Life in Trinidad

Ramaiya Vastavaiya

Song Title Ramaiya Vastavaiya
Movie Title Shree 420
Date Released (India) September 6, 1955
Date Released (Trinidad) Unknown
Singer Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, and Mukesh
Lyricist Shailendra
Composer Shankar Jaikishan
Starring Nargis, Nadira, and Raj Kapoor
Music video of Ramaiya Vastavaiya from the movie Shree 420.

Song Lyrics

About The Lyrics

The Hindi lyrics of this song were obtained from the Filmy Quotes website [1]. The English translation of some parts of the song was taken from the Filmy Quotes website [1], the Mr. and Mrs. 55 – Classic Bollywood Revisited website [2], and from the English subtitles of the original movie. The final version of the translation was put together by P. Mohan using Google Translate [3].

There is some debate about the translation of the words “Ramaiya vastavaiya”. It is a Telugu phrase, Telugu being one of the six languages designated as a classical language by the Government of India. Many sources translate the phrase as, “Ram, will you return?”. Some sources say that it should be translated as “Ram, won’t you return?”. Other sources argue that the phrase is not a question and should be translated, “Ram, you will return!”, expressing confidence that Ram, indeed will return. On this page, the phrase is translated as, “Ram, come quickly!”, which seems to be the closest to the origin of the song described below.

Fun Facts

The first part of the song is picturized on two main dancers, Sheila Vaaz and Satyanarayan. The second part of the song is picturized on Nargis and Raj Kapoor.

The origin of the now famous song is described below (taken from an article at [4]):

“According to a Mayapuri report, the phrase “vastavaiya” is Telugu. So, the story goes that during the making of Shree 420, Kapoor and his team of music composers often visited Khandala in the state of Maharashtra. The music team comprising of Shanker, Jaikishan, Shailendra and Hazrat Jaipuri would stop at a motel for some snacks and tea, and that is where they were said to have encountered the Telugu waiter Ramaiah. Shanker would converse with Ramaiah in Telugu since he had lived for a considerable time in Hyderabad.

Once, when they stopped by the motel, Shanker wanted to order something and called upon Ramaiah, but since the waiter was busy, Shanker was kept waiting which is when he apparently began humming the now popular phrase of “Ramaiah, vastavaiya” (loosely translated as “Ramaiah, come quickly!”).

As the humming began, Jaikishan began playing the tabla on the table as Hasrat sat bored in a corner. And when he asked Shanker if he had anything more to offer, lyricist Shailendra added the words, “maine dil tujhko diya“. This was then shared with Raj Kapoor, who immediately took a liking to it.”

References

[1] https://www.filmyquotes.com/songs/1197

[2] https://mrandmrs55.com/tag/ramaiya-vastavaiya/

[3] Mohan, Permanand. Life in Trinidad: A Journey Through Bollywood Film Songs and Trini Calypso. https://lifeintrinidad.org/

[4] https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/humming-srks-not-ramaiya-vastavaiya-know-the-story-behind-the-phrase-2427704-2023-08-28

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