There is a beautiful moment of surrender in the utterly wonderful Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, during the song “Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si”. Madhubala's character has brought her malfunctioning car into a garage in the middle of a rainy night. She has awakened the sleeping mechanic – Kishore Kumar – and the two have quarreled. But Kishore is a gentle soul, and as he eyes Madhubala, soaking wet and boiling mad, he hatches a plan to cheer her. He begins to sing as he works on her car, prancing playfully around the garage, malleting out melodies on engine parts. Madhubala sniffs and harrumphs, almost willing herself to stay angry, but by the end of that song Kishore's antics have worked their charm. The magical moment comes when Madhubala, watching through the windows of her car as Kishore skips up and down the stairs, smiles in spite of herself.
Kishore Kumar's romantic comedies are full of such moments, in which the heroine succumbs to his wacky inanity. There is an irresistible something about this silly, unselfconscious man, and the heroines of his movies know it, though they are so often competent, classy, even educated women. In Dilli Ka Thug, Nutan plays a young woman who is a champion swimmer, a medical doctor, and the owner of a controlling interest in a pharmaceutical company. The intellectual superiority of Nutan's character over Kishore's is made amply clear as she spars with him, plays tricks on him, and generally runs rings around him. And yet even this poised, smart, professional eventually falls for Kishore's zany charm.