Allah-Rakha (1986)

The apple as they say never falls far from the tree, Manmohan Desai's son Ketan Desai proves this saying true in this crazy masala flick with a muslim theme in its background, yes i've heard of Muslim Socials, but this film can be called (or should i say is) Muslim Masala. It stars none other than Jackie Shroff (well done everyone who got the answer right in the Guess who? post below) We have all the masala elements lost children, double identities, villains, gorgeous heroines as well as the exploding tv's & the politics of prostitution thrown in. If you're looking for a hotly served masala look no further than this film. I don't even know how i'm going to write this up, but i shall try my very best as there was just way too much craziness going on

Karim Khan (Shammi Kapoor) had accepted the blame for a murder committed by Don (Bob Christo), as a result he was sent to prison with Don promising to take care of his family. Don however refuses to keep his promise. When Karim Khan's wife Razia (Aruna Irani) takes their newly born son to claim 6 months of her husbands wages from Don, he sees it as an opportunity to rape her


Razia manages to escape by falling through the glass all the way from the first floor to the second floor without getting injured (hmmmm), she escapes and miraculously falls into the hands of Inspector Anwar (Biswajeet) who arrests Don

When Inspector Anwar and Salma's son falls ill, they're told by the doctor that they would need a pacemaker, when Inspector Anwar goes to buy the pacemaker that would save his son's life he's told he would have to release Don first

He refuses at first but later decides to release Don, he's given a pacemaker for his son's heart. The pacemaker turns out to carry the 786 number which is also the muslim number for 'In the name of Allah'


Don and his henchmen then set Anwar up with Miss Banu (Bindu) who spikes his drink, when he wakes up, she claims he raped her. To protect his honour he decides to marry her, His wife Salma (Waheeda Rahman) walks in on them and when Anwar tells his wife that he plans on marrying Banu, she asks for a divorce contending she wouldn't share her pati with a slut like Miss Banu


When Salma contends she get the custody of their child Iqbal, Anwar disagrees and they both go to court, while they're at court for the hearing custody, Don and his henchmen kidnap Iqbal.

When Don's men proceed to crush the child with their car Razia who happens to be passing by swaps him with her dead son, she starts running with Iqbal, don's henchmen hit her with their car and she throws Iqbal away only for him to land in the tent of an ongoing procesion

Iqbal is reported dead to his parents, however they don't know that the dead child is Razia & Karim Khan's son. When Salma hears she rushes out and is hit by a truck, she loses her sight and thus becomes blind

When Karim Khan is released from Jail he's told about the death of his wife , he's given Iqbal whom he thinks is his own son, he then goes to avenge his wife's death from Don, he kills Don but before Don dies he promises Karim Khan that his son (Don's son) will avenge his death

When Iqbal's pacemaker stops working, Karim Khan takes him to the mosque and places him on the altar where a ray of light from God descends on him Manmohan style and he starts breathing again. He's arrested again at the mosque for the murder of Don, before going to jail he hands the baby over to Salma and names the child Allah-Rakha (saved by Allah) he makes her promise him she wouldn't reveal his identity to him. Unknown to Salma is the fact that Iqbal is the child given to her

Allah-Rakha grows up and finds it hard to gain admission into University due to corrupt Mr Khera (Anupham kher). He resorts to running a roadside Panch Tara (as in five star) hotel

When he saves local Prostitute Rani (Meenakshi Sheshadri) from goons she falls for him saying he's the first person to make her wear her clothes as opposed to take them off

He's arrested for beating up the goons, his mother Salma takes up the case & the hearing is adjourned. Allah-Rakha is set free on bail while Inspector Jafar is suspended


A reporter by the name of Julie (Dimple Kapadia) comes toAllah Rakha's side of town, she's mistaken for a prostitute by Rani & both ladies have a catfight only for Rani to later realise she's a Tv Reporter and had come to do a report on prostitution

watch the hilarious catfight here

Julie comes back to Allah-Rakha's side of town and disguises as a guy to expose the liquor and gambling dens of the city, there she comes across Inspector Anwar's son Jafar (Gulshan Grover)who is a cop taking bribes & terrorising locals, she records all this


When Jafar finds out he's being recorded due to a clumsy act by Julie he starts chasing and she's helped by Allah Rakha. Julie & Allah-Rakha fall in love much to her dad Mr khera's (Anupham Kher) displeasure

Mr Khera is paid to carry out bomb blasts across town, he does this by placing bombs in Tvs they plan to kill Allah Rakha by putting a bomb in his Tv (yes this film is that crazy) on the said day Inspector Anwar turns up at Alla-Rakha's house to see Salma. Allah Rakha turns on the Tv and goes to get him drinks, before he comes back the Tv explodes and Inspector Anwar is Injured

Allah Rakha hears Salma praying wishing her own true son Iqbal is still alive, saying he would have sent her on a Hajj trip, Allah-Rakha is disheartened that Salma isn't his real mother


He descides to wrestle against an acclaimed fighter called Gorilla in order to win money to pay for her trip. He wins the fight and Allah-Rakha is able to send Salma on a Hajj trip


watch the fight here

While on Hajj, Salma prays for Anwar's health and he gets well as a result of her prayers. Allah Rakha is then framed for planting bombs in Tv's and as a result he's taken to jail, there he meets Karim Khan. the two have a fight over food but when Karim Khan discovers his name is Allah Rakha, he rejoices and introduces himself as Allah-Rakha's father, they have a happy reunion

When Karim Khan is released from Jail he's confronted by Don's son who has come to get revenge, Don's son who happens to look a lot like Allah-Rakha also arranges Allah Rakha's escape from prison

When Allah-Rakha meets Don's son they have a fight and Allah-Rakha kills him, as a result he switches place with him and news spreads about Allah rakha's death


How will Salma & Anwar realise Allah-Rakha is their son? Will Salma ever reagin her eyesight? For how long will Allah Rakha convince everyone he's Don's son? For these answers a whole lot more entertaining reasons do watch Allah Rakha

Wow that was an exhausting write up, if you read it all, you deserve a round of applause, Allah-Rakha is a well timed crazy masla complete with all the necessary elements to keep you entertained, the story moves along at a steady pace and keeps you involved all the way through.

If you're looking for a hot served masala look no further than this film. Kudo's to Manmohan Desai's son for getting all the golden oldies a la Waheeda, Biswajeet, Shammi Kapoor to participate in all the masala craziness this film had to offer.


Even Shammi participates in some crazy Masala action

The movie was written with Amitabh Bachchan in mind but due to other commitments he couldn't take it up, as a result the role was offered to Jackie Shroff, who did a splendid job, if you're a Jackie fan like me, this is one movie of his you HAVE to watch

Other reasons to watch Allah-Rakha is Bindu in classic BAD woman mode, she is A bad bad bad woman in this film, and she had a fabulous wardrobe and hairstyles to go with it

I also loved the fierceness of Meenakshi Sheshadri, she doesn't get as much screen time as Dimple but she was feisty as the down trodden prostitute

there was also some Psycho shower scene rip off


and there were lots and lots of movie posters featured in the background, probably more so as the film was shot at Raj kapoor Studios

this movie had so much crazy goodness, if you're a red blooded masala lover do not miss THIS

Great songs from Anu Malik as well, some of the songs had a muslim theme in them such as 'Parvardegare Aaalam' and the title track 'Main Allah-Rakha' then there's the protest love song 'Sholon mein jalado' , and then 'doli leke yahan' where Rani laments on the sorrows of prostitution, my favourite however is the sweet parody of Amar Akbar Anthony and other Manmohan Desai films in 'na amar na akbar na anthony'



Total Score: 8/10 ( Hot Piping Masala at its best)

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Damini (1993)

This movie has been sitting on my shelf for ages, and what a beautiful movie it turned out to be when i finally sat down to watch it, a wonderful film on being true to yourself and doing the right thing, all delivered in a non preachy manner

The film starts with this quote by Mahatma Gandhi


Damini (Meenakshi Sheshadri) is a honest good natured girl who lives with her family. While performing at a charity gig alongside Aamir Khan (as himself in a special appearance). Shekhar (Rishi kapoor) the son of a wealthy industrialist who's an audience at the show is smitten by her


Shekhar tracks Damini down and proposes, Damini is taken a back by his advances as she comes from a much poorer family as well as Shekhar's quick marriage proposal.Shekhar's Parents aren't too keen on Damini as she's from a lower ecomomic background but Damini's charming honest nature wins them over and she and Shekhar get married


During Holi festival Shekhar's junior brother Rakesh along with his friends rape the family maid servant 'Urmi'. Damini witnesses the event and runs to get Shekahr to help but by then Rakesh and his friends had gang raped her. I f all their wickendess wasn't enough, they went ahead and dumped her body by the road side


When police come to investigate the matter Damini is told by her in-laws to deny she witnessed the event, they ask her to help protect their family's honour


Damini begins to feel uneasy about the whole issue, she's racked by immense guilt and feels its up to her to get Urmi justice. She confesses the truth to Inspector Ratan (Vijayendra Ghatge) and agrees to testify in court much to the anger of her in-laws who feel she's betraying them



The family are tried to court and The Gupta's appoint Barrister Chhada (Amrish Puri in a swish hairdo) to defend them. Barrister Indrajeet Chhada who is defending the Gupta's comes up with a plan to silence Damini by proving her mentally unstable to the Judge



He does this by various witnesses including her in-laws and her own father, as a result Damini is sentenced to a mental asylum for 2 weeks, there she's administered severe head shocks which starts making her mentally retarded



Damini manages to escape from the mental asylum, while on the run for her life she meets retired disillusioned lawyer Govind. She tells him her story and urges him to take up her case and get Urmi Justice


He agrees and thus commences a big court room showdown

Will Damini get Justice for urmi? Will she be proved as mentally stable? watch Damini for the answers

Damini wthout doubt has to be one of the top drama's produced in 90's bollywood, great direction, great cast and a great story, the film also deals with mutiple issues such as the lengths people would go to protect their honour, maniplulative/exploitative media, corrupt cops and the politics of rape.


This film really had me involved and i kept thinking what would i have done had i been in her shoes, would i have gone with the easy way out and agreed with my in-laws or would i fight for the truth, these are not easy questions and we see Damini's anguish over these not so easy choices. Damini also makes a point of the outspoken woman, who dares speak against the 'patriarchal powers' that be, being punished for daring to make her voice heard.

This film would have scored much higher with me if the director had been a bit more careful with his screenplay for example during Damini's trial her lawyer doesn't object to the intrusive questions Barrister Chhada asks her, the courtroom scenes were sometimes treated as a joke with both lawyers calling each other up but of course i'm sure Rajkumar Santoshi had to strike a right balance between making a powerful drama that would also be commercially successful, and i shall not hold him up for that

Great performance from Meenakshi Sheshadri, i think this is her best ever role, her portrayal of Damini was just right, so much passion, so much guilt, you feel every bit of her anguish/inner turmoil on what choice she should make.


Rumour has it that she quit the film industry as her performance of Damini didn't get her a filmfare best actress award, my dear Meenakshi forget about those award shows what matters is the appreciation and love of the fans. And might i add Meenakshi is such a fabulous intense dancer (check her out doing some traditional Indian dances in the clip below), its no wonder she currently teaches dance lessons in Plano, Texas where she now lives with her husband and kids. For more on what Meenakshi has been up to check out Nicki's great Fan Post



Good performances from Amrish Puri and Sunny Deol as well, who knew Amrish was a computer game freak, he was so funny and over the top as usual, he never bores me


Sunny Deol was loud and his dialogues from this film are said to have been the rage at the time of its release, but since i don't speak hindi i couldn't understand what the fuss was all about, but he delivered his dialogues with much gusto and passion


And of course Rishi shows us his amazing Jumper collection as well


Brilliant songs from Nadeem-Shravan as well, from the melodious 'gawah hain chand tare' which was lifted from the famous African song 'Malaika' (listen to a version of the song by 70's group Boney M. here) 'bin saajan jhoola' where Aamir khan makes a guest appearance and then my favourite has to be 'jab se tumko dekha' with lovely vocals from Kumar Sanu and Sadhana Sargam




Total Score: 7/10 (A highly engaging wonderful drama)

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