Mere Mehboob 1963

If you love shaayari and old Hindi cinema, then you will appreciate Mere Mehboob, the 1963 blockbuster movie. With such giants of the golden era of Bollywood,Rajendra Kumar and Sadhna, this beautiful lyrical movie will capture every nostalgic fancy.

Dripping in poetry, beautiful costumes and the old Lucknowi style of living, Mere Mehboob is a like watching a lovely scenery on your vacation. Inspite of this visual fancy the movie is not just a musical or a moving sonnet. With a strong script, some amazing performances and dependable supporting cast of Ashok Kumar and Johnie Walker, Mere Mehboob will not let you budge or look at your phone ,if I should speak for my generation.

Set in the famed Aligarh University romance blooms in a  innocent way between Anwar and Husna, Kumar and Sadhna respectively. The kind of romance which is veiled and shy. The popular song Mere Mehoob sets the tone for the movie. The story moves to Lucknow where Husna is shown as Nawab Akhtar's sister ,who is extremely proud of his lineage and khaandaan.

 Aligarh University

 This is the thing about old style movies especially set in Lucknow, where the nawabi grace and conduct is so neatly shown without being over the top and being obvious about it. The glamour is subtle and comely.

Nawab Akhtar is also secretly in love with Najma, Anwar's sister. Najma,who is a dancer is played by Nimmi. Though he isn't ashamed of being in love with her or rebukes her profession , he is conscious of the society and thinks it against his refinement to marry her and make her begum of his khaandaani makaan. And a beautiful one at that!

Without any overly emotional dialogues and the obvious shaayari, the movie glides beautifully through showing every character's role in this story of sacrifice, family bond, prestige and love.

 Anwar with his sister

The nazaakat between the lovers

Watch for the Lucknowi andaz,the charming Sadhna or just some classic brilliance.

Old time Lucknow

Director - H.S. Rawail
Music - Naushad

Umrao Jaan - the original and the 'best' one

If Sanjay Bhansaali had to make a movie without long saaris, long drama and long actors, then it would be Umrao Jaan of 1981. I'm referring to his genious of mixing art and aesthetics with cinema minus the above factors.

I'm firstly thankful to that anonymous seeder who uploaded the movie in crystal clear quality so that I could stare at Rekha's jewels,silk,chiffon,georgette,long hair and ofcourse the wonderful decorative mehfil. Also all credit goes to Subhashini Ali, the costume designer for the movie.

Yes,the movie is all about aesthetics. Rekha's beauty, the courtyards, the costumes, jewellery: everything delights you.So much so, that it takes away your focus from the story.

Whats it all about

The story is simple. In the period of 1840,a girl is kidnapped and sold to a  famous brothel in Lucknow (all brothels are famous,who am I kidding?!)She grows upto be a famous(again!) courtesan falls in love with a visitor Nawab and they fall in love. But zimedaariyaan and majbooriyan makes Nawab marry elsewhere and this is where the drama unfolds.

Rekha's best performance ever,she portrays a range of aspects in just one character : as the lover to Farooq,the girl who is eager to learn shayari,the suffering woman in rejection, the seductress, the innocence when wooed by Naseeruddin Shah, the lost woman when wooed by Raj Babbar,the dancer ,the shayari and ofcourse adayein when singing the popular evergreen songs of the movie. She carries the movie thruoghout. There is metaphorically no Farooq Shiekh,no Shah and definitely no Babbar.

One cannot forget the evergreen lines - ' Dil cheez kya hai aap meri jaan lijiye...' . Every song in the movie depicts the situation and the actor's emotions well. There isn't more than necessary tears but there is sorrow,there isn't more drama of proclaiming love but there is the sensitivity. The emotions are controlled and maybe the viewer is left to ponder on it.

Surprise factor 

While watching the movie I wondered were the people of Lucknow at that period, controlled in their emotions? Or is just a particular clan or race or group? Nevertheless the movie is different from the 1980s Bollywood we have grown up with.

Thus for the brilliance of the movie making of Muzaffar Ali and music by Khayyam, I could not help but portray them too for this fantastic piece of poem on celluloid.

 Muzaffar Ali 

      



   Khayyam