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A Cinematic Verse
From the film  PYAASA  · 1957

Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye To Kya Hai “And what if this whole world were mine — what then?”

Voice · Mohammed Rafi◆ Words · Sahir Ludhianvi◆ Music · S.D. Burman◆ On screen · Guru Dutt
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In the closing moments of Pyaasa, a forgotten poet stands before the very world that once turned him away — and asks it the quietest, most devastating question of all. Read it softly, like a whisper — or let it be recited to you.

Tap “Recite softly” to hear the poem

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Verse I
Yeh mehlon, yeh takhton, yeh taajon ki duniya Yeh insaan ke dushman samaajon ki duniya Yeh daulat ke bhookhe rawaajon ki duniya Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai
Meaning This world of palaces, of thrones and crowns; this world of societies that are mankind's own enemy; this world of customs starving for wealth — even if it were handed to me whole, what would it be worth?
Verse II
Har ek jism ghayal, har ek rooh pyaasi Nigaahon mein uljhan, dilon mein udaasi Yeh duniya hai ya aalam-e-badhawasi Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai
Meaning Every body is wounded, every soul left thirsting; confusion in the eyes, sorrow in the hearts. Is this a world at all — or only a fevered, restless delirium?
Verse III
Yahaan ek khilona hai insaan ki hasti Yeh basti hai murda-paraston ki basti Yahaan to jeevan se hai maut sasti Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai
Meaning Here a human life is no more than a toy; this is a town of those who worship the dead. Here, death itself is cheaper than living.
Verse IV
Jawaani bhatakti hai badkaar ban kar Jawaan jism sajte hain bazaar ban kar Yahaan pyaar hota hai byopaar ban kar Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai
Meaning Youth wanders here, driven astray into ruin; young bodies are dressed up like a marketplace. Here even love is conducted as nothing but a trade.
Verse V
Yeh duniya jahaan aadmi kuch nahin hai Wafa kuch nahin, dosti kuch nahin hai Yahaan pyaar ki qadr hi kuch nahin hai Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai
Meaning A world where a man counts for nothing; where loyalty is nothing, friendship nothing. Where the worth of love itself has come to mean nothing at all.
Finale
Jala do ise, phoonk daalo yeh duniya Mere saamne se hata lo yeh duniya Tumhari hai tum hi sambhaalo yeh duniya Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai
Meaning Burn it down, set this world ablaze; take it away from before my eyes. It is yours — so you keep it, you carry it. For even if this whole world were mine, what then would it be worth?
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The Film At A Glance

Pyaasa — “The Thirsty One”

1957
Released
2:21
Run time (hrs)
B&W
Format
TIME
100 best films
Director & Lead
Guru Dutt
Plays Vijay, the unrecognised poet. The song marks his disillusioned reckoning with a hypocritical world that only honours him once it believes him dead.
Playback Voice
Mohammed Rafi
Delivers the verses with restrained, aching dignity — a performance often cited among the finest in Hindi film music.
Lyricist
Sahir Ludhianvi
The progressive Urdu poet whose searing social critique gives the song its enduring moral weight.
Composer
S.D. Burman
Frames the words in a slow, solemn melody that lets every line breathe like spoken poetry.
What The Song Is Really About

Five Quiet Indictments

⚖

Hollow Power

Palaces, thrones and crowns — symbols of status that hide a society at war with its own humanity.

$

Greed

Customs and rituals reduced to a hunger for wealth, where money outranks meaning.

♡

Love as Commodity

The most intimate of feelings traded in the marketplace, stripped of all value.

☾

Wounded Spirit

Bodies wounded, souls thirsting — a portrait of collective restlessness and despair.

✶

Rejection

A final refusal: burn this world down, for a world without worth is not worth inheriting.

∞

Timelessness

Nearly seventy years on, its question still lands — proof of poetry that outlives its age.

“Even if this whole world were placed in my hands —
tell me, what would it truly be worth?” — Sahir Ludhianvi, for Pyaasa (1957)