''Baton Baton Mein'' () is a 1979 Indian

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film, produced and directed by

Basu Chatterjee Basu Chatterjee ( bn, বাসু চ্যাটার্জ্জী; 10 January 1927 – 4 June 2020) was an Indian film director and screenwriter. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Chatterjee became associated with what came to be known as mi ...

. The film stars

Amol Palekar Amol Palekar (born 24 November 1944) is an Indian actor, director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema. Career Palekar studied fine arts at the Sir JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, and commenced his artistic career as a painter. As a painter, he ...

and

Tina Munim Tina Ambani (née Munim) is a former Indian actress. She is married to Anil Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Group. She is actively involved in many foundations and charities. Many of these were established in the memory of her in-laws, Dhirubhai a ...

in leading roles.

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

Pearl Padamsee Pearl Padamsee (1931 – 24 April 2000) was an Indian theatre personality as a stage actress, director and producer of English language theatre in Mumbai active in 1950s–1990s. She acted a few Hindi and English language films, including '' K ...

Asrani Govardhan Asrani (born 1 January 1940), popularly known simply as Asrani, is an Indian actor and director whose Bollywood career has spanned five decades. He has acted in over 350 Hindi films. Asrani has played the lead roles, character roles ...

and Ranjit Choudhary appear in supporting roles. The film's music is by

Rajesh Roshan Rajesh Roshan Lal Nagrath (born 24 May 1955) is an Indian Hindi cinema music director and composer. He is the son of music director Roshan and singer Ira Roshan. Personal life Rajesh Roshan has a Punjabi Hindu father and Bengali Brahmin m ...

. At least three of the four songs became quite popular. The movie was a critical and commercial success. The popular song "Na bole Tum Na" is a rendition from the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

song "

When Johnny Comes Marching Home "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (Roud 6637), sometimes "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again", is a popular song from the American Civil War that expressed people's longing for the return of their friends and relatives who were fighting in the ...

Plot

Rosie Perreira is an overly anxious widow, living with her violin-obsessed son, Sabby and a lovely daughter, Nancy whom she would like to marry a wealthy young man. Her brother and neighbour, Tom introduces a young eligible Tony Braganza to Nancy on the 9:10 AM Western Railway local train from Bandra to

Churchgate Churchgate (Marathi pronunciation: ͡ʃəɾt͡ʃɡeːʈ is an area in South Mumbai. During the eighteenth and up to the mid-19th century, Mumbai was a walled city. The city walls had three gates, and Churchgate, named after St. Thomas Cathe ...

. Tom also asks Nancy to introduce Tony to Rosie, which she does. Rosie is initially apprehensive about him as he only drawing a mere Rs.300/- compared to Nancy's Rs.700/-, but soon changes her mind when she finds out that after his probationary period he will draw a monthly pay of Rs.1,000/-. Nancy and Tony are permitted to meet and both eventually fall in love. While Nancy has a past where she was betrayed by a boy whom she loved, she still likes Tony. Tony is hesitant, and this is what costs him Nancy's love, as Rosie feels that he will not come through with the marriage. And soon Rosie starts looking elsewhere for a son-in-law. Nancy does not like this, but she at first accepts her mum's wishes. Nancy and Tony have a fight and stop meeting each other on the train as well. When Tom learns about this, he speaks to Tony's father. Tony's father tells Tony that if he is still reluctant to make a commitment, he should tell Nancy about it. So Nancy and Tony meet each other and Nancy tells him that she will never meet him again. It is then that Tony feels that he actually loves Nancy and cannot live without her. Then Nancy also confesses her love for him and they marry.

Cast

as Tony Braganza *

as Nancy Perreira *

as Francis Fernandes *

as Tom Uncle *

Leela Mishra Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...

as Philomena Aunty *

as Rosie Perreira *

Arvind Deshpande Arvind (from sa, अरविन्द ') is a common Indian masculine name meaning lotus. The name is of Hindu origin. Its variants include Aravind, Aravinda, Aravindan, and Aurobindo (). Meaning ' means sun in the Sanskrit language. In pa ...

as Mr. Braganza * Piloo J. Wadia as Mrs. Braganza *

Ranjit Chowdhry Ranjit Chowdhry (19 September 1955 – 15 April 2020) was an Indian character actor, known for his roles in television, movies, and theatre. He appeared in two episodes of ''The Office'', as Vikram, a telemarketer who worked with Michael, and w ...

as Sabby Perreira * Uday Chandra as Henry * Shobhini Singh as Hazel Pinto

Music

All music was composed by

and the lyrics were by

Yogesh Yogesh is an Indian masculine given name. The Sanskrit word ' is a compound of the words ' and ' and has the meaning "master of yoga" and has also been used as an epithet of Shiva. Notable people * Yogesh (actor) (born 1990), Indian actor * Y ...

and

Amit Khanna Amit Khanna is an Indian film producer, director, writer, and journalist. He was the founder chairman of Reliance Entertainment, former president of the Producers Guild of India, and the founder trustee of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Imag ...

. Music for the song Na Bole Tum, Na Maine Kuch Kaha is lifted from Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye by

Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumper sweaters and are widely credited with po ...

Reception

In a retrospective review,

Vijay Lokapally Vijay Lokapally is an Indian sport journalist and author. He started his career when he joined the ''Patriot'' newspaper in 1981, and later moved to The Hindu Group (writing for its publication ''The Hindu'' and ''Sportstar'') from 1986. He is ba ...

of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' praised the film's realism and stated that it "surely lifts your spirit". Writing for the ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'', Sampada Sharma found the complications in Tony and Nancy's romance to be representative of present woes in modern relationships. Komal RJ Panchal of the ''Indian Express'' saw the film as a look at the daily lives of Mumbaiites and commended the non-stereotypical depiction of the Christian community in Bandra.

References

External links

* {{Basu Chatterjee 1979 films 1970s Hindi-language films Films directed by Basu Chatterjee 1979 romantic comedy films Films scored by Rajesh Roshan Films set in Mumbai