Dosti (1964)

As a big fan of Laxmikant Pyarelal, Dosti was a movie i knew i had to check out, as it was the film that cemented or should i say catapulted Laxmikant Pyarelal into the big league of Hindi Film Music Composers, and also with all the Mohammed Rafi loving that has been going on in blogland i knew it was time to dig out this classic movie as it was an album where Mohammed Rafi was the main vocalist with the exception of one song

Following the death of his father Ramnath (Sushil Kumar) and his mother (Leela Chitnis) are left struggling, they both expect to receive compensation from his father's company as he had died while on duty

Things however go from bad to worse as Ramnath gets dismissed from school when he's unable to pay his fees (Tragedy #1)

if that wasn't enough sorrows for poor Ram he receives news that his father's company won't be paying out any compensations as a result they're kicked out of their flat (Tragedy #2)

If all this wasn't enough for poor Ram already, his mother dies (Tragedy #3)

Yet still If all that wasn't enough Ramnath gets hit by a car thereby losing his leg and becoming a cripple

(Tragedy #4: Talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed, how the hell did Ram keep sane, i would have lost it mentally)

Life as a cripple isn't any easier as Ram comes to find out, but he finds solace when he meets a blind boy Mohan (Sudhir Kumar) whom he had helped cross the road

the two strike boys become best friends and are constantly on the look out for one another. Ram starts playing the harmonica which in turn inspires Mohan to sing which leads to passer bys giving them alms, Ram is reluctant at first but Mohan urges him not to hide his talent

They meet and befriend a wealthy girl called Manju (Baby Farida) who becomes a fan of their music her overprotective uncle (Sanjay khan) though is none too pleased about her forming friendship with lower class citizens like Ram & Mohan, they hope their friendship with Manju would help raise money for Ram's school fees

Mohan is also on the lookout for his sister Meena (Uma Rajoo) who is a nurse, incidentally or shall we say coincidentally she is the same one who has been appointed to Manju as her carer

Tragedy strikes once more when Manju dies of her illness, the boys are then left to rely on their singing to bring in enough money to pay for Ram's school fees. They raise enough money and Ram returns to school

Mohan comes across his sister Meena but she disowns him feeling ashamed of him because he's a beggar, she later meets with him in private but Mohan finds it hard to forgive her

Following a stealing incident in their slum Sharmaji (Nana Palsikar) who is Ram's school teacher bails Ram out & gives him an ultimatum of choosing between coming to leave with him in the suburbs and as a result excel in his education or staying behind in the slums, Ramu is reluctant but he leaves with Sharmaji thereby leaving Mohan alone and broken hearted

So will Ram & Mohan ever be reunited? How will Mohan cope without the support and love of his friend? Will Mohan ever forgive his sister? Will Ram be able to well in school without the love and support of Mohan?

This film is considered a bollywood classic and upon its time of release it became a blockbuster which is very impressive given that it had no big stars, no glamour or glitz about it, if such a movie with quite a good storyline and great songs were to release in our present times without any real stars backing it, the film would flop without doubt. I guess it shows how far the dynamics of the Hindi film industry has changed from one driven by content to a heavily celebrity/brand based one

Dosti's strength lies in its story telling and its loving and sympathetic characters as well as great acting from its lead stars Sushil and Sudhir Kumar (Does anyone know if they're related), the movie gets a bit too melodramatic and strenuous at times, but it was hard for me to dislike Dosti, what with its lovely insight on friendship & triumph through tribulation, even when the odds are stacked against you.

That as well as its message of keeping your character intact even when others fail and being true to yourself struck a major chord with me and helped me love the film even more. At the heart of the film's theme is the morale of no man being an island, no one succeeds on their own, we all need the love and help of another person to succeed in life, another interesting reading on the film by an article titled 100 Queer films of India over at filmi impression notes that

"Director Satyen Bose, as in his earlier film Jagriti, invests the friendship between two young men with as much tenderness, empathy, and felicity as romantic love. The film resonates for gay audiences at so many levels from the alienation felt by the two disabled men (one is blind, the other a cripple) acting as a cipher for homosexual repression, to instances of affection so physically demonstrated, to the alternative hospice in which they take refuge, replete with androgynous dancers and women wrestlers (which for all purposes could be a gay ghetto)"

The music from Laxmikant Pyarelal with lyrics from Majrooh Sultanpuri without doubt helped make Dosti the classic status it enjoys today (i really need to do a post on them sometime) all the songs on here are winners and i could go on about them forever, there's the lovely 'Gudiya humsi Roothi Rahogi' (which was the only song on the album not to have Mohammed Rafi's vocal) and many wonderful numbers by Mohammed Rafi like 'Raahi manwa dukh ki chinta', 'Koi jab raah na paye' , 'Jaane walon zara' , 'mera to jo bhi kadam hai' and my utter favourite being the tearjerker that is 'chahunga main tujhe'

Paisa Vasool Rating: 7/10

For more Information on Mohammed Rafi's Imapct on Dosti check out Nasir's write up

But the dvd here

Deedar-E-Yaar (1982)

This is the film that almost or should i say put Jeetendra's account in the red for sometime, he had invested heavily in this Muslim social only for the film to flop, leaving Jeetendra with a debt of R2.5 crore, thankfully his account survived the woes this movie thrust upon it with the subsequent hits he had afterwards

Nawab Akhtar (Jeetendra) & Javed (Rishi Kapoor) are best buddies, Javed falls in love with the gorgeous Firdhaus (Tina Munim) the daughter of a wealthy Nawab Changezi (Shreeram Lagoo)

Nawab Akhtar too meets her and falls in love with her, not knowing she's the same girl his best friend Javed is in love with

Firdhaus on the other hand feels more affection towards Javed and when she realises both are friends she keeps quiet (why would she do this you might ask, Ah things have to get dramatic after all, otherwise we'd have no story)

When Nawab Akhtar's sister's marriage falls on hard times due to her husbands frequent visits to Lucknow's top courtesan Husna (Rekha), he visits her to quote a price that would stop her from seeing Nawab Jehangir his sister's partner

Husna is smitten by Nawab Akhtar & She agrees she would stop dancing for Jehangir provided Nawab Akhtar comes to visit her every evening, Nawab Akhtar agrees, Husna is thankful and hopeful this encounter might lead to marriage with Akhtar which would eventually lead to her being rescue from her disgraceful profession

When Firdhaus's father (Shreeram Lagoo) disapproves of her marriage to Javed due to a taint on his family honour, Akhtar in a silly and rather dramatic move decides he'll marry the woman in question for Javed's sake, and then divorce her, Akhtar thinks her family who would not want anything to taint their honour, would then be forced to marry her off to Javed

Following his decision to marry he goes to Husna one last time, telling her he won't be seeing her again as he's getting married soon, Husna is heartbroken but puts on a brave face

On the of the wedding he realises he's married none other than his beloved, Firdhaus

Will he divorce her or keep her to himself? Will Javed & Akhtar friendship withstand the strain? What will be Husna's fate, will she be able to endure the heartbreak?

So why did this film fail? This film is directed by none other than the great H.S Rawail who directed Muslim Socials like 'Mere Mehboob' & 'Mehboob ki Mehndi', surely one would think this would have given the film some status, or perhaps a Muslim social with bits of dishoom dishhoom factor thrown in just didn't sit right with audiences we would never know. As over dramatic and a bit silly Deedar E- yaar (Seeing my beloved) is, its enjoyable and it keeps your attention (well if you're into melodrama) if not for the plot then for the songs at least

still there's a lot to admire in terms of set designs, the Lucknow type interiors and outfits

Lovely Chandeliers

Palatial Interiors

Marble Tiles

Romantic Fountain

One of my favourite bollywood divas Reena Roy also makes a cameo appearance

And Rekha brought some serious drama, i particularly love this scene beow, thank God i didn't watch this film as a kid, i'm sure i would have made an attempt to reenact the scene, i know its just something i would have tried doing, check out how the camera revolves around her towards the end

The songs by Laxmikant Pyarelal i would have thoughT would have elevated the film to be a hit as they're all classics from the lovely 'Tum ko dekha to' the wonderful 'Jaana jaana jaldi' & 'aayee phoolon ke' a rafi & Kishore duet 'mere dildar ka'. My two favourites though is the romantic 'Sarakti jayen Rukh se'

and the awesome qawalli 'idd ka din hai' where Rishi really proves no one can work a qawalli any better than him

Deedar-E-Yaar - Idd ka din from Bollywood Deewana on Vimeo.

Paisa Vasool Rating: 7/10 (Extra Points for the beautiful songs)

Buy the dvd here

Chirag kahan Roshni kahan (1959)

Sunehri Yaadein's wonderful list on her favourite Meena Kumari songs in remembrance of the 38th anniverasy of her death made me dig up this movie for review, its one of my favourite Meena Kumari films

Following the death of his wife after childbirth Dr Anand (Rajendra kumar) gives his child away to Ratna (Meena Kumari) a widow whose child died at birth, he keeps this as a secret between himself and fellow Nurse Sarla (Nilambai)

Anand becomes increasing attached to the child now named Raju (Honey Irani) by Ratna, he goes around visiting him constantly,

he and Ratna also seem to be falling for each other

Anand's constant visits to Ratna's house and his friendliness with her gets her sister in law Kamla suspicious about the two of them

she starts stirring stories of a possible affair between her & Anand, her mother in law (Mumtaz Begum) warns her not to drag the family honour down and advices her not to see him any more

Meanwhile Maya (Minoo Mumtaz) a nurse at the hospital where Anand works falls for in love with Anand and would like him to be hers

with the help of S.P. Prakash (Sunder) who is fact Ratna's brother in law, traps Anand into marrying her when she sets him up in a compromising situation, as such Anand is left with no choice but to marry her

She movies in with Anand and becomes a diva of the worst kind, running huge amount of bills and throwing lavish parties for her cat (actually she threw a birthday party for her cat to be precise)

When Maya hears news of Anand's dad leaving a vast inheritance for his grandchild, she strives to adopt a child as she's unable to conceive a child, her motives however her exposed and Anand refuses to adopt

Maya later comes to know of Anand's secret love child and makes plans to become his guardian just so she can have access to the inheritance left by his grandfather. She challenges Ratna to court for Child Custody

Will the truth be revealed that Ratna is not Raju's real mother? How will Ratna take the news? Will Ratna & Anand ever reveal their feelings for one another, watch Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan to find out

Overall a fantastic and entertaining melodrama, with great songs, as well as good direction by Devendra Goel, i seem to enjoy a lot of his films. I watched it on a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon and loved each and every moment of it, 50's melodrama movies are fast becoming my favourites. Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan (Where is the lamp Where is the light) reminded me an awful lot of another Meena Kumari starrer i reviewed a while a go on here Ek hi Rasta

I had a new found respect for Meena as an actress after watching this film what a great actress she really is, i felt every bit of her emotion, she actually acted like Raju was her real child. Meena seems to be really good with children, i loved her chemistry with the wonderful Honey Irani

And what a beauty she was

Minoo Mumtaz was so hateable in this movie, she really played the part of the contemptuous greedy Maya to a T,the fact i wanted to flip my remote at her shows what a beautiful and great actress she was

Asides from the performances another reason i shall be rewatching this film are the beautiful songs by Ravi, there's the seductive 'ab to aankh lad chuki' the playful 'aaye ho to dekhlo' the sad 'bada bedard jahan hai' my favourites are 'Chal mere gode tik tik' which is one of my all time favourite Meena Kumari songs, it simply shows how playful & good Meena was with kids

and the beautiful 'Tim Tim Karte Taare' (slow version) and embedded below is the fast version

Paisa Vasool rating: 7/10

Gumrah (1963)

This is a somewhat flawed but highly enjoyable suspense drama, i watched it on a lovely friday evening and was so mesmerised by the music and Mala of course. This is one of the early bollywood films that dealt with the subject of adultery

The film starts with the hindu tale of Laxmanrekha where Sita asks her partner Ram to fetch her a deer, following his delayed return she enquires his brother Laxman to check if his brother Ram is ok, Laxman agrees but before he goes he creates a line outside of which Sita mustn't step out of


We're then introduced to a modern tale of a woman who stepped outside of such a boundary

Rajendra (Sunil Dutt) & Meena are lovers who hope to get married, things take a turn when Meena's sister Kamla (Nirupa Roy) and her two kids Pappu & Dolly (funny names right) comes to visit them from Mumbai



Tragedy strikes when Kamla dies after falling off a hill


Meena's father (Nana Palsikar) suggests Meena marry her sister's husband Barrister Ashok (Ashok Kumar) since a new woman might not take to the kids


Meena disagrees but when she notices the kids attachment to her she agrees to marry Ashok and then moves down with him to Mumbai, all this happens without her even informing Rajendra



Down in Mumbai Ashok turns out to be a workaholic and is even unable to attend their first wedding anniversary organised by Meena's father in Naintal he fails to turn up, surprisingly Rajendra her former lover turns up to entertain the guests


He and Meena are reunited and he tells about her how she had broken his heart and left him without even a word of warning, Meena explains things to him and they soon start meeting each other secretly to get busy between the sheets



When Ashok and Rajender meet each other randomly in Naintal, Ashok is taken aback by Rajendra's talent as a painter, and is surprised when one of his paintings look very much like his wife Meena, he buys the painting


Ashok gets friendly with Rajender and suggests a move to Mumbai which Rajendra is reluctant to do at first but when a film company offers him a singing job in Mumbai he accepts and moves down, thus Rajendra and Ashok get very friendly which puts Meena at great unease


However she and Rajendra keep meeting up secretly until one day a woman called 'Leela' (Shashikala) who claimsto be Rajendra's wife, she accuses Meena of cheating and threatens to blow her cover, thus begins a series of blackmail and terror which would drive Meena off the rails


Who is this woman? is she really married to Rajendra, If so why didn't he tell Meena about her? Will she tell Meena's husband even after all the bribe, What will happen to Meena's marriage should her husband find out?

A thoroughly engrossing drama, i loved each and every moment of this film, just when i thought it was a standard drama the film takes a suspenseful drive that kept me at the edge of my seat right till the very end. The ending was a bit of a letdown or should i say seemed a bit too easy, going by the moral lessons in lots of bollywood films i've watched, i was a little surprised by the ending in this, it seemed a bit too fair

Also some aspects of the film can be regarded as quite sexist, the film makes the point of the woman being the moral centre point of the family, if the 'woman strays the whole family strays' is the argument the film presents, the feminist in me then questions 'How about the man, if he strays surely the whole family strays too?' Asides from the above stated quips, this is a highly enjoyable film and its one i'll be watching over and over again, if not the whole film then for the songs at least. Gumrah was remade into the 2005 Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar starrer Bewafaa, i have no idea how it compare but from the reviews i've read its no way as fab as this


Fabulous performance from Mala, i just loved her so much in this film, from her chemistry with the kids to her agony as the cheating wife who's being sussed out you feel her frustration as she's being frustrated to the point of insanity. I loved her style and the way she swishes her Sari around when she's about to go and do her deeds with Rajendra


Shahsikala only has a few screen time but she makes an impact, you just want to hate her, roles where Shashikala seemed to be so annoying to the point of wanting you the viewer to pull her out seemed to be her forte, she was awarded the filmfare best supporting actress for her performance


fab interior decoration, i love that sofa on the left

This is one of my favourite soundtracks from 60's bollywood all the songs are hauntingly beautiful, 'chalo ek baar phir se', the beautiful arrangements and melodies in 'aap aaye' the haunting 'aa bhi ja' wonderful kiddies song 'Ek thi Ladki and my favourite one 'tujhko mera pyar pukare' where we're treated to lovely shots of Naintal



Total paisa Vasool rating: 7/10