Jaane chaman aa jaa
Posted on: December 4, 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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In Hindi films, in addition to heroines, there would be one or two secondary female characters. For examples, in the love triangle involving the hero, there would be ‘other woman’. To create a rift between hero and the heroine, there will be a vamp. Then, Hindi films’ model box office formula stories also require female characters of seducer, westernised women of high society, courtesans, hero/heroine’s sister and friend etc. There were some popular actresses who were known for doing such character’s roles like Kuldeep Kaur, Shashikala, Nishi, Aruna Irani, Helen, Bindu, Faryal, Naaz, Nazima and many more during 1950s to 1970s. There were some lesser known actresses doing such roles, one of them being Lolita Chatterjee. This diva from Kolkata with her glamorous look, drew the attention of Hindi film makers during mid-1960 to mid-1970.
Lolita Chatterjee (real name: Runu Chatterjee) was born in a middle class family in South Kolkata. Her father, Kali Charan Chatterjee was an educationist. She lost her mother when she was barely 5 years of age. Despite her early marriage and motherhood, Lolita completed her intermediate exam from Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata and joined Presidency College. After her graduation, she took up the teaching career in South Point School. From the childhood, she was interested in singing and had thought of making a career in it. Though she worked in the film ‘Ananya’ (1949) as a child artist along with Kanan Devi also acted in amateur stage plays, she never thought of pursuing acting as a profession.
Sometime in early 1960s, Lolita had accompanied her sister-in-law to a studio where she was shooting for a Bengali film. During the shooting, Uttam Kumar saw her and asked if she was interested in doing the role of Padma in his film, ‘Bibhas’ (1964). Lolita was so mesmerised by her sudden meeting with Uttam Kumar that she said ‘yes’ and her filmy career began. In this film, Lolita acted as a village girl and a zamindar’s daughter opposite Uttam Kumar. Her other early Bengali films were ‘Momer Alo’ (1964), ‘Antony Firingee’ (1967), ‘Rakta Rekha’ (1968) etc. Incidentally, during her first Bengali film’s shooting, the producer asked her as to what name she would prefer in the credit title. At that time, she was reading the book ‘Lolita’ by Vladimir Nobokov. Without giving much thought, she said ‘Lolita’ which remained attached to her.
Lolita shifted to Mumbai to try her career in Hindi films. ‘Raat Andheri Thhee’ (1967) was her first Hindi film in which she was in the lead role opposite Firoz Khan. During a decade of her Hindi film career, Lolita worked in about a dozen films which included ‘Talaash’ (1969), ‘Tum Haseen Main Jawaan’ (1970), ‘Yaadgaar’ (1970), ‘Pushpanjali’ (1970), ‘Ek Thhi Reeta’ (1971), ‘Chori Chori’ (1972), ‘Victoria No. 203’ (1972), ‘Aap Ki Kasam” (1974), ‘Kehte Hain Mujhko Raja’ (1975) etc. Because of her glamorous look, tall with the angelical features and fluent in English, in most of her films, she was type-casted in the roles as vamps, the ‘other woman’ and seducer. She also felt that, to some extent, her screen name ‘Lolita’ also added that impression. She was disappointed with roles that were offered to her.
During the second half of 1970, Lolita went back to Kolkata and did some more Bengali films. But she remained unsatisfied professionally as in her view, she was capable to doing intense roles. So, in Kolkata, she mainly concentrated acting in Jatra (a form of folk theatres combining acting and singing) where she had professionally the most satisfying acting career, though not in monetary terms. She took to giving tuition in English to supplement her income.
After remaining in low profile for many years, Lolita made a comeback in Gautam Ghosh’s Bengali film, ‘Shunyo Awnko’ (2013), Arindam Sil’s ‘Asche Abar Shabor’ (2018) and Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s ‘Jonaki’ (2018) in which she did the lead role of a 80-year old woman in coma but her mind still working in search of old memories and her love when her memories are decaying.
Co-incidentally, when ‘Jonaki’ (2018) was ready for release, Lolita Chatterjee really went into coma due to cerebral attack and passed away on May 09, 2018. (Sources: Documentary on Lolita Chatterjee by Abhishekh Ganguli, Interviews of Lolita Chatterjee, directors, Gautam Ghose and Aditya Vkram Sengupta).
Lolita Chatterjee made her debut in Hindi films with ‘Raat Andheri Thhee’ (1967) in which she was paired with Feroz Khan. The film was produced by S J Rajdeo and was directed by Shiv Kumar (Khurana). Other actors in the film included Shaikh Mukhtar, Mohan Sherry, Mohan Choti, Amar, Jeevankala, Rajan Kapoor, Haroon, Helen etc. The title of the film gives the impression that it is a horror film. But in reality, it is about a smuggling syndicate which is being pursued by the law enforcing agencies to smash it.
The gist of the story of the film is as under:
In one of their chases, the police find that a couple of foreign smugglers are being assisted in their operations in India by some locals. Police are hunting for them. A murder in the warehouse of a shipping company and smuggling of rare spare parts from there, compels shipping company head, Shyamlal (Bipin Gupta) to put his manager, Anil (Feroz Khan) to investigate the whereabout of Kedarnath (Shaikh Mukhtar) to whom he strongly suspects of smuggling from his warehouse. Anil finds that Kedarnath has gone to Kashmir. So, Anil departs for Srinagar.
During the bus journey, Anil meets Asha (Lolita Chatterjee) who after some initial squabbling, falls in love with her. Anil finds Sonalal (Mohan Sheri), a hotel owner and his mistress and dancer, Rosie (Helen) to be the friends of Kedarnath. So, they are also on his radar. During his stay in Srinagar, Totaram (Mohan Choti) who has a riding club becomes Anil’s friend. In between, Asha and Anil periodically meets. But she finds Anil’s activities unusual as many attempts are made on his life. She tries to get explanation of his unusual things happening in his life but he tells her that it is a part of his life.
During his investigation, Anil is shocked to find that Asha is the niece of Kedarnath and she is not aware of his smuggling activities. But he has to be very discreet as he has to find the concrete proof that Kedarnath is connected with the smuggling. So, Anil starts avoiding Asha. This makes her suspicious about his intention to betray her. Now, Anil as no option but to disclose his true purpose of visiting Srinagar. But she thinks that he is bluffing. So, she leaves him in a huff.
With the information provided by Totaram, Anil is able to prevent the smuggling of gold through helicopter which is a big loss to the smugling syndicate. They kill Totaram and are after Anil. One day, Asha hears the conversation of her uncle, Kedarnath with someone, from which she assumes that her uncle has a hand in planning to kill Anil in the night club by a musician. She quickly moves towards the night club to warn Anil of the danger to his life. But before that, the musician (Van Shiplay) tries to kill Anil by camouflaging his gun fitted in his guitar but fails. Kedarnath follows and is surprised to see Asha with Anil. He orders he to go home but she refuses by saying that she never thought that her uncle will stoop so low to kill Anil.
It turns out at the end that the shipping company owner, Shyamlal was a partner in smuggling racket with Sonalal but the latter deceived him. Shyamlal wanted to teach a lesson to Sonalal, So, he sent his Manager, Anil to Srinagar. Anil on the other hand was a police inspector who was planted as the manager of the shipping company since the police department had suspected Shyamlal’s involved in smuggling. Kedarnath was the chief of secret service who came to Srinagar as Kedarnath to befriend Sonalal to get to know his set-up. Anil did not know the real identity of Kedarnath who in turn did not know the real identity of Anil. It is only when Shyamlal reaches Srinagar after Sonalal’s gold were confiscated by Anil so that he gets back his gold. It is only when Kedarnath and Anil reach separately the hideout of Sonalal to encircle him with the support of the police force, their real identities are known. Shyamlal and Sonalal are arrested thus smashing the smuggling syndicate.
The film had six songs written by Akhtar Romani and set to music by Usha Khanna. Two songs have been covered on the Blog. I present the 3rd song, ‘jaan-e-chaman aa jaa o gulbadan aa jaa’ rendered by Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle and picturised on Firoz Khan and Lolita Chatterjee respectively. The song is picturised on locations in Srinagar – Dal Lake, Nishat Baug, and Shalimar Garden as far as I can identify.
The context of the song is that Anil (Feroz Khan) is on an assignment in Kashmir to search for the criminals. While on his job, two dogs are let loose on Anil whom he tries to avoid. He runs as fast as possible and jumps in to the lake. The next scene is that he has taken a speed boat for parasailing and calls his love interest, Asha (Lolita Chatterjee) who comes to join him and the song starts.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Jaane chaman aa jaa (Raat Andheri Thhi)(1967) Singers-Rafi, Asha Bhonsle, Lyricist-Akhtar Romani, MD-Usha Khanna
Unknown male voice
Both
Lyrics:
Asha aa…………
Asha aa…………
Asha aa…………
jaane chaman aa jaa
o gulbadan aa jaa
deewaana mera dil tujhe de sadaa
main teree aankhon mein
main teree saanson mein
na honge meree jaan kabhee ham judaa aa
main teree aankhon mein E
Asha aa………
jheel mein aksar jhoom ke lahren
pahle bhee to uthtin thheen
lekin ye toofaan na thhe ae
lekin ye toofaan na thhe
baadal banke rukh pe zulfen
pahle bhee to udteethheen
lekin ye armaan na thhe
aa jaa tu baahon mein
pyaar kee raahon mein
deewaana mera dil tujhe de sadaa aa
jaane chaman aa jaa aa
youn to kal bhee in jharnon mein
pyaar kee jhaanjhar bajtee thhee
lekin ye nagma na thaa
youn to kal bhee in phoolon mein
jaane adaa tu hanstee thhee
lekin ye jalwa na thaaa
jalwaa bhee tera hai ae
nagmaa bhee tera hai ae
na honge meri jaan kabhee ham judaa aa
main teri aankhon mein ae
Asha aa…….
aankhon ke wo paimaane
jo aankhon mein lehraate thhe
aakhir chhalakne lage
aakhir chhalakne lage
mere dil ke afsaane
jo honthon pe rah jaate thhe
aakhir machalne lage ae
aakhir machalne lage
tu meree jannat hai
meri mohabbat hai
na honge meree jaan kabhee ham judaa
na honge meree jaan kabhee ham judaa aa
main teree aankhon mein
main teree saanson mein
na honge meri jaan kabhee ham judaa
na honge meri jaan kabhee ham judaa
aha haa aa haa haa
o ho o o o o o o
la la la la la la laa
3 Responses to "Jaane chaman aa jaa"
December 8, 2025 at 9:02 am
Good Morning,
Thanks for sharing a very pleasant song.
Usha Khanna ji music is always pleasant.
Blessings
Uma🙏
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
December 4, 2025 at 11:27 am
Firoz Khan probably recreated ” Aasha… Aasha ..” as ” Reshma .. Reshma…” ( Tere chehre mein woh jadu hai… DHARMATMA.
On Thu, Dec 4, 2025, 11:00 Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi
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December 4, 2025 at 1:00 pm
Yes.
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