ऐ भूलनेवाले मुझे इतना तो बता

One of the better-preserved numbers from Bolti Bulbul (1942), this solo is sung by Rajkumari, a foremost female playback voice of the 1940s. The title — an address to the one who has forgotten, asking only to be told why — places the song in the film's pathos register. It belongs to K. C. Varma's score for the Vishnu Cinetone production directed by Dhirubhai Desai.

K. C. Varma frames the lament in the unhurried harmonium-and-tabla idiom of the early-1940s film ghazal, where the tune stays close to the speech-line and the slow rhythm lets Rajkumari's clear, plaintive timbre carry the reproach.