Tuesday 29 December 2009

Aan Milo Sajna (1970)

Rajesh Khanna is one of my favourite actors, i personally wouldn't describe him as the best of actors but i love his charisma & personality on screen, in fact most times i find him a bit over the top but its his 'over the topness' that keeps me entertained and makes him ever so endearing to me, its his 67th birthday today (Happy birthday Kaka) and as a result i thought i'd review Aan Milo Sajna (Come to me my love) one of my favourite Rajesh Khanna films

Anil Choudhury (Vinod Khanna) is a spoilt brat living a very flashy lifestyle, when his dying mother Savitri (Nirupa Roy) refuses to sponsor him anymore, Diwan (Chaman Puri) the family accountant suggests he marries, go on the straight and narrow and prove to his mother that he's a changed man


Anil the bad boy look what he has in his office drawer

Anil intially asks his secretary Leela to act as his fiancee, but when Leela tells her friend Varsha (Asha Parekh) about the plan, Varsha being a drama queen decides she'll take on the role of Anil's fake fiancee, and then changes her name to Dipali


Thus Varsha now Dipali poses as Anil's fiancee and on their way to the family mansion to meet his mother, Anil knocks down a poor villager and drives on without any sense of remorse, Dipali is shocked at his cold-heartedness and Anil is told off by Ajit (Rajesh Khanna) a do gooder and well respected man in their town


Anil's mother Savitri (Nirupa Roy) is depressive and longs to die, she believes the cause of her illness is a sinful deed which she feels, she can never be atone for, Dipali wishes her well and starts caring for her

Dipali wins the affection of Anil's mother who finds renewed confidence & optimism for life, she also sees her son Anil as a changed man and starts giving in to his every demand


Dipali on the other hand is taken aback by Ajit's big heart and his concern towards the poor, she falls for Ajit and after pestering him with love songs he falls for her too


Savitri on the other hand is eager for Anil and Dipali to get married, when Dipali's conscience starts getting the best of her she decides to tell the truth only for her to be interruppted by Anil who guilt trips her telling her Savitri might suffer severe consequences and revert to her illness if she finds out the truth



Savitri later finds out about Anil's dodgy deals and investments with her money , she decides to put all her will in Dipali's name not even knowing Dipali isn't her real name but Varsha



Anil is gutted but when he catches Asha in the hands of Ajit he exposes her deeds to his mother, trying to convince her about Asha's unfaithfullness




Meanwhile Ajit's mom Kaushalya (Dulari) is scared of her son's association with the Choudhury's considering his relation with Dipali who resides in their mansion


Why is Ajit's mom forbidding him from going to Anil's mansion? What evil deed was Savitri feeling so remorseful about? Will Deepali reveal the truth about her identity, what effect will it have on Savitri

I think i've tried writing this film up to the best of my ability there's was so much going on, its a well packaged commercial entertainer, this movie has everything you'll want from a 70's bollywood drama masala escapist fare, there's romance, suspense, a little bit of action , a comic side plot, gorgeous lead actors and actresses as well as great songs of course, all are combined for a superbly entertaining film, i loved every minute of this film and i'd strongly recommend it if you love your 70's escapist fares,

Rajesh Khanna really is a handsome man, not like i didn't know that before but he was just on another level of hotness in Aan Milo Sajna


as for Vinod Khanna i loved him as the villain in this, he was fiercely evil, just how you want your villains to be, if you love Vinod, you must definitely watch this film



He was also rocking some serious fashions as well

straw hat, checked shirt, neckerchief and oversized sunglasses (well done Vinod)


green tuxedo and yellow bow tie only Vinod can get away with this

Tom Cruise and his Top gun buddies can go take a back seat, here's Vinod wearing aviators years before Tom and his buddies made them hugely popular in Topgun

Asha Parekh was also styling and looked extra gorge in this



And Nirupa Roy was actually a different Maa in this one not only was she carrying a gun she gave Vinod a hot tight slap just when he needed it



Nirupa Roy is gorgeous FACT

Ok i've said it before and i'll say it again Laxmikant Pyarelal were the kings of commercial film music i loved each and everyone of the songs from the romantic 'tere karan' the colourful title track 'aan Milo sajna' to the fun 'acha to hum chalte hai', 'Jawaani o diwani to zindabad' of the lot my favourites are 'palat meri jaan' which has now become one of my favourite Asha Parekh songs



and 'koi nazrana leke'



Happy Birthday Rajesh khanna wishing you many more happy years to come

I'll recommend everyone who's a fan to watch the 1973 bbc Documentray on Rajesh khanna Bombay superstar, i've embedded part 1 below



Watch Part 2
Watch Part 3

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Monday 28 December 2009

Ayee Milan Ki Bela (1964)

The final film in our Dharmendra week series of movies, is quite an unusual one as Dharmendra plays a villain in this one

Diwan Saheb's wife Pushpa (Mumtaz Begum) loses her child during labour rendering her childless for life, the nurse suggests Diwan Saheb ask their maid laxmi who had given birth to twins in secret (out of wedlock perhaps) for one of her kids to replace Pushpa's


Laxmi is reluctant at first but she gives Diwan Saheb one of her kids when he explains Pushpa might suffer a shock if she realises the child she gave birth to didn't make it, Diwan makes her promise not to tell anyone about the matter.


Shyam which is the child Laxmi keeps stays with his mother in the village and ranjit the child which she goives away to Diwan saheb goes abroad (i love the way this was done all through the credits)



Shyam grows up to be a successful farmer, he meets and falls for Barkha (Saira Banu) the daughter of a wealthy investor who had introduced machinery to farming in Shyam's village



Ranjit returns from London and is appointed as General Manager over Mr Chaudhuri's business which Shyam also helps in running, unknown to Shyam & Ranjit is the fact that they are long separated brothers, they meet and they both form a deep connection with each other


Shyam's mother realises who Ranjit is but due to her promise to Diwan Saheb she keeps silent


As time goes by Ranjit too falls for Barkha, when he realises Shyam is in love with her as well as Barkha's affections towards Shyam he starts getting jealous and resentment starts building towards Shyam


Rohanlal (Madan Puri) whom Shyam had caught stealing from the comapnay poisons Ranjit's mind furthermore, together they come up with a plan to frame Shyam


Shyam is then framed for stealing money from Barkha's father and accused of impregnating Rupa (Shashikala), understandably Barkha is gutted and things between her and Shyam go sour


Overall a standard commercial enjoyable and watchable 60's bollywood drama, the songs are excellent and the story doesn't drag on, the only minor quip i have about this film is Dharmendra's villain act

I was expecting some over the top evil scheming or plotting considering he's a villain but the script lets Ranjit's character as a villain down, as even his evil actions stem not from his own thoughts but from Rohanlal's maliciousness. As such Ranjit is more a character with a dark side or shades of grey as opposed to an outright villain, plus he didn't have as much screen time as Rajendra Kumar who was the central character


And i loved Rajendra Kumar in this, in fact i love him in most things i know some if not many people on the blogosphere find him a bit too much or overbearing but i simply adore his energy and his dramatic ways check him out in the scene below with Dharmendra





I absolutely loved Saira Banu in this, most times when i see her, she's always hyper or a bit too much but here she's restrained and as beautiful as ever


Ahhh i loved her cute litte dog too and i do covet that Radio, flask and briefcase



While watching this i realized how truly gorgeous Sulochana Latkar can be such a pity she was mostly relegated to motherly roles

Fabulous sondtrack from Shankar Jaikishen 'main pyar ka deewana' (audio only) the delightful colourful title track 'ayee milan ki bela', the sweet 'tum kamseen ha ho' & 'tumhe aur kya doo' with Saira doing some fab dance moves, 'O sanam tere' is my favourite track




Paisa Vasool Worthiness: 7/10

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Dream Girl (1977)

Apologies for the long absence, i had a bad case of the winter blues, but i'm well and able now, as its taken me ages to complete my Dharmendra week, i'm going for the kill today and i'll bring Dharmendra week to an end (or should i say month considering it took me so long to complete my 6 Dharmendra movies which i had all planned to review before his birthday on the 9th)

In Dream Girl directed by Pramod Chakraborty who did a handful number of films such as Naya Zamana (1971), Jugnu (1973), Azaad (1978) with Dharamendra and Hema or as Harvey has suggested "Dharema" our hero plays a ladies man who's on his quest for his dream girl

Anup (Dharmendra) is a ladies man and is such hot property amongst women, so much so that women act cattily towards each other all in the hope of being Anup's chosen one



Anup however has the hots for the dream girl in a poster he had purchased roadside


He comes across his dreamgirl Sapna (Hema Malini) while out on a business meeting, he's taken aback by her beauty and his dil (heart) gets all squishy



Sapna spots this and takes advantage of his infatuation, she deceives him and steals cold hard cash from his car, Anup is gutted a beauty like Sapna wasa such a shady character however it turns out Sapna isn't an all out bad girl, she had stolen Anup's money to help care for an orphanage she runs with Chandu (Asrani)


When the money runs out Sapna and Chandu realise they must start earning money to take care of the kids, they decide to allow a rich American NRI family The Kapoors (Ramesh & Seema Deo) to adopt some of the kids


When the kids in the orphanage realise they're about to be given up for adoption, they start acting up on the day of the adoption in order to deter the kapoors from adopting one of them, the Kapoors however settle for Chintu a crippled kid and promise to get him treated


When Chintu leaves the orphanage the other kids are depressed and start acting up refusing to eat (well they clearly aren't hungry) its not long before Chintu feels dissatisfied in his new environment and he returns to the orphanage


The kapoors give Sapna the choice of bringing him to America where they'll arrange for his treatment but Sapna must be able to fly him over


When pressure from Anup's grandfather Mr Verma (Ashok Kumar), starts for Anup to be married he comes across Sapna once more while she's out with her cunning ways


He cuts a deal with her promising he would pay her whatever she wants, all she has to do is act like a princess who is about to get married to him, as anyone who's watched lots of bollywood films should be able to tell, its not long before they fall head over heels for each other


Things take a turn when days before their wedding Sapna is reveled to be a former naachnewale (prostitute) and Anup is revealed to be the false grandson of Mr Verma



How will things turn out? Will Anup still be able to marry Sapna? Since Anup is not Mr Verma real son, what really happened to his own child, will he be able fo find him/her? Will Anup ever get to know his real parents?

This film is indeed where Hema earned her dream girl title, although i enjoyed it a bit, it did my head in especially in the last few minutes where things get a bit too zany for my liking, i wanted this film to be camp but it just ends up being a messy haphazard entertainment, it's not as slick or fun as Jugnu was but if you enjoy the jodi (coupledom) of Dharema give this a go

There were some hilarious moments though, like this one scene where one of the orphan kids walks into a room naked, the look on the kids faces were hilarious


Also spotted was a very young Padmini Kolhapure, she definitely kept her childhood looks growing up

a fly looking Prem Chopra


After spotting this breed of dogs in many a bollywood film, i have come to conclude they must have been hugely popular in India


What kiddies film will be complete without Master Raju, i simply adore this kid he might be a pain in the neck, but i love him



The songs are by Laxmikant Pyarelal are fantastic, there's feisty 'O Raja Babu', a fun kiddies song 'Chuppa Chuppi ke' and 'Duniya ke log' (see it below) where we get to see Hema Malini and the kids from the orphanage in disneyland Florida

Look its Donald duck and minnie mouse in bollywood



and of course the amazing 'kisi shayar nahin (dream girl)'



Paisa vasool worthiness: 5/10

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