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 other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Today’s song is from film Zevarat-49.
” studio system ” as it is called, began as soon as silent films got established and were on fast track. Well established studios made films regularly and systematically. Each and every studio/ production house had a set of its own actors, directors and MDs. They were on a monthly pay roll. From the 1920 onwards, all major studios like Imperial, Kohinoor, Sharda, krishna, Saraswati, Paramount, Aurora, Barua, Aryan,British Dominion, Great Eastern, Laxmi pictures, Madan Theatres, Maharashtra film company, Prabhat, Ranjit, Saroj etc had their actors on pay roll. Studios were jealous about their stars and always ensured that they don’t leave them.
The contract system came into being legally. Each studio had a contract individually with actors and there was a legal binding on them to follow the contract in its period. Generally the contracts were highly partial to the owners. From the 30’s, with the dawn of Talkie films, most silent film makers wound up business and the real players with sound financial base and name remained. Some of the major filmmakers were, Wadia, Bombay Talkies, New Theatres, Prabhat, Imperial, Ranjit, Sagar, Shalimar, Pancholi, Prakash, Minerva, Gemini, Vauhini etc etc. They tightened their contract clauses to ensure that their stars don’t leave them unilaterally.
The 40’s saw some splinter groups setting up their own studios like Filmistan, Kardar, Navketan, Mehboob, Rajkamal, Basant etc, in addition to the existing ones. The competition to hold on to their flock became acute and in this attempt, some studio owners crossed limits of decency and took undue advantage of the contract clauses or the ignorance / carelessness of the stars, while signing the contracts.
First case of such unfair action of the studios occurred, when the First Talkie of India was to be made by Imperial Film co. Ardeshir Irani was keen to take Master Vithal as a Hero for ‘ Alam Ara ‘.However Vithal was on contract with Sharda film co. Irani made a very lucrative offer to Vithal. When only 2 days were remaining of the contract period,Master Vithal joined Imperial. Nanabhai Desai of Sharda Films was furious. He kidnapped Vithal and kept him in a locked room, forcing him to renew the contract. When Irani came to know this, he sought help from the court. The case was fought and Master Vithal was auctioned in the court. Sharda and Imperial bid sums for him.Finally Imperial offered 1200 Rupees per month to Vithal and Vithal joined them, as Sharda backed out.
Some big banners like Minerva, V.Shantaram’s Prabhat and Shalimar Pictures of Poona had instances of trying to take undue advantage of the contracts with stars. Sitara Kanpuri, an illiterate singer was on contract with Shalimar Pictures of W.Z.Ahmed.She was however, not told then that the contract was for 5 years.Her singing career in films was ruined as in 5 years, Shalimar made only 3-4 films, in which she sang. Luckily, after Partition,Ahmed and his wife Neena migrated to Pakistan and Sitara Kanpuri was free to sing openly. But by that time she did not get much opportunity and soon she disappeared from the industry.
Similarly Shantaram also tried to play with Shanta Apte. Shanta Apte was under contract with the Prabhat studios with which she had made several memorable films. But as her fame spread far and wide and more and more producers wanted her to act in their films, Shanta Apte realized that the contract with the Prabhat company was acting as a hurdle to her free lancing. She requested the film company to free her from the bondage of the contract, But the company would just not agree, Finally she offered Satyagraha outside the film company. Prabhat were thus forced to relieve her of her contractual obligations. Shanta Apte thereafter became a free bird.
The worst such case was of Meena Shorey ( she was not Shorey in that period), Heroine of today’s film Zevarat-49. Meena Shorey ( real name Khursheed Jahan) was from a very poor family.Originally from Multan,her family shifted to Lahore. She was one of the 5 children. She was the third. Her father was short tempered and used to beat her mother often. At the age of 11 yrs. she saw film Achut Kanya and few other films,which developed a desire to join films. Her mother left her husband and shifted to Bombay with 3 children. In Bombay the eldest daughter lived after her marriage. Meena was around 14-15 year old then. One day,her brother in law took her to the Muhurat of film Sikander in Minerva studios.
For going to this function, Meena had borrowed good clothes from her friend, who also did her make up. Meena was looking very beautiful and ravishing. During the function,Sohrab modi was impressed with her looks and offered her a role in film Sikandar. Initially her mother was not ready, but due to need and convincing by Meena, she agreed.Next day Meena and mother went to the studio. Both were illiterate. A contract for 3 years was made for working only in Minerva films and her mother put her thumb on the contract, as Meena was a minor. After consulting ” Zend Awastha” the Parsee religious book, Modi changed her name to Meena. She was to get Rs. 600 pm as a salary.
With regular income,her financial position improved. She did films after films in Minerva. Sikandar-41, Phir milenge-42, Prithvi Vallabh-43 and Patharon ke saudagar-44, all films were hit. Her name and fame spread wide. Many producers wanted to sign her in their films. After Patharon ke saudagar, her contract period of 3 years was to be over. Mehboob wanted her for film Humayun and K B Lall wanted her for film Lal Haveli. When she went to Modi and asked her to release her from the contract, he informed her that as she failed to give a notice 3 months in advance, the contract got automatically renewed for next 3 years, as per a clause in original contract. She was never informed about this earlier.Being illiterate, she could not read it also. Even after the visit of Mehboob to Modi, Modi was adamant not to release her.
The matter went to court. In the court she made a deal with him that she will work for Minerva for one more year on the same salary as 600 pm, will not work in any other studio and he will release her after that. The case was withdrawn. By that time Meena had married Al Nasir. She left for Lahore with Nasir to avoid working in Minerva, and also did not take any salary. After one year in Lahore, she did films for Pancholi, like ‘ Shehar se door’ and ‘ Arsi’. Her fame was already bringing many new films to her. When the film ‘ Shehar se door’ was about to be released, Pancholi got a legal notice from Modi for a compensation of Rs. 3 Lakhs for breaching his contract with Meena. Everyone was panicky. Meena went to Bombay with Pancholi’s Manager and met Modi. She begged him not to give her troubles, but as a compensation,Modi asked for Rs.60 thousand cash. Meena was stunned.Finally Mehtab, Modi’s wife intervened on her behalf and Modi came down to Rs. 30 thousand. Meena paid him the money and got rid of him finally.
Later on, Meena said,” This was the true character of Modi, who is revered as Deity of Indian Cinema. Actually his popular perception was an illusion. The reality was that he took every opportunity to cheat and take advantage of situation to make money.” C. Ramchandra has also narrated an incident about Modi, how he took advantage of his helpless situation, when in 1936 to 1938, CR worked in Minerva. Like any other industry, Film industry too had such people.
Today’s song is from film Zevarat-49.The film was made by Habeeb productions. The director and Lyricist was Habeeb Sarhadi. The MD was the Melody Master Hansraj Behl. The cast of the film is given as Meena, Masood, Yaqub, Jayant, and Shanta Kunwar. There were 10 songs sung by a variety of singers like Lata, Rafi, Geeta, Hameeda, and Shanta Kunwar. Today’s song is sung by Geeta Roy. Her voice sounds so fresh and slightly different than what it became later. In this song, I feel she tried to copy the Shamshad style. It is a very good song. I am sure you will like it.
(Adapted information from book Cinerang by Isak Mujawar and interview of Meena Shorey in Yeh un dinon ki baat hai by Yasir Abbasi has been used, with thanks, in this post along with my own notes.)
Song- Ye kaun mere ghar aaye (Zevraat)(1949) Singer- Geeta Dutt, Lyrics- Habib Sarhadi, MD- Hansraj Behl
Lyrics
yeh kaun mere ghar aaye
mere ghar aaye
yeh kaun mere ghar aaye
yeh kaun mere ghar aaye
mere ghar aaye
yeh kaun
yeh kaun mere ghar aaye
yeh roop nagar ka taara
yeh sundar mohan pyaara
yeh sundar mohan pyaara
aasha ke
aasha ke deep jalaaye
ho deep jalaaye
yeh kaun
yeh kaun mere ghar aaye
aakash mein jin ko naa paayen
dharti pe wo mil jaayen
dharti pe wo mil jaayen
dil aisa
dil aisa muqaddar paaye
muqaddar paaye
yeh kaun
yeh kaun mere ghar aaye
dil raha ??
khushiyon ke taraane gaale
khushiyon ke taraane gaale
taqdeer ne
taqdeer ne din yeh dikhaaye
ho din yeh dikhaaye
yeh kaun
yeh kaun mere ghar aaye
dil unki balaayen lena
aankhon aankhon mein kehna
aankhon aankhon mein kehna
mohe tujh bin
mohe tujh bin chain naa aaye
ho chain naa aaye
yeh kaun
yeh kaun mere ghar aaye
yeh kaun mere ghar aaye
mere ghar aaye
yeh kaun mere ghar aaye