Archive for the ‘Song of 1934’ Category
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 ??
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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5340 | Post No. : | 17511 |
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Blog 10-Year Challenge (2013-2023) – Song No. 31
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On this date ten years back viz on 2 March 2013, four songs from four different movies (plus one NFS) were covered in the blog. Here are the details:-
| Blog post number | Song | Movie (Year) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7585 | Aseer e gham ka bhala phir kahaan thhikaana thha | Kamla Jharia NFS(1934) | |
| 7586 | O paagal premi | Saudaamini (1950) | 7 songs covered out of 9 by now |
| 7587 | Main hoon kali matwaali | Panghat(1943) | 6 songs covered out of 12 by now |
| 7588 | Mausam hai bada mastaana | Tarzan aur Hercules(1966) | One song covered out of 5 by now |
| 7588 | Ae chaand ki zebaayi | Chhoti Si Mulaaqaat (1967) | Movie YIPPEED by now |
We can see that one NFS and four film songs (from four different movies) were covered on this date ten years ago (on 2 March 2013). One movie (out of four) whose songs were covered on that day has since been YIPPEED in the blog. So three of those movies are eligible for Blog Ten Year Challenge today (2 March 2023).
Come to think of it, why NFS should be left out from BTYC. Why we cannot post another NFS from the same artist as Blog Ten Year Challenge ? Sure we can.
So, here is a Kamla Jharia NFS as Blog Ten Year Challenge. Kamla Jharia was a legendary NFS singer of her era. One of her most well known NFS is not yet covered in the blog.
Here is that NFS-“Jalwa numa wo shokh jo pesh e nazar na ho”. It is a superb ghazal with wonderful lyrics. I am unable to find out who is the lyricist and music director of this ghazal. I request our knowledgeable readers to help identify them. I am unable to get a few words right in the lyrics. I request our knowledgeable readers to fill in with the correct words as applicable.
Song-Jalwa numa wo shokh jo pesh e nazar na ho (Kamla Jharia NFS)(1934) Singer-Kamla Jharia, MD-Zameeruddin Khan
Lyrics
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa
jalwa numa wo shokh jo
pesh e nazar na ho o o
jalwa numa wo shokh jo
pesh e nazar na ho o o
ye chum beqaraar dil na ho
muztar jigar na ho
aa aa
chum (?) beqaraar dil na ho
muztar jigar na ho o o
aaye na chain unko bhi
ae ishq to sahi ee
aaye na chain unko bhi
ae ishq to sahi ee
ye ke kya ke is tarah
ba idhar wo udhar na ho o
ye ke kya ke is tarah
ba idhar wo udhar na ho o
jalwa numa wo shokh jo
har waqt aaina hai wo hai
dekh bhaal hai
ae ae ae ae
har waqt aaina hai wo hai
dekh bhaal hai
ae ae ae ae
aa aa
magroor is kadar bhi koi
husn par na ho o
ae magroor is kadar bhi koi
husn par na ho o
aa aa
jalwa numa wo shokh jo
pesh e nazar na ho o o
khanjar to baandhte ho mere
imtehaan ko o
khanjar to baadhte ho mere
imtehaan ko o
ye itna rahe khayaal
ke duhri kamar na ho
aa aa
ye itna rahe khayaal
ke duhri kamar na ho
aa jalwa numa wo shokh jo
pesh e nazar
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Posted on: December 9, 2019
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4161 | Post No. : | 15329 | Movie Count : |
4223 |
Today’s song is from film Mera Imaan-1934.
I have been writing on old films and songs since 2012. Most of my posts are for films of the 30s and the 40s. However, I have also done innumerable posts on songs and films of period 1951 upto as latest as 2018. That is because, I believe, good music and good films exist in all eras. Only their percentage differs. Additionally, one’s likings generally decide what is ‘Good music’, based on his taste. Taste develops depending on one’s exposure. If I don’t listen to a song of 2019, how am I to conclude if it is good or bad ? Without analysing these factors, people are in a hurry to brand films and songs as good or bad.
Older generations like old films and old songs, mainly due to Nostalgia. Their memories are attached to these films/songs. It is said that old songs have a longer shelf life. But are not older people keeping old music alive ? As the times elapse, decade by decade, the older songs will be forgotten decade wise.
As on today, how many people enjoy songs of the 30’s ? To like these songs, the person has to be of the age of 90 to 100 years. Naturally, 30’s songs are out of favour now. To like songs of the 40’s, the person has to be in the age group of 70 to 85 or so. Hence today some songs of 40s are still popular. In another 10-15 years, songs of 30s and 40s may not be in circulation to that extent, because people who remembered and enjoyed them will be one.
This is Life. As Lord Tennyson said, “The old order changeth yielding place to New….”. Does that mean old films and songs have to be dumped now ? Absolutely not. On the contrary, they must be discussed elaborately, using information to make it available to the coming Generations. Towards this end, this Blog is playing an Yeoman’s role in preserving old and very old songs at one place. I am sure that History will thank Atul ji, for his Blog and for making old songs and highly credible information available to the coming Generations.
I have observed one thing here. During the period 2012 to 2016, for every old song of 30s and 40s, there used to be many comments from the readers and healthy discussions took place, emanating newer information about older films and songs. However, for the last 3 or 4 years, the comments have dried up so much that sometimes I start feeling if these posts are read by anyone at all ? Should I stop writing ?
Then I realise that the posts are written not for getting Claps and Bouquets, but to record History to preserve information and above all, with a noble intention to share knowledge, before it goes to Dust with the writer ! With this philosophy, I continue writing more enthusiastically.
Today’s film Mera Imaan-34 was a Stunt film, directed by Nagendra Majumdar. The songs were written by Dr. Dhaniram Prem. The name of the Music Director is not mentioned in HFGK. The cast of the film was Madhav Kale, Gauhar Karnataki, N.Majumdar, Athavale, Baburao Apte (brother of Shanta Apte), Madhukar Gupte, Miss Amirjaan etc etc.
Film’s director, who had also acted in it, was Nagendra Majumdar. He was the father of Music Director Ninu (Niranjan) Majumdar. Nagendra was born in a happy family in the year 1894 in Bombay. After his father died, “Pearl Dairy” established by his father ran very well doing good business. Suddenly, Nagendra’s wife fell seriously ill and despite taking her full care, she expired. Due to neglect of the Dairy in this period, Dairy also closed down.
Her shifted to Baroda and worked as a State Police Inspector. Later he worked as Watch and Ward Inspector in Baroda Railways. He left the job and started working as a hero in dramas of famous dramatist R.V.Desai. Heeralal, the owner of Laxmi Film Company, Bombay was impressed with his personality and took him to Bombay in 1926 to act in his silent films. Thus started his film career. In those days Silent films used to be completed within a month. He worked as a Hero in films of Laxmi, Jagdish and Imperial film companies.
In the same year, he directed a film ‘Paani mein aag’-1926, made by Royal Arts. Then came two more films made by Kaiser E Hind films. He also directed films of other companies. In all he directed 15 Silent films by 1932. By then, the Talkie had arrived. In the next 14 years he directed 12 Talkie films like – Ras Vilas-32, Sassi Punnu-32, Patit Pawan-33, mirza Sahibaan-33, Mera Imaan-34, Kala Wagh-34, Rangila nawab-35, Kimiyagar-36, Aaj ka Alladin aka Alladin II-36, Lehri lutera-37, Talwarwala-46 and Swadesh Sewa-46. When K L Saigal came to Bombay, Nagendra wanted to work with him. In film Tansen-43, he did the role of Tansen’s (Saigal’s) father and he was very happy.
His last 2 films came in 1946, but his health was not cooperating for quite few years. He gave up work and took rest. However, he suffered from paralysis and died on 22-8-1951. His son Ninu Majumdar worked in Bombay A.I.R. as head of Gujarati programmes, since 1937. By the time Nagendra died, Ninu had already started working as a Music Director.
As a Director, Nagendra had worked with the best of his times like, Master Vithal, Zubeida, Jillo, Billimorea brothers, Madhuri, Navinchandra, Durga Khote Jairaj, Sultana, Noorjehan sr and such luminaries of those days. He had worked for Ranjit, Imperial, Sharda, Jayant Desai films, Yadnik films etc etc.
Now let us know something about Dr. Dhaniram Prem – a Medical Doctor, who came into films like a Meteor for few years in the 30’s period. Dr.DHANIRAM “Prem” (Born 26 September 1904 – Died 10 November 1979) Lyricist, Story and Dialogue Writer in Hindi Films, an extraordinary person, was born on 26-9-1904 at Dariyapur, Aligadh, UP. He completed his MBBS from Bombay and then he went to UK for further studies under assistance from a charitable institution.
He came back, started his practice and repaid all loans first. From childhood he was fond of writing. He wrote several books and articles in National papers. From 1932 to 1936 he wrote Stories, dialogues and Lyrics for 14 films. In the first 2 years he wrote for only Ranjit studio films. Later he was a freelancer and wrote for others too. Gol Nishan aka Mark of Zoro-36 was the last film for which he wrote the Story and some songs..
Then he went to UK and practiced there, engaging himself in social causes. He was highly respected by the British. In 1964 he declared that he would contest the U.K. Prime Minister elections. A special pediatric ward was named after him in his honour while he was alive. He got several awards in U.K. for his excellent work. Indian government gave him Padmashree.
On 29-10-1979 he came to India and stayed in Delhi, but in two day’s time he met with a scooter accident and he died on 10-11-1979. His specialty was that in every film lyric, he used the word ‘Prem’ as a signature word. This trait was picked up later by some more Lyricists in Hindi films.
The hero of this film was Madhav Kale. Madhav Kale was born in Nashik in 1903. After his school education at Nashik, he joined Deccan college at Poona and passed Intermediate course. He was interested in playing in dramas, which was opposed by his mother. But he used to take part in dramas while in college. He was a good singer too. Wanting to join films, he sent applications to many companies. Saroj and sharda companies responded. He acted in several silent films like Mukti sangram, kanak kesari etc. He entered the Talkie films with Vikram Charitra-32, Mera Imaan-34 and Vishnu Bhakti-34. During this period, he got married in 1934.
He acted in 21 films. His last film was Gokul ka chor-59. He even directed one film, Sacha Sapna-42. He sang 13 songs in 7 films till 1942.
There is no information about him after this.
After writing this bio of Madhav kale, I came to know that after the films, Madhav went back to Nashik, where he was active in local politics. He became a Municipal Councillor, but lost Assembly elections, which he was very hopeful of. He died somewhere in 1980.
Today’s film Mera imaan-34 was based on a Marathi drama – Amche imaan (आमचे ईमान ), staged by Lalit Natak Samaj.
(I have collated information for this post from various sources like Listener’s Bulletins No. 40 of Feb-80 and No.145 of July 2010, HFGK, Sapnon ke Saudagar by Vithal Pandya, Silent films by Dr.Verma, Lost Treasures by kamlakar P. and my notes.)
Song-Sab kaliyaan khile aaj (Mera Imaan)(1934) Singer-Gauhar Karnataki, Lyricist-Dr. Dhaniram Prem, MD- Not known
Lyrics
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
??
??
soonghat ras ki daali
soonghat ras ki daali
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
Sab kaliyaan khile aaj
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
sugandh basey man mhaare
man aur sugandh base ae
aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
sugandh
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
??
??
??
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
man aur sugandh basey man mhaare
sugandh basey chaaron
chaaron ?? kunj ??
chaaron ?? kunj ??
chhaayi rahi hariyaali
chhaayi rahi hariyaali
??
??
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan
aa aa aa
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan
sab kaliyaan
sab kaliyaan khile aaj
sab kaliyaan
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 : | 3556 | Post No. : | 14263 |
Today’s song is from a rare film of the early talkie era – ‘Baala Joban’ from 1934. The film was produced by Gandharva Cinetone – a company owned by Baburao Patel, who also directed this film.
The name of Baburao Patel is known to every lover of old Hindi films, but as a political commentator and a member of parliament, he is known to others. From the mid 1930s to the 80s he was a name synonymous with daredevil journalism, superb quality English writing and an active life style. Add to it several marriages and countless children by legitimate relationships and otherwise.
Baburao Pandurang Patil (he is a ‘Marathi Manoos’ and not a Gujarati) was born on 4-4-1904, in Masvan village, about 100 kms from Bombay, in Palghar district, in a Vanzara ( Banjara) community. His birth date is a strange confluence of numbers. The date is written as 4-4-4. Also, if we take the total of the digits written as 4-4-1904, it also adds up to the number 4 only.
When he was 4 year old, his mother passed away, and his father remarried. Subsequently the family shifted to Bombay. He was put in an English medium school. However he did not complete his matriculation. Lack of formal education always pinched him in life and he always respected highly educated people. He compensated by avidly reading books on philosophy, religion, politics and medicine, and gained an excellent command over spoken and written English language.
After doing many petty jobs, in 1926 he joined ‘Cinema Samachar’, a film magazine in Hindi, English and Urdu languages. He never knew when he entered the film world and became a script writer and a director. He established his own banner ‘Gandharva Cinetone’ and made 5 films as a director – ‘Kismat’ (a silent film from 1931), ‘Sati Mahananda’ (1933), ‘Maharani’ (1934), ‘Baala Joban’ (1934) and ‘Pardesi Sainyan’ (1935). Later in life, he directed two more films with wife Susheela Rani Patel as the heroine – ‘Draupadi’ in 1944 and ‘Gwaalan’ in 1946.
He joined DN Parkar, who owned New Jack printing press and who was publishing a house magazine ‘Prabhat’ for Prabhat Films. He then started his own magazine ‘FILM INDIA’ in April 1935, at a price of 4 annas (annual 3 rupees). From the very first issue, it was printed on high quality art paper. The cover image of the first issue featured a hand painting of actress and novelist Nalini Tarkhud, from film ‘Chandrasena’. There were many ads in the magazine, which promised ”honest journalism and constructive criticism”, though in later issues his criticism was incisive, insulting and quite daring. The cine industry feared his reviews, but readers adored him. Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, the famous writer and film director was also on his staff, and looked after the magazine when Baburao was travelling.
In all these twists and turns of life, his surname became Patel instead of Patil. He continued with it. He hurt many of his fellow film makers and actors. In one case, Shanta Apte is on record having gone to his office and beaten him with a whip, for his defamatory and derogatory remarks in the magazine.
Baburao married 3 times. His first marriage took place when he was studying. The second was with Shirin and the third was with his ex-secretary Sushila Rani Tombat – a very good looking Konkani singer and dancer.
Sidharth Bhatia has written a book titled ‘The Patels of Film India’. Noted author Manto also wrote extensively on Baburao. Bhatia writes – ‘Baburao had an eloquence and power of writing. He had a sharp humour, often barbed. There was a tough guy assertiveness with his venomous pen’. Baburao called Kalpana Kartik “pigeon busted”, Suraiya “Ugly”, and Dev Anand “effiminate”. Meena kumari was “. . .like an inverted shuttle cock”.
His magazine celebrated 50 years in 1985. Baburao became MP from Madhya Pradsh in 1967 on a ticket from the erstwile Jansangh party. One good quality of Baburao was that he was very kind to the poor and helpless people. Baburao Patel died on 4-9-1982.
The cast of the film ‘Baala Joban’ is listed as Padma Devi (a fixture in all Baburao’s films and a personal ‘special friend’), Mubarak, Gulab, Shirin Bano (she later married director Nanubhai Bhatt; Mahesh bhatt is her son), Madhukar Gupte, Nandu Khote (stage and silent film actor; father of Shubha Khote, brother in law of Durga Khote), Raja Pandit, Badri Prasad etc.
Besides acting in the film, Badri Prasad was also the music director of this film. It was his debut film as a music director. He is a wonder in the annals of Hindi film history. There is no other known person in the history who was an actor, lyricist, singer, music director, producer, director and a choreographer- all at same time in his career. He was simply unique. There was no one else like him.
As an actor he has appeared in 147 films. I remember him in ‘Albela’ (1951) as Bhagwan’s father, in ‘Bhaagam Bhaag’ (1954) as Shashikala’s uncle, as the missing father of Nalini Jaywant in film ‘Hum Sab Chor Hain’ (1956), and as the wheelchair confined father of Zahida in ‘Anokhi Raat’ (1968).
As a singer, he has sung 11 songs in 7 films. As a music director, he has 16 films to his credit – ‘Baala Joban’, ‘Vishnu Bhakti’, ‘Fashionable India’, ‘Romantic India’, ‘Zambo The Ape Man’, ‘Swaraaj Ke Sipaahi’, ‘Badhe Chalo’, ‘Yangrilla’, ‘Himalay Ki Beti’, ‘Double Cross’, ‘Zambo Ka Beta’, ‘Jhoothi Sharam’, ‘Anuradha’, ‘Vanmala’, ‘Madhusudan’ and ‘Zevar’.
He has one film to his credit as a lyricist, one as a producer and one as a director. As a choreographer he has done 52 films – from ‘Namoona’ (1949) to ‘Raaj Nartaki’ (1991).
Badri Prasad was born on 14-11-1902, in Benaras, UP. He started acting in Ramleela in the Bhelpura area in Benaras. From there he reached Calcutta, spent time at New Theatres and other studios and then landed in Bombay in 1932. His first film as actor was ‘Navchetan’ (1932).
Then he worked as an assistant to some composers and gave music independently first time to ‘Baala Joban’. His last film as a composer was ‘Zevar’ in 1942.
Then he continued his career, working in character roles. In 1949 he first did choreography in ‘Namoona’ (1949). After for the next 40 years he choreographed in till his last film. His last film as an actor is ‘Dhoop Chhaon’ from 1997 – an active acting career that spans a period of 44 years.
As a composer many famous singers sang for him, like Amirbai Karnataki, Noorjehan, Snehlata, Shyamsunder, Radharani, Sarla Devi, Ameena, Gauhar, E Rama Rao, Ramanand, Vatsala Kumthekar , Vimla Kumari, Iqbal Bibi etc.
Badriprasad was a learned man with command over Hindi, Urdu, English and Sanskrit. He wrote many plays for AIR also. He had a very big collection of books in his house. He was called Pandit Badriprasad,due to his expertise in Sanskrit. He was a man of few words, so his fabulous career remained unknown and he was known only as a character artist.
He had 2 daughters. One daughter Surekha Pandit remained with him till his death. Surekha too is an actress, doing bit roles in films – ‘Anupama’, ‘Mere Sanam’, ‘Nartaki’, ‘Gaban’, ‘Sant Gyaneshwar’, ‘Mere Huzur’, ‘Aadmi Aur Insaan’, ‘Saat Hindustani’, ‘Do Dooni Chaar’, ‘Shehar Aur Sapna’, ‘Aarti’ etc. After marriage she was known as Surekha Parkar.
The singer for today’s song is Marutirao Pehelwan. He has also acted in this movie. He was originally from Kolhapur. In the early era of talkie films, many wrestlers joined film companies. They worked mostly in action films. Some such actors were Baburao Pehelwan (he was the hero of Master Bhagwan’s stunt films; later on worked as a stuntman with fight master Azim Bhai), Vasantrao Pehelwan (he was the one who brought Indurani from Poona to Bombay; was a popular villain in stunt films), Nandram Pehelwan (very popular in silent films but fell on bad days in the talkie era), Sadiq Pehelwan, Maane Pehelwan, Amir Khan Pehelwan etc.
Marutirao Pehelwan was different. He was handsome, tall, well built, could act and sing well. He was selected for the hero’s role in first Gujarati talkie film ‘Narsi Mehata’ (1932), made by Sagar Movietone. He acted as hero and other roles in about 40 films and sang songs too. His first Hindi film was ‘Lanka Dahan’ (1933) and last his film was ‘Apna Ghar’ (1942).
He married his co-star of many films – Tara (sister of Sitara Devi and Alaknanda). They left films and settled in Dhule, Maharashtra. Marutirao started a dairy business there. Famous dancer Gopi Krishna was their son.
[Author’s Note: From 1946, there was another comedian actor named Maruti, active in Hindi films. Initially, he too was billed as Marutirao, creating confusion. He was the father of comedienne Guddi Maruti.]
Today’s song is a Folk song of Rajasthan. It is in Marwari language. Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji has uploaded this song as the ‘first Marwaari song in Hindi films”. On my email inquiry, he has kindly informed me that in this folk song, the wife is telling her husband (aali ja) that ‘bichhuda‘ (scorpion) has bitten her and she wants to go to her ‘peehar‘ (father’s house) now. I am very much thankful to him for this rare song.
[Author’s Note: Acknowledgements and thanks – The above write up refers to and has adapted material from books by Sidharth Bhatia, Saadat Manto, Isak Mujawar, Vithal Pandya, Biren Kothari (book on Sagar Movietone), Sanjit Narwekar, scroll.in, HFGK, Encyclopedia of Indian Films and my own notes.]
[Ed Note: Thanks to Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji (of Jodhpur), who helped to decipher the correct lyrics.]
Song – Bichhudo Ri Ghaali Peehar Chaali Saa, Aali Jaa (Baala Joban) (1934) Singer – Marutirao Pehalwan, Lyrics – Traduitional, Music – Badri Prasad Manik
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
bichhudo ri ghaali peehar chaali saa
aali jaa
bichhudo ri ghaali peehar chaali saa
aali jaa
lehardaar beechhudo
naina ro lobhi beechhudo
ghansaagar mhaaro beechhudo
haan laladi sar daabe poochho thaake saa
aali jaa
laladi sar daabe poochho thaake saa
aali jaa
lehardaar beechhudo
naina ro lobhi beechhudo
ghansaagar mhaaro bee. . .
beechhoda naina par bichhudo lad gayo saa
aali jaa
beechhoda naina par bichhudo lad gayo saa
aali jaa
lehardaar beechhudo
naina ro lobhi beechhudo
ghansaagar mhaaro beechhudo
bambai jaavo to motor laajo saa
aali jaa
bambai jaavo to motor laajo saa
aali jaa
lehardaar beechhudo
naina ro lobhi beechhudo
ghansaagar mhaaro beechhudo
bichhude ri ghaali peehar chaali saa
aali jaa
lehardaar beechhudo
naina ro lobhi beechhudo
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
बीछुड़े री घाली पीहर चाली सा
आली जा
बीछुड़े री घाली पीहर चाली सा
आली जा
लहरदार बीछुड़ो
नैणा रो लोभी बीछुड़ो
घनसागर म्हारो बीछुड़ो
हाँ ललड़ी सर दाबे पूछो थाके सा
आली जा
ललड़ी सर दाबे पूछो थाके सा
आली जा
लहरदार बीछुड़ो
नैणा रो लोभी बीछुड़ो
घनसागर म्हारो बी॰ ॰ ॰
बिछोड़ा नैना पर बीछुड़ो लड़गयो सा
आली जा
बिछोड़ा नैना पर बीछुड़ो लड़गयो सा
आली जा
लहरदार बीछुड़ो
नैणा रो लोभी बीछुड़ो
घनसागर म्हारो बीछुड़ो
बम्बई जावो तो मोटर लाजो सा
आली जा
बम्बई जावो तो मोटर लाजो सा
आली जा
लहरदार बीछुड़ो
नैणा रो लोभी बीछुड़ो
घनसागर म्हारो बीछुड़ो
बिछुड़े री घाली पीहर चाली सा
लहरदार बीछुड़ो
नैणा रो लोभी बीछुड़ो
Jiya mora na bisaare
Posted on: December 6, 2015
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.
“Amrit Manthan”(1934) was directed by V Shantaram for Prabhat Films Company, Poona. It had Chandramohan, Nalini Tarkhad, Shanta Apte, Suresh Babu, Kelkar, Kulkarni, Desai, Mane etc in it.
Read more on this topic…
Preeti mein man aaj biharta
Posted on: December 5, 2015
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.
“Sant Tulsidas”(1934) was directed by N G Devhare and Gajanan Jaageerdaar for Digveer Cinetone.
Read more on this topic…
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.
“Actress”(1934), also known as “Bambai Ki Mohini”(1934) was directed by Balwant Bhatt for Prakash Pictures, Bombay. This was the debut movie for this production house. The movie had Miss Panna, Miss Alaknanda, Bachhu, Kashinath, Lallubhai, Harishchandra etc in it.
Read more on this topic…
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.
“Actress”(1934), also known as “Bambai Ki Mohini”(1934) was directed by Balwant Bhatt for Prakash Pictures, Bombay. This was the debut movie for this production house. The movie had Miss Panna, Miss Alaknanda, Bachhu, Kashinath, Lallubhai, Harishchandra etc in it.
Read more on this topic…
Mehul gaaje Maadhav naache
Posted on: December 2, 2015
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.
“Aaj Kal”(1934) was directed by R S Chaudhary for Golden Mohar Sound Pictures, Bombay. The movie had Jal Merchant, Shanta Kumari, Ghulam Mohammad, Mohammad Hadi, Armelene (Sudha Bala), Baba Vyas, Afzal Bai etc in it.
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Kyun neechi nazar aaj hai
Posted on: December 1, 2015
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.
“Actress”(1934), also known as “Bambai Ki Mohini”(1934) was directed by Balwant Bhatt for Prakash Pictures, Bombay. THis was the debut movie for this production house. The movie had Miss Panna, Miss Alaknanda, Bachhu, Kashinath, Lallubhai, Harishchandra etc in it.
Read more on this topic…
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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