Archive for the ‘Song of 1940’ Category
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This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3613 | Post No. : | 14407 |
Today’s song is from a relatively unknown film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ (1940). The film makes its debut on the blog today.
Every person in this world likes to talk about himself. More so, if the person is from the film line and now retired. Some of them write their autobiography and some others get someone to write for them. Autobiographies (AB) are of two types. One in which the author talks about the times he spent in the studios, about the film, people connected with it, anecdotes and generally gives information about those times, in his book. Such ABs are considered the best from the point of view of Film History. Such ABs are less in number.
The other type of AB is, in which the author writes more about his personal life mainly, giving negligible space to other matters like film, people and related matters. Such authors are under the wrong impression that the world is dying to know about him and his life, while the facts remain that they had lives like majority of people in India working in films.
Overall, the statistics say that women wrote more ABs than the men. Among the many ABs are the ones by Durga Khote, Leela Chitnis, Shanta Apte, Shanta Hublikar, Kanan Devi, Hansa Wadkar (one of the very few in the world, on which a film was made – ‘Bhumika’ (1977), Sulochana Latkar, Jayashree Gadkar, Snehprabha Pradhan etc etc. Among the males, some ABs are those of Bimal Roy, Nabendu Ghosh (I found that most film male personalities in Bangla cinema wrote their ABs), Sachin Burman, Salil Chaudhari, Hemanta Kumar, Vithal Pandya, Ramchandra Thakur and C. Ramchandra. Bangla artists wrote in Bangla only. Some have been translated into English.
Among these ABs, I would rate Durga Khote, Sulochana and Kanan Devi and Vithal Pandya’s books as the best in the first category. The worst AB is that of C Ramchandra from the second category in my personal opinion.
When I write about a film or a song, I try to first read the related part from the AB of the concerned artiste, if any, so that my information becomes factual and reliable. In case of today Leela Chitnis was the heroine of film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ and today’s song is also by her, so naturally, her AB came handy to me for additional information. It is a matter of coincidence that my previous article was from the film ‘Fashion’ (1943) and today’s film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ (1940) – both had by chance a similar story in content. The difference is I had not seen ‘Fashion’, but I saw the Marathi version of ‘Ghar Ki Rani’.
Film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ aka ‘The Better Half’ was a bilingual film, as per those day’s practice by producers of Maharashtra. The film was in Hindi and Marathi. In Marathi, the title was ‘Ardhangi’. It was made by Master Vinayak for his own Hans Pictures. Hans Pictures was in financial crisis during this period due to the failure of their ambitious film ‘Jwaala’ (1939), in which Chandramohan had acted in both versions, dubbing his own dialogues in Marathi himself, fluently.
When Master Vinayak had started Hans Pictures, the first film was ‘Chhaaya’ (1936). He had called Leela Chitnis to Kolhapur from Karachi to work in ‘Chhaaya’. Prior to that about a year or so earlier, Leela and Vinayak had been introduced in Poona. That time they had developed an attraction for each others, though Leela was already married and had 2 children. When they met again for film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ at Poona, no such feeling had remained. That time Master Vinayak had married Susheela – sister of actress Indira Wadkar, and he too had 2 daughters by then. One of them was Baby Nanda. During the shooting of the film Leela fell from her cycle and had fractures. One month was lost in that.
Leela had just completed ‘Bandhan’ (1940) made by Bombay Talkies and ‘Jhoola’ (1941) was nowhere in sight. After completing this film in Poona, when she went back to Bombay, she learnt that Bombay Talkies owner Himanshu Rai was serious and in the hospital. Soon he died and the studio was divided into two groups. Work was to start for her next film ‘Jhoola’. In between this period, she went to Gwalior to meet her son who was studying there in a Public school. In this period, a sad but funny thing happened.
Some British soldiers caught and raped an young girl whose name was Leela Chitnis. The soldiers were arrested and the newspapers in Bombay announced that Leela Chitnis was raped by soldiers and that she is not well. Her mother telephoned her in Gwalior and started inquiring about her health in a serious tone. This was followed by her sister’s call who said that she is reaching next day to take care of her health. Leela Chitnis was confused. Not aware of the drama in Bombay, she did not know why suddenly her health was questioned. Next day her sister came and then everything was clarified. After she came back to Bombay she contacted the papers and clarified the matter.
The story and lyrics of the Marathi version of this film were written by Acharya PK Atre, but for Hindi version Pt Indra translated them. Today’s song is by Leela Chitnis and Master Eric. HFGK credits the song to Master Vinayak. However, in the addenda, an explanation is given with correct name. The fact is, Master Vinayak had a dental problem, due to which he could not sing well. All his songs in Marathi and Hindi films were sung by Master Eric. This is mentioned in several books.
Now, who was this Master Eric? His real name was Vasant Jadhav. He was born in 1907 into a Marathi Christian family of Kolhapur. Bhalji Pendharkar selected him for acting and singing in Shyam Cinetone’s film ‘Parth Kumar’ (1934) (Hindi / Marathi). His pet name was Eric, so he became Vasant Eric and later on due to his singing, he was called Master Vasant Eric. He joined Kolhapur Shalini Cinetone and worked with Master Vinayak. He also worked in films like ‘Aakashwani’ (1934) and ‘Honhaar’ (1936). He sang songs in films from 1937 onwards. In all the Marathi / Hindi films of Master Vinayak he sang for him.
Vasant Eric knew Ratanbai. She introduced him to Ardeshir Irani and he employed Eric in his music department, playing various instruments and singing whenever needed. He acted and sang in films made by Hans, Navyug and Prafull Films. In 1948, he gave music to a Marathi film. He was called by many MDs to play chord piano for their songs. The male voice in Lata’s First Hindi Playback song “Paa Laagu Kar Jori Re” is that of master Vasant Eric only.
His son Ravindra was an actor and daughter Hemlata Shankar (Jadhav) was a film dancer. His grandson Nitin Shanker is an arranger in Bollywood today. Master Vasant Eric died in 1982.
I have seen the film’s Marathi version, ‘Ardhangi’. The story of film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’ was-
Satyavan (Vinayak) is a University professor. Though he is highly educated, his wife Savitri (Meenakshi Shirodkar) is a simple housewife devoted to husband and his family. One day Satyavan’s colleague introduces his wife to Satyawan. Arundhati (Leela Chitnis) is a modern, educated, English speaking and cigarette smoking beautiful woman. Satyawan gets mad after her and takes every opportunity to meet and flatter her. In his mind he starts comparing Arundhati with his wife Savitri and feels ashamed of his wife. He feels Savitri is absolutely illiterate, old styled useless woman and avoids taking her with him anywhere.
He appoints a tutor to teach Savitri European manners and English speaking etc. It is difficult for Savitri, but for husband she does them and soon picks up, being intelligent woman. When Satyawan tries to impress Arundhati, she gives him freedom. Soon he comes very close to her to have an affair. However Arundhati humiliates him and makes him to all her domestic work. Then one day, she abandons Satyawan for the rich Zamindar Marotirao (Baburao Pendharkar).
Satyawan realises that he has been a fool to run after such a woman and returns happily to his wife Savitri, little knowing that it was Savitri who instigated Marotirao to go for Arundhati, to save her husband going away from her. Thus the Mahabharata story of Savitri who wins back her husband form Yama, comes to a close in Kalyug ! ( 655 )
Here is a rare song of Leela Chitnis and Master Vasant Eric from film ‘Ghar Ki Rani’. When you listen to Eric’s voice, you will realize the similarity of Master Vinayak’s and his voice.
Song – Aao Sainyaan Khul Kar Khelen Aaj Poonam Ki Raat Hai (Ghar Ki Rani) (1940) Singer – Leela Chitnis, Vasant Eric, Lyrics – [Unattributed], Music – Dada Chandekar
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
aao sainyaan
khul kar khelen
aaj poonam ki raat hai
aao sainyaan
khul kar khelen
aaj poonam ki raat hai
chandramukhi ho
pehlu mein to
chandramukhi ho
pehlu mein to
khoob poonam ki raat hai
chanda chhin chhin mein chhip jaata
rajnion ka chumban le aata
phir hum par joban barsaata
aaj poonam ki raat hai
hoon hum
khoob poonam ki raat hai
tum dard badha ke
dil mein mujhe chhipa lo
praanon se praan
aahon se aah mila lo
main teri aankh mein
aansoon jal kar jhoomoon
jo girey aankh se
to gaalon ko choomoon
bhool jaaye duniya hum ko
hum duniya ko bhoolen
bhool jaaye duniya hum ko
hum duniya ko bhoolen
madhoshi ki godi mein
armaan banaayen ghoomen
aaj poonam ki raat hai
hoon hum
khoob poonam ki raat hai
aao sainyaan
khul kar khelen
aaj poonam ki raat hai
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
आओ सैंया
खुल कर खेलें
आज पूनम की रात है
आओ सैंया
खुल कर खेलें
आज पूनम की रात है
चन्द्रमुखी हो
पहलू में तो
चन्द्रमुखी हो
पहलू में तो
खूब पूनम की रात है
चंदा छिन्न छिन्न में छिप जाता
रजनीओं का चुम्बन ले आता
फिर हम पर जोबन बरसाता
आज पूनम की रात है
हूँ हुम
खूब पूनम की रात है
तुम दर्द बढ़ा के
दिल में मुझे छिपा लो
प्राणों से प्राण
आहों से आह मिला लो
मैं तेरी आँख में
आँसू जल कर झूमूँ
जो गिरे आँख से
तो गालों को चूमूँ
भूल जाये दुनिया हमको
हुम दुनिया को भूलें
भूल जाये दुनिया हमको
हुम दुनिया को भूलें
मदहोशी की गोदी में
अरमान बनाएँ घूमें
आज पूनम की रात है
हूँ हुम
खूब पूनम की रात है
आओ सैंया
खुल कर खेलें
आज पूनम की रात है
Gori. . . Laaj Ki Baat
Posted on: March 22, 2018
- In: "expectant mother" song | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Guest posts | Lyrics by Sudhir | Lyrics contributed by readers | Miss Leela Solo Songs | Miss Leela Songs | Motherhood song | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh | Sahelis teasing a lady | Song of 1940 | Songs of 1930s (1931 to 1940) | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 6 Comments
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3534 | Post No. : | 14193 |
Today’s song is from the film ‘Alakh Niranjan’ (1940).
These days I am on a mission to collect and present valuable information on some less known actors and actresses, from the bygone era of the 30s and early 40s. Today also I will talk about a really forgotten actress of the silent era and the early Talkie films – LEELA CHANDRAGIRI or Miss Leela. Do not mix up this name with Leela Desai, Leela Sawant or Leela Mishra. All are different.
But before that, something about the film.The film’s name is ‘Alakh Niranjan’ aka ‘Gorakhnath’. We are all aware that “alakh niranjan” is the call given by the gossains (गोसाईं) (or followers) of Nath Sampradaay or the fakirs of Kabir Panth, when they visit a fixed number of households to ask for bhiksha (alms). When I was about 6 to 7 year old, during the visits to my Naani’s (maternal grandmother’s) home in a village, I used to hear this call from the gossain, who stood outside the door. Someone from the house used to give uncooked food material like rice, wheat or jowar. Even wheat atta was given. These gossains had a jholi (a spacious carrying bag made of cloth), having 4-5 compartments and they would expertly add the bhiksha to the appropriate compartment. They never took money. These people are also called by the name avadhoot (अवधूत) (a mystic or a saint who is beyond ego-consciousness, duality and common worldly concerns).
Alakh is a term used by Nath Sampradaay for The Creator. It signifies a nirgun (One that is beyond physical attributes) and nirakaar (One that is not bounded by form and shape) manifestation of the Supreme Power. The word alakh also means That which cannot be measured, or perceived by the physical sensory powers and intellect. Niranjan means spotless or pure. Primarily it is a call to identify the Nath Yogi. Niranjan is also another name for Lord Shiva.
A brief description of the Nath Sampradaay and about Gorakhnath. It is likely that some of our readers may not be familiar with the details behind these names. In the Hindu Sanaatan traditions the worship of Lord Shiva is called Shaivism and the worshippers and followers of Lord Shiva are called Shaivs. Nath Sampradaay is a sub tradition within Shaivism. The followers of this tradition consider Adinath or Lord Shiva as their first Lord. The word Nath implies Master. In this tradition, there is a lineage of nine Gurus or Teachers. The form of sadhna practiced by the followers of this tradition is called Hath Yog (हठ योग).
The first Guru in this lineage is Matsyendra Nath, who is better known as Machhindra Nath. The traditional history recounts that Matsyendra was born under an inauspicious star. This warranted his parents to throw the baby into the ocean. In the ocean the baby was swallowed by a large fish, and he lived and grew up inside the belly of the fish, for many years. The fish swam to the bottom of the ocean where Lord Shiva was imparting the secrets of yoga to Mata Parvati. Matsyendra overheard this discourse and learnt the secrets of yoga. He began to practice this yog sadhana inside the fish’s belly. After twelve years he finally emerged as an enlightened Siddha.
There is a list of Nine Nath Gurus, who are called Navnath. The first Nath Guru is Machhindra. The complete list is as follows
- Machhindranath
- Gorakhnath
- Jalandhar Nath
- Kanif Nath (Kanhoba)
- Gahini Nath
- Raja Bhartrihari Nath (Bharthari)
- Revan Sidha Nath
- Charpati Nath and
- Naag Nath.
The stories surrounding every Nath Guru, especially the earlier ones, are very exciting, thrilling and entertaining. One must read them from the original Nath Puraan or Nav Nath Pothi. I have read all of them. These stories are in no way less than any Arabian Night stories. Due to their entertainment value, several films in several languages have been made on the early Gurus like Machhindranath and Gorakhnath. Films on Machhindranath were made as ‘Maaya Machhindra’ in Hindi, in 1932, 1951, 1960 and 1975. Films on Gorakhnath as ‘Alakh Niranjan’, were made in 1940, 1950 and 1975. Films on Bharthari were made in 1932 and 1944. Films on other Naths were made as ‘Raja Gopichand’ in 1933, 1938 and 1950. Same way films on Naths in Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and other languages were also made.
‘Alakh Niranjan’ is the story of Gorakhnath. The story of his birth is briefly given below.
The first Guru Machhindra Nath went to a house for bhiksha. The lady of the house, after giving him the bhiksha, asked him if he can bless her to bear a child, a wish that had remained unfulfilled thus far in her life. Guru Machhindra Nath dipped his hand in his jholi and took out some some vibhuti (ash). He gave it to her and asked her to partake it and that she will conceive a son. After he is gone, one of the neighbours tells the lady not to believe all this. The lady gets a doubt and throws the vibhuti on a pile of garbage.
Time passes. After 12 years, Machhindra Nath again comes to the lady and asks, how her son was. The lady, ashamed, tells him the truth. The Guru goes to the pile of garbage and gives a loud call, “My son, come here”. From the garbage rises a son of about 12 years. He is Gorak Nath. Machhindranath takes him away and gives him the deeksha (anointing him as his disciple) of Nath Sampradaay. ‘Go‘ means Earth and ‘rakh‘ means to protect. So Gorakh is one who is protected by Mother Earth.
The film (1940 version) was made by Arun Pictures and directed by Bhal G Pendharkar (Bhalchandra Gopal Pendharkar – 3-5-1897 to 28-11-1994). Born at Kolhapur, he was the son of King Shahu Maharaja’s court physician Dr. Gopal Pendharkar, and Radhabai. He was awarded Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1991, when he was 94 year old already. More about this illustrious film director some other time. Let us now talk about the film’s heroine Miss Leela.
Leela Chandragiri was born in Chikodi, a town near Kolhapur, in a singing family. She learnt singing from a very young age. The talent hunters of Prabhat film company found her and she was brought to Kolhapur. She was beautiful, tall and wheat complexioned. She made her debut in V Shantaram’s silent film ‘Uday Kaal’ in 1930. She did the role of Bhawani Devi, who blesses Shivaji and gives him the Bhawani talwar (sword). Leela became famous by acting in the grand silent film ‘Chandrasena’ (1931) of Prabhat films.
Leela’s first talkie film was ‘Jalti Nishani’ (1932), a bilingual in Hindi and Marathi (as ‘Agni Kankan’). The hero in this film was Master Vinayak. Leela had no problem in delivering Hindi/Urdu dialogues as she was fluent in both languages. She became the heartthrob of the audiences. Being from a singing family and trained, singing came naturally to her. She sang her own songs starting from her first talkie film itself. In 1933, she appeared in ‘Maya Machhindra’ (1933), in which her hero was Master Vinayak again. They worked together again in a Marathi film ‘Sinhgad’. Prabhat’s first coloured film ‘Sairandhri’ (1933) also featured her in the main role. The film was processed in Germany.
After this, Prabhat Films shifted to Poona, but Leela chose to stay back in Kolhapur and decided to work with Bhalji Pendharkar. They became attracted to each others and got married. Leela already had two children, a son, Jaysingh and a daughter, Madhavi. Bhalji adopted both children and gave them father’s love. Even Bhalji had one son from his first marriage – Prabhakar. Later, when they built their own studio, it was given the name Jayprabha. It combined his two sons’ names – JAYsingh and PRABHAkar. Madhavi got married to the Marathi author Ranjit Desai. Madhavi also authored one book herself.
Miss Leela appeared in the following films –
- Jalti Nishani (1932)
- Maya Machhindra (1932)
- Sairandhri (1933)
- Akashwani (1934)
- Kaal Koot (1935)
- Kaliya Mardan (1935)
- Raja Gopichand (1938)
- Alakh Niranjan (1940)
- Maharathi Karna (1944)
- Swarna Bhoomi (1944)
- Valmiki (1946), and
- Chhatrapati Shivaji (1952).
She mostly worked in films directed or made by Bhalji Pendharkar only. During the riots in 1948 (on account of Gandhi ji’s assasination), their Jayprabha studio was burnt down, because Bhalji was a Brahmin. However, within few years he built it again. After Bhalji’s death the studio was purchased by Lata Mangeshkar.
During Miss Leela’s career, contemporary to her, there were 3 more actresses named Leela active in Hindi films. One was Leela Desai (daughter of a Gujarati father and a Bengali mother from Bihar. She was born in America.). The second was Leela Mishra – who became Leela mausi later on. The third one was Leela Sawant – essentially a stunt film actress who worked in master Bhagwan’s films.
The music of this film was by DP Korgaonkar aka K Datta (who is known for film ‘Badi Maa’ (1945) and songs of Noorjehan). The main role of Gorakhnath was done by B Nandrekar. Other actors were Chandrakant (father of well known Marathi/Hindi actor Vikram Gokhale), Raja Paranjape (who became a famous Marathi director in the 1950’s decade) and others. There were 8 songs in the film. 4 were sung by Miss Leela. Both the film as well as the singer Miss Leela are making their debut on the blog today.
[Author’s Note: Acknowledgements and thanks – The above write up refers to and has adapted material from ‘Beete Kal Ke Sitaare’ by Shri S Tamrakar, ‘Flashback’ by Isak Mujawar, Wikipedia, CITWF.com, MuVyz.com, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, HFGK and my own notes.]
[Ed Note 1 : As I was noting the lyrics of this delightful song, I also noted that in this song, a lady is being teased by her friends. The lady is in the family way, carrying a child, and the friends are singing a song about it. The words and the phrases, as presented are so playful, so endearing, and at the same time, modest and innocent. The friends are singing of the progressing months in pregnancy, and how the lady is blossoming. Then when the time comes, she gives birth to a child. I do not remember hearing any other such song in HFM; maybe I am not aware. I can recall some songs that are sung by the husband wife couple who are expecting a child. The manner in which a group of friends are teasing an expectant mother – I think I am hearing for the first time. The wording is just so wonderful.
nanadi ne kheencha palla
boli kahaan hai lalla
Nanadi, the younger sister in law of the lady; she playfully pulls at her bhabhi’s palla and asks – o tell me, where is the child. The imagery created by these words and these lines is so wonderful. I would request other readers and friends to comment if there are other similar instances in the world of Hindi film songs.]
[Ed Note 2 : I request help from other readers with keener ears to help with one word marked as ?? in the lyrics below.]
Song – Gori. . . Laaj Ki Baat (Alakh Niranjan) (1940) Singer – Miss Leela, Unidentified Female Voice 2, Unidentified Female Voice 2, Lyrics – Pandit Anand Kumar, Music – DP Korgaonkar
Chorus
Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
gori . . .
laaj ki baat
gori . . . laaj ki baat
gori . . . laaj ki ba..aat
gori . . . laaj ki baat
munh se boli na jaat
munh se boli na jaat
munh se keh baithe aaj
munh se keh baithe aaj
gori
sej kyon na jaaye
gori sej kyon na jaaye
gori sej kyon na jaaye
gori sej kyon na jaaye
nanadi ne kheencha palla
nanadi ne kheencha palla
boli kahaan hai lalla
boli kahaan hai lalla
kaun ghar maara dallaa
kaun ghar maara dallaa
phooli na samaaye gori
gori
phooli na samaaye gori
gori
peeli pad jaaye gori
gori
peeli pad jaaye gori
beeta chhatwa maas suhaagan
beeta chhatwa maas suhaagan
hansat saatwaan chala mudit mann
hansat saatwaan chala mudit mann
sakhi aathvaan jaate jaate
sakhi aathvaan jaate jaate
khile bageeche phool uthe tan
khile bageeche phool uthe tan
navaa bade bhaagon se aaye
navaa bade bhaagon se aaye
laal janmaaye gori
gori
laal janmaaye gori
pyaare.. laal ki baat
pyaare.. laal ki baat
pyaare.. laal ki baat
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
गोरी॰॰॰
लाज की बात
गोरी॰॰॰ लाज की बात
गोरी॰॰॰ लाज की बा॰॰आत
गोरी॰॰॰ लाज की बात
मुंह से बोली ना जात
मुंह से बोली ना जात
मुंह से कह बैठे आज
मुंह से कह बैठे आज
गोरी
सेज क्यों ना जाये
गोरी सेज क्यों ना जाये
गोरी सेज क्यों ना जाये
गोरी सेज क्यों ना जाये
ननदी ने खींचा पल्ला
ननदी ने खींचा पल्ला
बोली कहाँ है लल्ला
बोली कहाँ है लल्ला
कौन घर मारा दल्ला
कौन घर मारा दल्ला
फूली ना समाये गोरी
गोरी
फूली ना समाये गोरी
पीली पड़ जाये गोरी
गोरी
पीली पड़ जाये गोरी
गोरी
बीटा छटवां मास सुहागन
बीटा छटवां मास सुहागन
हंसत सातवाँ चला मुदित मन
हंसत सातवाँ चला मुदित मन
सखी आठवाँ जाते जाते
सखी आठवाँ जाते जाते
खिले बगीचे फूल उठे तन
खिले बगीचे फूल उठे तन
नवां बड़े भागों से आया
नवां बड़े भागों से आया
लाल जनमाए गोरी
गोरी
लाल जनमाए गोरी
प्यारे॰॰॰ लाल की बात
प्यारे॰॰॰ लाल की बात
प्यारे॰॰॰ लाल की बात
Deewaani tu kyaa jaane
Posted on: February 18, 2018
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3502 | Post No. : | 14068 |
I became aware of a Hindi film ‘called Virginia’ (1940) nearly 2 years back. My first impression was that the film may be based on some Hollywood movie. Google search for details of this film did not yield much as most of the results pertained to a few Hollywood films of the same name in or around that name. The film did not find mention in ‘Filmindia’ magazine pertaining to the years 1939-41. Later on, I did get some details about the film in ‘list of Bollywood movies of 1940’ on Wikipedia which described the film as an ‘action’ film directed by K M Multani with a star cast of Manjula, W M Khan, Rajkumari, Pratap and David. Khan Mastana was the music director.
A couple of days back, I came across a High Court Judgement dated March 25, 1942 concerning K M Multani vs. Paramount Talkies of India. Being a law student myself once upon a time, I am interested in reading the court judgements, especially of the court cases pertaining to per-independence days. In the judgement, I got to know some more details about the film ‘Virginia’ (1940) and some interesting twist.
‘Virginia’ (1940) was made under the banner of A E M Multani Productions. The star cast mentioned in the judgement included Manjula, Pratap, W M Khan, David, Jamila and thousands of others. The film story idea was conceived by K M Multani sometime towards the end of 1939. Shooting of the film commenced in April 1940 at Bharatiya Studio. On May 16, 1940, the title of the film ‘Virginia’ was registered with Sub-Registrar in Bombay (Mumbai). The film was completed in August 1940 and advertisement of the film commenced in a limited way in September 1940. Censor Certificate was obtained for the film in November 1940. The film was released in Bombay on March 16, 1941 in Minerva theatre. The film ran for two weeks. The film was to be released elsewhere in India.
K M Multani, the producer-director had decided to produce this film on a grand scale just to prove a point that Indian film industry can also make spectacular films on the scale of Hollywood. The idea was to get ‘ high-brow westernised Indians who patronised the foreign films exclusively, to see in Indian films something which they would not find in Hollywood films even’. The story revolved around an imaginary war between Greeks and Romans about 4000 BC. In the film, Virginia was the name of the heroine.
It so happened that Paramount Pictures also conceived a film with a similar title ‘Virginia’ (1941) in 1939 and in December 1939, the title of the film was registered in the USA. The shooting of the film commenced more or less at the same time in the USA as that of ‘Virginia’ (1940). The film was released in USA in February 1941 and in Calcutta and Mumbai in May 1941. It was a family drama set against the background of an estate in Virginia, one of the States in the USA. The theme of the film was contemporary.
When the Paramount Pictures’ film was released in Calcutta and Bombay in May 1941, K M Multani filed a suit in a Bombay court to restrain the exhibition of Paramount film ‘Virginia’ (1941) with the same name on the ground that it would result in misleading a section of the cinegoers. He also claimed the damages for loss of box office collections of his film due to ‘passing off’ ‘Virginia’ (1941) as ‘Virginia’ (1940).
The lower court dismissed the suit on the grounds that no one can claim the sole monopoly of the title ‘Virginia’ as it is a geographical name. There was no reason to believe that Paramount’s film could mislead the cinegoers as the film is in English and the Multani’s film is in Hindustani. Also the story of the both the films are quite different. Even the advertisements of both the films make it very clear that both these films are different in terms of the language, the star cast and the themes of the films. The other point was that both the films were conceptualised, shot and released almost contemporaneously without the knowledge of each other. So there was no mala fide intention.
K M Multani filed an appeal in Bombay High Court against the judgement of the lower court. The High Court upheld the judgment of the lower court and dismissed the appeal with costs. Those interested in reading the detailed judgements, both of the lower court and the High Court can read here.
I am not sure whether K M Multani got ‘Virginia’ (1940) released at other places in India. The fact that the film ran only for two weeks in one theatre in Bombay would indicate that the film was a box office failure. I find that, later K M Multani re-joined Minerva Movietone to direct ‘Vasiyat’ (1940) and there after ‘Ujaala’ (1942). His filmy career almost came to an end with his home production ‘Umang’ (1944). I came to know from the former ‘Filmfare’ editor, B K Karanjia’s book ‘Counting My Blessings’ that K M Multani became the founding editor of trade journal ‘ Film Age’ and retired from film industry to become an estate agent.
‘Virginia’ (1940) had 8 songs written by Ehsaan Rizvi which were set to music by Khan Mastana. None of the songs has yet been represented on the Blog. Today, I present the first song from the film ‘diwaani tu kyaa jaane’ to appear on the Blog. The name of the playback singer is not mentioned. There are two other songs in the film which were identified to be that of Miss Iqbal (or Iqbal Bibi) who has a high-pitched voice. As against this, the voice in the song under discussion is a soft one.
Since Manjula (Manju Diwan, wife of Karan Diwan) is in the cast of the film, I checked her voices in the songs from the films ‘Gaali’ (1944) and ‘Chaand’ (1944). I am convinced that the voice in the song under discussion is that of Manjula (Manju). At the time of making of the film, Manjula was 16 years old and the voice sounds like that of a teenager.
A feature of this song is that there is a long prelude music (0:33) followed by a long interlude (0:42) and the end music (0:20). As a result, the lyrics of the song has space in the disc for about 2:00 minutes.
Song-Deewaani tu kya jaane (Virginia)(1940) Singer-Manju Dewan, Lyrics-Ehsaan Rizvi MD-Khan Mastana
Lyrics
deewaani tu kyaa jaane
kaun mere ghar aataa hai
deewaani tu kyaa jaane
kaun mere ghar aataa hai
prem sandesha laata hai
prem sandesha laata hai
mere mann wo bhaata hai
mere mann wo bhaata hai
murjhaa chuki hai jo sakhi
dil ki kali khilegi
murjhaa chuki hai jo sakhi
dil ki kali khilegi
deewaani tu kyaa jaane
kaun mere ghar aataa hai
deewaani tu kyaa jaane
kaun mere ghar aataa hai
main kahoongi apni baat
wo sunenge saari raat
main kahoongi apni baat
wo sunenge saari raat
ab kyun
dil shor machaata hai
ab kyun
dil shor machaata hai
Mast pawan shaakhen lahraayen
Posted on: January 24, 2018
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 3477 | Post No. : | 13968 |
The year 1940 can be regarded as a benchmark year for Hindi film industry to assess its progress in the talkie era as it marked about a decade since talkies came into being. Although studio systems (in which artists were on the payrolls of the studios) continued, slowly the star system was evolving in which the star actor commanded the salary acccording to his success rate in box office collections. During this period, actors with star values emerged. They commanded good salary from their respective studios to ward off poaching by the competing film production companies. Films with K L Saigal, Prithviraj Kapoor, Chandramohan, Surendra, Motilal, Ashok Kumar, Durga Khote, Madhuri, Sabita Devi, Kanan Devi, Shobhana Samarth, Leela Chitnis, Naseem Bano etc were expected to be box office hits.
If one goes by the estimates done by ‘Filmindia’ magazine of prominent stars’ salaries in the early 40s, most of these stars were getting a monthly salary ranging from Rs.3000-5000/- from their respective studios. (If we relate it to the cost of indexing to 2013, the amount is equivalent to about Rs.48000-80000/- per month). With the World War-II, the cost of production of films had shot up. There was an acute shortage of raw films. Many film production companies had reported to have bought raw films in the black market.
On the one hand, the cost of film production went up, with less purchasing power at the hands of cinegoers due to World War-II, perhaps they became choosy in watching films. Those days, publicity of films was mostly by words of mouth of the cinegoers. As a result, many Hindi films with star actors failed at the box office. For example, a few films listed below with star value released in 1940 failed at the box office:
1 .Bharosa (1940) – Chandramohan, Sardar Akhtar, Mazhar Khan
2. Deepak (1940) – Prithviraj Kapoor
3. Geeta (1940) – Chandramohan, Durga Khote
4. Main Haari (1940) – Naseem Bano
5. Sajni (1940) – Prithviraj Kapoor, Sabita Devi
‘Haar Jeet’ (1940) produced under the banner of New Theatres was one such film which failed at the box office in spite of having star value and a reputed banner. The film was directed by Amar Mullick. The star cast included Kanan Devi, Pahadi Sanyal, Nawab, Nemo, Nand Kishore, Meera Dutta, Pannalal etc. The film was based on a Bengali short story ‘Shubhojog’ written by Upendranath Ganguli.
The story of the film was as under:
It is the story of two theatrical companies competing with each other. Kamala (Kanan Devi) is the star actress of the Ruby Theatre. Narendra (Pahadi Sanyal) is the star actor of the Bina Theatre. Narendra leaves Bina Theatre and joins Ruby Theatre. Here he falls in love with Kamala. They get married in a rural setting among the peasantsand stay in the rural area. In keeping with the rural setting, Narendra forbids Kamala from acting in the theatres. However, she does not heed his advice and continues to acts in the plays of the Ruby Theatre. They are separated.
After staying among the peasants for some time, Narendra also re-joins Bina Theatre. While the Bina Theatre achieves success, Ruby Theatre goes bankrupt. This is regarded as the punishment for Kamala who has refused to be a dutiful housewife. At the end, Kamala and Narendra are united.[Based on the review of the film in ‘Filmindia’ magazine, November 1940 issue with some additional inputs from ‘Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinemas’].
The ‘Filmindia’ review has blamed inept direction and a weak story line for the failure of the film. I feel that the film’s ending is a reflection on the male dominated society of rural India in the early 20th century which one would often find in Hindi films of 1930s and 1940s.
‘Haar Jeet’ (1940) had 9 songs written by Arzoo Lucknowi and Kidar Sharma. However, individual accreditation to the song is not available. It may be noted that Kidar Sharma had left New Theatres in 1937 after the completion of the shooting of ‘Vidyapati’ (1937). So, I guess, his contribution as a lyricist, if any, may be only marginal and most of songs may have been written by Arzoo Lucknowi. Songs were set to music by R C Boral.
I am presenting the first song ‘mast pawan shaakhen lahraaye’ from the film ‘Haar Jeet’ (1940) which marks the debut for the film in the Blog. The song is sung by Kanan Devi and Pahari Sanyal. The main feature of the song is that it has a long musical prelude of 1:34 and thereafter there are no musical interludes. I guess, this song may have been the earliest one to have the longest duration of the musical prelude in any Hindi film song of that time. Perhaps this record was broken by this song which had a musical prelude of 1:50.
Song-Mast pawan shaankhen lahraayen (Haar Jeet)(1940) Singers-Kanan Devi, Pahadi Sanyal, MD-R C Boral
Both
Lyrics
mast pawan shaakhen lahraayen
ban ban mor papeehe gaayen
ae ae mast pawan shaakhen lahraayen
ban ban mor papeehe gaayen
ae ae mast pawan shaakhen lahrayen
phool
phool
phool phool par bhanwre jaayen
jaa kar
preet ke
geet sunaayen
phool phool par bhanwre jaayen
jaa kar preet ke geet sunaayen
jo hriday mein geet hai vyaakul
tu bhi usey sunaa sunaa
jo hriday mein geet hai vyaakul
tu bhi usey sunaa sunaa
gaa sajanwaa gaa
sajanwaa
gaa sajanwaa gaa
mast pawan shaakhen lahraayen
ban ban mor papeehe gaayen
ae ae mast pawan shaakhen
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Toady’s song is from film ‘Achhoot’ (1940),sung by composer Gyan Dutt and singer actress Vasanti.
The second world war started from 1939, but its effects started being felt in India after 1940 only. The Government became alert and sensitive. Lots of restrictions were put on Imports and Exports. All exports to Germany and Japan were banned. Foreign travel came under Government microscope. Imports were restricted to only essential goods. Raw film stock came under Government control (and naturally became available freely in black market at exorbitant price). Taking advantage of the situation, Government declared that those film production houses who help Government in its war efforts, by making films with pro Govt. themes, would get raw film on priority.
Read more on this topic…
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
This article is his 600th writeup in the blog.
Today’s song is from film Aandhi-40. The film was directed by Dinesh Ranjan Roy, music was by K.C.Dey and this song is sung by Pankaj Mallik and Radha Rani.
There is a reason why I selected this song. I wanted a song sung by Radha Rani, so that I get an opportunity to settle the issue of multiple Radha Ranis. ” Same name confusion ” is very common in the world of Hindi cinema. Luckily, the confusion existed only between 1931 and 1960. There are many many cases of same name Directors, Music Directors, Singers and Actors. Information on all names is extremely difficult to come by. Still I managed to write on 15 pairs of Same name Artistes in 3 articles and tried to clarify the confusions.
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