Rajendra Kumar Tuli

An excellent film on the life and legacy of the legendary mystic and guru, Sai Baba of Shirdi. Pooja lives with her doctor husband and a young son. Her son becomes seriously ill and does not respond to any medication, her husband wants him to be moved to a hospital for further treatment, but Pooja has heard of Sai Baba and wants her son to be treated there. Her son regains consciousness for a short while and demands that he be taken to Shirdi, the town of Sai Baba. So they travel there, and that is where they meet with an ardent devotee of Sai Baba who recounts the tale behind the Baba. A young boy who traveled with a marriage procession to Shirdi, he stayed there, grew up, looked after by the kind townspeople, who subsequently named him Sai Baba. He showed Ganpat Rao that he is one with Vithoba and Bhagwan Shri Kishan; he demonstrated to Som Dev that he is one with Bhagwan Shri Shiv; former jailbird Heera regained his eyesight with Sai's blessing; During all of these miracles, the Sai always went door to door begging for alms and food. The legend grew, people flocked all over to witness this new Messiah, one whom the Muslims called "Allah Sai", Christians "Jesus Sai", Sikhs "Nanak Sai", and Hindus "Bhola Sai". Sai could recite scriptures from all the Holy books, whether it was the Holy Quran, the Holy Bible, the Holy Granth Sahib, or the Holy Geeta, and always blessed Hindus with "Allah bless you", and Muslims with "Krishna bless you". After his passing, a temple was built in his memory. It is here that a doubting doctor has to decide whether his ailing son can be treated by Sai Baba, and it is here where we will witness whether faith or scientific reality and logic will prevail. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Raju lives with his widowed mother, Janki, in a small town and works as garage mechanic. One day he meets with wealthy Rachna Malhotra, and after a few misunderstandings, both fall in love with each other. When Rachna's guardian, Diwan Mahendranath, finds out he forbids Rachna to ever see Raju again, as well as goes to Raju's house and humiliates his mother, for he wants Rachna to marry his son, Ramesh. An enraged Raju wants to avenge this humiliation and decides to teach Mahendranath a lesson. He enlists the help of his maternal uncle, Chamanlal Kapoor, and together they succeed in fooling Mahendranath and making him give up all his money. But at the very last moment, Mahendranath finds out that he has been tricked, and together he and Ramesh conceive a plan that will bring Raju and his mother to their knees - a plan that will change their lives forever. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Meloda (Saira Banu) who was educated in India, speaks Hindi; though she is Japanese. Dr. Gautamdas (Rajendra Kumar) is a UK trained doctor who volunteers to go to Japan to help deal with the horror of the radiation aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They meet in Japan and the inevitable happens when hero meets heroine. Lord Bertrand Russell in London, gives Gautam his blessings and best wishes for his travel to Japan. Russell , a pacifist and anti-war thinker (who appears in a cameo role) sets the tone of this 1967 film. On arrival in Japan Dr Gautamdas takes up a role in a hospital where Meloda's father Dr Akhira (Chetan Anand) is director. The storyline takes us through the stark and sometimes gory suffering that radiation victims endured; as a stark reminder of the long term damage caused by atomic weapons. A majority of the shoot sequences are in Japan, with director Mohan Kumar taking artistic liberties in switching from the Ginza strip, with pan shots of the Mitsubishi tower, the Hokkaido and with glimpses of Mt. Fuji. A scenic gondola ride, ski fields are all part of the package. Lata Mangeshkar's rendering of the fusion song "aisuru" is set to a musical score that is drawn from both cultures Shankar. Mohammed Rafi sings a few forgettable, but apt to the storyline songs. A group of fishermen are exposed to radiation from French nuclear tests in the Pacific, Dr Gautamdas mounts a daring rescue to help save the fishermen. Battling angry elements Dr Gautamdas helps the fishermen survive, saving every last one of them - but at what cost? When viewed in the context of India-Japan relationship, beginning with the arrival of Buddism in Japan, formation of the Indo-Japan Society in 1905, Japan's support for Subash Chandra Bose's INA this film takes on a meaning beyond a love story. It is a cry against the horrors of atomic weapons, the enduring damage they inflict and martyrdom for a cause.