Songs with Homonyms

Posted on Trivia – The Spice of Life on 17/02/2024

Lyrics of some songs strike you more than the others when there is a play on words be it in the mukhda or the antara. This magical effect is sometimes achieved by using homonyms. A homonym is a word that both sounds and is spelled the same as another word. One finds repetition of a single word to convey two different meanings in some songs. Needless to say, this play on words demonstrates the calibre and intelligence of the lyricist who can use homonyms to convey a multi-layered message succinctly.

Some homonyms in Hindi/Urdu which have been used in Hindi film songs are listed below. It is interesting to see that sometimes, the same word is used as a noun and a verb in the same line.

Serial No.	Word	Meaning 1	Meaning 2
1	जल	water	burn
2	गोरी	bright /fair complexioned	a beautiful woman
3	बन	forest (वन शब्द का तद्भव रूप​)	become
4	समझ*	understand	wit, sense
5	जान	life	understand
6	जिया	live	heart, beloved
7	कल	yesterday	tomorrow
8	दिल की लगी/दिल-लगी	love	to be attached/merriment
9	भूल	forget	fault, mistake
10	और	and	different/other

* I have not included this word in my song list. I hope readers will be able to zero in on the song I have in mind.

Almost all the words above have been used in two different senses in the same line/stanza in the songs that I am listing in this post. The homonym could be in any part of the song – prelude, mukhda or antara. Anyone who has heard the lyrics carefully will surely appreciate the repetition of the word and the two different meanings that are conveyed. Here is my list of songs.

1) Main Ban Ki Chidiya Ban Ke –  Achhut Kanyaa (1936) – J S Kashyap - Saraswati Devi – Ashok Kumar & Devika Rani. This wonderful duet sung by the actors themselves with the music direction by a successful lady music director (which is still is more of an exception than the rule), is really adorable. This song has the hero trying to match or even outdo the heroine. What struck me were the lyrics.

Do you notice how the word बन (ban) has been used in the mukhda? The first बन is the forest and the second is the verb ‘become’. The first line would be translated as – I become a forest bird and chirp in the forests. The same is sung by the hero as well who is not ready to be left behind. He believes in hot pursuit. The word बन is the tadbhav form of वन which in Sanskrit and Hindi means forest. The V become B. In some Hindi-speaking regions, the pronunciation of the letter “V” as “B” is a common phonological feature. This is known as a bilabial switch, where the sounds produced by the lips are interchanged. The linguistic phenomenon is a part of the regional accent and phonological variation in the Hindi language.

Main ban ki chidiya ban ke ban ban boloon re
main ban ka panchhi ban ke sang sang doloon re

2) Bhoole Se Kabhi Yaad Kar Ae Bhoolne Waale – Ek Roz(1947) – Sarshar Sailaani – Shyam Sundar – Naseem Akhtar. Only the audio of this song is available. The lyrics of Sarshar Sailani are so beautifully written – particularly the opening line of the mukhda. He uses the word bhool (भूल) twice in the line; the first time it is used in the sense of unintentionally ( भूले से) and the second time as one who forgets (भूलने वाले).

3) Hum Dum Se Gaye Humdum Ke Liye – Manzil (1960) – Majrooh Sultanpuri – S.D.Burman – Manna De. Majrooh, the wizard of words, very skilfully uses the words hum and dum separately and then together as humdum in the mukhda. The meaning conveyed by this little trick of separating and joining two words is so enjoyable. The mukhda is sung as hum dum se gaye only once in the song – that is when Dev begins to sing. In the rest of the song, he only sings it as dum se gaye, dropping the hum. The word humdam in the sense of companion is repeated thrice in the mukhda. The mukhda and its English translation (courtesy: https://atulsongaday.me) is as follows :-

Hum dum se gaye, humdam ke liye
humdam ki kasam, humdam na mila

I wagered my last breath
for the sake of camaraderie
and yet
vowing an oath
in the name of friendship
the companion
could never truly be mine

4) Dil Ki Girah Khol Do – Raat Aur Din (1967) – Shailendra – Shankar Jaikishan – Lata Mangeshkar & Manna De. This was the last movie Nargis acted in. Playing a lady suffering from a multiple personality disorder, Nargis lives two parallel lives – one during the day and the other during the night. This was a very different film based on a psychiatric disorder and was produced by Jaffer Hussain, the brother of Nargis. The music of the movie was stupendous. The orchestra does a wonderful job.

A duet sung at a party, the line relevant for this post, which also pretty much sums up the conundrum of the female protagonist is kal humse pochhe na koi, kya ho gaya tha tumhe kal (meaning hope no one asks me tomorrow about what had befallen me yesterday). The first kal (कल) is for ‘tomorrow’ and the second for ‘yesterday’. In Hindi, kal (कल) is used for both yesterday and tomorrow. It is contextually (along with the auxiliary verb used) that its meaning is understood.

Kal hamse poochhe na koi 
kyaa ho gayaa thaa tumhe kal

5) Tum Sang Preet Lagai Rasiyaa – New Delhi (1956) – Shailendra – Shankar Jaikishan – Lata Mangeshkar & Chorus. This stage performance by Vyjayantimala is electrifying. A classical dancer par excellence, she performs Punjabi folk with equal ease. This movie is about a cross cultural marriage. The heroine hails from the south and the hero from the north.

The way the word jaan is used in the second line of the mukhda is interesting. The line is jaan ke jaan ganwaayi rasiyaa. The first time it is used in the sense of ‘knowingly’ – jaan ke – and the second time to refer to ‘life’. The lady says that she has knowingly lost/staked her life.

Tum sang preet lagaai rasiya
main ne jaan ke jaan gawaai rasiya

6) Aur Hai Dil Ki Lagi – Raag Rang (1952) – Kaif Irfani – Roshan – Talat Mahmood. This is a song whose tune almost mirrors Anil Biswas’s song in Tarana – Ek Main Hu Ek Meri. Incidentally the lyricist of both the songs is Kaif Irfani. The singer of both the songs is Talat Mahmood.

The entire song is about comparing what are purportedly two different aspects. The word और(aur) is used in the sense of different/other and in the conventional sense of the conjunction and. This usage is continued in one of the antaras as well. This must be one of the few songs that starts with the word aur. The lyricist distinguishes between dil ki lagi or love and dil lagaana which is merriment (which I presume is derived from dil-lagi-दिल-लगी).

Aur hai dil ki lagi
aur dil lagaanaa aur hai...

yaad rakhnaa aur hai
aur bhool jaanaa aur hai

7) Jaan chali jaaye jiyaa nahin jaaye – Anjaana (1969) – Anand Bakshi – Laxmikant Pyarelal – Md. Rafi & Suman Kalyanpur. This movie had some good songs and two great villains – Pran and Prem Chopra – acting as father and son. This song featuring Rajendra Kumar and Babita is a lovely duet where the word jiya is used in the sense of the beloved as well as living.

..ke jaan chali jaaye
jiyaa nahin jaaye
jiyaa jaaye to phir
jiyaa nahin jaaye

Even if you lose your life, you ought not to lose your beloved, for if you lose your beloved, you cannot live. [ This is my interpretation. If there is any other for all the jiyaas used, please do add it in the comments.]

8) Geet Gaata Chal O Saathi – Geet Gaata Chal (1975) – Ravindra Jain – Ravindra Jain – Jaspal Singh. This movie was a Rajshri Production. Starring Sachin and Sarika, this film was very different from the mainstream cinema of the time, which was enamoured by the angry young man syndrome. With lovely music, lyrics and fresh voices, the movie was refreshing.

Ravindra Jain was a music director who also doubled up as a lyricist; he occasionally sang in films too. He was multi-talented. All the songs of this movie were penned by him. In this song, which is also the title song, the second antara is an ode to water. In order to emphasize the importance of water, Ravindra Jain uses the word jal (जल) twice – once to mean water and the other to imply burning. The line means that if there were no water, the world would have been burnt and thus destroyed. Also notice the different synonyms of water that have been used in the antara – paani, neer, jal.

Chaandi sa chamakta ye nadiya ka paani 
paani ki har ik boond deti zindagaani
ambar se barse zameen se miley 
neer ke bina to bhaiya kaam na chaley
O bhaiya kaam na chaley
O megha re ae
jal jo na hota to ye jag jaata jal

9) Sa Re Ke Sa Re – Parichay (1972) – Gulzar – R.D.Burman – Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle & chorus. This is a lovable film written and directed by Gulzar, with the lyrics of the songs also being penned by him. This movie had Jeetendra in a completely different avatar. There was no scope for him to show off his dancing skills in the movie!!

Gulzar being Gulzar has a way with words. In the song even as Jeetendra, who plays the tutor of the children, is ostensibly teaching the children the seven notes of music – sa, re, ga, ma, pa dha, ni – Gulzar puts notes together in the lyrics to also tell us the story of all the children ( sa re ke sa re or sare ke sare). They are orphans and it is the eldest sister who takes care of them – pa pa nahin hai, dha ni si didi, didi ke saath hai sa re.

(Sa-re – musical notes/everyone, pa-pa – musical notes/father, dha-ni – musical notes/support -किसी को आश्रय या आधार देने वाली)

Saa re ke saa re
ga ma ko le kar
gaate chale
pa pa nahin hain
dha ni si didi
didi ke saath hain
saa re

10) Chanda Dekhe Chanda – Jhoothi (1985) – Maya Govind – Bappi Lahiri – Kishore Kumar & Lata Mangeshkar. This was a Hrishikesh Mukherjee movie that I remember watching and enjoying on Door Darshan. Clean entertainment with lovely music was his forte. It is interesting to note that the lyricist is Maya Govind – one of the few female lyricists in the film industry – and the music director is Bappi Lahiri; Bappi moves away from his disco beats back to his Baangla roots. The tune of this song is borrowed from Tere Mere Milan ki Ye Raina (of Abhimaan) which in turn was inspired by Rabindra Sangeet (Jodi Taare Nai Chini Go). This song is an absolute gem and deserves to be heard more.

Do you notice how the word gori (गोरी) has been used twice – once to mean bright (moonlight) and the second time for a beautiful girl?

Chandaa dekhe chandaa
to chandaa sharmaaye
gori gori chaandni mein
gori jab muskaaye 

This brings me to the end of my post. This post needed some lateral thinking and interpretation of the import of certain words. I have relied on some original thinking. There could be other interpretations as well. This post helped me to enjoy the beauty of Hindi and Urdu and the manner in which lyricists have used the same word in the same line more than once to convey two different meanings. Which other songs (with homonyms) can you add?

P.S. The word बन (ban) is used very interestingly in a different sense in this song – Yun Hi tum Mujhse Pyaar Kartu Ho. The line in the third stanza is :

ban gayi ho meri sadaa ke liye
yaa mujhe yoon hi tum banaati ho

Do you notice how the word बन is used for become as well as making (a fool)?

Disclaimer

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