All's fair in love and cricket

Before Dev Anand took on the cricketing world in Awwal Number (1990), he was a young, talented cricketer in Subodh Mukerji's Love Marriage (1959). The romantic drama, conceived by Mukerji himself, with dialogues from Nasir Husain, pitted Dev Anand opposite Mala Sinha where they played young newlyweds who experience a great upheaval in their relationship. As the title suggests, Dev Anand and Mala Sinha fall into a love marriage and work hard to sustain it.

In this lively number composed by Shankar-Jaikishan, Mohammed Rafi sings 'She Ne Khela He Se Aaj Cricket Match'. Dev Anand is his usual charming self in this song, his character Sunil tells Mala Sinha's Geeta, 'Ek nazar main dil bechara ho gaya lbw' through the clever lyrics incorporating cricket terminology by Hasrat Jaipuri. The song was shot at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. It was the first time that the cricketing ground was used to film a romantic number.

In the film, Sunil arrives in the city for a job interview and runs into Geeta, from whom he rents a room during his stay. Initially, Geeta is quite dismissive of Sunil and his abilities, that is, until she sees him on the cricketing field garnering a win for his new boss's team.

A few boundaries later, she's 'bowled' over by his performance (pun intended) and asking for his autograph. The two quickly fall in love and Sunil takes her back to his hometown Jhansi as his bride. However, the film later echoes the lyrics from 'She Ne Khela He Se Aaj Cricket Match' when Sunil wins the big match but loses his love match when Geeta sues him for divorce, when she suspects him of having an affair. But all's well that ends well and all misunderstandings are cleared up before the end credits roll.