Katha

<p>The film is loosely based on the classic folktale of the hare and the tortoise, providing a modern interpretation. It is based on S.G. Sathye’s Marathi play (Hare and Tortoise). The tortoise — Rajaram P. Joshi ( ) — is a middle-class clerk living in a chawl (a common lower middle-class apartment complex which has several families living in small rooms with common toilets) in Bombay. He is secretly in love with his neighbour Sandhya Sabnis ( ), but is unable to express his love due to his timid nature. Rajaram is a good natured and hardworking man. His neighbours and colleagues take advantage of his simplicity. One day Rajaram’s smooth-talking, roguish friend Vasudev aka Bashu ( ) — the hare — comes visiting as a house guest and makes himself at home in the chawl. Bashu makes a good impression on everybody with his charming, friendly demeanor, his extraordinary good looks and exaggerated stories of success. Bashu starts wooing Sandhya, and she falls in love with him. He then joins Rajaram’s company Footprint Shoes by impressing the owner Mr. Dhindhoria with untrue stories about his work experience in “good ol’ England” and his newfound love of golf. Dhindhoria has a passion for golf and is easily impressed. Typically, Bashu soon starts flirting with Dhindhoria’s beautiful and young wife Anuradha ( ) as well as his daughter Jojo ( ) by his first marriage, courting both women at the same time. In the chawl, meanwhile, the Sabnis family decides to get Sandhya married to Bashu much to Rajaram’s shock and disappointment. But on the day of the engagement, Bashu disappears. The footloose and fancy free youth does not wish to be tied down by marriage. The engagement is called off. Rajaram then offers to marry the devastated Sandhya, but she hints that she has been intimate with Bashu and is therefore unworthy of Rajaram. Still, Rajaram shows his love by offering to accept her and finally expresses his long repressed love towards her. They get married. Meanwhile, Bashu ensnares an employer and flies off to the on his next adventure. The music of the film was composed by Raj Kamal, while lyrics were written by Indu Jain. Sai Paranjpye was very annoyed with producer Basu Bhattacharya when the release of got delayed. 3 years later when she made , she purposely named Farooque Shaikh’s character, which had negative shades, Basu Bhatt.</p>