Ek Jind Ek Jaan (2006)

Sukhi (Raj Babbar) and Gurjeet (Ritu Shivpuri) become engaged, but trouble brews when the to-be bride discovers that her intended has no desire to procreate. You see, Sukhi has already taken on the  responsiblity of  raising his young step-siblings which he feels will be more than enough child rearing for one lifetime. Gurjeet does not seem to be overjoyed by the prospect of raising someone else’s children.

Rather then shatter Gurjeet’s dreams of starting a brood of her own, Sukhi decides that it is best to call off the marriage, despite Gurjeet’s brother Kundan (Deep Dhillon)’s offer to pay to have the step-kiddies shipped to a far off hostel (how thoughtful) so that the couple would not have to deal with them.

Kundan is not pleased that Sukhi is refusing to retract his un-engagement to his sister and vow’s that the man is destined to be abandoned by his siblings once they have grown up.

15 years later…..

(thank you subtitlewala, for making this clear for us Angrezi speakers)

….and the little ones have grown up.

…Guddi (Prabhleen)…

…Channi (Mighty Gill)…

…and above all, Karma (Aryan Vaid)…

Guddi and Channi have become well educated, with Guddi now a college co-ed and Channi a medical student at Hero DMC Clinic.

On the other hand, having spent his childhood bunking school, the  handsome, but educationally unmotivated Karma finds himself working a dead-end, low wage delivery job…

Since childhood, slacker Karma has harbored a love for Nimmi (Nagma). Sadly, Nimmi and her family went away to the city many years ago and Karma has neither seen nor heard from her since. In flashback we see the young Karma (Ranvijay) and Nimmi (Rittu) as best friends.

While Sukhi is seeing Nimmi and her family off at the train station for their move to the big city in hopes of a better life, young Karma is off trying to scrape up enough money to buy Nimmi a going away present, a set of red bangles which she specifically had wished for.  Since Sukhi, a farmer, and Nimmi’s dad Dhanwant Singh (Arun Bakshi), a tongawala, are good friends they decide to fix the marriage of the two children right then and there, thus little Nimmi leaves on a happy note.

Karma, with the red bangles, arrives at the station long after the train has departed and thus is unable to gift his friend the jewelry that he worked all day long to buy.

Back to “15 Years Later” we find that Karma is still pining away for Nimmi.

Seeing this, Sukhi decides it is time to reconnect with Dhanwant Singh and family and he sets off for the big, bad metropolis. What Sukhi does not realize yet is that Dhanwant has become a rich, successful, and uncaring capitalist who now has no intention of allowing his daughter to marry Karma, who he considers a penniless grunt.

Humiliated, Sukhi returns to the village and tries to keep the disappointing news from Karma. But Karma finds out and decides to go to the city to find out what’s what with Nimmi.

Posing as an unemployed stranger he manages to worm his way into a washerman job at Singh’s palatial home, thanks to Dhanwant’s kind wife, who has no idea that the new employee is the now grown-up little boy who had been her daughter Nimmi’s best friend.

Into the scene walks Nimmi, all growed up and acting pricey.

Her attitude does not deter Karma, who still loves her. Nimmi, however, now has a fiancée, a beefy tennis player named Pal (Sameep Kang).

Karma refuses to accept defeat and, while still posing as a household servant, vows to learn why Nimmi has forgotten him and taken another. But when he is in danger of losing Nimmi for good, he reveals the truth about who he is during Nimmi and Pal’s engagement party.

Will Nimmi remember Karma? And if so, would her father ever allow her to marry him?

Will Pal break Karma’s instrument? And if so, how will Karma and Nimmi ever make sweet music together?

Will Sukhi ever get over his insult at the hands of his former friend, Dhanwant? And will his step siblings really abandon him as Kundan had predicted?

And what of Channi and Guddi? Will these two siblings develop plotlines of their own?

You must see EK JIND EK JAAN to find out!

Once you get past the multiple, lengthy ads and previews, none of which you are able to by-pass on this Eros DVD, you are in for one great Punjabi entertainer, full of vivid colors and costumes that are an absolute treat for the eye.

Another treat for the eye is Aryan Vaid as Karma. As I have mentioned in my look at his film CHAAHAT EK NASHA, I don’t understand why Vaid does not have a bigger career…Ah well, at least he has steady work with starring roles in B films and secondary roles in major productions such as VEER and RIGHT YA WRONG.

Vaid has a wonderful, deep, masculine voice and I often wonder if he is much of a singer. With a voice like his he could certainly make a fine crooner. To hear his voice for yourself check out this interview (he comes across as a very down to earth sort):

Vaid also shows fine comedic timing in this film, particularly in the delightful sparring between his phoney washerman character and Singh’s Marathi servant Nekiram (played by Kuldeep Sharma) who is not at all happy to have this Punjab hick interfering in his household. Here is a scene of the two as Nekiram shows Karma to his room, which they will both have to share, and which Nekiram tries to divide between the two of them.

As for the remainder of the cast two stand-outs are yesteryear star Raj Babbar who is, as always, wonderful as the elder brother taking care of his kin. Comedy relief is brought to us by the hilarious Gurpreet Guggi who I always find very enjoyable, although I do wonder if there are any other comedians in Punjab? Gurpreet seems ot have a monopoly in films of this region. I have yet to see a Punjabi film, or even a Hindi film with Punjabi characters, that Gurpreet is not in.

One thing that I love about Punjabi cinema, in general, is that they are not afraid to dole out feel good family melodramas, something Hindi films seem to rarely make these days. It may be an  old- fashioned  genre,  but it is a genre that I do really enjoy, particularly after I have overloaded on Hindi and Tamil action pics.  EK JIND EK JAAN is a  nice example of this kinder and gentler product.

I leave you with some additional screen caps for your eye candy enjoyment! There were so many glorious costumes in this film that I just couldn’t not show them to you!

…and I seriously dig the different colors of turbans!