Posts Tagged ‘Actor-Singer’
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 : |
4263 | Post No. : | 15488 | Movie Count : |
4269 |
Today’s song is from a very old film, Moti ka Haar-1937. The song is sung by Ashiq Hussain. The song begins with few sentences in English. The music is by Jaddanbai. The film was produced by Jaddanbai,under the banner of her own Sangeet Film Company, Bombay. It was directed also by Jaddanbai. Though she sang few songs in this film, she did not act in it. However, her daughter Baby Rani aka Fatima Rashid aka Nargis in adult life, acted in this film.Her son, Anwar Hussain also acted in this film. The other cast in the film was Mehtab, Ashiq Hussain, P L Santoshi, Mirza,Yusuf and many more.
Jaddanbai came from a Tawaif family. In the initial stage of the Indian films,whether silent or talkie,it was difficult to get girls from good families and background. Slowly this picture changed. When Talkie started many Tawaifs, singing girls and girls from such families joined films as they fulfilled the requirement of singing and looking good, in addition to their ease on Hindi/Urdu language.
At this time, slowly many educated and girls from high society as well as middle class families started joining films. So,to distinguish these women from each others, a system of nomenclature was followed.
All the Girls coming from Singing families and Tawaif background added the suffix “Bai” to their names, like Jaddanbai, Waheedan bai, Zohrabai,Amirbai etc. The Anglo-Indian and middle class girls took the prefix of ‘ Miss” like,Miss Moti,Miss Rose,MissTara,Miss ajmat,Miss Pearl etc.Those girls who were from high society were called Devi,like Sabita Devi,Kamla Devi,Renuka Devi etc. All Marathi actresses used their full names like Shanta Apte,Minaxi Shirodkar etc.
Another point, this nomenclature was only unofficial and traditional. So some Tawaif actresses took advantage of this to hide their roots.Like, Rampyari who was from a singing family of Hyderabad, sometimes called herself as Miss Rampyari.
Do you know the meaning of the word Kaneez ? Not many may be aware of it. To understand this word,we have to go back in History. There were 565 Princely states in India before Partition. Due to patronising of fine arts like music and dance by these Princes, a new class of Nautch Girls emerged in the 19th century. All Nautch Girls were not the same. Author Michael Kinnear, in his book “The Gramophone company’s first Indian Recordings 1899-1908 “, has explained the classification and Nomenclatures of these Nautch Girls. As per that, there were 4 types…
| Lowest Class…..IV | Name – Khanki | Prostitutes/Sex workers |
| Class III | Name – Kaneez | Daasi or servant |
| Class II | Name – Bai ji | Singing/Dancing |
| Class I | Name – Jaan | Top class singers |
They all were called collectively as Tawayafs. The readers will now understand the difference between Amirbai, Waheedanbai, Jaddanbai and Tamancha Jaan, Gauhar Jaan, Malika Jaan, Zohra Jaan etc etc. In the first decade of Talkie films, almost 90% actresses were from Tawayaf families. As the time went by, their percentage went reducing as girls from respectable families started opting for a film career.
Few of these Tawayaf actresses proved to be extraordinary and they set exemplary lifestyles. I would especially mention 4 names of such actresses, who were different from the rest and did an unexpectedly praiseworthy job. They are – Indurani, Mehtab, Gohar Mamajiwala and Jaddanbai. Indurani, was educated in a Convent school in initial years and understood the importance of education. She ensured high quality education to her children and after retirement from films, settled in US with her children. ” Knowledge is the greatest wealth” – her favourite life philosophy is engraved on her Grave stone in America.
Mehtab and Gohar Mamajiwala, both managed their husband’s cine studio companies with great efficiency. Both sacrificed their film careers to be with their husbands in thick and thin and ensured that they remained a great strength to their extended families. Both these women were highly respected in film industry.
The best among the four, however, was Jaddanbai. She was a multifaceted artiste. She was an excellent singer in her early career, where she was in great demand, receiving invitations from various princely states across the Indian subcontinent. In later life, she was a screen writer, Lyricist, Music Director, Actress, Director, producer and owner of a film production company. More than this, she had earned a high reputation in the film industry. She personally knew big guns like Mehboob, Karadar etc. Jaddanbai had undoubtedly earned a special status in the industry.
Her ability to settle complex personal and professional industry disputes, her generous open kitchen for co-workers, her penchant for colourful language and the high premium placed on her advise and recommendation made her a veritable institution in Indian film industry of her times.
Not only she wrote screenplays for all her films, she also helped her estranged son-Akhtar Hussain’s ” Nargis Art Films”, by writing screenplays for his films ” Anjuman-48″ and ” Darogaji-49″. Jaddanbai was proficient in Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Persian, Arabic and English too. Jaddanbai’s films were made to boost good morals and promote Swadeshi values. Even her first film “Talash E Haq-35” was a story of a wayward actress Feroza, who had many lovers etc, but she finally goes for Search of Truth, denouncing all worldly matters in her life.
JADDANBAI was born in 1892. She was the love child of Motilal Nehru and her mother Daleepabai, who was a beautiful Tawaif. Daleepabai was originally from a Brahmin family,but was abducted and trained as a Tawaif. Jaddanbai was picked up from a mela of kothewalas, when she was only 5 yr. old and was trained as a Tawaif.
A close look at the special feature of Nose in Nargis,Indira Gandhi,Pt.Nehru,Rajiv Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi will confirm the similarity in the Nehru clan feature. Jaddanbai used to tie Rakhi also to Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. ( from an article by Rajnikumar Pandya ji.)
Jaddanbai started learning music under the Ustad Moinuddin Khan, Barkat ali khan, Chhaddu khan and Laabh khan. For this she shifted to Calcutta in her teens only. Though she was born in Benaras, she grew up in Allahabad, the Nehru’s home town.
She started singing gazals and soon became so famous that she cut several Gramophone records. She was invited by many kings and states like, Rampur, Indore, Gwalior, Bikaner etc. She was very popular. A Lahore based film maker, Hakim Ram Pershad was also charmed by her singing and offered her a film role. At that time she was almost 40 year old, but she was not hired for her beauty but her singing. She did the role of Gopichand’s mother in this film. She was offered a role in film Raja Gopichand-1933, by Play Art Photo tone Co. of Lahore. She did that film and also did Insan ya shaitan, also in 1933, Sewa Sadan, Prem Pariksha and Naachwali, all in 1934 in Lahore and Karachi.
After these films, she decided that she had earned a lot so far and she wanted to enter the film business. She left the well earned fame and riches to relocate to Bombay to do a film career. Those days, Calcutta was for Bangla films, Lahore for Punjabi films and Madras for Tamil/Telugu films, so only Bombay catered to Urdu/ Hindi films. Naturally Jaddanbai’s choice became Bombay.
She started her own company – Sangeet Film Co. and produced ‘Talashe Huq’ in 1935, in which her daughter Baby Rani (later Nargis) made her debut. ( actually Baby Rani had also worked earlier in film Nachwali-34, but it was uncredited ). Jaddanbai was an actor,singer, director and she also gave music to few films. Thus she became the second female music Director(after Bibbo) in India.
As an actress her films were- Raja Gopichand-33, Insan ya shaitan-33, Sewa sadan-34, Prem Pariksha-34, Naachwali-34, Talash e huq-35, Hriday Manthan-36 and Madam Fashion-36.
She also Directed few films-Madame Fashion-36, Hriday Manthan-36, Moti ka Haar-37 and Jeewan Swapna-37.
As a Music Director,her films were-Talash e huq-35, Madame fashion-36, Hriday Manthan-36, Moti ka Haar-37 and Jeewan Swapna-37.
As a singer her famous songs were- pardesiya re jara-Naachwali-34
range mehfil na raha-Prem pariksha-34
Aaina rakh do -Sewa sadan-34
Dil me jabse kisi ka-Talash e huq-35
Khoone dil ka kahin-Hriday manthan-36 and
Ho pyala mad se bhara-Madam Fashion-36.
Her singing was very enchanting and even Saigal was her fan.
She had 3 husbands in three marriages and 1 child each from every one.
First she married Narottamdas Khatri,the financier of her first film.He converted to Islam and became Bachhi Babu to marry her. She got Akhtar Hussain from him.
Her second husband was Ustad Irshaad Meer Khan, from whom she got Anwar Hussain.
Her third husband was Mohan Babu. This Uttamchand Mohanchand Tyagi was an orthodox Mohyal Brahmin from Rawalpindi. He was going to London for studying Medicine. He heard Jaddanbai’s singing and fell for her. Against all resistence from his family, he converted to Islam, became Abdul Rashid and married her. She had at last found true love and till the end, they loved each others. He was known as Mohan Babu. He was handsome,rich and good natured. From him Jaddanbai got a girl child called Fatima Rashid or Baby Rani or NARGIS. It is believed that due to her love for Mohan Babu she adopted a Hindu name of Jaya Devi Tyagi also.
Her elder son Akhtar kept away from the family, became a Director, but later started his own business away from these people. Anwar Hussain and Nargis entered films.
Jaddanbai was very well read, cultured and a social person.
She died on 8-4-1949.
The hero of film Moti ka Haar-37 was Ashiq Hussain. Not much information is available on him, except that he hailed from U.P. and that he was educated up to Matriculation, in those days. He was one of the young and good looking heros of those days. He acted in 25 films, starting with Jaddanbai’s film Talash E Haq-35 and his last film was Utho Jaago-47 – a film produced by actress Shehzadi. After the film was complete, they got married and later migrated to Pakistan. There, Ashiq Hussain turned into a full time producer and made many films. Unfortunately no information about him in Pakistan is also available. Ashiq Hussain sang 32 songs in 13 films in India.
Today’s song is sung by Ashiq Hussain. The song has some English lines in prose, before the actual song starts. Surendra and Bibbo made this style famous, with their popular song “Tumhi ne mujh ko pyar Sikhaya’in film Manmohan-36, in which at the beginning, Bibbo asks ” क्या मैं अंदर आ सकती हूं ? ” This different style of song was liked by public and then some more songs with same style were brought in by other composers. May be this song too was an attempt in this direction. With this song, film Moti ka Haar makes its Debut on the Blog.
( I thank for information used in this article from writings of Jill Nelmes and Jule Seibo from book “Women Screen writers- An International Guide”‘, article by Debashri Mukherji, titled “Screen writing and Feminist Rewriting”, article by Michael Kinnear, site http://www.pak.mag.com, http://www.muVyz.com, Film Directory 1946 and my notes).
Song-Chot maar lyo ghoonghatwa ki oat janiya (Moti Ka Haar)(1937) Singer- Ashiq Ghulam Hussain, Lyricist- Jaddanbai, MD- Jaddan bai
Lyrics
aa aa aa aa
you told me
you told me
to come with your home
tomorrow morning
jab ham wahaan pe gaye to
cheez ka pata nahin mila
I am very much ?
I am very much ??
I love and I do for you
chot maar lyo
chot maar lyo
chot maar lyo
ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa
ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa
chot maar lo
chot maar lo
ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa
o chot maar lo
ghoonghatwaa ki oat jainiyaa
chot maar lo
phooli hai bagiya
ghata lahraayi
sooni sejariya se tu naahin bhaawe
aa jaa sejariya ki oar janiyaa
haan aa jaa jhopadiya ki oar janiyaa
haan raaja jhopadiya ki oar janiyaa
chot maar lo
ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa
chot maar lo
haan
?? joruen pyaari
main shauhar unka laadlaa aa aa
main shauhar unka laadlaa
aur ghar ka numberdaar
in sab joruan ke bech kar
main utaroon ganga paar
chot maar lyo ghoonghatwaa ki oat janiyaa
chot maar lyo
Toot gayi haaye jeewan veena
Posted on: March 18, 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.
| Blog Day: | 4261 | Post No.: | 15485 |
“Maaya Machhindra”(1951) aka Gorakhnath was directed by Aspi Irani for Super Pictures, Bombay. This mythological movie had Surendra, Nirupa Roy, Trilok Kapoor, Usha Kiran, Shanta Kunwar, Nand Kishore, Parshuram, Chaandni, Rajni, Bheem, Amirbai, Gulzar, Mona, Master Vinod etc in it.
The movie had eight songs in it. Two of these songs have been covered in the past.
Here is the third song from “Maaya Machhindra”(1951) to appear in the blog. The song is sung by Geeta Dutt and Surendra. Manoharlal Khanna is the lyricist. Music is composed by Premnath (MD) who was different from the actor of the same name,
Only the audio of the song is available. My guess is that this song was picturised on Nirupa Roy and Surendra. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturisation of the song.
Song-Toot gayi haay jeewan veena (Maaya Machhindra)(1951) Singers-Geeta Dutt, Surendra, Lyrics-Manoharlal Khanna, MD-Premnath (MD)
Both
Lyrics
toot gayi haaye jeewan veena
jeewan sathi bin kya jeena
bin kya jeena
toot gayi haaye
toot gayi haaye jeewan veena
jeewan saathi bin kya jeena
bin kya jeena
toot gayi haaye
tan me kaante man mein kaante
tan mein kaante man mein kaante
neend kabhi aankhon mein aake
neend kabhi aankhon mein aake
tadpoon jaise jal bin meena
jal bin meena
toot gayi haaye
pankhheen ik panchi hoon main
udna chaahoon ud na sakoon main
pankhheen ik panchi hoon main
udna chaahoon ud na sakoon main
maut hai ye jeewan bhar jeena
aise jeena
toot gayi haaye
naina kahen ab kaun hamaara
man poochhe ab kisko sahaara
beete dinon ki haaye raina
beete dinon ki haaye raina
sapnon ki godi mein jeena
toot gayi haaye
toot gayi haaye jeewan veena
jeewan saathi bin kya jeena
bin kya jeena
toot gayi haaye
Roop Anoop Wahi Hai Sajani
Posted on: March 15, 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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Blog Day : |
4258 | Post No. : | 15479 | Movie Count : |
4267 |
Today’s song is from a relatively unknown or rather less known film ‘Vasanti’ (1938). The film was made by Minerva Movietone. The film was given to a novice for direction – KM Multani. He was with Sohrab Modi since his drama days and worked as a cinematographer for Modi’s first two films made by his Stage Films Company. After this first film, Multani also directed 4 more films, namely ‘Virginia’ (1940), ‘Vaseeyat’ (190,) ‘Ujala’ (1942) and ‘Umang’ (1944).
‘Vasanti’ had a pair of music directors. They were Govindrao Tembe and Meer Sahab. Meer Sahab joined Minerva in 1937 and gave music to its first film ‘Atma Tarang’ (1937). Though this film was a flop, he was continued to give music to few more Minerva films like ‘Vasant’, ‘Jailor’ and ‘Divorce’ in 1938, ‘Pukar’ (1939), ‘Main Haari’ (1940), ‘Sikandar’ (1941), ‘Phir Milenge’ (1942). ‘Patharon Ka Saudagar’ (1944) and ‘Lal Haveli’ (1944). either solely or with other MDs.
When Meer Sahab was giving music to an outside film ‘Bahadur Kisan’ (1938), his assistant was C Ramchandra during this period. He became very friendly with Master Bhagwan who was film’s director, hero and a singer too. Meer Sahab was an expert in classical music, but he used to forget tunes. That is why he was best when working with some other MD. In film ‘Vasanti’, his co-MD was Govindrao Tembe. Govind Sadashiv Tembe, popularly known as Govindrao Tembe (5 June 1881 – 9 October 1955), was a harmonium player, stage actor, and music composer. He grew up in Kolhapur and became attached to music early in life. He was largely self-taught as a harmonium player. He has acknowledged the debt of Deval Club for his initial forays into Hindustani classical music.
Tembe learnt his art from Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale and, although he never received direct guidance from Alladiya Khan of Jaipur Gharana, Tembe considered Khansaheb as his guru. He used to accompany Pt. Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale, and would also often perform solo, but later gave up harmonium for most part of his career. He composed music for the drama ‘Maan Apmaan’ in 1910, and also for the first Marathi talkie ‘Ayodhyecha Raja’ (1932). He also acted in both these productions.
He was a personal friend of Late Yuvaraja of Mysore, HH Sri Kanteerava Narasimha Raja Wadiyar. Prof Tembe was part of a large entourage of Yuvaraja during his trip to Europe in 1939. The troupe performed before the Pope and at other places during this trip. As World War II broke out, they stayed at London for a long time and ultimately returned in Jan 1940. Yuvaraja died soon after, at his Palace Anchorage (next to Hotel Taj) in March 1940 and Prof Tembe lost his patron.
Prof Tembe was part-owner of Gandharva Natak Mandali when it was formed in 1913. Two years later, he started his own company named Shivraj Natak Mandali. He wrote dramas and also the padas (songs) in them.
While in film industry, he dabbled in many departments. He was fond of acting. He acted in 6 films, namely ‘Maya Machhindra’ (1932), ‘Ayodhya Ka Raja’ (1932), ‘Seeta’ (1934), ‘Usha’ (1935), ‘Nand Kumar’ (1938) and ‘Krishna Sudama’ (1945). He sang 15 songs in his first 4 films, where he had acted. He directed one film – ‘Raj Mukut’ (1935) and he was a MD in 12 films, from ‘Ayodhya Ka Raja’ (1932) to ‘Saathi’ (1938).
Govindrao’s death was in a strange circumstance. His friend, VH Deshpande has written about it in an article, I found on http://www.parrikar.org, as follows.
Govindrao’s death was unexpected. Of late, he had taken considerable interest in the work of the Central Audition Board of All India Radio. He had gone to Delhi in connection with the work of this Board and suffered a heart attack on 29th September, 1955. Dr. Sumati Mutatkar conveyed the news to the Minister in charge of Information and Broadcasting Dr. B.V. Keskar and Shri P.M. Lad, I.C.S., who took keen personal interest and had Govindrao removed to Wellington Nursing Home. They also arranged for a thorough medical check-up and treatment by expert doctors.
It was felt that somebody from Govindrao’s family should go over to Delhi and stay with him. Shri P.M. Lad, Secretary to Government in the Department of Information and Broadcasting, wrote to Govindrao’s eldest son, Pilunana and called him to Delhi. For the first few days Govindrao was unable to move his hands and feet. But soon he rallied round and was well enough to send a telegram home saying – “I am feeling better. The A.I.R. officers have made excellent arrangements for my treatment. There is, therefore, no need for anybody from the family to come here. There is absolutely no cause for anxiety.”
In the meantime his youngest son, Bhaurao and his eldest daughter-in-law, Indirabai, had left Kolhapur for Delhi; but having seen (at Pune) the reassuring telegram from Govindrao they returned home. Fearing that the telegram might not have reached Kolhapur and that Bhaurao might have started for Delhi, Govindrao pressed Pilunana to go to the Delhi Railway Station to fetch him. Pilunana left the Nursing Home for the station. At 5.35 p.m. Govindrao suffered a heart attack apparently caused by a coughing fit which brought his life to an end in a matter of seconds. When Pilunana returned from the station at 7 p.m. he found that his father had passed away.
Officers of the All India Radio rushed to the hospital on hearing the news. Dr. Keskar too came to pay his respects to the departed soul. He gave
instructions to his officers in regard to the funeral. During this terminal illness of Govindrao, Dr. Keskar, Shri P.M. Lad and Dr. Sumati Mutatkar had
paid personal attention to Govindrao’s treatment and made every effort to make his stay at the hospital as comfortable as possible. They all felt a sense of guilt for the tragedy since it was in response to their invitation that Govindrao had gone to Delhi. “
Minerva Movietone was one of the major and famous film companies. Its initial films were very purposeful and tackled social evils like divorce, alcoholism and incest etc. Minerva was also famous for its grand historical movies and the solid dialogues delivered by Sohrab Modi. All this success did not come to him easily. He learnt through bitter lessons.
In the 30’s, when the talkie films started, there were about 9 big, famous and trend setting film companies. Most companies had graduated to talkie status after they made silent films. Only Bombay Talkies and Minerva Movietone started after talkie films had established a foothold. Let us see when these companies started their film making.
| Company | Year started |
|---|---|
| Madon Theatres | 1919 |
| Imperial | 1926 |
| Ranjit | 1929 |
| Prabhat | 1929 |
| Sagar | 1929 |
| New Theatres | 1931 |
| Wadia Movietone | 1931 |
| Bombay Talkies | 1933 |
| Minerva Movietone | 1936 |
From this chart, it is clear that Minerva was the youngest of all these companies. Modi brothers had started a company called Stage Films Co. in 1935, which shot 2 films from a running stage drama. They were ‘Hamlet’ (1935) and ‘Saeed e Hawas’ (1936). Both were flops. Minerva Movietone was started by Sohrab and brother Rustom Modi in 1936, when they realised that the stage dramas, filmed as feature films did not get the public approval. Production from Stage Films- their first film production enterprise- was suspended till Minerva became successful. ‘Aatma Tarang’ (1937) was the new company’s first film. C Ramchandra was the harmonium accompanist for MD Habib Khan and Bundu Khan. He also did a small role in ‘Aatma Tarang’ and earlier ‘Saeed e Havas’ (1936). Minerva’s first film proved to be a let down.
Sohrab found that there were hardly 20 to 30 persons in the audience on the very first show. The film was based on the power of ‘Bramhacharya’ (Celibacy). In those days, Sohrab was greatly influenced by the teachings of Ramkrishna Mission. Seeing the poor response, he was upset. Thoughts of quitting the film production line were crowding in his mind. Suddenly, he saw four men coming towards him. They came, confirmed that he was Sohrab modi and told him that his film was very good. They further advised him to keep making such good films and one day he will be on top. Later on he learnt that these gentlemen were the Judges of Bombay High Court.
This gave lot of motivation to Modi. It also boosted his self confidence. As such he was sure of his success in films, but now he knew that he must make films on subjects of interest of the public and not his own philosophy, if he wants to succeed commercially. His second film was ‘Khan Bahadur’ (1937), based on the bravery and generosity of a Muslim king who became famous for his bravery. The English rulers gave him the title of Khan Bahadur. The film did a reasonable business.
This incident infused him with new hopes and enthusiasm. This changed his life. Initially he focused on making films on social evils like drinking (‘Meetha Zehar’ (1938)), husband-wife separation (‘Divorce’ (1938)) and incest (‘Bharosa’ (1940)). Enthused with this experience, he made successful films and took his company to the top. Renowned for big budget historical films, Minerva benefited from Modi family’s distribution interests in Gwalior, expanded by his third brother Keki Modi into western India. At one time he controlled a chain of 27 theatres in 10 cities. In 1952, they established India’s first Technicolour Laboratory.
In those days, every film company had its own committed audience. In addition, the language used in every studio’s films had a special touch e.g. Prabhat film language (i.e. dialogues and song lyrics) had a Poona Marathi influence, Ranjit films were Gujarati oriented and New Theatre’s language was ‘Bhoyankor and Bhishon’ – all words were rounded. Bombay Talkies brought in a day to day simple Hindi language. Minerva used Urdu and Farsi influenced words and pronunciations. It suited the long and forceful dialogues of Modi in his historical movies.
The cast of film ‘Vasanti’ was Naseem Banu, Navin Yagnik, Putli, Kusum, Sadiq Ali, Jamshed ji, Ghulam Hussain and many more. Something about the unusual name in the cast – Jamshed ji. His full name was Jamshed ji Bairam ji Khan Saheb. In some films, he was credited as Khan Saheb also. He was born in Bombay in 1889 as a typical Parsee. He was one of the oldest and most experienced actors having worked with several directors and over 25 years of acting.
He started with Silent films like ‘Pyaari Mamta’, ‘Madhuri’, ‘Sohni Mahiwal’, ‘Pooran Bhagat’, ‘Gulshan e Arab’, ‘Hoor e Baghdad’ and ‘Indira’. His first talkie film was ‘Daulat Ka Nasha’ (1931) and ‘Noorjahan’ (1931). He acted in about 50 films. His last known film was ‘Andaz’ (1949).
Jamshed ji, also gave music to 3 films- ‘Naya Zamana’ (1935), ‘Zaate Shareef’ (1936) and ‘Jagat Kesari’ (1937).
Hero of film ‘Vasanti’ was Navin Yagnik. Navin was a well known stunt film actor who did social films also with the same ease. Navin was born in Calcutta on 3-10- 1912. His father was from UP and mother from Bengal. During school days, he was more interested in sports, dramas and oratory. He did not complete his Matriculation, but ran away to Bombay, to become an actor-against the wishes of his family. He joined Sagar Films in 1930, as an extra, without salary. After few months he got Rs. 35 pm, but no credited roles. After a year or so, he left Sagar and joined Mohan Bhavnani’s Ajanta Film company. He first worked in film ‘The Mill ‘ (1934). Unfortunately, this film was banned for 2 years. The film was based on a story by Munshi Premchand and depicted the poor conditions of mill workers in Bombay. The Mill Owners’ Association brought pressure on Government and got the film banned. After 2 years, the film was released as ‘Ghareeb Parvar’ (1936) aka ‘Daya Ki Devi’. Two more films and Navin became hero in film ‘Pyar Ki Maar’ (1935).
In her autobiography, actress Hansa Wadkar says,”My hero in this film was one Navin Yagnik, a handsome boy from UP. He was very shy and after the shootings, he would quietly sit in one corner reading something. He never joined our drink parties, nor he participated in any other group activity. I was attracted towards him but he gave no response. He sent me invitation card of his marriage, when it was fixed.”
He also worked in Minerva Movietone, Prakash pictures, Filmistan and other good banners. Some of his well known films were, ‘Zambo-The ape Man’ (1937), ‘Meri Bhool’ (1937), ‘Divorce’ (1938), ‘Vasanti’ (1938), ‘Son of Zambo’ (1939), ‘Main Haari’ (1940), ‘Vasantsena’ (1942), ‘Raja Rani’ (1942), ‘School Master’ (1943), ‘Prithvi Vallabh’ (1943), ‘Chal Chal Re Naujawan’ (1944) etc. His last recorded film was ‘Bhagwat Mahima’ (1955). In all, he worked in 30 films.
Navin Yagnik died on 28-10-1977.
Today’s song is probably composed by Govindrao Tembe, but HFGK does not credit any song to individual MD in the duo. With this song, film ‘Vasanti’ makes its debut on this Blog.
Song – Roop Anoop Wahi Hai Sajani (Vasanti) (1938) Singer – Naseem Banu, Lyricist – Abdul Baqi, MD – Govindrao Tembe and Meer Saheb
Lyrics
roop anoop vahi hai sajani
roop anoop vahi hai sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave sajani
roop anoop wahi hai sajani
roop anoop wahi hai sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave
prem mein mann aisa kho jaawe
prem mein mann aisa kho jaawe
apna dhyaan na aawe ree sajni
apna dhyaan na aawe ree sajni
sab sudh budh bisraawe sajni
sab sudh budh bisraawe
yaad mein jeewan unke bita doon
yaad mein jeewan
aa aa aa aa aa
yaad mein jeewan unke bita doon
prem ki aag suhaave sajani
prem ki aag suhaave sajani
prem mein mann sukh paave sajani
prem mein mann sukh paave sajani
roop anoop wahi hai sajani
roop anoop wahi hai sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo preetam ko bhaave ri sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave sajani
jo saajan ko lubhaave
——————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
——————————————
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे सजनी
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे
प्रेम में मन ऐसा खो जावे
प्रेम में मन ऐसा खो जावे
अपना ध्यान ना आवे सजनी
अपना ध्यान ना आवे सजनी
सब सुध बुध बिसरावे सजनी
सब सुध बुध बिसरावे
याद में जीवन उनके बिता दूँ
याद में जीवन
आ आ आ आ आ
याद में जीवन उनके बिता दूँ
प्रेम की आग सुहावे सजनी
प्रेम की आग सुहावे सजनी
प्रेम में मन सुख पावे सजनी
प्रेम में मन सुख पावे सजनी
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
रूप अनूप वही है सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो प्रीतम को भावे री सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे सजनी
जो साजन को लुभावे
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusaist of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 4240 | Post No. : | 15453 |
Today’s song is from the early era of Talkie films. The film is Desh Deepak-1935. The film was made by Wadia Movietone – the pioneers and Flag bearers of Stunt and Costume films. The film was directed by J B H Wadia, the elder brother of the owners. The screenplay, story and Lyrics were by Joseph David and the music was given by Master Mohammed. The cast included Master Mohammed, Shareefa, Iqbal, Sayani Atish, Sardar Mansoor, Husn Bano, Nadia, Boman Shroff, John Cavas, Jaidev(composer), Jijibhai and many more.
When the Talkie films started, the audience was awestruck and went to the theatres to see and enjoy, whatever the producers served them on the screen. Initially, the films were mostly Mythological and Costume dramas, but in due course, the film makers realised that making a stunt film was much more profitable than a Costume drama. Stunt films could be made in Rs. 30-50 thousand, whereas for other films, the investment was more. Further religious films catered to only a particular religion, i.e. Muslim and Christian audience would not see a Mythological film and Hindu and Christians will not see a Muslim religious film. But stunt films were for all and sundry. There was no restriction.
Due to all this, the pioneers of stunt/action films decided to concentrate on this Genre only. Wadia Movietone was the leading film maker of these C grade films. Other companies who made such films were, Imperial, Ranjit, Sharda, krishna, Saraswati, Saroj, Sagar, Bharat Royal, Ajanta, Madan etc. in 1933 Wadias entered with force in this market, and followed by others, in just 3 years i.e. from 1933 to 1935, a total of 138 films of Stunt/Action, Costume, Arabian Night stories and magic based Imaginary films ( all C grade) were made. Significantly, out of these 138 films, as many as 42 films were Stunt and Action films. This was mainly because of Wadia Movietone. They introduced Fearless Nadia in Hunterwali-35 and virtually ignited the flame of Stunt/Action films from 1935 to 1950. Thus the decade of 40s could be called “Stunt Film Decade” with 210 such films from 1941 to 1950.
Wadia Movietone was a noted Indian film production company and studio, based in Mumbai, established in 1933 by Wadia brothers J. B. H. Wadia and Homi Wadia. It was most known for stunt, fantasy and mythological films, including Hunterwali (1935).
Wadia brothers belonged to a Parsi family, and their ancestors came from the ship building Wadia family (Wadia Group), originally from Surat, which also built the British wartime ship HMS Trincomalee (1817). Their ancestors moved to Bombay in the 18th century. It was co-established in 1933, by producer and screenwriter J. B. H. Wadia, his younger brother director Homi Wadia, film distributor Manchersha B. Billimoria, and brothers Burjor and Nadirsha Tata.
However, the Tata brothers left the partnership within three years. The company then continued production of film, documentaries and newsreels from its studios near Lowjee Castle, Mumbai, the Wadia family mansion, owned by their great-grandfather Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia, a noted shipbuilder, who founded the Wadia Group in 1736. The company even had its logo as a ship, honouring their family legacy. They company made Hunterwali (1935) starring Fearless Nadia, Boman Shroff and John Cawas, which became a surprise hit and its first big success. Thereafter, they made several films based on the Arabian Nights.
However, by the end the 1930s, the genre of stunt, fantasy and mythology films which dominated the early films, was beginning to fail and the company ran into heavy losses, after they invested into ambitious projects which flopped. The last film made by the company was Raj Nartaki (1941) under the direction of Madhu Bose. Thereafter, the studio premises were up for sale; V. Shantaram bought the studio in 1942 and established Rajkamal Kalamandir on the premises. Homi Wadia, who worked as a director the company, went on to establish Basant Pictures in the same year, though initially as a film production house. Subsequently, he established a film studio under the same banner in 1947, which functioned till 1981.
Riyad Vinci Wadia, grandson of J.B.H. Wadia inherited the studio in 1990. He is most known for his film, Bomgay (1996) and a documentary on Nadia, Fearless: The Hunterwali Story. He died in 2003.
In the early phase of Cinema, till about the end of 40s, the Studio system was in vogue. Initially, all studios employed their own staff and the films were sold on the name of the studios, e.g. Prabhat, Wadias, Ranjit, Sagar, New Theatres etc etc. Over the years slowly the ‘ Free Lance ‘ system set in and major stars operated independently. All studios tried to have the best, among their staff. Successful artistes had great demands. Even the story writers and screenplay writers were important. one such person was Joseph David (Penkar), from Imperial film co., who ,later on , joined Wadias. He was a Jew. The contribution of Jew Community to Hindi cinema in different fields like, acting, Direction, Cinematography, etc was noteworthy from the beginning of Talkie films.
Among the earliest script writers for the silent films was a Bene Israel Jew, Joseph David Penkar- (जोसेफ डेव्हिड पेणकर) (1872-1942), a theatre manager of the third decade of the twentieth century, who was also the author of plays in Marathi and Urdu. Today, three of his plays – Queen Esther, The Maccabeen Warriors and Prince Ansalom – are archived in Israel.
He wrote the story, screenplay and some of the music of Alam Ara (1931), the first full length talkie of Indian cinema. Alam Ara betrays the influences of Hebrew, Hindi and English stories. In one scene, the wicked queen imprisons a young man who fails to respond to her advances, like the Biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. And the sub-plot of a lover couple separated, reminds of Rama and Sita from the great Hindu epic Ramayana, with perhaps a touch of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Joseph David was born in the Marathi speaking Penkar (पेणकर ) clan of Bene Israel Jews in the Dongri-Umarkhadi area of Bombay in 1872.
Although David did not receive much of schooling, he acquired fluency in Hebrew, English, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi and many other Indian languages. Driven by his passion for English plays, David joined the Parsi Theatrical Company as a stagehand. He was given small improvisational parts as an actor. But, with his talent for music composition and way with words, he soon found himself working as a playwright.
He made a breakthrough when he wrote the screenplay for India’s first talkie, Alam Ara, which was released on 14th March 1931. The film was a huge success. Tickets were sold for twenty times the admission rate as crowds thronged to see the first talkie venture of Indian cinema. After Alam Ara, he joined its production house, the Imperial Film Company, as a playwright and also got involved with film-producing, directing and music composing. Other screenplays followed: Sati Sone (1932); Lal-e-Yaman (1933), to which he also composed the scores; and Desh Deepak (1935). Joseph David died in 1942.
He gave music to 3 films,composing 40 songs…Laal E Yaman-33, Vaman Avtar-34 and Bagh E Misr-34. He also wrote 110 songs in 11 films, from Mahabharat-33 to Pahadi Kanya-36.
Film Desh Deepak-35 had music by Master Mohammed- who also acted in this film. Master Mohammed started his career as an actor and composer in Krishnatone’s ” Harishchandra”-1931-one of the earliest Talkie film in the first year itself. He composed 20 songs in ” Seeta swayamvar”-1933. Same year he acted and composed music to India’s First Talkie Fantasy film “Lal E Yaman”-33. He used to sing songs in his films. He was MD of many films of Fearless Nadia, from her First big film ” Hunterwali ” -1935 to ” Sher E Baghdad”-46. He gave music to 24 films, composing 217 songs and sang 41 songs in 18 films. He also acted in 23 films.
His specialty was patriotic songs in his films. Some of his famous songs were, Hum watan ke-jai Bharat-36 and Zanda uncha rahe hamara-Lutaru Lalna-38. Another song from his film, ‘Jagat ka sapna” was based on Hindu-Muslim Unity. In his every film, there used to be a patriotic song.
His last film as an actor was ” Flying Prince “-1946.
His last film as a composer was Sati Seeta-46.
I have not seen this film, but I got its story, with thanks, from a Blog, exclusive for such film discussions – http://www.pedrotheapebomb.wordpress.com. One special point about this film. This film has the famous composer Jaidev, acting in it as a child artiste. Jaidev had run away from home to Bombay and did few films before returning to home, according to his biography.
The story is…
A kingdom loses its king and there is a mad scramble to take power which would otherwise go to the child prince (Master Jaidev), who is now in hiding. Meanwhile a young woman (Sharifa) is selected to run the country.
To keep the woman in power, her elder sister (Iqbal) joins forces with the General (Sayani Atish) who, unbeknownst to anyone, desires the kingdom for himself. But the woman’s husband (Sardar Mansoor), a patriot, will not divulge the whereabouts of the prince, who is safely hidden away with a high priest (Master Mohammad) and his family, so the general puts him in jail.
The General’s daughter, a pacifist, wins over one of her father’s officers (S.L. Puri) in hopes that he will help avert an all out war, but the General, feeling betrayed, demands his execution. The daughter then meets two entertainers (Nadia and Parsi Charlie) and they try to release the patriot and two other rebels (Boman Shroff and John Cawas), who are imprisoned with him, and together they hope to stop the execution of the young officer.
When she comes to realize the General’s true plans, the elder sister turns against him and goes back to help her husband…but then, the younger sister and her army set out to crush the rebellion once and for all.
One song from this film is already posted here. So, this is the second song, sung by Husn Bano and S L Puri.
Song-Naseeba mera chamka jo sabak loon tumse (Desh Deepak)(1935) Singers-Husn Bano, S L Puri, Lyrics-Joseph David, MD-Master Mohammad
Both
Lyrics
sipahsaalar Feroz
Kya
insaan ka khoon bahaana
ye sab aapka ka kaam hai
?? jo maalik tumhaare haathon
khuda ke bandon ka khoon bahaate hain
wo sirf apna matlab nikaalte hain
sipahsaalaar
watan kaum aur mazhab ke liye
jung karna jitna achcha hai
usse behtar insaani hamdardi mein koshish karna behtar hai
shahzaadi saahibaa
to aaj se mujhe apna shaagird banaa lo
naseeba mera chamka
jo sabak loon tumse jaana ka
mujhe tum hi se haasil ho
tajarbaa aah re duniya ka
mujhe tum hi se haasil ho
tajarbaa aah re duniya ka
yahi laajim hai insaan ko
yahi laajim hai insaan ko
bane hamdard insaan ka
bada ye ??
bane hamdard insaan ka
museebat dil ko ??
aisa aaj na hona
koi maatamzada mile jaaye
jinse ??baan hona
koi aur raah gum kar de
aisa rehnuma hona
?? har ??khuda marha??
?? hona
har baar ?? marha??
kis tarah hona
yahi laajim hai insaan ko
yahi laajim hai insaan ko
bane hamraaz insaan ka
badhaaye ?? aisa ko
bane ?? ka
badhaaye ?? aisa wo
bane hamsa ?? ka
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 4215 | Post No. : | 15416 |
“Anmol Moti”(1949) was directed by Shanti Kumar for Jaishakti Pictures, Bombay. This movie had Shenprabha Pradhan, Indu, Umakant, Vimal Bai, Ramesh Sinha, Kesar Bai, C S Dubey, Om Prakash Gaud, Tribhuwan Sinha, Sharad Shukla, Tikaram, Shyama etc in it.
The movie had ten songs in it. Two songs have been covered in the past in the blog.
Here is the third song from “Anmol Moti”(1949) to appear in the blog. Though its details are not mentioned in HFGK, the uploader of this song mentions that it is sung by Snehprabha Pradhan. Music is composed by Ram Ganguly.
Only the audio of this song is available. Since Snehprabha Pradhan had acted in the movie tso it follows that the song was picturised on herself.
Song-Kya khabar thhi ye muhobbat is qadar tadpaayegi(Anmol Moti)(1949) Singer-Snehprabha Pradhan, MD-Ram Ganguly
Lyrics
kya khabar thhi ye muhobbat is kadar tadpaayegi
kya khabar thhi ye muhobbat is kadar tadpaayegi
kya khabar thhi is kadar taqdeer palta khaayegi
hum to samjhe thhe muhobbat mein maza kuchch aur hai
hum to samjhe thhe muhobbat mein maza kuchch aur hai
kya khabar thhi ki humari jaan par ban jaayegi
kya khabar thhi ki humari jaan par ban jaayegi
waqt meri zindagi se sab adhoora reh gaya
waqt meri zindagi se sab adhoora rah gaya
kya khabar thhi ki khushi meri gham mein badal jaayegi
kya khabar thhi ye muhobbat is kadar tadpaayegi
Tu sun le kahaani
Posted on: January 23, 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.
| Blog Day : | 4206 | Post No. : | 15397 |
“Ban Phool”(1945) was directed by Dhiren Lahiri for P R productions, Calcutta. The movie had Kanan Devi, Krishnkant, Debi Mukherji, Ahin Chaudhary, Roy Mohan, Shyam Laha, Dev Bala, Bijli, Hiralal etc in it.
This movie had nine songs in it. Four songs have been covered in the past.
Here is the fifth song from “Ban Phool”(1945) to appear in the blog.
This song is sung by Kanan Devi. Pt Madhur is the lyricist. Music is composed by Dhiren Mittar.
It is clear that the song was picturised on Kanan Devi herself.
Song-Tu sun le kahaani (Ban Phool)(1945) Singer-Kanan Devi, Lyrics-Pt Madhur, MD-Dhiren Mittar
Lyrics
tu sun le kahaani
tu sun le kahaani
ae meri munni
ae meri raani
sun le kahaani
jis roz gaya bachpan
aayi jawaani pancham
aankhon mein hansa gulshan
aankhon mein
aankhon mein hansa gulshan
phir udne laga ye man
Ye man
phir udne laga ye man
ye ?? na jaane
sun le kahaani
tu sun le kahaani
is raah ?
?? se bachaaya
Main bani uski chhaaya
main bani uski chhaaya
?? hanse ??
hansi ka ??
rulaani
sun le kahaani
kuchh ko gayi manaane
dukh dard gham bhulaane
zakhmon ki dawa laane
zakhmon ki dawa laane
usne kiye bahaane
?? deewaani
sun le kahaani
tu sun le kahaani
ae meri munni
ae meri raani
ab raat nahin baaqi
ab aah nahin baaqi
man ?? hai
par raah nahin baaqi
ab raah nahin baaqi
baaqi hai ye nishaani
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.
|
Blog Day : |
4179 | Post No. : | 15358 | Movie Count : |
4233 |
Today’s song is from a Non-Descript film-Mazaq-43. I call it a Non Descript film because no information is available on this film anywhere. As the film was released on 31-12-1943, its review was expected in the 1944 January or February issue, but as 1944 issues of Film India are not available in Internet Archive, it is not possible to know about this film. I did not see any film advertisement of Mazaq in any issue of 1943. Either I missed it or it was not there. The gist is, we do not know anything about who wrote the film story or what was the story, how it was received by the public etc.
The film was made by Raja Movietone, which was established by Zahoor Raja, after he directed film Badal-1942, made by Eastern Pictures, Bombay. Film Mazaq-43 was the maiden venture of Raja Movietone. It went on to make 3 more films. All four films were directed by Zahoor Raja and he acted in every film also. Only in film Mazaq-43, he tried his hand at composing songs, as Music Director. Thankfully, he never tried it again. Actress Radha Rani (Bombywali) also acted in all films with him.
The cast of the film was Madhuri, Pahadi Sanyal, Radha Rani (B), Zahoor Raja, Shyam kumar,Haroon and others. As far as Madhuri was concerned, she got married in 1941 and was in the process of ending her acting career. After this film, she completed few more films on hand and retired from film. In this film, the lead pair was Madhuri and Pahadi Sanyal. Zahoor Raja had done a negative role in the film.
ZAHOOR RAJA (Born 7 July 1918 Abbottabad (now in Pakistan)– Died 1992 England) Pre Partition Hindi/Urdu Film Actor, Producer, Director, Editor, Writer, Singer, Lyricist & Music Composer. He graduated from editing and story writing to become a producer-director in 1943.
Zahoor Raja was born in a wealthy family in Abbottabad. After schooling , he studied BA from Rawalpindi but could not complete his graduation as he was more interested in sports than in studies. His father, a Police Inspector, was keen in admitting him in Dehradun for a career in the army. But he ran away from home and landed in Bombay with a letter of introduction to Film maker A R Kardar. Since he was very handsome and well built man, getting into the Bombay film industry was not difficult. At that time, Kardar was directing ‘Mirza Sahiban’ (1939) for Ranjit Movietone and Kardar took Zahoor Raja in the film. The film was not completed.
Within a year after that film, V Shantaram invited him to join Prabhat Films and was taken on a contract of 3 years. His association with V Shantaram was not beneficial and he did not get much work. Kardar once again came to his rescue and got him employed in National Studios and got him a role in ‘Pooja’ (1940). Thereafter, he got a role in Minerva Moveitone’s ‘Sikandar’ (1941). During the making of the film ‘Sikandar’ (1941), he fell in love with his co-star Meena (Meena Shourie) and married her. The marriage did not last long and Meena later married another handsome actor, Al Nasir.
Zahoor Raja later worked as a Hero in ‘Sewa’ (1941). During this time, while looking for a change from his acting career, he got a chance to direct the film ‘Badal’ (1942) produced under Eastern Pictures where he also acted in the lead role. Though the film failed at the box office, his direction was appreciated by the critics. In 1943, he floated his own film production company, Raja Movietone and made its maiden film ‘Mazaq’ (1943) which he also directed, acted in a negative role and composed its music. His banner produced ‘O Panchhi’ (1944), ‘Ghazal’ (1945) and ‘Dhadkan’ (1946). In most of the films in which he acted, Zahoor Raja was paired with Radha Rani. He also sang the song ‘Bhulaane waale hamen bhi na yaad aaya karo’ along with Naseem Akhthar in the Movie ‘Ghazal’ (1945) composed by Gyan Dutt. His last Movie in India before moving to Pakistan was ‘Anmol Ghadi’ (1946). He acted in 8 films, directed 5 films, sang 15 songs in 4 films, wrote lyrics in 1 film and was MD for 1 film.
After partition, Zahoor Raja migrated to Pakistan. He was active in Pakistani film industry until 1966. After 1966, he migrated to England, married an English lady and later died in 1992 in England.
The heroine Madhuri was already 30 year old in 1943 and I wonder why Raja opted for this aged lady, who was on the verge of retiring from films – that too as a Heroine ! Of course, since we do not know about the story of the film, Raja gets the benefit of doubt, in this case. Madhuri was an actress coming from the Silent Era and early Talkie films. After retirement , she disappeared for almost 50 years, till she was traced for a function. Here is how…
Like many others,Madhuri too was an Anglo Indian. Her real name was Beryl Claessen. She was born on 3-11-1913 at Delhi. Her father was a big officer in Government. Her initial schooling took place in Nainital. She learnt music too,because she wanted to become a Music Teacher. However that she never became,but on a visit to Bombay she was picked up by producer Indulal Yagnik and she started acting in silent films.
Many Heroines in those days were Anglo-Indians,Europeans or Jew girls. Since silent films did not require speaking Hindi or Urdu ( or any language,for that matter),these girls were preferred,as Indian audience loved their fair colour (Gori Mem). Additionally,these girls did not hesitate to give intimate scenes like kissing or doing stunts themselves. Most girls knew Horse riding,fencing and fighting.
In 1928,there was a Silent film Madhuri,but actress Sulochana(Ruby Myers) did this role and in 1932 there was a Talkie film Madhuri,in which also Sulochana only did the role. When Talkie films era began most of the Anglo Indian girls became jobless,since they could not speak Hindi/Urdu nor could they sing a song-the two requirements for actresses in early era Talkie films. However,few intelligent and professional actresses learnt Hindi/Urdu language speaking. Madhuri and Sabita Devi (Irene Gasper) were two such clever girls who achieved proficiency in these matters.
Madhuri was very beautiful. After doing 17 silent films,she made her debut in Talkie films with ‘ Pardesi Preetam’-1933. Jaswantlal Nandlal directed his first film here. Her Hero was Raja Sandow. She did many films for Ranjit under the direction of Jayant Desai. From 1933 to 1942,she acted in 28 films. They were (not in order) Kashmeera, Mitti ka Putla, Noor e watan, Secretary, Lehri lala, Rangeela Raja, Sitamgarh, Prithviputra, Thokar, Raj Ramni, Diwali, Matlabi Duniya, Toofani Toli, Shama parwana, College Girl, Nadira, Veer Babruvahan, Zamin ka chaand, Ban ki chidia, Toofan Mail, Mehman, Sasural, Shadi, Ikrar, Vakil Saheb, Paapi, Mazaq and Dharm-45 …her last film.
In 1943,Madhuri got married and after completing films on hand, retired from Film line. After this, she simply disappeared for next 50 years without a trace,till the organisers of a programme located her. Bombay’s ” Amrut” and ” Cine Society of Bombay ” held a felicitation programme on 7-2-1999, for “Stars from the Silent Era”. For Madhuri it was a surprise,that the organisers found her out after living in oblivion for over 50 years. She was simply overwhelmed with the people’s affection and love. She and Jairaj were felicitated on that day.
The Hero,Pahadi Sanyal – an actor with a strange name, was a rare actor, who, in spite of being simultaneously in Bangla films, was a leading and singing Hero in Bombay’s Hindi films. Later on, few more Bangla actors did some Hindi films, but none were as prolific as Sanyal. He acted in 53 Hindi films and did Hero and side Hero roles, as well as character roles too. Pahadi Sanyal (22 February 1906–10 February 1974) was born in the midst of the serene beauty of hilly tract of Darjeeling. As he was born in the hills, thus his nickname became Pahadi .His real name was Nagendra Nath. He had completed his schooling from Lucknow but later joined Benaras Hindu University for Engineering studies. But he was never interested in studies and he chose a different path for himself .
He started taking lessons of Hindustani Classical Music from Morris College in Lucknow. He had learnt music under the tutelage of Ustad Md.Hussain, Chote Munna Khan, Nasir Khan . Ahmad Khan. Not only that, he was equally interested in instrumental music. Thus , he had also taken lessons of tabla from Rashbehari Sil and Abid Khan. He was deeply inclined to learn different types of songs. During his stay in Lucknow , he was in close contact with the Atul Prasad Sen and had hugely contributed to his songs.
Pahadi Sanyal was also fluent in Hindi and Urdu. In the personal front , he got married twice. He first tied his knot with the Vice Principal of Moradabad School. But unfortunately on 10th March , 1930 she died while giving birth to their child. Later , Pahadi got married to actress Meera Devi and had one daughter.
Pahadi was introduced to Director Devki kumar Basu by one of his friends. Devki kumar Basu took him to B.N. Sarkar of Star Theatre who helped him to make his debut with Rs.150 in the world of acting. In 1933, he got his first break in the film “Meerabai”. The movie “Vidyasagar” was a landmark in his career which made him a living legend of that time. Some of his notable movies are “Bhagyachakra”(1935), “Bidyapati” (1938), “Mahakobi Girishchandra” (1953), “Jomaloye Jobonto Manush”(1958), Aranyer dinratri (1970). He had even sung in some of his movies. In 1942, he went to Bombay for working in Bollywood films.
He acted in 53 Hindi films. His first Hindi film at Calcutta was Yahudi ki Ladki-1933 and the last Hindi film was Dharati-1970. During his career, he sang 45 Hindi songs in 19 films – first song being in film Chandidas-1934 and the last song was in film Milan-1946. The Door Darshan English News Reader Luku Sanyal was his daughter. This great legend passed away on 10th February, 1974.
Here is a duet from this film-Mazaq-43. The names of singers are not available, but my guess is that it is sung by Zahoor Raja and Radha Rani (Bombaywali). With this song, film Mazaq-43 makes its Debut on the Blog.
PS-The song is sung by Miss Tara, Pahadi Sanyal and Zahoor Raja. Thanks are due to Mr Sadanand Kamath for helping identify the singers.
Song-Chalti hain mast hawaayen kuchh gaayen laharaayen bahlaayen mohe (Mazaaq)(1943) Singers-Miss Tara, Pahadi Sanyal, Zahoor Raja, Lyrics-Abid Gulrej, D- Zahoor Raja
Miss Tara + Pahadi Sanyal
Lyrics
Chalti hain mast hawaayen
aa haa ha ha ha aa
Chalti hain mast hawaayen
kuchh gaayen
lahraayen
bahlaayen mohe
ho o o
Chalti hain mast hawaayen
kuchh gaayen
lahraayen
bahlaayen mohe
ho o o
laayi paighaam khushi ka
khushboo ek prem sandesa
aa ha ha aa
laayi
haan haan
laayi
haan haan
laayi paighaam khushi ka
kuchh ?? prem sandesa
hahaha ha
nikhra kaliyon pe joban
nikhra kaliyon pe joban
bahlaaye mohe ho o
Chalti hain mast hawaayen
kuchh gaayen
lahraayen
bahlaayen mohe
ho o o
koi unse kahde jaake
aa hahahahaha
koi unse kahde jaake
na chhedo
na chhedo
na chhedo mohe
ho o o
mera mera
mera mera
mera matwaala joban
naajon ka paala joban
na chhedo mohe
ho o
tu mere motor ka engine
main teri bagiyaa ka phool
tu mere motor ka engine
main teri bagiyaa ka phool
arre aaj to ghabra ke keh do
kar liya mujhko qabool
na chhedo
na chhedo
na chhedo mujhe
ho o o
Chalti hain mast hawaayen
kuchh gaayen
lahraayen
bahlaayen mohe
ho o o
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwaan
Posted on: December 24, 2019
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.
| Blog Day : | 4176 | Post No. : | 15350 |
Today’s song is from the film “Aankh ki sharm (1943). This bhajan is sung by one ‘Pande ji’. I am neither aware who this singer is, nor aware of any information on him. The Music Director of this film was Vasant Desai, who was known to be a Talent Hunter ( He had discovered MD S.Purushottam and singers Desai sisters – Pramodini and Vinodini ). May be Pande ji was also his discovery. However in later films of Vasant Desai I failed to find his name again. Possibly he was a ‘one film wonder’, like many others.
The film was made by Wadia Movietone. In 1942, the Wadia brothers – Homi and J B H Wadia separated, when the elder brother J B H Wadia proposed that the company should start making Social films, instead of only Stunt films. Homi Wadia established his own company Basant Pictures and continued making stunt films with Fearless Nadia – who sided with him, obviously, in the separation. Much later, Nadia married Homi Wadia and she thus became Nadia Wadia !
This was the second Social film ( after film Shobha-42) that Wadia Movietone made after the split. It was directed by Balwant Bhatt – elder brother of Nanabhai Bhatt who was a veteran in directing B and C grade films.
All the 11 songs of the film were written by Pt. Indra Chandra. The cast of the film was Prithwiraj Kapoor, Kaushalya, Trilok Kapoor, Nayampalli, Nalini Gupte, Moti, Gulab, Himalayawala, Agha, Dalpat, Indira etc etc. This must be one of the very few films (or was it the only movie ?) in which Prithwiraj and Trilok Kapoor were acting together in one film.
An interesting name in the cast was that of NALINI Gupte. I said interesting, because, in Hindi films, as many as 12 NALINIs acted/ sang in films at slightly different times. Add to this list the name of a Male actor ‘ Nalini Ranjan Roy ‘, who, thankfully, acceded to the suggestion to change his name to ‘Kanu’ Roy. ( It is another matter that even this name clashed with another Kanu Roy, who was MD, in the same period…causing serious ” Same Name Confusion”. ) The different NALINIs were…
Nalini Tarkhud…..many films
Nalini Jayawant…many films
Baby Nalini…Mera ladka-43
Nalini Nagpurkar…Krishnarjun yuddha-34, Chacha Chaudhari-53
Nalini Chonkar… many films
Nalini Borkar…singer
Nalini Dhere… Nagad Narayan-43
Nalini Gupte…Ankh ki sharm-43
Nalini Mulgaonkar…Didi-48, nakli Baap-49
Nalini Rao…Talash-43
Nalini Saraf (later Seema Deo)… Anand-70
Nalini korgaonkar… singer
Additionally, there were actresses called SuNALINI and MriNALINI too.
These Nalinis did not cause any Same name Confusion, because, being Marathi artistes, they wrote their names with Surnames, so their names remained different always. Easily, this name is the most ‘appeared’ name in the Hindi Film History !
Another interesting name ‘ Nayampalli’ always reminded me of the ” Nampalli” Railway station… which is another name for Hyderabad Railway station. This actor Nayampalli was leading a silent life of a middle class gentleman, doing a 10 to 5 job and raising a family, when he was invited to the glamorous world of Films.
S.B. Nayampally (or Nayampalli) was working at the firm of Killick, Nixon and Company in Bombay, when he was discovered by film director P.Y. Altekar at a gym where Nayampally regularly exercised. Altekar felt that Nayampally very much resembled the famous French boxer Georges Carpenter and would be perfect for the stunt films that had become popular at the time. At Director Altekar’s urging, Nayampally joined Imperial Studios and was quickly cast in his first film, Wedding Night(1929), opposite the popular actress Jilloo.
When he arrived at Imperial to begin his first day of filming he was amused to find that the building now used for the studio had formerly housed the school he attended as a child.“Wedding Night was a stunt film of the Robin Hood type,” Nayampally explained in a 1964 interview. “It had a little more of a plot to it than many films of the same class. My next film, Hell’s Paradise (1929), I remember for three reasons. One, it was based on a real-life episode involving an Indian prince and a foreign girl, described as an adventuress. Two, Mama Warerekar, the noted writer, did the story. Three, the film had a kissing scene, probably the first ever in an Indian film.”
Nayampalli was cast in Imperial’s Noorjehan (1931), which was initially to be a silent picture, but because of the success of their film Alam Ara (1931), which was India’s first talkie, the studio decided to make Noorjehan partly with sound. Nayampally was not originally cast in Noorjehan, but a chance meeting with the film’s director, Ezra Mir, got him the role of Prince Salim in the film.Nayampally then played Karna in Imperial’s next sound film, the mythological Draupadi (1931), but the actor considered his best mythological role to be that of the wily Shakuni in Mahatma Vidur (1943), a part that was appreciated by critics and the public, alike.
As sound films came in, silent actors were being discarded in favor of those with stage backgrounds, so Nayampalli joined the Grant Anderson Theatrical Company which specialized in Shakespearean plays. After gaining some experience he tried to rejoin films, but without much luck. His previous roles had been leads, so he decided if he wanted to work regularly, maybe he should take a different approach and he offered himself up for character parts.
His break came in the role of a hunchback in love with the heroine in Ezra Mir’s Zarina which starred Jal Merchant and Zubeida. The dentures he wore for the role were created specially by a dentist named Jimmy Gheista who had trained abroad with the dentist who had made similar dentures for Lon Chaney.
Nayampally had learned early on how to apply make-up for his roles and, in fact, he became so good at it he eventually came to specialize in horror make-up, which earned him the nickname “The Indian Lon Chaney.” Indeed, Chaney, Erich von Stroheim, Emil Jannings, and John Barrymore were the actors that Nayampally most tried to emulate. Boris Karloff was another of his role models. He was able to put his make-up expertise to good use for the film Sair-e-Paristan (1934), where he was a vampire-like devil, and in Zingaro(1935), in which he played a monster created by a mad scientist, and then as a the hairy “missing link” in Zambo (1937) and its sequel Zambo Ka Beta (1938). For Kalkoot (1935) he created a make-up to resemble the wrinkled effect that Karloff had used in The Mummy(1932).
Nayampally continued working in films throughout the 1940s and 50s, particularly in mythologicals and costume pictures including Raj Nartaki (1941), Nagad Narayan (1943), Vishwas 1943), Taramati(1945), Urvashi (1946), Jhansi-Ki-Rani (1953), Durgesh Nandini (1956), Basant Bahar (1956) and Shiv Parvati (1962) His last credited film appearance was in 1970’s Priya.
After his career in films ended, he started making Documentaries. He made about 35 documentaries. He won ‘ Silver Dolphin’ award for his documentary in the International Film Festival at Teheran in 1970.
He died on 7-5-1994, in Mumbai.
In the cast, there is another name which, apart from being very unusual, belongs to an actor, who earned considerably infamy in his private life. He is Himalayawala. His name was Mohd Afzaluddin. He was born in March 1916, at Dehradun. After school education he joined his brother, Mohd Misaluddin’s firm – The Himalaya Drug Company, a leading Pharma company of repute (even today). He worked there for 10 years and after a dispute with his brother, left the company. He came to Bombay to join films.
First he had thought of starting a company, but looking at the situation, he decided to do acting only. His first film was ‘Kiski Biwi’ (1942), directed by MA Mirza. His name was changed from Afzal to A Himalaywala (since he came from the Himalayan town of Dehradun, like Kashmiri from Kashmir), by Shaukat Hussain, husband of Noorjehan. However in many films he was credited as Afzal only. He worked in few films like, ‘Vishwaas’ (1943), ‘Ankh Ki Sharm’ (1943), ‘Dost’ (1944), ‘Kismatwaala’ (1944), ‘Zeenat’ (1945), ‘Humayun’ (1945), ‘Nal Damayanti’ (1945), ‘Jagbeeti’ (1946), ‘Samrat Ashok’ (1947) and ‘Elaan’ (1947).
He was an outspoken and straightforward person, fond of hunting, football and travelling by car. He toured all of India twice in his car. In 1943, he married actress singer Amirbai Karnataki. After marriage he banned her from acting in films. Within 2-3 years, on this and other issues, they could not get along. He used to hit her and take all her money. At last, it was rumoured that he gave her talaaq after taking 2 lakh rupees and her car. Even after this he was stalking her. She stayed with her elder sister Ahilya Bai. Then one day, she was kidnapped by Himalaywala, from the recording room. She was kept locked in a room and beaten daily. She somehow managed to inform this to her sister.
Ahilyabai then got in touch with her acquaintance Mr Rasiklal Vyas and his brother Chhailabhai Vyas – one of the best criminal lawyers of Bombay. With their political and social connections, they forced the police to register an FIR, which was refused due to Himalaywala’s bribe. Meanwhile Himalaywala was alerted by his cronies. Within few hours Amirbai was escorted back to her sister’s place, by Himalaywala. All this episode is described in full details in the book ‘Aap Ki Parchhaiyaan’, by Rajnikumar Pandya ji. Amirbai later married Gujarati Journalist Badri Kaanchwala.
After partition, Himalaywala migrated to Pakistan. There the lady luck smiled on him and he did very well. Urdu film Shahida (1949) was his first film in Pakistan, which celebrated silver jubilees in Delhi and Lucknow.
Hamaliawala was in leading role in Pakistan’s first silver jubilee Urdu film Do Aansoo in 1950. He was main villain actor in the most of 1950s movies. He played the Akbar The Great role in musical film Anar Kali in 1958. His other famous moves were Kundan (1950) Chan Way(1951), Ghulam (1953), Gumnam, Ruhi (1954), Shoni(1955),Qatil (1955), Sarfarosh (1956), Saat Lakh (1957), Gumrah, Naghma-e-Dil (1959), Farishta (1961), Watan(1960) and Azra (1962).
He was seen in 33 movies, only two of them were in Punjabi language. His last film was Yahudi Ki Larki in 1963.
Mohd Afzuluddin Himalaywala married Begum Perveen, in Pakistan. He died on 1st January 1984 in Lahore. (Thanks to Film directory-46, http://www.pak.mag.com, Shishir krishna Sharma ji, book Aap ki parchhaiyan by Rajnikumar Pandya ji and my notes, for information used herein.)
Now let us see the video of today’s song. The singer on screen is probably Pande ji himself. This is my guess. I find this song scene funny. Prithwiraj is seen, obviously in sick condition. The singer is singing before him and telling him that ” tu do din ka mehmaan” ! What must be the sick man’s condition, hearing this ! But, after all, there must be some background also for this situation in the film, I am sure. With this song, Pande ji makes his Debut on this Blog, as a singer.
Song- Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan (Aankh Ki Sharm)(1943) Singer- Vasant Desai, Lyricist- Pt. Indra, MD- Vasant Desai
Lyrics
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
tu do din ka mehmaan
tu do din ka mehmaan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
kal aayaa thha
kal jaayegaa
kal aayaa thha
kal jaayegaa
aaj ko soch vichaar
aaj ko soch vichaar
chhod ke bande
tu tu main main
chhod ke bande
tu tu main main
apna kaaj sudhaar
dhar murlidhar ka dhyaan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
kya lena hai
kya dena hai
kya lena hai
kya dena hai
kyon jhoothha janjaal
kyon jhoothha janjaal
bair birodh bisaar ke bande
bair birodh bisaar ke bande
bhaj Giridhar Gopal
bhaj Giridhar Gopal
bhaj Giridhar Gopal
nar kar jag ka kalyaan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
Bhai bhaj le shri Bhagwan
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws
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Today’s song is from a film belonging to the first decade of Talkie films in India- Khan Bahadur-1937.
The film was made by Minerva Movietone and it was directed by Sohrab Modi. B S Hoogan was the Music Director. The film cast included, Sohrab Modi, Prem Adib, Naseem Banu, Sheela, Shareefa, Eruch Tarapore, Sadiq Ali, S.Kapadiya and others.
Incidentally, Khan bahadur-37 was the Debut film for Prem Adib, as a Hero. In later years, he became famous in the role of Shri Ram, along with Shobhanaq Samarth in the role of Seeta, in films made by Prakash pictures. While he was in Minerva, a special teacher was appointed to teach him singing. It was here that he fell in love with actress Indurani and they had a Love child.
In this world, everyone makes a mistake. But those who learn from their mistakes and mend ways, have better chances of succeeding in achievement of their goals. Sohrab Modi was a person who had plenty of ambitions. He knew his own capabilities and understood the need to change with the changing times. Khan Bahadur -37 was his just second movie. The first movie,- Atma Tarang-37-, that he made with his newly established production company had taught him a bitter lesson. He learnt from it and mended his ways for his second venture. It is interesting to know how and why Sohrab Modi committed that mistake. For this, we will have to, once again, go through his revised early life, his entry into acting field and his film making activity.
Sohrab Merwanji Modi was born in a Parsi family on 2nd November, 1897. His parents were Parsi civil Servants. For few years he stayed in Parsi community in Bombay. Sohrab Modi’s childhood was spent with lot of activities. As he grew up, his more interest was in exercise and sports. Though in childhood many times he was severely sick and few times he was also hospitalized, due to which, he looked tall but he was thin. Later he was very active. In school he was an average student, he never got hooked to History subject. Many times teacher complained to his parents for his lagging behind in history subject. His parents turned all the stones to make him study but it all went in waste. Sohrab was good in sports and from childhood he was interested in exercise which helped him to develop his personality in stage acting. Later he shifted with his family to Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. At the age of 14 -15 his mind absorbed many interesting things in acting as he watched silent movies. Soon his mind got diverted toward stage acting.
At the age of 17 years, he worked as a travelling exhibitor in Gwalior. Elder brother Rustom Modi, along with his close friend Ittefaq, set up Arya Subodh Natak Mandali theatre group in 1923.
In start Sohrab Modi only acted as an extra or side role which was not that important. But Sohrab was looking for the opportunity where he could act as a leading actor. Very soon he got an opportunity and he broke the ice. Soon He earned the reputation as Shakespearean actor. Sohrab Modi’s elder brother Rustom helped him in stage acting and people really appreciated the Sohrab acting. Sohrab played Jahangir (Hamlet) opposite Naseem Bano (Ophelia) in Khoon ka Khoon, one of the biggest Urdu stage Hits of the 20s. As Sohrab was growing up, his personality kept developing. His personality suited the role of a king. His two plays ‘Khoon Ka Khoon’ and ‘Saed-E-havas’ added flying colors to his acting.
In 1931 Hindi movie ‘Alam Ara’ was released with sound. On one side ‘Alam Ara’ was a big leap for Hindi cinema. But on other hand introducing of sound in movies created very big crack in theatre business. People started getting interested in watching movies than watching theatre plays. To save theatre art, Modi brothers set up the Stage Film Company in 1935. From this year Sohrab Modi never looked back in acting career.
Sohrab modi talents soon reached the ears of ‘Dadasaheb Phalke’ ears. Though Sohrab Modi had worked in few silent movies before, but Dadasaheb Phalke never appreciated Sohrab Modi’s acting. One day Phalke Saab personally went to see Sohrab’s play ‘Alexander the great’.
Sohrab Modi is remembered fondly by the film buffs for his towering personality, solid voice and his forceful dialogue delivery. Actually, Modi was much more than that. He was the first and the only film maker who took up Historical subjects to make films that left a long lasting impression on the film goers. He loved to do the roles of Historical persons ( actual or mythical) and deliver long dialogues in his resonant voice, clear diction and superb voice modulation.
Sohrab Modi developed these qualities from his stage acting days. In his growing up age at Rampur, he had spent hours in the library of the local Nawab, where his father worked as a Superintendent. This gave him a command on Urdu language. Added to this was his brother Rustom’s drama company ” The Arya Subodh Natak Mandali” in which he acted. In 1935, the brothers set up the ” Stage Films ” to film the two dramas, namely Hamlet aka Khoon ka khoon-35 and Sayeed E Hawas-36, based on Shakespeare’s play King John, as movies. However, these movies did not do too well, as the audience had seen them on stage several times. But this failure didn’t stop Sohrab Modi in acting. Taking a clue from this, Modi decided to start a new company, Minerva Movietone to produce independent films on different stories of merit.
Minerva Movietone was started by Sohrab and brother Rustom Modi in 1936, when they realised that the stage dramas, filmed as Feature films did not get the public approval. Logo of his banner was the Lion. Does this personally symbolize Sohrab Modi personality? Production from Stage films- their first film production enterprise- was suspended till Minerva became successful. ” Aatma Tarang-37″ was the new company’s first film. C. Ramchandra was the Harmonium accompanist for M.D. Habib Khan and Bundu Khan. He also did a small role in Aatma Tarang and earlier Saeed E Havas-36. Minerva’s first film proved to be a let down.
Sohrab found that there were hardly 20 to 30 persons in the audience on the very First show. The film was based on the power of ‘ Bramhacharya’ (Celibacy). In those days, Sohrab was greatly influenced by the teachings of Ramkrishna Mission. Seeing the poor response, he was upset. Thoughts of quitting the film production line were crowding in his mind. Suddenly, he saw four men coming towards him. They came, confirmed that he was Sohrab modi and told him that his film was very good. They further advised him to keep making such good films and one day he will be on Top. Later on he learnt that these gentlemen were the Judges of Bombay High Court.
This gave lot of motivation to Modi. As such he was sure of his success in films, but now he learnt that he must make films on subjects of interest of the public and not his own philosophy, if he wants to succeed commercially. His second film was Khan Bahadur-37, based on the bravery and generosity of a Muslim king who became famous for his bravery. The English rulers gave him the title of Khan Bahadur. The film did a reasonable business.
This incident infused him with new hopes and enthusiasm. This changed his life. Initially he focused on making films on social evils like Drinking (Meetha Zehar-38), Husband-wife separation ( Divorce-38) and Incest ( Bharosa-40 ). Enthused with this experience, he made successful films and took his company to the Top. Renowned for big budget historical films, Minerva benefited from Modi family’s distribution interests in Gwalior, expanded by his third brother Keki Modi into western India. At one time he controlled a chain of 27 theatres in 10 cities. In 1952, they established India’s first Technicolour Laboratory.
As far as the title of the film is concerned, I was wondering as to what it meant. After a search on internet, this is what it means. Khan Bahadur – a compound of khan (leader) and Bahadur (Brave) – was a formal title of respect and honour, which was conferred exclusively on Muslim and other non-Hindu subjects of the British Indian Empire. It was a title one degree higher than the title of Khan Sahib.
The title was conferred along with a medal and a citation (or sanad) and the recipient was entitled to prefix the title to his name. The title was conferred on behalf of the British Indian Government by the Viceroy and Governor-General of India.
The title “Khan Bahadur” was originally conferred by the Mughal Empire on Muslim subjects in recognition of public services rendered and was adopted by the British Indian Empire for the same purpose and extended to cover other non-Hindu subjects of the Indian Empire. Hindu subjects of the British Indian Empire were conferred the title of “Rai Bahadur”.
The MD’s name is B S Hoogan. Frankly, how many of us have really heard this name ? May be, only a few. Till about 8 years ago, even I was not aware of this name. When I first came across this name B.S.Hoogan, in the list of Hindi composers,my first reaction was,what is this foreigner doing in Hindi Films ?
Further when I saw his name as MD in 10-15 films of the 30s, I became very curious and wanted to know more about him.As per my experience so far,I usually got information for any -or almost any-Film personality from my notes,Old cuttings,books,magazines,old articles etc ,or even from an obscure,less known Internet site,but in Hoogan’s case I always found myself at a dead end. There was simply NO information about him anywhere ! It was as if no one in India knew about him or as if he was from some alien planet.
I was perplexed.How can anybody from Film industry,with so many films to his credit,be such an unknown person ? This was a challenge and I decided ,come what may,to find out about this elusive,dodging and unreachable B.S.Hoogan,at any cost.
Almost one year passed and I found a ray of Hope.
I visited the Blog of Mr.Kamalakar Pasupuleti ji. He is a writer on old films, music and an avid collector of old songs,besides having been an active RMIM worker.He is also a mine of information. Incidentally,he too is from Hyderabad-just like me,and being in the same age group,we enjoy discussing matters relating to people and places in old Hyderabad of the 40s and 50s,when we were youngsters.Later on, he migrated to USA.
On his Blog, he had written about Hoogan. He had located the nephew of Hoogan, in India and contacted him.He got some information from him about Hoogan. Although the info was not exhaustive, it was a great find. Plus Kamalakarji himself had also written about Hoogan,from his interaction with people who had met Hoogan in Hyderabad. I wrote to kamalakar ji in USA and he very graciously gave me permission to use all that material for this article.
At this juncture, my luck suddenly decided to cooperate and I found some info about Hoogan in a book.I even found out that the same nephew of Hoogan had uploaded 4 songs of Hoogan,(2 from Parakh-37 and 2 from Meetha Zahar-38) on Hamara Forum.
B.S.Hoogan was not a foreigner,he was very much an Indian.His name was BALWANT SINGH HOOGAN. He was tall,wheat comlexioned and of medium build. He was born in 1901 at Firozpur, Punjab, where his family was settled. He was a Kashmiri Brahmin. According to C.Ramchandra also,he was originally from Kashmir.
Before becoming a music director he seems to have learnt classical music and western music.He played many western instruments.
In the days of silent films,orchestras used to play in the Theatres ,in front of or behind the screen.During the film also they played appropriate music pieces.It would add live pleasure with moving images. Hoogan learnt giving this music and conducting orchestra from his teacher,Mr.Victor Aimes,an Englishman,from the Albert Music Company. He learnt writing music in notations and conducting orchestra with a baton. He played his orchestra of 12 musicians.
Hoogan looked impressive with a Black Tailcoat,Bow-Tie and Grey Trousers,as described by a Hyderabad Nawab,who had been personally introduced to Hoogan in Hyderabad in 1930.
B.S.Hoogan started his career as MD with Ajanta Cinetone of Mohan Bhavnani.He gave music to Afzal,Maya jaal,Rangeela Rajput(all 1933)Dard e dil,Dukhtar e Hind,Mazdoor,Sair e Paristan,Vasavdatta(all1934),Pyar ki maar,Registan ki Rani,Sone ka shahar,sherdil Aurat(all 1935), Begunah,khan Bahadur,Parakh(all1937),Meetha Zahar,Vijay marg(all 1938) and Sansar Sagar-1939.
Total films-18. Songs composed- 231.
Music Director C.Ramchandra, in his Marathi autobiography ( माझ्या जीवनाची सरगम ), wrote about Hoogan. When CR was working in Minerva, Hoogan joined the company, in place of Habib Khan, the composer. He showed CR how the Desi Raag can be played on foreign musical instruments. He brought in many Goan orchestra players into the company. CR knew writing notations, Hoogan improved this. Hoogan liked CR very much. Hoogan would take CR with him to all big hotels of Bombay. Orchestras would be playing there. CR learned how those tunes could be indianised in his music here only.
Hoogan would make tunes and ask CR to write the notations. CR would hum those tunes and then improve the tunes. Hoogan would not know. Thus many of his tunes were used by Hoogan without knowing it. In the film Meetha Zahar-1938, Naushad was Hoogan’s assistant. Actors like Nissar, Bibbo, Sheila and Naseem Bano sang for him.
B.S.Hoogan died in Ferozpore in September 1938, at the age of 37 only.
Today’s song is a duet by Prem Adib and Naseem Banu. Incidentally, they were the cutest and most beautiful couple on screen in those days. Prem Adib was a Kashmiri Bramhin and Naseem had earned a title “Pari Chehra” (face of a Fairy) and truly so. However, both were singers by force. They were not singers but made to sing. Actually, that time Hero and Heroines had to sing their own songs ( exception- Jairaj. That was because everyone, including the MD and directors dreaded his terrible singing. He was probably the only Hero from the 30s and 40s, who never ever sang own songs !).
Prem Adib sang 26 songs in 9 films, from Industrial India-38 to Police-44. None of his songs became popular. Thank God, he was not asked to sing a song in the role of Shri Ram. Probably Prakash pictures were well aware that making him sing in Bharat Milap-42 or Ram Rajya-43 would surely kill the film ! Naseem was more dangerous than him in this matter. She actually sang 39 songs in 13 films – from Vaasanti-38 to Mulaqat-47. Luckily for her, one song – just only one song – from film Pukar-39 ( zindgi ka saaz bhi kya saaz hai, baj raha hai aur be aawaaz hai), sung by her had become popular in those days. However, for this song, in my opinion, the MD- Meer Saheb should get the credit for its tune.
The famous composer Naushad is on record for saying that he always rued that as a MD, he had to make non-singers to sing his songs…till full time playback singers like Rafi and Lata became available.
Anyway, today’s song- the duet- is reasonably good in tune and rendition. With this song, film Khan Bahadur-37 makes its Debut on this Blog.
Song- Pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave (Khan Bahadur)(1937) Singers- Prem Adib,Naseem Bano, MD- B S Hoogan
Both
Lyrics
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
Prem pawan se jiya lahraave
prem pawan se jiya lahraave
sudh budh man se sab bisraawe
sudh budh man se sab bisraawe
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
?man ??
har waqt se ban saj kar kaisa bhaawe
har baat se
har baat se
ban saj kar kaisa bhaawe
jaane ulfat phool khilaawe
jaane ulfat phool khilaawe
bhanwra khush khush geet sunaawe
bhanwra khush khush geet sunaawe
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
pyaari pyaari aaj ulfat ki duniya nazar aave
man kare kaisa suhaave
mast banaawe
jiyara lubhaave
ban ban phool na barsaawe
mast banaawe
jiyara lubhaave
ban ban phool na barsaawe
pyaar ki batiyaan
sab din ratiyaan
kaliyan ko apnaawe
pyaar ki batiyaan
sab din ratiyaan
kaliyan ko apnaawe
ae ae
preet ke ye sab khel hain nyaare
preet ke ye sab khel hain nyaare
nain samaaye
man ko lubhaaye
preet ki duniya basaaye
aa aa aa
nain samaawe
man ko lubhaawe
preet ki duniya basaaye
pyaari pyaari
aaj ulfat ki nazar aawe
man kare kaisa suhaawe
pyaari pyaari aa aa
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