مجھے رات دن بس مجھے چاہتی ہو Mujhe Raat Din Bas Mujhe Chahti Ho — You Want Me, Night And Day, Only Me

Sameer

Geet

A man is cross-examining a woman who has not been accused of anything, because he is the prosecution and the witness and the whole courtroom. She loves him, he announces, night and day. She will not say it, he adds, which is her only crime, and the song is the trial of that silence.

Sameer wrote it for Sangharsh in 1999, Jatin and Lalit composed it, and Sonu Nigam sang it. Three passages ahead, and they run from the accusation to the prediction, with a list of her crimes in between.

01 — mujhe raat din bas mujhe chahti ho

مجھے رات دن بس مجھے چاہتی ہو
کہو نا کہو مجھ کو سب کچھ پتہ ہے
ہاں کروں کیا مجھے تم بتاتی نہیں ہو
چھپاتی ہو مجھ سے یہ تمہاری خطا ہے

मुझे रात दिन बस मुझे चाहती हो
कहो ना कहो मुझको सब कुछ पता है
हाँ करूँ क्या मुझे तुम बताती नहीं हो
छुपाती हो मुझसे ये तुम्हारी ख़ता है

mujhe raat din bas mujhe chahti ho
kaho na kaho mujhko sab kuchh pata hai
haan karoon kya mujhe tum batati nahin ho
chhupati ho mujhse ye tumhari khata hai

You want me, night and day, only me. Say it or don't, I know everything. Yes, what am I to do, you won't tell me. Hiding it from me, that is your fault.

The verdict before the evidence, delivered as the song's opening move. Bas mujhe chahti ho: only me, you want, and the bas is the important word, because it rules out everyone else. The second line is the tease, kaho na kaho, say it or don't, I know everything. And the closing line turns the silence into a crime with a technical name: khata, a fault, an error. The whole song is a man conducting a trial he has already won.

خطا khata: a fault, an error, a mistake

02 — meri be-qaraari ko had se badhana

میری بے قراری کو حد سے بڑھانا
تمہیں خوب آتا ہے باتیں بنانا
نگاہیں ملا کے یوں میرا چین لینا
ستا کے محبت میں یوں درد دینا
مجھے دیکھ کے ایسے پلکیں جھکانا
شرارت نہیں ہے تو پھر اور کیا ہے

मिरी बे-क़रारी को हद से बढ़ाना
तुम्हें ख़ूब आता है बातें बनाना
निगाहें मिला के यूँ मेरा चैन लेना
सताके मोहब्बत में यूँ दर्द देना
मुझे देख के ऐसे पलकें झुकाना
शरारत नहीं है तो फिर और क्या है

meri be-qaraari ko had se badhana
tumhe khoob aata hai baatein banana
nigaahen mila ke yun mera chain lena
sata ke mohabbat mein yun dard dena
mujhe dekh ke aise palkein jhukana
shararat nahin hai to phir aur kya hai

Raising my restlessness past every limit, that you know very well. Making stories up, that too. Meeting my eyes and stealing my peace like this. Hurting me, in love's name, on purpose. Lowering your lashes when you see me. If this is not mischief, then what is it?

The charge sheet, and every line is an offence with a technique in it. The list is built in pairs: chain lena, stealing his peace with a look, and dard dena, giving him pain in the name of love. The lowered lashes are the last crime, and they are the worst, because the eyes closing is the classic gesture of the beloved pretending not to see. The passage ends by asking the question that gives the whole list its name: if this is not shararat, the beloved's playful wickedness, then what is.

بے قراری be-qaraari: restlessness
چین chain: peace, ease
شرارت shararat: mischief; the beloved's playful wickedness

03 — tumhe neend aayegi ab na mere bin

تمہیں نیند آئے گی اب نہ میرے بن
مجھے ہے یقین ایسا آئے گا ایک دن
کھلی تیری زلفوں میں سویا رہوں گا
تیرے ہی خیالوں میں کھویا رہوں گا
کبھی غور سے میری آنکھوں میں دیکھو
میری جاں تمہارا ہی چہرا چھپا ہے

तुम्हें नींद आएगी अब ना मेरे बिन
मुझे है यक़ीन ऐसा आएगा एक दिन
खुली तेरी ज़ुल्फ़ों में सोया रहूँगा
तेरे ही ख़यालों में खोया रहूँगा
कभी ग़ौर से मेरी आँखों में देखो
मेरी जाँ तुम्हारा ही चेहरा छुपा है

tumhe neend aayegi ab na mere bin
mujhe hai yaqeen aisa aayega ek din
khuli teri zulfon mein soya rahunga
tere hi khayalon mein khoya rahunga
kabhi gaur se meri aankhon mein dekho
meri jaan tumhara hi chehra chhupa hai

The day will come, and I am sure of it, when you will not be able to sleep without me. I will sleep in your open hair, I will stay lost in your thoughts. Look into my eyes carefully sometime. My love, it is your own face that is hidden there.

The prediction, delivered with the certainty of a man who knows his evidence. Aayega ek din: a day will come, and the song is sure. Then the promise that turns the whole song tender: sleeping in her open hair, zulfon, being lost in her thoughts, khayalon. And the closing couplet is the song's real confession, wearing the form of an instruction: look into my eyes carefully, and you will find your own face hidden there. The tease has been the cover all along. The song ends with him admitting, in the same breath, that she is the one inside him.

یقین yaqeen: certainty, faith
زلف zulf: a lock of hair; the hair
غور gaur: attention, care

Reading it whole

The song is a teasing cross-examination, and its whole charm is that the accused never gets to speak. The opening passage does the work of the verdict before any evidence: you want me, night and day, only me. Then the follow-up that sounds like a taunt and is actually tenderness: I know everything. Kahon na kahon mujhko sab kuchh pata hai: say it or don't, I know it all. The line that closes the passage is the accusation that gives the song its title's edge: hiding it from me, that is your fault, tumhari khata.

The second passage is the charge sheet, and it is a list of small offences that every lover recognises. Raising my restlessness past all limit, that you know very well. Making stories, baatein banana, that too. Meeting my eyes to steal my peace. Hurting me, in love's name, on purpose. And lowering your lashes when you see me. The list ends with the song's best line: if this is not mischief, shararat, then what is it. The word shararat is the teasing, playful wickedness of the beloved, and the whole passage has been proving its existence.

The last passage is the prediction, and it is delivered with total confidence. One day you will not be able to sleep without me, and I am sure of it: aayega ek din. And then the song's most intimate claim, which is also its gentlest: I will sleep in your open hair, I will be lost in your thoughts, and if you ever look into my eyes properly, you will find your own face hidden there. Meri jaan tumhara hi chehra chhupa hai: my love, it is your own face that is hidden in my eyes. The song that started as a tease ends as a confession of how completely she is inside him.

Sonu Nigam's delivery made it one of the defining love songs of its year, and Jatin and Lalit's tune carried it. The film was a thriller, which the song had nothing to do with, and which no one remembers when the song comes on.

Recordings

Sonu Nigam

From Sangharsh (1999), composed by Jatin-Lalit.

Text and rights

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

From the 1999 film Sangharsh, composed by Jatin-Lalit. The refrain returns between passages in the recording, more often than it is printed here.

Sameer is alive and writing, so this song 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.