Review of Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein

I just learned from other reviewers that the director Meraj was a Gulzar assistant and it shows. This is just like a Gulzar movie and it's lovely. The story is about unemployed graduate Ravi played by Rajesh Khanna who unexpectedly gets the job of a postman in a village. He's a charming lad with an affable personality and quick-witted and thus takes no time to endear himself to the villagers where he feels quite at home. He falls for the village girl Mohini played by Hema Malini when he mistakes her eagerness to befriend the new village postman as her abiding interest in him personally. But she has a little secret. The rest of the story deals with the secret and how it changes everyone's lives. A simply charming romantic movie. The film slipped a bit in the first few village scenes when an unnecessary melodrama was attempted with little stories of other villagers like the insane old woman pining for her dead son and the cheerful army widow but those stories werent done very well and didnt elicit the expected emotions. The story really picks up in the second half and the light hearted movie leaves one wanting more at the end. Actually apart from the aforementioned forced sort of scenes that were also out of place because particularly those scenes looked contrived so much so that even the village looked like a set in those few scenes and not like a real indian village. The music is ok not spectacular like one expects from a Gulzar movie, esp the song "Allah Megh de" is just awful. Rest of the songs are ok and "Dakiya daak laya" is good and situational. Rajesh Khanna is at his best and so is Hema Malini. Everyone knows about Kaka's skills but i dont know why Hema Malini is so underrated as an actress. i guess its true what they say...people do undermine beautiful people after all even if they're talented..they just deride it.