Before I share my views on ‘Tere Ghar Ke Samne’ let me clearly state that I am NOT a fan of Dev Anand. Nope. Not even close. His debonair looks, his trademark hairstyle, his lopsided gait, his smile, they all leave me cold.
But this film was recommended to me by more than one person, it starred Nutan and it has some good songs. These seemed reasons enough for me to check it out.
The plot of ‘Tere Ghar ke Samne’ is as thin as a paper dosa. Two rivals in business land up buying neighboring plots of land and each tries to outdo the other by getting the better, more imposing house built on it. The plot twist is that they have the same architect who also happens to be the son of one of the owners. Who predictably falls in love with the daughter of the other owner.
The fun part is where the architect (Dev Anand) tries his level best to conceal his identity from his father’s business rival while also designing his house and having designs on his daughter (Nutan, looking charming and winsome). At the same time, he also has to hide from his own father, the fact that he has assured said rival that his house will be better than his father’s house; both of which are being designed by him.
(Okay, there are way too many ‘his’s in the above sentences, which is inevitable when the script is male-dominated.)
Like a paper dosa, the story is spread too thin and goes on for almost three hours when it could have been wrapped up in two. It does get interesting when the two love birds try to juggle their lives and delay the inevitable- the fathers finding out who’s in love with whom and wants to get married. The inevitable does happen, followed by the predictable explosion and the angry declarations of the ‘yeh shaadi kabhi nahin ho sakti’ type.
Harindranath Chattopadhyay and Om Prakash as the constantly verbally sparring rivals are an amusing pair and as watchable as always. A very pleasant yet unexpected surprise is Rajendranath who for once, doesn’t play the bumbling, buffoonish side-kick of the hero. He’s cast in the role of a jovial army officer (brother of the heroine) and carries it off damn well. So much for typecasting.
The best part of the film (for me) is the classic song ‘Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar’ which is shot on the winding staircase within the Qutub Minar. I liked it even better than the title song because: one- I get to see what Qutub Minar looked like from the inside and up close. And two- because the song is so beautifully shot and enacted. Who’d have imagined that dimly lit, stone stairs could provide such a romantic setting? Full credit to the director for the setting and picturization of this gem.
The setting of the title song is just as unusual, if not more- Nutan in miniature, in a glass of whisky and Dev Anand serenading her from the outside… it’s magic!
The film is a romantic comedy and there’s enough of both to keep the viewer smiling and laughing for the better part of its duration. The situation is resolved in the end with Dev Anand delivering an emotional speech and then breaking out into song (which I thought was highly avoidable) and everyone lives happily ever after, each other ke ‘ghar ke samne’ And the viewer is left humming ‘Pyar ka raag suno re…’
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