دلبر میرے Dilbar Mere — My Beloved

Anand Bakshi

1930– 2002

Geet

A man is threatening the woman he loves, and every threat is a declaration. How long will you keep tormenting me, he asks, and then he announces what he will do about it: I will set such a fire in your heart that you will melt in a moment. The whole song is this fire, and the beloved is both the thing being threatened and the thing being adored.

Anand Bakshi wrote it for Satte Pe Satta in 1982, and Kishore Kumar sang it for Amitabh Bachchan's double role in the film. Four passages ahead, and each one ends with the same two-line verdict: a day will come, and love will happen.

01 — dilbar mere, kab tak mujhe aise hi tarpaaoge

دلبر میرے، کب تک مجھے ایسے ہی تڑپاؤگے
میں آگ دل میں لگا دوں گا وہ، کہ پل میں پگھل جاؤگے

दिलबर मेरे, कब तक मुझे ऐसे ही तड़पाओगे
मैं आग दिल में लगा दूँगा वो, कि पल में पिघल जाओगे

dilbar mere, kab tak mujhe aise hi tarpaaoge
main aag dil mein laga doonga voh, ki pal mein pighal jaoge

My beloved, how long will you keep tormenting me like this? I will set such a fire in your heart that you will melt in a moment.

The passage opens with the beloved's title, dilbar, the one who holds the heart, and the complaint is that the holder is tormenting the held. The threat is a prophecy in the future tense, and its fuel is the song's central image. The fire is never named as anger. It is named by its effect: the beloved will melt, pighalna, which is what hearts do in this tradition when the right fire reaches them.

دلبر dilbar: the one who carries your heart off

02 — ek din aayega, pyaar ho jayega

ایک دن آئے گا، پیار ہو جائے گا
ہو ہو، میں آگ دل میں لگا دوں گا وہ
کہ پل میں پگھل جاؤگے

एक दिन आएगा, प्यार हो जाएगा
हो-हो, मैं आग दिल में लगा दूँगा वो
कि पल में पिघल जाओगे

ek din aayega, pyaar ho jayega
ho ho, main aag dil mein laga doonga voh
ki pal mein pighal jaoge

A day will come, and love will happen. Ho ho, I will set such a fire in your heart that you will melt in a moment.

The refrain is the song's verdict, delivered as a weather forecast: ek din aayega, pyaar ho jayega. The day is coming, and the love is not an event the beloved chooses, it is an event that happens to her. The repeated threat wraps around the verdict, and the two lines together are the whole argument of the song: the fire is coming, and the love is the fire.

03 — sochoge jab mere baare mein tanhaaiyon mein

سوچوگے جب میرے بارے میں تنہائیوں میں
گھر جاؤگے اور بھی میری پرچھائیوں میں
ہو، دل مچل جائے گا، پیار ہو جائے گا

सोचोगे जब मेरे बारे में तनहाइयों में
घिर जाओगे और भी मेरी परछाइयों में
हो, दिल मचल जाएगा, प्यार हो जाएगा

sochoge jab mere baare mein tanhaaiyon mein
ghir jaoge aur bhi meri parchhaaiyon mein
ho, dil machal jayega, pyaar ho jayega

When you think of me in your loneliest hours, you will be surrounded even more by my shadows. Oh, the heart will yearn, and love will happen.

The threat here is the most intimate one. The beloved's loneliness, tanhaaiyaan, is where the lover has taken up residence. The shadows, parchhaaiyaan, multiply around her, which is the lover's way of saying that the absence of him will be full of him. Machalna, to yearn restlessly, is the heart's own motion, and the refrain gives the verdict its quietest form: no one needs to do anything, the heart will do it by itself.

تنہائی tanhaai: solitude, being alone
پرچھائیں parchhaai: a shadow, a reflection
مچلنا machalna: to yearn restlessly, to insist like a child

04 — dil se milega jo dil toh mahakne lagoge

دل سے ملے گا جو دل تو مہکنے لگوگے
تم میری باہوں میں آ کے بہکنے لگوگے
اے، ہوش کھو جائے گا، پیار ہو جائے گا

दिल से मिलेगा जो दिल तो महकने लगोगे
तुम मेरी बाँहों में आके बहकने लगोगे
ए, होश खो जाएगा, प्यार हो जाएगा

dil se milega jo dil toh mahakne lagoge
tum meri baahon mein aake bahakne lagoge
e, hosh kho jayega, pyaar ho jayega

When one heart meets another, you will begin to blossom. Come into my arms and you will begin to sway. Eh, the senses will be lost, and love will happen.

The final passage changes the fire's name. Mahakna, to blossom and give off fragrance, and bahakna, to sway without direction, are the verbs of intoxication, and the threat has become a caress. The refrain's last form is the truest: hosh kho jayega, the senses will go. The song began by promising to melt the beloved and ends by promising to dissolve her, and the two promises are the same promise, which is that love does not ask permission.

مہکنا mahakna: to give off fragrance
بہکنا bahakna: to be led astray, to sway off course
ہوش hosh: the senses, self-possession

Reading it whole

The song is a seduction conducted entirely as a threat. Every passage begins with what the beloved will feel when the fire catches, and the fire is the song's name for the love the beloved keeps refusing to admit. Tarpaana, to torment, is the complaint; the answer is a prophecy. The beloved will think of him in her loneliness, and her own shadows will close in around her.

The structure repeats itself with perfect discipline. Each passage names a new sensation the beloved will undergo, then closes on the same refrain: dil machal jayega, pyaar ho jayega, the heart will yearn, love will happen. The refrain is a promise, and the promise is the song's only demand. The lover is not asking for anything. He is telling her what she will feel whether she comes or not.

The last passage gives the fire its most tender form. When one heart meets another, the beloved will begin to blossom, mahakna. She will sway in his arms, bahakna. The verbs of the song climb from torment to intoxication, and the last one, hosh kho jayega, the senses will be lost, is where the fire finally does what the first passage promised. The threat and the gift have been the same thing all along.

Kishore Kumar's recording, with the film's disco-era arrangement behind it, turned the threat into a party song, which is the tradition's oldest trick: the most intimate declaration, sung at full volume in a crowd.

Recordings

Kishore Kumar

From Satte Pe Satta (1982), composed by R. D. Burman.

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 Satte Pe Satta (1982), music R. D. Burman, lyrics Anand Bakshi. The refrain returns between passages in the recording more often than it is printed here.

Anand Bakshi died in 2002, 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.