Almost missed this one! Which isn’t that big of a deal, JP Dutta is important but not THAT important.  Only, I really really love LOC Kargil (check out my two part post of favorite quotes!), and I am pretty fond of Refugee too.  So I might as well scrape up a half dozen or so reasons to celebrate and love him on his birthday.

1.1. I love you because you kept it all in the family, your father OP Dutta, also a director and producer back in the day, wrote most of your scripts.

2. I love you because your scripts are the most epic over the top amazing things ever.

3. I love you because you put Saif and Kareena together back before anyone ever thought they would be together!

 

4. I love you because you also provided a pretty awesome launch film for Kareena, big enough to not be insulting, but still small enough to make a decent profit and not embarrass anybody.

 

5. It was also a pretty decent launch film for Abhishek.

 

6. You went back to Abhishek years later in your inferior Umrao Jaan.  But at least the songs were pretty.  Although not as pretty as the “good” Umrao Jaan.

 

7. But really, your sweet spot is the manly soldier songs.  Like this one, which I know is cloying and manipulative, but I don’t care, the bit where Akshaye’s mother can sense his touch on her feet just gets to me!

(Also, is that Kabir Bedi?  DAMN!  He looks gooo-oooood!!!)

8. But I think this is my favorite JP Dutta song.  The whole thing is nice, but the shot of Rani running window to window to see Ajay off just gets to me.