Imraan's poems from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara — full text and meaning

There is a specific kind of person who remembers exactly where they were when they first heard Imraan recite a poem in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Not the songs. Not the dialogue. The poems.

Written by Javed Akhtar and recited by his son Farhan Akhtar as the character Imraan, these poems are the emotional spine of the film. After the film released, Farhan tweeted: "It's so fantastic that everyone loves the poems in ZNMD. Thank you pa for injecting soul into the film with your gifted hand."

This video has over 1.3 million views. People aren't just watching — they're returning, saving it, sending it to someone at 2am. Here are all the poems in full, with translation and context.

The poems

Poem 1 — Pighle neelam sa behta hua ye sama

This is the first poem in the film, recited after the trio emerges from the sea. It captures the feeling of being completely alone with yourself — no distractions, no noise, just your own breathing. Apne hone par mujhko yaqeen aa gaya — I now believe in my own existence. That last line is the whole film in eight words.

Poem 2 — Ik baat honton tak hai jo aayi nahin

This is the most quietly devastating of all. Javed Akhtar writes about the feeling that sits between two people — the thing both of them know, neither has said, and the world can somehow see anyway. Yeh jaane kaisa raaz hai — what a strange secret this is. Not a secret that needs keeping. A secret that keeps itself.

Poem 3 — Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai

The most emotionally complete poem. It arrives at the moment Imraan finally confronts his absent father — the wound driving him throughout the entire film. Thoda gham hai sabka qissa, thodi dhoop hai sabka hissa — a little sadness is everyone's story, a little sunshine is everyone's share. It's not dismissive. It's the most compassionate thing you can say to someone in pain: you are not alone in this.

Why these poems still matter

ZNMD is a film about three men running from themselves at high speed through Spain. The diving, the tomatoes, the bulls — all beautiful distraction. But the poems are the film's conscience. They slow everything down and ask the question the action is trying to avoid.

Javed Akhtar didn't write these for a song sequence. He wrote them to be heard in silence, in a human voice, with nothing competing for your attention. Director Zoya Akhtar built each poem into a structural turning point — moments where a character crosses a threshold they can't uncross.

The 1.3 million people who've watched this video aren't there for any other reason than that at some point, one of these poems said the thing they were feeling and couldn't find words for.

That's what good poetry does. It doesn't teach you something new. It names what you already knew.

Poem 4 — Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho

The fourth poem is the one most people already know without realising it — because it became the film's title track, "Zinda Ho Tum." Javed Akhtar wrote it as both the poem Imraan recites and the song the film closes on. By the time you hear it over the end credits, you've already heard it as something spoken aloud at the moment the journey has done what it needed to do.

The central image — betaabiyan, restlessness — is the film's thesis in a single word. To be restless is to be unfinished, unsettled, still searching. The poem says: that's not a problem. That's the proof you're alive. The person who has stopped being restless has stopped wanting things, stopped imagining things, stopped being surprised. Toh zinda ho tum is not a compliment. It's a diagnosis — and a reassurance at the same time.

All four poems together form a complete arc: existence, the unsaid, grief, and finally movement. Keep going. Carry your restlessness with you. That's the whole film in four poems. Javed Akhtar gave ZNMD its soul, and Farhan Akhtar gave it his voice. The 1.3 million people who keep returning to this video are there because at some point, one of these poems said the thing they needed to hear.