This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in 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.
The second song in the series ” VINTAGE KISHORE” is from a less known film Andolan-1951. It is likely that most people have not even heard the name of this film. It was produced by Harnam Motwani, under the banner of his own Motwani Ltd. Bombay. Pannalal Ghosh was the Music Director and the songs were written by Indeevar, Niyaz Hyder and Bankim Chandra chatterjee. The cast of the film was Kishore Kumar, Shivraj, Manju, Pushpa, Parshuram, Tiwari, Shekhar, Krishnakant etc. There were only 5 songs in it but 8 playback singers were used.
By 1951 Kishore was not a very well known actor. In fact he had not even got opportunities to showcase his acting talents. He was not yet branded as a comedy or tragedy actor. Andolan was a very serious type of movie. I have not seen it, but this is what its film booklet says-
” In the year 1885, Charu Dutt, a worldly-wise patriot, journeys from his little village to attend the first session of the Indian National Congress, held in Bombay. A fire with patriotic zeal, he returns to his village and speaks to his friends and relatives of the new wave that is about to spread over India. To his son he explains the cultural and political past of India, from the dawn of her history upto the turbulence of 1857. . The years roll on, and we come to the partition of Bengal. There is thunder in the air, and Indias inspiring song, “Bande Mataram”, is born. . The struggle gathers strength. Mahatma Gandhi appears, and freedom comes closer…..1920….1921….. Simon Commission, Bardoli, Dandi, 1930….1932….the battle rages and the drams heightens, and thus, August 1942, Quit India, and on to the final chapter in our freedom story, which unfolds in this film as the story of a single family, representing the nation of which they are the heart-beats. “
According to a Review of this film, published in those days-
” The true patriot that he was, Pannalal Ghosh gave stirring compositions and flute playback for the memorable film Andolan (1951). This film starred Shivraj, Kishore Kumar, Manju, Pushpa, Sushma, Parsuram, and Tiwari and was directed by Phani Majumdar for Motwane Ltd.
The film, made at Bombay Talkies, was produced by the distributors of the Chicago Radio PA systems. Kishore Kumar plays the role of the militant hero of this quasi-documentary. It is a stridently nationalistic story of India’s freedom struggle, presented through the expressions of a Bengali family from 1885 (when the Indian National Congress was established) to 1947. It has the actual footage of India’s freedom struggle. Speeches and talks of our national leaders, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and many others are included in the narrative of this film.
Important events incorporated into the plot were Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagrah (1920), the Simon Commission (1928), Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel’s Bardoli Satyagrah (1928) and the 1942 Quit India agitation. Old documentary footage purchased from Kohinoor and Krishna Films, as well as a shot of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore singing Jana Gana Mana are included. The song ‘Vande Mataram’ rendered by Parul Ghosh, Sudha, and Manna Dey is based on Raaga Miyan Malhar. ‘Prabhu Charanon Main Aaya Pujari’ in Raaga ‘Shree’ and ‘Radha Ne Kiya’, both rendered by Parul Ghosh are appreciated by music lovers. ‘Subah Ki Pahili Kiran Tak Zindagi Mushkil Mein Hai’ rendered by Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey and others is a unique experimentation in Bhor music. “
The film 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. here is a short Biography and Obitury on him, written by the famous Film Historian and writer of “Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema”-Ashish Rajadhyaksha. It was published in The Independent,Calcutta, on 22-6-1994.
” PHANI MAJUMDAR was a pioneer of Indian cinema, working in the late 1930s with PC Barua, India’s equivalent of DW Griffith, in the famous New Theatres Studio of Calcutta. Here, between 1936 and 1939, new standards were set for Indian motion pictures in a series of reflective, lyrical films that brought cinema closer to life and literature.
Majumdar’s contribution was Street Singer (1938), a melancholy love story, his debut and a classic of Indian cinema. Its male lead, Kundanlal Saigal, sang his immortal song ‘Babul Mora’ here, on a charged symbolic landscape of boats adrift in the mist. The Famine of 1943 and Partition of India were events of the future yet much of the symbolism of Bengal, the redolent Tagorean motifs of life-giving rivers, the feudal elite recreating the 19th century in desolate mansions – all the stuff that Satyajit Ray later spoke of as ‘the past’ – was in place with Street Singer. It was watched, not just as a love story par excellence, but as an expression of themes of Indian identity and nationalism which would be relevant for India,and Majumdar, even beyond Independence.
Majumdar was born in Faridpur, in what is now Bangladesh, in 1911. From Calcutta he moved to Bombay in 1941, directing classic musicals which often promoted traditional ways of Indian life, with stars like Suraiya (in Tamanna, 1942), Shanta Apte in Mohabbat (1943), and the blind singer KC Dey.
Majumdar’s Andolan (1951), Indian cinema’s most elaborately constructed nationalist propaganda feature, was made to promote Nehru’s Congress Party and was the closest that India ever came, on film, to defining a popular culture of nationalism: a small family in Bengal experiences in microcosm the major political events in the country, from 1885 (when the Congress Party was established) to Independence.
Majumdar returned to India from working in Singapore in the 1960s, and proceeded to make films in Punjabi, and even in obscure languages like Magadhi (Bhaiya, 1961) and Maithili (Kanyadaan, 1965). His interest in themes of an intrinsically Indian nature was a driving force to the end of his career. He worked on the television phenomenon of the 1980s in India, the 78-part religious epic The Ramayana, and was working on a television series Our India when he died. No doubt, had he lived, the Our India series, on a state television network struggling to hold its own in competition with satellite, would have been the fitting finale to a career which started with Street Singer. “
Though Kishore was known as a Comedian and later as a successful singer, he loved to act in serious movies. Andolan was his first serious film. Later he acted in other serious films like Mad Bhare Nain-56, Rangoli-62 and Ganga ki lahren-64. When he started producing his own films he began with serious film like Door Gagan ki Chhaon mein-64 and also made Door ka Raahi-71. He was so touchy about his serious acting that he would not like anyone criticising these films at all.
The experience of Andolan reassured Kishore himself about his own acting capability. However he continued to be the Producers’ choice only for Comedy films for many years to come.
Film Andolan had had the national Anthem-Vande Mataram in it which was sung by Manna Dey, Parul Ghosh, Sudha Malhotra, Sailesh Kumar and others. Unfortunately this song has become very rare and it is not available on net or You Tube. May be,in future, some kind record Collector will hopefully upload it some day.
Let us now see and enjoy this another very old and rare song from film Andolan-51, sung by Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar, Shanti Sudha Ghosh (daughter of Pannalal and Parul Ghosh) and chorus.
Songs-Subah ki pahli kiran tak (Andolan)(1951) Singers-Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Lyrics-Niaz Hayder, MD-Pannalal Ghosh
Kishore Kumar + Shanti Sudha Ghosh + Chorus
Manna Dey + Kishore Kumar + Shanti Sudha Ghosh + chorus
Lyrics
subah ki
subah ki pahli kiran tak
zindagi mushqil mein hai
subah ki pahli kiran tak
zindagi mushqil mein hai
ae vatan waalon andhera
aakhri manzil mein hai
ae watan waalon andhera
aakhri manzil mein hai
subah ki
jail ki deewaar kya hai,
paanv ki zanjeer kya
jail ki deewaar kya hai,
paanv ki zanjeer kya
shauq e aazaadi agar
ae dost apne dil mein hai
shauq e aazaadi agar
ae dost apne dil mein hai
subah ki pahli kiran tak
zindagi mushqil mein hai
subah ki
khoon ka dariya
watan ki naav
toofaani ee ee bahaav
mauj e toofaan
bol kitni tez
ab saahil mein hai
mauj e toofaan
bol kitni tez ab saahil mein hai
subah ki pahli kiran tak
zindagi mushqil mein hai
subah ki
zindagi phaansi ke takhton par jise gaati rahi
zindagi phaansi ke takhton par jise gaati rahi
geet wo bechain kitna
aaj apne dil mein hai
geet wo bechain kitna
aaj apne dil mein hai
subah ki pahli kiran tak
zindagi mushqil mein hai
subah ki
