WITNESSING THE LIVE RECORDING OF RAFI SAHAAB’S SONG: "TUMSE IZHAAR-E-HAAL KAR BAITHE.. AT THE MEHBOOB STUDIOS, BANDRA, MUMBAI.

It was in 1954 that Mehboob Studios was built near Hill Road, Bandra, Mumbai, by the legendary Mehboob Khan who had founded his own production house in 1942. The plot was in fact purchased as early as 1951 from one Jafferbhai, a Bohri Muslim. Spreading over 4.2 acres of land, Mehboob Studios features five huge shooting stages and a recoding theatre. It was a very popular venue for the leading film-makers of the golden age that was the Bombay Film Industry which is now commonly called the Bollywood. After Mehboob Khan’s death in 1964, the Mehboob Studios has seen ups and downs and was even rumoured that it was offered for sale. According to an insider information, it appears that the Khoja Jamaat Khana had offered to purchase the Studios at the price of Rs.220 crores, a decade and a half ago when money had much greater value then it has today. Of late, the Studio has been used by the film-makers of Saawariya and Bhootnath – to name just a couple.

Coming to our subject, a friend of mine, Mr. Sayyad, came to Bombay from Bhopal in early 1962-1963. He had a relative who used to look after and supervise the lighting arrangements at the Mehboob Studios. One day, having nothing better to do, he set out to meet him there. It was late morning. He noticed that the Studio was a very busy place. The two landscape gardens were full of people. Strangely, he noticed that one garden was full of women only. The other garden was occupied by men. All were talking gaily about something or the other. Perhaps they were the junior artistes who waiting for their daily chores. The canteen was jam-packed too. In the hallway, he recognised some seasoned artistes such as Jayant, Anwar Hussein, Mukri and others who were discussing the shoots they had done recently.
Thereafter, Mr. Sayyad walked up the flight of stairs and happened to enter the Recording Studio.

Little did he anticipate that he was about to witness the live recording session of one of the beautiful songs from H.S. Rawail’s romantic-musical movie called “Mere Mehboob”. It may be remembered that the Music Director Naushad had recorded the title track of Mere Mehboob with just six instruments. Mr. Sayyad saw some twenty-five people occupying the visitors chairs in the hall. He recognized one of them as the famous Bollywood villain, Hiralal. The visitors were sitting just at a distance of 15-20 feet from the musicians and were keenly watching the on-goings of the musicians who were located at one end of the hall. There were sections of musical instrument, notably violins and others. A lone, swarthy Tabla player was conspicuous by his white ‘Kurta” and Pajama. He was sitting sort of aloof from the other musicians. Naushad Saab was not around. His Assistant, Mohammed Shafi, stood facing the musicians. He used to point his baton at each section of musician in turn, which then played their piece of music. While the arrangement and embellishments were being tested by Mohammed Shafi, the sound quality was being supervised by the eminent Sound Recordist, Kaushik at the other end.

As Mr. Sayyad began to wonder who the singer would be, in walked Mohammed Rafi Sahaab with his ingratiating smile, and making Salaams to those present there. He wore a white pants and a white short-sleeves shirt. On seeing him, the entire Recording Studio came to life with happy anticipation. Rafi Sahaab had his Song- Diary with him. Mohammed Shafi asked him whether he needed a rehearsal. Rafi Sahaab said that it was not necessary and pulled up a chair to sit.

Thereafter Mohammed Shafi turned towards the visitors and began to ask who they were. He had this way of snapping his fingers and asking each visitor their business and then asking him to leave. He turned out at least six visitors out of the Recording Studio. Looking at Hiralal he asked him how did he find his way here. My friend sat motionless, fearing that he would be sent out. Finally, Mohammed Shafi snapped his finger at him. But before he could ask him the question, Mr. Sayyad himself got up and asked him, “Kyaa Main Bhee Baahar Jaaoon?” (“Whether I, too should go out?"). He, however, allowed him to sit. There were still last-minute instructions to be given. Looking towards the entrance, he signalled one watchman to go out and caution people against making any noise. Another watchman who got the signal picked up a stick to fend off the crows, if any, from the window sill and ledges. Clearly, there was a qualitative difference between the old and the modern Recording Studios.

At last Naushad Saab made an entry from the same entrance from where Rafi Sahaab had come. It looked as if there was a special entrance for the artistes and another common entrance for the visitors. He went up to Mohammed Shafi. Whispering something in his ears, he went out through the same entrance. My friend was not sure where he went, i.e. whether he had left the Recording Studio, or whether he had just gone to some other part of the recording studio.

Then there was a hush! Rafi Sahaab got up and went to up to the mike. In one hand he had his open Song-Diary. 

Looking into it, Rafi Sahaab began: Aaj Furqat ka Khwaab Toot Gayaa...
Mil Gaye Tum Hijaab Toot Gayaa...
Tumse Izhaar-e-Haal Kar Baithe
Bekhudi me.n kamaal kar Baithe.

And so the song went on. Rafi Sahaab was singing so effortlessly, with one hand raised in gestures to indicate the nuances of the words such as “Yeh Adaayen,” “Yeh Shokhiyaa.n”. The beat of the Tabla was prominent among the harmony of the other musical instruments. The ecstasy was short-lived as the song came to an end. Thereafter, with the same niceties as before, Rafi Sahaab left the Recording Studio. Surely, he had another recording session somewhere since the early Sixties was the time when he was at the zenith of his singing career. The musicians collected their instruments.

The visitors began leaving the Recording Studio. Mr. Sayyad, too, came out with the pleasant experience that he would never forget - the experience that he would narrate to me some Forty-Five years later in details. After a few days he did get another opportunity to witness a live recording at the same place. This was the duet from Leader: “Teri Husn ki kya Taareef Karoo.n...” But that’s another story.

NASIR.

JADDAN BAI, THE IMPERIOUS ARBITRATOR OF BOLLYWOOD

Without going into the antecedents of Jaddan Bai (1892-1949), it is enough for our purpose to know that she was a woman of many talents: classical singer, dancer, film producer-director, actor and composer. She was born in Banaras grew up in Allahabad. She was a disciple of the noted music masters and classical singers of the day such as Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, Ustad Umrao Khan, and Ustad Moizuddin Khan from whom she learnt the Thumri. Once K.L. Sehgal heard her at Calcutta and was all praise for her. One of her non-filmi Thumris include, Lage karajwa me.n choT/Phool gendwaa na maaro – which surely reminds us that the song of Manna Dey’s Phool gendwaa na maaro from Dooj Ka Chaand (1964),  which was lip-synched in the background of comedy by Agha, had been inspired by Jaddan Bai’s Thumri. Her mastery of classical idiioms can be guaged from her renditions of the Roop Joban and Tere Sang Raja too.

Jaddan Bai lived during the era when Dada Saheb Phalke made his first silent movie, Raja Harishchandra (1913) and went on to see the transformation in 1931 when the first talkie, Alam Ara was released and many actors of the silent movies lost their jobs. Those were the musical times when the sound system gave great impetus to the songs in the movies so much so that Indrasabha (1931) had 71 songs to boast of. That was also the age of Gramophone Singers and Jaddan Bai was one of them. As such we have the treasure trove of songs of those “gaanewaalis” whose songs were recorded for common public’s consumption. No longer were they the preserves of the Rajas’ Darbars. Jaddan Bai thrilled the listeners with Thumris and Dadras through the gramophone records and over the radio. In his Come Fire, Come Rain, Khalid Hasan fondly recalls that Jaddan Bai was the toast of many princely states .  He further  mentions that a number of her ghazals and songs have been preserved in the Classical Musical Cell that was established by Faiz Ahmed Faiz at Lahore. 

She witnessed the formations of the studio-systems when each studio had its film producer, directors, technicians, actors, singers, story-writers, and music directors. The Imperial Studios, Bombay Talkies, Prabhat Films, New Theatres, Wadia Movietone, Ranjit Studios, Minerva Movietone and Madan Theatres flourished during that period. Of course, she wouldn’t live long enough to see the downfall of this system that began with the mid-Fifties when most of the production houses merely became avenues for production of all sorts of movies.

In 1935, when JBH Wadia produced Hunter Wali and R.C. Boral introduced the first playback singing in Dhoop Chhaon (1935), Jaddan Bai acted in and composed music for Talaash-e-Haq (1934-1935). She launched her company Sangeet Movietone in 1936.  Jaddan Bai directed Madam Fashion and Hriday Manthan (both 1936) and Moti Ka Haar and Jeevan Swapna (1937). She acted in Raja Gopichand, Insaan Ya Shaitan (both 1933),  Seva Sadan and Prem Pariksha (both 1934). Shahi Rakkasa was one of her earlier movies.  In Madam Fashion, she was also the actor, lyricist and music director. Though some sources point out Jaddan Bai or Saraswati Devi alias  Khorshed Homji in Jawani ki Hawa (1935) as the first female music director in the Indian film industry, it is Ishrat Sultana (Adl-e-Jahangir – 1934) who takes that credit. In passing, it is interesting to note that the Parsi Panchayat had taken a strong objection at the instance of four Parsi members who were on the Board of Bombay Talkies,  to a Parsi female composing music for a movie and another sister of hers (Chandraprabha alias Manek) acting or singing in a movie and the Parsi community had even  even taken out a 'morcha'  to stall their movies in 1935.

Now Jaddan Bai, having seen the ravages of time  and coming from the “Tawaif” background, was sympathetic to the plight of the ‘Tawaifs’ or courtesans and this reflected heavily in her movies. The Tawaifs were the persecuted lot ever since the Britishers launched a vigorous movement against them 1890 onwards and the days of the Raja and the Maharajas and even the nawabs were drawing to a close.  Jaddan Bai cared well for her single mother, Daleepabai.   Evidently, Jaddan Bai was far-sighted enough and so in Talaash-e-Haq, and Madam Fashion she cast her own daughter, Kaneez Fatima Rashid, as Baby Rani who was to reach the filmy stardom within the next seven years as Nargis  (b.1929-d.1981) – the name given by Mehboob Khan .

Nargis' father  was Uttamchand Mohanchand who had converted to Islam before marrying Jaddan Bai was named Abdul Rashid by Maulan Abul Kalam Azaad. He hailed from Rawalpindi, and as a medical student had met Jaddan Bai at a Lucknow hospital where she had been admitted for a surgery. It was the case of love at first sight.  It is well to remember though that Jaddan Bai was not enamoured of the riches of Mohan Babu.  Rather, as Manto says of Mohan Babu’s riches: ‘yeh sab daulatein Jaddan Bai ke dar par bhikari ban gayeen’. Such was the charm of Jaddan Bai!  Manto has a sharply drawn sketch of hers in his Ganjey Farishtey, in the section on Nargis. 

Jaddan Bai had other children too by her previous marriages and their names were Akhtar Hussain and Anwar Hussain. The latter acted in many Hindi movies and was a renowned character artiste and villain. The former is more known for writing the story of Raat Aur Din (1967) which won a National Award for Nargis. Today, Jaddan Bai is remembered as the grandmother of Sanjay Dutt.

Before her death in 1949, Jaddan Bai witnessed the tremendous achievements of her daughter and her successful pairing opposite Motilal and Chandramohan (Taqdeer), Ashok Kumar (Humayun), Dilip Kumar (Mela, Anokhi Ada and Andaz) and Raj Kapoor (Aag, Barsat and Andaz). By 1949, Nargis found a stiff competition from a new galaxy of female actors such as , Kamini Kaushal, Madhubala, Suraiya, Munawwar Sultana, Mumtaz Shanti, Nimmi, Geeta Bali and the upcoming Meena Kumari. At this time, Jaddan Bai produced Daroga Ji, casting Nargis as the heroine. Against the establishd norm, Jaddan Bai introduced a new singing voice for her daughter. This was Geeta Roy who sang ten songs for Nargis! For the reasons pointed out above, Jaddan Bai was not fated to see her daughter’s best performance in the title role of Mother India (1957) for which she won international recognition and the Best Actress Award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and which also fetched her the Filmfare Award at home. Nargis also starred in the Indo-Soviet co-production, Pardesi (1957) and a decade later in a Greek movie, Tosa oneira stous dromous (1968).

While the above facts are a matter of common knowledge, what many don’t know about Jaddan Bai is that besides being a woman who loved poetry and presided imperially over her family, she was also a woman of sagacious judgment.  The film-wallahs used to flock to her home to settle their mutual differences and quarrels.  Her say was final and there was no appeal after her judgment! The following account, involving A.R. Kardar and Mehboob Khan, was narrated by Akhtar-ul-Iman (dialogue-writer of Waqt fame) to my friend, Sayyad Saab, when the latter visited him at his old flat at the Bandra Bandstand in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

In Hindi film industry, who doesn’t know Mehboob Khan and A.R. Kardar! Briefly, A.R. Kardar (1904-1989) began as actor and then made his directorial debut in 1929 with Husn Ka Daku aka Mysterious Eagle. He directed almost 40 movies, 15 of which were in the Nineteeen-Thirties itself, and went on directing movies till the mid-Sixties. His last one was in 1975 (the inconsequential Mere Sartaj, starring Zaheera). His very famous ventures include Pehle Aap (1944) Shahjahan (1946), Dard (1947) which he also produced, Dulari, (1949), Dillagi (1949), Dastaan (1950), Jadoo (1951), Deewana (1952) Dil-e-Nadaan (1953) Yasmeen and Baap re Baap (1955), and many others. One of his last movies as the Director was Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966) though rumour has it that it was ghost-directed by Dilip Kumar, the hero of the movie. He was the owner of the Kardar Studios.

As for Mehboob Khan (1907-1964), before he joined the film industry he used to fix horse-shoes. Thereafter, he became a spot-boy in film industry. Gradually, from doing bit roles, he rose in rank and became a film-director with Judgment of Allah (1935). He directed Taqdeer (1943) where he launched the 14-year old Nargis as his heroine opposite Motilal.  How he roped in Nargis is also an interesting story. It is common knowledge that Nargis had a desire to become a doctor – while the fate conspired to make her an actor. Nargis used to feign sickness rather than attending her shooting assignment for Taqdeer. Anyway, pushed on by her mother, Jaddan Bai, she at last consented to accept the lead role in Taqdeer though she had previously done Tamanna (Desire). He directed many movies but still remained discontent since he had no production banner of his own. Yakub – the famous all-round actor of the Nineteen Forties-Fifties - advised him to pay a visit to the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti which he did. Soon thereafter he parted ways with Sagar Movietone and National Studios. He founded his own Mehboob Productions in 1943. The list of his movies are too well-known to name them here. His Mother India (1957) was selected for Academy Award for the best foreign language film, and also got him the Filmfare Award for Best Director; while his Aan (1952) is forever ingrained in public memory for its colourful extravaganza and swashbuckling adventure and romance that was the envy of Hollywood.

Now A.R. Kardar and Mehboob Khan were related to each other by their marriage to the Akhtar sisters: The former was married to Bahaar Akhtar and the latter to Sardar Akhtar. In Urdu parlance, they were “ham-zulf,” or “Saa.Doo Bhai” which in English loosely means they were the brother-in-laws of each other. At one time, Mehboob Khan and A.R. Kardar were involved in some mutual quarrels and bickerings, backed by their respective supporters in the film industry. Since an amicable settlement was nowhere in sight, both of them requested Jaddan Bai to solve their problem. Jaddan Bai fixed the date of hearing.

On the fixed date, A.R. Kardar and Mehboob Khan made their way to the home of Jaddan Bai on Marine Drive. They were accompanied by their supporters. There they sat on the floor of the hall which soon began to look like a court-room where the parties come for judgment. There was lot of noise as the supporters were blaming one another. A maid came and announced that Jaddan Bai was on her way to the hall. There was a hushed silence. Soon Jaddan Bai occupied a sofa and looked about. She appeared as a Daniel come for Judgment. The petitioners were seated to her left and right in the front. Everyone, including A.R. Kardar and Mehboob Khan, acknowledged her presence and sat with their heads bowed.

Jaddan Bai looked at each of them. “Mehboob tum chhote ho na? Raashid tum ba.De ho na?” They nodded their head in affirmation.

“Mehboob tum shuru karo,” she told him.

Mehboob Khan was a bit nervous. Besides, he could not speak proper Urdu or Hindi. Remember that he hailed from a small village in Gujarat and had had a very humble beginning. He requested her that he may be represented by one of his supporters. The request was granted. She heard Mehboob Khan’s petition patiently.

Next A.R. Kardar was told to submit his case. After he had finished, A.R. Kardar said: “Aapa, agar Mehboob ne kuch aisi-waisi baat kisi aur ke mu.nh se sunee theeh toh mujh se poochh liyaa hotaa.”

Jaddan Bai looked at Mehboob. “Tumne Raashid se is baat ka khulaasa kiya thaah Mehboob? Mehboob Khan shook his head in denial.

Thereafter, Jaddan Bai remained silent for a considerable time, contemplating over the matter before her. No one in the room made even a whisper. Finally, she broke her silence: “Yeh aapas me.n achchee baat nahee.n.” With that introductory remark she began spelling out her judgment.  She gave the judgment in favour of A.R. Kardar.  After “Aapa” had pronounced the final verdict, she asked both the parties if they had anything to say further in the matter. No one dared to utter a word. Mehboob Khan and A.R. Kardar got up. Their heads still bowed, they made a salaam and quietly they left the premises of Jaddan Bai. Their supporters followed suit. The parties were at peace thereafter.  Such was the respect Jaddan Bai enjoyed in the film industry!  Such was her clout!

NASIR.

THE TALENTED BOLLYWOOD LYRICIST WHO LITERALLY PISSED AWAY HIS CAREER.

THE TALENTED BOLLYWOOD LYRICIST WHO LITERALLY PISSED AWAY HIS CAREER.

- BY NASIR ALI.


I was sitting with my friend in the drawing room of his apartment, discussing inanities. After sometimes, I remarked:

“ Do you know that such and such producer despite rolling in money with this one of the top ten blockbuster movies of all time, did not pay the royalty of the song to the lyricist-------and reneged on his other promises that he had made to him?”

“Is that true?” he asked.

“Yes, but when the Best Lyricist Award was announced for the lyrics of a very well-known song, that producer quietly collected it on his behalf.”

“How was that?” my friend asked.

“Well, the lyricist had been confined to bed and thereafter left for his heavenly abode, unsung and unattended. He had died of chronic alcoholism. Except for one or two persons from Bollywood, no one else came to his funeral,” I replied.

This remark took my friend down the memory lane. He began...

“I remember the time, sometimes in April 1986 or so, when the son and the maternal uncle of this lyric-writer came to me for a job. The job was menial. They were given the job of painting a building which they happily did. Initially, I did not know that they were related to this lyricist who happened to be from my home town. But I had great regards for this man who had written so many songs for nearly a hundred Bollywood movies and made a great name for himself. I was, therefore, moved that he should come to such a plight that his son should seek an ordinary job. One day, I told his son to tell his dad to meet me in front of a bar in Santacruz, on the second day at 8 p.m., adding, ‘And don’t worry. He doesn’t know me, but I know him.’ The next day, when the son came on the job he told me that his father would be there on the morrow at the appointed time and place.”

“Hey, why in front of a bar?” I asked incredulously.

“Well, I knew that he was a boozer, and the least I could do for him was to invite him for drinks,” my friend stated in a matter of fact manner.

“Did he come?”

“You bet he did! I was there before the time. I saw him coming. He was dressed in a Sherwani and pyjama. He stopped near the bar, looked at the signboard, and then started looking about the place. I wished him:

‘Assalaam Alaykum.... ---Sahaab.’
‘Wa Alaykum Salaam,’ he replied.

“Then I took him inside the bar, and we made ourselves comfortable at a table. A bar-girl came for the order. Incidentally, at that time, the film-song that was being played had been written by my guest. When the bar-girl came back to our table with our order, I pointed out my guest and told her that the writer of that song was here. She went and told the manager at the counter who began craning his neck to get a glimpse of my guest.”

“Then what happened?” I asked.

“Well, after a couple of hours we left the place. I handed him a couple of hundred rupees to take a cab home. He insisted on a thousand bucks – which I politely refused.”

All this sounded so strange to me. Here was this lyricist who knew English, Persian, Arabic and Urdu. His capability of writing Urdu lyrics for different ragas was well known. He wrote film songs in a manner that had a direct appeal to the heart. He was a special favourite of a music director for whom he had made a bank of songs that were never recorded. In fact, this lyricist had won the Filmfare Best Lyrics Award for penning the song for this music director. And yet.....

Coming out of my reverie, I asked:

“But how was he reduced to such a penury?”

“I’m coming to that. I invited him several times thereafter at different bars and treated him to drinks. Each time he demanded money. On one occasion he put his one step forward and striking a pose, said: ‘Half of the world is under this foot.’ I could only smile at him.”

Losing patience, I asked my friend to tell me why this lyricist did not make the progress he so richly deserved. Thereafter my friend recounted an incident which, in my opinion, had been solely responsible for the fall from grace of this great lyricist.

“You’ll have to trace the story back to the time when once a musical duo threw a lavish party at their residence. They were the rising stars on the horizon of filmy music. This lyricist had been amply rewarded by them in their initial success when they began their independent musical career. So naturally he, too, was invited. The party was going on in full swing. Drinks were served to the guests. As usual, the lyricist had one too many. After a while, the lyricist wanted to pass water. Instead of going to the urinal, he made his way up to the terrace. There, he began to urinate. Someone found that out. He asked him what he was doing. At that time, the drunken lyricist uttered: I’m passing them in my urine; (i.e. the musical duo who had invited him to the party). This did not go down well with that person who soon went and complained to one of the hosts. Naturally, on hearing about the arrogant and rude manner of the lyricist, the musical duo was pissed off...”

“Then what happened?” I asked, not believing my ears.

Heaving a deep sigh, my friend continued:

“The musical duo then talked about it to one of the topmost female playback singers. She chided them for having put up with the lyricist. “How many ------(naming the lyricist) do you want?” she demanded. After a few days, she invited a lyricist and introduced him to the musical duo. Ironically, the first two initials of this lyricist's name matched those of our lyricist. As fate would have it, the new lyricist went on to become the favourite of this star musical duo and wrote lyrics for them in many Bollywood movies.”

I said: “He wrote lyrics for them in almost half the number of films that these monarch of the music directors composed music for. That was a great loss for our lyricist!”

“Yes, one man’s loss is another man’s gain,” my friend retorted.

What a loss, indeed. If only that lyricist had kept his mouth shut and the zip closed, the history of the film lyrics in Bollywood would have been different. There were other parallels of course, but no one had gone to such an extent. I got up to leave and my friend saw me to the door.

While stepping out I said: “By the way, I just wanted you know that in 1980 the son of one of the musical duo was my student for martial arts.”

Before my friend could say anything I had already stepped into the elevator.

NASIR.




http://rpc.copygator.com/ping/

THE MAGIC OF GEETA ROY IN NINETEEN FORTIES - Concluded

A Tribute by Nasir Ali - Part 2.

It is surprising that a few critics have tried to draw a parallel between her life and that of K.L. Saigal. I think it is unfair to both since the parallel is presumably based on the fact that both succumbed to the cirrhosis of liver resulting from excessive drinking. Yes, they both died in their early Forties. But unlike Saigal Saab, Geeta Roy never needed any "Kaali Paanch" for recording her songs. Her bouts of drinking were the result of her depression resulting from a personal tragedy and not some habit or lack of self-confidence. K.L. Saigal was the legendary actor-singer. Geeta Roy was not an actress though she did act opposite Pradeep Kumar in a 1967 Bangla flick, Badhu Bharan, which did not do well. Guru Dutt, who was smitten by her during the Baazi (1951) days and who married her in 1953, had announced India's first cinemascope movie called "Gauri" to launch her as a heroine in 1957. That was shelved after a few days of shooting. I don't know why I get this uncanny feeling that it was "Gauri" that was made into Kaaghaz Ke Phool (1959) in which Waheeda Rehman had the plum heroine's role that was meant for Geeta Roy! Remember the story? The married director Suresh (played by Guru Dutt) falls head over heels in love with the debutante actress, Shanti (played by Waheeda Rehman) and this shatters the conjugal and professional life of Suresh.

When we glance at Geeta Roy's early life in perspective, we find a sort of a parallel between her story and that of the singing legend Mohammed Rafi: In the latter's case, he used to hear a faqir chanting hymns in his village; in the former's case she would for hours on end hear the boat-men singing the boat-songs on the mighty Padma River of the lower Ganga. The effect was the same in both their cases. Both were mesmerised by what they heard, and this deeply ingrained the love of song and music in their willing hearts. Both belonged to the land of rivers: One to the land of five rivers, Punjab, and the other to the land of Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers that have many tributaries. One travelled from Lahore that was to become a part of West Pakistan; while the other travelled from her birth-place, Faridpur, which was to become a part of East Pakistan. Of course, in 1971 East Pakistan achieved liberation to become Bangla Desh. Thus both had to travel hundreds of miles to Bombay in the early Forties, where Lady Fortune was waiting to receive them with open arms.


As early as 1946 itself Geeta Roy sang with Mohammed Rafi in Man Sarovar: JAI HIND....SUNO HIND KI KAHAANIYAAN. This was a lovely patriotic song, a trailor for the 150 plus songs to come in the coming years. Music was by Shankar Rao Vyas. .

Sajan (1947) had very good songs the music of which was rendered by C. Ramchandra. Geeta Roy's songs among those are:

HAMM BANJAARE SANGG HAMAARE DHOOM MACHAALE DUNYA...

This is a more like gypsy song. Geeta Roy's voice is distinct in this song (which also has Mohammed Rafi, Lalita Deulkar, C.Ramchandra and chorus).

SAMBHAL SAMBHAL KE JAIYO O BANJAARE DELHI DUUR HAI....

This is a patriotic song where the names of the Indian States and even the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru as "Jawaahar", figure.

The other duets of Geeta-Rafi in the 'Forties' we shall broach presently. Of course Mohammed Rafi and Geet Roy-Dutt went on to sing together over the next decades, and they have no less than 162 hit duets to their credit. This is the maximum number of duets that Geeta Roy has sung with any singer.

In 1948 came Chunariya which had music by Hansraj Behl. PHOOL KO BHOOL KE LE BAITHA KHAAR...TERAA KANTO SE HAI PYAAR PYAAR, which was the duet of Geeta Roy and Mohammed Rafi. This is a philosophical song emphasising that all that glitters is not gold. It has beautiful Alaaps as well by Geeta Roy and Rafi Sahaab. Incidentally, the music in Chunariya put Hansraj Behl among the leading music directors of the day. There was a fun song of Geeta Roy too in this movie: O MOTOR WAALE BABU. Playback singer Asha Bhonsle was introduced in Chunariya in a trio song featuring her with Geeta and Zohrajan Amabalawali. Asha had a couple of lines to sing in this song "Sawan aaya re".

Music director Aziz Khan (sometimes known as Aziz Hindi also) and Khayyam (Sharmaji of the MD Duo Sharmaji-Varmaji then ) too could not escape the charm of the sweet voice of Geeta Roy. Khayyam recorded seven out of twelve songs of Heer Ranjha. Geeta Roy had no less than six songs, some of them duets, in this 1948 flick. They are:

DIL BUJHAA JAATAA HAI NAASHAAD HUAA JAATA HAI :

The song is a sad one in memory of the lover who has left his beloved behind. This song seems to be a very different one from the usual style of Geeta Roy and is slightly at a higher pitch. She sounds different - but excellent.

KAFAS KEE QAID MEN HAMKO HAI YAADEN ASHIYAAN BAAQI- (with G.M. Durrani):

This one is also a sentimental number of Geeta Roy sung with G.M. Durrani and pertains to the separation of the protagonists remembering the good old days. The use of both Kafas and Qaid seems to be repetitive.

UD PUD JAANIYA,GHYOON KHAND KHANIYA:

If you want to hear Geeta Roy singing a Punjabi song, the third one is an excellent treat. Its indeed surprising that Punjabi Music Directors like Sardul Kwatra didn't use the Punjabi lilt she shows in this song in the punjabi film industry inspite of having used her talents extensively in the later years.

DIL YOON YOON KARTA HAI (Duet with a male voice):

Geeta Roy at her impish, most romantic in the fourth song. It is strange that Ghulam Haider did not utilise her more. Did he miss this song? Amazing 'Harkatein' too by her!

TERI ZAAT HAI AKBARI SARVARI (duet with male voice):

This song is a Muslim devotional song of complaint. Geeta Roy has sung in her usual style.

TERI MERI DOSTI KAHANI BAN GAYI:

This is a fun song, celebrating newly-found romance. Here also, Geeta Roy is in her elements.

Thus in Heer Ranjha we have a mixture of genres, sad song, romantic song, devotional song and a regional song too, i.e. Punjabi. It clearly showcases the range and variety in Geeta's singing.

For Ghulam Haider she also sang in the very famous Dilip Kumar-Kamini Kaushal starrer, Shaheed: AAJA BEDARDI BAALMA KOI RO RO PUKAARE. It was for this movie that Lata Mangeshkar was rejected by the producer of the movie. Ghulam Haider picked up another newcomer, Surinder Kaur whose songs became very famous in that period. But Ghulam Haider took it as a challenge to hone the skills of Lata Mangeshkar and offered her a big break to his "discovery" in Majboor (1948). Geeta Roy sang again for Ghulam Haider in this movie too and the song was MAIN TO REH GAYI AAJ AKELI RE. She sang two duets with Lata Mangeshkar: GORI SAKHIYON SE ANKHIYAAN CHURA RAHI RE and HAR SHAY PE JAWAANI HAI.

In the 1948 flick, Padmini, again under the baton of Ghulam Haider, we have several Geeta Roy songs. Her duet with Ashok Kumar SAPERA BEEN BAJAAYO RE was immensely popular. With G.M. Durrani she sang HARI CHUNARIYA WAALI KA DIL ATKA. Then we had Geeta Roy singing AAJA AAJA O BIDESI BAALMA and MORA JIYAA NAHIN BAS MEIN. Lyrics were by Wali Sahaab. There was another song of hers too: MORE ANGNA KAAG NAA BOLE in Padmini.

A movie called Chanda Ki Chandni was also released in 1948. It had these songs of Geeta Roy: ULFAT KE DARD KA KABHI MAZAA LO and OH JAADUGAR KAAHE .

Huwa Savera, also of 1948, had this Geeta Roy song: MORE MANN MEIN SAMAAYA HAI PYAAR. Music was by Gyan Dutt and lyrics were by Bhagwati Prasad Vajpayi. The song is sung with a rustic flavour. In this period Gyan Dutt sahab, whose muse Khursheed was no longer available used her talents extensively. Probably only Bulo C Rani used her talents more in this period though.

Geeta Roy has many other songs in 1948 which we are not discussing in details here. Some of them are:

In Meri Kahani she had a duet with Surendra: WAADA KARKE KISISE NA AANA. She also recorded RO RO KE SUNAATE for K.Datta in this movie. BULBUL KO MILA PHOOL was her other duet with Surendra in this film.

In Filmistan's Actress the music was composed by Shyam Sunder. Geeta Roy had two duet songs with Shamshad Begum: ANKHON ANKHON MEIN and O GORI TERI BANKA CHHAILA.

Another Geeta Roy- Shamshad Begum duet figured in Anjuman which was a Nargis Arts production starring Nargis. Music was by Bulo C. Rani. The song was: PYAARI TERA MERA MERA TERA PYAAR.

The pair of Geeta Roy and Shamshad Begum had another song to sing, this time in Suhag Raat (1948): MERE DIL KI DHADKANO MEIN SAKHI KAUN AA SAMAYA. It is said that Pandit Nehru was so impressed with a few lines of the song that he had called the lyricist-producer Kidar Sharma. The lines that had entranced Panditji were : Aankhon mein aankhain daal tune mujhko kya pilaaya, Jis taare par nazar padi wo tara ladkhadaya. This movie also had a lovely Geeta Roy and Rajkumar duet: BAAJE MORI PAAYAL THUNNAK THUNNAK. Geeta Roy duet with Rajkumari was: RUMJUHUM MATWAALE BAADAL CHHAA GAAYE. Snehal Bhatkar was the debutant music director for this film which was also the debut vehicle of the effervescent Geeta Bali for whom Geeta ji was to sing many gems later.

Chandralekha had NACHE GHODA BEECH BAZAR which was a duet song of Geeta Roy with an unknown male voice. Music was by S. Rajweshwar Rao. Although this movie had all other songs by Uma Devi, it was this song which caught the public's fancy.

Nirupa Roy was the heroine of the bi-lingual (Gujarati/Hindi) film Gunsundari and earned fame in this role. Geeta Roy recorded NANADIYA MAARE under the baton of Bulo C. Rani in this movie. (Geeta ji sang for the gujrati version too).

Another 1948 movie was Toote Taare for which Shaukat Dehelvi "Naashad" provided the music. Geeta Roy sang two duets with Mukesh: RAAJA MOHE LE CHAL TU DELHI KI SAIR KO and REHTE HO AB TO HAR GHADI. She also had a solo song NAZAR SE MILI HAI NAZAR PEHLE HO.. PEHLE PEHLE.

In Chand Sitare Geeta Roy sang the solo : AAJA MERE BAALMA KAISI SUHAANI RAAT HAI. Premnath was the music director.

Anjana was an early Bharat Bhushan film. The music was by D.C. Dutt. The song SOORAJ JAAGA DHARTI JAAGI and SAB NAGRI DHOONDH PHIRI NAINA NA PAAYE SANWARIYA were the duets of Geeta Dutt and Shankar Das Gupta in the movie.

Geeta Roy and G.M. Durrani were used by Hanuman Prasad in the year 1948, for the comedy song in Hip Hip Hurray: DUBEY JI KO PAKWAN MILA. Lyrics were written by Sahir Ludhianvi. There was another song of Geet Roy with Shamshad Begum and S. Balbir: JAWAANI HAMM GUZAAREN.

The film Aap Beeti had Pramila, who was the first Miss India (1947), as one of the star-cast. Haribhai Mistry as the music director took Geeta Roy and Rajkumari to sing: MORE SAIYAAN BHAYE KOTWAAL.

For Jeene Do, the music was composed by Shaukat Dehelvi who later became more popularly known as "Naashad". The movie had this beautiful Geeta Roy's song: SUN SUN RI BULBUL DEEWAANI.

The Rehana starrer, Khidki, had Geeta Roy singing along with Lata Mangeshkar and Chitalkar. This song was: TERE BINA SOONA SOONA. The music director of this P.L. Santoshi directed movie was of course C.Ramchandra himself.

To put it briefly, in 1948 she had recorded songs for such stalwarts music directors as Master Ghulam Haider, Hansraj Behl, Bulo C. Rani, Shyam Sundar, K.Datta, Shaukat Dehelvi or Naashad, Chitragupt, Khayyam, Gyan Dutt. S. Rajeshwar Rao, R.A. Painjankar, S.D. Batish, Aziz Khan, Mukund Masurekar, Hanuman Prasad, and C. Ramchandra. It is also important to note here that Geeta ji sang nearly 75 songs in her first two years as singer, a record which probably still holds today and is an indicator of her popularity during that period.

Coming to 1949, Geeta Roy had recorded a duet with Mukesh under the baton of Hansraj Behl for Raat Ki Raani (1949) which was a Shyam and Munawwar Sultana starrer, but the same song for some reason was re-recorded with the voices of Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar.

Geeta Roy recorded AAYA MERA SAJAN AAYA in Zevraat for Hansraj Behl.

Hansraj Behl was the music director in Chakori where Geeta Roy sang: NAINON MEIN JHOOLA DALAA KAJAL KI DOR KAA.

In 1949 there were several Rafi-Geeta duets:

One movie was Karvat which had music by Hansraj Behl and lyrics by S.K. Deepak. The song GAYAA ANDHERAA HUWAA SAVERAA JAAG UTHE INSAAN celebrates freedom from slavery and independence, and writing of new chapter. There's heavy beat of drums involved and the stanzas have variety of tunes. There are several voices also singing along with Mohammed Rafi and Geeta Roy.

Besides these, in Karvat we have a Geeta-Asha duet: O BAADAL GHIR AAYE. She has duet song with S.D. Batish and the song goes: MAIN ANGOOR KI BEL. A solo of Geeta Roy is: OH CHANDAA BAADAL MEIN MUKH LE CHHIPAA.

The movie, Naach, has a typical Husnlal-Bhagatram music beginning with a harmonium piece. The song KYOON KARTA MAAN JAWAANI KA TU EK BULBULAA PAANI KA has Geeta Roy singing along with Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. This is a philosophical song about the transitory nature of youth and life.

Another song in Naach again has Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Roy and Lata Mangeshkar. This is a sad song in which the stanzas are sung by Mohammed Rafi while the girls go on singing the 'Mukhda' LABB PE FARIYAAD HAI DIL BARBAAD HAI in refrain after every stanza.

Geeta Roy has another duet with Lata and chorus in Naach: CHAK CHAK CHALE HAMAARI RAIL YEH HAI AAG PAANI KA KHEL.

Hamari Manzil that was released in 1949 also had music by Husnlal-Bhagatram. In fact 1948-49 was their peak period. It was also Suraiya's best period under the musical duo. We have two songs of Mohammed Rafi and Geeta Roy with other male voices:

ANDHERE SE NAA DAR (KAANTE BANENGE KALIYAAN KAANTON SE KHELTA JA) penned by Rajinder Krishan. This philosophical song, which encourages us to face the vicissitudes of life, begins with Rafi Sahaab voice, followed by Geeta Roy and then other male voices.

BADLA HUWAA DUNYA MEIN ULFAT KA FASAANA HAI, penned by Qamar Jalalabadi. This is rendered by S.D. Batish, Geeta Roy, and Mohammed Rafi. This is a comedy song, satirising the modern Laila Majnu and Shireen Farhad: KYAA PYAAR KARE KOI RAASHAN KA ZAMAANA HAI, VOH AUR ZAMAANA THAAH YEH AUR ZAMAANA HAI.

There was a Geeta Roy's solo too: NAINON SE NAIN MILAAKE.

Bansuria was another Husnlal-Bhagatram's musical venture where Geeta Roy sang AAJA AAJA KE JIYA MORA TARAS GAYA.

Amar Kahani (1949) too had Husnlal Bhagatram as the music directors. Rajinder Krishan was the lyrics writer. Two songs of Geeta Roy stand out: YEH KAISI DILLAGI HAI and CHHOTI SI EK BAGIYAA MEIN which ends with a high note.

DO DIL JISKE PAAS SIPAHIYA in Sawan Bhadon and AREY JAANE WALE IDHAR DEKHTA JAA in Rakhi were some other songs that Geeta Roy sang under the baton of Husnlal Bhagatram.

Some of the other Geeta Roy songs of 1949 are:

In Veer Ghatotkach Geeta Roy sings PIYAA KAAHE DER LAGAAYE under the musical composition of S.N. Tripathi. Lyrics were by Moti.

In Jeet the music director was Shyam Babu Pathak and the lyricist was the multi-talented, Prem Dhawan. Geeta Roy had this song SUNO SUNO BANWAARI MORI lip-synched by legendary actress Durga Khote. She also sang a duet with Vinod, "KAAM KARO BHAI KAAM KARO JAG MEIN APNA NAAM KARO", a tandem of the Suraiyya solo.

JIYA KA DIYA PIYA TIM TIM HOWE was a duet song of Geeta Roy with Shamshad Begum in Sunhere Din which had music by Gyan Dutt. The same movie had her song with Sulochna Kadam: UMANGON KE DIN

Darogaji was produced by Jaddan Bai, the mother of Nargis. Bulo C. Rani composed as many as 12 songs for Geeta Roy. 

A couple of her songs were: LE JA LE JA LE JA BABU YEH MERI NISHANI and MORI TUJH SE ULAJH GAYI ANKHIYAAN. Nargis was among the top class heroines who's career was rising very fast. Jaddan Bai was a big name then. Selection of Geeta Roy for all the home production's songs, ten of which were filmed on Nargis, amply demonstrates the abundant capability, popularity and the trust that this female playback singer enjoyed among the film fraternity while she was still in her teens.

Sipahiya (1949) starred Madhubala and with her was Amirbai Karnataki who, as we know was also a playback singer of repute. There was a song of Geeta Roy there which she sang with Lata Mangeshkar. That song was: CHALO GHUNGHAT MEIN GUIYAAN CHHUPA KE. C. Ramchandra was the music director.

Roshni had C.Ramchandra as the music director and PEHAN CHUNARIYA KAALI was a duet of Geeta Roy which she sang with him who was also known as Chitalkar.

Kaneez (1949) had three music directors: Ghulam Haider, Hansraj Behl and O.P. Nayyar. The last-named had only been introduced here and was responsible for the background score. JIYA MORA HAALE DOLE HO was Geeta Roy's song filmed on the buxom Kuldip Kaur in Kaneez. Another delightful song was PAAKE NAZARON KA ISHAARAA.

Ghulam Mohammed provided music for Dil Ki Basti. She had the following songs:

OH PARDESIYA O RASIYA with Zohra Bai.

YEH HI HAI DIL KI BASTI with G M Durrani.

NAZUK DIL HAI TOD NAA DENA with G M Durrani.

KOI PUKARE PIYA PIYA in Paras where Ghulam Mohammed was the music director.

In Nazare, Bulo C. Rani was the composer. Geeta Roy sang two songs: MERE MAN MEIN DOL and MILTE HO USIKO with G.M. Durrani. She sang two more songs with G.M. Durrani in the same movie but was accompanied by Shamshad Begum: DUNIYA KI ANDHERI RAAT MEIN and BAHAR AAYI CHAMAN.

In Bhul Bhulaiyan, Geeta sang AKHIYON SE NEEND CHURAAKE for Bulo C. Rani.

MERI KASHTI KO MUHABBAT KA KINAARA MIL GAYA was her song in Kamal which had music by S.D. Burman once again. A duet of hers with Surendra was KEHNE KO HAIN TAYYAR.

S.D. Burman again took Geeta Roy for the famous Dilip-Kamini starrer, Shabnam. Her solo sound-track song was MERA DIL TADPA KE KAHAAN CHALAA. A duet version with Shamshad Begum of this superhit song also featured in the film. She also sang a duet with Mukesh: QISMAT MEIN BICHHADNA THA. Shabnam happened to be S.D. Burman's most successful movie by then.

In 1949 Geeta Roy sang along with manna dey for the first time for movie called Ram Vivah. The song was: DHANYA DHANYA HEY AVADHPURI. Music was composed by Shankarrao Vyas,

Not that Geeta Roy did not sing under the baton of Naushad in the Nineteen Forties. She did so for the movie called Dillagi (1949). One of the most popular songs in the movie was the Suraiya - Shyam duet: TUU MERA CHAAND MAIN TERI CHAANDNI. Not many are aware that there is a shorter tandem version too of this song which was rendered by Geeta Roy for the supporting actress Shyama. However, no records were cut for this number. The only other song that she has sung for him is in Mehboob Khan's Son of India (1962): Mujhe Huzoor Tumse Pyaar Hai. It is interesting to note that this Geeta Roy's voice was used in Portugal for a TV ad on "ZAPP" which is a wireless internet company. Evidently, when the Portuguese gave up Goa in 1961 they had not forgotten Geeta Roy-Dutt and her sweet voice.

Geeta Roy is credited with close to 1500 songs, including some in the regional languages such as Bangla, Gujarati, and Punjabi. We already noted her songs she sang between 1946 and 1949. To recapitulate besides her solos she sang the following number of songs with her main co-singers in the Forties and the next decades:

With Mohammed Rafi: 9 songs in the Forties out of the total 162 songs with him.

With G.M. Durrani: 12 songs in the Forties out of the total 33 songs with him.

With Lata Mangeshkar: 9 songs in the Forties out of the total 37 songs with her that include some trios featuring Mohammed Rafi or Hemant Kumar and others.

With Shamshad Begum: 11 songs in the Forties out of the total 20 songs with her.

With Rajkumari: 9 songs in the Forties out of the total 10 songs with her.

With Zohrabai Ambalewali: 2 songs in the Forties out of the 5 songs with her.

With Mukesh: 6 songs in the Forties out of about 19 songs with him. The four Gujarati songs don't figure in this list.

With Asha Bhonsle: 2 songs in the Forties out of 35 songs with her.

With Manna Dey: 1 song in the Forties out of 26 songs with him besides 5 regional songs.

With S.D. Batish: 3 songs in the Forties out of 6 songs, one being an unreleased number.

With Sulochna Kadam: 4 songs in the Forties out of the 7 with her.

With Khayyam: 3 songs in the Forties only.

With Binapani Mukherjee: 2 songs in the Forties and 1 in 1950 only.

With Hamida Banu: 1 song in the Forties out of only 4 songs with her.

With Chitalkar: 6 songs in the Forties out of some 9 songs with him.

With Shankar Das Gupta: 2 in the Forties out of 8 songs with him, including one with Arun Kumar and one with Yashodhara.

With Surendra: 3 in the Forties out of the total 5 songs with him.

There are no songs in Forties of her other co-singers who sang duets with her only from the beginning of the Fifties. They are Talat Mehmood (26 songs plus one non-filmy); Hemant Kumar (31 or 32 songs and 3 Bengali songs); Kishore Kumar (13 songs plus two Bengali songs); Suman Kalyanpur (6 songs): Mahendra Kapoor (12 songs plus two Bhojpuri numbers); Mubarak Begum (just 1 song); Suraiya (just 1 song); Sudha Malhotra (7 songs);Meena Kapoor (5 songs and 1 non-filmi); Krishna Goyal (5 songs); Khan Mastana (2 songs); S. Balbir (10 songs that include other singers as well); and Nutan (1 song).

The list is not exhaustive. Neither is it meant to be. It must be mentioned here that earlier, the names of the playback singers were not even mentioned on the gramophone records. Only the names of the characters that lip-synched the songs used to be mentioned. There were also the cases when the name of just one playback singer was mentioned despite the fact that the song was a duet, and so on. Additionally, the old records were destroyed to make way for the new ones and the selection in this was quite arbitrary or even haphazard. Thus a margin of error, on the lesser side, is more than possible in attributing the total number of songs to any playback singers who began their singing career in the Nineteen Forties.

During her singing career, Geeta Roy gave her voice and emotions to many eminent lyricists of the film industry. These include: Akhtar Romani, Ali Sardar Zafari, Anjaan, Anjum Jaipuri, Anjum Pilibhiti, Arzoo Lucknowi,Asad Bhopali, Avinash Vyas,Azeez Kashmiri, B D Mishra, B M Sharma, B P Bhargav, B R Sharma, Balwant Kapoor, Bandhu, Bekal Amrutsari, Bhagwati Prasad Vajpaye, Bharat Vyas, Bismil Peshwari, D N Madhok, Devendra, Farooque Qaiser, Feroze Jallandari, G S Nepali, G S Potdaar, Ghaafil Harnalvhi, Gulshan Bawra, Gulzar, Hairat Sitapuri, Hamid Hydrabadi, Harsh, Hasrat Jaipuri, Hasrat Lucknavi, Himmat Rai Sharma, I C Kapoor, Indeevar, J Abhayankar, Jaidev, Jan Nisar Akhtar, K L Pardesi, K Manohar, K Razdan, Kaif Irfani, Kaifi Azmi, Kameel Rasheed, Kapil Kumar, Kavi Pradeep, Kedar Sharma, Khalish Lucknowi, Khawar Jamaan, Khumar Barambkavi, Kuldeep Singh Chand, M A Taj, M L Khanna, Madhukar Rajasthani, Madhusudan Bhagalpuri, Mahendra Pran, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Manmohan Sabeer, Manohar Khanna, Meerabai, Moti B A, Mulk Raj Bhakri, Munishi Sham, Munshi Sagar Hussain, Nakshab Jarachavi, Narendra Sharma, Nawaz, Nazeem Panipati, Neelkant Tiwari, Noor Devasi, Nyay Sharma, Om Prakash, P L Santoshi, Praful Desai, Pratap, Prem Dhawan, Premi, Pt Gaafil, Pt Indra, Pt Madhur, Pt Mukhram Sharma, Qamar Jalalabadi, R C Pandey, Rafiq, Raja Mehndi Ali Khan, Rajendra Krishan, Rajesh Kumar, Ram Moorthy, Ramesh Gupta, Ramesh Pandey, Ramesh Shastri, Randheer, S Raazi-ud-Din, S H Bihari, S K Deepak, S P Kalla, S R Saj, S Ratan, S. Kashyap, Saajan Bihari, Saba Afghani, Safdar Aah Sitapuri, Sagar Badayuni, Sahir Ludhianvi, Sajan Bihari, Saliq Lakhnavi, Shailendra, Shaili Shailendra, Shakeel Badayuni, Shakeel Nomani, Shams Azeemabaadi, Sharshar Sailani, Shewan Rizvi, Shola Kahaamavi, Shyam Hindi, Surdas, Suresh Tripathi, Taaba Jhansvi, Tajdar Taj, Tanvir Naqvi, Tejnath Jhar, Uddhav Kumar, Verma Malik, Vidyapati, Vinay Kumar, Vishwamitra Adil, Vrajendra Goud, Waheed Qureshi, Wali Sahab, Yogesh Gaud, Zia Sarhadi

Naturally, when Geeta Roy put life into the lyrics of so many eminent lyricists, her list of music directors is equally long or longer too. Included among these melody makers are: Amal Mukherjee, Anal Chattopadhyay, Anil Bagchi, A R Qureshi, Ali Akbar Khan, Aadil – Ahmed, Amal Mukherjee, Anil Biswas, Arunkumar Mukherjee, Avinash Vyas, Aziz khan,B N Bali, B S Kalla, Basant Prakash, Bhola Shrestha, Binod Chattopadhyay, Bipin Babul, Bipin Dutta, Bulo C Rani, C Arjun, C Ramachandra, Chick Chocklet (A.X. Vaz), Chitragupt, Daan Singh, Datta Davjekar, Dattaram Gadekar, Datta Korgaonkar (K Dutta), Dattaram, Devraj, Dhaniram, D Dileep (Dileep Dholakia), D C Dutt, E.Shankar Shastri & B. S. Kalla, G K Venkatesh, G N Joshi, G S Kohli, Ganpat Rao, Ghantasala, Ghulam Haider, Ghulam Mohammed, Gunjan (G M Durrani), Gyan Dutt, Hafeez Khan, Hansraj Behl,Hanuman Prasad, Hemant kumar, Hiren Bose, Husnalal Bhagatram, Inayat Ali, Iqbal, Iqbal Qureshi, Jagmohan "Sursaagar," Jag phool kaushik, Jaidev, Jamal Sen, Jimmy, Kalyanji Anandji, Kanu Ghosh, Kanu Roy, Khaiyyam, Khemchand Prakash, Khurshid Anwar, Krishna Dayal, Kumar, Lachhiram Tamar, M A Rouf, Madan Mohan, Manna Dey, Manohar, Mohan Sharma, Mukul Roy, Nachiketa Ghosh, Narayan, N Dutta, Naashad "Shaukat Dehelvi," Naushad Ali, Neenu Majumdar, Nikhil Ghosh, Nirmal Chakraborty, Nissar Bazmi, O P Nayyar, P Nageshwar rao, Pandit Govindram, Pandit Harbanslal, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pankaj Mullik, Pardesi, Premnath, R Sudarshanam (with Dhaniram), Rajhans, Ram Ganguly, Ram Prasad, Ramesh Naidu, Ratnadeep Hemaraj, Ravi, Robin Banerjee, Robin Chatterjee, Roshan Lal, S D Batish, S D Burman, S K Pal, S Madan, S Mohinder, S N Tripathi, S Rajeshwara Rao, Sailesh Mukherjee, Sajjad Husain, Salil Choudhary, Sanmukh Babu, Sardar Malik, Sardul Kwatra, Shankar Jaikishen, Shankar Lal, Sharmaji Vermaji [khaiyyaam and rahman verma] Shivram Krishna, Shyam Babu Pathak, Shyam Sunder, Shyam Sharma, Snehal Bhatkar (B Vasudev), Sonik, Subir Sen, Sudipta, Sudhin Dasgupta, Sudhirlal Chakraborty, Suhrid Kar, Suresh Talwar, Sushant Banerjee, Swapan Jagmohan, Timir Baran and S K Pal, Usha Khanna, V. Balsara, Vasant Desai, Vasant Ramchandra, Vinod, Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy, and Zafar khursheed.

Leaving the matter to the expert statisticians and annotationists as far as the names of all the lyricists and music directors and the total number of songs of Geeta Roy are concerned, but nevertheless, by looking at the above lists of the artistes, it becomes abundantly manifest that Geeta Roy emerges as one of the greatest female playback singers of Bollywood.

We can imagine the impact of Geeta Roy on the music lovers during 1946-1949 and right up to our own days. Let's dwell on just one of the songs of Geeta Roy in Do Bhai. One thing is certain! Just as the lone novel, Wurthering Heights, has ensured Emile Bronte's name for ever in the Hall of Fame of literary geniuses, similarly Geeta Roy's songs in Do Bhai are enough to perpetuate the memory of her singing genius and ensuring her name among the great playback singers of the sub-continent of India and Pakistan and elsewhere. Only the most hardened hearts would remain unmoved by her rendition of MERAA SUNDAR SAPNA BEET GAYAA. It was simply amazing to find such pathos, such sweetness, such emotions in a young girl of sixteen years. It is rendered in the style of someone who has been weeping and crying and while suppressing the rising pain of the heart she has been made to sing and announce to the world her sad tale of woes and suffering.



What makes the song more poignant is that it sounds as if Geeta Roy with all her tragic emotions is predicting about herself: MERI PREM KAHAANI KHATM HOYEE MERE JEEVAN KA SANGEET GAYAA..., AANKHEN ASUWAN MEIN DOOB GAYEEN HANSNE KA ZAMAANAA BEET GAYAA..... IS JEEVAN KO AB AAG LAGE..MUJHE CHHOD KE JEEVAN MEETH GAYAA...MAIN PREM MEIN SAB KUCHH HAAR GAYEE...BEDARD ZAMAANA JEET GAYA.... MERA SUNDAR SAPNA BEET GAAYA. Sigh! Listen to how she renders various lines of the song, stressing on the E syllables. If one takes into consideration the raw youth of Geeta Roy and her unrestrained melody and pathos, it appears to me that this song is more powerful than the one she was to sing a decade later under the same music director in Pyaasa (1957): AAJ SAJAN MOHE ANG LAGAA LO...or WAQT NE KIYAA KYAA HASEEN SITAM in Kaaghaz Ke Phool (1959).

It's no wonder then that S.D. Burman gave her six of the nine songs to sing for Do Bhai. As early as 1947, she had more than fulfilled the criteria that came to be set up later by Anil Biswas for an attractive voice, namely, clarity, "huskiness, sex and bass". The "Bangal Ka Jadoo" had arrived! Little wonder then, that Asha Bhonsle was greatly influenced by the sex appeal in Geeta Roy's voice, and it is this voice she made the most of and which became her identity in later part of her career once she came out of the shadows of Lata Mangeshkar. No doubt, the amazing renditions zoomed Geeta Roy's career. The sterling fact also remains that after Do Bhai S.D. Burman too never looked back – thanks to his conviction and choice of Geeta Roy for the movie.

During her early career, Geeta Roy was one female who faced the stiffest competition in the field of playback singing. Imagine the ruling queeen Noor Jahan on one hand. Then take the chocolate charmer Suraiya on the other. Then the established female singers such as Parul Ghosh, Lalita Dewulkar, Amirbai Karnataki, Zohrabai Ambalewali, Shamshad Begum to name just a few. At that juncture, Lata Mangeshkar could not be even conceived as a competition at all what with her rejections at recording studios for "shrill" voice. The Filmistan that had rejected Lata Mangeshkar in Shaheed (1948) could not reject Geeta Roy after striking a deal with S.D. Burman that they would retain her only after hearing the result of her recorded song. The song was HAMEIN CHHOD PIYA KIS DESH GAYE. She got six out of the nine songs in Do Bhai as we saw earlier. Certainly she had not much of a musical training as others to boast of. What was her forte? Geeta's was the most original singing voice. Besides, she made no efforts to adapt her style of singing to the established icons such as Noor Jahan as Lata Mangeshkar did. Nor even to the celebrated "Roy“ Jhutika Roy, known as the "Modern Meera".

Unfortunately, Geeta Roy came to be slotted as the singer of weepy songs and Bhajans for no fault of her own. This was reinforced by her songs in Jogan (1950) which was a high-profile movie starring Dilip Kumar and Nargis and which had an unusual love story ever. Geeta Roy had such haunting songs as MAT JA MAT JA JOGI; AY RI MAIN TOH PREM DIWAANI; and GHUNGAT KE PATT KHOL RE, among others that were filmed on Nargis. These were the hot favourites on the ubiquitous radio and I distinctly remember hearing them time and again as a child in the Fifties and it's from those memories only that I could muster courage to write about Geeta.

Surely, the seriousness and melancholy were there in Geeta Roy even when she had stepped into her teens. One would easily distinguish them if one were to peep into her solemn eyes. These came to be reflected in her songs. But her heart concealed the surging tides of youth and ebullience and these too are found in abundance in her songs. So when things settled down in the Fifties, Geeta Roy was to prove to the world how bubbly, how naughty, how sexy and cool her voice could be! This is what O.P. Nayyar made the most of her voice in his lilting numbers in the Fifties.
She was adept in all genres and with her flair for picking up languages, she glided through from the Bangla or Gujarati or any regional languages to the Urdu-Hindi lyrics or even the Braj Bhasha with ease. But she used Bengali script for those songs as proved by her numerous booklets. The best thing was that she was confident enough of her own abilities as the singer and never caused any obstructions in the career of her rivals and competitors. She was one of the very few film personalities or singers who never indulged in petty politics. She was friendly and got along well with everyone around.

The Nineteen Forties were her most prolific period considering the average of the total number of her songs divided by the number of years. Here was a new star on the singing horizon. The tragedy of Geeta Dutt, her early death, her beautiful looks as well as her humility have all combined together to make her songs immortal for the generations to come. To think of it, Geeta Dutt could have been a numero uno female playback singer. However, the fate conspired to cheat Geeta Roy from attaining that position. How that happened, is the subject-matter of the decades following the Nineteen Forties.

Geetaji, you sang MUJHE JAA.N NA KAHO MEREE JAA.N....(Anubhav - 1971) Who wouldn't call you "Jaan" after hearing you? You are the darling of the nation, nay the whole world! As we are celebrating your birth anniversary, our hearts feel heavy and dull at the thought of your physical absence. But we do know that spiritually you are present through your songs among the millions of your fans all over the globe for all times to come!

Concluded. 

NASIR

THE MAGIC OF GEETA ROY IN NINETEEN FORTIES: 1/2

A tribute by Nasir Ali

Even if we restrict ourselves to Geeta Roy of the Nineteen Forties we cannot but marvel at her transformation from the unknown child to the idol of the millions when she had not even crossed her teens.

We do know that she belonged to the rich Zamindar family of Debendranath Ghosh Roy Chowdhary and was one of the tenth children born to Amiya Devi on November 23, 1930 at Faridpur in Central Bengal. Leaving their titled land and other property, the family had to shift to Calcutta in early Forties and in 1942 they shifted to Bombay (now Mumbai). The reasons for this are circumstantial and not too far to seek. Bengal had been a great nationalist centre during the British Raj. It was divided into West Bengal and the East Bengal by Lord Curzon in 1905. The two parts were again reunited in 1911 and the separate states of Bihar and Orissa were also created with the capital being shifted to Delhi. Bengal came to be finally partitioned in 1947 when Pakistan was also created. The eastern portion of Bengal which was dominantly Muslim was created as East Pakistan and that in 1971 came to be liberated as the Bangla Desh. Faridpur is the paragna of the Adilpur (or Idilpur) Village where Geeta Roy was born, and is part of that portion of Bengal.

The early Forties were the worst time for the world in general and India in particular. The Japanese were trying to make inroads to India and in fact by 1942 had occupied Burma. The British India Government adopted the "scorched earth" policy beginning at Chittagong to stop the food supplies to the Japanese. In 1943, there was a horrendous famine in Bengal when more than 3.5 million died. The dead were being removed to the rural areas to keep the cities clean. With the Japanese at the doors, it was quite likely that people began to flee from rural lands and areas much earlier and made their way to the cities. Calcutta (now Kolkata) was the capital of undivided Bengal at that time. Perhaps this might have been reason for Geeta Roy's family migrating to Calcutta just before millions of refugees began pouring into the cities, especially, Calcutta. Other prominent migrants included Kazi Abdul Wadud, the educationist and writer, Humayun Kabir who was a politician, educationist and writer; Poet Sunil Gangopadhyay, and many other eminent people from Faridpur.

It seems that even Calcutta could not guarantee peace and security. Bombay was fast rising as the most promising city of India, some even calling it "Sone ki Chidiya", "the Golden Bird" or the El Dorado. By 1943, the cracking up of system in the New Theatres too became evident. In fact, this was the fate of all studio-system giving rise to independent movie makers who went on to make their own film-studios. Many artistes, too, were looking westwards to Bombay which was cosmopolitan in nature. Bombay it was that became the melting pot of the many talents that came from different parts of India, notably from the Punjab, the United Province (UP) and Bengal. The folk-tunes of UP and Rajasthan, the Rabindra Sangeet of Bengal and the Heer and the Bhangra-based songs of Punjab with a liberal dose of rhythmic dholak were all welcome. Even K.C. Dey the famous visually-impaired singer and actor had to shift to Bombay in 1942 temporarily. So what the family of Geeta Roy did was the dictate of the circumstances. Fortunately for them, they could afford to buy a flat in Dadar which was the hub of the filmy activities. Geeta was just twelve year old then.

Thereafter, for the next three-four years the young Geeta would pursue her studies just like any normal girl. The Bengali High School she attended was fortunate: for even after attaining name and fame Geeta Roy or Geeta Dutt would never fail to attend the Durga Pooja held in the school every year right up to 1971 since she was no more in 1972! As a girl, fortunately for her, she would have come across people of diverse communities and this must have brushed her Hindi language considerably. But singing was her first love and it is said that it was at Faridpur itself that she used to receive training in elementary music from a family relative named Harendranath Nandi. She picked up folk songs and music and also picked up songs from the gramophone records and films at her native place. What happened at Dadar, strikes a parallel in the career of both Geeta Roy and Lata Mangeshkar: While it was Ghulam Haider the noted music director who had heard Lata singing in the train to herself, in Geeta's case it was music director Pandit Hanuman Prasad who, while walking in the street below, heard her singing in the balcony of her flat. Both of them were thus discovered and groomed by music directors in the early part of their career. But for Geeta, it was earlier: 1946!

It was in the year 1946 that Geeta Roy sang for Pandit Hanuman Prasad in a mythological movie, Bhakt Prahlad. The lines AB JAANI RE PEHCHAANI RE; and SUNO SUNO VINTEE HAMAARI were to transform her life from an unknown school girl to that of an established playback singer. The other two songs of her with chorus were: SUNO SUNO HARI KI LEELA and JAAG UTHE HAMM JAAG UTHE.

There were some other 1946 releases where she showed her calibre as the female playback singer. For Hanuman Prasad who had four releases in 1946, Geeta sang a couple of songs in Raseeli and Nai Maa. In Raseeli her songs were: NAINON KI PYALI SE HOTON KI MADIRA and NEHA LAGAKE MUKH MOD GAYAA, while Nai Maa had the lullaby or ‘Lori' number: AAJAA RI NINDIYA AAJAA. She sang this lori song with established playback singer Parul Ghosh.

As early as 1946 she sang for the phenomenal music director, Master Ghulam Haider, in the film Bairam Khan which was a Mehtab (future Mrs. Sohrab Modi) starrer. Wali Sahaab penned the song JAB CHAAND JAWAAN HOGAA TAB CHAANDNI RAATON MEIN JANNAT KA SAMAA HOGAA. In this song, Geeta Roy accompanied the most popular female playback singer of those times, Shamshad Begum. The two others who gave them company were Naseem Begum and Munawwar Sultana who went on to become big names in Pakistani playback singing. It must have been during this time that her friendship with her "Aapa" and senior singer Shamshad Begum started. Till date, Shamshad remembers Geeta as one of the finest artists she worked with.

Geeta also sang a solo in Circus King: PREETI KISI KO NA CHHODE which was composed by the duo of Abhyankar Joshi and Nageshwar Rao. Some claim that this song was probably her first released song.

Kashmir Ki Kali had YEH KISNE MERI HASRATON MEIN AAG composed by Master Vithal who was the hero of the movie. Another song in this film was a duet with a male voice, probably Master Vithal himself: HAAY IS PYAAR NE DEEWAANA.

In Rastaa, we have Geeta singing NAYEE BAHAAREN AAYEEN composed by Zafar Khursheed. This reminds us of Pankaj Mullick's famous song AAYEE BAHAAR AHA AHA AHA because Geeta too has that same refrain and the music is fast-paced as in that song.

Milan, we remember as the Dilip Kumar starrer and the first Hindi film of actor Abhi Bhattacharya that was released in 1946. It had music by Anil Biswas the legendary Bengali music director. Geeta Roy has two songs, one being a memorable number: CHHANN MEIN BAJEGI BANSURIYA. The other song was TUMHE SAAJAN MANAAYEN TUM ROOTH JAANAA. In fact she had also recorded two songs for Milan's Bengali version, Nauka Doobi. The audios of these are not easily traceable.

During the next year also, Geeta Roy had a very busy recording schedules. Geeta Roy recorded songs for B. Vasudev who was the music director of the 1947 flick, Neel Kamal - a Madhubala and Raj Kapoor starrer. Following were her songs:



BOL BOL BAALAM BEDARDI TERI KYAA MARZI RE- with Rajkumari and chorus.

MAA NE BHEJA DHOR CHARANE- with Rajkumari and chorus.

AANKH JO DEKHE HAI DHOKA KHAYE HAI- with Mukesh and Rajkumari.

JAWANI AGAR HOOK DIL KI DABAYE- with Rajkumari and chorus.

BRIJ MEIN DHOOM MACHA JA - with Rajkumari and Bhatker.

Bhookh was an Agha-Narmada-Shaikh Mukhtar starrer, where Geeta Roy recorded a duet song with Shamshad Begum: YEH HASEENON KE MELE ALBELE. Another song AANKH MEIN RAHE KYOON ASHQ was her solo song. So also IS JAGG MEIN GHARIBON KA NA KOI THIKAANA. Music was scored by Anil Biswas.

Chitragupt was the music director of the 1947 release, Jadui Ratan (Magic Gem). It had her following songs:

NAYANON MEIN AANA,MERE MAN MEIN SAMANA with Radha Govind.

MERA NANHA SA DIL PIYA LOOT LIYO RE with Radha Govind.

WOH RUT BADAL GAYI,WOH TARANA BADAL GAYA –her Solo song.

Sajjad Hussain who was known for his eccentricity, such as chiding Lata Mangeshkar by saying that his was not a Naushad tune "Aap ko Aur Mehnat Karni Padegi." or calling Talat Mehmood as "Ghalat Mehmood" and who even accused Madan Mohan of plagiarism, had unflagging confidence in Geeta Roy when he gave her five solo songs to sing in the movie called Kasam. The songs were:

WOH JISSKO MITA BAITHE.

DAMAN KO HAATH SE WOH CHUDA KAR CHALE GAYE.SUNA JA KOI GEET AE DIL SUNA JA.

AE DIL BATA KISKO KAROON PYAR.

YA RAB HAMARI AAH MEIN.

Some unconfirmed sources mention that this film never got released.

Again in the film Mere Bhagwan, Sajjad Hussain gave some four songs to Geeta Roy. Two of them were:

O SHYAM MEERA KE GIRIDHARI and chorus.

MUJHE BAWRI BAWRI LOG KAHEIN.

The second song is particularly sweet and in typical "Sajjad style".

Pehli Pehchan had the musical score of Bulo C. Rani/Hansraj Behl. The former composed MAIN HOON PHOOLON KI RANI,KAANTON MEIN RAHNEWALI. The latter composed MUSKURATE HO KYON, ITRATE HO KYON where Geeta sang along with A.R. Ojha. The same year in Tohfa we have a sad number of Geeta: WOH DIL GAYAA DIL KE SAHAARE CHALE GAYE composed by M.A. Rauf. A touching number this!

Some other movies of 1947, where Geeta Roy recorded her songs were:

OH RAAJA MOHE APNI BANA LE RE in Filmistan's Leela which had music by C. Ramchandra. There was a duet song of hers with Binapani also: MERI AANKHEN CHHAM CHHAM..KYA ISIKA NAAM.

Again, Filmistan's Shehnai had C. Ramchandra as the music director. It was a Nasir Khan-Rehana starrer. There was a comedy song: JAWAANI KI RAIL CHALI JAAYE RE which is filmed on the protagonists performing a stage-show in a fair. Along with Geeta Roy, there were Lata Mangeshkar and Chitalkar (C.Ramchandra) and chorus singing the song. In another song, CHADTI JAWAANI MEIN JHOOLO MERI RAANI, Geeta Roy sang along with Chitalkar and Binapani. This song was very popular in those days.

In Geet Govind (1947) Geeta Roy and G.M. Durrani featured in two trios with Abha for songs composed by Gyan Dutt: CHAMKAT DAMKAT DAMINI, and VIYOGAN DEEPSHIKHA SI JARE.

In Utho Jaago it was Aziz Khan who provided the music. Geeta Roy sang HANS HANS KE under his musical direction.

Gaon (Village) was also a 1947 movie the musical score for which was provided by Khemchand Prakash. There was a Geeta Roy-Mukesh duet which went: WATAN KI MAATI HAATH MEIN LEKAR.

Geeta Roy's voice had captured the imagination of a new music director known as S.D. Burman who had himself come to Bombay in 1944 and despite two odd films had not found his niche. S.D. Burman gave her six out of the nine songs, i.e. four solos and two duets, for the forthcoming film, Do Bhai. Along with her love of music, Geeta continued to pursue her matriculation exams and the next year 1947 brought her double happiness: one of having passed her exams and the other of striking gold with her songs in Do Bhai which was released in 1947.


The Geeta Roy's songs of Do Bhai are:

YAAD KAROGE YAAD KAROGE IK DIN HAMKO YAAD KAROGE;

AAJ PREET KA NAATA TOOT GAYAA (with G.M. Durrani);

HAMEIN CHHOD KE PIYAA KIS DES GAYE.

MERE PIYAA TOH BASE PARDES.

YAAD RAKHNA, YAAD RAKHNA.

MERA SUNDAR SAPNA BEET GAYAA.

The success of the music of Do Bhai (especially the song "Mera sundar sapna beet gaya") catapulted Geeta to the top bracket of female playback singers.



Dil Ki Rani was another movie of the year 1947 the music of which was composed by S.D. Burman. Geeta sang: AAYENGE AAYENG RE; KYOON BALAM HAMSE ROOTH GAYE; BIGDI HUWI TAQDEER MERI AAKE BANA DE; AAHA MERE MOHAN NE MUJHKO BULAAYA for this Madhubala-Raj Kapoor starrer. There was also her duet song with two male voices: O DUNIYA KE REHNEWAALE BATAA. (This was the tandem of another solo in the movie sung by Raj Kapoor himself).

S.D. Burman would remember to give Geeta Roy an opportunity to sing a Bangla song KHELA BHANGAR KHELA too in 1950 for the movie Samar. She would continue to sing in Bengali movies till the secondd half of 1960s. The team of S.D. Burman and Geeta Roy-Dutt would produce some 70 memorable songs – the last one being a comedy number, MAIN TERE PYAAR MEIN KYAA KYAA NA BANAA DILBAR, filmed on Shobha Khote and Mehmood in the 1964 flick, Ziddi. Manna Dey was her co-singer. Unfortunately, not much information is available regarding a couple of Geeta Roy's numbers under his musical direction for the 1947 film, Chittor Vijay, which had Madhubala and Raj Kapoor in the lead. Surendra and Wasti were the supporting actors in the said film. One of these songs HO RANGEELA HO RASEELA RAKHI KA DIN AAYA RE is a Shamshad-Geeta Duet. 

Continued in 2.

NASIR

MARATHA MANDIR THEATRE - A childhood impression!

MARATHA MANDIR THEATRE :
- Impressions during childhood
By Nasir.



As we all know, in the olden days most of the movie-halls (interchangeably called as “Theatres” or “Cinemas) were one-screen halls unlike the multiplexes today.

Cinemas often serve as landmarks and also define the neighbourhood. I have chosen to write on Maratha Mandir because my association with it as an audience dates back to the time when the said theatre did not even exist. The tract of land opposite the road abutting the Bombay Central Railway Station was full of weeds, grass and shrubs reaching to height of 8-9 feet. There was no S.T. Bus Depot, no theatre, nothing there that time. At the place where the theatre now exists, there used to be just an ancient wall and right at the top was a board. As a child, I used to pass through this “jungle” every night right up to the wall. In the dim light coming from nowhere I could read what that display-board said. It said that this was the site for Maratha Mandir Theatre – to be managed by Golcha Management and some such thing. As an avid cinema-goer since my childhood days, I used to wonder what kind of a theatre would come up here.

Maratha Mandir Cinema did come up. The year was 1958. It was one of the finest theatres in Bombay. The hall was very spacious, the seats very comfortable, and it had an A.C. system – a great luxury those days. The polished and glossy teak panels, huge mirrors and chandeliers added to its splendour. It also had a plush carpeting in the hall. The feet used to literally sink into the carpet. Very pleasant it was in the theatre. The best part was its ambience. There was a landscape garden right in front and around the theatre – which gave it a royal look. The first movie, as far as I remember, to be screened at Maratha Mandir was SADHNA, starring Sunil Dutt and Vyjantimala which dealt with the subject of emancipation of a nautch girl, The lyrics of Sahir Ludhianvi were very ascerbic somewhat on the lines of his earlier movie PYAASA. Of course, as a child, I did not understand at all the seriousness of the subject of Sadhna then. Some hollywood movies were thereafter screened for a limited time. HERCULES UNCHAINED was one of them I saw in 1959.

The most memorable movie screened at the Maratha Mandir was MUGHAL-E-AZAM on 5th August, 1960. I remember that this was the most talked about movie of the decade. The many tales and gossips that went along with its making had people literally raring to go. The inordinate delay of Mughal-e-Azam had left the cinema-lovers very anxious for its release. Unfortunately, I've seen scores of people - the older people and fan of Dilip Kumar - eagerly waiting for the release but passing away before they could see this magnum opus of a movie. Alas for them!

I was to learn later that the premiere show was the most memorable at least for two reasons among the many, many: Dilip Kumar, who had played the romantic lead with Madhubala, did not attend it; and secondly, the film reels of the movie were brought to the theatre on an elephant in the Maharaja style. “Royal Invitations” were issued for the premiere show. The swords, lancets, spears and armours that were used in this film were on display inside the building to the immense curiorisity and delight of the movie buffs. A forty-foot cutout of “Akbar” on the outside heralded the might of the emperor. I remember seeing a huge plaster of paris work in the garden to the right of the theatre, depicting Prithviraj Kapoor (Akbar) weeping on the shoulders of Dilip Kumar (Shahzada Salim). I still remember the accompanying movie’s dialogue: “Shekhoo, Shahenshah Roya Nahin Karte.” (See the picture above).

For full seven weeks before the release there was a serpentine queue outside the theatre for the tickets. Black Marketeers became rich by selling tickets at Rs100/- each. Remember, those days even an engineer’s monthly wages were hardly that much. Sadly, during the rush for tickets, even a murder took place – the fact which is hardly stated in any write up on the theatre. For full three years Maratha Mandir exhibited the royal treat.

Additionally, I also remember some other movies that were released at the Maratha Mandir Theatre over the years: Kaaghaz Ke Phool (cinemascope) (1959); Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke (1963), Dil Ek Mandir and Leader (1964); Guide (1965);Pakeeza (1972), Dharam Veer (1977), Baarood, which introduced Shoma Anand (1976), Razia Sultana (1983) (not the 1961 one which starred Jairaj and Nirupa Roy). The many other movies that were released earlier included Shagird and Saaz Aur Aawaaz. Saira Banu's Shagird ran for over a year. Pakeeza was also released there and it picked up brisk business after Meena Kumari passed way when this movie was still being shown there.

Unfortunately, the Theatre being in the low lying area, it was flooded in 1974. The plush carpets were soiled by the rain waters and therefore removed. The garden landscape gave way to broadening of roads.

Recently, many theatres have been forced to shut shop owing to the high entertainment tax and the onslought of the multiplexes. However, Maratha Mandir is still going strong, and currently is in the news for screening DIL WAALE DULHANIYA LE JAYENGE continually since October 1995.

The status of Maratha Mandir among the cinema halls is certainly legendary. 
NASIR.

Romance of a Punjabi in Virgin Goa-1965.

I had an opportunity to visit Goa in May-June 1965 for the first time. Goa had been liberated from the Portuguese rule only four years before. So it was still a ‘virgin’ in the sense that the “outsiders” had still not come in hordes to settle down here. What prompted me to visit this newly liberated colony was my daily interactions with my Goans friend whom I always found simple, frank and friendly. Even during the Christmas and the New Year I used to have a whale of a time with them and visited them at Byculla, Clare Road, Mazagaon, Nesbit Road, Mathar Pacadi, Rosary Church and Dockyard areas of Bombay. What sent my heart aflutter was that it was so easy to make friends with the Goan young women who were charming, attractive, daring and, at the same time, so unassuming. When my friend, Cajetan, offered me to take me to Goa, I couldn’t refuse him.

As far as I remember now, there was no direct railway connection from Mumbai to Goa at that time. The popular route was by ship. So one early morning, Cajetan and I went to the Ferry Wharf, locally called “Bhaucha Dhakka”, that is located in Dockyard-Mazagaon area. I think it was 10 a.m., when we boarded the S.S. Rohidas. This was a very small ship by today’s standard and nothing to marvel about. After the ship was full of passengers, the ship began its journey to Panjim or Ponje (Panaji), after a couple of hours, to the sound of hootings. We were so happy to be on board!

The ship began slowly and steadily, increasing its speed as it cut across the sea-waves. To my dismay, I found that the ship was hardly steady most of the time during its course. My initial excitement of travelling by the ship began to wane as I felt the nauseated. I was not alone. The sea-sickness had gotten to many passengers. I avoided eating anything for the fear that I might vomit. Thus I was better off than those passengers who were vomiting unrestrained. It was a sickly sight. When the day was done, we slept on the deck under the summer skies of starry night. Sleeping next to me was a very beautiful young woman who had just her granny for company. She was fairer than most Goan girls and I learnt that she was of Portuguese descent. We hardly talked much since she spoke no English. We had some conversations with the granny though, who spoke in Konkani which I could easily understand and even speak to a fair extent during those years – thanks to the Goan neighbours at home in Mazagaon.

My concern was to get off the ship as soon as we landed in Goa. I was counting on sleep to escape the sea-sickness. Gradually I drifted into the arms of morpheus. I was woken up by my Goan friend who said we had arrived. I looked at my watch. It was only 4 a.m. Hurriedly I got up. There was no sign of the dock since it was dark. For some reason, the ship had anchored off-shore. The wait was excruciating. Finally, the darkness gave way to the rosy dawn and then the golden morn. I don’t remember whether it was another boat that took us all ashore. We had arrived at Panjim!

Our destination was Old Goa Velha where my friend’s aunt stayed. I don’t remember much of travel details now. We got into a public motor-vehicle, a kind of bus, called “caminhaao” and paid our fair to the ‘Klinder’ who acted as the conductor-cum-cleaner of the bus. The bus had a limited seating arrangements. My friend wanted to show me the kind of taxis that used to ply during the Portuguese rule some of which could still be spotted. He pointed out to a taxi. It was a black Chevrolet. “That?” I asked incredulously. We didn’t have that kind of a car let alone cabs in Bombay then. Well, after some ten passengers had boarded our motor-vehicle, the driver switched on his ignition key and we set off. Even women travelled alone. The weather was pleasant and the air fresh. The roads were clean and tarred. Along the way, some people got down from the bus where they wanted to, while some more boarded it. I noticed that there were no bus stops and if anyone wanted to board the bus he would just call out “Rau Re” (Hey Wait!). As we progressed, I caught the whiff of fresh cashew-nuts wafting in the air. I still remember that heavenly smell. I could see miles of cashew gardens. “That’s Santacruz,” my friend pointed out. I was only aware of the Santacruz area of Mumbai. I just smiled at him. Finally, after some 10 kilometres, we arrived at Old Goa Velha.

I have no idea what’s Goa Velha like at present, but when I saw it was just a hamlet, not even a village. There were clusters of houses at different locations, each location removed from the other. There were paddy fields running by the side of some houses. There were also mangroves and palm trees. Across the field I could see some villa - a rare sight those days - which evidently belonged to rich guy. This was the time when Goans had not migrated to the Gulf and elsewhere for jobs and money. The Portuguese had not built any industry there despite five centuries of their presence. While departing, they had even damaged the constructions they had built such as the bridges across the rivers. This Goa predominantly belonged to the poor and the middle-class. I knew many of the women who used to come from Goa to Bombay for jobs as Ayahs while the educated ones found themselves the jobs of a Governess or some office jobs. Men were mostly sailors or had jobs in the hotels of Mumbai. Some were musicians, advocates, stage-actors and sportsmen. A few were wealthy and we are not talking about the Goan industrialists. When men came for jobs, or even when some students came for higher studies to Bombay, they stayed in a club called “Kud”. I had an opportunity to visit some such Kuds in Dockyard area, Dhobi Talao, and Nesbit Road at Mazagaon way back in the early Sixties. Football is very popular sport for the Goans. I used to play football with some of my goan friends in the compound of St.Mary’s High School at Nesbit Road. I also knew a star-player who used to play for some Goan Company called Dempo. Having broken his knee he was out of the game.

I remember that in Goa Velha I used to sojourn in the house of my friend’s aunt. The family and the people were extremely polite and friendly. In the morning I used to draw water from a well and have bath there just in small shorts, right in the centre of the dwellings that surrounded the well. After the bath, I used to drink a glass of sweet and fresh nectar that had been extracted from the palm tree. The family was also deferential about my eating habits. I used to enjoy a typical Goan xitt-kodi, i.e. boiled rice and fish curry, for my meals. Sometimes I visited the neighbours who always welcomed me and were courteous to a stranger like me. Most of the times I sauntered through the country-side. On such occasions I usually passed  by a quaint structure which had an inscription “Casa De Pova” or some such thing, and the post-office there which always seemed so quiet. There was a market place where the locals used to sell fish in the morning. Rest of the day there was no one in the market. This market abutted the road where I had got down from the bus. Sometimes I used to go visiting the nearby historical sites such as cathedrals and churches. I remember on one such occasion I had an opportunity to see the remains of the 16th century missionary, St. Francis Xavier, which was kept in a crystal glass. My friend told me that such an exposition was rare and it happened once in 12 years. The evenings were usually dull for me since there was no electricity in the village at that time and so people tended to sleep early.

After a week, I had a chance to go to Vasco to visit another relative of my friend – this time the parents of my friend. Again, I am not aware of the current situation but the Vasco of 1965 was certainly different. The man of the house (one D’Cunha) lived with his wife, and two grown up children – a son and a daughter. He used to work in the docks there. My friend, Cajetan, was his eldest son who lived in Bombay as my father’s tenant.

Now this house was spacious single room, but made of wood and dry leaves. The floor was nothing but sand. In fact the entire area was sandy and interspersed with small coconut  trees. There was hardly any furniture. No radio to listen to. TV of course would take another ten years to come to India. Right next to the house were the walls of the Mazagaon Dock and I was pleasantly surprise for I had an impression that the Mazagaon Docks were only confined to Bombay. I liked my new sojourn. For one, there was electricity, and two, it was a big town though I never had an opportunity to explore it. I also liked this particular location because just about half a kilometer at the rear of the house there was the sea. It was sort of a lagoon which was a secluded place. Hardly any one came this side. So my friend and I enjoyed our swimming there in private.

While walking down to this lagoon we had to pass by a villa which, my friend told me, belonged to a German engineer and his Goan wife and their four daughters. This was the only other house there. On one such occasion we met those girls. One was very fair like a European, but no great shakes, and she was engaged to a boy. She had some airs about her. Younger to her was Celia or Cecilia (I don’t remember the exact name) who was about 18 years old. The third one was Ruby who was just 14 years old. The youngest one was just ten years old. Ruby too looked like a European. With curiosity they looked on me and my Konkani accent. The Konkani that I loved was the one spoken in the Bardes area of Goa since it was so easy to understand; but my accent could never match the local spoken dialect. They were glad to know that I was not a “Paklo”. Very often owing to my fair complexion and my Konkani accent, I was taken to be a ‘Paklo’ (Portuguese white) in Goa. In short, the term “Paklo” was not a favourable one, especially where females were concerned and I used to be embarrassed when someone in a function came up with a song that had these wordings: “TUKA PAKLO POITA BURAKANT GHALUN TONDU…”

These girls spoke English and Konkani too. I found Cecilia particularly attractive. It was evident that she had taken after her mother since her complexion was not white but tanned like hers. However, her tall young body was very much pronounced and shapely under the knee-length sleeveless frock that she wore. She was a picture of lusty and rustic youth, with longish black hair that fell over her shoulders and large black eyes that seemed to harbor some deep longings. I would never have remembered these lasses if it were not for an incident. One evening it so happened that when I was near their villa, It was getting dark and there was no such thing as street-light in this patch. Ruby invited me to the jeep that was parked outside their house. I went and sat in the jeep. Cecilia and Ruby sat on my either flank. Without any ado they began to explore my body. I could feel their hands all over me and certainly not in the right places. All the time the girls were giggling as if they were indulging in some innocent fun. I understood that the girls wanted to have fun.  However, I was too dumbfounded. It had been too sudden and I was not ready for this. I made some excuse, jumped out of the jeep, and came back to my shack. All night I kept on thinking  so much so that I have never been able to erase this incident from my life. I never breathed a word about this to anyone ever, i.e. uptil now. The next day I decided to sleep outside the shack and told my friend so. So when the night drew nigh, my friend put some fresh coconut leaves outside on the sand for me to sleep on. When I lay myself down for the night I was hoping that the girls would come up with a repeat performance of last evening. Alas! This was not to be.

Days lingered on lazily while the nights were alive with the desire of some unfulfilled romance. I did go round about the place sometimes crossing railway tracks to reach a public park there, but did not venture out too far. Sometimes, when I had nowhere to go and it became dull, I would sit under a coconut tree which was just by the side of the road and belt out songs.

Sometimes I would be emboldened to sing some Konkani songs that I knew such as from a hit Konkani film, Amchem Noxib, the lilting Molly number:

Mogaa assonk borem,
Jivit sukhi khorem,
Xitolkaichem varem,
Kalzan asta purem…..

I remember once that when I was singing KOI JAB RAAH NAA PAAYE – a Mohammed Rafi song from the 1964 movie, Dosti, a good motley crowd of passers-by gathered to listen and enjoy the song. His songs from Dosti were a nation-wide hit at that time and are still popular.  Incidentally, Mohammed Rafi  has given quite a number of Konkani songs too such as KITLEM SOBIT TU MARIA and BOM JESUCHEA CONVENTAN, both with Lorna, or the melodious KALZAC set to tune by Chris Perry, and other ‘cantaram’ including a mando and COMBEA SADARI, in early Seventies.

At times there were wedding invitations to attend to, and these too provided me with fun and entertainment. At one such wedding I remember to have picked up a young girl for a dance. When the band played a slow fox-trot music, she just melted into my arms so that literally I had to carry her around the floor. We never spoke, strangers that we were to each other. But the warmth that her body exuded then, I have never been able to forget. In weddings and other functions I always joined the crowd to sing the sentimental TAMBDE ROSA TUZE POLE… or ANV SAIBA POLTEDI VETAM…the chorus of which was copied in the 1973 Bollywood movie, Bobby: GHE GHE GHE GHE RE SAIBA….These, I gather are folk songs that have passed into the rich Goan culture.

Another favourite of mine was the song MANDOVI, MANDOVI which was very popular then. Its singer, Alfred Rose, was a huge name in Konkani entertainment history whose stage shows and music were always great hits. Mandovi, by the way, is the river near Panjim and the experience of crossing it was new to me what with so many people and even motor-vehicles in the ferry.  
 
The early Sixties were also the decade of my favourite western singers such as Cliff Richard, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Connie Francis, Jim Reeves, The Cascades, The Echoes, The Everly Brothers, Pat Boone, Bobby Darin and others. The sound-track music of the movie, Come September, was an unending craze all over India.  I had also the good fortune of watching a new Konkani movie in some shanty theatre there. The movie was Nirmonn, which had a good story-line and excellent music. My favourite was a comedy song, CAZAR ZAUNC ASAA, which has meaningful lyrics meant for a person who wants to get married with anyone he can find – black or white, tall or short and is even ready to become a son-in-law who settles in wife’s home; but unfortunately has no luck because NOXIBA MOJE BOSLA MAZOR (i.e. a cat sits on his fate, meaning “bad luck”). This movie was so popular that a Hindi version was made with the title of Taqdeer that had hit songs of Mohammed Rafi. The heroine of Nirmonn, who happened to be Shalini, was once again given the heroine’s role in Taqdeer. A.Salaam of course was the director too. In the same theatre I also chanced to see a Hindi film, Man Mauji, starring Kishore Kumar and Sadhna, which had a popular number of Kishore Kumar: ZAROORAT HAI ZAROORAT HAI…

A Look-Alike Young Woman

The vacation was nearing end and soon it was time to bid goodbye to Vasco. I thanked my hosts and left for Old Goa Velha to spend the remainder of my holidays there. On the way I was given a rude shock by my friend. He revealed to me that Cecilia used to come every night to the place where I slept soundly outside the shack. A cry escaped my lip. What courage she must have mustered to leave her villa just to see me, to be with me, by 
the shack in the darkness of the nights! I had missed the true romance of my lifetime - the starry nights, the balmy breeze and the waving fronds , the bedding of  coconut leaves on the cool sand, all this with Cecilia by my side! Alas, this was never to be! As I thought about this, I felt as if someone had stabbed my heart though the fact was that I had been stabbed in the back by the conniving circumstances for which I also blamed Cajetan  rightly or wrongly.   I never forgave him for having concealed the fact. I also felt a deep pang of guilt so that I could never forgive myself!  I never had a chance to go back to her. I was not as courageous as her.  Now whenever I hear about Goa, all those old memories come flooding in and  I remember Cecilia.  At such times I pray that may God keep Cecilia in good health and spirit wherever she is, Amen! 

NASIR

P.S. 4.2.2014:
It is rightly said that some truths are stranger than fictions. As if by some divine providence, I got the sad tidings through a reader of the above story that Cecilia died a few days ago.  She had been suffering from Cancer.  The news was not only painful and shocking but also astounding.  Astounding because after decades I was destined to know about her death.  I pray that may Cecilia's soul rest in everlasting peace, Amen!