Anil’s eagerness to make Shayma stay in his life is reflected in the first phone call that he receives from her. What we see here in his drunken stupor is a doll, and not a person. In flashbacks, when Anil is surrounded by people, the camera does not turn towards other characters even though we can hear them, but it turns when Anil is talking to his mistress Shyama. Since there is only one character that we see in the film, the use of sketches gives an illusion of a crowd where Anil is all alone. Yaadein examines loneliness in a way that strikes hard in today’s times. The camerawork is clever when you go from the present timeline to the past as there is a clear distinction between the tone of the film. In the scene where he slips and falls in a flooded kitchen, you see how the world around him (in this case the kitchen utensils) are collapsing in on him. In the scenes where Dutt is wandering around his empty apartment after the party for the birth of his child, you feel his loneliness through the compelling top-angle shots. With only one actor in the frame at all times, Yaadein is a challenging film to execute but cinematographer S Ramachandra makes it a haunting experience. What starts as anger towards his wife, turns to pity for his own self and eventually leads him to contemplate suicide. The protagonist goes down a path of introspection when he comes to believe he is all alone. Yaadein attempts to examine the paranoia of loneliness, which hits a strange chord in today’s times. When he is trying to woo her, or the time when they are in a raging passionate relationship, or when they have bitter fights – Nargis’ voice adds personality to the woman who has sacrificed her life for her husband and two children.

While Dutt is the only actor you see on screen, Nargis (playing his wife Priya) plays an important role in the film as the voice of the wife.

Yaadein holds a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Yaadein film all song