Asli-Naqli

Asli Naqli is the story of Dev Anand a rich cynical aimless young man. His grand father, Nasir Hussain wants Dev to marry a young girl of a rich family so that Nasir can take over the wealth of the girl's father. Furious Dev has a showdown with his grandfather and leaves his lavish home. He roams around hungry & tired. Anwar Hussain takes him home and Dev lives in the small hut along with Anwar's chatter box sister Sandhya Roy. Dev meets Sadhana and after a short romance interspersed with beautiful songs they decide to marry. Nasir Hussain tries to wreck the marriage plans but it's a happy ending with Nasir accepting Sadhana as Dev's wife.

Asli Naqli has very beautiful songs composed by Shankar-Jaikishen, like "Cheda mere dil ne", "Tera mera pyaar amar", "Tujhe jeevan ki dore se" etc.

I will rate Asli Naqli 8 out of 10.

This classic movie of the early 60's is a fair manifestation of excellent skills of Hrishida's direction.

The song "Tera Mera Piyar Amar" is indeed mesmerizing and remarkable in ingenuity. The other Lata-Rafi duet "Tujhe jeevan ki dor se" is also a memorable one. Above all, the direction is superb and carries a stark imprint of the master director who was coming on his feet to craft future hits like, Bawarchi, Anand, Mili, Abhiman and Namak Haram.

Even though the movie is black and white still it was a box office hit. Sadhana's pure beauty and graceful acting surpasses Dev Anand's casual acting style. A good entertaining movie of the old guard.

A Bollywood style song & dance adaptation of a forgotten 1936 Cary Grant movie "The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss". Dev Anand plays a spoiled playboy, who decides to earn his own living after a tiff with his industrialist grandfather. Finds a life among working class 'real people', and enjoys it. Especially when he meets Sadhana, a volunteer teacher. Gets a job and keeps it for a while with her help. Unnecessary twists complicate the plot, and separate Dev and Sadhana, before the usual happy ending can be engineered. Shanker-Jaikishan's music is lilting as usual, and the Rafi-Lata duet 'Tujhe Jeevan Ki Dor Se' leads the hit parade. Typical 60s Bollywood fare - a good basic storyline with the usual 'masala' - twists, melodrama, and memorable songs.

Asli Naqli (1962) - Hrishikesh Mukherjee picked the evergreen Dev Anand (almost 40 then) to star opposite a very beautiful and very young (21 yrs) Sadhna in this film. Anand is a rich playboy who runs away from home rather than marry the rich socialite fiancée picked by his very rich grandfather. Forced to slum it he finds out what is really important in life, encounters Renu (Sadhna), falls in love, has the love almost snatched away from him, but all's well that ends well.

The story is most mundane but is told in a very heartwarming way that was typical of Hrishi Da. The relationships Anand develops in the slum, his struggles to survive, the foster family that adopts him, his various jobs, his romancing - it is all so heartwarming. The music by Shankar Jaikishan is very good and notable numbers are Tujhe Jeevan Ki dor Se baandh liya hai, Tera Mera Pyar Amar, Lakh Chupao Chup Na sakega. Dev gives full value for money - does not miss a beat, Sadhna has to be seen to be believed - she is that sweet and beautiful and natural. She and Dev have an on screen chemistry that was very visible in Hum Dono a year earlier and continues into this film.

Another one for the A list from Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Asli Naqli (1962) : Brief Review -

Typical Dev Anand and typical Hrishikesh Mukherjee with a typical Frank Capra type of Rom-com-cum-social drama. I have often cited Rishikesh Mukherjee as India's Frank Chapra because of his style of filmmaking and the way he brought romance, comedy, and social drama together. Capra mastered the art way back in the 30s and earned even more when he returned after the war. Mukherjee mostly began in the 1960s, when Capra was done with such dramas and was trying to shift to modern cinema as per Hollywood's demand. However, his 30s movies were not known in India, so it was a new modern cinema for us. Mukherjee understood that and made a glorious career out of it. Asli Naqli is the same story Hollywood cracked in the 1930s. A rich and lazy boy leaves his wealthy life and finds love and life amongst poor people. He falls in love with a poor girl and gains a sister, a brother, and friends in their ghetto. He realizes that poor people don't have big money, but they have bigger hearts than rich ones. His grandfather attempts to bring him back-by hook or by crook. Will he be able to fight his rich grandfather? I almost made up my mind that Asli Naqli doesn't have any hit numbers, but then I was proven wrong by two evergreen songs: "Tujhe Jeevan Ki Dor Se" and "Tera Mera Pyaar Amar." You remember that Dev Anand doing all those mimicry expressions? You'll find him here. Charming, as always. But it was a little irritating with that intentional mimicry. Sadhana is marvelous. Nazir Hussain is terrific, and the entire supporting cast is very good. Asli Naqli may be slow in the beginning but has a lot to cover up in the second half. It has all those Mukherjee trademarks, such as romance, comedy, drama, emotions, family values, and social vibes. Overall, a perfect crowd-pleasing entertainer. Loved that dialogue: "Aapke sath takleef ye hai ki apki ameeri ne aapko kangaal kar diya hai."

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.