Yeh Nazdeekiyan

Directed by: Vinod Pande

Starring: Marc Zuber, Shabana Azmi, Parveen Babi

Released: 1982

Yeh Nazdeekiyan is not a very well known movie, which you can judge even from the fact I failed to look up a single decent sized poster for it. Everything else that came up were photos of Parveen Babi running on the beach in a bikini and a bottle of Coca Cola in her hand, which I can imagine is the only truly memorable moment. It is one of those movies that just happened to get in my way and since I can never say no to Shabana Azmi I decided to give it a shot.

The plot is build around a highly pathetic guy who likes to flirt with everything feminine in sight but in the end of the day he always faithfully returns to his own wife (the gorgeous Shabana Azmi). However passion gets the best/worst out of him the day the pretty, pretty Parveen Babi appears more naked than dressed, weaving herself around the chair and pretty much making love to the camera as she is trying to get a job in his new TV ad, because that is what he is – the guy supplying our small screens with promotional stuff. Perhaps nothing would have come out of the meeting, had it not been for Parveen´s persistance in trying to capture his attention – which very unromantically comes out of her being dared by her friends. In any case she gets drenched in the rain and yells at him a bit which ultimately does the trick and they spend a night together.

I don´t like empty beds.

Even though at first he tries to forget and behave as if nothing has happened, he succumb quite quickly when it comes to more meeting and more love-making full of passion – which is pretty much the only thing he is missing in his marriage. His libido switches off his brain for a while and what follows is an agonizing watch of him not even try to mend the relationship with his wife, just aimlessly lying in one bed or another (there were several very much adult scenes) and feeling sorry for himself. Soon after his wife leaves him he finds out that sex is probably not everything, and proves to be an idiot once more when he brushes off every attempt of his lover to make their life happy. Parveen´s character turns from wicked to highly naive, even stupid, but I guess falling in love does that to you.

Well, I guess I love you from her side is expected now?

Shabana is amazing as is her custom, and the only good thing about the movie really, since she doesn´t sit around crying begging or moping, she faces all and comes out victorious. By her victory I do not mean she gets the guy back in the end (though yes, she does), but because she refuses to be reduced to a weeping wife blackmailing her unfaithful husband to come back with her little child or personal grief. She never succumbs to clever (and less clever) tricks to lure him back, as usually is the custom in Bollywood films no matter if he cheated once or on every occasion possible. She has dignity. She is more than capable of picking up whatever she has left and start a new life, completely independent, even though heart broken. 

Moral of the film: you are in trouble if these are the words your husband uses to describe you.

Overall the pace of the film was slow and if you do not have a fetish for elderly guy lying without a purpose among sheets - also boring. That much said the movie has a feel of reality, with nothing over-dramatized or overdone.