Harf
Script shown with the Urdu

سانس Saans — Breath

Gulzar

1934– living

Geet

Somebody has discovered, late, that they were not breathing properly. The line that makes the whole song is the first one: when your breath met my breath, I breathed. The song is built on that paradox, and everything after it is the same discovery in other registers, like a person telling the same dream three times because it keeps being true.

Gulzar wrote it for Jab Tak Hai Jaan in 2012, and Shreya Ghoshal and Mohit Chauhan sang it. Three passages ahead, and the film's version and the reprise say them differently, which is why both exist.

01  — saans mein teri saans mili toh

سانس میں تیری سانس ملی تو
مجھے سانس آئی
روح نے چھو لی جسم کی خوشبو
تو جو پاس آئی

साँस में तेरी साँस मिली तो
मुझे साँस आई
रूह ने छू ली जिस्म की ख़ुशबू
तू जो पास आई

saans mein teri saans mili toh
mujhe saans aayi
rooh ne chhu li jism ki khushbu
tu jo paas aayi

When your breath met my breath, breath came to me. The soul touched the fragrance of the body, when you came near.

The paradox that builds the whole song, stated in the first line and never resolved. Saans aayi, breath came to me, implies that before the meeting there was none, and the song means it. The second couplet repeats the claim one register up: the soul, rooh, touched the fragrance of the body, jism ki khushbu, which is the most physical line in the song and the most spiritual, because the two are being fused. The meeting is described as the moment breathing started.

سانس saans
breath
روح rooh
the soul
جسم jism
the body

02  — kab tak hosh sambhale koi

کب تک ہوش سنبھالے کوئی
ہوش اڑے تو اڑ جانے دو
دل کب سیدھی راہ چلا ہے
راه مڑے تو مڑ جانے دو
تیرے خیال میں ڈوب کے اکثر
اچھی لگے تنہائی

कब तक होश संभाले कोई
होश उड़े तो उड़ जाने दो
दिल कब सीधी राह चला है
राह मुड़े तो मुड़ जाने दो
तेरे ख़याल में डूब के अक्सर
अच्छी लगे तनहाई

kab tak hosh sambhale koi
hosh ude toh ud jaane do
dil kab seedhi raah chala hai
raah mude toh mud jaane do
tere khayal mein doob ke aksar
achhi lage tanhaai

How long can anyone keep their wits about them. If the senses fly off, let them fly. When did the heart ever walk a straight road. If the road turns, let it turn. Sinking into your thoughts, the loneliness often starts to feel good.

The surrender, issued as two permissions. Hosh ude toh ud jaane do: if the senses take off, let them take off. The second couplet is the wiser one: the heart never walked a straight road, so why should this road be any different, raah mude toh mud jaane do. The passage is a man signing away his own right of way, and the closing lines give the reason: your thoughts are the place where even loneliness, tanhaai, turns pleasant. The paradox completes itself: she is not with him, and the being without her is now the being with her.

ہوش hosh
the senses, one's wits
خیال khayal
a thought; the thinking of someone
تنہائی tanhaai
loneliness, being alone

03  — raat teri baahon mein kate toh

رات تیری باہوں میں کٹے تو
صبح بڑی ہلکی لگتی ہے
آنکھ میں رہنے لگے ہو کیا تم
کیوں چھلکی چھلکی لگتی ہے
مجھ کو پھر سے چھو کے بولو
میری قسم کیا کھائی

रात तेरी बाहों में कटे तो
सुबह बड़ी हल्की लगती है
आँख में रहने लगे हो क्या तुम
क्यों छलकी-छलकी लगती है
मुझको फिर से छू के बोलो
मेरी क़सम क्या खाई

raat teri baahon mein kate toh
subah badi halki lagti hai
aankh mein rehne lage ho kya tum
kyun chhalki-chhalki lagti hai
mujhko phir se chhu ke bolo
meri qasam kya khaayi

If the night is spent in your arms, the morning feels so light. Have you started living in my eyes? Why does everything keep welling up? Touch me again and speak. What oath did you take, on my name?

The film's passage, the woman's, and it is the one with the two great questions. The night in his arms makes the morning weightless, halki, and then the question: have you moved into my eyes, because everything keeps chhalki-chhalki, welling over, the word for a cup that has been filled past the rim. The last couplet is the request the whole song has been moving toward: touch me again and say something. Meri qasam kya khaayi: on my name, what oath did you take. The question is the confession. She already knows what oath he took.

بازو baazu
an arm
چھلکنا chhalakna
to well up, to spill past the rim
قسم qasam
an oath

Reading it whole

The song's engine is a paradox that sounds like a typo and is the whole truth of it. Saans mein teri saans mili toh mujhe saans aayi: when my breath met your breath, then breath came to me. The claim is that she was not breathing before, or at least not in the way that counts, and that the meeting was the first proper breath of her life. Urdu has two words for this and the song uses both: saans, the breath, and rooh, the soul, and the second passage's line, rooh ne chhu li jism ki khushbu, the soul touched the fragrance of the body, does the same work one level up. Not breath meeting breath. Soul meeting scent.

The second passage is the surrender, and it is Gulzar at his most relaxed. How long can anyone keep their wits about them. If the senses fly off, let them fly. When did the heart ever walk a straight road. If the road turns, let it turn. The passage is a licence issued to the heart, and the closing lines give the reason: sinking into your thoughts, loneliness starts to feel good, achhi lage tanhaai. It is the quietest paradox in the song and the most personal: the loneliness is no longer lonely.

The third passage is the film's part, the woman's part, and it is the one with the questions in it. If the night is spent in your arms, the morning feels weightless, halki. And then the question that the whole song has been building to: have you started living in my eyes, why does everything keep welling up, chhalki-chhalki. The eyes are doing the thing eyes do when a person is finally being seen. The passage ends with the request that closes the song: touch me again and speak. Meri qasam kya khaayi: what oath did you take, on my name, that made you this. The beloved's touch and voice are being asked for as proof, one more time.

The two recordings say the same words in two moods. The full song is the meeting itself, with Mohit Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal trading the passages. The reprise is Shreya alone, and alone the same words become the memory of the meeting rather than the meeting. Jab Tak Hai Jaan was Yash Chopra's last film, and the song is one of the last great ones his name was attached to.

Recordings

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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 2012 film Jab Tak Hai Jaan, composed by A.R. Rahman. The refrain returns between passages in the recording, more often than it is printed here.

Gulzar 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.