Suhaag Raat (1968)

Next in line for the 7 day Jeetendra extravaganza is Suhaag Raat (Wedding Night)

Jeetu (Jeetendra) & Rajjo (Rajshree) are lovers who are getting married, unfortunately for them, their marriage is disrupted when Jeetendra has to report back to his military base following an enemy attack on India. Jeetu leaves promising Rajjo he'll return and get married to her

following his departure the entire town is attacked and Rajoo loses all her family members amidst all the chaos, if all that wasn't bad enough she receives news that Jeetendra has been killed in war, a devastated Rajjo alongside her uncle leave town

Surprisingly Jeetu returns and soon learns about the death of his family, while wandering in a state of despair he's taken in by Sulochana who takes pity on him and makes him manager of her estate

Sulochana however is worried about her own irresponsible son Uday who goes about drinking & being a waste, Jeetu advises her to get him married threatening to disown him or cutting him off her will if he doesn't agree

can anyone id the Uday character, he's the one in the middle

Uday agrees to get married, on the day of the wedding when Jeetu goes to pick the bride up from the station, it turns out to be none other than his lover Rajjo, they're both shocked but they both keep knowledge of their past relationship a secret

On the same wedding night just before their intimate night together Uday's friends ask him to come drinking with them one last time at the kotha (brothel), after having one drink too many he gets into a fight at the kotha with another Nawab resulting in the Nawabs death

He escapes & Rajjo is declared a widow when a burnt corpse is mistaken for his dead body. He turns up one night much to Rajjo's surprise,he makes her promise not to tell anyone he's alive, which she agress to, they also get intimate with one another

Months later when her pregnancy is revealed, she's reviled & called a sinner who's brought dishonour to the family since Uday hadn't even touched her before his death, Rajjo keeps quiet all through the accusation as Uday had made her promise not to reveal the fact he's still alive

Jeetu is accused of defiling her and is sent out too as a result

Overall a self sacrifial melodrama which should be watched mostly for the gorgeous songs by Kalyanji Anandji or if you enjoy weepy melodramas that extol the virtues and sufferings of the ideal Indian woman whose husband is her god (this indeed is what the film advocates, even after going through numerous and in some cases unnecessary self sacrifice, Rajjo is given a goddess like status as a reward of her sacrifices) you'll enjoy this, the rest of you know what to do.

The thing with such movies is that despite knowing how its all going to end i can't help but be entertained and be glued to my screen till the very end. Perfomance wise everyone is watchable but this was a different kind of film for Jeetendra as compared to his fun escapist fares like Farz & Waaris, he was way too weepy in this

Rajshree is gorgeous, i love her face

This film also has one of the most hilarious dance offs I've ever seen in bollywood with Laxmi Chhaya dressed as peacock and Madhumati as a snake battling it out, its so camp but ohh so enjoyable

What i enjoyed the most as i've said are the songs by Kalyanji Anandji there's the bouncy Lata number 'Mohi lagi re' the fun 'mere dil se dil ko' my two favourites though are the lovely 'Khush raho' by Mukesh

and the super hot mujra 'Main Qayamat' with the lovely Madhumati & a very feisty Laxmi Chhaya

Paisa Vasool Rating: 4/10