Andaz (1971)

I turned this movie on a couple weeks ago because I was still not feeling well, and Shammi fixes everything.

Okay, so I didn't feel completely well afterwards, but I felt happy! What a fun movie!

We start with a willful little girl named Munni (Baby Gauri) being picked up from school by the mute, buff, and totally adorable Gangu (Randhawa), her family's servant. She insists that instead of going home they go to find her father, Ravi (Shammi Kapoor). They find him, and poor Gangu loses out with everyone as Ravi and his Munni have a face-off ending in a song.

Awww!

Eventually, Ravi runs into Munni's super-attractive new teacher, Sheetal (Hema Malini). He has kept telling his mom (Achala Sachdev) that he doesn't want or need to bring home a new daughter-in-law, but he seems to reconsider that stance when he meets Sheetal. He flirts outrageously with her, Shammi-style.

 

By the end of the night, she sure looks like she's enjoying it.

 

A few days later Ravi takes Munni to Sheetal's house to sort out some school issues and finds Sheetal singing a lullaby to a little boy, Deepu (Alankar Joshi). Ravi is shocked to discover that she is a mother, a widow.

He leaves the kids with her and heads off to work, but Munni and Deepu wander off and get lost in the jungle before school. Sheetal comes to Ravi to help her find them, and after a tense run through the jungle, they discover them soundly sleeping in an abandoned house.

 

Relief at finding their children safe and sound brings another level of closeness to their relationship, and Sheetal begins to tell Ravi a little about Deepu's father, Raj (Rajesh Khanna).

 

Girls, if you're ever out wandering around trees with Rajesh Khanna and it starts to rain, run the other direction. You'll end up pregnant, and he'll die before he gets around to publicly saying that he's married you. It just gets ugly. (Like happens in Aradhana, too.)

Don't hesitate to wander around with him when the weather's nice, though. Look how much fun they're having!

 

Raj's mean dad has nothing to do with Sheetal, and she has had a tough time of it. Ravi is sympathetic to Sheetal's story, and he continues to make friends with her. Little Munni and Deepu make fast friends, too. We also get a flashback of Ravi with his dead wife, Mona (Simi Garewal), whom he misses, but he's not as conflicted as Sheetal. In her grief and isolation, Sheetal has never really let Raj go, never really accepted his death, and consequently, she now has trouble accepting or comprehending her new feelings for Ravi.

Sheetal couldn't be the only one interested in Ravi. A beautiful village girl named Mahua (Aruna Irani) does everything in her power to get Ravi's attention, frequently vehemently swearing to various ailments in order to get him to give her a ride in his jeep.

In spite of these shenanigans, Mahua is really a sweet girl, who likes Ravi more because he's noble and good than because he is rich and handsome. And to make this triangle into a Shakespearean Midsummer's Night Dream quadrilateral thing, Sheetal's mute servant Gangu loves Mahua. Every day he brings her a beautiful yellow rose from far over the hill for her to wear in her hair. I love Gangu! This side story is sad and sweet.

Meanwhile, Ravi's debauched younger brother in the city, Badal (Roopesh Kumar), has been supposed to be going to school but is instead running through money at an alarming rate. Ravi has finally convinced his mother to stop sending Badal so much cash, and Badal now comes home, a big chip on his shoulder against Ravi, whose adoption into the family he has always resented. As it turns out, he is also armed with gossip about Sheetal, and he is not shy about emptying his spite on her.

Not only does he bet on horses, he hangs out with blonde girls. Evil.

This is a lovely, bittersweet film about second chances, with steady pacing and a sweet and even tone. The music is awesome, the characters are (mostly) realistic and totally adorable, the ending does not veer off into Crazyland, and the characters (except Badal and his buddy) act pretty rationally throughout. Yay!

But, nothing; you should see it.