چلو ایک بار پھر سے Chalo Ek Baar Phir Se — Come, Once Again

Sahir Ludhianvi

1921– 1980

Geet

Two people who know each other too well are being asked to start over, and the starting over means becoming strangers. Chalo ik baar phir se ajnabi ban jaayen hum dono: come, once again, let the two of us become strangers. The song is a love song that proposes not love but its opposite, and the proposal is made because the love has become a weight.

Sahir Ludhianvi wrote it for the 1963 film Gumrah, and Mahendra Kapoor sang it over Ravi's music. Four passages ahead. The middle ones explain what the weight is, and the last one gives the reason for the strangeness: a story that cannot be carried to its end is better left at a beautiful turn.

01 — chalo ek baar phir se

چلو ایک بار پھر سے
اجنبی بن جائیں ہم دونوں
نا میں تم سے کوئی امید رکھوں دل نوازی کی
نا تم میری طرف دیکھو، غلط انداز نظروں سے
نا میرے دل کی دھڑکن لڑکھڑائے میری باتوں میں
نا ظاہر ہو تمہاری کشمکش کا راز نظروں سے
چلو ایک بار پھر سے
اجنبی بن جائیں ہم دونوں

चलो एक बार फिर से
अजनबी बन जाएँ हम दोनों
ना मैं तुमसे कोई उम्मीद रखूँ दिलनवाज़ी की
ना तुम मेरी तरफ़ देखो, ग़लत अंदाज़ नज़रों से
ना मेरे दिल की धड़कन लड़खड़ाए मेरी बातों में
ना ज़ाहिर हो तुम्हारी कशमकश का राज़ नज़रों से
चलो एक बार फिर से
अजनबी बन जाएँ हम दोनों

chalo ek baar phir se
ajnabi ban jaayen hum dono
na main tum se koi ummeed rakhoon dilnawaazi ki
na tum meri taraf dekho, galat andaaz nazron se
na mere dil ki dhadkan ladkhadaaye meri baaton mein
na zaahir ho tumhaari kashmakash ka raaz nazron se
chalo ek baar phir se
ajnabi ban jaayen hum dono

Come, once again, let the two of us become strangers. Let me not keep any hope of your kindness. Let you not look toward me with mistaken glances. Let my heart's beating not stumble in my words. Let the secret of your restlessness not show in your eyes. Come, once again, let the two of us become strangers.

The passage is the proposal, and the proposal is a contract of negatives. Ajnabi, stranger, is the word for the person with no claims on you, and the return to it is proposed as a recovery. The four conditions are all small betrayals of the self: the hope that will not be kept, the glance that will not be cast, the heart that will not stumble, the secret that will not show. The passage's cruelty is that the conditions are addressed to the beloved as well: her restlessness is known, and the request is that it stop showing.

اجنبی ajnabi: a stranger
دلنوازی dilnawaazi: kindness of the sort that soothes the heart
کشمکش kashmakash: a tug of war inside a person
لڑکھڑانا ladkhadana: to stumble, to falter

02 — tumhen bhi koi uljhan rokti hai peshqadmi se

تمہیں بھی کوئی الجھن روکتی ہے پیش قدمی سے
مجھے بھی لوگ کہتے ہیں کہ یہ جلویں پرائے ہیں
میرے ہمراہ بھی رسوائیاں ہیں میرے ماضی کی
تمہارے ساتھ بھی گزری ہوئی راتوں کے سائے ہیں
چلو ایک بار پھر سے
اجنبی بن جائیں ہم دونوں

तुम्हें भी कोई उलझन रोकती है पेशक़दमी से
मुझे भी लोग कहते हैं कि ये जलवे पराए हैं
मेरे हमराह भी रुसवाइयाँ हैं मेरे माज़ी की
तुम्हारे साथ भी गुज़री हुई रातों के साए हैं
चलो एक बार फिर से
अजनबी बन जाएँ हम दोनों

tumhen bhi koi uljhan rokti hai peshqadmi se
mujhe bhi log kehte hain ki ye jalwe paraye hain
mere hamraah bhi ruswaaiyaan hain mere maazi ki
tumhaare saath bhi guzri hui raaton ke saaye hain
chalo ek baar phir se
ajnabi ban jaayen hum dono

Some tangle holds you back from stepping forward too. People tell me too that these charms are foreign. Walking with me are the disgraces of my past. And with you walk the shadows of nights already spent. Come, once again, let the two of us become strangers.

The passage is the contract's second clause, and it is the fairest one: the beloved's blockage is granted in the same line as the poet's. Peh-shakdami, the stepping forward, is held back for her by an uljhan, a tangle, and the poet carries ruswaaiyaan, the disgraces of his past, like luggage. The line about the shadows of spent nights, guzri hui raaton ke saaye, is the poem's most delicate image of the beloved's own history, and the refrain closes over the pair as the only honest contract: strangers, because both are already carrying too much.

پیش قدمی peshqadmi: stepping forward, making the first move
جلوہ jalwa: a showing of beauty, a splendour
رسوائی ruswaai: public disgrace
ماضی maazi: the past

03 — taaruf rog ho jaaye, toh usko bhoolna behtar

تعارف رگ ہو جائے، تو اسکو بھولنا بہتر
تعلق بوجھ بن جائے، تو اسکو توڑنا اچھا
وہ افسانہ جسے انجام تک لانا نہ ہو ممکن
اسے ایک خوبصورت موڑ دے کر چھوڑنا اچھا
چلو ایک بار پھر سے
اجنبی بن جائیں ہم دونوں

तआरुफ़ रोग हो जाए, तो उसको भूलना बेहतर
ताल्लुक़ बोझ बन जाए, तो उसको तोड़ना अच्छा
वो अफ़साना जिसे अंजाम तक लाना ना हो मुमकिन
उसे एक खूबसूरत मोड़ देकर छोड़ना अच्छा
चलो एक बार फिर से
अजनबी बन जाएँ हम दोनों

taaruf rog ho jaaye, toh usko bhoolna behtar
taalluq bojh ban jaaye, toh usko todna achha
voh afsaana jise anjaam tak laana na ho mumkin
use ek khoobsurat mod de kar chhodna achha
chalo ek baar phir se
ajnabi ban jaayen hum dono

If the acquaintance becomes an illness, it is better to forget it. If the bond becomes a burden, it is better to break it. That story which cannot be brought to its end: it is better to leave it at a beautiful turn. Come, once again, let the two of us become strangers.

The passage is the proposal's reason, and the reason is a small set of maxims. Taaruf, the acquaintance, has become rog, an illness; taaalluq, the bond, has become bojh, a burden. The pair of maxims is the poem's practical wisdom, and the third line raises it: the story that cannot reach its end, woh afsana, is better left at a beautiful turn. The line is the song's true subject, the art of the unfinished, and it is the reason the poem can propose strangeness as a kindness: the leaving is a skill, and the beautiful turn is its masterpiece.

تعارف taaruf: acquaintance, an introduction
تعلق taalluq: a connection, a bond
افسانہ afsaana: a story, a tale
انجام anjaam: the end a thing comes to

Reading it whole

The song is a love song with the love cancelled in its first line. Ajnabi ban jaayen hum dono, let us become strangers, is the proposal, and the whole song is the argument for it. The proposal is made in the vocabulary of the court, the offer of the lover who has run out of room, and the song keeps the register light, which is how you can hear it as a love song at all.

The second passage is the contract, and the contract is drawn in negatives. I will not keep any hope of your kindness. You will not look at me with mistaken glances. My heart's beating will not stumble in my words, and the secret of your restlessness will not show in your eyes. The passage is the beloved's own misery being returned to her, gently: you too have something that blocks you, the song says, and I have my past's disgraces following me.

The last passage is where the proposal gets its reason, and the reason is a small philosophy. If the introduction becomes an illness, it is better forgotten. If the bond becomes a burden, it is better broken. The story that cannot be brought to its end, woh afsana jise anjaam tak laana na ho mumkin, is better left at a beautiful turn, ik khoobsurat mod de kar chhodna achha. The line is the song's whole position, and it has outlived the film: it is the most quoted description in Hindi of what a relationship can become.

Mahendra Kapoor's voice and the film's love triangle gave the song its permanent form. It is one of the few songs in the language in which politeness is the sharpest weapon, and the request to become strangers has been a wedding song and a goodbye song by turns, which is exactly what its author made it.

Recordings

Mahendra Kapoor

From Gumrah (1963), composed by Ravi.

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 Gumrah (1963), composed by Ravi, lyrics Sahir Ludhianvi. The refrain returns between passages in the recording more often than it is printed here.

Sahir Ludhianvi died in 1980, so this poem is still in copyright. 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.