Alakh niranjan alakh niranjan

This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a 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.

Today’s song is from the film Alakh Niranjan-1950. This film is based on a story from Nath – Puran. In India, the Nath Sampraday (Sect) is spread over the whole country. In every place it has its local name and own folk lores. Now, what is this Nath Sampraday ? Few years ago, in one of posts, i had given all detailed information about it. To refresh your memory and for the benefit of new readers, here is a short note again on Nath Sampraday.

In the Hindu Sanaatan traditions the worship of Lord Shiva is called Shaivism and the worshippers and followers of Lord Shiva are called Shaivs. Nath Sampradaay is a sub tradition within Shaivism. The followers of this tradition consider Adinath or Lord Shiva as their first Lord. The word Nath implies Master. In this tradition, there is a lineage of nine Gurus or Teachers. The form of sadhna practiced by the followers of this tradition is called Hath Yog (हठ योग).

The first Guru in this lineage is Matsyendra Nath, who is better known as Machhindra Nath. The traditional history recounts that Matsyendra was born under an inauspicious star. This warranted his parents to throw the baby into the ocean. In the ocean the baby was swallowed by a large fish, and he lived and grew up inside the belly of the fish, for many years. The fish swam to the bottom of the ocean where Lord Shiva was imparting the secrets of yoga to Mata Parvati. Matsyendra overheard this discourse and learnt the secrets of yoga. He began to practice this yog sadhana inside the fish’s belly. After twelve years he finally emerged as an enlightened Siddha.

There is a list of Nine Nath Gurus, who are called Navnath. The first Nath Guru is Machhindra. The complete list is as follows

The stories surrounding every Nath Guru, especially the earlier ones, are very exciting, thrilling and entertaining. One must read them from the original Nath Puraan or NavNath Pothi. I have read all of them. These stories are in no way less than any Arabian Night stories. Due to their entertainment value, several films in several languages have been made on the early Gurus like Machhindranath and Gorakhnath.

Films on Machhindranath were made as ‘Maaya Machhindra’ in Hindi, in 1932, 1951, 1960 and 1975. Films on Gorakhnath as ‘Alakh Niranjan’, were made in 1940, 1950 and 1975. Films on Bharthari were made in 1932 and 1944. Films on other Naths were made as ‘Raja Gopichand’ in 1933, 1938 and 1950. Same way films on Naths in Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and other languages were also made.

Film Alakh Niranjan-50 is a story from Bengal, where Raja Gopichand was ruling. Alakh Niranjan is the call, which a Gosavi gives, when he visits a house for his daily Bhiksha. These Gosavis do not accept cooked food. They take only the raw material, as they are supposed to cook and eat. I remember, when I was a kid and used to visit my Nanihal ( a small village in Marathwada, Maharashtra), few Gosavis used to visit the house and call out loudly “Alakh Niranjan”.It was my duty to give them the wheat or Jowar flour, which they would smilingly store in their multi-pocketed Zolis. Nowadays, even in the remotest villages, one cant find these Gosavis.

The film was directed by a veteran of the silent films – Dada Gunjal. The younger generation is unlikely to have even heard about him, because he ended his career in 1959 only. Director Vishnupant Mathaji Gunjal or simply Dada Gunjal, was born in Kolhapur on 25-1- 1904. He was not interested in education, so after passing his Matriculation, he joined the film industry. Initially he worked in various capacities, but concentrated on Directing the films. He established his own Gunjal Production company at Bombay and directed his first silent film Collegian in 1929. Soon ,realising that producing films was not his cake, he shifted to Directing films for Vishwesh film company, Bombay. Making silent films like Bharati, The Bandit, Vijeta, Bewafa qatil, khabardar, Bhedi khanjar etc.

When Talkie films started, he directed Bhakta ke Bhagwan and Ambarish in 1934. Dada Gunjal directed in all 37 films ( 30 Talkie and 7 Silent). Some of his films were, Bhakta dhruv, Panihari,Aparadhi, Ekadashi, Mata, Mamta, Tulsi, Bhakta ke Bhagwan, Noorjehan, Baraat, Kirti, Pati patni, Alakh Niranjan, Mother India -1938 etc. His last film was Ek Armaan mera-59. Dada Gunjal died on 16-11- 1968.

The music director of this film was Premnath….a case of ‘ Same Name Confusion’ . He is often confused with actor Premnath and his films are credited to the actor’s filmography.

PREMNATH the Music Director was born on 5-7-1918 in Gujranwala,Punjab. He learnt music from experts in Amritsar,Multan and Lahore.He acted in films like Shahr-e-khamoshi and also sang in Sohni Mahiwal-1938.

After marriage,he moved to Bombay. His first film as a Music Director was Rangbhoomi-1946. In this film ,a novice Mohd. Rafi sang many songs for him. His other films were Dharti-47,Chandrahas-47,Sagar’s Pehla pyar-47. He then produced a film ” Chand sitare”-48 under the banner of Ravindra Art productions. Mukesh,Lata and Geeta Roy sang in it. In the film ‘Alakh Niranjan’-50,he used Mohd. Faruqi, Sulochana kadam and Rajkumari.

Premnath gave music to many films of Super pictures of Aspy Irani like Bade Bhaiya-51 and Maya Machhindra-51, in which Surendra, Geeta,Rafi and Shamshad sang. His another film ‘Qatil kaun’ in late 50s was not released. For this film, Rafi, Asha, Manna Dey, Mubarak Begum and Shamshad had given songs.

His films diminished. Sati Vaishalini-59,Main hoon jaadugar-65 and Tarzan in Fairyland-68 were his last films.
After he stopped work as MD,he devoted his time for the welfare of Cine Artists as a trade union leader. As a Secretary,he served the music Directors Assn. for 30 years.

He died on 27-4-1993 at the age of 75 years.

The cast of the film was Nirupa Roy, Trilok Kapoor, Durga Khote, Ulhas, Sapru etc etc. There were 10 songs in the film. Today’s song is the third song here. It is sung by singer Mohammed Faruqi. In fact today’s song is the last song that he sang to end his singing career.

Mohammed Hussain Farooqi,the singer may not be known to many of our readers.

Mohd.Farooqi was born on 17-8-1915 at jhunjhunu in Rajasthan. He was keen on Music from childhood,but his religious Haji father was against it,as he wanted him to become a Teacher.

In 1945,Farooqi came to Bombay with a letter for Khemchand Prakash(originally from Rajasthan).He stayed in old khar with a friend.After an year KP called him to his house.When Farooqi went there,K.L.Saigal was also sitting there.KP asked him to sing a song.He sang Saigal’s ‘So ja rajkumari so ja’.Saigal was impressed and he was employed by Ranjeet Movietone on a princely monthly salary of 200 rupees.
He got his first break with ‘Chcheen lo Azaadi-1947.His song ‘kamzoronki nahi hai duniya’ was popular with freedom fighters.
He sang 15 songs in 12 movies, all with Bulo.C Rani and Hansraj Behl only. His voice and style became very popular,but he had to return to Rajasthan to look after ailing father and his huge property there. He never came back after 1950 and died on 8-2-1990 peacefully.

Filmography

( courtesy- Dr.Surjit Singh ji’s site, with thanks.)

The story of the film shows how Raja Gopichand changes his mindset about the Nath Sampraday, to which his mother also belongs, how he renounces his Throne and how he joins as a Gosavi of the Nath Sampradaya.

Song- Alakh Niranjan Alakh niranjan (Alakh Niranjan)(1950) Singer- Mohd. Farooqi, Lyricist- Manohar Khanna, MD- Premnath
Chorus)

Lyrics

alakh niranjan
alakh niranjan
alakh niranjan
alakh niranjan
alakh niranjan
alakh niranjan
alakh niranjan
jai satguru jai dukh bhanjan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
alakh niranjan alakh niranjan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan )
alakh niranjan alakh niranjan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)

o o o o o(alakh niranjan
alakh niranjan
alakh niranjan
alakh niranjan
alakh niranjan)
o sansaari har ko jap le (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
saari uski maaya hai (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
o sansaaari har ko jap le(alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
saari uski maaya hai(alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
wo tera hai tu jan ??ka (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
jisne tujhey banaaya hai(alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
tod de saare jhoothe bandhan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
alakh niranjan alakh niranjan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan )
alakh niranjan alakh niranjan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan

o o o o o o o o(alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
o o o o o o o o(alakh niranjan)
alakh niranjan alakh niranjan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
alakh niranjan alakh niranjan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
tujhmein mujhmein yahaan wahaan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
ghat ghat mein hai wo basa hua(alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
tujhmein mujhmein yahaan wahaan(alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
ghat ghat mein hai wo basa hua(alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
antar ke pat khol ke moorkh apne man mein jhaank zara (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
sukh ka sthaan hai ye tera man (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
alakh niranjan alakh niranjan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
alakh niranjan alakh niranjan (alakh niranjan alakh niranjan)
alakh niranjan