Zaraa dheere dheere haan zara hauley hauley bolo jee
Posted on: April 18, 2025
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, 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’s song is from the film Nishani-1942.
As far as the Film Titles are concerned, our filmmakers are not very knowledgeable, I would say. Some titles give one meaning and the film is about something else. There are so many examples of this. If you go through the Film Title index, you will find strange titles. Anyway, more about this some other time.
The Dictionary meaning of the word ” Nishani” is Souvenir, Trace, Relic, Token, memento, Keepsake, Monument, Remembrance, Sign, Trail etc. The film is about none of these. Generally and colloquially, the word Nishani means a thing connected with a person or an event (like a gift from a lover) or an act of exhibiting emotion (a slap after anger) etc. The film is not even about this.
Of all the things in the world, the film is about the “Identification Marks” or “Birthmarks” of a person. I came across my own Identification marks from my School Leaving Certificate, when I left school after my 12th standard. ” A scar on right knee” and ” a mole on left cheek” were written on the certificate and I checked them immediately after reading it only to find them correct. I wondered when these were noticed by the clerk issuing the certificate ! But then I came to know that my elder brother, who came with me, had given these details to the clerk !!
The film was made by Shorey Pictures, Lahore. It was directed by the producer and the owner of the banner – Roop K. Shorey. Music was composed by Pt. Amarnath (Batish) for all the 10 songs penned by Hazarat Aziz Kashmiri. The cast of the film was Majnu ( real name Harold Lewis), Ragini, Rooplekha (Jew actress, sister of more famous actress Ramola. Real name Sofia Cohen), M.D.Kanwar and many others. Film Nishani-1942 was a story of 2 Look-Alikes, who were not twins. The story was….
Not far from Lahore is a village, Desoo. There lived Ajit, the son of the Choudhari-a graduate without work. His father wants to get him married. But Ajit finds it ridiculous. He leaves the house to escape matrimonial bondage. Tired and fatigued he sleeps under a tree.
In Lahore- Lives an exact double of Ajit. Ranjit and his beautiful wife, Indira, are a happy couple enjoying each other’s love and devotion. Ranjit is a rich man and fond of excitement and adventure. . Ranjit bumps into Ajit. The collision leads to complications. Ranjit’s motor-bike runs out of control just where Ajit is lying asleep. The one is taken for the other. Ranjit gets caught among the villagers of Desoo and considered a lunatic. He is sent to Lahore asylum. Ajit is taken for Ranjit and is removed to the house.
Ajit is dazed to find himself married without marriage. He wants to avoid Indira, the wife of Ranjit. Doctor Ganesh Das puts him down as an unhinged brain. But Ajit knows he has to act under the circumstances. And as usual, the youngman finds love the only thing for a useful diversion. He makes friends with one L.Kishori Lal whose sister Leela easily takes care of him. Indira comes to know about the proposed `remarriage’ of her `husband’.
But all her efforts to avert this crisis are of no avail. The pair makes a good escape. Ajit and Leela are enjoying their honey-moon in the Green Hotel. On the other hand, Ranjit manages to escape from the lunatic asylum and comes to town. Here again Ranjit and Ajit exchange their identities.
Ajit is at a barber’s shop when taken for Ranjit, the runaway lunatic. Ranjit is claimed by Leela at Greens. Ranjit knows there is a mistake but cannot help it and there is a terrible row. In the midst of this scene jumps the party headed by Indira and Kishori Lal, chasing Leela Ajit. And then someone calls the Police too.
Finally, it is Indira who checks the Birthmarks of Ranjit and declares him as the Right Ranjit. Thus she gets Ranjit. Then Ajit is brought from the Asylum and identified by the birthmarks by Leela. He is also certified. This way the ‘Nishanis’ or the Birthmarks save everyone( including the audience) and the film ends on a Happy note.
The film was unique because it marked the Debuts of 3 people. One- the Music Director, Pt.Amarnath Batish, secondly, actress Rooplekha and thirdly, the singer Naseem Akhtar.
Incidentally, not only these three persons, but many others in the film industry helped to change its constitution and welcome many new establishments and events which had a long impact on the history of Hindi film Industry.
Indian film industry has always been alive to the happenings in the country and reflects the national problems and important events in our films.1942 was a year when the II World War was on its peak and it had caused a severe food shortage in the world. Italy had made a silent film ‘Greed’ on this issue. Based on it.Mehboob Khan made a film , Roti’ in India. Mehboob was a socialist and a Nehruvian to the core and so his films like,Mother India or Son Of India were made on socialist principles. In 1942,Ramchandra Thakur also directed one such film,’Gareeb’.
In India, the Congress had started its Quit India movement, but in our Film Industry it was a Quit studio movement. Many well known film artistes, directors, composers and other related staff moved over to new pastures. 1942, in a sense, became an overhauling of the Film industry with so much movement of people. The following activities changed the scenario to a great extent.
1. A group of disgruntled people in Bombay Talkies, comprising of Rai Bahadur Chunilal, Shashadhar mukherjee, Ashok Kumar, Sawak Vachha and few of their followers left Bombay Talkies, after disagreements with Devika Rani and formed their own outfit – Filmistan.
2. Mehboob Khan separated from National studios and established his own Mehboob Productions. This was also the time when Mehboob and Anil Biswas separated from each other due to some differences.
3. Abdul Rasheed Kardar established his own Kardar studios.
4. V.Shantaram, along with his team left Prabhat- an institution which he established and made a famous one by his directorial contribution. He first joined Films division and then started his own Raj Kamal Kala Mandir.
5. Wadia Movietone split and the brothers separated. While JBH Wadia, the elder brother, wanted that their company should start making only Social films now, the younger Homi Wadia wanted to continue with Stunt and Action films. He started his own Basant Pictures. Wadia’s star performer Fearless Nadia went with Homi Wadia, whom she married years later.
6. Calcutta’s New Theatres started showing signs of disintegration and Debki Bose,P C Barua etc left the New Theatres. Debaki Bose made ‘ Apna Ghar’ in Bombay. K L Saigal left New Theatres to do films in Bombay . He did Ranjit’s’ Bhakta Surdas’ and ‘ Bhanwra’. He of course went back to Calcutta to do a few more films,before coming back to Bombay for Shahjehan and Pawana. He did not/could not go back to Calcutta,as he died after Parwana-47. Saigal, while recording the song ” Nainheen ko raah dikha” in Bhakta Surdas, did 14 retakes in recordings. His younger brother Mohan Saigal acted as Shri krishna in this film and he is heard saying” Surdas ji” in the song Nis Din barsat Nain hamare.
7. Composer Vasant Desai did his first independent film “Shobha” as a Music Director.
8. C Ramchandra did his first Hindi film as a composer- Sukhi Jeevan.
9. Ninu Mujumdar became MD with the film Black Out.
10. Kamal Dasgupta started his Hindi career with the film Jawab.
11. Lyricist Ramesh Gupta started with the film Awaz.
12. Lyricist Qamar Jalalabadi started with Zamindar.
13. Suraiya entered the Playback with songs in Nai Duniya and Sharda.
14. Hemant Kumar sang his first Hindi song in the film Meenakshi-42.
15. Manna Dey first sang Hindi songs in the film Tamanna.
16. Jagmohan Sursagar sang in the first Hindi film-Bhakta Kabir.
17. Nurjahan sang her first Hindi film songs in film Khandan-42, in Lahore.
18. Bharat Bhushan’s first film in a leading role was Bhakt Kabir.
19. Madhubala started as Baby Mumtaz in film Basant
From Lahore Dalsukh Pancholi repeated his magic with ‘ Khandaan’-42. This time it was Noorjehan who shook the industry with her songs under Ghulam Haider. Films like Bhakt Kabir,Bhakta Surdas, and Bharat Milap kept the Mythology/religious films in limelight. New Theatres, Prabhat, Bombay Talkies etc all brought excellent films in 1942. Barring Bhakta Surdas, Roti and Khandan, there was not much competition to Naushad’s Station Master-42 ,in music.Its music became quite popular and the film celebrated Silver Jubilee. Naushad tasted success for the first time in his career in 1942 and 2 of his 3 films in the year celebrated Silver Jubilees. The other film was Nai Duniya-42.
Let us take a look at some important films of 1942….
Film Barat had music by Ratanlal-brother of Khemchand Prakash and himself as Khemraj.
Film Basant- though it has the name of Pannalal Ghosh as MD, as per HFGK, all the songs were composed by Anil Biswas (because he was still under contract with National Studios) and Ghosh had only done Orchestration and background music.
Bhakta Kabir had music by Himangshu Dutt- the first title holder of “Sursagar”.
Bhakta Surdas- Gyan Dutt gave 15 hit songs of Saigal and Khursheed. In this film Khursheed sang equally well with Saigal.
Bharat Milap- First film in which Prem Adib and Shobhana Samarth did the roles of Shri Ram and Seeta, which made them famous all over India.
Chauranghee- the only Hindi film for which Kazi Nazrul Islam gave music and wrote songs too. It was his debut film. Also Debut for Hanuman prasad Sharma as Md and S.Fazli as Director.
Dus Baje- Debut of Baby Shakuntala.
Iqrar- Last film of actress Madhuri (Beryl Classen). Master Vithal-a professional singer from Sholapur sang his only song in a Hindi film.( not the actor)
Jawab- all songs popular, especially Kanan devi’s “Ye duniya Toofan mail”.
Khandan- Entry of Nur jahan, from Lahore. All her songs are popular.
Muqabala- First Talkie film with double role of Heroine- Nadia. Babhubhai Mistri’s magic in trick scenes.
Nai Duniya- Suraiy’s first song in Hindi film.
Roti- Begum Akhtar’s role and 6 songs.
Savera- First film of Arun Ahuja and Nirmala Devi.
Sharada- Naushad gives good songs.
Station Master- Hit film with songs.
Zamindar- Shanta Apte goes to Lahore all the way
All in all, the year 1942 was an eventful year for the industry. Indian audiences enjoyed a variety of Genres in film offerings and a feast of Naushad’s songs, Bhajans and New artistes.
Now enjoy the 83 year old song….
Song-Zara dheere dheere haan zaraa haule haule bolo jee (Nishaani)(1942) Singer- Zeenat begum, unknown male voice, Lyricist-Aziz Kashmiri, MD- Pt. Amarnath Batish
Lyrics
zara dheere dheere
haan zaraa haule haule bolo jee
koi sun legaa
zaraa dheere dheere
haan zaraa haule haule bolo jee
koi sun legaa
koi sun legaa
haaye
koi sun legaa
koi sun legaa
haaye
koi sun legaa
zaraa dheere dheere
haan zaraa haule haule bolo jee
koi sun legaa
haan aan aan choree choree nain milaa ke
man ko man ka meet banaa ke
haan aan aan choree choree nain milaa ke
man ko man ka meet banaa ke
preet ki naiyya
hona kinaar
preet ki naiyya
hona kinaar
badnaamee ko
maane na lena
badnaamee ko
maane na lena
na preet ke motee ?? jee
na preet ke motee ?? jee
koi sun legaa
zaraa dheere dheere
haan zaraa haule haule bolo jee
koi sun legaa
ho baalmaa
ho saajnaa
mastaanaa adaayen hain
mastaanaa adaayen hain
kaalee kaalee aankhon mein
kaalee kaalee aankhon mein
mastee kee ghataayen hain aen
mastee kee ghataayen hain aen
mastaanaa adaayen hain aen
is mastee mein kho jaayen aen aen
is mastee mein kho jaayen aen aen
kaalee kaalee badlee ke ae
ho baalmaa
ho saajnaa
hum kadmon(??) mein so jaayen
hum kadmon(??) mein so jaayen
darr aataa hai duniya se ae
darr aataa hai duniya se ae
naazuk dil mera
naazuk dil mera
ghabraataa hai duniya se ae
ghabraataa hai duniya se ae
darr aataa hai duniya se ae
is duniya se darna kya aa aa
is duniya se darna kya aa aa
preet kee baazee mein
o baalmaa
o saajnaa
ab ?? kya
ab ?? kya
zaraa dheere dheere
haan zaraa haule haule bolo jee
koi sun legaa
zaraa dheere dheere
haan zaraa haule haule bolo jee
koi sun legaa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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