Archive for the ‘Songs of 1944’ Category
Badli hawaa luti bahaar
Posted on: June 24, 2020
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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4359 | Post No. : | 15682 |
Today’s song is from the film Ismat-1944 – a Muslim Social film made by Fazli brothers. This film was directed by the younger brother Sibtain Fazli, making his Debut as a Director. This was the second film of Fazli brothers to be made in Bombay, after the earlier film Fashion-43 also made in Bombay. Prior to that, they began their film making from Calcutta. This was to avoid the possible hindrance from the Muslim fundamentalists in Bombay, who were against making films depicting Muslim social life. Their first such film was Qaidi-40, made at Calcutta. It was followed by Masoom-41 and Chauranghee-42-all at Calcutta. Then they shifted to Bombay.
Films with the Muslim background of Muslim Culture were quite common in India,right from the First ever Hindi Talkie, “Aalam Ara”-31. Not just Social but different Genres like Arabian Night stories,Historical Romance, Folk Tales, Adventure Tales, Religious stories, Common King and Queen stories, Costume dramas etc had Muslim backgrounds. Indian public audiences watched these films with interest and without any bias.
If you see the film production patterns, You will realise that the biggest film companies all over India also followed the pattern of making initial films with Muslim background. Take for example the very first year of talkie films. Out of 24 films made, 7 films were on Muslim background. After Aalam Ara, there was Abul Hasan, Shirin Farhad, Laila Majnu, Noorjehan etc in 1931. Prabhat film company made Ayodhya ka Raja in 1932, but same year, next film was Jalti Nishani-32, a Pseudo-Historical Muslim background movie.
In Calcutta, New Theatres made their first 3 Talkie films in Hindi on Muslim subjects. Mohabbat ke aansoo-a household story, Subah ka sitara-a Folk Tale and Zinda Laash- an Arabian Night story. In the 30s and 40s, most stunt and costume films were on Muslim cultures.
In the initial era, the Talkie films were dependent on Parsi Urdu and Gujarati theatre stories. Before films appeared in India, the main channel of entertainment was stage dramas. Theatres were active and popular mainly in Maharashtra, Bengal and Andhra. The regional drama companies used to have mostly Mythological topics for their dramas. They also used to tour quite a lot. But their sphere of activities was limited to their language areas. Marathi drama companies toured only in Maharashtra towns or where there was a sizable Marathi population, like Baroda, Gwalior or Indore etc. So, their audiences were limited.
Similarly, Bengal and Andhra drama companies also toured where Bangla or Telugu population was the main audience. It was only the Parsee Theatre companies, Alfred, Elphinston etc etc, which toured all over the country, performing their Urdu dramas. Many times these companies used to take whole special trains to travel with artistes and material. This earned them All India acceptance of Muslim themes, which translated into the films that were made initially. In this endeavour, major contribution was from drama writers like Agha Hashra kashmiri, Syed Yavar Ali, Munshi Nazir, Betab, kathawachak, Bekal, Ehsaan etc etc.
Some early Talkie films on Muslim subjects were, Naksh e Sulemani-33, Bahar e Sulemani-35, Naadira-34, Farz e ada-35, Mumtaz Begum-34, Rashida-35 (First Muslim Social film), Noor e yaman-35, Qismat ka shikar-34, Adil e Jahangir-34, Anarkali-35, Jahan Ara-35, Shamsheer e Arab-35 and many more.
Fazli Brothers were the pioneers in making Muslim Social films from 1940 onwards. They felt that due to certain shortcomings in Muslim community, their development is suppressed. Their attempt was to highlight these points like Lack of education, for example, in their films in the garb of entertainment. Filmmakers like the great Mehboob Khan too were keen on such films, because he earnestly wanted to help his community to improve their status in Indian society.
That is why he opted for a Muslim Social theme for his Firtst movie under his own banner,” Mehboob productions”. The film was ‘ Najma-43″. Mehboob featured A grade actors like Veena, Sitara, Ashok kumar, Kumar, Yaqub, Majid and others for his first film. Later on he made yet another Muslim social film,” Elaan”-47 which was much bolder and he expected some opposition from the Muslim Fundamentalists. That is why he had warned his actors – especially Munawwar Sultana- to be ready for any repercussions from their own people, after the film was released. He gave an option to her to quit the film for safety, but she showed total faith in him and stuck to her role in the film.
Film Ismat-44 ( the Google meaning of this word is Chastity or Modesty) was made by Fazli brothers on all this background. By now, with the experience of 4 such films behind them, they had captured the technique of making films with subtle messages to their community. In this film, the darker side of the Western Culture, particularly Divorce and Separation, was highlighted.
The story of the film was – Aslam (Nandrekar) and Ismat (Nargis) get married. They both are from good traditional Muslim families. Same day Shafi Anwar (Ghori) and Ishrat (Mehtab) too get married Both had tasted western culture and follow it merrily. in due course of time, the Eastern culture (Aslam/Ismat) couple is happy, but Western Culture couple (Anwar/Ishrat) can’t adjust or compromise and are divorced. Ishrat joins a Theatre company as a Dancer at a very good salary. Soon she becomes rich and famous.
Aslam goes to Bombay to look for a job and meets with an accident with Ishrat’s car. She takes him to her home and looks after him. In this accident, Aslam loses his memory and forgets about Ismat. One day Ismat and her brother see his photo with Ishrat in a newspaper. They learn everything about his accident and loss of memory etc.
Ismat goes to Bombay and works as a maid in Ishrat’s house. She tries to remind Aslam about his past, step by step. One day Ishrat discovers this and removes Ismat from the job. Dejected, Ismat sits down for nonstop prayer. After some time, due to its power, there is a storm, lightning and thunder. In this period, Aslam is affected and suddenly his memory comes back. He escapes from Ishrat’s home and returns to Ismat. Both get happily united again and Eatern Culture wins over Western Culture.
The Hero of this film was B. Nandrekar, whose name may not ring any bells in new generation readers. Many actors-males and females- shifted from silent films to Talkie films easily as they knew Urdu/Hindi language fluently. There was an actor who easily transitioned from silent films to talkie films. This was B Nandrekar or Baba Saheb Dada saheb Nandrekar.
Nandrekar was one of the very few really handsome actors Hindi films ever had. He was born on 15th November 1910, in Sangli district of Maharashtra, near Kolhapur. Being a Muslim, he could speak Urdu/Hindi fluently. He completed his schooling from Kolhapur and joined films. Vishnupant Damle (one of the founder partners of Prabhat Films) was making silent film ‘Maharathi Karna’ (1928) for Maharashtra Film Co. He offered Nandrekar a role. Then he worked in other films like ‘Baji Prabhu Deshpande’ (1929), ‘Lanka’ (1930), ‘Kismet’ (1931) and ‘Dushman Ki Raat’ (1931).
His first talkie film was ‘Kurukshetra’ (1933). Prabhat gave him a role in ‘Sant Tukaram’ (1936) (its Hindi version came in 1948). He worked in ‘Amar Jyoti’ (1936) and became quite popular as a hero, opposite Shanta Apte. He was the hero in ‘Baghbaan’ (1938) opposite Sitara Devi.
In 1939, he became the first actor to go abroad to shoot scenes in the film ‘Africa In Hind’ – ‘हिन्द में अफ्रीका’ (1939). The shooting was done in Africa. Thus this became the first ever Hindi film to shoot in foreign country, and NOT film ‘Naaz’ (1954), as is popularly believed and also as mentioned in HFGK. Nandrekar had become very popular. The chappals he used in the film ‘Baghbaan’ became fashionable by the name ‘Nandrekar Chappals‘. This alone is enough to prove his popularity.
His lawsuit against Prabhat Film Company was a topic of discussion in the industry. There were differences between him and Prabhat over his contract with them. His lawyers were Mr. Jinnah and Mr. Setalwad, who won the case for him. He was also the first actor to work as a freelancer.
Nandrekar appeared in 23 films. His films were ‘Kurukshetra’ (1933), ‘Amar Jyoti’ (1936), ‘Jaadugarin’ (1937) (UR), ‘Baghbaan’ (1938), ‘Africa In Hind’ (1939), ‘Qaidi’ (1940), ‘Hindustan Hamara’ (1940), ‘Alakh Niranjan’ (1940), ‘Chitralekha’ (1941), ‘Mamaji’ (1942), ‘Duniya Tumhari Hai’ (1942), ‘Nai Kahaani’ (1943), ‘Andhi Duniya’ (1943), ‘Swarn Bhoomi’ (1944), ‘Lady Doctor’ (1944), ‘Ismat’ (1944), ‘Bachpan’ (1945), ‘Kamla’ (1946), ‘Jeevan Sikho’ (1946), ‘Parshuram’ (1947), ‘Meri Amaanat’ (1947), ‘Khandani’ (1947), ‘Sant Tukaram’ (1948) and last film ‘Bihari’ (1948).
He passed away in 1949. No definite information is available about his demise.
Today’s song is sung by Rajkumari. It is composed by H P Sharma (2 songs), who was a co-MD of the film with his own elder brother Pt. Govardhan Prasad (5 songs). This is the third song from film Ismat-44 to feature on this Blog.
(Ack: Information is used, with thanks, from books – ‘ stages of life ‘ by Kathryn Hansen, ‘Muslim Cinema’ by Isak Mujawar, and ‘Forgotten movies on Muslim culture’ by Kamalakar P.)
Song-Badali hawa luti bahar rang-e- chaman bigad gaya (Ismat)(1944) Singer- Rajkumari Dubey Banraswali, Lyricist- Shams Lucknowi, MD- H P Sharma
Lyrics
Badli hawa luti bahaar
rang-e- chaman bigad gaya
phoool hanse to yoon hanse
daagh bhi gar nikal gaya
gham se badal gayi khushi
maut bani hai zindagi
saans mili to jaise ek
saans mili to jaise ek
teer(??) ka dil machal(?) gaya
saans mili to jaise ek
teer (??) ka dil machal(?) gaya
thahri hawa ko chhaanv ne
sharmo haya ko raat bhar
aah magar ghame sahar
aah magar ghame sahar
kaam bana bigad gaya
aah magar ghame sahar
kaam bana bigad gaya
badli hawa luti bahaar
range chaman bigad gaya
phool hanse to yoon hanse
daagh bhi gar nikal gaya
Prabhu charnon mein deep jalaao
Posted on: June 9, 2020
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusaist 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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4344 | Post No. : | 15650 |
Today’s song is from the film Jwar Bhata-44. It is an important film of the 40’s, because it was the Debut film of Dilip Kumar.
In Hindi film industry, the “Trimurti”of Raj, Dev and Dilip dominated the decades of late 40s, 50s and the 60s- a period of about 25 years in the Golden Age of Hindi films.These three were the most popular, most talked about and the most ‘ín demand’ actors when they were in full form. Each one had a dedicated fixed audience for their films.There were others equally,if not better, actors in this period like, Ashok Kumar, Motilal,Balraj Saqhni, Sanjeev Kumar etc, but these three were different.
What was so different in them ? One point strikes me most, that they never compromised,in selecting films or roles. In other words, once they got established as Heroes, they did not do any roles which did not suit their temperament, style or capacity. For example, when Ashok Kumar was famous as a Romantic Hero,he acted in a Mythological film, “Savitri’-1937, to do Satyavan’s role. Again in 1945, he did the title role in the film ‘Humayun”. Both these Genres were misfits to his image then. He looked pathetic in those misfitting roles. The big three kept off such venturisms, thoughtfully !
Secondly, they always chose only the big banners and ensured they got the maximum footage, the best songs and the best scenes. Thirdly, they never worked with heroines other than A class and of their choice.
Agewise, Dilip Kumar was the seniormost, having been born in 1922. Dev Anand was next, from 1923 and the youngest was Raj kapoor, born in 1924.However, he was the first to die, in 1988. Careerwise, Rajkapoor had only 41 years’ career, from Hamari Baaten-43 (first adult role) to Kim-84. Next was Dilip Kumar, having a career span of 54 years – from Jwar Bhata-44 to Qila-98. Dev Anand had the longest career span of 65 years, from Hum Ek Hain-46 to Chargesheet-2011. He was also the only one of the three, to continue in the next Century, i.e. 21st Century !
All the three gor Dadasaheb Phalke award. Raj Kapoor got it in 1987 at his 63rd year, Dilip Kumar in 1994,when he was72 years and Dev Anand received it in 2002, when he was 79 year old.
While Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand started as Heroes (rather one of the Heroes) in their careers, Raj Kapoor started as a Child artiste in film Inqilab-35 and did 3 films as adult roles, before he became the hero in film Neel Kamal-1947. The first one to become Hero was Dilip Kumar in Jwar Bhata-44 and next was Dev Anand in Hum Ek hain-46.
During my association with this Blog and in my 870 posts, which I wrote here, I have hardly written about songs of these 3 actors. I don’t remember exactly, but I think I have written about 2 films each of Raj, Dev and Dilip, so far. The first film of Dilip Kumar I wrote about was the film Milan-1946 and today’s film Jwar Bhata-44 is his second film today. This is his Debut film.
One more point about these three actors. It was only Raj kapoor’s First Heroine Madhubala, who also became a famous A grade actress. In case of Dilip Kumar, his first Heroine, Mridula Rani and Dev Anand’s first heroine Kamala Kotnis, never took off in Hindi films, nor did they reach A grade status. In a span of a few years, their careers as heroines ended. The Shortest career was of Kamala Kotnis ( who was actually a Telugu actress, married to a Marathi Cinematographer Pandurang Kotnis, who was the younger brother of Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis, on whose life, V.Shantaram had made the film “Dr. Kotnis ki amar kahani”-1946). Mridula survived longer with about 60 films, upto 1980 to her credit. The last I had heard about her was, in 2016 when she was alive and stayed in Worli, Mumbai. As far as Madhubala’s career, we all know too well.
Incidentally, the case of actress Ameeta was also similar. She was the heroine of Shammi Kapoor in film “Tumsa Nahin Dekha-1957”. He became a big star, but Ameeta remained as a B and C grade film actress. The opposite is the career of Meena Kumari. In her initial career, she was the Heroine of Mahipal. Later Meena Kumari became a big A class actress, but Mahipal remained where he was- B class films.
The case of Dilip Kumar was opposite to Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand’s cases. Both these actors struggled hard in their initial stages, but Dilip was extraordinarily lucky. He was actually invited to be a Hero directly. Here is his story, how he came into the film line…
Born as Yusuf khan in Peshawar, on 11-12-1922, he was third amongst 12 siblings. His father moved to Bombay in 1930 to set up the family’s Dry Fruit business. Yusuf graduated (B.A.) from Khalsa College and took up his first job as Assistant manager in the Army Canteen at Deolali Camp, near Nashik in Maharashtra. Unlike the other two stars (Raj and Dev), he had absolutely no connection in his family with film line, dramas or any art for that matter. One brother did MBBS and settled in the UK, another did Management course and the youngest Nasir Khan alone joined films – much later than Dilip Kumar.
Devika Rani of Bombay Talkies had gone for shopping, one day. At one fruit shop, she saw Yusuf, who had, by chance, replaced his ill father, in the shop. She found his face sensitive and eyes expressive. She called him, talked to him and gave him her card, asking him to meet her next day at the studios. After the routine Screen tests,interview etc, Yusuf was taken in by Bombay Talkies as an apprentice. Devika Rani started grooming her personally. Bhagvati Charan Sharma, famous Hindi writer, employed by Bombay Talkies then, gave yususf the name Dilip. The suffix Kumar was borrowed from Ashok kumar. Bunny Rueben, Film Historian says, “Devika Rani came up with three names – Dilip Kumar, Vasudev and Jahangir. Yusuf selected Dilip kumar.”
Bombay Talkies was heaven for New talents. It had launched and relaunched to fame, Heros like Ashok Kumar,Jairaj, kavi Pradeep, directors K A Abbas, N R Acharya, Najam Naqvi, Amiya Chakrawarty, Gyan Mukherjee, Bimal Roy and actresses Renuka Devi, Mumtaj Shanti, Ranjana and many more. Dilip Kumar’s first film in Bombay Talkies was Jwar Bhata-44. He was not the main Hero. Agha was the main Hero. Dilip was the second hero. His Heroine-Mridula Rani was also a New Entrant.
In his first film, Dilip Kumar did not impress anybody. He was criticised heavily by Baburao patel, who called him Ánaemic and one who needs a lot of good food to look better. As such, even Bombay Talkies also did not have much expectation from him. They had pinned their hopes on the new Heroine Mridula Rani. With every film, Dilip Kumar improved, beyond belief and India got an A class actor.
The story of Mridula is sad. She fell into marital trouble and sank deep into it. She took a break of about 4 years and when she came back, she had to accept only character roles, which she did.
Mridula was a victim of her contract with Bombay Talkies. It destroyed her career as a Heroine forever. Devika Rani was her Mentor in Bombay Talkies. However, after Himanshu Rai’s death, no one was listening to her in the company due to groupism. Disgusted, Devika rani left Bombay Talkies,having sold all the shares. Mridula got stuck in the company without work, due to her 5 year contract. It was Vijay Bhatt of Prakash Pictures who somehow convinced Bombay Talkies to loan her to him and she got roles in 2 of their films. In the film ‘Bhakta Dhruva”-47, she played mother to 16 year old Shashi kapoor (sr) when she herself was about 23 year old only ! But she had no choice. The film and her role became famous, but she lost her chances of becoming Heroine in any film thereafter for ever.
Mridula ( real name Chandrakanta) was born on 2-11-1924 at Almora, but was educated in Delhi. When she was in college doing her graduation, Amiya Chakravarty of Bombay Talkies came to Delhi on a Talent Hunt. He contacted her and gave her an offer. She signed a 5 year contract with Bombay Talkies and Devika Rani became her Mentor, teaching her everything. She was paid 2500 rupees salary with a furnished house. Her first film was “Jwar Bhata”-44, opposite another Debutant Dilip Kumar (Yousuf Khan). After Himanshu Rai’s death, Bombay Talkies was already in disarray. Many people had left the company due to differences with Devika Rai. A group of them formed Filmistan.
After getting released from Bombay Talkies, she acted in few films – Samaj ko badal dalo-47Bhakt Dhruv-47, Toote taare-48, Nar Narayan-49, Veer Babruvahan-50 and Ram Darshan-50.
She got married to her lover Mr. G C Andley. However the marriage was unsuccessful and she went back to Delhi. She spent a miserable life selling whatever she had, to survive. She got divorce and came back to Bombay to work in films, in 1954. She worked in 53 films after this. Her last released film was Saboot-80, though she had married again and retired some time before that.
The last I heard about her was, she was living in worli, Mumbai all alone, in 2016. Her only daughter stayed nearby and looked after her.
( some information for this post has been taken from the book – “Hero vol.I,” by Ashok Raj, with thanks.)
Today’s song is sung by Parul Ghosh and Amirbai Karnataki. Pt Narendra Sharma is the lyricist. Music is composed by Anil Biswas.
Song-Prabhu charnon mein deep jalaao(Jwaar Bhaata)(1944) Singers-Parul Ghosh, Amirbai Karnataki, Lyrics-Pt Narendra Sharma, MD-Anil Biswas
Chorus
Lyrics
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
man mandir ujiyaalaa ho
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
man mandir ujiyaalaa ho
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
kare kripaa jo krishnachandra to
kare kripaa jo krishnachandra to
kyun dukh kaa andhiyaalaa ho
kyun dukh kaa andhiyaalaa ho
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
man mandir ujiyaalaa ho
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
hridayakamal kaa sinhaasan
bane kr^ishna kaa vrindaavan
hr^idayakamal kaa sinhaasan
bane kr^ishna kaa vrindaavan
jeevan apanaa use saunp do
jeevan apanaa use saunp do
jo jag kaa rakhvaalaa ho
jivan apnaa use saunp do
jo jag kaa rakhvaalaa ho
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
man mandir ujiyaalaa ho
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
nainaa prem-chakor sakhi
chandaa nandakishor sakhi
nainaa prem-chakor sakhi
un nainan se dekh jagat ko
un nainan se dekh dekh
un nainan se dekh jagat ko
base yhaan nandalaalaa ho
base yahaan nandalaalaa ho
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
man mandir ujiyaalaa ho
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
giridhar ke charanon mein aa
giridhar ke charanon mein aa
raadheshyaam naam gun gaa
koras:raadheshyaam raadheshyaam
jai raadheshyaam raadheshyaam
giridhar ke charanon mein aa
giridhar ke
maalik meraa bansiwaalaa
maalik meraa bansiwaalaa
man meraa brijabaalaa ho
maalik meraa bansiwaalaa
man meraa brijabaalaa ho
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
man mandir ujiyaalaa ho
prabhu charanon mein deep jalaao
Ae kismat bata kya bigaada hai tera
Posted on: June 6, 2020
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusaist 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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4341 | Post No. : | 15642 | Movie Count : |
4308 |
Today’s song is from the film Dr.Kumar-44. It was a film made by Minerva Movietone and it was directed by a multi faceted debutante, Kishore Sharma. I tried hard to find out information about Kishore Sharma and I was pleased to get a full page article, with photos, on Kishore Sharma, somewhere on the Internet. But when I started reading it, I realised that this person was a different one. Born in the mid 1950s, he was a well known Punjabi film actor. I was not only disappointed, but I also got a hearty laugh, that a person who writes on different artistes causing the ” same name confusions”, got confused himself with a same name actor ! Ha Ha !!
Film Dr. Kumar’s Kishore Sharma started directing films with this film and went on to direct 4 more films, namely Zanjeer-47, Middle Fail-48, Biwi-50 and Shisham-52. As per CITWF, he seems to have worked as an actor also, in Shriman Satyavadi-60, Ek din ka Badshah-64 and Lal Bungla-66. I also found his name as an assistant to Music Director Usha Khanna for the film Achha Bura-1983. That was the end of his information for me.
The film industry in Mumbai is truly a Maya Nagari. people from all over India flock to this city, with a hope to make a career in films. Not all succeed. In fact, most fail and few lucky ones only make it – some with struggle, some with ” useful connections” and yet some with sheer Luck. This has been going on since films started being made here. All the studios used to hire hefty, strong Pathans at their studio gates to ward off the hopefuls as well as those who wanted to have a look at their favourite stars.
While 99.99 % Film people wanted to join the film line, there were 0.01 % people who got into films without even dreaming about it. Difficult to believe ? But it is 100 % true. We will see some cases.
This is the story of a young man named Ramnarayan Venkat Sarma, from Madras. He was highly educated. He was B.A.,M.Litt in Carnatic music and Dance. He was also a research fellow for his Ph.D. He was Managing Editor of the magazine ” Natyam”. He had also learnt Fencing (sword fighting) as a hobby. He participated in some drama staged by his college. Mr. Kittoo, an employee of Gemini Studio attended that programme. Impressed with Ramnarayan, he informed director Raghavachari, the next day at the studio. They went immediately to visit his home early next day, but at a nearby Bus stop, Kittoo saw Ramnarayan in the Bus Queue. They called him and took him to the studio, where he was offered a role of Gautam Budha in a Tamil film, ” Ashok kumar’-1941. Surprised, Ramnarayan accepted it. He was billed as R.Ramani, B.A. in the film. He was given his new film name by Jiten Banerjee of Newtone Studios. And thus RANJAN became a Hero in more than 50 films !
From the late 30s to late 50s, actor singer Parshuram was a known name. He too entered films by chance. His father was very poor. He brought him to Bombay. One day his father carried him on his shoulders, while crossing the Gokhale bridge in Dadar. Parshuram, as was his habit, started singing. A person followed them for quite some time and then stopped them. After usual enquiries, that person – V.Shantaram – asked the father to leave Parshuram in his custody at Prabhat Studios to make him an actor in films. Thus Parshuram grew up in Prabhat and acted in several films there.
The original natural actor Motilal had gone to Sagar studios to watch the film shooting, with a friend. Director K P Ghosh saw him and offered him a Hero’s role in films. Motilal, having lost the chance to join the Navy due to sudden illness, was surprised to no end, but agreed and history was created.
There are other examples like Meena Shorey, or Sarvottam Badami or Ashok Kumar and a few more cases. Why I related all this was to stress the point that Fate can get you anywhere, whether you try for it, do not dream for it, or even are forced to opt for it – like actress Rajkumari Shukla. In the decade of the 40s, the name of Rajkumari Shukla, was quite well known for motherly or side roles. She did not join films by choice, but for making a living, she was forced by circumstances to join films and she made a successful career here.
Raj Kumari Shukla was born in a well-known Brahmin family in Calcutta in 1903. Her own life has been quite tragic. She had to join the film industry not so much because of personal choice, but due to tragic personal circumstances. Like most young girls from Indian families, this virtuous lady, well-versed in household chores, got married. But her family life after marriage proved to be extremely unhappy — so much so that one day her husband gave her a brutal beating and drove her from his house.
Finding no refuge anywhere, she went to Jagannath Puri (in Orissa) and lived there in an ashram. Gradually, her family history and marital problems became known to one of the priests there, and he informed her parents. Her elder sister then brought her back to her house.
One theatre actor known locally as Gujarati Baba used to live nearby. Sometimes, she would get some theatre passes from him and go to local theatres to see some plays. This not only helped her to forget her unhappy past but also kindled in her young heart the desire to act in plays. The Gujarati Baba then persuaded her to adopt acting as a profession. Accordingly, in 1933, she joined Maadan Theatre and began her career as a leading lady, Film-goers of those days can still recall her “Hilaali abroo, Tez aankhen, Kushada peshani aur siaah zulfen”. She excelled in emotional roles.
Starting her career in silent films, she came into her own with the advent of “Talkies”. Apart from Maadan Theatre, she worked for other film companies too. Her memorable films included “Intezaar”, “Zevar”, “Jagat Mohini”, “Far’yaad”, “Chaandni”, “Sharda”, “Panghat”, Tulsi”, “Swami, “Ek Raat”, “Man Ki Jeet”, “School Master”, Dulhan”, “Badalti Duniya”, “Aankh Micholi”, “Raj Nartaki”, “Jhoola” and “Najma”. She now acted more as a character artiste and vamp. Her realistic emoting in such negative roles makes the audiences shiver in revulsion. Her roles in films like “Ek Raat”, “Swami”, “Jhoola”, “Far’yaad” and “Dulhan” have been specially appreciated by film-goers.
She was only an actor and not a singer. She acted in 31 Talkie films. She also worked in few Gujarati and Bangla films. Her last recorded Hindi film was Nai Maa-46. She did sing just one song in her career. That was in the film Panghat-43. It was a duet with Baby Tara. At her times, the other more famous actress-singer Rajkumari Dubey Banaraswali was also very active. In few films both acted, but the songs were only by Rajkumari Dubey Banaraswali. There were two more Rajkumaris also. One was Rajkumari Calcuttewali and another was from south, T.R.Rajkumari. Their details have been described earlier and also in my book” Forgotten artists….”. (Information for the above has been taken from Urdu book,”Filmi Titlian”published in 1945, and Film Directory, with thanks.)
The cast of the film Dr. Kumar-44 mentions a name Najma. She was comparatively a newcomer into films Her real name was Naseem. Since there was already a Naseem (Bano) in Hindi films, she took the screen name of Najma. She was born in 1928, at Lahore, to Abdul Rasheed and Mariyam. Her father was a businessman. Theirs was a respectable fairly well to do family. Though she was not much educated, she was fluent in reading, writing and speaking Urdu and English. She was fond of reading books. She learnt Music and Dance.
Being a good looking girl, at the age of 14, she made a Debut in film Kunwara Baap-1942, a film made by Acharya Art productions of Director N R Acharya. Next was also a film from Acharya – Uljhan-42. She started getting films quickly and acted in Gharonda-43, Nai Zindagi-43, Dr. Kumar-44, Piya Milan-45, Naseeb-45, Chehera-46, Haqdaar-46, Kasam-47 and her last film in India-Parwana-47. Her career in India was short and she did only 11 films, but she acted in major Heroes of her times.
After Partition she migrated to Lahore. In Pakistan, she acted in its first film Teri Yaad-48, with Nasir khan and Asha Posley and the first Hit film Hichkoley-49. After this film, she got married to director Daud Chand, retired from films and raised a family. She died on 6-12-1983 at Lahore.
Today’s song is sung by Rajkumari Dubey Banaraswali. It is a good song. It is composed by the veteran composer Sarswati Devi, who left Bombay Talkies in 1942 – same time when a splinter, disgruntled group led by S.Mukherjee left Bombay Talkies to start Filmistan in 1942. Saraswati devi did not join them, she became a Freelancer. Actually, Dr. Kumar was her first film after leaving Bombay Talkies. With today’s song, film Dr. Kumar makes its Debut on the Blog.
Song-Ae kismat bata kya bigaada hai tera (Dr Kumar)(1944) Singer-Rajkumari Dubey, Lyricist- Gaafil Harnalvi, MD- Saraswati Devi
Lyrics
Ae ae ae kismat
bata aa kya aa
bigaada hai tera
ae kismat bata kya bigaada hai tera
chaman kyon kiya toone barbaad mera
ae kismat bata kya bigaada hai tera
chaman kyon kiya toone barbaad mera
ruki meri us waqt rangeen duniya aa aa
ruki meri us waqt rangeen duniya
muhabbat ka jab ho raha thha sawera
muhabbat ka jab ho raha thha sawera
tadapti hain aahen ae ae ae ae
tadapti hain aahen
ubalte hain aansoo
tadapti hain aahen
ubalte hain aansoo
kahaan jaaoon
chaaron taraf hai andhera
kahaan jaaoon
chaaron taraf hai andhera
ye mushqil hai
main aen
dil ko dil se bhulaa doon
ho o o
ye mushqil hai
main dil ko dil se bhulaa doon
ke jis dil mein hai zindagi ka basera
ke jis dil mein hai zindagi ka basera
ae kismat bata kya bigaada hai tera
chaman kya kiya toone barbaad mera
ae kismat bata
ae kismat bata
ae kismat bataa aa
Aao chalen us paar sajni
Posted on: June 1, 2020
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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4336 | Post No. : | 15632 | Movie Count : |
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Today’s song is from film Pattharon ka Saudagar-1944. The film was made by Minerva Movietone. It was a Costume drama, directed by a Debutant Director Shorey Daulatlavi, who was earlier a Cinematographer with Minerva. Sohrab Modi was not known to be a generous person or one who encouraged Talent development in his staff. All his decisions were made on the basis of financial considerations. No wonder, he paid this novice quite a low wage. After this film, Daulatlavi got attached to Navyug Pictures and directed three more films, namely Din Raat-45, Paro-47 and Saajan ka Ghar-48.
The Music Director was Meer Saheb. During the period of 1937-38, C Ramchandra ( he was only Ram Chitalkar those days) worked in Minerva Movietone and had the opportunity of working under Meer Saheb. He wrote in his Marathi Autobiography, ” Meer Saheb was a good person and a good Musician, but problem with him was that he would forget the tune set in the evening by next morning. When I joined him, I used to write the Tune’s notation immediately, so that his problem was taken care of. He was very much pleased with me for this “.
Out of seven songs in the movie , five were written by Lyricist Gaafil Harnalvi and two by Sudarshan. The cast of the film was Al Nasir, Meena, Paresh Banerjee, Sheela, Sankatha Prasad, K N Singh, Jilloo, Balraj Mehta and others.
Though this film came from Minerva Movietone, one of the famous and successful movie studios of India, film Pattharon ka Saudagar (1944) was a failure. Almost every successful and famous studio faced this problem of flops. Minerva actually had started with a big flop movie, ‘Atma Tarang-37 ‘ and there were two earlier flop movies made by Modi, under different banner,- Hamlet-35 and Sayeed E Havas-36. Even in later stage, Minerva’s films like Main Haari-40, Phir Milenge-42 and Dr. kumar-44 had flopped. Even Minerva’s ambitious last big film Jhansi ki Rani-53 had failed.
In case of another famous company, Prabhat Films, films like Dharmatma-35, Ramshastri-44 etc had flopped. Similarly, New Theatres of Calcutta had flop films like their first 3 films and later Nartaki-41, Meenakshi-42 and Anjangarh-48 were flops.
One more point of films’ success or failure is, how other films, made around same time fared in its competetion. In 1944, quite a good number of successful films had been released and they gave a tough competetion to PKS. Some of the notable films of 1944 were….Bhanwara, a quicky made by Kidar Sharma for Ranjit (it was reportedly made in 9 days flat, as per Kidar Sharma, in his autobiography), featuring Saigal. Naturally, his songs made the film popular. Film Bharthari became popular for Surendra’s songs. Chal Chal re Naujawan was Filmistan’s first venture. Chaand was first film of Husnlal-Bhagatram ( first time Prabhat hired a non Marathi composer). Daasi had good songs under Pt. Amarnath.
Draupadi was first film of Sushila Rani, who sang all 9 songs in the film. It was directed by her mentor-and husband, later – Baburao Patel. Irada was the first film for Hemant Kumar’s first Hindi playback song. Fazli Brothers- the pioneers of Muslim socials in India released Ismat-first such film in Bombay by them. Their earlier 2 films were from Calcutta. Bombay Talkies gave Jwar Bhata- Dilip Kumar’s first film. Surprisingly, Agha was the leading man opposite Shamim and Dilip kumar was the second Hero opposite another debutante Mrudula.
Krishna Bhakta Bodana was the only film of the Revolutionary singer from Surat- Master Vasant Amrit. Lal Haveli of Nurjehan, in which C Ramchandra sang one song for Mir Saheb-his old boss from Minerva. Shalimar’s Mann ki Jeet featured their star Neena again. New Theatre’s My Sister with Saigal’s song in the music of Pankaj Mullick was famous. Shantaram’s Parbat pe apna dera had Amirbai’s career best song “Pareshan hoon ke kyun meri pareshani Nahi jaati “. Prabhat’s Ramshastri directed by Gajanan Jahagirdar and film Uss Paar with the first duet of Mukesh with Kusum Mantri were also there. With all these films, the mediocre Pattharon ka Saudagar had no chance to succeed at all.
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 Students’ union and held General Secretary’s post of Punjab University Students’ Union, in 35-37. He organised 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 film line. He acted first in “Dulla Batti” in 1939-40. Then came Sajjan-41,Panna-44, Parakh-44, Pattharon 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 film Ayodhyapati-56 and then as a Director of film Trunk Call-1960. However, there is no information about him after this.
The second Heroine of this Costume drama was Sheela. She was a find of Sohrab Modi himself. SHEELA(real name-Roshan Ara) was born on 13-3-1925 at Sholapur-Maharashtra. Her father was Station Master at Sholapur Rly.Stn.
Once Sohrab Modi had come to Sholapur with his Drama company. He went to the station to do reservations and saw Sheela. They got to know each others and he proposed to give her roles in his films.Thus Sheela came to Bombay in 1936 and Joined Minerva Movietone as a singer/actress.
Her first film was Khan Bahadur-37, in which she sang and acted. Then came Jailor-38 in which she sang 4 solo songs under MD Mir Sahib.Then Divorce and Meetha Zahar came.
She became famous only after her songs in Pukar-39. Bharosa, Wasiyat and Sikander also gave her name and fame. In Sikander she had 6 songs out of total 7 songs. The famous song ‘ zindagi hai pyar se’ also had her voice in the chorus. She was Heroine in film ‘ Vaseeyat’-40
Ulti Ganga, Bhakta Raidas, Prithvi Vallabh,and Patharon ka Saudagar were all Minerva films.
She had also done films elsewhere. Viz:Alladin and wonderful lamp, College Girl, Gaibi Gola, Jahan ara, Keemti qurbani, Sansar naiya, Shaitan ka pash etc.
After 1943, she almost stopped working. Only in Beete Din-47 and lastly in Billi-49 she sang songs., which was a stunt film of Nadia and Cavas.
She had married the actor Rama Shukla, in 1947. He was a Kanauji Brahmin and they had terrible opposition to their marriage. The marriage was by Registration. Only 4 friends were present in the marriage. They had one son and one daughter. Rama Shukla died by Heart attack in the 50s.
Her voice had a peculiar mixture of Muslim style of Amirbai karnataki and Marathi slant od Shanta Apte.
There is an anecdote with one of her songs. When film Pukar was in the making, C.Ramchandra was working as an assistant to MD Meer Saheb. He has mentioned in his autobiography also that in the absence of Meer saheb, he used to insert his tunes to songs as Meer saheb’s. This was known to many, except, may be, Meer saheb himself. One of the very popular songs sung by Sheela ” Tum bin hamri kaun khabar le” was actually composed by C.Ramchandra. This is supposed to be C Ramchandra’s first composed song. The credit ,of course, went to Meer Saheb.
Let us now listen to today’s song. It is a duet of Rajkumari and Sheela. I liked this song. May be you will also like it. With this song, film Patthron ka Saudagar makes its Debut on the Blog.
Song-Aao chalen uss paar sajni (Paattharon Ka Saudaagar)(1944) Singers- Sheela, Rajkumari, Lyricist- Sudarshan MD-Meer Saheb
Lyrics
Aao chalen uss paar sajni
aao chalen us paar
aao chalen uss paar sajni
aao chalen us paar
kaah karoon mann maane naahin
kaah karoon mann maane naahin
daude baarambaar sajni
daude baarambaar sajni
aao chalen uss paar
aao chalen uss paar sajni
aao chalen us paar
aao chalen uss paar sajni
aao chalen us paar
wo duniya albeli si hai
uski reet ?? si hai
wo duniya albeli si hai
uski reet ?? si hai
wo to ek paheli si hai
wo to ek paheli si hai
jo koi jaane jo koi samjhe
jo koi jaane jo koi samjhe
pahunche ?? sajni
pahunche ?? sajni
aao chalen us paar
Aao chalen uss paar sajni
aao chalen us paar
Aao chalen uss paar sajni
aao chalen us paar
parbat ooncha dariya gahra
kadam kadam par ?? pahra
parbat ooncha dariya gahra
kadam kadam par ?? pahra
?? sunahra
?? sunahra
usmein baitha sundar sundar
mohan raajkumaar sajni
usmein baitha sundar sundar
mohan raajkumaar sajni
aao chalen us paar
aao chalen uss paar sajni
aao chalen us paar
aao chalen uss paar sajni
aao chalen us paar
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 : | 4252 | Post No. : | 15472 |
“Bhanwra”(1944) was a comedy movie that was well received during its time.
Mr Arunkumar Deshmukh, our in-house encyclopaedia on HFM related information has this to say about this movie:-
Bhanwara-44 was a story of two friends- Pancham (Saigal) and Rikhab (Arunkumar Ahuja), who come to Bombay in search of employment. The chawl where they stay,in single room tenements, has a pair of sisters, Indu(Monica) and Bindu(Kamla Chaterji). Indu happens to work as a teacher in the same place where Pancham is working as a Music and singing teacher. They fall in love. His friend Rikhab loves Bindu but is too shy to express his love. In this, he is assisted by his neighbour friend Pehelwan (Lala Yaqub). With his help, Rikhab develops a great body and finally wooes his ladylove. At the end, both the couples unite happily. The film was full of comic sequences, particularly with Arun Ahuja and Bindu. All in all, it was a hilarious movie.
Here is a rare song from “Bhanwra”(1944). The song is sung by Amir bai Karnataki. Swami Ramanand is the lyricist. Music is composed by Khemchand Prakash.
Only the audio of the song is available. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturization of this song.
Song-Duniya ki aankhon se sharmaane waale (Bhanwra)(1944) Singer-Amirbai Karnataki, Lyrics-Swami Ramanand, MD-Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics
Duniya ki aankhon se sharmaane waale
chhaaon ki badli mein chhup chhup ke aa
chhup chhup ke aa
chhaaon ki badli mein chhup chhup ke aa
chhup chhup ke aa
sooni hai tujh bin man ki nagariya
sooni hai tujh bin man ki nagariya
aa ke ise tu basa aa aa
aa ke ise tu basa
aa ke ise tu basa aa aa
aa ke ise tu basa
Duniya ki aankhon se sharmaane waale
chhaaon ki badli mein chhup chhup ke aa
chhup chhup ke aa
badli ke aanchal mein jaise hon taare
badli ke aanchal mein jaise hon taare
taare
palkon mein aise jo rehna ho pyaare
palkon mein aise jo rehna ho pyaare
aankhon mein loongi chhupaaye
aankhon mein loongi chhupaaye
aankhon mein loongi chhupaaye
aankhon mein loongi chhupaaye
Duniya ki aankhon se sharmaane waale
chhaaon ki badli mein chhup chhup ke aa
chhup chhup ke aa
do pal ke din hain
rut hai suhaani
do pal ke din hain
rut hai suhaani suhaani
yaad se aaye hain aankhon mein paani
yaad se aaye hain aankhon mein paani
itna na hamko rula aa
itna na hamko rula
itna na hamko rula aa
itna na hamko rula
itna na hamko rula
itna na hamko rula
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4163 | Post No. : | 15334 | Movie Count : |
4225 |
Today’s song is from an obscure film from Calcutta,- Arzoo-1944.
It is my observation that barring very early Talkie films made by Madan Theatres, Calcutta, films made by other film makers of Calcutta – other than New Theatres – were, generally, not successful or popular in the Hindi belt. At the peak times in the 30’s, there were about 20+ film making companies in Bengal, but New Theatres alone had got the best of Hindi artistes in almost every department of film making and Music, available in the Eastern sector. Accordingly, even Arzoo, made by I.B.Films, Calcutta also did not create any ripples in the Hindi belt. It was directed by R N Vaidya (a successful Silent Film maker ) and M.Issa. The Lyricist was Khwaja Kidwai and the Music was by Subal Dasgupta. The cast of the film was, Dhiraj Bhattacharya, Panna, Pramod Gangully, Renuka Roy, Fazal, Shanta etc.etc.
In Hindi film arena, there were many brother pairs as Music Directors like Husnalal-Bhagatram, Kalyan ji-Anand ji etc. Most of them were prolific and successful too. But there were no cases worth noticing, where two brothers operated separately as MDs, in the same period but never worked as a Team. Two such cases were from Calcutta. The first was that of Timir Baran and Mihir Kiran and then Kamal Dasgupta and Subal Dasgupta. Neither Timir-Mihir nor Kamal-Subal worked as a pair and individually only one became famous in Hindi films. Mihir kiran gave music to only 1 film- Kaarvan e hayat-35 and Timir Baran did 11 Hindi films compsing 86 songs.Subal Dasgupta gave music to only 2 films Subah Shaam and Arzoo both in 1944, Kamal Dasgupta did 17 Hindi films and composed 157 songs.
Kamal Dasgupta ( 28-7-1912 to 20-7-1974) gave music to 17 Hindi films from Jawab-42 to Phulwari-51. Subal gave music to only 2 films as mentioned. He was, however, a prolific composer in Bangla films and NFS. The credit for composing music for Talat Mehmood’s First recorded NFS, ” sab din ek samaan nahi tha” goes to Subal Dasgupta. Some sites and You Tube erroneously mention Kamal Dasgupta’s name as its composer, but it is wrong. I quote here an excerpt from the book ” Talat Mehmood-The Velvet touch” a biography by Manek Premchand,
” His first recording happened in September 1941, the song being Sab din ek samaan naheen tha, Ban jaoonga kya se kya main, iska to kuchh dhyaan naheen tha, written by Fayyaz Hashmi and composed by Subal Dasgupta. Present at this recording was the great singer-composer-actor Pankaj Mullick, who patted the young émigré for a job well done. In Calcutta, the young man started learning Bengali. After six recordings for HMV in Calcutta, Talat returned in 1942 to complete his studies at Marris and in the next couple of years, he heard a lot of Gangubai Hangal, Fayyaz Khan and Roshanara Begum. ” pp 13
Not much information is available on Subal in books or on the net. Even Dr. J.P.Guha has no information on him. Here is something from a Bangladeshi site.
Subal Dasgupta was born at Kalia (Narail) of the old Jessore district in Bangladesh. His parents shifted to Calcutta long before the partition of 1947. His eldest brother professor Bimal Dasgupta was a gifted musician, while his elder brother Kamal Dasgupta also emerged as one of the most successful music directors of his times. His sisters Sudhira, Indira, Basanti—–all were talented singers in their own rights. All of them had recorded songs under HMV banner. He belonged to an immensely accomplished musical family. At a very tender age Subal Dasgupta took lessons in classical music from Ustad Zamiruddin Khan, a renowned maestro of Kheyal and Thumri. It was here, that he met Kazi Nazrul Islam, the great poet , who also started taking classical vocal lessons from the same master. The meeting between the two, later turned out to be of historic significance. This is all that could be collated about Subal Dasgupta.
Today’s song is sung by Jagmohan Sursagar. In older times, when when films had not yet become ” inevitable ” in the society, for the period 30s to 50s, Non Film Songs (NFS) ruled the nation. The A.I.R. regularly broadcast NF Bhajans, Geets and Gazals etc. These were extremely popular and their private records used to make a big sale too. Among the NFS male singers, the best was Jagmohan and in the female group, the best was Juthika Roy.
Somewhere in the late 2011 AK ji, of Songsofyore.com, had written on this Blog about the importance of NFS. After reading his views, I too wrote a rather lengthy comment supporting the inclusion of NFS on this Blog. Our contention was that, prior to the Hindi Film Music becoming popular all over India,it was those ghazals, Geets and Bhajans, privately sung and recorded by various artists which had ruled the tastes of music lovers. In fact many famous singers had recorded NFS in the beginning phase of their singing careers. Some names are Talat Mehmood, Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Jagmohan and JUTHIKA ROY !
I do not think there was a single singer in those days who had not sung a Non Filmi geet of some type like Bhajan or ghazal etc. I am sure many senior readers from this Blog must have grown listening to these NFS Bhajans and Geets. In fact more than a filmi song, may be these people have some old geet or Bhajan embedded in their memories with some persons, events or places.
Today’s singer Jagmohan Sursagar was very well known and close to Rajnikumar Pandyaji and he has elaborated his Bio data in the book ” Aap ki Parchhainyan”. The following information is adapted from this. Born on September 6,1918,Jagmohan whose real name is Jaganmoy Mitra came from a conservative family of land-lords.Sometime before he was born,his father died of a stomach ailment, while his mother was still in her teens. Though Jagmohan had no problems in childhood,he was to grow up an ardent devotee of his mother.When she died in 1981,and was followed by the singer’s wife,in a few months time,Jagmohan felt a terrible void in his life,something that he appears to have been unable to fill ever.
There was an atmosphere of music in his maternal grandfather’s house where they went to live after Jagmohan’s father died.He literally grew up listening to dhrupad,khayal,thumri and tappa,surreptitiously learning from his uncle’s ustads ragas and raginis as also the tabla.It all paid off when after passing his matriculation examination, Jagmohan took part in all Bengal music competition ,topping the list in dhrupad,tappa,thumri,kritan and baul,religious folk music of Bengal.The year was 1937.In the same year,his professional singing career began at All India Radio.The next year,he stood first in khayal singing in an all India competition at Allahabad.
A music recording company, HMV,grabbed him for recording.Says Jagmohan: ” I had a tune and had been trying to compose a song to suit it.But,an acquaintance, Hembabu asked me to see Kazi Nazrul Islam,the great poet.Hembabu took me to him and left me with the poet.The poet was a very kindly man and my diffidence vanished after a while. I sang the few lines I had composed.He praised my tune and music but offered to write a song for me to fit them.I sang the tune several times as the Kazi sat writing stanza after stanza;his words, as if poured after,and there nary was a change or scratching out of a word here or there.That was the song Saaon Ratey Jadi…. on which my re-cording was made.” It was a great hit.Then,in 1940, came two songs of Rabindranath Tagore,both approved by the Nobel prize winning poet.Tagore permitted him to record two more of his songs.
In 1945,Jagmoohan was given the award of Sursagar (ocean of music) in Bengal.The award has not since been given to anyone else,and the singer was only the second recipient of the honour.( The other recipient was Himangshu Datta ). In fact, most people have forgotten that Mitra is Jagmohan’s real surname; it has just become Jagmohan Sursagar, a name under which he also wrote an auto-biography in Bengali. It has recently been translated into Gujarati and brought out under the title of one his more famous songs, Dil Dekar Dard Liya Hai Maine…
Gandhiji too had appreciated Jagmohan’s singing and the singer recorded Sapt Kand Ramayana in six minutes at the Mahatma’s suggestion.Another national leader fond of his singing was Jay Prakash Narayan.
Jagmohan toured abroad also extensive and has been to among other countries East Africa,the U.K.,the U.S.A.and Canada,earning vast fan following everywhere. Speaking at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto,Jagmohan held his audience spell-bound,claiming there essentially was no barrier to music.He sang a Bengali composition in Bhairavi and followed up with an English song ,rendered in the same raga.
He came to Bombay in 1950 to become a Playback singer, but the Bombay film world atmosphere did not impress him and he did not sing in any film. In fact after 1955, he did not cut any record for Hindi films. In 1955, he sang under his own baton, for the only Hindi film for which he was the composer. This movie was “Sardaar”(1955).
A dignified individual, Jagmohan never turned bitter,became more of an introvert,paying heed to the calls of none but his inner voice.After the deaths of his mother and his wife in 1981,feeling lonely,he had moved residence thrice– from Bombay to Delhi for two years while he was a member of Censor Board,then to Calcutta and to Ahmedabad.
He did not seem to regard his moving from one city to another as something of great importance. He declared :”I crave for affection ,respect and human warmth and go wherever my inner-self tells me to. I have followed the dictates of my inner-self only all my life.”
“I can go away from a city,but I cannot go away from music”,he said.
He had become so popular due to his NFS in Hindi and Bangla, that he had neither the time nor the desire to sing for films. However Jagmohan sang 23 songs in 12 films, The films were, Bhakta Kabeer-42, Bhaichara-43, Hospital-43, Arzoo-44, Subah Shaam-44, Ameeri-45, Meghdoot-45, Krishnaleela-46, Pehchaan-46, Zameen aur Aasmaan-46, Iran ki ek raat-49 and Sardar-55.
After many attempts, it became clear as to how many Non film songs or Geets he sang in Hindi and the number is 75 songs. However. his songs are few on this Blog.The generation born in the 40s grew on Saigal,Jagmohan and Pankaj Mullick songs. There was a period when Non film Geets were extremely popular, even in the presence of film music, but gone are those days now when record collection was a respectful hobby. With this, the decline of such songs too came fast and only memories lived on.
In his book, Aap ki parchhainyan, shri Rajnikumar Pandyaji has mentioned an incident when Jagmohan went all the way to a far off place, just so that a dying fan of his songs, could listen to him while on deathbed. This is how Rajnikumar Pandya ji described this incident -in an E mail sent to me after I posted above information earlier. ” The patient was Manubhai Trivedi,father of my writer friend Niranjan Trivedi, I was knowing that Manubhai was an ardent fan of Jagmohan but due to his serious ailment it was not possible for him to come down to my place to see Jagmohanda who just arrived by morning train from Bombay .
“I therefore requested to Dada to pay a visit to Manubhai . He reluctantly agreed to it,We went to Manubhais place which was just few minutes form my place, After seeing his serious condition he expressed hid desire to sing a Bhajan before him though Manubhai was not in his senses, Anyway he sang a Bhajan “Ab tim kab sumiroge Raam, Jeevn do din ka maehamaan,’There were tears in the eyes of all who were present there including me and my small daughter who is party seen in the photograph attached with this mail. ( he attached a photograph for me).
Manubhai passed away after a week of this incident. ” The family members of the fan became eternally obliged to Jagmohan’s noble gesture.
Jagmohan returned to Bombay, after almost 2 years in Ahmedabad. He died on 4-9-2003, in Bombay.
The Hero of film Arzoo was Dhiraj Bhattacharya ( 5-11-1905 to 1959 ) worked in 10 Hindi films, namely Radha krishna-33, Seeta-34, Chandragupta-34, Balaa ki raat-36, Mandir-37, Kumkum the dancer-40, Arzoo-42, Wapas-43,Shri Ramanuj-43 and Irada-44.
Today’s song is not only a very rare song, but also an excellent Gazal. In the NFS, there is no parallel to jagmohan and Pankaj Mullick. You too will fall in love with this song, when you hear it. With this song, film Arzoo-44 makes its Debut on the Blog.
(I thank Rajnikumar Pandya ji, Manik Premchand ji, wiki and my notes for information used in the above article. )
Song- Hai kaun dil nahin jo pareeshaan e Aarzoo (Aarzoo)(1944) Singer- Jagmohan Sur Sagar, Lyricist-Khwaja Kidwai, MD- Subal Dasgupta
Lyrics
Hai kaun dil nahin jo pareeshan e aarzoo
Hai kaun dil nahin jo pareeshan e aarzoo
ye zindagi hai asal mein saamaan e aarzoo
ye zindagi hai asal mein saamaan e aarzoo
murjhaati hai jo ye ke to khilti hai doosri
murjhaati hai jo ye ke to khilti hai doosri
kaliyon se yoon bhara hai gulistaan e aarzoo
uske karam se ae ae ae
badhhta hai har dil ka hauslaa
uske karam se badhhta hai
har dil ka hauslaa
har dil ka hauslaa
phaila hua hai is liye daamaan e aarzoo
phaila hua hai is liye daamaan e aarzoo
maayoosiyaan bhi deti hain ummeed ko janam
maayoosiyaan bhi deti hain ummeed ko janam
naakaam e aarzoo ki to jaan hai aarzoo
shaayad isi tarah se khule girah phaans(?) ki
shaayad isi tarah se khule girah phaans(?) ki
girah phaans(?) ki
ham chhodte hain baandh ke paimaane aarzoo
ham chhodte hain baandh ke paimaane aarzoo
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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Today’s song is from an obscure, unknown film, Bhagya Laxmi-1944.
The film had a good star cast like, Shanta Apte, Prem Adib,Vasanti, Rajkumari Shukla, Jagdish Sethi, Moni Chaterjee etc. The few songs of this film, which I have heard make me feel that music too was good. ‘Proof of the Pudding is in its eating’-listen to today’s song and you too will like this very melodious song. Shanta Apte can not be called a very good singer- she was OK. But the Lyrics and the tune of the song has taken her voice to a new height. It is genuinely an excellent song indeed.
Both the lead actors had tremendous track record of successful films. Additionally, the film was directed by Sarvottam Badami, a real quality Director, who rose from being an ordinary Motor mechanic to a person whom Vallabh Bhai Patel-India’s Home Minister requested for help in setting up a News Reel and Documentary section,in 1948. The songs and music was good, better than many other films of 1944. Even then, the film did not become a Hit. It is one of those films which did not become well known for whatever reasons.
Now, this is the LUCK factor in film industry. There is no fixed formula to make a film Hit. It is the very strong good luck of one of the members of the film, which makes it a successful film. This was the first film in which two successful artistes Shanta Apte and Prem Adib were acting together. After this film, they worked in film ” Subhadra”-46 again and it was the last time that the two were together in a movie. In this film Shanta was Subhadra and Prem was her brother Krishna.
When I heard Prem Adib’s name first time in my younger days, I thought that he was a Muslim, because Adib sounded like Abid. However, when I saw film Ram Rajya-43, I was impressed with his good looks and personality. Generally, most Kashmiri actors are good looking( except Jeevan, but his son Kiran Kumar was good looking). After film Ramrajya-43, his name and fame spread wide unbelievably. I remember, somewhere in 1948 or 49, we had received a Calender, with Prem Adib and Shobhana Samarth as Ram and Seeta, in multicolour photograph. Even after the year was over, that calender remained on the wall, till it got torn.
Prem Adib was one of those actors who leave an indelible mark on their generation due to an extraordinary portrayal of a film character. Prem and Shobhana ruled the hearts of their generation in the roles of Ram and Seeta. They worked together in 12 films, in all but they played Ram and Seeta only in 4 of these films. Just one Ram Rajya would have been enough, actually ! One may feel that Prem Adib specialised in Mythological films, but just about 30% of his films were religious. The rest were social, Historical and other genres.
Famous as Cine world’s Ram, Shiv Prasad Adib was born on 10th August, 1916 in a Kashmiri Brahmin family in Sultanpur (Audh, Uttar Pradesh). His father Pandit Ramprasad Dhar was a lawyer. Ramprasad’s forefathers were known in the field of Literature. Impressed by his Litterateur personality, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah had conferred him with the title of ‘Adib’ (meaning Pandit-Vidwaan). In future, this title became their family name (surname).
At the age of 13 years, after watching a silent film ANAARBALA, Prem decided to join films. After matriculating from Jodhpur in 1932, he studied for 2 years in college, but the passion for films had not reduced. So in 1934 he gave up studies and headed straight to Calcutta. For 8 months he went to different studios there, but with no luck. From there he went to Lahore. After failing to get work in Lahore also, he arrived in Mumbai. Finally his wish was fulfilled and he got a job in Rajputana Films.
Director Mohan Sinha (Grandfather of Vidya Sinha) gave Shiv Prasad a small role in the film ROMANTIC INDIA and gave him his film-name: Prem Adib. Prem also got some small roles in Dariani Productions films like: PRATIMA (Premmurti), FIDA-E-VATAN (Tasveer-e-wafa) and INSAAF (1937). He also acted in Minerva Movietone’s social films like KHAN BAHADUR (1937) and TALAAQ (1938).
His first film as a hero opposite Shobhana Samarth was NIRALA HINDUSTAN (Industrial India). This film had 3 music directors. Naushad was an assistant to one of those three, Mushtaq Hussain. He appeared once again as a hero in GHUNGHATWAALI, Sagar Movietone’s BHOLBHOLE and SADHANA (1939). In SAUBHAGYA (1940), again as a hero with Shobhana Samarth, Prem Adib also sang the songs. In this way, from 1936 to 1940, there were 11 films released with acting by Prem Adib.
In terms of popularity, the decade of the 1940s was his career’s best phase. In that decade, besides acting in 28 films, he also produced 3 films. These were: DEHAATI, KASAM (1947) and RAM VIVAH (1949). He was also the director of RAM VIVAH. In the early 40s, Prem Adib joined the prestigious organization Prakash Pictures. Prem Adib’s starting salary was fixed at Rs. 700 per month. Prakash Pictures films in which Prem Adib acted were: DARSHAN, BHARAT MILAP, CHUDIYAAN, STATION MASTER, RAMRAJYA, POLICE, VIKRAMADITYA and RAM-BAAN. Pleased with Prem Adib’s performance in BHARAT MILAP (BHARAT-BHET in Marathi), his salary per month was increased by Rs. 300.
When the film was awarded gold medal in Calcutta, Kanhaiyalal Munshi was also present at the ceremony. He suggested Vijay Bhatt to make LUV KUSH. Gandhiji was heading the independence struggle for the country and he repeatedly said that the independent India of his dream would be like Ram-Rajya. Keeping in mind Kanhaiyalal Munshi’s suggestion, Vijay Bhatt did make the movie about Luv Kush but instead of calling it LUV KUSH, he named it RAM RAJYA. Released at Super Cinema in Mumbai this film scaled the peaks of popularity. It ran continuously for 108 weeks.
People started worshipping Prem Adib as Ram after BHARAT MILAAP and RAM RAJYA. Even though Prem Adib used to smoke cigarettes and eat non-vegetarian food in real life, he gave them up while filming RAM RAJYA. During the shooting he also read Ramayan every day.
Gandhiji, who had talked about Ram Rajya, had never ever watched even one movie. Since the Art Director of Vijay Bhatt’s films, Kanu Desai was a Gandhian and as a result of his efforts Gandhiji agreed to see RAM RAJYA. Once when Gandhiji had come to Bombay to rest because of illness, his Doctor Sushila Nair gave him permission to watch the film for only 40 min. After this time was over, when the doctor asked that the film be stopped, Gandhiji signaled that the film be continued and saw the whole film.
During that time, Prem Adib got married to Krishnakumari (alias Pratima), the daughter of a leading citizen Rai Saheb Rajeshwarnath Kaul, on 26th February, 1943 in Lahore.
In the 1950s, Prem Adib had 28 film releases. Most of them were religious films. ANGULIMAL in 1960 was his last film. His film RAM BHAKTI (1958) was censored again as BHAKT RAAJ and released in 1960. Prakash Pictures also compiled (put together) scenes from its own earlier films BHARAT MILAAP, RAMRAAJYA and RAM BAAN and made a film RAMAYAN in 1954.
Prem Adib died in 1959 following a protracted illness which began in a car accident and a botched kidney surgery. On 25th December, 1959 Prem Adib had gone to a party with his wife Pratima. During the day he was healthy and fine, but after coming back he had an attack of brain hemorrhage due to high blood pressure. His wife fainted at his untimely and unexpected death. His last rites were taken over and completed by his relatives present at that time. When his fans came to know they complained that if they had been informed they would have given him a farewell befitting Ram.
Prem Adib did Ram’s role in 8 films- Bharat Milap-42, Ram Rajya-43, Raam Baan-48, Ram Vivah-49, Ram Navmi-56, Ram Hanuman Yudha-57, Ram Laxman-57 and Ram Bhakta Bibhishan-58. He worked in about 75 films, directed 1 film and sang 26 songs in 9 films.
Another interesting actor in this star cast was Vasanti.In Hindi films, male child actors rarely made it to adult Hero roles, with few exceptions. But many of the female child artistes became Heroines in their adulthood. Examples are Meena kumari, Nargis, Madhubala etc etc. Even Nanda and Shakuntala became adult Heroines, though, for a long time the prefix ‘Baby’ stuck to them.
One such child artiste was Vasanti- who was good in acting and singing. She was in great demand too.However, after 15 films and 56 songs in 14 films, she left film world, at the age of just 19 years, to settle as a housewife after her marriage. Had she continued, I am sure, she would have been a successful Heroine also.
Vasanti Vinayakrao Ghorpade,was born on 23-3-1925 in Kolhapur. her father’s sister Tanibai was a famous classical singer. Married to Bapusaheb Kagalkar,she was active in films till 1931 in Kolhapur.
Vasanti was trained by Pt. Vamanrao Sadolikar and Ustad Bamman Khan. She first acted in Dharmatma-35 as a child artist. Then came Amarjyoti-36 and Duniya na maane-37. Her songs in these films were popular. She left Prabhat in 1939 and joined Ranjit.
She did Sant Tulsidas-39, Aapki Marzi-39, Musafir-40, Diwali-40, Achoot-40, Beti-41, Sukh Dukh-42, Bhaktaraj-43, Kurbani-43, Meena-44, Bhagya laxmi-44 also. She sang 56 songs in 14 films. She did not sing in Bhagya Laxmi-44 and Meena-44, but sang in Holi-40.
In 1944, during the shooting of film Bhagya Laxmi-44, she married Indubhai Patel and settled in Bangalore. Her last film was Bachhon ka khel-46,which was the first film of Meena Kumari, as an adult.
Enjoy this melodious song in the voice of Shanta Apte. With this song, film Bhagya Laxmi makes its Debut on this Blog.
( Information for this post has been used from Harish Raghuwanshi ji’s Gujarati book ‘ Inhe na bhulana’ Screen play by Isak Mujawar, Cinema Diary by Padmakar Pathakji, maitrimanthan.com, Vidur Suri ji with thanks and my notes).
Song- Khaali hai Daaman-e-Muraad(Bhaagya Laxmi)(1944) Singer- Shanta Apte, Lyricist- Not known, MD- G M Durani
Lyrics
Khaali hai Daaman-e-Muraad
Khaali hai Daaman-e-Muraad
umr tamaam ho gayi
umr tamaam ho gayi
mujhko to ek haal mein
mujhko to ek haal mein
subah se shaam ho gayi
subah se shaam ho gayi
lab pe hua hai aah hai
lab pe hua hai aah hai
hasti e dil tabaah hai
raaz mein thhi jo daastaan
raaz mein thhi jo daastaan
aaj se aam ho gayi
aaj se aam ho gayi
aah se mujh ko kaam hai
aah se mujh ko kaam hai
mujhko ?? hai ??
meri tamaam zindagi
meri tamaam zindagi
dard ke naam ho gayi
dard ke naam ho gayi
gham ne bada maza diya
gham ke nisaar jaaun main
gham ne bada maza diya
gham ke nisaar jaaun main
hans ke jo do chapat pade
hans ke jo do chapat pade
rone pe shaam ho gayi
rone pe shaam ho gayi
Main duniya ki raani
Posted on: May 30, 2019
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Today’s song is from film Ghar ki shobha-1944.
The history of Hindi Film Music (HFM) begins with the very first Talkie ” Alam Ara”-1931, in which there were 7 songs. Madan Theatres, Calcutta, Krishna Cinetone, Bombay and few other production houses were busy hectically in 1931, to release their First Talkie film, ahead of all others. Lucky Ardeshir Irani got the cake and released his film Alam Ara before all others and engraved his name in the history of Hindi and Indian talkies. Music and singing being an integral part of the Talkie films, many musicians were attracted to films. Stage and Drama musicians and some classical singers joined films and gave music in them. In those days, Film music was totally influenced by Gujarati, Parsee and Marathi stage and Drama music (Natya Sangeet). Probably no one ever imagined that there was a need for a different approach to Cine Music.
For the first 9-10 years of Hindi films, i.e. 1931 to almost 1940,there was virtually no change in the music pattern or the singing styles of songs in films. By the end of the 30s, playback technique was gaining a foothold. This system actually freed the Cinema from songs sung by film stars who were no singers at all ! Genuine, independent, non-star singers were now available to give playback. This was the case in the western India or Bombay made films. The Eastern centre of Hindi film making-Calcutta was strictly following Robindra Sangeet and Nazrul Geeti, adapted into Hindi film songs. They also used more pure Hindi words like Preet, Prem, Bandhan, Milan, Sangam, Vyatha etc to appeal to Hindi belt audience.
Beginning of the change came from the far off Lahore. Dalsukh Pancholi’s “Khazanchi”-41 introduced for the first time the Punjabi folk tunes music in the voice of a New singer SHAMSHAD BEGUM. The use of Dholak and Punjabi robust rhythm in songs was tried by the composer Master Ghulam Hyder. This path breaking,new type of Music was received by the audience with great joy and love, all over India. With this was ushered in the VIBRANT changes HFM was to undergo in the 5th decade,i.e. from 1941 to 1949.
This was also the time when the old batch of actors, singers and composers were slowly getting replaced by a newer crop of artistes. Phirozshah Mistry, Master Ali Baksh, Jaddanbai,Lallubhai Nayak, Pransukh Nayak, Brijlal Verma, Nagardas Nayak, Sunderdas Bhatiya, Govindrao Tembe, Keshvrao Bhole, Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar, master Mohammed, Jhande Khan, Rewashankar Marwadi, B S Hoogan, Meer Sahab, Damodar Sharma, Jhande Khan, Rewashankar Marwadi, S P Rane, Vithaldas Panchotiya, Annasaheb Mainkar, Dada Chandekar, Mushtaq Hussain, Master Chhaila etc were disappearing one by one.
A new set of composers and singers like Anil Biswas, Ashok Ghosh, C.Ramchandra, Ghulam Hyder, Sajjad Hussain, Naushad, K.Datta, Govind Ram, Pt. Amarnath, Husnalal Bhagatram, Khemchand Praksah,Khursheed Anwar, Nissar Bazmi, Vinod, A R Qureshi, Saraswati devi, Bulo c Rani, Gyan Dutt etc were taking over from the old guards.
These new entrants brought with them melodious tunes and music from Goa, UP, Rajasthan, Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Kashmir etc and their experimentation truly enriched the HFM making it a genuinely All India music.
In the 40s, the HFM became absolutely VIBRANT. The new composers with new ideas and hard work tried to understand what the audience wanted. In other words,we can say that hitherto the film music was ” Sales Oriented ” (selling what you produce) till the 30s decade, but the 40’s music was ” Market oriented” (producing what the audience wants). Now, there was a fair and healthy competition and a wide variety in music. The composers too had new singers who were trained and had a singing voice and talent, unlike the earlier ‘Untrained forced singers’. Naushad Ali had once said,’’ The coming of Rafi and Lata liberated we composers from the painful task of making the ‘musically illiterate’ actors and actresses.” Thus Ashok kumar,Leela Chitnis and the likes of them were left alone to concentrate on their acting,while the trained singers sang for them.
New and exclusive playback singers like Amirbai, Zohrabai, Kalyanibai, Rajkumari Mohantara, Shamshad, lalita Deulkar, G M Durani, Rafi etc became popular. Actually, the lead actors now started deciding who should sing their songs. This paved the way for stars to become powerful in coming period.
Like Music, the type of cinema stories too started changing. The Fantasy, Stunt, Mythological, Historical, Religious and Costume dramas gave way to Love stories, Musicals. Family dramas, Comedy, Crime stories…so on and so forth. Overall, the cinema industry was going through a overhauling. However, the winds of Independence, after the world war put a brake to these changes. 1945 to 1950 was a period of turmoil and matters settled fully with the advent of the new decade of the 50’s.
In this change over, here was a film discussing the problems of a Happy Home. Ghar ki Shobha-1944 was a film which stressed the importance and need of the capable housewife who was an ” Adarsh” Bahu, Bibi, Mother and everything else the society needed !
The main players in this family drama were, Karan Dewan, Swarnalata, Jagdish Sethi, Dixit, Fazlu, Ramesh Saigal etc etc. The film was directed by Harshadrai Mehta- who became a well known director in Tamil films of Madras, later. Ramesh Saigal assisted him in direction. Harshadrai Sakerlal Mehta
was a Pioneer Hindi and Tamil director born in Mota, Bardoli Dist., Gujarat. Started as a painter, editor and cameraman at Kohinoor (1919), but made his début for Krishna Film (Ver Ni Vasulat). At Krishna he began his association with long-time partner and cameraman Luhar (e.g. Be Din Ni Badshahi, Amar Asha) making melodramas often starring the Anglo-Indian star Ermeline. Best-known film of this period is Janjirne Jankare, the much-acclaimed Rajput romance scripted and shot by Luhar. Made his most influential films with the famous Mehta- Luhar Prod. set up in 1931 with Bapubhai Desai and the informal support of the Sharda Studio. Made several Sharda-type stunt movies featuring e.g. Navinchandra. Moved to Coimbatore’s Premier Cinetone (1937) and made a number of Tamil films.
In Hindi films, there have been three actors who were very handsome and very lucky but zero in acting – Karan Dewan, Pradeep Kumar and Bharat Bhushan. They all appeared in leading roles opposite all leading actresses of their times. They had the best films, best songs and best roles. Karan Dewan had about 25 Silver Jubilees to his credit and was considered a lucky star. Bharat Bhushan had the most musical films to his credit like ‘Baiju Bawra’ (1952), ‘Shabaab’ (1954) and ‘Mirza Ghalib’ (1954) etc. Pradeep Kumar had ‘Anarkali’ (1953) and ‘Taj Mahal’ (1963).
All three had their brothers producing films for them. Gemini Dewan made films for Karan Dewan, R Chandra made films for Bharat Bhushan and Kalidas for Pradeep Kumar. Unfortunately, in later years, all three lost everything and died in poverty and neglectful anonymity. Karan Dewan was a manager with BR Chopra’s production company. When he died no one came for his funeral except for Chandrashekhar and Manmohan Krishan from the Cine Artist’s Association. Bharat Bhushan worked as a watchman in a film studio, in his last days. Even he died unsung and only the men from the Association were present at the cremation.
Pradeep Kumar’s case is the saddest. He lay seriously ill in the ICU of a Calcutta nursing home, abandoned by his relatives. The hospital was not discharging unless the bills were paid. Luckily one Mr. Pradeep Kondaliya, an estate agent, recognised him, despite his grown beard. He paid the huge outstanding bill of the hospital and took Pradeep Kumar to his home, where he passed away after a few days. He was cremated by his fan. Such is the film industry – cruel and ruthless, where the recognition lasts only till one is successful.
Dewan Karan Chopra aka Karan Dewan ( 6-11-1917 to 2-8-1979 ) youngest of three brothers was born at Gujranwala, Punjab (now in Pakistan), British India. He studied in Lahore, where he became interested in Journalism and started editing a film magazine in Urdu, Jagat Lakshmi. One of the local distributors he met was Tarachand Barjatya, who was then the Manager of Chandanmal Inder Kumar’s distribution office at Lahore. Through his connection with Barjatya he landed in Calcutta, and in 1939, made his acting debut as Puran in the Punjabi feature film Puran Bhagat
Dewan started his film career with the role of Puran in Puran Bhagat in Punjabi in 1939 in Calcutta. It was produced by Raisaheb Sukhlal Karnani and directed by Roop K. Shorey’s father R. L. Shorey. His second film Mera Maahi (1941) was also a Punjabi film, directed by Shankar Mehta at Lahore and starring Ragini and Manorama. This was the movie in which he sang songs for the first time in the movies under the baton of legendary music director Shyam Sunder. Later, in Rattan, he sang for the first time in Hindi movies for Naushad. B R Chopra, then working as a film journalist in Lahore, helped Karan Dewan to get in touch with Devika Rani, who invited Dewan to come to Bombay. When this did not helpDewan get films, he taught “Urdu pronunciation to actors and actresses”.
In 1944, Karan Dewan acted in Rattan, a musical romantic drama, directed by M. Sadiq, which became one of the most popular films of that year. “A tremendous hit”, it paired Dewan with Swarnalata. His decisive film was Rattan (1944), which was produced by his brother Jaimini Diwan, and this movie had turned out to be the biggest hit of 1944. He also sang songs in this movie under music director Naushad, and his song “Jab Tum Hi Chale Pardes” became popular. He sang in films such as Piya Ghar Aaja (1947), Mitti Ke Khiloune (1948) and Lahore (1949). His other important films were Zeenat (1945), Lahore (1949), Dahej (1950), Bahar (1951) and Teen Batti Char Rasta (1953). Known as a “jubilee star”, about twenty of his films are stated to have been jubilee (twenty-five weeks or more) hits.
Dewan married co-actress Manju in 1944 following the release of Rattan, in which she had a character role. By 1966, he was working as a casting agent for the film unit of Maya (1966). He continued to work in the 1960s and 1970s playing supporting parts in films such as Apna Ghar (1960), Shaheed(1965), Jeene Ki Raah (1969) and Nadaan (1971), with the last film in which he was credited being Sohanlal Kanwar’s Atmaram (1979).
He worked in 73 films and sang 18 songs in 9 films. He worked with all leading actresses of his times,including Noorjehan and Nargis. At the end of his career, however, he was down financially and had to work as a Manager with B R Chopra’s company. When he died, except two workers of Cine artistes association, no one else from Film industry was present.
Ustad Alla Rakha aka A R Qureshi ( 29-4-1919 to 3-2-2000) gave music to this film. Having started only in 1943 with Mahasati Anusuya, film Ghar ki shobha-44 was his only the second film as an MD. So his music sounds fresh. After you hear today’s song, you will agree with me. He gave music to 40 films, composing 356 songs. He also sang 14 songs in 7 films.
In the cast of this film, there was one fading actor – Dixit, from the Dixit and Ghori pair of that era. The projected themselves on the lines of Laurel and Hardy…Hardy being our Dixit. Later, Yaqub and Gope triede to project their image as Laurel and Hardy and still later Johar and Majnu tried to copy Bob Hope and Bing Crosby of Hindi cinema ! Let’s take a look at Dixit and Ghory- a very popular comedy pair of early cinema.
Manohar Janardhan Dixit was born on 12-11-1906 at Sinner in Nashik district,Maharashtra (Bombay state at that time.) His comedy career started with silent film ‘Sparkling youth’-1930. His first day of work in a film was 14-11-1929. He did 3 more silent films with Navjivan Films and then joined Ranjit studio. Here he met his mate Nazir Ahmed Ghori,born on 11-8-1901 at Bombay.He was the senior of the two,having started in 1927. He worked till 1931 in silent films of various companies and then joined Ranjit studio in 1931 Here too he did 4 silent films.
He paired with Dixit first time in Char Chakram-1932,directed by Jayant Desai.The film was a terrific hit and the pair did many films together like, Bhutio mahal,Do badmash,Bhola shikar,Bhool bhulaiya,Vishwamohini,nadira etc. They worked together till 1947,doing solo films also in between. Unfortunately none of their films have survived and we know about their acting only through Photographs,interviews and articles. However Dixit’s solo films like Pehle aap-44,Jeevan yatra-46,Aap ki sewa mein-47 and Pugree-47 are still available.In film Pugree,his name was Ramu kaka and the very fat Dixit (222 pounds) carried the world’s smallest dog-Chikoo in the film.Later comedian Omprakash did this role in the remake of the film in Dil Daulat Duniya-1972.
Dixit acted in 66 Talkie films and 8 silent films in 17 years. He died on 29-6-1949 due to a massive heart attack. His partner Ghori migrated to Pakistan and did 8 films there till 1960, without much success. He died on 9-12-1977 at Karachi.
Today’s song is sung by Rajkumari. Note the type of music and tune. With this song, film Ghar ki Shobha-44 makes its Debut on the Blog.
Song-Main duniya ki raani (Ghar Ki Shobha)(1944) Singer- Rajkumari, Lyrics- Roopbani, MD- Alla Rakha Qureshi
unknown male voice
Lyrics
Main duniya ki raani
laalalalaalaalala
duniya ki raani
Main duniya ki raani
laalalalaalaalala
duniya ki raani
firti hoon mauj manaati
firti hoon mauj manaati
chhed chhaad se dil behlaati
chhed chhaad se dil behlaati
karti hoon main manmaani
karti hoon main manmaani
Main duniya ki raani
laalalalaalaalala
duniya ki raani
Main duniya ki raani
laalalalaalaalala
duniya ki raani
main ?? kheloon
saagar se geet bakheroon(?)
main ?? kheloon
saagar se geet bakheroon(?)
aazaadi ki deewaani
aazaadi ki deewaani
Main duniya ki raani
laalalalaalaalala
duniya ki raani
Main duniya ki raani
laalalalaalaalala
duniya ki raani
meri laila jaisi aankhen
meri laila jaisi aankhen
sab majnu ban kar jhaanken
sab majnu ban kar jhaanken
zulfen to mast jawaani
zulfen to mast jawaani
Main duniya ki raani
laalalalaalaalala
duniya ki raani
Main duniya ki raani
laalalalaalaalala
duniya ki raani
?? kar pankh hilaati
bhanwron ko paas bulaati
?? kar pankh hilaati
bhanwron ko paas bulaati
patthar dil kar doon paani
patthar dil kar doon paani
haay haay laila
Main duniya ki raani
laalalalaalaalala
duniya ki raani
Main duniya ki raani
laalalalaalaalala
duniya ki raani
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