With a few elegant cuts you can build up a great scene and for instance, here’s drawing a parallel between two of my favorite classics, Casablanca (1942) and Woh Kaun Thi (1964). The first similarity and the most important element of both the films are the strongly written female protagonists. Starting off with the ending of Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca, which is remembered to be the best farewell of cinema. On the runway, as Rick (Humphrey Bogart) explains to Ilsa (Bergman) all the reasons why she should be boarding the plane that’s about to take off for Lisbon, and he should not. Even after their tearful goodbye, there are three minutes of the film remaining.
While from Woh Kaun Thi, the song Lag Ja Gale is put before the unfolding climax and the scenes shot through the song is no less than a presumably last conversation between the characters but here in a more mystical way. The parallels in both the films are subtle whining by both the female characters, Sandhya (Sadhana Shivdasani) and Ilsa. Adding up to is the collective series of shots and strokes with visual storytelling.
Also, the song Lag Ja Gale can be used to define the last scene from the classic Casablanca where both Rick and Ilsa part ways for good. Unfortunately, both of them know that they are not going to see each other and while Ilsa gets all emotional, there’s satisfaction on Rick’s face as he has accomplished his moral duty, the essence which he lacked before has now been imbibed within him. Eventually, his self-discovery is the biggest point of consideration of the film.
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