Zeenat Aman becomes shamelessly intoxicated in front of her brother Dev Anand in Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971). More importantly, can someone please burn that hideous floppy straw hat?

Our next lyrics and English translation is the epitome of youthful rebellion and psychadelic glamour: “Dum Maro Dum” from Dev Anand’s 1971 Hare Rama Hare Krishna. The translation could not have come at a more appropriate time–as many of you know, as of 2 weeks ago, medical marijuana is now legalized in Massachusetts. So to all the Harvard seniors getting ready to graduate in a few months, this song is for you! When people think of Asha Bhonsle at her craziest, “Dum Maro Dum” is often the song that comes immediately to mind. It’s seductive, eccentric, and exhibits her full range from those bizarre, unexpected high notes to the fabulous embodiment of character as only Asha knew how. It’s one of incomparable music director R.D. Burman’s greatest works for the ground he broke–putting illicit drugs and societal defiance to the forefront in a youth-targeted song that was so instantly catchy no one could brush it off. Let’s face it, with this song, Zeenat may represent everything we don’t want in our loved ones, but God, does she make it look appealing.

Gorgeous Zeenat Aman sports a pair of show-stopping 70s shades as a drug addict in Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971).

Shot in one of Dev Anand’s favorite locations, Kathmandu (remember Jewel Thief, anyone?), Hare Rama Hare Krishna is a politically-driven film against the subversive hippie culture that our hero believes to be distorting the true message of the Hindu ideals it pretends to preach. Dev Anand hunts down his long-lost sister in such a hippie camp and tries to extricate her with tragic results. The film delivers a powerful message without feeling like Manoj Kumar-eqsue patriotic propaganda. I really applaud Dev Anand for making such a bold film that critiques a subject so ignored by his contemporaries and so popular among the masses who bought into it–with a delightfully satirical name like Hare Rama Hare Krishna, the film was a risk and it paid off.

So enjoy our English translation and lyrics to “Dum Maro Dum” below! Follow along with the video and let us know your thoughts on this controversial smash hit in the comments! You know how Zeenat starts the song with a little “Hush!” just before the music starts? I can’t exactly explain why, but I always feel really awkward when I hear it.

Dum Maro Dum Lyrics and Translation

Dam maaro dam miT jaaye gham
Take another hit, all your worries will disappear
Bolo subah shaam hare krishna hare raam
From morning until night sing, “Hare Krishna Hare Ram!”

Duniyaa ne hum ko diyaa kyaa?
What has the world given us?
Duniyaa se hum ne liyaa kyaa?
What have we taken from the world?
Hum sab kii parwaa kare.N kyo.N?
Why should we worry about anyone?
Sab ne humaaraa kiyaa kyaa?
What has anyone does for us?
Dam maaro dam miT jaaye gham…

Chaahe jiye.Nge, mare.Nge
Whether we want to live or to die
Hum na kisii se Dare.Nge
We won’t be afraid of anyone
hum ko na roke zamaanaa
The world won’t be able to stop us
Jo chaahe.Nge hum kare.Nge
For we will do what we want

Dam maaro dam miT jaaye gham
Take another hit, all your worries will disappear
Bolo subah shaam hare krishna hare raam
From morning until night sing, “Hare Krishna Hare Ram!”

Glossary:

dam maarnaa: to take a hit [of marijuana]; miT jaanaa: to disappear; gham: sadness, worries; subah shaam: from morning to night; Hare Krishna Hare Raam: a chant of the Hare Krishna sect popularized by the hippie culture in the 60s and 70s; duniyaa: society, the world; parwaa: worry; zamaanaa: the world

Zeenat Aman suddenly remembers her idyllic drug-free childhood with an emotional outburst of regret in Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971).

For the sake of completeness, I feel compelled to include a translation of Dev Anand’s great comeback to the moral disorder he witnesses among the Hare Krishnas: “Dekho O Diwaano.” “Dekh O Diwano” and indeed the film Hare Rama Hare Krishna, is not a direct attack on the actual Hare Krishna movement, but rather the hippie culture that traveled with it in the 60 and 70s–and by blending the two, confused and disheartened many a contemporary conservative Hindu. Dev Anand makes some brilliant comparisons through example in this song–by drawing upon classic Hindu literature such as the Ramayan story of Lord Ram’s banishment to the forest (“Ram ne ha.Ns kar sab sukh tyaage“) and Krishna’s explanation to Arjun of the meaning of karma in the timeless battlefield of the Mahabharat (“Krishna ne karm ki riit sikhaayi“), Dev Anand makes a clear distinction between lip service and actual belief.

Dekho O Deewano Lyrics and Translation:

Dekho O deewano, tum yeh kaam na karo
Look, Oh crazy people, do not behave like this
Raam kaa naam badnaam na karo
Do not bring dishonor to the name of Ram

Raam ko samjho, Krishna ko jaano
Understand Ram, know Krishna well
Nee.Nd se jaago, O mastaano
Wake up from this sleep, Oh intoxicated ones
Jeet lo man ko paDh kar Geeta
Win back your mind by studying the Geeta
Man hii haaraa, to kyaa jeetaa?
For once you’ve lost your mind, what is there to win?

Hare Krishna, Hare Ram
Hare Krishna, Hare Ram
Jeevan ko nashe ka tum ghulaam na karo
Do not make your life a servant to intoxications
Raam kaa naam badnaam na karo
Do not bring dishonor to the name of Ram

Raam ne ha.Ns kar sab sukh tyaage
With a smile, Ram renounced all his joys
Tum sab dukh se Dar ke bhaage
But you are scared and run away from every grief
Krishna ne karm kii riit sikhaaii
Krishna taught us the tradition of righteous action
Tum ne farz se aa.Nkh churaayii
But you avoid your duties

Hare Krishna, Hare Ram
Hare Krishna, Hare Ram
Jeevan naam hai kaam kaa aaraam na karo
The meaning of life is work, do not rest
Raam kaa naam badnaam na karo
Do not bring dishonor to the name of Ram

Glossary:

badnaam: dishonored; tyaagnaa: to renounce; nee.Nd: sleep; Geeta: the Bhagavad Gita, a religious text within the epic poem the Mahabharat; jeevan: life; nashe: intoxications; ghulaam: servant; riit: culture, tradition; farz: duty; aa.Nkh churaanaa: to avoid; aaraam karna: to rest

While Zeenat Aman and her fellow groupies waste their minds and lives to drugs in the name of Lords Ram and Krishna, Dev Anand reminds the audience of the wrong of even inaction as discussed in the Gita. Classical Hindu dharmic responsibility is not passive, but active and tempered–with no stake in the outcome whether happiness or sadness. It is an ancient theme that you may recall Dev Anand explored years earlier in his 1965 legend Guide. Sadly, Zeenat Aman eventually succumbs to her addiction, and in the end the story returns briefly to the heart of many a great film: a tale of a broken family reunited.

These themes can certainly be pretty volatile subjects, and it’s not our intention to spark a political or religious debate on this forum. So we shall end with a grammar lesson instead: do you know why the “deewaano” and “mastaano” are used instead of simply “deewaane” or “mastaane”? The vocative as used here is a special case! The nasalization “o.N” used in the oblique (eg. “dosto.N ke saath”) is not to be confused with the vocative “o” (eg. “suniye, dosto”) used to address a group directly! People commonly make this sloppy Urdu mistake–so rise above the masses!

But don’t go that high, if you know what I mean. Have fun, Massachusetts.

-Mrs. 55