Lad gayeen ankhiyaan jaane na baalam
Posted on: February 17, 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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Today’s song is from the comedy film Paisa hi Paisa-1956.
The film was made by Mehboob Productions, Bombay. It was directed by Mehrish. The Music Director was Anil Biswas. The Lyricist was Majrooh Sultanpuri. The cast of the film included Kishore Kumar, Shakeela, Mala Sinha, Radha Kishen, Zul Velani, Shyam Kumar, Amar, Mukri, Murad, Husn Banu, Kumud Tripathi and others.
Anil Biswas,the Bhishma Pitamaha of HFM,was a respected person in the industry.He started from the mid 30s and for the next 25 years or so,he created many everlasting gems in film songs. In Bombay,the Playback was first started by him in the film Mahageet-1937. By the mid 50s his magic started waning and by 1960,he was almost gone from the industry. Initially he did 10-11 films with Sagar,then with Mehboob for National studios and then in Bombay talkies- where his name became immortal with the film Kismet-1943.
He married Ashalata (real name Mehrunnisa) in 1936. Along with her, he started Variety Pictures and they produced films like Laadli-49,Laajawab-50;Badi Bahu-51,Hamdard-53 and Bajuband-54. ( a less known fact is-Anil da had made a Guest appearance in the film Hamdard-53 as a barber.) He also acted in the film Mehman-53 (produced by Ashalata),as a Pujari and a song was shot on him.In both cases he did not get any payments. As a Producer he lost heavily, because Ashalata usurped all the money. Frustrated, he gave up everything and separated from her in 1954.
To sustain life, he bought a Truck and did a business of transportation. In addition he also took the contract for a canteen in Mehboob Studios. He failed in both ventures. By now,his relations with Ashalata were soured and sweet links were established with singer Meena Kapoor-25 years younger to him, since 1948 itself. They got married on 19-3-1957. The death of Brother in law and close friend Pannalal Ghosh in 1960 and younger brother Sunil in 1961 as well as his eldest son- Pradeep, broke his heart. He left Bombay and joined A.I.R. at Delhi on 1-3-1963, where he worked upto 27-6-1975. Later he was a consultant for Nehru University for a few years.
Like many filmi couples,Anil da’s married life was also a failure. In Bombay, he used to stay in a huge bungalow,called ” Asha-Pradeep “, on Vincent Road. From Ashalata, he got 3 sons- Pradeep, Amit and Utpal and 1 daughter-Shikha. His son Utpal formed a pair as Amar-Utpal and gave music to few films. The other son Amit established the First Digital Recording Studio in Bombay. Daughter Shikha too got married and settled.
However,hardly anything is known about his eldest son Pradeep,anywhere. Here is some information,hitherto not known much,brought specially for our readers.
Pradeep was a very bright student and always topped in school and college. He passed his entrance exam and the interview,with flying colours for entry to NDA college at Poona,to join armed forces. He excelled even in NDA training.Not only was he very popular there but sang well too. He participated in the music Festival of Khadakwasla NDA and sang 3 songs,winning all prizes. He was also a NDA Topper.
Shri Gopinath Talwalkar,an A.I.R. Programmer at Delhi,used to interview the Toppers of NDA every year. That year Pradeep was the Topper, so he was interviewed. Though the interview was in Hindi, after the recording,Pradeep asked Talwalkar,in pure Marathi,whether his interview had been good. Talwalkar was shocked. Pradeep then explained that he was Anil Biswas’s son and he had learnt Marathi from his actress mother Ashalata. Pradeep knew Hindi,Marathi,English and Gujarati languages.
After completing his NDA training,he was posted as Flight cadet at Jodhpur. He was further promoted and became Pilot Officer in 1957. During one Training flight some altitude problems occurred and his plane crashed at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad, killing Pradeep instantly. This happened in 1961.
This was also the time of crisis for Anil da. He was struggling to survive. Films were not coming to him. Since he married Meena Kapoor, Lata Mangeshkar-a fast close friend of Ashalata , had gone against him and Meena’s singing career was suppressed. He had already lost Pannalal Ghosh and Sunil-his brother and now Pradeep’s death devastated him and he was literally forced to seek employment with Delhi A.I.R., when the opportunity came. After retirement, till his death on 31-5-2003, he spent his life in total anonymity and recluse. So sad for a composer, who was once a fountain of enthusiasm and who was considered Mentor by leading contemporary composers like C.Ramchandra.
It is a well known fact that the originally fast friends, Mehboob Khan and Anil Biswas separated from each other. Then how did Anil Biswas get Mehboob’s film as a M.D. ? Let us understand the background.
Anil Biswas joined Sagar Movietone in 1936 and Jagirdar-37 was his first film as a Music Director there. He became a very good friend of Mehboob. Together with Cinematographer Faredoon Irani, they made a close group of friends.In every film that Mehboob directed from 1937 to 1942 ( 8 films ), Anil Biswas was his Music Director. In 1940 Sagar staff shifted to National and in 1942, National Studios was to be closed. All employees, including Mehboob, Faredoon and Ail Biswas were worried about their future. In that period, Anil Biswas got an offer first from Ranjit Studios, but he rejected it as his friends did not get offers. Then he got an invitation from Bombay Talkies for Rs. 2500 rupees pm as salary. This was too lucrative to reject. Though his friends were jobless, Anil Biswas joined Bombay Talkies.
Mehboob Khan was upset that Anil Biswas deserted his friends for personal gain. Their relations soured and thereafter Mehboob Khan never ever took Anil Biswas as a Music Director for films of his company. After establishing his own Mehboob Productions, he did not invite Anil Biswas. Mehboob Khan prospered and teamed up with Naushad as his Music Director from the film Anmol Ghadi-46 onwards.
By 1954, Anil Biswas broke up with his first wife Ashalata. He divorced her, but lost everything that he had, to her in settlement for freedom. He was not getting any films. For survival he unsuccessfully tried doing Truck business. Seeing his condition, Mehboob offered him the contract for his Canteen,on request from Anil Biswas. That too failed miserably. Mehboob Khan was still bitter at him and he did not offer him any film even then.
The Director of the film Paisa hi Paisa-1956 was Mehrish. He started his career from Sagar Movietone, as a worker, almost at the same time as Anil Biswas. He became Assistant Cameraman. Learning all the tricks of the job, he became chief Cameraman. He stuck to Mehboob Khan when the latter left National Studios and started his own Mehboob Production studio. Over a period he became assistant Director to Mehboob Khan from the film Andaz-49. He continued as assistant Director in Aan -53 and Amar- 53. He even wrote the story of film Amar, which was anyway a remake of film Mala-41, directed by Jairaj. Naushad was Music Director for both the films-Mala as well as Amar. Actor Jayant did the same role in both versions.
When Mehboob Productions planned the film ‘Paisa hi paisa ‘-56, Mehrish was made the Director. Being a great fan of Anil Biswas, he asked Mehboob’s permission to call Anil Biswas as its Music Director. As one who believed in work ethics, Mehboob very reluctantly gave permission to Mehrish, but went on a Foreign trip to avoid meeting Anil Biswas.
Basically Anil Biswas specialised in Tragedy or Serious films. Comedy film was not in his comfort zone, but his financial condition forced him to bow to the circumstances. Being a talented composer, he did well in this too, though the film bombed at the Box office. He was passing through a bad patch. There were rumours in the market that he was finished. Due to this he had lost the film ‘Basant Bahar’ to Shankar Jaikishan, because distributors refused to finance this movie if he was to be signed up as the Music Director. Even S.Mukherjee of Filmistan rejected all his tunes calling him a spent force !
After 1956, except Pardesi-57, Char dil char rahen-59, and Sautela Bhai-62, he got only B and C grade films like Supreman ki wapsi or Jalti Nishani etc. This was also the time when Lata Mangeshkar was unhappy with him. She was a good friend of Ashalata and further she did not like Anil Biswas promoting Meena Kapoor as a singer. Overall, he no longer had time in his favour and his days in the film industry were numbered.
Anil Biswas never liked Rafi’s voice or his singing style. He is on record having said that Rafi’s voice was “Sadak chhap” i.e. fit for singing on road. That is why, he used Rafi rarely though in those days, even when Rafi had become the lead singer of most composers. Rafi’s first song with Anil Biswas was in the film ‘Heer’-56. Rafi sang in a few other films of Anil Biswas as well, like Paisa hi Paisa-56, Abhiman-57 and Sanskar-58. From the total number of films of Anil Biswas-79, Rafi sang only in 4 films. From a total of 777 songs by Anil Biswas, Rafi sang only 7 songs-4 solos and 3 duets !
Film Paisa hi Paisa-56 was an out and out Kishore Kumar film. During the period 1953 to 1965, Kishore Kumar was in great demand. In this period he did 55 films out of his total 91 released films. In his films, he, his songs and his comedy antics were main. Producers never bothered about a strong story base in his films.In any case, his audience wanted to see and hear him, being least bothered about histrionics or literary value of the film story etc. Stories were written for his films to give full scope to his antics. The story of the film Paisa hi Paisa-56 was….
Kishore (Kishor Kumar) is the only son of his miser father. Though very rich, his father always looked for making extra money by hook or crook. He has no scruples in his pursuit of money. When Kishore grew up enough for marriage, his father wanted him to marry some rich girl, so that he gets a fat dowry and all his property.
However Kishore’s nature is different. He is a happy, jolly fellow. Fed up of father’s pestering he runs away from home, meets Mala (Mala Sinha) and they dutifully fall in love. However Mala would marry him only if both families give their consent. Kishore was sure that his father would never agree to this marriage.
Kishore then plans a scheme, with the help of his friends. He makes his father believe that Mala is daughter of a very rich person and that a fat dowry would be given. At the time of marriage, a close bag is given to his father. When he is about to open the bag, Police arrive and arrest the father for taking Dowry which is illegal. He is panicky and to get out of this mess, he agrees to the marriage, without Dowry !
One of the cast members was Zul Velani. Here is his revised information for you…..
Zul Vellani (Born on 16 July 1930 – died on 31 December 2010) was an actor, director, scriptwriter, producer and commentator, obtained a diploma in direction from the London Polytechnic.
He was enormously talented. He wrote elegantly, spoke for film and radio in English and Hindi, acted and directed for stage and screen. He worked for established directors such as Mehboob Khan & V. Shantaram. He wrote films like ‘Amrapali’ and K. Vasudev’s ‘At Flue Past Flue’. Vellani has acted in short as well as feature films, notable among them being Conrad Rooks ‘Siddhartha’. He was most active in the theatre circles of the country and his deep baritone voice made him the candidate of desire to narrate hundreds of documentaries and newsreels for Films Division.
Zul Vellani was born on 16 July 1930 in Mombasa, South Africa. His full name is Zulficar Mohamed Hussein Vellani. He was the son of Mohamed Hussein Vellani. He has one brother named Avi Vellani and three sisters Jenabai Harji Bhanji, Shirin Masoomali Hirji & Yasmin. He was married to Shireen Saleh Kanji. He was farmed out to live in Japan with his father’s elder brother. His uncle was a cruel man who used to whip him. This childhood trauma caused him to stammer.
It was only after Zul Vellani’s return to India, where a sympathetic school teacher advised him to participate in the school’s theatre activities that helped him overcome his stammering and developed his lifelong passion for the dramatic arts.
Dak Ghar-1966 was directed by Zul Vellani. The film won the Golden Plaque at a film festival in Tehran in 1966.
Zul Vellani is best remembered for his work in documentary films. Well-known among them are ‘Khajuraho’ and ‘Man in Search of Man’. A large number of these films won national and international awards. Zul Vellani’s voice remains memorable on HMV records featuring Lata Mangeshkar singing from the Gita and Gyaneshwar. HMV resisted paying his professional fees but the Nightingale was adamant. And Zul won the day.. immortalizing him forever on that album!
Zul Vellani became ‘The Voice’ and was known to be Indira Gandhi’s favourite commentator. On 31 October 1984 – the morning Indira Gandhi was assassinated, two mysterious men turned up at his home and insisted that Zul fly to Delhi immediately. No official announcement about her death had yet been made. But there was a chartered plane standing by for Zul. The Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had left a message that if and when she dies, she would like Zul to do the voice over for her funeral.
Here is a song from this film, sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Enjoy….
Song –Lad gayeen ankhiyaan jaane na baalam (Paisa Hi Paisa)(1956) Singer- Lata Mangeshkar, Lyricist- Majrooh Sultanpuri, MD- Anil Biswas
Lyrics
balma aa aa
tumhre nain ke uthat a a jhukat dukh hoye
hiranee see ghaayal phiroon
mero dard na aa aa jaane koye
lad gayeen een ankhiyaan jaane na baalam
lad gayee ankhiyaan jane na baalam
tadap tadap beete
tadap tadap beete
saaree saaree ratiyaan
jaane na baalam
lad gayeen ankhiyaan
jaane na baalam
anjaane do nainwa aa aa
mil to gaye ek saathh
par ghunghat kee ee ot mein aen
rah gayin man ki baat
man kee lahar jaane udtee chunariya
man kee lahar jane udtee chunariya
chalee main kidhar chhun chhun chhun
chalee main kidhar jane piya kee dagariya
man kee lahar jaane udtee chunariya
sab kee najar jaane ae ae ae ae ae ae
sab ki najar jaane uljhe najariya aa aaa
sakhee
moree batiyaan jane na baalam
sakhi moree batiyaan jaane na baalam
tadap tadap beete
tadap tadap beete
saaree saaree ratiyaan
jaane na baalam
lad gayeen ankhiyaan jaane na baa aa a la a m
lad gayeen ankhiyan
jaane na baalam
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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