Trains on celluloid - A song to remember

Have a look at poster from the movie Aradhana (1969) by Shakti Samanta

Indian Railways has a been a recurring character in countless Hindi films. Shakti Samanta's 1969 romantic drama Aradhana gave Hindi cinema this evergreen romantic song Mere Sapno Ki Rani.

Filmmaker Shakti Samanta wanted to use a song to introduce the lead actors Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore.

He visualised the song to be shot with the hero driving down in a jeep through a scenic hill station; while the heroine is sitting in a train.

The route from Bagdogra to Darjeeling is one of the most scenic hill station train routes. Hence, Shakti Samanta decided to shoot the song on this train route.

Just days before the shoot, the lead actress Sharmila Tagore informed Mr. Samanta that she had given the same shoot dates to filmmaker Satyajit Ray and requested to be excused from the shoot.

Mr. Samanta was livid but Sharmila Tagore managed to convince him and the song was shot without her.

The song begins with Arun (Rajesh Khanna) driving down in the jeep with Madan Verma (Sujit Kumar).

They pass along the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway route or popularly known as the Darjeeling Toy Train.

Vandana (Sharmila Tagore) is seen sitting in the train and trying to sneak glances at him while reading a book.

Vandana (Sharmila Tagore) is trying to look outside the train at him.

While watching the song it may seem like it was all shot at the same location in Darjeeling. In reality, the director had to re-shoot all of Sharmila Tagore's shots on a set in Natraj Studios, Mumbai.

Art director Shanti Das re-created a set to match identically to the actual toy train compartment. The results were so good that it isn't easy to catch that the portions with the heroine (Sharmila Tagore) are shot separately in a different location.

The music of Aradhana was composed by the legendary S. D. Burman and completed by his son R. D. Burman. All the songs were to be originally sung by Mohammed Rafi but Rafi Saab was on a 3 month world tour during the music recordings.

Mr. Samanta suggested that S.D. Burman work with Kishore Kumar. Aradhana was Shakti Samanta's biggest hit and was dubbed in 5 regional languages. Kishore Kumar became the playback voice for Rajesh Khanna for most of his films.

With Aradhana, Rajesh Khanna became a national phenomenon. He starred in 15 consecutive hit films from 1969 to 1971 and is often referred to as "first superstar" of Bollywood. This song remains one his most iconic romantic numbers.

Sharmila Tagore's performance in Aradhana earned her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She has featured in several other films of Shakti Samanta among the popular ones were An Evening in Paris (1967) and Amar Prem (1972)

Actors Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore are considered one of Hindi cinema's classic on-screen pair. Together they featured in many films which included several hits Aradhana (1970), Chhoti Bahu (1971), Amar Prem (1972), Daag (1973), Raja Rani (1973), Aavishkar (1974)

A still from the song 'Mere Sapno Ki Rani' featuring the famous Batasia Loop as seen in the 1960s.

A view of the Batasia Loop in the present day.