Jhumka Gira Re, Version 4

The  new ritzy version  of  the  ancient folk song Jhumka gira re  sung by Arijit Singh for the  film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani  has revived interest in the  earlier version of the song which was  re-created for  Raj Khosla’s Mera Saaya in 1966 by  the great  composer Madan Mohan and sung by Asha Bhosle.

Karan Johar says his version of the folk song is  a tribute to Madan Mohan.

However   Jhumka  gira re credited to Madan  Mohan in  the film Mera Saaya, is not really  an original Madan Mohan composition.

There are two  previous  acknowledged  versions of the  same  folk song, one  sung by  a certain Miss Dulari  in the 1930s  and another  version sung by Shamshad Begum in the 1940s. Neither  version is remembered  to today. But the Asha Bhosle version has  passed the test of time.

Credit  for this must go to the  singer  who was  especially chosen to sing Madan Mohan’s version of  Jhuma  gira re.The soundtrack of  Mera Saaya had immortal songs  by Lata Mangeshkar :  Mera saaya saath  hoga  and  Nainon mein badra  chhaye. But it  was Asha  Bhosle’s Jhumka gira re which cracked the charts.

In a past interaction with this writer Asha Bhosle had said, “I would be called by music composers to do that one-odd number  which was  not in Lata Didi’s style. This is what happened  with Jhumka gira re. Luckily for me it became one of the biggest hits of my career.People dance to  it to this day.”