I love watching old movies. There is no jarring humor, unnecessary fights, no item songs and the stories are so simple yet different. My favorite movies are usually comedy, mystery/thriller/adventure. When you ask people their favorite comedy movies of all times, 6/10 people will mention Basu Chatterjee & Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Rajinigandha is Basu da's movie. It is the first movie for both Vidya Sinha & Amol Palekar(who went on to do more films with him). The movie is based on a short story called Yahi Sach Hain by Manu Bhandari.
Film: Rajinigandha
Cast: Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha, Dinesh Thakur
Music: Salili Choudary
Director: Basu Chatterjee
**Spoiler Alert** Plot revealed after jump.
The Story:
Deepa (Vidya Sinha) is a graduate student from Delhi. She lives with her brother and his wife. She is in a relationship with Sanjay ( Amol Palekar ) who was her classmate in her undergrads. Sanjay is a jovial, friendly person who is not very punctual when it comes to meeting Deepa. Deepa wants to marry Sanjay; who waiting for a promotion at work keeps postponing the prospect. Deepa gets an interview call from an university in Bombay. Sanjay encourages her to go and makes a plan to apply for a transfer to Bombay if she gets that job. Despite Deepa's pleas Sanjay is unable to accompany her to Bombay and she leaves alone. In Bombay she expects her friend Ira to pick her up from the station. Ira sends their friend Naveen as she is stuck at work. Naveen and Deepa had a small relation while they were in school. Naveen was an activist during his school days and he has an altercation with Deepa, following which, they break up. On knowing that Naveen is single, Deepa keeps thinking that he might still carry a flame for her. Naveen shows the city to Deepa and helps her with her interview using his contacts. His eagerness to help her, his punctuality and the attention that he showers on Deepa confuses her. She finds herself drawn towards Naveen and her feeling that he still loves her deepens. She keeps waiting for Naveen to reveal his feelings towards her which he doesn't. Deepa returns to Delhi and writes a letter to Naveen indicating that she still loves him and is waiting for him. She does not get a reply back for almost a week and receives a call from Ira about her job being confirmed. Finally she receives a letter from Naveen; congratulating her for her job that he is looking forward to seeing her in Bombay. He does not mention anything else in the letter. Deepa realizes that she was under a misconception all along and that she truly loves Sanjay. Sanjay gets his promotion and they get married.
Post Script:
The story of this movie is about the mind of a woman. The conflict that Deepa faces is nicely portrayed by the director. Deepa waiting for Sanjay and sharing his attention with his friends is compared with Naveen taking a day off from work for her and his punctuality. This way the director shows the difference between the two men and why Deepa feels attracted to Naveen. The one sided conversations playing in Deepa's head also help us understand her state of mind. There are two songs in this movie, both which play in the background. The title song is my perennial favorite and Kahi baar yuhin song won a national award for best playback singer. The movie is realistic and has a good feeling about it. The movie is totally in Deepa's point of view and there are no extra characters that take the focus away from it. This one is right up there in my list of favorites.
Worth
Yes. This is a classic option for Sunday afternoon leisure watching.
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