Kabuliwala is a 1961 Hindi film based on the 1892 short story of the same name by the Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore. It was directed by Hemen Gupta and starred Balraj Sahni, Usha Kiran, Sajjan, Sonu and Baby Farida.
Contents
Cast
Balraj Sahni as Abdul Rehman Khan
Sonu as Mini
Usha Kiran as Rama, Mini's mother
Padma
Laxmi
Sarita Devi
Anwari Bai
Leela Agha
Baby Farida
Asit Sen as Bhola
Background
Gupta had remained private secretary to Subhas Chandra Bose, and went on to direct many films including Taksaal (1956), also starring Balraj Sahni, and his tribute Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (1966).
Soundtrack
Music – Salil Choudhury; Lyrics – Prem Dhawan, Gulzar
Music director Salil Chowdhury had composed two songs at first- Manna Dey's "Ae Mere Pyaare Watan" and a bhajan.
Bimal Roy made Gulzar listen both recordings and asked his opinion. Gulzar praised "Ae Mere Pyaare Watan" but said the bhajan was not working. Bimal Roy told lyricist Prem Dhawan to rewrite the song. However, Prem Dhawan, having a packed schedule sportingly suggested Gulzar's name to rewrite the song. Then Gulzar wrote "Ganga Aaye Kahan Se". The composition of the song was adapted from Salil Chowdhury's Bengali composition "Amay Bhasaili Re".
"Aye Mere Pyaare Watan" – Manna Dey, Lyrics by Prem Dhawan
"Ganga Aaye Kahan Se" – Hemant Kumar
"Kabuliwala" – Hemant Kumar, Usha Mangeshkar
"O Ya Qurbaan" – Mohammed Rafi