Waah re upar waale
Posted by: Atul on: July 1, 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 : |
6192 | Post No. : | 19127 |
Mukesh and his Composers – 38
Ek raat mein do do chaand khile
ek ghoonghat mein ek badli mein
Who has not heard this lovely romantic duet featuring Nanda and Anant Marathe?
The poet talks about a moon in the ghoonghat and another amongst the clouds. Nanda with her reticent and infectious crescent moon smile is all over the song.
Have I written about Nanda? Well, maybe just a comment here and there.
Many of her songs come to mind instantly but that will have to wait for another day to see if I can pull off a post on her career.
Coming to the topic in hand, today we shall see the collaboration of Mukesh with famed composer Chitragupt aka “King of Duets”.
Incidentally, my last post was on Mukesh’s collaboration with SN Tripathi, and this post is some sort of a continuation as Chitragupt started his career by assisting SN Tripathi.
That Mukesh sang a few songs for Chitragupt is well known, but then, on completion of the table below, I was yet again left wondering with the persistent question in this series as to why composers could not accommodate Mukesh more in their compositions.
With no explanation readily available at hand, all I say that it was just a happenstance or simply did-not-happen and then move forward.
To understand the above, let us glance through the works of the two artists in the table below.
| S.No | Name of the song | Movie (Year of release) | Co-singer if any | Lyricist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wo chaand chamka wo noor chhalka | Son of Sindbad (1958) | Lata Mangeshkar | Prem Dhawan |
| 2 | Ek raat mein do do chaand khile | Barkha (1959) | Lata Mangeshkar | Rajinder Krishan |
| 3 | Jiska joota usi ka sar | Guest House (1959) | Prem Dhawan | |
| 4 | Tumse kuchh kahnaa hai | Guest House (1959) | Lata Mangeshkar | Prem Dhawan |
| 5 | Muft huye badnaam | Baaraat (1960) | Majrooh Sultanpuri | |
| 6 | Nazron se aaj dil mein samaane ki | Gambler (1960) | Lata Mangeshkar | Prem Dhawan |
| 7 | Teri shokh nazar ka ishaaraa | Patang (1960) | Lata Mangeshkar | Rajinder Krishan |
| 8 | Dilli hai dil Hindustan ka | Patang (1960) | Lata Mangeshkar | Rajinder Krishan |
| 9 | Chadhe chanda to tum bhi chale | Aplam Chaplam (1961) | Lata Mangeshkar | Prem Dhawan |
| 10 | Banke chakori gori jhoom jhoom | Ham Matwaale Naujawaan (1961) | Majrooh Sultanpuri | |
| 11 | Beete nahin raat sanam karo koi | Ham Matwaale Naujawaan (1961) | Geeta Dutt | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
| 12 | Mat poochhiye dil hai kahaan | Ham Matwaale Naujawaan (1961) | Mohammed Rafi | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
| 13 | Saathi hai albelaa phir bhi koi akela | Ham Matwaale Naujawaan (1961) | Majrooh Sultanpuri | |
| 14 | Dekho mausam kya bahaar aayi | Opera House (1961) | Lata Mangeshkar | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
| 15 | Na milte ham to kaho tum kidhar | Opera House (1961) | Lata Mangeshkar | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
| 16 | Babam babam bam bam lehri | Ramu Dada (1961) | Majrooh Sultanpuri | |
| 17 | Ek aana boot polish do aana tel maalish | Tel Maalish Boot Polish (1961) | Chorus | Prem Dhawan |
| 18 | Mujhe mubaarak puraani yaaden | Zabak (1961) | Lata Mangeshkar | Prem Dhawan |
| 19 | Suniye to zara kahaan roothh ke | Aankh Michauli (1962) | Majrooh Sultanpuri | |
| 20 | Wo to jaate jaate hamse khafaa | Aankh Michauli (1962) | Majrooh Sultanpuri | |
| 21 | Looto maze bahaar ke | Burmah Road (1962) | Usha Mangeshkar | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
| 22 | Jabse ham tum baharon mein | Main Shaadi Karne Chalaa (1962) | Kamal Barot | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
| 23 | Na jaane chaand kaisa hogaa | Rocket Girl (1962) | Kamal Barot | Prem Dhawan |
| 24 | Aisa nahin hoon aji main aisa | Mummy Daddy (1963) | Lata Mangeshkar | Prem Dhawan |
| 25 | Tumse nazar kuchh aisi mili | Mummy Daddy (1963) | Lata Mangeshkar | Prem Dhawan |
| 26 | Waah Re Oopar Wale | Mummy Daddy (1963) | Prem Dhawan | |
| 27 | Le pee zara aur pee | Toofaan Mein Pyaar Kahaan (1966) | Prem Dhawan | |
| 28 | Idhar Intezaar, Udhar Intezaar | Intezaar (1973) | Verma Malik | |
| 29 | Aanand mangal karoon aarti | Gaayatri Mahima (1977) | Bharat Vyas | |
| 30 | Tumne mujhe dekha | Maa (UR) (1968) | Usha Mangeshkar | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
Thus, 30 odd songs from 1958 to 1977. Now, for better appreciation, let me further sort their collaboration over the years in the table below.
Considering that Mukesh started his career in 1940 and Chitragupt had his debut as a composer in 1946, they were sort of contemporaries for about three decades.
| S. No | Period | No of Songs | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1940 to 1946 | Not Applicable | |
| 2 | 1946 to 1958 | No songs of Mukesh | |
| 3 | 1958 to 1963 | 26 | 18 films in just 5 years |
| 4 | 1964 to 1977 | 4 | 4 films in 14 years |
Despite several hit songs over the years, Mukesh sang sparingly for Chitragupt. In fact, many of the songs in the list above are known for their Mukesh songs rather than the ones sung by other singers in the respective films.
Chitragupt is considered to be a successful composer, but there is no denying the fact that he was not included in the A list. His own compulsions and struggles might have compelled him not to get more songs sung by Mukesh, but considering the popularity, he ought to have given more chances to Mukesh. Was Mukesh available for Chitragupt all the time is also to be pondered.
Compared to Rafi’s 260 odd songs for Chitragupt, Mukesh sang only 30. So then, who was the second most prolific male playback singer under Chitragupt?
I do not have the figures readily available but would request knowledge readers to contribute to the discussion.
Arunkumar ji in one of his posts has provided some statistics on the composer.
So, the composer himself sang 29 songs in 16 films, whereas he got Mukesh to sing for 30 songs in 20 films. So, Mukesh marginally excelled the composer in such analysis. 😊
Chitragupt was known for composing sweet melodious duets and it is reflected in the case of Mukesh also who sang a total of 18 duets out of the 30. Of these 18, as many as a dozen were with Lata Mangeshkar only.
Running quickly through the songs, 1 and 2 are well known duets. 3 and 4 from guest House are also very good songs. 5 is often heard on Radio Ceylon to this day.
6,7 and 9 are also known duets with Lata.
10 to 14 are from the same film. 10 are 13 are solos by Mukesh. 11 is a very good duet with Geeta Roy. 12 is a rare and only duet with a male playback singer Rafi saab. It reminds me of my debut post in my other series Mukesh and his co-singers which I started with Mukesh songs with Rafi saab.
I am very proud of this post in which 23 songs of the two great singers were compiled and discussed.
14 is again a popular duet.
23 is a catchy number with Kamal Barot.
30 is a duet with Usha Mangeshkar from an unreleased film Maa. Incidentally, I have covered this song in my other series.
One interesting thing to notice in the table above is that Prem Dhawan has written 12 songs of the combo including today’s solo and Majrooh Sultanpuri 13. Thus, both lyricists put together account for nearly 84% of the songs. 😊
Coming from Chitragupt, the other songs are also a pleasure to listen to. 29 released a year after Mukesh passed away is a good devotional song in praise of Gaayatri maata.
Of the 30 songs, 29 have already been covered and I was lucky enough that one song is yet to be represented. It is from the film Mummy Daddy 1963 whose two duets of Mukesh and Lata have already been covered on the blog. This third song to be represented on the blog today is a solo.
It’s a song teasing the Gods for the disparity amongst the masses. Quite a few songs of Mukesh questioning and blaming the almighty for personal and social reasons come to the mind.
Aasmaan pe hai Khudaa aur zameen pe ham
Duniyaa banaane waale, kyaa tere man mein samaayi
Bhagwan jo tera bhi bhagwan koi hota
Teri duniya mein dil lagta nahin waapas bula le
This blog does not deal much with such statistics, but it will be interesting to add Mukesh numbers of similar genre to today’s song and the sample list above. Our Dr. saab on other blogs is known for adding songs to any topic in a jiffy. He has my copy of the old version of Mukesh geetkosh and I would expect him to prove his homework here. 😊
To conclude the post, here is the last of the 30 odd songs of Mukesh under Chitragupt’s baton to be represented on the blog.
YouTube link:
Song-Waah re upar waale (Mummy Daddy)(1963) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Prem Dhawan, MD-Chitragupta
Lyrics
waah re upar waale
waah re upar waale
waah re upar waale
waah re upar waale
liya kisee se diya kisee ko
tere hain khel nirale
waah re upar waale
kya bolen hum kya hota hai teree nazar ke aage
kya bolen hum kya hota hai teree nazar ke aage
din mein bhee padte hain daake phir bhee tu na jaage
duniya bana ke bhool gaya tu duniya ke rakhwaale
waah re upar waale
waah re upar waale
koi karodon mein khele to maange hai koi adhela
koi karodon mein khele to maange hai koi adhela
khaaya kisee ne halwa pooree faaka kisee ne jhela
tan pe kisee ke ek langotee odhe hai koi dushaale
waah re upar waale
waah re upar waale
hum to teree kathhputlee hain jaise tu chaahe nachaaye
hum to teree kathhputlee hain jaise tu chaahe nachaaye
baithha gagan pe dekhe tamaasha
tera bhala kya jaaye
aa ke zameen pe dekh kabhee to chaand sitaaron waale
waah re upar waale
wah re upar waale
liya kisee se diya kisee ko
tere hain khel nirale
waah re upar waale
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
July 1, 2025 at 2:46 pm
Good to know the several hit songs sung by Mukesh for the great composer Chitragupta. Also it is rightly said that he did not sing many songs for the composer whatever he sang for him were hits as usual! Chitragupta incidentally used all singers and though Rafi was his preference , Mukesh would have been next to Rafi along with Kishore among male singers and Chitragupta also sang many songs himself in the fifties and discontinued later for some reasons unknown !
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July 11, 2025 at 6:05 pm
Kaybsubramanya ji,
Thanks for your comment.
Agree with your views, but I am curious to know the prolific order of Mukesh as far as male playback singers under Chitragupta’s composition are concerned.
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