Archive for the ‘Song of 1938’ Category
Jhanan jhanan mori baaje paayaliyaa
Posted on: April 9, 2019
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
|
Blog Day : |
3917 | Post No. : | 14980 | Movie Count : |
4096 |
Today’s song is from film Poornima-38.
The film was made by Prakash Pictures- a joint venture of brothers, Shankar and Vijay Bhatt. The film was directed by Balwant Bhatt- not related to them but elder brother of another director Nanabhai Bhatt. In those days Marathi and Gujarati people were found in large numbers in the film industry. The simple reason was that Bombay was in Bombay Presidency and both Bombay(Maharashtra) and Gujarat were its part. Secondly, two two major requirements of films, namely Finance and Actors were available in abundance here. Gujarati people controlled the finance and Marathi people looked after the acting side.
However, for acting and for other branches of film making people from all over India flocked to Bombay, but money investment was done by the locals. If you see the cast of any film made in the early era, you would find names of Muslim girls in abundance. For example, just see the cast of today’s film only. It consists of Sardar Akhtar ( Sardar is a proper name and not a title), Shirin Bano, putli bai,Noorjehan, Tarabai, Nirasha etc. There was a reason for this too.
As the Talkie films started, the number of Anglo Indian Girls rapidly went down as most of them did not know Hindi nor could they sing.Only a few hard working Anglo Indian girls survived and progressed from silent to Talkie films,like Savita Devi (Iris Gasper)-who learnt Hindi/Urdu and singing,with efforts, Sulochana (Ruby Myers),Indira Devi(Effie Hippolet),Lalita Devi(Bonnie Bird),Pramila(Esher Abrahams),Seeta Devi(Renee Smith),Madhuri(Beryl Classen),Manorama(Winnie Stewart) etc. Since singing was an important requisite,the field was now open to singing girls from Kothas,Tawayafs and professional singers.Reasonably good looks and singing ability was what made them actresses. These girls,who came from Kothas and professional singer families used the suffix ” Bai” to their names to differentiate their specialty. Thus you had Jaddan bai,Amir bai,Johrabai,Rattan bai etc etc.
Many young singing girls found Cinema as a place where they could get (catch ? ) a good Husband from a better family background,earning respectability(forget religion). Many starlets married Producers,directors,Actors,Singers and Composers,left acting and settled as respectable Housewife. Some girls got Husbands from Nawabs and the Royalties,as they were patrons of Arts. Many examples from early era can be cited in this connection like Gulab bai alias kamla devi married S.Fatelal-Dir. in Prabhat Films.
Jaddanbai married a Medical student and a Jahagirdar-Uttamchand. Fatima bai(mother of Alam Ara fame Zubeida) married nawab of Sachin,Guajarat
Sultana married Yusuf laljee,Businessman and chief od Bombay Municiple corpn. Actress Sarojini(Roshan) married Nanubhai Vakil-producer/Dir (Their daughter was actress AZRA)
Actress Indurani (Ishrat)-sister of Sarojini- married Ramniklal Shah-Prod/Director
Actress Shirin bai married Nanabhai Bhatt (Their sons are Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt)
Actress Zubeida of Alam Ara married Raja Dhanrajgir of Hyderabad-deccan.
The other actress Zubeida (on whose life, film Zubeida was made) married Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur etc.
This trend continued in the industry even after things changed and educated and respected family people entered the industry. Now,one could see marriages were taking place between people of film industry itself like Rattanbai and Director Hafiz,Jyoti and Durrani, Nalini Jaywant and Virendra Desai, Noorjahan-Shaukat hussain rizvi, Meenakumari, Sardar Akhtar, Snehprabha Pradhan, Anil Biswas, Lalita Deulkar etc.
In recent era instances were Waheeda Rehman, Kishore kumar, Asha Bhosle, Hemant kumar, Manik verma, Premlata, Geeta Dutt, Rishi kapoor, Rajesh khanna, Amitabh Bachhan and Abhishek Bachhan etc.
In the cast you find a name Shirin Bano. Yes, she too is one of the above listed artistes who joined films to get a suitable husband and lead a respectable and comfortable life. Shirin, Shirin Bai or Shirin Bano was from a Tawayaf mother from Lucknow. Her father was a Tamil Brahmin- Ram Seshadri Aiyar, who worked as an Accountant with Kikubhai Desai ( father of Manmohan Desai) in his Distribution department.They were 5 sisters and 1 brother. Shirin joined films at an early age. Her first film was Maharani-34 same year she worked in Vehmi duniya, Sewa sadan and Bala Joban. In 1935 her films were Shamsher e Arab, Pardesi Sainya and Bambai ki Sethani. In 36, she worked in Top ka gola, Snehlata, Passing show and Azad veer. Khwab ki duniya, His Highness and Challenge from 37, State Express and Purnima in 38, Leather face and Hero No.1 from 1939. Total 18 films only.
Her youngest sister Meher Bano also joined films with the name Purnima ( she also married a Producer Director Bhagwandas Varma). Shirin married Producer Director Nanabhai Bhatt, who already had a wife and 9 children. They had 2 sons- Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt.
The Heroine of this film was Sardar Akhtar. The life story of Sardar Akhtar- Heroine of this film- is very interesting. Sardar Akhtar was a Punjabi Muslim born in Lahore in 1915. Her mother was a famous singer on the infamous Hira Mandi Road of Lahore. Akhtar learned singing from her mother and also other ustads. Her younger sister Bahar Akhtar was beautiful and a good singer. These sisters were famous as Daaro and Baharo in Lahore. Bahar was hired by United Players Corpn. of Lahore , as a Heroine in their film ” Qatil Katar “. Producer A R Kardar was also its Hero. They fell in love. Bahar was under strict surveilance by her mother, but with the help of a friend, Kardar abducted her and they were married. When this news reached her mother, Akhtar and her mother made a Police complaint against kardar. Kardar and his unit members were arrested and kept in a lock up for few days for abducting a Minor girl. They were released when Bahar herself gave a statement in their favour. Kardar destroyed the negatives of his film to prevent Bahar from further acting in films.
After this episode Akhtar started working in dramas. She went to Calcutta and did a small role in film Dhoop Chaaon-35. From there she came to Bombay and joined Saroj Movietone. She did films like Eid ka chaand,Roop Basant and Naqsh e Sulemani and earned a good name. She acted in films of Minerva and Wadia-mostly stunt action films. Mehboob khan gave her a big role in film Aurat-40 and her image changed. She also did Mehboob’s film Roti, during which they got married on 25-4-1942. They did not have any issues but they adopted Saajid khan, child star of film Son of India-62. After Mehboob’s death in 1964 May, Akhtar lived alone, occasionally visiting Sajid khan, who had settled in USA.
Sardar Akhtar did 44 films. Her last film was Raahat-45. However, she did small roles in films Hulchal-71 and Bandhe Haath-74. Sardar Akhtar sang 92 songs in 27 films. Considering that she was not a regular or playback singer, her 92 songs were highly creditable. Not even 50% of her songs came on gramophone records. During one of her US visits, Sardar Akhtar died there on 2-10-1984. She was a devotee of sufi saint Ashraf khan, her co-star of many films including Roti-42.
The film had 15 songs sung by Sardar Akhtar, Shirin Bano, Ranjit and Shankar Rao Vyas himself. He was the film’s Music Director. This was his first film with Prakash Pictures. He went on working with them in many more films.
Prof. Shankarrao Vyas (1898-1956) was born in Kolhapur on 23-1-1898. His father Ganeshpant was a well known Keertankar and Puranik! So, he was brought up in the religious and musical environment. Unfortunately, Ganeshpant died when Shankar was seven years old. His paternal uncle brought him up for few years. His maternal uncle (Mama) noticed his inclination towards music and enrolled him in the ‘gurukul’ of Maharaj (Pandit) Vishnu Digambar Paluskar.
In those days, students had to sign a bond with the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. Training period would last 8-10 years and the student would become all-rounder in every field related to music. Thus, Shankar Rao spent nine years in this gurukul, earned ‘Sangeet Pravin’ degree and gold medal for overall development. With the suggestion of guruji, he worked in Lahore vidyalaya for few years.
In 1931, he moved to Ahmadabad for establishing branch of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. He was an expert not only in vocal music, but could play and repair many instruments including sitar, jaltarang and mendolin. He would conduct orchestra consisting of Indian and western instruments. He was also a very good composer and wrote several bandishes. He was the key person in planning music section of national (Rashtriya) schools: an idea originated by Gandhiji in Ahmadabad.
In 1935, he left Ahmadabad and settled in Bombay. He founded school for music education at Dadar, just outside the western railway station. ‘Vyas Sangeet Vidyalaya’. It is still functioning at this place. His brother Narayanrao Vyas and brother in law Vasantrao Rajopadhye also joined him in this noble cause. Around 1930/31, HMV Company invited both Vyas brothers for recordings and they cut over 200 songs (100 discs) until about 1938. He also cut few orchestral records under ‘Vyas Brothers’ banner playing pure classical ragas. These records were best sellers and company had printed their photographs on record catalogues.
This period was also the beginning of talkie films. Shankar Rao composed music for Hindi (35), Marathi (5), and Gujrathi (3) films from 1937-1955. His first film as a composer was ‘ His Highness’ -37 and the last was ‘ Baal Ramayan’ -released in 56. He also composed background music for fifteen films. Most of his films were based on religious or mythological themes. He also taught music to non-singing actors such as Sardar Akhtar and Shirin Bano. His most famous musical films were – Narsi Bhagat (1940), Bharat Bhet (1941), Ram Rajya (1943, in Hindi and Marathi). Saraswati Rane sung ‘Beena madhur madhur kachu bol’ in raga Bhimpalas in Hindi film ‘Ram Rajya’ and this song became popular throughout India. This was the only film that Gandhji watched in cinema hall and was much impressed with the music. Songs from Marathi version of ‘Ram Rajya’ viz. ‘Sujanho parisa ramkatha’ and ‘Ladkya raanila lagale dohale’ are shown on TV even today.
He was very busy in many fields as a composer, Principal of his music school, author of articles and bandishes, President of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and founder editor of ‘Sangeet Kala Vihar’ magazine (founded in 1947) of Vidyalaya that is published even today. He passed away at Ahmadabad on 17-12- 1956. He has sung couple of abhangs of Saint Tukaram. These are available on HMV records. Record P 13454 published in 1931 has a sweet abhang – ‘Roopi guntale lochan, charani sthiravale mana’.
Film Poornima-38 was based on the popular famous novel Purnima-in Gujarati- by writer Ramanlal Vasantlal Desai. Let us now enjoy the first song of this film here. The film makes its debut on the Blog.
Song-Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya (Poornima)(1938) Singer-Sardar Akhtar, Lyrics-Sampatlal Shrivastav Anuj, MD- Shankar Rao Vyas
Lyrics
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
baaje paayaliya
jaage saheliyaan
baaje paayaliya
jaage saheliyaan
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
baaje paayaliya
jaage saheliyaan
baaje paayaliya
jaage saheliyaan
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
Jhanan Jhanan mori
saas nanadiya mori akeli
saas nanadiya mori akeli
piya milan kaise jaaoon akeli
piya milan kaise jaaoon akeli
daiyya dewarwa paas bithhaawe
daiyya dewarwa paas bithhaawe
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
baaje paayaliya
jaage saheliyaan
baaje paayaliya
jaage saheliyaan
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
Jhanan Jhanan mori
jata joot ??
pati shesh chandr ??
lalaat ??
maal gale shesh ??
parvati pati shiva har har
parvati pati shiva har har
parvati pati shiva har har
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
saas nanadiya mori akeli
saas nanadiya mori akeli
piya milan kaise jaaun akeli
piya milan kaise jaaun akeli
daiyya dewarwa paas bithhaawe
daiyya dewarwa paas bithhaawe
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje paayaliya
Jhanan Jhanan mori baaje
Chaal chale matwaari
Posted on: January 27, 2019
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog.This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
|
Blog Day : |
3845 | Post No. : | 14857 | Movie Count : |
4062 |
Today’s song is from a film which was made by the Film Factory- Ranjit Movietone, in 1938. The name of the film is Billi aka The Cat. The film was directed by Jayant Desai and the music was by the in house Music Director-Gyan Dutt. All the songs and the screen play was by P L Santoshi.
This was the first decade of the Talkie films. Initially films were made on Mythology, folk tales and Parsi Theatre stories. Therefore there were repetitions of film subjects like Harishchandra or Shirin Farhad, among the different film makers. When this became too obvious, the film makers turned their attention to other sources like Hollywood films, famous novels and stories by well known authors.
In this race, the Calcutta film makers, notably New Theatres, was on ‘numero uno’ position. Bengal has a rich literary tradition. The works of famous writers like Bankim chnadra Chatterji, Saratchandra Chatterji, Rabindranath Tagore, A K Sen, Bijoy Muzumdar and many more have enriched Bangla literature. Films based on their stories were made in Calcutta. Bombay, of course, was not to lag behind and many films on National and International novels and Hollywood films were made here.
The major difference in these two film centres was that Bangla films were mostly true to the original novels and Bombay films were made keeping in view entertainment of the audience and so were made by adapting these famous literary works using cinematic liberties in plenty.
Most movies made in Bengal were based on famous stories, novels and dramas. These movies were made in Bangla (for eastern India markets) and Hindi language for all India market.
In Bombay, one of the the earliest films made on a famous author’s work was ” The Mill aka Mazdoor-1934, by Mohan Bhavnani’s Ajanta Cinetone. It was written by Munshi Premchand, and was based on the miserable and pathetic plight of the Mill workers of Bombay. Unfortunately, the powerful lobby of the rich Mill Owners of Bombay and Ahmedabad pressurised the Government of Bombay State to ban this film. Two years later and after many cuts, the dilapidated film was released as ” Ghareeb parwar aka Daya Ki Devi” in 1936, but it flopped miserably, dragging the makers- Ajanta Cinetone to bankruptcy.
In 1937, a film ” Khwabon ki Duniya” was made by the Prakash pictures’ duo of Vijay and Shankar Bhatt. It was based on the famous and popular novel ” The Invisible Man” by H.G.Wells, published in 1897. This Hindi film was a copy of the Hollywood film of the same name, made in 1933. The film was a novelty and did very good business. Later on, another film Mr. X – 1957 was also on the same theme.
Today’s film Billi-38 was based on the famous novel ” Damsel in distress” by P.G.Wodehouse. Wodehouse (15-10-1881 to 14-2-1975) was from England but stayed in US for most of his life. ( He is my favourite writer and I have many of his novels with me.) Wodehouse was famous for his British humour filled novels spun around characters like Jeeves, Bertie Wooster, Psmith, Blandings Castle and Lord Emsworth and Mr. Mulliner. His most famous novel Damsel in Distress was first serialised in ‘ The Saturday Evening Post’ in May and June 1919. It was published as a book on 4-10-1919 in UK and on 15-10-1919 in US. A stage play based on this novel, gave 234 performances in UK in 1928 and a Musical Comedy on it was made in 1937 in US.
‘Crime and Punishment’ by Fydor Dostoyevsky was the basis for film ‘ Phir subah hogi’-58. Many films were made on Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burrows and some thrillers were made on novels of Edgar Wallace. Hindi films based on famous novels/stories by Indian authors were many. An old example is Milan-46 on Tagore’s Nauka Doobi and recent examples are Chetan Bhagat’s 4 novels- Hello, Kai Poche, 2 states and 3 Idiots, as films of the same name. Some other films on Indian and western novels are Devdas, Parineeta, Omkara, Tere mere sapne, Guide, Aisha,Maqbool, junoon, Pinjar, Shatranj ke khiladi, Hamlet, Haider, Bandini, Balika Badhu, Dharamputra, Amar prem, Tamas and many more. the list would be too long, so suffice to mention these films.
There is nothing wrong in making films on famous novels, but when producers, directors, actors twist the story, add own stuff and make a ‘ Khichdi ‘ of the novel, think what the author must be feeling. ( In film Guddi, a writer called Deshpande, describes what the film makers do to the stories, to Prof. Gupta played by Utpal Dutt). A case in point is film Guide. It is on record how R K Narayan was disgusted with the Cinematic liberties the film makers took on his novel, and how he stopped attending shootings and vowed never to allow another producer to buy his stories !
Trouble comes when when the film is made on a western novel like ” Damsel in Distress “. First thing is to adapt the novel to Indian context and traditions. While doing this , most times, a mess is created. The story of this novel takes place in London and shifts to a village nearby later. in Indian version you have to show an Indian city ( Bombay) and a village. I read the review of this film in Film India- October 1938 issue. Baburao Patel- who rarely appreciated a film and was very partial to few directors and actors- tore apart the film. Every aspect of the film was criticised. However, despite his attempt, the film did very good film and was a success. It is shown in this film that after meeting just once, the hero and heroine, in their subsequent meeting, do not recognise each others and a Cat, gifted by hero to the heroine in their first meeting, helps in getting them together again.
The cast of the film had E. Billimorea, Sunita, Ishwarlal, Kantilal, Ila Devi, Mazhar, Ram Apte, Ghory and others. There were 11 songs in the film. today’s song is the first song to feature here. The song is sung by Ishwarlal and Ila Devi. I knew Ishwarlal, but Iladevi was a new name. Even after efforts no information was available to me about her. From the question-answer column of the magazine Film India, I learnt that Ila Devi’s original film name was Miss Ilmas. I do not know in which religion or community, this name is used.After making her debut in Hindi films in ‘ Nishan -E- Jung ‘-1937, she changed her name to Ila Devi and acted in 6 more films. Four films in 1938 (Billi,Bazigar, Rikshawala and Gorakh Aaya) and two films in 1939 (Adhuri Kahani and Kahan hai teri manzil). After this her name is not found in any films, when I checked.
This change of name, after using one name in a film, is not unique, though,this seems to be the First such instance. I know, off hand, at least two more such instances in Film industry. Actress Ameeta (Tumsa nahi dekha fame) had used name Jaijaiwanti in her first film Thokar-1953 ( her second film kaafila -52 was released first as Ameeta,however), but he changed it to her name Ameeta from next film onwards. ( her real name was Qamar Sultana). The second example is actress Zeb Rehman who was known first as Preetibala, then she changed her name to Zeb Rehman.
The male singer in this song is Ishwarlal. ISHWARLAL was born on 9-10-1911 at Ghanghaniya,Kathewar,Gujrat, as Ishwarlal Hariprasad Doshi.
He belonged to a Jain family. His father was in Police department at Kathiawar Agency. His father died when Ishwarlal was just 3 year old and mother raised him.
After Matriculation, he completed Teaching Diploma at the age of 16, but did not a job as he was underage.He came to Bombay, where his brother had some business, in 1927 to act in films. Ishwarlal was very handsome.
He got a job in Ranjit Studios.He started with silent films at a salary of Rs. 35 pm.His first Talkie film was Bhutiya Mahal-1932.Then came Char Chakram-32.He started acting and singing in films.Initially he sang only duets.meanwhile,with Jwalamukhi-36,he became Hero.he sang many songs in Ranjit films,but the records are not available.Those days,not all songs of the film were recoded for commercial purpose.
In Billi-38,he sang a duet with Ila Devi and Sunita devi and also in Aaj ka Hindustan.In Ummeed-41,he had a duet with Nurjahan. In Pyaas-41,he sang with S.Pradhan.
In 1942,first time he got solo songs to sing in Fariyaad. In Jabaan,under C.Ramchandra,he sang 7 songs.
Some of his films were-
Diwali,Dheeraj,Chandni,bhola shikar,nadira, sitamgarh, Veer babruwahan, Barrister’s wife, College kanya, Desh dasi, Keemti aansoo
dil ka daku,Jwalamukhi,Sajni,Dil farosh,Adhuri kahani,Thokar,Holi,pyar,Bansari Lalkar,Chirag,Us paar,
He worked in Ranjit for 13 years. Then he worked with Prafull pictures, Sun art, Wadia, Hind pictures and Atre Pictures also.
In 1945,he was the hero of Nurjehan in Badi Maa,but he had no songs, infact his last songs were in Us Paar-1944. His singing stopped completely when Rafi gave him playback in film Sharbati Aankhen-45.
Then he did character roles in Subhadra,Mahasati tulsi vrinda,Sanskar,Naulakha haar,Khuda ka banda etc.
He acted in 86 films. He also directed 11 films. He sang 36 songs in 14 films. His last film released was was kahani kismet ki-73
He was married in 1931 to a loyal wife kamalabai. They had no issues. Due to excessive smoking he contracted lung diseases and died on 22-1-1969 in Bombay.
With this song, the film Billi aka The Cat-38 and the singer Ila Devi make their Debut on this Blog.
Song-Chaal chale matwaari (Billi)(1938) Singers- Ishwarlal, Ila Devi, Lyrics-P L Santoshi, MD- Gyan Dutt
Both
Lyrics
Chaal chale matwaari
gaadi Chaal chale matwaari
Chaal chale matwaari
gaadi Chaal chale matwaari
raaja jee ki ajab sawaari
Chaal chale matwaari
Raaja
haan
raaja jee ki ajab sawaari
Chaal chale matwaari
gaadi Chaal chale matwaari
Chaal chale matwaari
gaadi Chaal chale matwaari
Raaja
kahaan rakha hai mukut tumhaara
ye hai sundar pyaara pyaara
Raaja
kahaan rakha hai mukut tumhaara
ye hai sundar pyaara pyaara
baaje chidiyaghar ke raaja
baaji moorakhpur ki raani
raani jee ki ajab sawaari
raaja jee ki ajab sawaari
raani jee ki ajab sawaari
raaja jee ki ajab sawaari
Chaal chale matwaari
gaadi Chaal chale matwaari
Chaal chale matwaari
gaadi Chaal chale matwaari
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 : |
3750 | Post No. : | 14715 | Movie Count : |
4020 |
Today’s song is a devotional chorus song from an old film, ” Prithvi Putra”-38. HFGK indicates that it was a Mythological film. I could not get a clue anywhere what the story was about. The film was made by the film factory, Ranjit Movietone- where, at a time, at least 4 to 5 films used to be on the floors doing shooting, not counting if any team was on outdoor shooting schedule.
As per the available 1938 issues of Film India, when Prithvi Putra’s shooting was going on, some more film shootings, planning meetings and scheduling were underway at the same time. Films like Gorakh Aaya, Achhut, Sant Tulsidas, Taxiwali, The Cat (Billi) and Prof. Waman, M.Sc. were the films involved in the studio activity. It is sad that review of this film is not available to us since all issues of 1938 are not available on Internet.That review could have at least told us what the story of this movie was.
The director was Jayant Desai, Lyricist was P.L.Santoshi and Gyan Dutt was the music director. Gyan Dutt did 15 films for Ranjit , during his stint from 1937 to 1940 period. After him, it was Khemchand Prakash and after him it was Bulo C. Rani as Ranjit’s resident Music director.
The cast of the film was truly a Nationalistic combination, confirming how the film industry was actually a secular activity. Madhuri was a Christian, Billimoria was a Parsee, Mazhar khan was a Muslim, Kantilal was a Hindu and the other actors were also a mix of different religions.
One of the names in the cast is Waheedan Bai. Not much information is available on her. Her younger sister Sitara Bai aka Jyoti and her own daughter Nawab Banoo aka Nimmi were actresses. Waheedan Bai was from a Tawayef family. Her daughter Nimmi, had always denied this-understandably too, but Waheedan Bai’s name gave away the true story.
In the initial stage of the Indian films, whether silent or talkie, it was difficult to get girls from good families and background. Slowly this picture changed.When Talkie started many Tawaifs,singing girls and girls from such families joined films as they fulfilled the requirement of singing and looking good,in addition to their ease on Hindi/urdu language. At this time slowly many educated and girls from high society as well as middle class families started joining films.So,to distinguish these women from each others, a system of nomenclature was followed. All the Girls coming from singing families and Tawaif background added the suffix “Bai” to their names, like Jaddanbai,Waheedan bai,Zohrabai,Amirbai etc. The Anglo-Indian and middle class girls took the prefix of “Miss” like Miss Moti, Miss Rose, Miss Tara, Miss Ajmat, Miss Pearl etc. Those girls who were from high society were called Devi like Sabita Devi, Kamla Devi, etc. All Marathi actresses used their full names like Shanta Apte, Minaxi Shirodkar etc.
Another point, this nomenclature was only unofficial and traditional. So some Tawaif actresses took advantage of this to hide their roots. Like, Rampyari who was from a singing family of Hyderabad, sometimes called herself as Miss Rampyari.
There were 565 Princely states in India before Partition. Due to patronising of fine arts like music and dance by these Princes, a new class of Nautch Girls emerged in the 19th century. All Nautch Girls were not the same. Author Michael Kinnear, in his book “The Gramophone company’s first Indian Recordings 1899-1908 “, has explained the classification and Nomenclatures of these Nautch Girls. As per that, there were 4 types…
| Lowest Class…..IV | Name – Khanki | Prostitutes/Sex workers |
| Class III | Name – Kaneez | Daasi or servant |
| Class II | Name – Bai ji | Singing/Dancing |
| Class I | Name – Jaan | Top class singers |
They all were called collectively as Tawayafs. The readers will now understand the difference between Amirbai, Waheedanbai, Jaddanbai and Tamancha Jaan, Gauhar Jaan, Malika Jaan etc etc.
Waheedan Bai belonged to a small town Fatehabad, near Agra. Her father’s name was Basheer Khan. She was second among 4 sisters. The youngest was Sitara Bai aka Jyoti. Waheedan was a trained and good singer, but Tawayafs did not get social status, so she got married early to one Abdul Hakeem from Nasirabad, settled in Meerut. He had met Waheedan in a shrine in Agra, where she recited verses from Koran.
Soon after their marriage, his father, a contractor with Military, died and Hakim inherited the business. He was a novice and was cheated by his manager and they lost everything. The family moved to Calcutta to start a Leather business. Here also he failed. In Calcutta, their neighbour was director A.R.Kardar. Through his wife, Bahar, Kardar was contacted and he gave a small role to him in a film. Here again he got terrified and ran away, at the time of shooting.
Waheedan came forward and after hearing her singing, she was given a song in the film and it was recorded. Meanwhile Chandulal Shah offered her roles in his films. They shifted to Bombay and she joined Ranjit Movietone. Her first film was Toofani Toli-37. Prithvi Putra was just the second film. Her songs in her films were liked and became famous.She worked in other films like Prof. Waman,M.Sc.-38, Rikshawala-38, The Secretary-38 and Thokar-39.
She got acquainted with Mehboob Khan and he offered her lead role opposite Surendra in film Alibaba-40, a Sagar Movietone film initially, but later on sold to Ranjit of Chandulal Shah, in a game of gambling. Film Alibaba-40 was made in Hindi and Punjabi. The film songs became very popular. When Sagar merged into National Studios, she worked in film Sanskar-40.
Waheedan contracted T.B. and left films. She acted in only 8 films and sang 26 songs in 11 films-including her 8 films. She died in 1942.( based on information from Sagar movietone by Biren kothari ji and my notes)
Another name was Mazhar Khan in the cast of Prithvi putra-38. Khans have always dominated Hindi film industry, since Talkie films started. The very first Talkie, Alam Ara-31 also had the first actor singer W.M. Khan in it. The famous compiler and author, Shri Harish Raghuwanshi ji has enumerated as many as 57 names of Khans in Hindi films, in his book Inhe na Bhulana in Gujarati in 2003.
Mazhar Khan was born in 1907 in Dhar state. After matriculation, he joined Police force and rose up to Inspector’s rank. Due to attraction of becoming actor, he resigned from the job and reached Bombay.He went from studio to studio, in search of a job. Finally. Director B.P.Mishra from Imperial saw him and called for film roles. From 1927 to 1931, he worked in 19 silent films. His first Talkie was ‘ Noorjehan”-31 directed by Ezra Mir ( real name Edwyn Meyers). he went to Calcutta and worked in New theatres films with Sehgal and Begum Akhtar. He also acted in film Raat ka Raja-34, in which he reportedly did 8 different roles.After Sunehra Sansar-36 and some more films with other companies, he returned to Bombay and joined Ranjit, and later Minerva. His memorable film role was in Prabhat’s Padosi-41, in which he did the role of a Hindu pandit, while his Muslim friend’s role was done by Gajanan jahagirdar. Their roles were much appreciated in those periods.
In 1942 he started his own company, Asiatic pictures and then Mazhar Art productions. he produced and directed 6 films. he introduced actress Veena in film Yaad-42 and gave opportunity to Mukesh to sing in film Pehli Nazar- which made him very popular. Mazhar acted in 44 films. He married a Hindu girl, who did not convert after the marriage. They had 2 sons. Mazhar Khan died on 24-9-1950.
(adapted from wiki and Inhe na Bhulana).
Let us now listen to this melodious bhajan which is sung by chorus.
With this song, “Prithvi Putra”(1938) makes its debut in the blog.
Song- Jai Brijnandan Gopichandan Leelakaari Shyaam (Prithvi Putra)(1938) Singer-Chorus, Lyrics-P L Santoshi, MD-Gyan Dutt
Lyrics
Jai Brijnandan Gopichandan Leelakaari Shyaam
Jai Brijnandan Gopichandan,Leelakaari Shyaam
bhav bhaybhanjan ??niranjan sankathaari raam
bhav bhaybhanjan ??niranjan sankathaari raam
Jai Brijnandan Gopichandan Leelakaari Shyaam
cheerharaiyya laajrakhaiyya raas rachaiyya krishn kanhaiyya
cheerharaiyya laajrakhaiyya raas rachaiyya krishn kanhaiyya
sau sau baar pranaam
sau sau baar pranaam
jai avinaashi jag ke swaami
ghat ghat vaasi antaryaami
jai avinaashi jag ke swaami
ghat ghat vaasi antaryaami
sau sau baar pranaam
sau sau baar pranaam
Jai Brijnandan Gopichandan Leelakaari Shyaam
Jai Brijnandan Gopichandan Leelakaari Shyaam
Laalan tum ho bade hathheele
Posted on: September 25, 2018
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
|
Blog Day : |
3721 | Post No. : | 14657 | Movie Count : |
4005 |
Today’s song is from a very old film, Raja Gopichand-1938. The film was made by Saraswati Cinetone, Poone in Hindi and Marathi. The film was directed by Bhal G Pendharkar. The music director was C.Balaji. Name of the Lyricist is not mentioned in HFGK. The cast of the film was Chandrakant, Ranade, Chandraprabha, Miss Leela, Usha, Dinkar Kamanna etc.etc. The story was written by Pendharkar and it was translated by Shri Arun, B.A., for film’s Hindi version.
Saraswati Cinetone was a film making company owned by one of the Pioneers of Talkie films in India- Dadasaheb Torne. He is one of those less fortunate people in the film industry, who failed to get the credit of being the First to make a full length Silent film in India. But there are a large number of people in India, who believe that the first film in India was made by Torne and not Phalke. Torne achieved that feat one year before Phalke released his film in 1913. Saraswati Cinetone was one of the major film making company in India in those days.
The young man who migrated from Konkan to Mumbai in search of a new horizon was the pioneer of Indian cinema, Ramchandra Gopal alias Dadasaheb Torne. Unfortunately, this name did not find its rightful place in the history of Indian cinema. Dadasaheb Torne, who had a flood of accolades for his various achievements in the film industry, lost his life’s work in real floods that occurred on July 12, 1961, when the swollen waters of Mutha River destroyed all the valuable negatives, photographs, documents after bursting from Panshet dam near Pune.
The forgotten father of Indian Cinema Ramchandra Gopal alias Dadasaheb Torne made the first ever Indian film ‘Pundalik’ which was screened at the Coronation Cinematograph in Mumbai on May 18, 1912. That was one year prior to Dhundiraj Govind alias Dadasaheb Phalke’s ‘Raja Harishchandra’ which was released at the same venue on May 3, 1913.
Born on April 13, 1890, at Sukalwad in Malvan taluka of (undivided) Ratnagiri district (now Sindhudurg district) Dadasaheb Torne lost his father when he was three years old. His mother Radhabai brought him up. Due to financial difficulties he could not get higher education.
After being involved in the distribution of full-length (30-40 minute long) English films in India, he hit upon the idea of film making, and founded his own studio ‘Saraswati Cinetone’ (1931) in Pune. Under Saraswati’s banner he produced memorable movies like ‘Shyamsundar’, ‘Aut Ghatkecha Raja’, ‘Bhakt Pralhad’, ‘Chhatrapati Sambhaji’, ‘Thaksen Rajputra’, ‘Savitri’, ‘Raja Gopichand’, ‘Bhagva Jhenda’, ‘Majhi Ladki’, ‘Devyani’.
‘Shyamsundar’-32 was the first ever Indian movie to celebrate silver jubilee. Dadasaheb Torne introduced the first ever double role in ‘Aut Ghatkecha Raja’. He was equally proficient in editing and sound recording. He successfully experimented trick scenes in ‘Bhakt Pralhad’ and ‘Savitri’ in the decade of 1930-1940 when the film technique was not advanced.
He gave first break to artists like Rose, Shahu Modak, Dada Salvi, Jayashri (Shantaram), Dinkar Kamanna (Dhere), Ratnamala (Kamal Desai) and Indurani.
Many famous music directors of the earlier years, such as Annasaheb Mainkar, Sureshbabu Mane, C. Balaji and Vinayakbuwa Patwardhan were introduced by Torne.
Dadasaheb Torne also worked as a manager at Maharashtra Film Company, Kolhapur from 1920 to 1924, and worked as a general manager at Laxmi Cinetone, Royal Art Company, Imperial Film Company and Sagar Movietone, later.
Dadasaheb Torne breathed his last on January 19, 1960 in Pune.
Movies produced: ‘Pundlik’ (1912), ‘Sati ka Shaap’ (1923), ‘Prithvivallabh’ (1924), ‘Neera’ (1926), ‘Sindbad Khalasi’ (1930).
Movies produced under the banner of ‘Saraswati Cinetone’: ‘Shyamsundar’ (1932), ‘Aut Ghatkecha Raja’ (1933), ‘Bhakt Pralhad‘ (1933), ‘Chhatrapati Sambhaji’ (1934), ‘Thaksen Rajputra (1934), ‘Krishna shishtai’ (1935), ’Savitri’ (1936), ‘Raja Gopichand’ (1938), ‘Sach Hai’ (Hindi-1939), ‘Bhagva Jhenda’ (1939), ‘Majhi Laadki’ (1939), ‘Devyani’ (1940), ‘Narad Naradi’ (1941), ‘Navardev’ (1941), ‘Awaz’ (Hindi-1942).
As far as the star cast is concerned,lead actor Chandrakant ( father of today’s award winning actor Vikram Gokhale) was given this name by pendharkar. His real name was Gopal. The lead Heroine Leela was Leela Chandragiri, about whom I have written in details in my article on film Alakh Niranjan-40. Dinkar Kamanna( Dhere) was a famous and popular comedian on Marathi drama stage.
Let us now come to the Music Director C.Balaji. I am sure, hardly anyone has ever heard his name so far. it is natural also, because Balaji gave music only to 2 Hindi films. The other film was Paisa-41. Both his films were bilingual-in Hindi and Marathi. Basically Balaji was a marathi film composer. He was the first music director to change his name to look like a South indian name. C.Ramchandra came much later.
His real name was Balaji Gopal Chougule. Originally his family was from Kolhapur, but he was born at Varanashi on 12-10-1913. After the death of his maternal grandfather Balaji came to Kolhapur. here he learnt music from Ustad Manji khan (son of Ustad Alladiya khan), Shankarrao Sarnaik and Govindrao Tembe. Tembe taught him the skill to give music to films.
He started working with some drama companies like Kirloskar natak mandali and Yeshwant Sangeet mandali, as a Harmonium player. In 1937, he became assistant to Govindrao Tembe for film ‘Pratibha'(Hindi/marathi). When Tembe left the film halfway, he completed its music, but his name was not credited. He got his first Marathi film independently, Kanhopatra. Its songs became very popular. Pendharkar gave him Raja Gopichand-38 as an independent MD. Later he did another film in Hindi/Marathi, Paisa-41.
In 1945, Balaji started learning music again, this time under Bhurji khan(youngest son of Alladiya Khan). Balaji gave music to 5 Marathi films and 2 Hidi/Marathi films. When Shivaji University started in Kolhapur in 1962, he started an agitation for inclusion of Music in its curriculum. His efforts bore fruits and it was done in 1964. He gave tutions of Music in his last days. C.Balaji expired on 11-9-1984 at his home town, Kolhapur.
The story of Raja Gopichand is from Navnath Pothi.
When I was about 6 to 7 year old, during the visits to my Naani’s (maternal grandmother’s) home in a village, I used to hear a typical call, ‘ Alakh Niranjan ‘ from the gossain, who stood outside the door. Someone from the house used to give uncooked food material like rice, wheat or jowar. Even wheat atta was given. These gossains had a jholi (a spacious carrying bag made of cloth), having 4-5 compartments and they would expertly add the bhiksha to the appropriate compartment. They never took money. These people were the desciples of Nath Sampraday and used to visit a fixed number of houses for Bhiksha. They were also called by the name avadhoot (अवधूत) (a mystic or a saint who is beyond ego-consciousness, duality and common worldly concerns).
A brief description of the Nath Sampradaay . It is likely that some of our readers may not be familiar with the details behind these names. In the Hindu Sanaatan traditions the worship of Lord Shiva is called Shaivism and the worshippers and followers of Lord Shiva are called Shaivs. Nath Sampradaay is a sub tradition within Shaivism. The followers of this tradition consider Adinath or Lord Shiva as their first Lord. The word Nathimplies Master. In this tradition, there is a lineage of nine Gurus or Teachers. The form of sadhna practiced by the followers of this tradition is called Hath Yog (हठ योग).
The first Guru in this lineage is Matsyendra Nath, who is better known as Machhindra Nath (मच्छिंद्रनाथ). The traditional history recounts that Matsyendra was born under an inauspicious star. This warranted his parents to throw the baby into the ocean. In the ocean the baby was swallowed by a large fish, and he lived and grew up inside the belly of the fish, for many years. The fish swam to the bottom of the ocean where Lord Shiva was imparting the secrets of yoga to Mata Parvati. Matsyendra overheard this discourse and learnt the secrets of yoga. He began to practice this yog sadhana inside the fish’s belly. After twelve years he finally emerged as an enlightened Siddha.
There is a list of Nine Nath Gurus, who are called Navnath. The first Nath Guru is Machhindra. The complete list is as follows
Machhindranath
Gorakhnath
Jalandhar Nath
Kanif Nath (Kanhoba)
Gahini Nath
Raja Bhartrihari Nath (Bharthari)
Revan Sidha Nath
Charpati Nath and
Naag Nath.
The stories surrounding every Nath Guru, especially the earlier ones, are very exciting, thrilling and entertaining. One must read them from the original Nath Puraan or Nav Nath Pothi. I have read all of them. These stories are in no way less than any Arabian Night stories. Due to their entertainment value, several films in several languages have been made on the early Gurus like Machhindranath and Gorakhnath. Films on Machhindranath were made as ‘Maaya Machhindra’ in Hindi, in 1932, 1951, 1960 and 1975. Films on Gorakhnath as ‘Alakh Niranjan’, were made in 1940, 1950 and 1975. Films on Bharthari were made in 1932 and 1944. Films on other Naths were made as ‘Raja Gopichand’ in 1933, 1938 and 1950. Same way films on Naths in Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and other languages were also made. There could be some more films also on this subject.
Raja Gopichand was the son of Raja Bharthari nath’s sister and was blessed by him and Gorakhnath. The story of Raja Gopichand is..
King Padmasen and queen Mainavati had a son Gopichand and a daughter Chandravali. In due course, Gopichand got married. He got a daughter. He was married again and now also a daughter was born. He was married 16 times and he got everytime a daughter only. Queen Mainavati requested her brother Bharthari nath to help. He advies Gopichand to go to forest and do Penance for 5 years. He did the penance. After the 5 years, once he went , as usual , to get Bhiksha and by chance he visited his sister Chandravali’s home. Seeing her brother as a Gossain, she died in grief. Gopichand met Gorakhnath and requested him to make his sister alive again. Pleased by his love for sister, Gorakhnath not only brought alive Chandravali, but also blessed Gopichand for a Son.
Gopichand returned to his kingdom. He was crowned the king and in due course he got a son also.
Today’s song is sung by Leela Chandragiri. This is a rare song. With this song, MD C.Balaji and the film Raja Gopichand-38 are making its debut on the Blog.
( Credits- Marathi Sangeetkar Kosh, marathisanman.com, theneutralview.com, amarujala.com, wiki, HFGK,and my notes)
Song-Laalan tum ho bade hathheele (Raja Gopichand)(1938) Singer-Leela Chandragiri, MD-C Balaji
Lyrics
bade hathheele
laalan tum ho bade hathheele
laalan tum ho bade hathheele
bade hathheele
laaj lajeele
laalan tum ho bade hathheele
roothh gaye kya
tumhen manaaun
roothh gaye kya
tumhen manaaun
aao
tum par bali bali jaaun
aao
tum par bali bali jaaun
laalan tum ho saaj sajeele
bade hathheele
laaj lajeele
laalan tum ho
bade hathheele
laalan
bade hathheel
kyon chup ho
kuchh bolo bolo
bolo bolo
maa ki mamta man se tolo
maa ki mamta man se tolo
laalan
tum bin naina geele
bade hathheele
laaj lajeele
laalan tum ho
laalan tum ho
laalan tum ho
bade hathheele
Wo Aayen Na Aayen Yahaan Sajni
Posted on: August 24, 2018
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3689 | Post No. : | 14596 |
Today’s song is from film ‘Divorce’ (1938) – aka ‘Talaaq’. The song is sung by Sheela, lyricist was Pt. Anand Kumar and the MD was Meer Saheb (assisted by Ramchandra Chitalkar). The cast of the film was Naseem Bano, Gajanan Jagirdar, Prem Adib, Sheela, Vimla, Navin Yagnik, Khan Mastana etc. The film was made by Minerva Movietone and directed by Sohrab Modi. Divorce was one of the 3 films Modi made based on social problems. First film was ‘Meetha Zafar’ on alcohol habit, ‘Divorce’ was on separation of a couple and ‘Bharosa’ was on a very taboo and sensitive issue like incest.
One name in the cast is of Gajanan Jagirdar. We all know the famous actor and director Gajanan Jagirdar (real surname Jahagirdar. B 2-4-1907 D- 13-8-1988), but few know that he was branded ‘unlucky’. ‘Padosi’ (1941) was Jagirdar’s first film with Prabhat film company. By the time the film was complete Shantaram and his some friends left Prabhat making it crippled. Second time Jagirdar worked in film ‘Ramshastri’ (1944) for Prabhat, the important partner Vishnupant Damle died and Prabhat almost collapsed. The third time Jagirdar worked for Prabhat in film ‘Lokmanya Tilak’, the company was auctioned and closed down for ever ! When Jagirdar worked in “Shahir Parshuram”of Mangal pictures, the company went bankrupt and closed down. In 1953, top production company Alhad Chitra employed Jagirdar for a bilingual film, ‘Mahatma’ (1953), not only the film flopped, it drowned the company and the Producer Datta Dharmadhikari came on the road. For survival he started a roadside kitchen !
Jagirdar started as a freelancer in the industry, in the film studios of Prabhat Films and Minerva Movietone and later acted and directed in a number of films post his accidental debut ‘Jalti Nishani’ in 1932. He was hand-picked by V Shantaram to act in ‘Jalti Nishani’ when actor DD Mane wasn’t able to say the Urdu dialogues onscreen properly. And even though he was only 25, he enacted the part of a 75-year-old with aplomb.
Jagirdar began acting on the stage as a young child. As he grew older, he formed Arun Players, a theatre group which enacted plays like Harindranath Chattopadhyay’s ‘Returned from Abroad’ to Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Cherry Orchard’.
Not bound to any one studio, he worked as a freelancer for most of the major films studios of the time — from Prabhat Films to Minerva Movietone. At Prabhat, he began with writing the English inter titles for films. He also taught the Prabhat artistes Urdu dialogue delivery. He assisted Bhalji Pendharkar for a bit and directed a few films like ‘Begunaah’ (1937) for Master Vinayak’s banner Hans Pictures. Later, he moved on to work as a scenarist (screenwriter) for Minerva Movietone’s ‘Meetha Zahar’ (1938) and ‘Divorce’ (1938). He also worked with filmmaker PK Atre, both as actor and director in a few films.
For V Shantaram’s last film with Prabhat Films, the famed director took up the issue of communal tension in the country. Jagirdar played the Muslim character Mirza, while Mazhar Khan played the Hindu character, Thakur in the bilingual. ‘Padosi’ was a critical and commercial hit at the time.
‘Ramshastri’ (1944) was a landmark bilingual film on Peshwa Madhavrao’s chief justice and one of the last classics produced by Prabhat Films. The film went through three directors — Raja Nene, Vishram Bedekar shot portions of the film before Gajanan Jagirdar, who was playing the lead character Ramshastri Prabhune, took over to finish it. It is said that V Shantaram also directed parts of it.
In Asit Sen’s ‘Apradhi Kaun’ (1957), Jagirdar played double role as two brothers Shrinath and Dinanath. It was a fantastic opportunity for the actor. As the wealthy Shrinath who has inherited all of the ancestral property, Jagirdar was cool and composed. Meanwhile, as the down-on-his-luck brother Dinanath, Jagirdar transformed himself and his body to differentiate the two. Jagirdar acted in 147 films, directed 17 films and wrote 13 songs in film ‘Sant Tulsidas’ (1934).
Prior to his career in films, Jagirdar was also a teacher and later also taught acting. He became the first principal of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in 1960, but resigned after a year.
He wrote two autobiographies that were published in 1971 and 1986. Additionally, he also wrote a book on acting which explored the Konstantin Stanislavsky’s method to the craft.
The film’s songs were written by Pt. Anand kumar. He was born in Delhi in 1907. He was a producer, director, writer and lyricist. From childhood, he was not interested in studies in English medium. He was taught Urdu, Hindi and Sanskrit by his poor Brahmin Shastri father. When he was 15 year old, he entered a business. He was always discontented. He wanted to become an actor, but family resisted. He tried fasting and even suicide. Then he stole some money and ran to Bombay. He could not get into any studio and after money finished, he returned to Delhi, only to take more money and run to Bombay again. Even after this failure, he went back to Delhi and started writing stories.
His first book ‘Mera Haq’ became a hot seller and he started earning money. He was invited by film people and he went to Bombay nth time. He wrote stories, dialogues and Lyrics of scores of films and earned name and money. He produced a film ‘Zameen’ (1943), under his own banner Anand Brothers. He directed 5 films,including a hit marathi film, ‘Gora Kumbhar’ (1942). Some of his films as a Lyricist were ‘Suvarn Mandir’ (1934), ‘Katle Aam’ (1935), ‘Pratibha’ (1937) ‘Divorce’ (1938), ‘Saathi’ (1938), ‘Alakh Niranjan’ (1940), ‘Punarmilan’ (1940), ‘Charnon Ki Daasi’ (1941), ‘Raja Rani’ (1942) etc. As a writer some films were, ‘Divorce’ (1938), ‘Honhaar’ (1936), ‘Saathi’ (1938), ‘Vasantsena’ (1942), ‘Rang Mahal’ (1948) etc.
Today’s song is sung by Sheela. Sheela (real name – Roshan Ara) was born on 13-3-1925 at Sholapur-Maharashtra. Her father was Station Master at Sholapur Railway Station.
Once Sohrab Modi had come to Sholapur with his drama company. He went to the station to do reservations and saw Sheela. They got to know each other and he proposed to give her roles in his films. Thus Sheela came to Bombay in 1936 and Joined Minerva Movietone as a singer/actress.
Her first film was ‘Khan Bahadur’ (1937), in which she sang and acted. Then came ‘Jailor’ (1938) in which she sang 4 solo songs under MD Mir Sahib. Then ‘Divorce’ and ‘Meetha Zahar’ came.
She became famous only after her songs in ‘Pukar’ (1939). ‘Bharosa’, ‘Wasiyat’ and ‘Sikander’ also gave her name and fame. In ‘Sikander’ she had 6 songs out of total 7 songs. The famous song “Zindagi Hai Pyaar Se” also has her voice in the chorus. She was heroine in film ‘Wasiyat’ (1940).
‘Ulti Ganga’, ‘Bhakta Raidas’, ‘Prithvi Vallabh’, and ‘Patharon Ka Saudagar’ were all Minerva films. She had also done films elsewhere – ‘Alladin and Wonderful Lamp’, ‘College Girl’, ‘Gaibi Gola’, ‘Jahan Ara’, ‘Keemti Qurbani’, ‘Sansar Naiya’, ‘Shaitan Ka Paash’ etc. After 1943, she almost stopped working. Only in ‘Beete Din’ (1947) and lastly in ‘Billi’ (1949)’ sang songs, which was a stunt film of Nadia and Cavas.
She had married the actor Rama Shukla, in 1947. He was a Kanauji Brahmin and the families had terrible opposition to their marriage. The marriage was by Registration. Only 4 friends were present in the marriage. They had one son and one daughter. Rama Shukla died by heart attack in the 50s.
Her voice had a peculiar mixture of muslim style of Amirbai Karnataki and Marathi slant of Shanta Apte.
There is an anecdote with one of her songs. When film ‘Pukar’ was in the making, C Ramchandra was working as an assistant to MD Meer Saheb. He has mentioned in his autobiography also that in the absence of Meer saheb, he used to insert his tunes to songs as Meer Saheb’s. This was known to many, except, may be, Meer Saheb himself. One of the very popular songs sung by Sheela “Tum Bin Hamri Kaun Khabar Le” was actually composed by C Ramchandra. This is supposed to be CR’s first composed song. The credit, of course, went to Meer Saheb.
The song is very sweet and is sung also nicely.
(Credits- Swaron ki Yatra, Cinerang by Mujawar, Film Directory, Hindi Film Singers by Prof Yadav, HFGK, MuVyz and my notes.)
Song – Wo Aayen Na Aayen Yahaan Sajni (Divorce) (1938) Singer – Sheela, Lyrics – Anand Kumar, Music – Meer Saheb
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
wo aayen na aayen yahaan sajni
wo aayen na aayen yahaan sajni
ghar hum ko aaj sajaana hai
ghar hum ko aaj sajaana hai
wo dekhen na dekhen hamen un ko
wo dekhen na dekhen hamen un ko
dil apna aaj dikhana hai
dil apna aaj dikhana hai
wo aayen na aayen yahaan sajni
wo aayen na aayen yahaan sajni
ghar hum ko aaj sajaana hai
ghar hum ko aaj sajaana hai
chaahe tum to kahaani bahut hi padhi
chaahe tum to kahaani bahut hi padhi
hamen apne haal sunaana hai
hamen apne haal sunaana hai
un ko apni kehte kehte
un ko apni kehte kehte
un ke dar par mit jaana hai
un ke dar par mit jaana hai
is raah ki khaaq mili jo hamen
is raah ki khaaq mili jo hamen
un ke kadmon ka thikaana hai
un ke kadmon ka thikaana hai
wo aayen na aayen yahaan sajni
wo aayen na aayen yahaan sajni
ghar hum ko aaj sajaana hai
ghar hum ko aaj sajaana hai
wo aayen na aayen yahaan sajni. . .
———————————————————-
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————-
वो आयें ना आयें यहाँ सजनी
वो आयें ना आयें यहाँ सजनी
घर हमको आज सजाना है
घर हमको आज सजाना है
वो देखें ना देखें हमें उनको
वो देखें ना देखें हमें उनको
दिल अपना आज दिखाना है
दिल अपना आज दिखाना है
वो आयें ना आयें यहाँ सजनी
वो आयें ना आयें यहाँ सजनी
घर हमको आज सजाना है
घर हमको आज सजाना है
चाहे तुम तो कहानी बहुत ही पढ़ी
चाहे तुम तो कहानी बहुत ही पढ़ी
हमें अपना हाल सुनाना है
हमें अपना हाल सुनाना है
उनको अपनी कहते कहते
उनको अपनी कहते कहते
उनके दर पर मिट जाना है
उनके दर पर मिट जाना है
इस राह की खाक़ मिली जो हमें
इस राह की खाक़ मिली जो हमें
उनके कदमों का ठिकाना है
उनके कदमों का ठिकाना है
वो आयें ना आयें यहाँ सजनी
वो आयें ना आयें यहाँ सजनी
घर हमको आज सजाना है
घर हमको आज सजाना है
वो आयें ना आयें यहाँ सजनी॰ ॰ ॰
Kyun hamne diya dil
Posted on: August 11, 2018
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog.This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3676 | Post No. : | 14564 |
Today’s song is from film Watan-1938.
This was a film made by Sagar Movietone. Those days, Sagar was a powerful film making company. They had the best of directors, big stars and MDs. Directors like Mehboob. Sarvottam Badami, Chimanlal Luhar, Ramchandra Thakur, Zia Sarhadi, Ezra Mir ( real name Edwyn Meyers), Virendra Desai,Nanubhai Vakil etc gave famous and popular films. However, not all films made by Sagar were High Class. Film ” Watan” was also one such film, which probably worked as a ‘ filler ‘ for Sagar. 1937 and 1938 were the Golden years for Sagar, in which the company gave popular films like Jagirdar-37, Mahageet-37, Gramophone singer-38 and 300 days and after-38.
Film Watan-38 had a cast of Kumar, Bibbo, Sitara Devi,Maya Banerjee, Yakub and other regulars of Sagar. The film also included Ram Marathe ( credited as Ramchandra), who became a very famous classical singer in later years. The film was directed by Mehboob and the music was by Anil Biswas. Initially Sagar had their favourite MD, S.P.Rane, who was a Maharashtrian from Gujarat. Out of Sagar’s first 18 films, Rane was MD for 15 films. Anil Biswas was associated with Sagar from film Manmohan-36, as an assistant to Ashok Ghosh. Independently, his first film was Jagirdar-37. Later he gave music to 11 more films of Sagar and 2 films of National Studios. he and director mehboob Khan teamed up in 6 films and were very good fiends-till a misunderstanding cropped up, after Sagar merged into National Studios. After this they never worked as a Team.( In 1956, Anil Biswas gave music to film Paisa hi Paisa, made by Mehboob Productions . However, the film’s director was Mehrish- who had insisted for Anil Biswas- and not Mehboob. During the film’s making, Mehboob avoided meeting AB and even left on foreign tour without meeting him even once ! ).
The Hero of the film Watan-38 was Kumar. Actually his real name was Syed Hasan Ali Zaidi. The change of his name to Kumar was part of an interesting story. Anyway, one can easily say that Kumar was the pre-cursor to the unlimited crop of various Kumars that we saw in the decades of 50s onwards.
In Hindi film industry, changing the name of the artiste was nothing new. One thing is sure. This trend of changing names was started by Kumar only. Many actresses changed their names after coming in films. Some did it because they wanted to hide their religion and some did it as there were artistes with the same name already in films. For example, Shyama. There were already 2-3 Khurshids in the films and her real name was Khurshid, so she changed it. Similarly, Meena Shorey’s name was also Khurshid. Some of the actresses who changed their names were, Jyoti, Renuka Devi, Purnima, Meena kumari, Madhubala, Rattanbai, Madhuri, Pramila, Sabita Devi, Bimla kumari, Indira Devi, Latika, Seeta Devi, Manorama, Nadira, Meera etc etc.
In case of male actors, the name changing percentage was mush less. Few cases like Ashok kumar, Kishore kumar,Ranjan,Dilip kumar,Manhar Desai and some more can be counted. Male name changing was seen in as late period as the 80s and 90s too. Cases in point are Rajesh khanna, Akshay kumar etc etc.
Actor KUMAR was born in the prestigious family of Syed s of Lucknow-UP in India,on 23-9-1903.His real name was SYED HASSAN ALI ZAIDI.
His family used to call him MIJJAN Miyan.
He was a handsome and tall person.He was keen on joining cinema,so he came to Calcutta and joined New Theatres. After doing side roles in Subah ka Tara and Zinda lash,he was hero in PURAN BHAGAT in 1933.Even Saigal was also in the film.The film was about to be released and suddenly communal riots broke out in Calcutta.The new Theatre management found it difficult to announce a muslim name of the hero of PURAN BHAGAT,in the tense atmosphere of Calcutta.The director of the film was kumar Debaki Bose,a person from a Royal family.He took a dicision and told Mijjan,” from today,I am giving you a part of my name.You will become KUMAR now.”This solved the film release problem and thus his name became KUMAR,then onwards.Truly enough,Debki Bose,thereafter, never used his name Kumar again in his life !
After doing Yahudi ki Larki,Kumar came to Bombay. First he worked in Sagar ( 5 films) , Imperial (2 films)and then joined Ranjit Studios.
In 1939,he married another actress PRAMILA ,who was actually a Jew, Esther williams. Pramila was later India’s FIRST Miss India in 1947.They got a son and a daughter Naqi Jehan(who too became a Miss India in 1967,exactly 20 tears after her mother. Naqi acted opposite Rajesh Khanna in Akhari Khat,as a Heroine.Later she married into the business family of Kamdar of Bombay and became mrs.Nandini Kamdar. Kumar had 3 sons from his earlier marriage.
Kumar did many films in Ranjit,but in 1942,he was removed from Ranjit.At the same time,his friend,CHANDRAMOHAN also left Minerva Movietone( reason-despite PUKAR-39 being a blockbuster,his salary was not increased inspite of a promise by Sohrab modi).They both decided to lauch own company and on 16-3-1942,SILVER FILM CO. was launched.Its first film was Jhankaar.They produced Bhalai,Bade Nawab Saab,Devar,Naseeb,Dhun and Bahana.Kumar acted in these films.he also directed Dhun and Bahana.
He produced and directed Aap-Beeti-1948 under his company,Kumar Studios.Then under Shama prodn. he made Nahle pe dehla,Dhoom Dham and Dilbar.
later in life he made badal aur bijlee and jungle king under Artists United films. Kumar worked in 73 films as an actor from 1932 to 1963.
From Najma in 1943,Kumar did only character roles in films like bhishm pratigya,Dayara,mahal,Shri 420,khiladi,Maalik,Baiju Bawra,yahudi ki ladki. His memorable role was in Mughal e Azam,that of the sculptor and a famous song-‘Aye mohabbat zindabad’ was shot on him. His last film was Raat aur Din (released in 1967)
In 1963, Kumar migrated to Pakistan, and started to work in Pakistani films without any delay. His son, S. A. Hafiz, who made Tauba, later became one of the best and well known directors of the country. Later he settled in USA. Kamal and Zeba played the lead in Tauba, which became a grand success. Kumar worked in quite a few Pakistani films, including Head Constable, Azad, Shabnam, Naela, Saiqa, Sajda (his own film), Hum Dono, Nadya Ke Paar, Ik Musaflr Ik Hasina, Baalam etc. Kumar died in 1982.
Film Watan-38 was directed by Mehboob Khan. He directed 8 films for Sagar and 1 (Aurat) for National Studios. This film, with a Muslim cultural backdrop, was released on the day of Eid. The film was dominated by grand sets and costumes. The story was usual. Conflict between Kazak and Tatar communities, lasted many generations. The film was a complete entertainment package, consisting of Dances, songs, war scenes, Enemity, Revenge, overwhelming costumes and love scenes, in a proportionate manner.
The music was composed by A.Biswas. All songs were written by Wajahat Mirza. Today’s song, ” Kyun hum ne diya dil ” by Sitara Devi was the most popular song of the film. There were total 10 songs. One of the songs-a duet by Anil Biswas and Bibbo was based on the tune made by kazi nazrul Islam ( Nazrul Geeti).
Today’s song is extremely enchanting and I would list it as the best song of Sitara Devi ( she sang 100 songs in 33 films). It truly sounds as a sad and remorseful song. The words of the song remind me of a duet by Surendra and Shamshad begum ” Kyun unhe dil diya” from film Anokhi Ada-48, composed by Naushad.
Song-Kyun hamne diya dil (Watan)(1938) Singer-Sitaara Devi, Lyrics-Wajahat Mirza, MD-Anil Biswas
Lyrics
Kyun ham ne diya dil
thha kiska ishaara
Kyun ham ne diya dil
thha kiska ishaara
aur kis ne kaha thha
ham tumse kahen kya
aur kis ne kaha thha
ham tumse kahen kya
Kyun ham ne diya dil
tha kiska ishaara
Kyun ham ne diya dil
wo khwaabon mein aana
dil mera churaana
wo khwaabon mein aana
dil mera churaana
aur deke ye jaana
aur deke ye jaana
kyun kaisa liya dil
aur keh ke ye jaana
kyun kaisa liya dil
kyun hamne diya dil
aankhon ka ishaara
kyun hamne diya dil
parwaana na aata
kyun shola jalaata
parwaana na aata
kyun shola jalaata
kabhi ishq bulaata(?)
kabhi ishq bulaata(?)
kaahe ko diya dil
ab ishq bulaata
kaahe ko diya dil
donon ne diya dil
aashiq(?) ka ishaara
kyun hamne diya dil
Kaahe ko byaahi bades
Posted on: August 7, 2018
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3672 | Post No. : | 14552 |
Today’s song is from film Jailor-1938, made by Minerva Movietone and directed by Sohrab Modi.
Thousands and thousands of actors, directors and musicians worked in this film industry, since films started. Not all of them are known or remembered by people. 95 % of these people are not remembered today. Most names had no faces. They were in the films without any specific personal identity. 5% names are known to many, but it is the special few names which became permanently etched in the minds of people.
You can ask 10 persons to list out 10 names of film personalities, who gave their major contribution or were famous so much that they can not be forgotten. On checking this list of 100 people, you will find certain names repeated in almost every list. Names like Saigal, Dilip kumar, Dev Anand, Rajkapoor, Ashok kumar and Sohrab Modi are certain to be in all the lists. Their contribution to Hindi cinema is unmatched.
Sohrab Modi is remembered fondly by the film buffs for his towering personality, solid voice and his forceful dialogue delivery. Actually, Modi was much more than that. He was the first and the only film maker who took up Historical subjects to make films that left a long lasting impression on the film goers. He loved to do the roles of Historical persons ( actual or mythical) and deliver long dialogues in his resonant voice, clear diction and superb voice modulation.
Sohrab Modi developed these qualities from his stage acting days. In his growing up age at Rampur, he had spent hours in the library of the local Nawab, where his father worked as a Superintendent. This gave him a command on Urdu language. Added to this was his brother Rustom’s drama company ” The Arya Subodh Natak Mandali” in which he acted. In 1935, the brothers set up the ” Stage Films ” to film the two dramas, namely Hamlet aka Khoon ka khoon and Sayeed E Hawas, based on Shakespeare’s play King John, as movies. However, these movies did not do too well, as the audience had seen them on stage several times.
Modi’s Minerva Movietone was established in 1936 by Sohrab Modi and his brother Rustom. It emerged from Stage Films, set up in 1935 to film the stage repertoire of Rustom’s group, Arya Subodh Natak Mandali. Renowned for big-budget historicals, the studio benefited from the Modi family’s existing distribution interests in Gwalior, expanded by the third brother, Keki Modi, into Western India Theatres, owning a chain of 27 theatres in 10 cities. Set up the first Technicolor laboratory (1952) with Film Group and made Jhansi Ki Rani (1953). From 1936 to 1960 Minerva made 28 films. A very impressive score indeed. Modi directed 20 of them. In all Modi acted in 32 films and directed 27 films.
In 1937, Modi made a film ‘Atma Tarang”…..which was a disaster at the box office with just 20 persons in the audience. He was devastated and decided to quit making films. After the show, 4 persons from the audience came to him and congratulated him for making this nice film. They wished him all the best for his future films and left. Later Modi came to know that they were Bombay High court judges. This incident infused him with new hopes and enthusiasm. This changed his life. Initially he focused on making films on social evils like Drinking (Meetha Zehar-38), Husband-wife separation ( Divorce-38) and Incest ( Bharosa-40 ).
However, making film Pukar-39 changed his outlook and set his goals for the future’ for Historical films. Pukar-39 was actually shot in real courts and Mughal Palaces to give it authenticity. For his next film Sikander-41, he brought in Prithwiraj Kapoor for the role of Sikander and he himself took the role of Porus. The film employed high values of Costumes and Props of that era. The entire film was , however, shot with only one camera. His third film was Prithvi Vallabh-43, which was an adaptation of K.M.Munshi’s novel. In this film Modi enacted a dangerous stunt scene of being trampled to death by an Elephant.
His last Historical film was “Jhansi ki Rani”-53. he had hired the best Hollywood technicians. it was shot directly on 35 mm film, and was in technicolor. Modi had borrowed real weapons from Defence ministry, for the shootings. His next film ‘ Mirza Ghalib-54’ won President’s Gold medal ( now called the National Awards), to become the First Hindi film to win it. However this and his next film ‘ Nausherwan E Adil’-57 could not save Minerva’s from running into loss. It made only 2 more films- Jailor-58 and Mera Ghar mere bachhe-60, before closing down production.
Sohrab Modi was probably the only film maker in Hindi films, who handled many genres like Historical, religious, musical, Costume, Social, Action, Reformative, War, psycho Analytical etc etc.
Sohrab Modi was born in Parsi family on 2nd November, 1897. His parents were Parsi civil Servants. For few years he stayed among Parsi community in Bombay. Sohrab Modi childhood was spent with lot of activities. As he grew up, he displayed more interest in exercise and sports. He was seriously sick several times during his childhood and he had to be hospitalized a few times as well. All that led to his tall but thin physique. Later on he was very active. In school he was an average student, he never got hooked to History subject. Many times teacher complained to his his parents for lagging behind in history subject. His parents left no stones unturned to make him study but it all those efforts went in vain.
But Sohrab was good in sports and from childhood he was interested in exercise which helped him to develop his personality in stage acting. Later he shifted with his family to Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. At the age of 14 -15 his mind absorbed many interesting things in acting as he watched silent movies. Soon his mind got diverted toward stage acting.
Sohrab Modi only acted as an extra or side role which was not very helpful to him in furthering his career. But Sohrab was bidding for his time looking for the opportunity where he could act as a leading actor. Very soon he got an opportunity and made his breakthrough. Soon He earned the reputation as Shakespearean actor. Sohrab Modi’s elder brother Rustom helped him in stage acting and people appreciated Sohrab Modi’s acting.
As Sohrab grew up, his personality kept developing. His personality suited the role of king. His portrayal of King in his two plays ‘Khoon Ka Khoon’ and ‘Saed-E-havas’ were additional feathers in his acting cap.
Sheesh Mahal was one of the better movies by Sohrab Modi. It was observed that even blind people were sitting on booked seats. But they put there head down and heard the voice and dialogues of Sohrab Modi. It was for first time in history of cinema that Blind people had tears in there eyes while hearing the dialogues of Sohrab Modi. When one Blind man wasa asked how he enjoyed movie without watching the set up, the Blind man replied that he watched the movie from his heart and heard the dialogues which enabled him to visualise what was going on and so he was able to understand the movie. Ticket Money of these audience were refunded.
In 1976 Sohrab had complained about weakness and headache which were cured by common home remedies and he kept acting in the roles of father and grandfather. Sohrab Modi health kept deteriorating and he had to be hospitalised in 1979 but the true cause of his sickness could not be diagnosed. Sohrab Modi himself never believed that he was sick and he never allowed any Doctor to do any proper diagnosis of his ill health. His common dialogues to doctors were ‘Sher kabi bimar nahi padta Aur agar main bimar Hu to mai jald theek ho jaunga’. His heavy voice was enough to reassure Doctors that all was well and he was discharged within two days.
Soon after completing Razia Sultan, he had started new movie ‘Guru Dakshina’. But unfortunately this film was never completed. In 1981 or 1982 he was again hospitaled. Whole Kapoor Family visited the hospital to convince him to get all checking done. Doctors were 90% sure that Sohrab had cancer since the symptoms of Sohrab indicated that. Sohrab Modi was soon found to have cancer and immediately medications were bought from other countries. His condition led to his frequently hospitalisation. His kept losing weigh. He tried to involved himself to complete his ‘Guru Dakshina’ but his health did not allow him to do that.
On 2nd November 1984, at the age of 86, Sohrab Modi took breathed his last.
Today’s song is “Kaahe Ko Byaahi Bides”. This is a famous song by Amir Khusro. This has been used in several films like, Jhankaar-42, Heer Ranjha-48,Nadir Shah-68,Suhag Raat-48, Maang bharo sajna-80 and Umrao Jaan-2009, in addition to today’s song from film Jailor-38. It is also sung as a NFS by many famous singers. Mostly in films, the original song is mixed with some new lyrics and the credit is given to film’s lyricist. In film Jailor-38 too, the lyricist’s name is given as Kamal Amrohi.
Amir Khusrow ( 1253 to 1325 ) was a Sufi mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya. He lived for 72 years, out of which 60 years he lived in the courts of as many as ten different rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. He was a poet as well as prolific musician. His primary language to write poems was Persian but he composed almost half a million verses in Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Braj Bhasha, Hindavi as well as the Khadi Boli. His Khaliq-e-bari, which is known as oldest printed dictionary of the world deals with Hindi and Persian words. He is regarded as the “father of qawwali”. He is also credited with enriching Indian classical music by introducing Persian and Arabic elements in it, and was the originator of the khayal and tarana styles of music. Khayal later reached to its zenith during the times of Mohammad Shah Rangile and today is integral part of Hindustani classical music. His association with various sultans enabled him to travel and stay in various parts of India and this gave him exposure to various local traditions. This helped him to assimilate diverse musical influences. He was patronized by three Khilji rulers successively.
The singer is Eruch Tarapore. He was a distant relative of Sohrab Modi and he worked only in Modi’s films. he worked in 16 films, right from Modi’s first film Hamlet-35 up to 1948. Eruch sang one song each in 3 films, Meetha zehar-38, Jailor-38 and Phir milenge-43. He died in 1948.
( credits- Cinestaan, Flash back-Isaq Mujawar, Hindi filmon ke geetkar, upperstall.com,MuVyz, HFGK and my notes.)
Song-Kaahe ko byaahi bades(Jailor)(1938) Singers- Eruch Tarapore, Lyrics-Kamal Amrohi, MD-Meer Sahab
Lyrics
kaahe ko byaahi bades
arey sun baabal mora
kaahe ko byaahi bades
arey sun
ham to baabul torey jhaad ki chidiya
ham to baabul torey jhaad ki chidiya
meh barsat udd jaayen re
meh barsat udd jaayen re
baabal mora
kaahe ko byaahi bades
[Ed Note: ‘meh’ = megh, baadal]
Siddhraaj Jaago Aaj
Posted on: July 2, 2018
- In: Actor-Singer song | Appealing to the Almighty | Biography of actors | Biography of artists | Biography of Directors | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Guest posts | Lyrics by Sudhir | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Prof Ramanand Songs | Rare song | Song of 1938 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 4 Comments
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3636 | Post No. : | 14464 |
Today’s song is from a very old film, ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ from 1938.
It is generally said that in this era, most actors and actresses came from poor families and most artists had no or had negligible education. While it is true to a great extent, it is not 100% true. It is not that even in this period, there were no educated persons in the film industry. Right from the beginning of the silent era to talkie film era up to the end of the 1940s decade, there were actors, actresses, directors, producers and musicians who were quite educated. Some of them had even been trained in western countries.
Take the case of Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani and their team of writers like Niranjan Pal, from the silent era. They were all highly educated and from rich, cultured families. Niranjan Pal was the son of the freedom fighter Bipin Chandra Pal. BN Sircar is another example. Director Nanubhai Vakil was actually an advocate with BA LLB degree. Surendra was BA, LLB. Motilal was a graduate, so were Ramchandra Thakur, Nandlal Jaswantlal, Jayant Desai, Jairaj, Umakant Desai. Ashok kumar, Dev Anand and his 2 brothers etc.
Among actresses, Leela Chitnis, Shanta Apte, Durga Khote, Renuka Devi were graduates. Vanmala was BA, BT. Kamini Kaushal was BA. The point here is, that educated and people with respectable family background were also a part of the film industry. But of course, initially their number was smaller compared to others who were either illiterate or less educated. For example, the beautiful Meena Shorey and Sitara Kanpuri could not even sign – leave alone reading and writing! That is why, they were cheated in their contracts by Sohrab Modi and WZ Ahmed (of Shalimar Pictures and husband of actress Neena).
In the film under discussion today – ‘Himalay Ki Beti, the hero, heroine and the director were all highly educated. The heroine, Enakshi Ram Rao was the daughter of an ICS officer of Madras Presidency. She came to England for her graduation. After graduation, she took part in some stage dramas, where she got introduced to Niranjan Pal and Himanshu Rai. When Himanshu Rai decided to make a silent film on the story of Taj Mahal, he asked Niranjan Pal to write the film story. Sita Devi aka Renee Smith was selected for the vamp’s role and Enakshi was selected for the main role of Selima (who was later named Mumtaj Mahal by Prince Khurram – who was later known as Shahjehan.). The film was named ‘Shiraz’ (1928).
Enakshi is a very unusual name. Comparatively, Meenakshi is a well known name. Meenakshi means ‘one with eyes like a fish’. Enakshi means ‘one with the eyes of doe or deer’. In other words, Enakshi means Mrignayani. Except name of this actress, I have never ever come across this name (Enakshi) in my life elsewhere!
Her work in film ‘Shiraz’ was applauded in England, Germany and India. When she returned to India, She met Bhavnani, who made a silent film ‘Vasantsena’ (1931), with her in the lead role. More than as an actress of silent and talkie films, Enakshi’s name was known in elite circles for different achievements, after she stopped working in films.
Not many of us know that Enakashi Bhavnani (Enakshi Rama Rao before her marriage) has done an enormous service to bring Indian dances and designs to the western world. She made immense contribution to bring the Kashmir handicrafts and designs (fabric, wood and papier-mâché) to the west. An American tourist told in Kerala recently about her detailed work on Kashmir designs (shawls, jackets etc.). This side of Enakshi’s personality and work is in addition to her contribution as a dancer, photographer and actress. Two scholarly books written by Enakshi Bhavnani were also published. Both the books are preserved in the American Museum of Natural History. These are,
(1) Folk And Tribal Designs of India, and
(2) The Dance of India: The Origin and History, Foundation, Art and Science of the Dance in India .
This exceptionally talented woman stayed in Kashmir for sometime in 1950 and met a cross section of people connected with arts and crafts. She had been a visitor thereafter as well. She also visited Leh and Kargil for her book. During this period she also clicked some photographs in Kashmir portraying its rich culture and scenic beauty. She also shot a documentary ‘Valley Of Kashmir’ during this period.
Enakshi was an active membmer of the Crafts Council of India, which was founded in 1964 to support artisans and keep their crafts relevant and marketable amid rapidly changing economies at home and abroad. The photographs clicked by her have also appeared in National Geographic magazine, especially her series. And in her book on folk dances of India, Enakshi covers all forms folk dances of Kashmir.
Enakshi married film maker Mohan Bhavnanai (1903-1962) who was trained in Germany and Hollywood. She was a dancer, actor, photographer and writer on arts, crafts and culture. From 1929 to 1938, she acted in six films as a leading lady. Out of these six films, five, namely ‘Vasantsena’ (1931), ‘Trapped’ (1931), ‘Jaagaran’ (1936) , ‘Himalaya Ki Beti’ (1938) and ‘Yangrilla’ (1938) were directed by her husband Mohan Bhavnani. Only ‘Shiraz’ (1928) produced by Himanshu Roy was directed by Franz Osten.
Producer director Mohan Bhavnani was a learned and illustrious person. This is what the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema says about him-
Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani (1903-62)
Hindi director born in Hyderabad, Sind. Studied at College of Technology, Manchester (1921-4), then studied film-making in Germany at UFA (1924). Contracted to Kohinoor (1925-6) where his Sulochana? films were the earliest efforts in the Indian cinema to create a Hollywood-type movie star, e.g. Cinema Ni Rani where she plays a famous actress with whom the painter hero falls in love, or Wildcat of Bombay where she played multiple roles. Joined Imperial (1927-9), where he made Khwab-e-Hasti, adapted from the novel Dreamland (later also adapted by N. Taurog’s Strike me Pink, 1936). Scripted by A.S. Desai, this film is not to be confused with Kashmiri?’s play of the same title. Vasantsena was the first Kannada intertitled film. Became independent producer with Indian Art Prod. (1931-2). Returned to Germany to study sound film technique. Started Ajanta Cinetone (1933-4) and his own Bhavnani Prod. (1935-48). Sound début was a flop, but it introduced Dur ga Khote. Hired Premchand to script Mazdoor, representing the author’s only direct encounter with film, following it with the unemployment melodrama Jagran. Produced and directed the first full-length colour film shot on 16mm Kodachrome and blown up to 35mm, Ajit. Joined Films Division and became its first Chief Producer (1948-55). In 1958 Bhavnani followed up an invitation from Zhou En-Lai to make a documentary on China and travelled extensively throughout the country shooting with cameramen Kishore Rege and S.K. Kulkarni. His wife Enakshi Rama Rao, who acted in Vasantsena, had earlier played the lead in Shiraz (1928) and became a noted dancer and author of the book The Dance of India (1965).FILMOGRAPHY: 1925: Cinema Ni Rani; Matri Prem; Veer Bala; Seth Sagalsha; 1 9 2 6 : Pagal Premi; Diwan Bhamasha; Mena Kumari; Ra Kawat; Samrat Shiladitya; Bhamto Bhoot; 1 9 2 7 : Naseeb Ni Lili; Daya Ni Devi; Trust Your Wife; Wildcat of Bombay; Gamdeni Gori; 1929: Hawai Swar; Khwab-e- Hasti; Mysore, Gem City of India (Doc); Khedda (Doc); 1 9 3 0 : Vasantsena (all St); 1 9 3 1 : Shakuntala; Farebi Jaal; Lafanga Langoor (Sh); 1 932: Veer Kunal; 1 933: Afzal; Rangila Rajput; 1 9 3 4 : Dard-e-Dil; Mazdoor; Sair-e-Paristan; 1935: Jung Bahadur; Navjeevan; Shadi Ki Raat; 1936: Dilawar; Garib Parwar; Jagran; Wrestling (Doc); 1 9 3 7 : Zambo the Ape Man; 1 9 3 8 : Double Cross; Himalay Ki Beti; Yangrilla; 1 9 3 9 : Zambo Ka Beta; 1940: Jhoothi Sharm; PremNagar?; 1945: Biswi Sadi; 1 946: Rang Bhoomi; 1 948: Ajit; 1 9 4 9 : Vale of Kashmir (Doc); 1 9 5 0 : The Private Life of a Silkworm (Doc); 1 9 5 1 : Lest We Forget (Doc); 1 9 5 2 : Kumaon Hills (Doc); 1 9 5 3 : Folk Dances of India (Doc); Republic Day Record (Doc); 1 9 5 5 : Republic Day 1955 (Doc); 1 956: Operation Khedda (Doc); 1 957: The Himalayan Tapestry (Doc)
The film ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ had 11 songs. Today’s song is sung by Prof Ramanand. He had 4 solos and 1 duet with Enakshi. She had 2 solos. One song was by Maya Chatterjee. There is no information in HFGK about the balance 3 songs. Pt Badri Prasad had given the music. I heard 4 more songs from this film, but all are copies of stage style songs. Prof Ramanand, the actor and the singer was different than Swamy Ramanand, the lyricist in few films.
The hero of the film was Prof Pt Ramanand Sharma. If you are a regular listener of radio early in the mornings,you would have heard many Bhajans sung by Sharma Brothers of Shriram Darbar. These four brothers – Gopal, Shukdev, Kaushalendra and Raghavendra are the sons of this Ramanand Sharma. These Sharma brothers have sung the famous Bhajan “Sooraj Ki Garmi Se” from the film ‘Parinay’ (1972). Ramanand was the singing hero of many early talkie films like ‘Noor-e-Islam’ or ‘Aurat Ka Dil’ (1934) and ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ (1938). He also sang many songs in other films. After his work in ‘Premnagar’ (1940), RC Boral of the New Theatres, Calcutta came down to Bombay and took Ramanand to Calcutta to act in films. But Ramanand was fed up with the film world and decided to only sing Ram Bhajans for his Shri Ram Darbar which he had established. He went back to Muzaffarpur and used to sing Ram Bhajans all over India. His 7 albums were released by HMV.
Here is a rare song from a rare film, ‘Himalay Ki Beti’ (1938). The film makes its debut on the blog.
[Author’s Note: Credits – Chinar Shade, autarmota.blogspot.com, HFGK, MuVyz, Wikipedia, indiancine.ma, and my notes.]
Song – Siddhraaj Jaago Aaj (Himalay Ki Beti) (1938) Singer – Prof Ramanand, Lyrics – Pt Narottam Vyas, Music – Pt Badri Prasad
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
jaaa..aa..aa..go..oo..o
sidhraaj jaago aaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
padi hai vipat gaaj
padi hai vipat gaaj
bigade banaawo kaaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
tum ho paropkaari
tum ho paropkaari
duniya jaanat saari
duniya jaanat saari
meri raakho laaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
charan pada hoon aaye
charan pada hoon aaye
sharnaagat sahaaye
sharnaagat sahaaye
tum naam di awaaj (??)
sidhraaj jaago aaj
sidhraaj jaago aaj
sidhraa..aa..aa..aaj
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
जा॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰गो॰॰ओ॰॰ओ
सिद्धराज जागो आज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
पड़ी है विपत गाज
पड़ी है विपत गाज
बिगड़े बनावो काज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
तुम हो परोपकारी
तुम हो परोपकारी
दुनिया जानत सारी
दुनिया जानत सारी
मेरी राखो लाज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
चरण पड़ा हूँ आए
चरण पड़ा हूँ आए
शरणागत सहाय
शरणागत सहाय
तुम नाम दी आवाज (??)
सिद्धराज जागो आज
सिद्धराज जागो आज
सिद्धरा॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰आज
Recent comments