Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Baghban in real life!

YouTube - Hema Malini in The Making of Movie Baghban

I am an ardent fan of Amitabh Bachchan right from 1971, when I first saw him in ANAND as the Babu Moshai and Dr Bhaskar. I just joined my first job in Andhra Bank, Hyderabad (it was in private sector then and nationalised in April 1980) straight from my B.Sc. Degree studies discontinued for strange reasons. We were a group of eight or nine young, smart and intelligent lads first time recruited by the bank through NIBM test and interview, posted in Hyderabad branch and Central Office while others were all over. Being typical Hyderabadis and urbanites, we used to meet for lunch and chat on social matters. One day, Kulkarni came with a news that in a Rajesh Khanna led movie by Hrishi Da, a new lambu Babu Moshai acted and we must watch, which we did. I left the bank after only five months in November, 1971.

Watching Amitabh's movies continued... with Mili, Zanjeer, Deewar, Kabhi Kabhi, Trishul, Sholay, etc... Namak Haraam was the second movie of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the Rajesh and Amitabh played major roles besides of course, Raja Murad (new entrant), AK Hangal, Rekha, Asrani, et al. Amitabh rose from heights to heights even though he was already a tall man.

About seven-eight years back, in Manipal (where we have no regular theatres but only movie-domes and video parlours), I was told by my young faculty colleague Prof Meghdoot Karnik that his family members watched a family movie of Amitabh-Hema called Baghban. I rushed with my family to see the film, despite knowing that in a student-populated town, it is difficult to sit amidst the crowd for any type of movie. We enjoyed it so much, that I would have seen it again and again on TV in all these years. And now, thanks to youtube, I watch the songs and dialogues quite often. The theme is so close to our real life middle class stories. Indian families have turned to nuclear size in recent years. Most of the children study Engineering or MBA or Medicine and go abroad. After having enjoyed a different world, civilised society, earning money and experiencing comforts / luxuries, they tend to forget their parents back home. Baghban is close to this scene.

Amitabh's acting, dialogues, songs and emotion are undescribable. Ably paired by Hemaji the Dream Girl of sixties. Click on the Link.

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