Tera kaha maine kiyaa
Posted by: Atul on: July 7, 2026
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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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‘Salaam Memsaab’ (1979) was produced by V D Kalra and was directed by Asrani. The cast included Asrani, Zarina Wahab, Rehman, Manju Bansal, Ranjeet, Keshto Mukherjee, Leela Mishra, Tom Alter, C S Dubey, Arvind Rathod, Dilip Tahil etc. Sunil Dutt, Rishi Kapoor and Yogita Bali made their special appearances in the film. It was Asrani’s second film as a director.
Asrani wanted to project himself in a film as a lead actor when he was still considered as a comedian in all the films he had worked for a decade. After watching the film, it appears to me that Asrani has attempted to follow the story telling style of his favourite director, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, that is, taking a serious social issue presented with the slapstick comedy. The theme of the story of the film is the stark divide between poor and rich segments of Mumbai and the dilemma between ambition of the protagonist of becoming rich quickly while his partner is more practical to be content with what they are doing under the circumstances. Most of the outdoor shooting of the film took place around Gateway of India, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and then Oberoi Sherton Hotel at Nariman Point in Mumbai probably to show the contrast of poor street performers against the backdrop of affluence.
The story of the film is as under:
Sunder (Asrani), Radha (Zarina Wahab) and a child (Master Jeetu) are street performers in South Mumbai’s posh areas. One day, Sunder’s village friend, Gopal, (Ranjeet) pays a surprise visit to his house in good attire and presents costly gifts to Sunder by saying that he works for a rich man who stays in his ship and while his wife, Memsaab (Manju Bansal) stays in a 5-Star hotel. He gets hefty rewards from Memsaab when he delivers goods from ship to her. He recommends Sundar to join in the delivery of goods to Memsaab to become rich like him.
Sunder has also been dreaming of becoming wealthy quickly like Gopal. He knows that his hard work of street performing acts will not make him rich quickly. Also, after his proposed marriage with Radha, he has to have his own house. However, Radha is practical woman who is content with her present work as she holds a view that only the hard works pay in the long run.
Gopal meets Sunder quite often and on each meeting, he impresses upon Sunder to join Memsaab’s work to achieve his dream of becoming rich quickly. However, Radha prevents him from doing so as she doubts the integrity of Gopal. One day, when Radha is unwell and is confined in her house, Sunder is lured to attend a party in a 5-star hotel where Memsaab stays. During the party, Sunder wins 7-day free stay in the 5-Star hotel with all cost included. Sunder does not turn up for his street performance with Radha. However, her Mausi (Leela Mishra) is confident that that once Sunder’s dream of staying in palaces is shattered, he will return to his roots.
During his stay in the 5-Star hotel, he come across many super rich and famous personalities in one or the other parties during which he impersonates himself as a rich man. He meets the diamond merchant, Mehra (Rehman), businessman, Naresh (Suni Dutt), Ramesh (Rishi Kapoor) and Memsaab who is, in reality, works for Mehra under duress in the hotel. While Memsaab has all the luxuries available, she has no freedom as she is not allowed to be out of the hotel premises and she has to entertain Mehra’s business friends in the parties. Naresh has no time to spend with his wife (Yogita Bali) as most of the time, he is out of India. Ramesh, who is a son of a mill owner, gives Sunder a commentary on his rich life which is nothing but a mechanical life. He does not have freedom to move as he likes. We are busy within our own fraternity so much that we are completely ignorant about outside world.
Sunder is in a moral dilemma to choose – the joy of his peaceful life as a street performer with a devoted Radha against the artificial stardom of a wealthy person. But he still continue in the hotel as their guest. In Radha’s life, there is a pressure from her Mausi to forget Sunder and get married to Gopal. She is also pressurised by Gopal who tells her that Sunder is lost in the glamourous world of rich and famous people and will not return to his poor life.
Fed-up with the constant pressures from Mausi and Gopal, Radha decides to end her life by jumping in the Arabian Sea. John (Tom Alter) who was sitting on the parapet wall, jumps into the sea and saves Radha. He recognises her who, along with Sunder, was instrumental in uniting him with his mother when he was strayed into the bad company of Charas smokers.
Mehra has arranged a party on his ship in honour of visiting Arab merchant (Dilip Tahil) who is selling him diamonds in exchange of contraband goods. He has instructed Memsaab to entertain his Arab merchant and his group. He assures her that it will be his last party after which both will leave India to settle abroad. Memsaab sees an opportunity to escape from the clutches of Mehra and takes Sunder into confidence. Sunder informs the police about the diamond deal. Police team keep track of Mehra in their speed boat.
After the party, Memsaab picks the flask containing diamond and escapes with Sunder in a car. John who has brought with him Radha to the hotel to unite with Sunder, sees him escaping with Memsaab. She takes the help from Gopal who, in the pretext of helping her, actually hijacks her to move to Goa in his house to marry her.
On the other side, Mehra chases the car driven by Memsaab to get back the flask containing the diamond and shoots her dead. Somehow, Sunder manages to escape with the car and unites with the police forces who are after Mehra. The police petrol boat successfully intercept Gopal and Mehra and arrest them. Sunder salutes the dead body of Memsaab who had awakened him to realise that the real happiness comes from inner peace of mind and the glamourous life of being rich is an illusion. Sunder unites with Radha. The film ends with Sunder and Radha back to their street performance.
I was apprehensive about Asrani as a lead actor and director in the film. Being a well-known comedian for a decade, there was a risk as to how the audience will react to his new role. The film turns out to be an average success on the box office. Despite his best efforts as a lead actor and the director, Asrani fell short of creating a Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee type of film. The two cabaret dance songs and the end scenes of the car chase and speed boat chase which could have been easily avoided, give me a feeling that the film financers/distributors had pressurised Asrani to incorporate them as ingredients for a box office success.
The film had six songs written by Majrooh Sultanpuri which were set to music by R D Burman. In addition, the film had one re-used song written by Shailendra and set to music by Shankar-Jaikishan. Four songs have been covered on the Blog including the re-used song. I present the 5th song, ‘teraa kahaa maine kiyaa’ rendered by Asha Bhosle which is picturised on Manju Bansal.
The context of the song is that Mehra (Rehman) has hosted a party for a visiting Arab businessman and his friends on his ship with whom has a concluded diamond purchase. He has asked his partner known as Memsaab (Manju Bansal) under duress to entertain his guests with an assurance that it will be the last time he would ask her to entertain. Memsaab see an opportunity to escape from the clutches of Mehra for which she has taken Sunder (Asrani) into confidence. The lyrics of the song gives hint as to what is there in her mind and what is going to happen after the party.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Tera kaha maine kiya (Salaam Memsaab)(1979) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyricist-Majrooh Sultanpuri, MD-R D Burman
Lyrics:
teraa kahaa
maine kiyaa
ab na kiyaa jaaye re
haay
teraa kahaa
maine kiyaa
ab na kiyaa jaaye re
haay
dekho mujh mein rahaa kyaa
jhonkaa koi hawaa kaa
leke mujhe ud hee na jaaye
teraa kahaa
maine kiyaa
ab na kiyaa jaaye re
haay
teraa kahaa
maine kiyaa
ab na kiyaa jaaye re
haay
dekho mujh mein rahaa kyaa
jhonkaa koi hawaa kaa
leke mujhe ud hee na jaaye
itnaa kaso na ye bandhan
ke bandhan hee toot jaaye
arre panchhee se khelo na aise
ke haathhon se chhoot jaaye
la la la
sun ke meree baaten kyun hai bekaraar as
sun le dilbar sun le
ye shikwaa hai pyaar kaa
kaahe mere dil ko jalaaye
la la la
teraa kahaa maine kiyaa
ab na kiyaa jaaye re
haay
dekho mujh mein rahaa kyaa
jhonkaa koi hawaa kaa
leke mujhe ud hee na jaaye
la la la
la la la la laa
la la la la laa
la la laa
kuchh hone waalaa ho
aise tadaptee hai daaminee
ho mausam ne chhedee ho
jaise toofaanon kee raaginee
la la la
aur aise mausam mein
tujhse kyaa kahoon ye haay
chhotee si naiyya bhee
toofaanon se khel jaaye
jiyaa teraa bhee dagmagaaye
la la la
la la la la la la
teraa kahaa maine kiyaa
ab na kiyaa jaaye re haay
dekho mujh mein rahaa kyaa
jhonkaa koi hawaa kaa
leke mujhe ud hee na jaaye
la la la la la laa
la la la la la laa
la la la la la laa
la la laa
la la laa
la la laa
la la laa……aa
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