While writing my list of favorite Helen songs recently, I was reminded to look for this film and to my great joy I found it—yay, eBay! I have long loved Kalyanji-Anandji’s music from it; with a substantial part for Helen as well, and lovely Mumtaz starring, how could it possibly go wrong? Well, it doesn’t—and it does. It’s a very enjoyable film through the first half, but then it runs off the rails (more on that later). But the music is sublime, Mumtaz and Jeetendra are cute together and Helen gets to play a benevolent benefactor instead of her usual vampy bad-girl roles. There’s even an attempt to give a woman’s viewpoint its due! Ooh-la-la.
Nisha (Mumtaz) is a young woman without parents or siblings who lives in a chawl full of nosy but friendly neighbors. As our film begins, they are gathered at the communal water tap which has been dry for some days, singing a lively bhajan to the King of Water (“Ho Jai Jai Jal Raja”). It’s one of the most fabulous song picturizations ever, honestly, and I’ve seen a few.
Vishal (Jeetendra) is a poor student—who grew up in an orphanage—trying to finish his education, who moves into the chawl next door to Nisha. After a few comic “misunderstandings,” they fall in love; when Vishal graduates in the top of his class and gets a good job teaching at a college, the future looks bright. Nisha also has a job as secretary to a lecherous boss (Manmohan), but she’s adept at fending him off.
They decide to get married, and Vishal’s friends Murli (Jalal Agha) and Meena (Malika) organize a car so Vishal and Nisha can honeymoon in Khandala.
Their idyll is shattered when Vishal, canoodling with his bride, forgets to look at the road in front. They crash into an oncoming truck. Nisha’s injuries are minor, but Vishal is badly hurt, requiring multiple surgeries and months in the hospital. This entails a lot of hardship for Nisha, who sells all of her jewelry and belongings in order to pay for his care. Finally, when his last surgery is scheduled at a cost of Rs 5000, she is at her wits’ end.
One of her coworkers, aware that the boss has his eye on Nisha, tells him that she needs money. He arranges it for her immediately.
Poor Nisha, torn between her creepy boss and her husband’s serious injuries, finally accepts it. But of course there are strings, as she knew there would be. Her boss forces her to attend a party that evening at his home.
Vishal’s surgery is also scheduled for that evening; when Nisha doesn’t appear, he asks the surgeon to wait a little longer.
She’s trapped at the party, however; despite her efforts to slip out gracefully she’s detained by her boss, who slips a drug into her juice. As the surgeons finally put a still protesting Vishal under, her boss takes her to his room. She puts up a struggle but finally she, too, goes under.
It’s an incredibly effective scene: the party music in the background grows louder and louder as the scene switches between the hospital, where Vishal’s life hangs in the balance, and the party—and Nisha’s ruin.
Nisha awakens the next morning devastated. Sobbing, she makes her way to a bridge and throws herself off of it. Fortunately, there are witnesses.
Roma (Helen) is a wealthy but lonely woman, and she takes Nisha to her home after her servants save Nisha from drowning. Nisha spills out her whole story, and Roma listens; she then reminds Nisha that she needs to live for Vishal’s sake if not for her own. It’s nauseatingly platudinous, but fun to see Helen playing a benefactress for once!
Vishal’s surgery, meanwhile, has been a success. He will recover, although he will need to stay in the hospital for some time to come. I think Vishal must have had some sort of lobotomy, because he doesn’t notice at all that Nisha has completely changed from a lively, bubbly girl to a quiet, withdrawn woman (and Mumtaz’s acting on that score is great).
Some time passes, and Nisha discovers that she’s pregnant. Roma, who has stayed in touch with her, arranges for her to go to Delhi and stay with her aunt, who will see her through the birth and also keep the baby. Nisha tells Vishal that work is calling her to Delhi for a few months and leaves. Vishal feels sorry for himself.
One evening there is a commotion when a young girl who has been hit by a car is brought in. The driver is none other than Roma; she feels terrible, especially when the girl won’t stop crying. Vishal soothes the little girl with a song, and Roma strikes up a conversation with him—she doesn’t know that he is Nisha’s husband. She finds him attractive and empathetic (his lobotomy doesn’t prevent him from understanding her loneliness).
She continues to visit him over the next few months and a friendship grows, although Vishal is missing Nisha terribly. Meanwhile, in Delhi, Nisha has settled in with Roma’s aunt Kamla (Leela Mishra), who is kind and sympathetic.
She gives birth to a baby boy, and is greatly troubled. She asks Kamla whether she should tell Vishal everything; Kamla’s advice is to keep it a secret, since Vishal will never believe in Nisha’s innocence. I think this is bad advice, but they can’t hear me. Nisha returns to Bombay and Vishal, who is out of the hospital now.
They live together in contentment for a year or two, and then Vishal gets his dream job. There’s only one problem:
Nisha’s sad memories surface, and she balks at going back there. Vishal, not understanding, says that he’ll go there first and find a house for them, and then Nisha can join him. Off he goes! His friend Murli’s mother (Praveen Paul) lives in Delhi, and she and Vishal scheme to get Murli to Delhi as well.
I see trouble ahead—because Murli’s Ma is also Kamla’s nosy neighbor and friend.
[Side note: I’ve left out details of the comic side plot involving Murli and Meena, who are in love, and Meena’s disapproving father (Agha) because we’ve seen it all before, but it’s not as annoying as some CSPs are. It’s also not terribly germane to the main plot, except for Murli’s mother being Kamla’s neighbor. End side note.]
Murli tries to convince Nisha to go to Delhi with him, but she refuses. When he arrives, a funeral is under way.
Murli’s mother has taken young Munna—who is Nisha’s son, of course—into her home temporarily. She hopes that his real mother will return for him. After much pleading, Vishal finally convinces Nisha to come to Delhi. She loves the house he’s found for them, but happiness again is cut short. Murli and his mother have invited Vishal and Nisha to dinner. Nisha recognizes the house, but has no choice except to go in.
Of course, the moment Murli’s mother lays eyes on her, she recognizes Nisha as Munna’s mother. This is where little nit-picky annoyances (like Vishal’s obliviousness to Nisha’s feelings and wishes) become a bigger grievance for me. If at this point Nisha had confessed all, and the plot been about how she and Vishal come to terms with the situation, it would have really been a good film and made its point rather more successfully.
But instead it descends into madness: Murli’s mother keeps Nisha’s secret, but decides to put Munna in an orphanage, which Vishal can’t tolerate (since he grew up in one). He adopts Munna without asking Nisha first, and when he eventually does discover Munna’s true parentage he gives Nisha no chance to explain anything, but abandons them both.
More stuff happens, including one event which caused me to stare incredulously at the screen, saying: “WHOA! Didn’t see that coming!” Also, Helen reappears (this of course is only a good thing) and sings the song that I love (“Jeena Kaisa Ho Pyar Bina”):
but at the end of it I’m left feeling let down and a bit disgusted with our sexist, self-centered hero. I will say that Jeetendra only over-acted in particularly dramatic scenes, but elsewhere he was good. Mumtaz was great as usual—she’s such an effortlessly accomplished actress and so beautiful that I think she never really got the acting kudos she deserved. If only she’d had a better story here!
