Raja Jani (1972)

I think its high time I invest in a quality laptop, the thought of coming back home and sitting for hours on end on a desktop blogging after a long hard days at work is seriously discouraging and tiring which is why I've been missing in action for a while, but I've seriously missed blogging as well as reading all my favourite blogs so much that I've designated my weekly days off preparing posts that will be automatically set to publish. My first movie review is this Dharema (thats Dharmendra & Hema Malini) romcom which i couldn't help but fall in love with

Wealthy Ranimaa (Durga Khote)  the queen of Taragarh lives in constant agony and anticipation that her long lost granddaughter Ratna who was kidnapped years ago will return to reclaim her throne

Her right hand man Diwan Gajendra Singh(Premnath) takes advantage of situations and recruits suave mobster Raja (Dharmendra) to help him find a girl who'll fake being Ranimaa's granddaughter who'll in turn hand in all the treasures to them once she's been crowned

Raja stumbles upon Shanno (Hema Malini) a street dancing village belle but Diwan thinks she's too much of a commoner to play the role of the long lost princess Ratna

Thus Raja forgoes Shanno as an option but circumstances brings them together again when Shanno escapes after murdering a leacherous man her guardians had sold her to, she finds safety in raja who takes her home  and decides upon presenting her as the lost princess Ratna

Thus begins a makeover as Raja  transfroms Shanno from Country bumpkin to city slicker, he also teaches her lovely manners

All this results in Shanno not only being fit to play a part of the lost princess but she also falls in live with  Raja (something I do not blame her for). Shanno's love for Raja turns into heartbreak when she realises all that grooming and lessons he had been giving her was all in the name of getting her to deceive Ranimaa

Shanno decides to live but is stopped by Raja's assistant Imartilal (Johnny Walker) who tells her about Raja's past scorn in the hands of an unfaithful lover (Bindu) who had cheated on him

Seriously Bindu???? cheating on Dharmendra with Manomhan

Imartilal persuades her to stay as she is the only one who can bring Raja back on the straight and narrow. Shanno listens and decides to play along as Ranimaa's long lost daughter Ratna while also harbouring plans to reform Raja and win his love

But things aren't so easy as Shanno's conscience starts getting the best of her, will she manage to deceive Ranimaa in time so that Raja and Diwan Saheb  get the treasures? Who is the real Ratnaand what will happen if she does indeed arrive? Plus will Shanno succeed in her attempts to make Raja fall in love with her? For this and many more delightful 70's bollywood retro goodness watch Raja Jani

With the exception of some minor gaping plot holes especially in the form of Shanno's murder case never been concluded, this is a cool, fun, charming and delightful retro romcom with fantastic chemistry between Hema and Dharmendra, seriously this two are at their best here, I absolutely loved them and its no surprise they went on to marry, they win my award for best filmi jodi of all time (sorry Sharukh and Kajol). Plus it was nice to see a decisive heroine even though a big part of her decision centred around gaining a man's approval to win his love but hey!! that's minor from all the goodness this film offers, there's a bit of romance, drama, thrilling moments (like the scene below) and action all packaged nicely into an endearing entertaining flick, everyone who likes their retro bollywood movies should watch this

Plus have i mentioned how fabulous the fashion in this film is, all those interested in retro bollywood fashion should see this film to learn how its done. From Hema Malini's pearly beaded top and flared trousers to her funky belted tunic with paisley headscarf she had an amazing wardrobe, head over to my other bollywood blog which I've been ghost writing for some time now to see her full looks

Dharmendra too had some lovely threads in this from his lovely bright blazers to his sharp Double breasted suits, I've never seen him look so stylish, head over to my other bollywood blog to see his other looks from the film

 And Prem Chopra was styling too, i love that blazer though i think I'd change a few things before wearing it

You also get some fab interiors  in the form of giant swiveling doors and quilt padded walls (oh how i love how you pay attention to details 70's bollywood)

Vah!!Kya Baat hai Dharam ji ladies and some of you Gents, stop drooling please

And finally the music from Laximant Pyarelal is delightful, from the amazing 'jani o jani' sung beautifully by kishore Kumar with a suave looking Dharmendra during the title credits to the infectious 'duniya ka mela' to the cheeky 'ABCD chodo' (check out the outfits in this) and then there's the lovely 'mubarak o tujhe' with an appearance from Helen simply dancing around Hema, and the flirty 'Kitna mazaa raha hai' . The song I've chosen to embed however is aaja o aaja simply because of how gorgeous Hema and Dharmendra look in the song


Paisa Vasool Rating: 7/10

Bidaai (1974)

First of all a round of applause to the costume designer of this film, never have i seen anyone pull off a Jack and Queen of Hearts outfit, it's so well made and a lot of attention has been paid to detail. Secondly apologies for my quick end to my 7 day Jeetendra Extravaganza i was dragged by my friends for a weekend in Manchester, I'm back home now so i shall i continue blogging properly

Prabhakar (Satyendra Kapoor) leaves his struggling family behind in the village to relocate to the city, left behind are his mother Parvati (Durga Khote) his younger brother Sudhakar and his sister Gauri

years later when his family are being hounded by Mangal for rent, a grown up Sudhakar (Jeetendra) moves to the city where he takes up a job as a cab driver to make ends meet

While working as a cab driver he meets a wealthy girl Padma (Leena Chandavarkar) and the two fall in love, they get married and they move back to the village to live with Sudhakar's mother

Rich Padma however finds life in the village very hard to bear and demands they move back to the city, she also becomes jealous of the immense attention Sudhakar pays to his mother and nags him endlesssly

Parvati eventually decides Sudhakar move back to the city much to his dislike, he agrees reluctantly, not wanting to disobey her

Upon getting to the city he sets out to teach Parvati a lesson on the importance of a mother's greatness following the birth of their baby. I've captured the hilarious dialogues that ensue between Padma & Sudhakar in the screencaps below

Really?? LOL

So will Sudhakar allow Padma to breastfeed their baby? Will she learn the importance of motherhood?

Overall Bidaai is quite an enjoyable movie, the whole importance of motherhood the film advocates is done with so much melodrama and is a bit too much over the top to be taken seriously, but you do get the message

Bidaai also earned Durga Khote her only Filmfare award as the Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Parvati, which i would describe as the self sacrificial; all suffering mother

Jeetendra was fun to watch, hearing him deliver the breastfeeding dialogues had me cackling, and of course i have nothing but pyar (love) for Leena, she is undeniably cute, any recommendations on what films to look out for her in

And great work from the costume designer,none other but the great Bhanu Athaiya, i have never seen anyone pull off the Queen of hearts and Jack outfit as much as they did

Good music from Laxmikant Pyarelal, my favourites are the fun 'mera sasura bada paisewala' 'maine tum sang' & the superb 'Dekho dekhoji' picturised on a giant card sets with Jeetendra and Leena in the King of spades and Queen of hearts outfit

Paisa Vasool Rating: 5/10

If you're into fashion or costume designing, I'd recommend Bhanu Athaiya's The Art of Costume Design book, based on her experiences as a costume designer for numerous bollywood films like Teesri Manzil, Reshma aur Shera, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam amongst others, unfortuantely it seems to be only available in India though (why is this?) its definitely worth collecting

Read the book review here

Order the book from India if you can here, but i think i'll wait for a friend who's going to India to get mine for me

Khilona (1970)

Having known Mumtaz for a quite some time and having seen her in a few movies, i never really though much of her, all that changed when i saw her in Khilona (Toy), and i'm now a Mumtaz lover. Khilona (Toy) became a box office hit and was awarded the filmfare Best Movie and also got Mumtaz her first and only filmfare 'Best Actress Award' award

Chand (Mumtaz) is a courtesan who sings/dances to the Ghazals of her favorite poet Vijay Kamal (Sanjeev Kumar). One day Vijay's father Thakur Kamal visits Chand and tells her that her beloved poet is mentally ill, and that there might be a good chance of him being cured if he marries a young woman. Chand is persuaded by Vijay's father to play the role of a pretend wife till Vijay gets better


When she gets to Vijay's house she's given the cold shoulder by his family members except his father. A fake wedding is set up for Vijay & Chand, but on the wedding day he finds out he's been deceived and he disrupts the ceremony



Chand later learns that Vijay had lost his senses when his love Sapna had been forced to marry Bihari (Shatrughan Sinha). Bihari out of spite had invited Vijay to their wedding, to which a heartbroken Sapna then committed suicide, upon witnessing her suicide Vijay went mad and his parents refusal to send him to a mental institution means he's locked up in a room outside the family home


Bad ass Sinha

Chand continues to make an effort with Vijay, talking to him and trying to relate to him hoping to bring him to his senses. One day he turns around and rapes her, following the rape Chand yells at him and calls him a beast and a sinner, this creates a new dilemma for Vijay as all he sees/hears whenever he looks at Chand is anger and disgust, also Chand is now carrying his baby



Will Vijay ever come back to his senses? If he does, would he remember Chand? Will his parents ever accept Chand as their daughter in law?, Will anyone believe Chand is carring Vijay's baby? Watch Khilona to find out

Khilona is a thoroughly enjoyable drama, a bit implausible in parts and the comedy by Jagdeep gets a bit annoying but he did make me laugh for the most part of it, but these are minor pickings in this powerful, poignant melodrama which highlights issues of hypocrisy, and the use and dispose habit of mankind, a message perhaps ever so more relevant to the use and discard culture of our times. Sanjeev Kumar really plays the mad man well and his mad man antics
had me in stitches

Mumtaz as i've said won me over with her performance in this film, and i can't wait to watch more films with her in it

The music by Laxmikant Pyarelal is fabulous from the playful fun Rosie Rosie with Shabnam and Jagdeep doing a cute rock and roll type dance in the park (i love Shabnam so much, she's hilarious in the clip)


Shabnam & Jagdeep in Rosie Rosie

the wonderful classic Khilona Jan kar tum ko (see below) which was featured in the Mr.India parody song it can be heard at about 5.34 in the parody song clip here

and my favourite has to be the super HOT mujra sanam tu bewafa that will surely get you dancing in no time, come on, kick off your shoes and have a jig to this



Total Score: 7/10 ( Very enjoyable drama with great songs)

Khilona is available in 16 parts with English subtitles on Youtube