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