According to Shamshad Begum, while Zohrabai sang the record version of this 1944 song, the film version was sung by her. She had initially declined to sing the song due to its "vulgar" lyrics. However, the lyricist Josh Malihabadi convinced her to sing it saying that he'd be blamed for the song, not her. As expected, the song's lyrics came under heavy criticism. The Film India magazine had this to say about Josh's songwriting - "Hazrat Josh Malihabadi who is considered to be the best rebel poet of the nation. He has clearly prostituted his mighty pen in writing those filthy lines. It must have been for money. Because it is difficult to believe that a poet of Josh's eminence could have so radically changed his ideals of poetry for our people. If Josh continues his present career in film writing with songs like this, he should drop that Hazrat that is fixed to his name. He doesn't deserve that even today, with that filthy song broadcast to the world.".[1]
Javed Akhtar's lyrics for the song "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga" ("1942 - A Love Story", 1994) may have been inspired by this song, specifically the series of lines starting with the word "jaise".[2]
