Hai Ye Zameen Hamaari Wo Aasmaan Hamaara
Posted on: July 22, 2020
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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There are Hindi films in which almost all the songs have become popular. But those films are often identified with a single song in the sense that the name of the film brings back the memory of the most popular song of that film which has been stuck in the minds of the listeners for long. I give below a sample list of five films which are often identified with one of its popular songs:
Aaraam (1951): ae jaan-e-jigar dil mein samaane aajaa
Yahudi (1958): ye mera deewaanapan hai
Bambai Ka Babu (1960): chal ri sajni ab kya soche
Soorat Aur Seerat (1962): bahut diya dene waale ne tuhjko
Bandini (1963): o jaane waale ho sake to laut ke aana
The significance of these five films with songs mentioned thereagainst is that all these five songs have been sung by Mukesh and that too the only song he has rendered in these films. That is the power of Mukesh’s melonchalic voice laced with sadness. Mukesh had said in one of his interviews that if he has a choice of 10 songs to sing, out of which one is a sad song, he would reject remaining nine songs.
Today, July 22, 2020 is the 97th birth anniversary of Mukesh Chand Mathur (22/07/1923 – 27/08/1976). Mukesh, like many of his compatriot popular playback singers needs no introduction on the blog. Moreover, there are a number of detailed posts on Mukesh in the blog. So, I will limit the coverage in this article to the stages of his zigzag filmy career which ended with a high note.
Motilal, a distant relative of Mukesh was already impressed by his singing. When Mukesh came to Mumbai, sometime 1940, Motilal placed him under the tutelage of Pandit Jagannath Prasad, a Hindustani classical vocalist, for training in singing. During the training, Mukesh became acquainted with Raj Kapoor who would occasionally come for training as a substitute for his mother who was practicing classical singing with Pandit Jagannath Prasad whenever she was free from her household work. One of those days when Mukesh was practising a particular Raag, Raj Kapoor loved his voice and felt that his own voice paled compared to Mukesh’s voice. At that time, Mukesh said to Raj Kapoor that he could take his voice. At that time, both were in their teens and I do not think that Mukesh had ever thought that one day he would become the voice of Raj Kapoor on the screen.
While his musical training was going on, Mukesh got an opportunity to work with Nalini Jaywant in a film (I guess, it was National Studio’s ‘Radhika’ 1941). However, his father did not permit him to act in the film. When the same production house was planning to make a new film for which they were looking for a young new comer as a hero opposite Nalini Jaywant, they again approached Mukesh. This time, his father permitted him to join the film. ‘Nirdosh’ (1941) became his first film in which he was an actor-singer. The film flopped.
It is well known that KL Saigal was Mukesh’s idol and had adopted his singing style. From his eagerness to become an actor, Mukesh seems to have been also obsessed with becoming a great actor-singer like KL Saigal. Even after the failure of his first film, Mukesh tried as a side actor in ‘Dukh Sukh’ (1942), ‘Addab Arz’ (1943) and ‘Uss Paar’ (1944) but could not get success as an actor-singer. He had almost made up his mind to return to Delhi when Motilal came to his rescue and manage to get Mukesh sing for him in ‘Pehli Nazar’ (1945).
How Mukesh got to sing his first song, “Dil Jalta Hai To Jalne De” as a playback singer in ‘Pehli Nazar’ (1945) is well documented in the write-up covering the song on the blog itself. So, I will not go into it. But Mukesh was not yet out of wood then. When the film was completed and was being previewed before its release, producer-director Mazhar Khan decided to delete this song as he felt that the sad song did not suit Motilal’s personality who has been known as a flamboyant actor by his fans.
When Mukesh came to know about it, he met Mazhar Khan and requested to retain his song. Mazhar Khan said that this song was boring and it was dragging the smooth movement of the story in the film. After a lot of pleading by Mukesh, Mazhar Khan agreed to retain the song for one week after the release of the film. If the public liked the song, it would be retained in the film. Otherwise, the song would be deleted from the film. Mukesh also got some breather as due to communal riots, the release of the film was delayed. As we know now, this song became the most popular amongst the songs of the film. This song also became a turning point in the career of Mukesh as he turned to playback singing as a career rather than the actor-singer. [Source: Last Interview of Mukesh by BBC Hindi Services].
During 1945 to 1953, Mukesh concentrated on his career as a playback singer and rendered nearly 200 songs. During this time, he had become the main playback singer to actors like Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Premnath, Motilal, Prem Adib etc.
When his career as a playback singer was firmly in saddle, again the bug of becoming an actor-singer seems to have bitten him. In 1951, Mukesh had already turned producer with ‘Malhaar’ (1951). In 1953, he once again tried his luck as actor-singer in ‘Mashooqa’ (1953) opposite Suraiya. The film miserably failed at the box office. Not to be discouraged by the failure, he once again tried his luck by producing ‘Anuraag’ (1956) with himself in the lead role opposite Usha Kiran. This film also failed at the box office.
In his quest for becoming an actor-singer, Mukesh lost out both as an actor and a playback singer. But more than the failure of the films, Mukesh’s career as a playback singer was majorly affected as, due to his non-availability, music directors like Naushad shifted his preference for Mohammed Rafi and Talat Mehmood. During this period, Rafi had emerged as number one playback singer. Other music directors like SD Burman, C Ramchandra, Madan Mohan, Roshan etc had also switched over mainly to Rafi as their lead male playback singer. Even Shankar-Jaikishan had to rely on Manna Dey for Raj Kapoor in films like ‘Shri 420’ (1955) and ‘Chori Chori’ (1956) for some songs. During 1953-56, Mukesh’s output as a playback singer (other than his own films as actor-singer) was dismally low at less than 20 songs.
In Hindi film industry, it is extremely difficult to regain the lost ground as there is constant competitions to take over the ground from those who have lost it. Mukesh had to face a lot of hardship in terms of his financial position as he had heavily lost money in his film making ventures. Added to his woes was that his mentor, Anil Biswas had almost retired as music director towards the end of 1950s. Motilal, another mentor who would demand Mukesh as his voice (he done that in ‘Jaagte Raho, 1956 when it was originally recorded in Manna Dey’s voice) was no longer doing the role of the lead actor in the films.
It was Raj Kapoor, the trusted friend of Mukesh from the days of making ‘Aag’ (1948), who had a major role in rehabilitating Mukesh as playback singer post 1956 years. Mukesh continued to sing for Raj Kapoor in most of his films. Later on, he also became the voice for Manoj Kumar in most of his films. The popularity of the songs of films like ‘Phir Subah Hogi’ (1958), ‘Madhumati’ (1958), ‘Anari’ (1959), ‘Chhalia’ (1960), ‘Hariyali Aur Raasta’ (1962), ‘Himalay Ki Godi Mein’ (1965) re-established as one of the foremost playback singers. Starting with the voice of the superstars of 1940s and 50s like Motilal. Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, Mukesh sang for the superstars of 1970s like Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. He continued to maintain his status as one of the leading playback singers of 1970s till his unfortunate death on August 27, 1976. Even during the emergence of Kishore Kumar as playback singer post-1970, Mukesh clocked a little over 200 songs during 1971-76 (including few songs spilling over post-1976), mainly because no other playback singers could replicate the pathos in his singing.
On the occasion of the 97th birth anniversary of Mukesh, I have selected an inspirational song, “Hai Ye Zameen Hamaari Wo Aaasmaan Hamaara” sung by him for the film ‘Saara Jahaan Hamaara’ (1961). The song is written by Anjum Jaipuri and is set to music by Baabul. I could not locate the video clip of the song on-line, but I have watched a very small video clip of the song which shows that it is a stage song picturised on Premnath.
Song – Hai Ye Zameen Hamaari Wo Aasmaan Hamaara (Saara Jahaan Hamaara) (1961) Singer – Mukesh, Lyrics – Anjum Jaipuri, MD – Baabul
Lyrics
hai ye zameen hamaari
wo aasmaan hamaara
lo aaj waqt badla
saara jahaan hamaara
hai ye zameen hamaari
hum jis taraf chale hain
duniya badal gayi hai
tufaan hat gaya hai
aandhi sambhal gayi hai
karta hai naaz khud par
har ek jawaan hamaara
lo aaj waqt badala
saara jahaan hamaara
hai ye zameen hamaari
kashti ko le chale hain
maujon pe hum khushi ki
kashti ko le chale hain
maujon pe hum khushi ki
aawaaz aa rahi hai
kaanon mein zindagi ki
roke nahi rukega
ab kaarwaan hamaara
lo aaj waqt badala
saara jahaan hamaara
hai ye zameen hamaari
ye chimaniyaan milon ki
ye taaj ke minaare
ye chimaniyaan milon ki
ye taaj ke minaare
ganga ki behti maujen
jamna ke tej dhaare
dharti ka zarra zarra
hai raazdaan hamaara
lo aaj waqt badala
saara jahaan hamaara
hai ye zameen hamaari
paighaam de rahen hain
hum sabko dosti ka
paighaam de rahen hain
hum sabko dosti ka
danka baja rahe hain
duniya mein shaanti ka
insaaniyat ka jhanda
hai ab nishaan hamaara
lo aaj waqt badala
saara jahaan hamaara
hai ye zameen hamaari
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
है ये ज़मीं हमारी
वो आसमां हमारा’
लो आज वक़्त बदला
सारा जहां हमारा
है ये ज़मीं हमारी
हम जिस तरफ चले हैं
दुनिया बादल गई है
तूफान हट गया है
आँधी संभाल गई है
करता है नाज़ खुद पर
हर एक जवां हमारा
लो आज वक़्त बदला
सारा जहां हमारा
है ये ज़मीं हमारी
कश्ती को ले चले हैं
मौजों पे हम खुशी की
कश्ती को ले चले हैं
मौजों पे हम खुशी की
आवाज़ आ रही है
कानों में ज़िंदगी की
रोके नहीं रुकेगा
अब कारवां हमारा
लो आज वक़्त बदला
सारा जहां हमारा
है ये ज़मीं हमारी
ये चिमनियाँ मिलों की
ये ताज के मीनारे
ये चिमनियाँ मिलों की
ये ताज के मीनारे
गंगा की बहती मौजें
जमना के तेज़ धारे
धरती का ज़र्रा ज़र्रा
है राज़दां हमारा
लो आज वक़्त बदला
सारा जहां हमारा
है ये ज़मीं हमारी
पैग़ाम दे रहें हैं
हम सबको दोस्ती का
पैग़ाम दे रहें हैं
हम सबको दोस्ती का
डंका बजा रहे हैं
दुनिया में शांति का
इंसानियत का झण्डा
है अब निशां हमारा
लो आज वक़्त बदला
सारा जहां हमारा
है ये ज़मीं हमारी
7 Responses to "Hai Ye Zameen Hamaari Wo Aasmaan Hamaara"
July 22, 2020 at 7:54 pm
Dear Sadanand ji,
Would you agree that even if an Actor is singing for him/her self, it is still a Playback, since the Actor will only be lip-synching to the song on the screen? If so, then this song from “Nirdosh” would be Mukesh’s first playback :
And the rendition of this difficult song from “Annadata” (1972) would surely be a feather in his cap :
With warm regards
PARTHA CHANDA
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July 22, 2020 at 10:46 pm
Partha ji,
The definition of playback singer is this…
A playback singer is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in movies. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not appear on the screen.
Playback singer – Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org › wiki › Playback_singer
Obviously, if Mukesh is lip synching own song on screen, it can not be called a Playback. The singer should not be on screen.
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July 23, 2020 at 5:37 am
Dear Guruji,
Point taken and thanks for setting the record straight, this confusion would have been on others’ minds too.
With warm regards
PARTHA CHANDA
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July 23, 2020 at 6:56 pm
Sadanand ji,
Did Mukesh act in Uss Paar 1944 or not. ?
The factual answer to this question is of great historical importance. Because, if he has not acted, then his duet with Kusum in the film will be his first ever playback.
Do you have credible info please because in your post you have attributed his acting in the said film.
Mahesh
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July 23, 2020 at 10:05 pm
Mahesh ji,
I am not able to recall as to where I had read sometime back that in ‘Uss Paar’ (1944), Mukesh had done a cameo role.
In this film, Amirbai Karnataki and G M Durrani may have probably given playback to Swarnlata and Ishwarlal. The other actors were Chandramohan, Kanhaiyalal and Charlie.
More importantly, since Mukesh had a strong intention to become an actor-singer only, I do not think that he would have agreed to lend his voice as a playback singer. I feel that it was Motilal who may have pursuaded Mukesh to settle for playback singing and got him to sing for him in ‘ Pehli Nazar’ (1945) and in ‘Moorti’ (1945).
Mu search is still on as I am also interested in settleing this issue.
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February 26, 2022 at 5:25 pm
as per HFGK, Anjum Jaipuri is not the lyrics writer of this song,
lyricist`s name of this song is Qamil/Kaamil Chaandpuri
(QAMIL CHAANDPURI)
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
July 22, 2020 at 11:28 am
Sadanand Ji, Nice post on Mukesh.. It was interesting to note that even after rediscovery of Kishore Kumar, post Aradhana, Mukesh held his own with 200+ songs, until his premature and unfortunate demise.
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