Akela hoon main is jahaan mein
Posted on: August 8, 2013
This article is written by Raja, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
Only a few days ago, on the 4th of August, many of us paid a tribute to our beloved Kishore Kumar on his birth anniversary. As is the practice, most of the songs posted on this blog on that date were tributes to him.
The song I posted on that date was “baamcheekchik chaamcheekchik”, an absolutely zany song which felt to me to be quintessential Kishore da. From the first time I heard this song way back in the 1970s – to this date – I cannot imagine any other singer singing this song. The sheer energy and enthusiasm that Kishore da throws into this amazingly fast number can be enjoyed even with eyes closed (Some might recommend that this song be enjoyed with eyes closed, as it is picturised on a trying-hard-but-not-quite-cutting-it Biswajeet ?) . As a tribute to Kishore da, I thought this was a wonderful song to remember him and his zany songs by.
But of course this is only one side to Kishore’s character. That for a large part of his career he acted the comedian, the crazy guy doing crazy things, might have some believe that this was what Kishore was all about. Yes, he was this – and yes, as Lata and Asha have said, he was probably a prankster too – but Kishore da was much more than this.
The films he himself made showed us a very different Kishore Kumar. Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein (1964) and Door Ka Raahi (1971) are two acclaimed films made by him. I happened to see both of them not very long ago and was absolutely floored by how wonderful they both were. Not only for their songs (which are outstanding) but for their storyline itself. They were very different, very “hatke” from the films of the time. They had depth, they had emotion, they raised questions, they discussed human values, they discussed life – they left an impression on me long after I’d finished seeing the films.
This was the other side of Kishore da. The thinking side, the reflective side.
In his tribute to Kishore da on his anniversary, Sudhirji mentioned Kishore da’s own favourite ten songs. They are all poignant songs with depth of emotion, not the flippant songs that many of his popular songs are.
This got me thinking. And I decided that, having posted a fun Kishore da song, my next song would be a reflective Kishore da song. (Ok, in between I happened to post a Vani Jairam-Naushad song but that was unplanned).
I had not decided which Kishore da song to choose. There are many of them out there of course, so I could have picked any one of them.
But things work in mysterious ways sometimes. And this helped me to pick my reflective Kishore da song for this blog.
This is how it happened.
Many of you must be familiar with the social media platform, Twitter. I suppose some of you are active on it too. Well, I am fairly active too, pontificating on all matters under the sun, using the handle @Raja_Sw. (I can see Sudhirji and a few others having a royal laugh trying to imagine my fitting text within 140 characters. Let me just say that torture can be inflicted in many forms – and for me, fitting my thoughts into a ridiculous 140 character space is about as tortuous as it gets. But I somehow manage – without compromising on my grammar. And without resorting to SMS lingo).
Anyway, on the 4th of August, being Kishore da’s birth anniversary, I was totally in Kishore da mood – and began tweeting some of his songs. Some of my followers too began tweeting their favourites.
One of the songs that got tweeted caught my attention immediately.
First of all, it wasn’t a song that immediately rang a bell for me. At least not as a Kishore da song. My first reaction was to confuse it with a Rafi saab song “akela hoon main”.
Secondly, the person tweeting it said that amongst Kishore da’s many gems, this was her favourite. To be able to pick one out of Kishore da’s songs is something I wouldn’t venture to attempt – so I thought I’d better check out the song.
So I clicked on the attached youtube link – and came to hear an absolutely lovely, very rare Kishore da song.
Akela hoon main is jahaan mein. This is the song I’m posting today.
Unlike this friend of mine, I’m not going to straightaway give this song a top ranking (I wouldn’t dare rank Kishore da songs!) but I can understand why she likes this song very much. I also remembered that she had indeed posted this song a while ago too – and I had listened to it, and liked it too, then. At that time I’d thought of posting it here but forgot about it after that. Anyway, better late than never.
This song deserves to be so much better-known. It is just the type of song this blog loves to unearth – in other words, a hidden gem.
So why is it not so well-known? The main reason is that the film never got released.
Yes, this beautiful song is from an unreleased film, Neela Aasmaan. I understand, this was supposed to be Kishore’s first production in 1958, starring himself and Madhubala. Somehow the film never saw the light of day. One of the comments on the youtube video by a Pratik Majumdar tells us a bit about the background and storyline. I quote:
“Neela Aasmaan was launched by Kishore, starring himself and Madhubala.The story was of a priest and a beauty queen as lone survivors of a ship wreck on an island. The film unfortunately never got made. All that remained was this wonderful song, tuned, written and sung by the great Kishore Kumar”.
So this is all there is to the film. How I wish it had been made – this sounds like an interesting storyline. Kishore and Madhubala were always a treat to watch. And I’m sure there would have been other lovely songs in this film too. We are only left wistful at the possibilities.
Anyway, thankfully, we at least have this song available to us to enjoy.
What a beautiful song it is. This could have been the story of my life.
As the comment says, the song is written and composed by Kishore da himself. Since this film never got released, the first film whose music was composed by Kishore became Jhumroo (1961), also starring Kishore and Madhubala.
Please do listen to this song. I am sure you will enjoy it. Kishore in a reflective mood. What a wonderful, wonderful singer he was. He will always remain in our hearts!
Song-Akela hoon main is jahaan mein (Neela Aasmaan)(1958) Singer-Kishore Kumar, Lyrics-Kishore Kumar, MD-Kishore Kumar
Lyrics
Akela hoon main is jahaan mein
akeli meri daastaan
na manzil koi
na saathi koi
jaane kya ye neela aasmaan
kya khabar
kya pataa
jaa raha hoon
main kahaan
meri raat ka ek saathi
yahi chaand ka kaarwaan
chaloon to chalein
rukoon to rukein
jaane kya ye neela aasmaan
kya khabar
kya pataa
jaa raha hoon
main kahaan
mera hamsafar mera saaya
mera meherbaan raazdaan
na iska koi
na mera koi
jaane kya ye neela aasmaan
kya khabar
kya pataa
jaa raha hoon
main kahaan
ye dariya ye maujein ye saahil
ye chhalki hui mastiyaan
hain aati nazar kuchh kami si magar
jaane kya ye neela aasmaan
kya khabar
kya pataa
jaa raha hoon
main kahaan
akela hoon main is jahaan mein
akeli meri daastaan
na manzil koi
na saathi koi
jaane kya ye neela aasmaan
kya khabar
kya pataa
jaa raha hoon
main kahaan
jaa raha hoon
main kahaan
8 Responses to "Akela hoon main is jahaan mein"
August 8, 2013 at 11:59 am
I liked this song too. Thank you for posting this Raja.
I wonder how you managed to see Door Ka Raahi, I looked around for it, but was not able to find the movie anywhere. I have seen Door Gagan Ki Chaon Me, and remember liking the film, not the heroine so much.
Of course, Kishore sung many soulful songs as well, and excelled at them. He had the knack of bringing just enough expression to his songs, unlike Rafi, who sometimes got over-emotional.
I am not really fond of sad songs, as they make me feel sad as well. But yet, a good song is a good song.
Looking forward to some more lovely (non-140 chars) posts from you.
LikeLike
August 8, 2013 at 3:25 pm
wow! what a song!tks Raja 4 d dscvry,,,, and you ve actually written a short post….y writer’s block again?
nd s sms lingo is fn
LikeLike
August 8, 2013 at 5:31 pm
thanks rajaji, what a song!! this could, well, be my story also.
LikeLike
March 26, 2020 at 8:40 pm
Raja Ji,
About “Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein”, yes, it was unlike a typical Hindi movie, but that is because it was a copy of 1958 Hollywood western called “The Proud Rebel”. While it isn’t unusual for Hindi movies to get “inspiration” from foreign films, this one stands out because it is almost a scene by scene lift from the original.
Even the Jhumroo song “Koi Humdum Na Raha” was copied from the film “Jeevan Naiya(1936)”. The original song was composed by Saraswati Devi and sung by none other than Ashok Kumar!
– Sameer
LikeLike
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
August 8, 2013 at 9:59 am
Excellent upload. It’s a gem!!
Thanks!!
LikeLike