भूल गए क्यों दे के सहारा

From Anokhi Ada (1948) — a film with music by Naushad that also featured songs by Mukesh, Shamshad Begum, Surendra, and Uma Devi — 'Bhool Gaye Kyon De Ke Sahara' is one of the earliest documented duets pairing Mukesh with Lata Mangeshkar. Composed by Naushad in his characteristic slow, classically-grounded style, and written by D.N. Madhok — who had been one of the most prominent lyricists of the previous decade — the song is a dialogue of reproach and longing between two people whose bond has been broken by neglect. The Naushad–Mukesh pairing was less celebrated than his later association with Mohammed Rafi, but Mukesh's quality of voiced pain worked beautifully in this type of slow, introspective song.

Naushad's composition for this duet places the two voices in a gently competitive dialogue — Mukesh's characteristic slightly nasal, pain-filled timbre against Lata's clear, pure soprano. The contrast is effective: his voice suggests the weight of the reproach, hers the clarity of the grievance. The harmonium and sarangi in Naushad's standard arrangement provide the melancholic colouring. The taal (keherwa) moves at a walking pace — deliberate, as if the song is reluctant to hurry.

D.N. Madhok was one of the most prolific lyricists of 1935-1950, often credited with helping to establish the conventions of Urdu film poetry. The question 'bhool gaye kyon de ke sahara' (why did you forget after giving me support?) is simple but psychologically precise — it identifies a very specific kind of emotional betrayal: not outright rejection but gradual neglect after giving hope.

Anokhi Ada (1948) featured an unusually diverse roster of singers for a single film — Mukesh, Shamshad Begum, Surendra, Uma Devi, and the emerging Lata Mangeshkar. This reflects Naushad's position in 1948 as a composer who could attract the best talent available and his tendency to use multiple voices to create varied textures within a single score. D.N. Madhok had been the dominant lyricist of the 1930s-40s; by 1948 he was being gradually displaced by younger poets like Shakeel Badayuni and Qamar Jalalabadi, but his craft remained formidable.

The Mukesh-Lata duet tradition, which would produce many beloved songs through the 1950s and 1960s, has roots in songs like this one from 1948. Mukesh's voice — characterized by a quality of sincere, unheroic suffering — worked particularly well against Lata's more composed, classical tone. Their contrast became a kind of shorthand for the emotional complexity of a couple's dialogue.