Mujhe zindagee kee dua na de
Posted on: February 6, 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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Today, February 6, 2026, is the 86th birth anniversary of Bhupinder Singh (06/02/1940 – 18/07/2022), singer, composer and guitarist who regaled the listeners with his natural and wounded feeling voice. Gulzar had said about him in some context that Bhupendra was a bit of a fakir, just like Sufis and Sadhus. They look lazy but they are very focused and attentive. There is no greed or haste in him. Whatever Bhupinder does, he does from his heart. Because of his Sufiana spirit, Bhupinder Singh could render ghazals beautifully.
Born in Amritsar in 1940, Bhupinder Singh started his singing training in his childhood with his father, who was a music professor in Khalsa College in Amritsar. But his interest was more towards playing musical instruments. Bhupinder Singh grew up in Delhi after his father shifted there and completed his high school. In Delhi, he got further training from Ratilal and Gopal Krishan Acharya. From his teenage days, he had started singing ghazals to his friends in the tunes set by himself. Side by side, he developed interest in playing Hawaiian Guitar which he learnt by self-studies. He got a job in AIR Delhi as a singer and the musician under Satish Bhatia, another Hindi film music director.
Music Director, Madan Mohan discovered Bhupinder Singh when he watched him singing ghazals in a private gathering in Delhi. He suggested him to shift to Mumbai. During the making of Chetan Anand’s ‘Haqeeqat’ (1964). Madan Mohan gave him his first filmy song, hoke majboor mujhe usne bhulaaya hoga along with Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mehmood and Manna Dey. Chetan Anand made him to sing his part of the song on himself in which he had a role of a radio operator in the army. The song became very popular. Somehow, Chetan Anand felt that with his height and good physic, Bhupinder Singh was a potential singing hero.
Chetan Anand wrote the story of ‘Aakhri Khat’ (1966) keeping in mind Bhupinder Singh as a lead actor. However, he declined the offer by saying that he was not interested in acting. During the making of the film, Chetan Anand gave him his first solo, under the music direction of Khayyam and made him to sing on himself in the film as a guitarist. This time, he could not say no to him. The song was rut jawaan jawaan raat meharbaan. After this film, he ran away to Delhi for some time just to avoid Chetan Anand. However, his friends in Delhi persuaded him to go back to Mumbai where the future of his career was bright. On his return to Mumbai, he first learnt playing Spanish guitar and later some more string instruments.
Sometime in 1968, Bhupinder Singh was introduced to R D Burman who developed instant liking for him. Temperamentally, both were made for each other. R D Burman was impressed with his mastery over guitar and took him as a guitarist in his musical team. Soon, both developed a close friendship with each other. They worked together for about 20 years during which, his singing career went into the backseat and he became one of the most sought-after guitarists. Gradually, he became the part of R D Burman’s core music team.
R D Burman used Bhupinder for the first time as a singer and guitarist in ‘Abhilaasha’ (1968). Later, he became the lead guitarist for him. He played guitar for some of his iconic songs such as dum maaro dum mit jaayen gham in ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ (1971) which created the appropriate mood for the song with his prelude guitar notes. He also played guitar in the song, mehbooba o mehbooba in ‘Sholay’ (1975), churaa liyaa hai tumne jo dil ko in ‘Yaadon Ki Baarat’ (1973) and many more.
Bhupinder Singh has another close association with Gulzar who had also developed professional association with R D Burman. All three got associated for Gulzar’s film, ‘Parichay’ (1972) in which Bhupinder Singh sang a duet with Lata Mangeshkar, beeti na bitaayee rainaa. The Raag-based song became very popular. I personally felt that Bhupinder’s deep voice suited well on Sanjeev Kumar.
The troika’s another memorable collaboration was ‘Kinaara’ (1977) in which Bhupinder Singh rendered four songs. He sang with Lata Mangeshkar the film’s most popular song, naam gum jaayegaa chehra badal jaayegaa. The song has now become very apt, both for Lata Mangeshkar and Bhupinder Singh who left for their heavenly abode in 2022 (February 6th and July 18, respectively).
In a conversation at the time of the release of his book, ‘Katra Katra’, Gulzar Saab revealed an interesting trivia about one song which he had written in blank verse (unrhymed) for ‘Kinaara’ (1977). It was more like a conversational love song. The song was ek hee khwaab kai baar dekha hai maine. R D Burman, after going through the blank verse, had almost given up composing the tune, but on Gulzar’s perstering, he composed the tune. But the problem was that because of unrhymed verse, there were many blank spots in the tune. He called Bhupendra Singh to come with his guitar and asked him to wear the head phone. He gave him the free hand to fill the gaps with guitar notes simultaneously while singing with the recording mike. Bhupinder improvised the song during the recording, filling the gaps in the tune by playing his guitar notes. The song was recorded in one take and Gulzar was more than satisfied with the final product. Probably, this was the first instance where playback singer was singing and simultaneously playing the musical instrument in the history of Hindi films’ song recording.
One of the most discussed and talked about songs rendered by Bhupinder Singh is from ‘Mausam’ (1975) under the baton of Madan Mohan. The song in two versions is dil dhoondhta hai phir wahi fursat ke raat din. He also rendered two songs of different moods under Jaidev in ‘Gharonda’ (1977) – ek akela iss shahar mein and do deewaane ek shahar mein. Bhupinder Singh also rendered some of his popular songs under Khayyam, Kanu Roy and Bappi Lahiri among other music directors.
During his singing career of over five decades in Hindi films, Bhupinder Singh rendered about 235 songs which at the outset appears low. But it is to be noted that he was also busy as a musician and also in composing and singing for his private ghazal albums. He was fortunate that most of his Hindi film songs were written by lyricists who had poetic background. His success rate in popularity of songs was high.
Bhupinder Singh met Bangladeshi ghazal singer, Mitali Mukherjee in the 1980s when she had visited Mumbai for her ghazal concerts. Being a fan of Bhupinder Singh, she requested him to join her on the stage. Ghazal singing being their common interest, both fell in love and got married sometime in the 1980s. Post marriage, Bhupinder Singh diversified his singing career in to non-filmy songs, mostly ghazals, both solo and the duet with his wife, Mitali. Incidentally, his earliest recorded ghazals were released by HMV sometime in 1965 on EP. In 1974, HMV released his first LP of non-filmy ghazals which were composed by him.
From 1980s onwards, there were a good numbers of albums of his non-filmy ghazals released which were mostly composed by him. He used western musical instruments such as Electric Guitar, Bass, Drums etc in his ghazal compositions. During this period, his filmy career was put in the backseat. In 2015, Bhupinder Singh received Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his contributions to light classical music.
Bhupinder Singh had some health issues which became more acute when he was tested positive for Covid. He passed away on July 18, 2022, due to cardiac arrest. [Note: Bhupinder Singh’s life profile is based mainly on his interviews on video clips available online].
Today is also the 4th Remembrance Day of Lata Mangeshkar (28/09/1929 – 06/02/2022). So, I was searching for a duet song rendered by her and Bhupendra Singh. Fortunately, I got a better option of a multi-version song rendered by both of them separately. The song is from an obscure multi-starred film, ‘Galiyon Kaa Baadshah’ (1990). I have already discussed this film in my last article with a song, kya kahoon kya na kahoon.
The film had six songs (including one triple-version song) written by Indeewar (3), Maya Govind (2) and Anjaan (1) which were set to music by Kalyanji-Anandji. One song has been represented on the Blog. I present the second song, ‘mujhe zindagee kee dua na de’ which is written by Maya Govind. The song is in triple version – two versions by Lata Mangeshkar picturised on Smita Patil and Hema Malini separately with separate antaras and one by Bhupinder Singh picturised on Raj Kumar.
The contexts of each of the version of the song picturised in sequential order – on Smita Patil, on Raj Kumar and lastly on Hema Malini have the poignant background of the each of the characters. Tulsi (Smita Patil) has been forced into prostitution and Raja (Raj Kumar) with whom she wants to develop her relationship starts ignoring her when he comes to know her profession. He has told her to change her profession. The first antara of the song speaks about her status in the society as she could not become a part of a household like a Tulsi plant.
Raja himself has been caught in a whirlpool – as Ram, he has been executing dacoity and as Raja, he has been distributing his share of booty among the poor and the needy. He feels that he is physically alive but his soul has died long back. Billo (Hema Malini) has been dreaming about living in a modest house with Raja but it has still remained as her dream as Raja spends all his money helping the poor in his locality. The first antara of the song picturised on her speaks about her fate.
Lata Version
Audio Clip:
Lata Versions -1 & 2:
Video Clip (Lata Version-1):
Video Clip: (Lata Version-2):
Bhupinder Singh Version
Audio Clip (Bhupinder Version):
Video Clip (Bhupinder Version):
Song-Mujhe zindagee kee dua na de (Galiyon Ka Baadshah)(1990) Singer-Lata Mangeshkar/Bhupinder Singh, Lyricist-Maya Govind, MD-Kalyanji Anandji
Chorus
Lyrics (Based on Audio Clips):
———————————–
Lata Version-1 and 2 combined:
————————————
hmm hmm hmm hmm
aa aa aa aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aa aa aaa
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
meree zindagee se banee naheen
meree zindagee se banee naheen
koi zindagee pe kare yakeen
mujhe zindagee se yakeen naheen
meree zindagee se banee naheen
ye safar bhee kaisa safar hai ye
main kabhee kabhee to kaheen kaheen ??
mujhe jis sanam kee talaash thhee
wo milaa magar wo milaa naheen
main wo baat hoon….
main wo baat hoon to banee naheen
main wo raat hoon jo katee naheen
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
meree zindagee se banee naheen
meree zindagi se banee naheen
aa aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aa aa aaa
jo lahar ke saathh hee bah gayee
main to ret kee wo deewaar hoon
jo na ban sakaa wo hoon aashiyaan
jo na mil sakaa wo qaraar hoon
meraa naam hai….
meraa naam tulsee to naam kaa
kisi aangane mein sajee naheen
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
meree zindagee se banee naheen
meree zindagee se banee naheen
koi zindagee pe kare yakeen
mujhe zindagee pe yakeen naheen
meree zindagee se banee naheen
—————————————–
Bhupinder Version
—————————————–
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
aa aa aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aa aa aaa
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
meree zindagee se banee naheen
meree zindagee se banee naheen
koi zindagee pe kare yakeen
mujhe zindagee pe yakeen naheen
meree zindagee se banee naheen
jo bigad gayaa wo naseeb hoon
jo bikhar gayaa main wo khwaab hoon
na sunee gayee wo hoon daastaan
na padhee gayee wo kitaab hoon
jo milee zameen…
jo milee zameen na to aasmaan
milaa aasmaan to zameen naheen
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
meree zindagee se banee naheen
meree zindagee se baneee naheen
aa aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aa aa aaa
mujhe mil ke kho gayeen manzilen
main safar mein thhaa
main safar mein hoon
main to apnaa sheesha-e-dil liye
yahaan pattharon ke shehar mein hoon
jahaan hasraton ke….
jahaan hasraton ke makaam thhe
mujhe mil sakee wo galee naheen
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
mujhe zindagee kee duaa na de
meree zindagee se banee naheen
meree zindagee se banee naheen
koi zindagee pe kare yakeen
mujhe zindagee pe yakeen naheen
meree zindagee se banee naheen
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
February 6, 2026 at 10:03 am
Many many Thanks for this post Sir jee 🙏
(I will come back again later 🙂 )
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