Soch gehri ho jaaye, to faisle kamzor ho jaate hain

Film: Khuda Gawah

Year of release: 1992

Spoken by: Baadshah Khan (Amitabh Bachchan)

Spoken to: Khuda Baksh (Danny Denzongpa)

Dialogue writer: Santosh Saroj & Raj Kumar Bedi

As a younger man, I was once preparing for the NDA SSB interview. There used to be something called Word Association Test in that. So they would give a word and you would have to make a sentence using that word. So the tip that we were given was that leaders do not make complex, convoluted or negative sounding sentences. So if the word is Grass. Then your sentence should be - Grass is green. Instead if you write this:

Gramineae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of  monocotyledonous flowering plants, commonly referred to collectively as grass.

You are likely to be rejected :)

So any amount of over-analyses will probably lead you to rethink your decision. That's why the Ancient Romans used to burn bridges and boats. That was a good way to avoid intellectual thinking which could lead to retreat. 

Khuda Gawah was another mind numbing film of Amitabh Bachchan but with great visuals. It features this great Amitabh line:

"Khudaa Bakshe, itnaa mat soch. soch gehri ho jaaye. to faisle kamzor ho jaate hain"

"ख़ुदा बख्शे, इतना मत सोच. सोच गहरी जाए, फ़ैसले कमज़ोर  हो जाते हैं"

Or as Modi tells Tata in the movie Narendra Modi:

"Tata saab, jo decision ek minute mein nahin hotaa, vo decision hi nahin hotaa". :)

Bas dil ko tasalli dene ke liye achchha lafz hai ...Dilli

Film : Tiranga

Year of release : 1992

Spoken by : Shivajirao Wagle (Nana Patekar)

Spoken to : Central Minister Jeevanlal Tandel (Manohar Singh) and DSP (Sujit Kumar)

Dialogue writer : KK Singh

There are so many probes being ordered these days from Delhi, that I remembered this powerful line from a Nana Patekar film. This was a time when Nana was on song. Most of his films sold because of him. 

After a carnage, Minister Jeevanlal tries to assuage a fuming Wagle by saying he will conduct a 'nyaayik jaanch' (a judicial enquiry) from Delhi. When Wagle hears this, he loses his cool and shouts in characteristically cynical Nana style.

"nyaayik jaanch karegi dilli huh! andhi aur behri dilli! yeh dilli bas mu.nh hai isliye paTar paTar kartii rahtii hai - yeh karnaa hai, yeh honaa chaahiye. hame.n dikhaanaa hai. bas dil ko tasalli dene ke liye achchha lafz hai ...dilli..."

"न्यायिक जांच करेगी दिल्ली हह! अन्धी और बहरी दिल्ली! ये दिल्ली बस मुंह है, इसलिये पटर पटर करती रहती है - ये करना है, ये होना चाहिये. हमें दिखाना है. बस दिल को तसल्ली देने के लिये अच्छा लफ़्ज़ है...दिल्ली..."

You got to ask me nicely

Now for those of you who have seen the 1992 movie "A few good men" - instant recognition would be seen on your countenance; for those who have not - I must strongly recommend that you see this film. Broadly can be categorised as what is called a courtroom drama, but it is a must see for some of the powerful lines spouted by Jack Nicholson. He plays the role of Col Nathan R Jessop, head of a marine unit in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. One of the marines, Willie Santiago, in his unit dies under suspicious circumstances. It is suspected that he died during the administration of a "code red". While investigating this, the navy lawyer Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) asks Jessop for Santiago's transfer order. Jessop responds with

"You see Danny, I can deal with the bullets, and the bombs, and the blood. I don't want money, and I don't want medals. What I do want is for you to stand there in that faggoty white uniform and with your Harvard mouth extend me some fucking courtesy. You gotta ask me nicely."

Jessop is insisting that Danny should add a sir while asking him for "whatever it is that he wants". He has got to "ask him nicely"

Now when we go out into any office, you have to be very careful that you don't trip over the myriad king size egos all around. People would go to extreme lengths to ensure that they do not do work for people who they think are arrogant. They have to "be asked nicely". Hence, in a world full of such insecure people, when you ask someone to get information from a highly egotistical officer ("Are there any other kinds?"), remember

"You got to ask nicely"

I thought I would slip in an English quote. Next time we will be back to the traditional Hindi fare. Watch this space.