Posts Tagged ‘Shanta Hublikar’
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Today’s song is from the film Mera Ladka-1938. This was a film made by Prabhat Film Company, which was one of the most popular banners in India those days. Prabhat was the company which made the First Talkie ” अयोध्येचा राजा ” in Marathi (Ayodhya ka Raja in Hindi) in 1932. During the period of 1932 to 1944, Prabhat gave excellent films having reformative and educational content for the society of those days, combined with entertainment. Their peak came when films like Sant Tukaramin Marathi-1936 Duniya na maane-1937 and Aadmi-1939 became milestones in Indian film history. The person who took Prabhat to its peak was V. Shantaram, as a Director.
Shantaram was like a Jauhari (Jeweller) who identified the true value of people. His selection of actors for specific roles was nothing but amazing. Durga Khote, Pagnis, Shanta Apte, Shahu Modak, Shanta Hublikar, Vasant desai etc were his selections.
Whatever one may say, but it is a fact that Prabhat lost its sheen, lustre, name and fame after Shantaram’s exit from it. Envy of the partners and a faulty, unjust rule of the company (No Partner of the company should get involved in any actress. Should this happen, he has to leave the company) forced him to quit prabhat. Shantaram became its victim when he fell for actress Jayashree. Earlier , Keshavrao Dhaiber had to leave Prabhat when he married company’s Heroine Nalini Tarkhud. Surprisingly S. Fattelal-another partner cum Director survived from this rule, though he had married Prabhat’s silent film heroine Kamala Devi alias Gulabbai ( one seen with Tutari in Prabhat’s famous Logo). This was because the controversial rule came into being only after his marriage with Gulab bai !
Shantaram had selected Shanta Hublikar for the lead role, opposite Shahu Modak in the bilingual Mera Ladka i.e. माझा मुलगा in Marathi. her performance impressed Shantaram so much that she and Shahu Modak were selected for his next epoch making film Aadmi-1939 (माणूस in Marathi).
The Film Industry had artistes of all types, religions, regions and from different backgrounds. In the early era, most artistes were uneducated. This state remained so till the 4o’s, after which most artistes joining the film industry were educated and from good families. In those early years, there was no investment awareness, investment opportunities or avenues and the artistes led an uninhabited life – living for the moment. This finally led to many old time artisted dying in penury, poverty and with health issues with no one to look after them.
Most of us know about the sad ends of artistes like Parshuram, Vatsala Kumthekar, Rattanbai, Wasti, Sadiq Ali, Master Nissar, Master Shiraz, Meena Shorey and many others. Some of them had to beg on the road and their last rites had to be done by charity collections.
There were four educated lead actresses in the industry at almost the same times. Their careers spanned from the 30’s to the 70’s. They were Durga Khote, leela Chitnis, Shanta Apte and Shanta Hublikar. Shanta Apte and Shanta Hublikar stopped their work by the 50’s, while Durga Khote and Leela Chitnis continued till the 70’s. Let us see how they ended their lives.
Durga Khote remained the luckiest. She had money and recognition till the end but no one to look after her. She lost her sons prematurely and her daughter in law did a second marriage with a Parsee actor. She died a lonely death.
Leela Chitnis married many times, including a Muslim person, in search of happiness, but she never got it. In her last days, she went to USA to live with her sons, but they put her in an old age home. She lost health, suffered memory loss, Alzheimer and finally died all alone in the old age home. No one came even after her death. Only money was sent for cremation.
Shanta Apte remained without marriage till end but had a Live-In relationship with Bombay’s leading Gynaecologist Dr. Shirodkar for many years. She did have a daughter, without marriage and through a reported incestuous relationship-a forced one- from her own brother, but she never stayed with the daughter.
Shanta Hublikar married a businessman after films. The husband wound up his business and lived off her money. Her son and daughter in law kept her in a third rate old age home, from where some reporters rescued her. After her story was published help poured in and she spent her last days in a better old age home. She published her autobiography also in this period. She died unsung, unattended. Her death news flashed after a week or so.
Shanta Hublikar was born on 14-4-1914 at village Athergunchi, near Hubli. She was one among three sisters. The eldest was Neelamma, the second was Shanta, but her name was Rajamma( she was called only Raju) and the youngest was Sharada. She was fluent in Marathi and Kannad and could sing very well. When she was about 18-20 years she went to Kolhapur, which was an active centre of Film making. Her first film was Bhedi Rajkumar aka Thaksen Rajputra-1934. her role was a minor one.
Her first major role was in the film Kanhopatra-37(Marathi). She was picked up by Prabhat stalwarts for their film Mera Ladka (Majha Mulga in Marathi)-38. Her acting and songs impressed V. Shantaram.
Shantaram was planning a path breaking film Maanus (Marathi-Aadmi in Hindi) in those days and was in the process of finalising the cast. Vasant Desai who was Shantaram’s chela in those days was aspiring to become a Music Director. He started his career as an actor in small roles and he sang songs too. He had very high hopes that Shantaram will do something for him. One day Shantaram called him and said,” I am planning a new film. You will be the Hero and Shanta Apte will be the Heroine.” Vasant was very happy. His auditions were good.
Meanwhile “Mera Ladka” became quite popular and its songs particularly,”dekhoon kab tak baat( Paahu re kiti waat-Marathi)” by Shanta bai and composed by Keshavrao Bhole was a great Hit. Impressed with her effortless acting and natural singing style, Shantaram changed his mind and decided to cast Shanta Hublikar and Shahu Modak as the lead pair for Aadmi.
Shantaram called Vasant Desai and told him,” Be ready for a shock. I have decided to make Shanta Hublikar and Shahu Modak as the Hero and Heroine of my new film. You will have to wait. But your time will come ” Vasant Desai was heart broken. With Shantaram’s permission he composed music for Shobha and Aaankh ki sharm in 1942 and Mauj in 1943. He had worked as an assistant to Tembe, Krishnarao Bhole and Mainkar. he had acted and sang in Amar Jyoti. His time came when Shantaram gave him SHAKUNTALA-1943 as its Music Director.
Meanwhile Shanta Hublikar fully justified her selection for Aadmi-39. Her songs and acting became hits. Her multilingual song “ab kis liye kal ki baat” in Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali became a landmark song in Hindi films forever.
Shanta did not do many films. She did a few Marathi, Kannada and Hindi films- Thoratanchi Kamala and Pahila Palna in Marathi, Jeevan naatak in Kannada and Prabhat, Ghar ki Laaj, Maalan, Kulkalank and Jeewan Chhaya in Hindi.
After that Shanta married a rich businessman from Poona-Bapusaheb Geete, proprietor of Deccan Cloth Emporium in Poona. She did try a comeback in 1958 with Filmistan’s ‘Saubhagyawati Bhava and Ghar Grihasthi but that was the end. She then retired from films.
Shanta Hublikar died on 17-7-1992 at Poona.
The film Mera Ladka-38 was directed by Keshav Narayan Kale. He was born on 24-2-1904 in Maharashtra. After his formal education he became a radical Journalist and to give expression to his ideology joined films, as an actor,Director and writer. He acted in major films like Amar Jyoti, Dharmatma, Parakh for which he wrote the story and screenplay also.He acted in 13 films, Directed 7 films and wrote for 3 films, starting with Prabhat’s Wahan, which he also directed. His last film was Didi-1959. He died on 20-2-1974 at Bombay.
I saw MERA LADKA-1938 sometime in the fag end of the 40s, in a Prabhat Film Festival, at Hyderabad. The story was an offbeat one, not the usual love-story. The cast was Shanta Hublikar,Shahu Modak, Ulhas, Vasantrao Thengdi, Balakram, Master Chhotu, Vatsalabai Joshi etc.
Diwakar (Shahu Modak) is a young man full of new ideas, has hot blood and a rebellious thinking. He is a radical Journalist having his Printing press and editing a Newspaper. He has a rich girl Nalini (Shanta Hublikar) as his girlfriend. She sympathises with him but does not share his radicalism. His middle class father does not like all this. He wants Diwakar to do a 9 to 5 job like any other person.
His father expresses his displeasure to the cunning and scheming political friend of Diwakar, Vithal Rao (Vansant Rao Thengdi), who takes advantage of the situation. He arranges a strike in the press and when it closes down, takes over it.The father is happy, but Diwakar does not yield. Instead of doing a 9-5 job, he decides to contest against Vithal Rao in the Municipal election.
Nalini also contests. First she joins the group of Vithalrao to know his tactics and then shifts to Diwakar’s camp. She even campaigns for Diwakar.In the elections, Nalini wins, Diwakar loses,but he gives a speech, claiming a Moral Victory for him,as Vithal rao is defeated.
Film director Kale, being a radical journalist himself before entering films ,got so much involved in the film that after the film, he actually wrote a long essay ” Mera Ladka-Some Musings” in a local newspaper in 1939 ! (In Marathi it was titled ‘ Majha mulga chya Nimittane…)
Excellent performances by Shanta and Shahu Modak earned them the coveted roles in Aadmi(Manoos in Marathi)-1939, which happens to be a Milestone film in India.
The music Director was Keshavrao Bhole. Here is the second song from this film in the blog….
Song- Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan (Mera Ladka)(1938) Singer- Shanta Hublikar, Lyricist-Pt. Anuj (S.L.Shrivastav), MD- Keshavrao Bhole
Lyrics
Apne dil ki baaten
maine tumhen hai sunaani
apne dil ki baaten
maine tumhen hai sunaani
shabo roz furkat mein rahoon
main pareshaan
shabo roz furkat mein rahoon
main pareshaan
Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan
Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan
naalon se mere jo uthha hai ye dhuaan
haan
naalon se mere jo uthha hai ye dhuaan
Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan
chaahe mujhe thhukra do yaa
hiya mein basa lo
chaahe mujhe thhukra do yaa
hiya mein basa lo
haal dard e dil ka main karoon kaise bayaan
haal dard e dil ka main karoon kaise bayaan
kaisa jaadoo daala toone jaane jaan-e-jaan
raah e muhabbat se peechhe kadam na hataaoon
raah e muhabbat se peechhe kadam na hataaoon
tu bhi raaz e dil wo pyaar(?) kar de ??
tu bhi raaz e dil wo pyaar(?) kar le ??
Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan
Kaisa jaadu daala toone jaan-e-jaan
haan
jaane jaan
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in 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.
Ever since talkies came in to being in 1931, there have been some classical and semi-classical female singers who got attracted to Hindi film industry as actor-singers and playback singers in the 1930s and the 1940s. Begum Akhtar, Mukhtar Begum, Indubala, Roshanara Begum, Mallika Pukhraj, Saraswati Rane etc were some of the names that come to my mind. However, their filmy careers was short and soon they returned to the concert singing as their main vocation.
One of the lesser known names in this category of singers was Sundarabai of Poona.
Read more on this topic…
Dekhoon kab tak baat
Posted on: September 21, 2013
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
This is the 6th song in “The flavour of the 30s’ series. The song is from the Film-Mera Ladka-1938. it is sung by Shanta Hublikar and music is by Keshavrao Bhole.
Read more on this topic…
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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