The Happy Ending came too early. This is like a ten layer cake of melodrama and tears. It was a fairly big hit when it came out because Bollywood audiences enjoy films that come with a package of Kleenex. Especially if it is about motherhood, children and prayer and this film has no shame in piling it on with a shovel. A bit much for my taste. I like a good weepie as much as any man but I would have preferred the happy ending.


Devki (Sridevi with her eyes as big as the moon) is a poor city girl living in a hovel with her sick father and cruel stepmother who likes to smack her around. Bollywood loves mothers; stepmothers not so much. To make some money for the family Devki dances and sings in the town square playing coy with the men but she is a 100% good girl. She dances on a car top and somehow manages to break the windshield. The owner Anand (Jeetendra) catches her and wants her to pay. She offers the 25 rupees she has made that day. He waves her off and drives away - but we know that isn't the end of it because they are meant for one another - and are the stars of the film. As life would have it, she breaks his windshield again. He again drives off but drops his wallet fat with cash.


Meanwhile, Anand's uncle (Saeed Jaffrey - A Passage to India, My Beautiful Launderette) has found a wife for Anand. Anand freaks out and lies that he just got married. Sorry uncle I should have told you. Of course, the uncle arrives to see his daughter-in-law and Anand panics. Not sure why but the uncle seems to be very wealthy. And at that moment guess who walks through the door to return the wallet. Anand talks her into pretending to be his wife for three days. And she is perfect because she is Sridevi - one of the truly kooky and personable Bollywood actresses. Not really that attractive by my account but she overwhelms you with charm. The uncle leaves, so does she, Anand misses her  - I expected him to break out into I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. He goes looking for her - finds her praying and tells her he loves her and wants to marry. She agrees. Happy Ending. Wait a second, it is at the 45 minute mark. There are two ours left. Oh hell, you know a sandstorm of shit is heading their way.


To cut it shorter than the movie, they have a baby son, make friends with another couple Yashoda (Jaya Prada) and Vicky (Vinod Mehra) and she is pregnant. They both happen to be aboard a train that crashes - Vicky dies, so seemingly does Devki, Anand held on to the baby so it is ok and Yashoda is in a coma. She loses her child and goes crazy and I am thinking, don't do it Anand. Bad idea. But does he listen to me? Of course not. Nobody does. He gives her his son and tells her it is hers Oye vey. Well if you have seen many Bollywood movies, you should know where this is going and it does like a rocket targeted to the soft tissue of your heart. My heart has grown harder with age and cynicism so this didn't really penetrate. Let's just say that Solomon had an answer. This is the sort of film filled with coincidences and contrivances that would send a non-Bollywood fan screaming into the darkness. I was just happy to spend some time with Sridevi.