Himmatwala (1983)

Following the massive flop of Deedar-E-Yaar, this film did magic for Jeetendra's career and catapulted him into the high realms of bankable stars in 80's bollywood. Directed by K.Raghavendra Rao, Himmatwala (Bravery) was a remake of the directors Tollywood film 'Ooriki Monagadu', these southern type melodramas (mostly remakes of southern films) became a winning formula in 80's bollywood with Jeetendra starring in almost every single one of them alongside Sridevi & Jaya Prada, coupled with dialogues written by Kader Khan as well as folky disco type music from Bappi Lahiri. Himmatwala is a typical example of this genre of films that became blockbusters

Ravi (Jeetendra) returns to the village of Ramnagar after completing his Engineering education in the city, he is disheartened when he finds his mother & sister living in dire conditions

He finds out about his mother Savitri's (Waheeda Rahman) sacrifice to get him educated & learns how his father Dharmamurti (Satyendra Kapoor) had been framed for rape by the village tyrant Sher Singh (Amjad khan), as a result his father was driven out of the village never to be found again, a furious Ravi promises to avenge his father's disgrace and gain back his father's honour by bringing Sher Singh to justice

Also taunting or should i say terrorising the villagers with her pranks is Sher Singh's daughter Rekha (Sridevi)

Better don't mess with Rekha or you'll be lashed

Unfortunately for both father & daughter they finally meet their match in the form of Ravi who squares up to them, he's met with admiration and respect by the local villagers who begin looking up to him

When he's given the contract to build a dam in the village, Sher Singh tries to bribe him into choosing his own plot of land for the project, when Ravi refuses Sher Singh sets out to get him

He manages to make Rekha see the error of her ways in a taming of the shrew kind of way, she falls hard for him & joins him in his quest to bring down her father's tyranny

Himmatwala is a silly film with a barely there plot which manages to stretch itself out for 2.5 hours, i'd be lying if i said i didn't enjoy it in spite of its silliness, these southern type films were widely panned by the critics, which didn't stop them becoming massive hits. Himmatwala of the two southern type melodrama's i've seen so far is not overly melodramatic like Tohfa, its charm lies in the charisma of Jeetendra and campness of Sridevi and the supporting cast, i think the rather simple and relate-able surroundings the film appears to have been shot in, as well as its themes on forgiveness and love for humanity coupled with visuals that felt very Indian perhaps made the film a hit amongst audiences

There's a certain Indian aesthetic to this southern type films that i admire, for example the 'Nainon mein sapna' number ranks as one of my all time bollywood song picturisatons, with its Bugsby Berkely style arrangement of props and dancers as well as the use of colours, it just packs so much of a raw Indian aesthetic which i just couldn't help but love. The 'Nainon mein sapna' song is the major reason i bought this film, i refuse to get tired of it, its one of my all time favourite bollywood songs, Why is this so, allow me to recap

massive area of land with carefully arranged clay pots and dancers

Sridevi in southern style dance poses

Cheerful looking dancers in colourful outfits with colourful dusters

Jeetendra and his colourful dusters

a giant glittery sun shaped prop

Perfectly synchronised dance steps

(see the video to this legendary song at the bottom of the post)

Himmatwala took Sridevi's career to new heights, i've read posts on various bollywood forums describing her effect on the filmi world as that of an earthquake hitting a town, upon the release of Himmatwala

What a long way she has come, i'm amazed that despite being older now, she looks half the size of what she looked like back then. She was curvy in this film, and seems she was given every opportunity to flaunt those curves at us, the cameraman perhaps in a case of perviness or perhaps to make the film more commercially viable gives lots of closeup shots of her thighs and posterior

lots of body close ups

The music by Bappi Lahiri is what makes Himmatwala a winner for me and one of the major reasons i shall be re watching it again, there's the fun 'ladki nahin tu' with lyrics such as "You simply aren't a girl, you're a wooden pillar" as well as 'taki o taki' a joy to behold for the perfectly synchronised dance steps of Jeetendra and Sridevi. My favourites include the highly infectious 'Wah wah khelu shuroo ho gaya' for its electro disco sounds

and the wonderful 'Nainon mein sapna' the major reason i bought this film

Paisa Vasool Rating: 6/10 (Extra points for the songs, props & Nainon mein sapna)

Buy the dvd here

Jaani Dost (1983)

Image Courtesy of The Hotspot Online

Ok i'll admit that what led me to this movie was the fact that it was a box office hit in India, i've an obsession with watching movies that were hits in India. Aside from the movie being a hit, i am a big fan of Dharmendra, Jeetendra & the starcast in this movie, and I was looking forward to a hit masala flick, but i have to say, this movie disappointed me in a crazy way. As much as i am a collector of movies that were box office hits in India, Jaani Dost is one hit movie that won't be going into my collection, hammy editing, an incoherent storyline, and too much silliness makes this a forgetteable and overbearing watch, i was tempted so many times to eject the dvd and post it back but i kept thinking it might get better which didn't happen.Unless you are a die hard fan of any of the actors please avoid this movie, as it'll do your head in, this is a masala gone wrong kind of flick

The movie starts with a Thakur being warned by his assistant that he's about to be murdered, the Thakur on his bid to save his life, escapes with his son, leaving his heavily pregnant wife behind

On his journey the Thakur is killed and his son is thrown out of the train. Luckily a passerby sees the boy and takes him home

After a short while the boy starts getting mistreated and is sent out of the house, incidentally an orphaned boy next door gets thrown out as well. The two boys meet and strike a friendship

Due to lack of money, the boys decide one of them would go to school while the other will work

The two boys grow up, and one of them (the uneducated friend) grows up to be Dharmendra, who dries a truck called Sholay (the movie made lots of references to movies and popular actors at the time, some of which were funny and others were dry)

The other brother Jeetendra is introduced as a shady Character working for the villains, to conceal his identity to his illiterate friend (Dharmendra) he tells him he is an Inspector and his post is an ABCD (I lie not, such was the ridiculousness of this movie)

As the movie goes on, Jeetendra is revealed as a real cop who had joined the villains with the intention of exposing them. And i shall stop writing about this crazy movie right now, the rest of the movie is taken over by monkey's kissing, a kung fu fighting Sridevi and bad costumes.

The music of the movie was average and i am going to refer to the music as 'bubblegum filmi' music (silly catchy songs), one includes a Japanese/Chinese sounding pop music with Dhamendra hollering beauty queen at Parveen Babi , another one features a drunk Sridevi & Jeetendra referencing popular movie stars of the time and a catchy disco number by Asha Bhosle & Kishore Kumar .

Overall this movie is on the bland, annoying side which should be avoided, unless and i repeat UNLESS you are a die hard fan of any of the actors.

Total Score: 3/10