Subhash K Jha (DNA; March 26, 2014)

Last month Alia Bhatt became the toast of Bollywood fans with her stark performance in Imtiaz Ali’s Highway. Actually, Alia has her elder sister Pooja to thank for setting the pace and pattern for such a role.

Twenty years ago, Pooja did a film entitled Chor Aur Chand and its protagonists’ characters bear an uncanny resemblance to Highway’s. In both the films the rich-bored-repressed heiress escapes her parental wealth on the eve of her marriage and joins a fugitive on the run with whom she falls in love.

Aditya Pancholi, who not only played the lead in Chor Aur Chand but also produced it, says, “When I saw Highway I was bowled over by Alia’s performance. I was also strongly reminded of my own film that I did with Alia’s sister Pooja 20 years ago. I found the two films very close to one another in plot and characterisation.”

When asked about the similarities between the two films, Pooja shot back, “If Chor Aur Chand was like Highway then Imtiaz Ali’s Jab We Met is similar to our film Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin.”