Similarly, in Bombay Talkies ‘Bandhan’ (made in 1940), there was a song sung by Arun Kumar, ‘Chana zor garam babu main laya mazedaar’. She sings, ‘Raste mein mila ik Bangali- dhoti dheeli dhali.’ But no objection was raised. But why this sensitivity towards the line ‘dheeli’ dhoti, when the same expression was used in a song tuned by S.D.Burman in Filmistan’s ‘Shabnam’: ‘Yeh duniya roop ki chor’ sung by Shamshad Begum for Kamini Kaushal dressed up as a boy. ‘Dhoti dheeli dhali’ was changed and Bengalis were referred to as ‘In ki shaan nirali’ and the second line was reframed as, ‘Kahin Chatterrji Kahin Banerji Kahin Ghosh kahin Dutta hai, suno ji ye Calcutta hai’. So the lyrics were revised and in the subsequent edition of the 78RPM, the lines were changed. And at another stage he sings, ‘Kahin Chatterji kahin Banerji, Kahin Narinder Dutta hai, sunojee ye Calcutta hai’.There must have been some objections. In one of the lines, while referring to Bengalis, Rafi sings about their ‘dhoti dheeli dhaali’. And the 78 RPM record flooded the market. There was another song, rendered by Asha Bhosle, which became a superhit: ‘Aiye meharbaan, baithiye jaane jaan, shauk se lijiyeji, ishq ke imtihan…’ There was a comedy song in the film too, ‘Ent ki dukki paan ka ikka kahin joker kahin satta hai, sunojee ye Calcutta hai…’ This song was released much in advance of the film’s arrival. And the first song which strikes the cords of my memory is, ‘Mera naam chin chin chhoo, raat chandni main aur tu, Hello Mister How do you do ?’. ‘Howrah Bridge’ instantly comes to my mind. Today I will recall only a few of his films that were rich in music as well.
But it doesn’t seem that he is not amidst us because the memorable songs from his super-hits have kept him alive. Seven years ago, on April 9, 2009, the well-known film maker, Shakti Samanth, producer of several golden jubilee hits, passed away.