Musaafir hain ham tum ye duniya saraay
Posted by: Atul on: January 30, 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.
|
Blog Day : |
6405 | Post No. : | 19868 |
Today’s song is from an imaginary film Sim Sim Marjina-1958. The film was produced by Mulkraj Bhakri. The music was originally by Hansraj Behl, but after composing just one song by Geeta Dutt, he had some dispute with the Producer and he left the film. Then A.R.Qureshi was brought in as the film’s Music Director and he composed 9 songs. The film’s cast included Shakeela, Mahipal, Heeralal, Maruti, Tiwari, Helen, Nazi, Sadiq, Roopmala and many others.
When this film came to the theatres, its title was confusing. “Sim Sim” was a part of the password ” Khul ja sim sim” to open the cave of thieves, in the original story of Alibaba. Also Marjina was a maid of Alibaba in that story. Therefore ” Sim Sim Marjina” was not fitting anywhere ! Later on, however, I realised that since this was a film made on a made-up story, the title was a figment of imagination of the film’s ‘ story department ‘ !
The Story department of a Production house was a very powerful body during the late 40’s to late 60’s. They could practically do anything with their imagination like providing various relatives like sons, daughters and lovers to the already famous heroes or create unimaginable characters like Dr. Shaitan or Madame XYZ. Possibly they thought that strange names would arouse the curiosity of the audience and they would crowd up to see the film, and actually it happened to some extent !
It is impossible to find an educated person who has not read the stories of Alibaba, Allaudin and Sindbad, in his childhood. Without these stories, childhood was incomplete. These Arabian Nights stories gave us immense pleasures in our childhood. So much so that when I grew up,I did not leave a single film of these Heroes unseen. These Heroes were the central figures in films made in every language in India and none of them lacked audience patronage. However, it was great fun to listen to Alibaba or Allauddin talk in Telugu or Tamil !
These stories have been filmed since the Silent film days. On reaching a saturation point with the original stories, clever writers from the ‘story departments’ of producers invented various relatives like Alibaba ka Beta or Allauddin ki Ladki etc. One creative producer even made a film “Sindbad, Alibaba, Alladin” in 1965 ! Today’s film was made as a sequel of the film “Khul ja Sim Sim “-56. Both films were made by Mulkraj Bhakri, under his own banner-Golden movies. Almost all the cast was the same, barring a few, but the composers were different. For the 1956 film it was Hansraj Behl and for today’s film it was A.R.Qureshi.
The story of the film was….
The moment Khakan was told that his brother, Behram, the leader of the 40 thieves, had been murdered by Marjeena, he decided to take revenge from her. He along with Kamran and Gulbadan, the dancer, during their journey, happened to stay in that deserted cave which was once full with heaps of wealth and the atmosphere rang with laughter. Sim Sim, who used to open the gate of the cave with the command “Khul Ja Sim Sim”, was still imprisoned in the vault hungry and thirsty.
Khakan set him free and Sim Sim narrated his sorrowful tale. He stated that years ago he was a merchant. Unfortunately one day he happened to go to a cafe, where Marjeena, the embodiment of beauty was entertaining the audience with her dance. He lost himself at her gestures. His business was ruined and he turned crazy for that dame, Marjeena. With that very craze, he decided to have Marjeena, at any cost. One day he again dropped in the cafe, fought desperately, gave severe blows to everybody, damaged the cafe and carried away Marjeena.
On his way back to his country, his Caravan was attacked by Beharam along with his 40 thieves. Marjeena was made the object of entertainment for the thieves and he was imprisoned. Khakan assured Sim Sim that he would help him in securing Marjeena. In those days Ali Baba, Marjeena and the King had gone for Hajj. Khakan came to Ali Baba and started living there. Dilgir and Nazakat, the servants of Ali Baba were led away by him. They started to indulge in drinking and merrymaking.
The pious Saint appeared there and warned them for these sins. Khakan was enraged and he ordered his servants to have him arrested. But they were all turned into statues and the Saint disappeared. When Khakan came to know that this very Saint had been helping Ali Baba and Marjeena in every difficulty, he decided to finish him off but the Saint was shielded every time by Supernatural powers. Khakan so manipulated the affairs that Sim Sim was arrested, the past history of Marjeena’s life was brought to light and hatred was thereby created in Ali Baba’s mind hence Marjeena was again rendered helpless and miserable.
In this case the Saint talked to Alibaba and removed all his misunderstandings about Marjeena. Alibaba together with Marjeena and his friends attacked Khakan and killed him. Sim Sim was pardoned and he left the country for ever.
The producer of this film was Mulkraj Bhakri. He was a versatile person, dabbling in various areas of filmmaking. Mulkraj Bhakri was born on 13 December 1913 in Gujranwala in Punjab, undivided India, now in Pakistan. His father, Mool Chand Bhakri was a storekeeper in Indian Army Service Corps (IASC) at Pathankot. He went to school in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad) in Pakistan. He is married to Sarita and is father of Gudi Manon. M. R. Bhakri had three brothers Lekhraj Bhakri, Deshraj Bhakri & Rajkumar Bhakri. All brothers were associated with the Hindi film industry. Lekh Raj Bhakri who started with Kuldeep Pictures as Controller of Production for ‘Chunariya’ (1948) eventually became a producer-director.
Mulkraj Bhakri was an ardent fan of films. He watched almost all the films, which were shown in the theatres of his place. His memory was so sharp that he used to recite important dialogues from the films and also remembered most of the songs. It was natural that after completion of his Matriculation examination in 1931, he was keen to join the film industry. The only prominent Punjabi film produced between 1954 & 1958 was by Mulkraj Bhakri.
Mulkraj Bhakri started his career as a Cinema Manager. But it took a long time to get his first break in the film ‘Arsi’ (1947) as a story and dialogue writer. After the success of the film, he got two more films ‘Barsaat Ki Ek Raat’ (1948) and ‘Papiha Re’ (1948) for which he wrote story, dialogues, screenplay and lyrics. Both these films were being produced in Lahore studios. Unfortunately, these two films became victims of partition and were temporarily abandoned. These films were later released in some parts of India.
After arriving in Bombay, he devoted his time to bring together most of the displaced actors and technicians from Lahore some of whom were associated with his films and helped the creation of a film production banner ‘Nigaristan (India) Films’. Simultaneously, he wrote story, dialogues, screen-play and lyrics for films like ‘Chunariya’ (1948), Saawan Baadhon (1949), ‘Naach’ (1949), ‘Roomal’ (1949) ‘Chakori’ (1949) and ‘Lachhi’ in Punjabi (1949). ‘Bansariya’ (1949) was his first film as a producer under the banner of Nigaristan (India) Films, for which he also wrote story, dialogues, screenplay & lyrics.
In the 1950s, he produced films like ‘Moti Mahal’ (1952), ‘Shah Behram’ (1955), ‘Alladin Leila’ (1957), ‘Guest House’ (1959) and ‘Bhangra’ (Punjabi, 1959). Thereafter, he was associated with films mostly as screen-play and dialogue writer. His last film as a screen-play and dialogue writer was ‘Sansaar’ (1971).
Some of the films which Lekhraj Bhakri produced & directed were mostly under the banner of Kuldeep Pictures, Jubilee Pictures, Golden Films and Tasveeristan. His notable films as director were ‘Rajput’ (1951), ‘Resham’ (1952), ‘Daak Babu’ (1954), ‘Naqaab’ (1955), ‘Fashion’ (1957), ‘Sahaara’ (1958). ‘Panchaayat’ (1958), ‘Shama’ (1961) and ‘Banarasi Babu’ (1962). Desh Raj Bhakri looked after the film production side & Rajkumar Bhakri was a Cinematographer. Mulkraj Bhakri’s son, Mohan Bhakri was also a producer and director, who was mostly connected with about a dozen ‘B’ Grade horror films made during 1980-2000.
Today’s song is sung by Mohd. Rafi, Sudha Malhotra and Mubarak Begum. Enjoy….
Song- Musaafir hain hum tum ye duniya saraay (Sim Sim Marjina)(1958) Singers- Mohd. Rafi, Sudha Malhotra,Mubarak Begum, Lyricist- Asad Bhopali, MD-A R Qureshi
Lyrics
musaafir hain ham tum
ye duniyaa saraay
idhar koi aaye
udhar koi jaaye
musaafir hain ham tum
ye duniyaa saraay
ye jalve ye naghme
ye mehfil suhaanee
ye jalve ye naghme
ye mehfil suhaanee
ye husn o mohabbat kee rangeen kahaanee
ye husn o mohabbat kee rangeen kahaanee
har ek cheez mein hai nayee zindagaanee
haaye nayee zindagaanee
vo naadaan hai jo yahaan tak na aaye
vo naadaan hai jo yahaan tak na aaye
musaafir hain ham tum
ye duniyaa saraay
idhar koi aaye
udhar koi jaaye
musaafir hain ham tum
ye duniyaa saraay
zamaanaa huaa hai na hogaa kisee kaa
zamaanaa huaa hai na hogaa kisee kaa
tamaashaa hai saaraa ghadee do ghadee kaa
tamaashaa hai saaraa ghadee do ghadee kaa
bharosaa na karnaa kabhee zindagee kaa aa
bharosaa na karnaa kabhee zindagee kaa
naa maaloom kab saans aaye na aaye
naa maaloom kab saans aaye na aaye
musaafir hain ham tum
ye duniyaa saraay
ye duniyaa to hai do ghadee kaa tamaashaa
ye duniyaa to hai do ghadee kaa tamaashaa
na karnaa yahaan zindagee kaa bharosaa
na karnaa yahaan zindagee kaa bharosaa
naa baakee rahe dil kee koyee tamannaa
haaye koi tamannaa
adhooree kaheen daastaan rah na jaaye
adhooree kaheen daastaan rah na jaaye
musaafir hain ham tum
ye duniyaa saraay
idhar koi aaye
udhar koi jaaye
musaafir hain ham tum
ye duniyaa saraay
Share this:
- Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
- Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
- Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
- Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
- Print (Opens in new window) Print
- Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
- Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
- Share on X (Opens in new window) X
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
Leave a comment