Zindagee kee raah mein tez chal
Posted on: June 23, 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 Shahnaaz-1948.
This film was directed by a Comedian- Shaikh and the music was by Singer/Actress Amirbai Karnataki. The cast of the film was Begum Para, Altaf, Nihal, Shanta Patel, Gulnar, Shama Dulari, Basheer , Shaikh and others. Most of the cast, except Begum Para and Altaf, was from C grade action films.
One of the interesting riddles the new “Old Film” lovers chew with interest is, who was the first woman Music Director in Hindi films. Time and again it has been proven, told, written and accepted that Bibbo aka Isharat Sultana was the First woman M.D., but still it is raised every now and then and the debate continues unabated.
Here is the list of the First 9 woman M.D.s of Hindi films….
| No. | Name | First Film and Year | Total films |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Isharat Sultana | Adal E Jahangir – 1934 | 2 |
| 2. | Jaddan Bai | Talash E Haq – 1935 | 5 |
| 3. | Saraswati Devi | Jawani ki hawa – 1935 | 33 |
| 4. | Munni Bai | Misr ka Sitara – 1935 | 1 |
| 5. | Mukhtar begum | Prem ki Aag – 1937 | 2 |
| 6. | Gauhar Karnataki | Chabuk Sawar – 1937 | 1 |
| 7. | Ameerbai Karnataki | Shahnaaz – 1948 | 1 |
| 8. | Shanta Apte | Mainn abla nahi hoon – 1949 | 1 |
| 9. | Usha Khanna | Dil deke dekho – 1959 | 148 |
A notable feature of this list is that 2 sisters were Music Directors – Gauhar and Amirbai Karnataki. ( a good question for a film quiz) !
It is generally observed that many singers or the singing actors have a desire to become a Music Director (it is somewhat like many actors wanting to become film directors). In this too, generally, female singers tried their hands at Music Direction. Except Usha Khanna and Saraswati Devi, all other woman M.Ds were originally singers. funny thing is reversely Saraswati Devi and Usha Khanna had also sung in films. But that was only as an extra activity. Basically they were composers.
In case of Males also same thing applied. G.M.Durrani, and S.D.Batish are examples of singers becoming Music Directors. Vice Versa many MDs sang songs for their own music or for others. Examples are C.Ramchandra and S.D.Burman.
Film Shahnaz-1948 was a film with Muslim background. There are 2 very good books on Muslim Social Hindi films. The first is by Kamalakar Pasupuleti. He was from Hyderabad ,but eventually settled in the USA since last 50 years. The second book, in Marathi, is by the film Historian- Isak Mujawar. from these books, one can get lot of information on Muslim Social films in Hindi from 1931 to 1980. These books do not include Historical muslim films.
When India’s Independence came up as a certainity, the Muslim social films geared up and in the decade of the 1940, i.e. from 1941 to 1950, there were 19 Muslim Social films made by producers like Mehboob Khan, K.Asif and others. This does not include films on Mughal Kings like Babar or Shahajehan etc or stunt and costume films with Muslim background. After 1947, the speed of Muslim social films slowed down, but later on some good films on Muslim social life were made in the 1960 to 1980 period.
The Heroine of the film Shehnaaz-1948 was Begum Para, the original “ooomph Girl”. Begum Para (née Para Haq; 25 December 1926 – 9 December 2008) was a Hindi film actress who was active mostly in the 1940s and 1950s. After 50 years, she returned to films with her last role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya (2007) as Sonam Kapoor’s grandmother. In her times in the 1950s, she was considered a glamour girl of Bollywood, so much so that Life magazine had a special session with her devoted to her fine sensuous photographs.
Begum Para was born as Para Haq in Jhelum, nowadays in Pakistan. Her family was from Aligarh. Her father, Mian Ehsanul-Haq, was a judge who at some point in his life went into the judicial service of the princely state of Bikaner, now northern Rajasthan, where he became chief justice of its highest court. He was a fine cricketer of his time. She was brought up very disciplined yet liberal. She spent her childhood in Bikaner. She was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University. Her elder brother Masrul Haq, had gone off to Bombay in the late 1930s to become an actor. There he met and fell in love with the Bengali actress Protima Dasgupta, and married her.
Whenever she visited them in Bombay, she was quite taken up with the glitzy world of her sister-in-law. She used to accompany her on many occasions and get-togethers. People would get quite impressed with her looks and offer her a lot of roles. One such offer came from Sashadhar Mukherjee and Devika Rani. Her father consented to her wishes reluctantly, and requested her to never work in Lahore.
Begum Para’s first break turned out to be 1944 film Chand, from Prabhat Studios in Poona. Prem Adib was the hero, and Sitara Devi was the vamp in the film. It did extremely well and Para started getting paid about Rs. 1500 a month. Soon after, she and her sister-in-law Protima made a film called Chamia (1945) based on the novel ‘Pygmalion’, which again was a huge success. Para signed a lot of films after Chamia, but she couldn’t quite establish herself as an actress. Because she had a highly scandalous image, people always gave her the role of glamour doll in most films. She didn’t mind it because she always played herself on screen.
She did Sohni Mahiwal (1946) and Zanjeer (1947) with Ishwarlal and Dikshit; Neel Kamal (1947) with Raj Kapoor; Mehendi (1947) with Nargis; Suhaag Raat (1948) with Bharat Bhushan and Geeta Bali; Jhalka (1948); and Meherbani (1950) with Ajit Khan. She also worked in Ustad Pedro (1951), produced by the then well-known actor, Sheikh Mukhtar. It was a fun film, and was packed with action, romance, and stunts.
In 1951 she posed for photographer James Burke for a Life magazine photo shoot. There is a popular belief that she appeared on the cover page of Life Magazine. In this connection, Dr.Surjit Singh ji, in his Musings No.32, dated 17-9-2017 says, ” People mentioned that Begum Para was on the cover of the Life magazine. I looked at all the covers on the internet. She was not there. Then, I went to the library and started looking at all the issues starting with 1949. Found her inside an Asia Special Issue dated Dec 31, 1951! So, she was in Life, but not on the cover. ”
Para’s last role was in the movie Kar Bhala in 1956. She was also offered to play Nigar Sultana’s role ‘Bahar’ in Mughal-e-Azam (1960). However, she refused to play the role because she considered it against her image. In all, she acted in 34 films in her career. She made a comeback on the silver screen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya in 2007 as Sonam Kapoor’s grandmother.
She married actor Nasir Khan, the younger brother of Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar. They had three children, including the actor Ayub Khan. Begum Para’s father Mian Ehsan-ul-Haq of Jalandhar, was a judge who joined the princely state of Bikaner, now northern Rajasthan, where he became chief justice of its highest court. Her husband died in 1974. Following her husband’s death, she briefly migrated to Pakistan in 1975. Two years later, she relocated back to India. She died in her sleep on 9-12-2008, at the age of 81 years. (Thanks to wiki, cinerang by Isak Mujawar, Yadon ki barat by S.Kanekar, Asli naqli Chehre by Vithal pandya and my notes.).
The story of the film Shahnaaz-1948 was ….
SHAHNAZ-1948 was a love story with a differnce. It had tragedy as well as twists of fate. The film tried to stress that love is a serious thing and not to play with it childishly. Murad(Altaf),son of a caravan chief is in love with Shahnaz, daughter of another carvan chief(Begum Para),but both being mischievous, pretend that they love somebody else. Murad pretends to love Gulnar (Gulnar)-foster sister of Shahnaz and she pretends that she loves Nasir(Nihal)-foster brother of Murad.
The lovers don’t realise that all the caravan people and Gulnar and Nisar have taken this matter seriously.
On one Festival night, the engagements are announced between Gulnar and Murad and Shahnaz and Nasir. At this moment the lovers, Murad and Shahnaz are busy in sharing sweet nothings and singing songs.
When they realise what has happened, they are shattered. Nisar first comes to know the truth and leaves the caravan only to get killed in a storm.
Murad wants to go away, but Gulnar follows him and dies in his arms.
There is a gloom in the carvans. After few days the engagement of Murad and Shahnaz is announced, but they can not enjoy this moment of happiness.
Here is a 77 year old duet of Rafi and Amirbai Karnataki, from this film. Enjoy….
Song- Zindagee kee raah mein tez chal(Shahnaaz)(1948) Singers-Ameerbai Karnataki, Rafi, Lyrics-Ameer Osman Deobandi,MD-Amirbai Karnataki
Lyrics
aa aaa aaa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa aaa aa
o o o
o o o
o o o
o o o
o o o
o o o
o o o
zindagee kee raah mein
tez chal
kaheen na thham
jaane de manzil badha aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aaa aaa aa aa aa
jaane de manzil badha
har kadam
har kadam
har kadam
har kadam
hai teree manzil wahee
thham na sakey(?) hon jahaan
hai teri manzil waheen
thham na sakey(??) ho jahaaan
hai isi talaash mein zindagi ka karwaan
hai hqkh ke bagair kab ho sakegi ye ??
ishq ko rahabar bana
aa aa aa aa aa aaa
ishq ko rahabar bana
har kadam har kadam
har kadam har kadam
jhoom ke chal gaam gaam
pee ke mohabbat ka jaam
jhoom ke chal gaam gaam
pee ke mohabbat ka jaam
le ke nikal khoob tu
ishq ka rangeen payaam
le ke nikal khoob tu
ishq ka rangeen payaam
saakh badhe dam badam
?? ho na kam
ishq ko rahbar bana
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
ishq ko rahbar bana
har kadam har kadam
har kadam har kadam
zindagee ki raah mein
zindagee ki raah mein
tez chal kaheen na thham
jaane de manzil badha
tej chal kaheen na thham
jaane de manzil badha
har kadam har kadam
har kadam har kadam
shama mohabbat ka gar tere dil mein jal uthe
shama mohabbat ka gar tere dil mein jal uthhe
har andheree raat se roshni ubal uthhe
har andheree raat se roshni ubal uthhe
de sake na phir tujhe zindagi ke ye zakhm
ishq ko rahbar bana
aa aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
ishq ko rahbar bana
har kadam har kadam
har kadam har kadam
zindagi hai raushnee
ishq aaftaab hai
zindagi hai raushnee
ishq aaftaab hai
zindagee hai chaaandnee
ishq maahtaaab hai
zindagee hai chaaandnee
ishq maahtaaab hai
ishq hee kaheen khuda
ishq hee kaheen sanam
ishq ko rahbar bana
aa aa aa aa
aa aaa aaa aa
ishq ko rahbar bana
ishq ko rahbar bana
har kadam har kadam
zindagee kee raah mein
tez chal
kaheen na thham
jaane de manzil badhaa
har kadam har kadam
har kadam
har kadam
aa aa aa aa aa
har kadam
har kadam
har kadam
har kadam
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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