Chanda se pyaare ankhiyon ke taare

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Today’s song is from the Fantasy film Suvarna Sundari-1958

This film was a remake of an extremely popular Hit Telugu film. The Telugu film was made along with a Tamil Version. This film was made by Anjali Pictures, Madras, which was owned by the producer and the Music Director of this film- Adi Narayan Rao. Telugu, Tamil and Hindi versions were all directed by Vedantam Raghaviah. The cast of the film was Anjali Devi,Shyama, Daisy Irani ( This was the First film where she was billed in her real name, instead of her pseudonym ‘Roop Kumar’), Satoja Devi, Suryakala, Mohna, Kumkuma, A.Nageshwar Rao (better known as ANR, in southern style), Agha, Mukri, Radha Kishan, Bipin Gupta, Kamaljeet (later the husband of actress Waheeda Rahman), Saproo and many others.

The Indian audience, from East to West or North to South, is a lover of Fantasy stories. Miracles, Magic, Super Natural powers, impossible things done with ease and the Gods who give Curses and Vardaans attracted the audience no end, irrespective of language. That is also one reason why Krishna stories are more popular than Rama stories. Ramayan is generally a logical, ideological and principled story, whereas Krishnayan (Bhagwat) is replete with illogical, practical and down to earth stories with extraordinarily powerful characters, miracles and instant justice stories.

No wonder,then, that films like Veer Ghatotkach, Veer Hanuman or Veer Bhimsen etc were more popular than Seeta haran or Ahilyoddhar etc. Suvarn Sundari was full of fantasy events. In addition, unprecedented melodious music also helped the film to earn Millions and become a Blockbuster.

The original Telugu film Suvarn Sundari was made with A.Nageshwar Rao and Anjali Devi in 1957. The Tamil version was also made Simultaneously, with Gemini Ganesan and Anjali devi in the lead. The Tamil film title was ‘Manalane Mangayin Bakkiyam’. The Tamil version was released first. When both Tamil and Telugu films became Hit and Blockbusters, it was planned to dub the Tamil film in Hindi. Lata Mangeshkar was called to Madras to record the songs. When Lata saw the film, she suggested to them that instead of dubbing the film, the film may be remade in Hindi. The distributors too opined the same. Therefore the Hindi version was remade with A. Nageshwar Rao and Anjali Devi in the lead. This was the First and the only Hindi film A.Nageshwar Rao made ever in his entire career. The film was shot in Venus Studio, Madras and near Shimsha falls, Mysore. The Hindi film was very successful and celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 18 cities.

All the three language versions were directed by Vedantam Raghaviah. He was born to V.Ramiah and Annapoornamma at Kuchipudi village in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh, on 8-6-1919. From 5th year onwards, he started learning Kuchipudi dance and became a surprise item in many shows and stage dramas. At the age of 9 years he was married to his Maternal cousin. He entered films as an actor and Choreographer in 1937. But from 1949 he changed over to production and Direction. In the next 20 years, he directed 30 Telugu and Tamil films plus 2 Hindi films- Suvarna Sundari-58 and Jadoo Nagari-72. His film Devdas-53 was considered as his Best film. He died at the age of only 52 years on 18-11-1971. He received several awards and honours as a Kuchipudi Dancer.

There was only one south composer who gave music to a Hindi film and made it a Hit Jubilee Musical Blockbuster. He was Adi Narayana Rao and his first Hindi film was Suvarna Sundari-1958. I said First film, because Rao gave music to some more Hindi films later, like Phoolon ki sej-64, Jadoo nagari-72, GunFighter Johnny-72, Sati anusuya-74 and Inqilab Zindabad-75. He also gave music to a Dubbed Marathi film ‘ Maha Bhakta Tukaram’-60.

His first film was Suvarna Sundari-58 and what Grand music he gave ! The film had 14 songs and from Ghantasala’s ” Laxmi kshir Samudra Raj’ to Sudha Malhotra’s ” Hat jaa re natkhat”, he displayed his originality, creativity and knowledge of Hindustani Raagdari too ! He composed songs in various Ragas like, malkauns, Sohni, Bahar, Jaunpuri, Hameer etc Songs like ” Mujhe na bula” and ” Kuhu kuhu bole koyaliya” are popular even today and surely can be counted amongst the most memorable Hindi songs ever.

Born in 1915 in Andhra Pradesh, Rao learnt music from Pt. Sitaram Sastry. He was active on stage for many years. He was an excellent Harmonium player. Surprisingly, he entered the film world as a writer and not a musician. Later, he became an assistant to composer Chittur Nagiah from the film Vande Mataram-1939. His first film as a MD was Vardhini-1946. Along with Folk tunes, Rao used Spanish tunes in his songs. He married actress Anjali Devi,after the film Suvarn Sundari in Telugu was released. They started Anjali pictures, a film production company. While he could not get success in Hindi films, after Suvarn Sundari-58, his wife Anjali Devi continued doing roles in Hindi films for many more years. Adi Narayana Rao died on 25-1-1990.

There was a love affair going on between the South films and Bombay Film industry during the 50’s decade. Right from film Chandralekha-48, South started pushing into Hindi domain with Remakes and Dubbed southern films. Some films were even made only in Hindi. As the years went by and the southern film market expanded greater than even Bombay, the south had no time or need or interest in tapping the Hindi belt anymore.

With the films being made by the South for the Hindi audience, came many southern composers too. Chandralekha-48- had S.Rajeshwar Rao as MD, then came Parthasarthy and kalla (Nishan-49, Mangala-50 and Sansar-51), Sankar Sastry (Mangala, Sansar), C S Ram (Lavangi-50), C R Subbaraman (Ek tha Raja-51, Chandi Rani-53), Vishwanathan and R Sudarshana (Ladki-53), S V Venkatraman and T R Ramanathan(Manohar-54), Ram Murthy(Naya Aadmi-56) etc etc.

First Hindi Music Director in a south Hindi film was Bulo C Rani, with C S Ram in film Lavangi-50. The first south Hindi film whose entire music was done by a single Music Director from the Hindi belt was Bahar-51- S D Burman. After this C.Ramchandra, Chitragupta, Madan Mohan, Shankar-Jaikishan, N Dutta and others started crowding in south for Hindi films and due to this the influx of south composers for Hindi films almost came to a naught.

Many Hindi composers are known to invade the South and make songs in their languages. The first one to do so was C Ramchandra, but then few others like Naushad( for Tamil version of Aan and Mughal E Azam), Salil Chaudhari ( for many Tamil and Malayalam films), Ravi- who became famous in Kerala as Bombay Ravi, for many Malayalam films and few more.

The story of the film Suvarna Sundari-1958 was…

The story begins in a gurukul, where Prince Jayant of Malwa (Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, ‘ANR’) is about to graduate and go back to Malwa to be declared crown prince. At the prospect of Jayant’s departure, his guru’s daughter gets all heated up and confesses her love for him. Jayant, being a good and upright man who knows his guru’s daughter is out of bounds for him, sternly refuses…at which the daughter flies into a rage and proves that she isn’t quite as upright and good as Jayant. She raises a hue and cry and accuses Jayant in front of her father (Niranjan Sharma) and the rest of the gurukul. The guru is furious, and immediately heads for the court to confront Jayant’s father (Bipin Gupta) and dare him to punish his own wayward son.

Fortunately for Jayant, he has a loyal friend who helps him escape before any action can be taken. A fugitive now, Jayant soon comes up against a trio of unscrupulous and somewhat comical ruffians: Khatpat (Radhakrishna), Chatpat (Agha) and Sarpat (Mukri). These three scoundrels have blocked the road and demand money from wayfarers. When Jayant tries to defy them, Khatpat offers a compromise: trek up to a mountain cave nearby and find out what’s causing all the din that emanates from there.Jayant does so, and (at the risk of losing his life) saves a bearded, bedraggled character who has been trapped there for eons. In return, the (now all glittering and overdressed) character bestows on Jayant three gifts: a flying carpet; a kamandal which can give you anything to eat or drink, in as much quantity as you wish; and an arm rest which can beat up anybody (to whichever extent) all on its own. All three are now for Jayant to command, but he is given one note of caution: the kamandal and the arm rest depend upon each other. If one is destroyed, the other will automatically be destroyed too.

Jayant doesn’t get a chance to use these gifts; he’s barely emerged from the cave when the terrible trio, who’ve been eavesdropping all this while, assault him. They beat him up, bash his head in with rocks, kill him and run away with the gifts.Fortunately for Jayant, though, they make the mistake of dragging him to a nearby pond and leaving him with his head in the water. Fortunate, because this is a very important and auspicious night: it is Kartik Purnima, and the night when amrit (nectar) flows down from heaven. Into the pond where Jayant’s head has been so helpfully tilted. The amrit brings him back from the dead, and Jayant revives to witness a grand spectacle: a group of apsaras descends from heaven and sings and dances before statues of Shiv and Parvati, the lead dancer (Anjali Devi) praying to the deities to give her a good husband.

Jayant and she fall in love, and the apsara explains that she is Suvarna Sundari, the main dancer at the celestial court of Indra. They are so enamoured of each other that they enter into a gandharva marriage there and then. Suvarna Sundari rues the fact that she must return to Indra’s court, but before she goes, she leaves behind a gift: a golden flute that Jayant need only start playing for Suvarna Sundari to come twirling back into his arms.He does this, again and again, and Suvarna Sundari warns her husband that he mustn’t pull her out of her duties at court so abruptly. But Jayant isn’t listening, and he once again starts playing the flute—just as Suvarna Sundari is dancing in front of Indra (DK Sapru). The push-and-pull, between the celestial court and Jayant’s flute-playing, makes Suvarna Sundari swoon. It turns out she’s pregnant, and Indra blows his top when he discovers that this female has had the gall to fall in love with a human being!

Indra immediately exiles Suvarna Sundari, and—when she seems happy enough to go off to Earth to be with Jayant—adds two curses to make things even more difficult for Suvarna Sundari. First, Jayant will forget her completely. Second, if she should ever touch him, he will turn to stone at once.With Suvarna Sundari’s happiness thus blighted, she is flung down to Earth, robbed of all her glittery garments and jewels, dressed in a drab sari, lying in a heap of dry leaves in which she gives birth to her baby.But the trials and tribulations have just begun. Very soon, Suvarna Sundari (having first been chased by a leopard) starts feeling faint. Stumbling along, she manages to get to a riverbank. She places her baby on the bank and goes forward to drink water, but passes out and falls into the river (fortunately on her back, so she floats off, all unconscious). Her baby is found by a passing goatherd, who takes pity on this seemingly abandoned infant and picks him up.

Meanwhile, Suvarna Sundari is rescued from the river, and ends up being assaulted by the lecherous Khatpat, the same character who (unknown, of course, to Suvarna Sundari) had ‘killed’ Jayant and robbed him of his gifts. Khatpat has fallen out with his companions Chatpat and Sarpat, and they have all gone their individual ways, each carrying one of the three gifts.Now Khatpat tries to get fresh with Suvarna Sundari, and who should turn up to rescue her from him but Jayant! Suvarna Sundari is apt to go and cling to him, but of course Indra’s curse is in place. Jayant doesn’t recognize her. But he is able to retrieve the arm-rest that Khatpat has stolen from him, and uses the arm-rest’s beat-up-anyone properties to give Khatpat a sound thrashing.

Jayant goes off by himself, and Suvarna Sundari is befriended by a toy-seller who had, along with a bunch of other women, been kept captive by the vile Khatpat (he doesn’t strike me as a potential keeper of sex slaves, but who knows). Unfortunately for Suvarna Sundari, on the one day she goes out to sell toys, she is spotted by Khatpat and again pursued by him.The result of this is that, to escape the persistent Khatpat, Suvarna Sundari leaves town. Disguised as a man, because Khatpat is keeping an eye on her home and is bound to accost her.Meanwhile, Jayant has gone his way and had a run-in with a cobra. When the cobra spreads its hood threateningly at Jayant, he whips out that magical arm-rest and gets it to give the cobra a sharp tap on the head, at which the cobra turns into a young woman. A very incensed young woman, who tells Jayant that she is a naag kanya, a ‘snake girl’, and that because he hit her, she’s cursing him to be a woman. And poof, just like that, Jayant turns into ‘Jayanti’ (Shyama, looking lovely).

Jayant is so distressed by this—he, a warrior, the very picture of masculine strength and bravery and derring-do, reduced to being a weak and helpless woman (Jayant’s sentiment, definitely not mine)! He pleads with the naag kanya to temper the curse somewhat, and the naag kanya relents. All right, Jayant will be a woman during the day and will revert to being a man at night. What’s more, if Jayant is touched by amrit, the curse will be completely lifted and he will go back to being himself, day and night.So that’s the set-up. Our hero is now a woman half the time. Our heroine is disguised as a man. Their child, now about six years old or so (Daisy Irani), has been rendered somewhat rudderless because the goatherd who had looked after him these past few years has died.

Once the kid appears and offers to help, he appeals to the statues of Shiv and Parvati, who of course are his foster parents. After a while (Jayant is turning to stone gradually, the stone ‘creeping’ upwards from his feet), Shiv and Parvati appear, and they tell Suvarna Sundari and Jayant who this child is, their very own son. And then, to help the distressed family further, they tell the kid that if he goes to heaven and fetches a celestial golden lotus, that can break Indra’s curse and make the stone Jayant go back to normal.This is duly done, and though a furious Indra tries to stop the child, he is eventually defeated and has to submit before Shiv and Parvati. The reunited Jayant (no longer stone), along with Suvarna Sundari and their child, returns to the court at Malwa. Here, Suvarna Sundari’s former boss, the king, and his daughter the princess are there. Jayant introduces Suvarna Sundari and their child to his father, the king and the princess, and (or so it seems), the princess’s hand is given into Jayant’s. (Thanks to a review at Dusted off, from which this is adapted.)

Here is a song from this film. The singers are Lata and Manna Dey, but it is not a duet in the real sense. Enjoy this 67 year old song….

( Information for this post is culled from various sources like the book ‘ Southern films ‘ by Kalidas, Cinerang by Isak Mujawar, Yaadon ki Baaraat by Shirish Kanekar, wiki, CISTF, muVyz, and my notes)

Audio (full)

Video (Partial)

Song- Chanda se pyaare ankhiyon ke taare(Suvarna Sundari)(1958) Singers- Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Lyricist- Bharat Vyas, MD- Adi Narayan Rao

Lyrics

chanda se pyaare
ankhiyon ke taare
soja re maiyya ke raaj dulaare
soja dulaare
soja re soja aa aa aa aa
soja aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
soya hai chanda
soya gagan
soyeen dishaayen
soya pavan
soya hai chanda
soya gagan
soyeen dishaayen
soya pavan
ho o o
tu bhi to soja nindiya pukaare
chanda se pyaare
ankhiyon ke taare
soja re maiyya ke raaj dulaare
soja dulaare
soja re soja aa aa aa aa aa aa
soja aa aa aa aa aa aa

soja re ae ae ae ae
soja re ae ae ae ae
laal tu gopal pyaare nand ghar aanand kar
dhal chuki hai rat aadhi ab to palke band kar
so gaye jhilmil sitaare
tu bhi so ja re
sapan nagri me kho ja re
ho o
chup chup kare tujhko pariyaan ishare
soja re ae ae ae ae ae
soja re ae ae aea e a
soja re soja aa aa aa aa aa aa
soja aa aa aa aa aa aa

toot gayee meree kismat kee doree
dukhiyaare man se sunaaun kya loree
toot gayee meree kismat kee doree
dukhiyaare man se sunaaun kya loree
ho o
ansuwan ke jhoole ab na jhula re
soja dulaare
soja re soja aa aa aa aaa
soja aa aa aa aa
so ja re ae ae ae
soja re ae ae ae ae
aaj tere tan mein maana ik zara see jaan hai
aane waale kal ka tuhee goonjta toofaan hai
zindagi ki aafaton ke aage jhukna na
kabhee raaho mein rukna na
ho o
jina padega tujhko apne sahaare
soja re ae ae ae ae ae ae
soja re ae ae ae ae ae