Zinda Dil

I didn't just see this movie, I am in it. I play the very tall tourist whose bus trip up a mountain is interrupted by a rock-em sock-em fight between action hero Rishi Kapoor and a host of bad guys. Our tour guide is a Bollywood comic character actor, whose identity unfortunately escapes me. This "Mr. Haney" of the subcontinent informs us dim bulb tourists that the battle we are witnessing is Mahabharata, one of the epics of Hindu culture. (This would be akin to telling a tourist to the United States that a barroom brawl in progress is actually the Battle of Gettysburg.) We leave the bus to watch the action, which isn't actually happening in real time, of course. Before we exit the coach, our conman guide persuades us to leave our passports and money with him for safekeeping. We "watch" the battle, doing cut-away reaction shots. Though we tourists were all speaking English on set, our voices are dubbed over in English. For our acting efforts we each received the equivalent $8, plus lunch and a day trip to the mountains. That was in January or February of 1975. Flash forward the late 1990s. Poking around on the Web one day, I wondered if the feature film had ever made it to the silver screen. With only a vague memory of its title, I poked around on various search engines and found Zinda Dil, 1975. A little more searching turned up a VHS copy for $9.95. I now have Indian relatives, including the world's most adorable great-niece and great-nephew. Their maternal grandmother, a darling woman who was born in Gujarat, likes to tease me about being a movie star. Meanwhile, I'm looking for a DVD of this film. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Zindagi Zinda Dili Ka Naam Hai, Murda Dil Kya Khaak Jiya Karte Hain (life is the name of never-say-die spirit, what the hell do the dead-hearts live). These are the lines I have read and listened to several times. What do we actually mean by a Zinda Dil person ? Dictionaries are not of much use because this term (Zinda Dil as adjective or Zinda Dili as noun) is to be felt to understand its true meaning. It's such a term of the Urdu language which can't be understood academically, it can only be understood emotionally.

Zinda means alive and Dil means heart. So a Zinda Dil person is whose heart is always alive, who never loses his (or her) heart come what may. He knows to smile at the face of the adversities and even heart-breaking events taking place in his life.

When Swami Vivekananda asserted - 'My countrymen should have nerves of steel', he meant his countrymen (the Indians) to be Zinda Dil only, i.e., the bravehearts, for such people only could free the country from the shackles of slavery and take it to the heights it deserved (and still deserve).

Today I am reviewing a movie which is by no means a great movie but the message rendered through the role of the main protagonist (and his father too) that a person has to be a Zinda Dil if at all he has to overcome all odds and do something worthwhile in life. That's the message of Lord Krishna too in Geeta that you conquer yourself (not get broken in hard times) and you will conquer the world.

Zinda Dil (1975) belongs to Arun (Rishi Kapoor) who has learnt to be a Zinda Dil since childhood because of the unfair treatment meted out to him by his ex-serviceman father, retired major Sharma (Pran) because his twin brother Kewal (I don't know who the actor is) needs special care due to being weak-hearted since birth. The raw deal given to him by life turns him into a sensitive, yet such a strong man from within who can truly be called an iron-man. He learns to toil hard for getting everything and to sacrifice everything too for the sake of his fragile brother. He has to forgo even the love of his life, Rekha (Zaaheera). However this sacrifice make his father realize his worth. He moves to the city to start a new chapter of his life with Jyoti (Neetu Singh). The perennial villain, Ghanshyam (Roopesh Kumar) is everywhere to harm him and settle the score with him for several old losses. Some more painful revelations are still to come to the fore, giving him stronger jolts. However our Zinda Dil hero handles each odd with his Zinda Dili.

The plot of the movie is just so good that I wish I were a filmmaker and could remake it in a much better way. Had the basic grains been handled by a seasoned and able director of the calibre of Yash Chopra or Vijay Anand, he would have turned the same into a memorable movie, perhaps a masterpiece. However the inefficient director has reduced this great idea to just a regular bollywood potboiler and that too in a poor way. Due to poor direction only, the movie was a flop.

The cinematographer has captured the beauty of the Himachali region quite proficiently through his camera. Production value is OK. Editing is poor.

There are two main face-saving graces for this movie - 1. Good music by Laxmikant Pyarelal. Two songs - The title track (Rafi) and Shaam Suhaani Aayi Khushiyaan Bann Ke Pehli Baar (Lata-Mahendra Kapoor-Shailendra Singh) stand out. One more song - O Meri Jaan By God Main Teri Life Bana Doonga (Shailendra Singh) is also good to listen (and to watch).

And 2. Rishi Kapoor, of course. Rishi is undoubtedly the most handsome as well as the most talented one in the whole Kapoor clan. His boyish looks are so charming that just to watch him, this movie can be seen. Plus his dancing talent is the icing on the cake. However I admire him more to play this intense role with such a high degree of sensitivity that had the movie been successful on the box office, he would have been a serious contender for an award. He is, in fact, the heart and soul of this movie.

Among others, Neetu Singh is lovable like always. Rishi-Neetu pair is inarguably the best reel-life pair turning into a real-life one. Their on-screen chemistry has always been amazing. This is one of their earlier ventures, yet the magic created by them lights-up the screen and makes this faulty movie worth a dekko. I consider Pran as one of the all time great actors of Indian cinema. His is a marvellous performance in the difficult role of a handicapped ex-serviceman who is a braveheart himself and turns our hero also into a braveheart aka Zinda Dil.

The minus-points are too many in this movie. Still, I recommend it to all the Rishi Kapoor fans as well as the regular entertainment seekers. The message of the movie is exemplary for sure which I reiterate - Zindagi Zinda Dili Ka Naam Hai, Murda Dil Kya Khaak Ziya Karte Hain.