Kisee ke kooche mein gardan kataane jaate hain
Posted on: March 30, 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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‘Ek Din Kaa Sultaan’ (1945) was produced and directed by Sohrab Modi under the banner of Minerva Movietone. The cast included Wasti, Mehtab, Ghulam Mohammed, A Shah Shikarpuri, Sadiq Ali, Pratima Devi, Shanta Rin, Ghori, Ghulam Hussain, Amir Bano etc. The film belongs to the genre of historical drama.
The film is partly based on an event in the life of Mughal emperor, Humayun when he was saved by Nizam Bishti, a watercarrier from drowning in River Ganga during the Battle of Chausa with Afghan ruler, Sher Shah Suri. Nizam jumped into the river with his mashaq (water bag made of goat skin) which he used as a floating boat and carried Humayun on it while he himself swam along with it to cross the swaelling river. After reaching Agra, Humayun felt grateful to Nizam for saving his life. He made him the king for a day and permitted him to reward his own relatives during that time with princely presents. Sohrab Modi took the cinematic liberty to change the profession of Nizam Khan from a watercarrier to a soldier who took to watercarrier when he lost his job as a soldier. This change has been done to present the historical drama in conjunction with the romance drama, probably for a better box office attraction.
Fortunately, the VCD of the film is available in multiple numbers on a video sharing platform. I had watched the film more than a decade back. With somewhat better quality of Film’s VCD now available, I watched the film once again to recapitulate the story which is as under:
The film starts with the birth of Kausar, the daughter of Mughal Sardar, Sher-e-Koh (Ghulam Mohammed). She grows up in the palatial house along with many girls of her age, one of which is her close companion, Sambul (Shanta Rin). One day, they are playing with throwing crackers from the terrace of their house when Sambul sees Nizam Khan (Wasti), a soldier riding on his horse coming towards the house. Sambul throws one of the crackers at him just for the fun. Nizam is angry and threatens to complain but as soon as he sees Kausar (Mehtab) who is standing with Sambul, he changes his mind and tells them that because of Kausar he is not complaining now. They throws more crackers at him which turns the house into inferno. While most of the occupants in the house escapes from the fire, Kausar is caught in the fire. Nizam rescues her from the fire.
Ever since Nizam has seen Kausar, he has fallen in love with her. Kausar is also in the same situation, Both in their minds say that though the fire in the house has been extinguished but fresh fire has been ignited in their hearts for each other. But how to convey their feelings for each other. Azim Khan (A. Shah Shikarpuri), a watercarrier who supply water to Humayun’s palace as well to Sher-e-Koh’s house, is a close friend of Nizam. For the present, it is important for Nizam that Azim is a water supplier to a house where Kausar stays through which he can develop contact with Kausar. For Kausar, her contact point is her companion, Sambul who meets Azim when he supplies water to their house. Azim suggests to Nizam that he can try a direct meeting with Kausar when she attends Basant Mela (Spring Festival).
Nizam goes to attend the Basant Mela.
As expected, Kausar comes in her closed horse driven buggy accompanied by her security guards. While enjoying an amusement ride her dupatta falls. Nizam picks her dupatta to give her back in her buggy but disguises as an old man with white beard. However, after taking her dupatta, Kausar closes the door of her buggy in which his white beard gets struck and he is exposed. The security guards fight with him during which Nizam gets injured. He escapes on his horse to reach his home. The news of this skirmishes reach to Sher-e-Koh who wants from the girls who accompanied Kausar the identification of the intruder. Sambul knows that the intruder was Nizam but she gives a vague identification by describing the intruder as an old person with white beard who had a similar face like Nizam. Kausar thanks Sambul for taking care of Nizam. Sambul reveals that how she could let her down when she herself is in love with Azim. But both are sailing in the same boat. Their beloveds belong to the lower strata of the society and they are not sure as to how their parents will react on their choices.
In the meanwhile, Sher-e-Koh suspecting Nizam Khan to be the intruder, summons him to his palace. He asks Nizam to ask anything from him as a token of his appreciation for saving Kausar from the fire. Nizam says that he wants to marry Kausar. That confirms Sher-e-Koh’s suspicion on Nizam and orders the death sentence on him to be executed on a day which he will decide. Kausar pleads with her father that death sentence to Nizam for asking for the marriage with her is harsh. He could have dismissed from the services of his army. But Sher-e-Koh is firm on the death sentence to Nizam. On the day Nizam is being taken for executing his death sentence, a caravan of Emperor Humayun is passing through the street. As per the Emperor’s orders, whoever is under the execution of death sentence on the day Emperor Humayun visit to the place, the death sentence is remitted and he becomes a free man. Nizam is released from the prison but he is dismissed from the Mughal army.
Emperor Humayun (Sadiq Ali) is worried from the two-pronged attack on his rule. First, his own brother Kamran is planning a mutiny against him. Second, the Afghan ruler, Sher Shah Suri has amassed his army near the border of Mughal empire. He orders reorganisation of the army to fight on both the front. A royal farmaan is issued that the army wants a large number of Bishti (watercarrier) during their campaign against Sher Shah Suri. Despite being saved from the death sentence, Nizam wants to meet Kausar in her palace which is nothing less than suicide. His friend, Azim suggests him to become a Bishti so that he can sustain himself after losing the job of a soldier. Azim takes Nizam as a Bishti which facilitates his meeting with Kausar while Azim meets his beloved Sambul.
On the war front, Humayun’s army has been camping on one side the River Jamuna while Sher Shah Suri’s army has camped on the other side of River. This stand-off has continued for a long time, making Mughal army complacent. Taking advantage of this situation, Sher Shah Suri’s army storm into Mughal army camp in the night incurring a very high casualties. The surviving Mughal army men save themselves by escaping from the camp. In the circumstances, Humayun jumps into a swollen river to save himself but finds himself getting drowned. Nizam saves him by throwing his waterfilled Bishti bag. Humayun is happy and tells him that he is prepared to give him anything he asks as a token of his gratitude for saving his life. Overwhelmed by Humayun’s offer, Nizam says that he is not in a position to ask from him anything now. Humayun assures him that whenever he decides to ask, he can visit his court in Agra.
Emperor Humayun safely reaches Agra. Sher-e-Koh reports to Humayun to inform him that he wishes to get Kausar married to his nephew, Hamid Khan. Humayun gives his approval and asks him to arrange the marriage quickly as Sher Shah Suri’s army will attack Agra very soon and Mughal army under Sher-e-Kho’ s leadership has to be kept in readiness. As usual, Nizam clandestinely pays a visit to Kausar who reveals him that her father has taken approval of her marriage with Hamid Khan. Now it is a fate accompli because who cares for seeking the approval of the bride for the marriage. She tells him that he should not meet her henceforth.
Suddenly, Nizam remembers the boon offered by Emperor Humayun. He goes to the court and reminds Humayun of fulfilment of the boon he has given him. Nizam conveys his wish to become the emperor for a day. Without any hesitation, Humayun takes him to his throne and announces in the court that Nizam is the emperor of the Mughal empire for a day and all his farmaan to be fulfilled. Nizam orders that his marriage with Kausar be arranged. Sher-e-Koh object to this by reminding Humayun that he has already given his approval for the marriage with Hamid Khan which cannot be changed by a new Emperor. Mufti of the court gives his ruling that the marriage is void without the bride’s consent. Humayun himself goes with Sher-e-Koh to get Kausar’s consent. She indirectly tells him that her heart had already assumed the person to be her husband who had saved her from the fire by putting his life in danger. After hearing this, Humayun asks She-e-Koh to embrace Nizam in confirmation of their marriage which he does it. Nizam and Kausar get married.
With this film, Sohrab Modi had reaffirmed his grip on the genre of historical drama films after the success of his films like ‘Pukaar’ (1939), ‘Sikandar’ (1941) and ‘Prithvi Vallabh’ (1943). I liked the film because the main character, Nizam Khan (Wasti) was visualised as a cheerful personality despite the obstacle he faces in pursuit of his love for Kausar. Another plus point of the film was the dialogues in chaste Urdu by Agha Jani Kashmiri which included dialogues in the form of Urdu couplets uttered by Wasti and Mehtab. In my view, the best performances came from A Shah Shikarpuri in the role of Azim and Ghulam Mohammed in the role of Sher-e-Koh. The only jarring point in the film was the nine songs which were too many, probably forcing the audience to go out from the theatre for a smoke.
The film had nine songs written by Wali Sahab which were set to music by Rafique Ghaznavi (3), Shanti Kumar Desai (3) and D Gadkar (3). Four songs have been covered on the Blog. I present the 5th song, ‘Kisee ke kooche mein gardan kataane jaate hain’, a fun song rendered by G M Durrani singing for Wasti and an unidentified male singer singing for A Shah Shikarpuri. The song is composed by Rafique Ghaznavi who, I guess, could be the unidentified singer.
The context of the song is that Nizam (Wasti) has just been saved from his execution for intruding Kausar’s (Mehtab) buggy and for fighting with her security guards. Now, he is planning to clandestinely pay a visit to Kausar’s place. His friend, Azim (A Shah Shikarpuri) retorts him that his visit to Kausar at this juncture is tantamount to offering himself for beheading. But Nizam is firm on his visit to Kausar and starts singing this song. Thus, this song becomes a friendly banter between the two.
I like such type of songs for its light-heartedness. We have many ‘nok jhonk’ or teasing songs between the beloveds in the form of male-female duets on our Blog. But such type of male duet songs seems to be rare. The song in this genre which comes to my mind is jis pyaar mein ye haal ho uss pyaar se taubaa in the film, ‘Phir Subah Hogi’ (1958).
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-kisee ke kooche mein gardan kataane jaate hain (Ek Din Ka Sultaan)(1945) Singers-G M Durrani, Unknown male voice, Lyrics-Wali Sahab,MD-Rafiq Ghaznavi
Lyrics:
kisee ke kooche mein gardan
kisee ke kooche mein gardan
kataane jaate hain
kataane jaate hain
kisee ke kooche mein gardan
kataane jaate hain
kataane jaate hain
jigar kee pyaas lahu
jigar kee pyaas lahu se bujhaane jaate hain
bujhaane jaate hain
jigar kee pyaas lahu se bujhaane jaate hain
bujhaane jaate hain
kafan lapet ke
kafan lapet ke sar se
kisee kee mahfil mein
kisee kee mahfil mein
kafan lapet ke sar se
kisee kee mahfil mein
kisee kee mahfil mein
ye aaj apnee kazaa ko
ajee kazaa ko
ye aaj apnee kazaa ko
bulaane jaate hain
bulaane jaate hain
ye aaj apni kazaa ko
bulaane jaate hain
bulaane jaate hain
kazaa bhee roothhee huyee hai
khafaa hai wo but bhee
kazaa bhee roothhee huyee hai
khafaa hai wo but bhee
ham aaj donon mein
ham aaj donon mein ek ko manaane jaate hain
manaane jaate hain
ham aaj donon mein ek ko manaane jaate hain
manaane jaate hain
ye sunke khoon shaheedon kaa rang laata hai
ye sunke khoon shaheedon kaa rang laata hai
ye aaj apne lahu mein
ye aaj apne lahu mein
nahaane jaate hain
nahaane jaate hain
ye aaj apne lahu mein
nahaane jaate hain
nahaane jaate hain
sunaa hai dard ke badhne se dard ghatataa hai
sunaa hai dard ke badhne se dard ghatataa hai
hamaare dard-e-mohabbat
hamaare dard-e-mohabbat badhaane jaate hain
badhaane jaate hain
hamaare dard-e-mohabbat badhaane jaate hain
badhaane jaate hain
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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