The rounds of claim and counter-claim in the Hera Pheri controversy on the recent Monday when the heavens opened to make Bombay hell, reminds me of a water-soaked morning almost 50 years ago. The original hit Hera Pheri — Prakash Mehra’s 1976 masala movie — was our delight to catch on a day dawning wet enough for schools to quickly shut.  

We were avowed second day-second show fans, my classmate Nimmi and I. First day-first show for the most eagerly awaited flick was an impossibility at that school-going age. We suffered even a short wait, counting the hours for the Saturday noon slot. What got us giggling with excitement to Neptune Cinema opposite Bandra Station, wading through waters swirling in pools at our feet and torrents pelting from above? 

A Greek god blessed with a chin clefted enough to deeply drown in. That single screen theatre may well have been named for the Roman sea god. But ours was Vinod Khanna. Teamed with Amitabh Bachchan, in the jigri dost-turned-jaani-dushman “action thriller” as the prevailing genre was labelled, he made us melt.