Sandesh mera paa ke mujhe darsh dikhaana
Posted on: December 11, 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 Veer Ghatotkach (aka Surekha Haran)-1949. The meaning of Ghatotkach is a person with a bald head.
The film was made by Homi Wadia’s Basant Pictures and it was directed by Nanabhai Bhatt, a veteran in directing such films. Music was by S.N.Tripathi, who, as usual, also acted in this film.
S N Tripathi was an actor, director, composer and a singer too. He acted in 83 films, sang 13 songs in 7 films, directed 18 films and gave music to 111 films, composing 863 songs. In the early cinema, we had many such multi-faceted artists.
The cast of the film was Vasantrao pehelwan (as Ghatotkach), Shahu Modak, Niranjan Sharma, Meena Kumari (as Surekha), Sumati Gupte, H.Prakash, S.N.Tripathi, Shyam sunder Sulochana and many others.
Though HFGK mentions this film as a Mythological film, actually this is only half truth. True that the film had characters from Mahabharat, like Krishna, pandavas etc, but shockingly in the entire Mahabharat, written by Vyas, the romance and marriage of Surekha and Anirudha is not mentioned anywhere !
Today’s film is a combination of a Folk tale and a Mythology character. While Ghatotkach was a character in the epic Mahabharat, the story depicting the love and marriage of Surekha aka Vatsala (daughter of Balram, the elder brother of Shri Krishna) and Abhimanyu (son of Arjun) does not appear in Mahabharat. Nevertheless the folk tale is so popular all over India that films on this story are made in several languages from the Silent Era to the first decade of the present century.
An interesting thing is that Balram’s daughter Vatsala aka Surekha is known as Sasi Rekha in southern states ! The following films were made on Ghatotkach and the folk tale of the marriage of Abhimanyu and Vatsala aka Surekha aka Sasi Rekha….. Surekha haran-1921, Vatsala Haran-1923, Maya Bazar(Marathi)-1925, Maya Bazar (Hindi)-1932, 1935 in Tamil, Sasi Rekha Parinayam (Telugu) in 1936, Maya bazar (Hindi)-1939, 1949 in Hindi, 1957 in Telugu, 1958 in Hindi, 1984 in Hindi and Gujarati, 1984 in Telugu, Veer Ghatotkach (Hindi, Marathi)-1949, Veer Ghatotkajan(Tamil)-1959, Ghatotkachudu (Telugu)-1995, Veer Ghatotkach (Hindi)-1970 and 2 animated films in Telugu and Hindi in 2008.
Our culture allows opposition to its principles. It respects the ”other” point of view too. In which other country would you find temples for its religious enemies ? Only in India, you have not just one, but several temples of villains like Ravan, Duryodhan, Shakuni etc. There is a Ravana temple one each in Bisrakh-U.P., Mandsaur-M.P., Kakinada in A.P. and in Jodhpur-Rajasthan- where Ravan is considered as their Son In Law, because Mandodari was born here.
There is a Duryodhan Temple in Kollam, Kerala and a temple for Shakuni also in the same town. There are also other temples like for Gandhari in Mysore, Karna in Uttarkashi, Hidimba in Manali-H.P., Draupadi in Bangalore and also for Jatayu in Nashik district ! No wonder then that there are three temples of Ghatotkach in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Central Java.
How many of us actually know fully about Ghatotkach ? Here is some information about his life….
Ghatotkacha is a prominent character in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. His name comes from the fact that his head was hairless (utkacha) and shaped like a ghatam, or a pot. Ghatotkacha was the son of the Pandava Bhima and the demoness Hidimbi, and thus a half-human, half-demon hybrid.
He is the father of Anjanaparva, Barbarika and Meghavarna. As the head of one akshauhini army, he was an important fighter from the Pandava side in the Kurukshetra war and caused a great deal of destruction to the Kaurava army. Ghatotkacha killed many demons like Alambusha, Alayudha, and many gigantic Asuras. He was specifically called out as the warrior who forced Karna to use his Vasavi Shakti weapon, and courted a hero’s death in the great war.
On the burning of the ‘Lakshagriha’, the Pandavas escape through a tunnel and reach a forest. While they were sleeping, the demon chief Hidimba in the forest sees the Pandavas from the top of a tree, and he appoints his sister Hidimbi to bring them to him for food.
Hidimbi goes to the Pandavas in the guise of a beautiful woman. She is attracted to Bhima and prays for the return of her love. She alerts the Pandavas to her brother’s demands, pleading with them to leave the forest; however, Bhima refuses. Impatient at the delay, Hidimba runs towards the Pandavas but is slain by Bhima.
Hidimbi then approaches Kunti and requests Bhima’s hand in marriage. The Pandavas agree to the proposal on the condition that once a child is born to Hidimbi, they’d have to continue their peregrinations. Later, Ghatotkacha was born to Hidimbi and Bhima. Indra bestows on Ghaṭotkacha prowess enough to be a suitable opponent to Karna. Ghatotkacha grows up under the care of Hidimbi. Like his father, Ghatotkacha’s weapon of choice is the gada.
According to non canonical folktales, years later, one day Hidimbi asks Ghatotkacha to fetch a human to sacrifice to Kali. On his way to do so, he spots a Brahmin and his wife traveling with their three children. Ghatotkacha approaches them and requests one of them to come with him to be his mother’s sacrifice to the goddess.
The Brahmin offers himself, but his wife insists that she would go. Finally, their second son agrees to go with Ghatotkacha but asks to first bathe in the river Ganga. Bhima, living in exile in the forest with his brothers, comes across the scene. Upon discovering the pending sacrifice, he steps in to take the child’s place. Ghatotkacha returns to his mother with Bhima in tow, only to become shocked when she tells him that Bhima is his father. Scolded by Bhima, both Ghatotkacha and Hidimbi agree to end the practice of human sacrifice.
In the Kurukshetra War, Ghatotkacha is summoned by Bhima to fight on the Pandava side. In the battle of the first day he fought against Alambusha, Duryodhana, and Bhagadatta. Terrified of the terrible course of the battle, the Kauravas deliberately postpone the battle for that day. On the 8th day of battle, Ghatotkacha has a prolonged clash with Alambusha, and though he manages to severely wound the other demon, he is unable to prevent his retreat.
After the death of Jayadratha on, with the battle continuing past sunset, Ghatotkacha truly shines; his powers are at their most effective at night as demons’ abilities are heightened. Along with his troops, Ghatotkacha kills Alayudha and Alambusha, smashing the latter’s head with a mace. With Ghatotkacha on a rampage, another fight took place between Ashwatthama and Ghatotkacha. Ashwatthama manages to defeat Ghatotkacha multiple times, but the powerful demon manages to escape using his illusions. On the other hand Karna also defeats Ghatotkacha twice on the battlefield after some tough battles but yet is unable to prevent Ghatotkacha from wreaking havoc on the Kaurava army. As the army breaks around him, with even Duryodhana forced to flee with his flag in tatters, Karna uses Vasavi Śhakti as a last resort to ultimately kill the powerful demon. This weapon had been bestowed by Lord Indra and could only be used once; Karna had been keeping it in reserve to use against Arjuna.
Though mortally wounded by the weapon Vasavi Śakti, Ghatotkacha rises to the sky and manages to enlarge his body, crushing one akshauhini of the Kaurava army. The Pandavas were filled with grief at Ghatotkacha’s death. Krishna, however, could not help but smile, knowing that Ghatotkacha had saved Arjuna from Karna. (adapted from http://www.vishnu puran.com).
The story of film Veer Ghatotkach-1949 is……
Brave persons are always loved by the fair sex whether they are human, Rakshas or Divine. In the jungle near the banks of the Ganges Rakshasi Hidimba saw for herself the bravery of Bhim- second amongst Pandavas but first in his powerful punch. The union brought about the birth of VEER GHATOTKACH.
From the very birth he was separated from his father who was obediently sharing the joys and sorrows with his other four brothers in Indraprastha, The Rajsuya Yagna celebrated by the Pandavas was the great occasion and relations from far and wide had collected in Indraprastha. Among them were Surekha, daughter of Balram- elder brother of Lord Krishna & Abhimanyu son of Pandava Arjun and as is said “they were created by God for each other”.
But fate drove the Pandavas out of their wealthy places and Balram changed his mind and decided that Surekha should be married to Laxman, son of Duryodhan instead of Abhimanyu although they were betrothed. Revati, Surekha’s mother, did not approve of the idea. Abhimanyu revolted against this decision and started towards Dwarka to elope with Surekha. On the way he met Ghatotkachh but since they did not know each other they had to test each other’s strength before the fight ended happily for both of them and they came to know that they are cousins. Ghatotkachh undertook to help Abhimanyu in his elopement with Surekha. They both went to Dwarka. There at the instance of Lord Krishna and Narada, Ghatotkachh out of his Maya created a MayaBazar and sold many false things to the Kaurav party who had come for the marriage of Surekha with Laxman.
When everyone was busy, Surekha eloped with Anirudha and they got married in a jungle. When Balram comes to know this, he wants to kill Aniruddha, but Krishna and elders pacify him and all is well in the end. This is a victory of Krishna’s diplomacy.
One of the cast members is Sumati Gupte. Sumati Gupte was born on 11-5-1918 in a small town, Vai, in Satara District of Maharashtra. However, her education took place in Baroda, Gujarat, from where she completed her graduation and obtained B.A. degree. She was keen to work in films.
She joined Prabhat Film company to work in its Bilingual film Sant Dnyaneshwar-40. The film was released on 21-5-1940 in Central cinema, Bombay. It became a hit film. She sang 2 songs also in this film. She started getting film offers in Marathi. She acted in several films like Thoratanchi kamala, Navardeo and Chimukala Sansar. The last film was directed by a young man-Vasant Joglekar. They fell in love and soon got married in 1943. Sumati became Sumati Gupte Joglekar. In due course, the couple had 3 daughters- Meera, Chanda and Madhushri.
Sumati acted in many Marathi films, but at the same time she also acted in Hindi films. She acted in Sant Dnyaneshwar-40, Sharbati Aankhen-45, Hamara Sansar-45, Santan-46, Veer Ghatotkach-49, Nand Kishore-51, Shiv leela-52, Samaj-54, mausi-58, Kareegar-58, Keechak Vadh-59, Waqt-65, Pariwar-68, Adhikar-71, jalte Badan-73, Paise ki Gudiya-74, Sajjo Rani-76 and Aadmi Sadak ka-77.
Sumati also sang 4 songs-2 each- in films Sant Dnyaneshwar-40 and Panghat-43. Vasant Joglekar’s family had a very close relationship with actor Ashok kumar. Joglekar produced 10 films and directed 20 films. In most of them, Ashok Kumar had acted. When the film Karigar-58 was to be made, Ashok kumar had already 30 films on hand, but he agreed to work in his film. Ashok kumar always took only 50% fees in his films. His only condition used to be that Sumati Gupte should bring a lunch box of her cooked food on the sets. He was very fond of her cooking. No wonder, Sumati was a CKP by birth-a fish eater and Bangali babu liked Fish dishes very much !
Besides films, Sumati loved to work in Marathi stage dramas. She worked in many famous and popular dramas. The drama advertisements used to highlight her name, to attract the audience. Sumati got many awards like Rasrang magazine’s Phalke award, V. Shantaram award and Chitrabhushan, Life time achievement award from Maharashtra Govt.
Her husband Vasant Joglekar died in 1993.They had tried to promote their elder daughter Meera in Hindi films. She acted opposite Joy Mukherjee in the film “Ek Kali Muskayee”-68. Neither she nor the film succeeded. She left films and got married to Ajit Gulabchand, a famous businessman of Mumbai. However, after a few years, they divorced and she married Achyut Vaze, a stage Producer.
Sumati Gupte Joglekar died on 31-10-2009. After her death, there was a court dispute about her estate. Meera’s sister Chanda filed a case in court against her, but Meera won the case and the estate, in crores, was evenly divided between 3 sisters.
Today’s song is a duet sung by Mohantara Talpade (later, Mohantara Ajinkya) and Rafi. In the decade of the 1940’s Mohantara was a famous and popular singer in Hindi and Marathi films. Mohantara Talpade, niece of the Producer/Director, Keshav Talpade. She started in 1942 and sang 117 songs in 54 films till 1958. She was a very popular singer in marathi films and NFS. She was born on 24-10-1926 in Bombay. She studied upto matriculation. She learnt music from Heerabai Zaveri, Shyamalabai Mazgaonkar and Navrang Master too. Khemchand Prakash recorded her first song in 1941 but her song in the film Mamaji-1942 was released first. It was composed by H.C.Bali, who was responsible for Saigal’s entry in films.
1946 was the best year for her as she sang in 12 films in 1946. Her best period was 1946 to 1948. Then Lata overtook and she fell back. She was married in 1949 and took a 3 years’ gap to raise a family. She became Mohantara Ajinkya. From 1952 to 1955 again she sang. Then she shifted to Marathi and became popular there.
Some of her films were- Dhanna Bhagat, Prabhu ka Ghar, Amar Raz, Chehra, Dharti, Gokul, Kuldeep, Magadh raj,Pujari, Aap ki Sewa mein, Bhaktan Dhruv, Vo Zamana,Zinda Dil, Adalat, Andhon ka Sahara, Bichhade Baalam, Khidki, Lakhpati, mere laal,Imtihan, Roshni, Veer Ghatotkach, Saudamini, Vishwamitra, gunah, Pehli Shadi, Gokul ka chor, Raj kumari and her last film Inaam. She sang130 songs in 52 films.
Enjoy the song….
Audio
Video
Song- Sandesh mera paa ke mujhe darsh dikhaana (Veer Ghatotkach)(1949) Singers- Mohantara, Rafi, Lyricist-Anjum Rahmani, MD-S N Tripathi
Lyrics
hmm mm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm
sandesh mera
sandesh mera paa ke mujhe darsh dikhaana
pritam meree aashaaon ka deepak na bujhaana
sandesh mera paa ke mujhe darsh dikhaana
pritam meree aashaaon ka deepak na bujhaana
jab tum hee naheen paas to soona hai ye jeevan
jab tum hee naheen paas to soona hai ye jeevan
birha kee ye agni na kaheen phoonk de tan-man
sapnon ka mahal
sapnon ka mahal toot’ta hai
aa ke bachaana
pritam meree aashaaon ka deepak na bujhaana
miltee hai galey chaandnee se raat kee bela
miltee hai galey chaandnee se raat kee bela
hai chaand kee godee mein sitaaron ka jhamela
lut jaaye na
lut jaaye na aise mein mera swapn suhaana
pritam meree aashaon ka deepak na bujhaana
tum devta mere ho
main charnon kee daasee
tum devta mere ho
main charnon kee daasee
ye baawree ankhiyaan hain piya roop kee pyaasee
chanda kee kiran
chanda kee kiran ban ke jhalak apnee dikhaana
pritam meree aashaaon ka deepak na bujhaana
nainon mein tere swapn hain
honthon pe tere geet
nainon mein tere swapn hain
honthon pe tere geet
hriday mein teree yaad hai
har saans tera mel(?)
ansuvan ke diye
ansuvan ke diye palkon pe apnee na jalaana
pritam meree aashaaon ka deepak na bujhaana
sandesh mera paa ke mujhe darsh dikhaana
pritam meree aashaaon ka deepak na bujhaana
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
December 11, 2025 at 3:09 pm
Good Morning,
Very happy to know about another jewel.
Thanks for sharing.
Regards and blessings
Uma 🙏
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