Archive for the ‘Songs of 1944’ Category
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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Today’s song is from a Stunt film of the early 40’s – Mauji Jeevan-1944. It was made under the banner of Harishchandra Pictures, Owned by Harishchandra Rao Kadam. The film was directed by Poonawala He seems to have done only this one film. Similarly, the Lyricist Baba Paagal wrote all the 7 songs of this film and then disappeared from the filmdom.
The C grade stunt films were the cheapest ones to make. Compared to the investment, the profits used to be very good. Producers of stunt/action films tried their best to get the directors, Lyricists and the MDs at minimum rates. For this, sometimes they pretended to give opportunities to new aspirants. This had double benefits. One, being new, he depended upon the producers – thus the films were virtually directed by the producers only. Secondly they needed to be paid near to nothing. This way money was saved…to hell with quality !
The actors working in such stunt films were fixed with almost every studio or producer. They had no chances of working in big banners or Social films. They either kinew no acting or their skills were specific to stunt films like say, fighting, Horse riding, jumping, sword fighting etc. Their charges were also very low. In case the producer himself was acting, then there was no question of making actual payment( though on paper they may be getting some payments). producers like Master Bhagwan, Chandra rao Kadam etc. used to follow this method.
The audience of stunt films did not come to see histrionic talents of the actors, or listen to heavenly music. All they wanted to see was DareDevil action, fighting, 2-3- ” maar Daala” Dances and villain ki bharpoor “Kutai” and “Pitai”. Therefore all matters concerning getting quality actors, famous directors or well known composers never arose for these films. It used to be a thrilling experience to see these action/stunt films in a theatre and enjoy the loud comments and active participation of the audience in the film. When dances were shown whistles were common and when the hero started beating the villain, the audience enthusiastically encouraged the hero and shouted “Maar saale ko” or similar motivating phrases ! I have enjoyed all this first person, several times. I feel sorry that the current generation is missing all this fun.
The Music Director of this film was Gulshan Sufi. This was his just the second movie as a Composer, having Debuted with the film Aaina-44. Of Course being an assistant to a few composers and having sung songs in films, he had some experience. Gulshan Soofi was born at Larkana in 1914. His father and mother died when he was small. He was looked after by a Hermit named Agha Ghulam Nabi Soofi, who treated him as his son. Here he got some education. Having an attraction for Theatres, he ran away and joined Agha Hashr Theatrical company, but he was forced back to the Hermit.
Finally, he came to Bombay with Bhai Dessa and recorded a few songs. He joined Nanubhai Vakil as an extra, where his talent was recognised and he sang in films Rashk e Laila-34 and Gulshan e Alam-35 besides acting in small roles. Then he worked at karachi in films, sang Sindhi songs in Amritsar Gramophone co.. He worked in Mother India-38, Watan-38, Payam e Haq-39 and Jungle Princess-42.
He started as MD with film Aina-44, then came Mauji Jeewan-44, Saathi-46, Durban-46, Devar-46, Pati Sewa-47, Janmapatri-49, Sabj Bagh-51, Zamane ki Hawa-52, Faryadi-53 and lastly Ghamand-55. Gulshan acted in 7 films and sang14 songs. He composed 66 songs in 11 films. In 1957, Gulshan Soofi migrated to Pakistan and retired. No news after that.
In the world of Stunt films of the 40’s, The Kadam Brothers were Unique. The elder one Chandra Rao Kadam came into films first, made name and money and then helped the younger brother harishchandra Rao to get established. He even got him a studio of his own. They worked in each other’s films as Heroes.
Hero of this stunt film was Harishchandra Rao (Kadam). He was born in Bhuj, Gujarat on 11-8-1910. He did early schooling in Bhuj, but his family shifted to Karachi, due to financial debacle. He did Cycle repairing work and completed his matriculation by the age of 18 years. He joined a Touring film company. Once, while in Bombay he was watching the film shooting in the Paramount company. Suddenly, the director offered him a role in the film. Thus he entered the films. From 1932 he did few silent films.
He joined Shankar Bhatt’s Prakash Pictures and worked in their first Talkie, ” Bambai ki Mohini “- 1934. He was with Prakash, upto 1939, doing stunt films inside and outside also. He did some films for Wadia too, in between. Finally he started his own company, ” Harishchandra Productions “. He continued to work as an actor, director and producer. He sang a few songs also.
Some of his films were Daulat, Naujawan, Rangila mazdoor, Rangila jeevan, Sukhi jeevan, Lehri jawan, Inaam, Sone ki chidiya, Durban, Laat sahib, Tamasha etc etc He worked in about 42 films.
His brother Chandrarao Kadam was also a stunt actor. He was known as Stunt King. He had his Chandrarao Films. He acted, directed and produced films. The brothers were friendly with Master Bhagwan and gave him preference in their films, till Bhagwan started his own company- Jagriti films. Later on Chandrarao floated his own Chandivali Studio in Bombay suburb, which is still actively run by his progeny.
Heroine of the film Mauji Jeevan-44 was Sulochana Chatterjee-younger sister of Kamla Chatterjee, an actress and wife of Kidar Sharma, the famous writer and Director of Hindi films. Actually, at one time, there were at least 5 Sulochanas operating at the same time in the Hindi film industry. They did not create Same Name Confusion because every Sulochana used her Surname, setting her apart from other Sulochanas. There were 3 actresses- Sulochana Sr aka Ruby Myers, Sulochana Latkar and Sulochan Chatterjee. There were 2 Singers- Suloichan Chavan and Sulochana Vyas.
Born in Chandranagar, Sulochana Chatterjee was the daughter of a military man and the family, five girls, including the late Kamla Chatterjee ( she looked like Geeta Bali, and was Kidar Sharma’s wife), and one boy, used to travel along with their parents to wherever their father was transferred.
From Calcutta they moved to Jabalpur and it was here that Sulochana did her schooling. She also took an active part in school dramatics. After some time the family was transferred to Bombay and here her younger sister, Kamla, was spotted by Sohrab Modi, a friend of their father’s, and given a role as a child star in Modi’s picture Jailor (1938).
Once Sulochana happened to visit the sets one day and after watching her sister at work, She was offered a part in Harishchandra Pictures’ “Aina”-44, which she accepted. She co-starred with Trilok Kapoor. She starred in scores of films after that, among them the comedy “Ladli”-50, in which she appeared with Jairaj, and “Grahasti”-48 which was a memorable hit and in which she played with Yakub and Masood.
Sulochana acted in two Bengali pictures “Apanaela”, produced by Saroj Mukerjee and directed by Benoy Banerjee with Pradeep Kumar as her leading man, and Benoy Banerjee’s “Minoti” in which she shared stellar honors with Smriti Biswas and Paresh Banerjee. Her well known films are Chaitanya Mahaprabhu-53, Rami Dhoban-53, Shahjehan-46, Veena-48, Nav Durga-53, Jagte Raho-56, Jis desh mein Gaqnga behti hai-60, Saraswatichandra-68 etc.
In all she acted in 119 films. Her first film was Shobha-42 and last film was Shabas Daddy-79. After retirement, she settled in Bombay. Sulochana Chatterjee died on 30-8-1999.
Today’s song is sung by Malka Amir Jaan and Gulshan Soofi. The female singer Malka Amir Jaan was a professional singer at Meerut (United province), She had also sung a song in film Khooni Khanjar-1934 earlier, under the baton of Music Director Damodar Sharma. Sometimes the Music Directors called professional singers from outside to sing songs in their films. Another example is , Khwaja Khurshid Anwar, MD, had called Lucknow’s famous professional singer Gauhar Sultana to sing 3 solo songs in his film Ishara-1943.
With this song, the film Mauji Jeevan-1944 makes its Debut on this Blog.
Song- Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho-dekho bahaar (Mauji Jeevan)(1944) Singers- Malika Amir Jaan, Gulshan Soofi, Lyricist- Baba Pagal, MD- Gulshan Soofi
Both
Lyrics
Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho
dekho bahaar….
Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho
dekho bahaar
main hoon maalan dildaar
koi poochhe na yaar
main hoon maalan dildaar
koi poochhe na yaar
meri uthhti jawaa
haaye
meri uthhti jawaa
uyi
Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho
dekho bahaar
Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho
dekho bahaar
jab ke ban thhan ke
jab ke ban thhan ke
ghar se nikalti hoon main
jab ke ban thhan ke
ghar se nikalti hoon main
to hazaaron ke dil ko masalti hoon main
to hazaaron ke dil ko masalti hoon main
tujhe dekhe jo koi to aaye bukhaar
tujhe dekhe jo koi to aaye bukhaar
mere aashiq hazaar
??pallu sambhaal
mere aashiq hazaar
??pallu sambhaal
meri uthhti jawaa
haaye
meri uthhti jawaa
uyi
Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho
dekho bahaar
Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho-
dekho bahaar
yahaan laakhon ke armaan machalne bhare??
yahaan laakhon ke
maar daala
?? machalne bhare
koi ulloo ka patthha jo tum par marey
koi ulloo ka patthha jo tum par marey
chaloon seena ubhaar
tum pe jam jam nisaar
chaloon seena ubhaar
tum pe jam jam nisaar
Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho-
dekho bahaar
Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho-
dekho bahaar
koi kehta hai mujhko ke o dilruba
koi kehta hai mujhko ke o dilruba
koi kehti hai jaani idhar aa zara
koi kehti hai jaani ee
koi lootega haa??
koi khaaye khataas
oi lootega haa??
koi khaaye khataas
Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho
dekho bahaar
Meri uthhti jawaani ki dekho
dekho bahaar
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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4745 | Post No. : | 16472 | Movie Count : |
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Today’s song is from a very obscure film Lieutenant-1944 ( It is pronounced as लेफ्टनंट ). It was actually a stunt film, belying the film title, which misled the readers thinking that this was a War film ! The only connection of this film with War was perhaps that this film was made during the II WW period.
The War period of 1939 to 1945 was quite tough for the film industry. The most stunning blow to it was that the supply of most essential items were now under the control of the Government and that the Raw Film was one of the items in their list ! The Raw film supply was not only restricted, but also it was given to only those who were making the films regularly. Additionally a filmmaker who would make a War Propaganda film or show in his films such scenes was eligible for extra quota at control rates. For this reason some leading filmmakers made Propaganda films,e.g. Master Vinayak made “Badi Maa” in 1945, while Acharya Atre made film ” Panna” in 1944.
The Government control on essentials like Petrol, Sugar etc prompted the rise of Black Marketing and generation of Black money. Many unscrupulous people made a lot of money. Some of this easy money flowed into the film line and during the 1940s decade, this money slowly destroyed the Studio system, encouraged freelancing and the prices of stars soured skywards. The cost of making films also escalated. Even an ordinary C grade Stunt film, which could be made in about 50000 at the beginning of 1940, ended in Lakhs by 1949 end.
The Government had increased the Entertainment Taxes in Bombay, Madras, UP and CP areas, so the cost of Cinema tickets had increased. Prithvi Theatre was launched by Prithviraj Kapoor. Film artistes gathered under the leadership of EVR Naicker in Madras to form DMK party. M. Karunanidhi was a prominent leader.
In Spite of all this, some good Musical films were made in 1944. Saigal, who arrived in Bombay from Calcutta for good, made his second film in Bombay. New composers, New Heros and New heroines brought a variety of Genres of films made in 1944. Some of the major films of 1944 were….
Bhanwara – Second film by Saigal and Khemchand Prakash in Ranjit in Bombay. Made in just 9 days’ shooting for Saigal, by director Kidar Sharma. It was the second film for Monica Desai too (sister of Leela Desai and wife of Phani Mujumdar).
Bharthari – Last film in India by singer actress Jahan Ara Kajjan who sang her last 2 songs in it. She migrated to Pakistan in the wake of Partition. Very good songs in the film, especially ” Bhiksha de de maiya” by Amirbai and Surendra.
Chal Chal re Naujawan – First film from newly established Filmistan, by the deserters’ group from Bombay Talkies, led by S.Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar. Ashok Kumar sang 6 songs in it for the first time for Ghulam Haider. His song ” Bolo Har Har Mahadev” was very melodious and popular.
Chand – Debut film of Husnlal-Bhagatram team. They were recommended by elder brother Pt. Amarnath, who was the first choice of D.D.Kashyap. After V.Shantaram and his team left Prabhat, this was an attempt by Prabhat to join the mainstream by opting for the first time a Non Marathi star cast and Punjabi style musicians. 5 singers were used by H-B for 11 songs. A mild success film.
Daasi – it was a musical from Lahore by Pt. Amarnath- with his favourite Zeenat Begum.
Film Dost produced the evergreen Noor Jahan song ” Badnam – muhabbat kaun karen” composed by Sajjad Hussain. This one song alone made them both immortal.
Draupadi – a feeble attempt by Baburao Patel to make a Heroine out of his secretary Sushila Rani.
Gaali – Another film by Sajjad, but with only 3 songs to him and 9 to Hanuman Prasad.
Iraada – Pt.Amarnath brought Hemant Kumar for his second Hindi song. He had debuted in the film Meenakshi-42 already, but no record was issued for that song.
Ismat – The first and the only film of the brothers Pt. H.P.Sharma and Pt. Govardhan pershad, as a composer team.
Jwar Bhata – Devika Rani’s discovery, Dilip Kumar’s first film. He was the side Hero and the Hero was Agha. Actress Mrudula also debuted as Dilip’s Heroine.
Krishn Bhakt Bodana – The only film of the Revolutionary Poet singer Master Vasant from Surat. Avinash Vyas, Shankar rao Vyas composed music, while S.N.Tripathi gave background music.
Musical film Lal Haveli – Only time when Noor Jehan and Surendra sang together under Mir Saheb.
Mann ki Jeet – W.Z.Ahmed brings new Heroine Neena, who sings in the voice of Debutante Sitara of Kanpur in all her films. Neena was a Non-Singer.
My Sister – Saigal goes back to Calcutta to complete a Musical film ” My Sister”. Pankaj Mullick gives excellent songs by Saigal and others.
There were two films ‘ Panchhi’ and ‘ O Panchhi’ with average songs.
Panna – A war propaganda film based on ” Mata Hari” story, with a new Heroine Geeta Nizami. MD Amir Ali dies before the film is released. The credits in the film dedicate the film to Late Amir Ali.
Perhaps the best music was by Vasant Desai to film ” Parbat pe apna dera”. Vanmala and ulhas excel in acting in a story of sexual repression. All songs are excellent, especially Amirbai’s song ” Pareshan hoon main ” is simply divine.
Lastly, the Best one. Record breaking musical ” Rattan” gave superlative songs by Naushad. Barring 2 songs by Manju, the other 8 songs were all Hits. Rattan gave 200% returns on the film and song records, to the Producer.
Film Lieutenant-44 was made by National Theatre, Bombay and it was directed by a veteran of stunt films, Nari Ghadiyali. There were 8 songs,all written by lyricist Mustafa. We do not know who was its Music Director. The cast of the film was Benjamin, Sharada, Bibi, Sadiq, Shahzadi, Putli,Habeeb,Nazira and many others. Two interesting names in the cast are Putli and Sadiq.
Mothers and daughters acted as leading ladies in the same era….Miss Putli or Putlibai and Miss Gohar Mamajiwala (the term Miss was used not merely to state the marital status of the leading ladies of those days)….
Like Miss Sharifa and Husna Banu , Putli and Gohar were mother and daughter. Putli was an accomplished actress of the silent screen who championed in the Talkies because of her extraordinary singing talents. Gohar was born in 1910 and entered the screen in 1926, where her mother Miss Putli too entered more or less the same time. Information about Miss Putli is very limited however, Gohar became India’s popular iconic star and is still remembered today.
Miss Putli acted in 33 Talkie films. Her first Talkie was Ratan Manjiri-35 and her last film was Dhoke baaz-46. She sang one song each in the film Lehri Badmash-44 and Dhokebaaz-46.
Sadiq Ali, was born on 6-10-1911 at Jalandhar, Punjab. His 2 cousins- Wazir Ali and Nazir Ali were famous Indian cricketers. Sadiq Ali completed his Engineering degree and worked in M.E.S. at Kanpur (Military Engg. Services). Due to strong desire to work in films and dramas, he resigned from his job after 5 years and joined Agha Hashr’s Drama company. When the company was closed, he joined The Burma Imperial film company at Rangoon. After a few small roles, he came down to Bombay.
After working in some smaller companies, he joined Minerva Movietone. Starting with khan Bahadur-37, he worked in Minerva’s Pukar-39, Sikandar-41, Phir Milenge-42, Prithwiraj Sanyogita-43, Parakh-44 (only directed by Modi) and Ek din ka sultan-45, also in Sandesa-39,Black out, Duniya tumhari hai, Phir milenge, Lieutenant, Ulti Ganga, Patharon ke saudagar,Jagbeeti,Nishana, Do Naina, Manjhdar, Mitti etc. In all he acted in 23 films. His last film was Ever Ready-46. After partition, he migrated to Pakistan.
First film in Pakistan was Judai (1950 Shaheena,Nazar and Zeenat). Other films include Shola (1952).
Sadiq Ali was a very successful and famous actor before partition and got the title of Prince of Minerva. He acted in many films in India, but in Pakistan, Sadiq Ali could not be successful as he was in India.
He was paralyzed in the 60’s and could be seen sitting with a Pan shop in Capitol Cinema lane, Karachi. Died on 12-7-1977 in Karachi. In his last days, he was seen begging on the road.
No information is available on the film story or other details. With today’s song, film Lieutenant-1944 makes its debut on this blog.
Song- Dushman ki chhaati par jhanda gaad ke hum lehraayenge (Lieutenant)(1944) Singers- unknown male voice, Lyricist- Mustafa, MD- Dada Chandekar
Chorus
Lyrics
Dushman ki chhaati par jhanda gaad ke hum lehraayenge
zaalim ko duniya se mitaakar jai jaikaar manaayenge
jai jaikaar manaayenge
Dushman ki chhaati par jhanda gaad ke hum lehrayenge
zaalim ko duniya se mitaakar jai jaikaar manaayenge
jai jaikaar manaayenge
rokenge seene per apni dushman ki sangeen
dushman ki sangeen
qurbaani ke khoon se hi ye duniya hai rangeen
ye duniya hai rangeen
rokenge seene per apni dushman ki sangeen
dushman ki sangeen
qurbaani ke khoon se hi ye duniya hai rangeen
ye duniya hai rangeen
sangeenen kya desh ki khaatir
topon se lad jaayen
topon se lad jaayenge
sangeenen kya desh ki khaatir
topon se lad jaayen
topon se lad jaayenge
Dushman ki chhaati par jhanda gaad ke hum lehrayenge
zaalim ko duniya se mitaakar jai jaikaar manaayenge
jai jaikaar manaayenge
?? ab hamne bhi kheenchi hai talwaar
kheenchi hai talwaar
kheenchi hai talwaar
haathi sa dariya ho chaahe golon ki bauchhaar
golon ki bauchhaar
ruk na sakte ab hamne bhi kheenchi hai talwaar
khenchi hai talwaar
haathi sa dariya ho chaahe golon ki bauchhaar
golon ki bauchhaar
haar se behtar mar jaana
maarenge ya mar jaayenge
maarenge ya mar jaayenge
haar se behtar mar jaana
maarenge ya mar jaayenge
maarenge ya mar jaayenge
Dushman ki chhaati par jhanda gaad ke hum lehrayenge
zaalim ko duniya se mitaakar jai jaikaar manaayenge
jai jaikaar manaayenge
aage peechhe dekh ke aisa maarenge ham teer
maarenge ham teer
bach jaaye dushman ka dil ??
phans jaaye to taqdeer
phans jaaye to taqdeer
murdon ke sarkaar ki unki
ginti karte jaayenge
ginti karte jaayenge
murdon ke sarkaar ki unki
ginti karte jaayenge
ginti karte jaayenge
Dushman ki chhaati par jhanda gaad ke hum lehrayenge
zaalim ko duniya se mitaakar jai jaikaar manaayenge
jai jaikaar manaayenge
jai jaikaar manaayenge ae ae ae
Sapna toot na jaaye kahin ye
Posted on: April 21, 2021
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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4660 | Post No. : | 16329 | Movie Count : |
4432 |
Today’s song is from a film made in Calcutta in the early 40’s. The film is Taqrar aka All for a son-1944. It was written, produced and directed by Hemen Gupta, under his own banner, Art Films, Calcutta. It was a remake of his own Bangla film “Dwand”-43. Since the film was made in Calcutta, all the artistes were from Bangal. The cast consisted of Jamuna, Iftekhar, Molina, Aruna devi, Ranjit Roy, Dev bala, Indu Mukherjee, Tulsi Chakraborty, Nimai etc etc.
The HFGK says the music was by Sachin Das (Motilal). With this type of entry, I was confused. What did it mean ? Did it mean that
1.The other name of Sachin Das was Motilal ?
2.Was Sachin Das a son of Motilal ?
3.Was Motilal a Co-MD ?
4.Was Motilal his assistant ?
5. Was his full name Sachin Das Motilal ?
6. Was this Motilal same as another MD called Master Motilal, Motilal, Motilal Nayak or Master Motilal Nayak, who gave music to 12 Hindi films, made in Calcutta in the 30’s ?
When I got tired of considering options, I directly wrote to Harmandir Singh Hamraaz ji, to get clarification. I was glad that he very promptly replied-within hours- by E mail and he also sent me a copy of the film booklet of film ” All for a Son or Taqrar”-44 on Whatsapp. Hamraz ji has only stressed that in this case, Motilal was another name of Sachin Das and that both are the same person. Additionally, he mentioned that this was the only film for which Sachin Das is credited ( I, however, found out that he had given music to a Bangla film “Tapobhang”(1947). He further made it clear that in the absence of “Solid Proof”, he was not ready to accept that this Motilal was the same as Master Motilal Nayak-MD of the 30’s in Calcutta.
So, the net result of all this exercise was that I still stood at where I was at the beginning, without adding any more information about this Sachin Das (Motilal). Finally, my friend N.Venkataraman from Kolkata informed me that Sachin Das was a classical musician and was a regular performer on Calcutta A.I.R in the 40’s. He had given music to some films too. Some of his renditions were recorded by Hindustan Records and a CD was released recently of songs by Sachin Das.
When you want to have genuine, credible information about an unknown artistes, this is how one has to spend days together and refer to several sources. It is not an easy job.
The film had mostly Bangla artistes. Even Iftekhar, who became a famous Screen Cop in Bombay films later, was a Bangla artiste till then, having worked, I believe, in a few Bangla films. He had married a Bangla Jew girl Hanna Joseph also( and converted her). Such films give opportunities to know more about Bangla artistes. Actors in this film like Indu and Tulsi were males. Bangla names are confusing in identifying the Gender of the person. I have almost always gone wrong in this. I always,initially, mistook Moni Chatterjee as a female artiste. Now let us know more about Tulsi Chakraborty.
Tulsi Chakraborty or Tulsi Chakrabarti ( 3 March 1899 – 11 December 1961) was an actor and comedian who worked in Bengali cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. His most notable role could be the lead role in Parash Pathar, directed by Satyajit Ray.
Chakraborty was born on 3 March 1899 in the small village called Goari. His father, Ashutosh Chakraborty, was an employee of the Indian Railways and the family had to move around various places in undivided Bengal. So, young Tulsi had to spend a lot of time in Calcutta staying with his paternal uncle Prasad Chakraborty, the elder brother of Asutosh Chakraborty. Prasadbabu was a talented tabla and harmonium player who was an employee of the renowned Star Theatre, the legendary Bengali commercial theatre stage and production company. He had a small group of musicians who used to play live background music during theatrical performances. It was through his uncle’s contacts that Tulsi was able to watch the finest actors of the generation at work and this fostered his own ambitions to become a singer-actor. Before launching in theatre, Tulsi Chakraborty engaged himself in a number of odd-jobs, starting from dish-washer in a small North Calcutta eatery to working as a clown in a circus in Burma (now Myanmar). In films, he started with character roles before performing as a comedian. He was known for his realistic acting. He never used any make-up or extra arrangements. Usually, he was clad in a white dhoti accompanied by a sacred thread on his shoulder.
One of Chakraborty’s notable performances was in Sharey Chuattor, which was the debut film of the popular pair of Bengali cinema: Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar. In Parash Pathar directed by Satyajit Ray, he acted in the lead role of Paresh Dutta. He unleashed memorable roles in Uttam Kumar-Suchitra Sen starrers Ekti Raat and Chaowa Pawa. In both these films, Chakraborty played a sceptical inn owner; in the latter, he teamed up with Rajlakshmi Devi. He also had a small role as that of a village pandit cum grocer in Pather Panchali. Ray once remarked that if Chakraborty had been born in the United States, he would have been awarded an Oscar for his acting.
Tulsi acted in only films made as a Hindi version or made in Calcutta. He worked in 8 Hindi films namely, Saugandh-42, Jawab-42, Wapas-43, Shri Ramanuj-43, Taqrar-44, Subah Shyam-44, My sister and finally Hamrahi-44.
Chakraborti spent the latter part of his life in utmost poverty. His widow was also known to have lived in abject poverty as was revealed by a television programme. Due to his poverty, he had to take a walk from Tollygunge studio to his home in Shibpur, Howrah. He died on 11 December in the year of 1961. (based on wiki and my notes.)
Another artiste to know more about is Molina Devi. Molina being an uncommon name there was no other actress of this name. Molina Devi was born in 1917. She received training in acting from Aparesh Mukherjee, and made her debut, at the age of 8, in a silent movie. She was acknowledged as one of the leading actresses of the Bengali stage, with her professional career spanning more than three decades.
In 1924, she debuted in a silent film while at the age of 8 and thereafter worked as dancer mainly in the mythological and historical plays. She performed some memorable roles in Bengali as well as Hindi films. She got a breakthrough in Puran Bhagat and Molina played the title role in the movie, Rani Rasmani. She took various roles, even vamps in her early career such as in Pramathesh Barua’s Rajat Jayanti in 1939. She also directed a Kolkata based theatre troupe, M. G. Enterprises.
Molina worked in Rangana theatre as chief artist. She performed as a singer on radio and contributed to the formation of Mahila Silpi Mahal, a welfare association for female artists of Bengal. Molina Devi’s high creative excellence had found expression in such diverse media as the stage, the film and the radio. As a founder of the M. G. Enterprise, now in its twenty-third year, she had been responsible for the success of such well-known plays as ‘Thakur Sri Sri’, ‘Rani Rasmoni’, ‘Jagatbandhu’ and ‘Bholagiri’.
She had been honoured and decorated by many eminent organisations and learned bodies. For her eminence in the field of Drama and her contribution to its enrichment, Molina Devi received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Acting.
Her first husband was Jolu Boral and the second husband was actor Gurudas Banerjee.
Molina died on 13 August 1977 in Kolkata. She acted in 22 Hindi films. Her first Hindi film was Raaj Rani Meera-33 and last film was Babla-53. She also sang 11 songs in 4 Hindi films.
I have 6 songs from this film Taqrar-44 in my collection. Believe me, all songs are very melodious. There are 3 Jagmohan duets and 3 solos. Lovely songs. Wish Sachin Das had given music to more films. Meanwhile, enjoy this song…..
with this song, the Lyricist Azad, Composer Sachin Das and the film Taqrar-44 make their Debut on the Blog.
Song- Sapna toot na jaaye kahin ye bandhan chhoot na jaaye (Taqraar)(1944) Singers-Unknown female voice, unknown male voice , Lyrics-Azad, MD-Sachin Das
Both
Lyrics
Sapna toot na jaaye kahin ye
bandhan chhoot na jaaye
aa haa
pyaar chhalak na jaaye sajaniya
man mein kyun ghabraaye
preet ki nagri sooni padi hai
teri aas lagaaye
haan haan teri aas lagaaye
koi ghadi mein aao saajan
aaye
koi ghadi mein aao saajan
garva tohe lagaaye
man mein kyun ghabraaye sajaniya
man mein kyun ghabraaye
Sapna toot na jaaye kahin ye
bandhan chhoot na jaaye
sapna toota saajan aaya
phooli phali jawaani ee ee
sapna toota saajan aaya
phooli phali jawaani
prem ki god bhari aashaa ne
raaja ke sang raani
prem ki god bhari aashaa ne
raaja ke sang raani
chali hamen bisraay sajaniya
chali hamen bisraay
sapnaa aa
Sapna toot na jaaye kahin ye
bandhan chhoot na jaaye
chaah kisi ki
aah kisi ki
tumko kyun parvaah kisi ki
chaahe jiya jar jaaye sajanvaa
maano main hoon balaaye
haan haan
maano main hoon balaaye
tu hai telin
main hoon teli
mere man mein tu hi akeli
aao
aao khilaaun gud ki bheli
aao
aao khilaaun gud ki bheli
kaahe gayi khisyaay(?0 raani
kaahe gayi sharmaay sajaniya
kaahe gayi sharmaay
sapnaa aa
Sapna toot na jaaye
Sapna toot na jaaye kahin ye
bandhan chhoot na jaaye
sapna toote
duniya chhoote
prem ka bandhan kabhi na toote
kaahe rahi ghabraay raani
kaahe rahi ghabraay
maine kahaa thha
un hoon hoon hoon hoon
maine kahaa thha
un hoon
un hoon
hamne kahaa thha
donon prem deewaane ae ae
donon prem deewaane
sukh ke baadal chhaaye aali
jhoom uthhi hai daali daali
sukh ke baadal chhaaye aali
jhoom uthhi hai daali daali
man ka panchhi naach uthha hai
phoola naahin samaaye sajaniya
phoola naahin samaaye
sapnaa
toot na jaaye
naa jaaaa
na jaaaa
Aa niklo guinyaan meri gali se
Posted on: April 1, 2021
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4640 | Post No. : | 16299 |
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Blog 10-Year Challenge (2011-2021) – Song No. 20
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This day ten years ago (viz on 1 april 2011), five songs from five different movies were covered in the blog. Here are thge details:-
| Blog post number | Song | Movie (Year) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3717 | Pareshaan hoon ki kyun apni pareshaani nahin jaati | Parbat Pe Apna Deraa(1944) | 5 songs covered out of 9 |
| 3718 | Yaad aane lagee | Daman(1951) | 8 songs covered out of 10 |
| 3719 | Dekho dekho jee gori sasuraal chali | Shagoon(1964) | Movie YIPPEED by now |
| 3720 | Naach re man badkamma | Rajkumar(1964) | Movie YIPPEED by now |
| 3721 | Gori ke haath mein jaise ye chhallaa | Mela(1971) | Movie YIPPEED by now |
One can notice that three movies out of five have since been YIPPEED in the blog.
“Parbat Pe Apna Dera”(1944) is one of the two movies not yet YIPPEED. This movie was directed by V.Shantaram for Rajkamal Kala Mandir Limited, Bombay. The movie had Vanmala, Ulhas,Shantarin, Madan Mohan, Kantakumari, P L Samant, Baby Nalini, Vijaya, Suman, Kamal etc in it.
Five songs from the movie (out of 9) have been covered so far.
As blog ten year challenge today, here is a song from “Parbat Pe Apna Dera”(1944). This song is sung by Vasant Desai and Naseem Akhtar. Dewan Sharar is the lyricist. Music is composed by Vasant Desai. The song is picturised as a romantic song on Madan Mohan (later he would make his mark as a music director) and Shantarin. Ulhas is also seen in the picturisation serving as a peeping Tom.
Lyrics of this song were sent to me by Prakashchandra.
video link:
Song-Aa niklo guinyaan meri gali se (Parbat Pe Apna Dera)(1944) Singers-Vasant Desai, Naseem Akhtar, Lyrics-Dewan Sharar, MD-Vasant Desai
Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)
aa niklo guinyyaan meri gali se
aa niklo guinyaan meri gali se
raatein guzaari maine
bekali se
raatein nahin ratiyaan
ratiyaan guzaarin maine bekali se
aa niklo guinyaan
aa niklo guinyaan meri gali se
sunn lo jee..eee..eee..ee..eee
sunn lo jee baatein
batiyaan
sunn lo jee batiyaan mori..ee..ee
paas bhi aao gori..eee
aao aa khelo holi
aao aa khelo holi bali se
aa niklo guinyaan meri gali se
baali
baali umariyaa mori..eee..ee
baali umariyaa mori
kheloon main tujhse hori..ee..eee
kheloon main tujhse hori
guzroongi chori chori
guzroongi chori chori
gali se
chori se kyon ?
bijuri ..eee giraati aao aao
bijuri giraati aao
teer chalaati aao
o teer chalaati aao
aankhein
ankhiyaan ladaati aao gali se
aa niklo guinyaan aan aan aan
aa niklo guinyyaan meri gali se
aaoon..oon oon oon oon
aaoon oon
aaoon bahaanaa kar ke ae ae
dil ka nishaanaa karke
dil ka nishaanaa kar ke ae ae
jaaoon
jaaoon thhikaanaa kar ke
jaaoon thhikaanaa kar ke
gali se
hhaa. hhaa…ha..haa..aaa…aaaa
niklo guiyiyyaan meri gali
meri gali se
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.
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4600 | Post No. : | 16227 |
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Blog Day : |
4597 | Post No. : | 16223 |
Today’s song is from an obscure film of 1944 – Dil ki Baat. The film was made by Atre Pictures, partly owned by P.K.Atre and actress Vanmala. Their relationship was similar to what C.Ramchandra and Lata Mangeshkar had in later years. The film was directed by Atre himself. The only other film he ever directed was Parinde-1945. He believed in hiring directors rather than directing films himself.
The music was composed by C.Ramchandra for the songs written by Ram Murthy and the film’s story, screenplay and dialogues were also written by P.K.Atre himself. The cast of the film was Durga Khote, Ishwarlal, Vanmala, Dixit, Leela Mishra, Vasant Sawkar, Jayram Desai etc.etc.
The year 1944 was a time when the world knew that the end of World War II was near, however, till that time the Raw Film shortage was troubling the film makers in India. Black money generated through Black marketing was disturbing the industry. The cost of the filmmaking, which was about a Lakh or so in 1940, had escalated to 5 to 6 lakhs per film. Studio system was weakened due to individual production practices started by black money investors. Star salaries had inflated. Many stars worked on FreeLance basis. The law of war promotion movies was now forcefully implemented. Many producers made War propaganda movies to get the Raw Film at controlled rates. Government had increased the Entertainment Taxes in Bombay, Madras, UP and CP areas, so the cost of Cinema tickets had increased. Prithvi Theatre was launched by Prithviraj Kapoor. Film artistes gathered under the leadership of EVR Naicker in Madras to form DMK party. M. Karunanidhi was a prominent leader.
In Spite of all this, some good Musical films were made in 1944. Saigal, who arrived in Bombay from Calcutta for good, made his second film in Bombay. New composers, New Heros and New heroines brought a variety of Genres of films made in 1944. Some of the major films of 1944 were….
Bhanwara – Second film by Saigal and Khemchand Prakash in Ranjit in Bombay. Made in just 9 days’ shooting for Saigal, by director Kidar Sharma. It was the second film for Monica Desai too (sister of Leela Desai and wife of Phani Mujumdar).
Bharthari – Last film in India by singer actress Jahan Ara Kajjan who sang her last 2 songs in it. She migrated to Pakistan in the wake of Partition. Very good songs in the film, especially ” Bhiksha de de maiya” by Amirbai and Surendra.
Chal Chal re Naujawan – First film from newly established Filmistan, by the deserters’ group from Bombay Talkies, led by S.Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar. Ashok Kumar sang 6 songs in it for the first and the last time for Ghulam Haider. His song ” Bolo Har Har Mahadev” was very melodious and popular.
Chand – Debut film of Husnlal-Bhagatram team. They were recommended by elder brother Pt. Amarnath, who was the first choice of D.D.Kashyap. After V.Shantaram and his team left Prabhat, this was an attempt by Prabhat to join the mainstream by opting for the first time a Non Marathi star cast and Punjabi style musicians. 5 singers were used by H-B for 11 songs. A mild success film.
Daasi – it was a musical from Lahore by Pt. Amarnath- with his favourite Zeenat Begum.
Film Dost produced the evergreen Noor Jahan song ” Badnam – muhabbat kaun karen” composed by Sajjad Hussain. This one song alone made them both immortal.
Draupadi – a feeble attempt by Baburao Patel to make a Heroine out of his secretary Sushila Rani.
Gaali – Another film by Sajjad, but with only 3 songs to him and 9 to Hanuman Prasad.
Iraada – Pt.Amarnath brought Hemant Kumar two years after his debut in film Meenakshi-42.
Ismat – The first and the only film of the brothers Pt. H.P.Sharma and Pt. Govardhan pershad, as a composer team.
Jwar Bhata – Devika Rani’s discovery, Dilip Kumar’s first film. He was the side Hero and the Hero was Agha. Actress Mrudula also debuted as Dilip’s Heroine.
Krishn Bhakt Bodana – The only film of the Revolutionary Poet singer Master Vasant from Surat. Avinash Vyas, Shankar rao Vyas composed music, while S.N.Tripathi gave background music.
Musical film Lal Haveli – Only time when Noor Jehan and Surendra sang together under Mir Saheb.
Mann ki Jeet – W.Z.Ahmed brings new Heroine Neena, who sings in the voice of Debutante Sitara of Kanpur in all her films. Neena was a Non-Singer.
My Sister – Saigal goes back to Calcutta to complete a Musical film ” My Sister”. Pankaj Mullick gives excellent songs by saigal and others.
There were two films ‘ Panchhi’ and ‘ O Panchhi’ with average songs.
Panna – A war propaganda film based on ” Mata Hari” story, with a new Heroine Geeta Nizami. MD Amir Ali dies before the film is released. The credits in the film dedicate the film to Late Amir Ali.
Perhaps the best music was by Vasant Desai to film ” Parbat pe apna dera”. Vanmala and ulhas excel in acting in a story of sexual repression. All songs are excellent, especially Amirbai’s song ” Pareshan hoon main ” is simply divine.
Lastly, the Best one. Record breaking musical ” Rattan” gave superlative songs by Naushad. Barring 2 songs by Manju, the other 8 songs were all Hits. Rattan gave 200% returns on the film and song records, to the Producer.
The director of this film-P.K.Atre, known popularly in Maharashtra as Acharya Atre, was a writer,Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Journalist, Politician and a Newspaper owner. In his later years he became famous for his campaign of ” Samyukta Maharashtra” to get a separate Maharashtra state.
The heroine of the film, Vanmala was one of the only 3 Heroines who had Brown Eyes. The other two were Kamala Kotnis and Ragini.
Vanmala was one of those actresses, who not only came from a very respectable Royal family, but was also a highly educated person. In those days, these two things were valued highly. Veteran Marathi and Hindi actress Vanamala will always be associated with her roles in the landmark films, Sikandar (1941) opposite Prithviraj Kapoor and in particular the title role in Shyamchi Aai (1953), the first film ever to win the Best Film Award when the National Awards were instituted for Indian Cinema in 1954.
Vanamala was born as Susheela Devi Pawar on 23-5- 1915. Her father Lt.Col. Rao Bahadur Bapu Rao Pawar was a Minister in Gwalior state. Vanmala grew up in the Royal palace with Princess Kamla Devi. Vanmala graduated from Agra University in 1935 and did her B.T. from Bombay University in 1937.
At 21, Vanmala Devi, was a double graduate and a teacher in the progressive Agarkar High School of Poona. She felt she had a mission in life. Did she find what she was seeking? It is anybody’s guess but teaching was a first try and then she went on to films to find expression for her irrepressible talent.
There was a wrench. Vanala tore herself away from the forbidding regulations of a traditional Maratha family ruled by her father and the devotional orthodoxy handed down to her by her mother along with a love for nature and literature. Vanmala sought to reconcile the irreconcilables with the firm belief that, down the ages, all expressions of art in India were developed and presented by way of a sacred duty.
That was why, when necessary, she did not hesitate to turn her back on lucrative film assignments to appear on the Marathi stage. In fact, she worked gratis for the building fund of the Marathi Sahitya Sangh at Bombay. Her lead role in the Marathi version of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Lady Windmer’s Fan’ (शोभेचा पंखा), written by Prof. V.H.Kulkarni, is memorable. That was in the early forties.
She began her career in the late 1930s following her graduation and having become a teacher in Pune’s Camp Education Society. Vanamala entered films at a time when it was considered taboo for women from respectable families to work in films though women like Devika Rani and Durga Khote had started working in films by then. It was V.Shantaram who encouraged her to come into the film industry as an actress. Her first film was a Marathi film ” Lapandav”. Pricipal Acharya Atre became very friendly with her and brought her to Hindi films. Vanmala had unusual Brown eyes. Hindi film industry had only two actresses with Brown eyes. One was Vanmala and the other was Ragini, who migrated to Pakistan, after partition.
Prithviraj used to call her Diana the Moon Goddess. The lyrical Pahari Sanyal used to call her “Mala”. Motilal was more-down-to-earth and called her just plain “Bright Eyes”. In fact, it was her eyes that got her the role of Ruksana and it put her in the front rank of Indian film stars with the success of “Sikandar”. It was one of the early successes of Minerva Movietone and it has made film history in India.
Vanamala acted in both Hindi and Marathi Cinema. Among her Hindi films, Vanamala will always be best remembered for Sohrab Modi’s historical Sikandar and Sharbati Ankhen (1945), directed by Ramchandra Thakur for Wadia Movietone. In the former she played Alexander the Great’s love interest, a Persian woman, Rukhsana, who fearing for Alexander’s life extracts a promise from Porus that he will not harm Sikandar. Vanamala made a major impact in her role, her beauty coupled with her light-coloured lively eyes taking the audiences breath away. The film itself was a spectacle – its lavish mounting, huge sets and production values equalling the best of Hollywood then particularly its rousing and spectacular battle scenes. It was rated by a British writer as, “…well up to the standard of that old masterpiece The Birth of a Nation.”
The eyes that got Vanmala Devi the lead role of Ruksana in “Sikandar” had soon to be “disowned” in her next picture. In “Parbat Pe Apna Dera”, Vanmala Devi played the role of a blind girl with great effect. First Ulhas was seen, stick in hand, or rather his legs and the lower part of the stick. Then came Vanmala’s dainty feet taking each cautious step. Finally, the camera turned upwards to feature her full figure. She later told that she was so involved with the role that she actually felt blinded. Once, she had to blink her eyes before she could focus them and look at V. Shantaram who was trying to draw her attention.
In Sharbati Ankhen, her Brown eyes were again used to mesmerising effect, the film so aptly titled one feels, after her! The film has some of the earliest songs sung by Mohammed Rafi in his career including Pyaar Karna hi Padega and Bahut Mukhtasar Hai Humari Kahani. The music for the film was done by Feroz Nizami who went on to compose unforgettable music in a hat-trick of films with the great Noor Jehan (Jugnu (1947) in India and Chan Wey (Punjabi) (1951) and Dopatta (1952) in Pakistan).
However, the one role that undoubtedly immortalized Vanamala forever was the title role in the National Award winning Marathi film, Shyam chi Aai-1953, directed by PK Atre. The film, regarded as a cult classic today, is based on one of the most influential Marathi novels of the 20th century (1935), a fictionalised account of the childhood years of Sane Guruji (1899 – 1950). A nationalist influenced by Vinoba Bhave and especially Gandhiji, he was imprisoned repeatedly for his work among the peasantry and participation in the Quit India agitations. His book Shyamchi Aai, written in jail, has 45 episodes in which Shyam, a youth living in poverty in Konkan, recalls the teachings of his mother, a devoutly religious person with an earthy and practical philosophy. The hit film has remained a generic landmark in Marathi Cinema and especially so for Vanamala’s maternal prototype. Actor Madhav Vaze, who played the role of her son Shyam in Shyamchi Aai, recalls Vanamala as a woman of few words. “Her actions spoke for her. She was well-educated and a cultured woman who belonged to a noble family from Gwalior,” he said.
Some other films that Vanamala acted in include Payachi Dasi (Marathi)/ Charnon ki Dasi (Hindi) (1941), Vasantasena (1942), Dil ki Baat (1944), Hatim Tai (1947), Beete Din (1947) and Shree Ram Bharat Milap (1965). In all, she did 25 Hindi films. She sang 24 songs in 5 films in her career. For some time she was a partner in Atre pictures also. She produced the film Bramhan Kanya aka Khandani-1947.
Eventually she did build a bungalow at Khandala and rented out a flat by the sea in Bombay which she furnished with taste and equipped with a selective library. But that still didn’t make a “home”. The nearest she got to it could be when she settled down in Gwalior to look after her ailing father. Perhaps, she had almost arrived at a “home” when she bought over a studio and became the first woman to own one.
The supposedly demure Vanamala was a staunch nationalist and was deeply involved in the freedom movement along with stalwarts like Aruna Asaf Ali and Achyut Patwardhan. She was deeply involved in several social causes and was a member of the Chhatrapati Shivaji National Memorial Committee. She also ran a school to train children in traditional Indian arts and culture, The Haridas Kala Sansthan.
Vanmala Devi’s retirement from films was no surprise to her friends. She had realized that the crusading zeal and aesthetic values of the pioneering days were giving place to new norms of success. She found that filmdom could not afford her the avenue for expression which she wanted— or needed. She sublimated all her yearnings for expression in the worship of Lord Krishna at Vrindavan and later in the service of her father.
Vanamala who had been suffering from cancer, passed away in Gwalior on May 29, 2007.
(My thanks to Upperstall and Sumati Dhanawate ji-Vanmala’s sister, for using some parts of their articles on Vanmala, along with my notes.)
Songs of film Dil ki Baat-44 are difficult to get. Only 2 songs are available in circulation. With today’s song, both the songs are on this Blog. C.Ramchandra had not developed his trademark style of music cmposition. That was still two years into the future.
Song-Sun re sajan sun re sajan sun re sajan sun (Dil Ki Baat)(1944) Singer-Vanmala, Lyrics-Miss Vimal MA, MD-C Ramchandra
Lyrics
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
meri paayaliyaa ki
meri paayaliyaa ki tu
runan jhunan jhun
sun
sun
Sun re sajan
sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
aaj maine haathhon mein mehndi rachaayi
aaj maine haathhon mein mehndi rachaayi
aaj meri aankhon mein preet samaayi
preet samaayi
aaj meri aankhon mein preet samaayi
preet samaayi
alsi sajaayi maine
champa chameli sun
ho champa chameli sun
alsi sajaayi maine
champa chameli sun
ho champa chameli sun
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
o kaali koyaliyaa
kook uthhi re
o kaali koyaliyaa
kook uthhi re
man mein mere meethhi si hook uthhi re
man mein mere meethhi si hook uthhi re
goonj rahi door kahin bansi ki dhun
haan bansi ki dhun
goonj rahi door kahin bansi ki dhun
haan bansi ki dhun
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
meri paayal se praanon ki preet jhare re
aa aa aa aa
meri paayal se praanon ki preet jhare re
aa aa aa aa
meri paayal se pankh tere baat kare re
meri paayal se pankh tere baat kare re
gaaye kisi chhaliya chhabele ke gun
gaaye kisi chhaliya chhabele ke gun
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan
Sun re sajan sun
meri paayaliyaa ki
meri paayaliyaa ki tu
runan jhunan jhun
sun sun
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4584 | Post No. : | 16202 |
Today’s song is from the film Bhanwara-1944.
It was a Saigal film. I had no chance to write about a song from any Saigal film, because there were better people to write on Saigal. Who can forget the efforts taken by Atul ji and Sudhir ji in ensuring that possibly all available Film and Non Film songs of Saigal are discussed and archived in this Blog. It is sheerly by coincidence that I am writing on a song from a Saigal film, because it is not sung by Saigal and it was till now, not available on YouTube.
K.L.Saigal ( 11-4-1904 to 18-1-1947) started his film career with Film Muhabbat ke aansoo-32. His first Heroine was Akhtari Moradabadi in this film. Surprisingly, the local newspapers had hailed her songs in the film but totally ignored Saigal. Later, she moved to Burma, joined the British Imperial film company and acted in some of their films. His second Heroine was Mehzabeen, in the film Zinda Laash-32. His next Heroine was Rattan Bai in the film Subah ka Tara-32. Radha Rani was his Heroine in the film Yahudi ki Ladki-33. However Saigal got recognition and praise for his songs, first time, in the film Pooran Bhagat-1933. Here , his Heroine was Anwari bai. I mentioned about Saigal’s early Heroines because they are never in the limelight, when Saigal is discussed. They remained in the dark all the time.
Out of huis 27 films, he did 20 films in Calcutta, mostly with New Theatres. The last 7 films were done in Bombay. He was invited by Ranjit Studios to come to Bombay to do films with them. They offered him a very lucrativeamount of Rs. One lakh per film, with other perks. Due to this and the disturbed conditions and Ego tussles in New Theatres, Saigal shifted to Bombay. As it is, many of his friends like Kidar Sharma, Prithwiraj kapoor, K.N.Sing etc had already shifted to Bombay.
The film Tansen-43, by Ranjit, was completed well before time and stii 9 days were remaining from his contract. The business mind of Chandulal Shah would not let go this waste. He requested Kidar Sharmas to make a Quicky, in which Saigal’s part shooting would finish in the 9 vacant days. Kidar Sharma immediately wrote a script, approved by Ranjit and film Bhanwara was made in a short period.
Bhanwara was a Comedy filmSaigal had no experience of a Comedy film work, but the deft direction of kidar Sharma made film Bhanwara a grand success. The cast of the film was Saigal, Arunkumar Ahuja, Kamla Chatterjee ( Kidar Sharma’s wife), Monica Desai ( actress Leela Desai’s younger sister and director Phani Mujumdar’s wife), Lala Yaqub, Brijmala and others. Here is a short Synopsis of the story of film Bhanwara-44.
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.
In this film, Arunkumar Ahuja was the second hero he was the father of popular Hindi film hero Govind, who was active during 1986 to 2000 period. Arun Ahuja’s real name was Gulshan Singh Ahuja, a Sikh, born on 26-1-1918 at Gujaranwala (now in Pakistan). After the school education, he joined Mughalpura Engineering college and secured an Engineer’s degree in 1937. During his college life he had won the Best Football player of the year award. Mehboob Khan was on a Talent Hunt in Lahore. From among the 100 and odd candidates, his choice fell on the well built, athletic, dashing and handsome Gulshan. He was selected and brought to Bombay to act in film Ek hi rasta-39, with a screen name of Arun Ahuja. He was variously billed as Aroon, Arun, Aroon Kumar, Arun Ahuja etc.
His first film was an outstandingly successful hit film. Arun got roles in Bhole Bhale-39 and Civil Marriage-40. Later Mehboob Khan took him for film Aurat 40, which he directed for National Studios. The versatile actor acted in over 25 films in 6 years, some of his films were Kanchan, Holiday in Bombay, Beti, Nurse, Savera, Return of Toofan Mail, Shankar Parvati, Andhera, Bharthari, Caravan, Amrapali etc. From 1945 onwards he became a Free lancer.
During the film Savera-42, he fell in love with his co-star – Nirmala. They got married on 5-5-1945. After marriage Nirmala (7-6-1928 to 15-6- 1996) completed 4 pending films and stopped working. Her last film Sudhar was released in 1949. In this film also she paired with Arun. Thus her last film also had her life partner. She acted in only 12 films, but she sang 63 songs in 23 films.
Arun Ahuja was in demand. He continued working in films. He set up his own production company – Arun Productions and he produced 2 films. One film Sehra was released in 1948, but the other film ” Jo hai saajan” remained unreleased for some reasons. Film Sehra was also a huge flop. Arun suffered heavy losses. He tried to work in films to compensate it, but now due to competition from new stars, new films were slow to come, so he did not get many films. His last film was Aulad-54. He had to sell all his property, bungalow, cars and jewellery. He shifted from his bungalow in Bandra to a chawl in far off suburb Virar, with his family, in 1962. Here his last son Govinda was born in 1963.
His health deteriorated. Nirmala decided to revive her singing, to help the financial difficulties of the family. Composer A R Qureshi arranged her stage programme in Calcutta. It went off with tremendous success and offers started pouring in. She became famous as a Thumri singer. She did many jalsas in India and abroad. Their financial position improved. Their son Govinda also became a big star. He bought a house in Juhu and the family shifted to Juhu for the sake of convenience. However, Arun Ahuja continued to stay in Virar. He did not shift to Juhu.
Arun Ahuja died on 4-7-1998, two years after his dear wife’s death on 15-6-1996.
The film Bhanwara-44 had 11 songs. Today’s song is the 10th song to be posted here. It is sung by Arunkumar (Mukherjee), it was lip synched by Arunkumar (Ahuja) on the screen and Arunkumar (Deshmukh) has written about this song here ! What a coincidence !!
Song-Ye to Malaria hai Muhabbat nahin huzoor (Bhanwra)(1944) Singer- Arunkumar Mukherjee, Lyricist-Kedar Sharma, MD-Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
muhabbat nahin huzoor
kaanpenge
kaanpenge haath paanv to
dhadkega dil zaroor
kaanpenge haath paanv to
dhadkega dil zaroor
dhadkega dil zaroor
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
muhabbat nahin huzoor
ye hai bukhaar sap pe
?? sawaar
?? sawaar
aur haddiyaan
aur haddiyaan huzoor ki
kar dega choor choor
aur haddiyaan huzoor ki
kar dega choor choor
kar dega choor choor
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
muhabbat nahin huzoor
honthon pe khoon ye ae ??
machchar se kam nahin
machchar se kam nahin
o jisko jahaan parhez rahe
inse door door
o jisko jahaan parhez rahe
inse door door
rahe inse door door
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
muhabbat nahin huzoor
jannat milegi aap ko o o
jannat milegi aap ko
ab haspataal mein
ab haspataal mein
har nurse jab ke saamne aayegi ban ke hoor
har nurse jab ke saamne aayegi ban ke hoor
aayegi ban ke hoor
Ye to malaria hai
muhabbat nahin huzoor
muhabbat nahin huzoor
huzoor
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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4492 | Post No. : | 16018 |
Today’s song is from film Bade Nawab Saheb-44. It was a Muslim social film, produced by Silver films – a joint venture of actors Kumar and Chandra Mohan. The film was directed by Vedi, a name about which I could not get any information except that he was a director from the Silent era. In the Talkie era, he has 4 films to his credit as director. First film is Bade nawab saheb-44, then Naseeb-45, Room Number-9 – 46, and For Ladies only-51. This is all I know about Vedi. Unfortunately, we do come across few such names from the early era films. This is because we have very poor documentation. Information on big actors etc is available. That is why the task of Hindi film History students (like me, for example) is tough in securing and recording information for the posterity.
The music director was Bashir Dehalvi. Here too, we only know that he gave music to films like Jhankar-42, Kalakar-42, Ujala-42, Koshish-43 and hawai Khatola-46, in addition to today’s film. The 10 songs of the film were written by Lyricist Shams Lucknowi. He seems to be a story and dialogue writer too. Story of film Andaz-49 was by him. He wrote the dialogues of films like Idd ka chand-33 and Kimiyagar-36. He also acted in film Parchhain-52. He wrote 104 songs in 15 films from Lal Haveli-44 to Dahej-50. May be , then he migrated to Pakistan or what, we do not know.
Most of the so called Historical (my friend calls them Distortical), Costume dramas, Arabian Night stories films etc have a Muslim background. But ” Muslim Social” films is a separate category. Initially it was considered to be a very sensitive issue to depict the social life of Muslim families in India and so film producers were wary of making such films. When film makers with modern thinking came to the industry – like K Asif, Mehboob or Fazli brothers- there was a cautious but slow beginning of Muslim social films. My two friends, shri Kamlakar Pasupuleti ji (originally from Hyderabad and settled later in US) wrote an informative book, ” Forgotten movies on Muslim Culture 1933 to 1947 and shri Isak Mujawar ji wrote (in Marathi) ” Muslim Cinema”. Both these books give good information on this category of films.
Like many other myths in Hindi film industry, one myth is that Mehboob Khan was the pioneer in making Muslim social films in India. This probably originated because the first film of Mehboob’s own company Mehboob Productions was ” Najma”-43, a Muslim social film starring Ashok kumar, Veena, Stara, Kumar, Yaqub etc. But the fact is different.
The first Muslim social film was ” Rashida”-35, made by Madon Theatres, Calcutta, featuring Kajjan, Effendi and others. It was directed by a Jew-Izra Mir. The name of the film indicated that it was about a Muslim girl. Somehow, I find a lot of Muslim social films made had titles of girl’s names, Like Zeenat, Ameena, Najma, Shama, Heena, Zubeida, Salma, Ismat etc etc.
The beginning of serious Muslim social films was done by Fazli Brothers- Hasnain and Sibtain Fazli. They first made a Muslim social film Qaidi-1940, featuring Ramola,Mehtab, B.Nandrekar, Wasti etc. This was a period of struggle for Indian Independence. The fundamentalists in Muslims were active and due to the fear of their reaction, film makers were wary of producing such films.Even Fazli brothers were also afraid that there would be obstruction from these people to their film, so they decided to make the film in Calcutta. Their first Muslim Social film Qaidi-40 was very successful. Encouraged, they made 2 more such films (Masoom-41 and Chauranghee-42) in Calcutta. For film Chauranghee-42, the Fazli Brothers roped in famous Bangla poet (who later on became the National Poet of Bangladesh) Kazi Nazrul Islam- the creator of Nazrul geeti, as a Lyricist and MD for the film.
After 1942, Fazli Brothers shifted their activities to Bombay and made many Muslim social films like Fashion-43,Ismat-44, Dil-46 and Mehendi 47. So, in true sense, it is the Fazli Brothers who were the pioneers of Muslim Social films in India.
From the 40s to the 47, there was a line of Muslim social films lined with pride and confidence. Notable amongst them were Paak Daaman-40 by Rustom Modi, Masoom-41 by Fazli brothers, Muslim ka lal-41 by Mohan Pictures, Fashion -43 by Fazli Brothers, Najma-43 by Mehboob, Salma-43 by Nazir Ahmed, Ismat-44 by Fazli Brothers, Bade Nawab saab-44 by actor Kumar and Pramila, Bhaijaan-45 by United Films, Phool-45 by K.Asif, and Director Mazhar Khan’s Muslim social film ” Pehli Nazar’ in 1945. Amongst these, film ‘ Elan ‘-47 was a milestone film, produced by Mehboob. It dwelt upon the needs of improvements for Muslim community.
After 1947, India lost a very big market for its Muslim social films, when Pakistan-East and West- was formed. It does not mean that Muslim social films were not made after 1947 in India. Films like Kaneez-49, Nisbat-49, Parda-49, Hyderabad ki Nazneen0-52,Darwaza-54, Chandni Chowk-54, Maalik-58, Maa ke aansoo-59, Pahli Raat-59 etc were all Muslim socials. They, however, were not successful, for whatever reasons. But the fun is films of Muslim backgrounds but non social films like Anarkali,Mirza Ghalib,Hatimtai,Alibaba and forty thieves etc were good grossers and ran well. The first Hindi film to win the President’s Gold Medal (the first was Marathi film-Shyam chi aai ), was Mirza Ghalib-54. This indicated that there was no audience for Muslim social films now. Later on, the conditions changed and Muslim social films like Chaudhavi ka chaand, Barsaat ki raat, Chhote Nawab, Bahu Begum, Mere huzur, Pakeeza etc became quite successful. However, some opine that these films succeeded due to other reasons like Music, songs etc. One funny thing was that most Muslim social films-from the beginning- showed Lucknow as the background of the story ! (Film names being mentioned are only indicative and not exhaustive, so many names will be missing here.)
The cast of film Bade Nawab Saheb-44 was Chandra Mohan, Pahadi Sanyal, Kumar, Pramila, Bibbo, Sushil Kumar, Leela Mishra, Kamala, Agha Jaan etc. etc. Chandra Mohan was one of the most handsome actors of Hindi cinema. Some other handsome actors were B. Nandrekar, Vijay Kumar, Al Nasir etc. Chandra Mohan was also a versatile actor. Incensed by losing a role in the Marathi version of film Amrit Manthan-1934, just because he could not speak Marathi fluently, he learnt Marathi in no time and later worked as Hero in 3 Marathi versions of Hindi films !
Born on 24-7-1906 in Narsinghpur in Madhya Pradesh, Chandra Mohan was known for his large grey eyes, voice modulation and dialog delivery. His eyes form the opening sequence in V. Shantaram’s 1934 film Amrit Manthan, which was also his film debut. It was the first film made in the new established Prabhat Films studio, and made both in Hindi and Marathi. Mohan received acclaim for his role as role Rajguru and went on to establish himself as noted villains of times.
In film Geeta-40, Chandramohan was the Hero and had done the Father and Son double role. This was a Bilingual film in Hindi and Marathi, and in both versions, Chandramohan was the Hero. Earlier, V. Shantaram had given a break to Chandramohan in his film ” Amrit Manthan”-34, which also was a Bilingual film in Hindi and Marathi. Chandramohan being a Kashmiri and not knowing Marathi, in the Marathi version, his role of Rajguru was done by keshavrao Datey.
However. soon Chandramohan picked up fluent Marathi and acted in the Bilingual films of Hindi and Marathi like, Jwala-38, Geeta-40 and Apna Ghar-42 He became the first Hindi actor to do roles in Marathi films.
Chandra Mohan later appeared as Emperor Jehangir in Sohrab Modi’s Pukar, as Randhir Singh in Mehboob Khan’s Humayun and as Seth Dharamdas in Mehboob Khan’s Roti.
Actor Kumar did many films in Ranjit, but in 1942, he was removed from Ranjit. At the same time his friend Chandra Mohan also left Minerva Movietone ( reason – inspite of Pukar-39 being a Blockbuster, his salary was not increased, though Modi had promised him so.) They both decided to launch their own company and on 16-3-1942, SILVER FILM COMPANY was launched. Its first film was Jhankaar-42. They produced Bhalai-43, Bade Nawab Saab-44, Naseeb-45, Devar-46, Dhun-53 and Bahana-60. Kumar had acted in these films. He also directed Dhun and Bahana.
One of his last appearances was in Ramesh Saigal’s film Shaheed-48. As Rai Bahadur Dwarka Nath, he played father to Ram, who was portrayed by Dilip Kumar. His character in this film, initially supports the British Government, but later favours the Freedom struggle. Chandra Mohan’s last major film was Raambaan-1949, in which he played the role of demon emperor Ravan. Chandra Mohan had acted in 31 films in all from Amrit Manthan-1934 to film Chocolate-50, which was released after his death.
Chandra Mohan despite being a Kashmiri himself was against Kashmiri girls working in films. He is said to have intimidated actress Shyama Zutshi from working in Hindi films and she left the films. However, later when Yashodhara Katju came into the films, she did not care for his opposition and continued successfully in films. He was very friendly with actor Motilal and treated him as his son.
He was the original choice to play the lead role in K. Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam, but due to his untimely death the film had to be reshot after ten reels were shot with him as lead. The film was eventually released in 1960.
Chandra Mohan took to heavy gambling and drinking and died penniless on 2nd April 1949 at the age of 44 at his residence, Bilkha House, in Bombay.
The story of Bade Nawab Saheb-44 was …….
Nawab Kokub Mirza had 2 wives, but he loved the younger one so much that he even tolerated her younger brother Mushir, a trouble maker. Sikandar was Mirza’s younger brother and they had an old loyal servant Baksho. Sikandar marries an orphan girl-Anwar from an orphanage. On this count, the younger wife and Mushir are able to throw Sikandar and Baksho out of the house.
Sikandar goes out of Lucknow to look for a job. His wife, unaware of the relations, starts working as Maid in Nawab saheb’s house. Mushir tries to misbehave with the modesty of Anwar and is thrown out of the house. Now the nawab is closer to Badi Begum, who convinces him to recall Sikandar. Nawab calls Sikandar and also pardons Mushir.
Now Mushir wants to poison Nawab saheb. He adds poison to his Kheer. Unfortunately, the Kheer is eaten by his sister, the young Begum. She dies and Police arrest Mushir. Now the 2 couples live happily !
Today’s song is a duet by Hamida and Durrani. This is the second song of this film to feature on this Blog. (Thanks to information from books mentioned in the post, which is used herein)
Song-Jaag gayi Jaag gayi Hamaari kismat (Bade Nawab Sahab)(1944) Singers- Hamida Bano, G M Durrani, Lyrics-Shams Lakhnavi, MD- Bashir Dehalvi
Both
Lyrics
Jaag gayi
Jaag gayi
Hamaari
kismat
Hamaari kismat
jaag gayi
Jaag gayi
Hamaari kismat
prem nadi mein josh jo ??
bhai ne bhai ko bulaaya
prem nadi mein josh jo ??
bhai ne bhai ko bulaaya
chhant gaye
zulf ke baadal saare
samjho chaand sitaare
chhant gaye
zulf ke baadal saare
samjho chaand sitaare
chaand sitaare
sachchi
ulfat
sachchi
ulfat
jaag gayi
jaag gayi
hamaari
kismat
hamaari
kismat
jaag gayi
jaag gayi
hamaari kismat
toote huye phir dil milenge
toote huye phir phool khilenge
toote huye phir dil milenge
toote huye phir phool khilenge
kaun
khilenge
sachchi
ulfat
sachchi
ulfat
jaag gayi
jaag gayi
hamaari
kismat
hamaari
kismat
jaag gayi
jaag gayi
hamaari kismat
Ho kaahe beech bajariya soyi
Posted on: September 26, 2020
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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4453 | Post No. : | 15917 |
“Maa Baap” (1944) was directed by V M Vyas for Sunrise Pictures, Bombay. This “social” movie had had Nazir Khan, Veena, Rajkumari Shukla, Yakub, Dixit, Majid, Jagdish, Mirza Musharraf, Khursheed Ahmad, Amirbai Karnataki, Motibai, Kalyani etc in it.
The movie had nine songs in it. Seven of these songs have been discussed in the past.
While discussing the seventh song from the movie four years ago (on 18 december 2016), I had mentioned that
After this song, two more songs from this movie are left to be discussed, viz. “ho kaahe beech bajariya soyi”- sung by Kalyani and Lalit Parulkar and “main aa rahi hoon gaati huyi”-singers unknown. These two songs do not seem to be available. so unless they become available, this movie “Maa Baap”(1944) will have only seven songs (out of nine) in the blog.
A few days ago, I managed to discover the song “ho kaahe beech bajariya soyi” on YT. So that is a significant progress in our bid to cover all songs from this movie.
Here is the eighth song from this movie. This song is sung by Kalyani and Lalita Parulkar. Roopbani is the lyricist. Music is composed by A R Qureshi.
Only the audio of this song is available and so it is difficult to say how and on whom this song was picturised. It sounds like a conversations between two individuals. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw more light on this movie as well as on the picturisation of this song.
After this song, just one song is left from this movie namely- “main aa rahi hoon gaati huyi”-singers unknown. This one song does not seem to be available. Let us see if that song too will surface in future like the song under discussion or we will have to be satisfied with a YC (conditional YIPPEE) for this movie.
I have not been able to get several words right in the lyrics. I request our readers with keener ears to help fill in the blanks/ suggest corrections wherever applicable.
Song-Ho kaahe beech bajariya soyi (Maa Baap)(1944) Singers-Kalyani, Lalita Parulekar, Lyrics-Roopbani, MD-A R Qureshi
Lyrics
ha ha
ho ho
Ho kaahe beech bajariya soyi
Ho kaahe beech bajariya soyi
kaun nagar ko hai jaana aa aa
bol do ban ki maina
kaun nagar ko hai jaana
bol do ban ki maina
?? kahin koi gaaon na mera
raat kahin aur kahin sawera
kiski khaatir ?? padi hai
ye kahaani tumhen padegi mujhe sunaani
sunogee
haan aan
wo kitni sundar basti thhi
jahaan main saajan sang hansti thhi
aankhon mein kat’ti thhi raaten
aankhon mein kat’ti thhi raaten
hoti thhin jab pyaar ki baaten
hoti thhin jab pyaar ki baaten
us pyaar(?) ne phir ye rang dikhaaya aa aa aa
us pyaar(?) ne phir ye rang dikhaaya aa aa
?? na paaye to phool khilaaya
main uski ?? pati thhe mere
main uski ?? pati thhe mere
phir
phir kismat ne din unke phere
?? pardes saare ae ae ae
?? pardes saare ae ae
raha tapas (?) kayi saal guzaare ae ae
raha tapas (?) kayi saal guzaare ae
ek wajah
khoj rahi hoon
ek wajah
khoj rahi hoon
jaaun kahaan ye poochh rahi hoon
jaaun kahaan ye poochh rahi hoon
uska ?? soi huyi??
uska ?? soi
ye hai mera fasaana aa aa
?? ban ki maina
kaun nagar ko hai jaana aa aa
bol de ban ki maina
?? pooch ke ??
aankhon ki ?? phool khilenge
dil kehta hai
wo mujhe milenge ae ae ae
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
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