Preet Na Jaane Reet (1966)

I realized that it’s been so long since I saw a movie. I can’t believe myself that I could survive without a dose of vintage movie for so long. I was finally at home the whole day yesterday and I couldn’t do without watching one. I opened my DVD/VCD box and I went through them. I first took out Char Dil Char Raahein, but I was in no mood of seeing tragedy. I am not sure if it really is a tragedy but Meena Kumari and Raj Kapoor put me off, inspite of Shammi Kapoor. I wanted to watch something entertaining and fun. I picked up Teesri Manzil, Professor and Dil Deke Dekho but I have seen all these movies so many times and I wanted to watch something new. So finally decided on Preet Na Jaane Reet. Though I had the VCD for quite a long time, I somehow hadn’t come across watching it yet. Then, I came across the songs while doing Rafi Sings for Shammi and was totally floored by Teri zulfen pareshan, Yun na dekho hume baar baar and Oh jaanewale sun zara yeh dil ka maajra. Haye…Rafi and Shammi, I can never get enough of them!

Seth Karamchand (Nasir Hussain) gets a telegram. Chandu, his man servant brings it to him and Sethji is extremely happy. Seeing his happiness Chandu asks :
Chandu : Is it from Chhote Babu?
Sethji : Yes. He has reached Bombay and will be coming here tomorrow.
Chandu rushes to the market to buy baingan (brinjal) for Baingan ka bharta and other favourite vegetables of Chhote Babu. Sethji warns him that Ashok must have developed a taste for Chicken Broth, Stew, Salad etc. and may not relish Chandu Kaka’s homemade food any more. But that doesn’t dampen Chandu’s spirit. He’s very sure that Chhote Babu will still savour his Chutneys and Bharta.

The scene shifts to another house. Husband (Siddhu? Since he’s not referred by name anywhere, I will call him Jijaji) is sitting and reading newspaper. Wife, Sharda (Shammi) comes screaming into the room calling her servants but none of them seem to be around.

Sharda : Suniye, sun rahe hai aap?
Jijaji : Ji, boliye.
Sharda : Main kab se chila rahi hoon aur aap par asar hi nahin hota. chup chap akhbaar padhe jaa rahe hain. (I’ve been screaming for so long and you are here sitting quietly and reading newspaper!)
Jijaji : Aap kahe toh bhool ho gayi, main chilla ke akhbaar padna shuru kar deta hoon. (I’m sorry, I didn’t know I was to read it loud)
And he literally starts reading the paper loud. Sharda is a very dominating wife and hardly lets her husband speak. In case if he does get to voice his opinion, she screams : “Aap chup rahiye!” And he obediently replies : “Aap kahe toh bhool ho gayi!”

Sharda knows that Ashok is coming back after 5 years in Europe. He’s the only son of Seth Karamchand, the richest man around. So she feels he’s the most eligible boy in town for her sister, Kavita (Saroja Devi). Sharda wants Kavita to accompany her and go to receive Ashok at the airport but Kavita refuses because she is of a different opinion. She gives 2 reasons to justify her denial :          
1. Mujhe abhi shaadi nahin karni (I don’t want to get married now).
2. Ameer baap ke bete se mujhe saqt nafrat hai. Siwaye apne baap ke tukde todna use kuch nahin aata (I hate rich guys. They are too dependent on their father’s earnings and are not capable of standing on their own feet).
So off they go to the airport without Kavita. Sethji, Sharda and Jijaji are waiting at the airport and the plane’s landing. Sethji is very excited and says – main apne bete ko 5 baras ke baad dekhne jaa raha hoon..na jane kitna bada ho gaya hoga,  kaisa ho gaya hoga (I’m going to see my song after 5 years. Wonder how much he must have changed and grown).
Jijaji : 5 baras bada ho gaya hoga, zaroor!!! (He must have grown by 5 years now, of course! He says that as a matter of fact and with so much of enthu. I fell for him immediately.)

Everybody descends from the flight  but they can’t spot Ashok anywhere. So concluding that Ashok didn’t come by that flight, the party returns back home.

Kavita and her group of friends are on their way to college when a car passes by splashing slush on Kavita. But the gentleman, Ashok (Shammi Kapoor), behind the wheels drives back when he realizes what he has done. But before he can say anything the girls begin scolding him:
Starting with Kavita : Junglee, Jaanwar!!!
Her friends ask him : Aankhen bandh karke chalate ho? Apne baap ka sadak samajhte ho, dekha bechari ka sari kharab kar diya na? (Do you drive with your eyese closed? You think that this road is your father’s property?)
Ashok : I’m so sorry.
Kavita : Tumhare sorry keh dene se meri saari toh dhul nahin jayegi. (Your sorry wont clean my saree)
He offers to take her home where she could change and then would drop her to her college. But her friends misunderstand him and tell her : Ek number ka badmaash lagta hai. Pehle ghar dekhega, phir college aur phir naam poochega (He looks like a goon. He’ll first find out where you live, then the college where you study and thenwill ask for your name. His intentions don’t look good).
Enough is enough. He can’t take it any more. So much for his decency! So he offers her some money and tells her to get her saree dry cleaned/washed or get a new one…
She retorts : Bazaar mein akal aur tameez mile toh isi note se khareed lena thode aadmi ban jaoge! (Keep the money to yourself. Buy some wit and good manners if you come across any. That will at least make you a little human.)

Meanwhile, one of her friends punctures his car tyre.
Ashok : Oh, what do I look like now?
Kavita : Budtameez!

(How convenient na…All they have to do is to recite the names of his movies : Junglee, Jaanwar, Budtameez, Pagla Kahin Ka when they have to scold him. I have noticed this in quite a lot of movies and I just love it!)

Ashok goes to a garage (Desuza, Decruz and Fernandes Garage) and calls out for DeSuza. Somebody answers that he’s dead. Next, he calls for Decruz and the same voice replies that he’s dead too.

Finally, he calls for Fernandes and Fernandes(Johney Walker) crawls out from under a car saying : Zinda hai (he’s alive).
It turns out that Ashok and Fernandes were school buddies but Fernandes wasn’t interested in studies. So his uncle took him under his wing and taught him the trick of the trade and gave him a job in his garage.He concludes saying – Apni toh yeh life hai bhaiya aur abhi tak without wife hai (This is my life bro and I’m still without a wife). Fernandes fixes his car and off he goes.

He reaches home and his father is pretty annoyed that he didn’t inform him that he wasn’t coming by flight, knowing that he would go to the airport to recieve him. But one look of regret from his son and the father melts. Ashok explains that his friend, Shamu asked him to drive home instead of taking the flight. Hence, he took his car and came over.

They sit down to dine, on a huge dining table and they sit at opposite ends (Love the way they converse here. They can’t even see each other directly, the lamp comes in between and they keep bending on opposite sides while talking so that one is visible to the other).

Ashok tells Chandu that he missed all these delicacies so much in Europe. He went to so many restaurants hunting for proper food but he couldn’t find anything as deletable as what Chandu has prepared.
Sethji : So you just went around hunting for good food. How about work?
Ashok : I worked hard as well. You will get the reports soon, you can see it for yourself.
Sethji : Did you get to go around and see the places as well or were you burried in work all the time?
Ashok : Oh no…I did go to lots of places – Rome, Venice, Berlin, Paris, London etc
Sethji : What did you like the most there?
Ashok : Girls! (with such a casual attitude. As though he meant saying : what else did you expect?)
Then he realizes what he has just said and gets choked.
Sethji : Chandu, how old is Ashok now?
Chandu : Maalik, you shud get him married now. You were a father at his age.

The next day he goes out and sees Kavita and her friends at a petrol pump. He overhears them mention putting up at Ashok Hotel. He follows them. And they all shower him with the same gaalis again calling him Aawara, Loafer, Badmaash, Junglee etc. He accepts that he spoiled her saree that day but even they punctured his tyre, so it’s not fair to label only him a budtameez.
Ashok : Main aapko yakeen dilana chahata hoon ke main man, dharam aur karam ka bahut hi nek, pavitra aur shareef insaan hoon. Mauka aane par apni sharafat ka namuna pesh karunga. Jai Hind! (For your kind information I’m a good decent guy and will prove it to you when the time comes).
In the mean time, during the conversation he manages to poke their tyre with something, leaving them behind with a flat tyre. He drives ahead and when he realizes that they have stopped their car, he gets down and offers some suggestions but nobody wants them.

He worries them all the more by singing Yun na dekho hume baar baar.

Finally Kavita and group reach Ashok Hotel and they declare they are from Sharda college but the Manager apologizes saying he couldn’t book a room for them as all the rooms are already filled. They all get worried because it’s dark already and they don’t know the place. They request the Manager to arrange for something but he says there isn’t anything much he can do. But if they would go and talk to the owner, they might get a room if their luck favours them because there are roooms reserved for the owners.
Kavita, the leader of the group goes to speak to the owner. But when she realizes it’s Ashok she just walks out. But her friends are in no mood of going and searching for another place to spend the night. So they try convincing Ashok. They literally corner him. But he strikes a deal that he would give them a room provided their leader, Kavita comes and requests for it!
Pehle apne langoor jaisa shakal toh dekhe! Main request karoon?!!! – This is her reaction when she hears of the deal. But when her friends emotionally blackmail her into arranging an accomodation for them, she gives in and reqests Ashok to give them a room, which he immediately does.

The following morning Sethji also turns up at the hotel demanding the Manager for Book of Accounts. When he learns that Ashok’s there, he goes to his room. Kavita and group happen to be at the counter. Manager confides in them that Sethji is very short tempered. This gives her an idea to get Ashok into trouble. So she sends her friends one my one to Ashok’s room, all of them claiming to be his girlfriends. After the first one leaves, Ashok explains to his father that she’s gone crazy.

But when this continues, Sethji : Kya in sab ka dimaag kharab hai? (You mean to say all these girls have gone crazy?)
Ashok : Mumkin hai (It is possible)
Sethji : Ya phir mera dimaag kharab hai? (Or think think I’ve gone crazy to believe you?)
He orders Ashok to pack his bag immediately and leave with him.

It’s Ashok’s birthday and Sharda and Jijaji are getting ready for the party. Sharda wants Kavita to accomany them but Kavita refuses. Jijaji convinces her to join them and finally she gives in and goes with them to Sethji’s house. But the best part it she doesn’t know that her Badmaash, Junglee, Budtameez is the birthday boy. She’s quite surprised to find him even there. And ignores him as much as she can even after learning he’s Sethji’s son. Ashok is obviously hurt by her behaviour and asks her :
Ashok : What’s your problem with me?
Kavita : First impression is the last impression. You are a loafer, gunda, Roadside Romeo. The only thing you have learnt all these years is to pick on girls.
Ashok : If you stand by that, then there’s another saying that goes ‘Try try n try my boy until you succeed’. Mohabbat karengi ek din mujhse aap (you will fall in love with me someday).
Kavita : Mohabbat karegi meri juti (Fall in love with you? My foot!) I’ll fall for a guy who’s hard-working and earns a living for himself, not someone who’s used to enjoy and spend his father’s money.

Fernandes is in love with Rosy (Minoo Mumtaz), Dhumaal’s daughter. They own a small eat-joint and Fernandes usually eats there and doesn’t pay for his food. Rosy doesn’t mind but Dhumal is mad at him. So Fernandes is hiding from Dhumal because he owes him money. Fernandes and Rosy sneak away to the garage and dance to this lovely Rafi-Kamal Barot duet – Yahan bhi toh nahin hai wahan bhi toh nahin hai. Check the lyrics of this song – tu meri chevrolet hai, tu meri juliet hai…could there be a better song for a car-mechanic to sing?

Ashok wants to prove himself to Kavita. He wants to show her that even he can work hard and earn a living for himself. So he convinces Fernandes to give him a job at his garage. And he changes his name to Mohan from Ashok. One day Kavita is walking past the garage on her way back home from college, with few books in her hand. Mohan is fixing a car. Just as she crosses the car, he crawls out from beneath the car. She trips over his leg and almost falls down, the books however fall and he picks them up and gives them to her. With the impression she has of Ashok, she starts scolding him again. He claims he’s not Ashok but she doesn’t believe him. Finally when Fernandes addresses him as Mohan, she’s convinced that he’s a different man. She goes back home and realizes that one of her books is missing and is sure that it must have got misplaced when it fell at the garage. So she comes back to the garage  and goes to Mohan’s room. She sees him sitting in a small room and reading a book. Just because he’s poor she immediately develops a soft corner for him. He tells her that he’s a graduate. Just then she smells something burning. He realizes he was cooking daal. So he hurries to the kitchen. She helps him with the daal. In the mean time he narrates that he left his house because his father wanted him to get married to a  fashionable girl. But his mother always told him he should get married to girl who can cook and feed him with her hands. And he agrees with his mother. She feels shy and runs out of his room.

Kavita has a dance program in her college and invites Mohan for it. She dances to Arey o kanha bairi zamana.

Sharda is still trying to fix Kavita with Ashok. She invites Ashok home for tea. But Kavita is nowhere around and Sharda and Jijaji are feeling a little uneasy about it. But Ashok feels it’s time for some fun. So he reveals to them that Kavita is in love with a mechanic named Mohan at Desuza Decruz and Fernandes garage. He’s not at all surprised that she’s not at home. They don’t believe him but he takes them to the garage and asks Fernandes about Mohan and after a while he himself comes dressed as a Mechanic, Mohan. Sharda is mad at him. They have a very interesting argument.

Mohan : Aapne shaadi se pehle mohabbat nahin ki? (Didn’t you fall in love before getting married?)
Sharda : Ji nahin.,..hamare khandaan mein shaadi se pehle mohabbat karne ki reewaz nahin hai (We don’t have the tradition of falling in love before getting married in our family)
Jijaji : Ji haan, inke khandaan mein shaadi ke baad bhi mohabbat karne ki reewaz nahin hai (Oh yes, they don’t even have a tradition of falling in love after getting married in their family).
She warns him never to meet her sister again and goes.

One day Ashok comes home and Kavita is furious seeing him. But he tells her he’s Mohan. He’s dressed up as Ashok so that Sharda doesn’t suspect him. Sharda, thinking it’s Ashok sends Kavita with him and tells her to take him around the place. They sing this lovely song – Teri zulfen pareshaan.

Jijaji is not convinced that Ashok and Mohan are two different people. So he goes to Mohan’s room and investigates. It doesn’t take him long to find the truth. He goes back home happily only to see Sharda and Kavita quarelling over Ashok and Mohan. When he finally gets a chance to speak he tells them that Ashok’s been fooling both of them – Ashok and Mohan are not two different people but one and the same!

Kavita goes to his room at the garage to confront him. He’s humming Tumne pukara aur hum chale aaye as he’s getting dressed and exclaims : “Woh aaye ghar mein hamare khuda ke kudrat hai.Kabhi hum unko kabhi apne ghar ko dekhte hai” when he sees her. He can make out that she’s not in the best of her moods so asks her if everything’s ok.
Kavita : My family wants me to get married to this guy who I totally dislike. Main sochti hoon phir tumhara kya hoga, tum toh zehar kha loge (But more than that I am worried about you. What would happen to you if I get married to somebody else? You might kill yourself).
Mohan : Zehar khaye mere dushman, main toh baratiyon ke saath mithai khaunga, mithai. (Now, how do I translate that!) Ashok’s not as bad as you think he is….he’s a nice guy and he loves you so much. And I am not as innocent as you think. I have a secret.
Kavita : Secret? Are you married already?
Mohan : Not married but I am engaged to a very rich girl. Now if you get married to Ashok even I will get to marry her without feeling guilty about it.

She yells at him and he realizes that she has learnt the truth and tries to reason with her.
Ashok : You love one name and hate the other one, but the person is one – me. Pati hone ke liye 4 cheez hone chahiye (there are 4 qualities that guys should have to become a husband) and I have all the 4 things.
1. Main shehar ka sab se bada raheez hoon – Ashok (I’m the richest person in town)
2. Main awwal darze ka aashiq hoon – Mohan (I’m a lover boy)
3. Main bahut bada kalakaar hoon kyunki tumhe meri ek roop se mohabbat hai aur doosre se nafrat (I’m a great actor. You love one and you hate the other form of mine)
4. Main dil ka achha hoon aur shareer ka tandurust…yaani ke hamare hone wale bachche tandurust honge, mote honge, kuch tumhare jaise honge aur kuch mere jaise. (I’m good at heart and am physically fit. That means our children will be healthy and they will look a little like you and a little like me)
Kavita : Tum mujhe seedhi tarah se ghar jaane doge ya nahin (Will you let me go home?)
Ashok : Ab tum us ghar mein jaa kar kya karogi? Ladki toh parayi hoti hai. Aur yeh tumhare gharwale bhi jaante hai. Ab maan bhi jao. Tum mujhe chahe boora samjho ya achha samjho maine yeh sab tumhara pyaar jitne ke liye kiya. Yeh na kisi gareeb ka pyaar hai na kisi ameer ka, yeh ek insaan ka pyaar hai jisne tumhe apne dil se pyaar kiya (What will you do going to that house? You will anyways have to get married and leave it someday. Whether you think good of me or bad of me, I did all this to win your  love. This is neither a rich man’s love nor a poor man’s love, it’s true love and I love you from the bottom of my heart).
They sing Oh jaanewale sun zara yeh dil ka maajra and everything is settled between them.

Both their families are happy about the alliance. Sethji even engages himself  in selecting jewelleries and sarees for his bahu.
I wish the film had ended here. It was so delightful till here. But a Hindi film of 60’s just couldn’t happen without any conflict and it couldn’t end here, right? There has to be a twist. Especially when the hero has finally wooed the heroine and all is well and none of their families opposes to it, there has to be some twist to separate the two of them.
Ashok leaves for Shyamnagar to attend a friend’s wedding. Ashok and few other friends pull Shekhar’s (the groom) leg and keep worrying him. But just when the wedding ceremonies are about to begin, Shekhar’s dad takes him and leaves – the wedding is cancelled. No, it’s not for dowry. He discovers that the bride had earlier run away with someone and he feels it will be a disgrace to accept her as his daughter-in-law now. Ashok begs with Shekhar not to dishonour the girl’s family. He tries to reason with him saying everybody makes a mistake, that doesn’t mean that you behave this way and ruin somebody’s life for one mistake. But all his efforts go in vain.

Seeing the state in which bride’s father and mother are in, he offers to marry their daughter. He gets married without even seeing the girl and then takes her home and goes. But Sethji isn’t very pleased with him for what he has done. He kicks him out of the house. So Ashok goes back to the garage and lives there with his wife, Sheila (Parveen Choudhary).

Sharda and Jijaji are shocked to hear the news. Kavita blames him for cheating on her. Ashok wanders along singing Main bewafa nahin hoon tere pyaar ki kasam. But Jijaji tells her it’s not fair to reach a conclusion without knowing the entire truth.So she sets out to find the truth. She goes to Ashok’s house and meets Sheila.  And the poor soul pours her heart out  to her.

 Kavita feels guilty for accusing Ashok of infidelity. She sings O maine mana mere meet.

Kavita still loves Ashok (after finding out the truth) but Ashok comes in terms with his life. He accepts that it was not in his fate to marry Kavita and is content with what he has got. He tries his best to forget his past and to start his life afresh with Sheila. Even her past doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t blame her for coming in between him and Kavita but accepts her whole-heartedly and does his best to be a good husband. So what next???

What happens to Kavita?  Ashok and Sheila are quite happily married. What will happen to this love triangle? Will Sethji finally accept Sheila as his daughter-in-law? Will Sharda ever forgive Ashok for what he has done to Kavita?

I loved the first half of the movie. It was truly amazing! It had comedy, emoshun, romance and beautiful songs. Second half wasn’t very necessary. I felt like it was just put to make the story longer. And to show that love is all about sacrifice.

On the whole I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, except for the end. Shammi Kapoor in his Black&White days is delicious! Saroja Devi is beautiful. Johney Walker and Minoo Mumtaz’s romance is cute. Parveen Choudhary, Nasir Hussain, Dhumaal and Shammi are all great. And whoever the man playing Jijaji is (Siddhu?), I totally loved him – he was so witty and his one liners were simply awesome! Kalyanji-Anandji’s music , assisted by Laxmikant-Pyarellal is fabulous. Songs were penned by Anand Bakshi, Qamar Jalalabadi, Gulshan Bawra and Indivar and were rendered by Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, and Kamal Barot. Great direction from S. Bannerjee!

I would rate it 7.5/10.

P.S : He looks familiar. I haven’t seen Ek Musafir Ek Haseena yet, but I think I have seen him somewhere, may be in Dil Deke Dekho.