KNOW SURENDRANATH, BALLB, ( SURENDRA) Great Actor singer

Surendranath BALLB was the matinee idol of masses during 1936 to
late fiftees. He was born in 1910 at Batla village in Punjab. He wanted to become a
lawer and came to Bombay but landed in films.His friends in fact wanted
him to join films much impressed with his personality and voice. It
came out true. Mahboob Khan the famous director who was hunting for a
hero cum singer to counter Saigal in the field saw Surendra 6 ft tall very handsome with good voice and acapable singer
at a function and immediately grabbed him. Rest is history. He entered
Hindi filmdom when KL Saigal was at the peak. New theaters of Calcutta
turnedout box office hits one after the other with KL Saigal the famous
singer and Surendra was BA LLB in those days became a boon to Bombay filmdom. His first movie was
Deccan queen. With Surendra entering Bombay films, great void was
filled and soon he made a place for himself. His song Birhaki aag lagi
more man mein from Deccan Queen , a Parady of Saigals Balam aye baso mere
ma mein.. became successful followed by Tumne Mujhko prem sikhaya with
Bibbo from film Manmohan . His musicals Lal haveli, Bhartruhari,
Gramaphone singer, Garib,Jawani,Village girl, Vishwas, jagirdar , Vishkanya, Aurat, earned
him laurels.He had the patronage of great music director Anil Biswas.
He rendered songs under great music directors such as Naushad, K datta,
Ram gangulay, Khem chnad prakash and sD Burman. His duet with Noorjehan from Anmol
Ghadi was the eternal hit of all times. There has been no song greater
than this till date. Film after film followed and Surendra thrilled audience with
his songs. He was called saigal of Bombay. Yet he had his own style of
acting and singing.His haunting melodies such as Tera jahha aabad hai..Kyo yaad aarahe hai guzre hue zamane, Ab koun hai mera.. Kyo man dhoonde premnadee ka a kinaara..Ab raat gayee re beet re..Bhanwara,, madhban me mat jaa.. re, Mujh ko jeenekaa bahhana mil gaya,,Kahe akela dolat baadal mohe bhi sang le jaa, Teri yaad ka deepak jalta hai.. din raatmere deewane mein have no parallels other than saigals certain songs.

His songs from Elan ( ek barphir se aaja… aayeen me ek chadsi surat
nazar aayee ( with Ameer bai karnataki)… Tera jahan aabad hai.), Anokhi
Ada ( Jalena kyo parwana.. bade bhole bhale hai..kyo usne dil diya..
withShamshad..) can not be forgotten. He sang excellent duets with
Geetha dutt in Maya maschindra. Chupke Chupke.. and Kamal ( Kahneko
tayyar magar kaise kahe ham..) and Meri Kahani ( Bul bul ko mila phool,
Wada karke kisise na aana….. solo ..Dil tadap kar rah gaya . No one can
forget his duet with Suriah from 1857..(. Teri Nazar mein…Solo… Pehli
mulakhat…).Prem nagar ki aur chale hain with, Khursheed from Majdhar
and duets from Ali Baba ( Ham aur tum aur ye khushi with wahida bano).
His soft soothing voice is gods gift to him.

However, he had no song in musical hit film Baiju Bawara in which
he portrayed Tansen the great classical singer. It is generally
believed that Music director Naushad did not cater for a song in this
film for Surendra. Surendra stated about this in an interview over TV
that was telecast many years ago that I saw.
Surendra stated that
he never claimed himself as a classical singer and sang light musicals.
However no doubt Surendra was deeply hurt. Then slowly he no doubt
withdrew from the field. Although he sang in few more films and acted
such as in Gawaiah in which he gave best songs under Ram Ganguly. His
song Teri Yad ka deepak... was much preferred to Talats version in the
film. Then we find that Surendra concentrated on acting and acted in
many socials that was the trend in those days. The music lovers lost
the chance of hearing golden voice of Surendra. However in rare
appearance Surendra gave play back in Pati patni with Mannadey in 1964.
this was last time he held microphone.Surendra continued to act in character roles till he passed away in 1987 after acomplished life leaving his immortal songs for all of us.

The filmi music too changed. There was no poetry in songs. It was
complete cacophony with western music dominating the field. Trash was poured in
the albums as songs. The songs were high pitched with shrieks ( ex aayyayo karoo my kya ssooku..) with cock and bull
instruments making more din than useful effects. Mukesh and Talat had
their share of few good songs for some time. Gentlemen like Surendra
probably abstained from the degenerated Hindi film music.In fact the word music is apology for them. mUsic directors had to cater for degenerated public taste and Films aremere commercial and they too degenerated. Fe male singers song obscene songs for dance music and people who had lost all wisdom appreciated them. Real music disappered. Talat too
followed soon and shut his doors to Hindi cinema music. In fact Talat
refused to sing later and withdrew from the arena. The present
generation does not know who was great Surendra. It is not their fault. At
various musical forums Surendra was forgotten. They were ill informed
and ignorant too. The present and past generation from sixties only
know Rafi, Mukesh, talat, Mahendra kapoor , Manna dey etc. Saigal and
Surendra, KC dey, Pahadi sanyal, are unknown to them. It is generally
believed that big trees kill small trees and do not allow other trees
to grow. Similar things happened in Hindi filmdom. Memory of great
singers was literally killed by the never ending domination by some over rated shriek singers who turned out trash in the modern cinema as dance songs in
bulk. Quality disappeared long ago. Money making was the only aim. Even Rafi took to songs that were more or
less shouting and yelling and braying than rendering of any poetry and singing from soul that surendra did. Kishore sang all types of
songs and captured entire industry and taste of movie goers too
dwindled. There was no class. Degradation was complete. . Surendra
lives in the hearts of music lovers who care for good music, values and
good poetry.