Satisfaction guaranteed! (Aaye Din Bahaar Ke)

I'm always game to watch a film for umpteen times provided it guarantees wholesome entertainment. There might be flaws and redundant inclusions, but after it ends it should leave me happy and satisfied. Sadly, not many films of today deliver such fun. So, I keep going back to the films of yore to extract my daily quota of entertainment. I might know every scene by heart, every dialogue might just rotate in my mind and everything looks all too familiar. But nothing stops me from re-watching them. J Om Prakash's romantic drama Aaye Din Bahar Ke is one of them. Only heaven knows how many times I've watched this Dharmendra-Asha Parekh lovely, but does that mean I'll stop? No way...

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Two misleading letters (Devar)

The cast is as perfect as Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anupama. The story is believable, the songs are in place, the performances commendable. Then why is it that Mohan Sehgal's Devar left me with a niggling feeling in my heart. The movie starts off so well and as the script is penned, it should have thrown up plenty of firecrackling histrionics. But somewhere down the line, even the talented actors lose steam, or find the going rather tedious. Adapted from Tarashankar Bandopadhyay's short story, Naa, Devar  is a tale that could have been one of the best dramas of 1966. Could have been for sure...

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Rollicking discovery (Do Ustad)

I've been telling this to people and they are cracking up. My friends are brushing my statements away. My husband wanted me to repeat what I said thrice pretending that I wasn't clear enough. Well, all the reactions are understandable. I do not grudge them even a bit. For, when you tell anybody, yes, anybody, that Mohd Rafi did sing for Raj Kapoor, there might be times when people would suspect your mental stability. Thankfully, before I was declared a loony, YouTube came to my rescue. I promptly searched for the songs of Do Ustad and put them in front of my husband. And, as expected, like me, he stood amazed, gaping at the screen.

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