Pyaar teraa jab milaa na thhaa
Posted on: June 4, 2025
This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, 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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Blog Day : |
6165 | Post No. : | 19035 | Movie Count : |
5075 |
Mukesh and his Composers – 35
Who was the first woman music director in Indian films?
Well, to the unversed but having some intertest in HFM, Usha Khanna’s name would crop up in the mind. To the more learned ones, Saraswati Devi would be the answer. To experts, it would be Jaddanbai, the mother of legendary actress Nargis.
However, the credit goes to Ishrat Sultana aka Bibbo, who was the composer of Adl-e-Jahangir released in 1934. Jaddan Bai’s score for Talash-e-Haq was a year later in 1935.
Thus, Ishrat Sultana, for all practical purposes is considered to be the first woman composer in Indian films. She was more popular as an actor by the name Bibbo and featured in many popular films. She also composed music for another film called Qazzak Ki Ladki (1937).
Jaddan Bai on the other hand went on to score for a few more films in addition to her multifaceted talents such as singing, acting, screenplay writing, direction etc. A detailed post on her can be found here.
However, the most prolific and popular woman composer among the pioneers was of course Saraswati Devi who scored for more than 30 films with quite a few of them remembered to this day.
And then, the most celebrated woman composer is of course Usha Khanna, whose many songs were chartbusters. My post on her wherein I covered a brief outline of her career and the songs sung by Mukesh under her composition can be found here.
All the above information is available in articles on the web, albeit with some or the other factual error. Almost all articles have included the above-mentioned names and then went on write how Lata Mangeshkar has scored for a few Marathi films etc. They have further written about a few present-day woman composers whose names and works are all Greek and Latin to me. However, what surprised me the most was the exclusion of singer Sharda in almost all such articles that I came across.
Sharda was not only a playback singer but also composed for as many as nine films. As such, she is an important contender in this small group of woman composers.
Her wikipage can be found here and an usurped homepage over here.
Without going into the details of her rather controversial career, here are a few of her important and notable achievements.
• Arguably, her most famous song Titl udi was tied up with Mohd. Rafi’s Bahaaron phool barsaao, both from Suraj (1966). The award was eventually given to Rafi, but next year onwards, the category was considered for male and female playback singers separately. She was given a special best newcomer award for that year.
• Sizzlers, a pop album released in 1971 was the first ever by an Indian female singer.
• Andaaz-E-Bayan Aur, an album released in 2007 had Mirza Ghalib’s ghazals under her own compositions.
• She composed music for 9 films and also wrote a few lyrics in other films.
• She was nominated 4 times in a row for best female playback singer from 1968-71, at a time when Lata and Asha were ruling the charts.
• Baat zara hai aapas ki in Jahan Pyar Mile (1970) was the only filmfare award she won for Best Female Playback Singer.
• Maa Behen aur Biwi, a movie in which she made her debut as a composer had a Filmfare nomination for a Rafi song “Achcha Hi Hua Dil Toot Gaya”.
• She penned 3 songs in Gharam Khoon (1980) under Shankar Jaikishan’s composition. One duet was sung by Sulakshana Pandit and Rafi and one each solo were sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosale. For these three songs she used her pen name “Singhar” in the lyrics credit titles.
Well, coming back to my series, today, we take up the songs that Mukesh sang under Sharda’s composition. But, before we go into the details, I was curious regarding the number of female composers whom Mukesh lent his voice.
The number is 3 and details are as follows alphabetically.
| S. No | Female Composer | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sharda | Details in this post. (3 songs) |
| 2 | Sudha Malhotra | A solitary duet in Didi (1959) |
| 3 | Usha Khanna | Mukesh and his Composers – 10 (26 songs) |
Didi (1959) had music by Datta Naik. However, he fell ill during the making of this duet and it was to be urgently recorded. Sudha Malhotra, the co-singer of the duet with Mukesh stepped in and composed her only song. It has turned out to be a classic in its own right. Surprisingly, it is Mukesh’s only film duet with Sudha Malhotra. And then there is one NFS.
Mukesh’s extremely popular songs under Usha Khanna have already been covered by self earlier. There are some 26 glorious songs and most of them fast paced. Any given day, it is a pleasure to hear these songs.
Coming back to Sharda, I was under the impression that Mukesh must have sung a handful of songs under her. But it turns out that he sang only 3 songs for Sharda. They are listed below with two of them yet to be covered. In fact, the film Maila Aanchal (1981) itself is yet to make its debut on the blog.
The film was written, produced and directed by Surendra S Kapoor. Its cast included Rakesh Pandey, Radha Saluja, Gulshan Arora, Abhi Bhattacharya, Indira Bansal, Nandita Thakur, Mukesh Acharya, Vinod Chhabra and others.
Considering that the film was released in 1981 and Mukesh passed away in 76, one can easily conclude that it took a very long time for completion. Incidentally, it was also the last of the 9 films that Sharda composed music for Hindi Films.
The 9 films that Sharda composed music are as follows.
1. Maa Behen aur Biwee (1973)
2. Gareebi Hatao (1973)
3. Khistiji (1974)
4. Zamaane se Poocho (1976)
5. Zehreeli (1977)
6. Mandir Masjid (1977)
7. Hazaar Haath (1978)
8. Tu Meri Main Tera (1980)
9. Maila Aanchal (1981)
It is to be noted that this film was NOT based on the popular Phanishwar Nath ‘Renu’s novel of the same title.
Since there are quite a few songs to be covered from this film, I hope someone more capable than self will take up the plot in detail on the blog.
| S.No | Name of the song | Movie (Year of release) | Co-singer if any | Lyricist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naari kaisi shaan hai teri | Maa Bahen Aur Biwee (1973) | Qamar Jalalabadi/Vedpal Verma | |
| 2 | Mera dil kehta hai | Maila Aanchal (1981) | Suman Kalayanpur | Qamar Jalalabadi |
| 3 | Pyar tera jab mila na tha | Maila Aanchal (1981) | Indeewar |
The first song in the table above below is obviously the title song of the movie sung whilst the titles roll and also repeats at the end of the film. I managed to verify this easily by jumping from the beginning of the film video to the end. 😊
For today’s post, I take up the solo from the film Maila Aanchal (1981) which as noted earlier makes its debut on the blog.
Though this post looks rather easy and straight forward, I spent several days to collate the factual information and put them in an abridged fashion. The confusion as to whether Sharda had won one or two filmfare awards and a couple of misunderstandings of the film Maila Aanchal made me spend many odd hours on the net.
Regarding the co-winner status of Sharda for Suraj, the confusion “persists” as now her name reflects neither in winners nor in the nomination list. Luckily, I was able to get a winners-all photo from the 14th FF awards ceremony and reproduce the snap here.
The best actor is represented by Dev Anand for Guide and best supporting actress by Semi Grewal for Do Badan. Rafi and SJ for Suraj for best singer and music director respectively. So, what’s Sharda doing in the photo along with the winners and a certification and not the famous statuette. Well, that explains her special best newcomer award. Hope we can now set the records straight with this photo.
I hope I have brought some shape and sense to the post and readers will appreciate the same. I am ready to stand corrected if anything is not factual and would request readers to notify them.
Staying on Sharda, I am planning to take up a post on her duets with Mukesh in my other series Mukesh and his co-singers.
Song-Pyaar teraa jab milaa na thha (Maila Aanchal)(1981) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Indeewar, MD-Sharda
Lyrics
Pyaar tera jab milaa naa thha
pyaas ka mujhko pata na thhaa
pyaar tera jab milaa naa thha
pyaas ka mujhko pata na thhaa
ik boond pilaayee tooone
wo pyaas jagaayee toone
pee jaaoon saaraa saagar
saaraa saagar pee jaaoon
hai kaun jo mujhko roke
ye milan rahega hoke
pyaar tera jab milaa naa thha
pyaas ka mujhko pata na thhaa
ye hawa lage tera aanchal
dil aaj badaa hee chanchal
ye hawa lage tera aanchal
dil aaj badaa hee chanchal
armaanon mein machee hui halchal
armaan kisne roke
ye milan rahega hoke
pyaar tera jab milaa naa thha
pyaar ka mujhko pata na thhaa
ik boond pilaayee tooone
wo pyaas jagaayee toone
pee jaaoon saaraa saagar
saaraa saagar pee jaaoon
saaraa saagar pee jaaoon
hai kaun jo mujhko roke
ye milan rahega hoke
pyaar tera jab milaa naa thha
pyaar ka mujhko pata na thhaa
tu jahaan waheen meree manzil
rahna binaa tere mushqil
tu jahaan waheen meree manzil
rahna binaa tere mushqil
pyaar ke toofaan aur akelaa dil
toofaan kisne roke
ye milan rahega hoke
pyaar tera jab milaa naa thha
pyaas ka mujhko pata na thhaa
9 Responses to "Pyaar teraa jab milaa na thhaa"
June 4, 2025 at 11:49 am
Satish ji,
Many Thanks for liking the post. Yes, I did spend a lot of time in putting up this post in a concise manner. I was struck up with 2-3 aspects and sent the post only after confirming the details. For example, in all FF and other award websites, Sharda’s name is “missing” in “won” as well as nomination list. That’s a bit unfair in my view.
Multiple articles on net missing out her name amongst female composers prompted me to write it. This was the 1st of the 3 posts I am planning on Sharda.
Notwithstanding all the bad publicity, I think she deserves due credit and more for all the valuable contributions she made to HFM.
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June 4, 2025 at 1:41 pm
In the case of both Usha Khanna and Sharda, Mukesh and Rafi rendered good songs in many of their movies and Didi ( 1959) song remained in the hit category for quite some time. It was also the first song rendered by Mukesh for Sunil Dutt , if I am right. A good post !
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June 4, 2025 at 5:47 pm
Many Thanks for your response.
Yes, Didi (1959) was the first playback of Mukesh for Sunil Dutt. Thanks for the tidbit which I had not mentioned.
I have already covered all songs of Mukesh for Sunil Dutt in my other post.
And, link to Mukesh’s 26 songs under Usha Khanna’s composition is already provided in the post.
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June 5, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Mahesh ji,
Thanks for an interesting post.
I would like to clarify the serial of Women Music Directors of Hindi films….
- Ishrat Sultana aka Bibbo……Adil e Jahangir-1934
- Jaddan Bai….Talash E Haq – 1935
- Saraswati Devi….Jawani ki Hawa-1935
- Munni Bai….Misr ka Sitara-1935
- Mukhtar Begum….Prem ki Aag-1936
- Amirbai karnataki….Shahnaz-1947
- Shanta Apte….Main abla nahin hoon-1949
- Usha Khanna….Dil Deke dekho-1959
I hope this clarifies the confusion.
-AD
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June 5, 2025 at 11:09 pm
Sir,
Many Thanks for the additional details. I see that the years mentioned reflect their debuts.
Would be grateful if the approximate films that they scored music for, could also be mentioned.
Regards
mahesh
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June 6, 2025 at 4:45 pm
Mahesh ji,
The approximate numbers are…..
1-2 films
2-5
3-33
4-1
5-2
6-1
7-1
8-148 films.
-AD
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June 6, 2025 at 6:14 pm
Arunkumar ji,
This is a very important information on a subject which is not discussed much.
Many Thanks for all your generous feedback.
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June 7, 2025 at 10:30 am
Usha Khanna scored music for 148 films? Never realised. Commendable.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
June 4, 2025 at 10:54 am
Mahesh Ji
Thanks for the post, with so much interesting info compacted in one post .
I note about female MD’s ,written in your post. Except Saraswati Devi I did not know about others from that era.
I did not realise Sharda composed music for 9 films. I had a faint idea that she scored music apart from singing. That she wrote lyrics is a surprise. I did not know she won her only best female singer award for ‘Jahan pyar mile.’
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