Who the hell is Dinesh Pandit?

Is there a favourite, cheesy that you’ve heard? Okay, lemme go first. ADVERTISEMENT ‘Question: How was Nisaar born?’ ‘Ans: Jawaani jaaneman. Haseen dilruba.

Milein do dil jawaan. Nisaar ho gaya..

. (Hot, young couple meet; Nisaar gets delivered)!’ Of course, I’m referring to Anjaan’s lyric, from Namak Halaal’s Bappi Da number, from 1982. The first four words of which are already titles of .

The latter being Haseen Dillruba (HD, 2021). You can watch that film’s plot play out in its sequel, Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba (PAHD, 2024)—as a full flashback, montage sequence, over the other classic track, Ek hasina thi, from Subhash Ghai’s Karz (1980). That’s a pretty peppy, clever device to get audiences up to speed with the .

The only thing vaguely disappointing about it is to learn from YouTube that the Laxmikant-Pyarelal ditty, Ek hasina thi, loved by so many Indians (like me), over decades, is actually a straight-off copy of George Benson’s 1978 number, We as love. Both HD and PAHD, on Netflix, starring Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, is by all accounts, an original screenplay, written by Kanika Dhillon (Manmarziyaan, Judgementall Hai Kya). An imaginary tribute that appears throughout the two films, instead, is to AH Wheeler/railway-station pulp-fiction, namely a crime writer, Dinesh Pandit.

As per the film, Dinesh Pandit probably died years ago, though he continues to get published. Who the hell is Dinesh Pandit? I just had to text Kanika, and ask. She says.