Mera dil deewaana sanam hai begaana
Posted by: Atul on: October 27, 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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‘Salaam Mem Saahab’ (1961) was produced by N H Baria and A Khaliq and was directed by K Parvez. The cast included Kumkum and Subi Raj in the lead roles with a supporting cast of Bhagwan, K N Singh, Achala Sachdev, Naazi, Sheikh, Arvind Kumar, Wasi Khan, Jeewan Kala, R Sheela, Bir etc.
The film was a mixed genre of romance, action and thrill, a type of low budget ‘B’ grade films which were in vogue in the 1960s. The film appears to have become obscure over time. However, mostly such type of films had good songs. When I watched this film for the first time few months back, it appeared to me that the basic premises of this film’s story was remixed in the stories of ‘A’ grade films, ‘Chhaila Babu’ (1977) and ‘Don’ (1978) which became hits on the planks of technical superiority and with star values.
The story of the film is as under:
The film opens with police forces putting their dragnet ready to capture Raj, a notorious smuggler who is expected to reach Mumbai by a flight. Upon his arrival at the airport, the police scoop upon him. He runs but police chase him and, in a scuffle, he gets killed. The Police Chief is not happy as the order was to capture him alive so that the police can get the vital information on the hierarchy of the smugglers’ syndicate which is run by an invisible boss.
As luck would have been, another police officer comes with an information that Raj has been caught and has been kept in an adjoining room along with a man (Bhagwan). The Police Chief is surprised as to how it is possible as Raj was killed in the police encounter. Anyway, the captured Raj is brought before the Police Chief whose name is Ram (Subi Raj). He finds his appearance almost resembling that of Raj, the smuggler. The Police Chief gets an idea to use Ram to become a police agent and behave like the smuggler Raj so that he can mix with the smugglers’ gang and get the vital information about the gang to the police. Ram is hesitant but being unemployed he agrees to work as a police agent as an imposter, Raj, the smuggler. Ram is shown the clipping of Raj’s behaviour, his dress sense and style to mould himself as Raj.
After getting familiar with Raj’s personalities and his friends, the Police Chief gives Ram a tiny box full of diamonds which he will have to give to Jagdish (K N Singh) the uncle of Kamini (Kumkum) who is a close aide of the invisible boss of smugglers’ syndicate. Ram is sent to the Regal Hotel where some of the smugglers’ gang members have come from Mumbai to stay in the hotel. As soon as Ram reaches the hotel, the smuggler gang members mix with him where a dance performance is going on.
Ram visits smugglers’ hideout which is in a restaurant owned by Jagdish. He hands over the diamonds to Jagdish during which he meets Kamini. He gathers the information that Raj, the smuggler had killed Kamini’s father after which her uncle, Jagdish has become the trustee of the properties of her father until her marriage after which he has to handover the properties to her.
But Ram is unaware that Roopa (Naazi) is Raj’s lover. Instead, he shows interest in Kamini and Jagdish has noted this change in Ram which puts him in caution. One day, Jagdish directs Ram that he should become close to Kamini leading to her marriage with him. After marriage, he has to kill her so that the properties are transferred to him. This put Ram in a quandary as he and Kamini have developed liking for each other. They decide to elope and Ram and to severe his police connection.
However, before doing that, Kamini comes to know that it was Raj who had killed her father. But Ram cannot reveal to her that he was not Raj, the smuggler who has killed her father but Ram, the police agent. Kamini decides to take revenge on Ram by pointing a revolver at him. At this juncture, Ram has to reveal his real identity to Kamini and the purpose of his assignment. Jagdish overhears their conversations. He at once calls his henchmen to abduct Ram’s mother (Achala Sachdev) and Kamini which they carry out. Jagdish asks Kamini to sign a suicide note that due to her father’s death, she is committing suicide and she bequeaths the properties in favour of Jagdish. She refuses to act on his advice. Kamini is confined in a room akin to a house arrest.
Ram, after finding Kamini missing, contacts the police headquarter and asks for the police force to encircle Jagdish’s restaurant should there be any problem. Jagdish on the other hand directs Roopa to perform a dance with Ram in the restaurant where he is expected to visit during which time, one of his men would shoot Ram. However, the shooter kills Roopa instead of Ram who is trapped in the restaurant surrounded by Jagdish and his henchmen. Fighting erupts between Ram and Jagdish’s men during which time, the police forces enter Jagdish’s hideout. Seeing police, Jagdish’s men run helter-skelter.
During the commotion, the invisible Boss of the smuggler’s syndicate abducts Kamini from the hideout and takes her in his car to a remote place. Ram and his uncle in one car and police forces in their jeeps follow the car. As soon as the car stops, Kamini runs away from him towards a tall tower and climbs on it. The invisible boss follows her to the tower. When he sees Ram and his uncle also climbing the tower, he loses his balance and falls to the ground dead. The smugglers’ syndicate is neutralised and Ram and Kamini get united.
The film had eight songs written by Asad Bhopali (3), S H Bihari (3) and Qamar Jalalabadi (2) which were set to music by Ravi. Three songs have been covered on the Blog. I present the 4th song, ‘mera dil deewana sanam hai begaana’, rendered by Asha Bhosle with the lyrics of Asad Bhopali.
The context of the song is that Ram (Subi Raj) who resembles in appearance like that of a notorious smuggler, Raj who is killed in a police encounter. Ram is given the task of impersonating Raj by the Police Chief to gather information on the smugglers’ syndicate and their invisible boss. As a first step, he visits a hotel where members of the smugglers’ syndicate are expected to assemble so that they feel that Raj is one among them. A dance performance by Sheela Ramchandra in the hotel’s restaurant is in progress during which Subi Raj, Bhagwan, Naazi, Arvind Kumar (the person lighting Subi Raj’s cigarette) are present. This is the first scene of Ram, impersonating Raj, the smuggler, during which he gels well with the smugglers’ gang.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Mera dil deewaana sanaam hai begaana (Salaaam Memsahab)(1961) Asha Bhonsle, Asad Bhopali, Ravi
Lyrics:
mera dil deewaana
sanam hai begaana
wo zaalim kyaa jaane
meree chaahat kaa afsaana
mera dil deewaana
sanam hai begaana
wo zaalim kyaa jaane
meree chaahat kaa afsaana
mera dil deewaana
thhoda bhola bhaala hai
dilon kaa ujaala hai
jahaan se niraala hai
mere dilruba
thhoda bhola bhaala hai
dilon kaa ujaala hai
jahaan se niraala hai
mere dilruba
jhukee jhukee aankhon ko
rukee rukee saanson ko
dabee dabee aahon ko
jaane wo kyaa
usse to aata hai
mera dil tadpaana
wo zaalim kyaa jaane
meree chaahat kaa afsaana
mera dil deewaana
sanam hai begaana
wo zaalim kyaa jaane
meree chaahat kaa afsaana
mera dil deewaana
kisee kee adaaon ne
kisee kee nigaahon ne
kisee kee jaffaaon ne
mera dil liya
kisee kee aadaaon ne
kisee kee nigaahon ne
kisee kee jaffaaon ne
mera dil liya
kabhee kabhee aata hai
mujhe tadpaata hai
aur chala jaata hai
o bewafa
shamma kaa jal jaana
na samjhe parwaana
wo zaalim kyaa jaane
meree chaahat kaa afsaana
mera dil deewaana
sanam hai begaana
wo zaalim kyaa jaane
meree chaahat kaa afsaana
mera dil deewaana
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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