Before long, he’s spilled the beans to a reporter, who publishes an article about the Ashok-Rajni jodi in a newspaper…and Ashok (Manoj Kumar) sees it. These girls have no clue how far Tarakkilal will go for tarakki. There can be no harm in it, can there? And Ashok Saxena won’t even come to know. Rajni isn’t keen on perpetrating this illusion, but Bela reassures her. It’s Bela who discovers from Auntie the reason behind all of this sudden benevolence and tells Rajni. So Rajni is called back to the theatre, fawned over, reinstated, made the leading lady-all to her puzzlement. The theatre will be a success, and hopefully Ashok too will be persuaded to shower some of his wealth on his sweetheart’s workplace. If news spreads that Ashok is in love with Rajni, people will flock to the theatre to see Rajni. Ashok Saxena is a city bigwig Tarakkilal is deep in debt. She scurries in to break the news to Tarakkilal, and he realises that this could be put to good use. …the result being that Auntie, gawping madly, is now firmly convinced that her initial surmise was true: Ashok and Rajni are an item. Balam is returning from an errand for Ashok, and seeing his pesky new acquaintance, he offers them a lift.
Leaving the theatre with her loyal friend Bela (Shabnam), Rajni again runs into Balam, in Ashok’s car. Rajni, because she’s late for the rehearsal, is ticked off-and, when she snaps back at him, fired-by Tarakkilal.
Auntie immediately jumps to the conclusion that Rajni is in love with Ashok. It’s the car of Ashok, the very wealthy son of the city’s wealthiest crorepati, Jwala Prasad Saxena. …where the gossipy Auntie (Shammi) who sits at the desk outside notices whose car Rajni has arrived in. The driver, who’s called Balam, is inclined to tell Rajni to go take a walk, but finally relents and drops her off at Modern Theatres. One day, late for work and unable to catch a bus, Rajni hitches a ride in a long, expensive car being driven by a chauffeur (Om Prakash). In the meantime, a chance incident has had unexpected consequences. When Rajni protests, guruji tries to comfort and encourage her.
Things have reached the stage where Rajni’s mentor and guru (Gajanan Jagirdar) has paid Rajni and her mother’s rent on their behalf. Rajni’s career seems to be stuck in a groove because the theatre’s manager Tarakkilal (Janakidas) hasn’t paid the girls in many months. Especially not for those who’ll be consuming those paapads. Ĭonsidering Mommy’s in bad health-and coughing her guts out-I don’t think this is a good idea. Rajni’s in dire straits she and her widowed mother Laajwanti ‘Laajo’ (Sulochana Latkar) are somehow managing to scrape together two sort-of-square meals a day by Laajo’s cottage industry production of paapads. Manoj Kumar puts in an appearance somewhat late in Saajan it begins with the heroine, Rajni (Asha Parekh), who is one of the chorus girls at Modern Theatres. Especially the suspense thrillers: Woh Kaun Thi?, Anita, Gumnaam-and this one. For me, his best films are the outright entertainers, the romances and suspense thrillers he worked in. I know what she meant (at least I think I do): I hate that insufferably xenophobic “all that is Indian is good, all that is Western is bad” philosophy espoused by films like Upkaar or, even worse, Purab aur Pachhim.īut I tend to shove that lot of films to the boundaries of my recollection of Manoj Kumar’s films. The other day, a fellow blogger, mentioning her distaste for Manoj Kumar’s films said that while she has “nothing against the man himself”, she really hates his films.