It is not the age, it is the mileage

Film : Johnny Gaddar

Year of release : 2007

Spoken by : Seshaadri (Dharmendra)

Spoken to : Vikram (Neil Nitin Mukesh)

Dialogue writer : Sriram Raghavan

Sriram Raghavan in my view is the best director among the current lot. Of course this line is a take on the Indiana Jones lines from the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, where he says "It's not the years honey, it's the mileage". Dharmendra plays a Tam Brahm and thankfully not in the stereotypical Mehmood PaDosan way. 

Vikram (or Johnny) asks him if he is not afraid of keeping so much cash at home (one crore rupees). In response Seshu twists Vikram's arm behind his back and pins him down. While doing this he says, 

"koee chor uchakkaa aa jaaye to kyaa karoo.n"

By now, Vikram is pleading with a tame 'sorry sir'. Seshu releases him and says

"It is not the age, it is the mileage"

Well just another way of saying 'BuDDhaah hogaa teraa baap".

ek to jungle me.n aag oopar se chaDDii me.n naag

Film : Dhol

Year of release : 2007

Spoken by : Gautam "Goti" Sisodiya

Spoken to : Himselves

This is a caper about a group of friends who move from one funny situation to another. This was a remake of a 1990 Malayalam film In Harihar Nagar which was later remade as MGR Nagaril in Tamil. Unfortunately did not do as well in Hindi. Pakkiya (Sharman Joshi) brings in a couple to live with them. The couple has actually run away from home. Goti is not too happy, as they themselves have many problems to face and cannot afford to complicate their lives further. So when they leave he says out aloud

"ek to jungle me.n aag, oopar se chaDDii me.n naag"

"एक तो जंगल में आग, ऊपर से चड़डी में नाग"

Akelee ladkee khulee huyee tijori kee tarah hotee hai

Film: Jab We Met

Year of release : 2007

Spoken by : Railway Waterstall owner (Asif Basra)

Spoken to : Geet Dhillon (Kareena Kapoor)

This is one of my favourite films. Great music (although most songs are copied or inspired) and very good performance by the protagonists. So when Geet Dhillon is going back to her home in Punjab, she is left behind at a railway station. The railway waterstall owner is a loafer. When he sees her predicament, he says this line

"Akelee ladkee khulee huyee tijori kee tarah hotee hai"

"अकेली लड़की खुली हुई तिजोरी की तरह होती है"

Aap convince ho gaye, ya maiN aur bolooN

Film : Jab We Met

Year of release : 2007

Spoken by : Geet Dhillon

Spoken to : Ticket checker

Any sales guy would have gone through this feeling some time or the other in his life. When you try and convince a prospect, you keep wondering whether you have said enough. Indian prospects are particularly cryptic. Since we Indians do not like saying 'No', we try and find a thousand mechanisms to defer and delay without saying a straightforward no. In such situations, I think this is a good line to use.

The scenario is that Aditya (Shahid Kapoor) is sitting on a train berth looking totally disappointed and dejected. He has lost in love and hence all desire to live too. Geet is another passenger in this coach. She has constantly been trying to engage him in lively banter. He has been absolutely oblivious to her. When the ticket checker arrives, it is discovered that Aditya is WT (or without ticket). Geet pleads Aditya's case with the TC. She is trying to talk him into taking a lenient view of Aditya's ticketless travel. After she has spoken for about 60 seconds in her garrulous style, she pauses to check if her pleas have registered. She says,

"आप कंविंस हो गये, या मैं और बोलूं?"

"Aap convince ho gaye, yaa maiN aur bolooN"

Itnee dostii nahee hai ki vajah bataa sakooN

इसे हिन्दी में पढने के लिए यहाँ क्लिक करें

Film: Laagaa Chunri mein Daag
Year of release: 2008
Spoken by : Vibhavari (Rani Mukherjee)
Spoken to : Rohan (Abhishek Bachchan)

Normally most of the complimentary comments that I get are for posts pertaining to the 1970s (or earlier). I do feature newer lines too, but even when I write them, my heart is not entirely in it.

But this is one line from a new film which left an indelible mark on me. I found tears welling up in my eyes (inspite of myself).

Vibhavari is a high society call girl and her family has no clue about it. Her family thinks she has a corporate communications job with the private sector - and that is the source of her new found wealth. Her corporate avatar has also resulted in a new name. She is now called Natasha in the corporate circles. Her younger sister Shubhaavari (Konkona Sen Sharma) aka ChhuTkee, is getting married to a 'decent upper middle class' boy called Vivaan (Kunal Kapoor). During the marriage ceremony, she comes to know that Rohan (Abhishek Bachchan) is Vivaan's elder brother. Vibhavari has already met Rohan in Switzerland on one of her corporate junkets and hit off with him. But she goes into a tizzy when Rohan proposes to her. Rohan is exasperated as he can think of no reason why she cannot marry him. He is educated, well-heeled and most importantly the two of them have a great rapport. So he says that he at least deserves to know why she is rejecting him. Or as he puts it

"इतनी दोस्ती तो है हम मे कि तुम वजह बता सको"

To which Vibhavari says poignantly and pithily

"इतनी दोस्ती नहीं है रोहन कि वजह बता सकूं"

There are many times when friends importune you to tell them the reason for something, essentially because they are friends. A great line to use at all such junctures.

Ghis ghis ke gold banaane kee koshish kar rahaa hooN

Film : Chak De India
Year of release : 2007
Spoken by : Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan)
Spoken to : Krishna ji (Vibha Chibber)

While interacting with his assistant coach Krishna, Kabir is holding his silver medal and rubbing it. She asks him

Sir, yeh to aapkaa silver medal hai naa? aap iske saath kyaa kar rahe haiN

He responds

Ghis ghis ke gold banaane kee koshish kar rahaa hooN, kal ko agar chor bazaar meN bechnaa paDe to kam az kam qeemat to achchhee milegee
घिस घिस के गोल्ड बनाने की कोशिश कर रहा हूं, कल को अगर चोर बाज़ार मे बेचना पडे तो कम अज़ कम क़ीमत तो अच्छी मिलेगी

KhanDahar bataate haiN kee imaarat kabhee buland thee

Film : Khoya Khoya Chand
Year of release : 2007
Spoken by : Shyamol Mukherjee (Vinay Pathak)
Spoken to : Audience (as narrator)

This is a famous proverb, often quoted in the form

khaNDar bataa rahe haiN imaarat buland thii

खंडर बता रहे हैं इमारत बुलन्द थी

It means that the ruins indicate that the building was once robust. Sometimes you look at ruins of a five hundred year old building and feel that inspite of the time that has elapsed there is still a robustness to the structure. It makes you wonder, how strong it must have been when it was made. I look at Zohra Sehgal (the only saving grace of the movie Saawariyaa) and feel that if she is like this at 96, what would she be like in her youth. I would certainly say in her case

ख़ंडहर बता रहे हैं इमारत बुलन्द थी

Though it does seem rude to refer to an old person as ‘khanDahar’. And hence, this very line can be used in a pejorative way as well.

In this movie, Shyamol as the narrator is narrating the entire film in flashback. He is referring to the protagonist – Zafar Ali Naqvi’s (Shiney Ahuja) patriarchal home in Lucknow. He tries to convey that once, their family was a respected family – with a palatial house and a lot of money. But now hardly anything is left of it. A situation which forces Zafar to migrate to Mumbai in search of livelihood. So if you every come to a situation where you find the vestiges of a fine organization/person which indicate that the organization/person would have been glorious in it’s prime, you can use the above line. Or use the variant that Shyamol uses

खंडहर बताते हैं कि इमारत कभी बुलन्द थी

You are what you hide

Film : Dhokha

Year of release : 2007

Spoken by : Raj Mehra (Gulshan Grover)

Spoken to : Zaid Ahmad Khan (Muzammil Ibrahim)

Johari windows is a concept which has always enchanted me. It basically divides aspects of his personality into four windows or quadrants.

The first quadrant contains aspects which are known to self and known to others as well. Rightly this quadrant is called ‘Arena’. The second quadrant contains which are not known to others but are known to self. This quadrant is called ‘Façade’. The third quadrant has areas which are known to others but not known to self. This quadrant is called ‘Blind Spot’. And the most important quadrant is the fourth quadrant which has aspects not known to self or to others. This quadrant or window is called ‘Unknown’.

The movie Dhokha is about a Muslim police officer who is happily married to a woman who turns out to be a terrorist. Initially he absolutely refuses to believe the Anti-Terrorist Squad’s theory. As evidence unfolds, he grudgingly starts seeing the truth. But in one such moment where he is struggling between belief and incredulity, he screams that Sara (Tulip Joshi) was so happy with him. Raj Mehra responds with

Officer, insaan jo dikhaataa hai, vo uskaa sach nahee hotaa …uskaa sach wo hotaa hai jo vo chhupaataa hai – you are what you hide!

ऑफ़िसर इंसान जो दिखाता है, वो उसका सच नहीं होता...उसका सच वो होता है जो वो छुपाता है – You are what you hide!

This is Mahesh Bhatt’s reference to the ‘Façade’ window of the Johari windows. Think about it. What is your truth? What is it that you hide?

PaanDavoN waalee shart mat lagaaiye

In ChakDe India (2007), there is a scene when Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) challenges the Hockey federation to a match between the men's and women's hockey team. The background is that the federation has just dropped the bombshell that due to funds shortage - only one team could go to the World Cup. And since the women's team were no hopers - they would obviously be left out. That's when a desperate coach Kabir throws this challenge. The hockey federation member Tripathi (Anjan Srivastav) sniggers and says

पाण्डवों वाली शर्त मत लगाइये - चीर हरण न हो जाये

Of course the reference is to Mahabharat and the game of dice which ended in the Pandavs losing everything - even their wife Draupadi who was molested in full public view. So Tripathi is referring to that instance. But the line is good. You can use it metaphorically whenever you think that the challenge or bet that is being accepted by a person, would lead to his ruin. You could say (with or without a snigger)

PaanDavoN waalee shart mat lagaaiye

पाण्डवों वाली शर्त मत लगाइये

Har team mein sirf ek hee GoonDaa ho saktaa hai; aur is team kaa Goondaa main hoon

Film : Chak De India
Year of release : 2007
Spoken by : Kabir Khan (Shah RuKh Khan)
Spoken to : Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla)
Dialogue writer : Jaideep Sahni

Recently a colleague who had read my blog, said "It seems the guy who is writing this died in the 1990s". I asked him why he thought so. And he said, "All the lines are featuring movies in the 70s and 80s with a stray 90s line thrown in".

That set me thinking. Am I actually favouring the 70's era here. Though I do believe, that the 70's was the golden era as far as Hindi (and even Indian) cinema is concerned, I DO watch new movies. I AM impressed by some of the lines I hear in new movies too. The criteria for a line finding its way in to this blog is not the date of birth. Featuring in this post, is a very good line that I heard in a 2007 movie - Chak De India. Interestingly, the other 2000's line featured in this blog was also written by the same guy - Jaideep Sahni. He is a writer to watch out for.

And the line is -

"हर टीम में सिर्फ़ एक ही ग़ुंडा हो सकता है और इस टीम का ग़ुंडा मैं हूं"

"Har team mein sirf ek hee GoonDaa ho saktaa hai; aur is team kaa Goondaa main hoon"

Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan), a disgraced former hockey captain of the Indian Senior Men's team, has been appointed the coach of the Indian women's hockey team. While he is establishing his authority and credibility with the group, there are a few senior players who do not quickly comply with his training methods. Like the 'seniors' in the Indian cricket team, they try to pursue their own agenda. Like Greg Chappell, Kabir also asserts himself. And prey, how does he do that - with this classic line. This is said to one of the senior players in the team - Bindiya Naayak (played by Shilpa Shukla).

What the line literally means is that 'there can be only one bully in a team, and I am the bully in this team'. I recently heard this line used verbatim in a board room. It struck me that this line can actually become the standard fixture in all team meetings. So go ahead, use this line in all team meetings and assert your authority with aplomb. Of course, the word 'goonda' generally denotes a man. But thanks to the 'Goonda Act', this discrimination has no legal sanction. So those on the distaff side can use this line just as well as the men.