Aasha kabhee na jaaye
Posted on: April 13, 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 an obscure and less known Costume film- Captain Kirti kumar-1937.
The year 1937 was a year of Revolution for the newly started Talkie Film. Initially the films were mainly based on Folk tales, Parsi dramas and Mythological stories. 1937 was a year in which the Film industry was trying to drop its old skin and don a New Avtar. From this year, a variety of subjects were used to make films. If we briefly look at some path breaking, landmark films using Novel themes, we will understand how the film industry was attempting to change itself.
The newly established Minerva Movietone made a film on the importance and benefits of Celibacy in the film ‘Atma Tarang’.
Some artistes made their Debuts in 1937, like Ghulam Mohammad,MD for film Banke Sipahi, Comedian V H Desai in film Captain Kirti Kumar, Kishore Sahu in fil Jeevan prabhat, the eternal Mausi of Hindi films, Leela Mishra debuted in film Gangavataran. This was also a Debut film for Dadasaheb Phalke in making a Talkie film. David made his Debut in ‘Zambo-the ape man’.
Prakash films tried their hand at Stunt films with ‘ Challenge’ and ‘His Highness’, using Veterinary actors like Dogs, Horses and a Motorcycle. Prabhat’s iconic film ‘ Duniya Maane na’ shook All India audiences with its story. Shanta Apte sang an English song in it. Bombay Talkies made its first and last Mythological film ‘ Savitri ‘ with Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani.
Gangavataran was a film made by Dadasaheb Phalke. It was his First, the only and his last Talkie film too.
Imperial made India’s first indigenously made First colour film-Kisan Kanya. With this film, however, Master Nissar ended his ‘Hero’ ship as an actor.
Wadia Movietone made India’s first songless talkie film,’ Naujawan ‘, facing the ire of its audience for ‘cheating ‘ them !
‘Zambo – The Ape man ‘ became the first Tarzan type Indian talkie film, beginning a new Genre !
Maadan theatres Calcutta pulled its shutters down with their last Talkie film’ Zinda Bhoot ‘.
1937 was real path breaking for 2 solid reasons….One, for the first time, Playback singing started in a Bombay film with ‘Mahageet ‘. The song was sung by Anil Biswas, its MD and it was filmed on Hiren Bose, in the role of a beggar, near a crematorium (Smashan Bhoomi), as per book ‘ Music without Boundaries’ by Dr. Ashok Ranade,pp183-186.
Secondly,for the first time, in an Indian film successful special effects were used in film ” Khwaab ki Duniya ” -a film by Prakash Pictures, based on the popular novel “The Invisible Man” by H G Wells. A Hollywood film by the same name was made in 1933. The trick scenes in this Indian film were as good as the Hollywood film. Credit goes to Babubhai Mistri for creating the actions of an Invisible man , on the screen. He was nicknamed ” Kala Dhaga ” after this film.
Here are some more films of 1937….
Atma Tarang…. Minerva movietone’s first film. A resounding flop. Only 20 people for the first show !
Anath Ashram….By New Theatres, Calcutta
Asiai Sitara….By Haribhai Desai. Remake of his own silent film of the same name. Jenabai Pawar, wife of actor Zunzar Rao Pawar, an Anglo Indian (Jena Lawson) was Heroine and she sang few Hindi songs also.
Banke Sipahi… Debut of Ghulam Mohd. as M.D.
Bhishma….First remake of a Tamil film of 1936.Music was by Mukhtar begum.
Bulldog….Indurani as heroine and singer.
Captain Kirti Kumar….Debut of comedian V.H.Desai
Dharam veer and Prem Veer….Both films by Huns Pictures of Master Vinayak.
Duniya Na Maane…. Prabhat film on social evil.
Gentleman Daku…Double role of Leela Chitnis.
Guru Ghantal…. Debut of Om Prakash (Uncredited)
Hurricane Hansa…. Nadia in Wadia’s stunt film.
Insaaf…. First film of total 7 films with the same Title.
Wahan….First film by Prabhat on a story from another planet.
Some noteworthy other films were….
Izzat, Jeevan Prabhat, Khan Bahadur, Khudai Khidmadgar, Kisan Kanya, Mahageet, Moti ka Haar, Naujawan, Pratibha, President, Qazzaq ki Ladki, Shadi ka mamla, Toofani Tarzan, Vidyapati and Wahan.
Under this scenario in the film industry, Sagar movietone made their film Captain Kirti Kumar-1937. No details of this film are available anywhere, except what is given in the HFGK. Therefore, we have no idea about its story and other details. Even The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema is mum on this film. The film was directed by Chimanlal Muljibhoy Luhar and the music was by an ‘One Time Music Director’- A. Bhasker Rao. This was his only film as an MD. He was a writer ( Aadmi-39) and assistant Director(Padosi-41) in Prabhat. Hailing from south Karnataka, Amembal Bhasker Rao’s elder brother A.Sunder Rao was an expert Harmonium player. His younger brother A. Dinkar Rao aka D. Amel was with A.I.R. as a Musician for 40 years. A.Bhasker Rao was a Tabla player and a disciple of Master KrishnaRao Phulambrikar.
The cast of the film was Motilal, Bibbo, Krishnakumari, Yaqub, V.H.Desai, Sankatha prasad, BhudoAdvani, Ram Marathe and others.
V.H.Desai made his debut with the film Capt. Kirti Kumar-1937.He was a famous and extremely popular Comedian from late 30s to 40s. He was a law Graduate from Baroda,b ut instead of courts, opted for films. His style was typical-fast delivery of dialogues. He was very poor in remembering Dialogues and required many retakes. As per Ashok Kumar, in one of the Bombay Talkies films(Kangan), he took as many as 75 retakes.The German Director Franz Osten was so furious that he told Desai “if you were not so popular a comedian in India, I would have thrown you out long back” !
Starting with Sagar Movietone,he did Capt.Kirti Kumar,and then joined Bombay talkies( Bhabhi, Navjeevan,Jhoola,Kangan,Naya Sansar,Kismet etc).He acted in initial films of Filmistan,from where he was taken by P L Santoshi for Shehnai and Khidki.Later he did Shaheed and Andaz. In Andaz-49 he did the funny role of DDT-i.e. prof.Devdas Dharamdas Trivedi.The role was specially written for him. In all he did 19 films only.
Desai died of a heart attack on 25-1-1949.
One of the heroines in this film was Bibbo aka Ishrat Sultana. She was born in Delhi in 1906. Her mother Hafeezan Bai was a famous singer. She was extremely beautiful. Being from a singer’s family,she was trained in music at home. She landed in Bombay in 1933. She started her acting career with Ajanta Cinetone Ltd. in 1933, working with directors like M. D. Bhavnani and A. P. Kapoor. She was one of the top leading ladies of the 1930s along with actresses like Devika Rani, Durga Khote, Sulochana, Mehtab, Shanta Apte, Sabita Devi, Leela Desai and Naseem Banu. She was referred to as “one of the most important female stars of the 1930s and 1940s”.
Her fame had her featured in the lyrics of a popular song from the film Gharib Ke Lal (1939) sung by Mirza Musharraf and Kamla Karnataki, with music by Sagheer Asif and lyrics by Rafi Kashmiri. “Tujhe Bibbo Kahoon Ke Sulochana” (Should I call you Bibbo or Sulochana), where Sulochana referred to another popular actress of the time. This was the first time a song featuring famous actors was used in the lyrics of a film song.
She acted in Maya Jaal and Rangeela Rajput. Then came Dukhtar e Hind,Sair e Paristan and Vasavdatta. She sang duets with Master Nissar which became very popular. She was so stylish and attractive that many Nawabs,kings and State heads invited her.In her hey-days,she was very rich and lived a very luxurious life.She was a Fashion icon in those days for ladies in India,Burma and Ceylon.Her dresses used to be copied. She worked for Sagar movietone after Ajanta and Manmohan-1935 became a hit. Her duets with Surendra became a rage all over India.
BIBBO aka Ishrat Sultana has the distinction of being India’s(or rather the world’s) FIRST Woman Music Director, when she gave music to the film “ADL E JAHANGIR”-1934(it was also titled as NYAYEE- means one who does justice).There were 14 songs in the film .Later in 1937,she gave Music to yet another film, this time along with Dr.Samad, “QAZZAK KI BETI”. There were 9 songs in this film. She, however, did not become a professional or a prolific Composer-like Jaddanbai or Saraswati Devi.
She worked in nearly thirty films as a lead actress in India from 1933 to 1947, shifting to character roles in later years, following her move to Pakistan. She won the Nigar Award for the best character actress for her role in the Pakistani film Zehr-e-Ishq (1958).
Bibbo shifted to Pakistan following the partition of India in 1947. She started working in films there as a character artist doing about twelve films from 1950 to 1966.
Her first film in Pakistan was Shammi (1950), a Punjabi picture directed by Munshi Dil. She co-starred with Shammi, Santosh and Ajmal. It had music composed by Master Inayat Hussain.
Dupatta (1952), was an Urdu film directed by Sibtain Fazli and produced by Aslam Lodhi. It starred Noor Jehan, Sudhir, Ajay Kumar and Yasmin along with Bibbo. The film was acclaimed as a big hit commercially and had music composed by Firoz Nizami, with songs sung by Noor Jehan.
Zahr-e-Ishq was released in April 1958. Produced by Khurshid Anwar and Sultan Jilani under the banner of Select Pictures, it starred Musarrat Nazir, Habib, Yasmin, Neelo and Bibbo. The music was by Khurshid Anwar, with lyrics by Qateel Shifai. Hailed as an “excellent film” by the reviewer, it won Bibbo the Nigar Award for best character actress.
Jhoomar is a 1959 film directed by Masud Pervez, with music composed by Khurshid Anwar. Produced by Anwar for the Noor Minar Pictures banner, it starred Musarrat Nazir, Sudhir and Laila.
Ghunghat (1962), a suspense-thriller drama, was directed by Khurshid Anwar, who also wrote the story and composed the music. The cast included Nayyar Sultana, Santosh, Neelo, Laila and Bibbo.
Bibbo acted in a few more films, with Fanoos (1963) and Ghalib being commendable from her acting point of view, though the films did not do well commercially. Her last cited film is Armaan (1966), directed by Parvez Malik, with music by Sohail Rana.
Bibbo was married by the end of the 1930s to Khalil Sardar, who directed her in Adal-e-Jahangir, for which she gave music. Following the marriage, they left Bombay and moved to Lahore, where they produced a film under the banner of Rainbow films, Qazzak Ki Ladki (1937), where she was also the music director. The film was a commercial failure and Bibbo finally returned to Bombay. Following Partition in 1947, Bibbo moved to Pakistan, where she worked as a character artiste
She had married the eldest brother of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto-Imdad Ali Bhutto. She lived in Karachi and was frequently seen in the Central Hotel, Karachi.
Her end in Pakistan was very pathetic and in very poor condition. She died on 25-5- 1972.
Some of her films are-
300 days and after, Akela, Bhole bhala, Capt. Kirti kumar, Dukhtar e Hind, Gramophone singer, Garib Pariwar, Jagirdar, Ladies only, Maya jaal, Manmohan, Laxmi, The mill, Postman, Pyar ki Maar, Qazzak ki ladki, sagar ka sher, Sadhana, Sair e Paristan, Service limited, Sneh bandhan, Vasavdatta, Watan, Mere Raja, Pehli nazar, Zeenat, Sassi punnu. and Pehla Pyar-1947, her last film in India.
Here is a song from this film, sung by Ram Marathe. Enjoy….
Song-Asha kabhee na jaaye (Captain Kirti Kumar)(1937) Singer- Ram Marathe, Lyricist- Not known, MD- A Bhasker Rao
Lyrics
Asha kabhee na jaaye
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
phool khilen murjhaayen
din jaaye raina aaye
aasha kabhee na jaaye
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
nadiyon ko behne kee aashaa
kaliyon ko khilne kee aashaa
nadiyon ko behne kee aashaa
kaliyon ko khilne kee aashaa
koyal ban ban gaaye
aasha ??
aasha kabhee na jaaye
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aaaa
yahee meree ee ee tumhaaree
zindagaaanee kee kahaanee ee hai
amar aasha hamesha ??
jahaan ?? jaanee hai
jahaan ?? jaanee hai
aasha ??
aasha kabhee ee na jaaye
aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
April 13, 2026 at 7:21 am
Arre! I was surprised: Could there be some connection to this vintage era song to Asha Bhosle though the chances are almost nil!!!
What a coincidence! Aasha kabhi na jaaye was every music lover ‘s wish.
On Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 05:00 Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi
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April 13, 2026 at 7:44 am
I also felt the same way, looking at the mukhda of the song.
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