Happy birthday to Zarina Wahab

Happy birthday to Zarina Wahab.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Zarina Wahab on 3rd July, 2010. She was born in a muslim family in Vishakapatnam.

She learned acting in the Film and Television Institute of Pune. She started her film career in Dev Anand’s film Ishq Ishq Ishq in 1974. She attracted the attention of the viewers with her effortless performance in Basu Chatterjee’s film Chitchor.

She played the role of a village girl in the film who was impressed by the down to earth nature of Amol Palekar. She and her family thought that he was a wealthy engineer. But later they came to know that the actual engineer was Vijayendra Ghadge. The family of Zarina Wahab namely Deena Pathak and AK Hangal stopped Zarina Wahab from mixing with Amol Palekar. But she could not forget his memories, nor her neighbouring brother Master Raju. The film became silver jubilee hit. The music composed by Ravinder Jain stormed bollywood with songs like “tu jo mere sur me”, “kahin deep jale”, etc., sung by Yesu Das and Hemlata. The same plot was used in the film Mai Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, where Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor and Abhishek Bacchan played the lead roles.

Zarina Wahab formed a brilliant pair with Amol Palekar and their next film Gharonda was a masterpiece. She played the role of the daughter of Sriram Lagoo. Amol Palekar struggled to get decent job in Mumbai. The film was related to the extreme competition of work in Mumbai and struggle of getting a place to stay. The music of the film composed by Jaidev was excellent. Bhupinder Singh’s song “ek akela is shahar me”, “ do diwane shahar me” and Runa Laila’s song “tumhe honaho mujhko to itna yakeen hai” stormed bollywood in the mid-70s. Zarina Wahab got filmfare nomination for best actress in the film.

Zarina Wahab acted in other films like Tumhare Liye directed by Basu Chatterjee, Sawan Ko Aane Do, and many South Indian films like Gajula Kishtavya, Madanolsavam, etc. As character artist she played the role of the mother of Shahrukh Khan in the film My Name is Khan. She married actor Aditya Pancholi and has son and daughter.

The viewers expect her to continue the great work that she had started 30 years back.

Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab.

Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab.

In the early 70s, some of the directors of bollywood films made films which were related to the life of the middle-class persons in India. Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab generally performed in those types of films which had realistic treatment.

Both Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab did well in the film Chitchor, directed by Basu Chatterji. The film was shot at colourful locations in forests, where Zarina Wahab, a girl from a lower middle-class family fell in love with Amol Palekar. Master Raju also did very well in the film. Besides the music composed in the film by Ravindra Jain tied the theme of the film together. Yesudas and Hemlata sang the songs in the film very well including the song like “tu jo mere sur me”, etc., became very successful.


Both Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab did extremely well in the film Gharonda. They had an affair after Amol Palekar tried to establish himself in Bombay. The acute job crisis was depicted in the film and for those persons who had come from other areas with the dream that there were lot of avenues in the western part of India realised the practical situation. Gulzar had written lyrics in the songs picturised in the film and he expressed the reality with his classic words “in umra se lambi sarkon ko, manzil pe pahucte dekha nahi”. The song was titled “ek akela is shahar me” sung by Bhupinder Singh and composed by the legendary composer Jaidev.


During the first part of the film when the reality was not known, Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab expressed their feelings with the songs “tumhe hona ho, mujhko to” sung by Runa Laila and “do diwane shahr me, raatme aur do pahar me” sung by Bhupinder Singh and Runa Laila. The excellent words were written by Gulzar. Jaidev probably gave his best in the film. Shreeram Lagoo provided very memorable performance in the film.


Very significantly these films reached out to the mass and became hits in the mid 70s. the films were cherished by the middle-class people who had identified themselves with the characters of Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab. These films should be restored and preserved.

By: CR Chatterji.