Movie Review – Namak Haraam

A salt less soup

It was yet another mistake by me to have watched this soupy friendship tale disguised in the form of a cult classic. Wonder how to choose a good old Bollywood movie to watch. ‘Pyaasa’ was termed as classic and so was ‘Silsila’ but they both were grounds apart. Even otherwise, it is quite difficult to get into any sort of streamlined process to watch a good Bollywood movie of the past. Every time I expect to get something like ‘Sholay’, I only end up being disappointed. Plus the fact that each of these are going to be for three hours is not helping at all.

‘Namak Haraam’ was about a couple of friends. Firstly the entire film happens in flashback mode but the way it starts with Vikram ‘Vicky’ Maharaj (Amitabh Bachchan) coming out of jail, rightly pointed out by Manisha (Simi Garewal) that he looks like some psychology professor, actually got me curious. It was like sitting in an unknown place on a dog day afternoon and feeling something mysterious, yet pleasant about it. How Amitabh comes out so fresh out of jail as if he was in some therapeutic resort is a question which we’re not supposed to act but the feel of it was nice. But the happiness doesn’t last long.

We see a young Vicky and Somnath ‘Somu’ Chander Singh (Rajesh Khanna) in the flashback mode, who were given built up first by a couple of old men in tea shop bench, about how strong is their friendship. If that was not enough, the introduction scene was made cheesier by Somu’s sister “cutely” asking for pocket money from Vicky, Vicky having sweets from Somu’s mom and what’s worse, Somu appears in the same shirt as Vicky does. Why? I mean why were male friendships of the past projected as if they were gay. Even the playful encounter between Abbas and Vineeth looks weird in “Mustafa Mustafa” song. Wonder what the directors were actually thinking.

The movie treads in the same cheesy line throughout. There were various instances of one supporting another throughout the movie. Even though we know eventually sense was gonna prevail, the time taken was too much. The whole of the first half was just fooling around and when Somu gets to know that Vicky has some trouble by the workers. He disguises himself as a worker so that he could take revenge on the union leader.

If first half was about Vicky getting cheesy, the second half was about Somu and his romance. Absolutely abysmal. Even with his charm, it was really hard to digest that part of the story. With songs and slapstick comedies, it was annoying at best.

Sense prevails finally in the climax but by the time it happens it was too late and the sequence of events happen too sudden, which doesn’t give us any time to absorb. The titular dialogue happens just for name sake towards the end and doesn’t appeal at all. We don’t get any time to sympathize with Somu and be confused for Vicky. Conveniently Vicky’s dad ends up being the villain and gets hated by all.

What could have made the film interesting was instead of Vicky’s dad being projected as an outright villain, he could have shared how his ideology was correct. Even if we couldn’t have sympathized by him, there should have been some points were we could have been put into a confusion. The same confusion could have made Vicky vulnerable and not able to choose which the right path was. Plus when it comes to an emotional war between his dad and his best friend, the situation could have been more hectic for him and interesting for us.

Instead around the end, Vicky’s dad becomes the bad guy, Somu becomes the good guy and by the time Vicky could react, everything gets over. May be filmmakers of the past just want to cash in on the opportunity of the big stars but I could see it as only plain escapism because there were movies in the past which had tried to have some emotional value in addition to just being a dramatic slam bang sort of filmmaking. Hope I don’t end up being disappointed like this for yet another yesteryear Bollywood movie.

Movie Review – Anand

Tragedy done right

Anand is supposedly one of the famous films of all time, which would be there in any Bollywood/Indian list. But what I thought to be a Rajesh Khanna movie ended up to be a movie about Amitabh Bachchan. Though Rajesh Khanna was all about charm and sways through the entire movie, its Amitabh’s underplay of a character which was prolific throughout. It was one of the movies which had minimum characters but maximum impact, where each of the characters were such gems. The movie is a testimonial of how good Indian actors are because each character, small or big are prolific in this.

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The movie caught my attention right from scene one and I thought that I was going to thoroughly enjoy the movie. In the first scene, Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee a.k.a. Babu Moshai (Amitabh Bachchan) releases a book and is irritated in the felicitation ceremony and the scene cuts to going to a slum to treat someone, outside a kid is born. He’s a man of irritation. Someone who is helpless with the way the society functions. That reflects in each and every scene. A different version in the same category is Dr. Prakash Kulkarni (Ramesh Deo) who squeezes the one who has money but gives it to the one who doesn’t. May be a modern-day robin hood doctor. His opening scene too is an interesting one. In stark contrast is the character of Anand (Rajesh Khanna) who woos everyone on and off screen.

There have been many cancer movies in the past and most of it are tear jerkers. So, it’s a topic I hate. ‘Anand’ was one movie where the melancholy was restrained and there is not even a mention of cancer. It’s rather called, lymphosarcoma of the intestine. That by itself was a relief. Like Anand says, just by the name we could guess that it’s a rare dangerous disease and nothing more than that. And another cliché is the love angle in cancer films where one of them, mostly women weep their eyes out for their lover’s death. Being a 1971 film and breaking all this cliché is such a benchmark. It doesn’t even have a heroine. How great is that. I only wish that I had known the songs better. I could have enjoyed it more.

This film could have easily gone wrong with its cuteness but that’s where Rajesh Khanna scores and Amitabh Bachchan role acts as a balancing act. But beyond it, a certain bit of pathos or a little more melodrama would have made it for an emotional viewing or maybe it should have gone in a completely happy go lucky way. That’s where the movie loses a bit of sheen. But still the ending idea was good, where Anand records a conversation with Babu Moshai which gets repeated when he dies. The only disappointment is, for a man who entertained us so much through the movie deserves a more emotional death.

Movie Review – Aradhana

All songs and no soul

Yet another movie mistake of mine which I watched without knowing that it has already been remade into a Tamil movie called ‘Sivagamiyin Selvan’. The problem was, all these were the Tamil movies I had watched in the afternoon when my mom held the remote so I don’t even know the title of the movie but I’d have watched it. So only in the second half it struck me that it was a movie I had already watched. Because of a great outing in ‘Amar Prem’, I had great expectations from this movie as well as it had the same actor-director combo but I was disappointed. Not only because I had already watched the remake but even as a standalone film the second half was a dud.

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To see Rajesh Khanna act in songs is such a pleasure. That too when he gets introduced with a song like “Mere Sapno Ki Rani”, my joy knew no bounds. Not only is it a famous song but its so famous that even non-Hindi people with no access to Hindi films would know it. Hell, even my grandma knows this song.  The film also had “Roop Tera Mastana” which is another famous number and also shot in a single shot. These two songs made me think about the statement my dad told sometime back. He told that Ilayaraja was the only one who made people come out of Hindi songs and hear Tamil songs. People did use to hear Tamil songs but not with crazy fan following like that of Hindi ones. Only with ‘Annakili’, Tamil songs appeared everywhere. Seems people would throng tea shops to hear “Machaana Pathingala”. Such is its legacy. The rest as they say is history.

As much as we should appreciate the song its unclear as to how a song like “Mere Sapno Ki Rani” can happen before they both had meet. It felt like a mistake in the screenplay. The romance between the two is fairly decent and not bubbling like one would expect to. Rajesh Khanna does a fabulous job anyways. It’s love at first meet for Vandana (Sharmila Tagore) and Flight Lieutenant Arun Verma (Rajesh Khanna) Back then actors were cast as Flight Lieutenants so that they can find a reason to die. So, when he dies in the first half it was of no surprise. That’s why there is no surprise in their love story. Things happen so easily. When everything is so convenient, disaster strikes.

The second half is a mix of pathos, some bad acting (or call it overacting) by both Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore and situations which are not easy to believe. So together it’s a chaotic mix. Plus, the best songs are over. So, there is very little stuff to look forward too. No superstar dies in first half just like that, so he makes a reappearance again in the second half as his son. That’s the big surprise and the rest of the story is about how he reunites back. Even though Rajesh Khanna doesn’t overact as much as Sivaji does in Tamil, it still doesn’t suit him. Anyways all is fair in love and war and the movie is just plausible.

Movie Review – Amar Prem

The sweet scent of seventies

Thanks to the bad outings with the last couple of yesteryear Hindi movies, my expectation of the movie was pretty low. But it turned out to be a movie of totally different league. I’m finding it tough to differentiate movies which are clearly of two different strata. One has movie like ‘Pyaasa’, ‘Guide’ and ‘Amar Prem’. And other with movies like ‘Silsila’, ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ etc. The movies between the ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ and ‘Silsila’ era actually seem to be the most curious one. They were stories so intriguing that it feels surreal to watch them.

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The opening act of ‘Amar Prem’ was quite mundane and hurried. With a tired yet make up filled face, Pushpa (Sharmila Tagore) walks to her village after being abused and thrown out of the house by her husband and second wife. The situation quickly escalates and the whole village tries to take advantage of her. Even her mom hates. But a Nepal Babu (Madan Puri) who acts as a good Samaritan takes her to the city and makes her a prostitute where Anand Babu (Rajesh Khanna) gets addicted to her singing capabilities. A sad girl till then becomes happy seeing an honest admirer. The film settles only post that. But what we witness after that is epic.

Rajesh Khanna is fabulous as Anand Babu. He’s a true superstar. When people criticize stars like Rajesh Khanna and Dev Anand, I can’t help but laugh. Of course, there are new age actors who are really good but Rajesh Khanna and Dev Anand operated too good under the boundaries. It’s like Sachin in the early 90s pathetic Indian team. No one could believe that such player could exist in a team of nobodies. He was totally of different league where people planned only for Sachin, if they get him out, its as good as winning. Similarly, within the constraints the stars of the 70s were fabulous. In spite of a multitude of songs which they have to perform, they could emote so effectively and even the songs, they were really really good. Look at “Kuchh Toh Log Kahenge” here and “Tere Mere Sapne” in Guide. With so much close ups and hardly anything to act, they emote so well that you can’t help but succumb to the gravity of their acting. Pure finesse.

Even though it looks like a simple movie, its not a simplistic movie by any chance. An innocent girl turned prostitute, a man who doesn’t have love in his home, a common man who’s like a brother of the innocent girl and a kid who gets motherly affection from a prostitute form the crux of the story. The bond between the kid, Nandu (Master Bobby) and Pushpa is quite straight forward because one out of the two doesn’t know about the ugly world out there. But the bond between Pushpa and Anand is special because even though it’s so pure, it has certain boundaries. Anand can’t explain what really is the problem at home and Pushpa can’t stop him from drinking. In fact, I loved the movie because of both the factors. We don’t get to see a bitchy wife; all we see is a dejected Anand. On the other hand, Pushpa even though cares of Anand, doesn’t stop him from drinking and be his life long aid. It was practically epic.

The problem between Nandu’s family and Pushpa are bound to happen but the way she deals with it and more importantly Anand deals with it, makes it a film less dramatic but more intent. It could have been easily a Sivaji Ganesan or Kamal Hassan like tear jerker, on the lines of ‘Vazhvey Maayam’ or ‘Rajapart Rangadurai’. But luckily the film is stripped of drama. Anand doesn’t get cancer, they part on their own, struggle with their life but nothing is forced. Even though the ending looked bit hurried and the timeline shift felt out of the place, Anand still had the same warmth about him. He doesn’t fight with people but hits a nail on the head through his words. His samosa buying act in the end was such a pleasure to watch.

Even though it feels like a film of Pushpa and her story. It’s pretty one dimensional, she gets what we see but it’s Anand who’s a really sad man. When I thought at least in the end he’d be made happy by getting invited by Nandu but he doesn’t. I thought Nandu will invite and Anand would reject but he doesn’t even get invited. And that’s when we feel really sad for him. What a character Anand is. Now I feel all the more reason to watch ‘Anand’.