Radha ne kiya singaar kyun
Posted by: Atul on: March 12, 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 Historical film – Andolan-1951.
The film was produced by Harnam Motwane, for his own banner Motwane Ltd. Bombay. It was directed by Phani Mujumdar and the music was by Pannalal Ghosh.
The film had in its cast Kishore Kumar, Shivraj, Krishnakant, Sachinn Shankar- Dancer, Parshuram, Tiwari, manju, Pushpa and many others. There were 3 lyricists and 8 singers for only 5 songs of the film.
film Andolan-1951 was a less known serious film. It is likely that most people have not even heard its name. I have not seen this film. But this is what its film booklet says-“In the year 1885, Charu Dutt, a worldly-wise patriot, journeys from his little village to attend the first session of the Indian National Congress, held in Bombay. A fire with patriotic zeal, he returns to his village and speaks to his friends and relatives of the new wave that is about to spread over India. To his son he explains the cultural and political past of India, from the dawn of her history upto the turbulence of 1857. . The years roll on, and we come to the partition of Bengal. There is thunder in the air, and India’s inspiring song, “Bande Mataram”, is born. . The struggle gathers strength. Mahatma Gandhi appears, and freedom comes closer…..1920….1921….. Simon Commission, Bardoli, Dandi, 1930….1932….the battle rages and the drams heightens, and thus, August 1942, Quit India, and on to the final chapter in our freedom story, which unfolds in this film as the story of a single family, representing the nation of which they are the heart-beats. ”
According to a Review of this film, published in those days- ” The true patriot that he was, Pannalal Ghosh gave stirring compositions and flute playback for the memorable film Andolan (1951)”.
The film, made at Bombay Talkies, was produced by the distributors of the Chicago Radio PA systems. Kishore Kumar plays the role of the militant hero of this quasi-documentary. It is a stridently nationalistic story of India’s freedom struggle, presented through the expressions of a Bengali family from 1885 (when the Indian National Congress was established) to 1947. It has the actual footage of India’s freedom struggle. Speeches and talks of our national leaders, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and many others are included in the narrative of this film.
Important events incorporated into the plot were Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha (1920), the Simon Commission (1928), Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel’s Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) and the 1942 Quit India agitation. Old documentary footage purchased from Kohinoor and Krishna Films, as well as a shot of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore singing Jana Gana Mana are included. The song ‘Vande Mataram’ rendered by Parul Ghosh, Sudha, and Manna Dey is based on Raaga Miyan Malhar. ‘Prabhu Charanon Main Aaya Pujari’ in Raaga ‘Shree’ and ‘Radha Ne Kiya’, both rendered by Parul Ghosh are appreciated by music lovers. ‘Subah Ki Pehli Kiran Tak Zindagi Mushkil Mein Hai’ rendered by Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey and others is a unique experimentation in Bhor music. “
Though Kishore was known as a Comedian and later as a successful singer, he loved to act in serious movies. Andolan was his first serious film. Later he acted in other serious films like Mad Bhare Nain-56, Rangoli-62 and Ganga ki lahren-64. When he started producing his own films he began with serious films like Door Gagan ki Chhaon mein-64 and also made Door ka Raahi-71. He was so touchy about his serious acting that he would not like anyone criticising these films at all.
KISHORE KUMAR (4-8-1929 to 13-10-1987) belonged to an entirely different category. He wanted to become a singer but was pushed to become an Actor in the beginning of his career. His elder brother Ashok kumar-an astrologer by Hobby- had predicted that he will never be a singer !
While in school and college, when he was asked to sing, he would charge 4 annas for a Saigal song and 1 Anna for an Ashok Kumar song. ( In one interview, Ashok Kumar had said ” the rate for Saigal songs went up to 1 Rupee, but my rate remained at only 1 Anna). He came to Bombay to see and meet K L Saigal and ended up doing a small role in his first film SHIKARI-1946. His name was at No.7 in the credits.
After Shikari, Kishore Kumar did a Police Inspector’s role in Shehnai-47. Finally, in the film Ziddi-48 he sang 2 songs-1 solo and 1 duet with Lata (later they sang 320 duets). In the film Ziddi, he was also in the cast, though uncredited. He did the role of a Gardener, who passes witty remarks-2 or 3 times. He then acted in Sati Vijay-48. Then in Rimzim-49 and Pyaar-50 he got opportunities to sing songs. In 1950, in Muqaddar he acted and also sang songs. In Khiladi-50, he sang 1 song.
From 1948-2 songs, in 1949-3 songs and in 1950 10 songs. Thus by 1950 he sang just 15 songs. Then from 1951 to the end of 1953 he sang 56 songs, and then onwards his tally increased.
But as luck would have it, the more he wanted to only sing songs, the more the industry forced him to act. He was a popular Comedian. Famous south indian film maker M V Raman was so much impressed with his ‘Bahar’ songs that he offered him the lead role in his film ” Ladki”-53, opposite Vyjayantimala. Same year he acted with Shyama in H S Rawail’s ” Lahren”-53. The success of these two Hit films brought loads of acting offers to him. As a result, Kishor Kumar played the main Lead in 68 films from 1953 to 1968- Two thirds of all his films ! During this period, he restricted his singing for himself and Dev Anand only.
Thus, one can see that though he was pining to become a singer, he was made an Actor by circumstances and the industry. He was a Reluctant Actor !
The film’s director Phani Mujumdar (28-12-1911 to 16-5-1994), was a seasoned Director. He is the only Director who directed films in 9 languages (Hindi, Bangla, English, Malay, Chinese, Magadhi, Maithili, Aasamese and Punjabi). Starting with P C Barua in Calcutta, besides Street singer-38 and Kapalkundala-39, he had directed several hit films like Baadbaan, Doctor, Tamanna, Door Chalen, Faraar, Aarti, Kanyadan, Akashdeep, Oonche Log etc., a total of 29 films. Here is a short Biography with some extracts from an Obituary on him, written by the famous Film Historian and writer of “Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema”-Ashish Rajadhyaksha. It was published in The Independent,Calcutta, on 22-6-1994.
PHANI MAJUMDAR was a pioneer of Indian cinema, working in the late 1930s with PC Barua, India’s equivalent of DW Griffith, in the famous New Theatres Studio of Calcutta. Here, between 1936 and 1939, new standards were set for Indian motion pictures in a series of reflective, lyrical films that brought cinema closer to life and literature.
Majumdar’s contribution was Street Singer (1938), a melancholy love story, his debut and a classic of Indian cinema. Its male lead, Kundanlal Saigal, sang his immortal song ‘Babul Mora’ here, on a charged symbolic landscape of boats adrift in the mist. The Famine of 1943 and Partition of India were events of the future yet much of the symbolism of Bengal, the redolent Tagorean motifs of life-giving rivers, the feudal elite recreating the 19th century in desolate mansions – all the stuff that Satyajit Ray later spoke of as ‘the past’ – was in place with Street Singer. It was watched, not just as a love story par excellence, but as an expression of themes of Indian identity and nationalism which would be relevant for India,and Majumdar, even beyond Independence.
Majumdar was born in Faridpur, in what is now Bangladesh, on 28-12- 1911. From Calcutta he moved to Bombay in 1941, directing classic musicals which often promoted traditional ways of Indian life, with stars like Suraiya (in Tamanna, 1942), Shanta Apte in Mohabbat (1943), and the blind singer KC Dey.
Majumdar’s Andolan (1951), Indian cinema’s most elaborately constructed nationalist propaganda feature, was made to promote Nehru’s Congress Party and was the closest that India ever came, on film, to defining a popular culture of nationalism: a small family in Bengal experiences in microcosm the major political events in the country, from 1885 (when the Congress Party was established) to Independence.
Majumdar returned to India from working in Singapore in the 1960s, and proceeded to make films in Punjabi, and even in obscure languages like Magadhi (Bhaiya, 1961) and Maithili (Kanyadaan, 1965). His interest in themes of an intrinsically Indian nature was a driving force to the end of his career. He worked on the television phenomenon of the 1980s in India, the 78-part religious epic The Ramayana, and was working on a television series Our India when he died. No doubt, had he lived, the Our India series, on a state television network struggling to hold its own in competition with satellite, would have been the fitting finale to a career which started with Street Singer.
He directed 29 Hindi films, from first film-Street singer-38 to last film Babul-89. Some of his better known films were Street Singer-38, Kapal Kundala-39, Andolan-51, Tamasha-52, Baadbaan-54, Aarti-62, Oonche Log-65 and Mamta-77. He had married actress Monica Desai, sister of actress Leela Desai.
Phani died on 16-5-94 at Mumbai.
The singer of today’s song is Parul Ghosh. Parul Ghosh (1915 – 13/08/1977) was born in Barisal (now in Bangla Desh). She was the second child among three in the family, the first being Anil Biswas and the last being Sunil Biswas. Her mother, Satyabhama Biswas was a classical singer and a kirtankar. In 1924, Parul Ghosh got married to Pannalal Ghosh, a close friend of Anil Biswas. At the time of the marriage, Parul Ghosh was 9 and Pannalal Ghosh was 13.
Sometime in 1930, Anil Biswas shifted his base to Kolkata. Pannalal Ghosh and Parul Ghosh also fallowed him. While Anil Biswas was employed in Hindustan Recording Company as a singer and composer, both Pannalal Ghosh and Parul Ghosh were employed in New Theatres (NT) as the musician and singer, respectively. It is said that while working with NT, Parul Ghosh sang some Bangla film songs. To devote more time on his first love, flute, Pannalal Ghosh shifted to Mumbai along with his family in 1940. At that time, Bombay Talkies was conducting audition for new playback singers. Parul Ghosh also went for audition and got selected.
In Mumbai, the playback singing career of Parul Ghosh started in the right earnest. At that time, the top-most female playback singers like Amirbai Karnataki, Shamshad Begum, Zohrabai Ambalewaali, Zeenat Begum etc came from the family of professional singers. On the other hand, Parul Ghosh was first a house-wife then a playback singer. It took some time for her to create a space for herself in the midst of the top playback singers of that time.
After singing a couple of songs in ‘Kanchan’ (1941) and ‘Mala’ (1941) which failed at the box office front, Parul Ghosh sang as many as 8 songs in Bombay Talkies’ ‘Basant’ (1942) under the music direction of her brother, Anil Biswas. {For the reason of the contractual obligation, Pannalal Ghosh was credited as the music director for the film). The film was a hit and its songs became very popular.
In ‘Basant’ (1942), Shanti Sudha Ghosh, the elder daughter of Parul Ghosh also sang two solo songs for Baby Mumtaz (Madhubala) thus making her probably the first female child play-back singer of Hindi films. Also, this may probably be for the first time that two mother-daughter version songs were sung in the film. Shanti Sudha Ghosh rendered two songs for Baby Mumtaz which were also rendered by her mother, Parul Ghosh for Mumtaz Shanti in the film. These two songs are hamko hai pyaari hamaari galiyaan and mere chhote se man mein chhoti si duniya re.
Following the success of ‘Basant; (1942), Parul Ghosh sang 5 songs for Devika Rani in ‘Hamaari Baat’ (1943) under the music direction of Anil Biswas and 5 songs for Protima Dasgupta in ‘Namaste’ (1943) under the music direction of Naushad. In musical blockbuster film, ‘Kismet’ (1943) in which songs of Amirbai Karnataki dominated, Parul Ghosh sang only one song, papeeha re mere piyaa se kahiyo jaaye which became very popular.
In ‘Sawaal’ (1944). Parul Ghosh sang 5 songs under the music direction of her husband, Pannalal Ghosh. In this film, I liked the ghazal, aaj pehlu mein dard sa kya hai, rendered by her. In ‘Jwaar Bhaata’ (1944), Parul Ghosh sang as many as 8 songs under the music direction of Anil Biswas. One of her best songs in this film was bhool jaana chaahti hoon. In ‘Milan’ (1946) she rendered a beautifully raaga-based song, suhaani beriyaan beeti jaayen. Parul Ghosh rendered 4 songs for ‘Tohfa’ (1947) under the music direction of M. A. Rauf Osmania. She has beautifully rendered an emotion-filled ghazal, hamne tumne kiyaa thha jo aabaad.
Sometime in 1947, due to domestic compulsion, Parul Ghosh reduced her playback singing assignments and chose the life of a house-wife looking after her two daughters and her husband. She sang for the last time as a playback singer in ‘Andolan’ (1951) under the music direction of her husband, Pandit Pannalal Ghosh. This was also the last film for Pannalal Ghosh as a music director. From 1955-60, the family stayed in Delhi after Pannalal Ghosh took up the job as a Composer and Director of All India Radio, Delhi Vadhya Vrinda (Orchestra).
She sang about 95 songs in 33 films. As expected, she sang the maximum number of her songs (30) in 7 films under the music direction of her brother, Anil Biswas.
Parul Ghosh faced a series of tragedies after she withdrew from playback singing. In 1951, her second daughter, Noopur died of small pox when she was around 2 years. In 1960, her husband, Pandit Pannalal Ghosh suddenly died of heart attack at the age of 48. Shanti Sudha, her elder daughter who got married to Devendra Murdeshwar, one of the senior disciples of Pandit Pannalal Ghosh died of cancer in January 1975. All these tragic events had led to deterioration in the health of Parul Ghosh who became bedridden after her elder daughter’s death. During this period, she was looked after by her two nieces (her younger brother, Sunil Biswas’s daughters) and some of the disciples of Pandit Pannalal Ghosh to whom she was the ‘Guru Maa’. Parul Ghosh died on August 13, 1977 at Malad. ( Thanks to Sadanand Kamath ji ).
Here is today’s song, sung by Parul Ghosh. Enjoy….
Song-Raadha ne kiya singaar kyun (Andolan)(1951) Singer- Parul Ghosh, Lyricist- Indeevar, MD- Pannalal Ghosh
Lyrics
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
raadha ne kiya singaar kyun
mohan ghar aayenge
raadha ne kiya singaar kyun
mohan ghar aayenge
khole hain dil ke dwaar kyun
khole hain dil ke dwaar kyun
saaajn ghar aayenge ae ae
saajan ghar aayenge
raadha ne kiya singaar kyun
mohan ghar aayenge
raadha ne kiya singaar kyun
aisee meethhee mohan kee muraliya
jaise kooke kaalee koyaliya
aisee meethhee mohan kee muraliya
jaise kooke kaalee koyaliya
jaga hai man mein pyaar kyun
jaga hai man mein pyaar kyun
preetam ghar aayenge ae
preetam ghar aayenge
raadha ne kiya singaar kyun
mohan ghar aayenge
raadha ne kiya singaar kyun
honthhon pe naach uthhee muskaanen
ghoonghat mein do naina deewaane
honthhon pe naach uthhee muskaanen
ghoonghat mein do naina deewaane
palkon pe hai intzaar kyun
palkon pe hai intzaar kyun
saajan ghar aayenge ae
saajan ghar aayenge
raadha ne kiya singaar kyun
mohan ghar aayenge
raadha ne kiya singaar kyun
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