Raja tere desh mein
Posted on: July 14, 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 Naulaakha Haar-1953.
Making films on folklore – well known or less known – is easy, because a lot of liberties can be taken while making the film. There is no copyright or any authentic version of any folklore. The same story may circulate in different regions/states in a different garb. Film Naulaakha Haar-1953 was also based on the love story of Alha- Udal.
Some of the love stories I remember offhand , which were made into Hindi films are….
Dhola- Maru, Heer Ranjha, Laila Majnu, Roopmati and Baaz Bahadur, Mirza Sahibaan, Shahajehan Mumtaz, Salim Anarkali, Sassi Punnu, Sohni Mahiwal, Momal Rano, Jodha Akbar, Bajirao Mastani, Usha Aniruddha, Arjun Subhadra, Radha Krishna, Umar Marvi, Wamiq Azra, Uttara Abhimanyu, Prithviraj Sanyogita, Amrapali Bimbisara etc. Films have been made on all these stories and more. This list is only indicative and not exhaustive.
Film ‘Naulakha Haar’ was made by Ratnadeep Pictures, Bombay. The film was directed by the pair of Bhalchandra Shukla and Harsukh Bhatt. Harsukh Bhatt was the younger brother of Vijay Bhatt of Prakash pictures– makers of well known films like ‘Panghat’ (1943),’Baiju Bawra’ (1952), ‘Ram Rajya’ (1943, 1967) etc. This pair of directors had also directed one more film – ‘Tulsidas’ in 1954. Harsukh, independently, directed 13 more films (total 15 films). He was born on 24-11-1924 and died on 31-10-1999. He started his career as a director with the film ‘Bal Yogi'(1952) and his last film was ‘Gayatri Mahima’ (1977).
The cast of the film was Meena Kumari, Arvind Pandya, Jeevan, Ishwarlal, Sundar, Durga Khote, Nirupa Roy, Praveen Paul, Shakuntala, Umakant and many others. One uncommon name in this list is that of Arvind Pandya. Readers from Gujarat may perhaps know about this name.
Arvind Pandya (21 March 1923 – 22 July 1980) was an actor. In his career spanning 35 years, he acted in more than one hundred films including 75 Gujarati and 25 Hindi films. He also worked in Hindi and Gujarati theatres. Pandya was born on 21 March 1923 in Bhadran. He spent his childhood in Khambhat and Baroda (now Vadodara). His father Ganpatrao was an executive manager in the Mandvi branch of Bank of Baroda. His mother’s name was Anandiben. He participated in the Indian independence movement and in 1942 Quit India movement.
Pandya went to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1937 and joined St. Xavier’s College where he studied BA in Sanskrit. He studied music at Devdhar Classes and later under Pandharinath Kolhapure. After listening to him at an event at St. Xavier’s College, he was selected as a playback singer in Mansarovar (1946) by S. N. Tripathi in which he sang a solo as well as a duet with Shamshad Begum.
To enter the Hindi film industry, he visited Fatelal Damle’s studio several times in a period of six months but was denied. He continued to work in the theatre. He came to the attention of Prakash Picture’s director Shantikumar Dave who saw him in his role of Kach in the play Kach-Devyani.
Shantikumar cast him in the lead role in Gujarati film Bhakta Surdas (1947) in which he also sang several songs. After some Gujarati films, he worked with Meena Kumari in Hindi film Naulakha Haar (1953). He continued to play supporting roles as well as lead roles in Hindi and Gujarati films. He portrayed mostly historical, social and rural characters in these films. In the 1960s, he portrayed negative characters. He had played saints as well as bandits in his films. In his career spanning 35 years, he acted in more than one hundred films including 73 Gujarati films. He was known as “Ashok Kumar of Gujarati cinema”. Due to his efforts, Laxmi Studio was established in Baroda in 1975.
He continued acting in the Gujarati theatre. His successful plays included Sapnana Sathi, Jesal Toral, Unda Andhare Thi, Gadh Juno Girnar, Mari Venima Char Char Phool, Swayamsiddha, Major Chandrakant, Pachhale Barane and Sambharna. He received a prize from the Government of Maharashtra for his play Sapnana Sathi.
He was awarded several times for acting by the Government of Gujarat including in 1961 for Kadu Makrani, in 1962 for Nandanvan, in 1963-64 for Jivno Jugari, in 1970 for Majiyara Haiya and in 1975 for Tanariri. He died on 22 July 1980 following brain hemorrhage. (based on an interview by Rajnikumar Pandya ji, wiki, muVyz and my notes. Thanks to all).
Another less known name was that of Bhola Shreshtha, Music Director of this film. His full name was Bholanath Shreshtha. His grandparents hailed from Nepal, but later settled in Calcutta. Bhola was born on 17-6-1924. He was an expert in playing tabla and had received a Silver Tray as a reward from Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore himself. In Calcutta his initial foray into film music was through KC Dey and Manna Dey. Along with them, Bhola too came to Bombay and worked as asst. to Khemchand Prakash in ‘Mahal’ (1949) and worked with Bulo C Rani for ‘Daroga ji’ (1949). Then he shared the music with Khemchand Prakash and Jimmy for ‘Muqaddar’ (1948). From here only he became a good friend of Kishore Kumar for a very long time, till his death.
As an independent composer his first film was ‘Nazariya’ (1952). In this film and next film, ‘Naulakha Haar’ (1953), he used Kishore Kumar. Then came ‘Aabshaar’ (1953), ‘Lakhon Mein Ek’ (1955), ‘Keemat’ (1956) and ‘Tankhaa’ (1956). His last film ‘Ye Basti Ye Log’ (1961) remained unreleased, but its recorded songs became popular.
He got married in 1953. He had 2 daughters, Minal and Sushma, and 1 son- Sailesh. Later, Sushma changed her name to Poornima. She was a known singer from childhood in Hindi and Nepali films.
Bhola was not only unlucky in his career, but also his death cheated him. Raj Kapoor, Pran and some others of the Punjab Association of Bombay had planned a career launching program for his daughter Sushma Shreshtha, on 12-4-1971. Bhola Shreshtha got a heart attack on 11-4-1971 and died instantly -just one day prior to his daughter’s first public program. Sushama, however, very bravely, attended the program the very next day, sang songs and got a thunderous applause from the audience with a standing ovation !
Bhola Shreshtha belonged to a Nepali family. His schooling and music lessons were done in Kolkata. His grandfather was very fond of music and hence he developed an interest in the field. His reading habit was surprising. He was interested in books on Philosophy, Music and works of fiction. His favorite authors were Freud and Dostoevsky. However he studied till matriculation only. He used to play with tabla in his childhood. KC Dey used to stay in the neighborhood. He started taking Bhola Shreshtha to fairs. When KC Dey came to Mumbai in 1942 he brought Bhola Shreshtha along with him. In his film ‘Tamanna’ (1942) he handed over the job of assistant music director to Bhola Shreshtha.
Among the artists he had high regard for were KC Dey, Manna Dey and Ashok Kumar. They all came along to Mumbai to try their luck in the Film Industry. Khemchand Prakash was a friend of Bhola Shreshtha’s father; he knew Bhola. He got him a job at Ranjit Movietone as an assistant music director and he started using Bhola as an Assistant Music Director till ‘Mahal’. In 1949 he became an assistant to Bulo C Rani for the film ‘Daroga ji’. In the film ‘Muqaddar’ (1950) which was composed by Khemchand Prakash there were three songs for which orchestration was done by Bhola Shreshtha.
Bhola Shreshta called Khemchand Prakash ‘Guruji’ as he was his mentor. In 1952 he was an assistant to Husnlal-Bhagatram in the film ‘Kaafila’ (1952). ‘Nazariya’ (1952) was his first independent film. He later gave music in ‘Naulakha haar’, ‘Lakhon Mein Ek’. In the film ‘Lakhon Mein Ek’ (1955) he used Talat’s voice very beautifully. When Ghulam Haider passed away Bhola Shreshtha completed the compositions for the film ‘Aabshaar’ (1953). The song “Chale Aao Tumhe Aansu Hamaare Yaad Karte Hain“, which was sung by Lata was very popular. Bhola Shreshtha got married in 1953. In 1959 Sushma Shreshta (Later Poornima) was born, who later became a famous singer.
Eldest among the three children is Minal, followed by Shailesh and finally Sushma. But Bhola Shreshtha did not live to see the success of his daughter. He died of a heart attack in Mumbai.
His last film was ‘Yeh Basthi Yeh Log’. There were some unreleased films also. He later worked as an assistant music director for Kishore Kumar. One of Kishore’s earliest songs “Jagmag Jagmag Kartha Nikla Chaand Poonam Ka Pyara” (film ‘Rimjhim’, 1949) was recorded by Bhola Shreshtha. In all, he gave music in 9 films.
The story of the film Naulaakha Haar-1953 was…..
Devla (Durga Khote) is married in a prominent Rajput family located in Mandavgarh. Her sister (Praveen Paul) is also married in this family. Their brother, Mahil Rai Podiyal (Jeevan), is bitter about this and plots with Kiriya Rai (Ishwarlal), which results in Kiriya’s vain attempt to steal a valuable necklace, losing his reputation and his sword. Thus humiliated he returns, plots his vengeance, returns back, kills Devla’s and her sister’s husbands, steals the necklace, sets fire to Mandavgarh, takes an elephant and a magical flying horse with him, and hangs the scalps of his victims on the doorway to his palace. Devla swears to avenge this humiliation.
Now 19 years later, Devla’s son, Udal (Arvind Pandya), has grown up and is told about his past. He decides to kill Kiriya, but finds out that he is the brother of Bijma, the woman he loves. Kiriya finds out about this and forbids Bijma from seeing him again. Nevertheless, Udal sneaks into Bijma’s room, who is learning magic. When Kiriya knocks on the door, Bijma magically transforms Udal into a parrot, but Kiriya wrings its neck and tosses it from the balcony.
The half dead parrot is picked up by a maid, who nurses it and it becomes alright. When Bijma sees the parrot, she turns it into a human again and Udal comes back to his original self. Udal collects his army and attacks Kiriya. Kiriya gets killed and thus Udal takes his revenge. All is well. Bijma and Udal get married.
Here is a 72 year old song, sung by a 34 year old Shamshad Begum and a 23 year old Pramodini Desai along with the Chorus. It is a long song covering both sides of the record. Enjoy….
Song-Raja tere desh mein (Naulakha Haar)(1953) Singers- Pramodini Desai, Shamshad Begum, Lyricist-Bharat Vyas, MD- Bhola Shreshtha
Chorus
Lyrics
Raja tere desh mein aen
sada basant bahaar
paayal ?? ghaayal karen
range leelaar
chham chham chham moree baaje re paayaliyaa
ho chham chham chham moree baaje re paayaliyaa
ho choree choree
choree choree aaja morey rang rasiyaa
morey man basiyaa
kare hilmil dil kee baat
ho jee kate jhilmil ras kee raat
veeron ka deshho jee kare hilmil dil kee baat
haan jee kate jhilmil ras kee raat
chham chham chham moree baaje re paayaliyaa
chham chham chham moree baaje re paayaliyaa
ho choree choree
choree choree aaja morey rang rasiyaa
morey man basiyaa
karen hilmil dil kee baat
ho jee kate jhilmil ras kee raat
Raja tere desh mein aen
huye hain veer mahaan
Raja tere desh mein aen
huye hain veer mahaan
rasm rangee dhartee teree
kartee hai gungaa aa aa aan
jahaan baanke sardaar
jahaan baanke sardaar
liye teekhee talwaar
karen dushman pe vaar
aisa desh hai
aisa desh hai
aisa desh hai
jahaan baanke sardaar
liye teekhee talwaar
karen dushman pe vaar
aisa desh hai
jinke nainon mein aag
aag
jinke nainon mein aag
jinke dil mein ?? ka raag
un sar par kafan unka vesh hai
aise veeron ka
ranveeron ka ye tera desh hai
jahaan baanke sardaar
liye teekhee talwaar
karen dushman pe vaar
aisa desh hai
aisa desh hai
aisa desh hai
kya sunenge wo ?? gaane
kya sunenge wo ?? gaane
jinhe Jagdamba aatee jagaane
jinhe Jagdamba aatee jagaane
jahaan kesariya rang
ranga jeevan ke sang
jahaan kesariya rang
ranga jeevan ke sang
jinke aage umangen ?? hain
jinke aage umangen ?? hain
veer kshatraaniyaan
veer kshatraaniyaan
?? kurbaaniyaan
jahaan jauhar kee ?? hai
aisee satiyon ka
veer satiyon ka ye tera desh hai
jahaan baanke sardaar
liye teekhee talwaar
karen dushman pe vaar
aisa desh hai
aisa desh hai
aisa desh hai
paaon ke ghunghroo mein kya sun rahe aen aen
kya sun rahe
tum kya sun rahe
paaon ke ghunghroo mein kya sun rahe
angaaron ka ye sangeet hai
jeewan ke gaane sunaao (??)
hum to gaate maran ke geet hain
hum to gaate maran ke geet hain
jiskee sargam aag
jiskee sargam mein aag
jismein bijlee ka zor
laage dushman ke dil ko ?? thhes hai
laage dushman ke dil ko thhes hai
ye hai veeron ka desh
veeron ka desh
veeron ka desh
veeron ka desh
talwaaren yahaan kee ?? jahaan
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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