Songs have always played an undisputed role in inciting the spirit of nationalism in the hearts of millions of people. Many patriotic songs, written by literary stalwarts like Tagore or Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. Hindi Films also played a role in uniting the people. Kavi Pradeep was the first songwriter to write patriotic songs for Bollywood. His song ' Chal Chal Re Naujawan", for the 1940 film Bandhan, made waves since the Indian freedom movement was at a crucial juncture.
Kavi Pradeep wrote a song for the film Kismet during the Quit India movement. “Door Hato” was quite literally a demand for the British to quit India. To avoid objections by the censor board, Pradeep used the line “Tum Na Kise Ke Aage Jhukna German Ho Ya Japan” to make it appear that the song was against the Axis powers of World War II.
You would be surprised to find our National Anthem Jana Gana Man which was used before independence in a film called 'Hamrahi' released in 1945. The song was recorded by the film’s music director R.C. Boral and rendered by a choir
The first song in my list is the song Chal Chal Re Naujawan from the film Bandhan released in 1940. It was in 1939 that the film studio Bombay Talkies hired a young and energetic Hindi poet, Pradeep, to pen lyrics of the songs. “Bandhan”, Click at the link below to watch this song
The next song in this list, sung by Ashok Kumar and Renuka Devi, is by a poet who would go on to be called Rashtrakavi – Kavi Pradeep for the film Naya Sansar in 1941
In 1941, Sohrab Modi’s ‘Sikandar’ hit the screens. Pandit Sudarshan penned the lyrics for the movie while Mir Sahab and Rafiq Ghaznavi composed the music. The soundtrack has a song “Jeete desh humara, Bharat hai ghar baar humara, Bharat hai sansar humara”
