This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular 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.
‘Basera’ (1950) was produced under the banner of Watan Pictures and was directed by Inaayat. The star cast included Ramola, Heeralal, Veena Kumari, Roopmala, Chandabai, Budho Advani etc. I have no idea about the film’s story but going by the songs, it is apparent that the film belonged to social genre.
There were six songs in the film of which 4 songs have been attributed to lyricist Sardar Ilham. The names of the lyricist for the remaining two songs are not available. All the songs have been set to music by MA Rauf Osmania who was a popular ghazal singer in Hyderabad and worked as Station Director of the erstwhile Deccan Radio, Hyderabad. ‘Basera’ (1950) was one of 3 films for which he was music director during his stay in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1945-50, the remaining two films being ‘Beete Din’ (1947) and ‘Tohfa’ (1947).
One song from the film has been covered earlier in the blog. I am presenting the second song from the film ‘Dekho Jee Baat Suno’ sung by BS Naanji and Mubarak Begum. I selected this song for the article for two reasons. First, I liked the voice of Mubarak Begum in this song in the same way as I like the voice of Lata Mangeshkar in her songs of the late 40s and early 50s. At first, I was not sure whether the female voice in the song was really of Mubarak Begum. It was only when I heard two songs of her first film ‘Aaiye’ (1949) that I was convinced that the voice is of Mubarak Begum in the song under discussion.
The second reason for selecting this song is that I had never heard of the male playback singer, BS Naanji. A glance through www.myswar.com provided me the information that he had sung only 6 songs in Hindi films. As it used to happen with many new comers, I felt that BS Naanji was one of those playback singers who could not succeed in his career and ultimately he went into oblivion. But it was not so as I came to know about him subsequently. He was active in Hindi film industry for many years as a musician, music arranger and also assistant to a few well-known music directors. His filmy career is an inspiration for those with the initial failure in the carrier.
The source of information about BS Naanji is from an article by Shri Shishir Krishna Sharma which appeared in Anmol Fankaar in Hindi. A gist from the said article is given below:
Bahadur Sohrabji Naanji was born in Mumbai on 14th December 1921. His father, Sohrabji Naanji was a stage actor in Imperial Theatre, Calcutta (Kolkata). He lost his mother when he was only 2 years of age. Bahadur Naanji completed his matriculation from Behram Jijibhai Charitable Institute. From the childhood, he was interested in singing. He got his primary training in music from his elder sister who was a music teacher. He learnt playing harmonium from her.
In the early 40s, he sang 7 version songs with Suraiya from the films of New Theatre . His playback singing career started with ‘Lahiri Cameraman’ (1944) and ‘Rangeele Dost’ (1944) by joining the banner Standard Pictures. However, for ‘Bairam Khan’ (1946), Ghulam Haider rejected him during his audition test along with Mohammed Rafi. He left Standard Pictures and joined HMV as a musician and chorus singer during 1946-50. In the early years, sometime, Mohammed Rafi used to join him in the chorus singing in HMV recordings.
With the changing scenarios in Hindi film music in the 50s, Bahadur Naanji switched over his career as a musician. He became expert in playing musical instruments like organ, violin, piano, viola etc. After leaving HMV in 1950, he joined music director V Balsara as his assistant. In ‘Madmast’ (1953), V Balsara gave him chance to sing a duet with Dhan Indorewala, wife of V Balsara. He also worked with some of the top music directors like Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishan, O P Nayyar, Roshan, Madan Mohan, Hemant Kumar, Neenu Majumdar etc.
Bahadur Naanji was also an expert in writing western musical notations in which he assisted Anil Biswas in ‘Pardesi’ (1957) and ‘Angulimal’ (1960).
Enjoy this song of sublime love.
Song – Dekho Ji Baat Suno, Hum Se Tum Aan Milo (Basera) (1950) Singer – Bahadur Nanji, Mubarak Begum, Lyrics – Sardar Ihlam, MD – MA Rauf Osmania
Both
Lyrics
dekho jee baat suno..o
ham se tum aan milo
tum humse door raho..o
door raho
door raho
door raho
duniya basaaungi
sapnon pe chhaaungi
nainon mein bas ke tere mann mein samaaungi
nazaron ke jaal se
main bach ke nikal jaaungi
binti karoge mori
paas nahin aaungi
tumse main door bhali
door bhali
mujhse ab kuchh na kaho
dekho jeei baat suno..o
ham se tum aan milo
aasha ke geet wahi
mann ka sangeet wahi
tum bhi aur main bhi wahi
ulfat ki reet wahi
chhedo na dekho
main ab tumse kaise kahoon
sakhiyaan na jaan len
achchaa hai door raho
nazaron se door sahi
door sahi
mann mein tum aan baso
dekho jee baat suno..o
ham se tum aan milo
ulfat nibhaayenge
hilmil ke gaayenge
ulfat nibhaayenge
hilmil ke gaayenge
mann ki kahaaniyaan
jag ko sunaayenge
mann ki kahaaniyaan
jag ko sunaayenge
meet baney gair bhi
begaana koi na ho
dekho jee baat suno..o
tum mere sang raho
tum mere sang raho..o
door nahi
door nahi
door nahi
———————————-
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————–
देखो जी बात सुनो॰॰ओ
हम से तुम आन मिलो
तुम हमसे दूर रहो॰॰ओ
दूर रहो
दूर रहो
दूर रहो
दुनिया बसाऊँगी
सपनों पे छाऊँगी
नैनों में बस के तेरे मन में समाऊँगी
नज़रों के जाल से
मैं बच के निकाल जाऊँगी
बिनती करोगे मोरी
पास नहीं आऊँगी
तुमसे मैं दूर भली
दूर भली
मुझसे अब कुछ ना कहो
देखो जी बात सुनो॰॰ओ
हम से तुम आन मिलो
आशा के गीत वही
मन का संगीत वही
तुम भी और मैं भी वही
उलफत की रीत वही
छेड़ो ना देखो
मैं अब तुमसे कैसे कहूँ
सखियाँ ना जान लें
अच्छा है दूर रहो
नज़रों से दूर सही
दूर सही
मन में तुम आन बसो
देखो जी बात सुनो॰॰ओ
हम से तुम आन मिलो
उल्फ़त निभाएंगे
हिलमिल के गाएँगे
उल्फ़त निभाएंगे
हिलमिल के गाएँगे
मन मी कहानियाँ
जग को सुनाएँगे
मन मी कहानियाँ
जग को सुनाएँगे
मीत बने गैर भी
बेगाना कोई ना हो
देखो जी बात सुनो॰॰ओ
तुम मेरे संग रहो
तुम मेरे संग रहो॰॰ओ
दूर नहीं
दूर नहीं
