And as you watch this enormously personal film, you begin to see how his anxiety must have extended into a lengthy conversation with his significant other and taken the shape of a full-fledged motion picture.īut like all his films, which bear a strong moral subtext, Yaadein too has one. With his banner Ajanta Arts already backing unique subjects like Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke and Mujhe Jeene Do, Dutt decided to up the ante even further by filming an experimental, black and white soliloquy, based on a story developed by his wife Nargis, referred to as Mrs Sunil Dutt in the credits.Īs I earlier mentioned, it was Dutt's desolation of not having the constant comfort of his family around, which triggered the thought behind Yaadein. Image: Sunil Dutt in Yaadeinĭutt's filmmaking may not be as prolific as that of cinematic greats like Mehboob Khan, Bimal Roy or B R Chopra (under whom he delivered some of his best work like Mother India, Sujata and Gumrah) but clearly, the experience enriched his social sensibilities and technical know-how far more deeply than he's given credit for. Sadly, Yaadein, which also made it to Guinness Book of World Records under the category ' Fewest actors in a narrative film', is awfully undervalued on its home turf. But what truly makes Dutt's first film as director stand apart is that it's entirely his show - as the opening credit proudly proclaims - World's First One-Actor Movie.Įven the popular website Flavorwire couldn't overlook Yaadein, as one of the 10 most memorable one-actor movies, along with Robert Altman's Secret Honor and Andy Warhol's Sleep. The actor/filmmaker was hit by such a bad case of loneliness after his family (wife Nargis and kids - Sanjay, Namrata and Priya) took off on a vacation, it sparked off an idea for a curious premise - how would a husband react if he returned to an empty house and learned his wife has left him for good.Īlthough this plot line would make little sense in the age of 3G cell phones, Wi-Fi technology and rampant social networking, Yaadein seems quite plausible in a time when even dial phones were a luxury only a select few could afford. Inspiration has a knack for striking on unexpected moments only to produce something so exceptional it's probably ahead of its time. And the most novel film of Sunil Dutt's creative career, Yaadein is a excellent example of this belief. In our special series re-visiting great Hindi film classics, we look back at Sunil Dutt-starrer Yaadein (1964).
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