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Sharmila, Alistair MacLean and Aradhana

In 1969 film Aradhana, while Rajesh Khanna sang Mere Sapno Ki Rani Kab Aayegi Tu to Sharmila Tagore, Sharmila was trying to read Alistair MacLean's When Eight Bells Toll (1966).

Novels of Alistair MacLean are renowned for absence of sex and most of his work is even short on romance. Writing successful thrillers sans sex is a great achievement in itself. When asked about this in an interview, he replied: "Sex? No time for it. Gets in the way of the action."

What has this got to do with Aradhana?

The basic premise of Aradhana provides the answer.

The unplanned sex. It was night, it was raining, they got wet, she had to take off her clothes and wear an off-shoulder orange designer blanket that made her roop look mastana, he had three top buttons of his shirt open, there was log fire burning strategically in centre of the cabin and Kishore was singing. What else could they do?

The movie became a trendsetter of sorts in Bollywood. Scenes parodying this act became a common fixture in countless Hindi films. The fact that Sharmila was shown reading Alistair MacLean was no mere coincidence. It went with the 'modern' yet demure Indian woman theme. If she is really interested in reading a novels, and that too in front of everyone while traveling in a train, nothing is better than Alistair MacLean. Give Khushwant Singh in her hand and fellow travelers can get all sort of ideas! And it would certainly had been a different kind of movie.

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  1. amitabhnAug 14, 2012, 8:50:00 PM

    In Aradhana, the song sequence 'Mere Sapon ki Rani', Sharmila Tagore is seen reading a book while seated in the train. The book's name is When Eight Bells toll, a thriller novel written by Alistair Maclean published in the year 1966. The film was released in 1969, so it is clear that the flashback was shown in a time which was actually a "flash-forward", which is impossible.She should have been shown reading The Heart of the Matter (1948), a novel by the English author Graham Greene.After all Aradhana was about matter concerning hearts!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vinayak RazdanAug 16, 2012, 1:35:00 AM

    "flash-forward" thing is indeed true and funny.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ravi Mishra - Mind TrainerFeb 13, 2016, 12:45:00 AM

    Alistair MacLean was right choice by Director

    ReplyDelete
  4. MDKSep 7, 2019, 11:25:00 AM

    Exactly what I was wondering about! and what my Google search was about! Thanks for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ENTOMOLOGISTOct 11, 2020, 11:05:00 AM

    thanks for the information.

    ReplyDelete

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