‘Tere bina beswaadi beswaadi ratiyan’ comes at a crucial unexpected time in the film, Guru, when the hero thinks he has everyone and everything by his side. A painful look from the watery sea-green eyes of his better half is all it took for the rug to be pulled under our hero’s legs. He is left stranded, alone, only to blame himself.
Gulzar anchors the lyrics around the theme of ‘pain in solitude’ and embellishes the lines with alliteration and simile in his trademark style; not to forget the playfulness with which he compares her moving away to that of being away for some chores or when her sister-wife distracts her. Yet, I felt the emotions could have went beyond the lonely nights. Is that all men are capable of thinking? Can’t a man think of his companion at least during the day?
This is where ‘Aaruyire Mannipaaya Mannipaaya Sollu Nee En Sagiyae’ enters the scene. Straight off the bat, the Tamil lyrics achieve a tonal shift in the theme from ‘pain in solitude’ to ‘seeking forgiveness’. The Tamil lyrics of course had to stick to the Gulzar rule to a larger degree since this is a dubbed song; and yet, it finds unexpected ways to infuse the theme of forgiveness. Thus births the line, 'oh my short-tempered cuckoo'.
The 2nd charanam is where the Tamil lyrics truly shifts gear. Where Gulzar brings in the female version of ‘pain in solitude’, the Tamil lyrics instils a vastly diverging female view with just two lines,
Is it right to hurt this delicate flower?
Do you think you can cool me down by cajoling?
Yes, she too has been suffering from the separation, but the fundamental resentment is on why he didn’t treat her as equal; something that plays a major part until the end of the film in a romantic way.
Gurukant Desai is a man who chases distant dreams. To ensure his vision becomes a reality, he knows he would have to course correct sometimes, learn new things sometimes, or unlearn many things sometimes. How does such a person demonstrate to a woman, who is this stern and resolute, that he has turned a leaf? Visually, Maniratnam does something very generic; he lets the couple stay apart, brood over it, and when they couldn’t tolerate the separation they just reunite, no questions asked. Gulzar describes this as is through his verses.
But I saw more depth in the idea than what was conceived by Maniratnam. Gurukant doesn’t try to convince his better-half when she storms away; he doesn’t chase her immediately or in the next few days. With passage of time, he is internally course correcting himself to be worthy of her. Only when he feels he’s ready, he meets her again. Knowing him truly well, she immediately embraces him as he won’t make the mistake again. How does one encompass all this through a short phrase? The Tamil lyricist believes it’s not through words, but through the in-diminishable truth behind it:
Living alone, oh my dear, is bliss,
But living alone, knowing truly well that I could have lived with you, is painful,
Don’t kill me with your non-violence!!
Post this punch line, since AR Rahman structured this song as a typical 80s patch-up song, for the coda in Hindi, the female vocal renders the lines previously reserved for the male; the male in receipt of this signal repeats the same line and then they lived happily ever after. But that doesn’t happen in Tamil. Instead, the female, still doubtful, sings ‘will I forgive you?’ to which the male yearns, ‘will you forgive me?’ and only then the actual patch-up happens. Sometimes delayed gratification has a better payoff.
⁃ HSR
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