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History

1940 Chal chal ré naujawan was an extremely popular song of the 1940s. A scholarly book says that it was included in the film Jhoola (1941). The Geet Kosh and other sources confirm that it was featured in Bandhan instead. Both films had music by Saraswati Devi and lyrics by Pradeep. Indpaedia has placed Jhoola in 1941 on the authority of Geet Kosh, Mr Ranade and the Silent & Hindi Talkie Films Index, because no less than Geet Mala ki Chhaon Mein says that it was released in 1942.

Nineteen significant Hindi-Urdu songs from 1940

*Song*	Film	Music	Lyrics	Singer(s)
Hairat sé tak raha hai* jahaan é wafaa mujhe*	(Non-film)	Pandit Amarnath	Saagar Nizaami	Master Madan
Hum aur tum yeh khushi, qehqahé yeh dillagi, chhitki hui hai chãñdni	Alibaba	Anil Biswas	Dr. ‘Aah’ Sitapuri	Surendra, Wahidan Bai
Kahé karta der barãti, jana hai tohé pee ki nagariya	Aurat	Anil Biswas	Dr. Safdar ‘Aah’	Anil Biswas
Uth sajani khol kiwadé	Aurat	Anil Biswas	Dr. Safdar ‘Aah’	Surendra, Jyoti
Chal chal ré naujawan, kehna mera maan	Bandhan	Saraswati Devi, Ramchandra Pal	Pradeep	Leela Chitnis, Ashok Kumar/ Suresh
Mast pawan shakhein lehrayéiñ, ban ban mor papiha gãyéiñ	Haar Jeet	Anil Biswas	Dr. Safdar ‘Aah’	Kanan Devi, Pahãrhi Sanyal
Phagun ki rut aai re	Holi	Khemchand Prakash	DN Madhok	Sitara, Amritlal
Dheeré dheeré ãnã	Laxmi	Timir Baran	Mohan Sinha	Bibbo, Kumar
Piyã milan ko jãyé bãwri	Laxmi	Timir Baran	Mohan Sinha	Aziz
Nacho nacho pyaré manké mor	Punarmilan	Ramchandra Pal	Pradeep	Arun Kumar, Snehprabha
Aaj ka sunehra din hai, amrit sé nahãya, naam ké liyé	Sant Dnyaneshwar (Gyaneshwar)	Keshavrao Bhole	i)Pandit. Santoshi, ii) Pandit. Mukhram Sharma ‘Ashaant,’ iii) Shantaram Aathwalé	Shahu Modak
Aaj suhag ki raat sej meri ban gayi phulwãri (Raags Kãfi, Shivranjani)	Suhag	Timir Baran	Pt. Indra or Kareem	Rajkumari
Aao hum dono kheleiñ nit nayé niralé khel (Raag Bhairavi)	Suhag	Timir Baran	Pt. Indra or Kareem	Bibbo
Mera suhag, mera suhag, jeevan ka ik daan hai tera (Raag Durga)	Suhag	Timir Baran	Pt. Indra or Kareem	Bibbo
Kachiyaañ vé kaliyaañ tû na toor	Yamla Jat	Ghulam Haider	Wali Sahab	Baby Noor Jehan
Kanakaañ diyaañ faslaañ	Yamla Jat	Ghulam Haider	Wali Sahab	Shamshad Begum
Diwana hoon rahat ka	Zindagi	Pankaj Mullick (asstt. TN Dey)	Kedar Sharma	K.L. Saigal
Maiñ kya jãnûñ kya jaadoo hai (Raag KalyãN/ Taal Keherwã)	Zindagi	Pankaj Mullick (asstt. TN Dey)	Kedar Sharma	K.L. Saigal
So ja rajkumari, so jã (Raag Jhinjhoti/ Taal Keherwã)	Zindagi	Pankaj Mullick	Kedar Sharma	K.L. Saigal

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: 1940

Contents

History

Nineteen significant Hindi-Urdu songs from 1940

How these particular songs were chosen

Raags in songs

See also

For lists of popular songs

For lists of popular Hindi-Urdu films

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