This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Today’s song is from the film Sheesh Mahal-1950. It was a Minerva Movietone production directed by Sohrab Modi. Vasant Desai was the music director. There were nine songs in the film, which were penned by four Lyricists.
The voice of Pushpa Hans can be heard in the song under discussion as well as in the two songs that are not yet discussed. The song under discussion also have the more familiar voices of Rafi and Geeta Roy (later Dutt).
The name PUSHPA HANS may not ring any bells for new generation readers, though old timer Punjabi readers will remember her name with fondness.
Pushpa Kapoor was born on 30-11-1917 at FAZILKA in Punjab. Her parents were Advocate Ratanlal Kapoor and Janaki Devi kapoor. Her school education was done in Fazilka,but she graduated from a Lahore College. She spent 10 years in learning classical music of Patwardhan Gharana. She started singing on Lahore Radio first and soon became popular with her Punjabi songs.
She got married to Col. Hansraj Chopda and settled in Delhi. Her songs in Music Director Vinod’s first Hit Punjabi film-Chaman were on everyone’s lips. She acted and sang in many Hindi films like Kaale Baadal, Sheesh mahal, Apna Desh etc. Her films and songs in Hindi were less in number but she got famous in Punjabi music. She participated in several stage shows in UK, USA and many other countries that had sizeable Punjabi population.
People from Fazilka were very proud of her. The ” World organisation of Fazilka Lovers” invited her to Fazilka in 1998.
In 2007,she got Padmashree and Punjab Bhushan award. Later she also got Kalpana Chawla Award. Her old Punjabi songs are very popular even today and figure in many TV shows.
Pushpa Hans died in Delhi on 10-12-2011.
The Music Director Vasant Krishnaji Desai ( 9-6-1912 to 22-12-1975 ) was born in a small village Sonavde in the Konkan area of Western coastal Maharashtra. After passing his 4th standard, he left school and developed his musical skill. He used to act in local dramas, play Harmonium and sing songs. For better prospects, he reached Kolhapur and joined newly started Prabhat Film Company. Here he learnt to play various instruments while doing whatever work given to him. He worked in films, sang songs and assisted great musicians like Govindrao Tembe, Keshavrao Bhole and Master Krishnarao Fulambrikar. He became expert in playing many instruments and also learnt tuning the songs. From the childhood we was fond of bodybuilding which he continued till last in his life.
When V.Shantaram and others left Prabhat and established Rajkamal, he too left and joined Shantaram. By now, he had already given music to Shobha-42, Aankh ki sharm-43 and Mauj-43. He became Rajkamal’s Music Director with its first film Shakuntala-43. Though he did some films outside Rajkamal, his popularity was limited to Shantaram’s films.
With this limitation, his music was getting suffocated. When Minerva’s Sheesh Mahal-50 came to him, in true sense he felt Free and relieved. In Rajkamal, another composer S.Purushottam was also operating along with him. However Purushottam could never achieve as much success as Vasant Desai. During that period Pushpa Hans approached Rajkamal for Playback opportunity. It was Vasant Desai who took her audition. Impressed with her voice and style, he strongly recommended her to Shantaram. Based on his words, Shantaram made Pushpa Hans the Singing Heroine of the film Apna Desh-1949.
In Minerva too, Vasant Desai recommended her name to Sohrab Modi and she got the third Heroine’s role in film Sheesh Mahal-50( the other two Heroines were Naseem Bano and Nigar Sultana ). Out of 9 songs of the film Vasant Desai gave 5 songs to her. 4 solos and 1 song with Rafi and Geeta ( today’s song). All her songs as well as 2 songs of Shamshad Begum became quite popular and this established Vasant Desai as a successful composer.
There was another song in this film- ” Jinhe dhoondhati firti hai meri nazar ” sung by Geeta and Rafi. This duet has historical importance. It was the First and the only Romantic song sung by Pran as a villain on the screen. Though he was the Villain, he had got a song, but none of the Heroes ( Amarnath and Jawahar Kaul) had any songs in the film. Today, a Villain also sings in the film, but in those days, it was unheard of. After this, Pran sang on screen bits of fun songs in Munimji-55 and Half Ticket-62, and a full song in the film Upkar-67. Later on many songs were sung by him on screen, like in Zanzeer, Victoria 203 etc, but as a Villain this was his only romantic song on the screen.
Film Sheesh Mahal-50 was a story of a “has been” aristocrat, now in his bad period. Film shows how his Ego is a problem to all others in his family. By the time he realises this, it too late for his life to end. The cast of the film was Sohrab Modi, Naseem Bano, Nigar Sultana, Pushpa Hans, Amarnath, Jawahar Kaul, Pran, Mubarak, Leela Mishra and many others. The story of the film was…
Thakur Jaspal Singh ( Sohrab Modi) lives in the prestigious and palatial house called the Sheesh Mahal. He is badly in debt, yet continues to live a lifestyle far over and above his means. His son and two daughters are concerned, and try to stop him from over-spending, but he disregards them. Then one day the inevitable happens, and Jaspal Singh has to leave Sheesh Mahal, which must now be sold by auction to pay off his debts.
Jaspal and his children move into a small room in the nearby slums, where they hope to spend the rest of their lives. Jaspal’s son, Vikram (Jawahar Kaul) finds employment in a mill, but unfortunately meets with an accident, and in order to save his life, the doctors amputate his leg, leaving his unemployed and dependent. Jaspal’s daughter, Ranjana ( Naseem Bano), attempts to secure employment, but proud Jaspal will not hear of this.
Ranjana gets employment, but she does not tell her father about it. Ranjana meets with a young man, Vikram (Amarnath) and both fall in love with each other. When this young man’s father, Durgaprasad ( Mubarak), comes to ask Jaspal for Ranjana’s hand, Jaspal finds out that he is the new owner of Sheesh Mahal, and that Ranjana has been working as a maid there.
Jaspal is furious, and taking his sword, he rushes over to the Sheesh Mahal with a clear intent of killing Ranjana, and anyone else who dares to stop him.
There he encounters Durgaprasad, who opens his eyes by telling him on his face the reality and that he is living in his past, which does not exist anymore. He warns him not to destroy the future and happiness of his children to pamper his false ego. Thakur realises his mistake. he drops his sword, but he too falls suffering from massive heart attack. He breathes his last accepting all his faults, but it is too late.
The song under discussion is available only as audio. Here is this song which is sung by Mohd. Rafi, Geeta Roy and Pushpa Hans. It is written by Nazeem Panipati while music is composed by Vasant Desai.
Song-Ham kheton ke mahaaraaj hamen darr kaahe ka (Sheeshmahal)(1950) Singers-Rafi, Geeta Dutt, Pushpa Hans, Lyrics-Nazim Panipati, MD-Vasant Desai
Lyrics
ham kheton ke mahaaraaj
ham kheton ke mahaaraaj
hamen darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
o o o o
hamaara kheton pe hai raaz
hamaara kheton pe hai raaz
hamen darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
har daana daana moti hai
o o
o o o
o o o
o o o
har daana daana moti hai ae
har zarra zaraa chaandi hai ae
sone se badhkar mitti hai
sone se badhkar mitti hai
o o o
arre ham kyon na khush hon aaj
arre ham kyon na khush hon aaj
hamen darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
ye paani amrit dhaara hai ae
ye paani amrit dhaara hai ae
ye hamko jaan se pyaara hai ae ae ae ae
kheton ka yahi sahaara hai
kheton ka yahi sahaara hai
o o o o
arre faslon ki hai ye laaj
faslon ki hai ye laaj
hamen darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
o o o o
o o o o
o o o
is desh mein koi kami nahin
hai mitti paani khet yahin
phal phool rahi hai baag kahin
o o o o
arre hota hai kyon mohtaaz
hota hai kyon mohtaaz
hamen darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
mat roti maango gairon se
o o o o
o o
mat roti maango gairon se
manwaao na dooje shehron se
manwaao na dooje shehron se
kuchh kaam lo apni nahron se
kuchh kaam lo apni nahron se
o o o o
arre ban jaayenge bigde kaaj
arre ban jaayenge bigde kaaj
hamen darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
ham kheton ke mahaaraaj
hamen darr kaahe ka re kaahe ka
