Kya humse poochhte ho kidhar jaa rahe hain hum
Posted on: November 6, 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.
| Blog Day : | 6684 | Post No. : | 20672 |
Today’s song is from a romantic, crime, suspense and social film- all rolled into one…Arsi-1947.
The film was produced by Motiram Jain, owner of the banner Jeevan Pictures, Lahore. It was directed by Daud Chand. The music was by Lachhiram and Shyam Sunder. The songs were written by debutant Lyricist Sarashar Sailani. The cast included Meena (Shorey), Al Nasir, Asha Posley, Chandrashekhar, Bhimsen, Cuckoo, Pran and others.
Arsi (1947) is an emotional romantic musical-thriller family drama directed by Dawood Chand and written by Mulkraj Bhakri. Notably, production on the film began in Lahore but due to the intense communal unrest surrounding the 1947 Partition, it had to be completed in Bombay (now Mumbai) before its release.
The story centers on Arsi (played by Meena Shorey), a sweet and kind girl who lives in poverty with her father, Bansi. She falls in love with Ramesh (played by Al Nasir), the wealthy son of a rich landlord, Seth Dharamdas (played by Ajmal). Despite their massive economic divide, they plan to marry.
An unexpected financial tragedy or incident shatters Arsi’s life, leaving her family desperate. When her younger brother, Ramu, is crying for food, a helpless Arsi reaches out to the village for assistance, but all doors are closed to her.
Arsi possesses a valuable heirloom—a golden “Arsi” (a traditional thumb ring with an embedded mirror). Reluctantly, she takes it to the local goldsmith to sell it. The old goldsmith recognizes the ring, which he had crafted years ago for the landlord’s wife. Assuming Arsi stole it, he brings her directly to the Sahukar (landlord/merchant). The intoxicated landlord attempts to molest Arsi. Defending herself, Arsi grabs a nearby knife and stabs him to death.
Arsi is sentenced to prison for the killing. After serving 14 years of imprisonment, she is finally released. She returns to Ramesh’s house, but hides her identity. She assumes the guise of a humble maidservant, deliberately choosing to keep her true identity hidden from her brother and society to save them from social stigma. After some time, she realises that Ramesh has not married and he still loves her, without knowing that she is in his house.Once, by chance her identity is disclosed and Ramesh accepts her. Both unite. The End.
One of the names in the cast is Bhimsen. This name had never appeared earlier in any film credits and not seen in any film in later days. This Bhimsen was none other than the lyricist of the film – Sarashar Sailani. As per the then prevailing trend, he took the pseudonym of Sarashar Sailani, which is in Farsi language. It means ” a true tourist”. Truly he was a ” musafir in mushairas” !
Sarshar Sailani (12 March 1914 – 10 April 1969) was a lyricist, Story, Dialogue writer, Screenplay Writer, who was not much educated (not a graduate), but was a school teacher, used to participate in Mushairas. Motiram liked his shayari. When Motiram started his First film “Arsi” (1947), he invited Sailani to write story, song and dialogues for this film. Some songs became popular & Sailani jumped into the film line.
Sarshar Sailani was born on 12 March 1914 in Ludhiana, in Punjab. He was yet another Hindu writer, who took a Muslim name. His real name was Bhim Sen.
The film “Arsi” was made by Jeevan Pictures, Lahore. It was directed by Daud Chaand. All the 11 songs were written by Sarshar Sailani. This was his first film as a Lyricist. The owner of Jeevan Pictures, was Motiram Jain and he was a lover of Shayari and poetry. Interestingly, Sarshar Sailani acted only in one film & that is Arsi (1947).
Music directors Lachhiram called Sarshar Sailani for his next film Mohini (1947) & Shyamsunder called for Ek Roz (1947). Along with director Daud Chaand, Sailani also shifted to Bombay. However, after the Partition, Daud returned to Lahore but Sailani remained in India. He wrote lyrics in many movies, generally he got only low budget films, but he worked with some quality composers.
In all, he wrote 150 songs in 32 films. From 1960 onwards, after the film ‘Bade ghar ki bahu’, he stopped songwriting and took up only story, dialogue writing, in which he did many good films. some of such films were Bewafa, Baaz, Barsat ki raat, Anpadh, Aayi milan ki bela, Aapki parchhaiyan, Ganga ki laharen, Majboor, Aaye din bahaar ke, Aman, Devar, Gunahon ka devta, Kanyadaan, Aya saawan jhoom ke, Anjana etc.etc. His last film as a dialogue writer was Maa aur Mamta-70.
Sarshar Sailani worked with music directors like Pandit Amarnath, Anil Biswas, Pandit Govind Ram, Husnlal Bhagatram, Lachhiram, Hansraj Bahl, Roshan, Ghulam Haider, A. R. Qureshi, Chitragupt, Sardul Kwatra & Jaidev. Sarshar Sailani died on 10 April 1969 in Mumbai.
The singer of today’s song is S.D.Batish. I have a lot of respect for S D Batish, who did a marvelous job of promoting Indian Music in the UK and USA. He is one of those rare people who left the film world, but continued serving Indian Music, by turning a corner in Life. Such people are few in this world. The monumental work he did for Indian Music in foreign lands is unparalleled. An important point is that he did not do this service to Music for his personal gains. For his sustenance,he had opened a Restaurant in Santa Cruz, California, which was providing him enough for a comfortable living in the USA.
Born December 14, 1914, in Patiala, India, Shiv Dayal Batish abandoned a career in the nascent telephone industry to study devotional song, folk drama, and Indian classical music under his guru Hakim Chandan Ram Charan. In 1934, he relocated to Bombay to try his hand at acting, but roles proved scarce and he returned to Patiala two years later, renewing his focus on music. By 1936 Batish was regularly appearing on All India Radio and recording his first sessions for His Master’s Voice. The film industry nevertheless retained its allure for him, and in 1939 he returned to Bombay, working for a spell under broadcasting legend Z.A. Bokhari. After earning his first film work as an assistant musical director in 1942, Batish later graduated to full-fledged Bollywood musical director, in the years to follow working with playback singer greats including Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, and Mohammed Rafi.
Batish also moonlighted as a playback singer in 70 films, singing 115 songs, among them 1944’s Daasi and 1948’s Barsaat ki Raat, before relocating to Britain in 1964. After accepting a position with the BBC Immigration Unit, Batish became a regular in British radio and television, most notably composing “Nai Zindagi Naya Jivan,” the theme song to the Beeb’s classic South Asian series Apna Hi Ghar Samajhiye (“Make Yourself at Home”). He also returned to his roots as a live musician, performing Indian folk and classical music on the vichitra veena, a long-necked fretless flute. In 1965 Batish was summoned by percussionist Keshav Sathe to record the Indian-inspired incidental music for the Beatles’ second feature film, Help! — the experience also proved the beginning of his lifelong friendship with Beatle George Harrison, who later hired Batish to teach his then-wife Patti Boyd the stringed dilruba.
In 1969 Batish assembled wife Shanta Devi, daughter Vijay Laxmi and sons Ashwin Kumar and Ravi Kumar to record North Indian Folk and Classical Music, which for decades remained the lone Indian release to appear on the seminal folk label Topic Records. A year later, the family emigrated to the U.S., settling in northern California and founding a restaurant, the Santa Cruz-based Krishna Café. Although the restaurant business remained Batish’s primary focus for the remainder of his life, he continued playing live and also cut the occasional LP, most notably 1980s Raga Todi, 1985’s Om Shanti Meditation on Dilruba and 1997’s The 72 Carnatic Melakhartas.
He founded “Batish Institute of Music and Fine arts” in California and wrote about 12 books on Indian Classical music,like Ragopaedia,Raga Channels,Rasik Raga lakshan Manjiri etc. He had also founded Batish Recording Co.
He died at age 91 on July 29, 2006.
The Hero of this film was Al Nasir. Al Nasir is a name which is a part of SAME NAME CONFUSION. Many people mix up Nasir Khan (Dilip Kumar’s brother) and Al Nasir and their filmographies are mixed up. Let us know today about the lesser known AL NASIR.
ABDUL REHMAN AL NASIR GAZNAVI ( popularly known as Al Nasir ) was born on 27-11-1922 in Kabul. His father was a big shot-Chancellor of Law.He was related to the Begum of Junagadh and also to the Nawab of Bhopal. His schooling was done in Dehradun upto Sr. Cambridge and degree was obtained from Kabul college. He was a tall and handsome young man,who was keen on joining the AirForce. He went to Bombay in 1941 for this purpose. While in National studios to meet a friend, Mehboob spotted him and offered him a job. He was taken on the rolls of the studio.
For the next 6 months there was only pay, but no work. In 1942 National Studios closed down, but Mohan Sinha offered him a Hero’s role in the film Preetam-42. His father did not like this. However Al Nasir worked in 17 films till 1957.
Being handsome and polished he impressed women . He was a womaniser. During Prithvi vallabh-43 ‘s shooting he married Khursheed Jehan commonly known as Meena ( Shorey). Whenever she was away,he would run after women. He had an affair with Nigar Sultana. After the divorce with Meena, he married actress Manorama, when he had gone to Lahore.
He divorced Manorama in 1946 and married actress Veena. They had 2 children. Daughter Huma became a Professor and his son was Altamash. Al Nasir was fond of hunting and reading English books.
He acted in Preetam, Prithvi vallabh, Pathron ke Saudagar, Shehar se door, Dhamkee, Shalimaar, Khamosh Nigahen, Aarsi, Ek roz, Daastaan, Bewee, Kashmir, Mr. and Mrs. 55, Hatimtai ki Beti, Sakhi Haatim, Indra sabha and Mera Salam-57. Al Nasir died at the age of only 35 years,on 17-10-1957.
Here is a song from this film, sung by S.D.Batish. Enjoy….
Song- Kya humse poochhte ho kidhar jaa rahe hain hum (Aarsi)(1947) Singer- S.D.Batish, Lyricist- Sarshar Sailani, MD- Shyamsunder
Lyrics:
Kya humse poochhte hokidhar ja rahe hain hum
manzil se bekhabar hain
badal ja rahe hain hum
thhokar kadam kadam pe
yahaan khaa rahe hain hum
duniya se naamuraad chaley jaa rahe hain hum
duniya se naamuraad
itne kadam kadam pe uthhaaye naseeb ne
naseeb ne
apne bhee kar dikhaaye paraaye naseeb ne
naseeb ne
duniya re rishta jod ke pachhta rahe hain hum
duniya se naamuraad chaley jaa rahe hain hum
duniya se naamuraad
beete dinon kee yaad jo aaye to kya karen
ye dil kaheen karaar na paaye to kya karen
aahon se dil kee aag ko bhhadkaa rahe hain hum
duniya se naamuraad chaley jaa rahe hain hum
duniya se naamuraad
jeena agar yahee hai to jeena fazool hai
marna qabool hai
hamen marna qabool hai
marne kee aarzoo mein jiye jaa rahe hain hum
duniya se naamuraad chaley jaa rahe hain hum
duniya se naamuraad
November 6, 2026 at 8:42 am
Arun Ji
Thanks for the post. I knew S D Batish only as a singer. I remember only a small number of songs sung by him. I read with keen interest of his bio presented in your post. Admirable life’s journey
K S Shenoy
LikeLike