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

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.

Today’s song is from film ‘Gokul Ka Raja’ (1954). This is the first song of this film to be discussed here. I am surprised how this film was not featured on the blog so far, because songs of this film have been on You Tube for quite some time. May be, because the entire team of this mythological film was from Marathi film industry and the names of producer, director, MD, or the cast were not familiar to the most people. It is because this was a bilingual film, made first in Marathi as ‘Gokulcha Raja’ (गोकुळचा राजा) way back in 1950 and the Hindi version was released only in 1954.

Made by Yashodhan Chitra, Bombay for producers Nana Bapat and Haribhau Guruji, the film was directed by a well known Marathi Director – Bal Gajbar. He had earlier directed another bilingual Hindi-Marathi film ‘Sandesh’ (1952) and before that yet another bilingual ‘Mere Laal’ (1948) (माझं बाळ in Marathi). Bal Gajbar had directed few Kannada films too, like ‘Vichitra Prapancha’ (1955). Before becoming a director, he was an art director with V Shantaram’s Rajkamal Kala Mandir.

All songs of the film were written by YN Joshi. The Music Director was Shridhar Parsekar – a name very few people will remember. I wrote about him first time in my series “Less Known Composers”, on 17-12-2012, seven years ago. Not much was known about him then. In January 2017, Sadanand Kamath ji wrote on him. In last nearly 3 years, some new information has become available on him, so his bio data is now updated further. As the new sources give new information, the history keeps on updating itself. This is a regular process of nature.

Hindi film music is like an ocean. As many rivers merge into the ocean at various stages, regional music from various parts of India is assimilated in HFM (Hindi Film Music).

Initially it was the Marathi stage/natya sangeet and Parsee Theatre which influenced HFM. In the East, it was Robindra Sangeet and Nazrul Geeti made the basis of film songs. In the Lahore centre it was the Punjabi style after ‘Khazanchi’ (1941).

After Partition and polarisation of film production language wise, it was BOMBAY, which became the centre for HFM and it was a wonderful mixture of music specialties from all over the country. There were many successful Music Directors in India. I remember a famous quotation – “Behind every successful man there is a woman.”

Can you tell me,who is behind every successful Music Director ? I am sure many of us do not have the answer.

The answer is THE ARRANGER.

Now, who is this arranger? Some have a vague idea, some may even think, he is the person who arranges song recordings and the musicians.

An arranger is the SOUL of film music. Once the composer conceives the tune for a song, he tells it to the arranger, who immediately makes its notations (writing music or Swar Lipi), which a properly schooled musician can read and play. Arranger also decides the instruments and their placements in the song. Most of the arrangers in the Film Industry were from Goa, where traditionally Jazz music was very popular.

A typical Goan likes to live life – ‘sushegaat’– which loosely means ‘araam se‘ or a carefree life. Their philosophy is eat, drink and be merry. This merry part includes Music.

Goa has given many musicians to India. Lata/Asha are  from Mangeshi – Goa, though the family had shifted to Kolhapur, MDs Dattaram (Wadkar) and N Datta (Datta Naik), Singers Kishori Amonkar, Kesarbai Kerkar, Shobha Mudgal, Hema Sardesai, Prabhakar Karekar, Remo Fernandez, Lorna are from Goa. (The list is only indicative, not exhaustive).

Most Arrangers were from Goa —-

Anthony Gonsalves from Majorda, Goa. He worked for Naushad,OP Nayyar and LP. The famous song “My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves” is a tribute by LP to him. He had taught Pyaarelal so many things including notations.

Chic Chocolate aka Anthony Vaz from Aldona, Goa. He worked for C Ramchandra mainly.

Chris Perry worked for Khayyam, RD Burman, Kalyanji Anandji, and Laxmikant Pyaarelal.

Frank Fernando – Anil Biswas, Kishore Kumar, Roshan, C Ramchandra.

Sebastian D’Souza from Bicholim, Goa – worked for Shanker Jaikishen from 1952 to 1975, and also OP Nayyar.

Most of the players of western instruments in the orchestras were from Goa.

From this crop of musicians from Goa, there was one outstanding musician – SHRIDHAR PARSEKAR, who was a singer, a famous violin player, composer of many Marathi songs/films/dramas and few Hindi films. He was an expert in playing almost 10 different instruments.

SHRIDHAR PARSEKAR was born in 1920 in Goa. From the childhood he was a lover of music and learnt classical music, first from his uncle Parshuram Buwa Parsekar and he was trained by him in playing various instruments like harmonium, jaltarang, tabla and violin. He was a disciple of Gajanan Buwa Joshi a noted musician. He operated a vand in Bardez, Goa and played violin, clarinet, harmonium and many other instruments. He was a genius and soon became famous for playing violin.

He came to Bombay and continued learning music here under many well known gurus, like Khadeem Hussain Khan, Natthan Khan and Anwar Hussain. Soon he was performing in stage shows doing jugalbandis with stars of the day like Ravi Shanker, Vilayat Khan and Akbar Ali Khan. Kishen Maharaj was very pleased with him. For some time he joined AIR Bombay as a musician and got friendly with Ustad Alla Rakha who also worked in AIR. RG Ramnathkar, who got him the AIR job, also taught him many Raaga/Raaginis. Parsekar worked at AIR for 6 years.

Later he worked as asst. to Music Director Annasaheb Mainkar and then started as MD for Marathi Films and stage dramas. His music in dramas like ‘Bhakta Damaji’, ‘Paisa Bolto Ahe’, ‘Kuber’ and ‘Kanyadaan’ was very popular. He also recorded many bhavgeets and natyageets from reputed singers in Marathi. HMV and Odeon published his records. Singers like Jyotsna Bhole, Saraswati Rane, Hirabai Badodekar, Vatsala Kumthekar and Master Krishnarao Chonkar also sang for him. One of his songs- “Vithal Vithal Gajari, Awaghi Dum Dumali Pandhari” ( “विठ्ठल विठ्ठल गजरी, अवघी दुमदुमली पंढरी” ) from ‘Bhakta Damaji’ is so popular that it is sold even today.

With Marathi films, recording of private songs, stage shows with prominent musicians, Shridhar had every happiness with him. He had a bungalow, cars, bank balance, name, fame and plenty of demand. He wrote a book on music – ‘Swar Ninad‘.

And then it happened !

He became an alcoholic. Normally, a person becomes alcoholic when he is unsuccessful. But this was an opposite case. While on the top of success he became an alcoholic. He used to drink day and night.

Once there was a jugalbandi programme with Ustad Vilayat Khan. Shridhar came fully drunk to the theatre. Vilayat Khan scolded him and left the show. Such things kept on happening, leading to his downfall. He stopped getting work and all his wealth, house, cars etc. was sold for liquor. His condition was such that he would play violin on streets and earn money. Lata Mangeshkar has narrated an incident, which I read in a book ‘From Noorjehan to Lata’ by Isak Mujawar. The book says…

“One day Lata’s car stopped in the traffic. Out of curiosity she peeped out to see what happened. There was a person in tattered clothes playing a violin beautifully and people had gathered to listen to him. Some people gave him alms. She asked the driver if he knew that person. The driver replied that it was Parsekar Buwa. She got down, went to Parsekar and told him to come with her. She will look after him now. On this, Parsekar replied that her father had asked him to look after their family, which he could not do, so why should she look after him. If she wanted to help, just give some money. She gave him 50 rupees and he almost ran away from there – probably to the wine shop !“

Finally Shridhar Parsekar died of liver cirrhosis on 10-9-1964 !  He was only 44 years old !!  Such a brilliant artist wasted by alcohol. So sad ! Pt Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan had personally met his family after his death, so much was the respect for his talent !!

In addition to 7 Marathi films, Shridhar Parsekar gave music to five Hindi films – ‘Nagad Narayan’ (1943), ‘Mahakavi Kalidas’ (1944), ‘Meri Amanat’ (1947), ‘Andhon Ka Sahara’ (1948) and ‘Gokul Ka Raja’ (1954). He composed 45 songs in these films. He sang 5 songs in 2 films, ‘Andhon Ka Sahara’ and ‘Gokul Ka Raja. Many famous singers sang for him, like, Minakshi, Khan Mastana, Rajkumari, Master Krishnarao, Mohantara, Vinodini Dikshit etc.

(Information from these sources also used herein- Marathi Chitrapat Sangeetkar Kosh, Marathi Cinema in Retrospect by Sanjit Narwekar, Purvasurinche Soor by Dr. Suresh Chandvankar and the book ‘Kalatmak Gomantak’ – Kala Academy, Panji – 1972) .

The cast of the film consisted of Dwarakanath, Ratnamala, Chandrakant, Gauri, Hanumanta, Angre etc.

I do not know anything about actor Dwarakanath. Never heard of his name before or after this film ever. Actor Chandrakant was Chandrakant Mandhare (real name Gopal) – the elder brother of the more popular brother Suryakant. These two brothers ruled the Marathi cinema from the late 40s to the 60s.

Gauri was originally Tanibai Dawari, who was active in Prabhat from the silent era. She became famous because of her role of Awali – the shrew wife of Sant Tukaram in that film in 1936. I have recently written in details about her, only last month. As far as the heroine Ratnamala is concerned, how many of us really know anything about this actress. It is surprising that a very lovely and beautiful actress, who was heroine of about 20 films in the 40s and has about 300 films to her credit, remains practically unknown. She was the heroine with Saraswati Cinetone, Prabhat Film Company, Sagar, Ranjit, Prakash Pictures etc. – all well known banners. She was in films for 50+ years and was a famous name in Marathi films of Dada Kondke.

Its a great pity that hardly any or no information about her is available in books, encyclopedias, wiki or on internet. When all sources of information come to a dead end, I turn to Harish Raghuwanshi ji of Surat and I am never disappointed. Here, I provide a short bio-data of Ratnamala, based principally on the articles given by Harish ji. Thanks, Harish ji.

She was born as Kamal Bhivandkar on 22-6-1923 in Bombay. Her father was Auditor of Central Bank, Bombay. She was good looking and could sing well. From the age of 14 years, she went on the stage of several Ganesh Melas prevalent in those times. She earned 5-10 rupees per performance. Due to family’s financial problems, she started looking for work. She was proficient in Marathi, Gujarati, English and Urdu languages. In 1938, she was picked up by Dada Torne of Sarswati Cinetone, Poona, who cast her as Heroine in Marathi film ‘Bhagwa Zenda’. Seeing her performance, she was taken by Prabhat Film Company for the Marathi version of their film ‘Das Baje’ (1942). Torne had renamed her as Ratnamala.

Vijay Bhatt of Prakash Pictures offered her a role in film ‘Bharat Milap’ (1942), when Kusum Deshpande selected for the role of Bharat’s wife fell ill. Seeing her performance, she was selected as a heroine for film ‘Station Master’ (1942). Here too the original heroine Jyoti fell ill. Then came ‘Panghat’ (1943), ‘Police’ (1944), ‘Kavita’ (1944) etc. She acted in many mythological films also. Some of her well known films were ‘Dholak’, ‘Maya Bazaar’, ‘Sasural’, ‘Bhabhi Ki Chudiyan’, ‘Faulad’, ‘Woh kaun thi’, ‘Nishaan’, ‘Bahu Beti’, ‘Mera Saayaa’, ‘Raaz’, ‘Saraswati Chandra’, ‘Brahmachari’, ‘Upahaar’, ‘Seeta aur Geeta’, ‘Nastik’ etc.

She acted in 130 Hindi films and many more Marathi films. Later she did side roles. She became famous as mother of Dada Kondke in 11 of his films. She was called ‘Aaye’ (आये )  in the Marathi films of Kondke.

Ratnamala was married to Raja Pandir, producer director of Marathi films, when she was very young. As Ratnamala became successful and Raja became a failure, their marriage came on rocks. She had one son – Jaikumar, who had also acted in one film. Unfortunately, he died suddenly in an accident. Ratnamala lived in her own bungalow in Andheri, Bombay, along with her foster son – Ramesh. Ratnamala died of heart attack on 23rd January 1989.

Today’s song is the first song sung by Shridhar Parsekar that is being presented. One can easily make out from his clear voice, impeccable pronunciations and the classical singing style that the singer is trained in classical music and is a knowledgeable person. With this song the film ‘Gokul Ka Raja’ and singer Shridhar Parsekar are making their debut on this Blog.

Song – Mangal Prabhat Jaage Surya Kiran Sang (Gokul Ka Raja) (1954) Singer – Sridhar Parsekar, Lyrics – YN Joshi, MD – Sridhar Parsekar

Lyrics

jaa..aa..aa..aage ae ae ae
jaage ae ae ae

jaage
mangal prabhat jaage
jaage
mangal prabhat jaage
jaage
mangal prabhat jaage
jaage
mangal prabhat jaage
surya kiran sang
gokul mein rang
surya kiran sang
gokul mein rang
navjeevan anuraage
jaage
navjeevan anuraage
jaage
mangal prabhat jaage
jaage
mangal prabhat jaage
jaage

go dhan amrit varsha karta..aa..aa
aaaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa
go dhan amrit varsha karta
sukh saurabh gokul mein jharta
sukh saurabh gokul mein jharta
baal gopal
baal gopal charaayen gaayen
madhu murli jiya laage
laage
madhu murli jiya laage
laage
mangal prabhat jaage
jaage
mangal prabhat jaage
jaage
mangal prabhat jaage

surya kiran sang
gokul mein rang
navjeevan anuraage
jaage
mangal prabhat jaage
jaage
mangal prabhat jaage
jaage
jaa..aa..aa..aage

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

जा॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰आगे ए ए ए
जागे ए ए ए

जागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे
जागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे
जागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे
जागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे
सूर्य किरण संग
गोकुल में रंग
सूर्य किरण संग
गोकुल में रंग
नवजीवन अनुरागे
जागे
नवजीवन अनुरागे
जागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे
जागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे
जागे

गो धन अमृत वर्षा करता॰॰आ॰॰आ
आsss आsss आsss आsss
गो धन अमृत वर्षा करता
सुख सौरभ गोकुल में झरता
सुख सौरभ गोकुल में झरता
बाल गोपाल
बाल गोपाल चराएं गाएँ
मधु मुरली जिया लागे
लागे
मधु मुरली जिया लागे
लागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे
जागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे
जागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे

सूर्य किरण संग
गोकुल में रंग
नवजीवन अनुरागे
जागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे
जागे
मंगल प्रभात जागे
जागे

जा॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰आ॰॰आगे