CHHOTI CHHOTI BAATEIN -1 (the complete post)
Anand Tiwari
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RAMLI is the NG dedicated to Indian films. We have people with varied
tastes and who swear by them. However one thing binds all, the love for
films. I too am no exception. Keeping this in my mind i thought of
starting a new series on RAMLI called CHHOTI CHHOTI BAATEIN. In this
series i shall discuss a film at a time. I shall try to cover as many
aspects of it as possible in a single post and perhaps bring to light
some trivia about it and its making. The criterion for selection of
films is arbitary. I shall try to include films which made an impression
on the minds of people, which generated some reaction, positive or
negative from the audience. These films may be successes or failures at
the Box Office because i suscribe to the view that a good film need not
always succeed at the Box Office. No i am not trying to start any
discussion on this. It is simply IMHO. Of course this series shall have a
sprinkling of films which are close to my heart and not necessarily very
popular.
The title CHHOTI CHHOTI BAATEIN is taken from the lines of the song
"Maine tere liye hi saat rang ke sapne chune". The lines are
"Chhoti Baatein, Chhoti Chhoti Baaton ki hain yaadein badi
Bhoole nahin beeti hui ek chhoti ghadi"
Memories of childhood seldom fade. Films and going to the cinema with my
parents were an integral part of my growing up years and so were the
moments of discussion and arguements with them. In this series i would
like to share those nuggets which my parents would tell me about the film
and the film stars whom i never got to see when they (the stars) were in
their heyday. In short this would be a sort of extension of the film based
articles i used to post sometime back on RMIM. The films featured in the
series shall not be in any order. Also i shall try to make these posts
regularly but cannot guarantee the same. In the end i hope RAMLIans
enjoy this series and perhaps some of them might relive some of the
cherished moments when they went to see a film.
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CHHOTI CHHOTI BAATEIN -1
It is always difficult to start anything. A good start is almost always
necessary. So let us start with a CLASSIC. This film has earlier generated
a lot of heated debate on RAMLI. However the verdict of "Janta Janardan"
on the film is that it is a timeless classic so i shall disregard the
views of the dissidents -:)) The film is
GUIDE (1965)
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Guide was produced by Dev Anand under his banner of Navketan films and was
a bilingual. The Hindi version was directed by Vijay Anand and the US
version by Tad Danielewski. The film is based on a novel by R K Narayan
of the same name. The Hindi screenplay was written by Vijay Anand and the
English one by the noted writer Pearl S Buck. In fact this is the only
screenplay written by this author. The making of Guide has a lot of
background to it and so let me first elaborate on it.
Dev Anand was very keen to make a film for the Indian and the
international market and he had liked this novel by RKN very much. He
brought the rights for it. However when he narrated the story in industry
cirlces people simply wrote it off saying that it was off beat, it did not
have the typical hero-heroine live happpily after ending and did not in
anyway conform to the "norms" of a Hindi film. Dev was adamant about it
and asked Chetan, his elder brother to direct it. However Chetan opted out
because of some differences. The next choice was Raj Khosla. Raj liked the
idea and they began scouting for locations. However Waheeda Rehaman told
Dev that if Raj Khosla directed the movie she would never act in it.
The reason for this refusal went back to the days when "Solhvaan Saal"
was being made. It was Raj Khosla's 3rd film as an independent director
after "Milaap" and "C.I.D". It was the story of a girl running away
with her boy friend at night. The boy friend ditches her and takes her
money. She however meets the hero (Dev Anand) who rescues her and
ultimately persuades her to go home and marry the boy of her parent's
choice. I shall not disclose the climax but the film was a story of
one night. It starts at 11 P.M and ends at 5 A.M in the morning. A
sequence in the film required Waheeda and Dev to get drenched in the rain
and Waheeda to open her blouse buttons. She stoutly refused to do the
scene. This got Raj Khosla very irritated since he did not want a closeup,
only a long shot (Films were pretty decent in those times unlike today
-:)))). He shouted at her saying "Itni Sati Savitri thi to filmon mein
kyon aayi." This hurt Waheeda very much and her mother told her "Ab hum
Raj ke saath kabhi kaam nahin karenge." Unfortunately Waheeda's mother
died that very night and she took the above words to heart. Thus these
two talented persons never came together for more than 25 years.
Ultimately Waheeda worked in Raj Khosla's 25th film "Sunny" and both
regretted the decision they took so many years ago.
Coming back to Guide when Raj Khosla came to know of this he asked Dev
Anand to let him quit the project because he (Raj) was convinced that
the film required Waheeda and only Waheeda as "Rosie" the female lead.
Thus the last choice of directing Guide fell on Dev's immensely talented
and gifted brother Vijay "Goldie" Anand and Goldie gave Navketan its
best and most memorable film.
The other major incident related to Guide was concerning its music. S.D
Burman was the regular composer for Navketan but he suffered a massive
heart attack at that time and was bed ridden for nearly a year. Everybody
advised Dev Anand to take somebody else as the music director but Dev
was convinced that only Dada Burman could do justice to Guide's music
score. In a remarkable display of loyalty and friendship Dev waited for
Dada to recover and SDB did not disappoint him. Guide shall surely find
its place in the ten highly successful hindi film music albums of all
times. Incidentally HMV now markets the full audio cassette of "Guide"
for a Rs 100 a piece under the title "Sheer Magic". The combination
versions do not contain the full songs and even the songs which are
present are incomplete.
The film is about a Guide Raju who meets a frustrated wife of a
professionally brillant archaelogist Marco (Kishore Sahu). However besides
his obsession about old excavations Marco has little to offer his wife
Rosie in terms of marital bliss. He is a womaniser and impotent. Also he
carries a low opinion of his wife who is the daughter of a "nanchnewaali".
He does not allow her to practise dance and keeps reminding her of her
low birth. Fed up with her exsistence Rosie tries to commit suicide but is
stopped by Raju (Dev Anand) who instils courage in her and asks her to
face the situation bravely. Ultimately Rosie walks out of her marriage and
takes shelter in the Raju's house who is in love with her. Everyone is
opposed to this arrangement including Raju's mother (Leela Chitnis). But
Raju forsakes everything his career, his friendships for Rosie. He
arranges her first show at a school function and from there Rosie's career
takes of. Success has its ill effects and the pair start to drift apart.
Meanwhile Marco tries to establish contact with Rosie who is still legally
wedded to him but is stopped by Raju. In his urge to blank out Marco from
Rosie's life Raju commits a forgery by signing Rosie's check herself.
The film takes a turn from here. raju realises that their paths are
seperate and he bids goodbye to Rosie attired in his Guide uniform but is
soon arrested by the police for forgery. Nobody comes to his help. He
is jailed and the movie begins by his coming out of jail. The turn of
events make Raju a Swami in a small village and the climax of the film
involves a great deal of philosophy. Everything returns to raju, his
mother, Rosie and his friends but he dies fasting for the villagers who
believe that it shall rain if the swami fasts for 12 days.
What makes Guide click? Undoubtedly a very strong story and screenplay
held together by a SUPERB score by S.D Burman. Vijay Anand never looses
grip over the film. The conflict between Raju's pure inner self and Raju's
material self is handled brilliantly. Overall the film carries meaning.
Guide begins with S.D Burman's rendition of "Wahan Kaun hai tera" and ends
with him singing "Allah Megh de". The rest of the songs "Piya tose naina
laage re", "tere mere sapne", "Gaata rahe mera dil", "Kya se kya ho gaya",
"aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai", "Din dhal jaaye" are in a class of their
own. My personal favourite is "Piya tose naina laage re" a 12 minute song
which captures the rise of Rosie the ordinary dancer to Nalini the
famous performer. Unfortunately it is very difficult to get a complete
recording of the song. The film is to say the least brilliantly directed
by Vijay Anand who also edited the film in collaboration with Babu Sheikh.
Waheeda Rehman gave the best perfomance of her career as Rosie ably
supported by Dev Anand and Kishore Sahu.
Guide won 7 Filmfare awards which included the best film, best actor and
best actress awards. Before the release of the film Dev Anand was very
nervous about its fate. He consulted a noted astrologer about the fate of
the film. The astrologer told him that the film would generate so much
money that he would have to build a seperate large store room to
accomodate it and boy he was right! Guide was a slow starter at the BO but
once it picked steam it made history. Another interesting fact about the
film is that it utilised Waheeda Rehman's immense talent for dance
breaking the myth that only Vyjantimala was the accomplished dancer among
the heroines of those times. Waheeda performs a number of dances in the
film but the snake dance at the "basti" was the best according to me. The
dedicationa nd love for dance in Rosie's character shines thru the
potrayal of Waheeda. Her swaying to "aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai" is
unforgettable.
However one of my favourite scenes in the film is when it is raining and
Dev Anand is sitting alone, Mani his secretary comes in. He has earlier
been rebuked by Dev and so he does not speak anyhting. However Dev breaks
the ice and invites him for a drink. The following dialouge takes place
between them
Mani: Kya baat hai sir, aaj aap akele pee rahe hain
Raju: Baatein karne ko itna taras raha tha ki socha thodi pee hi loon.
Zindagi bhi ek nasha hai dost jab chadta hai to poocho mat kya aalam
laata hai, magar jab utarta hai ....
and we have Dev singing in Rafi Saab's mellow voice "Din Dhal jaaye, raat
na jaaye, tu to na aaye teri yaad sataaye". Mani understanding the
situation leaves Dev and the camera alternates on Raju and Rosie who is
upstairs. They are so close yet so far and all the pathos in the
relationship comes out in this single song.
This and so many other moments in the film make it a must watch, a
milestone in Hindi Cinema, a film forever.
regards
Anand
"Laakh mana le duniya, saath na ye tootega
aake mere haathon mein haath na ya chhutega
O mere jeevan saathi"
--Mohd Rafi in "Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hain"
Ikram Ahmed Khan
Anand Tiwari wrote:
{ The post has been snipped from its original version to
keep it relevant to the watchdogs on rmim. Complete
post is on rec.arts.movies.local.indian }
>
> ********************** CHHOTI CHHOTI BAATEIN************************
> GUIDE (1965)
> ------------
> Incidentally HMV now markets the full audio cassette of "Guide"
> for a Rs 100 a piece under the title "Sheer Magic". The combination
> versions do not contain the full songs and even the songs which are
> present are incomplete.
> My personal favourite is "Piya tose naina laage re" a 12 minute song
> which captures the rise of Rosie the ordinary dancer to Nalini the
> famous performer. Unfortunately it is very difficult to get a complete
> recording of the song.
So, does the "Sheer Magic" cassette have the full song?
What about the CDs?
Later,
Ikram.
> regards
> Anand
>
Kishore Krshna
In article <330496...@raleigh.ibm.com>, iak...@raleigh.ibm.com says...
>> GUIDE (1965)
>> ------------
>> Incidentally HMV now markets the full audio cassette of "Guide"
>> for a Rs 100 a piece under the title "Sheer Magic". The combination
>> versions do not contain the full songs and even the songs which are
>> present are incomplete.
>So, does the "Sheer Magic" cassette have the full song?
>What about the CDs?
I would be highly surprised if the CDs do have the full song - Guide
is available in a combo with Jewel Thief and the combined CD is
timed at a little over 60 min. BTW, RPG has recently started
releasing a set of CDs under the title Classic Films. So far,
I believe Mughal-e-Azam, Umrao Jaan, Silsila, and Kashmir Ki
Kali have been releases. From the review of the Mughal-e-Azam
CD, the songs here are also not complete.
--
Kishore Krshna
kis...@mail.utexas.edu
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Remember, obsolescence isn't an accident, it's an art form.
- The Usenet Oracle
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