Meree dulhan Bareilly se aayee re
Posted by: Atul on: September 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 the film Mehndi-1958.
In the year 1899, a famous writer of those times-Mirza Hadi ‘Ruswa’ wrote a novel “Umrao Jaan Ada” on the life and times of a famous Tawaif and poet of Lucknow. There is a dispute whether it was a real or a fictitious character. There have been arguments on both sides giving questionable bits of evidence. Whatever it was, the novel attracted attention of the public and the critics over the next few decades.
The famous Alfred Drama Company of the early 20th century, made it into a drama and it too became popular. During the silent era attempts were made to make it into a film on her, but it did not happen. However, after the advent of the Talkie films, many variations of this story came up and some films were made on it. But due to lack of information, we do not have the details.
The first credible story, with variations of course, was the film Mehndi-1958. The next one was Umrao jaan in 1981, with Rekha in the title role. The third film was Umrao jaan, made in 2006, with Aishwarya Rai in the lead role. All these films had story variations to suit the producers and the directors, but the main story frame was more or less the same.
The film Mehndi-1958 was produced by A.A.Nadiadwala, whose entire family was into film production. He started in 1955 with the film ‘Inspector’ released in 1956. Today his grandson Sajid Nadiadwala runs a big company named as “Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.”(NGE). Sajid was in the news a few years ago for bad reasons about an actress’s death.
Film Mehndi-1958 was directed by S.M.Yusuf aka Shaikh Mohd. Yusuf (1910-1994). He migrated to Pakistan and there he made a remake of this film as Saheli in 1960. The film proved to be a blockbuster, winning several awards, including a ‘Nigar Award’ for Yusuf for best Director. While in India he directed 24 films and in Pakistan 15 films.
S.M.Yusuf, born on 20-6-1910, was originally from U.P. and started his career by assisting directors in various studios. He was one cine artist who migrated to Pakistan and became a very successful director there too.
After Partition, several artistes-heroes,heroines,Directors,Comedians,lyricists,Composers, Singers and character artistes migrated to Pakistan. Almost 90% of them failed there miserably. Some of them like Meena Shorey shone for a while but ended up in penury and anonymity. Exceptions were like Malika -e-Tarannum Noorjahan. From the successful artists,the major chunk was musicians-composers like Khurshid Anwar, Nissar Bazmi, Nashaad etc. Among the directors. S M Yusuf was one of the exceptions who succeeded. The migration of Cine artists continued till 1965,when President General Ayub Khan banned Indian actors. Shaikh Mukhtar-1963 and Kumar-64 were probably the last to migrate to Pakistan. Till then some artists like Sheila Ramani, Nasir Khan, Pran, Manorama, Composer Timir Baran etc went and worked in Pakistani films.
S.M.Yusuf started directing films in India from Bharat ke Laal-36. He directed 24 films like, Darban, Aina, Grihasthi, Saheli, Rai Saheb, Mehendi,Guru Ghantal, Bahurani, Maalik, Gujara, Hyderabad ki Nazneen,Bikhre Moti etc. He married actress Nigar Sultana. He also acted in a small role in the film Guzara-54.
In late 50’s he migrated to Pakistan with his talented son Director Iqbal Yousuf. His first film Saheli (1960) was a big hit of that time and was awarded in India also. It was a remake of his film Mehendi, made in India. He also made a remake of his film Ghumastha as Bahu Rani in Pakistan. Film Nek Perveen was a remake of same title film from India.His other films were Aulad, Dulhan, Honahar, Ashyana, Eid Mubarak, Suhagan, Zindagi aik safar hay, Shareek-e-Hayat, Bahu raani, Goonj uthi shehnai, Nek perveen and Haar gaya insaan.
When he went to Pakistan, he made his first film there Saheli,which was a ditto remake of his own Hindi film- Mehndi-1950. This film Saheli became such a great hit that it virtually grabbed all major awards including a Nigar award for S M Yusuf himself. He made about 11 films in Pakistan,before he died on 17-8-1994, at Lahore,from where he had begun his career ! In his last years, he had settled in Canada, but he came to Pakistan on a visit, as if to die in his own place.
This film had music by Ravi, who made his debut in 1955 with film Vachan. Before that he was an assistant to Hemant Kumar. There were 4 Lyricists namely, Sarwar, Kamil Rashid, S.H.Bihari and Khumar Barabankvi. Today’s song is written by Khumar.
Khumār Barabankvi (15 September 1919 – 19 February 1999) was the pen name of this Urdu poet and lyricist from Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, India. His real name was Mohammed Haidar Khan. The word comes from the Arabic root ‘Khum’ which means a jar of wine. His ghazals are sung by many famous singers such as Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, K. L. Saigal, Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Jagjit Singh and many other singers.
Khumar Barabankvi’s real name was Mohammed Haidar Khan, but he wrote under the takhallus (pen name/ nom de plume) of Khumār, which means intoxication. The word comes from the Arabic root ‘Khum’ which means a jar of wine. He was born on 15 September 1919 in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh. He found a poetic environment in his family during his childhood. His father, Dr. Ghulam Haider, wrote salaams and marsiyas under the pen name ‘Bahar’. His uncle ‘Qaraar Barabnkvi’ was a well-known poet of Barabanki who guided Khumar in young age and did Islah (corrections) to his poetry. His brother Kazim Haider ‘Nigar’, who died in early age, was also a poet. Khumar completed his high school from Government College, Barabanki. He then moved to Lucknow for his Intermediate classes where a romantic turn in his life made him quit education and start writing love poetry.
Khumar Barabankvi had a melodious voice and soon became popular in Mushairas (poetry reading live events). He also got acquainted with the poet Jigar Moradabadi and remained in association with him for a long period. His ghazals and voice made him a favorite in Mushairas. Jigar Muradabadi and Khumar Barabankvi were known to guarantee the success of any mushaira with their poetry as well as their melodious voice and style of recitation. Khumar was an ardent supporter of classical ghazals like Jigar Moradabadi.
Khumar has written some famous songs for Hindi films like Baradari (1955 film), ‘Saaz aur Awaaz’, Love And God (1986) directed by K. Asif etc. He worked closely with noted composers like Naushad and Nashad among others. He wrote all the songs for the film ‘Saaz Aur Awaaz’ produced by Naushad in 1966 and wrote some songs again for the film Love and God (1986 film) for which Naushad again composed music. Khumār Barabankvi died on 19 February 1999.
The cast of the film included Jayashree, Ajit, Veena, Kumar, Balam, Mirza Musharraf, Lalita Pawar, Ismail, Prakash, Krishnakant, Anwari bai and many others.
Actress Anwari bai was one of the spillovers from the silent era. Actress Anwari, who acted in this film, was from a Tawayaf family of Lucknow. She started her acting career with the film Heer Ranjha-32 opposite Rafiq Ghaznavi and then she acted in the film Pooran Bhagat-1932, along with K L Saigal. She played the role of Rani Uchharan.
She joined East India Film Co. and worked in films like Aurat ka pyar-33, Night Bird-34, Nagin-34 and Mumtaz Begum-34. She had also acted in another NT film Chandidas-34. She shifted her base to Bombay and worked in several films for the next four decades. Her last film was Chaitali-1975. In all she did 140 films. She was known as ‘ Pride of Lucknow’ during her peak period. She was credited variously as Anwari Begum, Anwari, and Anwari bai.
Actress Anwari was the second wife of Rafiq Ghaznavi with whom he had a daughter, Zarina. Later, Zarina changed her name to Nasreen and worked in director A.R. Kardar’s movie, ‘Shah Jehan’ and Daud Chand’s movie, ‘Aik Roaz.’ Later Zarina married Liaqat Gul Agha, a rich Jeweller of Pakistan and they settled in London. She became Zarina Agha. Further, Zarina Agha’s daughter, Salma Agha, achieved great fame as a singing star. She expired somewhere in the early 80s.
Anwari and Rafiq Ghaznavi were divorced (or separated) after Zarina/Nasreen’s birth, and Anwari then married a rich Hindu businessman named Jugal Kishore Mehra ( Maternal uncle-Mama- of Raj Kapoor). In order to marry Anwari, Jugal Kishore Mehra abandoned not only his family but also his religion; he became a Muslim and took the name Ahmed Salman. Since Anwari had a child, Jugal Kishore Mehra effectively became the father of the infant Zarina/Nasreen.
Here is a song from this 67 year old film, sung gy 25 year old Asha Bhosle and 23 year old Usha Mangeshkar. Enjoy the video song….
Editor’s note:- Prakashchaandra, our inhouse identifier of difficult to identify artists informs us that the song is picturised on Heera Sawant (playing the female) and Meena Fernandes (dressed as male).
Song-Meree dulhan Bareilly se aayee re (Mehndi)(1958) Singers- Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar, Lyricist- Khumar Barabankvi, MD- Ravi
Lyrics
meree dulhan Bareilly se aayee re
ghata kajre kee nainon mein laayee re
mera dulha daroga ka bhai re
haaye kaisee ye jodee milaayee re
meree dulhan Bareilly se aayee re
ghata kajre kee nainon mein laayee re
laayee re
ghata kajre kee nainon mein laayee re
mera dulha daroga ka bhai re
haaye kaisee ye jodee milaayee re
haaye re raama
kaisee ye jodee milaayee re
ye rangeelee bahaaren ye pyaara samaa
aaj main hoon waheen sainyya tu hai jahaan
ye rangeelee bahaaren ye pyaara samaa
aaj main hoon waheen sainyya tu hai jahaan
dil ko teree lagan mujhpe tu meharbaan
aa zara chhed de pyaar kee daastaan
pyaar kee daastaan
toone phoolon se duniya sajaai re
maine haathhon mein mehandee lagaai re
meree dulhan Bareilly se aayee re
ghata kajre kee nainon mein laayee re
laayee re
ghata kajre kee nainon mein laayee re
mera dulha daroga ka bhai re
haaye kaisee ye jodee milaayee re
haaye re raama
kaisee ye jodee milaayee re
aur bhee ik suhaanee ghadee aayegee
paanv howega bhaaree to sharmaayegee
aur bhee ik suhaanee ghadee aayegee
paanv howega bhaaree to sharmaayegee
aisee baaten dulhaniya na sun paayegee
roothh ke apne mayke chalee jaayegee
ho chalee jaayegee
banno khaaogee chhup chhup khataai re
hoga munna bantegee mithhai re
banno khaaogee chhup chhup khataai re
hoga munna bantegee mithhaai re
dekho jee hoga munna bantegee mithaai re
mera dulha daroga ka bhai re
haaye kaisee ye jodee milaayee re
haaye re raama
kaisee ye jodee milaayee re
meree dulhan Bareilly se aayee re
ghata kajre kee nainon mein laayee re
laayee re
ghata kajre kee nainon mein laayee re
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