Aao sakhee khelen aankh michaulee
Posted on: July 7, 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 unknown film -Ankh Micholi-1942. Unknown does not mean it is not mentioned anywhere, but it only means that it was not known to most people. It is slightly lesser than ” less known’ films.
In 1940, after the film Kumkum the dancer, starring Sadhona Bose, the establishment of Sagar movietone was wound up and it was merged lock,stock and barrel with National Studios. After 3 films, this also closed down and Chimanlal Desai started his own Amar Pictures. As per Biren Kothari’s book- Sagar Movietone, after making just 6 movies, Amar also closed down. Out of these 6 films, except the film Adab Arz-1943, the other 5 films just came and went, without much noise.
Film Aankh Micholi-1942 was directed by a veteran and a spillover from the Silent era- R.S.Chaudhari. Music was by Gyan Datt and the Lyricists were Pt.Indra, Satyakam and Shatir Lucknowi. The cast of the film included Nalini Jaywant, Satish, Sulochana, Jillo, Hadi, Protima Devi and others.
The film was made in 1942, in an atmosphere of instability and intense political activity in India. The second world war was at its peak and Gandhi was overactive in India, what with his ‘ Chale Jao ‘ movement. Let us take a look at the Indian film industry and how it affected filmmaking.
Indian film industry has always been alive to the happenings in the country and reflects the national problems and important events in our films.1942 was a year when the II World War was on its peak and it had caused a severe food shortage in the world. Italy had made a silent film ‘Greed’ on this issue. Based on it.Mehboob Khan made a film , ‘Roti’ in India. Mehboob was a socialist and a Nehruvian to the core and so his films like,Mother India or Son Of India were made on socialist principles. In 1942,Ramchandra Thakur also directed one such film,’Gareeb’.
In India, the Congress had started its Quit India movement, but in our Film Industry it was a Quit studio movement. Many well known film artistes, directors, composers and other related staff moved over to new pastures. 1942, in a sense, became an overhauling of the Film industry with so much movement of people. The following activities changed the scenario to a great extent.
- A group of disgruntled people in Bombay Talkies, comprising of Rai Bahadur Chunilal, Shashadhar Mukherjee, Ashok Kumar, Sawak Vachha and few of their followers left Bombay Talkies, after disagreements with Devika Rani and formed their own outfit – Filmistan.
- Mehboob Khan separated from National studios and established his own Mehboob Productions. This was also the time when Mehboob and Anil Biswas separated from each other due to some differences.
- Abdul Rasheed Kardar established his own Kardar studios.
- V.Shantaram, along with his team left Prabhat- an institution which he established and made a famous one by his directorial contribution. He first joined Films division and then started his own Raj Kamal Kala Mandir.
- Wadia Movietone split and the brothers separated. While JBH Wadia, the elder brother, wanted that their company should start making only Social films now, the younger Homi Wadia wanted to continue with Stunt and Action films. He started his own Basant Pictures. Wadia’s star performer Fearless Nadia went with Homi Wadia, whom she married years later.
- Calcutta’s New Theatres started showing signs of disintegration and Debki Bose,P C Barua etc left the New Theatres. Debaki Bose made ‘ Apna Ghar’ in Bombay. K L Saigal left New Theatres to do films in Bombay . He did Ranjit’s’ Bhakta Surdas’ and ‘ Bhanwra’. He of course went back to Calcutta to do a few more films, before coming back to Bombay for Shahjehan and Pawana. He did not/could not go back to Calcutta,as he died after Parwana-47. Saigal, while recording the song ” Nainheen ko raah dikha” in Bhakta Surdas, did 14 retakes in recordings. His younger brother Mohan Saigal acted as Shri Krishna in this film and he is heard saying ” Surdas ji” in the song Nis Din barsat Nain hamare.
- Composer Vasant Desai did his first independent film ” Shobha” as a Music Director.
- C Ramchandra did his first Hindi film as a composer- Sukhi Jeevan.
- Ninu Mujumdar became MD with the film Black Out.
- Kamal Dasgupta started his Hindi career with the film Jawab.
- Lyricist Ramesh Gupta started with the film Awaz.
- Lyricist Qamar Jalalabadi started with Zamindar.
- Suraiya entered the Playback with songs in Nai Duniya and Sharda.
- Hemant Kumar sang his first Hindi song in the film Meenakshi-42.
- Manna Dey first sang a Hindi song in the film Tamanna.
- Jagmohan Sursagar sang in the first Hindi film-Bhakta Kabir.
- Nurjahan sang her first Hindi film songs in film Khandan-42, in Lahore.
- Bharat Bhushan’s first film in a leading role was Bhakt Kabir.
- Madhubala started as Baby Mumtaz in film Basant.
From Lahore Dalsukh Pancholi repeated his magic with ‘Khandaan’-42. This time it was Noorjehan who shook the industry with her songs under Ghulam Haider. Films like Bhakt Kabir,Bhakta Surdas, and Bharat Milap kept the Mythology/religious films in limelight. New Theatres,Prabhat,Bombay Talkies etc all brought excellent films in 1942. Barring Bhakta Surdas,Roti and Khandan,there was not much competition to Naushad’s Station Master-42 ,in music. Its music became quite popular and the film celebrated Silver Jubilee. Naushad tasted success for the first time in his career in 1942 and 2 of his 3 films in the year celebrated Silver Jubilees. The other film was Nai Duniya-42.
Let us take a look at some important films of 1942….
Film Barat had music by Ratanlal-brother of Khemchand Prakash and himself as Khemraj.
Film Basant- though it has the name of Pannalal Ghosh as MD, as per HFGK, all the songs were composed by Anil Biswas (because he was still under contract with National Studios) and Ghosh had only done Orchestration and background music.
Bhakta Kabir had music by Himangshu Dutt- the first title holder of “Sursagar”.
Bhakta Surdas- Gyan Dutt gave 15 hit songs of Saigal and Khursheed. In this film Khursheed sang equally well with Saigal.
Bharat Milap- First film in which Prem Adib and Shobhana Samarth did the roles of Shri Ram and Seeta, which made them famous all over India.
Chauranghee- the only Hindi film for which Kazi Nazrul Islam gave music and wrote songs too. It was his debut film. Also Debut for Hanuman Prasad Sharma as MD and S.Fazli as Director.
Dus Baje- Debut of Baby Shakuntala.
Iqrar- Last film of actress Madhuri (Beryl Classen). Master Vithal-a professional singer from Sholapur sang his only song in a Hindi film.( not the actor)
Jawab- all songs popular, especially Kanan Devi’s ” Ye duniya Toofan mail”.
Khandan- Entry of Nur Jahan, from Lahore. All her songs are popular.
Muqabala- First Talkie film with double role of Heroine- Nadia. Babhubhai Mistri’s magic in trick scenes.
Nai Duniya- Suraiya’s first song in Hindi film.
Roti- Begum Akhtar’s role and 6 songs.
Savera- First film of Arun Ahuja and Nirmala Devi.
Sharada- Naushad gives good songs.
Station Master- Hit film with songs.
Zamindar- Shanta Apte goes to Lahore all the way.
All in all, the year 1942 was an eventful year for the industry. Indian audiences enjoyed a variety of Genres in film offerings and a feast of Naushad’s songs, Bhajans and New artistes.
We are not aware of the storyline or other details of today’s film, except for what is given in the HFGK and the book Sagar Movietone. Here is some information on the film’s director R.S.Chaudhari….
R.S.Chaudhari – a veteran spillover from Silent film era. The name of R S Chaudhari may not be known to the newer generation, but he was considered ” Guru” by stalwarts like Mehboob Khan and Kardar. Like many oldies, Chaudhari was also a multifaceted person and used to write stories for films. You will be surprised to know about his contribution in writing stories of successful films like Roti, Rattan, Baiju Bawra etc.
R S aka Rama Shankar Chaudhari was a great name in the silent era and early Talkie period. Veterans like Mehboob and Kardar treated him like their teacher.
He was born on 8-6-1903 in Banaras-U.P. in a middle class family which gave importance to education.After his graduation , he came to Bombay and did another graduation in Arts from J.J. school of Arts, in 1922. He then entered the film line as Art Director and Designer of publicity Pamphlets. he did remarkable covers for the Gujarati Film Journal ” Mauj majah”. He assisted director Manilal Joshi at Laxmi Film co. He started directing silent films with his first film at Laxmi – “Neera “-1926. It was the famous actor Raja Sandow’s spectacular costume film. The film became a Hit wherever it was shown.
He directed 15 silent films at Imperial film co. and Sagar Films. He made several Classics in Historical genres like Anarkali-1928, starring Sulochana (Ruby Meyers). This popular Hit silent film was remade as Talkie in 1935 again with the same cast and chaudhari as a director. Sulochana also acted in Anarkali-1953, thus creating a record of the same actress acting in 3 films of same title and story.
His other historical films were Shirin Khushru and Shaan e Hind, often using the legendary epics as a Nationalist allegory. His films usually featured Sulochana and Zubeida, the two popular and costly Heroines of that era.
His first talkie film was Madhuri-1932, featuring Sulochana. In all, he directed 14 Talkie films -Madhuri-32, Sulochana-33, Piya Pyare-34, Aaj kal-34, Anarkali-35, Shaan e Hind-36, Hamari betiyan-36, kal ki Baat-37, Rifle Girl-38, Such hai-39, Aankh Micholi-42, Gaali-44, Magadh Raj-46 and Jaaliyanwala Bagh ki jyoti-53.
He was a very good story and screenplay writer. Many of his films had his stories. He wrote stories for films like Neera-26 and Khud ki shaan-31 in silent film era and for Talkie films Hamari betiyan-36, Such hai-39, Roti-42, Adab Arz-43, Gaali-44, Laal haveli-44, Rattan-44, Aan-52, Baiju Bawra-52, Insan aur shaitan-70 and international crook-74. He also scripted Kardar’s pehle aap-44 and mehboob’s Son of india-62 and many films of Ravindra Dave.
In the last phase of life, Chaudhari lived a lonely life in penury. He travelled only by bus. He breathed his last on 22-8-1972 in Bombay.
Today’s song is a duet from this film, sung by Rajkumari and Nalini Jaywant with chorus. Enjoy….
Song-Aao sakhee khelen aankh michaulee (Aankh Michaulee)(1942) Singers-Rajkumari, Nalini Jaiwant, Lyricist-Shatir Ghaznavi, MD-Gyan Dutt
Lyrics:
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aao sakhee khelen
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aao sakhee khelen
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aao sakhee khelen
Aankh michaulee
kalee kee aakhree ??
phoolon ke paankhree ??
kalee kee aakhree ??
phoolon ke paankhree ??
khushboo banengee hum khushboo
khushboo banengee hum khushboo
aise chhupengee ham pa na sakogee
aise chhupengee ham pa na sakogee
pa na sakogee goree
pa na sakogee
pa na sakogee goree
pa na sakogee
Aao sakhee khelen
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aao sakhee khelen
Aankh michaulee
joban ke deep jalaa lenge
hamree(?) ka bhesh bana lenge
joban ke deep jalaa lenge
hamree(?) ka bhesh bana lenge
titlee banengee hum
titlee
titlee banengee hum
titlee
?? hilengee hum jaa na sakogee
?? hilengee hum jaa na sakogee
pa na sakogee goree
pa na sakogee
pa na sakogee goree
pa na sakogee
Aao sakhee khelen
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aao sakhee khelen
Aankh michaulee
hum neendon mein kho jaayengee
sapnon mein aa jaayengee
hum neendon mein kho jaayengee
sapnon mein aa jaayengee
ja na sakogee goree
ja na sakogee
ja na sakogee goree
ja na sakogee
pa na sakogee goree
pa na sakogee
pa na sakogee goree
pa na sakogee
Aao sakhee khelen
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aankh michaulee
Aao sakhee khelen
Aankh michaulee
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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