اگر میں کہوں Agar Main Kahoon — If I Were to Say

Javed Akhtar

1945– living

Geet

A man wants to say three words, and he is worried about the wording. If I said it, he begins, if I said that I love you, what would you say? The song is the conversation that follows, and the woman's answer is the song's real subject: say it better. Say it more gently, more roundabout. The song is a love confession conducted as a debate about style.

Javed Akhtar wrote it for Om Shanti Om in 2007, and Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal sang it. Five passages ahead. Every passage is the man trying a new formulation and the woman refining it, and the last exchange settles the whole negotiation.

01 — agar main kahoon, mujhe tum se mohabbat hai

اگر میں کہوں، مجھے تم سے محبت ہے
میری بس یہی چاہت ہے تو کیا کہوگی

अगर मैं कहूँ, मुझे तुमसे मोहब्बत है
मेरी बस यही चाहत है तो क्या कहोगी

agar main kahoon, mujhe tum se mohabbat hai
meri bas yahi chaahat hai toh kya kahogi

If I were to say, I love you, and this is my only longing, then what would you say?

The passage sets the song's grammar with its first word. Agar, if: the confession is offered conditionally, and the condition is the beloved's answer. The two words for love in one line, mohabbat and chaahat, longing and wanting, set the register high and then lower it, which is the song's whole movement: the man offers the big word and the small one in the same breath, and waits.

چاہت chaahat: wanting, longing

02 — main tum se kahungi is baat ko agar tum

میں تم سے کہوںگی اس بات کو اگر تم
ذرا اور سجا کے کہتے، ذرا گھما پھرا کے کہتے
تو اچھا ہوتا

मैं तुमसे कहूँगी इस बात को अगर तुम
ज़रा और सजाके कहते, ज़रा घुमा फिराके कहते
तो अच्छा होता

main tum se kahungi is baat ko agar tum
zara aur sajaake kehte, zara ghuma phiraake kehte
toh achha hota

I would answer this matter if you said it a little more dressed up, said it a little roundabout. That would be better.

The beloved's first ruling is a style note. Sajaana, to decorate, and ghuma phiraana, to say roundabout, are the two ways she wants the confession delivered, and the song has now admitted its real subject: not the feeling but the phrasing of it. The line is also the song's self-description, since the whole song is the roundabout version the beloved is asking for.

سجانا sajana: to decorate, to dress up
گھما پھرا کے ghuma phira ke: in a roundabout way, not straight out

03 — tumko jab dekhoon lagti ho jaisi nayi

تمکو جب دیکھوں لگتی ہو جیسا نئی
ہونٹ ہیں پنکھڑی پھول کی
آنکھیں جیسے جگنو چمکتے ہوئے
سوچے میرا یہ دل دھڑکتے ہوئے

तुमको जब देखूँ लगती हो जैसी नई
होंट हैं पंखड़ी फूल की
आँखें जैसे जुगनू चमकते हुए
सोचे मेरा ये दिल धड़कते हुए

tumko jab dekhoon lagti ho jaisi nayi
hont hain pankhdi phool ki
aankhen jaise jugnu chamakte hue
soche mera ye dil dhadakte hue

Whenever I see you, you seem new. Your lips are the petals of a flower. Your eyes are like glowing fireflies. My heart thinks this, beating.

The passage is the man's best formulation, and it is built entirely from the stock of the tradition: petals, fireflies, the beloved who looks new every time. The last line is the important one, because the heart is made the thinker, dil dhadakte hue soche, the beating heart thinks: the confession is handed from the mind to the organ, which is the tradition's way of saying the feeling outranks the words for it.

پنکھڑی pankhdi: a petal
جگنو jugnu: a firefly

04 — mujhko bhoole se bhi chaand tum na kaho

مجبھکو بھولے سے بھی چاند تم نہ کہو
چاند میں تو کئی داغ ہیں
مجھے پھول نہ کہنا وہ مرجھاتے ہیں
جگنو بھی نہ کہنا وہ کھو جاتے ہیں
یہ باتیں پرانی ہیں جو مجھکو سناتی ہیں
کسی اور ادا سے کہتے، ذرا گھما پھرا کے کہتے
تو اچھا ہوتا

मुझको भूल से भी चाँद तुम ना कहो
चाँद में तो कई दाग हैं
मुझे फूल ना कहना वो मुरझाते हैं
जुगनू भी ना कहना वो खो जाते हैं
ये बातें पुरानी हैं जो मुझको सुनाती हैं
किसी और अदा से कहते, ज़रा घुमा फिराके कहते
तो अच्छा होता

mujhko bhoole se bhi chaand tum na kaho
chaand mein toh kai daag hain
mujhe phool na kehna voh murjhaate hain
jugnu bhi na kehna voh kho jaate hain
ye baatein puraani hain jo mujhko sunaati hain
kisi aur ada se kehte, zara ghuma phiraake kehte
toh achha hota

Do not call me the moon, even by mistake: the moon has many spots. Do not call me a flower, they wilt. Do not call me a firefly either, they get lost. These are old lines you are reciting to me. Say it with some other style, say it roundabout. That would be better.

The passage is the beloved's counter-catalogue, and each rejection is accurate: the moon has dagg, spots, the flower murjhaati, wilts, the firefly kho jaata, gets lost. The compliments are refused not because they are false but because they are borrowed, purani baatein, old lines. The beloved is asking to be complimented without the tradition's furniture, and the last line repeats the style note of the first answer, which makes the whole song the beloved's own version of a roundabout confession.

داغ daag: a stain, a blemish; the marks on the moon
مرجھانا murjhana: to wilt
ادا ada: a manner, a way of carrying oneself

05 — baatein sunke tumhaari main hairaan hoon

باتیں سن کے تمہاری میں حیران ہوں
جو بھی کہنا ہے کیسے کہوں
لگتا تمہیں کچھ بھی اچھا نہیں
سچ کو بھی کہتی ہو سچا نہیں
اگر میں کہوں تمہیں پتہ نہیں ہے کیوں
ہے پیار مجھے بھی تم سے تو کیا کہوگے
میں تم سے کہوںگا میرے دل کا ہے یہ کہنا
ہمکو ہے ساتھ میں رہنا
یہ دونوں کے دل میں ہے نا
تو پھر کیوں کہنا

बातें सुनके तुम्हारी मैं हैरान हूँ
जो भी कहना है कैसे कहूँ
लगता तुम्हें कुछ भी अच्छा नहीं
सच को भी कहती हो सच्चा नहीं
अगर मैं कहूँ तुम्हें पता नहीं है क्यों
है प्यार मुझे भी तुमसे तो क्या कहोगे
मैं तुमसे कहूँगा मेरे दिल का है ये कहना
हमको है साथ में रहना
ये दोनों के दिल में है ना
तो फिर क्यों कहना

baatein sunke tumhaari main hairaan hoon
jo bhi kehna hai kaise kahoon
lagta tumhen kuchh bhi achha nahin
sach ko bhi kehti ho sachcha nahin
agar main kahoon tumhen pata nahin hai kyun
hai pyaar mujhe bhi tum se toh kya kahoge
main tum se kahunga mere dil ka hai ye kehna
humko hai saath mein rehna
ye donon ke dil mein hai na
toh phir kyun kehna

Hearing your words, I am amazed. Whatever I have to say, how do I say it? Nothing seems good to you; you call even the truth untrue. If I said, you do not know why, but I love you too, what would you say then? I will tell you: it is my heart's saying that we must be together. And if that is in both hearts, then why say it at all?

The passage is the negotiation's end, and the end is an exchange of conditions. The man surrenders, sach ko bhi sachcha nahin, you call even the truth untrue. Then the woman uses the man's own grammar against him, agar main kahoon, if I said, and the mirror version of the confession lands: I love you too, what would you say? The final exchange closes the deal in three lines: the heart wants togetherness, both hearts want it, and the last question, phir kyun kehna, then why say it, is the song's answer to its own first line. The confession was always going to be unnecessary, and the song was the roundabout way of finding that out.

حیران hairaan: amazed, at a loss

Reading it whole

The song is a proposal built as a negotiation, and the negotiator on the other side is the beloved. Agar main kahoon, if I say it: the conditional is the song's grammar, and the song never once uses the declarative until the very end. The man keeps offering versions, and the woman keeps asking for better ones, zara aur sajaake kehte, say it more dressed up, zara ghuma phiraake kehte, say it roundabout. The song is about the distance between the feeling and the words for it, and the beloved is the critic who insists the distance can be closed.

The second passage is the man's best try, and it is a catalogue of compliments. Her lips are flower petals, her eyes are fireflies, her face is a moon. The beloved's answer is the song's cleverest turn: do not call me the moon, she says, the moon has spots. Do not call me a flower, they wilt. Do not call me a firefly, they get lost. The compliments are rejected for their accuracy, and the rejection is itself a compliment of a higher order: she is asking to be described without the stock similes, which means she is asking to be described properly.

The third passage is the man's surrender and the song's whole point. Whatever I say, you find nothing good in it. You call even the truth untrue. And the beloved's reply is the answer the song has been moving toward: if I said I love you too, what would you say then? The negotiation was never about the words. It was about who would say the decisive sentence first, and the woman has just said it.

The closing exchange finishes the negotiation in three lines: my heart says we should be together, and if both hearts want it, then why say it at all. The song ends on the silence that the whole debate was guarding. Sonu Nigam's voice and the film's film-within-a-film setting made the song one of the most quoted confessions of the aughts.

Recordings

Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal

From Om Shanti Om (2007), composed by Vishal-Shekhar.

Text and rights

Devanagari text supplied and checked by a reader who knows the language. The Urdu script and the transliteration follow that reading.

The song is from the film Om Shanti Om (2007), music Vishal-Shekhar, lyrics Javed Akhtar. The film version includes a spoken passage before the first verse, which is not printed here.

Javed Akhtar is alive and the song is recent work. It is quoted here as the subject of Harf's own criticism: the translation, the reading of each passage and the essay around them are original work written for this page. If you hold the rights and would like something changed, tell us on Instagram.