(Part – 3) The Bicycle Saga

The Bicycle Saga continues on the blog. I’m presenting the third part of the series. I was not sure about the last post in the bicycle series, Couple on a Bicycle. But I must thank the readers for welcoming it. Encouraged by it, I am presenting the third part of the series. It’s about

Solo Bicycle Songs

To confess, I was going to open the series with the solo bicycle songs. But it wasn’t possible to get songs in time, so I started with a post on ‘group of bicycles’ song. But now that after a detailed (deep sigh….) research, I could get enough songs for the post.
Today as well I’ve not insisted on a full length bicycle song. Still the majority have the bicycle for a good length of time. And I should make it clear that the singer should be riding the bicycle. The majority of the songs are with the hero riding the bicycle merrily, singing as he travels the city or town. Some of the songs are chhed-chhad type of songs, where the hero follows the heroine on a bicycle, teasing her all the way. Of course there would be a few variations of the subcategory. Last but not the least, I’ve a postman song as well on the list. I think that’s fairly obvious. All of us have come across postmen delivering our letters in real life too. So that’s something we can easily connect with.

I was wondering if there was a female solo bicycle song in a Hindi film? That is the heroine alone riding on a bicycle singing the song, I am talking about only the solos. At least I’m not aware of such songs. Readers, please add it to the comments if you know any!

For now, let’s visit today’s list. Ten of solo bicycle songs from Hindi films.

1. Chal Mere Dil Lehrake Chal – Ishara (1964) Mukesh / Kalyanji Anandji – Majrooh
This was one of the first songs I thought of. While the song takes us to a small tour of Delhi city, a good bit of it is just superimposed than actual on site shooting. But still a few shots were actually shot on real locations. The song sounds good and is quite enjoyable. Joy Mukherjee sings the philosophy of the character he plays in the movie.

2. Pyase Panchhi Neel Gagan Mein – Pyase Panchhi (1961) Mukesh / Kalyanji Anandji – Qamar Jalalabadi
Mukesh again, this time singing for Mehmood. Bicycle throughout the song. A beautifully written and composed song. Mehmood thinks about his mate and in general the song has a light hearted mood and romantic touch as well. And the bicycle is there throughout.

3. Dil Mera Ek Aas Ka Panchhi – Aas Ka Panchhi (1961) Subir Sen / Shankar Jaikishan – Hasrat Jaipuri
This one’s not a perfect fit by my stringent rules, as it starts as a group of bicycles. After riding it alone for a while, a group of ladies cadets joins Rajendra Kumar. Thereafter he is all alone for the rest of the song. But the song is good, has inspirational lyrics and I like the song. It talks about the youth of the nation and is very optimistic.

4. O Doodhwali Gwalaniyan – Seedha Rasta (1947) Parul Ghosh, G M Durrani & Amar Varma / S K Pal – Amar Varma
I found this song accidentally while searching for something else. I was obviously happy to add one more song to the list. I couldn’t confirm the singers of this one. The main on screen performers are Kamala kotnis and Shahu Modak. The song opens at a men’s hostel where the boys tease the milkmaid, but the latter answers back. The actual bicycle sequence starts @01.10, and the song that follows it, is more of a romantic nature.

5. Dulhan Se Tumhara Milan Hoga – Anokhi Raat (1968) Mukesh / Roshan – Indeevar
Sanjeev Kumar riding on the bicycle sings the song in a cheerful mood, but advises himself to be patient. I’m not at all used to watching Sanjeev Kumar as a young man! So it was very surprising for me to watch him lifting the bicycle on his own and he does that several times throughout the song. And the bicycle is there throughout.
The movie sounds very interesting, Sanjeev Kumar plays an absent minded, foolish character called Baldev. He tries to help people, but makes mistakes all the while to create a mess and ends up empty handed. I haven’t watched the full movie, but someday I will! (Deeeeeep sigh…..well! I do remember the good old days!)

6. Guzar Jaye Din Din Din – Annadata (1972) Kishore Kumar / Salil Chowdhury – Yogesh
I got to know about the song during the research for this post and I instantly took a liking. It’s picturised on a young Anil Dhawan, who looks innocent. Beautiful picturisation in the countryside along farms, rivers. And the bicycle is very much there throughout.

Time to present a few variations of the theme.

7. Goriye Baliye Kahan Leke Chali – Tel Malish Boot Polish (1961) Lata Mangeshkar, Rafi & Chorus / Chitragupt – Prem Dhawan
It’s time now for the first variation of the theme. The hero, Chandrashekar, is riding a bicycle and sings the song while a group of girls, led by Kumkum go in a car, taking care to drive slowly so that she can hear him and answer back. And she’s enjoying the teasing. Rest of the girls have been cycling and they have put their bicycles on the back of her car. A typical Chitragupt melody, sweet and refreshing. The chhed-chhad is very innocent and very much pleasing to ears and the eyes. As usual for me, Kumkum steals the show with her facial expressions and energy.

8. Suno Suno Miss Chatterjee – Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi (1966) Asha Bhosle & Rafi / O P Nayyar – Anjaan
An energetic and enjoyable song! Johnny Walker follows Madhavi on a bicycle and teases her. She prefers to catch a bus, but he follows it on his bicycle in fast-forward mode. He continues annoying her and ultimately drops in the bus. The bicycle makes no further appearance in the song. Madhavi finally falls prey to his charm. Click here for the video.

9. Jeevan Chalne Ka Naam – Shor (1972) Manna Dey, Mahendra Kapoor, Shyama Chittar & Chorus / Laxmikant Pyarelal – Indrajit Singh Tulsi
The song appears as a part of a challenge, where Manoj Kumar is supposed to cycle non stop for eight days. It is a good motivational, inspirational song. Mahendra Kapoor sings for Manoj Kumar, Manna Dey for Prem Nath and Shyama Chittar for Jaya Bhaduri. The latter two, along with Manoj Kumar’s friends try to boost his morals.
I almost missed the song, but suddenly it came to me, and the reason is quite interesting too. Of late, Suman Kalyanpur was awarded Padma award and while I was thinking about her songs, I came across her duet with her sister, Shyama Chittar. And then I tried to remember the Hindi film songs by the latter. And I knew just a handful of Shyama Chittar’s Hindi film songs and this song was amongst it. I think the song was a must for a solo bicycle song list.

10. Dakiya Daak Laya – Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein (1977) Kishore Kumar & Vandana Shastri / Laxmikant Pyarelal – Gulzar
And to end the list, I’ve yet another iconic and popular song which is a postman song. Rajesh Khanna plays a postman who delivers letters in the village. I know he’s not riding the bicycle continuously. The song is very impressively sung by Kishore Kumar. Gulzar has added a different dimension to it by his prose-like lyrics. The first verse is fully dedicated to Rajesh Khanna reading out the letters to the villagers, while in the second verse, he writes a letter to Aruna Irani’s beloved by listening to what she is saying. Hema Malini seems to be Khanna’s secret admirer. In all, a very good song.

I think as the time passed, the bicycle went out of fashion and so did the bicycle songs. In some films of the 90s and 2000s, there was a bicycle. I remember ‘Welcome To Sajjanpur’ and ‘Barfi’. The first one was a village story while the latter was set in the 70s.

There would be a last post in the series which would feature the bicycle songs that haven’t appeared so far in the previous parts.

Would you like to add a song to the list?

Disclaimer –
Mehfil Mein Meri, claims no credit for any image, screenshots or songs posted on this site. Images on this blog are posted to make the text interesting. The images and screenshots are the copyright of their original owners. The song links are shared from YouTube and Dailymotion, only for the listening convenience of music lovers. The copyright of these songs rests with the respective owners, producers and music companies.