Jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwaa baaje
Posted on: April 18, 2013
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
KAPOOR Khandaan is called the First family of Bollywood, not for nothing !
Starting with Prithwiraj Kapoor till Kareena and Ranbir, all through the generations, they have been shining in the film industry. This is not just because they belonged to the Kapoor khandaan. In film industry, particularly in the acting field, one can not survive for long, if one has no talent or if he is not doing hard work. One’ s ancestry alone is not acceptable to the Indian audience. This has been proved time and again. For example, Raaj kumar, Raj Babbar, Rajendra Kumar or Shashi Kapoor were successful actors, but what happened to their sons ?
Actually, it was to the credit of Papa ji Kapoor that he made all his sons work up the ladder from the bottom. Take Raj kapoor’s example. He started as a Clapper Boy. Prithwiraj Kapoor had understood that ” working up from the shop floor” gives a comprehensive idea of the business.
We all know what type of hard work Raj Kapoor did to finally gain an unassailable position in the film industry. He even reportedly digested a slap from Kidar Sharma for slackness in work. Raj Kapoor addressed Kidar Sharma as “Uncle”.( nowadays any strange elder is called ‘Uncle’, as it has lost its real meaning.)
Raj Kapoor was very good at judging friends, that is how he built a team around him who made his works worthwhile. When Raj Kapoor decided to make “Aah” in 1953, though it was an R K Production, he had made up his mind not to direct it himself. He handed over the Director’s Chair to RAJA NAWATHE.
Raja Nawathe was born on 14-10-1924. After working under V. Shantaram for some time, he landed at R K Studios. He was Assistant Director to Raj Kapoor in Aag-48, Barsat-49 and Awara-51.
He even worked as Production Secretary during the making of Barsat-49. Raj Kapoor had trained him well and was very confident that Nawathe will do a good job in Aah. Raj had produced Aah, but he wanted to concentrate on acting this time. Raja Nawathe did an excellent job in his First Directorial venture, though the film was not as much successful as R K’s earlier thtee films. The reasons were ofcourse different.
Soon after Aah, Nawathe left R K camp and worked as a free lancer. He directed some very successful films like, Basant Bahar, Sohni Mahiwal, Gumnaam, Pathar ke sanam, Bhai Bhai and Manchali. He was the producer and editor of Manchali also .
Raja Nawathe had a protracted illness and he died on 15-11-2005 at Mumbai.
Shankar- Jaikishen gave excellent music in Aah. Dattaram (Dattu’s Theka fame) was their assistant. The story, dialogues and Screenplay was by Inder Raj Anand. The film was also dubbed in Tamil and Telugu later on.
Inspite of good direction, good music and good acting, why did the film fail ? Because of a very weak story. Tuberculosis was never considered a rich man’s disease (except Kamala Nehru dying of TB- an exception ).In Aah, the engineer hero gets TB, even his well to do mother dies of TB. This was certainly not digestible to the audience. By any standards Raj Kapoor never looked like a TB patient. If only Raj kapoor had Blood cancer or a brain tumour, probably the film would have been saved.
Aah-53 had a good cast-Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Vijayalaxmi, Pran, Rashid Khan, Mukesh, Ramesh Sinha, Leela Mishra, Chitra etc . Guru Dutt was a guest artist in Aah.
The storyline was-
Rai Bahadur,a wealthy businessman lives in Allhabad. His wife dies of TB and he sends his only son away from the house for his safety. Raj (Raj kapoor) is an engineer by profession but a poet by nature. he gets posted at a construction site of a dam in MP. After some time, his father wants him to marry a rich, glamorous girl Chandra (Vijayalaxmi) and he suggests Raj to correspond with her. Raj starts the correspondence and both get so much involved that even without meeting, they fall in love. Rai Bahadur takes the marriage proposal to the girl’s parents. But Chandra(Vijayalaxmi) flatly refuses. Raj reaches her house and finds, to his shock that it was not Chandra, but Neelu( Nargis) who had corresponded with him and who loved him. Raj is very happy, but his family doctor Kailash (Pran) informs him that he has got TB and he has only a few days to live.
Like a true lover, he pretends as if he does not love Neelu and persuades Kailash to marry her. meanwhile Raj tries to show that he loves Chandra really.
After many twists, for which Hindi films are famous,the end is happy and Raj and Neelu unite.
The film had 9 songs ( plus a song which was removed from the film before release and a song in the background only for which no record was made). 8 songs are already posted. Today we will see and enjoy a dance song number, the last remaining song from Aah.
Song-Jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje (Aah)(1953) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Hasrat Jaipuri, MD-Shankar Jaikishan
Chorus
Lyrics
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
aayi hoon main sajke,
kamar mori lachke,
ye nain bhare ras ke
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
ho o
chanda ke sheeshe mein ban thhan ke aayi
ban thhan ke aayi
ho o
taaron ke doley mein armaan laayi
armaan laayi
dekho khush hai dulhan,
gaaye dulha sa mann
chunari dhalke,
rang mera jhalke,
naina chhalke
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
ho o
milna dilon ka hi
kehte hain shaadi
kehte hain shaadi
ho o
ulfat usi ki hai
jisne nibhaa di
jisne nibha di ee
ye zameen aasmaan
kyaa milan ka samaa
chanda banke
mukh mera chamke
bindiya damke
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
ho o o
ulfat ke gehnon se
kismat saji hai
kismat saji hai
ho o o
angna mein sheahnaayi dil ki baji hai
dil ki baji hai ae
dekho aayi baaraat
liye haathon mein haath
gajra mehke,
piya sang rehke
dil mera behke
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
aayi hoon main sajke,
kamar mori lachake,
yeh nain bhare ras ke
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwa baaje
12 Responses to "Jhanan jhanan jhanan jhanan ghungharwaa baaje"
April 18, 2013 at 6:14 pm
There’s no explaining people’s tatstes, much less of that prevailed about 60 years ago when this movie was made. Yes, it was dubbed in Telugu, as ‘prEma-lEkhalu’ (Love Letters). I didn’t see the movie, but you couldn’t escape listening to the songs even if you tried. They were mega hits, constantly played on Radio Ceylon. They enjoyed enormous popularity due to the catchy tunes of S-J and some wonderful lyrics which preserved the beauty of the originals in Hindi. This one in particular came out as –
ghallu ghallu ghallu ghallu gajjela sangeetam
ghal-ghal being the sound of the ghungroo (gajjelu)
Later when I saw the movie, aah, I was mesmerized; seeing the picturization of many songs that I grew up humming. At the time, seeing Pran as a nice gentleman was an experience. In one of the scenes, Raj Kapoor is describing the house that he is going to build, and the garden around it, and goes on to describe the flowers he might have there, nd includes Nargis (lotus) in the list. I thought that is a nice gimmick.
Thank you, Arun Kumar, for writing up the last song in this movie. And the little tidbits of information you always share in such write-ups.
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April 18, 2013 at 6:45 pm
krishna ji,
Thanks for your comments.
I thought Gajelu means bangles as in ” Vadina gajelu” (Bhabhi ki chudiyan)
-AD
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April 18, 2013 at 6:49 pm
Gejje in Kannada means “Ghunghroo” (Gejje Naada means Ghunghroo ki aawaaz)
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April 19, 2013 at 2:07 am
gaajulu are bangles, gajjelu are ghungroo. I think pretty much the same in kannaDa too, as many words are almost the same.
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April 19, 2013 at 10:59 am
That`s why I suggested kannada words:
But ,In kannada for glass bangles, they call as “Gaajina Balegalu”, simply “gaaju” means “Glass material”
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April 19, 2013 at 6:22 am
Arunkumarji,
This is one my favorite songs, particularly the Telugu lyrics by Arudra. I do not understand the Hindi lyrics, I hope to get somebody to translate it for me some day.
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May 3, 2013 at 5:19 pm
Yippeeee! another movie joins the ranks of movies where all songs are covered on the blog. Thank you Arun Ji :).
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
April 18, 2013 at 5:45 pm
Arun ji
Thanks for the beautiful song and informative write up. Shankar Jaikishan-Raj kapoor combination rocks. What a beatiful creation. I simply love songs of RK Films. They are marvellous.
Whether the main dancer is ARUNA, who is there in Raj kapoor song “Sab kuchch seekha maine na seekhi hoshiyaari(from Anaari)and she is also there in Sujatha(Bimal Roy) song(either bachpan ke din bhi kyaa din the or tum jeeyo hazaaron saal ??)as a dancer who also lip syncs for that song ?????
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April 18, 2013 at 6:44 pm
Thanks.
yes,she is Aruna.
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April 18, 2013 at 6:47 pm
I have to Thank you Arun ji for the confirmation.
I am updating my knowledge by your information.
Thanks a lot
Prakash
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December 18, 2019 at 11:28 pm
Respected Arunj Deshmukh Sir, there is no mentioning of name ‘Aruna’ in the title of Aah, but of one Kusum and I think the name of main dancer is Kusum i.e. Kusum Sukhtankar later became Chitra Navathe, who also sang/danced in the similar style on ‘main na janoon’ in Ashiana 1952, I may be wrong also.
With regards
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