Mera sanam sabse pyaara hai sabse pyaara hai
Posted on: October 14, 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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‘Dil Kaa Kyaa Kasoor’ (1992) was produced by Mukesh Duggal and was directed by Lawrence D’souza. The cast included Prithvi, Divya Bharati, Sanam, Suresh Oberoi, Laxmikant Berde, Satyen Kappu, Raju Shrestha, Kishore Bhanushali, Arun Bakshi, Subhiraj etc.
I had heard the name of director, Lawrence D’Souza for the first time after watching his film, ‘Saajan; (1991) in the theatre when it was released. The film became a super hit and he became well known in the Hindi film industry. With this success of this film, Lawrence D’Souza worked with music director, Nadeem-Shravan in 11 films out of 15 films he directed subsequent to the success of ‘Saajan’ (1991).
Lawrence D’Souza was born on April 27, 1952, in Valencia in Mangluru city. Apart from his parent, there were four brothers and three sisters. He was not interested in education but was interested in technical work like mechanic. At the age of 12, he left school and after some time, he started working with Mangaluru’s popular and historic Komal Sweets as a salesman. Lawrence was transferred to Bengaluru when Komal Sweets’ new branch was opened there. However, soon he left the job and shifted to Mumbai where his sisters were staying. Inintially, he worked in a garage. One of her sisters arranged him a job through the production manager of ‘Gora Aur Kala’ (1972) as an apprentice under Cinematographer, Babubhai Udeshi. With this, his journey in Hindi film industry started.
Even though Lawrence D’souza was assistant to a Cinematographer, he had to face two layers of hierarchy – Assistant Cameraman and the Operative Cameraman. Both of them ensured that Lawrence did not come near the camera to learn the art of fixing the various lenses and loading the raw films inside the camera which were the tricky jobs. The reason was that he was regarded as a future competitor for their vocation. Being a resourceful person, Lawarence learnt all the works relating to camera operations in the camera equipment hiring firms whenever he was deputed to take their delivery and return the equipments after the shooting was completed.
After apprenticeship in ‘Taangewaala’ (1972), Lawrence became Assistant to Cinematographer Udeshi in about half a dozen films which included ‘Do Jaasoos’ (1976), and ‘Mama Bhanja’ (1977). He also assisted Cinematographer H Laxmi Narayan in about six films. He became the operative cameraman with Tarachand Barjatya’s ‘Gopal Krishna’ (1979). Lawrence debuted as a full-pledged cinematographer in ‘Tajurba (1981). As a stand-alone Cinematographer, Lawrence has done about 10 films which included ‘Bhawani Junction’ (1985), ‘Dadagiri’ (1987), ‘Hatya’ (1988) etc and also included a Kannada film, ‘Aaradhane’ (1984)
Lawrence D’Souza was very much influenced by Cinematographer Ravi Nagaich who had become a director. He had a wish that like Ravi Nagaich, one day, he will also become Cinematographer-Director. That opportunity came to him when producer Sudhakar Bokade offered him to direct his first film ‘Nyaay Anyaay’ (1990) in which he was also the Cinematographer. The film did not fare well on the box office. But this did not deter Sudhakar Bokade from offering him his next film, ‘Saajan’ (1991).
Lawarence D’Souza has narrated the difficulties he faced in the planning stage of ‘Saajan’ (1991) in one of his TV interviews. Amir Khan refused to work in the film under a new director. Sanjay Dutt came in as his replacement. Music Director, Laxmikant-Pyarelal refused to give even the time for an appointment despite the fact that Lawrence D’souza had an excellent relationship with them. Nadeem-Shravan were roped in as the music director. Lawrence completed the film earlier than scheduled. It was a proud moment for the producer and the director on the day of the trial show when the audience threw coins on the stage on every songs. The film was a superhit and completed silver jubilee in one of the theatres in Mumbai. Thus, Hindi film industry got one more Cinematographer cum director.
As the Director-Cinematographer, Lawrence D’Souza has done 18 films which included ‘Saajan’ (1991), ‘Sangraam’ (1993), ‘Anokha Andaaz’ (1995), ‘Dil Tera Deewaana’ (1996), ‘Arzoo’ (1999), ‘Sanam Tero Kasam’ (2009). He turned producer with the film, ‘Panaah’ (1992). He produced and directed ‘Sangraam’ (1993) and produced another three films. Most of the films he directed belongs to the genre of musical romance.
In 2004, Lawrence D’Souza was shot by an underworld gang after he did not respond to their extortion calls. He escaped miraculously. With this incidence, some of the producers were afraid to engage him as director fearing that they may also get extortion calls. Subsequently, he decided to live a simple life by discarding all his luxuries. He sold his imported cars to avoid becoming envious to others. ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’ (2009) was his last film of his filmy career after which he decided to retire from the film industry. He also found himself misfit to adjust in an environment where corporate entity started producing high-budget Hindi films in the digital era.
Lawrence D’Souza got married in 1981 with a Sindhi girl, Rita. He has a daughter, Roshni D’Souza and a son, Rohit D’Souza who is an Assistant Director. [Note: Lawrence D’souza’s life profile is based on his couple of interviews available on the video sharing platforms].
The story of the film under discussion is as under:
Shalini (Divya Bharti) is a pampered sister of Rajesh (Suresh Oberoi), a wealthy businessman. She is studying in the college where she has been known as an arrogant girl. Rajesh is already engaged to Annu (Manjeet Kular) but is waiting for Shalini’s marriage to take place before he marries Annu. Arun (Prithvi) is her classmate who is an orphan. He lives in the college hostel. Arun does not like the behaviour of Shalini and tries to remain away from her. But being in the college, there are occasions when he faces her resulting in ego clashes. Shalini has the hobby of writing poems which she gets published in college magazines and elsewhere with the pen name of ‘Seema’ to keep herself anonymous.
In the annual inter-college competition, Arun is selected to represent his college in the singing competition. He sings one of the poems written by Seema and wins the inter-collegiate singing competition. Arun says that the real winner of this singing competition is the poet Seema who has beautifully written the poem. Shalini’s view about Arun dramatically changes and she has started liking him. When Shalini meets him in the college to congratulate him for winning the singing competition, Arun insults her by saying that she has no understanding about the poetry and the music. Over a period of time, Shalini’s love becomes unrequited with Arun not aware of her feelings for him due to his pre-mediated views on her.
Rajesh becomes aware of Shalini’s love for Arun. After initially opposing her choice due to class differences, Rajesh softens his stand and decides to test Arun. He meets Arun in his hostel room and gets to know that he is an orphan and after graduation he will look for a job. Rajesh offers him to join his business as a partner, which he declines by saying that he wants to come up in his life on his own efforts. Rajesh returns home and tells Shalini that Arun is a stubborn, a quality which he respects but the same quality can make or mar a person. He finally tells Shalini that she has to wait for him until he becomes the equivalent to his financial status.
Rajesh’s conditional approval of Arun for Shalini prompts her to help him anonymously in his career path. Since Arun is a talented singer, Shalini starts writing songs for his singing under her pen name, Seema. She takes a newspaper editor, Verma (Arun Bakshi) into her confidence asking him to keep her name anonymous. He becomes her conduit for passing on the new songs with musical compositions to Arun. Because of her financial background, Shalini is able to get the sponsors for his concerts as well as marketing of his singing talent. In the course of time, Arun’s musical performances become successful. He becomes a celebrated singer, getting best deals from the recording companies and boosting his royalties. His financial status improves significantly and stays in a big house.
With his success, Arun is keen to meet Seema because of whom he could attain the financial status. He is now emotionally attached to the anonymous Seema with a sense of gratitude. He requests Verma to arrange a meeting with Seema in person. But Varma declines by saying that Seema prefers to remain anonymous. He, however, makes available the facilities through him for Arun to correspond with her.
In the meantime, the principal of the college (Subhiraj) who was a mentor to Arun, passes away leaving his daughter Meena (Sanam) alone without any family and financial support. Out of gratitude to his mentor, Arun decides to take care of Meena and marries her at the same time when Shalini in the guise of Seema is helping Arun to attain the financial status her brother Rajesh was expecting.
Soon after the marriage, Arun has one singing concerts in the city during which Rajesh decides to attend the concert with Shalini so that after the concert, he can talk to Arun about Shalini’s marriage. Just before the start of the singing programme, the anchor announces that Arun has married Meena and presents them on the stage. Both Rajesh and Shalini becomes dumbstruck as other audience applause. Rajesh return home extremely disappointed. Shalini is very quiet as she has started assuming that she has already married to Arun in her conscience without a formal marriage which makes Rajesh more worried.
When Shalini comes to know that Arun is having his singing concert in Ooty, she visits Ooty to see his live performance. She accidentally meets Arun in a library in Ooty. Arun offers her to pick up from her room in his car to take her to his concert. However, instead, she gets a message that due to sudden illness of his wife, he has to rush back. After returning to her house in Mumbai, she frequently get high fever which the doctor is not able to diagnose other than his advice to keep her in happy mood.
One day, Shalini omits blood. She is admitted to the hospital where the doctor finds some patches in her lung. Doctors conduct surgery to remove the patches. Verma, after knowing the serious type of her illness, immediately rushes to Arun’s house reminding him that at one time, he was very eager to meet Seema in person and that time has come for him. Arun is extremely happy and accompanies Verma to meet her face to face. Verma takes Arun to Salini’s room in the hospital and is shocked when Rajesh tells him that she is Shalini and she is also Seema. Arun feels very emotional while recalling their confrontations during the college days and insulting her when she had met him to congratulate him for winning the singing competition.
When Meena comes to know about Shalini’s love for Arun, she feels guilty that despite Shalini’s love for him, Arun has married her out of his obligations toward her father who was the mentor for him. Arun makes it very clear to her by taking the oath of Seema that he did not love Shalini, whose love was unrequited. Yes, he loved Seema as a goddess who streamlined his singing career to make him to reach his current status. As per Shalini’s wish, Arun and Meena meet her in the hospital. She says that she has only few minutes to live and she wants to die as ‘Suhaagan’. Arun applies vermilion on her forehead to fulfill her wish. She also requests Arun to light her funeral fire which he fulfills.
The film ends with the story taking a leap jump of five years to show that Arun and Meena have named their daughter as ‘Seema’ who is playing with Rajesh.
The film had eight songs written by Sameer (3), Nawab Arzoo (2), Anwar Sagar (2) and Madan Pal (1) which were set to music by Nadeem-Shravan. One song has been covered on the Blog. I present the 2nd song, ‘meraa sanam sabse se payara hai’ written by Sameer. The song is rendered by Asha Bhosle and Kumar Sanu who sings for Sanam and Prithvi, respectively. In some places on the website, Sanam is referred to as Sanam Patel.
The context of the song is that after the death of the Principal (Subhiraj) of his college, Meena (Sanam), his daughter becomes alone in the house without any family support. Arun (Prithvi) who is also an orphan was taken care of by the Principal as his mentor. As a gratitude, Arun marries Meena and tells her that their married life begins in his new house and the song follows.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Mera sanam sab se pyaara hai (Dil Ka Kya Kasoor)(1992) Singers-Asha Bhosle, Kumar Sanu, Lyricist-Sameer, MD-Nadeem ShrawanLyrics :
meraa sanam sabse pyaaraa haisabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
meraa sanam sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
wo jaan jigar dil hamaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
meraa sanam sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
wo jaan jigar dil hamaaraa hai
sabse pyaara hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
itne dinon maine maangee duaa
itne dinon maine maangee duaa
tab jaa ke hamdard tujhsaa milaa
ab har kadam saathh chalnaa mere
ab har kadam saathh chalnaa mere
kuchh bhee naheen zindagee bin tere
tujhe nazar mein utaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
ho o
meraa sanam sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
wo jaan jigar dil hamaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
ho lab pe mere teraa naam na ho
lab pe mere teraa naam na ho
aisee subah aisee shaam na ho
do jism ik jaan ho jaaun main
do jism ik jaan ho jaaun main
hai aarzoo tujh mein kho jaaun main
tujh pe sab kuchh waaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
meraa sanam sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
wo jaan jigar dil hamaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
meraa sanam sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
sabse pyaaraa hai
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