Ham Main Hai Kya - Nawab Sahib by C. Arjun, Mohammed Rafi

Ham Main Hai Kya - Nawab Sahib is one of those rare Hindi tracks that manages to feel both fresh and familiar the moment it begins. C. Arjun's arrangement gives the track a layered quality that rewards repeated listening.

Every line C. Arjun, Mohammed Rafi sings feels considered, as though the performance was thought through long before recording began. The song is tied to Parikshit Sahni, Tamannaah Bhatia, Rehana Sultan, Johny Walker, Farida Jalal, Om Prakash, Chand Usmani, Veena, Bharat Bhushan Pant, whose presence gives Ham Main Hai Kya - Nawab Sahib a visual dimension that fans of the film will always associate with it.

Released in 1978, it arrived at a time when Hindi music needed exactly this kind of sincerity. The song rewards full attention but also works as company in the background — a flexibility that most tracks never achieve.

The concision of Ham Main Hai Kya - Nawab Sahib — just 4:23 — is part of what makes it work. There is nothing here that should not be. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.