Chalte Chalte (1976)

Rounding off the segment of significant films maybe not so much for their content but their soundtrack is this cult classic movie with a much sought after pre-disco Bappi Lahiri soundtrack. I love Bappi Lahiri in whatever shape or form and I know many tend to prefer this pre-disco era of Bappi, but I love the man in all forms, both in his pre and post disco era.

Our story begins with Gita (Simi Garewal) who confronts a young man whom she calls Anil claiming to be his wife. However the young man who she claims to be Anil is adamant he's not her husband, and states he is Ravi Kapoor (Vishal Anand)

She persuades him to come home with her, where she claims she has pictures of both of them as a married couple. Ravi (or should I say Anil) reluctantly agrees to go home with her and true to fact, right there in her home is a picture of  Gita and a doppelganger of Anil

Despite all of her claims as well as proof of a picture taken of both of them, Anil still insists he's Ravi Kapoor

Gita later finds out her beloved Anil is also in a relationship with Asha (Nazneen)

Not one to take no for an answer, Gita breaks into Anil's house & continues pestering him, he eventually declares furiously that he's not Anil and never will be, Gita is shattered and embarks upon committing suicide

She's rescued on time but cops keep Anil in custody till they get a statement from Gita who's awaking from a coma, He's eventually bailed out by Asha his girlfreind and Gita is diagnosed as mentally ill

During treatment by psychoanalysis, she reveals how she had met a young man named Anil, fell in love, and then got married, only for him to be murdered on their wedding night

Did Anil really die? If not why is Ravi who looks exactly like Anil claiming he's not Anil? Are they Related?Will Gita recover from her mental illness? For this and many more reasons, feel free to dip into Chalte Chalte

To call this film camp or campy  would be paying it way too much of a compliment, this is a badly directed and badly written film with plot holes aplenty and a very incoherent story line, generally I don't seek after well rounded characters or good scripts when I'm selecting my movies as I love escapist fares, but this film just felt shoddy and lacked the finesse that might have made the plot holes and other mishaps forgiveable.

That said there are numerous things i enjoyed, like Simi Garewal's wacky and hammy act as Gita, her act as the deranged obsessive lover really puts Sharukh's act in Darr in the shade, her hammy acting actually helped me enjoy this film, plus she wore some interesting outfits which you can find over at my other fashion blog here

Nazneen the supporting actress was rather restrained in this amidst all the hammy performances, very little is known about her as I could barely find out anything about her from my research. She had some lovely clothes too which you can see here

And as for Vishal Anand who played the hero in this, I felt his resemblance to Dev Anand was uncanny and true enough when I did some research, I found out he is indeed Dev Anand's cousin, he even has some of his uncle's mannerisms (see images below) but alas he lacks the acting skills of Dev Anand.

Notice their identical hand gestures

His act as Anil/Ravi was extremely wooden  but one thing I'm grateful to him for, is for having one of the

 snazziest collection of shirts I've ever seen on a bollywood hero, see them over at my fashion blog here

Also quite impressive was the Art direction in some scenes like those I'e screen capped below, J'adore!!!!

I love the design on that door

And of course what really makes this film memorable is Bappi Lahiri's unforgettable score from the popular title track 'Chalte Chalte' which is mostly wrongly titled as Kabhi alvida na kehna to the fun 'pyar mein kabhi kabhi' to my two favourites the seductive 'Door door tum an rahe'


and the breezy 'Jana kahan hai'



Now head over to Veen's blog to get the music of this film

Paisa Vasool rating: 5/10

Raja Jani (1972)

I think its high time I invest in a quality laptop, the thought of coming back home and sitting for hours on end on a desktop blogging after a long hard days at work is seriously discouraging and tiring which is why I've been missing in action for a while, but I've seriously missed blogging as well as reading all my favourite blogs so much that I've designated my weekly days off preparing posts that will be automatically set to publish. My first movie review is this Dharema (thats Dharmendra & Hema Malini) romcom which i couldn't help but fall in love with

Wealthy Ranimaa (Durga Khote)  the queen of Taragarh lives in constant agony and anticipation that her long lost granddaughter Ratna who was kidnapped years ago will return to reclaim her throne

Her right hand man Diwan Gajendra Singh(Premnath) takes advantage of situations and recruits suave mobster Raja (Dharmendra) to help him find a girl who'll fake being Ranimaa's granddaughter who'll in turn hand in all the treasures to them once she's been crowned

Raja stumbles upon Shanno (Hema Malini) a street dancing village belle but Diwan thinks she's too much of a commoner to play the role of the long lost princess Ratna

Thus Raja forgoes Shanno as an option but circumstances brings them together again when Shanno escapes after murdering a leacherous man her guardians had sold her to, she finds safety in raja who takes her home  and decides upon presenting her as the lost princess Ratna

Thus begins a makeover as Raja  transfroms Shanno from Country bumpkin to city slicker, he also teaches her lovely manners

All this results in Shanno not only being fit to play a part of the lost princess but she also falls in live with  Raja (something I do not blame her for). Shanno's love for Raja turns into heartbreak when she realises all that grooming and lessons he had been giving her was all in the name of getting her to deceive Ranimaa

Shanno decides to live but is stopped by Raja's assistant Imartilal (Johnny Walker) who tells her about Raja's past scorn in the hands of an unfaithful lover (Bindu) who had cheated on him

Seriously Bindu???? cheating on Dharmendra with Manomhan

Imartilal persuades her to stay as she is the only one who can bring Raja back on the straight and narrow. Shanno listens and decides to play along as Ranimaa's long lost daughter Ratna while also harbouring plans to reform Raja and win his love

But things aren't so easy as Shanno's conscience starts getting the best of her, will she manage to deceive Ranimaa in time so that Raja and Diwan Saheb  get the treasures? Who is the real Ratnaand what will happen if she does indeed arrive? Plus will Shanno succeed in her attempts to make Raja fall in love with her? For this and many more delightful 70's bollywood retro goodness watch Raja Jani

With the exception of some minor gaping plot holes especially in the form of Shanno's murder case never been concluded, this is a cool, fun, charming and delightful retro romcom with fantastic chemistry between Hema and Dharmendra, seriously this two are at their best here, I absolutely loved them and its no surprise they went on to marry, they win my award for best filmi jodi of all time (sorry Sharukh and Kajol). Plus it was nice to see a decisive heroine even though a big part of her decision centred around gaining a man's approval to win his love but hey!! that's minor from all the goodness this film offers, there's a bit of romance, drama, thrilling moments (like the scene below) and action all packaged nicely into an endearing entertaining flick, everyone who likes their retro bollywood movies should watch this

Plus have i mentioned how fabulous the fashion in this film is, all those interested in retro bollywood fashion should see this film to learn how its done. From Hema Malini's pearly beaded top and flared trousers to her funky belted tunic with paisley headscarf she had an amazing wardrobe, head over to my other bollywood blog which I've been ghost writing for some time now to see her full looks

Dharmendra too had some lovely threads in this from his lovely bright blazers to his sharp Double breasted suits, I've never seen him look so stylish, head over to my other bollywood blog to see his other looks from the film

 And Prem Chopra was styling too, i love that blazer though i think I'd change a few things before wearing it

You also get some fab interiors  in the form of giant swiveling doors and quilt padded walls (oh how i love how you pay attention to details 70's bollywood)

Vah!!Kya Baat hai Dharam ji ladies and some of you Gents, stop drooling please

And finally the music from Laximant Pyarelal is delightful, from the amazing 'jani o jani' sung beautifully by kishore Kumar with a suave looking Dharmendra during the title credits to the infectious 'duniya ka mela' to the cheeky 'ABCD chodo' (check out the outfits in this) and then there's the lovely 'mubarak o tujhe' with an appearance from Helen simply dancing around Hema, and the flirty 'Kitna mazaa raha hai' . The song I've chosen to embed however is aaja o aaja simply because of how gorgeous Hema and Dharmendra look in the song


Paisa Vasool Rating: 7/10

Saajan Bina Suhagan (1978)

I plan to make a tradition of posting a Nutan review on this blog for as long as I keep it running on every 4th of June as we both share the same birthday. This is one of Nutan's last leading central heroine films with that master of Soap Opera-ish movies Saawan Kumar Tak, I reviewed another one of his films with Nutan, Saajan ki Saheli here last year as well

Gopal (Sreeram Lagoo) a wealthy family man receives bad news of his cancer from the doctor, he's advised to leave his home in  the more relaxing environments of Simla for the hustle and bustle in Mumbai all in the name of hiding his illness from his family

He leaves his wife Asha (Nutan) and 3 Children (Barkha Chopra, Kasturi Bartake & Padmini Kolhapure) behind without revealing the real reason for his sudden move, especially since his youngest daughter Bulbul (Padmini Kolhapure) has a hole in her heart

With their father gone to Mumbai, Bulbul befriends the new next door neighbour Rajkumar (Rajendra Kumar), who turns out to be (in a strange coincidence of melodramatic emotions to come) her mother Asha's ex lover. They had separated when Asha's father gave her away in marriage while Rajkumar was away in England studying

Asha eventually does find out the truth about her husband Gopal's illness and before his death he makes her promise to keep living like a married woman when he dies (what????)

Its not long till he does indeed die, only that before he kicked the bucket, Mangatram (T.P Jain) a worker at Gopal's hospital had eave dropped on their conversation. He starts blackmailing Asha for it, making extortionate demands for Money Asha can't even dream of

How long will this go on for? Will Asha put herself out of the misery her husband placed her in by coming clean? How long will she cope with this pretense as well as having to raise 3 kids all on her own?

When the title of a movie translates as it does in this case into Married without a husband you know you're in for some ridiculous soap opera style melodrama. It was quite annoying watching Asha obey her husband's selfish and in fact bad for her health advice, I'm inclined to think of it as sexist and his way of exerting control over her, On the other hand Saajan Bina Suhagan reflects the flip side or should i say dangers of self sacrifice as  Asha ends up paying a big price for her obedience to her husbands ill advice  but this being a family drama it all gets mushied up for a candy sweet ending.

But alas depsite this Saajan bina suhagan is quite watchable, nothing special here in terms of performances , as its all very Soap operaish but give it a go if you like the leads (in my case Nutan) or if you love your inoffensive 70's melodrama time pass movies.

Nutan was one of the major highlights in this for me, her Chiffon saris are a Joy to behold, see for yourself below

Loving her pink polka dots

How's this big flowery one? very Beautiful i say

Lovely colourful Floral sari

Padmini Kolhapure never aged I see, she looked just like this in her later movies

Padmini Kolhapure  at about 10-12 years

Other Cool Screen Caps

Loving Vinod's Jumper here

Can someone please ID her, I think she's Barkha Chopra, she had some interesting neckerchiefs

Good soundtrack from Usha Khanna on here, my favourites are the catchy Jijaji Jijaji hone wale jijaji, the sweet 'Madhuban khushboo deta hai' which should go on the list of bollywood piano songs for anyone collecting them. The irresistible 'O jaani, jaani tum' which samples Spanish group Los Pop Tops 'Oh mamy, Oh Mamy, Mamy Blue' . The song I've chosen to embed today though is Happy birthday Mama just because it fits as today is my birthday and no I'm not a Mama but yet still, enjoy



Paisa Vasool Rating: 4.5/10

P.s. This post has been automatically published