Basant – Shammi Kapoor & Nutan!! This could have been so magical…

So I watched this movie from 1960, only because Nutan is my all-time favorite actress and Shammi Kappor is my all-time favorite actor. I didn’t expect much from the film. The movie is not very cohesive, but some of the scenes are well done. Overall, the movie is not great, but the lead pair is wonderful, especially in the first part of the movie. And they are very good together. In parts, you feel that they are having a lot of fun working together. There are scenes that I felt maybe they just made up – like the scene where two of them are walking down the road and she tells him that she has got something stuck in her teeth. Hard to believe that was part of the script. It felt like the two of them just decided to have some fun…

The basic story of the movie is same as that of Chori-Chori (or “Dil hai ke manta nahin”). Meenakshi (Nutan) is the only daughter of a rich father. Her father is against her marrying Rajesh (Pran) who she is in love with. Her father is taking her away from Bombay (where Rajesh is) to Calcutta by train. In the night, she runs away to go to Rajesh. While she is making her way from somewhere on the Bombay-Calcutta rail line, to Bombay, she meets Aseem (Shammi Kapoor), and falls in love with him. In the meantime, her father, out of desperation meets Rajesh and agrees to let Meenakshi marry him. But when she comes back, she no longer wants to marry Rajesh because she is in love with Aseem. To test their love for each other, Aseem and Meenakshi part deciding to meet after a month.

Beyond this point, the story is different – and seems to go completely haywire…. Aseem meets a rich man who asks him to go to Kamroop in Assam where he has to deliver a very expensive necklace. Rajesh sends his man to kill Aseem, who attacks Aseem, leaves him unconscious (though not dead) but manages to bring “proof” that he is dead to Rajesh, who presents it to Meenakshi. Things go all wrong for Meenakshi, her father dies, she becomes paralyzed and on Rajesh’s insistence (who she has come to trust thanks to the way he has made things look), agrees to marry him. And many other complicated things later, everything works out for the best in the end…

Oh, did I mention that Johny Walker is also there throughout the movie? And of course he is a great comedian and some of his scenes are also really good, he also has 3 songs… but overall his role is too patchy and contrived in parts.

But like I said, Nutan and Shammi Kapoor are wonderful together. First half of the movie, though not cohesive is a collection of some enjoyable and fun scenes. There are 4 lovely songs picturized on the two of them –

1. Raasate me ik haseen
2. Mere lehenge me ghungaroo
3. Naino me suraj ki kirane
4. Chori chori ik ishaara ho gaya hai

Now, Nutan is no dancer, but she is such a wonderful actress, that she carries the dances off really well. And like in the scenes, in the songs you get the feeling that two of them are really having fun.

Oh and, you discover that this is the origin of some of the ideas and scenes in “Dil Hai ke Manta Nahin”. Like how Nutan dresses up as a fisher woman and sings and dances when she runs away from her father and the police are looking for her. Or how Shammi runs after the thief who runs away with Nutan’s bag and she has no idea. Or like the fight they have as “husband” and “wife” to mislead the police…

If you are a Nutan fan or a Shammi Kapoor fan, do watch this movie – they both are really good in this – they look great, act well and have a lot of fun together… If you like both of them, the in spite of its second half, it’s a must watch for the first half… Watch if for the two of them – for the scenes that these two do so well – and some very good melodies and see how well songs can be done – both of them were real “song” experts too.

But I could not help feeling disappointed with the movie. Feeling that this could have been such a magical movie...