February Flick

After the fabulous experience of Yamla Pagla Deewana on January 15 (see post), it's time to take a call for this month’s movie. As of now, the buzz is for Hum Dono – the 1961 classic which was the last black-and-white production of Navketan Films. Now, 50 years later, it is being released in colour, as ‘Rangein Hum Dono’ this Friday.
The film, which is Dev Anand’s tribute to the Indian army, is best known to present-day movie buffs for its evergreen musical hits, the most popular being ‘Main zindagi ke saath nibhata chala gaya’. There are other equally haunting numbers like ‘Abhi na jaao chhod ke’ and ‘Allah tero naam, Eishwar tero naam’ penned by Sahir Ludhianvi and composed by Jaidev. It was upon listening to the latter song on Kishor Babani’s mobile the other day that Yusuf Rassiwala hit upon the idea of herding members of the Club to watch the new Hum Dono at Cinemax.
Response however, remains sharply divided. Many would want to watch the film out of a sense of nostalgia, the colorization notwithstanding. On the other hand, there are some (particularly, the ladies) who couldn’t care about a dated film when several modern-day comedies like Masti Express, Utt Pataang, Kachcha Limboo and Tanu Weds Manu are up for release. The only trouble here is that none of these new titles sound inspiring enough. And all the big ticket releases, i.e. non-comedies like Patiala House and Saat Khoon Maaf are for ‘adults only’. So, no grandkids and family. In other words, the odds are that we go for Rangein Hum Dono this Saturday.
Other than this, the morning was unusually peaceful and quiet with Nahid Khan and Yusuf-bhai sharing time in the middle for the exercises. It was so peaceful and quiet that when Khatoon Baig (right) made a passing remark about nobody talking or laughing today, Yusuf-bhai pulled her up promptly: “Teacher, baatein nahin”. Srichand Arora was saying how well-behaved we were and he too got it from Yusuf-bhai. As one who must have the last word, he caught his ears in mock seriousness and turned to Khatoon-ji: “Dekho, aapke liye mujhe daant khaani padi!”
The lady did not respond.