Songs: Mili

Mili was the first movie I watched beginning to end. Daddy brought home a dvd, and we all sat down to watch it; the first time ma, dad, jiji and me watched a movie together. Uhm, not exactly. Dad stopped after the first half where all the comedy was, and I watched the rest another day when no one was home.

The songs have even greater memories: I remember, when I was six or seven, waking up to 'maine kaha phoolon se' playing on the radio. 'Tis a remarkably cheerful song, and happy, happy lyrics, and I'd distort them to 'maine kaha tune tu,' and insist it was so when ma tried to correct me. I laugh, now; I have no clue what kind of thought processes lead to that

Maine kahan phoolon se 

haso to woh khil khila kar has diye 

Aur ye kahan jivan hai bhai mere bhai

hasne ke liye hasne ke liye.

I did not hear the actual song for a long time in between, and Lata's voice gave way to my mother's soft, unadorned one, for she'd hum it occasionally while she went about her cooking. Indeed, I was disappointed in the song when I found it on the internet --I am still decided that Ma's is way better.

The other two songs, aaye tum yaad mujhe and badi sooni sooni hai offer a remarkable contrast. The former has memories with dad; tis one of those songs we'd listened together. Tis a beautiful song, infused with pain and longing, but daddy and I, we were both too wrapped up in each other to give much weight to that. We were too busy counting stars:

Jab Mai Raaton Mein Taare Ginta Hoon
Aur Tere Kadmon Ki Aahat Sunta Hoon
Lage Mujhe Har Tara, Tera Darpan

Badi sooni sooni hai... it is -will you let me use 'beautiful' again? Cuz it is. A perfect expression of the emptiness I sometimes feel. Of when I can not find sleep at night, of when I can not find happiness:

Kabhee main n soyaa, kahee muz se khoyaa sukh meraa aise

Pataa naam likhakar, kahee yoohee rakhakar bhoole koee jaise