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 Nateeja-1947, made by Bombay Talkies. The film was directed by Najam Naqvi and the Music Director was Rasheed Atre. The lyrics of all the 6 songs were written by Nakshab Jarachavi. The cast of the film included Yaqub, Shamim, Rehana, Majid, Maya Devi and others.
This film was completed in early 1947. It was the time of India’s Partition and there was a terrible commotion in the entire Indian Film Industry. No one was sure as to who is migrating to Pakistan and who is staying over. Those who did not migrate in 1947/48, did go to Pakistan in later years. Film Nateeja-1947 was one of those films where most of the film’s artists migrated to Pakistan in 1947 and some left after a few years. The MD, Director, Heroine Shamim, actors like Rehana, Majid and Maya Devi left India.
Pakistan and India are two hostile neighbours in the South Asian Region, who vie with each other in a few fields. A great deal of excitement gets generated on either side of the border whenever the national teams of the two countries face off in cricket (these days) and Hockey (in the past).
But the one field in which India undoubtedly surpasses all other countries in the region, including Pakistan, is showbiz. In fact, India produces more films than even Hollywood while Pakistan’s film industry is yet to make a mark in the region.
History provides some explanation for this contrast. In undivided India, Lahore (then in the Punjab) was important as a showbiz centre. It had an established film-making centre. The first Talkie film ever to be made in a Lahore studio was Delhi Express (1935) and thereafter many Urdu and Punjabi films were produced from Lahore every year. The partition of India into two independent states – India and Pakistan, caused irreparable damage to film production in Lahore. Most of Lahore’s film producers were Hindus and as the city fell on the side of the Islamic state of Pakistan, they migrated to India. This deprived Lollywood, as Lahore is referred to in film circles, of much needed investment and expertise in film production and distribution.
LAHORE, an important city in the undivided Punjab in the pre-independence days was one of the major Film making Centres in India. Talented actors and musicians from all Punjab and Sindh area tried their luck in the Cine Industry at Lahore. Nevertheless, the biggest centre of film production was Bombay and it was every aspiring artiste’s dream to go to Bombay and shine there.
The film activity at Lahore increased considerably in the early 40s in terms of film production and Music. Those days Lahore was called ”a supply source” for Bombay, as many actors and musicians shifted their base to Bombay from there. The list of such people is very long, but it will suffice to mention some well known names-
Noorjehan Pran, Saigal, Prithwiraj Kapoor and his sons, Shyam, Dilip Kumar, Surinder, Karan Dewan, Dev Anand, Balraj Sahni, Singer Khursheed, Mumtaz Shanti, Veena, Begum Para, Meena Shorey, Suraiya, Manorama, Kamini Kaushal, Shyama(Khursheed Akhtar), A R Kardar, M Sadiq, Suresh(Nazim Ahmed), Amar, Chetan Anand, Zande Khan, Ghulam Hyder, Pt.Amarnath and his brothers Husnlal-Bhagatram, Hansraj Behl, S.Mohinder, Firoz Nizami, Khursheed Anwar, Khayyam, Vinod, Shyamsunder, Kidar Sharma, Krishna Chander, O P Dutta, Saadat Hasan Manto, Qamar Jalalabadi, D N Madhok, Tanvir Naqvi, Prem Dhawan etc etc.
Many of the actors and producers used to shuttle between Lahore and Bombay for their work.
And then the PARTITION took place in 1947.
In the communal frenzy, polarisation of artistes took place. Some Hindus shifted to Bombay and Some Muslims left for Lahore.At the actual time of Partition some artists were in Lahore for film work. They were B R Chopra, Ramanand Sagar, I S Johar, Gulshan Rai, Omprakash, Jeevan, O P Nayyar, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Naqsh Lyallpuri, Surinder and Prakash Kaur Manorama and Pushpa Huns. They all left Lahore hurriedly and reached Bombay Safely.
Same way many artists from Bombay left for Lahore and ALL of them reached safely.
some of the Directors who migrated to Pakistan were-
Syed Shaukat Hussain Rizvi, S M Yousuf, Najam Naqvi, Munshi Dil, Nakshab Jarachavi, M Sadiq, Zia Sarhadi, Sibtain Fazli(of Fazli Brothers), S T Zaidi , Zahoor Raja, Wali saheb, A R Kardar,Nazir,W Z Ahmed,Masood Pervez,Sharif Nayyar,Luqmaan,Dawood Chaand,Rakhan,Nusrat Mansoori,M H Qasim,Roop K Shorey,Butt Kasher,Barkat Mehra and Manto.
Some of the Actors/actresses were- Nazeer, Sadiq Ali, Masood, Sudhir, Santosh, Ratan Kumar, Najmul Hussain, Suresh and Nasir khan(both came back to India later), Sh.Mukhtar, M.Ismail, Ajmal, Gulam Mohd, Kumar, Ghori, Majeed, Shahnawaz, Himalayawala, Shyam Kumar, Allauddin, Shah Shikarpuri, Charlie, Nazar Faizi Noorjehan, Meena Shorey, Khursheed, Zeenat Begum, Asha Posley, Najma, Kalawati, Rehana, Swarnalata, Ragini, Bibbo, Renuka Devi, Geeta Nizami, Maya Devi etc.
Some from the music field were- Khursheed Anwar, Inayat Hussain, Rafiq gaznavi, G A Chisti, Ghulam Hyder, Firoz Nizami, Nissar Bazmi, Nashaad, Tufail Faruqi, Tanvir Naqvi, Faiyaz Hasmi, Iqbal Bano, Premlata,Khursheed,Zeenat Begum, Shevan Rizvi,Rasheed Atre,Fateh Ali khan,Babul etc.
With so many people migrating to Pakistan at a time and given the condition of the Pakistan Film Industry then, it is a moot question, whether all these migrants could get work there and shine ?
There were 2 types of people who migrated-
1. Those who had achieved their peaks already in India and
2. Those who had just started their careers.
Obviously the second group, at least some of them, could do well there eventually.
Some of the successful migrants there were- Noor jahan, Khursheed Anwar, G A Chisti, Nissar Bazmi, Firoz Nizami, Najam Naqvi, Nakshab Jarachavi, Sibtain Fazli, Wali Sahib,Manto, Rashid Atre, Sudhir, Santosh, Asha Posley, Shameem, Najma, Yasmeen, Ragini, Zahoor Shah, Shaikh Iqbal, Himalayawala, Nazar, Rafiq Gaznavi, Tanvir Naqvi, Iqbal Bano etc.
The unfortunate ones were-some of them- Meena Shorey, Ratan Kumar, M Sadiq, Charlie, Ghori, Kumar, Shaikh Mukhtar, Najmul Hussain, Neena, Kalavati, Maya devi, Gulam Hyder, Nashaad, Premlata etc.
Almost all the artists who shifted to Bombay prior to Partition did very well here.
(Notes- 1.All lists are only indicative and not exhaustive
2.Migrants means between 1947 to 1970 period.)
The rioting of 1947 set in motion irreversible, irrevocable migration. B R. Chopra and I S Johar were planning films in a big way in Lahore but had to run for their lives. Ramanand Sagar left in July, as did Gulshan Rai. Character actor Om Prakash (of Fateh Din fame, an all-time favourite skit relayed for years by Radio Lahore), comedian-bad man Jeevan and many others also left Lahore for Bombay. O P Nayyar recorded his immortal song Preetam Aan Milo/ Dukhia Jiya Bullai, Aan Milo at the His Master’s Voice studio in Lahore. He left Lahore only in 1948 when it became clear that people with the wrong religion were not going to return to their homes on either side of the Punjab. Writer Rajinder Singh Bedi escaped, sitting on top of a railway carriage carrying loads of Hindus and Sikhs out of Lahore. Song-writer Naqsh Lyallpuri began his literary career in Lahore as a journalist but had to leave in 1947. Punjabi singers Surinder Kaur and Prakash Kaur, and Pushpa Hans also left Lahore.
Migration in the other direction also took place. Nazir and his wife Suranlata, Noorjahan and her husband Shaukat Husain Rizvi, character actor Alauddin and many others headed for Lahore. Manto came in January 1948, music directors Ghulam Haider and Khurshid Anwar followed some years later and director M. Sadiq probably in 1969 or 1970. Meena Shori, Khurshid and Mumtaz Shanti also immigrated to Lahore. Some Pakistani actors in Lahore continued to use Hindu filmic names. Santosh Kumar (Musa Raza) and Sudhir (Shah Zaman), the two most famous heroes of the 1950s and 60s followed such practice. On both sides, initially considerable goodwill existed between the two film communities.
Some families were divided. Thus for example, while Nazir shifted to Lahore, his nephew K. Asif stayed on in Bombay. Kardar stayed on but his brother Nusrat Kardar and son Rauf Kardar returned to Lahore. While Suraiya, her mother and grandmother settled in Bombay, many of her other relatives shifted to Lahore. Rafi stayed on to reign supreme in Bombay while his parents and siblings were in Lahore.
There were some cross-religion marriages that created peculiar challenges. Raj Kapoor’s maama (maternal uncle) Mr Mehra married a Muslim, converted to Islam and stayed in Lahore. A unique case of reverse migration took place as well: poet Sahir Ludhianvi (Abdul Hai) left Lahore for India.
Luckily, except for a few like Noorjehan, Khursheed Anwar and some others, the well established Muslim artistes like Rafi, Talat, Shamshad, Naushad and hundreds of others chose to remain in India. They prospered here and became popular in Pakistan as well.
After partition, this turmoil subsided after a short period in India and it was business as usual here, while in Lahore, Pakistan had to build up from scratch, but the Film Industry there too stabilised in a few years’ time. The base of Film industry in Pakistan was built by people who migrated from India. Migration from India to Pakistan continued till about 1970 for the pre-partition artists. In fact till about 1965 there was an exchange of artists from both sides to work in other countries, but after the 65 war, this working stopped completely.
Music Directors who left India after Partition had done very good work here. Composers like Nissar Bazmi and Feroz Nizami became exceptionally successful in Pakistan, but Nashad, Rafiq Ghaznavi and others were not successful to that extent. Khursheed Anwar, a very highly respected composer here remained a father figure even in Pakistan.
Partition did a lot of damage to both countries and the film industry. With so many artists leaving at a time surely affected the filmdom, but it also opened up new avenues for singers and new blood composers. As a result, the Indian film industry came on the tracks almost immediately, whereas Pakistan took much time.
The director of today’s film- Najam Naqvi is an intersting case of “Same name Confusion”. Najmul Hasan Naqvi, born on 11-4-1913 at Moradabad-UP. He was working in Bombay Talkies doing odd jobs-continuity man and even as an actor in Achhut kanya-36.. He was a very hardworking person. The whole episode of Devika Rani’s elopement with handsome actor Najmul Hassan had become a matter of embarrassment for the continuity man; working in the same studio. His name was Najmul Hasan. Because of the same name, this innocent chap -who had nothing to do with the elopement drama- had to suffer staring eyes and hush hush whisperings within the studio and the film circle of Calcutta ! After this episode he changed his name to a shorter edition- Najam Naqvi.
He worked in the Direction department and his first film as an independent Director was PUNARMILAN-1940. He went on directing films like Raja Rani-42, Tasveer-43, Naya Tarana-43, Panna-44, Prithwiraj Sanyogita-46, Nateeja-47, Parayee Aag-48, Actress-48, Nirdosh-50, Rangili-52 and last film- Samrat-54.
In 1955, Najam Naqvi migrated to Pakistan and directed 7 films from Kunwari Bewa-56, Naghma e dil-59, Dil e nadaan-60, Qaidi-62, Ek manzil do rahein-62, Ek tera sahara-63 and lastly Payal Ki Jhankaar-66. Najam Naqvi died on 26-1-82 at Lahore. Due to the same name, many sites including IMDB mix up the filmography of these two artists.
The story of the film Nateeja-1947 was…..
This film was built upon the principle that the impressions and the environments of childhood mould the life and character of the man. The life and happiness of many individuals have been wrecked on account of the follies of their parents. The so-called pleasant pastimes of the rich father have so often gone to make his son even a criminal.
Born in a once rich and high society family of Nawabs. Aslam (Yaqub) the little kid often witnessed the orgies of gambling,cockfights and dancing girl parties organised by his father. Aslam, the man revelled in such gambling,visited singing girls and had to resort to crooked ways and cheating to make his both ends meet. He was enamoured by Zohra,a professional singing girl, the latter caring for nothing but the money and jewels the former could bring for her. Aslam succeeded in impressing upon an erstwhile rich Nawab that he was conducting a big business, and the Nawab gave his daughter Suraiyya in marriage to Aslam. The wife was soon disillusioned, because Aslam robbed her of all her ornaments to bestow them on Zohra.
Suraiyya’s life was all misery, as Aslam neither cared for her nor for their first born, Salim, and so her father took her and her son to his house One day Aslam came across a little boy playing on the road. He lifted him up and went to a jewellers shop. leaving the child there, under the excuse of showing the ornaments to his womenfolk in purdah, waiting in a tonga outside the shop. He decamped with the ornaments. The jeweller took home the child and as he had no issue, he brought him up as his own son and called him Mehmud.
Some years later, on the death of her father, Suraiyya, with her little niece Shabana shifted to a new place, which happened to be adjacent to the jeweller’s residence. By that time Mehmud had grown up into a handsome youth, so much so that he could not be recognised even by his mother. Mehmud and Shabana loved each other, and Suraiyya was about to propose Shabhana’s marriage to Mehmud, when his adopted mother revealed that he was an orphan of unknown parentage. Mehmud abruptly left the jewellers place and joined a film company in Bombay, where the heroine was so much infatuated with this handsome youth, that she even spurred and insulted her paramour. The heroine was none other than Zohra and her paramour was Aslam.
Neither Aslam knew that the other youth was his son, nor did Mehmud know that the other man was his father. Aslam had started practice as a hypnotist, and Suraiyya, seeing an advertisement with his photograph in a paper learnt that he was in Bombay, and so she persuaded her neighbour, the jeweller, to accompany her to Bombay to reclaim her husband. The jeweller did the trick. He once accosted Aslam on the road, and under the pretext of taking him to a new singing girl, he took him to the place where Suraiyya had put up. On seeing Suraiyya, Aslam was astonished. On the other front, the rivalry between Aslam and Mehmud about Zohra has grown into a desperate situation, and a very sensational development takes place.
Aslam asks Suraiya about their son Salim and she tells him that he was lost. Listening to this talk,the jeweller realises that Mehmood is no one but Saleem. Suraiyya,Aslam and the jeweller go to the company where Mehmud’s shooting is going on. Zohra is also there. Aslam and the jeweller tell mehmud that he is the son of Aslam. Aslam is now ashamed of what he did in the past and stays with Suraiya. Mehmud is married to Shabana. Zohra goes away and thus the end is happy.
Today’s song is sung by Parul Ghosh. Let us now enjoy this 77 year old song……
Song- Dua de rahe hain sazaa paanewaale (Nateeja)(1947) Singer- Parul Ghosh, Lyricist- Nakshab Jarachavi,MD-Rashid Atre
Lyrics
Dua aa aa aa aa
de rahe hain aen aen aen
saza aa aa paane waale ae
salaamat rahen dil ko tadpaane waale ae
salaamat rahen dil ko tadpaane waale ae
salaamat rahen
thahar r r jaa aa aa
mere ae dil kee ee
duniya aa aa
thahar jaa
zara jee ko samjha le samjhaane waale
zara jee ko samjha le samjhaane waale
salaamat rahen
ajab kashmkash hai ae ae
meree ee ee zindagee ee mein
ajab kashmkash hai ae ae
meree ee zindagee ee mein
na jee jaanewaalaa
na tum aane waale
na jee jaanewaalaa
na tum aane waale
salaamat rahen
mohabbat kee barbaaadiyaan aan dekhta jaa
mohabbat kee barbaadiyaan dekhta jaa aa aa
dekhta jaa aa
dekhta jaa aa
mere haal se bekhabar jaane waale ae
mere haal se bekhabar jaane waale ae
salaamat rahen