Mile Na Phool To….

Mile na phool to kaanto se dosti kar li
Plain tiger (Danaus chrysippus)

Penned by Kaifi Azmi, this song from the 1968 movie Anokhi Raat goes much deeper than just being about lost love!

mile na phool to
kaanto se dosti kar li
isi tarah se basar
humne zindagi kar li

ab aage jo bhi ho
anjaam dekha jaayega
khuda tarash liya
aur bandagi kar li

Rather than being sad I see this as an expression of rebellious, ‘will do no matter what’ attitude of the poet. Specially the line ‘khuda tarash liya’ which I very pitifully translate into – I sculpted my own god and I now pray to him only! Kaifi here is working on at least two levels that I can discern, the first being that man can create or man is his own god. The second level is a bit more complex/religious – Islam forbids praying to or in front of an idol and deems it a pagan practice, he thus implies I give a damn about your religion! 🙂

In other trivia – Anokhi Raat was the last movie of the great music director and composer Roshan, father of Rakesh Roshan (thus grandfather of Hrithik Roshan). The song has been most soulfully rendered by Modh. Rafi.

  • Nice post, loved the poetry!

  • Loved the association of a beautiful photo to a poignant poem 🙂
    Deepens the effect of both! 🙂

    • tariquesani

      Thanks Sushma, glad that you like the photo and the presentation of the poem.