Majhli Didi (1967)

Day Two in my Dharmendra countdown amrking his return to his silver screen with Yamla Pagla Deewana leads me to this rather obscure Hrishikesh Mukherjee film

Life is a struggle for little Kishen (Sachin) and his mother (Leela Chitnis) after years of ill health and struggles, she succumbs to death

Kishen is sent to live with his mother's sister Kadambini (Lalita Pawar) who wastes no time in making him feel like an outsider

Kishen finds solace and love in the arms of Heman Didi (Meena Kumari), his aunt's sister in law.

Heman didi is a warm figure who has happens to have more backbone than her spineless husband Bipinchandra (Dharmendra)

When his brother Mr Navin who is married to Kishen's aunt tries to swindle the poor out of their land, Hemdidi stands up and testifies in court against her in laws

When Kadambini who's so over the top annoying and just that little bit extra notices Kishen's growing bond to Hem Didi, she starts giving Hem Didi and Kishen a hard time (but in a rather Meena Kumari paisa Vasool way) Hem Didi takes none of her stinking attitude and puts her in her place

Yes you tell her Hem Didi!!!

With no support from anyone over her affection and kindness towards Kishen plus constant bickering from Kadambini as well as her spineless husband refusal to stick up for her. Hem Didi out of frustration ends up acting cold towards Kishen and drives him away from her

Will Kishen and Hem Didi's relationship ever be rekindled?

Overall a quiet and quite watchable drama, the film's supposedly based on a Sharat Chandra Chatterji novel 'Mejho Didi', it also seems to be one of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's lesser known films and no surprise why, as story wise there's nothing special here and there are way too much familiar tropes e.g. Wicked aunty, maltreated poor boy, In law rivalry etc.

What makes this film worth the price in my opinion is Meena Kumari as Hem Didi who wasn't afraid to assert herself just when she needs to, her character here won't be coerced into doing what she doesn't feel like even if that means overruling her husband, but of course she's made all weepy towards a melodramatic ending or perhaps because the makers thought the USP if you have Meena in your movie is crying. Still though i'd recommend this mostly for Mena kumari lovers like myself and perhaps for the songs or maybe if you read the novel

This screen cap pretty much sums up Dharmendra in this movie

I watched this for my Dharmendra special but seems this movie was a Meena Kuamri show all the way as he rarely had much to do and had very little screen time

I had no idea Sachin was a child actor until i saw this and he was good, not as annoying as your typical filmi kid

Adorable kiddie Sarika

Little Sarika makes an appearance too

Lovely songs from Hemant Kumar on here, most of the tracks had a sombre feel to them umariya bin khevat in particular and Nadiyon ki (woh mera gaon) my favourite of the whole bunch is a lovely riddle type song 'main lal lal' with Meena Kumari and very young Sarika, i tried uploading it with subs but the dvd kept acting up so i guess only hindi speakers would enjoy the fun riddles in the song

Paisa Vasool Rating: 5/10

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Jane Anjane (1971)

There are so many bollywood actors and actresses i have major love for in a big way but for some reason i haven't written up about them on this blog yet, this is mostly because others have written extensively about them. I usually hate writing about movies others have written on, except i really have something to say but even then, i'll just make it known on the comments section of whoever wrote it up. Now as a big Shammi kapoor fan, I'm surprised as to why I'm picking this as my first Shammi Kapoor in a central role film to review on here, as it doesn't have all the charm and the appeal from the usual Shammi movies like Junglee, Teesri Manzil etc. but i was curious and as a fan i'd watch him in anything

Childless Laxmi (Lalita Pawar) while praying for a child of her own miraculously finds an abandoned baby, she picks him up to raise him as her own

the child's real birth mother Shobha (Sulochana Latkar) had given him up after the death of her husband which she had married in secret (her izzat (honour) just had to be intact) she remarries and gives birth to a son 'Hemant'

Laxmi is particular about Ramu's education but her husband Shankar (Jayant) has other plans and sets about raising Ramu as a gambler

Thus Ramu grows up with no education and ends up being a robber while his half brother from his actual birth mother Hemant (Vinod Khanna) is educated and becomes a Policeman who is hot on the tails of his notorious brother Ramu. However both brothers are unaware of their blood ties

Ramu meets and falls for Mala (Leena Chandavarkar) who urges him to go on the straight and narrow, Ramu does this but when Laxmi his adoptive mother is killed accidentally by Hemant during a gun chase, Ramu promises to exact revenge which leads him back to his previous ways

Shobha eventually realises Ramu is her long lost son and what follows, is a 'Mother India/Deewaar' style action of two brothers on opposite sides of the law with their mother trying to bring them together in peace

Jane Anjaane (Friends and Strangers) ends up being nothing much more than an average entertainer, at the heart of the film is the idea that Love (romantic or nurturing) would turn the most hardened of criminals into good citizens.

It was quite hard to watch Shammi in this, he was really sloppy and sweaty in his action scences and let's just say he was past his prime here, no surprise that this was his last leading role before he started playing father and uncle type roles, that spark that made one excited about Shammi was gone in this and needless to say a pal of mine a bollywood novice whom i was watching with quipped 'Why is that man the hero', at which i wasted no time in explaining his iconic status. All hope is not lost though, as traces of the old energetic Shammi pop up in the musical numbers

More Eyecandy

Vinod rocking the ultimate sideburns

Beautiful Leena

Suave Shammi

Vinod and Helen Sizzle up the screen

the songs by Shanjkar Jaikishen not their best are pretty decent, i love kishore's vocal on the title track 'jane anjaane log mile' other highlights are Manna Dey's lovely 'cham cham baaje', the flirty 'chahe tum pyar karo', and the sweet 'tere nilee nilee' my favourite of the whole bunch though is the fab 'jane anjaane yahaan' pictuised on Helen, i just love the way she commands attention and the way her male dancers fawn over her

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

Paisa Vasool rating: 5/10

Boond Jo Ban Gayee Moti (1967)

Apologies for my long absence, its great to be back and i really have to say i missed bolly blogging, Its been a while and i'm so eager to round off on the last two V.Shantaram movies i'm yet to review. Boond Jo Ban Gayee Moti (The drop that turned into a pearl) gave Mumtaz her first leading role in mainstream cinema after a whole string of B movies and supporting roles in many other productions

Our story starts with a man being taunted for wasting his years being a teacher, this results in a flashback

Before the death of his parents Satya Prakash (Jeetendra) is given the responsibility of caring for Mahesh his chota bhai (little brother), as such his brother's education and such other responsibilities lie on him

He manages to send Mahesh to Delhi for college, while he gets a job at the local governmnet run school


on his first day in a rather squirmy scene his students pack his drawer full of frogs (eurrgghh!!)

Village belle Shefali (Mumtaz) takes a liking to Satya Prakash due to his gentle and hardworking ethic, but then drama enters her life when her mother (Lalita Pawar) who had left since childhood following a marriage to Christan man (perhaps a missionary) attempts to rebuild a relationship with her

Shefali is having none of it and the villagers too aren't particularly helping matters as she's criticised for her conversion to christianity

While Satya is sacrificing a lot for the sake of his brother's education, rather than studying, Mahesh is living a partying lifestyle with girls, drinks, smoking etc.

Satya however is focused on his career as a teacher and sets upon putting theory into practice for the students, the headmaster opposes his teaching style which results in Satya getting the sack. He later gets the job back when they realise how much the students have improved or shall I say how smart they've become

Meanwhile Mahesh falls for wealthy Renuka, this love affair makes Mahesh even more estranged from his studies, which culminates in him not showing up for his final year exams, thus not only as he wasted his brother's precious efforts to educate him, but he also fails his finals

Rather than come clean to his brother, he steals a friends examination number and passes it onto his brother as his, an oblivious Satya is thankful and proud of his little brother


but then the story takes a major turn when Renuka who is Mahesh's girlfriend gets pregnant, she is later discovered dead, all evidences place Satya Prakash as responsible thereby leading him to be linked to the crime

Will he be proven Innocent? Who really killed Renuka? Will mahesh come clean about his dodgy ways to his brother?

Compared to some of the other V.Shantaram films i've reviewed on here Boond Jo Ban Gayee Moti (The drop that turned into a pearl) is a lot more restrained and devoid of the usual showmanship one associates with V.Shantram.

At the heart of the film is its exaltation and respectability of the profesion of teaching hence the name 'the drop that turned into a pearl' perhaps a metaphor for the work of a teacher being responsible for the drop turning into a pearl. The film also advocates the need of practical rather than just theoretical education. Though this are the fine points of the film some things like the comical court scene, (why does a court scene, well in some if not most Hindi movies, seem to be a place for high hysterics and drama, as implausible as they seemed in this, i have to admit they were quite funny).

I would have liked more insight into why Shefali's mother left her and the vilagers, or the reason for the villagers reaction to her conversion to christianity, this made the film have or should i say gave out a bit of an anti-christian vibe.

Performance wise everyone gives a restrained performance here and Mumtaz is lovable and confident in her debut leading role. Jeetendra was lovable and there was none of his Jumping Jack behaviours on here, a rather mature performance i must say. The supporting characters Akashdeep who played Mahesh and Vaishali who Renuka were lovable too

Lovely lovely songs by Satish Bhatia, according to imdb this is his only film score, there's the lovely 'Hum maine bhi' a wonderful song on nature 'Yeh kaun chitrakaar' but my two favourites are 'Meri zindagi ek khwab' all fans of campy song picturizations would love this, it features Mumtaz in everything from a fish inspired evening gown to a space rocket scientist

and the fun 'lovely lovely hai sama'

Paisa Vasool rating: 6/10

Naya Zamana (1971)

Apologies for the abrupt end in Dharmendra week, that thing called Zindagi (life) interrupted but i'm back on form and i'll fulfill my promise and complete the last few movies i had chosen to review over the next few days. In Naya Zamana ( New World) our hero stars as a revolutonist/rational angry young man

Anup (Dharmendra) is a revolutionist who speaks out against the oppression of the poor and fights for the cause of the poor, he's also a writer who's trying to get published but his writings and criticisms of the oppression of the poor are considered controversial, thereby rendering his work unpublished


Anup is directed to Mr Rajen (Pran) for a job as a publicist, Mr Rajen happens to be a typical example of the kind of Rich people Anup speaks out against, despite Anup taking a stand and voicing his opinion on the oppressive ways of the rich, Rajen takes a liking to him and gets him to write his political speeches



When Anup realises Rajen's family had been behind a humiliating experience his sister Rekha (Aruna Irani) had experienced, he quits his job as a publicist to Rajen


Rajen goes to Anup's house apologising to the wrong done to his sister, Anup is not around but Rekha and her mother (Lalita Pawar) accept his apology, Rekha tells Rajen about Anup's desire to be a writer, he promises he can help fulfill Anup's dream by publishing his book


When Anup finds out his book has been given to Mr Rajen without his consent he's displeased, and goes to confront him, when he gets to Rajen's house, he sees Seema (Hema Malini) singing a poetry from his book


Anup is impressed and his affections towards Seema's change as she had come across as an arrogant, self centred rich girl the last time they met


She tells him how his book 'Naya Zamana' which she had picked from her brother Rajen's library had changed her views of the poor. She tells him how she wishes to change things and asks him to give her a tour of life in the slums


While in the slums she comes acoss a bill passed by her brother Rajen for the slums to be shut down to make way for new buildings, Seema disrupts the bill and prevents the slums from being knocked down


Rajen challenges her authority to which Seema acknowledges Anups writings in 'Naya Zamana' as having changed her , she dares him to read it and not come out thinking as a different man


Rajen sees this as the perfect opportunity to publish Anup's book, on the day of the release Seema as well as Anup's family are shocked to see Rajen credited with Anup's writings


When Anup finds out Rajen's deed he's hesitant to expose Rajen as he had donated all the profits from the book to a handicapped home plus Anup feels if the oppression of the poor is being heard, the author shouldn't matter


Despite publishing a book on the oppression of the poor Rajen continues with his plan to destroy their living area when his plans are interrupted by Anup he bribes Sitaram a local slum dweller to ignite fire in the slums. Sitaram out of greed sets the whole slum on fire, Anup's mother gets injured in the process


When word gets out that Rajen was responsible they set out to burn his factory down, Anup tries calming the villagers down telling them burning down Rajen's factory won't solve the issue, he's accused of being a sell out andsiding with the rich



Words also gets out in the press that Anup is using Seema as a bait to her father's millions millions, as a result her father stops her from seeing Anup


Daaadaa Moniiiiiii (I love this man)


Naya Zamana (New World) reflects the attitude of the common man against the establishment in 70's india and a hope/call for more equal opportunities for the poor, I enjoyed this film very much, it kept me entertained all the way through and i liked the way it highlights the double trappings of capitalism and oppression, on one hand you have the frustrated workers who are tired by the oppressive actions of the rich, their anger leads them to attempt burning down the factory, on the other hand if they do burn the factory they'll be left unemployed thereby making them even more destitute



Dharmendra doing the couture pose (hand on hips check, pouty lips check)
Loved Dharmendra's portrayal of the Angry young man in this one, rational, nuanced, not at all violent and not over the top as the image of Angry young man later became

And of course he and Hema made a wonderful pair as usual in this one


She was drop dead gorgeous in this


Mehmood was also hilarious as a hippie


Loved the songs from S.D. Burman, 'duniya o duniya', 'wah re naujaman' where Mehmood pokes fun at the hippie lifestyle, Lata's beautiful vocals on 'aaya mein Laya' and 'o champa o chameli' my two favourites though are 'Rama Rama Ghazab'




and 'choron ka saare nazar'





Total Score: 7/10