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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The street songs comprising any public places have been a part of many Hindi films which became prominent in 1950s and 60s. Such songs generally get picturised on lesser-known actors. Within the category of street songs, there is an interesting sub-category in which the street singer conveys the inner feelings of the main actors, usually hero/heroine present to watch the street singing performance, who keeps them within their hearts. Usually, a male actor would be playing harmonium or any other musical instrument and the female actor would be dancing. The onlookers will be the bystanders among whom the film’s main actors who would be witnessing the performance. There are many songs under this sub-category of street songs. I have listed below few such songs of 1950s and 60s:
1. ho leke pahla pahla pyaar – CID (1956). The song is picturised on Sheila Vaz and Shyam Kapoor conveying the feelings of Dev Anand who is stalking Shakila on the footpath of Worli Sea Face in the picturisation.
2. bichchde huye milenge phir – Post Box No.999 (1959). The song is picturised on Sadhana Chowdhary and others. Among the bystanders are Sunil Dutt and Shakila who is being stalked by Sunil Dutt. Leela Chitnis is also present during the song performance but she is waiting for her son (Kundan) for a brief meeting before he is being taken in a police van as prisoner. The song is picturised at Mughalsarai railway station but it appears to be a studio set.
3. chhodo chhodo mori bainyya saanwre – Miyaan Biwee Raazi (1960). The song is picturised on a village belle, Sheila Ramachandra on a village path where she has come to fill her water pot from the well. Her lover plays the flute and she sings the song. The film’s hero, Shrikant Gaurav (real name: Shailesh Mukherjee, music director and singer) and heroine Kamini Kadam have also come near the spot watching them singing from a distance. Kamini Kadam feels romantic by her singing and imagines that she is replicating their act with Shrikant.
4. jaane kahaan gayee – Dil Apna Aur Preet Paraayee (1960). The song is picturised on Raj Kishore who is playing guitar with an unidentified actress playing harmonium and an unidentified actor playing the dholak. The song is picturised at a sea-shore with picknickers as bystanders. The meaning of the songs fits well with the state of mind of Rajkumar who witnesses the song performance sitting on a rock. Rajkumar is married to Nadira under pressure from his mother. But his heart still belongs to Meena Kumari, a nurse in the hospital where he is the doctor. Rajkumar is in sombre mood when he comes to know about Meena Kumari who has resigned from the hospital and her whereabout is not known.
One of such a category of songs was in the film, ‘Tel Maalish Boot Polish’ (1961) about which I will revert later. The film was produced by Rajan under the banner of Rajan Films and was directed by Romney Dey. The cast included Sheikh Mukhtar, Chandrashekhar, Kumkum, Madan Puri, Amar, Janakidas, Agha, Ravikant, Parashuram, Ratan Gurung, Jeevankala, Radhika etc. This was the only film directed by Romney Dey who was earlier worked as an assistant director to Tara Harish.
The story of the film is as under:
Santa (Sheikh Mukhtar) and Raja (Chandrashekhar) are the sons of an upper-caste father and a low-caste mother. Their parent were shunned by the upper caste community. The parents die leaving Santa and Raja orphan. Santa shines shoes on the sidewalks of Mumbai as well as offers his services for head massage. He hopes to make enough money to ensure Raja gets a good education and job in improving their financial as well as status in the society.
Raja has passed his matriculation examination and soon starts looking for a white collared job in the office. But he gets rejected at the interviews as he faces the competition with graduates and post-graduates. Raja has become desperate having remains unemployed for a long time. To help his brother, Raja decides to follow the vocation of his elder brother without his knowledge. But this cannot remain secret for long time, Raja is reprimanded by Santa for following his vocation.
Raja gets a job as a mechanic in a garage owned by Girdhari’s (Madan Puri) mother. He learns the nuances of car repairs from Anand (Agha) who is his boss. Soon, Raja becomes an expert car mechanic. Earlier, he has met Sheel Pandey (Kumkum) in not so in good circumstances when he had unintentionally dashed against her in his excitement after getting his matriculation result. Sheel ended her encounter with Raja in not so good atmosphere. However, now he has fallen in love with Sheel who is an upper caste girl and she has started reciprocating his love. Her father, Pandey (Amar) has financed higher education of Girdhari (Madan Puri) with the intention of getting Sheel married to him after his return.
Girdhari has returned from abroad. He is money minded and indulges in gambling for which he needs money. He calls cashier of the garage for some money which he wants for the horse racing. The cashier says that the garage has been pledged against which the money has been borrowed. Girdhari’s mother (Nasreen) promises him that once he gets married to Sheel, the only daughter of Pandey, his financial woes would vanish. Girdhari is now eager to get married to Sheel without knowing that she is already in love with Raja.
Pandey hosts a party for welcoming back Girdhari during which he announces the marriage of his daughter, Sheel with Girdhari. During the same party, Girdhari comes to know about the love affairs of Sheel with Raja. Girdhari, who has already taken charge of the garage, calls Raja and threatens him to dismiss from his job unless he sacrifices his love for Sheel. At first, he refuses but later relent when he comes to know that his brother, Santa has got an heart-attack and he needs money for his hospitalisation. As per his understanding with Girdhari, Raja does not respond to Sheel’s overtures. She is not interested in marrying Girdhari but Girdhari is in a hurry to become the son-in-law of Pandey so that he becomes the heir to the fortunes of Pandey through his daughter. He even uses the caste card to take Pandey on his side by revealing him that Raja belongs to a low caste. This development hasten Pandey to fix the marriage of Sheel with Girdhari early.
In the meanwhile, Pandey senses something amiss when he suddenly gets ill. It is a handywork of Girdhari who gives a glass of water laced with slow poisoning liquid to Pandey. Pandey has recovered from his illness and Girdhari is exposed. He has no other alternative but to use his might. Girdhari arranges abduction of Sheel and tries to eliminate Pandey by employing a goon (Shetty). But when Santa comes to know about the abduction of Sheel, he rushes to Pandey’s house and in nick of time, he saves Pandey from the goon. With his failed attempt, Girdhari is angry with the goon and shoot him in his garage where he has kept Sheel after her abduction. The goon is injured but in anger, he takes hold of Girdhari’s neck. In the shuffle, Girdhari fires a bullet which results in the fire. Santa frees Sheel in the midst of fire. But both Girdhari and the goon are trapped when the ceiling of the garage which is engulfed in fire, falls on them and both die. Raja and Sheel get married.
The film had seven songs written by Prem Dhawan which were set to music by Chitragupt. Four songs have been covered on the Blog, the last one being about 14 years ago. I present the 5th song, ‘pahlee nazar tere pyaar kee’ rendered by Mohammed Rafi and Kamal Barot. It is a typical street song in which the prospective love pair is Chandrashekhar and Kumkum. I am unable to identify the actor playing the harmonium while the dancer is Jeevankala. Chandrashekhar has passed his matriculation. In his excitement, he runs out on the road to inform his well-wishers only to dash against Kumkum and the song follows.
Kamal Barot has been mostly used by music directors for singing duets and ensemble of singers (more than two singers). The reason could be that her distinct voice gives contrasting sounds when she sings with other playback singers. She gave her first playback singing in ‘Sharda’ (1957) and her last playback singing was for ‘Yaari Zindabaad’ (1976). During her two decades of playback singing in Hindi films, Kamal Barot sang 140 songs in 119 films in which only 10 songs were her solos. She sang 95 duets and 35 ensemble songs. She sang 14 duets with Rafi including the song under discussion.
Audio Clip:
Video Clip (Partial song):
Song-Pahlee nazar tere pyaar kee (Tel Maalish Boot Polish)(1961) Singers-Rafi, Kamal Barot, Lyrics-Prem Dhawan, MD-Chitragupta
Both
Lyrics (Based on Audio Clip):
pahlee nazar tere pyaar kee
ho mere dil mein utar gayee
pahlee nazar tere pyaar kee
ho mere dil mein utar gayee
jaise ke nok talwaar kee
ho seene se guzar gayee
jaise ke nok talwaar kee
ho seene se guzar gayee
ho o o o
deewaane ho yaa sharaabee mastaane
deewaane ho yaa sharaabee mastaane
raahon mein jo youn lagey ho takraane
lagey ho takraane
manaa ki ham to deewaane hain haaye Ram
ye to kaho ke sarkaar kee
ho lat kaise bikhar gayee
pahlee nazar tere pyaar kee
ho mere dil mein utar gayee
jaise ke nok talwaar kee
ho seene se guzar gayee
ho o o o
chale kahaan aise gusse mein tan ke
chale kahaan aise gusse mein tan ke
bal naa pade kaheen tere badan pe
ho tere badan pe
aise na raste mein chhedo ke
haay Ram
main to kalee hoon gulzaar kee
ho toone dekhaa to mar gayee
pahlee nazar tere pyaar kee
ho mere dil mein utar gayee
jaise ke nok talwaar kee
ho seene se guzar gayee
ho o o o
ham to chale usee baankee adaa se
ham to chale usee baankee adaa se
koi jaley to jee apnee balaa se
jee apnee balaa se
dekho re logon sitam ye ke
haay Ram
tirchhee nazar dildaar kee
ho dil leke mukar gayee
pahlee nazar tere pyaar kee
ho mere dil mein utar gayee
jaise ke nok talwaar kee
ho seene se guzar gayee
Sadanand ji, Thank you for touching upon this unique subject of street songs in Hindi cinema. I’ve long been intrigued by a particular kind within this category, where the song is performed on screen by lesser-known or side characters, often in public spaces, but the emotions expressed actually belong to the film’s main characters (usually hero or heroine), who silently watch the performance.
The examples you shared from the 1950s and 60s helped clarify this. I’d like to add a couple more songs that seem to fit this sub-category:
Dhalti Jaaye Raat from Razia Sultan (1961) is picturised on Harbans and an unknown actress, but it reflects the suppressed emotions of Jairaj and Nirupa Roy.
Chahe Naina Churao from Aas (1953) is sung on screen by unknown actors, yet it conveys the inner feelings of Kamini Kaushal and Shekhar.
Would this still be called a “street song,” or is there a more specific technical term for such songs where the main characters feel the emotion but don’t sing or perform directly?
As I have mentioned in my article, ‘street songs’ include songs picturised in any public places like streets/roads/village path and also, beaches, river/lake shores, public parks etc. The main feature of these songs are that they are picturised on lesser-known actors coveying the inner feelings of the hero/heroine or both who are present in the picturisation. The songs you have listed fall under the sub-category of street songs I have discussed in my article.
By the way, I like your term, ‘supressed feelings’ for such songs.
This blog discusses Bollywood songs of yesteryears. Every song has a brief description, followed by a video link, and complete lyrics of the song. This is a labour of love, where “new” songs are added every day, and that has been the case for over SEVENTEEN years. This blog has more than 19700 song posts by now. This blog is active and online for over 6000 days since its beginning on 19 July 2008.
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
July 13, 2025 at 1:01 pm
It was a distinct, hat ke voice. Not suited well for romantic duets, but good for lively dance music.
On Sat, Jul 12, 2025, 05:30 Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi
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July 13, 2025 at 6:41 pm
I broadly agree. There was, however, one romantic duet song rendered by her with Mahendra Kapoor which was popular. Link of the song:
https://atulsongaday.me/2012/01/09/jigar-mein-dard-kaisa-isko-ulfat-to-nahin-kehte/
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