Review

5.6/10Critic Score

Rajesh Khanna's "Naughty Boy" operates in that peculiar register of 1960s Hindi cinema where melodrama and whimsy collide without quite finding equilibrium. The premise—a meet-cute anchored by exchanged umbrellas, a fake death, and a woman scorned—has the bones of a solid romantic comedy, yet the execution feels caught between competing impulses. The film moves languidly through its setup, spending considerable screen time establishing Pritam's rooming house camaraderie and his music lessons with Meena's uncle, which dilutes rather than deepens the central romance. When the supposed tragedy strikes and Pritam bounces back with suspicious ease at a picnic, the narrative pivots toward something trickier—a woman's calculated revenge—but the film doesn't quite commit to the satirical potential of that turn. It's caught between wanting to be a light romantic entertainer and something with more bite.

What saves "Naughty Boy" from complete dissolution is the chemistry between its leads and Rajesh Khanna's natural screen ease, which recalls his later work in more nuanced romantic dramas. His performance as the "care-free friend" feels lived-in; he doesn't overplay Pritam's shallow pleasures but allows them a certain sympathetic validity. The supporting cast provides reliable comic texture, though the landlady's rigid rules function more as plot device than genuine source of humor. Visually, the film has moments of grace—the rainy umbrella encounter and the garden sequences benefit f

— Sneha Kapoor, Bollyhits ↗

Storyline

Pritam works as a Book-keeper in an Export Import Firm and does not have a roof to live under. When he goes to search for accommodation, he runs into a friend, Jagdish, who takes him to a rooming house and lets him share one room with himself, Kavi Viyogi, and Hhimsen. The landlady has very strict rules for all her tenants to wit: No one is allowed to romance on her property. On a rainy day when Pritam goes to buy milk, he runs into a beautiful girl, Meena Sharma, and their umbrellas get entangled, and when freed get interchanged. He goes to look for her house and finds she lives with her maternal uncle, a music maestro of sorts, and Pritam enrolls himself in his class. Pritam and Meena continue meeting and fall in love with each other. When Meena's sister is about to get married, she travels to Poona and that's when Pritam finds out that her train had an accident and she has been listed as one of the dead. Heart-broken and devastated he is severely depressed, until his co-workers decide that he should go for a picnic and this does cheer him considerably. In this cheerful state he returns home and decides to carry on with life without Meena. It is then Meena returns back, quite very much alive, and finds that Pritam is not in a state of mourning but is enjoying life to the fullest. She decides to teach him a lesson that he will never forget. Watch what happens when the lesson commences and what impact this has on our care-free friend - who is currently wooing a dancer by the name of Edna Wong.

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