浪漫刺客

8月21日，网友“三只喵喵”在社交平台发帖反映，“太可怕了，提示大家尽量不要网上购买绿植，家里接二连三出现蛇，魂儿都吓没了，已经不能好好入睡好好工作了。    Hrishikesh Mukherjee started his career in the film world as an editor. He was editor and assistant director to another Bengali great, Bimal Roy, and edited Roy’s films like Do Bigha Zamin (1953), Devdas (1955) and Madhumati (1958). He’s also edited films like Gunga Jumna (1961) and Coolie (1983), among others. Malayalam language films like Chemmeen (1965) and Nellu (1974) have also been edited by him. He branched out as an independent director with the episodic film Musafir (1957). Commercial success followed with films like Anari (1959) and Asli Naqli (1961). But it was with Anupama (1964) which depicted the filial bond between a father and a daughter, that he began to be counted as a director who could successfully marry art and commercial cinema. He went on to make seminal films like Aashirwad (1968), Satyakam (1969), Guddi (1971), Anand (1971), Bawarchi (1972), Abhimaan (1973), Namak Haraam (1973), Mili (1975), Chupke Chupke (1975), Gol Maal (1979), Khubsoorat (1980) and many more. His films were set in middle-class India and were populated with characters who battled emotional crises. The masses were able to relate to his heart-touching stories and characters and that’s why his films are fondly watched even today. Here’s taking a look at some of his best films as a director over the years.      In This Article      Anupama (1966)Aashirwad (1968)Satyakam (1969)Anand (1971)Guddi (1971)Bawarchi (1972)Namak Haram (1973)Abhimaan (1973)Mili (1975)Chupke Chupke (1975) Khubsoorat (1980)Anupama (1966)          Cast: Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Tarun Bose               Mohan Sharma (Tarun Bose), a successful businessman, is happily married to Aruna (Surekha Pandit), who unfortunately dies while giving birth to their daughter. Distraught, Mohan Sharma becomes an alcoholic and can’t bear to see his daughter's face. Uma (Sharmila Tagore) is brought up by servants and while she’s beautiful and intelligent, she’s highly introverted and in her heart blames herself for her mother’s death. She begins to love Ashok (Dharmendra) but agrees to marry another man when she learns her father doesn’t like him. Love, however, has changed her and noticing the change, her father finally comes to his senses and lets her lead her own life.     Aashirwad (1968)          Cast: Ashok Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Sumita Sanyal          Jogi Thakur (Ashok Kumar) leaves home when he finds out that his wife had ordered the houses of the poor be razed. Later, he kills a man who was trying to rape a girl. He gives himself up and is given a life sentence. Some years later, he’s shown to be friends with the prison doctor (Sanjeev Kumar. He’s happy to learn that his daughter is to be married to the doctor but hides his identity when he comes to know she hates criminals. He’s released on the day of her wedding, and watches it from afar, giving her his final blessings before succumbing to a heart attack. Ashok Kumar was praised for his sublime acting and won both the National Award and the Filmfare Award for his performance.      Satyakam (1969)          Cast: Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore     The film revolves around Satyapriya (Dharmendra) and his experiments with absolute truth. He fails to save Sharmila Tagore’s character from being raped by his employer and is a fit of guilt, marries her. And this guilt never leaves him but goads him to pursue truth at any cost -- be it the loss of employment, property or even life. Tears fly when Sharmila accepts her dead husband’s harsh way of life and tells her son that he can’t light his father’s pyre as he biologically wasn’t sired by him. Yes, truth has prevailed -- but can the child handle the truth?     Anand (1971)          Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan          Anand was a paean about friendship, about facing life stoically and laughing even at death’s threshold. The film was dedicated to Raj Kapoor and Hrishida allegedly wrote the film as a testimony to his friendship with Kapoor. Rajesh Khanna breezed through the title role of an extroverted cancer patient who faces the terminal stage of his disease with laughter on his face and sees death as another adventure. He lives several lifetimes in his last few months and teaches others, especially his caring doctor  Bhaskar Bannerjee aka Babumoshoi, to loosen up and enjoy life more. Bachchan's reserved, restrained performance was the perfect foil to Khanna’s exuberance. The film doesn’t fail to put tear faucets into overdrive with every rerun.     Guddi (1971)          Cast: Dharmendra, Jaya Bhaduri     Though she has acted in Satyajit Ray’s Mahanagar (1963) in a supporting role, Guddi is Jaya Bhaduri’s debut film as far as Hindi cinema is concerned. She played a schoolgirl obsessed with the actor, Dharmendra, in the film. She’s so much into him that she even refuses to marry the man intended for her, saying she can’t love another as she’s totally in love with the actor. Her uncle (Utpal Dutt) meets with Dharmendra and asks her to help out in the situation. The actor has to play out a different role for the girl to realise the difference between the reel and real life. It was a power-packed performance by the youngsters and she came to rule the hearts and minds of the audience as the good girl.     Bawarchi (1972)          Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Jaya Badhuri, Asrani, A.K. Hangal, Usha Kiran and Durga Khote     The film revolves around the dynamics of the dysfunctional Sharma family, comprising Daduji (Harindranath Chattopadhyay), his sons Ramnath Sharma (AK Hangal) and Kashi (Kali Bannerjee), their respective wives Seeta Sharma (Durga Khote) and Shobha Sharma (Usha Kiran), another son Vishwanath Sharma (Asrani), and granddaughters Meeta (Manisha) and Krishna (Jaya Bhaduri). Servants tend to run away from their family every six months because the members are always quarrelling. Raghu (Rajesh Khanna) their latest cook soon starts noticing their quirks and starts placating them one by one, winning their trust in the process. There’s harmony in the house and the brothers start interacting with each other. Raghu turns out to be a Good Samaritan in disguise whose mission in life is to bring peace and happiness to families who are in dire need of it.     Namak Haram (1973)          Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Rekha, Amitabh Bachchan          This film was the beginning of the end of Rajesh Khanna’s reign. He played a man who infiltrates the trade union in order to avenge the humiliation faced by his industrialist pal and then starts respecting the workers’ rights and their fight against the capitalist culture. Well, the best friend’s role was played by Amitabh Bachchan. According to movie lore, Khanna was offered this role first but he declined it as he saw more merit in the role of a suffering martyr. The audience thought otherwise and was more taken in by Bachchan’s brooding persona. Bachchan had another hit the same year, the massive Zanjeer, in which he played the angry young cop to perfection and effectively took over the superstar’s mantle.     Abhimaan (1973)          Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Asrani, Bindu, A.K. Hangal          Subir (Amitabh Bachchan) a renowned singer is a darling of the masses and much in demand. Once, while visiting his aunt in a remote village, he listens to Uma (Jaya Bachchan) singing and falls in love with her. They get married and initially, their days pass in blissful serenity. Trouble starts when Subir asks her to take up singing professionally. She reluctantly agrees and soon her popularity soars. She’s more in demand than him and he can’t digest this fact. Differences crop up between them. He leaves her and she suffers a miscarriage. She becomes hugely depressed because of it. The only way out is through music. Amitabh and Jaya complete each other in the film and perhaps have given the finest performance as a pair in the film.      Mili (1975)          Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Ashok Kumar     Mili (Jaya Bachchan) has pernicious anaemia, a disease which was considered incurable back then. She’s the apple of everyone’s eye in her building, especially of children, with whom she plays boisterously despite the age difference. A new tenant Shekhar (Amitabh Bachchan) comes to live in their building and their paths cross. Shekhar is a man running from his past and wants to drown his sorrow in alcohol. Once, in a fit of depression, he tries to commit suicide and is saved by Mili and her father (Ashok Kumar). Mili and Shekhar come closer and sort of fall in love with each other. He marries her and takes her to Switzerland in search of a cure. The film ends on an open note. We don’t know what happens further in Mili and Shekhar’s lives and can only hope for a positive outcome.      Chupke Chupke (1975)           Cast: Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, Jaya Bachchan          The film was a remake of the Bengali film Chhadmabeshi (1971), starring Uttam Kumar and Madhabi Mukherjee. It centred around the prank played by Dr Parimal (Dharmendra), on his brother-in-law Raghav Sharma (Om Prakash). Parimal comes to Mumbai posing as a driver from Allahabad and is instantly hired. Sometimes later, Sulekha (Sharmila Tagore), too lands up at her sister’s place. The growing intimacy between the driver and Sulekha is frowned upon by all. Catastrophe strikes when they elope and Sukumar (Amitabh Bachchan) posing as Parimal, comes to Mumbai. He is made to stay in a mutual friend Prashant’s (Asrani) house and love blossoms between Sukumar and Prashant’s sister-in-law Vasudha (Jaya), leading to further confusion.      Khubsoorat (1980)           Cast: Rekha, Rakesh Roshan, Ashok Kumar, Dina Pathak and Shashikala     When Manju (Rekha) comes to stay for some time with elder sister Anju (Aradhana) after the latter’s marriage, she’s bewildered to find that it resembles an army barrack more and an actual house less. The house is run in clockwork precision by  Anju's strict mother-in-law Nirmala Gupta (Dina Pathak). Dwarka Prasad (Ashok Kumar), her husband, likes gardening, youngest Jagan (Ranjit Chowdhry) loves rock music, while the elder sons like to play cards.           The middle son Inder (Rakesh Roshan) is studying to be a doctor and starts liking Manju. Everyone follows their hobbies but in secret. Manju brings a revolution of sorts in the house by making sure everyone enjoys themselves in Nirmala’s absence. It so happens that Dwarka Prasad has a heart attack and it’s Manju who saves his life by keeping a sane head at the time of calamity. Rekha was at her finest in the film and carried it on her shoulders.。

二 | ”

网友“三只喵喵”网购的“黑金刚橡皮树”一转身1条蛇朝她游来吓得踩着椅子跳开逃跑8月22日晚上7点多，橙柿互动记者联系上了发帖网友高女士，40岁。高女士告诉记者，她在北京通州开盲人推拿店。7月15日下午，她在一家微店看到“黑金刚橡皮树”，看着挺好，还不贵，可以买来摆在店里，于是下单购买，支付了59.8元，当天下午，绿植从广州发往北京通州，7月19日绿植收货。

三 | “我就把它摆在进门的旁边，吧台的前面。”

高女士店内的吧台“8月3日晚上9点半，我正打开吧台的柜子翻找东西，一转身发现一条蛇在后面看着我，它正弯弯曲曲蛇形在动，把我吓坏了，我踩着椅子就逃了出去，我怕一切软体动物，特别是蛇。”高女士的合伙人樊先生告诉记者，店里的员工视力都不太好，后来还是顾客帮忙找蛇，箱子都翻了个遍，蛇是趴在吧台下的羽毛球拍上。最后是小区的保安过来帮我们处理的，用扫把蛇扫进簸箕，再倒进玻璃瓶带走放生的。”高女士说，“我们的吧台有两米长，下面是封死的，3面都封住的，只有一侧开口可以进出。那条蛇很小，只有筷子粗细，大概20厘米长，当时是蛇形在动。

四 | ”

一夜过后，蛇再次出现高女士说，“8月4日上午9点半，我正在搞卫生，上午10点要开门营业，当时我正在吧台口子上拖地，一抬头又看到一条蛇趴在吧台里面，大小和之前那条差不多，吓得我直接逃开了，然后打了119，消防10分钟不到就到了，还带来了抓蛇的工具，我说工具应该用不上，蛇很小，最后是戴手套把蛇抓走的。消防说这个蛇无毒，带走要放生的。店铺接连出现蛇，我们怀疑和新购买的绿植有关，消防说不太可能，如发现了再给他们打电话。连着早晚在店里发现蛇，把我吓得是浑身无力，整个人是发蔫的。”消停半个月更大的蛇接连出现沟通退款不理，店家让买杀蛇药高女士说，“之后很长一段时间没再闹蛇，人总算恢复了过来。8月20日上午9点45分，又是在店里拖地拖到吧台那，又是一条蛇趴在吧台里面，这次的蛇明显比之前的要大，但我太害怕了，没敢细看拔腿就跑。

五 | 9点47分我又打了119，消防和物业很快都来了，但找了半天也找不到，最后物业在墙壁踢脚线的缝隙里发现了这条蛇。物业经理还发现‘黑金刚橡皮树’里有褪下来的蛇皮，直接就把绿植抱到室外。消防员扒开根部的泥土发现有不少蛋，消防员说是蛇蛋，现场我看到地上有3枚蛇蛋，泥土里还有，但看着都瘪瘪的。“处理完消防和物业都离开了，我又回到店里搞卫生拖地。上午10点25分，我在吧台墙壁后面又发现了一条蛇，墙后是上下楼的楼梯，这条蛇和前面那条蛇一样大，我赶紧找来物业把蛇抓走放生。

六 |

抓到的小蛇被放生“8月20日下午，我开始和微店沟通希望退款，对方至今也没退款，还让我去买杀蛇的药，向微店发起了投诉也没有结果，我查了这家网店的营业执照，发现企业注册在郑州，我打了郑州的12315，他们让我打12345，现在市场监督管理局在调查处理，还在等结果。

七 |

高女士网购的绿植（广州运往北京）“我的推拿店是2023年开业的，开业时也买了两三千元绿植，之后陆陆续续又添了一两千元的，前后四五千元的绿植都是在北京线下店买的，从来没出现过这种情况，我感觉网购绿植还是有风险的，并且维权处理也很麻烦，昨天发帖就是想给广大网友提个醒。这几天我根本睡不好，闭眼眼前就全是蛇……”橙柿互动·都市快报 记者 陈卫民