Jaa jaa bedardee jaa
Posted on: June 9, 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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Ranthambore is a well-known place as a National Park more so as one of the top Tiger Reserves in the country. Perhaps, it may be the only Tiger Reserves where the tigers have the ‘exclusive rights to visit’ about a dozen historical monuments located inside the National Park. The tourists can only see these historical monuments from the Tiger Safari vehicles. However, there is one exception where tourists can visit without being the part of the Tiger Safari. The monument is Ranthambore Fort in the heart of Ranthambore National Park and located about 12 kms from Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan.
Ranthambore Fort is one of the largest Forts in India which had a chequered history since its construction in the 9th Century AD. The Fort has been the battle ground between many dynasties of Hindu rulers located around the present-day Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. In the 12th Century, the Fort was conquered by Chauhan dynasty having the lineage of Prithviraj Chauhan. Hammiradeva Chauhan (also written as Hameera Deva) was the descendent of Prithviraj Chauhan who ruled Ranthambore from C.1283 to C.1301 AD.
During Hameera Deva’s reign, Delhi Sultanate led by Jalaluddin Khalji tried to conquer Ranthambore Fort on three occasions but was defeated by Hameera Deva on each occasion. Alauddin Khalji became the Sultan of Delhi Sultanate after killing Jalaluddin Khalji. He was very ambitious to become the Sultan of the entire Hindustan. After looting Jalore, Alauddin Khalji was returning to Delhi with his troops when two of his commanders defected and Hameera Deva gave them asylum in his kingdom. As a revenge, Alauddin Khalji sent his generals with forces to conquer Ranthambore Fort but failed at each time.
Alauddin Khalji decided to lead his troops, this time with a specialised group of Turkish soldiers and led the siege of Ranthambore Fort for a very long time but could not enter the Fort. Alauddin resorted to other tricks including what is called in today’s spy lingo, ‘honey trap’ in which Hameera Deva’s brother and commander, Ratipal fell prey to it. When Ratipal made a visit to Alauddin’s camp for the negotiation of the peace treaty, he was lured by drinks and dance. Alauddin offerred to make him the king of Ranthambore once he defeated Hameera Deva. One day, Ratipal went out of the Fort along with his brother, commander and few soldiers and joined Alauddin Khalji’ forces. With famine-like situation inside the Fort due to a long siege and his trusted men defecting to Alauddin Khalji, Hameera Deva realised that soon Alauddin Khalji’s forces would capture the Fort. He decided to fight until the last and in his fight, the Mangol defector, Mohammed Shah supported him. Before that the ladies inside the Fort including his queen and his daughter committed ‘jauhar’. (mass self-immolation). Hameera Deva was killed during the fight while Mohammed Shah got injured who was captured and executed by Alauddin Khalji.
Hameera Deva has become a folklore hero in Rajasthan through his biographical account, ‘Hameera Mahakavya’ written by Nayanchandra Suri, a Jain Scholar.
I have given this background because a film, ‘Hameer Hathh’ (1964) based on the folklore of Hameera Deva is only partly available on the video sharing platforms (about 60 minutes of duration) up to Alauddin Khalji ordering his troops to march to Ranthambore to teach a lesson to Hameera Deva for refusing to hand over his Sipahsalar who has taken asylum in Ranthambore.
‘Hameer Hathh’ (1964) was produced by Bishanchand Sharma under the banner of Jagdish Films and was directed by Jaswant Jhaveri. The cast included Jairaj, Anita Guha, Manahar Desai, Vijaya Chowdhary, Helen, Indira, Sapru, B M Vyas, Mohan Sheri, Sham Kumar, Ram Singh, Khurshid Bawra, Sundar with Nirupa Roy making a guest appearance. The film has taken some cinematic liberties to add some fictions to the folklore for the dramatic impact. Probably for this reason, the source of the story of the film has not been mentioned in the credit titles. Instead, it gives credit to Anant Shyam as ‘story, screenplay and dialogue writer’.
I was confused as to why the film’s name is ‘Hameer Hathh’ and not ‘Hameera Deva’ as he is known. After reading the story, I presume that ‘Hathh’ (हठ) has been used in the film’s title to denote the stubbornness in Hameera Deva’s attitude in not handing over Mohammed Shah (Mir Mangol in the film’s character), the Mongol Commander of Alauddin’s army to whom he has given asylum in his kingdom. Had he handed over back to Alauddin Khalji, perhaps war would not have taken place and Hameera Deva would not have faced so much of hardship, losing his kingdom and eventual death – just to keep the promise to protect Mir Mangol.
As mentioned earlier, the incomplete VCDs of the film are available online only of about 60-minute duration. So, I have covered the story upto the last scene available on VCD which is as under:
The film starts with a scene where Hameera Deva Chauhan (Jairaj) is returning with his troops after successfully completing his ‘Digvijay’ by forcing his surrounding kingdoms to become subservient to his kingdom of Ranthambore. Hameera Deva is welcomed by Maharani (Nirupa Roy). There is a victory celebrations during which the court dancer, Chandrakala Devi (Anita Guha) performs a dance and the marriage of Hameera Deva’s brother and commander Ratipal (Manhar Desai) with Chitralekha (Vijaya Chowdhary) is announced. At the end of the victory celebrations, Hameera Deva announces that he will follow Prithviraj Chauhan’s efforts to consolidate Hindustan and will drive the Delhi Sultanate out of Hindustan.
Raj Nartaki Chandrakala Devi’s face resembles that of Raj Nartaki Devi, who loved Prithviraj Chauhan. Chandrakala always thinks that she has taken incarnation of Devi and to her, Hameera Deva is the incarnation of Prithviraj Chauhan. So, she treats herself as the lover of Hameera Deva.
The scene shifts to Delhi where Alauddin Khalji (D K Sapru), after returning from a triumphant campaign, meets Sultan Jalaluddin Khalji. While hugging him, Alauddin Khalji kills the Sultan by his dagger and takes over as the Sultan of Delhi Sultanate. He vows to follow the footprint of Sikandar-e-Azam in conquering the entire Hindustan. He promotes three of his trusted soldiers as Sipahsalar (Commander).
Again, the scene shifts to Ranthambore where a ‘doot’ (messenger) submits a message from Alauddin Khalji to the ‘Mahamantri’ that the Kingdom of Ranthambore has failed to pay the tribute to Delhi Sultanate for a long time and they should clear it failing which Delhi Sultanate would attack the kingdom of Ranthambore. Hameera Deva sends a counter message to Delhi Sultanate that they should leave Hindustan before they are driven out. So, a war between the Kingdom of Ranthambore and Delhi Sultanate is inevitable. The triggers for war comes when Alauddin Khalji’s Sipahsalar Mir Mangol (Sham Kumar) who has defected to Ranthambore and Hameera Deva has given him asylum.
The background for Mir Mangol’s defection is that during a hunting expedition, Alauddin Khalji and his entourage which included his sister, Mallika (Indira Billi) get separated when a storm hits the place. During the same time, a tiger tries to pounce upon Mallika when Mir Mangol saves her by killing the tiger. Mallika falls in love with Mir Mangol which is resented by Alauddin Khalji. He orders Mir Mangol to be confined in a prison for execution. Mallika feels that it is her duty to save Mir Mangol who had save her life from the tiger. She rides on a horse to prison in the night, gets him released from prison. He escapes riding the horse outside the Delhi Sultanate’s boundary.
When Alauddin Khalji comes to know about Mir Mangol’s escape and his taking asylum in Ranthambore, he tries through one of his commanders to pressurise Hameera Deva to hand over Mir Mangol to Delhi Sultanate but he refuses by saying that he has given his word to protect Mir Mangol and he cannot break his promise.
The last scene after which the VCD of the film comes to an end is that Allauddin Khalji gets the news that Hameera Deva and his forces have reached close to the boundary of the Delhi Sultanate and have started the attack. He orders his Sipahsalar to get ready the forces to move to Ranthambore. Assuming that the film’s story has, more or less, followed the sequence as mentioned in ‘Hameera Deva Mahakavya’, which is briefly touched upon in paragraphs 3 and 4 above, the film should have a sad ending.
In the later years, Ranthambore Fort changed hands many times until Mughal Emperor, Akbar captured the Fort in the 16th century. It remained with Mughals till mid-18th century after which the Fort was handed over to the Jaipur State by Mughals which remained with them until Jaipur State was merged with India and became a part of Rajasthan. The Fort and its surrounding areas were used by the royal families of Jaipur as their private hunting place until it was declared as Sawai Madhopur Game Sanctuary in 1955. Later it was converted into Ranthambore National Park in 1973.
‘Hameer Hathh’ (1964) had eight songs written by Neelkanth Tiwari (2), Uday Khanna (2) and Saraswati Kumar Deepak(1) with three songs remaining uncredited. These songs were set to music by Sanmukh Babu Upadhayay. Two songs have been covered on the Blog. I present 3rd song, ‘jaa jaa bedardee jaa’ which is rendered by Suman Kalyanpur on the words of Uday Khanna. The song is picturised on Anita Guha while Jairaj is seen in a contemplative mood.
The context of the song is that Raj Nartaki, Chandrakala Devi (Anita Guha) loves Hameera Deva (Jairaj) who is already married to Maharani (Nirupa Roy). All she wants is some reciprocity of love from Hameera Deva which is not forthcoming other than his respect to her as a dancer. He has given her a boon which she can ask from him anytime. Chandrakala can ask him to shower her with his love. But she cannot ask that boon because his entire love is dedicated to the country. Hence, she expresses her anguish through the song.
SAREGAMA has uploaded the audio clip of this song but unfortunately it contains the similar sounding mukhda lyrics of the song from a Pakistani film, ‘Aashiana’ (1964). A couple of more audio clips of the song have surfaced on video sharing platforms with similar error. Hence, I have uploaded the audio clip of the song by converting the mp4 clip into a mp3 clip.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Jaa jaa bedardee jaa (Hameer Hathh)(1964) Singer-Suman Kalyanpur, Lyrics-Uday Khanna, MD-Sanmukh Babu Upadhyay
Lyrics:
jaa jaa bedardee jaa aa
aa aa
jhoothhee re toree piratiyaa
jaa jaa bedardee jaa aa
aa aa
jhoothhee re toree piratiyaa
yoon hee rulaanaa thhaa aa
aa aa
kaahe milaayee najariyaa
nehaa lagaa ke
sapne sajaa ke
batiyaan banaa ke lootaa
haaye
batiyaan banaa ke lootaa
khel ye kaisaa khelaa toone
mann kaa khilaunaa tootaa
haaye
mann kaa khilaunaa tootaa
itnaa bataa de bhool bhayee kyaa
kaahe mosey roothhaa aa
kaahe mosey roothhaa
jiskee dawa na koi re
de gaya aisee daradiyaa
jaa jaa bedardee jaa aa
aa aa
jhoothhee re toree piratiyaa
tu jo naheen to laage mohe
sab jag soonaa soonaa
haaye
sab jag soonaa soona
le jaa julmee yaad bhee apnee
kaise sahoon dukh doonaa
haaye
kaise sahoon dukh doonaa
ab ye jaanaa tohe paanaa
jaise gagan ko chhoonaa aa
jaise gagan ko chhoonaa
toot gaye sapne mere
lut gayee man kee nagariyaa
jaa jaa bedardee jaa aa
aa aa
jhoothhee re toree piratiyaa
yoon hee rulaanaa thhaa aa
aa aa
kaahe milaayee najariyaa
kaahe milaayee najariyaa
kaahe milaayee najariyaa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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