Mumbai: Even if you watch Hindi movies very sporadically, chances are that you must have seen something like this so common are these scenes in our films. The hero is missing a shirt button. His to-be ladylove is somehow around when he puts on his shirt and discovers that a button is missing.

Now in real life, the person would simply choose another shirt in annoyance. In reel life, though, the man continues wearing the button-less shirt, with the missing button close to his chest. The woman materialises from somewhere with a thread and a needle and tells the man to stand still.

 She starts sewing on the button rapidly and deftly with the needle somehow never touching the man's chest. The filmmaker thinks this is a seminal, powerful moment, somehow even more evocative than the two flowers that filmmakers used to show instead of a kissing scene.

Then comes, what many filmmakers hope, is the moving climax. Never having heard or seen a scissor, our lady with the needle leans close to the man's chest to bite off the thread. Some coy looks are exchanged amidst pin-drop silence. Finally, the job is done; the man buttons his shirt and picks up his office briefcase. Both man and woman now realise it is love over a missing button.

Of course, slicker, modern movies now have bolder proclamations of love, but I saw the same hey-diddle-diddle-the-thread-and-the-needle scene in a television serial recently. It made me realise that love at the pop of a button is not thread…oops dead in the entertainment industry.