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History

1936 If citation by 21st century sources and inclusion in 21st century collections is a yardstick—and it is a very reliable yardstick—the most popular song of the 1930s, arguably the most popular song of the 1930s and 1940s put together, was Main ban ki chidiya ban ké from Achhut Kanya. Its composer chose the pen-name Saraswati Devi. When she was born in 1912 she was named Khursheed Manchershah Minocheher Homji. Her mother had worked for an institution (the Sarada Sangeet Vidyalaya) associated with the greatest Hindustani musicologist of the last few centuries, Pt. V.N. Bhatkhandé, and Khursheed was educated at one (the Maurice College, Lucknow).

A note about the credits

‚‘‘ 1936: ‚‘‘ Who composed the song ‚‘Tum hi né mujh ko ‚‘ for the film Manmohan? The film’s titles attribute it to Ashok Ghosh. However, the song was a hit and Anil Biswas later claimed that he had composed the song. Singer Surendra stood by Ashok Ghosh.

Biswas claimed credit for the music of another 1936 song as well: ‘Mai-noshi, madhoshi, hai jahãñ meiñ zindagãni mastoñ ki‚' from the film Shokh Dilruba. It was sung by singing-star Khursheed, who played Maina, and filmed on her. The official music director of the film was Sundar Das.

Fifteen significant Hindi-Urdu songs from 1936

*Song*	Film	Music	Lyrics	Singer(s)
Khet ki mûlî (Raag Durgâ)	Achhut Kanya	Saraswati Devi	J.S. Kashyap ‘Nãtawãñ’	Devika Rani, Ashok Kumar
Main ban ki chidiya banké	Achhut Kanya	Saraswati Devi	J.S. Kashyap	Devika Rani, Ashok Kumar
Aaj hamein ban behad bhâta	Amar Jyoti	Master Krishna Rao	Pt. Narottan Vyas	Shanta Apte, B.Nandekar
Lehreiñ jo haiñ…takrãti haiñ	Amar Jyoti	Master Krishna Rao	(The song is not	in the Geet Kosh)
Suno suno ban ke praani...	Amar Jyoti	Master Krishna Rao	Pt. Narottan Vyas	Shanta Apte, B.Nandekar
Koi humdum na rahã , koi sahãrã na rahã (Raag Jhinjhoti)	Jeevan Naiya	Saraswati Devi	Jamuna Swaroop Kashyap ‘Nãtawãñ’	Ashok Kumar
Tum hi né mujh ko prém sikhaya (Raag Bhîm Palãsi/ Teen Taal)	Manmohan	Ashok Ghosh	Zia Sarhadi	Surendra, Bibbo
Sundar nari pritam pyari	Manzil	R C Boral (asstt: Pankaj Mullick)	Aarzoo Lucknowi/ Asghar Hussain Shor	Pankaj Mullick
Jo naukari dila dé, B.A. banãné wãlé, bigdi hui banã dé	Millionaire/ Karodpati	R C Boral	Kedar Sharma	K.L. Saigal, Pahãrhi Sanyal
Oh dilruba kahan tak zulm o sitam saheingé	Millionaire/ Karodpati	R C Boral, Pankaj Mullick	Kedar Sharma	K.L. Saigal, Pahãrhi Sanyal
Jo beet chuki so beet	Pujarin	Timir Baran	Kedar Sharma	K.L. Saigal
Piyé ja, aur piyé ja, zindagi ka hai yehi muddã (Raag Khamaj)	Pujarin	Timir Baran	Kedar Sharma?	K.L. Saigal
Ab pyare pyare aayeiñgé din (Raag Yaman)	Rajput Ramani	Keshav Rao VamanBhole	Pandit. Narottan Vyas	Shanta Apte
Lãnã pakodã garmã-garam	Sher ka Panja	Anil Biswas, Jhande Khan	Gauri Shankar Lal ‘Akhtar’	Gope (according to Anil Biswas)
Aseer é gham ka bhalã phir kahaañ Thikãna tha	Struggle/ Jeewan Sangram	Perhaps Ustad Zamiruddin Khan	‘Firaq’ (according to the maqta)	Kamla Jhariya

How these particular songs were chosen

India’s first—and Hindi-Urdu music’s only durable—hit parade began in 1954. Its creator, Binaca Geet Mala, issued annual lists for 1952 and 1953 as well. However, songs had been introduced in Hindi-Urdu films as early as in 1931, indeed, with India’s first talking film.

Which were the most popular Hindi-Urdu songs between 1931 and 1951? The internationally accepted way of finding out is to go through contemporary as well as later articles to see which songs were mentioned (‘cited’) most often.

Indpaedia’s volunteers spent almost 21 man-months combing through all sources that mentioned songs from the years not covered by Binaca Geet Mala. Around one-third of this time was spent sifting through and analysing fifteen sources that covered the period 1931-53. These included YouTube playlists, three encylopaedias of Hindi-Urdu songs and a scholarly history of Hindi-Urdu film music. Because very few songs were mentioned ‘often,’ the volunteers noted down every song that was mentioned at all. Less than half a dozen songs were omitted because they did not exist either on Saregama’s website, the Geet Kosh, YouTube or Hindi Geet Mala. Every song was cross-checked with at least one of these sites.

For more details please see Hindi-Urdu songs: methodology.

Annual lists for the years 1931-51 have been arranged in the alphabetical order, because no one knows the order of their popularity. However, this can be done.

The Indpaedia community will be grateful if some volunteer(s) check out on YouTube the songs mentioned on this page and rank them according to the number of times each song has been played. (Most, but not all, of these songs are on YouTube.) This contribution will be gratefully acknowledged in the volunteer’s name.

Raags in songs

Few film songs that have a root in Indian classical music remain faithful to a raag throughout their length. Indpaedia volunteers have sometimes mentioned raags even when there is merely a hint of that raag in a song. (‘Raag’ is frequently spelt ‘raga,’ while ‘taal’ is also spelt ‘tal.’)

Wherever a taal has been mentioned, it is the one verified by ChandraKantha.com, and sometimes the raags, too.

Hindi-Urdu songs: 1936

Contents

History

A note about the credits

Fifteen significant Hindi-Urdu songs from 1936

How these particular songs were chosen

Raags in songs

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For lists of popular Hindi-Urdu films

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