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 is from film Shobha-42,sung by Saraswati Rane and Shahu Modak.
India has produced many Classical singers of repute.There are various gharanas( styles) of Music and each had famous singers who created equally capable Shishyas (disciples) to maintain Gharana’s individuality. Before the advent of Talkie films and the spread of Film music, the classical music ruled the entertainment field. Many kings, Maharajas and Nawabs were the connoisseurs and patrons of classical music and supported this by appointing Raj Gayaks or Darbar Gayaks..
Over a period, Kings and Nawabs disappeared and Film music became popular with common people. There was an unwritten dividing line between classical and Filmy music. No cross-overs were taking place. However, post Independence and the end of Royal patronage, classical music was relegated to background and only genuine lovers followed it. No wonder, the lure of lucrative film music attracted even the staunch classical maestros and we had many classical music experts-both Vocal and Instrumental, do a stint with the Film world.
Great Vocalists like M S Subbulaxmi, D V Paluskar, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Hirabai Badodekar, Manik Verma, Saraswati Rane, Shobha Gurtu etc, as well as Internationally famous classical Instrumentalists like Pt. Ravi Shankar, Bismilla Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, A R Qureshi etc made their Debuts in Hindi Film Music. Their participation enriched the HFM considerably. However, there were some staunch classical vocalists like Gangubai Hangal, Mogubai Krdikar, Kesarbai Kerkar etc, who, I believe, kept themselves away from films, though later on, their disciples did a few film assignments.
In the 40s and the 50s, the scions of Mane family, namely Sureshbabu Mane, Hirabai Badodekar and Sarswati Rane gave their contribution to the Hindi film music as well as Marathi Natyageet,Bhavgeet and cinema music.
Smt. Saraswati Mane/Rane alias Sakina [Chhotutai] was born in Miraj (4th October 1916). Sakina was the youngest daughter of the legendary maestro of the Kirana gharana, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan Sahib and Smt. Tarabai Mane. After separating from Karim Khan, Tarabai renamed all her children and Sakina became Kumari Saraswati Mane. The surname “Mane” was derived from her mother’s surname.Thus, Abdul Rehman became Sureshbabu mane, Krishna became Krishnarao Mane, Champakali became Hirabai Badodekar,Gulab became Kamalabai Badodekar. Krishnarao and Kamalabai were not singers. They only acted in films.
Saraswati was initiated into music by her illustrious brother Sureshbabu Mane. After about 1930, she also learnt from from her sister Smt. Hirabai Barodekar, Ustad Nathan Khan(1889-1946) of the Jaipur gharana and Prof. B. R. Deodhar of the Gwalior gharana.Working on stage in her mother’s ‘Nutan Sangeet Natak Mandali’, with luminaries like Bal Gandharva, Master Krishnarao, Vinayakbuwa Patwardhan, Sawai Gandharva and also stage drama singingThusThus like ‘Soubhadra’, ‘Sanchaya Kollol’ and ‘Ekacha Pyala’ brought her fame. Between 1929 and 1933 she cut several discs with the ‘Odeon’ label under the name of Kumari Saraswati Mane, rendering Hindi Bhajans and Marathi Bhavgeet.
In the meantime, she married Mr. Sunderrao Rane. In the early 1940’s, she made recordings as a playback singer for movies such as ‘Paisa Bolto Aahe’ (Marathi, 1943). She also acted in a Marathi film ‘Savitri’, and later took to playback singing for Marathi and Hindi films. She provided playback to over 50 films. She sang in almost all the films produced by Acharya P. K. Atre. Her song ‘Beena madhur madhur vacha bol’ in raga Bhimpalas from the Hindi/Marathi film ‘Ram Rajya’ (Prakash Films) was most popular. Her songs were heard all over North India. Younger listeners will probably remember her rendering Raga Shudh Kalyan with her grand daughter Shrimati Meena Faterpekar in the film ‘Bhumika’, directed by the renowned director Shyam Benegal.
Saraswati Rane cut over 200 songs on 78 rpm discs consisting of classical, light classical and film songs. She was probably one of the pioneering female playback singers of the Hindi film industry.
However, in order to concentrate on the performance of Hindustani classical music, at one point in time she virtually stop accepting offers for playback singing. By then, she was a regular performer for All India Radio, and had also made several gramophone records with ‘Odeon’, ‘His Master’s Voice’, ‘Columbia’, and ‘Young India’ records, apart from her countrywide concert tours. Her renderings of Ragas Chandrakauns, Basant Bahar, Yaman and the immortal Marathi numbers ‘Ghanashyam Nayani Aalaa’, ‘Jaa Ghevuni Sandesh Pakhara’, the duets with her sister Hirabai Barodekar remain ever-popular. She also had the honour of singing the Maharashtra Geet on the very first Maharashtra Day, the 1st of May, along with her sister. She has also recorded a LP record of duet with her sister Heerabai Barodekar in 1960. She received several awards including the prestigious ITC Award 2006, presented at the ITC Sangeet Sammelan in Delhi.
She was very active in music circles and used to attend music programs and functions. She attended the Hirabai Barodekar birth centenary program at Sharada Sangeet Vidyalaya, Bandra in May 2006. She participated in this function and sang raga Todi. Smt. Saraswatibai Rane, the last living member of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan’s family passed away at Pune on Tuesday October 10, 2006.
Today’s song is from film Shobha-42, which was the First film for Vasant Desai as Independent Music Director. Vasant Desai ( 9-7-1912 to 22-12-1975 ) gave music to 46 films, from Shobha-42 to Shaque-76. he was known as a Composer who used classical base for his songs. Our Film industry is expert in branding artistes. Actually, Vasant Desai has composed songs in practically all possible genres- comic,sad,romantic, Bhajans,love songs,qawalis,dance numbers etc. still he was branded as a Purist. Personally, my No. 1 favourite song of Vasant Desai is “Pareshan hoon ke kyun meri pareshani jaati nahin”- Amirbai karnataki in ‘Parbat pe apna dera’-44. This is a sad but soulful song.
Vasant Desai was one of those,who,inspite of Talent never got his dues. Though Lata Mangeshkar doesn’t acknowledge any of Desai’s creations in her top 20 personal favourites nor praises his vast repertoire, it is a fact that some of her finest renditions were under Desai. Allegedly, Lata had a grouse against him for promoting other singers, especially Vani Jairam, and hence ignores his contribution in her career even when most of her songs under Desai’s baton have been unsurpassed till this day. Go down the memory lane and you can’t ignore sublime creations like “Jo Tum Todo Piya” (“Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje”), “Tere Sur aur Mere Geet” (“Goonj Uthi Shehnai”), “Main Gaon Tu Chup Hoja” (“Do Aankhen Barah Haath”), “Piya Te Kahan” (“Toofan aur Diya”) or “Ik Tha Bachpan” (“Aashirwad”). Even though Desai made her “Ae Malik Tere Bande Hum” (“Do Aankhen Barah Haath”) into a memorable secular prayer, Lata hardly ever commends the composition. May be she is unhappy that Desai created an equally powerful bhajan “Humko Man Ki Shakti Dena” into a nationwide school prayer through Vani’s vocals.
His proficiency was the reason why he was greatly admired by maestros like Bismillah Khan (who made the shehnai famous with his recitals in “Goonj Uthi Shehnai”, Amir Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, and M. S. Subbulakshmi even got a song composed from Desai for her recital at the UNO headquarters. It was Desai’s virtuosity that made Dada Muni (Ashok Kumar) render an all-time favourite children’s song “Rail Gadi” (“Aashirwad”) with minimum instrumentals. Nowadays when Cannes Film Festival is a place of photo opportunity rather than exploration of artistry, it is overwhelming to know that decades ago Desai’s versatility made “Amar Bhoopali” the only Indian film to win a Grand Prix award for original musical score at Cannes! Obviously, lyricist Gulzar isn’t wrong to hail Desai as a “music composer extraordinaire” especially when he catapulted his “Bole Re Papiha” to Himalyan heights of popularity.
Born in a wealthy family in Sonwad village in Maharashtra, Desai joined the famous Prabhat Film Company at Kolhapur at its inception. Apart from performing several minor chores, he also acted, sang and sometimes composed songs in Prabhat’s films like “Dharmatma” and “Sant Dnyaneshwar” but once he had mastered the craft of music composition, he stuck to it. Devoted to V. Shantaram from his Prabhat days, Desai went along with the maestro when he broke away from Prabhat to form his own Rajkamal Studios. Scoring music for a majority of Shantaram’s films, Vasant’s career suffered a major blow when their relations soured in the late 1950s. Yet it is to his credit that even though they split after recording of “Aadha Hai Chandrama” (later re-done by C. Ramchandra), he never ever spoke ill about “Anna” till his dying day.
Film director Vikas Desai says, “even family members never came to know the reasons for leaving Shantaram though he went back to score the background music of ‘Geet Gaya Patharon Ne’ on Anna’s request”.
Film Shobha was a Wadia Movitone presentation . It was Directed by Kumarsen Samarth,husband of Shobhana Samarth. The Lyricist was Indra and the composer was Vasant Desai. The film had 6 songs. With today’s song, film Shobha is making a Debut here. As per HFGK, 3 songs are sung by Shobhana Samarth,because on the record,her name is printed,but Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji has confirmed that these songs are sung by Saraswati Rane. In the discography of Saraswati Rane also these songs feature. Here is the synopsis of this film’s story-
The film opens with a gloomy shadow over the happy home of Benilal. His unmarried daughter MOHINI was in a `delicate condition, but true to her spirit of an Aryan woman, refused to expose the name of the man whom she had already accepted as her husband. SHOBHA-Bennilal’s protege- being a B.A.B.T.-was shortly to proceed to Bombay to join duties as a School Mistress. She offered to move Mohini there to put a stop to likely and eventual public scandal about her.
At Bombay, while on her way to School, an altercation took place between SHOBHA and a young handsome man named RAJENDRA while hailing the only Victoria on a stand. In the wrangle she dropped her wrist watch on the road and went off. RAJENDRA picked and pocketed it. . At the school, the old Principal introduced her to the Head Mistress, who at the very first glance at Shobha caught envy of her academic qualifications and particularly her beauty.
Rajendra followed her to school, only to find her gone. He obtained particulars and visited her room. At his sight, Shobha vehemently created a row. Neighbours gather and threaten the intruder, who Sternly points out that he was there to give back the lady her lost watch. He puts the neighbours to pleasant surprise and Shobha to shame. She heartily apologises Rajendra who, like a true sportman, reciprocates her feelings.
The incident stitched the young hearts with the silken chord of love and mutual fascination. . In the mean time, Mohini gave birth to a child. Shobha got Mohini dispatched to attend upon her ailing father . Through the house help Bansari the neighbours were led to believe Mohini as a married woman, her husband being away on war duties. This prevented the probable disclosure.
One evening, just for fun’s sake, Rajendra told Shobha of his supposed marriage with a girl of his fathers selection. This shocked her so miserably that she forthwith went to the Principal urging for her transfer to Nasik. . Shobha on her way to Principals and Rajendra for Shobhas both missed each other. Shobhas disgust for Rajendra prompted her to take Bansari into confidence with the result that Rajendra received a rough welcome at Bansaris hands. She scolded him for taking undue liberties with Shobha. “She is a married woman, and here is her child”, burst out the maid.
Rajendra went back mad with rage. . When at Principals place, Shobha received the welcome news of his wholehearted approval to her match with Rajendra, whom she then learnt to be none else but his son. . Next meeting of Rajendra and Shobha was, however, unhappy. He furiously accused her of `faithlessness. Shobha tried to convince him of her innocence: but could not satisfy him on the point of the child’s existence.
She declined to tell who its parents were. Both left each other in disgust and disappointment. At the back of mind,Rajendra was thinking this not to be true. He meets Bansari separately and gets to know the truth from her. meanwhile Mohini also returns with a young man,who was the father of her child. He regretted for what happened and took Mohini with him to his father who was ready for this marriage.
All misunderstandings cleared,now Rajendra and Shobha unite happily.
The song is very sweet and haunting. From the day I came across this song, I have been humming this tune all the time. I am sure you too will get that feeling….
Song-Uhoon uhoon shikaari na khel (Shobha)(1942) Singers-Saraswati Rane, Shahu Modak, Lyrics-Pt Indra Chandra, MD-Vasant Desai
Both
Lyrics
uhoon uhoon
uhoon uhoon
shikaari na khel
uhoon uhoon
shikaari na khel
chaar aankh ke khel
khele bina khele gaye khel
khele bina khele gaye khel
uhoon uhoon
uhoon uhoon
shikaari na khel
uhoon uhoon
shikaari na khel
chaar aankh ke khel
khele bina khele gaye khel
khele bina khele gaye khel
kali kali khil jaaye
kali kali khil jaaye
ratiyaan chhaliyaa jahaan kahin mil jaaye
ratiyaan chhaliyaa jahaan kahin mil jaaye
mele lage milke huye mel
mele lage milke huye mel
uhoon uhoon
uhoon uhoon
shikaari na khel
uhoon uhoon
shikaari na khel
chaar aankh ke khel
khele bina
khele gaye khel
khele bina
khele gaye khel
zindagi mein nasha chha gaya
chha gaya
chha gaya
zindagi mein nasha chha gaya
chha gaya
chha gaya
chalo chalen us oar
chalo chalen us oar
umang umang phoolen phalen ??
umang umang phoolen phalen ??
khele bina
khele
gaye khel
khele bina khele gaye khel
uhoon uhoon
uhoon uhoon
shikaari na khel
uhoon uhoon
shikaari na khel
chaar aankh ke khel
khele bina khele gaye khel
khele bina khele gaye khel
