Saare jahaan se takraana per apne ghar ko mitaana na
Posted on: June 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 a Parody song from the film Refugee aka Sharanarthi-1948. The film was produced by Harishchandra Rao Kadam for his own banner Harishchandra Pictures, Bombay.
This film was a “First time” for 3 persons.
First was the producer and lead actor of the film- Harishchandra Rao Kadam himself. He was basically a “C” grade action and stunt film producer. This was his first ‘Social film, which was also his last social film, as he then returned to his comfort zone of stunt films.
Second was the MD of the film Ajit Merchant. This was his first film as an Independent Music Director. So far he was an assistant to Ashok Ghosh and then Anil Biswas. The third was the singer Sulochana Kadam. She acted in this film for the first time. Later she did one more film.
The film was directed by Tara Harish. The cast of the film was Urmila, Harishchandra Rao, Hamid (later Ajit), Majnu (Harold lewis), Dalpat, Kesarbai (aunt of Hansa Wadkar) and many other regular action film actors. There were only 6 songs. Records were made for only 4 songs. Today’s song is the last available recorded song , so with this song all available songs are covered from this film.
This was a film depicting the life story of a Hindu refugee from Lahore, who comes to Bombay and his love story. Though Harischandra rao Kadam was basically an action/stunt film actor and director, this was his first and last attempt of making a social film. The film was not successful and Kadam went back to his comfort zone of stunt/action films. This Kadam was the one who gave the first opportunity of directing a film to Master Bhagwan and also to C Ramchandra as a Music Director of a Hindi film for the first time. That film was Sukhi Jeevan-1942.
1948 was an year in which, after the turmoil caused by the Partition, the film industry was trying to come back on track. While the year 1947 saw the highest number of films made-181 films, the Indian film industry did not suffer so much, even after the exodus of film artistes,,because the sheer number of majority in the films was Hindus.Additionally, the vacancies were immediately filled by the II line of artistes in every department, waiting for their turns. Thus 1948 made a respectable number of films- 149, indicating the inherent strength of the film industry.
Partition did some damage to India, but as there was a second line waiting to take over, the impact was negligible. However, Pakistan had to build a new film industry with the help of the migrant artistes in almost all departments of filmmaking. Once this generation ended their career, unfortunately there was not much of a second line to take over in Pakistan.
Here is an excerpt from a book “The Travels of Bollywood Cinema ” by Anjali Geeta Roy, in this connection…….
” The rioting of 1947 set in motion irreversible, irrevocable migration. B R. Chopra and I S Johar were planning films in a big way for Lahore but had to run for their lives. Ramanand Sagar left in July, as did Gulshan Rai. Character actor Om Prakash (of Fateh Din fame, an all-time favourite skit relayed for years by Radio Lahore), comedian-bad man Jeevan and many others also left Lahore for Bombay. O P Nayyar recorded his immortal song Preetam Aan Milo/ Dukhia Jiya Bullai, Aan Milo at the His Master’s Voice studio in Lahore. He left Lahore only in 1948 when it became clear that people with the wrong religion were not going to return to their homes on either side of the Punjab. Writer Rajinder Singh Bedi escaped, sitting on top of a railway carriage carrying loads of Hindus and Sikhs out of Lahore. Song-writer Naqsh Lyallpuri began his literary career in Lahore as a journalist but had to leave in 1947. Punjabi singers Surinder Kaur and Prakash Kaur, and Pushpa Hans also left Lahore.
“Migration in the other direction also took place. Nazir and his wife Swarnlata, Noorjahan and her husband Shaukat Husain Rizvi, character actor Alauddin and many others headed for Lahore. Manto came in January 1948, music directors Ghulam Haider and Khurshid Anwar followed some years later and director M. Sadiq probably in 1969 or 1970. Meena Shori, Khurshid and Mumtaz Shanti also immigrated to Lahore. Some Pakistani actors in Lahore continued to use Hindu filmic names. Santosh Kumar (Musa Raza) and Sudhir (Shah Zaman), the two most famous heroes of the 1950s and 60s represented such practice. On both sides, initially considerable goodwill existed between the two film communities.
“Some families were divided. Thus for example, while Nazir shifted to Lahore, his nephew K. Asif stayed on in Bombay. Kardar stayed on but his brother Nusrat Kardar and son Rauf Kardar returned to Lahore. While Suraiya, her mother and grandmother settled in Bombay, many of her other relatives shifted to Lahore. Rafi stayed on to reign supreme in Bombay while his parents and siblings were in Lahore.
“There were some cross-religion marriages that created peculiar challenges. Raj Kapoor’s maama (maternal uncle) Mr Mehra married a Muslim, converted to Islam and stayed in Lahore. A unique case of reverse migration took place as well: poet Sahir Ludhianvi (Abdul Hai) left Lahore for India.”
Following Partition in 1947, A. R. Kardar and his co-brother Mehboob Khan both left for Pakistan. However, according to Bunny Reuben, as quoted by Mihir Bose, they returned to India, but no reason was given for their return. Journalist and author of several books, Ambarish Mishra writes, ” when I asked Kardar about his Pakistan visit, he told me that after the Partition, Mehboob immediately went to Pakistan. He was disturbed with the news of Hindu-Muslim conflicts in Bombay Film Industry. It was said that Hindus will not allow Muslims in the film industry – which was totally wrong and only a rumour. He wanted to get an idea about his future in this new country. He was keen on settling there. After a month or so, I went there. Being from Lahore, I understood that the film conditions were not conducive for our growth there, as nothing was in order. Everything was in a mess there. I convinced Mehboob somehow and we both came back for good. I told him, as long as Nehru was there, they had no problems in India.” By coincidence, Nehru died and the next day Mehboob also died !
Film Refugee-48 is also an example of how the film industry reacted to the partition Blues. For the Music Director Ajit Merchant, this was his first film as an independent MD. Earlier he was working as an assistant to Ashok Ghosh and Anil Biswas. For actor Ajit (credited as Hamid), this was just his second film in a side role. Later he became the hero in the film Janampatri-1949. Singer Sulochana Kadam (later Sulochana Chavan) acted for the first time. She acted in one more film and then settled as only a singer.
After Partition, 10 to 20 million people became refugees on both sides, with at least 10 million people losing their lives. This was easily the largest Refugee crisis in the world. India was the only country which has faced Refugee problem several times in recent history. In 1937, Burma was separated. First ruled by Japan and then the Thais. Finally the British ruled it and Burma was free on 4-1-1948. Every time lakhs of refugees came to India. At Least 2 names can be quoted- Helen and V.K.Naidu, MD, who were Burma refugees. Ceylon’s independence in 1948 gave us refugees. Bangladesh refugees still give us trouble though Bangladesh was formed in 1971. Pondicherry in 1954 and Goa was liberated in 1961, without much refugee crowds, which were manageable.
One of the actors in the cast is Majnu. MAJNU-Harold Lewis was a Punjabi Christian. He was born on 2-11-1913. It is said that before joining films, Harold had worked in Circus as a Joker. He acted in 3 Silent films, including ” Flames of Flesh”-1930.
He was the childhood friend of Roop K.Shorey.When Shorey wanted to make his second film,he chose Harold as a Hero.Majnu was introduced as a leading man opposite Shyama Zutshi by producer/director Roop K. Shorey in film Majnu -1935 — a musical comedy satirizing the old story of Laila Majnu, produced, directed and shot in Lahore with Ghulam Haider as music director. With daring motorbike stunts and special effects, audiences were thrilled at the sight of Majnu strapped on the railway tracks by the villain.
The film was a success and Harold’s name was changed to MAJNU. R. K. Shorey repeated Majnu as the leading man in his next film, Tarzan ki Beti (1938). Tarzan Ki Beti was hailed as the best jungle picture ever produced in India at the time. Filmed in the snowy Himalayas, the film topped its predecessor in its action sequences and placed Punjab on the entertainment map of India and the world.
He appeared in almost all of Shorey’s films.He was also doing films with other producers.In 1942 he did a double role in Nishani and in 1943 he directed his first film Paapi. Shorey also gave him a film Badnami-1946 for direction and it was here that Majnu met I.S.Johar who wrote the story and Dialogues of Badnami.
Majnu paired with I.S.Johar in EK THI LADKI-1949,the debut film of Johar.Later they made a comedy pair in 10 films,including the hit HUM SAB CHOR HAIN-1956. His last film with Johar was Akalmand-66.
Majnu acted in 77 films. His first film was Majnu-35 and his much delayed and released last film was Shri Krishna Bhakti-73. He acted in many Punjabi films also.
Majnu directed 8 films including,Paapi-43, Badnami-46, Son of Alibaba-55, Tatar ka chor-55, Malika-56, Basre ki Hoor-56, Baghi sardar-56, and his last film – Chandu-58.
Harold Lewis aka Majnu died on 26-3-1974.
Let us now enjoy today’s parody song. It is a parody of the popular and famous song from the film Shehnai-1947, sung by Zohrabai Ambalewali ” Maar katari mar jaana”….. This song was shot on actors Hamid and Majnu in the film. The Singer’s name is not known, but HFGK shows names of Hamid, Majnu as singers ! This rare song was provided by Syed Zafar Shah ji and was uploaded by our Sadanand ji Kamath. Thanks to both.
Song-Saare jahaan se takraana per apne ghar ko mitaana na (Refugee)(1948) Singer-Unknown male voice, Lyricist-Unknown,MD-Ajit Merchant
Lyrics
taderenatumtananana
aan tananana
saare jahaan se takraana
per apne ghar ko mitaana na
haan mitaana na
saare jahaan se takraana
per apne ghar ko mitaana na
haan mitaana na
isee liye to kehta hoon
do jaati ke chakkar mein na padna
maano kehna jee
haan haan maano kehna jee
do jaati ke chakkar mein na padna
maano kehna jee
haan haan maano kehna jee
har jhagde aur ladaaiyon se tum bachte rehna jee
haan haan bachte rehna jee
har jhagde aur ladaaiyon se tum bachte rehna jee
haan haan bachte rehna jee
per tumne na maana kehna mera
kuchh bhee na samajhte
haan haan
kuchh bhee na samajhte kaam diya(?)
sab muft mein unko saunp diya
na sauda kiya na daam liya
sab muft mein unko saunp diya
na sauda kiya na daam liya
sab muft mein unko saunp diya
na sauda kiya na daam liya
aur isee wajah se aaj
apnon se bichhde khwaar(?) huye
koi yahaan phira koi wahaan phira
koi yahaan phira koi wahaan phira
laakhon hee begharbaar huye
koi yahaan gaya koi wahaan gaya
koi yahaan gaya koi wahaan gaya
bas
ab to ek hee kaam baakee reh gaya hai
wo kya
ke jogee ka banaa kar bhes
badhaa kar kes
phiro har des
liye ektaara
jaise taqdeer ka maara
jab baadal meh barsaayenge
aur mendhak shor machaayenge
phir tum hee kaho
rehne ka kahaan sahaara
jab ghar hee naheen hamaara
phir tum hee kaho
rehne ka kahaan sahaara
jab ghar hee naheen hamaara
Raja se bhikhaaree huye
Raja se bhikhaaree huye
Raja se bhikhaaree huye
kaan kaan dha dha
kaan kaan dha dha
kaan kaan dha dha
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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