Koi Nazrana Lekar Aaya Hoon Main Deewana Tere Liye. Review on Aan Milo Sajna

Aan Milo Sajna (1970) is a commercially hit movie that had come in the heyday of the first acknowledged superstar of Bollywood, Rajesh Khanna. His pair with Asha Parekh had already gained popularity after the super hit movie - Kati Patang. Aan Milo Sajna also proved to be another feather in the cap of Rajesh Khanna. Hot romantic pair, Rajesh Khanna's extremely popular mannerisms and music appeal led it to be a box office grosser. I had watched it for the first time in the local theatre of my hometown - Sambhar Lake more than three decades back and thereafter I watched it many times on television also. It's an interesting movie which is able to keep a typical Bollywood movie viewer entertained from the very beginning to the very end.

Aan Milo Sajna (come and meet me O sweetheart) is the story of a college student Varsha (Asha Parekh) who during her vacation, decides to have an adventure and becomes the fake fiancee of a rich brat  Anil Chaudhary (Vinod Khanna) posing as a poor girl Deepali who is doing it for money. Due to Anil's objectionable life-style, his widow mother Saavitri Devi Chaudhary (Nirupa Roy) dislikes him and has put a condition in her will that Anil will inherit her wealth only upon getting married to a suitable girl. And to win his old and ailing mother's trust in this regard, Anil brings Varsha aka Deepali to her in the village, showing her as his fiancee without knowing that the girl herself is not what she is posing to be.

Varsha posing as Deepali now comes to know of Anil's greedy and wicked nature and his mother's disappointment with him but through her own good nature, she wins the heart of Saavitri Devi who is now glad that her spoiled son has chosen a nice girl as his life-partner. But Varsha's life becomes a complicated one when she falls in love with Ajeet (Rajesh Khanna) in the village. Ajeet is a boy with a heart of gold who always helps the people in the lower strata of the society and is ever ready to support their cause. He is also fatherless and lives with his widow mother (Dulaari) and younger brother Jaggu (Junior Mehmood). Romance blooms between them and now Varsha starts suffering from guilt-complex that on one hand she has hidden her true identity from all and on the other she is deceiving an innocent Saavitri Devi by making her believe that she would be her daughter-in-law while being in love with not his son but someone else.Besides, there is a back-story of the households of Ajeet and Anil also due to which Ajeet hates the Chaudhary family.

Things take a bizarre turn when Ajeet's friend - Mohan (Sujeet Kumar) who has become a fugitive due to a false theft-charge levied on him, keeps on visiting his newly wed wife - Sita (Indrani Mukherjee) with complete secrecy with the help of his trusted friend, i.e., Ajeet who has faith in his innocence and is confident of getting him exonerated soon. Resultantly, Sita gets pregnant but is not able to tell the other members of her family as well as the world that her pregnancy is due to her clandestine meetings with her husband only. Villainous Anil comes to know of the different facts and on their basis, makes his own evil designs. And then one day, Sita is murdered with Ajeet being arrested under the charge of her murder. He is accused to be the father of the unborn child of pregnant Sita who killed her after coming to know of her pregnancy. The formula-based climax takes the story to its desired conclusion.

Aan Milo Sajna contains all the spices that make a delicious visual dish for the typical Indian audience. It has good romance between the stylish Rajesh Khanna and the gorgeous Asha Parekh. It has good comedy through comedians like Junior Mehmood, Rajendra Naath, Sunder etc. alongwith the lead pair itself. It has a typical Bollywood villain and his interesting conspiracies. It has family and social drama showing enmity between two households plus the everlasting conflict between the rich and the poor. It has action (the opening scene itself contains a horse-race) and courtroom drama. And it contains some very good songs The optimum mix of all these things proves to be a satisfying entertainment show for the audience that lasts for around three hours.

Producer-director J. Om Prakash had a habit of keeping the titles of his movies as starting from the letter 'A'. This movie is another link in the chain of his 'A' titled entertaining movies. Since J. Om Prakash was able to pick up the pulse of the Indian audience very well, most of the movies made by him are damn entertaining and they were box office hits. Aan Milo Sajna is no exception. The movie does not bore at all and proves to be thoroughly engrossing for the viewer.

Technically, the movie is damn good. Beautiful rural locales are eye-candy for the spectator. Since both the rich household and the poor household are part of the script, the art-director had to differentiate between the two and he has done it quite effectively with both types of setting appearing as realistic on the screen. The wardrobe of the lead pair is damn impressive and trendy. Due to the prolonged comedy track of Rajendra Naath and Sunder, the movie has become unduly long. However it's according to the trend of Bollywood cinema in that period when the comedians and their comic tracks were considered an integral part of the screenplay.

Music made by Laxmikant Pyarelaal with the lyrics of Anand Bakshi is very good with almost all the songs being popular ones. The title track has been sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi. However most of the male songs are in the voice of Kishore Kumar. Achchha To Hum Chalte Hain and Yahaan Wahaan Saare Jahaan Mein Tera Raaj Hai are Kishore's popular songs whereas Lata's solo Tere Kaaran Tere Kaaran and Asha Bhonsle's solo Palat Meri Jaan are also quite good to listen (and to watch). However my favourite song from this music album is Rafi's Koi Nazrana Lekar Aaya Hoon Main Deewana Tere Liye.

Rajesh Khanna's gimmicks and style had taken him on the top of the world then. He is present with all his mannerisms which are heart-conquering even today (in those days, they were just like a lightning for the young female hearts). His on-screen chemistry with Asha Parekh is praiseworthy and they look a lovely pair. Vinod Khanna is quite effective as the villain. This is one of the memorable movies of the child-artist Junior Mehmood who entertains the audience like anything. The whole supporting cast has done complete justice to the roles assigned.

Summing up, Aan Milo Sajna is an entertaining flick which won't disappoint any section of the audience. I wholeheartedly recommend it to the movie buffs of all categories.