Will blow dust in your days, make a desert of your dreams. The clear seasons of your eyes will make you sad, Their promises are air – they are not what they seem.Īnd when the monsoon comes, without clouds, without streams, Lyrics of this song beautifully describe the comfort and pain one can experience in love. They’ll promise you heaven, for a change of scene,īut you’ll get nothing in writing, so don’t be too glad – 'Aandhi' (1975) The Padma Bhushan awardee gave love a new meaning with this famous song from 'Aandhi'. Sow rainbows in clouds just to make you mad,īlow dust in your days and make a desert of your dreams. They’ll seed sleep with monsoons, reap a vision of green, They bite where they like and their venom drives mad, them(naina thag lenge, nainaa thag lenge/nainaon kee mat maniyo. Is he friend or stranger? Why, what does that mean? Abstract (E): The essay focuses on cultural translation of cinematic emotion in Vishal. They’ll blow dust in your days, make a desert of your dreams. If you believe in their magic, you will be had. These clear seasons of the eyes will drive you mad.Īnd here's a more free-flowing, 'poetic' translation, in the form of a (slightly abbreviated) villanelle:ĭo not trust eyes, they are not what they seem. They will sow a monsoon of dreams, reap a green vision īecause there is no accounting for images,Īnd when the monsoon comes, without clouds, without rain, Wandering in the night, your eyes will bring you to heaven, Sow rainbows in the clouds and your eyes will drive you mad. Sow rainbows in the clouds and they will rain till sunset, The eyes do not care whether friend or stranger, They will blow dust in your days and make sleep a desert. They will blow dust in your days, waken you to magic Here's my straight-up, free-verse translation (where I try to be reasonably true to the original): Jagte jaadu phukenge re jagte jagte jaadu Megh malhaar ke sapne bije hariyali dikhlaveīin baadal barsaaye saawan, saawan bin barsaatanīin baadal barsaaye saawan naina baanwara kar denge Naina raat ko chalte chalte swargaan mein le jaave Jagte jaadu phukenge re neenden banjar kar dengeīaadalon mein satrangiyan bonve bhor talak barsaaveīaadalon mein satrangiyan bonve, naina baanvra kar denge Jagte jaadu phukenge re, jagte jagte jaadu Nainon ki mat maaniyo re, nainon ki mat suniyo, The depth and meaning of the lyrics penned by Gulzar and the voice of Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar makes it the ultimate golden song of Bollywood. Here are the original lyrics of the song as per Chronicus Skepticus (any cribs you have with them to be please directed to her): Still, I've never been one to refuse a challenge - which translating Gulzar into English certainly is - specially not when it can be used as an excuse for a blog post. I've seen the film, and have a vague memory of the song, though I can't say that I was blown away by it. In a post about the soundtrack of Omkara (scroll down, past the Vande Mataram stuff), and, in particular, the song Naina from the film, Chronicus Skepticus asked me if I would consider attempting a translation of the lyrics into English.