Asli-Naqli

About the film

Asli-Naqli (transl. Real and Fake) is a 1962 Hindi film produced by L.B Lachman and L.B Thakur. The film is directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and stars Dev Anand, Sadhana, Leela Chitnis, Anwar Hussain, Sandhya Roy and Keshto Mukherjee. The film's music is by Shankar Jaikishan and the lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra. The film became a box office hit.

Plot

Anand (Dev Anand) grandson of rich businessman Rai Bahadur (Nazir Hussain) is invited to marry Rekha, the only daughter of a rich man. Anand, however, is not enamoured. In the ensuing disagreement, Anand leaves home to prove his worth. He finds himself in a poor neighborhood in Mumbai after meeting Mohan (Anwar Hussain).

Anand settles in and tries to find work. He meets a beautiful young woman Renu (Sadhana Shivdasani) and is enchanted. She helps him to find a job but he soon loses it through his incompetence. Renu works at a small company but hides the fact from her mother (Leela Chitnis) because she believes that her mother could not bear the truth that her father is dead. She tells her that he sends the money she earns. Anand falls entirely in love and proposes to her delight.

Rai Bahadur however finds Anand, and insists that he marry Rekha. When he receives Anand's reply he sets off to blackmail Renu - that he would tell her mother about her father's death if she does not reject Anand. She agrees and tells Anand to forget her. Renu's mother overhears this conversation and intervenes. She advises Renu to marry her own hearts desire. Renu and Anand marry with Rai Bahadur's blessings, a happy ending to a beautifully directed film.

Trivia

Hrishikesh Mukherjee as a director comes to maturity in this film and develops a signature style of healthy family entertainment. This film follows one of his earlier successes, Anari.

Innovative Song Picturisation: In the expression of love, while filming the song "Ek But Banaunga", Hrishikesh Mukherjee took care that Dev Anand and Sadhana maintained a distance of at least 20 feet between them. At one time when they come nearer, there is a blackboard on a stand between them. When Dev Anand turns around the blackboard to Sadhana's side, the latter puts a slate between them. In the backdrop of rains outside, with Mohammed Rafi's magic all around, someone takes away a goat from the rain-sheltered veranda and one is transported to the dream world of love. At times Dev Anand is outside in the veranda with the bamboo mesh of a window between them. Dev is worshipping Sadhana with folded hands and in the end Sadhana comes near with her hands raised in blessing.

Similarly, while picturising the song "Tera Mera Pyaar Amar", Hrishikesh Mukherjee demonstrates the love between Dev Anand and Sadhana by putting them in different places as the song unfolds. In the early part of his career, Hrishikesh Mukherjee was a cinematographer and all through the film, there is brilliant camera work.

Key details