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 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.
Today’s song is from the film Badaa Bhai-57, featuting Ajit, Kamini Kaushal, Anant Kumar and Ameeta. Naashad was the music director.
In the period 40s to 70s, Hindi film Heroes had always been under constant threat from two persons. No- not from the Producer or Director, but from the Comedian and the Villain !
There was a time in Hindi films when very popular and powerful comedians were ruling the industry. Comedians like Noor Mohd.Charlie, Yakub, Johnny Walker and finally Mehmood were so popular that they became a ‘Must’ in almost every film in their hey days. Producers and Distributors would insist that they were not only taken, but that some songs too are given to them, irrespective of whosoever was the Hero.
Heroes used to be wary of sharing screen presence with them. Sometimes the best songs of the films were shot on these comedians. Big stars like Dev, Raj and Dilip never allowed any comedian to have an upper hand in their movies, but all others had tough times with them. Over a period, their importance went on diminishing because no new comedians came up after Mehmood came up. Secondly, the comedy part in the film used to be done by the Hero himself. Scripts were written accordingly and slowly, the age of a separate Comedian in a film came to an end.
However, replacement for comedians came in the form of Villains. With the spurt of suspense, crime and murder mystery films in the 50s onwards, villains started becoming prominent. Some of the villains were quite popular. It is quite interesting to see how the rise of the villains came about in the films. In the 1940s when films with social themes were dominating, the mystery films were only very few. Still even in the social or family themes there always was a ‘Bad’ man somewhere. May be a Moneylender, a crooked brother in law, a corrupt manager or an undesirable suitor- all such characters were villains. In the 19*40s Yakub played these roles to the hilt. In many films, he used to be the most hated person.
In the 50s to 70s, the role of Villain was taken over by Pran, K N Singh and Ajit in that order. Pran used to plan takeover of property or money, K N Singh was active in clubs, dens and gangs. When Ajit came on the scene, he changed the entire image of the villain. He created a suave, sophisticated, well dressed and intelligent but cruel smuggler or a villain. All the three villains had such powerful roles that sometimes the audience would remember only them and not the Heroes.
All the villains-Yakub, Pran, K N Singh and Ajit started their career as Heroes.
Yakub made his debut as a Hero in Talaash-E- Haq- 1935. This movie was Jaddanbai’s first movie as a music director.
K N Singh became a Hero for in film Hawai Daku-1936
Pran was Hero from Khandan-42 till 47 in many films. He became a villain from 47 to 91 and He did character roles from 1948 to 2007.
Ajit was Hero for the first time in Janampatri 1949 till 1966. He bacame a villain for the first time in the film Sooraj (1966).
As Villains they were so popular and effective that the audience came to theatres only to see their acting. B and C grade Heroes were scared to share screen space with them. Among all the Villains, I like Ajit the most. He was a sophisticated villain, who was with the times and he did not do any dirty work like murder, dacoity or rape himself. He got it done by his cronies. In a way he was a rich villain. His Dialogue delivery was one of a kind.
Ajit was from Hyderabad. he was educated and was a gentleman in private life.
Hamid Ali Khan (27 January 1922 – 22 October 1998), better known by his stage name Ajit, was a prolific Hindi film actor. He acted in over two hundred movies in almost four decades.
Born Hamid Ali Khan, near the historic place Golconda, Hyderabad, Ajit had his early education in Warangal, studied in Govt. Junior College, Hanamkonda, Warangal district ofTelangana. Hamid was the son of Bashir Ali Khan, who was in the Nizam’s army, and had a younger brother, Wahid Ali Khan. Hamid entered the film industry to become a hero and did quite a few creditable films as lead artiste in Nastik, Bada Bhai, Milan, Baradari, Dholak and later as a second lead in Mughal-e-Azam and Naya Daur. Film director K. Amarnath, who directed him in his film as a Hero, Bekasoor-50, suggested that the actor change his long name of Hamid Ali Khan to something shorter, and Hamid zeroed in on “Ajit”.
Ajit, who ran away from home to Mumbai after selling his college books, started his career in films in the 1940s. Luck did not favour him in the initial stages. He met Govindram Sethi, who gave him a role in the movie Shahe Misra-46, acting with Geeta Bose He also did films such as Sikander-41 , Hatimtai (1947), Aap Beeti -48, Sone Ki Chidiya-48 and Chanda Ki Chandni -48, before becoming a Hero. His Debut film was Janmapatri-49,opposite Sudha Rao. His last film as a Hero was Paic in Baghdad-67. He did most films (15) with Nalini Jaywant. Ajit switched over to play the villain. His first movie as a villain was Suraj-66, followed by films such as Zanjeer and Yaadon Ki Baaraat.
His famous dialogues included the ‘Mona darling’ bit inYaadon Ki Baraat, ‘Lily don’t be silly’ in Zanjeer and the ones about a ‘Lion’ in Kallicharan. Ajit’s other well known films were Naya Daur, Nastik and Shikari to name only a few. In his four decades of film career, Ajit had acted along with the legendary Prithvi Raj Kapoor, Sohrab Modi, Amitabh Bachchan, I S Johar, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Shami Kapoor, Dharmendra and many actress, both young and old.
In the mid-seventies he had acted in over 57 films, mostly as a villain. His dialogue delivery remains popular even to this date. His colleagues in the film industry —leading personalities who have acted with him, grown seeing him in Mumbai — had expressed deep sorrow over the death of the legendary actor.
Writer Javed Akhtar, who scripted Zanjeer, had said: “Like Bachchan, Ajit found a new image as villain after Zanjeer. He started a new innings in his career though he was an established hero in the fifties. His villainy started a new trend. Here was a new villain who was soft-spoken yet forceful. We wanted to give a different image to villainy which matched the hero.” His first marriage with a French girl-Gwen D’Mont- lasted only 5 years. Then he married Shahida Ali. He had three sons- Shahid Ali Khan, Zahid Ali Khan, Abid Ali .
Ajit almost always portrayed the sophisticated, educated, well groomed evil mastermind, albeit heartless villain. Ajit was presented in striking western attire, the “bold” checked suits, matching overcoats, white leather shoes, wide sunglasses, jewellery accessories etc. Given his stature as a senior artist; Ajit was usually the gang leader to second tier villains (such as Jeevan (actor), Prem Chopra, Ranjeet, Kader Khan, Sujit Kumar). He was rarely portrayed (in movie roles) doing any “dirty work” himself, rather relaying on his army of henchmen for the task, with zero tolerance for any failures. He always had a savvy female accomplice, usually named “Mona.” Acting in over 200 films, he specialized in playing suave villains with memorable catch-phrases delivered in now iconic Ajit style nasal drawls such as “Mona, darling”. Ajit also brought to fame the smuggler as the villain. In his movies, he is generally seen smuggling gold biscuits in or out of the country. It has also been noted that most of his gang members had Christian names like Robert, Michael, Peter etc. This also has been used for comic purposes in parodies.
It was the menacing voice he was most famous for. He is still remembered for bringing the most famous villains in the history of Indian cinema to life. His contemporaries include veteran actors like Amrish Puri, Pran, Prem Chopra and Amjad Khan. Some of his popularity in present time is due to the innumerable jokes and parodies made on his famous lines by comedians. (Compiled from Wiki, beete kal ke sitare and my notes.)
Film Badaa Bhai-57 was entirely shot in hyderabad. When the film was released in Hyderabad, hordes of people lined up to see their son of soil in their own land. The film was produced and directed by K. Amarnath, under his own banner. There were 8 songs in the film. Today’s song ( a 2 in 1 ) is the 5th and 6th song on the Blog.
The story of the film is-
Test of courage often endures. Ajit, it appears, was marked by destiny to prove this maxim. Circumstances had reduced him to a poor rickshaw walla but he didn’t accuse God or curse his fate but endured life as it came his way. By pulling rickshaw round the clock, he earned hardly more than what was essential to keep his family going which comprised his wife Lakshmi, daughter Munni and younger brother Prakash who was in the final year of his B.A.
Ajit and his wife curtailed the family budget so such an extent even some of the bare necessities of life had to be abandoned in order to save money for Prakash’s fees for the term. They put some money everyday in an improvised bank made of an empty wooden carton and every time pledged not to use a single pie on any other account. Prakash was conscious of his brothers plight and wanted to share his burden by coaching some students but Ajit didn’t let him deviate himself from his studies. He hoped Prakashs passing with flying colours shall land him in a good job in Public Service and the family shall enjoy a respite from deprivation.
At one time Providence seemed to smile magnificently on the family. Laxmi gave birth to a bonny son and Prakash topped the list of the successful candidates. Besides, Prakash had fallen in love with the daughter of the Police Commissioner, who instead resenting, appeared agreeable to even a matrimonial alliance. He held Ajit in high esteem due to his industry, honesty and truthfulness.
But Umesh, his son and a senior Police Officer, hated the very idea of his sister Uma’s friendship with the brother of a rickshaw walla. He tried to frighten Uma out of wits and argued with his father and when nothing could stop the impending marriage of Uma with Prakash he conspired Ajits murder at the hands of a gang of crooks responsible for every crime committed in the city of Hyderabad.
Ajit was shot at point blank range and was removed to a hospital in a precarious condition and when he recovered he was advised by doctors not to move from the bed for a few weeks but Ajit knew that the family fed on what he earned everyday. He sneaked from the hospital and returned home to discover that during his absence some thief had stolen the bank in which he deposited money for the fees. He despite medical advice being against his returning to work, took part in a rickshaw race and won a reward of 500 rupees and paid up the fees but this trail of courage almost cost him his life.
Prakash with the help of Police Commissioner entered the police department as junior officer and soon his betrothal was arranged with Uma. It appeared for a time that good days were on hand. Police Commissioner one day visited Ajits house to complete the preliminaries but there came a bolt from the blue and Prakash stopped the ceremony in the name of law and searched the house and found out the jewellery belonging to a dancer who was murdered and robbed the previous night. Younger brother Prakash arrested elder brother Ajit on charge of murder and robbery. Neither brotherly affection nor the voice of his conscience could change his course of duty.
Prakash was sure that his brother will never do this. However,the evidence was there. he started his secret investigations with the help of his friends. Soon he came to know that this was the work of umesh who had hidden this proof in their house, when they had come to visit their house. He also found out Umesh had connections with the underworld. Enough proof was collected and Prakash narrated everything to his Commissioner.
Umesh was arrested and Ajit was released with honour.
Song-Qadam badhaaye ja na dar qadam badhaaye jaa (Bada Bhai)(1957) Singers- Asha Bhonsle, Rafi, Lyrics-Ehsan Rizvi, MD-Nashaad
Chorus
Lyrics
qadam badhaaye jaa na dar qadam badhaaye jaa
qadam badhaaye jaa na dar qadam badhaaye jaa
ho paanv tale tere zameen jag pe chhaaye jaa aa
jag pe chhaaye jaa
ye kaun muskura diya ke phool khil gaye
phool khil gaye
ye kaun muskura diya ke phool khil gaye
phool khil gaye
pukaarta hai dil mera
wo mujhko mil gaye
mujhko mil gaye
khayaal mein basaaye ja
nazar milaaye ja aa
nazar milaaye ja
qadam badhaaye jaa
na dar qadam badhaaye jaa
ho paanv tale tere zameen
jag pe chhaaye jaa aa
jag pe chhaaye jaa
zamaane ki hawa lagi to dil ganwa diya aa
dil ganwa diya aa
zamaane ki hawa lagi to dil ganwa diya aa
dil ganwa diya
nazar koi mila gaya
ke man chura gaya
man chura gaya
sipaahi ban ke chor se na maat khaaye jaa aa
maat khaaye jaa
qadam badhaaye jaa
na dar qadam badhaaye jaa
ho paanv tale tere zameen
jag pe chhaaye jaa aa
jag pe chhaaye jaa
—————————————-
kare jo door mushqilen
usi ka naam le
kare jo door mushqilen
usi ka naam le
jo dil mein toone thhaan li
to dil se kaam le
dil se kaam le
kayi naseeb saath hain
unhen jagaaye jaa
unhen jagaaye jaa
jahaan ko peechhe chhod ke ae
jahaan ko peechhe chhod ke
tu daaon jeet le
zamaane ko jhinjhod ke
tu daaon jeet le
daaon jeet le
?? jaa
jagmagaaye jaa
qadam badhaaye ja
na dar
qadam badhaaye jaa
qadam badhaaye jaa aa
qadam badhaaye jaa aa
qadam badhaaye jaa aa aa
—————————————
qadam badhaaye ja na dar
qadam badhaaye jaa
qadam badhaaye jaa
qadam badhaaye jaa
alag na saathiyon se hon
qadam mila ke chal
alag na saathiyon se hon
qadam mila ke chal
andhere chhaaye hon jahaan
diye jala ke chal
diye jala ke chal
nayi zameen pe aasmaan naya banaaye jaa
naya banaaye jaa
qadam badhaaye jaa
na dar
qadam badhaaye ja
