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.
Continuing with the Melody-Yatra of the 50s,today I present a song by Shamshad Begum and chorus, from film Ustad Pedro-59.The song is composed by C.Ramchandra.I know some of you must be smiling discretely and murmuring,”laut ke buddu ghar ko aaye”, when I present a C Ramchandra song. But the fact is one can not talk about the 50’s music without mentioning C Ramchandra !
Both, C Ramchandra and Naushad continued their friendly competition from the 40s, to reach and maintain the first rank in the HFM in the decade of the 50s also. But in this decade they had very tough competition from a newly risen pair of composers-Shanker-Jaikishen. The real beneficiary of their competition was the HFM lover in India. What a terrific feast of lovely music people had from these composers as well as from others like Hemant Kumar, S D Burman, Roshan etc who also chipped in their contribution, making the decade a truly Golden decade of HFM.
The old guards like Husnlal-Bhagatram, Anil Biswas, K.Datta, Khemchand Prakash, Hansraj Behl, Bulo C Rani and others of their ilk were on their way out and the new crop of music directors viz. O P Nayyar, Madan Mohan, Ravi, Chitragupta etc were yet to bloom when the decade of 1950s began.
The film Ustad Pedro was produced by Shaikh Mukhtar, who also did the main lead in the film along with a beauty of the times-Begum Para. The film was directed by Tara Harish and the music was composed by C Ramchandra.
Religious, Mythological or Historical stories have some legendary characters possessing extra ordinary strength. Hindi film industry too had some actors who too played roles similar to such legendary strongmen. Some such actors were B M VYas, Narayan Tiwari, Shaikh Mukhtar, Dara Singh, Dev kumar etc etc. Shaikh Mukhtar fitted into these roles perfectly. He played Nadir Shah in film ” Nadir Shah”-68, as Changez Khan in film “Changez Khan”-57, and Sher Afghan in film ” Noor jehan”-67. In social films, he would play the roles of Police Officers and in action/stunt films he would be a Dacoit, Drunkard, Gambler etc. In some of the films directors used to make him do unimaginable and unbelievable acts like in film “Roti”-42, where he brings down an aircraft by throwing a spear at it ! As a Police Officer, he would hold 5-6 criminals by the scruff of their necks in his extra large hands. He would run barefoot after a speeding jeep and stop it !
His real name was Mukhtar Ahmed Siddiqi. He was from old Delhi. His father was a senior Police Officer. 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 bajaaye 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, 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 succor. 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 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 a doctor was called. Strangely no doctor came to help him. Finally by the time he was taken to hospital, he died on the way.
Noor Jehan, which was released in Pakistan 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 is used here with thanks).
While doing film Ustad Pedro-51, C Ramchandra was riding high on his success of HFM. He was in great demand and Lata was with him fully. In those days he would sing more songs himself. In this film also he sang 4 duets out of total 8 songs. Rafi got only one duet with Lata. Funnily, though the music of the film became a hit and popular, Rafi-Lata’s duet became the most popular song ! The song was , ” Dr, Baro, hum ko bhi ek injection maaro”( already discussed in this Blog by Atul ji). It was a double meaning song. In later periods, Lata always refused to sing songs with double meaning or club/cabaret songs, but in the early career, she sang many such songs. This song became very popular, but also created disputes.
In those days,there was no one central Censor Board for India. Each state had its own Censor Board. The Bombay Censor Board decided this song to be obscene and removed it from the film. The other state censors did not find it objectionable and passed it easily. Therefore this popular song was not seen by the audience of Bombay State- which comprised of Maharashtra, Gujarat part of Vidarbha and present day part Karnataka. However Radio played this song frequently and records were also available in the market. So it remained popular here.
Usually Songs of films by C Ramchaandra were written by his good friend Rajendra Krishna, but in this film, all songs were written by Rajah Mehdi Ali Khan. He ensured that C Ramchandra got songs just like what Rajendra Krishna used to write.
All the 4 duets of C Ramchandra-Lata were comedy songs. One of the songs was a ” Paan” song- a rarity in those days. Another was on the lines of Shehnai-47 song ” jawani ki rail”. Here the song was ” dil ka ye engine sitiyan maaren” ( already discussed here by me earlier). The two other songs were also comic ones. Lata, though not very comfortable with such songs, always complied with C Ramchandra’s choice of songs for her. C Ramchandra knew that Lata excelled in sad ‘ Birha’ songs, so in this film, there is one excellent Lata song ” kisi ko de gayaa kya nishani”. A very melodious song indeed.
Today’s song, a solo with chorus, by Shamshad Begum is really quite catchy typical C Ramchandra song ” karo na ishaare piya pyaare’ and as expected C Ramchandra had used Anokhe Bol in the beginning of this song ( which I suspect, he sang himself). When yo hear this song, you will surely rememebr Geeta Dutt’s song from film “Baaz” -51 ” ekh ke akeli mohe barkha sataye”. Not the tune but the words ‘ shuk shuk shuk shuk ‘ in Ustad Pedro song and ‘ Tip Tip Tip Tip ‘ in Baazi song are similarly used. Its a great fun to listen to such songs. Enjoy now…….
Song-Karo na ishaare piyaa pyaare (Ustaad Pedro)(1951) Singer-Shamshad Begam, Lyrics-Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, MD-C Ramchandra
Chorus
C Ramchandra
Lyrics
chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk
chhuk chhuk
chumbarika chumba chumba
chumbarika chhuk chhuk chhuk
chumbarika chumba chumba
chumbarika chhuk chhuk chhuk
chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk
chhuk chhuk
karo na ishaare piya pyaare
aaungi main nadiya kinaare
karo na ishaare piya pyaare( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
aaungi main nadiya kinaare ( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
karo na ishaare piya pyaare ( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
aaungi main nadiya kinaare
chumba chuma chhuk chhuk chhuk
chumba chuma chhuk chhuk chhuk
o o o o
chhota sa jiya hai mera
main dar jaaungi
laaj ke maare main mar jaaungi
chhota sa jiya hai mera
main dar jaaungi
laaj ke maare main mar jaaungi
humen koi door se nihaare
aaungi main nadiya kinaare
humen koi door se nihaare( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
aaungi main nadiya kinaare ( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
karo na ishaare piya pyaare ( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
aaungi main nadiya kinaare ( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
chumba chumba chhuk chhuk chhuk
chumba chumba chhuk chhuk chhuk
gore gore mukh pe
ye chhota sa jo til hai
til nahin hai
ye to mera pyaar bhara dil hai
mera pyaar bhara dil hai
gore gore mukh pe
ye chhota sa jo til hai
til nahin hai
ye to mera pyaar bhara dil hai
mera pyaar bhara dil hai
loot’te ho iske najaare ( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
aaungi main nadiya kinaare ( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
karo na ishaare piya pyaare ( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
aaungi main nadiya kinaare ( chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk )
chumbarika chumba chumba
chumbarika chhuk chhuk chhuk
chumbarika chumba chumba
chumbarika chhuk chhuk chhuk
( aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa )
chumbarika chumba chumba
chumbarika chhuk chhuk chhuk
chumbarika chumba chumba
chumbarika chhuk chhuk chhuk
