Bollywood's most lovable romantic-comedy stars: the versatile, debonair Motilal and the pretty and mischievous Meena. Their slick team-work has won them a big following throughout the country.

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LA-RA-LAPPA! Here they come! Filmland’s most lovable romantic-comedy stars, the versatile, debonair Motilal and the plump, pretty and very mischievous Meena.

It all started with “Ek Thi Larki”, Roop K. Shorey’s hilarious comedy which took picturegoers by storm. For the heroine’s role there could not have been a better choice than the producer’s lovely and talented wife, Meena, who overnight became the “La-ra-lappa” girl when the film was released.

And the hero? Why, who else, but that always delightful, ever-dependable actor Motilal who is equally at home in comedy and drama.

Naturally, the team clicked, and audienc­es, still holding their sides with laughter, asked for more.

“More” came in the shape of “Ek Do Teen”, a comedy even more side-splitting than its predecessor, and the Meena-Motilal team won fresh laurels and a legion of new fans.

Now they are to appear in yet another comedy, “Shri Naqad Narayan”, and there cannot be the slightest doubt that in terms of personal popularity as well as box-office success this bright romantic team will per­form the hat-trick.

What is the secret of their great success? Undoubtedly, both stars have a distinct flair for comedy. Their sense of timing is perfect and their slick team-work draws the last ounce of comedy from every scene.

Yet another factor which contributes to their success with cinegoers is that physically they are unevenly matched. Meena is buxom hardy Punjabi lass. Moti, on the other hand, is slight of build, almost frail-looking, as com­pared with Meena. In one of her mischievous moods on the cricket field recently she lifted him bodily and ran off the field with Moti sitting astride her back. The crowds roared with laughter.

Meena says she enjoys working with Motilal and finds him an ideal partner for comedy.

“He is so easy to work with, so very natural,” she says. “Especially in those scenes in which we have to quarrel with each other, he helps me achieve a realism which I doubt I will get with any other actor.”

Moti, who has acted opposite innumer­able screen heroines of the past and present, has an equable temperament and a sparkling bonhomie which makes it easy for him to get along with every person he comes in contact with. Completely at home in any type of role, he, too, thinks that Meena is excellent in comedies, and gets from her the necessary response to inject into his own roles that inimitable charm of his.

On the set, or off, this team of Moti and Meena is constantly bubbling with wit and humour. They are always wisecracking, each trying to get the better of the other, and when­ever they are together their associates have a field day watching the antics of this lov­able pair.

The Indian screen cannot boast of any other sophisticated comedy team like that of Meena and Motilal. Slapstick we have, but for straight, clever comedy, this romantic team is certainly unsurpassed (January 1955)

Dilip Kumar in Devdas (1956)

Cast: Dilip Kumar, Suchitra Sen,Vyjanthimala, Motilal

Director: Bimal Roy

Music: S.D. Burman

Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi

Capsule Review: Bimal Roy’s faithful and fiercely intimate adaptation of Saratchandra Chatterjee’s classic tragedy about a self-absorbed hero who destroys his own happiness in pursuit of love, is leagues removed from P.C. Barua’s minimalist version in 1935 and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s flamboyant epic in 2002. Roy’s deep-focussed character study looks at Devdas Chatterjee (Dilip Kumar) as a narcissist whose self- absorbed romanticism destroys those very things that it loves, including himself. Kamal Bose’s exquisite black-and-white photography captures the essence of the theme. The sordid backlanes and gullies of Kolkata are recreated with the same mellow meticulousness as the unspoilt village where Devdas and Paro grow into love. More naturalistic than stylized, Bimal Roy’s Devdas conveys a quaint majest in its epic thrust.

Jagte Raho (1956)

Cast: Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Motilal

Director: Sombhu Mitra/Amit Moitra

Music: Salil Chowdhury

Lyrics: Shailendra, Prem Dhawan

Capsule Review: Moving away from the operatic opulence of his style Raj Kapoor hired two avant-garde Bengali filmmakers to direct a story about one thirsty man’s experiences in Kolkata during the course of one night. Jagte Raho is largely arresting for the utterly innovative theme and tone of narration. Raj Kapoor’s encounters with various quirky, capricious and cruel characters add up to a comic and often-dark moral fable. Shot in exquisitely expressive black-and-white, the film climaxes with the celebrated sequence where Nargis, singing Jago mohan pyare in Lata Mangeshkar’s divine voice, finally gives the tortured thirsty man his drink of water. The symbolical sequence stands out in the melee of jostling, bustling scenes that occupy the plot.