Bees Saal Baad, ‘Judwaa 2’ ne ‘Neend Churayi Meri’. But why?

Seems like the 90s are all over us, yet again. Though the period is very dear to us who were born and brought up in the legendary decade, the current scenario totally proves that some things should be left in the past. It’s the same government in the center, the dying issue of Ram Mandir keeps cropping every now and then as development has gone bonkers, and then we have Bollywood who is grasping for the straws of the gone decade as it drowns in the sea of losses, grasping for breath. All the shreds of creativity were shed apart as the recreated remnants of the decade was wrapped in shiny new package and presented to us, this year.

The year is almost over now. So many recreated songs have come and gone by, so why am I picking the pen (or punching the keys, in this case) now? Well, yesterday was a legendary day, as the iconic bees saal baad moment happened, not once, but twice. Yes, ‘Judwaa 2’ was not the only pathetic remnant of a 1997 legend that we came across yesterday, one hit song of the 90s was recreated and released as well.

Breaking the suspense, it was ‘Maine Tujhko Dekha’ from ‘Golmaal Again’, which when we clicked on unsuspiciously, turned out to the recreated version of ‘Neend Churayi Meri’ from another 1997 superhit, ‘Ishq’. The original video still makes us go mushy as a shy Ajay grooves with Kajol, and the energy that Aamir and Juhi brought on screen. On the other hand, the newer one made us cringe with its ‘pachpan bachpan’ jokes, referring clearly to inappropriate jodi which was romancing as we watched, horrified; Ajay and Parineeti, who is almost half the former’s age. Well, we don’t know what to say except for the fact that it was not one pleasing sight when Ajay gave a string of kisses to Pari.

In no way do we mean that the audio was not pleasing. It was a delightful surprise to have Neeraj Sridhar back on our playlists, and the composition itself is a foot-tapping one. But an Ajay Devgn romancing Parineeti is as cringe-worthy as it can get.

To rub salt in the wounds, we had to endure the curious case of pedophelia (almost), after we had got over the torture to the memory of ‘Judwaa’ i.e. ‘Judwaa 2′. While we understand David Dhawan’s need to not come out of his comfort zone of 90s’ comedies and find his answer to the question of ‘Mere Salman-Govinda kab aayenge?’ in his younger son, we would still prefer and advise to go watch the original one, and not tarnish your 90s’ memories with this one.

Point is, why would anyone want to spend money on a plot which they have already seen in the past, and which they can again find on the internet? While filmmakers continue to raid their 90s’ closet for dressing them in the millenial clothes despite the aforesaid logic, we are still recovering from the two visual shocks that our senses suffered yesterday.

Bees saal baad, two ghosts of the 90s’ rose again, but why, we don’t know. Maybe the makers would know the answer.

Kadambari Srivastava

Grammar Nazi, word weaver, dreamer, bibliophile, technophile, caffeine addict, foodie, shuttling shopaholic! Mash it in a Bollywood recipe and voila! Pushpa, you’ve got her!