All of India celebrated Raksha Bandhan day before yesterday but while for Maharashtra and many other states it is one day festival, in Madhaya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, Raksha Bandhan is celebrated for an entire week. The reason being that the sister lives far away and may not be able to reach her brother on time. The other interpretation is that the festival continues as long as the sister stays with the maiden family, which is usually a week.
For a long time, it was impossible to visualise a Hindi film without the mandatory bhaiya behna song sequences. Ever since a young Nanda played the blind sister of Rehman in Choti Behen and moved the audience to tears, the brother – sister became an integral relationship in cinema story telling.
Satyajit Ray introduced us to Durga and Appu in Pather Panchali and Raj Kapoor exposed us to street children forced into begging Boot Polish was the story of oppression and empowerment, story of a brother sister who find dignity in poverty guided by an inspiring uncle called John chacha, remember the beautiful song, ‘Nanhe munne bache teri muthi mein kya hain?’
To be continued