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.
Today’s song will take us back to the earliest decade of Hindi Films. This famous song is from the film Bandhan-1940, made by Bombay Talkies. The song is in 3 parts. It is composed by Ramchandra Pal, who was the joint MD with Saraswati Devi for this film. All the songs of this film were written by Kavi Pradeep.
There is an interesting story behind the making of this song. Kavi Pradeep wrote this song and gave it to Ramchandra Pal. He sat at the Piano, holding the song paper and thinking how to compose the tune. He was not getting anywhere. Meanwhile Ashok Kumar came there. He took the song, himself sat at the Piano and tried to make a tune. He did make a tune , but only for the Mukhda. Beyond that he too got stuck. Finally the song was sent to Ashok Kumar’s sister ( wife of Shashdhar Mukherjee) Sati Devi. Within no time she composed the complete tune for Mukhda and the Antaras and gave it to Ramchandra Pal. He furhter composed the orchestra, prelude, interlude etc and then recorded the song.
This song comes 3 times in the film. First it is sung by Child actor Suresh ( doing the role of Heroine’s brother). Second time it is sung by Ashok kumar and Leela Chitnis as a duet and lastly it is a chorus song. Hard to believe,but in this chorus, the voices of Kishore Kumar and Madan Mohan are also there. Madan was the son of Raibahadur Chunilal and Kishore was the brother of Ashok Kumar. They used to play with young Madhubala in the courtyard of Bombay Talkies in their childhood.
PS-According to HFGK, this song had four parts.
This song “Chal chal re Naujawan” became very popular. So much so that when the film opened in Delhi, the audience wanted the song to be shown again and were adamant on it. So, it was played again after the film was over ,once more. It was sort of an inspirational and marching song for children. For this reason, it was included in the Hindi school books of those times. Thus, it became the First ever Hindi film song included in the school books. ( Earlier a Marathi song “aha Bharat Viraje’ from film Kunku ( Duniya na Mane in Hindi) was included in Marathi Text books.). Later on , the prayer song “aye Malik tere bande hum” from film Do Aankhen barah haath’ – 57 was included as a Prayer song in schools of Pakistan and it remained there till the 1965 Indo-Pak war, when it was removed !
The impact of the song Chal chal re Naujawan was so much that when a group of people-Sawak Vachha,S.Mukherjee, Ashok Kumar, Kavi Pradeep, Raibahadur Chunilal etc left Bombay Talkies and established their own Filmistan Studios, their first film in 1944 was titled, “Chal chal re Naujawan” !
The child star Suresh who actually sung this song was one rare case when a Male child star became a successful Hero in his adulthood. Actor Suresh may not be known much to new generation. The famous song of Rafi, “Suhani raat dhal chuki” was filmed on Suresh in the film Dulari-49. His real name was Nazim Ahmed. He was born on 13-11-1928 at Gurdaspur in Punjab. He was a very handsome person. He started his filmi career as a child artist in Nishaan e Jung-37, Gangavataran-37, Baazigar-38, Thokar-39 and then he came to Bombay. He did Meri Aankhen-39, Diwali-40, Bandhan-40 Anjaan-41,Naya Sansar-41 Anjaan-41 and Basant -42.
Later he became a leading actor. His first film as an adult Hero was Sona Chandi-46. He was one of those rare cases where a child actor became a successful adult actor. Producer director A R Kardar patronised him and like a doting father,he allowed Suresh to select his Heroines.Geeta Bali/Madhubala in Dulari, Suraiya/Sumitra devi in Deewana, Nalini Jaywant in Jaadoo, Vaijayantimala in Yasmin etc. He worked with all top heroines of this day and also with Azra, Padmini, Vijaya Chaudhari, Shashikala, Nanda etc.
In 1950 he went to Pakistan and did two films there. He returned back to Indiaas he felt that he had no future there. In the mid 1950s, he started doing B and C grade films as well as character roles. His last film as an actor was Parde ke peechhe-71. In 1970, he produced a film “Ganga aur Sooraj”. The main villain of the film Anwar Hussain got Paralysis, the film was stalled and delayed. It was finally released in 1980. He was deep in financial crisis and he died penniless on 14-7-1979 before his film was released. He acted in 55 films in all.
Recently, I was reading the Marathi Autobiography of Leela Chitnis, titled ” चंदेरी दुनियेत ” ( In the world of Silver Screen). Leela Chitnis ( 9-9-1909 to 14-7-2003 ) had a very eventful life. She was one of the few stars who had the opportunity to work in most of the famous and prestigious banners of her times like, Prabhat, Huns Pictures of Master Vinayak,Ranjit, Sagar and Bombay Talkies, in addition to her work in Calcutta, Kolhapur and Madras.
In her book, she describes in details about her days and the pattern of working in all these companies and their owners. She seems to have had a special love for Bombay Talkies. From the beginning, she was the favourite of both Himanshu Roy and Devika Rani, who gave her special treatment.She was provided a big furnished house,a car and many servants. There used to be a doctor on call to look after her health. She was considered a good Omen for the company as all her films Kangan,Bandhan and Jhoola were Jubilee films.
In her book, she writes about the making of film Bandhan in details. I am giving herewith an edited synopsis of what she wrote about film Bandhan-40.(The original,anyway, is more interesting). “just before starting work on Bandhan, Himanshu Roy was admitted in Hospital for a serious mental disorder treatment. He also suffered from Pneumonia and was kept in I.C.U. Doctors had predicted his death shortly. In view of this, the company was reorganized by its Directors and two Production teams were made, under the stewardship of S. Mukherjee and Amiya Chakravarty. Bandhan was under S. Mukherjee. It was planned to finish shooting in three months flat. Within a short period, Himanshu Roy died while in Coma.
Unfortunately, even on the day of Roy’s death, the shooting of Bandhan had to be done-under compulsion of circumstances. A scene of school building construction was being shot those days and the shooting was done on a real building construction. The work of cementing the bricks could not be stopped, so it became a must to do shooting on that day itself to maintain continuity and reality. So, while Roy’s body was being brought to the studio, the shooting of Bandhan was going on, on the site. ( what a committment in those days! )
Another matter was song rehearsals. As long as Roy was around, actors did not dare voice their dissent, but S.Mukherjee was very friendly. Both Leela and Ashok Kumar requested Mukherjee to remove them from the burden of singing, as singing was not their strength. They pleaded to take some playback singers, but Mukherjee flatly refused saying that their songs in Kangan were so popular and they must sing now also. They sang and these songs also became popular ! ”
Trivia- Ashok Kumar acted in all 3 films titled Bandhan, which came during his career-1940, 1956 and 1969. One more Bandhan was made in 1998, but Ashok kumar had retired by then.
Ramchandra Pal who coposed music for Bandhan, was a medical Graduate, but joined the film line. He worked as an actor in Manmohan-36, Deccan Queen-36 and also in Azaad-40. He sang 15 songs in 7 films. As a music director, he gave music in 20 films, composing 153 songs. After retirement he settled in Bombay and started his practice till he died.
Let us now enjoy all the parts of the song “Chal chal re Naujawan”. The trend of multi version songs ( different singers but one song) probably started with this song.
PS-With this song, “Bandhan”(1940) joins the list of movies that have all their songs covered in the blog.
Part I (Video) Singer-Suresh
Part II & III (Audio-full)
Part II (Video) Leela Chitnis, Ashok Kumar
Song-Chal Chal re naujawaan (Bandhan)(1940) Singers-Suresh/ Leela Chitnis, Ashok Kumar, Lyrics-Kavi Pradeep, MD-Ramchandra Pal
Leela Chitnis + Ashok Kumar
Chorus
———————————————
Part I
———————————————
chal chal re naujawaan
chal chal re naujawaan
kehna mera maan maan
chal re naujawan
kehna mera maan maan
chal re naujawaan
chal chal re naujawaan
door tera gaaon aur thhake paanv
door tera gaaon aur thhake paanv
phir bhi tu hardum
aage badha kadam
phir bhi tu hardum
aage badha kadam
rukna tera kaam nahin
chalna teri shaan
rukna tera kaam nahin
chalna teri shaan
chal chal re naujawaan
tu aage badhe ja
aafat se lade ja
aandhi ho ya toofaan
barsaa ho aasmaan
tu aage badhe ja
aafat se lade ja
aandhi ho ya toofaan
barsaa ho aasmaan
rukna tera kaam nahin
chalna teri shaan
chal chal re naujawaan
chal chal re naujawaan
———————————————-
Part II
———————————————–
chal chal re naujawaan
chalo sang chalen ham
chal chal re naujawaan
chalo sang chalen ham
door tera gaaon
aur thhake paaon
phir bhi raahgeer
tum kyon nahin aage
tum ho mere sang
aasha hai mere sang
tum ho mere sang
himmat hai mere sang
mere saath saath raho
tum qadam qadam
mere saath saath raho
tum qadam qadam
chalo sang chalen ham
chalo sang chalen ham
kisne
kisne kiya mujhko ishaara
door ki manzil se mujhe kisne pukaara
kisne kiya mujhko ishaara
door ki manzil se mujhe kisne pukaara
mamta ne pukaara
bandhan ne pukaara
tum hi sikha rahe ho mujhe geet ye hardam
chalo sang chalen ham
chalo sang chalen ham
kuhu kuhu bolo meri koyaliya
man mein mithhaas gholo meri koyaliya
kuhu kuhu bolo meri koyaliya
man mein mithhaas gholo meri koyaliya
kaun taan sunoge
zara ye to bata do
kaun taan sunoge
zara ye to bata do
veena ke bikhre huye taar saja do
veena ke bikhre huye taar saja do
aaj donon gaate huye jeewan sargam
aaj donon gaate huye jeewan sargam
chalo sang chalen ham
chalo sang chalen ham
chal chal re naujawaan
chalo sang chalen ham
———————————————————
Part III
———————————————————
chal chal re naujawaan
chal chal re naujawaan
kehna mera maan maan
chal re naujawaan
chal chal re naujawaan
door tera gaaon aur thake paanv
phir bhi tu hardum aage badha kadam
rukna tera kaam nahin
chalna teri shaan
chal chal re naujawan
chal chal re naujawaan
tu aage badhe ja
aafat se lade ja
aandhi ho ya toofaan
phatka ho aasmaan
rukna tera kaam nahin
chalna teri shaan
chal chal re naujawaan
chal chal re naujawaan
——————————————-
Part IV
——————————————-
ye hai zindagi ka kaarwaan
aaj yahaan aur kal wahaan
phir kyon tera dil hua adheer
phir kyon tere nainon mein neer eer
phir kyon tera dil hua adheer
phir kyon tere nainon mein neer
phir kyon tere praanon mein peer
tu na suna man ki baat
kaun sunega
kaun sunega
band kar zabaan
band kar zabaan
rukna tera kaam nahin
chalna teri shaan
chal chal re naujawaan
chal chal re naujawaan
