Ek raajaa ka ek betaa thhaa
Posted on: July 18, 2025
- In: "story" song | Duet | Guest posts | Kishore Kumar songs | Kishore Kumar-Sushma Shreshtha duet | Lyrics by Prakashchandra | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Peevesie's mom | Rajesh Khanna songs | Rajesh Khanna songs by Kishore Kumar | Songs of 1970s (1971 to 1980) | Songs of 1976 | Sushma Shreshtha Songs | Yearwise breakup of songs
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This article is written by Peevesie’s mom, 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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6209 | Post No. : | 19170 |
Hullo Atuldom
It is 13 years since the passing of the first Superstar of Hindi cinema. I shall hold back the adjectives that are normally showered on this ICON who had a way to charm the audiences. His smile, emoting eyes etc. had the film viewing public, specially the female viewers swooning all over him, his images and even his CARS. A kind of mania no other actor has managed to replicate since then. He walked into their hearts riding an open top jeep, singing a song composed by S.D. Burman, in the voice of Kishore Kumar. Though that was not his first foray into films.
Let me first clarify that we are remembeing actor/producer Rajesh Khanna who veered towards politics (he contested the 1991/1992 Lok Sabha elections & won the ’92 Bye-election) briefly.
He was a winner of the 1965 All India Talent Contest, organised by United Producers and Filmfare magazine. Actors turned filmmakers Subhash Ghai & Dheeraj Kumar were also contestants in that year.
Rajesh Khanna (fondly addressed as Kaka) made his film debut in the 1966 film ‘Aakhri Khat’, directed by Chetan Anand, followed by ‘Raaz’ (1967), directed by Ravindra Dave, both of which were a part of his pre-determined prize for winning the All-India United Producers’ Talent Competition.
1969 saw Kaka star in ‘Khamoshi’, ‘Do Raaste’, ‘Doli’, ‘Ittefaq’, ‘Bandhan’ and ‘Aradhana’ all of which saw him playing diverse characters but the double role of ‘Aradhana’ was what made him the FIRST SUPERSTAR of Hindi films.
There were much bigger & more popular actors before him; Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor etc.; but it is said that they didn’t stir up such frenzy among film-goers.
(Of course, I have only heard & read these tales in interviews given by his co-actors of that period)
What followed, in the next two-three years, were 17 super-successful films like ‘The Train’, ‘Sachaa Jhutha’, ‘Safar’, ‘Aan Milo Sajna’, ‘Kati Patang’, ‘Mehboob Ki Mehndi’, ‘Anand’, ‘Andaz’ (in a special appearance), ‘Maryada’, ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’, ‘Chhoti Bahu’ to name some of the films.
Rajesh Khanna got his first Filmfare award for best actor for his double role in ‘Sachaa Jhutha’ & the next for his act as the ZINDA DIL cancer patient in ‘Anand’. His third best actor award was in 1975 for Basu Bhattacharya’s ‘Aavishkaar’. He was given a special award for ‘Anuraag’ which was also a special appearance.
I recall seeing the live telecast of the 2005 Filmfare awards function where Kaka was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award (Golden Jubilee function of the awards); the prize was handed by Amitabh Bachchan who was his co-actor in ‘Anand’ & ‘Namak Haram’. Additionally, he was nominated for the best actor 11 times with two nominations in 1970 (for ‘Aradhana’ & Ittefaq’) and 1973 ( for ‘Dushman’ & ‘Amar Prem’).
Kaka had acted in four films with Asha Parekh as his co-actor with the 1984 released ‘Dharm Aur Qanoon’ being the last. He has 10 films with Sharmila Tagore & Mumtaz. The other ladies who were often cast along side Kaka were Hema Malini (15 films), Zeenat Aman (4 films), Tina Munim (7 released films), Smita Patil (6 films) Shabana Azmi (7 films), Jaya Prada (5 films) & Sridevi (4).
Inspite of the crash in his fortunes in the mid-1970s, there was not a single year where kaka didn’t have a release & many of the releases were successful too, but that never crossed the public eye (I feel). He was the highest paid star for a long time & Amitabh Bachchan was quoted as saying when Kaka passed away “The word ‘Superstar’ was invented for him, and for me it shall ever remain his, and no others!! His generation and the generations that follow, shall never be able to describe, or understand his phenomena !!”
Farha Khan saluted this Superstar in a song, by digitally recreating his persona from the 1970s, for the song aaye na aise mohey laaj sajnaa. Actor Mehmood parodied him in ‘Bombay to Goa’ where the driver and conductor of the bus were called ‘Rajesh’ and ‘Khanna’ respectively.
Kaka’s was last seen in the film ‘Riyasat’ which released on 18th July 2014, two years after he left this world.
Let us remember this Superstar, style icon of the 1970s with a song from the 1976 released “Tyaag” which was produced by N.S. Kabir who happened to be Sharmila Tagore’s secretary back then. It was directed by Din Dayal Sharma. The cast was headed by Sharmila Tagore & Rajesh Khanna with Dheeraj Kumar, Prem Chopra, Bindu, Sulochana Latkar, Kamal Kapoor, Mukri, Murad, Raza Murad, Master Tito, Satyajit, Asit Sen playing important characters. This was the last film that had music by S.D. Burman. The songs were written by Anand Bakshi. Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar & Sushma Shrestha’s voices were used in the six songs of the film.
The song ‘Tum ham ham tum ek nadi ke hain do kinaare ‘ is a multi-version song. The blog has the following five songs.
| Song | Date of post | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Man pukaaare | 3 april 2013 | |
| Kore kaaaghaz pe likhwa le | 31 October 2019 | |
| Tum ham ham tum ek nadee ke | 1 October 2020 | |
| tujhe pyaas hai mere paaas haai ye jaam | 3 april 2023 | Multiple version song |
With today’s song we YYIIPPEEEE!!!! “Tyaag”.
I landed on this film when I searched to see if there was any film which had Dheeraj Kumar as Rajesh Khanna’s co-actor. I thought of this when I saw that they were part of the same Talent Search Contest, making them contemporaries. Also I felt that we should say a “OM SHANTI” for Dheeraj Kumar too. He passed away on July 15th at the age of 80.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find a song which featured him with Kaka but a film where the two actors vie for the same girl.
‘Tyaag was a normal love story of a rich girl Sunita (Sharmila) in love with an unemployed writer Chetan (Rajesh Khanna). Their love faces opposition from the girl’s father. Hence the boy asks the girl to marry and be happy in life with the boy of her father’s choice. This person happens to be a doctor who’s mother also approves of the wedding. Things take a turn towards a tension filled end when Sharmila Tagore confesses her past life to her husband (Dheeraj Kumar) who takes offense to this. He goes away to a foreign land in the pretext of studying further. After a few years, when the child of the doctor & Sunita, runs away from home in search of his father, Chetan rescues him and brings him home. This is when complications start as Chetan is now a successful writer, the doctor has a change of heart and returns to the family.
For further story and review in an inimitable style we should read this post by meemsaab on her blog.
Thinking of Kaka & Dheeraj Kumar.
Video
Audio
Song-Ek raajaaa ka ek betaa thhaa (Tyaag)(1976) Singers-Kishore Kumar, Sushma Shreshtha, Lyrics-Anand Bakshi, MD-S D Burman
Both
Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)
a aa aa
maine kahaa huzoor
sun pappu
tujhe ek kahaanee sunaaoon
ek raja ka ek beta thhaa
achcha
haan
ek raajaa ka ek betaa thhaa
tum jaisaa hee pyaaraa pyaaraa
kuchch gumsum saa
kuchch gupchup sa
rehtaa thhaa woh din saaraa
na meet koyee na saathhee
phir kiske sang woh kheley
mehlon mein ek akelaa
phirtaa thhaa raaj dulaaraa
ek raajaa ka ek betaa thhaa
raajaa ne mangaa ke diye kitne khilaune
(laughing sound)
phir bhee woh baithhey baithhey lagtaa thhaa roney ae
(laughing sound)
raajaa ne mangaa ke diye kitne khilaune
phir bhee woh baithhe baithhey lagtaa thhaa roney
suno aagey
jee naa laaagey
kehtaa thhaa ye woh bechaaraa
ek raajaa ka ek betaa thhaa
tum jaisaa hee pyaaraa pyaaraa
kuchch gumsum saa
kuchch gupchup saa
rehtaa thhaa woh din saaraa
ek raajaa ka ek betaa thhaa aaa
aa dost uncle
hhaan
unlce aagey bolo naa
aagey
usne
chhotee see ek gudiyaa banaayee
usne chhotee see ek gudiyaa banaayee
gudiyaa magar kisee kaam na aayee
usne chhotee see ek gudiyaa banaayee
gudiyaa magar kisee kaam na aayee
na woh boley
na woh doley
kar ke jatan woh sab haaraa
bol
ek raajaa ka ek betaa thhaa
tum jaichaa hee pyaalaa pyaalaa
kuchch gumsum saa
kuchch gupchup saa
rehtaa thhaa woh din saaraa
ek raajaa ka ek betaa thhaa
phir koyi jaadugar raajaa ne bulaayaa
gudiyaa mein jaan daalo oo
gudiyaa mein jaan daalo
ye hukum sunaayaa
phir koyi jaadugar raajaa ne bulaayaa
gudiyaa mein jaan daalo
hukum sunaayaa
phir kyaa huaa ?
phir…rrr
gudiyaa chalne lagee
gudiyaa naachney lagee
gudiyaa gaaney lagee
hansne lagee
laughing sound
hahhaa aaa hhaaa aaa haa
hansney ae lagaa
raajaa kee aankh kaa taaraa
ek raajaa ka ek betaa thhaa
tum jaisaa hee pyaaraa pyaaraa
kuchch gumsum saa
kuchch gupchup saaa
rehtaa thhaa woh din saaraa
ek raajaa ka ek betaa thhaa
lalllaa laa lalllaa laa laa
laaaaa la
lalllaa laa lalllaa laa laa
laaaaa laa
lalllaa laa lalllaa laa laa
laaaaa laa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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