Maze le lo
Posted on: July 31, 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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Somewhere in the late 2011 AK ji, of Songsofyore.com, had written on this Blog about the importance of NFS. After reading his views, I too wrote a rather lengthy comment supporting the inclusion of NFS on this Blog. Our contention was that, prior to Hindi Film Music becoming popular all over India, it was those ghazals, Geets and Bhajans, privately sung and recorded by various artists which had ruled the tastes of music lovers. In fact many famous singers had recorded NFS in the beginning phase of their singing careers. Some names are Talat Mehmood, Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Jagmohan and Juthika Roy !
I do not think there was a single singer in those days who had not sung a Non Filmi geet of some type like Bhajan or ghazal etc. I am sure many senior readers from this Blog must have grown listening to these NFS Bhajans and Geets. In fact more than a filmi song, maybe these people, like me, have some old geet or Bhajan embedded in their memories with some persons, events or places.
The word Non Film Song brings few names to mind immediately, like Jagmohan, Saigal, Kamala Jharia, Juthika Roy, Pankaj Mullick etc. I could never understand the reason and logic behind most NFS singers hailing from the Eastern part of India. Even Talat Mehmood went to Calcutta and sang all his famous NFS.
Saigal, Jagmohan and Pankaj Mullick…the TRIMURTY who made NFS so popular with their magical voices. Jagmohan, Pankaj Mullick and Saigal sang many NFS, in this order of numbers.
The role of Music,Dance and Songs in the cultural life of India is as old as Civilisation. In olden times Kings and Badshahas used to have Court Singers, court Dancers and musicians and they supported many fine arts too. Thus Music not only had Public support but also the Royal Patronage.
No wonder then that Music,songs and Dance with their variations specific to its local culture thrived in different regions of India. Karnatak Music, Hindustani classical Music, Film Music and Non-Film Music had its own supporters.
Much before Films started Talking and singing, the Non Film Songs were famous in many forms. They could be classified in 3 categories, broadly-
1. Gazals and related types
2.Bhajans and
3. Geets.
Out of the above, gazals and the related songs had a base of Pure Urdu, hence it was limited to a certain class of people who knew, liked or understood that language.
Bhajans and Geets had simpler languages and were available in many local languages, so these types became people-friendly and their acceptability was widespread.
Bhajans and religious songs in any case were part of social life and Indian culture all over the country, so many Bhajan singers became famous. A large chunk of NFS consisted of Bhajans. Added to it were songs written by our various saints like Tulsidas, Meerabai, Soordas, Kabir, Tukaram, Namdeo, Ramdas, Tyagaraja etc.
75 % of the Indian public enjoyed Hindi Bhajans and so the Recording companies were always on the lookout for Bhajan singers. In the early 40s,50s and 60s many Gujarati, Rajasthani and Marathi bhajan singers became well known.
MUSIC is an integral part of every Indian. From birth to death, we are drenched in music. During Vedic times, the Rishis used to teach their students verses in Taal and Sur, so that the students would remember them easily. You will have observed that whenever there is a Mahapooja or an Yadnya, the Purohits will recite the Mantras in a typical rhythm and sur.
In our school days, teachers used to literally force us to learn poems by heart in a tune, so that it was easier to remember. Not only poems, even the Maths teacher taught us the ” Pahade ” (Paadhe or the Tables) in a particular tune. That is how we remember the difficult tables of 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1-1/2,or the 1-1/4 etc even today. In these days of calculators and Mobiles, the tables are nowhere now !
In ancient times, Fine Arts like Dance, Drama and Music were the exclusive preserves of the Royalties and the Rich. Over a period, the commoners too found pleasures in village arts like Folk dances and Folk songs. In every festival and during the Harvesting times, there used to be musical entertainments.
Record making came to India in 1902, when a song by a professional singer ( read Tawaif) Gauhar Jan was recorded by a German technician in a Hotel in Calcutta. A factory was set up in Dumdum,Calcutta in 1908 by the gramophone company-UK to make records in India. There was no looking back ever since. There was a spate of records of songs and geets, Bhajans and Ghazals etc, by noted singers and classical gurus. By 1925, Electrical recordings started. Gramophones became popular and singers also multiplied. Records of geets, Thumris, ghazals, natya sangeet, Bhajans, Naats,love songs, sad songs etc became available and the songs became popular quickly.
In 1930, All India Radio started and in 1931 the films started talking. However, records of film songs were in general not made those days, though the first film song record came in 1932. Until about 1939-40, records of film songs were not made from every film. So, people continued to enjoy the NON FILM SONGS by famous singers. This trend of making records of NFS was so popular that most Film singers started their careers by recording NFS. Examples are Talat Mehmood, Hemant Kumar, S D Burman, Lata, Asha, Mukesh, Rafi etc.
Those of our readers, who were young in the 40s…50s….60s, will remember the melodious NFS played on Radios and in homes. Songs of Saigal, Jagmohan, Pankaj Mullick, Kamla Jharia, Juthika Roy, Paluskar, Talat, Mukesh, Hemant etc were played in many Hotels and restaurants too.
NON FILM SONGS played a very vital role in entertaining people and in giving opportunities to singers to become famous. As Radio became popular, these songs reached millions of Indians, and the singer’s names became famous all over India. Singers like Jagmohan, Pankaj Mullick and Talat Mehmood were invited to sing their NFS on stage shows and they toured countries all over the world for these shows.
As Radio Ceylon became more and more popular after 1950 and the Vividh Bharati after 1957, film songs started getting extensive exposure and slowly they stole the limelight from the NFS. However some NFS were immortal and are remembered even today.
There is a popular belief that Non Film Songs means Talat,Jagmohan,Pankaj mullick,Juthika Roy,Hemant etc. But the fact is from 1930 onwards,almost every Film singer sang Non Film songs,because NFS had a special place in people’s hearts then. Today we will listen to a NFS sung by actor singer Manmohan Krishna. This was recorded in 1952.
Manmohan krishna was a character actor and singer. Personally I never knew that he had sung any NFS. Thanks to Syed Zafar Shah ji, famous Record Collector, who recently put this song on RMIM forum and I was quick to listen and store it. Thank You Zafar Bhai.
MANMOHAN KRISHNA CHADDHA was born on 11-8-1908, at Lahore in Punjab. He was a very studious person and always stood first in school. He completed his M.Sc. in Physics and started working as a Physics lecturer in a Lahore college. He was very fond of singing and also sang on Lahore Radio. Once when V. Shantaram visited Lahore, he heard Manmohan’s singing on stage and was impressed. Shantaram offered him the lead role in his forthcoming film, “Matwala Shair Ramjoshi”-1947, In this film Manmohan sang 6 solos and 3 duets with Zohrabai Ambalewali. However, his first song as a playback singer was in Shantaram’s film, ” Jeewan Yatra”-1946, under Vasant Desai’s baton.
In his career of more than 40 years, he acted in 183 films and directed 1 film – Noorie-1979. He also sang 24 songs in 8 films, namely Jeewan Yatra-46, Matwala Shayar Ramjoshi-47, Andhon ki duniya-47, Apna Desh-49, Afsar-50, Aaram-51, Railway Platform-55 and Shehar aur Sapna-1963. During his stay in Bombay, he anchored a Radio show ” Cadbury’s Phulwari” in the 50’s.
Manmohan Krishna was connected with Indian Peoples Theatre i.e. IPTA and acted in few of their dramas. Being an educated person, he was impressed with Nehruvian Secularism. He worked in films like Shehar aur Sapna by K. A.Abbas as well as the first Indo-Soviet film Pardesi-1957. He also got the Film Fare award for playing the role of Abdul Chacha in the film Dhool ka Phool-64. A song in this film ” Tu Hindu banega na Musalman banega ” shot on him, became very popular.
Being a member of the intelligentia, he could not sell himself nor gel into the Hindi filmi world fully. He always fought against injustice. He established ‘ Yuvak Biradari ‘ for young Indians, which became a big organisation in due course.
He was a favourite of the Chopra Brothers and acted in most films made by them. Some of his famous films were Deewar, Trishul, Humraaz, Insaaf ka Tarazu, Joshila, Kanoon, Kala Pathar, Dhool ka phool, Waqt, Naya Daur etc. etc. He also worked in 12 Punjabi films. He was prominently spotted in any role due to his thick bushy eyebrows.
In Hindi films, he rarely got a hero’s role, barring few films, because of his ordinary look. He had no looks required for a Hero’s role in a commercial film, in those days. He was of course an excellent Character Artiste. Due to his nature, he kept away from Filmi parties and groupism. He had no real friends in the film industry. Manmohan krishna did not keep good health in his last few years and died at the age of 82 years, in Lokmanya Tilak Hospital, Bombay, on 3-11-1990.
( Based on some information from wiki, ‘Beete kal ke sitare’ by Shriram Tamrakar,muVyz, HFGK and my notes. Thanks to all.)
Now enjoy this special NFS, recorded in 1952….
Song –Maze le lo (Manmohan Krishna NFS)(1952) Singer – Manmohan Krishna, Lyricist – Bharat Vyas, MD – V. Balsara
Chorus
Lyrics
lalalalalaalaa
lalalalalaalaa
lalalalalaalaa
tararumpumpumpumpum
lalalalalaalaa
lalalalalaalaa
lalalalalaalaa
tararumpumpumpumpum
maze ley ae ae ae lo
maze ley ae ae ae lo
maze ley lo
hil mil khelo
duniya phaanee
duniya phaanee
duniya jaise dariya ka hai behta paanee
behta paanee
dhak dhak boley
khaaye hichkoley ye zindagaanee
ye zindagaanee
aa kar jaaye
jaa kar na aaye
roos jawaanee
muhabbat ke ulfat ke gaane gaao
tararararumpum
ulfat ke aage apne sar jhukaao
tararararumpum
chaahe lad ke ya jhagad ke jiye jaao
tararararumpum
kaanton ko phhoolon kee sej banaao
tum ho jawaan
saara jahaan leta angdaayee
aa aa aa
dil kee lagee pyaas jagee
preet muskaayee
aa aa aa
ghoomey nayan ghoomey gagan
?? jo laagaayee
aa aaa aa
aaj ka din aaya gin gin
aankh sharmaayee
muhabbat ke ulfat ke gaane gaao
ulfat ke aage apne sar jhukaao
chaahe lad ke ya jhagad ke jiye jaao
kaanton ko phhoolon kee sej banaao
aaj kee raat pyaar kee baat
mil ke hum kar len
rumpumpum
phoolon se aaj chhod ke laaj
jholiyaan bhar len
rumpumpum
duniya ko chhod jhanjhaten tod
qaid se chhooten
rumpumpum
tod ke taar jod ke pyaar zindagee looten
muhabbat ke ulfat ke gaane gaao
gaane gaao
ulfat ke aage apne sar jhukaao
sar jhukaao
chaahe lad ke ya jhagad ke jiye jaao
jhagad ke jiye jaao
kaanton ko phhoolon kee sej banaao
maze le lo
maze le lo
maze le lo
le lo
maze le lo
le lo
maze le lo
le lo
le lo
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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