Boloo.ngaa to maa.n maregii, nahee.n boloo.ngaa to baap kuttaa khaaegaa

Film : Sadhu aur Shaitan

Year of release : 1968

Spoken by : Bajrangi (Mehmood)

Spoken to : Inspector (Anwar Hussain)

Dialogue writer : Rajinder Krishan

This film is among the countless Nagesh remakes that Mahmood starred in. If you ever get the chance, see the original with subtitles. Nagesh was at least 23 times better than Mahmood. Great actor. This particular film was a remake of the 1966 Tamil hit Saadhu MiranDaal. They repeated the panchratna naaTak manDali of Padosan fame in this film too. Both came out around the same time, but PaDosan (which was also a remake of a Bengali/Tamil film) became more popular.

The police is inquiring from all taxi drivers about having ferried a passenger of a certain description. Bajrangi, who is a taxi driver, has ferried the passenger that the police is looking for. However, that passenger had threatened to slit his throat if he squealed to the police. Now when the police inspector (Anwar Hussain) threatens to beat him black and blue, if he does not reveal the details, he cries out in anguish -

"yeh to achchhee baat huee saab, boloo.ngaa to maa.n maregii; nahee.n boloo.ngaa to baap kuttaa khaaegaa"

"ये तो अच्छी बात हुई साहब, बोलूंगा तो मां मरेगी; नहीं बोलूंगा तो बाप कुत्ता खाएगा"

The inspector shrieks in anger 

"kiskaa baap kuttaa khaayegaa?"

Bajrangi explains with this story. A boy watches his mother prepare dog's meat for his father. At dinner time when the meat is served on the table, the son is at sixes and sevens. Damned if he says it, damned if he doesn't. If he reveals the secret, his father will kill his mother in anger, if he does not his father will end up eating dog meat. That very dilemma is conveyed in this dialogue

"boloongaa to maa.n maregii; nahee.n boloongaa to baap kuttaa khaaegaa"

Interesting to note that dog meat is considered a delicacy in some parts of India (like Nagaland) and many other countries (like China and Korea), but it is prohibited in Islamic and Jewish dietary laws. So generally in India eating dog meat is considered offensive. But to those people who consider it a delicacy, this dialogue will be meaningless. It will also be offensive to vegetarians. 

But the story is still interesting, so I have put this line up. 

aur main koee vaalmiki to naheeN jo Daake chhoDe haiN to ramayan likh dii

Film : Haath ki Safaai

Year of release : 1974

Spoken by : Shankar (Vinod Khanna)

Spoken to :  Kamini (Hema Malini)

Dialogue writer : Salim Javed

It was Vaalmiki Jayanti yesterday. You would have faced a lot of traffic jams if you were in Delhi yesterday. Reminded me of this Salim Javed line that I have been planning to post for a while. Vaalmiki was of course famous for having written the epic Ramayan. But the other famous fact about him was that he was a highwayman who used to rob and kill travellers. He later (after a chance encounter with Narada) reforms and gives up robbery and takes to writing. When I see the kind of advances paid to ordinary writers these days, I can understand the thought behind this career switch. :)

The film is called Haath Ki Safaai and Shankar plays a crook in the film. Kamini is running away from Shankar when she realises that he is a crook and while trying to hide from his men and him, she goes and seeks refuge in his house without realising it. Shankar's wife Roma (Simi Garewal) sees a woman in distress and agrees to give her refuge. But very soon Kamini sees a large framed photo of Shankar in the hall and without realising that she could have walked into the wrongest house possible, she blurts out to Roma that the man in the photo is a goon. Roma refuses to believe and asks her to leave the house. As Kamini leaves the house, she is chased by Shankar and just as Shankar is about to get to Kamini, Roma (who must have been quietly following them) steps in and confronts Shankar. However, the strain of the situation is too much for Roma and she faints. Kamini helps Shankar to tend to Roma, till she has stabilised.

Later when Shankar sees that Kamini is still in the house, he apologises to her. He says,

"kaamini, maine jo tumhaare saath ab tak sulooq kiyaa hai tum... Khair, maafii maangnee to bahut aasaan hai, aur mai.n koii vaalmiiki to nahee.n, jo Daake chhoDe hai.n to raamaayaN likh dee. Romaa ne tumhe.n is ghar me.n panaah dii hai, jab tak tum chaaho, yahaa.n rah saktee ho. "

"कामिनी, मैंने जो तुम्हारे साथ अब तक सुलूक़ किया है, तुम...ख़ैर, माफ़ी मांगनी तो बहुत आसान है, और मैं कोई वाल्मीकि तो नहीं, जो डाके छोडे हैं तो रामायण लिख दी. रोमा ने तुम्हें इस घर में पनाह दी है, जब तक तुम चाहो, यहां रह सकती हो."

Now this situation is not all that great. But I quite like the line. The point being made is that it is not so easy for everyone to walk on the path of reform. Society might not be so kind to you. It might not give you another chance easily. Imagine a typical HR executive interviewing Valmiki.

"Well I see from your CV, that you have been a highwayman. And now you want to be a writer. How do you explain that?"

And the interview would have ended with the inevitable "We will get back to you". :)

If HR guys had been around then, we might not have had any RaamayaN.

aur meri bhee tabeeyat kucchh Theek naheen rahtii

Film : Mere Apne

Year of release : 1971

Spoken by : Biloki Prasad (Asit Sen)

Spoken to : Audience at political meeting

Dialogue writer : Gulzar

It is election time and the two rival candidates are Biloki Prasad and Anokhe Lal (Mehmood). The former is assisted by Shyam (Vinod Khanna) and the latter by Chhainoo (Shatrughan Sinha). Asit Sen, who is normally parodied by most mimicry artistes for his peculiar style of dialogue delivery and his girth, is also a very good actor with excellent comic timing. See this film (or rather this scene), for evidence  of that. So in this political meeting, our great politician starts speaking. And what does he say,

"bhaiyo aur behno desh ke bahut bure din aa gaye hain"

"भाईओ और बहनो, देश के बहुत बुरे दिन आ गए हैं"

"aaj hamaare beech panDit jee naheen hain ...neta ji naheen hain...gandhiji naheen hain..."

"आज हमारे बीच पंडित जी नहीं हैं...नेता जी नहीं हैं...गान्धी जी नहीं हैं..."

Then he takes a pause for effect and delivers the punch line. 

"aur meri bhee tabeeyat kucchh Theek naheen rahtii"

"और मेरी भी तबीयत कुछ ठीक नहीं रहती"

Asit Sen's delivery of this line has made this line walk into this blog. Otherwise I generally avoid joke punchlines. 

This is also a famous technique used in sales - called equation by association. If one goes to buy a TV,  the shopkeeper will say something like...

Sir this is Sony TV. Costs 20k. This is Panasonic. Costs 19.5k. And this is Pappu TV. This costs 16k. 

wanted honaa unwanted hone se hameshaa achchhaa hotaa hai

Film : Kala Dhandha Goray Log

Year of release : 1986

Spoken by : Raja (Sanjay Khan)

Spoken to : Durgadas Jethia (Anupam Kher)

Dialogue writer : Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza

This was  Sanjay Khan's last film as an actor, before he decided to move to television and spas. Of course, I keep mentioning this fact, his real name is Abbas Khan and the screen name he was given was Sanjay (not Sanjay Khan). It was only in these later films that the screen titles started calling him Sanjay Khan. 

Durgadas is a mafia don. He is meeting Raja for the first time. When he meets Raja, he says,

"tumse milne ka baDaa shauq thaa. dekhanaa chaahataa thaa wo aadmii kaisaa hai jiskaa naam police aur customs dono.n kee wanted list me.n sabase oopar hai"

And since this is Sanjay Khan's introduction shot in the film and he also happens to be the producer, he gave himself a great line. 

"wanted honaa, unwanted hone se hameshaa achchhaa hotaa hai durgaadas."

"वॉंटिड होना, अनवॉंटिड होने से हमेशा अच्छा होता है दुर्गादास" 

muhabbat aur maut me.n yahii hotaa hai

Film : Nagin

Year of release : 1976

Spoken by : Nagin in the form of Rajkumari (Mumtaz)

Spoken to : Raj (Feroz Khan)

Dialogue writer : Inder Raj Anand

This was advertised as Mumtaz's last film (even the credit titles say so). And she did disappear after this film before reappearing almost 2 decades later in Aandhiyaan. The ichchhaadhaarii naag and naagin (serpents who can assume any form at will) are blessed with the ability to capture the image of their partner's killer in their eyes and do not rest till they eliminate them. So Reena Roy captures the image of these poor hunks in her mind, and eliminates them one by one. 

Her second last target is Raj. She assumes the form of a girl who could end up being Raj's wife. Although Raj is paranoid by now, having lost so many friends, the naagin still manages to trick him into believing that she is Rajkumari. She plants a poisonous kiss on Raj's lips. As his vision clouds, he tells her,

"tumhaaraa chehraa dhundhlaa dhundhlaa saa..."

She says

"tumhaarii aankho.n ke chiraaG zaraa dheeme paD gaye hai.n"

He has not yet realised, that he has been poisoned. He asks,

"kyo.n?"

She replies,

"muhabbat aur maut me.n yahii hotaa hai"

"मुहब्बत और मौत में यही होता है"

Death and love cloud the vision. Fantastic line.

Bhauchaal kee jab aamad aamad hotee hai, to sab se pehle kutto.n ke kaan khaDe hote hai.n

Film : Raaj Tilak

Year of release : 1984

Spoken by : Samad Khan (Raj Kumar)

Spoken to : Bhavaani Singh (Ajit)

Dialogue writer : Inder Raj Anand

This is a typical Raj Kumar Kohli multi-starrer set in a kingdom and replete with typical intrigue and cloak and dagger stuff. Notable for the fact that his son Armaan Kohli makes an appearance as Saarika's younger brother. Funny I used the word notable.

Samad Khan is a loyal commander of the king, but Bhavaani Singh plots and tries to overthrow the king. When the coup fails, he puts the blame on Samad Khan and has him branded as a traitor. Years later, Samad Khan is in a position to get his own back. When he meets Bhavaani Singh, Bhavaani recognises the voice. He says

"tumhaaree aawaaz. tumhaaree soorat... samad... samad Khaan?"

"तुम्हारी आवाज़, तुम्हारी सूरत...समद...समद ख़ान?"

Samad responds with this line. I used to love this line as a kid. The beauty of this dialogue is the way Raj Kumar delivers it. He warns Bhavaani about his impending doom and brands him as a dog - because he has been able to identify the portents of his doom. Now read the line.

"achchhaa huaa jo toone mujhe pehchaan liyaa bhavaani. Bhauchaal kee jab aamad aamad hotee hai, to sab se pehle kutto.n ke kaan khaDe hote hai.n"

"अच्छा हुआ जो तूने मुझे पहचान लिया भवानी. भौचाल की जब आमद आमद होती है, तो सबसे पहले कुत्तों के कान खडे होते हैं."

भौंचाल or भौचाल is an acceptable alternative for the normally used word for earthquake - भूचाल. But this is the only place where I have heard it used thus.

doosre ko nahee.n uDne doongii

Film : Garm Havaa

Year of release : 1974

Spoken by : Amina (Gita later Gita Kak)

Spoken to : Shamshaad (Jalal Agha)

Dialogue writer : Kaifi Azmi

This was a brilliant film based on Ismat Chughtaii's short story. It is the story of a Muslim family which runs a shoe-making business in Agra circa 1948. Gradually all the relatives of Salim Mirza (Balraj Sahni) leave for Pakistan fearing discrimination in India. There are some very poignant scenes. During a family discussion where everyone is discussing a future in Pakistan; the youngest kid - 5 year old Munna asks a fantastic question

"abbaji pakistan me.n patang uDtee hai?"

For him all the other politico-religious questions were meaningless. Anyway, there were many such moments in this film. If you haven't seen it, do see it. 

Salim Mirza's daughter Amina is engaged to be married to her cousin Kazim. However,  Kazim too migrates to Pakistan. He does come back to take her away, but by then he is 'persona non grata' in India - because he is a Pakistani. He forgets to inform the local police station of his arrival and he is arrested and deported. He does not come back. 

Shamshaad is another local boy who is interested in Amina. But she is not interested in him. However, during one trip to the historical places around Agra, Shamshaad acts as a guide. He tries to put forth his suit repeatedly before Amina. But she spurns him. At a particular historical location, he stops and tells Amina a story of the Mughal Kingdom. The story goes like this -

"jaantee ho ek din, usee jagah par jahaan tum khaDee ho, Mehrunnisaa khaDee thee. 

aur yahaa.n. yahaa.n Saliim khaDaa thaa. uske dono.n haatho.n me.n kabootar the.

itne me.n jahaanpanaah ne Saliim ko yaad kiyaa. to Saliim ne dono.n kabootar uske haath me.n thamaa diye.

aur jab vo lauT ke aayaa...to usne dekhaa ki ek kabootar Gaayab thaa. to usne Mehrunnisa se poochhaa -

doosraa kabootar?

to Mehrunnisaa ne kahaa...vo to uD gayaa!

"जानती हो, एक दिन, उसी जगह पर जहां तुम खडी हो, मेहरुन्निसा खडी थी. और यहां, यहां सलीम खडा था. उसके दोनों हाथों में कबूतर थे. इतने में जहांपनाह ने सलीम को याद किया. तो सलीम ने दोनों कबूतर उसके हाथ में थमा दिये. और जब वो लौट कर आया...तो उसने देखा कि एक कबूतर ग़ायब था. तो उसने मेहरुन्निसा से पूछा - दूसरा कबूतर?

तो मेहरुन्निसा ने कहा...वो तो उड गया!

"Saliim ne poochhaa vo kaise? usne kahaa, aise..."

"सलीम ने पूछा वो कैसे? उसने कहा, ऐसे..."

And Shamshaad starts to make the gesture of releasing an imaginary pigeon. Right at that moment, Amina holds his hands and stops him from releasing the imaginary pigeon, and says,

"doosre ko nahee.n uDne doongee!"

"दूसरे को नहीं उडने दूंगी!" 

Few Hindi films have such parables included in them. 

iske maa baap tang aa chuke the

Film : Disha

Year of release : 1990

Spoken by : Soma Sarpat (Raghuvir Yadav)

Spoken to : Visitor (unknown)

Dialogue writer : Sai Paranjpe 

Karim Asif is considered a legend, though the only film he effectively made was Mughal-e-Aazam. Then why can't Sai Paranjpe be right on top of the list, just for Chashme Baddoor, Sparsh and Katha. Sometimes I don't understand the way our film critics work. Most people who talk about Mughal e Aazam haven't even seen the film (and don't understand half the dialogues), but yet it's a cult classic. Karim Asif is legendary. While it does help to have Dilip Kumar's kid sister as a wife, to be called legendary, but some categorisations are plain unfair. No, I have nothing against K Asif. I am a big fan myself (a look at this blog will tell you that). But Sai Paranjpe deserves more. I hope she gets it. 

The reason I wrote the earlier paragraph was to establish that Sai Paranjpe is underrated. And Disha is an underrated Sai Paranjpe film. 

A visitor comes to Soma's village. He comes to meet Soma. While he is waiting for him, he sees a few kids around. He asks them

"kyaa naam hai tum logo.n ke?"

The first one says 'Sharmila'. The second one says 'Jeetendra'. The third one says 'Amitabh' and the fourth and the youngest one says 'Kaddoo'. Yes you read that right. That's Hindi for pumpkin. A much loved and an equally hated vegetable. 

Surprised at this anti-climactic name, the visitor asks the kid, 

'Kaddoo kyo.n bhai?'

At that point Soma walks in and says by way of clarification, 

'jab tak ye paidaa huaa, iske maa baap tang aa chuke the'

'जब तक ये पैदा हुआ, इसके मां बाप तंग आ चुके थे'

This film is worth seeing just for this line. I haven't laughed more during a scene in my life. If you read between the lines, it is an amazing advertisement for family planning, delivered in an absolutely non-threatening way. If I was the Minister for Health and Social Welfare, I would use this scene as an ad, and use the tagline, 

'stop at Amitabh, before you land up with 'kaddoo''

As the ward boy in Munnabhai MBBS says - mai.n bhii soch rahaa hoo.n health minister ban jaaoo.n. 

Baandra ka bhaav bolo baap landan kaa nahee.n

Film : Jalwaa

Year of release : 1987

Spoken by : Inspector Kapil (in disguise)

Spoken to : Drug dealer

Dialogue writer : Kamalesh Pandey

There is a plethora of malls in and around Delhi now. In fact they are there all over India. Every luxury international brand is freely available in India now. However, most visitors end up not even window shopping at these shops (with the kind of names these shops have). The reason could be that they would have walked in to ask the price of an innocent looking hand bag with a name that sounds like सूई खींचों and would have been told that this 8x6 inch handbag costs 1.3 lac rupees. Their gut reaction would be what this character said 24 years ago. But these shops flourish because there are many in this country who don't mind paying that kind of money. But we'll let all that be. 

Kapil is an inspector who has vowed to rid Goa of its drug culture. Ostensibly, he failed or else we might not have seen the film Dum Maaro Dum this year. This film was inspired from the Eddie Murphy flick The Beverly Hills Cop and saw the arthouse Naseer crossover to commercial cinema after pumping some serious iron. 

Kapil goes to a drug dealer in disguise - as a handicapped old man. The dealer can't resist taking a shot at his age. He tells the dealer

"dekho saahab maskharii nahee.n. bhaav bolo bhaav bolo. "

The dealer says,

"ram kaa bees rupaye kvaarter. shyaam kaa das rupayaa."

Kapil acts surprised. And then comes up with this classic line, which you can use with the mall guys when they quote their rates. 

"brown sugar kaa das rupaya! are bandra ka bhaav bolo baap landan kaa nahee.n"

"ब्राउन शुगर का दस रुपया! अरे बान्द्रा का भाव बोलो बाप लन्दन का नहीं" 

If you are in Delhi, you can use Sadar Bazaar instead of Bandra.

The idea for this post is courtesy a friend who remembered this line, after he had to pay a reasonably heavy bill at a restaurant. I think he wanted to use this line with the waiter, but unfortunately he ended up leaving a tip on top of the billed amount. :)

Vaise bhii chor log chashmaa nahee.n pahantaa

Film : Hera Pheri 

Year of release : 2000

Spoken by : Baburao Ganpatrao Apte (Paresh Rawal)

Spoken to : Raju (Akshay Kumar) 

Dialogue writer : Neeraj Vora

Shyam (Sunil Shetty) and Raju have an interesting misunderstanding whereby both think the other person is a thief, a pick pocket. Shyam realises later that Raju was not a thief, but Raju still believes Shyam to be a thief. After this misunderstanding, Shyam lands up at Baburao's house (where Raju is already a tenant) and takes a room on rent. The moment Raju sees Shyam, he shouts at him and tells Baburao that Shyam is a thief. Shyam says he is not a thief. Baburao anyway does not trust Raju too much as he has defaulted in payment of rent for over 6 months. So he decides to believe Shyam. But once he has handled Raju, he quietly asks Shyam.

ae, ek baat bataa. tu sachmuch chor nahee.n hai naa?

ए, एक बात बता, तू सचमुच चोर नहीं है ना?

nahee.n babu bhaiyya! (says Shyam)

नहीं बाबू भैय्या!

And then comes Baburao's slam dunk line.

haa.n vaise bhii chor log chashmaa nahee.n pahantaa. 

हाँ, वैसे भी चोर लोग चशमा नहीं पहनता. 

And then as evidence of this new found trust, he gives Shyam some money and asks him to get a 'khambaa' (bottle of country liquor) for him. 

There are some home truths like this, that a lot of people believe in. That if you see a person wearing glasses, he has got to be respectable! Read another such interesting theory in this earlier post. 

ek dum fresh approach rahegaa

Film : Chashme Buddoor

Year of release : 1981

Spoken by : Jomo or J Lakhanpal (Ravi Baswani)

Spoken to : Neha Rajan (Deepti Naval)

Dialogue writer : Sai Paranjpe

One of my all time favourite films. The two philandering friends Jomo and Omi have noticed a new girl in their locality and they are going to take turns to try to woo her. Who will try first - this question is decided by a pack of cards. As Omi says - Jiskii mem uskee game, i.e. whosoever draws a queen first gets to try first. Omi gets that chance and messes it up. Now it is Jomo's turn. He goes to Neha's house as an asst. director and says he has seen her in a play held at Daulat Ram College. Neha smiles and says 

"maine aaj tak stage par qadam nahee.n rakhaa"

To Jomo's credit he does not flinch a bit and come back with a great line. He says

"tab to aur bhee achchhe. ek dum fresh approach rahegaa"

"तब तो और भी अच्छे. एक दम फ़्रेश अप्रोच रहेगा" 

So if you are a rank novice at something, you can present that as a virtue by using this line. Well if I was to be interviewed for the post of India's prime ministership, that'd be a good line to use :)

Jis insaan kaa maqsad sirf nuqsaan ho usse kisee kaa faayadaa nahee.n ho saktaa

Film : Maqbool

Year of release : 2003

Spoken by : Jahangir Khan (Pankaj Kapoor)

Spoken to :  Kaka (Piyush Mishra)

Dialogue writer : Vishal Bharadwaj

One of the most interesting relationships in Hindi cinema is the one between Jahangir Khan and Kaka. Jahangir is the mafia don. He gets an offer from a terrorist group for helping in a terrorist attack. The amount at stake is 30 crore rupees. He refuses the deal. Kaka is a bit surprised at his refusal. Jahangir explains it with this great line,

"Jis insaan kaa maqsad sirf nuqsaan ho usse kisee kaa faayadaa nahee.n ho saktaa"

"जिस इंसान का मक़सद सिर्फ़ नुक़्सान हो उससे किसी का फ़ायदा नहीं हो सकता"

aur kisee ko chaahiye promotion

Film : Dabangg

Year of release : 2010

Spoken by : Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan)

Spoken to : His team of policemen

Dialogue writer : Dilip Shukla and Abhinav Singh Kashyap

Chulbul Pandey has led his team in a raid to catch the daring daylight robbers of the Bank of Uttar Pradesh. When I say led, I mean he does it single handedly. His team arrives just in time to share the spoils. This is the interesting team meeting that happens post the capture of the robbers. The character of Constable Chaubey is played by Ram Sujan in the film. 

Chaubey ji : namaste saahab. ham sab bandobast pe haazir hai.n. kahaa.n hai.n haraamzaade.

Chulbul : haraamzaade se yaad aayaa Chaubey ji, aapake aadaraNeeya pitaashree aajkal kaise hai.n

jii Theek hai.n sir

good. Dakait andar paDe hai.n. ghaayal hai.n bechaaro.n ko chhoD do.

Chaubey ji : chhoD de.n?! lekin hamko phir promotion kaise milegaa sir?

Chulbul : ham bataate hai.n naa Chaubey ji. report likhiye, ke police ne Dakaito.n ko gher liyaa thaa, golii baarii huee. cross firing ke andar hamaare ek naujawaan bahaadur sipaahii ko golii lag gayee. 

Chaubey ji : golii lag gayii? lekin hamaare sab sipaahii surakshit hai.n sir.

Bang. Chaubey is shot in the right arm by Chulbul. 

Chulbul : kisko golii lagii chaubeyji

Chaubey ji : hamko hamko sir.

Chulbul : aur kisii ko chaahiye promotion.

और किसी को चाहिये प्रोमोशन.

Another constable : nahee.n sir. nahee.n sir. aglee baar. aglee baar. 

I was very tempted to put up this line as the main one. ' aglee baar. aglee baar'. But then I don't know who that character is. So I am taking the easy way out and crediting it to the more famous actor. 

It is not the age, it is the mileage

Film : Johnny Gaddar

Year of release : 2007

Spoken by : Seshaadri (Dharmendra)

Spoken to : Vikram (Neil Nitin Mukesh)

Dialogue writer : Sriram Raghavan

Sriram Raghavan in my view is the best director among the current lot. Of course this line is a take on the Indiana Jones lines from the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, where he says "It's not the years honey, it's the mileage". Dharmendra plays a Tam Brahm and thankfully not in the stereotypical Mehmood PaDosan way. 

Vikram (or Johnny) asks him if he is not afraid of keeping so much cash at home (one crore rupees). In response Seshu twists Vikram's arm behind his back and pins him down. While doing this he says, 

"koee chor uchakkaa aa jaaye to kyaa karoo.n"

By now, Vikram is pleading with a tame 'sorry sir'. Seshu releases him and says

"It is not the age, it is the mileage"

Well just another way of saying 'BuDDhaah hogaa teraa baap".

ek to in logo.n ne 'Devdas' ka remake banaa banaa ke bachcho.n ke dimaaG kaa satyaanaash kar diyaa hai

Film : Break Ke Baad

Year of release : 2010

Spoken by : Pammi Gulati (Lillette Dubey)

Spoken to : Abhay Gulati (Imran Khan)

Dialogue writer : Renuka Kunzru

Please don't see this film just because this dialogue is being featured. I try to make the most of adverse situations. But this film was an extremely adverse situation. Anyway, this very complex film has the hero and heroine being great buddies, then breaking up, then realising that they were actually lovers. Brilliant. I should never have started this post. Let me get this over soon.

A heartbroken Abhay is speaking to his aunt Pammi. And he tells her that he cannot love ever again. Pammi is a more pragmatic woman, who urges him to move on with life. She is quite upset to hear this from Abhay and responds with this line.

"ek to in logo.n ne 'Devdas' ka remake banaa banaa ke bachcho.n ke dimaaG kaa satyaanaash kar diyaa hai"

"एक तो इन लोगों ने देवदास का रीमेक बना बना के बच्चों के दिमाग़ का सत्यानाश कर दिया है.

Yeah I too have wondered why has this story been remade so many times. You can see on the right hand side, even on this blog, for the last many months, the most popular dialogue has been the one from Devdas. 

Bbuddah hoga terra baap - Amitabh Bachchan's dialogue error

The just released Amitabh Bachchan film pays a tribute to a lot of his famous dialogues. But I was surprised and hurt that a perfectionist like Amitabh flicked a Bob Christo dialogue as his own. Incidentally Bob Christo had passed away earlier this year on 20th March. 

You can read this dialogue on one of my earlier posts here. 

You can watch the entire scene here, starting at time code 07:33. Ram Sethi protests Bob Christo's forcible entry into the line. Bob Christo mouths this line. Amitabh just copies the line at 08: 34

हम भी वो हैं जो कभी किसी के पीछे नही खड़े होते. जहा खड़े हो जाते है लाइन वहीं से शुरु हो जाती है.

Time we started giving credit to the guy who actually said it and the guy who wrote it, i.e. Bob Christo and Inder Raj Anand, respectively. 

yeh hindustaan me.n kyaa kar rahaa hai

Film : Hero Hiralal

Year of release : 1988

Spoken by : Bhagwan (Satish Shah)

Spoken to : Aziz (Saeed Jaffrey) and Rangila (Mohan Gokhale)

Dialogue writer : Hriday Lani

Hero's friends Aziz, Rangila and Bhagwan go to the bungalow where Sitara Devi (Deepa Sahi) has kept hero (Naseer) for some silly death defying stunt (rather a lethal stunt). As they make their way in, Dukhilal the watchman (Deepak Kejriwal) is in the process of frog marching a hapless reporter to the exit gate. 

Aziz carefully approaches Dukhilal, who has guessed the reason for their visit. He refuses to allow them to meet Hero. Rangila aggressively says that Hero is their friend and they have a right to meet him. Dukhilal is not moved. Now that request and aggression and name dropping hasn't worked, Bhagwan suggests that it's time for good old bribery. He moves the other two aside, and walks up to Dukhilal. He says,

"bhaiyyaa jee baat aisee hai ki, aajkal zamaanaa kitnaa Kharaab hai eh, aur phir mehengaai bhee kitnee baDh gaee hai. phir uspe chaai paanee kaa kharchaa nahee mile to gussaa to aave hai naa..."

he slips in some money into Dukhilal's hands and says

'to ye lo aur ThanDe ho jaao, samjhe' and then he turns to his two friends and triumphantly winks at them. Exactly at that moment, Dukhilal lets loose what is called 'ulTe haath kaa' and says

'yeh ghoos hee is desh kee satyaanaashee jaD hai, dukhilaal ko ghoos dete ho bhaee, hai.n? ye ghoos leke yahaa.n se nikal jaao varnaa ek hee ghoose me.n ye ghoos me.n hee ghus jaayegee..

bhagwan comes up with a classic

waah mere maalik, yeh hindustaan me.n kyaa kar rahaa hai. 

वाह मेरे मालिक, ये हिन्दुस्तान में क्या कर रहा है

Well 23 years later, not much has changed, I still hear this line when someone talks of probity and honesty. 

chowkidaar kabhee aurat dekhe hai.n

Film : Hip Hip Hurray

Year of release : 1984

Spoken by : Sandeep Chaudhary (Raj Kiran)

Spoken to : Anuradha Roy (Deepti Naval) 

Dialogue writer : Gulzar

There were recent articles about Raj Kiran surfacing in some mental asylum somewhere and that reminded me of this film and then of this line. This film ranks among my all time favourite youth/sports films. Sandeep and Anuradha are both teachers in a school in Ranchi. Sandeep is the sports teacher and Anuradha the history teacher. They bond with each other. Once when they are out for a cup of coffee, Sandeep pays the bill. Anuradha protests saying that women are equal to men in all aspects and they can do everything that men can. Sandeep accepts the fact that women are equally capable, but also comes up with a quip which made me think three decades ago. It still makes me think. He says

'chowkidaar kabhee aurat dekhe hai.n'

'चौकीदार कभी औरत देखे हैं'

Interestingly I have seen women police personnel, army personnel, pilots, doctors even auto drivers and bus conductors. But never a chowkidaar. If you have do let me know. 

baDhee huee tulsii dikhtee hai. bahen nahee.n dikhtii

Film : City of Gold - Mumbai 1982 : Ek Ankahee Kahaani

Year of release : 2010

Spoken by : Manju Dhuri (Veena Jamkar)

Spoken to : Mohan Dhuri (Vineet Kumar)

Dialogue writer : Abhijit Deshpande

A story of the mill workers who suffered while Mumbai prospered. One of the suffering families has the twenty-something girl Manju giving into the wiles of the neighbourhood baniya's son. Everyday in the morning she goes out into the balcony, and  on the pretext of watering the tulsi (basil) plant, also feeds her romance with the baniya's son in the store across the street. In return she gets a waiver on the family's food bill and a gold chain too. When her mother Lakshmi (Seema Biswas) notices this chain, she asks Manju about its provenance. Manju says that it is artificial jewellery. Her cricket crazy elder brother Mohan comments (after Lakshmi has left)

'naqlii nahee.n lagtee ye chain'

Manju says

'aslee laane ke liye paise kahaa.n se laaoo.n'

Mohan quips (with a none-too veiled reference to her daily morning dalliance)

'baahar kee tulsii apne aap nahee.n baDh rahee hai'

Hindi films do not give too many great lines to women characters. This will rank among them even after ten years. Make that 20 (India is not going to change in a hurry)

Manju says

"baDhee huee tulsee dikhtee hai. bahen nahee.n dikhtee. besharam'

"बढी हुई तुलसी दिखती है. बहन नहीं दिखती. बेशरम." 

in an obvious reference to the elder brother having failed in his duty of marrying off his sister and hence having lost the right to make such wisecracks.

lekin woh qissaa phir kabhii

Film : Manoranjan

Year of release : 1974

Spoken by : Dhoop Chhaon (Shammi Kapoor)

Spoken to : Train Passenger (MacMohan)

Dialogue writer : Abrar Alvi

Shammi Kapoor's directorial debut was a bold Indian version of Billy Wilder's 1963 classic Irma la Douce. Even this line is Abrar Alvi's Indianisation of Moustache's (Lou Jacobi) line - "But that's another story"

Dhoop Chhaon is a bartender who is travelling by train. He invites his co passengers Macmohan and a Parsi gentleman (on honemoon) to join him for a drink. And then starts talking about a street in Bombay called Manoranjan Street. After he has them hooked with the build up about the place, he very cleverly withdraws by saying

"lekin woh qissaa phir kabhee"

"लेकिन वो क़िस्सा फिर कभी"

Macmohan protests out loud with

"phir kabhii kyon saahab abhi sunaaiye, kyaa baat hai"

The Parsi gentleman also joins in and demands that the story be told. That's how the film starts. 

This line is repeated often in the film. When Ratan (Sanjeev Kumar) gets the idea of becoming his own double to get Nisha (Zeenat Aman) rid of her profession, Dhoop Chhaon says he too had done this earlier, when he had taken the agency of Bhimsaini oil and had picked up his own stock from the market in order to create demand. Just as he is about to launch into the full version, Ratan interrupts

'woh qissaa phir kabhee"
"वो क़िस्सा फिर कभी"

In another instance, Thingoo (Paintal) comes and asks Dhoop Chhaon why he is shooting darts so late. Dhoop Chhaon says that because it is Independence Day. A surprised Tingoo says it is 4th September not 15th August. Dhoopu says that was the day his dad died. And quickly adds

'lekin woh qissaa phir kabhee'

In another instance he tells Ratans he had once robbed a bank in Patna, a bank which belonged to his dad. And quickly adds

'lekin woh qissaa phir kabhee'

In another instance when Nisha protests that Dhoopu can't get her married to Nawab because he is not a real priest, he says that he has conducted many marriages ranging from king's marriages to their dog's marriages. He quickly adds

'lekin woh qissaa phir kabhee'

National dress kaa mazaaq nahee.n uDaaoge to broad-minded kaise kahe jaaoge

Film : Golmaal
Year of release : 1979
Spoken by : Bhawani Shankar (Utpal Dutt)
Spoken to : RC - Guest at party (Unknown)
Dialogue writer : Dr. Rahi Maasoom Raza

This is the scene where Bhawani Shankar sees Ramprasad's fake mother at a party in stark contrast to her simple white sari avatar that he had seen. This makes him smell a rat and leads to many interesting situations. He is sitting sipping his drink with a couple of his friends and lamenting (as usual) the state of affairs. He is wearing a bandgalaa suit while his friends are wearing the typical English suits. Here is that exchange.

"aaj kal party hotii kahaa.n hai. party ke naam par fashion parade hotii hai..  fancy dress show hotaa hai."

"tum kisme.n aaye ho, fashion parade me.n, yaa fancy dress show me.n ?"

"haa.n haa.n national dress kaa mazaaq nahee.n uDaaoge to broad-minded kaise kahe jaaoge. "
"हाँ हाँ, नॅशनल ड्रेस का मज़ाक़ नहीं उडाओगे तो ब्रॉड माइंडिड कैसे कहे जाओगे."

RC jhenp jaao bhai, bhawaani ne jawaab to munh toD diyaa hai. 

bandook bhii dikhaataa hai aur peechhe bhii haTtaa hai

Film : Agnipath

Year of release : 1990

Spoken by : Vijay Deenanath Chauhan (Amitabh Bachchan)

Spoken to : Kaancha Cheena (Danny Denzongpa)

Dialogue writer : Kader Khan

One of my pet peeves about this film is that everyone calls it Agneepath. While the Johars might have numerological reasons to do so, the people who speak the language have no such reasons. It is, and shall remain for all times to come - AGNIPATH. Now that I have ranted, we get back to this line.

This is a film that got Mr Bachchan his first National Award, though it seemed like the kind of film which justified taking back all rewards given until then. I liked Danny much more than Amitabh and the lesser said about Krishnan Iyer yum yay the better. Roles where accents are required should generally be given to people who either have a neutral accent or the required accent. Mithun has not been able to speak Hindi properly all his life, and he dares to attempt a Tamil accent. Oh the miseries heaped upon us by M/s Johar and Anand. Since both of them are dead, I shall say nothing further.

But I have met a lot of people who adore this film. This film has been part of growing up for many of my friends (like Shiva for me). And I cannot ignore such overwhelming feedback.

Hence I have seen this movie three more times to see what they see in it. I have now put it down to their oculists. But I cannot deny that there are some interesting and stylised lines in this film.

Towards the end, Vijay lures Kaanchaa to his old village and once he has set his trap, he reveals to Kaancha that he is actually the son of Master Deenanath (the man who was brutally lynched to death by Kaancha's henchmen), A cornered Kaancha takes out his revolver and simultaneously, almost instinctively, backs up a few steps. He says

"tumko bhii pataa nahee.n chalegaa, ki kitnee jaldee tum maasTar dinaanaath ke raaste pe chal paDe ho. "

"ei...kaanchaa...saalaa bandook bhii dikhaataa hai aur peechhe bhii haTtaa hai. hai.n. peechhe nahee.n haTne kaa kaanchaa. "

"एई...कांचा...साला बन्दूक भी दिखाता है और पीछे भी हटता है. हैं. पीछे नहीं हटने का कांचा."

Having observed a lot of street fights, I do know one thing. Having a weapon does not always give you the confidence to attack. The confidence to attack or the killer instinct comes naturally. There is a great Damini dialogue about that. I will feature that later. 

ek zamaane me.n ye kaam naaii kiyaa karte the

Film : Anand

Year of release : 1971

Spoken by : Anand (Rajesh Khanna)

Spoken to : Renu's mother (Durga Khote)

Dialogue writer : Gulzar

Anand Sehgal is a friend who comes into Dr Bhaskar's life and tries to turn his staid life around. He finds out from Raghu Kaka (the family retainer) that there was a girl Renu, who was interested in his Babumoshaai (Dr Bhaskar). But since Bhaskar was too reticent, they had never progressed. He decides to take matters into his own hands and first extracts a confession from Bhaskar about the girl he likes. Then he engineers their meeting and declaration of love for each other. After ensuring that the fire has been suitably stoked from both sides, he directly reaches Renu's house. He meets Renu's mother and without beating about the bush, comes out with his proposal for marriage.

"maa.n jee mujhe aapse bahut zaroori kaam hai."

"kyaa kaam hai?"

"ek zamaane me.n ye kaam naaee kiyaa karte the maa.n jee. aajkal bhaaii karte hai.n

एक ज़माने में ये काम नाई किया करते थे माँ जी, आजकल भाई करते हैं."

"mai.n samjhee nahee.n "

"mai.n renu jee ke liye rishtaa lekar aayaa hoo.n, haa.n."

"mai.n unhe.n apnee bhaabhii banaanaa chaahtaa hoo.n "

Jo pachchees baras me.n nahee.n huaa woh ab hogaa

Film : Deewar

Year of release : 1975

Spoken by : Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan)

Spoken to : Rahim Chacha (Yunus Parvez)

Dialogue writer : Salim-Javed

The coolies of the dockyard are sitting and sipping tea in the canteen. Rahim is very concerned about Vijay's act of defiance in refusing to pay protection money (hafta). He says

yahaa.n Gareeb ko sau baate.n soch ke chalnaa paDtaa hai. aur phir ye log to mawaalii Thahare, inke munh kaun lage

यहाँ ग़रीब को सौ बातें सोच के चलना पडता है, और फिर ये लोग तो मवाली ठहरे, इनके मुंह कौन लगे. 

Another coolie eggs him on with this line,

Theek kehte ho raheem chacha bilkul Theek kehte ho

ठीक केहते हो रहीम चाचा बिलकुल ठीक कहते हो.

Suitably encouraged, Raheem continues his litany.

pachchees baras ho gaye hame.n yahaa.n kaam karte. hamane nahee.n dekhaa koee kulee unhe.n haftaa dene se inkaar kar de

पच्चीस बरस हो गये हमें यहाँ काम करते. हमने नहीं देखा कोई कुली उन्हें हफ़्ता देने से इनकार कर दे.

And the laconic Vijay pauses for a while and then says sententiously,

raheem chaacha jo pachchees baras me.n nahee.n huaa woh ab hogaa. agale hafte ek aur kuli in mawaaliyo.n ko paisaa dene se inkaar karne vaalaa hai. 

रहीम चाचा, जो पच्चीस बरस में नहीं हुआ वो अब होगा. अगले हफ़्ते एक और कुली इन मवालियों को पैसा देने से इनकार करने वाला है.

This is the line which later gives rise to  the "Peter ab ye taalaa mai.n terii jeb se chaabee nikaal ke..." line. But that line will come in some other post.

So when India wins the cricket World Cup after 28 years, the Left front loses Bengal after 34 years, and there is history being made all around. This is a great line to use. 

Remember the Emirates line - when was the last time you did something for the first time. So whenever you do that, use this line.

moorakh mukhiyaa bhool kare aur bhugte saaraa gaao.n

Film : Mausam

Year of release : 1975

Spoken by : Harihar Thapa (Om Shivpuri)

Spoken to : Dr Amarnath Gill (Sanjeev Kumar)

Dialogue writer : Gulzar

Well I thought I must get this one in before Shahid Kapoor's Mausam releases :)

Though I am not partial to the 70s, I do feel that the quality of writers in that phase, will never be replicated. Rajinder Singh Bedi, Rahi Masoom Raza, Sachin Bhowmick, Salim Javed, Gulzar - all contemporaries! That is why neither the 50s nor the 60s nor the 80s and later appear as much as the 70s do on this blog. But on second thoughts probably I am biased :)

Mausam was a film based on AJ Cronin's 1961 story The Judas Tree. Kamleshwar is credited with the story, but then he did make substantial changes. Indian audiences would not have accepted Kajri getting married to Dr Gill. 

Amarnath is a medical student, who has come to Darjeeling to study. During one of his excursions, he slips over some stairs and falls. He manages to drag himselves to the nearest 'vaid' - Harihar Thapa. When Harihar hears how he slipped over the stairs, he comes up with this quip. The line is a reference to Amarnath's eyes (the mukhiya) whose fault leads to the entire body (saaraa gaao.n) suffering. 

"moorakh mukhiyaa bhool kare aur bhugte saaraa gaao.n"

"मूरख मुखिया भूल करे और भुगते सारा गांव" 

I am a dropout by choice sir.

Film : A Wednesday

Year of release : 2008

Spoken by : Anuj Sharma (Parth)

Spoken to : Prakash RaThoD (Anupam Kher)

Dialogue writer : Neeraj Pandey

This film will become of one of the enduring classics of Hindi cinema. Neeraj Pandey is one director whose second films is being awaited by more people than he himself is aware of. 

This line also shows how characters are changing in cinema. Prakash comes in to the situation room, where he finds a young boy standing casually. The boy is the hacker who assists the police on cyber crime cases. He is dressed in jeans, t-shirt and a baseball cap. Now savour this interaction;

Prakash comes in and asks his junior

"yeh bachchaa kaun hai"

"sir iskaa naam Anuj hai. hacker hai sir, cyber crime cases crack karne me.n aksar hamaaree madad kartaa hai."

"itnaa qualified hai ye?"

"sir vaise to college dropout hai lekin....Anuj"

"ye, equipment aur ye setup samajh me.n aa rahaa hai tumhaaree?"

"no sir. ye saare equipments outdated hai.n.aap log abhii bhii n series ke 3423 models use kar rahe hai.n, jab ki s series ko launch huye teen maheene se zyaadaa ho chukaa hai, I need some time. thoDaa vaqt to lagegaa."

"ye hogaa tumse"

At this point, Anuj's phone rings. He pauses to pick it up.

"hey babes! yeah. running late honey. will catch you in half an hour. ok. love you. see you."

And then he sighs and says "women" like some seasoned 40 year old would have. Now back to the conversation.

"sorry aap kuchh keh rahe the"

"ye hogaa tumse?"

"definitely. I am a dropout by choice sir."

In the link you can see this at 07:11 timecode.

ahl-e-zabaan is cheez ko to.nd hee kehte hai.n

Film : Naram Garam 

Year of release : 1981

Spoken by : Seth Salaamat Hussain Khaan (T P Jain)

Spoken to : Bhawani Shankar Bajpai (Utpal Dutt)

Dialogue writer : Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza

The one scene that I will never forget in this film is the 'kusi beTii eee' scene of Utpal and Swaroop. But for the moment, I will let that be. The line on hand refers to a lesser known actor called TP Jain. If you have seen Angoor you will remember him as the jeweller who insists that he be paid since it is eleven o clock. But if you don't remember that, you might as well see this film. 

Naram Garam tried to recreate the Golmaal magic - Hrishida might actually have called it Golmaal Returns :) - but it did not work that well. But it was an enjoyable film nonetheless. 

In the film Utpal Dutt is a widower who suddenly develops the desire to get married (thanks to some astrological beliefs and incitement), but since the girl who he is marrying (Swaroop Sampat partly dubbed by Farida Jalal) is almost 40 years younger, he tries to keep everything hush hush. So the tailor who comes to take the measurement for the sherwani (played by TP Jain) is asked to lock the door behind him. The tailor is suddenly very suspicious (his look is a classic), but being a professional he stands his ground. While taking the measurements, the inevitable waist measurement happens. Salaamat writes down the measurement as 'tond' - a reference to the generous paunch. Bhawani protests, to which Salaamat retorts

'ab is cheez ko kamar keh kar allah paak kee tauheen to nahee.n kar saktaa naa huzoor. ahl-e-zabaan is cheez ko to.nd hee kehte hai.n"

"अब इस चीज़ को कमर कह कर अल्लाह पाक की तौहीन तो नहीं कर सकता ना हुज़ूर. अहल-ए-ज़बान इस चीज़ को तोंद ही कहते हैं"

tareeqaa chhoDo saahab, baat Galat thaa

Film : Bobby

Year of release : 1973

Spoken by : Jack Braganza (Prem Nath)

Spoken to : Mr. Nath (Pran)

Dialogue writer : Jainendra Jain

The famous showdown between Pran and Premnath in the latter's brother-in-law's film made to launch his second son. Now can someone tell me why the Christian characters in Hindi films revealed their Christian names while with the Hindus you had to make do with the surnames. So Pran is Mr. Nath and Premnath is Jack Braganza. Wonder if in first standard his teacher called him Mr. Nath!  Picture this...

Pappoo - Present teacher, Munni - Present teacher, Ravi - Present teacher, Mr. Nath - Present teacher. Khair chhoDo, yeh qissa phir kabhee...

(Mr.) Nath has spoken in an insulting tone in an earlier meeting with Jack Braganza. Jack had gone to the Naths residence to discuss the alliance with his daughter. Nath had insinuated that Braganza had used his daughter to ensnare a rich heir like his son. Now Nath, under pressure from his son,  goes back to Braganza's house in a conciliatory mood. He says, 

"shaayad mere baat karne kaa tareeqaa Galat thaa"

"शायद मेरे बात करने का तरीक़ा ग़लत था'

Braganza however is in no mood for reconciliation. Still angry, he says

"tareeqaa chhoDo saahab, baat Galat thaa"

"तरीक़ा छोडो साहब, बात ग़लत था"

Kindly excuse grammar. Hindi film writers as you know loved stereotypes. So Madrasi will speak thus and Christian will speak thus. All this is predecided. So all the Hindi teachers of the world could not have made Jack Braganza say 'baat Galat thii'. Because the troika of Raj Kapoor, KA Abbas and Jainendra Jain had already decided that. 

kisme.n itnee himmat hai, ki har raat bechain rahe

Film : Bazaar

Year of release : 1982

Spoken by : Salim (Naseeruddin Shah)

Spoken to : Najma (Smita Patil)

Dialogue writer : Sagar Sarhadi

I featured this situation earlier in this post. So you might want to read that too. But this one can stand on its own too.

Salim is a poet and he has desired Najma for long. After six years as a silent platonic lover, he applies to the object of his affection for upgradation to version 2.0. Since he is a poet and hence given to hyperbole, he tells Najma that he hasn't slept throughout the six years as he has silently smouldered carrying her love in his heart. A couple of days later, Najma calls Salim at his workshop and asks him

"raat to achchhee kaTee naa?" (referring to his sleepless six years lament)

"रात तो अच्छी कटी ना? "

and Salim comes up with another gem

"kisme.n itnee himmat hai, ki har raat bechain rahe"

"किसमें इतनी हिम्मत है, कि हर रात बेचैन रहे"

Jab aag jalegii sab haath taapne dauDenge

Film : Junoon

Year of release : 1978

Spoken by : Sarfaraaz Khan (Naseeruddin Shah)

Spoken to : Hafeez Khan (Benjamin Gilani)

Dialogue writer : Prof Satyadev Dubey and Ismat Chugtai

The upcoming Vishal Bharadwaj film Saat Khoon Maaf reminded me of the earlier film that was based on  a Ruskin Bond novel - Junoon (Flight of the Pigeons). Wonder why I did not feature it on the blog earlier?

The background of the film is the 1857 revolt and the events that happened in and around Delhi. Sarfaraaz was part of the battalion of which Mangal Pandey was a part. He is constantly ranting about the 'firangees' and their atrocities. He is also on a sort of recruitment drive for soldiers as he believes the British rule India was about to come to an end.  Sarfaraaz tells  Hafeez Khan (Benjamin Gilani) that they should also join the revolt, Hafeez is unsure and looks up to his cousin Javed Khan (Shashi Kapoor) for direction. But Javed is not present at that moment. Hafeez says,

"ham to aapke saath hai.n...agar Javed bhai...."

Sarfaraaz interrupts him and says,

"Hafeez, jab aag jalegii sab haath taapne dauDenge...Jaaved bhaai bhi..."

"हफ़ीज़, जब आग जलेगी, सब हाथ तापने दौड़ेंगे...जावेद भाई भी..." 

referring to the inevitability of the revolt spreading throughout the country. So true. On the eve of the 62nd Republic Day, I think about all those who literally lit that fire, because as Sarfaraaz said, there is no shortage of people to bask in the warmth of a fire which is already lit. The ones who actually light the fire are rare...As my boss used to say, 

"Many talk, few do"

So spare a thought for those who light such fires. And if you want to know what happens to them in the end (in case you haven't already guessed it) watch this movie. On second thoughts, do watch out for a fire that is lit. Much more simpler to run towards it...

aaj se tere bachche bhii raham ke qaabil ho jaayenge

Film : Agar...If

Year of release : 1977

Spoken by : Daver (Kader Khan)

Spoken to : Jangoo (Unknown)

Dialogue writer : Moinuddin

This underrated thriller of the golden period of Hindi cinema is surely lifted from some English film. I just can't figure out which one. Of course they let it meander towards the end - in classic Hindi film style. But it is still better than some of the films that are touted as classics.

Jangoo is Daver's henchman and he has slipped up badly in allowing one of the men he was tailing to be caught by the police. Daver is wild that his elaborately laid plan is being torn asunder. Jangoo realises that his time is up, and does what henchmen under fire do best - beg.

"mujh pe raham karo, merii beewii, mere bachche....raham karo..."

"मुझ पे रहम करो, मेरी बीवी, मेरे बच्चे...रहम करो..."

Like in volleyball, the dialogue is nicely setup for Daver for a great smash. And he executes it well enough.

He says,

"main sirf yateem bachcho.n pe raham kartaa hoo.n...aur aaj se tere bachche bhee raham ke qaabil ho jaayenge"

"मैं सिर्फ़ यतीम बच्चों पे रहम करता हूं...और आज से तेरे बच्चे भी रहम के क़ाबिल हो जायेंगे" 

Do I need to tell you what follows?

Unlike many other lines on this blog, it is unlikely that you would be able to use it anywhere. But I still wanted to feature this line.