Majhli Didi (1967)

Day Two in my Dharmendra countdown amrking his return to his silver screen with Yamla Pagla Deewana leads me to this rather obscure Hrishikesh Mukherjee film

Life is a struggle for little Kishen (Sachin) and his mother (Leela Chitnis) after years of ill health and struggles, she succumbs to death

Kishen is sent to live with his mother's sister Kadambini (Lalita Pawar) who wastes no time in making him feel like an outsider

Kishen finds solace and love in the arms of Heman Didi (Meena Kumari), his aunt's sister in law.

Heman didi is a warm figure who has happens to have more backbone than her spineless husband Bipinchandra (Dharmendra)

When his brother Mr Navin who is married to Kishen's aunt tries to swindle the poor out of their land, Hemdidi stands up and testifies in court against her in laws

When Kadambini who's so over the top annoying and just that little bit extra notices Kishen's growing bond to Hem Didi, she starts giving Hem Didi and Kishen a hard time (but in a rather Meena Kumari paisa Vasool way) Hem Didi takes none of her stinking attitude and puts her in her place

Yes you tell her Hem Didi!!!

With no support from anyone over her affection and kindness towards Kishen plus constant bickering from Kadambini as well as her spineless husband refusal to stick up for her. Hem Didi out of frustration ends up acting cold towards Kishen and drives him away from her

Will Kishen and Hem Didi's relationship ever be rekindled?

Overall a quiet and quite watchable drama, the film's supposedly based on a Sharat Chandra Chatterji novel 'Mejho Didi', it also seems to be one of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's lesser known films and no surprise why, as story wise there's nothing special here and there are way too much familiar tropes e.g. Wicked aunty, maltreated poor boy, In law rivalry etc.

What makes this film worth the price in my opinion is Meena Kumari as Hem Didi who wasn't afraid to assert herself just when she needs to, her character here won't be coerced into doing what she doesn't feel like even if that means overruling her husband, but of course she's made all weepy towards a melodramatic ending or perhaps because the makers thought the USP if you have Meena in your movie is crying. Still though i'd recommend this mostly for Mena kumari lovers like myself and perhaps for the songs or maybe if you read the novel

This screen cap pretty much sums up Dharmendra in this movie

I watched this for my Dharmendra special but seems this movie was a Meena Kuamri show all the way as he rarely had much to do and had very little screen time

I had no idea Sachin was a child actor until i saw this and he was good, not as annoying as your typical filmi kid

Adorable kiddie Sarika

Little Sarika makes an appearance too

Lovely songs from Hemant Kumar on here, most of the tracks had a sombre feel to them umariya bin khevat in particular and Nadiyon ki (woh mera gaon) my favourite of the whole bunch is a lovely riddle type song 'main lal lal' with Meena Kumari and very young Sarika, i tried uploading it with subs but the dvd kept acting up so i guess only hindi speakers would enjoy the fun riddles in the song

Paisa Vasool Rating: 5/10

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