Zara thhahar jaao
Posted on: January 15, 2026
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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‘Khuda Kasam’ (1981) was produced by Baldev Pushkarna and was directed by Lekh Tandon who also wrote the story. The cast included Vinod Khanna, Tina Munim, Ajit, Pran, Nazneen, Zahira, Kamini Kaushal, Madan Puri, Jalal Agha, Surendra Pal, Shakti Kapoor, Chandrashekhar, C S Dubey, Pinchoo Kapoor, Ram Mohan, Brahm Bhardwaj, Leena Das, Ranbir Raj, Ratna, Colonel Kapoor etc. Dharmendra made a special appearance. The film was delayed as Vinod Khanna had temporarily shifted to the USA to work in the ashram of his spiritual guru, Osho. He did return to India to complete his films before moving back to the ashram in the USA in 1982.
In this film, Nazneen play the role of the sister of Vinod Khanna. I used to get confused between Nazima and Nazneen, probably because both of them used to perform, more or less similar characters in the films, mostly either hero/heroine’s sister/friend. Nazneen was born on February 23, 1958 in Kolkata in a Muslim family. Her father owned a printing press while her mother was a house wife. The family shifted to Mumbai and Nazneen completed her school studies in Hill Grange High School at Pedder Road, Mumbai. It is said that Neetu Singh was her classmate. From her school days, she was interested in becoming actress.
Producer-Director, Satyen Bose spotted Nazneen in a filmy party and offered her role in his film, ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ (1972) which she gladly accepted. Thereafter, Satyen Bose signed her for his next two films. Unfortunately, both the films could not make any progress. She got the lead role in ‘Mere Gharib Nawaz’ (1973) opposite Satish Arora. The film flopped badly at the box office. Her next two films in the role of heroine, ‘Phanda’ (1975) opposite Rakesh Pandey and ‘Ranga Khush’ (1975) opposite Vikram also failed at the box office. Nazneen had to be satisfied with side roles – sister/friend of the hero/heroines and other dignified roles.
Nazneen was not happy with side roles. She felt that something like glamour was missing in her characters which prevented her from becoming the lead actress. She transformed herself in glamourous appearance. ‘Chalte Chalte’ (1976) was her first film in a glamourous role opposite Vishal Anand in which she was shown in bikini. Though the film was hit on the box office, it did not push Nazneen’s career growth as a heroine. In Dildaar’ (1977), Nazneen was one of Jeetendra’s love interest, other being Rekha.
Disappointed with the roles that were offered to her, Nazneen refrained from accepting any side roles from around mid-1980s. It was only after B R Chopra offered her the role of Kunti in his TV Serial, ‘Mahabharat’ (1988), she rejoined the celluloid world. Interestingly, she became famous for her graceful role of Kunti for which she is still remembered. After ‘Mahabharat’, Nazneen has been living with her family in anonymity.
The story of ‘Khuda Kasam’ 1981 is partly presented in flashback mode. However, I give below the story of the film in a sequential order:
Ranvir Singh (Pran) stays with his wife Nirmala (Kamini Kaushal) and his son and is employed with a businessman, Raiszada Hukamchand (Ajit). One day, Raiszada kills a man who was blackmailing him. He asks Ranvir to take the killing of the man on himself for which he offers handsome money. Ranvir agrees provided he gives him in writing a confession of the crime just to ensure for his own safety. Feeling helpless, Raiszada agrees. Ranvir exchanges his cloth with that of a dead man after which both of them burn the place of the crime. Ranvir returns home and hands over Rs,30000/- to his wife. He tells her that he may not be able to return home for months. Later, the dead man is identified as Ranvir by his family on the basis of his personal belongings. At the time of Ranvir’s death, Nirmala was pregnant. Kishan Lal (Madan Puri), a brother figure for Nirmala, takes care of Ranvir’s family. In due course, Nirmala gives birth to a daughter and she faces canard from the villagers as to the father of the daughter.
Ranvir’s son and the daughter grow up to their adulthood as Sumer Singh (Vinod Khanna) and Geeta (Nazneen) respectively. Ranvir has got a new identity with a new name, Girdhari Lal. He has become a businessman with interest in hotel industry in Mumbai. In the village, Kishan Lal selects a boy for Geeta for her marriage. On the engagement day, the priest recognises Nirmala and reveals that Geeta is the illegitimate daughter of Kishan Lal. The engagement gets broken.
Both Sumer Singh and Geeta are shocked by this revelation. After getting the satisfactory explanation from his mother, Sumer Singh assaults the priest for spreading canard. He decides to investigate about his father who has met his mother after few days of his so-called death. So, he has to start his investigation from Raiszada who was the employer of his father. In his efforts, his friend from his village, Pancham (Jalal Agha) who works in one of the hotels of Raiszada is his best bet.
One day, Girdhari Lal (Pran) visits the hotel where Raiszada’s office is located. Pancham sees him from the distance and recognise him as Sumer Singh’s father. He immediately informs Sumer who was with his girlfriend, Tina (Tina Munim). Both Sumer and Pancham overhears the conversations between Raiszada and Girdhari Lal which indicates that on the basis of the confession letter, Girdhari Lal has been blackmailing Raiszada for financing his hotels. With the conversations, it dawns to Sumer’s mind that Girdhari Lal could be his father, Ranvier Singh who is living in his own world unmindful of what has happened to his family. He decides to expose Girdhari Lal. With this information, it is time for Sumer Singh to show his worth to Raiszada to reach out to Girdhari Lal. He joins hands with Raiszada to help him come out of the blackmailing threat from Girdhari Lal.
Sumer Singh goes to Mumbai by an assumed name, Arora and gets himself and Pancham employed in Girdhari Lal’s hotel with an assume name of Sumer with staff quarter so that he can bring his mother and the sister to stay. One day, Girdhari Lal sees Nirmala but refuses to recognise her. However, for Sumer Singh, her mother’s confirmation that Girdhari Lal is her husband Ranbir Singh, makes his investigation going towards the logical conclusion. But exposing Girdhari Lal as Ranbir Singh has serious ramifications as he is an accuse for killing a person. Furthermore, the lives of Sumer Singh, his mother and the sister are at risk as Raiszada is not going to be a meek observer. Sumer Singh decides to continue his role in the hotel as Arora.
Sumer Singh organises a New Year party at the poolside of Girdhari Lal’s hotel for which elites of the society including Raiszada are in attendance. In the party, Sumer Singh deliberately brings his mother and sister to join the New Year party and introduces them to Raiszada and Girdhari Lal as the wife and daughter of Ranbir Singh. Both Raiszada and Girdhari Lal becomes uncomfortable and asks Arora to take them away as they are not invited to the party. After the party, the actual identity of Girdhari Lal, Nirmala and Geeta are revealed to Raiszada and so also that of Pancham. From this point onwards, the film turns from the family drama to action and fight modes with motor-cycle stunts as Raiszada is bent upon eliminating Sumer Singh and Girdhari Lal to save himself from the murder he has committed earlier.
After a lot of dramatic twists and turns in rifts and closeness between Raiszada, Girdhari Lal and Sumer Singh, finally, Police Inspector (Chandrashekhar) confirms that Sumer Singh is Ranvir Singh’s son because a FIR has been lodged against him for assaulting the priest on the day of the engagement of Geeta. Now, the key to prove that Raiszada is the real killer lies in getting hold of the confession letter which was with Ranbir Singh/Girdhari Lal, which is now lying in the hands of Latika who has stolen from Girdhari Lal’s locker. Latika has started blackmailing Raiszada in connivance with her hotel associate, Khanna (Shakti Kapoor). Sumer Singh fights with Khanna and get hold of the confession letter. Khanna fires at Sumer Singh but the bullet hits Raiszada who gets seriously injured. Latika dies when a motorcycle hits her. Police Inspector arrests Khanna and get hold of the confession letter. An injured Raiszada confesses to the crime and before he dies, he asks his daughter, Tina to get married to Sumer Singh and take care of Ranbir Singh’s family.
The film had five songs written by Majrooh Sultanpuri which were set to music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Two songs have been represented on the Blog. I present the 3rd song, ‘tadap ke dil ye pukaare zara thahar jaao’ which is rendered by Suman Kalyanpur and picturised on Nazneen. In the song picturisation, Vinod Khanna, Tina Munim, Zahira, Ajit, Pran, Shakti Kapoor, Kamini Kaushal and Surendra Pal are seen.
The context of the song is that Sumer Singh (Vinod Khanna) has organised a New Year Party in the hotel ostensibly to expose Girdhari Lal as Ranbir Singh and to force him to recognise his wife, Nirmala (Kamini Kaushal). However, after seeing Nirmala, he starts walking out of the party when his daughter, Geeta (Nazneen), born after he has been declared dead, sings an emotional song which makes him to stop from leaving the party. Anyway, after the song, Ranbir Singh refuses to recognise his wife for, his identity as Ranbir Singh would expose Raiszada (Ajit) as a killer.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Zara thhahar jaao (Khuda Kasam)(1981) Singer-Suman Kalyanpur, Lyricist-Majrooh Sultanpuri, MD-Laxmikant Pyarelal
Lyrics:
zaraa thhahar jaao o
zaraa thhahar jaao o o
tadap ke dil ye pukaare
zaraa thhahar jaao
zaraa thhahar jaao o o o
hai koi ham bhee tumhaare
zaraa thhahar jaao o
zaraa thhahar jaao o o
tadap ke dil ye pukaare
[Dialogues]
main hoon tumhaara hee ik raaz
mujhko pehchaano o
main hoon tumhaara hee ik raaz
mujhko pehchaano
main hoon tumhaaree hee aawaaz
mujhko pehchaano
tumhee se aas lagaaye
koi tumhee ko pukaare
zaraa thhahar jaao o
zaraa thhaher jaao o o
tadap ke dil ye pukaare
[Dialogues]
idhar to dekho
tumhaare hee dar kee dhool hoon main
idhar to dekho
tumhaare hee dar kee dhool hoon main
jo baagh chhod chuke tum
usee kaa phool hoon main
hai mujh mein ang tumhaare
zaraa thahar jaao o
zaraa thahar jaao o o
tadap ke dil ye pukaare
[Dialogues]
chaley ho ghair kee baahon mein daal ke baahen
magar ye yaad rahe
ham bhee kaun hain kya hain
kisi taraf to mudengee tumhaaree sab raahen
ke laakh jaao kaheen tum yaheen milenge sahaare
zaraa thhahar jaao o o
zaraa thahar jaao o o o
hai koi ham bhee tumhaare
zaraa thhahar jaao o
zaraa thhahar jaao o o
tadap ke dil ye pukaare
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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