Yeh Dil Kisko Doon (1963)
One of my favourite parts of this movie was the beginning, when the narrator talks about how important art is, especially in times of general strife. This movie was shot during the Sino-Indian War of 1962, and while it never directly alludes to the war, the message given at the beginning reminds one that art is one of the few things that can give one solace, a feeling of community, and sometimes even make you smile. This message rings true even today, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, when I have turned to movies, books, music, and one of my favourite TV shows to help me cope with the existential horrors that an enforced lockdown necessarily brings. So, thank you to all the artists everywhere, who create love and comfort out of nothing at all.
Moving on, I honestly only watched this movie for Shashi Kapoor. The plot sounded fine, but I highly doubt that I would have watched it if anyone else starred in it (and made my friends watch it with me too). But thankfully, SK does not disappoint, and nor does the movie.
What struck me as most poignant about this film was the overwhelming sincerity that I felt operated within this movie. All the actors, the cinematography, the dialogues, they touched me for no reason in particular, and made me realise just why this was the golden age of Indian cinema- even when a movie wasn't particularly good, it was still heartwarming.
The film is an interesting examination of class relations of that era- Shashi Kapoor's character, Anand, is a "lakhpati" who has so far led a devoid of true affection, and desperately desires to find some meaningful connection that transcends his money. He constantly refers to the "hamdardi" that he seeks to find (roughly translated, "hamdard" refers to someone who shares one's bad times), and that makes up the core plot of the movie- a rich man trying to find love in poverty. It's a cheesy, clichéd plot for sure, especially for someone who's watching it 57 years after it was released, but it has its moments. The comic timing, for one, is really good throughout the movie. The bear scene honestly changed my life. The movie could have honestly done without the 10 songs it had- they served as an irritant to the plot's progress, notable exceptions being the title track, and "Kitni Haseen Ho Tum". Also, I was left very very confused by the ending. I mean...? Ok. Fine. That just happened, and I'm not exactly sure what it was anyway.
To end this piece, I would like to talk about my second-favourite moment from this movie- it happens near the end, during the final song (don't ask me what it was), and for a few seconds, we get to see SK paying a tribute to Dev Anand's iconic character Major Manohar Lal Verma from one of my favourite films of all time, Hum Dono (1961), directed by Vijay Anand. You can also hear strains of the song "Main Zindagi Ka Saath" during this time, and it was just a whole other experience for me. Also, Dev Anand played a double role in this movie, and his other character, the poverty-stricken young man in love with Meeta (Sadhana) was also called Anand! So now I'm thinking, was this sort of an homage to Hum Dono? I mean, it is a pretty good movie about war (World War 2 in particular, but that's not important), and about class relations. In fact, watch it if you haven't. It's been almost 6 months since I saw that movie, and I still think about it almost 4 times a week. And it has amazing songs. So yeah. Go watch Hum Dono.
Moving on, I honestly only watched this movie for Shashi Kapoor. The plot sounded fine, but I highly doubt that I would have watched it if anyone else starred in it (and made my friends watch it with me too). But thankfully, SK does not disappoint, and nor does the movie.
What struck me as most poignant about this film was the overwhelming sincerity that I felt operated within this movie. All the actors, the cinematography, the dialogues, they touched me for no reason in particular, and made me realise just why this was the golden age of Indian cinema- even when a movie wasn't particularly good, it was still heartwarming.
The film is an interesting examination of class relations of that era- Shashi Kapoor's character, Anand, is a "lakhpati" who has so far led a devoid of true affection, and desperately desires to find some meaningful connection that transcends his money. He constantly refers to the "hamdardi" that he seeks to find (roughly translated, "hamdard" refers to someone who shares one's bad times), and that makes up the core plot of the movie- a rich man trying to find love in poverty. It's a cheesy, clichéd plot for sure, especially for someone who's watching it 57 years after it was released, but it has its moments. The comic timing, for one, is really good throughout the movie. The bear scene honestly changed my life. The movie could have honestly done without the 10 songs it had- they served as an irritant to the plot's progress, notable exceptions being the title track, and "Kitni Haseen Ho Tum". Also, I was left very very confused by the ending. I mean...? Ok. Fine. That just happened, and I'm not exactly sure what it was anyway.
To end this piece, I would like to talk about my second-favourite moment from this movie- it happens near the end, during the final song (don't ask me what it was), and for a few seconds, we get to see SK paying a tribute to Dev Anand's iconic character Major Manohar Lal Verma from one of my favourite films of all time, Hum Dono (1961), directed by Vijay Anand. You can also hear strains of the song "Main Zindagi Ka Saath" during this time, and it was just a whole other experience for me. Also, Dev Anand played a double role in this movie, and his other character, the poverty-stricken young man in love with Meeta (Sadhana) was also called Anand! So now I'm thinking, was this sort of an homage to Hum Dono? I mean, it is a pretty good movie about war (World War 2 in particular, but that's not important), and about class relations. In fact, watch it if you haven't. It's been almost 6 months since I saw that movie, and I still think about it almost 4 times a week. And it has amazing songs. So yeah. Go watch Hum Dono.
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