Manbhawan sawan aaya

Manbhawan sawan aaya
Rang jamaya
Manbhawan sawan aaya
Rang jamaya
Manbhawan sawan aaya
Rang jamaya

Kyun kali kali muskayi
Kyun chali hawa purvayi
Kyun kali kali muskayi
Kyun chali hawa purvayi
Sansaar yehi hain kya woh
Sansaar yehi hain kya woh
Naya rang laya hain
Naya rang laya
Manbhawan sawan aaya
Rang jamaya

Koyaliya meri saheli
Ab mat gaa geet akeli
Koyaliya meri saheli
Ab mat gaa geet akeli
Meri madhur madhur hothon ne
Meri madhur madhur hothon ne
Naya geet paaya hain
Naya geet paaya
Manbhawan sawan aaya
Rang jamaya

Meri bhar gayi nain nagariya
Meri bhar gayi nain nagariya
Chahe bhare na bhare gagariya
Meri bhar gayi nain nagariya
Chahe bhare na bhare gagariya
Meri hari bhari bagiya mein
Meri hari bhari bagiya mein
Naya phool aaya hain
Naya phool aaya
Manbhawan sawan aaya
Rang jamaya

Movie: Chandralekha (1948)
Director: S S Vasan
Singers: Uma Devi
Lyricist: Pandit Indra Chandra
Music Composer: S. Rajeswara Rao

The information on Pandit Indra Chandra is very sparse. The Wikipedia page only offers a few lines and even that information seems incorrect. It mentions his association with 132 films but I can find no evidence of this. Another link, a film history page, directed me to the movie from which I picked the song for today. So, I shall dwell instead on the movie in which Pandit Indra Chandra played a part, as both lyricist and dialogue writer apparently.

Chandralekha was reportedly the movie that opened the doors of Bollywood to artistes from the South and went on to make Madras a production hub for Hindi films. It was originally a Tamil movie that was remade in Hindi with the main stars reprising their roles. The movie also had the distinction of being the most expensive of its time. It was five years in the making and had some memorable action scenes that drew considerable praise from the critics of the time. The Tamil movie couldn’t recover even its production costs but the Hindi movie was a box-office success. 

If it weren’t for the search for lyrics penned by Pandit Indra Chandra, I would not have stumbled on this piece of India’s film history! Another delightful aspect of today’s song pick is that I found a song sung by Uma Devi, whose playback career was not long lived but who is remembered by many Hindi film fans as Tun Tun! ~ R