Aap ke Deewane (1980)

My second entry for the ongoing Kapoor Khazana going on around the bolly blogosphere is this fun delightful movie from the 80's, yes such adjectives can be used to describe an 80's movie, there were loads of such movies from that much maligned decade which I shall keep on evangelising about on here, we need more 80's bollywood converts

Ram (Rishi Kapoor) and Rahim (Rakesh Roshan) are high achievers at college, they also happen to be the best of buddies, now If being best buddies plus the fact that they consistently top their class wasn't enough for them, they proceed on affirming their superiority in matters of the heart when they keep interfering in College bad boy (every college needs one) Kundan's love affairs

Hurray for Bromance!! And Robert Redford does indeed approve

Kundan playing his game quietly in the corner

Kundan isn't too pleased with their cock blocking ways and he gives them a good dressing down (Gotta love Ranjeet)

Lol, very well said Ranjeet

In revenge for their cock blocking ways, Kundan sets ram up to be accussed of Rape which results in Ram being expelled from college (Don't ever mess with Ranjeet people)

Seeing that his friend Ram has been expelled, Rahim not one to take matters lying down gets into a bloody fight with Kundan to try and get him to confess how he had set Ram up, but such is the fight that Rahim leaves Kundan near dead and fearing arrest he flees college

Now that Ram & Rahim are out of college the two buddies must now find a way to make a living. Ram comes across an advert for an aged Urdu teacher, as such he disguises as an old aged teacher to teach urdu to Colonel Vikram's daughter

Upon getting there a fracas breaks out between Colonel Vikram (Pran) & Inshallal Khan (Ashok Kumar) over what language their daughter should learn as they had both brought her up together (Is there something the director isn't telling us)

To ease matters between them, Mr Khan eventually decides they get a Hindi teacher for Sameera (Tina Munim) as well, which results in Rahim dragging up to play the role of the wanted female teacher

Unfortunately for Rahim Mr Vikram takes a liking to him in drag, he also comes across his daughter's Urdu teacher without his disguise and decides he wants such a man for his daughter

Of course unknown to him is the fact that this same young chap is his daughter's tutor, and when you have a daughter who looks like Sameera, its inevitable many young men will find it hard to resist her, our two college buddies can't help but fall for her

Sameera eventually finds out their secret, but they beg her to keep schtum about it but she agrees to this only if they get up on stage with Jeetendra (in a special appearance possibly Item number)

Soon the two best friends get entangled in a love triangle with Sameera? Will this threaten their relationship? Plus Who gets the girl?

And lest we forget about Kundan, he decides to avenge the scarred face given to him by Rahim, will he succeed, watch Aap ke Deewane to find out?

Cool T-Shirt Rakesh

Aap ke Deewane (Crazy About You) is a sweet, fun filled Bollywood bromance film complete with just the right amounts of romance, bromance, comedy, drama with perhaps just a bit unnecessary action but alas the bad boy had to be dealt with. Overall I'd say Indulge in this 80's film plus unlike a lot of love triangles that annoy me by killing off one character, that doesn't happen here, instead both lovers are giving the freewill to make their own choices

Performance wise everyone one is on good form here plus Rishi just looked way too adorable

Rakesh was fun especially in his drag act

And Tina what can i say, she's such a babe, and she was fun in this, what a Lovely pair she and Rishi make (though at times their Jodi she was upstaged by Rakesh & Rishi's bromance), this was one of her many films with Rishi, I think they went on to do about four more films together. I am seeking Bade Dilwala earnestly, but they also appeared together in Karz, Yeh Vaada Raha and Deedar-E-Yaar

And of course how dare I end this post without giving props to Ranjeet, what a stylish bad ass college bad boy, of course he was way past it to be playing the college bad guy but so were our heroes (well apart from Rishi) but Ranjeet pulled it off, and no one could have brought the attitude and fierceness he brought to his Kundan Character, he even rocks some Jumpsuits as well (Ranjeet Zindabad!!!)

Lovely songs by Rajesh Roshan on here from the fun bicycle song 'Ramkaren Allahkaren' (I truly love the African/Caribbean guys at the beginning of the song) to the lovely 'Tumko khush dekhar' and my utmost favourite and one of my favourite bollywood snow songs 'Mere dil mein' (Tina Munim was surely one of the hottest beauties in 80's bollywood)

Paisa Vasool Rating: 6.5/10

Bhagwaan Dada (1986)

The third film in line for Sridevipalooza is Bhagwaan Dada, finally of all the films I've reviewed so far this week, at this stage of her career Sridevi seems more confident as an actress and displays some great comic timing in this rather forgettable flick

Bhagwaan Dada (Rajnikanth) is a tout who works under local terrorist Shambu Dada (Danny Denzongpa)

Following a rape act Shambhu carries out on a local belle, she commits suicide and her child Govind is adopted by Bhagwan Dada who's disgusted by Shambhu's behaviour, he decides to raise Govind him as his own. Bhagwan Dada thus becomes a changed man and leaves the world of stealing behind and becomes a saint of sorts in his local neighbourhood

This new goody goody image leads Bhagwaan Dada to report Shambhu's evil deeds to cops which leads to Shambhu Dada being sentenced to Jail

The child responsible for making Bhagwaan turn his life around grows into a cute little Hrithik

When Swaroop (Rajesh Roshan) a village bumpkin moves from Gangapur to Mumbai, he's robbed and none other than Bhagwaan dada saves the day, Bhagwaan takes a liking to him and helps him settle down to life in Mumbai

When Swaroop now a rather confident Mumbaiker rescues Bijlee (Sridevi) from a group of touts, Bhagwan urges her to live with them and in the atypical filmi way, Bijlee and Swaroop fall for each other

but trouble arises when she's caught in a prostitute sting operation, Swaroop and Bhagwaan are disappointed as she never revealed this to them, she tries pacifying them by explaining she only does it to swindle money out of men without actually selling her body (Really??????, either way a slut is a slut)

Swaroop is heartbroken and this revelation causes a strain in their relationship

Shambhu Dada is released from jail and is eager to right the wrongs committed against him by Bhagwan Dada

Will Bijli and Swaroop be reconciled? What is the reason behind Bijli's decision to walk the streets? Will Shambhu succeed in his quest for revenge?

Check out those tarantula lashes

Sridevi lived up to her character's name in this film, she was indeed the Bijli (electricity) in this rather dull movie, Sridevi's comic timing and general cuteness are what stops this movie from being a total bore, just look at the way she carries herself in the picture below its like she knows she's totally in charge of the screen

I'm guessing she at this stage of her career she was becoming more confident and it just shows in this film. I couldn't help but feel she was mismatched with Rajesh Roshan, these two won't be winning any Jodi (couple) awards, there wasn't much of a chemistry between them at all

And of course this film is also notorious for Hrithik's fight scenes with Danny, i love the way Danny puts him in his palce in the clip below, such were little Hrithik's guts that he tried attacking Danny, but of course Danny can always be trusted, he wastes no time in demolishing his legs with his spikey boots (catch this hilarious moment in the clip below)

And of course Danny & Rajnikanth spice things up too with their macho campiness, watch this fight clip below where Rajnikanth avenges Hrithik's death

Good songs by Rajesh Roshan, there's a mellow lullaby 'Tujhse pehle' picturised on Rajnikanth, a madrasi style dance number 'chugh gayee chidiya' and the cute 'aaj dil tude (superfast love)' my favourites are 'pehli baar pyar' Sridevi is just so sexy and lovely in this song and

'aaya aaya pyar ka zamana' yes she does look good with Rakesh in this clip but overall their Jodi lacks the excitement and energy she seemed to have with Jeetendra

Paisa Vasool rating: 4/10

Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1970)

Usually films with kids can either fall into two categories, that of the super annoying kid a la 'Ginny aur Johnny' or adorable like those in social movies like Boot Polish. Ghar Ghar ki kahani is a lot more like the latter

Shankarnath (Balraj Sahni) a honest and hardworking family man is seen as a miser by his son Raju (Ramesh Kumar), when he refuses to pay for a trip to Ajanta & Elora

Its not only Raju has a problem with their dad's tight hand, his daughter Rupa (Neetu Singh credited as Baby Sonia) isn't too happy about not getting money for her dance costume, so is her little brother Ravi (Master Ripple) over not getting a new bike. Their mother Padma (Nirupa Roy) tries to appease them but these kids are having none of it

Neetu is so cute i see bits of Ranbir in her

They all go on hunger strike as a protest against their father whom they consider to be a miser. Their father eventually cuts a deal with Raju when he decides to allow him run the household on his salary for 6 months, promising they can have all their wishes if he (Raju) manages to save.A delighted Raju accepts the deal

 Ravi soon finds out that what a challenge saving is, and over time the kids soon realise the value of R600 and how hard it is to stretch. Thus they begin making cuts by sacking the maid, helping to do household chores and changing other bits of their lifestyles just to save money so they can each get what they want

But life isn't that easy and various obstacles spring up when their mother falls ill and they have to buy medicines which weren't written in their budgets. Also uninvited free loading relatives turn up for Diwali, all of which eat into their savings

While Raju and his siblings are living on a budget and doing their very best to make their father's measly income stretch, a co-worker of their father Sadhuram (Om Prakash) lives a flashy lifestyle (which is funded by the money he receives from bribes, all of which help cater to his family's rather high taste)

Also living lavishly is spoilt brat Gopi (Mehmood Jr.) who gambles away his wealthy parents money

So will Raju manage to save enough to pay for his trip to Ajanta as well as pay for his sister's dance costume and his brother's bike? Will Sadhuram ever learn to live within his means and not accept bribes?

Ghar Ghar Ki kahani ended up being a sweet film with cute performances all around. I especially appreciated the child actors in this film, usually child actors tend to be very annoying in hindi films, but here they were restrained and I enjoyed the gradual change in their behaviour and attitudes towards  the value of money. Infact the morale of the film seems centred around the whole idea of living within your means and not 'keeping up with the Joneses'.

The ending left me a bit cold though, as I just couldn't help but feel dissatisfied that despite their sacrifices and well disciplined acts to cut costs, the lovely kids all  chose to forgo their wants all out of pity for their Dad's meagre income and living within their means. Yes all that is nice and fair but the poor kids worked hard too, and made considerable changes to their lifestyle just so they could save. Still though, don't let that put you off the film, if you enjoy your 70's style family dramas then definitely give this one a go

This film also had Rakesh Roshan in his first film role , he looked so handsome and I've finally seen where Hrithik gets his good looks from

very Dapper hai na?

Kannada film legend Bharathi Vishnuvardan played his love interest, she reminded me a bit of Reena Roy/Vyjayanthimala

Lovely songs from Kalyanji Anandji, not up there with their classics but they're good and fitted the premise of the plot, there's a lovely parody song by Mehmood Jr. 'Aisa Banoonga' (Great performance from Mehmood Jr.) the beautiful 'aise na dekho' and 'suno sunata hoon' my favourite of the bunch and perhaps the best song in a mostly forgotten soundtrack is the wonderful 'Samaa hai suhana'

Paisa Vasool rating: 6/10