Gaaon gaaon mein dhoondhh rahee banjaare ko
Posted on: August 24, 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 a less known film with well known songs – Oonchi haveli-1955.
This social film was produced and directed by Dhirubhai Desai for his own banner Sharad productions, Bombay. Dhirubhai B. Desai was a Hindi and Gujarati film director. He was born in Kaliawadi,near Navsari,Gujaratrat, on 31-1-1908. He started at Sharda studios in 1927 by assisting A.P.Kapoor. He completed Gujarati film’ Maya no Rang’,which was left unfinished by P.V.Chavan and Sunder rao Nadkarni, when Bhogilal Dave took over his United Pics Syndicate in 1929. His early work was in silent films of action ( 17 silent films), in Sharada and later with Indulal Yagnik.
He also worked with Saroj films of Nanubhai Desai. In 1933,he set up his own studio-Vishnu Cinetone and made Suryakumari-1933 with Natwar Shyam Manyar and Chaturbhai Patel. Later he owned Chandrakala pics also. After 1940 he directed mainly B grade Mythological films,usually remakes of his silent films. He was one of the few silent film makers,who had a long career in Hindi and Gujarati films.
He has directed 17 silent films and 56 Talkie films in Hindi. Some of his notable Hindi films are Dilli ka Thug-35,fashionable wife,Bhakta Prahlad-46,bhakta Pundalik, Oonchi Haveli, Saranga-60, Kailashpati, Badrinath Yatra and Sampoorna Teerth Yatra etc. His last film was Daaku aur Bhagwan-75. He died on 30-7-1990.
The cast of the film included Nirupa Roy,Karan Dewan, Lalita Pawar, Yashodhara Katju, Bhagwan, Janakidas, B.M.Vyas, Suryakant (Marathi film Hero), Indira bansal and many others. The music director of this film was Pt. Shivram krishna. From the few films for which he composed music, this film’s songs were popular and one song, sung by Mohd. Rafi ” Daulat ke jhoote nashe mein ho choor ” became an iconic song, but still Shivram krishna fell behind and in a short time was forgotten.
Film Industry is one industry which grew very fast.Firstly,there was no competition(except from AIR for entertainment) and secondly,joining this industry needed no special qualifications. Moreover,from the beginning, the ROI (Returns On the Investment) ratio was quite high,once you took care of a few parameters like,good actors, good songs and a mix of Romance and Comedy !
Thousands of aspirants,the Good looking,the Bad looking and the Ugly looking rushed to Bombay,Lahore and Calcutta to try their luck.Tawaifs and stage artists had an easy entry,so was for the Handsome and Muscular bodied males.
The studio system took care of grooming its employees.Most people were hired without any specific job description.When needed,the script writer or the Lyricist had to act in the film, and Choreographer-Dance Master in those days-had to take up Direction if needed. Artists graduated from menial jobs to important positions.That is how Choreographer Guru Dutt became a Director and a Hero. Lyricist and writer J.S.Casshyap became an actor/singer, or Amiya Chakrawarty became a famous Director from being the Canteen Manager in Bombay Talkies. Ashokkumar became a Hero from being a Technician in Camera Department, a chorus singer Mohd.Rafi became an Iconic Singer and an Extra, working as one of the 40 Thieves in ” Alibaba and 40 Thieves”-1929, became the movie mogul Director Mehboob Khan.
Those times were different.Industry needed people in all departments. Heads of Studios were like expert jewellers who knew how to find and nurture talents. Successful strugglers had empathy towards existing strugglers and gave them opportunity to showcase their skills. Studios got the right people for the right jobs. Real Talents survived,rest disappeared.
There were many One timers,who acted in only 1-2 films,directed just 1 film,produced 1 movie,sung only a few songs or gave music to only 1 or 2 films. Luck also played an important role. Artists seeking opportunities in Music Departments like singing and composing were many. Most got chances,few prospered.
But it is important to note that every One timer was contributing towards Industry’s growth. Like every drop makes an ocean,these one timers or short distance runners also gave their might to the industry. Those who disappeared after a short performance remained alive through their contribution on record. Hundreds of aspirants came to become Music Directors,only few made the grade,survived and the rest simply vanished.These short time passengers or composers had their time of glory too. Their songs were cherished but their names were forgotten.
Mayanagari Mumbai attracted people. Earlier,when it was BOMBAY (Bambai),it acted like a magnet for all those who wanted Name,Fame and Wealth. Bombay gave this all to the Lucky and the Deserving with both hands stretched fully.
Particularly,for the Film Industry it sure acted as “The Ultimate Destination.” Whether one was an Aspirant or an achiever,whether poor or rich,whether from the lower strata or from a Royal clan, everyone wanted to try his luck here.
Film Industry has seen many “Rags to Riches” and also ‘Riches to Rags’ stories.Not all people coming here succeeded in getting their goal,but atleast they could survive .Bombay gave chances to everyone,you were on your own after that. In the Music field too there were stories from lowest to Highest and vice versa.
A simple, ordinary looking, frail girl with torn chappals and cotton saree and tightly tied hair, stood on the Platform of Malad station waiting for the Local train. Years later Lata Mangeshkar got the Highest Civilian Award ‘ Bharat Ratna’, riches, fame and respect from the world !
In MD Rafiq Gaznavi and Pt.govind Ram’s ” Laila Majnu “-1945,the main singer was Khan Mastana and in the Chorus was a young man called Mohd.Rafi. Many years later,in K.Asif’s film ” Laila Majnu “-1976 the main singer was Mohd.Rafi and in the chorus was the Paralytic Khan Mastana ! These are the ways of Fate !!.
Pt. Shivram krishna was also one of such composers who came and went. Hardly anyone remembers his name now. He was one of those composers who could not get very famous, though he composed very well.
Pt. Shivram Krishna was born at Jodhpur on March 22, 1927. He started learning music at the age of 8 under the tutelage of his father Master Tulsidas, who worked with Marwar Record Company, Jodhpur from 1934 onwards. He was later employed in the court of the Maharaja of Jodhpur, Umed Singh as a singer/musician. It was the name and fame of Khemchand Prakash that inspired him to try his luck in films. At the age of 16, he went to Lahore where he worked under Pandit Amarnath and Master Ghulam Haider for around three years, only to return to Jodhpur at the time of partition. From the year 1948 till 1950 he worked as a music director with His Masters Voice in Lucknow, and then made his way to Mumbai in 1951.
At Mumbai, Pt. Shivram was given his first break by V. Shantaram, who signed him for two of his films – Teen Batti Char Raasta (1953) and Surang (1953). The music of both the films was appreciated and the films became silver jubilee hits. Besides these, V. Shantaram gave him two more films in 1960 – ‘Phool Aur Kaliyan’ and ‘Kaale Gore’, the first winning the National Award for Best Children film, while the second remained unreleased. He used the voices of V. Shantaram’s daughters Charusheela and Madhura in children’s films.
Following the success of his initial films, Pt. Shivram caught the attention of Dhirubhai Desai and Nakhshab Jarchavi, who signed him for their next films, Oonchi Haveli (1955) and Raftaar (1955) respectively. The songs of these two films were also quite successful. Then came Sati Ansuya (1956), another film by Dhirubhai Desai that started the trend and literally sealed his fate as a composer of mythological films. Barring Naya Kadam (1958), a social drama, and Rangeela Raja (1960), a stunt film, and the two children films by V. Shantaram, all the films he got after Sati Ansuya were religious/ mythological films. In all, out of the 24 films he composed for, as many as 14 were religious/ mythological films.
He composed 185 songs. He also sang 7 songs in 6 films.
Despite composing some good songs for these films, the success he got with his initial films could not be repeated given the limited popularity of such films and similarity in the genre of songs. Barring a few songs from Shravan Kuman (1960), Kan Kan Mein Bhagwan (1963) and Sati Naari (1965), most of the songs are all but forgotten. Forthe song ‘Tum Nacho Ras Barse’ by Mahendra Kapoor in Sati Naari-1965, Pt. Shivram won the Swami Haridas Award in 1966.
The last two Hindi films of Pt. Shivram were Sampoorna Teerth Yatra (1970) and Mahapavan Teerth Yatra (1975), both of which have the unique distinction of featuring what could be the longest Hindi film songs, running 45 and 70 minutes respectively. Both these songs were about the various places of pilgrimage in India and were almost similar in tune and structure. Interestingly, he had also composed two more songs on similar lines in Durga Pooja (1962) and Kan Kan Mein Bhagwan (1963).
Pandit Shivram gave music for various regional languages such as Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Haryanvi, etc. He was the default composer for Rajasthani films all through the 1960s, starting with the first Rajasthani film Babasa Ri Ladli (1961). He also composed for several Marwari and classical music non-film albums. As a proficient Harmonium player, he teamed with tabla-nawaz Ustaad Nizamuddin Khan to produce a classical album. Pandit Shivram was as good a vocal artist as he was a harmonium player. He sang in films like Oonchi Haveli, Rangeela Raja, Sati Ansuya, Badrinath Yatra, etc.
The lyricists Pt. Shivram worked with, were more or less decided by the films he worked in. While he worked with the likes of Asad Bhopali, Shevan Rizvi, Pyare Lal Santoshi, Nakhshab Jarchavi, etc. in his non-mythological films, predominantly ‘Hindi’ writers like Bharat Vyas, Kavi Pradeep, Neeraj, Madan Bharti and Pt. Indra wrote for his mythological films. Pt. Indra and Bharat Vyas were his prime contributors for Rajasthani films.
Pandit Shivram died on 2nd February 1980 leaving behind a family of musicians. His daughter Jayshree Shivram is a singer. Two of his sons, Jugal Kishore and Tilak Raj jointly composed for a few Hindi films, debuting with Bheegi Palkein (1983). His third son, Naveen Shivram had started his musical career with giving music for the serial Apnapan in 1999 and went to compose for a few small time Hindi films and some Rajasthani film and non-film albums as well. Another son, Mukesh, was also a composer and is no more. (Information on Shivram, based on urgetoflydotcom and my notes).
Here is a 70 year old song, sung by a 22 year old Asha Bhosle with Chorus. Enjoy….
Song- Gaaon gaaon mein dhoondh rahee banjaare ko (Oonchee Haweli)(1955) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyricist- Not known, MD-Shivram
Chorus
Lyrics
gaanv gaanv mein dhoondh rahee banjaare ko
banjaare ko
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
dekho jee
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
kya naheen kisee ne samjhaaya aawaare ko
banjaare ko
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
dekho jee
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
samajh sakee na main to uske iraade
hamse kiye julmee ne kayee kayee waade
ho o kayee kayee waade
main dekh rahee
main dekh rahee baithhee aakaash ke taare ko
banjaare ko
wo daghaabaaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
dekho jee
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
hans ke kaha mohse sun moree gudiya
hans ke kaha mohse sun moree gudiya
dehlee se la doon tohe neelee peelee choodiyaan
neelee peele choodiyaan
mehndee kee pudiyaan
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
dekho jee main samjhee na
main samjhee na uske gitpit ishaare ko
banjaare ko
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
dekho jee
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
haathon mein pehna ke sone ke kangna
usne kaha thha goree chhootega sang na
o chhootega sang na
soona kar ke
soona kar ke mere man ke chaubaare ko
chaubaare ko
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
dekho ji
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
o o dilli chala gaya
gaanv gaanv mein dhoondh rahee banjaare ko
banjaare ko
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
dekho ji
wo daghaabaz dil leke dilli chala gaya
o o dilli chala gaya
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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