This aricle is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
Continuing with the series of posts on absolutely lovable, but rather obscure and rare songs of Mukesh. This is another very dear memory from my childhood, heard sometimes on the radio and then lost for years and years, till I bump into it again a few months ago.
Think of 1962, and think of a film titled ‘Rocket Girl’. I am very certain, this name will ring absolutely no bells in the mind. Even for me, a total unknown, till I recently found the song again, and tried to track some information about it.
‘Rocket Girl’ is a 1962 production by Film Sansaar, Bombay, a mystery adventure directed by Nanabhai Bhatt. The lyrics are by Prem Dhawan and the compositions are by Chitragupt. The star line up includes Naaz, Sudesh Kumar, Jagdish Raj, Nilofer, Kanchanmala, Brahma Bhardwaj, Muhammad Bhai, Lal Bahadur, Shammi, Bhagwan, Sandow, Shafi etc. And believe me, the star credits include a junior artist by the name Genius. 🙂
The song a duet with singing voices of Mukesh and Kamal Barot. The composition is soft and very soothing, the pace is brisk, though not hurried. It is such a lovely melody, very hummable. The combination of Mukesh and Kamal Barot in this song is a wonderful delight. Enjoy.
na jaane chaand kaisa hoga
tum sa haseen to nahin
honge rangeen ye sitaare
tum se rangeen to nahin
I wonder sometimes, what the moon is truly like?
Will not be more beautiful than you, my dear
And would the stars be colorful too?
Yes, but surely not more colorful than you
aate hain neele aasmaan pe, jaane kidhar se sitaare
chalta hai saaraa hi zamaanaa, teri nazar ke sahaare
dil chaahe aasmaan ko chhoo loon,
le chal hamen bhi wahin
Pray tell, where do the stars come from in the blue skies above?
You should know; this earth, this sky, this world – all move under the command of you glance
My heart’s desire is to fly and touch the sky above
If you do, please take me with you
chhaaye hain kaale kaale baadal, kyaa tum ne zulfen bakheri
kho jaaun jaa ke baadlon mein , kab se tamannaa hai meri
jaane do khwaab ki ye baaten,
hum ko hai in pe yakeen
Dark clouds come, spreading in the skies
Tell me dear, did you open up your tresses
It is a longing in my heart
Oh I wish I can lose myself in the wispy clouds
Shush, these are things of dreams
Oh, but I believe these dreams
saare zamaane se niraali, hum koi duniyaa basaayen
dil ke rangile sapnon se, mehfil rangeeli sajaayen
aisa jahaan hai kahaan pe,
hoga kahin na kahin
Away from this world, let us set up our own
One that would be different and more beautiful
Yes, and let us color our togetherness
With the colors of our dreams
Oh, where will we find such a world of our dreams
Oh yes, we will find it, it has to be someplace
na jaane chaand kaisa hoga
tum sa haseen to nahin
na jaane chaand kaisa hoga
tum sa haseen to nahin
honge rangeen ye sitaare
tum se rangeen to nahin
na jaane chaand kaisa hoga
aate hain neele aasmaan pe
jaane kidhar se sitaare
aate hain neele aasmaan pe
jaane kidhar se sitaare
chalta hai saaraa hi zamaanaa
teri nazar ke sahaare
dil chaahe aasmaan ko chhoo loon
le chal hamen bhi wahin
na jaane chaand kaisa hoga
chhaaye hain kaale kaale baadal
kyaa tum ne zulfen bakherin
chhaaye hain kaale kaale baadal
kyaa tum ne zulfen bakherin
kho jaaun jaa ke baadlon mein
kab se tamannaa hai meri
jaane do khwaab ki ye baaten
hum ko hai in pe yaqeen
na jaane chaand kaisa hoga
saare zamaane se niraali
hum koi duniyaa basaayen
saare zamaane se niraali
hum koi duniyaa basaayen
dil ke rangeele sapnon se
mehfil rangeeli sajaayen
aisa jahaan hai kahaan pe
hoga kahin na kahin
na jaane chaand kaisa hoga
tum sa haseen to nahin
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
Sudhir ji,
ROCKET GIRL-1962 was a Fantasy adventure film,a novelty in those days.
In the late 50s,Russians and Americans were doing lot of space research and in this Russia was ahead.They sent LAIKA,the dog in space on 3-11-1957 and then,Yuri Gagarin became the first man to go into the space on 12-4-1961,in Vostok II.There was lot of talk in the world about space travel and Indian Film Industry responded with,probably,its first Space related movie Rocket Girl.
The film was advertised very imaginatively showing space,planets etc.Like many other impressed people,I too went to see this movie,and believe me,I was not totally disillusioned,for the film makers had tried very hard to create good sets of alien planets,rockets etc.
The director was Nanabhai Bhatt,and MD was Chitragupt(father of Anand-Milind, composer duo of the 90s).
Prof.Bharadwaj(Bramh Bharadwaj) was a noted scientist in space research.He is financed by Seth Baisakhi Shah(Amir),whose son Jagdish(Jagdish Raj) is after Prof.’s daughter Shashi(Naaz) who loves Ravi(Sudesh Kumar)-Asst to the Prof.
once a Flying Saucer lands in North India and a Giant animal from it creates a havoc by destruction.It is killed by the Prof and his team.Prof then starts building a rocket.When complete, the travel team consists of Ravi,Shashi,Joku(Bhagwan) and Sweeti(Shammi).Jagdish wants to spoil the fun and enters it to disable it,but it flies with him on board without anybody’s knowledge.
Rocket lands on a planet of evil queen(Niloufer) who wants Ravi.They escape and land on Moon,where they are welcomed by Moony people.
The rest of the story involves discovery of Jagdish,his evil deeds,his treatment from Ravi,and finally return of the Rocket to India successfully.
During 1961 t0 1965 there was a flood of such American and Japanese movies depicting space stories.I remember a very good movie’The Forbidden Planet’,which won several awards too.
In all,Rocket Girl was good for urban people but 70% of rural market rejected it,despite melodious music from the Bihari Babu,Chitragupt.
-AD
Thanks for the synopsis. As Prakash ji has said, we can always depend on you for such details. You are amazing. 🙂
It is remarkable that the Hindi film industry was dabbling with such topics way back in 1960s. However, it is to be expected since our film industry always is known to copy themes from Hollywood. I am sure you will also remember films like Trip To Moon (1967) and Wahaan Ke Log (also 1967), which were also made on themes of space travels and astronauts, if I remember correctly.
Sudhir ji,
It has been seen very often that our Film Industry is always live to situations around the world.With some help from Hollywood,they react in their own way.
As far as Trip to Moon is concerned,it was a Dara Singh movie and the less said the better about serious presentation of space theme,because Dara’s activities used to be more important than any other thing in his films.
Wahan ke Log,was having a real good story,the actors were well known like Pradeep Kumar,Tanuja etc,the production house was not upto the mark(Bundelkhand Films) and handling of the story was horrible-just like a C grade movie(Dir-N.A.Ansari).The Mars scenes and the Underground Lab scenes were very amateur.I was totally disappointed with the film that time.
Comparatively Rocket Girl was better.
-AD
Thank you Arunji, very interestin story of Rocket girl. Well, during 50’s as I knew the meaning of rocket = a jet-propelled missile. But than in mid 60’s rocket means to launch things and people into space. I hope I am not alone thinking this 🙂
Oh, well…I am fan of Kaml Barot.
And yes, I have seen The Forbidden Planet (1956) couple years back on TCM channel.
Regarding this song, this duet used to play more on radio Pakistan than any program from AIR. That because, Mr. B. V. Keskar, who was the first I & B minister of India, had ban the filmy music on AIR. in order to promote Indian Classical music. So from mid 50’s Radio Ceylon and Radio Pakistan was more popular in India.
I mean the minister didn’t banned film music completely but the ratio of playing fiimy music was lower than playiing classical music.
Prakash ji,
Yes.Mahesh Bhatt is the son of Nanabhai Bhatt and a shia Muslim woman,who separated from Nanabhai after Mahesh was born and raised Mahesh Bhatt all alone.This situation affected Mahesh so much that almost all his films are woven around infidelity,extra marital relations,third woman or third male in married life,children from unknown parentage and similar subjects.
-AD
Yesss,!!!
Mahesh bhat directed one Telemovie for Doordarshan long back (Name must be JANAM)starring kumar gaurav,
Anupam kher,Anita kanwar,Ila arun,
Shehnaz Patel depicting the above story mentioned by you .
Anyways,Thank you Arunji
You are always there for us, when we are in need.
God bless you.
Lovely write up Sudhir ji! You are excellent story teller! Thanks for bringing out this Chitragupta hidden gem. One anamoly, the write up says singer is Kamal Barot, but your YT link says Suman K, to my ears it sounds like Suman K. Could you please clarify?
This blog discusses Bollywood songs of yesteryears. Every song has a brief description, followed by a video link, and complete lyrics of the song. This is a labour of love, where “new” songs are added every day, and that has been the case for over SEVENTEEN years. This blog has more than 19700 song posts by now. This blog is active and online for over 6000 days since its beginning on 19 July 2008.
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
November 16, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Sudhir ji,
ROCKET GIRL-1962 was a Fantasy adventure film,a novelty in those days.
In the late 50s,Russians and Americans were doing lot of space research and in this Russia was ahead.They sent LAIKA,the dog in space on 3-11-1957 and then,Yuri Gagarin became the first man to go into the space on 12-4-1961,in Vostok II.There was lot of talk in the world about space travel and Indian Film Industry responded with,probably,its first Space related movie Rocket Girl.
The film was advertised very imaginatively showing space,planets etc.Like many other impressed people,I too went to see this movie,and believe me,I was not totally disillusioned,for the film makers had tried very hard to create good sets of alien planets,rockets etc.
The director was Nanabhai Bhatt,and MD was Chitragupt(father of Anand-Milind, composer duo of the 90s).
Prof.Bharadwaj(Bramh Bharadwaj) was a noted scientist in space research.He is financed by Seth Baisakhi Shah(Amir),whose son Jagdish(Jagdish Raj) is after Prof.’s daughter Shashi(Naaz) who loves Ravi(Sudesh Kumar)-Asst to the Prof.
once a Flying Saucer lands in North India and a Giant animal from it creates a havoc by destruction.It is killed by the Prof and his team.Prof then starts building a rocket.When complete, the travel team consists of Ravi,Shashi,Joku(Bhagwan) and Sweeti(Shammi).Jagdish wants to spoil the fun and enters it to disable it,but it flies with him on board without anybody’s knowledge.
Rocket lands on a planet of evil queen(Niloufer) who wants Ravi.They escape and land on Moon,where they are welcomed by Moony people.
The rest of the story involves discovery of Jagdish,his evil deeds,his treatment from Ravi,and finally return of the Rocket to India successfully.
During 1961 t0 1965 there was a flood of such American and Japanese movies depicting space stories.I remember a very good movie’The Forbidden Planet’,which won several awards too.
In all,Rocket Girl was good for urban people but 70% of rural market rejected it,despite melodious music from the Bihari Babu,Chitragupt.
-AD
LikeLike
November 16, 2011 at 8:53 pm
Arun ji,
Thanks for the synopsis. As Prakash ji has said, we can always depend on you for such details. You are amazing. 🙂
It is remarkable that the Hindi film industry was dabbling with such topics way back in 1960s. However, it is to be expected since our film industry always is known to copy themes from Hollywood. I am sure you will also remember films like Trip To Moon (1967) and Wahaan Ke Log (also 1967), which were also made on themes of space travels and astronauts, if I remember correctly.
Rgds
Sudhir
LikeLike
November 16, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Sudhir ji,
It has been seen very often that our Film Industry is always live to situations around the world.With some help from Hollywood,they react in their own way.
As far as Trip to Moon is concerned,it was a Dara Singh movie and the less said the better about serious presentation of space theme,because Dara’s activities used to be more important than any other thing in his films.
Wahan ke Log,was having a real good story,the actors were well known like Pradeep Kumar,Tanuja etc,the production house was not upto the mark(Bundelkhand Films) and handling of the story was horrible-just like a C grade movie(Dir-N.A.Ansari).The Mars scenes and the Underground Lab scenes were very amateur.I was totally disappointed with the film that time.
Comparatively Rocket Girl was better.
-AD
LikeLike
November 17, 2011 at 2:14 am
Thank you Arunji, very interestin story of Rocket girl. Well, during 50’s as I knew the meaning of rocket = a jet-propelled missile. But than in mid 60’s rocket means to launch things and people into space. I hope I am not alone thinking this 🙂
Oh, well…I am fan of Kaml Barot.
And yes, I have seen The Forbidden Planet (1956) couple years back on TCM channel.
Regarding this song, this duet used to play more on radio Pakistan than any program from AIR. That because, Mr. B. V. Keskar, who was the first I & B minister of India, had ban the filmy music on AIR. in order to promote Indian Classical music. So from mid 50’s Radio Ceylon and Radio Pakistan was more popular in India.
I mean the minister didn’t banned film music completely but the ratio of playing fiimy music was lower than playiing classical music.
LikeLike