Happy Birthday to Reena Roy

Reena Roy in Jaise ko Taisa (1973)

Happy Birthday to one of my favourite Bollywood diva's Reena Roy, i haven't given her enough love as much as i would like on this blog but i hope i'll be able to so more often this year, here's wishing Reena Roy a happy 54th birthday and in celebration here's one of my favourite Reena Roy songs 'pardesi Jaake from Arpan which i reviewed a while ago here

List of Reena Roy films on this blog

Arpan (1983)

Jadu Tona (1977)

Jaisa Ko Taisa ( 1973)

Nagin (1976)

Refugee (2000)

Read more about Reena Roy here

Jaisa Ko Taisa (1973)

When the title of a film translates into Tit for Tat, you just know there'll be lots of fun to be had, which i did while watching Jaise ko Taisa, this film mixes doppelgängers, great songs, wicked family members & lots of whipping in equal measure for a fun watchable film

Vijay(Jeetendra) a high achiever who's just been awarded medals at college has his joy cut short when is mum is diagnosed with cancer, he's told by the doctor that her illness is treatable for R3000

In a desperate bid to cure his mother Vijay breaks into a wealthy mansion in a bid to steal the money needed for his Maa's treatment, while stealing the money he's caught red handed by an exact look alike of himself who lets him have the money

The two form a friendship and are puzzled by the striking resemblance they share, however

Vinod is the subject of abuse by his cousin Pashi (Ramesh Deo) and uncle Shyamlal (Anwar Hussain) who whip him and give him drugs that will make him timid, with the hopes of them inheriting the riches his father left behind for him

When Vijay learns how Vinod is being ill treated, they swap places and its not long before Vijay now in Vinod's place starts giving Pashi a taste of his own medicine

Vinod on the other hand is revelling in the joys of motherly love and enjoying his break from his wicked family members, things take a turn for him when he stars getting haunted by the ghost of his lover Radha who had committed suicide as he had been a coward in accepting he was her lover

While living in the mansions as Vinod, Vijay meets and falls for feisty village belle Roopa

In a strange case of coincidence Roopa happens to be Radha's sister, when her father catches her romancing Vijay he mistakes him for Vinod admonishing Roopa not to see him anymore has he had caused her sister Radha's death, the R word (Revenge) is now on Roopa's mind as she hopes to get justice for her sister but will she realise in time that Vinod & Vijay are different individuals

Also how long will Vinod & Vijay go unnoticed for in their respective environments? Will they be sussed out? Is Radha really a ghost or is it all an illusion? Will the secret diary containing all the riches to Vinod's father wealth ever be found?

An enjoyable colourful camp camp extravaganza, is how i'd describe this film, its a must for all Jeetendra lovers, plus the songs are really good too, the story doesn't drag on endlessly & the acting is by all means hammy in a fun way

I loved Reena Roy in this, she had just the right amount of fierceness, this was one of her early films and i totally adored her village belle looks, check out all those colours on her outfit as well as her uber fab beehive

Some fab stately mansions

i love the art work in the background

I'm taking a picture of this cake to my bakery, i need a cake like this for my birthday

colourful and it definitely looks yummy

the songs by R.D. Burman is another reason why this film is a keeper for me, there's the haunting 'saajan kahan' , a lovely song on motherhood 'Kaun hai', the fun 'chalte chalte' & the colourful & vibrant 'Bhaiya re Bhaiya'. My two favourites are 'Ab ke sawan mein' which is one of my favourite rain songs with sensuous lyrics such as "Pitter Patter rain drops making me wet, has set my passion aflame" not to mention the sexual chemistry between Reena & Jeetendra

and the superb 'Jaise ko taise na mila' never has whipping been so much fun, and Jeetendra sure looks like he's having a blast cracking that whip

Jaise Ko Taisa - Jaise ko Taisa
Uploaded by kandigee. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Paisa Vasool rating: 6/10

Jadu Tona (1977)

Today is the birthday of one of my favourite bollywood divas Reena Roy (Happy Birthday Reena) so i thought i'd check out this movie which was inspired or should i say rips off The exorcist that has her in it

The movie begins with this

Aamir (Prem Chopra) along with his two daughters Varsha & Harshu go to visit his parents in the village, he comes across a local villager who tells him to salute the banyan tree, Aamir dismisses him as an illiterate and drives off

While at the village Harshu (Baby pinky) his youngest daughter is lured into an old derelict building, there she meets an old man in the corner who begs her to get him his medicine from an old cupboard (hmmm, shouldn't she have been scared and head for the nearest exit)

Harshu why why?

Upon touching the bottle an evil spirit is released and our dear Harshu becomes possessed, which is shown to us by some hilarious special effects and some 360 degree eye rolling

Notice she's been split in two for the sprit to make way into her

Harshu collapses and is found by the villagers, when the village doctor tries treating her for what they believe to be exhaustion she bites him, leaving the doctor to declare her mad

Her grandmother perceives she must be possessed and gets Saint Bajrangi (Premnath) to come over and treat her, when he makes demands about things they would need for her to get well he's interrupted by Harshu's elder sister Varsha (Reena Roy) who dismisses him as Superstitious

Bajrangi is unable to treat her but upon many pleas from their grandmother he gives her a talisman to tie around her arm to ease the fits from the evil spirit

the family go back to Bombay and Harshu is referred to a Psychiatrist Dr. Kailash who thinks she's suffering from a split personality disorder

As time goes on Kailash and harshu's sister Varsha fall in love with each other ( i kinda admire the director for including a subtle romance, he knew & was out to take care of his Indian
audience)

However the sessions with Dr Kailash give no result and Harshu keeps getting fits and talking in strange voices

When a certain Dr. Vikram is murdered Inspector Jolly Goodman (Ashok Kumar) is assigned the case and due to witness reports Harshu becomes a suspect

Inspector Jolly Goodman's suspicion of Harshu leads him to her psychiatrist Dr Kailash who tells the inspector off for being too supertitious and ridiculous.As the story unfolds it's clear Harshu is possessed by none other than Panalal who had been murdered by this friends for his wealth, he plans on getting his revenge through Harshu

Inspector Jolly however must stop her from achieving this mission

Dadaa Moni looking darn fine

Will Harshu ever be rid of her demons? Will she succeed in killing all panalal's friend who had murdered him?

Overall i found Jadu Tona just a bit interesting, perhaps the fact that i had seen the Exorcist affected my judgement, which by miles is the better film, I really didn't know what to think of this movie, sure it was inspired by the exorcist but that's where the similarities end, Jadu Tona (Black Magic) is a poor tacky version full of dodgy special effects, which i don't really mind, but it failed to scare me in whatever way or form. I had huge expectations about this movie for some reason but the movie was sloppy and had way too much silliness to be taken seriously with names like Inspector Jolly Goodman seriously?????

Another thing that ticked me off about Jadu Tona was the silly comic side plots which thankfully were kept to a minimum, and some silly plot holes like Kailash taking an unpredictable Harshu who was prone to Epileptic fits on an aeroplane ride

But still i adored the director for trying to please his core audience and adapting it to their tastes as seen through the underlying themes of romance and good ol' revenge

And of course much like the exorcist the film tries tomake a case for science not being able to comprehend or explain all the unknown mysteries yet when all the medical treatments failed, none of her family who believed it might actually be a demon posession tried to get spritual help as was with the case of getting a Priest in the exorcist, the moive ends with this disclaimer

Everyone puts in an Ok performance, but what was it with Ashok Kumar and his abbreviations, hilarious examples include I LIKE YOUR ID (id meaning Interior Decoration) or get me some VES (Ves meaning Vegetable Sandwiches)

Baby Pinky is worth mentioning,but i found her weirdness during her possession bouts very jarring to say the least

I watched this film mostly because of Reena and she barely had as much Screen time as i would have liked nor is there much for her to do than worry over her sister's mental health, she looked fierce in some of the fashions though

i can totally see Carrie Bradshaw wearing this

vah! Kya fabulous hat hai?

Good music from Hemant Bhosle the songs are well placed within the movie there's the beautiful 'aaina kucch to bata de' the sweet 'yeh gaon pyara pyara' which is what our lovely Harshu sings before she gets possessed

and a birthday celebratory song 'Sawari saloni, jauna ka jivan'

paisa Vasool Worthiness: 4.5/10

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)

BUY DVD