Tere (Mere, Hamare) Ghar Ke Samne : Happy Diwali
If Tere Ghar Ke Samne is not the best then it is easily among top five romantic comedies ever made in Hindi cinema. TGKS represents perfect blend of romance and comedy and neither comedy takes a shelter in buffoonery nor romance follows an exaggerated lane where overflow of tears, while showing tough conditions or a phase of separation, tries to exploit the emotions of the audiences. It works in a soft manner.
TGKS is a winter film as it gives soft heating effect to the senses which one needs in the winters and especially when one is living or spending times in the mountains. TGKS’s flavour affects one in a manner as if s/he is enjoying ginger tea while sitting in his home at a hill station and smell of ginger is reaching to the nose through the vapour rising above the cup filled with golden tea, and eyes are enjoying the scenic beauty spread all around and mind is relaxed and sun is shining on top of mountains and its rays are showering the warmth on all the people and sometimes clouds are seen dancing in the sky and sometimes they come so near that one feels to touch them.
Down in the deep valley some kids are making noise and their voices seem as if coming out from some other world and at the same time these voices make one realise that other people are also residing in this quiet place.
And what more one may demand when this romantic comedy, decorated so well by the wonderfully pleasant music composed by SD Burman, carries the favourite flavour of Vijay Anand and that is the dose of suspense thriller also.
For characters in the film, other than Rakesh (Dev Anand) and Madan (Rashid Khan), suspense is maintained and Sulekha (Nutan) herself is told by Rakesh in almost at the end of the film and for audience thrill is to wait how families of Rakesh and Sulekha are going to take the whole situation where they are rival in business and their children have fallen in love with each other. Screen play does not allow audience to guess in fixed terms that how parents of Rakesh and Sulekha will handle the whole situation. They may guess the end result but not how they will be convinced.
This is in this film where we find Dev Anand and Nutan having conversation,”Our parents have raised us and we should not do anything which may hurt them. We can not run away from the house to bring a tarnished image for two families and we will marry with the blessings of our parents only and we will wait till we get their blessings”.
Films are not to show only “what is prevailing” in the society but heroism resides also in showing “what should prevail”. Sometimes idealism in characters offers more substance on screen. Different stories and screen play can have different takes but here this route taken by its lead characters works better and it looks so authentic in this screen play.
Film has got a wide range and audiences belonging to the age of 12 years or more can enjoy the film. It has something for all the audience.
Film has got an urbane outlook. Like its treatment, film keeps audience in the light and happy mood through out the screening time and in the end also it leaves audience in a smiling mode. Right from the beginning small things and moments make a connection with the audience and a smile comes on the face.
Characters seem to be taken from the people living around us and still screen presence of actors make these characters so charming. Delhi looks so good. We might have seen Qutub Minar 100 times but credit goes to Vijay Anand whose mind could think to bring his lead characters inside the Qutub Minar and where they get a chance to express inner feelings.
Picturisation of the song Dil Ka Bhanwar is just fascinating. Dev Anand and Nutan are coming down and they are running and jumping and camera is continuously moving with them. They are following the camera.
Qutub Minar becomes alive in the scenes before this song and during this song.
Film was released in 1963 and India had already got major setback by China’s attack on India in 1962. Film has a reference to the Indo-China relationship and Panchsheel principles propagated by Pt Nehru.
Film presents Rajendra Nath in somewhat restrained manner in 1963 when he was becoming famous as a comedian.
Film has many good things.
Story and screen play, both are very good and appealing. Performances are top notch from every actor whoever has got more than 5 minutes screen time. Om Prakash, Harendra Nath Chattopadhyay, Rajendra Nath, Pratima Devi, Mumtaz Beghum and Rashid Khan, all the actors have performed so well.
Music is wonderful and visual presentation of each and every song is simply fascinating. If Rafi has spread the magic of his divine side of singing in the songs like Dil Ka Bhanwar and Tu Kahan then Lata and Asha also don’t remain behind and dissolve pleasure in the ears of the listeners through their singing.
Its so astonishing to know that Vijay Anand did not write and publish fiction. The man who can write so wonderful romantic scenes, some of which he had used in Kala Bazar and some were used later in Tere Ghar Ke Samne, should have published his works because he had an imagination in writing romantic scenes, he was good in creating authentic conversation between lovers or potential lovers and he was able to visualise the environment around the lovers.
On screen chemistry or comfort level or synchronization or matching between Dev Anand and Nutan seems so good. It has been the case with Dev Anand in most of his films that his on screen relationship with women, whether he is with his on screen mother, sister or lover or wife or daughter remains very authentic and he comes out as very authentic actor in such scenes.
There are so many special things which can be found only in a Dev Anand’s black and white films and they are absent even from the films of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor.
Such special scenes are present in TGKS with full beauty.
Dev Anand has taken Nutan to a near by village and there they are eating at the hut of an old lady. Dev Anand is enjoying the food very much and he showers the praises on the old lady,” Maa, aisa teekha achaar maine jeevan mein kabhi nahin khaya. Maan tere bachche jiyen aur tarakki karein”.
Old lady asks if Dev Anand and Nutan are a newly married couple.
Dev Anand looks at Nutan and asks,” batao kya kahun”.
Nutan smiles and says in a teasing way,”Bako. Batein banane aur jhooth bolne mein to maharat hasil hai tumhe”.
Dev Anand,” Maa abhi tak shadi nahin huyee, par agar mere mata pita ne chaha aur iske mata pita ne chaha aur agar hum sabke mata pita ne chaha to bahut jaldee hamaree shadi ho jayegi”.
Nutan,” Shadi, unhh, aisa karne se pehle dub na marungi mein”
After finishing the meal he washes his hands and tries to give money to the old lady which she refuses to take and he goes to Nutan and admires the spirit of poor lady and comes back to the lady and says,” Maa ye paise khane ke liye nahin hai. jo diya tu jalatee hai na puja ke liye, usme tel dalne ke liye hai……”.
Now real scene starts.
Dev Anand is in the mood of proposing to Nutan and Nutan is in the mood of playing a prank on him.
Dev Anand,” Tumne dub marne kee bata kyon ki“?
Nutan,” Tumne byah kee bata kyon ki“?
Dev Anand,”Sharafat ka takaja hai ki mein isse agee tabhi badhun jab mein tumse shadi kar raha hun”.
Nutan,” par Rakesh, shadi? Mein tumhare bare mein kuch bhee to nahin jaantee. tumhare ma baap kaun hain,”
Dev Anand,” tum mere parivar ke bare mein kuch nahin jantee, par itna to jantee ho ki mein tumhare liye ghar bana raha hun. Ab ye bhee jan lo ki mein tumhare saath ghar basana bhee chahta hun“.
Nutan,”Mujhe nahin pata, Tum Pita ji se baat kar lo”.
Dev Anand,” Tum nahin kar saktee”.
Nutan,“ Nahin, mein unka samna nahin kar saktee.“.
Dev Ananad,“ par mera saath to de saktee ho“
Nutan,” Nahin baba, mein pita ji ke samne nahin jaungi. Tum unka gussa nahin jante”
Dev Anand,“ to tum mera saath nahin dogee“
Nutan,“Nahin“.
Dev Anand,“ to mein yahan kya karr aha hun“
Nutan,“Chale jao, roka kisne hai“.
Dev Anand,” Mein ja raha hun”
Nutan,” Rasta to pata hai na”
A lover who is counting on the support from his lover will become frustrated and angry on such cold response from his lover and Dev Anand is angry and frustrated and he goes away from the place.
Nutan smiles on his anger and is not it a wonderful situation to keep a romantic song?
Yes it is and Ye Tahai haye re haye comes in to the existence.
This whole sequence from the food and till this song starts is the highest point in the film and such sequences can be found only in an old film of Dev Anand .
Those who have not seen the film, will get the pleasure of this sequence once they watch it with own eyes.
This whole sequence is a triumph for a team of writer, director, actors and camera man and editor, music director and singer.
This portion gives a chance to have a glipmse on the high quality cinema. Highly imaginative and yet rooted deeply in the culture of a nation.
Tere Ghar ke Samne is a perfect film to be watched on a festive occasion.
Celebrate Diwali with this film or such a film.
Tags: Asha, Dev Anand, Harindra Nath Chattopadhyay, Lata, Mumtaz Beghum, Nutan, Om Prakash, Pratima Devi, Rafi, Rajendra Nath, Rashid Khan, SD Burman, vijay anand
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Happy Diwali to All.
Mazaa aa gaya
Thanks RK.
I totally concur regarding Dev Anand films having those special scenes that other films of the time did not.
Also, Dev Anand indeed had that special chemistry with women, I think Dev Anand is probably acutely aware of his charm on women and thus lowered all his defenses and simply enjoyed the company of loving women be it sis, mom or lover. This showed.
TGKS: Indeed one of the gems from the golden period.
@Deep Blue Lotus,
Happy Diwali.
Kala Bazar and Tere Ghar ke samne, both are very special films of Vijay Anand, as they throw a light on the process of growth of a director and why he is celebrated as a brilliant director.
Not the right thread but the PFC logo has changed?…Am not able to decipher this one yet – 3 circles and an arc.
Very nicely written RK.. TGKS remains one of my all time favourite comedies. I loved your imagary of the mountains. Though TGKS does not remind me of the mountains other films do (Dev Anand’s Manzil being one of them). TGKS somehow reminds me of winter in Delhi. The warm sun, the momphali, the oranges sitting in the sun and mummy’s exchanging knitting patterns!
While all the areas you touched upon in the film are notable. I would like to bring to notice Om Prakash’s role as Lala Jagannath. The biosterous, bumbling village bloke with lots of money and little polish pitted against the educated and elitist Seth Karamchand. The characterisations are so detailed. Who says there is no reality in commercial films. Each character has been detailed with a fine a reality line.
Om Prakash particularly gives a stellar performance. The last scene where he almost complains like a child telling his son ‘uska ghar bhi itna hi shaandaar banaya jitna yeh ghar. Woh tera sasural hai na’. He is actually feeling jealous that his son would abandon him and his fight for a girl.
It was an author backed role and an award winning performance.
The other stand out point about TGKS is the wit and timing of the dialogues. Vijay Anand was always very good at that. My favourite exchange is when the two fathers are fighting and they discover the whole truth. Here is how it goes
K – Seth Karamchand (Harindrnath Chattopadhya)
J – Lala Jagannath
J turning towards his son (Dev Anand) in anger
J – Yeh beti iski hai? Aur tujhe pata tha ki yeh is gutargoo ki beti
K – Haan yeh beti meri hai, lekin gutargoo honge tere rishtedaar
J(continuing ignoring K): Tune mujhe dhoke mein rakkha ki yeh beti iski hai.
K (interjecting): Tera beta hai hi dhokebaaz
J(now turning to K): Teri rai kisne maangi?
J(turning back to Dev): Aur is ladki ke baap ka makaan bhi tu bana raha hai
K: Bana raha tha, ab aaya to mar mar ke rabdi bana doonga
J(turning to K again): Mere bete ki koi rabdi banaayega to uska baap aur kisi ne koshish ki to maar maar ke peda bana doonga
K: Bana ke to dekh halwai kahin ka!
I can watch this scene in repeat mode. It is hilarious.
I can go on and on about this film. I agree even though it is a comedy it is such a multi-layered film. Hats off to Vijay Anand.
@ Arthi..here is what oz has to say about the new PFC logo
“red represent passion, green is growth and prosperity and blue is for cinema. The circles depict that it is unreal, virtual – maya. The arc represents the soul which remains intact and aware even while passing through a virtualness of our passion”
Lovely commentary on an equally lovely film. I’m a big fan of the Dev Anand of the black & white era. And both Vijay Anand and Guru Dutt have directed Devsaab in some hugely entertaining movies.
TGKS, as RK aptly puts it, is one of the top 5 romcoms made in hindi. And yes…the balance between romance and comedy was just so right here. Ronny is one of Rajendra Nath’s best comedic acts. The music of this movie is an alltime favourite.
I love the poster
@ 5 OM,Oz –
that is some superb masturbation.
I dont like the new PFC logo.
It is too thin,.. not bold enough
PFC is logo should be like,.
SHOLAY or INDIANA JONES type logo,..
full of passion,.. not like Meditation Zen type
@Ritu,
True about characterization in the film.
The pairing of Om Prakash with Mumtaz Beghum makes them a traditional type people but there is a solid contrast Vijay Anand has shown when we compare this pair with the pair of HN Chattopadhyay and Pratima Devi. HNC is seen showing his anger on Pratima Devi in their very first scene (together) when she objects why he purchased a plot in 2lakh and 1 thousand rupees when plot is not situated on the main road.
He says ,” ekdam ganwar hee rahogee…..”.
Om Prakash and Mumtaj Beghum also fight with each other but Mumtaj Beghum does not become weak before Om Prakash and she enjoys her freedom inside the home.
When Om Prakash is complaning that their son Rakesh drinks and smoke, she says that he drinks good quality liqour and not some desi tharra and its good. OP asks in astonishment, how does she know that its good. She teases him that in the club she also feels sometimes to taste it when she sees other women drinking.
Om Prakash was the most professional and regular actor among all the four old actors and was most of the time given roles having substance and here also he leaves behind rest of the three old actors. While rest three have their moments, Om Prakash steals every scene whereever he appears.
Even his act of drinking lassi in the hotel by hiding it behind the cloth becomes a thing to watch with admiration.
Or the way he teases Mumtaj Bheghum about their son, Rakesh when Nutan comes to meet them and leaves with saying,2 ab to tabhi ayungi jab Rakesh ji layenge”.
he says,” Suna tumne, rakesh ji, ab to rakesh jee hee layenge”..
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In that, fight in the club, scene, which you quoted, it was so appealing to see HNC, showing even his anger in a sophisticated manner in a low voice. Even if he is saying lafanga he just tilt his head in his trademark manner and says it.
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and when once Dev Anand tries to lure HNC by saying that he should make a truce with Om Prakash because he is going to be his neighbour for rest of the life. HNC says,” aap mere architect hain ya advisor”? and he says it in such a stylish manner.
and Om Prakash also handle Dev Anand in similar manner when he is asked by his son to raise hands of friendship towards HNC. He says, Rakesh, tume mere bete ho, baap banne kee koshish na karo”.
Film has many moments where comedy remains classy and they do not make one laugh loudly but titillate the audience and this is the USP of the film that nothing is forced and scenes are not written or created to bring laugh in some or few scenes only and film flows in a continous manner.
and film treats romantic parts differently.
In romantic part, Tu Kahan is such a high point and though its possible that they did not shoot this song in Simla but on a studio set but still on screen its presented in a cold evening on the hill station.
The moment he sees Nutan when she comes in the balcony and she laughs, Highly romantic moments are captured.
and in the song Ek ghar banaunga, how Vijay Anand has imagined to show Nutan’s image inside the glass and when Rashid Khan drops a piece of ice in it, her image sits becasue of the burden of ice and later when Dev Anand leaves the club, Rashid Khan takes the glass and sees the image of his own love interest in the glass and he drinks it, seeing here and there.
Innovative imagination in every part of the film. a friendly film which does not leave the association.
@The Narcissist,
Dev Saab of 50s and 60s was an amazing presence in the hindi cinema. Not only Guru Dutt and Vijay Anand but Chetan Anand (Taxi Driver, Fantoosh), HS Rawail (Pocketmaar, Roop ke rani choron ka raja)), Raj Khosla (Milap, CID, Solva saal, Kala Pani, Bombai ka babu), Subodh Mukharjee (Munim Ji,Love marriage), Amarjeet (Him Dono, teen deviyan), Nasir Hussain (paying guest and jab pyar kisi se hota hai) etc were also presenting him in best possible ways.
and then there is Asli Nakli from Hrishikesh Mukharjee.
But till 1964-65 before he entered in to coloured films, his films were able to present him slightly differently in different roles.
To some extent Rawness was still there in him. Even today, so many old B&W films look amazing, so we can guess the reactions of audience of those years. No wonder he was so big and respected star then.
RK sir
I saw the film good eight years back as a school kid.
Your article freshen up the memories of the movie for me.This is the quality of good cinema that it stays with you.
I would really love to meet you some day.
@Umesh,
Thats true, quality cinema stays with us without bothering about the time when last we had seen it.
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Please drop me an email with your contact details. If you are in or around Delhi during the period 12-22 November, then there are high chances for a meeting.