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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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