Aaj imtihaan hai
Posted on: October 10, 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 the last and final song from a Crime / Social film – Suhag-1979.
The film was produced and directed by Manmohan Desai, for the banner Suresh Desai and Associates, Bombay It had music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, for the songs written by Anand Bakshi. The cast of the film included Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Rekha, Parveen Babi, Nirupa Roy, Amjad Khan, Ranjit, Kader Khan, Jeevan and many others.
Manmohan Desai knew the pulse of his audience. He was one of Bollywood’s most celebrated filmmakers,and left an indelible mark on Indian cinema with his unique style of storytelling. Known for creating the genre of “masala films,” Desai seamlessly combined elements of drama, action, romance, and comedy, making his movies a complete entertainment package. His films, such as Amar Akbar Anthony, Coolie, Naseeb, and Mard, are iconic examples of Bollywood’s golden era and continue to be beloved by fans worldwide.
Desai’s work often reflected his belief in larger-than-life storytelling, where good triumphed over evil in spectacular fashion. His ability to bring emotional depth to his characters while delivering high-energy drama won him immense popularity. Stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, and Shashi Kapoor often collaborated with him, helping shape the careers of many actors through his visionary direction. His untimely passing in 1994 left a void in the industry, but his legacy continues to inspire filmmakers and fans alike. Manmohan Desai’s contributions have made him a timeless figure in Indian cinema, and he is fondly remembered as a true master of Bollywood’s vibrant storytelling style.
He is known to have used his winning formula story in most of his films, with necessary changes in names, places, situations and actors. In this way, he was one of the 3 such directors who followed this methodology. The first was Master Bhagwan and the other was Nasir Hussain. Surprisingly, all the 3 were highly successful filmmakers.
Manmohan Desai was known for his family-centered, action-song-and-dance films which catered to the tastes of the Indian masses and through which he achieved great success. His movies defined a new genre called masala films. A common theme in his films were the lost and found plot where family members would be separated and reunited.
Manmohan Desai (26 February 1937 – 1 March 1994) was a film producer and director. He was one of the most successful filmmakers of the 70s and 80s. Desai was an influential and sought-after film director of Bollywood and a pioneer of making Masala films. His most successful films are Amar Akbar Anthony, Dharam Veer, Chacha Bhatija, Parvarish, Suhaag, Naseeb, Coolie and Mard.
Manmohan Desai was of Gujarati ancestry. His father, Kikubhai Desai, was an Indian film producer and owner of Paramount Studios (later Filmalaya) from 1931 to 1941. His productions, mainly stunt films, included Circus Queen, Golden Gang, and Sheikh Challi. Manmohan Desai’s elder brother, Subhash Desai, became a producer in the 1950s and gave Manmohan his first break in the Hindi film Chhalia (1960). Subhash later went on to produce Bluff Master, Dharam Veer, and Desh Premee with Manmohan as the director.
His wife was Jeevanprabha Desai. She died in April 1979. He was engaged to actress Nanda from 1992 until the time of his death in 1994. He had one son Ketan Desai who is still involved in the film industry. Ketan is married to Kanchan Kapoor, daughter of actor Shammi Kapoor and actress Geeta Bali.
On 1 March 1994, as per news, Manmohan Desai fell from the balcony of his house and died. There are doubts that he jumped to his death due to health issues .
Here is the story of the film Suhaag-1979….
The film was a straight-forward Manmohan Desai film- that means there is Durga (Nirupa Roy) who is conned into marriage by a wiley rich man Vikram (Amjad Khan) who then abandons her. She seeks him out, in the company of her father (Brahm Bharadwaj) but is humiliated and turned away. He even refuses to acknowledge the infants (twins, who later grow up to be the heroes and are not identical) in the lady’s arms. The lady faces further problems as her father passes away leaving her to fend for herself. Instantly, she falls into the trap of Jaggi (Kadar Khan) who promises her a job but is waylaid into a brothel. Jaggi grabs one of the children and threatens to kill it if she doesn’t entertain some guests.
Jagdish Raj who turns out to be a cop in plain clothes. On discovering the cop, Jaggi escapes with the baby he was holding, runs into Pascal (Jeevan) and hands over the baby to him. In the meantime, the cop rescues Durga who consoles herself that she has at least one of her sons (Kishan) with her. Kishan (Shashi Kapoor) grows up to be a cop. The other child (Amitabh Bachchan as Amit) is reared to be a petty criminal. The paths of Amit & Kishan cross a few times before a friendship develops and Amit keeps getting to meet Durga without knowing her true identity.
Since there are two heroes we need two heroines. Amit is besotted by Basanti (Rekha) who is a (noble hearted) tawaaif & Kishan encounters Anu (Parveen Babi) when he goes to raid a disco owned by Jaggi & his son Gopal (Ranjeet). As if all the twists in the tale were not sufficient to keep the audiences glued to their seats, Manji adds one more angle to the story. Basanti & Anu are sisters and Anu is unaware of the struggles that Basanti is enduring so that Anu can complete her education. Basanti & Gopal’s paths cross when he tries to rape her and she hits him. She thinks that she has killed him and hence escapes from her village and promptly lands in a kotha in the town.
The film comes to a close when Anu discovers Basanti in the city; Basanti discovers that she had not killed Gopal after-all; Vikram seeks refuge in Durga’s home & Kishan (who is blinded in an accident by then) discovers who his father is. The heroes discover that they are brothers only in the climax, just before they set out on a mission to save their father from an accident planned by Jaggi. The film closes with Vikram donating his eyes to Kishan as a ‘prayaschit’ of being the cause of the blindness. THE END. (Thanks to Peevesie’s Mom ji).
One of the villains in the cast was the popular actor Jeevan, who was not a Bad Boy in his earlier career, he got spoiled later on ! Jeevan (24 October 1915 – 10 June 1987), was an actor who played Narad Muni in mythological films of the 1950s a total of 49 times. Later, he played the villain in popular Bollywood films of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. His son Kiran Kumar (born Deepak Dhar) is also a film and television actor.
Jeevan or Omkarnath Durgaprasad Dhar ( or OK Dhar as he was fondly known in his early days) was born in Srinagar on 24-1-1915. His mother died in childbirth and he lost his father when he was just 3 year old. Jeevan was the last of the ….24 siblings ! Jeevan was born into an aristocratic Kashmiri Pandit family. His grandfather, a nobleman, served as the Governor of the Gilgit Agency.
From an early age, Jeevan wanted to be an actor as films had always fascinated him. Since his grandfather was the Governor, their family was considered among the nobility. As a son of such a family, joining films would not have been accepted as films were considered taboo, so Jeevan ran away from home at the age of 18 and came to Bombay with only Rs. 26 in his pocket.
After a brief period of struggle, he eventually landed himself a job in the studios of Mohan Sinha (Vidya Sinha’s grandfather). His job was to stick silver paper on the reflectors. It was here while working as a reflector boy that he landed a lead role in the movie Fashionable India, which was being made by Mohan Sinha.
It is said that he has played Narad Muni in more than 60 films and theater shows of different languages. He became notable otherwise for his roles in Romantic India in 1935, Afasana in 1946 and Station Master in 1942.
Jeevan appeared in several Dev Anand films from 1946 to 1978 and in Manmohan Desai movies such as Amar Akbar Anthony and Dharam Veer as villains. He also starred in the Punjabi film Teri Meri Ek Jindri. He worked in more than 300 films. His last film was “Tera karam mera dharam’-87. The Film “Aakhri sangharsh”- was released in 1997, almost 10 years after he had acted in it. . He died on 10 June 1987 at the age of 71.
Here is the last and final song from today’s film, sung by Lata Mangeshkar. It makes the film YIPPEED !
Song- Aaj Imtihaan hai (Suhaag)(1979) Singer- Lata Mangeshkar, Lyricist- Anand Bakshi, MD- Laxmikant- Pyarelal
Lyrics:
o o o oo o o
aaj imtihaan hai
imtihaan hai ae ae ae ae
aaj imtihaan hai
aaj kee raat tu
mera mehmaan hai ae ae ae ae ae
aaj imtihaan hai
mast nazar se main jaam tod doongee
peene naheen doongee
main peene naheen doongee
mast nazar se main jaam tod doongee
peene naheen doongee
main peene naheen doongee
imtihaan hai ae ae ae ae ae
mera imtihaan hai
imtihaan hai ae ae ae ae ae
tera imtihaan hai
barson se pee raha hai
mar mar ke jee raha hai
barson se pee raha hai
mar mar ke jee raha hai
iska ghulaam ban ke
sheeshe ka jaam ban ke
gir kar na toot jaana
mujhse na roothh jaana
gham ka ilaaj main hoon
mastee mein aaj main hoon
kitnee hai pyaas raaja
aa mere paas aaja
matlab to hai nashe se
paanee se ho ke mai se
roko na maykashee se
par teree zindagee se
meree jaan hai ae ae ae ae
aaj imtihaan hai
imtihaan hai ae ae ae ae ae
tera imtihaan hai
o naujawaan sharaabee
peene mein hai kharaabee
o naujawaan sharaabee
peene mein hai kharaabee
ye shab hai khoobsoorat
jis shai kee hai zaroorat
wo saamne hai tere
tu saamne hai mere
donon ke dil hain bojhal
deewaar hai ye botal
aahe botal mein aksh tera
mehfil mein raksh mera
saaghar se aa nikal ke
lag ja galey machal ke
ye zahar tu na peena
ke tujhpe ye haseena
aaj meharbaan hai ae ae ae ae ae
aaj imtihaan hai
imtihaan hai ae ae ae ae ae
tera imtihaan hai
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