Archive for the ‘Songs of 1941’ Category
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.
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Blog Day : |
5574 | Post No. : | 18046 |
Today’s song is from the film Pyas-1941.
The year 1941 was an year which would start the realignment, improvement, trials, changes and introduction of new waves in acting, singing, direction and the story contents. Many ‘Carried Forward’ baggage from the silent film era were to be discarded- like Music based on stage and dramas in Parsi, Gujarathi and Marathi languages. New Genres were to be opened up to make this entertainment more acceptable. Additionally the second world war, started in 1939 end period, had an unpredictable duration and the film industry would have to cope up with the British Government’s expectations from the film industry.
1941 was the first year in the second decade of the Talkie Era and it was the beginning of the emergence of a New film industry. When Talkie started in 1931, for many years after that, the films were made by the people who had done work in the Silent films. These films had a spill over for the silent era artistes. Once the films started talking,most silent artistes who could not speak Hindi or Urdu automatically disappeared. Thus started the influx of new actors who could speak Hindi and sing songs, in whatever way they could. Intelligent directors like V Shantaram,Bhavnani, Sohrab Modi, Chandulal Shah, Himanshu Rai, B N Sircar, L V Prasad and a host of Gujarati directors understood that the Talkie needs a different treatment than silent films. Music directors from stage dramas tried their hand in composing film music.
In the next 8-9 years, there was a perceptible change in the film making, acting, singing, and composing music in the films that were made. Quality artistes from the silent era continued for some more years – finally giving way to the new artistes. The 30s and the 40s mostly differed in film music and story contents. The new blood composers like Anil Biswas, C Ramchandra, Naushad, Ghulam Haider, K Datta, Hansraj Behl, Bulo C Rani, Gyan Dutt and many more replaced the Parsi, Marathi and Gujarati drama music to more acceptable lilting songs. Many musical films were made and some everlasting songs were composed by these people. At the end of the 1940s, one more major change in the film industry would take place due to Partition. Let us see some important films of 1941, presently….
JBH Wadia became Chairman of the Film Advisory Board. He produced the First Sindhi film ‘Ekta’-1941. His film Court Dancer was also in English.
Asra– Debut of actor director N A Ansari.
Behan– Mehboob directed this film having an incest suggestive story.
Chandan– Debut of S N Tripathi as an MD.
Chitralekha– First big success of Kidar Sharma. Mehtab’s bath scene caused a ripple.
Dhandhora– Actor comedian Charlie directed the only film.
Doctor– Pankaj Mullick gave excellent songs. First popular song with woof beats-‘Chale pawan ki chaal’.
Jhoola– One of the most successful films like Kangan and Bandhan, starring Ashok Kumar and Leela Chitnis.
Kanchan– First composed song of naushad-” Bata do koi”.
Khazanchi– A milestone in musical revolution with Punjabi Theka, by Ghulam haider. Debut of Shamshad Begum in Hindi films.
Lagan– Saigal, as usual, gives good songs.
Mala– was remade as ‘Amar-55’ with music again by Naushad only.
Naya Sansar– Story of Newspaper world. A novelty. Ashok Kumar’s famous cigarette smoking in films started from this film, solving his problem of ‘ what to do with the hands during acting’ !
Nirdosh– Mukesh sings his first song.
Padosi– Last film of V Shantaram before leaving Prabhat. A Landmark film. “Kaisa chhaya hai ujala” is a popular chorus song.
Pardesi– Debut of actress Anjali Devi (not the southwali) with real name ‘Durgesh’.
Radhika– Debut of Nalini Jaywant.
Raj Nartaki– Ambitious Wadia film in English , Bangla and Hindi. Released in the USA by Columbia Pictures of Hollywood.
Sangam– Amritlal nagar’s first film as a writer. He did 18 films as writer and Lyricist.
Sikandar– A Magnum-Opus from Minerva. Chorus song- ” Zindagi hai pyar se” is very popular.
Taj mahal– Debut of Baby Suraiya as an actress.
Sasural and Ummeed were 2 films in which Noorjehan senior acted and sang. However these films are usually wrongly included in the filmography of Malika E Tarannum Noor jehan. She entered the Hindi films only with film Khandan-1942 at Lahore.
Film Pyas-1941 was made by Murli Movietone. It was directed by Ram Daryani. All the 9 songs were written by D.N.Madhok and composed by Khemchand Prakash. The cast consisted of Snehprabha Pradhan, Ishwar Lal, S.Nazir, Shamim, Gope, E.Bilimoria, Shareefa, Gulab, Majid and others. Film Pyas-41 was a very successful film. It was written by K S Daryani- brother of director Ram Daryani. The film was shot in Ranjit studio. This was the first film of Murli Movietone. The March 1942 issue of Film India magazine reviewed the film and Baburao Patel, for once , was all praise for the film, direction and the acting. The film was released in Imperial Cinema, Bombay on 14-2-1942. While praising the acting of Snehprabha Pradhan, Baburao Patel could not resist the temptation of subtly commenting on her looks, saying, ” she was photographed so nicely that she sometimes looked ‘almost’ beautiful” ! That’s Baburao for you !!.
Here is the film’s story from this review, nicely adapted by our Sadanand Kamath ji, way back in 2016.
Rai Saheb Bhagwandas (Nazir) is a rich man with a modern outlook. His wife has been ailing for some time and is under the treatment of Dr. Sunderlal (E Billimoria) who plots to get rid of Rai Saheb’s wife and her child to install his niece Menaka (Sharifa) as his wife. The ailing wife suspects the plot and one day she runs away from home with her child. She walks to a nearby village and hands over the child to the Village Chief.
After some days, a dead body of a woman is fished out from a river which turns out to be that of Rai Saheb’s ailing wife. He is heart-broken. He searches for the child but fails to find the baby. In the meanwhile, Dr Sunderlal has managed to get his niece Menaka married to Rai Saheb. Now, Dr Sunderlal starts blackmailing his own niece and manages to extract money from her.
The adopted child of Village Chief has now grown up as Chiman and finds a playmate Radha (Snehprabha Pradhan), the daughter of a village doctor. One day, Rai Saheb and his party come to the village for a picnic. Coincidentally, Chiman and Radha meet Rai Saheb who introduces Roop (Shamim), the daughter of Rai Saheb’s close friend, to both of them.
Chiman goes to the city and meets Roop and her elite circle of people. Chiman is fascinated by the glamour of the city. However, Radha compels Chiman to return to the village. At this stage, Relu, a village eccentric who secretly loves Radha, picks up a quarrel with Chiman and spills the beans regarding the mystery of his parentage. Chiman is devastated by the revelation and goes to the city to find out his real parents, unmindful of the fact that Rai Saheb whom he has met is his real father.
During his search for his real father, Chiman meets Dr Sunderlal who tries to kill him by injecting some poison but is saved by Roop. Having completely exposed of his wrong doing, Dr Sunderlal commits suicide. Chiman is restored to his real father, Rai Saheb. Chiman, now a rich man, moves with Roop. Rai Bahadur is happy that Chiman is liking the company of Roop and holds a reception to announce the engagement of Chiman with Roop. During the reception, Chiman remembers Radha but under pressure, he has to reluctantly agree for the announcement of his engagement with Roop. Radha steps into the reception hall and Chiman runs towards Radha.
Now, there is a competition as to who would sacrifice the love for Chiman – Radha or Roop. Ultimately, it is Roop who sees Chiman’s emotional attachment to Radha and decides to give up her claim over Chiman. Radha gets married to Chiman.
The villain’s role of Dr. Sundar lal was done by Eddie Bilimoria. In the early era of the Talkie films the Bilimoria brothers were very famous. First it was D (Dinshaw) and then came E (Eddie) Bilimoria. Eddie was born at Bilimora,in Gujarat, in 1900. At the age of just 13 years he ran away from house to Kirkee (near Poona), to his uncle, to become a Fireman in Railways. Here, he became a Door keeper in a Cinema house and also learnt operating the film projector. Due to ill health, he was brought to Bombay.
One day he went to Imperial Studio to meet his brother Dinshaw. Mistaking him to be Dinshaw, make-up was done to him and he played a role in the film ‘Punjab Mail’. Then onwards he started working regularly in films. As a Hero his first silent film was ‘Raj Ramani’. He worked as Hero in 7 Imperial films and 10 films of Ranjit Studio. His Heroines were Putli, Shanta, Sultana. Madhuri, Padma, Panna and others. When Talkie films started he was Hero in 32 films made by Ranjit, opposite Gauhar, Shanta, Kamla, Mehtab, Madhuri and Sitara etc. He worked in 15 films opposite Madhuri only. Fencing, shooting and horse riding were his specialties as a stunt Hero. He was the First in India to wear Cowboy dress in stunt films.
Char chakram-32, Miss 1933-33, and Nadira-34 were his Hit films. In the film ‘ Sipahi ki sajni’-36, he jumped into Sea from a flying plane, without duplicate. Daredevil stunts were his hallmark. There were hundreds of stitches on his body. After 1939 he stopped getting Hero roles, so did other character roles. After 1953, he was reduced to only an Extra. He did acting till 1973 and then took up a job in a Fridge and AC shop. He stayed in a flat in Kemps corner in Bombay. His last days were not very happy. E.Bilimoria died on 18-2-1981 at Bombay.
He acted in 73 Talkie films, directed 1 film ( sone ki chidiya-48) and also sang 4 songs in 4 films. His first film was Radha Rani-32 and last was Honeymoon-73.
( adapted from ‘Inhe na Bhulana’ by Harish Raghuwanshi, with thanks.)
Here is the comedy song from this film, sung by Ishwar Lal and Gope. Enjoy….
Song-Banaanewaale ghada mujhko banaaya hota (Pyaas)(1941) Singers- Ishwarlal, Gope, Lyricist- D.N.Madhok, MD- Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics
banaane waale
banaane waale
ghada mujhko banaaya hota
mujhe bhi shauk se phir
usne uthhaaya hota
Raadha
o Raadha
tu nahin samjhee Raadhe
ghada mujhko banaayaa hota
banaane waale
ho o
banaane waale
ghada mujhko banaayaa hota
banaane waale
ghada mujhko banaayaa hota
mujhe bhi shauk se phir
usne uthhaaya hota
mujhe bhi shauk se phir
usne uthhaaya hota
ghada mujhko banaaya hota
banaane waale
ho banaane waale
ghada mujhko banaaya hota
banane waale
ghada mujhko banaaya hota
galey mein bainya daal ke humre
galey mein bainya daal ke humre
panghat par le jaati
panghat par le jaati
sharmaati
ithhlaati
sharmaati
ithhlaati
jhaanjhar ki been bajaati ee
jhaanjhar ki been bajaati
ghada mujhko banaaya hota
banaane waale
ho banaane waale
ghada mujhko banaaya hota banaane waale
ghada mujhko banaaya hota
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.
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Blog Day : |
5568 | Post No. : | 18038 |
Today’s song is from the film Sasural-1941.
Films with the same title were made in 1941, 1961 and 1984. This was a romantic comedy film involving a mistaken identity. Now, can you recall how many films have you seen about mistaken identity (with or without knowledge) ?. Mostly, such stories are based on ‘Look alikes’, like films Don, Chandralekha, Angoor, Chacha Chaudhary, Do dooni chaar, Milan(46) etc. Some films were, where the identity of the Hero was mistaken intentionally. Today’s film Sasural-1941 falls under this category. This same theme was repeated in films Panghat-1943 and Chitchor-1976.
Why do we have films with almost the same plot so frequently ? Some directors like Manmohan Desai and Nasir Hussain made several films on the same basic plot with little changes made here and there. Earlier Master Bhagwan used to make C grade action films on a fixed storyline only changing the names in every film. And surprisingly, all these people were highly successful !
Do we have a shortage of stories for films ? Not only just for films, but overall, the world revolves around only 7 basic plots. In 2004, a book called “Why we tell stories’, written by Christopher Booker was published. It is a book having more than 700 pages-728 pages to be exact. The book says “There are only 7 (Seven) basic plots in the whole world. They are recycled again and again in Novels, movies, Plays and Operas. These are….
1.Overcoming the Monster
2.Rags to riches
3.The quest
4.Voyage and return
5.Rebirth
6.Comedy/Tragedy and
7.Mistaken identity.
After this book was published, there was chaos and criticism started. ‘New York Times’ also jumped in. The author coolly replied to all points and stuck to his statements. If we look at Hindi films, I personally feel that what the author has said is true in our case. Only thing is that our film stories are always a clever mixture of all or some of the above points.
Sasural 1941 was made by Ranjit Movietone. The Lyricist was D.N.Madhok and the Music Director was Gyan Dutt. The cast of the film was Motilal, Kantilal, madhuri, Nurjahan (sr.), Tarabai, Urmila and many others. The film was directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi. During the early era of talkie films, till the 1960s, there was a horde of Gujarati directors and producers. Bhatts, Trivedi, Thakur, Shahs, Desais, Pancholi, Doshi, Daves were some names frequently found directing various genres. Usually they specialised in certain classes and types of films. The Bhatts (Shankar and Vijay) liked to do Mythological films, Ramnik Shah handled stunt, action, fantasy films, Jayant Desai was social film oriented etc.
Chaturbhuj Doshi (1894–1969) was a Hindi and Gujarati writer-director of Indian cinema. He was one of the top Gujarati screenplay writers, who helped script stories for the Punatar productions. He is stated to be one of the leading figures who launched the Gujarati film industry with work on notable films like ‘Gunsundari’ (1948) and ‘Nanand Bhojai’ (1948). He was ‘well known’ for his family socials and had become ‘a celebrity in his own right’. He made a name for himself as a journalist initially and was referred to as the ‘famous journalist’ & publicist by Baburao Patel, editor of Filmindia.
His debut film as a director was ‘Gorakh Aya’ (1938), produced by Ranjit Movietone, though he joined Ranjit in 1929, as a scriptwriter. In 1938, he directed another film for Ranjit, a social comedy, ‘The Secretary’, and both films were box-office successes for Doshi. His forte was socials, regularly adapting stories and novels for films. He worked initially on comedies like ‘Secretary’ and ‘Musafir’ (1940), but then ‘shifted to more significant films’.
Chaturbhuj Anandji Doshi was born in 1894 in Kathiawad, Gujarat, British India. He was educated at the University of Bombay, after graduation he started work as a journalist for a daily, Hindustan (1926), working for editor Indulal Yagnik. His entry into films was working as a scenarist in the silent era for directors like Jayant Desai, Nandlal Jaswantlal & Nanubhai Vakil. He joined Ranjit Movietone in 1929, and wrote stories and screenplay for several of Ranjit films.
Film ‘Gorakh Aya’ (Gorakh has come) in 1938, was the first film directed by Doshi. It was produced by Ranjit Movietone with screenplay by Gunvantrai Acharya & dialogues by PL Santoshi. The music, termed ‘good’ , was composed by Gyan Dutt. ‘The Secretary’ (1938), was a “riotous comedy”, starring Madhuri, Trilok Kapoor. Charlie. The music was composed by Gyan Dutt, who became a regular in most of the films directed by Doshi. Musafir in 1940 was a comedy costume drama, which had Charlie playing a prince.
‘Bhakta Surdas’, a devotional film directed by Doshi in 1942, is stated to be the “most famous” of the several versions made. It starred KL Saigal and Khursheed “the singing idol(s) of millions”, winning “unprecedented popularity” everywhere.
‘Mehemaan’ (1942) starred Madhuri, Ishwarlal, Shamim and Mubarak. Music director Bulo C. Rani had come to Bombay in 1942, and joined Ranjit Studios assisting Khemchand Prakash in music direction.
Doshi helped enormously in the development of Gujarati cinema. During 1948-49 he directed three successful Gujarati films which “brought immense success to the industry”. The success of the Gujarati film ‘Kariyavar’ in 1948, directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi from a story by Shaida, called Vanzari Vav, helped establish the Gujarati film industry along with other films like ‘Vadilo Ne Vanke’ (1948) by Ram Chandra Thakur and ‘Gadono Bel’ (1950) by Ratibhai Punatar. His next Gujarati film was ‘Jesal Toral’ (1948) based on folk-lore, which proved a big box-office success. In 1949, Doshi directed another Gujarati film, ‘Vevishal’, an adaptation of Meghani’s novel of the same name.
He also wrote stories, and one of his stories ‘Pati Bhakti’ was used in the Tamil film ‘En Kanawar’ (1948) produced by Ajit Pictures, which starred the Veena maestro, Sundaram Balachander, who was also the debut director and music composer for the film. In all he directed 24 Hindi films. His last Hindi film was ‘Sanskar’ (1958). He had also written a few songs in the film ‘Maya Bazaar’ (1932).
Chaturbhuj Doshi died on 21 January 1969 in Bombay.
Filmography……
1932: Narasinh Mehta (Writer), 1934: Sitamgarh (Writer), 1938: Gorakh Aya, Secretary, 1939: Adhuri Kahani, 1940: Musafir, 1941:Pardesi, Sasural, 1942: Bhakta Surdas, Dhiraj, Mehmaan, 1943: Chhoti Maa, Shankar Parvati (Director, Writer), 1944: Bhartrahari, 1945:Murti, 1946: Phulwari, 1947: Bela, Kaun Hamara, 1948: Jesal Toral, Kariyavar (Director, Writer), Sati Sone, 1949: Bhakta Puran, Vevishal, 1950: Akhand Saubhagya, Kisi Ki Yaad, Ramtaram, 1954: Aurat Teri Yahi Kahani, 1956: Aabroo, Dassehra, 1957: Khuda Ka Banda, Shesh Naag, 1958: Sanskar, 1960: Mehndi Rang Lagyo (Writer, Lyricist).
Film Sasural-1941 story appeared in the December-1941 issue of Film India magazine review, in short. Our Sadanand Kamath ji had given it in 2016, in his comments. Here it is…
“The marriage of Vinod (Motilal) and Usha (Madhuri) is fixed, But Usha has not seen her would-be-husband. A mix-up of suitors happens when a fat servant (Kantilal) impersonates Usha’s would-be-husband. The detailed story is not revealed in the review probably to avoid the ‘suspense in the comedy of errors’. It is only towards the end of the film when the impersonation of suitors gets revealed while on a forest trail when Usha falls in the arms of Vinod and the fat servant-Ramu (Kantilal) gets the maid – Seeta (Nur Jahan Sr,) as the original suitors.”
Today’s song is sung by Motilal, Kantilal and Nurjahan (sr.)
Song- Kaise katengi ratiyaan tum wahaan hum yahaan (Sasuraal)(1941) Singers- Motilal, Kantilal, Noorjehan Sr., Lyricist- D.N.Madhok, MD- Gyan Dutt
Lyrics
aaa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
kaise katengi ratiyaan
kaise katengi ratiyaan
tum wahaan hum yahaan
tum wahaan hum yahaan
kaise katengi ratiyaan
tum wahaan hum yahaan
kya lutf e zindagi hai
jab deewaar darmiyaan
kya lutf e zindagi hai
jab deewaar darmiyaan
dushmanon ko o bhi na
arre bhai dushman ka kya bataaun
jaane do
dushmanon ko bhi na
in jaison se ulfat ho jaaye
cheer ke rakh do jigar ko
jo muhobbat ho jaaye
hosh aa jaayenge
ek raat yahaan rahne do
lutf aa jaaye jo
donon ki marammat ho jaaye
aanye
marammat ho jaaye
dhadkat hai moree chhatiyaa
tum wahaan hum yahaan
dhadkat hai moree chhatiyaa
tum wahaan hum yahaan
kya lutf e zindagee hai
jab deewaar darmiyaan
kya lutf e zindagee hai
jab deewaar darmiyaan
aaj hum jaan gaye
??
arre bhai ab kya bataayen
aaj hum jaan gaye bilkul
bilkul jaan gaye
magar bolo na baba
aaj hum jaan gaye
ye gore gore jo hain na
haan
ye gore hain dil ke kaale
kyun dil ke kaale hain
bilkul
ye daghabaaz hain
aur hum bande mohabbat waale
he he
mohabbat waale
haan
badduaayen bhi lagegee
inhen bas yaad rahe
??
kaane
haan bilkul ek aankh waale hote hain na kaane
kaane ho jaayenge
ye nargisi aankhon waale
aa haa haa
dhadkat hai moree chhatiyaa
tum wahaan hum yahaan
dhadkat hai moree chhatiyaa
tum wahaan hum yahaan
kya luft e zindagi hai
jab deewaar darmiyaan
kya luft e zindagi hai
jab deewaar darmiyaan
jab deewaar ke beech mein darmiyaan ho to kya ho
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
o o
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.
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Blog Day : |
5454 | Post No. : | 17866 |
Today’s song is from an 82 year old film, ” Charnon ki Dasi” (1941).
The film was made in Marathi (पायाची दासी ) and Hindi simultaneously, by Atre Pictures, Bombay.
The owner of the banner was Acharya Prahlad Keshav Atre, a famous name in Maharashtra later on as a Producer, Director, Studio owner, Writer, Lyricist, Dramatist, Novelist, a great Teacher, a journalist,a Newspaper owner, a well known public speaker and a popular leader and M.P., who successfully led the “Samyukta Maharashtra” agitation at the end of the decade of 1950’s.
The film was directed by Gajanan Jagirdar, B.A;- a famous actor and director of that time. The cast of the film was Durga Khote, Vanmala B.A., B.T., Gajanan jagirdar, Master Avinash, Kusum Deshpande and many others. The 8 songs of this film were written by Pt. Anand Kumar and the Music Director was Annasaheb Mainkar – a well known Classical Music Teacher. In the Hindi film industry Music field, there were only three people who were called ” Anna Saheb”. One was Annasaheb Mainkar, the other was K.Datta aka Datta Korgaonkar and the third was C.Ramchandra aka Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar.
These were the times when people from good, respectable families and highly educated persons were still a rarity and a welcome matter for films. Director Nanubhai Vakil who was really a B.A., LL.B and Dr. S.D. Narang who was B.Sc.,M.B.B.S., Ph.D were among the highly educated in the industry at one time. In those days, therefore, educated people used to flaunt their degrees and insisted on inclusion in the film credits. Like the Producer Acharya Atre, the film’s Heroine Vanmala was also B.A. B.T.
The lure of the films was so great that from the time Talkie films started, it attracted many famous and expert musicians of the Vocal and instrumental variety. In the early period, it was almost an unwritten rule to have a film’s Music Director with a classical background. Many were dragged into films and many came on their own.
Thus you had experts like Pransukh Nayak, Govindrao Tembe, Keshavrao Bhole, Ustad Zande Khan, Meer sahib, Annasaheb Mainkar, Dada Chandekar, Ustad Mushtaq Hussain, Firoze Dastoor, Suresh babu Mane, Heerabai Badodekar, Manik Verma, Saraswati Rane, Master Krishnarao, Shridhar Parsekar, Pt.Ganpat Rao, Pt.Jagannath Prasad and many others who made their contributions to film music.
During the subsequent periods, some more like Ghantasala, Pt. Amarnath (of Garam coat), Pt.Motiram, Shankarrao Vyas, Prabhakar Jog, Ustad Amir Ali, ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Bhaskar Chandavarkar, Shobha Gurtu, Kishori Amonkar, Sharang Dev, Ustad Dilawar Khan, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Balmurli Krishna etc also made their presence felt in the Film music.
Not only Classical Vocalists, but also some famous Instrumentalists like Bismilla Khan, Pannalal Ghosh, Pt.Ravi Shankar,Ram Prasad, Ali Akbar Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasiya, Pt.Shivkumar Sharma, ustad Vilayat Khan etc also contributed to HFM.
Like Musicians, stage actors too were attraction towards films and many of the famous and not so famous stage artistes vied with each other to get into films. Stage dramas were very popular in Maharashtra, and Bombay being the major film centre, it was natural that many Marathi stage actors came into Marathi and Hindi films. The problem was speaking Hindi dialogues. Many Marathi artistes could not pass this test and those who did pass, had a tough time speaking long Hindi dialogues. Thus very few stage artistes remained in the film industry. Popular stage actors like Master Deenanath Mangeshkar, Nanasaheb Phatak, Master Avinash or even the famous Bal Gandharva tried their hand at films, but none could sustain their careers in the Hindi films, for whatever reasons-mainly diction problem, I guess.
One of these popular stage artistes was Master Avinash. Ganpatrao Laxmanrao Mohite aka Master Avinash was also a tall figure in Natya Sangeet. Master Avinash (1909-2009) was trained in music by Deenanath Mangeshkar and was trained in acting by Chintamanrao Kolhatkar- a great Marathi stage actor.
Avinash was one of those, who were with Balwant Sangeet Mandali, since its inception in 1918. This drama company was established by Master Deenanath Mangeshkar along with Chintamanrao Kolhatkar and Krishnarao Kolhapure. From the beginning, Avinash used to do female roles and his name was taken along with Bal Gandharva, in this respect. Due to his singing skill, he was quite a popular actor on the stage. Several of his Natya Geet records came into the market and sold very well.
Master Avinash was simply ”Ganu Mama” to the Mangeshkar family. Though the patriarch of the Mangeshkar family expired in 1942, Avinash survived almost 70 years (67 to be exact) after him. They were very close, hence a respected person for the M-family. He could, till his end, tell them his experiences with Deenanath and many others of that era. He taught some songs to baby Lata, when she was so small. Surprisingly, till he died in 2009, at the age of 101, his memory and health was very good.
He acted in most dramas written by Acharya Atre (P.K.Atre of Navyug Films and Atre Pictures) as well as all his Marathi films. However, Avinash worked only in one Hindi film-Charnon ki Dasi-41, which was a remake of Marathi film, Paayachi Daasi. By the time he appeared in this film in 1941, his singing and acting style was becoming outdated, for the Hindi audience. New styles of Music and young new actors had entered Hindi films. In any case, he was very successful on the Marathi stage, so he did not bother to work in Hindi films.
As per an article on him, in The Times of India of 16-5-2002, he was a good cricketer, a wrestler, actor, singer and Music Director. Daily exercises must have kept him going healthy till the last. He remembered many anecdotes of old times, actors and especially of Deenanath Mangeshkar. He had a good collection of old photos and cuttings to show to the TOI reporter, who took his interview. In most Marathi films, he worked as a Hero opposite Vanmala. In the film Charnon ki Dasi also they were the lead pair. Acharya Atre gave him the name Avinash for the stage. His popularity made his name a rage and many new born children were given his name in those years.
This was a social film, stressing the need for the cordial relationship between the Daughter in law and the Mother in law. In simpler words, the story was about the “Saas- Bahu” conflict. The story was……
The story of the film was a typical Marathi reform social film consisting of the age-old friction of ”Saas-Bahu“. Durga Khote was the evil mother in law, who tortures the educated daughter in law-Vidya (Vanmala), with husband Murari (Avinash) protesting meekly. After the interval and towards the last part, the husband decides to be tough with his mother and the shocked saas surrenders and makes the Bahu head of the affairs. However, true to the middle class philosophy, the good Bahu returns the honour to the Saas and requests her to continue as family head ( minus the torture part, obviously), gives a very big speech and all is well in the end. The spice was added by the widowed Nanad- Champa (Kusum Deshpande). Gajanan Jahagirdar played Anokheram, the village scoundrel flirt, who is duly punished by the bahu, in the end.
The film’s lead pair- Master Avinash and Vanmala acted in several stage dramas and Marathi films together and individually. Vanmala had a Royal connection. Vanmala was one of those actresses, who not only came from a very respectable Royal family, but was also a highly educated person. In those days, these two things were valued highly. Veteran Marathi and Hindi actress Vanamala will always be associated with her roles in the landmark films, Sikandar (1941) opposite Prithviraj Kapoor and in particular the title role in Shyamchi Aai (1953), the first film ever to win the Best Film Award when the National Awards were instituted for Indian Cinema in 1954.
Vanamala was born as Susheela Devi Pawar on 23-5- 1915. Her father Lt.Col. Rao Bahadur Bapu Rao Pawar was a Minister in Gwalior state. Vanmala grew up in the Royal palace with Princess Kamla Devi. Vanmala graduated from Agra University in 1935 and did her B.T. from Bombay University in 1937.
At 21, Vanmala Devi, was a double graduate and a teacher in the progressive Agarkar High School of Poona. She felt she had a mission in life. Did she find what she was seeking? It is anybody’s guess but teaching was her first try and then she went on to films to find expression for her irrepressible talent.
There was a wrench. Vanrnala tore herself away from the forbidding regulations of a traditional Maratha family ruled by her father and the devotional orthodoxy handed down to her by her mother along with a love for nature and literature. Vanmala sought to reconcile the irreconcilables with the firm belief that, down the ages, all expressions of art in India were developed and presented by way of a sacred duty.
That was why, when necessary, she did not hesitate to turn her back on lucrative film assignments to appear on the Marathi stage. In fact, she worked for the building fund of the Marathi Sahitya Sangh at Bombay. Her lead role in the Marathi version of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (शोभेचा पंखा), written by Prof. V.H.Kulkarni, is memorable. That was in the early forties.
She began her career in the late 1930s following her graduation and having become a teacher in Pune’s Camp Education Society. Vanamala entered films at a time when it was considered taboo for women from respectable families to work in films though women like Devika Rani and Durga Khote had started working in films by then. It was V.Shantaram who encouraged her to come into the film industry as an actress. Her first film was a Marathi film “Lapandav”. Principal Acharya Atre became very friendly with her and brought her to Hindi films. Vanmala had unusual Brown eyes. In those days, the Hindi film industry had only two actresses with Brown eyes. One was Vanmala and the other was Ragini, who migrated to Pakistan, after partition.
Prithviraj used to call her Diana the Moon Goddess. The lyrical Pahari Sanyal used to call her “Mala”. Motilal was more down to earth and called her just plain “Bright Eyes”. In fact, it was her eyes that got her the role of Rukhsana and it put her in the front rank of Indian film stars with the success of “Sikandar”. It was one of the early successes of Minerva Movietone and it has made film history in India.
Vanamala acted in both Hindi and Marathi Cinema. Among her Hindi films, Vanamala will always be best remembered for Sohrab Modi’s historical Sikandar and Sharbati Ankhen (1945), directed by Ramchandra Thakur for Wadia Movietone. In the former she played Alexander the Great’s love interest, a Persian woman, Rukhsana, who fearing for Alexander’s life extracted a promise from Porus that he will not harm Sikandar. Vanamala made a major impact in her role, her beauty coupled with her light-coloured lively eyes taking the audience’s breath away. The film itself was a spectacle – its lavish mounting, huge sets and production values equalling the best of Hollywood then particularly its rousing and spectacular battle scenes. It was rated by a British writer as, “…well up to the standard of that old masterpiece The Birth of a Nation.”
The eyes that got Vanmala Devi the lead role of Ruksana in “Sikandar” would be “disowned” in her next picture. In “Parbat Pe Apna Dera”, Vanmala Devi played the role of a blind girl with great effect. First Ulhas was seen, stick in hand, or rather his legs and the lower part of the stick. Then came Vanmala’s dainty feet taking each cautious step. Finally, the camera turned upwards to feature her full figure. She later said that she was so involved with the role that she actually felt blinded. Once, she had to blink her eyes before she could focus them and look at V. Shantaram who was trying to draw her attention.
In Sharbati Ankhen, her Brown eyes were again used to mesmerising effect, the film so aptly titled one feels, after her! The film has some of the earliest songs sung by Mohammed Rafi in his career including “Pyaar Karna hi Padega” and “Bahut Mukhtasar Hai Humari Kahani”. The music for the film was done by Feroz Nizami who went on to compose unforgettable music in a hat-trick of films with the great Noor Jehan (Jugnu (1947) in India and Chan Wey (Punjabi) (1951) and Dopatta (1952) in Pakistan).
However, the one role that undoubtedly immortalized Vanamala forever was the title role in the National Award winning Marathi film, Shyam chi Aai-1953, directed by PK Atre. The film, regarded as a cult classic today, is based on one of the most influential Marathi novels of the 20th century (1935), a fictionalised account of the childhood years of Sane Guruji (1899 – 1950).
A nationalist influenced by Vinoba Bhave and especially Gandhiji, he was imprisoned repeatedly for his work among the peasantry and participation in the Quit India agitations. His book Shyamchi Aai, written in jail, has 45 episodes in which Shyam, a youth living in poverty in Konkan, recalls the teachings of his mother, a devoutly religious person with an earthy and practical philosophy. The hit film has remained a generic landmark in Marathi Cinema and especially so for Vanamala’s maternal prototype. Actor Madhav Vaze, who played the role of her son Shyam in Shyamchi Aai, recalls Vanamala as a woman of few words. “Her actions spoke for her. She was well-educated and a cultured woman who belonged to a noble family from Gwalior,” he said.
Some other films that Vanamala acted in include Payachi Dasi (Marathi)/ Charnon ki Dasi (Hindi) (1941), Vasantasena (1942), Dil ki Baat (1944), Hatim Tai (1947), Beete Din (1947) and Shree Ram Bharat Milap (1965). In all, she did 25 Hindi films. She sang 24 songs in 5 films in her career. For some time she was a partner in Atre pictures also. She produced the film Bramhan Kanya aka Khandani-1947.
Eventually she did build a bungalow at Khandala and rented out a flat by the sea in Bombay which she furnished with taste and equipped with a selective library. But that still didn’t make a “home”. The nearest she got to it could be when she settled down in Gwalior to look after her ailing father. Perhaps, she had almost arrived at a “home” when she bought over a studio and became the first woman to own one.
The supposedly demure Vanamala was a staunch nationalist and was deeply involved in the freedom movement along with stalwarts like Aruna Asaf Ali and Achyut Patwardhan. She was deeply involved in several social causes and was a member of the Chhatrapati Shivaji National Memorial Committee. She also ran a school to train children in traditional Indian arts and culture, The Haridas Kala Sansthan.
Vanmala Devi’s retirement from films was no surprise to her friends. She had realized that the crusading zeal and aesthetic values of the pioneering days were giving place to new norms of success. She found that filmdom could not afford her the avenue for expression which she wanted— or needed. She sublimated all her yearnings for expression in the worship of Lord Krishna at Vrindavan and later in the service of her father.
Vanamala who had been suffering from cancer, passed away in Gwalior on May 29, 2007.
( This article is based on information taken from an article in Upperstall, an article by Sumati Dhanawate- Vanmala’s sister, The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, Beete kal ke sitare, Marathi Cinema in Retrospect and my notes. Thanks to all.)
Today’s song is the third song from this film to feature here. It is a duet sung by Master Avinash and Vanmala, in a typical stage drama style. Enjoy….
Note: It has been pointed out by Sadanand Kamath jee and confirmed by Girdharilal Vishwakarma jee that the female playback singer is Saraswati Rane, even though the record contains the name of Vanmala.
Song- Bhari dupahari kaamini ikli dukli mat jaaye (Charnon Ki Daasi)(1941) Singers- Master Avinash, Vanmala Saraswati Rane, Lyricist- Pt.Anand Kumar, MD- Annasaheb Mainkar
Both
Lyrics
Bhari dupahari kaamini
ikli dukli mat jaaye
Bhari dupahari kaamini
ikli dukli mat jaaye
ikli mat jaaye
mat jaaye
mat jaaye
ikli mat jaaye
mat jaaye
mat jaaye
baat batohi
roz ki
mohe mat tadpaaye
baat batohi roz ki mohe mat tadpaaye
peti pe matki chhabdi(?) haath
peti pe matki chhabdi (?) haath
aaya paseena gore gaat
aaya paseena gore gaat
kaachi chunariya jaamni re
rang ghul ghul ghul ghul jaaye
kaachi chunariya jaamni re
rang ghul ghul ghul ghul jaaye
chunri ka rang mera gahra chhana
aur gaadha ghana
mere rang mein paseena ro mil ke hina
aaho mil ke hina
rang anokha pyaara sa
ghul ke mil ke rang laal
rang anokha pyaara sa ghul
ke mil ke rang laal
rang kiska chadha tohpe kaamini
rang kiska chadha tohpe kaamini
tera kaun dhani
mera tu hi dhani
kaahko ghahri chhani
tohko gahri chhani
rang anokha pyaara sa
ghul ke mil ke rang laal
rang anokha pyaara sa
ghul ke mil ke rang laal
Bhari dupahari kaamini
ikli dukli mat jaaye
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.
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5420 | Post No. : | 17777 |
Today’s song is from an old film Charnon ki Dasi – 1941.
This was a bilingual film, in Hindi and Marathi (as पायाची दासी ). It was made by Atre Pictures, Bombay. The producer was the owner of the banner itself – Acharya Pralhad Keshav Atre. The film was directed by Gajanan Jahagirdar, who also played an important role in the film. The Lyricist was Pt. Anand Kumar and the Music Director was Annasaheb Mainkar. The cast included Master Avinash, Vanmala, Durga khote, Gajanan Jahagirdar, Kusum deshpande, Kelkar, Prem Anand (brother of the lyricist), Ramesh and many others.
The system of making Bilinguals first started in Bombay on a big scale. The First ever Marathi talkie film ” अयोध्येचा राजा ” – 1932 was also made as ‘ Ayodhya ka Raja ‘ in Hindi at the same time. It was made by Prabhat films and directed by V.Shantaram. (Although Shantaram directed the first Marathi Talkie, it is interesting to know that initially, along with others, he was against the Talkie films. He was of the opinion that Talkie films were a seasonal fad and would vanish soon ! ).
Consequent to this first Talkie in Marathi made in Hindi too, many Marathi films were made bilingual and these were very popular. Meanwhile, Calcutta’s New Theatres too decided to go for Bilinguals and made almost all of their Hit and popular films in Bangla and Hindi. Thank God for that. Because of that, the All India audience could enjoy Saigal’s films and songs. This went on till late 40’s and became an inspiration for S.S.Vasan in Madras. He made his Tamil film “Chandralekha ” in 1948 in Hindi also. Of course he did it on a mammoth scale, making more than 600 prints of the Hindi film for an All India simultaneous release on 9-4-1948. Other producers saw this and were keen on making not just Bilingual, but films in Madras were being made in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhali and Hindi at the same time.
Consequently Maharashtra and Calcutta stopped making Bilinguals as their own regional cinema became more profitable and big business. However from the South this continues still and that too on a massive scale. Nowadays the trend is to make Remakes rather than bilinguals.
Coming back to today’s film. This film was made in the times when not many educated people were keen to join the film industry, though in the 1940s such artistes, writers, directors etc. started coming into the industry. For this reason the advertisement of today’s film-Charnon ki Dasi-1941 was done with a mention of the qualification of its artistes, like Vanmala B.A;B.T, Gajanan Jahagirdar B.A. and Kusum Deshpande B.A. etc.
The Lyricist Pt. Anand kumar was a successful author. The suffix of Pt. was used to be put before the author’s name just to match the suffix “Munshi” put to Muslim authors’ names. Pt.Anand kumar was born in Delhi on 4-9- 1907. He was a producer, director, writer and Lyricist. From childhood, he was not interested in studies in English medium. He was taught Urdu, Hindi and Sanskrit by his poor Brahmin Shastri father.
When he was 15 year old, he entered a business. He was always discontented. He wanted to become an actor, but family resisted. He tried fasting and even suicide. Then he stole some money and ran to Bombay. He could not get into any studio and after money finished, he returned to Delhi, only to take more money and run to Bombay again. Even after this failure, he went back to Delhi and started writing stories.
His first book ‘ Mera Huq ‘ became a hot seller and he started earning money. He was invited by film people and he went to Bombay nth time. He wrote stories, dialogues and Lyrics of scores of films and earned name and money. He produced the film ‘Zameen’-43, under his own banner Anand Brothers. He directed 5 films,including a Hit Marathi film, Gora Kumbhar-42. Some of his films as a Lyricist were Suvarn Mandir-34,Katle aam-35, Pratibha-37, Divorce-38, Saathi-38, Alakh Niranjan-40, Punarmilan-40, Charnon ki Dasi-41, Raja Rani-42 etc. As a writer some films were, Divorce-38, Honhaar-36, Saathi-38, Vasant sena-42, Rang mahal-48 etc etc.
Music Director Annasaheb Mainkar is not a name known to the younger generation. He was one of the old style composers, depending on the ‘Natyageet” tunes and classical music. His real name was Shankar Vinayak Mainkar. He was born in Sangli state in Maharashtra, in 1904. His father was a well known Advocate and a political leader. He was fond of music and had gifted an Organ to Shankar to inculcate the musical interests. Surely, he not only picked up the organ but when he joined a Drama Company, after his Matriculation, he also achieved expertise in playing Sitar, Sarod, Sarangi, Been, Dilruba and Harmonium etc. With all this he formed his own Music Group.
He was trained in classical music at Poona,Baroda,Indore, Mysore and Lucknow. Before joining the filmline, he had cut many discs of his songs. His first film was in Marathi in 1932.
His first Hindi film was AWARA SHEHZADA-1933. Incidentally, this was also India’s first Hindi Talkie film having a double role. Shahu Modak had done the roles of a Rajkumar and a commoner Bholaram in it. It was also the first film of Master Vithal as a Director. He himself was the first to do a double role in a silent film in 1928.
Annasaheb worked for Saraswati cinetone, Imperial, Venus, Huns, Atre and Sunrise films. He was the favourite MD for Master Vinayak. He gave music to 21 Hindi films, composing 187 songs. His singers were,Master Vinayak, Vanmala, Shahu Modak, Shanta Hublikar, Kalyanibai, Sarla Devi, Vatsala Kumathekar etc. His last film was Ashirwad-1943. He died young at 41 in 1944 due to severe Diabetes. He was fondly called Annasaheb. In the Hindi film industry, there were 3 MDs called Annasaheb…. Mainkar as stated herein, Datta Korgaonkar aka K.Datta and C.Ramchandra aka Ramchandra Narhari Chitalkar.
The story of the film was a typical Marathi reform social film consisting of the age-old friction of ”Saas-Bahu“. Durga Khote was the evil mother in law, who tortures the educated daughter in law-Vidya (Vanmala), with husband Murari (Avinash) protesting meekly. After the interval and towards the last part, the husband decides to be tough with his mother and the shocked saas surrenders and makes the Bahu head of the affairs. However, true to the middle class philosophy, the good Bahu returns the honour to the Saas and requests her to continue as family head ( minus the torture part, obviously), gives a very big speech and all is well in the end. The spice was added by the widowed Nanad- Champa (Kusum Deshpande). Gajanan Jahagirdar played Anokheram, the village scoundrel flirt, who is duly punished by the bahu, in the end.
Today’s song is only the second song from this film, coming to you after the film’s first song 5 years ago ! Enjoy….
Song – Dekho re logon chor churaaye liye jaaye hai (Charnon Ki Daasi)(1941) Singer- S.D.Batish, Lyricist- Pt. Anand Kumar, MD- Annasaheb Mainkar
Lyrics
Haan dekho re logon
o o o o o
dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
chor churaaye liye jaaye hai
dekho re logon
chor churaaye liye jaaye hai
baandh boondh sat sheel(??) ki gathdi
chala musaafir ghar se ae ae
bhoola bhatka bacha akela
gaya kaafila taj ke
saanjh huyi
aur ghana andhera aa aa
saanjh huyi
aur ghana andhera aa
hua beech jungle ke
hua beech jungle ke
saanjh huyi
aur ghana andhera aa aa
hua beech jungle ke
hua beech jungle ke
haath liye
maaya kee jeewat
aaya chor nikal ke ae
dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
chhaliya ??
dekho chhaliya ??
liye jaaye hai
dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
chor churaaye liye jaaye hai
dekho re logon o o o o
dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
chor churaaye liye jaaye hai
dhyaan kee jeewat
dhyaan ki aasha
apne haathhon kar le ae ae ae
dheer ka dhan
santosh ki poonji
vipda mein sang dhar le ae ae
aankh khol kar r re a a aha
aankh khol kar chor ?? mein
aap ise samajh len
jab jungle ke chauraahe mein ae a ae ae
jab jungle ke cchun le
maarag ?? jin logon (?)
haan haan
maarag jin logon
haan haan
maarag jin logon ??
?? ki jalna paaye hai
dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
chor churaaye liye jaaye hai
dekho re logon o o o o o o
dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
haan haan dekho re logon
chor churaaye
dekho chor churaaye liye jaaye 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.
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5409 | Post No. : | 17745 |
Today’s song is from the film Kanchan-1941.
1941 was the first year in the second decade of the Talkie Era and it was the beginning of the emergence of a New film industry. When Talkie started in 1931, for many years after that, the films were made by the people who had done work in the Silent films. These films had a spill over for the silent era artistes. Once the films started talking,most silent artistes who could not speak Hindi or Urdu automatically disappeared. Thus started the influx of new actors who could speak Hindi and sing songs, in whatever way they could. Intelligent directors like V Shantaram,Bhavnani, Sohrab Modi, Chandulal Shah, Himanshu Rai, B N Sircar, L V Prasad and a host of Gujarati directors understood that the Talkie needs a different treatment than silent films. Music directors from stage dramas tried their hand in composing film music.
In the next 8-9 years, there was a perceptible change in the film making, acting, singing, and composing music in the films that were made. Quality artistes from the silent era continued for some more years – finally giving way to the new artistes. The 30s and the 40s mostly differed in film music and story contents. The new blood composers like Anil Biswas, C Ramchandra, Naushad, Ghulam Haider, K Datta, Hansraj Behl, Bulo C Rani, Gyan Dutt and many more replaced the Parsi, Marathi and Gujarati drama music to more acceptable lilting songs. Many musical films were made and some everlasting songs were composed by these people. At the end of the 1940s, one more major change in the film industry took place due to Partition. Let us see some important films.
JBH Wadfia became Chairman of the Film Advisory Board. He produced the First Sindhi film “Ekta”-1940. His film Court Dancer was also in English.
Asra– Debut of actor director N A Ansari.
Behan– Mehboob directed this film having an incest suggestive story.
Chandan– Debut of S N Tripathi as an MD
Chitralekha– First big success of Kidar Sharma. Mehtab’s bath scene caused a ripple.
Dhandhora– Actor comedian Charlie directed the only film.
Doctor– Pankaj Mullick gave excellent songs. First popular song with woof beats-‘ Chale pawan ki chaal ‘.
Jhoola– One of the most successful films like kangan and bandhan, starring Ashok kunmar and Leela Chitnis.
Kanchan– First composed song of naushad-” Bata do koi”
Khazanchi– A milestone in musical revolution with Punjabi Theka, by Ghulam haider. Debut of Shamshad Begum in Hindi films.
Lagan– Saigal, as usual, gives good songs.
Mala– was remade as ‘ Amar-54’ with music again by Naushad only. Jayant played the same role in both films.
Naya Sansar– Story of Newspaper world. A novelty. Ashok Kumar’s famous cigarette smoking in films started from this film, solving his problem of ‘ what to do with the hands during acting’ !
Nirdosh– Mukesh sings his first song.
Padosi– Last film of V Shantaram before leaving Prabhat. A Landmark film. ” Kaisa chhaya hai ujala” is a popular chorus song.
Pardesi– Debut of actress Anjali Devi (not the southwali) with real name ‘Durgesh’
Radhika– Debut of Nalini Jaywant.
Raj Nartaki– Ambitious Wadia film in English , Bangla and Hindi. Released in the USA by Columbia Pictures of Hollywood.
Sangam– Amritlal Nagar’s first film as a writer. He did 18 films as writer and Lyricist.
Sikandar– A Magnum-Opus from Minerva. Chorus song- ” Zindagi hai pyar se” is very popular.
Taj mahal– Debut of Baby Suraiya as an actress.
Sasural and Ummeed were 2 films in which Noorjehan senior acted and sang. However these films are usually wrongly included in the filmography of Malika E Tarannum Noor jehan. She entered Hindi films only with the film Khandan-1942 at Lahore.
Under this scene the film Kanchan-1941 was made by Chitra productions, Bombay. It was produced by Leela Chitnis and C.R.Gwalani. The entire film was shot in the studios of Ranjit Movietone, using their technical staff like cinematographer, editor etc. This film is important because of one song from this film – ” Bata do koi ” sung by Leela Chitnis. This song was the first composed and recorded song of Music Director Naushad, although his first film ‘ Premnagar-1940′ was released much before film Kanchan-41.
There is a short but interesting history to this song.
D.N.Madhok,who was a good friend of Naushad in his struggling days had full faith in his capabilities as a composer and took Naushad to Chandulal Shah.He offered to employ him for his forthcoming film.Naushad prepared a tune for Madhok’s bhajan,”Bata do koi kaun gali gaye shyam”.However the film was shelved.
When Naushad assisted Gyan Dutt for the Punjabi film ‘Mirza sahiba’ in 1938,Gyan dutt heard it and used it later in Kanchan in 1941.
Although Premnagar was released in 1940 as Naushad’s first independent film,the above song is the first recorded song of Naushad,independently prepared.
Gyan Dutt was a noble soul.He did give the credit to Naushad for this song. The credits of the film mentioned both names,Naushad as well as Gyan Dutt as Music Directors,though Naushad’s filmography does not mention this film at many places. (from an extract of D.N.Madhok’s interview.).
The cast of the film Kanchan-1941 was Leela Chitnis, Arun Ahuja, Mubarak, Pramila, Nagendra Muzumdar, Kesari, Tarabai (sister of actresses Sitara Devi and Alaknanda and mother of dancxer Gopi krishna) and others. The film released in august and its story appeared in the October issue of the film magazine Film India. Our Sadanand ji had given its edited copy as follows…….
A tailor (Nagendra Mazumdar) has two daughters – Kanchan (Leela Chitnis) and Kumud (Pramila). Both the daughters are in love with Kishore (Arun Ahuja), an educated young man. Kishore likes Kanchan and he reciprocates her feelings towards him whereas he avoids Kumud. Subsequently, Kumud works out a plot which forces Kishore to leave for a city job.
Now a landlord (Mubarak) enters the scene. He has a vicked manager who, for a very minor reason, burns down the huts of the farmers. Kishore comes to know about it and he rescues the farmers from the clutches of the fire. In this process, the father of Kanchan and Kumud also comes under the monetary trap of the landlord as he lends money to reset the house.
Since the father is not able to repay the loan, the landlord gives him options of either attaching his whatever the assets or to give one of his daughters in marriage. Kumud refuses to act as a pawn to the landlord. Kanchan agrees to marry the landlord thus sacrificing her love for Kishore.
When the arrangements for the marriage are going in full swing, Kanchan’s mother who had known the landlord from her younger days when she was in love with him, gives the landlord a long lecture of self-consciousness on the issue. The landlord has a change of heart and he withdraws himself as the bridegroom. Kanchan gets married to Kishore.
One of the cast members- Nagendra Muzumdar was the father of Music Director Ninu Muzumdar. Nagendra was born in a happy family in the year 1894 in Bombay. After his father died, “Pearl Dairy’ established by his father ran very well doing good business. Suddenly, Nagendra’s wife fell seriously ill and despite taking her full care, she expired. Due to neglect of the Dairy in this period, Dairy also closed down.
He shifted to Baroda and worked as a State Police Inspector.Later he worked as Watch and Ward Inspector in Baroda Railways. He left the job and started working as a hero in dramas of famous dramatist R.V.Desai. Heeralal, the owner of Laxmi Film Company, Bombay was impressed with his personality and took him to Bombay in 1926 to act in his silent films. Thus started his film career. In those days Silent films used to be completed within a month. He worked as a Hero in films of Laxmi, Jagdish and Imperial film companies.
In the same year, he directed a film ‘Paani mein aag’-1926, made by Royal Arts. Then came two more films made by Kaiser E Hind films. He also directed films for other companies. In all, he directed 15 Silent films by 1932. By then the Talkie had arrived. In the next 14 years he directed 12 Talkie films like – Ras Vilas-32, Sassi Punnu-32, Patit Pawan-33, mirza Sahibaan-33, Mera Imaan-34, Kala Wagh-34, Rangila nawab-35, Kimiyagar-36, Aaj ka Aladdin aka Aladdin II-36, Lehri lutera-37, Talwarwala-46 and Swadesh Sewa-46.
When offers for direction became few, he started acting in films. He acted in 12 films. When K L Saigal came to Bombay, Nagendra wanted to work with him. In the film Tansen-43, he did the role of Tansen’s (Saigal’s) father and he was very happy. The films that he acted in were Kanchan-41,Beti-41, Khilauna-42, Bhakt Surdas-42, Armaan-42, Tansen-43, Gauri-43, Adab Arz-43, Bharthari-44, Prabhu ka Ghar-45, Ghazal-45 and Dhanna Bhagat-45.
His last 2 films came in 1946, but his health was not cooperating for quite a few years. He gave up work and took a rest. However, he suffered from paralysis and died on 22-8-1951. His son Ninu Majumdar worked in Bombay A.I.R. as head of Gujarati programmes, since 1937. By the time Nagendra died, Ninu had already started working as a Music Director. As a Director, Nagendra had worked with the best of his times like, Master Vithal, Zubeida, Jillo, Billimorea brothers, Madhuri, Navinchandra, Durga Khote, Jairaj, Sultana, Noorjehan sr and such luminaries of those days. He worked for Ranjit, Imperial, Sharda, Lakshmi, Jayant Desai films, Yagnik films etc etc.
( Information for this article is collated from various sources like Listener’s Bulletins No. 40 of Feb-80 and No.145 of July 2010, HFGK, muVyz, Sapnon ke Saudagar by Vithal Pandya, Silent films by Dr.Verma, Lost Treasures by kamlakar P. and my notes.)
The heroine of this film Leela Chitnis had led a life full of ups and downs. She earned money, name and fame but her family life was not a happy one. When I read her autobiography in Marathi – चंदेरी दुनियेत ( Life in the world of Silver Screen ) I felt sympathy for her. Her son was a failure as a Hero and she died a lonely death in an Old age home in America where her son and relatives lived in luxury.
Today’s song is sung by the Music Director Gyan Dutt and the comedian Kesari, with a chorus. Enjoy…..
Song- Paani ka tu bulbula tera kaun thhikaana (Kanchan)(1941) Singers- Gyan Dutt, Kesari, Lyricist- D.N.Madhok, MD- Gyan Dutt
Chorus
Gyan Dutt + Chorus
Lyrics
Paani ka tu bulbula
tera kaun thhikaana
Paani ka tu bulbula
tera kaun thhikaana
paani se uthha hai pagle
paani mein mil jaana
tera kaun thhikaana
paani se uthha hai pagle
paani mein mil jaana
tera kaun thhikaana
Paani ka tu bulbula
tera kaun thhikaana
hawa ke ghode pe chadhke tu kaaahe ko itraaye
hawa ke ghode pe chadhke tu kaaahe ko itraaye
is jeewan ka maan kare tu
maut ka ek bahaana
tera kaun thhikaana
is jeewan ka maan kare tu
maut ka ek bahaana
tera kaun thhikaana
Paani ka tu bulbula
tera kaun thhikaana
khel khel le jeewan ka tu u u u
khel khel le jeewan ka tu
jab lagta ras le hai
khel khel le jeewan ka tu
jab lagta ras le hai
ye sapna ka jhonkaa aaya
aakhir ko mar jaana
tera kaun thhikaana
ye sapna ka jhonka aaya
aakhir ko mar jaana
tera kaun thhikaana
tera kaun thhikaana
haan tera kaun thhikaana
haan tera kaun thhikaana
Paani ka tu bulbula
tera kaun thhikaana
maayaa ke laade laade hai ae ae
maayaa ke laade laade hai
kaun kaam aayenge
maayaa ke laade laade hai
kaun kaam aayenge
hari naam ki ?? dagariya
badi door hai jaana
tera kaun thhikaana
hari naam ki ?? dagariya
badi door hai jaana
tera kaun thhikaana
Paani ka tu bulbula
tera kaun thhikaana
Paani ka tu bulbula
tera kaun thhikaana
tera kaun thhikaana
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Blog Day : |
5387 | Post No. : | 17668 |
Today (18 April 2023) is the remembrance anniversary of Khursheed Bano (14 april 1914-18 april 2001). She was active in Hindi movies right from 1931 when talkies films began. Her debut film was Madan Theatre, Calcutta’s “Laila Majnu”(1931). Incidentally a movie with the same title was made in 1931 in Bombay as well. 🙂
Khursheed Bano was the top notch female singer-actor of those days. It was a crown that she held till 1948 when she migrated to the newly formed country of Pakistan as she belonged to that place, being born in Kusur and brought up in Lahore.
Her initial movies were productions of Calcutta and Lahore, such as “Laila Majnu”(1931), “Hathheeli Dulhan”(1932), “Chatra Bakawali”(1932), “Muflis Aashiq”(1932), “Naqlee Doctor”(1933), “Swarg ki Seedhi”(1935), “Mirza Sahiban”(1935), etc
She moved to Bombay in late 1930s and and her biggest hits were delived there. “Bhakt Surdas”(1941), “Tansen”(1942), “Nurse”(1943), “Shahanshah Babr”(1944), “Moorti”(1945), “Mitti”(1947) and “Aap Beeti”(1948), “Papeeha Re”(1948) etc were her memorable movies during her Bombay stint.
After Partition, she along with her husband Lala Yakub, went to Pakistan and settled in Karachi. While in Pakistan, she acted in two movies in 1956, but they both flopped badly. She then retired for movies. In 1956, she divorced Lala Yakub and married a business man Yusuf Bhai Mian. She died in Karachi, Pakistan on 18 april 2001.
We can see that all her big hits were delivered while she worked in Indian films in undivided India. She was in her mid thirtees when she migrated to Pakistan but she could not find fertile ground for her talent there. From the topmost actor-Singer in India, she was reduced to almost nothing as an artist in Pakistan.
As a tribute to Khursheed Bano, here is a song from “Shaadi”(1941).
“Shaadi”(1941) was directed by Jayant Desai for Ranjit Movietone, Bombay. This movie had Madhuri, Motilal, Khrusheed Bano, Ishwarlal, Dixit, Ghori, Bhagwandas, Kantilal, BhoopatRai, Tarabai, Brijmala, Keshari, Baby Kamala etc in it.
The movie had 14 songs in it. 8 songs have been covered in the blog. Here is the ninth song from the movie to appear in the blog.
This song is sung by Khursheed Bano and female chorus. Lyrics are by Munshi Dil. Music is composed by Khemchand Prakash.
Only audio of the song is available. The song was picturised on Khursheed Bano herself, of course.
Lyrics of this song were sent to me by Prakashchandra.
audio link:
Song-Ghir ghir aayee badariya..o gori jee ke saaheba ghar aa (Shaadi)(1941) Singer-Khursheed Bano, Lyrics-Munshi Dil Lucknowi, MD-Khemchand Prakash
Female chorus
Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)
ghir ghir aayee badariyaa
ghir ghir aayee badariyaa
ghir ghir aayee badariyaa
ghir ghir aayee badariyaa
o gori jee ke saahebaa ghar aa
o gori jee ke saahebaa ghar aa
o gori jee ke saanwarey ghar aa
o gori jee ke saanwarey ghar aa
o gori jee ke saahebaa ghar aa
o gori jee ke saahebaa ghar aa
morey naainaa baawrey baawrey
o morey naainaa baawrey baawrey
o gori jee ke saanwarey ghar aa
o gori jee ke saanwarey ghar aa
o gori jee ke saanwarey ghar aa
o gori jee ke saanwarey ghar aa
o gori jee ke saahebaa ghar aa
o gori jee ke saahebaa ghar aa
morey sang key o moree saiyyaan
do do ghoont pilaaye
morey sang key o morey saiyyaan
do do ghoont pilaaye
dekh dekh goree ke naina
saajan bhar bhar aaye
dekh dekh goree ke naina
saajan bhar bhar aaye
o gori jee ke saahebaa ghar aa
ho gori jee ke saahebaa ghar aa
ho gori jee ke saanwarey ghar aa
o gori jee ke saanwarey ghar aa
ghir ghir aayee badariyaa
ghir ghir aayee badariyaa
ghir ghir aayee badariyaa
ghir ghir aayee badariyaa
o gori jee ke saahebaa ghar aa
o gori jee ke saahebaa ghar aa
Wo hamen bulaayen goree
Posted on: April 10, 2023
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5379 | Post No. : | 17644 |
“Shaadi”(1941) was directed by Jayant Desai for Shree Ranjit Movietone, Bombay. The movie had Madhuri, Motilal, Khrusheed Bano, Ishwarlal, Dixit, Ghori, Bhagwandas, Kantilal, BhoopatRai, Tarabai, Brijmala, Keshari, Baby Kamala etyc in it.
The movie had 14 songs in it. Seven songs have been covered in the blog.
Here is the eighth song from the movie to appear in the blog. This song is sung by Khursheed Bano and female chorus. The movie had two lyricists, but the lyricist of this song is not known. Music is composed by Khemchand Prakash.
Only audio of the song is available but it is clear that this song was picturised on Khursheed Babo herself who was one of the biggest acting-singing stars of those days.
Lyrics of this song and other details were sent to me by Prakashchandra.
Song-Wo hamen bulaayen goree (Shaadi)(1941) Singer-Khursheed Bano, Lyrics-Unknown, MD-Khemchand prakash
Female Chorus
Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)
woh hamein bulaayen goree
kahoon main oon hoon oon hhoon oon
woh hamein bulaaye goree
kahoon main oon hoon oon hhoon oon
chaley aayen joraa joree
kahoon main oon hoon oon hmmm…mmmm
chaley aayen joraa joree
kahoon main oon hoon oon hoon oon oon
phir solahwaan baras hai ae
phir solahwaan baras hai ae
nainon mein nayaa ras hai ae
phir solahwaan baras hai ae
nainon mein nayaa ras hai ae
goree ki kanakhiyon se
goree ki kanakhiyon se
baatein na karo kori/gori
goree ki kanakhiyon se
baatein na karo kori
woh hamein bulaaye goree
kahoon main oon hhoon oon hoon oon oon
woh hamein bulaayen goree
kahoon main oon hoon oon hoon oon oon
mere dil mein dhadaktaa dil
aankhon mein phadkthaa see eee
mere dil mein dhadaktaa see
aankhon mein phadkthaa see
sharmaa gayeen nigaahein aen ae
sharmaa raheen nigaahein aen
unglee piyaa marodee
uyyee eee
sharmaa gayee/rahee nigaahein aen
unglee piyaa marodee
uyyee eee
woh hamein bulaaye goree
kahoon main oon hoon oon hhoon oon oon
woh hamein bulaaye goree
kahoon main oon hhoon hhoon hhoon oon
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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