Soliloquy

In this blog post, I shall try to translate and summarise the classic nazm ‘Karoge Yaad Toh‘ written by Bashar Nawaz and sung by Bhupinder Singh which was immortalised in the film Bazaar (1982). As mentioned earlier in my post about the legendary ‘Dikhaayi Diye Yun‘, Naseeruddin Shah’s character of Salim, a writer and thinker from Hyderabad, steals the show with his ideals, but loses in the end to a world that lives on compromises and cannot think of evolution without sacrificing one’s morals.

In the film, Salim is hopelessly in love with Smita Patil’s character Nagma, but she does not see him in the same light. Salim, chained by his morals, always takes the high ground and even oversees – if reluctantly – Nagma’s betrothal to Akhtar (played by Bharat Kapoor), a man who can sink to any lengths to fulfil his materialistic ambitions and whose sole purpose in life is to earn money through dubious means.

Even as Akhtar gets caught in a web of deceit by a well-known ‘bride’ trafficker in the Old City, Salim watches in distress for he cannot disentangle Nagma from the trap she has found herself in. This song, in many ways, catches the unrequited love that Salim has for Nagma, for a time purer than the one he is inhabiting in now, and for his ideals. On a personal note, I believe this character to be amongst the most powerful played by Shah in his storied career.

کروگے یاد سے ہر بات یاد آئےگی
گجرات وقت کی ہر موج تہڑ جائے گی

Karoge yaad toh har baat yaad aayegi
Guzarte waqt ki har mauj thahar jaayegi

Literal translation:
If you try to remember, you will recollect everything
The happiness that these passing days give will evaporate

Actual translation:
If you think about the past, recollecting memories, you will go so deep as to neglect the joy that the present is bound to give to you. You will lose yourself and become haunted by the past.

یہ چاند کاٹو زمانے کا آنا ہوگا
بھٹکتے ابر میں چھڑا کوئی بنا ہو گا۔
اداس راہ کوئی داستان سناگی

Ye chaand beetein zamano ka aayina hoga
Bhatakte abr me chehara koi banaa hoga
Udaas raah koi daastan sunaegi

Literal translation:
This moon will become a mirror of the past
You will also notice a faded face in the air
This sad road will narrate a distressing tale

Actual translation:
This moon might give you solace but transport you back to the past, but it will trouble you with a face that you know all too well. You will be haunted by that face in the atmosphere you live in while the road of life you are travelling on will narrate sad tales.

باراستہ بھیگتا موسم دھواں دھواں ہوگا ۔
پگھلتی شمو پہ دل کا میرا گماں ہوگا۔
ہاتھیلیوں کی ہینا یاد کچھ دلائیگی

Barastaa bhigtaa mausam dhuaan dhuaan hoga
Pighalti shammo pe dil ka mere gumaan hoga
Hatheliyon ki hinaa yaad kuchh dilaayegi

Literal translation:
This rainy season will end up becoming smoke
Was it caused by these candles or my burning heart?
The mehendi of your hands will remind you of something

Actual translation:
My burning heart will reduce the ongoing monsoons to cinder even as you wonder whether it is my heart that is melting or candles sitting alongside. When you look at your hands while you are getting married to another man, the mehendi will remind you of me, and perhaps of ‘us’, but I will not be around.

گلی کے موڈ پہ سوینا سا کوئی دروازہ
تراستی آنکھوں سے راستہ کسی کا دیکھے گا۔
نگاہ دور طلاق جا کے لوٹ آئے گی۔

Gali ke mod pe soona saa koi darwaza
Tarasti aankho se rastaa kisi ka dekhegaa
Nigaah door talak jaa ke laut aayegi

Literal translation:
The door sitting on the bend of this road
Will wait patiently with eyes filled with longing
My eyes will go as far as they can go but eventually return empty-handed

Actual translation:
Perhaps an ideal expression that can give a sense of this feeling is Vikram Seth’s:
‘If you knocked on my door some year, I could not say
“He lived here once, but now has moved away.” ‘
Unrequited love lives on through the ages, and I will always keep yearning for you. In reality, my eyes will return with no luck despite looking for you everywhere and waiting patiently for you to come back. But I know that you never will.

Here is a video of the song for those who have still not been fortunate enough to have heard it. For those dabbling in acting, follow Shah’s eyes throughout the song – this is how you express pain and suffering without uttering a word!

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