Is ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ inspired from 1967 movie, Chhoti Si Mulaqat?

Nowadays I am interested in watching less known Bollywood classics of Bollywood’s famous stars, which I have never watched before. Yesterday I watched Rishi Kapoor-Neetu Singh starrer Jhoota Kahi Ka, and was surprised to see its inspired plot from Hollywood comedy, Happy Go Lovely (1951), which has been used for Bollywood movies such as Sajan (1969), Pasand Apni Apni (1983) and Ghajini (2008). Quickly I posted one article yesterday. Click here to read.

Title Track from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi – Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai

Today I watched yet another Bollywood classic with some nice songs of 1960s – Chhoti Si Mulaqat (1967) starring Vyjayanthimala and Bengal cinema’s matinee idol Uttam Kumar. It’s one of the rarest Bollywood movies in which Uttam Kumar worked. When I started off in the beginning, I couldn’t draw any striking similarities with the movie plots of both. But once I completed watching the film, ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ came into picture. I felt, ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ was more or less inspired from this Bollywood classic, released almost 4 decades before the release of SRK romantic blockbuster.

What’s the film plot of Chhoti Si Mulaqat?

Chhoti Si Mulaqat is about a child marriage done forcefully by her grandmother without seeking the opinion of a girl of 15 or her parents, and later disapproved by her parents. The girl discards her husband’s home, and her mother brings her up as an independent girl who doesn’t believe in old traditions of marriage. When she grows up, she falls in love with a boy and her mother approves their relationship.

Extremely popular title track from the film – Ya Ya Yippi Yippi, a party number

On the engagement day, they receive a court order to call off the engagement, as she is already married. She is also ill-treated by society thereafter. But her lover is willing to accept her, who also doesn’t believe in such old traditions. But after a series of events, despite pressure from her lover’s side, she unwillingly discards him and accepts her life as a dutiful wife, who later recognizes that her husband is indeed her lover.

Movie ‘Kanyadan’ starring Asha Parekh and Shashi Kapoor also explored the same theme of child marriage, but it ends by giving a contradictory message, if we compare it with Chhoti Si Mulaqat.

Doesn’t this plot look similar to ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’?

Both the films are all about circumstances which force the female protagonist to get married to someone against her wish, and how they couldn’t accept the husband as life partner. The reason cited in both cases is – hero is not modern and of village type, while heroine expects much more from her husband. Though not clearly told by the girl in Choti Si Mulaqat, her mother clearly expresses it. Later the hero plays a double role, and enters her life, fills her life with romance and she starts loving him despite being a married woman. Only contrast in these two scripts is – a child marriage, and spouses live separately without seeing each other, in the first release – Chhoti Si Mulaqat.

In the film’s climax, the hero is willing to accept her though she reveals herself to be a married woman. But the heroine leaves an extremely lovable and romantic person, and chooses her husband over lover accepting Indian traditions of a true marriage. Sadly she departs and is indeed in a great shock to know, both her lover and husband are same and the film ends in a happy note.  

What I felt is, both the movies hold same skeleton, but events and circumstances have been altered in the new version. Treatment is also different, yet the plot remains the same. Am I not right?  

It seems movie makers of today are looking into less-known and flop movies of yesterdays to get some interesting plots, so that they can weave a new and fresh script with an old thread, and only a few audience can actually catch those ‘inspirations’. Digging something from past and give it a new name – it can be done through smart writing. I am eagerly waiting for your comments. Please leave a reply below.

A tailpiece to add: I could also draw inspirations from 1969 romantic film, Pyar Ka Sapna starring Biswajeet and Mala Sinha. It seems a series of movies are inspired from the same plot, which shows the traditional values of an Indian marriage, permanent bond it creates between two persons through a ritual approved by elders and how significant it is. In the modern times where we see a lot of instant divorces in our country, the plot shows some of the real meanings and traditions hold by true Indian marriages. 

Read the stories of a few more inspirations and copies of Bollywood. Here is the page link. Click on the images to read.