Posts Tagged ‘Manna Dey’
Suna thha maine bachpan mein
Posted on: April 19, 2024
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 : |
5754 | Post No. : | 18278 |
Today’s song is from a stunt film Toofan-1969. The film was an unusual stunt film story. It was directed by Radhakant and the Music Director was Daan Singh.
The Lyricist was Akhtar Romani. He is the same lyricist who entered the film world with a big bang. His first song was the only song he wrote for S.N.tripathi in that film. However, this only song became a big Hit song which is popular even today. The film was Hatimtai-1956 and the song was ” Parwar digar e aalam, tera hi hai sahara “, sung by Mohd. rafi and lip synched by Jairaj on the screen Romani’s career as a Lyricist was a short one. He wrote only 70 songs in 29 films. However he remained busy writing on film songs. film stories, s/plays and dialogues for more than 20 hit films. He also featured and conducted about 4 radio programmes. There was just one more lyricist who also wrote popular songs in his first film. Majrooh Sultanpuri (Asrar hasan khan ) wrote 7 songs in his first film ” Shahjehan”-1946 and all songs became hit songs. These were sung by Saigal, composed by Naushad.
The cast of the film was Dara Singh, Anita, N.A.Ansari, Azaad, Shabana, Johnny Whisky, Ratnamala, Arvind pandya, Dilip Dutt, helen, Bipin gupta and many others. I have not seen this film. After 1965 I had almost given up seeing films en masse and saw only selected films, due to my concentration on career and married life. I was a great fan of Dara Singh. Not because of his wrestling skills or physique but because he gave a respectable form to stunt and action films. Before him , action films were meant for only lower strata of the society like daily earners or labourers etc. who would encourage the hero on screen to beat the villains, bu shouting motivating suggestions and encouragement like ” Maar saale ko” or ” kar de batti gul” etc. After Dara singh entered the action films, his films were shown in better theatres and the type of audience also changed to better. After I started writing articles on old films, I was a bit shy to admit my love for his films. Then I came to know about ‘Memsaab’ (Greta Kaemmer), who proudly declared her status of being a fan of Dara Singh and I was happy to get a companion. Dara Singh was a perfect gentleman and never tried to be in the limelight. In fact, he used to feel very shy to be photographed or interviewed.
The 60s opened up a new Genre of Films. Films in which muscular He-men ‘acted’. Really speaking, their dialogues were delivered silently by their solid bodies and the fighting they did on the screens. Here were the Heroes who would kill dangerous Jungle animals barehanded, break Iron chains, fight with 10 people at a time, ride horses, swim expertly and overall display their physical might !
The beginning was done in 1958 with ‘Zimbo’, featuring Azad-a Parsee Bodybuilder. That way, Dara Singh had entered the films in 1952 with ‘Sangdil’ and he had a wrestling match with Om Prakash in ‘Pehli Jhalak’-1954. His first film as a hero -King Kong came in 1962, when he was already 34 years old !
That was a period when the Indian culture of defeats in all possible sports was on the peak and the Indians were looking for a Saviour. In Dara Singh, India found a SuperHero who won not only in India but also in Commonwealth and the World championships. Dara Singh was much more than an Actor. He was a piece of Folklore and he became a social phenomenon soon. He was a hybrid of Myth and Folklore, larger than life evocation of the Desi Hero. He represented the Indian idea of Masculinity-The Mard, a He Man. He had the muscle prowess but no aggression. He evoked security, gentleness and the right kind of patriarchy. He was proud to be a Jat and an Indian.
He was a Pehalwan trained in the Indian style of wrestling. Dara’s victories against King Kong and Zybisco in the late 50s made him a legend. Lakhs of people would gather at the venues of his bouts. He brought wrestling from the Akhadas to the Drawing rooms of Affluent homes. He remained Undefeated in 500+ bouts in his lifetime, winning Indian Championship in 1953, the Commonwealth championship in 1959 and the World Championship in 1968, when he was into acting in Hindi films full fledgedly !
He did roles of Kings, Princes, Rebels, Mutineer, Jungle Boy, Samson, Hercules, Sikander and the greatest role of his life as Hanuman. There may be 300 odd types of Ramayans, but only one Hanuman-Dara Singh. He was, for most people, the embodiment of the Monkey God. Without him the Ramayan was never the same ! Dara Singh, I am sure, would have been the original choice of even Valmiki !!!
Dara Singh was the Indian Superman. Even when he started doing character roles, the Heroes were happy to work with him. In one interview ( he gave interviews very rarely-he used blush too much), he had said,” Out of all my roles, I liked my role in Anand-70, where I was very comfortable doing my real life role-that of a Pahilwan in an Akhada !” He was probably one of the few who worked in A, B and C grade films in his life with equal ease and aplomb. Whether it was Mumtaz or Amitabh, he remained Dara Singh-Rustic, Strong, Indian, Gentle, Protective and Chivalrous.
Dara Singh was born at village Dharmuchak in Amritsar district on 19-11-1928 to Surat Singh and Balwant Kaur. He was married to Surjit Kaur Randhwa on 11-5-1961 and they had a son. From his second marriage he had 3 daughters and 2 sons. At the age of 22, he went to Singapore and won several championships. At 24 he did his first film role in Sangdil-52 and he became a Hero at 34 years of age. He did 122 Hindi films, 22 Punjabi films, besides producing 3 and directing 9 films.
He continued wrestling up to 1970. In 1978, he established his Dara Studios in Mohali, Punjab. His last film came in 2012-“Ata pata lapata”. With Mumtaz he did 16 films out of which 12 were Hit films. In those days, he was paid 4 lakh rupees per film. Dara Singh died on 12-7-2012. His brother Randhwa died on 21-10-2013 ( this news was hardly noticed).
Many Bodybuilders tried to copy Dara Singh. Their films never succeeded because people knew who the original Superman was. Indrajit, Viju Penkar, Hercules, Azad and even Randhwa did few Dara-like films, but they were never accepted by the audience. Dara Singh was Unique. One may think that his films were seen and liked only by the lower strata of society or exclusive C grade film audiences, but it was wrong. Dara Singh films were ‘Super Deluxe’ versions of B and C class films and were liked by people from Top class to bottom class. I was a great fan of Dara films and rarely missed any of them.
I was surprised to find the name of Arvind Pandya in the cast of this film. I knew he was a great Theatre personality and a Gujarati film star. He did very few Hindi films. Arvind Pandya (21 March 1923 – 22 July 1980) was an actor. In his career spanning 35 years, he acted in more than one hundred films including 75 Gujarati and 25 Hindi films. He also worked in Hindi and Gujarati theatres.
Pandya was born on 21 March 1923 in Bhadran. He spent his childhood in Khambhat and Baroda (now Vadodara). His father Ganpatrao was an executive manager in the Mandvi branch of Bank of Baroda. His mother’s name was Anandiben. He participated in the Indian independence movement and in 1942 Quit India movement.
Pandya went to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1937 and joined St. Xavier’s College where he studied BA in Sanskrit. He studied music at Devdhar Classes and later under Pandharinath Kolhapure. After listening to him at an event at St. Xavier’s College, he was selected as a playback singer in Mansarovar (1946) by S. N. Tripathi in which he sang a solo as well as a duet with Shamshad Begum.
To enter the Hindi film industry, he visited Fatelal Damle’s studio several times in a period of six months but was denied. He continued to work in the theatre. He came to the attention of Prakash Picture’s director Shantikumar Dave who saw him in his role of Kach in the play Kach-Devyani.
Shantikumar cast him in the lead role in Gujarati film Bhakta Surdas (1947) in which he also sang several songs. After some Gujarati films, he worked with Meena Kumari in Hindi film Naulakha Haar (1953). He continued to play supporting roles as well as lead roles in Hindi and Gujarati films. He portrayed mostly historical, social and rural characters in these films. In the 1960s, he portrayed negative characters. He had played saints as well as bandits in his films. In his career spanning 35 years, he acted in more than one hundred films including 73 Gujarati films. He was known as “Ashok Kumar of Gujarati cinema”. Due to his efforts, Laxmi Studio was established in Baroda in 1975.
He continued acting in the Gujarati theatre. His successful plays included Sapnana Sathi, Jesal Toral, Unda Andhare Thi, Gadh Juno Girnar, Mari Venima Char Char Phool, Swayamsiddha, Major Chandrakant, Pachhale Barane and Sambharna. He received a prize from the Government of Maharashtra for his play Sapnana Sathi.
He was awarded several times for acting by the Government of Gujarat including in 1961 for Kadu Makrani, in 1962 for Nandanvan, in 1963-64 for Jivno Jugari, in 1970 for Majiyara Haiya and in 1975 for Tanariri.
He died on 22 July 1980 following brain hemorrhage. (based on an interview by Rajnikumar Pandyaji, wiki, muVyz and my notes. Thanks to all).
Today’s song is sung by Manna Dey. This was another surprise, as Manna Dey was never known to sing in such films. Maybe Daan Singh roped him in to sing this comedy song. With this song, the film Toofan-1969 becomes a YIPPEE film, with all its songs are covered here. Enjoy….
Song- Suna thha maine bachpan mein (Toofaan)(1969) Singer- Manna Dey, Lyricist-Akhtar Romani, MD- Daan Singh
Lyrics
suna thha maine bachpan mein
san unneessaupachpan mein
suna tha maine bachpan mein
san unneessaupachpan mein
allah meharbaan to gadha pahalwaan
allah meharbaan to gadha pahalwaan
arre aaj samajh aai jakar baat kahi ye jeevan mein
suna thha maine bachpan mein
san unneessau pachpan mein
motor mein yoon saath saathi chale
cyunti ke sang jaise hathi chale
leke mujhe meri sasural mein
kis shaan ye bhi chale
aage chala thaanedar
peechhe saare jamaadaar
beech mein dulha banke baithha, main albela daaku
roti soorat bhi hansti hai
pyaare ek din darpan mein
suna thha maine bachpan mein
san unneessau pachpan mein
lo lo lo lo lo lo lo
lo lo lo lo lo lo lo
lo lo lo lo lo lo lo
daata kadak thha naram ho gaya
banda thha thhanda garam ho gaya
zaalim se badla, har ek julm ka
ab to ye mera dharam ho gaya
maaroonga main gin ke yaar
dushman poore ekhazar
chor luteron ke adde ki, todoonga main har deewaar
maalik chaahe to bin mausam, phool khila de gulshan mein
suna thha maine bachpan mein
san unneessau pachpan mein
pahle tha kismat ka khaana kharaab
ab hoon muqaddar ka lekin nawab
pahle koi poochhta bhi na thha
ab sab khilayenge haluaa kabab
pahle to padti thhi maar, ab phoolon ke padenge haar
pahle duniya thhukraati thhi
ab bolegi jaijaikaar
ghar hoga gharwaali hogi
bachche honge aangan mein
suna thha maine bachpan mein
san unneessau pachpan mein
suna thha maine bachpan mein
san unneessau pachpan mein
suna thha maine bachpan mein
san unneessau pachpan mein
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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5747 | Post No. : | 18270 |
Today’s song is from the film Gustakhi Maaf-1969.
Titles of Hindi films generally confuse me, but mostly they disappoint me. A normal cinegoer expects that the title of the film indicates the type of film it is or gives a hint of the film’s story subject or atleast the type/genre of the film. But mostly the titles are misleading. Luckily the hoardings and the posters of the film are more revealing and attractive. They give a closer hint about the film. Here too, what is shown on the hoardings is not seen in the films many times. Why I am saying all this is, because today’s film’s story has absolutely nothing to do with its title, by any angle.
The film is a little complicated story ( based on the Comedy of Errors) of two sisters who are twins and hence lookalikes. They are Asha and Seema, daughters of mr. Gupta, a businessman. Once while crossing a river in a boat, a severe storm capsized the boat. One daughter is with the father and one with the mother. Father somehow survives with the daughter, but the mother is injured and swept away. The other daughter Seema reaches a distant shore, where she is found by Mr. Seth, a widowed rich person. He has no issues. He adopts her and gives her also the name of Asha.
18 years pass. The girls become young. Asha Gupta comes to Darjeeling, with her friends. The other Asha Seth is living in Darjeeling only. There are two artist friends Shankar (Sujit Kumar) and Jai (Sanjeev Kumar). Local Asha falls in love with Sujit and by coincidence Asha Gupta starts loving Jai. After a lot of confusion and misunderstandings because of two similar looking girls with the same names, everything is clear and there is a happy ending. In addition, the mother of Asha who had lost her memory is in hospital at Darjeeling. She also regains memory and the whole family is reunited. THE END !
The film was directed by Raj Kumar Bedi and the film’s cast was Tanuja, Sanjeev Kumar, Sujit Kumar, Ulhas, Indira Bansal, Narbada Shankar, Vithaldas Panchotiya, Gopal Saigal and others. The songs were written by Naqsh Lyallpuri.
Just a few days back, I had talked about Hindu lyricists taking Muslim names, like Qamar Jalalabadi who was actually Omprakash Bhandari. Today’s Lyricist Naqsh Lyallpuri is another such example. He was in reality Jaswant Rai Sharma. Here is what is written about him on the internet site of ‘ The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema’….
Jaswant Rai Sharma (24 February 1928 – 22 January 2017), popularly known by his pen name Naqsh Lyallpuri, was born in Lyallpur (now called Faisalabad and in present-day Pakistan) to a Punjabi-Brahmin family. In 1946 Sharma worked at a publishing house named Hero Publications and later moved to Lahore looking for work. After the Partition of India, the family migrated to Lucknow. Sharma later took on the pen name “Naqsh” – meaning an impression, a mark or a print – and added “Lyallpuri” to it, following the tradition of Urdu poets to associate with their birthplace.
Lyallpuri moved to Mumbai in 1951 and started working at The Times of India as a proofreader. Lyallpuri debuted as a film lyricist with the 1953 film Jaggu, writing the lyrics of “Agar Teri Aankhon Se Aankhein Mila Doon”, rendered by Asha Bhosle and composed by Hansraj Bahl. He worked in the postal department to earn his living. Music director Jaidev introduced him to television serials and asked him to write lyrics for the Hindi television series Shrikant. Lyallpuri went on to write songs for about 50 TV serials along with nearly 40 Punjabi films. Lyallpuri collaborated with various Bollywood music directors, including Madan Mohan, Khayyam, Sapan Jagmohan, Jaidev, Naushad, and Ravindra Jain, and Punjabi music composers like Surinder Kohli, Hansraj Bahl, Ved Sethi, and Husnlal-Bhagatram.
His Filmography….1963: Gul-e-Bakavali, Pyar Ka Bandhan, 1968: Aanchal Ke Phool, 1969: Gustakhi Maaf, Insaaf Ka Mandir, Paun Baran, 1970: Chetna, Gunah Aur Kanoon, Gunahon Ke Raaste, 1971: Kankan De Ohle, 1973: Rocky Mera Naam, 1974: Parinay, 1975: Kaagaz Ki Nao, 1976: Changay Mande Tere Bande, Kasam, 1978: Atyachar, Hazaar Haath, 1979: Kunwara Mama, Til Til Da Lekha, 1980: Sister, 1982: Dil Aakhir Dil Hai (Writer), 1983: Do Madari, 1984: Ek Naya Itihas, 1985: Nain Mile Chain Kahan, Takraar, 1986: Devar Bhabhi, 1987: Jaag Punjabi Shera, 1988: Ghar Aakhir Ghar Hai, Jag Wala Mela, Tapash, 1989: Marhi Da Deeva, 1990: Sounh Menoo Punjab Di.
The music Director was Sapan – Jagmohan. There were only 4 songs in this film. I was surprised. Normally there used to be 6-10 songs in any Hindi film. Curious, I looked at many more other films and I found that nowadays there are fewer songs in the films. I remember, the film ” Trishagni’-1988 had only one song.
These days there may be films without any songs also or songs only in the background. How times have changed ! When the Talkie films started, in its first decade there were average 9 to 10 songs. The record breaking 69 songs in film Indrasabha-1932 is unforgettable.
I wanted to know how the average number of songs in every decade came down. One day I found an analysis done by the famous record collector and music Historian Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji of Jodhpur. Here is what he has presented in a table….
| Decade | Total number of Films in the decade | Total number of songs in the decade | Average number of films /year | Average number of songs /film |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931-40 | 931 | 8247 | 93 | 9.0 |
| 1941-50 | 1236 | 11124 | 124 | 8.9 |
| 1951-60 | 1203 | 9624 | 120 | 8.0 |
| 1961-70 | 1007 | 6990 | 100 | 6.9 |
| 1971-80 | 1327 | 8295 | 133 | 6.3 |
| 1981-90 | 1843 | 9558 | 184 | 5.2 |
| 1991-2000 | 1902 | 9059 | 190 | 4.8 |
| 2001-10 | 1967 | 9154 | 197 | 4.7 |
| 2011-2017 | 1475 | 6785 | 227 | 4.6 |
| Total 86.5 years | Total number of movies 12891 | Overall Average songs per decade 6785 | Overall average films/ year 149 | Overall average 6.1 |
You can see yourself how the average number of songs per film has come down. Initially, the craze of film songs was so great that in 1937, when Wadia Movietone released their First songless film- Naujawan, the unsuspecting audience was very angry and at many places the broke chairs etc. in protest as they felt cheated by the producers of that film by not having any songs ! I only hope that if this diminishing trend continues, the image of India as the producer of only ” Colourful Musical Dramas” will change in coming years !
Film Gustakhi Maaf-1969’s Music Director pair was Sapan-Jagmohan. This Jagmohan is not the NFS singer from Bengal- Jaganmoy Mitra aka Jagmohan Sursagar.
Jagmohan Bakshi of Sapan Jagmohan was born in Murrie in Punjab on 29-7 1929. Love of singing and music brought him to Bombay where he met a similar struggler Sapan Sengupta (born on 17-7-1932 at Sylhet in Bengal). One was from Pakistan -w and the other was from Pakistan -E. They became friends and shared a room in a Goregaon Chawl. They regularly sang in the chorus and had dreams of becoming MDs one day ! This pair was favoured by Naashaad, S D Burman and Salil Chaudhari.
Finally S D Burman gave Jagmohan Bakshi a chance to sing a duet with Asha Bhosle,in the film Taxi Driver-1954. The song became popular-‘ Dekho mane nahi roothi haseena,na jaane kya baat hai’. Still no offers came forth. He sang in Hamlet-54,a duet with Rafi. He sang his final and third trio with Lata and Usha in ‘Piya Milan’-1958. In his lifetime Jagmohan Bakshi sang only these three songs-no solo in them.
Later he formed a pair with Sapan as Sapan-Jagmohan and as MD gave music to their first film-Begaana-1963. This pair gave music to 43 films, mostly B and C grade obscure movies.
Jagmohan Bakshi died on 26-2-1999.
Today’s song is sung by Krishna Kalle and Manna Dey. This is the last and final song of this film, making it YIPPEED !
Song- Isaaron ka matbal samajh morey chhaila (Gustaakhi Maaf)(1969) Singers- Krishna Kalle, Manna Dey, Lyricist- Naqsh Llayalpuri, MD- Sapan-Jagmohan
Lyrics
isaaron ka matbal samajh morey chhaila
isaaro ka matbal samajh more chaila
isaaro ka matbal samajh more chaila
tu mora majnu hai main tori laila
tu mora majnu hai main tori laila
arrey pyaar wich hai kadam pehla pehla
arrey pyaar wich hai kadam pehla pehla
main teri laila
laila nahin majnu
haan haan
main tera majnu te tu meri Laila
main tera majnu te tu meri Laila
ae batiyaan u chaahe na maar
tora isak mori lega jaan
rasiya chahliya
arre yaar mera jab jab roothha
aise lage jaise rab roothha
soniye heeriye
tu naahin jaane torey badey maine liye kitne ilzaam
hmm
arre pyaar wich hai kadam pehla pehla
arre pyaar wich hai kadam pehla pehla
main tera majnu te tu meri Laila
main tera majnu te tu meri Laila
kaahe nayan uljhaa baithhee
raaton kee neend ganwa baithhee
rasiyaa aa
chhaliyaa aa
saanja ke tujhko sula doon main
meethhi si lori ga doon main
aaaa sonja raaj kumaari ee sonja
aan aan
sonja main balhaari ee sonja
sonja raajkumaari sonja sonja
patthar ko mai samjhaaun kaa
more darad ki naahin dawa
rasiyaa aa
chhaliyaa aa
yoon na bigad ke aankhen dikhaa
main to hoon kudiye tera ghulaam
Hans kar hansaa mastee mein gaa
Posted on: March 5, 2024
- In: Dance song | Guest posts | Manna Dey solo | Manna Dey songs | Post by Sadanand Kamath | Raj Kapoor songs | Raj Kapoor songs by Manna Dey | Song from unreleased movie | Songs from Unreleased Films of 1960s | Songs of 1960s (1961 to 1970) | Songs of 1961 | stage dance | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 2 Comments
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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Blog Day : |
5709 | Post No. : | 18227 | Movie Count : |
4893 |
Every year, hundreds of Hindi feature films are certified by Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Just for a sample check, I found that for the years 1951-1980, on an average, 100-120 Hindi features films had been certified/released. I am sure the number of Hindi films certified/released in the subsequent decades must have increased significantly. There were many Hindi feature films which had been shot but got shelved or remained incomplete or if completed, remained unreleased. I checked on the websites of Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA) and Producers Guild of India (GUILD) for the list of such films. Unfortunately, no such information is available on the website. It is one more example of the poor upkeep of film related statistics.
There are many reasons as to why films get shelved or remain incomplete and if completed, remain unreleased. But the generic reason is the way the films were made until few years back. Normally, till the end of the last century, a film was shot in driblets as the main actors would give dates for shooting for days normally ranging between 5-10 days at a time and the actors would get paid according to the progress of the film. Those days, the popular star-actors would sign the films in good numbers because of the lure of signing amount. This would result the clash of dates of the main actors thus delaying the shooting and increasing the film’s production cost. The net result of these systems was that a film could take an average 18-36 months. The longer the time to complete a film, the bigger will be the risk associated with the completion of the film apart from other risk associated with filmmaking.
I have gone through the articles on our Blog which has so far covered around 80 unreleased (UR) films including shelved and incomplete films. I have also gone through some on-line articles covering a few specific films of such categories. Based on the information from these articles wherever the reasons for such films were spelt out, I have listed below 5 broad categories of reasons which led to films remaining incomplete or shelved and completed but remained unreleased.
1. Financial constraint : When the films take longer time than expected to complete or the allocated budget for the film is exceeded during the making of the films, the producers/financiers have to provide additional funds to complete the films. If they failed to arrange the additional finance, the films remain incomplete and finally shelved. One of the shelved films mentioned under this reason is Ramesh Sippy’s mid-1980s multi-starer, ‘Zameen’ with Vinod Khanna, Rajnikanth, Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi. The film exceeded the budget during the making of the film and it was reported that financiers/distributors refused to provide further finance for the film. Another film was J P Dutta’s ‘Sarhad’ which was shelved in 1976 due to budget constraint when nearly 50% of the film’s shooting was completed.
2. Creative differences and Compatibility Issues: Creative differences and compatibility issues can arise between the producer and director, between director and main actors and among the main actors. If they are not sorted out, one of them would leave the film which can result in the suspension of the film’s shooting. If the alternative arrangements are not made in time, the film remains incomplete or shelved. An interesting case under this reason was K Asif’s film, ‘Jaanwar’ with Dilip Kumar pairing with Suraiya for the first time. This film started its shooting sometime in early 1950s. It was reported that Suraiya did not like the handling of a bold scene by Dilip Kumar with her and she felt that film’s director was hand in gloves with him because of many retakes of the bold scenes between Dilip Kumar and Suraiya. She felt humiliated and left the shooting in a huff never to return. The film was shelved. ‘Shiqwaa’ (1950s) with Dilip Kumar and Nutan in the lead role was on near completion when the film was stalled due to reported differences between film’s director, Ramesh Saigal and the producer, Makhan Lal Jain of Filmkar Productions. Dilip Kumar was also upset with the producer as he was planning to start a film with more or less the similar story of K Asif’s ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ (1960) which was under production.
3. Lack of film’s qualitative progress: After the filming of few scenes, if the director, especially when he is also the producer, feels unhappy about the way the film is shaping up due to weak script or underperformances of the lead actors, two things can happen during this stage. Either the film is shelved or it is reshot with changes in script or the lead actor/s as the case may be. In the second option, there is a danger of film’s budget getting exceeded. In the absence of alternative funding arrangements, the film may remain incomplete for indefinite period. Guru Dutt’s ‘Gauri’ with Geeta Dutt in the title role in 1957 and ‘Raaz’ with Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman in 1959 were shelved after shooting few scenes when he realised that the films were not shaping well as per his liking.
4. Unforeseen Reasons: Apart from financial and creative risks, the filmmaker also faces some unforeseen problems in completing the film. During the partition in 1947, many Hindi films under productions, both at Mumbai and Lahore were affected due to sudden migration of the main actors and core technicians. Some films remained incomplete while a few of the affected films were remade with new actors. The death of the main actors, producer and director may result in inordinate delay in completng the film. The most talked about film under this reason was K Asif’s ‘Love and God’. After the success of ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ (1960), K Asif started filming ‘Love And God’ with Guru Dutt in the lead role some time in 1962. The film was near its completion when Guru Dutt passed away in October 1964. K Asif started shooting afresh with Sanjeev Kumar. K Asif passed away in 1971 leaving the film abandoned. Finally, K Asif’s wife with the financial help from producer, K C Bokadia decided to revive the film. But before the shooting started, Sanjeev Kumar passed away in 1985. The film was released in incomplete form in 1986. ‘Chaalaak’ was started around 1961 with Raj Kapoor and Madhubala in the lead roles. The film was nearly 50% complete when Madhubala could not report for shooting due to her health issues. The film was delayed. The film got shelved after Madhubala passed away in 1969.
There are some other unforeseen reasons for films to get stalled. Muzaffar Ali’s ‘Zooni’, shooting of which had started in 1988, remained incomplete due to insurgency in Kashmir valley. Tinu Anand’s ‘Shinaakht’ which started shooting in 1988 with Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit in the lead roles, was shelved when the director found that the story of the film was almost similar to Manmohan Desai’s ‘Ganga Jamuna Saraswati’ (1988).
5. Films completed but remain unreleased: The reasons for completed films remaining unreleased range from CBFC objections, creative differences between the producer and director, financial/legal disputes, and distributors not showing intererst in releasing the films on commercial consideration. Gulzar’s ‘Libaas’ was completed in 1988. The film’s producer, Vikas Mohan wanted the director, Gulzar to change the film’s climax which he refused. Producer, therefore, decided not to release the film. It was, however, shown in the International Film Festivals. Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Paanch’ (2001) failed to get CBFC certification because of the depiction of excessive violence and use of fowl language. After some cuts, CBFC cleared the film, but it remained unreleased. Muzaffar Ali’s ‘Anjuman’ (1986) remained unreleased as he did not get any film distributor to release the film.
There was a crucial case of the film, ‘Aag Kaa Daryia’ (1991 UR) which was completed after a long delay. The film’s shooting started in 1984 with Dilip Kumar, Rekha, Padmini Kolhapure, Rajiv Kapoor and Amrish Puri. The film was progressing very well under the direction of S V Rajendra Singh Babu when the producer, Venkataraman passed away. It took time to arrange fresh finance for the film during which Rajendra Krishan, the film’s screenplay-dialogue-song writer passed away. The film was completed and got censor certificate in 1991. The film’s trailer was also released. However, at the last moment, one of the financiers/distributors raised the financial disputes which led to the film remaining unreleased. (Source: ‘The Scroll’, 11/12/2022).
In the recent years, due to corporatisation of the film production and distribution, some professionalism has come among the makers and distributors in Hindi film industry. Artists and crew members have become committed to a film with ‘start to finish’ schedules of shooting. With high budget being the order of the day, films are generally produced by a consortium of film production companies to minimise the financial risk. A film is normally completed in less than a year with a planned release date in advance in most of the films under production. With the corporate approach to making films, the number of shelved or incomplete films seems to have been reduced.
‘Behroopiya’ (UR) was one of the shelved films of the early 1960s. Some details of the film were mentioned in the credit titles of ‘Film Hi Film’ (1983) in which one song from ‘Behroopiya’ was used as a part of the story. As per the details, ‘Behroopiya’ was produced by Navinchandra Shah under the banner of Chandra Movie and was directed by Nandlal Jaswantlal. The film had Raj Kapoor and Vyjayantimala in the lead roles. Lyrics for the song was written by Shailendra and and the music director was Shankar-Jaikishan. The film was Chandulal Shah presentation and the year of production was stated to be 1964.
I have a doubt about the 1964 as the year of production of ‘Behroopiya’. Nandalal Jaswantlal passed away sometime in 1961 and Chandulal Shah took over as a director to complete the film, ‘Akeli Mat Jaiyo’ (1963). This suggests that ‘Behroopiya’ was shot sometime in 1960-61. Most probably, the film was left incomplete after the death of its director, Nandlal Jaswantlal and later shelved in the background of the box office failure of ‘Akeli Mat Jaiyo’ (1963). Well, ‘Behroopiya’ may have inspired Raj Kapoor to produce and direct ‘Mera Naam Joker’ (1971).
I am presenting the only song, ‘hans kar hasaa masti mein gaa’ from the shelved film, ‘Behroopiya’ (1961)UR) which was shot for the film. The song was rendered by Manna Dey on the words of Shailendra which was set to music by Shankar-Jaikishan. At 2:33 of the video clip, dancer, Edwina is seen with Raj Kapoor. The song was included as a part of ‘Film Hi Film’ (1983) and Universal Music released the audio clip of the song in 2013.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Hans kar hansaa masti mein gaa (Behroopiya)(UR)(1961) Singer-Manna Dey, Lyrics-Shailendra, MD-Shankar Jaikishan
Chorus
Lyrics:
O ho o
o ho o
haa aa aa aa
o ho ho o
hee hee hee hee hee hee
hee heeheehee hee hee hee hee
hahahahaha
hahahahahaha
aa ha ha hahahahaa
hans kar hansaa
masti mein gaa
hans kar hansa
masti mein gaa
kal hogaa kyaa
hogaa kyaa
bhool jaa
hans kar hansaa
masti mein gaa
kal hoga kyaa
hogaa kyaa
bhool jaa
hans kar hansaa
hahahahaha
hahahaha
jaadoo bhari
ik shaam hai
phir uske aage kuchh bhi nahin
iss dil mein bhi
laakhon hain gham
par tumse badh ke kuchh bhi nahin
duniyaa kaa dil
behlaaye jaa
kal hogaa kyaa
hogaa kyaa
bhool jaa
hans kar hansaa
masti mein gaa
kal hogaa kyaa
hogaa kyaa
bhool jaa
hans kar hansaa
apni hansi
apni khushi
tum pe nichchaawar karke chaley
chhoti si jaan
itni si lau
deep se phir bhi deep jaley
duniyaa ko tu
kuchh deke jaa
kal hogaa kyaa
hogaa kyaa
bhool jaa
hans kar hansaa
masti mein gaa
kal hogaa kyaa
hogaa kyaa
bhool jaa
hans kar hansaa
hahahaha
hahahaha
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 : |
5689 | Post No. : | 18206 |
“Chamkee”(1952) was produced by Maganlal G Desai and directed by JK Nanda for National Film Circuit, Bombay. The movie had Ragini, Shekhar, Roopmala, Ulhas, Murad, Mira Mishra, Cuckoo, Jeevan, Nana Palsikar, Mumtaz, Uma Dutt, Khairaati, Brij Saarah, Iqbal, Pannu etc. in it.
“Chamkee”(1952) had nine songs in it. Eight songs have been covered in the past.
Here are the details of the songs covered so far:-
| SNo in Blog | Song Title | Singer/s | Lyrics | Posted On | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8242 | Ye baat kitni sach hai | Lata Mangeshkar | Kavi Pradeep | 27 June 2013 | Post by Sudhir Jee |
| 8248 | Kaise zaalim se pad gaya paala re | Mukesh | Kavi Pradeep | 28 June 2013 | |
| 8958 | Bada mazedaar hota pyaar babu pehli nazar ka | Shamshad Begam | Kavi Pradeep | 8 November 2013 | Post by Sudhir Jee |
| 10789 | Pyaar ko mat kaho koi pyaar | Lata Mangeshkar | Kavi Pradeep | 30 January 2015 | Post by Sudhir Jee |
| 12978 | Main to jungle ki chanchal hiraniya | Geeta Dutt | Kavi Pradeep | 28 February 2017 | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh Jee |
| 13581 | Nahin maaloom ki piya jabse miley tum | Geeta Dutt | Kavi Pradeep | 13 September 2017 | Post by Arunkumar Deshmukh Jee |
| 14325 | O baaboo main tujhpe jawaani lutaane aayee | Lata | Kavi Pradeep | 4 May 2018 | |
| 17875 | Balam mera baankaa ho mere dil pe daal gaya daakaa | Shamshad Begam | Kavi Pradeep | 28 June 2023 |
It is observed that all the songs in the movie were solo songs. There was one male solo song sung by Mukesh. Remaining songs were female solo songs that were sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Shamshad Begam and Geeta Dutt.
Only audio of the songs are available. So it is difficult to guess how and on whom these songs were picturised.
Here is the ninth and final song from the movie. This song is sung by Shamshad Begam. Kavi Pradeep is the lyricist. Music is composed by Manna Dey.
Only audio of the songs of this movie, including this song are available. So it is difficult to guess how and on whom this song was picturised. From the sounds of it, this song could be a nautanki dance song picturised on Cuckoo or Roopmala. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the movie as well as on the picturisation of this song.
With this song, all the songs of “Chamkee”(1952) are covered in the blog. This movie thus joins the list of movies that have been YIPPEED in the blog.
Song-Mohe bichhua ke dank jaisa laage jawaanee mein akelaapan(Chamkee)(1952) Singer-Shamshad Begam, Lyrics-Kavi Pradeep, MD-Manna Dey
Lyrics
O o o o
o o o o
mohe bichhua ke dank jaisa laage
jawaanee mein akelaapan
mohe bichhua ke dank jaisa laage
jawaanee mein akelaapan
ye akelaapan
ye akelaapan
ye akelaapan
haaye mohe bichhua ke dank jaisa laage
jawaanee mein akelaapan
ho mohe bichhua ke dank jaisa laage
jawaanee mein akelaapan
dekhte hee dekhte
kyaa haalat meree huyee
jaise jaise badhhee umariyaa
chubhhne laagee sui
dekhte hee dekhte
kyaa haalat meree huyee
jaise jaise badhhee umariyaa
chubhhne laagee sui
uyi
Raam jee kaisee uljhan
haaye mohe bichhua
haay re mohe bichhua ke dank jaisa laage
jawaanee mein akelaapan
ho mohe bichhua ke dank jaisa laage
jawaanee mein akelaapan
ek din mere aur duniya ke beech mein
chalne waalee hai talwaar jee
ek din mere aur duniya ke beech mein
chalne waalee hai talwaar jee ee ee
jidhar jidhar main jaaun
udhar mere peechhe jawaanon ki qataar jee
saaraa zamaane meree oar aise taake
saaraa zamaane meree oar aise taake
jaise ho koi dushman
haaye mohe bichhua
haay re mohe bichhua ke dank jaisa laage
jawaanee mein akelaapan
ho mohe bichhua ke dank jaisa laage
jawaanee mein akelaapan
Watan ki khaatir mit jaayenge
Posted on: January 30, 2024
This article is written by Avinash Scrapwala, 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 : |
5674 | Post No. : | 18185 | Movie Count : |
4883 |
#the Decade of Seventies – 1971 – 1980 #
————————————————————————
(Martyr’s day 2024)
Today 30th January is the ‘martyr’s day’ where we pay our tributes to all the known and unknown martyrs of this great country. It is well known fact that during freedom struggle of India i.e. Bharat, many people fought against the British Empire and laid down their lives to see their fellow countrymen free. For years together we have grown-up reading stories of our freedom struggle and the great revolutionaries who sacrificed their lives on the way of their fight for freedom of this country.
Today 30th January’2024 is also the seventy-sixth death anniversary of the Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi. He was assassinated on this day in 1948. Gandhiji’s death anniversary is declared as ‘Sarvoday Diwas’ and ‘Shaheed Diwas’ which is observed at national level in India. The other prominent ‘martyr’s day’ is observed on 23rd March remembering the great revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Five more ‘martyr’s day’ are observed at regional and national level as detailed below:-
(Till this post I was not aware of the other days observed as ‘martyr’s day’ except 30th January and 23rd March. It is while reading about 30th January that I came across this information which I am sharing below. It is taken from Wikipedia and other sources on internet).
1) 19 May – In Assam to remember the fifteen people killed by state police on this day in 1961 at Silchar Railway Station, Assam.
2) 13 July – In Jammu & Kashmir remembering twenty-two people killed by royal soldiers on 13th July’1931 when they were demonstrating against Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir.
3) 21 October – as Police Martyr’s day observed nation-wide by Police departments in respect of members of Central Reserve Police Force patrol posted at Indo-Tibet border in Ladakh. The Chinese forces ambushed the police personnel in 1958 during the Border Dispute.
4) 17 November – Also the death anniversary of freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai is celebrated as Martyr’s day in Odisha in the honor of this great leader.
5) 19 Novemeber – The birthday of Rani Lakshami Bai the queen of Jhansi is celebrated as martyr’s day in the region remembering ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’ and other known unknown freedom fighters who rebelled against the British Rule in ‘1857’.
6) 24 November – the death anniversary of Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur Singh who was executed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb on 24th Novermber’1674.
7) 15 February – is celebrated in Bihar as ‘Shaheed Diwas’ remembering the thirty-four freedom fighters killed by British Police in Tarapur in 1932 when the martyrs were trying hoist flag of India.
8) 26 December is the latest addition to the above list which is celebrated as ‘Veer Bal Diwas’ which is observed to pay respects to the four sons of Guru Govind Singh who sacrificed their lives and were buried alive by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1704.
On today’s day we pay our respects and tributes to the all great revolutionaries and the many known and unknown peoples of this country who sacrificed their lives for this great country.
On this occasion I am presenting a song from an ‘Unreleased’ movie from the 1970s.
The title of this movie is ‘Watan Ki Khaatir’.
“Watan Ki Khaatir” was produced under the banner of ‘Mamta Cine International’. There is not information about the director and cast of this movie in HFGK. It only mentions the ‘banner’ and the names of the lyricist and music director for this movie.
The song-list for this movie includes only one song which is being presented here today. Manna Dey is the singer. HFGK also mentions the record label for this song i.e. GCIL-Odeon Label.
Let us listen to this in the voice of Manna Dey. Lyrics are by Shakeel Ahmed. This song is in two parts and only the audio of this song is available.
Audio (Part I)
Audio (Part II)
Song-Watan ki khaatir mit jaayenge (Watan Ki Khaatir)(UR)(1970) Singer-Manna Dey, Lyrics-Shakeel Ahmad, MD-Kartik Kumar-Basant Kumar
Chorus
Lyrics
————————
(Part-1)
————————
Shaheedon ke mazaaron par
Ham mil ke phool chadhhaayen
watan pe mitnewaalon ko o
ham mil ke sheesh jhukaayen
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
par dushman ke aage
ham naa sar ko jhukaayenge ae ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
yaaron se yaari ee
dushman ke dushman
taaqat to bahot hai ae
par aman pujaari ee
gar waqt pade to o
ham khoon bhi denge
dushman pe rahenge
har tarah se bhaari ee
apne hiteshi ee
o o o o
apne hiteshi
desh ki khaatir
jaan lutaa denge ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
hindu muslim hon o
ya sikh isaayee ee
madrasi bangali
ya rajasthani ee
nahin bhed bhaav hai
koyi dil mein hamaare
ham sabse pehle
hain hindustaani ee
ham sab mein hai
o o o o
ham sab mein hain
paar ka naataa aa
isey nibhaayenge
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
—————————–
(Part-2)
—————————–
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
jhaansi ki raani ee
aur veer shivaji ee
hain aaj bhi zindaa aa
un sab ki kahaani ee
naa bhool sake hain
aazaad bhagat ko o
hai yaad sabhi ko o
un ki qurbaani ee
netaaji ki ee ee
o o o o
netaaji ki
amar kahaani
bhool naa paayenge ae ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
jai bharat maata aa
rahe amar ye naaraa
ye desh hai Nehru u u
baapu ka pyaaraa
aazaad rahe hain
aazaad rahenge ae
rahe sar ye oonchaa aa
jaise ye himaalaa aa
jai jawaan
jai jawaan
jai kisaan
jai kisaan
jai jawaan
jai jai kisaan
sab mil kar gaayenge ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
par dushman ke aage
ham naa
sar ko jhukaayenge ae ae
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
ho o o o o
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
ho o o o o
watan ki khaatir
mit jaayenge ae
o o o o
Jai Bhaarti vande Bhaarti
Posted on: December 18, 2023
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 : |
5631 | Post No. : | 18120 |
Today’s song is from an inspirational religious film Jagadguru Shankaracharya-1955.
In Mahabharat, there is a dialogue between Lord Shri Krishna and Arjun. The legend says that when Kauravas and Pandavas stood opposite each others for a war on Kurukshetra, Dhritrashtra,the blind father of Kauravas asked Sanjay- who had the divine power of seeing the war at Kurukshetra- to describe him the war happennings. Sanjay starts and in the course of his reporting, the entire Geeta too is narrated.
Without going into the details further, enough to stress that Lord Shrikrishna explains to Arjuna that, whenever there is a decline of Dharma and righteousness, He takes birth from age to age (sambhavami yuge yuge), to protect the virtuous, destroy evil-doers and to reestablish Dharma and righteousness.
This is described in the IV chapter, stanzas 7 and 8 in Bhagvadgeeta thus-
“Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya
Glanirva Bhavathi Bharatha,
Abhyuthanam Adharmaysya
Tadatmanam Srijami Aham”.
Bhagavad Gita (Chapter IV-7)
“Whenever there is decay
of righteousness O! Bharatha
And a rise of unrighteousness
then I manifest Myself!”
“Praritranaya Sadhunam
Vinashaya Cha Dushkritam
Dharamasansthapnaya
Sambhavami Yuge-Yuge.”
Bhagavat Gita (Chapter IV-8)
“For the protection of the good,
for the destruction of the wicked and
for the establishment of righteousness,
I am born in every age.”
In the film Prabhu Ki Maaya-1955, Hemant Kumar has sung a song which is almost a transalation of above shlokas – ” Jab jab hota nash dharam ka aur paap badh jaata hai, tab lete avtar prabhu, yeh Vishva shanti paata hai “.
From time to time, India has faced such situations, when, inspite of being in majority, Hindus suffered from attacks on their country and distruction of their Mandirs etc. Luckily at all those times Saints and Holy men emerged and saved the Hindus.
Similarly the birth of Jagadguru Shankaracharya took place when this need arose to save and reestablish Hindu dharma. It was almost like a case of Renaissance of our religion.
The period of 1300 to 1600 AD, a time frame of 300 years or thereabouts, was when most saints were active in India. This was the period when several outside rulers invaded India and established their rules. This was the time when the culture and religion of India had to be saved from annihilation. The saints of India played an important role in this and maintained Unity and Oneness of Indian culture from getting destroyed. But for them, there was a danger of the whole nation getting converted to Islam or Christianity. India will forever be grateful to the saints for this .
Tha Bhakti Movement was India’s own way to combat foreign attackers, cruel rulers and the sleeping people of India. It started from the South first. The movement from 1300 to 1600 AD produced many religious Saints and social reformers from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and from Assam to Gujarat. The Indian culture is such that that the advise given by a religious saint is more acceptable than that given by a social reformer. Thus, in this hour of need, India’s Saints tried to teach message of reforms such as removal of Untouchability, freedom from Varnashram life styles, importance of education, Women’s emancipation and other such matters, through their poems, dohas, Abhangs and writings as well as keertans. They tried to make the masses wake up against the ill effects of social practices that were being observed those days.
Saints appeared in ALL areas of India, during this period. However, due to language problems, knowledge and information about Saints in other regions trickled down very slowly. States which shared the use of Devanagari script were aware about them in a better way. Thus, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and the Northern Hindi belt states exchanged their knowledge about their saints more frequently than other regions such as Bengal, the Eastern states or the southern states where the scripts were different. Andhra and Karnataka were closer as their scripts are similar, except perhaps the alphabet ‘K’. Tamil and Malayalam scripts have Dravidian origins and were not easily accessible for the rest of India
The period of 1300 to 1600 AD, a time frame of 300 years or thereabouts, was when most saints were active in India. This was the period when several outside rulers invaded India and established their rules. This was the time when the culture and religion of India had to be saved from annihilation. The saints of India played an important role in this and maintained Unity and Oneness of Indian culture from getting destroyed. But for them, there was a danger of the whole nation getting converted to Islam or Christianity. India will forever be grateful to the saints for this .
Some of the saints have done monumental literary works for the masses, bringing what was available only in Sanskrit, to the doorsteps of the common people. Out of the many saints and reformers of Maharashtra, few stand out for their additional contribution towards literary works. For example, Gyaneshwar wrote ‘Gyaneshwari'(translation of Geeta into Marathi), Tukaram wrote Abhangs, Namdeo contributed to Punjabi language, Sikh culture and Guru Granth Sahib, Ramdas wrote ‘Dasbodh’ to teach people how to balance between Bhakti and Bhog(family life), and Tulsidas translated Sanskrit Ramayana into Avadhi language which is called Ramcharitamanas. Then there were Kabir, Rahim and many others too.
Indian spiritual Gurus set themselves as Role models for the masses. Whether it was Ramkrishna Paramhansa or Shankaracharya all of them have guided their followers to achieve peace of mind through spirituality. Religion is a way of life in India and most Gurus taught their followers how to follow the right path even while looking after their families.
In such conditions was born the Greatest of the advocates of Vedic Dharma and Advaitism- Adi Shankaracharya. It was as if God had deputed one of his assistants to set things right in India. The existence of Vedic Dharma in India today is due to Shankara. The forces opposed to Vaidik religion were numerous and powerful in those days than today. Still, single handedly, and within a short life span of just 32 years, Shankara overpowered them all and restored the Vedic Dharma and Advait vedant to its pristine Glory and purity.
The weapons he used was only Knowledge and spirituality. The previous Avatars like Rama and Krishna used physical force as opposition to vedic Dharma in those days was by physical obstruction and molestations by Asuras.
In Kaliyug, the obstacles are more Internal than External, more Mental than Physical. The seeds of Adharma were in minds, so a weapon of Knowledge and self purification was necessary. For this purpose Sankara took birth in Brahmin varna and entered Sanyasashram early in life. Previous Avatars like Rama and Krishna were Kshatriyas, as they had to wield military weapons to restore Dharma.
Shankara was born in Kaladi in present day central Kerala, the ancient Tamil kingdom of the Cheras. According to lore, it was after his parents, who had been childless for many years, prayed at the Vadakkunnathan temple, Thrissur, that Shiva appeared to both husband and wife in their dreams, and offered them a choice: a mediocre son who would live a long life, or an extraordinary son who would not live long. Both the parents chose the latter; thus a son was born to them. He was named Shankara (Sanskrit, “bestower of happiness”), in honour of Shiva (one of whose epithets is Shankara). His father died while Shankara was very young. Shankara’s upanayanam., the initiation into student-life, had to be delayed due to the death of his father, and was then performed by his mother. As a child, Shankara showed remarkable scholarship, mastering the four Vedas by the age of eight.
At the age of 8, Shankara was inclined towards sannyasa, but it was only after much persuasion that his mother finally gave her consent.Shankara then left Kerala and travelled towards North India in search of a guru. On the banks of the Narmada River, he met Govinda Bhagavatpada the disciple of Gaudapada at Omkareshwar. When Govinda Bhagavatpada asked Shankara’s identity, he replied with an extempore verse that brought out the Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Govinda Bhagavatapada was impressed and took Shankara as his disciple.
The guru instructed Shankara to write a commentary on the Brahma Sutras and propagate the Advaita philosophy. Shankara travelled to Kashi, where a young man named Sanandana, hailing from Chola territory in South India, became his first disciple. According to legend, while on his way to the Vishwanath Temple, an untouchable accompanied by four dogs came in the way of Sankara. When asked to move aside by Shankara’s disciples, the untouchable replied: “Do you wish that I could move my everlasting Atman (“the Self”), or this body made of flesh?” Realizing that the untouchable was none other than god Shiva himself, and his dogs the four Vedas, Shankara prostrated himself before him, composing five shlokas known as Manisha Panchakam.
At Badri he wrote his famous Bhashyas (“commentaries”) and Prakarana granthas (“philosophical treatises”). Adi Shankara then travelled with his disciples to Maharashtra and Srisailam. In Srisailam, he composed Shivanandalahari, a devotional hymn in praise of Shiva. The Madhaviya Shankaravijayam says that when Shankara was about to be sacrificed by a Kapalika, the god Narasimha appeared to save Shankara in response to Padmapadacharya’s prayer to him. As a result, Adi Shankara composed the Lakshmi-Narasimha stotra..
He then travelled to Gokarna, the temple of Hari-Shankara and the Mookambika temple at Kollur. At Kollur, he accepted as his disciple a boy believed to be dumb by his parents. He gave him the name, Hastamalakacarya (“one with the amalaka fruit on his palm”, i.e., one who has clearly realised the Self). Next, he visited Sringeri to establish the Sarada Pitham and made Suresvara Karya his disciple.
After this, Adi Shankara began a Dig-vijaya “tour of conquest” for the propagation of the Advaita philosophy by controverting all philosophies opposed to it. He travelled throughout India, from South India to Kashmir and Nepal, preaching to the local populace and debating philosophy with Hindu, Buddhist and other scholars and monks along the way.
With the Malayali King Sudhanva as companion, Shankara passed through Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Vidarbha. He then started towardsKarnataka where he encountered a band of armed Kapalikas. King Sudhanva, with his Nairs, resisted and defeated the Kapalikas. They safely reachedGokarna where Shankara defeated in debate the Shaiva scholar, Neelakanta.
Proceeding to Saurashtra (the ancient Kambhoja) and having visited the shrines of Girnar, Somnath and Prabhasa and explaining the superiority of Vedanta in all these places, he arrived at Dwarka. Bhaskara of Ujjayini, the proponent of Bhed-abheda philosophy, was humbled. All the scholars of Ujjayini (also known as Avanti) accepted Adi Shankara’s philosophy.
He then defeated the Jainas in philosophical debates at a place called Bahlika. Thereafter, the Acharya established his victory over several philosophers and ascetics in Kamboja (region of North Kashmir), Darada and many regions situated in the desert and crossing mighty peaks, entered Kashmir. Later, he had an encounter with a tantrik, Navagupta at Kamarupa.
Adi Shankara visited Sarvajñapitha (Sharada Peeth) in Kashmir (now in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). The Madhaviya Shankaravijayam states this temple had four doors for scholars from the four cardinal directions. The southern door (representing South India) had never been opened, indicating that no scholar from South India had entered the Sarvajna Pitha. Adi Shankara opened the southern door by defeating in debate all the scholars there in all the various scholastic disciplines such as Mimamsa, Vedanta and other branches of Hindu philosophy; he ascended the throne of Transcendent wisdom of that temple.
Towards the end of his life, Adi Shankara travelled to the Himalayan area of Kedarnath- Badrinath and attained videha mukti (“freedom from embodiment”). There is a samadhi mandir dedicated to Adi Shankara behind the Kedarnath temple. However, there are variant traditions on the location of his last days. One tradition, expounded by Keraliya Shankaravijaya, places his place of mahasamadhi (leaving the body) as Vadakkunnathan temple in Thrissur, Kerala. The followers of the Kanchi kamakoti pitha claim that he attained videha mukti in Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu). (Bio adapted from wiki, goverdhanpeeth.org, sanatandharma.com and my notes with thanks).
Film JAGADGURU SHANKARACHARYA-1955 was a Celestial pictures, Bombay presentation, directed by S.Fatelal (of Prabhat film fame). The music was by Avinash Vyas with assistant Sanmukh babu Upadhyaya. There were 9 melodious songs by Rafi, Manna Dey, Hemant kumar, Geeta Dutt, Asha and Lata. The cast was Abhi Bhattacharya, Sulochana Chatterjee, Ramesh Sinha, Baby Nanda etc. The story was-
Shankara was born in a Brahmin family in the village of Kalti in Malabar. Before he was eight, Shankara completed the study of the Vedas and the Shastras! After leaving the Gurukul, Shankara found that all around him was spread the heresy and hypocrisy in the grab of religion! Shankara vowed to destroy the heresy and hypocrisy and to receive the ancient vedic religion. These revolutionary ideas of Shankara frighten his mother Sati, and to bring him to his senses, she decided to get him married. For the wedding he started to go across the Purna river with her son. What Divine intervention, what miracles forced the mother to give her unwilling permission to her son to become a Sanyasin, you will see on the screen! She wept and she sobbed, but Shankara was firm and the delicate child of eight left his mother for the good of Humanity.
Facing innumerable dangers of the way he reached Narmada followed by an immense flood treating to wash away even the Ashram of the Guru Govindpada. Shankara prays to mother Narmada, and the flood goes down, Guru Govindpada then ordains him a sanyasin, teaches the 8 sidhis and sends him out! Watch the miracle shankara performs in the religious Conference in Benares, and proved Gods existence.
For years he stayed in the Vyas-Gupha at Badri Narayan and wrote those wonderful books which have made him one of the foremost philosophers of the world! An additional 16 years lease of life is given to him for revival and propagation of religion. Follows the historical debate with Mandan misra who is vanquished by Shankara. But his wife Bharti heckles Shankara about Kamashastra, and Shankara has to ask for time in which he enters a king’s dead body, and makes Mandan his Shishya. Going home he meets his dying mother, whose funeral rites are denied to him by the village folk. Again his prayers force the Sun-God to set fire to the funeral pyre, and people realising the divinity of Shankara fall at his feet. The task and triumphal March (Digvijaya) is over, and Shankara desiring to leave the world is lead to the Sinhdwara of the Sharda Mandir in Kashmir! The film ends with Shankara’s samadhi scene.
Adi Shankaracharya has done colossal work for the Hindu Dharma. he established 4 Mathas (Monasteries) at 4 directions of India as following
1.North- Jyortimatha or Joshimatha or Badrikashram in Uttarakhand
2.East- Jagannath Puri,Orissa
3.South- Shringeri Sharada Peeth in Karnataka and
4.West- Dwaraka,in Gujarat.
The heads of these Mathas are called Shankaracharya and are highly revered by Hindus. They are all highly educated persons in modern and Ancient literatures. The South and the West have a continuous lineage from Adi Shankaracharya.
Today’s song is sung by Manna Dey and chorus. Enjoy….
Song-Jay Bhaarati Vande Bhaarati (Jagadguru Shankaracharya)(1955) Singer- Manna Dey, Lyricist- Bharat Vyas, MD- Avinash Vyas
chorus
Lyrics
jai bhaarti ee ee
vande ae bhaaarti ee
sar pe himalay ka chhatr hai
charnon mein nadiyaan ekatr hain
haathon mein vedon ke patr hain aen
desh nahin aisa anyatr hai
jai bhaarti ee ee
vande ae bhaarti ee
dhuyen se paawan ye vyom hai ae
ghar ghar mein hota jahaan hom hai
pulkit humaare rom rom hain
pulkit humaare rom rom hain
ae ae ae
aadi anaadi shabd om hai
(jai bhaarti vande bhaarti )
jai bharati vande bharati
(jai bhaarti vande bhaarti )
vandemaatram
(jai bhaarti vande bhaarti )
vandemaatram
is bhoomi pe janm liya raam ne
geeta sunayi jahaan shyaam ne
ho geeta sunaayi jahaan shyaam ne
paawan banaaya chaaron dhaam ne ae ae ae ae ae ae
paawan banaaya chaaron dhaam ne
swarg bhi lajaaye jiske saamne
vandemaatram
vandemaatram
sar pe himaalay ka chhatr hai
charnon mein nadiyaan ekatr hain
haathon mein vedon ke patr hai ae ae ae
desh nahin aisa anyatr hai
jai bharati vande bharati
jai bharati vande bharati
jai bharati vande bharati
jai bharati vande bharati
(vandematram vandematram vandematram vandematram
vandematram vandematram vandematram vandematram)
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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