Zindagee ka nasha halka halka suroor
Posted on: February 3, 2025
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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‘Wahaan Ke Log’ (1967) was produced and directed by N A Ansari under his banner, Bundelkhand Films. The star cast included Pradeep Kumar, Tanuja, Neelofer, N A Ansari, Johny Walker, D K Sapru, Laxmi Chhaya, Bela Bose, Shobhana Samarth, Amrit Rana etc. Probably, this was the first Hindi film in the genre of a science-fiction dealing with extra-terrestrials. In this film, N A Ansari had a double role of a father and a son.
Jhansi born Nissar Ahmed Ansari (29/08/2017 – 11/01/1993) was from a family of doctors. From his younger days, Ansari was fascinated by Hollywood films. He had also developed the hobby of reading novels especially of the subject relating to crime thriller and suspense. He did go to the college for the medical studies. Once on a visit to Mumbai to meet his relatives, Ansari was struck by the Hindi film world. Instead of going back to college to complete his studies, he remained in Mumbai.
In an article which appeared in ‘HuffPost, Canada, Hina P Ansari, the granddaughter of Ansari has revealed that it was Prithviraj Kapoor who saw him during a college function and suggested to join the films. He facilitated his meeting with Mehboob Khan who gave him a small role in ‘Aurat’ (1940) for which he was uncredited. However, in his next film, ‘Aasra’ (1941) Ansari got a better role with his name appearing the credit title as Ansari, the name stuck with him until he directed his first film, ‘Mangu’ (1954) as N A Ansari.
One of the features which I had noted from the lobby photographs, even in many of his early films (1940s) is that Ansari was shown as immaculately dressed, mostly in western attire. Once he started producing and directing the crime thriller films, he retained this feature with the additions of an overcoat and a fedora hat. Also, most of his films, he would be smoking pipe or cigar.
After acting in over 50 films, most of which belonged to stunt/action genre, Ansari directed his first film, ‘Mangu’ (1954) produced by his friend, Sheikh Mukhtar. The film was a hit at the box office. His next directorial venture was ‘Mr. Lambu’ (1956) once again for Sheikh Mukhtar, which also became hit. Ansari achieved a hattrick of hit films as a director when ‘Black Cat’ (1959) produced by G P Sippy became hit. However, his later films which he directed did not do well at the box office. He directed 12 films and produced 6 films. ‘Noor-e-Elaahi’ (1976) was Ansari’s last film as a producer and director. But he continued to act in the film until his death in January 11, 1993, by which time he had acted in over 80 films during the span of five decades.
N A Ansari deviated from his favourite genre of crime thriller when he produced and directed ‘Wahaan Ke Log’ (1967).
The film was about some extra-terrestrials coming from Mars on a flying saucer who raid the wealthy people in India to take away their diamonds. They also kidnap bright scientists whom they take to Mars to prepare their scientific advancement so that they can control the entire universe. The Intelligence Bureau(IB) Chief (Sapru) in Delhi takes note of this growing menace and entrusts the job to one of its Agent (Pradeep Kumar) to solve the problem. He takes the help of a detective agency in Mumbai run by his friend (Johny Walker) and come of know of a scientist (N A Ansari) who has invented a machine which can track the extra-terrestrials. However, his rogue son (N A Ansari in double role) has forcibly taken over all the scientific inventions his father has done by killing him to help the extra-terrestrials not only in their diamond heists but also by developing the laser ray to rule the universe.
All the efforts of the Intelligence Bureau officer and his friend are checkmated by the rogue son through his spies and private army. On the other hand, the Agent gets attracted toward a ‘mysterious alien’ girl (Tanuja) singing haunting songs. But as always happens, villain must parish and in this film also, the rogue son is killed by the Agent with a mini gun concealed in a fountain pen. It turns out that the so-called aliens were actually the human beings from a neighbouring country to destabilise India and the rogue son was hand in glove with them to create a false claim of aliens.
Films directed by N A Ansari are enjoyable to watch if one can keep aside the thought of doing the rational and logical assessments of his films. ‘Wahaan Ke Log’ (1967) is no exception. The film’s plot is ‘three-in-one’. The first few minutes of the film gives the audience the impression that it is sci-fic film. Soon, Tanuja enters into scene giving the impression that she is a ghost spying for the villain. But as the story progresses, the plot has changed from sci-fic to romance between Tanuja and Pradeep Kumar. Afterwards, the plot turns into a spy thriller – a la James Bond. And each plot is mutually exclusive. Some time, I feel that Ansari does it deliberately to keep the audience in suspense. Nonetheless, I found the film entertaining after watching for the first time about five decades later.
The film had five songs written by Shakeel Badayuni which were set to music by C Ramchandra. All the songs are good to listen. Two songs have been covered on the Blog. I am presenting the third song, ‘zindagee kaa nashaa halkaa halkaa suroor’ which is rendered by Asha Bhosle. This is a club dance song picturised on Bela Bose in the presence of Pradeep Kumar, Johny Walker, Tanuja and an inimitable N A Ansari with his trade mark pipe in the mouth. The male dancer who briefly dances with Bela Bose is Robert D’Costa who has been seen in many Hindi films of the 1960s as a dancer.
The context of this dance song in the film is that the IB Agent (Pradeep Kumar) visits Mumbai along with his friend (Johny Walker) who has a detective agency office in Mumbai to crack the cases of diamond heists by the aliens. But the news of their arrivals in Mumbai is already known to the rogue son (N A Ansari). He employs the usual tactic of a ‘honey trap’ to destabilse the Agent through Sophia (Bela Bose). Her club dance in the hotel where they stay is a part of the ‘honey trap’.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Zindagee kaa nashaa halka halka suroor (Wahaan Ke Log)(1967) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Shakeel Badayuni, MD-C Ramchandra
Chorus
Lyrics:
zindagee kaa nashaa
halkaa halkaa suroor
meree aankhon se pee lo huzoor
aaj kee raat kitnee haseen raat hai
aaj to naa raho door door
zindagee kaa nashaa
halkaa halkaa suroor
meree aankhon se pee lo huzoor
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
yaar wai wai wai
aaj dil se bhulaa do zamaane ke gham
aarzoo hai jawaan
saamne hai sanam
la la la la la la la la la
la la la la la la la la la
aaj dil se bhulaa do zamaane ke gham
aarzoo hai jawaan
saamne haai sanam
husn degaa tumhen pyaar ke hausle
inmein khushiyaan milengee zaroor
aaj kee raat kitnee haseen raat hai
aaj to naa raho door door
zindagee kaa nashaa
halkaa halkaa suroor
meree aankhon se pee lo huzoor
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
yaar wai wai wai
dil kee soyee umangen jagaa lo zaraa
meree nazron se nazren milaa lo zaraa
mujhmein kho jaao tum saaqi(?) ho jaao tum
aaj meree mohabbat mein choor
zindagee kaa nashaa
halkaa halkaa suroor
meree aankhon se pee lo huzoor
aaj kee raat kitnee haseen raat hai
aaj to naa raho door door
zindagee kaa nashaa
halkaa halkaa suroor
meree aankhon se pee lo huzoor
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
yaar wai wai wai
laut kar din naa aayenge beete huye
kin khayaalon mein ho aaj doobe huye
la la la la la la la la la
la la la la la la la la la
laut kar din naa aayenge beete huye
kin khayaalon mein ho aaj doobe huye
husn aawaaz de
ishq aage badhe
phir hai peechhe ko hatnaa kusoor
aaj kee raat kitnee haseen raat hai
aaj to naa raho door door
zindagee kaa nashaa
halkaa halkaa suroor
meree aankhon se pee lo huzoor
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
wai wai wai yaar wai wai
yaar wai wai wai
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
February 4, 2025 at 1:54 pm
Wahan Ke Log was one of the few movies in which Mukesh sang for C Ramachandra. The other songs of this movie was rendered by Mahendra Kapoor who was the preferred singer for C Ramachandra during the sixties along with perhaps Mannadey.
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