Karan Johar says his version of the folk song is a tribute to Madan Mohan.
However Jhumka gira re credited to Madan Mohan in the film Mera Saaya, is not really an original Madan Mohan composition.
There are two previous acknowledged versions of the same folk song, one sung by a certain Miss Dulari in the 1930s and another version sung by Shamshad Begum in the 1940s. Neither version is remembered to today. But the Asha Bhosle version has passed the test of time.
Credit for this must go to the singer who was especially chosen to sing Madan Mohan’s version of Jhuma gira re.The soundtrack of Mera Saaya had immortal songs by Lata Mangeshkar : Mera saaya saath hoga and Nainon mein badra chhaye. But it was Asha Bhosle’s Jhumka gira re which cracked the charts.
In a past interaction with this writer Asha Bhosle had said, “I would be called by music composers to do that one-odd number which was not in Lata Didi’s style. This is what happened with Jhumka gira re. Luckily for me it became one of the biggest hits of my career.People dance to it to this day.”