Pyaar kee chaandnee le ke raat aayegee
Posted on: January 11, 2026
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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6386 | Post No. : | 19804 |
Today’s song is from a Muslim Social film Paak Daman-1957.
1957 – what a year it was ! The best year in the Golden Era! The best year in the 50s! The best year for melody and music! Such wonderful films came this year!!! The lineup of 1957 films looks like the selection of the creamy layer in everlasting music – ‘Mother India’, ‘Pyasa’, ‘Tumsa Nahin Dekha’, ‘Bhabhi’, ‘Asha’, ‘Miss Mary’, ‘Naya Daur’, ‘Do Aankhen Barah Haath’, ‘Paying Guest’, ‘Nau Do Gyarah’, ‘Dekh Kabira Roya’. ‘Nausherwaan e Adil ‘, ‘Gateway Of India’, ‘Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke ‘, ‘Kathputali’, ‘Sharada’ . . . Films like Baarish, Ab Dilli door nahin, Abhiman, Bada Bhai, Begunah, Beti, Chhote Babu, Coffee House, Dushman, Johnny Walker, Miss Bombay, Miss India, Mr. X, Narsi Bhagat, Paak Daman, Pawanputra Hanuman, Ustad, Zamana.
Films produced in Madras were quite popular. AVM’s ‘Bhabhi’, ‘Miss Mary’ and ‘Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke’, Prasad Production’s first Hindi film ‘Sharda’, and MV Raman’s film ‘Asha’ played havoc with their captive audiences. Films from south somehow have always concocted a success formula, mixing comedy, tragedy, social message, excellent production values and above all superb music, which made their films very popular everywhere.
Satyen Bose’s ‘Bandi’ brought together all the three Ganguly brothers in one film for the first time. Later he would repeat this feat in ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ in 1958. ‘Musaafir’, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s first Hindi film as a director, was an experimental film depicting the phases of life – birth, life, death and rejuvenation, symbolically through a succession of tenants in a house on rent. Director Amiya Chakravarty’s competition with Gyan Mukherjee came to an end with his unexpected demise while the making of ‘Kathputali’ was in progress. The film was completed by Nitin Bose. (Later, Gyan Mukherjee also passed away while making ‘Sitaron Se Aagey’ (1958) which was later completed by Satyen Bose. Both films had the same story and same heroine).
With the musical blockbuster ‘Tumsa Nahin Dekha’ from Filmistan, Nasir Hussain introduced his own success formula of entertaining films and minted crores by repeating it several times, in a new garb. This film changed Shammi Kapoor’s luck, and made him an A grade actor. However, it did not much benefit the heroine Ameeta. She remained where she was – a second grade actress. Filmistan also released ‘Paying Guest’, with chocolate hero Dev Anand, with superb music and songs composed by SD Burman. Dev also featured in ‘Nau Do Gyarah’, another musical entertainer from Navketan, his home production company.
A surprise hit that year was the socio-religious film ‘Janam Janam Ke Phere’. The song “Zara Samne To Aa O Chhaliye” became the unexpected top song of the year and an iconic one at that! ‘Apradhi Kaun’ was genuinely an excellent detective story. Amiya Chakravarty’s ‘Dekh Kabira Roya’ was a hit due to its superb music, though its cast was quite ordinary. ‘Do Aankhen Barah Haath’ got the National Award. Amiya Chakravarty and Gope passed away this year. Nimmi got married. Vividh Bharati started its broadcast on 3rd October 1957.
1957 was an year in which there was good variety in the subjects handled by the film makers. Musical films like Aasha, Paying Guest, Baarish, Dekh Kabeera Roya, Naya Daur etc, films on Murder and Mystery, films on farmers, comedy films, Tragedy films, Mythological films,Costume dramas, Fantasy film,Stunt films…e the genre and a film on that genre was made in 1957. One of the genres, however, which is neglected, by and large, in India is Muslim Social films. “Paak Daaman” was a film of this genre in 1957.
Sometimes I wonder,there was a time when this film industry was thickly populated with Muslim artistes in every field-acting, production, direction or composing music…still not many films were made on Muslim backgrounds. There is a sizable and rapidly growing portion of Muslim population in India,still, but if you count films based on Muslim issues or Muslim backgrounds, then they may not account for more than 1 to 2 % of the total film production.
It is not only the Muslim films, but films on other minorities like Christians, Parsis, Jains, Budhists,Sikhs too are not much represented in our films. It is very sad that such films are not made, though the figures and history tells us that such films were quite successful at the Box Office.
Muslim films fall under Two categories. One, films made on Historical Muslim characters like Akbar, Babar, Humayun, Shahjehan, Razia Sultan etc etc and the Second group is that of Muslim society. Just for the sake of curiosity, I scanned the 5 volumes of HFGK and wrote down names of films made on Muslim subjects-of both types. To my surprise, I could not go beyond even 50 films-from 1931 to 1980 !, Granting that I must have made a mistake in counting and identifying, since I do not know the story lines of every film, still the number will not go beyond 200 films, despite liberal stretching !
The point I want to make here is that not many Muslim social movies have been made in India over the years. The earliest such film was Najma-43, I think. One very very explosive Muslim social film, made by Director Mehboob was “Elan” in 1947. Munawar Sultana was the lead actress in it. Before starting the shooting, Mehboob called her and said,” You have heard the story, it is a very very hot story. I guess there will be a lot of opposition from our fundamentalist people. You may have to face their ire. Maybe you will be attacked or thrown out of society. But remember, I am doing this film, because I want our people to improve on par with others. If you want, you can reject the film even now. Think and tell me before we start shooting.” Munawar Sultana quickly said,”There is no need to think. I want to do this film. I am not afraid of anyone. I have full faith in you.” After release, the film did evoke violent reactions from a section of the Muslim society but it subsided slowly.
Some other Muslim socials I remember are Zeenat, Dil hi to hai, Bahu begum, Dastak, Garm hawa, Bazar, Anjuman, Naseem, the Trilogy by Khalid Mohammed-Mammo-Sardari begum and Zubeida, Fiza, Junoon, Benazir, Ghazal,Chhote nawab. Then there were Barsaat ki raat, Nikah, Shatranj, Mehboob ki Mehndi, Umrao Jaan, Paakiza, Mere Mehboob, Chaudhavi ka chaand, Anwar, My name is Khan, Bombay etc. Surely, there must be many more than what I have mentioned. I am not counting Historical films as they are not socials.
Paak Daman was first made in 1931, the very first year of the Talkie films. Then it was made in 1940 and finally it was made in 1957. Paak Daman was a popular stage drama of the early 1900’s. There were many versions of this story with minor variations,like names and places etc. The Parsi Urdu Theatre version was written by Agha Hashra Kashmiri, then famously known as ” Shakespeare of India”. The Parsi Gujarati plays were written by various authors. Syed Yawar Ali penned the script for the ” Moon Parsi Theatre”. The Alfred Drama Company had their own version of the story. In 1932, a film called ” Paak Daman Raqaasa aka Innocent Rakkasa or innocent Dancer or निर्दोष नर्तिका ” was made by Elephanta Movietone, Punjab. But I guess it was not one of these versions, just like the 1957 movie.
Paak Daman-1931 with Rampyari and Hyder Shah was based on a Gujarati play and Paak Daman-40 was written by Agha Hashra Kashmiri for the Urdu Parsi Theatre. This was a small budget movie, with a not so popular star cast. This time the film was made by Wadia Movietone. The film was directed by S.M.Yusuf and the MD was Ghulam Mohammed. The cast of this film was Chitra, Sudesh Kumar, Kumar, Krishna Kumari, Moti Sagar, Mirza Musharraf, W.M.Khan (singer of the first ever song from the First Hindi Talkie- AAlam Ara-1931), Kesarbai (paternal aunt of actress Hansa Wadkar, H. Prakash, Sardar mansoor, Omkar Devaskar (another actor from Alam Ara-1931) and many others.
Out of 10 songs (one 2 part song) 8 are already covered. Today’s song is the last recorded song of this film. The 10th song-a quartet- was not recorded commercially. A total of 11 singers were used for these 10 songs. The story of the film Paak Daman-1957 was…..
Handsome and well-educated Yusuf(Sudesh Kumar) inherits his father’s estate in Lucknow. To him gambling becomes just a pastime in the company of Asad (Kumar), a man without principles, and his associates Abboo and Nabbo. – Both Yusuf and Asad are in love with the beautiful Suraiya ( Chitra). Her cousin Mahmud (Moti Sagar) is also secretly in love with her; but she is unaware of it. She believes that Mahmud loves Sabiya (Krishna kumari), her best friend.
One day Asad sends his mother to Suraiya’s aunt with a view to bring about his marriage with her. The aunt rejects the proposal saying that Asad is a wastrel and not a fit husband for Suraiya. But noble Mahmud, knowing that Suraiya loves Yusuf, suggests that she be married to Yusuf. He decides to marry Sobiya who loves him deeply. – Infuriated Asad begins to destroy the perfectly happy matrimonial union of Yusuf and Suraiya. He lures Yusuf into the gulf of vice through gambling and drink. He even forges a letter from Mahmud to Suraiya and involves Yusuf into the murdered of Mahmud.
As the police arrive on the scene. Asad deliberately helps Yusuf to abscond. Hearing of Mahmud’s death, poor Sabiya goes mad. With Yusuf in hiding and out of his way. Asad now proceeds to make Syraiya his own. He sends his henchman Nabbo to steal the letter from her house. He obtains the letter, but is caught by the police. Far away from Lucknow, Yusuf finds a job at the quarry of Haji Saheb who is none other than Sabiyas father.
Yusuf comes back to Lucknow in disguise and his heart bleeds to find Suraiya and child undergoing untold-of hardships with only the faithful old servant Tehsin(W.M.Khan) by her side. – Asad kidnaps Suraiya’s child and lures her into his secret den. Since she refuses to marry him, he places the child before the cage of a tiger and opens the door. Yusuf comes up in the nick of time, in the disguise of Gunga, and saves the child. Just then the police arrive with Tehsin and others and Asad is arrested. Thus all’s well that ends well.
The director of this film 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.
Here is a song, sung by Asha Bhosle. Enjoy….
Song-Pyaar kee chaandnee le ke raat aayegee (Paak Daaman)(1957) Singer- Asha Bhosle, Lyricist- Shakeel Badayuni, MD- Ghulam Mohammad
Lyrics
tararam
hmm hmm hmm
lalala
laa laa laa
pyaar kee chaandnee leke raat aayegee ee
mere ghar mein khushee kee baaraat aayegee
mere ghar mein khushee kee baaraat aayegee
pyaar kee chaandnee leke raat aayegee ee
laa laa laa
ghar banega chaman main banoongee dulhan
aaj phootee hai dil mein khushee kee kiran
haan khushee kee kiran
ik nayee zindagee mere haath aayegee
mere ghar mein
mere ghar mein khushee kee baaraat aayegee
mere ghar mein khushee kee baaraat aayegee
pyaar kee chaandnee leke raat aayegee ee
laa laa laa
laa lalaa
lala
laa lalaa
lala
laa lalaa
lalar
lalaa
geet milne ko hai ras bharee taan se
aa aa aa
phool dil ke khilenge badee shaan se
phool dil ke khilenge badee shaan se
zindagee kee bahaar unke saath aayegee
mere ghar mein
mere ghar mein khushee kee baaraat aayegee
mere ghar mein khushee kee baaraat aayegee
pyaar kee chaandnee leke raat aayegee ee
laa laa laa
jab akela unhen saamne paaoongee
saamne paaoongee
sar jhukaaoongee
ghoonghat mein sharmaaoongee
haan haan sharmaaoongee
keh sakoongee na lab par jo baat aayengee
mere ghar mein
mere ghar mein khushee kee baaraat aayegee
mere ghar mein khushee kee baaraat aayegee
pyaar kee chaandnee leke raat aayegee ee
laa laa laa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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