This series is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh ji, Author and Film Historian on ‘Same Name Confusions’ that occur due to similar names of artists. Thanks to him for writing for us and supporting the website.
This is the III and the concluding part of this series. This does not mean that all such cases are discussed-in fact, far from it ! I think, I have not been able to discuss even half of them.
Some readers had expected that some debatable cases would be discussed and clarified in this series. But I was very clear on this. Controversy and Same Name Confusion are two different things. Controversies are NEVER solved, because, whatever the decision, one of the warring parties does not agree to it. This is more so, when the persons concerning the controversies are no more alive. i wanted to focus only on confusions arising out of common names, in which, invariably, injustice is done to the lesser known party – crediting his work to the more well known name-alike artiste.
Today’s list consists mainly of such cases, where the same-name poor cousins of the well known same name artistes suffered heavily.
The First case today is of MD N. DATTA AND MD NARAYAN DUTTA.
11. Actually, many people may not be even aware that any MD by the name of NARAYAN DUTTA existed,but in reality he did and has contributed to Hindi Film Music to the best of opportunities that he got to do so. NARAYAN DUTTA, I feel , was one of those unlucky composers like,C.Arjun, Sailesh Mukherjee, Daan singh, Sardar Malik, Jamal Sen,Pardesi etc, who had enough talent but luck was not in their favour.
Most Internet sites and few writers too get confused between these two MDs, thinking that N.Datta means Narayan Dutta . Consequently, films in which Narayan Dutta gave music are coolly added to the filmography of N.Datta !
NARAYAN DUTTA was born in Bilawas village in Jodhpur state. His father Durgaprasad was the Court Singer (Raj Gayak) with Bikaner King Ganga Singh. Narayan learnt music from his father since childhood. With a desire to sing in Hindi films, like many other such dreamers, he reached the Mayanagari-Bombay in 1946.
He sang his first song for Rajkapoor in ” Neelkamal”-1947.However the commercial record of this song was made with the composer’s voice-Snehal Bhatkar. Then he sang two songs,one with Geeta and one with Mukesh in Rasili-47. With the help of Kidar Sharma he got songs in Sehra-48, Gauna-49 and Uddhar-49, in addition to some stunt films of Mohan Pictures, but no records were made.
Somehow, he felt that there was not much scope for singing so he turned to composing and his first film was Mordhwaj-52, followed by Astik-56,Shyam ki Jogan-57,Naya Kadam-58 and Pujarin -72 (in the period 58-72,his few films remained incomplete like Aji bas rahne do,meerabai,Bhakta Pralhad etc),Narad Leela-72,Jai Hanuman-73,Seetaram Radheshyam-73, Saraswati-Laxmi-Parvati-75, Sindoor ka Daan-84 and Humse mile tum-84
In addition to these 11 Hindi films,he also gave music to 3 Rajasthani films- Baba Ramdev Peer-63,Mhari Pyari Chanana-83 and Nanibai ko Bhayro-84.
After films stopped coming,he engaged himself in making NFS based on local folk tunes. He also composed songs for Arya Samaj,Jain Samaj and Rajneesh Foundation. He established ” Sur Tarang” a school to teach music.
This talented but unlucky composer died on 16-6-1988.
N.DATTA OR DATTARAM BABURAO NAIK was born in Aroba village in Goa. Portuguese music attracted him. After matriculation,he reached Bombay and learnt music in Deodhar music school. he used to compose songs in Ganesh melas. Impressed with his talent,S D Burman took him as his assistant for Afsar, Naujawan, Bahar, Saza, Baazi, Devdas and many more films.
His First independent film as MD was Milap-55 (ye baharon ka samaa and Jaate ho to jaao par jaoge kahan).He did many films for Sippys,like Mr.X (Laal laal gaal),Light House,Black Cat,Chandrakanta,Didi etc. Then he joined BR camp because of Sahir’s friendship,and did Sadhana, Dhool ka Phool and Dharmaputra. While composing the song “Chalo ek baar phir se” for Gumrah-63,for which he was the MD originally, he got a Heart attack and the film went to Ravi.
After spending a year in Hospitals, when N.Datta came back, the Film industry has gone ahead miles, without him and he was left with only B grade films now. Ustaad-420, Rustom e baghdad, Awara Abdullah, Bahadur Daaku, Hercules etc. Even in these films he gave good songs like ‘ meri tasweer leke kya karoge tum’ from kala Samunder, but the times had changed and he continued with Dilli ka dada, Gyarah Hazaar Ladkiyan, Chandi Ki Deewar, Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke, Bhai Behen and his last hit Naya Raasta. His last film was Chehere pe chehera.
In his last days, he was so bad financially that he played instruments in other composers’ orchestra quietly. When L-P learnt about this, they called him honourably in their orchestra and a pay packet used to go to him after every recording irrespective of whether he was a part of it or not ! Even his wife had to sing in chorus. He shifted from Peddar Road to Bandra to Andheri(w). A street where he lived is now named “N. DATTA ROAD”.
His son Roop wanted to make a film in which he was to make a come back, but he died on 30-12-1987. A coincidence in his life was he got his first film as MD in 55 and he gave music to 55 films in all !
To conclude, please remember, Narayan Dutta and N.Datta were two different MDs and N. Datta was Datta Naik.
12. MD IQBAL QURESHI AND MD IQBAL
Really, not many of us know that there was a MD called Iqbal,who was not Iqbal Qureshi, MD !
Qadri Building, Irla, Bombay, was a well known address for Taxi and Auto drivers. Here lived the tallest (6′ 4″) Music Director of Bombay once. Apart from Sh. Mukhtar, he was the only tallest person in the industry at one time.
Born and brought up in Aurangabad(Maha.), IQBAL QURESHI shifted to Hyderabad when it was a Nizam state. He established a ” Fine Arts Academy” to promote arts, culture and Music shows. His friends in this were Chandrashekhar, the actor and Lyricist and communist leader makhdoom Mohiuddin.
In Hyderabad, during his schooling itself he learnt classical music from several Ustads. He joined a Govt.dept. as a store keeper. He was transferred to Bombay and came in contact with I.P.T.A. He started giving music to IPTA dramas. Impressed with his tunes, Lekhraj Bhakri offered him his first hindi Film as an MD-Panchayat-58,which was also the debut film for Hari kishan Goswami or Manoj Kumar. Panchayat songs (Ta thayya karte aana) became hit and he AVM called him for Bindiya-60.His best film came from Filmalaya-LOVE IN SHIMLA-1960. It made a tremendous hit and there was no looking back. The films followed were Banarasi Thug-62 and Cha Cha Cha-64.
Even after giving hit songs also, Iqbal Qureshi did not get the number of films he deserved and finally ended up with a tally of only 28 films in his career, with 1 Bhojpuri film too. He never entered the politics nor he went to anyone asking for work. This inevitably ended his career with Lakhpati in 1991.
After Chinese aggression in 62, He had composed a NFS with Mahendra Kapoor,”Chalo sipahi chalo”,which had become quite popular also. He was a very kind person and helped many in their troubles. He died on 21-3-1998 in Bombay.
While Iqbal qureshi’s career spanned between 1958 to 1991, there was another MD by the name of IQBAL (Md. Iqbal),who operated between 1953 to 1975. This Iqbal was known as ” Chhota Iqbal”, probably based on the heights of these two Iqbals.
He started his career with Malika Saloni-53. He gave music to 21 films and 2 unreleased films. His films are-
Malika Saloni-53
Jaadugar-54
Jaasoos-55
Sakhi lutera-55
Anokha Jungle-56
Sipah Salaar-56
Gypsie-57
Chetak aur Rana Pratap-58
Black Mailer-59
hero No. 1- 59
Toofani Teerandaz-59
Wrong Number-59
Diler Haseena-60
Gun Fight-60
Jaalim Jaadugar-60
Night Bird-61
Toofani Tarzan-62
Kaala Jaadu-63
Black Arrow-65
Fauladi Mukka-65
Agent 302-1963
Unreleased….Gypsie-66 and Raajkumar Sooraj-75
Iqbal never compromised on quality singers and used Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur, Asha, Khan Mastana, Meena Kapoor, Madhubala Zaveri, Mubarak Begum, Mahendra Kapoor, Ismail Azad Qawwal, Talat Mehmood, S.Balbir, Minu Purushottam, Chandbala etc. His songs do not include, possibly, any Lata number.
After films, he composed several Muslim devotionals with Mukesh and few Gazals with Shailendra Singh. His one song from film ” Sipah Salar”-56-a Talat-Asha duet is included by HMV in their Classic range.
With all this, IQBAL remained a small time composer, an action film MD, unlike his Same Name counterpart who bathed in the glory of Hit songs. Iqbal’s only hit film,’Sipah salar’ is also invariably included in Iqbal Qureshi’s filmography, which is injustice to poor IQBAL !
13. Now we come to actress ZUBEIDA-one who acted in india’s first Talkie “Aalam Ara”-1931 and actress Zubeida, on whose life the film ‘Zubeida’-2000 was made. Some people may be surprised to note that these two were different persons.
One of the wives of Nawab Siddi Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan of the state of Sachien,Gujarat was Fatima Begum. She was in films, even before marriage. There is however no proof of their marriage. From the Nawab, She got three daughters, namely Sultana, Shahzadi and Zubeida. All daughters and the mother were into films.
Fatima was the First woman to establish Fatima Film co, Bombay, to produce and Direct “Bul bul-E-Paristan”-1926. All the 4 women acted in it. Fatima then formed Victoria Fatima Film Co. in 1928 and produced 7 silent films-Chandravali,Heer Ranjha both in 1928 and Kanak Tara, Milan Dinar, Godess of Love, Shakuntala and Wonderful prince all in 1929. Her company was closed in 1930.
Sultana, the eldest daughter, known as ‘The sultry Sultana’, was famous for doing sexy roles. She came into limelight when she filed a case against Yassir Hussain Lalji, son of the chief of Bombay Municipality, in 1931, claiming to be his wife and demanding a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs in those days !
The second daughter known as Lovable Shahzadi also acted in films.
The third Zubeida, was born in 1911 and acted in silent filmVeer Abhimanyu,but debuted as a Heroine in Gul Bakavali-1922. She acted in 41 silent films and then she became the Heroine of India’s first Talkie AALAM ARA-1931. In this film she sang one song also.
In 1935, she converted to Hinduism and married Raja Dhanrajgir Narsing Girji Gyan Bahadur, a very rich Jagirdaar from Hyderabad state. She stopped working in films, after 21 films, in 1935.
She lived peacefully with her husband in Bombay. In 1982, one of her legs was amputated due to severe Diabetes and she spent her remaining life in wheel chair, yet till the end in 1988, She used to look very beautiful and gracious.
The other actress ZUBEIDA was born to Kassimbhai Mehta and Faiza Bai, Bohra Muslims. Faiza Bai was a famous Muslim singer. Zubeida, who was extremely beautiful, started her film career with Aurat ki Zindagi and Kiski Pyari, both in 1937.( Remember, Alam Ara Zubeida had stopped acting in 1935 and her last film was released in 1936 itself.)
Zubeida was forced to marry a Muslim person, who gave her Talaq when she refused to go to Pakistan with him, after the Partition. She had one son from him. His name is Khalid Mohammed, a well known film critic and writer of repute. (He himself had written the story of film Zubeida-2000, a film loosely based on his own mother). She again continued to act in films.
While doing Nirdosh Abla-1949, a love affair developed between her and the maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur. The maharaja was also married. They decided to get married. Zubeida left films after Nirdosh Abla-49. Being a Muslim she was not accepted in the Jodhpur family.
She converted to Hinduism. Mr. Brijraj Arya, an eye witness to this conversion ceremony states that it took place secretly and under security of pehelwans, on 17-12-1950,at Arya Samaj Mandir, Beawar and Zubeida became VIDYA RANI.
She and the Maharaja got married the same day and they entered Ummeed Bhavan palace from there. From this marriage also she had one son-RAO RAJA HUKM SINGH, born at Bombay on 2-8-1951.
Vidya Rani aka Zubeida and Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur died in a plane crash in 1952.
I simply wonder how can people get confused between these tweo Zubeidas ! One can understand if ordinary mortals get confused, but experts on Indian Cinema and authors of books on film music history also making this mix-up is beyond comprehension!
Mr.Rajiv Vijaykar’s name is well known as a writer on films. His book(with 2 wonderful CDs),” The history of Indian Film Music mentions that Zubeida of Aalam Ara, who also sang a song in the film, was the Zubeida on whom film Zubeida is made !
Film Zubeida-2000, written by Khalid Mohammed and directed by Shyam Benegal was based loosely on the life of the other Zubeida-aka Vidya Rani-who died in a Plane crash with her husband.
Can you imagine what Dainik Bhaskar.com comments on Aalam Ara Zubeida ? ” Zubeida was the daughter of the Nawab of Sachin, Maharaja Narsing Gir Dhanraj Gir and Fatima Begum. She had 2 sisters,Sultana and Shehzadi.” Just unimaginable,but how absurd and misleading !!!
So,let us remember, Aalam Ara Heroine Zubeida Dhanrajgir died a natural death in 1988 and actress Zubeida aka Vidya Rani died in a Plane crash along with her husband maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur in 1952.
They were Two different actresses !
14. MD ROSHAN AND SINGER ROSHAN
In the early era of Hindi films, most of the Music Directors used to sing songs in the films and even act in them, as playback was not available. After the advent of Playback, MDs were not acting in films, but most continued to sing in films as playback singers. Many examples can be quoted like, Anil Biswas, S D Burman, Ravi, Chitragupta, Nashad, C.Ramchandra, Hemant Kumar, S NTripathi, Snehal Bhatkar, Sudhir Phadke etc…
However there were almost equal number of Music Directors who never sang songs in films or otherwise. Examples are Naushad, Khayyam,L-P, S-J, K-A, Sajjad Hussain, O P Nayyar, N. Datta, Dattaram, Jaidev etc… It is ,nevertheless, interesting to note that in the 50s to 90s period, the singing composers’ number exceeded the non-singer composers !
Roshan was a name which never featured as a Singer of songs in films or otherwise. Though his wife Ira Nagrath (nee Ira Moitra) was a singer and had cut several private albums in Hindi.
So, when in film MAALDAAR-1951,few songs were sung by a ” ROSHAN “, the quick Guns jumped to the conclusion that the MD Roshan has sung those songs, and many Internet sites displayed this information.
The Music Director of MAALDAAR-51 was Satish Bhatiya ,who was a talented Music Director. Born in Shimla,and educated in Delhi ,he worked for A.I.R. Delhi and Bombay for a long time. He made many private albums featuring traditional Gazals and Folk songs. Maaldaar was his first Hindi film.
He called up his sister Usha Bhati a,working in Delhi A.I.R. and asked her to come to Bombay for playback singing. There was one mr. Roshan,who was working in Delhi A.I… usha Bhatia took him also along and reached Bombay. It was this Roshan who sang Maaldaar Songs.
All this is confirmed by the written comment from Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji, the famous Collector and expert on songs of Yore. Here is what he had said in Hindi (a rough Translation. The original is with me)
“Few days back,Mr.Ajay Mankotia, son of Usha Bhatia ji,called me up and said that for many years they were searching for usha ji’s songs in Maaldar. I told him I have all those songs’ records with me (2 Solos and 3 Duets) and that I will mail them to them. After few days he phoned up again and told me that usha ji had become very sentimental after listening to those songs. She had thought that she would never listen to them in her life. After a week or so,I spoke to Usha ji myself and asked her first, who this Roshan was. She told me that he was working with them at Delhi A.I.R. as a singer. While Satish bhatia called them for Maaldaar-51, they were also invited to sing for Ratnadeep-52. However they sang only for Maaldaar. She shared many other matters with me…..”
So, once for all, this matter is clear that MD Roshan and singer Roshan are two different persons and in Maaldaar-51, it was the Delhi Roshan who sang them.
15. Now we come to the last pair of this series.
They are ACTOR TRILOK KAPOOR AND SINGER TRILOK KAPOOR.
Trilok Kapoor was very famous for his portrayal of Shiv ji in Mythological films, in which he paired with Nirupa Roy as his consort-Parvati.
TK (Trilok Kapoor) was born at Multan on 3-3-1882 and was educated at Peshawar. He went to Bombay to join his brother. He got his first film CHAR DARVESH-1933. He went to Calcutta and did some films there. He also worked as assistant. to Director Hem Chandra. In the 40s and 50s, His patent role was that of Mahadev. He did 7 films in a row for this role and in all those films Nirupa Roy was Parvati. (However, no one could ever beat the divine pair of Ram and Seeta enacted by Shobhana Samarth and Prem Adib in Ram Rajya-1943).
TK did about 120 films His last film was a TV film Akanksha, which was released after his death on 23-9-1989.
As per HFGK, Trilok Kapoor the actor sang 1 solo in Aaj ki Duniya and 5 duets in Raja Rani-42. After this there are no songs on his name.
Now, about the Singer TRILOK KAPOOR.
He too was from Multan and was keen on singing in films. He and his wife have sung many Punjabi songs.
Singer Trilok kapoor sang a song in film Birhan-48 (Tu chanda main teri chakori – a duet with Dilshad Begum- record No. GE 5232). The film was in the making in 1946 at Lahore, but was released in 1948 due to Partition in 47.
The singer of this song can not be the actor Trilok kapoor, for the simple reason that he was busy in making 4 films in 1946 in Bombay and it is impossible that just to sing a song in a film, anybody would go to Lahore in those tumultous days.
Anyway, after the Partition, the singer Trilok Kapoor became a displaced person. He came to Bombay and met MD Shyamsunder, who sympathised with him, being a Punjabi himself from the same region. Shyam Sunder gave him a song in Bhai Behan-1950, a duet with Shamshad Begum. He got a job in Radio and continued singing in films like Guru Dakshina, Raag rang, Titlee,Goonj, Naya Raasta, Miss Mala, Saloni, Tootey Khiloune, Laadla and finally his last song in Trolley Driver-1958.
So, the actor Trilok kapoor and singer Trilok Kapoor are two different persons-
1) Actor Trilok Kapoor never sang after 1942.
2) Singer Trilok Kapoor never sang in any film featuring actor Trilok kapoor.
3) If actor trilok Kapoor was a singer himself, he would have sung his own songs in his films, instead of taking playback from other singers, e.g. G M Durrani in Mirza Sahibaan-47. Those who are singer actors rarely take playback from others.
4) The voice of trilok kapoor in songs and the dialogues in films is different.
5) It is likely that,actually the song of Aaj ki Duniya-40 and the duets of Raja Rani also were sung by the singer Trilok kapoor, as he sang a song in Birhan in 1946, as mentioned above with record number. the entry in HFGK may be just a case of ” Same name confusion” (like few other cases). Since the songs are not available, the benefit of doubt should go to singer Trilok Kapoor because he was a singer and NOT to actor Trilok kapoor as he was NOT a singer.
6) The final verdict was Shamshad begum had confirmed over Phone that Trilok kapoor with whom she sang was NOT the actor/brother of Prithviraj Kapoor,but was a different person.
So,please remember,actor Trilok Kapoor and singer Trilok kapoor were two different persons.
This is the concluding III part of this series. When the I part was posted,I received many suggestions and names. Actually this is such a vast subject,it can be the subject matter of a Book by itself.
I was able to cover only 15 such cases in details, This is a very tiring and time consuming project. It is NOT just a ” COMPILATION”,as some readers have said. Searching for information in different sources needs the knowledge of sources and lot of reading of books.Basically one must have the grasp of the subject . T ensure that the information given here is genuine and can be proved is a big burden which makes you very cautious in making unsubstantiable statements. I am aware that readers are a wiser lot and have lot of knowledge,hence one has to tread on this path very carefully.
While doing the spade work,i got my hands on some interesting facts,which are reserved for future articles. It was surprising to find some names so common in the industry. Of course a same name alone was not the basis of this series.
No one would get confused with Geeta(Roy), Geeta (Bali) or Geeta (Nizami) as their field of activity was different. Same case with Sr. Noorjahan (Shareef Daku-38 or Toofan Express-38), Malika e Tarannum Noorjehan, singer Noorjehan, Marathi actress Noorjehan or the recent actress of 50s and 60s. Similarly Madhuri of the 30s and the newer Marathi actress Madhuri Dixit. No one would get confused between them as they operated in different times and languages.
Similarly actress Bimlakumari (Badbaan-38,Double cross-38) and Bimla kumari of Barsat (Hawa mein udta jaaye) and Albela-51(Bhagwan’s sister) will not create confusion. Add to this Lahore’s Zeenat Begum,who also sang as Bimla Kumari (ref; article on Lalita Deulkar by Dr. S. Chandawankar).
There were several Neelams,madhuris,meenakshis,Yasmins,Khursheeds etc etc….
One thing was clear. In all this Same Name Confusions, maharashtrian actresses never got involved in confusions, though their names were common, Like Shanta or Nalini. This was because most Marathi actresses used their surnames also, like Shanta Apte or Shanta Hublikar or Gauhar Karnataki. They were automatically differentiated.
Can you believe that there were 8 NALINIs in the Industry, some at same time and some at different times? But they never caused any confusion.
1. Nalini Tarkhad
2. Nalini jaywant
3. Nalini Nagpurkar
4. Nalini Borkar
5. Nalini Dhere
6. Nalini Gupte
7. Nalini Chonkar and
8. Nalini Saraf- who became Seema Deo after marrying Ramesh Deo.
Then there were Leelas, kamalas, Zohras…the list is a long one.
There are cases, which i would have liked to discuss- like Ghulam Mohd-MD…Actor…Singer, Rajkumar(jaani) and other Rajkumars, Arun Ahuja and Arunkumar Mukherjee, Madan Mohan MD and Madan Mohan Lyricist. Radha Rani v/s Radha Rani…….
May be some other time, or may be someone may take the mantle from me and write about them…
Till then….Thanks and Bye…
My Thanks to-
1. Shri Gajendra Khanna ji – for this opportunity.
2. IMDB
3.Cineplot
4. Atulsongaday.me
5.RMIM forum discussions
6. HFGK and Listeners’ Bulletins
7. Shri Harish Raghuvanshi ji
8. Swaron ki yatra
9. Dhunon ki yatra
10. yaadon ki baaraat
11. Rahen na rahen hum
12.Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji
13. 8ate.blogspot
14. Filmography by Dr. R K Verma
15. Women in Hindustani films-Mrinal pandey
16. Chandrashekhar sandprints
17. Zubeida’s secret-The Times of India
18.Wikipedia
19.mumbaispider
20. mianwaheed .blogspot.
21. Shri Murlidhar Soni for his article on Composer Narayan Dutta titled “सुरीले संगीत सृजक नारायण दत्त” published in Listener’s Bulletin in February 1989, issue No 76
Picture Sources
1. Actor Trilok kapoor- Thanks to Muvyz.com
2. Actress Zubeida of Aalam Ara- Thanks to 8ate.blogspot
3. Actress Zubeida aka Vidya Rani with Rao Raja Hukm Singh as a child.
(This is a rare photo. Even I was surprised)…Thanks to Chandrashekharsandprints.com.
4. MD N.Datta- Thanks to Downmelodylane.com
5. MD Roshan- Google photos.
One reply on “Same Name Confusion Part 3”
While I appreciate the very good coverage of several Music Directors, I wish to point out that in case of N Dutta, the information given has some error. I am a keen follower of S D Burman’s films and I have noted his assistants for all available films. N Dutta was not his assistant for Baazi Naujawan and Devdas. It was Suhrid Kar. Whereas he was assistant for Jaal, Jeevan Jyoti, Angarey and Chalis Baba Ek Chor. I wonder where you got the information that he was assistant for Afsar because its print is not available.
Thank you