Chhoti Si Baat

A light and funny movie about a very simple and shy man going to a love-guru to learn the tactics of how to impress a female. A pretty nice comedy. Moreover, it also brings up the question about how fair it is to use pre-thought/learnt techniques to get the love of one's life. Can't one just be natural and still get one???

The year was 1975 and Bollywood was enjoying with a lot of masterpices like Deewar,Chupke Chupke,Mili,Sholay,Juli,Aandhi. In the midst of all them a film was released which might not get that much attention but which is equally deserving called "Choti si baat".

I remember watching that movie for the first time on TV when I was in my 10th standard but i din't able to see the complete movie So, recently (after 10 years) i downloaded and watched it again and came with the Conclusion -> "Choti si baat" is perhaps the best Comedy movie of that(70's) decade and What makes it Class apart is it's simplycity. It masterfully tells one of the most important stories of the 70's which is about middle class.

I normally do not write about movies and I do not think movie like this should be critiqued.it should just be appreciated. Choti si baat is the most impressive movie by the director "Basu Chatterjee" his other movies like "Rajnigandha" "Manzil" and "Ek ruka hua Faisla" that also shows his directional sensitivity. But this is a movie which speaks more than it scripts. It tells us more than its characters narrates the story.

Choti si baat is set to give the audience an intimate look at the very soul of Arun's Character.Ashok kumar is fantastic as Col. Julius Nagendranath, You cannot think of any other actor in this role.Asrani is also very impressive and according to me this is his finest performance. Vidya Sinha was better in Rajnigandha but it does not mean she is not Good in this, She Performed the character of Prabha very well.But it's actually Amol palekar who set aside everyone in the acting department,he played the role of Arun exceptionally.

"Choti si baat" tells us how a man decided not to live like a Coward. The music of the movie is its another strongest part. I don't remember how many times I have watched this movie since then but each time is an experience in itself.Choti si baat belongs to the genre of movies which gives you more than what you expect in the 120 minutes.

Chhoti Si Baat is for me the ultimate romantic comedy of those times - simple, funny and totally charming. Basu Chatterjee was an amazing talent. Like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, he used to make films that reflected the lives of people from the middle-class. Everything in this film is kept simple and contributes to its authenticity, including dialogues, characters, sets, props and costumes. Chatterjee brilliantly captures the world of Arun, an ordinary and rather insecure fellow who is deeply in love with a young and beautiful girl named Prabha. The story follows Arun's trials and tribulations and his later attempts to get her through the help and guidance of a love-guru, when another guy enters the picture. It's amazing how the viewers are given a chance to witness and experience every thought, yearning and disappointment that the character of Arun is going through, and yet the movie remains consistently humorous, lighthearted and comic.

I think that's what makes both the film and particularly the character of Arun so easy to relate to. I think everyone has been at some point secretly in love and could not express his feelings. And clearly this would not be so believable without Amol Palekar's great portrayal. Palekar's comically melancholic performance is wonderful. He never tries to do more than required or over-express his deep feelings. And yet it is always understood. This is easily one of his best. Vidya Sinha is beautiful and ever so graceful that it's easy to understand why she is the love interest here. Asrani is not the type of guy who would really look like a serious rival who could undermine one's confidence, but he is inevitably funny and suitably annoying. Ashok Kumar is just outstanding in a role which is quite different from his usual ventures. As the witty and kind Colonel Julius Nagendranath Wilfred Singh, he is hilarious, likable and memorable.

Some of the film's scenes are still remembered today, including the sequences showing Arun daily following Prabha on her way to her workplace. The lively streets of the yet-unconjested Bombay are efficiently shot and are nostalgic to look at. The scenes involving Arun and the love-guru Julius are of the best moments in the film, while Arun's transformation afterwards and his renewed interaction with Prabha is incredibly entertaining. Salil Choudhury's soundtrack for the film is beautiful. In another evident attempt to keep the film realistic, the songs are not visualised as one would expect in a Hindi film. The songs either play over montage sequences ("Na Jaane Kyun" and "Yeh Din Kyaa Aaye") or appear as part of a film the characters go to see in the cinema (the wonderful "Jaanemann"). In either way, they express the characters' state of mind brilliantly. Overall, Chhoti Si Baat is one classic gem to remember. Go now.

Okay.First off a disclaimer.I am from the other side of the divide.The faction that believes that Bollywood comedies are sparse and stilted. But this movie is different.Coming from someone who is steeped in the tremendous comic timings of the southern movies this is indeed a very formidable feat.

The setting,Mumbai in the early 70s I think,is nostalgic.One does not have to be born there nor have experienced it to get this feeling.It is plain nostalgic.Take a 1970 Reader's Digest and flip through the pages. The bell bottomed Male models,the polka dotted saris and the large ortem fans are what one sees in the movie.

Amol Palekar and the lead heroine(I think Someone named Vidhya) are delightful to watch as the quintessential young shy middle class people with a feeling towards each other.The villain/comic Nasrani is also irritating to the right degree and begging for a comeuppance from the meek hero.Amol Palekar's "revenge dreams" are awesome in their humour. This movie is a must for everyone who likes classic clean comedy.Amazing stuff.Why don't they make such movies now in Bollywod?

Firstly, this movie for me was a great 70s nostalgia trip: The Fort district of Bombay, Dadar Hindu Colony, Scooters, Flora Restaurant (The Best and probably the only Chinese Restaurant in Bombay those days- But I've never used chopsticks there!), the old BEST Double-Deckers, the bell-bottoms, Amol Palekars' glasses, Jehangir Art Gallery, and Samovar. They missed out Rhythm House, Flora Fountain, and Chetana, but well, it didn't matter. Whatever was served, was enough. Secondly, the nostalgia was not in stark B & W of Guru Dutt's 50s, but in glorious Color, which brought out even the shiny, worn flagstones on the footpath in a unique, fresh, perspective, a unique shade of gray that only color could do. All this to say that my youth was re-lived, real-life. Thirdly, the protagonists: Young, Fresh-Faced, Natural, Lovely, Naive, in love- yet shy enough to express it, and how they get together, it was all so simple, and the contrast is yet so apparent when compared to todays' Bollywood Kitsch. Fourthly, to realize that Nostalgia dies with the death of a Generation; How Col. Singh has his own deep memories of an age that would have been ancient for the protagonists themselves! I never realised then, but right now, I'm old(er) and the young 'uns cannot 'get it' when I'm nostalgic. Fifthly, This movie is about Bombay, and the spirit of Bombay, and kudos to Basu-da and Salil-da for their glorious effort.