Kahani Kismat ki (1973)

The second selection in my Dharmendra week is this camp drama extravaganza from the same director who brought us kab? Kyoon? Aur Kahan? He again returns to his numerology idea of having triple K's in his film title with this one, and as luck would have it for him this one tured out to be a box office hit for him


Ajit (Dharmendra) is a graduate unable to gain employment, frustrated at his inability to support his family Ajit resorts to robbing, he's caught and sentenced to 2 years in Jail


His mother(Sulochana) out of guilt that her son had supported her from robbed items leaves the rich mansion Ajit bought her and moves to a poor bungalow


Ajit is pardoned and released from Jail early, he returns home and promises his mother he'll be on the straight and narrow


While on the search for a job, Ajit out of desperation takes part in a wrestling match with a money prize or 200 Rupees for the winner


He wins and with the money he buys various items for his families including a lunch box for his chota bhai ( little brother). He finds there's a huge amount of cash in the lunch box as well as the address of the owner who happens to be Mr Prem (Ajit)


Prem is impressed by Ajit's honesty and as a result he affers him a job, his daughter Rekha falls for him (i don't blame her)


She gets the help of her friend Jayshree T on how to woo him over

At first Ajit is shy and conscious of their class differences


but fierce Rekha ( oh how i loved her feisty dialogues in this scene) refutes him and challenges him to man up


you tell him girl


Ajit does and he declares his love for her to the whole world


Ajit soon starts getting weird fits and seizures, he goes to the doctor where he's diagnosed with cancer, and told he has months to live



This creates drama in his relationship with Rekha, Ajit not wanting her to be hurt by his death breaks up with her in a painfully neart breaking way when he introduces a paid actress to claim she's his wife



Karam Chand (Arjun Hingorani) who knows about Prem's past evil deeds threatens to reveal his secrets, if Prem doesn't pay him large amounts of money


Prem lies to Ajit about Karam Chand's threat and manages to convince Ajit to do his dirty deed by stealing the incriminating documents karam Chand has been blackmailing him with. Ajit out of desperation for money as well as the fact he might be dying soon agrees to the crime


Unfortuantely Karamchand is killed on the same night as Ajit's plans to rob him, as a result Ajit is framed for his murder


When Rekha discovers Ajit is in prison, the true love she feels for him, causes her to go visit him, on her way back she stumbles and collapses which results in a loss of huge amounts of blood

Khoon bhari maang it is indeed

The doctor finds it hard to find her matching blood type and a conclusion is eventually reached that only Ajits blood can save her, but Arjun has cancer, which means his blood can't be given to Rekha


Would Ajit be willing to give Rekha his cancerous blood, or can the doctor find a solution to this? Who framed Ajit? who killed karamchand? Does Ajit really have cancer? Also what dirty deed of Prem was Karam Chand aware of and threatened to reveal to the world Watch Kahani kismat Ki to finsd out these answers

Kahani Kismat Ki (the story of destiny) represents one of Dharmendra's camp peformances from 70's hindi cinema, there's nothing special here but if you love your camp 70's escapist fares, then you'll love this

For Dharmendra fans there's lots to love, ladies (or gents) you get to see Dharmendra fight in his briefs and flex his muscles






I was amazed by Rekha's look in this, i found her beautiful in this film, many people think she wasn't beautiful in her younger days but i loved her look here



Good songs from Kalyanji Anandji, there's the title track 'Kahani Kismat Ki' a seductive item number 'Tu yaar hi mera' and one of Dharmendra's most popular songs 'rafta rafta'

my favourites are 'Duniya mujhe Kehti Hai'



and Rekha and her girl friends in the playful and cool 'Kab tak na dogi dil' watch them rock out with their plastic guitars and other instruments on the beach




Total Score: 5.5/10

Baiju Bawra (1952)

As a great lover of Meena Kumari, i knew i had to check out the film that made her a Superstar. Baiju Bawra is also the first film which was awarded the Filmfare 'Best actress' and 'best music director'. I watched this movie with a non bollywood fan and i was so surprised a) that he liked it and that & b) that he sat through the whole thing. So what is it about Baiju Bawra which is said to be based on the legend of Baiju Bawra from the Mughal times that gripped a non bollywood fan

Mian Tansen a well accomplished composer in the kings palace, orders the guards to maintain silence around the kingdom as he's composing

Young Baiju (Rattan kumar) and his dad who happen to be passing by in a praying singing troop, are confronted by the guards who order them to be quiet, Baiju's father refuses to be quiet saying 'Music should never be restricted'. One of the guards flings him and Baiju's father is seriously injured, before he dies he tells Baiju to avenge his death from Mian Tansen the palace composer


Baiju is now orpahned and is bitter and eager to get his revenge from Tansen, he meets Shankar (Manmohan Krishnan) an elderly man who takes him in, he also meets Gauri a lively girl who lives in the same locale. The two fall in love and Baiju is overcome by Gauri's love and forgets about his quest for revenge


Word soon gets around that Gauri is dishonouring her father because of her relationship with Baiju (Bharat Bhushan) as she has been betrothed to another young man by the name of Narpat. Her father through Shankar eventually agrees to Baiju & Gauri's marriage when he discovers their passion for one another



When stealing Bandit Roopmaji storms the village one day, she takes a liking to Baiju's voice when he starts singing, she decides to leave the village goods if she can take Baiju with her. Baiju leaves and promises Gauri he will come back for her

While away from Gauri, Roopmaji's actions raises the vengeful spirit in Baiju and he remembers his promise to avenge his father's death from the Tansen. Baiju then travels to avenge his father, when he's about to kill the Tansen he discovers cold murder won't do it but that he would have to challenge him in a sing off, after which if he outsings the Tansen, the tansen would kill himself out of shame. Thus the battle commences (in a sing off to give American idol and other singing reality type shows a run for their money) with the first out of the two to melt a marble in a glass of water winning.



Will Baiju outsing the Tansen? Will he succeed in fully melting the marble with his voice? Will he be back in time to prevent Gauri being married off to Narpat?

This is one of the first movies that gave Meena the tragic diva tag i believe, she balances her role of being a sprightly fresh faced beauty to the distressed lover awaiting her lover's return effectively

Happy Meena

Sad Meena

Bharat Bhushan was cute and adorable in his role

Overall a wonderful film with romance, suspense, drama, great dialogues music (lots of classics here) and comedy all rolled into one, but although this movie had all these, the ending ruined it for me, however still watch it if you like classics and if you like films that have a bit of history behind them. At the heart of the film's theme is the powerful effect of music, how music can be very spiritual and passion/love's ability to tame.

The music by Naushad are classics and i was really gutted the GVI dvd of the songs came without subtitles but i really enjoyed Door koi gaye with Meena Kumari and her girl pals, Aaj gawat mann mero which Mian Tansen and Baiju sing for their sing off, and Tu Ganga ki Mauj (see below) which won Naushad his first and only filmfare best Music director award




Total Score: 7/10 (Entertaining classic musical)