Long Da Lishkara (1986)

Yes this blog is called bollywood deewana but today i shall be taking a quick peek at the Cinema of Punjab which is also known as 'Punjwood' for those of you who know your bollywood really well there are two recognisable faces in the form of Om Puri and Raj Babbar, this is my first Punjabi film and i have to say that i enjoyed it very much, a number of remixes of the Title track prompted me to check out the film

Raja (Raj Babbar) the son of wealthy royals returns to his mum (Nina Tiwana) in the Punjab after a period of 15 years spent in Canada

Check out his silver parka and Knee high boots

He meets Preeto (Harpreet Deol), the family maid and falls in love with her, also vying for Preeto's affections is local villager Maya (Om Puri), when he (Maya) finds out about Raja's affection for Preeto, he's furious and swears to split them

Meanwhile Raja goes in search of his old friend Channa (Gurdass Mann) only to find out he has become a Sage. Channa had become a Sage after the death of his lover who had died due to their different class backgrounds, Raja is shocked such attitudes still take place

Unknown to Raja is the fact that he's about to face the same heartbreak when his mother disapproves of his relationship with the family maid Preeto as she's from a lower class background

He tries standing up to her but he's emotionally blackmailed by his mum who asks him to choose between her and Preeto and then goes on to narrate how a lower class maid whom his dad had been involved with had led to his death

As a result Raja & Preeto stop dating much to the excitement of Maya who's also in love with her

Unknown to Raja's mum is the fact that Preeto is the daughter of the raped maid which had led to her husband's death

A depressed Preeto is told by her Aunt Gulabo (Nirmal Rishi) that Raja's father was the main reason behind her mother's death, before her death she had promised her mother that Preeto would avenge her death by becoming the Mistress of the mansion

She urges Preeto not to be depressed and avenge her mother's death by becoming the Mistress of the Mansion

Will Preeto manage to become the Mistress of the Mansion? Will she & Raja be reunited or will she be married to Maya? Watch Long da Lishkara to find out

Overall a sweet romantic melodrama with a dash of 80's revenge style saga thrown in, i was a bit unsure of what to expect, but i really enjoyed this, its very much like the the atypical bollywood romances of the 80's trying to overthrow old customs & traditions for the sake of true love

and of course since it was shot in the Punjab we're treated to lovely green fields and colourful outfits and dancing in these green fields

Performance wise i loved all the characters and even though they were quite one dimensional and their acting felt a bit like theatre acting, they were very likable. I especially liked Preeto (Harpreet Deol) and her aunt Gulabo (Nirmal Rishi)

and of course the dear Raj Babbbar, i know I'm probably one of a handful people who love Raj Babbar on the blogosphere, and I'm fine with that, i love him and his wooden style acting he seems to get criticised for

I can actually see bits of Prateik in him

Fab music from Jagjit & Chitra Singh, there's the lively upbeat 'Sare Pind Vich' beautiful love song 'Ishq hai Logoo' a punjabi classic song 'Challa' a lovely 'Giddha medley' and then my favourite of the whole lot and the very reason i checked out the movie is the wonderful 'Long da Lishkara' picturised on Lovely Punjabi Ladies in colourful outfits in picturesque Punjabi fields

Paisa Vasool Rating: 6/10

Gupt: The Hidden Truth (1997)

While 60's bollywood is arguably the best decade for suspense thrillers, the other decades seemed to come up short on them, Gupt: The Hidden Truth which was released in 1997 is one of the very few decent suspense thrillers the '90's gave

Sahil (Bobby Deol) & Isha ( Kajol) are childhood friends who meet each other after a long time apart in college

Sheetal (Manisha Koirala) another girl in their college also meets Sahil and takes a liking to him, she tells her father Mr Chaudhury (Dalip Tahil) who then tells Sahil's step father Mr Sinha (Raj Babbar) Mr Sinha accepts and the marriage between the two are planned

Gorgeous Sheetal

On Sahil's birthday Mr Sinha makes the announcement that Sahil will be married to Sheetal, Sahil is displeased with this decision saying Isha is his true love, he accuses his step father of not wanting him to marry Isha because she is his secretary Mr Diwan's (Paresh Rawal) daughter

Isha with her father Mr Diwan

During the arguement between the two Sahil picks up a knife threatening to kill his stepfather

A few days later his step father is mysteriously stabbed to death, Sahil happens to arrive at the crime scene just after the stab (i think we all know where this is leading) he sees a chain which has been left by the killer, he is caught at the scene and accused of killing his step father

Sahil is accused by witnesses of killing his father by witnesses present at his birtday party arguement with his father. He is sentenced to 14 years in Jail, before he leaves he gives Sheetal the necklace he found at the crime scene, hoping it will someday lead him to the murderer


While in Jail he learns of an escape route through the drains, after escaping he starts plotting and pieceing together clues that might lead him to his father's murderer, he goes after the witnesses who accused him of killing his father, also after him is a determined police officer Udham Singh (Om Puri)

Isha on the other hand soon starts getting jealous of Sheetal and her ever increasing closeness to Sahil, thus commences a love triangle slash suspense thriller, Will Sahil ever find out the murderers of his step father? Will he be able to prove himself innocent? Will Sheetal's love for Sahil prevail over Isha's love?

My thoughts on Gupt is Superb Action Thriller with a dash of romance, and great songs.It kept me at the edge of my seat and i enjoyed the suspense.

Manisha was subtle and sweet in her role as Sheetal, i love how she displays some Animalistic type of attractions towards Sahil

grrrrrrrrrrrrrr...........

This is my first proper Bobby Deol movie where i got to see him play a lead role, i loved his enthusiastic performance as the angry young man out to find his step father's murderers


Kajol gives a great performance as well, i recommend you watch this if you're a big Kajol fan, she was so sweet but yet very possessive when it came to her man


The music by Viju Shah is excellent, they all had a very poppy vibe about them my favourites are the breezy 'mere khwabon mein tu' & 'duniya haseeno ka mela' the dancey 'mushkil bada yeh pyaar hai' and the amazing title track 'Gupt Gupt' (see below) filmed with James bond type dancing silhouettes




Total score: 7/10 (Superb Action Thriller)