Basant (1960)

Directed by: Bibhuti Mitra
Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi, Shehzan Rizvi,
SH Bihari
Starring: Nutan, Shammi Kapoor,
Pran, Johnny Walker,
Minoo Mumtaz, Murad, Kammo

Shalini and I hadn’t watched a movie together in a long time, so when Fighter dropped on Netflix, we decided to watch it. The movie was so-so [I might do a ‘review’ of it sometime], and while I like Hrithik Roshan [and Shalini doesn’t] we both felt the need to watch some ‘real’ men – not steroid-injected, jacked-up ‘Masters of the Universe’ He-Men. We dithered between rewatching Don [classic Amitabh Bachchan] or watching Shammi Kapoor in this film. Basant won the toss because neither of us had watched this before. Shalini, at least, knew that the film was a cross between It Happened One Night and An Affair to Remember; I had no clue what the film was about except that I loved one of the songs from this film. But… it was a ‘new’ Shammi Kapoor movie, and it co-starred Nutan, and that was all that mattered.

Warning: Since this is a ‘watchalong’, this ‘review’ will be peppered with our comments, most of which may well be along the lines of: “Isn’t Shammi gorgeous?”

The movie starts off with a bang. Two men are trying to steal something.

Me: They look like the Beagle Boys. [For those too young to know what that refers to, here.]
Shalini is too busy ogling Shammi Kapoor who has appeared on the scene to save the day to worry about insignificant characters.

Shalini: 1960 Shammi was just gorgeous, no?
Me: Yes, effortlessly so.
[I warned you!] 

The story then segues into a flashback.
Meenakshi Rai (Nutan) is the spoilt, wilful, daughter of millionaire Rai Bahadur (Murad). She is in love with Rajesh (Pran, though we don’t see him yet), who her father despises as a gold-digger. So, he’s taking her to Calcutta with him.
Me: Nutan pouts very well.
Shalini: She does, but I don’t like her hairstyle.

 

Father and daughter argue on the train – both of them say ‘My foot!’ a lot! – and Meenakshi is not loath to call out her father’s double standards. In any case, it is clear that Meenakshi is no obedient daughter. When her father goes to sleep, she gets down from the train and puts her suitcase down to check train timings (one assumes to return to Bombay).

Shalini: I do like her character. Feisty!
Me: If stupid.
Shalini: Yeah, that as well.
[We discuss Nutan’s looks (good) and styling (bad) for a while. In the meantime, Johnny Walker has put in an appearance.] 

Billoo (JW) exits with her suitcase.

 

Me: I suppose I must be happy that she wasn’t silly enough to leave her handbag there as well!
Shalini: It’s so obvious the suitcase is empty, isn’t it?
Me: Yeah, I really can’t fathom why directors wouldn’t put a few clothes in it to make it appear like it’s full. 

 
Meenakshi is feisty enough to chase Billoo down and retrieve her suitcase at a circus ground. 

 

 

But as she’s watching a dance (Minoo Mumtaz and Kammo), she soon discovers that her father has set the cops after her.

Me: Funny sort of circus.
Shalini: Maybe it’s the kind of circus where they have dances?
Me: Haven’t been to one circus where they had dances!
Shalini: Well, we’ve previously determined that we have been sadly deprived in life.
And while we were discussing our sadly deprived lives, Shammi pops up on screen. And suddenly, he and Meenakshi are dancing! [His name is Ashim though we aren’t privy to that, yet.]

 

Me: Isn’t Shammi gorgeous!
Shalini: He is!
Just as suddenly, Meenakshi is in a tent. When Ashim comes in, she hides in a water barrel.
Shalini: Wait, how did Nutan get into the water barrel?
Me: I think we are going to be asking this question (“How did…?”) a lot!
 

 

In any case, Meenakshi makes her way to the railway station, only to find that her father is there demanding action, and along with him are a whole lot of policemen.
And suddenly [I have a strange feeling I’m going to be writing that a lot as well!], there is another song.
Me: Another song? At a railway station? Where have such stations been all my life?
Shalini: I have to admire Nutan/Meenakshi – she’s willing to join in any dance!
 

Meenakshi decides to take the bus instead. So does Ashim, who’s also travelling to Bombay, and has, in the meantime, figured out who she is. Meenakshi finds a seat next to Billoo who, upon noticing all the money in her handbag, coolly flicks it while pretending to tell her fortune. 

 

 

Me: She really isn’t the brightest spark, is she?
Shalini: Thankfully, Shammi has at least one brain cell more than her! 

That is true, since Ashim notices a police roadblock ahead, pushes Billo aside and proceeds to pretend to be her possessive husband to deceive the cops. Luckily, Meenakshi has the brains to play along.

Shalini is wondering what makes Ashim fall in love with Meenakshi. It can’t be her brains. 

Me: Because the director told him to? 

 

After the cop leaves, Ashim continues to irritate Meenakshi, even imitating her ‘My foot!”  every chance he gets. We like that Meenakshi is not cowed by the needling. To escape the police cordon, Ashim and Meenakshi get off the bus and take to the backroads. They bicker and squabble on their way, not knowing that Billoo, having seen a poster offering a Rs50,000 reward for news of Meenakshi, is trailing them. 

 

Amidst their squabbling, Meenakshi and Ashim are getting acquainted with each other, and she tells him that she loves Rajesh and wants to marry him. She’s obstinate because she’s never had any freedom to do what she wanted. Her father controlled her every move.
Meanwhile, another song pops up out of nowhere.

Shalini: Nutan shouldn’t dance.
Me: No. Especially when paired with Shammi who had an animal grace when he moved, let alone dance.
Shalini: Exactly. And he’s looking extra fine in this movie, too.   

 

Back in Bombay, Rai Bahadur has given in. He is willing to let her marry Rajesh if that’s what it will take to bring his daughter home. He promises to announce their engagement on her birthday.

 

When Ashim brings Meenakshi home, she confesses her love for him and he asks her to meet him after a month. She reluctantly agrees. But Rajesh is not going to let go of a cash cow so easily. 

 

And much can happen in one month – and does.

 

For instance, an insane third plot about a nau lakha haar is added to this already choppy film. There’s an accident, a death, an attempted murder, a fourth angle to the ‘love triangle’, much drama and tears, and songs... oh, so many more songs, before this movie winds down to a weary end.
Shalini: I have no idea what’s going on, and I’m kinda okay with that.
Me: I’ve stopped thinking. I just want to watch Shammi.
Shalini: Nutan is hamming now, and I can’t say I blame her – the movie is evoking the same reaction in me.

 

The climax went on and on. It was like watching a trainwreck. A very slow-moving trainwreck.
Me: I do hope it has a happy ending.
Shalini: It depends on your standard for ‘happy’ – right now, this movie ending would make me happy.
 

Shammi and Nutan are simply gorgeous looking here and have such an easy camaraderie between them and we both wished it was in service of a better film. 

 

Nutan has an extremely mobile, expressive face... 

 

...and while she’s a fabulous actress in the worst of films, here, she excelled in the comic portions of the film as well.
Me: I wonder why she had to do so many tragic, regressive roles. She did far more of those than Meena Kumari did.
Shalini: Marriage/motherhood did a number on her hormones and she lost her mind?

 

The romance between the two didn’t really work for either of us. There’s no lead up to it, and we never get the impression that they have begun to develop feelings for each other. Ashim is mostly exasperated – he’s fixated on the fact that he’s going out of his way to help ‘Kisi aur ki mashooqa’ – and there’s no evidence that Meenakshi has replaced her infatuation for Rajesh with a deep love for Ashim.

 

Shalini: I do understand Meenakshi though. I’d be ready to go anywhere with this Shammi too.

 

There are some sensible portions in the film – Ashim’s reservations about their relationship; Meenakshi’s clearsighted-ness about her infatuation for Rajesh (“Mohabbat kitni aur zid kitni?”); the slow development of their friendship [not the romance, which didn’t work at all], etc. The Affair to Remember portion also makes some kind of sense given Ashim’s fixation on Meenakshi being ‘Kisi aur ki mashooqa’. 

 

Meenakshi seems rather volatile, switching her affections from one man to another [not withstanding that both Shalini and I would definitely choose Shammi over Pran any day] and it’s a sensible decision to see if their feelings for each other are real or as Ashim says, just the result of them being in close proximity for a few days.
 

Pran is great as the villain, but he’s wasted in this role. I’m sure he must have been fed up too, especially since this is the same role he played in Chori Chori.
 

And it’s not just Meenakshi who is struck by the ‘stupid bug’ in this movie – so is Billoo. We both love Johnny Walker, but he irritated us in this film. 

 

The ‘comic side plot’ was annoying, but worse, it was boring and had no connection with anything else that was going on. But, like the movie, it just went on and on. And on.
 
Songs pop up arbitrarily – it seemed like a case of “We signed OP Nayyar and must get our money’s worth!” There just wasn’t any rhyme or reason for most of them. And as Shalini noted, they weren’t anything to write home about either, except for Chori chori ik ishaara, which was my downfall. With SH Bihari, Shehzan Rizvi, Qamar Jalalabadi as lyricists, we still got lyrics like “O Madam Nancy, you’re my fancy/Jis ladki se pyaar karuun woh bole no vacancy” and “Mere dil pe lagaa ke darling, apne naam ki chit/Tere mere pyar ki film bani ho toh ho jaayegi hit”. Wishful thinking there, I’m thinking.  

 
Final verdict? Shammi Kapoor and Nutan deserved a better movie and so did we.  

 

p.s. But Shammi Kapoor looked gorgeous.