RMIM Archive Article "143".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Year in Hindi Films
# years covered - 1941 to 1943
#
# Posted by: Surjit Singh, dussh@ttacs.ttu.edu
# Source: see at the end.
#
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1941 - Mukesh acts and sings!
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This note on Mukeshachand Zoraavarachand Maathur should be
read alongside the wonderful info already available on the
RMIM Automailer maintained by Prince Kohli and Satish
Subramanian; get the articles #1, #2, #60 and #78.
Mukesh was born on July 22, 1923. One of the ten siblings,
the handsome young man came to Bombay in 1940 to become an
actor. His bosom buddy Tara Harish gave him a chance as a
hero in "nirdosh" (1941) opposite Nalini Jayawant in her
third movie. His first song was, "dil hii bujhaa huaa ho to
fasle bahaar kyaa", a solo and he also sang two duets with
Nalini Jaywant. The MD of the movie was Ashok Ghosh. On his
death in 1976, Anil Biswas said that he lost one of his
sons.
He sang the largest number of songs, 93, for Kalyanji-
Anandji in 60 movies. In the golden age of Hindi movie
music, 1951-1960, he was one of the popular male singers
used by the MD's. Here are the numbers of songs sung by po-
pular male singers in the period 1951-1960:
Rafi - 1236
Talat - 306
Mannadey - 300
Hemant - 182
Mukesh - 167
Kishor - 165
Interestingly, in the previous decade, the platinum age,
1941- 1950, the numbers for male singers are:
Rafi - 270
Mukesh - 148
Talat - 20
Kishor - 13
Hemant - 7
The present age is, of course, the iron age, or kaliyug. As
I have mentioned in an earlier post, the total number of
all songs of any kind, including other languages, nonfilmi
stuff etc. recorded by Mukesh is 994.
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Here are some other things that happened in 1941.
chitralekhaa
Bharat Bhushan makes a debut as a disciple in an
aashram, (he was listed at #17 in the credits) in this
historical, first major hit of director Kedar Sharma,
who also provided the screenplay and lyrics. The music
was by Jhande Khan and A. M. Gyani.
jhuulaa
Bombay Talkies's third hit in a row starring Ashok
Kumar and Leela Chitnis, after kangan (1939) and ban-
dhan (1940). Sarasvatii devii provided a number of hit
songs, including, "na jaane kidhar aaj meri naav chalii
re (Ashok)", "aaj mausam salonaa salonaa re (Ashok)",
and the fast-paced hilarious song, "mai.n to dillii se
dulhan layyaa re ai baabuu ji (Arun Kumar and Rahmat
Bano)".
kanchan
Even though prem nagar (1940) was released first,
Naushad Ali recorded his first ever song for a movie
all by himself for this movie. The song, "bataa do koii
kaun galii more shyaam", lyrics by D. N. Madhok and
sung by Leela Chitnis.
Kazaanchii
A big hit from Pancholi Art Pictures, Lahore, Panjab,
with the famous producer-director-actor S. D. Narang as
hero. Music by Gulaam haidar and lyrics by valii
saahib. It had 9 popular songs, all featuring Shamshad
Begum, in six solos, one duet and a chorus. I have
heard two of them, the duet,"nayano.n ke baaN kii riit
anokhii" and my grandma's favorite movie song that is
not a bhajan, "saavan ke nazaare hai.n." According to
Narang Films, owned my the two sons of S. D. Narang,
this was the first Hindi Golden Jubilee Film.
lagan
Saigal and kaanan devi had 10 hit songs, music by R. C.
boraal, lyrics by aarazuu lakhanavii. You may have
heard,"kaahe ko raaD machaaii","ye kaisaa anyaay
daataa", "mai.n sote bhaag jagaa duu.ngaa" by saigal
and "madabharii madabharii matavaarii phulavaarii kyaa
nyaarii", "hamarii laaj nibhaao svaamii" by kaanan.
pa.Dosi
A movie on national integration before this phrase
became a cliche, directed by inimitable Dr. Shantaram,
in which the role of a Muslim was played by gajaanan
jaagiirdar and the role of his Hindu best friend was
played by mazhar Kaa.N.
raaj nartakii
The famous bengali dancer sadhona bose danced and hus-
band, modhu bose directed. The movie was the first mul-
tilingual movie as some characters spoke Hindi, others
Bengali and English. This was a new thing, because so
far many producers had made monolingual versions of the
same movie.
sika.ndar
Sohrab Modi directed and played king porus, who said to
sikandar, played by prithviraj kapuur, "buddy, you
treat me as one king treats another", after the brave
Indian king lost everything, and, sikandar had asked
how he should be treated. Astonishingly, according to
the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, there are no references
to sikandar's invasion or this famous verbal exchange
in the Indian sources. All of our info about this
famous invasion comes from records kept by sikandar's
companions, whose records are, "fanciful" and "make for
better fiction than history", still quoting the Britan-
nica. Has one famous song that the Greek soldiers sing
in Hindi,"zindagii hai pyaar se pyaar mai.n bitaaye
jaa", main voice is Khan Mastana.
taajamahal
Suraiyya debuts as baby suraiyya, more about her later.
In contrast, baby noorjahan has already made six films,
and, rajesh khanna and amitaabh have probably been con-
ceived and will be born in 1942!
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1942 - Suraiya Sings!
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Born at Lahore on June 15, 1929, Suraiya Jamaal Shekh was
educated at the New High School for Girls, Bombay. On a holiday
from school, she went with her uncle, character actor Zahur, to
Mohan Studios to see the shooting of Taj Mahal. A child actor was
needed and out of fun, she agreed. Director Nanubhai Vakil liked
her very much. But she went on with her education and kept taking
parts in All-India Radio's children's programs along with another
child-actor Raj Kapoor. Everybody was amazed at the ease with
which she reproduced the popular movie songs of the day.
She got to sing her song, "buuT karuu.n mai.n polish baabuu,
buuT karu.N mai.N polish" written by tanviir naqavii and set to
music by Naushad, in the film naii duniyaa. G. M. Durrani was an
assistant MD. Other songs were sung by Rajkumari and Durrani.
Apart from naii duniyaa, Suraiya did playback singing in station
master (1942), shaarada (1942), sanjog (1943), kaanuun (1943) and
jiivan (1944), all for Naushad. All of these movies made her very
popular.
She sang for herself for the first time in hamaarii baat
(1943) where she got seventh billing and Raj Kapoor, who acted as
a peon, was mentioneed at number 13, the last one in the credits!
She sang 4 songs: 3 duets with arun kumaar and one chorus. In the
very next movie, ishaaraa (1943) she was cast opposite Prithviraj
Kapoor. She never looked back after that. The movie magazines
dubbed her the "chocolate charmer" of the Indian screen. She
experienced the greatest thrill of her life when Saigal saw her
rehearsing a song for Director Jayant Desai's samraaT chandrag-
upta (1945). Saigal liked her lilting voice and suggested to
Desai to cast her as a heroine in tadabiir (1945) opposite him.
She was thrilled. They acted in two more movies, umar Kayyaam
(1946) and paravaanaa (1947). We will pick up her career later.
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There were many other firsts in 1942. Here are some of them.
Filmistaan studios is formed by a group of people, including S.
Mukherji and Ashok Kumar, who were dissatisfied with the manage-
ment of Bombay Talkies.
Abdul Rasid Kardar forms his Kardar studios.
V. Shantaram breaks away from Prabhat Studios and starts his
Rajkamal Kalamandir (named after his parents, raajaaraam and
kamal vaNakudre) on the former Wadia Movietone premises.
Homi Wadia starts Basant Pictures.
Mehboob starts his own production company with the famous hammer
and sickle logo.
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Here are some other movies released in 1942.
basant
Baby mumataaz, later known as Madhubala, acts in her first
movie; she gets 10th billing. She lipsynched the very popu-
lar, ik chhoTii sii duniyaa re, sung by Parul Ghosh, with a
tune created by Parul Ghosh's brother, Anil Biswas. More
about Madhubala later.
bhakta kabiir
When Kedar Sharma saw Bharat Bhooshan, he said that that was
the kabiir he was looking for. The moviegoing public agreed
and made him a star. Has the very popular song, bhaj man
raam rahiimaa, bhaj krishaN kariimaa. The Mayor of Calcutta
presented BB with a silver souvenir.
bhakta suurdaas
Another excellent movie by Saigal. Has many of his famous
bhajans. One is madhukar shyaaam hamaare chor, another is
maiyyaa morii mai.n nahi.n maakhan khaayo. His younger
brother Mahendra Saigal was Krishan in the movie and his
voice can be heard saying "suurdaasji" in the song, nis din
barasat nain hamaare. He recorded the song, nainahiin ko
raah dikhaa prabhu, 14 times, but still not satisfied with
his performance, cried openly and bitterly. After a while he
gained his composure and recorded what turned out to be
nothing less than a masterpiece. While reporting on this
incident in an article in Listeners' Bulletin, Har Mandir
Singh writes, echoing every music-lovers sentiments, "san-
giit saadhanaa kaa aisaa tapasvii phir kab milegaa."
bharat milaap
Vijay Bhatt's first epic movie based on the Ramayana.
Credits include dozens of literary sources, historians and
curators.
javaab
Kanan Devi sang her way to fame in this movie directed by P.
C. Barua. Kamal Dasgupta provided the music for hit numbers
like, tuufaan mel, ai chaand chhup naa jaanaa, kuchh yaad
rahe to sun kar jaa.
Kaanadaan
Mainly a Noorjehan vehicle in which she sings 8 songs, one a
duet with Shamshad. Produced by Pancholi Pictures, music by
Gulam Haider. Four songs are avail able in the Rare Gems
series by HMV.
muqaabalaa
The first film to have many new special-effects techniques
by co-director Babubhai Mistry, who ruled this genre for
fifty years. He was a consultant to the hit TV serial
Ramayana of the 80's.
roTii
Mehboob's classic movie comparing capitalism and communism.
Popular music was provided by Anil Biswas. A rare appearance
by the "malikaa-e-Gazal" Begum Akhtar, who was known as
Akhatari Faizabadi then. She sang 6 songs. Satyajit Ray's
jalasaaghar (1958) was her last movie. She died in 1974.
sukhii jiivan
The first Hindi movie for C. Ramchandra. More about him
later.
zamii.ndaar
Qamar jalaalaabaadii wrote his first song, duniyaa mai.n
Gariibo.n ko aaraam nahii.n milataa, sung by Shamshad, music
by Gulam Haider. This was a sequel to the hit movie Kazaan-
chii by Pancholi.
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1943 - The Year of Qismat
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Qismat was the first movie to run for the longest period, 3
years and 8 months, in one theater, at Roxy, Calcutta in this
case. No other movie in the whole world had done this at that
time. The two others to do something similar many years later
were also Hindi movies. Amazingly, all three had music by Bangla
MD's. Qismat had music by the maestro Anil Biswas whose best
known movie this became. It had 8 memorable songs. Here they are:
aaj himaalaya kii choTii se - amiirbaaii karnaaTaki, others
dhiire dhiire aa re baadal - amiirbaaii
ab tere sivaa kaun meraa - amiirbaaii
dhiire dhiire aa re baadal - amiirbaaii, aruN kumaar
ham aisii qismat ko kyaa - amiirbaaii, aruN, others
tere dukh ke din phirenge - aruN
papiihaa re, mere piyaa se - paarul ghosh, aruN
ai duniyaa bataa hamane bigaaDaa hai kyaa teraa,
ghar ghar ma
i.N diivaalii hai mere ghar mai.N andheraa - amiirbaii
I was first startled and then delighted when I overheard an
elderly khaasii (one of the three biggest tribes in Meghalaya,
the others are gaaro and jaintia) gentleman singing this last
song on a diivaalii night at Laitumkhrah Market, Shillong in
1980. He did not know much Hindi, but he told me in English that
he saw this movie 15 times at Roxy, Calcutta.
qIsmat was produced by Bombay Talkies, directed by gyaan
mukerjii, starred Ashok Kumar and Mumtaaz Shanti. The most shock-
ing thing for the audiences was that the hero was a pickpocket.
But he had a golden heart and really belonged to a good family,
from whom he got separated. All ends well with the usual family
portrait. The then popular film magazine, Filmindia, said,"Kismet
is another money-making clap-trap. Ashok Kumar gives another good
performance. Good music sustains audience interest." This maga-
zine typically reviewed 50 movies each year, declaring 32 to be
poor, 13 as indifferent and 5 to be good. So you see even in the
the good old days all movies were not all good.
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Some of the other movies of 1943 are as follows.
hospital
Excellent songs by kaanan devii: "merii majabuuriyo.n ne
chaak kar Daalaa", "zaraa naino.n se nainaa milaay jaao re".
MD was kamal daasgupta
kaanuun
Suraiya sang her famous song,"ek tuu ho ek mai.N hu.N aur
nadii kaa kinaaraa ho" for mehataab with Naushad as MD.
mahaasatii anasuyaa
The first movie for avinaash vyaas as MD. He gave music for
about 50 Hindi and 150 Gujarati movies. His most famous
Hindi song may very well be,"tere dvaar khaDaa bhagavaan"
sung and written by pradiip for vaaman avataar (1955).
mera khwab
First movie for Ghulam Mohammad of Paakiizaa fame.
najma
First movie by Mehboob for Mehboob Productions, was a muslim
melodrama.
nurse
Had the famous song,"vo gaye nahi.n hame.n mil ke", by
Rajkumari, MD gyaan dutt. You may have heard the record in
the recent movie mirch masaalaa.
prithvii vallabh
Big budget costume drama produced and directed by Sohrab
Modi based on a story by K. M. Munshi. Was not as successful
as his earlier movies, Pukar (1939) and Sikandar (1941).
raamraajya
The most successful movie produced and directed by vijaya
bhaTT. prem adiib was raam, shobhanaa samarth was siitaa.
The music was by Shankar Rao Vyas. The most famous song
is,"bhaarat kii ek sannaarii kii ham kathaa sunaate hai.n"
sung by raam aapTe and madhusuudan, and written by the
famous Hindi poet ramesh guptaa, who died in 1992.
shakuntala
The first movie produced and directed by V. Shantaram for
his own studio proved to be a major hit running for 104
weeks at the Swastik Theater, Bombay. Shakuntala was played
by VS's second wife, jayashrii kaamulakar, who sang her own
songs. I have the delightful,"jiivan kii naav naa Dole".
Madan Mohan is mentioned in the credits at number 10.
taansen
One of Saigal's bestknown films in which khurshiid matched
him in acting as well as singing. It is a must-see movie
available on video. Music by Khemachandra Prakash. Has 13
songs, among which are,
"kaahe gumaan kare", - Saigal
"rumajhum rumajhum chaal tihaarii,", - Saigal
"baag lagaa du.n sajanii", - Saigal
"sapt suran tiin graam", - Saigal
"diyaa jalaao" - Saigal
"ghaTaa ghanghor ghor", - khurshiid
"ho dukhiyaa jiyaraa", - khurshiid
"baraso re baraso kaale badaravaa" - khurshiid
And the famous duet,
"more baalaapan ke saathii chhailaa bhuul jaiyo naa".
taqdeer
Baby Fatima, 14, just wanted to see Motilal acting on the
sets of his latest picture. But Mrs. Mehboob started pluck-
ing her eyebrows, preened her hair, dressed her in a sari,
and gave her high-heeled sandals that made her feel like
walking on a tight-rope. She was persuaded to deliver a few
lines of dialogue against Chandramohan. Then Mehboob Khan
told her that she was the heroine of the movie! She wanted
to become a doctor like her father, but Mehboob just told
her that he would suffer a great loss if she refused because
some shots have already been taken. The teenager believed
him and agreed to do only one film. This is how Nargis told
the story of her debut as a heroine. She got third billing
after Motilal and Chandramohan. Her songs were sung by
Shamshad Begum with Rafiq Gazanavi as MD. The movie was a
hit.
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Posted by Surjit Singh, a movie fan period.
dussh@ttacs.ttu.edu
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian