Allah-Rakha (1986)

The apple as they say never falls far from the tree, Manmohan Desai's son Ketan Desai proves this saying true in this crazy masala flick with a muslim theme in its background, yes i've heard of Muslim Socials, but this film can be called (or should i say is) Muslim Masala. It stars none other than Jackie Shroff (well done everyone who got the answer right in the Guess who? post below) We have all the masala elements lost children, double identities, villains, gorgeous heroines as well as the exploding tv's & the politics of prostitution thrown in. If you're looking for a hotly served masala look no further than this film. I don't even know how i'm going to write this up, but i shall try my very best as there was just way too much craziness going on

Karim Khan (Shammi Kapoor) had accepted the blame for a murder committed by Don (Bob Christo), as a result he was sent to prison with Don promising to take care of his family. Don however refuses to keep his promise. When Karim Khan's wife Razia (Aruna Irani) takes their newly born son to claim 6 months of her husbands wages from Don, he sees it as an opportunity to rape her


Razia manages to escape by falling through the glass all the way from the first floor to the second floor without getting injured (hmmmm), she escapes and miraculously falls into the hands of Inspector Anwar (Biswajeet) who arrests Don

When Inspector Anwar and Salma's son falls ill, they're told by the doctor that they would need a pacemaker, when Inspector Anwar goes to buy the pacemaker that would save his son's life he's told he would have to release Don first

He refuses at first but later decides to release Don, he's given a pacemaker for his son's heart. The pacemaker turns out to carry the 786 number which is also the muslim number for 'In the name of Allah'


Don and his henchmen then set Anwar up with Miss Banu (Bindu) who spikes his drink, when he wakes up, she claims he raped her. To protect his honour he decides to marry her, His wife Salma (Waheeda Rahman) walks in on them and when Anwar tells his wife that he plans on marrying Banu, she asks for a divorce contending she wouldn't share her pati with a slut like Miss Banu


When Salma contends she get the custody of their child Iqbal, Anwar disagrees and they both go to court, while they're at court for the hearing custody, Don and his henchmen kidnap Iqbal.

When Don's men proceed to crush the child with their car Razia who happens to be passing by swaps him with her dead son, she starts running with Iqbal, don's henchmen hit her with their car and she throws Iqbal away only for him to land in the tent of an ongoing procesion

Iqbal is reported dead to his parents, however they don't know that the dead child is Razia & Karim Khan's son. When Salma hears she rushes out and is hit by a truck, she loses her sight and thus becomes blind

When Karim Khan is released from Jail he's told about the death of his wife , he's given Iqbal whom he thinks is his own son, he then goes to avenge his wife's death from Don, he kills Don but before Don dies he promises Karim Khan that his son (Don's son) will avenge his death

When Iqbal's pacemaker stops working, Karim Khan takes him to the mosque and places him on the altar where a ray of light from God descends on him Manmohan style and he starts breathing again. He's arrested again at the mosque for the murder of Don, before going to jail he hands the baby over to Salma and names the child Allah-Rakha (saved by Allah) he makes her promise him she wouldn't reveal his identity to him. Unknown to Salma is the fact that Iqbal is the child given to her

Allah-Rakha grows up and finds it hard to gain admission into University due to corrupt Mr Khera (Anupham kher). He resorts to running a roadside Panch Tara (as in five star) hotel

When he saves local Prostitute Rani (Meenakshi Sheshadri) from goons she falls for him saying he's the first person to make her wear her clothes as opposed to take them off

He's arrested for beating up the goons, his mother Salma takes up the case & the hearing is adjourned. Allah-Rakha is set free on bail while Inspector Jafar is suspended


A reporter by the name of Julie (Dimple Kapadia) comes toAllah Rakha's side of town, she's mistaken for a prostitute by Rani & both ladies have a catfight only for Rani to later realise she's a Tv Reporter and had come to do a report on prostitution

watch the hilarious catfight here

Julie comes back to Allah-Rakha's side of town and disguises as a guy to expose the liquor and gambling dens of the city, there she comes across Inspector Anwar's son Jafar (Gulshan Grover)who is a cop taking bribes & terrorising locals, she records all this


When Jafar finds out he's being recorded due to a clumsy act by Julie he starts chasing and she's helped by Allah Rakha. Julie & Allah-Rakha fall in love much to her dad Mr khera's (Anupham Kher) displeasure

Mr Khera is paid to carry out bomb blasts across town, he does this by placing bombs in Tvs they plan to kill Allah Rakha by putting a bomb in his Tv (yes this film is that crazy) on the said day Inspector Anwar turns up at Alla-Rakha's house to see Salma. Allah Rakha turns on the Tv and goes to get him drinks, before he comes back the Tv explodes and Inspector Anwar is Injured

Allah Rakha hears Salma praying wishing her own true son Iqbal is still alive, saying he would have sent her on a Hajj trip, Allah-Rakha is disheartened that Salma isn't his real mother


He descides to wrestle against an acclaimed fighter called Gorilla in order to win money to pay for her trip. He wins the fight and Allah-Rakha is able to send Salma on a Hajj trip


watch the fight here

While on Hajj, Salma prays for Anwar's health and he gets well as a result of her prayers. Allah Rakha is then framed for planting bombs in Tv's and as a result he's taken to jail, there he meets Karim Khan. the two have a fight over food but when Karim Khan discovers his name is Allah Rakha, he rejoices and introduces himself as Allah-Rakha's father, they have a happy reunion

When Karim Khan is released from Jail he's confronted by Don's son who has come to get revenge, Don's son who happens to look a lot like Allah-Rakha also arranges Allah Rakha's escape from prison

When Allah-Rakha meets Don's son they have a fight and Allah-Rakha kills him, as a result he switches place with him and news spreads about Allah rakha's death


How will Salma & Anwar realise Allah-Rakha is their son? Will Salma ever reagin her eyesight? For how long will Allah Rakha convince everyone he's Don's son? For these answers a whole lot more entertaining reasons do watch Allah Rakha

Wow that was an exhausting write up, if you read it all, you deserve a round of applause, Allah-Rakha is a well timed crazy masla complete with all the necessary elements to keep you entertained, the story moves along at a steady pace and keeps you involved all the way through.

If you're looking for a hot served masala look no further than this film. Kudo's to Manmohan Desai's son for getting all the golden oldies a la Waheeda, Biswajeet, Shammi Kapoor to participate in all the masala craziness this film had to offer.


Even Shammi participates in some crazy Masala action

The movie was written with Amitabh Bachchan in mind but due to other commitments he couldn't take it up, as a result the role was offered to Jackie Shroff, who did a splendid job, if you're a Jackie fan like me, this is one movie of his you HAVE to watch

Other reasons to watch Allah-Rakha is Bindu in classic BAD woman mode, she is A bad bad bad woman in this film, and she had a fabulous wardrobe and hairstyles to go with it

I also loved the fierceness of Meenakshi Sheshadri, she doesn't get as much screen time as Dimple but she was feisty as the down trodden prostitute

there was also some Psycho shower scene rip off


and there were lots and lots of movie posters featured in the background, probably more so as the film was shot at Raj kapoor Studios

this movie had so much crazy goodness, if you're a red blooded masala lover do not miss THIS

Great songs from Anu Malik as well, some of the songs had a muslim theme in them such as 'Parvardegare Aaalam' and the title track 'Main Allah-Rakha' then there's the protest love song 'Sholon mein jalado' , and then 'doli leke yahan' where Rani laments on the sorrows of prostitution, my favourite however is the sweet parody of Amar Akbar Anthony and other Manmohan Desai films in 'na amar na akbar na anthony'



Total Score: 8/10 ( Hot Piping Masala at its best)

Guess Who?

Can anyone guess the Bollywood star hidden behind the lathered up face, the answer will be revealed in my next film review

Edited to add
Well Done everyone who said Jackie Shroff, it is indeed Jackie in a shower scene from Allah Rakha which i'll be reviewing sometime soon. Thanks for all your responses

Arpan (1983)

This movie was like watching a train wreck, i was pretty sure how it was all going to end, but the decent performances, good songs and soap opera style storyline kept me watching

Anil (Jeetendra) and Shobha (Reena Roy) are in love, opportunities arise and he has to leave India for work abroad. He puts Shobha in charge of his family, Shobha is honoured by the amount of trust Anil has placed on her, little does she know this would also traumatise their relationship

Shobha's Boss JK (Raj Babbar) tries to take advantage of her, she insults him telling him where to get off, he promises he will get her back

Meanwhile Anil's sister Vinnie ( Priti Sapru) is impregnated by her lover Rakesh (Shashi Rani), he decides they abort it, but she tells him its too late. He decides they'll get married to prevent her being stigmatised, he however has to borrow money from his boss who surprise surprise turns out to be JK

Rakesh promises him the money but when he realises he impregnated Shobha's would be sister-in-law he arranges for Rakesh to be kidnapped on the sly

Shobha willing to save Anil's family honour goes to JK who tells her he would only help if she agrees to marry him, Shobha sadly agrees thereby putting Anil's family honour above breaking his heart



A smug JK pleased about trapping Shobha in his arms in this rather interesting symbolism

JK arranges for Rakesh's release and he and Vinnie get married, Shobha too gets married to JK and she discovers what an asshole he truly is when he starts abusing her verbally & emotionally, talking down at her amonsgt friends, he even disrespects her by bringing numerous women to their marital home


Shobha keeps on being the good wife, she's so annoyingly good that even JK is surprised and confused if his evil actions aren't driving her up the wall


Anil returns only to discover his beloved Shobha is now married to someone else


if only he had listened to Tom Alter's advice

While on a trip to drown his sorrows, Anil meets Sona (Parveen Babi) a singer, he finds solace in her music and company, the two fall in love


Meanwhile the evil deeds of JK catch up with him, he's diagnosed with Liver Cancer and given months to live



and surprise surprise he turns over a new leaf and starts being all nice to Shobha, he even takes her on a weekend trip to the same resort Anil had gone to drown his sorrows


How will things turn out, what will Anil's reaction be when he sees Shobha?, will he be able to forget her or will they come back together since she's soon to be a widow anyway, Watch Arpan if you dare to find out all the answers

As i've said this movie is a melodramatic soap opera of sorts, soap opera lovers will find this delightful with all the over the top going ons. I'm not a lover of soap opera's, but i secretly enjoyed this film, i knew it was going to be a train wreck in the end,but it kept me involved and i was curious to see how things would turn out, If you watch a lot of hindi movies you should know/be able to guess how it all ends.

If you're a red blooded feminist, who can't stand such movies about the plight of the self sacrificing woman, stay well away from this film as it would surely irritate you.


Poor Reena Roy she always suffers in all her J.Om Prakash movies, her performance was credible, entertaining but at the same time annoying due to all the unnecessary self sacrifices


It was weird seeeing Parveen Babi in traditional attire, i've seen her in so many movies in non traditional clothes that it felt different/weird seeing her clad all the way through in Sari's

Great soundtrack from Laxmikant Pyarelal the rhythms of 'tauba kaise hai nadaan' where we get to see Parveen show off some dance moves, 'tu meri shaadi', a cool mujra 'Likne wale ne likh dale' my favourite however has to be 'Pardesi jake' a sweet contemplative romantic song



Total Score: 6/10 ( A watchable & enjoyable melodrama of sorts, even if somewhat highly irritating)