Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik may have admitted his guilt, but the soap opera that gripped both Indian and Pakistani fans can still throw up a few twists and turns: that's the verdict of filmmakers and scriptwriters.
After all, real-life soap opera has been the subject of several Bollywood films—'Naseeb Apna Apna', ‘Saajan', ‘Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai', ‘Asha Jyoti', ‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge', and ‘Maang Bharo Sajana' to name only a few. Even the Pakistani stage has had productions following a similar plot, reports Times of India.
A number of these films were made in the ‘80s, starring the likes of Rajesh Khanna and Jeetendra—by a strange quirk of fate, many have been the brainchild of South Indian directors. In producer K C Bokadia's ‘Naseeb Apna Apna', directed by T Rama Rao, Rishi Kapoor plays the role of a rather callous husband who leaves his Plain Jain village wife for an educated and good-looking city girl.
The similarities are not lost on Bokadia. He said: “From what's been reported in the media, there seem to be plenty of similarities between the real- and reel-life plots. But I don't know the story behind Shoaib's ‘marriage' to Ayesha.''
In another film, ‘Asha Jyoti', a young Rajesh Khanna makes good on his promise to marry Reena Roy. But when she mysteriously disappears, he quickly settles down with Rekha's character. What he does not expect is Roy resurfacing with a child.
Film critic and author Dilip Thakur said: “Most films including ‘Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai', ‘Asha Jyoti' and ‘Maang Bharo Sajana' had storylines where a hero pleases an ordinary-looking girl but leaves her for an attractive woman. There are times when the girl cries foul, but true to Hindi cinema, but sometimes she makes the ultimate sacrifice for the love of her husband.''
A more recent film that bears a distant resemblance to the real-life imbroglio is Kunal Kohli's ‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge', where the protagonist played by Hrithik Roshan has to make a choice between two childhood friends, Rani Mukherjee and Kareena Kapoor. In the film Rani impersonates Kareena by writing mail for years on her say-so to Roshan.
