Ten of my favourite “I am -” songs

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I’d been thinking, for the past few months, of doing a post on songs that a person uses to introduce himself or herself in Hindi cinema. Not the “Awaara hoon” or “Main rangeela pyaar ka raahi” type, which actually use a set of adjectives to describe the singer, but an actual introduction: this is my name, this is where I live, stuff like that. I can think of a number of songs along those lines, and it seemed like a good idea to do a list.

When I watched Love in Bombay last weekend (and saw Kishore Kumar belting out Maazaa naav ahe Ganpat Rao), I was reminded of that long-pending list. So here it is: ten of my favourite songs, mostly from pre-70s films, where the singer introduces himself/herself by name. These are, as I usually stipulate for my lists, from films I’ve seen. Not all of them are necessarily good songs, music-wise, but they invariably have something or the other—lyrics, picturisation, situation, whatever—which sets them apart for me.

My name is -

In no particular order:

1. Mera naam hai Chameli (Raja aur Runk, 1968): This was the very first song that popped into my head when I thought of this post. Kumkum pretends to be the flirtatious maalan (female gardener) Chameli. And what an apt name too, for someone who makes a living out of flowers. She makes eyes at the lecherous daroga, offers him champa buds, pleads with him to open the door and let her in—and, when he obeys (most readily, too), she makes off with his prisoner. A catchy song, and plenty happening in the course of it.

I’ve no idea whether this is true or not, but I’d read somewhere that when Raja aur Runk was released, there was a furor in Bikaner, with people lodging formal protests that the song maligned the good name of the women if Bikaner. Does anybody know if that actually happened? (I can believe it did, though)

Mera naam hai Chameli, from Raja aur Runk
2. Mera naam Chin Chin Choo (Howrah Bridge, 1958): Another iconic “My name is—” song, picturised on the inimitable Helen, in one of her first big hit dances. Here, as she pirouettes and twirls and dances up a veritable storm, Chin Chin Choo sings of her antecedents: she’s come from China, bringing with her a “cheeni jaisa dil” (a great pun, that: a heart like sugar, or a heart that’s Chinese!)

Vintage OP Nayyar, vintage Geeta Dutt—and vintage Helen. And an immortal Chin Chin Choo.

Mera naam Chin Chin Choo, from Howrah Bridge
3. Main hoon Mr Johnny (Mai Baap, 1957): Now for a change, a song in which a man introduces himself. Johnny Walker, as the unscrupulous insurance agent Parker, is asked by his girlfriend what his name actually is (since he keeps referring to himself by different names). His answer is this: he’s Johnny, bada toofaani (‘Johnny, very stormy’, literally—an indication of how smart, how cunning, and generally how clever Johnny is).

The rest of the song, devoted to recollections of Johnny’s various love affairs in different parts of the world, however seems to suggest that he has been ditched and conned and taken for a ride by just about every woman he’s met. Not quite the toofaani Johnny, but this is a chirpy, utterly infectious song nonetheless.

Main hoon Mr Johnny, from Mai Baap
4. Mera naam Abdul Rehman (Bhai-Bhai, 1956): On the surface, this cheery, very trademark Kishore song—with much prancing around, a few doses of exaggerated accent, etc—is just another ‘introduction song’. Kishore, doing a street act along with Nimmi and David, proclaims himself to be the ‘Kabul ka banjaara’ (the ‘gypsy from Kabul’), who sells the best pista anywhere. He’s interrupted by Nimmi, who introduces herself—she is Abdul Rehman’s Abdul Rehmaniya.

Mera naam Abdul Rehman, from Bhai-Bhai
The interesting thing about Mera naam Abdul Rehman, however, is that it has two very distinct connections to two other songs. Firstly, there’s the obvious link to Ek tha Abdul Rehman, ek thi Abdul Rehmaniya from Manmauji, which uses the same concept—an ‘Abdul Rehman’ paired with an ‘Abdul Rehmaniya’.(And which, coincidentally—or not—also stars Kishore Kumar).
Then, there’s another connection, which appears near the end of Mera naam Abdul Rehman: the last bit of the song is a Pashto song, Zama laley chinar de, which I’d featured in my list of Shamshad Begum’s songs.

I still prefer Shamshad Begum’s version, but Kishore’s rendition has a definitely Kishore touch to it!

5. Mera naam hai Shabnam (Kati Patang, 1970): A change of mood, here, even though (like the previous song), this is a ‘staged’ introduction—for the benefit of a large audience. Unlike the innocence of Abdul Rehman and his Abdul Rehmaniya, Shabnam ‘Shabbo’ (Bindu) has a very different, very nasty agenda: she uses this introduction as an excuse to let the heroine (Asha Parekh) know that she, Shabnam, knows who Asha really is. Neena? Meena? Anju? Manju? Or—Madhu? (Yes, well…)
Not much of a song, this, but Bindu sizzles and makes it all her own.

Mera naam hai Shabnam, from Kati Patang
6. My name is Suzie (An Evening in Paris, 1967): Another cabaret song, and another wicked girl. Sharmila Tagore isn’t as hard core nasty (even in her avatar as the bad twin) as Shabbo, but she’s certainly no goody-two-shoes. After the introduction at the start—“My name is Suzie”—she slips into a song that’s all flirtation, begging her male audience (no doubt all slobbering over that flimsy green outfit, or the gold grass skirt) to take her heart.

Not the best song in An Evening in Paris (which had a bunch of good songs), but I think it would’ve been better if Asha, and not Sharda, had sung this one.

My name is Suzie, from An Evening in Paris
7. Main hoon Papa Khan (Post Box 999, 1958): If Abdul Rehman was the pistawallah Pathan from Kabul, here is Papa Khan (Sunil Dutt, wearing a terrible hat), who’s a magician from Iran. He’s travelled the world (à la Johnny, bada toofaani?)—London, Paris, Italy, Sicily, China and Japan—before washing up in Hindustan, where he’s now doing a magic show-cum-song and dance routine, aided by his pretty assistant, Madam Bilbilaan (Shakila, never shy of being a madcap). Nutty song, and some completely illogical stunts being pulled off in its course, but Sunil Dutt and Shakila are fun.

Main hoon Papa Khan, from Postbox 999
8. Mujhe kehte hain Kallu Qawwaal (Dulha Dulhan, 1964): Like Abdul Rehman or Papa Khan, the singer here doesn’t actually introduce himself by his real name (Raj Kapoor’s character in Dulha Dulhan is named Raj). But he certainly has both a pretty girl to sing along with him, as well as an audience. Despite the fact that our singer calls himself Kallu Qawwaal, the song itself doesn’t take on a qawwali-like feel till nearly the end, when the other residents of the chawl join in with clapping and hooting.

Mujhe kehte hain Kallu Qawwaal, from Dulha Dulhan
9. Maazaa naav ahe Ganpat Rao (Love in Bombay, 1971/2013): The song that provided the impetus for me to finally get this list compiled. Kishore Kumar, as the madcap madaari Ganpat Rao, introduces himself in his first scene in this film. Kishore is invariably thoroughly entertaining, and he’s in his element here too. Ganpat Rao, while singing (and shaking a mean leg) also takes time out to romance his girlfriend Motia (Sonia Sahni), beat up some baddies, play around with his dancing bear, and rub a plateful of butter in the face of a poor extra.

Maazaa naav ahe Ganpat Rao, from Love in Bombay
10. Mera naam Rita Christina (April Fool, 1964): Like Suzie, another Parisienne belle—or at least, that’s what she claims to be. Rita Christina is the alternate identity of Madhu (Saira Banu), assumed when she puts country before self and heads out to bust a traitor. Here, Madhu/Rita Christina flirts on a dance floor with the man she loves, and—with the help of assorted props including a red glove, a silk hat, and a fan—manages to convince him that she’s an outright bad girl. Peppy.

Mera naam Rita Christina, from April Fool
These are the “I am—” songs I could think of (and which I like). I know of a few more, mostly from the 70s and beyond (and some of them, I must admit, pretty terrible). Which ones do you like?

PS. Even though you can search my blog for all my ‘Ten of my favourite—’ lists by clicking the corresponding category link in the right side panel, I decided it was time to do a separate page for every single list I’ve compiled till now. Here it is (you can also find this in the buttons just below the header of this blog). Enjoy!

113 thoughts on “Ten of my favourite “I am -” songs”

    • That’s because this blogs focusses only on films from before the 70s. The only exceptions I make are for films from the very early 70s (like Sharmeelee or Pakeezah) which have a distinctly 60s feel to them. Amar Akbar Anthony is from 1977, and is unmistakably a 70s film – one couldn’t doubt that.

      But you’re most welcome to embed the link to the song here. That’s why I ask readers to suggest their favourite songs for the theme.

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  2. Super, super idea and execution. I would have broken your self-enforced rule of date cut offs and included My Name is Anthony Gonsalves, which is a peer among these songs. But this is wonderful indeed.

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    • Thanks, Sidharth! Glad you liked that. :-)

      I am really pretty strict about my self-imposed rule, so My name is Anthony Gonsalves wouldn’t have made the cut – but, if it’s any consolation, that was one of the first songs that did come to my mind. Classic, iconic, and simply fantastic. Here it is.

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  3. What a wonderful post, Madhu. On such a lovely topic too. Indeed intros through a song are quite a theme by themselves.

    A pre-70s song that comes to mind is “Mera Naam Raju, gharana anaam” from Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (a film that I think you haven’t seen yet – maybe one day sit through it just for the lovely songs? :-) You could do worse!).

    Beyond the 70s, songs that come to mind are
    – the Mazhar Khan song in Shaan “Naam Abdul hai mera sab ki khabar rakhta hoon”
    – Amitabh with “Main hoon Don, main hoon Don” in Don
    – Sanjay Dutt with “Rocky Mera Naam“. in Rocky

    These came readily to mind. Will think of more songs. But I love the theme – and the post. :-)

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    • Thank you, Raja! I’ve added the links to the songs you’ve listed, so that if others (like me) have forgotten how these songs go, they can be easily viewed. I’d forgotten about Naam Abdul hai mera and Rocky mera naam, even though both used to be pretty familiar to me once upon a time. The Don song, of course, is a total hit – in fact, it was one of the songs that occurred to me when I was thinking of songs that fitted this theme but were from the 70s or later. My only question is: Is Don actually his name? If I remember correctly, Amitabh’s character in the film plays a mafia don, so while everybody calls him Don, it’s a title, not a name.

      Now I may as well get around to seeing Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai! What fabulous songs it has. :-)

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  4. Madhu, that is another great list to fit the topic that you picked! As soon as I saw the subject, I thought of about your nos. 2 and 4, and I know 5, 6, and 8 well, too.

    But when I saw the topic title, another song immediately popped into my mind, in which Raj Kapoor’s character does introduce himself by name, which name, of course, is a variation of Raj…

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    • That’s a wonderful song, Richard! This is one of the many films I haven’t seen yet (you know, Raj Kapoor and all that…;-)) but the songs are so lovely, I just might succumb to peer pressure and temptation, and watch it someday soon.

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      • And it was recommended twice here so far! :) I usually don’t make the mistake of repeating others’ suggestions in these comments, but it appears that Raja sent off the suggestion while I was fishing for the clip to complete mine – a difference of only 13 minutes!

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  5. Oh I love Mera naam hai Shabnam. I still remember the chills I got when the song was played. I was so afraid for Asha. :)

    Mera naam chin chin choo is perhaps the best of the lot. I need to rewatch that song :)

    Lovely list.

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    • Yes, I remember being really worried for Asha Parekh’s character (not least because her name was Madhu, too!) when Mera naam hai Shabnam came on, the first time I saw Kati Patang as a kid. Bindu was total bad vamp in this one. :-)

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    • Wah, nice song, Ava! (and, Raja: thank you). I don’t remember hearing this song before (in fact, I don’t even recall hearing the name of the film), but I rather liked the song – nice tune, and Kishore of course is superb.

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  7. I just realised that these “I am…” songs are not one of the melodious sorts, are they? From your list, the (for me) good ones are the ones sung by women and they use it to seduce (or blackmail) and the ones sung by men are (supposed to be) funny.

    I heard that song le ja from An Evening in Paris today for the first time.

    Echo Ava’s feelings for mera naam hai shabnam. I was so afraid for Asha, that I failed to register that this is a song, when I was a kid. Realised its “fabulousness” much later on! Marvelous!

    Some songs which I like to listen to are

    hai naam mera ramzaani from Aladdin Aur Jadui Chirag (1952)

    main hoon jhum jhum jhumroo from Jhumroo (1961)

    Some others which I got reminded of
    kaun hoon main kya naam hai mera from Dard Ka Rishta

    allah jaane main hoon kaun from Pati Patni
    (couldn’t find a link)

    main hoon Rosie from Kaarigar (1958)

    I think Raj kapoor had many main hoon songs, he being Awaara, Raju
    but also chaliyaa.

    and Aladdin

    and a sailor of the name Bin Palasi

    and Anari

    And also ended up being a Joker, but as far as I know not in a song form.
    And I’m sure there are more.

    This one takes the cake though
    main hoon atom bamb Doctor Shaitan (1960)

    Don’t know if this qualifies, since he keeps forgetting his own name
    itne logon se me milkar bhool jat ahoon from The Great Gambler

    BTW, I think it is just a coincidence that the name Madhu comes in two songs in the above list. ;)

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    • That is quite a list you’ve got there, Harvey! Well done – nice songs, most of them. And I’m hitting myself really hard for having forgotten Main hoon Jhum-Jhum-Jhum-Jhum-Jhumroo! :-( How could I have missed that? Especially as it meets all my criteria. I also liked Hai naam mera Ramzaani – so much good fun there. I’d never heard that one before!

      I don’t think I’d have put the Chhalia song in the list, because even though the words of the song go Chhalia mera naam, I interpret that as a title more than a name – which is actually the case in the film. Similar to Main hoon Don.

      In Kaun hoon main kya naam hai mera, does she really say what her name is? I think she basically insists that she’s come from heaven, and that she’s the queen of the fairies – not what her name is.

      Oh, I loved the Bhim Palasi song. SO good! I’d never heard that one before. Thank you very especially for that. :-)

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      • You’re right, the ones with adjective-nouns (?) don’t really suit the list., since they aren’t proper names.
        Glad you liked the songs, which you liked. :)
        I came across mera naam ramzani a few days back on Atul’s blog I think, that is why I remembered it. Same with atom bomb, I think! Not quite a flattering attribute, is it?
        I first heard main hoon ek khalasi in the late 80s, when DD started bringing that film songs programme on Sunday mornings.

        “Did a Harvey…”
        Nice to see you haven’t forgotten it. :D

        Thanks for forgiving my spamming.

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        • “Same with atom bomb, I think! Not quite a flattering attribute, is it?”

          What? For a woman to be an ‘atom bomb’? ;-) Or that you came across the song on Atul’s blog? If the former, then – if I were at the receiving end – I’d call it definitely sexist. If she’s singing it for herself, I’m guessing she’s happy calling herself an atom bomb – deadly lady, huh? :-D

          What, bhai? Spamming like this doesn’t need forgiveness. It needs celebration!

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    • Oh, and I got so excited, I did a Harvey. So here’s the rest of what I thought about the songs you suggested…

      Sab kuchh seekha humne: Again, not a specific name, even though he says that he’s called anari. One reason why I didn’t include Main Bambai ka babu naam mera anjaana (from Naya Daur) was because even though the lyrics say his name is Anjaana, that’s not really a name – it’s just a play on words.

      Isn’t it the same with Main hoon atom bomb? It doesn’t seem to me as if she’s claiming that’s her name. Just that she’s deadly. So even that, I’d disqualify. Good song, though – classic Geeta-being-sultry and fun.

      And you have said yourself why you don’t think Mera kya naam hai wouldn’t count. ;-)

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    • Oh, dear. Maybe my post should’ve been on ‘any song with naam in it!! :-)

      To help you out, let me add one song that had come to my mind. It’s not too great, and it doesn’t fit into the time period I set as cut-off, but it qualifies. Rangeela hoon main dil ka, Ratan mera naam:

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  10. *smacking forehead*
    Trying to remember a/any song to fit the theme brought me to a response about it and I forgot to write about the post itself :-)

    I like almost all the songs listed. And as others have mentioned, especially how ava worded it, I was so scared for Asha. Very chilling song, actually.
    I giggled at;
    > Neena? Meena? Anju? Manju? Or—Madhu? (Yes, well…)
    hehe

    As for chin chin choo. It’s such an evergreen song. Helen looking so cute.
    Rita Christina – I had forgotten about this song completely. Hahaha Saira’s moves are quite something. She must have been the first heroine to start dancing like an item number girls of today’s films.

    Some of the songs which would have come to my mind after some time have already been taken. So lets see if I come up with one/some later.

    Enjoyable post as always, Madhu.

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    • Thank you, Pacifist! I’m glad you liked the post! And yes, the Rita Christina song is unusual as far as Saira Banu’s moves are concerned (though she does remind me a bit of Babita in Aao huzoor tumko sitaaron mein le chaloon). I think that was the period, mid-to-late 60s, when heroines began to be, very occasionally (and usually only when pretending or tipsy), slightly vampish when it came to dances. :-)

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  11. Well Madhu that was quite an entertaining post, I enjoyed it but unfortunately could not think of any other songs to add to the list but then Harvey, Raja and the other readers have already added so many songs that I thought I might as well sit back and relax and enjoy the songs— Shilpi

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    • As I mentioned to Pacifist, no, this wouldn’t fit, because of obvious reasons. Incidentally, a similar song which I’d had in mind when compiling this post was Main Bambai ka babu naam mera anjaana:

      I dropped that, though, because strictly speaking, it’s not really a name – he’s simply saying his name is unknown. Or he’s not revealing his name, so despite the fact that the lyrics go “Naam mera -“, it doesn’t fit.

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  13. Not sure this one has been mentioned yet.
    Sultana Sultana mera naam hai Sultana from Tarana (1979).

    It was pretty popular in its time – quite an earworm. :-)

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    • Thank you very especially for this one, Raja! Even among the post-70s songs that had come to my mind, this one hadn’t figured, and I wonder why – because it used to be a huge favourite of mine when it was released! If I remember correctly, my parents took my sister and I to watch it, and I loved this song to bits. Used to sing it all day long.

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        • The criterion is not the wording of the song, actually (that is why, in the beginning of the post, I’ve mentioned that songs describing a person – like Awaara hoon or Main rangeela pyaar ka raahi – will not fit, because these don’t introduce the singer(s) by name. If you see the songs I’ve listed, they all have names – Shabnam, Suzie, Johnny, Papa Khan, Abdul Rehman, Chin Chin Choo, Rita Christina, etc. So none of the songs you suggest will fit – because they’re all descriptors of the singer, they do not provide his/her proper name.

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    • Pacifist, that is what I call ‘coming back with a bang’! For someone who couldn’t think of a song the first time round, you’ve come up with two totally dhansoo ones. :-D I’d forgotten about Mera naam hai Jameela, even though it completely fits the criteria – period and all. And Laila main Laila – even if from the 70s – was just too iconic to not even recall. How could I forget this one? It was everywhere when I was a kid. :-) Thank you for reminding me!

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  16. I finally thought of a song only thing, it is not a pre-70s song, it is hamara naam Benarasi Babu from the fim Benarasi Babu. BTW, I do not know whether you are aware of this or not but Kalyanji and Anandji had composed khaike paan banaraswala for Devanand and I think it was for this film, but Devanand couldn’t think of himself lip synching to this song and therefore rejected it and the rest as they say is history.

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    • Ah, yes. I’d forgotten that this song began with Hamaara naam Banarasi babu” – I kept thinking of it only as Hum hain Banarasi babu, which would’ve been a description for him. But adding that his name too is Banarasi babu makes it fit the criteria. Thanks, Shilpi!

      And thanks for the anecdote – I hadn’t known about that. Come to think of it, I just cannot associate that song now with anybody except Amitabh Bachchan. He did total justice to it.

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        • You know how much I like sharing anecdotes. I just remembered another anecdote, it is to do with khaike paan. In one of Kishore Kumar’s interviews I had read (do not know whether you know about it or not) that when Kalyanji-Anandji approached him to sing this song, he just did not like it. He did not like the lyrics but they kept coaxing him to sing the song, he agreed on the condition they get him loads of pan and a bucket so that he could spit the juice of the pan into the bucket. I used the word juice for I do not know what one calls that in English. He would pop a pan into his mouth and sing the song and he said that he sung the entire song in anger. Well as far as I could tell he seemed to be enjoying it. But he insisted that he was very angry.

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          • I’d never heard of this anecdote before, Shilpi! Very interesting. And, honestly, I would never have imagined that Kishore sang that song while so angry – it doesn’t sound like it at all.

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    • This occurred to me yesterday afternoon, because someone had left a comment on my ‘Ten Bollywood Mysteries’ post, asking me to tell them which films’ screenshots I’d used in the post – and one of them was a still from this song. Then I remembered that Duniya ka mela mele mein ladki also had that line about what the ladki‘s name was. I was hoping someone would post it. Thanks, AK!

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  18. There is also this one … Self referential again ,though definitely post 70s

    Also ‘ Allahabad meinpaida hui main, Jabalpur mein Pali ‘from janeman 1976 ( couldn’t find a video )

    That makes me think that’s a lot of hema malini songs which introduce the character !

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    • I can hear her refer to herself as Miss Pillai at one point in Main Bangaali chhokra – but does Kishore say what his name is? I love this song, though. Such a delight.

      Bijli hoon main toh bijli totally fits the bill! Thank you for that.

      Talking about bijli, here’s another one about a girl who vows that she’s come to giraao bijli. Not at all from the time period I focus on, but otherwise it fits. This is Miss Hawa Hawaaii:

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      • kishor kumar confirms himself as ‘i am bengali boy’
        ‘miss pillai’- it was an interesting word used here. Padmini was born in pillai family.
        There is also a line ‘pappi tujhe pukarti ganguly yaaram’–pappi was the nickname of padmini, and ganguly for kishor ganguly/kishor kumar.
        another interesting line is ‘mere baanke naach ki sainyaa machi Roos mein dhoom’ means my dance has created waves in russia. (here she was refering the dances in the russian film khozdanie za tri morya 1957 )

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        • “kishor kumar confirms himself as ‘i am bengali boy’”

          Oh, I’m not disputing that. My point was that I can’t hear him saying what his name is. And if you read the start of my post, you’ll see that I specifically mention the name as being an integral part of the song. Even if you go through the list I’ve posted, all songs feature the name – Shabnam, Abdul Rehman, Papa Khan, Johnny, Chameli, whatever.

          Thank you for adding the interesting references to real life in your comment – I hadn’t noticed those, though now that you point them out, they’re really clever. :-)

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  22. I’d been hoping someone would suggest this song, because it’s been racing about in my head ever since I published. It doesn’t fit the time period of my blog, and it’s a horrible song, but it is definitely a ‘my name is – ‘ song. Mera naam Salma:

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  24. Thanks for the wonderful theme and selection of songs .Songs #3, #7,#8 and #9 were new to me. Enjoyed both the write up and songs.
    Let me add a few more songs. Hope they fit your criterion.
    Ae ji Bijli hai mera naam’ by Shamsad Begum, film Bijli (1950), lyrics Kumud Tripathi, music Khemchand Prakash

    “Mera naam hai Gadbadjala’ by Anil Biswas, film Faraar (1955), lyrics Prem Dhawan, music Anil Biswas

    ‘Mera naam hai viski’ by Mala (?), Pakistan film Goonj Uthi shahnai (1959), lyrics Tasleem Fazli, music M Ashraf

    ‘Mera hoon Madam Baawari’ by Usha Khanna film Faisala (1965), lyrics Asad Bhopali, music Usha Khanna

    ‘Mera naam hai Umar jaani’ by Mukesh, film Johar in Kashmir (1966), lyrics Indeevar, music Kalyanji Anandji

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    • Venkataramanji, thank you so much! You have just introduced me to a whole lot of songs that I’d never heard before.

      Unless the character’s name is actually Gadbadjhaala in the second song (and I doubt it!), I would not include that song here, since it’s not a proper name, even if the lyrics seem to indicate that this is his name. Somewhat like Chhalia mera naam or Naam mera Anjaana.

      I’m so glad you put in a song from a Pakistani film! This was the first time I’d heard this song. I should obviously start watching more Pakistani films – sadly, I’ve seen only one so far.

      Main hoon Madam Baawari was classic Helen, too – lovely! And Mera naam hai Umar Jaani. Quite an interesting parody, there. :-)

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  25. New concept, I never imagined there were that many ” I am ” songs.
    You have ten, then harvey added few more and still all of us can add one or two, its amazing.
    One more, yes it is pass 1970, but so many have gone past 1970, I am taking liberty too.

    Rampur ka wasi hoon mai Laxman mera naam

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    • I am all for people adding songs from totally different time periods, in their comments! And thank you, especially, for this one. It had occurred to me when I was drawing up the list, but of course, since it’s well past 1970, I couldn’t include it. I’d hoped someone would post it, otherwise I’d have done so in the comments… and then I forgot all about it! So glad to see you remembered this one. :-)

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  26. Woww! for both your list and the songs Harvey posted in his comment.
    I would have added ‘Jhumroo’s title song , its already mentioned.
    My suggestions:
    from “SINDBAD ALIBABA ALLADIN” (that ‘interesting’ title took me to this song)

    from ‘Sazaa’

    from ‘Rampur ka Laxman’

    from ‘Aafat’

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    • Thank you, Chris! :-)

      Other than Rampur ka Lakshman hoon main, the other three songs you’ve suggested were new to me – though I have a feeling I’ve heard Mera naam Jinny before. That Rajni hai mera naam is totally whacky! Have you seen this film? If you have, will you please explain what’s supposed to be going on? :-D

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  27. contd.
    from ‘Elaan’

    from ‘The great gambler’

    from ‘Ram Lakhan’

    other than these, there was the title song of a film called RamJaane (SRK) which was decent and another song ‘self referencing’ himself by Akshay Kumar in some Khiladi film which ‘hum hai sedhe sadhe Akshay’ or something.

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    • Chris, I’m very impressed. I thought most of the better-known songs (and even some pretty obscure ones) had already been embedded in the comments, but you’ve come up with a lot more. Well done!

      I’m not sure about whether I’d classify the Raqqasa mera naam as a ‘proper name’ song, since raqqasa means dancer, which is what she is – so it would fall into the category of songs like Main hoon Don.

      I found the Ram Jaane song:

      And the Akshay one:

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  28. Great topic, Madhu. And what a fantastic number of songs everyone has come up with! My favorite is probably the deliciously menacing “Mera naam hai Shabnam” from Kati Patang, but I love this less dangerous number from Sapan Suhane too:

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  29. Madhu,
    This is a very novel post. The additions by readers leave nothing new. However, I find some readers have stretched quite a bit from your criteria. Therefore, let me also stretch a little. The song is wonderful – one of the best by Chitragupta, and has one of the best dances by Kumkum. I am too tempted not to mention it.

    ‘Main hun gori nagin’ from ‘Nache Nagin Baje Been’.

    I also notice, meanwhile another very active reader by the name of ‘AK’ has joined you! I should have realized AK is a very common name. In schools they would distinguish by AK, AK (2), AK (3) etc. :)

    AK

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  30. Today this song just came into my head without warning, and I rushed here to see if it had been mentioned. From Ishaara 1964 hey Abdullah, naginwala aa gaya

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      • I’ve heard this song before, but hadn’t seen it. I don’t think it really meets the criterion, because he doesn’t outright say that he’s Abdullah, even though it’s implied. And the way the song proceeds, it’s mainly she who’s doing the singing about Abdullah having arrived… so I’d probably leave this one out.

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    • Oh, goodie! It’s been years since I heard this song. :-) In fact, so long, that even though you gave the name of the song, I couldn’t put a tune to it until I began watching the video and the song started. Good one, and it certainly fits the theme. Thank you, pacifist.

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  31. oh what a collection of songs of intro!
    i had only two songs in mind when i started reading this list

    one was naam mrea nimmo mukam ludhiyana

    but as it is posted already, i will post the second song on my list….
    not a very nice song that too from 1972 movie, but still i will post it!

    Mera naam Aao mere paas aao

    as she replies tera naam aao to mera naam jao
    they seem to talk about their names
    not actual names for sure, but may b in funny way!

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  33. Hi Madhulika.After a very long time I’m posting a comment on your blog.Sorry for that.I have been reading your posts and really liked all of them.

    As far as this post,I liked the idea and your choices too.But I must have added ‘Main hoon jhumroo’ and ‘Main Bambai ka babu’ into this list .Thanks for the post.I will try to be regular now :)

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