Pyaasa---“Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh kya hai”. The call from a broken heart

 Is gane men Jo aag hai wo aapko jalaegi nahi balki gala degi...“Jala do ise phook dalo yeh duniya…Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh kya hai”.

 

It is poetry of defeat and sorrow, which has long been popular in Urdu literature.

 

I have seen film pyasa so many times than any other film,and yet it never becomes old.I have a great passion for the song ---“Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh kya hai…”. This song, this film is of such a high quality, that I am confused from where to start.

 

The song highlights the ultimate achievement of this all-time loser – a slap in the face of the society. After a dead beggar wearing his coat is mistaken for him, his love Gulab, a prostitute, gets his poems published with her earnings. When Gulab finds Vijay is alive, she organizes a function to present the real Vijay to the world.

It is worth listening to the lamentations of a broken poet. Someone who is broken not only by the insidious forces of society, but also by his love, his loss and the spirit of living that he lost somewhere down the line. 

 Now that when world is willing to accept him and his popular writings, Vijay (Guru Datt) has no desire to attain the world any more. Why revel in a shallow world that ignores the living?

 

Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To Kya Hai Lyrics

Ye mahalon, ye takhton, ye taajon ki duniya

Ye insaan ke dushman samaajon ki duniya

Ye daulat ke bhukhe rawaajon ki duniya

Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai

 

Har ek jism ghaayal, har ek ruh pyaasi

Nigaaho men ulajhan, dilon men udaasi

Ye duniya hai ya alam-e-badahawaasi

Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai

 

Jahaan ek khilauna hai insaan ki hasti

Ye basti hai murda paraston ki basti

Yahaan par to jiwan se hai maut sasti

Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai

 

Jawaani bhatakati hai badakaar banakar

Jawaan jism sajate hain baazaar banakar

Yahaan pyaar hota hai wyopaar banakar

Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai

 

Ye duniya jahaan adami kuchh nahin hai

Wafa kuchh nahin, dosti kuchh nahin hai

Yahaan pyaar ki kadr hi kuchh nahin hai

Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai

 

Jala do ise funk daalo ye duniya

Mere saamane se hata lo ye duniya

Tumhaari hai tum hi snbhaalo ye duniya

Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai

 

https://youtu.be/3Em6cZ3wMB4

This song from “Pyaasa” (1957) is a memorable song because of the satire that this song conveys. This song is such a high quality song that one does not know where to begin.

 

The lyrics of Sahir Ludhianvi convey the feelings of the “departed” so emphatically and with supreme satire. The music of S D Burman is appropriately understated. Rafi’s voice covers a range of pitches till in the end it climbs the Mount Everest; such is the high pitch that he achieves as the protagonist is being forcibly evicted.

 

In the exciting climax of film “Pyaasa” – in cold black and white – you see the silhouette of Guru Dutt which gradually comes into focus and by the end of the song you see a larger-than-life Dutt. The reaction shots of each character, especially of Gulab (Waheeda Rehman), are captivating.

 

There is the unforgettable image of Vijay (Guru Dutt) standing in the doorway with a world-weary look on his face. Alone and dejected, he looms large over a morally bankrupt world.

Story of Film Pyaasa

Vijay (Guru Dutt) is an unsuccessful Urdu poet in Calcutta whose works are not taken seriously by publishers or his brothers (who sell his poems as waste paper). Unable to bear their taunting that he is a good-for-nothing, he stays away from home and is often out on the streets.

 

He encounters a good-hearted prostitute named Gulabo (Waheeda Rehman), who is enamoured with his poetry and falls in love with him. He also encounters his ex-girlfriend Meena (Mala Sinha) from college and finds out that she has married a big publisher, Mr. Ghosh (Rehman) for financial security. Ghosh hires him as a servant to find out more about him and Meena.

 

A dead beggar to whom Vijay gave his coat and whom he tries to save unsuccessfully from the path of a running train is mistaken for Vijay.

Gulabo goes to Ghosh and gets his poems published. Ghosh does so feeling he can exploit the poems and make a killing. The poems are very successful. However, Vijay is alive and in the hospital after the train mishap.

 

Ghosh and Shyam, Vijay's close friend, refuse to recognise him and he is committed to a mental asylum since he insists that he is Vijay and is thought to be mad. Vijay's brothers too are bought off by Ghosh not to recognise him and a memorial is held for the dead poet.

 

Vijay, with the help of his friend Abdul Sattar (Johnny Walker) escapes from the mental asylum and reaches the memorial service, where he denounces this corrupt and materialistic world. Seeing that Vijay is alive, his friend and brothers side with a rival publisher for more money and declare that this is Vijay.

 

It is upon Vijay’s presumed death that recognition finally pours in, but by the time he comes back to attend his own memorial meeting, he has seen enough of the world’s materialism and selfishness to reject it. 

And he declares sorrowfully in one of the film’s many classic songs: “Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh kya hai” (“Would I care if such a world were mine?”).

 

Vijay becomes sick of all the hypocrisy in the world around him and declares he is not Vijay. He then leaves with Gulabo to start a new life.

 

On October 10, 1964, Guru Dutt was found dead in his bed in his rented apartment at Pedder Road in Mumbai. He is said to have been mixing alcohol and sleeping pills. His death may have been suicide, or just an accidental overdose.

Note:--

In 2005, Time Magazine selected Pyaasa as one of the all-time 100 movies of 20th century.Waheeda’s character Gulab is based on real-life Gulabo, a prostitute whom Guru Dutt’s friend-director befriended once.

The End

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