Ajnabee koi kabhee dil ko apna kyun lagey
Posted on: August 14, 2025
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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‘Thikaana’ (1987) was produced by Paul Arora, Raj Grover and V B Soni and was directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The cast included Smita Patil, Anil Kapoor, Amrita Singh, Suresh Oberoi, Rohini Hattangadi, Avtar Gill, Madan Jain, Satish Kaushik, Aravind Joshi, Suhas Bhalekar, Suresh Bhagwat, Rita Rani Kaul with a special appearance of Anupam Kher. Mahesh Bhatt started shooting the film immediately after the release of his film, ‘Arth’ (1982). However, the completion of the film was delayed probably because there was disputes between the producers which got sorted out through Prakash Mehra who acted as an arbitrator. The film was released on October 18, 1987.
During the making of the film, Smita Patil was pregnant but it did not affect her role as her character in the film was that of a pregnant woman. Anil Kapoor and Smita Patil did the characters of brother and sister. Smita Patil passed away before the film was released but she had completed all her scenes including dubbing.
‘Thikaana’ (1987) appears to have been partially inspired from the Oscar nominated Hollywood film, ‘The Verdict’ (1982). I have watched both these films on video sharing platforms. In ‘The Verdict’ (1982), Paul Newman is an alcoholic lawyer who once had a successful legal career which is now on the downfall. His former partner in the law firm gives him a chance to prove himself by assigning a simple medical malpractice case by way of a financial settlement. But while digging deep into his client’s case, he decides to go for a fresh trial in the court for his client’s right and his own dignity as an upright lawyer. Pual Newman faces an uphill task as witnesses turn hostile and the judge appears swaying toward the defence lawyer. Added to his problem is that his love interest turns out to be on side of the defence lawyer. Finally, it is his love interest who helps him in locating a missing nurse of the hospital as witness which turns the case in favour of Paul Newman’s client. With this, Paul Newman’s dignity as an upright lawyer is restored.
In ‘Thikaana’ (1987), Anil Kapoor is an alcoholic lawyer who does not get cases as he does not like to lie. So, he is unemployed. His elder sister, Smita Patil is a working woman who takes care of the household. Smita Patil is in love with Suresh Oberoi, a police inspector and she is pregnant out of wedlock. However, she cannot get married to him because her widowed mother and alcoholic brother sustain on her earnings. Suresh Oberoi, his prospective brother-in-law gives Anil Kapoor the sermon to give up drinking and practice as a lawyer so that he can get married to Smita Patil. Anil Kapoor feels guilty and starts practicing as a lawyer. He meets a singer-dancer, Amrita Singh in a bar and falls in love with her. She reveals about her missing journalist brother and Anil Kapoor promises to help her out. He finds out that her brother has been murdered and he had a video clip showing a politician killing his paramour which he has hidden in a secret place.
Being an upright lawyer, Anil Kapoor digs deep into the murder case which takes the thread of the murder to a politician, Avtar Gill. In this process, Anil Kapoor’s own life is at risk as he is bent upon exposing Avtar Gill during which he comes to know that his prospective brother-in-law, Inspector Suresh Oberoi is in the opposite camp having killed Amrita Singh’s brother on the behest of Avtar Gill . Both Anil Kapoor and the opposite camp are trying their best to get their hands on the crucial evidence of the video clip. The outcome of the criminal case would decide whether Anil Kapoor has redeemed himself as an upright lawyer proving his own prospective brother-in-law Suresh Oberoi as a murderer or he would fall back to his alcoholism.
Mahesh Bhatt has turned ‘Thikaana’ (1987) from the court room drama of ‘The Verdict’ (1982) into a crime suspense thriller incorporating his pet topic of middle-class morality as he has done in most of his films. While ‘The Verdict’ (1982) has highlighted the malpractices in hospitals and the judicial systems, in ‘Thikaana’ (1987), Mahesh Bhatt has highlighted as to how the police administration is manipulated by the politician who instead of becoming a law maker becomes the law breaker. The film has turned out to be an interesting and realistic one with quality performances from the main actors. Unfortunately, despite the melodious music, the film failed badly at the box office. Probably, the general audience failed to grasp the film’s theme.
The film had six melodious songs with poetic lyrics written by Anjaan (4) and Prakash Mehra (2) which were set to music by Kalyanji-Anandji. It is a rare occasion that Prakash Mehra has written the lyrics for the song of a film outside his own films. It is more than 3 decades since the film was released and none of the film’s melodious songs is represented on the Blog. I present the first song, ‘ajnabee koi kabhee dil ko apnaa kyun lagey’ rendered by Asha Bhosle on the lyrics of Anjaan. The song is picturised on Amrita Singh who has done the role of a club singer-dancer in the film. The song is apparently addressed to Anil Kapoor who is one among those witnessing her singing. The song has a long prelude music of about one munute.
The context of the song is that Satish Kaushik who runs a canteen in a court premises and a friend of Anil Kapoor gives him an address of a client, Amrita Singh who wants to engage a lawyer. So, Anil Kapoor comes to a hotel where she has her singing programme. After her programme, Amrita Singh apprises him of the danger to the life of her brother, Madan Jain from a politician, Avtar Gill and wants him to file a petition in the court to provide police protection to her brother. The petition is rejected by the judge as Madan Jain is not presented in the court as his whereabout is not known and Avtar Gill is a public figure and the basis for Madan Jain’s life under threat is not indicated. Apparently, Anil Kapoor was not aware that Madan Jain had a video clip in which he has recorded the scene of Avtar Gill killing his mistress for which he is after him to get the video clip destroyed.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Ajnabee koi kabhee dil ko apna kyun lagey (Thhikaana)(1987) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Anjaan, MD-Kalyanji Anandji
Lyrics (Based on Audio Clip):
ajnabee koi kabhee
dil ko apnaa kyun lagey
ajnabee koi kabhee
dil ko apnaa kyun lagey
saamne baithhaa hai wo
phir bhee sapnaa kyun lagey
ajnabee koi kabhee
dil ko apnaa kyun lagey ae
aankh miltee hai to miltee hee chalee jaatee hai
o aankh miltee hai to miltee hee chalee jaatee hai
dil kee dhadkan youn achaanak kyun thahar jaatee hai
saaree duniyaa hamen jannat see nazar aatee hai
ajnabee koi kabhee
dil ko apnaa kyun lagey
saamne baithhaa hai wo
phir bhee sapnaa kyun lagey
ajnabee koi kabhee
dil ko apnaa kyun lagey
laa la la la
la la la la
la la la la la
jaan-e-man jaan-e-wafaa
jaan-e-jigar lagtaa hai
o jaan-e-man jaan-e-wafaa
jaan-e-jigar lagtaa hai
zindagee bhar kee duaaon kaa asar lagtaa hai
mil ke kho jaaye na wo
dil ko fikar lagtaa hai
ajnabee koi kabhee
dil ko apnaa kyun lagey
saamne baithhaa hai wo
phir bhee sapnaa kyun lagey
ajnabee koi kabhee
dil ko apnaa kyun lagey
laa la la la la la
laa
la la la la la la
haaaaaaa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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