Weird Translations of Hindi Film Songs

 These are Hindi film songs, translated into English. We played this game when young and stupid.. ha ha.

1. Ok, I am going. See you again tomorrow.

2. Stop stop stop, stop my dear..

3. Smoke your joint, sorrows get wiped out..

4. Where will you get such a chance again?

5. Today tomorrow our love story is on every tongue..

6. Your dreams and mine are one colour now

7. Two words only, story of the heart..

8. In the window opposite mine, lives a piece of the Moon.

9. A clever woman, after decking up..

10. A wet, wet girl, sleeps at night as if awake..

Lost in Translation

 Lyrics of Hindi songs can be really funny when translated straight. Examples-

How will Radha not burn?

My heart burns in wet wet nights.

On the lips, only your name's there.

Crazy guy has got a heartfelt song.

Want to tell you, want to tell you, today for the first time..

..and we are just getting started.

Lost in Translation?

It's fun translating things into another language..so I decided to translate a few song lines into Hyderabadi from Hindi (for those unaware, these are two distinct languages- like French and Chinese)-

Jab pyar kiya to darna kya?
 Pyar karinge, kaiku to bi daringe?

Naam gum jaayega
 Gum hote yaaro, hoshiyar rehna.

Papa ko Mummy se pyar hai
 Bawa ku ammi se pyar hai..

Nahi nahi, abhi nahi, abhi karo intezaar..
  Nakko nakko, abbii nakko bolrun na..

Thoda ruk jayegi to tera kya jayega?
  Thoda ruke to qayamat aa jati?

Gore rang pe na itna gumaan kar..
 Hume kaale hain to kya hua dilwale hain..

Akele akele kahaan ja rahe ho?..
 Badkamma Badkamma Badkamma ekkada potau ra? (Telugu is also a part of Hyderabadi)

Anopheles Learns Hyderabadi

My winged friend Anopheles (the one who stings-others) was visiting, and I asked if she wanted to learn Hyderabadi, my native tongue. She agreed readily. So I taught her a few words, and gave her a test. She had to translate a few sentences from English into Hyderabadi. Here's how it went-

Why is there so much angst in the world?

Kaiku itte pareshaan hain logaan?

Do you think you are a great guy?

Motabbari hai kya? Apne aapku kyatobhi samajhrain?

Why do you want to fight? Let it go.

Kaiku lad lerain? Jaando yaaro!

Money comes and goes, but if you love each other,..

Paisa aainga, jainga, magar logaan ek dusreku pyar kareto..

She passed with flying colours..udte colouraan :)

Silly Translations

We used to play a game when we were teenaged and somewhat (?) silly. This involved literally translating Hindi film songs into English. It led to a number of hilarious phrases or lines, and served our purpose, which was to laugh uncontrollably. Don't know if that'll happen, but here is an attempt at the same skill applied to the same raw material, but with  the silliness improved by age and experience. Laughter therapy instead of chicken soup.

Film titles-

Laughing Injuries- Hanste Zakhm

Chor Machaye Shor- Thief Makes Noise

Pyaasa- Thirsty guy

Dil Deke Dekho- Give your Heart and See

Who am I Yours?- Hum Aapke Hain Kaun?

And a song to add to the repertoire-

This, what happened, how happened, why happened- Yeh kya hua, kaise hua, kyon hua

P.S. There was a variation of this with Telugu translations of English movie titles too, like The Deep becoming Lothu Ramudu and Mackenna's Gold becoming Yenkanna Bangaram!

After Dark- Intriguing Murakami

Read a slim Murakami novel called After Dark. It is the most intriguing yet, because it involves a sort of overarching camera as one of the ' observers' of the goings on in the life of a 'sleeping beauty' who has been at it for two months or more. She is a model and also a delicate person with a lot of medical problems. Her teenaged sister is the other major actor, very much awake and aware of the stark differences between herself and her sister- in looks and likes.

Many truths about life and living appear as part of the dialogue between the sister who is awake and a casual acquaintance (male) she meets in a coffee shop, and another (female) she meets in a love hotel (where people go on a short date). It emerges that the siblings are not very close, and suffer from guilt/confusion in their own ways. Like many of his stories, this one also leaves the reader guessing, with the stories of the characters left unresolved.

Very interesting novel indeed, in his trademark style. There are some references to Chinese gangs operating rackets in Japan. Well, seems like a global phenomenon, with only the nationalities changing. But mostly, the story is about self-exploration, like most of his novels. I am an unabashed fan. This is about the eighth or ninth one I have read. The translator is an English literature prof at Harvard. Thanks to him for doing this, bringing a great author within our reach.