Insaf Ka Tarazu (1980)

Writing my first review after such a long time feels weird which makes me proclaim 'away from me writer's block and be gone, be gone I say'. Insaf ka Tarazu is a movie i had planned to review on Zeenat Aman's birthday last month on November 19th, but as time did not allow, i thought it'd be the first movie i review now that I'm back in the swing of things.

Directed by the master of socially relevant bollywood films 'B.R. Chopra', Insaf ka Tarazu (The scales of Justice) is notable for being the first bollywood film that dealt head on with the subject of rape, it's also widely considered by many as one of Zeenat Aman's landmark performances. The film has been observed by many as a remake of the 1976 hollywood film 'Lipstick', which I'm yet to see, hence i shall not be able to comment on how much it rips it off, but this bollywood adaptation is a great watch, and is very much a bold film for its time

Our movie starts at a beauty competition where the audience decides who gets crowned the winner

(bollywooddeewana's note: How very forward thinking isn't it, voting for the winner is all the rage these days on Television shows)

Fashion model extraordinaire Bharti (Zeenat Aman) raises temperatures so much that a fan in the audience scores her a whopping 200 out of a possible 100. Bharti wins the competition and

the fan in question turns out to be wealthy industrialist Ramesh (Raj Babbar). As a reward for his enthusiasm he's called to crown Bharti, which he feels very honoured to do

Ramesh falls for Bharti and despite knowing she has a boyfriend of her own called Ashok (Deepak Parashar), he's hell bent on wooing her. Part of his attempts include hosting a special V.I.P birthday bash for her

Bharti goes along to the party with her boyfriend and sister, but Ramesh notices all his advances are being shunned by a rather childish Bharti in favour of her boyfriend Ashok

While Ramesh is nursing his broken heart/ego, Ashok and Bharti's relationship moves onto the next level when he takes her to his parents, Bharti's in laws approve of her and plans are made for them to get married

Ramesh still bent on wooing Bharti, calls her requesting to bring pictures from the party he threw for her, he's given the go ahead by Bharti. Ramesh goes that extra bit further and gifts her a present which Bharti in a rather childish and rude manner ignores in favour of her boyfriends call. Ramesh is furious and proceeds on raping Bharti

Bharti's sister Neeta (Padmini Kolhapure) walks in on them & thinks the sexual act between her sister and Ramesh is consensual

(bollywooddeewana's note:surely she should have seen the bruises & scars on her sister's face as well as the fact that she's tied up,or did little Neeta probably think her sister was indulging in some S&M fun, i'd fear to think so)

Violated and shattered, Bharti is determined to get justice

(bollywooddeewana's note:I must admit that i do rather like this painting revealing Bharti's inner state of mind)

despite the lawyer's (Simi Garewal) warning of the emotional turmoil and humiliation the court case will very likely bring, Bharti insists on taking the case to court

(bollywooddeewana's note: I actually find the film quite feminist in this regard as she (Bharti) stood up and made her voice heard rather that fear being ridiculed and as a result keep schtum)

True to the lawyer's word Bharti is subjected to all sorts of humiliating questions from her attire she was wearing before the rape to providing proof she was raped and many other mundane questions, she's eventually accused of luring Ramesh to bed & attempting to cover up the whole incident with the intention of remaining angelic in the eyes of her younger sister

Bharti loses the case mostly in part to the dubious lawyer Mr Chandra (Sreeram lagoo) whom Ramesh had bought out plus various pictures which showed them enjoying each other's company was enough to convince the judge Bharti was lying

Devastated and humiliated at losing the case Bharti's world comes crumbling down, What will happen to Bharti, will she ever be able to get justice? What will society make of her now? What will happen to her career as well as her relationship with Ashok? Watch Insaf Ka Tarazu (scales of justice) to find out

On the whole Insaf ka tarazu is a taut and gripping drama/thriller, it had me engrossed right from the get go and the film only begins to falter in my opinion in the quite tedious court scenes, and as usual my complaint with many a bollywood film that includes a court scene rears its ugly head here once more (see previous complaints here and here). Why is it that the court is always a place of jesting and other hijinks, for example raucous laughter is allowed to go on numerous times in the court without the judge shouting 'order'

But my complaints are far and in between as this film is a major winner for me, mostly in terms of its feminist stance in the form of Bharti not being afraid to seek justice at the cost of what might become of her reputation in society , that along side the injustices in the judicial system regarding rape which was echoed in the much later and rather over the top Zakhmi Aurat, makes this film a must watch, i definitely recommend it and i recommend reading the magazine scans at the end of this post too.

Looking back and judging by the rape and Judicial system in modern day India in the magazine scans at the end of this post, it seems a lot of the things i was angry about while watching this film happens in real life like Bharti's sister being asked to come and stand trial and then being shouted at by the lawyer. All these points and arguments which the article at the end of this post raised made me like this film all the more and made it even more relevant to our present times. As for the flat/rushed ending many imdb commenters seem to be unhappy with, alas the director had to bridge the gap between making a socially relevant film and making money at the same time, not a bad thing in my opinion.

I'd recommend this film as a must watch for all Zeenat Aman fans, i found her portrayal of Bharti passionate albeit a bit uber melodramatic and without sounding shallow she looked utterly gorgeous

Raj Babbar whatever you think of him doesn't really matter, as i think this is one if not the best role he ever played, he brought a certain creepiness to his Ramesh character so much so that you can't help but hate him, infact I've come across numerous people who hate him because of his role in this, but i say well done Raj for a great performance

Deepak Parashar another actor who gets schtick for being wooden , i actually found quite cute in this and he and Zeenat made a lovely pair

And lest i forget Padmini Kolhapure, she was nothing but great as Bharti's chirpy little sister this young actress who i believe was only a wee teenager at the time showed she was capable of handling melodrama whilst showing some restraint while doing so

Honourable mentions to Simi Garewal, Ifthekar and Sreeram Lagoo as well

Garam Dharam makes a special guest appearance

Lovely music from Ravindra Jain on this, i simply love this soundtrack and i've included links to all the videos with English subtitles, from the restrained title track 'insaf ka tarazu' to the playful 'yeh ho gayi' , my two favourites though are 'Hazaar khwaab haqeeqat' a wonderful love song by Mahendra Kapoor and Asha Bhosle

and 'log aurat ko' is definitely amongst my top three Asha Bhosle songs of all time

Paisa Vasool rating: 7/10

Magazine scans on rape the state of Rape and Justice in India

Click on image to enlage

Click to enlarge


Article courtesy Femina Magazine

Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli (1971)

First of all what a fabulous poster that is, i hope to make it into a Tshirt one of these days, in fact i've been doing a lot of that, wearing some of my favourite bollywood posters as Tshirts, i'll share the images on here at some point, now back to Jal bin Macchli Nritya Bin bijli (Fish without water, lightening without dance), is yet another V. Shantaram film that is very much an acquired taste, from what I've gathered from the comments on my blog this seems to be a lot of people's least favourite V.Shantaram film

The film starts with the memo of "No art form is great if there is no imagination behind it"

Alaknanada's (Sandhya) mother had given up her love for dancing for the sake of her husband Dr Verma (Iftekhar) all in the name of not wanting people to label her as characterless. Before she dies she urges Akalnanda to fulfil these dream of hers

the ever so quirky but undeniably lovable Sandhya

She impresses Kailash (Abhijeet) a wealthy artist/musician who sees her dancing, he's taken aback and says its the kind of dance he wants for a show he's working on as her dance comes from the heart and is full of passion

Her father thinks she can take up whatever dancing as much as she wants after marriage, thus refusing to let her go to Kailash but she overrules him and starts meeting Kailash for dance lessons, over time they both fall in love

Meanwhile Kailash parents are matchmaking him with foreign returned Princess Roopmati (Minal), his mother Rajamata (Dina Pathak) had promised Roopmati's mother she would be her daughter in law

Despite his parents choice of Roopmati, Kailash only has eyes for none other than Akalnanda which leaves Roopmati frustrated adding to her frustrations even more is when Akalnanda saves Kailash's life from a tiger which makes him love her even more

When Akalnand's uncle Mr Rai blabs about Kailash and Akalnanda's love to her father he reprimands her but she refuses to leave him as she wants to stay not only for her love but for the sake of her art

Also trying to break them up is Kailash's mother who tries to buy her out Akalnanda refuses, but when her mother in a case of "why don't you just let her go ahead and do it" attempts to swallow poison, Akalnanda in order to prevent her death decides to sacrifice her love (yawn!!)

On the day of her dance , Uncle Rai sabotages her performance which results in her breaking her spinal cord

She's taken to hospital where after treatment she's left with the support of crutches. Kailash goes to her with his marriage proposal (Gotta love him, broken spines and all) but she turns him down (Silly girl) saying she never loved him and had only been leading him on for the sake of learning dance from him

Kailash is angry and thus decides upon hating all womankind

Will kailash find out the truth behind Akalnanda's lies? Will Akalnanda be able to dance again? Will Kailash ever love womankind again? Will Akalnanada and Kailash end up together? Watch Jal Bin Macchli Nritya Bin Bijli to find out

There's melodrama and then there is hyper-melodrama, this film is the latter of the two, I'm not surprised this ends up on the bottom pile as a lot of people's least favourite V.Shantaram movie, its completely zany.

Of Course the major theme of the film is on the passion and sacrifice of dance, especially Akalnanda's struggle to prove the purity of her art since it was considered dirty for her mom, a little bit of emphasis on the spirituality and sacrifice needed for one's art just like in Jhanak Jhanak Paayal Baaje. Overall i don't know if i'd recommend this for everyone, let your tastes do the talking, if you do love your flamboyant art as well as costumes this might be the film for you. Personally as much as i enjoyed the music and the dance sequences some of it especially the second half was rather exhausting to sit through, it took a lot of effort on my part not to forward through some scenes

Here are some of the flamboyant costumes we were treated to, which i have to say i found rather interesting

a human snake

a peacock man

and Sandhya in an amazing holographic skintight Green Lantern-esque jumpsuit complete with troll like green wig hair and glittery mask, if you're stuck for inspiration this halloween perhaps watching the clip which i've embedded below will help you decide on what to wear (the actual song starts at about 3.20)


And imitation as they say is the sincerest form of flattery, that is in fact the case with this 'Kajra laga ke' song which i'embedded above, everything from the costumes, the choreography and the song itself was copied in the 1981 Telugu movie 'Agni Poolu' with Jaya Prada in Sandhya's role in the dance above

Finally one of the best things about this film asisdes from the flmaboyant costumes and art are Laxmikant Pyarelal's music. My favourites are 'Taron mein sajna ke' with its clever use of Ennico Morricone's The Good, the bad and the ugly theme , 'kajra laga ke' which i've embedded above with English subtitles, the cabaretesque 'Ek to jawani ke din char' my favourite of the whole lot though is 'Jal bin mahhli (Man ke pyaas)' where Sandhya dances like a fish out of water, she even colour coordinates her outfit with that of the fish

Now head over to My music Movies and Mutterings blog for an amazing write up of the soundtrack and to get the music for free

Total Score: 6/10 (Extra points for the sake of the costumes, songs and sets)

Meri Surat Teri Ankhen (1963)

Meri Surat Teri Ankhen based on the bengali novel 'Ulka' by Dr. Nihar Ranjan Gupta is another film i had seen ages ago that's been lying around waiting to be reviewed, plus it reminded me very much of a topic i had long wanted to delve into

Wealthy and vain Raj Kumar (Ishwarlal) is expecting his first child with his wife Kamla (Achala Sachdev)

the arrogant and vain Raj kumar

When the child is born, it turns out to be of a dark complexion, Raj rejects the child as he considers dark complexion ugly, he then lies to his wife that she gave birth to a still born child

chi chi look at the look on his face

he tells Dr Mathur (Tarun Bose) his friend to keep the incident a secret, Mathur is disgusted by his friends actions but agrees none the less, Dr mathur is left with the baby, he gives the baby to Rahmat Mijan (Ishwarlal) and his wife who are a childless muslim couple

Years go by and Raj and Kamla have another child, this time the baby turns out to be very fair and is considered the epitome of beauty by Raj Kumar. The fair child named Sudhir (Pradeep Kumar) grows up to be a womaniser and a hotel manager

On the other hand Pyare (Ashok Kumar) his long lost dark skinned brother grows up to be a singer under training from Rahmat his adoptive father, he also suffers severe shyness due to people's reactions to his dark skin which is considered ugly

Following Rahmat's death Pyare goes to Mumbai to meet Dr Mathur, he's tormented by his ugliness and Dr Mathur decides its time to right some wrongs and then promises to introduce him to his real family

The taunts Pyare has been subjected to over the years leads him to favour living in darkness, when Dr Mathur's daughter kavita (Asha Parekh) takes a liking to his voice and approves of his beauty, Pyare starts feeling good about himself and its not long before he starts falling for her

Trouble though is the fact that kavita is the love interest of his unknown younger brother Sudhir, Kavita is fond of him too, and they hope to get married. When kavita notices his affection towards her she makes it known to Sudhir which breaks Pyare's heart

Following a performance at Sudhir's birthday party, Raj Kumar is taken aback by Pyare's talent , Dr Mathur lets him know that Pyare is none other than the son he had rejected years ago

Raj Kumar meets Pyare and decides to offer him money to stay out of his life. which Pyare rejects, when Pyare confronts him over his act he eventually approves of him as his son but reveals the shame he feels towards his ugliness, and the taint he might bring on his honour. He begs Pyare not to tell his mother the truth which Pyare agrees to for some weird melodramatic reason

Meanwhile Sudhir becomes the subject of blackmail by his friend Prakash (Iftekhar) when he's accused of violating Bela's (Indira) honour, he must pay to avoid his family's honour being tainted plus there's the danger of his marriage to Kavita being called off

Will Sudhir give in? Will Pyare see sense and reveal the truth about himself to his mother? What will be her reaction when she realises her husband lied to her about the still born child?

Despite descending into a chaotic melodrama of sorts and dragging on towards the end a fair bit, the message of the movie was clearly that of true beauty being inner beauty, the film also raises the issue of honour and looks especially that of dark skin and how it's considered ugly and a taint on one's honour.

The performances are ok all around but I felt Ashok Kumar hammy in parts and a bit too old for the part of Pyare, plus the fact that Achala Sachdev played his mother seemed very out of place, something just didn't feel right with that combination.

Of course its interesting to draw parallels with the whole beauty is skin deep that the film advocates and the prevalent issue of skin bleaching which so many bollywood stars are pedalling these days

I've long wanted to weigh in on this matter on here but always somehow felt it was a question of choice, I myself have long known about the prevalence of such creams during my formative years in Africa, however back then people who openly admitted bleaching often got dirty looks, bleaching creams were in no way advertised on a massive scale, there was an element of shame to them, in fact there was a popular quote drummed into us at Primary School, about people not proud of their colour being shamed or something along those lines, i really don't remember clearly. Still though I always felt it was a question of choice until I saw the documentary below (please take time out to watch the mini documentary below)

Skin Bleach Doc

I really do hope bollywood stars stop promoting the use of fairness creams, as can be seen from the documentary above, these creams can have a long lasting psychological effect, and are so not needed, given all the current stress and pressures of modern society, an individuals skin tone or complexion need not be an extra burden to carry.

And indeed if there's a gripe i have about bollywood, its the whole fairness equals beauty mantra, one only has to look at the prevalent use of white dancers in bollywood numbers plus numerous song down the years that praise fair skinned beauty. Indian Supermodel Lakshi menon has called the whole bleaching cream thing schizophrenia on a very large scale, i've embedded the interview below

Anyway enough of my ranting i'll end with this quote from Known Turf about the power of celebrity

"Perhaps, the trouble with too many artists is that they forget their own power. The power of media. Films and books are as much a tool for challenging social ideas as they are tools for emotional discovery or just plain storytelling. You can break stereotypes. You can stretch limited imaginations. You can help others become less judgmental human beings. You can save children. But you have to want to"

Lovely soundtrack from S.D. Burman, a lovely Mukesh & Suman Kalyanpur duet 'yeh kissne geet cheda' the beautiful 'teri khalayon mein' & 'tere bin sune' and the wonderful Rafi number (be sure to check out Asha's lovely dance moves in this) 'nache man mora magan' & a smooth Manna Dey number 'Poocho na kaise' my favourite of the bunch is the jazzy 'Tujse Nazar' with Indira as the Vamp

Paisa Vasool rating: 5.5/10