I was ten or eleven years old when MPK released... No VCR or VCP (remember them) at my place, I had to negotiate several days of quietly eating Daal, Karela and Tori (watergourd I think), to cajole my father to take me for the movie my friends were raving about... and once I had seen it, life was never the same again... I fell in love with Salman Khan... my first crush... and I hated Bhagyashree with a vengeance, for obvious reasons, and yet tried to emulate her way of speaking, hairstyle, anything. (Too bad I was so opinionated that I could never speak in that extra sweet way). But my craziness for Salman and the movie knew no bounds. With my meagre pocket money, I bought a cassette of the movie's dialogues and songs (Thanks HMV), and by the time I was through with it, the cassette was squeaky, and I had memorized most of the dialogues. Then, with the advent of the cable, anytime the movie would be showing on any of the channels, you would find me mouthing the dialogues along with the characters. And the music... oh man... SP Balasubramaniyam and Lata wrecked havoc on my studies with Dil Deewana, Mere Rang mein, Aate Jaate (so what if it was a lift off of I just called), and all other songs... I would write the lyrics down and sing them along. Anyways, I grew up, and outgrew the movie,and my crush. There were other handsome, more debonair men!!!!! :o)

Why this post today, rather tonight? Well... I was busy reading in the evening, and my Dad, flipping channels in his room, suddenly called out... Nona, tumhari fav movie aa rahi hai, Zee Cinema pe... (he still teases me about my Salman fixation)... and just impulsively I switched on the TV. I was telling myself I had outgrown it, and of course, it was nothing when I compared it to the cinema I really like now... (Nonu, you have developed airs...) and yes, the movie worked majorly because of its fresh approach, but thats another story, and this is no review and I am digressing...


So there I was, all ready to take my nostalgia out of the treasure chest and laugh at the memories (snobby, haan), and guess what, half an hour later, by the time Prem saves Suman from Jeevan in the party... I was watching it as engrossed as ever, mouthing the dialogues (Dosti mein no sorry no thank you; dosti ki hai to nibhani hi padegi, Cigerette smoking is injutious to health, sehat ke liye haanikaarak hai; Udaas hona, yun akele mein rona is injurious to health, sehat ke liye haanikarak hai.... I can go on and on and on....), that Friends cap, the teddy bear, laughing at Laxmikant Berde... singing along, Dil deewana bin sajna ke maane na.... and the I love you chant in background... By the end,Prem had conquered all evils, had earned the Rs 2000 which was the condition set by Suman's Dad (Is baar note bheegenge nahi babuji, nahi bheegenge).. all my airs had vanished... I had fallen in love once again, sighing away to glory, shedding a tear, and surreptitiously wiping it away.... And how can I forget Handsome... the mother (rather the father) of all white doves, Masakalli included!!!!

Sometimes... Love does conquer all....happily ever after does happen once the Prince and his princess ride off in sunset.... Sometimes.....