Love, Love, Love (What is this Thing?)

This fabulous Nayyar-Bhosle number is from the 1966 mystery drama Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi (This Night Won't Come Again). O. P. Nayyar's compositions for vocalist Asha Bhosle are in a class of their own – like Madan Mohan's compositions for Lata Mangeshkar, Asha's sister. Mumtaz lipsynchs the song on the screen. She brings a sly moxie to the pretense of star-crossed love in Aziz Kashmiri's lyrics.

The purpose of this literal song and dance is to get the cross Biswajit to make up with her. Her friends, played by extras prancing around awkwardly, look like they are trying to recreate a grade school production from their childhoods. They are apparently there to help with the endeavor but are redundant, Mumtaz has it covered quite nicely. The frowning Biswajit in the attire of the era's Manager, and carrying an easel and a canvas (he's quickly relieved of both by the extras), is probably annoyed because he came there to paint during his lunch break and wants to be left alone. Will Mumtaz's operatic proclamations of devotion make him give in and ditch his dabbling in art?

Yes, all this is undeniably fabulous. I've listened to and watched this many times and have yet to tire of it. Hence this translation. I've tried to maintain the original meter and the translation isn't exact, but it's correct. The chorus, for instance, translates to "What is this thing called love?" I wanted the line to start with "love" like it does in the original, and the Hindi/Hindustani word for single-syllable "love" in the original has three syllables: मोहब्बत (mohabbat). "Love, love, love – what is this thing?" starts with "love" and has the same meter as the original, plus I think it's catchy.

The video of the song follows the translation below.

Love, Love, Love (What is This Thing?)

mohabbat chIX hai kyA?

मोहब्बत चीज़ है क्या?

Torturer, the hope of mercy from you – those who have may well have,
What I would like to see is to what extent you can be ruthless.

sitamgar tujhse ummId-e-karam hogI jinheM hogI,
hameM to dekhnA yah hai ki tU XAlim kahA.N tak hai.

सितमगर तुझसे उम्मीद-ए-करम होगी जिन्हें होगी,
हमें तो देखना यह है कि तू ज़ालिम कहाँ तक है.

Love, love, love – what is this thing?
I’ll fall in love, see what it's like!
What is it that is called death?
I’ll die for love, see what it's like!

mohabbat chIX hai kyA?
mohabbat kar ke dekheMge!
qaXA kahte hai kisko?
kisI par mar ke dekheMge!

मोहब्बत चीज़ है क्या?
मोहब्बत कर के देखेंगे!
क़ज़ा कहते है किसको?
किसी पर मर के देखेंगे!

It’s a very beautiful promise that to this heart I have made,
To give away my life for you, that is what I intend to do.
To give away my life for you, that is what I intend to do.
Where is love's crucifixion?

ba.DA hI KUbsUrat dil se vAdA kar liyA hamne,
ki tum par jAn dene kA irAdA kar liyA hamne.
ki tum par jAn dene kA irAdA kar liyA hamne.
kahA.N hai pyAr kI sUlI?

बड़ा ही ख़ूबसूरत दिल से वादा कर लिया हमने,
कि तुम पर जान देने का इरादा कर लिया हमने.
कि तुम पर जान देने का इरादा कर लिया हमने.
कहाँ है प्यार की सूली?

Where is love’s crucifixion?
I’ll bear that cross, see what it's like!
Love, love, love – what is this thing?

kahA.N hai pyAr kI sUlI?
yah sUlI cha.Dh ke dekheMge!
mohabbat chIX hai kyA?

कहाँ है प्यार की सूली?
यह सूली चढ़ के देखेंगे!
मोहब्बत चीज़ है क्या?

At your door this heart of mine stands as love's petitioner,
With those intoxicating eyes behold empty stands the heart's carafe.
With those intoxicating eyes behold empty stands the heart's carafe.
Can the carafe run over?

tumhAre dar pe dil apnA mohabbat kA savAlI hai,
nashIlI A.NkhoM se dekho surAhI dil kI KAlI hai.
nashIlI A.NkhoM se dekho surAhI dil kI KAlI hai.
Chalak jAtI hai kaise?

तुम्हारे दर पे दिल अपना मोहब्बत का सवाली है,
नशीली आँखों से देखो सुराही दिल की ख़ाली है.
नशीली आँखों से देखो सुराही दिल की ख़ाली है.
छलक जाती है कैसे?

Can the carafe run over?
I’ll fill it up, see what it's like!
Love, love, love – what is this thing?

Chalak jAtI hai kaise?
surAhI bhar ke dekheMge!
mohabbat chIX hai kyA?

छलक जाती है कैसे?
सुराही भर के देखेंगे!
मोहब्बत चीज़ है क्या?

Until when, sweetheart, will I have to be tested in this way?
Just smile and let’s hear a bit of your decision, kind sir.
Just smile and let’s hear a bit of your decision, kind sir.
Upon your decision…

liyA jAyegA kab tak jAneman yauM imtihA.N apnA?
sunA do muskurA kar faislA kuCh meharbA.N apnA.
sunA do muskurA kar faislA kuCh meharbA.N apnA.
tumhAre faisale par…

लिया जायेगा कब तक जानेमन यौं इम्तिहाँ अपना?
सुना दो मुस्कुरा कर फ़ैसला कुछ मेहरबाँ अपना.
सुना दो मुस्कुरा कर फ़ैसला कुछ मेहरबाँ अपना.
तुम्हारे फ़ैसले पर…

Upon your decision
I’ll die of joy, see what it’s like!
Love, love, love – what is this thing?
I’ll fall in love, see what it's like!
What is it that is called death?
I’ll die for love, see what it's like!

tumhAre faisale par
KushI se mar ke dekheMge!
mohabbat chIX hai kyA?
mohabbat kar ke dekheMge!
qaXA kahte hai kisko?
kisI par mar ke dekheMge!

तुम्हारे फ़ैसले पर
ख़ुशी से मर के देखेंगे!
मोहब्बत चीज़ है क्या?
मोहब्बत कर के देखेंगे!
क़ज़ा कहते है किसको?
किसी पर मर के देखेंगे!

A Secret Within My Lips

This cryptic song is from Jewel Thief, a caper thriller from 1967. Some of its credits are the same as my previous translation: producer and actor Dev Anand, director and editor Vijay Anand, music director S.D. Burman, and choreographer B. Sohanlal. The song is an intense dance number that precedes the movie’s climax. This is another example of Vijay Anand’s skill at making a song and dance sequence an integral part of the story-telling. Dancer and actor Vyjayanthimala’s grace is matched by cinematographer V. Ratra’s long, tracking shots circling around her. Her movements and expressions convey the mysterious forebodings of the song. She is what Majrooh Sultanpuri’s ominous lyrics describe as a “fire-like body floating around.” S.D. Burman was known to have traveled across Bengal collecting indigenous folk music, the influence of which is evident in this composition.

This translation, like the previous one, retains the meter of the original. It is also a Hinglish translation, leaving some common words untranslated (meanings visible upon hovering and in footnotes).

ITRANS is the scheme I used for the transliteration (romanization), with the help of Aksharamukha, an online transliterator.

A video clip of the song from the movie follows the translation.

I’ve collected links to some writings about the movie.

A Secret Within My Lips

hoThoM meM aisI bAt

होठों में ऐसी बात

A secret pressed within my lips I left and came away,
The secret which if revealed... a curse, oh what a curse!
Yeah, oh yeah,
The secret in which there is love but
There’s also poison, oh!

hoThoM meM aisI bAt maiM dabAke chalI AI
khul jAe vahI bAt to… duhAI hai duhAI!
hA.N re hA.N,
bAt jis meM pyAr to hai,
Xahar bhI hai, hAy!

होठों में ऐसी बात मैं दबाके चली आई,
खुल जाए वही बात तो… दुहाई है दुहाई!
हाँ रे हाँ,
बात जिस में प्यार तो है,
ज़हर भी है, हाय!

The night, black like a cobra, has come into its youth,
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
My, oh my, who will be bitten by this hour!
If I turn and look back
pAyal* on my feet suffer,
If I walk ahead all of the courtyard begins to throb!
Within my lips, oh…

rAt kAlI nAgin sI huI hai javA.N,
hA.N re hA.N, hA.N, hA.N, hA.N!
hAy daiyA kisko DasegA yah samA!
jo dekhUM pIChe mu.D ke
to pag meM pAyal ta.Dpe,
Age chalUM to dha.DaktI hai sArI aMganAI
hoThoM meM hAy…

रात काली नागिन सी हुई है जवाँ,
हाँ रे हाँ, हाँ, हाँ, हाँ!
हाय दैया किसको डसेगा यह समा!
जो देखूं पीछे मुड़ के
तो पग में पायल तड़पे,
आगे चलूं तो धड़कती है सारी अंगनाई।
होठों में हाय…

A secret pressed within my lips I left and came away,
The secret which if revealed… a curse, oh what a curse!

hoThoM meM aisI bAt maiM dabAke chalI AI
khul jAe vahI bAt to… duhAI hai duhAI!

होठों में ऐसी बात मैं दबाके चली आई,
खुल जाए वही बात तो… दुहाई है दुहाई!

The way in which my fire like body floats around,
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
My long hair goes one way, my ghU.NghaT** goes another,
And now my earring breaks off!
Oh, and my biMdI*** leaves me!
I’ve become the eschaton now as I pandiculate.
Within my lips, oh…

aise merA jvAlA sA tan laharAe,
hA.N re hA.N, hA.N, hA.N, hA.N!
laT kahIM jAe ghuMghaT kahIM jAe,
are ab jhumkA TUTe!
ki merI biMdiyA ChUTe!
ab to banke qayAmat letI hU.N aMga.DAI
hoThoM meM hAy…

ऐसे मेरा ज्वाला सा तन लहराए,
हाँ रे हाँ, हाँ, हाँ, हाँ!
लट कहीं जाए घूँघट कहीं जाए,
अरे अब झुमका टूटे!
कि मेरी बिंदिया छूटे!
अब तो बनके क़यामत लेती हूँ अंगड़ाई।
होठों में हाय…

A secret pressed within my lips I left and came away,
The secret which if revealed… a curse, oh what a curse!
Yeah, oh yeah,
The secret in which there is love but
There’s also poison, oh!

hoThoM meM aisI bAt maiM dabAke chalI AI
khul jAe vahI bAt to… duhAI hai duhAI!
hA.N re hA.N,
bAt jis meM pyAr to hai,
Xahar bhI hai, hAy!

होठों में ऐसी बात मैं दबाके चली आई,
खुल जाए वही बात तो… दुहाई है दुहाई!
हाँ रे हाँ,
बात जिस में प्यार तो है,
ज़हर भी है, हाय!

* pAyal: Anklet
** ghU.NghaT: Veil or headscarf worn by a woman to cover her head and face
*** biMdI: Red dot worn by a woman on the center of her forehead

Today Again It's the Desire to Live!

This is an English translation of a hit song from the acclaimed, classic Hindi (Hindustani, to be accurate) movie, Guide (1965), which is based on R. K. Narayan’s novel, The Guide. It is about the corruption and Vedic redemption of the titular tourist guide, Raju (Dev Anand, also the producer). It is also the story of Rosie (Waheeda Rehman), who leaves an unhappy marriage and, with Raju’s encouragement and help, follows her heart to do what she loves, dance. This song is Rosie’s declaration of her newfound will. Shailendra’s lyrics express a mix of innocent optimism, apprehension and resolve. S. D. Burman’s composition is celebratory and cheerfully assertive. It is obvious from this song why director Vijay Anand, the producer/actor’s younger brother, is considered a "master of song picturization" – he also shares editing credit with Babu Sheikh. With cinematographer Fali Mistry's shots of Waheeda Rehman dancing at Chittor Fort, Vijay Anand creates a spectacular depiction of Rosie’s aspiration and daring. Watch for the low-angle tracking shot showing Rosie dancing fearlessly on one of the walls of the old fort – a video clip of the song from the movie follows the translation.

In this translation I have tried to maintain the meter of the original song. For this reason, the translation is not exact in some places, but it maintains the meaning of the original. I chose to keep a couple of Hindi words because they aren’t gracefully translatable and sound better than the translation. Technically, therefore, this is a Hinglish translation.

For the transliteration (romanization) I used the ITRANS scheme for the Devanagari script – Aksharamukha is the most reliable online transliterator I found. The translation of every verse/chorus below is followed by its transliterated and Devanagari versions.

If you'd like to see translations of more classic Bollywood songs, check out Mr. & Mrs. 55. They've also translated this very song.

Much has been written about this movie as well as the book on which it is based. I've collected links to some of it.

Today Again It's the Desire to Live!

Aj phir jIne kI tamannA hai!

आज फिर जीने की तमन्ना है!

Out of the thorns I pulled my A.Nchal*,
Broke all my bonds and tied on pAyal** –
Nobody hold back the flight of my heart…
There goes my heart!

kA.NToM se khIMch ke yah A.Nchal,
to.D ke baMdhan bA.NdhI pAyal –
koI na roko dil kI u.DAn ko…
dil vah chalA‌!

काँटों से खींच के यह आँचल,
तोड़ केे बंधन बाँधी पायल –
कोई न रोको दिल की उड़ान को…
दिल वह चला‍‌!

Today again it's the desire to live!
Today again it's the intention to die!

Aj phir jIne kI tamannA hai!
Aj phir marne kA irAdA hai!

आज फिर जीने की तमन्ना है!
आज फिर मरने का इरादा है!

I’m not under my own control,
My heart’s somewhere and I’m elsewhere –
What was it that my life found I wonder,
It smiled and said…

apne hI bas meM nahIM maiM,
dil hai kahIM to hU.N kahIM maiM –
jAne kyA pA ke merI XiMdgI ne
ha.Ns kar kahA…

अपने ही बस में नहीं मैं,
दिल है कहीं तो हूँ कहीं मैं –
जाने क्या पा के मेरी ज़िंदगी ने
हँस कर कहा…

Today again it's the desire to live!
Today again it's the intention to die!

Aj phir jIne kI tamannA hai!
Aj phir marne kA irAdA hai!

आज फिर जीने की तमन्ना है!
आज फिर मरने का इरादा है!

I am dust blowing, I am a storm!
Can someone tell me where I am?
I fear that I’ll get lost on the journey,
It’s a new road…

maiM hU.N GubAr yA tUfA.N hU.N!
koI batAe maiM kahA.N hU.N –
Dar hai safar meM kahIM kho na jAU.N maiM,
rastA nayA…

मैं हूँ ग़ुबार या तूफ़ाँ हूँ!
कोई बताए मैं कहाँ हूँ –
डर है सफ़र में कहीं खो न जाऊँ मैं,
रस्ता नया…

Today again it's the desire to live!
Today again it's the intention to die!

Aj phir jIne kI tamannA hai!
Aj phir marne kA irAdA hai!

आज फिर जीने की तमन्ना है!
आज फिर मरने का इरादा है!

Came out of the dark of yesterday
And saw as I was rubbing my eyes
Flowers abound, life is primavera,
I’ve decided…

kal ke aMgheroM se nikal ke
dekhA hai A.NkheM malte malte
phUl hI phUl, XiMdgI bahAr hai,
tay kar liyA…

कल के अंघेरों से निकल के
देखा है आँखें मलते मलते
फूल ही फूल, ज़िंदगी बहार है,
तय कर लिया…

Today again it's the desire to live!
Today again it's the intention to die!

Aj phir jIne kI tamannA hai!
Aj phir marne kA irAdA hai!

आज फिर जीने की तमन्ना है!
आज फिर मरने का इरादा है!

* A.Nchal: The loose end of a saree or a dupaTTA (a long, scarf like garment) that is wrapped around the front of a woman's torso.
** pAyal: Anklet; here it means ghu.NghrU, a musical anklet with small bells worn by dancers.

Cum

Slow
stabs of twilight
broken at light's end
carve out an ache.

Crowds of time
converge
in dutiful longing
at mind's precipice.

Love
dull as the day
seeks night's mirage
of touch not felt.

Moments crumble
like words
peeling from paint
on formless walls.

qqotd: pica, doula, maverick, dreck

...plus: cineast, portend, additament

Yesterday we saw a cineast's brain eating pasta made from film stock; the pica on display today is of a doula who compulsively eats any undiscarded dreck she can find in the home of the baby she has just helped deliver, usually to the relief of the parents who tend to dread the rare instance when she doesn't have this compulsion because that portends that the baby will grow up to be a stubborn and powerful maverick who will seek to alter the town's consensual architectural decisions by demanding additaments designed to represent the cognitive dissonance in the townfolks' cherished norms and morés.

Cross-posted: QuadrivialQuandary.com

qqotd: pica, portend, cineast, additament

"For a cineast," he famously said, "films, even some bad ones, are cerebral and spiritual sustenance," which is what inspired the starving brain's ravenous devouring of the film stock pasta, an odd pica if seen literally but it doesn't imply the brain's descent into madness any more than the seemingly incongruous additament of a large HDTV to the optic nerve portends a diminution of intellectual heft.

Cross-posted: QuadrivialQuandary.com

I Know

My heart is a mess, this much I know
No words to be found as such, I know

There is but shame to survive the pain
A pinch of a nerve, a touch I know

Don't kill the man for beauty's sake, love
Your eyes will long for that, much, I know

Give life its death and live tonight
Dreams are no match for how much I know

Ill-gotten are all your woes, that's true
When fate arrives that's your crutch, I know

A name, not a feeble sigh, Aslam,
Is what's yours but not to touch, I know


(This is in the form of a ghazal.)

Grieving

Time should be more in tune
Casbahs are only rocked so often;
The dirge should melt into the rhythm
As words leave their melodies behind

Dances of thought in silence, crying
To the beating of a dull heart...
That's what lasts into the mourning
Where all awaits tomorrow's demise

Never in sight or touch or smell
But the rain falls just as well —
It's not a young night that goes by
Sultry streets of monsoons unseen

There is no love in the wind, just
A light breeze of midnight's charm —
That's how morning, lone, awakens to
Day's jagged, kaleidoscopic glares

Don't give that old lust a name or face
It's not as empty as its sin
But averse to being who you've become
In the lap of night, this far from time

When the moment grabs you

...don't you dare play hard to get! It's _the_ moment, AKA Godot, and you only know of it because you wait for it. If some odd, serendipitous confluence has caused it to intersect your timeline then, the laws of Physics be damned, just make room for it in your space-time and hang on to it for dear life.

Yes, it's here and now... and no, you vain fool, it wasn't looking for you. You were the one waiting, remember? Because that's all that you could scare up: draining, debilitating, unmoving patience. A sham of a virtue, raised to the desiccated level where possibilities become sterile.

Happenstance being your only hope, submit to this one as if death had been rendered extinct by rampant constancy. It is your only chance to live, to thrive, to be consumed to your very core, to ravenously craft your exquisite ruin.

obstreperous

That's the word that came to mind as I began trying out this self-consciously named lifestream app. Yes, you-who-know-me, that's not me, but that is what my subconscious unconsciously wants me to be.