Dil lagaa kar unse yaaron poore ghaate mein rahe
Posted on: May 31, 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 Sunehre Din-1949. The song is sung by Kalyani and Shamshad Begum.
Film Sunehre Din-1949 was made by Jagat Films. It was directed by Satish Nigam and the Music Director was Gyan Dutt. For 10 songs of the film, there were 3 Lyricists – D.N.Madhok, Shevan Rizvi and Shekhar, M.A. The cast of the film included Rehana, Raj Kapoor, Nigar Sultana,Ramesh Sinha, Heera Sawant etc.
Rehana was a top actress of Hindi cinema in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She is regarded as Hindi cinema’s first ‘jhatka queen’. Her dances catered to the front benchers or the ‘chavanni class’ as it was called then, while being labelled vulgar by the educated gentry! Today when one looks back, one finds her dances and stagey acting pretty harmless wondering what the furore was all about. Rehana, however, loved her sex-pot image and was known to have quipped, “Am I Sexy? Good, I like that!”
Rehana was born Mushtar Jehan in Lucknow on 7-3-1931. Her father had a silverware factory. She was trained in Kathak dance. Once when Kajjan’s drama company visited Lucknow, they saw her dance and took her in their troupe. With them she travelled all over India and also abroad. When she came back she was called by film people to Bombay. She started doing bit roles in films, but she debuted as a Heroine in Prabhat’s film Hum Ek Hai-46 co-starring Dev Anand, Kamala Kotnis and Rehman.
The film was the beginning of a fruitful partnership with the debutant director of the film, PL Santoshi, a partnership that would go on till 1952 through films like Shehnai (1947), Khidki (1948), Sargam (1950), Chham Chhama Chham (1952) and Shin Shinaki Boobla Boo (1952). It is said Santoshi was totally besotted by her.
Shehnai and Sajan (1947), both made for Filmistan, were Rehana’s breakthrough films that made her a star. The former, pairing her with Nasir Khan, also established director PL Santoshi and music director C Ramchandra whose super-hit song for the film Aana Meri Jaan Meri Jaan Sunday ke Sunday was hummed throughout the country. Sajan saw her paired with Ashok Kumar and remains one of her most well-known films.
Rehana entered the best phase of her career from 1948 – 1951 as she did a variety of films paired opposite most of the top heroes of the day – Prem Adib (Actress) (1948)), Raj Kapoor(Sunehre Din) (1949), Sargam (1950)), Dev Anand (Dilruba )(1950), Shyam (Nirdosh) (1950), Surajmukhi (1950)), Shekar (Ada (1951)) and Premnath (Sagai (1951)). Two of her biggest hits from these were Sargam (1950) and Sagai (1951). Most of the films preferred to capitalize on her seductive dances rather than make any great acting demands on her.
She is regarded as Hindi cinema’s first “jhatka queen”. Whether it was her infamous “lesbian act” with Nigar Sultana in Sunehre Din (1949), or the famous bath scene in Dilruba (1950), Mushtar stayed in the news. Shin Shinaki Boobla Boo (1952) became the first film to be banned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting because of its low moral tone, even when it was certified for unrestricted public viewing by the censor board of India. Immense public support for the actress made the information and broadcasting ministry of the central government bow down and allow the unrestricted release of the film, but the huge delay reduced its success at the box office. It also ruined P.L.Santoshi.
However, post Sagai, Rehana’s career sharply went on the decline as films like Rangeeli (1952), Chham Chhama Chham, Hazar Raatein (1953) and Samrat (1954) all sank at the box-office. And soon Rehana found herself playing second lead in films like Dhola Maru (1956)and Delhi Durbar (1956). With her career on decline in India, Rehana migrated to Pakistan with the hope of continuing her career there.
Rehana’s films in Pakistan like Shalimar (1956), opposite Sudhir, Wehshi (1956), Apna Paraya (1959) failed at the box office. The only successful film she really had in Pakistan as leading lady was Raat ke Rahi (1960). Aulad (1962) was also successful but by then she was no longer the leading lady and Nayyar Sultana played the heroine of the film. Rehana married the producer of Raat ke Rahi, Iqbal Shehzad but it was short-lived. After separating from him, she married businessman Sabir Ahmed. She had a cameo dance number in the Zeba – Syed Kamal – Mohammed Ali starrer Dil ne Tujhe Maan Liya (1963) after which she faded away from the film scene. Rehana resurfaced in 1995 as a member of the jury for the Nigar Awards.
This 87 year old actress’s name was in news in 2010, when she filed a case against the producers of ” Once upon a time in Mumbai”, in Allahabad Court, claiming that Kangana ‘s character Rehana in this film is her’s and is used without her permission. Rehana died on 23-4-2013. (Thanks to Upperstall, wiki, book Asli Nakli Chehre by Vithal Pandya, Cinerang by Isak Mujawar for some information used here, along with my notes.).
Old time artistes turning into beggars (Vatsala Kumthekar, Parshuram, Wasti etc.) and becoming seriously sick and unattended patients (Pradeep Kumar) are plentiful. But there were many artists who somehow managed to live with self respect in face of penury and neglect by the industry,like Rajkumari, Sajjad Hussain, master Nissar, Karan Dewan, Bhagwan, Mubarak Begum etc.
One such artist was actress and singer KALYANI BAI, from the 30s and the 40s. She was traced to a small Tenement in Tekriwal Bungalow,in the lane near Mahim Dargah, in Mumbai by the famous Film Historian,writer and journalist Shri Shishir Krishna Sharma. He interviewed her on 21-2-2004. The following edited Biography of kalyani Bai is based on his writings in beetehuedin.blogspot.in. I thank Sharmaji for this.
Hailing from Turkman Gate in Delhi, Kalyani Bai was born in 1916. Her real name was Zarina. She was passionate about singing from a very young age and she subsequently started her formal training with Ustad Wazire Khan and in no time started singing for All India Radio and HMV. That era saw an influx of records made from the many Ghazals, Khyaal & Thumris that she had sung.
When a contact was made to her at her house situated in ‘Tekriwala bunglow’ on Dargah lane in Mahim (West), a few years back, Kalyani Bai said that with the advent of talkie films the demand for well enunciated and melodious singers suddenly went up as till then playback hadn’t been the trend and actors would themselves have to sing the songs live in front of the camera. In the midst of this, one day, two brothers from Punjab saw her in a recording and came over to her house. They wanted to make a film with Kalyani. They agreed to all the conditions that Kalyani’s Abba put forth and hence Abba-Ammi along with their 15 children went on to Kolkata. This was during the Mid 30’s. Kalyani Bai was approximately 13 years old at that time. This film ‘Pardesi’, according to Kalyani, was completed halfway when a spat took place between the two brothers and the film had to be shut down.
As soon as B.N.Sircar, the owner of ‘New Theatres’ and R.C.Boral, the music director came to know of this, they called Kalyani and immediately employed her in their company at a salary of Rupees 250 a month. Since her nickname was ‘Kallo’, R.C.Boral gave Zarina a new name and henceforth she came to be known as ‘Kalyani Bai’.
Kalyani was featured in all the four films released by New Theatres in 1937 viz ‘Anath Ashram’, ‘Mukti’, ‘President’ and ‘Vidyapati’. she not only acted alongside heavyweights like Prithviraj Kapoor, Trilok Kapoor, Uma Shashi, Jagdish Sethi, P.C.Barua, Kanan devi, Pankaj Mullick, K.L.Sehgal, Leela Desai, Pahadi Sanyal, K.C.Dey, and K.N.Singh, she also sang some songs for her characters in those films. Playback was in its initial phase and had just been introduced in 1935 by ‘New Theatres’ in their film ‘Dhoop Chhaon’. And in practice, it wasn’t the singer’s name (who had actually sung the song) that appeared on the music records but the name of the character of the movie on whom the song was filmed and since this practice continued for another one and a half decade, it is virtually impossible to verify the songs sung by almost all the artists of that era including Kalyani.
Mumbai based Sardar Chandulal Shah, owner of ‘Ranjit Movietone’ was so impressed by Kalyani’s singing and acting skills that as soon as her contract with new theaters was over, he called Kalyani to Mumbai and employed her at Rupees 800 per month. The 1937 release ‘Toofani Toli’ was Kalyani’s first movie to be screened under the banner of Ranjit Movietone. The film was directed by Jayant Desai and Gyan Dutt was its music composer. Kalyani sung three songs for this movie.
In 1938 Ranjit Movietone made a total of 8 films under its banner. Kalyani sang and acted in 4 of these movies viz. ‘Billi’, ‘Gorakh Aya’, ‘Prithvi Putra’ and ‘Secretary’. Gyan Dutt was the composer and Pyarelal Santoshi was the lyricist for all of these films. Of the 4 films that were screened under this banner in 1939, Kalyani acted in as well as sang a duet in ‘Nadi Kinare’.
After parting ways from ‘Ranjit Movietone’, Kalyani appeared in movies like ‘Super Picture’s’ ‘Kanyadan’ (1940), ‘Mohan Picture’s’ ‘Jadui Kangan’ (1940), ‘Muslim ka laal’ (1941) and ‘Jadui Angoothi’ (1948), ‘Tarun Picture’s’ ‘Prabhat’ (1941), ‘Sunrise Picture’s ‘Ghar ki laaj’ (1941), ‘Ghar Sansar’ (1942), ‘Malan’ (1942) and ‘Maa Baap’ (1944) and ‘Radhika Picture’s ‘Pyara Watan’ (1942) where she not only played a range of roles from that of a heroine to a vamp, but she also sang many songs for these films. one that predominates all is the first film-qawaali of the history of Indian Cinema ‘aahein na bharin shikve na kiye’ (‘Zeenat’-1945 / Lyrics : Nakhshab / Music : Hafeez Khan) sung with Noorjehan and Johrabai Ambalewali in which Shyama, Shashikala and Shalini were seen on the big screen for the first time ever.
After her marriage in the year 1949, Kalyani left the ostentatious world of glamour and completely immersed herself in her domestic life. After a number of decades she was once again seen in movies like ‘Aaja Sanam’ (1975), ‘Prem Kahani’ (1975), ‘Aakhiri Sajda’ (1977) and ‘Salaam-E-Mohabbat’ (1983) where she played a number of small character roles but her comeback films could not bring back the magic that once was and she bid her final farewell to the big screen and spent the rest of her days quietly with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Her husband had passed away very early on and her son, working as a spot boy in films, barely managed to keep the household running. Although she had some relief in the form of a pension of Rupees 750 per month through the ‘Gandhi Welfare Trust’ set up by Richard Attenborough, Kalyani could never rise above the financial difficulties of livelihood till the very end.
In spite of all the pains and troubles that she faced, she never uttered a single word of complaint. And it was this decorous and dignified nature of hers that even superstars like Dev Anand and Sunil Dutt always showered her with the utmost respect. And then on 1st October 2009 at the age of 87, this remarkable artist of her era took her final journey.
Today’s song is taken from the film Sunehre Din-1949. It is sung by Kalyani and Shamshad Begum. The film was from Jagat Pictures. It was written and directed by Satish Nigam. The cast was Rehana, Raj Kapoor, Nigar Sultana, Roop Kamal, Ramesh Sinha etc. Gyan Dutt was the music director.The film had 10 songs. 7 songs from this film are already posted on this Blogspot. Two famous songs were ” baharon ne jise chheda”-Mukesh and “Maine dekhi jag ki reet’-Mukesh and Shamshad Begum. The Choreographer was the good old Badriprasad Awasthi-a multi talented artiste,who was an actor, producer, Director, Choreographer, Lyricist, Composer and God knows what else !. There were 3 lyricists, Shevan Rizvi, D N Madhok and Shekhar M.A. ( one up on Moti B.A.)
The story of Sunehre Din was a routine story of a Love Triangle, and the usual sacrifice by one of them to unite the lovers. 1949 was a period when Rehana was in Top gear. She was the darling of the front benchers. One could call her the original ‘Jhatka queen’ of those days. She was an exotic dancer but acting wise she was almost a zero. She could only roll her eyes and make funny faces, that’s all. Raj Kapoor, who started as a Hero only in 1947, was still a novice. After Neelkamal-47, Jail yatra-47, Chitod Vijay-47, Gopinath-48, Amar Prem-48 and Aag-48, this was just the seventh film of Raj Kapoor as a hero. With the entire focus of the story on Rehana, he did not have much to do in the film except as a supporting actor to Rehana.
Premendra(Raj Kapoor),son of the wealthy Raibahadur(Ramesh Sinha), is a singer on All India Radio. Renuka Kumari(Rehana) is a middle class girl. She and her two rich sahelis-AshaSinha(Roop Kamal) and Latarani(Nigar Sultana) are Premendra’s great fans. One day they all go to the A.I.R.Studio to meet him. Premendra and Renuka meet outside the studio and fall in love. She did not know his identity at that time. Inside the studio, these girls are introduced to Bedi, as Premendra. Later Asha and Lata find out the truth. Asha also starts loving him.(Thankfully, Lata does not fall in love. Nigar sultana does excessive Tomboyish acting here). Due to the pressure of his father, Premendra’s marriage is fixed with the rich girl Asha. When she comes to know that he is in true love with Renuka, Asha sacrifices her love and goes far off, allowing the lovers to unite. End of the film !
Let us now enjoy the 76 year old video song, sung by 33 year old Kalyani and 30 year old Shamshad Begum.
Song- Dil lagaakar unse yaaron poore ghaate mein rahe (Sunehre Din)(1949) Singers- Kalyani, Shamshad Begum, Lyricist- Shekhar, MD- Gyan Dutt
Chorus
Lyrics
aa aa
dil lagakar unse yaaron o o o
poore ghate mein rahe
wo toh jyun ke tyun rahe ae
hum sookh kar patjhad huye ae ae
kya kahen kis bewafa kee nazron mein hum kho gaye
kya kahen kis bewafa kee nazron mein hum kho gaye
hichkiyaan bharte hee bharte adhmare hum ho gaye
hichkiyaan bharte hee bharte adhmare hum ho gaye
haaye adhmare hum ho gaye
maine kaha yaaron
zara dil sambhaal kar baithhna
huzoor tashreef laa rahe hain
ho gaye gaayab kidhar r
jo mujh pe marne waale thhe
ae ae ae ae ae
koree aahen le muhabbat mujhse karne waale thhe
hichkiyaan bharte hee bharte kya kaheen par so gaye
hichkiyaan bharte hee bharte kya kaheen par so gaye
khojne mujhko chale thhe khud hee lekin kho gaye
khojne mujhko chale thhe khud hee lekin kho gaye
kho naheen sakte kabhee is shakl ke aashiq janaab
kho naheen sakte kabhee is shakl ke aashiq janaab
lo tumhaare ek ishare par hee haazir ho gaye
lo tumhaare ek ishaare par hee haazir ho gaye
aaj aayi hoon ki main marna tumhaara dekh loon
marna tumhaara dekh loon
dekh le duniya bhee mere kaise majnu ho gaye
dekh le duniya bhee mere kaise majnu ho gaye
hum tumhare hijr mein phaansee lagaane waale thhe
hum tumhare hizar mein phaansee lagaane waale thhe
sunte hee aawaz meethhee aashiqi mein kho gaye
sunte hee aawaaz meethhee aashiqi mein kho gaye
achcha laao main laga doon phaansee apne haath se
haay
phaansee apne haath se
ab maren meree bala jab saamne tum ho gaye
ab maren meree bala jab saamne tum ho gaye
bas tumhee majnu ho sachche kya adaayen paayin hain
bas tumhee majnu ho sachche
bas tumhee majnu ho sachche kya adaayen paayin hain
haaye kya adaayen paayin hai
aaj se main hoon tumhaaree tum hamaare ho gaye
tum hamaare ho gaye aur hum tumhaare ho gaye
tum hamaare ho gaye aur hum tumhaare ho gaye
tum hamaare ho gaye aur hum tumhaare ho gaye
tum hamaare ho gaye aur hum tumhaare ho gaye
tum hamaare ho gaye aur hum tumhaare ho gaye
tum hamaare ho gaye aur hum tumhaare ho gaye
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
May 31, 2025 at 12:28 pm
Sunehri Din was perhaps among the first movies to have the playback of Mukesh for Raj Kapoor alongwith Aag , his own production.
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May 31, 2025 at 9:16 pm
yes, perhaps.
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