Opening stroke….

I had heard this song on AIR scores of times in my childhood. It played once again this morning. I was intrigued enough to watch the video clip and discovered it had my favourite actress of the era, Geeta Bali, in it. Geeta Bali was the one actress who lives up to the epithet vivacious, in every sense of the word. A lady who wasn’t really stunningly beautiful, but had amazing on-screen presence and oozed charm. Her smile was truly infectious and utterly bewitching. From the guitar strumming seductress in a tavern in Baazi, to the revolutionary sadhvi in Anandmath to the successful heroine who inexplicably falls in love with a simpleton in Albela, her oeuvre encompassed the entire spectrum and she possessed the acting skills in her repertoire to do justice to all the varied roles.

The song itself is directed towards children of all ages between 2 and 92. The generation which saw the movie as children are well and truly into their seventies now. https://youtu.be/U4zZbpGR778

A story of a lady who sacrifices her love to look after her ageing (& blind) father and younger brothers and gets accused in return by her brother/sister in law of stealing from their home and then moves out with her father to land a job of caring for the ailing wife of a rich man, the storyline is pretty par for the course for Bollywood. The expected twist of the ailing lady turning out to be the wife of her ex lover (who has married her most reluctantly because the heroine sacrifices her own love to look after her family) doesn’t surprise the seasoned movie going crowd.

The film, Vachan, a big hit at the box office, received two nominations at the 1956 Filmfare Awards. Geeta Bali received her first and only competitive Best Actress nomination at the Filmfares (she was also a Best Supporting Actress nominee the same year: 1956). Mukhram Sharma also was nominated for the story. Ravi made his Bollywood debut with the film. The movie also has the first important role for Rajendra Kumar as the ungrateful younger brother of Geeta Bali.

The song has a wonderful set of lyrics, also credited to Ravi. The song became so popular it is almost part of folklore as a famous lullaby. All the songs in the movie, Vachan , have been sung by Asha Bhosle.

चंदा मामा दूर के, पुए पकाए बूर के
चंदा मामा दूर के, पुए पकाए बूर के

आप खाए थाली मे, मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
आप खाए थाली मे, मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
चंदा मामा दूर के, पुए पकाए बूर के
प्याली गयी टूट, मुन्ना गया रूठ

प्याली गयी टूट, मुन्ना गया रूठ
लाएँगे नयी प्यालिया, बजा-बजा के तालिया
लाएँगे नयी प्यालिया, बजा-बजा के तालिया
मुन्ने को मनाएँगे हम दूध मलाई खाएँगे
चंदा मामा दूर के, पुए पकाए बूर के

आप खाए थाली मे, मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
चंदा मामा दूर के, पुए पकाए बूर के
उड़नखटोले बैठ के मुन्ना चंदा के घर जाएगा

उड़नखटोले बैठ के मुन्ना चंदा के घर जाएगा
तारो के संग आँख मिचौली खेल के दिल बहलाएगा
खेल कूद से जब मेरे मुन्ने का दिल भर जाएगा
ठुमक-ठुमक मेरा मुन्ना वापस घर को आएगा
चंदा मामा दूर के, पुए पकाए बूर के

हो चंदा मामा दूर के, पुए पकाए बूर के
आप खाए थाली मे, मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
आप खाए थाली मे, मुन्ने को दे प्याली मे
चंदा मामा दूर के, हो पुए पकाए बूर के

The saddest part was such a wonderful human and wonderful actress died very young while shooting for the Punjabi movie and Rajinder Singh Bedi’s favourite project “Ek Chadar Maili See” of small pox. Shammi Kapoor was heartbroken and she left behind a young son and daughter. Bediji was so disheartened he shelved the project and revived it much later with Hema Malini, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Rishi Kapoor. Amazing fact: The song “Chanda Mama Door Ke” became very popular. Its opening bars were used in the hit song “Ek Do Teen” of the Madhuri Dixit film Tezaab.

Have fun, guys, I love this song from Ravi’s first film. Hope you like it too.