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 the film Mangala-1950. It was yet another remake of a Hit Tamil film, from Gemini Pictures, Madras. The fever of king size success provided by the giant success of film Chandralekha-1948 continued to give Vasan similar positive returns. After Chandralekha-1948, he had made one more remake- Nishan-1949 from his Hit Tamil film Apoorva Sagodharargal-1949, in Hindi, taking Bhanumathi and Ranjan as the lead pair.
For Mangala-1950 also he continued with the same successful lead pair, though in the original Tamil film, Mangamma Sapatham-1943, the female lead was done by Vasundhara Devi – mother of actress Vyjayanti Mala. There were remakes also made in Telugu as Mangamma Sapatham-1965 and in Sihalese as Mathalan-1955.
Enthused and inspired with Vasan’s success in the Hindi belt, another giant from the South came forward. AVM’s Tamil film ‘Vazhkai’ (1949) was a big hit in the south. AVM made a Telugu version of it with the name ‘Jeevitham’ (1950) followed by a Hindi version ‘Bahaar’ (1951). They introduced Vyjayantimala with this film, in Hindi. The story of the film and the Music by SD Burman made the film a big hit in Hindi too. AVM then made Hindi film ‘Ladki’ (1953), with a Tamil and Telugu version. This too became a hit film. However by that time the South market had grown manifolds and there was no need for the south film makers to venture into the Hindi belt to earn money. Thus, there was a slow down in this type of activity. The south now started making Hindi films directly in Madras by calling actors from Bombay. And some films were dubbed too.
Actually, the southern film activity, though as old as Hindi talkie films, is strictly limited to four southern states. It was only the adventurous SS Vasan who ventured into the bastion of Hindi film markets, by promoting his film ‘Chandralekha’. In fact this had encouraged other producers like AVM, Prasad, Vijaya etc. to tap the Hindi belt. While making a multilingual film, the south producers always called the Hindi artistes, be it actors, directors ,composers or singers to come to Madras, but they never went to Bombay. It was only through dubbed or remade films that south actors, composers or actors were exposed to the Hindi arena. Those days anyone from south was a ‘madrasi‘ and likewise anyone from other than south was a North Indian or a Punjabi ! No one from the North bothered to distinguish between Tamil, Telugu, Kannada or Malayalam – films or people. Everything was ‘madrasi‘.
I came across an article in “The Hindu” dated 3-2-2013 about the film Mangala-1950 as follows. (The article is adapted by me to suit the post here)…
‘.Bhanumathi Ramakrishna was so bowled over by the performance of Vasundhara Devi (mother of yesteryear heroine Vyjayanthimala Bali) in Gemini’s blockbuster 1943 Tamil hit, Mangamma Sabadham , that she wished, if at all the film were to be remade in Telugu, she would act in it. In fact, the Tamil movie was released by Gemini supremo S.S. Vasan at a few centres in Andhra also and was well received there too. A few years later, Vasan decided to remake the movie in Telugu and Hindi under the title Mangala . Impressed by Bhanumathi’s performance in the Tamil film, Rajamukthi , he decided to sign her and approached her husband, Ramakrishna Rao. It was an opportunity she was waiting for and Bhanumathi immediately accepted the offer. She was paid a remuneration of Rs. 1 lakh for both the versions. Ranjan, who did the hero’s role in Mangamma Sabadham , was retained to play the lead role in both Telugu and Hindi versions. Popular editor of the time, Chandru (who had done commendable work as editor for Gemini’s earlier trilingual, Apoorva Sahodarulu) was entrusted with the job of directing the Telugu movie.
Based on a popular folklore, an engrossing narrative was woven by Gemini’s story department. Mangala (Bhanumathi), the charming daughter of a rich farmer, is very haughty by temperament. When Prince Sugunapal (Ranjan) fails to win her love, he throws a challenge that he would marry her and then imprison her for life, denying her the marital bliss. She counter-challenges him that she would bear a child from him and make the child whip him in his court.
The prince marries her and puts her in a lonely palace. She makes her father (Doraiswamy) dig a tunnel from the palace to her village, sneaks through it to her house and learns dance. Disguised as a gypsy, she entices the Prince, secretly gives birth to a child, and when he grows up (Ranjan – dual role) gets her vow fulfilled through him. Realisation dawns on the Prince and the tale ends on a happy note.
All through it is Mangala’s show and Bhanumathi essayed it brilliantly. If Vasundhara Devi was admired for her nice dances in the Tamil version, Bhanumathi scored through her acting prowess. Ranjan made his presence felt in a dual role.’
Today’s film has 9 songs by Shamshad Begum, out of total 15 songs. She was the ‘Most wanted’ singer during that period. For songs of Mangala-1950 she was invited to Madras with a Royal treatment and all 9 songs were recorded in Madras.
We, in the West and North do not have much information on South actors, singers or composers. P. Bhanumathi was one of the most famous, respected and successful actresses and a singer. P. Bhanumathi Ramakrishna was born on 7 September 1925 (7 September 1925 – 24 December 2005) in Doddavaram village of Prakasam district, near Ongole, Andhra Pradesh. She was the third child to Saraswatamma and Bommaraju Venkata Subbaiah. She grew up watching her father perform in various stage shows. Her father, Venkata Subbayya, was a lover of classical music and trained her in music from an early age. Bhanumathi entered the film industry in 1939, and acted in over 100 films in Telugu and Tamil. She was also called Ashtavadhani by the film industry people as she was a writer, actor, director, producer, singer, music director, editor and studio owner. She also had a good knowledge of astrology and philosophy. She is regarded as the first female super star of Telugu cinema.
She made her debut in Telugu cinema in 1939 as Kalindi (a 13 years old girl who is forced to marry an old man and ended her life by committing suicide) in Vara Vikrayam (Telugu), directed by C. Pullayya. She acted in Malathi Madhavam, Dharma Patni and Bhaktimala. Her first popular film was Krishna Prema. In 1953, she made her directorial debut with Chandirani (made simultaneously in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi). Her last film was made in 1998, entitled Pelli Kanuka. She got the National Award for the film and also for performances in movies Anthasthulu and Palnati Yudham (1964) she received National Awards (Rashtrapati Award). She is the last recipient of Rashtrapati Award.
Due to her rift with Aluri Chakrapani, she left her role in Missamma and Miss Mary movie (Initially Bhanumathi was shot for some scenes in the movie before being replaced by Savitri ) but after the release of the movie she watched and commented that “she lost a wonderful role but industry gained a talented actress like savitri” which showed her sportiveness and encouragement towards new actors. Due to clash with Aluri Chakrapani, she produced a satirical movie on him titled Chakrapani which was a huge hit and became a classic in Tollywood for this movie she also worked as music director.
Apart from being a fine actress, she was also a talented musician. She was adept in both Carnatic and Hindustani music. She gave voice to her songs despite it being the norm to use playback singers for actors. Some of her songs are still popular in Telugu; and in Tamil. She also provided music to a lot of her films.
During her later years, she served on various movie related organizations. She was a Member of the State Film Awards Committee for two years. She was also a Visiting Professor at the Film Institute for one year. She was a Member of Children Film Society for 5 years, from 1965 to 1970. In India, she was the first and the only woman to have owned a film studio and the first woman to have directed a movie simultaneously in three languages. She is the first south Indian actress to receive Padma Awards.
Bhanumathi was also a talented writer with a number of short stories to her credit. Her autobiography Nalo Nenu was published in Telugu and later, released in English as Musings. Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy awarded her as the best short story writer for her popular short stories “Attagari Kathalu”. She was a Member of Lalit Kala Academy for 5 years, and Sahitya Academy, Andhra Pradesh for 10 years. She served as Director and Principal of the Tamil Nadu Government Music College.
She was an eminent social worker who was closely associated with a number of Social Service Organizations. She was the founder member and treasurer of the Madras branch of Altrusa International Inc., Chicago for a lifetime starting from 1963. She was a life member of the ‘Red Cross Society’. She established an educational institution named as “Dr. Bhanumathi Ramakrishna Matriculation School” at Saligramam, Chennai providing free education to the poor.
During the shooting of the film Krishna Prema (1943), she met P. S. Ramakrishna Rao (1918–1986), an assistant director for that film. He was a film producer, director and editor of Telugu and Tamil Films. The couple married on 8 August 1943 and have one son, Bharani. Later they launched a popular production company, Bharani Pictures, in their son’s name. She died at the age of 80 years in Chennai,on 24-12-2005.
In Hindi, she acted in 8 films, directed 2 films and sang 12 songs in 4 films. ( Based and adapted from wiki, nett4you,Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema and my notes ).
Let us now enjoy the melodious song by Geeta Roy (she became Geeta Dutt after marrying Guru Dutt in 1953)….
Song-Jhanan jhanan jhanwa (Mangala)(1950) Singer-Geeta Dutt, Lyrics-Pt Indra Chandra, MD-Balkriishna Kalla + E Sankar Sastri
Lyrics
jhanan jhanan jhanwa
jhanan jhanan jhanwa
more bichhwa jhanan baajne
jhanan jhanan jhanwa
more bichhwa jhanan baajne
aaja aaja o hatheele saanware
aaja aaja o hatheele sanware
meetha maakhan chaakhne
meetha maakhan chaakhne
jhanan jhanan jhanwa
more bichwa jhanan baajne
jhanan jhanan jhanwa
tu hai shyam chanda radha ji chakori
tu hai shyam chanda radha ji chakori
aana ji mohan manva magan
saanwariya chori chori
aana ji mohan manva magan
saanwariya chori chori
mera ghar hai suraj saamne
jhanan jhanan jhanwa
more bichhwa jhanan baajne
jhanan jhanan jhanwa
main odhoon odhaniya laal re
main chaloon chhamaacham chham chaal re
main odhoon odhaniya laal re
main chaloon chhamaacham chham chaal re
mohe mohan ne murli sunaai
mohe mohan ne murli sunaai
ho sunaai
main odhoon odaniya laal re
tera kab se pukaaroon saanwariya naam
tera kab se pukaaroon saanwariya naam
aaja more ghamshyam
aaja o sundar shyam
aaja more ghamshyam
aaja o sundar shyam
jhanan jhanan jhanwa
man chheena mera nandlal ne
aaja aaja o hatheele sanware
meetha makhan chakhne
jhanan jhanan jhanwa
more bichhwa jhanan baajne
jhanan jhanan jhanwa