Posts Tagged ‘Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar’
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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Today’s song is a bhajan from an obscure film ‘Mali’ (1944), which makes its Debut here.
The film is about a Marathi Sant SAVTA MALI, who is not known much outside Maharashtra. He was one of the saints during the Bhakti Movement in India. The film was made by Rajkamal Chitra, as a bilingual film. In Marathi it was titled ‘Bhakticha Mala’ (‘भक्तीचा मळा’) and in Hindi it was ‘Mali’ (‘माली’). It was directed by V Shantaram.
India is a multi racial, multilingual and multi religions country. It is not only one of the largest democracies in the world, but also the largest secular state in the world, where people from different faiths have been living together since centuries.
Many saints and religious leaders have played a significant role in keeping the mixed population of India as one unit, when it was needed the most. A majority of Hindus, ruled by Muslim Mughals was a natural cause for social divisions, but Saints like Kabir, Surdas, Tulsidas, Ramdas, Tukaram, Ramanand, Narsi Mehta, Purandar das,Namdev, Guru Nanak Dev, Eknath, Bhakta Pundalika, Rohidas, Mrutyunjaya and many such noble souls, did an excellent job of maintaining harmony amongst peoples of different faiths.
Maharashtra has been known to be a well developed modern state, boasting of an education center (Pune) as well as a commercial hub center (Mumbai). It is also a lucky state because it had many saints and social reformers from every strata of society.
While Ramdas and Gyaneshwar were Bramhins, other saints belonging to the different castes were Tukaram (Bania), Namdev (Tailor), Savta Mali (Gardener), Narhari (Goldsmith), Gora Kumbhar (Potter), Sant Sena (Barber), Rohidas (Cobbler), Chokha Mela (Maali), and Harijan and Mahar community saints like Janabai, Kanhopatra, Sakhubai, Soyerabai, etc. (Lists are only indicative, not exhaustive).
These saints contributed immensely to the efforts of reforming the polluted social structures in Maharashtra and taking the state ahead of others on development in women’s education, literacy, education, communal harmony etc.
While a saint like Ramdas Swami (Guru of Shivaji Maharaj) taught common people how to live life wisely and yet cultivate Bhakti Marg, some saints like Gyaneshwar brought in the teachings of important religious books like Bhagwad Geeta from Sanskrit to Marathi, all the other saints from different classes of society used their own day to day languages to praise the God and the common masses identified themselves with these works.
The Bhakti Movement 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.
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), Tukaram wrote Abhangs, Namdeo contributed to Punjabi language, Sikh culture and Guru Granth Sahib, and Ramdas wrote ‘Dasbodh’ to teach people how to balance between bhakti and bhog (family life).
Most saints had very short life spans (Sant Gyaneshwar died when he was just 21), as if they came here only to achieve something and disappear. Their works, however, remained as their marks and contribution to society.
The Bhakti Movement was India’s own way to combat foreign attackers, cruel rulers and the sleeping people of India. The movement from 1300 to 1600 AD produced many religious Saints and social reformers from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and from Assam to Gujarat. Indian culture is such that the advice 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 lifestyles, importance of education, women’s emancipation and other such matters,through their poems, dohas, Abhangs and writings as well as kirtans. 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.
Truly speaking, Great Souls do not belong to any specific area, state, region or a language. They belong to India and their language is Love for God and compassion for the downtrodden. Without exception, the Saints never limited their teachings only to religious matters but they also advocated social reforms. Indian sentiments accept more easily, anything given through religion. This, precisely, was what the selfish upper caste priestly classes had done earlier – to subjugate the unsuspecting masses, by falsely pushing their private agendas, in the garb of religious scriptural tenets.
Understanding this, the Saints tried to bring the Holy books and the religious tenets into vernacular languages,to make the masses realize what the Truth was. They also propagated the reformative information from the Holy books through their Kirtans, Akhyans, Dohas, Abhanga, Owees and Chaupais.
One such great Soul was Saint Savta Mali – an ordinary gardener.
Savata Mali was a 12th-century Hindu saint. He was a contemporary of Namdev, and a devotee of Vithoba.
For financial reasons, his grandfather, Devu Mali, moved to the Arangaon/Aran-behndi, which is near the Modnimb, Solapur district. Devu Mali had two sons, namely, Parasu (Savata’s father) and Dongre. Parasu married Nangitabai; they lived in poverty, but remained devoted Bhagwat followers. Dongre died at a young age. In 1250, Parasu and Nangitabai had a son, whom they named Savata Mali.
Having grown up in a religious family, Savata married a very religious and devoted Hindu girl from a nearby village, named Janabai. While working in his fields in the village of Aran, Savata Mali used to sing about the glory of Vithoba. He angered his wife once when he ignored his visiting in-laws because he was so busy in his bhakti, but Janabai’s anger was swiftly cooled down because of Savata’s kind and peaceful words.
He had 2 children – a son and a daughter. Like other saints, who were from different professions, Savta also used words and phrases from his gardening profession in his Abhangs. The meaning of ‘Sav’ is honest, good character. Savata means one who has these qualities. While following his profession of growing vegetables, he also made Abhangs and thus combined these two things. Savta Mali lived for only 45 years and died on 12-7-1295. He believed that Duty and Karma is the true Bhakti of Vithal.
He was very poor and could never visit Pandharpur to meet his God Vithal. But he is so revered in Maharashtra as a great saint that Pandharpur’s Vithal idol is brought to his samadhi once in an year to meet him ! Sadly, only 37 of his Abhangs survived for us. A temple dedicated to him exists in Aran.
The film’s Music Director was Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar. There were 11 songs in the film and the lyricists were Dewan Sharar, Bekal, Palshikar, Mahipal (yes, the same one who became famous later as an actor) and Ratan Piya. The cast of the film was Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar, Baby Nalini, Amirbai Karnataki, Raja Pandit, Nana Palshikar, Mahipal, Vidya Devi etc. This was the only film in which Phulambrikar ever acted.
Krishnaji Ganesh Phulambrikar (1898–1974), popularly known as Master Krishnarao, was a musical genius – an Indian vocalist, classical musician and composer of Hindustani music. He is credited with the creation of three Hindustani ragas and several bandishes. Phulambrikar was a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.
Krishnarao Phulambrikar was born on 20-1- 1898 at Devachi Alandi, a town in the periphery of Pune, in Maharashtra to the Deshastha Brahmin couple Ganesh Phulambrikar (who was Vedmurti) and Mathura Bai. He also ventured into Marathi theater as a child artist by performing as an actor-singer in Sant Sakhu, a musical drama produced by Natyakalapravartak Mandali. He acted in other musical dramas produced by this drama company. And at this drama company, he first got a chance to learn Indian classical music from Sawai Gandharva who used to act in the musical dramas of this company. Later, he approached the renowned singer, Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale in 1911 who trained the young boy in Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur gharanas of Hindustani music and their Guru-Shishya relationship lasted till Bakhale’s death in 1922. The tutelage under Bakhale also gave him the opportunity to meet and get associated with Bal Gandharva, who would later go on to become a noted Marathi singer. His first solo concert was when he was 13 years of age (he was awarded the title of Sangeet Kalanidhi in 1930 by Jagadguru Shankaracharya Dr. Kurtkoti), which preceded several concerts in India and abroad, including a trip to China as a Government of India delegate in 1953.
Phulambrikar served as the director of Pune Bharat Gayan Samaj, a music academy founded by his mentor Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale in Pune. Besides his career as a classical vocalist and as a film music composer, he scored music for several plays which included ‘Menaka’, ‘Savitri’, ‘Asha-Nirasha’, ‘Amritasidhhi’, ‘Kanhopatra’, ‘Nand Kumar’ and ‘Vidhi Likhit’ for Gandharva Sangeet Natak Mandali, a drama company founded by Bal Gandharva, during the period 1915–1933 and acted in a few of them. Later, he also composed music for a few plays such as ‘Kulavadhu’, ‘Ek Hota Mhatara’, ‘Kone Eke Kali’ and ‘Bhagyoday’ for Natyaniketan where the lead singer and actress was Jyotsna Bhole. On the academic front, he compiled the compositions taught to him by Bakhale as well as his own compositions and published them as a 7-volume book – ‘Raag Samgraha’. Besides his notations are available in print under the titles, ‘Rashtra Sangeet’, ‘Shishu Sangeet’, ‘Amar Sangeet’, ‘Mohan Maal’, ‘Natya Geet Notations’ and ‘Chitra Geet Notations’. He also tutored several musicians, film and drama artists. Ram Marathe, Yogini Joglekar, Saraswati Rane, Haribhau Deshpande, Anjanibai Kalgutkar, Madhusudan Kanetkar, Jaymala Shiledar, Dr. Pabalkar, Bapurao Ashtekar, Dattopant Bhope, Pitre Buwa, Suhas Datar, Sudhakar Joshi, Ravindra Joshi, Mohan Karve, Rangnath Karkare, Shivram Gadgil, Balwant Dixit and his daughter, Veena Chitko are some of his notable disciples.
Soon after he received the Sangeet Kalanidhi title from Dr. Kurtkoti, the Shankaracharya of Karvir Peeth, he was contracted by Prabhat Film Company owned by V Shantaram and other partners, to compose music for its forthcoming film, ‘Dharmatma’, where he was reunited with his old associate, Bal Gandharva, who played the role of Sant Eknath, the protagonist of the movie. The film which was released in 1935 had sixteen songs, many of them sung by Bal Gandharva. A year later, his next Hindi film was released under the name, ‘Amar Jyoti’, again a Prabhat Film Company production. The film was reported to have been critically acclaimed and was the first Indian film to be screened at the Venice Film Festival. ‘Wahan’, another Prabhat production released in 1937, this time with a new director, K Narayan Kale, was his next film, followed by the musical ‘Gopal Krishna’ in 1938 directed by Damle and S Fattelal. He composed music for 15 films ( Hindi and Marathi) which included ‘Padosi’, another Shantaram film and the film featured a ten-minute song, “Lakh Lakh Chanderi”, reportedly with complex choreography. He played the lead role of Sant Savata Mali in the movie ‘Bhakticha Mala’ released by Rajkamal Kalamandir. He composed the music for this movie and also sang his own songs in this movie. Many aspiring composers of that period – Vasant Desai, C Ramchandra, Sudhir Phadke, Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, Snehal Bhatkar, Dinkarrao Amembal (alias D Amel) and Gajananrao Watve got inspired by his school of musical thought.
In the Hindi film arena, he gave music to 10 Hindi films (‘Dharmatma’ (1935), ‘Amar jyoti’ (1936), ‘Wahan’ (1937), ‘Gopal krishna’ (1938), ‘Aadmi’ (1939), ‘Padosi’ (1941), ‘Vasantsena’ (1942), ‘Mali’ (1944), ‘Lakharani’ (1945) and ‘Keechak Vadh’ (1959). In these 10 films he composed 104 Hindi songs. He sang 11 songs in 3 Hindi films – ‘Mali’ (1944), ‘Meri Amanat’ (1947) and ‘Pooja’ (1954). He acted as the main lead in Hindi film ‘Mali’.
Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar received the Vishnudas Bhave Gold Medal of the Government of Maharashtra in 1969 and the Government of India awarded him the civilian honor of the Padma Bhushan in 1971. He was the first recipient of the Balgandharva Gold Medal. The Sangeet Natak Akademi honored him with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Puraskar in 1972. In 1961, he suffered a facial paralysis which forced him to abandon his career as a singer in 1969. On his 60th birth anniversary, a 9-day long music conference was staged in Pune in which many notable musicians from all over India took part. He did not survive much longer and the death came on 20 October 1974, when he was 76 years of age. The story of his life has been documented in his biography, ‘Bola Amrit Bola’ (‘बोला अमृत बोला’) which was published posthumously in 1985. Every two years an award in his memory is presented to a music critic or author of a music book by Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, Pune. Since his family originated from Phulambri in Marathwada, a drama theatre has been named ‘Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar Natyagruha’ in Jalna, Marathwada in his honor. Every year Pune Bharat Gayan Samaj celebrates his birth anniversary and death anniversary. His daughter, Veena Chitko, who died in September 2015, was a notable light classical musician.
There was another Master Krishnarao Chonkar, actor and singer, who worked almost the same time in Marathi and Hindi dramas and films. Sometimes there is a ‘Same Name Confusion’ as both were mentioned as Master Krishnarao. Of course the contribution of Phulambrikar was much more successful. ( Based on wiki, Marathi book ‘पूर्वसुरींचे सूर’ by Dr. Suresh Chandvankar and my notes).
This rare song was kindly provided to me and uploaded by Syed Zafar Shah, on my request. Thanks to Zafar ji.
Song- Chinta nahin humko chinta nahin hai (Maali)(1944) Singer- Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar, Lyricist- Dewan Sharar, MD- Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar
Lyrics
nahin hai jo ghar mein sahi
humko kya hai
prem hone se bhi ho
kuchh kamee
humko kya hai
chinta nahin hamko
chinta nahin hai
ae ae ae prabhu jinke hain
unko chinta nahin hai
jo gar tharti chhat aaspaas(?) bujhe deepak
jo gar tharti chhat aaspaas(?) bujhe deepak
o o o aane do kaali ghataaon ko beshaq
o o o aane do kaali ghataaon ko beshaq
chinta nahin hamko
chinta nahin hai
ae ae ae prabhu jinke hain
unko chinta nahin hai
nahin hai jo ghar mein sahi
hum ko kya hai
prem hone se bhi ho
kuchh kamee
humko kya hai
chinta nahin hum ko
chinta nahin hai
ae ae ae prabhu jinke hain
unko chinta nahin hai
bhari prem dhaara ki
nadiya ho apni
phalee phoolee bhakti ki
bagiya ho apni
o o o dukh laakhon ho
koi ginta nahin hai
o o o dukh laakhon ho
koi ginta nahin hai
chinta nahin hum ko
chinta nahin hai
ae ae ae prabhu jinke hain
unko chinta nahin hai
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
————————————————
नहीं है जो घर में सही
हमको क्या है
प्रेम होने से भी हो कुछ कमी
हमको क्या है
चिन्ता नहीं हमको चिन्ता नहीं है
ए ए प्रभु जिनके हैं
उनको चिन्ता नहीं है
जो गर थर्रती छत आसपास(?) बुझे दीपक
जो गर थर्रती छत आसपास(?) बुझे दीपक
ओ ओ आने दो काली घटाओं को बेशक़
ओ ओ आने दो काली घटाओं को बेशक़
चिन्ता नहीं हमको चिन्ता नहीं है
ए ए प्रभु जिनके हैं
उनको चिन्ता नहीं है
नहीं है जो घर में सही
हमको क्या है
प्रेम होने से भी हो कुछ कमी
हमको क्या है
चिन्ता नहीं हमको चिन्ता नहीं है
ए ए प्रभु जिनके हैं
उनको चिन्ता नहीं है
भरी प्रेम धारा की नदिया हो अपनी
फले फूले भक्ति की बगिया हो अपनी
ओ ओ दुख लाखों हों कोई गिनता नहीं है
ओ ओ दुख लाखों हों कोई गिनता नहीं है
चिन्ता नहीं हमको चिन्ता नहीं है
ए ए प्रभु जिनके हैं
उनको चिन्ता नहीं है
Kudrat ki ye badaai bhai
Posted on: February 10, 2014
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.
Very little is known today about “Meri Amaanat” (1947). This movie was was directed by S Sutar and P Gupte for Vikas Productions. The movie had Nandrekar and Meenakshi in it.
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