- In: Actor-Singer song | Appealing to the Almighty | Biography of actors | Biography of artists | Biography of Directors | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Guest posts | Lyrics by Sudhir | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Prof Ramanand Songs | Rare song | Song of 1938 | 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 sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3636 | Post No. : | 14464 |
Today’s song is from a very old film, ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ from 1938.
It is generally said that in this era, most actors and actresses came from poor families and most artists had no or had negligible education. While it is true to a great extent, it is not 100% true. It is not that even in this period, there were no educated persons in the film industry. Right from the beginning of the silent era to talkie film era up to the end of the 1940s decade, there were actors, actresses, directors, producers and musicians who were quite educated. Some of them had even been trained in western countries.
Take the case of Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani and their team of writers like Niranjan Pal, from the silent era. They were all highly educated and from rich, cultured families. Niranjan Pal was the son of the freedom fighter Bipin Chandra Pal. BN Sircar is another example. Director Nanubhai Vakil was actually an advocate with BA LLB degree. Surendra was BA, LLB. Motilal was a graduate, so were Ramchandra Thakur, Nandlal Jaswantlal, Jayant Desai, Jairaj, Umakant Desai. Ashok kumar, Dev Anand and his 2 brothers etc.
Among actresses, Leela Chitnis, Shanta Apte, Durga Khote, Renuka Devi were graduates. Vanmala was BA, BT. Kamini Kaushal was BA. The point here is, that educated and people with respectable family background were also a part of the film industry. But of course, initially their number was smaller compared to others who were either illiterate or less educated. For example, the beautiful Meena Shorey and Sitara Kanpuri could not even sign – leave alone reading and writing! That is why, they were cheated in their contracts by Sohrab Modi and WZ Ahmed (of Shalimar Pictures and husband of actress Neena).
In the film under discussion today – ‘Himalay Ki Beti, the hero, heroine and the director were all highly educated. The heroine, Enakshi Ram Rao was the daughter of an ICS officer of Madras Presidency. She came to England for her graduation. After graduation, she took part in some stage dramas, where she got introduced to Niranjan Pal and Himanshu Rai. When Himanshu Rai decided to make a silent film on the story of Taj Mahal, he asked Niranjan Pal to write the film story. Sita Devi aka Renee Smith was selected for the vamp’s role and Enakshi was selected for the main role of Selima (who was later named Mumtaj Mahal by Prince Khurram – who was later known as Shahjehan.). The film was named ‘Shiraz’ (1928).
Enakshi is a very unusual name. Comparatively, Meenakshi is a well known name. Meenakshi means ‘one with eyes like a fish’. Enakshi means ‘one with the eyes of doe or deer’. In other words, Enakshi means Mrignayani. Except name of this actress, I have never ever come across this name (Enakshi) in my life elsewhere!
Her work in film ‘Shiraz’ was applauded in England, Germany and India. When she returned to India, She met Bhavnani, who made a silent film ‘Vasantsena’ (1931), with her in the lead role. More than as an actress of silent and talkie films, Enakshi’s name was known in elite circles for different achievements, after she stopped working in films.
Not many of us know that Enakashi Bhavnani (Enakshi Rama Rao before her marriage) has done an enormous service to bring Indian dances and designs to the western world. She made immense contribution to bring the Kashmir handicrafts and designs (fabric, wood and papier-mâché) to the west. An American tourist told in Kerala recently about her detailed work on Kashmir designs (shawls, jackets etc.). This side of Enakshi’s personality and work is in addition to her contribution as a dancer, photographer and actress. Two scholarly books written by Enakshi Bhavnani were also published. Both the books are preserved in the American Museum of Natural History. These are,
(1) Folk And Tribal Designs of India, and
(2) The Dance of India: The Origin and History, Foundation, Art and Science of the Dance in India .
This exceptionally talented woman stayed in Kashmir for sometime in 1950 and met a cross section of people connected with arts and crafts. She had been a visitor thereafter as well. She also visited Leh and Kargil for her book. During this period she also clicked some photographs in Kashmir portraying its rich culture and scenic beauty. She also shot a documentary ‘Valley Of Kashmir’ during this period.
Enakshi was an active membmer of the Crafts Council of India, which was founded in 1964 to support artisans and keep their crafts relevant and marketable amid rapidly changing economies at home and abroad. The photographs clicked by her have also appeared in National Geographic magazine, especially her series. And in her book on folk dances of India, Enakshi covers all forms folk dances of Kashmir.
Enakshi married film maker Mohan Bhavnanai (1903-1962) who was trained in Germany and Hollywood. She was a dancer, actor, photographer and writer on arts, crafts and culture. From 1929 to 1938, she acted in six films as a leading lady. Out of these six films, five, namely ‘Vasantsena’ (1931), ‘Trapped’ (1931), ‘Jaagaran’ (1936) , ‘Himalaya Ki Beti’ (1938) and ‘Yangrilla’ (1938) were directed by her husband Mohan Bhavnani. Only ‘Shiraz’ (1928) produced by Himanshu Roy was directed by Franz Osten.
Producer director Mohan Bhavnani was a learned and illustrious person. This is what the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema says about him-
Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani (1903-62)
Hindi director born in Hyderabad, Sind. Studied at College of Technology, Manchester (1921-4), then studied film-making in Germany at UFA (1924). Contracted to Kohinoor (1925-6) where his Sulochana? films were the earliest efforts in the Indian cinema to create a Hollywood-type movie star, e.g. Cinema Ni Rani where she plays a famous actress with whom the painter hero falls in love, or Wildcat of Bombay where she played multiple roles. Joined Imperial (1927-9), where he made Khwab-e-Hasti, adapted from the novel Dreamland (later also adapted by N. Taurog’s Strike me Pink, 1936). Scripted by A.S. Desai, this film is not to be confused with Kashmiri?’s play of the same title. Vasantsena was the first Kannada intertitled film. Became independent producer with Indian Art Prod. (1931-2). Returned to Germany to study sound film technique. Started Ajanta Cinetone (1933-4) and his own Bhavnani Prod. (1935-48). Sound début was a flop, but it introduced Dur ga Khote. Hired Premchand to script Mazdoor, representing the author’s only direct encounter with film, following it with the unemployment melodrama Jagran. Produced and directed the first full-length colour film shot on 16mm Kodachrome and blown up to 35mm, Ajit. Joined Films Division and became its first Chief Producer (1948-55). In 1958 Bhavnani followed up an invitation from Zhou En-Lai to make a documentary on China and travelled extensively throughout the country shooting with cameramen Kishore Rege and S.K. Kulkarni. His wife Enakshi Rama Rao, who acted in Vasantsena, had earlier played the lead in Shiraz (1928) and became a noted dancer and author of the book The Dance of India (1965).FILMOGRAPHY: 1925: Cinema Ni Rani; Matri Prem; Veer Bala; Seth Sagalsha; 1 9 2 6 : Pagal Premi; Diwan Bhamasha; Mena Kumari; Ra Kawat; Samrat Shiladitya; Bhamto Bhoot; 1 9 2 7 : Naseeb Ni Lili; Daya Ni Devi; Trust Your Wife; Wildcat of Bombay; Gamdeni Gori; 1929: Hawai Swar; Khwab-e- Hasti; Mysore, Gem City of India (Doc); Khedda (Doc); 1 9 3 0 : Vasantsena (all St); 1 9 3 1 : Shakuntala; Farebi Jaal; Lafanga Langoor (Sh); 1 932: Veer Kunal; 1 933: Afzal; Rangila Rajput; 1 9 3 4 : Dard-e-Dil; Mazdoor; Sair-e-Paristan; 1935: Jung Bahadur; Navjeevan; Shadi Ki Raat; 1936: Dilawar; Garib Parwar; Jagran; Wrestling (Doc); 1 9 3 7 : Zambo the Ape Man; 1 9 3 8 : Double Cross; Himalay Ki Beti; Yangrilla; 1 9 3 9 : Zambo Ka Beta; 1940: Jhoothi Sharm; PremNagar?; 1945: Biswi Sadi; 1 946: Rang Bhoomi; 1 948: Ajit; 1 9 4 9 : Vale of Kashmir (Doc); 1 9 5 0 : The Private Life of a Silkworm (Doc); 1 9 5 1 : Lest We Forget (Doc); 1 9 5 2 : Kumaon Hills (Doc); 1 9 5 3 : Folk Dances of India (Doc); Republic Day Record (Doc); 1 9 5 5 : Republic Day 1955 (Doc); 1 956: Operation Khedda (Doc); 1 957: The Himalayan Tapestry (Doc)
The film ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ had 11 songs. Today’s song is sung by Prof Ramanand. He had 4 solos and 1 duet with Enakshi. She had 2 solos. One song was by Maya Chatterjee. There is no information in HFGK about the balance 3 songs. Pt Badri Prasad had given the music. I heard 4 more songs from this film, but all are copies of stage style songs. Prof Ramanand, the actor and the singer was different than Swamy Ramanand, the lyricist in few films.
The hero of the film was Prof Pt Ramanand Sharma. If you are a regular listener of radio early in the mornings,you would have heard many Bhajans sung by Sharma Brothers of Shriram Darbar. These four brothers – Gopal, Shukdev, Kaushalendra and Raghavendra are the sons of this Ramanand Sharma. These Sharma brothers have sung the famous Bhajan “Sooraj Ki Garmi Se” from the film ‘Parinay’ (1972). Ramanand was the singing hero of many early talkie films like ‘Noor-e-Islam’ or ‘Aurat Ka Dil’ (1934) and ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ (1938). He also sang many songs in other films. After his work in ‘Premnagar’ (1940), RC Boral of the New Theatres, Calcutta came down to Bombay and took Ramanand to Calcutta to act in films. But Ramanand was fed up with the film world and decided to only sing Ram Bhajans for his Shri Ram Darbar which he had established. He went back to Muzaffarpur and used to sing Ram Bhajans all over India. His 7 albums were released by HMV.
Here is a rare song from a rare film, ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ (1938). The film makes its debut on the blog.
[Author’s Note: Credits – Chinar Shade, autarmota.blogspot.com, HFGK, MuVyz, Wikipedia, indiancine.ma, and my notes.]
Song – Siddhraaj Jaago Aaj (Himalay Ki Beti) (1938) Singer – Prof Ramanand, Lyrics – Pt Narottam Vyas, Music – Pt Badri Prasad
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
jaaa..aa..aa..go..oo..o
sidhraaj jaago aaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
padi hai vipat gaaj
padi hai vipat gaaj
bigade banaawo kaaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
tum ho paropkaari
tum ho paropkaari
duniya jaanat saari
duniya jaanat saari
meri raakho laaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
charan pada hoon aaye
charan pada hoon aaye
sharnaagat sahaaye
sharnaagat sahaaye
tum naam di awaaj (??)
sidhraaj jaago aaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
sidhraa..aa..aa..aaj
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
जा॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰गो॰॰ओ॰॰ओ
सिद्धराज जागो आज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
पड़ी है विपत गाज
पड़ी है विपत गाज
बिगड़े बनावो काज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
तुम हो परोपकारी
तुम हो परोपकारी
दुनिया जानत सारी
दुनिया जानत सारी
मेरी राखो लाज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
चरण पड़ा हूँ आए
चरण पड़ा हूँ आए
शरणागत सहाय
शरणागत सहाय
तुम नाम दी आवाज (??)
सिद्धराज जागो आज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
सिद्धरा॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰आज
- In: Actor-Singer song | Aspirations of Love | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Husn Banu Songs | Lyrics by Sudhir | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Rare song | Song of 1936 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Yearwise breakup of songs
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This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3619 | Post No. : | 14422 |
Today’s song is from a really unknown and unheard of film of the early era – ‘Fauladi Mukka’ (1936).
So far 3 films with this title are made in Hindi. The other two films were made in 1965 and 1985. The 1965 movie was a regular C grade action stunt movie of actor Aazad and the 1985 movie was a Tamil film dubbed in Hindi. It starred Rajinikant. I call him a sophisticated stunt actor, although he is known to have worked in serious social films too. But generally, in the world beyond Tamilnadu, Rajinikant is equivalent to unimaginable, logic-basher, nature-defying stunts which make you not only wonder but also bring you a smile.
It is a wonder that such an actor is treated like a God in south. But then, South has always been like that. Adoring the actors beyond acceptable norms, deifying them and even building temples for them. Once when I was travelling in Tamilnadu, I had seen a Temple for actress Khushboo (it was promptly destroyed by the same fans, when Khushboo made some sensible, practical and logical remarks during an AIDS awareness campaign). Now I hear there is a Temple for actress Namitha !
Forget about actors, but some typical film titles shout loudly about it being patently a stunt film. Can you ever imagine that films like Khooni Darinda, Khoon Ki Pyaasi Daayan, Khooni Jaadugar, Guru Ghantal, Atom Bomb, Bhedi Bungla, Khooni Laash, Madame Zapata, Daryayi Lutera and similar scary but funny title film, being a social meaningful film, showing a dedicated wife, dutiful son and disciplined children serving their grandparents?
The fun is, there is a fixed set of producers, directors and actors in an action film. Moreover, such films used to be shown in some obscure, dilapidated, old cinema houses. When I was young, I remember having seen stunt films in theatres of old city part of Hyderabad, having names like Taj, Delite and Moosa. Yes, a theatre on the banks of river Moosa was named as Moosa Theatre !
Ok, Ok, to make the matter short and sweet, today’s film too was a C grade stunt/action film, made by Wadia Movietone famous for such films. Low Budgets-No Publicity-Big Profits. This sure shot formula of Wadia Movietone prompted them to promote a foreign, daring girl, who was ready to any stunts in films. She overtook all the then prevailing stunt kings like Baburao Pehelwan, Kamran, Dalpat, Prakash and the likes of them and in a flash became famous as Fearless Nadia.
So, again coming to the point, ‘Fauladi Mukka’ was also a stunt film featuring well known action artists like Harishchandra Rao, Husn Banu, Sayani Atish, Dalpatram, Master Chhotu, Shahjehan etc. The MD was the usual stunt film specialist Master Mohammad. The leading lady Husn Banu’s story is very interesting.
Her mother Sharifa was an actress in the 20s and the 30s. She hailed from the Central Provinces and joined the Corinthian Theatre company of Calcutta, in which the famous Urdu writer Agha Hasra Kashmiri was also working. She and Agha fell in love. However during one performing tour, the Maharaja of Charkhari in Central Province, fell for Shareefa. He followed the drama company to Calcutta and bought the already debt ridden Corinthian Theatre company for Rs. 40 Lakhs. This included the entire property and the services of Agha and Shareefa too. Soon they resigned and Shareefa started acting in films.
A Parsi magician named Minoo Kooper (the actor singer Minu Cooper, the mystique, of Bombay was a different person) came to Calcutta to give performances. Shareefa was attracted to him and they both left on a tour of Far East. She went as his helper and a consort. For a year they stayed together. When Shareefa became pregnant, Minoo left them in Singapore and returned to India.
Roshan Ara aka Husn Banu was born in Singapore on 8-2-1919. She was very beautiful. She started her career in Calcutta (just like her mother), by working in New Theatre’s film ‘Daaku Mansoor’ (1934). After this film, Shareefa brought her to Bombay and she started getting roles in Wadia films. She was working only in C grade stunt action films. After 1940, she got 2 social films made by Bharat Laxmi films and in 1941 again 1 film each from Bhavnani productions and National studios. However she got only small or side roles.
In 1941, When she was selected for Ranjit’s film ‘Dhandora’ as a Heroine, this was a new experience for her as she had never worked in a social or a comedy movie as the lead actress. All her experience was for stunt films only. Husn Bano acted in 53 films and sang 44 songs in 16 films. She had married Wadia’s director Aspi Irani. Husn Bano worked in films till 1977; her last film was ‘Akhari Sajda and then she retired. She had a big house ‘Shareefa Manzil’ in Dadar, Bombay. On 23-11-1986, her husband Aspi Irani left home for work and he simply disappeared. He was never found and was declared as a “Missing Person” by the police.
Husn Banu was beautiful. She was featured in Lux Soap advertisement in the early 1940s. Leela Chitnis was the first to feature in this ad during early 1940. After that Azuri, Bharati Devi, Manorama, Ratanbai, Shobhana Samarth, Mumtaz Shanti, Neena, Sadhona Bose and Maya Banerjee have also featured in these ads.
Hero of this stunt film was Harishchandra Rao (Kadam). He was born in Bhuj, Gujarat on 11-8-1910. He did his early schooling in Bhuj, but his family shifted to Karachi, due to financial debacle. He did cycle repairing work and completed his matriculation by age of 18 years. He joined a touring film company. Once, while in Bombay he was watching the film shooting in Paramount company. Suddenly, the director offered him a role in the film. Thus he entered the films. from 1932 he did few silent films.
He joined Shankar Bhatt’s Prakash Pictures and worked in their first Talkie, ‘Bambai Ki Mohini’ (1934). He was with Prakash, upto 1939, doing stunt films inside and outside also. He did some films for Wadia too, in between. Finally he started his own company – Harishchandra Productions. He continued to work as actor, director and producer. He sang few songs also.
Some of his films were ‘Daulat’ (1937), ‘Naujawan’ (1937), ‘Rangila Mazdoor’ (1938), ‘Rangila Jawaan’ (1940), ‘Sukhi Jeevan’ (1942), ‘Lehri Jawaan’ (1935), ‘Inaam’, ‘Sone Ki Chidiya’ (1934), ‘Durbaan’ (1946), ‘Laat Sahib’ (1946), ‘Tamaasha’ (1942) etc. He worked in about 42 films.
His brother Chandrarao Kadam was also a stunt actor. He was known as Stunt King. He had his own company – Chandrarao Films. He acted, directed and produced films. The brothers were friendly with Master Bhagwan and gave him preference in their films, till Bhagwan started his own company- Jagriti films. Later on Chandrarao floated his own Chandivali Studio in Bombay suburb, which is still actively run by his progeny.
The film ‘Fauladi Mukka’ had only 5 songs. Listen to today’s song. There are some dialogues in the beginning. If you recollect, there was a famous song by Surendra and Bibbo, from film Manmohan-36, which had a prose line by Bibbo- क्या मै अंदर आ सकती हुं ?. This made the song very popular. In today’s song also similar lines are there and these songs were recorded earlier than Manmohan-36, as per record numbers. may be this song perhaps had been an inspiration for the ‘Manmohan’ song. Just a thought !
The film and singer Harishchandra Rao make their debut on the blog today.
( Credits- Stages of Life-Indian Theatre Autobiographies by Kathryn Hansen, All India Film Directory (1946), HFGK, MuVyz, www.chiloka.com, Isak Mujawar, Vithal Pandya and my notes.)
Song – Prem Mandir Mein Manmurakh Yeh Har Ki Kundi Khole (Faulaadi Mukka) (1936) Singer – Husn Bano, Harishchandra Rao, Lyrics – Munshi Gyan, Music – Master Mohammed
Unidentified Male Voice
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
prem,
aaj ka lesson to khatm hua
aur is ke baad
behan,
prem ki pariksha to kar li
ab prem pariksha bhi kar lo
chandrakanta,
tumhaare bhai chhotu ne vaakai ek mushkil sawaal hamaare saamne pesh kar diya hai
haan,
sawaal, ye aisa sawaal
jiska jawaab siwaye zindagi ki sunehri kitaab ke aur kahin nahin mil sakta
o ho
aap (??) bhi hain
bhala bataaiye aap ki kitaab e zindagi
prem ke baare mein kya kehti hai
prem mandar mein
mann murakh ye har ki kundi khole
prem mandar mein
mann murakh ye har ki kundi khole
kaa..aath ki bansi
prem raag mein
har dam tu ru boley
kaa..aath ki bansi
prem raag mein
har dam tu ru boley
prem ki duniya kitni badi hai
ek hi bindu prem ki duniya
ek hi bindu prem ki duniya
saagar laakh samaate hain
saagar laakh samaate
prem naiya mein
prem nagar se
prem ke moti doley
prem naiya mein
prem nagar se
prem ke moti doley
aur prem ki shakti
prem nagar mein
mann mastaana
amrit ka deewaana
prem nagar mein
mann mastaana
amrit ka deewaana
vi..eesh ka pyaala
le kar paagal
amrat amrat boley
vi..eesh ka pyaala
le kar paagal
amrat amrat boley
prem mandar mein
mann murakh ye har ki kundi khole
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
प्रेम
आज का लेस्सन तो खत्म हुआ
और इस के बाद
बहन
प्रेम की परीक्षा तो कर ली
अब प्रेम परीक्षा भी कर लो
चंद्रकांता
तुम्हारे भाई छोटू ने वाकई एक मुश्किल
सवाल हमारे सामने पेश कर दिया है
हाँ
सवाल, ये ऐसा सवाल
जिसका जवाब सिवाय ज़िंदगी की सुनहरी
किताब के और कहीं नहीं मिल सकता
ओ हो
आप (??) भी हैं
भला बताइयेआप की किताब ए ज़िंदगी
प्रेम के बारे में क्या कहती है
प्रेम मंदर में
मन मूरख ये हर की कुंडी खोले
प्रेम मंदर में
मन मूरख ये हर की कुंडी खोले
का॰॰आठ की बंसी
प्रेम राग में
हर डैम तू रु बोले
का॰॰आठ की बंसी
प्रेम राग में
हर डैम तू रु बोले
प्रेम की दुनिया कितनी बड़ी है
एक ही बिन्दु प्रेम की दुनिया
एक ही बिन्दु प्रेम की दुनिया
सागर लाख समाते हैं
सागर लाख समाते
प्रेम नैया में
प्रेम नगर से
प्रेम के मोती डोले
प्रेम नैया में
प्रेम नगर से
प्रेम के मोती डोले
और प्रेम की शक्ति
प्रेम नगर में
मन मस्ताना
अमरत का दीवाना
प्रेम नगर में
मन मस्ताना
अमरत का दीवाना
वी॰॰ईष का प्याला
ले कर पागल
अमरत अमरत बोले
वी॰॰ईष का प्याला
ले कर पागल
अमरत अमरत बोले
प्रेम मंदर में
मन मूरख ये हर की कुंडी खोले
- In: Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Duet | Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Leela Chitnis - Vasant Eric Duet | Leela Chitnis Song | Lyrics by Sudhir | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Romantic song | Song of 1940 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Vasant Eric Song | Yearwise breakup of songs
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This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3613 | Post No. : | 14407 |
Today’s song is from a relatively unknown film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ (1940). The film makes its debut on the blog today.
Every person in this world likes to talk about himself. More so, if the person is from the film line and now retired. Some of them write their autobiography and some others get someone to write for them. Autobiographies (AB) are of two types. One in which the author talks about the times he spent in the studios, about the film, people connected with it, anecdotes and generally gives information about those times, in his book. Such ABs are considered the best from the point of view of Film History. Such ABs are less in number.
The other type of AB is, in which the author writes more about his personal life mainly, giving negligible space to other matters like film, people and related matters. Such authors are under the wrong impression that the world is dying to know about him and his life, while the facts remain that they had lives like majority of people in India working in films.
Overall, the statistics say that women wrote more ABs than the men. Among the many ABs are the ones by Durga Khote, Leela Chitnis, Shanta Apte, Shanta Hublikar, Kanan Devi, Hansa Wadkar (one of the very few in the world, on which a film was made – ‘Bhumika’ (1977), Sulochana Latkar, Jayashree Gadkar, Snehprabha Pradhan etc etc. Among the males, some ABs are those of Bimal Roy, Nabendu Ghosh (I found that most film male personalities in Bangla cinema wrote their ABs), Sachin Burman, Salil Chaudhari, Hemanta Kumar, Vithal Pandya, Ramchandra Thakur and C. Ramchandra. Bangla artists wrote in Bangla only. Some have been translated into English.
Among these ABs, I would rate Durga Khote, Sulochana and Kanan Devi and Vithal Pandya’s books as the best in the first category. The worst AB is that of C Ramchandra from the second category in my personal opinion.
When I write about a film or a song, I try to first read the related part from the AB of the concerned artiste, if any, so that my information becomes factual and reliable. In case of today Leela Chitnis was the heroine of film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ and today’s song is also by her, so naturally, her AB came handy to me for additional information. It is a matter of coincidence that my previous article was from the film ‘Fashion’ (1943) and today’s film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ (1940) – both had by chance a similar story in content. The difference is I had not seen ‘Fashion’, but I saw the Marathi version of ‘Ghar Ki Rani’.
Film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ aka ‘The Better Half’ was a bilingual film, as per those day’s practice by producers of Maharashtra. The film was in Hindi and Marathi. In Marathi, the title was ‘Ardhangi’. It was made by Master Vinayak for his own Hans Pictures. Hans Pictures was in financial crisis during this period due to the failure of their ambitious film ‘Jwaala’ (1939), in which Chandramohan had acted in both versions, dubbing his own dialogues in Marathi himself, fluently.
When Master Vinayak had started Hans Pictures, the first film was ‘Chhaaya’ (1936). He had called Leela Chitnis to Kolhapur from Karachi to work in ‘Chhaaya’. Prior to that about a year or so earlier, Leela and Vinayak had been introduced in Poona. That time they had developed an attraction for each others, though Leela was already married and had 2 children. When they met again for film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ at Poona, no such feeling had remained. That time Master Vinayak had married Susheela – sister of actress Indira Wadkar, and he too had 2 daughters by then. One of them was Baby Nanda. During the shooting of the film Leela fell from her cycle and had fractures. One month was lost in that.
Leela had just completed ‘Bandhan’ (1940) made by Bombay Talkies and ‘Jhoola’ (1941) was nowhere in sight. After completing this film in Poona, when she went back to Bombay, she learnt that Bombay Talkies owner Himanshu Rai was serious and in the hospital. Soon he died and the studio was divided into two groups. Work was to start for her next film ‘Jhoola’. In between this period, she went to Gwalior to meet her son who was studying there in a Public school. In this period, a sad but funny thing happened.
Some British soldiers caught and raped an young girl whose name was Leela Chitnis. The soldiers were arrested and the newspapers in Bombay announced that Leela Chitnis was raped by soldiers and that she is not well. Her mother telephoned her in Gwalior and started inquiring about her health in a serious tone. This was followed by her sister’s call who said that she is reaching next day to take care of her health. Leela Chitnis was confused. Not aware of the drama in Bombay, she did not know why suddenly her health was questioned. Next day her sister came and then everything was clarified. After she came back to Bombay she contacted the papers and clarified the matter.
The story and lyrics of the Marathi version of this film were written by Acharya PK Atre, but for Hindi version Pt Indra translated them. Today’s song is by Leela Chitnis and Master Eric. HFGK credits the song to Master Vinayak. However, in the addenda, an explanation is given with correct name. The fact is, Master Vinayak had a dental problem, due to which he could not sing well. All his songs in Marathi and Hindi films were sung by Master Eric. This is mentioned in several books.
Now, who was this Master Eric? His real name was Vasant Jadhav. He was born in 1907 into a Marathi Christian family of Kolhapur. Bhalji Pendharkar selected him for acting and singing in Shyam Cinetone’s film ‘Parth Kumar’ (1934) (Hindi / Marathi). His pet name was Eric, so he became Vasant Eric and later on due to his singing, he was called Master Vasant Eric. He joined Kolhapur Shalini Cinetone and worked with Master Vinayak. He also worked in films like ‘Aakashwani’ (1934) and ‘Honhaar’ (1936). He sang songs in films from 1937 onwards. In all the Marathi / Hindi films of Master Vinayak he sang for him.
Vasant Eric knew Ratanbai. She introduced him to Ardeshir Irani and he employed Eric in his music department, playing various instruments and singing whenever needed. He acted and sang in films made by Hans, Navyug and Prafull Films. In 1948, he gave music to a Marathi film. He was called by many MDs to play chord piano for their songs. The male voice in Lata’s First Hindi Playback song “Paa Laagu Kar Jori Re” is that of master Vasant Eric only.
His son Ravindra was an actor and daughter Hemlata Shankar (Jadhav) was a film dancer. His grandson Nitin Shanker is an arranger in Bollywood today. Master Vasant Eric died in 1982.
I have seen the film’s Marathi version, ‘Ardhangi’. The story of film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ was-
Satyavan (Vinayak) is a University professor. Though he is highly educated, his wife Savitri (Meenakshi Shirodkar) is a simple housewife devoted to husband and his family. One day Satyavan’s colleague introduces his wife to Satyawan. Arundhati (Leela Chitnis) is a modern, educated, English speaking and cigarette smoking beautiful woman. Satyawan gets mad after her and takes every opportunity to meet and flatter her. In his mind he starts comparing Arundhati with his wife Savitri and feels ashamed of his wife. He feels Savitri is absolutely illiterate, old styled useless woman and avoids taking her with him anywhere.
He appoints a tutor to teach Savitri European manners and English speaking etc. It is difficult for Savitri, but for husband she does them and soon picks up, being intelligent woman. When Satyawan tries to impress Arundhati, she gives him freedom. Soon he comes very close to her to have an affair. However Arundhati humiliates him and makes him to all her domestic work. Then one day, she abandons Satyawan for the rich Zamindar Marotirao (Baburao Pendharkar).
Satyawan realises that he has been a fool to run after such a woman and returns happily to his wife Savitri, little knowing that it was Savitri who instigated Marotirao to go for Arundhati, to save her husband going away from her. Thus the Mahabharata story of Savitri who wins back her husband form Yama, comes to a close in Kalyug ! ( 655 )
Here is a rare song of Leela Chitnis and Master Vasant Eric from film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’. When you listen to Eric’s voice, you will realize the similarity of Master Vinayak’s and his voice.
Song – Aao Sainyaan Khul Kar Khelen Aaj Poonam Ki Raat Hai (Ghar Ki Rani) (1940) Singer – Leela Chitnis, Vasant Eric, Lyrics – [Unattributed], Music – Dada Chandekar
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
aao sainyaan
khul kar khelen
aaj poonam ki raat hai
aao sainyaan
khul kar khelen
aaj poonam ki raat hai
chandramukhi ho
pehlu mein to
chandramukhi ho
pehlu mein to
khoob poonam ki raat hai
chanda chhin chhin mein chhip jaata
rajnion ka chumban le aata
phir hum par joban barsaata
aaj poonam ki raat hai
hoon hum
khoob poonam ki raat hai
tum dard badha ke
dil mein mujhe chhipa lo
praanon se praan
aahon se aah mila lo
main teri aankh mein
aansoon jal kar jhoomoon
jo girey aankh se
to gaalon ko choomoon
bhool jaaye duniya hum ko
hum duniya ko bhoolen
bhool jaaye duniya hum ko
hum duniya ko bhoolen
madhoshi ki godi mein
armaan banaayen ghoomen
aaj poonam ki raat hai
hoon hum
khoob poonam ki raat hai
aao sainyaan
khul kar khelen
aaj poonam ki raat hai
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
आओ सैंया
खुल कर खेलें
आज पूनम की रात है
आओ सैंया
खुल कर खेलें
आज पूनम की रात है
चन्द्रमुखी हो
पहलू में तो
चन्द्रमुखी हो
पहलू में तो
खूब पूनम की रात है
चंदा छिन्न छिन्न में छिप जाता
रजनीओं का चुम्बन ले आता
फिर हम पर जोबन बरसाता
आज पूनम की रात है
हूँ हुम
खूब पूनम की रात है
तुम दर्द बढ़ा के
दिल में मुझे छिपा लो
प्राणों से प्राण
आहों से आह मिला लो
मैं तेरी आँख में
आँसू जल कर झूमूँ
जो गिरे आँख से
तो गालों को चूमूँ
भूल जाये दुनिया हमको
हुम दुनिया को भूलें
भूल जाये दुनिया हमको
हुम दुनिया को भूलें
मदहोशी की गोदी में
अरमान बनाएँ घूमें
आज पूनम की रात है
हूँ हुम
खूब पूनम की रात है
आओ सैंया
खुल कर खेलें
आज पूनम की रात है
Bharamuva Kaahe Pe Baawre
Posted on: June 3, 2018
- In: Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Guest posts | Hirabai Badodekar Solo Songs | Hirabai Badodekar Songs | Inspirational song | Lyrics by Sudhir | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Rare song | Song of 1937 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 2 Comments
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3607 | Post No. : | 14389 |
Today’s song is from an obscure, unknown film the early era – ‘Pratibha’ (1937).
Any industry, to develop into a profitable one, requires hard work by the pioneers. This applies totally to Hindi Film Industry in India. The original initiators of the film industry were not any rich people, but the industry took the seeds from ordinary, middle class people.They had no riches, but their zeal, dedication, ambition and desire to achieve goals overtook their poverty and they toiled and moiled to raise the required finance for their projects. We all know about the great Dadasaheb Phalke, who staked everything he owned to achieve his goals and became a name to remember for ever. In this endeavour, he was not alone. There was one more person from Kolhapur, who took Phalke’s dream much ahead from silent to talkie films. His name is taken today with awe and respect by film historians. He was Baburao Painter.
Kala Maharshi Baburao Painter ( real name Baburao Krishnarao Mestri) was born on 3rd June 1890 at Kolhapur. The success of Dadasaheb Phalke in making films in India inspired Baburao and his cousin brother Anandrao immensely. They too wanted to make films, but it was not possible in Kolhapur. Phalke had gone to England to learn the film making and had brought machinery from England. This was beyond the reach of these poor young men.
Anandrao found that a second hand projector was for sale in Null Bazar in Bombay. Crazily, he decided to change the projector into a film camera, by making some structural changes. They sold the gold ornaments of family and bought the projector. To start with and to get further finance they used it to show films in theatres. They even showed some Hollywood films here. After several attempts, Anandrao was successful in converting the projector into a film camera. Baburao was also with him in this. Unfortunately, Anandrao died suddenly giving a set back to the project.
Baburao now needed finance to go ahead. Luckily a famous classical singer of those days, Tanibai Kagalkar – wife of Bapusaheb Kagalkar and the sister of Vinayakrao Ghorpade (who was the father of child actress and singer Vasanti), invested Rs. 15,000 – an astronomical figure for those times. Baburao established Maharashtra Film Company in Kolhapur and started preparations for making his film ‘Sairandhri’, released in 1919. The cast of this film included 2 women, Gulab Bai aka Kamla Devi and Anusuya Bai aka Susheela Devi. These women were promptly thrown out of their homes and society. They remained with the company and even cooked and washed clothes of artistes, besides acting in the films other times. (This Gulab Bai aka Kamla Devi later posed for the symbol of Prabhat Film company- playing Tutari with bent body. She married Fattelal, one of the directors of Prabhat Films.)
‘Sairandhri’ was a tremendous success. Enthused Baburao Painter made another 15 films. Lokmanya Tilak was so impressed with Baburao’s dedication, he awarded him the title of ‘Cinema Kesari’. Baburao Pendharkar was the General Manager of the company, mainly because he could speak fluent English, with customers. Others were V Shantaram, Dhaiber, Damle and Fattelal as his assistants in different departments. Sarpotdar, NH Apte and Vashikar were the script writers and Prof NS Phadke, the novelist, wrote film titles. In 1920 second half, there was a big fire in the company and all films were burnt.
Baburao Painter started afresh in 1921. He made many mythological and historical films. Baburao was the first to make a social film, ‘Savkari Pash’ on the issue of exploitation of poor farmers by money lenders in the villages. In 1928, a foreign trained film director was appointed from Bombay – Moti B Gidwani, on a fat salary. (He was later to direct the film ‘Khazanchi’ (1941) in Lahore). This caused unrest in the company and resulted in Shantaram, Dhaiber, Damle and Fattelal leaving the company. They established Prabhat Film Company. In 1930, Baburao also left Maharashtra Film company. When talkie films started he made 7 talkie films, including 2 Hindi films – ‘Pratibha’ (1937) and ‘Matwala Shaayar Ramjoshi’ (1947) along with Shantaram. He then left films and concentrated on his painting and sculpture. Baburao Painter died on 16-1-1954 at Kolhapur.
Baburao’s contribution to Indian film industry-
- He was the first to use coloured screens and clothes for realistic effect.
- Indoor filming with artificial lighting.
- Fade out and fade in techniques
- Outdoor shootings; Debaki Bose, in his visit to studio, was amazed to see Baburao’s working techniques.
- Making sketches of scenes and costumes before shooting.
- Advertising posters. film booklets with film story and pictures.
All assistants of Baburao painter became big people. He was simply a God sent gift to Hindi film industry.
‘Pratibha’ was also one of the 2 Hindi films in which the great classical singer of India, Hirabai Badodekar acted. The other film was ‘Suvarn Mandir’ (1934). She, however, sang 9 songs in 3 films, namely ‘Pratibha’, ‘Lalat’ (1947) (‘Lalat’ was the debut film of Usha Kiron, who used her real name Usha Marathe in this film) and ‘Dolti Naiya’ (1950). The cast of the film was Durga Khote, K Datey, Miss Heera, Master Shyam, Hirabai, Nanasaheb Phatak, Vishupant Jog, Raja Paranjpe etc.
Nanasaheb Phatak was one of the greatest stage actor of Marathi dramas. He was called ‘Natwarya’ ( नटवर्य ), euphemism for “the greatest among actors”. This was the only Hindi film he ever acted in his lifetime. Raja Paranjpe (24.4.1910 – 9.2.1979), one of the big names in Marathi films later was in the making in the 30s. He acted in 15 Hindi films and also directed 5 Hindi films. ‘Pratibha’ was his first film as an actor. His last film was ‘Us Paar’ (1974).
Hirabai Badodekar (29-5-1905 to 20-11-1989) was the daughter of Ustad Abdul Kareem Khan and Tarabai aka Tahirabibi. She was never interested in acting in films, but she did it for Baburao Painter.
Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and Tarabai Mane, had fled from the city of Baroda to settle in Bombay after their affair was not accepted by the extended families. However, their fleeing away from their roots did not mean the end of the road to the music career that Hirabai Barodekar would eventually become a part of. According to archives in history, Tarabai Mane was the daughter of Sardar Maruti Rao Mane, one of the brothers of the Rajmata of Baroda. During her childhood years in the early 19th century, Tarabai Mane used to learn music from Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, who was a mere court musician in Baroda. The two gradually fell in love, a feeling that was not supported by any of the family members precisely because of the gap between their status and ranks in the society. The couple had no other option but to flee Baroda to settle in Bombay city. Tarabai Mane and Abdul Karim Khan married in Bombay and gave birth to five children, two sons and three daughters. The third child was named Champakali, who was later renamed to Hirabai Badodekar in her adult years.
After about 1920, Khansaheb became very busy with his many tasks and concert tours throughout India. As a result, he could not attend to the needs and music education of his children. Compounded with some household family problems, Tarabai decided to separate from him and left him in 1918. In the beginning, she stayed in Bombay for some time and then moved to Pune with her five children.
She decided to change their Muslim names. She was the daughter of Sardar Mane of Badoda state. She used Mane and Badodekar as the surnames. Badodekar was derived from the name of her native place whereas Mane was her surname before marrying Khan Saheb. Thus Abdul Rahman became Suresh (God of music notes) Babu Mane. Out of her 5 children, Champakali became Hirabai Badodekar, Sakina or Chhotu Tai became Saraswati Mane and after marriage Sarawati Rane. Tarabai opened up new music school ‘Nutan Sangeet Vidyalaya’ with Sureshbabu as a teacher along with other teachers and students. Sureshbabu also began to teach his sister Champakali (later Hirabai). However, they were all in their teens, and hence Tarabai persuaded and appointed uncle Abdul Wahid Khan as the teacher for children. Later on, with the help of Sawai Gandharva (Rambhau Kundgolkar) she opened up drama wing of Nutan Sangeet Vidyalaya. They staged several old and new drama and all brothers and sisters played various roles. Sureshbabu and Hirabai also played roles in Hindi and Marathi films during 1930s and 40s. Sureshbabu also composed music for films – ‘Sant Tulsidas’ (1934) and ‘Sach Hai’ (1939).
The training under her brother and uncle proved to be very beneficial for Hirabai Badodekar, and was soon able to perform for a larger audience. Her voice had always been praised and was a source of inspiration to many in her generation and subsequent generations to come. Hirabai Badodekar’s first step into the world of classical Hindustani music was in the year 1920 when she started performing in public concerts. It was the early 20th century and though women had already stepped out of their homes by this time, the idea of an Indian woman performing on the world stage was still a less heard concept. Therefore, Hirabai Badodekar was not only a renowned classical singer, she was also a pioneer in the field of classical singing by women on a world stage. She was the first woman to stage a ticketed concert in India. Needless to say, this drive popularized Hindustani classical music not only among connoisseurs of music, but also the common man in search of new entertainment opportunities.
Till today, classical music experts refer to Hirabai Badodekar’s voice as melodious and soulful. Her rendition of the ‘Taar Sa’ raga became the benchmark of her concerts. She was asked to perform the particular music in every concert appearance. The Kirana Gharana was already a very popular house of classical music during the 20th century and the success of Hirabai Badodekar only helped to make it more famous among the masses. She was an expert in the fields of khayal, thumri, bhajan and Marathi natya sangeet. Hirabai Badodekar’s career as a classical music singer did not remain enclosed within stage performances. It was only after a few years in stage singing that she started to work as a recording artist, largely responsible because of her growing popularity among the common man. After her phenomenal success as a recording artist, following her stint on the stage, Hirabai Barodekar came to be known as ‘Gaanhira’, a diamond in the world of singing.
Hirabai had participated in several plays during her early school years. The stage too was not a new place for her. Therefore, she progressed from being a classical music singer and recording artist to a film actress. Her career as a movie artist though was not as glorious as compared to the one in Hindustani classical music. Nevertheless her contribution to movies like ‘Janabai’, ‘Municipality’, ‘Suvarna Mandir’ and ‘Pratibha’ are still etched in history. Apart from a prosperous career in classical singing and a memorable one in movies, Hirabai also set up a music school for young girls to learn Hindustani classical music. Her school Nutan Sangeet Vidyalaya, was successful in popularizing the concept of classical music through the plays that it staged.
She became such a well known name in the field of classical Indian music that she was showered with a number of awards and prizes given to her by the Government of India. The highest honor which came her way was probably the offer to sing the national song Vande Mataram in the programme held in Red Fort on the 15th of August 1947, the day that India got its independence from the British. Her voice won her the title of ‘Gaansaraswati’ bestowed upon her by Jagadguru Shankaracharya. She was referred to as ‘Gaan Kokila’ by the nightingale herself, Sarojini Naidu. In the year 1953, she was one of the prominent members of a delegation which was sent from India to China and several countries across East Africa. The delegation performed to a world audience to present the cultural heritage of India. Over subsequent years, she became one of the most prominent classical singers that India had ever witnessed, with the government conferring the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award upon her in 1955 and Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian awards, in 1970.
She was successful in grooming a set of students who continued to contribute to the field of Hindustani classical music after her death. Prabha Atre is one of the most prominent students that Hirabai has left behind to carry on her legacy. Ever since 1992, the genius of Hirabai Badodekar has been celebrated through the Sureshbabu – Hirabai Smruti Sangeet Samaaroh, a music festival held every year in Mumbai. She passed away on 20-11-1989.
‘Pratibha’ was a bilingual film – Hindi/Marathi – produced by Shalini Cinetone of Kolhapur. When Baburao Painter left Maharashtra Film Co., and others left to start Prabhat at Pune, the king of Kolhapur – Shahu Maharaj was disturbed. He wanted kolhapur to remain a hub of film production. He himself established Kolhapur Shalini Cinetone, mainly to keep Painter employed. Baburao, Bhalji Pendharkar and Master Vinayak also came back to make films here. After few films like ‘Akashvaani’ (1934), ‘Vilasi Ishwar’ (1935) (in Hindi it was ‘Nigaah e Nafrat’ (1935), a Debut film for Shobhana Shilotri, who became Shobhana Samarth later on), ‘Pratibha’ and Phalke’s only talkie film ‘Gangavataran’ (1937) (debut film of Leela Mishra aka Leela Mausi), ‘Gangavataran’ was made on lavish scale spending lot of money. However the film flopped and Kolhapur Shalini Cinetone was closed down forever.
The story of film ‘Pratibha’,
Poet Prasad (Datey) lives far from the city in a forest, enjoying only the company of wife Pratibha (Khote). The court poet Kaveeshwar (Phatak) of the neighbouring kingdom learns about his poetry and beautiful wife and invites them to his palace, promising glory and fame. Against Pratibha’s advise, Prasad succumbs to the temptation, only to find that his poetry is plagiarized and his wife is harassed.
Baburao Painter excelled in this film shooting with his classical touch, deftly handling the crowd scenes etc. The highlight of the film was when Prasad and Pratibha leave the palace in a raging storm.
Here is a rare film song of Hirabai Badodekar from this film.
Here is a tribute to Baburao Painter on his Birth Anniversary.
(Credits – Maharashtra- Birthplace of Indian Film Industry, by Isak Mujawar, iloveindia.com, wiki, HFGK, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema and my notes )
Song – Bharamuva Kaahe Pe Baawre (Pratibha) (1937) Singer – Hirabai Barodkar, Lyrics – Pt Anand Kumar, Music – Gobind Rao Tembe
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
bharamuva kaahe pe baawre
bharamuva kaahe pe baawre
bhole manava
aa aa aaa
bharamuva kaahe pe baawre
bhole manava
aa aa aaa
bharamuva kaahe pe baa.aawre
bhole manava..aa..aa
bharamuva kaahe pe
rang birange. . .
aaa aaaa aaaa aaa
rang birange. . .
aaaaaa
aaaaaa aaaa aaaa
aaaa aaaa aaa aaaaaa
rang birange. . .
aaa
aaaa aaaa aaa aaaaaa
rang birange
aaa aaaa aaaa aaa
aaaa aaaa aaa aaaaaa
rang birange baag bageeche
hey
saaj sajeele sab phal mere (??)
bhole manava
aaa aaaa aaaa
bharamuva kaahe pe baawre
bharamuva kaahe pe baa..aawre
bharamuva kaahe pe baawre
bharamuva kaahe pe baa..aawre
bhole manava
aaa aaaa aaaa
bharamuva kaahe pe baawre
bharamuva kaahe pe baa..aawre
haaan aaaa
bharamuva kaahe pe baawre
bhole manava
aaa aaaa aaaa
haaan aaaa
haaan aaaa
bharamuva kaahe pe baawre
bhole manava
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
भरमवा काहे पे बावरे
भरमवा काहे पे बावरे
भोले मनवा
आ आ आss
भरमवा काहे पे बावरे
भोले मनवा
आ आ आss
भरमवा काहे पे बा॰॰आ॰॰वरे
भोले मनवा॰॰आ॰॰आ
भरमवा काहे पे
रंग बिरंगे॰ ॰ ॰
आ आsss आss आs
रंग बिरंगे॰ ॰ ॰
आsss
आsss आss आs
आ आsss आss आs
रंग बिरंगे॰ ॰ ॰
आsss
आ आsss आss आs
रंग बिरंगे॰ ॰ ॰
आsss आss आs
आ आsss आss आs
रंग बिरंगे बाग बगीचे
हे
साज सजीले सब फल मेरे (??)
भोले मनवा॰॰आ॰॰आ
आsss आss आss
भरमवा काहे पे बावरे
भरमवा काहे पे बा॰॰आ॰॰वरे
भरमवा काहे पे बावरे
भरमवा काहे पे बा॰॰आ॰॰वरे
भोले मनवा
आsss आss आss
भरमवा काहे पे बावरे
भरमवा काहे पे बा॰॰आ॰॰वरे
हाँ’ आsss
भरमवा काहे पे बावरे
भोले मनवा
आsss आss आss
हाँ’ आsss
हाँ’ आsss
भरमवा काहे पे बावरे
भोले मनवा
Saaqi Ho, Sahn e Baag Ho
Posted on: May 31, 2018
- In: "saawan" song | Anil Biswas - Sardar Akhtar Duet | Anil Biswas Songs | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Duet | Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Lyrics contributed by readers | MD-Singer Song | Post by Sudhir | Saaqi - Maikhana Song | Sardar Akhtar Songs | Song of 1936 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 2 Comments
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 sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3604 | Post No. : | 14384 |
Today is the fifteenth remembrance day for Anil Biswas, one of the pioneering music directors of film industry in India. He passed away on 31st May in New Delhi, in the year 2003. With his active years in the film industry (from 1935 to 1965) behind him, he had moved to Delhi by mid 1960s. Thereafter, he worked with the All India Radio in New Delhi, and was also associated with JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University).
As I am checking his filmography and the list of songs, as per the Geet Kosh, I come across a very interesting statistic. As per Geet Kosh, during his active years in the film industry from 1935 to 1965, he composed music for 82 films, of which three are unreleased films with songs available. The total of songs in these films comes to around 715.
Then I counted his body of work in the first six years of his career in films, i.e. from 1935 to 1940. Amazing to find out that in these first six years he has composed music for 25 films, logging in approximately 220 songs. This works out to be a tad over 30%, both in terms of number of films and total no. of songs composed. So in the first six years of his career (which is 20% of his career), he had already accomplished 30% of all the work that he would do for Hindi films. And now to the sad part of these numbers. Of these 220 songs, more than half i.e. 137 were not even released on gramophone records (as per Geet Kosh listings). Of the remaining shortlisted songs, just about 80 to 85 songs are available in public domain. This last number is as per my knowledge of available songs within the known circle of collectors – this number could be more.
A large part of this work from those six earliest years remains unknown and unheard – a sad commentary on the state of affairs of archiving and preservation efforts in the industry.
In remembrance of this doyen of music directors, I present this rare song today, which has an important distinction. As per the Geet Kosh listings, this most likely the earliest song that he has sung, under his own music direction, that is available. The Geet Kosh lists one earlier solo credited to him as a singer, for the film ‘Dharam Ki Devi’ of 1935, which was probably never released on gramophone record. This song from the 1936 film ‘Piya Ki Jogan’ apparently is his earliest recorded song that is available in public domain. It is a duet in which the accompanying voice is of Sardar Akhtar.
The film ‘Piya Ki Jogan’ was produced under the banner of Golden Eagle Movietone, which, very interestingly, is listed as being based in Sindh. The region of Sindh could mean Karachi, but I am not sure about it. The film was directed by Heeren Bose. The cast of actors is listed as Sardar Akhtar, Pramod Chandra, Krishna Kumari, Merwan Irani, D Manik, Ashalata, Vasu HK, Sheila, Agha Jaan, Bannerjee, Niranjan Singh, Mehar Banu, and Anil Biswas himself. Now this throws up interesting question whether Anil Da is singing for himself on screen. The year is 1936, and the playback mechanism is just beginning to get a foothold in the industry. He could be singing for himself, since he is listed as an actor. Or he could be singing for someone else – being the last name in the listing generally implies a role with less importance. Once again, I cannot be sure.
Another interesting tidbit here. The cast of actors also contains the name Ashalata. This could well be the first film that they worked on together. I request other knowledgeable readers and friends to please comment on this observation.
The lyricist credits are listed as Munshi Zahiruddin, Niranjan Singh, and Meerabai (one of the songs in the film is a bhajan credited to her). The uploader of this song on YT, Shri Shalin Bhatt, identifies Munshi Zahiruddin as the writer of this song.
The song itself does not have too many wordy lines. There are passages of laughter and pauses. The song appears to be an exchange between a lady and a gentleman, having some good time together. I request other knowledgeable readers and friends to kindly add more information about this film and this song, if available.
With this rare and uniquely important song, the blog pays its homage to Anil Da, on this anniversary of his passing away.
[Auth Note: Some translations,
“sahn e baag” = open space, compound containing a garden
“abr e bahaar” = clouds of spring; or clouds of good season
“baadaah e khvaar” = one who drinks liquor]
[Ed Note: The song is uploaded on YT by Shalin Bhatt ji.]
Song – Saaqi Ho, Sahn e Baag Ho (Piya Ki Jogan) (1936) Singer – Anil Biswas, Sardar Akhtar, Lyrics – Munshi Zahiruddin, MD – Anil Biswas
Lyrics
haa haa haa haa
haa haa haa haa
he he he
saaqi ho
sahn e baag ho
abr e bahaar ho
saaqi ho
sahn e baag ho
abr e bahaar ho
oo ho
pehlu mein tum hamaare
ae sanam
baadah e khvaar
saaqi ho
sahn e baag ho
abr e bahaar ho
saaqi ho
sahn e baag ho
abr e bahaar ho
oo ho
haa haa haa
haa haa haa
bas
itna hi
. . .
aur kuchh
. . .
ab suno
saawan ka ho mahina
din ho jalaa hua
saawan ka ho mahina
din ho jalaa hua
nanhi nanhi boondon ki barsi phuaar ho
nanhi nanhi boondon ki barsi phuaar ho
haa haa haa
haa haa haa
haa haa haa
haa haa haa
haa haa haa
haa haa haa
jhoola padaa hua ho
kisi shah e mahal mein
jhoola padaa hua ho
kisi shah e mahal mein
ik din(?) se khush gul koi gaata malhaar ho
ik din(?) se khush gul koi gaata malhaar ho
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
हा हा हा हा
हा हा हा हा
हे हे हे
साक़ी हो
सहन ए बाग हो
अब्र ए बहार हो
साक़ी हो
सहन ए बाग हो
अब्र ए बहार हो
ओ हो
पहलू में तुम हमारे
ए सनम
बाद ए खार हो
साक़ी हो
सहन ए बाग हो
अब्र ए बहार हो
साक़ी हो
सहन ए बाग हो
अब्र ए बहार हो
ओ हो
हा हा हा हा
हा हा हा हा
बस
इतना ही
॰ ॰ ॰
और कुछ
॰ ॰ ॰
अब सुनो
सावन का हो महिना
दिन हो जला हुआ
सावन का हो महिना
दिन हो जला हुआ
नन्ही नन्ही बूंदों की बरसी फुहार हो
नन्ही नन्ही बूंदों की बरसी फुहार हो
हा हा हा हा
हा हा हा हा
हा हा हा हा
हा हा हा हा
हा हा हा हा
हा हा हा हा
झूला पड़ा हुआ हो
किसी शाह ए महल में
झूला पड़ा हुआ हो
किसी शाह ए महल में
इक दिन(?) से खुश गुल कोई गाता मल्हार हो
इक दिन(?) से खुश गुल कोई गाता मल्हार हो
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