Hindi cinema, especially from the 1970s up to the early 2000s, is known to have adopted a very unrestrained and melodramatic approach to storytelling. Sometimes, given a competent director, it was controlled very well within the parameters of given story, sometimes it was absolutely unwatchable. Basically it depended on how well a filmmaker appreciated the intelligence of the viewer. The need to mark every crucial moment with either a strong background score or exaggerated signs/expressions (or both) to the average viewer so as to let them know that a crucial moment is taking place, was a true example of how poor filmmakers trained audiences to think a certain way instead of letting them interpret the situation on their own.
But then, there are other films, those melodramas made by filmmakers whose heart is in the right place. Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki is one such film. It is a most emotional story, and director Raj Khosla still makes the handling very stagy, yet it is portrayed with poignancy and soul that even those of us who are a little cynical about the sentimentality of such films might somehow be engaged. The film didn't have the same effect on me as films like, say, Mamta (1966), but it works. This is not to say it is a masterwork. It is, to my estimation, a most traditional mainstream film which is not spectacular but quite watchable and entertaining, and at points even involving and moving. The story and the dialogue work within this context, although the first half is much stronger.
The film's moral stand is distorted in many ways throughout the story; sacrifice is a recurring motif: the man marrying a woman he doesn't love to conform to familial norms, the mistress sacrificing her own life to leave the man solely to his legal wife (it's preposterous, I know, she could have just left, but it's a movie you know), the wife raising up the illegitimate child, then the child, now grown, taking the blame for his brother's acts. It's almost a melodramatic comedy of sacrifices which hardly ring true, but the film works despite these moral misdemeanors. Beautifully shot, and intentionally sentimental, it is intended for Hindi movie buffs. The beautiful music culminates in the wonderful title track in Lata Mangeshkar's divine voice.
Straight to the point, the film's prime asset is obviously Nutan, who gives this otherwise overly melodramatic fare its realistic energy with her naturalism and ability to be as unaffected as only an actor of her talent and calibre can be. Nutan shines in a fiery, transparent performance, and she is exactly the kind of actor who always respected her audiences. Asha Parekh is also very good as the mistress, although these parts of self-righteous courtesans are a bit off for me. Vijay Anand makes a nice appearance in the first half, but it is Vinod Khanna, an actor of great presence and style, who owns the show in a weaker second half and improves its low efficacy. Main Tulsi Tere Aangan, despite the shortcomings, is an unusually watchable fare.
