छोटी माँ

A Ranjit Movietone social drama of 1943, released and also catalogued under the title Nurse, directed by the studio's veteran writer-director Chaturbhuj Doshi. As with most Ranjit socials of the period, the narrative — built around domestic duty, sacrifice and a maternal figure ('Chhoti Maa', the little mother) — served as the vehicle for a Gyan Dutt song-score sung chiefly by Khursheed, then one of the most popular singing stars in Hindi cinema.

Music director Gyan Dutt, a Ranjit mainstay, set nine songs to D.N. Madhok's lyrics. Khursheed carries the bulk of the score with five numbers; Rajkumari sings the much-quoted 'Woh Gaye Nahin Hamen Milke'; Leela Sawant takes two lullaby-coloured songs ('Mera Nanha Sa Munna' theme, 'Tere Nanhe Girdhari Ne Haye'); and music director Bulo C. Rani lends his own voice to 'Kaun Khoj Mein Aaye Musafir'. The arrangements are in the melodic, harmonium-and-tabla idiom typical of early-1940s Ranjit socials.

Chhoti Maa belongs to the run of Ranjit Movietone socials through which Gyan Dutt and lyricist D.N. Madhok built a body of melodic, women-centred song. Its best-remembered numbers — Khursheed's 'Koyaliya Kahe Bole Ri' and 'Aankhon Ka Khel Khel Ke', and Rajkumari's 'Woh Gaye Nahin Hamen Milke' — circulated on 78-rpm discs well beyond the film itself and are still cited in surveys of 1943's female-voice repertoire.