Book Recommendations Based on Bollywood Songs!

Hello everyone! Today I have a very special post that I have worked very hard on with the help of Aamna @TheInkSlinger! If you know me, you know I’m desi and basically, I love anything desi and so, when Aamna suggested recommending books based on Bollywood songs, I knew I had to do it! Anyway, here’s 10 book recommendations and you can find 10 more over at Aamna’s blog!

Samjhawan – This Is How You Lose The Time War

Main tenu samjhawan ki
Na tere bina lagda jee
Tu kee jaane pyaar mera
Main karaan intezar tera
Tu dil tuyyon jaan meri

Translation: How do I explain to you, my heart is nowhere without you, what do you know about my heart, I am waiting for you for, you are my heart and soul

This song is just about longing and being separated from the person you love and it completely fits This is How You Lose the Time War, a book about two sapphics who are on different sides of the war who start writing each other letters and fall in love in the process.

Heer – The Gilded Wolves 

Uhade jehi main te woh mere varga
Hasda ae sachchra savere varga
Akkhan band kar le
Te thande hanere varga

Translation: I am like him and he is like me only, He smiles like it’s morning, and if he closes eyes, it’s like cold dark

This book is all about love love and yearning and wanting it back and it pretty much reminded us of Laila and Majnun from The Gilded Wolves, The Gilded Wolves is a book with a complicated heist with a found family featuring 6 main characters, out of which two are Laila and Majnun who have a truly tragic and sad love story full of desire and love and yearning and I just — they’re definitely a couple to read for, and the story is amazing too!

Makhana – Heartstopper 

Jab se mila hai tu
Dil ko mila sukun
Tu hi raah meri, tu hi safar hai
Teri baahon mein ab mera ghar hai

Translation: Since I have met you, my heart is at peace, you are my road, you are my journey, my home is in your arms

This song is basically about two people hopelessly in love who want to be together and are meant to be together and please don’t tell me this isn’t exactly Nick and Charlie?? They’re cute and wholesome and perfect together and I absolutely love them and their romance and if you somehow still haven’t read this graphic novel, you absolutely should!

Sooraj Ki Baahaon Main – The Falling In Love Montage 

Sooraj ki baahon mein,
ab hai yeh zindagi
Kirnay hain saanson mein,
baaton mein roshni

Translation: In the arms of sun, there is life now, There are sun rays in our breathes and sunshine in our words

The Falling in Love Montage is definitely the embodiment of this song which a lot of happiness, adventures and fun. The main characters of this book recreate some iconic romcom dates and they’re so so much to read about as they fall in love!

Ik Vaari Aa – Love From A To Z

Dhal rahi shaam hai
dil tere naam hai
iski aadat bani hai teri yaariyaan
chaand hoon main, tu hai taara
ik vaari aa

Translation: The sun is setting, my heart is yours, your companionship has become its habit. I am the moon and you are the star, come once…

This song is just so sweet and lovely and full of happy love and yearning and wanting the other which is a huge part of Love From A to Z. I don’t know why but I see this song as much of a friends-to-lovers trope which is quite true of Adam and Zayneb who slowly become friends and fall in love before finally getting together and so, they exactly fit the vibe of this song!

Radha- Rasha and jai’s recipe for romance

Gopiyon Sang Ghoome Kanhaiya
Raas Rachaiya Radha Na Jaaye Re
Ab Saanwra Na Bhaaye Re

This is well, based more off of the general vibes of the song than the actual lyrics which don’t really matter much, This song is a lot about dancing and falling in love with someone who’s already with someone else (or so you think) and that quite fits Radha and Jai’s Recipe for Romance which has a lot of dance and complications in the romance between Radha and Jai.

Challa (Mai Ladh Jaana)- The Poppy War

Main lad jaana main lad jaana
Hai lahoo mein ek chingari
Zidd se junoon tak hai jaana
Har qatra bol rahaa

This song is loud and fierce and about war and fighting and it perfectly fits the vibes of The Poppy War! The Poppy War is a fantasy story based off of the Opium Wars which deals with a lot of hard truths about war and living through it and fighting in it. It’s a beautiful and heartbreaking story and you should check it out!

Baarishein – The Song of Achilles  

Sunn zara mere pass aa
Ab baithe hain hum bhi yahaan
Dil ke darmiyaan
Baarishein hain Baarishein hain

Translation: Listen, come close to me, I am sitting here waiting for you. between our hearts are rains and more rains

Well, this song is a little hard to explain except its about two people in love who for some reason can’t be together but would be perfect together. Patroclus and Achilles definitely fir that description. They both fit each other like pieces of a puzzle and yet, they can’t be together though they should be.

Jeete Hain Chal- An Ember in the Ashes 

kehta ye pal
khud se nikal
jeete hain chal
jeete hain chal
jeete hain chal

This song feels like fighting back and resisting and not accepting the given situation which basically describes the entire plot of An Ember In The Ashes which follows Laia, a scholar girl who has been subjugated by the Martial Empire. She is strong and fierce and wants to save her brother and so, the book starts off with her resisting and being fierce and going on fighting and finding her path along the way.

Haareya- The Sun is Also a Star 

lagta hai nigaahon mein teri
bin Doobe rehna hi nahi
mujhe ishq ye karne se
ab koi bhi na rok sakeya

Translation: It feels like I can’t live without drowning in your eyes, no one can stop me from falling in love with you

Instantly falling in love? Yeah it sounds like The Sun Is Also A Star which follows two teenagers who fall in love at the first sight and proceed to spend most of the rest of the day together before Natasha is set to be deported back to Jamaica. It’s a fun, cute love story which is kind of unrealistic but still nice to read!

Do you agree with our picks? Do you think the books fit the songs we picked out for them! Let us know in the comments below!

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