Fragrance of Rajnigandha

Quite recently i saw this Hindi movie, 'rajnigandha', for the second time. it stars the placid, now forgotten vidya sinha and the effervescent, now director amol palekar. a simple story-line depicted by basu chaterjee. so simple that we might miss the complexity intended.

The first time i missed it.


I must have just run into the teenage years then. the only reason i might have watched it is the still hummable and soulful songs in the movie.
The present, shows deepa (vidya sinha) engaged to sanjay (amol). theirs was a boy-meets-girl at university love story. but now deepa wishes for more passion in the romance while she listens to sanjay's work related woes. he is due for a coveted promotion and sees nothing more important for them at present. nevertheless he charms her every evening by bringing in a bunch of her favorite flowers, rajnigandha, which fills her heart with the fragrance of his love.
a job interview takes deepa to Bombay. a stranger in the city now, but previously she had been there. memories rattle down deepa's lane and she wonders if she will meet navin(dinesh thakur) at life's crossroads. she decides to stay with her college time friend during the interview days and there she happens to meet her college time boyfriend, navin too. the three college friends now meet every evening. and as evenings pass by sanjay fades into oblivion and navin takes centrestage. she reminisces the good old days, when navin and deepa walked hand in hand, chatted by the road side, waited till it began to pour, explored the gardens,wrote passionate poems for each other and dreamt of togetherness. she wants those days to return, those moments to replay. she pines for his attention. hopes that he is also hoping to get back with her.
the interview is over. the affliction is not. returns back only to find herself still thinking about navin. still hoping for his comeback. she writes him a letter hinting at the possibility. and waits for a reply while sanjay is out on a tour.
After days of pestering the indifferent postman, she receives a letter. It mentions only her success at the interview.


Sanjay returns as if in reply to the letter. with a bunch of rajnigandhas.
Deepa embraces sanjay and promises to never let go. she bounces back to reality, to the present. how could she have swung back into the past in such a manner? she wondered.. but was comforted by the presence of sanjay in her arms.
This is the story.Completely shown from deepa's perspective. The second time i saw it i understood that perspective. The perspective of a woman, and it gave me an insight into the objectiveness of a man. His ease to cut off , to forget.
In general, the woman would cut across barriers to realize love and in general the man would build them to seize it. forever. For reasons valid, or not He knows best.
" कहीँ बार यूं ही देखा हैं, यह जो मन की सीमा रेखा हैं.... मन तोड़ने लगता हैं.
अनजानी आस के पीछे, अनजानी प्यास के पीछे... मन दौड़ने लगता हैं... "
Practically, the aberration cannot be justified. Hell, how practical is love anyway??