Kirayadar 1986

Kirayadar and Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam came out in 1986. The latter is a Malayalam movie on the travails of a landlord whose house is being siezed by his tenants. Kirayadar is similar but with some changes in the storyline. No, I am not here to tell you who copied from whom coz I dont care. When it comes to movies anytime before the era of Rohit Shetty,100 crore club and Sunny Leone I can bear all sequels and alarming fashions. Especially the eighties.

I dig the poster and the font for movie title. Doesnt it tell you the story in one look?

Oh comeon, go watch it. It may not have your fav stars or a Kapoor or a 'Vijay' but watch it for :

Old Bombay - travel the still uncongested Bombay streets with Raj Babbar when he tries to find his workplace. 

Eighties fashion - Watch Padmini flaunt the (Garden?) saris and churidaars of that era in her perfect figure. Speaking of who,I consider this amongst her best performances. Really,who is Babbar or rather where was he?

Utpal Dutt - perfect. old world charm

Vidya sinha - breezy as ever. No wonder the breezy Hrishikesh Mukherjee and breezier Basu Chatterjee took her in most of their breeziest movies.

Kissi Se Na Kehna 1983

The title suggests a flick with chori chupe romance ,which it is. Though without much of the mindless laughing and people falling on banana skin and the guy hiding in the to - be father-in-law's bedroom aka Chupke Chupke style. The movie rather shows some unbelievable care between an Indian father-in-law and his daughter-in-law.

I like how Utpal Dutta is almost all his movies with more or less similar role. A khudgarz father,a strict employer etc almost touching the character of a middle class Indian.Kissi Se Na Kehna is no less.

Girl and boy fall in love and want to marry. Dutt unfortuantely happens to view modern girls as victims of Western culture and who feel ashamed to speak their mother tongue. Thus he doesnt want his son to marry of their ilk. And role playing starts. Deepti has to sometimes act like a village belle and one who doesnt know English,isnt educated and is not what she is; doctor.

Its an easygoing movie mildly tempered with Deepthi's and Saaed Jaffery's performances. Shiekh hovers in the background with his gharelu persona. But you can easily call Utpal Dutt the lead of the movie because he dominates it with his personality as a proud Indian  and so called bade buzurg.

Watch it for : understanding old Indian family culture,simple middle class living or for a glimpse of village life.

Piya Ka Ghar 1972

When I went to Mumbai 2 yrs back,I visited my friend's friend. She was staying in a hostel room which was the size of an auto.No, I am not joking. Yes,it was actually that size. And she paid around Rs.6500 for that space! My cupboard is bigger than that....Well I live in Kerala.So you can imagine the space benchmark.

A comparison similar to this was said by Jaya Bachhan's uncle in Piya ka Ghar. He detests city people and thinks Bombay shehar theek nahi hai meri phool jaisi beti ke liye. But love brings her unsure,dainty-as-Jaya-is steps to the shehar anyways. Then it is Bombaiyya chawl life with a huge family,open windows and open hearts.A movie very subtly focusing on living space factor in Mumbai and how it affects the relationship of newly weds.

Anybody who smirks at Mumbai and its congestion,pollution and high rentals etc should see this movie. Not only will you fall in love with the old Bombay but it has a dialogue which will make you think twice about cribbing of living in Mumbai... ' Bambai walon ka ghar chota hota hai beti par dil bahut bada hota hai'