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A note about the credits

‚‘‘1948 ‚‘‘ Was there a film called Bapu Ki Amar Kahani? Most audio-websites that have posted the eponymous song say that it was from this film. However, neither Hamraaz’ Geet Kosh nor his Film Index mentions any such film. So, there might not have been a feature film of this name. But then the Geet Kosh (page S I-97) omits even the song, though there can be no doubt about the existence of the epic-length song, which was issued in four parts on two 78rpm discs, and later on a long-playing (LP) album. Thus, either this was a non-film song or it accompanied a documentary film.

Thirty significant Hindi-Urdu songs from 1948

Song	Film	Music	Lyrics	Singer(s)
Dekh chand ki or (Kahîñ kã deepak kahîñ kî bãti)	Aag	Ram Ganguly	Saraswati Kumar ‘Deepak’	Shamshad Begum, Shailesh
Kaahey koyal shor machaye, re?	Aag	Ram Ganguly	Behzad Lucknavi	Shamshad Begum
Raat ko ji chamakeiñ tãré, dékh balam mohé añkhiyãñ mãré	Aag	Ram Ganguly	Majrooh Sultanpuri	Shamshad Begum, Mukesh
Zinda hoon is tarah	Aag	Ram Ganguly	Behzad Lucknavi	Mukesh
Hum apné dil ka fasana	Actress	Shyam Sunder	Nakhshab	Mohammed Rafi
Ik dil kã lagãnã bãqi thã to dil bhi lagã ké dekh liyã	Anokha Pyar	Anil Biswas	Zia Sarhadi	Lata Mangeshkar
Jeevan sapna toot gaya	Anokha Pyar	Anil Biswas	Zia Sarhady	Lata Mangeshkar
Yad rakhna chand taro	Anokha Pyar	Anil Biswas	Zia Sarhady	Meena Kapoor (film)/ Lata Mangeshkar (disc)
Kabhi dil dil sé takrãtã to hogã (Raag Darbãri Kãnarhã/ Taal Keherwã)	Anokhi Ada	Naushad	Shakeel Badayuni	Mukesh (Shamshad Begum?)
Suno, suno, ai duniya wãlo, Bapu ki yeh amar kahani	Bapu Ki Amar Kahani	Husnalal-Bhagatram	Rajinder Krishan	Mohammed Rafi
(Drum dance: no words)	Chandralekha	S. Rajeshwar Rao	---	---
Mann bhãvan sãwan ãyã, rañg jamãyã (Raag Briñdãvani Sãrañg/ Taal Keherwã)	Chandralekha	S. Rajeshwar Rao	Pt. Indra	Uma Devi
Mera husn lootne aaya albela	Chandralekha	S. Rajeshwar Rao	Pt. Indra	Zohra Ambala, Moti Bai
O chãñd mereé	Chandralekha	S. Rajeshwar Rao	Pt. Indra	Uma Devi
Door papeeha bolé	Gajre	Anil Biwas	Gopal Singh Nepali	Suraiya
i) Bhãrat jai jai; ii) The plough song (Hindustañ ka bal hai hal); iii) Deep jalao	Kalpana	Vishnudas Shirali	i) Pt. Sumitranandan Pant; ii) Devi Lal Samar	?
Dil mera torhã, mujhe kahîñ ka na chhorha teré pyar né	Majboor	Ghulam Haider	Nãzim Panipati	Lata Mangeshkar
Gãyé ja geet milan ké	Mela	Naushad	Shakeel Badayuni	Mukesh
Yeh zindagi ke mele duniya meiñ kam na hongé (Raag Bhairavi/ Taal Dãdrã)	Mela	Naushad	Shakeel Badayuni	Mohammed Rafi
Añkhiyãñ milã ké añkhiyãñ roveiñ dit ratiyãñ	Nadiya Ke Paar	C. Ramachandra	Moti, B.A.	Surinder Kaur
Maar gayo ré (Dil kãhu ko dev naa)	Nadiya Ke Paar	C. Ramachandra	Moti, B.A.	Shamshad Begum, Chitalkar
O gori O chhori	Nadiya Ke Paar	C. Ramachandra	Moti, B.A.	Lata Mangeshkar
Title song (Kathvã ké naiyã banaî-hé malah-vã…)	Nadiya Ke Paar	C. Ramachandra	Moti, B.A.	Lalita, Chitalkar, P. Chander, S.L. Puri
Ek teer chalãné walé né	Pugree	Ghulam Mohammed	Shakeel Badayuni	Sitara (Kanpur), Mukesh
Ik dil ké tukdé hazãr huyé, koi yahãñ girã koi vahãñ girã	Pyar ki Jeet	Husnalal-Bhagatram	Qamar Jalalabadi	Mohammed Rafi
Teré nainon né chori kiya (Raag Pahãrhi/ Taal Keherwã)	Pyar ki Jeet	Husnalal-Bhagatram	Rajinder Krishan	Suraiya
Badnam na ho jayé	Shaheed	Ghulam Haider	Qamar Jalalabadi	Surinder Kaur
Watan ki raah mein watan ké naujawãñ shaheed hoñ	Shaheed	Ghulam Haider	Raja Mehdi Ali Khan	Mohammed Rafi, Khan Mastana
Chanda ré ja ré ja re (Raag Chayanat/ Taal Keherwã)	Ziddi	Khemchand Prakash	Prem Dhawan	Lata Mangeshkar
Yeh kaun aaya	Ziddi	Khemchand Prakash	Prem Dhawan	Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar

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: 1948

Contents

A note about the credits

Thirty significant Hindi-Urdu songs from 1948

How these particular songs were chosen

Raags in songs

See also

For lists of popular songs

For lists of popular Hindi-Urdu films

For raags and taals

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