Kaanee kudbee ek ustaanee
Posted on: September 27, 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 Hamari Beti-1950.
The film was produced and directed by Shobhana Samarth, for her own banner ‘Shobhana Pictures’ Bombay. Music was by Snehal Bhatkar. Vasudev G. Bhatkar was working with H.M.V. and he had recorded some of his own songs as a singer. Impressed, Sudhir Phadke joined hands with him to give music to filmm “Rukmini Swayamvar”-1946. Being in service with HMV, Bhatkar could not use his real name, hence the pair was named as Vasudev-Sudhir. For more films, he used different names like B.Vasudev, V.G.Bhatkar and Snehal. In 1949, he left HMV to become a full time Music Director.
His first film was Hamari Beti-1950, for which he used the name Snehal Bhatkar- which continued till his last Hindi film, Sehme hue Sitare-1994. Snehal was his daughter’s name.
The film’s story, dialogues and screenplay was written by Shobhana Samarth herself. The cast of the film was Nutan, Shekhar, Motilal, Veera, Shobhana Samarth,Baby Tanuja, david, K.N.Singh, Agha, pramila, Cuckoo, Amirbai and others. The film was made to launch Nutan as an actress.
The other day, I was reading an interesting book by Lalita Tamhane. The book was like a semi autobiography of Nutan, as it was based on interviews of Nutan. It is titled ” Asen Mee- Nasen Mee”, which can be roughly translated as ‘Maybe I will be there, maybe not’ ( असेन मी-नसेन मी ). In this book, she has described how this film was conceived and made by Shobhana Samarth, to launch her daughter Nutan. Here are some excerpts from this book on Nutan….
Once Shobhana Samarth had gone for a Muhurat Party for K.Asif’s film and she had taken Nutan also with her. That day, with a light make-up, a long skirt-Blouse and a Ponytail, Nutan was looking quite attractive and at the function many eyes were watching her. K.Asif asked Shobhana ji if Nutan was ready for a Debut in his film and she replied in affirmation.
After coming home she thought if Asif launches Nutan in a film and if that film flops, then what ? No one can guarantee a Hit film, but one can predict a flop, so why not launch Nutan herself and take a chance ? Atleast I am sure of a flop !
She started writing the story of HAMARI BETI and the Muhurat shot was taken on 21st January 1950. In those days the film was made for only 2.5 lakhs !!!
The story of the film was simple. Motilal and Veera, a couple, find an orphan Girl. They take her and bring her up like their own daughter. When grown up, she falls in love with a boy(Shekhar). One day, her real mother(Shobhana Samarth) shows up etc etc.
Before the film was released, Nutan was signed for Hum log and Nagina. As expected by Shobhana, Hamari Beti was a Flop, but very soon the two other films were released and became Hits.
When Nutan was born on 4-6-1934, in the evening, everyone was happy. As she grew,it was noticed that though both Shobhana and Kumar sen were very fair and handsome, Nutan was not fair or beautiful. Relatives and friends would comment on her colour. Nutan would cry a lot, but Shobhana always told her,” Don’t worry. You are like the ugly duckling, who was actually a SWAN”. And what a SWAN Nutan became! Five film Fare Awards !!
Basically Nutan was a very simple person. She never made a show off or pompous living. She used to wear cotton sarees at home. She was quite aware that she was not fair or attractive looking like her mother , but she compensated for all this by her achievements. She had acted in over 70 films, but mostly she was known for simple looking,’Sati Savitri’ type lovable, sacrificing type of roles. Not that she did not try doing glamorous roles. In the film ” Laat sahib“, she was a Swiss returned girl. She did comedy in Dilli ka Thug and Ek baap chhe bete and even acted as a Glamorous girl in Saajan ki Saheli, but all these films did not click and her typecasting remained.
Nutan had learnt Classical music and Kathak dancing. She has sung in films like Hamari Beti, Mayuri,Chhabili etc. She did only one film as a Tawayef- Zindagi aur Toofan. It was produced and directed by Nakshab Jarachavi and MD was Naashad. However,when both these people migrated to Pakistan,they took the prints of this film and it was released only in Pakistan, where it became a Hit film. Zindagi aur Toofan was not released in India at all.
According to Nutan, she was First contacted for Anarkali’s role in Mughal e Azam, but she refused and recommended Madhubala. She knew she was not beautiful and this role would not suit her, so she thought that Madhubala, being very beautiful,would fit the bill perfectly as Anarkali.
Actress Smita Patil always wanted to meet Nutan as she was her great fan, but somehow it did not happen. When Smita was admitted to Hospital for delivery, someone told Nutan that Smita was pining to meet her. Nutan immediately found out the hospital address and went herself to meet her. One can imagine Smita’s joy to meet her idol in person. Unfortunately, Smita never returned from the Hospital and died within 15 days after delivery.
When the film Soorat aur Seerat was made, there erupted some dispute between Nutan and Shobhana ji over money. Both accused each other of cheating. The matter became so serious that Nutan dragged her own mother to the court. All her siblings supported their mother. For the next 22 years they did not talk to each other. Nutan did not travel in the same plane where Tanuja was also flying. In functions, they avoided each other. Nutan did not attend Tanuja’s marriage also, though she was invited.
It was only when Ratanbai Shilotri, Shobhana ji’s mother died that Nutan went to her mother. Nutan was quite attached to her grandmother. Only her departure could bring these people together, but not without the bitter memories !
A little known fact about Nutan is that her 16th Birthday was celebrated in Mussoorie. In Mussoorie, Nutan participated and won the ” Mussoorie Queen ” Title.
Nutan’s life had so many features that even 10 articles may not cover all.
For Nutan, Nagina was the first outside movie. It became a hit. It was followed by Humlog, made by Chandulal Shah which was another Hit. Actually, Ranjit had plans to launch Nutan in 1949 with Humlog starring either Raj Kapoor or Dilip Kumar, but the project was shelved. When finally Humlog was made, it was Balraj Sahni, instead of Raj or Dilip in it.
In 1954,a film ” SHIKWA” with Dilip Kumar was started by Filmcar productions of Rajendra Jain. The director was Ramesh Sehgal and MD was Anil Biswas. Due to financial reasons, the film was left unfinished( it was rumoured that Nutan did not tolerate Dilip’s overtures and quit the film).
Nutan worked with top Heroes like Dev, Raj, Dilip, Ashok Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Balraj Sahni, Sunil Dutt, Nasir Khan, Rehman, Talat, Kishore Kumar, Manoj Kumar etc. She worked with Balraj Sahni in two films but they were not the romantic pair in these movies. In Humlog, he was Nutan’s elder brother and in Seema he was the Hostel warden.
In her Biography, Nutan has told about a funny instance. While shooting for the film SONE KI CHIDIYA, a shot was to be taken depicting the lead pair in Moonlight, near the sea.
In those days, a different type of film was used. Due to this film, even the night scenes had to be shot in bright sunlight ! Imagine the hero and heroine pretending to exchange ‘ sweet nothings‘ near sea in moonlight, while actually they are doing it in bright sunlight.
The funniest part was that the Red color of Lipstick was used to look white in this film and hence heroines had to use BLUE colour Lipsticks which looked Red on screen. It used to be a terrible sight ! Imagine doing a love scene with blue lipstick in bright sunshine ! Poor Heroes !! Those were the days !!!
While doing Chabili and Chhaliya, Nutan decided to get married and she announced that after Marriage, she will stop acting in films. (Her Husband, though, had no objection.) Two days prior to their marriage Bombay received torrential rains and there was no stopping it. On the day of Marriage they gave a full page Ad in the papers that the venue of the Reception is changed !
Just after her marriage Bimal Roy went to her house with Bandini’s proposal, but Nutan was firm on quitting films. Bimal da tried the last weapon. He read out the film’s story and her role in it. It was very very tempting and challenging.
Nutan knew that this film would establish her in the history of films. What to do. Bimal da clearly said that there was no force, but he will abandon the film itself, if Nutan is not in it. This was a problem. Ultimately, Nutan retracted her decision of quitting films, and once again producers lined up at her door.
Dilli ka Thug, a S D Narang film was a hit film. In this film Nutan was shown as a Swimming Champion, but actually Nutan did not even know how to swim ! This is an example of how Nutan took so much effort to look credible in the roles she did. Even for the film ” Saudagar “,in which she acted the role of a Jaggery maker woman, she first spent four days in a village observing and trying to make Jaggery or Gud ! Such commitments are rare these days, and they are missing.
Nutan acted with Balraj Sahani as well as his son Parikshit Sahni later in Duniyadari. Nutan’s observations about some actors-
Balraj Sahni had different looks. He spoke very little but he was a good listener.
Ashok Kumar and Rehman were natural actors. You never felt they acted. Rehman was an excellent person ,with a sense of humour. He played Chess very well.
Dilip would talk slowly, in a low voice, like murmuring but he would take maximum footage.
Raj Kapoor was a bit loud, always saying Haan ji, Nahi ji.
Dev-everything was fast. Dialogue delivery was so fast that his last words would wind up in his mouth. Very serious person.
She had some problems with Sanjeev Kumar and she had slapped him on the sets of Devi.
Here is an anecdote about Nagina and Nutan-
‘a very young and raw looking’ Nutan…
Truly, because at the time of this film, which was only her Second film in life, she was barely 15 yrs and a few months old !
NAGINA was an A censored film and its heroine was not even 18.At the time of the Premier of NAGINA in Liberty cinema in Bombay, Nutan was escorted by Shammi Kapoor.(Prithviraj Kapoor and Shobhana Samarth were very good family friends). At the gates of the Theatre Nutan was denied entry as she was not an adult-below 18 years, since the film was an A certified film.
Only after her identity was revealed, she was allowed inside !
There are many interesting anecdotes and incidents in the Biography of Nutan. Maybe some other time, we will enjoy a few more.( I thank Lalita Tamhane, writer and Holder of the Copyright of the book ASEN MEE…NASEN MEE, for some of the information from her book.)
The hero of the film was Shekhar. Actor Shekhar (Real name-Indriya Daman) was born on 8-10-1923, at Dehradun. He did his schooling in Meerut and Graduated from Agra university. Then he worked as an Announcer in All India Radio,Delhi. He came to Bombay with a desire to act in films. He got the Hero’s role in Devendra Goel’s first production,” Aankhen”-1950, opposite his own dreamgirl Nalini Jaywant. Composer Madan Mohan also made his debut with Aankhen-50. In Spite of 3 debutants, the film became a Hit. The 5’8″ tall,fair and handsome Shekhar became a star overnight.
Shekhar was a very lucky person. In one of the interviews he gave in 1956, he himself has recounted incidents where his luck helped him. This interview can be read on Cineplot. After leaving films,Shekhar looked after his production and Distribution business,expanding it further. Shahid Latif was his close friend and when Shahid made his first film Darwaza-54, he gave the distribution rights for Delhi and U.P. of this film to his friend Shekhar. Thus started his business even while he was still acting. Shekhar acted in about 35 films.
Shekhar’s career as an actor was cut short abruptly, because he decided to become Film producer. He produced Chhote Babu-57, Aakhri Dao-58 & Bank Manager-59. The last one was a total wash out. Not heeding to it, he started “Pyas”, with Phani Mazumdar as director & N.Dutta as M D. Bina Rai was signed as the heroine against himself. To arrange finance he accepted C grade films, such as Dilli Ka Dada with Sheikh Mukhtar & Hum Matwale Naujawan, both 62 movies. Soon he was out of the job & worst, his film remained stalled, due to financial crunch. Shekhar completed the film with great difficulty. The film was ultimately released in 1968, with a new title “Apna Ghar Apni Kahani”. As anticipated,the film attracted no audience, due to its dated look & long forgotten, middle aged lead pair. Financially ruined, Shekhar migrated to Canada. He expired there, a long time back.
Here is a fun song from this film, sung by a chorus. Enjoy….
Song- Kaanee kubdee ek ustaanee (Hamari Beti)(1950) Singer- Chorus song, Lyricist- Not known, MD- Snehal Bhatkar
Lyrics(Provided by Prakashchandra)
kaanee kubdee
kaanee kubdee ek ustaanee
kaan se behree aankh se kaanee
kaanee kubdee ek ustaanee
kaan se behree aankh se kaanee
hansne lagee
bhaagtee thhee woh
paaon mein jootee phatee puraanee
gandee mailee ee loolee langdee eee
sar se ganjee..eeee boodhee naanee
hamein padhaaney aayengee
woh kyaa hamein padhaayengee
hamse hee padh jaayengee
kaanee kubdee
kaanee kubdee ek ustaanee
kaan se behree aankh se kaanee
kaanee kubdee ek ustaanee
kaan se behree aankh se kaanee
hansne lagee bhaagthee thhee woh
paaon mein jootee phatee puraanee
gandee mailee ee loolee langdee eee ee
sar se ganjee..eeee boodhee naanee
hamein padhaaney aayegee
woh kyaa hamein padhaayengee
woh hamse hee padh jaayegee
kaanee kubdee
kaanee kubdee ek ustaanee
kaan se behree aankh se kaanee
hansne lagee bhaagtee thhee woh
paaon mein jootee phatee puraanee eee
4 Responses to "Kaanee kudbee ek ustaanee"
September 27, 2025 at 5:34 pm
Good Evening Arunkumar Ji,
Watching and listening to these golden hits from the good old days is always a pleasure. Not only do they offer us a tasty delight, but they also take us back to those unforgettable childhood days of innocence and playfulness.
Thanks a million for sharing these memorable songs.
Regards and blessings
UMA🙏
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
September 27, 2025 at 12:02 pm
wow. I especially liked the trivia about Nutan. Thanks
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September 27, 2025 at 1:21 pm
Thanks for your comment
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