Aayee hai Bambai se piyaa jee kee paatee
Posted on: March 6, 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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Today, March 6, 2025, is the 7th Remembrance Day of Shammi Aunty (26/04/1929 – 06/03/2018). Her trade mark smile with a cheerful face which many of us have seen during her six decades of filmy career, masked her chequered life – both personal and professional. The tough life which she had gone through in her childhood made her to accept any type of roles out of the financial necessity. That made Shammi to act in various genre of roles. In the event, she became more well-known in her character roles than her lead/second lead roles of early 1950s.
Shammi, whose real name was Nargis Rabadi, was born in Sajan, Gujarat. The family shifted to Mumbai when her father became a priest in a Parsi Agyari in Mumbai. When Shammi was 3 years, her father passed away. For sustenance, her mother and elder sister had to do some odd works. After completing matriculation, Shammi joined Johnson & Johnson where her elder sister, Mani Rabadi, was working as a secretary. Later, Mani Rabadi became a well-known fashion designer. During this period, one of her relatives who was a close friend of Sheikh Mukhtar introduced Shammi to him sometime in 1949 for a second lead role in his film, ‘Ustad Pedro’ (1951). The film was directed by Tara Harish who suggested her to change the name to Shammi to avoid confusion with the well-known Nargis in the film industry. The film was a box office hit.
Shammi’s first film in a lead role was ‘Malhar’ (1951) produced by Mukesh and directed by Tara Harish who was impressed by her performance in her debut film. The film’s songs became very popular, but the film did not fare well on the box office. Her next major film was with Dilip Kumar in ‘ Sangdil’ (1952) in which she was his ‘other woman’, seen with him in the song ‘ye hawa ye raat ye chaandni’. In ‘Musaafirkhaana’ (1955), Shammi got a soft humourous role to play opposite Johny Walker. The song, thhodaa saa dil lagaake dekh in the film became very popular. From this film onwards, Shammi got many ‘funny girl’ roles. However, one of few exceptions from her ’funny girl’ role during this period was that of a sympathetic friend of Meena Kumari in ‘Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi’ (1960). In the decade of 1960s, Shammi worked in as many as 46 films which included ‘Half Ticket’ (1962), ‘Ishaara’ (1964), ‘Jab Jab Phool Khiley’ (1965), ‘Upkaar’ (1967), ‘Ittefaaq’ (1969), ‘Shatranj’ (1969), ‘The Train’ (1970), ‘Purab Aur Paschim’ (1970) etc.
Shammi married producer-director, Sultan Ahmed in 1973. Their marriage lasted about 7 years after which she left his house with a bare minimum personal effects. It was her close friends like Nargis, Rajesh Khanna and Shashi Kapoor who helped her to make a comeback in films. After her successful comeback, Shammi produced ‘Pighalta Aasmaan’(1985) with Rajesh Khanna and Rakhee in the lead roles. However, due to differences between Rajesh Khanna and film’s director, Esmayeel Shroff, Rajesh Khanna walked out of the film. He was replaced by Shashi Kapoor. Finally, Esmayeel Shroff walked out, and Shammi stepped in to direct the film. The film was a disaster at the box. Shammi lost almost all her savings in this film. Once again, Rajesh Khanna helped her getting roles in films and a couple of TV serials like ‘Dekh Bhai Dekh’ and Zabaan Sambhaal Ke’ which helped in her financial rehabilitation.
One can note from her filmography that Shammi had almost a continuous innings in her filmy career from 1951 until 2005. She was able to achieve this due to, what Asha Parekh calls, her inborn trait of winning confidence of the people she came in contact with. During her six decades, Shammi had worked in about 250 films. In one of her interviews that appeared in a newspaper, she revealed that she did not have any secretary, and she did not go to anyone seeking work throughout in her filmy career. It was her close friends who helped her getting roles in films. She was often seen in the company of veteran actors like Asha Parekh, Waheeda Rahman, Nanda and Helen after her active filmy career ended.
Shammi died at a ripe age of 89. She was suffering from various old age-related ailments for 5-6 years. Ironically, true of herself, in her last film, ‘Shirin Farhad Ki To Nikal Padi’ 2012) she played the role of a Parsi grandmother to Farhad, the role played by Boman Irani. [Note: Shammi’s profile is mainly based on her long interview which appeared on rediff.com in February 2013].
‘Bade Ghar Ki Bahu’ (1960) was one of many films in which she had a prominent role of a sister to the lead actress, Geeta Bali. The film, originally titled as ‘Bhaabhi’, was produced by J S Puri and was directed by Kundan Kumar. The star cast included Geeta Bali, Abhi Bhattacharya, Kuldeep Kaur, Sunder, Shammi, Neeru, Bhagwan Sinha, Niranjan Sharma, Chanda Bai, Sheila Vaz, Nagpal etc. It appears that the film had a delayed theatrical release. Some of its songs were released on 78 RPM gramophone records under the original title, ‘Bhaabhi’.
I have watched this film on VCD few months back on a video sharing platform. Unfortunately, the VCD has a very poor audio quality. Anyway, I have attempted to collate the story of the film with the help of auto generated sub-titles which sometime can be incomplete and misleading.
The film starts with a scene in which an elderly Ranjan (Abhi Bhattacharya) looking at the photograph of his late wife, Lata (Geeta Bali) asks for her blessings for his newly wed son and daughter-in-law who are about to come to take his blessings. He recalls that despite being a step mother, Lata has looked after his son very well. The newly wedded son with his wife meets Ranjan and the story of the film goes into the flashback.
In Mumbai, Chanda (Kuldeep Kaur) is in the verge of committing suicide because she had no means to sustain herself alone. A conman (Nagpal) saves her and takes her with him with a promise that there are many ways to become rich. Ranjan, the only son of a very wealthy man (Niranjan Sharma) while driving his car, hits Chanda while the conman was taking her with him. Ranjan admits her to a hospital. He visits her daily in the hospital during which he falls in love with her. This love affair is not known to Ranjan’s father nor to his younger sister, Neeru (Neeru).
Ranjan’s father has arranged his marriage with a simple and beautiful village girl, Lata. Bowing to the pressure of his father and his sister, Ranjan reluctantly marries Lata. On the marriage night, Ranjan makes it clear to Lata that he has married her to please his father. He is already in love with Chanda and wishes to marry her. He takes Lata and introduces her to Chanda in a palatial house which Ranjan has given her for their rendezvous. He gets a promise from Lata that she would keep this secret to herself and will not disclose to his father. Being a simple village girl who has been taught to be obedient to husband, Lata keeps her promise. When she goes back to the village, she pretends to be happily married. Ranjan, on the other hand, spends his time with Chanda every evening. The conman who has saved Chanda from suicide, regularly gets his share of money from Chanda which is financed by Ranjan. Ranjan returns home late in every evening, which is not liked by his father and sister.
In the same Lata’s village, Kaviraj (Sunder) is a poet who is struggling to make his living by poetry. He is married to Geeta (Shammi), the sister of Lata. Due to his poor financial condition, he migrates to Mumbai for earning income from his poems. Here, he meets the same conman who suggests him to pretend to be the long-lost son of a wealthy blind woman (Chandabai) so that he can become rich with her money and also himself. At first, Kaviraj hesitates but keeping Geeta in his mind, he agrees. Kaviraj starts staying with the wealthy blind woman as his long-lost son.
Lata’s sister-in-law, Neeru smacks of the unusual relationship of her brother, Ranjan with Lata. On her investigation, Neeru comes to know of his illicit relations with Chanda. She visits Chanda and tells her how she is spoiling Lata’s life. Her sermons have some effect on Chanda but she is still financially dependent on Ranjan. Neeru apprises Lata of her husband’s relation with Chanda. However, Lata tells her that she should keep quiet about her brother’s affair with Chanda as she has promised him as such. Geeta makes an unscheduled visit to Lata’s house in Mumbai to meet her husband, Kaviraj. She stays with Lata. Geeta also gets a feeling of a cold vibe between Lata and Ranjan.
Meanwhile, the wealthy blind woman demands Kaviraj to get married so that she could see her grandchild before her death. The conman makes a story to her that her son has already got married and that was the reason, he ran away from her. The wealthy blind woman wants his wife back in the house. That is when the conman makes Chanda to join Kaviraj to act like his wife just to satisfy the wealthy blind woman. But Chanda was already pregnant with Ranjan’s child. She delivers a baby boy, but Chanda’s health deteriorates, and the doctors have lost hope of her survival. She telephones to Ranjan to apprised him about her hopeless situation. But Ranjan is not at home and the phone is picked up by Lata. She agrees to take care of the newborn child.
When Kaviraj brings the baby boy at Ranjan’s house, the secret of Ranjan is out. Ranjan’s father is infuriated when Ranjan returns home and accepts that the baby boy is from his relationship with Chanda. He orders him to get out of the house at once. After lots of cajoling by Lata and Neeru, Ranjan’s father reluctantly agrees with one condition that Ranjan will not get any share in his estate which he would give to Lata. Ranjan agrees and apologizes to Lata that he has treated her unfairly. Both Lata and Ranjan now effectively become wife and husband. Kaviraj and Geeta go back to their village with the wealthy blind woman as she still beleives that Kaviraj is her lost son.
The film has seven songs written by Tanveer Naqvi (4) and the remaining three written by Sarshar Sailani, Prem Dhawan and Anjum Jaipuri without identifying as to which of the three songs have been written by them. All the songs were set to music by Chitragupt. Four songs have been covered on the Blog. I am presenting the 5th song, ‘aayee hai Bambai se piyaa jee kee paatee’ rendered by Asha Bhosle and picturised on Shammi. The song is written by Tanveer Naqvi. The song is an imagination of Kaviraj (Sundar) as to how his wife, Geeta (Shammi) would react if she is called to Mumbai as demanded by the wealthy blind woman (Chandabai) as she wants to see her daughter-in-law to stay with her. In reality, it is Chanda (Kuldeep Kaur) who joins Kaviraj in the guise of his wife.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Aayee hai Bambai se piyaa jee kee paatee (Bade Ghar Ki Bahu)(1960) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Tanver Naqvi, MD-Chitragupta
Lyrics:
aayee hai bambai se piyaa jee kee paatee
phiroon itraatee
main jhoom jhoom ke
ho o o
aayee hai bambai se piyaa jee kee paatee
phiroon itraatee
main jhoom jhoom ke
ho o o o
jhoole hai mann moraa sapnon ke jhoole
jhoole hai mann moraa
jhoole hai mann moraa sapnon ke jhoole
jaake bides mohe piyaa naheen bhoole
ho jaake bides mohe piyaa naheen bhoole
maare khushee ke
maare khushee ke main to phoolee naa samaatee
phiroon itraatee
main jhoom jhoom ke
ho o o
aayee hai bambai se piyaa jee kee paatee
phiroon itraatee
main jhoom jhoom ke
ho o o o
laakhon mein ek hain jee morey saanwariyaa
jee morey saanwariyaa
laakhon mein ek hain jee morey saanwariyaa
jee morey saanwariyaa
lag naheen jaaye kaheen jag kee najariyaa
haan
lag naheen jaaye kaheen jag kee najariyaa
jag ke nazar se
jag ke nazar se unhen nainon mein chhupaatee
phiroon itraatee
main jhoom jhoom ke
ho o o
aayee hai bambai se piyaa jee kee paatee
phiroon itraatee
main jhoom jhoom ke
ho o o o
tadpe hai jiyaa meraa pee ke milan ko
jee pee ke milan ko
tadpe hai jiyaa meraa pee ke milan ko
jee pee ke milan ko
kaise chhupaaun bhalaa mann kee lagan ko
kaise chhupaaun bhalaa mann kee lagan ko
raah takoon main
raah takoon main baithhee piyaa piyaa gaatee
phiroon itraatee
main jhoom jhoom ke
ho o o
aayee hai bambai se piyaa jee kee paatee
phiroon itraatee
main jhoom jhoom ke
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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