Love on the Go

Love is born free, and it makes free those who feel and express it, and at times those around them as well, if it is true. The zing it brings to life moves, swings, and sprouts open a moment of bliss like a sun-lit flock of pigeons in an eternal blue sky. It is a symphony of the soul which breaks free from the gravity of the earth for a while, soars and the moment becomes a love song.

Hindi cinema has celebrated the coming together with the meeting of two buds onscreen – a cliché which has become as iconic as Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe on soup cans. It has also created some moving sequences as an ode to the flight of love in dynamic settings. They can be literally called Love on the go.

Since India is the land of Radha and Krishna, and their dalliances on the swing are made memorable with a festival, it would be prudent to start with a song picturised on a swing. It is also to be noted that Ray, the Oscar winning director from Calcutta, picturised the Rabindrasangeet ,Phule phule, dhole dhole (Flowers shy, flowers try/To catch the breeze/as it flies) on a swing when he wanted to depict the onset of love in Charulata’s mind for love, and for love for Amal in Charulata.

There is definitely something about love and swings, and this Lata-Rafi duet from Main Chup Rahungi, 1962 : Koi bata de dil hai jahan/Kyun hota hai dard wahan/Teer chala ke yun na poocho/Dil hai kahan aur dard kahan ( Can anyone tell where the heart is/ who does it pine for and how it strikes bliss/ Your eyes committed the mischief, and now you act  naïve/As if you don’t know why the heartbeat rise and then miss) deserves a dekkho as the swings intertwine with each other while the song ends.

Meena Kumari, the actor who is famous as the great tragedienne of all times, was more convincing than her counterpart Sunil Dutt in the song, who though had successfully portrayed another evocative number with Asha Parekh in Chaya: Itna na mujhse tu pyar badha/ Ki main ek badal awara(Don’t be so nice to me/ Like the monsoon cloud I flee/From one place to another/ My heart is always at some other), looked distinctly ill-at-ease.

 Few men can look like as if born to be on a swing, and they still say about Krishna –He is the only one.

Riding was always about adventure, shall always be – and a love song on horseback can freeze the adrenalin for an eternity, for love is the only adventure that the soul never gets tired off. Ek na ekdin yeh kahani banegi/Tu mere sapno ki rani banegi(Some day or the other, this story will come true/ You shall be mine, and myself too) from Gora Aur Kala,1972 is simple, heart touching, and as unforgettable as first love.

Bicycle is possibly the only means of transport followed by the bike, that shall never stop being in vogue like love itself. In Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Katrina Kaif borrows one to chase her object of desire, catch up, and express her emotions. Since it begins with a bicycle, it would be absolutely sacrilegious not to mention that this journey of the young Indian woman looking for love was scenically immortalized by Saira Banu in Main chali main chali dekho pyar ke gali/Koi roke na Mujhe main chali main chali (I am on/ on my path/ looking for love don’t cross my path), Padosan, 1962.

Love on two wheels burns up the mental highway like never before, even after all these years when it is Zindagi ek safar hai suhana/Yahan kal kya ho kisne jana (Live, love, and laugh away sorrow/Nobody knows what happens tomorrow) from Andaz, 1971 as it is one of the most carefree ditty on the eros to have come out of the Hindi film pantheon. A listen is guaranteed to get one drunk without drinking even now.

On the road, it isn’t possible to miss a bus anywhere in India, as it is a common means of transport, covering up huge distances, ensuring the public with a cost effective way to travel. At times, there is a degree of ennui attached to it, which calls in for a rousing surge of emotions, a playful teasing to get back the romance of the journey. Kitnay bhi tu kar lay sitam (As far as you go) from Sanam Teri Kasam,1982 is an eve teasing song on a bus which manages to be threateningly evergreen and save the journey from boredom as well.

Do lafzon ki hai dil ki kahani/Ya hai mohabbat,ya hai jawani ( Two words make a heart chime/ Either with love or with youth it rhymes) from The Great Gambler, 1979 is an intoxicating contemplation on youth, love, and life. Shot in a gondola on the waterways of Venice, it panders to the cliché of love, barge, and Venice –but for a long time, it was as real as real could be for the audience in India.

Nevertheless, the song retains that smoky quality, that mindless pampering of the self which is a characteristic of love in all times.

True to that Indian saying ‘Love can happen anywhere’, Hindi cinema has picturised love songs in hammocks(Hathi Mera Sathi), on the ropeway(Johny Mera Nam), and on roller skates(Seeta Aur Geeta) as well.

While O mere raja khafa na hona/Der se ayee door se ayee/ Majboori thi phir bhi maine/ Wada to nibhaya wada to nibhaya ( Sweetheart, don’t get cross/ I am late I came from far/ I was nearly stopped /Yet I kept my word, I kept my word) from Johnny Mera Naam,1970 is not shot exclusively on the ropeway - it evokes the dangling sway of the heart effortlessly, simulating the feeling of vertigo as each moment in waiting turns into an abyss. It is as sleek as the best of Chetan Anand’s work, and of course Dev Anand and Hema Malini did not look misfit despite the gulf in their age difference.

A roller skate is perhaps one of the best motif for love – the heady feeling as the tempo picks up is like flying at ground level. Hawa ke sath sath/Ghata ke sang sang/ O sathi chal (Race the wind/race the sky/ Let’s go together/let’s fly) from Seeta Aur Geeta,1972 is as chartbusting as gravity defying. Sanjeev Kumar seemed like he was having a whale of a time with Hema Malini, and rumour had it that he may not have been acting in this one.

Love on the go is written on the go, and is as random as the face glimpsed through window while a train leaves the station. Looking back, one finds Hema Malini featuring prominently in it. She shared a horse and a heart with Rajendra Kumar in Gora Aur Kala, rode pillion on Rajesh Khanna’s bike in Andaz, sat on the lap of Dev Anand in Johny Mera Nam, and skated with Sanjeev Kumar in Seeta Aur Geeta.

Maybe she could personify love and its euphoria as no other. Maybe that’s why she was the ‘Dream Girl’ of a million once upon a time.