This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
When I retired from my active service in 1998,computers were very much in great use and all my staff was using them. There was a desk top in my cabin, very much on my table, but not knowing anything about it, I never touched it and it remained only as a show piece for the visitors. Occasionally, my deputies would come in and show me some data on the computer.
I learnt how to operate computers only towards the end of 2011, after I had retired from active service. The credit for inducing and teaching me to use computers go to my grandchildren. This new generation of today is really savvy at using gadgets of modern technology with great ease. With their help, I learnt the basics of computer operating and I started surfing the net looking for old songs. One fine day, I bumped into this Blog and I felt that I had got what I was looking for. The rest of my journey till today is filled with joy, satisfaction and contentment. This Blog has given me an opportunity of sharing the knowledge and information that I had gained since 1940s and which were kept stored in my early notes made from the 1940s onwards till about the late 1960s.
Many of my notebooks and diaries with valuable firsthand information about the old films and songs etc got lost or were destroyed by white ants during my several transfers. Carrying all that material-without ever using them and on the face of stiff opposition from my wife and kids- it was truly a Herculean task. But it paid me rich dividends once I started writing articles from October 2012 onwards. In the last three and half years, I gained further knowledge through books and by meeting people.
In my journey of this writing, I met several like minded people online as well as personally. As I became very active on Facebook and on various sites, Blogs and in several groups on Internet, many people came calling to meet me in Mumbai and I too made efforts to move out and and meet some of them. Despite my wishes and efforts, there was one person whom I had not yet met so far. He was Harish Raghuwanshi ji from Surat.
Actually, Surat is hardly 4 to 5 hours’ drive from Mombai, but everytime I planned to visit Surat, some unforeseen happening would disturb my plans.
Harish ji is a living Legend. A great copiler,writer,author, book collector and above all, an excellent Human being. He has been a constant source of information to me, whenever I was stuck for some hard to get information. It was through him that I came to know quite a few experts from Gujarat like shri Biren Kothari ji, Urvish kothari ji, Chandrashekhar Vaidya ji, Rajnikumar Pandya ji, Prof. Yogendra yadav ji, Narendra Shrimali ji, Sunil Trivedi ji and many more. Many of them gifted me their books too.
Harish ji has been a constant help to me, whenever I needed some exclusive information. Like a Magician, he would produce a heap of information about the subject from his books, magazies, cuttings, articles stc. I was extremely lucky to know him. However the wish of meeting him in person had remained unfulfilled till now.
This too was achieved, when a plan to visit Surat on the 23rd of April materialised- thanks to my daughter and Son-in-Law, who had some official work there. So, we decided to drive down to Surat. Thus finally I could meet Harish ji. I felt as if I had achieved Nirvana.
It was great talking to him and going through some of his collection of books in Marathi, Hindi English and Gujarati. He has two rooms fully stacked with old and new books ,Magazines, paper cuttings and such other reference materials. He has also made alphabetical files personwise and subjectwise for quick retrieval of information. It was impossible to go through even one fourth of his collection, within the time that I had with him there. Harish ji has hundreds of memorable photographs too, neatly labled at the rear of each photo, mentioning dates and tagging the people. He has arranged these materials so systematically that he can retrieve the desired material in quick time.
Having achieved this long cherished goal of meeting Harish Ji, now my next destination is Delhi, where I want to meet Sudhir ji and his team of Music lovers and collectors, also AK ji and if possible Madhulika Liddle ji of Dustedoff. Having gone so near, I wish to visit Atul ji also. If I am able to do this, I would be very satisfied. Let us see how my age, health and my daughters permit me to undertake this tour ! Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Baroda are also on my radar someday. Writing on old films and music has this advantage that you get to know and meet people who are more well-equipped than you in this field !
Coming to today’s song, it is from film Chhote Babu-57. The cast of the film was Shekhar, Nimmi,Abhi Bhattacharya, Umakant desai, Agha, Kanhaiyalal, Shammi, Helen etc.In the cast you have seen the name UMAKANT DESAI. I am sure most people would not know anything about him.
People remember Dilip Kumar for his double role in ‘Ram aur Shyam’ and Triple role in ‘Bairaag’,you also remember Sanjeev kumar for his 9 roles in ‘ Naya Din nayi Raat’ or Kamal Hassan for his 10 roles in Dashavtar,but hardly anyone knows that Umakant Desai was the FIRST actor to do 3 Roles in film ” Hukum ka Ikka “-1939( Rajkumar,madari and common man).
Umakant Desai was born in Sankheda,near Vadodara (Baroda),Gujarat on 13-6-1908. After matriculation,he came to Bombay and did a job in B.B. & C. I . Railways (Bombay,Baroda and Central India Railway,a private Railway company of pre Independence period). He used to do roles in local dramas.One day Director Chimanlal Desai saw him in a drama called ” Jaya and Jayant”. He was so impressed with him,that he took him to act in Gujarat’s First Talkie ” Narsi Mehta”-1932. In this film Umakant did the role of Krishna.
So,the son of a landlord Himmatbhai Jagubhai Desai became a film actor. He joined Prakash Pictures on a salary of Rs.150/- pm,but when he left Prakash,he was drawing Rs.3000/- p.m.. In 1934,he worked in Gujarati film ‘Sansar Leela’.He sang 2 duets with Rajkumari in this film. The film was a Hit and was remade in Hindi as “Nai Duniya”. He worked in Bharat Milap-42. His best remembered role was as LAXMAN in film ” RAMRAJYA”-1943,which created several records,including that it was the first and the only film mahatma Gandhi ever saw in his lifetime !
Umakant worked in 59 Hindi films and 15 Gujarati films. Anmol Moti-48 was his last film as a Hero. Then he shifted to doing character roles. He had worked with Durga Khote,Shobhana Samarth,Pramila,Ratnamala,Ranjana,Sitara,Snehprabha Pradhan,meena Kumari,Amita,Vyjayanti mala,nalini jaywant,kamini kaushal etc. For fluency in Hindi and Urdu,he had appointed a Teacher also.
He worked in 26 films of Prakash,in which 8 films were directed by Vijay Bhatt. He mostly worked in mythological and social films. Some of his films were,Miss mala,Chhote Babu,Station master, Amar Asha,poornima,Anmol Moti,kavita,hamara Ghar etc .
Umakant’s son and daughter in law died a tragic death in the Snow Blizzard in USA in 1975. His wife kaumudiben died in 2006 and Umakant died on 25-1-2007.
He was awarded Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award in 2004.
( My thanks to Shri Harish Raghuvanshi ji, famous film historian,compiler and writer, for his Gujarati article on Umakant).
CHHOTE BABU-1957 was an average film with the usual saga of sacrifice and friendship.The Director was Harsukh bhai Jagneshwar Bhatt,who was a distant relative of Vijay Bhatt the famous director. Harsukh worked as Vijay Bhatt’s assistant in the famous film,Baiju Banwra-1952. From 1953 onwards he started independently as a director and till 1977 he directed 14 films and also Produced ’Gayatri Mahima’ in 1977.
Gopal(Shekhar) and Shankar(Abhi Bhatta.) are fast friends living in a hill station-Neelam Ghat. Shankar is a poet and always remains sick. He is afraid that one day he may just die without even getting married. Gopal always tries to encourage him. Gopal is in love with Sandhya (Nimmi), who works in a local Hospital as a Nurse.They decide to get married. Gopal is an assitant station master in the Railways. When Gopal goes to Shanker to inform him about his decision to marry Sandhya,he finds that Shankar is missing since few days.
In fact Shankar is very sick and admitted in the Hospital as Kailash. Sandhya is attending Kailash. Kailash falls in her love and proposes her,but Sandhya refuses. Here,Gopal finds out that Shankar is in Hospital as Kailash and wants to get married to Sandhya.
For the sake of friendship,he pleads Sandhya to forget him and get married to Shankar.Sandhya refuses again.This talk is heard by Shankar. Next day Shankar is found dead in the Hospital. He makes the biggest sacrifice for his friend Gopal.
Today’s song, sung by Lata Mangeshkar was quite popular in those days and it was invariably played by Radio Ceylon on every Children’s day. It is a melodious tune composed by Madan Mohan, who used 6 singers for the 7 songs the film had. This will be the fifth song from this film to be discussed here. Almost all songs of this movie are good to listen to.
Song-Aane waale kal ki tum tasweer ho (Chhote Baabu)(1957) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Indeewar, MD-Madan Mohan
Lyrics
aane waale kal ki tum tasweer ho o
naaz karegi duniya tum par
duniya ki taqdeer ho
aane waale kal ki tum tasweer ho o
naaz karegi duniya tum par
duniya ki taqdeer ho
tum ho kisi kutiya ke deepak
jag mein ujaala kar doge
bholi bhaali muskaanon se sabki jholi bhar doge
hanste chalo zamaane mein
tum chalta hua ek teer ho
naaz karegi duniya tum par
duniya ki taqdeer ho
aane waale kal ki tum tasweer ho o
naaz karegi duniya tum par
duniya ki taqdeer ho
naam na lena rone ka
roton ko hansaane aaye ho
nahin roothhna kabhi ke tum
roothhon ko manaane aaye ho
naam na lena rone ka
roton ko hansaane aaye ho
nahin roothhna kabhi ke tum
roothhon ko manaane aaye ho
jo roothi taqdqqr badal de
tum aisi tabdeer ho
naaz karegi duniya tum par
duniya ki taqdeer ho
aane waale kal ki tum tasweer ho o
naaz karegi duniya tum par
duniya ki taqdeer ho
ek din honge zameen aasmaan chaand sitaare haathon mein
hogi ek din baagdor bhaarat ki tumhaare haathon mein
ek din honge zameen aasmaan chaand sitaare haathon mein
hogi ek din baagdor bhaarat ki tumhaare haathon mein
tod sake na dushman jisko
tum aisi zanjeer ho
naaz karegi duniya tum par
duniya ki taqdeer ho
aane waale kal ki tum tasweer ho o
naaz karegi duniya tum par
duniya ki taqdeer ho
