Kabhee rotee kabhee hanstee
Posted on: April 11, 2026
- In: Duet | Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Mukesh - Usha Timothy Duet | Mukesh songs | Post by Mahesh Mamadapur | Rare song | Song from unreleased movie | Songs from Unreleased Films of 1960s | Songs of 1960s (1961 to 1970) | Songs of 1970 | Usha Timothy song | Yearwise breakup of songs
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This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, 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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Blog Day : |
6476 | Post No. : | 20121 |
Mukesh and his Co-Singers –17
Continuing the series on Mukesh and his co-singers, I bring forth the songs that he sang with Usha Timothy. I had written this post about four months back, but it was put under hold because I had built up a narrative on half-truths and unverified claims as they were imperative for the subject of the post. The editors, however, thought it was prudent not to include such questions/hypotheses in the post. Today, I prompted myself to make some changes and rewrite an abridged version.
Anyway, my castle was built on this interview of Usha Timothy specifically from 29:30 seconds onwards regarding the famed NFS, Ae mere watan ke logon.
The above non-film patriotic song sung by Lata Mangeshkar needs no introduction. But there is no denying that there exist some unanswered questions regarding some or the other episode of the famous song.
And we have playback singer Usha Timothy saying in the above interview that she had first sung this song at Ahmedabad stadium for an Army show, when she was 11 years old. The proof in the form a photo is also shown in the interview where a young Usha is seen with composer C. Ramchandra and (Mahendra Kapoor?)
It is easy to discard her views and say it could be some other song but consider the following.
• The assertion is from a horse’s mouth.
• She sings the same song in continuation of the incident narration.
• A photo of the event is very much shown.
• She also says Lata Mangeshkar was aware that she had sung it first.
I leave it to the readers to draw their own conclusions or discuss the matter in the comments section. To support my conjecture, I have the tale from Usha ji herself in the video.
Anyway, coming to the more important subject of the post, there is less statistics and more narration, blog articles, news reports, interviews etc. regarding the professional career of Mukesh and Usha Timothy. Apparently, they worked together for more than 15 years. But most of the association was for private events, functions etc. rather than films playback. As such we have Usha ji having fond memories of her musical journey with Mukesh, but the fact remains that they sang only 4 songs together and that too, two from an unreleased film “Kal Subah”. Usha ji in the above interview also says that Mukesh helped her fetch songs for this unreleased film.
Here is the short table of the collaboration between Mukesh and Usha Timothy.
| S. No | Name of the song | Movie (Year of release) | Lyricist | Music Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London Paris ghoom ke dekha | Parivaar (1967) | Gulshan Bawra | Kalyanji Anandji |
| 2 | Dhol bajaa dhol dhol jaaniyaa * | Vishwaas (1969) | Gulshan Bawra | Kalyanji Anandji |
| 3 | Aaj to hain saath mein | Kal Subah (UR) | Brij Rattan | Vinay Bhushan |
| 4 | Kabhi roti kabhi hansti | Kal Subah (UR) | G. S. Madhup | Vinay Bhushan |
*With Mahendra Kapoor and Hemlata.
1 and 2 are from well-known films. 1 being the more popular than 2.
3 and 4 as said are from an unreleased film. 3 incidentally was taken up by self for my other series on Mukesh and his Composers. I have provided whatever little information is available on this unreleased film in my post cited at S. No 3 in the above table.
There is plenty of material including a wiki page on Usha ji. She has given many interviews and is active to this day on social media where she fondly remembers her days with the legends. Hence, I am skipping any detailed writeup on her career.
In this post, I present the 4th and the last of the songs that they sang together.
Youtube Link:
Song-Kabhee rotee kabhee hanstee (Kal Subah)(UR)(1970) Singers-Mukesh, Usha Timothy, Lyricist-G S Madhup, MD-Vinay Bhushan
Lyrics
Kabhee rotee kabhee hanstee
kabhee bantee bigadtee hai
ishaare unke hote hain
kahaanee meree bantee hai
kabhee rotee kabhee hanstee
kabhee bantee bigadtee hai
kabhee rotee
udhar wo naachte hain jhoom ke
mastee ke aalam mein
idhar ham jinke ashqon ko
jo girte apne daaman mein
jo girte apne daaman mein
wo nafrat humse hain karte
mohabbat unse hum karte
khabar kya unko hai hum par
yahaan kya kya guzartee hai
kabhee rotee kabhee hanstee
kabhee bantee bigadtee hai
kabhee rotee
jab wo paas hain aate
bahaaren jhoom jaatee hain
bahaaren jhoom jaatee hain
chaman kee mastee mein kaliyaan
ghoonghat apna hataatee hain
hawa mein goonj uthhte hain
mohabbat ke naye naghme
nigaahen jab milaa kar
wo nigaahon ko jhukaatee hai
magar phir khel kismat ke
hamen maayoos kar dete
hum majboor ho jaate
hum majboor ho jaate
kahaanee yoon badaltee hai ae
kabhee rotee kabhee hanstee
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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