Tuesday 30 March 2010

Long Da Lishkara (1986)

Yes this blog is called bollywood deewana but today i shall be taking a quick peek at the Cinema of Punjab which is also known as 'Punjwood' for those of you who know your bollywood really well there are two recognisable faces in the form of Om Puri and Raj Babbar, this is my first Punjabi film and i have to say that i enjoyed it very much, a number of remixes of the Title track prompted me to check out the film

Raja (Raj Babbar) the son of wealthy royals returns to his mum (Nina Tiwana) in the Punjab after a period of 15 years spent in Canada
Check out his silver parka and Knee high boots

He meets Preeto (Harpreet Deol), the family maid and falls in love with her, also vying for Preeto's affections is local villager Maya (Om Puri), when he (Maya) finds out about Raja's affection for Preeto, he's furious and swears to split them

Meanwhile Raja goes in search of his old friend Channa (Gurdass Mann) only to find out he has become a Sage. Channa had become a Sage after the death of his lover who had died due to their different class backgrounds, Raja is shocked such attitudes still take place

Unknown to Raja is the fact that he's about to face the same heartbreak when his mother disapproves of his relationship with the family maid Preeto as she's from a lower class background

He tries standing up to her but he's emotionally blackmailed by his mum who asks him to choose between her and Preeto and then goes on to narrate how a lower class maid whom his dad had been involved with had led to his death

As a result Raja & Preeto stop dating much to the excitement of Maya who's also in love with her

Unknown to Raja's mum is the fact that Preeto is the daughter of the raped maid which had led to her husband's death

A depressed Preeto is told by her Aunt Gulabo (Nirmal Rishi) that Raja's father was the main reason behind her mother's death, before her death she had promised her mother that Preeto would avenge her death by becoming the Mistress of the mansion

She urges Preeto not to be depressed and avenge her mother's death by becoming the Mistress of the Mansion

Will Preeto manage to become the Mistress of the Mansion? Will she & Raja be reunited or will she be married to Maya? Watch Long da Lishkara to find out

Overall a sweet romantic melodrama with a dash of 80's revenge style saga thrown in, i was a bit unsure of what to expect, but i really enjoyed this, its very much like the the atypical bollywood romances of the 80's trying to overthrow old customs & traditions for the sake of true love

and of course since it was shot in the Punjab we're treated to lovely green fields and colourful outfits and dancing in these green fields

Performance wise i loved all the characters and even though they were quite one dimensional and their acting felt a bit like theatre acting, they were very likable. I especially liked Preeto (Harpreet Deol) and her aunt Gulabo (Nirmal Rishi)

and of course the dear Raj Babbbar, i know I'm probably one of a handful people who love Raj Babbar on the blogosphere, and I'm fine with that, i love him and his wooden style acting he seems to get criticised for
I can actually see bits of Prateik in him

Fab music from Jagjit & Chitra Singh, there's the lively upbeat 'Sare Pind Vich' beautiful love song 'Ishq hai Logoo' a punjabi classic song 'Challa' a lovely 'Giddha medley' and then my favourite of the whole lot and the very reason i checked out the movie is the wonderful 'Long da Lishkara' picturised on Lovely Punjabi Ladies in colourful outfits in picturesque Punjabi fields



Paisa Vasool Rating: 6/10

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Even though I'm married to a Punjabi, I've never actually got around to seeing a Punjabi film (he hasn't either!). I'd have thought Punjabi films would generally be of a fairly high standard, at least as far as acting is concerned - since a lot of Hindi cinema's bets actors are of Punjabi origin.

I'm not sure yet if I'm motivated enough to watch this, though!

Rum said...

Ooooo Punjabi cinema! As a Punjabi gal, I cannot take Punjabi films because they are just soo bad but all the better for me to make fun of. This one i watched a while ago on TV, and i was struck by how lanky and skinny Om Puri is in this, and how he seems to be in all the films I've seen! Perhaps you should see Chann Pardesi which is also a semi good Punjaban film~

Bollyviewer said...

I love Gurdas Mann! He used to be part of so many fun programs on Indian TV in my childhood, that I am kind of indoctrinated into liking his silly songs. And I love watching Punjabi films, too. They arent great but I enjoy hearing the dialogues in Punjabi - they sound like Hindi words chewed over and then spit out with great emphasis! As to Raj Babbar, I kind of like him in Punjabi, but otherwise he always reminds me of his role in Insaaf Ka Tarazu (even though I've never seen the film).

Ava said...

I liked Chann Pardesi, and its songs.

An old classic - Nanak naam jahaaz hai starring Prithviraj Kapoor and Kamini Kaushal, Sunil Dutt's brother and Vimi. Wow !

Anonymous said...

I love lots of things related to Punjab and Punjabis - their language (they sound like Hindi words chewed over and then spit out with great emphasis ROTFL!!!!), their food, their lively nature, level of enthusiasm, the peppy beats in their songs, Bhangra and the green fields and colorful attires...but inspite of it I haven't watched any Punjabi movies yet...and to try out a movie from the 80's I need lots of courage and patience!
Raj Babbar is good actor...but no matter how good his role is and how well he has performed, I can never bring myself to liking him - all thanks to Insaaf Ka Taraazu

Nicki said...

Wow! Thanks for the review! I was asking on Twitter and Facebook about Punjabi recommendations before too.

bollywooddeewana said...

@ Dusted off A big part of the enjoyment was mostly the novelty factor plus it seemed so much like a typical bollywood film of the 80's. Indeed Punjabi films back then weren't on par with bollywood they only used to make between 8-10 films in a year

@ Thanks Rum i shall check it out too, Om Puri was indeed very skinny in this

@ Bollyviewer you're funny, Lol at chewed up and spat over Hindi words. I can see why anyone would hate Raj for his role in Insaf ka Tarazu, he was really freaky and he played it with so much conviction but alas he's an actor he had to do his job, i remember hating him a bit for that role too

@ Thanks for the recommendations Avdi i'll look out for Chann Pardesi

@ Sunehriyaadein I myself seem to have that view of Punjabs as them being like you've described, i hope its not me stereotyping though. wow looks like Raj really annoyed a lot of people with his role in Insaf ka tarazu

@ Nicki You're welcome since you like a lot of 80's stuff you might just like this

Anonymous said...

I have been stuck on the Long Dha Lishkara remix by Kaos productions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpggDtv0ZkM

after hearing it constantly on BBC Asian network. I wonder what the song means. I need to look for a translation. Now I want to see this movie. I have only see part of a Punjabi movie once. This seems like it would be a sensible place to start. Thanks for the write up.

All the best!
Sita-ji

bollywooddeewana said...

@ bollywoodfoodclub Thanks for that link, i've been looking for it on youtube, unfortunately the DEI dvd of Long da Lishkara didn't come with subtitles for the songs, i wonder what it means too, let me know when you find out. But it was still a nice watch, it would have been better if the songs were subtitled though

Alamara Jewellery said...

I love this movie. My all time favorite. I love the dialogs. ive watched tihs movie so many times and its always like iam watichin it for the first time.

Anonymous said...

I have been looking for a high resolution print of this movie online. all I can find is 480p. Help out a brother please

Anonymous said...

Can anyone tell me what the name of the sikh spiritual song that is being played in the Movie. the scene is that of 2 women in the sikh temple .

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Punjabi girl said...

Challa is my all time favourite song. Great Punjabi film of the 80's is 'Darrani Jethani' with very emotional wedding song

Punjabi girl said...

Challa is my all time favourite song. Great Punjabi film of the 80's is 'Darrani Jethani' with very emotional wedding song