Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs

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.

Today’s song is from a film of the first decade of the Talkie films- Rikshawala aka Bhola Raja-1938.

In India, documentation of old films, songs, actors and other artistes of the film industry, is extremely poor. The major part of the responsibility being with the Government, it was all the more in poor condition For Historical data maintenance work, dedicated people are required to do the proper caring. In Govt. offices, this was expecting too much. Thus occasional fires engulfing heritage films, books, documentaries etc and frequent theft or loss of books and other materials from the archives was not surprising.

Of course, everything and all the time, it was not that there were no good peoplein Govt. Agencies. It is because if such rare good and capable people only, we have today, whatever is available in the Govt. archives. The common feeling in India is that Govt. should look after everything under the Sun. Have the people no responsibility or accountability towards preservation of Heritage ? Go to any Heritage Temple, building or structure, you will invariably find that Lovers have carved their names on stones and walls, as if the world was eager to know ! So much for public awareness !! I feel, these things have to be taught from primary school level onwards only. We have failed miserably to inculcate National pride, Nationalism and Patriotism in our newer generations, from their childhood. These things have only remained to symbolically unfurl Flags and sing National Anthem on Independence Day !

Luckily, as far as Film history is concerned,there are some people who, on their own, try to preserve old film data and other related matters to the best of their capabilities. Record collectors, song collectors, old film magazine collectors, films and books collectors, poster collectors and those who open up their valuable collections to the general public free of charge are worthy of appreciation. They are doing a great service to preservation of history.

Apart from these, those who upload old and rare song videos on You Tube or other social medias, for use of anybody and everybody are also doing yeoman’s service to hindi film music. It is another thing that some selfish uploaders upload incomplete songs,but there are good people like Shalin Bhatt, Alaknanda, Girdharilal Wishwakarma ji, Sadanand Kamath ji,our own Sudhir ji, Atul ji, Javed bhai etc who upload not only complete but also rare songs on Internet. My sincere thanks to these Noble Souls.

In addition there are some less known Blogs who do a great job in this field. Most people are totally unaware of one such Blog run by an American-Mike Barnum ji. On his Blog Mike has written on atleast 100+ only C grade action and stunt films alone. He has made classification by different Generes also, like Jungle films, Mystery films, Murder films, Horror films etc etc. There are Photos, posters, cast details, film stories and short Bios of unknown C grade artistes. Once you go to his Blog, you get lost for a long time. It is a great work, involving a neglected Genre of Hindi films, which was once upon a time, a very popular film variety for certain audiences. I thank him profusely for this service. thanks, Mike Barnum ji.

Why I am writing all this is, most people are unaware of these things and they must know the good work done by these people also. Many times I use song videos uploaded by Shalin ji Bhatt. They are clean, clear, full and rare most times. Thanks, Shalin ji.

Today’s film, churned out from the Ranjit factory was not a stunt film, but a social film. The Music Director was Gyan Dutt. The lyrics were by the young Pyarelal Santoshi, who became very famous writer and a director later on. The cast consisted of Mazhar Khan, Ila Devi, Wasti, Indubala, Charlie, Dikshit and Ghori, Waheedan Bai, Tara bai etc. The film was directed by Ezra Mir.

Some of the Senior readers, in the bracket of 55 to 75 years of age would recollect the Indian Documentaries made by Ezra Mir, shown before almost every film in the theatres. Indian News Reel and these documentaries on various subjects were actually used as a facility to enter the theatre late and still catch the whole movie from the beginning. These documentaries were made mostly by Ezra Mir and the voice over used to be that of Pratap Sharma usually. ( his younger brother Mahesh Sharma was my good friend in those days).

Ezra Mir was one of the rare persons who worked in the famous Hollywood studios for a considerable time, before he came to India and got involved in making films here. He was also a rare person who, despite being in great demand in the commercial cinema, chose to join a Government organisation and did a monumental significant work for the future generations. For a long time, I was thinking him to be a Muslim man, but at a much later date, I came to know that he was a Jew person.

Ezra Mir ( real name Edwyn Meyers) was born on 26-10-1902 at Calcutta. After completing his education, he joined Madon Theatres in 1921. In 1923, he left for Europe and America to work in film industry. After doing bit roles in Rudolph Valentino’s films in Long Island, New York and working for First National Biograph Studios, he joined the Universal studios as a ” Film Cutter ” and later as a Scenario writer. By his diligent and hard work he became the chief of story Department in United Artistes. In 1929, he wrote and directed a film ‘ Simbolisque ‘, which created a sensation in the film circle there.

With the advent of the Talkie, he came back to India , joined Imperial Film co. and made film Noorjehan-31 in Hindi and English. In 32-33, he joined Sagar movietone and directed Zarina-32, Pagal premee-33 and Farzand e Hind-34. Then Ezra went to Calcutta. After doing some films he came back and made documentaries on second world war. In 1940, he was appointed by the Govt. on Film Advisory Board. In 1942, when V.Shantaram left as its head, he became the head. From 1942 to 1946, he made 170 documentaries.

In 1951 he joined Films Division and in 1956, became its President. In his tenure here, he made 400 documentaries. In 1970 he got ‘ Padmashri ‘. Ezra Mir died on 7-3-1993. His Filmography is Noorjehan-31, Zarine-32, Pagal premi-33, Farzand e Hind-34, Mera Pyara and Rasheeda-35,Jeevan Sangram, Parivartan,Rajdulari and Shaitan ka pash-36, Rikshawala-38,Sitara-39, Beete din-47, pamposh-54 and Raju aur gangaram-64.

Another interesting artiste in this film was Indubala. Indubala’s mother was Rajabala, who along with sister Matibala and brother Tinkary worked in Motilal Bose’s The Great Bengal Circus, also known as Bose’s Circus or Professor Bose’s Circus. Harimati was the eldest sister of Rajabala and had a different life. Rajabala performed mainly as a trapeze artiste and got married to Motilal Bose at a temple in Ujjain, India. At the time he was then in his forties while Rajabala was still a teenager. The marriage was never accepted as legal by Motilal’s family. Motilal Bose’s first wife was Mrs. Annadamohini Devi.

Indubala was born in Novenber, 1899 at Amritsar, where the circus party had gone for performance. Indu was born premature and Dr. Bidhumukhi Basu was taken to Amritsar from Calcutta to attend to Rajabala. Such was the affection and concern of the husband for his young wife. Motilal’s interest in Rajabala dwindled later, supposedly because Rajabala showed no interest in going back to the circus after Indu’s birth and soon she was left to fend for herself. She came to Calcutta with her daughter and was given shelter by a Jiban Krishna Ghosh, who remained loyal to her till his death and also played a major role in establishing Indubala in her life as a performer. Once in Calcutta, Rajabala trained herself as a singer and Indubala’s first training in music was from her mother. The initial plan was to train Indu as a nurse and she was admitted as a trainee in a hospital in the Pataldanga locality of Calcutta. Indu did not take fancy in the job and ran away from the hospital, much to the disappointment of her mother, who never wanted her only daughter to be forced into a life of indignity.

After this incident Indubala’s musical training started. Although her father ignored wife Rajabala completely, he remained fond of his daughter and kept in touch with her and often invited her to his ancestral home where he lived during his brief visits to Calcutta and sent her a monthly pocket money of Rupees twenty till his death. Indubala’s first performance was at a gathering of distinguished guests where her mother was the chief entertainer. Each one of the guests appreciated Indu’s singing and thus began her formal training from Gouri Shankar Mishraji. Indu was only about twelve then. This also marked the entry of Indubala into the red light world. Amongst her trainers were Kali Prasad Mishra, Elaahi Bux and Miss Gauhar Jaan. Apart from music, Miss Gauhar Jaan, credited as Prima Donna of India, Indu also learned etiquette from the elder artiste and developed a close friendship with her. This association provided Indu with valuable musical knowledge and experience.

In later years she took training from Girin Chakraborty, Kamal Dasgupta, Subal Dasgupta, Jamiruddin Khan and Kazi Nazrul Islam. In time she came to be one of the major exponents of Nazrul songs and her songs along with those of Miss Angurbala and Kamala Jharia are still referred to for authenticity of lyrics and tunes of Nazrul songs. In 1916, Indubala recorded her first songs. She was brought into the record circle by Bhagabati Charan Bhattacharya and Mr. Manindra Nath Ghosh, alias Mantababu, himself a gramophone singer of repute. The first songs published as record were Asha Phuraye Gelo, Sindhu Khambaj and Aar Mukhey Boley Ki Hobey, Kedara. The record number was P 4306. In the beginning she did not take any money from the Gramophone Company and as such was credited in the records as Miss Indubala (Amateur). She was not the first amateur artiste of the company but enjoyed the privilege of announcing her name at the end of each song saying “My name is Indubala”. The amateur status continued for a fairly long period. Later on she received Rupees two hundred per record and also received a royalty of five per cent over the sales. Her first songs of Nazrul on the disc were “Cheyona Sunayana” and “Rumjhum Rumjhum Ke Eley Nupur Paye”. The record number was P 11661. To Indubala also goes the credit of being the first Bengali artiste to record Hindustani songs for the Gramophone Company. For the Indian State Broadcasting Center, later named All India Radio, Indubala first sang on the second day of the radio company’s broadcasting in 1927 in Calcutta and went on singing in this medium for nearly fifty years. Over the radio, Indubala sang not only from Calcutta but from several other stations by special invitation all over India. Apart from discs and the radio, Indubala was well established by the thirties in cultural functions all over India. Frequent invitations used to come from Shahjahanpur, Pakur, Madras, Bangalore, Palanpur, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Oudh, Trivandrum, Vizagapattam, Ajmer, Qoembatore, Dacca and several other places.

In 1936 she was appointed court musician to His Highness, The Maharajah of Mysore. She received a monthly salary of Rupees two hundred and fifty and this continued till the time when the native princes faced withdrawal of privy purse. In all Indubala had recorded some two hundred and eighty songs, including about two hundred forty basic songs, the rest being from films. Indubala’s first stage appearance was in The Rambagan Female Kali Theatre, established by her mother Rajabala in 1922. Both mother and daughter took part in the plays and Indubala appeared in about twelve plays in this short-lived company which lasted for only two years and in 1924 she joined Calcutta’s most prestigious stage, The Star Theatre. She continued to appear on the stage mainly in singing roles and her songs were a major attraction in each of the plays. By rotation she acted in all the public theaters of Calcutta and even took part in the Hindi Parsee Theatre in 1945 and 1946, the plays being Ghar Ki Laaj and Jasoos. Her last appearance in the public stage was in the play Prithviraj in the role of Mehga at Star Theatre in 1950. Thereafter she worked in call shows till almost 1958.

Jamuna Puliney (1933) has been credited as her first film. This is probably because this was her first film contract although Ankh Ka Tara (1932) released before Jamuna Puliney. In all she acted in about forty eight films in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil languages. In most of them, she had songs as a major attraction or else did comic roles as in Bengali Indira (1937) and Hindi Deewali (1940) to name a few. She did the role of Dhai Ma in both the versions of Swamsidhha (1947). Thereafter she was not seen on the screen. As a playback singer she lent her voice in films like Alibaba (1937), Chandragupt (1934) in Hindi, Ab E Hayat (1933) in Urdu and Dil Ki Pyaas (1935) also in Urdu. She did not act in these four films. Indubala did not receive any major award apart from the Gold Disc given on behalf of His Master’s Voice. The government of India never considered her name for any award. The Sangeet Natak Academy however honoured her with a lifetime achievement award in 1975. The government of West Bengal, India however did arrange for a pension for which a lot of running about had to be done.

In personal life, Indubala was most humble and polite and bold in her behavior and was never ashamed to admit or discuss her origin. Even when established as a major singing artiste with an all India fame, she refused to move out to a respectable place leaving her residence in Rambagan, a notorious red light area of Calcutta. Indubala was got herself involved in voluntary work for the uplift of fallen women and worked actively for their rights in society through various organizations, which were patronized by top political leaders of the time. She had some interesting hobbies like writing poetry and collecting perfumes.

Even at old age all the empty perfume bottles were kept within her view. She was fond of jewellery too and had a great collection, either purchased or gifted by admirers. These valuables vanished when she was too unwell to keep track of them. Her contemporary artiste Miss Angurbala was a close friend with whom she confided and shared the joys and sorrows of life and this friendship lasted till the very end. Indubala adopted a nephew of her mother’s friend Jiban Krishna Ghosh. The boy’s name was Pranab Ghosh. This foster son did not look after her mother very much when in old age Indubala suffered from conditions like cataract and then paralytic stokes. It was Dr. Badan Sengupta who made necessary arrangement for her treatment She could not afford nursing homes and therefore was treated at state government hospitals in all occasions of illness.

The end came on the thirtieth day of November, 1984 after a prolonged illness during which again Dr. Badhan Sengupta looked after her as his own mother. Perhaps by coincidence her friend Angurbala died the same year.

I have not seen this film, nor have I got any idea about its storyline. 90% of Ranjit films were destroyed in a fire so there is no chance of seeing this film anymore. From the lyrics of the song, it seems to be a comedy song.

“Rickshaawaala” aka “Bhola Raja” (1938) makes its debut with this song.

( some information for this post has been used with thanks from an article by Dr. J.P.Guha in an adapted form, Filmdom-46, Bengali Cinema by B.C.Roy and my notes)

Song-Khatmal Ram ji Khatmal Ram ji tumko sau sau baar salaam (Rickshaawaala)(1938) Singer- Indubala, Lyrics- P L Santoshi, MD- Gyan Dutt

Lyrics

Khatmal Ram ji
Khatmal Ram
tumko sau sau baar salaam
Khatmal Ram ji
Khatmal Ram
tumko sau sau baar salaam
sone waale madhur neend mein
jab khurraate bharte
aa aa
sone waale madhur neend mein
jab khurraate bharte
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
sone waale madhur neend mein
jab khurraate bharte
lekar apni baaki toli
lekar apni baaki toli
tum ?? karte

Khatmal Ram ji
Khatmal Ram
tumko sau sau baar salaam
pahle pahar mein
bhogi jaage
dooje pahar mein rogi
hey ae
teeje pahar mein
???khu jaage
chauthe pahar mein jogi
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
apna apna kaam bhool kar
jo hain chup so jaate
aa aa aa
apna apna kaam bhool kar
jo hain chup so jaate
ang ang ek tedhi(?) kar ke
ang ang ek tedhi(?) kar ke
aake unhen jagaate
Khatmal Ram ji
Khatmal Ram
tumko sau sau baar salaaaam