Mere chhote se man mein chhoti si duniyaa re
Posted on: October 31, 2009
I had posted one song from “Basant” (1942) where nine year old Madhubala (then known as Baby Mumtaz) is shown singing a song. What a rare find that was for Bollywood movie buffs !
It turns out that there is another video clip from the same movie where Madhubala is seen singing on stage. Here is this lovely and cute song. In this song, her parents (played by Mumtaz Shanti and Ulhas) appear on stage with their daughter, all of them very nervous. as the curtain opens and clapping begins, Ulhas develops cold feet and begins to run away from stage, but his wife stops him.
Mumtaz Shanti announces nevously to the audience that she is introducing a new artist and that is their daughter Manju. Manju looks on nervously towards her parents, who try to reassure her.Ulhas, somewhat composed by now, whispers that she has to sing “chhoti si duniya”.
The young girl comes in front, sings the first line and then looks back towards her parents for reassurance. Reassurance comes from the backstage where many people, including Mumtaz Ali, Suresh and P F Pithawala sing alongwit her. Somewhat assured, the young girl continues. After a few lines, she grows confident and starts dancing as well. The nervous parents heave a big sigh of relief.
The performance over, the girl tells the audience- “please come again tomorrow, and I will sing you some more songs”. Having says that, she shyly runs away towards her parents.
What a lovely and herat warming picturisation of this song ! This song was sung by Shanti Sudha Ghosh, the daughter of Pannalal Ghosh ( music director of this movie) and his wife Parul Ghosh ( who herself was a playback singer and sang in this movie). Parul Ghosh was the sister of Anil Biswas.
It is clear to me that Shanti Sudha Ghosh was the first child playback singer in a Bollywood movie, and what a great job she did here. With Pannalal Ghosh and Parul Ghosh as parents and Anil Biswas as uncle, she did them all proud. P L Santoshi wrote such cute lyrics which sound lovely when sung by a child.
A little digging up on internet tells me that Shanti Sudha Ghosh married Devendra Murdeshwar, an eminent baansuri player who was a disciple of her father. Their son Anand Murdeshwar is a renowned baansuri player too. Shanti Murdeshwar died of cancer on 21st january 1975. That way, both Madhubala and her playback singer in this song died young.
This song, both its audio as well as the picturisation is a priceless gem.
Part I Arun Kumar Mukherji
Part II Shanti Sudha Ghosh
Part III Parul Ghosh
Song- Mere chhote se man mein chhoti si duniyaa re (Basant) (1942) Singer-Shanti Sudha Ghosh, Lyrics-P L Santoshi, MD-Pannalal Ghosh
mere chhote se man mein chhoti si duniya re
chhote se man mein chhoti si duniya re
mere chhote se man mein chhoti si duniya re
chhote chhote ghar baar chhoti atariyaa chhoti si bagiya re
chhote chhote ghar baar chhoti atariyaa chhoti si bagiya re
mere chhote se man mein chhoti si duniya re
mere chhote se man mein chhoti si duniya re
chhoti si duniya ki chhoti chhoti baatein
chhoti si duniya ki chhoti chhoti baatein
chhote chhote din aur chhoti chhoti raatein
chhote chhote din aur chhoti chhoti raatein
chhoti umariya re
chhoti umariya re
mere chhote se man mein chhoti si duniya re
mere chhote se man mein chhoti si duniya re
aap log kal aayiye to aur sunaaoongi gaana
5 Responses to "Mere chhote se man mein chhoti si duniyaa re"
March 14, 2010 at 3:15 am
Please let me know the source of your info that Shanti Ghosh sang it. I have the movie and to me the speaking and singing voices of madhubala are identical Even the Delhi accent is there.
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March 14, 2010 at 3:29 am
I do not remember my source of information now, but I definitely read it somewhere while reading about Anil Biswas. My source of information can be wrong too. If you have the movie then can you get it confirmed from the credits who the singer is ? That should clarify matters.
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[…] on stage. I have in fact already discussed the song picturised on baby Madhubala which is Mere chhote man mein chhoti si duniyaa re (Basant) . I have already discussed two other stage performance songs from this […]
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June 19, 2013 at 2:17 pm
There are two more versions of this song in the film :
Video of Parul Ghosh version :
Partial video of Arun Kumar version :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM9Z-q6IfVc
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
October 31, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I never would have recognized Ulhas, he’s so young!!!! Well, true of Madhubala as well 🙂 Thanks for sharing this gem.
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