Pahle murgi huyi thhi ke andaa
Posted on: March 14, 2009
“Which came first, chicken or egg”, this is the question. And who else to delve into such profound philosophy than our beloved Kishore Kumar.
So Kishore Kumar, the hero, sings this song “pahle murgi huyi thi ke andaa” in “Krorepati” (1961). Shailendra wrote the lyrics whereas Shankar Jaikishan composed the music.
That is where the plot thickens. Why ? Well, though Kishore Kumar is the actor and this is very much a comedy song right up his alley, it is not Kishore Kumar who actually gave playback for this song. It is Manna Dey who gives playback for Kishore Kumar in this song.
I do not know why the music director duo of Shankar Jaikishan did not let Kishore Kumar sing this song. During the same year, Kishore Kumar had shown his versatility as a singer by singing in male and female voices in the same song in “Half Ticket”, so he could have certainly sung for himself in this song. Perhaps Shankar Jaikishan took a leaf out of O P Nayyar’s book and decided that Kishore Kumar must sing in the voices of other singers like other normal heroes.
Manna Dey has sung this song nicely, no doubt about that. Manna Dey sang this “andaa” song here and 6 years later, he would sing an equally philosophical song “meri bhains ko danda kyun maara”.
The picturisation takes place in a big hall that was standard location for most songs in Bollywood movies. Apart from Kishore Kumar, I can identify people like K N Singh and Anoop Kumar. Kishore Kumar’s comical dancing keeps one amused throught the song.
Manna Dey in fact sang for Kishore Kumar in all other songs in this movie, not just this one.
Three decades later, there would be a TV game show which would have the word Krorepati in the title of their show. Keep this 1962 movie called Krorepati in mind. The game show KBC could well see you on the hot seat and the game host could be asking you to name the movie in which Manna Dey gave playback for Kishore Kumar. That day, you can thank this post of mine for enabling you to give the right answer without needing a lifeline.
Audio
Video
Song-Pahle murgi huyi thi ke anda (Krorepati) (1961) Singer – Manna Dey, Lyrics – Shailendra, MD – Shankar Jaikishan
Lyrics
pahle murgi
pahle murgi huyi thi ke anda
zara soch ke bataana
haan
zara soch ke bataana
jaise pahle gadaa kiska jhandaa
zara soch ke bataana
haan haan haan haan
zara soch ke bataana
har chehre pe naqli chehra
naqli chehre pe jhoothi hansi
are upar waale tere hi kaaran
jaan meri mushkil me phansi
jaan meri mushkil me phansi
pahle murgi
pahle murgi huyi thi ki anda
zara soch ke bataana
haan haan haan haan
zara soch ke bataana
ek akela aankh dikhaayi
mahfil me aake dikhaate ho kya
aji jaan gaya hoon dil me tumhaare
uthte hain kaise kaise vichaar
uthte hain kaise kaise vichaar
phod doonga
phod doonga tumhaara bhanda
zara soch ke bataana
zara soch ke bataana
pahle murgi huyi thi ke anda
zara soch ke bataana
haan haan haan haan
soch ke batana
pandit poocha ved me dekha
samajh me kuch bhi aa na saka
duniya ka ye chakkar kya hai
koyi hamen batla na sakaa
koyi hamen batla na sakaa
pahle murgi
pahle murgi huyi thi ke anda
zara soch ke bataana
haan haan
zara soch ke bataana
pahle murgi huyi thi ke anda
zara soch ke bataana
haan haan haan haan
soch ke bataana
6 Responses to "Pahle murgi huyi thhi ke andaa"
March 14, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Meri bhains ko danda kyun maara is already posted in this blog. Let me search for the other ones in your list. They seem new for me.
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March 14, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Lovely song – which I am hearing for the first time !!!
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Not just Kishore’s acting (which is always fun) but also the lyrics and everything about it.
“pyar ki aag mein” is a famous Manna Dey song for Mehmood. It is from Ziddi (the Joy Mukherjee movie). You may find it as “duniya banane waale” (that is how it starts).
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April 30, 2011 at 6:14 am
Kishore Kumar has sung songs in this movie:
1) dekhne walon, thaam lo dil ko
2) o ladke, badhte badhte tu to yahan bhi aa gaya
There is also a great sad song called “Sawan ban gaye nain” by Asha and also another great one by Lata that is also the tune of the title track, “Chhedo na dilke taar..”
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December 9, 2014 at 4:40 pm
This song is nt written by Hasrat Jaipuri, as you have written. In fact, it is penned by Shailendra.
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December 10, 2014 at 4:00 pm
Thanks Sujata ji,
You are correct in pointing out this error.
We shall make the correction.
Rgds
Sudhir
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 14, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I thought I had heard all the Manna Dey songs, esp the funny ones, but this one is new to me! It is a great one, and Kishore Kumar is every bit as good as he dances his way through the hall. There are a couple of Manna Dey songs that I would love to hear, such as Mere bhains ko danda kyun maara … , Andha raja andhi praja …, and Pyar ki aag mein tan badan jal gaya …
In case you are wondering how I know so many obscure songs, put it down to all those cassettes I would buy in my first few years here, when I was homesick for India. Most of those cassettes do not even work any more and have been discarded, and replaced by bunches of CDs!
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