This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Today’s song is from film AKASHPARI-1958, a very obscure and unheard of film. The song is a duet sung by G M Durrani and Geeta Roy.
This song has a history. In fact the whole film has a History. This film was originally made by Smart pictures with the title DILBAHAR alias LACHAK in July 1950. Its 8 songs, written by Anjum Pilibhiti and composed by one Inayat Ali were recorded in July-August-September-1950. This film, for some unknown reasons was not censored. Its Distributors Indian Republic Syndicate then sold it to Delite Films, Bombay. The new buyers changed the Title of the film to AKASHPARI and got it censored on 11-4-1958 and had it released. However the film was a classic flop and disappeared quickly. All the 8 songs recorded as Dilbahar were used in this film.
The producers were Shrivastav and Geete. The film was directed by Mohan Sinha ( father of actress Vidya Sinha) and the composer was Inayat Ali. Now, in the late 40s, there were 3 composers having similar names. Inayat was a composer for an unreleased film of the 40s,’Basant Panchami’. There was Inayat Ali who composed music for film ‘Galat fahmi’-49 and Dilbahar alias Lachak in the 50s ( This is the film under our discussion today), and the third composer was Master Inayat Hussain who only composed music for a Punjabi film ‘ Kamli’ -mid 40s. Master Inayat migrated to Pakistan and became a highly respected,famous and very successful music Director there.
It is not known whether all these Inayats were the same person or 3 different persons. Anyway, Master Inayat Hussain never claimed any Hindi film in India in his career here. So,obviously he is different.
So much for the history of the film,its composer and the songs. The film itself was a total Bakwaas. I remember having seen this film in Hyderabad. It was one of the ‘stupidest’ films I ever saw in my life. The remarks in my notes,about this film are ” How can somebody make a film on such a stupid story ? “. When you read its story, you will realise the truth. The cast of the film was Kusum Pradhan, Mahipal, Ramsingh, Maruti, Krishna Kumari etc etc. The film’s 8 songs were sung by 6 singers, G M Durrani, Meena Kapoor, Shamshad Begum, Faiyaz Mehmood, Geeta Roy and Sulochana Kadam. Here is the story…
Ratna ( Kusum Pradhan) and Ramesh( Mahipal) were in love and consequently vowed to get married. Their joy was turned to sorrow when they found that their parents had already fixed their marriages, which they were not informed about. Ratna refused to fall in line with her father’s plans which excited him and he got a heart attack. Ratna had to give her consent to please her ailing father. When Ramesh learnt this he threatened to commit suicide. Ratna had to make a quick decision. She goes to bed with a heavy heart and an uneasy mind. Dreams take the form of reality….
.
Now the rest of the film takes place in her dream.Ratna and Ramesh elope to Amarnath. There they saw a yogi siting in Samadhi. Ramesh mocked at him. The insulted yogi cursed him and reduced him to a very small height. Ratna’s father and Ramesh’s friend Chamak have followed them and when they come there and see Ramesh’s fate they take him to the Doctors but all in vain. Then Chamak and Ratna take Ramesh to America with a hope of curing him. Instead, Ramesh attracts the attention of an International gang of crooks who try to kidnap Ramesh. Ratna and Chamak fly to Burma where they are followed by the gang. She and Chamak escape in an aeroplane but as their luck would have it, their plane crashes and when they gain consiousness they find Ramesh missing. Ratna breaks into sobs and cries. . The yogi who has cursed Ramesh takes pity on her and gives her the power of flight. Ramesh has been carried away to the Dwarfland wher the Princess( Krishnakumari) falls in love with him and proposes marriage and when Ramesh refuses she orders him to be slaughtered. Ratna who has got the power of flight comes with Chamak just in time to save Ramesh. From there she takes Ramesh to the moon in hope of curing him. Here also she is disappointed and flies to the Venus, here the Queen promises to cure him to which Rahu-the commander- in- chief objects and when the queen refuses to listen to him he holds her a captive, and tries to assault Ratna. Ramesh escapes un-noticed and rescues the queen who with her divine power restores Ramesh back to his normal height, Then Ramesh and the queen come to rescue Ratna. Ramesh and Rahu have a fight in which Rahu is about to strike Ramesh, seeing this Ratna screams with a fright and wakes up to find herself in the arms of Ramesh who has come to give her the good news that it was they who had been engaged to one another. The parents bless the couples and then they live happily ever after.
The audience too is happy and relieved that the film is over.
G M Durrani was interviewed by the famous writer Shri Rajnikumar Pandya ji-on the suggestion of Harmandir hamraz ji-in Durrani’s last days,when he was suffering from Cancer. Pandya ji has described the entire episode in his superb inimitable flowing style, which should be read from his book ” Aap ki Parchhaiyan”. Here are a few excerpts from that interview, translated by me in English from Hindi,for our readers…
” Rafi was introduced to me by Lyricist Tanveer Naqvi saying,’ this boy from Lahore sings well.You first listen to him. He is worth recommending to someone.’ Rafi looked a very pleasing smiling young boy. Coyly, he came forward,touched my feet and sang a song. I was impressed. He had already sung in Punjabi films, but Hindi producers were hesitant to use him. The reason was also strange. Those were the Rationing days. The sound film for recording was also rationed. Every producer used to get only 10000 feet only. Those days there were no Tape recorders. Direct recording on film had to be done. A Retake meant wastage of film. The Black market rate was Rs.3000 for a Tin of films,costing only Rs. 35 in official price. Due to this problem, producers hesitated to try a new singer for fear of retakes.
” I started recommending him, with my guarantee that he will not require a retake. Slowly, he started getting chorus songs. Due to my recommendation, Naushad gave him 2 duets in 1944. Rafi was craving for a solo. Once, the recording rehearsals were on for a qawwaali’ aji dil ho kaboo’ for film ‘Village Girl’-45. A new boy who was called to sing was not doing it properly. Rafi was standing in a corner. I called Rafi and asked him to note down the Antara. He did and then sang in such a fine way that the MD, Shyamsunder was very happy. Rafi was given the song to sing and thus his ‘solo’ wish was fulfilled by singing a few lines alone in the song. Rafi never forgot my help, and in my bad days always recommended me “.
About Lata,here is what he said, ” composer Ghulam Haider saab was my friend. Once he asked me if I knew any girl who had sweetness in her voice and not Masti alone like Shamshad. One day I was sitting with MD Harishchandra Bali. Lata came there. She wore torn chappals and soiled clothes. But she sang beautifully. I was swept off my feet. Ghulam Haider was composing music for the film ‘Majboor’-48. I told him that I had found the right girl for him. He asked to bring her immediately. I went by my car to Lata’s Grant road house. She was with her Mom and younger sister Meena. She was coocking food. I told her to immediately reach the studio. Her mother was pleased, but I felt their embarrassement. I understood and took out One Rupee and gave it to Lata for her travel to Malad.
” She sang ‘darne ki koi baat nahin’ for the film majboor-48 and this song changed her career for better. Today she is followed by every producer for songs, but there was a time when Sardar Chandulal Shah never liked her voice and called her ‘Cat’s Meow Meow’. She came to know and never forgot this. Finally she took her revenge and left the recording of song ‘ gaaye chala jaa’ from “Hum log” halfway. You will find her voice in the 78 RPM record, but not in the film song. In the film,they had to use some other girl’s voice in her place.”
The book has many such anecdotes,but more about it-may be some other time….
Meanwhile, let us now listen to this duet of Durrani and Geeta Roy ( when this song was recorded in 1950, Geeta was not married, hence Roy ) from the film Akashpari-58.
(My sincere thanks to Shri Rajni Kumar Pandya ji, for using some material from his book.)
Song-Ho gaye barbaad ham achcha hua (Aakaashpari)(1958) Singers-Geeta Dutt, G M Durrani, Lyrics-Anjum Pilibhiti, MD-Inayat Ali
Both
Lyrics
ho gaye barbaad hum
achcha hua
ho gaye barbaad hum
achcha hua
o piya teri kasam
achcha hua
ho gaye barbaad hum
achcha hua
duniya waale bhi tamaasha dekh len
duniya waale bhi tamaasha dekh len
lut gaye ??? mein ham
achcha hua
o piya teri kasam
achcha hua
ho gaye barbaad hum
achcha hua
aa meri taqdeer mere saath re ae
aa meri taqdeer mere saath re ae
mera ye do chaar gham
achcha hua
o piya teri kasam
achcha hua
ho gaye barbaad hum
achcha hua
pyaar mein sab kuchh hamaara lut gaya aa
pyaar mein sab kuchh hamaara lut gaya
phir bhi ye kehte hain ham
achcha hua
o piya teri kasam
achacha hua
ho gaye barbaa aaa aaa aad
