Sun lo sunaataa hoon tumko kahaani…re mama re mama re
Posted on: September 17, 2010
When I was growing up in late 1960s/early 1970s,I got to listen to countless wonderful songs.
Most of the songs were not exactly meant for kids, but who can stop kids from listening to songs on husn aur ishq, pyaar aur taqraar. I listened to all those songs. Sometimes I will get to listen to songs that actually sounded tailormade for kids. “Haathi Mere Saathi” title song, and for that matter the movie itself was meant for kids.
Then there was this movie called “Andaaz” (1971). Its song “Zindagi ik safar hai suhaanaa” became a rage. But I found two other songs from this song more relevant to me. One was the song-“Papa ko Mummy se Mummy ko Papa se pyaar hai”. But the one song that I and other kids truly loved was this song “sun lo sunaataa hoon tumko kahaani” aka “re mama re mama re”.
For a considerable period of time, I was not aware which movie this song was from. But that never came in the way of kids enjoying this song. I did not get an opportunity to watch the movie. Yes, I have described elsewhere what a deprived childhood I had. But those were the days when one could enjoy songs just by listening to them on radio and loudspeakers and felt happy about that.
Now, thankfully, we have access to internet and we can find all about songs and we can in fact watch the video of the songs. And then we have enthusiasts like Memsaab who writes a review of this movie thus kindling my “fond” (?) memories of this movie which I never got to watch.
The reason why I did not get to watch movies to my heart’s content those days was that many parents including mine rationalised that watching movies was an immoral activity and kids should be kept away from them to save them from moral depravation.
Of course, there was nothing immoral about this song. This song made for sheer joyful listening. Kids could readily identify with the funny lyrics. “Aaloo” (potato), rhyming with “Bhaaloo”(bear), “Lattoo” (top) rhyming with “Tattoo” (mule),”roti” (bread) rhyming with “moti” (fat lady), this was sheer poetry to the ears of kids those days. Kids were of course not aware that Hasrat Jaipuri wrote the funny song. But we were aware that Rafi was the singer. The fact that Shankar Jaikishan composed the music was known to me even those days because I saw a Hindi movie magazine where Jaikishan’s death was given extensive coverage. In fact that edition was almost entirely devoted to Jaikishan. Had that magazine been still around, it would be a collector’s item. But as I mentioned earlier, watching movies and reading filmy magazines by kids was severely looked down upon those days.
Here is this delightful song “re mama re mama re”. Yes, that is how this song was known among kids , instead of the more formal “sun lo sunaaata hoon..”
It is only much later that I came to know that this song is a jeep song picturised on Shammi Kapoor and baby Gauri, playing Shammi Kapoor’s kid.
Those days, I would have loved to have the full lyrics of the song to sing, but I never knew how to get it, since I never got to hear this song long enough to note it down. These days, doing it is so simple.
Here is this song, full with lyrics, for the listening and viewing pleasures of all.
What a nice song ! It certainly brings back memories.
PS-The picturisation of the song has one para missing. It is the para that talks of “Aaloo” and “bhaaloo”. I have included that para in the lyrics, though, so the lyrics are complete, even if the video is not.
Audio
Video
Song-Sun lo sunaataa hoon tumko kahaani…Re mama re mama re (Andaaz) (1971) Singer-Rafi,Lyrics-Hasrat Jaipuri,MD-Shankar Jaipuri
Lyrics
sun lo sunaataa hoon tumko kahaani
rootho naa hamse o gudiyon ki raani
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
ho
sun lo sunaataa hoon tumko kahaani
rootho naa hamse o gudiyon ki raani
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
ham to gaye baazaar mein lene ko aaloo
ham to gaye baazaar mein lene ko aaloo
ham to gaye baazaar mein lene ko aaloo
aaloo waaloo kuchh na milaa peechhe padaa bhaaloo,
hahahahaha
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
sun lo sunaataa hoon tumko kahaani
rootho naa hamse o gudiyon ki raani
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
ham to gaye baazaar mein lene ko lattoo
ham to gaye baazaar mein lene ko lattoo
ham to gaye baazaar mein lene ko lattoo
lattoo wattoo kuchh na milaa peechhe padaa tattoo,
hahahahaha
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
sun lo sunaataa hoon tumko kahaani
rootho naa hamse o gudiyon ki raani
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
ham to gaye baazaar mein lene ko roti
ham to gaye baazaar mein lene ko roti
ham to gaye baazaar mein lene ko roti
roti woti kuchh na mili peechhe padi moti,
hahahahaha
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
sun lo sunaataa hoon tumko kahaani
rootho naa hamse o gudiyon ki raani
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
re mammaa re mammaa re
6 Responses to "Sun lo sunaataa hoon tumko kahaani…re mama re mama re"
November 14, 2011 at 11:49 pm
I am a very great fan of Rafi Sahab.I can simply say that he had got just a divine voice which has ever been matchless & shall ever remain.So far as his ‘re mama re mama re’ song is concerned, I just love to listen to this song.
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January 22, 2015 at 5:51 pm
oh god the vdo does not work. here is a working link
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May 1, 2015 at 8:01 pm
Can someone please translate this lovely song? I’d like to teach it to a kindergarten class, but I need to know what it means.
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October 19, 2024 at 10:00 pm
Prakashchandra wrote in his comment to the song “papaa ko mammi se“:
One nagging thing for me, while watching the movie title sequences, I found one NEW name “MALA” among the list of playback singers, I still not able to figure it out, for which song of Andaz(1971), MALA gave playback ? Help
I think Mala is the singer, who gives playback to Baby Gauree in this song. Her part comes at the end of the song thus, it might have been overlooked.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
September 17, 2010 at 5:27 pm
This is a lovely song, and Shammi and Baby Gauri must have had such fun making it 🙂 Shammi seemed to really enjoy interacting with kids and it shows.
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September 17, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Indeed it is a great fun song for kids.
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