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

Vo mere khilaaf haiN. Isliye opposition me haiN

Suchitra Sen strikes. Once again. The 1975 classic Aandhi. Aarti Devi (Suchitra Sen) plays a politician in the film. At a press conference, a reporter asks her a seemingly silly question

“Opposition aapke khilaaf kyoN hai?”
ऑपोसिशन आपके ख़िलाफ़ क्यों है?
Aarti answers with a witticism

Vo mere khilaaf haiN. Isliye opposition me haiN
वो मेरे ख़िलाफ़ हैं. इसलिये ऑपोसिशन मे हैं.
Seems like what we would call a circular reference in Excel. It is something that Shahrukh Khan says in Don

Don ke dushmanoN kee sabse baDee Galatee ye hai ki vo Don ke dushman haiN

Or as George Bush said on September 20th 2001 – “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists”.

A style statement to make to reinforce your command over a particular organization/nation.

AnTaa Gafeel ho gayee

This is Gulzar again. From the movie Aandhi. Aarti Devi (Suchitra Sen) is the daughter of Mr K Bose (Rehman) who is a prominent personality. Bose has great political ambitions for his daughter Aarti. The allusion is very clearly to Nehru and Indira. Though the censor board of that time, insisted on a scene where the two of them i.e. Bose and Aarti, look at a photo of Indira and Aarti says

woh to merii ideal hai

वो तो मेरी ideal है

Aandhi is the story of how a woman's ambition comes in the way of her happy married life. As a man, I found it hard to digest some of the chauvinistic statements made. I think women would squirm. The story is of a woman Aarti (who has political ambitions) and a hotelier JK (who wants a wife who can take care of the home and hearth). The woman choses career over husband and daughter, later repents, and finally comes back. Hell, the writer/director even make Aarti touch the feet of JK in the end.

In a party, Aarti’s drink is laced with alcohol, by a trouble monger. She is in a drunken stupor and decides that it would be better if she spent the night in a hotel. She lands up in JK (Sanjeev Kumar)’s hotel and JK helps her to her room. In the morning, when JK recounts her nocturnal escapade. He uses this phrase to tell Aarti that she had just collapsed in drunken stupor. I just love the phrase

‘अंटा गफील हो गयी...’

Saeed Jaffrey uses this phrase in Chashme Baddoor when he tell Ravi Baswani that he has devoured his money

पैसे अंडा गफ़ील कर लिये है ...
Whereas JK says ‘अंटा गफ़ील’. Aandhi is written by Kamleshwar and Gulzar, whereas Chashme Baddoor is written by Sai Paranjpe. I think I will go with the former. Though I would use the option to the readers to use either of the two.

Tab tak laRkaa taiyyaar chaahiye

This is another beautiful line from the 1975 movie Aandhi. Although I think Suchitra Sen was an example of extremely bad casting. All the dialogues were mauled, molested and trampled twice over by her. But probably that was an effect Gulzar desired. There must be some creative satisfaction in writing great lines and seeing them trampled to death. Anyways, this is a beautiful scene where Aarti (Suchitra Sen) sends a telegram to her husband JK (Sanjeev Kumar) to tell him that she is pregnant. JK works as an Assistant Manager in a hotel and both of them stay together in the same house. Yet she sends him a telegram. JK receives the telegram when he reaches the reception of the hotel and is about to relieve his colleague. When he reads it, he breaks into a broad smile. He tells his colleague the news. After the customary congratulations, the colleague asks JK if he wants to respond. JK asks his colleague to reply with a telegram congratulating her and adding that he would reach by nine thirty that evening and then he delivers this classic line
“मैं शाम को साढे नौ बजे तक पहुंच जाऊंगा. तब तक लड़का तैयार चाहिये”
When his colleague ribs him that this wasn’t possible, JK retorts with
“You don’t know my wife यार. वो महीनों का काम दिनों मे करती है. She will do it just like that!”

So whenever you want a complex and long gestation project to be done quickly, you could use this line. ‘तब तक लड़का तैयार चाहिये’
A person I used to work with – while working on a project with a stiff deadline – sent me an sms which said – “A boss is a person who thinks that nine women working together can deliver a child in one month”. This line reminded me of that statement.

Bhaiyye geetaa haath me leke jang nahee laRee jaa saktee

Gulzar's 1975 opus Aandhi. Of course the movie was controversial at that time due to the backdrop of emergency. And hence it is a seminal work for movies on politics and politicians. Very well written characters of Aarti Devi (Suchitra Sen) and JK (Sanjeev Kumar). This particular line is mouthed by Lalloo Laal (Om Prakash). The local newspaper of the town publishes the headline "Aarti's nights for hotel manager". I do wonder why did Gulzar have a newspaper titled "Zamaanaa" publish itself in English in a small town and worse - why did it have English in such atrocious language. But then I have a lot of grouse with Gulzar for this movie, which I shall refrain from getting into. Aarti is separated from her husband JK and they accidentally meet at the hotel after 9 years. Aarti has gone there for campaigning. The opposition sees it as an opportunity for mudraking and hence get this published along with photos. When Lalloo Laal (who is Aarti's chief campaign organiser) reads this, he goes berserk. He says the campaign is over for Aarti. The public will no longer vote for her. When another associate points out that it is Aarti's personal life and why should people agonise over it, Lalloo comes up with this masterpiece

भैय्ये गीता हाथ मे लेके जंग नहीं लड़ी जा सकती. भगवान किशन नहीं लड़ सके तो ये क्या लड़ेंगी.

Life is a continuous battle. Too much accent on morals is often misplaced. And whenever you find someone placing too much accent on morals and ethics, you could use this line

भैय्ये गीता हाथ मे लेके जंग नहीं लड़ी जा सकती.

Bhaiyye geetaa haath me leke jang nahee laRee jaa saktee

Jab tum achchhaa kehtii ho to bahut hee achchaa lagtaa hai

Time to go back to Gulzar. This is one of my favourite lines ever. Featured in one of Gulzar's seminal movies - Aandhi (1975). The film is based on a female politician - Aarti Devi (played by Suchitra Sen) and her relationship with a hotelier - JK (Sanjeev Kumar). In this particular scene, Aarti is listening to JK reciting poetry over the phone. When he has finished reciting it, he asks Aarti - achchee hai naa?

Aarti reaffirms - "Bahut achchee hai"

JK says "Pataa hai...jab tum achchaa kehtii ho ...bahut hee achchaa lagtaa hai"

"पता है ...जब तुम अच्छा कहती हो ...बहुत ही अच्छा लगता है"

The line is pretty straightforward if you look at it. The male protagonist recited a poem, the female protagonist confirms her approval. But then the male protagonist says, that the approval - the praise becomes ten times more powerful and relevant when it comes from the female protagonist. And that is where lies the proverbial usage of this line. We all have our soft spots or hot spots or whatever else it is that HR calls it these days. These are things that motivate us. You could call them our drivers. Sometimes these 'things' that motivate us - these 'drivers' are not abstract but personified as individuals. So we like it when 'so and so' praises us. Whereas the same praise when received from another individual does not have the same impact. We all have people whose approval we cherish. Whose praise is something we look forward to. Or as JK said

"जब तुम अच्छा कहती हो ...तो बहुत ही अच्छा लगता है"