Song of Love: Chup Chup Ke from 'Bunty Aur Babli'

Written by the wizard of words, Gulzar Saab, composed by the sensational and versatile trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, the melodious voices bestowed by Sonu Nigam, Mahalaxmi Iyer, the song “Chup Chup Ke” from the Shaad Ali directed 2005 film ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ is simply not about Bunty and Babli, it’s a song culminating from the love fashioned between Rakesh Trivedi and Vimmi Saluja. The song juxtaposes the dual personalities that both Rakesh and Vimmi hides inside themselves in the form of their aspirations and dreams. So, to represent their romance, it becomes important to have a song that highlights both forms of the couple. The sound of piano that initiates the song represents the intimacy of their first kiss, just like the tunes coming out of a piano, the kiss that both Bunty and Babli share is highly seductive in its nature. The song then quickly shifts into the sound of Sitar, arranged by Niladri Kumar. The initial part of the song which starts with a piano and transforms into Sitar distinguishes the contradiction between the two personalities of the couple. The former, westerns in its aspirations, while the later representing the Indian-ness of their love.

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We quickly cut to a wide landscape of mountains, “देखना मेरे सर से आसमाँ उड़ गया है” sings Rakesh, as if telling Vimmi how jealous is the sky of their newly found love, and is reorganizing itself from the universe courtesy brought by the fanaticism of their love. Vimmi replies “देखना क्या हुआ, ये ज़मीं बह रही है, देखना पानियों में, ज़मीं घुल रही है कहीं से” the earth too is influenced by their love, and is ready to get submerged in water. The comparison between the two entities, Sky and Earth and their reformation, probably in their own way trying to get the feel of the taste of love, the lines are constructed in typical Gulzar-esque fashioned style to define the love between these two characters. It is also a symbol that much like the big ambitions that these two people have, the canvas of their thoughts is also larger than life. It’s as if the love between these two characters is acting as a conductor in an orchestra and directing the sky and earth to perform as per their words. The theme, idea and the interpretation of their love directed towards the sky and earth is what it makes it even more beautiful, because then the understandings will be in large number and in a deeper sense.    

   

We then see a change in characters in the song in the next scene, we see Bunty and Babli going around in a car, probably after a con job, and they make love in the car randomly in the middle of an empty road, the reason I say they are Bunty and Babli, because we do not hear a word, throughout the scene, all we get to hear is a tune of Piano, and when they do get inside of the car, we see a bundle of rupees flying away without neither of them bothering about it, that signifies the people we see on the screen.

  

We quickly cut back to Rakesh singing “होश में मैं नहीं, ये गशी भी नहीं, इस सदी में कभी, ये हुआ ही नहीं” he is sharing his state of confusion in his mind about his identity, he is muddled about the issue that whether the person in love is Rakesh or Bunty, because he hasn’t felt like this before, he has felt the highs of a successful con job gone right in the past, but the ecstasy of being in love is way above everything else in the world, and to be honest, at this point he just does not care about his dual personality, he simply wants to be in this moment of love. He does not know what the future holds for him, he just wants to be in the present, because he is in love and wants time to be paused and let him be absorbed in the moment. “जिस्म घुलने लगा, रूह गलने लगी” replies Vimmi, simply telling him that now, apart from partners in crime, they have become one soul, they both have amalgamated into one another, “पाँव रुकने लगने ,राह चलने लगी” up till that point, they were running towards one goal after another, but now Rakesh and Vimmi have come out of Bunty and Babli, and they have found stability in life, and now they do not run towards their path, the are static in their place, it’s the road of love they are walking together that is driving them towards their pathway, which is different from the idea that Bunty and Babli have in their mind.

We get back to both of them speaking once again about the sky and earth, and in a way, they are providing us updates about the sky and earth’s quest to restructure themselves. “आसमाँ बादलों पर करवटें ले रहा है, देखना आसमाँ ही बरसने लगे ना ज़मीन पे” the anxiety is getting into the nerves of the sky, and that might eventually lead to a point where the sky would roll around the clouds in order to pour down into the earth. “ये ज़मीं पानियों में डुबकियाँ ले रही है, देखना उठ के पैरों पे चलने लगे ना कहीं पे” announces Vimmi. This stanza of the song clears my ambiguity about the use of the words, sky and earth, the lyrics are trying to tell an individual story in itself, between sky and earth, both of them are envious of the love between Rakesh and Vimmi that they are witnessing in front of them, this ignites the fire of love in them, and they desperately want to sneak near each other for a couple of moments of proximity. The distance between them is too large to be fulfilled, instead both Rakesh and Vimmi are sharing their longing for one another through their words which are embedded in music.

We then cut back to Bunty and Babli having a glass of champagne in the middle of nowhere, and ironically for the first time, we hear these characters sing “छुप छुप के, चोरी से चोरी”. We see them running into an uninhabited lane, probably after a heist gone wrong, they try and hide around a corner, but at this particular moment, both of them are struck with the realization of being this intimate with each other. As they get closer with each other, we see a couple of people carrying flambeaus in the background. This is a very subtle hint on the director’s part to show the flames of love burning inside them, as they make love while running away from a theft, they are not one bit concerned about any other aspect at that moment apart from feeling each other’s love. As they make love, Bunty pulls the pearl necklace from Babli’s neck, this gives me another hint that the pearl necklace broken so passionately was stolen.

Just before the song, there is a beautiful sequence around the banks of Taj Mahal with a man singing on the outskirts, as if providing Rakesh and Vimmi a marriage song. Both of them take their marriage vows, and promise each other that they will forever remain as Bunty and Babli, fatefully once they are done with their proceedings, Vimmi tells him “Oye Rakesh, Just Married”. Shaad Ali is probably fascinated with the idea of his characters being in love around and with Taj Mahal. Ricky Thukral and Alvira Khan’s love was similarly made memorable in “Bol Na Halke Halke” from “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom”, where Ricky proposes Alvira for marriage, and we hear a man singing in the background. 

“तुम कहो तो रुकें, तुम कहो तो चलें, ये जुनूँ है अगर, तो जुनूँ सोच लें” sings Rakesh, solidifying the marriage vows he took, that he will take every important step in life in accordance with Vimmi, if their dynamics is termed as some sort of fixation by the world, then let it be the measuring stick for the feeling of obsession. The play of words describes the beauty and the epic nature of what it means for these characters to be in love. The fixation that is driven through love is much stronger than the core feeling, and Rakesh is even to willing to prove it. “तुम कहो तो रुकें, तुम कहो तो चलें, मुझको पहचानती, है कहाँ मंज़िले” says Vimmi, she will be unfamiliar to her destination without him, and if she is alone, even her destinations won’t recognize her.

The song culminates with the line “बंटी की बबली और बबली का बंटी, बंटी की बबली हुई”, leaving it for the audience to decide whether they see Bunty and Babli, or Rakesh and Vimmi. The song has so much depth to offer about the romantic side of these two couples, and the way they perceive romance. On one side, we have a couple acting as a mediator to narrate the tales of an immature but fantasy love between sky and earth, while on the other side we have a couple, who is naughty at every inch of their skin, and is looking to explore the moment of being ‘High’ when in love. We have a couple representing small towns of India, and on the other end, we have a couple showing urges of urbanized lifestyle.

Chup Chup Ke, probably got lost in the chaos of the lyrical and musical genius of Kajra Re, but the way this song provides nuances of these characters is simply worth admiring.