This is the only SOLO song sung by Shamshad Begum for Shanker-Jaikishan. Shanker Jaikishan used Shamshad’s voice only 3 times during their long careers. The reason for using her voice sparingly in their compositions is provided by Shamshad and her daughter Usha below…

“Shamshad Begum remembers the time she came in contact with Raj Kapoor. “He was unknown then. In fact, he introduced himself as Prithviraj Kapoor’s son. Raj was making a film and he wanted me to sing for it. I was very busy then. But out of respect for Prithviraj Kapoor, I agreed. I used to come home in the afternoon to rest. I told Raj to come to my house with his harmonium and tabla players — Shankar of Shankar Jaikishen fame and Ram Ganguly, the music director. I squeezed in the practice session during my rest time and went to the studio only for the recording.”

The film was the hugely successful and not to mention, the music was a super hit. In keeping with Shamshad Begum’s fate, Raj Kapoor also never looked back. “But gracious that he was, once after many years when he met us at my mother’s concert, he publicly said that it was she who made his life. He also said, ‘But I couldn’t do anything for her.’ He later privately admitted that it was not him who didn’t want her to sing but Jaikishen who was anti Shamshad Begum,” says Usha.”

This song is picturized on Cuckoo who was the numero uno dancer at that time (late 40s to mid 50s). Like the Helen-Asha combination later on, in many of these songs, Cuckoo’s screen `voice’ was Shamshad Begum. Together, they were responsible for some unforgettable hits including Mere ghoonghar wale baal (Pardes), Dar na mohabbat karle (Andaz), Piya piya piya piya hum aur tum (Naujawan) etc

Trivia: The record version of this song had an extra line “Sambhal kai khidki khol balamwa dekhey mera baap re” which was later censored out of the film version by Censor Board.

This beautiful song was composed by Chitragupta who was still a struggling music director at that time and this film – particularly this song helped him establish his place in the Hindi Film Industry. According to Shamshad Begum, many music directors used her as a stepping stone to reach either Asha Bhosle or Lata Mangeshkar and Chitragupta was no exception.

Coming to the song, this is one of the best Rafi-Shamshad duets. Harp and clarinet plays a vital role in setting right pace and mood for this song. Very lively and enjoyable number, that will make place in your heart instantly.

It was picturized on B-Grade Actor Ranjan and Naseem Bano (Saira Bano’s mother) – who was a fading actress in the ’50s with the arrival of new heroines including Madhubala, Nargis, Geeta Bali etc.  – Mister Jinx

Hemant Kumar & Shamshad Begum

Hemant Kumar (the music director) and Shamshad Begum – Like other music directors from Bengal belt i.e. Anil Biswas and Salil Chaudary, Hemant Kumar used Shamshad’s voice sparingly. As far as I know, the only song he composed for Shamshad, was a duet with Geeta Dutt from Yahudi ki Ladki (1957) – Hum Kisi Se Na Kahenge. Sadly, this was also the last duet Geeta and Shamshad Begum sang together.

Hemant Kumar (the singer) and Shamshad Begum – This is one of the most unusual combination of singers singing together. Shamshad and Hemant sang only 1 to 2 duets together in their long careers. One of them was from the 1953 film Sholey with music by Naresh Bhattacharya and Dhaniram – Ae dil to kahin lai chal. The song appears two times in the film – once as a solo by Hemant and then as a duet by Hemant and Shamshad. The solo version starts slowly and the opening lines are sung at low pace without orchestral support. In duet version the orchestra is right from the beginning. The duet is more catchy owing to change  of  rhythm  from Hemant to Shamshad after mukhada; and then again after the antara.