Love in Tokyo 1966

A young man Ashok Joy Mukherjee’s mother sends him to Tokyo, Japan, in search of his deceased elder brother’s and his wife’s son—his nephew Chikoo. Ashok is uneasy because he is in a loveless engagement with his fiancée, Sarita. Chikoo, meanwhile, is living in an orphanage and is taken in by Ashok, his uncle. Ashok tries to persuade Chikoo to return to India with him, but Chikoo refuses and runs away.

Meanwhile, Mahesh [Mehmood], Ashok’s friend, is in love with Sheela [Shubha Khote], but her father discovers their romance and sends goons after Mahesh. He follows them to Tokyo and ends up at their shop, the Indian Art Emporium, where he disguises himself as a Sadhu Ascetic. He even fabricates a story about cleansing his sins that requires him to go to a river and declare, > I befriend Mahesh. < He then phones the police to claim that Sheela’s father is attempting suicide, which is not true. Mahesh continues pursuing Sheela, singing a song as he trails her through a theme park, and eventually reveals his true identity to her.

In another thread, Asha Asha Parekh is on the run from Pran and from her uncle (who later turns out to be her biological father). Her “last wish” reportedly was for her to marry Pran Pran Sikand, but she resists, exposing Pran’s interest in her wealth. Asha and Chikoo hide in a tea house, but two women recognize her as someone’s relative, and it’s revealed that Pran had posted a $5,000 reward for finding her first. Pran tracks Asha to a rooftop escape attempt; Chikoo saves her by pretending to be struck by Pran’s car as he tries to bring Asha back to her uncle’s home. The pair flee and disguise themselves: Asha as a Sardar and Chikoo as a girl. Ashok sees through the disguises, and Chikoo tumbles from a window into the hospital.

Meanwhile, Pran and Sheela’s father are at the same geisha house, and Mahesh, still in disguise, appears as an international geisha to aid in the farcical pursuit, drugging Sheela’s father with sake before slipping away. Chikoo recovers and is sent home, while Asha clings to her ruse as Chikoo’s aunt, calling herself Chizuru. Ashok begins to fall for Asha, and she sings, > Sayonara Sayonara. < He returns home, where Asha, still in disguise as Chizuru/Sardar Ji, tends to a cut on his finger with a shared bandage. Ashok eventually discovers Asha’s true identity from the bandage he himself tied.

The next day a mailman delivers a note from Ashok to Asha, saying that he and Chikoo have boarded a 5 p.m. flight to Mumbai. She hurries to the airport, but it seems she’s too late. Grief-stricken, she visits the Tokyo Shrine, a place she once used to pray for lost love, and Ashok follows. In a moment of realization, Asha understands that Ashok and Chikoo never left, and Ashok again serenades her with > Mere Shah e Khuba. <

Mahesh, still in disguise, asks for help in marrying Sheela off to Chatterjee, a plan that she pretends to be mute to facilitate. Mahesh reappears in a wig and toupee as Chatterjee, and the ceremony proceeds until the real Chatterjee shows up, revealing Mahesh’s ruse. It’s too late to stop the wedding, and the newlyweds slip away to a honeymoon at a traditional onsen. In a misadventure, Mahesh’s antics cause a comic flight of fancy—his shoes, after a mishap with chemicals, grant him a fleeting ability to fly, and he even saves a child from a train, hanging onto a helicopter.

Asha is eventually captured by her uncle and handed over to Pran, who plans to wed her to avoid public scorn. Mahesh, Sheela, and Chikoo crash the engagement as a Muslim couple seeking their child named Ghulfam, presenting a tape with Chikoo’s voice to prove Asha’s story and summon police. Asha feigns binding Chikoo; Chikoo asserts that Asha’s uncle abducted him. Asha escapes again, slipping into Sheela’s Burqa and posing as Mahesh’s wife. Mahesh informs Pran that his father left a fortune for him, and the chase continues until they all manage to flee with the police closing in.

Amid the chaos, Asha and Ashok’s feelings deepen. Ashok’s fiancée Sarita and her father, Raisaheb [Lalita Pawar], along with Ashok’s mother, Gayatri Devi, arrive in Japan and witness the tension. At a party, Ashok and Asha share a moment, and Ashok’s mother mocks Asha—only to discover, later, that Ashok truly loves her. Asha contemplates sacrifice but ultimately reveals honesty: Ashok is not blind, and the two are destined to be together. The tangled family dynamics come to a head when Asha’s uncle confronts them at an engagement party, insisting that Asha marry Pran to salvage the family’s reputation. Ashok’s mother, moved by the truth, softens, and the couple’s fate seems secure.

In the final act, Asha’s uncle abducts Chikoo, threatening him unless Asha agrees to Pran’s marriage. Ashok storms the scene, rescues Chikoo, and the lovers’ union is sealed. The film closes on a note of happiness: Ashok and Asha’s romance is fully recognized, Sarita’s scheming is thwarted, and the ensemble ends with everyone hopeful for a peaceful future together.