Kaun mila mohey haaye re
Posted on: February 13, 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 13, 2026, is the 97th birth anniversary of Lekh Tandon, one of the versatile yet underrated Hindi filmmakers. Like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Lekh Tandon made decent films with commercial appeal. He experienced many ups and downs in his filmy career of about five decades. Yet he never gave up the career until his death.
Lekh Raj Tandon (13/02/1929 – 17/10/2017) was born in Lahore. His father, Faqueer Chand Tandon was the classmate of Prithviraj Kapoor. His elder brother, Yograj Tandon was Urdu playwright and worked as a secretary to Prithviraj Kapoor. Lekh Tandon’s father wanted him to compete for Civil Engineering entrance examination of VJTI in Bombay (Mumbai). Sometime in summer vacation, Lekh Tandon visited Bombay and stayed with Prithviraj Kapoor. During his stay, he used to go with Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor for watching the film shoots. He instantly liked the medium of film and decided that he wanted to become the film director.
While in Mumbai, Lekh Tandon, under pressure from his father, appeared for the entrance examination for admission in VJTI. However, he deliberately did not appear for his last paper as he was interested in filmy career. His father called him back to Lahore and counseled him to first complete his graduation in Engineering and thereafter he could decide whatever career he wanted to choose. However, the circumstances facilitated him to films over his engineering graduation as during partition, his family had to shift to Delhi in August 1947.
In September 1947, Lekh Tandon landed in Mumbai on the advice of Prithviraj Kapoor who told Raj Kapoor to take him as the Assistant Cameraman since he had a science background. This was for Raj Kappor’s first film as producer-director, ‘Aag’ (1948). Simultaneously, he also worked in Prithvi Theatres. After some time, knowing Lekh Tandon’s interest in film direction, Raj Kapoor put him under Kidar Sharma and became his assistant director in ‘Neki Aur Badi’ (1949), ‘Jogan’ (1950), ‘Baawre Nain’ (1950), ‘Shokhiyaan’ (1951) etc. He worked under Kidar Sharma for five years learning all the important aspects of film making. Lekh Tandon regards Kidar Sharma as his Guru in the film making.
After working with Kidar Sharma for five years, Lekh Tandon decided to become a full-pledged director. However, he could not get any opportunity to direct a film to prove his worth. By that time, he was already married and he required work to sustain. He went back to Raj Kapoor who accommodated him as his assistant. But within short period, he left R K Films due to his salary issue. His father. who had settled in Delhi doing business, helped him financially to take care of his family for some time. Knowing his son’s interest in becoming a director, the father sent him Rs.25000/- to enable him to produce and direct a film of his liking, failing which he directed him to shift to Delhi with his family.
The saga of Lekh Tandon getting his first film, ‘Professor’ (1962) as a director is an example of how the Hindi film industry used to work those days. After receiving Rs.25000/- from his father for making a film, he was in a quandary as to how he can proceed to make a film with a meagre amount. Later, this meagre money helped Lekh Tandon to make a beginning towards directing his first film, ‘Professor’ (1962).
Guru Dutt was making a film with a story written by Shashi Bhushan to whom he had also entrusted direction. The film had Kishore Kumar and Waheeda Rahman in the lead roles. However, after doing some initial shootings, Guru Dutt shelved the film. Shashi Bhushan felt very disappointed and apprised his friend, Lekh Tandon, who after hearing his financial problem, bought the story for Rs.5000/- out of pity on him. He roped in another of his friends, Abrar Alvi, who had become a free-lancer, to write screenplay and dialogues with an advance payment of Rs.5000/-.
With screenplay and dialogues ready with him, Lekh Tandon approached F C Mehra with the script which he liked, He decided to produce the film titled, ‘Professor’ (1962) with Shammi Kapoor in the lead role and Lekh Tandon as a director. Shankar-Jaikishan agreed to be the music director, because of their friendship with Lekh Tandon during working with Raj Kapoor and in Prithvi Theatres. Those days, once Shankar-Jaikishan agreed to be the music director, there was no problem in getting the main actors of producer-director’s choice.
When everything for making the film was set, Shammi Kapoor put a condition that he would work in the film only if Nassir Hussain or Shakti Samanta direct the film. Lekh Tandon made it clear that in that case, his script was not for sale. Finally, a compromise was worked out under which the first three reels of the film will be directed by Lekh Tandon. If Shammi Kapoor was not happy with the outcome, he will be replaced with the director of Shammi Kapoor’s choice. When the first three reels were shown to the distributors, they were so happy with the outcome that they bought the film covering all territories for distribution. So, Lekh Tandon continued as director. The film became a super hit.
With the super success of ‘Professor’ (1962), F C Mehra entrusted Lekh Tandon to direct a period drama, ‘Amrapali’ (1966). Despite Vyjayantimala’s splendid dance performances, lavish costumes and the melodious songs, the film failed at the box office. The consolation for Lekh Tandon was that the film was India’s entry to the 39th Oscar Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. His next film, ‘Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan’ (1968) did not fare well on the box office. Lekh Tandon once more joined in the combination of F C Mehra as producer, Shammi Kapoor as lead actor and Shankar-Jaikishan as the music director in ‘Prince’ (1969) which became a box office success redeeming his status as a successful director.
After directing series of flop films in early 70s, Lekh Tandon directed his biggest box office successful film, ‘Dulhan Wohi Jo Piya Mann Bhaaye’ (1977) produced by Rajshree Productions with newcomers, Rameshwari and Premkrishan. Lekh Tandon won the Filmfare Award for the Best Screenplay and Dialogues along with Madhusudan Kalelkar and Vrajendra Gaur. Thereafter, except for ‘Agar Tum Na Hotey’ (1983), almost all other films directed by Lekh Tandon did not fare well on the box office. Gradually, his filmy career as a director was coming to an end as in the 1980s, this was the time the action genre of films were in vogue which did not suit his temperament.
Sometime during the lean patch of his filmy career, Lekh Tandon visited Delhi to see his sick mother. During his stay in Delhi, Revati Saran Sharma, a playwright and theatre personality met him who was writing for a Doordarshan serial, ‘Phir Wahi Talash’ (1989-90) and suggested him to take up its direction. With this, his romance with the Television serials started which kept him busy for over a decade. He directed TV serials like ‘Farmaan’ (1994-95), ‘Ladaai’ (1995-96), ‘Kurukshetra’,(1995-96) ‘Yaaraana’ (1996-97), ‘Zameer’ (2000), ‘Khushi’ (2000-01), ‘Milan’ (2000-01), ‘Aisa Desh Hai Mera’ (2006) etc. Lekh Tandon is also credited with discovering Shah Rukh Khan when he took him in his TV serial ‘Dil Dariya’ (1988) and ‘Doosra Kewal’ (1989) though ‘Fauji’ (1988) was Shah Rukh Khan’s first TV serial to be released.
Since working for TV serials was much more demanding than the films because of budget constraint and the time bound completion of the episodes, the workload put a strain on the health of Lekh Tandon. When his wife was seriously ill, she took a pledge from him that hence forward, he would not work for TV Serials. After her death, Lekh Tandon gave up working for TV serials. Later, with requests from his friends like Shah Rukh Khan, he acted in films like ‘Swadesh’ (2004), ‘Paheli’ (2005), ‘Rang De Basanti’ (2006), ‘Chennai Express’ (2013) etc.
Lekh Tandon passed away on October 17, 2017, at the ripe age of 88 due to paralytic stroke. At the time of his death, he had almost completed his film, ‘Phir Isi Mod Pe’ (2019) which was based on triple talaq. [Note: The life profile of Lekh Tandon is mainly based on his TV interview which was telecast on ‘Rajya Sabha TV’ sometime in 2015].
On the occasion of the 97th birth anniversary of Lekh Tandon, I have selected a song from his film which started with a title, ‘Mil Gayee Manzil Mujhe’ and certified by the Censor Board under the new title, ‘Do Raahen’ (2000). The film was produced under the banner of Plus Films and was directed by Lekh Tandon. The cast included Meenakshi Sheshadri, Kanwaljeet Singh, Milind Gunaji, Deepak Qazir, Saleem Shah, Shiva Rindani, Masood Akhtar, Rana Jung Bahadur, Prabha Mishra, Madhumalati etc. The films’ audio songs were released in 1998 under the original title. The film was certified by Censor Board on August 31, 2000, with the title ‘Do Raahen’. It appears that the film did not get the theatrical release but the DVD of the film was released.
I have already given the story of the film in detail while covering the song, shaam dhalee ban mein mehkee hawaa from the film. To recapitulate the story, I give below the gist of the story:
The story of the film appears to be partly based on the life of Veerappan. Milind Gunaji in the role of a rebel leader of the tribals is named as Rajappa and he is shown to operate in around Bandipur forest region. However, there is a love angle added to his character. He is infatuated by the TV journalist Meenakshi Sheshadri who has come to Bandipur to take his interview. Later she becomes his obsession and eventually his end. On the other hand, there is also a love angle between Meenakshi and Kamaljeet, her cameraman, who, in reality, is the undercover operator which Meenakshi is not aware. When Kamaljeet’s identity gets exposed, his chief calls him to abandon the operations and return to the base at once. Kamaljeet defies the order as he cannot leave Meenakshi alone. Kamaljeet and his chief decide to make Meenakshi as a bait and calls Milind for negotiation. When he reaches at the white flag, Milind is killed by chief’s firing.
‘Do Raahen’ (2000) has six songs, all written by Javed Akhtar and set to music by Bhupen Hazarika. One song has been represented on the Blog. I present the 2nd song, ‘kaun mila mohe….dil hai ke dhadke jaaye re’. The song is rendered by Asha Bhosle and is picturised on Meenakshi Seshadri in the forest who dances with the tribal women of the forest. Kamaljeet briefly participates during the dance while Milind Gunaji is watching the dance from a distance without exposing himself. The tune of the song is based on a non-film Assamese folk song composed and rendered by Bhupen Hazarika. However, for the Hindi version, music director, Bhupen Hazarika has got the song rendered by Asha Bhosle in a very unusual style, with addition of chorus singers and with somewhat different orchestration.
Audio Clip (Original Assamese Song):
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Kaun mila mohe haaye re (Do Raahen)(1998) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyricist-Javed Akhtar, MD-Bhupen Hazarika
Chorus
Lyrics
jhigija ghijaaun
o ghijaaun
jhigija ghijaaun
jhigija ghijaaun
o ghijaaun
jhigija ghijaaun
aaa aaaa
aaa aaaa
aaa aaaa
aaa aaaa
kaun milaa mohe haaye re
baadal ban ke chhaaye re
paas jo aaye nain milaaye
saanson mein aandhee see aaye re
dil hai ke dhadke hee jaaye re ae
kaun milaa mohe haaye re
baadal ban ke chhaaye re
paas jo aaye nain milaaye
saanson mein aandhee see aaye re
dil hai ke dhadke hee jaaye re ae
nainon se jo nain miley
kaise tujhe chain miley
pyaar kaa hai dank lagaa re
ye huaa hai kyaa sakhee ree
ho gayaa hai kyaa sakhee ree
kyon naheen mann ko mere chainaa
kyon hai meree neend gayee
jaage hai kyon dard kayee
kyon mohe lambee lage raina
rog vikat hai
koi nikat hai
goree tere man se
kaun milaa mohe haaye re
baadal ban ke chhaaye re
paas jo aaye nain milaaye
saanson mein aandhee see aaye re
dil hai ke dhadke hee jaaye re
choodee nayee gajra naya
bindiya nayee kajra naya
kyun hai tera roop naya re
jab tu sataaye yaah sakhee ree
main bataaun kyon sakhee ree
hai koi sajna mera apnaa
jaagoon yaa soun sakhee main
uske hee bas houn sakhee main
uske bina ab naheen jeenaa
rog vikat hai
koi nikat hai
goree tere man se
kaun milaa mohe haaye re
baadal ban ke chhaaye re
paas jo aaye nain milaaye
saanson mein aandhee see aaye re
dil hai ke dhadke hee jaaye re ae
kaun milaa mohe haaye re
baadal ban ke chhaaye re
paas jo aaye nain milaaye
saanson mein aandhee see aaye re
dil hai ke dhadke hee jaaye re ae
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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