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History

1935 Playback singing begins Raychander Boral arguably started the system of playback singing with the song Main khush hona chãhooñ, khush ho na sakooñ for the film Dhoop Chhaon/ Bhagyachakra. The singers were Parul Ghosh, Suprova Sarkar and Harimati.

According to another school, Anil Biswas was India’s first playback singer and the song was Jeevan hai ek kahãni, duniya bhi ek kahani from the film Mahageet (1937).

Therefore, the Geet Kosh was sought out for clues. It, too, gives RC Boral/ Dhoop Chhaon credit for the introduction of playback singing. And how did the idea occur? In the film, Main khush hona was sung as a group song, a chorus, performed on a stage by a theatrical troupe. Playback singing made sense in a chorus. After the first two lines of Main khush hona..., singer Ahi Sanyal came in as a ‘bad singer’ and sang a verse from Aaj méré ghar Mohan aayo, which was also a full-fledged song elsewhere in the film. However, the entire song was shot all over again. This time K.C. Dey sang instead of Ahi Sanyal and after the first lines of Main khush hoon he first sang the first two lines of Teri gathri mein lãgã chor, another independent song from the film, before singing a verse from Aaj méré ghar Mohan aayo.

Then, what about the claim of Jeevan hai ek kahãni from Mahageet? The Geet Kosh informs us that it was the first film made in Bombay to have playback singing. The song was not released on a gramophone disc. (Dhoop Chhaon had been made by New Theatres in Calcutta.)

Fifteen significant Hindi-Urdu songs from 1935

*Song*	Film	Music	Lyrics	Singer(s)
Bãlam aayé baso moré man meiñ (Raag Siñdhûrã/ Taal Keherwã)	Devdas	Timir Baran	Kedar Sharma	K.L. Saigal
Chhooté asîr to badla hua zamana tha	Devdas	Timir Baran	Kedar Sharma	K.L. Saigal
Dukh ke ab din beetat naaheeñ (Raag Dés/ Taal Dãdrã)	Devdas	Timir Baran	Kedar Sharma	K.L. Saigal
Mat bhool musafir	Devdas	Kedar Sharma	Timir Baran	KC Dey
Kuchh bhi nahiñ bharosa, duniya hai aanî-jaani	Dharam ki Devi @ Suhag ki Raat	Anil Biswas	Gauri Shankar Lal ‘Akhtar’	Anil Biswas
Baba man ki aankhein khol	Dhoop Chhaon	RC Boral	Pt Sudarshan	KC Dey
Main khush hona chãhooñ, khush ho na sakooñ, jab tak hai tera	Dhoop Chhaon	RC Boral	Pt Sudarshan	Parul Ghosh, Suprova Sarkar, Harimati
Tere pûjan ko, Bhagwan, bana hai mandir ãlishãn	Bharat ki Beti	Anl Biswas	?	Ratanbai
Meré prem ki naiya	Dhoop Chhaon	RC Boral	Pt Sudarshan	Uma Devi, Pahari Sanyal
Prem kahani sakhi	Dhoop Chhaon	R. C. Boral	A.Sudarshan	Uma Devi
Teri gathri mein lãgã chor musafir jaag zarã	Dhoop Chhaon	Raychander Boral, Pankaj Mullick	Pt. Sudarshan	K.C. Dey
Aaj méré ghar Mohan aayo, janam-janam ké sañkat tãré	Dhoop Chhaon (@ Bhagya Chakra)	Raychander Boral, Pankaj Mullick	Pt. Sudarshan	KC Dey
Andhe ki lãthi tû hi hai (Dil ké phapholé jal uthé)	Dhoop Chhaon (@ Bhagya Chakra)	Raychander Boral, Pankaj Mullick	Pt. Sudarshan	KC Dey (in tt film)/ K.L Saigal (on certain discs)
(Instrumental music) (Raag Gaud Sarang)	Javani ki Hawa	Saraswati Devi	---	---
Yeh kooch ke waqt kaisi ãwãz dil ké kãnoñ mein aa rahi hai?	Karwan e Hayat	Mihir Kiran Bhattacherjee	M.K.Bhattacharya	Pahari Sanyal

How these particular songs were chosen

India’s first—and Hindi-Urdu music’s only durable—hit parade began in 1954. Its creator, Binaca Geet Mala, issued annual lists for 1952 and 1953 as well. However, songs had been introduced in Hindi-Urdu films as early as in 1931, indeed, with India’s first talking film.

Which were the most popular Hindi-Urdu songs between 1931 and 1951? The internationally accepted way of finding out is to go through contemporary as well as later articles to see which songs were mentioned (‘cited’) most often.

Indpaedia’s volunteers spent almost 21 man-months combing through all sources that mentioned songs from the years not covered by Binaca Geet Mala. Around one-third of this time was spent sifting through and analysing fifteen sources that covered the period 1931-53. These included YouTube playlists, three encylopaedias of Hindi-Urdu songs and a scholarly history of Hindi-Urdu film music. Because very few songs were mentioned ‘often,’ the volunteers noted down every song that was mentioned at all. Less than half a dozen songs were omitted because they did not exist either on Saregama’s website, the Geet Kosh, YouTube or Hindi Geet Mala. Every song was cross-checked with at least one of these sites.

For more details please see Hindi-Urdu songs: methodology.

Annual lists for the years 1931-51 have been arranged in the alphabetical order, because no one knows the order of their popularity. However, this can be done.

The Indpaedia community will be grateful if some volunteer(s) check out on YouTube the songs mentioned on this page and rank them according to the number of times each song has been played. (Most, but not all, of these songs are on YouTube.) This contribution will be gratefully acknowledged in the volunteer’s name.

Raags in songs

Few film songs that have a root in Indian classical music remain faithful to a raag throughout their length. Indpaedia volunteers have sometimes mentioned raags even when there is merely a hint of that raag in a song. (‘Raag’ is frequently spelt ‘raga,’ while ‘taal’ is also spelt ‘tal.’)

Wherever a taal has been mentioned, it is the one verified by ChandraKantha.com, and sometimes the raags, too.

Hindi-Urdu songs: 1935

Contents

History

Fifteen significant Hindi-Urdu songs from 1935

How these particular songs were chosen

Raags in songs

See also

For lists of popular songs

For lists of popular Hindi-Urdu films

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