Sadly, Dover doesn’t appear either.

Man Pasand (1980) is dedicated to George Bernard Shaw, and the filmmakers would very much like you to think that it’s adapted directly from Shaw’s play Pygmalion. Don’t you believe it for a second. Man Pasand lifts blatantly, shamelessly, gleefully from My Fair Lady; any doubts are dispelled when the lovely but unpolished railway toothbrush vendor Kamli (Tina Munim) sings a very familiar sounding song about how all she wants is a home and lots of sweets to eat.



She gets her chance thanks to a chance encounter with arrogant, obsessive, misanthropic, but brilliant music professor Pratap (Dev Anand) and his affable best friend and sidekick Kashinath (Girish Karnad.) After Pratap compliments her voice, Kamli appears on his doorstep, offering the princely sum of five rupees a month if he will teach her music.

Pratap is so charmed by her chutzpah that he makes a bet with Kashinath: if Pratap can turn Kamli into a proper lady (there’s no mention of passing her off as a duchess at the embassy ball, but that’s the general idea) within six months, Kashinath will marry her. Kashinath agrees, so Pratap gets to work. After a few initial setbacks, Kamli makes remarkable progress both musically and culturally, while Pratap unwittingly grows accustomed to her face.

Man Pasand is one of the very few Bollywood remakes which is less complicated than the original. Rather than adding extensive backstory, the film trims the character list and streamlines the plot. The story translates to Bollywood well; the marriage clause in the initial bet is probably the biggest change, and it really just gives Kashinath the opportunity for romantic self sacrifice. The other major change is the characterization of Kamli’s father Popatlal (Mehmood), who comes across as a drunken parasite rather than a charming rogue, and does not get married in the morning.

Taken on its own, Man Pasand is a charming bit of light romantic fluff which explores a deeply unhealthy relationship, as charming bits of light romantic fluff tend to do. Dev Anad’s Pratap is perhaps the cuddliest misogynist in cinematic history, and while Tina Munim is no Audrey Hepburn, she combines a remarkable girl-next-door charm with both cheerful bravado and righteous outrage. If you’re familiar with My Fair Lady, though, Man Pasand is especially fun; the adaptation is so blatant and shameless and gleeful that you can often guess the characters’ next lines.