Saagar (1985)

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'

Saagar - Oh Maria by kandigee

and the oh so seductive 'Jaane do na' where a wet Rishi and Dimple dressed in a wet Ghagra choli blouse and sari roll around seductively on the grass

Paisa Vasool Rating: 5/10

Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981)

Ahh the '80's, often reviled and termed a bad period in Bollywood, however upon careful inspection there are lots of lovely great movies, Ek Duuje ke liye (Made for each other) is one of them, a love story with a difference as it blends in romance, great chemistry between the lead actors and perfect comedy timings.

Vasu (Kamal Hassan) a tamil man from southern India moves to Goa City to live with his parents, he meets Sapna (Rati Agnihotri) a North Indian woman, who is his neighbour. Although they find it hard to communicate at first due to the language barriers, they soon overcome this and a romance starts between the two of them



Both their parents argue constantly, with the bone of contention mainly being their different south/North Indian divide, especially with Sapna's Mother (Shubha Khote)



When their parents learn of Vasu & Sapna's romance, they aren't happy and attempt to break them up, the two lovers resent this but eventually agree to a contract with their parents that they would stay apart for a year without any contact whatsoever, Vasu moves away to Hyderabad and during their months of seperation both their parents try numereous schemes to disrupt their love for each other


Will their love withstand this test? What schemes will Sapna's mother come up with during their time of Separation?

I totally love this movie and it's definitely among my all time favourites, as i've said above, the great chemistry between the lead actors, great comedy timings especially Kamal Hassan's English dialogues and his little quirks had me in Stitches. I also loved the unconventional ending, although at first i found it somewhat disturbing, but eventually i found it necessary to drive home the message that LOVE should always prevail over class, race, caste & religion, and i applaud the director K. Balachander for going with the unconventional ending at the time and not bowing to pressures to change it, as he had been advised to. Kamal Hassan gives a great passionate performance and i'm a lifelong fan after seeing this movie

and Rati Agnihotri whom i just love was so natural and expressive, she's definitely one of my favourite actresses

Shubha Khote is fantastic as the wicked mother and the rest of the cast also give great performances, Other things that stuck in my memory include Kamal Hassan's fabulous Bharatanatyam dancing which i tried very hard to recreate on my own, and passionate scenes like Sapna mixing a burnt picture of Vasu into her Tea drinking it and then licking the tears off her face, to spite her over controlling mother


The music by the incredible Laxmikant Pyarelal is fantastic as usual, from the haunting soulful 'Tere Mere Beeche' which was featured in the Mr India parody song to the catchy 'Hum Bane Tum Bane' and Mere Jeevan Saathi which will get every true blooded bollywood fan in stitches, as it references a lot of movie names. For a bit of bollywood trivia, have a go and see how many movie names you can pick out in the video clip below




Total Score: 8/10 ( Entertaining and highly enjoyable love story with a difference)