Pyaar karne de zara
Posted on: May 8, 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 88 year old film Watan-1938.
The film was made by Sagar Film co., Bombay. The cast of the film was Kumar, Bibbo, Sitara Devi, Maya Banerjee, Sankatha Prasad, Mirza Musharraf, Ram Marathe, Yakub and many others. The film was directed by Mehboob Khan. He directed 8 films for Sagar and 1 (Aurat) for National Studios. This film, with a Muslim cultural backdrop, was released on the day of Eid. The film was dominated by grand sets and costumes. The story was usual. Conflict between Kazak and Tatar communities lasted many generations. The film was a complete entertainment package, consisting of Dances, songs, war scenes, Enemity, Revenge, overwhelming costumes and love scenes, in a proportionate manner.
The music was composed by Anil Biswas. All songs were written by Wajahat Mirza. There were a total of 10 songs. One of the songs-a duet by Anil Biswas and Bibbo was based on the tune made by Kazi Nazrul Islam ( Nazrul Geeti). The story is set in Central Asia, based on the Decossackization policy, involving the Bolsheviks and Cossacks with the Cossacks fighting for independence which was a symbolic reference to the independence from British rule in India at that time. It also incorporated a romantic triangle involving Kumar, Bibbo and Sitara Devi. In a fictionalised setting somewhere in Central Asia, the tyrannical Russian Tsar is committing atrocities against the Cossacks. General Murad is sympathetic towards the Cossacks and is arrested for his treachery. He manages to escape and meets Gulnar. Together with the help of princess Nigar who falls in love with Murad, they plan a coup and are successful in routing the Tsar and his men.
The cinematographer, as for most Sagar films, was Faredoon Irani. Following the successful music of Manmohan (1936), Sagar Movietone retained Anil Biswas as the in-house music director, scoring music for Watan along with other releases of the time from the studio. The film was released on 22-1-1938.
Sitara Devi, who started her career as a child actress with Sagar Movietone working with Mehboob, got her first role as a leading lady with Watan. She was adjudged, and received the best actress award, from the Gohar Gold Medal Committee, an award committee instituted by actress Gohar.
In 1938, Sagar Movietone was a powerful film making company. They had the best of directors, big stars and MDs. Directors like Mehboob. Sarvottam Badami, Chimanlal Luhar, Ramchandra Thakur, Zia Sarhadi, Ezra Mir ( real name Edwyn Meyers), Virendra Desai,Nanubhai Vakil etc gave famous and popular films. However, not all films made by Sagar were High Class. Film ” Watan” was also one such film, which probably worked as a ‘ filler ‘ for Sagar. 1937 and 1938 were the Golden years for Sagar, in which the company gave popular films like Jagirdar-37, Mahageet-37, Gramophone singer-38 and 300 days and after-38.
Initially Sagar had their favourite MD, S.P.Rane, who was a Maharashtrian from Gujarat. Out of Sagar’s first 18 films, Rane was MD for 15 films. Anil Biswas was associated with Sagar from the film Manmohan-36, as an assistant to Ashok Ghosh. Independently, his first film was Jagirdar-37. Later he gave music to 11 more films of Sagar and 2 films of National Studios. He and director Mehboob Khan teamed up in 6 films and were very good fiends-till a misunderstanding cropped up, after Sagar merged into National Studios. After this they never worked as a Team.( In 1956, Anil Biswas gave music to the film Paisa hi Paisa, made by Mehboob Productions . However, the film’s director was Mehrish- who had insisted for Anil Biswas- and not Mehboob. During the film’s making, Mehboob avoided meeting AB and even left on foreign tour without meeting him even once ! ).
The Hero of the film Watan-38 was Kumar. Actually his real name was Syed Hasan Ali Zaidi. The change of his name to Kumar was part of an interesting story. Anyway, one can easily say that Kumar was the precursor to the unlimited crop of various Kumars that we saw in the decades of 50s onwards.
In the Hindi film industry, changing the name of the artist was nothing new. One thing is sure. This trend of changing names was started by Kumar only. Many actresses changed their names after appearing in films. Some did it because they wanted to hide their religion and some did it as there were artists with the same name already in films. For example, Shyama. There were already 2-3 Khurshids in the films and her real name was Khurshid, so she changed it. Similarly, Meena Shorey’s name was also Khurshid. Some of the actresses who changed their names were, Jyoti, Renuka Devi, Purnima, Meena kumari, Madhubala, Rattanbai, Madhuri, Pramila, Sabita Devi, Bimla kumari, Indira Devi, Latika, Seeta Devi, Manorama, Nadira, Meera etc etc.
In the case of male actors, the name changing percentage was much less. Few cases like Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Ranjan, Dilip Kumar,Manhar Desai and some more can be counted. Male name changing was seen in as late as the 80s and 90s too. Cases in point are Rajesh Khanna, Akshay Kumar etc etc.
Today’s song is sung by actor Yakub. Yakub Khan Mehboob Khan, known as Yakub, was a Hindi film actor born into a Pathan family, on 3-4-1903 in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. He died on 24-8- 1958 after a career spanning thirty years in the film industry. He is best known for his comedic villainous roles. He commenced his career as an extra, but soon did roles as a hero and later as a villain. He became one of the most renowned screen villains, while achieving equal success in comedy and character roles. Yakub appeared in 13 silent films and in 137 Hindi Talkie films. In addition, he also sang 10 songs in 6 films,namely….Bulbul E Punjab-33, Watan-38, Muqabala-42, Mamaji-42, Aankh ki sharm-43 and Aabroo-43.
Yakub ran away from home at an early age, and did odd jobs such as a motor mechanic and table waiter before joining the ship “S. S. Madura” as a kitchen worker. He left the ship after travelling to various places, like London, Brussels and Paris, then returned to Calcutta where he worked as a tourist guide, among other jobs. He finally came to Bombay, now Mumbai, around 1924 and joined the Sharda Film Company.
During his travels, Yakub watched the films of Hollywood actors, and became greatly influenced by Eddie Polo, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Wallace Beery and later by Humphrey Bogart. Yakub’s first film was Bhalji Pendharkar’s silent Bajirao Mastani (1925), which also starred Master Vithal. It was produced by the Sharda Film Company. He joined Sagar film company and did 5 silent films. He was a part in the first Talkie film of Sagar – Meri Jaan. Thus his first talkie was Meri Jaan (1931), with Sagar Movietone and directed by Prafulla Ghosh, where he played the title role of the Prince. This film has also been credited as Romantic Prince. The film had Master Vithal, Mehboob Khan and Zubeida co-starring in it.
His enactment of the role of an angry resentful son in Mehboob Khan’s Aurat (1940) made him popular to the extent that his acting in this film is considered as one of the finest performances in the Indian Cinema. During this film, Yaqub asked for a raise in his salary. When it was refused, he stopped coming for shootings. The director Mehboob insisted on having only Yakub, and so his demand was accepted and he got a raise.
The role was later performed by Sunil Dutt in Mehboob Khan’s famous remake of his own film with the new title Mother India (1957). Yakub’s popularity in those days can be gauged by the credit roll of films such as the S K Ojha directed Hulchul (1951), which had a star cast of Dilip Kumar, Nargis and Sitara Devi, where his name was credited as ‘…and your favourite, Yakub’.
Yakub was an “acknowledged master of comedy” along with other actors such as Johnny Walker, Gope and Agha, but their vast talent was unused, which was a “gross injustice”, according to the B. K. Karanjia’s co-edited book; “Genres of Indian Cinema”. His comic pairing with Gope and Agha was well liked by the audiences, and this caused the film-makers to use their combination in several films. The most prominent of such films were Sagai (1951), Patanga (1949) and Beqasoor (1950) with Yakub and Gope. Yakub, Prithviraj Kapoor and Chandra Mohan were in the highest pay bracket of their times. The triumvirate of Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor, who held reign in the Indian film industry from the late 1940s to the end of 1970s, has been compared to Chandra Mohan, Yakub and Shyam, who were at the top of the acting roster from 1930 to early 1950
Yakub directed three films; Sagar Ka Sher-37 and Uski Tamanna-39 in the 1930s, and Aiye in 1949. Sagar Ka Sher or Lion of Sagar, was the first film he directed as early as 1937 under the Sagar Movietone banner. His co-stars in this film were; Bibbo, Pesi Patel, Sankatha Prasad, Raja Mehdi and David. The music director was Pransukh M. Nayak. Uski Tamanna, also known as Her Last Desire, was made in 1939 under Sagar and directed by Yakub. The film starred Yakub, Maya, Bhudo Advani, Kaushalya, Sankatha Prasad, Satish and Putli. The music was composed by Anupam Ghatak. He directed his third and last movie, Aiye, in 1949 under the Indian Production banner. It had Sulochana Chatterjee, Masud, Jankidas, Sheela Naik, and Ashraf Khan along with Yakub. The music in this film was composed by Nashad (Shaukat Dehlvi) and was Mubarak Begum’s first film as a playback singer. Yakub’s second cousin Allaudin was the song recordist for this film. However, he lost money on this film and called it the biggest mistake of his life.
When Mehmood was a struggling artist, he would hang around Bombay Talkies waiting for Yakub to arrive. Yakub knowing his financial state would give him one or two rupees in the form of loose change. Yakub was a deeply religious person and was called Maulana by his friends
Yakub died in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, on 24-8-1958 at the age of 54 years. (adapted from the book ‘ Sagar Movietone ‘ by Biren Kothari, book Mehboob khan, wikipedia, book Ateet ke sitare with thanks and my notes).
Here is today’s song, sung by Yakub. Enjoy the video song. Though 88 year old, it is amazing to see a clear video.
Song- Pyaar karne de zara (Watan)(1938) Singer- Yakub, Lyricist- Wajahat Mirza, MD- Anil Biswas
Lyrics
pyaar karne de zara
aaj to jee bhar ke mujhe
pyaar karne de zara
baad e muddat ke kaheen
ab aayee hai barsaat kee raat
baad e muddat ke kaheen
ab aayee hai barsaat kee raat
pyaar karne de zara
aaj to jee bhar ke mujhe
pyaar karne de zara
sultaana
aaj tum khaamosh kyun ho
tumhen kis baat ka ranj hai
huzoor
aaina toot jaane ka
aaina toot jaane ka
ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha
to ismein ranj karne kee kya baat hai
tootne ka khatka jaata raha
hahahahaha
chaand taare bhee hamen
dekh sakenge na sanam
chaand taare bhee hamen
dekh sakenge na sanam
?? ab ke diye
aayee hai barsaat kee raat
?? ab ke diye
aayee hai barsaat kee raat
pyaar karne de zara
aaj to jee bhar ke mujhe
pyaar karne se zara
huzoor
sultana se aapne shaadee karne ka kahan thhaa wo
to kitnee dafa shaadee hogee
yoon to kaatee hai bahut
wasl kee raaten hamne
yoon to kaatee hai bahut
wasl kee raaten hamne
yaad rakh
jaayegee ??
hasr ke barsaat kee raat
haan yaad rakh jaayegee
?? barsaat kee raat
pyaar karne de zara
aaj to jee bhar ke mohe
pyaar karne de zara
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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