Mere Saamnewali Khidki Mein

This song is from the Hindi 1968 classic movie called Padosan, which was a remake of a Bangla movie, Pasher Bari (the house next door) a year earlier. It follows the classic Cyrano de Bergerac story where a fool in love hires another guy to woo the girl next door on his behalf. This song is where the first seduction takes place. The song goes like this:

In the window across from me (Mere Saamnewali...)
A piece of the moon lives
This is the problem, that she stays
Somewhat detached from me

When I first saw the Bangla version of the movie, my first reaction was that how close the two windows are, there's no privacy for the girl. It's a male fantasy, I realize, so the girl must be nearby, and still out of reach.

The other aspect, which I love is how innocent and dorky the men are. It's supposed to be a working class tale, but they are really hapless guys, sweet, clueless and doormats. Compare this with the Steve Martin version of the tale, where Chris tells Roxanne:

Your breasts, they're like melons. No, no, they're like pillows. Can I fluff your pillows?

I don't think the Hindi censors would allow this kind of conversation.

Thank god for censor boards.