Bollywood Lyrics

As you would have guessed from my last post I am infected by the Bollywood bug. Like every Bolly-buff I have an extensive playlist with majority of songs coming from Hindi movies. I had this idea of sharing ten of my most favourite song lyrics with you. Now you might think why not songs but song lyrics. Well, I am a writer and along with the music, the meaning of the song has to be very strong for me to 'fall in love' with the song. I am so glad that we have great song writers in the industry. It took me a LONG time to get the list shortened to ten. Hope you enjoy it :)

10.

Song:      Moh moh ke dhaage

Singer:    Monali Thakur

Lyricist:   Varun Grover

Movie:    Dum laga ke haisha (2015)

Line :  Yeh moh moh ke dhaage, teri ungliyon se jaa uljhe.

English Translation: These threads of love, got entangled in your fingers.

The line is simple and beautiful. The imagery with the fingers and thread make it poetic. In these two lines, the writer portrays the whole story of the movie where the lives of two people has been interweaved by fate and how in spite of their differences, they finally fall in love. 

9. 

Song:    Aasan nahi yahan 

Singer:  Arijit Singh

Lyricist: Irshad Kamil

Movie:  Aashiqui 2 (2013)

Line: Jismo ke peeche bhaage ho phirte, utro kabhi rooh mein.

English Translation: Why do you run after bodies? Try descending into the soul once.

These short lines make me go 'exactly' every time I listen to them. They urge to look beyond the worldly differences. To shun the body and find the soul. These capture the essence of the movie beautifully. Two beautiful souls who are ready to escape their bodies, to save the other's soul. 

8.

Song:    Duaa

Singer:  Arijit Singh

Lyricist: Kumaar

Movie:  Shanghai (2012)

Line: Paseejte hain sapne kyu aankhon mein, Lakeerein jab chootein in hanthon se yun bewajah.

English Treanslation: Why do dreams melt in my eyes when the lines fall out of my hands? Unreasonably. 

Have you ever felt that you are being victimised, without a reason? These lines speak about the desperation of such a situation. According to Indian belief the palm lines tell the destiny of a person. In the song, the writer talks about losing out on destiny and hope. The whole theme of the movie, about the victims of corruption can be clearly seen in these few words.

7.

Song:    Zabaan jale hai

Singer:  Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

Lyrics:  Gulzar

Movie:  Dedh Ishqiya (2014)

Line: Na bolu main to kaleja phoonke, jo bol du to zabaan jale hai. Sulagh na jaave agar sune vo, jo baat meri zabaan tale hai.

English Translation:  If I don't say it my heart chars, if I do my tongue blazes. Will the words under my tongue  not scorch him as well?

This one is for the bitter-sweet pain of love. The fear of losing a person if you speak your true feelings and losing your head if you don't. For a movie that revolves around two couples that are not exactly 'ideal' and their struggles stem from not being able to speak their heart, there couldn't have been better lines. Hats off to Gulzaar Sahib once again. 

6.

Song:    Yeh Haunsla

Singer:  Shafqat Amanat Ali, Karsan Sargathiya

Lyricist: Mir Ali Husain

Movie:  Dor(2006)

Line: Jurrat sau baar rahe, Uncha Iqraar rahe, Sacha har pyaar rahe.

English Translation:  May the strength stay a hundred times, May the resolve stay high, May every love stay true.

What comes after you have suffered a hundred blows? Most people give up. But some, in spite of the challenges life throws at them, stay put. They never lose hope. This story is about two such women. Who fight all odds and do not take refuge in their tears, but keep fighting with head held high. This song is for bravery. Bravery not in the battlefield but in the mind. 

5.

Song:     Kinaare

Singer:   Amit Trivedi

Lyricist:  Anvita Dutt

Movie:   Queen (2013)

Line: Jo choti si har ek nahar sagar ban bhi jaaye, koi tinka leke haath mein dhoond lenge hum, kinaare.

English Translation: Even if every little canal swells into an ocean, with a straw in hand, we will find the shore.

For someone who has been sheltered her whole life, coming out on her own can be quite overwhelming. This movie is a journey of self discovery and falling in love with your own self. A journey about having faith in that little straw to take you across an ocean. Having faith, that one day, you will land on the shore. This has to be one of my favourite movies of all time and nothing less than these lines would have done justice to the movie.

4.

Song:    Koi fariyaad

Singer:  Jagjit Singh

Lyricist: Jagjit Singh

Movie:  Tum bin

Line: Ek lamhe mein simat aaya hai sadiyon ka safar. Zindagi tez bahut tez chali ho jaise. 

English Translation:  My whole life's journey has shrivelled into this one moment. It seems life has travelled fast, really fast.

Nothing stirs the heart more than Jagjit Singh's words. They say that great art comes after you suffer great pain. But if a great artist undergoes greater pain, Jagjit Singh is born. In these lines he talks about the final confrontation of a person who has wronged a girl and ended up falling in love with her. This line carries the pain of a life time. Not just about the story which it embellishes, but also about life. 

3.

Song:   Haminastu

Singer: Zebunissa Bangash

Lyrics:  Swanand Kirkire

Movie: Fitoor(2016)

Lyrics: Murjhaate gulon ne jhuk ke kaha, humein aadat hai. Haminasto.

English Translation:   Withering flowers bent and said, 'We are used to it', in this place.

Amir Khusro once said, 'If there is paradise on Earth, it is here'. 'Gar jannat hai zameen pe kahin, yahi pe hai haminasto.' Kashmir is still defined by those words. But Kashmir hasn't seen peace in a very long time. A movie that takes place in Kashmir and talks about the loss of that peace, these lines fit perfectly. Even the beautiful flowers of this land have not been spared. They wither and die without hope, in this 'heaven'. 

2. 

Song:   Panchee Nadiya Pawan

Singer:  Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik

Lyrics:  Javed Akhtar

Movie: Refugee(2000)

Line: Panchee, Nadiya, Pawan ke jhonke, koi sarhad na inhe roke. Sarhadein insano ke liye hain. Socho tumne aur maine kya paaya insaan hoke.

English Translation:  No borders stop these birds, rivers or wind. These borders are only for humans. What did we gain out of being human?

With the world fighting for borders and people searching the meaning of home, these lines offer the painfully raw truth. Refugee is a story of Indians displaced from their homes into Bangladesh and then having to move to West Pakistan. What meaning do the words nationality, identity and belonging have for such people. They have no homes. In such situations the only question they ask is what they gained out of being humans? 

1. 

Song:    Patakha Guddi

Singer:  Sultana and Jyoti Nuran

Lyricist: Irshad Kamil

Movie:  Highway

Line: Jugni rukh pippal da hoi, jisnu pooje tan har koi. Jisdi fasal kise na boi, ghar vi rakh sake na koi.

English Translation: She is like a Peepal tree. Everyone worships her, but no one sows her seed in the fields nor keeps her at home.

These lines say so much in so little a space. The metaphor of a Peepal tree for an Indian woman sits perfectly. Just like the Peepal tree is worshipped in Indian homes, so are Indian woman. But no one wants a crop of woman or wants a woman in his home. With honour killings, female foeticide, and infant killings eating up whole generation of girls in India, these lines do not sound like an exaggeration. The movie talks about the hypocrisy of modern India. They do not kill the body like the poorer section but they surely do kill the spirit of their woman. She is just an ornament. 

Whew! That was some writing. 

Goooo word power :)