r2i forum

I am really surprised that this thread only got these few responses.. (perhaps there is a different thread more populos than this??)
At least to me songs - more than anything else - have always been able to tug the heart's emotional yearnings for des...and its usually not the mere desh ki dharti sona ugle kinda numbers - I actually find them very put-off-ish - the songs that typically get me emotional are not exactly written with patriotism in mind. I hope to revive this thread with at least a few ones that instantly bring a distance-ache in my heart, and all-too-often a tear in my eye.

I will start with a more traditional number that actually does deal with a life-in-exile....

yahaan main ajnabi hoon
I am a stranger here.
Mein Jo Hoon Bas Wohee Hoon
I am what i have always been

The entire lyrics are very poignant but these lines in particular are very touching...

Jahaan ka phool hai vo vahin pe vo khilega
A plant will fully blossom only in the soil it was planted in.

Tere Unche mahal mein nahin meraa guzaara
mujhe yaad aa rahai hai vo chotasa shikara

Your lofty mansions I am unable to call "home"
I so dearly miss my small houseboat.

Another number is one of my all-time fave songs

Is mod se jaate hain

First of, one of the best songs ever - the use of metaphor in each line - (just brilliant!!) has never been more poignant in the history of cinema - Gulzar surpassing even his magic, plus RDB Kishore-da and Lata all at their collective mesmerizing best - what a proud feeling one gets to be rooted in that culture...

Add to that the message - dealing with being at crossroads, which we expats especially seem to always be on....

And at dusk on a cold rainy day with the raindrops splattering against the windows, a cuppa chai still sitting warm on your hand, I so echo Lata's wistful yearning when she sings "- ye soch ke baithi hoon ek raah to voh hogi tum tak jo pahunch thi hai is mod se jaati hai"...

Man;350205 ...And at dusk on a cold rainy day with the raindrops splattering against the windows, a cuppa chai still sitting warm on your hand, I so echo Lata's wistful yearning when she sings "- ye soch ke baithi hoon ek raah to voh hogi tum tak jo pahunch thi hai is mod se jaati hai"...

Man, a beautiful evergreen song and a different interpretation.

The wistful part is at 3:37 in that video. As with many Hindi songs, listening to it is a different experience than watching it.

They don't make actors like Hari bhai any more. What effortless acting.

Sometimes i wish it was possible to forget some songs, so one can hear them again afresh!

Man;350205Another number is one of my all-time fave songs

Is mod se jaate hain

First of, one of the best songs ever - the use of metaphor in each line - (just brilliant!!) has never been more poignant in the history of cinema - Gulzar surpassing even his magic, plus RDB Kishore-da and Lata all at their collective mesmerizing best - what a proud feeling one gets to be rooted in that culture...

Add to that the message - dealing with being at crossroads, which we expats especially seem to always be on....

And at dusk on a cold rainy day with the raindrops splattering against the windows, a cuppa chai still sitting warm on your hand, I so echo Lata's wistful yearning when she sings "- ye soch ke baithi hoon ek raah to voh hogi tum tak jo pahunch thi hai is mod se jaati hai"...

yessss great song somehow been missing this thread, I gave the hospital sushi dinner a miss and I was getting bored, not anymore I remember this song was my mothers favorite as well.

Aandhi songs are all great.

RK

my lifetime favorite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzKeB5zUAZc&feature=related

Somehow the night before the anatomy exam this song must have played 1000 times on the tape recorder. . Best line

jeene ke liye socha hi nahi dard samhalne honge.

muskuraye to muskurane ki karz utarne honge.

I tell you these poets they can make even sadness sound fashionable.

RK

my mother used to sing this song and it is not even a true indian song (later it was in a rekha movie) it is very old and I love this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76HF829rp_c&feature=related

simple lyrics, none too fancy but great song overall.

RK

modus_vivendi;350209Man, a beautiful evergreen song and a different interpretation. The wistful part is at 3:37 in that video. As with many Hindi songs, listening to it is a different experience than watching it.They don't make actors like Hari bhai any more. What effortless acting.Sometimes i wish it was possible to forget some songs, so one can hear them again afresh!

So true MV...Sanjeev Kumar is imo one of the most under-appreciated actors of our lifetime...wish history would do more justice to that remarkable persona...

For the benefit of the non-Hindi speaking members I thought of penning a very loose translation with a possible interpretation for r2i which is what this thread is about anyways....

is mod se jaate hain

From here - from these crossroads of place'n'time

A young couple wonder aloud : what is to be the fate of our yet budding romance....from the crossroads that we are at, there are any number of paths (there is more than a hint that these paths Gulzar considers are somehow ordained by destiny, that are sure to take us along towards a predestined destination)..

.some paths raahein take a more leisurely stroll.kuch sust kadam raste..., others seem to hurtle forward with rapid pace kuch tez kadam raahein


all these different roads... headed where??

well here too - there seem to be different destinations - the more leisure one perhaps leads on to a house of stone - pathhar ki haveli ko a very solid stable structure with a secure permanence.... .another one may perhaps lead to a glasshouse..sheeshe ke gharondon mein ....beautiful to behold but ever-fragile...and then again a third, more ill-fated one, ends up at a house of straw (twigs'n'gravel) tinkon ke nasheman tak quicly put together and which is unlikely to last longer than a season or two....

A r2i interpretation:
Sometimes our life (r2i) decisions are taken with rapid force, in the throes of passion..at other times our plans smolder like lazy flames,

Our destination too - depending on our attitude, and circumstances, can assume the stability of a stonehouse, or remain ever-fragile, or worse, prove to be a short-lived failed exercise in futility.

In the first stanza Lata describes two possible roads - one that has the force of a hurricane - brimming with passion, and carries us in its stride (aandhi ki tarah udkar ek raah guzar hai) and another that is too shy and simply passes through (sharmati hui koi kadmon se utarti hai)

Again the similarity here is sometimes we get carried away by raw emotion perhaps abetted by circumstace...and other times, we are too fearful of committment or too meek in our approach....

The wistful lines of Lata now croon - in reshmi raahon mein ....

Of all these roads, they are all silken as they all hold the promise of communion with you, perchance will there be a road that leads upto you.

Next Kishore talks about two more roads...one that seems so sure from far and just when you think it is sure, proves to be a mirage and slips far away from you - ek door se aati hai paas aake palat thi hai.... and another one which is really the worst kind....a stalled one - neither has the courage to move decisively forward nor has the pragmatism to remain happy where it is.....ek raah akeli si rukti hai na chalti hai.....

And again we can interpret it to this context where there are times we are so convinced about where our future is headed...only to realize much later that we really didn't have a clue it would all fade away so quickly......and at other times we may perchance find ourselves in a indecisive phase...struggling with a road that does not want to committ to anything....

Once again Lata says - be that as it may...i cannot but hope that there should be a way where these roads lead me unto you....

Gulzar-saab....you are a magician!

rajradio;350213my lifetime favorite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzKeB5zUAZc&feature=related

Somehow the night before the anatomy exam this song must have played 1000 times on the tape recorder. . Best line

jeene ke liye socha hi nahi dard samhalne honge.

muskuraye to muskurane ki karz utarne honge.

I tell you these poets they can make even sadness sound fashionable.

RK

So true RK - and the very next lines talk about the price of success - muskraoon kabhi to lagta hai jasie hothon pe karz rakha hai... whenever I smile I kinda feel that I have burdened my lips with a debt that will need to be repaid....another Gulzar masterpiece

Man;350215So true MV...Sanjeev Kumar is imo one of the most under-appreciated actors of our lifetime...wish history would do more justice to that remarkable persona...

For the benefit of the non-Hindi speaking members I thought of penning a very loose translation with a possible interpretation for r2i which is what this thread is about anyways....

is mod se jaate hain

From here - from these crossroads of place'n'time

A young couple wonder aloud : what is to be the fate of our yet budding romance....from the crossroads that we are at, there are any number of paths (there is more than a hint that these paths Gulzar considers are somehow ordained by destiny, that are sure to take us along towards a predestined destination)..

.some paths raahein take a more leisurely stroll.kuch sust kadam raste..., others seem to hurtle forward with rapid pace kuch tez kadam raahein


all these different roads... headed where??

well here too - there seem to be different destinations - the more leisure one perhaps leads on to a house of stone - pathhar ki haveli ko a very solid stable structure with a secure permanence.... .another one may perhaps lead to a glasshouse..sheeshe ke gharondon mein ....beautiful to behold but ever-fragile...and then again a third, more ill-fated one, ends up at a house of straw (twigs'n'gravel) tinkon ke nasheman tak quicly put together and which is unlikely to last longer than a season or two....

A r2i interpretation:
Sometimes our life (r2i) decisions are taken with rapid force, in the throes of passion..at other times our plans smolder like lazy flames,

Our destination too - depending on our attitude, and circumstances, can assume the stability of a stonehouse, or remain ever-fragile, or worse, prove to be a short-lived failed exercise in futility.

In the first stanza Lata describes two possible roads - one that has the force of a hurricane - brimming with passion, and carries us in its stride (aandhi ki tarah udkar ek raah guzar hai) and another that is too shy and simply passes through (sharmati hui koi kadmon se utarti hai)

Again the similarity here is sometimes we get carried away by raw emotion perhaps abetted by circumstace...and other times, we are too fearful of committment or too meek in our approach....

The wistful lines of Lata now croon - in reshmi raahon mein ....

Of all these roads, they are all silken as they all hold the promise of communion with you, perchance will there be a road that leads upto you.

Next Kishore talks about two more roads...one that seems so sure from far and just when you think it is sure, proves to be a mirage and slips far away from you - ek door se aati hai paas aake palat thi hai.... and another one which is really the worst kind....a stalled one - neither has the courage to move decisively forward nor has the pragmatism to remain happy where it is.....ek raah akeli si rukti hai na chalti hai.....

And again we can interpret it to this context where there are times we are so convinced about where our future is headed...only to realize much later that we really didn't have a clue it would all fade away so quickly......and at other times we may perchance find ourselves in a indecisive phase...struggling with a road that does not want to committ to anything....

Once again Lata says - be that as it may...i cannot but hope that there should be a way where these roads lead me unto you....

Gulzar-saab....you are a magician!

i dont about gulzaar (writing songs is his pesha) you are one thanks for the wonderful explanation.

Rk

Not exactly R2I theme....

[video=youtube;cJfV1zic22E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJfV1zic22E[/video]