Jab tak zindaa hooN tab tak maraa naheeN, jab mar gayaa saalaa maiN hee naheeN

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


Jab tak zindaa hooN tab tak maraa naheeN, jab mar gayaa saalaa maiN hee naheeN

Ham aanewaale gham ko kheenchtaan ke aaj kee khushee par le aate haiN

इसे हिन्दी में पढने के लिए यहाँ क्लिक करें

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

It is not an ideal line for this blog, as it is too long. But then the concept is so real and relevant. If I recall correctly, one of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's friends who was a journalist (a MalayaaLee Christian name that I cannot remember), used to say this very often. Hrishida was very taken in by the concept and used it in his film too.

Anand is approaching death and he finds Bhaskar getting more irritable every day. One such day when Anand is in a jovial mood and is trying to get Bhaskar also into a similar mood, Bhaskar snaps at him rather rudely. Anand decides to go back to Delhi, as he can no longer watch his own death - reflected in the fear and the behaviour of his friends. He feels that he is alive till the time he dies and he would not like to be reminded of the impending death all the time. And when Bhaskar behaves in such a serious and irritable manner, that is exactly what is happening. Suddenly, Bhaskar realises that Anand is right and promises to stop being irritable and serious. Immediately, Anand lightens up and says, you know the problem is that we actually take the present value of future troubles and start worrying about it. We are never able to enjoy the present moment.

I quite agree with Anand. In fact a friend of mine would say when everything was going fine, that it was the calm before the storm. That something really bad was going to happen. Always reminded me of this line from Anand,

Ham aanewaale gham ko kheenchtaan ke aaj kee khushee par le aate haiN

हम आनेवाले ग़म को खींचतान के आज की ख़ुशी पर ले आते हैं

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.

YaheeN to maat khaa gayaa naa India

When I first saw this film on Doordarshan years back, I remember thinking to myself - Man! Smita Patil is for sure a good actress, but Rajesh Khanna is a very good actor himself! J Om Prakash (Hrithik's papa sasur) is famous for starting all his films with 'A' and for great music in his movies. It is rumoured that he earns over a couple of lacs every month just from the royalty of the music in his movies. This film too had good music, but it was a better film. This line is the 'takia kalaam' or pet phrase of Alok Nath (Rajesh Khanna) in this movie. Whenever he had to object to a particular statement or behaviour - he would interject and say

यहीं तो मात खा गया ना इंडिया

YaheeN to maat khaa gayaa naa India

I quite liked the way he said it. I have used it whenever a friend or a colleague has made emotional statements or cynical statements or despairing statement. In fact it can be used in any situation - India is quite a large and heterogeneous country. So if you want to disagree with a colleague or a friend or a relative who is an Indian, use this

यहीं तो मात खा गया ना इन्डिया

Incidentally this is the first Rajesh Khanna line featured on this blog. The original superstar thus makes his debut here.