singer Kajjan
singer Kajjan belonged to a family of tawaifs or courtesans. [devadasi]
singer /actor
Jahanara Kajjan
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Aa jaa ri nindiya tu aa ke na jaaby Atul |
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, 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 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 Mera Pyara-1935. The biggest problem with films of early years, viz from 1931 to say 1937/38 is that there is hardly any information available on them in public forums. There were not many Film magazines and newspapers in those times did not bother much for films. It was only when the filmmaking got a momentum, increased films in number and more and more people visited theatres to see films, that the newspapers felt that it now called for cognizance, so that more people may buy their papers to read about films. Few adventurous enterprising people jumped into film magazines, like say Film India, Be ghadi Mauj(gujarati), Movieland etc.etc. Several regional periodicals also cropped up. But all this was after 1936. For films before 1936, there is no information available freely.
The Indian weakness of indiscipline and lack of documentation were also responsible. Due to this, information about film people of the silent era and Talkie years upto 1936 is almost impossible to get. In Spite of all this, genuine lovers of old films took untiring efforts and documented some information, but all these are locked up in Government institutions and are not available openly. If you go to the Archives, have patience and the right connections, you can get much material to see and read there only. Books published in the 50's and the 60's about the film industry of the yore are not available, because reprinting them is impossible.
Sites like Dr. Surjit Singh ji's and memsaabstory's have made some books and other material available free to interested students of Hindi films. In this department, hats off to Dr. Singh's efforts. At every opportunity, he posts the information on his site. Great Soul indeed ! From time to time, he publishes bits of information called " Musings". His site is worth visiting like a Museum, where you spend time and not know how it passed !
Today's film Mera Pyara-35 was made by Madon Theatres. Sometime back there was an interesting discussion on Facebook as to what was the correct name मदन or मादन . Enthusiastic film lovers exchanged several comments. At the end of it all, it was proved with evidence that the correct name was मादन and not मदन .
In the Talkie era, Madan Theatres had started with a bang making more films than Imperial in the initial stages. But once new Theatres started full steam, Madan could not keep the same tempo. They not only dithered, slowed down, but in 1937, with their last film ' Zinda Bhoot", Madan Theatres stopped making films completely and one glorious chapter in stage dramas and films ended forever.
The film-Mera Pyara-35 was directed by Ezra Mir. From the name he is taken as a Muslim, but this was not his real name. Some of the Senior readers, in the bracket of 55 to 75 years of age would recollect the Indian Documentaries made by Ezra Mir, shown before almost every film in the theatres. Indian News Reel and these documentaries on various subjects were actually used as a facility to enter the theatre late and still catch the whole movie from the beginning. These documentaries were made mostly by Ezra Mir and the voice over used to be that of Pratap Sharma usually. ( his younger brother Mahesh Sharma was my good friend in those days).
Ezra Mir was one of the rare persons who worked in the famous Hollywood studios for a considerable time, before he came to India and got involved in making films here. He was also a rare person who, despite being in great demand in the commercial cinema, chose to join a Government organisation and did monumental significant work for the future generations. For a long time, I was thinking him to be a Muslim man, but at a much later date, I came to know that he was a Jew person.
Ezra Mir ( real name Edwyn Meyers) was born on 26-10-1902 at Calcutta. After completing his education, he joined Madon Theatres in 1921. In 1923, he left for Europe and America to work in the film industry. After doing bit roles in Rudolph Valentino's films in Long Island, New York and working for First National Biograph Studios, he joined the Universal studios as a " Film Cutter '' and later as a Scenario writer. By his diligent and hard work he became the chief of story Department in United Artistes. In 1929, he wrote and directed a film ' Simbolisque ', which created a sensation in the film circle there.
With the advent of the Talkie, he came back to India , joined Imperial Film co. and made film Noorjehan-31 in Hindi and English. In 32-33, he joined Sagar movietone and directed Zarina-32, Pagal premee-33 and Farzand e Hind-34. Then Ezra went to Calcutta. After doing some films he came back and made documentaries on second world war. In 1940, he was appointed by the Govt. on the Film Advisory Board. In 1942, when V.Shantaram left as its head, he became the head. From 1942 to 1946, he made 170 documentaries.
In 1951 he joined the Films Division and in 1956, became its President. In his tenure here, he made 400 documentaries. In 1970 he got ' Padma Shri '. Ezra Mir died on 7-3-1993. His Filmography is Noorjehan-31, Zarine-32, Pagal premi-33, Farzand e Hind-34, Mera Pyara and Rasheeda-35,Jeevan Sangram, Parivartan,Rajdulari and Shaitan ka pash-36, Rikshawala-38,Sitara-39, Beete din-47, pamposh-54 and Raju aur gangaram-64.
The cast of the film was Jehan Ara kajjan,Akhtar Nawaz,Patience Cooper, Jagdish , krishnakant, Rajkumari Calcuttewali and many more. Kajjan was a famous actress - both in Bombay and Calcutta, though she spent more time in Calcutta.
JAHAN ARA BEGUM KAJJAN was born in Patna, Bihar, on 15-2-1915. She was the daughter of the courtesan Suggan and the Nawab of Bhagalpur’. Her mother was a famous singer from Lucknow. She grew up in Patna. She got a lot of attention for her education. She was taught Urdu at home and her maternal grandfather Syed Hussain taught her English. She , being very clever ,soon became proficient in both languages. At the same time she learnt household chores also. She learnt music under the guidance of Ustad Husnu Khan of Patna. Singing was in her blood anyway. She was very beautiful.
Kajjan belonged to a family of professional artistes, who carried the tag of tawaifs or courtesans. They were also invited by the princely courts and aristocracy to perform at their private mehfils. With their refined manners they provided stimulating company to the male elite. An established code of conduct ruled out marriage in their profession but they were allowed to have a liaison with a chosen patron. Kajjan’s mother Suggan apparently had one such relationship with her father.
The anti-nautch campaign at the beginning of the 20th Century denigrated the singing and dancing profession. Some, among them, became gramophone singers or theatre stage actors. Kajjan had received education at home and even learnt English. Well versed in Urdu literature, she wrote poetry under the pen name “Ada” and some of her poems were published in Urdu magazines. She received intensive training in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Hussain Khan of Patna. Noting her mastery of ragas, her mellifluous voice and also her charming looks, she was hired by a theatre company at Patna. She is said to have performed on stage for three days at a fee of Rs.250 per show. She enchanted the audience with her golden voice. This paved the way to her joining Alfred Company owned by Madan Theatres of Calcutta. According to Fida Hussain, a Parsi theatre legend, “He worked with actress Jahanara Kajjan becoming her director and leading man”. Kajjan attained name and fame as a very popular singer and actor of the stage.
Because of her beauty and singing skills,she was invited to work on the Urdu stage. Master Fida Hussain, who was a well known actor, singer, composer and director on Urdu stage had joined 'Alfred Theatre co.'. It was owned by the Madons of calcutta. Kajjan was taken in it and the troupe toured U.P. and M.P. During this period, Kajjan was romantically involved in Master Fida hussain.
She used to appear on stage at the rate of Rs.250 per show per day. Once when she was performing in Patna, one of the owners of Madon Theatres, Calcutta saw her and offered her roles in films. She immediately accepted it and went to Calcutta.
Silent film era was dominated by Parsee, Anglo-Indian and Jew girls, due to their white skin and open attitudes. Once the Talkie films started, they became useless as they did not know how to speak in Hindi or sing. In such circumstances actresses like Kajjan got the opportunities. Her first film was ' Shirin Farhad'-1931. paired with Master Nissar she sang 17 songs in this film. This pair became very popular. Her next film was 'Indrasabha 1932',having a world record 71 songs in the film. Kajjan sang 29 songs in it. The film was based on the drama by Agha Hasan Amaanat.
In Calcutta kajjan became very famous. She lived a rich and lavish life, mixing among the elite of Calcutta like Prices, Nawabs, High authorities, the mega rich etc. her dresses and jewellery were talk of the women of the rich and the famous. She had instructed her designer to make only such sarees, which no one in India will ever wear ! She was a regular invitee to even Viceroy's parties.
She
worked only with Madon Theatres. Brijlal Verma was the composer of
Madon Theatres. It was a favourite quartet of Madon films, Brijlal's
misc kajjan and Master Nissar. Together they ruled the early phase of
Talkie films. Films like Shirin farhad-31,Laila majnu-31,Shakuntala-31,
Kajjan was a good dancer. She learnt dancing from Miss Ruqayya khatoon. She was among the regular dancers in Calcutta Clubs, along with actress Mahazabeen. Kajjan was friendly with westerners. She was fond of pets. For some time she had 2 tiger cubs as her pets and this became the talk of the town in Calcutta.
After Brijlal Verma,it was a rich financer, Seth Karnani, who, just to impress kajjan, bought the entire Madon theatres for a sum of Rs. 24 lakhs in those days ! A very handsome actor of that era Najmul hassa had a torrid affair with Kajjan. He is the same Najmul Hassan, who had eloped with Devika Rani-wife of Himanshu Rai, owner of Bombay Talkies, from Bombay to Calcutta. Devika rani returned to her husband shortly, but he had to remain in Calcutta-for safety.
Kajjan worked in Gulru zarina, Swami Bhakti Alibaba aur chaalis chor and Jahan Ara also. By end of the 30s Madon Theatres closed down and Kajjan also stopped work for few years.
In the early 40s,kajjan worked in Abla shakti and Ghar sansar-42,Prarthana and Prithvi Vallabh-43 and her last film Bharthari-1944. The songs of Bharthari, composed by Khemchand Praksah also became very popular. Due to her sweet voice she was called " The Lark of Indian Cinema".
Jahan Ara Kajjan died on 15-12-1945,at the age of only 30 years. 2 films, Jadui putli-46 and tiger man-47 were released after her death. Kajjan acted in 40 films. She sang78 songs in 14 films.
During her lifetime she lived like a queen. She became a Legend. She acted and sang in almost 40 films in her small career. During the period 1931 to 1937 there was a " Kajjan Mania " in India. Her styles and fashions were copied by the elite ladies.
Today's song is one of the rarest songs, which is not available on social media or most collectors. This rare song was given to me by shri Abhay Jain (USA) and is uploaded by our own Sadanand kamath ji. Thanks to both. This song could possibly be the first or the earliest LORI song. With this song, film Mera pyara makes its Debut on this Blog.
Credits and references- with thanks-
1.Stages of life: Indian Theatre Biographies-By Kathryn Hansen
2. Kamalp.blogspot.in
3.Dhunon ki yatra-Pankaj Raag
4.the big Indian picture.com
5.My own notes from diaries.
Song- Aa jaa ri nindiya tu aa ke na jaa (Mera Pyaara)(1935) Singer- Jahan Ara Kajjan, Lyricist- Unknown, MD- M. Chhaila
Lyrics
Aa jaa ri nindiya
tu aake na jaa
munne ki aankhon mein ghul mil jaa
aa jaa ri nindiya
aa aa aa
baag mein
?? chali jo ??
ae ae ae ae
?? khul jaati hai ae ae ae
hawaa se keh do dheere aaye
hawa se keh do dheere aaye
munne ko neend aati hai
munne ko neend aati hai
aa aa aa
munne ko neend aati hai
aa jaa ri nindiya
tu aaake na jaa
munne ki aankhon mein ghul mil laga
aa jaa ri nindiya
sooraj ?? dhoop hai
subah ?? aur shaam ??
jinki kahaani kya kahiye
aaghaaz to hai anjaam nahin
?? uthhti hai
?? uthhti hai
yaad kisi ki aati hai
ae ae
yaad kisi ki aati hai
aa aa aaa
yaad kisi ki aati hai
Aa jaa ri nindiya
tu aake na jaa
munne ki aankhon mein ghul mil jaa
aajaa ri nindiya
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Kajjan Begum Rani dhire se bolo4:10
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PRARTHANA (1943) -Ek dhundhla sa mohabbat ka naqsha baaqi - Jahan Ara Kajjan2:58
New post on Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs |
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