Archive for the ‘Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940)’ Category
Nit leke prem ki maalaa
Posted on: May 7, 2024
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5772 | Post No. : | 18298 |
“Asiai Sitaara”(1937) was directed by Haribhai Desai for Harshad and Jagtap, Bombay. The movie was distributed by Wadia Movietone.
“Asiai Sitaara”(1937) had master Vithal, Jenabai Pawar, Ibrahim, Veenadevi, Krishnaswami,Minoo the Mystique, Vasant Pehelwan, Master Dhulia etc in it.
This costume drama movie had eight songs in it that have become extremely rare to find. One song has been covered in the past.
Here is the second song from “Asiai Sitaara”(1937) to appear in the blog. This song is sung by Jenabai Pawar. Pt Anuj is the lyricist. Music is composed by Master Mohammad.
Only audio of this rare song is available. It is clear from the starcast that this song was picturised on Jenabai Pawar herself.
From her powerful voice, it appears that Jenabai Pawar was a trained singer. With this song, she makes her debut in the blog as a singer.
Song-Nit leke prem ki maala (Asiai Sitaara)(1937) Singer-Jenabai Pawar, Lyrics-Pt Anuj, MD-Master Mohammad
Lyrics
taat bichhure
hriday ke
dhannath bichhure
humse bichhudo des
hey ae aao aao
nit leke prem ki maalaa
japti priy naam tumhaaraa
nit leke prem ki maalaa
japti priy naam tumhaaraa
ro ro din haay bitaaye
per bhuwannaath na aaye
ro ro din haay bitaaye
per bhuwannaath na aaye
jharat nayan se ansuwan kee dhaaraa
jharat nayan se ansuwan kee dhaaraa
aao
aao
aaao
Ghar apna ye kursee apnee
Posted on: April 4, 2024
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5739 | Post No. : | 18261 |
Today’s song is from a film which is almost 90 years old – 300 Days and after-1938.
1938 was an interesting year in the early life of the Talkie films. The film making studios had firm footing with a studio system and they tried a variety of subjects in their films. In the 88 Hindi films produced in 1938, one finds almost every Genre of film subjects, except perhaps the usual Folk stories and Historical themes. Comedy, Tragedy, Fiction, Jungle stories, Costume, Socials, Musicals, Mythologicals, you name it and you had it. Content and technical expertise had improved as films on famous novels were made.
Well known studios like Imperial, Sagar, New Theatres, Prabhat, Ranjit, Bombay Talkies, Praksh, Vishnu Cinetone, Huns Pictures, Wadia Movietone, Saroj Movietone etc. were very active bringing out 3 to 4 films each. Huns and Prabhat continued bilingual films in Hindi and Marathi, while New Theatres made Hindi and Bangla films. Many new actors debuted. Many new actors matured and the old scrap from silent films slowly disappeared giving way to new entrants. The Imperial film company, which had the honour of making India’s first Hindi Talkie film – Alam Ara in 1931, downed its shutters in 1938. The last remaining Southern language without a talkie, Malayalam, produced its First Talkie film BALAN in 1938. Film Industry celebrated its Silver Jubilee -from 1913 to 1938 and several programmes were held all over India.
Let us take a look at some of the films of 1938….
ABHAGIN – Debut film of actor Chaman Puri (eldest brother of Madan puri and Amrish Puri).
ADHIKAR – Music Director Timir Baran Bhattacharya. After Independence, he was invited to West Pakistan and East Pakistan to give music to their films. Film Adhikar was on the importance of how bringing up makes a person.
BAGHBAAN – Debut film of Ram Avtar.
BAHADUR KISAN – First directorial venture of Master Bhagwan. During this film’s making he developed a lasting friendship with C.Ramchandra, who assisted Meer Sahab, the M.D.
BHABHI – Renuka Devi’s second film and first with Jairaj.
BILLI – Based on P.G.Wodehouse novel ” Damsel in Distress.”
BHAMHACHARI – Debut film of Minakshi Shirodkar. She appeared in a swimming suit, first time in Hindi films. It created a sensation.
DHARATIMATA – Complete film was shot outdoors. Saigal and Pankaj Mullick created havoc with this musical film. The song ” Duniya rang rangeeli baba’ is still popular.
DIVORCE – Minerva’s film on Husband – Wife relations.
DUNIYA KYA HAI – Lalita Pawar’s production. Based on Tolstoy’s ” Resurrection”.
GRAMOPHONE SINGER – Sagar’s musical with Bibbo and Surendra. Zohrabai sings first time for Anil Biswas.
GOPAL KRISHNA – Hit film from Prabhat. Trick scenes were superb.Ram Marathe as Krishna,lifting Govardhan Parvat on a finger produced clapping from audience for several minutes.
HIMALAY KI BETI – Bhavnani production with Enakshi Rama Rau-his wife.
JAILOR – Minerva’s film on a Psycho-Neurotic person. Remade in the 50’s again.
MERA LADKA – Story of an unwed mother. Marathi and Hindi versions from Prabhat.
MR. X – Stunt film with Rattanbai , from Prakash.
NIRMALA – Bombay talkies. Devika rani- Ashok kumar. After this film, the Germans In Bombay talkies, including director Franz Osten were arrested by the British as Nazis and jailed in Igatpuri during the Second World War.
PROF. WAMAN, M.Sc. – Ranjit presents a Sci Fi fiction film about travels into the future.
SAATHI – Durga Khote and Mubarak produced in Hindi and Marathi (as Sawangadi).
STREET SINGER – Saigal’s musical feast from New Theatres.
VASANT BENGALI – Last film from Imperial film co., after 109 Silent films and 52 Talkie films in several languages. Just one year ago, i.e. in 1937 Madon Theatres of Calcutta- once a giant in film production, had closed down with their last film ‘Zinda Laash’.
Today’s film 300 DAYS AND AFTER – 1938 is one film, which I had seen in Hyderabad, may be somewhere in 1949 or 1950 or so, or may be a little later-not very sure.
This film was based on or in today’s language ”inspired” by MGM’s ” A Billionaire’s story” in which Edward Arnold and Mary Nash had acted under the Direction of the legendary Howard Hawks.
This was the first comedy film of Sarvottam Badami, the director.
Badami was born in Bangalore and worked as a Car mechanic ,though he was attracted towards films. He was called to Bombay to organise and help in the sound recording of a Tamil film from Sagar Movietone. Seeing his interest in films and the knowledge of languages, he was offered the chance to complete the direction of a half made Tamil film. He grabbed the opportunity and succeeded. His first few Hindi films were social like Chandrahas, Grihlaxmi and Dr.Madhurika.
“300 days and after” was his first comedy film. When he did a good job of it he got Aap ki Marzi-1939 and Ladies Only-39. After this film Badami left Sagar and started his own Sudama films and went back to social films again.
The film 300 days and after was from Sagar Movietone. The cast of this film was Motilal, Sabita Devi, Miss Bibbo, Yakub, Sankata Prasad(elder brother of character artist Kanhaiyalal), Pesi Patel etc.
Sudhir (Motilal) is a bachelor billionaire, doing nothing and enjoying life to the fullest with wine, women and gambling. As a result, his health starts falling prematurely when he is just 25-26 yrs only.
One day he falls down and a Doctor is called. After many tests and inspection of everything his family doctor tells him that because of his wayward living and uncontrolled lifestyle he is suffering from many ailments. If he treats them now, he may get all those again and again. The only remedy is Sudhir should do hard manual work, exercises and lead a simple living, which, the doctor says, Sudhir will never be able to do.
Sudhir is angry. He challenges the doctor that he will leave all his wealth, go out in the world, do physical work and earn money for himself. The doctor takes a bet with him and the deal is Sudhir should go out for 300 days without using a single paisa from his existing wealth for himself. Sudhir is ready for this.
Next day Sudhir goes out with few ordinary clothes, little money and a strong will to face the big bad world.
The film is full of funny situations when Motilal gets different jobs and does not know how to do them. First he tries to work as a Vegetable vendor, but he does not know the names of any vegetables.
He even takes some fruits as vegetables to sell. Next he tries to work as an assistant in a Barber shop, where he shaves off half of a customer. He tries to work as a car driver and a Tram ticket collector also.
Finally, he joins as a worker in a Soap factory, where he has to sometimes drive Seth’s wife -Ramola devi(Bibbo), who tries to entice him. Sudhir starts liking a typist girl in the factory Sharada(Sabita Devi). Sharada teaches music to Ramola, wife of Seth Laxmi Das. Motilal takes her everyday to the tuition. They start loving each other. Motilal stays with a kind hearted Vegetable vendor woman as a tenant. She tends to him , feeds him well and takes his care as her son.
Suddenly the Factory must close down due to some loss. All workers are worried. Motilal secretly sends his own money to Sethji as an anonymous partner. The Factory is saved.
Now in this jumble, 300 days come to an end. Surprisingly Motilal finds himself absolutely fit, healthy and understands the meaning of true life and Love. He goes back to the doctor to claim his bet money, which he donates to a school.
Sudhir marries Sharada and brings the kind vegetable vendor lady as his family member to live with him forever.
Motilal was one of my favourite actors. He was what I call “The accidental actor”. The story goes that Motilal came to Bombay to appear for a test to join the Navy, but he fell sick and missed it. After recovery, he went to see a film shooting and was spotted from the crowd by the director, who offered him a role in a film. Thus started his film career. He is also one of the rare actors, who started career as a Hero directly, without any struggle.
There are few more such “accident” stories for actors, actresses, directors and even singers. Some of them are….
Ashok Kumar was a lab technician in Bombay Talkies, where his sister’s husband, Shashadhar mukherjee was already working. When Devika Rani eloped with the handsome Hero najamul hasan, Ashok kumar was selected as his replacement as a hero.
Actor Ranjan was picked from a Bus queue in Madras by a producer and director and offered him a film role. Similar stories are for Pran, E.Billimoria, Nirupa Roy and Geeta Dutt. In the case of Nirupa Roy her husband had approached a studio to get a film role, but instead of him, his companion wife Kokila was offered a film role. Her name was changed to Nirupa Roy. Without getting any film roles, her husband changed his name to Kamal Roy himself !
Motilal was one of the 3 Natural actors of Hindi films. The others were Ashok Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar.
Born in Shimla on 4 December 1910, Motilal Rajwansh came from a distinguished family. His father was a renowned educationist, who died when Motilal was one year old. He was brought up by his uncle who was a well-known civil surgeon in Uttar Pradesh. At first, Moti was sent to an English school at Shimla and later, in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Thereafter, he shifted to Delhi where he continued with school and college.
After leaving college, Motilal came to Bombay to join the Navy, but he fell ill and could not appear for the test. Fate had other choices charted out for him. One day, he went to see a film shoot at Sagar Studios, where director K. P. Ghosh was shooting. Motilal, even then, was quite the man about the town and he caught Ghosh’s eye. Motilal described this event in his inimitable style,in one of his interviews….” The director Ghosh Babu looked towards me and said,” please come here”. I first thought he was calling someone standing behind me. I looked back and moved to one side. Nobody came forward, but Ghosh Babu came to me and pointed his finger at me and said, ” Yes, I am talking to you. Please come here.” I went with him .” In 1934 (aged 24), he was offered the hero’s role in Shaher Ka Jadoo -1934 by the Sagar Film Company. Sabita Devi and Motilal’s first movie as a pair in the famous Sagar Movietone, the movie Lure of the City (aka Shaher ka Jadoo) released on 29 th September 1934 at the Imperial Cinema, Bombay.
Mehboob Khan was earlier selected for the lead role and was later replaced by Motilal. This was actor Motilal’s debut film and Motilal – Sabita made the best pair in the Sagar Film Company. They acted together in many other movies under the banner of the Sagar like, Silver King -1935, Dr Madhurika -1935, Lagna Bandhan -1936, Jeevan Lata -1939, Kulvadhu -1937, Kokila -1937, Three hundred days and after -1938 and later at Sudama Films in Ap Ki Marzi -1939 and Minerva’s Prarthana -1944. He worked with Mehboob Khan in Jagirdar -1937 and Hum Tum Aur Woh -1938 under the Sagar Movietone banner, in Taqdeer -1943 for Mehboob Productions, and Kidar Sharma’s Armaan -1942 and Kaliyan -1944. He also acted in S. S. Vasan’s film Paigham -1959 (Gemini Studios), and Raj Kapoor’s Jagte Raho -1956. In 1965, he also acted in the Bhojpuri film Solaho Singar Kare Dulhaniya.
Perhaps the role for which he received the most critical appreciation was that of the gentleman crook in S. S. Vasan’s adaptation of R K Narayan’s book Mr Sampat -1952. He is most remembered for his role as “Chunni Babu” in Bimal Roy’s Devdas -1955, for which he won his first Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. Actor Naseeruddin Shah once described him as one of three all-time best actors of Hindi cinema, others being Balraj Sahni and Yakub.
Motilal was very suave and polished, and moved in high society, though towards the end of his life he was in financial difficulty. Although a thorough gentleman, he enjoyed gambling and races, and died almost penniless on 17th June 1965.
Motilal was an excellent Pilot and owned a small aircraft. He rarely travelled by train and always liked to fly. His family life was happy. His wife was a doctor.
He was in a relationship for several years with the actress Nadira. He was later involved with actress Shobhna Samarth after she separated from her husband, and he played Samarth’s real-life daughter Nutan’s father in Hamari Beti, Shobhana’s launch movie for Nutan. He also played her guardian in Anari, though this time the role had a villainous touch to it.
Motilal and Ashok Kumar were popular stars at the same time. Ashok Kumar was employed by Bombay Talkies and Motilal was employed by Ranjit. It is said that Sardar Chandulal paid Rs. One lakh to Motilal in those days. Motilal was a gambler. Once Chandulal Shah paid his debt of 75000 rupees which Motilal had lost in gambling, just to keep Motilal with Ranjit ! It is surprising that Ashok Kumar never worked with Motilal’s Heroines-Shobhana Samarth or Khursheed and Motilal never worked with Ashok Kumar’s heroines- Devika Rani or Leela Chitnis !
Actor Chandra Mohan treated Motilal as his son. During the last days of Chandra mohan, once Motilal had gone to meet him. Chandra Mohan was drinking from a costly foreign Whisky bottle, but he did not offer it to Motilal. Motilal was feeling bad and then Chandra Mohan said, “I know you must be feeling bad that I am not offering you this Whisky, but trust me it is not whisky- I am drinking Bewada (country liquor) from this bottle and I don’t want my son to drink this dirty stuff ! ”
Motilal was the winner of Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Devdas -1955 and Parakh -1960. He is credited with being among Hindi cinema’s first natural actors.
He also directed the film Chhoti Chhoti Baatein -1965, but died before its release. At the 13th National Film Awards, it won the award for Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film and he posthumously won the Certificate of Merit for the Best Story Writer. ( adapted from some information from Vithal Pandya’s book-Asli Nakli Chehere, wiki, Star portraits, nett4you, the book Sagar Movietone, and Shirish Kanekar’s book- Yaadon ki Baaraat, with thanks and my notes.)
Today’s song is a very rare song. I thank shri Syed Zafar Shah, for making this song available to me from his huge record collection. Initially I had requested him for this song in July 2023. That time he was shifting his collection from one godown to another one. He promised me that after all the rearrangements he will give me the song. It took him more than 6 months, but he remembered it and he on his own informed me after uploading this song for my use. He is a very kind soul and one of the rare breeds who selflessly makes rare songs available to music lovers freely. Thanks a Million, Zafar ji.
The song is typically sounding like the 1930’s decade but is sung nicely by Motilal, with good music from Anil Biswas. Enjoy….
Song- Ghar apna ye kursi apni apna sab saamaan (300 days and after)(1938) Singer- Motilal, Lyricist- Zia Sarhadi, MD- Anil Biswas
Lyrics
Ghar apna ye kursi apni
apna sab saamaan
haan
ghar apna ye kursi apni
apna sab saamaan
tu meri aur main tera mehmaan
main tera aur tu meri mehmaan
tu mera
main teri
main tera
tu meri
mehmaan
ha hahahaha
ghar apna ye kursi apni
apna sab saamaan
ghar apna ye kursi apni
saara saamaan hamaara hai
aao baithho
karen ham aap ki sewaa
aao
baithho
karen ham aap ki sewaa
kursi khaao
table khaao
kursi khaao
table khaao
ghar ke ham maalik hain
ghar ke ham maalik hain
hamen jaanat hai darbaan
hamen jaanat hai darbaan
haan aan aan
ghar apna ye kursi apni
apna sab saamaan
ghar apna ye kursi apni
apna sab saamaan
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5719 | Post No. : | 18238 |
Today’s song is from the film Nadi Kinare-1939.
The Internet has played an important role in our lives. It is due to the internet that we are able to virtually get any information under the Sun, at just one click ! Thanks to all those souls who have created storehouses (archives) of information of the bygone eras in different fields. We can know today about any incident, event, person or place of the past, at will, and get the information, which had seemed not accessible just about 30-40 years ago.
This is especially of great benefit to the students of history of anything – be it a language, a writer, a historical personality, a science, culture or even films. The Internet has proved to be ” Alibaba’s Cave” which opens with a password ‘ Khul ja Sim Sim’. One who has learned this password has all the doors open to desired information.
In history, whenever an event occurred, historians used to write it down for posterity and accuracy. When printing was invented in or around 1436 AD, it opened yet another avenue to record the history in a book form. Thousands of books were printed, but not all those books were available all the years to all the people at all the places. The Internet promptly stored all this information from the books and later the entire books were also stored. Thus, the desired information on almost every topic became available to the students of history. Communication between the people across the continents became a child’s play.
As far as history of films and related subjects is concerned, this facility was God-sent. When I first learnt operating computers, from my grandchildren, as late as in 2010, at the age of 70 years, I never imagined the computer’s capacity of opening the Alibaba’s Cave, for information on old films, songs and related matters. My joy knew no bounds when while surfing, I came across the archives of Film India magazine issues from the late 30’s to later years. These magazines, in their entirety, gave information on films, their details, stories and even interviews of stars. The advertisements appearing in these magazines carried information on films, events and equipment and all film related things. And all this was totally FREE !
Films of the 30’s and the 40’s were mostly not available, but from these old magazines – not only Film India, but even other language magazines, Newspapers and books etc. we got all the details. Lakhs of Blogs and Sites became available and now there is a huge number causing a mess and confusion too. Additionally Social medias like FaceBook and WA became sources of information through their groups and individuals.
Film Nadi Kinaare-1939 details are available in the December 1939 issue of Film India. It is claimed that the story of this film was a mixture of stories from 3 English films, namely
‘King and the Chorus Girl’-1937, ‘The rage of Paris-1938’ and ‘ Bluebeard’s 8th wife’. The writer of the Hindi film must have taken great efforts to mix these stories.
The cast of the film was M.Kumar, Sitara Devi, Suneeta, Indubala, Charlie, Ghory, Ram Marathe, Kantilal and others. There were 2 Lyricists- P.L.Santoshi and D.N.Madhok, but HFGK does not credit individual songs with lyricist’s names. Directed by Manibhai Vyas (27-4-1920 to 14-11-1993) who directed 20 films from Dukhiyari-37 to Shrikrishna Bhakti-1973, the film had music by Gyan Dutt. There were 13 songs in the film. Ram Marathe had done a child’s role in this film. He left the films after doing a few more films and pursued his hobby of classical singing. In due course he became an All India famous Classical Singer of repute.
The story of the film, as adapted by our Sadanand Kamath ji from the Film India issue, a few years back is….
A drunkard Prince Anand (M Kumar) is to be married to Princess Sarita (Sunita Devi) of a neighbouring state according to the decision taken by the Council. However, Prince Anand falls in love with Nama, a gypsy girl. She is brought to the Palace disguised as a Princess to exert influence over the Prince to cure him of his drinking habit. Having lost her memory, Nama really believes herself to be a Princess.
The Prince gives up his drinking habit under the influence of Nama. But a series of misunderstandings adds to the comical situations. Nama was already engaged to a gypsy boy in her village. But due to her memory loss, she does not remember her impending marriage with the gypsy boy. After sometime, Nama gets her memory back and now she finds herself in a piquant situation – both the Prince and the gypsy boy suspect her of treachery. The comical situations turn into a tragedy as Nama drowns herself into a river and for once the hero fails to save her.
Today’s song is sung by Kantilal.
KANTILAL CHHAGANLAL PACHCHIGAR ( Soni) was born on 18-4-1907 in Surat,Gujrat. He was from a Goldsmith family. Due to inherent interest in music, after college education he came to Bombay to try film singing.
His first film was ‘Bulbul e Paristan’-1934 from Vishnu Cinetone. Kikubhai Yagnik was the MD. Kantilal sang 2 songs in it.In 1935, he acted, sang and gave Music to Preet ki reet. He sang 6 songs. From 1937 to 1941, he was with Ranjit Movietone and acted and sang in 16 films. He sang 40 songs under Khamchand Prakash and Gyan Dutt. Then came Gazi Salahuddin, Kangan, Holiday in Bombay and Kanchan. Kantilal sang 60 songs in 24 films under 5 MDs, in all.
In 1943, he married Ushaben and acted in Gujarati films and Dramas. Some of his films were, Tufani Toli, Ban ki chidiya, Billi, Gorakh Aya, Prithvi Putra, Adhuri Kahani, Nadi kinare, Aaj ka Hindustan, Achhut, Diwali, Holi, Musafir, Pardesi, Sasural, Shaadi etc. He died on 17-6-1971.
Let us enjoy this lovely song….
Song-Aaraam kahaan hai dil jo pada gairon ke paale(Nadi Kinaare)(1939) Singer- Kantilal, Lyricist- Not known, MD- Gyan Dutt
Lyrics
aaraam kahaan hai
aaraam kahaan
dil jo pada gairon ke paale
muflis ko khuda
ishq ke phande mein naa daale
muflis ko khuda
ishq ke phande mein naa daale
aaraam kahaan hai
aaraam kahaan
dil jo pada gairon ke paale
muflis ko khuda
ishq ke phande mein na daale
gaa le to janaaze pe khada ishq pukaare
ab tum to chale
mujhko kiya kiske hawaale
gaa le to janaaze pe khada ishq pukaare
ab tum to chale
mujhko kiya kiske hawaale
aaraam kahaan hai
aaraam kahaan
dil jo pada gairon ke paale
muflis ko khuda
ishq ke phande mein naa daale
jitna sataana hai sata le
tu sata le
kya tu na padega
kisi bedard ke paale
jitna sataana hai sata le
tu sata le
kya tu na padega
kisi bedard ke paale
muflis ko khuda
ishq ke phande mein naa daale
aaraam kahaan hai aaram kahaan
dil jo pada gairon ke paale
muflis ko khuda
ishq ke phnde mein naa daale
aaraam kahaan hai
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5718 | Post No. : | 18237 |
‘Amrit Manthan’ (1934) was a bilingual film in Marathi and Hindi, produced under the banner of Prabhat Film Company and was directed by V Shantaram. The cast included Nalini Tarkhad, Sureshbabu Mane, Shanta Apte, Chandramohan, Kelkar, Shankar Kulkarni, Varde, Umakant Desai etc. Chandramohan made a debut with this film. It was Shanta Apte’s first film with an adult role. Keshavrao Bhole debuted in this film as a music director. This was the first sound film which ran for more than 25 weeks in Mumbai’s Krishna theatre in regular shows. Prabhat Film Company’s distributor, Baburao Pai was the first to coin the word ‘Silver Jubilee’ with reference to this film. The film was shown at the International Film Festival, Venice.
After the shifting of Prabhat Film Company from Kolhapur to Pune, ‘Amrit Manthan’ (1934) was the first film to be made from their modern soundproof studio in Pune. It was also the first film from Prabhat on social reforms. With this film, many stage artists and literary figures began working for the films. Narayan Hari Apte was one of them and ‘Amrit Manthan’ (1934) was based on his Marathi novel, ‘Bhagyashree’. Film’s director, V Shantaram directed this film after studying the art of filmmaking from Germany. This film, therefore, heralded the new style of filmmaking. For the first time, a telephoto lens, imported from Germany, was used for framing tight close-up shots of Chandramohan’s eye covering the entire screen space. It is said that this shot was a wonder for the cine audience which made them to watch the film repeatedly in the theatre.
The lead actor in the film was the singer-actor, Sureshbabu Mane (1902 – 15/02/1953). Born as Abdul Rehman, he was the son of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, the doyen of Kirana Gharana and Tarabai Mane, who was from the princely family of Baroda. He had his initial training in Hindustani classical music from his father and later his uncle, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan. In 1918, his mother divorced Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and shifted to Pune. She gave new names for her two sons and 3 daughters using the surname, ‘Mane’ from her parents. So, Abdul Rehman became Sureshbabu Mane. He started as a drama actor-singer in Marathi plays. Later, he acted in a few Marathi/Hindi films like ‘Amrit Manthan’ (1934), ‘Chandrasena’ (1935) and ‘Rajput Ramani’ (1936) under Prabhat Films. He was the music director for ‘Sant Tulsidas’ (1934), ‘Savitri’ (1936, Marathi), and ‘Sachh Hai’ (1939).
Sureshbabu Mane excelled in Khayal and Thumri renditions. But he did not pursue his career as a concert vocalist seriously. Instead, he concentrated on teaching the Hindustani classical music. His disciples included his sisters, Hirabai Barodekar and Saraswati Rane. Menaka Shirodkar, Vasantrao Deshpande, Prabha Atre etc were his other disciples. He also guided prominent Hindustani classical vocalist like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Basavaraj Rajguru, Manik Verma etc.
Whenever the reference of Sureshbabu Mane comes, I feel very sorry about him. A promising concert vocalist of very high calibre could not make it to one of the top icons of Kirana Gharana. For me, he was as good as his father, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan insofar as his rendition of Hindustani classical music was concerned. His voice and style of rendition was almost the replica of his father.
Coming back to the film under discussion, surprisingly, the 90-year-old film, ‘Amrit Manthan (1934) is available for viewing on one of the video sharing platforms albeit in less than average video and audio qualities. The title of the film may give an impression that the film is based on a mythological story of ‘Samudra Manthan’. But it is not so. The mythological story has been used as a symbol of elimination of evils in the society. In the film itself, the scene of churning of the sea is shown – once by the priest as to how the evil must be removed to save the religion and second time by a loyal general of Queen as to how demons often appearing in the disguise of gods, need to be removed. The story of the film is as under:
Reformist King, Krantiverma (Varde) has banned the human and animal sacrifices in his kingdom despite the advice from his minister that this would tantamount to interference in the religious matters. This infuriates the Priest (Chandramohan) of Chandika cult, who is also the Rajguru of the kingdom. He calls a meeting of his followers and orders one of his followers Yashodharma (Kulkarni) to kill the king Krantiverma. He is not convinced but he has to follow the dictate of the Priest. Before he proceeds to kill the king, Yashodharma leaves a letter for his son, Madhavgupt (Sureshbabu Mane) and his daughter, Sumitra (Shanta Apte) that he is going on a mission to kill the king as per the orders of the Priest. The king is killed by Yashodharma.
Rajguru declares King Krantiverma’s daughter, Mohini (Nalini Tarkhad) to be successor to the king as Queen. Yashodharma is caught and the Rajguru orders death sentence for him for killing the king. Madhav and Sumitra, Yashodharma’s son and daughter are on the run and the Rajguru’s men are searching for them. Finally, Madhav is caught, and the letter written by his father before killing the king is found in his possession. Sumitra is taken prisoner.
After taking over as a Queen, Mohini in her first meeting with her ministers reiterates to follow her father’s orders of banning human and animal sacrifices in the kingdom. However, the writ of Rajguru works and he tells the gathering that it is not proper to interfere in the religious matters. So, he orders all the religious activities to continue. In the gathering, Madhav is brought before the Queen who sentences him to death. However, Rajguru suggests to Queen that instead of killing Madhav, he can be offered to Chandika as human sacrifice. Queen Mohini reluctantly agrees.
When the process of human sacrifice of Madhav was going through in the presence of Queen Mohini and Rajguru, a sudden storm erupts with a devasting damages. Madav saves Queen Mohini and runs away with her towards the forest to save themselves from the storm. In this milieu, Madhav is separated from his sister, Sumitra. Both Queen Mohini and Madhav spend few days in the deep forest as commoner. During this period, her conversations with Madhav make her realise that how difficult for the common people to sustain themselves.
Meanwhile, Rajguru’s men bring the reports that the people are against any type of sacrifices in the temple as they feel that the devastating storm just before the human sacrifice of Madhav is the indication that even God does not approve of this practice. Some of the commoners want to meet the Queen to know whether she has given the approval for the sacrifices in the temple. However, Rajguru disperses them by saying that the Queen is not ill, and she cannot meet anyone.
Now, it becomes an urgent necessity to search for the Queen in the forest and to being her in the palace. Rajguru with his men find the Queen. She is reluctant to come back to the palace probably to avoid taking some hard decision on the human and animal sacrifices which Rajguru is forcing on her. Nonetheless, she reluctantly agrees to return to the palace. Madhav on the other hand secretly leaves the forest in search of his sister, Sumitra who is actually in the custody in the palaces under the strict watch of Rajguru’s men. Madhav goes to the palace in search of Sumitra, but he is caught by Rajguru’s men and put in custody.
Queen Mohini has returned to her palace, but in reality, she is more like under house arrest and Rajguru has assigned Vishwasgupt (Kelkar) to convince the Queen to toe the Rajguru’s line in the religious matter. Vishwasgupt being one of the trusted ministers reveals to the Queen that it was at the instance of Rajguru, Yashodharma had killed the king. He also exposes Rajguru’s tyrannical behaviour among the subjects of the kingdom. Queen and her subject rush to the temple where Rajguru is about to offer a human sacrifice in the temple. Vishwasgupt rushes towards Rajguru with a dagger and pierces through his right eye. An injured and almost blinded Rajguru heads towards Chandika’s temple where he ends up offering his own head to Chandika Devi. Queen Mohini, Madhav and people of the kingdom rush to the Chandika temple where she announces that this is the last sacrifice. Henceforth, no human or animal sacrifices would take place in her kingdom. The people of the kingdom hail her decision. Madhav and Sumitra are united. Queen Mohini and Madhav get married.
I found the role of Chandramohan as Rajguru very complex. He is not an usual villian which we have been watching in many Hindi films. He is convinced that human and animal sacrifices are part of the rituals to please Goddess Chandika. His vilianous character comes out only when people holding humanist viewpoint against the rituals oppose him. He is so convinced of the ritual that at the end when he fails to offer Madhav as human sacrifice, he gives his own head to Goddess Chandika.
The film had 13 songs of which Veer Mohammedpuri has written lyrics for 9 songs. The name/s of the remaining 4 songs are not known. All the songs have been set to music by Keshavrao Bhole. Since he had the background of Marathi ‘Sangeet Naatak’ (musical drama), all the songs in this film are semi classical and give a feel of the musical drama. Four songs from the film have been covered on the Blog. I am presenting the 5th song, one of the earliest ghazals in Hindi films, ‘aarzoo-e-dil ayaan karne ke bhi kaabil nahin‘ which is rendered by Sureshbabu Mane on himself on the words of Veer Mohammedpuri. Nalini Tarkhad is also seen in the song.
The background of the song picturisation is that after a devastating storm, Madhav (Sureshbabu Mane) saves Queen Mohini (Nalini Tarkhad) and runs away to a dense forest to save themselves from the storm. During their few days in forest, Madhav and Queen Mohini like each other. But Madhav is in dilemma because he is a commoner while Queen Mohini is the ruler of her kingdom. Also, she has passed a judgement for his death because his father had killed her father, King Krantiverma. Madhav feels that his heart full of desire is not even qualified to be offered as a gift (to Mohini).
This is a beautiful ghazal rendered in semi-classical style.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Aarzoo e dil ayaan karne ke bhi kaabil nahin (Amrit Manthan)(1934) Singer-Sureshbabu Mane, Lyrics-Veer Mohammadpuri, MD-Keshavrao Bhole
Lyrics:
aarzoo-e-dil ayaan karne ke bhi kaabil naheen
haay jism se tanu pahloo mein mere dil naheen ??
haath pairon se (??) kaa tilmilaana hai agar ??
thhak gayaa rah rah kar jiskaa kahin saahil naheen
aarzoo-e-dil ayaan karne ke bhi kaabil naheen
paas bhi hoon door bhi hoon
ye ek sankat hai abhi
chaahe mushqil hai ke haan aasaan bhi nahin mushkil naheen
aarzoo-e-dil ayaan karne ke bhi kaabil naheen
dheere dheere ae ae ae ae ae ae
ae ae ae ae
dheere dheere ye (??)bhi miltaa nahin dil ko karaar
aa aa aa
jisko hum samjhe thhe manzil
dar-asal manzil naheen
aarzoo-e-dil ayaan karne ke bhi kaabil naheen
haay jism se tanu pahloo mein mere dil naheen ??
Amar hai prem kee shakti
Posted on: March 13, 2024
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5717 | Post No. : | 18236 |
Today’s song is from the film Gol Nishan-1936.
The first Talkie film came in 1931. The first year had just 24 films, but within a span of 3 years, the Talkie films crossed the century mark, with 121 films in 1934, 152 in 1933 and 134 in 1936. Making a film was a complicated process which needed a studio, the latest machinery and a lot of money. This was difficult for a single person and thus the Studio System got established. The studios ruled the industry and the film making. Films were sold on the names of the studios and the actors had secondary appeal to the audience.
There were three major film centres in 1936 – Bombay, Calcutta and Poona. In Bombay, studios like Imperial, Bombay Talkies, Sagar Movietone, Ranjit etc were big names. In Calcutta, New Theatres and East India Film Corporation were major players. Prabhat film company was famous from Poona. This was the position in 1936. Like any other industry, the film industry too needed an organisation of the big players, so that the workers had no upper hand on them. Accordingly, “Indian Motion Pictures Association” (IMPA) was established first in Bombay, followed by Bengal Motion Picture Association in Calcutta. Poona, being in the Bombay Presidency, did not have a separate organization.
1936 saw the formation of Huns Pictures by Master Vinayak and Baburao Pendharkar. The year was noteworthy for Prabhat Film company as one of its directors, Keshavrao Dhaibar had to leave the company, for marrying one of the company’s employee-actress Nalini Tarkhud and thus breaking the company’s rule not to marry an employee ! Much later, even V.Shantaram had to leave Prabhat when he married actress Jayashree, an employee of Prabhat !!
Let us now take a look at some important films of 1936….
The year was notable for the type of films it produced. The initial limitation of making films only on Mythologicals or folk stories slowly changed over to social issues and problems. As such, due to the British rule Indians had started following lot of western manners, dressing pattern and our traditions were giving way to modern ways of developing countries like the Europe or the America.
From Calcutta came 3 films of New Theatres, Manzil, Maya and Karodpati. Manzil was a love story of a rich boy and a poor boy loving the same girl. Maya was a story of a rich wayward girl and an orphan girl in her house loving the same boy. Karodpati was a comedy enacted by Saigal and Molina Devi.
Bombay Talkies had 4 films, but only 2 were note worthy. The first was Jeevan Naiya, which saw Ashok Kumar becoming a reluctant Hero (he was only a Lab-Technician) opposite Devika Rani. The other film was Achut Kanya – a film based on the ills of Untouchability.
The year 1936 was memorable because of films from Prabhat, which made the film Amar Jyoti, showing Durga Khote as a Lady Pirate. The film was made on Grand scale and in such a way that it was much ahead of its time !
The other important film was Sant Tukaram in Marathi. The film ran for one year in Bombay theatres. The role of the wife of Tukaram was done by an actress, who was a sweeper in the studio before this film, but she excelled in her role. Her name was Tanibai Davari. This was the first film to celebrate the Golden Jubilee at many places. It won the honour of ” One of the 3 Greatest films of the world” award at Venice Film Festival in 1937.
Sagar Movietone launched actor singer Surendra with the film Deccan Queen. The other film was Manmohan, which copied the film Devdas, by becoming a tragedy of a heart broken lover. Some other notable films were Sunehra Sansar by East India company, introducing Vijay Kumar from Shimla and K.N.Singh. K.N.Singh also debuted as a Hero in the only film Bandit of the Air from the same company. There were films like Jay Bharat from the Wadias, Passing Show from Prakash films and Said E Hawas from Minerva Movietone. Film Maa from Prafull Pictures used ” Vande Mataram” for the first time in a film. Film Shokh Dilruba had 150 kissing scenes (there was no restriction from Censors then). First Talkie Seeta Vivah from Orissa also came.
Today’s film Gol Nishan-1936 was produced by Navbharat Movietone, Bombay. This costume film was perhaps based on the famous story of Zorro by Johnston McCulley in 1919. It was based on a Mexican folktale. The immediate inspiration was from the silent film – The mark of Zorro-1920. In this film Zorro, the swordsman makes a sign of Z with his sword before leaving any place. In the Indian version, Gol Nishan, the masked Heroine makes a sign of a Zero, with her sword ! That is why the second name of this film was The mark of Zero. The cast of the film was Navinchandra, Gauhar Karnataki, Amrutlal, Brijmala and others.
The name Gauhar is a part of ” The Same Name Confusion”. We find a lot many Gauhars as singers or actresses, as following….
Gauhar Jaan of Sholapur-Singer
Gauhar Jaan of Patiala- Singer
Gauhar Jaan of Calcutta-Singer
Gauhar Sultana of Lucknow-Singer
Gauhar of the Parsi Theatre-Actress
Gauhar Mamajiwal-Actress and
Gauhar Karnataki- Actress
Gauhar Karnataki, heroine of the film Gol Nishan was the sister of the famous actress-Singer Amirbai Karnataki. Tabla player Hussain Khan, living in a small town Belagi, near Hubli, had 6 daughters. The first was Allamma(Ahilya),then Amirbai, next was Gauhar(Born in 1908), then a series of badi Munni,Chhoti Munni and Nanhi Munni. Son was Dastgir.
Being from a poor family, Amirbai and Gauhar(Gauramma) worked in a drama company called Vanivilas Natak mandali. Since Hubli, Dharwad, Belgaum came under Bombay Presidency and were also near Sangli/Miraj and Kolhapur, the sisters were experts in Marathi too.
Brother Dastgir went on to study B.Sc and did a job in AIR, Belgaum. From the beginning only, Amirbai and Gauhar did not get on well with each other. Maybe professional jealousy. Gauhar got classical music training from a blind teacher Nilkanth Panchakshari Buwa. Great classical singer Mallikarjuna Mansur’s brother Basavanna wrote songs for Gauhar and also accompanied her on Harmonium.
Marathi singer actor Chaphekar took the sisters to Bombay for working in films. Gauhar and Chaphekar stayed as companions in Bombay for a few years. Meanwhile Gauhar got a daughter Ashamma. Her father’s name is not known. Ashamma remained with Gauhar till her death.
Gauhar started acting in Marathi and Hindi films. She acted, sang and also composed her own songs, but no records were brought out.
Gauhar was mesmerised by the famous Marathi singer actor BAL GANDHARVA. She first met him in 1937, in actor Himalayawala’s flat(Amirbai karnataki’s cruel Husband). It is widely believed that Gauhar used Black magic to attract Bal Gandharva to her. As expected he fell in her love and Gauhar joined his Balgandharva natak mandali in 1938. After her arrival into the mandali, all senior artistes left the company as they were afraid of Gauhar’s black magic.
From 1938, Gauhar remained with Balgandharva till she died in 1964. Balgandharva’s wife died in grief in 1940 and Gauhar married Balgandharva in 1951.
She acted in films like Raas vilas-32, Kala Pahad and Sohni mahiwal-33, Kala vagh and Shak karta Shivaji(M)-34, Pyar ki Maar-35, Bansriwala, Gol Nishan and Graduate-36, Kala Bhoot and Chabuk swar-37, Vijay Danka-38, Hawai khatola and Swadesh sewa-46. Chabuk sawaar-37 was a stunt film a-la Fearless Nadiya style wherein she did some stunts and fencing too. (Thanks to lifekidhun, warren senders, wiki and HFGK for some information used above.)
Gauhar is mentioned as Gauhar Karnataki or Gauhar from Bijapur in the HFGK. She must have sung at least 100 songs but since there were no records, there is no information. As her many films were C grade, no redords were issued even for them. However she has sung many Marathi natyageet and Bhajans. There can not be any comparison with her sister Amirbai since Amirbai was in a higher league and her records were also made. She had many composers and singers to sing along.
Here is some rare information of the film’s hero- Navinchandra…..
Navinchandra’s full name was Navinchandra N. Joshi. He was born in 1907 at Jambusar and belonged to a Gujarati Bramhin family. When he was studying Intermidiate, his dream was to do M.Sc. and become a Professor. He was very much interested in body building and was a weight lifter. He was expert in Long jump, High jump and Malkhamb too, along with yogasanas. This made his body solid. Fair and handsome physique was noticed by one of the seniors in his Gym and he was taken to Bombay to meet produced director Indulal Yagnik. He offered him a Hero’s role in a stunt film. Thus Navin entered the film line with first silent stunt movie “The fall of Pawagarh”-1928. It was produced by Indulal Yagnik and directed by Nagendra Mujumdar. His first Heroine was Iris Crawford. He worked in more than 20 silent films and was famous as the Hero of Stunt and action films.
His first Talkie film was Kala Pahad-1933 in which his Heroine was Gauhar Karnataki ( sister of Amirbai Karnataki and wife of Marathi stage artiste Bal Gandharv). The film was made by Sharda Movietone and directed by Baburao Apte (brother of actress Shanta Apte). Navinchandra acted in 33 talkie films, mostly stunt and action films. When the attraction of stunt films waned, he stopped getting roles, because stunt films were not being made now on roll. His last film was Jadui Putli-1946.
His age also caught up with him and he stopped getting films. He started doing small uncredited roles like an extra. The last information about him was when he was working as a Production manager in Imperial Film company, where now the studio was rented to other producers for shooting their films, by Irani’s heirs. One peculiar thing about Navinchandra was that except for the film’s required costume, he was always seen in Dhoti and Kurta only.
Today’s song was sung by Gauhar Karnataki. Lyrics were by Dr. Dhaniram Prem. Music Director’s name is not given in HFGK also. The songs sounds typically like a Natyageet, i.e. stage drama song. That was the trend in those times.
Enjoy this 88 year old song….
Song- Amar hai prem ki shakti(Gol Nishaan)(1936) Singer- Gauhar Karnataki, Lyricist- Dr. Dhaniram Prem, M.D.- Not known
Lyrics
aa aa
amar hai prem ki shakti
amar hai prem ka gaana
amar hai prem ki shakti
amar hai prem ka gaana
na koyee bhool saktaa hai
??? prem ka ??
na koyee bhool
jagat ke prembandhan pe
ae ae ae ae
ae ae ae ae
jagat ke prembandhan pe
bandhe hain
jagatswaami bhi
jo nirgun se agun ban pade
pade iss lok mein aanaa
jo nirgun
na jeeta hai koyee isse
na jeetegaa koyee isse
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
na jeeta hai koyee isse
na jeetegaa koyee isse
sabhee devon se badhkar
prem ka hi devtaa jaanaa
sabhee devon se badhkar
bithhaayee prem mandir mein hai
jiskee mooratee hamne
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa
bithhaayee prem mandir mein hai
hai jiskee moortee hamne
usee ko devta samjha
usey Parmaatmaa maanaa
amar hai prem ki shakti
amar hai prem ka gaanaa
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5710 | Post No. : | 18228 |
Today’s song is from an old film Paak Daman-1940.
Actually, I need not have written ” from an old film”, because my name is now firmly connected with old films only. This is in spite of my posts on a fair number of films and songs from 1970 to 2016 also. However branding and the label has stuck to me pucca.
We in India, love to brand everything. For example, Dilip Kumar was branded as’ Tragedy King’, as in his initial career, he had done tragedy roles and in 7 of his early films, he had ‘died’ at the end. However, he had also done a variety of roles including comedy roles in films like Aazad, Ram aur Shyam and many other social, comedy, historical, emotional, musical and other genres of films. But till he died, he carried the branding of ‘Tragedy king’. The same fate for Meena kumari as ‘Tragedy queen;, though she was a versatile actress and had done some comedy roles too.
Branding puts limits to performance. Those actors who are labelled as Comedians are never given serious roles and serious actors never get light comedy roles. For example, no one dared to give comedy roles to actors like Nazir Hussain, who was reportedly famous for refusing films if there were no weeping roles or dialogues like’ tumne apni khandan ki ijjat mitti mein mila dee’ etc.
Having expertise in doing something exceptionally well is one thing and forcing a label on the artiste is another story. The same thing happened in the case of Sohrab Modi. He started his career as an actor on the stage dramas and he excelled in doing Historical roles, needing long and forceful dialogues. He was an expert in that. However, when he started his own company,’ Minerva Movietone’, his first film was a social film ‘ Atma Tarang’-1937. This film dealt with the issue of Celibacy (Bramhacharya) in a lighter vein. The film flopped. In its first show, there were only 25 people to see the film, obviously people could not visualise him in any other role except historical roles with long and forceful dialogues as on the stage. Compelled, for the rest of his career he did what he was branded as.
Sohrab Modi’s elder brother Rustom Modi was an enthusiastic actor on stage dramas, He, along with friend Ittefaq, set up ” Subodh Natak Mandali” – a Theatre company in 1923. He helped Sohrab in stage acting and soon Sohrab became popular. He acted as Jehangir (Hamlet) opposite Naseem Bano (Ophelia) in the drama ” Khoon ka Khoon”, one of the biggest Urdu stage Hits of the 1920’s decade. Next drama was ” Saeed E Hawas’ in 1927. This too was a Hit.
Rustom Modi set up ” Stage film company” in 1935. The 2 Hit dramas ‘Khoon ka Khoon’ (based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet) and ‘ Saeed E Hawas (based on King John) were made into films, shot as the entire drama, in 1935 and 1936. However these were flops and the audience did not like the presentation format.
Sohrab modi understood that Talkie films were a different issue and started his own “Minerva Movietone’, making social and historical movies and prospered in that. His brother-Rustom Modi, however, continued with his Theatre group doing stage dramas. The third brother Keki Modi looked after distribution of films and arranging dramas. He controlled a chain of 27 Theatres in 10 cities in India. Rustom Modi had his own set of actors and actresses. With these, he produced the film Paak Daman-1940.
Paak Daman was first made in 1931, the very first year of the Talkie films. Then it was made in 1940 and finally it was made in 1957. Paak Daman was a popular stage drama of the early 1900’s. There were many versions of this story with minor variations,like names and places etc. The Parsi Urdu Theatre version was written by Agha Hashra Kashmiri, then famously known as ” Shakespeare of India”. The Parsi Gujarati plays were written by various authors. Syed Yawar Ali penned the script for the ” Moon Parsi Theatre”. The Alfred Drama Company had their own version of the story. In 1932, a film called ” Paak Daman Raqaasa aka Innocent Rakkasa or innocent Dancer or निर्दोष नर्तिका ” was made by Elephanta Movietone, Punjab. But I guess it was not one of these versions, just like the 1957 movie.
Paak Daman-1931 with Rampyari and Hyder Shah was based on a Gujarati play and Paak Daman-40 was written by Agha Hashra Kashmiri for the Urdu Parsi Theatre. This was a small budget movie, with a not so popular star cast. The film budget was limited and they could not do the advertising in regular newspapers or magazines. So what they did was to distribute handbills from a bullock cart, with local bands from those towns where the film was to be shown.
The film was produced by Stage Film Company and was directed by Rustom Modi. The film was censored on 20th October 1940 and released first in Lahore. Most of the film cast was drawn from Urdu Parsi Theatre to save money. Actors like Mohd. Ishaq (as Jaandaar, the King), Abu Baker(as drunkard), K.Pawar(as Bhangedi), Sonaba(as Afimi), Mehboob(as Baldy), Faqir Mohd(as Guardian) and Krishnabai as Dancer, were taken along with regular actors like Ghulam Mohammed(as Safadar Jung), Firoz Dastur(as Jameel). The female cast was Meera Devi(as Razia), Menaka Hyderabadi(as Sayeeda, the Heroine) and Leela Hyderabadi( as Nadira). These female actors were stage actresses from Urdu Parsi Theatre in the 1930’s. They had played these roles so often on stage that all the dialogues were by heart to them. They had done small roles in films but went unnoticed, perhaps due to being uncredited.
The story of the film was…..
The king Jahandaar was a Noble and honest ruler. He used to roam about in his kingdom in a Fakir’s disguise. In his absence, his close courtier Safdar jung used to look after the kingdom. Safdar was a cruel and immoral person. He had deserted his own wife Nadira, after fully enjoying her chastity.
A young man named Jameel had used a girl Razia and abandoned her. She complained to Safdar Jung. Jameel was caught and sentenced to death. Jameel’s sister was Saeeda. Beautiful Saeeda goes to Safdar and begs for cancellation of the death sentence. Safdar asks her to spend one night with him as a gift in return for this favour. He gives her time to think and come back.
While returning, Saeeda meets the Faqir( king in disguise), who enquires what is wrong. Saeeda tells him all. King is very angry. He discloses his identity to Saeeda and asks her to find and bring Nadira. The three of them hatch a plot.
Next day, Saeeda informs Safdar that she is ready to do as he wants, provided there is total darkness and no talk in that period. He gladly agrees. In the darkness of night Nadira replaces Saeeda and Safdar spends time with her, thinking that she is Saeeda.
Next day Nadira appears in Darbar and asks Safdar to take her back. The Faqir also reveals himself and Saeeda tells the truth of the night. Safdar is stunned. The king orders Safdar to take back Nadira and leave the court-if not he will be executed. Jameel is released but has to marry Razia.
The cast of the film was Firoze Dastoor, Mohd. Ishaq, K.M.Pawar (he was the Music Director also), Menaka Hyderabadi, Leela Hyderabadi, Meera and others.
Today’s song is sung by Menaka Hyderabadi. The songs sound boring and non melodious, but they have historical value. Manaka Hyderabadi makes a Debut on this Blog as a singer and the song is atleast 84 year old. Obviously, the style would be unfamiliar and hence seem boring.
Song- Piyo piyaa to tumhen (Paak Daaman)(1940) Singer- Menaka Hyderabadi, Lyricist- Not known, MD- K.M.Pawar
Lyrics
Piyo piyaa to tumhen
haa aa aa
Piyo piyaa to tumhen
mai ka pyaala bhar bhar ke pilaaun
bali jaaun
bali jaaun
piyo piyaa to tumhen
aa aa aa
Piyo piyaa to tumhen
mai ka pyaala bhar bhar ke pilaaun
bali jaaun
bali jaaun
ye mai ka pyaala
jee haan
isi pyaale ko mere chaahne waale
raaj dulaare
chaah ke pyaare ae ae
hahahahaha
hahahahaha
isi pyaale ko mere chaahne waale
raaj dulaare
chaah ke pyaare
ae ae ae
rangwaale
rangwaale
piyo piyaa to tumhen
aa aa aa
piyo piyaa to tumhen
mai ka pyaala bhar bhar ke pilaaun
bali jaaun
bali jaaun
rangeen(?)
aab e hayaat
is ka ek ek qatra
dil par sabke gul bane
haa aa haa aa
aan aan aan aan
ae kaanta ?? bal ho
chaar(?) piye
koyal bane ae ae
ae ae
ae ae
gaayan waako ??
haa aa aa aa aa
gaa sakti ho
tum
gawa sakta hai
ye
ye pyaale ko mere
chaahne waale
raaj dulaare
chaah ke pyaare
ae ae ae
rangwaale
rangwaale(hahahahaha)
piyo piyaa to tumhen
aa aa aa aa
piyo piyaa to tumhen
mai ka pyaala bhar bhar ke pilaaun
bali jaaun
bali jaaun
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5704 | Post No. : | 18222 |
Today’s song is from a film made almost 90 years ago….Maaya-1936.
This was a presentation of New Theatres, Calcutta, founded by its owner B.N.Sircar on 10th February 1931. In a span of just 24 years, it had made 150 films in Bangla, Hindi and some other languages. New Theatres actually was like an Academy for training film industry personnel in the Indian subcontinent. B.N.Sircar, though the owner of the company, had a very restricted role in its film making, once it started shooting. After the story was approved and the required finance was provided, he never interfered in the making of the film, rarely even visiting the shooting floors. This freedom helped many talented composers, directors, actors and the technical staff to learn how to face problems and solve them. There was a “Family” feeling among the workers.
Though a Bangla company, New Theatres did not hesitate to give opportunity and develop capable outsiders like Prithviraj Kapoor, Trilok Kapoor, Najmul Hussain, Kidar Sharma, K.N.Singh and others. The 3 main composers in NT were R.C.Boral, K.C.Dey and Pankaj Mullick. Many young directors started their careers here like Premankur Atorthy, Debaki Bose, Nitin Bose, Bimal Roy and others.
From the beginning, NT became popular and its Bangla and Hindi films became famous all over India. NT had 3 main strong points….
1. Their Trump Card for Hindi films was K.L.Saigal.
2. Without exception, their films had a strong story content, having been based on popular novels and dramas or even short stories.
3. For Hindi films, dialogues and Lyrics of songs were in pure Hindi – unlike Urdu dominated language of films made in Bombay or Lahore. Simple and pure Hindi language was easy to understand anywhere in India. For example, words like Muhabbat or Ishq were replaced by Prem, preet or Anurag; Shohar became Pati and Lovely and Khoobsurat became Sundar etc.etc. Even those writers in NT who were Muslim Munshis, used simple Hindi alternatives.
Once the peak of performance and popularity was achieved in the early 40’s, NT slipped on the popularity diminishing. As anywhere in the world, the talented artistes, directors and the composers had Ego clashes, jealousies and ambitions , resulting in a slow exit of the very people who had made the company a big name.1942 was its beginning and the second world war added further troubles. By the end of the 1940’s decade New Theatres had lost most of its pioneers and sheen of the glow that was New Theatre’s pride once.
Starting with the film Dena Paona, released on 30th December 1931, their last film was Amar Saigal – 1955. The Nobel prize winner Poet Rabindranath Tagore was personally involved in the making of its film Natir Puja, released on 22-3-1932. The first film of Saigal here was Muhabbat ke Aansoo in 1932. His songs became popular from the film Pooran Bhagat-1933 and his most famous film was Devdas-1935, released on 30-3-1935.
Songs rendered by Saigal, Pankaj Mullick and K.C.Dey became popular all over India and wherever Indian people lived in the world. The Play Back system pioneered by NT in India in 1935 became a rage all over. This legendary Giant finally fell down and closed in 1955. After a series of different owners, the Government took it over in 1983. That was a sad end to a Legend that was NEW THEATRES !
Film Maaya -1936 was directed by P.C.Barua and the Lyricist was Asghar Hussain Shor. Music was by R.C.Boral and Pankaj Mullick. Today’s song is composed by R.C.Boral. It is sung by Pahadi Sanyal and as per the uploaders Uma Shashi and Sitara Devi also lent their voice to the song. The cast of the film was Jamuna (wife of director Barua), Pahadi Sanyal, Azoorie, Nawab kashmiri, K.C.Dey and others.
The actor Nawab Kashmiri was a dedicated actor. Not much is known about him. Noted writer Saadat Hasan Manto has written about him in his book,’Stars from another sky’.
Nawab Kashmiri was an honourable fixture in new Theatre films. The only son of the Mufti-e-azam,of the biggest Imambara in Lucknow, he was called ‘ Actors’ actor’. For doing the role of Ezra in Yahudi ki ladki, Nawab went to Bombay and stayed with Jew people to understand their ways of behaving. He also removed all his good teeth to fit as an old Jew Merchant in the film. He was a fan of Agha hashra Kashmiri and had achieved a great name by acting in his several dramas. B.N.Sarcar himself called Nawab to join New Theatres, when he was in great demand elsewhere too. He had acted in the film Maaya-38,as a Pickpocket. to do this role effectively, he had stayed in their slum for 15 days to copy their mannerisms. In NT, he became friendly with another actor-Hafiz ji,who later married the Heroine Rattanbai (legend says, her hair was so long, it used to reach her ankle), before Rattanbai shifted to Bombay in 1935 to do Bharat ki beti (Tere poojan ko bhagwan fame)
When Nawab did not get any issue from his first wife he married the daughter of prince Mehr of Audh. The first wife committed suicide leaving a hugh property and Gold for him.
Committed actors like Nawab kashmiri disappeared with his generation.
The story of the film Maaya-1936 was….
The story of Maaya was based on the favourite film topic of the Love Triangle.
Maaya (Jamuna),a beautiful, bubbly young girl is from a poor family. Her rich cousin, Shanta is a socialite and is slated to marry an equally rich boy, Pratap. Once Pratap comes to Shanta’s house, when she is not at home, but sees Maaya and falls in love. When Shanta learns about this, she is upset. She frets and gets angry too, but can not do much.
Pratap and Maaya get so much closer to each other that she carries his child. Pratap leaves for the UK for higher studies in law and promises to marry Maaya on his return.Pratap writes regular letters to Maaya, but cunning Shanta intercepts all letters and Maaya is heartbroken. She delivers a child and has to leave the town for fear of the society.
When Pratap comes back, he does not find Maaya, despite his search. Shanta, meanwhile, tries to get close to him. One day Pratap finds that in his office a case comes where he has to prosecute a lady for a murder. When he sees the lady, he is shocked to find that it is none other than Maaya. Maaya and a murderer ? Pratap goes to her prison cell to meet her and in the conversations, all misunderstandings are cleared.
On further investigations, Pratap finds that Maaya has been falsely implicated in this case by Shanta, so that he will marry her. Pratap leaves his Government job and defends Maaya in the court, getting her acquitted honourably.
Pratap and Maaya reunite, much to the disappointment of Shanta.
Let us now enjoy today’s song….
Song- Gaaye ja gaaye ja beqarar dil (Maaya)(1936) Singers- Pahadi Sanyal, Lyricist- Arzu Lucknowi, MD-R C Boral and Pankaj Mullick
Lyrics
Gaaye ja
gaaye ja
beqarar dil gaaye jaa
Gaaye ja
gaaye ja
beqarar dil gaaye jaa
??
dil azaar
ho to ho
??
dil azaar
ho to ho
Gaaye ja
gaaye ja
beqarar dil gaaye jaa
Gaaye ja
aasmaan pe chhaayee ho ghata
???
aasmaan pe chhaayee ho ghata
???
chamak chamak bijli gajraaye
?? damkaaye
chamak chamak bijli gajraaye
?? damkaaye
garjo
ghan??
hosh mein laaye jaa
garjo
ghan??
hosh mein laaye jaa
dekh dono jahaan ??
?? hans haar ka
?? hai sansaar
dekh dono jahaan ke ??
?? hans hans haar ??
?? haath mila
?? haath mila
?? ke sang
Goree goree gawaalan kee chhoree
Posted on: January 14, 2024
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5658 | Post No. : | 18159 |
“Pooja” (1940) was directed by AR Kardar for National Studios, Bombay. The movie had Sardar Akhtar, Zahoor Raja, Sitara Devi, Jyoti, Satish, Sunalini Devi, Ameer Bano, Bhudo Advani, Baby Meena, etc in it.
The film had 11 songs in it. One song has been covered in the past.
Here is the second song from the movie to appear in the blog. The song is sung by Sitaara Devi. Shaatir Ghaznavi is the lyricist. Music is composed by Anil Biswas.
Only audio of the song is available. Seeing that Sitaara Devi acted in the movie, it is clear the song was picturised on Sitaara Devi herself.
Song-Gori gori gawaalan ki chhori (Pooja)(1940) Singer-Sitara Devi, Lyrics-Shatir Ghaznavi, MD-Anil Biswas
Lyrics
gori gori gawaalan ki chhori
gori gori gawaalan ki chhori
sarson ke kheton mein wo o o o
sarson ke kheton mein wo o o o
o o o
raah takat hai moree ee
gori gori gawaalan ki chhori
gori gori gawaalan ki chhori
gali chalat mohe paas bulaaye
o bulaaye
gali chalat mohe paas bulaaye
paas bulaaye
hans muskaaye
gali chalat mohe paas bulaaye
paas bulaaye
hans muskaaye
hans muskaaye
baat banaaye
hans muskaaye
muskaaye
hans muskaaye
baat banaaye
baat banaaye
o banaaye
baat banaaye
kare thhathhoree ee ee
baat banaaye
kare thhathhoree ee ee
gori gori gawaalan ki chhori
gori gori gawaalan ki chhori
sarson ke kheton mein wo o o o
sarson ke kheton mein wo o o o
o o
raah takat hai moree ee
gori gori gawaalan ki chhori
gori gori gawaalan ki chhori
——————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
——————————————
गोरी गोरी ग्वालन की छोरी
गोरी गोरी ग्वालन की छोरी
सरसों के खेतों में वो॰ ॰ ॰
सरसों के खेतों में वो॰ ॰ ॰
ओ ओ ओ
राह तकती है मोरी॰ ॰ ॰
गोरी गोरी ग्वालन की छोरी
गोरी गोरी ग्वालन की छोरी
गली चलत मोहे पास बुलाये
ओ बुलाये
गली चलत मोहे
पास बुलाये
हंस मुसकाए
गली चलत मोहे
पास बुलाये
हंस मुसकाए
हंस मुसकाए
बात बनाए
बात बनाए
ओ बनाए
बात बनाए
करे ठठोरी॰ ॰ ॰
बात बनाए
करे ठठोरी॰ ॰ ॰
गोरी गोरी ग्वालन की छोरी
गोरी गोरी ग्वालन की छोरी
सरसों के खेतों में वो॰ ॰ ॰
सरसों के खेतों में वो॰ ॰ ॰
ओ ओ
राह तकती है मोरी॰ ॰ ॰
गोरी गोरी ग्वालन की छोरी
गोरी गोरी ग्वालन की छोरी
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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