My first contribution towards the ongoing Kapoor Khazana which is going on around some of the bolly blogosphere is this much lauded love Triangle which left me, well we'll see in a minute
Raja (Kamal Hassan) and Mona (Dimple Kapadia) have been friends since Childhood, now that they're grown up Raja finds it hard to express his feelings to Mona
Mona on the other hand is very casual about matters between them, Raja adopts this stance too when in fact matters of his heart are otherwise
In comes Ravi (Rishi Kapoor) the son of a wealthy industrialist who falls for Mona, he also becomes good friends with Raja
Raja hopes Ravi will help him learn how to be more expressive of his feelings towards Mona, he does this not knowing of Ravi's feeling towards Mona
When Ravi finds out about Raja's feelings towards Mona, rather than be upfront that he likes her too, he agrees to do the talking for Raja
(bollywoodeewana's note: Why Ravi himself could not be upfront about his feelings is way beyond me, senseless self sacrifice all in the name of being buddies I guess)
Ravi lets Mona know about Raja's feelings but then, Raja sees Mona and Ravi cuddling which leads him to deny any feelings when Mona comes to ask how he really feels (perhaps she feels the same, or is confused the film doesn't make this explicitly clear)
Raja chickens out and calls the whole thing a prank rather than be honest about his feelings (perhaps his honesty might have helped Mona examine her feelings closely)
Thus Ravi and Mona start dating until Ravi's wealthy Mother Kamladevi (Madhu jaffrey) decides Mona isn't up scale enough to be her daughter in law, Ravi is having none of it and decides Mona would be his bride
While Ravi is away on a business trip, Kamladevi cuts a deal with Mona to choose either between her son or the livelihood of her local townsfolk, whose businesses she threatens to buy out
What will Mona do, Will she sacrifice her love for the sake of her townsfolk? Will Raja ever get the girl of his dreams?
This much lauded classic of course marked the reunion of Raja (Rishi Kapoor) and his Bobby (Dimple Kapadia) who had eloped 12 years earlier in that 1973 classic Bobby, but for me i found it really hard to appreciate this classic say apart from the songs by R.D Burman, I felt zero sympathy for the characters.
Kamal Hassan's character i found way too pitiful and lacking in conviction especially in the way he dealt with expressing matters of his heart, as well as his deceit when he was confronted by Mona about his feelings. I also could not overlook the ending which in this case, like many other love triangles (see here) someone dies just so the decision making process can be made easier, I'd have liked Saagar even more if the female lead, in this case Mona (Dimple Kapadia) really got to examine her heart and make her choice rather than end up with one of her potential suitors just because the other potential Mr Right was killed off.
Smouldering Dimple!!!
Overall watch Saagar mostly for the songs and then for the actors if you're a fan of anyone here, acting wise everyone puts in a good job but the classic love triangle trope just killed things for me, needless to say I 'd rather Dimple was awarded the Filmfare Best actress award for Zakhmi Aurat where i felt her acting prowess, the same goes for Kamal Hassan who was awarded the Filmfare Best Male actor for his role in this, I'd rather he won it for Ek Duuje ke liye than this
And of course this film is famous for Dimple's towel dropping act which occurs in a blink and you'll miss it second, but pay attention to the rather fabulous dreamy sequence below where the camera just ogles at Dimple
Excellent music from R.D Burman on here with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. Favourites are the lovely 'Chehra hai ya' the fun 'Yunhi gaate Raho' which sees kamal & Rishi get all buddy buddy whilst also doing the can-can with Dimple and the lovely ballad 'Saagar Kinare'. My two favourites on here though are the Goan style wedding song 'Oh Maria'
The lovely Roti kapada aur Rum came up with the idea of dedicating a whole week to trashy films, luckily for her, i have seen a good deal of trash and now seems like the perfect opportunity to let some of them loose
Raisaheb's (Shammi Kapoor) disapproval of his son's (Anil Dhawan) wife Sheetal (Nandita Thakur) leads to a breakdown in their communication
Years go by and Rai Saheb is missing his son, he also feels remorseful on how he had treated his son's wife. Too late for Rai Saheb though as his son is now dead, Sheetal his son's wife unable to raise their child Guddu on her own decides to leave him with Rai Saheb who's wealthy & thereby able to provide better
Upon hearing the news of his grandson arriving an overjoyed Rai Saheb is eager to pick them but his Personal assistant Prem (Prem Chopra)volunteers
Prem however has plans of his own, himself along with Raja Saheb (Amrish Puri) plan on inheriting Rai Saheb's property thus news of his Grandson arriving is bad news for them, they hire some Goondas (Henchmen) to bump them off, but unluckily for them Guddu escapes alive but the poor boy loses his mother thereby making him an orphan
Rai Saheb is disheartend at the thought of his lost grandson, he places adverts in the newspapapers, promising a substantial amount to whoever finds or knows of Guddu's whereabouts. Shankar (Dharmendra) an opportunist sees this as a chance to make a quick buck
Shankar dresses up and pretends to be the child (seriously???) while Preeti (Dimple Kapadia) pretends to be the mother
Shankar as the missing child
Preeti as the mother
But of course they fail at their attempt
Guddu later buddies up with Shankar who in turn becomes his guardian, Shankar realises he just might be the missing grandson of Rai Saheb. He takes him over to Rai saheb's house, unluckily Rai Saheb is not home & Guddu's locket which stands as proof gets left behind
When Rai Saheb out of frustration (Rai Saab what's the rush) decides to will all his property over to Prem his Personal assistant, the necklace magically falls down from the ceiling thereby giving Rai Saheb hope that his grandson is still alive
Prem and his aide Raja Saheb must now prevent Rai saheb from willing the entire estate to Guddu, even if it means killing him
Will they succeed in their venture? Watch Mast Kalandar if you dare to find out
Overall a major disappointment and complete trash is what this film was, I would have cried if I had spent my money on this dvd, luckily for me though, i rented it. The acting, editing, cinematography as well as dvd quality was BAD, if all that wasn't enough Eros had the guts to snip out the one juicy song making the film EXTRA trashy. Watch this only if you're a hardcore fan of any of the leads here, just so you can claim you've seen all their movies, otherwise this movie is pure unadulterated big Trash
Rum wants us to shame our favourite stars and it pains me Dharmendra had to be the one i shame in this film, he just looked tired and overworked and given his friendship with the director Rahul Rawail, I can only imagine he did this as a favour of sorts. Dimple Kapadia too was wasted and didn't even get the chance to do much
Shakti kapoor tries seducing Pinku
Pinku flirts with Dharmendra
Pinku in his carrot coloured mohawk
The only saving grace in this movie in my opinion is Anupam Kher, in fact he's the major reason i watched this, his character of Pinku is said to be Bollywood's first openly gay character, Amrish Puri plays his accepting father (well he sees his son flirt with men openly and never tells him off).
Of course he camps it up, but Anupham kher really nailed his performance as Pinku, well, not all gay men fall into this effeminate stereotype but Anupam kher makes it so real that i actually see some of my gay friends in him, anyway see him in all his awesomeness below
Very average Soundtrack from my favourite music directors Laxmikant Pyarelal in this one, there's the hilarious 'chor chor chor', the quite sweet 'jag ja ke soja' and the only one i really liked was a parody of 'ek do teen' with Anupam Kher trying to seduce Prem Chopra, it surely doesn't get trashier than this
The apple as they say never falls far from the tree, Manmohan Desai's son Ketan Desai proves this saying true in this crazy masala flick with a muslim theme in its background, yes i've heard of Muslim Socials, but this film can be called (or should i say is) Muslim Masala. It stars none other than Jackie Shroff (well done everyone who got the answer right in the Guess who? post below) We have all the masala elements lost children, double identities, villains, gorgeous heroines as well as the exploding tv's & the politics of prostitution thrown in. If you're looking for a hotly served masala look no further than this film. I don't even know how i'm going to write this up, but i shall try my very best as there was just way too much craziness going on
Karim Khan (Shammi Kapoor) had accepted the blame for a murder committed by Don (Bob Christo), as a result he was sent to prison with Don promising to take care of his family. Don however refuses to keep his promise. When Karim Khan's wife Razia (Aruna Irani) takes their newly born son to claim 6 months of her husbands wages from Don, he sees it as an opportunity to rape her
Razia manages to escape by falling through the glass all the way from the first floor to the second floor without getting injured (hmmmm), she escapes and miraculously falls into the hands of Inspector Anwar (Biswajeet) who arrests Don When Inspector Anwar and Salma's son falls ill, they're told by the doctor that they would need a pacemaker, when Inspector Anwar goes to buy the pacemaker that would save his son's life he's told he would have to release Don first He refuses at first but later decides to release Don, he's given a pacemaker for his son's heart. The pacemaker turns out to carry the 786 number which is also the muslim number for 'In the name of Allah'
Don and his henchmen then set Anwar up with Miss Banu (Bindu) who spikes his drink, when he wakes up, she claims he raped her. To protect his honour he decides to marry her, His wife Salma (Waheeda Rahman) walks in on them and when Anwar tells his wife that he plans on marrying Banu, she asks for a divorce contending she wouldn't share her pati with a slut like Miss Banu
When Salma contends she get the custody of their child Iqbal, Anwar disagrees and they both go to court, while they're at court for the hearing custody, Don and his henchmen kidnap Iqbal. When Don's men proceed to crush the child with their car Razia who happens to be passing by swaps him with her dead son, she starts running with Iqbal, don's henchmen hit her with their car and she throws Iqbal away only for him to land in the tent of an ongoing procesion Iqbal is reported dead to his parents, however they don't know that the dead child is Razia & Karim Khan's son. When Salma hears she rushes out and is hit by a truck, she loses her sight and thus becomes blind When Karim Khan is released from Jail he's told about the death of his wife , he's given Iqbal whom he thinks is his own son, he then goes to avenge his wife's death from Don, he kills Don but before Don dies he promises Karim Khan that his son (Don's son) will avenge his death When Iqbal's pacemaker stops working, Karim Khan takes him to the mosque and places him on the altar where a ray of light from God descends on him Manmohan style and he starts breathing again. He's arrested again at the mosque for the murder of Don, before going to jail he hands the baby over to Salma and names the child Allah-Rakha (saved by Allah) he makes her promise him she wouldn't reveal his identity to him. Unknown to Salma is the fact that Iqbal is the child given to her
Allah-Rakha grows up and finds it hard to gain admission into University due to corrupt Mr Khera (Anupham kher). He resorts to running a roadside Panch Tara (as in five star) hotel
When he saves local Prostitute Rani (Meenakshi Sheshadri) from goons she falls for him saying he's the first person to make her wear her clothes as opposed to take them off He's arrested for beating up the goons, his mother Salma takes up the case & the hearing is adjourned. Allah-Rakha is set free on bail while Inspector Jafar is suspended
A reporter by the name of Julie (Dimple Kapadia) comes toAllah Rakha's side of town, she's mistaken for a prostitute by Rani & both ladies have a catfight only for Rani to later realise she's a Tv Reporter and had come to do a report on prostitution
Julie comes back to Allah-Rakha's side of town and disguises as a guy to expose the liquor and gambling dens of the city, there she comes across Inspector Anwar's son Jafar (Gulshan Grover)who is a cop taking bribes & terrorising locals, she records all this
When Jafar finds out he's being recorded due to a clumsy act by Julie he starts chasing and she's helped by Allah Rakha. Julie & Allah-Rakha fall in love much to her dad Mr khera's (Anupham Kher) displeasure
Mr Khera is paid to carry out bomb blasts across town, he does this by placing bombs in Tvs they plan to kill Allah Rakha by putting a bomb in his Tv (yes this film is that crazy) on the said day Inspector Anwar turns up at Alla-Rakha's house to see Salma. Allah Rakha turns on the Tv and goes to get him drinks, before he comes back the Tv explodes and Inspector Anwar is Injured
Allah Rakha hears Salma praying wishing her own true son Iqbal is still alive, saying he would have sent her on a Hajj trip, Allah-Rakha is disheartened that Salma isn't his real mother
He descides to wrestle against an acclaimed fighter called Gorilla in order to win money to pay for her trip. He wins the fight and Allah-Rakha is able to send Salma on a Hajj trip watch the fight here
While on Hajj, Salma prays for Anwar's health and he gets well as a result of her prayers. Allah Rakha is then framed for planting bombs in Tv's and as a result he's taken to jail, there he meets Karim Khan. the two have a fight over food but when Karim Khan discovers his name is Allah Rakha, he rejoices and introduces himself as Allah-Rakha's father, they have a happy reunion
When Karim Khan is released from Jail he's confronted by Don's son who has come to get revenge, Don's son who happens to look a lot like Allah-Rakha also arranges Allah Rakha's escape from prison When Allah-Rakha meets Don's son they have a fight and Allah-Rakha kills him, as a result he switches place with him and news spreads about Allah rakha's death
How will Salma & Anwar realise Allah-Rakha is their son? Will Salma ever reagin her eyesight? For how long will Allah Rakha convince everyone he's Don's son? For these answers a whole lot more entertaining reasons do watch Allah Rakha
Wow that was an exhausting write up, if you read it all, you deserve a round of applause, Allah-Rakha is a well timed crazy masla complete with all the necessary elements to keep you entertained, the story moves along at a steady pace and keeps you involved all the way through.
If you're looking for a hot served masala look no further than this film. Kudo's to Manmohan Desai's son for getting all the golden oldies a la Waheeda, Biswajeet, Shammi Kapoor to participate in all the masala craziness this film had to offer.
Even Shammi participates in some crazy Masala action
The movie was written with Amitabh Bachchan in mind but due to other commitments he couldn't take it up, as a result the role was offered to Jackie Shroff, who did a splendid job, if you're a Jackie fan like me, this is one movie of his you HAVE to watch
Other reasons to watch Allah-Rakha is Bindu in classic BAD woman mode, she is A bad bad bad woman in this film, and she had a fabulous wardrobe and hairstyles to go with it
I also loved the fierceness of Meenakshi Sheshadri, she doesn't get as much screen time as Dimple but she was feisty as the down trodden prostitute
there was also some Psycho shower scene rip off
and there were lots and lots of movie posters featured in the background, probably more so as the film was shot at Raj kapoor Studios
this movie had so much crazy goodness, if you're a red blooded masala lover do not miss THIS
Great songs from Anu Malik as well, some of the songs had a muslim theme in them such as 'Parvardegare Aaalam' and the title track 'Main Allah-Rakha' then there's the protest love song 'Sholon mein jalado' , and then 'doli leke yahan' where Rani laments on the sorrows of prostitution, my favourite however is the sweet parody of Amar Akbar Anthony and other Manmohan Desai films in 'na amar na akbar na anthony'
Total Score: 8/10 ( Hot Piping Masala at its best)
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