Friday, June 3, 2016

Dil Kya Kare...

Yes, Dil Kya Kare….what can the heart do, when such a number does a little dance and wouldn’t let you go?

This song has been playing on loop on my new MacAir (shrill blow of the trumpet) for almost a month now. While the visuals was umm..let’s say, better left hidden from plain sight, the tune and lyrics are to die for. Whoever penned these lines must have known the searing pain of forbidden love that can slash through one’s very heart.

 I can’t quite pick out the lines that affect or caress the soul the most because every line is so endearingly beautiful; deftly carved by a master craftsman. Hearing it is almost like the brush of a gentle, salty sea breeze on a starry night. I see the ships playing hide and seek on the dark horizon as these lines play:

Jaise parvat pe ghata jhukti hai (Just as the clouds stop their tracks on the mountain) 

Jaise sagar se lehar uthati hai (Just as the waves rise in an ocean) 
Aise kisi chehre pe nigah rukti hai (The gaze stops at someone’s persona) 
Jaise parvat pe ghata jhukti hai (Just as the clouds stop their tracks on the mountain) 
Jaise sagar se lehar uthati hai (Just as the waves rise in an ocean) 
Aise kisi chehre pe nigah rukti hai (The gaze stops at someone’s persona) 
Ooh… Rok nahi sakti nazaroko (Nothing can stop the gaze) 
Duniya bhar ki rasme (Not even customs of the world) 
Na kuch tere bas me Julie (Nothing in your control) 
Na kuch mere bas me (Nothing in mine) 


The imagery the poet picks to describe the absolute helplessness of anyone in the face of pure, fierce love are so powerful that they perfectly capture the essence of the inner struggle that the character goes through in this cult film of the 1970s. In my rather myopic opinion, the film could have run for several just for this song and the beauty it captures. A couple falling so desperately in love, breaching all social barriers, beside themselves in amorous passion for each other was so beautifully captured by Lakshmi and a little known actor, Vikram. These lines lie at the heart of this forbidden passion:

Ha mein teri yaad me, sab ko bhola du (Yes, in your memories shall I erase the existence of everyone else) 
Duniya ko teri tasweer bana du (I’ll make the world a picture of you) 
Mera bas chale to dil cheer ke dikha du (If only I can, I’ll tear my soul apart and show you) 
Ha mein teri yaad me, sab ko bhola du (ditto) 
Duniya ko teri tasweer bana du (ditto) 
Mera bas chale to dil cheer ke dikha du (ditto) 
Ooh… Daud raha hai saath lahu ke, (My blood flows along with…) 
Pyaar tera nas nas me (your love in each of my veins) 
Na kuch tere bas me Julie (Nothing in your control) 
Na kuch mere bas me (Nothing in mine)

Such moments take me to the chicken and the egg question, is it lyricist who’s so talented to string such perfumed words out of thin air or is it the state of being in love that nudges the nectar out of a well…a regular next-door human?

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