او رے پیا O Re Piya — O My Beloved

Jaideep Sahni

Geet

Somebody is asking a question of the person she loves, and the question is a confession. Why has my heart started flying, she asks. Where did this courage come from. The heart that asks it has been walking on coals all its life, and the song is the moment it finally asks to be carried somewhere else.

Jaideep Sahni wrote it for Aaja Nachle in 2007, Salim and Sulaiman composed it, and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan sang it at the film's emotional peak. Four passages ahead, and they run from the first flutter to the request that ends the song: take me to your country, this world is not mine.

01 — udne laga kyun man bawla re

اڑنے لگا کیوں من باولا رے
آیا کہاں سے یہ ہوسلا رے

उड़ने लगा क्यूँ मन बावला रे
आया कहाँ से ये हौसला रे

udne laga kyun man bawla re
aaya kahan se yeh hosla re

Why has my mad heart started flying? Where did this courage come from?

Two questions, and the whole song answers them. Bawla is the word for a heart that has lost its moorings, and the question is not a complaint, it is a discovery: the heart is doing something it never did before. The second line names the new thing by its proper name, hosla, courage, and asks where it came from. The beloved is not named in either line. He is the answer to both.

باولا bawla: mad, unmoored
ہوسلا hosla: courage, nerve

02 — taana-baana taana-baana bunti hawa

تانا بانا تانا بانا بنتی ہوا
بوندیں بھی تو آئیں نہیں باز یہاں
سازش میں شامل سارا جہاں ہے
ہر ذرے ذرے کی یہ التجاء ہے

ताना-बाना ताना-बाना बुनती हवा
बूँदें भी तो आएँ नहीं बाज़ यहाँ
साज़िश में शामिल सारा जहाँ है
हर ज़र्रे-ज़र्रे की ये इल्तिजा है

taana-baana taana-baana bunti hawa
boondein bhi toh aayen nahin baaz yahan
saazish mein shaamil saara jahan hai
har zarre-zarre ki yeh iltija hai

The wind keeps weaving, warp and weft, warp and weft. Even the drops do not come, again, to this place. The whole world is part of the conspiracy. And every single particle is pleading.

The strangest passage in the song, and the richest. The wind at the loom, taana-baana, weaving the fabric of the world, and the world it weaves does not even send rain here. Then the turn: saazish mein shaamil saara jahan hai, the whole world is in the plot. The universe is the enemy, and the same universe is the petitioner, every atom of it pleading, iltija. The song has split the world into the conspiracy and the prayer, and both of them are about this love.

تانا بانا taana-baana: the warp and weft of a loom; the fabric of the world
سازش saazish: a conspiracy, a plot
ذرہ zarra: a particle, an atom
التجاء iltija: a plea, an entreaty

03 — nazrein bolein duniya bole dil ki zuban

نظریں بولیں دنیا بولے دل کی زبان
عشق مانگے عشق چاہے کوئی طوفان
چلنا آہستہ عشق نیا ہے
پہلا یہ وعدہ ہم نے کیا ہے

नज़रें बोलें दुनिया बोले दिल की ज़बान
इश्क़ माँगे इश्क़ चाहे कोई तूफ़ान
चलना आहिस्ते इश्क़ नया है
पहला ये वादा हमने किया है

nazrein bolein duniya bole dil ki zuban
ishq maange ishq chahe koi toofan
chalna aahiste ishq naya hai
pehla yeh vaada humne kiya hai

The eyes speak, and the world speaks the heart's language. Love asks for, love wants, some storm. Walk slowly, this love is new. This is the first promise we have made.

The oath of the song. The eyes and the world are given the same tongue, dil ki zuban, the heart's language, which is the song's way of saying that everything is in on this. Then the request for a storm, toofan, from love itself, which is the opposite of what most love songs ask for. And the two lines that carry the song: walk slowly, aahiste, because the love is new. The woman who has walked on coals is asking for slowness, and the first promise, pehla vaada, is the promise to walk that slowly.

زبان zuban: a language, a tongue
عشق ishq: love, passionate love
وعدہ vaada: a promise

04 — nange pairon pe angaaron chalti rahi

ننگے پاؤں پے انگاروں چلتی رہی
لگتا ہے کہ غیروں میں پلتی رہی
لے چل وہاں جو ملک تیرا ہے
جاہل زمانہ دشمن میرا ہے

नंगे पैरों पे अंगारों चलती रही
लगता है के ग़ैरों में पलती रही
ले चल वहाँ जो मुल्क तेरा है
जाहिल ज़माना दुश्मन मेरा है

nange pairon pe angaaron chalti rahi
lagta hai ke ghairon mein palti rahi
le chal wahan jo mulk tera hai
jaahil zamana dushman mera hai

Barefoot, on coals, I kept walking. It feels as though I grew up among strangers. Take me there, to the country that is yours. This ignorant world is my enemy.

The history, delivered in four lines. Nange pairon pe angaaron: barefoot on coals, the image of the whole life, and the verb keeps her moving, chalti rahi, she kept walking. The second line names the loneliness of it: she feels she was raised among strangers, ghairon. And the request that ends the song: le chal wahan jo mulk tera hai, take me to your country. The last line is the verdict on her whole world: jaahil zamana dushman mera hai. The ignorant age is my enemy. The song began with a heart that started flying, and ends with a woman asking to be flown out.

انگارہ angara: a burning coal
غیر ghair: a stranger, an outsider
جاہل jaahil: ignorant

Reading it whole

The song is a woman's self-portrait delivered as a love letter, and the first passage is the portrait's frame. Udne laga kyun man bawla re: why has my mad heart started flying. The heart was not flying before, which is the whole biography in one line. Aaya kahan se yeh hosla re: where did this courage come from. The two questions are the song's opening move, and the rest of it is the answer: the courage came from him.

The second passage does the song's strangest work. The wind is weaving, taana-baana, the warp and weft of the loom, and the wind's weaving is a world being made. But the drops do not come, boondein bhi toh aayen nahin baaz yahan: even the rain refuses this place again. And then the song's great line: saazish mein shaamil saara jahan hai. The whole world is in the conspiracy. The word is saazish, a plot, and the song is saying the entire world has conspired against this love. Every particle of it, the song adds, is a plea, har zarre-zarre ki yeh iltija hai. The universe is both the enemy and the petitioner.

The third passage is the oath. The eyes speak, and the world speaks the heart's language, dil ki zuban. Love asks for, love wants, a storm. Then the two lines that the whole song is built on: chalna aahiste, ishq naya hai. Walk slowly, this love is new. And: pehla yeh vaada humne kiya hai. This first promise we have made. The woman who has walked on coals is asking the one man to walk slowly with her, and the tenderness of the request is the whole character of the song.

The last passage is the history, and it is the passage that makes the song belong to the film. Nange pairon pe angaaron chalti rahi: barefoot, on coals, I kept walking. The image is the film's central portrait of its heroine, and the line that follows deepens it: lagta hai ke ghairon mein palti rahi. It feels as though I grew up among strangers. Then the request that the whole song has been moving toward: le chal wahan jo mulk tera hai. Take me to the country that is yours. And the reason: jaahil zamana dushman mera hai. This ignorant world is my enemy. The song ends with the woman naming her whole life in one sentence, and asking to be taken out of it.

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's voice carries the passage from coals to country without a break, and Salim and Sulaiman's arrangement gives the song the scale of a qawwali without making it one. The film was Madhuri Dixit's return, and the song was the return's anthem.

Recordings

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

From Aaja Nachle (2007), composed by Salim-Sulaiman.

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 2007 film Aaja Nachle, composed by Salim-Sulaiman. The refrain returns between passages in the recording, more often than it is printed here.

Jaideep Sahni 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.