Merry Christmas dear readers and followers and Happy Birthday to Anil Kapoor

Apologies about my long abscene from the blogosphere, i can only think the makers of Tees Maar Khan jinxed me so that this blog could be a little promo for their film for one whole month, i'm back with a movie review on Monday but till then Merry Christmas to all my lovely readers and followers and a very happy birthday to Mr Anil Kapoor, who is one of my favourite actors, he celebrates his 51st birthday today, here's wishing you many more happy years ahead Mr Kapoor

Anil Kapoor in Mashaal (1984)

below is one of my favourite Anil Kapoor songs

Pyar Kiya nahin Jaata from Woh Saat Din (1983)

Below are links of some of his movies that I've reviewed on here in Chronological order

Meri Jung (1985)

Yuvraaj (2008)

Roop ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1993)

Laadla (1994)

Beta (1992)

Thikana (1987)

Thikana (1987)

Ahh poor 80's bollywood, its always getting all the knacks for being the worst decade, personally and i've heard this feeling echoed elsewhere as well, its the 90's i would describe as the worst decade and not the 80's. This is one of my favourite Anil Kapoor films, this film proves if there's anyone who can match Amitabh Bachchan in the angry young man stakes or should i say give him a run for his money its Anil Kapoor

Kamla who is politician Rane MP's (Avtar Gill) keep appoints Avinash (Madan Jain) a young photographer to plant a video camera in her bedroom in order to capture her affair with Mr Rane M.P who refuses her to date anyone else, she hopes the tape would help her blackmail him so he would get off her back



When Rane comes over for his usual lovemaking sessions with Kamla he finds out about her lover Bhaskar, he murders her out of jealousy, unknown to him is the fact that the video tape has captured his wicked deeds



Avinash gets the tape and intends to make an expose but the newspaper is owned by Rane MP, Avinash manages to escape with the tape & Rane MP's men give chase, he manages to ring his sister Shaila (Amrita Singh) alerting her about the sticky situation he's in



The next day when he dosen't turn up for a court trial, Shaila is worried and is on the lookout for a lawyer, alcoholic and slacker lawyer Ravi Goel (Anil Kapoor) is recommended to her, but he's too much of a lazy sod to be up for the challenge



His sister Shashi (Smita Patil) is the breadwinner of the family and dotes on him way too much,
when their mother (Rohini Hattangadi) finds a gynaecologist's card in her wallet, she becomes suspicious of her and soon learns that Shashi had an abortion



Ravi finds out from her fiancee Ranbir Singh (Suresh Oberoi) that Shashi had aborted her babies just so she can have enough money to feed and cater for her family, Ravi become's overwhelmed with guilt, he smartens up and decides to clean up his act, he accepts his first proper case from Shaila regarding her brother Avinash's safety from Rane MP, his petition for Avinash's protection is rejected on the basis of Rane MP being a respectable officer


Ravi is eager to get to the bottom of the case, he starts getting threats and attacks from Rane MP's men urging him to back off the case, Ravi is so relentless that he almost gets framed for a murder committed by someone else


Anwar (Anupam kher) a police officer who's racked by enormous guilt arranges to meet up with Ravi, he reveals details about Avinash's death and how Ranbir whom Avinash had come to for help had killed Ranbir for threatening to expose Rane MP



Ravi is now caught between handing over his sister's future husband to punishment and getting Shaila justice ? What will he decide on? Will Rane MP be brought to justice? Will he tell Shashi that her would be husband is a murderer? Will Avinash's tape which contains the proof be found?


I don't really understand what Film Noir means but i've heard many refer to this film as film noir, asides from it being a very interesting drama slash cum thriller what impressed me most were the characters, they all had an edge to them and seemed very real. We have a heroine who asks for it and has one night stands, a sister who has premarital sex and even aborts her baby several times, a greedy mother who betrays the trust of her kids, and a mother daughter conflict


that even culminates into a fight ( the first mother/daughter fight i've ever seen in hindi cinema) all this happens without someone dropping dead or meeting some ill fate as is usually the case in some bollywood films

Great direction from Mahesh Bhatt, i'm always impressed by his movies ( all the one i've seen so far at least) the movie moves at a steady pace and allows no room for silliness, the film closes in at just about 2hrs 15mins


Passionate performance from Anil Kapoor, this ranks as one of my all time favourite Anil Kapoor films, the rest of the cast are great too

the film was dedicated to Smita Patil and as usual what a performance, there's something so intense about her, this film made me realise how much i love her and how i need to see more of her work



Excellent music by Kalyanji Ananadji makes this movie even closer to my heart there's the reflective ballad 'aasman ho chhat meri' the flamenco style 'bachaana dil bachaana' and my two favourite numbers are the smoochy 'Ajnabi koi kabhie'



and the beautiful 'Thoda sanam Thodi Khushi'




Paisa Vasool rating: 8/10

Thikana is available in 12 parts on Youtube with English Subtitles

Beta (1992)

There is nothing new or fresh about this movie, it contains all the usual stereotypes in the form of wicked stepmother (check) feisty daughter in law (check) relatives who are hangers on (check) a shy and retiring husband who's overpowered by his wife (check). What keeps this film endearing are the stellar performances mostly from the female protagonists/antagonist, good music and an easy to follow storyline

Raju is a motherless boy who engages in way too much self pity for my liking, he cries himself to sleep every night thinking his mum will one day arrive, he also creates drama on the day of his birthday when he thinks his mother would actually walk into the room

True enough a new mother walks into his life on his birthday in the form of Laxmi (Aruna Irani) whom his father had just married, our little Raju is very happy

Laxmi however is only after their wealth but unknown to her is the fact that only when Raj marries and at the consent of his wife can the will be transferred.Laxmi along with her brother in law Totaram (Anupham Kher) thus begin her conniving game


she overpowers her husband (Akash kurana) torturing him mentally and physically and eventually makes him a prisoner in his own home

She also convinces Raju that education won't get him power, that real power comes from working in the fields all in the name of making him illiterate thus little Raju leaves his education and starts working on the fields. Raju grows up in awe of her and shows immense support and respect to her

One day he meets Saraswati (Madhuri Dixit) and takes a liking to her, over time the two fall in love and they get married

Laxmi is quite threatened by Saraswati as she's educated, Laxmi had been hoping Raju would marry an illiterate, whom she would be able to manipulate into transferring the property to her


Following their marriage Saraswati moves in with them, she find out that Laxmi doesn't have his best interests at heart but is infact only interested in getting her hands on his wealth.Thus follows a highly meldoramatic showdown between mother in law and daughter in law with some superb camp bitchy dialogues like those you can see below

Battle of the diva's

Beta was an enjoyable watch, there are very few bollywood movies that i've been able to watch in one go, Beta is one of them, the cheesy over the top melodrama + mother in law versus daughter in law showdowns were very soap opearish but such things excite me, the movie felt very much like a Cinderella slash Seeta aur Geeta affair. Another thing i loved about Beta was its ending i expected it to be over the top with a major masala style revenge dished out but it had forgiveness as a theme rather than revenge

Another thing i loved about Beta was the strong female character in the form Sarawati who wasn't the atypical self sacrificial, she was decisive and wasn't afraid to air her opinion. Madhuri did indeed carry this movie on her shoulders as she shines, she was also oozing some serious sexual appeal with all the chest thrusts, lip bites, and heavy breathing, this movie was a Madhuri show




Also a delight to watch was Aruna Irani as the wicked Mother in law, you just wanted to hate her, which meant she got her part down to a T, plus after a decade of supporting roles, this finally earned her a filmfare best supporting actress award


Anil Kapoor was impressive but i don't think his performance as Raju was enough to get him the Filmfare Best Actor Award i've seen him in better roles and in fact Aamir Khan is said to have been gutted he didn't win the best actor award for his role as Sanjay in 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander' for which he had been nominated in the same category as Anil's performance in Beta, Aamir as never attended the filmfare awards show ever since

Good music from Anand -Milind, i loved them all on first listen, there's 'khushiyon ka din aaya hai' where a happy Raju celebrates the joys of finding a new mother, the sweet 'main teri tu mera' & 'Koyal teri bolhi' and of course how could one talk about this movie without mentioning 'dhak dhak laga' with a highly sensuos Anil & Madhuri




Total Score: 7/10 ( soap opera masala at its best)

According to Imdb Beta is a remake of a 1989 Tamil film Enga Chinni Rasa, has anyone seen that, how is it in comparison to Beta?

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Laadla (1994)

Long before Meryl Streep played Miranda Prestley in Devil wears Prada there was Sridevi as a no nonsense woman in this moderately entertaining drama

Sheetal Jetley (Sridevi) is a high powered, high achiever, she hates being second in life, the top is the utmost position for her and she strives for this always, She runs her father's company Sheetal's textiles making it the Number 1


One day she comes across Raju (Anil Kapoor), the two are involved in an arguement culminating in him telling her that women should be coy and men be bold


A rival company fronted by Suryadev (Prem Chopra) his son (Monish Behl) and his brother (Paresh Rawal) are jealous of Sheetal's success in leading her father's company to the top, they hatch a plan to get her married to Monish so that they can merge and then eventually take over the company, Sheetal gives them the cold shoulder,this makes them vengeful

Raju saves Sheetal's Dad from villains one day and as a reward he's employed by Sheetal's dad as Chief mechanic in Sheetal Textile Industries, while there Raju he meets and falls for Kaajal (Raveena Tandon)


Raju also gathers a huge following and the workers soon start protesting against the demands of Sheetal. When Raju challenges her ego in front of the workers Sheetal is gutted and plans to avenge his actions by marrying him out of spite, even though she knows he's in love with Kaajal

She manipulates his crippled mother Farida Jalal to get him married to her only, she also bullies her into making Raju come live with her at her place

Raju is releuctant about leaving his mother but she insists and he gets married to her and he promises to come back after teaching her a lesson

When they get married she begins torturing Raj by refusing to have sex with him, she also keeps him as her subordinate, through all this she begins breaking Raju's assertive personality

Meanwhile Mr Bhandari (Shakti Kapoor) who despises Sheila's manipulative ways makes allies with Suryadev's company, together they plan on defaming Sheetal Industries thereby knocking it off the top

Would they be successful? How much more of Sheila's manipulation would Raju be able to take? What would be the end of Sheila, would she die a filmi type bad girl death or would she li=ve to realise the errors(?) of her ways? Watch Laadla to find out

This is without doubt one of Sridevi's finest roles, given the rampant and in fact very true complaints of the lack of strong female characters in bollywood films, Sheetal's role in Laadla (Darling) was a very interesting one, albeit the fact that her character was cast in a negative light, Sridevi shines and gives and excellent performance as Sheetal.


The downsides and in fact the major reason why this interesting drama loses points with me is the fact that Sheetal's egomaniac, inconsiderate attitude was attributed to her education in a western country, in that sense the west is painted as an evil place and in the end when she finally realises the error of her ways she's starts dressing in a Sari (wrong, very wrong). I thought such moral lines were something movies like Jab Jab phool Khile in the '60s sought to convey, and surely film director's in the '90's would have been way enlightened than use such moral codes. At the heart of the film is that which Raju's character had coveyed to Sheetal that men should be bold and women coy (definitely not one i agree with)

A great point akbarnali an imdb commenter makes about Sridevi's role as Sheetal in Laadla is that it paved the way for the bollywood anti-heroine such as that of Kajol in Gupt, Manisha in Dil se & Yugpurush, Juhi Chawla in Arjun Pandit etc

Sridevi was stylish though and she looked fierce in her corporate skirt suits and bobbed hair with bangs

Very Coco Channelesque with the pearls and all


Gotta love that fringe

And of course this film is famous for Sridevi's 'understand, You better understand' dialogue after which she clicks her fingers, you can see it here around the 2.28 mark

'Understand, you better understand'

The music by Anand Milind is good among my favourites are the very 90's romance sounds of 'Meri Dhadkan suno' the infectious 'Ladki hai kya' the heavy rhythms of 'Mere Ghulam' the sentimental 'Teri Ungli Pakadke' which celebrtaes the joy of motherhood and the atypical Sridevi Anil Kapoor seductive song 'Dhak Dhak Dil Dhadak'


Total Score: 6/10 ( An enjoyable even if somewhat flawed moral drama)

Laadla is available with English Subtitles on Youtube in 17 parts

Edited to add
Laadla is a remake of a 1992 Telugu movie called Gharaana Mogudu

Also the late Divya Bharati is said to have been playing the role of Sheetal until her sad and untimely death caused Sridevi to replace her, below is some of the scene's Divya shot, what an awesome actress she is, I wonder what this film would have been like with her as Sheetal