अपनी तो ज़माने से

'Apni Toh Zamane Se' is the best-remembered song of Rahgeer (1943), sung by the major wartime playback voice Amirbai Karnataki. Its theme — a proud, melancholy declaration of difference from the world, eyes full of sorrow yet wearing it like a festival — is the most ghazal-like of the film's lyrics. Music is by Khan Mastana, words by Shewan Rizvi.

Khan Mastana writes a slow-to-medium, ghazal-inflected melody that gives Amirbai Karnataki's resonant lower register room to colour each line. The accompaniment leans on harmonium and tabla with restrained string fills, a setting built to let the singer's expressive phrasing carry the song's rueful tone.