Zeenat Aman in 'Chhaila Babu' , 1977.
As a nearly 16-year-old towards the end of 1977, I watched a movie called ‘Chhaila Babu’ in Ahmedabad. It starred Rajesh Khanna and Zeenat Aman. Forty five years later I watched the film again today in search of a visual memory that Zeenat Aman had left so sharply etched on my ragingly hormonal teenage mind—a flaming pink plastic flower sticker pasted on her upper right thigh.
Before I get into specifics, let me just point out that for no ostensible reason the YouTube algorithm suggested to me the movie today on my page. ‘Chhaila Babu’ was nowhere on my mind. It had not been on my mind since 1977. However, when I saw its icon on my YouTube page, there was a gushing surge of memories, at the top of which was Zeenat Aman’s upper right thigh and the pink plastic sticker on it.
I was reasonably sure that there were scenes in the movie I watched four and a half decades ago showing a pink flower sticker on the upper thigh of Zeenat Aman. I think I have made my point by repeating that bit about the pink flower sticker's placement. I am sure you get my drift. However, my point is only marginally about the obvious sexiness of that visual and mainly about how the human mind retains information via enduring visual references. Those references came an hour and sixteen minutes into the film as Aman performed a seductive oomph-laden dance. When that dance started, I knew I was about to be reintroduced to the pink flower sticker you know where.
On seeing that I was both elated and relieved that my mind had not falsified a memory or extrapolated it from somewhere else. Although I generally have a very strong visual retention over decades, mine is not by any measure an eidetic memory. I concede that remembering the visuals so precisely was partly a function of my hormonal teenage mind, but it is mainly about the way my brain stores information visually. It is not my case that I am unusual in that. I am sure it is true of a large number of people.
For instance, I remember a pink flowery salwar kameez worn by a journalist friend when she walked into my newspaper office in 1984. She shall remain anonymous.
Separately, what a coming together this is of human memory and algorithms of the information age we live in.
You can be sure that I will paint this at some point soon.