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 Hindustan Hamara (1950).
The film had music by Vasant Desai. The film had 6 songs written by Dewan Sharar, S.R. Saaz and Dr. Iqbal. The film’s cast consisted of Prithviraj, Dev Anand, Jairaj, Surendra, Prem Nath, K.N.Singh, Durga Khote, Nalini Jaywant, Tripti mitra, Shambhu Mitra, Yashodhara Katju, Sheela Nayak, Wast and many more.
The film was made by Paul Zils Productions and the film was directed by Paul Zils himself.
Now who was this Paul Zils ? Sounds like a foreign name. Yes, he was a German who came to India during the II World War period. Very few people know that Indian Cinema had a little known connection with the rise of Hitler in Germany in 1932-33. A group of men , engaged in Cinema in Germany, flocked to India in the 30’s and played a vital role in Indian Cinema and the arts of that time. After Hitler took over Germany in 1933, the German Cine Studio’s glory days were over and they were turned into Nazi Propaganda Machines ! It was at this time that several of its men left the studio and arrived in India, and contributed during the Indian cinema’s formative years.
The foremost among them was Frantz Osten, a German whom Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani met at the UFA when they went to train there (they worked with Lang and Marlene Dietrich). Osten had already been directing films for the couple since 1925, when he made Light of Asia for them from Germany. In 1934, he came to India and the next year, after Rai founded ‘ Bombay Talkies ‘ the legendary film studio in Malad that now lies in ruins, Osten directed its first film.
He went on to direct the famous Devika Rani-Ashok Kumar starrer, Achhut Kanya (1936), without much knowledge of Hindi. The film, which featured the song “Main ban ke chiriya”, was shot by Joseph Wirsching; the sets were designed by Karl von Spreti and the laboratory was headed by Zolle, Osten’s team of UFA ex-members from Germany, who worked for Rai’s state-of-the-art studio.
Osten and his fellow Germans directed 16 films for Rai. It was a remarkable feat for people who knew little Hindi ‘ mistaking the word “bulbul” once for a pair of bulls. While in Bombay, he became a member of the Nazi Party (1936). He was interned by the British at the outbreak of Second WW while shooting his last film there, Kangan. Released and allowed to return to Germany (1940).
Then there was Walter Kauffman, a scholar and composer interested in Oriental music, and Wilhelm Haas, a writer and a friend of Franz Kafka. Both were Jews, and Haas came to India because of Kauffman, who went on to found the Bombay Chamber Music Society. Kauffman arrived in 1934 after meeting director-producer Mohan Bhavnani at the UFA (where V. Shantaram also did a stint). Haas was in Czechoslovakia, but left the country for India just after Hitler’s invasion.
Kauffman, Haas and Bhavnani worked together in Premnagar (1940), Naushad’s first film as music director. Kauffman composed the background score; Haas wrote the screenplay. Kauffman is also the person behind the All India Radio signature tune. Haas was a member of the Indian chapter of PEN. Haas also wrote the script for Bhavnani’s Jhooti Sharam (1939).
The story of Paul Zils ( 1-6-1915 to 30-3-1979 ) stands out, though. Zils, believed to be a Nazi sympathizer, turned up in India under strange circumstances: he was bound for Indonesia in a steamer that got torpedoed by an Indian naval ship during World War II and he was taken prisoner.
After his release, because of his film experiences, the leadership of the sales department where Ezra Mir led a government documentary production company, called him to join Information films of India. End of October 1945, he came to Bombay and started his work. In March 1959 he returned to Germany.
As the studio system came to an end and individual producers took over, the days of the Germans in Indian cinema were over. Many, including Osten, went back to Germany. Set designer Spreti was appointed German ambassador to Guatemala and was later shot dead by terrorists. Josph Virsching-the Cinematographer, however, stayed back in India till his death in 1967. He did few Hindi films too.
Paul Zils directed 3 Dev Anand films, according to the documents. Hindustan Hamara-50 and Zalzala-52 are found in HFGK, but the third film called ‘ Shabash”, though listed in 1949, gives no details, except the film name. ( Information adapted from the book ” Walter Koffman” by Amit Gangar, with thanks and my notes).
(Incidentally, another foreigner – an American – named Ellis Roderick Dungan was in the Madras film industry from 1935 to 1950 and he directed over 20 Tamil films, not knowing a single word of Tamil language till the end. He went back to the USA but kept visiting India, making Hollywood films and Documentaries etc, till 1994. Just for extra information.)
One of the lyricists and actors was Dewan Sharar. he was one of the most educated and famous literary persons in the Western World, before joining Hindi film industry. Hindi film industry has seen uneducated, educated and talented artistes in various fields like acting, direction,production, cinematography, story and dialogue writing, Lyricists,composers etc etc. It has also seen successful artistes leaving films and shining somewhere else on their merits like, Shashi kapoor-sr, S D Batish, Lyricist Moti,B.A. etc etc. However , there is only one example where the artiste had an extraordinary success in totally unrelated fields, was a distinguished author and an acknowledged scholar BEFORE joining the film industry . He is Dewan Sharar. Not much has been written about him so far. Here is something about him.
Dewan was not his first name. It was a Title used as a prefix. He came from a family which had served as Dewans in many states traditionally in a few generations. His name was Atmanand Sharar. He was born (3-1-1899 to 28-4-1969) in Multan in erstwhile Punjab. From 1929 to 1942, he travelled in many countries. He is credited with editing the Magazine, ” Shabistan “, the first Urdu cinema paper in India. He worked as a Publicist for the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. He edited a leading weekly ” Great Britain and the East ” for 3 years He regularly contributed to the British and American press. He was the first Indian whose 4 plays were broadcast over BBC. From 1937 to 1940, he was in charge of the cataloguing of Urdu books and Manuscripts in India House at London. He published many books like’ Indian Folklore’, ‘ In the Garden of Peacocks’, ‘ East meets West’ and ‘ Gong of Shiva’. The last one was translated into many languages of Europe. Hindi film ‘ Ishara’-43 was based on this novel. He also wrote the story of Himanshu Roy’s film ” Karma”-33- first English film by an Indian. The film credits start with his name First.
This is what South Asian Cinema Faculty of U.K.said about him, “Film and stage actor, writer of English novels, short stories, stage and radio plays, “Eastern Adviser” to British-Gaumont films in London and Urdu poet “. He also contributed prominently to Indian cinema as a producer, character actor and a story and dialogue writer. Born in Multan, Dewan Atmanand Sharar (1899-1969) came from a family that had served as Dewans or Ministers in Indian princely states. After graduating from Punjab’s prestigious Government College, Lahore, he established an impressive repertory company in 1919 and presented several Hindustani plays and mushairas in various urban centres. In 1929, he set up a film-producing and distribution company and began to edit Shabistan,reputedly the first Urdu cinema paper in India.
In 1933, Dewan Sharar moved to London for the completion and launch of Himansu Rai’s Indo-British film, Karma (1933) ofwhich he was the storywriter. It was completed in England by Indian & British Film Productions with J.L. Freer Hunt as the director and Thorold Dickinson as editor. Sharar also produced and acted in Nagin ki Rani, the Hindustani version of Karma. While in London, many of his English short stories on Indian life appeared in mainstream newspapers in the UK and overseas. A major London publishing firm, George G. Harrap & Co., published two of his English works: The Gong of Shiva(1935) and Hindu Fairy Tales(1936). His short stories were also published as part of an anthology which included contributions from other famous contemporary writers. He also contributed a number of English radio plays for the BBC.
After returning to India in 1939 just before World War II, he worked for All India Radio Bombay and Delhi. He then joined filmmaker, V. Shantaram and adapted Kalidasa’s Sanskrit classic, Shakuntala for the silver screen in Hindustani. The film was a runaway success and the Sharar-Shantaram combine lasted over a decade winning laurels for both Sharar and Shantaram’s banner, Rajkamal.
Sharar had adapted the story from the original ”अभिज्ञान शाकुंतल” by Mahakavi Kalidas written in the 3rd century. He wrote the story, dialogues and Lyrics also. This was Sharar’s first film with Shantaram . Their association continued for some more films like, Parbat pe apna dera-44, Dr. Kotnis ki amar kahani-46, Apna Desh-49, Teen batti char Raasta-53 and J.J. Payal baje-55.
Dewan Sharar also acted in 8 films and wrote 62 songs in 12 films.
In 1943, Ishaara (1943), a film based on Sharar’s English novel The Gong of Shiva catapulted actor Prithviraj Kapoor to stardom. Besides becoming an important pillar of popular Indian cinema, he also started Dewan Sharar Publications in 1963. His descendants include famous Bombay-based Indian film actor Akash Khurana and Nagpur-based businessman turned playwright and theatre actor Vikash Khurana. ”
Hindustan Hamara was one of those films which was made on the philosophies espoused by Gandhi and Nehru. India had just got Independence and their influence on the Janata was heavy. They used to say that India lives in villages. Gandhi had even started a campaign ” Chalo Gaon ki ore (चलो गांव की ओर )”. Many filmmakers were influenced by Gandhi-Nehru’s Socialism and the first 10 years after independence, films glorifying Nehruvian Socialism were made in large numbers. Today’s film, Hindustan Hamara was also one such film which advocated living in the villages. The story of this film was….
” Ram is a farmer, who ploughs his land in a village. He lives with his wife Ganga and son Laxman. Due to poverty, his brother Bala goes to the city, works in a factory and becomes a Union Leader. His beloved Usha stays in the village with her widowed mother. Mahadev, the Zamindar has a bad eye on Usha. One year the crop fails and all farmers become panicky. The farmers are united by a social worker – Shaikh saheb to start co-operative farming, which becomes successful and all farmers are happy. Ram comes to know that his brother Bala is coming to the village for a few days. Everyone is happy and Usha’s marriage with Bala is on the cards. Bala comes and meets usha.
The jealous Zamindar brings Police to take away Ram’s land as he had failed to repay his loan in time. The zamindar puts a condition that he should get his money within 2 days or he should be married to Usha on the third day. Ram and other farmers of the cooperative society join together. The society gives him the loan to repay the zamindar. Bala decides to leave the city job and settle in the village to improve the condition of the farmers.”
One can see that the story had shades of Nehru Philosophy, Gandhi principles and Russian farming concepts. In reality all these proved to be useless while the world moved forward. Russians themselves gave up their ideas and the world became modern with industries and technologies. The old ways of farming changed drastically. This, ofcourse is a different point !
I have not seen the film. It would be a great sight to see Dev Anand working as a farmer ! This was much before he decided to make himself ” The Romantic heartthrob of India” in the times to come !!
Today’s song is a duet by Nalini Jaywant and Balakram. This is only the second song of this film to be discussed here.
Song- O jee teri chitthiyon se sharmaaun (Hindustan Hamaara)(1950) Singers- Nalini Jaywant, Balakram, Lyrics-S R Saaz, MD-Vasant Desai
Lyrics
aa aa aa ra ree ree raa
raa ree raa
o jee teri chitthiyon se sharmaaun
o jee teri chitthiyon se sharmaaun
khat choom choom rah jaaun
khat choom choom rah jaaun
ki padh nahin paaun main
chhup chhup ke hamne sunaai
aji chhup chhup ke hamne sunaai
la re la re hamaari mithaai
la re la re hamaari mithaai
aji jaao
jaao jaao munh dho aao
jaao jaao munh dho aao
dekho gussa na mohe chadhhaao
dekho gussa na mohe chadhhaao
ki bin sajan jaaun main
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
arre tu hai mast kalandar
o o
chaacha tera hai bandar
chaacha tera hai bandar
isi liye khat unke rakhti
isi liye khat unke rakhti
tum is takiye ke andar
da da da da da da da
ab naach naach
meri gudiya gudiya gudiya
ab naach naach
haan naach naach
haan naach
aur bol kaun hai bandar
naachan mein dhoom machaaun main
hmm
aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
abhi khat likhta hoon Bambai
abhi khat likhta hoon Bambai
wahaan se laayenge dulhan nayi
haan haan dulhan nayi
wahaan kuchh ek nahin hain kayi
kisi aur ko jaa ke sataao
kisi aur ko jaa ke sataao
ki sat nahin paaun main
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
o jee teri chitthiyon se sharmaaun
o jee teri chitthiyon se sharmaaun
khat choom choom rah jaaun
ke padh nahin paaun main
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
. And maybe then I was not aware which movie it was from. But I vaguely remember that I never liked this song then and in fact it was irritating for me whenever it was played on radio or around. However, I think that this song must be the most popular song from this movie. And I was thus surprised to note that this has not been posted on the blog until now.