Just a day before I was discussing the way Yash Chopra inventively used the immortal song “Haye O Rabba Nahio Lagda Dil Mera” by Reshma (Pakistan) in his film CHANDNI in the introduction scene of his two heroes. And then in the early hours of this morning got the news of Sridevi’s sudden demise in the age of just 54!
The shocking, sad news sent me back in time in the mesmerizing world of memories and also made me recall a life-teaching couplet of Kaifi Azmi saying,
“Rehney Ko Sada Dehar Mein Aata Nahin Koi, Tum Jaise Gaye Aisey Bhi Jaata Nahin Koi” …… (Dehar – World)
Honestly was never a die-hard fan of the diva till CHANDNI came in 1989 and won over our group of friends hands-down. We saw it more than thrice in the first week itself bunking our school classes, and used to have a great time dancing on the songs, especially on “Rang Bharey Baadal Se” with Sridevi singing her part in an innocent childlike voice along Jolly Mukherjee.
Interestingly the specific scene which got us hooked in every repeated viewing of the film was the one where Sri-Rishi talk about a drink during their assumed honeymoon saying “Konyak Sharaab Nahin Hoti” several times in the sequence. The word that got us stuck was KONYAK…. as we didn't even know what it was or how it was spelled correctly. Still all we wished to do was to somehow taste it once and then got desperate to have it by hook or crook in the coming days.
As students of XIth class in the school, we neither had any contact nor the money or any kind of information about the said drink. Yet we tried our best to find more about it searching in the market and even in the print media in school library and other available materials within our reach. An amount was also pooled in and given to a middle man to fetch it from somewhere exploiting his own sources. But he also couldn’t do the given task and returned the money after a couple of days.
So with a strong wish, we kept watching the film (and the scene) in theater as well on the rented VCR in the next few weeks but couldn’t get the drink and never could taste it facing a big disappointment.
A few years later while in college, we got informed that the drink was rightly pronounced as KONYAK but actually written as COGNAC and was a specific type of Brandy made in France. Probably that was the reason Yash Chopra included the dialogue “Konyak Sharaab Nahin Hoti”. And certainly wrong spellings was the reason why we couldn’t find its mention anywhere in the print media that time (searching from the letter K) in absence of any web media.
The innocent memories of the past again became fresh this morning hearing the tragic news and its these sudden, untimely deaths only that give us a strong reminder of our own unsure existence and the value of every precious moment in life gifted by the Supreme Power.
May the departed soul rest in peace, who was one of the most influential iconic figures inspiring us in our youth with
HIS BLESSINGS
Tags :
CHANDNI (1989) and Cognac (Konyak) Jo Sharaab Nahin Hoti By Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, Those Cherished Cinematic Moments, Those days of Single Screen mania, Nostalgia