Nuggets of Sholay — Two: Kala Akshar Bhains Barabar (काला अक्षर भैंस बराबर)
Exploring the irony and trivia behind a famous Sholay proverb.
So, I'm not going in any particular order of the muhavras in Sholay, but the second one that caught my attention is this gem.
To be technically correct, the movie uses "kale" instead of "kala", appearing near the end of the film (2h 26m). The scene unfolds when the gaonwalas allegedly kill Jai and Veeru and send their bodies to Gabbar as proof.
The Scene
Five dakus gather. One dismounts his horse and finds a letter strapped to Veeru. He says, “Arre, yeh kya hai? Chitthi?” Another replies, “Kale Akshar Bhains Barabar. Chitthi nahin to kya hai? Padh!”
The proverb literally means “Black letters and black buffalo are the same,” describing an illiterate person for whom written words are meaningless. Ironically, the daku is then asked to read the letter!
Meaning & Trivia
According to Quora, the phrase describes someone uneducated equating written letters with a buffalo. In this context, the proverb collapses — the supposedly illiterate daku reads the letter! Perhaps a script goof, or a deliberate joke. Either way, it’s a fun nugget of cinematic trivia.
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