Bichhua ne das liya
Posted on: September 2, 2026
This article is written by Pamir Harvey, 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.
| Blog Day : | 6620 | Post No. : | 20538 |
Today’s actress to be introduced here with an Asha Bhosle song is Disco Shanti. Atul jee’s post on letter D with the list of actresses whose name begin with D and have lip-synced to Asha Bhosle’s songs is here. There are some differences in published sources about the exact birth date of Disco Shanti, Several websites, including IMDb, TMDB and Nettv4u, give her date of birth as 28 August 1965. However, some other sources mention 16 April 1965. This has created some confusion about her actual birth date. Wikidata also lists 28 August 1965 as her date of birth. She was born in Madras, which is now known as Chennai, in Tamil Nadu.
Disco Shanti, whose birth name is generally reported as Santha Kumari (also spelled Shanthakumari was an actressand dancer who became one of the most recognizable performers in South Indian cinema during the 1980s and 1990s. She was particularly famous for her energetic dance performances and appearances in so-called “item” or special dance numbers. She worked across several Indian film industries, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Odia cinema.
Disco Shanti came from a family with connections to the film industry. Her father was C. L. Anandan, a Tamil actor known for films including Vijayapuri Veeran (1960) and Kaattumallika (1966). Her younger sister Lalitha Kumari also became an actress.
From an early stage, Santha Kumari was interested in becoming an actress. She entered the film world as a young woman and initially hoped to establish herself through acting rather than dance. However, opportunities for conventional heroine roles were limited, and dance performances eventually became the defining feature of her career.
The 1980s and early 1990s were the period in which Disco Shanti became a major name in South Indian popular cinema. Her combination of glamour, athletic dance movements and distinctive screen presence made her especially popular in dance sequences. The term “Disco” in her stage name reflected the dance-oriented image associated with her. Although she was not initially an expert in Western disco dancing, she developed her own energetic style and became particularly associated with the dance trends of the period.
She appeared in films in numerous languages and became known throughout South India. Sources credit her with appearances in hundreds of films, with some biographies putting the figure at more than 900, although the precise number is difficult to independently verify because many of her appearances were brief dance or special-number roles.
Although dance numbers became her trademark, Disco Shanti also acted in character and supporting roles and occasionally appeared in more substantial parts. Her filmography includes work in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Odia productions.
Disco Shanti belonged to a generation of performers who helped popularize elaborate dance numbers in mainstream Indian films. During the 1980s and 1990s, such sequences were an important part of commercial cinema, and Disco Shanti became one of the best-known faces associated with them. Her popularity was not restricted to Tamil cinema. She developed a particularly strong following in Telugu cinema and became a familiar presence to audiences across southern India. Contemporary accounts describe her as one of the prominent dance performers of the era, alongside other celebrated performers such as Silk Smitha and Jayamalini.
A major turning point in Disco Shanti’s personal life came when she married Telugu actor Srihari in 1996. Srihari later became a highly respected character actor in Telugu cinema, appearing in films such as Magadheera (2009) and Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana (2005). After her marriage, Disco Shanti largely withdrew from the film industry and concentrated on her family life. The couple had three children; two sons and a daughter. Their daughter, Akshara, tragically died when she was only a few months old. The family subsequently established the Akshara Foundation in her memory, with a focus on education and social initiatives. Accounts also report that the family adopted villages and supported community-development efforts.
Disco Shanti experienced another devastating loss when Srihari died in Mumbai in October 2013. He had been dealing with liver-related health problems and became seriously ill while working on the film R… Rajkumar (2013). He was taken to hospital, where he died at the age of 49. His death profoundly affected Disco Shanti. In later interviews, she spoke about the emotional difficulties she experienced following her husband’s death and about the long process of rebuilding her life around her children.
Disco Shanti’s career was relatively short compared with many mainstream actresses, but her impact on the popular cinema of her era was considerable. At a time when dance numbers were becoming increasingly prominent in commercial Indian films, she developed a recognizable identity that made her name synonymous with the energetic dance performances of the 1980s and 1990s.
Today’s song is from the film Police Public (1990). The film was directed by Esmayeel Shroff, with a screenplay by Moinuddin and produced by Vijay P. Mehta. It starred Raaj Kumar, Naseeruddin Shah, Kabir Bedi, Raj Kiran, Poonam Dhillon and Prem Chopra, with music composed by Raamlaxman. The film was released on 11 May 1990. The supporting cast includes Shikha Swaroop, Arbaaz, Ajit Vachani, Harish Patel, Rakesh Bedi, Ila Arun and A. K. Hangal.
The plot of the film follows an intense murder investigation and the exposure of deep police corruption. The story begins when a young woman, Karuna Sharma (Poonam Dhillon), is found dead under highly mysterious circumstances. While the initial police report attempts to label her death as a simple suicide from jumping, a thoroughly honest Senior Police Inspector, Shah Nawaz Khan (Kabir Bedi), starts digging deeper. He uncovers dark secrets and suspicious clues that point directly to Karuna’s wealthy and powerful in-laws, including her husband Arun Sharma (Raj Kiran) and his father Kishan Sharma (Prem Chopra).
However, before the honest inspector can finalize his findings and arrest the suspects, political pressure forces his abrupt transfer away from the case. A corrupt and highly compliant officer, Senior Inspector Maha Singh Garewal (Naseeruddin Shah), takes over the investigation instead. Desperate to protect the wealthy family, Maha Singh Garewal quickly rules the case an open-and-shut suicide and buries the evidence. Refusing to let his daughter’s killers walk free, Karuna’s grieving father, Ram Swaroop (A. K. Hangal), along with her sister Usha Swaroop (Shikha Swaroop), fights against the local police’s apathy and corruption to demand a higher inquiry.
The case is eventually handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), bringing the brilliant and uncompromising CBI Officer Jagmohan Azaad (Raaj Kumar) into the picture. Assisted by key testimonies from individuals like the deaf servant Laxmi (Ila Arun), the corrupt dynamics of local figures like Ram Narayan Tiwari (Ajit Vachani) are slowly brought to light. Officer Jagmohan Azaad systematically dismantles the web of lies spun by the local police, exposes their complicity with the Sharma family, and finally corners the real culprits to deliver justice for Karuna.
Today’s song is filmed on Disco Shanti. One can also see Raj Kiran in the song. The song is sung by Asha Bhosle. The composer Raamlaxman and the lyricist is Asad Bhopali. The movie Police Public (1990) has already made its debut on this blog with the song main jis din bhoolaa teraa pyaar. This is the second song of this film to appear on this blog. For Disco Shanti this song is her debut on this blog. There are six film titles with the word Police in it on this blog as yet and they are Chor Police (1983), Police (1944), Police (1958), Police Detective (1960) , Police Public (1990), Policewali (1949).
There is another song from this film which is sung by Asha Bhosle and it is chhataungee chamche se chaat. I couldn’t identify the actress on whom the song is filmed. Comments below the video of the song suggest that it is Tolvida Sheshadri, Meenakshi Sheshadri’s sister. The performer does have some resemblance to the famous actress, but I didn’t find any reports that Meenakshi Sheshadri has a sister of that name. From the name in the credits, she could be Moksha or Sargam (who is given a friendly appearance mention). Disco Shanti the performer in today’s song does not find any mention in the credits, so it is quite possible that the dancer in the aforementioned song has also been left out of the credits. If any of the readers could identify the actress in the song chhataungee chamche se chaat, please mention her in the comments below. Thank you.
After listening to this song umpteen times, I am looking forward to listening to Lata Mangeshkar’s bichuwaa song from Madhumati (1958).
Video
Audio
Song-Bichuwaa ne das liyaa (Police Public)(1990) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyricist-Asad Bhopali, MD-Raamlaxmanmale chorus
female chorus
Lyrics (Based on Audio link) :
ooihaaa
arre arre arre nain lade
bichuwaaa ne das liyaa
haay haay haay khade khade
bichuwaa ne das liyaa
bichuwaa hai aag jaisaa
zeher chadhhaa naag jaisaa
bichuwaa hai aag jaisaa
zeher chadhhaa naag jaisaa
taubaa taubaa taubaa
taubaa taubaa taubaa
itte bade bichuwaa ne das liyaa
haay haay haay maut pade
bichuwaa ne das liyaa
ho hou, ho hou, ho hou, ho hou,
ho hou, ho hou, ho hou,
ho o o o, ho o o o,
ho o, ho o, ho o
wo dank maaraa
sambhalne na paayee
sisaktee rahee par
machalne na paayee
haay
gore gore rang pe
sone jase ang pe
arre gore gore rang pe
sone jase ang pe
neele neele neele
neele neele neele daag pade
bichuwaaa ne das liyaa
haay haay haay khade khade
bichuwaa ne das liyaa aa
laa laa laa laa laa la laa laa laa
laa laa laa laa laa laa laa laa laa
khanaktee rahee meree
paaon kee paayal
main thhee kaheen aur
kaheen meraa aanchal
haay
dil thhaamaa haathhon se
honth kate daanton se
haay dil thaamaa haathhon se
honth kate daanton se
ankhiyon se
ankhiyon se motee jhade
bichuwaa ne das liyaa aa
taubaa taubaa taubaa
itte bade bichuwaa ne das liyaa
arre arre arre nain lade
bichuwaaa ne das liyaa
haay haay haay maut pade
bichuwaa ne das liyaa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
September 2, 2026 at 10:16 pm
Harvey ji,
You are going strong in the Asha Bhosle series. With a vengeance is the term that comes to my mind.
On Wed, Sep 2, 2026, 21:30 Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi
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