The effect of IV Shantaram’s film ‘Navrang’ in 1959 is such that the festival of Holi is not complete without this film. Every year new songs come on Holi, films celebrate this festival, but ‘Navrang’ songs ‘Ja Re Hat Naught’ can rarely give a film to the way Holi is celebrated. In ‘Ja Re Hat Nutkhat’, actress Sandhya dance and act is always seen as a landmark in Hindi cinema.
Director V Shantaram to create situations of this song, music composer C. Ramchandra to make tunes and Bharat Vyas for Lyrics are less than that. But do you know about the hero of ‘Navrang’, who was the lead actor of the first film of Hindi cinema actor Dilip Kumar?
In which situation was in ‘Navrang’, ‘Ja Re Hat Nutkhat’ song?
Shantaram’s film ‘Navrang’ is the story of a poet named Diwakar who is bored with the lack of life and love in his real wife. He takes a girlfriend in his fantasies, whose name is Mohini. But he has imagined the face of this siren like his wife. Remembering Mohini, he writes poems but his wife and family feel that this Mohini is a real woman whose love is being immersed in love. Due to this dream, the financial condition of the house is being deteriorated.
The story is of the time of the British Raj and Diwakar lives in the kingdom of a king. Due to his poetry, Diwakar’s friendship becomes with a court singer Leelu Rangbaz. The king has decided that he will celebrate Holi in his court. For this, he has sent Luelu in a letter to write- ‘Leelu Rangbaz should be present in the court with her congregation and beautify the occasion, hear such a colorful song.’
Leelu has proposed to Diwakar to write the song of Holi and take his share from the prize received from the king. Diwakar gets irritated by this offer of Leelu and says that he will start selling his poem ‘When mothers start selling their children’. Remembering the deteriorating situation of the house, Diwakar recites a song by standing Rangbaza:
Kaviraja poetry opinion now
Talk about business, add some money
Sher Shayari Kaviraja will not work
Kavita’s book will eat termites
There is a line in the middle of this song that gives a message to poets or artists to work on their creativity as well as financial strength:
Hey, make songs on poetry hungry on money
Ghazal on wheat, tell paddy lions!
People often call this song of ‘Navrang’ as the first rap of Bollywood. However, whether it is or not can be debated. But Diwakar alias Kaviraj Navrang agrees to write songs on this motivation of Leelu Rangbaz. But there has been a tribulation in the house to write his songs, so they are unable to write songs and leave the house.
On the way, Leelu meets again, he has tension that if the song is not found, then the king can get angry in anger, he can do it. Diwakar has sat under an idol of Lord Ganesha on the way, Leelu and his troupe are taunting. Diwakar is insisting on the mind and the song that he writes by remembering Lord Shri Krishna’s Atkheli, adding color to the water to fill the water is ‘Ja Re Hat Nutkhat’. Watch the song here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jbmjd2iaxa
That is, the real motivation behind the song is Leelu Rangbaz. This character was played in ‘Navrang’, by the popular comedy actor Aga of that era. In the role of Leelu Rangbaz, Aga did not speak any line which went away from the mood of the story and tried to do comedy. But his physical comedy, speaking style, expression and gesture were so funny which were also coloring the comedy in a film with a serious story like ‘Navrang’.
Three days school studying in school
In Pune, India, a family came from Iran in Fatima Nagar area, in which Agazan Baig was born on 21 March 1914. If Aga was admitted to school, he studied for only three days. In a later interview, he said that he could ‘tolerate’ studies for the same number of days. Aga Aga does only work with friends throughout the day, which the family and society officially speak ‘Auragardi’. That is, looking for a walk and seeing the race of horses, to see the dream of becoming a mounted yourself.
The father came to Mumbai in search of work where Aga saw a drama in the neighborhood and thought- ‘I can do this work’ and Manmouji Aga joined this theater group. His spontaneous acting and comic timing impressed people, then it started getting advice to ‘Try in films’. Agha tried, got work in a studio, but on the first day, when he arrived late and a half hours, he was also removed.
Aga again discovered work in the film Studios and this time the production manager got the work in a company. The work was behind the screen, but seeing the nature of Aga and his skills in comedy, he was brought in front of the screen. Aga made his debut as a comedy actor from the 1935 film ‘Rangti Grime’ and then went on to do the same work in about 10 films, including Mehboob Khan’s film ‘Roti’ (1941).
Dilip Kumar’s debut film’s lead hero was Aga
With comedy, Aga’s acting was also getting discussion and this gave him the lead role in ‘Fatal’ (1942). Aga started becoming very popular. In 1944, Aga played the lead role in a film named ‘Jowar Bhata’, in which a young boy named Dilip Kumar made a film debut in a supporting role. The same Dilip Kumar who is counted in the legends of Indian cinema today. But today the name of Aga is to the common people, the film Lovers also rarely remember it easily.
India became independent in 1947 and along with the fragrance of independence, cinema was also changing. Now stars were starting to create in cinema. The golden phase of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand’s trio had started. Aga was still on the big screen but now he had become a completely comic actor. By the end of the 80s, Aga continued to be doing comedy in films and in his more than 50 years long career, he became a part of more than 300 films. In 1986, Aga was found to have cancer and died of a heart attack in 1992.
The amazing comedy of Aga is seen in many old films like ‘Gharana’, ‘Humanity’, ‘Dulha Dulhan’ and ‘Padosan’. But on the occasion of Holi, the full sequence of the song ‘Ja Re Hat Naught’ in the film ‘Navrang’ gives a perfect opportunity to remember Aga.