The iconic ‘Mere Sapnon Ki Rani’ song of Aradhana was filmed on this Toy train of Darjeeling

Mere Sapnon Ki Rani Kab Aayegi Tu – When Rajesh Khanna sang this trendsetting song in Kishore Kumar’s voice trying to woo Sharmila Tagore seated on a train, not only Sharmila the whole nation got smitten with the impressive performance of Khanna, and the song went on to become one of the most celebrated songs of late 1960s and early 1970s. The song gave a boost to Kishore Kumar’s singing career who went on to become no: 1 playback singer of 1970s. Not only that, everything related to the song and the celebrated movie went on to become a part of Bollywood’s history, including the super stardom of Rajesh Khanna and the emergence of the musical trio – Khanna, Kishore da and R. D. Burman who gave this wonderful song to Kishore Kumar originally composed by his father S. D. Burman. That was the impulse created by this particular song and the movie on the later path of Bollywood cinema.

A scene from Mere Sapnon Ki Rani song where Rajesh Khann’s jeep and Toy train appear in the same frame

When everything related to this trendsetting movie and song are historic, why not the train used for filming the song? Do you know the song was filmed on a train which still runs in National Highway in Darjeeling even during the golden jubilee year of this iconic film? Now everybody knows that Sharmila Tagore was actually sitting in a film set designed as the interior portion of a train, while Sujit Kumar drives jeep along with the slow moving train at Darjeeling till a juncture where they part. Throughout the song we can see Rajesh Khanna singing the song for Sharmila Tagore while she smiles at him. Logically it’s not possible for a jeep to travel as fast as a train, but we Indian know, everything happens in Indian movies, and so we accept it. But the interesting part is this particular train of Darjeeling is as slow as a jeep and now used for tourism purposes. Also road and railway track are side by side close to each other, as shown in this song.

An interesting part to be added here – Rajesh Khanna owned an imported British sports car from MG Car Company which he used to drive to film sets, at a time when fashion of personal cars was not a swing in Bollywood. I read somewhere, Khanna owned a 1964 Willys CJ3B left-hand drive jeep, which we see Sujit Kumar driving in the iconic song – Mere Sapnon Ki Rani. This jeep was quite popular those days, and was seen in many movies of 1960s with a song filmed on it.

A brief history of the charcoal Toy train of Darjeeling

Though black in colour he is a ‘British man’ by birth. As per the report of Asley, Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, its first phase of construction was started in 1879 and completed in 1881. 1.75 million rupees were spent during this construction phase. Slowly the train was extended at different stages. Soon after independence, in 1948 government of India brought this train and railway path from East India Company at a cost of 4.4 million.

A short journey with toy train of Darjeeling through Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

Local markets are so close to the railway track

Now it’s the time of high speed electronic trains. Yet this charcoal train has not lost its fantasy. Darjeeling’s own charcoal train is now used for tourism purposes only, and is a bit costly too. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is 82 km length and it connects New Jalpaiguri with Darjeeling. Comparing with normal tracks, it’s narrow and it travels through 2 feet track (610 mm Nano gauge). This train has only two compartments, but gives a wonderful experience to its passengers.

Two narrow tracks close to roadways resemble two snakes, and other vehicles closely cross the train during the travels. It’s almost the same as shown in Aradhana song. You can enjoy the whole beauty of Darjeeling sitting in this ‘toy train’. Travelling through the mystic mist, you can watch pleasant scenes on either side of the track. Paddy fields filled with chilled mist, dark forests, green tea plantations, ladies carrying three or four gas cylinders with the help of a belt drawn through forehead, white Kangchenjunga mountain, India’s fastest river Teesta etc are some of those sights.

The train mostly travels through Darjeeling-Siliguri National Highway 55, and there is nothing to partition road and railway track. The train covers several streets, colonies, small markets, historic places and many more. People know about the arrival of the train through lengthy sirens, which functions on the old steam engine principle. When people hear siren, they temporarily move from track to give way to the train. Children might be playing in the tracks. In some places, markets function on either side of tracks. When the train passes through those places giving notification through sirens, vendors remove the tents which come on the way of the train. In many cases tents are fixed on the railway tracks which should be removed every time just before train arrives. For people of Darjeeling, this train is a guest who pays visit every day.

Darjeeling’s Darling – Some interesting facts

An opening scene from ‘Mere Sapnon Ki Rani’ song

1. The train runs at 7218 feet from sea level. So both the railway track and the train own the national record of the highest running train and track. Interestingly the train services through National Highway – Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

2. This railway track and train which run along narrow gauge track have been included in the world heritage list of UNESCO in 1999.

3. A journey from Darjeeling to Ghoom and its return takes 45 minutes and a person has to pay around 1090 rupees for a single journey. Ghoom is the highest point on this route at an altitude of 7,404 feet.

4. Four diesel trains also travel in the same path. But its charge is only 25 rupees. Local transport is normally done in these diesel vehicles.

5. If you travel in white dress, after a trip your dress will be filled with black marks because of charcoal used for the functioning. In old days before 1950s, first class and second class train compartments of almost all Indian trains had fans, which were later replaced by AC compartments.

6. In 177 places this train crosses roadways and except siren there is no other way to let others know about it. No level crosses too. Yet interestingly no accidents have been reported so far.

7. Among 14 railway stations, Ghoom (also spelled as Ghum) of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) is the highest among all in India. There is one railway museum here.

8. Apart from the introductory scene of India’s first superstar in Aradhana, this iconic train has appeared in Bollywood hit movies like Parineeta, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and Burfi, and hence proved lucky too.

9. Sharmila Tagore is virtually shown sitting in a compartment of this train in Aradhana, almost a year before Saif Ali Khan was born. Years later Saif Ali Khan sat in the same train for a song sequence of the movie, Parineeta.

Now a brief note of Darjeeling

The place name is derived from Tibetan word ‘Dorje Ling’ which means ‘Land of lightning’. Also known as ‘Queen of Himalayas’ lightning is frequent in Darjeeling at any climatic conditions and hence the name. The land is also known for wide range of plants and flowers apart from vast tea plantations. You can find more than 300 varieties of orchids here apart from 300 species of ferns. Tea plantation is the main source of income, and Darjeeling tea is nicknamed as ‘Champagne of East’.

Aradhana completes 50 years in 2019, yet everything related to it stay fresh

When the iconic song of Aradhana was filmed at Darjeeling no one related to the movie would have imagined that  the song is to become a rage across the nation, and going to change the destiny of most of the artists related to it. If so Shakti Samanta would have waited a little long so that Sharmila Tagore would reach Darjeeling and sit on the iconic train to complete the song. She was busy shooting for a Satyajit Ray film, while Rajesh Khanna and Sujit Kumar were filming the song sequence. Quite interestingly, if filmmakers hadn’t reveal then, that Sharmila’s part was actually filmed in a studio, viewers would have still thought that she was sitting in one of the compartments of the toy train of Darjeeling. Now it’s 2019 – Golden Jubilee Year of Aradhana, what a strange co-incidence, I noticed it now only.  So 50 years have passed since India got its first superstar. Hats off to the whole team of Aradhana to make every moment of the movie historic. Also thanks a lot to present this wonderful movie, which made me a die-hard Bollywood fan. Also read in detail about the movie, a few interesting facts and its marking of golden jubilee.

I have watched thousands of films belonging to different languages. Yet Aradhana remains so close to my heart and will always remain my most favorite film ever! My tribute to Shakti Samanta, Kaka, Burman da, Sujit Kumar, Kishore Kumar and others who are not along with us to celebrate the golden jubilee year of Aradhana with the iconic toy train of Darjeeling. Yet, as everyone say, true memories never fade and so are legends. My humble tribute!

Read a few more posts related to Bollywood music oldies. Here is the page link. Click on the images in the gallery to read.