Anmol Fankaar A website dedicated to artists of the Indian Subcontinent

nigaah neechi kiye sar jhukaye baithe hain
yehi to hain jo mera dil churaye baithe hain

If you're familiar with the sub-continental film music from 1950-70, this couplet may seem very familiar to you. But if I were to ask you who wrote these lines, it is likely that you may come up with many different names. This couplet, after all, has appeared in many songs.

The earliest I know of a song starting with these lines, is a song sung by Shamshad Begum and composed by Nashad for Darwaza (1954). The song opens with these lines and then moves on to the main mukhda:

tumhein kya hai bahane karo nisdin ke
koi ratiyan guzare tare gin gin ke

The lyricist of this song is Majrooh Sultanpuri.

In the same year, Hansraj Bahl composed a song in a film called Laal Pari. Again sung by Shamshad, this song also had the same couplet as the opening couplet. The main mukhda was:

saamne baith ke dil ko churaye koi
aisi chori ka pata khaak lagaye koi

And this time, the credit for the lyrics went to Asad Bhopali

We’re not done yet… Two years later in 1956, Shamshad Begum again got to sing these lines in Vasant Desai’s Toofan Aur Diya. This time there was a minor change in the lines, but they were essentially the same. The credit for lyrics was given to Hasrat Jaipuri.

A year later, the couplet finally broke itself free from what had almost become Shamshad Begum’s property. The film was Patal Pari (1956), composer was S. Mohinder and the singer was Asha Bhosle. Again, the same opening couplet before the start of the mukhda. And the lyricist? Sarshar Sailani

There must be something about these lines that it found favour even in Pakistan many years later. In Chand Suraj (1970), Nashad composed a tandem by Noor Jehan and Mehndi Hasan with the same lines. Shevan Rizvi got the honours for the lyrics.

Majrooh, Hasrat, Asad Bhopali, Sarshar Sailani, Shevan Rizvi … just whose lines are these anyway? I tried searching if these lines are by any famous poet, but drew a blank.  Does anyone know who the real writer of these lines is?

You can listen to all these songs below:

1. Darwaza (1954) – Shamshad Begum – Nashad – Majrooh Sultanpuri

1. Lal Pari (1954) – Shamshad Begum  – Hansraj Bahl – Asad Bhopali

1. Toofan Aur Diya (1956) – Shamshad Begum – Vasant Desai – Hasrat Jaipuri

1. Patal Pari (1957) – Asha Bhosle – S. Mohinder – Sarshar Sailani

1. Chand Suraj (1970) – Mehdi Hasan – Nashad – Shevan Rizvi

1. Chand Suraj(1970) – Noor Jehan – Nashad – Shevan Rizvi

P.S. Vinay Jain has pointed to an another instance of this she'r appearing in a Hindi film. This time it is in a song penned by indeevar.

Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharni (1989) - Mohd. Aziz & Sadhana Sargam - Rajesh Roshan - Indeevar

Geet Kosh also mentions two songs that possibly start with these lines. One is a Talat-Asha duet from Sipahsalar (1956), credited to Farooq Qaiser, and the other is a Lata solo from Satta Bazaar (1959), written by Hasrat. The versions I have heard of these songs do not include the initial lines, but it is possible that they exist. If someone has those songs, please share.

Zafar Syed pointed out that this she'r is by a lesser known poet call Abdul Hadi Khan "Wafa". We could not not find any more information about the poet or the ghazal from which the she'r might have been taken.

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