Moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
Posted on: June 6, 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 Raakhi-1949.
This social film was made by Prakash Pictures. It was directed by Shanti Kumar. Sarshar Sailani’s songs were musically composed by the Husnlal-Bhagatram pair, who were rising high in the film industry those days. The cast of this film included Kamini Kaushal, Karan Dewan, Gope, Yashodhara katju, Pran, Kuldeep Kaur, Ulhas and others.
India has many festivals throughout the year. The speciality of our festivals is that there are specific festivals for close relationships. In addition, there are many Vrat occasions for the well being of close and dear ones- like Padva during Diwali in western India and Karva Chauth in Northern India for the husbands. Then there is one common festival for Brother-Sister jodi like Raakhi or Raksha Bandhan.
The root of Rakhi or Raksha bandhan goes back to Mahabharat times, when Draupadi tied a Rakhi to Shri krishna making him responsible for her protection. And indeed, there was the Draupadi vastraharan, when this Raakhi brother did help her to save her honour ! During Diwali time also there is a day, specially allocated for brother-Sister relations. That day is called Bhau-Beej in Maharashtra and Bhai Dooj in other areas. Raakhi became a symbol for protection of a sister, even in Historical events in India. Rani Karnavati of Chitod in Rajasthan sent a Raakhi ti King Humayun, seeking protection for her kingdom against the invader Sultan Bahadur Shah. Humayun came running to fight for her !
The story of the film Raakhi-1949 is full of emotions and sacrifice. In a nutshell, the story is…..
Shankar(Pran) is the brother of Kamini and is a vagabond. Because of him ,the sister suffers quite a lot, but ties a Rakhi always. Shankar is arrested for fraud and is in Police custody, when Karan Diwan -his sister’s husband is accused of Murder,which he has not done. Knowing this,Shankar runs away from lock up to get the real culprit and when he does, he is shot and dies in the arms of sister Kamini-who ties a Rakhi on his wrist as it is the Rakhi Poonam that day. Highly melodramatic indeed !
The second decade of the Talkie Era was coming to a close. What a year 1949 was ! It not only gave superlative quality musical films but also was an eventful year for the industry setting Benchmarks for various activities. Aptly,1949 can be called a “True First year of the ‘GOLDEN ERA’ ” of Hindi film music.
Andaz and Barsat were the 2 films which set standards for such films in the future. Andaz was Mehboob’s 3 rd film after Anmol Ghadi-46 and Anokhi Ada-48 where films were based on Love triangles. The only film of Raj and Dilip together,Andaz had songs which create the same magic even today..
Barsat established RK Banner,gave it a Monogram (DP in today’s Lingo) in the pose by Raj and Nargis from the film,and launched several artistes for a successful career like, Shankar-jaikishen,Shailendra,hasrat jaipuri,Ramanand Sagar and Nimmi for whom all this was a debut film. Andaz gave introduction to Platonic love and Barsat gave prestige to Love stories in films.
Mahal-First film of Kamaal Amrohi as a Director,established Madhubala as a Star,started a trend for Mystery based films and made Lata an All India Phenomenon !
In 1949, South and East productions also contributed substantially. After the stunning success of Chandralekha, S S Vasan of Gemini Films, Madras brought his second Blockbuster in Hindi,Telugu and Tamil ( Chandralekha was made in Hindi,Tamil,Telugu and Simhali,all 4 were superhits). NISHAN-49 had Ranjan and P. Bhanumathy in the lead,even in Hindi edition. Ranjan (Ramanarayana Venkataramana Sarma) a multi-talented internationally known artiste was a popular Hero. Vasan used him in his 3 rd Hindi/Tamil/Telugu film ‘Mangala-50′.
From Calcutta came Shanta Apte’s ‘Swayamsidha‘-49- a story of a strong woman. Many films were made on this story almost every decade later on. Chhota Bhai-also from Calcutta in the same year represented India in a Canada Film Festival.
Ek thi Ladki-49 made “Lara Lappa” a National song. Meena Shorey was known as the “Lara Lappa Girl ” till she died in poverty unsung and unknown in Pakistan. Badi Behen (Husnlal-Bhagatram), Dillagi and Dulari (Naushad Ali), Baazaar( Shyamsunder) and Patanga (C Ramchandra) were the other hit musicals in 1949.
In 1949, the Censor Board started the “A ” category,Films division was established, India’s First luxury Theatre ‘Liberty “was opened in Bombay, Navketan Productions of Dev Anand was established and ‘Movie Times ‘ magazine started publishing film news.
By 1949, Naushad Ali and C Ramchandra were competing with each other for the No. 1 slot. Both respected each other. Next few years,their competition gave superlative music to Indian music lovers. This was everybody’s gain. The Playback singers’ group was coming to a final shape with Lata,Asha,Geeta,Shamshad and all others in that order,for female singers. For males, it was Mohd. Rafi,Mukesh,Kishore,Talat and Manna Dey and all others in that order. Very shortly,the first 3 in each group were the survivors for a longer run, the rest remaining on the scene without any consequence !
Out of the Music Directors,those who debuted or excelled in the late 40s only survived and prospered. Naushad,Shankar-Jaikishen,S D Burman,Roshan, C.Ramchandra,Husnlal- Bhagatram and all others in that order. In due course, the first few proved to be long distance runners. By late 70s this generation of composers was slowly getting replaced by the next generation composers.
One of the cast members of this film – Yashodhara Katju is known for showing extraordinary courage and firmness when she was almost forced out of the film industry, just because she was a Kashmiri girl ! Yashodhara Katju (born 15 April 1928 – died – 1974), a forgotten actress of Indian Cinema, belonged to a reputed Kashmiri Pandit family from Lahore that had moved to Lucknow, where her father Jeevan Lal Katju, was a Zamindar and owned lands in Warburton in Khurda district, Punjab. He was appointed to a senior Administrative position by the British Government. J L Katju later resigned his Government job and joined the freedom struggle of the country. Her Mother’s name was Kailashwati (sister of well known Urdu poet & Judge of Allahabad High Court Late Anand Narain Mulla).
Yashodhra was fondly called Chunnu by her parents. Other members of this Katju family were her brothers Moti Lal Katju , Pyare Lal Katju & her three sisters Chandra (Manno)-a Professor, Usha (Panno)-an M.A., and Manorama- a Doctor.
Yashodhara studied in English medium schools and was fluent in English, Hindi and Urdu. She did her Junior Cambridge. Apart from that, she was a highly talented girl who was equally well versed with singing and dancing. For some time she also joined Bhatkhande Music Institute, Lucknow to learn music but devoted more time to dancing and got herself trained as a professional dancer (Kathakali, Katahk and Manipuri) from some Masters of Lucknow. Later she took dancing lessons in Delhi as well.
All this apart , this talented girl nursed a desire from her childhood to join films. In 1941, Agha jani kashmiri , who was on a Talent Hunt, saw her in Lucknow and talked to her parents. Finally, much against the wishes of her family, she moved to Bombay in 1941. The family is reported to have sought intervention of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru also to dissuade her from joining films but she proved adamant. Katjus were closely related to Pandit Jawahar lal Nehru’s family. It is said that Chandra Mohan Wattal, another Kashmiri actor of that period too tried to dissuade her from acting in films but she remained adamant. Chandramohan tried all his pressure tactics and tried to force her out of the films, but this girl was different. She was tough and did not fear him or yield to his intimidation. She continued to work in films unabated. Chandramohan died in 1949, but this girl worked in films from 1941 to 1973. Her parents finally consented to her decision and ensured boarding and lodging for her in Bombay .
Prior to Yashodhara, Shyama Zutshi was the kashmiri Girl who joined films. (She acted in Vishnu Bhakti produced in 1934 and Karvaan E Hayat-35). However, the first Kashmiri girl to work in films was Gulab (real name Saraswati Devi), who worked from 1924 to 1964, in 160 films.
In 1941, at a young age of 14 years, she was offered a role of ” Aarti” in a movie Titled “Lalaji” produced by National Studios. The movie was completed in 1942. Her co-actors in that movie were Yakub, A. R. Kabul, Wasker, Amar, Sunalini, Vatsala Kumtekar, Maya Devi and Krishnakant.
Yashodhara always wanted to be an actress and on 15th August 1941 she joined National Studios. She played heroine and side heroine parts in films like Mahatma Vidur (1943), Dulhan (1943), Vijay Laxmi (1943) etc. Later she was reduced to character roles and became a popular comedienne in the 1950s. Her short plump stature and mischievous eyes really aided her in transitioning from leading to comedy roles. In films like Naujawan (1951), Dholak (1951), Sinbad the Sailor (1952), Ek do Teen (1953), Baaz (1953) etc she was cast in happy-go-lucky roles and even paired with other popular comedians of her time e.g. Bhagwan in Sindbad the Sailor (1952) and Gope. Her last few films as character actress were released in early 1970s including Seema (1971), Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1972), Do Phool (1973) etc .
Between Lalaji (1942 Her first Movie) and Do Phool (1973 her last movie), she acted in about 85 films. Her co-stars included Jagdish Sethi, Pahari Sanyal, Shanta Apte, K. C. Dey, Manorama, Motilal, Shobhana Samarth, Leela Misra, Trilok Kapoor, Sadhana Bose, Khurshid, Kanhaiyalal, Ulhas, Yakub, Jairaj, Rehman, Suraiya, Prem Adeeb, Nirupa Roy, Shyam, Kuldip Kaur, Jeevan, Cuckoo, Bharat Bhushan, Lalita Pawar, K. N. Singh, Meena Kumari, Jankidas, Durga Khote, Mukri, Bhagwan, Jagirdar, Nigar Sultana, Ajit, Pran, Agha, Sunder, Anwar Hussein, Jayant, Shakila, Naseem Bano, Guru Dutt, Ratan Kumar, Mahipal, Iftekhar, Bina Rai, Rajendranath, Helen, Madhubala, Sapru, Sulochana, Sunil Dutt, Meena Kumari, Daisy Irani, Ashok Kumar, Kumkum, Vaijayantimala, Begum Para, Tuntun, Balraj Sahni, Devanand, Prem Chopra, Rajendra Nath, Aruna Irani, Mehmood & Rajendra Kumar.
From the younger generation, her co-stars included Rakhee Gulzar, Rakesh Roshan, Hema Malini, Simi Garewal, Kabir Bedi, Zeenat Aman, Vinod Mehra, Mumtaz and Mehmood Junior. She worked with almost all prominent directors in the Film industry including S. S. Vasan, Devendra Goel, Guru Dutt, Mohan Segal, P. L. Santoshi, M.Sadiq, D. N. Madhok, H.S.Rawail, B. R. Chopra, Rafiq Rizvi, Kishore Sahu, Dev Anand and Mahesh Kaul.
She started as a co-star, moved to lead roles, shifted to comedy (Mostly with other comedians of her time, Bhagwan and Gope) and finally did some memorable performances as a character actress (Seema, Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Do Phool etc.).
Her close friends included Nalini Jayawant, Laita Pawar and Nirupa Roy. Sometime in around 1958, she married a Naval officer (Commander Bhandari) and lived a happy married life. After 1973, she did not act in films and slipped into Oblivion. She died of a sudden heart attack in 1974 (Autar Mota)
(Thanks to Suresh Sarvaiya, Blog Chinar, Film Directory-46 and my notes).
Now enjoy this 76 year old song from this film….
Song- Moree Bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee (Raakhi)(1949) Singers-Lata Mangeshkar, Ira Nagrath, Lyricist- Sarshar Sailani, MD- Husnlal – Bhagatram
Lyrics
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
o moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
o moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
sakhiyon se naina milaaye bhala kaise
milaaye bhala kaise
sakhiyon se naina milaaye bhala kaise
milaaye bhala kaise
shaadee kee mastee mein jhoome hai aise
shaadee kee mastee mein jhoome hai aise
jaise jhoome nashe mein sharaabee sharaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
o moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
o moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
kisko sunaatee hai panghat kee raaniyaan
panghat kee raaniyaan
kisko sunaati hai panghat ki raaniyaan
panghat ki raaniyaan
bhaabhee se ?? apnee kahaaniyaan
bhabhi se ?? apnee kahaaniyaan
aisee chaalon ko jaane hai bhaabhee
aisee chaalon ko jaane hai bhaabhee
o ho jee moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
o moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
o moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
din ko chain na raat ko nindiyaa
buree birha ki ghadiyaan
ghadee ghadee gintee hai goree
piya milan ki ghadiyaan aan aan aan
moree bhaabhee gazab ki hisaabee
moree bhaabhee gazab ki hisaabee hisaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
o moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
o moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee gulaabee
moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
o moree bhaabhee ke gaal gulaabee
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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