Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973) - A story of revenge, with some incredible songs, starring Dharmendra and Zeenat Aman

How many people are there who would not have heard of this movie ? Yaadon Ki Baarat is one incredible movie, full of masala, full of some great music, with a murder, and then the quest for revenge on somebody whom the children of the killed cannot even identify, and then you have the capers of a thief (who works with somebody who is actually the killer), and you have a very enjoyable movie. And when you add a delectable Zeenat Aman, you get a really incredible movie.
The movie was made by Nasir Hussain, who produced and directed the movie. The movie starred some of the bigger stars, and some of the not so large ones, with the cast comprising of Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman, Vijay Arora, Tariq, and Neetu Singh.
The movie had some great songs, with 'Chura Liya Hain Tumne' being a song that is remembered and played even now, and music was provided by RD Burman. The script for the movie was provided by the famous pair of Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan. One lesser know fact about the movie was that it starred Aamir Khan as a cute young boy (the youngest of the 3 children shown in the movie).



The movie is a classic story about siblings separated early, when they are very young, and who meet later in life (and then realize much later that they are brothers). An artist, who defies a gang, is killed by them with the young children of the couple witnessing the murder. When running away, they get separated. They all have different life styles, with the eldest becoming a skilled burglar, the second one being a normal (not wealthy) person, and the youngest one becoming a singer. All they remember is a childhood song called 'Yaadon Ki Baarat'.
They do meet up several times but cannot associate any relationship between them; and go through various relationships (with the middle one played by Vijay Arora falling in love with Zeenat Aman after pretending to be a rich man, when his secret is out, Zeenat is shocked at the deception). The main story however is that of Shankar, the eldest one, played by Dharmendra, who is trying to find the murdered of his parents, and eventually realizes that the one whom he works for is the murderer.

Rock On - the Farhan Akhtar movie

Rock On is a movie by Farhan Akhtar, and most people envisioned this to be another Dil Chahta Hain, after all, Rock On was also a story of friends (4 friends), who go through great bonding in life, and then split apart. However, this was a different movie. It has won great acclaim, and for many reasons. There are not too many movies made on a musical note, that too focusing on rock music. Lyrics for the movie were also great, the music was excellent; there were also some innovations such as the use of two parallel tracks in the movie that kept the viewer from learning some of the crucial facts of the movie till much later in the movie. An interesting touch was the use of Farhan Akhtar to be doing the singing as opposed to some industry singer.



The movie was written and directed by Abhishek Kapoor, with music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy, and starred mostly newcomers or unknown people - besides Farhan and Arjun, the movie introduced Prachi Desai (from the Hindi Serial, Kasam Seh), and also starred Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny, Prachi Desai, Shahana Goswami, Koel Purie and Nicolette Bird.
The movies takes off with these 4 people in middle life, all leading their own lives. They show the lives of Farhan (a successful finance professional, married to Prachi Desai, and well settled into the fast life), Arjun Ramphal (married to his sweetheart, but not having achieved much in life; his wife handles the household finances and is frustrated over his inability to make much of himself). In the younger track, there are 4 close friends (with their girlfriends) who are fond of music and form a band called 'Magik'. They decide to try out for a competition to make a music record, and qualify. However, when they see Aditya (Farhan) being favored over the others, and him not objecting, the angry Joe lashes out at the record director and Aditya and walks out - this breaks up their band and their friendship.
Aditya has become a successful investment banker now, after 10 years, but he is also cold, and his wife Sakshi (Prachi Desai) does not feel a comfortable relationship with him. She finds out about his old band (which he had hidden), and decides to call them for his surprise birthday party. However, his wounds are still there, and he remains uncomfortable. Sakshi knows not much about this, and is shocked. She feels that he is indirectly also rejecting her, that he has not got over his old wounds and this is hurting their relationship, and when he does not respond, she leaves him (while telling him that she is pregnant).
Aditya has an about turn, patching up with his old band (KD, Rob, and Joe) and being an active member along with them; this about turn brings Sakshi back. However, Joe is hiding all this from Debbie, and she is very angry when she finds out, since she has not forgiven Aditya for his treatment of Joe. They decide to enter another music contest, but when Debbie finds out about this, she is strongly against this, since Joe could join a ship and make a lot of money from working there. However, he ditches the taxi going to the airport and joins the band members at the contest, dedicating the song to Debbie. The gang sings their last song together, since Rob dies 2 months later from a brain tumour.
In the epilogue, rob has died, Sakshi delivered a child, KD and Joe start a company to promote new talent, and they all meet once a week.
The movie was different, but there were some chinks in the armour. There was no need for Rob to suddenly get brain cancer, the sudden reason for Sakshi to go away was not clear, the sudden change in Aditya was too sudden, and the ending seemed a bit forced. However, the acting seemed natural, and Prachi Desai made a nice entry, with a short role that allowed her to demonstrate many emotions.

Songs from the movie Rock On:

Tum Ho Tho



Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein



Pichle Saat Dino Mein



Socha Hain