Wednesday, 6 May 2020

Bulo C Rani - A Forgotten Composer & Singer


Bulo C Rani was a music director of high caliber as well as a singer in the 1940s. He worked as an assistant to Khemchand Prakash in films such as Tansen, Chandni, Dukh Sukh, Baadshah Babar. Khemchand Prakash also gave him an opportunity to explore his singing ability by making him sing ‘Ruth Na Pyar Mein’ for the film “Mehmaan” (1942). 
My generation remembers him with the song "Humen To Loot Liya Milke Husn Walo Ne" and " Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol" from Jogan 1950.
 In the year 1943, Bulo. C. Rani worked as an assistant to Gyan Dutt in “Paighaam” and “Shankar Parvati”. He got the opportunity to sing for 6 films in the same year. In the film ‘Shankar Parvathi’ the song ‘O Jogan O Bairaagi’ had become popular among listeners.
He was born in HyderabadSindh provinceBritish India (now in Pakistan) on 6 May 1920, there is a confusion about his date of birth, someone known to him has corrected it to 6th March. His father was also a music director, he too decided to join the same profession after graduating from college. He joined Ranjit Movietone in 1939 where he met some very big personalities who were very prominent names in music such as Ghulam HaiderD. N. Madhok, etc. In the early 1940s,
Khemchand Prakash was a very big name in the music industry. He joined him as an assistant. He assisted Khemchand in movies like TansenChandniSukh Dukh (1942), and Shahenshah Babar (1944). He sang his first playback song "Ruth Na Pyaar Mein" under Khemchand in the film Mehmaan (1942). 
In 1943, h In e worked as an assistant to Gyan Dutt in two films- Paigham and Shankar Parvati. In the film Shankar Parvati, the song "O Jogan O Bairaagi" became a hit. Despite him composing the song, it was credited as a Gyan Dutt composition. However, he managed to sing in six films that year.
He got the first film as an independent composer in the 1944 film Caravan. It is said that the tunes in the Khursheed song ‘ Ho Dukhiya Jiyara’ for the 1943 film Tansen were supposedly set by Bulo. C. Rani but the credit went to Khemchand Prakash. The film featuring K. L. Saigal and Khursheed Bano in the lead roles.  
His next film as an independent composer was  Pagli Duniya (1944) but he got recognition with his next film Moorti 1945, all the songs were hit. Mukesh sang one of his first hit songs in the film, "Badariya Baras Gai Us Paar".
He made his mark with tracks like 'Ja Parwane Ja Kahin Shama Jal Rahi Hai' from Rajputani 1(946), 'Kaise Bataoon Tum Se Is Dil Ko Pyar Kyun Hai' from Anjuman and the hugely popular track 'Armaan Bhara Dil Toot Gaya' from Wafa.
His best work till date came in the early 1950s - Jogan (1950), Wafa (1951) and Bilwamangal (1954). Bilwamangal was one of his last soundtracks which contained classic songs of Suraiya and C. H. Atma. The songs of that film became popular with one number in particular, "Hum Ishq Ke Maron Ko", which was sung by Suraiya with lyrics by D. N. Madhok.
With the emergence of S D Burman,C Ramchandra,Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad and O P Nayyar,his demand as a composer reduced.However, he continued to compose for films till the mid-sixties. Some of his songs in this period were hits such as "Humein Toh Loot Liya" (Al Hilaal, 1958), "Mangne Se Jo Maut Mil Jati" (Sunehre Qadam, 1966)
He gave music in 71 films, the last released film was Bijli in 1972. As a singer, he sang in 19 films and composed 574 songs.
He died on 23 May 1993 at the age of 73 years in Mumbai,

Some of the Popular songs of Bulo C Rani

The first song as a Singer
Song of Mehmaan 1942


Song of Tansen 1943 


Song of Caravan (1944).


Song of Moorti (1946).


Song of Rajputani(1946).


Song of Anjuman (1948)


Song of Jogan 1950


Song of Jogan 1950


Song of Wafa (1950)


Song of Bilwamangal (1954)


Song of Al Hilaal, 1958


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