Abhi
na
jao
chhod
kar
ke
dil
abhi
bhara
nahin…The
film's
anthemic
love
ballad,
regarded
as
one
of
the
finest
love
songs
ever
composed
for
Hindi
cinema,
rings
through
your
heart
after
the
lengthy
film
is
done
-
and
let's
face
it,
nearly
3
hours
of
playing-time
for
a
long-forgotten
war
saga
can
get
tedious
when
you
have
the
next
chapter
in
the
Egyptian
civil-war
waiting
at
home.
Yes,
Hum
Dono
is
back.
The
1961
film
about
two
look-alike
soldiers
who
become
friends
at
war,
is
as
far-fetched
in
plot
as…say,
today's
Dabangg
or
James
Cameron's
Avatar.
Indeed
the
film's
old-world
values
of
valour,
integrity,
loyalty,
fidelity
and
trustworthiness
seem
to
belong
to
another
era,
if
not
a
completely
different
planet.
They
are
rescued
from
fading
by
computer-coloured
velocity.
Admittedly
even
today
Hum
Dono
makes
a
fairly
engaging
triangular
love
story
with
war
at
its
backdrop.
The
coloured
version
that
has
come
to
us
now
leaves
us
with
mixed
feelings.
Though
at
first
one
enjoys
the
splash
of
colour
that
is
added
to
V
Ratra's
outstanding
black-and-white
cinematography
a
lot
of
the
film's
original
visual
intensity
is
lost
in
colorized
translation.
We
are
left
wondering
who
decided
what
colour
Dev
Anand's
shirt
or
Sadhana's
saree
was
meant
to
be!
Did
the
colour-generating
department
check
with
the
film's
core
team
to
decide
the
colour
schemes?
If
not,
is
it
ethical
or
even
legally
permissible
to
tamper
with
the
film's
creators'
original
vision?
The
Dolby-enhanced
sound
leaves
no
room
for
quibble.
Jaidev's
music
score,
considered
by
many
aficionados
to
be
one
the
10
finest
Hindi
motion-picture
soundtracks
of
all
times,
heals
all
the
wounds
of
excessive
coloured
flamboyance.
Whether
it
is
Mohd
Rafi
and
Asha
Bhosle's
Abhi
na
jao
chhod
kar
or
Lata
Mangeshlar's
immortal
Bhajan
Allah
tero
naam,
or
those
two
imperishable
Rafi
Ghazals
Kabhi
khud
pe
kabhi
halaat
pe
rona
aaya
and
Main
zindagi
ka
saath
nibhata
chala
gaya…you
just
can't
help
being
swept
into
the
sheer
melody
of
the
moment.
The
casually
stylish
way
the
songs
are
shot,
the
sharp
close-ups
being
intercut
with
lyrical
poetic
long-shots,
incidental
but
intense
interludes
of
passion
played
out
in
the
visual
detailing,
all
carry
the
distinctive
stamp
of
Vijay
Anand
who
wrote
Hum
Dono.
The
film's
direction
is
credited
to
Amarjeet
who
later
directed
Dev
Anand
in
a
film
called
Gambler.
Ah,
Dev
Anand…a
star
beyond
any
definition
of
stardom!!
He
shines
with
meteoric
melancholy
in
the
double
role
of
men
at
war
with
themselves,
much
more
than
for
his
country.
The
way
this
debonair
actor
enacts
the
solo
numbers
by
Rafi
makes
you
wonder
if
the
song
came
first.
Or
was
the
song
inspired
by
the
face
that
conveys
the
numbers
on
screen?
Sadhana
(impish,
coquettish)
and
Nanda
(tremulously
poignant)
are
lovely
supplements
to
the
Dev
Anand
mystique.
What
was
he
thinking
when
he
romanced
these
beautiful
ladies?
Surely
more
than
what
Sahir
Ludhianvi's
lovelorn
lyrics
describe!
They
don't
make
stars
like
Dev
Anand
any
more.
They
never
will.
Or
for
that
matter
a
film
so
suffused
in
the
splendour
of
its
own
cultivated
grace
is
impossibly
to
come
by
in
today's
era
of
pelvic
passion.
Abhi
na
jaao
chhod
kar
indeed.