Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota - English Translation of Gulzar Lyrics

Meta Description:  Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota is a sensual Hindi song from the Bollywood movie Anubhav.  Gulzar, Geeta Dutt, and Tanuja have combined to create one of the boldest songs on the Hindi film screen. Read till the end for more songs with feminine sexuality themes.

Translating Gulzar’s Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota: Metaphors and Subtleties

The lyrics have been penned by Gulzar so there are bound to be metaphors: metaphors that are difficult to grasp, and once grasped, difficult to translate. But if you succeed the result is ethereal, as I hope it would be in my Bollywood Translation of Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota.

Anubhav was released in 1971, and yet the picturisation of this song is perhaps the boldest that you may find in Hindi cinema. A link to the video of the song is provided later in the blog. Gulzar’s lyrics are of course subtle and underplay the sexual vibrancy you see on the screen. My translation of Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota is a step ahead so that readers do not overlook the real theme of the song.

The Poetic English Translation of the Lyrics of Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota 

If my heart was really mine

I’d capture it in my eyes

Compress it against my lips

And revere it in a shrine

If my heart …..

 

I’d powder the sun’s bright rays

And pestle it gold yellow

I’d knead it on my body

To create a fragrant glow

On seeing my lustrous beauty

The mirror would start to shine

If my heart …..

 

The heavens have shed their load

And blessed some seas with love

But not one drop of moonlight

Has descended from above

Some falling in my cupped palms

Will be ecstasy divine

If my heart …..

The Original Hindi Lyrics of Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota

Mera dil jo mera hota
Palakon pe pakad leti
Honthon pe uthaa leti
Haathon me khuda hota
Mera dil

Suraj ko masal ke main
Chandan ke tarah malati
Sone kaa badan le kar
Kundan ki tarah jalati
Is gorey se chehare par
Aaina fida hota
Mera dil

 

Barsa hai kahin par to
Aakash samundar mein
Ik boond hai chanda ki
Utare na samundar main
Do haathon ke okh main ye
Gir padta to kya hota

Mera dil

I could not the dictionary meaning of “okh” in Urdu or in Hindi. The only way I could make sense of the line was to translate “haathon ke okh” as cupped palms. 

Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota Fact Sheet 

·       Movie: Anubhav
·       Singer: Geeta Dutt
·       Lyricist: Gulzar
·       Composer: Kanu Roy
·       On Screen: Tanuja
·       Producer & Director: Basu Bhattacharya
 
Do not miss the picturisation of the song on Tanuja.

Exploring Female Sexuality in Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota 

Female sexuality is often sidelined in Bollywood films, typically portrayed through superficial flirtations or exaggerated glamourisation. The raw and nuanced exploration it deserves is rarely seen on screen. However, two Hindi films from the early 1970s, Dastak (1970) and Anubhav (1971), approached this subject with authenticity and depth. Both films depict women married to husbands consumed by the struggle to provide for their families, leaving little time for intimacy.

The songs Mai Ri from Dastak and Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota from Anubhav poignantly illustrate the wife's solitude at home, unable to suppress her desires and finding solace in self-pleasure. The contrast lies in their settings: the couple in Dastak reside in a one-room tenement in a chawl, while in Anubhav, they inhabit an affluent apartment. This difference underscores the universal nature of sexual longing, transcending economic backgrounds.
 
A fact for trivia lovers: Anubhav was the last movie that Geeta Dutt recorded songs for.
 
 
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