The happenings of the underworld filled with strong, mysterious Gods and Goddesses endowed with supernatural powers inspires unfailing temptation in the minds of earthlings to seize control of this force instantly. The combination of these two worlds creates a vast canvas in which numerous poems and epics have been written in all civilizations. When the medium of cinema was introduced, adaptations of various legends and stories based on the underworld provided many an interesting tale that would appeal to the masses. One such grand story featuring the goddess of the Underworld (Patala Bhairavi) was made into a hit Telegu film in 1951 by the production house of Vijaya Banner.
Directed by K V Reddy, the film featured the talented team of actors led by N T Rama Rao, S V RangaRao, K. Malathi and others. The lyrics and dialogues were both written by Pingali NagendraRao and nine (perhaps eleven) songs were featured in this movie set to music by the versatile singer/composer Ghantasala Venkateshwara Rao. The runaway success of this film for over 100 days in twenty eight cities gave it the honor of being the only Telugu film to be screened at the India International Film festival in 1952.
This film was also produced in Tamil in the same year 1951. Gemini Films then dubbed this movie in Hindi under the title Patal Bhairavi in 1952. The heroine of the Telugu original, K. Malathi, was well-versed in Hindi, and thus required no voice-over. Ghantasala remained the music composer in Hindi and the lyrics of nine songs were written by Pandit Indra Chandra. Geetaji was the lead female playback singer with three solos. She also sang a duet each with Talat Saab and G M Durrani Saab. In addition to these, there were two solos by Talat Saab and a solo each by Jikki and T.G Kamala Devi in the Hindi version.
As most of the music lovers already know, Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao (1922–1974) is a Legendary & distinguished Indian Playback Singer and music composer of Telugu films and many other languages such as Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Tulu and Hindi.
For nearly more than a quarter of a century, his was the distinguished voice of Telugu films. He also composed music for more than 100 movies.
Only a few songs of this film are available from the Hindi version and one tune is the same as that in the Telugu original. Geetaji shows unmistakable strokes of brilliance in the latter which are different and varied from the counterpart song in Telugu, sung by an equally supreme singer, P Leela. We analyze below the creativity that Geetaji imparted to the beautiful compositions of Ghantasala.
(i) The first song is the passionate, romantic duet of Geetaji and Talat Saab which has the same tune as in its original Telegu version:
Kahin Preet se bhara, koi geet garaha, kahin preet se bhara
Akhiyaan milamila, mujhko bularaha
jiyaraumangmein, jiyaraumangmein
Kahinpreet se bhara
The song starts with a brisk instrumental prelude and the nectar-filled voice of Geetaji transports the listener to a gentle land where the princess is in love with a gardener. The song is soft and evokes the stillness of the night with moonlight shining into the palace filling the air with the glow of tender love. In contrast, the original Telugu song, “Entha ghaatu premayo” is composed in a slower mode and sung by the supreme singer/composer Ghantasala with P Leela. A video is available which shows the princess admiring a flower and then the voice of Leela beckons the viewer to enjoy the romantic liaison between the gardener and the princess.
The words of the mukhda in Hindi are shorter than in Telugu giving Geetaji an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate her ability to do carnatic based taans elegantly and briskly, each time stressing and stretching a different syllable. When Talat Saab enters the song, his soft vocals evoke the distance that remains between the princess inside her palace with the gardener outside in the royal garden on a brilliant moon-lit night as his lady love calls out “yeh chandrama, yeh chandni, yeh kaliyaan, yeh lata”. The magic of their voices take hold and the duet engulfs the mind as a pristine love-duet that is soft, gentle, melodious and subtly intricate.
(ii) The second song is a solo by Geetaji:
Tan man mera tarse, kyon tarse
In this song, the composer uses a lovely flute prelude before introducing Geetaji’s divine voice depicting the state of her love-lorn mind that remains unsatisfied even after hearing a string of melodies. The song has wonderful flute interludes in the antara and one can catch a glimpse of the versatility of Geetaji in giving life to words as she does when she utters the mischievous phrase “chup-chhup” in the first antara and the phrase “taare taare khil-khil pyare” with the little lift in her voice to bring out the inner desires of the heart singing the melody.
(iii) The third song of Geetaji that is available is a dance duet with G M Durrani:
With the words “Jaaoongi maike jaaongi”, and strains of the snake charmer’s ‘been’, Geetaji is emphatic in her resolve when she sings the starting phrase declaring the end of her love while Durrani Saab indulges in brisk declarations of his love asking for forgiveness for his many slips.
(iv) The fourth song is a solo by Geeta ji, an extremely rare one. “Gunjat bhanwra jhoomat kaliyaan”
Please click on the triangle below to listen this extremely rare and melodious song.
We hope more songs of the Hindi movie will soon become available. There is one more song of Geeta ji from this film which we are still looking for.
Sun le rani meri kahani
We are trying our best since past several years to get such rare songs.
Meanwhile, there is recent news that the Telugu classic will be remade in 3D soon.
Acknowledgements:
We are grateful to our dear friend Khantha Mahadevan ji for writing this article for our website as a tribute to Geeta ji.
Also we heartily thank our dear friend Nikhil Iyer for sharing the rare song with us.
Tags: Bhairavi, Durrani, Ghantasala, Paatal, Patal, Pathal, South, Talat
Good Evening
Wonderful and interesting article and the beautiful songs.
Knowing about the Indian film history is always an unquenchable thirst.
This is like a ocean of water to quench that thirst.
Thanks Regards and Blessings
Uma Maheswar Nakka
Very very happy to listen to these songs. Wonderful works are hidden somewhere. Thanks for the research and getting them for us.
Fascinating facts! I have seen Patala Bhairavi(Telugu)many times and also hear Bhule bisre geet. But Never knew and heard these songs earlier.Thanks