One of my all time favourite songs is Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan's 'Mora Saiyyan Moh se bole na' (My lover does not confess he loves me). It has some beautiful lyrics, and the music has not dated since it first released in the nineties. What you can't ignore is the incessant whining of the point of view person in the song, about the lover who... well...does not confess his love. Compare this to the joyous 'Na bole tum na maine kuch kaha' (Neither of us have said anything) in 1979's release Baaton Baaton Mein. The newly dating couple in the film, played by Amol Palekar and Tina Munim, sing that even without explicit declarations of love, they feel in love (much less prosaically worded in the Hindi song). And this joyousness pervades much of the rest of the film, and papers over all its faults.
The songs are of course all standout. Most films of that decade don't stand scrutiny when compared to modern standards of what counts as creepy. And I am not talking of mainstream Bollywood where Jeetendra routinely molested Sridevi into accepting him as her boyfriend. Even a middle of the road film like Chhoti si Baat saw (the ubiquitous) Amol Palekar stalk (albeit very very non-threateningly) his heroine, Vidya Sinha. There is some of that in Baaton Baaton Mein as well. Who wouldn't feel threatened today if a man with a French beard suddenly starts sketching you while using public transport? But as the title song pains to underline, love, that follows the initial at-first-sight infatuation, must be on the basis of a lot of baatein.
Another strength of Baaton Baaton Mein (which has contributed to its endurance) are the loving characterisations of regular, middle class people we have seen around us. The meddling but well intentioned uncle, the boy's mother who doesn't want her son to be married, the girl's mother whose happiness is derived from her daughter being married, the lascivious friend, the relative who refuses to leave, and the mildly irritating younger brother with an artistic bent of mind (was Jaane tu ya Jaane Na's brother inspired from Saby in Baaton Baaton Mein?). They are also played by some very competent actors, especially the female lead's mother who is priceless when worried that the prospective groom earns less than her daughter but perks up when she realises that he will earn more once his probation is over (so what if he is only a cartoonist). Amol Palekar as the said cartoonist is his usual dependable self as mild mannered, and eager to please Tony Braganza. It is sad that we will probably never have a hero like him who fits in so well in this familiar middle class milieu (because let's face it, all the gym toned men we meet in real life are creeps). Tina Munim on the other hand is that generation's Katrina Kaif. Yet because the rest of the cast, and the script and the dialogue and the music are so winsome, it is possible to oversee this defect.
Overall, Baaton Baaton Mein remains a favourite (even after the 11th watch).
