काँटों सा चुभ जाता है

One of the numbers Motilal rendered in his own voice for Aage Kadam (1943), partnered here with Anjali Devi. The title image — a hurt that 'pricks like thorns' — frames it as the film's pang-of-love song, a melancholic counterweight to the picture's more idealistic set-pieces.

Set within the joint Madhavlal Damodar Master and Ramchandra Pal score, the tune takes a slow, plaintive shape suited to its theme of hurt, with the period-standard harmonium-tabla backing kept sparse so Motilal's plain, conversational delivery stays at the front of the mix.