Dharma (1973)

Pran without doubt is one of my favourite bollywood actors, this is one of the few films where his personality took centre stage

Dharma Singh (Pran) a wanted dacoit is betrayed by his friend Bhairon Singh (Rajan Haskar) who inserts plastic bullets into a gun Dharma intends to use in carrying out a raid, Dharma ends up being held by police but manages to escape

Following his escape he kills his betraying friend Bhairon Singh and while escaping from the cops a bullet hits his wife Parvati, as a result she and his son Suraj go missing. To avenge his missing wife and son, Dharma goes to Ajit Singh's (Ajit) house and then kidnaps his daughter, during a chase by the cops he throws her off the horse only for her to be picked up by a Madam

Years go by and Dharma Singh is now a high flying bandit known as Chandan, he also disguises as Nawab Sikandar in order to gain secrets from the cops through his friendship with Ajit Singh

Pran as Chandan

Pran as Nawab Sikander

His son Suraj now called Raju (Navin Nischol) joins Chandan's crew to help in carrying out heists, Chandan however has no idea Raju is his long lost son, as he thinks his family are deceased

Raju meets and falls for Radha (Rekha) who is a courtesan, but he doesn't know this

During a police chase following a stealing operation that goes wrong, Chandan & Raju seek hostage in a Kotha (Courtesan's residence) where he Raju sees Radha performing her courtesan acts

As usual in filmi scenarios like this, she explains she might be a courtesan but her honour is still intact(Is that so, how come???). When Chandan (Pran) thanks her for hiding them while the cops came searching, he asks her to request whatever she wants

she asks for a respectable life and home much to the dislike of her mistress in charge Jamnabai who had raised and trained her, Chandan promises to arrange this for her

Once she's left the Kotha she focuses her attention on reforming Raju, by getting him to quit his crime jobs and get on the straight and narrow

Meanwhile Chandan becomes wanted when a camera captures his face during a heist that goes wrong

Also on Chandan's heels are Chaman (Ramesh Deo) whose father Chandan had killed, joining him his is father's sidekick Mangal (Madan Puri)

When Mangal discovers that Parvati (Anjali Kadam), Dharma's wife is still alive, he hatches a plan to deceive her by pretending Chaman is her long lost son he had been caring for

Meanwhile, Ajit Singh while visiting his friend Nawab Sikandar (Pran), comes across Radha who just so happens to have a strong resemblance to his wife Asha

Will he realise she's his long lost daughter? Will Raju ever return to the world of crime? Will Dharma finally be exposed and caught by the police?

Dharma is a must watch for all Pran fans, this is one of the few films that relied heavily on him as no other person could have just pulled it off the way he did, Pran takes centre stage here and all the other characters wane in comparison to his. Dharma is a fun camp masala fare made extra enjoyable by Pran's fierceness, make sure you track this down if you're a Pran lover. Also his den is to die for check it out in the clip below

Some other Eye Candy

Bindu in her qawwali gear

Rekha dearest

This one's for you bollyviewer, i know how much you love Navin

The songs by Sonik Omi are fab too, from the sweet 'Sada teri umar' to the mujra 'Main teri Guneghar hoon' and 'Yaar Nighaon mein' a cabaret number with the who of who of Hindi film vamps, it starts with Helen and then Faryal, Sonia Sahni, Jayshree T and then ends with Bindu to my utmost favourite, the awesome qawwali 'Raaz ki baat kahedu toh' that takes place between Pran and Bindu, I've included the video with English subtitles, push play, Sit back, relax and enjoy

Paisa Vasool rating: 6/10