Meri Surat Teri Ankhen (1963)

Meri Surat Teri Ankhen based on the bengali novel 'Ulka' by Dr. Nihar Ranjan Gupta is another film i had seen ages ago that's been lying around waiting to be reviewed, plus it reminded me very much of a topic i had long wanted to delve into

Wealthy and vain Raj Kumar (Ishwarlal) is expecting his first child with his wife Kamla (Achala Sachdev)

the arrogant and vain Raj kumar

When the child is born, it turns out to be of a dark complexion, Raj rejects the child as he considers dark complexion ugly, he then lies to his wife that she gave birth to a still born child

chi chi look at the look on his face

he tells Dr Mathur (Tarun Bose) his friend to keep the incident a secret, Mathur is disgusted by his friends actions but agrees none the less, Dr mathur is left with the baby, he gives the baby to Rahmat Mijan (Ishwarlal) and his wife who are a childless muslim couple

Years go by and Raj and Kamla have another child, this time the baby turns out to be very fair and is considered the epitome of beauty by Raj Kumar. The fair child named Sudhir (Pradeep Kumar) grows up to be a womaniser and a hotel manager

On the other hand Pyare (Ashok Kumar) his long lost dark skinned brother grows up to be a singer under training from Rahmat his adoptive father, he also suffers severe shyness due to people's reactions to his dark skin which is considered ugly

Following Rahmat's death Pyare goes to Mumbai to meet Dr Mathur, he's tormented by his ugliness and Dr Mathur decides its time to right some wrongs and then promises to introduce him to his real family

The taunts Pyare has been subjected to over the years leads him to favour living in darkness, when Dr Mathur's daughter kavita (Asha Parekh) takes a liking to his voice and approves of his beauty, Pyare starts feeling good about himself and its not long before he starts falling for her

Trouble though is the fact that kavita is the love interest of his unknown younger brother Sudhir, Kavita is fond of him too, and they hope to get married. When kavita notices his affection towards her she makes it known to Sudhir which breaks Pyare's heart

Following a performance at Sudhir's birthday party, Raj Kumar is taken aback by Pyare's talent , Dr Mathur lets him know that Pyare is none other than the son he had rejected years ago

Raj Kumar meets Pyare and decides to offer him money to stay out of his life. which Pyare rejects, when Pyare confronts him over his act he eventually approves of him as his son but reveals the shame he feels towards his ugliness, and the taint he might bring on his honour. He begs Pyare not to tell his mother the truth which Pyare agrees to for some weird melodramatic reason

Meanwhile Sudhir becomes the subject of blackmail by his friend Prakash (Iftekhar) when he's accused of violating Bela's (Indira) honour, he must pay to avoid his family's honour being tainted plus there's the danger of his marriage to Kavita being called off

Will Sudhir give in? Will Pyare see sense and reveal the truth about himself to his mother? What will be her reaction when she realises her husband lied to her about the still born child?

Despite descending into a chaotic melodrama of sorts and dragging on towards the end a fair bit, the message of the movie was clearly that of true beauty being inner beauty, the film also raises the issue of honour and looks especially that of dark skin and how it's considered ugly and a taint on one's honour.

The performances are ok all around but I felt Ashok Kumar hammy in parts and a bit too old for the part of Pyare, plus the fact that Achala Sachdev played his mother seemed very out of place, something just didn't feel right with that combination.

Of course its interesting to draw parallels with the whole beauty is skin deep that the film advocates and the prevalent issue of skin bleaching which so many bollywood stars are pedalling these days

I've long wanted to weigh in on this matter on here but always somehow felt it was a question of choice, I myself have long known about the prevalence of such creams during my formative years in Africa, however back then people who openly admitted bleaching often got dirty looks, bleaching creams were in no way advertised on a massive scale, there was an element of shame to them, in fact there was a popular quote drummed into us at Primary School, about people not proud of their colour being shamed or something along those lines, i really don't remember clearly. Still though I always felt it was a question of choice until I saw the documentary below (please take time out to watch the mini documentary below)

Skin Bleach Doc

I really do hope bollywood stars stop promoting the use of fairness creams, as can be seen from the documentary above, these creams can have a long lasting psychological effect, and are so not needed, given all the current stress and pressures of modern society, an individuals skin tone or complexion need not be an extra burden to carry.

And indeed if there's a gripe i have about bollywood, its the whole fairness equals beauty mantra, one only has to look at the prevalent use of white dancers in bollywood numbers plus numerous song down the years that praise fair skinned beauty. Indian Supermodel Lakshi menon has called the whole bleaching cream thing schizophrenia on a very large scale, i've embedded the interview below

Anyway enough of my ranting i'll end with this quote from Known Turf about the power of celebrity

"Perhaps, the trouble with too many artists is that they forget their own power. The power of media. Films and books are as much a tool for challenging social ideas as they are tools for emotional discovery or just plain storytelling. You can break stereotypes. You can stretch limited imaginations. You can help others become less judgmental human beings. You can save children. But you have to want to"

Lovely soundtrack from S.D. Burman, a lovely Mukesh & Suman Kalyanpur duet 'yeh kissne geet cheda' the beautiful 'teri khalayon mein' & 'tere bin sune' and the wonderful Rafi number (be sure to check out Asha's lovely dance moves in this) 'nache man mora magan' & a smooth Manna Dey number 'Poocho na kaise' my favourite of the bunch is the jazzy 'Tujse Nazar' with Indira as the Vamp

Paisa Vasool rating: 5.5/10

Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1970)

Usually films with kids can either fall into two categories, that of the super annoying kid a la 'Ginny aur Johnny' or adorable like those in social movies like Boot Polish. Ghar Ghar ki kahani is a lot more like the latter

Shankarnath (Balraj Sahni) a honest and hardworking family man is seen as a miser by his son Raju (Ramesh Kumar), when he refuses to pay for a trip to Ajanta & Elora

Its not only Raju has a problem with their dad's tight hand, his daughter Rupa (Neetu Singh credited as Baby Sonia) isn't too happy about not getting money for her dance costume, so is her little brother Ravi (Master Ripple) over not getting a new bike. Their mother Padma (Nirupa Roy) tries to appease them but these kids are having none of it

Neetu is so cute i see bits of Ranbir in her

They all go on hunger strike as a protest against their father whom they consider to be a miser. Their father eventually cuts a deal with Raju when he decides to allow him run the household on his salary for 6 months, promising they can have all their wishes if he (Raju) manages to save.A delighted Raju accepts the deal

 Ravi soon finds out that what a challenge saving is, and over time the kids soon realise the value of R600 and how hard it is to stretch. Thus they begin making cuts by sacking the maid, helping to do household chores and changing other bits of their lifestyles just to save money so they can each get what they want

But life isn't that easy and various obstacles spring up when their mother falls ill and they have to buy medicines which weren't written in their budgets. Also uninvited free loading relatives turn up for Diwali, all of which eat into their savings

While Raju and his siblings are living on a budget and doing their very best to make their father's measly income stretch, a co-worker of their father Sadhuram (Om Prakash) lives a flashy lifestyle (which is funded by the money he receives from bribes, all of which help cater to his family's rather high taste)

Also living lavishly is spoilt brat Gopi (Mehmood Jr.) who gambles away his wealthy parents money

So will Raju manage to save enough to pay for his trip to Ajanta as well as pay for his sister's dance costume and his brother's bike? Will Sadhuram ever learn to live within his means and not accept bribes?

Ghar Ghar Ki kahani ended up being a sweet film with cute performances all around. I especially appreciated the child actors in this film, usually child actors tend to be very annoying in hindi films, but here they were restrained and I enjoyed the gradual change in their behaviour and attitudes towards  the value of money. Infact the morale of the film seems centred around the whole idea of living within your means and not 'keeping up with the Joneses'.

The ending left me a bit cold though, as I just couldn't help but feel dissatisfied that despite their sacrifices and well disciplined acts to cut costs, the lovely kids all  chose to forgo their wants all out of pity for their Dad's meagre income and living within their means. Yes all that is nice and fair but the poor kids worked hard too, and made considerable changes to their lifestyle just so they could save. Still though, don't let that put you off the film, if you enjoy your 70's style family dramas then definitely give this one a go

This film also had Rakesh Roshan in his first film role , he looked so handsome and I've finally seen where Hrithik gets his good looks from

very Dapper hai na?

Kannada film legend Bharathi Vishnuvardan played his love interest, she reminded me a bit of Reena Roy/Vyjayanthimala

Lovely songs from Kalyanji Anandji, not up there with their classics but they're good and fitted the premise of the plot, there's a lovely parody song by Mehmood Jr. 'Aisa Banoonga' (Great performance from Mehmood Jr.) the beautiful 'aise na dekho' and 'suno sunata hoon' my favourite of the bunch and perhaps the best song in a mostly forgotten soundtrack is the wonderful 'Samaa hai suhana'

Paisa Vasool rating: 6/10

Aas (1953)

Given the obsession of many bollywood films with Saas bahu (Mother in law daughter in law) relationships, the last big saas-bahu movie i can recall was Beta, but way before Beta there was the 1963 Mala Sinha/Guru Dutt starrer 'Bahurani', Reena Roy's 'Sau Din saas ke' (which i can't wait to watch) and Hema Malini's 'Jyoti' and more particularly mega Indian soap Opera's like kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kyun kii saas bhi kabhi bahu tii ( i just love the title of this one, how about a film version Ekta) it translates as 'Because a mother in law was once a daughter in law too'. I've aways wondered what the obsession many Indians have towards saas bahu relationships, and for how long exactly it has been going, Aas made me realise, that this mother in law/daughter in law cinderella style stories have long been prevalent in Indian entertainment

Ashok (Shekhar) a widower loses his son and offers up a reward to whoever finds him, Asha finds him and returns him to the police station where they both meet, he offers her the reward but Asha turns it down refusing to put a price on human life (very sweet of Asha ain't it)

When his son Kishore (Ramesh Kapoor) is in need of a governess, Asha applies and gets the job, Kishore takes a strong liking to her and not before long Ashok too falls for Asha's gentle nature and beauty too of course

But as we all know all can't be fair in love, trouble arises when Chacha-ji (Laxmibai) Ashok's guraidan since childhood who wants him to marry her own niece disapproves of Asha, bringing into question her class and family background

Chacha-ji pushes her agenda but Ashok stands his ground, he and Asha marry and not long Asha gives birth to Baby Munna

Chahca-ji still reeling from Ashoks refusal to marry her niece plots a revenge plan that will ger Asha out of the mansion

Plot No.1: Prior to a Pooja (prayer/ Religious ceremony) for Kishore, Asha is entrusted with a necklace to be used in the ceremony, Chachi goes on the sly and steals the said necklace, on the day of the ceremony when Asha is unable to find it, Ashok scolds her blaming her for being so irresponsible

Ashok forgives her but Chachi and her aide the housemaid Chand ( Chandabai) start conniving again, she starts messing with Ashok's head telling him all sorts of lies about Asha, still all this fails to have an effect

Chachi's Master Plan

She later comes up with a master plan to get Asha out of the mansion for good, she mixes poison into milk drink Asha intends serving to Kishore. Chacha-ji knocks it over just in time before Kishore can eat, the pet cat laps up the milk and dies

ahhh poor cat :0(

they convince Ashok that Asha is out to kill Kishore so that her child Munna would be the sole inheritor of Ashok's fortune, thus Asha is sent packing

Lost and confused, Asha's spirit are revitalised when Masterji (Om Prakash)comes to her rescue and urges her to fight for what is hers, thus Asha goes back to the mansion in disguise with the intention of getting Shekhar to realise the truth

Will she succeed or will her disguise be exposed, watch Aas to find out

Overall Aas is a sweet family melodrama, it started off a bit slow but once the story picks especially with the arrival of Chacha-ji as the evil mother in law, the film becomes gripping and though its somewhat predictable and soap opera-ish, there is a lot to enjoy.

Performance wise Laxmi bai as Chacha-ji gets my praise, you just want to knock her over, her character was so conniving, rude and scarily real

I also loved Kamini as Asha, she has a quietness in her acting style that i like, plus i find her really beautiful

As for Shekhar i remember finding him a bit stiff but i guess that must be a requirement when you're playing the timid male figure whose Chachi still makes most decisions for

Excellent songs from Shankar Jaikishen added to the viewing experience, golden melodies like'Itna pyar karega kaun', 'zulm ki nagari mein' to the playful 'main to tere sapnon ki rani' which takes place in Kishore's wonderful costume themed birthday party with Om Prakash dressed up as what i believe is Hitler

my favourite is the Talat Mehmood/Lata Mangeshkar number 'Pyar hoke rahega'

Paisa vasool rating: 6/10

Pyaar ka Saagar (1961)

Sincerest apologies to everyone for just going on a hiatus without leaving a notice, i promise as from now on, whenever I'm taking a blogging hiatus, i shall do a short post to let everyone know. I've missed blogging, and it's so great to be back. Pyaar ka Saagar ( Sea of Love) is one of the movies i had planned to review for Rajendra Kumar week, but due to deadlines, workloads, opportunities etc. I just had to take a break from bloggy world

Radha (Meena Kumari) & Kishan (Rajendra Kumar) meet after a stormy weather disrupts their journey, Kishan being such a gentleman let's Radha have his coat to keep warm, over time they form a friendship and fall in love (ahhhh)
l

After months of Romance Kishan has to leave for his exams in Hyderabad, upon returning to college kishen he finds it hard to study and then Returns to meet Radha in Mahabaleshwar

Radha forces him to consider his brother's sacrifice to educate him, she sets up a rule that they shouldn't see each other until he finishes his exams

Meanwhile Kishen's brother Bishen (their names rhyme, how cool) raises the company's profits thereby impressing his boss, his boss who just so happens to be Radha's father asks for his hand in marriage for Radha, Bishen suggests his brother Kishen but her father insists on him

Radha hears them by accident and thinks Kishen has been mentioned, when her father goes to ask for her approval (how nice of him right, most filmi father's word is the final) she approves thinking it is Kishen

On the day of the ceremony she's surprised when the groom turns out to be different from Kishen, Radha faints (for the first time, there's way more to follow)

she recovers and makes up her mind not to marry him (very strongminded for a filmi heroine na?) but upon her father's pleas not lose his honour and (to be specific his buisness/wealth) she agrees. On their Suhaag raat (wedding night) when Bishen shows her pictures of his family, Radha realises that none other than Kishen is his brother (she faints once more)


I love this shot of Rajendra Kumar

Kishen on the other hand finishes his exams, he had been unable to attend his brother's wedding fully due to his exams, when he goes to inquire about Radha he finds out she's now married, a heartbroken Kishen is so distraught that he tumbles down from the stairs thereby losing his eyesight

Bishen brings Kishen home for nursing, when Radha realises he's gone blind she faints once more again

Radha becomes his caretaker, but is racked by a heavy conscience

How will Radha cope? Will kishen ever regain his sight? Will Radha ever muster up the courage to tell Bishen the truth about her past with Kishen? Are there any hopes for our two lovers (Radha & Kishen) to be reunited? Will Kishen ever regain his sight? Watch Pyaar ka saagar for all these answers

A highly enjoyable melodrama (if melodrama is your appetite, it's mine indeed) i enjoyed each and every bit of it, but again the ending left me cold, considering we all know what usually happens in bollywood love triangles, one person is always bumped off to make room for the lovers to live happily ever after, I was expecting to see how Pyaar ka saagar would deal with this trope, and it was much worse than i expected, and perhaps the reason why Pyaar ka saagar won't make it to my favourite melodramas list, but still if you are in the mood for a gripping and well mounted melodrama with great albeit melodramatic perfomances, as well as fabulous songs, you could do no wrong than Pyaar ka saagar

I've collected all the delicious melodramatic moments in this clip for you to enjoy, notice the zooms and the swirly shots when something traumatic happens, i've also included some of Meena's fainting moments

Watching this film made me realise what a wonderful Jodi Rajendra Kumar and Meena Kumari, they're now one of my all time favourites Jodi's, they have chemistry and they seemed really besotted with one another

O.P Ralhan also appears in a comic side plot he even gets to drag up (Not a very convincing woman now is he)


The lovely Malika (I found her cute) was his love interest

Fab songs from Ravi, like B.R chopra, Devendra Goel seemed to have a fondness for Ravi, infact of all his films i've seen so far Ravi has been his music director of choice. the soundtack is a mixture of love ballads and heartbreaking melodies like 'Sadaa khushi rahe tu' , 'wafa jinse ki' and the beautiful 'haal dil ka' where we see Radha battling with her conscience (excellently picturised on Meena Kuamri)there's the hilarious 'Chahe koi' with a dragged up O.P Ralhan my favourites are 'Mujhe pyar ki zindagi' (just check out the chemistry between Rajendra and Meena in this)


and 'Tana dir nata' i just love how upbeat and lively Meena looks in the picturisation





Paisa Vasool rating: 6/10