Intoxicated , and loving it…..

Nutan and Raj Kapoor (in his early days before he degenerated into voyeuristic films) are my all time favourites. Raj ji despite the second half of his filmmaking career will always be a great milestone in the journey of Hindi films. How I wish he had never fallen, the prospect of more movies of the kind he made for the first fifteen years or so is truly intriguing and full of wonderful possibilities.

Nutan is my all time favourite actress. The only one at the top. She showed it was possible to wear so many hats : comedienne, tragedienne, romantic heroine, and truly both defined and thrived on woman centric roles. A beauty par excellence her finely chiselled features, bewitching smile, lovely expressive eyes which could send out flames of anger and seductive come hither looks and also show the caring love of a mother are unique.

The two together acted in 4 films: the all time favourite Anari with the legendary Hrishikesh Mukherjee wielding the director’s baton; Kanhaiya which was directed by Om Prakash Chibber, (who we know as the dependable actor); Chhalia, Manmohan Desai‘s debut film, where he started with his patented lost and found formula, which he used to perfection in later films like Amar Akbar Anthony, and which had music by Kalyanji-Anandji (assisted by Laxmikant Pyarelal who would later score the music for most of Manmohan Desai’s films); and Dil Hi to Hai (their last movie together) which had two directors: C L Rawal and P L Santoshi. It had music by Roshan.

Dil hi to hai was pretty much a run of the mill movie. The central theme was of a rich girl staying abroad comes back to her hometown. One day, she hears a song on the radio and loses her heart to the singer’s voice. They fall in love but destiny has other plans for them (Bollywood directors have to introduce these twists and turns) . The music was wonderful, an axiomatic statement, it was Roshan after all aided very ably by Sahir. 10 songs, you’ll recall almost all, Manna Dey’s Laaga Chunari Mein Daag steals the show. It is his only solo song from the movie. Mukesh gets 4 solos and 2 duets.

Check this song out.  https://youtu.be/Fya0BzN8oQ4

The emoting and body language between the two was wonderful. I always wonder why Nutan didn’t make more movies with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, especially as 3 out of the 4 movies she made with each were hits.

One of those intriguing conundrums which will remain forever.

Stay happy folks, stay hydrated and healthy as the summer turns on the heat.

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