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
- 12 Comments
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
12 Responses to "Kabhee rotee kabhee hanstee"
April 13, 2026 at 11:20 am
Mahesh ji,
The claim of Usha T. is false.
Every 3-4 years this point comes up and people start chewing it again. I remember, in 2008 0r 2010, RMIM took this up very seriously and after a lot of research and proof, it was finally proved this claim false.
She says she and CR sang it in Ahmedabad, as a duet 2 months before Lata sang it in Delhi. This is simply not possible, because the song was written only a few days before the Delhi function.
In this connection I would suggest, please read my post here, which discusses the entire matter in details. https://atulsongaday.me/2013/02/11/pyaar-ke-jahaan-ki-niraali-sarkaar-hai/
You can also see her interview on beetehuedin.com, a blog of Shishir Krishna Sharma ji.
As long as her video is kept on Youtube, this problem will remain alive.
-AD
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April 13, 2026 at 7:00 pm
Arunkumar ji,
Thanks for your comments
In Shishir Krishna Sharma ji’s interview also, she says
“C Ramchandra had got his superhit song, ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon Zara Aankh Mein Bhar Lo Paani’ sung first from me in a show in Ahmedabad. “
Now the problem is the interview of Sharma ji also since he is known for putting up hard facts on his blog.
Coming to your post, I have read it earlier and there is no Usha ji’s part of the story in it. In fact, my earlier write-up included more questions on the Kavi Pradeep, Asha ji, Lata ji and C Ramchandra episodes which I had to censor. 🙂
RMIM “conclusions”, I do not recall now.
I stand by my reply to Sadanand ji which I know again leaves things wide open.
Thanks.
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April 13, 2026 at 7:19 pm
Mahesh ji,
My article on this song was for a different reason to assert that the song was not a stale one but written only few days before Delhi function.
Anyway, you are free to have your opinion on this issue.
-AD
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April 13, 2026 at 8:29 pm
Mr Shishir Krishn Sharma has taken Usha Timothy’s statement on face value. He apparently did not go deep into the matter by going through the statements of C Ramchandra and Kavi Pradeep in this matter.
Mr Shishir Krishna’s article does not mention when this “first” public singing was performed by Usha Timothy. Any public singing by any singer after January 1963 will be considered public singing. Perhaps C Ramchandra may have used Usha Timothy voice for this song in the first function after Delhi.
Nowadays, lots of misleading and/ or incorrect information is doing the rounds on youtube etc which are patently false. Just today I read an article on facebook which informs its gullible audience that Asha Bhonsle’s song “dum maaro dum” was a banned song. And there are takers for such a false statement.
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April 20, 2026 at 1:24 pm
Dear Mahesh ji,
Shishir Krishna Sharmaji has tried to reply you on this issue, but his comment is not getting posted on the Blog. He spoke to me and has sent his comment to me for posting here. Please read….
Dear all,
I do admit that I did not question Usha ji on her claim about ” aye mere watan “, but at the same time I wish to state that ‘ not questioning ‘ was not intentional.
That time my Blog was in the initial stage and I knew nothing about the controversy of that song or CR’S autobiography etc. In such circumstances, I was bound to accept Usha ji’s statement.
Hope you understand my compulsion.
Regards.
-Shishir Krishna Sharma.
Hope his position is clear now. Thanks.
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April 13, 2026 at 10:30 pm
There is nothing wrong in having a healthy debate on the issue since irrefutable proof is not available on the blog that Usha ji was not the first to sing the NFS.
As yet.
I think when she says “first” both in the video and the interview with Sharma ji, she means before the Delhi event. That’s what appears to me.
A couple of ways to close this chapter are..
Contact Usha ji and get specific clarification.
The date of the Ahmedabad stadium concert either from the stadium or newspaper archives.
And to strongly reiterate my opinion, it is highly unlikely that such an important song could have been sung in Ahmedabad stadium before the actual event in Delhi.
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April 14, 2026 at 3:10 pm
Good Afternoon,
Very melodious song.
Thanks a ton for sharing.
Blessings
Uma🙏
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April 21, 2026 at 6:13 pm
Arunkumar ji,
Thanks for your efforts to reach out to Sharma ji.
Shishir Krishn Sharma ji’s compulsion is well understood. I cherry-picked one line in the context of my post. There is nothing wrong in his interview as it was about her whole singing career.
Again, I found one more context on swapnilsansar.org blog.
http://swapnilsansar.org/2016/10/jab-jab-bahar-ayee-usha-timothy/
Not many people know that Usha ji was also a regular participant in the shows of C Ramchandra also. She says, “I used to be part of his shows regularly. Infact, the famous Pradeep song, Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon was initially sung as a duet by me with C Ramchandra sahab for a show
“Sainikon Ke Liye” conducted in Ahmedabad Stadium. This was around two months before Lata ji presented it as a solo. Thus me and C Ramchandra sahab were the first singers to publicly give voice to this fabulous song.”
She is consistent in her assertion, and there is nothing concrete to disprove her. As i said earlier, I am not aware of RMIM conclusions.
I think someone has to speak with Usha ji on this specific subject ONLY for clarification and conclusion.
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April 21, 2026 at 10:17 pm
Mahesh ji,
you say ” there is nothing concrete to disprove her “
I ask, is there anything concrete to prove her claim ?
The answer is Nothing to support her words. As far as your finding one more repetition of her claim, this is very common that such things are copied and used by many. Here too he is only reproducing what she said.
Tomorrow, if I start claiming that before Usha ji, I sang this song, I will get hundred people who will repeat this on internet.
Most important is Usha ji claimed it only after CR and Pradeep expired.
The question remains when the song was written just 15 days before Delhi function,. how it was sung by Usha ji two months earlier?
I leave it to you to guess.
-AD
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April 22, 2026 at 7:52 am
Words of C Ramchandra (music director) and Pradeep (lyricist) are available to counter her claim. The lyrics were created by Kavi Pradeep only in January 1963 as stated by him. The song did not exist before that so how did Usha Timothy sing it two months prior to that ?
Here is Kavi Pradeep’s interview where he mentions that the song was meant to be sung on January 1963 and he had to change the mukhda for the publicity material so that no one could guess the content of the song.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
April 12, 2026 at 10:47 am
Mahesh ji,
I have a couple of counterpoints to Usha Timothy’s assertion that she had first rendered ‘ae mere watan ke logon’ at Ahmedabad stadium for an Army show.
Usha Timothy was born on 8/10/1948. She said that she was 11-years old when she rendered the song which means that it was sometime in 1959-60.
Kavi Pradeep in his interview on BBC Radio conducted sometime in 1997, has mentioned that he was asked to write the song for the Red Fort gathering on 26/27 January 1963, in the background of Indo-China war of October 1962. He was keen that the song which he wrote keeping Lata Mangeshkar in mind should have a surprise element because he had written the patrotic song in a sombre mood unlike all other such songs of that time which were of high-energetic, inspirational songs. So, I do not think that C Ramchandra would have let ‘cat out of the bag’ before the song was to be presented at Red Fort in the presence of the august gathering.
As regard ‘photo of the event’, it is not a conclusive proof that the photo was of the same event. Usha Timothy was one of the regular members of C. Ramchandra’s orchestra programmes. The photo could be from any of their programmes. It is also a well known fact that in TV interviews, sometimes the photo appears more as a representive one than the acutal.
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April 12, 2026 at 3:04 pm
Sadanand ji,
Thanks for your detailed comment.
Yes, it is highly unlikely that it could be the same NFS.
Kavi Pradeep would not have written this great song and sitting on it. It was in all likelihood written for the Red Fort concert itself and maybe only a few days earlier.
But Usha ji video interview, in person, is very intriguing to say the least as she affirms and confirms that she sang it first. She even goes on to say that Lata ji knew it all along.
I have based my points entirely on her video interview.
Thanks
mahesh
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