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

Archive for the ‘Songs of 1944’ Category


This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Blog Day :

5350 Post No. : 17545

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Blog 10-Year Challenge (2013-2023) – Song No. 40
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On this date ten years back viz on 12 March 2013, eight songs from eight different movies were covered in the blog. Here are the details:-

Blog post number Song Movie (Year) Remarks
7658 Kyun tumne hamko daraaya Prem Sangeet (1943) 4 songs covered out of 10 by now
7659 Raat ki malka ban thhan ke Ismat(1944) 3 songs covered out of 7 by now
7660 Preet ki jyot jalaakar chup hai Vishkanya(1943) 7 songs covered out of 12 by now
7661 Chaand mera baadalon mein kho gaya Pathan (1962) 4 songs covered out of 7 by now
7662 Raja haweli ki khidki zara kholna re Veer Rajputaani(1955) 5 songs covered out of 9 by now
7663 Assalaam aalekum baabu Kalpana(1960) 6 songs covered out of 10 by now
7664 Aayegaa kaun yahaan Gumnaam (1965) Movie YIPPEED by now
7665 Meri patni mujhe sataati hai Pati Patni(1966) movie YIPPEED by now

It can be noticed that two movies (out of eight movies) whose songs were covered on this date ten years ago (on 12 March 2013) have since been YIPPEED on the blog. That leaves us with six movies that are still unYIPPEED and therefore eligible for Blog Ten Year Challenge today (12 March 2023).

“Ismat”(1944) is one of the six UNYIPPEED movies.

“Ismat”(1944) was directed by S Fazli for Fazli Brothers Limited, Bombay. This movie had Mehtab, Nargis, Nandrekar, Bhudo Advani, Prathima Devi, Jaani Babu, Irshad, Ghori etc in it.

This movie had seven songs in it. Three songs have been covered in the past.

As BTYC challenge, here is the fourth song from “Ismat”(1944). This song is sung by Amirbai Karnataki. Shams Lucknowi is the lyricist. Music is composed by Pt Govardhan Prasad.

Only audio of the song is available. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturisation of the song.

Lyrics of the song were sent to me by Prakashchandra.

audio link:

Song-Ek jaam piye jaa (Ismat)(1944) Singer-Amirbai Karnataki, MD-Shams Lucknowi, MD-Pt Goverdhan Prasad

Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)

ek jaam piye jaa
najariyaa hamse milaa ke
tujhe meri qasam
raajaa meri qasam
baabu meri qasam
haan
ek jaam piye jaa
najariyaa hamse milaa ke
tujhe meri qasam
raajaa meri qasam
baabu meri qasam
haan
tu bhi piye jaa
hamko pilaaye jaa
tu bhi piye jaa
hamko pilaaye jaa
mast ho kar mast banaaye jaa
mast ho kar mast banaaye jaa
laakhon saal jiye jaa
najariyaa hamse milaa ke
tujhe meri qasam
raajaa meri qasam
baabu meri qasam
haan

ye jawaanee aur aankh mein paanee
ye jawaanee aur aankh mein paanee
pee ley pee ley ae
pee ley pee ley ae
pee ley pee ley ae
duniyaa hai faanee
zakhmi dil ko siyaa jaa
najariyaa hamse milaa ke
tujhe meri qasam
raajaa meri qasam
baabu meri qasam
haan

nainon se nainaa
miley ?naa
nainon se nainaa
miley ??naa
hamse milaa ke raajaa tu peenaa
raajaa tu peenaa
hamse milaa ke raajaa tu peenaa
raajaa tu peenaa
jaam se jaam liye jaa
najariyaa hamse milaa ke
tujhe meri qasam
raajaa meri qasam
baabu meri qasam
haan
ek jaam piye jaa
najariyaa hamse milaa ke
tujhe meri qasam
raajaa meri qasam
baabu meri qasam
haan aaan


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

Blog Day :

5321 Post No. : 17447

Today’s song is from a stunt film – Bahadur-1944. This was one of those ordinary films made by Jagriti Pictures, Bombay, owned by Master Bhagwan. The film was also directed by Bhagwan and the film’s music was provided by his friend C.Ramchandra with an alias Ram Chitalkar. The Lyricist was Ehsan Rizvi and the cast of the films was Baburao Pehelwan, Bhagwan, Shanta Patel, Samson, Bhagwandas, yeshwant, Bibi, Surekha and Nirasha (what a name ! Her parents must have expected a Boy baby and she was born, hence she must have been named as Nirasha. My intelligent guess !).

Music Director C.Ramchandra was one of a kind composer. Though he had learnt music, to start with, he began his film career with acting and that too as a Hero ! His first film Naganand-1935, was made and directed by Y.V.Rao at Kolhapur. I wonder what he saw in this lanky, thin boy and made him a Hero. His heroine was a professional Tawaif singer from Kolhapur, named Azam bai. When I first saw this name, I was confused, because generally Azam is a male name. Later when I found out about her, I came to know that her real name was ” Vidya Pisal’- a typical female Marathi name. She was trained in Jaipur-Atrauli gharana by Alladiya khan and due to her expertise in singing, the station director of A.I.R. Bukhari gave her the name Azam Bai (meaning the Great singer).

Tragically, CR’s first film Naganand-1935 was a Super Grand Flop, getting only 5 people in the audience in the first show, as per his own account in his auto-biography. Obviously, there was no second show of this film as it was urgently withdrawn from the theatre. With this history of acting behind him, he changed the track and concentrated on music. Initially he was employed by Sohrab Modi’s Minerva Movietone and worked as an assistant to MDs Bundu khan, Habeeb khan, B.S.Hoogan and lastly Meer Sahib. During this period he learned a lot from Hoogan and Meer Sahib. Later he became an independent composer -starting with 2 Tamil films and then with his first Hindi film- “Sukhi Jeevan”-1942.

His career started with the help of his good friend master Bhagwan. As a gesture of gratitude, he gave music to Bhagwan’s stunt films whenever he was called. CR concentrated on social and musical films and used his newly acquired filmy name “C.Ramchandra”, while working for Jayant Desai. However, when he gave music to Bhagwan’s stunt films, he never used his C.Ramchandra name but used aliases like Ram Chitalkar for films Jayakodi and Van Mohini (both in Tamil), Sukhi jeevan, Badla, Mr. Jhatpat,Bahadur and Dosti. He also used the name “Anna saheb” for films like Bahadur Pratap, Matwale and Madadgaar. For the first time he used his popular name for Bhagwan’s film was for his first social film ” Albela-1951″.

Using aliases or Pen names was prevalent in the film industry. Some examples are Snehal Bhatkar using different names like V.G.Bhatkar, B.Vasudev and Snehal. Even Snehal Bhatkar was not his own name which he used for all his films after the film ‘Hamari beti’-1950 onwards. Snehal (Snehalata) was his daughter’s name. Similarly Mohd. Shafi used the name Shafi M.Nagari for 8 films. Composer Nashaad used names like Shaukat Dehalavi, Shaukat Hussain Dehlavi, Shaukat Ali and Shaukat Haidari. Actually, Nashaad was also not his own name, which was Shaukat Haidari. ‘ Nashaad’ name was given to him by Lyricist/Producer/Director Nakshab Jarachavi.

G.M.Durrani gave music as Gunjan, S.D.Batish used the name Nirmal kumar. Aziz khan and Aziz Hindi were the same person. His brother Hafiz Khan was later known as Khan Mastana. There may be some more examples. I have described only the well known aliases. In this matter, here is an absolutely unknown case which hardly anyone knows and I too have never read about it in any book, magazine or on any site etc. The case is of Anil Biswas. He gave music to the film ” Begunah”-1949 in the name of ‘ Haribhai’. His co-MD for this film was Shyamoo, who was none other than C.Ramchandra. CR also gave music to the film ‘ Yeh hai zindagi’ as Shyamoo. This information is given in Ashish Rajadhyaksha’s book Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, on pp 67 and 190.

One of the names in the cast of today’s film is Yeshwant. Normally hardly anything is ever known about artistes working in Stunt films. Today, however, let us know more about this yeshwant (Dave). There was yet another yeshwant (Bhatt), who was a singer. More about him sometime later.

It was not uncommon during the days of early cinema for people to hang around studios and filming locations in the hopes of being discovered. One such intrepid soul was Yeshwant Dave (or Yashwant Dave), who was at Kohinoor Studios observing a picture being made by producer J.B.H. Wadia. The handsome and athletic Yeshwant cornered Wadia, insisting that he would make a fine hero for an action film.

Wadia agreed to test Yeshwant by having him jump from the roof of one set piece to another. He did so successfully, and J.B.H. decided to cast him in a film that he was to direct for Young United Players, the 1931 silent THUNDERBOLT (aka DILER DAKU) featuring Mumtaz as the heroine.

Yashwant was again directed by Wadia in TOOFAN MAIL (1932) and there after became a sought after action star appearing in the stunt films of other directors like Aspi, Dhirubhai Desai, Nari Ghadiali, Chunilal Parekh, and Harshadrai Mehta. Some of his films include BHARAT VEER (1932), JADUI JUNG (1934), BOMBSHELL (1935), VASANTBENGALI (1937), FLYING RANEE (1939), MAGIC CITY (1940), TORPEDO (1941), BAHADUR (1944), ROYAL MAIL (1946), and KAUN PARDESI (1947).

Growing out of the stunt hero persona, he turned to character parts and made infrequent onscreen appearances throughout the 1950s, including in SHEIKH CHILLI and MAKKHEE CHOOS both released in 1956 and starring comedian Bhagwan. What became of Yeshwant Dave afterwards is anybody’s guess, as the once popular action star faded into obscurity and, sadly, is barely remembered today.

Today’s song is a duet, sung by Chitalkar and Hameeda Banu.


Song- Aankh mein Laaliyaan mad ki pyaaliyaan(Bahaadur)(1944) Singers- Chitalkar, Hamida Bano, Lyrics-Ehsan Rizvi, MD-C Ramchandra
Both

Lyrics

Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan
Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan
baal jo jhoome
baal jo jhoome
jhoome ree gaal choome gori
lat uljhee mori
jiya doley gori
o bainyya chhodo mori
o painyya padoon tori
Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan
Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan

ho o o
ho o o
baali hai umariya
sataaye koi haaye kyun
baali hai umariya
baali hai umariya
sataaye koi haaye kyun

nainwa sharaabi
ae ae ae ae
nainwa sharaabi
man bhaaye kyun
man bhaaye kyun
chhodo chhodo
lat mein ulajh gayin baaliyaan
chhodo chhodo
lat mein ulajh gayin baaliyaan

Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan
Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan

baal jo jhoome
baal jo jhoome
jhoome ree gaal choomen gori
lat uljhee mori
jiya doley gori
o bainyya chhodo mori
o painyya padoon tori
Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan
Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan

ho o o
ho o o
raat bhaye rasiya
jagaaye mujhe haaye kyun
raat bhaye rasiya
raat bhaye rasiya
jagaaye mujhe haaye kyun

mast hai jawaani
ae ae ae ae
mast hai jawaani
tarsaaye kyun
tarsaaye kyun
dekh lega koi
dekh lega koi
to doongi tumhen gaaliyaan
dekh lega koi
to doongi tumhen gaaliyaan

Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan
Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan

baal jo jhoome
baal jo jhoome
jhoome ree gaal choome gori
lat uljhee mori
jiya doley gori
o bainyya chhodo mori
o painyya padoon tori
Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan
Aankh mein Laaliyaan
mad ki pyaaliyaan


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

Blog Day :

5277 Post No. : 17288

Today’s song is an ‘Unique and a Special’ duet from the film Parakh-1944.

Why and how this song is ‘Unique and Special’ will come later, but first let me point out another important matter. In recent times, in India, the women are better treated, respected and also honoured for their contribution to running the household as well as earning equally to manage the married life on level fields. Women can be seen practically in every field of activity and have reached the top of the work places in almost every sphere. We have seen them as President, Prime Minister of the country, In Judiciary, Banks and even in Armed forces-be it Army, Navy or Air Force, the police, sports etc. There is hardly any field where women have not put their stamp.

But if you go back in the last 100 years, the conditions were different. Women were not so much independent and in an industry like Film Line, women who joined it would be seen in a very bad light. First of all, getting women to work in films was a Herculean task. The actual, real women who worked in a film was in 1913, when Durgabai kaqmat and her daughter worked in a silent film ” Bhasmasur Mohini”. Till then and even after that for some more time, women’s role were done by good looking young actors in stage dramas and films. As the years passed by, slowly girls started joining films – first the Jews, European and Anglo-Indians and then came girls from singing families (read Tawaifs), before girls from educated and respected families joined films.

By the 30’s and the 40’s there were enough women in films.However, most of them were controlled by their nearest kins like parents (Madhubala’s father and Suraiya’s grandmother) or brothers/sisters (Baburao Apte for Shanta Apte and Sardar Akhtar for Bahar). Many actresses, after their marriage, were prohibited from acting in films by their husbands or in-laws, so they quit films. Some examples are – the first heroine of Talkie films, Zubeida Sr. and also Zubeida Jr. in later times, Monika desai, Latika, Mohana, Shahzadi-both Sr. and jr. etc. Those who continued after marriage followed restrictions put by the Husbands. For example, Mumtaz Shanti had to always remain in a Burkha, except actual shooting. She was not allowed to talk to anyone on the set and had to immediately return home after shootings. Her husband, Lyricist, producer and Director Wali Saheb was a very orthodox Muslim. As long as Shamshad Begum’s father was alive she was not allowed to take her Photo anywhere.

Another example was Shanta Apte. When she joined films, her brother Baburao Apte used to hover around constantly during her shoots to prevent her mixing with others. What’s more, she was not allowed to work with anyone as her husband in the films, except only her brother Baburao- who would do the role of her husband.(only after Baburao’s marriage, Shanta Apte became ‘Free’). Yet another example was Meera Mishra. She was forced to retire after her first film “Milan”-1946, because her husband did not like it. (By coincidence, he died suddenly in a Riot and she did act in some more films, before getting married again).

I have quoted only a few examples, but these things were common and could be seen till almost 1970 or so. On the other hand, in the case of some actresses, their husbands encouraged them to join films ( and earn money for them). Some examples are Meenakshi Shirodkar (Bramhachari-1938), Renuka Devi, Nirupa Roy etc . Now we come to today’s song and why it is a special song.

Today’s song is a duet, sung by Ira Nigam and Hriday Narayan Nigam. Ira Nigam was discovered by Music Director Roshan when he was working for Delhi A.I.R. Ira was only 14 year old when Roshan brought Khurshid Anwar, M.D. to her house. They convinced her father to allow her to sing in films. He agreed but with a condition that she will not sing a duet with any other male singer except himself (he was a Singer in A.I.R.). Thus the first and the only Male-female duet of Ira Nigam in the film Parakh-1944 was sung with her own father ! This makes this song an ‘Unique and special’ song in Hindi film history. Because of this unusual condition of her father, Ira could not get many songs. What’s more, after her marriage with Mr. P.N.Nigam,, she was forbidden to sing in films. Thus her flowering career was nipped in the bud after songs in only 5 more films. The other films were Rakhi-49,Chaar Din-49, Ek Teri Nishani-49, Veer Ghatotkach-49 and Guru Dakshina-50.

The film was directed by Sohrab Modi. Music was by Khurshid Anwar (7 songs) and Saraswati Devi (2 songs). The cast was Mehtab, Balwant Singh, Kaushalya, Shah Nawaz, Latika, Sadiq Ali, Tarapore, Balraj Mehta and others.

A very odd name in the cast can be seen- Balraj Mehta. I am sure, hardly anyone has ever heard his name, but he was a very active person in his life. Born on 22-4-1918 at Lahore, he was the son of Sukh Dayal Mehta – Superintendent in the Commissioner’s office at Lahore. He completed Matriculation from Central Model High School and B.A. from Dayal Singh College of Lahore in 1939.

He was active in the Students’ union and held the General Secretary’s post of Punjab University Students’ Union, in 35-37. He organised the All India Student Federation conference in 36/37. He was a born Leader. He was interested in acting on stage. In 1944, he founded Indian National Theatre (I.N.T.), which is a very famous institution in India now also. He wrote, directed and produced its first stage drama ” Aawaaz’ in 1945.

By now he was married and needed to earn money. He joined the film line. He acted first in ‘Dulla Bhatti’ in 1939-40. Then came Sajjan-41,Panna-44, Parakh-44, Patharon ka Saudagar-44, Gulami-45 and lastly Pul-47.In the period 1944-45, he also became Secretary of Film Artistes’ Association and served it for a long time. In 1947, he entered Politics. After Independence, he became a journalist. After this I found his name in the cast of the film Ayodhyapati-56 and then as a Director of the film Trunk Call-1960. However, there is no information about him after this.

So, here is the love duet song, sung by a Father and a Daughter for the film Parakh-1944. Truly an ‘Unique and special’ song ! Enjoy….


Song- Samay tu dheere dheere beet (Parakh)(1944) Singers- Ira Nigam, Hriday Narayan Nigam, Lyricist- Pt. Sudarshan, MD- Saraswati Devi

Lyrics

Dheere dheere beet
Samay tu dheere dheere beet
Samay tu dheere dheere beet
dheere dheere beet
Samay tu dheere dheere beet
Samay tu dheere dheere beet
duniya ho ik raat chaandni
jeewan ho ik geet
duniya ho ik raat chaandni
jeewan ho ik geet
Samay tu dheere dheere beet

dheere dheere kyun kar ???
baat main teri kaise maanoon
dheere dheere kyun kar ???
baat main teri kaise maanoon
udte jaana
haath na aana
ye hai meri reet
udte jaana
haath na aana
ye hai meri reet
Samay tu dheere dheere beet

Samay tu dheere dheere beet

main pagli tu pagla ban jaana
??? ruk jaa ??
man ka meet rahe nit man mein
???
man ka meet rahe nit man mein
???
Samay tu dheere dheere beet
Dheere dheere beet
Samay tu dheere dheere beet
Samay tu dheere dheere beet


This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Blog Day :

5212 Post No. : 17198

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Blog 10-Year Challenge (2012-2022) – Song No. 118
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Ten years back on this date viz on 25th October 2012, eight songs from eight different movies were covered on the blog. Here are the details:-

Blog post number Song Movie (Year) Remarks
6893 Zara bolo kya logi is dil ka kiraaya Us Paar(1944) One song covered out of 8 by now
6894 Tu jiye hazaaron saal gori Ek Saal (1957) Movie YIPPEED by now
6895 Khuda e bartar teri zameen par Tajmahal (1963) Movie YIPPEED by now
6896 Ye kiska lahu hai kaun mara Dharmputra (1961) Movie YIPPEED by now
6897 Kaam krodh aur lobh ka maara Bahuraani (1963) Movie YIPPEED by now
6898 Pade barkha phuhaar kare jiyaraa pukaar Dooj Ka Chaand(1964) Movie YIPPEED by now
6899 Aaj ki raat sajan mann chaahe Vishwas(1969) Movie YIPPEED by now
6900 Aaj dil pe koi zor chalta nahin Milan (1967) Movie YIPPEED by now

We can observe that as many as seven movies (out of 8 movies) whose songs were covered on this date ten years ago have since been YIPPEED in the blog. That leaves us with only one movie that is still eligible for Blog Ten Year Challenge today (25 october 2022).

That movie is “Us Paar”(1944).

“Us Paar”(1944) was directed by Chiman Lal Luhaar for Sun Art Pictures, Bombay. The movie had Swarnlata, Ishwar Lal, Chandra Mohan, Sulochana Chatterjee, Kanhaiyalal, Charlie, Chhota Kabir etc in it.

“Us Paar”(1944) had eight songs in it. only one song from the movie has been covered so far and that was exactly ten years ago.

Here is the second song from “Us Paar”(1944) to appear in the blog. The song is sung by Amirbai Karnataki. Pandit Madhur is the lyricist. Music is composed by Feroz Nizami, BA.

Only audio of the song is available. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturisation of the song.

Lyrics and other details were sent to me by Prakashchandra.

Audio link:

Song-Kuchh main bhi chhupaati hoon(Us Paar)(1944) Singer-Amirbai Karnataki, Lyrics-Pt Madhur, MD-Feroz Nizami BA

Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)

Main aapkee hoon oon
bee ee eenaa aa aa
tum geet ho o o
Kanhaiyya aa aa aa aa
hans hans ke
paar kar de ae ae ae ae
Raadha ke man ki naiyyaa aa aa aa

main murli churaati hoon
main murli churaati hoon
tum man ko churaatey ho
tum man ko churaatey ho
kuchch main bhi chhupaati hoon
kuchch main bhi chhupaati hoon
kuchch tum bhi chhupaati ho
kuchch tum bhi chhupaati ho

jab jab main jhoolti hoon
apney ko bhoolti hoon
dil mujhko sulaataa hai
tum dil ko sulaathi ho
dil mujhko sulaataa hai
tum dil ko sulaati hoon
kuchch main bhi chhupaati hoon
kuchch main bhi chhupaati hoon
kuchch tum bhi chhupaati ho

duniyaa ye dolti/dholki hai
kuchch mujhse bolti hai
kyaa
duniyaa ye dolti hai
kuchch mujhse bolti hai
koyal ke madhur gaaney
papeehaa ke pee taraaney
koyal ke madhur gaaney
papeehaa ke pee taraaney
bulbul ke chahchaaney
bulbul ke chahchehaaney
in sab mein tu hi tu bas
gaatey nazar aati hoon
gaatey nazar aati hoon
kuchch main bhi chhupaati hoon
kuchch main bhi chhupaati hoon
kuchch tum bhi chhupaathi ho
kuchch tum bhi chhupaati ho o 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

Blog Day :

5077 Post No. : 16999

Today’s song is from the film Gaali-1944.

When I saw the title of this film, I was stunned. I could not ever imagine that such a movie title could be given. I was wondering as to what must be there in the movie- a Gaali competition between 2 groups or is it about a person who can not speak a single sentence without including a gaali in it ? I could not fathom a reason for titling a film like this. Later in the early 50’s, I got a chance to see this film and I was totally and completely disappointed. Even after seeing the film I did not get answers to my original question. The story of the film was meaningless indeed.

After about 25 to 30 years, I was shocked to see the trend of titling the films with sophisticated gaalis like Besharam, Bundalbaz, Beimaan, Bewafa, Bewaqoof etc etc. Such changes are not new to the film industry.

The film Gaali was produced by Chiman bhai Desai under the banner of N.R.Desai Productions, Bombay, and the film was directed by R.S.Chaudhari – a veteran spill over from Silent film era. The name of R S Chaudhari may not be known to the newer generation, but he was considered ” Guru” by stalwarts like Mehboob Khan and Kardar. Like many oldies, Chaudhari was also a multifaceted person and used to write stories for films. You will be surprised to know about his contribution in writing stories of successful films like Roti, Rattan, Baiju Bawra etc.

R S aka Rama Shankar Chaudhari was a great name in the silent era and early Talkie period. Veterans like Mehboob and Kardar treated him like their teacher.

He was born on 8-6-1903 in Banares-U.P. in a middle class family which gave importance to education.After his graduation , he came to Bombay and did another graduation in Arts from J.J. school of Arts, in 1922. He then entered the film line as Art Director and Designer of publicity Pamphlets. he did remarkable covers for the Gujarati Film Journal ” Mauj majah”. He assisted director Manilal Joshi at Laxmi Film co. He started directing silent films with his first film at Laxmi – “Neera “-1926. It was the famous actor Raja Sandow’s spectacular costume film. The film became a Hit wherever it was shown.

He directed 15 silent films at Imperial film co. and Sagar Films. He made several Classics in Historical genres like Anarkali-1928, starring Sulochana (Ruby Meyers). This popular Hit silent film was remade as Talkie in 1935 again with the same cast and chaudhari as a director. Sulochana also acted in Anarkali-1953, thus creating a record of the same actress acting in 3 films of same title and story.

His other historical films were Shirin Khushru and Shaan e Hind, often using the legendary epics as a Nationalist allegory. His films usually featured Sulochana and Zubeida, the two popular and costly Heroines of that era.

His first talkie film was Madhuri-1932, featuring Sulochana. In all, he directed 14 Talkie films – madhuri-32, Sulochana-33, Piya Pyare-34, Aaj kal-34, Anarkali-35, Shaan e Hind-36, Hamari betiyan-36, kal ki Baat-37, Rifle Girl-38, Such hai-39, Aankh Micholi-42, Gaali-44, Magadh Raj-46 and Jaaliyanwala Bagh ki jyoti-53.

he was a very good story and screenplay writer.many of his film had his stories. he wrote stories for films like Neera-26 and Khud ki shaan-31 in silent film era and for Talkie films Hamari betiyan-36, Such hai-39, Roti-42, Adab Arz-43, Gaali-44, Laal haveli-44, Rattan-44, Aan-52, Baiju Bawra-52, Insan aur shaitan-70 and international crook-74. he also scripted Kardar’s pehle aap-44 and mehboob’s Son of india-62 and many films of Ravindra Dave.

In the last phase of life, Chaudhari lived a lonely life in penury. He travelled only by bus. He breathed his last on 22-8-1972 in Bombay.

for 12 songs of the film there were 5 lyricists and 2 Music directors- Pt. Hanuman Prasad and Sajjad Hussain. Sajjad was actually his assistant, but he composed 2 songs and was given equal status as joint MD. The cast of the film was Karan Dewan, Nirmala, Manju, Yakub, Kanhaiyalal, Sunalini Devi, Zillo bai, Gulab and many others. Today’s song is sung by Manju. She was one of those unfortunate actresses/singers, whose careers were curtailed by workless contracts with the studios and then due to marriages.

Manju’s father Gangaram Jadhav was a famous Marathi drama actor in his times in ‘Anand Vilas natak mandali’ at nagpur. He had 4 children, 2 sons and 2 daughters- Vijaylaxmi, Manjula, Trimbak and Balakram. They never went to school but were taught at home only.When Gangaram got a job in prabhat film co. they shifted to poona. Manjula started learning classical music from keshavrao bhole of Prabhat.

When Manjula got a singing role in film Aadmi-1939 as a child artiste, her name was changed to Manju. She sang songs in both versions-Hindi and Marathi. Next she acted in the film Sant Gyaneshwar-40. She acted and sang in Nai kahani-43. She sang songs in films Chaand and Ramshastri-44.

Due to a legal contract with Prabhat, she was not able to work in other films though she was in good demand outside, but Prabhat refused to allow her. However, producer Chimanbhai Desai got permission and she worked and sang in the film Gaali-44 She got an acting and singing role in the film Rattan-44. The film and the songs became hits. offers started pouring in but meanwhile she got married to karan Dewan. Her in-laws did not allow her to act in films. She had to bid goodbye to films.

After Karan Dewan’s death her connection with films ended finally. She has 2 sons and 5 daughters. She stayed with her sons in Bombay and Sharjah. (Thanks to blog beetehuedin for information.)

The film GAALI-1944 was available till at least 1950,around which time I must have seen it. The film story was….

Gaali was a film with a strange story of a young blind widow,who thinks that her husband comes and talks to her.
Mangala (Nirmala) loses her husband soon after marriage and she also becomes blind,without any medical reason. She stays with her Father in law Jagat narayan Chakravarti who also has an unmarried daughter lali (Manju Dewan). One day he meets Tilak,son of a zamindar from a nearby village. He wants Tilak(Karan Dewan) to marry his daughter Lali,but surprisingly,Tilak starts getting attracted to Mangala. She also talks to him and imagines it as if her husband is talking to her.
This is made use of by a village ruffian and people attack Jagat’s house demanding that the friendship of Tilak and Mangla be stopped. In the melee,jagat gets killed. At the same time Mangala and Tilak are in a Temple getting intimate. Suddenly her eyesight comes back and she realises the truth that it is not her husband.

Finally,Tilak marries Lali and Mangala becomes a Sadhwi in a temple for the rest of her life.

I do not remember the songs of this film, but most songs were shot on Lali(Manju).

This was ,according to me, a hopeless film.


Song- Holi main kheloongi un sang dat ke (Gaali)(1944) Singer- Manju, Lyricist- Sugun Piya, MD- Pt. Hanuman Prasad

Lyrics

Holi main kheloongi un sang dat ke
Holi main kheloongi un sang dat ke
ratiyaa jo aaye
ratiyaa jo aaye
ab ke palat ke
ab ke palat ke
Holi main kheloongi un sang dat ke
Holi main kheloongi un sang dat ke

dekho ?? aisa ??
dekho ?? aisa ??
?? ke ?? ke nainan phatke (?)
?? ke ?? ke nainan phatke(?)
Holi main kheloongi un sang dat ke

babu jo mohse ra ra karenge
to gaali main doongi ghoonghatwa palat ke
to gaali main doongi ghoonghatwa palat ke
Holi main kheloongi un sang dat ke
Holi main kheloongi un sang dat ke
Holi main kheloongi
un sang
dat ke


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.This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Blog Day :

5065 Post No. : 16980

Today’s song is from the film ‘Daasi’ (1944).

The film was made by Pradhan Pictures, Lahore, and was directed by Hiren Bose. The music was by Pt. Amarnath Batish (to avoid ‘same name confusion‘ the other Music Director Pt. Amarnath Chawla, I am mentioning their surnames also). Funniest thing is Pradhan Pictures was owned by Sanjay Pradhan – a person from Orissa, Director hiren Bose was from Bengal and Pt. Amarnath, MD was from Punjab. They all came together in the most popular and beautiful city of those times ‘Lahore’, to make a film which became a hit, mostly because of its music.

In the pre-partition period, there were 3 film centers: Bombay, Calcutta and Lahore. Though comparatively Lahore was the youngest center, having made its first silent film only in 1924, experts across the border and in India claim that Lahore had the potential of becoming, if not bigger, but as big a center as Bombay ! In that era Lahore did make a lot of contribution in the field of acting, direction and music. Several experts have written long articles on Lahore’s standing in Hindi and Punjabi film making.

Next to Mumbai and Calcutta, Lahore was the largest movie making center in India. In fact the best known industry in Lahore was the movie industry. Film industry in Lahore is now called Lollywood. It is a mixture of Lahore and Hollywood. During the twenties and thirties, a lot of movies were made in Lollywood, based on the ones made in Hollywood. There was even a big movie studio, named United People’s on Ravi Road. Besides two big studios, Pancholi Arts and Shourie Pictures, that boasted of many super-hit movies, there were a large number of smaller units, which too had quite a few hit films to their credit.

Dalsukh Pancholi, a film tycoon from Lahore (born in Karachi) and the founder of Pancholi Studios of Lahore, studied script writing and cinematography from New York, and played an important part in the careers of stars such as Noor Jehan, Ramola, Om Prakash, music composers Ghulam Haider and OP Nayyar. His first film was ‘Gul-e-Bakawli’ (1938) starring Noor Jehan. Ghulam Haider’s “Shaala Jawaania”  was an instant rage. Pancholi’s film ‘Khazanchi’ (1941) was one of the longest running movies of its time.

Master Ghulam Haider, a phenomenal music director from Lahore, was the man who gave Lata Mangeshkar the break of her career in the movie ‘Majboor’ (1948). Mohd Rafi’s debut also happened to occur in Lahore, at the hands of music director Shyaam Sunder in Pancholi’s  film ‘Gul Baloch’. Many of the mainstream stars started their career in movies that were made in Lahore, and later moved to Mumbai where they became some of the biggest stars of Indian cinema.

Many high profile Indian actors and singers lived in the Walled City in the 1940s and Lakshmi Chowk was where the film fraternity got together in tongas decorated with maroon flowers, foot bells and lamps on the side. By the evening, Lakshmi would be full of tongas, with film stars, top film directors and producers thronging tea houses and discussing filmy affairs. Pran, Om Parkash and Al Nasir, another Lahori film hero, would spend their evenings chatting and playing billiards.

Pran, who mostly played the role of a villain in films, lived in Qilla Gujjar Singh. He was a skilled photographer and took photographs of famous artistes. One day – while standing at a pan shop in Lakshmi Chowk – he met Wali, a leading film director of the time. Wali asked Pran if he was interested in acting and Pran said yes. Wali wrote the address of Pancholi Studios  on the back of a cigarette pack and asked Pran to see one of his friends there. Pran started his film career with ‘Chaudhry’ and later appeared as a hero in ‘Khaandaan’ (1942), a film by Shaukat Hussain Rizvi. The heroine was melody queen Noor Jahan. Later Pran established his career in Lahore as a villain in Punjabi films. Pran migrated to Bombay in 1947.

BR Chopra was born in Lahore. He studied journalism, directed/produced plays, and worked as a film critic in Lahore. Yash Chopra, his younger brother was born in Lahore as well, later he joined his brother in Bombay to start their own production house. BR Chopra was working on his first film ‘Chandni Chowk’ when the partition riots began. And K Asif, the man who made the epic masterpiece ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ (1960), also hailed from Lahore. Om Parkash was also one of the great names of Bombay. He lived at Matti Chowk, Lohari Gate and always rented out a decorated tonga to take him from Matti Chowk to Lakshmi Chowk every day. Om Parkash did many small and large roles in films made in Lahore and also migrated to India in 1947.

Balraj Sahni also lived at Matti Chowk and was the secretary general of the All India Communist Party. He studied at Government College. Sahni also acted in pre-Partition films in Lahore. Dev Anand lived in Lohari Gate, but later moved to Bhaati Gate. He also studied at Government College. Dev Anand participated actively in politics in Lahore. His brother Chetan Anand was a famous film director in Lahore and was considered quite influential in film studios when it came to casting and other affairs. Meena Shorey was one of the leading female actors of her times. She lived in Bhaati Gate and married Roop K Shorey, the owner of Shorey Film Studio (now Shah Noor Studio). She acted in several pre-partition films made in Lahore and migrated to India in 1947.

Lahore was considered the ‘launchpad’ for famous singers and musicians. KL Saigal, the legendary singer,  acquired fame in Lahore then later moved to Calcutta. and then to Mumbai. The subcontinent’s  greatest playback singer Muhammad Rafi lived in Bhaati Gate. He was from a family of barbers and ran his own barbershop. Rafi had a beautiful voice and most of his customers would often ask him to sing for them while they got their hair cut or got a shave. A man from the film industry introduced Rafi to film director of ‘Gul Baloch’ who gave Rafi the opportunity to sing three songs. The film proved a launching point for Rafi’s film career in Lahore and by the time he migrated to India in the 40s  he was an accomplished singer.

Khurshid Begum was an outstanding singer from Lahore who too moved to India for better opportunities. She also lived in Bhaati Gate. She sang several famous songs for various Indian films, including  great songs  with singer KL Saigal.  Hritik Roshan’s grandpa Roshan (Roshan Lal Nagrath), the famous music director, was from  Lahore. He was given a chance as an assistant by another Lahori musician, Khwaja Khurshid Anwar (who was in Bombay at the time).  Khayyam the music composer of ‘Umrao-Jaan’ fame started his career in Lahore.

Roshan Ara Begum from Lahore was acclaimed the best interpreter of Kirana Gharana Sytle of Khayal singing in the subcontinent. Composer OP Nayyar, Ustad Fateh Ali, Bade Ghulam Ali (the only film he ever sang for was  ‘Mughal-e-Azam’), all are from Lahore. Other famous musicians from Lahore who migrated later to Mumbai include Pandit Amarnath, Shyam Sunder, Gobind Ram, Lachhi Ram and Dhani Ram. More recently  Lahore has given India  Nusrat Fateh Ali, Sabri Brothers, Adnan Sami, Reshma, Mehdi Hassan, Abida Parveen, Tassawar Khanum, Atif Aslam, Ghulam Ali, Rahat Fateh Ali, Shafqat Amanat Ali – their talent truly saturates Bollywood.

Sajjad Zaheer (father of Nadira Babbar), Jaan Nisar Akhtar (father of lyricist Javed and grandfather of actor/director Farhan and director Zoya), Kaifi Azmi (father of Shabana Azmi), Majrooh Sultanpuri and so many others have a deep link to that city. Sahir Ludhianvi (Abdul Hayee) started his career in Lahore as a lyricist/poet, and later went on to become one of the biggest lyricists in Bollywood. Tanveer Naqvi was a noted lyricist of his times. He lived in the Faqirkhana Museum inside Bhaati Gate. He wrote ‘Awaz De Kahaan Hai’ and ‘Jaan-e-Baharan, Rashk-e-Chaman’.

It was Lahore that encouraged women to throng the theaters for the first time where the Wednesday matinees were reserved for women in special  ‘Ladies Only’ shows in all theaters at half the normal rates. Lahore’s love for Bollywood movies continues till date where while the Pakistani films have vanished from the cinema, the screening of Bollywood movies is again in full swing after a setback when  Indian films were banned for sometime to help indigenous industry to pick up. Almost every cinema hall in the city including those located in Northern Lahore and Walled City known for showing Punjabi movies, has switched over to either Indian or English films.

The film ‘Daasi’ had in its cast Ragini, Najamul Hasan, Om Prakash, Kalavati, Pran Sikand, Khairati etc. Ragini was touted as one of the most beautiful actresses of that time. She was called Aahoo Chashm, like Naseem Banu was called Pari Chehra. In Indian cinema there were only 3 actresses with brown eyes. one was Ragini, second was Kamla Kotnis (first heroine of Dev Anand in 1946) and third was Vanmala.

Najamul Hasan was very handsome . If only he had not eloped with Devika Rani in 1936, possibly he would have ruled Indian cinema. Bombay had banned him, Calcutta had not much to offer and in Lahore he got only side roles. His last days were very bad in Pakistan.

Only Ragini and Pt. Amarnath were the winners in the success of the film ‘Daasi’. Pt Amarnath was born in Jalandhar in 1912. Pandit ji started his career as singer, actor in the stage plays in his home town of Jalandhar. He also recorded private songs, ghazals, thumri, gurbani, classical and semi-classical in the voice of child prodigy Master Madan in the 30s. Master Madan only recorded eight compositions in his life of only fourteen years under the baton of Pandit Amarnath – “Bagaan Wich Peengan Paiyaan”, “Raavi De Parle Kandey”, “Man Ki Man Hi Mahi Rahi”, “Chetna he ko chet le”, “Mori Binti Mano Kanha Re” and “Gori Gori Baiyaan”. This was confirmed by Khayyam Sb.

Pandit Amarnath made his debut in 1942 with Roop K Shorey’s film ‘Nishani’.  Pandit Amarnath’s most successful film was ‘Daasi’, starring Ragini, Najam and Gyani. Zeenat Begum sang her scintillating numbers, “Ho Rasiya Kabhi Le Chal Tu Jamuna Ke Paar”, “Subah Hui Aur Panchi Jaage” and “Wo Din Yaad Karo”. The chart buster of the film was “Raaten Na Rahin Wo Na Rahe Din Wo Hamaare”. After the release of ‘Daasi’, Pandit ji came to be known as Pandit Amarnath of Daasi fame.

Pandit Amarnath’s music was a mix of Punjabi folk, Mehfil Sangeet of classical shades and village music which can be seen in his compositions. In 1944, Pandit ji went to Calcutta to give music for Indrapuri studio’s ‘Iraada’.  Upcoming singer Hemant Kumar recorded his  song, “Phir Mohabbat Ke Payam Aane Lagey” under his guidance. Another popular composition of Pandit ji for the movie was “Araam Se Jo Raatein Kaatey Wo Ashq Bahaana Kya Jaane”. Pandit Amarnath was the most revered composer of the 1940s. He gave several evergreen numbers in that decade.

Pandit ji was in so much demand that he started getting offers from Bombay, Poona as well as Calcutta. When he got an offer from Prabhat to do music for their film ‘Chand’, he declined the offer and suggested that instead they should take his assistants Husanlal and Bhagatram. Prabhat honoured Pandit ji’s request and agreed. This was the beginning of India’s first popular musical duo.

Simultaneously, he was giving music to Punjabi films too like “Koel” (1944) and “Gul Baloch” (1945).During the 40s decade Pt. Amarnath was the most busy composer, with a line up like ‘Nishani’ (1942), ‘Paapi’ (1943), ‘Iraada” (1944), ‘Daasi’ (1944), ‘Panchhi’ (1944), ‘Shirin Farhad’ (1945), ‘Ragini’ (1945), ‘Kaise Kahoon’ (1945), ‘Dhamkee’ (1945), ‘Sham Savera’ (1946), ‘Shalimar’ (1946), ‘Shehar Se Door’ (1946), ‘Jhumke’ (1946), ‘Aai Bahar’ (1946), ‘Pagdandi’ (1947), ‘Mirza Sahiban’ (1947), ‘Roop Rekha’ (1948) and ‘Ek Teri Nishani’ (1949).

He gave music to 18 Hindi films, composing 152 songs in all. Due to his success, he started drinking, which became his nemesis. At the time of film ‘Pagdandi’ (1947), after few songs, he was replaced by Khurshid Anwar. Even in his last two films ‘Roop Rekha’ (1948) and ‘Ek Teri Nishani’ (1949) after few songs, he was replaced by other MDs. Film ‘Patjhad’, which he had signed, was given to Ghulam Haider.

After the grand success of ‘Jhumke’, he also fell into the same trap which affected his health badly. He had a few films in his hand at this stage as well, even his most successful film ‘Mirza Sahiban’ starring Malika e Tarannum was made at this stage. He had composed several evergreen numbers for this film. It’s super hit was “Haaye Re Ud Ud Jaaye Mora Reshmi Duppata”. He had signed up for the film ‘Patjhad’ for Pancholi Picture but after his untimely death, Ghulam Haidar and SD Batish were signed up instead.

Similarly, Pandit ji was replaced by Khurshid Anwar in ‘Pagdandi’. In the film ‘Roop Rekha’ (1948) Pandit ji had recorded a song, “Bol Bol Mein Umda Hai Toofan”. He had also recorded a few compositions for “Ek Teri Nishani” – “Aa Gai Zaalim Jawani Aa Gai” and “Ek Dekha Khwwab Suhana”. Asha Bhosle sang for the first time for Pandit ji in the song, “Teri Kaafir Jawaani Ko Jawaani Kaun Kehta Hai”. The film was later completed by Sardul Kawatra and was released in 1949.

During the making of film ‘Mirza Saahiban’, Pt. Amarnath died at the age of just 35 years, on 20-2-1947. The balance songs were done by Husnlal Bhagatram.

His untimely death was a great loss to the music industry and especially to the Punjab School of Music, robbing us of many great hits.

Today’s song is the 7th song from ‘Daasi’ to appear here. The song is extremely melodious and is sung by Zeenat Begum with her sweet voice. You will certainly enjoy it….

(The article is based on adapted information from an article on creative.sulekha, from Film Sangeetkar by Prof. Yadav, an article by Sharad Dutt in millenimpost.in, Dhunon Ki Yatra by Pankaj Raag, HFGK, muVyz and my notes ).


Song – Raaten Na Rahin Wo Na Rahe Din Wo Hamaare (Daasi) (1944) Singer – Zeenat Begum, Lyricist – DN Madhok, MD – Pt Amarnath Batish

Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)

raaten na rahin wo
na rahe din wo hamaare
raaten na rahin wo
na rahe din wo hamaare
tum hi bata do ke jiyen kis ke sahaare

aa jaao tadpata hai jiyaa dard ke maare
aa jaao tadpata hai jiyaa dard ke maare
dum ghut ke marey jaate hain armaan bechaare
ab tum hi bata do ke jiyen kis ke sahaare
raaten na rahin wo

koi to unhen jaa ke ye paighaam mera de
koi to unhen jaa ke ye paighaam mera de
ik rota hua dil tumhen din raat pukaare
ab tum hi bata do ke jiyen kis ke sahaare

raaten na rahin wo
na rahe din wo hamaare
tum hi bata do ke jiyen kis ke sahaare
raaten na rahin wo

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

रातें ना रहीं वो
ना रहे दिन वो हमारे
रातें ना रहीं वो
ना रहे दिन वो हमारे
तुम ही बता दो के जीएं किस के सहारे

आ जाओ तड़पता है जिया दर्द के मारे
आ जाओ तड़पता है जिया दर्द के मारे
दम घुट के मरे जाते हैं अरमान बेचारे
अब तुम ही बता दो के जीएं किस के सहारे

कोई तो उन्हें जा के ये पैगाम मेरा दे
कोई तो उन्हें जा के ये पैगाम मेरा दे
इक रोता हु दिल तुम्हें दिन रात पुकारे

रातें ना रहीं वो
ना रहे दिन वो हमारे
तुम ही बता दो के जीएं किस के सहारे
रातें ना रहीं वो


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

Blog Day : 4973 Post No. : 16848 Movie Count : 4583

Today’s song is from the film Kismatwala-1944.

There was another film with the same Title in 1986. Additionally, there came a film ‘Kismatwali’ in 1947. Thank God, filmmakers did not think of Kismat Wale ka Beta or Beti or Son of Kismat Wali or some other relatives ! The title Kismat was used for films 6 times-in 1943, 56, 68, 80, 95 and 2004. Titles having the word kismat were there in 12 movies from 1935 to 2012. Considering all Kismat titles, every 4 years there was a film having the word Kismat in its title !

Kismatwala – 1944 was a stunt film directed by stunt film specialist Nanubhai Vakil. He was an unusual person to join the film industry, because he hailed from an educated and respected family and he himself was highly educated- B.A., LL.B. He married one of his Heroines Sarojini and their daughter AZRA too became a Hindi film Heroine.

The film had 9 songs written by Shams Lucknowi and 2 Music Directors- Shanti Kumar Desai and Ratanlal. The cast included Navin Yagnik, Urmila, Prakash, Vatsala Kumthekar, Laxmi Kumthekar, Ansari, Narmada Shankar, Himalaywala and many others.

The Indian Film Industry and Indian Political system have one thing common in them. They both try to promote their kith and kin into their own profession, where they have succeeded. One can understand if children are handed over the reins of family business, which is run by many Generations. But Political Leadership or Acting or Singing is surely not a ‘business’. Their position is earned by doing hard work or by individual Good luck. Most of the people forget this and they try to pass on their place to their kith and kin as if it is a mantle or the Olympic Torch. They try to install their children in the seat which they have earned through hard work. The result, most times, is disastrous, because without hard work or extraordinary luck,it is difficult to succeed in these two professions.

We have seen many such cases in Politics as well as film line. Successful Actors or Actresses tried to promote their sons/daughters, but most of them were flops. Barring a few cases of successes like Sanjay Dutt and few others, there are hardly any new generation successes. Kishore Sahu ( Naina), Leela Chitnis (Ajit), Balraj Sahni ( Parikshit Sahni), Raaj Kumar ( Puru ), Vasant Joglekar ( Meera), Hemen Gupta (Archana), Kidar Sharma (Ashok) and many more examples establish the fact that only a successful parent or a sibling is not enough to guarantee success in film line for their descendents.

Same is the case with Music too. Just because the parent or a sibling was a known Musician or a Singer was not a guarantee to succeed. Cases of Amit kumar (Kishore Kumar), Basant Prakash(Khemchand Prakash), Chandru Atma (C.H.Atma), Khalid Mehmood (Talat Mehmood), Varsha Bhosle( Asha Bhosle) are some known examples of Kin failures. There are so many cases in both groups. This point is relevant here because there are 2 such cases in this film’s credits.

MD Ratanlal was the younger brother of the famous Music Director Khemchand Prakash. Ratanlal gave music to only 8 songs in just 2 films as a Music Director- Baraat-42 and Kismatwala-44. In film Baraat-42 he was co-MD with his brother Khemchand Prakash, who had taken the name as Khemraj for this film.

Another sibling was Laxmi Kumthekar, who was the younger sister of actress-singer Vatsala Kumthekar. C. Ramchandra writes an anecdote about this Laxmi and Vatsala, in his autobiography. Here is that excerpt from the English version book “The life and times of C.Ramchandra” by D.S.Phansalkar….

” The well known Marathi singer of the 40’s, Vatsala Kumthekar used to visit the studio now and then, at times with her younger sister. She was a teenager of about 18 years, very beautiful and fresh faced. She visited my music department and listened to the songs. I was not aware that she was fond of me. I came to know about it when she fell ill.

One day Vatsala came rushing to me , puffing and scared. She said, ‘Anna, I want to have a word with you.’

‘Sure, no need to ask me.’

‘My sister is quite unwell.’

‘Yes,I know, how is she now ?’

‘She has a high fever, becomes unconscious, talks endlessly and she keeps calling you.’

I guessed what she was trying to aim at. I told her in strong words, ‘Look your sister is mistaken about something.’

‘What do you mean ?’

‘I am newly married and I love my wife.’

‘Is that so ?’ She fumed and left the room stomping her feet !

In the cast you can see an unusal name Himalaywala. Let us know more about him.

From the cast listing, an interesting name is that of A Himalaywala. His name was Mohd Afzaluddin. He was born on 15th March 1916, at Dehradun. After school education he joined his brother, Mohd Misaluddin’s firm – The Himalaya Drug Company, a leading Pharma company of repute (even today). He worked there for 10 years and after a dispute with his brother, left the company. He came to Bombay to join films.

First he had thought of starting a company, but looking at the situation, he decided to do acting only. His first film was ‘Kiski Biwi’ (1942), directed by MA Mirza. His name was changed from Afzal to A Himalaywala (since he came from the Himalayan town of Dehradun, like Kashmiri from Kashmir), by Shaukat Hussain, husband of Noorjehan. However in many films he was credited as Afzal only. He worked in few films like, ‘Vishwaas’ (1943), ‘Ankh Ki Sharm’ (1943), ‘Dost’ (1944), ‘Kismatwaala’ (1944), ‘Zeenat’ (1945), ‘Humayun’ (1945), ‘Nal Damayanti’ (1945), ‘Jagbeeti’ (1946), ‘Samrat Ashok’ (1947) and ‘Elaan’ (1947).

He was an outspoken and straightforward person, fond of hunting, football and travelling by car. He toured all of India twice in his car. In 1943, he married actress singer Amirbai Karnataki. After marriage he banned her from acting in films. Within 2-3 years, on this and other issues, they could not get along. He used to hit her and take all her money. At last, it was rumoured that he gave her talaaq after taking 2 lakh rupees and her car. Even after this he was stalking her. She stayed with her elder sister Ahilya Bai. Then one day, she was kidnapped by Himalaywala, from the recording room. She was kept locked in a room and beaten daily. She somehow managed to inform her sister.

Ahilyabai then got in touch with her acquaintance Mr Rasiklal Vyas and his brother Chhailabhai Vyas – one of the best criminal lawyers of Bombay. With their political and social connections, they forced the police to register an FIR, which was refused due to Himalaywala’s bribe. Meanwhile Himalaywala was alerted by his cronies. Within a few hours Amirbai was escorted back to her sister’s place, by Himalaywala. All this episode is described in full detail in the book ‘Aap Ki Parchhaiyaan’, by Rajnikumar Pandya ji. Amirbai later married Gujarati Journalist Badri Kaanchwala.

After partition, Himalaywala migrated to Pakistan. There the lady luck smiled on him and he did very well. Urdu film Shahida (1949) was his first film in Pakistan, which celebrated silver jubilees in Delhi and Lucknow.

Himalaywala was in leading role in Pakistan’s first silver jubilee Urdu film 2 Aansoo in 1950. He was the main villain actor in most of the 1950s movies. He played the Akbar The Great role in the musical film Anar Kali in 1958. His other famous moves were Kundan (1950) Chan Way(1951), Ghulam (1953), Gumnam, Ruhi (1954), Shoni(1955),Qatil (1955), Sarfarosh (1956)Saat Lakh (1957), Gumrah, Naghma-e-Dil (1959), Farishta (1961), Watan(1960) and Azra (1962).

He was seen in 33 movies, only two of them were in Punjabi language. His last film was Yahudi Ki Larki in 1963.He became successful as an actor and was also famous. His role of Akbar in the film ‘Anarkali’ (1957) was particularly appreciated very much. Mohd Afzuluddin Himalaywala married Begum Perveen, in Pakistan. He died on 1st January 1984 in Lahore. (Thanks to Film directory-46, http://www.pak.mag.com, Shishir krishna Sharma ji, book Aap ki parchhaiyan by Rajnikumar Pandya ji and my notes, for information used herein.)

Today’s song is sung by Kalyani Bai. With this song, the film Kismatwala-1944 makes its Debut on this Blog. I thank Mr. Sadanand ji Kamath for this song.


Song- Dhoondhta hai dil bahaana jaan khone ke liye (Kismatwaala)(1944) Singer- Kalyani Bai, Lyricist- Shams Lucknowi, MD- Shanti Kumar Desai

Lyrics

Dhoondhta hai
Dhoondhta hai
dil bahaana
jaan khone ke liye ae
maut ki aagosh mein
raahat se sone ke liye
maut ki aagosh mein
raahat se sone ke liye

dekhiye kismat ki khoobi
dost bhi dushman huye ae ae ae ae ae ae
dekhiye kismat ki khoobi
dost bhi dushman huye ae ae ae ae ae ae ae
phool kaante
phool kaaante ban gaye ae ae
nashtar chubhone ke liye
phool kaante

rote rote hijr mein
aen aen
rote rote hijr mein
aen aen aen aen aen aen aen aen
aen aen
rote rote
rote rote hijr mein
dariya bahaaye is qadar
aankh mein aansoo nahin
baaqi hai rone ke liye
aankh mein aansoo nahin
baaqi hai rone ke liye

dhoondhta hai
dil bahaana
jaan khone ke liye ae


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

Blog Day :

4943 Post No. : 16801

Today’s song is from the film Maharathi Karna-1944.

Karna is an interesting and a great character from Mahabharat. What most people know about Karna is that he was a ” Daan shoor ” or a great Donor. It is said that no one, who went to him to ask for anything, returned without getting it. There are many stories eulogizing his quality. But karna was much more than just this. He was a great Warrior. Though he was the king of Anga Desh (today’s Bihar/Bengal), he knew that he was indebted to the Kauravas for this honour.

Karna was aware that he was helping those who were in the wrong, but he was helpless in this case. He always felt that a lot of injustice was done to him by Destiny. He knew that he was the illegitimate child born to an unmarried Kunti. This made him the Eldest ” Pandava”, but he was denied his rights due to his birth – a matter which he had no control on! Embittered, he joined the opposition – the Kauravas, who gave him all the honours- only because he was a great Warrior and on their side.

Because of this, Karna had to keep quiet when a helpless Draupadi was being disrobed by his friend Duryodhan, before all the people. Not for anything else, but for this crime, he was killed when he became helpless due to breakage of his Chariot in the midst of the war, in spite of his cry that this was against the war rules- Adharm ! Lord Shrikrishna ensured that he got his punishment.

Those who have read Mahabharat, can you tell whyLord Shri Krishna had entered the Great War but did not fight himself ? Very few persons will know that Shri Krishna entered the great war not to ensure the victory of Pandavas. He had his own agenda. He wanted to ensure that some warriors got their punishment for their sins.

Duryodhana was killed because he disrobed a helpless woman, Jayadrath was killed because he was responsible for the death of Abhiumanyu in the Chakravyuh, Bhishma was kept on arrow-bed to see his kin getting killed before his eyes, for keeping quiet when Draupadi was disrobed, Dhritrashtra had to bear all his 100 sons killed because he never stopped them from doing sins. Not only Kauravas, but even Arjun, Yudhishthir, Balram etc got punished in other ways during the great war.

Film ” Maharathi Karna ” was also made in 1928 in the Silent era. The role of Karna was done by Balasaheb Yadav in that film. The film was directed by Damle and Fattelal, for Basburao Painter’s Maharashtra Film company. Bhalji Pendharkar was the assistant Director. This story of Karna fascinated him so much that at the first opportunity he remade this film, under his own Banner.

Besides the story, there was one more reason to make this film. When the silent film was being made in 1928, Bhalji first met Leela Chandragiri, his consort of many years. Ofcourse she was in her teens then, Later she got married and had children too before they came together again at a later time. In this film in 1944, Leela had an important role. One more actor – Indurao T Nimbalkar had acted in the Silent film of 1928. He was called again to do the same role in the 1944 film too.

Bhalji Perndharkar had initial training in Baburao Painter’s Maharashtra Film Company and later in Shantaram’s Prabhat Film company. So his basics were well founded. Shri BHALJI PENDHARKAR ( 03 May 1897 – 26 November 1994 ), was Film Director, Writer, Producer & Actor, of Marathi and Hindi films. Bhal ji Pendharkar (Bhalchandra Gopal Pendharkar) was the son of Dr.Gopal Pendharkar, the Royal Physician of Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur state and his partner Radhabai. Dr. Gopal was already married to another lady. This couple gave birth to Bhalji and Baburao Pendharkar. Their mother Radhabai left Dr. Gopal Pendharkar and married Damodar Karnataki. They had two sons- Master Vinayak (father of Baby Nanda), famous actor, director, producer and a studio owner and his brother Vasudev- who became a Cameraman. Kamalabai, the younger sister of Radhabai married Rajaram Vankudre and they had 2 sons- V.Shantaram, famous actor, director,producer and a studio owner and his brother V. Awadhoot- equally famous Cinematographer.

Prabhat Film company shifted to Poona, but actress Leela Chandragiri chose to stay back in Kolhapur and decided to work with Bhalji Pendharkar. They became attracted to each other and got married. Leela had a son (Jaysingh) and a daughter(Madhavi- who married Marathi author Ranjit Desai. She also wrote one book.) already, but 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.

During the riots in 1948, arising after Gandhi’s death, their Jayprabha studio was burnt, because Bhalji was a Brahmin. However, within few years he built it again. After Bhalji’s death the studio was purchased by Lata Mangeshkar.

Bhalji started his career in the era of silent films. He was associated with Prabhat Film Company’s earliest talkies, and also worked with other studios in hometown of Kolhapur. Later he acquired his own studio in the form of Jayprabha Studio and became a film producer and director. He also wrote lyrics for some film songs in Marathi. His more famous films are: Netaji Palkar, Thoratanchi Kamala, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Mohityanchi Manjula, Maratha Tituka Melvava, Sadhi Manse, Tambdi Maati. Hindi: Maharathi Karna, Valmiki, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Ganimi Kawa. He directed 9 Hindi films from 1932 to 1952.

A few years before his death, Bhalji was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award by the Indian Government in 1991.

Bhalji had two wives. One of whom, Leela Chandragiri, acted and sang in Hindi and Marathi films in 1930s and 40s, under the name Miss Leela. Bhalji’s son Prabhakar Pendharkar (1933 – 2010) was associated with making of Do Aankhen Barah Haath in 1950s, wrote the book रारंगढांग, and was author-director of noteworthy documentaries. Bhalji’s daughter Madhavi (? – 2013) author of ‘Naach Ga Ghuma’, was wife of renowned Marathi author Ranjeet Desai.

The cast of film Maharathi Karna-1944 was Prithviraj, Durga Khote, Leela, Nimbalkar, Shahu Modak, K N Singh, Swarnalata, Vasantrao pehelwan etc etc. Let us know more about this Nimbalkar. I.T.Nimbalkar aka Indurao T. Nimbalkar ( he was always credited as only ‘ Nimbalkar ‘ in all films) was born on 6-12-1893, in Kolhapur state. This was the time Kolhapur was slowly developing as Kalapur (hub of arts) and the seeds of film making were being planted there. Baburao Painter, one of the original film makers had started his ” Maharashtra Film Company” on 1-12 1917.

Baburao, Damle, Fattelal etc were taught painting By Anandrao painter, who was an extraordinary painter of those times. All these people, along with V Shantaram, Keshavrao Dhaiber and few more also joined Baburao painter’s Maharashtra Film company. True that, film making had started even earlier in Maharashtra, but Baburao painter is credited with making films a form of art and spreading it on a larger canvas of India.

Indurao Nimbalkar grew up in this atmosphere in Kolhapur. He passed his Matriculation exam and also did a diploma in Printing. Nimbalkar was six feet tall and had a good physique. He was expert in riding, swimming and wrestling. He did 1000 sit-ups every day. Shahu Maharaj, the king of Kolhapur encouraged all arts as well as development of lower castes. Arya Samaj had a ‘ Gurukul’ in Kolhapur. Impressed with Nimbalkar’s education and body, Shahu ji appointed him as Editor of the weekly ‘ Arya’ and secretary of Gurukul.

One day Baburao Painter, along with assistant V Shantaram visited his press and offered Nimbalkar a role in his proposed film Sairandhri. Shahu Maharaj also permitted and encouraged him ,so Nimbalkar joined the film line. He was already famous due to his fiery editorials and now people came to see his shootings too. However, due to money shortage, the film did not complete. ( It was later made in 1919, but with different cast. V Shantaram made coloured Sairandhri in 1933 with Nimbalkar again).

Nimbalkar acted in many silent films like Baji Deshpande, Khazanchi (directed by Moti gidwani- England returned), Lanka, Kismet (directed by Baburao Patel) etc etc. After the closure of Maharashtra F. Co., Nimbalkar was invited by V Shantaram to do Vishvamitra’s role in its first Talkie film ” Ayodhya ka Raja” -1932, in Hindi and Marathi. After this, he did Jalti Nishani-32, Sairandhri-33, Maya Machhindra-32, Sinhagadh-23 etc.

After this, Nimbalkar went to Calcutta on invitation and worked in films made by Radha Films, Laxmi Studios, Devdatta films and New Theatres. From 1934 to 1938, he acted in 12 Hindi films. He was provided a Bungalow, car with driver, servants etc. His son studied in local school there. Returning to Bombay he worked as an assistant director to Keshavrao Dhaiber for film ‘Nandkumar’-38, made by his Jayashree Films. Next 2 years he shuttled between Calcutta and Bombay. He did King Dashrath’s role in Prakash films’ Bharat Milap-42 and Ramrajya-43 in this period.

He was invited by V Shantaram for acting in his first film under banner of Rajkamal- Shakuntala-43. Nimbalkar did the role of Kanva Muni in it. He later also acted in Jeevan yatra-46, Subah ka tara-54, Parchhain-52, Teen batti char rasta-53, Toofan aur Diya-56, Z Z Payal baje-55. Earlier he did Aapki sewa mein-47, Prarthana-44,Nal Damayanti-45, Seedha Rasta-41, Gokul-46, Apna Ghar-42, Maharathi karna-44, Seeta Swayamvar-48. He worked in Pyasa-57, Mera Naam Joker-70, Amar Prem-60 etc etc. From 1928 to 1970 he acted in over 250 films.

His wife Sushila was also educated and looked after his home and children. She never visited any sets in her life time. Nimbalkar died on 17-1-1973 at Kolhapur. (Thanks to an article in book Chandraat-चांदरात by Babu Moshoi, in addition to my notes, HFGK, muVyz, CRTWF, Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema and Film India magazines).

There were only 6 songs in the film, composed by K.Datta aka Datta Korgaonkar. Today’s song is the 2nd song to feature here.


Song- Jaago Krishna muraari giridhaari(Maharathi Karna)(1944) Singers- Rajkumari ,unknown male voice, Lyricist- Pt. Shiv Kumar, MD- Datta Korgaonkar

Lyrics

Jaago o o o o
o o o o
o o o o
Jaago o o o o
o o o o
o o o o

jaago Krishn muraari
giridhaari
saanwariyaa
girdhaari
ee ee ee ee
ee ee ee ee
jaago krishn muraari
giridhaari
saanwariya
giridhaari
ee ee ee
ee ee ee
nar naari pashu panchhi jaage
nar naari pashu panchhi jaage
laage ?? dwaar
bachuwa bachhia tumhen pukaare
jaago hey nandlal
bachuwa bachhia tumhen pukaare
jaago hey nandlal
ab jaago
ab jaago kunjbihaari
giridhaari
saanwariya
giridhaari
ee ee ee
ee ee ee

ujhak jharokhe sooraj aaye
ujhak jharokhe sooraj aaye
kirnon ke naina lalchaaye
ae ae ae
ae ae ae
ae ae ae
bin darshan phulwa murjhaaye
ae
ae ae ae
bin darshan phulwa murjhaaye
darshan do banwaari
ab jaago
ab jaago kunjbihaari
girdhaari
saanwariyaa
girdhaari
ee ee ee
ee ee ee

main go ras duh kar laayi hoon
main go ras duh kar laayi hoon
prem bhaav bhar kar laayi hoon
prem bhaav bhar kar laayi hoon
naath jagaane ko aayi hoon
oon oon oon oon
naath jagaane ko aayi hoon
bhor huyi sukhkaari
ab jaago
ab jaago krishn muraari
giridhaari
saanwariyaa
giridhaari
ee ee ee
ee ee ee


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

Blog Day :

4801 Post No. : 16567

‘Parbat Pe Apna Dera’ (1944) was V Shantaram’s second film under his banner, Rajkamal Kala Mandir following a tremendous box office success of his first film ‘Shakuntala’ (1943). The film was released on August 8, 1944. The starcast included Vanmala and Ulhas in the lead roles supported by Shantarin, Madan Mohan, Kanta Kumari, P L Samant, Vijaya, Baby Nalini etc.

The lead actor of the film, Ulhas (real name: M N Kaul) had switched over to character actor’s roles when I started watching films in the theatre. So, it was a new experience to me when I first saw his performance as a lead actor in ‘Basant’ (1942) about 6-7 years back after which I saw his performance in the lead role in ‘Parbat Pe Apna Dera’ (1944). I have noted that Ulhas had worked in some films under V Shantaram – ‘Wahaan’ (1937), ‘Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani’ (1946), ‘Dahej’ (1950), ‘Surang’ (1953), ‘Toofaan Aur Diya’ (1956), ‘Do Aankhen Baarah Haath’ (1957), ‘Navrang’ (1959) and ‘Sehra’ (1963).

Ulhas’s connection with V Shantaram goes back to 1937 when he left his home town, Ajmer and reached Pune to try his luck as an actor. He met his fellow Kashmiri, Chandramohan who has become a well-known actor in Prabhat Film Company. He helped Ulhas in getting a side role in ‘Wahaan’ (1937) in which Chandramohan was a lead actor and V Shantaram was the director. After this, there was no looking back for Ulhas. He acted in over 150 films during his active filmy career of over 3 decades.

V Shantaram who had been making films with progressive themes like in ‘Duniya Na Maane’ (1937). ‘Aadmi’ (1939), ‘Padosi’ (1941) etc, chose a different theme for the film which he had not handled in his previous films. The theme was an unusual romance between an ascetic with a hilltop as his abode sans the worldly pleasure and a blind heiress staying in her palatial home. I have watched the film a couple of months back. The story of the film is as under:

Sadhu Ram Das (Ulhas) has renounced the world and made a hill top his abode Just below his hilltop abode is a Shiva temple. Meera Devi (Vanmala) an heiress who has lost her eyesight in the childhood, often visit Shiva temple along with her father (P L Samant) and her maid (Shantarin) to seek the blessing for curing her eyesight as modern medical science has not been able to restore her eyesight.

During one of her visits to Shiva temple, Meera Devi hears a singing voice from a distance which happens to be that of Sadhu Ram Das. Meera Devi is eager to visit the place to see the singer. Sadhu Ram Das does not like people visiting him as they distract his concentration during the prayer. First, he discourages her to come near him. But finding Meera Devi blind, he offers to cure her blindness within six days through his herbal eye drops.

On the sixth day, Meera Devi’s eyesight is restored. Now she wants to become a devotee of Sadhu Ram Das to serve him in his daily routine. But Sadhu turns her away as he does not want to get affected in his prayer and the concentration. After she leaves, Sadhu Ram Das is restless and feels her absence. Hence, when Meera Devi starts visiting his abode to help him in his daily routine, he does not object her presence. Slowly, he tastes the luxury of someone doing the work for him.

Meera Devi’s daily visit to the abode of Sadhu Ram Das creates a flutter among other sadhus staying nearby. She suggests Sadhu Ram Das to shift to her palatial residence which after some hesitation, he agrees. He soon gets used to the luxuries of life. He shades his beard and sadhu’s outfits. He starts flirting with Meera Devi and soon they get married.

After marriage, Sadhu Ram Das becomes Ram Babu who suddenly develops taste for enjoying the company of other ladies. During a boat ride with Meera Devi, he gets attracted towards a courtesan who is singing in her own boat. He clandestinely visits her boats every day and enjoy her company with wine. During one of his such visits, he is caught red-handed by Meera Devi’s father but decides not to tell his daughter after Ram Babu promises not to repeat the mistake.

Ram Babu’s addiction for the company of females results in breaking his promises to his father-in-law and flirts with a florist in the vicinity of his home itself. He is once again caught red-handed by Meera Devi who is hurt by his behaviour. She debars him from entering her home.

Now that his wife knows about his weakness for women, he now openly flirts with women during the Navratri festival. On the Dusshera day, he flirts with one of Meera Devi’s friends (Kanta Kumari) and attempts to molest her. To save herself, she throws a burning cracker towards Ram Babu which hits him in his eyes resulting in blindness.

When Meera Devi comes to know about the incidence, she goes with her father in search of him. Eventually, they find him in his hilltop abode. Meera Devi suddenly remembers his magic herbal eye drop bottle which she retrieves from his cave. Alas, on the way, it falls and bottle is broken. Finally, it is the continuous ringing of the temple bell by both Meera Devi and Ram Babu which restores his eyesight.

Most of V Shantaram’s films have some message to the society and ‘Parbat Pe Apna Dera’ (1944) is no exception. In the film, he sets out the message that it does not take much time for ascetic to turn hedonist. Afterall, an ascetic is also a human and is subject to the temptation of the worldly pleasures which are addictive in nature. The title of the film did make me hesitant to watch the film. But once I began to watch, the film unfolded like a smooth sailing.

There is nothing much in the story by Diwan Sharar. In fact, the story’s end is a tame affair. But his dialogues are crispy. It is V Shantaram’s direction which makes the story visually interesting. There are a few brilliant streaks of symbolisms in his direction. For instance, the ascetic’s abode on a hilltop conveys that his status is on a high pedestal. When he decides to shift to Meera’s palatial home on the plains and is walking with her to come down, a big bolder with accompanying rocks and stones roll down symbolising that the ascetic is walking down to a lower status to become a householder.

On the performances of the actors in the film, only 4 actors have a large screen presence – Ulhas, Vanmala, Shantarin and Madan Mohan (not to be confused with music director, Madan Mohan). All the four have given a good performance.

Another plus point of this film is the musical compositions of Vasant Desai. Most of the songs have pleasing tunes and good orchestrations which have been nicely picturised. All these three elements of the songs put Vasant Desai’s music being ahead of its time.

So far, six songs (out of 9) have been covered in the Blog. I am presenting the 7th song from the film, ‘sapanon mein aane waale’ rendered by Khan Mastana. The song is written by Diwan Sharar which is set to music by Vasant Desai.

The song is picturised on Ulhas who, after renouncing from asceticism and marrying Vanmala, has become a playboy. He sings this song during a festival gathering to attract female participants.

Video Clip:

Audio Clip:

Song-Sapnon mein aanewaale hamko jaga rahe hain (Parbat Pe Apna Dera)(1944) Singer-Khan Mastana, Lyrics-Dewan Sharar, MD-Vasant Desai

Lyrics

aaa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aaa

sapanon mein aanewaale
sapanon mein aanewaale
hamko jagaa rahen hain
hamko jagaa rahen hain
ham jinko dhoondhte thhe
ham jinko dhoondhte thhe
wo khud bula rahen hain
wo khud bula rahen hain

mehmaanon ki hai raunaq
mehmaanon ki hai raunaq
taanta sa lag raha hai
taanta sa lag raha hai
do chaar jaa rahen hain
do chaar aa rahen hain
do chaar jaa rahen hain

hairaan hain nighaaein
hairaan hain nighaaein
kya chaahen kya na chaahen
kya chaahen kya na chaahen
wo kuchch dikha rahe hain
aur kuchch chhupa rahe hain
aur kuchch chhupa rahen hain

doley ae
doley hain mann ki naiyya
doley ae
doley hain mann ki naiyya
aur bekhabar khaiwaiyya
aur bekhabar khaiwaiyya
bhooli huyi dagar mein aen
bhooli huyi dagar mein
ham dagmaga rahe hain
ham dagmaga rahe hain
sapanon mein aanewaale
hamko jagaa rahe hain
ham jinko dhoondhte the
wo khud bula rahe hain
sapanon mein aanewaale ae


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

Blog Day :

4793 Post No. : 16553 Movie Count :

4507

Leela Desai was one of the top actresses during 1937-47 both in Kolkata and Mumbai. There was a curiosity in me as to why she suddenly disappeared from the film industry after 1947 when her career was at the peak. Thereafter, she lived in almost obscurity. What is surprising about Leela Desai is that information about her date/year of birth, her marital status, what she did after she left the film industry and when she passed away are unknown or sketchy.

Leela Desai was the 4th of the 5 children born to Dr Umedram Desai from Gujarat and Satybala Devi, daughter of a Bengali landlord settled in Bihar. It was a second marriage for both of them as Satyabala Devi lost her husband during the childhood while Dr Umedram Desai got married to his first wife in his childhood through whom he had two sons. Later, Dr Umedram Desai married Gunobati Mitter, a Bengali Christian, for the third time with whom he had 6 children. Before her marriage, Gunobati Mitter worked as a tutor for the children of Dr Umedram Desai and Satyabala Devi in Rampur. So apart from her own 4 siblings, Leela Desai had 8 step brothers/sisters.

Leela Desai was born in Newark when her parents were in the USA for a 3-year stint. She was brought up in Rampur as her father, Dr Umedram Desai became the State Surgeon for the State of Rampur and the personal Physician to the Nawab of Rampur. At the age of six, Leela Desai was sent to Kolkata for her primary schooling and to Kurseong near Darjeeling from where she completed her Matric and Junior College. Thereafter, Leela Desai returned to Lucknow by which time her father had passed away in Mumbai. In Lucknow, she enrolled to learn Kathak from Shambu Maharaj. During her training, she gave a lot of charity dance performances and made a good name as a dancer.

Hemchandra Chunder, one of the film directors in New Theatres who was on a visit to Lucknow, attended one of Leela Desai’s dance performances. He was impressed by her dance performance with her expressive eyes. He offered her a role of a younger sister of Kamlesh Kumari in New Theatre’s ‘President’ (1937) in which she had also a dance performance. At first, she did not show much interest to work in the film. However, after few days when she watched New Theatres’ Krorepati’ (1936), she felt that she could act in the film. She wrote to Hemchandra Chunder about her willingness to work in the film. The fact that Hemchandra along with Nitin Bose rushed to Lucknow with a contract showed their eagerness to take Leela Desai for the film without the screen test.

‘President’ (1937) became a hit on the box office and Leela Desai’s performance in the film was appreciated so much that overnight she became the star. Under New Theatres’ banner, apart from ‘President’ (1937), she worked in ‘Vidyapati’ (1937), ‘Dushman’ (1938), Kapal Kundala’ (1939) and ‘Nartaki’ (1940). Except ‘Kaapal Kundala’, she also acted in Bangla versions of the films and had also dance performances in these films.

After ‘Nartaki’ (1940), Leela Desai left New Theatres and took a year-long all-India tour with her dance troupe which became very successful both in terms of recognition as a dancer as well as in monetary terms. After accepting the attractive offer from Chimanlal Trivedi of Laxmi Productions, she landed in Mumbai to act in their maiden film ‘Tamanna’ (1942). In Mumbai, though Leela Desai worked as a free-lance actor, she was associated with Laxmi Productions for ‘Inkaar’ (1943), ‘Sharaafat’ (1943), ‘Miss Devi’ (1944), ‘Kamala’ (1946), and ‘Maharani Milandevi’ (1946). She also worked with her New Theatres’ colleagues and directors in Mumbai such as Nitin Bose in ‘Paraaya Dhan’ (1943) and ‘Mujrim’ (1944), with Debaki Bose in ‘Meghdoot’ (1945) and with Kidar Sharma in ‘Kaliyaan’ (1944). In addition, she worked with veterans directors like Vishram Bedekar in ‘Nagad Narayan’ (1943), R S Chaudhary in ‘Magadraj’(1946) and with Ramchandra Thakur in ‘Geet Govind’ (1947).

During her short filmy career between 1937-47, Leela Desai worked in 22 films. After 1947, Leela Desai seems to have taken a ‘voluntary retirement’ from the film industry. Her only connection to filmy industry after 1947 was that her name appeared on the credit titles of Bimal Roy’s film, ‘Kabuliwala’ (1961) as Associate Producer. It is said that Leela Desai bought the rights of ‘Kabuliwaala’ (1961, Bangla) from Tapan Sinha with an intention to make the film in Hindi. However, later she sold the rights to Bimal Roy.

Leela Desai’s elder sister, Shanti Desai was married to Bratindranath Tagore, a nephew of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Her younger sister, Monica Desai was also an actress in Bangla and Hindi films who got married to film director, Phani Majumdar in 1947.

As I said earlier, not much information about Leela Desai was available after she left the films. One of the commentators has mentioned on the facebook page that Leela Desai remained unmarried for rearing the children of her elder sister, Shanti who passed away at a young age. If it is true, it is a sacrificial act by her to leave the film industry and remain unmarried to take care of her elder sister’s children.

Another reference I got about Leela Desai after her leaving films was from an obituary of Sumita Sanyal written in 2017 by Shoma A Chatterji, a film scholar and a free-lance journalist. In this article, she has mentioned that Leela Desai was staying in Mumbai at her apartment in Worli Sea Face where she used to conduct acting classes for the prospective actors coming from Kolkata. One of such actors to whom she gave acting training was Sumita Sanyal. It is possible that Leela Desai may have recommended Sumita Sanyal to Hrishikesh Mukherjee for the film ‘Ashirwaad’ (1968).

As per the comment on Upperstall, written by Shoma A Chatterji in the context of yester year stars who passed away in oblivion, it was stated that Leela Desai passed away in Mumbai. But her date/year of death was not mentioned. She further stated that none of the newspapers and film magazines carried the news of her death.

Leela Desai who started her filmy career with her maiden film “president’ (1937) under the direction of Nitin Bose, got the opportunity to work under his direction in ‘Paraaya Dhan’ (1943) and ‘Mujrim’ (1944), later film being also produced by Nitin Bose under the banner of Vishnu Cinetone. The star cast included Motilal, Leela Desai, Jagdish Sethi, Yakub, Veena Kumari, Sunalini Devi, Cuckoo etc.

From a very short synopsis available on-line, the film was a ‘musical crime-thrilling family drama’. Motilal is a kind hearted person who meets Leela Desai and fall in love with her. Both of them want to marry each other but a villain, Yakub comes in the way as Leela Desai would inherit a lot of wealth if she gets married. So, Motilal is framed under a false murder case by Yakub. How the real culprit is traced and Motilal and Leela Desai get united, becomes the part of the thrilling end.

The film had 6 songs written by Kailash Matwala (4) and Rammurti Chaturvedi (2). The songs were set to music by Padmabhushan Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh, one of the greatest Tabla and Harmonium players.

I am presenting the first song ‘mori dukaniya aana baabu’ from ‘Mujrim’ (1944) to appear on the Blog. The song is rendered by Rajkumari Dubey on the words of Rammurti Chaturvedi. It is very melodious song with unusual orchestration. There is also some influence of Rabindra Sangeet in the musical composition of the song.

With this song, ‘Mujrim’ makes a debut on the Blog.

Note: Leela Desai’s early life sketch is based on an article which appeared in July 1942 issue of ‘Filmindia’ magazine after the release of ‘Tamanna’ (1942), her maiden film in Mumbai. Some personal information about Desai family is supplemented from a Blog of Adeel Desai.

Audio Clip:

Song-Mori dukaniya aana baabu (Mujrim)(1944) Singer-Rajkumari, Lyrics-Rammurty Chaturvedi, MD-Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh

Lyrics

mori dukaniya aana baabu
mori dukaniya aana
mori dukaniya aana baabu
mori dukaniya aana aa aa
bhaant bhaant ke phool rangeele
des lekar jaana
haan aan aan
bhaant bhaant ke phool rangeele
des lekar jaana baabu
mori dukaniya aana aa aa

jeth maheena aa aa
raat ki raani ee ee
jeth maheena raat ki raani
phoolen aadhi ratiyaan aan aan
jeth maheena raat ki raani
phoolen aadhi ratiyaan aan aan
bahey paseena jee ghabraaye
saajan karen na batiyaan
karen na batiyaan
karen na batiyaan
aan aan aan aan aan aan
phool ka haar pahan ke sajni
saajan ko lalchaana aa aa
mori dukaniya aana baabu
mori dukaniya aana aa aa

aaya maas ashaadh
chameli phooli kyaari kyaari
aaya maas ashaadh
chameli phooli kyaari kyaari
kali kaliyon mein se khushboo nikli pyaari pyaari
chilla chilla kar baabu mere roothhi naar manaana
chilla chilla kar baabu mere roothhi naar manaana
baabu roothhi naar manaana
mori dukaniya aana baabu
mori dukaniya aana aa aa
bhaant bhaant ke phool rangeele
des lekar jaana
baabu
mori dukaniya aana aa aa


What is this blog all about

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

This is a labour of love, where “new” songs are added every day, and that has been the case for over FOURTEEN years. This blog has over 17600 song posts by now.

This blog is active and online for over 5000 days since its beginning on 19 july 2008.

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