Mumbai, Oct 30: It may be a washout at the box-office but Inteha brings out an interesting, though lately neglected, theme of Hindi cinema - sisterly bonding. The theme comes across strongly as the two leading ladies, Vidya Mallvade and Nauheed Cyrusi, battle it out in the Vikram Bhatt film.

There was a time when films would intermittently harp on sisterly affections. In Guru Dutt's Baharen Phir Phir Bhi Aayengi , Mala Sinha and Tanuja played two sisters vying for the attentions of the same man, Dharmendra.

Many decades later Tanuja's daughter Kajol was part of another sisterly triangle. In Abbas-Mustan's suspense thriller Baazigar , Kajol shared sisterly space with Shilpa Shetty.

Both films packed in a great deal of warmth in the sisters' relationship. The theme comes across strongly as the two leading ladies, Vidya Mallvade and Nauheed Cyrusi, battle it out in the Vikram Bhatt film.

There was a time when films would intermittently harp on sisterly affections. In Guru Dutt's Baharen Phir Phir Bhi Aayengi , Mala Sinha and Tanuja played two sisters vying for the attentions of the same man, Dharmendra.

Many decades later Tanuja's daughter Kajol was part of another sisterly triangle. In Abbas-Mustan's suspense thriller Baazigar , Kajol shared sisterly space with Shilpa Shetty.



Both films packed in a great deal of warmth in the sisters' relationship.

However, of late films have been focussing more on other relationships. In Karan Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham , there was the possibility of seeing Kajol and Kareena Kapoor vibe in sisterhood. However, even though the two were cast as sisters, there was hardly any remarkable moment of camaraderie between them.


More pronounced was the sisterly bond between Preity Zinta and Mahima Chowdhary in Kundan Shah's Dil Hai Tumhara . Like Baharen Phir Bhi Ayengi , it showed the two sisters locked in a fight to finish for the affections of Arjun Rampal.



Incidentally, Arjun is also part of Khalid Mohamed's forthcoming Tehzeeb where sisterhood plays a pivotal part.


Urmila Matondkar and Diya Mirza are cast as sisters who grow up together while mother Shabana Azmi is out pursuing a career in music.


Tehzeeb tries to play around with patriarchal rules. The men occupy a subsidiary place while the three women, Shabana, Urmila and Diya take centre-stage.


In Gurinder Chaddha's much talked-about Bride & Prejudice , the relationship among three sisters, played by Namrata Shirodhkar, Aishwarya Rai and Meghna Kothari, is an integral part of the drama.
In debutant director E Vaz's Paisa Vasool , Sushmita Sen and Manisha Koirala star as two friends and roommates who share an almost-sisterly relationship.

Says Vaz, "It's fun to explore the relationship between two single women who have fun solving each other's and their own problems."



A couple of years ago, Rajiv Menon's Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain focussed on the relationship between two sisters, Tabu and Aishwarya Rai, one introverted, serious and brooding, the other outgoing and gregarious.


But the theme has by and large become non-existent in today's cinema even though stories of male bonding have a huge market.


Kunal Kohli's Mujhse Dosti Karoge had Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee playing sisterly pals who grow up in the same city, go to the same school and college, wear the same clothes and finally fall in love with the same man.


Some years ago, Kalpana Lajmi's Rudaali showed two women, Raakhee and Dimple Kapadia, sharing a subtle solidarity that subsumed both sisterly and filial emotions.


Maybe one of these days the actresses will surprise by singing Yeh dosti hum nahin todenge like Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra in Sholay !