sochaa! ab sochnaa bhii shuru kar diyaa

Film : Golmaal

Year of release : 1979

Spoken by : Bhawani Shankar (Utpal Dutt)

Spoken to : Kalindi (Shubha Khote)

Dialogue writer : Dr. Rahi Maasoom Raza

I believe they remade this film as Bol Bachchan. Thank goodness neither Hrishida nor Dr Raza is alive. The original of course was a classic with beautifully scripted and delivered lines. This was one of them. This is part of the extremely funny scene where both Bhawani and his sister Kalindi are looking for Lucky (Amol Palekar). Bhawani is armed with a gun and Kalindi has a stout staff in her hand. While they are going around the house looking for Lucky, Kalindi  hits Bhawani on the head with a stout stick thinking that he is Lucky. An angry Bhawani says 

"kalindi ki bachchi yahaa.n kyaa kar rahee hai?"

An embarrassed Kalindi stutters,

"bhaiyyaa maine socha..."

Bhawani interrupts her and shouts

"sochaa! ab sochnaa bhii shuru kar diyaa"

"सोचा! अब सोचना भी शुरु कर दिया"

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. 

aisa to aadmii life me.n do-ich time bhaagtaa hai

Film : Amar Akbar Anthony

Year of release : 1979

Spoken by : Anthony Gonsalves (Amitabh Bachchan)

Spoken to : Robert (Jeevan)

Dialogue writer : Kader Khan

This was one of my favourite Amitabh Bachchan films when I was a kid. I saw Deewar, Sholay, Trishul and Zanjeer much later!

Kishan Lal (Pran) has become a mafia don and smuggler after usurping the business of Robert (Jeevan). Robert falls upon bad days and becomes a coolie on Kishan's dock. While unloading 'sona', the two meet each other and have kind of a show down. Suddenly the police lead by Kamal Kapoor (Narang of Don) arrive and everyone runs for their lives. Robert escapes with a case of gold and a revolver. Anthony trips Robert while running and stylishly delivers this line

See it here

"aisaa to aadmii life me.n do-ich time bhaagtaa hai, olympic ka race ho ya police ka case ho. tum kaay me.n bhagtaa hai bhaai?"

"ऐसा तो आदमी लाइफ़ में दोइच टाइम भागता है, ओलिम्पिक का रेस हो या पुलीस का केस हो, तुम काय में भगता है भाई?"

This line was a favourite as a kid, along with the famous mirror scene. 

Main to inko tabse jaantaa hoon jab inke baal safed the

Film : Jeenaa Yahaan

Year of release :  1979

Spoken by : Umesh (Unknown)

Spoken to : Shekhar (Shekhar Kapur)
Dialogue writer : Basu Chatterjee

Shekhar Kapur did a few films with his then girl friend Shabana Azmi. Jeena Yahaan was one of them. Very rarely do real life couples have online chemistry. Dharam-Hema and Rishi-Neetu notable exceptions. Shabana and Shekhar too dont have much going by way of chemistry. Anyways the film was a Basu Chatterjee film. And hence I had to see it. Nothing much to recommend in the movie though. Even Salilda's music was stale. But I love this line.

Shekhar is helping to organise a function marking the inauguration of a new venture of one of his friends. Another friend Umesh (unknown actor and a new member of the group) is also helping out. Mr Mathur (R S Chopra) arrives with his family just then.  Shekhar welcomes him and introduces Mr. Mathur to Umesh.

Shekhar: Umesh, Mathur ko pehchaante ho? उमेश, माथुर को पहचानते हो?

(To Mathur) Umesh, hamaare group kaa nayaa member hai. उमेश, हमारे ग्रूप का नया मॅम्बर है.

Umesh: Mathur ko kaun nahii.n pehchaantaa. Main to inko tabse jaantaa hoon jab inke baal safed the. Kaale to ab huye hain. माथुर को कौन नहीं पह्चानता. मैं तो इनको तबसे जानता हूं जब इनके बाल सफ़ेद थे. काले तो अब हुये हैं

Guffaws and twitters all around and a very red faced Mathur. Good line Mr. Chatterjee. Well done! Can't say that for the rest of the film though.

Maine to kulhaaDee pe pair maaraa hai

Film : Golmaal
Year of release : 1979
Spoken by : Ramprasad Sharma (Amol Palekar)
Spoken to : Ratna (Manju Singh)
Dialogue writer : Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza

There is a saying in Hindi

खरबूज़ा छुरी पर गिरे या छुरी खरबूज़े पर

which means that whether the musk melon falls on the knife or the knife falls on the musk melon, the end result is one and the same. The knife is not harmed while the melon is cut open.

In this film, Ramprasad says

"लोग तो पैरों पर कुल्हाड़ी मारते हैं, मैने तो कुल्हाड़ी पर पैर मारा है"
"Log to pairon pe kulhaadi maarte hain main to kulhaaDi par pair maaraa hai"

At first glance, there seems to be no difference. But Ramprasad is referring to his act of having proffered to teach his boss's daughter as an act of Himalayan stupidity. Hence 'kulhaaDee par pair maaraa hai'. Because if you have to go and bang your legs against an axe, physically you will have to align your legs in a particular manner and hence it would be more difficult than hitting your legs with an axe.

Kuchh log vaise bhee to hote haiN

Film: Kaala Patthar
Year of release : 1979
Spoken by : Vijay Pal Singh (Amitabh Bachchan)
Spoken to : Dr. Sudha Sen (Raakhee Gulzaar)

While tending to Vijay's wounds, Sudha asks him how long he has been around in the mines. In India, (especially some parts of North India) it is common even in casual conversation with rank strangers for the interlocutors to try and figure out each other's place of origin. Dr Sudha does the same when she asks him - तुम वैसे कहां के हो?

Vijay generally in most films does not give a straight answer to a straight question. Indulges a lot in what we call - tark kutark - तर्क कुतर्क. So how does he answer this easy question

"बचा सवाल के मैं कहां का हूं, तो कुछ लोग वैसे भी तो होते हैं, जो कहीं के नहीं होते"

bachaa savaal ke maiN kahaaN kaa hooN, to kuchh log vaise bhee to hote haiN, jo kaheeN ke naheeN hote

Mere taash ke tirpanve patte

Shatrughan Sinha made his own that blustery style of threatening people with insults which were his own. Words like chapaDganjoo, chirkuT et al sound so natural from his mouth, it is very hard to believe that the words existed in Hindi language before he spoke them. In Kaala Patthar, he is ‘in the zone’ as one would say. He plays the role of Mangal Singh – who is a convict on the run. In order to escape from the police he goes and takes refuge in a coal mine. Gambling is a favourite pastime of workers there. One day while playing with Mohan (Macmohan), he has a hand containing two kings and a two. Mohan has two Jacks and a four. When Mohan has disclosed his cards, Mangal says he has won because he has three kings. After he picks up the money, he shows his cards. Mohan asks where is the third ‘baadshaah’ (king). Mangal gets up in his characteristic style and says
Mere taash ke tirpanve patte, teesre baadshah ham haiN…dikhaaee naheeN detaa, teesre baadshah ham haiN.
Taash ke tirpanve patte is a clever and veiled reference to a joker. The fifty third card in a pack is the joker. Since I am not into cards, it took me some time to realise the import of what was being said. A regular card player might not read much into this line. But to me it sounds great

मेरे ताश के तिरपनवे पत्ते

And incidentally this is Shatrughan Sinha's debut on this blog. I would have wanted to start with 'aaye to usse keh denaa chhainoo aayaa thaa', but that shall follow.

Savere aankh kuchh der se khuli

I sometimes fear that Salim-Javed might chance upon this blog and ask me for royalty. I might have to close down the blog then. But till then I shall plod on. This is from Kaala Patthar. Dhanraj Puri (Prem Chopra) is the owner of the coal mine. His engineer Ravi Malhotra (Shashi Kapoor) is getting too big for his boots. He feels that the ‘shakti kaa santulan’ or the balance of power is best served if Vijay Pal Singh (Amitabh Bachchan) is pitted against Ravi. Hence he calls Vijay over for a chat and begins sweet talking him. Amitabh responds in his characteristic laconic style with this dialogue

आज बहुत गडबड हो गई सेठ साहब. सवेरे आंख कुछ देर से खुली. देख नही सका कि सूरज किस तरफ़ से निकला था.

Of course in this Salim Javed script, unlike as in Deewar, the Vijay and the Ravi are not at loggerheads. Probably there not being siblings helps. So Vijay decides not to go along with the Machiavellian Puri.

However, whenever someone is being incredibly nice to you. Or you want to be sarcastically incredulous about something. This is a good line to use

सवेरे आंख कुछ देर से खुली
Of course the follow up question would be,

“What does that mean?”

So continue borrowing from Salim-Javed and say

देख नही सका कि सूरज किस तरफ़ से निकला था
Dekh nahee sakaa ki sooraj kis taraf se nikalaa thaa

Incidentally I have got some feedback from some readers who said that since they are unable to read and/or understand Hindi, they are unable to understand the full post. I am very tempted to add a translation of the line as well, but I am not really able to make up my mind. This blog is meant for those who understand and read both languages. The basic communication is in English, but the specific dialogue is given in Hindi (with Roman transliteration). Do write in and let me know what you think about this.

My pain is my destiny and I can't avoid it

One of Amitabh's specialities is his ability to speak both Hindi and English with EQUAL elan. I am stressing upon the word equal. वो जब बोलते हैं तो ऐसा नही लगता कि किसी भाषा पर एहसान कर रहे हों. And that in my opinion would be a perennial difference between Amitabh and all the other superstars who came before or after him. His ability to deliver fantastic Urdu/Hindi dialogues is well known, but you should watch out for the English nuggets that he throws in. He still pronounces the English words properly - as an English native speaker would. So here is a famous Amitabh line in English.

Dr Sudha (Raakhee Gulzar) is a doctor who is committed to serving in areas where medical services normally do not reach easily. Hence she is working in Dhanraj coal mines. Vijaypal Singh (Amitabh Bachchan) is a worker in the mine. One day he is injured in an accident and brought to Dr Sudha's dispensary. She looks at him and says that since a lot of coal dust seems to have entered his wounds, cleaning the wounds would be very painful and hence she would administer local anasthesia. Vijay says that she can go ahead and bandage the wound without the anasthesia. Now the brilliant interaction. Some people use English while speaking in Hindi to assert supremacy or to try and close the argument. It is as if, now I have said this in English and hence this is the last word. Dr Sudha (probably unknowingly) does that. She says

"Why don't you understand?"

Vijay lets go of his brooding demeanour to explode for a moment and says

"Why don't YOU understand Doctor. My pain is my destiny and I can't avoid it"

He says it in such chaste English (much better than Raakhee's heavily accented English anyways) that Raakhee knows that it brooks no further argument. She goes ahead and dresses the wound without anasthesia.

Now you must be wondering where the hell can we use this line. You certainly do not want to tell the doctor to dress wounds without anasthesia. It will pain like hell. Believe me. you don't want to do that. But I have used this line so many times. I normally do not pop a pain killer whenever I am in pain. I bear it patiently. I have had many solicitous colleagues ask me why don't I take a painkiller. Lo and behold. Pat comes my answer

"My pain is my destiny and I cannot avoid it"

And you thought this line could not be used in daily life.

Kaun kambakht kehtaa hai, ki Hitler mar gayaa

Film : Golmaal
Year of release : 1979
Spoken by : Ramprasad Sharma (Amol Palekar)
Spoken to : Doctor Mama (David)
Dialogue writer : Dr. Rahi Maasoom Raza


I am a huge fan of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and I believe that some of the best Hindi movies ever made (or will be made) would have his name under the director's column. I would have seen most of his 40 odd films starting from the 1957 Musaafir to the swan-turned-duckling song - Jhooth Bole Kauva Kaate. But there are some of his films, which have huge repeat value. Every time you see them, you enjoy them even more. Now, there are a lot of Hrishida film lines which would feature in this blog, but this is his debut here. So I need to try and do some justice to it.

While I have been rambling on about Hrishida, what I have not mentioned hitherto is that the film that this line belongs to, is Golmaal. This film was released in the year 1979 and turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the year. The plot is simple. A young man who is just out of college seeks employment with an extremely fastidious, finnicky and fussy man. This man - Bhawani Shankar (superbly played by Utpal Dutt) - has set views on most things. Unless you agree with him, you cannot co-exist. One of Bhawani Shankar's friends - Doctor Mama (played by David) - knows of his idiosyncrasies. Hence, he prepares his nephew - Ramprasad Sharma (Amol Palekar) - in an appropriate way before he can approach Bhawani Shankar for employment with Urmila Traders (Bhawani Shankar's firm). This includes teaching him how to dress, how to speak, what to say and what not to. This is the pre-story.

As Doctor Mama starts narrating Bhawani Shankar's likes and dislikes, Ramprasad becomes increasingly despondent. He realises that the candidate Bhawani Shankar is looking for is as different from him as chalk and cheese. But the last remark by Doctor Mama acts as the proverbial last straw. Doctor Mama says

"सर पर तेल भी अच्छी तरह से चुपड लेना"

This prompts Ramprasad to respond with the classic line:

"Mamaji Kaun kambakht kehtaa hai, ki Hitler mar gayaa"

"मामाजी, कौन कम्बख़्त कहता है, कि हिटलर मर गया"

All of us come across such extreme characters from time to time. People who brook no dissent. People who go to extreme lengths to ensure that their will is done. People who say "My way or highway". Whenever you meet or hear about such a person in future - try using this line.

कौन कम्बख़्त कह्ता है, कि हिटलर मर गया