In Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008), I enjoyed seeing Ranbir revise his baap Rishi Kapoor’s Bachna Ae Haseeno tune from Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin (1977), with playback singer Kishore Kumar and music by R.D. Burman. Out of respect, let’s view the senior’s version first:
Now here’s a modern reworking of the tune with Rishi’s son, Ranbir:
Great job Ranbir, but sorry to tell you your dad wins this round, simply for the fact that he wore that great heart necklace. Old is gold. Which one do you prefer? Now here’s a bit about the movie:
The film follows the journey of Raj Sharma (Ranbir Kapoor) from the age of 18 to 30 and how he meets three girls at different stages of his life : Mahi (Minissha Lamba) – a small-town girl from Punjab, Radhika (Bipasha Basu) – a model from Mumbai and Gayatri (Deepika Padukone) – a NRI taxi driver and student from Australia. The film is about a boy who goes from one love affair to another, only to run into true love. (source)
Raj has had 2 girlfriends, Mahi and Radhika. He leaves them both without too much thought about their feelings and the consequences of his actions. Then he finally falls for a girl who can’t commit to him, the taxi driving, convenience store working, college attending Gayatri.
So now the shoe is on the other foot. (Is that also a saying in Hindi? The shoe is on the other foot?) Finally Raj understands how Mahi and Radhika must have felt when he wouldn’t commit to them. To make amends for his playboy living and redeem himself for true love, he goes back to apologize to the 2 women he’s hurt years earlier.
W
hen he first met Mahi, Raj played into her romantic DDLJ inspired fantasies. Mahi overhears him talking crassly about her to his friends at the airport. She’d been tricked! She’s devistated and looses her trust in love.
Years later we return to Mahi’s home in the Punjab, and to place us in Amritsar, there’s a requisite shot of the Golden Temple. Her husband is the super hot Kunal Kapoor, I mean Joginder Ahluwalia. Joginder is a proud Sikh man, who loves his wife. Joginder is wealthy, and wears a Hermes scarf.
I must add that I was in Amritsar a few months back and saw nobody wearing a Hermes scarf, but I did see a guy wearing a shower cap covered in strawberries. I drove by him so fast, but I wanted to shout to him, “Yaar, did you ever see Strawberry Shortcake?” See the Strawberry Shortcake Sikh.
So Raj makes the trek to Amristar to apologize to Mahi, but encounters her husband first. Jogi has all the trappings of marriage from Mahi, but not her love, since Raj robbed her of her belief in romantic love years before. Joginder takes Raj out to the woods to so he can talk man to man, drink some Johnnie Walker (Black Label) and threaten him with a gun.
Raj finally gets his chance to apologize to Mahi who wears this smashing sari. I LOVED that sari!
Look at her bangles, and all that gorgeous fabric in the sari:
The song I really loved from the film wasJogi Mahi. Can you listen to it and not move? Impossible not to at least bob your head, or tap a toe to this. Vishal-Shekhar wrote the catchy tune and it’s picturised on Ranbir Kapoor, Minissha Lamba & Kunal Kapoor. The playback singers are Sukhwinder Singh, Shekhar Ravjiani & Himani Kapoor
The second woman Raj goes back to apologize to is Radhika (Bipasha Basu). They been shacking up in Mumbai are all set to get married. Radhika and her pals plan on meeting Raj for a civil shaadi ceremony…
He leaves her waiting on the stop of city hall in Mumbai, and she never gets that marriage license.
Then he goes to Australia, just to make it clear he’s really gone.
Fast forward several years and Raj now wants to apologize to Rahdika, who has now become a huge diva with a new naam: Shreya!
In order to gain forgiveness, Raj agrees to be Shreya/Rahdika’s personal assistant. For days she treats him horribly and attempts to humiliate him. Raj’s rejection fueled Rahdika to fame, yet she’s bitter and afraid to love.
At last she breaks down and forgives him, only after telling him how she felt when he left her years before.
As they say in India: Why buy the holy cow, if you can get the doud for free?
Let me know what you thought of the film, and as always my mitr, all the best!
