Baaje baaje mridang
Posted by: Atul on: August 21, 2026
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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 the last and final song from the film Chhota Bhai-1966. It was a family drama cum social film. There was another film of the same title in 1949 also.
Hindi film makers seem to be in favour of titles starting with Chhota (11 films), Chhoti(17), Chhote (6) as well as Bada (4 films), Badi (9), and Bade (12 films)- a totol of almost 60 films describing the size !
Film Chhota Bhai-1966 was based on a Bangla Novel “Ramer Sumati”, by the famous author Sharatchandra Chaterjee (Chattopadhyaya), whose other novels were also converted into Films. The famous films were Devdas-1935, 1955 and 2002, Parineeta-1953 and 2005, Biraj Bahu-1954, Majhali Didi-1967, Chhoti Bahu-1971, Khushboo-1975, Swami-1977 and Apne Paraye-1980. There are many more films in Bangla language.
The film made by Olympic Pictures, Bombay was directed by K.P.Atma and music was by Laxmikant- Pyarelal for the songs written by Anand Bakshi. The cast of the film included Nutan, Rehman, Mahesh Kumar, Lalita Pawar, Nazir Hussain, jahagirdar, Sulochana Chaterjee and others.
The year 1966 provided wholesome entertainment catering to all tastes, Genres and all age groups, Males and Females, Young and Old, Rich and Poor etc. Some of the famous films made in 1966 were Phool aur Pathar, Teesri manzil, Aakhri Khat, Dadi Maa, Do badan, Mera Saaya, Dus lakh, Love in Tokyo, Pyar kiye Jaa, Suraj, Anupama (my favourite), Biwi aur makan, Bahare phir bhi aayengi, Aaye din Bahar ke, Teesri kasam, Gaban, Amrapali, Dulhan ek raat ki etc etc.
Lyricist Shailendra and Director Bimal Roy left for heaven. Shankar- Jaikishen’s efforts ended the dispute between Lata and Rafi on the issue of Royalty. They sang a duet for film Palkon ki Chhaon mein, which had a delayed release only in 1977.
The story of this film, in short, was….
Apurna (Nutan) promises to take care of her husband’s younger half-brother, Ramlal, also known as Ramu (Master Mahesh Kumar). Apurna made this promise before Ramu’s mother passed away. Ramu is a naughty, stubborn and rebellious child, who keeps causing trouble for the family and people around him. Apurna faces a tough struggle between her duties and affection towards her own mother on one hand and her husband’s younger brother Ramu on the other. The story takes a turn for the worse when Ramu attacks Suresh, the son of an influential landlord, causing major social trouble for the family. Despite all the turmoil, complaints and misunderstandings, Apurna’s love and patience brings about a change within Ramu and ultimately melts his heart.
In this film actress Nutan proved again why she was one of the best actresses. Nutan Behl (04 June 1936 – 21 February 1991), appeared in more than 80 Hindi films in her career spanning nearly four decades. Regarded as one of the finest female actors in the history of Hindi cinema, Nutan was noted for playing unconventional parts & her performances often received praise and accolades. Nutan holds the record of five wins of the Best Actress award at Filmfare, which was held only by her for over 30 years until it was matched by her niece Kajol in 2011; she is overall the most-awarded actress in the female acting categories at Filmfare, with six awards alongside Jaya Bachchan. In 1974, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.
The daughter of filmmaker Kumarsen Samarth & film actress Shobhna Samarth, Nutan started her career at the age of 14 in the 1950 film Hamari Beti, directed by her mother. She subsequently starred in such films as Nagina and Humlog (both 1951). Her role in Seema (1955) garnered her wider recognition and a Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She continued playing lead-ing roles through the 1960s until the late 1970s and went on to win the award on four other occasions for her roles in Sujata (1959), Bandini (1963), Milan (1967) and Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978). Some of her other films of this period include Anari (1959) Chhalia (1960), Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963), Saraswatichandra (1968), Anuraag (1972) and Saudagar (1973). In the 1980s, Nutan started playing character roles and continued working until shortly before her death. She portrayed mostly motherly roles in such films as Saajan Ki Saheli (1981), Meri Jung (1985) and Naam (1986). Her performance in Meri Jung earned her a sixth and last Filmfare Award, this time in the Best Supporting Actress category.
Nutan was married to Rajnish Bahl in 1959 till her death from breast cancer in 1991. Their son, Mohnish Bahl is a well-known character actor in Hindi films & television. Mohnish Bahl’s daughter Pranutan Bahl, who is Nutan’s granddaughter, is often referred to as the younger version of Nutan. It isn’t hard to guess the young beauty is named after her grandmother.
Nutan was born in a Marathi Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu or CKP family on 04 June 1936 in Bombay, Bombay Presidency, undivided India, now Mumbai 8n Maharashtra as the eldest of four children to director-poet Kumarsen Samarth and his actress wife Shobhna. She grew up with complexes as some considered her “skinny” and “ugly” in her childhood. She had two sisters: actress Tanuja and Chatura and a brother Jaideep. Her parents separated before Jaideep’s birth. Nutan was educated in St. Joseph’s Convent School, Panchgani, before heading to Switzerland for further studies in 1953. She was sent there at the behest of her mother after her films failed to perform well. She described the one year spent there as the “happiest in my life”.
Nutan first appeared briefly in front of the camera as a child in her father’s film “Nal Damyanti” in 1945. She started her career at age 14 by playing the protagonist in “Hamari Beti” (1950), directed by her mother. She was conflicted during the making of the film, unsure she could pull it off given how critical she was of her appearance and talents. She took part in Snehal Bhatkar’s soundtrack for the film, singing the song “Tujhe Kaisa Dulha Bhaaye Re…”. She recalled an instance where her relatives changed their mind about her after watching the film “The relatives who called me ugly changed their opinions overnight. They said they were proud of me.”
Ravindra Dave’s suspense thriller “Nagina” (1951) followed, and Nutan’s performance in the film gained her greater recognition.[6] The film became her first commercial success. Aged 15 at the time of its release, she was not allowed to attend its premiere as it was certified “A: (restricted for adults) and she was underage. The social drama “Hum Log”, released the same year, was similarly popular with audiences. Directed by Zia Sarhadi, the film dealt with the trials and tribulations of a middle-class family and starred Nutan as the daughter of Paro, an aspiring writer who suffers from tuberculosis. Nagina and Hum Log consolidated her position as a rising star.
The following year, Nutan participated at the 1952 Femina Miss India contest, where she was crowned Miss Mussoorie, before being sent to Switzerland for further studies due to her weight loss and frail appearance.
Nutan’s first big break was “Seema” (1955), for which she won her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She followed her success with a romantic comedy, “Paying Guest”, in which she co-starred with Dev Anand. By the late 1950s she was an established star. In 1959, she starred in two hit films, “Anari” (with Raj Kapoor) and Bimal Roy’s “Sujata” (with Sunil Dutt), for which she won her second Filmfare Award for Best Actress. In the 1960s and 1970s, she had many more successful films including “Chhalia”
(1960), “Saraswatichandra” (1968), “Devi” (1970) and “Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki” (1978).
In 1960, Nutan starred opposite Raj Kapoor once again in Manmohan Desai’s “Chhalia”, which earned her a Filmfare nomination for Best Actress. She formed a popular screen couple with co-star Dev Anand and the two acted in four films together “Paying Guest” (1957), “Baarish” (1957), “Manzil”
(1960) and “Tere Ghar Ke Samne” (1963).
“Nutan’s masterful performance of a jilted young woman who murders her lover’s wife in Bimal Roy’s classic is arguably the best acting by a lead actress in Indian cinema. Nutan’s genius lay in portraying a whole range of emotions without resorting to over-the-top histrionics. The pièce de résistance is the scene in which her face conveys conflicting sentiments as she is about to commit the murder.”
Nutan’s performance in Bandini (1963) Bimal Roy’s socio-realist Bandini (1963) is based on Tamasi, a Bengali novel by Jarasandha, and stars Nutan as Kalyani, a young prisoner convicted for poisoning the wife of her lover (Ashok Kumar).[38] The story follows her life in prison and how she is later faced with a choice between her past love and a young prison doctor (Dharmendra) who falls in love with her.[39] Having quit acting after marriage, Nutan was persuaded to accept the part by Roy, who asserted that he would abandon the project if she refused. She was pregnant during the making of the film.
Bandini was a major critical success, and Nutan received career-best reviews for her portrayal, which is often cited as one of the finest performances of Indian cinema. The film won six awards at the 11th Filmfare Awards, including Best Film and a third Best Actress for Nutan. The Bengal Film Journalists’ Association ranked Bandini as the third-best Indian film of the year and acknowledged Nutan with the Best Actress award in its Hindi section. Author and critic Dinesh Raheja wrote: “Sans screaming hysteria-niks, Nutan puts across one of the finest performances seen on the Hindi screen. She recognised and was perfectly in tandem with Kalyani’s innate strength of character.”[46] In 2010, Filmfare included her performance in its “80 Iconic Performances” list. Anupama Chopra included the film in her list of “The 20 Best Hindi Films Ever Made”, calling Kalyani “one of Hindi cinema’s most complex and fully realized female characters”, which was “the role of a lifetime” for Nutan, whose “face raged with a grand passion and a quiet grace”.[48] In 2013, Forbes India listed Nutan’s performance as one of the “25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema”, hailing her work as “the best acting by a lead actress in Indian cinema”.
Nutan’s fourth Filmfare win came for “Milan” (1967). She starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan in 1973’s “Saudagar” (1973), for which she received a sixth Filmfare nomination and a third BFJA award. In 1978, she made an astonishing return to the screen as the righteous Sanjukta Chauhan in “Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki” (1978). For her performance, she received an eighth Filmfare nomination and won her fifth Filmfare Award for Best Actress, at the age of 42. She thus became a record holder in the category, having won five awards for Best Actress at Filmfare. At age 42, she is also the oldest winner of the award. Nutan was perhaps the only actress of her generation to command leading roles in her 1940s, with tremendous success.
Nutan starred in “Saajan Ki Saheli” (1981), as an ignorant, jealous wife to a husband who knowingly befriends the daughter she abandoned at childbirth. In the 1980s, she played roles in blockbuster films such as “Meri Jung” (1985), “Naam” (1986) & “Karma” (1986). Karma was notable for being the first time she was paired with actor Dilip Kumar. For Meri Jung, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her last film released while she was alive was “Kanoon Apna Apna” in 1989. She died in 1991 of cancer. Two of her films “Naseebwala”(1992) and “Insaniyat” (1994) were released after her death. She also gave a stellar performance as Kaliganj Ki Bahu in the TV serial “Mujrim Hazir”, her only role on the small screen. Nutan also sang two songs, one in Paying Guest and the other in Chhabili.
Nutan was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 1990. In February 1991, she was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after she fell ill. At the time, she was filming Garajna. She died on 21 February 1991.
Something special of Nutan –
Coming from a renowned family of the acting industry, Nutan had a lot of royal traits in her. One of the most talked about things was her love for hunting.
In 2011, Rediff released their list of ‘The Greatest Actresses of All Time.’ To no surprise, Nutan was listed at the third spot. Nutan’s acting has been appreciated by one and all and we wish there were more such actresses like her in today’s age.
In honor of the completion of 100 years of Indian cinema, Forbes released a list of the ‘25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema.’ Nutan’s performance in Bandini made it to the coveted list. Nutan portrayed the role of a young woman madly in love, who went on to murder her lover’s wife. Her expressions in the scene where she is about to commit the murder are still considered to be iconic.
Nutan has won the beauty contest in 1952. With a lissom figure and her enticing charm, Nutan’s face was considered one of the most photogenic faces in the Indian cinema. What many don’t know is that Nutan was launched two years before winning Miss India by her actress mother Shobhana Samarth. ( Thanks to an article by Suresh Sarvaiya, Biography of Nutan in Marathi ” Asen mi Nasen Mi ” (I may be there , may not be there) by Lalita Tamhane and my notes).
Here is the last and final song from this film, making it an YIPPEED film. It is sung by Rafi, Asha Bhosle and chorus. Enjoy….
Editor’s note: HFGK mentions this song as sung by Asha Bhonsle and chorus. But on listening to it, it is clear that Rafi’s voice is also there in the song. Rafi excel sheet correctly includes this song in the list of songs sung by Rafi.
Song-Baaje baaje Mridang Kanha khele rang (Chhota Bhai)(1966) Singers- Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Lyricist- Anand Bakshi, MD- Laxmikant- PyarelalMale chorus
Female chorus
Male chorus + Rafi
All chorus
Lyrics:
baaje baaje mridangKaanha khele rang
Raadha ke sang biraj mein
hey baaje
baaje mridang
Kaanha khele rang
Raadha ke sang biraj mein
bansee bajaaye
chalee aa bulaaye
arre bansee bajaaye
chali aa bhulaye
o dekho Raadha na aaye
haaye haaye haaye
haay
baaje
baaje mridang
haay
Raadha khele rang
haay
Raadha ke sang biraj mein
baaje baaje mridang
haay
Kaanha khele rang
haay
Raadha ke sang biraj mein
jaao jaao Ghanshyam
tumhra naam badnaam
jaao jaao Ghanshyam
tumhra naam badnaam
main tumhre sang holee na kheloon
jaao jaao ghanshyam
pangat pe shor hai ye
Nand kishor hai ye
matkee sambhaal gwalaan
maakhan chor hai ye
pangat pe shor hai ye
Nand kishor hai ye
matkee sambhaal gwalaan
maakhan chor hai ye
main tumse aankh michaulee na kheloon
jaao jaao Ghanshyam
tumhra naam badnaam aam
main tumhre sang holee na kheloon
jaao jaao Ghanshyam
tumhra naam badnaam
hahahaha
hahahaha
baaje
baaje mridang
Kaanha khele rang
Raadha ke sang biraj mein
baaje
baaje mridang
Kaanha khele rang
Raadha ke sang biraj mein
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
August 21, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Jaya Bachchan has the maximum number of Filmfare awards: 3 Special awards ( From UPHAAR, 1972 to 2025 ), 3 each for Best Actress and Supporting Actress and Lifetime Achievement Award. Of these 10, 8 are pure acting awards. Alia Bhatt must be in the second place. I am not very sure, though!
On Fri, Aug 21, 2026, 10:00 Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi
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August 21, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Thanks for this information.
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