There was once a hamlet of seafaring happy fishermen. And there was this lovable fisherboy (played superbly by Kamalhasan)who lives with his lovable ole aunt. And in this hamlet of simple fisherfolk is a bar cum restaurant. The owner is a lovable ole cuss, but even more lovable is his gorgeous gal, who also waits on tables among other things. This simple lass is played by Dimple Kapadia ( This film was her comeback vehicle). Och!
All is fine and hunky dory in this film. The lass and the sonny boy are childhood friends.But the fisherboy (kamal) has an eye out for good things in life..he wants to make it big, and is also in love with the saloon girl. But he hasn’t made his move yet ( silly boy).
Into this picture perfect world, one day steps the prince (Rishi Kapoor). He comes into the bar one fine day for a drink. Shh, and suddenly there is Silence. Hush, friends a stranger is in town. Ah Well, what the heck. He and fisher boy , knock down a few drinks, sing a song and well what do u know, there begins a story of friendship.
So what do we have here, fisherboy, saloon girl and princey ..friendlier than never before. And soon enough, the prince falls for the gal and vice versa. He serenades her with a few songs, and the deed is done and signed by the bond of love.
Time now to make the twist. One fine day at the beach the ’Boy Friends’ are having a gala time sloshing around the beach, when the fisher boy tells his friend the Prince of his yearning for the gal. Alas, the prince is heartbroken..and ofcourse sacrifices his love for his pal.
But the saloon gal doesnt like it.So tearfully, she approaches the fisherboy and tells him the true story. And then and there the fisher boy spins a fishy yarn about what a joke it was all about..la dee dah.
Friends, it is here I must tell you about the genius called Kamal. The gamut of expressions that cross Kamal’s face, the the way he pulls off the scene is marvelous. There aren’t enough words for the same.
Going on with the story...time for the villains entry..Played superbly by Shafi Inamdar, the villain and his henchmen, make trouble for the trio. Of course eventually, good triumphs over evil. And since in Hindi films, we cannot have two guys mooning over one gal, one has to go.So it is the fisherboy who winds up dead after a few buckets of tears are shed by the prince and his gal.
Such is the story of sagar. What kept it going though were some superb performances, great support and simply superb Music. The late genius R.D.Burman has woven some great numbers here, the most notable being ’Chehra hai ya chand Khila hai’ sung unimitably by Kishore Kumar.
Friends, see this movie, if only to see Kamal’s performance. Dimple on her comeback, looked gorgeous. Nadira as the aunt lent good support.Madhur Jaffery as the stiff old rich lady, was just that--Stiff.