Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay, Mother’s Day! And yaaaaaaaaaaaay, classic 70s movie discussion! And yayayayayay, Zoom meeting! I’ll summarize what we said on Zoom so y’all can participate through comments.

Okay, the Big Important Things to Discuss!!!

First, most important, do you prefer Father Rajesh Khanna or Son Rajesh Khanna?

I prefer father, he seems a bit more deep and I think he is handsomer (no mustache). General concensus on the Zoom discussion, SAME! For reasons varying from the personality based, to the “rat tail mustache” based.

Second, how old was Son Rajesh when Sharmila went to prison?

He has no memory of her or, seemingly, of himself murdering his uncle. But she’s only in prison 12 years and when she comes out he is fully grown. Traumatic amnesia or something? After the murder he blocked out the first 10 years of his life? Zoom people mostly agreed with traumatic amnesia, and also maybe he didn’t spend as much time with Sharmila as it seemed before she went to prison since his Mom didn’t want “the nanny” to raise him? Or maybe his family tried to make him forget the whole murder thing because it was too upsetting?

Third, does it seem odd to anyone that the prison Warden just went ahead and hired Sharmila as his housekeeper?

He calls her “sister”, so I guess I could retcon that the had this close bhai-bhan relationship for 12 years while she was in prison? And FilmiKudhi pointed out he says something like “I know your value after knowing you for 12 years.” Naina pointed out, she is also very beautiful and according to Indian Film Values, beauty=virtue.

Fourth, what is the stupidest part of the “secret adoption” story?

Is it that they don’t tell Rajesh he is adopted? Or is it that they don’t tell his adoptive mother that the nanny is his bio-Mom? Or is it that the orphanage just gave the baby away within hours? We had a very long discussion about this whole thing. Landed on that it does make sense for Sharmila to give up her claim because she has no support or way of getting a job or anything. And that it is sort of realistic for an orphanage to just hand a baby over because a couple seems nice.

Fifth, what is the most transgressive action Sharmila takes? Is it sleeping with someone before being married in front of society? Or is it fighting back and killing her rapist? The movie honors her for both actions, makes it part of her “virtue” in a way, and that is REALLY refreshing. But which is most refreshing? Filmikudhi went deep on this! It’s not just those two moments, it’s that the whole film supports those moments. Young women are expected to date and flirt and fall in love, and to defend themselves as needed, the whole movie supports that message from the fathers encouraging Sharmila/Farida to go date, to the warden bringing Sharmila into his house.

Sixth, what do we think about Sharmila’s “reward” in this movie being a successful son? As in, all her sacrifices contributed to Rajesh getting an award and therefore were worth it?

I’m torn about this. I think I would be happy if her “reward” was a HAPPY son. The only thing that makes me uncomfortable is tying it to his exterior success, like you are only a good Mom because you want your child to be socially successful, not happy. Zoom discussion landed on, basically, Indias gonna India. You can only go so far, you can’t throw out the WHOLE societal concept.

Seventh, what does this film say about adoption?

It’s confusing, because certainly Rajesh’s adoptive parents love him and raise him well and so on, and Sharmila is grateful to them for that. But on the other hand, his adoptive mother lets him cry? We had a really good discussion about this. It shows the trauma of the initial adoption moment, Baby Rajesh crying and confused and his new adoptive mother struggling with him. But when next we see him, they are closely bonded. So the film was ultimately truthful, the adoptive parent-child relationship has value and meaning, but that doesn’t hide the pain that comes with it.

And finally, which is the better song in the film? “Chanda Hai Tu” or “Roop Tera”?

I’m having it both ways! Chanda Hai Tu has the better lyrics, but Roop Tera has the better tune. Zoom discussion group really struggled with this. There was one solid vote for “Roop Tera” and another for “Chanda Hai Tu” but mostly the vote was “all the music in this movie is great and I wish films were as dedicated to varied high quality soundtracks now”. I didn’t even remember that this is also the “Mere Sapno Ki Rani” movie! So many great songs!

Oh, and for the next discussion, two options! Zanjeer, Amitabh and Jaya, one of my favorites. Or Andaaz, Shammi and Hema Malini and a tiny bit of Rajesh Khanna too. Votes?