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.

I am sure, many of us have gone through this experience in our lives. Some song heard sometime, somewhere haunts you so much that you can not simply forget it. In due course of time, this disappears, but at a later time, may be after many years when you hear that song again, all your memories come back and you are lost in Nostalgia.

Same thing has happened to me about today’s song, which is from an old film Raaz-1949. It is sung by Mohd. Rafi- who was just beginning to make a mark for him in Hindi film music. When I heard this song after almost 65-70 years, all old memories flashed before my eyes.

It was early 1950 or so. Our house in Hyderabad was second in a lane. Just outside the lane, on the main road and on the opposite side, was a Hotel- Hotel Madina. This hotel was famous in our area, because the owner used to play all latest Hindi film songs on his Gramophone from 7 am to 7 pm. A reasonable crowd of music lovers sat there for hours. In fact the Hotel had become a meeting point for friends. Many ‘ latest ‘ songs were introduced to me this way. I had first heard this Rafi song from film Raaz-49 here only and I fell in love with this song. I remember, I forced my father to buy this record so that I could hear it more often.

Like many other songs, this too went at the backstage and I was swayed by some other lilting songs. That was a period when ” ek se badh kar ek ” songs were rolled out. As the time went and years passed by, I never heard this song again till last week. I was searching for some other song on You Tube, and my eyes fell on this song. Feeling something familiar, I played the song and my God !, I can not describe how many times I must have heard this song till now. I felt as if I met a long lost friend. I remembered my childhood ( I might be about 10-12 years old that time, my friends and the evenings spent clustering near that hotel, so that we could hear the songs.
Now all facilities are available at beck and call, but where are those days, those friends and those songs ?

Coming to today’s film Raaz-49, as many as 6 films with same title are made so far, add to that a few more with the word Raaz in its titles. This film was produced by Neelkamal Kalamandir and was directed by Emmanuel. The 10 songs written by Mirazi and Gulzar Nadeem were composed by the talented but unlucky Sardar Malik (HFGK mentions his name as Malik Sardar). For 10 songs 7 singers were used. One song from this film is already discussed here. I have noticed a peculiar thing about this film and that is, that for its director Emmanuel, Lyricist Mirazi and one singer Shaila, this was the only film they contributed.

The Hero of the film was Mohan Sehgal. Born in Jallundhar, Punjab, on 1-12-1921, Mohan came to to the films to become an actor-preferably a Hero. He acted in 7 films- Neecha Nagar and Chalis Karod in 1946,Phool aur kante-48, Raaz-49, Afsar-50, Humsafar-53 and Suhana Geet-63. But he was known more as a Producer/Director. He directed 18 films- from Aulad-54 to Kasam suhag ki-89. Some of his well known films were, New Delhi-56,Kanyadan-63, Sawan Bhadon-70, and Raja Jaani-72. His favourite actors were Kishore kumar, Dharmendra, Rekha and Hema Malini as well as Navin Nischol. Mohan Sehgal died on 19-10-2005 in Mumbai.

In this film there are two names which are not well known to many. One of them was Maya Devi. Maya Devi was from Bombay and started her career from silent films in 1928 with Anarkali by imperial. Her first Talkie film was Kunwari ya widhva-35. Her real name was Leela. She became a favourite of Bombay Talkies and she did 6 films with them in 37 and 38. In all she did 5 silent films and 31 Talkie films till 1949. Her last film in India was Raaz-49. She got married with a Muslim and then migrated to Pakistan, where she did 19 films and then retired in 1964. Her first film in Pakistan was Phere-1949. She died in Lahore on 1-2-67. She did films in Gujarati and Punjabi also.

The second name is S.B.Nayampalli, who was a popular Villain in his films. S.B.Nayampalli was born in south Karnataka. In 1915,his family shifted to Bombay. His personality was imposing with fair colour, six feet height and solid physique. Due to father’s death, he did a job in P and T department, but soon he left it and joined as a clerk in Killick Nixon company. He was a commerce graduate and was fond of playing Cricket, representing his company at Club cricket championships.

S.B. Nayampally (or Nayampalli) was working at the firm of Killick, Nixon and Company when he was discovered by film director P.Y. Altekar at a gym where Nayampally regularly exercised. Altekar felt that Nayampally very much resembled the famous French boxer Georges Carpenter and would be perfect for the stunt films that had become popular at the time. At Altekar’s urging, Nayampally joined Imperial Studios and was quickly cast in his first film, Wedding Night(1929), opposite the popular actress Jilloo. When he arrived at Imperial to begin his first day of filming he was amused to find that the building now used for the studio had formerly housed the school he’d attended as a child.“Wedding Night was a stunt film of the Robin Hood type,” Nayampally explained in a 1964 interview. “It had a little more of a plot to it than many films of the same class. My next film, Hell’s Paradise (1929), I remember for three reasons. One, it was based on a real-life episode involving an Indian prince and a foreign girl, described as an adventuress. Two, Mama Warerekar, the noted writer, did the story. Three, the film had a kissing scene, probably the first ever in an Indian film.”

Nayampalli was cast in Imperial’s Noorjehan (1931), which was initially to be a silent picture, but because of the success of their film Alam Ara (1931), which was India’s first talkie, the studio decided to make Noorjehan partly with sound. Nayampally was not originally cast in Noorjehan, but a chance meeting with the film’s director, Ezra Mir, got him the role of Prince Salim in the film.Nayampally then played Karna in Imperial’s next sound film, the mythological Draupadi (1931), but the actor considered his best mythological role to be that of the wily Shakuni in Mahatma Vidur (1943), a part that was appreciated by critics and the public, alike.

As sound films came in, silent actors were being discarded in favor of those with stage backgrounds and could not sing, so Nayampalli joined the Grant Anderson Theatrical Company which specialized in Shakespearean plays. After gaining some experience he tried to rejoin films, but without much luck. His previous roles had been leads, so he decided if he wanted to work regularly, maybe he should take a different approach and he offered himself up for character parts.His break came in the role of a hunchback in love with the heroine in Ezra Mir’s Zarina which starred Jal Merchant and Zubeida. The dentures he wore for the role were created specially by a dentist named Jimmy Gheista who had trained abroad with the dentist who had made similar dentures for Lon Chaney.

Nayampally had learned early on how to apply make-up for his roles and, in fact, he became so good at it he eventually came to specialize in horror make-up, which earned him the nickname “The Indian Lon Chaney.” Indeed, Chaney, Erich von Stroheim, Emil Jannings, and John Barrymore were the actors that Nayampally most tried to emulate. Boris Karloff was another of his role models. He was able to put his make-up expertise to good use for the film Sair-e-Paristan (1934), where he was a vampire-like devil, and in Zingaro(1935), in which he played a monster created by a mad scientist, and then as a the hairy “missing link” in Zambo (1937) and its sequel Zambo Ka Beta (1938). For Kalkoot (1935) he created a make-up to resemble the wrinkled effect that Karloff had used in The Mummy(1932).

Nayampally continued working in films throughout the 1940s and 50s, particularly in mythologicals and costume pictures including Raj Nartaki (1941), Nagad Narayan (1943), Vishwas 1943), Taramati(1945), Urvashi (1946), Jhansi-Ki-Rani (1953), Durgesh Nandini (1956), Basant Bahar (1956) and Shiv Parvati (1962) His last credited film appearance was in 1970’s Priya.

After the career in films ended, he started making Documentaries. He made about 35 documentaries. He won ‘ Silver Dolphin’ award for his documentary in the International Film Festival at Teheran in 1970.

He died on 7-5-1994, in Mumbai.

Sardar Malik today is a lesser known composer compared to other giants of the film industry, but he has created some golden melodies.

Born on 13-1- 1925, Sardar Malik had learned classical music from Ustad Alauddin Khan. He also learned a variety of dancing skills from Pt.Uday Shankar. Some other stars like Guru Dutt and Mohan Sehgal too were part of the troop under Pt. Uday Shankar, same time.

Sardar Malik got his break as a Music Director in a movie called ‘Renuka’ which released in 1947. Sardar Malik also sang 4 songs in this movie – 2 solo songs and also 2 duets with Zohrabai. But the movie was not a big success and he remained unrecognized. In the same year, he also composed music for a movie ‘Rain Basera’, but that movie too was not successful. In 1949, only one movie released of Sardar Malik and that was ‘Raaz’. The movie had some wonderful numbers from Rafi, Amirbai and Binapani Mukherjee.

In 1951, Sardar Malik shared the credits with Husnalal Bhagatram and composed a few songs for a movie ‘Stage’, which had lovely numbers sung by Asha Bhosle like ‘Dil Machalne Laga’. Asha Bhosle had excellent control in her voice in the early 50s and her association with Sardar Malik was very special in this era when Lata and Geeta Dutt were at the top.

His next movie was ‘Laila Majnu’ which was a huge success. Sardar Malik composed only 3 songs for this movie ‘Baharon Ki Duniya Pukare’, ‘Tere Dar Pe Aaya Hoon’ and ‘Dekh Li Ae Ishq’. All the other songs were composed by Ghulam Mohammed but the songs showed his versatility and he gained recognition in the film industry. Thokar (1953) established Sardar Malik as a successful composer. Songs like ‘Ae Gham-e-Dil Kya Karoon’ by Talat and Asha Bhosle and ‘Hawa Ghungunayee Fiza Muskayee’ are evergreen numbers.

‘Aulad’ (1954) showed Sardar Malik’s overall class through his magical compositions. This movie had some great numbers like ‘Duniya Tasveer Ha’i (Talat Mahmood) and ‘Tum Salamat Raho Hazar Baras’ (Asha). The same year saw the release of ‘Chor Bazar’ (1954), which had some of the best songs rendered by Lata Mangeshkar. She sang 3 beautiful songs in this movie ‘Chalta Rahe Yeh Karvan’, ‘Huyi Yeh Humse Yeh Nadani’ and ‘Dar Dar Ki Thokrein Hain’.

In the mid-50’s Sardar Malik composed music for few movies like Ab-e-Hayat-55, Taxi-555-58, Chamak Chandni-57 and Maa Ke Aansoo-59. All these movies had some nice songs. If we observe the decade of 50s, Asha Bhosle, Talat Mahmood and Rafi sang some of the best songs of Sardar Malik.

The decade of 60’s saw the release of ‘Saranga’ (1960), which can be considered as one of the best movies of Indian Cinema. The title song of the movie sung by Mukesh and the sad version of the same sung by Rafi is still as popular as it was 60 yrs ago. Many veteran music composers consider this movie as the best movie composed by Sardar Malik ever. The same year saw the release of ‘Mera Ghar Mere Bachche’ which contained some great songs sung by Mukesh, my favorite song being the duet of Mukesh with Suman Kalyanpur ‘Baharon Se Poochho’.

Sardar Malik remained active in the first half of the 1960s and composed some outstanding music for second rung movies like Madan Manjari, Bachpan, Pick Pocket, Naag Mohini, Jantar Mantar, Maharani Padmini, Roop Sundari and Main Hoon Jadugar. It was destiny that most of the films he composed for were not box-office successes, but he never compromised on the quality of his music. His career appears to come to an abrupt halt in the mid-60s. The last movie of Sardar Malik was Gynaaniji which released in 1977. This movie had songs sung by Rafi, Asha, Jaspal Singh and Jagat Singh Jagga.

Sardar Malik had huge knowledge on all forms of Indian Music. He always depended on light background orchestration in many of his songs. He made the use of accordion and flute in many of his songs. As he was classically trained, he had excellent knowledge on various raagas too.

Married to noted lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri’s sister, Kausar Jahan (Bilqis), Sardar Malik had three sons – Anu, Abu and Dabbu Malik. Thanks to his father’s blessings, Anu Malik met with a lot of success in the 1990s and 2000s.

Sardar Malik passed away on January 27th 2006, but the legacy he has left behind will always remain with us.

Today’s song is a mesmerising song and i believe, this song has inspired a few songs in Hindi films, in later years. Enjoy….

( Thanks for some information used herein from Beete kal ke sitare by S. Tamrakar, apnaarchieve, Mike Barnum blog, pakmag.com, Filmdom-46 and HFGK along with my notes.)

Song-Samay ka chakkar sau bal khaaye (Raaz)(1949) Singer-Mohd. Rafi, Lyrics- Mirazi, MD- Sardar Malik

Lyrics

samay ka chakkar sau bal khaaye ae
sau bal khaaye
aage jaa kar laut na paaye ae
ghoom ghoom kar badhta jaaye
ghoom ghoom kar badhta jaaye
peechhe sab sansaar
peechhe sab sansaar
bolo
o bolo
chakkoo chhuri dhaar
bolo
chakkoo chhuri dhaar

dhaar bane aur chakkar ghoome
phoot ke har chingaari jhoome ae
dhaar bane aur chakkar ghoome
phoot ke har chingaari jhoome
dekho is ki jyot mein chamke
jag jeewan ka pyaar
jag jeewan ka pyaar
bolo
ho bolo
chakkoo chhuri dhaar
chakkoo chhuri dhaar

baalak samjhe ise khilauna
ye zehri talwaar
baalak samjhe ise khilauna
ye zehri talwaar
moorakh isko haath lagaaye
kar de maaraamaar
kar de maaraamaar

jag mein jeet usi ki pyaare ae
jag mein jeet usi ki pyaare
jiske dil mein pyaar
jiske dil mein pyaar
bolo
ho bolo
chakkoo chhuri dhaar
chakkoo chhuri dhaar

dharti badle roop anjaane
aasmaan aisi reet na jaane ae
dharti badle roop anjaane
aasmaan aisi reet na jaane ae
jab tak apne saath jawaani ee
man dekhe sapne manmaane
jeewan poorampaar
bolo
ho bolo
chakkoo chhuri dhaar
chakkoo chhuri dhaar

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.

Our blog regulars have a whatsapp group. One of major hghlights of this group are the good morning mwessages and thoughts of the day by our beloved inhouse encyclopaedia Mr Arunkumar Deshmukh. Nowadays ourinhouse rocket scientist Gajendra Khanna has also started sharing thoughts of the day in the morning.

I almost invariably find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with these thoughts of the day. I need not not them down for use, because I find that I already practice them. I share some of these messages with my wife that I think she needs.

Like these ones-

“Never stop doing little things for others. Sometimes, those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts”

“Don’t let anyone’s ignorance, hate, drama or negativity stop you from being the best person you can be”

“Don’t permanently damage someone’s feelings just because you are temporarily upset”

“Leadership is not about ruling others, it is about showing others the right path”

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going”

“success also hurts when you do not have a loved one to congratulate you. Failure also looks beautiful when you have a loved one to support you”

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful”

“Everything you need is already inside you. Do’t wait for others to light your fire. You have your own matches.”

“The real education is our attitude and behaviour with others. It defines our entire personality, no matter how qualified we are.”

“The height of candles may differ but they yield same brigtness. It is not your position but your ability that makes you shine”

“Respect is the most important element of your personality., It is like an investment whatever you give to others it will return to you with profit.”

“Everyone may not be nice. But there is something nice in everyone.Never keep a fixed image for anyone. because people act differently with different people.”

“If you light a lamp for someone else, it will also brighten up your path.”

“Silence is the best answer to someone who does not value your words”

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

“People understand the true value of the right person only after they suffer from the wrong person”

“Love and kindness are never wasted. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you (the giver).”

and many others.

Then there is this basic message that is hardwired into me- “Do unto others you would have them do unto you“. In other words, treat others with respect, and help them if you are in a position to. Because that is what I or anyone else expects from others.

It was day before yesterday (6 march 2019) when I was seated in my office chamber, when the door opened and I found a lady hesitantly asking if she could come in. Normally I expect a peon bring in a chit from the visitor where the name of the person is written (along with purpose of visit). But she obviously came in when no peon was at hand to stop her.

I had no idea if she was an employee or some outsider (like say a salesperson) but I allowed her to come in. She tried to explain what she wanted to say but she was not able to as she was unable to stop her from crying. But from the little she was able to speak and the paper she showed me, I was quickly able to find out that she was an employee of my place. She wanted to get herself transferred to another place. All the necessary approvals from competent authorities were obtained a few weeks ago. She needed to be relieved from the workplace so that she could join at her next place. But she was not getting relieved. The dealing clerk was telling her for the last three weeks that her case was “under process”. She wanted to get releved so that she could join her family. Her crying was mainly because of her young child who was away from her.

I tried to console her and asked her to get seated while I called for the dealer. It turned out that the dealer was not available. I asked the personal officer to come.

While I was waiting for the personal officer, I asked the lady how she was posted in this place while her family was elsewhere. She informed me that she had got her appointment here on compassionate ground as her father was an employee here and he had died while he was in service. Her husband was posted in Ranchi and her child was there with him there. Her old mother in law had to take care of the child while her husband went out on his work.

I tried to make her comfortable by telling her that I too had grown up in Ranchi though I have not been to that place for last 25 years. She asked where I studied. I informed her the name of my college and school, and also added that my school has now shifted to another location, whereas I had studied in this school when it was located in a location near Ranchi Railway station. She seemed to be aware of this place because she told me that her residence in Ranchi was in the same area of Ranchi where my school was earlier located.

I was feeling a bit nostalgic about Ranchi and would have talked some more about Ranchi but then the personal officer arrived. Iinformed him that the lady sitting there had applied for transfer to Ranchi and necessary permissions have already come three weeks back. The dealer is harassing her telling her that her case is under “process”. Please make sure that she is relieved within one hour.

I then turned to the lady and assured her that she would get relived and she should plan to leave for Ranchi on the same day.

She was barely able to belive her eyes. She did not belive that her work could get done so fast. She thanked me. I said it was alright. But she kept thanking me again and again. I told her that it was in my nature to help people and that is what I was doing now as well. She sought water. I asked her to walk into the adjacent room where she would get a glass of water. She went to the adjacent room and there I heard voices offering her water and consoling her telling her to get calmed and to compose herself.

After a while the personal officer brought me a file seeking my approval to get her relived. I signed the file silently. I did not remind him to quickly get it done with as that instruction was already given earlier.

In the second half, I wondered if the lady had received her relieving letter. I thought about enquiring from the personal officer. But before I could do that, I found the same lady entering my chamber informing me with glee that she had got her relieving letter. I expressed happiness that she had finally been relieved.

She left the chamber. I began to wonder when she would reach Ranchi. There is one direct train to Ranchi but that takes a very long semicircular route instead of taking a straight route and takes 24 hours. On checking on internet, I found that if one went to Varanasi (six hours journey) then there were lots of direct trains from Varanasi to Ranchi that took around ten hours to reach there. I was sure that people going to Ranchi, including the lady, may already be aware of this route.

I wondered whether I should have asked her for her travel plan, but then told myself that it was not needed. I had done her a good deed. She was quite broken and disconsolate when she had entered my chamber earlier in the morning. In the afternoon, she was a happy and relieved person, who was looking forward to get reunited with her family for all times to come. And I had made it possible for her. I was sure that lots of good words and blessings may have come my way behind my back. She may have phoned her family back home and may have informed them that she met me and she got her papers in a matter of hours. Not only she, even her family members back at Ranchi may have given their blessings to me.

That was two days ago. I am sure she must have arrived Ranchi by now and would have reported at her new place of posting in Ranchi. In a less sombre light, I wondered if she would visit the cricket ground to watch the ODI that is takng place at Ranchi today. Of course not. She would be too overwhelmed at the moment and she would be getting visited by her relatives and friends. And her young child must have felt mightily relieved and happy to see her mother.

In the evening, my wife called me on phone. It is her habit that she tells me daily about whatever happens in her workplace. She too had done some blessing worthy job in her workplace and she told me about that. I in turn informed her about my nek work. She felt happy as well. I was dreading at her next follow up question, but fortunately she did not ask that question. That question would have been- “You helped that lady get united to her spouse. When will you try to do the same for yourself as well ?” As things stand, she keeps reminding me every now and then that I should try and get myself transferred to MP. That is there in the rules as well-“If a spouse in in state service and another one in central service then the spouse in central service will apply to get transferred to the state where the other spouse in posted and the employer of the central government will try his best to post the central government employee to that state.”

My wife feels the need more than me, because she is a working lady herself. She needs my support and advice on his professinal work almost every day. At the same time, she is far more empowered and strong that most working ladies. So she is able to take care of herself in a far better manner that say the lady whom I helped. But the principles remain the same, of course. Now I shudder to think how she almost single handedly raised our daughter alone while I was posted at places different than her place. It helped though that I was posted in the same state while our daughter began to go to school. No matter what the situation, every child needs and deserves to ive with both of his/her parents.

I realised that today (8 march 2019) is women’s day. And in a way, I inadvertently gave a nice Women’s day gift to the lady. Today, I will be attending a Women’s day function in the office. I think that I may have already done something more worthwhile that mouthing a few platitutes in that gathering. And I feel quite satisfied and proud of myself.

On this occasion, here is a suitable song that tells us that we should do good for others because what we do to others comes back to us. The song is from “Khul Ja Sim Sim”(1956). The song is sung by Rafi (an appropriate singer for a song of this genre, if I must add). Asad Bhopali is the lyricist. Music is composed by Hansraj Bahl.

Only the audio of the song is available. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturisation of this song.

Song-Ye hai kaanoon uska jisne ye duniya banaai hai(Khul Ja Sim Sim)(1956) Singer-Rafi, Lyrics-Asad Bhopali, MD-Hansraj Bahl

Lyrics

aa aa aa
ye hai kaanoon uska
jisne ye duniya banaai hai
ye hai farmaan uska
jiski ye saari khudaai hai

o o o o
o o o
bhalaai kar bhala hoga
buraai kar bura hoga
bhalaai kar bhala hoga
buraai kar bura hoga
bhalaai kar bhala hoga
buraai kar bura hoga
koi dekhe na dekhe
par khuda to dekhta hoga

isi duniya mein jannat hai
yahi duniya jahannum hai
agar aamaal achche hain
to phir kis baat ka gham hai
tere aamaalnaame se hi tera faisla hoga
bhalaai kar bhala hoga
buraai kar bura hoga
koi dekhe na dekhe
par khuda to dekhta hoga

bhala hoga
aa aa
bhala hoga
aa aa aa

yahaan neki badi do raaste hain
gaur se sun le
tujhe jaana hai kis manzil pe
apna raasta chun le
kadam uthne se pahle soch le
anjaam kya hoga
bhalaai kar bhala hoga
buraai kar bura hoga
koi dekhe na dekhe
par khuda to dekhta hoga

bhala hoga
aa aa
bhala hoga
aa aa aa

gareebon ki madad kar
bekason ka saath deta ja
ye sauda naqad hai
is haath de is haath leta ja
wahi kaam aayega tere
jo toone de diya hoga
bhalaai kar bhala hoga
buraai kar bura hoga
koi dekhe na dekhe
par khuda to dekhta hoga

This article is written by Sudhir, 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.

The Many Colors of Love #29 – The Covenants of Love
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

And so wrote the scribe

kar le dil ka sauda dil se
dil milta hai mushkil se
(‘Yahudi Ki Ladki’, 1957)

The transactions of heart are bound, but by just one covenant – it is the treasures of heart in exchange only for treasures of heart. No other exchange is possible, no other exchange is expected, nothing else in this whole wide world can be traded for the treasures of heart. For those who may want to, or expect to transact this exchange for something else, then they do not understand the true meaning of love.

And this thought brings up this song today. The burden of this song reiterates this maxim –

deta hai dil de
badle mein dil ke
ghe ghe ghe ghe
ghe re saaiba
pyaar mein sauda nahin

For the longest of time, I was under the impression that this song is already posted. And the reason for that is, that the song “Jhooth Bole Kauwwa Kaate” has been around on the blog for almost two years now. Being familiar with the film, one clearly remembers that these two songs are tandem songs, presented on screen one after the other – rather one flows into the next. Yes, true that Geet Kosh lists these two songs separately, but somehow in my mind, I have carried this impression that these two are a single song.

So when I posted the song by Narendra Chancalon 10^th March (“Beshaq Mandir Masjid Todo“), and I reviewed the status of this film on our blog, I realized that this song is not yet posted – we are following the Geet Kosh convention. Since the day I have posted “Beshaq Mandir Masjid. . .”, it has been kind of an eagerness within, to see this movie yippeee’d here. Part of that is being surprised that songs of this film are not yet all on here.

This particular song is performed on screen by Premnath and Rishi Kapoor.  We are into about a third of the film. The two young hearts are now committed to each other, beyond any repair. Although not of legal age yet, but they want to get married and be partners for life. Premnath is non-committal, in the sense that he would do whatever makes his daughter happy. Pran, on the other hand, is a calculating and a manipulative person, eyeing this relationship with suspicion. As he sees the intensity of his son’s emotions, he decides to make a manipulative move, in an attempt to drive a wedge between the young lovers.

He asks his son to invite his beloved and her family for dinner. The young man is extremely excited. Not worldly wise as his businessman father, he thinks his father is a great man and is agreeing with his son’s wishes and choice for a life partner. Little does he know what his father has planned.

With this joyful and amiable news, he rushes to his beloved’s home, to present the invite himself. At her place, a fishermen’s neighborhood, another wedding is in progress. The ambiance is celebratory. There is singing and dancing, congratulations and the auspicious throwing of rice – in short, the mood is just right to share the supposedly wonderful news.

Without much preamble, Rishi delivers the invite to Premnath. The latter accepts forthwith with the comment that for his daughter’s happiness, he will gladly bow his head at the door of anyone, but he will never bend his knees. And to explain his comment, he breaks out in this song – that in the matters of love it is only the treasure of the heart which is to be exchanged for another treasure of heart. There is no other bargaining chip in the matters of love. Rishi readily joins in this song – the theme is so easily understood and reflected in his own mind. For him too, love is simply a give and take of the treasures of the heart.

Manna Dey starts this song, giving playback for Premnath. Shailendra Singh joins in for Rishi Kapoor. As always, it is a delight to watch a song in an RK film. The complete scenario and the ambiance are so totally focused on the song, its emotions and its renditions. Midway through the song, Dimple makes an appearance, as she is preparing for the next part of the song – yes, “Jhooth Boley. . .”. She is just there for now, not participating – but her face, her eyes are going along with the song that her beau is singing. The emotions expressed by her are so endearing, so freshly young, as she coyly and silently expresses herself in response to the lines that Rishi is performing. This small interlude is so charming, so. . . so winning. Dimple simply stole a million hearts right here in this song. Yes – you guessed it right, I too was smitten, and was in love.

One word in the lyrics had intrigued me right from the start. It is the word ‘ghe’, ‘घे’. Over the decades, this word has been presented variously and almost always erroneously. Some lyrics wrote this down as ‘khe’, ‘खे’; other places would write it down as ‘le’, ‘ले’; even today, the hindi-geet-mala web page for this song has actually written it down as ‘khel’, ‘खेल’. Wonder how they got to it, it does not even fit into the rendered metre of this line.

Once the internet was available, I had done the search for this word in Konkani language. Given that the entire scenario was a Goan neighborhood, it was only logical to seek this word in the local lingua. In Konkani, the word ‘ghe’, ‘घे’ means ‘to take’. The expression follows the lines which say

deta hai dil de
badle mein dil ke

And the young man, and the chorus responds with

ghe ghe ghe ghe
ghe re saaiba

saying – hey young man, just take this bargain, take.. take.. take.. take..  Once this meaning is known, the lyrics fall in place so beautifully.

‘Bobby’ is so close to the heart, and I mean the film, and Bobby. It appeals to an age, a mind set, and emotions – that I am never going to grow out of. It is 1973 forever.

And the talisman for life is forever – “प्यार में सौदा नहीं”.

[Editor’s Note: The initial lines of this song, which are in Konkani, have been provided by Dr Pradeep Shetty ji, in his comment below. The line is now added to the lyrics below. Thanks Dr Pradeep ji.]

[Video – Song Reprised at the end of the film.]

Song – Na Chaahoon Sona Chaandi (Bobby) (1973) Singer – Manna Dey, Shailendra Singh, Lyrics – Vithalbhai Patel, MD – Laxmikant Pyaarelal
Chorus

Lyrics

aagey naari
tujya matyancha phoolan paaya saoree
aagey naari
tujya matyancha phoolan paaya saoree

laallallall laa la llallall laa llallall laa
laallallall laa la llallall laa llallall laa

[Dialogue between Premnath and Rishi Kapoor]

na chaahoon sona chandi
na chaahoon heera moti
ye mere kis kaam ke

aaaa aaaaa aaaaaaaa aaaa aaa

na maangu bangla baadi
na maangu ghoda gaadi
ye to hain bas naam ke

aaaaa aaaaaa

deta hai dil de
badle mein dil ke
deta hai dil de
badle mein dil ke
ghe ghe ghe ghe
ghe re saaiba
pyaar mein sauda nahin
ghe ghe ghe ghe
ghe re saaiba
pyaar mein sauda nahin

o lall o lall laa laa
lallal laa laa laa
lallaa laa laa laa laa laa
lallal lallal laa laa

na jaanu mulla qaazi
na jaanu kaaba kaashi
main to hoon prem piyaasa re
mere sapnon ki rani
hogi tum ko hairaani
main to tera deewaana re
deti hai dil de
badle mein dil ke
deti hai dil de
badle mein dil ke
ghe ghe ghe ghe
ghe re saaiba
pyaar mein sauda nahin
ghe ghe ghe ghe
ghe re saaiba
pyaar mein sauda nahin

pyaar mein sauda nahin

———————————————————-
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————-

आगे नारी
तुज्या मात्यांचा फूलाँ पाया साओरी
आगे नारी
तुज्या मात्यांचा फूलाँ पाया साओरी

लाल्लल्लल्ल ला ल ल्लाल्लल्ल ला ल्लाल्लल्ल ला
लाल्लल्लल्ल ला ल ल्लाल्लल्ल ला ल्लाल्लल्ल ला

[प्रेमनाथ और ऋषि कपूर की बात चीत।]

ना चाहूँ सोना चाँदी
न चाहूँ हीरा मोती
ये मेरे किस काम के

आsss आssss आsssssss आsss आss

ना माँगूँ बंगला बाड़ी
ना माँगूँ घोड़ा गाड़ी
ये तो हैं बस नाम के

आssss आsssss

देता है दिल दे
बदले में दिल के
देता है दिल दे
बदले में दिल के
घे घे घे घे घे
घे रे सायबा
प्यार में सौदा नहीं
घे घे घे घे घे
घे रे सायबा
प्यार में सौदा नहीं

ओ लल्ल ओ लल्ल ला ला
लल्लल ला ला ला
लल्ला ला ला ला ला
लल्लल लल्लल ला ला

ना जानूँ मुल्ला क़ाज़ी
ना जानूँ काबा काशी
मैं तो हूँ प्रेम पियासा रे
मेरे सपनों की रानी
होगी तुमको हैरानी
मैं तो तेरा दीवाना रे
देती है दिल दे
बदले में दिल के
देती है दिल दे
बदले में दिल के
घे घे घे घे घे
घे रे सायबा
प्यार में सौदा नहीं
घे घे घे घे घे
घे रे सायबा
प्यार में सौदा नहीं

प्यार में सौदा नहीं

This article is written by Sudhir, 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.

———————————————–
Blog 10-Year Challenge (2009-19) – Song No. 28
————————————————

Looking at 13^th April of ten years ago, the post score card was six songs.

Two of the six films represented that day had made their debut – ‘House No. 44’ (1955) and ‘Yaadgaar’ (1970). Of the six films, five are already yippeee’d over the past 10 years. The one film that still awaits all its songs to be posted is ‘Yaadgaar’. Today, we bring to fore the fourth third song of this film, from a total of six songs listed.

Manoj Kumar, having started his career in 1958 with films like ‘Panchaayat’ and ‘Sahaara’, turned a writer and a producer less than a decade later. His first venture was ‘Shaheed’ in released 1965. The film was directed by S Ram Sharma under the banner of KPK Movies, Bombay. Then in 1967, under the new banner of Vishal International, he produced and directed ‘Upkar’. Coming close on the heels of the 1965 conflict with Pakistan, and the sudden demise of Lal Bahadur Shastri in Jan 1966, this film rode a wave of popularity on the sentiments of nationalism and social integration, and became one of the major blockbusters of the 1960s. The film also established the image and tag name of Mr. Bharat for him.

In 1970, he followed it up with ‘Purab Aur Paschim’, again from his own banner of Vishal International, another film that is on the same theme of nationalism and Indian culture, further strengthening that image. The fact that the title role he played in these two films has the name ‘Bharat’ helped a lot, of course.

In 1970 came another film that followed in the footsteps of his earlier creations, with the similar socially relevant theme of nationalism and Indian culture. Although not from the banner of Vishal International (the production house was Kunal Chitra, Bombay), the film was directed by S Ram Sharma, an old friend who had also directed ‘Shaheed’ of 1965. As with ‘Shaheed’, the story and screenplay is written by Manoj Kumar himself.

The cast of actors for this film is listed as Nutan, Manoj Kumar, Pran, Prem Chopra, Kamini Kaushal, Mehmood (Junior), Madan Puri, Tiwari, Mohan Choti, Lalita Chatterjee, Asit Sen, Lakshmichaya, Shammi, Manmohan, Paulson, Jayshree, Kuljeet, Renu, Raj Kishore, Harbans Pape, Kirti Behal, Manohar, Naidu, Beerbal, Hansraj, Shrinath, Mohan Jerry, Dubey, Sabeena, Manohar Gosvai, Kesho Rana, Brahm Bhardwaj, Sobati, Aleeja, Genius, Darshan M, Ravikant, Chandra, Mohan Chhotu, Narbada Shankar, and Ramlal etc. One cannot help but notice a set of names that had had become regular in the cast of actors in his films – Kamini Kaushal, Pran, Madan Puri, Prem Chopra, Asit Sen, Tiwari, Mohan Choti, Manmohan, Shammi etc.

The theme song of this film is “Iktaara Bole, Sun Sun Kya Kahe Ye Tumse”. The song was a major hit in its time, as the film tried to address the malaise of degradation of social values in the Indian society. The song touches upon a series of topics like population, corruption in routine life, fashion, cold war and deteriorating relations between nations, political leaders, religious dogmas etc. The theme runs in parallel to the romantic love interest between Manoj Kumar and Nutan, touching also upon the class/caste conflict in the society.

This song carries forward this message of class/caste conflict and the desire for social equality. The scenario relates to the class conflict in religion. A number of people are waiting outside a temple, to enter and to worship theie God. But the pujari (priest) at the temple, temporarily halts the entry of devotees into the temple, as the chief patron of the temple is expected shortly. Rana Shamsher Singh (role played by Tiwari) is the rich man who has provided the funding for the temple, and so the temple is known by his name – Rana Mandir. As other devotees wait to enter the temple, a war of words breaks out between Bhanu (name of the role played by Manoj Kumar, thankfully not Bharat, as in ‘Upkar’ and ‘Purab Aur Paschim’) and Rana, which turns into this song that tells about God and his relationship to His devotees. The words tell that God is not necessarily housed in the temple, and that He also manifests Himself in many other locations and endeavors that also involve the poor and the downtrodden of the society.

The words of this song are from the pen of Indeewar, who also wrote the iconic “Kasme Waade Pyaar Wafa Sab. . .” for Manoj Kumar’s ‘Upkar’. The music is by Kalyanji Anandji. This music director duo was the regular MDs for Manoj Kumar’s films – ‘Upkar’, ‘Purab Aur Paschim’ and ‘Yaadgar’. But come 1972, Manoj Kumar switched to Laxmikant Pyaarelal with his next venture ‘Shor’.

The singing voice is of Mahendra Kapoor, the playback singer that Manoj Kumar preferred for himself. Listen to this typical ‘Bharat’ message that helped further strengthen the image of Mr Bharat.

Song – Wo Khet Mein Milega, Khalihaan Mein Milega  (Yaadgaar) (1970) Singer – Mahendra Kapoor, Lyrics – Indeewar, MD – Kalyanji Anandji
Chorus
Tiwari

Lyrics (Provided by Avinash Scrapvaala)

aaye jahaan bhagwaan se pehle
kisi dhanwaan ka naam
us mandir ke dwaar khade khud
royen krishna aur raam

dhanwaan ko pehle miley
bhagwaan ke darshan
darshan ko tarastaa rahey
jo bhakt ho nirdhan
ye dakshina ki reet
ye pandon ke chhalaawe
dukaan mein biktey huye
mandir ke chadhaawe
aise hi agar
aise hi agar dharm ka vyaapar
chalega
bhagwaan ka duniya mein
koi naam na legaa
aisi jageh pe jaa ke tu kuchh bhi na paayega
bhagwaan aisa mandir khud chhod jaayegaa
chhod jaayega
chhod jaayega

bhagwaan raana mandir mein nahin
to aur kahaan milegaa

wo khet mein milega
khalihaan mein milegaa
wo khet mein ae milegaa
khalihaan mein milegaa
bhagwaan to ae bande..ae
bhagwaan to ae bande
insaan mein ae milegaa
wo khet mein milega
khalihaan mein milegaa

dhanwaan jo hai jhoothha..aa
ho ho o o 
shaitaan ke baraabar
aa aa aa aa
nirdhan agar hai sachchaa
bhagwaan ke baraabar
wo dhong mein nahin hai
imaan mein milegaa..aa
wo khet mein milegaa

ganga se bhi hai paawan
ho ho o o 
mazdoor ka paseena
aa aa aa aa
paani na koi samjhe
anmol ye nagina
aise hi paseenon ke nirmaan mein milegaa
wo khet mein milegaa

geeta sunaa rahaa hai..ae
aawaaz mein kalon ki..ee
taqdeer likh rahaa hai
nokon se wo halon ki..ee
mazdoor mein milegaa aa
wo kisaan mein ae milegaa aa
wo khet mein ae milegaa
khalihaan mein milegaa
bhagwaan to ae bande
insaan mein ae milega..aa
wo khet mein milega
khalihaan mein milega
wo khet mein milega
khalihaan mein milega
wo khet mein milega
khalihaan mein milega

bhagwaan to ae bande
insaan mein ae milega

———————————————————-
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Avinash Scrapvaala)
———————————————————-

आये जहां भगवान से पहले
किसी धनवान का नाम
उस मंदिर के द्वार खड़े खुद
रोयें कृष्ण और राम

धनवान को पहले मिले
भगवान् के दर्शन
दर्शन को तरसता रहे
जो भक्त हो निर्धन
ये दक्षिणा कि रीत
ये पंडों के छलावे
दूकान में बिकते हुए
मंदिर के चढ़ावे
ऐसे ही अगर॰॰र
ऐसे ही अगर धर्म का व्यापार चलेगा
भगवान् का दुनिया में
कोई नाम ना लेगा
ऐसी जगह पे जाके तू कुछ भी न पायेगा
भगवान् ऐसा मंदिर खुद छोड़ जाएगा
छोड़ जाएगा
छोड़ जाएगा

(भगवान् राणा मंदिर में नहीं
तो और कहाँ मिलेगा)

वो खेत में मिलेगा
खलिहान में मिलेगा
वो खेत में ए मिलेगा
खलिहान में मिलेगा
भगवान् तो ए बन्दे॰॰ए
भगवान् तो ए बन्दे
इंसान में ए मिलेगा
वो खेत में मिलेगा
खलिहान में मिलेगा

धनवान जो है झूठा॰॰आ
हो हो ओ ओ
शैतान के बराबर
आ आ आ आ
निर्धन अगर है सच्चा
भगवान् के बराबर
वो ढोंग में नहीं है
ईमान में मिलेगा॰॰आ॰॰आ
वो खेत में मिलेगा

गंगा से भी है पावन
हो हो ओ ओ
मजदूर का पसीना
आ आ आ आ
पानी न कोई समझे
अनमोल ये नगीना
ऐसे ही पसीनों के निर्माण में मिलेगा
वो खेत में मिलेगा

गीता सुना रहा है॰॰ए
आवाज़ में कलों कि॰॰ई
तकदीर लिख रहा है
नोकों से वो हलों की॰॰ई
मजदूर में मिलेगा॰॰आ
वो किसान में ए मिलेगा॰॰आ
वो खेत में मिलेगा
खलिहान में मिलेगा
भगवान् तो ए बन्दे
इंसान में ए मिलेगा॰॰आ     
वो खेत में मिलेगा
खलिहान में मिलेगा
वो खेत में मिलेगा
खलिहान में मिलेगा
वो खेत में मिलेगा
खलिहान में मिलेगा

भगवान् तो ए बन्दे
इंसान में ए मिलेगा

This article is written by nahm, 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.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Atul Song-A-Day 15K Song Milestone Celebrations – 11
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Mohammed Rafi : The Incomparable (II) – Song No. 09
———————————————————
Another momentous occasion, another celebratory post and I was feeling lost. Where was the inspiration ? I saw the e-mailer for the celebration posts planned, just after I had prepared and submitted a post for another song(yet to be posted). This post took a whole three weeks to complete. I am actually not happy writing posts this way. I prefer to write the complete post, in one go. I may look at it 2-4 times and make certain corrections/improvements if required before submitting the post. If I am forced to take breaks while writing the posts, than it takes forever to complete the job.

Fresh instructions were issued to write a post and send it ASAP . Incidentally, this acronym is three quarters same as ASAD. ASAD means “Lion” in Arabic and Urdu. I tried to find if this word has a meaning in any other language and found on Google that it means “shubha Mahurat” in Hindi. How appropriate is all this !

On receipt of the above ASAP request, I informed the kaptan’s that I can send a post only next week. They were given no other option but to agree .

Than I suddenly remembered the song which had brought me to the blog back in 2010. Predictably it was an illusion of a Rafi song. Why I call it an illusion is that there are just signs of it existing, but so far it has not surfaced. As per some online comments I had gathered this information that Rafi Sahab had rendered this Poem by Pradeep “Khud jiyo auron ko bhi jeene do” for a documentary film made by films division of India. In this document Prithvi Raj Kapoor is shown singing this peom in a class room. I chanced upon this blog in January 2010 while looking for the full lyrics of this poem.

Last week I again searched for any more clues about this rendition by Rafi Sahab and found that a documentary named “khud jiyo auron ko bhi jeene do” was listed in the archives of Films Division of india. This raises hopes that this song exists. So I have requested Sudhir Sir to try to find it.

But this celebration post cannot wait and it started on the blog and I needed a special song for this. Four posts on this 15KSMC have already appeared , awesome songs and posts by Peeviecee’s Mom, Avinash Ji, Shenoy ji and Ava ji. In my own searches and looking for inspiring song, I have just skimmed by these articles and not been able to give comments. All of these were relatively newer songs, so I looked for an old song. I found one Rafi Solo from the 50’s which should have been here already.

But just as I was trying to introspect and decide how to start the post and what to write in it, I remembered this endearing philosophical song rendered by Rafi Sahab in English. The song exhorts us to remember that the world is one and that we share one earth, sky and sun. For all that we know, we are alone in the universe. The universe out there is huge, mean and dangerous. It makes sense for the dwellers of this planet to stick together and not try to wipe each other out from the face of the earth. The past Civilizations of the bygone eras were destroyed due to natural calamities and due to excesses committed by humanity. There are traces of these bygone civilizations, some of which were literally rotten to death. There are continents on this earth, where the entire aboriginal races were eliminated to cater to the human greed of the so called civilized races. That was the era where the strong destroyed the weak for greed of land and resources and wealth.

Now the continents of the world and its controllers are invested in each other and are dependent on each other for accumulation of their virtual wealth and power. And the nation states of the modern world are sailing in the same seas. It is the financial interests of the market forces of modern civilsation, that guide the national pride and the fervor of strategically important market places. In this wider picture also the old adage “united we stand, divided we fall” holds good.

The lyrics of the song are written by Harindernath Chattopadhyay, to suit the meter of the song ‘Bahaaron Phool Barsaao” arguably the most popular song ever. The composers of these iconic songs are Shankar-Jaikishan.

The earnest and honest rendition by Rafi Sahab is to be heard and absorbed in the heart. This is Rafi Sahab singing in an unfamiliar language. He used write down the lyrics in urdu, which is the only language he knew to read and write. A humble person is showing us a wider picture in the mirror.
He tries to make us see ‘ A world his dignity demands. ‘ The Almighty creator looks at the world as one, so remember friends the world is one. And most major monotheistic religions of the world also believe that the human race is created from a single male and female.

So the Rafi song from 1950’s, which is my favorite period for widest range of Rafi Sahabs songs, will wait for its turn in this series. Just a reminder to myself, that I need to write a post each to commemorate 100 years of Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi Azmi and Shamshad Begum.

Meanwhile, to all those connected with blog, my fellow contributors and the kaptans, I extend heartiest congratulations on this milestone of 15000 songs, and wish that we all find the gems we look for in the musical khazana.

Song-Remember friends the world is one (Rafi NFS)(1970) Singer-Mohammed Rafi,Lyrics-Harindernath Chattopadhyay, MD-Shankar-Jaikishan

Lyrics

although we hail from different lands
we share one earth and sky and sun
remember friends the world is one
although we hail from different lands
we share one earth and sky and sun
remember friends the world is one

we want all enmity to cease
for we want peace
we all want peace
we want no hate
we want no strife
since we were born
for love and life

come let us chant while joining hands
we shall not rest till wars are done
remember friends the world is one
although we hail from different lands
we share one earth and sky and sun
remember friends the world is one

we have met here to dream and build
we want our dreams to be fulfilled
we have come here to dream and plan
a world of joy and hope for men
a world His dignity demands
a world that we shall see begun
remember friends the world is one

although we hail from different lands
we share one earth and sky and sun
remember friends the world is one

This article is written by Sudhir, 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.

Today, 29^th July, is the 66 birthday for Anoop Jalota, the renowned singer of classical and semi-classical music. Known as the Bhajan Samrat, his forte is in the arena of religious bhajans and devotional songs. Here is wishing him many many happy returns of this day.

Anoop was born this day in 1953, in Nainital. His late father, Purushottam Das Jalota has also been a renowned singer of devotional songs himself. Anoop got his initial education in classical music at the Bhatkhande Music Institute in Lucknow. He started his singing career as a chorus singer at All India Radio. Over the years, he has sung popular sugam sangeet and ghazals also. But he has not been as famous and successful in that area. He started singing devotional songs and for that, he has become very popular. He was honored with the award of Padam Shri in 2012.

His songs in Hindi films are quite limited, although I do find two songs by him already on our blog. Today’s song is from the 1977 film ‘Shirdi Ke Sai Baba’. This song is written by Pandurang Dixit and its music is also composed by him. On screen, this song is performed by Manmohan Krishan.

The film is produced by the Sarla Charities Trust, and is directed by Ashok V Bhushan. It is a screen adaptation of the biographical book on Sai Baba by the late Shri Govindrao Dhabolkar. The cast of actors includes Sudhir Dalvi in the title role, Manmohan Krishan, Raj Mehra, B M Vyas, Usha Chauhan, Beerbal, Nazeer Kashmiri, C S Dubey, Gurbachan Singh, Jyotsana Kirpekar, Preetam Balley, Vatsala Deshmukh, Ratanmala Pandit, Bhawna, Master Teeto, and Master Raju. The film has many special and guest appearances, viz., Rajendra Kumar, Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha, Premnath, Manoj Kumar, Madan Puri, Sachin, Dhiraj Kumar, Paintal, Krishan Dhawan, Satish, and Kuljeet.

Geet Kosh lists 9 songs for this film. Some are traditional, and the remaining are penned by Dev Krishan, Manoj Kumar and Pandurang Dixit. The latter is also the music director  for this film. One song of this film is already showcased here on our blog.

In this song, the on screen performer is Manmohan Krishan. He is leading a few others, including some police personnel and taking them to the place where Sai Baba resides.

This song was recorded in 1977, when Anoop would have been just 24 years of age. One can make out the difference in the quality of the voice – in this song and his singing 40 years hence, in the current period.

The Bhajan itself is written and composed very beautifully. Exhorting the listener to meditate on the universality of the message of brotherhood, and the underlying unity and commonalities of all the religions and beliefs. That is the message of Sai Baba – ‘Sab Ka Maalik Ek’ – that the Supreme One is the One and same for all people.

Song – Sumar Manwa. . . Sumar Re Panchtatva Suvichaar  (Shirdi Ke Sai Baba) (1977) Singer – Anup Jalota, Lyrics – Pandurang Dixit, MD – Pandurang Dixit
Chorus

Lyrics (Provided by Avinash Scrapwala)

sumar manwaa aa aa aa aa aa
sumar manwaa aa aa aa aa aa
sumar manwaa

sumar manwaa
sumar manwaa
sumar re panch tatva suvichaar

sumar manwaa
sumar manwaa
sumar re panch tatva suvichaar
ghat ghat bheetar jag mein nirantar
naad brahma saakar
sunlo pranav ki divya pukaar
sumar manwaa
sumar manwaa
sumar re panch tatva suvichaar

mera mera
kuchh nahin tera
chhod do ahankaar
paalo shaashwat soukhya apaar
sumar manwaa
sumar manwaa
sumar re panch tatva suvichaar

taaran aur phal
karm bhaagya ka
smar lo baaram baar
sunlo dharm chakra jhankaar
sumar manwaa
sumar manwaa
sumar re panch tatva suvichaar

chandra kor ka achal sahaara
kare sitaara ek aadhaar
maano shradhha ka ye saar
sumar manwaa
sumar manwaa
sumar re panch tatva suvichaar

aao jalaado
yagya agni mein
ye katu vishay vikaar
karlo daivi saakshaatkaar
sumar manwaa
sumar manwaa
sumar re panch tatva suvichaar
sumar manwaa
sumar manwaa
sumar re panch tatva suvichaar

ye stup aikya ka
prem dharm ka
satya shaanti ka dwaar
sandesh bhavya de
mantra divya de
sainaath avtaar
jai jai sainaath avtaar
jai jai sainaath avtaar

jai jai sainaath avtaar
jai jai sainaath avtaar
jai jai sainaath avtaar
jai jai sainaath avtaar
jai jai sainaath avtaar
jai jai sainaath avtaar
jai jai sainaath avtaar

———————————————————-
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Avinash Scrapwala)
———————————————————-
सुमर मनवा आ आ आ आ आ
सुमर मनवा आ आ आ आ आ
सुमर मनवा

सुमर मनवा
सुमर मनवा
सुमर रे पञ्च तत्व सुविचार

सुमर मनवा
सुमर मनवा
सुमर रे पञ्च तत्व सुविचार
घट घट भीतर जग में निरंतर
नाद ब्रह्म साकार
सुन लो प्रणव की दिव्य पुकार
सुमर मनवा
सुमर मनवा
सुमर रे पञ्च तत्व सुविचार

मेरा मेरा
कुछ नहीं तेरा
छोड़ दो अहंकार
पा लो शाश्वत सौख्य अपार
सुमर मनवा
सुमर मनवा
सुमर रे पञ्च तत्व सुविचार

तारण और फल
कर्म भाग्य का
स्मर लो बारं बार
सुन लो धर्म चक्र झंकार
सुमर मनवा
सुमर मनवा
सुमर रे पञ्च तत्त्व सुविचार

चन्द्र कोर का चल सहारा
करे सितारा एक आधार
मानो श्रद्धा का ये सार
सुमर मनवा
सुमर मनवा
सुमर रे पञ्च तत्त्व सुविचार

आओ जला दो
यज्ञ अग्नि में
ये कटु विषय विकार
कर लो दैवी साक्षात्कार
सुमर मनवा
सुमर मनवा
सुमर रे पञ्च तत्त्व सुविचार
सुमर मनवा
सुमर मनवा
सुमर रे पञ्च तत्त्व सुविचार

ये स्तूप ऐक्य का
प्रेम धर्म का
सत्य शान्ति का द्वार
सन्देश भव्य दे
मंत्र दिव्य दे
साईनाथ अवतार
जय जय साईनाथ अवतार
जय जय साईनाथ अवतार

जय जय साईनाथ अवतार
जय जय साईनाथ अवतार
जय जय साईनाथ अवतार
जय जय साईनाथ अवतार
जय जय साईनाथ अवतार
जय जय साईनाथ अवतार
जय जय साईनाथ अवतार

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.

Today’s song is from film Insaaf-1946. This was a social film, directed by Phani Mujumdar and the music was by Hari Prasanna Das aka H P Das. The lyrics came from the veteran, successful lyricist D N Madhok. This film is a special one, because this was the Debut film for Balraj Sahni, after he decided to join films.

Balraj Sahni has a very high place in my list of Original actors, the others being Ashok Kumar, Motilal, Om Puri, Sanjeev Kumar, Amol Palekar, Anupam Kher, Satish Shah and few more. Indian film industry had very few ‘ Natural’ actors and most of them operated from the 30s to the 70s. As I am not well acquainted with the Newer generation actors, I can not speak about them,but I am sure there must be few such Natural actors. I guess Ranbir Kapoor is one actor , who I feel acts with ease.

Basically, it is wrong to compare old actors with the crop of New actors. Comparisons are always between ” Like with Like”. There is a sea of change in everything in film making. The parameters are changed because the needs are different today. It is grossly unfair to compare anything with the old ones.

Few years back, when I first wrote about Balraj Sahni, I had said that Balraj Sahni was a different type of person than all other film actors. It is surprising how he came into film line, in the first place. Basically he was a very sensitive writer and stage actor, but having once entered the film world, he continued for the sake of earning a livelihood, making lot of compromises on his journey of life. I still stand by what I had said. It is worthwhile to even repeat it.

In the days,when not many educated people came into films, Balraj-a double MA in English and Hindi joined the films. In the conventional way he was not a handsome person,but his superior acting prowess compensated for this. In an industry,which is a ‘show business’, he was never counted amongst the Top grade stars, though critics and learned viewers always found him excellent. You can never imagine a Raj kapoor or a Dev Anand in a film like Seema or Kabuliwala, nor can a Dilip kumar fit into ‘Do Bigha Zameen’. For such roles Balraj was matchless. After the film Do Bigha Zameen, he and Nirupa Roy became India’s most loved, poor and uneducated, good natured and simple couple for many subsequent films.

Due to this, Balraj never got any romantic or Glamorous roles. However, to earn his daily bread satisfactorily, he compromised and worked in several B grade movies, like Black Cat-59, opposite a Non actress Minu Mumtaz !

Yudhishthir Sahni aka Balraj Sahni was born in Rawalpindi, Punjab, British India (now Pakistan) on 1st May, 1913 in a Punjabi family. After completing his graduation in Bachelor of Arts (Hindi), and post graduation in Masters of Arts (English Literature), both from Punjab University; he got married to Dayamanti. It was in late 1930s that both husband and wife moved to Bengal to join Rabindra Nath Tagore’s Vishva Bharati University in Shantiniketan as English and Hindi teacher. It was about the same time that in 1936 Balraj wrote his first compilation of Hindi fiction called “Shahzaadon ka Drink”. It was also in Bengal that Balraj and Damayanti’s son, Parikshit was born. In 1938, Sahni went to work with Mahatma Gandhi for a year and the very next year went to England to join the British Broadcasting Network’s Hindi service as a radio announcer. In 1943, he returned to India.

It was in 1944 that Sahni moved to Bombay and joined the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), a group with which he also started his acting career, albeit through plays. In the same year, he bagged a role in the film “Insaf”, which marked the beginning of his acting career in Hindi film industry. “Dharti ke Lal” and “Door Chalein” were his next of releases in the same year. (In 1947, after doing Heroine’s role in film Gudiya-47, Damayanti expired. Two years later, Balraj married his first cousin Santosh Chandhok and they had 2 children.) It was, however, the film “Do Bigha Zameen” that established his strengths as an actor. The movie was directed by Bimal Roy and came out in 1953; it also won the international prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is now considered a classic.

In the years that followed, he played many leading roles in commercial films opposite actresses like Nargis, Meena Kumari, Vyjayanthimala, and Nutan in films “Lajwanti” (1958), “Ghar Sansar” (1958), “Satta Bazar” (1959), “Kathputli” (1957), and “Sone Ki Chidiya” (1958) respectively. These films further established his position as a versatile actor. In the 1961, film “Kabuliwala”, written by Tagore, went on to become another of his classic. To prepare for the role, Balraj lived with kabuliwalas in a Bombay suburb. His character roles with strong performances in films like “Haqeeqat” (1964), “Waqt” (1965), “Do Raaste” (1969), “Ek Phool Do Mali” (1969), and “Mere Humsafar” (1970) further left an indelible mark in the film fraternity and fans alike. The legendary song “Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen” from the film “Waqt”, picturized on Balraj Sahni and Achala Sachdev is still etched deep in peoples’ memories and is loved by the current generation as well. He acted in 3 films.

Along with successfully proving his acting prowess, he also displayed exceptional directing skills through the film Lal Batti (1957), where passengers are forced to spend a night together at the railway platform at the time of India’s independence. Balraj co-directed this movie along with Krishan Chopra. His performance in the film “Garm Hava” (1973) is considered to be the best, till date. Sadly, this was his last film before his death.

Sahni’s writing career begun with “Shahzaadon Ka Drink” that came out in 1936. This was his first compilation of Hindi fiction. He went on to become an esteemed writer in the Punjabi literature. He wrote “Mera Pakistani Safar” shortly after his visit to Pakistan in 1960. After a tour to Soviet Union in 1969, he wrote “Mera Rusi Safarnama”. This book also earned him the Soviet Land Nehru Award. He also wrote his autobiography called “Meri Filmy Aatmakatha”. Sahni even penned the screenplay for the 1951 released film “Baazi”; starring Dev Anand and directed by Guru Dutt. Apart from this, he wrote a number of poems, short stories, and contributed to the Punjabi magazine Preetlari.

Going through depression for some time after his young daughter Shabnam’s untimely death, Balraj Sahni passed away on 13th April, 1973 at the age of 59 following a cardiac arrest. He is survived by his son Parikshit, who is also an actor in the Hindi film industry.

Balraj Sahni received Padma Shri Award in 1969. Balraj Sahni earned the ‘Soviet Land Nehru Award for his book Mera Rusi Safarnama in 1969. Balraj Sahni starrer movie ‘Do Bigha Zameen’ won the international prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953. Balraj Sahni joined the BBC-London’s Hindi service as a radio announcer from 1939-43. ‘Punjabi Kala Kender’, founded in 1973 at Mumbai by Balraj Sahni, gives away the annual Balraj Sahni Award’. ‘All India Artists’ Association’ also gives away the annual ‘Balraj Sahni Award’.

The other day,I was reading the Autobiography of Balraj Sahni. His style of narration is very good. He does not miss even the smallest details.The part of his life when he entered the Hindi films is extremely readable.

When he was with BBC, London,once he was deputed to attend a seminar in Poona,India. He came down with his wife Damayanti and they stayed with a friend-Appasaheb Pant, the scion and Yuvraj of Aundh-a princely state in British India, in Maharashtra.( He later became the High Commissioner to Britain, post Independence). One evening they all went to see a Marathi film “Manoos'(Aadmi-39) of Prabhat, directed by V.Shantaram. After seeing the film,he was terribly impressed with Shantaram’s direction and was all praise for him.
When Balraj left BBC and returned to India,he was again in Poona. This time he went to see Shantaram, with prior appointment. When he reached the Gate, a person was waiting for him. he was taken to the reception room. That man left. In the room there was one more person with a Black cap-which was very common for Maharashtrians, those days. Balraj thought he too was another visitor like him After few minutes, that man asked in excellent English if he was Balraj Sahni. Balraj was astonished and nodded affirmatively. That man got up and said,’I am Shantaram. Nice to see you’. Later Shantaram took him around the studio etc.

Balraj returned to Bombay absolutely mesmerized with Shantaram. While in Bombay they were loitering, when they suddenly met Chetan Anand- his old friend. They were very happy to see each others. Chetan took them to his 4 bedroom spacious flat in Pali Hill,Bandra.They stayed with him for few days. Balraj had decided to work in films and was negotiating for his role in film Insaf, while Chetan was busy in his Neecha Nagar-46. One evening they went to see film ‘Shakuntala’, made by Shantaram. After seeing the film Balraj was very much upset and started criticising Shantaram that his standard has gone down, compared to Aadmi-39.

Chetan Anand smiled and said, “Shantaram has made a film for Box office.” Balraj did not understand. Chetan Anand explained, ” One can not go on making art films alone. To run the studio, you need money. Shantaram being a good businessman, he makes such films which earn him money. With this money he can make more meaningful films. For example after Shakuntala, Shantaram made Parbat pe apna Dera-44 and then his memorable film Dr. Kotnis ki amar kahani-46. This is how the maths of cinema works”. There are many such incidents described in his Autobiography which is highly readable,not only for his story but also for glimpse into the film scenario of the 40s and 50s.

Balraj had done 101 films. His first film was ‘Insaaf’-46 and the last film of Balraj, to be released well after his death was “Amaanat”-77.

The film Insaaf-46 was directed by Phani Mujumdar (28-12-1911 to 16-5-1994),who was already a seasoned Director. He is the only Director who directed films in 9 languages (Hindi, Bangla, English, Malay, Chinese, Magadhi, Maithili, Aasamese and Punjabi). Starting with P C Barua in Calcutta, besides Street singer-38 and Kapalkundala-39, he had directed several hit films like Baadbaan, Doctor, Tamanna, Door Chalen, Faraar, Aarti, Kanyadan, Akashdeep, Oonche Log etc., a total of 29 films. A short Biography and Obituary on him, written by the famous Film Historian and writer of “Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema”-Ashish Rajadhyaksha was published in The Independent,Calcutta, on 22-6-1994. I have reproduced it few months back in one of my earlier posts, so I am not repeating it here.

The Music Director of this film, Hari Prasanna Das or H.P.Das was born in Chitgaon, East Bengal, in 1905. He was a Bengali. He was assistant to Pankaj Malik in films Dushman and Kapal Kundala-1939. He gave music to Bangla film ‘ Nimai Sanyasi’-40, in which he gave singing opportunity to 20 year old young Hemant Kumar. His first Hindi film as a MD was New India Films’ Blood Feud (or Josh-E-Inteqam)- 1935. His other films were Mohabbat-43, Meena-44, Kadambari-44, Mazdoor-45, Begum-45, Insaaf-46, Veerangana-47, Sati Toral-47 and Hum bhi insaan hai-48. He died on 26-9-1989.

The film Insaaf aka Justice aka Nyay (न्याय)- 1946 had 8 songs – all penned by D.N.Madhok (5-9-1902 to 9-7-1982), who was an actor (Radheshyam-32), Music Director (Radheshyam-32), Singer (Radheshyam-32), and a Director (16 films,from 1933 to 1955). As a Lyricist, he wrote 882 songs in 119 films (1932 to 1969).

2 songs from this film are already discussed here. Today’s song will be the 3rd song. It is a chorus song. Looks like a Marching song or similar one. I do not know the story line of this film. From the lyrics of all the songs ( I have all the 8 songs of this film with me), I feel it is a film about the battle between “The Haves and The Have Nots”. No wonder, a man of Socialistic leanings, Balraj Sahni made his beginning from such a film ! There is 1 solo and 1 duet of Manna Dey in this film. These are his earliest songs in Hindi films. Manna Dey was a joint MD with H P Das in 3 films – Veerangana-47, Sati Toral-47 and Hum bhi Insaan hai-48.

Now let us listen to this chorus song.

Song- Chala chal chalaa chal uthaa ke kadam (Insaaf)(1946) Singers- Chorus, Lyricist- D N Madhok, MD-Hariprasanna Das

Lyrics

Chala chal chalaa chal
uthaa ke kadam
bhaaga jaaye jagat
rah na jaayen ham
Chala chal chalaa chal
uthaa ke kadam
bhaaga jaaye jagat
rah na jaayen ham
?? chal diya hai magar
?? hain nahin
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
?? chal diya hai magar
?? hai jahaan walwale nahin
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
?? hai jahaan walwale nahin
pyaara watan
aa aa aa
pyaara watan
pyaara watan
pyaara watan
pyara watan
le na kahin dam
Chala chal chalaa chal
uthaa ke kadam
bhaaga jaaye jagat
rah na jaayen ham

maate tujhse ??
ghutnon ke bal par chalte jo
maate tujhse ??
ghutnon ke bal par chalte jo
uthha kadam
uthha kadam
uthha kadam
aa aa aa
uthha kadam
aa aa aa
?? se nahin kam
Chala chal chalaa chal
uthaa ke kadam
bhaaga jaaye jagat
rah na jaayen ham
Chala chal chalaa chal
uthaa ke kadam
bhaaga jaaye jagat
rah na jaayen ham

maate tujhse ??
ghutnon ke bal par chalte jo
maate tujhse ??
ghutnon ke bal par chalte jo
uthha kadam
uthha kadam
uthha kadam
aa aa aa
uthha kadam
aa aa aa
uthha kadam
?? se nahin kam
Chala chal chalaa chal
uthaa ke kadam
bhaaga jaaye jagat
rah na jaayen ham
Chala chal chalaa chal
uthaa ke kadam
bhaaga jaaye jagat
rah na jaayen ham
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa

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.

Today 5^th November is the eighth remembrance anniversary of Bhupen Hazarika (8 September 1926 – 5 November 2011). I am not adding any adjectives before his name because they will not do justice to describe the ‘personality’ he was, the monumental work he has done, the legacy he has left behind, and finally the ‘human for humanity’ he was.

I have always wanted to write an article on him since I came in to the contact with the blog. And that was only about how I get introduced to the ‘World of Bhupen Hazarika’ through his album ‘Main Aur Mera Saaya’ (2/1993) and his songs like from the movies that I know ‘Rudaali’ (1993) and others, and the famous non-film song “O Ganga Behti Ho Kyon. . .”.

I still remember the day 14^th May 1993 (I was staying at Kota-Rajasthan then) when I bought ‘Main Aur Mera Saaya’ on HMV Cassette and me and one of my colleagues from Bengal listened to it. First time I just listened and was curious to know from my friend about the information on Bhupen Hazarika that he was aware of. Thereafter that evening I keep listening to the cassette changing sides till I went to sleep. That was the magic of the voice of Bhupen Hazarika and also the lyrics of the songs describing the various ‘common individuals in the society – the poor, the downtrodden, the suppressed ones’ and specially depicting the culture of Assam.

Around the same time, I think (June-July of 1993) the songs of ‘Rudaali’ were released and had became popular so the cassette of ‘Rudaali’ too became a part of my collection. Before that the Dadasaheb Phalke award for 1992 was announced; it was conferred on Shri. Bhupen Hazarika for his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema and music. After that I think his album with the song “O Ganga Behti Ho Kyon. . .”, couple of songs from ‘Darmiyaan’ (1997) and other non-film songs was released which I bought during my stay at Bareilly.

I was also always remembering the title song from the TV serial ‘Lohit Kinaare’, I think it had the voice of Bhupen Da (if I am not wrong) , but in spite of my continuous search for it I have not been able to find it till date. In between over the years I was only aware of his Assamese and Bengali version of his song “Aawaara Hoon. . .”, which is “Moi Eti Jajabor” in Assamese and “Ami Ek Jajabor” in Bengali. And of course of the Assamese and Bengali versions of the song “O Ganga Behti Ho Kyon. . .” i.e. “Bistirno Parore Ahankh Janore” and “Bistirno Duparer Ashankha Manusher’ respectively.

All these years all of his collection that I was having was always motivating me whenever I listened to the songs and I always cherished this valuable collection with me. After that almost a year back during my regular browsing I got to read about his personal life, his journey from his early years that made Dangor Moina, a child from Sadia, into a towering personality – Bhupen Hazarika. And I realized that one has to read more and more, or if possible, one has to literally live the life of Bhupen Hazarika to understand Bhupen Hazarika in its true ‘human’ spirit. And that surely requires a very detailed post separately.

On his birth anniversary this year (8^th September, 2019) when Atul ji presented a post with his song “Ek Kali Do Pattiyaan” and mentioned about the original Assamese version of that song, I immediately checked for it and listen. And I was very excited and happy to enjoy it in Assamese language.

Just a couple of weeks later, there was a discussion on the song on ‘Brahmaputra’ in the ‘Atulites-whatsapp’ group where Atul ji mentioned about the folk singer Kalpana Patowary, so just one day I searched for her songs and came across a link of her performance in the TV musical program ‘Junoon’ where after her performance one of the judges Ila Arun asks her to sing the song of Bhupen Hazarika i.e. “Manuhe Manuhar Babe. . .”. So I looked for this song. When I listened to it first time I was lost in that song and from that day there is not a single day when I have not listened to this and other songs of Bhupen Hazarika in Assamese and Bengali whether I understand it or not.

But, as Bhupen Da himself mentioned in one of his interviews , what MF Hussain had said about him that “. . . when he sings – he paints.”. Here, I would like to add that not only we get to see the picture in front of us, but when he sings, we get involved in those feelings and emotions of those characters that Bhupen Da is singing about, and we unknowingly step into the soul of those characters.

Well, Atul ji’s post and the discussion on the group prompted me to look for the original Assamese and Bengali versions for his songs from the album ‘Main Aur Mera Saaya’. I keep finding them and also found some of them which are given in the table below for those who are interested to listen them. Rather I would request all to please listen to them to understand the ‘nuances’ (as Gulzar saab has said in his commentary in the album ‘Main Aur Mera Saaya’) of the characters.

I would request our knowledgeable readers to correct me wherever I had made a mistake and also please provide either the Bangla or Assamese version for the Hindi songs that I have been unable to find in the above list. Also, I would apologize if I have made any mistake in the text while mentioning the songs title in either Assamese or Bengali elsewhere in this post.

Now, coming back to “Manuhe Manuhar Babe”, I found one video link wherein Bhupen Da himself is performing on this song and the details mentioned that this song was composed by him in 1964. And there, just this thought crossed my mind to check if there is a Hindi version of this song since it was the oldest song of Bhupen Da so I thought this should have been naturally translated in Hindi long back and this song both in Assamese and Bengali “Manush Manusher Jonno” (that Atul ji mentioned in his post ), are very popular one. But I could not gather the exact translated words for this song in Hindi if at all the song was made. But finally, I got it when I was listening to the various links available for the song “Insaanon Ne Paise Ke Liye” for Sahir Saab’s Remembrance Day.

So, when I was browsing for the song “Insaanon Ne Paise Ke Liye”, I noticed a link in the suggestions having Bhupen Da’s song “Insaan Insaan Ke Liye” and as I listened to it I had got the song I was looking for. And not just that it was already in the movie which was a Hindi version of ‘Chameli Memsaab’, I also got to listen another one “O Bideshi Bandhu”. What a song that is too. . . as we keep listening they keep growing more and more. . . and more. . .

And nowadays, there is not a single day when I do not listen to Bhupen Da’s song in Assamese or Bengali (even though I do not understand the words fully. But I must say they are very sweet, melodious and healing too). For example, I have listened innumerable times to “Akhom Dekhor Bagisare Sowali” in the voice of Usha Mangeshkar. And then its Bangla version “Asom Desher Meye Aami”. However, it seems that this song was not translated and included in the Hindi version of this movie.

Then there are few songs like “Shahid Pronaamo Tomak” which I like very much. And one song that Bhupen Da has mentioned in the interview (that I referred to above)  “Agnijugor. . .  Nuton Akhom Gadhi, Nutan Bharat Gadhi” which I need to listen, but so far have not found the link for it.

Now I also wish to learn Assamese and Bangla. And as many peoples say very rightly that we should always try and learn the Indian languages other than our mother tongue too. And that is the magic of our rich cultural heritage and of our ‘Unity in Diversity’. Even Bhupen Da an ambassador of ‘humanity’ also plays his role in the process of ‘national integration’ when he talks about that in the above interview.

And that bring us to the song of today, which has been taken from the Hindi moive ‘Chameli Memsaab’ (1979). Bhupen Da won the national award for the ‘Best Music Director’ for the Assamese movie ‘Chameli Memsaab’ at the 23^rd National Awards – 1975.

‘Chameli Memsaab’ (Hindi) was directed by Ajit Lahiri for Elem Films, Calcutta. It has Abha Dhuliya, Tom Alter, Freddy Stroud, John McKenzie, Mrs. Freddy Stroud, Carol Alter, Pallavi Mehta, Master Raju, Sushant Sanyal, Mithoon Chakravarty and others. HFGK does not mention about the date of passing of this movie by the Censor Board.

This movie has four songs including one multiple version song. Lyrics for the songs are written by Gajanan Sharma (three songs) and Deep Narayan Mitholiya (one song). Music is composed by Bhupen Hazarika. Bhupen Hazarika, Kamal Ganguly, Arundhati Holme Choudhary and Ila Basu gave their voices to the songs in this movie.

Today’s song is sung by Bhupen Hazarika and Kamal Ganguly and the lyrics are by Deep Narayan Mitholiya (I think singer Kamal Ganguly and lyricist Deep Narayan Mitholiya will be making a debut on this blog).

Let us now enjoy today’s song and welcome ‘Chameli Memsaab’ (1979) on the blog. Let us also remember the great human being Shri Bhupen Hazarika. And remember that we still have a long way to go to explore the writer, composer and singer Bhupen Hazarika.

Thanking Bhupen Da for the vast musical treasure trove of the ‘soul and fragrance of India’

Song – Insaan Insaan Ke Liye, Jeevan Jeevan Ke Liye  (Chameli Memsaab) (1979) Singer – Bhupen Hazarika, Kamal Ganguly, Lyrics – Deep Narayan Mitholiya, MD – Bhupen Hazarika
Bhupen Hazarika + Kamal Ganguly
Chorus

Lyrics

insaan insaan ke liye
hmm hmm hmm
jeewan jeewan ke liye
hmm hmm hmm
zaraa si hamdardi ka wo
hmm
kyon haqdaar nahin
o bandhu
insaan insaan ke liye
hmm
jeewan jeewan ke liye
hmm hmm
zaraa si hamdardi ka wo
hmm hmm
kyon haqdaar nahin
o bandhu
insaan insaan ke liye

aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa

insaan insaan ka saudaa kare ae
wo ise rozgaar kare ae
insaan insaan ka saudaa kare
wo ise rozgaar kare
itihaas puraana agar palte
kya sharmaaoge nahin
o bandhu
insaan insaan ke liye ae

kya nuksaan tujhe ae
jeewan ki gehri bhanwar
paar ho tere sahaare ae
kamzor log agar
hmm hmm hmm hmm
kya nuksaan tujhe ae
hmm hmm
jeewan ki gehri bhanwar
paar ho tere sahaare ae
kamzor log agar
hmm hmm
insaan agar na ho insaan
shaitaan kabhi naa hota insaan
insaan agar na ho insaan
shaitaan kabhi naa hota insaan
shaitaan agar ho jaaye insaan
shaitaan agar ho jaaye insaan
kya sharmaaoge nahin
o bandhu

insaan insaan ke liye
hmm hmm hmm
jeewan jeewan ke liye
hmm hmm hmm
zaraa si hamdardi ka wo
hmm
kyon haqdaar nahin
o bandhu
insaan insaan ke liye
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa

————————————————————————————-
Devnagri Script lyrics (Provided by Avinash Scrapwala)
————————————————————————————-

इंसां इंसां के लिए
जीवन जीवन के लिए
ज़रा सी हमदर्दी का वो
क्यों हक़दार नहीं
ओ बंधू
इंसां इंसां के लिए
जीवन जीवन के लिए
ज़रा सी हमदर्दी का वो
क्यों हक़दार नहीं
ओ बंधू
इंसां इंसां के लिए

इंसां इंसां का सौदा करे ए
वो इसे रोज़गार करे ए
इंसां इंसां का सौदा करे ए
वो इसे रोज़गार करे ए
इतिहास पुराना अगर पलटे
क्या शरमाओगे नहीं
ओ बंधू
इंसां इंसां के लिए

क्या नुक्सान तुझे ए
जीवन कि गहरी भंवर
पार हो तेरे सहारे ए
कमज़ोर लोग अगर
इंसां अगर न हो इंसां
शैतान कभी ना होता इंसां
इंसां अगर न हो इंसां
शैतान कभी ना होता इंसां
शैतान अगर हो जाए इंसां
क्या शरमाओगे नहीं
ओ बंधू

इंसां इंसां के लिए
जीवन जीवन के लिए
ज़रा सी हमदर्दी का वो
क्यों हक़दार नहीं
ओ बंधू
इंसां इंसां के लिए

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.

Today’s song is from a bilingual ( Hindi/Gujarati) film Krishna Bhakta Bodana-44. I was not aware of who Bodana was. I was knowing about films Krishna Bhakta Sudama-80, as well as films Krishna-Sudama-1933, 1947, 1957, and 1979, but Bodana was an unfamiliar name to me. I came to know about this film first time in 2014, but I just ignored it.

Recently, when one of my friends from another country sent me a rare song from this film, I got curious about it and started searching for information about the film, about Bodana and the making of this film.

During my last 6 years of writing on old films and music, I was fortunate to discover some rare “Pearls”, like singer Abhram Bhagat or singer Tamancha Jaan from Lahore’s Heera Mandi. I had heard the bhajans of Abhram Bhagat when I was about 9-10 year old, when my father brought home a record of his Bhajan – “Haath chakra trishul Sadashiv, alakh jagaate hain nagari mein”. This Bhajan became a favourite in our family and we had that record for many years.

In the year 2012 – after over 60 years – I bumped into this song on You Tube, but before I could download it, the song disappeared, only to reappear in 2013. This time, I noted that it was uploaded by a music lover from Australia. Anyway, I got that song, collected information about Abhram Bhagat and wrote a detailed article on him, which was posted here on 20th April 2013.

The other name Tamancha Jaan, was first noticed by me when I read a book by Pran Neville, on his memoires of Lahore, namely “Lahore – A sentimental journey”. By coincidence, her name popped up again in another book by Anupama Dutt also. This aroused my interest and I collected information oh her. Based on it, I wrote an article on Tamancha Jaan of Lahore, which was posted here on 21-6-2014.

The third singer I discovered was Master Vasant Amrit of Surat – a revolutionary poet singer , when I read a book “Aap ki Parchhainyan” written by five times winner of state Academy Awards of Gujarat- Shri Rajnikumar Pandya ji of Ahmedabad. I wrote a detailed article on the singer, which was posted here on 20-7-2014. The book had mentioned that Master Vasant Amrit had acted in only one Hindi film – Krishna Bhakta Bodana-44. Now, when I received the rare song of this film, from my friend, I remembered this reference and felt very glad.

Film KBB (Krishna Bhakta Bodana-44) was a Wadia movietone film, directed by JBH Wadia. Wadia brothers were actually famous for making Stunt/Action, Fantasy and Costume drama films. JBH Wadia, who was the elder of the two, judged that Genres of such films had a short life, whereas the Genres of Social films had a longer life. So, he proposed that Wadia Movietone start making Social films, rather than making only stunt films hereafter. The younger brother Homi Wadia, had opposite opinions. He insisted on continuing with stunt films.

On this issue, the brothers separated and Homi Wadia started his own “Basant Pictures”, in 1942. All the action film artistes, including their Heroine Fearless Nadia joined Homi Wadia and he blissfully continued making stunt films with Nadia. JBH Wadia, true to his belief, made social films. Film KBB was also one of such films advocated by JBH Wadia. It was based on a folk tale of Gujarat, about a staunch devotee of Krishna – Vijayanand Bodana, who is credited as one responsible for establishing the Ranchhod Rai temple at Dakore in Kheda district (about 30 kms away from Anand-the seat of AMUL).

The film was made in Gujarati and Hindi. For the main lead role, Master Vasant Amrit of Surat was chosen, because he had become a legendary revolutionary poet singer , in those years, in Gujarat. For detailed information on Master Vasant Amrit, please read my article on this Blog. JBH Wadia had directed the film. Pt. Indra had written all the 9 songs and the music was composed by Avinash Vyas and Shankar rao Vyas. The cast of the film consisted of Master Vasant Amrit, Rani Premlata, Meera, Badripershad, Gulab, Nayampalli etc.etc.

The female lead in this film , Rani Premlata was a well known Gujarati stage and film actress of Gujarat. She had acted only in 2 Hindi film. The first was film “Prem ki Devi”-36, made by Star Films of Calcutta. The other one was KBB-44 in Bombay. She also acted in 11 Gujarati films, starting from Janeta-47 to Raja Bhartruhari-49. No further information is available on her anywhere. The above information is given by Harish Raghuwanshi ji, whom I must thank heartily. Now, let us know who was Bodana and how the temple at Dakore got established.

The present Dakor owes its raison d’etre not to Dank Rishi but to Bodana, a great devotee of Lord Krishna. In his previous birth, he is supposed to have lived in Gokul and been a cowherd called Vijayanand. On one ‘Holy’ day, all the cowherds except Vijyanand worshipped Lord Krishna. His wife too worshipped Lord Krishna. But Vijayanand was proud and stayed at home. Lord Krishna came to his house in disguise of his friend and sent him to perform ‘Holi’ puja. Coming back, he realised that his friend was none else but Lord Krishna. Next day they fought a battle of colour. Lord Krishna lost and fell into the river. Vijyanand went after him where Lord Krishna revealed his true self. Vijyanand begged forgiveness. Lord Krishna took pity on him and solaced him with a boon that he would be born in Gujarat again in Kaliyug after 4200 years as Vijayanand Bodana in the house of a Kshatriya and his present wife Sudha would again be his wife, called Gangabai, when he will give them a glimpse (darshna) and relieve them by offering them emancipation (Moksha).

So as the legend would have it, ‘Vijayanand Bodana’, a Rajput of Dakor, becomes a staunch devotee of Lord Krishna. He used to let the basil plant (Tulsi) grow in an earthen pot with him on his palm and used to go every six months to Dwarika to worship Lord Krishna with the said Tulsi leaves. He did this continuously, unfailingly and untiringly till he was 72 years he then began to find it increasingly difficult to pursue this ritual. Seeing his plight, Lord Krishna told him that on his ensuing visit to Dwarika, he should bring a bullock-cart with him and Lord Krishna would accompany him to Dakor as he was exceedingly pleased with his devotion.

Accordingly, Bodana went with bullock-cart to Dwarika. Hindu Vaghers who were the 1st hereditary priests of Dwarika handled over the temple to gugli Brahmins due to their indulgence in fighting freedom wars against British empire. So these 2nd priest tribe of Dwarika (Gugli Brahmins) asked Bodana as to why he had brought a cart with him. Whereupon, Bodana replied that he had done so to take away Lord Krishna. Looking to the ramshackle cart, they did not believe him but nevertheless locked and sealed the sanctum sanctorum of Dwarika Temple for the night. At midnight, Lord Krishna broke open all the doors, awoke Bodana and told him to take him to Dakor. Shortly afterwards, Lord Krishna called upon Bodana to rest in the bullock-cart and drove the cart himself till they reached the vicinity of Dakor. Here (near Bileshwar Mahadev on Dakor-Nadiad road) they rested for some time, touching and holding a branch of Neem tree. He woke up Bodana and asked him to take over. Since that day, this Neem tree is found to have one sweet branch though the rest of the branches are bitter and it forms the subject of a well-known Gujarati song (bhajan).

In Dwarika, the Gugli Brahmins finding the image missing chased Bodana and came to Dakor in pursuit. Bodana was frightened but Lord Krishna told him to hide the idol of the deity in the Gomti tank and meet the Guglis. Accordingly, Bodana hid the idol and went to meet the Guglis with a pot of curd to pacify them. They became angry and one of them threw a spear at him. He fell down dead. While hurting Bodana with a spear, it also hurt the image of the deity hidden in Gomti tank and the water turned red with Lord Krishna’s (Ranchhodraiji’s) blood. It is said that even today the earth of Gomti tank where the image lay is red while rest of the tank is of brown mud.

In the midst of Gomti tank, over the place where Lord Krishna was hidden, a small temple having the Lord’s foot-prints is constructed and this temple is linked with the bank of Gomti Tank by a bridge. Even with the death of Bodana, the Guglis were not appeased. Requesting Lord Krishna to return to Dwarika, they sat on the bank of Gomti tank and went on a hunger strike.

At last, Lord Ranchhodraiji (Krishna) directed Gangabai, wife of Bodana, to give gold equivalent of his weight and ask the Guglis to return to Dwarika. Poor lady, the widow of Bodana, was a pauper and could not afford to do so. By a miracle, the idol became as light as a golden nose-ring (1, 1/4 val i.e.1/2 gram in weight) which was all that the widow of Bodana Gangabai had.

The Guglis were disappointed but the Lord mercifully directed that they would find after six months an exact replica of the idol in Savitri Vav at Dwarika. The impatient Guglis looked for the idol sometime earlier than they were told and as a result, found an idol which, though similar to the original one, was smaller, Pilgrims to Dakor still visit the places stated to have been associated with the legend viz. Where the branch of Neem tree under which Lord rested while coming to Dankpur subsequently turned sweet; where the idol was hidden in the Gomti tank; whereon the balance was set up to weigh the original idol which Bodana had enshrined. ( thanks to blessingsonthenet.com and wiki for above adapted information.)

So, here is the rare song from film Krishna Bhakta Bodana-44. It is sung by Manna Dey. Thanks to Sadanand Kamath ji for uploading this song, on my request. I do hope you will all like this song.

Song- Sambhal sambhal pag dharna baaba (Krishnbhakta Bodana)(1944) Singer-Manna Dey, Lyrics- Pt Indra, MD- Shankar rao Vyas
Chorus

Lyrics

Sambhal sambhal pag dharna aa baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna baaba
chala chali ke jag mein baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna
chala chali ke jag mein baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna
garv abhimaan kare kyun moorakh
garv abhimaan kare kyun moorakh
ant sabhi ko marna baaba
ant sabhi ko marna baaba
chala chali ke jag mein baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna

daata tera hisaab lega
daata tera hisaab lega
bande tu kya jawaab dega
bande tu kya jawaab dega
jhoothh kapat ka bhaar hai sar par
jhoothh kapat ka bhaar hai sar par
kaise paar utarna baaba
kaise paar utarna baaba
chala chali ke jag mein baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna

sundar kanchan kaaya teri
sundar kanchan kaaya teri
ik din hoye bhasam ki dhheri
ik din hoye bhasam ki dhheri
saadhu sant ki sewa karna
saadhu sant ki sewa karna
paap karam se darna baaba
paap karam se darna baaba
chala chali ke jag mein baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna baaba
Sambhal sambhal pag dharna

This article is written by nahm, 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.

Mohammed Rafi : The incomparable (II) – Song No. 15
———————————————————————–
It is very much true even today that the title of ‘Sone ki chidiya” suits India very well. This guileless person, named Mohammad Rafi is one of the genuine golden feathers of this ‘Sone ki Chidiya”

“Sona” in material terms as we all know is Gold, as in precious metal. And in our country traditionally and religiously Gold is treated as Goddess Laxmi. Other cultures in the world treat it as a precious metal and metal alone. But we in india have been revering “Gold” as much more than a costly metal. It is equated with wealth and prosperity. If a percentage of the country’s household are super rich, a bigger percentage of households are comprising of the so called middle classes and all of these people have amassed gold reserves in the families. I have seen women, mostly housewives saving up to buy gold jewelry. My own mother used to save up to years, so that she could get some small gold jewellery pieces. My mother’s savings habit has saved many a rainy day, if we believe the stories she tells of this event or that event. Many times the relatives will be in trouble and some or the other need will arise in the household and her savings or even gold jewellery was the only thing to be cashed.

It boggles the imagination to ascertain the quantum of gold stashed away in small or minute holdings even, over crores of households. And most of it will hopefully be useful in their hours of need. If a small token of wealth is not useful in saving a life or a way of paying a child’s school fees, than it is not ‘laxmi’, not really.

Southern India and it’s cultural make up is famous for flaunting its obsession with gold. Temples and shrines all over the country are reportedly laden with gold and jewelry, naturally donated by the devotees.

Since ancient times, the regions of present day india were part of the larger region broadly known as ‘Hind’ or ‘Hindustan’. This region is sometimes described as ‘sone ki chidiya’ in legends and ‘daastaan’. By now even if it has broken into many pieces and fragments, with conflict and strife spread over the whole region, with malice towards one and all, inside these fragmented nation states and elsewhere, it is worth reminding ourselves of the history and cultural heritage of our ancestors. A sense of preservation needs to prevail in our collective deeds, if this flourishing civilized society, invaded for centuries on end, and yet surviving all trials and tribulations, because of its thinkers, philosophers, poets, musicians and sant mahatma’s, is to continue the journey into eternity. Languages, arts and cultural values and music has always been the backbone of this heritage.

Some months ago I had written one article in hindi titled “sone ki chidiya” for the office magazine. I am including that article here for the readers benefit and contemplation.

– सोने की चिड़िया –
मकानी हूँ के आज़ाद –ए-मकां हूँ
जहां में हूँ के ख़ुद सारा जहाँ हूँ
वो अपनी लामकानी में रहें मस्त
मुझे इतना बता दें मैं कहाँ हूँ
कुछ दिन पहले मैं अपनी बहन के साथ एक मॉल में गयी । वहाँ घूमते हुए और दुकानों की चकाचौंध देखते हुए अचानक मेरी बहन जो वर्षों से गल्फ में बसी है, कहने लगी की यह बात बहुत उपयुक्त है की यह देश पिछले दो से तीन सौ सालों में दोबारा से ‘सोने की चिड़िया’ बन गया।
प्राचीन काल में हमारा भारत देश सोने की चिड़िया के नाम से मशहूर था यह सब तो हम ने किताबों में बचपन से पढ़ा है। यही वजह थी की हजारों सालों से इस सर – ज़मीन पर विदेशी हुकमुरानों ने बार बार आक्रमण किए । कुछ लोगों ने लूट मार की तो कुछ लोगों ने यहां की तहजीब में रच बस कर इसे और निखारा और संवारा और इस धरती का ‘सोने की चिड़िया’ खिताब को सदियों से बने रहने में अपनी अपनी भूमिका निभाई।

यह भी सम्झना आवश्यक है की ये वो ज़माना था जब सब तरफ ‘ माइट इस राइट ‘ का चलन था , जो कोई भी अपनी भारी भरकम सेना ले कर किसी दूसरे के राज्य पे आक्रमण कर फतेह कर ले वो राज्य उस का हो गया । और इस तरह इस फतेह किए हुए राज्याओं पर राज्य बनाए रखने के लिए ‘फ़िज़िकल माइट’ का बहुत महत्व होता था ।

ऊपर मैंने आक्रमण करने वाले हुकमूरानों के संदर्भ में न चाहते हुए या यूं कहें की बड़ा हिचकिचाते हुए विदेशी शब्द का प्रयोग किया। उस काल में तो हर क्षेत्र के लोग अपने आस पास के इलाक़ो के बाहर हर जगह को विदेश ही समझते होंगे । जबकि यह देश और विदेश की कल्पना उन्नीसवी / बीसवीं सदी में ही जागृत हो कर पूरे विश्व में फैल गयी और एक प्रकार का विभाजन हुआ और अलग अलग ‘nation states’ का चलन चला, चल क्या निकला , पूरा विश्व छोटे छोटे टुकड़ों में बट गया। कहीं मज़हब, कहीं भाषा, कहीं संस्कृति तो कहीं कुछ और, हर एक मुल्क अपनी अपनी सीमाओं में बंद हो गया । यह कैसा सोचों का, विचारों को, नदियों का, हवाओं का, पहाड़ों का, खेतों का, शहराहों का, शहर-क़स्बों का, तंग घाटियों का, द्वीपों का, क़िस्से कहानियों का, गीतों और रागों का, और जाने क्या क्या कुछ….. बटवारा हो गया । साथ ही बंटवारा हुआ प्राकृतिक संसाधनों का और कुदरत की दी हुई बेशुमार नयमतों का । बट गईं मानवता की धार्णएं और 21वी सदी में तो ऐसा लगता है की यह धरनाएं सिर्फ किताबों में सीमित हैं। पिछले युग के राजे महाराजे अपनी ताक़त के बल बूते राज्य करते और आज भी नेशन स्टेट्स अपना ‘पॉलिटिकल माइट ‘ इस्तेमाल कर न सिर्फ स्टेट पर बल्कि दूसरे स्टेट्स की प्रकृतिक संसाधनों पर भी अपना नियंत्रण बनाते हैं और उसे बनाए रखने के लिए हर एक मानव्य/अमानव्य हत्यारों का इस्तेमाल करने से बिलकुल संकोच नहीं करते। और इसी से ज़मीर के साथ conflict वाली स्टीथि भी है की जो कोई कार्य या विचार धारणा मेरे लिए सही है तो वही सोच और धारणा दूसरे के लिए गलत है । मुझे नहीं लगता की इस सृष्टि की रचना का उद्देश्य यह होगा की मानविक समाज इस तरह देशों, प्रान्तों ,भाषाओं और इन सब के प्रेम की आड़ में अपने अपने अहंकारों की, आत्महित के दायरे में, और चक्रव्युह में फंस कर, एक दूसरे से सदैव संघर्ष और तुछ लड़ाईयाँ लड़ता रहे। क्यूंकी आज भी जब हम आपस के संघर्ष को , अपने नजरियों का दायरा बड़ा कर के देखें तो यह सब तुछ ही हैं।
आज मानवता पूरी तरह से बटी हुई है । यह वो मनुष्य जाति है जो इस ब्रह्माण्ड में ईश्वर की सर्वश्रेष्ठ रचना है । सारी की सारी रचनाओं में सर्वश्रेष्ठ होना क्या होता है ये शायद हम मनुष्यों को रास न आया।

ऐसी अंतर्राश्त्र्य अनुशासन तथा सामाजिक तंत्र के चलते किसी एक व्यक्ति, कोन्सोर्टिउम, कॉर्पोरेट, या व्यवस्था या कोई नेशन-स्टेट को सोने की चिड़िया बने रहने में जो मनव्य मूल्यों के त्याग की आवश्यकता थी वो तो हमारी अर्थव्यवस्था कर ही चुकी है और इस की मानवता ने भारी क़ीमत भी चुकाई है और चुका रहें हैं हम सब ही व्यक्तिगत सतह पर। सिर्फ यह है की इस क्षति का और उस के परिणामों का आभास कुछ ही लोग कर पा रहे हैं।

एक और अनुभव जो पिछले कुछ महीनों में मुझे छू गया , उस का विवरण यहाँ करना उपयुक्त है।

मैं मुंबईकर हूँ और यही पली बढ़ी होने के कारण मुझे यहाँ के विद्यालयों के प्रति लगाव है। मेरे माता पिता के बाकी परिवार के सभी लोग बेलगाम (कर्नाटक) में रचे बसे हैं और हर तरफ फैल गए हैं। मेरे छोटे मामा के बेटे ने कुछ वर्ष पूर्व बेलगाम से पढ़ाई पूरी की थी, और नेत्र विशेषज्ञ के रूप में केरल में प्रशिक्षण कर रहा है। मैं ने उसे फोन किया यह पुछने की मैं मेरे बेटे के लिए मुंबई के अलावा कौन से कॉलेज में प्रवेश को प्राथमिकता दूँ। सारी औपचारिकताएँ समाप्त होते ही मैं ने मुद्दे की बात छेड़ दी । मेरी सारी बात सुनते ही पहली बात जो मेरे ममेरे भाई ने कही वो यह थी की आप अपने बेटे को बेलगाम में क्यूँ नहीं दाखिला दिलाते? मैं इस प्रश्न को सुन परेशान हो उठी, की यह सवाल मेरे दिल-ओ-दिमाग में दूर दूर तक नहीं आया। मैं ने अपने लहजे के पूरे आश्चर्य को बिलकुल भी न छिपाते हुए कहा की मुंबई और महाराष्ट्र में इतने अच्छे और नामचीन कॉलेज के होते हुए भी मैं मेरे बेटे के लिए बेलगाम का कॉलेज क्यूँ चुनुंगी । पर वो तो बिलकुल भी प्रभावित न हुआ मेरी बात से और अपने बिन्दु पर टिका रहा और कहा “क्यूँ बेलगाम की जीएमसी तो कर्नाटक के चोटी के 3 कॉलेज में है अच्छे कॉलेज की शिक्षा से काफ़ी फर्क पड़ता है “ । मैं ने कहा की ऐसा होगा लेकिन जब मैं मुंबई निवासी हूँ और यहाँ के 5 में से 4 कॉलेज पूरे देश की किसी भी सूची में चोटी के पंद्रह या बीस के अंदर ही आती हैं तो बेलगाम के कॉलेज के बारे मुझे विचार की भी आवश्यकता नहीं लगती।

इतनी बातचित के बाद भी मेरा ममेरा भाई मेरे दृष्टिकोण को नहीं समझ पा रहा था, तो अंत में मैं ने उस से कह दिया के वो अपने मित्र मण्डल में जो की महाराष्ट्र में पढे हैं उन से सलाह कर के मुझे यहां के कॉलेज की आपस में श्रेणी की सही सही जानकारी दे दे ताकि मेरे बेटे को उस के श्रेणी के अनुकूल मुंबई या मुंबई के बाहर के कॉलेज में प्रवेश मिल सके।

इस वार्तालाप के बाद मैं सोच में पड़ गयी कि वो एक चिकित्सीय व्यवसायिक होने के बावजूद क्यूँ नहीं समझ पा रहा या मान रहा की मैं मुंबई में हूँ जो की हमारे देश की दूसरी बडी जगह है चिकित्सीय शिक्षा के लिए, दिल्ली के बाद । फिर जब सोच की इंतेहा पर समझ आया की वो तो उस का दृष्टिकोण था । ऐसा बिल्कुल नहीं था की वह मेरी बात समझने की क्षमता नहीं रखता । लेकिन यह दोष उसके दृष्टिकोण का था जो उस को उसकी सोच के दायरे से बाहर देखने ही नहीं देता। क्यूंकी वो खुद बेलगाम से हैं और पढ़ाई पूरी वही की और अब भी वहीं जा के बसने की कामना करता है, और उसे अपने शहर और कॉलेज के प्रति बहुत गर्व भी है । यह सब जब मेरे दिमाग में और यादों के पर्दों से बाहर आया, तो प्रतीत हुआ की उस का नज़रिया उस को रोक रहा था मेरे नजरिये को देखने से । उस की सोच की सीमा वहीं तक सीमित है और वो उस से आगे देख नहीं पा रहा।

यही काम तो है सीमाओं का जो की मानवता को बांधने में, इस की मानसिक रूप से मर्यादित करने में सफल हो गयी हैं। सोच की सीमाएं, चाह की सीमाएं, अनजानी चीजों को देखने परखने में संकोच और ऐसी सीमित करने वाली मानसिक पीड़ाओं से हमारा समाज और सामाजिक-तंत्र बंधा हुआ है। हर कोई अपनी सोच और अपने दृष्टिकोण के आगे, बाहर या आस पास और उस से दूर पनपने वाली बेहतर और उच्च चीजों या बातों को अपनी पहुँच से बाहर पता है। ऐसा क्यूँ है ?

और देखिये क्या कहते हैं अललमा इकबाल :

सितारों से आगे जहां और भी हैं ।
अभी इश्क़ के इम्तेहान और भी हैं ।
तिही ज़िंदगी से नहीं ये फ़ज़ाएं
येहां सैकड़ों कारवाँ और भी हैं ।
कनाअत न कर आलम-ए-रंग-ओ-बु पर
चमन और भी हैं आशियाँ और भी हैं।
अगर खो गया एक नशेमन तो क्या ग़म
मुक़ामात-ए-आह-व-फुगाँ और भी हैं।
तू शाहीन है परवाज़ है तेरा काम
तेरे सामने आसमां और भी हैं ।
इसी रोज़-व-शब में उलझ कर न रेह जा
के तेरे ज़मान-व-मकां और भी हैं ।
गए दिन के तन्हा था मैं अंजुमन में
येहां अब मेरे राज़दान और भी हैं ।
***************

Also remembering this song :

jahaan daal par sone ki chidiya karti hai baseraa
woh bhaarat desh hai meraa

The Rafi song featured here is from the film ‘Johar in Kashmir’. The word ‘Johar’ means, a jewel or a gem and pearl. ‘jawahrat’ – is a word for collection of precious jewels, diamonds, pearls etc. ‘Johar’ also means talent or stupendous ability etc.

This song is written by Indeevar and composed by Kalyanji Anandji. The tune is reminding me of Jis ka koi nahin uska to Khuda hai yaaron from Laawaris.

Rafi sahab has rendered this song with his customary gusto. ‘Gusto’ is a word that Atulji used a lot in respect of Rafi songs years ago.

The message in the song is quite apparent. The I S Johar is the dervaish, giving sermons to all and sundry that the day of judgement is not far and none of the oppressors (those committing excesses on fellow beings) will be forgiven and allowed to go scot free.

Essentially what the dervaish is doing is trying to warn the oppressors to be afraid of God almighty and his wrath, ask for his forgiveness while there is still time. It is like trying to help the oppressors, by convincing them to stop the bad deeds and obtain forgiveness from the God Almighty.

Like this hadith:

Allah’s messenger (pbuh) said, ‘Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one.”
People asked “O Allah’s Messenger! It is all right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?”
The Prophet said, “By preventing him from oppressing others.”

Video :

Song-Aanewaala hai din qayamat kaa… koi zaalim na bakhsha jaayegaa (Johar in Kashmir)(1966) Singer-Rafi, Lyrics-Indeewar, MD-Kalyanji Anandji

Lyrics

Begunaahon ka lahu hai
ye rang laayegaa
begunaahon ka lahu hai
ye rang laayegaa
daag daaman pe na aaya
to dil pe aayegaa
aanewaala hai din qayaamat kaa aa aa aa aa
koi zaalim na bakhsha jaayegaa
koi zaalim na bakhsha jaayegaa
begunaahon ka lahu hai
ye rang laayegaa

hamaare bhai huye ham na huye
karbala ke sitam to kam na huye
zulm duniya mein ab bhi zinda hai
aadmeeyat hai ke sharminda hai
aadmeeyat hai ke sharminda hai
maa shaheedon ki ab bhi roti hai
zulm ki hadd bhi koyi hoti hai
haqq paraston ko bhi na-haqq maara
haay dil gham se hai paara paara
haay dil gham se hai paara paara
yazid ki ho hukumat ya kisi zaalim ki
har ek zulm ka insaaf kiya jaayegaa
har ek zulm ka insaaf kiya jaayegaa
aanewaala hai din qayaamat kaa aa aa aa aa
koyi zaalim na bakhsha jaayegaa
begunaahon ka lahu hai
ye rang laayegaa

zarre zarre mein guzar rakkhta hai
sab ki harkat pe nazar rakkhta hai
nek aur bad chhupaa nahi uss se
khudaa to sab ki khabar rakkhtaa hai
khudaa to sab ki khabar rakkhtaa hai
meher pe aaye to gaffar bhi hai
qehar pe utre to jabbar bhi hai
yun to har deen se upar hai khudaa
qadmeeyat ka tarafdaar bhi hai
aadmeeyat ka tarafdaar bhi hai
sholey nafrat ki dilon mein
na tu bhadkaa zaalim
apni hi aag mein tu
aap hi jal jaayegaa
apni hi aag mein tu
aap hi jal jaayegaa
aanewaala hai din qayaamat kaa aa aa aa aa
koyi zaalim na bakhsha jaayegaa
begunaahon ka lahu hai
ye rang laayegaa

nahin kaafi hai musalmaan honaa
bas nahin hafiz-e-quraan honaa
Allah ta’alaa ka pyaar paane ko
laazmi hai teraa insaan hona
laazmi hai teraa insaan hona
amal to saathh tere ho le gaa
khoon to sar pe chadh ke bole gaa
khudaa mazhab hi na dekhegaa teraa
teri insaaiyat bhi toley gaa
teri insaaiyat bhi toley gaa
pyaar par rakkhi hai buniyaad har ek mazhab ki
koyi talwaar pe rakkhegaa to kya paayegaa
koyi talwaar pe rakkhegaa to kya paayegaa
aanewaala hai din qayamat kaa aa aa aaaa
koyi zaalim na bakhsha jaayegaa
begunaahon ka lahu hai
ye rang laayegaa

tu ne pyaason se Pyaale chheene
tu ne honton se niwaale chheene
tu ne sham’ean jalaayin qabron par
aur makaanon se ujaale chheene
aur makaanon se ujaale chheene
dilon mein farq iss qadar daale
tu ne dariyaa bhi khoon se bhar daale
ek dharti banaayi Allah ne
tu ne tukde hazaar kar daale
tu ne tukde hazaar kar daale
tunaah kartaa hai tu kis ke liye soch to le
thaali haathon hi tu tanhaa yehaan se jaayegaa
khaali haathon hi tu tanhaa yehaan se jaayegaa
aanewaala hai din qayamat kaa aa aa aaaa
koyi zaalim na bakhsha jaayegaa
begunaahon ka lahu hai
ye rang laayegaa

ye padosi se ladaayi kaisi
sabhi bhaai hain judaayi kaisi
ye tabaahi ki saari baaten hain
iss mein insaan ki bhalaayi kaisi
iss mein insaan ki bhalaayi kaisi
nek neeyat ko tu armaan kar le
aadmeeyat ko tu imaan kar le
yahi islaam ki naseehat hai
apne dil ko bhi musalmaan kar le
apne dil ko bhi musalmaan kar le
hadd se aage na tu badh waqt hai kar le taubaa
roz samjhaane ko darvesh nahin aayegaa
roz samjhaane ko darvesh nahin aayegaa
aanewaala hai din qayaamat kaa aa aa aa aa
koyi zaalim na bakhsha jaayegaa
begunaahon ka lahu hai
ye rang laayegaa
daag daaman pe na aaya
to dil pe aayegaa

This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusaist of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Today’s song is from an obscure film Suhagan-1942. The film was produced by Sunrise pictures, Bombay. It was directed by a veteran, foreign educated director, J P Advani aka Jagatrai Pesumal Advani and the music was composed by Shanti Kumar Desai, for songs written by M R Kapoor. The cast of the film was Jahan ara Kajjan, Kumar, Radha Rani, Jilloo, Majid, Kesharbai, Bhudo Advani, Mirza Musharraf, Kalyani etc etc.

It is a well known fact that in the beginning of the Talkie film era, most actresses came from singing families or Kalawanteens(as called in Maharashtra and Goa) or Devdasis (Karnataka). Their entry in films was easier than other girls, because they knew Hindi/Urdu and had a singing skill too. Better looking girls became Heroines. Most such girls joined film line for mainly two reasons. One – they could earn much more in films than on the Kothas and with total independence and glamour too. And two – most girls harboured an unspoken wish to catch hold of a Seth ji or a rich person, marry him and then lead a more respectable life. On the Kothas, marriage was a no-no, by tradition. To achieve this, they did not mind being the second wife. However a marriage was a must to provide a legitimacy to their relationship.

There are umpteen number of examples of such marriages, which took place in film line, but I will not repeat their list here. majority of such marriages were long lasting. In these marriages too there were two types. one, where the girl became a highly respected member of the society, with specific contribution to husband’s business and the other type was , where the marriage failed or ended due to various reasons and the girls faced miseries and their end came in very pathetic conditions.

When I think of the second type, many examples come to my mind. The case of the beautiful singer actress Vatsala Kumthekar is the worst. After her husband Ibrahim Sheth died, she was thrown on the road. She lived on footpath as a beggar. Later, she became mad and one day she died on the footpath. Someone from the onlooking crowd recognised her and next day her news came in papers. She was cremated by the Municipality as “an unclaimed body”.

Similarly, the life of singer actress ( with knee length hair) Rattanbai also ended as a beggar, near Haji Ali Darga, after husband Hafiz ji died. Sridevi, the second ‘wife’ of Khemchand Prakash, lived for 40 years on the footpath as a mad woman, after his death in the hospital (MP Javed Akhtar stated this in the Rajya Sabha also, once).

Of course, not all marriages went sour. There were some really couragious and capable girls, who contributed not only to husband’s success, but also created their own images in the society. One such wife was Gohar Mamajiwala, who stood by Chandulal Shah in his hard times as well as shared all responsibilities of running Ranjit studios. She was highly respected in film industry. Another such lady was Sardar Akhtar, Mehboob’s wife. Then there was Indurani, wife of Ramniklal Shah, who brought up her sons and daughters with high grade education and settled with them in the USA. The first Heroine of Hindi films, Zubeida who married Raja Dhanrajgir of Hyderabad (a Jagirdar), led a very respectable high end life after marriage. Jaddanbai also created her special image in the industry.( recently I have written about her in details.)

Today, I will talk about a girl from Tawayaf family, who did not marry anyone, but led a condensed life of 50 years in just 30 years, lived like a Fashion Icon of her times, a heart throb of many a rich and handsome (& some not so handsome, but ‘stinking’ rich) persons, a very successful singing actress, famous all over India and one who remained a beautiful maiden till she died.

Yes, I am talking about Jahan Ara Kajjan. She, along with handsome Master Nissar, mesmerised the audiences with beauty and songs, in the beginning of Talkie era. She contributed substantially in helping the Talkie films to have a strong foothold in the first 3 years of the era itself. She also helped to bury the Silent films by 1934, without being a strong contender to Talkie films. Remember, Silent films did not die because it lost audience, but it died because there were no theatres left without a Talkie film sound system ! Every theatre wanted to run Kajjan’s films. She was one actress of the early era, who never worked in any silent film. She jumped from stage dramas onto the Talkie films as a leading lady !

Her first film was Madon Theatre, Calcutta’s “Shirin Farhad”-1931. A little more luck to Madon’s and their Talkie “Shirin Farhad” would have been India’s First Talkie film. It was technically superior, having a solid content, good cast, good songs, costumes etc., it had started shooting earlier, but they missed the boat by few weeks and film “Älam Ara”- much inferior in quality and songs etc, took the honours !!

JAHAN ARA BEGUM KAJJAN was born in Patna, Bihar, on 15-2-1915, to mother Suggan bai and Nawab of Bhagalpur. Her mother was a famous singer from Lucknow. Kajjan belonged to a family of professional artistes, who carried the tag of tawaifs or courtesans. They were also invited by the princely courts and aristocracy to perform at their private mehfils. With their refined manners, they provided stimulating company to the male elite. An established code of conduct ruled out marriage in their profession but they were allowed to have a liaison with a chosen patron. Kajjan’s mother Suggan apparently had one such relationship with her father.

She grew up in Patna. She got lot of attention for her education. She was taught Urdu at home and her maternal grandfather Syed Hussain taught her English. She being very clever, soon became proficient in both languages. At the same time she learnt household chores also. She learnt music under the guidance of Ustad Husnu Khan of Patna. Singing was in her blood anyway. She was very beautiful. Her interest and expertise in languages developed her to become a Poetess and her poems in Urdu were published in Magazines, under her pen name ” Adaa”.

Because of her beauty and singing skills,she was invited to work on Urdu stage. Master Fida Hussain,who was a well known actor, singer, composer and director on Urdu stage had joined ‘Alfred Theatre co.’. It was owned by the Madons of Calcutta. Kajjan was taken in it and the troupe toured U.P. and M.P. During this period, Kajjan was romantically involved in Master Fida Hussain.

She used to appear on stage at the rate of Rs.250 per show per day. once when she was performing in Patna,one of the owners of Madon Theatres,Calcutta saw her and offered her roles in films. She immediately accepted it and went to Calcutta.

Silent film era was dominated by Parsee, Anglo-Indian and Jew girls,due to their white skin and open attitudes. Once the Talkie films started, they became useless as they did not know speaking in Hindi or singing. In such circumstances actresses like Kajjan got the opportunities. Her first film was ‘ Shirin Farhad’-1931. Paired with Master Nissar she sang 17 songs in this film. This pair became very popular. Her next film was ‘Indrasabha’ 1932,having a world record 71 songs in the film. Kajjan sang 29 songs in it. The film was based on the drama by Agha Hasan Amaanat.

In Calcutta Kajjan became very famous. She lived a rich and lavish life, mixing among the elite of Calcutta like Princes, Nawabs, High authorities, the mega rich etc. Her dresses and jewellery were talk of the women of the rich and the famous. She had instructed her designer to make only such sarees, which no one in India will ever wear! She was a regular invitee to even Viceroy’s parties.

She worked only with Madon Theatres. Brijlal Verma was the composer of Madon Theatres. It was a favourite quartet of Madon films, Brijlal’s music, Kajjan and Master Nissar. Together they ruled the early phase of Talkie films. Films like Shirin farhad-31,Laila Majnu-31, Shakuntala-31, Bilwamangal-32, Aankh ka nasha-33, Dhruva charitra-33, Turki sher-33, Zahreela saanp-33 had Kajjan songs by Brijlal Verma. During this period, she was the highest paid actress in India. Kajjan had a romantic affair with Brijlal Verma too. Kajjan also sang in Roopkumari-34, Sakhi lutera-34, Apradhi abla-35, and Mera Pyara-35 which had her songs.

Kajjan was a good dancer. She learnt Western dancing from Miss Ruqayya khatoon. She was among the regular dancers in Calcutta Clubs, along with actress Mahazabeen. Kajjan was friendly with westerners. She was fond of pets. For some time she had 2 tiger cubs as her pets and this became the talk of the town in Calcutta.

After Brijlal Verma, it was a rich financer, Seth Karnani,( he smelt horribly) who, just to impress Kajjan, bought the entire Madon Theatres for a sum of Rs. 24 lakhs in those days ! A very handsome actor of that era Najmul Hassan had a torrid affair with Kajjan. He is the same Najmul Hassan,who had eloped with Devika Rani – wife of Himanshu Rai, owner of Bombay Talkies, from Bombay to Calcutta. Devika Rani returned to her husband shortly, but he had to remain in Calcutta-for safety.

Kajjan worked in Gulru zarina, Swami bhakti, Alibaba aur chaalis chor and Jahan Ara also. By end of the 30’s, Madon Theatres closed down and Kajjan also stopped work for few years. No new films were coming and her money was depleting, so Kajjan shifted her base to Bombay.

In the early 40s, Kajjan worked in Abla shakti and Ghar sansar-42,Prarthana and Prithvi Vallabh-43 and her last film Bharthari-1944. The songs of Bharthari, composed by Khemchand Praksah also became very popular. Due to her sweet voice she was called ” The Lark of Indian Cinema”.

Jahan ara Kajjan died on 15-12-1945,at the age of only 30 years. 2 films,Jadui Putli-46 and Tiger Man-47 were released after her death.

During her lifetime she lived like a queen She became a Legend. She acted and sang in almost 40 films and sang about 80 songs, in her small career. During the period 1931 to 1937 there was a ” Kajjan Mania ” in India.Her styles and fashions were copied by the elite ladies.

(Credits and references- with thanks-
1.Stages of life:Indian Theatre Biographies-By Kathryn Hansen, 2. Kamalp.blogspot.in, 3.Dhunon ki yatra-Pankaj Raag, 4.The Big Indian picture.com
5. Fida Hussain’s autobiography 6. Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, by Ashish Rajadhyaksha, 7. Asli Nakli chehere by Vithal Pandya and My own notes from diaries.)

For film Suhagan-42, MD Shanti Kumar Desai gave the music. Like actors, very few MDs survived from the early era to the modern era of the 80s and later. Except probably Anil Biswas, not many MDs from the 30s gave music in the period after 60s. Naushad and C Ramchandra were from early 40s. While CR ended in 70s, films of Naushad kept coming till 2005 (he died in 2006). But frankly, after few songlets of Pakiza-72, his music in later films was not even a shadow of his earlier charm. Shanti Kumar Desai was also from the 30s (Nav Bharat-34) but practically ended his music in 58 ( one delayed film released in 64).

He was born in Amreli, Saurashtra, Gujarat state on 3-3-1908. His family was in service as Royal Musicians, so he was exposed to music from childhood.He was an expert Harmonium player. To start his career, he came to Bombay and worked in H.M.V. as a Broadcaster. Here he came into contact with many composers and learnt how they operated and made tunes etc.

He was already giving music to Dramas, but wanted to join Film line as M.D. He got his first film Navbharat ( Jawanmard0-1934. In those days Gujarati producers and directors used to prefer Gujarati MDs. Thus out of his 36 films, 18 were done with Gujarati Directors like Sohrab Modi, Nanubhai Vakil, V.M.Vyas(4 films), Kanjibhai Rathod, Dhirubhai Desai etc. He also gave music to Gujarati films.

He gave music along with Madholal Master, Rafiq Ghaznavi, Pannalal Ghosh, Shyambabu Pthak etc. Famous singers like Rafi, Manna Dey, Zohrabai, Amirbai etc sang in his films during their early careers. Even Kishore Kumar’s early film Sati Vijay-48 had music by Shanti Kumar Desai. He gave music to films of early era actors like Prem Adib, Mehtab, Sitara Devi, Leela Chitnis, Jal Merchant, Ashraf Khan, Rajkumari, Mazhar khan, Shanta Hublikar, Jairaj, E Billimoria, Kumar, Sardar Akhtar, Chandramohan, Shobhana Samarth, Durga Khote, Shahu Modak and Sulochana.

From 1934 to 1948, he gave music to 38 films. In 1964 his one film (Tere dwar khada Bhagwan) was released. He composed 333 songs. He never got films from top banners like Bombay Talkies,Prabhat, Sagar or Minerva, otherwise his career would have been different.

He died on 6-1-1986. Some of his better known films were Bholi bhikaran-36, Punarjanma-38, Anjaam-40, Suhaagan-42, Naukar-43, Ek din ka sultan-45 and Lav Kush-51.

There is one odd name in the cast of this film- Hadi. His full name was S.M.Mohammad Hadi. He was also known as Master Hadi, due to his knowledge of Music and singing. In early Talkie films, he gave music to films, singly and with other composers and also sang songs. But mainly, he was an actor from the Silent era.

No wonder he was seen in some films of the First year of Talkie films of 1931, like Draupadi, in which he had played the role of Shakuni. he sang 3 songs also. He was seen in other films like Abu hasan-31, and Daulat ka Nasha-31( he was one of the MDs). His acting in saubhagya Sundari-33 and Sulochana -33 was much appreciated. He is estimated to have acted in about 40 films till 1947.
Her sang 21 songs in 9 films- Draupadi-31, Daulat ka nasha-31, Anangsena-31, Madhuri-32, Aaj Kal-34, Stree Dharma-35, Karvaan-E-Husn-35, Bombshell-35 and Birbal ki Beti-35.

So, here is a song by Kajjan. Compared to her songs of the 30’s, this song of Suhagan-42 is nothing much to write home about. May be she was at the end of her career. After 2 more films, she sang her last song in film Bhartruhari-44, which became quite popular.

With this song, film Suhagan-42 makes its Debut on this Blog.

Song- Sewa dharm hamaara (Suhaagan)(1942) Singer- Jahanara Kajjan, Lyricist- M R Kapoor, MD- Shanti kumar Desai
Chorus

Lyrics

Sewa dharm hamaara
Sewa dharm hamaara
janm se sewak karm se sewak
janm se sewak karm se sewak
yahi hai karm hamaara aa aa
yahi hai karm hamaara aa aa
Sewa dharm hamaara
Sewa dharm hamaara

sabse oonchi pooja hai ye
sabse oonchi pooja hai ye
sabse oonchi bhakti
sabse oonchi bhakti
nirdhan ka sabse badhiya dhan
nirdhan ka sabse badhiya dhan
nirbal ki hai shakti ee ee
nirbal ki hai shakti ee ee
jeena to auron ki khaatir
jeena to auron ki khaatir
marna to auron ki khaatir
marna to auron ki khaatir
neki kar au(?) daal kuyen mein
neki kar au(?) daal kuyen mein
yahi moksh ka dwaara aa aa
yahi moksh ka dwaara aa aa
Sewa dharm hamaara
Sewa dharm hamaara

vrikshon par jo phal aate hain
auron hi ke kaam aate hain
khet jo kheti upjaate hain
gair hi usko kha jaate hain
ganga doodh na khud peeti hai
par sewa ka rann jeeti hai
baadal barsa laad ke laate
dharti ki wo pyaas bujhaate
sewa dharm hai nyaaraa aa aa
sewa dharm hai nyaaraa aa aa
Sewa dharm hamaara
Sewa dharm hamaara

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.

Today’s song is from film Aagey Kadam-43. This is an obscure movie, in the sense that no information about its story etc is available anywhere on the Net or Film India magazine issues. However, from the lyrics of its various songs, one can say that the film is about a love story set amidst Patriotic atmosphere. Of course, being British times, such films had to be careful, lest their raw material quota of Raw Film would get into problem, during the wartime controls. Further the tablet of patriotism has to be sugar coated, so as not to get into legal tangle like perhaps”Kismet” of Bombay Talkies !

Among the wartime films, from 1939 to 1945, I feel that the year 1943 was quite significant as many musical, noteworthy and successful films came up during this year. Taking a look at the films of 1943, we find that a total of 105 Hindi films were made in this year. For the 7 year period of 39 to 45, this was the highest number – the lowest being 1945 with just 74 films.

Films like Aabroo, Bhakta Raj, Hamaari baat, Hospital, Hunterwali ki beti, Ishara, Kanoon, Kashinath, Kismet, Mahatma Vidur, Manchali, Mazaq, Nadaan, Nagad Narayan (a remake of Marathi film-‘ पैसा बोलतो आहे ), Nai Kahani (one of the best songs of Hindi film history-” neend hamari, khwaab tumhare ” was from this film), Najma (first film of Mehboob productions), Namaste,, Pagli, Panghat (film Chitchor-76 had the same story), Paapi, Paraya Dhan (The only song by Deena Sanghvi Pathak), Poonji, Prithvi Vallabh (debut in a Bombay film by Meena Shorey), Ram Rajya (super duper Hit film), Sanjog (Suraiya’s playback to Mehtab), Shahenshah Akbar, Shakuntala (First film of Rajkamal Kalamandir of V Shantaram), Tansen (last film of Nagendra Majumdar-father of Ninu Majumdar,MD), Vishwas, Wapas, and Zamin (debut of Khurshid Jr.), made 1943 an year full of content, Music, Acting and entertainment.

Amongst these films, a movie like Aagey kadam-43 was nowhere to be noticed or remembered. The film was made by Acharya Art Production, owned by its director, N R Acharya. This is what Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema says about Acharya….N R Acharya,Hindi director (1909-1993) born in Karachi. Was a government contractor when he joined East India film Company in Calcutta (1934). Later worked as production manager at Bombay Talkies, where he directed the first examples of S. Mukherjee’s new regime, e.g. Bandhan and the Abbas script Naya Sansar. Became producer with KISHORE SAHU’s Kunwara Baap (1942). Continued producing under the Acharya Arts Prod. banner until 1950. Also made Gujarati films, e.g. Lagna Mandap.

FILMOGRAPHY-1940: Bandhan; Azad; 1941: Naya Sansar; 1942: Uljhan; 1943: Aage Kadam; 1949: Parivartan; Shohrat (with K. Amarnath); 1950: Lagna Mandap; 1956: Dhola Maru.

There were two MDs for this film- old timer Madholal Damodar Master and Ramchandra Pal- who was in Bombay Talkies, with Acharya. The cast of the film was Motilal, Anjali Devi, Mubarak, Rajkumari Shukla, Leela Pawar, Narbada Shankar and others. There were 8 songs, but in the absence of individual credit we do not know which song was composed by whom. Lyricist was Kailash Matwala. Out of these 8 songs, I have heard 7 songs and find them good songs with tune and rendition. One song of Motilal is already on the Blog.

The name Anjali Devi, which appears in the cast is not of the famous south actress Anjali Devi ( 8-12-1927 to 13-1-2014 ), who acted in films like Ek the Raja-51( dubbed film), Shuk Rambha-53,Ladki-53, Devta-56, Suvarn Sundari-57 etc etc. This Anjali Devi of the 40s was different. As usual, I find that the filmography of south Anjali devi includes films done by Anjali Devi of the 40s. This is what I call Same Name Confusion.

Miss Anjali Devi’s real name was Durgesh Kumari. She was born at Benaras in 1926 in a respectable Brahmin family. Her education was not much but she was fluent in Hindi, Urdu, English and Sanskrit. At the age of 14 years, she came to Bombay, to fulfil her desire of becoming an actress.

She joined Ranjit Films and worked in film Pardesi in the year 1940. The film was released in 1941. She was credited as Durgesh in this film. She was called to Bombay Talkies to work in film ‘ Punarmilan’-40, directed by Najam Naqvi. When a section of artistes, led by S.Mukherjee, left Bombay Talkies to start Filmistan in 42, one of the BT directors N.R.Acharya also left and started his own company Acharya Art Productions. Anjali Devi also left to join Acharya.

She acted in 3 films of Acharya, Kunwara Baap-42, Uljhan-42 and Aage Kadam-43. She later on acted in Paristan-44, and Parivartan-49. She then got married to N.R.Acharya and settled as a Housewife.

There is one more name-Rajkumari Shukla. There is scant information available on the net about her. Recently, I got her more information from an Urdu book ” Filmi Titlian” 1945, written by Bijli Jampuri from Hyderabad Deccan (that is my hometown). So here is her latest information for our readers…

Raj Kumari Shukla, She was born in a well-known Brahmin family in Calcutta in 1903. Her own life has been quite tragic. She had to join the film industry not so much because of personal choice, but due to tragic personal circumstances. Like most young girls from Indian families, this virtuous lady, well-versed in household chores, got married. But her family life after marriage proved to be extremely unhappy — so much so that one day her husband gave her a brutal beating and drove her from his house.

Finding no refuge anywhere, she went to Jagannath Puri (in Orissa) and lived there in an ashram. Gradually, her family history and marital problems became known to one of the priests there, and he informed her parents. Her elder sister then brought her back to her house.

One theatre actor known locally as Gujarati Baba used to live nearby. Sometimes, she would get some theatre passes from him and go to local theatres to see some plays. This not only helped her to forget her unhappy past but also kindled in her young heart the desire to act in plays. The Gujarati Baba then persuaded her to adopt acting as a profession. Accordingly, in 1933, she joined Maadan Theatre and began her career as a leading lady, Film-goers of those days can still recall her “hilaali abroo, tez aankhen, kushaada peshaani aur siaah zulfen”. She excelled in emotional roles.

Starting her career in silent films, she came into her own with the advent of “Talkies”. Apart from Maadan Theatre, she worked for other film companies too. Her memorable films included “Intezaar”, “Zevar”, “Jagat Mohini”, “Far’yaad”, “Chaandni”, “Sharda”, “Panghat”, Tulsi”, “Swami, “Ek Raat”, “Man Ki Jeet”, “School Master”, Dulhan”, “Badalti Duniya”, “Aankh Micholi”, “Raj Nartaki”, “Jhoola” and “Najma”. She now acted more as a character artiste and vamp. Her realistic emoting in such negative roles makes the audiences shiver in revulsion. Her roles in films like “Ek Raat”, “Swami”, “Jhoola”, “Far’yaad” and “Dulhan” have been specially appreciated by film-goers.

She was only an actor and not a singer. She acted in 31 Talkie films. She also worked in few Gujarati and Bangla films. Her last recorded Hindi film was Nai Maa-46. She did sing just one song in her career. That was in film Panghat-43. It was a duet with Baby Tara. At her times, the other more famous actress-singer Rajkumari Dubey Banaraswali was also very active. In few films both acted, but the songs were only by Rajkumari Dubey Banaraswali. There were two more Rajkumaris also. One was Rajkumari Calcuttewali and another was from south, T.R.Rajkumari. Their details have been described earlier and also in my book” Forgotten artists….”. (Information for the above has been taken from Urdu book,”Filmi Titlian”published in 1945, and Film Directory, with thanks.)

Today’s song is a duet by Anjali Devi and Motilal, with Chorus. This is also a sort of Patriotic song, exhorting friends to be ready for a sacrifice for the country.

Song-Aage kadam badhaana hoga (Aage Kadam)(1943) Singers- Motilal, Anjali Devi (Durgesh Kumari), Lyricist- Kailash Matwala, MDs- Master Madholal and Ramchandra Pal
Both

Lyrics

Doston
naya sabak sikhlaana hoga
naya sabak sikhlaana hoga
dhang zamaane ka badla hai
dhang zamaane ka badla hai
kuchh kar ke
kuchh kar ke dikhlaana hoga
haahaakaar uthha hai jag mein
haahaakaar uthha hai jag mein
peena hai to aaj
peena hai to aaj jagat mein
peena hai to aaj

aage
aage kadam badhaana hoga
aage
aage
aage kadam badhaana hoga
aage
aage

baadhaaon ko door hataana hoga
soyon ko phir aaj jagaana hoga
apne ko apnaanaa hoga
phoolon ko samjhaana hoga
?? nahin hai
?? nahin hai
aage
aage kadam badhaana hoga
aage
aage
aage kadam badhaana hoga
aage
aage

aafaten jo sar pe aayen
unse na daro
shaan se jiyo
shaan se maro
aafaten jo sar pe aayen
unse na daro
shaan se jiyo
shaan se maro
yahi sandesa ?? chali hai
yahi sandesa ?? chali hai
aaj hamen pahunchaana hoga
aaj hamen pahunchaana hoga
aao
aage
aage kadam badhaana hoga
aage
aage
aage
aage
aage kadam badhaana hoga
aage
aage
aage
aage

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.

“Zingaaro”(1963) was directed by Chandrakant for Jai Films, Bombay. This “costume drama” movie had Jairaj, Jabeen Jaleel, Tiwari, Bela Bose, Laxmi Chhaaya, Aruna Irani, Maruti, Mridula, Babu Raje, Poonam Kapoor, Baburao Pahalwan, Radheshyam, Moolchand, Ghani, Pahalwan, Julien etc in it.

The movie had six songs in it. Two songs have been covered in the past.

Here is the third song from “Zingaaro”(1963) to appear in the blog. This song is sung by Asha Bhonsle and chorus. Prem Dhawan is the lyricist. Music is composed by S N Tripathi.

Only the audio of the song is available. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturisation of the song.

Song-Muhabbat mein sab kuchh lutaate chalo (Zingaaro)(1963) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Prem Dhawan, MD-S N Tripathi
Chorus

Lyrics

muhabbat mein sab kuchh lutaate chalo o
jale dil magar muskuraate chalo
muhabbat mein sab kuchh lutaate chalo
jale dil magar muskuraate chalo
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa

honthon pe ho naam kisi ka
yaad kisi ki seene mein
pyaar na ho to phir kya rakkha
hai marne ya jeene mein
ho ho ho ho ho
ho ho ho
honthon pe ho naam kisi ka
yaad kisi ki seene mein
pyaar na ho to phir kya rakkha
hai marne ya jeene mein
ulfat ki mehak sajaate chalo o o o
mohabbat mein sab kuchh lutaate chalo o
jale dil magar muskuraate chalo
aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aa

jiske dil mein pyaar samaaya
roke se kab rukta hai
dilwaale ka sar to bas
dildaar ke aage jhukta hai
ho ho ho ho ho
ho ho ho
jiske dil mein pyaar samaaya
roke se kab rukta hai
dilwaale ka sar to bas
dildaar ke aage jhukta hai
duniya ki nazren jhukaate chalo o o o
mohabbat mein sab kuchh lutaate chalo o
jale dil magar muskuraate chalo
muhabbat mein sab kuchh lutaate chalo o o
jale dil magar muskuraate chalo

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.

“Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh”(1960) was directed by Ramesh Tiwari for N C Films, Bombay. This “Social” movie had Bharat Bhushan, Anita Guha, Jeewan, Tiwari, Prem Chopra (debut), Krishnakumari, Bela, Kammo, Helen, Naaz, Mishra, Anwari Bai, Narbada Shankar, Rajinder Kathana, Ratan Gaurang, Nemo, Prakash, Robert etc in it.

The movie had eight songs in it. Seven songs have been covered in the past.

Details of the seven songs covered in the blog are :-

Here is the eighth and final song from “Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh”(1960). This song is sung by Asha Bhonsle and Geeta Dutt. At least another unknown female voice is there in addition to chorus. Prem Dhawan is the lyricist. Music is composed by Hansraj Bahl

The song is picturised as a stage song and it is a song with a message as it is against the dowry system.

I am unable to identify the actors seen in the picturisation. I request our knowledgeable readers to help identify them.

With this song, all the eight songs of “Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh”(1960) get covered in the blog and the movie joins the list of movies that have been YIPPEED in the blog.

Lyrics

aao aao ladki waalon
ladka mila ?? raha hai
dulhan ke liye dulhe ka daam ho raha hai
ye hai ladka B A
iski bolo boli
ek hazaar
ek nahin bhai
do hazaar
arre do nahin bhai
chaar hazaar
arre chaar bhi kya hai
das hazaar
aji das to kya hai
bees hazaar
bees hazaar
bees hazaar ek
bees hazaar do
bees hazaar teen

dulha bikta beech baazaar
ye hai shaadi ya vyopaar
dulha bikta beech bazaar
ye hai shaadi ya vyopaar
beche pagdi to baabul laaye beti ka singaar
dulha bikta beech bazaar
ye hai shaadi ya vyopaar
beche pagdi to baabul laaye beti ka singaar
dulha bikta beech bazaar
ye hai shaadi ya vyopar

mera ladka M A
iski keemat jo bhi bole
baarah man wo chaandi laaye
sona teen sau tole
satrah jode do sau suit
bahan ki saadi bhai ka boot
ghadi sasur ki saas ka joda
do motor ek baggi ghoda
palang radio aur kaaleen
rang birange sofe teen
ye sab do
ye sab do to kar sakta hoon main kuchh soch vichaar
hai aisi shaadi pe dhikkaar
dhikkaar
dhikkaar

dulha bikta beech bazar
ye hai shadi ya vyopar
beche pagdi to baabul laaye beti ka singaar
dulha bikta beech bazaar
ye hai shaadi ya vyopar

mera ladka anpadh phir bhi keemat poora laakh
laakh to den par kahaan seth ji dulhe ki ??
arre ek haath ka hai ek laakh
do ka leta main do laakh
kyun ladke ki itni fees
hai ye khaandaani raees
chaar sau beeghe hai jaageer
khulegi ladki ki taqdeer
aisa var
aisa var
aisa var na milega chaahe dhoondho sab sansaar
hoye aisi shaadi pe dhikkaar dhikkaar dhikkaar
dulha bikta beech bazaar
ye hai shaadi ya vyopaar
beche pagdi to baabul laaye beti ka singaar
dulha bikta beech bazaar
ye hai shaadi ya vyopaar

kab tak dukhiya baabul apni kanya rakhe kanwaari
roz ye paudha chadhta jaaye
badhe ye jimmewaari
aaj khuda ban baithe hain ye beton ka vyopaari
kya ho sab ghar bar bike bik jaye kapde tan ke
laaunga jo bhi maagoge bete waalon bhihkaari banke
main bhikhaari banke
main bhikhaari banke
main bhikhaari banke ae

motor bangla chaandi sona
haan haan haanji aur kaho na
nakdi laakh nahin to n
sab manzoor hai kahdo haan
acchha to ha,
haan
haan
ja ri ja ri dulhaniya pyaari
tere baabul ne waari tujhpe duniya saari
ja ri ja ri dulhaniya pyaari
(aa aa aa aa aa)
tere baabul ne waari tujhpe duniya saari

hamen bulaa ke ghar pe tumne diya ye dhokha kaisa
laalach buri bala hai
milta hai jaise ko taisa
abhi saza ye kam hi mili hai
bhaago yahaan se laala
warna pakad se pitwaayenge
hum munh karke kaala
upar se daalenge gale mein hum jooton ka haar
rrr
yoon na karna
isse achcha hai marna
kya tumko daulat pyaari
na na ji izzat pyaari
to paaon pe rakh do pagdi
maangoon ne ek bhi damdi
to karlo aaj se tauba
mere to baap ki tauba
kya maan li tumne haar
haan chhoda ji chhoda ye beton ka vyopaar
aisi shaadi pe dhikkaar dhikkaar dhikkaar
dulha bikta beech bazaar
ye hai shadi ya vyopaar
beche pagdi to baabul laaye beti ka singaar
dulha bikta beech bazaar
ye hai shaadi ya vyopaar

This article is written by Peevesie’s Mom, 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.

Hullo Atuldom

Often when I read the title of some posts i.e. the name of the song associated with the post, I recollect some other song, may be of a different era. This has happened a number of times. Same goes with movie titles too. There are many movie titles that have been repeated over the years and our in-house encyclopedia, Sudhirji and Atulji have written a few posts regarding the same i.e. about titles that have been repeated.

As I was preparing this post I just googled the title “Bandhan” and I found it has been used about 17 times in TV and movie productions language and country no-bar – found a movie by this title in Bangladeshi cinema too (referred imdb.com). Looks like this is a favorite title of Bengali producers who make entertainment material- there is a drama too with the title “Bandhan” (got this too from imdb.com). Of course we do have movies which have words preceding or following “Bandhan” in their titles- “Bandhan Kachche Dhaagon ka”, “Prem Bandhan”, “Bandhan Anjana” etc etc.

But let us concentrate on Hindi movies. We have four movies with the title “Bandhan” in 1940, 1956, 1969 & 1998.

“Bandhan” (1940) had Ashok Kumar and Leela Chitnis in the lead, was directed by N.R. Acharya and was a Bombay Talkies production. It had music by Saraswati Devi and Ramchandra Pal. It had 11 songs 7 by Saraswati Devi and 4 by Ramchandra Pal and all the songs are posted on the blog.

“Bandhan” (1956) was directed by Hemchandra Chunder (info from imdb.com), produced by D.K. Sarkar, had Pradeep Kumar- Meena Kumari- Motilal playing main characters and had music by Hemant Kumar. The blog has 2 out of its 7 songs.

“Bandhan” (1969) directed by Narendra Bedi and produced by G.P.Sippy had Rajesh Khanna- Mumtaz- Anju Mahendroo and had music by Kalyanji Anandji. This movie had 5 songs and 4 are on the blog. Sanjeev Kumar had a special appearance in this “Bandhan”.

All these movies are present on the blog. “Bandhan” (1998) directed by K. Muralimohan Rao had Jackie Shroff- Salman Khan- Ashwini Bhave- Rambha and was produced by Narendra Bajaj. Anand raj Anand and Himesh Reshammiya were the music directors. This movie is yet to debut on the blog and it has some good songs.

16th June 2020 is the 100th birthdate of the legendary music director Hemant Kumar Mukherjee. He was born in Varanasi in the house of his maternal grandfather who was a physician. He is said to have grownup in the Bhawanipore area of Calcutta. His first recorded song was in 1935 for All India Radio. His first disc (non-film) was for the Columbia label in 1937 and the 1941 released Bengali film “Nimai Sanyas” had his first film song. His first Hindi film song was under Pt. Amarnath’s music direction in the 1944 release “Iraada”. Hemantda (as he was addressed affectionately) was one of the foremost exponents of Rabindra Sangeet. His first as a music director was the 1947 release “Abhiyatri” in Bengali. A detailed biography of Hemantda has been done by the stalwarts of the blog in a few posts in the past and I am not an authority on Hemantda.

The statistics page of the blog tells me that Hemantda has given music in 55 Hindi movies with a total of 417 songs of these the blog has 290 songs; also he has sung 322 songs of which the blog has 204 song. That means we have covered 50% of Hemantda as music director and about 75% as singer on the blog.

Today on his birth centenary we shall have one more which has been sung by him too. He also happens to be the music director. The song is written by Rajinder Krishan. On screen it is performed by Pradeep Kumar who is going around preaching that it is ‘good to be human’ and follow the ‘jiyo aur jeene do’ policy. He is accompanied by Asit Sen who is in awe. I don’t know if I am the only one who feels this- Hemant Kumar’s voice was tailor-made for Pradeep Kumar.

Remembering Hemant Kumar on his birth centenary.

Song-Jo milna hai Bhagwaan se (Bandhan)(1956) Singer-Hemant Kumar, Lyrics-Rajinder Krishan, MD-Hemant Kumar

Lyrics

jo milna hai bhagwaan se ae
toh mil pehle insaan se ae
kaise darshan dega maalik
bin poochhe darbaan se
jo milna hai bhagwaan se
toh mil pehle insaan se
kaise darshan dega maalik
bin poochhe darbaan se
jo milna hai bhagwaan se ae

jhoothhe bhed ke bandhan
aur yeh oonch neech ki deewaarein
jhoothhe bhed ke bandhan
aur yeh oonch neech ki deewaarein
prabhu se kaise milne dengi
tujhe beech ki deewaarein
toone khud mushkil kar daale
yeh raste aasaan se
toone khud mushkil kar daale
yeh raste aasaan se
kaise darshan dega maalik
bin poochhe darbaan se
jo milna hai bhagwaan se

laakh chatur tu bane magar
woh sabse bada sayaana hai
laakh chatur tu bane magar
woh sabse bada sayaana hai
apna aap chhupaa kar
bunta jag ka taana baana hai
chaturaai na bhaaye usey
woh pyaar kare anjaan se
chaturaai na bhaaye usey
woh pyaar kare anjaan se
kaise darshan dega maalik
bin poochhe darbaan se
jo milna hai bhagawan se

uska hona hai jo tujhko
bandon ka tu ho ja
apna aap mita de moorakh
aur usi mein kho ja
uska hona hai jo tujhko
bandon ka tu ho ja
apna aap mita de moorakh
aur usi mein kho ja
neecha kar woh kaam nikaale
jo nikle na maan se
kaise darshan dega maalik
bin poochhe darbaan se
jo milna hai bhagwaan se
toh mil pehle insaan se
kaise darshan dega maalik
bin poochhe darbaan se
jo milna hai bhagwaan se ae

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.

Today’s song is from a very old – almost 83 year old – film, from the first decade of Talkie films – Khudai Khidmadgar-1937. The film was made by Bharat Lakshmi Pictures, Calcutta. It was directed by the all rounder Vithaldas Panchotia, who also did an important role in the film. Music was by Nagardas Nayak. All the 12 songs in the film were sung by 6 singers and songs were written by Arzoo lucknavi.

In the early years of Talkie films Arzoo Lucknavi was an important and well known personality in the Calcutta Film circle. Since 1932, he was under a contract with New Theatre, where he wrote stories, dialogues and songs for their Hindi films. Due to his contract, he could not officially use his own name as a Lyricist for this outside film, hence he gave the name of his son – Tanvir – as the Lyricist.

Aarzoo Lakhnavi was one of the most respected poets of his era. His father Mir Zakir Hussain Yas, who was a disciple of Jalal Lakhnavi and his elder brother Mir Yusuf Hussain Qayas, both were poets. Arzoo, who was born on 26-2-1893 as Mohammed Hussain, was brought up in a cultured and fairly well-off household. He did his early education at home. Later, he learnt Arabic and Persian from some famous scholars of Lucknow.

His career as a poet began with the composition of a Marsia at the age of twelve. As a poet, he wrote Ghazal, Najm, Marsia, Kaseeda, Nath, Rubai, Salaam, Masnavi, Geet etc. Guided by Jalaal Lucknavi, he soon became skilled in the art of poetry. After Jalal passed away, Aarzoo was accepted as his heir to guide his disciples.

He came to Calcutta in 1932 and joined The New Theatres to write songs and dialogues of Hindi films. His Hindi was simple. He used to use minimum Arabic or Urdu words in Hindi songs. In Calcutta, he started writing songs,stories and dialogues for Hindi films. After 21 films in Calcutta, he moved to Bombay in 1942, where he wrote lyrics and dialogues for 32 more (Total 53 films and 246 songs) films.

Later, he migrated to Karachi after partition and joined Radio Pakistan. However his songs continued in our Hindi films till 1967. Though he had also written plays and other forms of poetry, he rose to fame mainly because of his ghazals. Three collections of Aarzoo’s ghazals, viz., Fughan-e-Aarzoo, Jahan-e-Aarzoo and Nishan-e-Aarzoo have been popular with the Urdu readers.

In Pakistan he participated in the competition to write the National Anthem. His poem was rejected because it talked of Secularism, Equality and Humanity. Another poem having 99% Arabic words was selected. He died in Karachi on 17th April 1961.

When I had first read this film’s name some years ago,I was under the impression that this could be a film on some story connected with the Political organization, Khudai Khidmadgar, in the pre-independence era. It was originally an organisation started for the upliftment of Afghan people. The literal meaning of these words is ‘ God’s servant’. Later, it became a political movement under the leadership of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan or Sarhad Gandhi. It was also called a “Red shirt” organisation.

During the mid 1930’s, the British Government was very strict, so obviously the film had nothing to do with politics. It was a plain simple Costume drama about a Saint like personality who helps people, thinking himself as ‘ God’s servant’. The film depicted how the cruel and unkind king changes, because of the teachings of this Saint.

The year 1937 was a year of Revolution for the newly started Talkie Film. Initially the films were mainly based on Folk tales, Parsi dramas and Mythological stories. 1937 was a year in which the Film industry was trying to drop its old skin and don a New Avtar. From this year, a variety of subjects were used to make films. If we briefly look at some path breaking, landmark films using Novel themes, we will understand how the film industry was attempting to change itself.

The newly established Minerva Movietone made a film on the importance and benefits of Celibacy in the film ‘Atma Tarang’.
Some artistes made their Debuts in 1937, like Ghulam Mohd.,MD for film Banke Sipahi, Comedian V H Desai in film Captain Kirti Kumar, Kishore Sahu in fil Jeevan prabhat, the eternal Mausi of Hindi films, Leela Mishra debuted in film Gangavataran. This was also a Debut film for Dadasaheb Phalke in making a Talkie film. David made his Debut in ‘Zambo-the ape man’.

Prakash films tried their hand at Stunt films with ‘ Challenge’ and ‘His Highness’, using Veterinary actors like Dogs, Horses and a Motorcycle. Prabhat’s iconic film ‘ Duniya Maane na’ shook All India audiences with its story. Shanta Apte sang an English song in it. Bombay Talkies made its first and last Mythological film ‘ Savitri ‘ with Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani.

Gangavataran was a film made by Dadasaheb Phalke. it was his First, the only and his last Talkie film too.

Imperial made India’s first indigenously made First colour film-Kisan Kanya. With this film, however, Master Nissar ended his ‘Hero’ ship as an actor.
Wadia Movietone made India’s first songless talkie film,’ Naujawan ‘, facing the ire of its audience for ‘cheating ‘ them !
‘Zambo – The Ape man ‘ became the first Tarzan type Indian talkie film, beginning a new Genre !
Maadan theatres Calcutta pulled its shutters down with their last Talkie film’ Zinda Bhoot ‘.

1937 was real path breaking for 2 solid reasons….One, for the first time, Playback singing started in a Bombay film with ‘Mahageet ‘. The song was sung by Anil Biswas, its MD and it was filmed on Hiren Bose, in the role of a beggar, near a crematorium (Smashan Bhoomi), as per book ‘ Music without Boundaries’ by Dr. Ashok Ranade,pp183-186.
Secondly,for the first time, in an Indian film successful special effects were used in film ” Khwaab ki Duniya ” -a film by Prakash Pictures, based on the popular novel “The Invisible Man” by H G Wells. A Hollywood film by the same name was made in 1933. The trick scenes in this indian film were as good as the Hollywood film. Credit goes to Babubhai Mistri for creating actions of an Invisible man , on the screen. He was nicknamed ” Kala Dhaga ” after this film.

Today’s film Khudai Khidmadgar-37 was made with all these path breaking film carnivals. The cast of the film was. Vithaldas Panchotiya, Khaleel Ahmed, Mazhar Khan, Dar kashmiri, Shyam Sundar, Radha Rani, Ram Pyari, Sarla Devi, Snehlata, Master Fid Hussain and others.

Just before the advent of Talkie films, Parsi theatre and other drama companies were the only Entertainment sources. Parsi Theatre was famous and most successful because it travelled all over India to perform. They used special reserved Trains to carry people and sets,drapery etc for their company from kashmir to kanyakumari and Gujarat to Rangoon. The success of Parsi Theatre was attributed to Pt. Narayan Prasad Betaab, Pt. Radheshyam Kathavachak, Agha Hashra Kashmiri and Master Fida Hussain – called the four Pillars of Dramas.

Our Sadanand Kamath ji has already written about Betaab, Kashmiri and Kathavachak. Today I will write on the remaining Pillar – Master Fida Hussain to complete the quartet.

Fida Hussain (11/03/1898 to 10-7-1999) was born in Moradabad (UP) in a conservative family. Right from childhood, Fida Hussain was fond of singing. It is quite likely that he got interested in singing because of the travelling theatres and nautanki groups that visited his town. Fida Hussain’s father and uncle did not like his interest in singing. Almost every day, the young Fida Hussain used to get beatings from his uncle for singing, though his father despite the dislike for the singing and music, spared him from beating.

But the more beatings he got, his fondness for singing increased. He also started watching the free shows of nautanki (folk theatre) which culminated into his love for the acting as well. This enraged his married elder brother who instigated his wife to do something to affect his voice. One day, she served him paan with vermilion powder which resulted in loss of his voice for nearly six months. After getting his voice back thanks to a visiting Sadhu who gave him some prescriptions, Fida Hussain started attending nautanki shows with a greater vigour than before.

In 1917, Fida Hussain joined a local drama club and got training for six months before being given a female role in the drama ‘Shahi Faqeer’. In this way, the path toward theatre opened for him. Soon, with the recommendation of his local drama club’s President, he went on to join the New Alfred Theatrical Company which was touring around Delhi for staging ‘Veer Abhimanyu’. In January 1918, Fida Hussain ran away from his home in Moradabad for Delhi leaving his newly married wife at home.

The New Alfred company never employed female actors. Hence the female roles were performed by the male actors like Master Nissar. Fida Hussain also got mostly the female roles in New Alfred.

Once when New Alfred was staging a show in Meerut, one of the boys from his neighbourhood recognised Fida Hussain and promptly reported the matter to his father. His father-in-law promptly lodged a complaint with police and an arrest warrant was issued. This entire episode is too big to cover here. The conclusion of this episode was Fida Hussain got a reprieve from his father, who allowed him reluctantly to continue with his passion after getting assurances from him that he would never indulge in intoxication (of any form), gambling, always keep high morality and keep in touch with his family by visiting his hometown.

With his domestic issues getting resolved amicably, Fida Hussain could now concentrate fully on theatres. His association with New Alfred continued until it closed down in 1930. His most popular dramas under New Alfred were ‘Parivartan’ (1922), ‘Veer Abhimanyu (c 1923), ‘Parambhakt Prahlad’ (c 1923), ‘Shri Krishna Avatar’ (1924-25), ‘Ishwar Bhakti’ (1928), ‘Laila Majnu’ (1930). Except for ‘Laila Majnu’, Fida Hussain played the female roles in all these plays.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Fida Hussain got associated with many theatre companies all over north, east and west India, the prominent being Alfred, Madan (pronounced as Maadon), Shah Jahan, Narsi, Mohan and finally taking up the reins of Moonlight Theatre owned by Marwadi brothers in Calcutta (now Kolkata). During this period, Fida Hussain worked in ‘Nal Damyanti’, ‘Yahudi Ki Ladki’, Khoobsoorat Balaa’, ‘Seeta Banvas’, ‘Chalta Purza’, ‘Bhakta Narsi Mehta’, ‘Bharat Milap’, ‘ Krishna Leela’ and many more.

In 1939, he donned the title role of Narsi Mehta in the play ‘Bhakt Narsi Mehta’. The play became a hugely popular hit and it played for over 1000 nights. Because of this, Fida Hussain was honoured with the title ‘Narsi’ which he proudly used as a suffix to his name as Fida Hussain ‘Narsi’.

With the advent of talkies, Fida Hussain, like many other artists from theatres, was associated with a few Hindi films during 1934-46 as an actor-singer. The first film he worked was ‘Ramayan’ (1934) followed by ‘Insaf Ki Tope’ (1934), ‘Kunwaari Ya Vidhwa’ (1935), ‘Diljaani’ (1935), ‘Dil Ki Pyaas’ (1935), ‘Daku Ka Ladka’ (1935), ‘Balidaan’ (1935), ‘Khudaai Kitmadgaar’ (1937), ‘Matwali Meera’ (1940), ‘Bambaiwaali’ (1941), ‘Arabian Nights’ (1946) and ‘Toote Sapne’ (1946, Unreleased).

Except for ‘Bambaiwaali’ (1941) which was produced in Bombay (Mumbai), rest of films in which Fida Hussain worked were produced in Calcutta (Kolkata) where he was associated with Moonlight Theatres. I find that barring one or two films, he had small roles in the rest of his films. It is quite possible that due to his immense popularity on stage as an actor-singer, the producers of the films may have taken him in their films to attract his large fans to watch the films. My guess is that Fida Hussain did not have much interest in working in films as his heart was with the theatre.

Fida Hussain continued his association with Moonlight Theatres, Calcutta (Kolkata) where he was the boss. The owners (4 Marwadi brothers) did not interfere in any aspects of the Moonlight Theatre so long as they earned profit from this venture. I am surprised as to how Fida Hussain could successfully compete with Hindi films and run the Moonlight Theatres profitably in the 1950s and 60s. In 1968 when Fida Hussain completed 50 years in Parsi Theatre, he decided to retire from the theatre activities and spend the rest of his life with his extended family in Moradabad. With his retirement, the Moonlight Theatre was closed and with this the glorious years of Parsi Theatre came to an end.

However, Fida Hussain remained busy during most of his post-retirement years. Being the only living legend of Parsi theatres, his knowledge about the old theatrical styles were utilised for those interested in theatre. He became a regular visiting faculty for the National School of Drama, New Delhi until the 90s. He also conducted workshops for students who were pursuing their interest in the theatre. He was often one of the invitees to symposiums and seminars on Indian theatres. In 1985, Fida Hussain received the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in recognition of his contributions to Indian theatres. In 1978, he received the Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for acting. Fida Hussain passed away on 10-7- 1999.

Fida Hussain may be one of the few theatre personalities who commanded not only the respect but also kept his reputation high even during his poet-retirement years. He was also one of a few artists who judiciously used his earnings to create a bright future for his two sons and two daughters. At the time of his death, Fida Hussain was the owner of two brassware business firms in Moradabad which were run by his two sons.

During his theatre days, Fida Hussain recorded more than 200 songs with HMV. However, his filmy songs are few (may be less than 20) and it seems some of them were not issued on gramophone records.

Harmandir Singh Hamraz ji , who compiled the Hindi film geet Kosh, told an anecdote about Fida Hussain. During the data collection work of his geet kosh, Hamraj got the address of Fida Hussain in Moradabad. He wrote him a letter, requesting for an appointment to collect some data. For many days there was no reply. Suddenly, one day in the morning, Hamraz was astonished to see Fida Hussain at his doorstep. Fida Hussain said, ” I got your letter, but I wanted to see who this person is, who wants to know about the matters of 50 years ago. So I came here.” Hamraz ji kept him in his house for a week or so and he also gave all possible valuable information to Harmandir Singh Ji. This story is told by Harmandir ji himself.

Today’s song is sung by Master Fida Hussain, who did the role of a General of Army in the film. This song was repeated 4 times in the film, as told by Fida Hussain himself.

( My thanks for information from book ” The stages of Life” by Kathryn Hansen, Listener’s Bulletins, book ” पूर्वसुरींचे सूर ” by Dr. Suresh Chandvankar, Flashback by Isak Mujawar and my own notes over the years)

Song-Khoti duniya badi Rangeeli dekh na dhokha khaana baaba (Khudaai Khidmatgaar)(1937) Singer- Master Fida Hussain, Lyricist-Arzoo Lucknowi, MD- Nagardas Nayak

Lyrics

Khoti duniya badi Rangeeli
dekh na dhokha khaana baaba
phool mein kaantaa chhupa hua hai
mumkin hai chubh jaana baaba

is jeene ka kaun bharosa
ye jeena kya jeena aa aa
chalti saans hawa ka jhonka
ye aana wo jaana baaba

na thhe jin zaalimon ke zulm se
aman o amaan baaqi
mite aise ke ab khud bhi nahin unka nishaan baaqi
sukh mein sukh hai
dukh mein dukh hai
jo dena so paana baaba

lamba rasta kos kade hain
aur akele jaana aa aa
khaai kuyen se se bachte rehna
samajh ke paaon badhaana baaba

jaane waale aake mein(?) rang e chaman dikhla gaye
chaar din mein chaal gul mahke
khile murjha gaye
do din ka hai hera phera
aaj aana kal jaana baaba
do din ka hai hera phera
aaj aana kal jaana baaba
khoti duniya badi rangeeli
dekh na dhokha khaana baaba
phool mein kaanta chhupa hua hai
mumkin hai chubh jaana baaba aa aa aa

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.

Today is 31 july 2020. It is the 40th anniversary of the passing away of Mohammad Rafi ( 24 december 1924-31 july 1980) as all HFM lovers are only too aware. 31 july 1980 is a day which is still fresh in the minds of music lovers who were around at that time.

31 july 1880, a date exactly 100 years prior to 31 july 1980 was also an important day. It was on this day that Dhanpat Rai was born, who would later be known as Munshi Premchand (31 july 1880-8 october 1936), one of the most influential Urdu-Hindi author in modern Indian literature.

I have covered Munshi Premchand a few times in this blog. When one reads his creations, one is astonished at his vision, and his progressiveness. He was far ahead of the times in which he lived. He championed the cause of women empowerment, human rights and even animal rights at a time when these causes had not even become fashionable.

Munshi Premchand is considered an Urdu-Hindi literateur, but he was much more than just that. He was conversant in English as well. He was very well read in foreign literature. Translating foreign classics into Urdu and Hindi was one of his passions that has not received much attention from those who have studied him.

Munshi Premchand not only championed noble causes, he also practiced what he preached. After he separated from his first wife (with whom he was married as a child, in accordance with the then prevailing social practice), he married a widow, which was quite a revolutionary act those days.

Premchand began his career as a writer in Gorakhpur. Gorakhpur turned out to be the place where he was at his most creative. Gorakhpur was also the place where he spent the happiest days of his life (1916-1921). He was leading a contented life in Gorakhpur as a government school teacher (Assistant Master at Norman High School, Gorakhpur) when he listened to the speech of Mahatma Gandhi on 8 february 1921, where Gandhi Ji exhorted Indians to give up government jobs as part of non-cooperation movement. Munshi Premchand acted on this call and resigned from his job (he has received a promotion while at Gorakhpur and had become Deputy Inspector of Schools). With the consent of his wife, he resigned from his government job. Rest of his life was largely a struggle to make both ends meet. All that did not affect the quality of his penmanship.

Premchand briefly dabbled in the then new art form of Talkies. But he failed to adjust to the ways of the movies and went back to his first love, viz writing.

Many of his writings later went on to be made into films (Hindi as well as other languages). I have discussed ‘Do Bailon Ki Katha’ (which was made into ‘Heera Moti’ (1958) in the past. I have also discussed ‘Idgaah’. ‘Gaban’ is another of his novel that has been made into a movie.

It was in 1924 that Munshi Premchand wrote ‘Rangbhoomi’. It is the story of a blind beggar called Surdas. This story was made into a Hindi movie in 1946. This movie ‘Rangbhoomi’ (1946) was produced and directed by Mohan Bhavnani for Bhavnani Productions, Bombay. The movie had KN Singh, Nigar Sultana, Jagdish Sethi, Sulochana Chatterjee, Maqbul, Navin Yagnik, Gope etc.

To pay tribute to both Munshi Premhand and Md Rafi, here is a song from ‘Rangbhoomi’ (1946). This song is a multiple part song. Part I is sung by Rafi and chorus, while part II is sung by Rafi, Sahmshad Begam and chorus. Pt Phaani is the lyricist. Music is composed by Premnath (music director).

Only the audio of the song is available. I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on the picturisation of the song.

Song-Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal (Rangbhoomi)(1946) Singers-Rafi, Shamshad Begam, Lyrics-Pt Phaani, MD-Premnath (MD)
Male chorus
Female chorus
All chorus

Lyrics

———————–
Part I
———————–

kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal

teri raah tedhi
teri door manzil
teri raah tedhi
teri door manzil
museebat nayi
har kadam se mukaabil
museebat nayi
har kadam se mukaabil
pahaadon ko dhhaa dega himmat bhara dil
himmat bhara dil
pahaadon ko dhhaa dega himmat bhara dil
himmat bhara dil
tu har khauf isse mitaaye chala chal
tu har khauf isse mitaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal

chale na chale saath tere zamaana
chale na chale saath tere zamaana
sune na sune koi tera taraana
chale na chale saath tere zamaana
sune na sune koi tera taraana
rahe kaafilaa tera hardam rawaana
hardam rawaana
rahe kaafilaa tera hardam rawaana
tu duniya ko rasta dikhaaye chala chal
tu duniya ko rasta dikhaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal

—————————
Part II
—————————

chale na chale saath tere zamaana
chale na chale saath tere zamaana
sune na sune koi tera taraana
chale na chale saath tere zamaana
sune na sune koi tera taraana
rahe kaafilaa tera lekin rawaana
rahe kaafilaa tera lekin rawaana
tu duniya ko rasta dikhaaye chala chal
tu duniya ko rasta dikhaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal

sun ae naujawaan
sun ae naujawaan
tujhko jhukna nahin hai
sun ae naujawaan
tujhko jhukna nahin hai
unhen chhod de jinke ghutna nahin hai
unhen chhod de jinke ghutna nahin hai
tujhe raaste bhar mein rukna nahin hai
tujhe raaste bhar mein rukna nahin hai
tu kaandhe se kaandha milaaye chala chal
tu kaandhe se kaandha milaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal

tu aage badhe usko peechhe hataa de
peechhe hataa de
jo roke use thokaron se uda de
thokaron se uda de
khuda se jo kehta hai use tu kar ke dikha de
tu kar ke dikha de
tu har waar seene pe khaaye chala chal
tu har waar seene pe khaaye chala chal
tu har waar seene pe khaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
Kadam suye manzil badhaaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal
koi saath aaye na aaye chala chal

This article is written by nahm, 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.

Today is 15th August, 2020 and we are celebrating 74rd Independence day. A national festival in COVID times, when all the festivals and celebrations have been kept low key and confined to own dwellings, very small gatherings or on the modern wonders of 21st century whatsapp and video conferences. But these small mercies have also been marred by the casualties. Most painful is the inability to visit the sick and not go the two steps distance towards the final rites of those who have lost this battle.

This past 6 months, we have all come to realize what really matters. Our family, friends and our inherent capacity to be happy and content, is the takeaway for us at the end of this. Surely, there is light at the end of this tunnel.

It has been 73 years since we have gained or wrested our freedom from a foreign power. A power, which still relishes its successes and spoils from the conquering and subduing of this ancient land of the Rishi Munis and sufi saints and great thinkers and poets. There is a saying “United we stand and divided we fall”. But here we are celebrating the event of the division of an ancient civilization. Over these 73 years and even before with the two world wars, we have seen elsewhere how those superpowers and their brethren create, fight and finish their unholy wars. Be it annihilation of Japan or the systematic destruction of Iraq(twice over), and the dismantling of the ‘khilaafat’ in Turkey, we in the end got free lightly, only with the three way division of the sub-continent and the loss of a few million lives in the cross migration or exchange of population, or whatever. Everything comes at a cost, and we, some would say have paid it. There is a very good reason for the tag of ‘sub-continent’ to this region of Hindustan. These are some things to ponder over.

The song I have chosen to present here is “Desh mein sankat aaya hai” from “Aap ki sewa mein” (1947). The song obviously of pre-independance era, as it ends with “Chheen lo , chheen lo ……..” . Meaning ‘Azaadi chheen lo”. Otherwise the lyrics are mainly about food shortages, or maybe it is talking about famine, in Bihar or Bengal.

By and large, our country is free of such fears, at least in matters of food. Initially with the extended lockdown, there were apprehensions everywhere, especially in the elderly. They were not totally unfounded with the transportation and all activity at the standstill, there is always a chance of things going horribly bad. But the bureaucratic vigilance and diligence at every step of the way saved the day for India. Indian bureaucracy, however maligned as “babus” is a fine institution so is the distribution network of resources and essentials, that much has been proved. We take these institutions for granted, until they are threatened, look to be losing significance. Only then we acknowledge what it was and what we lost.

Despite these apprehensions, all was fine at least in Mumbai. But one thing I could not find in my 3 visits to the supermarket, i.e. the humble ‘safed watana’ .

Here is a bonus, a poem by Sahir Ludhianvi :

– वीरसा –
ये वतन तेरी मेरी नस्ल की जागीर नहीं
सैकड़ों नस्लों की मेहनत ने सँवारा है इसे
कितने ज़ेहनों का लहू कितनी निगाहों का अ’रक़
कितने चेहरों की हया कितनी ज़बीनों की शफ़क़
ख़ाक की नज़्र हुई तब ये नज़ारे बिखरे
पत्थरों से ये तराशे हुए असनाम ए जवाँ
ये सदाओं के खंम-ओ-पेच ये रंगों की ज़ुबां
चिमनियों से निकलता हुआ ये पुर पेच धुआँ
तेरी तख़्लीक़ नहीं है मेरी तख़्लीक़ नहीं
हम अगर ज़िद भी करें इस पर तो तसदीक़ नहीं
ई’ल्म सूली पर चढ़ा तब कहीं तख़मीना बना
ज़हर सदियों ने पिया तब कहीं नौशीना बना
सैकड़ों पावों कटे तब कहीं इक ज़ीना बना
तेरे क़दमों के तले या मेरे क़दमों के तले
नौ ए इंसान के शब ओ रोज़ की तक़दीर नहीं
ये वतन तेरी मेरी नस्ल की जागीर नहीं
सैकड़ों नस्लों की मेहनत ने सँवारा है इसे

तेरा ग़म कुछ भी सही मेरा अलम कुछ भी सही
एहल ए सर्वत की सियासत का सितम कुछ भी सही
कल की नस्लें भी कोई चीज़ हैं, हम कुछ भी सही
उन का वरसा हों खंडर ये सितम ईजाद न कर
तेरी तख़्लीक़ नहीं तू उसे बर्बाद न कर
जिस से देहक़ान को रोज़ी नहीं मिलने पाती
मैं न दूंगा तुझे वो खेत जलाने का सबक़
फ़स्ल बाक़ी है तो तक़सीम बदल सकती है
फ़स्ल की ख़ाक से क्या मांगेगा जम्हूर का हक़
पुल सलामत है तो तू पार उतर सकता है
चाहे तबलीग़ बग़ावत के लिए ही उतरे
वरना ग़ालिब की ज़बान में मेरे हमदम मेरे दोस्त
दाम हर मौज में है हल्क़ा ए सद काम ए नेहंग
सोच ले फिर कोई तामीर गिराने जाना
तेरी तामीर से है जंग के तख़रीब से जंग
एहल ए मनसब हैं ग़लत कार तो इन के मनसब
तेरी ताईद से ढाले गए , तू मुजरिम है
मेरी ताईद से ढाले गए मैं मुजरिम हूँ
पटरियाँ रेल की, सड़कों की बसें, फ़ोन के तार
तेरी और मेरी ख़ताओं की सज़ा क्यूँ भुगतें
इन पे क्यूँ ज़ुल्म हो जिन की कोई तक़सीर नहीं
ये वतन तेरी मेरी नस्ल की जागीर नहीं
सैकड़ों नस्लों की मेहनत ने सँवारा है इसे

तेरा शिकवा भी बजा मेरी शिकायत भी दुरुस्त
रंग ए माहोल बदलने की ज़रूरत भी दुरुस्त
कौन कहता है के हालात पे तनक़ीद न कर
हुकूमत के ग़लत दाओं की तर्वीद न कर
तुझ को इज़हार ए ख़यालात का हक़ हासिल है
और ये हक़ कोई तारीख़ की ख़ैरात नहीं
तेरे और मेरे रफ़ीक़ो ने लहू दे दे कर
ज़ुल्म की ख़ाक में इस हक़ का शजर बोया था
सालहा साल में जो बर्ग ओ समर लाया है
अपना हक़ मांग मगर इन के ता’आउन से न माँग
जो तेरे हक़ का तसव्वुर ही फ़ना कर डालें
हाथ उठा अपने मगर इन के जिलौ में न उठा
जो तेरे हाथ तेरे तन से जुदा कर डालें
ख़्वाब ए आज़ादी ए इंसान की ये त’अबीर नहीं
ये वतन तेरी मेरी नस्ल की जागीर नहीं
सैकड़ों नस्लों की मेहनत ने सँवारा है इसे
(साहिर लुधियानवी)
*****************

नस्ल – pedigree, ancestry
अरक़ – essence
जबीन – forehead
शफ़क़ – crimson colour of evening sky as the sun sets
असनाम जवाँ – idols of the young/youth
ख़म-ओ-पेच – curves and curls
तख़्लीक़ – creation
तसदीक़ – verifying, authentication
इल्म – knowledge, education
तख़्मीना – estimate or valuation
नौशीना – antidote for poison
ज़ीना – stairs
नौ-ए-इंसाँ – new generation / civilization
अलम – grief, affliction, pain
अहल-ए-सर्वत – The wealthy, well endowed
चीज़ – something or some matter
विर्सा – inheritance or heritage
ईजाद – invention
दहक़ान – farmers
सबक़ – lesson
तक़्सीम – division, distribution
फ़स्ल – harvest, yield
जम्हूर – republic, populace
तब्लीग़ – preaching
बग़ावत – revolt, rebel
दाम – a trap or costs
मौज – a wave or enjoyment/fun
हल्क़ा-ए-सद-काम-ए-नहंग – a circle of perils, chain of events(unwanted) in daily chores.
ता’मीर – construction
तख़रीब – destruction
अहल-ए-मंसब – The powerful
ग़लत-कार – wrong-doer, in the wrong
मंसब – seat of power, good offices
ताईद – consent, favour or encouragement
ख़ताओं – mistakes, faults
तक़्सीर – crime, sin
शिकवा – complaint
रंग-ए-माहौल – the hues in the atmosphere
हालात – conditions, current situations
तन्क़ीद – criticism
हुक्मरानों – the rulers
दा’वों – claims or tall claims
तरदीद – contradict or refuse
इज़हार-ए-ख़यालात – expression of thoughts and ideas
हासिल – available for you, gotten
तारीख़ – history
ख़ैरात – alms, charity
रफ़ीक़ों – friends, dear ones, well wishers
शजर – a tree
सालहा-साल – years after years
बर्ग-ओ-समर – leaves and fruits
तआ’वुन – help or co-operation
तसव्वुर – conception, imagination
फ़ना – destroy, finish
जिलौ – in the company of
ख़्वाब-ए-आज़ादी – The dream of liberty
त’अबीर – completion, realization

______

The song presented is composed by Datta Devjekar. Lyricist is Mahipal and singers are Mohammed Rafi and G. M. Sajan.

Song-Desh mein sankat aaya hai (Aap Ki Sewa Mein)(1947) Singers-Rafi, G M Sajan, Lyrics-Mahipal, MD-Datta Davjekar
Both

Lyrics

Desh mein sankat aaya hai
Desh mein sankat aaya hai
Aaya hai ae
Desh mein sankat aaya hai
Desh mein sankat aaya hai
Aaya hai ae
Desh mein sankat aaya hai
Desh mein sankat aaya hai
Ab kuchh kar ke dikhlaana hai
Desh mein sankat aaya hai
Ab kuchh kar ke dikhlaana hai
Kam khaane ka
sab logon ko
badaa hunar sikhlaana hai
nayaa hunar sikhlaana hai
Desh mein sankat aaya hai

Aadhi thaali chhod chhod kar
budhdhon ko utth jaane do
Aadhi thaali chhod chhod kar
budhdhon ko utth jaane do
naujawaanon ko minnat kar ke
sookhe chane chabaane do
naujawaanon ko mehnat kar ke
sookhe chane chabaane do
aage naariyon ooo
bahu betiyon o o

punya loot lo oo
ae punya loot lo
nandan (??) kar ke punya loot lo
Ye mauqa mat jaane do
nandan(??) kar ke punya loot lo
Ye mauqa mat jaane do
Yahi sandesaa
gali gali mein
aaj hamen pahunchaana hai
Yahi sandesaa
gali gali mein
aaj hamen pahunchaana hai
Kam khaane ka
sab logon ko
badaa hunar sikhlaana hai
nayaa hunar sikhlaana hai
Desh mein sankat aaya hai

Do roti khaata ho uss ko
Aadhi pe majboor karo
Do roti khaata ho uss ko
Aadhi pe majboor karo
Kam-nase(?) mehmaan aaye
ae ae ae ae
Kam-nase (?) mehmaan aaye
To dhakke maaro door karo
Kam-nase(?) mehmaan aaye
To dhakke maaro door karo
Nayi roshni se logon ko
Naya sabaq samjhaana hai
Nayi roshni se logon ko
Naya sabaq samjhaana hai
Kam khaane ka
sab logon ko
badaa hunar sikhlaana hai
nayaa hunar sikhlaana hai
Desh mein sankat aaya hai

Bade niwaale tum na khaao
Bachchon ko ye seekh do
Bachchon ko ye seekh do
Ghar pe bhookha aaye maangne ae
Ghar pe bhookha aaye maangne
Lekin uss ko bheekh do oo
Ghar pe bhooka aaye maangne
Lekin uss ko bheekh do
Chheen lo
Chheen lo
Chheen lo
Chheen lo
Chheen lo

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.

Today’s song is from a comedy film Halla Gulla-1954. This was a film made by Bhagwan, under his own banner- Bhagwan Art productions, Bombay. He was the producer and the director. He had done a role in the film too. However, Master Bhagwan was not the Hero. The Hero was Sajjan and the Heroine was Shakila. Besides these 3 people, there was a line up of actors in the cast, like Leela Gupte, Leela Gandhi, Baburao pahilwan, Dada Salvi and many more-most of whom are unknown names to me.

Master Bhagwan started directing the films from Bahadur Kisan-38, then came Criminal-39 and Sukhi Jeevan-42. In between, he went to Madras to direct two Tamil films, Jaykodi and Van Mohini. His film Sukhi Jeevan-42 was the Debut film for C.Ramchandra in Hindi films. This film was produced by Harishchandra Rao kadam- the elder of the Kadam brothers (Chandra Rao Kadam being the younger one). The film was a success, with a good run in theatres. His contract for this film had assured him a 20% share in profits, if the film was a success. Since the film was a success and ran long, Bhagwan asked for his 20% share to H.Kadam. However, he flatly refused, claiming that inordinate delay had caused excess expenditure and there was no profit. Bhagwan understood that he was being cheated, but could not do anything except expressing his displeasure.

Bhagwan decided then and there that hereafter he will not work for anybody else. He would have his own production set up and a studio. He started his own company-“Jagriti pictures”and also got a studio- Asha Studio, which was near RK studio. His successful stint as a director had earned him a name and he had no difficulty in getting finances for his first film. The terms were, take 80000/- and return 1 Lakh, when the film gets sold to distributors. Film making was so cheap then ! The first film which Bhagwan made as an independent Producer Director was intentionally titled “Badla-43”, as if he took revenge on Harishchandra Rao Kadam !

This sort of cheating of the gullible,helpless artistes was common in some companies. One such famous company was Minerva of Sohrab Modi. When he made his second film “Saeed E Hawas”-36, he had engaged an actor Chandra Kumar, as a Hero in that film. Chandra Kumar (real name Sardar Gul who changed his name to Anil Kumar again) was promised Rs. 200/- for this role. After the film was released, when he asked for his payment, Modi gave him only Rs. 50/-, claiming that the film was a flop. Chandra Kumar was helpless and he left Minerva for good, immediately.

Master Bhagwan’s first film ‘Badla’-43 was a Hit film. He then started making films after films, in the Stunt Genre. Films like Bahadur, Jalan, Madadgar, Dosti, Shakehand, Matlabi, Bach ke rehna, Bhole Bhale, Jeete Raho, Bhedi Bangla etc etc. His stunt films became popular and he earned lot of money. At his peak, he had 2 Bunglows in Bombay and 6 cars. His films had many admirers in the film line also, like Raj Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Naushad etc.

Today’s film is Halla Gulla-54. The name immediately brings to the mind a popular song “Halla Gulla lailla, khullam khulla gayi la” famous in the 50’s times. However the song is not from this film. It was from film Dholak, for which Shyam Sundar had given the music. Barring very few films, which Bhagwan directed, he never did the role of Hero in his films. In the film Halla Gulla also he was not the Hero. Sajjan was the Hero.

Sajjan was one of the very few people in the film line who were Literature oriented. Some examples were Meena Kumari writing Shayari and Bharat Bhushan with an unusually big library of English books. Sajjan not only wrote poetry and film lyrics, he wrote a research based big book on Nav Ras in the Human Life. He participated in kavi Sammelans and Mushayaras and won laurels. His published poetry book “Jawan”was so popular that Nehru bought 100 copies for Delhi libraries. It was reprinted in several editions.

Born on January 15, 1921 in Jaipur, his full name was Sajjan Lal Purohit, a Pushkarna Bramhin. For many generations in the family, no one was interested in music or acting. He was famous with his first name in the movie world. Sajjan did his graduation from Jawahar college, Jodhpur. He had a desire to be a lawyer but not an actor.

In 1941, he arrived in Calcutta and worked as an apprentice in a laboratory of East India Film Company. His initial breakthrough in films was as an extra in films like Masoom (1941), Chowringhee (1942). Sajjan left Calcutta during World War II and reached Bombay. In Bombay he knew Prithwiraj Kapoor from his Calcutta days. He joined the Prithvi Theatre and worked in dramas like, Shakuntala, Pathan, Deewar, Aahuti, Kalakar, Kisan Paisa etc etc. Here he came into contact with Shammi, Raj, Shashi kapoor, Omprakash, Premnath, Zohra Saigal, B M Vyas, Ram Ganguli, Shankar, jaikishen and others. Afterwards, he started doing dramas separately. In ” Dhola Marwan” his heroine was Snehprabha Pradhan. He did many One Man Shows too.

He was a writer of Poetry. He participated in many gatherings of poets. His poetry book ” Jawan” became so popular that even Nehru had bought 100 copies of it. It was reprinted four times.

In Mumbai he worked as an assistant to famous director Kidar Sharma. At that time great showman Raj Kapoor also worked as an assistant to Kidar Sharma. He also worked as assistant to Gajanan Jagirdar and for film Vakil Sahib-43 and got Rs. 35 as salary.

A poet by heart, Sajjan showed His talent when he wrote dialogues for Meena -1944 and lyrics for Door Chalen -1946, Jail Yatra-47 and Dhanyavad -1948.

His acting debut film was Mera Suhag-47. After that, Bombay Talkies’ Muqaddar was released in 1950. His heroine was Nalini Jayvant. As a Hero, he worked with Geeta Bali, Nutan, Nimmi, Shyama, Shakila, Nalini Jaywant etc etc.

Now Sajjan was well established in the film world. In 1950s- 60s Sajjan acted as hero or side-hero in films like, Sainya, Rail Ka Dibba, Bahana, Sheesha, Malkin, Nirmohi, Kasturi, Mehmaan, Lagan, Girl School, paridhaan, Do Dulhe, Ghar-Ghar Mein Diiwali, Haa-Haa-Hee-Hee-Hoo-Hoo, Poonam, Jhanjhar, Halla- Gulla. As a hero his last film was Kabuliwala-61 and as an artist he last appeared in the 1986 release Shatru.

Artist of more than 150 films Sajjan also worked in TV serials. In Vikram-Betaal he played Betaal. His other serial was Lena-Dena.

Sajjan acted in more than 150 films. Though he was a reasonably good actor, he felt very awkward while singing a song on screen. His Producers and Directors knew this and they gave him minimum songs. Thus he is on record in his 150+ films to have sung around 20 odd songs only, in spite of being a Hero in some films. After retirement, Sajjan was not in good health, but he wrote a book ‘ Ras-Bhav ‘, discussing all the 9 Rasas as enunciated by Bharat Muni’s Treatise on “Natya Shastra”. He also published a book on the Birth Centenary of Prithviraj Kapoor, whom he revered very much. Sajjan died on 17-5-2000. (Based on interview by Sulbha Ternikar, in her book-Chanderi Athavani (चंदेरी आठवणी ), with thanks.)

The Music Director of this film was Nissar Bazmi. I always wondered,how some composers,who were found mediocre here,without much spark,giving music only to B and C grade films,became extremely popular and successful in Pakistan,winning accolades ? one example is Nisar Bazmi. To understand this strange phenomena,one must consider the state of affairs in Pakistan Film Industry for 5-6 years post Partition. Here is a part of an article on this issue,I found on a Pakistani site,filmbirth.com

” Pakistan has been a part of India up until 1947. Up to that point Lahore was one of the thriving cinema producing centers in India. The first film made in a Lahore studio was “Delhi Express” (1935) and Urdu and Punjabi films were to follow. The partition of India into two independent states – India and Pakistan, caused the demise of the Lahore film industry. Most Hindu filmmakers in Pakistan fled the region when the Islamic Pakistani government became independent. Without the Indian funding and production facilities, the migration of many renowned filmmakers and stars and a lack of proper distribution channels, Lahore (Lollywood) soon became less than a footnote in the regional cinematic landscape.

Fortunately, the outflow from Lahore was accompanied by an inflow into the city. Affected by the same political change, a number of talented Muslims who have established themselves in Bombay’s (now Mumbai) film circles, moved back to Lahore. Prominent among them were film producer Syed Shaukat Hussain Rizvi, his wife actress and singer Noor Jehan, actress Swarn Lata, actor Nazeer, director W. Z. Ahmad, director Luqman, director Sabtain Fazli, music director Feroze Nizami and music director Khawaja Khursheed Anwar. These creative artists laid the foundation of the Pakistani film industry. They were also responsible for producing some of the best films ever made in Lollywood.

The creative energy of Lahore’s film people began to express itself as soon as the partition frenzy subsided. Lollywood became alive again and Teri Yaad was the first film released after partition. Featuring Nasir Khan, brother of film icon Dileep Kumar and Asha Posle, it was released at Lahore Parbhat Cinema on Sept 2, 1948. Its producer was a Hindu named Diwan Sardari Lal, Daud Chand was the director while Nath was the music director. The following year, Anis Productions released a Punjabi film Pheray. Featuring Nazeer (who was also its director) and Swarn Lata, the film proved to be a success and became the first Pakistani film to complete a 25-week run at cinema houses. Another important film was Naubahar Films’ Do Ansoo which was released in 1950. Produced by Sheikh Latif and directed by Anwar Kamal Pasha, it won popularity and became first Urdu film to complete its silver jubilee. ”

Due to shortage of composers, all were welcomed with open arms. Those who had talents did extremely well here. Unfortunately the second generation of composers of calibre were not prepared and once these migrants disappeared from the scene,the musical fields of Pakistan dried up. According to an article on Wiki,there are 7 ages in Pakistan Film music –

1.Independence and growth-1947-1958
2. The Golden Age of Pak Film Music- 59-77
3. The age of Disaster…..77-88 (Onslought of VCR and brain Drain to Bangladesh in 1971)
4. Politics,Islamisation and downfall…..79-87
5. Collapse…..88-2002
6. Decline…..2002-2009
7. New wave and Hopes….2010 onwards.

Anyway, Nisar Bazmi migrated to Pakistan during the Golden Age period and got all the benefits.

Nisar Ahmed was born in 1925,in Naseerabad, Khandesh,Bombay Presidency,in an orthodox family where there was no Musical background. However,Nisar was keen on learning music. By singing Saigal’s songs he won his teacher’s mind,who convinced his father and he was sent to Bombay to live with his Uncle. Due to his singing he soon joined the ‘Yaseen Kawwal Group’ and became famous as ‘Yaseen ka chhokra’. meanwhile he learnt classical music from ustad Amaan ali khan for 4 years. He joined AIR on a temporary basis and started singing. The then music director of AIR Dinkar Rao Amembal made him permanent on a salary of Rs. 45 pm. When his father learnt this he was overjoyed that without studies also he was earning more than educated people ! This was 1940.

Those days a drama ‘Nadir Shah Durrani’ was running on Radio. Nisar composed music for it and also gave background music. Impressed with his work he got his first Film,” Jamna paar”-1946 as a MD. He left AIR,changed his name to Nisar Bazmi and for got his dream of becoming a singer. In the next 15 years,he composed music for about 40 films,but only 27 films were released. Most of these films were C grade stunt films. Though he gave reasonably good music,he remained a C grade composer throughout. For film ‘Khoj’-53,the assistant producer had not much money. For singing a song he could only offer Rs.50/- to Mohd. Rafi (who was charging almost 1000/- per song those days). Rafi liked the song and he magnanimously sang the song ” chand ka dil toot gaya ” by taking just ONE rupee as fees !

For film ‘Bhala Adami’-58, he gave chance to Anand Bakshi as a Lyricist first time. His last film in India was ” Mister Toofan”- released in 63. Nisar migrated to Pakistan in 1962. Producer Fazal Karrem Fazli of Fazli brothers offered him first film ” aisa bhi hota hai “. The music of this film became Hit and very popular and there was no looking back for Nisar Bazmi. He gave music to 57 Pak films. He won Nigar Awards 7 times and also won ‘Pride of performance’ award from the President.

His last film was in 1981. He came back to Karachi and started teaching aspiring singers,but only one of them became a famous singer. He regretted that the younger generation looked for quick money and did not put hard work. None of his 8 sons loved music. They all followed different avocations. In his later life he was famous for learning Quran by heart.

His filmography in India was- Jamna Paar, Jeb katara, Dagabaj Dost, Khoufnak Aankhen, Hamari kismat, Jiyo Raja, Roop lekha, Bade Saheb, Gazab. Baama, Kyun ji, Gorilla, Khoj, Halla gulla, Sitamgar, Adamkhor, Pyara Dushman, Fighting queen, Jungle queen, Kar bhala, Bhala Admi, kal kya hoga, Sachhe ka bolbala, Teer aur Talwar, Shola jo bhadke, Zareena and Mister Toofan.
Bazmi sahib taught music to up-and-coming youngsters, but only Faisal Latif managed to become somewhat popular. When asked why his students like Shafiq-ur-Rehman, Tanveer Afridi, Shabana and Shazia Kausar are unable to reach the top, he said, “My job was to train them, which I did. Now it is up to the musicians to utilize them as I am sure they have the talent to be the best.” When asked if our youth going in the right direction, Bazmi sahib felt that it was because of our youths’ lack of interest that our music is not what it used to be.

“A youngster today doesn’t want to be taught like the legendary singers. His only interest is to become rich and famous in a short time, which is certainly the wrong way.”

He died on 22-3-2007 at Karachi.

(My thanks to Shri Harish Raghuvanshi ji, book Albela by Isak Mujawar and information in Listener’s Bulletin-no. 118)

Today’s song is sung by Asha Bhosle and chorus. There were 9 songs and ALL songs had Asha Bhosle as a singer. 8 songs were duets with Rafi. This is the only song without Rafi.

Song-Hone waali ho ke rahegi himmat haar na jaana (Halla Gulla)(1954) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Saba Afghani, MD-Nisar Baazmi
Chorus

Lyrics

ho o o
hone waali ho ke rahegi
himmat haar na jaana
gaao ek taraana
jhoom jhoom ke
ho o o
hone waali ho ke rahegi
himmat haar na jaana
gaao ek taraana
jhoom jhoom ke
gaao ek taraana
jhoom jhoom ke

ho ho o
o o o
ho o o
jaaun to naakaami
lautoon to badnaami
dil mera ghabraaye
kuchh na samajh mein aaye
kuchh na samajh mein aaye
o o o
o o o
laa pukaare aage badhhnaa
pyaar kahe ruk jaana
gaao ek taraana
jhoom jhoom ke
gaao ek taraana
jhoom jhoom ke

ho ho o
o o o
ho o o
kaisi hai majboori ee e
paas bhi rah ke doori
naagan si bal khaaun
haath maloon reh jaaun
haath maloon reh jaaun
o o o
o o o
mujh pe jo kuchh beet rahi hai
haal koi na jaana
gaao ek taraana
jhoom jhoom ke
gaao ek taraana
jhoom jhoom ke

ho ho o
o o o
ho o o
man hi man mein ro loon oon
apna bhed na kholoon
baat zubaan tak aaye
aur kahin naa jaaye
aur kahin naa jaaye
o o o
o o o
door khadi kismat muskaaye
chhede raag zamaana
gaao ek taraana
jhoom jhoom ke
ho o o
hone waali ho ke rahegi
himmat haar na jaana
gaao ek taraana
jhoom jhoom ke
gaao ek taraana
jhoom jhoom ke

This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, 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.

Mukesh and his Composers – 20
—————————————————-

“A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”
This is a quote famously attributed to English politician and statesman Winston Churchill for his views on Russian engagement during World War II. This analogy may be completely irrelevant to the context of today’s post, but then I could not help remembering the above quote when I became cognizant of the total number of Hindi songs sung by Mukesh for the composer being discussed in today’s post.

Well, we are talking about composer Avinash Vyas and Mukesh’s association with him. To sustain the unusual mystery and the context of the first two paras, I would request readers to guess the total Hindi songs sung by Mukesh for Avinash Vyas.

Meanwhile, to reveal Mukesh’s collaboration with him in Gujarati films and non-film songs, here are the details of the same. As usual, I had requested Shri Harish Raghuwanshi, the compiler of Mukesh Geetkosh to confirm the details of the combo. Further, I had requested him to send me only the total number of songs that Mukesh sang in Gujarati under Avinash Vyas.

However, Shri Harish ji despite his poor eyesight and health issues was kind enough to send me the complete details including confirmation of the total songs sung in Hindi films as well. Instead of keeping such invaluable details confined to my inbox, I thought it prudent to include the details in the present post and following are the two tables with the details self-explanatory.

List of Gujarati Film songs sung by Mukesh under the baton of Avinash Vyas
—————————————————————————

List of Gujarati NFS sung by Mukesh under the baton of Avinash Vyas
——————————————————–

Thus, Mukesh sang 12 filmi and 08 non-filmi Gujarati songs under the baton of Avinash Vyas. That’s obviously a total of 20 songs.

So, what could be the total number of Hindi songs sung by Mukesh for Avinash Vyas who scored music in some 52 movies and composed 390+ known songs.
Thirty? Twenty? Ten?

Well, before we proceed to discuss the surprise number, here are two important links for the details of the work done by Avinash Vyas.

1. https://atulsongaday.me/2020/08/20/aaja-re-dukhiyaa-dharti-tujhe-pukaare/
2. https://www.songsofyore.com/forgotten-composers-unforgettable-melodies-8-avinash-vyas/

The first link is a recent post by Atul ji, in which he has painstakingly put together the complete known works of Avinash Vyas in Hindi films and the details of his songs covered on the blog.

The second link is a post by Shri Ashok M Vaishnav ji on Songs of Yore blog wherein the life and works of Avinash Vyas is reflected. Some interesting discussion in the comments section reveal the continued lack of clarity on the total number of films scored and the songs composed by the music director.

Now, coming to the total songs sung by Mukesh under Avinash Vyas, finally, here is the complete list.

What?
Three songs only?

Well, however much we may debate and discuss, the fact of the matter is that there are only 3 songs of the combo. The composer was known for composing mainly for religious and mythological films. Contrary to popular belief, Mukesh has sung enough devotional songs in films which, as his other genre songs, have also become quite famous. Then, why such a low figure of only 3 songs is simply surprising.

Mukesh has sung only one song each in 3 of the 52 films scored by Avinash Vyas in Hindi.

So, why hardly 3 songs of the combo? As I have contemplated in my earlier posts on such surprises, there could be no reason whatsoever. More occasions simply did not happen. This could be the most plausible reason that one could come up with. As I finish writing this post, I am still under disbelief that there are only 3 songs of the combo.

Anyway, going through the songs, first two have been covered on the blog. The one from ‘Har Har Mahadev’ is in fact a famous duet with Sulochana Kadam. The second one from ‘Shiv Shakti’ is a solo bhajan.

It can be traced easily on the blog that if Mukesh has sung in any film, then that particular song is most likely the first to be featured or debuted on the blog.

Today’s film ‘Mata Mahakali’ (1968) also makes its debut on the blog with this highly philosophical song. The film was released under the banner of Sharad Productions and directed by Dhirubhai Desai. The cast included Ashish Kumar, Jaishree Gadkar, Nalini Chonker, Shahu Modak etc.

Lastly, Shri Harish ji has also confirmed that there are no NFS in Hindi of the combo. I thank him again for all the help he rendered in completing this post.

Song – Jo ugta hai wo dhalta hai (Mata Mahakali)(1968) Singer – Mukesh, Lyrics – Bharat Vyas, MD – Avinash Vyas

Lyrics

jo ugta hai woh dhalta hai
samay ka chakra chalta hai
arey maanav sambhal ke chal
samay karwat badalta hai

jo ugta hai woh dhalta hai
samay ka chakra chalta hai
arey maanav sambhal ke chal
samay karwat badalta hai

jo ugta hai woh dhalta hai

ye dekho surya ka jalwa
subeh ko jo nikalta hai
ye dekho surya ka jalwa
subeh ko jo nikalta hai
chamkta hai
damakta hai
magar sandhya ko dhalta hai
ye uthne aur girne ka
sada hi khel chalta hai
arey maanav sambhal ke chal
samay karwat badalta hai
jo ugta hai woh dhalta hai

arey insaan akad mat aaj tu apni bulandi par
arey insaan akad mat aaj tu apni bulandi par
na girte der lagti hai
samay ki ek mandi par
vidhaata ne likha jo lekh
taale se na talta hai
arey maanav sambhal ke chal
samay karwat badalta hai
jo ugta hai wo dhalta hai
samay ka chakra chalta hai
arey maanav sambhal ke chal
samay karwat badalta hai
jo ugta hai wo dhalta hai

jo singhasan par baitha tha
kiya karta tha manmaani
jo singhasan pe baitha tha
kiya karta tha manmaani
wo naukar ban ke teli ka
chalaata hai arey ghaani
samay ke saamne har aadmi ka
kuchh na chalta hai
arey maanav sambhal ke chal
samay karwat badalta hai
jo ugta hai wo dhalta hai

lagan panchhi ki pinjar se
jise ye tod na sakta
lagan panchhi ki pinjar se
jise ye tod na sakta
ye toota hai
ye phoota hai
basera chhod na sakta
samay ki baat keechad se
yahaan pankaj nikalta hai
arey maanav sambhal ke chal
samay karwat badalta hai
jo ugta hai wo dhalta hai
samay ka chakra chalta hai
arey maanav sambhal ke chal
samay karwat badalta hai
jo ugta hai wo dhalta hai

————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————–

जो उगता है वो ढलता है
समय का चक्र चलता है
अरे मानव संभाल के चल
समय करवट बदलता है

जो उगता है वो ढलता है
समय का चक्र चलता है
अरे मानव संभाल के चल
समय करवट बदलता है

जो उगता है वो ढलता है

ये देखो सूर्य का जलवा
सुबह को को निकलता है
ये देखो सूर्य का जलवा
सुबह को को निकलता है
चमकता है
दमकता है
मगर संध्या को ढलता है
ये उठने और गिरने का
सदा ही खेल चलता है
अरे मानव संभाल के चल
समय करवट बदलता है
जो उगता है वो ढलता है

अरे इंसान अकड़ मत आज तू अपनी बुलंदी पर
अरे इंसान अकड़ मत आज तू अपनी बुलंदी पर
ना गिरते देर लगती है
समय की एक मंदी पर
विधाता ने लिखा जो लेख
टाले से ना टलता है
अरे मानव संभाल के चल
समय करवट बदलता है
जो उगता है वो ढलता है
समय का चक्र चलता है
अरे मानव संभाल के चल
समय करवट बदलता है
जो उगता है वो ढलता है

जो सिंघासन पर बैठा था
किया करता था मनमानी
जो सिंघासन पर बैठा था
किया करता था मनमानी
वो नौकर बन के तेली का
चलाता है अरे घानी
समय के सामने हर आदमी का कुछ ना चलता है
अरे मानव संभाल के चल
समय करवट बदलता है
जो उगता है वो ढलता है

लगन पंछी की पिंजर से
जिसे ये तोड़ ना सकता
लगन पंछी की पिंजर से
जिसे ये तोड़ ना सकता
ये टूटा है
ये फूटा है
बसेरा छोड़ ना सकता
समय की बात कीचड़ से
यहाँ पंकज निकलता है
अरे मानव संभाल के चल
समय करवट बदलता है
जो उगता है वो ढलता है
समय का चक्र चलता है
अरे मानव संभाल के चल
समय करवट बदलता है
जो उगता है वो ढलता है