Kabhi Kabhie

A film set in India. Amit is a young poet. His book has come out and Pooja is reading it. The two are in love. But her family arranges another marriage. She accepts. She does not tell Amit. Then she does, and it is over. Pooja marries Vijay. He is in construction and he is a good man. Amit marries too. To Anjali. From there the film jumps years. Both families are established. The children have grown. Amit no longer writes poetry. He runs a publishing house and carries that as a loss. Pooja is in a happy marriage. But there is something she told her husband on their wedding night and that night was never forgotten. A wedding brings them together again. The second generation's line comes in. Pooja's son meets Amit's daughter. There is a secret as well. Anjali bore a child out of marriage when she was young and the girl was given up for adoption. The girl now appears. What the narrative is interested in is not love but continuity: its idea is that what one generation gave up comes back before the next, and that the same decisions are asked again. The narrative blames no side. Nobody is a traitor and nobody is a fool. Vijay is the most mature element. He knows his wife's past and does not use it as a weapon. With this film Yash Chopra set a shape in Indian cinema: a wide cast, two generations, snow, and poetry. The songs outlived the film. Lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi and music by Khayyam. The title song is a poem and returns through the narrative with different meanings. Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Rakhee, Waheeda Rehman, Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1970s Indian cinema and multi-character family melodrama. Who it is not for: anyone looking for pace; the film is long, the second half heavy, and the plot leans on coincidence.