If 1944 was the year of Naushad’s Jewel in the Crown, Rattan, 1943 was the year of Kismet which became a cult film on the back of its music by Anil Biswas. The Master Khemchad Prakash was at the peak of his craft, and so were KL Saigal and Khursheed in the film Tansen which had many timeless songs. And who can forget Ram Rajya’s defining song in Bhimpalasi, ‘Beena madhur madhur kachhu bol’ and other beautiful songs composed by Shankar Rao Vyas? This was also the year of Neend hamari khwab tumhare from Nai Kahani, composed by Pt. Shyam Sundar.

Other musical landmarks

There were many more songs in the year which have become milestones. Naushad would take a year to become a sensation with Rattan, but he made a mark in 1943 too. He gave music for three films – Namaste, Sanjog and Station Master – and all the three celebrated silver jubilees. Each of them had some songs remembered till today. With their stalwarts already having left for Bombay, the New Theatres, gasping its last breath, made Kashinath and Wapas with music by Pankaj Mullick and RC Boral respectively, which had some beautiful songs by Asit Baran. Asit Baran I discovered after I started blogging when I was curious as to who minded the stable after KL Saigal, KC Dey and Pankaj Mullick had left the New Theatres. Kanan Devi had some excellent songs in Hospital, composed by Kamal Dasgupta. There were many more, such as Hamari Baat, composed by Anil Biswas; Panghat with music by SN Tripathi, Poonji by Ghulam Haider and Naadan by K Datta etc.

Before I give a list of the MEMORABLE SONGS, let us have some big picture. Out of 105 films made in the year (the most in the war years 1939-45), nothing is known about songs of three films, not even song titles, nor the lyricists or music directors’ names. HFGK gives song titles of 959 songs from the remaining 102 films, but for 412 songs (43% of the total), nothing is known about their singers. For the  remaining 547 songs whose particulars about singers, lyricists and music directors are known, the distribution between male solos, female solos and duets is as given in the Table below. You might recall I have reiterated this several times, this distribution follows the long-term general trend.

Macro snapshot

No. of films in 1943	105
Less, no. of films for which no details known	(-) 3
Net number of films in which song titles known	102
No. of songs in which song titles known	959
Less, no. of songs of which singers not known	(-) 412 (43%)
Net no. of songs of which singers known	547
Male solos	119 (21.76%)
Female solos	256 (46.80%)
Duets	172 (31.44%)
Male solos: Female solos: Duets ratio	1: 2.18: 1.45

Note: The above chart is on the basis of HFGK. But now several uncredited songs are available on YT and other sites with details of singers. I have used some such songs in Special songs.

Debuts

V Shantaram broke out from Prabhat Films partners and set up his own production house Rajkamal Kalamandir. Its first film Shakuntala was made in the year with music by Vasant Desai. This film became a superhit and was the beginning of a long association of Vasant Desai with V Shantaram. Mehboob Khan set up his own production house and debuted with its first film Najma. Prior to this he had directed about a dozen films for other studios like Sagar Movietone and National Studios. These were leading studios of the time, and some of these films with music by Anil Biswas, such as Deccan Queen (1936), Jagirdar (1937), Aurat, Alibaba (1940), Bahen (1941), Roti (1942) acquired a legendary status. Mehboob Studios another film in the year, Taqdeer is significant because it marked the entry of ‘Baby Fatima’ for the first time as Nargis in a lead role.

Suraiya started her career in 1942 as a playback singer. She continued giving playback for other actors in 1943 too, such as for Mehtab in Sanjog. But she also debuted as an actor in Ishara, Hamari Baat in 1943. Thus, the year became the launch pad for Suraiya on way to becoming a great actor-singer.

Shyam Sundar debuted in Hindi films with Nai Kahani. Some other music directors too started their career as independent composers in the year, such as Avinash Vyas and AR Qureshi with Mahasati Anusuya, Khursheed Anwar with Ishara, Firoz Nizami with Vishwas and Ghulam Mohammad with Mera Khwab. Bela Mukherjee (later married to Hemant Kumar) sang her first song in Kashinath.

Tansen became KL Saigal’s first film in Bombay for Ranjit Studios.

Some lyricists also debuted in the year, such as Bharat Vyas with Duhai, Narendra Sharma with Hamari Baat and Saraswati Kumar ‘Deepak’ with Zabaan. Shyamkumar sang for the first time in the film Namaste, the song being Dil ka gudda uda.

Fact file; Trivia

Kismet became a sensation, running uninterrupted for three years and eight months at Roxy Theatre in Calcutta. This record was broken 32 years later with Sholay, and further down by Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. Kismet spawned many tropes in Hindi films, such as a good-hearted crook working to get her girlfriend medical treatment; coincidence when in the end the anti-hero meets his long-lost family. This film had a thinly veiled song of defiance against the imperial power, Aaj Himalay ki choti se phir humne lalkara hai/ Door hato aye duniyawaalo Hindustan hamara hai. The lyricist, Kavi Pradeep was able to pull the wool over the eyes of the British Censors by the ruse of using the words, ‘German ho ya Japani’.

Bombay started attracting musical talents from all the regions. Amalgam of different cultural influences gave birth to a distinct style of Hindi film sangeet, which had a simple tune, gradually larger orchestra, and standard length of about three minutes constrained by the 78 rpm record.

Kashinath became the last film directed by Nitin Bose for the New Theatres after he developed differences with BN Sircar. Hamari Baat was the last film of the Bombay Talkies in which Devika Rani acted.

Ram Rajya is said to be the only film which Gandhiji ever saw. There is a song (#13) with the same mukhada of a song in Aawara, Ek bewafa se pyar kiya sung by an unknown singer, K Sudarama. She happened to be the wife of its composer, K Narayan Rao. Some songs in the film Aankh Ki Sharam are credited to Meenakshi. Some YT links credit these to Amirbai Karnataki which seems plausible. Therefore, I have written her name too in parenthesis.

In Panghat, the music director SN Tripathi also sang a few songs. The more famous Rajkumari (Dubey) was the lead singer of the film. But this film also had a song by the other Rajkumari (Shukla), which happens to be the only film song sung by her.

MEMORABLE SONGS
Aabroo: Music Govind Ram
1. Teekhi chitawan dikha ke loot liya – Vatsala Kumthekar
2.  Inhin logon ne le leena dupatta mera – Yaqub
3. Piya milan ki rut ayi – Sitara Devi and GM Durrani
4.  Gori baanke nayan se chalave jadua – Sitara Devi and GM Durrani
5.  Soutan ke ghar na jaiyo – Sitara Devi
Aage Kadam: Lyrics Kailash Matwala; Music Master Madhav Lal
6. Wo roothe huye hain manana padega – Motilal
Aankh Ki Sharam: Lyrics Pt Indra; Music Vasant Desai
7. Bhai bhaj le Shi Bhagwan – Pandeji (Vasant Desai)
8. Bijli chamkan lagi, Rama Bijli chamkan lagi – Meenakshi (Aimirbai Karnataki)
9. Aankh milte hi muhabbat ho gayi – Meenakshi (Amirbai Karnataki)
Andhera: Lyric Pt. Indra; Music Gyan Dutt
10. Bande apna mol chukana, tujhe yaad karega zamana – KC Dey
Badalti Duniya: Lyrics Mohan Sinha; Music KC Dey
11. Haar na jana duniya ke is khel mein pyare – KC Dey
Bhakt Raj: Lyrics DN Madhok; Music C Ramchandra
12. Bahar ayi re, koel kook uthi – Amirbai Karnataki
Duniya Diwani: Lyrics Arshad Gujarati; Music K Narayan Rao
13. Ek bewafa se pyar kiya, haye kya kiya – K Sundarama
Hamari Baat: Lyrics Pt. Narendra Sharma; Music Anil Biswas
14. Baadal sa nikal chala yah dal matwala re – Anil Biswas and chorus
15. Main unki ban jaaun re – Parul Ghosh
16. Bistar bichha diya hai tere dar ke saamne – Arun Kumar and Suraiya
17. Sookhi bagiya haree hui, Ghanshyam badariya chhai re – Parul Ghosh and others
18. Ae baad-e-saba ithalati na aa, mera gunch-e-dil to sookh gaya – Parul Ghosh
Hospital: Lyrics Pt Bhushan, Pt Madhur; Music Kalmal Dasgupta
19. Prabhuji rakho laaj hamari – Kanan Devi
20. Meri majbooriyon ne mera daaman chaak kar dala – Kanan Devi
21. Zara nainon se naina milaye jaao re – Kanan Devi
Hunterwali Ki Beti: lyrics A Karim; Music Chhannalal Naik
22. Dil-e-nadan tujhe hua kya hai – Khan Mastana (Ghalib)
23. Ishara: Lyrics DN Madhok; Music Khursheed Anwar
24. Baagon mein koel boli, mere dil ki duniya doli – Suraiya and Satish
25. Shabnam kyun neer bahaye – Gauhar Sultana
Kanoon: Lyrics DN Madhok; Music Naushad
26. Aye jawani, jaaye jawani, jak e phir na aye jawani – Shyamkumar and Suraiya
27. Ek tu hai ek main hun aur nadi ka kinara ho – Suraiya
Kashinath: Lyrics Pt Bhushan; Music Pankaj Mullick
28. Manmohan mukhada mod gaye aur base bides jaye – Radharani
29. Meri bagiya mein kooke koeiya – Asit Barana and Unkown female singer
30. Roti Vrishbhan kumari – Radharani and others
31. Hum chale watan ki ore – Asit Baran
Kismat: Lyrics Pradeep; Music Anil Biswas
32. Aaj Himalay ki choti se phir humne lalkara hai – Amirbai & others
33. Ab tere siwa kaun mera Krishna Kanhaiya – Amirbai
34. Dheere Dheere aa re baadal – Arun Kumar and Amirbai
35. Hum aisi kismet ko kya karen haye jo ek din hansaye en din rulaye – Arun Kumar, Amirbai & others
36. Papiha re, mere piya se kahiyo jaye – Parul Ghosh
37. Ae duniya bata humne bigada hai kya tera…Ghar ghar mein Diwali hai mere ghar mein andhera – Amirbai
Mahatma Vidur: Lyrics Pt. Narottam Vyas; Music Harishchandra Bali
38. Har kaam mein rahte prabhu hamaare – Vishnupant Pagnis
Muskrahat: Lyrics IC Kapoor; Music C Ramchandra
39. More raja ki oonchi atariya – Unknown male singer and unknown female singer
Nadan: Lyrics Ziya Sarhadi, Tanveer Naqvi; Music K Datta
40. Dil dun ki naa dun – Noorjehan
41. Roshni apni umangon ki mitakar chal diye – Noorjehan
Nai Kahani: Lyrics Wali Saheb; Music Shyam Sundar
42. Neend hamari khwab tumhare kitne meethe kitne pyare – GM Durrani & Balakram
43. Des beech pardesan karke chhod chale Girdhari – Lela Mehta
44. Man mandir mein aye baalam – Rajkumari and Paresh Banerjee
Najma: Lyrics Anjum Pilibhiti; Music Rafiq Ghazanavi
45. Eid milo Eid – Chorus
46. Fasl-e-bahar gaye ja – Sitara Devi
47. Mujhe wo khilaate hai paanon mein mirche – Ashok Kumar (lyrics Arzoo Lakhanavi
48. Fasl-e-bahar gaaye ja, deed-e-gham rulaye ja – Parul Ghosh and Sitara
49. Saajan ke naina jaadu baan, main waari jaaun – Amirbai and Mumtaz
50. Aaja aaja dil ko nahin hai qaraar – Ashok Kumar and Sitara
Namaste: Lyrics DN Madhok; Music Naushad
53. Aye bhi wo gaye bhi wo, khatm fasana ho gaya – Parul Ghosh
Nurse: Lyrics DN Madhok; Music Gyan Dutt
51. Koeliya kaahe bole ri, mora nazuk nazuk jiyara – Khursheed
52. Aankhon ka khel khel ke Aankhen koi churaaye kyon – Khurhseed
53. Wo gaye nahin humein mil ke – Rajkumari
Panghat: Lyrics Pt. Indra, Ramesh Gupta; Music SN Tripathi
54. Panghat ko chali panihaarin – Rajkumari and others
55. Panghat ke ghayalon ka panghat hi hai thikana – SN Tripathi
Poonji: Lyrics DN Madhok, Shaukat Thanavi, Behzad Lakhanavi; Music Ghulam Haider
56. Gaadiwale dupatta uda jaye re – Shamshad Begum, Zeenat Begum
57. Balamwa re, sajanawa re, jab se naina se naina laage – Shamshad Begum
58. Kaan mein baaliyan, jhoomarwaliyan – Ghulam Haider and Shamshad Begum
Prarthana: Lyricas Safdar ‘Aah’; Music Saraswati Devi
59. Kaahe neha lagaye sajaniya – Jahanara Kajjan
60. Tumhre darsan ka naina taras gaye ho – Jahanara Kajjan
Prem Sangeet: Lyrics Bharat Vyas; Music SK Pal
61. Main Agre se joota laya re – Bharat Vyas and Shanta Thakkar
Ram Rajya: Music Sankar Rao Vyas
62. Aao ri suhagan nari mangal gaao ri – Amirbai Karnataki, Saraswati Rane and others
63. Suryadev jagdeep tej jinka –
64. Ajab vidhi ka klekh kisi se padha nahin jaaye – Manna Dey
65. Beena Madhur Madhur kachu bol – Saraswati Rane
66. Bharat ki ek sannari ki hum katha sunaate hain – Yahswant Balkrishna Joshi and Yashwant Nikam
Rani: Lyrics Pt. Madhur; Music Kamal Dasgupta
67. Saawan ne boondan ki jhalar daali – Kamal Dasgupta and Anima Dasgupta
Sanjog: Lyrics DN Madhok; Music Naushad
68. Mori gali more raja, mori kasam aa ja – Suraiya
69. Aa more saanwre sainya mora jiya lahraye – Suraiya
70. Papiha kaahe machave shor – Charlie
71. Kaun gali ka chhora pukare – Hamida, Shyamkumar
Sawaal: Lyrics Wali Saheb; Music Pannalal Ghosh
72. Aaj pahlu mein dard sa kya hai – Parul Ghosh
73. Paanwali khila de raseela sa paan – Unknown male singer and Amirbai Karnataki
Shakuntala: Music Vasant Desai
74. Chaand sa nanha aye, phoolon sa khil khil jaaye – Jayshree and Zohrabai Ambalewali (Ratan Piya)
75. Ek prem ki pyasi bani banvasi – Amirbai Karnataki (Ratan Piya)
76. Mere baba ne baat meri maan li – Jayshree
77. Jeevan ki naao na dole, haan ye hai tere hawale – Jayshree (Dewan Sharar)
Shankar Parvati: lyrics Pt. Indra; Music Gyan Dutt
78. Ganga kinare mohe bagiya laga do sainya – Amirbai Karnataki
Tansen: Lyrics DN Madjok, Pt. Indra; Music Khemchand Prakash
79. Ghata ghanghor ghor mor machve shor – Khursheed
80. Kaahe guman kare ri gori – KL Saigal
82. Rumjhum rumjhum chaal tihari – KL Saigal
81. Baag laga dun sajani – KL Saigal
82. More balapan ke sathi chhaila bhul jaiyo na – KL Saigal, Khursheed
83. Sapt suran teen gram – KL Saigal
84. Ho dukhiya jiyra rote naina – Khursheed
85. Ab raja bhaye more baalam wo din bhool gaye – Khursheed
86. Bina pankh ka panchhi hun main – KL Saigal
87. Din soona suraj bina, chanda bin rain – KL Saigal
88. Barso re barso kale baadarwa – Khursheed
Taqdeer: Lyrics Maahrool Qadri; Music Rafiq Ghazanvi
89. Zalim jawani kafir adayein – Rafiq Ghazanavi
90. O jaanewale aa ja, tadpaanewale aa ja – Motilal, Shamshad Begum
Vishwas: Music Firoz Nizami and Master Chhaila Lal
91. Bhojan ke nazaare hain – Baby Madhuri (lyrics Munshi Sham Jilani)
Wapas: Music RC Boral
92. Albela mastana ek hans ka joda – Suprova Sarkar (lyrics Pt. Bhushan)
93. Jeevan hai bekar bina tumhare
94. Tumne mujhse prem jatakar, duniya se begana kiya – Asit Baran (Munshi Zakir Hussain)
95. Bhool na jana aaj ki baatein – Asit Baran and Indrani (lyrics Munshi Zakir Hussain)
96. Manwa kaahe phir tadapaye – Binota Roy (lyrics Akhtar Chugtai)
97. Hum kochawan pyare – Asit Baran (lyrics Pt. Bhushan)
Zabaan: Music C Ramchandra
98. Ayi ayi re rangili Holi ayi re – Ishwari Lal, Kaushalya, Kanti and others (Lyrics Ratan Piya)

Special songs
This is an important section in the review of the vintage era songs. There are songs which would not make it to any award category, but have certain unique characteristics. One obvious unique feature of the year is that there are several songs sung by music directors and lyricists who were not known to be singers at all. Some songs are truly outstanding and you wonder why they left singing.  Let us enjoy some special songs of the year.

1. Bhai bhaj le shri bhagwan, tu do din ka mehman by Vasant Desai from Aankh Ki Sharam (1943), lyrics Pt. Indra, music Vasant Desai

2. Main aagre se joota laya re ho Ramji by Bharat Vyas and Shanta Thakkar from Prem Sangeet (1943), lyrics Bharat Vyas, music SK Pal

After hearing a song by a music director let us enjoy this fun duet by the lyricist Bharat Vyas and a female singer. This is a great parody song too, and challenges you to identify the root songs. Obviously these would be still older, but if these are parodied it is a measure of their fame. The mukhada is obviously a parody of Main to Dilli se dulhan laya re followed by Aaj mausam salona salona re (both from Jhoola, 1941). Other songs to have the honour of being parodied are Saawan ke nazaare hain (Khazanchi, 1941), Mere liye jahan mein chain naa qaraar hai (Khandan, 1942) and Hua kya qasoor jo humse ho door (Basant, 1942). You would have noticed the pairing of things with cities famous for these items: Agra for joota and Jaipur for chunri.

3. Bhojan ke nazaare hain, la laa la laa by Baby Madhuri from Vishwas (1943), lyrics Munshi Sham Jilani, music Firoz Nizami

Here is another medley parody. It starts with the parody of ‘Saawan ke nazaare hain’ (Kazanchi 1941, Shamshad Begum) and there are parodies of four more famous songs: Laut gayi papan andhiyari (also from Khazanchi, Shamshad Begum);  Zindagi hai pyar se (Sikandar, 1941); and Mere liye Jahan mein; Tu kaun si badly mein hai chaand mere aa ja (Both Khandan, 1942, Noorjahan). Two songs are common in both, now we know which songs were superhits in these years. The video is absolutely enjoyable; the children in an ashram create a ruckus precisely at the time when the ashram’s main patron is visiting. You can see the warden is terribly embarrassed.

4. Aaja aaja dil ko nahin hai qaraar by Ashok Kumar and Sitara Devi from Najma (1943), lyrics Anjum Pilibhiti, music Rafiq Ghazanavi

This is the relic of the era when Ashok Kumar used to sing his own songs. He is pining for Veena whom he can’t marry for the sake of family’s honour in this ‘Muslim social’, probably the first in the genre. He is betrothed to Sitara who turns villainous upon knowing about Ashok Kumar-Veena’s relationship. However, everything turns all right in the end. Don’t think he could marry his beloved. Remember ‘Family honour’. The video is of very high quality and you can make out the story from the mannerisms of the two actor-singers.

5. Aayi aayi re rangili Holi ayi re by Ishwarilal, Kaushalya, Kanti and others from Zabaan (1943), lyrics Rata Piya, music C Ramchandra

One of the early successes of C Ramchandra with this outstanding Holi song.

6. Aayi aayi re maalan Singapur se by Pahadi Sanyal and Amirbai Karnataki from Sharafat (1943), music Ashok Ghosh

HFGK is silent about the singers of the songs of this film, but Sadanand Kamath identifies the singers as Pahadi Sanyal, Amirbai Karnataki and an unknown female voice. This is a great fun song with malan from Singapore and mali from Rangoon

7. Chachiji mori chooha kothe ke beech by Baby Tara and Rajkumari Shukla from Panghat (1943), lyrics Ramesh Gupta, music SN Tripathi

Rajkumari Shukla acted in some films as an elderly woman. As per Arunkumar Deshmukh this is her only song. The more famous Rajkumar Dubey (Banaraswali) was the lead singer in this film.

8. Eid milo Eid (chorus) from Najma (1943), lyrics Arzoo Lakhanavi, music Rafiq Ghazanavi

This Eid celebration in the zenana quarters is beautifully picturised.

There are several songs in the year which can qualify for this section. But let me present before the erudite readers for their comments and views on the:

Best male playback singer of 1943
Best female playback singer of 1943
Best duet of 1943
And,
Best music director of 1943

Acknowledgements:
1. Arunkumar Deshmukh for his generous sharing of his Notes
2. Surjit Singh’s site
3. HFGK
4. Atul Song A Day
5. YouTube

Disclaimer:
This blog does not claim any copyright over the images used in this post, which rests with the respective owners. The song videos have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. The copyright over the songs rests with Saregama India Limited and other owners.

The post Best songs of 1943: And the winners are? first appeared on Songs Of Yore.