Abdul se maangaa thaa, saale ne passbook dikha di

Film : Gharaonda
Year of release : 1977
Spoken by : Sudip (Amol Palekar)
Spoken to : Guha (Sadhu Meher)
Dialogue writer : Gulzar

This is a sequence from the 1977 Hindi classic Gharaonda. Sudip (Amol Palekar) and Chhaayaa (Zarinaa Wahab) are a young couple with a dream of having a home (Gharaonda) of their own. But given the fact that in 1977 we did not even have an HDFC in place, owning a house of one's own was almost a pipe dream for a middle class person. This is captured beautifully in this film. Coming to the germane topic, Sudip is constantly looking for money in order to save up for the ever elusive dream. In one such instance, Sudip is looking for Rs 5000 to book a flat in a society where his chawl roommate Guha has also booked a flat. But he is unable to come up with the money. Guha reminds him about this and Sudip expresses his inability to come up with the money. Guha suggests that he should take a loan from someone. Sudip's acerbic response is

"kahaa.n se loo.n loan. Abdul se maangaa thaa, saale ne passbook dikhaa di. sattar rupaye the sirf"

"अब्दुल से मांगा था, साले ने पासबुक दिखा दी. सत्तर रुपये थे सिर्फ़ "

which means that when I asked him for money, he showed his bank statement (literally). Figuratively this means that if you wish to share your sorrows with someone and ask for help and if that person starts sharing his own tales of woe, then you would say this. This happens all the time, especially in a world where the only answer expected and hence possible to the question "how are you?" is "I am fine. How about you?". No one even remotely wants to listen to the real answer. As the title of that offbeat film went "Everybody says I'm fine". And in the rare event where people do share their woes, they only expect you to listen. Else, they would say

साले ने पास बुक दिखा दी

The first post - Main aaj bhee phenke huye paise naheeN uThaataa

Well time to get cracking with the posts. Here goes the first installment

"Main aaj bhee phenke huye paise naheeN uThaataa"

"में आज भी फेंके हुए पैसे नहीं उठाता"

Film: Deewar

Year of release : 1975

Spoken by : Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan)

Spoken to: Mulkraj Dawar (Iftekhar)

Dialogue writer : Salim Javed

What this line literally means is - I still do not pick up money that is thrown at me". The background is that the character Vijay worked as a shoeshine boy outside the race course as a kid. One of the patrons of the race course was a local smuggler - Mulk raj Dawar. He used to stop by to get his shoes shined. One such day when his associate tosses a fifty paisa coin at the shoeshine boy after getting his shoes shined; the boy refuses to pick up the coin and insists that the money be handed over to him in a more respectful manner. (Saab, ham booT polish kartaa hai, koi bhiikh nahii.n maangtaa. paise uThaa kar haath me.n do) Years later, when Vijay first starts working with Dawar, he offers him some money as a sort of sign-on bonus. He tosses the wad of notes onto a table. Vijay retorts with the line which is featured here.

The proverbial value of this is that it can be used in any situation - whether in corporate world or as a freelancer - when the payment is made in a manner not consonant with the dignity that ought to be accorded to the service rendered. Of course, it might have to be amended slightly as

"Main phenke huye paise naheeN uThaataa"

"में फेंके हुए पैसे नहीं उठाता"

The movie Deewaar contains many such lines and I will feature them in future editions of this blog. Watch this space for more.

Mere dost beeDiyon par utar aaye hain

The idea for this blog came to me when one of my colleagues, once told me the exact line that you see in the title. The reference was - I used to normally travel by auto rickshaws and that day I had taken a state corporation bus. I was intrigued by the usage and asked him what he meant. He said that this line is uttered by Faarooque Sheikh in the 1980s classic Chashm-e-baddoor. It hit me that our Hindi films (and for that matter all films) are a very rich source of dialogues which when viewed in the proper context almost work like proverbs. How many of us have been in a workshop or a training session where after a question posed by the presenter; if no one proffers an answer, the presenter usually says "itnaa sannaaTaa kyoon hai bhaai". Seldom has this line failed in getting something from a twitter to a guffaw from the audience. This line is uttered by the grand old man of Hindi cinema - AK Hangal in that all time classic Sholay.

So this blog shall basically catch and capture such memorable lines. We will try and give you the exact words spoken - as a proverb or a quotation is incorrect if even a syllable is changed. We will also give the situation of the line, the film in which it was used, which character uttered it and what it could mean metaphorically. Although my colleague triggered the idea of creating this blog, he quoted this line wrong. So I ensure that all the lines are exactly as they appear in the film, and not as people remember them.
If you remember any great lines, please write in to me. Leave the research to me. I would like to encourage each one of you to contribute. Remember the requirements

1. The exact words to be used
2. The situation in which they are used
3. The film in which they are used
4. The character (real as well as fictional) who spouts the lines
5. The metaphor - or why do you think it qualifies to be a proverb

Any anecdotes around it are more than helpful. Feel free to write in. And I heartily wish you never have to smoke a beeDi ever. Nor a cigarette for that matter. Nor any form of tobacco. Cheers

Ravi