Jumping right to the story.
An educated young lady, Aarti (Priya Gill) is having trouble finding a job in Delhi. As she leaves Delhi on the train to return home, her purse is stolen. Obviously, she is devastated because the purse contained all of her necessary employment papers.
A young man, Deepak (Sanjay Kapoor), an orphan, finds her purse on the train where the thief has tossed it. He mails it to her.
They begin a correspondence and fall in love over a series of letters. All around them secondary characters do not understand how they could fall in love through letters without having met each other.
Jhankar Bachchan, the cinematographer deserves a good deal of credit for this lovely movie. The photography is slow and luxurious. It is like a travelogue featuring a swath of wide-ranging landscapes and fantastic locations...waterfalls, beautiful buildings, lakes, war memorials, mountains, and more, in Kerala, Nainital, Cochin and more. Plus, Sanjay Kapoor looks great in a tailored white shirt and black pants.
A first for me, an “I am in love” song where the two lovers dance and sing in two different locations and they have never met.
The couple have several setbacks in their attempts to meet.
When Deepak's employer sends him to resolve an issue with dock workers, they attack him. In a fight scene reminiscent of Kung Fu fights, Deepak fends off multiple attackers.
Deepak and Aarti continue to pine for each other. As Deepak wanders off in a song and dance, I got to see another first, an item number with trained elephants!!!
Deepak takes a transfer to Delhi. At the same time, Aarti has returned to Delhi for another job interview at the company where Deepak works.
Now, both Aarti and Deepak are in Delhi
A rickshaw driver, Pritam (Jackie Shroff) befriends Deepka. He is a better friend than most because he believes in Deepka’s love for Aarti.
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| Beedi Cigarettes |
In one scene, Pritam and Deepka are talking and Pritam pulls out a pack of beedi cigarettes and the two smoke as they talk. The cigarettes intrigued me, so I looked them up (wikipedia) and got a history of the beedi cigarettes. Basically, beedi cigarettes were created by tobacco workers using leftover tobacco flakes rolled in leaves. Beedi cigarettes are more popular than regular cigarettes in parts of Asia and the Middle East. Plus, beedi cigarettes deliver more toxins than regular cigarettes.
As the movie cautions: cigarettes are injurious to your health.
At this point in the story, after meeting his new boss, Neha (Sushmita Sen), a high-powered female, the story evolves from a sort of You’ve Got Mail into a kinda of Disclosure, where Deepak’s new boss, Neha, takes a fancy to him and is aggressive about pursuing him. She openly says, “I am a very liberated woman.” She tries to entrap him, to seduce him, to charm him, to threaten him, and finally to worship him. She is fascinated by his resolve to save himself for his love, Aarti. The idea of male virginity being prized is an interesting turnabout.
All around Deepka are people misbehaving but he remains strong.
Enter Prem (Salman Khan) (wasn’t Salman Prem in another movie?) -- the brother-in-law has arranged a marriage for Aarti with Prem.
Aarti has turned down a job that would have taken her out of the country because she wants to meet Deepak.
While Aarti and Deepak actually met without knowing it, their exchange is not positive. But, they continue to meet again, again, and again....
As the pressure of events builds to separate the two lovers, Aarti tries to find Deepak as she travels about Delhi in a rickshaw to places where he might be and to other locations hoping someone can tell her where he is. The rickshaw driver tries to help her.
In essence, the movie is about how love can grow between two people who have never met and that love is sacred. The idea that love can be sacred is so often held up to ridicule and disbelief in a materialistic world.
This is what is at the heart of pornography -- they debase the female in an effort to kill that which is sacred.
While this movie has all the elements of a masala Bollywood movie, its tone is softer and sincere.
Director: Ahathian
Screenplay: Ahathian
Producer: Bonny Kapoor
Choreographer: Ganesh Acharya
Cast: Sanjay Kapoor, Priya Gill, Sushmita Sen, Mohnish Bahl, Jackie Schoff, Telj Sapru, Shagufta Ali, Salman Khan, Johnny Lever and more.
Date: 1999
