Sholay (1975) - One of the greatest Indian movie hits of all time

When you think of great Hindi movies, one of the names that always comes to the front is the movie called Sholay, released in 1975. The movie seems like it was set in another age, it being now 35 years since it was released and became a huge hit; and is now a cult movie. If it comes on TV even now, you can be sure that there will be some people who will want to watch. And the movie created a set of characters who became incredibly famous, specifically the few characters of Gabbar (Amjad Khan), Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar), Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), Veeru (Dharmendra), and Basanti (Hema Malini), and the under-played role of Radha (played by Jaya Bachchan).
The movie took a chance, starring a newcomer in the pivotal role of the dacoit leader (Danny was the original choice, but he was unavailable, and hence a newcomer such as Amjad Khan was selected). The movie was based on a small idea by the prolific writer duo of Salim-Javed. And the outcome was a movie that broke all records, and became a cult movie known till today.



The movie was produced by G.P. Sippy and directed by his son Ramesh Sippy. Music for the film was given by RD Burman, with the lyrics provided by Anand Bakshi. During direction, the movie went over-budget, since the director wanted to be perfect in the shooting, and many of the shots took many takes and many days. The movie also had real-life relations between the stars, with Amitabh and Jaya getting married 4 months before shooting of the movie started, and Dharmendra romancing Hema Malini at that time. The movie took a period of 2.5 years to make. The movie also had an effect on tourism, with the location of Ramanagaram (a rocky terrain), a village near Bangalore, Karnataka being the shooting site, and being known later as the location where Sholay was shot.
The movie was based on the concept of revenge, where a local dacoit terrorises the village, and also takes revenge on the family of the local thakur. The Thakur in turn hires 2 small-time but brave crooks to come in to fight the dacoit and his gang, and this is what they do, but with some sadness, as one of the 2 loses his life in the end.
The movie takes these 2 small time crooks (Jai and Veeru) in a jail. They are remembered by an ex-policeman, the Thakur, when he is looking for somebody who can help him fight the dacoits (led by Gabbar). He had apprehended them, and then see how brave they were when they fought off dacoits who were trying to rob a train. He meets them, and offers them a large amount of money if they can get rid of Gabbar and his gang. Gabbar is a violent and brutal dacoit leader who is terrorising the villages.
In the first confrontation, three men from Gabbar's gang come to get supplies from the villagers, something that they do without any issue in the past. Now, however, they face a fight from Jai and Veeru and have to go back without any supplies; at which Gabbar cannot stand the sight of his men being humiliated in front of the village and shoots them after some drama (in a scene that was much appreciated). The next major attack is on Holi, during which Jai and Veeru are pinned down and are looking for Thakur to throw a gun towards them, but he does not cooperate. Later his story is revealed, where he had arrested Gabbar some time back, and then Gabbar killed all his family except for one daughter-in-law Radha (Jaya Bhaduri). And in another confrontation, Gabbar cut off both his hands leaving him without any hands.
So, the situation continues, with Jai and Veeru staying in the village, and getting fond of Radha and Basanti respectively. Gabbar has cut off the village from the outside, but they fight back by killing some of his men. And then the final confrontation, where the fight with Gabbar and his men take place, in which Jai finally dies.

Some interesting scenes from the movie:

Where Jai talks to Basanti's mausi and turns her against Veeru, and Veeru on the water tank:



Scene from the jail early in the movie with Asrani:

Majboor (released in 1974) - starring Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran, and Farida Jalal

Majboor was a movie, released in 1974, that shows the fate of a man, who gets stuck in a web of his own making and is now making frantic efforts to extricate himself from that web. Majboor means 'Somebody who is being forced into a course of action'. The movie was a fairly decent hit, with some good performance by the leading man, the superstar Amitabh Bachchan. The movie was directed by Ravi Tandon, and produced by Premji. The movie had some good music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, and the story of the movie was written by the hit pair of Javed Akhtar-Salim Khan (who had written many other leading movie stories as well). The stars of the movie, included, besides Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran, Madan Puri, Rehman and Farida Jalal.
The movie is apparently based on an earlier American movie called Zigzag (released in 1970), based on the same subject (that of an innocent man framing himself to collect money that his family will need, since he believes that he is on his death bed, but then gets cured and now wants his freedom back).



So, Amitabh Bachchan leads a simple life as a travel agent, with his mother, his brother and his wheelchair bound sister (Farida Jalal) depending on him for the running of the family. And then, it seems that the gods have frowned down on him, and he starts suffering headaches, which leads to the diagnosis of an incurable brain tumor. But, what worried him apart from death is the fact that since he is the sole bread winner of the family, what will happen after his death ? Who will take care of him family ? This makes him even more desperate.
And in this desperation, he strikes upon an idea. One of his clients dies, and the brother of the dead man offers a reward of Rs. 5 lakhs for the finding of the murderer. And Rs. 5 lakh is a huge amount. Ravi (Amitabh) plays a game in which he will be blamed for the murder, and his family will get the Rs. 5 lakh. Everything goes according to plan, and he is caught and sentenced to death for the murder. And then, something else happens. While in jail, he suffers a major attack, and is taken to hospital where his tumor is cured; now he wants his life back, but he has already plotted his one role in the murder and is a sentenced criminal. How does he get his life back, and get the sentence reversed ? It's a taut tale, fast moving, also starring the beautiful Parveen Babi.

Roti Kapda Aur Makaan (1974) starring Manoj Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, and Zeenat Aman

The struggle to remain good and maintain high morals when facing adverse situations in life can be a hard struggle; after all, there are a number of movies depicting how a criminal rose up in life because of poverty are a large number. Manoj Kumar has made a number of movies on the concept of patriotism, or on the struggle in life between the good and the bad, with this movie being an integral part of his collection. The name 'Roti Kapda aur Makaan' delineates this struggle, with the words literally translating into the following - Food, Clothes and House (Shelter), depicting the necessities of life.
The movie was a very successful movie, having struck a chord in the audience about the struggle to make ends meet and the moral problems that get associated with such struggles, becoming the most successful movie of 1974. The movie was made (produced and directed) by Manoj Kumar, and like many of his other movies, was a multi-starrer, starring Shashi Kapoor, Zeenat Aman, Amitabh Bachchan, Moushmi Chatterjee, besides Manoj Kumar in the lead role.
Some of the songs of the movie were very successful, such as "Hay Hay Yeh Majboori", "Main Na Bhoolunga", etc. The music for the movie was by Laxmikant-Pyarelal (earning him a Filmfare Award Nomination, and winning the Best Lyrics award for Santosh Anand).



The movie is about the head of a family, Bharat (Manoj Kumar) who takes on the responsibility for his family after the retirement of his father. He has 2 younger brothers Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) and Deepak (Dheeraj Kumar), as well as a sister Champa, who is eligible to get married. However, he is not so successful, not able to find work despite having a good education. The only earning he has is through a job as a singer, but it does not pay that much; this makes his girlfriend Sheetal (Zeenat Aman) extremely frustrated, and she starts working as a secretary to a rich businessman Mohan Babu (Shashi Kapoor), who starts falling in love with her; she is seemingly more interested in his wealth.
Bharat in the meantime is going through more struggles; his efforts to become a builder end in failure when the Government takes over his building site and leaves him with grave financial problems. Sheetal also gets engaged to her boss, and then Bharat's father dies. Even when a suitor is found for his sister Champa, Bharat is unable to get the required amount of money for the marriage. What does Bharat do ? How does he resist the temptation to get into crime ?

Bombay to Goa (1972) - starring Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Aruna Irani and Mehmood, with some good music

Bombay to Goa is one of the earlier movies of Amitabh Bachchan, and hence, at those times, there were roles that were not written solely for him, but since he was a young and upcoming actor, the movie did showcase him; with the movie "Bombay to Goa" being meant to launch the brother of Mehmood, Anwar Ali, and also showcase the talent of Amitabh Bachchan.
The movie is mostly about a bus journey, taken by a young girl where she is seeking to escape the clutches of a man looking to kill her (he has already taken money from her and also killed his own partner for the same money). The bus journey provides her (and the viewers) with a lot of adventure, and also makes her more mature.
The movie was produced by NC Sippy and directed by S. Ramanathan; and stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Aruna Irani and Mehmood. The music for the movie was given by R.D.Burman.



Mala's picture appears in a magazine, submitted by 2 friends of Mala (Sharma (Shatrughan Sinha), and Verma (Manmohan)); however her parents are very surprised and astonished to see these photos, and plan to marry her off to the son of their friend. However, Mala is certainly not ready to marry somebody whom she does not know and dreams of a film career. She does not understand the attitude of her parents, takes a lot of money from her parents without their knowing, and runs away from home.
She hands the money over to Sharma and Verma; and seeing this much money, their intention changes and they fight among themselves for the money, with Sharma killing Verma. Mala sees this, and is now running for her life from Sharma and tries to escape on a bus that is on the way to Goa. However, Sharma soon finds her and then enters Ravikumar (Amitabh Bachchan) who wants to save Mala. Eventually Mala starts to trust Ravikumar. The movie becomes very interesting due to the various assorted passengers on the bus, representing a cross section of people from all over India, with Mehmood playing the role of the conductor of the bus, and his brother, Anwar Ali, playing the driver Rajesh.

Guddi (1971) - the movie that made Jaya Bachchan famous and known as an accomplished actor

Guddi was a movie released in 1971, produced and directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee (who made a number of famous movies during the 70's) and was written by Gulzar. However, the movie is best famous for giving Jaya Bachchan, then a young and upcoming actress, a canvas for her to show her acting skills and fortunately for her, the movie did well and was praised (thus leading to a lot of praise for Jaya Bachchan). The movie also starred Dharmendra, Utpal Dutt, and had a number of other starts such as Amitabh Bachchan, Om Prakash and Pran making guest appearances in the movie; this was also because the movie was also about a big star and his work in Bollywood, so a lot of details about Bollywood were shown in the movie. In fact, some other stars such as Biswajeet, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Naveen Nischol, Om Prakash, Pran, Shashikala and Mala Sinha played cameo roles in the movie.
The movie also had some good music with songs such as "Bole Re Papihara" and "Humko Man Ki Shakti Dena" (sung by Vani Jairam) becoming very famous for their classical background. The music for the film was given by Vasant Desai.



The movie is about the concept of being attracted by the on-screen personality of a star, based on what the star plays as characters, instead of knowing the real life of the star (and where the character of the star could be very different from the characters played). In this case, Kusum (Jaya Bachchan) is a schoolgirl who develops an incredible crush for the movie star Dharmendra; she lives with her family; but when she visits Mumbai, that is when the crush that she has for Dharmendra really reveals itself.
At that time, her sister-in-law's brother, Navin (Bengali film actor Samit Bhanja) falls in love with her, but when she is so much after Dharmendra, it is impossible that she could even listen to anybody else. Navin takes help from his own uncle, Utpal Dutt, who also knows Dharmendra, and they resolve to show Kusum the difference between the reel life and real life (taking help from Dharmendra for this).

Reshma Aur Shera (released in 1971) - starring Sunil Dutt, Amitabh Bachchan, Waheeda Rehman, Raakhee

Reshma Aur Shera was one of the earlier movies of Amitabh Bachchan, at a time when he was not the established superstar. The movie is an account of betrayal, love, murder, honour, set against the backdrop of the sands and harshness of Rajasthan. The movie was essentially the creation of Sunil Dutt, who also produced and directed the movie.
The movie was well liked by critics, and was nominated for some international (although it did not win too many). Some of the awards it was nominated for include:
- The Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival
- Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Oscars)
The movie was written by S. Ali Raza, with some beautiful music by Jaidev (for which he won the 1972 National Film Award for Best Music Direction (his first award for music)).



The movie is about the feud between 2 families, and in a story that has been seen many times, where the children of both families are in love. The eldest son of Sagat Singh, Shera (Sunil Dutt) is not the more violent and revenge seeking son, trying to make peace. He is very strongly attracted to the daughter Reshma (Waheeda Rehman) of his father's rival, and she also falls in love with him when she sees how he can be strong for peace rather than for more revenge.
And yet there is a third element, the younger son of Sagat Sing, the mute Chotu (Amitabh Bachchan, who plays the role of a skilled shooter, also heavily influenced by his father). Eventually Chotu goes against the wishes of his brother in terms of not having violence and going in for peace and influenced by his father who wants Chotu to shoot the rival and his son both. And they both die; this causes Shera to hunt for his own brother to kill him. What happens next ?

Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973) - A story of revenge, with some incredible songs, starring Dharmendra and Zeenat Aman

How many people are there who would not have heard of this movie ? Yaadon Ki Baarat is one incredible movie, full of masala, full of some great music, with a murder, and then the quest for revenge on somebody whom the children of the killed cannot even identify, and then you have the capers of a thief (who works with somebody who is actually the killer), and you have a very enjoyable movie. And when you add a delectable Zeenat Aman, you get a really incredible movie.
The movie was made by Nasir Hussain, who produced and directed the movie. The movie starred some of the bigger stars, and some of the not so large ones, with the cast comprising of Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman, Vijay Arora, Tariq, and Neetu Singh.
The movie had some great songs, with 'Chura Liya Hain Tumne' being a song that is remembered and played even now, and music was provided by RD Burman. The script for the movie was provided by the famous pair of Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan. One lesser know fact about the movie was that it starred Aamir Khan as a cute young boy (the youngest of the 3 children shown in the movie).



The movie is a classic story about siblings separated early, when they are very young, and who meet later in life (and then realize much later that they are brothers). An artist, who defies a gang, is killed by them with the young children of the couple witnessing the murder. When running away, they get separated. They all have different life styles, with the eldest becoming a skilled burglar, the second one being a normal (not wealthy) person, and the youngest one becoming a singer. All they remember is a childhood song called 'Yaadon Ki Baarat'.
They do meet up several times but cannot associate any relationship between them; and go through various relationships (with the middle one played by Vijay Arora falling in love with Zeenat Aman after pretending to be a rich man, when his secret is out, Zeenat is shocked at the deception). The main story however is that of Shankar, the eldest one, played by Dharmendra, who is trying to find the murdered of his parents, and eventually realizes that the one whom he works for is the murderer.