The trailer of Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor starrer 'Batti Gul Meter Chalu' has just landed and we gave you the detailed report about it a while ago too but what still remained a mystery to us, was the use of supposedly pahadi words "bal" and "thehra" in almost all the dialogues delivered by the characters in a very gripping story from the small town of Uttarakhand. If you are wondering what the dialogues meant, here's what we found out by consulting our colleagues who come from Uttarakhand.


We showed the trailer to two of our colleagues, a senior in the editorial team and a video editor Abhinaya Semwal, asking them what they have to say about the dialogues of the film.

Our senior co-worker throws light at the two words saying that the word "bal" is from the Garhwal region while "thehra"(not english 'still') is used in Kumaun.

The cast is made to use these two words to give a touch of the Uttarakhandi dialect, if not in entirety, in pieces.

Here's what 'Bal' means-

"So what does it mean when 'bal' is used in a sentence in the UK hills", we asked them.

Our senior replied - "It's used sometimes like an extra word just to give breather and otherwise as a replacement for another word". Like in the opening line of the trailer when a voice singing - "generator ke bharose thehra aane wala kal, batti gul hai meter chalu shock na lag jaaye bal!"..Here 'bal' could be 'lekin/par'('but' in english).

Young colleague Abhinay at first told us that "bal" is used just as an added word in the sentences and he has been using it too not knowing where it comes from. To find out more, he called up his Mom and she elaborates saying that "bal" is like a comma or a breathing space in a sentence. A word used for emphasis sometimes.

Shraddha irritated with the fluctuating street light in a scene in the trailer is seen addressing it looking up and saying - "Ya to jal jaa, ya bujh jaa bal!" Or.. when a friend tells Shahid who's attempting to fire an arrow at the target during power cut - "Ye kaisa khel hua, andhere mei teer bal!?". Or.. "ek side se ho gaye, ek side se reh gaye bal!" -Shraddhay saying when she appears with only half-done hair style.

Yet another Uttarakhandi resident friend says about 'bal'  that it's often not needed but used as a practice in the region like sometimes we say "actually hua yun ki..." using 'actually' not for it to mean anything.

So basically, one can simply remove 'bal' from the trailer and each line will then sound perfectly fine!

Here's what 'Thehra' means-

And when coming to thehra('th' as in hindi Meeru't'), it does not sound that confusing since it's a straight replacement of 'hai'. Like in the dialogues from the trailer below:

"Oye Tripathi! Mombatti na thehri tere toilet mei bal!?"

"bhumkamp peedit kshetra se aayin thehreen"

"dosti mei aisa bhi ho sakne wala hai tthehra bal!"

"54 lakh ka bill aaya thehra"

So we now know that the makers mixed the catch words of two towns in one film to make it sound more authentic. However the original pahadi friends say that except for the last dialogue in the trailer, the accent isn't used perfectly in the entire trailer.

You can watch the trailer once again and tell us if all the above information helped you.

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