کیا ہوا تیرا وعدہ Kya Hua Tera Vaada — What Happened to Your Promise

Majrooh Sultanpuri

1919– 2000

Geet

Two people who were everything to each other meet again, and one of them has a question that has been waiting for years: what happened to your promise? You said we would never be angry, never part. The question is a verdict dressed as a question, and the person asking it keeps it civil, which makes it cut deeper.

Majrooh Sultanpuri wrote it for Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin in 1977, and Mohammed Rafi sang it, which gave the accusation the voice of the gentlest man in Hindi cinema. Three passages ahead, and the second one is the exchange the whole song has been building toward: which of us is the cheat, the one who suffered for love or the one who sold it.

01 — yaad hai mujhko tune kaha tha

یاد ہے مجھکو تو نے کہا تھا
تم سے نہیں روٹھیں گے کبھی
دل کی طرح سے آج ملے ہیں
کیسے بھلا چھوٹیں گے کبھی
تیری باہوں میں بیتی ہر شام
بے وفا یہ بھی کیا یاد نہیں

याद है मुझको तूने कहा था
तुमसे नहीं रूठेंगे कभी
दिल की तरह से आज मिले हैं
कैसे भला छूटेंगे कभी
तेरी बाहों में बीती हर शाम
बेवफ़ा ये भी क्या याद नहीं

yaad hai mujhko tune kaha tha
tum se nahin roothenge kabhi
dil ki tarah se aaj mile hain
kaise bhala chhootenge kabhi
teri baahon mein beeti har shaam
bewafa ye bhi kya yaad nahin

I remember you said: we will never be angry with each other. Today we meet heart to heart, so how, tell me, will we ever part? Every evening I spent in your arms. Traitor, is even this not in your memory?

The passage establishes the evidence with the calm of a court. The promise is quoted verbatim, roothna, the sulking quarrel of lovers, sworn never to happen. Then the cruel detail: we meet today dil ki tarah, the way hearts do, close and trusting, and the meeting makes the parting harder, not easier. The last line changes the address from you to bewafa, traitor, and the question, is even this not remembered, is the whole accusation in one sentence.

روٹھنا roothna: to sulk, to take offence
بےوفا bewafa: unfaithful; a traitor to somebody's love

02 — kya hua tera vaada

کیا ہوا تیرا وعدہ
وہ قسم وہ ارادہ
بھولے گا دل جس دن تمہیں
وہ دن زندگی کا آخری دن ہوگا

क्या हुआ तेरा वादा
वो क़सम वो इरादा
भूलेगा दिल जिस दिन तुम्हें
वो दिन ज़िन्दगी का आख़िरी दिन होगा

kya hua tera vaada
voh qasam voh iraada
bhoolega dil jis din tumhen
voh din zindagi ka aakhri din hoga

What happened to your promise, that oath, that intention? The day the heart forgets you, that day will be the last day of my life.

The refrain is the song's sentence, and the sentence works by outbidding the broken vow with a vow that cannot be broken. The man broke his promise, and the woman answers with a promise she can keep: the heart will not forget, because the day it does is the day she dies. The rhyme of vaada with iraada, promise and intention, gives the accusation its shape. Both his words are being quoted back at him.

قسم qasam: an oath
ارادہ iraada: an intention, a resolve

03 — oh kahne waale, mujhko farebi

اوہ کہنے والے، مجھکو فریبی
کون فریبی ہے یہ بتا
وہ جس نے غم لیا پیار کے خاطر
یا جس میں پیار کو بیچ دیا
نشہ دولت کا ایسا بھی کیا
کہ تجھے کچھ بھی یاد نہیں

ओ कहने वाले, मुझको फरेबी
कौन फरेबी है ये बता
वो जिसने ग़म लिया प्यार के ख़ातिर
या जिसमें प्यार को बेच दिया
नशा दौलत का ऐसा भी क्या
कि तुझे कुछ भी याद नहीं

oh kahne waale, mujhko farebi
kaun farebi hai ye bata
voh jisne gham liya pyaar ke khaatir
ya jismein pyaar ko bech diya
nasha daulat ka aisa bhi kya
ki tujhe kuchh bhi yaad nahin

You, who call me the cheat, tell me: who is the cheat? The one who took on grief for the sake of love, or the one who sold the love? What is this intoxication of wealth, that you remember nothing at all?

The passage turns the accusation around and hands it back. Farebi, the fraud, is the word the man has used, and the woman redefines it. The taker of grief, gham lena, is love's debtor, and the honest position in this tradition. The seller is the fraud, and the selling is named with the plainest verb in the language, bech diya, sold. The last line is the diagnosis offered coolly: nasha daulat ka, the intoxication of wealth, has done the emptying. The poem's anger has cooled into a medical report.

فریبی farebi: a deceiver, a cheat
خاطر khaatir: for the sake of
دولت daulat: wealth

Reading it whole

The song is a cross-examination conducted in public. The first passage establishes the facts: you promised we would never be apart, and here we are, apart. The refrain then delivers the sentence, and the sentence is the most famous thing about the song: the day my heart forgets you will be the last day of my life. It is a promise that makes forgetting impossible, a vow that outlives every broken vow.

The second passage is where the song becomes a debate. The man protests that he is being called a cheat, and the woman answers with the distinction the whole argument turns on. A fraud, farebi, is the one who took on the grief of love for love's sake. The one who sold the love itself, who bech diya the pyaar, is the real fraud. The song is not angry with the man for loving her. The anger is for trading the love.

The diagnosis follows in the last passage, and it is cooler than the anger. The intoxicant of wealth, nasha daulat ka, is the thing that emptied the memory. The question asked at the start, what happened to your promise, is answered here: it was bought. The song ends without a reconciliation. It ends on the diagnosis, which is its way of saying that some questions are not asked to be answered.

Mohammed Rafi's voice, with R. D. Burman's tune behind it, made the accusation sound like a lament, and the lament is why the song survives: it is one of the few film songs in which the person betrayed is allowed to be right.

Recordings

Mohammed Rafi

From Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin (1977), 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 Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin (1977), music R. D. Burman, lyrics Majrooh Sultanpuri.

Majrooh Sultanpuri died in 2000, 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.