Ten of my favourite ‘Housework Songs’

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This needs some explaining. I don’t mean songs that extol the virtues of doing housework (as someone who does more housework than the average middle class Indian woman, I cannot imagine ever extolling the virtues or joys of housework—it’s possibly the most thankless, relentless and utterly monotonous job out there). But the monotony of housework, the fact that you can get nearly all of it done without really applying your mind or having to concentrate, means that you are free to do something else. Especially something musical.

My mother-in-law invariably turns on the radio and listens to songs as she goes about her work. But my mother, from as far back as I can remember, used to sing. As she went about dusting and the cooking and whatnot, I’d hear her singing. She still has a wonderful voice, and back in her heyday, it was stunning—and her repertoire was amazing, all the way from hymns to hits by Elvis and Jim Reeves (and some old Hindi songs: as lullabies, she sang O mere pyaar aaja to my sister, and Yehi woh jagah hai to me).  I too, when I’m doing housework—especially when I’m cooking—sometimes sing. All sorts of songs.

So, too, do a fair number of people onscreen. Here, then, are ten songs that feature people singing as they go about doing housework. Besides my usual criterion, about the film in question being a pre-70s one that I’ve seen—I’ve imposed one more rule: that the person should be doing some work in the course of the song (this is why Kismat ki hawa kabhi naram doesn’t feature on my list; while Bhagwan’s character is in a kitchen, surrounded by pots and pans and even wearing a chef’s cap, he never uses any of those for anything remotely connected to housework).

Here we go then, in no particular order.

1. Ek roz hamaari bhi daal galegi (Bandi, 1957): To begin, one of my favourite comic songs, sung by (and picturized on) the inimitable Kishore Kumar. As the younger brother of an MA-BA Pass (whose degrees aren’t doing him much good when it comes to employment), Kishore’s character finds himself obliged to do all the housework for himself and his brother. And do it on a terribly tight budget, what’s more. Do it he does, but he consoles himself: someday they too will rise in this world. His brother will do well, our lad will go about dressed in his finery, doing git-pit in English and with cannon booming salutes for him. This being Kishore onscreen, he doesn’t just sound funny, he looks hilarious too, as he prances about, stirring things, handing out roti and nimboo ka achar to neighbourhood children, brandishing a broom, and more.

2. Kaana-kubdaa langda-loola (Ek Gaon ki Kahaani, 1957): Mala Sinha does what I’m certain is a pretty bad job of cleaning up a room (a room, too, which seems horrifically dirty, with reams of waste paper, an old shoe, and tons of dust lying all around). She goes about picking up stuff, throwing it about with gay abandon, and carelessly wielding a broom which throws up dust instead of actually sweeping it away.

And she sings. She sings of the deaf, lame, mute old fogey of a doctor who’s coming to the village and for whom she’s obliged to get this room ready. She sings of his predecessors, each of whom seems to have been more demanding and useless than the last. This one will be no better than the rest, she’s sure: he won’t dispense any medicines; instead, ‘rog lagaa jaayega’ (literally, ‘he will pass on a disease’—except that that also is a lyrical filmi way of saying that he’ll make one pine away out of love). Singularly appropriate, since the expected doctor, a young and handsome Talat Mahmood, has just arrived and is making his way upstairs…

3. Lipstick lagaanewaale (Shrimatiji, 1952): A lot of the people doing housework tend to sing humorous songs (is that a way of keeping up one’s spirits? Housework is horribly dispiriting). Here’s another of the lot, and this time, there’s not just one singer, but a bevy of them. Shyama and her three co-actresses play friends who share a flat and are so broke that they don’t even have money to pay the rent.

Naturally, this means they can’t afford domestic help, and all the housework—the cooking, the cleaning, everything—has to be done by these beauties. As they go about their work, they crib cheerfully about how the ‘dil ko jalaanewaale’ are now reduced to jalaaoing choolhas and the teer chalaanewaale are now chalaaoing chamchas. Hilarious song from a delightful film. They don’t really get much work done, but yes, there is some form of cooking going on over at the choolha, and a couple of them do a perfunctory job of sweeping a few inches of floor.

4. Bachpan ke din bhi kya din thhe (Sujata, 1959): I find this song ironic, in a way. Because the person who sings most of this song (Shashikala’s character) has a life, even as an adult, that is probably about as carefree and unburdened as what she enjoyed when a child. So she sits at the piano and plays, reminiscing about her childhood, while her foster sister (Nutan, as the eponymous Sujata), on the terrace gathering the laundry from the clotheslines, sings along.

5. Rimijhimi barse paani (Pardesi, 1957): A wonderful monsoon song from the classic Indo-Russian joint venture starring Oleg Strizhenov as the traveller Afanasy Nikitin, along with Nargis, Balraj Sahni, and Padmini. Nargis’s character starts off doing one of those household chores that require stepping out of the house: going to the village well to draw water. When she’s back, there’s more work to be done. Weaving thread on a charkha, churning butter… her singing is interspersed with the singing of other villagers, all of them hard at work (though most of them—the potters, the crowds of women pounding something in giant mortars, etc—are almost certainly doing professional work, not housework). But Nargis’s character is at home and doing her own work, and (surprisingly for someone onscreen), pretty demanding physical work too—that butter-churning and the water-hauling requires a good bit of strength.

6. Aa thha jab janam liya thha (Biwi aur Makaan, 1966): More housework in the ‘physically demanding labour’ category: Keshto Mukherjee, in drag, washes clothes (and pretty vigorously too), before joining fellow sufferer and friend, Biswajeet, in a song that laments the necessity for these two men to pretend to be women. And, since they’re men pretending to be women, the amount of housework they’re saddled with is obviously not enough to make them stick to the job. Because once the clothes have been scrubbed and rinsed and hung out to dry, they devote themselves totally to the song—and to being cajoled and coaxed and even bullied a bit by friends who need them to stay in drag. Delightful song, and I maintain that Keshto Mukherjee probably makes for the most convincing man in drag I’ve ever seen.

7. Ghar ki raani hoon ji (Abhimaan, 1957): Abhimaan was a film about two sisters (played by Ameeta and Chand Usmani), both BA Pass, who get married and have to make different adjustments to married life and housework. The more homebound Kiran (Chand Usmani), after some initial hiccups, shows off just how proficient she is at housework—even how much she enjoys it. She mops the floor, she makes a rangoli; she hangs up laundry. She cooks and cleans and puts up a photograph of her mother-in-law. She really does a lot of work.

… and, personally, she sickens me. Seriously, this glorification of drudgery gets my goat. But it ticks the main criteria for this list, at any rate.

8. Jaane kaahe jiya mora dole (Godaan, 1963): Back to the village, and to women doing housework. While the film didn’t do total justice to Munshi Premchand’s brilliant novel (Godaan was too wide in scope, too broad in its spectrum, for a film to capture every nuance of it), it actually was a far better film than I had thought it would be. For me, it’s one of those rare films where I’ve actually liked Raj Kumar.

But, on to this song. Shubha Khote, as the spoilt and headstrong girl who falls in love with Mehmood’s character, sings a song (not that she really does much work, other than gathering a few flowers) and two other women—sitting nearby and actually doing quite a bit of work—join in. These two keep working all through the song, beating grain, threshing it, picking out bits of chaff. A good amount of work accomplished in the course of one song.

9. Kaune rang mungwa (Heera Moti, 1959): Shubha Khote again, and again in a film based on a story by Munshi Premchand. Unlike the tragic Godaan, Heera Moti was about two bullocks, and though it had its moments of anguish and despair, eventually everything worked out well for Heera and Moti, the two bullocks dearer than children to the small-time farmer played by Balraj Sahni, his wife (Nirupa Roy) and his sister (Shubha Khote).

Kaune rang mungwa is one of those rare songs where one woman is consistently working (and hard, too: look at the speed with which Nirupa Roy turns that chakki). Shubha Khote’s character gives feed to the bullocks and waters them, then prances aimlessly around for a while, before finally joining her bhabhi at the mill. And, privileged man that Balraj Sahni’s character is, he sits and smokes his hookah while the women work.

10. Humre aangaan bagiya bagiya mein do panchhi (Teen Bahuraniyaan, 1968): Sowkar Janki, Jayanthi and Vaishali play three women married to three brothers, all of them living in a joint family presided over by the patriarch played by Prithviraj Kapoor. In this song, at the beginning of the film, the ‘idyllic’ household is introduced: a household where the three daughters-in-law spend most of their day neck-deep in housework. They water the plants, they draw water from the well, do the laundry, cook food and serve their brood of children… they get a few moments in between to dance, but otherwise, all the singing happens while they’re doing housework.

Which other songs can you add to the list? Please share!

71 thoughts on “Ten of my favourite ‘Housework Songs’”

  1. Oooh, lovely post! Isn’t it sickening though, the way they glorify housework? Especially the women doing it? Love that you added a couple of men (even if, in one example, they are in drag) doing the so-called ‘women’s work’! Three of the songs on this list overlap my ‘Women and household chores’ post that I wrote, thanks to Subodh Agarwal.

    So, let me add a couple from that list:

    The lovely Jhuk jhuk jhoom ghata chhaii re from Char Diwari. Salilda was so good!

    Aadmi woh hai museebat se pareshaan na ho from Sheesh Mahal.

    And, this is beyond your blog’s timeline, but the very apt Aanke chali baanke chali from Namkeen.

    p.s. Love your descriptions, especially the one for the song from Abhimaan. :))

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    • Thank you, Anu! I’m glad you enjoyed this. I did remember that you had done a similar post (though, to be honest, I had mostly written up this post before you had published yours – this one has been in the making for a long time. I wasn’t happy with a couple of the songs, which I thought had too little ‘housework’ happening, and waited a long time to come across suitable songs to replace those). I made it a point to not revisit your post before I finalised this one!

      I had forgotten all about Jhuk jhuk jhuk jhoom. What a lovely song, and what good picturisation too, actually.

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  2. Lovely theme. Humble and respectful tribute to all those women and men folk who actively take care of household work.

    i was initially reminded of the all-time classic “Jyoti kalash chhalke” but realized the it wouldn’t qualify for this theme as it is a “background” song. Meena Kumari does not lip-sync the song.

    Here’s another song that came to mind that would qualify for the theme. Not from a Black White movie but still from the pre-1970s era. “Teen Bahuraaniyan” (1968), which was a remake of the 1967 Tamil movie “Bana Vijayam”, had Sowcar Janaki, Kanchana, and Jayanthi reprising their roles from the Tamil version. Real life sisters Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, and Usha Mangeshkar lend their vocals to the onscreen sisters-in-law characters. Here’s “Humre aangan bagiyaa”.

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    • I just realized that you had posted this comment, but that WordPress had flagged it as spam and sent it into the spam folder. I happened to see the spam folder today, and noticed your comment there. Sorry for that, on behalf of WordPress!

      BTW, I hope you know that the song you’ve suggested, from Teen Bahuraaniyaan, is already in my list…?

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  3. Lovely theme! Humble tribute to all the women and men folk who manage the household chores and even more so to those who do it well…

    Here’s one more song that qualifies for the theme:

    Song: Aadmi woh hai musibat se pareshan na ho

    Singer: Pushpa Hans

    Music Composer: Vasant Desai

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  5. In Jyoti kalash chalke… Bhabhi does multiple houseworks from Diya jalana to choola jalana.

    BHABHI KI CHIDIYAN.

    Modern era…

    Ram Dulari maike chali.. MERI BIWI KI SHADI.

    Wah ji Wah…. DUPLICATE.

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    • Jyoti kalash chhalke is a very good fit – I wish I had remembered that one! A lovely song, and quite a bit of housework too.

      Also, a special thank you for Ram Dulari maike gayi. A friend mentioned this on my Facebook post for this list, and I was telling her that I had actually never watched the song (though I am very familiar with it – it used to be very popular when I was a child), so I didn’t know that he is shown doing housework.

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  6. Don’t even get me started on housework, it is my chief grievance in life. I often joke (though I mean every word of it) that housework is the only thing that motivates me to go to the office. 😉

    The only chore I genuinely enjoy is taking down the laundry, folding it, and putting it away. There’s something deeply satisfying about it, perhaps because it involves zero scrubbing. I used to enjoy washing dishes too, but I’m happy to report that I’ve since recovered from that.

    The only song which I remember and might qualify for this list (time-wise) is shaamal shaamal baran from Navrang (1959). While Sandhya does all the actual work on screen, Mahipal gets the luxury of lip-syncing as if he’s not contributed to her grief enough. Frankly, it’s no surprise his on-screen wife is disappointed in him!

    The other song that comes to mind is yahan kaun hai asli from Qaid (1975). I’m not entirely sure whether she’s doing housework in her own home or being paid for it, but one thing is certain: she works, and she does so with remarkable enthusiasm.

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    • Thank you for these songs, Harvey! I have seen Navrang and should have remembered Shyamal shyamal baran – good fit, that. I’ve heard Kaun hai asli but I don’t think I’ve seen this before – Leela Chandvarkar certainly seems to be enjoying doing all that housework.

      Talking of which, even I don’t mind doing laundry (or cooking), but it’s the dusting and the cleaning of the bathrooms that I find really annoying. In our home, Tarun cleans most of the dishes – other than what I clean up as I cook, so at least I don’t have to do that. But laundry is relaxing, I agree. :-)

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  8. saas gaali deve …sasural ghenda phool…Rekha Bharadwaj….if pickle making can qualify as household chores…..Also…..Aanki chali baanki chali from Namkeen….with Sharmila Tagore and others ..

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    • Thank you for posting Girdhaari mhaane chaakar raakho, Richard. I read this comment on yours on e-mail, and (for once!) even without following the link and seeing which song it was, I knew which one you meant.

      Oddly enough, while I’ve seen the film, I only remember bits of all the adverse circumstances Nanda and her brother (? I’ve forgotten the actor) have to face – but this song I remember. :-)

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  10. Such an interesting post; you have unique ideas for the song lists you share. Unfortunately, I haven’t listened to any of these songs (or watched any of these films).

    The first song that comes to my mind is a song from the film ‘Namkeen’, ‘Aanki chali, baanki chali…’, which doesn’t fit your timeline. Also, Bawarchi.

    Music actually makes housework less boring.

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  11. Oh! That was a wonderful list! So many of my favorites on the list!

    The first song that I could think of was Jyoti Kalash Chhalke. It’s added already.

    I think Kajre Badarwa Re fits

    And, a little bit of variation. A duet where Neha does work in kitchen, with Bobby Deol flirting eith her. Though the kitchen part is for a short duration.

    And,

    One Marathi song from Sadhi Manasa. The hero is blacksmith and his wife played by Jayashree Gadkar helps him. Not a household work actually. But a professional work.

    Composed and sung by Lata Mangeshkar. She composed for a few Marathi films by the pseudonym आनंदघन, that means a cloud of happiness.

    Couldn’t get a subtitled video.

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    • I am glad you posted Kajre badarwa re, Anupji, because that had been on my shortlist. I had in fact written it up also, only I later realized there were other songs with more housework being done, so I eventually omitted this one.

      I liked Airanichya deva tula – nice song, and the work is well-shown. But this is not housework; it’s professional work. So it will fit well into another post I have planned, on ‘Workplace Songs’. :-)

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  12. And oh!

    One more song from साधी माणसं

    Jayashree Gadkar washing clothes. Composed and sung by Lata Mangeshkar of course.

    One more popular Marathi song, sung by Sulochana. Jayashree Gadkar in the song too. One cooks, the other grinds. A philosophical song that talks about life. How difficult yet enjoyable is family life. Metaphorically explained there.

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  13. Madhu ji,

    Here’s my contribution :

    Main Laal Laal Guchku from Majhli Didi (1967). Here Meena Kumari is drying clothes as she dishes out riddles for the children to solve.

    Also, the song from Heera Moti that you have listed above, at number 9, is called a Jatsaar Geet. It is a song sung by women when grinding grain on the chakki. Jatsaar songs usually have a lovely question and answer format.

    Anita

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    • Thank you for telling me about Jatsaar geet – I hadn’t known there was a name for that.

      Also, thank you for Main laal-laal guchku. I have seen Majhli Didi (and really liked it), so I should have remembered this one (though I will admit that I didn’t find the music of that film particularly memorable).

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  14. 70s….Ghar jaayegi…Tar Jaayegi with Hema Malini and mayb Nadiya Kinaare heraye kangna….Abhiman…70s again….hanging and folding clothes…..filling water for daily chores…..

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  15. Lots of nice ones ( leaving the nuance of balance of work aside ) and with a wide variety of context. Of tradition ( sometimes regressive gender roles ) , but also some modern and contemporary…

    Yeh tera ghar yeh mera ghar from Saath Saath https://youtu.be/UOMjKWrfI0U?si=E8mUcj0YYJs2nvrQ

    Jis dwara pe ghar ki bahu from Jeevan Jyoti https://youtu.be/fcOMNgsO3z0?si=dppoFQBhSoib3fRM

    Man machal raha kuch gaane ko from Priyatama an interesting take on shopping for the ‘home’ which I guess can count as house work ? https://youtu.be/gBbHASvx2Dc?si=2dOeYoRicFXplxBD

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    • Nice songs, Anubha! – Thank you for these. And shopping for the home should count as housework, I think. Also, while this is a song I like a lot, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before – so a special thank you for that. :-)

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      • There are a whole lot of particularly cringy ones in Sooraj Barjatiya movies , right from Maine Pyar Kiya ( Aaja Shaam hone aayi ) , to Dhik tana Dhik Tana ( in Hum Aapke hain Kaun ) to some in Hum saath saath hain , Vivah and what not .

        The saccharine smiles of the serving women are unbearable so not even posting links to spare all of us .
        but you get the general drift of Rajashri .. a woman’s place is very much in the kitchen or the house !

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        • Oh, yes. Rajshri did espouse that ‘ghar ki Laxmi’ type of woman quite powerfully, didn’t they? So many films about the good gharelu woman. I have watched a few of the films you’ve named, and I think I remember a song or two here and there, but I have to admit I have no wish to go watch! :D

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        • Heh, I still remember that dialogue from Hum Saath Saath Hain where one character says something to the effect of “The house, where the betis and bahus cook and serve food is heaven” [paraphrasing here] and my eyeballs rolled so far back into my skull looking for what was left of my brain!

          That said, Sooraj Barjatya comes off as such an affable, genuinely nice human being, and I’m sick and tired of mindless violence and toxic masculinity being celebrated, even glorified, that I’ll take his ‘ideal’ world (in small doses!)

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          • Thank goodness I have forgotten most of Hum Saath Saath Hain! I don’t recall that dialogue at all. :-D

            But yes, in small doses, that saccharine-sweetness is at least better than the uber-violent, toxic masculinity of the sort of films that seem to be topping the charts these days…

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  16. Last night I remembered “yeh tera ghar yeh mera ghar” from Saath Saath (1982), which shows a newly married couple trying to settle into an old house, much like the one Anu mentioned in her comment on your Aaya Sawan Jhoom Ke review. Although Deepti Naval is shown doing most of the work, Farooque Sheikh is at least depicted as showing some goodwill and helping her. I like the song, which is why I wonder how I could have forgotten to mention it in my first comment.

    I forgot to add earlier that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this list. The comments on certain songs, like “kaana kubda langda loola” and “lipstick laganewaale,” were a joy to read. Thank you for the amusing post, and especially for introducing me to a bevy of songs that were new to me.

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  20. Mera nanha kanhaiya ghar aaya re has Meena Kumari performing baby-related chores….this is Bhabhi ki Choodiya. Also…Tumse hi ghar ghar kehlaya from the same film…..

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  21. .a

    I am amazed Madhulikaji to see the unique themes emerging in your mind and then the research carried out by you to prepare such extraordinary posts on them. Though your work isn’t a household work which is the theme of this post, I won’t be surprised if you tell me that you are singing or humming while doing your research work. Heart-winning post it is. I am falling short of words to admire it properly.

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    • You are very kind, Jitendraji! Thank you so much. I am so glad you enjoyed this post. I enjoy researching song lists, so it’s doubly good for me when it pays off in reader appreciation like this. :-)

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  22. Nutan in Bachpan ke din bhi kya din the is seen doing household chores and singing while Shashikala plays the piano…Wonder if this qualifies….

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    • Fun song! Sanjeev Kumar acted in quite a few of these slice-of-life type of films, so there seem to be several songs where either he is doing housework or he’s in the picture while a woman does the housework.

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    • Very good fit, thank you. The opening picturization reminded me of Jyoti kalash chhalke, though of course here the actress ends up doing a lot more work even after the pooja is done.

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  27. And a few more… more slice of life , not so regressive, atleast not so completely….but more about the routines of one’s tic life, a lot of which have to do with household chores..but beautiful songs all..

    Two from Griha Pravesh By Basu Bhattacharya ( whose Amar Mansi series of movies capture the urban married life so well).

    So here is Baat Nikelegi toh phir door talak jayegi (reminded me of the comment you made, DO, of the radio being on as your Mum went about her household chores : https://youtu.be/IhFimj8IsmU?si=WistHprJQkwTo2WN

    And the other, almost a follow up to this song , literally in the movie , is : Machal ke jab bhi aankhon mei… https://youtu.be/cZd14h3TLIA?si=7M8yQAHIBL7uh42n

    Then there is Shyam Rang Ranga re from Apne Paraye, the whole movie in a way about the domestic domain, and the song captures the essence of household (women yes) going on with their chores … https://youtu.be/UxP7iaTk5ng?si=Fwp-JAMygtvWAo1W

    And last but not the least, and in a lighter vein , breaking the gender stereotypes, more in necessity but quite cutely , Yeh Jeena hai angoor ka daana , from Khattar Meetha , where single parents are trying to manage all aspects of running full households themselves : https://youtu.be/1ydtmXyy4GA?si=uSa5djtF5nE0cOyq

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    • Thank you for these songs, Anubha – very good fits. I especially liked the ones from Griha Pravesh: that’s solid housework being done there (and, of course, so clearly a gender divide in all songs but the last. The man sits by, either doing nothing or basically enjoying himself, while the woman is going about working).

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