It is not new for poetry to take forward the narrative of a story, especially in the world of entertainment- especially cinema and movies.

Not just in India, but poetry as metaphor and a powerful medium of storytelling has been used by filmmakers across the world.

Here, I pick some of my favourite poetries from a few select Hindi movies where poetry as a metaphor has been used with sheer brilliance.

Haider

In Haider, there are two beautiful instances where poetry takes the narrative forward.

The first such instance is where Roohdar (Irfan Khan) tells Haider (Shahid Kapoor) his and Hilaal Meer's (Haider's father) story while they were in jail.

The poetry goes like "Dariya Bhi Mei Darakht Bhi Mei...... Mei Hi Rahoonga".

This emphasises on the plotline of Roohdaar being Meer's rooh or spirit.

Haider is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

https://youtu.be/cu7FX1sVBoo

Another piece of poetry that touched my heart from Hairder iwas "Mei Rahoon Ya Mei Nahi".

This one implies how Haider's insanity started taking over. This is also a beautiful adaptation of "To be or not to be is the question" from Hamlet.

https://youtu.be/E7MauvYtpbQ

Tamasha

Tamasha again has some beautiful scenes where verses steal the show.

One among the many such beautiful renedition is "Vahi Tamasha Phir Ek Baar......Bolo Jawaab Do".

This is followed by another poetry, which makes the scene even more impactful is "Kaunsa Taara Kis Manzil Ka......Andar Kya Hai"

https://youtu.be/VFItKiMmHMk

With both these dialogue Ved (Ranbir Kapoor) tries to talk about his life and miseries without making anything obvious.

Udaan

Udaan is a film about a boy who wants to be a poet so there are a lot of poetries in the film.

Some, as a form of poetries themselves some as bridge between a conversation where Rohan is unable to say things directly.

One of them is "Joote Kahan Utare The", which Rohan recites after getting expelled from the school to his friend.

The poem is about growing up but it also shows Rohan's agony that he has to now, grow up considering his suspension from school.

Another one is "Jo Lehron Se Aage Nazar Dekh Leti". This one comes in where he tries to show his father (Ronit Roy) how he wants the later to see him as his child and love and accept him.

And the last one from this film which fills the gap between the dialogues is "Chandu Ki Cycle".  With this one Rohan tries to cheer his step brother and remembers his own childhood in the process.

Akaash Vani

The poem as dialogue in this film goes like"Humne jo ki thi mohabbat aaj bhi hai ...dil tod tujhe jaane ki ijazat aaj bhi hai".

This comes where Akash (Kartik Aryan) tries to get back Vani (Nushrat Bharucha), his college time girlfriend who has been married to another man due to familial problems.

The shayri was started by one of Akash's friend but, Akash continues and completes it. This shows both his love for Vani and want to make her fall in love with him again.

Here were a few examples of scenes where poetry plays the first lead in taking the narrative forward.