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 Ghayal-1951.
The film was produced and directed by Ramchandra Thakur, under the banner of Shri Navratna Chitra, Bombay. he was a highly qualified person, having done his post graduation (M.A.), in English language. he was a prolific writer in English, Hindi and Gujarati, before he joined the film line. In the early years of Indian films, very few educated persons were found in this line. His initial training in direction in sagar movietone was under Chimanlal Luhar and Virendra Desai. His first independently directed film was Civil marriage having another Debutante Heroine Snehprabha Pradhan. He retired after directing his last film Nawab Sirajuddaula-1967, after 20 films as a director. He wrote the script for film Baiju Bawra-52, produced 5 films directed 2 Gujarati films and wrotestories and s/ps for several films. He also wrote 4 novels in English. he died on 31-10-1992.
Film Ghayal-1951 had music by Gyan Dutt. It had 11 songs, including a 2-part song. He had used 7 lyricists and 6 singers.
One of the Lyricists was Manohar Lal Khanna- father of Usha Khanna, M.D. Recently I have written about some leading artistes of Hindi films, who tried hard to hide their Entry-level films, songs or Lyrics, only because they were less known films or actors. Manoharlal Khanna was exactly opposite of this. He tried to grab the credit of being the Music Director of a film, for which he had only written Lyrics. In this attempt, his daughter – Music Director Usha Khanna also joined him and in the process made some ridiculous claims too.
Hindi film Pamposh-1953 is shown in the HFGK as having its Music Director as Manohar Khanna. At the same time, a footnote clearly said that ” the film booklet shows the name of Mohan Lal Aima and Cecil Mendoza as M.D.s”. During the last few years, I have met close relatives of many yesteryear artistes and interviewed them. One thing I noticed was that most relatives, those close ones, did not know or were not sure of certain matters. Sometimes they knowingly told wrong things to enhance the image of that artiste. So I learnt to counter check facts before including them in the interview material.
Usha Khanna’s case also seems to be like this. I carefully listened to her interview about her father, posted on RMIM recently and I found that she made claims which were not wholly correct about her father. One of the claims she always made was that it was she who actually had given music to film Pamposh, but her father’s name was credited. Actually neither Usha Khanna (who was barely 12 year old in 1953) nor her father M.L.Khanna had given music to film Pamposh-53. It is noteworthy to note that HFGK has a footnote for this film stating that ” The film booklet mentions MD’s name as MohanLal Aima and Cecil Mendoza”. Enthusiastic senior RMIM members worked furiously on this issue and dug up several proofs to arrive at a conclusion that MOHANLAL AIMA was actually the Music Director of film Pamposh-53.
Film Pamposh was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, France on 9-4-1954 with the French title “FLEUR DE LOTUS” (Lotus of Kashmir or कश्मीरी कमल ). In that also the MD’s name was given as MohanLal Aima. This film was dubbed in English, French, Spanish,Italian, German, Bengali and Tamil and had won high praise in Cannes, as per the French newspaper “LE MONDE”. This information is from the book ” The world of Ezra Mir” by N.J.Kamath, pub.2005.
Therefore, it is clear that both the daughter or the father were not the Music Director of Pamposh-53 and that they deliberately tried to mislead people. So sad ! ( for details, please see my post on film Pamposh dt 8-4-2022).
Secondly, during the mid 60’s i.e. from 1964 to 1968, there were 8 Hindi films, for which ” Javed Anwar” was the Lyricist. For a long time, no one knew who this Javed Anwar was and how he suddenly appeared and disappeared , like a Comet. Finally, it was proved that Javed was the pseudonym of Manohar Lal Khanna and Anwar was the other Lyricist Rahil Gorakhpuri. ( ref. http://www.hamkadam.in). Rahil Gorakhpuri had written lyrics independently in his own name since 1958. But Manoharlal Khanna had never revealed this fact.
The cast of the film Ghayal-1951 was Sulochana Chaterjee, Shaikh Mukhtar, Geeta Bali, Jawahar Kaul, P.Kailash, Yashwant Dave, Rewashankar Marwadi and many others. Shaikh Mukhtar was a Hulk, with a height of more than 6 feet, a big Physique and small pox marks on the face. With all this he was a Hero in Hindi films and many good looking Heroines acted opposite him. One of the acclaimed beauties of those times, Begum Para acted with him in few films. The film magazines called them ” The Beast and the Beauty” !
Religious,Mythological or Historical stories have some characters who are with extraordinary strength or even Rakshasas. Such characters maintained the equilibrium of entertainment in those films and made them more interesting with their actions. In the Hindi film industry,some actors fitted this requirement. Some of them were B M VYas, Ramayan Tiwari, Shaikh Mukhtar, Dara Singh, Dev kumar etc etc.
Shaikh Mukhtar fitted into these roles perfectly, for example as Nadir Shah in film ” Nadir Shah”-68, as Changez khan in film ” Changez khan”-57, or as Sher Afghan in film ” Noor jehan”-67. In social films, roles of Police Officers and in action/stunt films as Dacoit,Drunkard,Gambler etc. In some of the films directors used to make him do unimaginable and unbelievable acts like in the film ‘ Roti’-42, he brings down an aircraft with his spear throw ! As a Police Officer, he would hold 5-6 criminals by their scuff in his extra large hands or run barefoot after a speeding jeep and stop it !
His real name was Mukhtar Ahmed Siddiqi. Sheikh Mukhtar was the son of Chaudhry Ashfaq Ahmed, who was a railway police inspector born in Karachi. Chaudhary Ashfaq Ahmed got transferred and moved to Delhi. Sheikh Mukhtar was born on 24 December 1914 in Delhi. He spent his childhood in Gali choodi waalan.He studied in Anglo Arabic School, Ajmeri Gate, Delhi. His father wanted his son to join the Police or Army on a higher rank, but Sheikh Mukhtar was keenly interested in theatre. One of his acquaintances from his area started working in a theatre company, so Sheikh Mukhtar also moved to Kolkata and joined the company.
He was Bollywood`s first Hunk – one who would have put today`s WWF hulks to shame. Exceptionally tall and frighteningly hefty, he was endowed with an immense physique. His face was a roadmap of crisscrossing muscles. A sharp jaw line added to the dimensions of his rock-hard face. Hardly `star` material compared to the Hrithiks and Salmans of today.
Yet, this rugged man was once a hero.
Those were the days when a limp-wristed hero, who could not even unlock the mysteries of the lush curls of his beloved, was universally adored in cinema halls. In such times, Sheikh Mukhtar adorned the garb of a hero. This feat was achieved by movie monarch Mehboob Khan. In Ek hi Raasta, or The Only Way, a film directed by Mehboob saab for Sagar Movietone way back in 1939, Sheikh Mukhtar was one of the three heroes. The other two were Arun Ahuja (matinee idol Govinda`s father) and a certain Harish (who later directed films such as Burma Road, he was Tara Harish). Though billed as male lead, Sheikh Mukhtar never fitted into the `romantic` mould. And why should he? He portrayed an uncouth lover, almost a pre-Neanderthal man, in Mehboob Khan`s Roti with sensuous Sitara Devi as his beloved. In that film, Sheikh would bring down an aircraft with the mere strike of his spear. When thirsty, he would empty an entire bucket down his throat in one go. Soppy dialogues oozing with maudlin emotions such as love and romance, did not come forth from the super-hunk.
In Wadia`s Krishnabhakt Bodana, Sheikh Mukhtar was the Lord`s devotee. In Bahen, he portrayed the role of Meena Kumari`s brother. His imposing personality fitted well into `period` films which dabbled in history. He played the role of Shahenshah Babar; went on to become Chengez Khan and then donned the mantle of Sher Afghan in Noor Jehan, a film which he produced. He was often teamed with Begum Para, the bewitching beauty of that era. The pair hit it off exceedingly well on the screen. For countless cinema aficionados, the Sheikh Mukhtar-Begum Para pair was a classic case of the beauty and the beast. With pint-sized Mukri, SheikhMukhtar had a successful celluloid partnership. Sheikh Mukhtar produced a string of Hindi films, such as Dada, Dara, Ustad Pedro, Toote Tare, Mr. Lambu, Annadaata, Mangu (with another beauty, Nigar Sultan), Do Ustaad, Noor Jehan, among others.
He wove into his films a variety of songs, from Bahaaron ke doli pe aaye hai jawaani, a romantic number from Annadaata, to naughty ditties, such as Dil ka yeh engine seeti bajaye from Ustaad Pedro, and Namaste, Doctor Paro, hum ko bhi ek injection maaro. SheikhMukhtar`s pair of shoes, of twelve number size, (in Do Ustaad), summed up his big time existence. His role in this film was widely appreciated. Sheikh Mukhtar showcased his acting talents in the concluding scene of Do Ustaad when he holds his long-lost brother and son to his bosom.
Sheikh Mukhtar blew up his hard-earned money on Noor Jahan-1967, his dream project. However, the `period` film bombed miserably at the box office. And with the film collapsed this mighty man. Debts began to pile up. Income Tax arrears kept multiplying in geometrical progression. Unable to resolve this crisis, Sheikh Mukhtar, who was adored in Bollywood for his integrity and for his firmness to keep vices of every variety at bay, fled to Pakistan with the alacrity of a small-time house burglar. He took with him the prints of his films. But, sadly, the Pakistan film industry offered him no relief. He kept running from pillar to post, visiting government offices with a plea that he be allowed to release his films.
He was not at all welcomed by Pak film industry. As it is, Indian films were already banned there. When all efforts failed, he met General Zia ul Haq. He was a great fan of Sohrab modi. When he learnt that Sohrab Modi was acting in this film, he allowed the film’s release. However, the Pak film industry went to the Supreme court against this order. The case dragged on and finally on 11th may 1980 he won the case. He was returning to Lahore with his son Shaikh Moinuddin. Mukhtar got a severe heart attack in the flight. He was immediately taken home and the doctor was called. Strangely no doctor came to help him. Finally by the time he was taken to hospital, he died on the way,on 13-5-1980.
Sheikh Mukhtar married Shamim and they Had a son Moinuddin Mukhtar and a daughter Mariam Mukhtar.
Noor Jehan, which was released in Pakistan within 10 days after Sheikh Mukhtar died, on 23rd may 1980, kept the box office registers ringing with cash. In his 40 years' career he acted in 70 films and under the banner of his own Omar Khayyam Films, he produced 8 films. ( some information from articles by Shirish Kanekar and Javed Hameed ji is used herein, with thanks).
The story of the film, in short, as available on IMDB was….
“Amateur boxer Ajay is falsely implicated and sentenced for the murder of his own brother. With the help of 3 other convicts, he breaks out of the jail and confronts the man who actually murdered his own brother. ”
Today’s song is sung by Geeta Roy. All the songs of this film were melodious. Enjoy today’s song….
Song- Armaan mere dil ke dil hi mein rah gaye (Ghaayal)(1951) Singer- Geeta Roy, Lyricist- Manohar lal Khanna, MD-Gyan Dutt
Lyrics
armaan
armaan mere dil ke
dil hi mein rah gaye
kuchh aahen ban ke nikle
kuchh aansoo ban ke bah gaye
armaan
armaan mere dil ke
dil hi mein rah gaye
kuchh aahen ban ke nikle
kuchh aansu ban ke bah gaye
aansoo
bhool ja ae dil
mohabbat ke taraane bhool ja
bhool ja ae dil
mohabbat ke taraane bhool ja
pyaar mein doobe huye
rangeen zamaane bhool jaa
pyaar mein doobe huye
rangeen zamaane bhool jaa
sapnon ke jo mahal thhe
wo bante bante dhah gaye
armaan
sapnon ke jo mahal thhe
wo bante bante dhah gaye
armaan
armaan mere dil ke
dil hi mein rah gaye
kuchh aahen ban ke nikle
kuchh aansoo ban ke bah gaye
armaan
toone nazren pher lin
duniya andheri ho gayee
toone nazren pher lin
duniya andheri ho gayee
haay zaalim kyun bujha di
pyaar ki shamma meri
haay zaalim kyun bujha di
pyaar ki shamma meri
geet meri zindagi ke
sab adhoore rah gaye
armaan
geet meri zindagi ke
sab adhoore rah gaye
armaan
armaan mere dil ke
dil hi mein rah gaye
kuchh aahen ban ke nikle
kuchh aansoo ban ke bah gaye
armaan