With music being so intrinsic to the plot, the soundtrack had to keep step. Since his son’s departure, the servant Narayan, played by Asrani, tells us, music had not been heard in the house, and instructs Ravi to go the ‘jungle’ outside if he ever wants to sing. Music is the source of friction between Sanjeev Kumar and Pran, who sees his son’s dedication to a career in music as an ignoble pursuit. He also brings in a carom board, takes the children out for picnic, and, in what constitutes the biggest affront to Rai Sahab’s authority, reintroduces music in the house. He does so by shunning the cane stick in the classroom in favour of a more humane way of teaching hitherto unknown to the children. Into this situation steps Ravi, and after the initial hostilities, he manages to win over the children (and eventually Rai Sahab too). The film opens with Keshto Mukherjee, their comically strict tutor, being driven away with a ghostly make-believe. They are foul-mouthed and stubborn in their refusal to be schooled, deflecting all their tutors with a great deal of cunning. But the kids, led by Jaya Bhaduri’s Rama hold him responsible for their father’s death. After the death of his estranged son, played by Sanjeev Kumar, and daughter-in-law, the responsibility of raising their five children falls on him. He is a stickler for discipline but equally desperate to hire a tutor. An appointment is set up with the pipe smoking Rai Sahab, a retired colonel with a colonial hangover, played by Pran. In desperate need of a job, he leaves for the village of his maternal uncle and aunt, played by A.K. Jeetendra’s character Ravi is a city dweller unable to pay rent. Having seen all three is the stuff that film boasts are made of. Incidentally, a similar film was released in Bengali the previous year, called “Jay Jayanti”. Gulzar’s film is based on the Bengali novel “Rangeen Uttarain” by Raj Kumar Maitra, and also draws from the classic “The Sound of Music”. Far from the kitschy, jumpy image that he made his own, Jeetendra turns in a quiet performance as a private tutor with a loud “second track” inside his head. But people who have seen “Parichay” may find it in their hearts to forgive him. Imprints and Images of Indian Film Music - Parichay (1972) From dancing amidst the cryptic presence of pots in “Naino mein sapna” to turning badminton into a game of courtship in “Dhal gaya din”, Jeetendra has done it all.
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