Page 12 - Seniors Today Febuary 2020

Cover Feature | List II
Romance

on the screen

Deepa Gahlot casts an eye on Bollywood love over the years

Unlike Western movies, romance is part of the a Saratcandra Chattopadhyay story (turned
Bollywood movie package. Even the angry into film several times in multiple languages) is
young man and vigilante antihero has a love about the eponymous hero (Dilip Kumar), who,
interest. But obviously some movies stand out on losing Paro (Suchitra Sen), the love of his life
above others for their concentration on romance, due to his own cowardice, drowns his sorrow
and this is not counting the classic love stories. in drink, and somehow earns the devotion of a
So, here’s a list of 20 movie romances — some naucth girl Chandramukhi (Vyjayanthimala).
personal favourites, some box-office hits. Also,
we count just one film per director, or the list 3) Kashmir Ki Kali (1964): This Shakti Samanta
would be dominated by a few.

1) Karma (1933): The film that has gone down
in movie history as the one with the longest
liplock ever. The film, directed by John Hunt and
produced by Himanshu Rai, who also starred
with Devika Rani, was a bilingual that did better
in its international English version. The love
story was between a princess, who falls in love
with the prince of a neighbouring kingdom,
whose father disapproves of her due to her film starring Shammi Kapoor and Sharmila
modern ideas of ruling. Tagore represents a whole lot of fluffy romances

set in Kashmir; this was a love story between a
2) Devdas (1955): Bimal Roy’s film based on spoilt rich brat and a flower girl in Kashmir, with

family complications and old enmities thrown in.
4) Guide: (1965): Vijay Anand’s masterpiece
was about a tourist guide (Dev Anand) who
falls in love with a dancer (Waheeda Rehman)
straining at the leash of an oppressive marriage;
he helps her escape and build a career, but a
misunderstanding breaks them apart.
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