Saala: A Swear Word but Why?

[KKF]

Re: Saala: A Swear Word but Why?

@Jolie

**And there is a very retro Bollywood song ‘Sala mai tou Sahab ban gya’ - now who is he swearing at? Looks it’s a figure of speech as well. **

Oh and there is also that stupid Shehzad Roy song ‘sali tou maani nahi’ which is basically asking a girl’s hand in marriage. Quite ridiculous sounding song.

in the culture of rural India [or Pakistan], the saalaas and bahnois have a special place and they are treated a little better than the rest of the lot. husband treats his wife’s brother [saalaa] a little better because ‘a man is supposed’ to be under his wife’s thumb. so, he is too scared of the wife to mistreat his saalaa…the saalaa now holds a special place…he usually takes advantage of his status [as saalaa]…

this is what Dilip Kumar is referring to in the song “saalaa, maiN to saaHab ban gayaa!”…he is, in effect, telling others that he must be treated like a saaHab [a goraa saaHab] because he happens to be a saalaa.