ABSTRACT
So goes the hauntingly beautiful song from the 1998 film Earth. Written by Javed Akhtar and set to music by A.R. Rahman (and incidentally, put to good use by Gohar Raza as the recurring theme of “Evil Stalks the Land,” a documentary on the 2002 Gujarat violence), the song is obviously an homage to another one that was written earlier by Sahir Ludhianvi:
Khuda-e bartar, teri zamin par, zamin ki khatir ye jakg kyoÅ hai? Har ek fatah-o zafar ke daman pe, khun-e insan ka rakg kyoÅ hai? . . . JinheÅ talab hai jahan bhar ki, unhiÅ ka dil itna takg kyoÅ hai? . . . SaroÅ meÅ kibr-o-ghurur kyoÅ hai, diloÅ ke fife pe zakg kyoÅ hai? O great God, why do people of your earth wage war over land? Why is the garment of every conqueror stained with human blood? . . . Why are the hearts of those who desire the whole world so small and petty? . . . Why are their heads swollen with pride and arrogance, why are the mirrors
of their hearts rusted?
