"Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To Kya Hai" - The Poet's Disillusionment on Screen
Tuli Research Centre for India Studies (Editor)
Document TypeIn-house Video
Date31 August 2026
Duration18 min 11 sec
FormatLong-form Video
Description
"Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To Kya Hai" from Pyaasa (1957) gives voice to Guru Dutt's growing disillusionment with a dog-eat-dog world driven by greed, hypocrisy, and the commodification of art. Penned by Sahir Ludhianvi, composed by S.D. Burman, and sung by Mohammed Rafi, the song moves between a deeply personal outcry and a broader socio-political reflection on society.
In this insightful conversation amongst renowned experts in the field, Antara Mondal raises a fascinating point about the song's line, "Ye mahalon, ye takhton, ye taajon ki duniya" (this world of palaces, thrones, and crowns), reading it as an allusion to British rule. The detail suggests that Guru Dutt saw the hierarchies of the colonial era as still being very much intact in post-Independence India.
The discussion moves across poetry, performance, music, and cinematography, examining how each creative contribution deepens the song's emotional force, and how its climactic placement within the film transformed it into one of the most enduring sequences in Indian cinema.
This session is part of the workshop, "A Musical Glue for Nation-Building: Deconstructing the Film Song" presented by the Tuli Research Centre for India Studies (T.R.I.S.) at the 7th Self-Discovery via Rediscovering India Festival, featuring Madan Gopal Singh, Ravikant, Antara Mondal, Juhi Saklani, and Neville Tuli.