Manoj Kumar was advocating the virtues of India before the NRIs had discovered Rajshri and Yashraj films, says Deepa Gahlot

Vipul Shah''s Namastey London is about an Indian girl raised in London with Western values, and an Indian boy who teaches her the value of the desi way of life.

The film may not be ripped off Manoj Kumar''s Purab Aur Pachhim (1970), but the inspiration is definitely there in the plot line. Not just Namastey London

but plenty of films that have Indian men reforming NRI ''mems'' have been inspired by Manoj ''Bharat'' the song Hai Preet Jahan Ki Reet Sada and Dulhan Chali..

Pehenke Teen Rang Ki Choli, say it all.

Bharat (Manoj Kumar) is the patriotic son of a freedom fighter. When he goes to London to study, he meets Indians there, including the man (Pran) who had betrayed his

father and his villainish son Omkar (Prem Chopra) and his father''s friend Sharma (Madan Puri) with his Westernised wife (Shammi) and daughter Preeti (Saira Banu)

and hippie son (Rajendra Nath). (A typical Manoj Kumar scene-- Francis, a French hippie sacrifices his life to save Bharat in a club brawl and then asks Bharat to sing

Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram as he dies).

Preeti has long blonde hair, wears mini-dresses, smokes and drinks and has no idea of Indian values till she meets Bharat. He is, of course, shocked to see that many

Indians in London are ashamed of their roots and even changed their names to sound Western. Or others who long for their country, but stay in the UK for economic

reasons. Like Sharma with his stack of KL Saigal records.

Preeti is impressed by Bharat''s idealism and wants to marry him, but doesn''t want to live in India. Bharat wants her to come to India and see what it''s like before she

rejects it. Of course, the purity of India redeems her—she gives up smoking, drinking and minis to adopt the traditional lifestyle. There''s the sacrificing Gopi (Bharati),

Bharat''s silent admirer as inspiration.

By linking the story to the freedom struggle, Manoj Kumar was saying that freeing India from British rule is not enough if Indians do not feel proud of their Indianness.

Manoj Kumar shot in London at the height of the ''hippie'' phase and caught both the beauty and ugliness of the English landscape. However, his simplistic view of the

West was greed, lust and depravity, while India stood for love, honour and piety. Amazingly the idea has endured, and in even in Aditya Chopra''s cult hit Dilwale

Dulhania Le Jayenge, Indian boy (Shah Rukh Khan) does not touch the Indian girl (Kajol) though he claims a chain of foreign girlfriends, and neither does he want to

marry her without her father''s consent. Then as now, Indian culture is represented with a lot of colour, rituals, song and dance.

In 2007, Akshay Kumar sells the same version of India to the London gal Katrina Kaif-- and a line in the film pays tribute to the original when he tells her that if she

wants to learn more about India, she should see Purab Aur Pachhim.

Interesting Trivia:

When Saira Banu did the film she was already married to Dilip Kumar. Neither he nor the audiences were shocked by her skimpy outfits.

In Gurinder Chadha''s Bride and Prejudice, a fight scene set in a movie hall has a scene from Purab Aur Pachhim running on screen.

Kamini Kaushal was Manoj Kumar''s favourite screen mother and she played the role in this film too.

The story was credited to Shashi Goswami, Manoj Kumar''s wife.