It is 1995. Cable TV is well entrenched in the average Indian household. It means a plethora of musical countdown shows that, more or less, broadcast the same Top 5 or Top ten tracks. So, in all likelihood, you and many others are going nuts watching Madhuri Dixit in an oversized white kurta, surrounded by aged couples wearing some sort of jungle safari gear, suddenly bursting into song — ‘Nazrein mili dil dhadka’ — from Raja .
The Nadeem-Shravan tune was a big hit and everyone loved it till Anu Malik crashed the party, making Aamir Khan dance to his tune in drag — ‘Dole dole dil dole’ — in the box-office bomb Baazi . People sat up and noticed the similar tunes. Then, of course, there has to be an original.
Tamil cinema had been there, done that, way back in 1967. Jayalalitha, in a pink outfit, energetically swaying in the hills while singing ‘Vandhal ennodu’ in Naan , from which Waris (1969) was later adapted. Of course, the Tamil “original” itself traces its roots all the way back to the title track of the 1961 English romantic comedy Come September .
Indianising Hollywood
But then comes the next question — surely not just the tune? Why not the entire film? After all, the 1960s were all about light romantic comedies, daubed with songs and the inevitable happy endings. So, of course, Come September spawned not just one but three copies — Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) and Mere Sanam (1965) in Hindi and Anbe Vaa (1966) in Tamil.
So what made this English movie such an ‘inspiration’? In the English original, an American millionaire, Robert (Rock Hudson), comes to Italy to marry his Italian girlfriend Lisa (Gina Lollobrigida). But she is tired of waiting and calls it off. Hudson then proceeds to his villa to unwind, only to find that it has been turned into a hotel by his manager. The guests? A bunch of young girls who are being chased by a bunch of boys.
The manager tells the guests that Hudson has lost his memory in the War and has to be treated with compassion. That lie soon flies out of the window, and he has to keep cooking up one story after another to keep the charade going. In the meanwhile, the millionaire becomes protective about the girls and beats the boys at their own game. Lisa decides that he isn’t such a bad person after all, but they have yet another misunderstanding that makes her head back home in a huff.
Of course, the Indian versions have been ‘Indianised’, and each of the three ‘ inspirations’ are accompanied by stunning soundtracks that set them apart from the original.
The plot, however, in three remakes remains the same — the villa turned to hotel, the ‘memory loss’, the girlfriend, the misunderstandings. Except, in the case of both Kashmir Ki Kali and Mere Sanam , there is an added villain in the shape of Pran, the fly in the ointment.
Keeping the spirit alive
What’s unique about Anbe Vaa is that there is no villain, in the strict sense of the term. In fact, Ashokan, otherwise known for negative roles, gets all patriotic here as a fighter pilot. Anbe Vaa has another unique credit, being the first colour film by AVM Productions. It was also the first major solo hit for composer M.S. Vishwanathan after his breakup with partner T.K. Ramamoorthy.
Anbe Vaa is more “true” to the spirit of Come September in that MGR finds a woman to romance in Kashmir but not before entering into a twist competition with the heroine’s friends while singing a wonderfully adapted rock-and-roll number ‘Naadodi poga vendum’.
It’s something of a curious curse that O.P. Nayyar composed two songs in Kashmir Ki Kali and one in Mere Sanam that could not eventually be shot for the film though they were available as the soundtrack. In Kashmir Ki Kali, they are both Asha Bhonsle solos — ‘Balma khuli hawa mein’ and the lovely Raag Pilu based lament ‘Phir thes lagi dilko’. In Mere Sanam it’s a delectable Mohammed Rafi-Asha Bhonsle duet ‘Humne to dil ko aapke’.
The plot hardly matters in the three movies. Their success is closely linked to their music. It’s toughto pick the best album of the lot, they are all classics. If one were to pick the best song from each, then there will be a triangular face-off between the romantic fun of ‘Ye chand sa roshan chehra’, the pathos of ‘Tukde hai mere dil ke’ and the plaintive plea of the title track ‘Anbe Vaa’.
K.V. Ramesh is a film and history buff who is inevitably disappointed while looking for original plots in inspired movies.
