Aadmi kaa agar iraadaa pakkaa ho to darwaaze to khud ba khud khul jaate hain

Film : Duniya
Year of release : 1984
Spoken by : Mohan Kumar (Dilip Kumar)
Spoken to : Balwant (Amrish Puri)

This revenge drama has Mohan breaking into Balwant's house. Balwant asks him the silly but inevitable question

"Tum andar kaise aaye"

And Mr Mohan Kumar says

"Aadmi kaa iraadaa pakkaa ho to darwaaze to khud ba khud khul jaate haiN"

"आदमी का इरादा पक्का हो तो दरवाज़े तो ख़ुद ब ख़ुद खुल जाते हैं"

A thought echoed, in a slightly romantic fashion, by Shri Shahrukh Khan in his Om Shanti Om, when he says

"इतनी शिद्दत से मैने तुम्हे पाने की कोशिश की है, कि हर ज़र्रे ने तुम्हे मुझसे मिलाने की साज़िश की है"

Personally, I too feel that if one really wants to do something, he generally does it. Simple line, but interesting usage. So you can use this line, when you break into someone's house.

Are itnaa solid aawaaz aur kisee kaa ho saktaa hai kyaa

Film : Amar Akbar Anthony
Year of release : 1977
Spoken by : Anthony Gonsalves (Amitabh Bachchan)
Spoken to : Bharati (Nirupa Roy)

Amar (Vinod Khanna) goes to Anthony's area and arrests him. A bruised and battered Anthony is now in the lock up. The blind flower seller Bharati (who is actually their mother) walks in to give flowers to Amar. She is hailed by Anthony. She reacts with

arre, ye to Anthony kee aawaaz hai
अरे, ये तो ऍंटनी की आवाज़ है

Anthony responds with a classic

Then what, arre itnaa solid aawaaz aur kisee kaa ho saktaa hai kyaa.
अरे इतना सॉलिड आवाज़ और किसी का हो सकता है क्या

kahaaN aa paaoongee maiN din meN

Film : Aandhi
Year of release : 1975
Spoken by : Aarti Devi (Suchitra Sen)
Spoken to : JK (Sanjeev Kumar)

This is an all time classic. Aarti and JK are a separated couple, who meet 9 years later. Aarti is in town for a political rally and the hotel she is staying in belongs to JK. As they get over the initial hesitation due to the hiatus, they go for long after dinner walks. In one such situation, while the song "Tere binaa zindagii se koii" is being played in the background, JK explains to Aarti

Suno aarti, yeh jo phoolon kee belen nazar aatee hain naa, darasal yeh belen naheen hain, arabee mein aayaten likhee hain. Ise din ke waqt dekhnaa chaahiye, bilkul saaf nazar aatee hain,
din ke waqt yeh saaraa paanee se bharaa rehtaa hai. Din ke waqt jab ye…

सुनो आरती, ये जो फूलों की बेलें नज़र आती है ना, दरस्ल ये बेलें नहीं हैं, अरबी में आयतें लिखीं हैं. इसे दिन के वक़्त देखना चाहिये, बिल्कुल साफ़ नज़र आती हैं.
दिन के वक़्त ये सारा पानी से भरा रहता है. दिन के वक़्त जब ये...
Aarti interjects
Din kee baat kyon kar rahe ho, kahaan aa paaoongee main din mein.
दिन की बात क्यों कर रहे हो, कहां आ पाऊंगी मैं दिन में

A wistful JK responds

Yeh jo chaand hai naa, ise raat mein dekhnaa. Yeh din me nahee nikaltaa .
ये जो चांद है ना, इसे रात में देखना. ये दिन में नहीं निकलता
Aarti

Yeh to roz nikaltaa hogaa
ये तो रोज़ निकलता होगा

JK
Haan lekin beech mein amaavas aajaatee hai Vaise to amaavas pandrah din kee hotee hai, lekin is baar bahut lambee thee.
हां लेकिन बीच में अमावस आ जाती है. वैसे तो अमावस पन्द्रह दिन की होती है, लेकिन इस बार बहुत लम्बी थी

Aarti
Nau baras lambee thee naa?
नौ बरस लम्बी थी ना?

Then the song continues into the stanza "jee me aataa hai tere..."

This is one of my favourite lines (even though Suchitra Sen says it). All of us do find it hard to do a lot of things during the day. The holidays are spent sleeping indoors. So the daytime is so hard to get for leisure activities. So if anyone calls you anywhere during the day and you can't make it. Use this line

कहां आ पाऊंगी मैं दिन में

Ghis ghis ke gold banaane kee koshish kar rahaa hooN

Film : Chak De India
Year of release : 2007
Spoken by : Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan)
Spoken to : Krishna ji (Vibha Chibber)

While interacting with his assistant coach Krishna, Kabir is holding his silver medal and rubbing it. She asks him

Sir, yeh to aapkaa silver medal hai naa? aap iske saath kyaa kar rahe haiN

He responds

Ghis ghis ke gold banaane kee koshish kar rahaa hooN, kal ko agar chor bazaar meN bechnaa paDe to kam az kam qeemat to achchhee milegee
घिस घिस के गोल्ड बनाने की कोशिश कर रहा हूं, कल को अगर चोर बाज़ार मे बेचना पडे तो कम अज़ कम क़ीमत तो अच्छी मिलेगी

meree scooter kee pichhlee seat tumhe, bahut chhoTee maaloom hone lagee hai

Film : Rang Birangi
Year of release : 1983
Spoken by : Jeet (Farooque Sheikh)
Spoken to : Anita (Deepti Naval)

Anita's boss (Amol Palekar), in a bid to perk up his married life, starts romancing her. Her fiance Jeet, who is a professor in a college, routinely picks her up after office on his Lambretta scooter. On a couple of such occasions, he finds her driving off in the evening in her boss' car. On their next meeting, Anita finds him slightly taciturn. She asks him the reason. He says

Anita, mujhe aajkal aisaa lagtaa hai, meree scooter kee pichhlee seat tumhe, bahut chhoTee maaloom hone lagee hai.
अनीता...मुझे आजकल ऐसा लगता है...मेरी स्कूटर की पिछली सीट तुम्हे...बहुत छोटी मालूम होने लगी है

Yeh round and round jitnaa bhee bole to, center meN to baat wohee rahegee naa

Film : Munnabhai MBBS
Year of release : 2003
Spoken by : Murli Prasad ‘Munna’ Sharma (Sanjay Dutt)
Spoken to : Suman 'Chinky' Asthana (Gracy Singh)

Munna is leaving the campus, as he feels disillusioned after having met (who he thinks) 'Chinky'. As he is leaving, Suman (the real Chinky) stops him and says their last chat was incomplete. Munna says

Dekho tumko apun ke liye koi feelings nahee hai. Yeh round and round jitnaa bhee bole to, center me to baat wohi rahegee naa

देखो तुमको अपुन के लिये कोई फ़ीलिंग्ज़ नहीं है. ये राउंड ऍंड राउंड जितना भी बोले तो, सॅंटर में तो बात वोही रहेगी ना

Jawaanii aur sharaafat meN kashmakash ho rahee hai

Film : Tawaif
Year of release : 1985
Spoken by : Sultaanaa (Rati Agnihotri)
Spoken to : Daud Khan Yusufzai (Rishi Kapoor)

The featured line is from another BR Chopra film which came two decades later than the earlier featured line. Sultaanaa has been forcibly left in Daud's house by the local don (Kader Khan). Since he cannot get her out of his house, he is forced to tell neighbours that she is his wife. Sultaanaa is a 'tawaif' (a nautch girl) and is not used to men being polite to her. She finds the situation amusing and starts flirting with Daud. Daud tries to put up a curtain in the middle of the room - so that he can make a temporary 2 bedroom apartment. He sleeps in one portion on the floor - while Sultaanaa sleeps in the other portion on the bed. A flirtatious Sultaanaa, creeps through the curtain, and sees that Daud has not slept yet. She asks him why he is unable to sleep. Daud tries to ignore the question, but Sultaanaa persists with a provocative follow up question

jawaanii au sharaafat meN kashmakash ho rahee hai
जवानी और शराफ़त में कशमकश हो रही है

Yeh bachchoN ke khelne kee cheez naheeN

Film : Waqt
Year of release : 1965
Spoken by : Raja (Raj Kumar)
Spoken to : Balbir (Madan Puri)

This is a very simple line and it means that ‘this is not child’s play’. But it is part of Raj Kumar’s repertoire and hence has a special flavour.

Raja is one of the three brothers in this lost and found story. He grows up under the tutelage of Chenoy Seth (Rehman) as a thief. As he finds himself falling in love with Meena (Sadhna) his desire to mend his ways increases. This results in friction with Chenoy Seth. In one such meeting, Chenoy’s minion Balbir senses the tension between Raja and Chenoy, and whips out his knife. Just as Chenoy chastises Balbir for this puerile act, Raja walks upto him and dispossesses him of his knife. He heaps scorn on him and says

ये बच्चों के खेलने की चीज़ नहीं ...हाथ कट जाये तो ख़ून निकल आता है

So if you are ever way laid by muggers who happen to whip out knives, walk up coolly to them, dispossess them of their knives and say

“Yeh bachchoN ke khelne kee cheez naheeN”

kab…kaun…kaise uThegaa…koee naheeN bataa saktaa

Film : Anand
Year of release : 1971
Spoken by : Anand Sehgal (Rajesh Khanna)
Spoken to : Dr Bhaskar Bannerjee (Amitabh Bachchan)

Anand is another classic which has some great lines. But this line is very interesting. Actually the line is spoken by Isaabhai Suratwala (Johnny Walker) to Akbar in a play based on Anarkali. Anand likes the lines so much that when he is invited by Bhaskar to record his voice, he recites these lines

zindagi aur maut ooparwaale ke haath hai jahaanpanaah, use na aap badal sakte hain aur na maiN. Hum sab rang manch kee kathputliyaaN haiN, jinkee dor ooparwaale kee ungliyoN me bandhee hai, kab…kaun…kaise uThegaa…koee nahee bataa saktaa…hahaha
ज़िन्दगी और मौत ऊपरवाले के हाथ है जहांपनाह, उसे ना आप बदल सकते हैं और ना मैं. हम सब रंग मंच की कठपुतलियां हैं, जिनकी डोर ऊपरवाले की उंगलियों मे बन्धी है, कब कौन कैसे उठेगा...कोई नही बता सकता...हा हा हा

This is a very pithy dialogue. Most Indians above the age of 25 years would have heard it many times before. I struggled to pick the line to feature as the title. All lines could be used – but the reason I used this one is because someone recently used it in a very interesting manner.

I was speaking to a colleague about another ex-colleague who was not considered to be very capable by all who knew him. But news had just come in that he had moved to a very senior position in an organization. As my colleague shared this piece of news with me, my visage registered great surprise.

Oh really, said I

And my colleague responded with this classic. He said

कब… कौन… कैसे उठेगा...कोई नही बता सकता

A very funny usage of this line indeed. I thought, why not put this line up as it is. It is great if a line has layers – each reader sees it in his own unique way. So that is exactly what I am going to do. Put this line up on the blog. Use it as you please.

KhanDahar bataate haiN kee imaarat kabhee buland thee

Film : Khoya Khoya Chand
Year of release : 2007
Spoken by : Shyamol Mukherjee (Vinay Pathak)
Spoken to : Audience (as narrator)

This is a famous proverb, often quoted in the form

khaNDar bataa rahe haiN imaarat buland thii

खंडर बता रहे हैं इमारत बुलन्द थी

It means that the ruins indicate that the building was once robust. Sometimes you look at ruins of a five hundred year old building and feel that inspite of the time that has elapsed there is still a robustness to the structure. It makes you wonder, how strong it must have been when it was made. I look at Zohra Sehgal (the only saving grace of the movie Saawariyaa) and feel that if she is like this at 96, what would she be like in her youth. I would certainly say in her case

ख़ंडहर बता रहे हैं इमारत बुलन्द थी

Though it does seem rude to refer to an old person as ‘khanDahar’. And hence, this very line can be used in a pejorative way as well.

In this movie, Shyamol as the narrator is narrating the entire film in flashback. He is referring to the protagonist – Zafar Ali Naqvi’s (Shiney Ahuja) patriarchal home in Lucknow. He tries to convey that once, their family was a respected family – with a palatial house and a lot of money. But now hardly anything is left of it. A situation which forces Zafar to migrate to Mumbai in search of livelihood. So if you every come to a situation where you find the vestiges of a fine organization/person which indicate that the organization/person would have been glorious in it’s prime, you can use the above line. Or use the variant that Shyamol uses

खंडहर बताते हैं कि इमारत कभी बुलन्द थी

You are what you hide

Film : Dhokha

Year of release : 2007

Spoken by : Raj Mehra (Gulshan Grover)

Spoken to : Zaid Ahmad Khan (Muzammil Ibrahim)

Johari windows is a concept which has always enchanted me. It basically divides aspects of his personality into four windows or quadrants.

The first quadrant contains aspects which are known to self and known to others as well. Rightly this quadrant is called ‘Arena’. The second quadrant contains which are not known to others but are known to self. This quadrant is called ‘Façade’. The third quadrant has areas which are known to others but not known to self. This quadrant is called ‘Blind Spot’. And the most important quadrant is the fourth quadrant which has aspects not known to self or to others. This quadrant or window is called ‘Unknown’.

The movie Dhokha is about a Muslim police officer who is happily married to a woman who turns out to be a terrorist. Initially he absolutely refuses to believe the Anti-Terrorist Squad’s theory. As evidence unfolds, he grudgingly starts seeing the truth. But in one such moment where he is struggling between belief and incredulity, he screams that Sara (Tulip Joshi) was so happy with him. Raj Mehra responds with

Officer, insaan jo dikhaataa hai, vo uskaa sach nahee hotaa …uskaa sach wo hotaa hai jo vo chhupaataa hai – you are what you hide!

ऑफ़िसर इंसान जो दिखाता है, वो उसका सच नहीं होता...उसका सच वो होता है जो वो छुपाता है – You are what you hide!

This is Mahesh Bhatt’s reference to the ‘Façade’ window of the Johari windows. Think about it. What is your truth? What is it that you hide?

duniyaa me aisaa koii qaanoon naheeN hai jo patnee ko pati kee jeb saaf karne se rok sake

Once in a while I do come across lines which do not have the kind of layers that I look for. But they do make me laugh. I struggle a lot with myself before deciding to put such lines on this blog. The line featured today is one such line. It is featured in the climax of the movie. Interestingly apart from Vinod Khanna (who was called Kishan) all the other main characters in this film were called by their real names. So Amitabh was Amit, Neetu was Neetu, Shabana was Shabbo, Shammi Kapoor was Shamsher Singh. Wonder why Vinod wasn’t called Vinod. Or was his full name Vinod Kishan Khanna. Anyways, both the girls are pick pockets. In the 1970s film it was considered ok for heroines to be pick pockets. They were not allowed to smoke and drink – but picking pockets was ok. Their abuses were also limited to words like “halkaT, saalaa and kameenaa”. They could not make uncharitable references to one’s parentage. Anyways, these two girls (who also happened to be sisters) were nice girls who had to pick pockets to make ends meet. Okay, no more ranting. Back at the ranch, we were talking about the climax. Neetu is Amit’s girl and Shabbo is Kishan’s girl. Both the marriages are happening together. During the ceremony, Shabbo flicks Kishan’s purse. Amit makes a comment on the inappropriateness of such an action. Neetu comes to Shabbo’s aid and points out that the act has achieved legitimacy now. She says

दुनिया में ऐसा कोई क़ानून नहीं है जो पत्नी को पति की जेब साफ़ करने से रोक सके

So this is a good line to use to justify similar actions even today. Though the ‘jeb’ might take the form of using a debit/credit card or using the online transfer from a bank website.

Jab aur sab paap kar liye to yahee kyoN rah jaaye

Film : Shree 420

Year of release : 1955

Spoken by : Raj (Raj Kapoor)

Spoken to : Vidya (Nargis)

I used to quite like a couplet by a poet called Anand Narayan Mulla

Vo kaun hain jinhen taubaa kii mil gayee fursat

Hamein to gunaah karne ko bhi zindagi kam hai

वो कौन हैं जिन्हें तौबा की मिल गयी फ़ुर्सत

हमें तो गुनाह करने को भी ज़िन्दगी कम है

This line from Raj Kapoor’s Shree 420 does echo a related thought – though spoken in a slightly defeatist tone.

Raj Kapoor understood rule no 1 of the corporate world. If you want to succeed, put in place a great team. I think he put together a great team. It did pay him rich dividends.

Raj is about to jump into the sea and commit suicide. Vidya sees him and stops him. She says it is a sin to commit suicide. Raj retorts with

जब और सब पाप कर लिये तो यही क्यों रह जाये

It is a very convincing logic when someone says – ek khoon kee sazaa bhee phaansee hai aur do khoon kee bhee. It almost seems to be a different version of the law of diminishing marginal utility. These kind of statements are very difficult to argue against.

The 50s and Raj Kapoor making a debut on this blog.