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.
Today’s song is from film Manchala-53. This song has a unique combination of singers. It is sung by Chitragupta and Kishore Kumar. Chitragupta is the music director as well.
Chitragupta ( 16-11-1917 to 14-1-1991 ) gave music in 149 films. He was very fond of singing. In fact he had come to Bombay to become a film singer-like many of his ilk. However, after becoming a composer he could not sing much. Some composers like C.Ramchandra who were singers too sang at every opportunity, but Chitragupta limited his desires and sang only 28 songs in 15 films in his entire career.
Chitragupta was one of my favourite composers who could be identified with melody in almost every film song that he composed. Unfortunately, he did not get many famous banners,or he was not a favourite of any producer, director or a major actor. The number of B and C grade films in his filmography is much higher than A grade films which came to him occasionally. Irrespective of this, he composed music with dedication in all his assignments and almost every film of Chitragupta had atleast one or two popular songs.
Even in today’s film, ” Manchala”-53 there is a song ” Bhagwan tujhe main khat likhta, par tera pata maloom nahin “, sung by Chitragupta himself, which was very popular in its time. The song presented today is also a very good song but it was not heard much. In a way, it is an obscure song. I do not think any of our readers will even remember it.
Film “Manchala”-53 was a presentation of Jayant Desai Productions and it was directed by Jayant Desai himself.
Jayant Jhinabhai Desai was born in Surat, Gujarat,on 28-2-1909, in a well to do family. he graduated from Bombay University and entered film line as an exhibitor in Surat. Later on he started writing Screen plays for London Films,Rangoon and then for krishna and Sharada studios. he joined Chandulal Shah’s Ranjit Studios in 1929,as his assistant for film ‘Rajputani’. Director Nandlal Jaswantlal Bhatt ( Nagin, Taj, Champakali etc) was also another assistant in Ranjit.
When Nandlal left Ranjit to go to Europe, Jayant completed his film “Pahadi Kanya-1930″. At Ranjit Jayant directed 12 silent films. He was with Ranjit till 1943 and he directed 33 Talkie films while in Ranjit. Some of these films were Char Chakram, Bhool Bhulaiya, Nadira, Toofan mail,College Girl, Matlabi Duniya, Toofani Toli, Billi ( a copy of a Hollywood film,based on P.G.Wodehouse’s novel ” A Damsel in Distress” ), Sant Tulsidas, Diwali, Shaadi, Chandni, Bhaktaraj, Tansen(with Saigal),Zaban etc.
after leaving Ranjit, Jayant Desai established his own studio,Jupitor Films Studio, jayant desai productions and Hemlata Pictures. He also had exhibition interests in Hindmata and Star Theatres in Bombay’s Dadar area. In the 50s,he operated as a Distributor with his Jupiter films.
While in Ranjit,he had Directed K L Saigal in film Tansen.Sardar Chandulal Shah had called Saigal on a contract of 60 days. jayant completed Tansen in flat 51 days.Kidar Sharma then used those 9 days to make a quicky Bhanwara,with Saigal.
C.Ramchandra was with Jayant Desai for more than 3 years and gave 5 successful films. It was Jayant Desai who gave him the name C.Ramchandra for using in films. It was also Jayant Desai who was responsible for the rise of C.Ramchandra in a major way. It so happened….
Under the banner of Jayant productions,he made one more Saigal film-Tadbir-1945,with Suraiya in the lead. In his new company,jayant had hired C.Ramchandra as a paid Composer on a salary of Rs. 300 pm. C Ramchandra gave music to many of his films like Zaban,lalkar,manorama,Chandragupta etc and all films became popular.C. Ramchandra was proud of his achievement.
One day CR heard a rumour that the great singer Saigal is coming to make a film here. CR became very excited that he would get an opportunity to compose music for Saigal. But he got a shock when he heard that,not he,but one Lal Mohammed (assistant of Ghulam Hyderin Lahore) was being called for that assignment,C.Ramchandra not only was upset but felt hurt too. he went to Jayant Desai and said-
” My salary must be increased”
” How much ?”
” One Thousand Rupees per month”
Jayant was not ready for 1000. he offered maximum 600. He also told C Ramchandra that there was an opportunity to compose for Saigal, but C.Ramchandra was not ready to accept anything less than 1000.
Finally,C Ramchandra said,” Increase it to 1000 or else….”
Jayant Desai was furious.He asked,” Or else…What ?”
C.Ramchandra said,” Or else,I will quit”.
Without batting an eyelid, Jayant Desai coolly said,” OK. Your account will be settled in an hour. Stop work and pack up.”
C.Ramchandra was stunned, but the arrow had already left the bow !
C.Ramchandra became jobless and also lost an opportunity to compose music for Saigal. But his luck was strong. The very next day,kavi Pradeep took him to Filmistan and he was appointed there on a salary of Rs. 1000 pm. In Filmistan,C.Ramchandra gave several Hit musicals like Safar, Shehnai, Nadiya ke paar, Shabnam, Samadhi, Sargam, Anarkali, Nastik etc. If Jayant Desai had not removed C.Ramchandra from his company, he would not have reached the heights of his fame and success later on.
Jayant Desai directed 65 films in all. His last film was Zamana Badal gaya-1961. He died in Bombay on 19-4-1976.
I had not seen this film, “Manchala”-53, but I know it was a fun film. The cast of the film consisted of Nirupa Roy, Manhar Desai, Jeevan, Agha, Satyanarayana, Krishnakumari etc etc. All songs were written by Rajah Mehdi Ali Khan.
In those days, when Nirupa Roy was paired with Balraj Sahni in the role of a poor woman, it was sort of a diversion for her. The industry was abuzz with rumours of Dilip Kumar taking psychiatric treatment for his depression caused by his successive tragic ‘ deaths ‘ in almost every film in that period. On this background, to break the monatony of her ” poor” woman roles, Nirupa Roy had welcomed this role. But the audience did not accept her in a comic role and the film was a flop. In fact whenever Nirupa Roy did a comic or sexy, modern role, she failed miseraly.
Probably her face , her overall demeanaur and her acting style did not suit any other type than ” poor’, ” sacrifing”, “homely’ or ” economical” peasant or middle class housewife. Alternatively, she chose to do ” Devi” roles in Mythological films and soon became famous as ” Parvati”, opposite the Trilok Kapoor’s routine ” Shankar” roles ! Some faces are such. Can you ever imagine Rashid Khan or Kanhiayalal in the role of an aristocratic millionaire ? Or Ajit or K.N.Singh in the role of a ” God’ in a Mythological film ? This is the danger of getting branded. However there is an exception of actor Jeevan, who after working as “Narad ” in countless Mythological films, till the 60s, changed over successfully to roles of a rich crook and villain in crime and murder films of the 70s and 80s.
Let us now enjoy this fun song from film “Manchala”-53. You will find Chitragupta matching Kishore in this song. Full marks to Chitragupta for his efforts.
Song-Sardi ka bukhaar bura (Manchala)(1953) Singers-Chitragupta, Kishore Kumar, Lyrics-Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, MD-Chitragupta
Both
Lyrics
sardi ka bukhaar bura
baniye ka udhhar bura
paise ka hai pyaar bura
keh gaye kehne waale
keh gaye kehne waale
kehne waale
kehne waale
keh gaye kehne waale
kehne waale
kehne waale
sardi ka bukhaar bura
baniye ka udhhar bura
paise ka hai pyaar bura
keh gaye kehne waale
jama jo kiya thha
tizori mein chhupa ke
jama jo kiya thha
tizori mein chhupa ke
le gaye wo mere bhai
chori chori aa ke
le gaye wo mere bhai
chori chori aa ke
ho
chori chori aa ke
soya chaukidaar bura
neend ka khumaar bura
paise ka hai pyaar bura
keh gaye kehne waale
keh gaye kehne waale
kehne waale
kehne waale
keh gaye kehne waale
he he he he
he he
sardi ka bukhaar bura
baniye ka udhhar bura
paise ka hai pyaar bura
keh gaye kehne waale
blotting se sukha lo
ye naina geele geele
blotting se sukha lo
ye naina geele geele
munh pe surkhi maaro
gaal pad gaye hain peele
munh pe surkhi maaro
gaal pad gaye hain peele
haay pad gaye hain peele
rona zaar zaar bura
besura sitaar bura
paise ka hai pyaar bura
keh gaye kehne waale
keh gaye kehne waale
kehne waale
kehne waale
keh gaye kehne waale
he he he he
he he
sardi ka bukhaar bura
baniye ka udhhar bura
paise ka hai pyaar bura
keh gaye kehne waale
kat gaya uska paakit
auron ko jisne kaata
kat gaya uska paakit
auron ko jisne kaata
is dhandhe mein jo bhi pada
usko hua ghaata
is dhandhe mein jo bhi pada
usko hua ghaata
is dhandhe mein jo bhi pada
usko hua ghaata
haaye usko hua ghaata
ghaate ka vyaapaar bura
saathhi paakitmaar bura
paise ka hai pyaar bura
keh gaye kehne waale
keh gaye kehne waale
kehne waale
kehne waale
keh gaye kehne waale
kehne waale
kehne waale
sardi ka bukhaar bura
baniye ka udhhar bura
paise ka hai pyaar bura
keh gaye kehne waale
