What does ‘Keti Ko’ ! mean in hit dance-song from Rajshri’s ‘Uunchai’  trailer which is climbing ‘heights’ of   popularity ? Chaitanya  Padukone

"Nahin baithna humey ghar pe, humey pahaad chadhne hain, nadiyaa paar karni hain, junglon mein ghumna hain—nahin baithna humey ghar pey" ! 

This is what superstar Amitabh Bachchan’s age-defying adventurous screen character is shown exclaiming loudly with conviction in the trending trailer of Rajshri Productions latest magnum opus Pan-India family entertainer movie ‘Uunchai’ directed by Sooraj Barjatya. Incidentally, this dialogue also blends perfectly with Amitabh’s real-life ever-active, indefatigable  persona and coincidentally his screen-character is called “Amit Srivastava”.  Symbolically, this dialogue sums up our life’s mission and goals of keep moving ahead.   The highly acclaimed director Sooraj Barjatya is making his comeback to direction with Uunchai since the release of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo  (2015).

 A roller coaster engaging drama with a spectrum of  emotions, sentiments, comedy, laughter, music-songs-dancing and also a tragic jolt-twist like most Rajshri films. But Uunchai this time revolves around the friendship of senior citizens. Uunchai is jointly produced by Rajshri Productions, Boundless Media  and Mahaveer Jain Films. 

Uunchaai which has an ensemble male cast comprising Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani and Danny Denzongpa with the female stellar cast comprising Sarika, Neena Gupta,  Parineeti Chopra and Sheena Das is also about challenges that senior citizens can and should take up.   How far and to what heights can a group of  senior guys willingly go to fulfill the last wish of a dear friend who is no more? That too on a life-risk mission that  takes one on the daunting Mount Everest base camp trek-climb ? 

Three of the cast star-actors have returned to what they and we call as “familiar home-ground Rajshri culture”. As is known, Anupam Kher started his career <“filmi-janam” as Kher calls it > with Rajshri Productions movie ‘Saaransh, <1984>, secondly Sarika got her big-break with a Rajshri film ‘Geet Gaata Chal’<1975> . Similarly Bachchan-saab got one of his major romantic lead hero break-thru with ‘Saudagar’ <1973>, again a Rajshri venture. 

In the Rajshri organisation’s 75th year, founder-visionary Tarachand Barjatya’s grandson Sooraj  has completed his seventh film. That is poor output. But almost all seven have been super-duper hits. Boman Irani, who almost refused the film on grounds of personal tragedies-trauma and was persuaded by Anupam, who used verbal invectives in a fond way to persuade Boman into it, Now Boman considers it as ‘spiritual history and the shooting experiences as a catharsis”  

Sooraj who this time in Uunchai has dared to go beyond traditional boundaries since the movie involves a mountain-climbing daring mission by a group of friendship-motivated senior citizens   insists that there is wholesome family entertainment for all ages. The difference is that  Uunchai has friendship has extended family-bonding and lavish  indoors sets are replaced by snowy-slopes Himalayan outdoors.

Anupam, who is otherwise petrified of flying, agreed to be in a helicopter ride for 90 minutes, just because the film inspired him to do it and Sooraj pre-briefed the pilot on giving Kher a pep-talk before take-off. 

Director Sooraj who returns to the big screen after seven years with Uunchai.says he also draws inspiration from his grandfather Tarachand-jee, who had this adage displayed on a plaque in his office, ‘If I can run, I will run. If I can walk, I will walk. If I can crawl, I will crawl. But I will keep moving.’ The film's Uunchai’s trailer takes you on a swift road trip from Kanpur to Delhi to the Himalayas, in Nepal, with Amitabh at the steering-wheels. Uunchai is one of 2022’s biggest and most awaited releases. The film’s tagline – Friendship Was Their Only Motivation--is the backbone of the film’s trailer, that opens with a voice-over of the trekking guide, Parineeti Chopra. Soon, we see that Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani and Danny Denzongpa are long-time friends. 

A n exuberant racy song celebrating Danny’s birthday has a foot-tapping number (music Amit Trivedi, lyrics Irshaad Kamil), with the foursome dancing and having the time of their lives. The foot-tapping hit song in the Uunchai trailer which has all the four buddies dancing merrily, goes “Keti Ko, Keti Ko, Surkh Aggan Hai”. A large number of viewers and music-lovers are curious to know what “Keti Ko’ means ?.

“Uunchai’ co-Producer Natasha Malpani-Oswal  !  

So  , Keti Ko Surkh Aggan Hai means –“The girl is a flaming-fire.”.  Natasha also discloses that “it’s love-letter to the mountains, he is referring to the “mountains” as if it is a “girl”.”  

Following Danny character’s on-screen-death, the three friends of Uunchai–Amitabh, Anupam and Boman--decide to take the trek in his memory. The trailer underlines how difficult it will be for these 65 plus  men to take this challenging trek. Coach-guide Parineeti Chopra is seen explaining the difficulties of the trek, but unsure of the trio’s chances of completing the trek. Neena Gupta plays Boman Irani’s wife.  The trailer finishes with a soul-stirring of nostalgia, as Big B’s voice echoes – “Bhupen ka favourite gaanaa,” and Rajshri’s classic, a Laxmikant-Pyarelal composed soulful number from their 1972 film Piya Ka Ghar, ‘Yeh jeevan hai’, plays in the background. A golden jubilee tribute? Uunchai, its 60th in 60 years, is Rajshri’s possibly most ambitious film to date. Shot at 17,000 plus feet above sea level.

Lastly, the lead character in all of Sooraj’s films has always been named Prem. Is Amitabh being called Prem in Uunchai? “No., but, interrupted Anupam, “My pet name is Prem in the film.” You can take Sooraj out of Prem, but you cannot take Prem out of Sooraj. By the way, Salman Khan who is considered a lucky-mascot by Sooraj, also wished to be part of  the ‘Uunchai’ cast. But when Sooraj convinced Salman, that this was a different subject with mountain-climbing as a buddy-bonding mission of three 65 plus senior citizens, the ‘Dabangg’ star-actor realized the ground-reality.    

Anupam Kher-starrer film 'Uunchai' which is a story of three friends and their adventurous and emotional journey to the Everest base camp. 

. The trailer opens to beautiful shots of Mount Everest with Parineeti Chopra’s voice in the background where she can be heard instructing the mountaineers and telling them the ‘key to an easy trek’. It cuts to the scene where four friends, Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani, Anupam Kher and Danny Denzongpa can be seen clicking pictures and enjoying themselves. After this Danny Denzongpa’s character shares his dream with his friends and says- “I want to relive my childhood with all three of you. I want to take you to Mount Everest.”

Before they can even come to a conclusion, Danny dies of old age. The group of three remaining friends decide to fulfill Danny’s last wish by spreading his ashes at Mount Everest. The fi