Chitchor – Alternate Endings Suggested by a Seven Year Old

The kids got to see their second Hindi movie – the 1976 movie Chit Chor starring Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab. The second grader is learning Hindi at school but, since we mostly speak English at home, has a long way to go with his conversational Hindi. Our younger one (in Montessori) was completely at sea with the dialogues but still seemed to enjoy the movie. Given this backdrop, we’d pause the movie every once in a while and summarize the storyline. At one such paused moment, we were explaining the quandary faced by ZW’s character — whether to choose Amol P or Vijayendra G as her life partner. Here’s the conversation between the second grader and his mother:

2G: “She can marry both of them, can’t she?”

Mom: “No, she can’t! Only one of them!”

2G: “She can get married to one of them and become best friends with the other, right?”

(yes – but which one?)

2G continues: “Or she can be good friends with both of them and marry a third person also…”

Lest we read too much into these alternate endings uttered so casually, here’s the bed-time conversation a few hours later.

Mom: “So what was your favorite part of the movie?”

2G: “The part where the jeep was overtaking the car.”

Mom and dad looked at each other and said in unison “Never mind! Good night sweetheart!”