Ankhen
In some current films ‘RAW’ and ‘IB’ are bandied about, but very few Bollywood have explored the espionage or spy genre, which Mani Shankar has done in this week’s Mukhbiir, or to an extent Kabeer Kaushik in Chamku.
However, in 1967, Ravkant Nagaich made a James Bond rip-off called Farz, whose success led to Ramanand Sagar making a much more sophisticated and complex spy thriller Ankhen a year later.
The style of the film may be dated, but the subject is astonishingly contemporary. Back in the 60s, India is facing acts of terrorism and attempts by a neighbouring country to destabilize it. Now it may seem corny but then Ankhen was a bit ahead of its times. Shot in Japan and Lebanon, it showed characters using spy paraphernalia like hidden cameras and mikes, secret codes, disguises, bizarre dens—and the rubber mask that is still being used even in Hollywood films.
When problems start in the country, fomented by then hostile China (India had just been through a major war with China when the film was made), the Indian government swings into action, as do some patriotic citizens who spread out their own network of spies to keep tabs on the plans of the enemies. There was an array of baddies—Jeevan, Madan Puri, Zen Rehman and Lalita Pawar among them.
Sunil (Dharmendra) is a secret agent working for the Major (Nasir Hussain) who has set up this spy group. Sunil has returned after learning martial arts in Japan, where he also met half-Japanese Meenakshi (Mala Sinha), when he is sent to Beirut from where guns are smuggled to India. Another agent, Salim, has been killed and Sunil is his replacement.
He works with a group of agents who are disguised as nightclub singers and dancers, headed by none other than Meenakshi. But there is a double agent at work and Sunil’s cover is blown. (The identity of the mole will come as a surprise.)
There are attempts to kill him—there’s the famous Dharmendra vs tiger fight—and then Babloo, the son of his sister (Kum Kum) is kidnapped. This is the part that would make today’s audiences laugh and perhaps also get nostalgic, because similar scenes were used in so many later films.
Babloo is imprisoned in a den that goes through a hospital into an underground bunker, and put in a glass cage, which, at the touch of a button moves a wall of spikes towards him, that threaten to cut him to bits. He is rescued, of course.
The film had a fabulous music score by Ravi, with songs like, De De Allah Ke Naam Pe, Gairon Pe Karam Apno Pe Sitam, Meri Sun Le Araj Banwari and Milti Hai Zindagi Mein Muhobbat Kabhi Kabhi
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Phoonk/Gehrayee
Ram Gopal Varma’s Phoonk has the tagline, ‘It’s superstition till it happens to you’. The film is about a little girl being possessed by an evil spirit.
In 1980, Arunavikas’s controversial film Gehrayee was released, also about a spirit possessing a girl. It starred Padmini Kolhapure in the role of a pre-teen, and the nude scene she did caused quite a hullaballoo then.
Inspired by The Exorcist (1973), but not a copy, Gehrayee started with the line, “For those who believe no explanation is necessary -- for those who don't, no explanation is possible!” It was one of the best horror films to have come out of Bollywood, and used none of the stock shock tactics (no heads spinning or people flying), but told a story without resorting to gimmickry-- about a man’s thoughtless act of cruelty, that has repercussions on his young daughter.
Shreeram Lagoo played Chennabassapa, who inherits a large land holding from his father. He decides to sell the land to a factory, thus throwing the tenant farmers cultivating the land out of a livelihood. One of them, Baswa, declares that he will seek retribution.
Later, Chennabassapa settles in Bangalore with his docile wife Saroja (Indrani Mukherjee), son Nandu (Anant Nag) and daughter Uma (Padmini Kolhapure).
Uma is bright and intelligent, but suddenly goes through a personality change. Her performance in school shows a drop. Then she gets some kind of fit, in which she takes on a masculine personality and rants about injustice done to him.
Her parents take her to doctors, and she is given electric shocks, but nothing helps. Her father does not believe in mumbo-jumbo, but her mother makes the rounds of priest and tantrics. After being duped by tantrics (one of them played by Amrish Puri), finally a servant beings a good priest who understands the problem.
By the time the mystery of Uma’s condition is revealed, a dark secret from the past also spills out. During one of Uma’s fits the male voice says that not only had Chennabassapa taken away Baswa’s land, he had raped his wife, who had committed suicide. Baswa also died and his spirit returned to wreak revenge on Chennabassapa’s family. Then there’s a surprise ending.
Padmini, who was just about 12 then, gave an fabulous performance as the troubled girl. Today, after seeing so many special effects laden horror films, it is possible to appreciate Gehrayee in retrospect. The husband-wife team of Arunaraje Patil and Vikas Desai split a little later, and both followed their own careers individually, but this film was the highpoint of their careers.
In 1980, Arunavikas’s controversial film Gehrayee was released, also about a spirit possessing a girl. It starred Padmini Kolhapure in the role of a pre-teen, and the nude scene she did caused quite a hullaballoo then.
Inspired by The Exorcist (1973), but not a copy, Gehrayee started with the line, “For those who believe no explanation is necessary -- for those who don't, no explanation is possible!” It was one of the best horror films to have come out of Bollywood, and used none of the stock shock tactics (no heads spinning or people flying), but told a story without resorting to gimmickry-- about a man’s thoughtless act of cruelty, that has repercussions on his young daughter.
Shreeram Lagoo played Chennabassapa, who inherits a large land holding from his father. He decides to sell the land to a factory, thus throwing the tenant farmers cultivating the land out of a livelihood. One of them, Baswa, declares that he will seek retribution.
Later, Chennabassapa settles in Bangalore with his docile wife Saroja (Indrani Mukherjee), son Nandu (Anant Nag) and daughter Uma (Padmini Kolhapure).
Uma is bright and intelligent, but suddenly goes through a personality change. Her performance in school shows a drop. Then she gets some kind of fit, in which she takes on a masculine personality and rants about injustice done to him.
Her parents take her to doctors, and she is given electric shocks, but nothing helps. Her father does not believe in mumbo-jumbo, but her mother makes the rounds of priest and tantrics. After being duped by tantrics (one of them played by Amrish Puri), finally a servant beings a good priest who understands the problem.
By the time the mystery of Uma’s condition is revealed, a dark secret from the past also spills out. During one of Uma’s fits the male voice says that not only had Chennabassapa taken away Baswa’s land, he had raped his wife, who had committed suicide. Baswa also died and his spirit returned to wreak revenge on Chennabassapa’s family. Then there’s a surprise ending.
Padmini, who was just about 12 then, gave an fabulous performance as the troubled girl. Today, after seeing so many special effects laden horror films, it is possible to appreciate Gehrayee in retrospect. The husband-wife team of Arunaraje Patil and Vikas Desai split a little later, and both followed their own careers individually, but this film was the highpoint of their careers.
BAH/TD
Bachna Ae Haseeno is about a man who falls in love with three women. It is probably inspired by, and definitely reminiscent of Dev Anand starrer Teen Devian (1965), directed by Amarjeet—the three leading ladies being Nanda, Simi Garewal and Kalpana.
Devdutt (Anand) works in shop selling musical instruments. Encouraged by his boss (IS Johar), he also writes and publishes his poems. The three 'Devi's – the first (Nanda), who is the girl next door, the second (Kalpana), an actress, who meets the hero when her car breaks down; the third (Simi), a rich woman he meets when he goes to deliver a piano to her house. All the three women are attracted to Devdutt and he to them, but he can choose just one to marry.
The story of the film (credited to Sadashiv Brahmam), was unusual and bold for the time, and explored the unlikely, though not impossible, scenario of a man carrying on a flirtation with three women. He is not insincere, he genuinely likes the three, and they like him, in spite of knowing about the other two. (Anant Mahadevan tried a variation of this story with Shahid Kapoor with Dil Maange More, without much success.)
When he can't make up his mind, a goes to a hypnotist, who makes him dream of his future with each one of them so that he can make the right decision. (The dream was in colour in an otherwise black-n-white movie). The conventional part of the film is that he chooses the homely Nanda.
The light, breezy (surprisingly underrated) romantic film, had a magical SD Burman score, with songs like Aaise to na dekho, ke humko nasha ho jaaye, Arre yaar meri, tum bhi ho gazab, Khwaab ho tum yaa koi haqiqat, kaun ho tum batalaao and Likha hai teri aankhon mein, kisaka afsana. The kind of film that made the audience come out of the theatre humming.
Devdutt (Anand) works in shop selling musical instruments. Encouraged by his boss (IS Johar), he also writes and publishes his poems. The three 'Devi's – the first (Nanda), who is the girl next door, the second (Kalpana), an actress, who meets the hero when her car breaks down; the third (Simi), a rich woman he meets when he goes to deliver a piano to her house. All the three women are attracted to Devdutt and he to them, but he can choose just one to marry.
The story of the film (credited to Sadashiv Brahmam), was unusual and bold for the time, and explored the unlikely, though not impossible, scenario of a man carrying on a flirtation with three women. He is not insincere, he genuinely likes the three, and they like him, in spite of knowing about the other two. (Anant Mahadevan tried a variation of this story with Shahid Kapoor with Dil Maange More, without much success.)
When he can't make up his mind, a goes to a hypnotist, who makes him dream of his future with each one of them so that he can make the right decision. (The dream was in colour in an otherwise black-n-white movie). The conventional part of the film is that he chooses the homely Nanda.
The light, breezy (surprisingly underrated) romantic film, had a magical SD Burman score, with songs like Aaise to na dekho, ke humko nasha ho jaaye, Arre yaar meri, tum bhi ho gazab, Khwaab ho tum yaa koi haqiqat, kaun ho tum batalaao and Likha hai teri aankhon mein, kisaka afsana. The kind of film that made the audience come out of the theatre humming.
SIK/JDMGBT
Parallel Cinema
If the plot of Singh is Kinng were to be written in one line it would be “Village simpleton reforms a gang of criminals.” This could be said to be the plot line of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai.
There is no real similarity between SIK (which is inspired by Frank Capra’s Pocketful of Miracles) and the 1960 film produced by Raj Kapoor and directed by Radhu Karmarkar, but the idea of simplicity and honesty conquering all odds has travelled the distance.
Raj Kapoor plays Raju, a poor and innocent musician. Once, while helping a wounded man, he is taken to be a policeman and abducted by a gang of dacoits. The bandit leader, is Sardar (SB Nayampalli), whom Raju had helped. He is treated like a guest after he manages to convince the dacoits that he is not a cop. Sardar’s daughter Kammo (Padmini), who falls in love with Raju, tells him they are socialists who ensure that wealth is distributed equally to all.
But soon Raju witnesses a mass killing, figures out the truth and informs the police, but he also wants to warn the dacoits, because he does not want them to be killed by the cops. But rebel bandit Raka (Pran) kills Sardar takes over the gang, wants to wed Kammo by force and fight the cops, while Raju begs them to surrender. The stage is set for a confrontation between the forces of good and evil.
The film, written by Arjun Dev Rashk, made a case for non-violence and compassion, and the peaceful surrender of dacoits who have become what they have due to circumstances.
It won the Filmfare Award for best film in 1961, and had a fabulous music score by Shankar Jaikishan, including such hits as O Basanti, O Maine Pyar Kiya, Begani Shaadi Mein, Aa Ab Laut Chale, Mera Naam Raju and the title track Hum Us Desh Ke Waasi Hain, Jis Desh Mein Ganga.
A bit simplistic and too melodramatic by today’s standards, the film is nevertheless a classic.
If the plot of Singh is Kinng were to be written in one line it would be “Village simpleton reforms a gang of criminals.” This could be said to be the plot line of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai.
There is no real similarity between SIK (which is inspired by Frank Capra’s Pocketful of Miracles) and the 1960 film produced by Raj Kapoor and directed by Radhu Karmarkar, but the idea of simplicity and honesty conquering all odds has travelled the distance.
Raj Kapoor plays Raju, a poor and innocent musician. Once, while helping a wounded man, he is taken to be a policeman and abducted by a gang of dacoits. The bandit leader, is Sardar (SB Nayampalli), whom Raju had helped. He is treated like a guest after he manages to convince the dacoits that he is not a cop. Sardar’s daughter Kammo (Padmini), who falls in love with Raju, tells him they are socialists who ensure that wealth is distributed equally to all.
But soon Raju witnesses a mass killing, figures out the truth and informs the police, but he also wants to warn the dacoits, because he does not want them to be killed by the cops. But rebel bandit Raka (Pran) kills Sardar takes over the gang, wants to wed Kammo by force and fight the cops, while Raju begs them to surrender. The stage is set for a confrontation between the forces of good and evil.
The film, written by Arjun Dev Rashk, made a case for non-violence and compassion, and the peaceful surrender of dacoits who have become what they have due to circumstances.
It won the Filmfare Award for best film in 1961, and had a fabulous music score by Shankar Jaikishan, including such hits as O Basanti, O Maine Pyar Kiya, Begani Shaadi Mein, Aa Ab Laut Chale, Mera Naam Raju and the title track Hum Us Desh Ke Waasi Hain, Jis Desh Mein Ganga.
A bit simplistic and too melodramatic by today’s standards, the film is nevertheless a classic.
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