Unhen dekhen to wo munh pher ke muskuraate hain
Posted on: May 14, 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 a qawwali from the social film – Madmast-1953.
The producer and director of this film was Jagdish C. Pant and the Music Director was V.Balsara. There were 3 lyricists who wrote 11 songs. Madhuraj aka Madhukar Rajasthani (7 songs), Manav (3) and J.C.Pant (1)- director and producer of this film. The cast included Nirupa Roy, Shashikala, Sapru, Ansari, Mukri, S.Nazir, Shakila and others. We have no idea about the film’s storyline. For 11 songs, there were 8 singers. Some new names like Dhan Indorewala, Bahadur Nanji and Mahendra Kapoor were seen here.
Dhan Indorewala was the wife of the Music Director V.Balsara. Bahadur Nanji was his assistant in this film. He sang some more songs in some other films too. This film was the Debut film for Mahendra Kapoor as a Playback singer.
Mahendra Kapoor made his Debut with 2 duets in this film. Mahendra Kapoor became a well known and a prolific singer in later years. However, his songs in the film Madmast-1953 were a blot on his otherwise successful singing career. The reason is…..
Mahendra Kapoor won the Metro-Murphy All India Singing Competition in 1957. The prerequisite condition of the competition was that the participants should have no recorded songs earlier.
MK had many songs recorded much earlier way back since in 1953.His first recorded song was for composer V. Balsara for the movie Madmast-1953. He had sung two songs for this movie.
1)His first recording for this movie was “Kisi Ke Zulm Ki Tasveer Hai Mazdoor Ki Basti”, a duet with Dhan Indorewala (who had later got married to V. Balsara).
2) His other song in the movie was a qawwali with S.D. Batish, “Unhen Dekhen To Weh Munh Pher … Humen Aankhen Dikhaate Hain”.
He sang his first solo, “Kisko Daani Kahen … Tere Dar Ki Bhikmangi Hai Daata Duniya Saari” for Snehal Bhatkar’s Diwali Ki Raat in 1956.
The third song which he had sung was in Heer, the Punjabi movie Heer had music by Anil Biswas.
In addition to the above songs, he is also known to have recorded the following:-
3) A few lines for the song “Ek Taraf Joru Ne Hai Nikaala” for composer Bulo C Rani in the movie Madhur Milan(1955). This song had been sung by Mohd Rafi, Geeta Dutt and A.R. Ojha and penned by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan.
4) A duet with Sabita Banerjee for composer Sanmukh Babu Upadhyaya, “Oh Bedardi Jaane Ke Naa kar Bahaane” for the movie Lalkaar(1956)
When confronted, he lamely said that he had not taken any money for the above songs!!!
This was told by MK himself in an interview for the column ‘kya bhooloon kya yaad karoon’ (sahara samay).(The Blog beetehuedin.com has all these details including the court case, in MK’s interview.)
This is not an unique case of hiding the facts. There are few more cases where the artists have deliberatedly hidden names of their first films, first song, first lyrics or their first Hero’s names. here are some such cases….
Gulzar’s first song was not from Bandini – 63, as is claimed by him, in every interview. He has written lyrics in films Choron ki Baraat-60, Diler Haseena-60 and Shriman Satyawadi-60. He wrote these songs as Gulzar Deenvi. But he also wrote lyrics in the film Kabuliwala-61 and Prempatra-62 in the name of Gulzar. Even then he claims Bandini-63 as his first film- which is wrong.
Mala Sinha came from Calcutta to make a career in Bombay films. In Calcutta she worked in a Bilingual film ‘Chitrangadha-54’ in Bangla and Hindi. In 54 again,she did her first film in Bombay, Badshah-54, then came Hamlet-54, Riyasat-55 and Ekadashi-55. In all her interviews, Mala Sinha always quoted “Rangeen Raten”-56 with Shammi Kapoor as her first film in Bombay. She was ashamed of revealing that in film Riyasat-55, her Hero was Mahipal and in film Ekadashi the Hero was Trilok Kapoor. She always hid this fact. There are many Heroines who want to hide their struggling days. For example,in film “Professor”-62 Shammi Kapoor’s Heroine was Kalpana. Though touted as her first film,her first film was Pyar ki Jeet-62, opposite Mahipal- a fact which Kalpana always hid from everyone.
Similarly, A grade Heroine Meena Kumari also had done several Mythological and costume films before Baiju Bawra took her high up and above other Heroines. Filmslike Veer Ghatotkach-49, Shri Ganesh Mahima-50, Laxmi Narayan-51, Hanuman Paataal vijay-51 and Alladin aur Jadui Chirag-52 had Mahipal as her Hero. In her later years,she always hid her earlier film Heroes. Even comedian Johnny Walker,who is supposed to have made a beginning with Baazi-51, had earlier worked in “The last message or Aakhri paigham”-49. However this fact is not told by anyone.
Not only actors,but even singers do this. They hesitate to say that they first sang for C grade films. Take the case of Sudha Malhotra, who used to declare Arzoo-50 as her first film, under Anil Biswas,but she never told that earlier she had sung 3 songs in film Aakhri paigham-49, under the baton of Abid Hussein Khan, a less known composer.
It is very unfortunate that once the artist becomes famous, he tends to forget his humble beginning with a less known film or a composer. This is because they are ashamed of it. Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji,famous collector and a film Historian,rues that they do so. He feels the blame also goes to people who take their interview,because the interview takers do not do proper homework. Many times they do not know anything and simply listen to whatever is told by the artist.
Music Director V. Balsara, who rose from being an Arranger and an assistant to many MDs had a limited success. Many arrangers, after working for a long time, desired to become music directors themselves. Some of them became MDs also, however history says that most such arrangers failed as MDs. Of course, there are few cases where they have succeeded too, but such cases are very few.
Datta Davjekar, Timir Baran Bhattacharya, Master Eric, Chic Chocolate, Shridhar Parsekar, Anil Mohile, Vasant Pawar, Hemant Kedar (Ramkrishna Shinde), Bal Parte, Bhushan and many other names can be quoted as arrangers who failed as MDs in Hindi films. Few people know that the original arranger in the Hindi film industry was Mohd Shafi – who too became a music director later in his career. According to D.O. Bhansali, a leading sound recordist of the 60s and the 70s, a group of arrangers, namely Dattaram, Enoch Daniels and Sebastian D’souza together gave music to film ‘Street Singer’ (1966), under the name of ‘Suraj’. After this one film, the group disintegrated.
There are however some cases where the one time assistants or arrangers became famous and successful independent music directors. In fact, most MDs were assistants in the beginning of their careers to gain knowledge and experience. There is an interesting case where a well known MD worked as an arranger/assistant to another famous MD, because he respected the senior MD. I am talking about C Ramchandra who became the assistant and arranger to Anil Biswas for the film ‘Girls School’ (1949). By 1949, CR himself was a much in demand and popular MD, but because of his respect for Anil Biswas he agreed to be his assistant on request from Anil Biswas ! This was the respect given to seniors in early days of Hindi films in Bombay !
His piano, univox and melodica, the instruments V.Balsara loved, be it for composing music for films or otherwise, have come to personify Vistas Ardeshir Balsara, the music director, who died in Kolkata’ on 24-3-2005.
The ‘gentleman musician’, as the affable Parsi was known among friends, had only his music to give him company in the twilight years as he grappled alone with ill health in the absence of his wife and two sons had predeceased him. The striking feature of Balsara was his never-say-die spirit. At 83, Balsara was still going strong on the music front with his Bengali film production ‘Til Theke Taal’ running in theatres in West Bengal.
He settled in Kolkata in 1954 after he was invited by legendary musician Jnan Prakash Ghosh, to the city. Earlier, he had been in Mumbai, then Bombay.
Born on 22nd June 1922, Balsara learnt music from his mother Nazamaye, and gave his first solo performance at the age of six with the pedal harmonium, in use in those times, at a packed C J Hall in Mumbai. Barely ten years later, the young lad was assisting famous Music Director Ustad Mustaque Hussain, in a Bombay film production ‘Baadal’ and had made a place for himself as a permanent assistant music director at the Filmistan studio under popular directors Madan Mohan, Khemchand Prakash and Ghulam Haider.
Balsara had his brush with the who’s who of the music world after he became the orchestra director of music company HMV in 1947 and then switched over to the R K Films banner three years later to work with the likes of Shankar Jaikishan and Naushad.
As the Founder Secretary of peer bodies like Bombay Cine Musicians’ Association and Bombay Cine Music Directors’ Association, Balsara earned the love and respect of his associates and young musicians.
Basking in the audience appreciation during a musical soiree in Kolkata’s Hindustan Park in 1953, the young musician decided to make this cultural capital his home a year later with a prized film assignment ‘Agni Pariksha’. At the coveted New Empire Theatres, he charmed audiences again in 1962 arranging music for Rabindranath Tagore’s celebrated play ‘Debatar Grash’ while debuting his own group the Indian Symphony Orchestra.
He gave Kolkata another first — the city’s maiden stereo recording in 1970 — when he put together ‘The Sound of Music’ recording strains of four Indian instruments in one album.
He had to his credit numerous popular film albums, both in Hindi and Bengali, a language he chose to speak more frequently in and with much more ease than his native Gujrati.
From the obscure ‘Circus Girl’ in 1943 to O Panchi-44, Rangmahal-48, Madmast-53, Talash-52, Char Dost-56, Vidyapati-64, Qurbani-52, Wohi Ladki-67, Jogi aur Jawani-75, Pyar-69, Jai Baba Vaidyanath-79 in Hindi to Madhu Shraboni, Joy Baba Baidyanath, Maa, Chalachal, Panchatapa, Subho Bibaha, Manik, Kanchan Kanya, Panna and Pathey Holo Dekha in Bengali, he had an enviable repertoire.
Balsara who was greatly influenced by western music learnt to play the piano from Hildafield, a German musician. His knowledge of the piano made him use it to play Indian classical music also with ease. He mastered the technique of using the instrument for playing Indian classical music from Muneswar Dayal of Gaya. He was equally at ease with string and wind instruments.
Inn the cast of this film you will see aname Ansari. he was not a much known name till 1954, when he debuted as a director of film Mangu-1954. Nisar Ahmed Ansari was the son of the late Dr. Ameer Ahmed Ansari. He was born on 29-8-1917 at Jhansi. His father had been serving in the Military for 11 years and he expired in 1938. He was well known in Jhansi as he practiced there for 40 years.
Ansari matriculated from Allahabad University in 1933. In 1935, he passed his Inter from Aligadh. By 1939 he was a graduate of Bombay University. He was keen to join films and in this, Mehboob khan helped him by recommending him for film Aasra-40, made by National Studios. It was directed by Mehboob’s assistant Chimanlal Gandhi.
By watching him, no one can ever visualise that a suave and respectable man like him can be a scheming villain . Competition for him was tough,initially when he joined the film industry ,as there were many character actors already there ,who were specialists in negative roles . But young and energetic Nisar Ahmad Ansari had faith in his potential .
He believed that it is not necessary that a villain should have thick eyebrows with roving eyes and have a permanent frown on his face. A person having negative traits may have a smiling face also ,to conceal his evil designs . Therefore in most of his movies , he was a well dressed person ,always beaming and had a friendly smile on his face . In his films , he used to be the boss of a criminal syndicate and had an army of foot soldiers who carried out dirty work on his behalf . To keep a distance between master and servant , instead of calling them by their name he used to call his cronies by their allotted numbers like Number Ten Or Number Five .
With a hit movie ‘Mangu’ , he became a director and later directed many successful movies like Black Cat ,Tower House ,Mr Lamboo ,Zara Bach Ke, Wanted etc for various producers and after he established his own banner Bundel Khand Films ,he made many memorable movies . Although he had to look after his own company and permanent staff ,he did not disappoint other filmmakers ,who wanted to have him in their movies in the role of villain. It is a fact that it was his Black Cat which helped G P Sippy to be a part of the league of big producers ,but it is also true ,Mr Sippy forgot him later and never acknowledged Mr Ansari’s contribution .
Mr N A Ansari ,was essentially a dedicated film maker and had no false illusions about his own capabilities . His movies were never lavishly made and had average production value ,but it did not deter his fans and sizable majority of film viewers ,who adored him and his pictures to patronise his movies . Those who love the movies of the golden age ,fondly remember his movies which used to have him in the role of villain ,beside good music, suspense, comedy, ,dance with a plausible story and a strong message for society ,that “Crime Never Pays”.
With producer/actor Sheikh Mukhtar, Nisar Ahmad Ansari had earlier worked as an actor in Dada, Dara & Ustad Pedro. Sheikh Mukhtar, aware of Ansari’s capability ,in 1954,offered him Mangu to direct. The big success of Mangu was a game changer for Ansari & O P Nayyar. They both were immensely benefited with the favourable outcome of the movie & it’s music. Mangu had predictable Jodi of Sheikh Mukhtar & Mukri ,with Nigar Sultana ,Sheila Ramani & Ansari himself, as a suave villain. Mangu had a breathtaking, thrilling climax, involving the speeding train. Some real shots, a few stock shots & rest studio shots with back projections (Aadhi Haqeeqat ,Aadha Fasana ),made the climax awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, the movie could not be preserved & the present generation has been deprived of witnessing Ansari’s first effort as director. Mangu is one of the most searched movies on youtube.
He again directed Mr Lambu, a big success, for Sheikh Mukhtar. This time with the classic beauty Suraiyya with music by O P Nayyar, but a similar tragedy happened, again. No print of the movie is available. In almost all his films N.A.Ansari played the role of an urbane & sophisticated Don. He always appeared, well dressed in impeccably tailored suits, fedora, trade mark pipe between his teeth & walking stick, in his hand.
Beside Sheikh Mukhtar,he directed movies, like Black Cat,Tower House,Jara Bach Ke,Wanted for other producers and playing the main villain .He had no qualm for working in the movies directed by other film makers & in this category, movies like Private Secretary,Fareb ,Do Thug ,Khota Paisa, Gunda,Ustad 420,Gunahon Ke Raaste can be named. Under his own banner Bundel khand Films he made Wahan Ke Log,Mulzim,Zindagi Aur Maut,Mr Murder, Jurm Aur Sazaa and Noor E Ilahi. The last one being his last production in 1976 & then he decided to hang his boots.It was a big journey for Ansari,who was discovered by Mehboob & given a role in Aasra ,released in 1941.
He could not say “No” to film maker Sultan Ahmad ,when he insisted him to appear in Dharam Kanta (1982 ) & later in Jai Vikranta. N.A.Ansari closed his eyes forever on 11 Jan 1993, in Canada, thousands of kilometres away from his beloved city Jhansi ,much before the release of his last movie Jai Vikranta in 1995. As an actor he did roles in 77 films, starting with Aasra-41. He directed 11 films, from Mangu-54 to Jurm aur Saza-74.
(Based on information from Filmdom-46 and an article by M.N.Sardana ji, with thanks.)
Here is a qawwali from today’s film, sung by S.D.Batish and Mahendra Kapoor. Enjoy….
Editor’s note:-HFGK mentions that this was the first song of Mahendra Kapoor in HFM. But I am unable to find any trace of Mahendra Kapoor’s voice in this song. Knowledgeable readers with keener ears are requested to help detect Mahendra Kapoor’s voice in this song.
Song- Unhen dekhen to voh munh pher ke muskuraate hain (Madmast)(1953) Singer-S D Batish, Unknown male voice, Lyricist-Madhukar Rajasthani, MD-V Balsara
Lyrics
unhen dekhen to wo munh pher kar ke muskuraate hain
agar ham muskuraaye to o o ye aankhen dikhate hain
unhe dekhe to wo munh fer kar ke muskuraate hain
agar ham muskuraye to hamen aankhen dikhate hain
idhar bhi husn ke sadke mein aen
apne dekh le jaalim im im
idhar bhee husn ke sadke mein
apne dekh le jaalim im im im im im im im
magar fursat kahaan ?? banaate hain
agar ham muskuraye to hamen aankhen dikhate hain
hamen aankhen dikhaate hain
hamen aankhen dikhaate hain
saraasar julm hai unka aa aa aa aa aa aa aa
saraasar julm hai unka
kahe ye koi dilwaala
haan aa aa aa
saraasar julm hai unka
kahe ye koi dilwaala aa aa aa aa aa
magar afsos wo teekhee nazar ?? hain
agar ham muskuraayen to hamen aankhen dikhaate hain
hamen aankhen dikhaate hain
hamen aankhen dikhaate hain
koi tarkeeb soojhegee ee ee ee ee ee ee
koi tarkeeb soojhegee
jalaane ke liye unko
haan aan aan
koi tarkeeb soojhegee
jalaane ke liye unko o o o o o
jo humko aajkal
taaron ko din hee mein dikhaate hain
agar ham muskuraayen to hamen aankhen dikhaate hain
hamen aankhen dikhaate hain
hamen aankhen dikhaate hain
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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