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Nuggets of Sholay: Five - Zamindar Ki Beqaari

Nuggets of Sholay — Five: Zamindar Ki Beqaari

Nuggets of Sholay — Five: Zamindar Ki Beqaari (ज़मींदार की बेक़ारी)

Breaking tradition, this nugget isn’t a muhavra but a rare phrase from Sholay that showcases Basanti’s wit and linguistic flair. If you’ve landed here directly, you can explore the earlier entries:

Previous Nuggets

The Phrase

Phrase: Zamindar ki Beqaari (ज़मींदार की बेक़ारी)

Around the 42-minute mark, Jai and Veeru arrive at the station. Outside waits Basanti with her tanga, launching into her signature nonstop spiel. Instead of simply asking where they want to go, she delivers a mini-lecture:

"...ab koi zabardasti ka sauda to hai nahin. baithe baithe, nahin baithe nahin baithe. arre yeh to Basanti ka tanga hai — kisi jameendar ki bekaari thodi hai, ke marzi na marzi karna hi pade."
Basanti saying 'kisi jameendar ki bekaari thodi hai'
Basanti: “Kisi jameendar ki bekaari thodi hai, ke marzi na marzi karna hi pade.”

The word beqaari (बेकारी) normally means unemployment or idleness — which doesn’t fit here. Why would one “do the unemployment of a landlord”? The real clue lies in dialect.

In parts of UP and MP, the word is actually pronounced beqaari (बेक़ारी), spoken from the epiglottis, like qeemat or qayamat. It means “force” or “compulsion.” Hence, the line translates to:

“This isn’t some landlord’s compulsion that you must do it, whether you wish to or not.”

A tiny pronunciation shift changes the entire meaning — a subtle example of how Sholay’s dialogues brim with linguistic play.

Closing Thoughts

That was the nugget. Samjhe ke nahin? Agar achha laga to comment kijiye. Agar achha nahin laga to lament kijiye.
Goodbye, aadab and namaste.

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Comments

Unknown said…
Force to work is the correct meaning I feel so
April 10, 2020 at 5:25 PM
Sachit Murthy said…
By the way, the railway station shown Sholay is NOT Ramanagaram, as many people have pointed out to me. The name of the station is 'Chandanpur'. In fact, if you zoom into the video, you can see 'npur'. But this Chandanpur is again fictional. The real Chandanpur railway station is in West Bengal!
April 24, 2020 at 7:12 PM
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