Today, a reader Pissu Perera mailed me asking for the English translations of 2 Hindi songs from one of my favourite movies - Rang de Basanti.

"hi, nice blog. i’ve been looking for the english translations of khoon chala and roobaroo with no luck so far.. is there anyway you can help me out? thanks"

"The DVD I got doesn’t have subtitles for the songs and while I can more or less understand dialogues the meanings of songs are above me. The film struck a chord in me so I was just wondering what they meant. I managed to find the translation of Luka Chupi and it is heart breaking."

 

"PS - your post on RDB and the critiquing contest gave me goosebumps just like the film did. Great post."

As the translations were not be found anywhere, I decided to translate the two songs and to post them here for others as well.

Thanks Pissu, I enjoyed listening to the songs with an understanding of the meaning of the lines - they’re beautiful! 

So, here are the lyrics and their translations:

Song: Roobaroo Roshani (face-to-face with light)
Film: Rang de Basanti (Paint me Yellow)
Singers: A. R. Rehman, Naresh Iyer

Watch the song video here  

Translated on Oct 26, 2007 1:14 – 1:49am, Singapore

Song: Khoon chala Khoon chala (Blood travels blood travels)
Film: Rang de Basanti (Paint me Yellow)
Singer: Mohil Chauhan

Watch the song video here

Translated on Oct 26, 2007 1:55 – 2:11am, Singapore

Three concurrent music reality shows happened in India - Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Star Plus’ Voice of India and Sony’s Indian Idol. All were designed to discover singing talents through public voting. There are a few salient features of these shows: a) Some real talent and extremely good singing comes to the forefront b) Big names in the music industry come as judges and show people that they can quarrell too c) People can vote any number of times paying a premium on the telephone calls/SMS d) Voting is not based on singing capabilities alone but who people can identity with e) A combination of community pride and unlimited voting ensures that the organizers smile their way to the bank f) Girls almost never made it to the very top People feel a personal sense of involvement in these shows, as they play ‘king-makers’. In India, a country of diverse communities - these shows have contributed to accentuation of regional and community pride and a chance to make the local boy or girl a part of the national mainstream. Indian Idol was won by Prashant Tamang - who managed to unite all Nepali-speaking people from parts of India, Nepal and overseas into voting for him and feeling a shared joy of ethnic pride. Sony’s Voice of India contest is still continuing. In my view, some of the contestants of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are way above competition. They are trained, seasoned singers with an ability to mesmerize. My favourite in the show was Raja Hasan of India, followed by Amanat Ali of Pakistan. Raja’s performances such as Piya Haji Ali, Vande Maatram, Allah Ke Bande , Padharo Mahre Desh, Omkara and Naina Thag Lenge left me spellbound. Some of the memorable performances by Amanat were Tujhse naaraaz nahin zindagi, Ye housla kaise jhuke, Mitwa, Albela Sajan, Tori Lachke and Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa. In the finals on October 13, votes got divided into India and Overseas. In the Indian voting, Raja stood 1st, while Amanat 3rd - Aneek Dhar of India stood 2nd. In the overseas voting , Amanat stood 1st while Raja 3rd, with Aneek 2nd. Because the votes of Raja and Amanat getting divided, the ultimate winner was Aneek. Despite being a good singer, he had lost a lot of goodwill because of the excessive promotion by his mentor Himesh Reshammiya. In many ways, he won because of Himesh. In many ways, he won despite Himesh. Below are the tabulation of the votes.