Army (1996)

The last film in our Sridevipalooza is Army, one where Sridevi gets to kick some ass, as most of the readers of this blog will know i have a love for female ass kicking flicks, this one is not right up there with my favourites though. Also this is the only film where Sharukh and Sridevi ever worked together on as a jodi (couple), such was Sridevi's iconic status that every young 'un wanted to be paired opposite her, Sharukh finally got his wish in this one

Lovers and parents to be Geeta (Sridevi) and Arjun ( Sharukh Khan) are torn apart when Evil Tyrant Nagraj (Danny Denzongpa) murders Arjun



Geeta who's a lawyer tries getting Justice for her husband's death in the court of Justice but her allegations are dismissed and Nagraj walks away free, before leaving the court Geeta is sure to tell him know he'll die in no other hands but her's

Determined and hungry to avenge, she employs the help of 5 men kabir ( Mohnish Behl), Khan (Sudesh Berry), Kishan (Harish), Kartar ( Ravi Kishan) & Gavin (Ronit Roy) who have also suffered injustice (going by all the K's seems Geeta knew there was success in numerology)

i love the side profile shots her Army were repeatedly given

Together they all form army, they even have their own theme song and are eager to take Nagraj down (how very flattering to his ego isn't it, if i knew six people from various walks of life came to take me down, i'd be very flattered )


Nagraj definitely has to be one of the most fashion conscious villains, from the draping of fabrics in his attire

to his golden engraved cuffs

and snake cinched in belt

and pearl studs

he definitely oozes style

Look at his chair, you better be afraid, be very afraid

So will Geeta and her Army succeed in taking down Nagraj, watch Army if you dare to find out


Unlike othe female revenge sagas bollywood dished out like Phool Bane Angaray, Khoon Bhari Maang, kudrat ka kanoon, Nagin, Zakmi Aurat etc. Sridevi's character as Geeta is not central enough for my liking, the fact that she needed to employ 5 other army's to join her in her quest makes me feel Sridevi's star power had waned and not enough faith could be placed on her to carry the film on her shoulder's, unlike the women in the afore mentioned revenge sagas's, they carried the film on their padded shoulders a la Rekha in Khoon Bhari Maang.



I couldn't help but feel Army would have been A LOT more fantastic had it been made in the 80's when Sridevi was at her prime, and of course if the script and a whole other things were handled much better , still though if a gun toting Sridevi is your idea of entertainment or if you're a die hard Sridevi fan by all means check Army out

And as for Sita-ji she's definitely right about Srk being the best mouth bleeder in her post on Ram Jaane, it is indeed something he does better than any other actor, since you're collecting screencaps for a post on Sharukh bleeding from the mouth i've added this for you ;0)


Hmm, Mujhe khoon bahut accha lagta hai


Ok music from Anand Milind, highlights are the upbeat prison number 'De Taali', 'Achiku bachiku' a rip-off of Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat song, a cute love song 'dil mein kuch hone laga' my favourites though are 'teri meri dushmani' (Amaluu add this to your list of bad guy lair songs)

and the superb 'Main to hoon pagal' one of my all time favourite SRK numbers

Paisa Vasool rating: 4/10

A big thanks to all who contributed to my Sridevipalooza and to Amaluu who organized it, looks like Sridevi will be on a long holiday from this blog for a while ;0)

Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai (1990)

When the title of a film translates into 'My Husband is mine only' you know you're in for some ridiculous campy melodramatic moments and that's just what this film provided me with. And as for the newspapaer journalist who according to dustedoff made these comments

“Both women, no matter how hard to believe this may be, fall in love with Jeetendra…”

better start eating his words because in Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai not only do two women fall in love with Jeetendra, they're also fighting over him

Prakash (Jeetendra) a struggling road side tailor impresses Sharda (Rekha) a wealthy bank employee with his talent, who in turn invests heavily in his business as a result its not long before he hits the big time even owning his own department store

Sharda falls for Prakash's charm and his work ethic, and proposes marriage to him, her proposal is refused by Prakash saying he "esteems her too highly to be married to her" (huge suspension of disbelief!)

Years go by and Prakash is now married to Roopa (Raadhika Sarathkumar) with a lovely kid called Pinky

His marriage to Roopa though, is anything but peaceful as all she does is create havoc and trouble for him

Prakash had been forced into marrying her after his sister Jyoti had been impregnated by her brother Deepak. Deepak had then refused to accept the pregnancy, and in a bid to save the family's honour Prakash begs him to marry Jyoti, he agrees provided Prakash hands over his whole business empire to their family, supplies numerous amounts of Sari's & Gold to his mother(Shobha Khote) as well as marry his sister Roopa, surprisingly Prakash agrees to all these conditions (suspension of disbelief)

Years later Sharda moves back to the same city as Prakash, and in a strange case of melodramatic coincidence, she moves next door to Prakash

Prakash's daughter Pinky (Baby Shweta) becomes good friends with Sharda, when Roopa sees her grandmother whom she ill treats being pampered by Sharda, she becomes suspicious and starts spreading false rumours about Sharda claiming she's having an affair with her husband

Sharda's life is turned upside down by these allegations and everyone from her neighbours to her boss at work give her a hard time for it

She decides to clear her reputation and goes about it in a rather strange melodramatic way, (as I've said before, a huge suspension of belief is required while watching this film) She moves right into Roopa's house, and makes a home for herself there

Roopa is furious as one would imagine and beckons her to leave her house, Sharda makes her understand that unless she takes back her allegations in public she's not leaving

Roopa being the strong headed woman she is refuses to take back her allegations, Sharda too is adamant about moving out until Roopa clears her reputation, adding insult to Roopa's injury is her husband Prakash who backs Sharda, claiming Roopa must apologise

So Will Roopa apologise and clear Sharda's name of the accusations? Will Sharda be able to stick out oer will she give up and move out? Would Prakash realise his affection for Sharda or will he continue looking up to her as a goddess?

Ok i don't believe i actually just typed out what must be one of the most ridiculous plots i've ever seen, but alas it had to be done, it had Jeetendra in it after all, one gets the idea that his daughter Ekta Kappor the producer of many serials based on such story lines did her homework well watching her Daddy's films from the '90's, Mera Pati Sirf mera hai (what an amazing title, na!) is watchable even with its irritating storyline for its campiness and ridiculous soap opera style execution, if you're a big fan of the numerous Ekta Kapoor style serials that are hits with millions of Indian audiences then this is a film you might want to check out

Jeetendra's career was in decline at this point, despite the whole ridiculousness of the story his performance is good albeit in a very melodramatic way

Raadhika Sarathkumar one of my favourite heroines who played the lead role in one of my favourite bollywood femme fatale revenge sagas kudrat Ka Kanoon was ohh so annoying as Roopa in this, you know an actress has done her part rather well when you want to flip your remote at her for playing an overbearing character

Rekha as usual was a joy to watch, given the ridiculousness of the story, Rekha gives quite a commendable performance

The songs by Anand Milind seemed to have been hits at the time of its release, there's the sensuous 'Thandi hawa hai' two versions of this songs occur there's a seductive one and a more upbeat one which i've embedded below, it pretty much sums up the whole movie

A daaru song 'aaj gaale ke niche utara' and the wonderful peppy number 'maine tujhe khat likha' one of the contributing factors to me watching this film

and what better way to round off Jeetendra week than ending with what must be the best tailor/salesman song ever and such a fun picturisation too 'Aaiye Farmaiye' Jeetu-ji Zindabad

Paisa Vasool Rating: 4.5/10

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to my Jeetendra week posts, i'm still discovering more of his works, do feel free to leave recommendations of films to watch out for him in, i guess Nasir sums it up perfectly when he says "there's something about him, something that just can't be ignored" while he might not have been appreciated by the critics, he had lots of charisma and taht x-factor that saw him through over 3 decades of hindi cinema, Jeetu-ji zindabad

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