Earlier this week, Sooraj Barjatya released his trailer upcoming movie height, For those who have been following Barjatya’s work since the days of Maine Pyar Kiya, it feels like a departure from his usual style. There were no dramatic family moments in the trailer, no wedding songs and no love stories. for a director who is still We are known for films like Aapke Hai Koun Aur Hum Saath Saath Hain, height seems like a confusing choice, but this is not the first time that Barjatya has made an odd choice that has left his fans disappointed. In 2003, Sooraj Barjatya directed Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, which can now be seen as his attempt to be ‘different’ even though it didn’t land at the right place.
Many would not know that the film in which it was acted Kareena kapoor, Abhishek Bacchan other Hrithik Roshan It was a remake of the 1976 film Chitchor. His home production was Chitchor, produced by Rajshri Films and directed by Basu Chatterjee. Amol Palekar, Zarina Wahab and Vijayendra Ghatge are in lead roles. The film’s story follows a family as they welcome a new man (Palekar) into their lives under the assumption that he would be the perfect lover for their daughter (Wahab). As the two fall in love at music classes, the family learns that they have welcomed someone else and not the intended lover (Ghatge). Chitchor takes this relationship story in a very delicate manner and the way its remake has done it, it doesn’t get bogged down in exaggeration.
Chitchor released in 1976. (Photo: Express Rachives)
Chitchor sets up its female protagonist Geeta as a simple yet spirited woman who is more concerned about her test results than about being married. His family hopes that he will fall in love with Palekar’s character and while Geeta is not the kind who would do as instructed, their affection for him builds when they start spending some time together. Unlike Kareena Kapoor’s counterpart Geeta decades later, Geeta does not succumb to her fate. She doesn’t speak much, but when she does, it matters. In a crucial scene, Geeta moves out of her house as she has decided that she will marry only the person she loves. As her sister and mother try to emotionally blackmail her to stay, Geeta looks forward and declares, ‘the die is cast (It is decided)’ because he is the one who has decided.
The tone of Chitchor is very similar to other works of Basu Chatterjee such as tuberose and Piya’s house. Amol Palekar, who established himself as a middle-class hero, is here at his best as he professes his love for Geeta, and when he learns that she may marry someone else , then his heart breaks.
The recent re-watching of Chitchor was a strong reminder of how filmmakers like Sooraj Barjatya, who believed in growing up even before it was considered a sure shot formula for success in Bollywood, created a rarity in Subodh Ghosh’s one. Turned the ordinary story into an extraordinary film, which was unnecessarily decorated. CGI, and felt more dated than its 1970s version. It remains to be seen what Uchhaai has to say about the director’s development, but one can be sure that the sour experience of Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon will not be forgotten for years to come.