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

Archive for the ‘Song of 1938’ Category


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 :

5375 Post No. : 17628

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Blog 10-Year Challenge (2013-2023) – Song No.63
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On this date ten years ago (6 April 2013), eight songs from eight different movies were covered in the blog. Here are the details:-

Post No Song Title Name of the movie Remarks
7831 Ek nek tabeeyat raaja thha Abhagin (1938) 5 songs covered out of 11 by now
7832 Naiyya dheere dheere jaana Chitralekha (1941) 4 songs covered out of 10 by now
7833 Sochta kya hai sudarshan ke chalaane waale Neelkamal(1947) Movie YIPPEED by now
7834 Ho tere bin meri zindagi kis kaam ki Suhaag Raat (1948) movie YIPPEED by now
7835 Nahin boloon nahin boloon Tamaasha(1952) 7 songs covered out of 8 by now
7836 Torey naina raseelry kateeley haay raam Hamdard (1953) Movie YIPPEED by now
7836 Jhoomo re jhoomne ke din aaye Fashionable Wife (1959) 4 songs covered out of 10 by now

We observe that four movies (out of eight) whose songs were covered on this date ten years ago (on 6 April 2013) have since been YIPPEED in the blog. That leaves us with four unYIPPEED movies that are eligible for Blog Ten Year Challenge today (6 april 2023).

“Abhaagin”(1938) is the oldest of the four BTYC eligible movies. This movie was directed by Prafull Roy for New Theatres, Calcutta. the movie had Molina, Vijay Kumar, Prithviraj, Devbala,Neemo,Bikram Kapoor, Menaka, Kamal Jharia, Chaman Puri, Trilok Kapoor etc in it.

“Abhaagin”(1938) had 11 songs in it. Five songs have been covered so far.

Here is the sixth song from the movie to appear in the blog. The song is sung by Molina devi. Lyricist is not known. Music is composed by R C Boral.

Only audio is available. The audio quality is very poor. Prakashchandra, who has sent me the lyrics of this song has done a great job deciphering large number of mostly undecipherable words. There are still some gaps where the song skips or the sounds are far too unclear. I request our readers with keener ears to help fill in the blanks and/or suggest corrections in the lyrics wherever applicable.

Seeing that Molina devi was the leading lady in the movie, it is clear that the song was picturised on herself.


Song-Nainan ke ansuwan se birhan aag bujha le man kee (Abhaagin)(1938) Singer-Molina Devi, MD-R C Boral

Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)

nainan aa
ke aey ae ae
ansuwan se ae birahan
aag bujhaa aa ley ae
man kee eeee ee eee
nainan ke ae ansuwan se ae
birahan aag bujhaa ley ae
man kee eeee eee ee

sochaa thaa aa aa dukhdey ae
nibtaayen ae ae
unn se miley ae ae
ro o roke sunaayein aen
sochaa thaa aa dukhdey ae
nibhtaayen ae ae
unn se miley ae ae
ro o roke sunaayein
aaj woh aas bhee toot gayee ab
man mein rah gayee man kee ee ee eee
ee eee eeee
nainan ke ae ansuwan se ae birahan
aag bujhaa le man kee eeee

roopnagar ???? koyaliyaa aaa
birahaa agnee ?? mein aen jal mar jaaye
????
roopnagar ?? sukh saad?/?? ?? koyaliyaa aaa
birahaa agnee ??? mein aen jal mar jaaye
thodey/??? tehro o
roley na dukhdaa aaa
thode/??? tehro o
roley na dukhdaa aa aaa
man mein rah gayee man kee ee ee eee
nainan aa ke ae ansuwan se ae birahan
aag bujhaa le ae man kee eeee
ee eeeee eeee
nainan ke ae ansuwan se ae ae birahan


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 :

5207 Post No. : 17192

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Blog 10-Year Challenge (2012-2022) – Song No. 116
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Ten years back on this date viz on 20th October 2012, two songs from two different movies were covered on the blog. Here are the details:-

Blog post number Song Movie (Year) Remarks
6874 Parmukh bani tu Kamla Madhuri (1932) 4 songs covered out of 16 by now
6875 Naachat jhoomat jaayen Gopal Krishna(1938) 2 songs covered out of 14 by now

We can observe that this date ten years ago (20 October 2012) was a lean day when only two songs from two different movies were covered. Both these movies are still unyippeed in the blog. So technically both these movies are eligible for Blog Ten Year Challenge today (20 october 2022).

“Gopal Krishna”(1938) which is one of two movies, was directed by V Damle and S Fattelal for Prabhat Films company. The movie had Ram Marathe(as Krishna), Shanta Apte(as Radha), Shankar (as Anay), Parashram (as Mansukh), Karuna Devi (as Yashodha), Manji Rao(as Nand), Ulhas (as Keshi), Prahlad(as Kansa), Kaushal etc in it.

“Gopal Krishna”(1938) had 14 songs in it. Two songs have been covered so far.

Here is the third song from “Gopal Krishna”(1938) to appear in the blog. The song is sung by Shanta Apte. The song is picturised on her alongwith Ram Marathe and Parashram.

Pt Anuj was the lyricist. Music was composed by Master Krishna Rao.

Lyrics of the song and other details were sent by Prakashchandra.

Video link


Audio link:

Song-Bachpan ka yaad aaya (Gopal Krishna)(1938) Singer-Shanta Apte, Lyrics-Pt Anuj, MD-Master Krishna Rao

Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)

haan haan haan haaan
haan aaan aaa haan aaan aaa aan aaa
bachpan ka yaad aayaa aaa
bachpan ka yaad aayaa aaa
bhoolaa huaa zamaanaa aan aan
bhoolaa huaa zamanaa aan aan
aaa aaan aaa aaa
gaatey thhe jab bhi milkar
haan aan aaan
gaatey thhe jab bhi milkar
sukh chain ka taraanaa
haan aan haan aaan
sukh chain ka taraanaa

jeevan kaa hai ae tu saahil
jeevan kaa hai ae tu saahil
hai dhanya bhaag meraa
hai ae dhanya bhaag meraa aaa aa
ab ek baar mohan
mohan
ab ek baar mohan
mohan
mohan mohan
ab ek baar mohan
murli..eee zaraa bajaanaa aan aaaan
aaa aaan aaa aaa
murli..eee zaraa bajaanaa
haan aa aaan
murli..eee zaraa bajaanaa aan
bajaanaa aaa
bajaanaaa aa aa
bajaanaa
murlee zaraa bajaanaa aan aa aa

gopon kaa hai tu pyaaraaa aa
gopon kaa hai tu pyaaraaa aa
gopon hai tu pyaaraaa aa
go jan ka hai sahaaraa aa aa aaa
hhaa aaa aaaa aaahhaaa aaa aaaa
godhan ka hai sahaara aaaa aaaa
godhan ka hai sahaara aaaa
nutan diye ki jyoti ee
nutan diye ki jyoti ee
mere liye jaagaanaaa aan aan aa aaa aa aaa
aan aa aaaa aaa
mere liye jagaanaa aa
haan aan aa aaan aaa
mere liye jagaanaa aa aaa


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 :

5200 Post No. : 17182

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Blog 10-Year Challenge (2012-2022) – Song No. 112
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Ten years back on this date viz on 13th October 2012, four songs from four different movies were covered on the blog. Here are the details:-

Blog post number Song Movie (Year) Remarks
6847 Barkha ki raat aayi manwaa Adhikaar(1938) 4 songs covered out of 7 by now
6848 Nazron ki duniya aabaad kar de Najma (1943) Movie YIPPEED by now
6849 Mohe le chal balam mele mein Laal Haweli(1944) 10 songs covered out of 11 by now
6850 Babu samjho ishaare horn pukaare Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi(1958) Movie YIPPEED by now

One can notie that two movies (out of four) whose songs were covered on this date ten years ago (13 october 2012) have since been YIPPEED. That leaves us with two movies whose songs are still available to be covered as Blog Ten Year Challenge today (13 october 2022).

“Adhikaar”(1938) is one of the two movies that is eligible for Blog Ten Year Challenge today (13 october 2022).

“Adhikaar”(1938) was directed by P C Barua for New Theatres, Calcutta. The movie had Jamuna, Menaka (devi) , Barua, Pahadi Sanyal, Pankaj Mallik, Jagadish Sethi, Rajalakshmi, Bikram Kapoor, Ramkumari, Montu Mukherjee,Ushabati etc in it.

The movie had seven songs in it. Four songs have been covered so far.

Here is the fifth song from “Adhikaar”(1938) to appear in the blog. The song is sung by Pahadi Sanyal. Timir Baran is the music director. HFGK is silent about the lyricist of the song.

Only audio of the song is available. But it is clear that the song was picturised on Pahadi Sanyal himself.

Lyrics of the song were sent to me by Prakashchandra.

audio link:

Song-Is jeewan ki phulwaari mein sada magan rehna (Adhikaar)(1938) Singer-Pahadi Sanyal, MD-Timir Baran

Lyrics

is jeevan kee phulwaari mein sadaa magan rehnaa aa
is jeevan kee phulwaari mein sadaa magan rehnaa aa
aashaa ke phool chunaa karnaa aa
aashaa ke phool chunaa karnaa aa aa
kaantaa dukh ka chubhey hansnaa
sadaa magan rehnaaa aa aaa
is jeevan kee phulwaari mein sadaa magan rehnaa aan aaa

is zindagi kee shaakh mein aen
gul bhee hain aen aen
khaar bhee ee
zindagi kee shaakh mein aen
gul bhee hain aen aen
khaar bhee eee
aati hai ae
is chaman mein
khizaan bhee ee
bahaar bhee
aati hai ae
is chaman mein
khizaan bhee ee
bahaar bhee

chandra hansey jab gul kumhlaaye
ghoonghat khol kalee muskaaye
chandra hansey jab gul kumhlaaye
ghoonghat khol kalee muskaaye
din dhalkar jab ??? rachaaye
banke suhaagan aaye rainaa
sadaa magan rehnaa aan aaa
is jeevan kee phulwaari mein sadaa magan rehnaa aan aa

shabnam ki tarahaa aa
kis liye aey ae ae
ae shamaa aa aa roti hai ae
shukr hai ke raat dhal gayee ee ee ee
shukr hai ke raat dhal gayee ee ee ee
ab subaho o o o hoti hai
khulee shamaa kyun ghabraati hai
dukh ki raat se bhay khaati hai
khulee samaa kyun ghabraati hai
dukh ki raat se bhay khaati hai
dukh ki raat hi dikhlaati hai
dukh ki raat hee dikhlaati hai
sukh aanand ka sundar sapnaa aa aa aa
sadaa magan rehnaa aa aa
is jeevan kee phulwaari mein sadaa magan rehnaa


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 : 5022 Post No. : 16930 Movie Count : 4596

Today’s song is from an obscure old film – Chhote Sarkar-1938.

My today’s post is No.32 of this year i.e. 2022. Since 1st January 2022, the pattern of my poists seems to have changed perceptibly. Earlier I was known for writing on films of the 30’s and the 40’s on priority, but this year, till my last post (31 posts), I have written only 3 posts on films of the 30’s, only 11 posts on films of the 40’s but 17 posts on films of the 50’s. Come to think of it, there is no intentional shift in my policy or any purpose in doing so, but it looks like it is happening inadvertently. My today’s post will be only the 4th post on a film of the 30’s this year.

Do I have an inclination towards antique films ? YES is the answer. I like to bring the unknown, the less known and the not so famous artistes of the early era to light, to bring the pillars of the film industry in Limelight, so that the younger generation knows about them and becomes aware of the difficult times through which the stalwarts carried our film industry towards today’s Glory !

While doing so, I had to do the hard yards to dig information about these forgotten artistes, contact several Historians, buy and read many books, spend hours on the Internet and collect and record the information. I was singularly Lucky to get a suitable platform to showcase my results, in the form of Atul ji’s Blog. Atul ji’s help in publishing my posts untiringly has helped not only me but the Blog has also now become a storehouse of Credible, Reliable Information on the old timers in the film world, for the use of future students of film history. Thanks a million, Atul ji.

During the writing of my posts here since 2012 till date, I have noticed one thing. I am not sure of anyone else, other than Atul ji, who has also noticed it. I observed that in the early times of this Blog from 2008, the number of visitors kept on increasing and many of the visitors took pleasure in putting in their comments on almost every post. Comments on popular film songs were naturally more, but later readers also commented on other posts, about the artistes, songs, film making, their experiences and provided additional information. Therefore, visiting the Blog was a pleasure not only to enjoy the songs posted, but also to read different comments from the readers.

I remember there were several readers from abroad who used to write comments. There were comments from readers from Singapore, Fiji, Malaysia, Australia, Newzealand, Africa, European countries, UK, USA, Dubai, Pakistan and also from several cities of India like Lucknow, Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, Pune,Andhra, Madras, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala – in fact from all nooks and corners of India and the world. Many of them were quite knowledgeable too.

Unfortunately, from somewhere from 2016-17 onwards I saw a steady drop in the number of comments from readers. Notably comments from readers from abroad diminished considerably and as of today, their number is almost nil. What could be the reason for this change ? One guess is that the older generation which commented is now too old and hence not active. The other guess could be that initially, as the Blog was new, most songs posted were the popular and well known ones, which the readers knew well, but slowly that stock, naturally, thinned out and unknown and unheard new but old songs were being discussed, which were not known to many present readers to comment upon.

The second guess seems to be more convincing. Nowadays younger contributors are posting songs from the 70’s, 80’s and the 90’s and comments are trickling from equally younger readers, though not so many as in the past. I believe the trend of appreciation, encouraging and commenting changes with the change of Readers’ Profiles.

Today’s film Chhote Sarkar-1938 was made by Sundar Movietone (never heard of it). It was directed by Homi Master. He was one of the directors of the First Generation of Hindi films of the early era, who was a spillover from the Silent Film Era. Since his career as a Director ended in 1946, there is no chance that the younger generation readers would know about him, so here is some information on him.

Homi Master (1900–1949) was an actor-director of early Indian cinema. His work extended from the silent era to the talkie era and up to his death. He produced his best films for Kohinoor Film Company and he has been referred to as “silent cinema’s most successful film-maker”.

He acted as Duryodhan in the then-controversial film Bhakta Vidur (1921), as hero in Kala Naag and Kulin Kanta. Some of his important films were Bismi Sadi, Manorama, Do Ghadi Ki Mauj (1935), Samaj Ki Bhool (1934) and Gul Sanobar (1934). He was active from 1921 to 1949 and made over seventy-eight films. His later films in Gujarati and Hindi were termed as B movies. He died in 1949.

At the age of thirteen, Master joined a famous Parsi theatre group called Bilwala. He soon became a popular stage actor, with his performance in Pakzaad Parveen being appreciated. Following a brief stint at the Phalke Film company, he joined Kohinoor Film Company working initially as an actor. He went on to direct films for them starting with Bismi Sadi.

Homi Master acted in three films before getting a chance to direct. The three films, Bhakta Vidur (1921) (in the role of Duryodhan), Ajamil (1922) and Vratasur Vadha (1923), were directed by Kanjibhai Rathod. He played the lead role in Kala Naag, a film he helped co-direct with Rathod in 1924. A crime drama, it was the first “recorded example” using real-life characters and was based on the Champsi-Haridas Murder case in Bombay.

In 1924, Master started his career as a director with Dwarka Sampat’s Kohinoor Film Company. His first film for Kohinoor was Bismi Sadi, starring Raja Sandow, Miss Moti and Noor Mohammed Charlie. The film was about a hawker who becomes a mill-owner and goes on to exploit the people working under him. Manorama (1924) was based on the famous Gujarati romantic poet Kalapi’s autobiographical poem “Hridaya Triputi”. The film was made in the fantasy genre and broke “all records” when it ran for fourteen weeks.

Other significant films at this time were The Telephone Girl (1926), also called Telephone Ni Taruni, produced by Kohinoor, and starring Ruby Myers, Gohar and Raja Sandow. Educated Wife or Bhaneli Bhamini (1927), was another Kohinoor film with Gohar, Vaidya and Raja Sandow. They were social films that were successful at the box office.

Gul Sanobar (1928) was a fantasy production from Kohinoor Film Company, based on Persian fairy tale romances, and directed by Master. It starred the then-popular star Khalil with Miss Yakbal. The film was later remade in 1934, with the same name, directed by Master and produced by Imperial Film Company. The cast included stars of the time like Sulochana (Ruby Myers), D. Billimoria and Zubeida.

His 1934 film Samaj Ki Bhool, was a social film promoting a widow’s right to remarry. It starred Jamshedji, Lalita Pawar, Jilloobai, Dulari and Rafiq Ghaznavi, with music composed by Pransukh Nayak.

In 1935, he directed three films Do Ghadi Ki Mauj a social film produced by Imperial, starring Ruby Myers and D. Billimoria; Ghar Jamai, a social comedy, a Hindi/Gujarati bilingual, produced by Premier Films with story by Mohanlal G. Dave. (A story about a “resident son-in-law” that became a “major success” at the box office). The third film, Naya Zamana was again produced by Premier Films and starred Heera and Ghulam Mohammed with music by Khansaheb.

It was said that Master was sent abroad to Europe to market Phalke’s films . He teamed successfully with scenarist Mohan lal Dave and cameraman D.D.Dabke with actress Gohar to make many popular films. Gohar called him the most dramatic director , better than Mohan Bhavnani or even Chandulal Shah. His first Talkie film was Saubhagya Sundari-1933 and the last was Chamkati Bijli-1946.

He continued to direct films making ‘B’ class films and some in the Gujarati language. According to the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, he worked as a production manager at Kardar Studios towards the end of his career. He died in 1949. ( based on The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, wiki, Film world-1946 and my notes).

The cast of the film was Jal Merchant, Leela Chitnis, Panna, Heera, Meher Bano, Raj kumari etc. Jal Merchant was a typical Parsi born on 15-1-1920 and brought up in the Parsi Colony area in Bombay. Though his family had a business, he did not join it as he was keen to make a career in films. Bombay being the centre of filmmaking he had plenty of chances. He did not have a masculine, wide chested body, but he compensated with his superb acting skills. He could also sing in his soft voice.

It was a colorful stellar team that Jal Merchant formed with Zubaida in the early talkies. But it was in mythological roles, and not romantic parts, that they first won the hearts of cinegoers. The first picture that made them a rage everywhere was Sagar’s “Veer Abhimanyu,” in which Jal played Abhimanyu to Zubaida’s Uttara. In the next one- Subhadra Haran-32, Jal was Arjun, Abhimanyu’s father, while Zubaida played Subhadra.

Like Zubaida, Jal Merchant joined films in the “silent days”. It was a change of medium for him, for he had been playing female roles on the Gujarati stage! His performance as the heroine of “Shankit Hriday,” a Gujarati play, proved a hit, and Nagendra Majumdar, who directed the play, induced him to switch over to screen acting. Jal joined the Imperial Film Company, and among his early films the most notable was “Vasant Bengali,” a social picture directed by R.S. Chowdhury. In those days, the screen hero generally had more brawn than brains, but the lead player of “Vasant Bengali” was called upon to show more intelligence than physical prowess. Jal did just that – and won instant fame.

After the advent of sound, Jal’s first four films for Sagar were mythologicals – “Veer Abhimanyu-1931,” Subhadra Haran-1932,” “Pandav Kaurav-1933” and “Mahabharat-1933”. For close-ups of these pictures, Jal used to wear trousers and only the upper part of his body was made up for his role. But in one close-up his pants were also visible! The shot was cut on the first day of screening in Bombay.

Gifted with a fine voice, he also delighted cinegoers with his singing. He sang 33 songs in 7 films-Meerabai-32, Pandav Kaurav-33, Mahabharat-33, Grihalaxmi-34, Aaj kal-34, Sone ka Shahar-35 and Toofan Express-1938.

In “Zarina,” written and directed by Ezra Mir, he was the tongawallah who falls in love with a dancing girl at a carnival. This poignant romantic tragedy won plaudits for both Jal and Zubaida. It was their last picture together for Sagar. Zubaida left Sagar and Sabita Devi took her place. Sabita and Kumar were the first stars imported from Calcutta. Sabita co-starred with Jal in “Phantom of the Hills,” directed by Ezra Mir, in which he played a dashing Pathan riding a white charger. In “Educated Wife” (Grihalaxmi), directed by Sarvottam Badami, he played a modern educated youth. In this role the versatile Jal revealed a genial personality. Sabita was again his co-star.

Jal and Zubaida played stellar roles together once again in “Aaj Kal,” directed by R.S. Chowdhury. This was the last important picture for both stars. Jal acted in about n15 Silent films and 29 Talkie films. His first Talkie film was Veer Abhimanyu-1931 and his last Talkie film was Armaan 1953.

Jal Merchant, who already had a family flourishing business, retired from the screen. Later, he started to live a quiet life in Bandra. Jal was an excellent shikari in his younger days. His screen associates also remember his soft voice, gentle manners and sensitive, handsome face. His pairing with Zubeida and Sabita Devi was very popular. He had all the gentle Parsee manners and was a popular co-star for the heroines.

I have read somewhere that Jal Merchant died in 1963 in Bombay. He was unmarried till the end, like many Parsis. ( information from an article by V.P.Sathe in Screen, ‘Screenplay’ by Isak Mujawar, HFGK, muVyz and my notes have been used in this post, with thanks.)

With today’s song by Rajkumari, film Chhote Sarkar-1938 makes its Debut on this Blog.


Song- Sukh chain ke din sab beet gaye (Chhote Sarkaar)(1938) Singer- Rajkumari, Lyricist- Pandit Amar, MD- Shanti Kumar Desai

Lyrics

Sukh chain ke din
sab beet gaye
dukh rain andheri chhaayee hai
sukh chain ke din
sab beet gaye
dukh rain andheri chhaayee hai
koi sang na saathi saath sakhi
koi sang na saathi saath sakhi
sapna sa ?? mein aayi
sapna sa ?? mein aayi
Sukh chain ke din
sab beet gaye
dukh rain andheri chhaayee hai

jhoothha prem ye jhoothhi aashaa
jhoothha prem ye jhoothhi aashaa
jhoothhi kaaya
jhoothhi maaya
jhoothhi kaaya
jhoothhi maaya
jhoothhe jag mein
???
jhoothhe jag mein
???
jhoothhi preet lagaayi hai
jhoothhi preet lagaayi hai
Sukh chain ke din
sab beet gaye
dukh rain andheri chhaayee hai


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 :

5016 Post No. : 16922

Today’s song is from an early talkie film ‘Gramophone Singer’ (1938).

The film was made by Sagar Movietone. It was directed by Ramchandra Thakur and Virendra Desai (owner Chimanlal Desai’s son and the first husband of Nalini Jayawant). The 15 songs of the film were written by Zia Sarhadi – who rose to great heights in the Indian film industry, but was humiliated, suspected and ill-treated in Pakistan. His end in Spain too was pathetic. Music Director for this film was Anil Biswas. The cast of the film was Surendra, Bibbo, Prabha, Bhudo Advani, Kanhaiyalal, Sankatha Oprasad, Gulzar and many others.

It is interesting to know the story of how Sagar Movietone came into being. Ardeshir Irani, the owner of Imperial Film Co. and the maker of India’s First Talkie film ‘Alam Ara’ (1931), was keen to get the famous and popular star of the films in those days – Master Vithal, into his stable. That time Vithal was with Sharada Film Company. He was unhappy there, because despite every film being a hit, his salary was never increased in spite of his request. To get Master Vithal with whatever means, Irani floated Sagar Movietone in 1929, so that his name was not involved in luring another company’s artistes. After an interesting episode of action in the High Court, Master Vithal joined Imperial through Sagar Movietone.

Once he got master Vithal, Irani lost interest in Sagar Movietone and he sold it to Dr. Ambalal Patel and Chimanlal Desai – his distributors from Bangalore to whom he owed money. After Irani separated, the company was wholly owned by Desai and Patel. Later Patel too left and Chimanlal became the sole owner of Sagar Movietone.

In those days, Sagar had a good collection of actors, actresses, directors and MDs on its payroll. Sagar went on to make several Hit films from 1931 onward. In 1934, Motilal joined the company and in 1935, the singing actor Surendra came. Sagar was on a victory roll and it became one of the major film making companies in India. In the form of Surendra, Sagar got an actor/singer, who would compete with KL Saigal of New Theaters, Calcutta as the “Bombay’s answer to Saigal” !

Surendra, however, was an educated (BA, LLB), intelligent person and he understood that Saigal was in a different league altogether. Instead of copying his style, Surendra cultivated his own identity. Sagar, however, ensured that the competition between the two got the desired reckoning and this showed in their pattern of films. As against ‘Devdas’ (1935), Sagar released ‘Manmohan’ (1936)’. After ‘President’ (1937) came ‘Jagirdar’ (1937) and after ‘Street Singer’ (1938) Sagar released ‘Gramophone Singer’ (1938). Nevertheless all these films became successful.

In the Hindi film industry, we read frequently about famous stars, actors/actresses of the early era who ended their last days in penury, illness, loneliness and misery. Many had to beg on roads for a living. Some of these cases are tear jerking too. However, even in those days there were some wise artistes who planned their afterlife thoughtfully and retired gracefully spending the rest of their life happily. Some names like SD Batish, Laxmi Shankar, Ranjan, Shashi Kapoor Sr., Mukund Roy Trivedi-MD, Durga Khote etc. come to mind in this connection. Actor Surendra too falls in this category. Before he retired from films, he established an advertising firm and made short films (Durga Khote also did the same). His sons expanded the business successfully.

‘Gramophone Singer’ was the debut film for both the directors, who bloomed in their careers later. Actress Prabha started with Sagar from this film onward. Kanhaiyalal became a regular actor with this film – instead of a Lyricist. Zohrabai Ambalawali sang her first song under the baton of Music Director Anil Biswas, in this film.

Surendra and Bibbo acted together in 6 films of Sagar Movietone. Their first film was ‘Manmohan’ (1936), in which their duet song “Tumhin Ne Mujh Ko Prem Sikhaaya” became a Hit in those days. Then came ‘Jagirdar’ in 1937 and ‘Dynamite’ in 1938. Like Motilal and Sabita Devi (* films), this pair too proved to be a ‘Hit Jodi‘. However, at the time of planning for the film ‘Gramophone Singer’, Surendra and Bibbo had some dispute and they were not on speaking terms. They even avoided each other. This problem was tactfully solved by director Ramchandra Thakur, who diplomatically lied to both separately that the other one was keen to work with her/him. Like true professionals both agreed and the film got through. Not only this, but they even worked in another 2 more films also !

The film is a story of a love triangle and Prabha did the role of Surendra’s wife in this film. Prabha is not known to most people. Let us know more about Prabha.

Prabha Rajpal was from a respectable Hindu family of Punjab. She was born on 6-6-1915 at Ludhiana. Her father was a high ranking government officer based at Lahore. All her education was done in Lahore. She was fluent in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and English.

Right from childhood, she was keen on working in films. Belonging to an orthodox family, there was opposition, but despite all this she entered films and her first film was ‘Jung Bahadur’ (aka ‘Dare Devil’) in 1935. After doing some films like ‘Dilawar’ (1936), ‘Awakening’ (1936), she left the Bhavnani camp and worked in Minerva’s film ‘Atma Tarang’ (1937) as the heroine opposite Sohrab Modi. She was very beautiful. Then she joined Sagar and worked in films like ‘Gramophone Singer’ (1938), ‘Ladies Only’ (1939), ‘Civil Marriage’ (1940). Later she became a freelancer.

In all she worked in 36 films in her career. She got married to Virender Ahuja, a cinematographer, and settled down after the film ‘Veerangana’ (1947). When her husband was one of the producers, she worked in the film ‘Shrimati ji’ (1952) and then retired from films. She died on 12-3-1975.

‘Gramophone Singer’ was a reasonably successful movie. Its lyricist was Zia Sarhadi. It had 15 songs, but only 4 Records having 8 songs came into the market.

The story of the film is….

Sundardas (Surendra) was a successful gramophone singer and lived in a town near Bombay. He was happily married to Mohini (Prabha) and had a baby boy also.The family was a picture of happiness, but….

Tilottama (Ishrat Sultana or Bibbo) was a famous singer of international reputation. She conducted foreign tours also. She lived in a luxurious flat in Bombay. She had heard the songs of Sunder and loved his voice. She was waiting to meet him.

Sunder had to visit Bombay often for song recordings etc. He was very friendly with Ghosh Babu (Bhudo Advani), owner of a Gramophone company. Rana ji (Kayam Ali) was a regular customer of Ghosh Babu. Once in a party given by Ghosh, Rana ji introduces Sunder to Tilottama. In the first meeting itself she fell in Sunder’s love. He too was impressed with her. Slowly their meetings increased and soon they were in deep love, Sunder forgetting about wife and child. Once they decide to go to Rampur – a resort. Here poor Mohini waits for Sunder for many days. The child falls ill too. Finally, Mohini decides to visit Bombay. There she learns everything about Sunder’s affair. She meets Madan (Sankatha Prasad), a singing partner of Tilottama, and a silent deep lover of hers too. They go to Rampur, but the pair is missing.

In the climax scene, Tilottama and Sunder are about to get married, when Mohini, her sick child and Madan reach the spot. Seeing his wife and ailing child, Sunder realizes his folly and returns to Mohini. Madan wins over Tilottama and the end is at Tilottama’s wedding party thrown by Ghosh Babu.

Today’s song is sung by Surendra and Bibbo.


Song- Main tere gale ki maala (The Gramophone Singer)(1938) Singers- Surendra, Bibbo, Lyricist- Zia Sarhadi, MD- Anil Biswas
Both

Lyrics

main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
tu saagar main sarita
tu saagar main sarita
tu kavi main kavita
tu saagar main sarita
tu kavi main kavita

tu meri nazar ki jwaala
tu meri najar ki jwaala
main tere gale ki maala
tu meri najar ki jwaala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala

main tere gale ki mala
main tere gale ki mala

deepak bankar aag jala de
deepak bankar aag jala de
aag laga de aag laga de
aag laga de aag laga de
deepak ban sansaar jala de
deepak ban sansaar jala de
hans ab hans chal prem sikha de
hans ab hans chal prem sikha de
prem sikha de gwaala
tu prem sikha le gwaala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala

main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala
main tere gale ki maala

————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir Kapur)
————————————————

मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला

तू सागर मैं सरिता
तू सागर मैं सरिता
तू कवि मैं कविता
तू सागर मैं सरिता
तू कवि मैं कविता
तू मेरी नज़र की ज्वाला
तू मेरी नज़र की ज्वाला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
तू मेरी नज़र की ज्वाला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला

दीपक बनकर आग जला दे
दीपक बनकर आग जला दे
आग लगा दे आग लगा दे
आग लगा दे आग लगा दे
दीपक बन संसार जला दे
दीपक बन संसार जला दे
हंस अब हंस चल प्रेम सिखा दे
हंस अब हंस चल प्रेम सिखा दे
प्रेम सिखा दे ग्वाला
तू प्रेम सिखा दे ग्वाला

मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला
मैं तेरे गले की माला


This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Blog Day :

4850 Post No. : 16640

Today’s song is from the film Mera Ladka-1938. This was a film made by Prabhat Film Company, which was one of the most popular banners in India those days. Prabhat was the company which made the First Talkie ” अयोध्येचा राजा ” in Marathi (Ayodhya ka Raja in Hindi) in 1932. During the period of 1932 to 1944, Prabhat gave excellent films having reformative and educational content for the society of those days, combined with entertainment. Their peak came when films like Sant Tukaramin Marathi-1936 Duniya na maane-1937 and Aadmi-1939 became milestones in Indian film history. The person who took Prabhat to its peak was V. Shantaram, as a Director.

Shantaram was like a Jauhari (Jeweller) who identified the true value of people. His selection of actors for specific roles was nothing but amazing. Durga Khote, Pagnis, Shanta Apte, Shahu Modak, Shanta Hublikar, Vasant desai etc were his selections.

Whatever one may say, but it is a fact that Prabhat lost its sheen, lustre, name and fame after Shantaram’s exit from it. Envy of the partners and a faulty, unjust rule of the company (No Partner of the company should get involved in any actress. Should this happen, he has to leave the company) forced him to quit prabhat. Shantaram became its victim when he fell for actress Jayashree. Earlier , Keshavrao Dhaiber had to leave Prabhat when he married company’s Heroine Nalini Tarkhud. Surprisingly S. Fattelal-another partner cum Director survived from this rule, though he had married Prabhat’s silent film heroine Kamala Devi alias Gulabbai ( one seen with Tutari in Prabhat’s famous Logo). This was because the controversial rule came into being only after his marriage with Gulab bai !

Shantaram had selected Shanta Hublikar for the lead role, opposite Shahu Modak in the bilingual Mera Ladka i.e. माझा मुलगा in Marathi. her performance impressed Shantaram so much that she and Shahu Modak were selected for his next epoch making film Aadmi-1939 (माणूस in Marathi).

The Film Industry had artistes of all types, religions, regions and from different backgrounds. In the early era, most artistes were uneducated. This state remained so till the 4o’s, after which most artistes joining the film industry were educated and from good families. In those early years, there was no investment awareness, investment opportunities or avenues and the artistes led an uninhabited life – living for the moment. This finally led to many old time artisted dying in penury, poverty and with health issues with no one to look after them.

Most of us know about the sad ends of artistes like Parshuram, Vatsala Kumthekar, Rattanbai, Wasti, Sadiq Ali, Master Nissar, Master Shiraz, Meena Shorey and many others. Some of them had to beg on the road and their last rites had to be done by charity collections.

There were four educated lead actresses in the industry at almost the same times. Their careers spanned from the 30’s to the 70’s. They were Durga Khote, leela Chitnis, Shanta Apte and Shanta Hublikar. Shanta Apte and Shanta Hublikar stopped their work by the 50’s, while Durga Khote and Leela Chitnis continued till the 70’s. Let us see how they ended their lives.

Durga Khote remained the luckiest. She had money and recognition till the end but no one to look after her. She lost her sons prematurely and her daughter in law did a second marriage with a Parsee actor. She died a lonely death.

Leela Chitnis married many times, including a Muslim person, in search of happiness, but she never got it. In her last days, she went to USA to live with her sons, but they put her in an old age home. She lost health, suffered memory loss, Alzheimer and finally died all alone in the old age home. No one came even after her death. Only money was sent for cremation.

Shanta Apte remained without marriage till end but had a Live-In relationship with Bombay’s leading Gynaecologist Dr. Shirodkar for many years. She did have a daughter, without marriage and through a reported incestuous relationship-a forced one- from her own brother, but she never stayed with the daughter.

Shanta Hublikar married a businessman after films. The husband wound up his business and lived off her money. Her son and daughter in law kept her in a third rate old age home, from where some reporters rescued her. After her story was published help poured in and she spent her last days in a better old age home. She published her autobiography also in this period. She died unsung, unattended. Her death news flashed after a week or so.

Shanta Hublikar was born on 14-4-1914 at village Athergunchi, near Hubli. She was one among three sisters. The eldest was Neelamma, the second was Shanta, but her name was Rajamma( she was called only Raju) and the youngest was Sharada. She was fluent in Marathi and Kannad and could sing very well. When she was about 18-20 years she went to Kolhapur, which was an active centre of Film making. Her first film was Bhedi Rajkumar aka Thaksen Rajputra-1934. her role was a minor one.

Her first major role was in the film Kanhopatra-37(Marathi). She was picked up by Prabhat stalwarts for their film Mera Ladka (Majha Mulga in Marathi)-38. Her acting and songs impressed V. Shantaram.

Shantaram was planning a path breaking film Maanus (Marathi-Aadmi in Hindi) in those days and was in the process of finalising the cast. Vasant Desai who was Shantaram’s chela in those days was aspiring to become a Music Director. He started his career as an actor in small roles and he sang songs too. He had very high hopes that Shantaram will do something for him. One day Shantaram called him and said,” I am planning a new film. You will be the Hero and Shanta Apte will be the Heroine.” Vasant was very happy. His auditions were good.

Meanwhile “Mera Ladka” became quite popular and its songs particularly,”dekhoon kab tak baat( Paahu re kiti waat-Marathi)” by Shanta bai and composed by Keshavrao Bhole was a great Hit. Impressed with her effortless acting and natural singing style, Shantaram changed his mind and decided to cast Shanta Hublikar and Shahu Modak as the lead pair for Aadmi.

Shantaram called Vasant Desai and told him,” Be ready for a shock. I have decided to make Shanta Hublikar and Shahu Modak as the Hero and Heroine of my new film. You will have to wait. But your time will come ” Vasant Desai was heart broken. With Shantaram’s permission he composed music for Shobha and Aaankh ki sharm in 1942 and Mauj in 1943. He had worked as an assistant to Tembe, Krishnarao Bhole and Mainkar. he had acted and sang in Amar Jyoti. His time came when Shantaram gave him SHAKUNTALA-1943 as its Music Director.

Meanwhile Shanta Hublikar fully justified her selection for Aadmi-39. Her songs and acting became hits. Her multilingual song “ab kis liye kal ki baat” in Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali became a landmark song in Hindi films forever.

Shanta did not do many films. She did a few Marathi, Kannada and Hindi films- Thoratanchi Kamala and Pahila Palna in Marathi, Jeevan naatak in Kannada and Prabhat, Ghar ki Laaj, Maalan, Kulkalank and Jeewan Chhaya in Hindi.

After that Shanta married a rich businessman from Poona-Bapusaheb Geete, proprietor of Deccan Cloth Emporium in Poona. She did try a comeback in 1958 with Filmistan’s ‘Saubhagyawati Bhava and Ghar Grihasthi but that was the end. She then retired from films.
Shanta Hublikar died on 17-7-1992 at Poona.

The film Mera Ladka-38 was directed by Keshav Narayan Kale. He was born on 24-2-1904 in Maharashtra. After his formal education he became a radical Journalist and to give expression to his ideology joined films, as an actor,Director and writer. He acted in major films like Amar Jyoti, Dharmatma, Parakh for which he wrote the story and screenplay also.He acted in 13 films, Directed 7 films and wrote for 3 films, starting with Prabhat’s Wahan, which he also directed. His last film was Didi-1959. He died on 20-2-1974 at Bombay.

I saw MERA LADKA-1938 sometime in the fag end of the 40s, in a Prabhat Film Festival, at Hyderabad. The story was an offbeat one, not the usual love-story. The cast was Shanta Hublikar,Shahu Modak, Ulhas, Vasantrao Thengdi, Balakram, Master Chhotu, Vatsalabai Joshi etc.

Diwakar (Shahu Modak) is a young man full of new ideas, has hot blood and a rebellious thinking. He is a radical Journalist having his Printing press and editing a Newspaper. He has a rich girl Nalini (Shanta Hublikar) as his girlfriend. She sympathises with him but does not share his radicalism. His middle class father does not like all this. He wants Diwakar to do a 9 to 5 job like any other person.
His father expresses his displeasure to the cunning and scheming political friend of Diwakar, Vithal Rao (Vansant Rao Thengdi), who takes advantage of the situation. He arranges a strike in the press and when it closes down, takes over it.

The father is happy, but Diwakar does not yield. Instead of doing a 9-5 job, he decides to contest against Vithal Rao in the Municipal election.
Nalini also contests. First she joins the group of Vithalrao to know his tactics and then shifts to Diwakar’s camp. She even campaigns for Diwakar.

In the elections, Nalini wins, Diwakar loses,but he gives a speech, claiming a Moral Victory for him,as Vithal rao is defeated.

Film director Kale, being a radical journalist himself before entering films ,got so much involved in the film that after the film, he actually wrote a long essay ” Mera Ladka-Some Musings” in a local newspaper in 1939 ! (In Marathi it was titled ‘ Majha mulga chya Nimittane…)

Excellent performances by Shanta and Shahu Modak earned them the coveted roles in Aadmi(Manoos in Marathi)-1939, which happens to be a Milestone film in India.

The music Director was Keshavrao Bhole. Here is the second song from this film in the blog….


Song- Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan (Mera Ladka)(1938) Singer- Shanta Hublikar, Lyricist-Pt. Anuj (S.L.Shrivastav), MD- Keshavrao Bhole

Lyrics

Apne dil ki baaten
maine tumhen hai sunaani
apne dil ki baaten
maine tumhen hai sunaani
shabo roz furkat mein rahoon
main pareshaan
shabo roz furkat mein rahoon
main pareshaan

Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan
Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan
naalon se mere jo uthha hai ye dhuaan
haan
naalon se mere jo uthha hai ye dhuaan
Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan

chaahe mujhe thhukra do yaa
hiya mein basa lo
chaahe mujhe thhukra do yaa
hiya mein basa lo
haal dard e dil ka main karoon kaise bayaan
haal dard e dil ka main karoon kaise bayaan
kaisa jaadoo daala toone jaane jaan-e-jaan

raah e muhabbat se peechhe kadam na hataaoon
raah e muhabbat se peechhe kadam na hataaoon
tu bhi raaz e dil wo pyaar(?) kar de ??
tu bhi raaz e dil wo pyaar(?) kar le ??

Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan
Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan
haan
jaane jaan


This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Blog Day :

4843 Post No. : 16631

Today’s song is from a very old, i.e. 83 year old film, which was one of the popular films of Wadia Movietone. The film was Lutaru Lalna-1938 and the title role was done by then famous stunt queen The Fearless nadia. Yes, this was a C grade stunt film. In those years, when the Talkie itself had not even entered it’s Teens, these stunt films, especially featuring Nadia were very popular. C grade stunt films were not yet looked down upon by the elite. That categorisation started from the mid 40’s, when social and films of other Genres divided the audience and stunts became the choice of the lower class of the society.

When the Talkie films started, the audience was awestruck and went to the theatres to see and enjoy whatever the producers served them on the screen. Initially, the films were mostly Mythological and Costume dramas, but in due course, the film makers realised that making a stunt film was much more profitable than a Costume drama. Stunt films could be made in Rs. 30-50 thousand, whereas for other films, the investment was more. Further religious films catered to only a particular religion, i.e. Muslim and Christian audience would not see a Mythological film and Hindu and Christians will not see a Muslim religious film. But stunt films were for all and sundry. There was no restriction.

Due to all this, the pioneers of stunt/action films decided to concentrate on this Genre only. Wadia Movietone was the leading film maker of these C grade films. Other companies who made such films were, Imperial, Ranjit, Sharda, krishna, Saraswati, Saroj, Sagar, Bharat Royal, Ajanta, Madan etc. in 1933 Wadias entered with force in this market, and followed by others, in just 3 years i.e. from 1933 to 1935, a total of 138 films of Stunt/Action, Costume, Arabian Night stories and magic based Imaginary films ( all C grade) were made. Significantly, out of these 138 films, as many as 42 films were Stunt and Action films. This was mainly because of Wadia Movietone. They introduced Fearless Nadia in Hunterwali-35 and virtually ignited the flame of Stunt/Action films from 1935 to 1950. Thus the decade of the 40s could well be called “Stunt Film Decade” with 210 such films from 1941 to 1950.

Wadia Movietone was a noted Indian film production company and studio, based in Mumbai, established in 1933 by Wadia brothers J. B. H. Wadia and Homi Wadia. It was most known for stunt, fantasy and mythological films, including Hunterwali (1935).

Wadia brothers belonged to a Parsi family, and their ancestors came from the ship building Wadia family (Wadia Group), originally from Surat, which also built the British wartime ship HMS Trincomalee (1817). Their ancestors moved to Bombay in the 18th century. It was co-established in 1933, by producer and screenwriter J. B. H. Wadia, his younger brother director Homi Wadia, film distributor Manchersha B. Billimoria, and brothers Burjor and Nadirsha Tata.

However, the Tata brothers left the partnership within three years. The company then continued production of film, documentaries and newsreels from its studios near Lowjee Castle, Mumbai, the Wadia family mansion, owned by their great-grandfather Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia, a noted shipbuilder, who founded the Wadia Group in 1736. The company even had its logo as a ship, honouring their family legacy. Their company made Hunterwali (1935) starring Fearless Nadia, Boman Shroff and John Cawas, which became a surprise hit and its first big success. Thereafter, they made several films based on the Arabian Nights.

However, by the end the 1930s, the genre of stunt, fantasy and mythology films which dominated the early films, was beginning to fail and the company ran into heavy losses, after they invested into ambitious projects which flopped. The last film made by the company was Raj Nartaki (1941) under the direction of Madhu Bose. Thereafter, the studio premises were up for sale; V. Shantaram bought the studio in 1942 and established Rajkamal Kalamandir on the premises. Homi Wadia, who worked as a director of the company, went on to establish Basant Pictures in the same year, though initially as a film production house. Subsequently, he established a film studio under the same banner in 1947, which functioned till 1981.

Riyad Vinci Wadia, grandson of J.B.H. Wadia inherited the studio in 1990. He is most known for his film, Bomgay (1996) and a documentary on Nadia, Fearless: The Hunterwali Story. He died in 2003. Wadia Movietone, besides making stunt films, had some FIRSTs to their credit like, they made India’s first songless movie ” Naujawan” in 1937. First English film “The Court Dancer’-1941 and the first Sindhi film ” Ekta”-1942. They also made a Telugu film “Nar Narayan”-37, two Tamil films ‘Vanraz Karsan’-38 and Bharat kesari-39, one Bangla film ” Raj Nartaki”-41 and one Gujrati film Valo Namori-73.

From 1933 to 1942(till the split) they made 43 films. From 43 to 73 only 24 films. Their last Hindi film was Saaz aur Sanam-71 and the overall last film was a Gujarati film in 1973. J.B.H.Wadia was born on 13-12-1901 and died on 4-1-1986. His brother Homi Wadia was born on 22-5-1911 and died on 10-12-2004.

Their Ace Actress for most films was Fearless Nadia.

Mary Evans (Fearless Nadia’s real name), a devout catholic was born on 8-1-1908 at Perth, Australia, to a Scottish father and a Greek mother. Father,a British Army soldier, was based in Elephanta caves in Bombay. She wanted to be a singer and a dancer. She learnt dancing from father and singing from mother. She sang in the local church choirs on Sundays. In 1915, when her father died in WW I action, they shifted to first Peshawar and then settled in Bombay. After working in an Army canteen for some time, She joined a dancing troupe. Here her name was changed to first NADA and then to NADIA.

One Mr. Eruch Kanga, owner of Lahore cinema saw her performance in the troupe and told the Wadia Brothers, who were looking for a Heroine. They called her for an interview. After seeing her, the brothers realised the difficulty in making a white woman a Heroine in Hindi films. In the interview JBH wadia said, “I have never heard about you before. ” she sprightly retorted,” I too had not heard your names till this morning”. The brothers were impressed and she was appointed in Wadia Movietone. To test her, she was given small roles in films which were in the making, like Lal e yaman and Noor e yaman, while she studied speaking Hindi.

She was launched with ” HUNTERWALI-1935″ ,a dramatic story of a Princess trying to rescue her kidnapped father and salvage his Empire. It was an unconventional role and a new subject for the Indian audience.

The film opened in Super cinema on Lamington road, Bombay and instantly became a great Hit. It was like a revolution. Audience was thrilled to see a white woman, donning a mask and cracking whip at her tormentors. They were awed, happy and mesmerised, wanting more of it .She was named NADIA. They added FEARLESS for her in the ads.

HUNTERWALI was only a prelude to a remarkable career. Encouraged by the success of Hunterwali, films were made on the cause of social injustice, women’s emancipation, corruption, Land grabbing and Exploitation of the poor. She always played roles like King Arthur and Robin Hood.

Her films had a set of characters. There was her pet Horse-Punjab ka Beta, Gunboat the Dog and her jalopy was called Rolls Royce ki beti (later when Homi Bhabha started Basant Pictures with her, there was Horse Rajpoot, Dog Moti and the car- Austin ki Bachhi). In her films, usually the villain was Sayani (his stock line was ” Dekha Jaayega”), John Cawas and Boman Shroff- the heavyweight Bodybuilders.

Her stunts became more dangerous and death defying with every film. She did all her stunts herself, breaking bones many times in this.

From 1933 to 1968 she did 43 films. herv first film was Lal-E-Yaman-33 and the last film was Khiladi-68. She also sang 3 songs in 3 films, namely Noor-E-yaman-35, Hunterwali-35 and Pahadi kanya-36. Her name in many films (starting with Hunterwali) was Madhuri.

She had married and divorced early and also had a son. Later she was in love with Homi Wadia, but could not marry him due to the opposition of his mother. They married in 1961 after his mother died. She was 53 years old by then.

In her last days she was frequently seen in the lanes of Colaba in Bombay ,taking her dogs for walks.

In 1993, her great grand nephew Riyad Vinci Wadia made a documentary on her, in which she had appeared.

She died peacefully on 9-1-1996.

Nadia has a special place in my memories. Sometime in 1972, one of my friends, Mahesh Sharma, who lived in Colaba, Bombay, told me that he frequently sees Nadia in a Garden where he went for his morning walks. She lived near his apartments. Anxious to meet her and talk to her, I stayed with Sharma ji overnight. Next day morning, we both went to that garden. Sure enough, after some time Nadia entered the garden with two of her dogs. She sat on a bench and her servant took the dogs for their walks. Mahesh had a casual acquaintance with her. He greeted her and said ” this is my friend Mr. Deshmukh. He is your great fan “. I greeted her and recited names of her 10-15 films which I had seen. She looked suitably impressed . She smiled and we talked for a few minutes and left. Alas ! In those days, there was no Mobile phone, otherwise I would have had my photos with her as a prize possession. Anyway, I will never forget my meeting with her- the great Stunt Queen, The Fearless Nadia !

Today’s song is sung by Sarita, Master Muhammed and chorus. It is a typical 30’s decade song. The story of this film was almost the same as any other film of Nadia. Kind and simple king, cruel and wicked Senapati, a Masked person to fight against him , a love affair and happy ending after the audience was given a full dose of stunts by Nadia.


Song- Jagat hai sapna koi na apna (Lutaru Lalna)(1938) Singers- Sarita, Master Muhammad, Lyricist- Pt. Gyan, MD- Master Muhammad

Lyrics

Jagat hai sapna
koi na apna
jaag uthha ae bande
Jagat hai sapna
koi na apna
jaag uthha ae ?? bande

dialogues
——————————–
is boodhhe musalmaan ki ??
isi ne hindu ladki se bheekh mangwaai hai
haan haan ye sach baat hai

khaamkhaa
dharm bhrasht kar raha hai

baba
ye jurm mera nahin
jab tum hindu hokar
ek yateem kanya ko
ann aur paani na doge
to kya
ek sachha
?? musalmaan bhi apna farz poora na karega

bandhuon
ye wo buzurg hain
jinhone dharm sankat mein mujhe aasra diya thha
?? muslim se mili taaleem
ye quraan ki
Hindu hi rakkha mujhe
na fikr ki jaan ki
apni jaati ne suna na jab meri fariyaad ko
Hindu beti aa gayi godi mein musalmaan ki

?? baba

??

kya ek musalmaan ek hindu ke liye itni qurbaani kar sakta hai
kyun nahin baba

jab ??ji ka upnishad ?? ek hai
Kashi Kaba mandir masjid ??
sab ka imaan ek hai

?? ka parda ?? ka tum uthha kar dekh lo
fark kuchh mein nahin
hindu musalmaan ek hai

————————–

jagat hai sapna
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa

jaag uthha hai ?? bande
jagat hai sapna koi na apna
jaag uthha ?? bande

??? ek hai ??
??? ek hai ??
ye kahin ??
ye kahin ??
ye kahin ??
ye kahin ??
???

jaag uthha ?? bande
???
jaag uthha ?? bande
jagat hai sapna koi na apna
jaag uthha ?? bande


This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws

Blog Day :

4774 Post No. : 16523

Today’s song is from a film of the First decade of Talkie films in India. After the advent of the Talkie films in India, with Imperial’s ” Alam Ara”, many strong filmmakers from the silent era jumped into the field of making Talkie films. Initially only Bombay and Calcutta were the two filmmaking centres, but soon, Kolhapur,Lahore, Madras and a few other places began making Talkie films.

Most filmmakers made films based on Mythology, Folk stories, Costume dramas, but few Social and Historical films were also made. Imperial, Sagar, Bharat, Ranjit, Krishnatone and Mohan Bhavnani’s Indian Art Production made Hindi films in the First year. From Calcutta it was only Maadan Theatres which made Hindi films.

In 1932, Kardar’s Playart Photophone from Lahore, Kamla Movietone and Oriental Pictures from Lahore, Shantaram’s Prabhat Film co. and Torne’s Saraswati Cinetone form Poona, Saroj and Sharda Movietone from Bombay, Elephanta Movietone from Punjab and from Calcutta- New Theatres and the Eastern Films from Hyderabad joined the band of Pioneering filmmakers.

Although preparations for making a Talkie film had started from 1929 itself, initial equipment acquisition and training the technicians took one year and early in 1931 beginning, the talkie films went on floors at Bombay and Calcutta. Calcutta’s Maadan Theatres was better equipped with superior Machinery and A 1 Class actors for their film “Shirin Farhad”. Ardeshir Irani at Imperial, Bombay was making his “Alam Ara” at Bombay. Both companies wanted to be the First to release their Talkie film.

Irani was a clever person. He had his own Network at Calcutta, through which he knew the progress of Maadan’s film. When he came to know that “Shirin Farhad’ would have 18 songs, he took a decision to have only 7 songs in his film. This reduced the shooting and editing days and he was in a position to release his Talkie film on 14-3-1931 at Majestic Cinema in Bombay and record his name in the History books, as the First Talkie Filmmaker. Maadan could only release their film on 30-5-1931 to become the second Filmmaker of Talkie films in Hindi. However, their film was much better technically and sound was clear…yet they were second !

Within the next few years, the decade was shining with popular and meaningful films from New Theatres, Calcutta and Prabhat Film co. Poona. The reason was that New Theatres made films with a solid story base. They tried to make films on well known authors’ works and Prabhat film company took up social evils as the central themes of their films. These two companies also made it a point to make Bilingual movies – in local and in Hindi languages, thus capturing the home market and the All India market with the Hindi version.

Today’s film “Abhagin”-1938 made by new Theatres, Calcutta was based on the story by Bangla famous author Upendranath Ganguli. It was a bilingual film. In Bangla language it was titled ‘ Abhigyan”. Hindi dialogues were by A.H.Shore and lyrics were by Arzu lucknowi. The screenplay was by Phani Majumdar – his first as a script writer, who became a well known Director in later days. Bimal Roy was the Cinematographer. He too became a big filmmaker and a Director.

The film was directed by Prafulla Roy. Prafulla Roy ( Born on 1-1-1892 at Kushtia, Bengal) started his career in the silent era by directing 2 silent films. His first talkie film in Hindi was Ramayan-34, made by Bharat laxmi Pictures, Calcutta. Bharat Laxmi Pictures had Prafull Roy as its director for Bangla and Hindi films. Roy directed 12 films in Hindi. 9 out of them were made in Calcutta, 1 film in Lahore (Prem yatra-37) and 2 in Bombay (Mera Gaon-42 and Phulwari-51). Roy had also acted in 2 New Theatres films, namely Millionaire-36 and Mukti-37.

The cast of the film was Prithviraj Kapoor, Molina Devi, Vijay Kumar, Nemo, Menaka Devi, Pankaj Mullick, Chaman Puri (makes his Debut. He was the eldest brother of Madan Puri and Amrish Puri). The film was released in Majestic Cinema, Bombay.

One of the names in the cast is that of NEMO. I remember him as Seth ji, who is disturbed in the night by the Bastiwala’s singing, in the film Shri 420. This strange name is a Latin word, meaning ” Nobody”. All these years, I tried hard but never got any information about him. Recently, however, I could get some information about Nemo. Here it is, for the first time, for our readers.

Nemo (Mirza Muhammad Begg) was born on 27th december 1903 at Calcutta. He passed his Senior Cambridge. One day he, along with some friends, visited New Theatres to see a film shooting. Mirza Muhammad Begg merely wanted to watch the shooting of ‘Yahoodi Ki Larki’ (1933) but, as luck would have it, his visit to the New Theatres studio in Calcutta led to a small role in the same film. The part was that of a Roman king and little did Begg know back then that he’d soon be turning to Latin to fish out a lasting identity.

A year later, he was invited by New Theatres’ founder B.N. Sircar to work as the production manager of ‘Karwan-e-Hayat’ (1935) and another chance role beckoned. A female actor who was supposed to play an old witch in the film failed to turn up for the shooting and Begg volunteered for the part. The make-up department stepped up to the challenge and Begg, unrecognisable in the get-up, did the job (and always considered it his best effort). What happened next is even more interesting. Once the film was ready, the makers felt apprehensive about revealing to the public that a man had played the witch’s role. Begg came up with a solution – a gender-ambiguous screen name for himself. And in a delightfully wacky move, he picked a name that means ‘nobody/nothing’ in Latin – ‘Nemo’.

The name stuck on and this was the beginning of Nemo’s steadfast association with New Theatres – one that resulted in a string of features like ‘Karodpati’, ‘Dushman’, ‘Doctor’ and ‘Zindagi’. He was Vidushak, the royal jester, in ‘Vidyapati’, a rigid but caring father in ‘Jawani Ki Reet’ and the devoted caretaker Dharamdas in P.C. Barua’s ‘Devdas’. These diverse characters earned him appreciation from audiences and critics alike. Further, the story of the Saigal hit ‘The President’ (1937) was based on his idea and he was duly credited for the same. Alongside his work in films, he also edited and published ‘Akkas’ – a very popular Urdu (and later, Urdu-English bilingual) film magazine in those days. Its surviving copies now serve as an important archive of the early talkies. His last film with New Theatres was Kashinath. When Calcutta was bombed by Japan in late 1942, Nemo migrated with his family to his ancestral hometown, Lucknow. He later went over to Bombay for a short while to work in Mazhar Khan’s ‘Pehli Nazar’ (1945), and then returned to Lucknow to settle into a life far removed from the studio lights.

In the middle of it all lies an extraordinary fact – at the time he entered the movies, M.M. Begg was a national billiards champion! He won the inaugural Indian Open Billiards Championship in 1931 and never left the game thereon, despite a busy and flourishing film career. He won the trophy again in 1937, and between the 2 wins, he was the runner-up thrice. Not to mention, he represented the country at international tournaments and also headed various administrative organisations related to the game. His contributions towards establishing and popularising billiards and snooker in India are widely mentioned, and always in glowing terms. He was also obsessed with Racing.

It was nearly a decade after ‘Pehli Nazar’ that Raj Kapoor managed to pull Nemo out of his sabbatical for 2 memorable final acts in ‘Shree 420’ and ‘Jagte Raho’. In both, Nemo played similar roles of manipulative, corrupt seths who hide their sinister designs behind a facade of respectability. If he was jittery about facing the camera after a long gap, it doesn’t show (unless Seth Sonachand’s trembling chin is not a mannerism). He was particularly effective in ‘Shree 420’, where he puts on the most evil smile possible and hisses to Raj Kapoor, “Aap se mulaqaat ho gayi, is mein fayda hi fayda hai.” He also did 2 more films- Raja Vikram-57 and Nag Champa-58.

Nemo worked in 19 films of New Theatres and 4 others totalling 23 films in all. It is believed that he died in Bombay on 18-8-1960. Cinema, publishing, sports – Mirza Muhammad Begg distinguished himself in everything he touched. And chose to call himself a nobody. ( based on information from Filmdom-1946, HFGK, muVyz but mainly an article by Yasir Abbasi, with thanks.)

Today’s song is sung by Kamala Jharia. This is the 5th song from this film to feature on this Blog.


Song- Tumse maangne mein laaj aaye (Abhaagin)(1938) Singer- Kamla Jharia, Lyricist- Aarzu Lucknowi, MD- R C Boral

Lyrics

Tumse maangane mein laaj aaye
tumse maangne mein
Tumse maangane mein laaj aaye
tumse maangne mein

komal tan
komal man
komal tan
komal man
?? ka bojha
kaise uthhaaya jaaye
Tumse maangane mein laaj aaye
tumse maangne mein

koi jo maange muraad
ab bhi hai ?? baaqi
rah gayi maangke
lene ki tamanna baaqi
koi to maange muraad ab bhi hai
?? baaqi
rah gayi maangke
lene ki tamanna baaqi

?? dukh mein koyi
murjhaayi kali
khud khil jaaye
?? dukh mein koyi
murjhaayi kali
khud khil jaaye
sab kuchh ?? khona hai ke
sab kuchh mil jaaye
sab kuchh ?? khona hai ke
sab kuchh mil jaaye

kaun hai
kaun hai
kaun hai aisa jo ki
khud ko preet mein jalaa paaye
kaun hai aisa jo ki
khud ko preet mein jalaa paaye
???
Tumse maangane mein laaj aaye
tumse maangne mein


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 :

4713 Post No. : 16419

Today’s song is from the film Adhikar-1938. Made at Calcutta by New Theatres, the film was directed by P C Barua, who also acted in the film’s both versions-Bangla and Hindi. The film title was the same in both. While the Bangla version released on 12-1-1939, the Hindi version was delayed and released on 21-10-1939.

In the early era of film making, right from the Silent films, Bombay was the most active and important film centre. Two local communities in Bombay were predominantly engaged in filmmaking. One was the Gujarati – who were shrewd businessmen who had an eye on the profits. The other local community was Marathis. Marathi people were poor in finance, bereft of business acumen, they were very good performers. So, they were inclined to acting, direction,production, Art direction, story writing, Music directions, singing etc. Everything and anything that did not involve finance or business !

This continued till the Talkie arrived. Then one more player joined in and that was Bengali community from Calcutta. They recognised the need to showcase their films on the All India platform to make their film industry viable. So, making Hindi films for the All India market started. The pioneers in Cinema in Bengal – the Madons had their own network of Cinema Theatres and after a while New Theatres too established their film distribution network in North, West and South India.

Bengalis were hardworking and intelligent in those days and so understood the mechanics of successful films.First thing that they did was to use established novels and stories from the Bengali literature to make films. The Madons had bought the rights of all the novels of Bankimchandra Chatterjee and the New Theatres followed suit by using Sharadchandra Chatterji and the rest of the famous writers. This made their film’s base strong. Secondly, they introduced their favourite and revered Rabindra Sangeet in film songs. To the Bombay audience, who was bored with classical and stage drama music, this was a welcome change. Thus, in the early years of Talkie films i.e. 1933 to almost 1945, Calocutta contributed substantially in making films popular and profitable.

Automatically, many Bangla artistes tried their hand at acting and Music making in Hindi films. Have you ever heard of these names ?
Radhacharan Bhattacharya, Motibabu, N R Bhattacharya, Shoolpani Mukherjee, S P Mukherjee, V V Ganguly, Niren Lahiri, Shivrani Ghosh, A C Biswas, Bhishmadev Chatterjee etc etc .

I am sure none of these names ring any bell in your mind. Simply because they are not famous Bangla names. Let me tell you that these are some names of Bangla Music Directors, who gave music to Hindi films in the 30s and 40s. The contribution of Bangla artistes in various fields of film making, especially Music composition and singing has been sizable. Over a period, with the emergence and strengthening of regional centres, the contribution started reducing and in a period of 20 years,it trickled to the minimum.

In the decade of the 30s Music Directors like R C Boral, Pankaj Mullik, K C Dey, Timir Baran, Anupam Ghatak and Anil Biswas contributed heavily by building the base of Hindi Film music. In the 40s it was Pannalal Ghosh, Kamal Dasgupta, Pt.Ravishankar and Ram Ganguly. In the 50s it was S D Burman, Salil Chaudhary and Hemant Kumar. In the 60s it was Robin Banerjee, in the 70s it was only R D Burman and in the 80s it was only Bappi Lahiri.

Similarly, among Singers too the initial high number came down over a period. To start with it was K C Dey, Anil Biswas, Ashok Kumar, Asit baran, Harimati Dua, Kalyani Das(real name Zareena), Kanan Devi, Pahadi Sanyal, Pankaj Mullik, Parul Ghosh, Maya Banerjee etc. Then came Ashima Banerjee, Geeta Dutt, Hemant Kumar, Jagmohan, Juthika Roy, Manna Dey, Ranu Mukherjee, Sandhya Mukherjee, Sailesh Mukherjee, Shankar Dasgupta, Subir Sen, Utpala Sen etc. In the 70 to 85 period it was mainly Kishore Kumar, Amit kumar, Aarti Mukherjee, Bappi Lahiri, Runa Laila, Kalyani Mitra, Pankaj Mitra, Sapan Chakravarty etc. After 85 the number was reduced to Shreya Ghoshal, Abhijeet, Babul Supriyo etc.
(All names are only indicative and not exhaustive).

Amongst the singers from Bengal, possibly Pahadi Sanyal acted in the maximum number of Hindi films-36. He sang 70 songs in 20 Hindi films, the rest were for only acting. His songs with Uma Shashi, Kanan Devi, Molina Devi and Sehgal were famous. Luku Sanyal-the English news Reader of early Doordarshan News was his daughter. Today’s film Adhikar-38 had music by Timir baran bhattacharya. The cast of the film was P C Barua, Jamuna, Menaka, Pahadi Sanyal, Pankaj Mullik, Jagdish Sethi, Bikram Kapooretc.etc. From the cast, Menaka Devi was a member of Same Name Confusion, as there was another Menaka-actress and singer- from Bombay in the same time period.

Menaka Devi (Calcutta Wali) was born in Varanasi on 23-1-1921. Her mother was a resident of the holy city although her father was from Bengal. She studied upto Matriculation. She could speak fluent English and Hindi, but not much of Bangla, having been raised in Varanasi. Her interest in music and dance took her to Bombay where she starred in a couple of films like Prince Thaksen (1929), Uttara Abhimanyu, Ishwar Ki Maut and others as a child artiste. When the Talkie started she acted and sang in Bhedi Rajkumar-34, Pyara Dushman-35 and Krishna Shishtai – 35.

Reportedly, she met the legendary film director Debaki Bose of Bengal during a train journey and he was so impressed by her that he decided to cast her in the lead role of his next venture in the Hindi version of the bilingual Sonar Sansar (1936 in Bangla and Sunehra Sansar-36 in Hindi) and thus began the illustrious career of Menaka Devi.

Her devotion to work was such that she learnt Bengali, her mother tongue although she was anything but fluent in it having spent all her life till then outside Bengal, so that she could play the same role (that of Alka) in the Bengali version also. Dhiraj Bhattacharya was her first hero on the screen. P.C.Barua, who was on the lookout for a young and fresh face to play Jharna in his forthcoming production Mukti (1937) selected her for both the versions ( Bangla and Hindi) and a flow started whereby she starred in films like Adhikar (1939), Abhigyan (1938), Bardidi (1939 in Bangla and Badi Didi in Hindi), Rajat Jayanti (1940) and others.

She decided to try her luck in Bombay around 1944 and starred in a few films there and definitely made her presence felt although playing the second lead most of the time. Kishore Sahu procured her services for Hamari Duniya (1952). She was married to Pannalal Shrivastav and had 1 daughter ( Jaya Ganguly). She turned producer also and this proved her undoing. Both her films as producer, Apna na Huye Apne (No information of this film,probably incomplete) and Jeene Do-48, both starring herself with prominent Bombay stars flopped.

She returned to Calcutta a broken woman and found to her dismay that roles were not coming to her. She joined the MG Enterprise, a drama group of Molina Devi and performed on the stage to continue to live as an actress. She even arranged magic shows along with husband Pannalal Srivastava while small roles came pouring in films like Ekti Raat (1956) and others. The feature that strikes even today while seeing her performance is the spontaneous nature of her acting. Why good roles eluded her is a mystery. She was last seen on the screen in Bhombal Sardar (1983). In all, she acted in 60 films-Bangla and Hindi together. She was in 19 Hindi films and sang 8 songs in 4 Hindi films.

Her end came on 22-1- 2004 after a prolonged fight not only against poor health but also poverty. Her death was reported only in one Bengali daily although news of her death received good coverage on television.

Here is a small note on Jagdish Sethi.

Jagdish Sethi was born on 15-1-1903 at Pind Dandan Khan (Campbellpore) in Punjab.

After matriculation in 1920, he graduated from Lahore. He was known as a fighter in college due to his dominating nature. He joined the film line as assitant cameraman in Punjab film company in 1928.

He went to Calcutta to work as an extra in New Theatres, came back to Bombay and worked in Alam Ara-31. He went back to New Theatres in 1933 and worked in films like President,Anath Ashram,Mukti, jawani ki reet,Ghar ki laaj etc.

He worked in about 85 films in his career. In Bombay he was famous as a person with changing moods. He did not have many friends. He worked in films made by Imperial, Amar Movietone, Maiden Films, New Theatres, Laxmi Productions (belonging to L V Prasad), Janak Productions, Filmistan etc etc. He started his own J.S.Productions and produced and directed films like Do Dil-47, Raat ki Rani-49, Jaggu-52 and Pensioner-54.

He amassed huge wealth. He was fond of Racing, Cards and Tennis. He was also a writer and published a book “Hichkiyan”-short stories on Film world.

He died on 12-6-1969.

Today’s song is sung by Pankaj Mullik, Pahadi Sanyal and Pratap Mukherji. The tune of today’s song is similar to one used in film Forty Days-1959 song of Asha-Manna Dey “Naseeb hoga mera meherbaan kabhi na kabhi”….MD-Bipin-Babul. Enjoy….


Song- Aish waalon se gareebi ki museebat na kaho (Adhikaar)(1938) Singers- Pankaj Mullik, Pahadi Sanyal, Pratap Mukherjee, Lyricist-Arzoo Lucknavi, MD- Timir Baran Bhattacharya

Lyrics

Aish waalon se gareebi ki museebat na kaho
Aish waalon se gareebi ki museebat na kaho
zakhm ki tarah hanso
haan zakhm ki tarah hanso
dard ki haalat na kaho
Aish waalon se gareebi ki museebat na kaho

sukh mein jo hain
unhen kya kadr (??)
paraaye jo thhaken
haan aan aan
sukh mein jo hain
unhen kya kadr (??)
paraaye jo thhaken
haan aan aan
haan haan
haan aan
?? se achcha hai ke haajat(??) na kaho
?? se achcha hai ke haajat(??) na kaho
Aish waalon se gareebi ki museebat na kaho

sabr kadva hai magar
haan aan aan
sabr kadva hai magar
sabr ka phal meethha aa hai ae
haan aan aan
haan
bhes badli hui ??aahat ko
??yat na kaho
bhes badli hui ??aahat ko
??yat na kaho
Aish waalon se gareebi ki museebat na kaho

Bhed khulta hai
bharam jaataa hai
hoti hai hansi
?? aane se hi ?? na kaho
?? aane se hi ?? na kaho
Aish waalon se gareebi ki museebat na kaho

aa aa aa
apne hi munh se
haaye ye apni hi tauheen
haan aan tauheen
aa aa aa aa
apne hi munh se
haaye ye apni hi tauheen
haan aan tauheen
sharm izzat ki agar hai
to museebat na kaho
gar museebat ki agar hai
to museebat na kaho
Aish waalon se gareebi ki museebat na kaho


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 :

4524 Post No. : 16083

Today’s song is from the film 300 Days and after-1938. This was a film made by Sagar Movietone. Based on an English film “A Billionaire’s story “, directed by the famous Haward Hawks. The film was adapted to indian conditions by Babubhai Mehta and the dialogues were written by Wazahat Mirza and Waqif. Music was by Anil Biswas and the 9 songs were written by Zia Sarhadi. Cinematographer was Faredoon Irani. The film was a comedy film directed by Sarvottam Badami. Later he further directed two more comedies – Aap ki Marzi and Ladies Only both in 1939.

Badami was a living example of the famous saying ” where you come from is immaterial. What is important is where you have reached. ” An ordinary Motor Machanic became a famous film director, Head of the Documentary section of Films Division and a management consultant for an Industrial House like the Kamanis in Bangalore. His life story is very inspiring indeed.( another Motor Mechanic became a famous writer and director-Gulzar).

Sarvottam Badami was born in 1910 at Channapatna in Karnataka,to a revenue officer working in Mysore. He passed his SSLC and worked as a garage mechanic and then a projectionist in Select Picture House, Bangalore, both of which were owned by Dr. Ambalal Patel. Patel moved to Bombay and financed Ardeshir Irani of Imperial Film Company, and Chimanlal Desai as a partner forming Sagar Movietone in 1930.
At the age of 19 years, Badami went to Bombay to study automobile engineering. He was asked by Ardeshir Irani who met him at a wedding to help out with the recording equipment he had purchased from abroad.

Badami helped in the sound recording department for the first Talkie in India, Ardeshir Irani’s Alam Ara (1931). Around that time a German director making the film Harishchandra left half-way and Badami offered to complete it, the co-director was Raja Chandrasekhar, although the co-director credit has also been cited as T. C. Vadivelu Naicker. The film turned out to be successful. He was contracted by Sagar Movietone (Sagar Film Company) to direct three films, two in Telugu and one in Tamil: Galava Rishi (Tamil), Rama Paduka Pattabhishekam and Shakuntala in Telugu. The success of these films established him as a director. His working team had people like the cinematographer Faredoon Irani, music director Anil Biswas and the Sagar Movietone favourites Sabita Devi and Motilal.

Initially, to avoid embarrassment to his family he requested not to be credited in the regional language films. He did not know Hindi but from 1932-1947, he worked for Sagar Movietone and also directed nearly 30 films in Hindi, for many others. His first Hindi film was Chandrahasa (1933) starring Noor Mohammed Charlie. He was paid Rs 2000 per film with the complete film being made within Rs 50,000. He worked with most of the top actors of the time like Motilal, Nargis, Ashok Kumar and Pahari Sanyal. He brought Mehboob Khan who was then doing roles as an extra out of obscurity and gave him the role of Sabita Devi’s father in the film Vengeance is mine(1935).

He made several films based on novels. Some of the writers whose work he used were K.M.Munshi, Sarat Chandra and Ramanlal Vasanthlal Desai. The film Aap ki Marzi (1939) was inspired by the Hollywood film Paradise for Three (1938). He became known for his satirical comedies and “socially relevant films”.His film Grihalaxmi (1934), which starred Jal Merchant and Sabita Devi had the woman getting into marriage only if her doctor husband agreed not to want children. The success of the film mitigated the enraged public reaction at the time.

He showed his understanding of media publicity required for films when in 1937, Badami resorted to woo audiences by announcing cash prizes of Rs.500, Rs.200 and Rs.100 for the best reviews of his newly released film Kulvadhu (1937). The promotional gambit worked sending audiences to the theatres. According to an interview, most of Badami’s films didn’t survive as the negatives were burnt to extract the silver from the silver nitrate.

After Aap ki Marzi-38, he followed his mentor, Dr. Patel and joined Sudama Pictures, when in 1939, Sagar Movietone merged into National Films. Badami

also worked in Famous Cine Laboratories, from 46 to 48.

Apparently, in 1948 Deputy Prime Minister Vallabh bhai Patel, who was then also in charge of the Information Ministry, on a visit to the Cine Laboratories Bombay, asked Badami to help set up a NewsReel and Documentary section. The Films Division was established in 1948. He became chief producer in the newsreel department and made several documentaries. He worked in the Films Division making documentaries from 1948-1952. After that he stopped making films and returned to Bangalore to retire as “I was a forgotten man in the feature film world”. He became an industrialist by starting a manufacturing business. Later he worked as a Consultant for Kamani Group of Industries also. He died in 2005 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

FILMOGRAPHY: 1932: Harishchandra; Galava Rishi; Paduka Pattabhishekham; Shakuntala; 1933: Chandrahasa; 1934: Grihalakshmi; 1935: Dr. Madhurika; Vengeance is Mine; 1936: Jeevan Lata; Grama Kanya; 1937: Kokila; Kulavadhu; 1938: Three Hundred Days and After; 1939: Aap Ki Marzi; Ladies Only; 1940: Chingari; Sajani; 1941: Holiday in Bombay; 1942: Khilona; 1943: Prarthana; 1944: Bhagya Lakshmi; 1945: Ramayani; 1946: Uttara Abhimanyu; 1947: Manmani; 1951: Vinoba Bhave (Doc);1952: Roof over the head

(Ack: Sapnon ke saudagar by Vithal Pandya, Sagar Movietone by Biren Kothari, HFGK, muVyz, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, and my notes)

The cast of the film was Sabita Devi, Bibbo, Motilal, Yakub, Sankata prasad and many more. Though Motilal was the Hero, his name came after two leading ladies as they were seniors and he was comparatively a junior actor. Sabita Devi was a beautiful Anglo Indian girl who joined films in the silent film era. When Talkie started, she too had a problem of Hindi speaking and singing, like all other non indian girls in films in those days. She was a determined lady and she , just like Ruby Meyers (sulochana), learnt Hindi to speak and did singing lessons too, by taking a one year’s gap in career.

The real name of Sabita Devi was IRINA GASPER. She was an Anglo-Indian, born in an affluent family of Calcutta, in 1914.

After completing education she wanted to join films, but her family objected. Without the family’s knowledge, she sent her resume and Photo to British Dominion Film Co., owned by Dhiren Ganguly in Calcutta. When they informed their consent the family resisted and kept her locked in the house. She fell ill and finally, the family conceded to her wish.

Her first Silent film was Flames of Flesh-1930. Then came Kanthahaar, A touch of Love, After the death, Aparadhi, Money makes what not and Bhagyalaxmi as silent films.

When the talkie came, she determinedly learnt Hindustani and Urdu and also Music.

Her first Talkie film was Radhakrishna-33, in which she sang 16 out of 23 songs in the film, but no records were made. Next was Ek din ka Badshah-33. She shifted to Bombay for better opportunities. In 1934,came Shahar ka Jaadu,with Motilal as a debut actor and this film was a Hit. Later she and Motilal became a popular pair.

She did many films. Her some films were-

300 days and after, Apki marzi, kokila, Kulvadhu, Amrapali, Ladies only, Chandragupta, Chingari, Dr.madhurika, grihalaxmi, holiday in bombay, Jeevan Lata, King for a day, Lagna bandhan, Manmaani, , Phantom Of the hills, Silver king, vengeance is mine, Village Girl etc etc. In all, she acted in 23 Talkie films and sang 15 recorded songs in 7 films.

She was a good Piano and Harmonium player. In later days in 1943 onwards, she stopped singing herself. Her last picture was Amrapali-45.

In 1946, she got married and left for England. She came back again only to die in Calcutta in 1965.

The other leading lady in the film was Bibbo, whose real name was Ishrat Sultana. Besides being an actress, she was also India’s First Woman Music Director.

Film 300 Days and after-38 was a popular film which was a comedy.

I started seeing films from almost the end of the 40’s decade. During that period, some films of the 30’s were still being shown in the Morning shows in specific theatres of Hyderabad. These theaters were known to show old films at concessional rates. The tickets started at 4 Annas, 6 annas, 8 annas and 12 annas for Balcony. So, it was affordable to me. The Morning shows used to be only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. Invariably, I used to miss school on saturdays and see different films on Saturday and Sundays regularly. As a habit, I used to note down the seen film’s details in a notebook. I remember having seen this film in Royal Talkies in Hyderabad. This way I was lucky to see some films from the 30’s. The story of this film was….

Sudhir (Motilal) is a bachelor billionaire,doing nothing and enjoying life to the fullest with wine, women and gambling. As a result, his health starts falling prematurely when he is just 25-26 yrs only.

one day he falls down and a Doctor is called. After many tests and inspection of everything his family doctor tells him that because of his wayward living and uncontrolled lifestyle he is suffering from many ailments.If he treats them now, he may get all those again and again. The only remedy is Sudhir should do hard manual work, exercises and lead a simple living, which,the doctor says, Sudhir will never be able to do.

Sudhir is angry. He challenges the doctor that he will leave all his wealth, go out in the world, do physical work and earn money for himself. The doctor takes a bet with him and the deal is Sudhir should go out for 300 days without using a single paisa from his existing wealth for himself. Sudhir is ready for this.

Next day Sudhir goes out with a few ordinary clothes, little money and a strong will to face the big bad world.

The film is full of funny situations when Motilal gets different jobs and does not know how to do them. First he tries to work as a Vegetable vendor, but he does not know the names of any vegetable.

He even takes some fruits as vegetables,to sell. Next he tries to work as an assistant in a Barber shop, where he shaves off half the mustache of a customer. He tries to work as a car driver and a Tram ticket collector also.

Finally, he joins as a worker in a Soap factory, where he has to drive sometimes Seth’s wife -Ramola devi(Bibbo), who tries to entice him. Sudhir starts liking a typist girl in the factory Sharada(Sabita Devi). Sharada teaches music to Ramola, wife of Seth Laxmi Das. Motilal takes her everyday to the tuition. They start loving each other. Motilal stays with a kind hearted Vegetable vendor woman as a tenant. She tends to him , feeds him well and takes his care as her son.

Suddenly the Factory must close down due to some loss. All workers are worried. Motilal secretly sends his own money to Sethji as an anonymous partner. The Factory is saved.

Now in this all jumble, 300 days come to an end. Surprisingly Motilal finds himself absolutely fit, healthy and understands the meaning of true life and Love.

He goes back to the doctor to claim his bet money, which he donates to a school.

Sudhir marries Sharada and brings the kind vegetable vendor lady as his family member to live with him for ever.

Today’s song is sung by Sabita Devi.


Song- Koi geet manohar nyaara (300 days and after)(1938) Singer- Sabita Devi, Lyricist- Zia Sarhadi, MD- Anil Biswas

Lyrics

Koi geet manohar nyaara
Koi geet manohar nyaara
nit gaaye saanjh ka taara
nit gaaye
nit gaaye saanjh ka taara
Koi geet manohar nyaara
Koi geet manohar nyaara
mera ghar ho nadi kinaare ae
mera ghar ho nadi kinaare

mera ghar ho nadi kinaare
jahaan pushp hon pyaare pyaare
mera ghar ho nadi kinaare
mera ghar ho nadi kinaare
jahaan pushp hon pyaare pyaare
rahoon ban mein saanjh sakhaare
rahoon ban mein saanjh sakhaare
sun geet manohar nyaara
sun geet manohar nyaara
nit gaaye saanjh ka taara
nit gaaye
nit gaaye
nit gaaye saanjh ka taara
Koi geet manohar nyaara
Koi geet manohar nyaara


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This blog discusses Bollywood songs of yesteryears. Every song has a brief description, followed by a video link, and complete lyrics of the song.

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