Dashing dacoit (Mujhe Jeene Do)

One segment from Mujhe Jeene Do will remain with me forever. Sunil Dutt staring at the pristine visage of Waheeda Rehman as she sleeps peacefully. Just moments before she had scarred him on the face with her nails and had disobeyed his firm orders to dance and sing for him. She insulted him for his lowly trade and sweared that she would never entertain someone who killed and plundered. Then as Dutt's piercing eyes bore down on her weeping face, she stunned him with loud slaps. A reaction so strong was enough to startle the cruel dacoit Thakur Jarnail Singh. He not only was shaken up by the gall of this girl, he also felt instant attraction for this woman who dared to hold her own against him. Something no one ever had done. Probably that's why he pours over her face. Pondering over his feelings for her (after all she is very attractive) as well as trying to gauge the kind of person she is. For, no normal person would dare to challenge a dacoit of his fame and calibre.

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Two in one (Sajan)

So this is where Basu Chatterjee got the idea of Pasand Apni Apni from. Even as I watched Mohan Segal's Sajan, I could not help but notice the glaring similarities with Chatterjee's romantic comedy. Everything looked alike. The plot, characters and the developments. Only, while Segal did not give much scope to the character of the theatre company owner, Chatterjee made him a full-fledged comic personality on his film. He took Utpal Dutt for the role and cashed in on his talent. But otherwise Mithun Chakraborty's role is absolutely similar to Manoj Kumar's and Rati Agnihotri borrows from Asha Parekh's character. At least in the first half.

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