Posts Tagged ‘Amir Khusro’
Kaahe ko byaahe bides
Posted on: March 4, 2022
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 : |
4977 | Post No. : | 16853 |
“Umrao Jaan” (1981) was produced and directed by Muzaffar Ali for Integrated Films, Bombay. The movie had Rekha, Farooq Sheikh, Naseruddin Shah, Raj Babbar, Shaukat Kaifi, Bharat Bhushan, Satish Shah, Prema Narayan, Dina Pathak, Leela Mishra, Akbar Rashid, Gajanan Jagirdar, Khan Ghizlai, Rita Rani Kaul etc in it.
The movie had nine songs in it. Eight of these songs have been covered in the past. Here are the details of the songs that are covered so far:-
| Blog Post number | Song | Date of post | Singer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 610 | In aankhon ki masti | 24 January 2009 | Asha Bhonsle |
| 3105 | Dil cheez kyaa hai aap meri jaan leejiye | 10 October 2010 | Asha Bhonsle |
| 5460 | Ye kya jagah hai doston | 15 February 2012 | Asha Bhonsle |
| 5556 | Zindagi jab bhi teri bazm mein lati hai hamen | 1 March 2012 | Talat Aziz |
| 6578 | Justju jiski thhi usko to na paaya hamne | 4 September 2012 | Asha Bhonsle |
| 9432 | Pratham dhar dhyaan | 10 February 2014 | Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Shahida Khan, Runa Prasad |
| 15463 | Jhoola kinne daala re | 1 March 2020 | Shahida Khan (in record version), Ustaad Ghulam Mustafa Khan (in movie version) |
| 16829 | Jab bhi milti hai mujhe ajnabi lagti kyun hai | 15 February 202 | Asha Bhonsle |
Here is the ninth and final song from “Umrao Jaan”(1981). The song is sung by Jagjit Kaur and chorus. The lyrics are traditional, and it is popularly believed that they were written by Amir Khusro. Music is composed by Khayyam.
The song is picturised on Umme Farwa, Seema Sathyu and others.
Lyrics of the song were sent to me by Prakashchandra.
With this song, all the songs of “Umrao Jaan” (1981) are covered in the blog and the movie thus joins the list of movies that have been YIPPEED in the blog.
With this song, Khayyam now has 200 of his music compositions in the blog.
audio link: (full song )
video link: (partial)
Song-Kaahe ko byaahe bides (Umrao Jaan)(1981) Singer-Jagjit Kaur, Lyrics-Amir Khusro, MD-Khayyam
Chorus
Lyrics
kaahey ko byaahey bides
arrey lakhiyaa baabul mohey ae
kaahey ko byaahey ae bides
arrey lakhiyaa baabul morey ae
kaahey ko byaahey ae bides
hum to baabul torey beley ki kaliyaan..aan
hum to babul torey beley ki kaliyaan
arrey ghar ghar maangey hain ??
arrey aey ae lakhiyaan babul mohey
kaahey ko byaahey bides
arrey lakkhiyaa babul morey ae
kaahey ko byaahey ae bides
hum to baabul torey
pinjrey ki chidiyaan….aan
hum to baabul torey
pinjrey ki chidiyaan
arrey kuhuk kuhuk rahee jaaye
arrey aey ae lakhiyaa babul morey aey ae
kaahey ko byaahey ae bides
arrey lakhiyaa baabul morey aey ae
kaahey ko byaahey ae bides
mehlaa taley se ae
dolaa jo niklaa..aaa
mehlaa taley se ae
dolaa jo niklaa..aaa
arrey beeran ne khaayee pachchaad
arrey aey ae lakkhiyaa babul mohey ae
kaahey ko byaahey bides
arrey lakhiyaan babul morey
kaahey ko byaahey ae bides
bhaiyyaa ko diyo baabul
mehlaa do mehlaa…aaa
bhaiyya ko diyo babul
mehlaa do mehlaa
arrey hamko deeyo pardes
arrey aey ae lakhiyaan baabul morey
kaahey ko byaahey ae bides
arrey lakhiyaa baabul morey ae
kaahey ko byaahey ae bides
arrey lakhiyaa baabul morey ae
kaahey ko byaahey ae bides
Zihaal e miskin makun tagaaful
Posted on: December 14, 2020
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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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4533 | Post No. : | 16095 | Movie Count : |
4394 |
Today, December 14, 2020 is the 86th birthday of Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner and Padma Bhushan Shyam Benegal who was born on December 14, 1934 in Hyderabad. He set a bench-mark for Hindi film industry by successfully making parallel films. His films became inspirations for some Hindi film producer-directors to venture into the ‘middle of the road’ films (a cross between mainstream and parallel films).
From the childhood, Shyam Benegal was familiar with a movie camera as his father owned a 16mm movie camera to shoot some family events. Besides, he was also exposed to English, Hindi and South Indian films which he used to watch in a theatre in an army cantonment in Secundrabad where his father worked as a professional photographer. In one of his many interviews, he had admitted that in his childhood, he was a film junkie and would watch any type of films.
At the age of 12, Shyam Benegal made his first amateur film of about 10 minutes duration from his father’s movie camera covering the visits of his family friends and relatives in summer vacations and going with them for picnics etc. As he grew up, he had already made up his mind to become a film maker. The success of ‘Baazi’ (1951) made by his cousin, Guru Dutt inspired him to the extent that ‘if Guru Dutt could do it why not me’? But those days, there was not much opportunity to pursue film-making in Hyderabad.
In 1955, Shyam Benegal visited Kolkata and met his uncle who knew that he was interested in film-making. He advised him to first watch a Bangla film made by an unknown person who was a commercial artist and let him know his reaction. The film he watched was Satyajit Ray’s maiden film ‘Pather Panchali’ (1955). For the first time, Shyam Benegal felt that this film was quite different from what he had so far seen in the theatre which included films from Prabhat, New Theatres,Bombay Talkies, Mehboob Khan and even some English films. He took a decision that if at all he became a film maker, he would make films which would be different from the mainstream films and would have his stamp of film-making.
In 1959, after completion of M.A. in Economics from Osmania University, Shyam Benegal came to Mumbai in his pursuit to become a film maker. Much earlier, Guru Dutt had invited him to join him as Assistant Director. But he had declined the offer as he did not want to take that route to become a film-maker. After remaining unemployed for about 6 months, he got a job in an advertising agency as a copyrighter. Within a short period, he became its creative head. During his stints in advertising companies in 1959-66, he made over 900 advertising and documentary films.
The working in advertising and documentary films gave Shyam Benegal the ‘hands on’ experience of all the major departments of film-making. During 1966-73, Shyam Benegal taught at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune.
During college days, Shyam Benegal had written a script based on what he had witnessed during Telangana Peasants Movement (1946-51). Having gain the experience of film making, he had decided to make a full-length feature film based on his script. For such type of a film, it was difficult to get a financier and more difficult to get a distributor even if the film was made. After many attempts, at last, he got a financier, Mohan Bijlani of Blaze Films for his first film. Blaze Films had distributed many of Shyam Benegal’s advertising films. The title of the film ‘Ankur’ (1974) was suggested by Anant Nag for whom it was his maiden Hindi film.
The success of ‘Ankur’ (1974) resulted in Shyam Bengal’s partnership with Blaze Films in some of his subsequent films like ‘Nishaant’ (1975), ‘Bhumika’ (1977) and ‘Mandi’ (1983). During 1979-81, Shyam Benegal got the opportunity to make ‘Junoon’ (1979) and ‘Kalyug’ (1981) with Shashi Kapoor who not only produced these films but also acted in them.
By 1983, Shyam Benegal had proved his credential as a successful parallel film maker. Almost all his feature films not only recovered the cost of production, but also made money in some films. Despite this, Shyam Benegal had somewhat lean period after “Mandi’ (1983). During this time, Shyam Benegal kept himself busy with directing TV serials – a 15-part ‘Yatra’ (1982) for Indian Railways and a 53-episode ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ (1988) for Doordarshan which are regarded as Shyam Benegal’s classic T V serials.
Shyam Benegal was back to the films with his Muslim trilogy, ‘Mammo’ (1994), ‘Sardari Begum’ (1996) and ‘Zubeida’ (2001). He continues to make films of his choice which are different not only from the mainstream cinemas but also from his earlier films.
I had become aware of Shyam Benegal from his very first film ‘Ankur’ (1974) which I saw in the theatre after its release. Afterwards, I had no opportunity to see any of his subsequent films until I watched some of them in the digital era during the last 5-6 years. So, subsequent to ‘Ankur’ (1974), I always related his name with the Doordarshan serial, ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ (1988) which I had watched almost all the episodes during its first telecast.
Before ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’, I had watched other serials shown on Doordarshan like, ‘Hum Log’ (1984), G P Sippy’s ‘Buniyaad’ (1986), Kundan Shah’s ‘Nukkad’ (1986). Ramanand Sagar’ ‘Ramayan’ (1987) etc. But, in my view, none of these could match ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ (1988) in terms of grandeurs, technical excellence, performances of the actors, music and above all the brilliant filming of each episode by the director, Shyam Benegal. It was a monumental series encompassing the period from Indus Valley Civilisation to India’s independence. And this vast history and culture of India was to be covered in 53 episodes. I regard ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ (1988) as the top classic Doordarshan serial of an epic proportion which is yet to be qualitatively matched by any of the subsequent T.V. serials.
Shyam Benegal had said after many years that it was his sheer madness that made him to undertake such a mammoth work as it involved a lot of research, coordination with the actors and crew members especially when some of them were also working in the films. Furthermore, it was a risky venture involving religious, political and social commentaries over a period of 5000 years of history. Fortunately for him, there was no interferences from Doordarshan, political parties, religious and social organisations during the making as well as during its telecast. After the completion of the shootings, he was glad that he took upon himself this project giving him a great satisfaction and an experience of life time.
The genesis of making ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ for Doordarshan as revealed by Shyam Benegal in a Doordarshan interview goes back to the year 1985 when Doordarshan had already commissioned the serials ‘Ramayan’ (1987) and ‘Mahabharat’ (1988). Once these two religious serials were ready for telecast, they wanted to commission another serial on India’s history and culture for which Shyam Benegal was invited for discussion. He was already in the making of a serial ‘Yatra’ (1986) for Indian Railways to be telecast on Doordarshan.
During the school days, one of the relatives of Shyam Benegal had gifted him a book ‘Discovery of India’ (1944), written by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru while he was in Ahmednagar jail during 1942-46 following his participation in ‘Quit India’ movement in 1942. Shyam Benegal had read this book many times as he grew from boy into his adulthood. He was enamored by the history and diverse culture of India as enumerated in the book. He discussed this subject with the Doordarshan authorities and they approved the subject.
By early 1986, Shayam Benegal started the preliminary work on the T.V. serial for writing the script of ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ with a team of 10 writers which included himself, Shama Zaidi, Vasant Deo, Ashok Mishra among others and 22 eminent historians, each with their specialised fields. Simultaneously, he sent his Art Director and the Production Designer with a team of assistants to Archaeological Survey of India’s Office at New Delhi to research on the relevant periods of artifacts, costumes etc. After spending about 8 months in Delhi and other places all over India, they submitted their works.
After the script, screen-play and dialogues were completed, the shooting started in early 1988 which continued for the next 18 months. A major part of the shooting of all the 53 episodes was done at the Film City, Goregaon where as many as 144 sets were erected during the period of 18 months. Some shootings were also done at few historical locations in some parts of India and the shooting in the open ground and forests in the Western Ghats. Over 500 actors mostly drawn from FTII. National School of Drama and other film training institutes were involved in the shooting. Some of the prominent actors included Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, K K Raina, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Pallavi Joshi, Aloknath, Pankaj Berry, Ila Arun, Irfan Khan, Vijay Kashyap, Anjaan Srivastav, Mita Vashisht, Tom Alter, Jalal Agha, Urmila Bhatt, Surendra Pal and many more. Some of them had done multiples roles in the serial.
I have given all these details of the serial just to get the readers the enormity of the project which was a herculean task for Shyam Benegal to manage. The end result was that ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ was as popular in terms of viewership as ‘Buniyaad’ and ‘Mahabharat’ according to Doordarshan. Another end result of this serial as Vanraj Bhatia said in a lighter vein was that after the end of 18 months of shooting, Shyam Benegal looked much older than his age.
On the occasion of Shyam Benegal’s 86th birthday, we wish him a happy birth day and pray for his good health and an active life as a film-maker. He has said in an interview a couple of years ago that film-making will remain his passion at any age as long as he is active.
On the occasion of Shyam Benegal’s 86th birthday, I felt that I should select one of many songs from his extravagant T.V. serial, ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ (1988) which he considers to be the toughest assignment he had undertaken so far. Only a couple of songs from this serial have been uploaded on a video sharing platform of which I have selected a Sufi ghazal, ‘zihaal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful’ in Episode-27. This Amir Khusrou’s ghazal is sung in qawwali stayle by Murlidhar who is a singer-actor in Nepali film industry. He is one of the deciples of Pandit Jasraj. I have seen him in an interview on one of the Nepali T.V. Channels and I feel that qawwali may have been picturised on him as well. Vanraj Bhatia is the music director assisted by Kersi Lord and Ashok Patki.
In the serial, the qawwali is preceded by a devotional song of Sant Tukaram. Both the song and the qawwali are reflections of the influences of thoughts and culture of Hindus on Muslims and vice versa during the start of the Bhakti Movement in North India.
One of the main features of the ghazal is that the lines in the first couplet is written half in Persian and other half in Brij Bhasha. Thereafter in rest of the two couplets, the first line is in Persian and the second line in Brij Bhasha.
The actual ghazal has been written as under:
zihaal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
ki taab-e-hijraan nadaaram-e-jaan na lehu kaaye lagaaye chatiyaan
shabaan-e-hijraan daraaz choon zulf wa rooz-e-waslat choo umr kotah
sakhi piya ko jo main na dekhoon to kaise kaatoon andheri ratiyaan
ba-haqq-e-aan mah ki roz-e-mahshar ba-daad maara fareb ‘Khusro’
sapit mann ke duraaye rakhoon jo jaaye paaun piya ki khatiyaan
The English translation of the ghazal is on the video clip.
There are two more she’rs in the ghazal which have not been included in the qawwali. The omitted two she’rs are as under:
yakayak az dil do chashm jaadoo ba-sad-farebam ba-burd taskeen
kise padi hai jo jaa sunaave piyaare pee ko hamaari batiyaan
choon sham-e-sozaan choon zarra hairaan mehr-e-aan-mah bagashtam aakhir
na neend nainaan na ang chainaan na aap aave na bheje patiyaan
Acknowledgement: Some of the information for the article is taken from the following sources:
1. ‘Yaadon Ke Saaye’ – An interview of Shyam Benegal by Irfaan on Rajya Sabha TV.
2. ‘Dil Se’ – An interview of Shyam Benegal on a TV Channel.
3. The making of ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ – An interview of Shyam Benegal conducted on Doordarshan.
Video Clip:
Song-Zihaal e miskin makun tagaaful ( Bharat Ek Khoj)(1988) Singer-Murlidhar, Lyrics-Amir Khusro, MD-Vanraj Bhatia
Chorus
Lyrics
aa aa aaaaaaaa
aa aa aaaaaaa aa aaaa
aa aa aaaaaa aa aa
aaaaaaaaa
zihaal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
zihaal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
zihaal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
ki taab-e-hijraan nadaaram-e-jaan
na lehu kaaye lagaaye chhatiyaan
ki taab-e-hijraan nadaaram-e-jaan
na lehu kaaye lagaaye chatiyaan
ki taab-e-hijraan
nadaaram-e-jaan
na lehu kaahe lagaaye chatiyaan
lagaaye chatiyaan
lagaaye chatiyaan
lagaaye chhatiyaan
na lehu kaaye lagaaye chatiyaan
zihaal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
shabaan-e-hijraan daraaz choon zulf
wa roz-e-waslat choo umr kotah
wa roz-e-waslat choo umr kotah
wa roz-e-waslat choo umr kotah
sakhi piya ko jo main na dekhoon
to kaise kaatoon andheri ratiyaan
sakhi piya ko jo main na dekhoon
to kaise kaatoon
to kaise kaatoon
to kaise kaatoon andheri ratiyaan
to kaise kaatoon andheri ratiyaan
sakhi piya ko jo main na dekhoon
to kaise kaatoon andheri ratiyaan
ba haqq-e-aan mah ki roz-e-mahshar
ba daad maara fareb ‘Khusro’
ba daad maara fareb ‘Khusro’
ba daad maara
ba daad maara fareb ‘Khusro’
ba daad maara fareb ‘Khusro’
sapit mann ki duraaye rakhoon
jo jaaye paaun piya ke khatiyaan
sapit mann ki duraaye rakhoon
ha aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
sapit mann ki duraaye rakhoon
ha aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
sapit mann ki duraaye rakhoon
ha aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
sapit mann ki duraaye rakhoon
jo jaaye paaun piya ke khatiyaan
zihaal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
zihaal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusaist of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
4238 | Post No. : | 15450 | Movie Count : |
4256 |
Today’s song is from the film Jhankar-42. The song is sung by Rajkumari and chorus. It is a traditional song written by Amir Khusro.
This film was a special film for many people. The Music Director of this film was Bashir Dehlavi who started his career as a Music Director with this film. The film was the first film made by the banner-Silver films, Bombay. The director was S. Khalil making his debut with this film. The cast of the film was Chandra Mohan, Pramila, M.Kumar, Azuri, Shehzadi, Gope, Altaf, Ghulam Mohammed, Chandra kumar and many others.
The cast of the film displays names of artistes who had almost passed their best years. Most actors were from the 1930s and now they tended to do side roles since lead roles were not coming that frequently. Due to excess alcohol, the handsome fine actor Chandramohan was on his way to self destruction. By 1949, his condition was worsoned irreversibly and he died of Liver Cirrhosis. Ghulam Mohammed, once a Hero, was reduced to character roles and after Partition he migrated to Pakistan.
Pramila did only one more film Beqasur-50 and retired from films. In 1942, she did 4 films. The last 1942 film she did was her husband’s film Jhankar-42. Kumar shifted his focus to producing and directing films and finally he too migrated to Pakistan. He continued acting in Pakistan films. Altaf was the husband of actress Khurshid jr. (elder sister of Meena kumari), who was getting edged out slowly as an actress. Actress Shehzadi Jr. also migrated to Pakistan after failing as a Producer (Utho Jaago-47). Gope’s and her last film as a leading pair was Hanso hanso aye duniyawalon, also in 1942. After this film, Gope became a Comedian for full time.
With such cast and debutante director and music director, the new company tried to make a Comedy film. I have not seen this film and I could not find its story or review anywhere on internet or in Film India magazine. However, from the film’s advertisements in the magazine and the news bits in it, I find that the film was not very successful, but must have given enough boost for the producers to go ahead and make 6 more films in next 8 years.
One of the owners of this banner- Silver Films – was actor M. Kumar, who was a successful artiste in the 30s and 40s, having worked with many prestigious banners. KUMAR was born in the prestigious family of Syed s of Lucknow-UP in India, on 23-9-1906. His real name was SYED HASSAN ALI ZAIDI. His family used to call him MIJJAN Miyan.
He was a handsome and tall person. He was keen on joining cinema, so he came to Calcutta and joined New Theatres. After doing side roles in Subah ka Sitara-32 and Zinda Lash-32, he was hero in PURAN BHAGAT in 1933. Even Saigal was also in the film.The film was about to be released and suddenly communal riots broke out in Calcutta.The new Theatre management found it difficult to announce a Muslim name of the hero of PURAN BHAGAT, in the tense atmosphere of Calcutta.The director of the film was Kumar Debaki Bose,a person from a Royal family. He took a decision and told Mijjan,” from today, I am giving you a part of my name. You will become KUMAR now.” This solved the film release problem and thus his name became KUMAR, then onwards. Truly enough, Debki Bose, thereafter never used his name Kumar again in his life !
After doing Yahudi ki Larki, Kumar came to Bombay. First he worked in Sagar ( 3 films) , Imperial (2 films)and then joined Ranjit Studios.
He married another actress PRAMILA , who was actually a Jew, Esther Williams. Pramila was later India’s FIRST Miss India in 1947. They got a son and a daughter Naqi Jehan (who too became a Miss India in 1967, exactly 20 tears after her mother.) Naqi acted opposite Rajesh Khanna in Akhari Khat, as a Heroine. Later she married into the business family of Kamdar of Bombay and became Mrs.Nandini Kamdar. Kumar had 3 sons from his earlier marriage. His first wife and children shifted to Pakistan after the Partition.
Kumar did many films in Ranjit, but in 1942, he was removed from Ranjit. At the same time, his friend, CHANDRAMOHAN also left Minerva Movietone (reason-despite PUKAR-39 being a blockbuster, his salary was not increased inspite of a promise by Sohrab Modi).They both decided to launch own company and on 16-3-1942, SILVER FILM CO. was launched. Its first film was Jhankaar-42. They produced Bhalai-43, Bade Nawab Saab-44, Devar-46, Naseeb-45, Dhun-53 and Bahana-60. Kumar acted in these films. He also directed Dhun and Bahana.
He produced and directed Aap-Beeti-1948 under his own company, Kumar Studios.Then under Shama Productions, he made Nahle pe dehla, Dhoom Dham and Dilbar. Later in life he made Badal aur Bijlee and Jungle King under Artists United films. Kumar worked in 73 films as an actor from 1932 to 1963.
From Najma in 1943, Kumar did only character roles in films like Bhishm Pratigya, Dayara, Mahal, Shri 420, Khiladi, Maalik, Baiju Bawra, Yahudi ki Ladki. His memorable role was in Mughal e Azam, that of the sculptor and a famous song-‘Aye mohabbat zindabad’ was shot on him. His last film was Raat aur Din (released in 1967)
In 1963, Kumar migrated to Pakistan, and started to work in Pakistani films without any delay. His son, S. A. Hafiz, who made Tauba, later became one of the best and well known directors of the country. Later he settled in USA. Kamal and Zeba played the lead in Tauba, which became a grand success. Kumar worked in 22 Pakistani films, including Head Constable, Azad, Shabnam, Naela, Saiqa, Sajda (his own film), Hum Dono, Nadya Ke Paar, Ik Musaflr Ik Hasina, Baalam etc. He gave one Superhit and three Hit films in Pakistan. Interestingly, he continued to act in the name of Kumar only, without using his original Muslim name there. Kumar died on 4-6-1982.
Film Jhankar-42 director S.Khalil directed only 7 films – jhankar-42, Nai Zindagi-43, Bhai Jaan-45, Shahkar-47, Sartaj-50, Gunehgar-53 and Benazir-64.
There is one more name ” Chandra Kumar” in the cast. Hardly, anyone will know who this actor was. He was none other than actor Anil Kumar (real name- Sardar Gul), who actually started his career with Minerva Movietone with its first film ” Said-E-Havas”-36, with the name Chandrakumar. After that he took the name Anil Kumar, but in this film he acted with this name, surprisingly. May be in few other films too he used this name.
Actor Anil Kumar (Sardar Gul) was born in 1915 at Calcutta. His father had a fruit business. They were from Peshawar (just like Dilip Kumar). He was not much educated but could speak Hindi, Urdu and English fluently. Once he went to Bombay to meet a friend. There he met an old acquaintance, who took him to Sohrab Modi.
The good looking Sardar Gul was liked by Modi and he offered him the lead role in his film ‘ Saed E Havas’-36. Sardar Gul was given a screen name of Chandra Kumar. The film was based on a translation of William Shakespeare’s drama- King John, by Agha Hashra Kashmiri in 1907. Sardar Gul was to get Rs. 200 for this work. The film was a flop and Sohrab Modi refused to pay him more than Rs 50. Annoyed, he left Bombay and returned to Calcutta.
However he came back in 1938 and did his first film with a new screen name Anil Kumar. The film was Talwar ka Dhani-38. Soon he was well known and acted in 10 films in next 3 years. As the decade of the 40s saw many new actors, producers and directors, he was reduced to Character roles and side roles. By 1950, he was almost like an extra. He did work in many films, but only few films credited him, as his roles were negligible. We find his name in just 30 films, where he was credited, the last such film being Tarzan and Deliailah-64.
Today’s song is sung by Rajkumari and chorus. The MD Bashir Dehlavi started his career with this film and gave music to 6 more films. His last film was Hawai Khatola-46. The song is a traditional one, written by Amir Khusro (1253 – 1325). This song is used in many films. some films are Heer Ranjha-48, Suhag Raast-48, Nadir Shah-68, Maang bharo Sajna-80 and Umrao Jaan-81 etc. Amir Khusro’s some other songs in films are Chhap tilak sab chhini re in Main Tulsi tere aangan ki- 78 and Rain suhag ki jaagi in Junoon-78.
Let us now enjoy this traditional song. With this song, Film Jhankar-42 makes its Debut here.
Song-Kaahe ko byaahi bidesh re lakhi baabul morey (Jhankaar)(1942) Singer-Rajkumari Dubey, lyrics-Amir Khusro, MD-Basheer Dehalvi
Lyrics
Kaahe ko byaahi bides re lakhi baabul morey
Kaahe ko byaahi bides re lakhi baabul morey
Kaahe ko byaahi bides re lakhi baabul morey
gudiya khilaune maine taak mein chhode
gudiya khilaune maine taak mein chhode
chhoda saheliyon ka saath re
lakhi Baabul more
chhoda saheliyon ka saath re
lakhi Baabul more
Kaahe ko byaahi bides re lakhi baabul morey
sona bhi deenha baabul rupa bhi deenha
sona bhi deenha aa aa aa aa aa aa
sona bhi deenha baabul rupa bhi deenha
deenha ratan jadaau re
lakhi baabul more
deenha ratan jadaau re
lakhi baabul more
Kaahe ko byaahi bides re lakhi baabul morey
itna dihin baabul ???
itna dihin baabul ???
saas nanand bole bol re lakhi baabul morey
saas nanand bole bol re lakhi baabul morey
Kaahe ko byaahi bides re lakhi baabul morey
aam tale se dola jo niksa
aam tale se ae ae ae
aam tale se dola jo niksa
koyal sabad sunaaye re lakhi baabul morey
koyal sabad sunaaye re lakhi baabul morey
Kaahe ko byaahi bides re lakhi baabul morey
tu kya boley meri kaali koyaliya
tu kya boley meri kaali koyaliya
chhoda baabul ka des re lakhi baabul morey
chhoda baabul ka des re lakhi baabul morey
Kaahe ko byaahi bides re lakhi baabul morey
Kaahe ko byaahi bides
Kaahe ko byaahi bades
Posted on: August 7, 2018
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.
| Blog Day : | 3672 | Post No. : | 14552 |
Today’s song is from film Jailor-1938, made by Minerva Movietone and directed by Sohrab Modi.
Thousands and thousands of actors, directors and musicians worked in this film industry, since films started. Not all of them are known or remembered by people. 95 % of these people are not remembered today. Most names had no faces. They were in the films without any specific personal identity. 5% names are known to many, but it is the special few names which became permanently etched in the minds of people.
You can ask 10 persons to list out 10 names of film personalities, who gave their major contribution or were famous so much that they can not be forgotten. On checking this list of 100 people, you will find certain names repeated in almost every list. Names like Saigal, Dilip kumar, Dev Anand, Rajkapoor, Ashok kumar and Sohrab Modi are certain to be in all the lists. Their contribution to Hindi cinema is unmatched.
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 and Sayeed E Hawas, 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.
Modi’s Minerva Movietone was established in 1936 by Sohrab Modi and his brother Rustom. It emerged from Stage Films, set up in 1935 to film the stage repertoire of Rustom’s group, Arya Subodh Natak Mandali. Renowned for big-budget historicals, the studio benefited from the Modi family’s existing distribution interests in Gwalior, expanded by the third brother, Keki Modi, into Western India Theatres, owning a chain of 27 theatres in 10 cities. Set up the first Technicolor laboratory (1952) with Film Group and made Jhansi Ki Rani (1953). From 1936 to 1960 Minerva made 28 films. A very impressive score indeed. Modi directed 20 of them. In all Modi acted in 32 films and directed 27 films.
In 1937, Modi made a film ‘Atma Tarang”…..which was a disaster at the box office with just 20 persons in the audience. He was devastated and decided to quit making films. After the show, 4 persons from the audience came to him and congratulated him for making this nice film. They wished him all the best for his future films and left. Later Modi came to know that they were Bombay High court judges. 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 ).
However, making film Pukar-39 changed his outlook and set his goals for the future’ for Historical films. Pukar-39 was actually shot in real courts and Mughal Palaces to give it authenticity. For his next film Sikander-41, he brought in Prithwiraj Kapoor for the role of Sikander and he himself took the role of Porus. The film employed high values of Costumes and Props of that era. The entire film was , however, shot with only one camera. His third film was Prithvi Vallabh-43, which was an adaptation of K.M.Munshi’s novel. In this film Modi enacted a dangerous stunt scene of being trampled to death by an Elephant.
His last Historical film was “Jhansi ki Rani”-53. he had hired the best Hollywood technicians. it was shot directly on 35 mm film, and was in technicolor. Modi had borrowed real weapons from Defence ministry, for the shootings. His next film ‘ Mirza Ghalib-54’ won President’s Gold medal ( now called the National Awards), to become the First Hindi film to win it. However this and his next film ‘ Nausherwan E Adil’-57 could not save Minerva’s from running into loss. It made only 2 more films- Jailor-58 and Mera Ghar mere bachhe-60, before closing down production.
Sohrab Modi was probably the only film maker in Hindi films, who handled many genres like Historical, religious, musical, Costume, Social, Action, Reformative, War, psycho Analytical etc etc.
Sohrab Modi was born in Parsi family on 2nd November, 1897. His parents were Parsi civil Servants. For few years he stayed among Parsi community in Bombay. Sohrab Modi childhood was spent with lot of activities. As he grew up, he displayed more interest in exercise and sports. He was seriously sick several times during his childhood and he had to be hospitalized a few times as well. All that led to his tall but thin physique. Later on he was very active. In school he was an average student, he never got hooked to History subject. Many times teacher complained to his his parents for lagging behind in history subject. His parents left no stones unturned to make him study but it all those efforts went in vain.
But 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.
Sohrab Modi only acted as an extra or side role which was not very helpful to him in furthering his career. But Sohrab was bidding for his time looking for the opportunity where he could act as a leading actor. Very soon he got an opportunity and made his breakthrough. Soon He earned the reputation as Shakespearean actor. Sohrab Modi’s elder brother Rustom helped him in stage acting and people appreciated Sohrab Modi’s acting.
As Sohrab grew up, his personality kept developing. His personality suited the role of king. His portrayal of King in his two plays ‘Khoon Ka Khoon’ and ‘Saed-E-havas’ were additional feathers in his acting cap.
Sheesh Mahal was one of the better movies by Sohrab Modi. It was observed that even blind people were sitting on booked seats. But they put there head down and heard the voice and dialogues of Sohrab Modi. It was for first time in history of cinema that Blind people had tears in there eyes while hearing the dialogues of Sohrab Modi. When one Blind man wasa asked how he enjoyed movie without watching the set up, the Blind man replied that he watched the movie from his heart and heard the dialogues which enabled him to visualise what was going on and so he was able to understand the movie. Ticket Money of these audience were refunded.
In 1976 Sohrab had complained about weakness and headache which were cured by common home remedies and he kept acting in the roles of father and grandfather. Sohrab Modi health kept deteriorating and he had to be hospitalised in 1979 but the true cause of his sickness could not be diagnosed. Sohrab Modi himself never believed that he was sick and he never allowed any Doctor to do any proper diagnosis of his ill health. His common dialogues to doctors were ‘Sher kabi bimar nahi padta Aur agar main bimar Hu to mai jald theek ho jaunga’. His heavy voice was enough to reassure Doctors that all was well and he was discharged within two days.
Soon after completing Razia Sultan, he had started new movie ‘Guru Dakshina’. But unfortunately this film was never completed. In 1981 or 1982 he was again hospitaled. Whole Kapoor Family visited the hospital to convince him to get all checking done. Doctors were 90% sure that Sohrab had cancer since the symptoms of Sohrab indicated that. Sohrab Modi was soon found to have cancer and immediately medications were bought from other countries. His condition led to his frequently hospitalisation. His kept losing weigh. He tried to involved himself to complete his ‘Guru Dakshina’ but his health did not allow him to do that.
On 2nd November 1984, at the age of 86, Sohrab Modi took breathed his last.
Today’s song is “Kaahe Ko Byaahi Bides”. This is a famous song by Amir Khusro. This has been used in several films like, Jhankaar-42, Heer Ranjha-48,Nadir Shah-68,Suhag Raat-48, Maang bharo sajna-80 and Umrao Jaan-2009, in addition to today’s song from film Jailor-38. It is also sung as a NFS by many famous singers. Mostly in films, the original song is mixed with some new lyrics and the credit is given to film’s lyricist. In film Jailor-38 too, the lyricist’s name is given as Kamal Amrohi.
Amir Khusrow ( 1253 to 1325 ) was a Sufi mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya. He lived for 72 years, out of which 60 years he lived in the courts of as many as ten different rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. He was a poet as well as prolific musician. His primary language to write poems was Persian but he composed almost half a million verses in Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Braj Bhasha, Hindavi as well as the Khadi Boli. His Khaliq-e-bari, which is known as oldest printed dictionary of the world deals with Hindi and Persian words. He is regarded as the “father of qawwali”. He is also credited with enriching Indian classical music by introducing Persian and Arabic elements in it, and was the originator of the khayal and tarana styles of music. Khayal later reached to its zenith during the times of Mohammad Shah Rangile and today is integral part of Hindustani classical music. His association with various sultans enabled him to travel and stay in various parts of India and this gave him exposure to various local traditions. This helped him to assimilate diverse musical influences. He was patronized by three Khilji rulers successively.
The singer is Eruch Tarapore. He was a distant relative of Sohrab Modi and he worked only in Modi’s films. he worked in 16 films, right from Modi’s first film Hamlet-35 up to 1948. Eruch sang one song each in 3 films, Meetha zehar-38, Jailor-38 and Phir milenge-43. He died in 1948.
( credits- Cinestaan, Flash back-Isaq Mujawar, Hindi filmon ke geetkar, upperstall.com,MuVyz, HFGK and my notes.)
Song-Kaahe ko byaahi bades(Jailor)(1938) Singers- Eruch Tarapore, Lyrics-Kamal Amrohi, MD-Meer Sahab
Lyrics
kaahe ko byaahi bades
arey sun baabal mora
kaahe ko byaahi bades
arey sun
ham to baabul torey jhaad ki chidiya
ham to baabul torey jhaad ki chidiya
meh barsat udd jaayen re
meh barsat udd jaayen re
baabal mora
kaahe ko byaahi bades
[Ed Note: ‘meh’ = megh, baadal]
Zihaal e miskin makun tagaaful
Posted on: March 16, 2013
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
For the past few days, I have been going through the poems of Amir Khusrau. Fortunately, most of his poems are available on the internet with English translation. His love poems, riddles, dohas (couplets in Hindwi), qawwalis etc are very absorbing. I feel, it will not be an exaggeration to say that the trigger for the first literary renaissance especially in northern India was witnessed during the time of Amir Khusrau. He was one among the first in elite class to propagate the use of an Indian vernacular language in his poems which he called Hindawi ( mix of Hindi and its subsidiary dialects). I am not sure but the development of Urdu language in later years may have come as a continuum from Hindwi language.
Read more on this topic…
“Suhaag Raat” (1948) or “Sohag Raat”(1948) as it was spelled in the posters , was an Oriental Pictures presentation. It was directed by Kidar Sharma. The star cast had names like Begam Para,Bharat Bhushan, Geeta Bali (debut), Maruti etc.
Read more on this topic…
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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