1943 - The Year of Qismat
Qismat was the first movie to run for the longest
period, 3
years and 8 months, in one theater, at Roxy, Calcutta in this
case. No other movie in the whole world had done this at that
time. The two others to do something similar many years later
were also Hindi movies. Amazingly, all three had music by Bangla
MD's. Qismat had music by the maestro Anil Biswas whose best
known movie this became. It had 8 memorable songs. Here they are:
aaj himaalaya kii choTii se - amiirbaaii karnaaTaki,
others
dhiire dhiire aa re baadal - amiirbaaii
ab tere sivaa kaun meraa - amiirbaaii
dhiire dhiire aa re baadal - amiirbaaii, aruN kumaar
ham aisii qismat ko kyaa - amiirbaaii, aruN, others
tere dukh ke din phirenge - aruN
papiihaa re, mere piyaa se - paarul ghosh, aruN
ai duniyaa bataa hamane bigaaDaa hai kyaa teraa,
ghar ghar mai.N diivaalii hai
mere ghar mai.N andheraa - amiirbaii
I was first startled and then delighted when I
overheard an
elderly khaasii (one of the three biggest tribes in Meghalaya,
the others are gaaro and jaintia) gentleman singing this last
song on a diivaalii night at Laitumkhrah Market, Shillong in
1980. He did not know much Hindi, but he told me in English that
he saw this movie 15 times at Roxy, Calcutta.
qismat was produced by Bombay Talkies, directed by gyaan
mukerjii, starred Ashok Kumar and Mumtaaz Shanti. The most shock-
ing thing for the audiences was that the hero was a pickpocket.
But he had a golden heart and really belonged to a good family,
from whom he got separated. All ends well with the usual family
portrait. The then popular film magazine, Filmindia, said,"Kismet
is another money-making clap-trap. Ashok Kumar gives another good
performance. Good music sustains audience interest." This maga-
zine typically reviewed 50 movies each year, declaring 32 to be
poor, 13 as indifferent and 5 to be good. So you see even in the
the good old days all movies were not all good.
Some of the other movies of 1943 are as follows.
hospital
Excellent songs by kaanan devii: "merii majabuuriyo.n ne
chaak kar Daalaa", "zaraa naino.n se nainaa milaay jaao re".
MD was kamal daasgupta.
qaanuun
Suraiya sang her famous song,"ek tuu ho ek mai.N hu.N aur
nadii kaa kinaaraa ho" for mehataab with Naushad as MD.
mahaasatii anasuuyaa
The first movie for avinaash vyaas as MD. He gave music for
about 50 Hindi and 150 Gujarati movies. His most famous
Hindi song may very well be,"tere dvaar khaDaa bhagavaan"
sung and written by pradiip for vaaman avataar (1955).
meraa Kwaab
First movie for Ghulam Mohammad of Paakiizaa fame.
najamaa
First movie by Mehboob for Mehboob Productions, was a muslim
melodrama.
nurse
Had the famous song,"vo gaye nahi.n hame.n mil ke", by
Rajkumari, MD gyaan dutt. You may have heard the record in
the recent movie mirch masaalaa.
prithvii vallabh
Big budget costume drama produced and directed by Sohrab
Modi based on a story by K. M. Munshi. Was not as successful
as his earlier movies, Pukar (1939) and Sikandar (1941).
raamaraajya
The most successful movie produced and directed by vijaya
bhaTT. prem adiib was raam, shobhanaa samarth was siitaa.
The music was by Shankar Rao Vyas. The most famous song
is,"bhaarat kii ek sannaarii kii ham kathaa sunaate hai.n"
sung by raam aapTe and madhusuudan, and written by the
famous Hindi poet ramesh guptaa, who died in 1992.
shakuntalaa
The first movie produced and directed by V. Shantaram for
his own studio proved to be a major hit running for 104
weeks at the Swastik Theater, Bombay. Shakuntala was played
by VS's second wife, jayashrii kaamulakar, who sang her own
songs. I have the delightful,"jiivan kii naav naa Dole".
Madan Mohan is mentioned in the credits at number 10.
taansen
One of Saigal's best-known films in which khurshiid matched
him in acting as well as singing. It is a must-see movie
available on video. Music by Khemachandra Prakaash. Has 13
songs, among which are,
"kaahe gumaan kare",
Saigal
"rumajhum rumajhum chaal tihaarii,", Saigal
"baag lagaa du.n sajanii",
Saigal
"sapt suran tiin graam",
Saigal
"diyaa jalaao"
Saigal
"ghaTaa ghanghor ghor",
khurshiid
"ho dukhiyaa jiyaraa",
khurshiid
"baraso re baraso kaale badaravaa" khurshiid
And the famous duet,
"more baalaapan ke saathii chhailaa bhuul jaiyo naa".
taqdiir
Baby Fatima, 14, just wanted to see Motilal acting on the
sets of his latest picture. But Mrs. Mehboob started pluck-
ing her eyebrows, preened her hair, dressed her in a saarii,
and gave her high-heeled sandals that made her feel like
walking on a tight-rope. She was persuaded to deliver a few
lines of dialogue against Chandramohan. Then Mehboob Khan
told her that she was the heroine of the movie! She wanted
to become a doctor like her father, but Mehboob just told
her that he would suffer a great loss if she refused because
some shots have already been taken. The teenager believed
him and agreed to do only one film. This is how Nargis told
the story of her debut as a heroine. She got third billing
after Motilal and Chandramohan. Her songs were sung by
Shamshad Begum with Rafiq Gazanavi as MD. The movie was a
hit.
Most of the info comes from the following:
"The Encyclopaedia of Hindi Film Songs," vol. II.
"Listeners' Bulletin,"
"Star-Portrait", by Harish S. Booch and Karin Doyle.
"Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema," by Rajadhyaksha & Willemen.
Posted by Surjit Singh, a movie fan period.
surjit_singh@yahoo.com
Formatted by SS=Satish.
Back
to the Index of Articles by Surjit Singh
Back
to Surjit Singh's Home Page
|