Milan (1967)

Milan is one of the films I've picked out as part of my Nutan Birthday Special, i saw this film last December but thought it'd be more ideal to review it around the time of her birthday. It won Nutan her last ever filmfare Best Actress gong, she was famous for getting these, till today she holds the record for having won five of the black Lady back then when i guess they were still somewhat credible, Milan (Union) is also the director Adurthi Subba Rao's remake of his 1963 Tollywood reincarnation themed film Mooga Manasulu

While on their way to honeymoon after getting married, Gopinath (Sunil Dutt) & Radha (Nutan) start getting flashbacks/memories of a previous life, they arrive at an old haunted house where an old man who confirms most of his questions Gopi has about a possible previous life

The flashbacks reveal life with Gopi as a boatman who is an orphan & Radha as the daughter of a wealthy Zamindar (land owner)



Gopi takes Radha across the river to her college, the two seem to like each other a lot with Gopi bringing/gifting her flowers always, she's taken by his kindness & seems to be very fond of him too

Also smitten by Gopi is Gauri (Jamuna) a local village girl, Gopi however sees her just as a friend

A prince named Ram Babu (Deven verma) takes a liking to Radha


when Rajender (Pran) who is Radha's uncle finds out wealthy Ram Babu is, the fact he can make money out of exploiting Ram's love leads him to pulls strings culminating in Ram & Radha's marriage much to Gopi & Radha's sadness

Now we all know as a lead character Gopi has to get the sympathy card somehow, you know according to bollywood both of them have to end up together, as such Ram Babu dies leaving Radha as a widow, as a result she moves back to the village

When Gopi hears about Radha's widowhood, he's sympathetic and during his many visits to comfort her for her loss, his visits are treated with suspicious notions by Gauri as well as the fellow villagers due to Rajendra's false stories about both of them

Gopi willing to spare Radha the embarrassment and dishonour decides on leaving the village, Radha follows after him, Rajender on the other hand is after both couples to kill them

What will be the outcome of Radha and Gopi? Will Rajender succeed in his plan?

Milan is my no means up there with the reincarnation classics like Madhumati (which i'm yet to see) but somehow i just know it isn't, due to all the reviews and cult following Madhumati has. What ticked me off about Milan was that it takes a full 1.5 hours for the plot to settle in, thereby giving the film a slow and quite boring feel, watch it just for the songs if anything.

Performance wise Nutan is lovely as Radha but somehow perhaps due to the slow story i just couldn't sympathise with her character as Radha and Sunil Dutt one of my favourute actors was just ok here, i felt he overdid his simpleton act just a bit too much in this, i remember feeling quite irritated by his Gopi character, he's watchable and quite adorable yet still though. I also remember being dissatisfied that Pran was somewhat wasted in this film

Jamuna was likable as Gauri, but like Radha i couldn't really sympathise with her Gauri character, she too was awarded the best supporting actress gong, seems everyone was just winning awards right left and centre for this film

Laxmiaknt Pyarelal too won their second best Music director award for their fab songs in Milan, in fact the songs are what makes this film very memorable for me, from the vibrant 'Bol Gori Bol' the wonderful 'Hum tum yug yug se' the lovely 'tohe sawariya' two wonderful ballads 'main to deewana' & 'Ram kare aise ho jaye' and my utter favourite 'Sawan ka mahina' which some of you might remember as one of the songs featured on the extensive and wonderful Laxmikant Pyarelal medley from Mr India

now lets compare this song and picturization with one from the Telugu original 'Mooga Manasulu', they both look so similar, only difference being the different songs, actors and black and white picture. i would like to see the Telugu version just to see how it compare but telugu classics seem to be so rare to come across on Dvd with English Subs



Paisa Vasool Rating: 5/10

Anokhi Ada (1973)

My second film for Khanna O-Rama week is Anokhi Ada, while it has most of the ingredients for a great masala it doesn't quite have those 'squishy dil' moments that would make it qualify as a classic, there's enough goodness still though

Lalaji (Nazir Hussain) & Gupta (Manmohan Krishan) are best of friends as well as business partners, their kids Lalaji's son Rakesh (Jeetendra) & Gupta's daughter Neeta (Rekha) are also in love with one another (talk about keeping it all in the family)

All is well in both households until a certain man named Gopal is found unconscious by the village sea, Lalaji pays for his healthcare and nurses him back to health

When he awakes from his coma, he tells a sob story on how he has no one left in the world,Lalaji and his son Rakesh being the kind-hearted fellows they are, give him a job in the family company, in fact Rakesh is so trusting that he puts him in charge of the family business (Rakesh is clearly lazy and doesn't have time for business, all he wants to do is romance Neeta)

Gopal on the other hand is a man on a mission and its not long till he starts showing his true colours, his greed as well as his desire to gain his hands on Lalaji's property cause him to destroy Lalaji and Gupta's friendship by setting them up against one another with the help of Kushiram (Jeevan) an employee of Lalaji

Gopal's plans to destroy the entire family and gain the wealth all to himself comes under threat when Rakesh hears of his schemes, Gopal outsmarts him and before he can even make a move he orders his men to dump him in the sea

Now that Rakesh is out of the game, Gopal feels closer and is more confident of inheriting Lalaji's millions, but his plans are threatened when a Rakesh lookalike in the form of Kishan turns up, winning Lalaji's affection with Lalaji even adopting him as his own son

What schemes will Gopal come up with to ensure he ends up with the millions? Why does Kishan look so much like Rakesh, plus is Rakesh really dead? Will Lalalji & Gupta ever be friends again? Will Gopal be able to make away with the family's fortunes or will he be stopped

Anokhi Ada is a very much a product of 70's bollywood, escapist fare that's very watchable and charming but as i've said at the beginning of this post, it just doesn't have that 'squishy dil' angle that could have made it a classic, i guess the directors favoured camp entertainer rather than a message laden masala flick.

vah! great use of colour Vinod & never has a Villain looked so hot

This film made me think how versatile an actor Vinod is, I just loved him so much as the vilian here, such a stylish villain might i add, here are few of his amazing fashion statements but as i'm dissecting Vinod's fashion sensibilities in a later post i don't want to give to much away

A major fashion trend i picked out were lots of belts worn over tight t shirts complete with neckerchief (that's a styling tip for all you partygoers/clubbers who are stuck for inspiration on funky 70's bollywood outfits)

gotta love that eyeliner

As for Rekha she doesn't have much to do but she was charming and gave me the right amount of eye candy i could have wanted from her. I loved her looks in this, from her 70's style chiffon sari's to her eyeliners, she was uber cute

Like most early 70's film the feistiness the heroine lacked was made up for by a feisty Village belle played by Padma Khanna in this. Unlike most other films of the time like 'Caravan' and 'Mera Gaon mera desh' that gave the supporting actress much to do, Padma doesn't have as much screen time as i would have liked

Good soundtrack from Laxmikant Pyarelal not on the same level as some of their top soundtracks like Loafer or Nagin but there are enough goodies like the lovely romantci duet 'tere sil mein', playful 'sundari hai hai' my two favourites are 'Goom gayi Goom Gayi' with Padma Khanna in full on Village belle mode & an awesome qawalli 'Hal kya hai dilon ka'

Paisa Vasool Rating: 5/10

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