बीस साल बाद

I cannot be counted among the fan following of yesteryear’s Hindi lead pair Vishvajeet and Wahida Rehman. But that doesn’t stop me from being a fan of 2 of their movies – Bees Saal Baad and Kohra.

I got a chance to watch Bees Saal Baad recently on the cable channel. The story is pretty straightforward. Kumar Bahadur (Vishvajeet), the last surviving heir of the Thakur family of Chandangarh, returns from London to his ancestral village after his uncle is killed. Apparently, the ancient curse on the family – owing to the shenanigans of Kumar’s grandpa – is intent upon destroying the clan.

On his first night in the ancestral home (haveli) Kumar is flummoxed by the doors opening and closing of their own accord and the same mysterious sound of a woman’s anklets that has drawn many of his male relatives to their deaths near the swamp. The plot is thick with suspicious characters like Mohanbabu (Sajjan) and the village doctor (Madan Puri). And the bumbling detective Jasoos Gopichand (Asit Sen) sees Kumar’s oddball servant Lakshman signaling to someone from the top of the haveli in the dead of the night.

Just when Kumar is having the time of his life, frolicking and singing with Radha (Wahida Rehman) - the daughter of the village medicine man (Manmohan Krishn) – a stranger is killed near the swamp one night – with Mohanbabu and the village doctor lurking in the vicinity. What’s more, the stranger’s body is found wearing Kumar’s clothes! And as if all this is not enough, an unseen woman sings at night driving people scurrying for their lives into the safety of their homes. Will the royal clan of Chandangarh end with Kumar’s death or will he be able to survive and put a stop to the ancient curse?

While the idea of a foreign returned man falling for a village belle sounds fantastic, it has served up as a very good background for movie’s utterly delectable melodious songs – सपने सुहाने लड़कपन के, बेकरार करके हमें यु न जाइए and ज़रा नजरोसे कह दो जी. And the hauntingly beautiful song that Kumar hears at night - “कही दीप जले कही दिल” puts a spell on you too. :-)

Do I hear some of you say that the plot sounds familiar? Bingo! It’s Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles” with an Indian twist :-)