Ae maut bura ho tera
Posted by: Atul on: February 23, 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 a Stunt film – Chaalbaaz-1958.
The film was produced by Balwant Bhatt and Ram Kamlani, under the banner of Neo Lite films. Songs were written by Anjum Jaipuri and Prem Dhawan. The music was by the Melody magician Chitragupta. There were 7 songs in the film.
The title Chaalbaaz seems to be quite a favourite with filmmakers. Films with the same title were made in 1958, 69, 80, 89 and 2003. In addition there was Chaalbaaz Leader-70 and Chaalbaaz Haseena-2002 also.
The cast of Chaalbaaz -58 was Nirupa Roy, Jairaj, Nishi, K N Singh, David, Bhagwan, Cuckoo, Moti(Horse) and Tiger (Dog). It was a stunt film, directed by a veteran of this Genre – Nanabhai Bhatt.
In the 1930 to 1960 period, it was almost mandatory to have some animals in every stunt film. The common animals were Horse, Dog, Elephant, Cat and Monkey.In the films based on ‘Naag Stories’, Snakes, Turtles and even Frogs were used. Let’s have a look at the strange world of Cine- Animals.
From 1935 onwards stunt films ,including Nadia’s, had a Horse named “Punjab ka Beta”, a Dog named ‘Tiger’, and a motor car named ‘ Rolls Royce ki beti’.
After the Wadia brothers split, Homi started his Basant pictures, Nadia joined him and another set of animals like, Rajpoot(Horse), Moti(Dog) and Austin ki bachhi (a motor car) were included. In addition there was a Motorcycle called ‘Runnio’ as well.
I was very keen to know more about animals in films. Who trained them, how are they handled and whether the animals are not scared of the strangers and the Arc lights etc were my questions. I did not know how to get this information.
Then suddenly I remembered having read an article-PDF- by Mala Doshi, on Memsaab’s Blog , sometime ago. I tried but could not locate it. As usual the kind hearted memsaab came to my rescue and she provided me with the link to it. I read it completely. However this did not have answers to my questions, though it is also quite informative.
I contacted one of my friends in Pune and he told me that an article giving all this information was published in RASRANG-a Marathi film magazine, years ago. This was a poor clue, but I started searching for it without any result for a long time. My luck smiled on me one day, when I was reading a book RUPERI SMARANYATRA (memories of the silver screen) by Prof.Subhash Savarkar. That article , which I was searching so desperately for, was reprinted in this book !
The article is written by Mr. Vasant Bhalekar who also holds its copyright. This article must have been published in the late 60s or so. I thank Mr.Bhalekar for this information.
‘Punjab ka beta’ was trained by Agha Mehmood who was in the Film Industry from 1930 onwards supplying trained animals. The Horse was born in Ahmedabad, trained in Surat and worked in Bombay. He was very intelligent. His first film was ‘Ishq ki Laila’-a silent film. In 1936 Punjab ka Beta or PKB joined Wadia movietone. His original name was GAZI which was changed by JBH Wadia to PKB, when he first worked in “Hind kesari”.
He was expert in running, trotting, falling, sleeping-like dead, jumping, walking on knees, standing on 2 legs etc. Nadia used him for the first time in ‘Lutaru Lalna’-38 and PKB was her horse till it died. In Diamond queen-40 PKB and Nadia jumped through wild raging fire. Both were burnt, but the shot came off fantastic.
In Jai Bharat-36, PKB carried Master Chhotu in his mouth for a distance and gave close ups too. In Flying Prince there was a shot when the Heroine chases a Train and jumps onto it. PKB was ridden by Hashim, son of Agha, in Heroine’s clothes and boarded the train, but both were a little hurt.
Punjab ka beta died soon after working in Hind ka laal-40. Agha trained another horse Rajpoot just like PKB.
Rajpoot gave a deadly shot in Babuji-50, where he had to climb and come down stairs of a 30 feet set. Agha first took the horse around the sets and up and down 4-5 times. The horse got the idea of the shot and he gave it superbly, though this shot was very life threatening.
Rajpoot also acted in Darvesh-49 and Cobra Girl-63 in which he had to do some back kicking (like an ass). Actually back kicking is the first thing all trainers make the horse forget before the horse’s training starts. Now Rajpoot had to be taught what he was made to forget. For this Agha used to rap his hind legs and make a sound on the Tin sheet kept behind him. After 2-3 days the horse understood what was to be done and started back kicking.
In the film Zabak, the horse was supposed to smile and wink at the Hero. Agha knew that when a Foal (colt or filly- young horse) is brought before a Horse it starts making a laughing face and sounds. Hence be brought a colt and took the shots of Rajput smiling. Then for winking, they used water used after washing crackers. When the horse’s eyes are washed with this water, the horse winks for one hour ! Thus this shot was also taken.
Agha also trained horse Moti and elephant Ramchandra for film NAVRANG-59. They both were trained to do dancing steps for a month. Sandhya danced with these animals and it came out wonderfully.
We see many animals ‘acting’ in the films, but we hardly know how much effort of the Trainers has gone behind that. Besides taking care of the animals, the trainers have to tolerate the ‘moods’ of the animals also.
With the stunt films in “C” grade dwindling, animals which are used nowadays in films are only the pet animals, like Dogs, cats, Birds etc. The use of wild animals like Tigers, Lion, Elephants etc is no longer required in the films. Horses are used sometimes.
Jimmy Bharucha, one of the best Horse Trainers in India, had himself been trained in foreign countries. He had opened a Horse Training School in Poona. Yesteryear actor SHYAM was one of his earliest students. For all his films, Shyam used the same horse from Bharucha.
Whenever he talked about Shyam, Bharucha got emotional.
That fateful day, Shyam was in a very cheerful mood. He joked with other artists as usual. The film was SHABISTAN. He had to do a stunt scene on a horse. His double was kept ready. However Shyam insisted on doing that dangerous shot himself that day. The scene started and was also completed successfully. There was a round of applause claps.
Shyam was getting down from the horse and suddenly,the horse started running. Shyam’s foot got stuck in the stirr-up and he was dragged some distance before people ran and stopped the horse. Shyam was unconscious. He was immediately taken to the hospital, but he died-with his make up and costume still on him !( another actor who died on the sets was comedian actor Gope. He finished his shot. His last dialogue was ” Main upar ja raha hoon”, and he collapsed with a massive heart attack which took his life instantly.)
Bharucha had supplied horses to films like Aan, Anarkali and Mughal e Azam etc. He had supplied Dogs for films like Love in Simla, Hum Hindustani etc. Once when the Producer was not paying in time he stopped the animal’s work. They were paid immediately because the animal’s shots were half done till that time.
Bharucha had trained one beautiful white Horse to dance to the tune of Waltz and Cha Cha. The horse was in great demand by the Taj Mahal Hotel to entertain Foreign guests !
In the “Golden Era”, what a year 1958 was, in terms of musical films ! Most Music Directors had offered their best songs this year. The popular playback singers were very busy and the musicians and the arrangers had a field day, running from this studio to that studio for rehearsals and recordings. The films that came in 1958 were full of wonderful music and one can not make choices in those films. Not only that but there was a variety of different Genres of films on offer. Historical, Costume, stunt,Mythologicals, social, Comedy … .you name it and you would have it. A grade, B grade and C grade… all grades of films had A grade music. An example to quote would be “Hamen to loot liya mil ke husn walon ne…”a very popular qawwali from a C grade film like “Al Hilal “- 1958.
Madan Mohan had 7 films in 1958 and almost all had superb music. Just take a look at these films of 1958… Panchayat, 24 Ghante, P.B.999, Samrat Chandragupta, Jasoos, Mausi, Do Phool, Police, Solva Saal, Sitaron se aagey, Talaq, Kaarigar, Amardeep, Yahudi, Baghi Sipahi, Sadhana, Light House, Dilli ka Thug, Adalat, Jailor, Aakhri Daav, Night Club, Khazanchi, Khota Paisa, Chandan,Kabhi andhera kabhi ujala, Mr. qartoon M.A., Mujrim, 12 o’clock, Howrah Bridge, Phagun, Raagini, Sone ki chidiya, Lala Rukh, Phir subah hogi, Takdeer, Rambhakta Bibhishan, Savera, Detective, Parvarish, Suvarn Sundari, Sohni Mahiwal, Madhumati, Al Hilal, Naya Paisa, Aji bas shukriya………….
Film Chaalbaaz-58 too had very good songs, Chitragupta-the melody Maker being the composer for it. However the film being a stunt picture, songs from this film were not exposed to the elite or a larger section of population, hence it could not compete with other other film songs. As such the Indian public was drenched in lovely music from so many films in 1958 and for a stunt film there was no chance to showcase its music at all.
The story of the film was….
This is the story of the princess of a kingdom,who is very proud and selfish. She wanted her people to contribute for her crowning ceremony. Her army collected money from the people by force. A young son of a blind headman of a nearby village comes to Princes to complain against the army. He is arrested and hanged as a rebel.
Roopa (Nirupa Roy) , his sister, is shocked and wants to take revenge. She dons a male costume and a hood and attacks the army people, snatching money from them and distributing it to the people. She is soon declared as a rebel and becomes a wanted criminal.
Roopa and the Princess love the same young man-Randhir (P.Jairaj). Displeased with the Princess for her cruelty, Randhir leaves her court and joins Roopa and her fight against the army. He too is declared a rebel. They both are arrested by deceit and sentenced to death. Meanwhile the friends of Randhir and Roopa infiltrate the jail, liberate Randhir and Roopa.
There is a final showdown when the princess and the army are attacked. A sword fight between Roopa and the princess takes place. No need to guess what will happen next. It happens the same way and the end is sweet. Randheer becomes the King and Roopa becomes his Queen.
One special point. This was one of the few films of Nirupa Roy, in which she was a Stunt Girl. Contrary to her popular image, she was a versatile actress. She has been a Heroine in 110 films, a mother in over 50 films,has been a Goddess in 50 Mythological films, a suffering wife in over 30 films and a Stunt girl in about 8 films. She sang Bhajans, romantic songs, Comedy songs, qawalis, sad songs and peasant folk songs on the screen.
She changed her Heros like “Badalate hue saathi”. She did 18 films with Trilok Kapoor ( 50-65), 12 films with Balraj Sahni ( 53-72), 16 films with P.Jairaj ( 53-78), and 21 films with Ashok Kumar ( 56-89). She was Amitabh’s mother in 12 films and stunt Girl in 8 films. She even wrote a popular film song for the film Samrat Chandragupta-58 ( Mujhe dekh chaand sharmaye – Lata).
Here is the film’s last and final song, making the film YIPPEED ! The song is sung by Mohd. Rafi. Enjoy….
Song-Ae maut bura ho tera (Chaalbaaz)(1958) Singer-Mohd. Rafi, Lyricist-Prem Dhawan, MD-Chitragupt
Lyrics
miley khaakh mein aen aen naujawaan kaise kaise ae ae
zameen kha gayee aasmaan kaise kaise
ae maut bura ho tera
toone ghar na koi bhi chhodaa
kisee aankh ka motee chheena
kisee daal se phool hai toda
ae maut bura ho tera
man kya kya aas lagaaye
sapnon ke mahal banaaye
man kya kya aas lagaaye
sapnon ke mahal banaaye
par teree ik thokar se
sab maatee mein mil jaaye
dikhte hain wahaan veerane
munh toone jidhar bhee moda
ae maut bura ho tera
kaheen detee bahna duhaayee
toone chheena hai kyun mera bhai
kaheen detee bahna duhaayee
toone chheena hai kyun mera bhai
main baandh to letee raakhee
tujhe itnee daya bhee na aayee
kya hota jo tu de detee
jeewan kuchh aur bhee thhoda
aye maut bura ho tera
toone ghar na koi bhee chhodaa
kisee aankh ka motee chheena
kisee daal se phool hai toda
ae maut bura ho tera
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
February 23, 2026 at 8:56 am
Good Morning Sir Ji,
Very beautiful song. Listening to this song after a long time.
Old songs are always the best.
Thanks for sharing.
Blessings
Uma🙏
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