Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hain (1960)

An almost magical movie from Raj Kapoor, it seems a very simplistic movie. In these cynical times, you would think that such a thing is impossible. However, the fact is that in reality, Acharya Vinoba Bhave did indeed cause dacoits to see the error of their ways and surrender. The movie portrays Raj Kapoor as a very simple man, not used to the complication of life, not very clever; but very honest, very much in love with the country and the fact that humans are not bad, and if they are acting wrongly, they can be shown the error of their ways and come to the right track.
The movie was released in 1960, and was a big hit. It was directed by Radhu Karmakar under the banner of R.K.Films and also starred Padmini, Pran, and Lalita Pawar. The music was by Shankar Jaikishan and the songs were a great hit. The movie won the Filmfare Award for Best Movie in 1961, and perpetuated Raj Kapoor's image as the simple, uncomplicated, not calculating film persona that he had been carrying along since Awaara and Shree 420.



The movie stars a group of dacoits living with their families away from civilization, much hunted by the police. They are naturally suspicious of most things, and fear coming into contact with the police. One day, by accident Raju (Raj Kapoor) lands in their midst and only the sardar manages to save him, since the others suspect him to be policeman. Pran is the rebellious second in command and does not like Raj Kapoor.
Over a period of time, Padmini develops a liking for the simple ways of Raj Kapoor and falls in love with him further enraging Pran who had always thought that he would marry Padmini. Raj Kapoor somehow does not ever seem like becoming a dacoit and is mocked by the others for his seemingly gentle manners and lack of toughness, although many of the people start liking him.
Things take a sudden turn for the worse when the sardar is killed and Raj Kapoor admits that he is a policeman (even though he is not) and is imprisoned by Pran for eventually being killed. Padmini goes off to get the police, and at the same time, Pran kills one of the elder females (Lalita Pawar) by mistake when Raj Kapoor is persuading the other dacoits to surrender; they are after living a life of nomads and not being able to bring up their families properly. They set out to surrender and at the same time the police has assembled a huge force to capture them. There is a confrontation where Pran almost manages to have a shootout, but Raj Kapoor manages to save the day and prevent any bloodshed.
The depiction of the lives of the dacoits seems very realistic; I was also very impressed by the sets in the closing scene where the shooting was done in a very large partly hilly space, and you get a feeling of incredible vastness and a massive number of people assembling for a confrontation.

Songs from the movie:

O Basanti Pavan



Hum Bhi Hain Tum Bhi Ho



O Maine Pyaar Kiya



Hoton Pe Sachai Rehti Hain



Aa Ab Laut Chale (an incredibly beautiful song) - The final song about the path back to civilization



Begaani Shaadi Mein Abdullah Diwana



Mera Naam Raju

Hum Kisi Se kam Nahin: The Nasir Hussain movie

This movie was released in 1977, and was at a time when Rishi Kapoor was on a roll as the singing and dancing star. Directed by Nasir Hussain under his home banner (Nasir Hussain films), the movie was a great musical entertainer, a proper masala movie. It had all the elements - lost diamonds, gangsters along with henchmen, lots of music, separation and then meeting, debut of a new couple, and so on. It was a great hit, probably the last great hit for Nasir Hussain Films before the hit 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak'. Nasir Hussain unfortunately died in 2002.
The movie had music direction by R.D.Burman, and lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. This was actually a great combination that had given some great music earlier in movies such as Teesri Manzil, Pyar Ka Mausam, Caravan, Yaadon Ki Baraat before this movie. The fim starred the hit Rishi Kapoor, Zeenat Aman (in a small role), and the debut of Tariq and Kaajal Kiran (both of whom unfortunately did not achieve great success), and Amjad Khan.
The movie was about a young couple growing up as kids (Tariq and Kaajal Kiran) who get separated when their fathers, who are friends, part ways, with Kaajal's father turning rich and looking down upon Taariq's father. They are now separated, with no idea of each other. Tariq is a good singer, and one day, somebody places some diamonds in the box of his bike in order to escape the police. Amjad Khan wants the diamonds, and believes that Kaajal Kiran's father knows where the diamonds are.
Rishi loves Zeenat, but her father thinks no good of him, and refuses to let their affair go ahead. At some point, Rishi starts believing that Zeenat is now married off and is heart-broken.
He is then blackmailed by Amjad Khan (with Rishi's sister being the method of him getting blackmailed) to romance Kaajal Kiran and lure her so that the diamonds can be found. He is supposed to be at a villa in the countryside where Kaajal will meet him, but Rishi sends Tariq ahead of him. Tariq recognizes Kaajal and romances her, pretending to be Rishi. She does not know him. When she finds out, she rejects him, at which point Tariq sings the song 'Kya Hua Tera Vaada' (song by Rafi in an award winning style) and Kaajal now knows who he is. She is very depressed now that she regrets how she treated Tariq.
With some more melodrama and some shooting later, everything turns out for the better. And in a unnecessary twist, Rishi finds out that Zeenat was not married and was waiting for him.

Songs:

Chand Mera Dil



Humko To Yaara Teri



Kya Hua Tera Waada



Yeh Ladka Hai Allah



Humko To Yaara

Dhamaal: A fun filled movie

This review of the movie will essentially have the story as well, so at any point if you think that your surprise element of the movie is getting spoiled, stop reading at that point of time.
Dhamaal, a name for a comedy. So off I went into the theater, thinking that with the spate of comedies that we have seen recently and with many of them being somewhat ribald and raunchy, there would be a spate of heroines with short hemlines and lots of skin display; I was pleasantly surprised. This was a pretty clean movie from the context of double meaning dialogues as well, a good family movie.
It's a different matter that the opinion of this sort of movie varies a lot. I know a lot of people who would consider the spate of incidents and accidents that befall the characters in this movie as contrived and not worth laughing at; I however am not one of them. I enjoyed the movie and laughed with everybody else in the hall at the continuous spate of humorous incidents that happen in the movie.


The movie stars a number of people some of whom are good in comedy, some of whom make people laugh with their deadpan style of dialogue delivery. Sanjay Dutt is an excellent example of a person who delivers his style and dialogues in a pure deadpan way, and the humour stands out. Javed Jafferey is styled as a dim-wit, the brother of Arshad Warsi, and Javed stands out in his role of a person who cannot be trusted to keep a secret or know what to say when, and by the end of the movie, you know that he can counted upon to reveal things which would rather not be disclosed. Riteish Deshmukh as usual is a character who emotes humour with his face and eyes, and he does a fair job at that. Arshad Warsi is seemingly the most ruthless of the lot in terms of planning. And then there is Ashish Choudhury, who is utterly scared of his father Asrani, who loves his car more than he loves Ashish.
With these cast of characters, you know that the movie will have a riot of incidents one after the other, and that is exactly what happens. These 4, Ashish, Javed, Arshad and Riteish are good for nothing characters, not working and enjoying from day to day based on their skills at conning people. Once, when conning the family of a dead person, they are wrongly picked up by a cop for murder, but then released on a mountain road when the truth becomes clear. There they watch an accident, and hear the last words of a crook, Bose (Prem Chopra) who tells them where his money is buried in Goa.
When Tikku Talsania (the police chief) and Sanjay Dutt (a police inspector) hear about this, they are shocked. They have been chasing Bose for 10 years and want to get back the money he had made. Sanjay Dutt eventually makes the 4 reveal the money details that Bose had told them (with Javed playing the dimwit revealing the details). Soon, they all part acrimoniously to go their own separate ways over the proposed division of the money. This is soon shown figuratively in the way that they try to be the first one and kill the other's chance of doing so.
What follows is the attempts of all of them to be the first one to reach Goa and the incidents that they have in the process. There are some notable ones, with Ashish and Asrani in a plane where the pilot has become unconscious and the attempt to get them down, Sanjay Dutt driving a bus that soon leads him hanging from a cliff, Ritesh getting stuck with some dacoits the leader of whom becomes part of the party, and so on. The end has a twist in terms of what happens when they finally find the money.

Comedy scene from the movie:

Delightful Movie: Jhankaar Beats

This movie was incredible. A movie seemingly made specifically for the urban audience, it seemed to have hit its target bang-on. The theme, the language used in the movie (with lots of English thrown in), the pressure of relationships, and the somewhat distant and formal relationship between a father and his son, all of these are items that would appeal to the urban / metro audience.
I normally watch the movie when it appears on TV and have done so for quite a while, and I really enjoy it. Given that I really appreciate the music by R.D.Burman, watching a movie that dedicates itself to his memory was a good effect (although the cynical me says that this was just part of the storyline and no special affection to R.D.Burman). So, songs from old were a good thought. The movie was one of the first movie from Pritish Nandy communications, and I would think that they did good.







The movie did not have many big stars, having Juhi Chawla (but after she had sort of moved away from bigger roles and into more quality roles after her family started), Sanjay Suri, the metro-sexual Rahul Bose, Rinke Khanna, the much-criticized witness in the Jessica Lal case Shyan Munshi, Riya Sen, and Vijayendra Ghatge. Juhi Chawla and Sanjay Suri are a couple with a school-going daughter and another kid on the way; Rahul Bose and Rinke Khanna are a couple on the verge of splitting enough though it seems that they do care for each other; and Shyan Munshi and Riya Sen are a wannabe couple (although Riya Sen does not know it as yet).
Sanjay Suri and Rahul Bose are working with a ad agency and have a regular delighful banter going on. They are also heavily devoted towards practising for and winning a local musical contest called Jhankar Beats that they have been trying for 2 years now and missing. Their wives understand their obsession but do not fully share it.
In the midst of all this, their boss gives them a new campaign, they have to design a new campaign for a client wanting to introduce a new condom in the market. He also pushes his son Neel (Shyan Munshi) into working with them, although just because he is the son does not mean that he gets any special flavors. Neel is also a wannabe musician whom they accept as part of their group.
And then the movie moves on from there, with Neel trying to win over Riya Sen (and succeeding without too much effort), Rahul Bose trying to resolve his relationship with Rinke Khanna (and we never really get to know the reason behind why they are separated, but primarily seems a question of egos), and the whole set meandering towards trying to win the ad contract (and keep their jobs). The movie does get a bit serious towards the end, but overall is a very nice movie.

Songs:

Tu Ashiqi Hain



Dil Ne Tum Ko

Song and remix: Bhor Gaye Panghat

This is a beautiful song from the movie Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Listen to the music, and listen to the song sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Satyam Shivam Sundaram was controversial due to the amount of exposure by Zeenat Aman, but the movie had some great songs. The movie also starred Shashi Kapoor and was made in 1978 by Raj Kapoor. The music was directed by Laxmikant Pyarelal.
The story is about a simple village girl who sings in the village temple, and is very attractive. She is a very god-fearing. Further, she has a side of her face totally burnt. Shashi Kapoor into the village, and he falls for her and asks for her hand in marriage. She refuses initially since she knows that once he sees the burnt side of her face, he will be repulsed, but due to pressure, she gives in. The obvious happens when Shashi Kapoor sees her burnt part of face and rejects her. Eventually, he has a change in heart after a major storm and flooding and accepts her.
The song also has had a recent remixed video starring Isha Koppikar (who debuted in the great song Khallas from the movie Company).

Original song:



New remix starring Isha Koppikar (called Bhor Project):



Lyrics of the original song:

(bhor bhaye panghat pe
mohe natkhat shaam sataye) - 2
mori chunariya lipti jaye
main ka karoo hai raam hai haaii
bhor bhaye panghat pe
mohe natkhat shaam sataye
mori chunariya lipti jaye
main ka karoo hai raam hai haaii hai
bhor bhaye panghat pe

koi sakhi.. saheli.. nahi
sang main akeli
koi dekhe toh yeh jaane
paniya bharne ke bahane ghagri uthaye
radha shaam se milne jaaye.. hai
bhor bhaye panghat pe
mohe natkhat shaam sataye
mori chunariya lipti jaye
main ka karoo hai raam hai haaii hai
bhor bhaye panghat pe

aaye pawan jhakora
toote ang ang mora
chori chori chupke chupke
baitha kahi pe woh chupke
dekhe muskaye
nirlaj ko ha ha
nirlaj ko laaj na aave
bhor bhaye panghat pe
mohe natkhat shaam sataye
mori chunariya lipti jaye
main ka karoo hai raam hai haaii hai
bhor bhaye panghat pe

main na milu.. dagar main
toh woh chala aaye.. ghar main
main du gali,main du chidki,
main na kholu khidki
neendiya jo aaye
toh woh kankar mar jagaye
bhor bhaye panghat pe
mohe natkhat shaam sataye
mori chunariya lipti jaye
main ka karoo hai raam hai haaii hai
bhor bhaye panghat pe

Song: Krishna O Krishna

Okay, today's song will seem a bit unfamiliar, given that it is from a movie called 'Meera Ka Mohan' released in 1992, and starring Avinash Wadhawan, Ashwini Bhave, Kunika, Deepak Saraf, and a few others. It was not a very notable movie, having been made by K. Ravishankar. The music was given by the late Arun Paudwal and the lyrics were by Indivar. This song was sung by Anuradha Paudwal and Kumar Sanu.



Lyrics:

krishna krishna krishna
krishna hare krishna
krishna raadhe krishna
o krishna you are the greatest musician of this world
o krishna kyuun vaada de ke refusion of the world

baansuri se tuune prem sandesha diya hai mohana

tuune jo bhi git sunaaya gita ban ke jag pe chhaaya
gyaan ka man mein dip jalaaya
tuune hi sab ko lubhaaya aur sab ko nachaaya
pyaar ko tuune kiya hai paavan har insaan ko diya hai jivan
har aangan mein raadha mohan
tuune hi jag ko amar sangit sunaaya

Song: Ek Tu Hi Bharosa

If you are a great fan of Lata Mangeshkar's voice, then you will love this song. And from what I know, I don't believe that Lata Mangeshkar appears in films to sing a song, and she has done it for this song. This song really appeals to me, the lyrics go right down to my core. It gives hope, and a feeling of being able to overcome against all hands, if you have faith in God. The lyrics are by Majrooh Sultanpuri and Javed Akhtar, and the music is by A.R. Rehman, and they have really excelled.
The movie is Pukaar, released in 2000, and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. It stars Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Namrata Shirodkar, Danny. The movie is essentially about this heroic Army Major who does a lot of good deeds, and is then framed by Madhuri (almost by mistake) as she grows very jealous when she seems him having an affair with Namrata). He is condemned as a traitor, dishonored and jailed. The rest of the movie is how he manages to get his honor back as well as save a number of children.



Lyrics:

--FEMALE--
Aa jaa ke kab milke rab se dua maange
Jeevan mein sukoon chaahe, chaahat mein vafa maange
Haalaat badalne main ab der na ho maalik
Jo de chuke phir yeh andher na ho maalik

--CHORUS--
Ek tu hi bharosa, ek tu hi sahaara
Is tere jahan mein nahin koi hamaara
(Eeshwar ya allah, yeh pukaar sun le
Eeshwar ya allah hai daata) - 2

--FEMALE--
Ek tu hi bharosa, ek tu hi sahaara
Is tere jahan mein nahin koi hamaara
(Eeshwar ya allah, yeh pukaar sun le
Eeshwar ya allah hai daata) - 2
Humse na dekha jaaye barbaadiyon ka sama
Ujdi hui banti mein yeh tadap rahe insaan

--CHORUS--
Humse na dekha jaaye barbaadiyon ka sama
Ujdi hui banti mein yeh tadap rahe insaan

--FEMALE--
Nanhe jismon ke tukde liye khadi hai ek maa
Baarood ke dhuen mein tu hi bol jaaye kahan

--CHORUS--
Ek tu hi bharosa

--FEMALE--
Ek tu hi sahaara

--CHORUS--
Is tere jahan mein

--FEMALE--
Nahin koi hamaara

--CHORUS--
Eeshwar ya allah, yeh pukaar sun le
Eeshwar ya allah hai daata

--FEMALE--
Eeshwar ya allah, yeh pukaar sun le
Eeshwar ya allah hai daata
Naadaan hain hum to maalik, kyoon di hamein yeh saza
Yahan hai sabhi ke dil mein nafrat ka zaher bhara

--CHORUS--
Naadaan hain hum to maalik, kyoon di hamein yeh saza
Yahan hai sabhi ke dil mein nafrat ka zaher bhara

--FEMALE--
Inhe phir se yaad dila de sabak vohi pyaar ka
Ban jaaye gulshan phir se kaanton bhari duniya
Ek tu hi bharosa, ek tu hi sahaara
Is tere jahan mein nahin koi hamaara
Eeshwar ya allah, yeh pukaar sun le
Eeshwar ya allah hai daata

--CHORUS--
Eeshwar ya allah, yeh pukaar sun le
Eeshwar ya allah hai daata

--FEMALE--
(Meri pukaar sun le)

--CHORUS--
Eeshwar ya allah, yeh pukaar sun le
Eeshwar ya allah hai daata

--FEMALE--
(Hey eeshwar ya allah)

--CHORUS--
(Eeshwar ya allah, yeh pukaar sun le
Eeshwar ya allah hai daata) - 3

--FEMALE--
(Meri pukaar sun le, meri pukaar sun le, meri pukaar sun le)