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Script shown with the Urdu

دل سے رے Dil Se Re — From the Heart

Gulzar

1934– living

Geet

A song that explains what the heart is by explaining what it is not. The first thing it remembers is weather: a sun came up, some quicksilver melted, a storm came through, and somewhere under it a sigh came out of the heart. Everything after that is an attempt to say what that sigh was made of, and every attempt fails in a slightly different way.

Gulzar wrote it as the title track of Mani Ratnam's Dil Se in 1998, with A. R. Rahman's music and the voices of A. R. Rahman and Annupamaa. Five passages ahead. Two of them are about leaves, two about walls and windows, and one keeps repeating the only definition that holds: a heart is a heart, a small sweet difficulty.

01  — ek suraj nikla tha, kuchh paara pighla tha

ایک سورج نکلا تھا، کچھ پارہ پگھلا تھا
ایک آندھی آئی تھی، جب دل سے آہ نکلی تھی
دل سے رے

एक सूरज निकला था, कुछ पारा पिघला था
एक आँधी आयी थी, जब दिल से आह निकली थी
दिल से रे

ek suraj nikla tha, kuchh paara pighla tha
ek aandhi aayi thi, jab dil se aah nikli thi
dil se re

A sun had come up, some quicksilver had melted. A storm had come, when the sigh came out of the heart. From the heart.

The song begins in weather, not in feeling. A sun, some melted mercury, a storm: three things that happen without anyone choosing them, and the sigh comes out of the heart the same way. Paara, quicksilver, is the exact word, a metal that runs. The whole first passage is set in the past tense of things that simply occurred.

پارہ paara
quicksilver, mercury
آندھی aandhi
a dust storm
آہ aah
a sigh drawn out of pain

02  — dil se re, dil se re

دل سے رے، دل سے رے
دل تو آخر دل ہے نا، میٹھی سی مشکل ہے نا
پیا پیا، پیا پیا، پیا نا پیا
جیا جیا، جیا نا جیا

दिल से रे, दिल से रे
दिल तो आख़िर दिल है ना, मीठी सी मुश्किल है ना
पिया-पिया, पिया-पिया, पिया ना पिया
जिया-जिया, जिया ना जिया

dil se re, dil se re
dil toh aakhir dil hai na, meethi si mushkil hai na
piya piya, piya piya, piya na piya
jiya jiya, jiya na jiya

From the heart, from the heart. A heart, after all, is a heart, isn't it, a small sweet difficulty, isn't it? Beloved, beloved, beloved or not beloved. Live, live, live or not live.

The refrain gives the song its only definition, and the definition is a shrug: a heart is a heart. Meethi si mushkil, a difficulty with a sweet taste, is the whole poem in two words. Then the wordplay takes over. Piya is both the beloved and the past tense of drinking, so piya na piya means the beloved who is not, and the draught that was not drunk. Jiya is both living and a heart, so jiya na jiya is living or not, heart or not. The two lines rhyme because they are the same thought: nothing here is settled.

پیا piya
the beloved: Braj
جیا jiya
the heart, the life in a person: Braj

03  — do patte patjhad ke, pedon se utaare

دو پتے پت جھڑ کے، پیڑوں سے اتارے
کہ شاخوں سے اتارے تھے
پھر اتنے موسم گزرے، وہ پتے دو بیچارے
پھر اگنے کی چاہت میں وہ سحروں سے گزرے
وہ پتے دل دل تھے، وہ پتے دو تھے، دل دل دل تھے

दो पत्ते पतझड़ के, पेड़ों से उतारे
कि शाखों से उतारे थे
फिर उतने मौसम गुज़रे, वो पत्ते दो बेचारे
फिर उगने की चाहत में वो सहरों से गुज़रे
वो पत्ते दिल दिल थे, वो पत्ते दो थे, दिल दिल दिल थे

do patte patjhad ke, pedon se utaare
ki shaakhon se utaare the
phir utne mausam guzre, voh patte do bechaare
phir ugne ki chaahat mein voh sahron se guzre
voh patte dil dil the, voh patte do the, dil dil dil the

Two autumn leaves, taken down from the trees, or rather from the branches they were taken down. Then so many seasons passed, those two poor leaves. Wanting to sprout again, they passed through dawn after dawn. Those leaves were hearts, hearts. Those leaves were two, and they were hearts, hearts, hearts.

The passage corrects itself as it goes. The leaves were taken from trees, no, from branches, the poem says, as if precision mattered to something that has no body. Then the seasons pass and the two poor leaves want to sprout, and the poem finally names what it has been carrying: woh patte dil dil the. The confession is delayed until the last line, and the repetition, dil dil dil, is the song's whole method. It will not say what a heart is, but it will keep pointing.

پت جھڑ patjhad
autumn, the season the leaves come down
شاخ shaakh
a branch
سحر sahar
dawn

04  — bandhan hai rishton mein, kaanton ke taare hain

بندھن ہے رشتوں میں، کانٹوں کے تارے ہیں
پتھر کے دروازے، دیواریں
پھر بھی اگتی ہیں، اور گچھے بھی کھلتے ہیں
اور چلتے ہیں افسانے، کردار بھی ملتے ہیں
وہ رشتے دل دل تھے، وہ دل تھے، دل دل دل تھے

बंधन है रिश्तों में, काँटों के तारे हैं
पत्थर के दरवाज़े, दीवारें
फिर भी उगती हैं, और गुच्छे भी खिलते हैं
और चलते हैं अफ़साने, किरदार भी मिलते हैं
वो रिश्ते दिल दिल थे, वो दिल थे, दिल दिल दिल थे

bandhan hai rishton mein, kaanton ke taare hain
patthar ke darwaaze, deewarein
phir bhi ugti hain, aur guchchhe bhi khilte hain
aur chalte hain afsaane, kirdaar bhi milte hain
voh rishte dil dil the, voh dil the, dil dil dil the

There are bonds in relationships, and they are barbed wire. There are stone doors and walls. And still things grow, and whole clusters bloom, and stories keep walking on, and characters keep meeting. Those bonds were hearts, hearts. They were hearts, hearts, hearts, hearts.

The passage is the same argument as the leaves, set in a harder world. This time the poem says what blocks growth: kaan ton ke taare, barbed wire, patthar ke darwaaze, doors of stone. The force of the verse is in the phir bhi, and still: growth happens around the wire and through the walls. The last line does the leaf confession again, and the rhyme of rishte with dil lets the two words change places. A bond is a heart wearing a disguise.

بندھن bandhan
a bond, a tie
گچھا guchchha
a cluster, a bunch
کردار kirdaar
a character in a story

05  — gham dil ke pal chulbule hain, paani ke ye bul-bule hain

غم دل کے پل چلبلے ہیں، پانی کے یہ بلبلے ہیں
بجھتے ہیں، بنتے رہتے ہیں
غم دل کے پل چلبلے ہیں، پانی کے یہ بلبلے ہیں
بجھتے ہیں، بنتے رہتے ہیں

ग़म दिल के पल चुलबुले हैं, पानी के ये बुलबुले हैं
बुझते हैं, बनते रहते हैं
ग़म दिल के पल चुलबुले हैं, पानी के ये बुलबुले हैं
बुझते हैं, बनते रहते हैं

gham dil ke pal chulbule hain, paani ke ye bul-bule hain
bujhte hain, bante rehte hain
gham dil ke pal chulbule hain, paani ke ye bul-bule hain
bujhte hain, bante rehte hain

The heart's moments of grief are playful little things, they are bubbles of water. They go out, and they keep forming. The heart's moments of grief are playful little things, they are bubbles of water. They go out, and they keep forming.

The closing passage makes the sorrow small, which is the kindest thing the song does. Chulbula is a word for a child who cannot sit still, and the griefs are given that word, frisky and restless, before they are given the second image: bubbles that vanish and reform. The verse is repeated whole, which is the song's way of saying the cycle is the point. Nothing in this passage is permanent, and the comfort and the ache are the same fact.

چلبلا chulbula
playful, restless, never still
بلبلہ bul-bula
a bubble

Reading it whole

The song refuses to define its own title. Dil se, from the heart, is said dozens of times, and the poem around it keeps reaching for metaphors and letting them go. The refrain's answer is the only steady one: dil to aakhir dil hai na, a heart, after all, is a heart, a meethi si mushkil, a difficulty that tastes sweet. Everything else in the song is the difficulty demonstrating itself.

The first passage is two leaves. Two leaves were taken down from a tree in autumn, the song says, and then the leaves are given a whole history: seasons passed, the two poor leaves kept wanting to sprout again, they went through dawn after dawn. Then the poem does its only outright trick: woh patte dil dil the. Those leaves were hearts, hearts, hearts. The metaphor confesses itself.

The second passage is the same thought running on stone. Relationships have thorn-wire fences and stone doors and walls, and still things grow, still flowers bloom in clusters, still stories walk on and characters meet. Those bonds were hearts too. The fence is not the point. The growth is.

The closing passage is the strangest and the gentlest. The griefs of the heart are bubbles in water, the song says. They burst, and they keep forming. It is Gulzar's version of a consolation: the sorrows are not permanent, and neither, for the same reason, are the joys. The song ends on the bubbles, not on the heart, which is its way of saying the whole thing is water.

Recordings

Read next

All 128 poems, A to Z

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 the title track of the film Dil Se (1998), music A. R. Rahman, lyrics Gulzar.

Gulzar 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.