Rakshabandhan: 5 Bollywood Films That Celebrate Sibling Bonding

Rakshabandhan: The brother-sister  affection  so  emphatically underlined in  the Hindi film industry in Abhishek  Bachchan’s   profound  and protective love for his sister Shweta Nanda  and Sara Ali Khan’s doting Didi act with  her brother Ebrahim , was once a staple diet in  our films. Presenting the  films that  celebrated  sibling togetherness.

1.     Choti Bahen(1959): The great Balraj Sahni and Nanda  played siblings in this timeless tearjerker  about  a brother and a sister  who stand  by each other,  weathering  every man-made  and  god-given storm. The  highlight  of  this  sentimental  saga is Lata Mangeshkar’s   song Bhaiya mere raakhi ke bandhan ko nibhana, played unfailingly in every household for Raksha Bandhan. This film was made  in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada as well.

2.     Chhota Bhai(1966): An absolutely undiscovered gem with the very powerful Nutan playing surrogate sister to her  screen husband’s  little  brother  (Mahesh Kumar), the film showed  why  age is  no barrier for a sibling bonding , and Nutan who was  past  30  played out her sisterly bonding with  her  pre-teen  screen-brother with such vivid emotions, there was  not a  dry eye  in the theatres. Bahen  ho toh aisi.

3.     Pyari  Behna(1985): Mithun Chakraborty and the  very  talented and neglected Tanvi Azmi   played siblings in this chaotic melodrama where  interestingly  the  romantic leading lady Padmini Kolhapure had  a much  less pivotal  role than  ‘sister’ Tanvi. This  film directed  by  the redoubtable Bapu was not  a  major success. But the bonding between brother and  his pyari behna seems very real even today.

4.     Bandhan(1998):  Salman Khan and  Ashwini  Bhave play  inseparable siblings. So when  Jackie Shroff marries Bhave she insists on taking her  brother  to her sasural. The  relationship here was  bit obsessive and overdone.. But when it comes  to  Salman Khan over-the-top behaviour  is  only to  be expected.

5.     Sachcha  Jhutha(1970): Rajesh Khanna and  Naaz(who  played sister to almost every hero of  the  1960s and  70s) were  the siblings around whom the entire story  of this hit film coming at the peak of Khanna’s stardom, was woven. Who can forget the song Meri  pyari behaniya  banegi dulhaniya where  the Superstar sang and danced in anticipation  of  his dear sister’s marriag? Years later Amitabh Bachchan echoed  the  same sentiments to his  screen sister  in Adalat with Behna oh behna  teri doli main sajaaoonga. Stars change.Sentiments don’t.