Have you seen Yash Chopra’s Lamhe? It is by far his most delicately drawn work of art, tender, slender and immeasurably heart-tugging with Sridevi in not only a career-defining performance (she is far superior here than she was in Yash Chopra’s far more successful Chandni) but also one of the performances that define the Hindi Film Heroine.
In spite of Waqt, Daag, Chandni and Darr. In spite of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Mohabbatein, Yash Chopra considered Lamhe his best film. He has a point. Lamhe is like a long and satisfying swig of cognac.
Written by Honey Irani, Lamhe is certainly Yash Chopra’s most daring film. Earlier, he had made Daag, where the male protagonist settled down to domestic bliss with both the ladies in his life. Preview audiences had predicted doom for Daag. The film was a smash success. Once again, 18 years after Daag, Yash Chopra dared to be different. Lamhe was again the story of a man caught between two women, though this time one of the women is dead. However, her lookalike daughter (Sridevi in a double role), whom the man brings up like his own daughter, nurses a crush for the man who loved her mother.
But the visionary filmmaker was adamant. “If I had changed the ending, Lamhe wouldn’t have been the film I had set to make.”
Released on the same Friday as Kuku Kohli’s Phool Aur Kante, everyone expected Lamhe to break records. Its failure demoralised Yash Chopra. He lamented its initial rejection by the audience.
But wait. Don’t go away. There’s a footnote to the box office fortunes of Lamhe. The film went on to become one of the biggest hits ever in the overseas market.
Contradictory? Yes. But therein lies the tragedy of audiences in India. They cannot look into the man-woman relationship as anything but a telescoped formula. When we look at Lamhe now, we see a film that’s so light-spirited and enjoyable it’s almost like a picnic. The central relationship which caused the audience to shake its head in disapproval appears largely innocuous.
Just view Lamhe in its given perspective. And see how aesthetic and enjoyable an experience the film is. The antakshari session where Sridevi and Anupam Kher try to cheer up the sulking Anil Kapoor with Waheeda Rehman sportingly joining in with Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai, is an entire cohesive film in itself.
The central performances are astonishingly accurate. Sridevi, as the blend of tradition and modernity in Rajasthan and then as the sprightly, young, vivacious bundle of joie de vivre in England, inculcates a fabulous disparity between her two roles. She seldom had another chance to exhibit her acting skills so spaciously.
And Anil Kapoor? Dignified, restrained, grieving and brooding—has he ever been better? If we have to choose one film from the commercial cinema which least deserved to flop, it shall have to be Lamhe. The film’s unique blend of popcorn entertainment and mature romance bowls you over.
Yash Chopra has always been a master craftsman whose visuals are tonic to the eye. Lamhe doesn’t have a single ugly frame. Whether it’s Sridevi bursting into a folk dance among the sand dunes, to the sound of Lata Mangeshkar’s Morni bagha ma boley, or Anil Kapoor’s look of hurt and rejection when the love of his life runs into another man’s arms, Lamhe makes you fall in love… with love!
Recalls Anupam Kher, who played a pivotal part in Lamhe, “I had the privilege of working with Mr Yash Chopra repeatedly. I don’t think any actor has done as many films with that banner. Shooting with Yashji didn’t seem like work. It was more like a picnic. Kab shuroo aur kab khatam pataa nahin chalta. Lamhe was very special. The subject was daring and risky. But Yashji was completely convinced it was the right thing to do. We all felt Lamhe to be special. I played Anil Kapoor’s best friend. We had a fun time shooting with the two greats, Sridevi and Waheedaji, especially the antakshari.”
