This was an interesting Friday evening. After a rather unproductive day at work, I decided to give up and took the Goregaon slow train at 7:37 PM to reach home. By the time I reached Andheri station, it started pouring and I did not carry an umbrella so, yes, I was drenched to bits. Drenched in a non-bollywood, sticky, muddy way. My second pair of brand new rain resistant shoes lost its resistance with one downpour and I was dragging my bare feet back home.

During my rickshaw ride back home, I could not help but think of all the Indian movies we have watched growing up, where rains were a significant catalyst of love and intimacy. Those beautiful moments created on screen when precisely measured drops of rain fall on the heroine’s cheeks and make her blush. While here I was, drenched, sweaty, bare-feet, barely making it home in the terrible traffic. 

My husband was working on an upcoming deadline which ensured sleepless nights and caffeine overdose throughout the weekend. Our Sunday movie night plans looked impossible so I announced, “a weekend of movies I’d watch without him”. 

I was looking to watch a romantic movie of the 1980s this time. As Hindi Cinema audience, the idea of an ever consuming romantic love story is not novel to me and yet I wanted just that and more. I remembered Sridevi’s and Rishi Kapoor’s song “tere mere hothon pe” and I decided to watch the movie “Chandni”. 

I had a nice long bath to wash off all the mud and dirt from the rains. I lit up a few scented candles, and cooped myself up in the couch. My dinner was grilled chicken and sautéed mushrooms. I poured myself a glass of wine to go with it and I had forgotten all about the stressful travel.

The movie began with a typical “Shaadi wala ghar”. A beautiful mansion in Delhi, decorated with marigold garlands, all set for a family wedding – just the adequate setting for the bride’s and groom’s friends to mingle and flirt. 

On a chilly winter night during the wedding festivities, grandmas, aunties and uncles huddle up in a warm thick blanket reminiscing about their wedding days. The oldest of them decides to spill the beans on her child marriage. She says her husband got intimate with her after 6 years of marriage, when he turned 18. A younger character is quick to say that those days are gone now, the new generation needs everything instantly, just like instant coffee. 

While the other family members are enjoying this conversation, we see early glimpses of the couple’s romance. Within the first few minutes of meeting each other, Rishi Kapoor has managed to hold Sridevi’s hand in the dark, feel her up and stroke her hair. Sridevi is shy and confused whether his actions deserve a smile or a slap. She manages to convince herself that she feels all green flags about this stranger’s sudden interest in her. 

Rishi Kapoor does not stop at that. Throughout the wedding ceremonies, he is seen stalking Sridevi, clicking innumerable photographs of her without her consent. The flirting (read misbehaviour and stalking) reaches its pinnacle when Rishi Kapoor low-key abducts her for a bike ride and forces her hand in marriage, and no, it’s not a trigger warning for some reason; it’s an act of crazy love according to this movie. 

Throughout the extremely problematic meet-cute of the lead characters, they are portrayed as passionate lovers who cannot live without each other. The couple looks stunning during the romantic phase, there’s no two ways about it. I had heard Yash Raj say in an interview that he envisioned the character of “Chandni” as someone without blemishes, almost pure, like the colour white.

Sridevi is seen wearing shades of white throughout the romance phase. Chiffon sarees, with sleeveless blouses and pearl necklaces; solid coloured salwar suits, with printed dupattas and oxidised silver jewellery dominate her wardrobe. Her long hair and bright pink lips add to the character of Chaandni. In all, she looks nothing less than a beautiful painting. 

When things turn sour between the couple and Rishi Kapoor ends the relationship, Sridevi is forced to earn and live independently. When her boss at her new job shows interest in her, she accepts his proposal. We are not told why she accepts his proposal but for a moment there, I felt happy for her. Her boss, played by Vinod Khanna, comes off as a strong, shrewd business man. However, he is soft at heart and understands how to treat women. 

Confusion begins when Rishi Kapoor comes back in Sridevi’s life and she is torn between the two men. On decision day, Sridevi chooses to be with Rishi – the one who is obsessed with her, misbehaves with her, horridly fills his bedroom walls with her solo photographs and throws rose petals at her from a helicopter to make her feel special. 

I have only so much to comment about the romance in the movie and what impact it must have had on that generation, specifically the women. Everything about the romance screamed SOS. 

The locations are exquisite, the songs are nostalgic and Sridevi is single-handedly the most beautiful muse for her director. In one of the scenes, she is seen sitting on a terrace on a full moon night in a white salwar kameez with her dupatta flowing across her body, red rose petals laid all around her, while she runs her hands through the petals and blushes, the moon shines on her. Call it picture perfect, if you will

-Aishwarya Bedekar