Aulad (1987)

keeping this blog is becoming more of a challenge but still, i'm committed to the cause, apologies for my short absence. The fourth film in Sridevipalooza is a remake of a bollywood classic i reviewed a while ago, follow the plot write up and see if you're able to guess correctly

Wealthy and successful Anand is under intense pressure to get married from his Uncle (Saeed Jaffrey) he takes poor street dancer Devki (Sridevi) as a pretend bride, the two fall in love and Anand marries her


Following their marriage and while on honeymoon in Kashmir, their intimate moments while romancing in a garden is cut short by torrential rainfall, both couples take refuge in a nearby house which belongs to another newly married couple Vikas (Vinod Mehra) & Yashoda (Jaya Prada), both couples become friends


Upon returning to Bombay Devki finds out she's pregnant, simultaneously in kashmir Yashoda finds out she's pregnant too. Months later and Devki gives birth, following the doctors orders to take their new born away from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, they catch a train to Kashmir, also on their way to Mumbai are Vikas and Yashoda. In a weird case of coincidence both trains crash into each other which claims Vikas's life, Devki is also feared dead

Nevermind the accident made use of Toy train models


Anand and Yashoda end up in the same hospital, Yashoda gives birth to a still born, and Anand not wanting to break her heart further seeing she's just lost her husband decides to give her his own son, he asks the doctor (Ramesh Deo) to keep this a secret betweeen them


Years go by and Anand starts visiting Yashoda just so he'll be able to see his son, the boy is now named kishen and Anand becomes increasingly attached him and Yashoda which leads to her mother in law speculating about a possible relationship, she's warned not to drag the family's name into disrepute (but surely she's now a widow, shouldn't she be allowed to see other men na?)


She's warned not to see him again, this new decision proves difficult as kishen is already developing a strong bond with Anand whom he sees as a father figure

The sweet Baby Guddu as Kishen

Meanwhile Devki who had been feared dead turns up alive at Anand's house, its revealed the accident had left her with memory loss but she had regained them upon seeing a speeding train which clearly reminded her of her accident (easy, isn't it...lol)


Anand is shocked and equally scared as Devki asks about their child, without hesitating Anand lies saying he had died in the train accident


Poor Devki is distraught, but decides to move on, hopeful she might bear another child, but as destiny would have it, she's receives another bad news when the doctor tells her she will never be able bear another child again


Devki accepts her destiny but later becomes suspicious of Anand's clingy behaviour towards Kishen, plus she notices they seem to share some traits, she confronts Anand about this and he confirms Kishen is indeed her son


Thus begins a custody battle between Devki and Yashoda on who gets the child


If the story of this film sounds familiar, that's because it's an uncredited remake of 'Chirag kahan Roshni kahan' (1959) which i've reviewed here, Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan is by far the superior film, this 80's knock off just doesn't have the restraint & melodramatic goodness of the original plus the songs in this are nowhere as fab. Some twists have been added to the story here, but 'Chirag kahan Roshni Kahan' still comes out on top in my opinion.

Now Aulad is still a decent watch if you're in the mood for some 80's style melodrama, the perfromances are decent albeit in that melodramatic 80's kind of way, Jaya Prada definitely had big shoes to fill as she reprises Meena Kumari's role in the original, now God forbid i compare Jaya to Meena but she does a decent job, she even did the whole Lady in white sari thing a la Meena. Overall watch Aulad (Child) if you're a fan of any of the actors or if you're in the mood for some 80's style melodrama


Some More Screencap goodness


bahut khoob bahut khoob


Stunning Jaya


Ramesh Deo still so handsome despite all that Grey hair



Rather average songs from Laxmikant Pyarelal, but as i said they just couldn't match Ravi's outstanding soundtrack in Chirag kahan Roshni Kahan, highlights are 'Tan tan ghadie main' a nursery rhyme style song clearly modeled after 'Tim tin karte taare' from Chirag kahan Roshni kahan' and 'Raste kamal saste' my favourites of all the songs is 'Dhak dhak dhadke jiya'




Paisa Vasool rating: 5/10

Aulad is available with English Subtitles in 21 parts on Youtube

Dharma (1973)

Pran without doubt is one of my favourite bollywood actors, this is one of the few films where his personality took centre stage

Dharma Singh (Pran) a wanted dacoit is betrayed by his friend Bhairon Singh (Rajan Haskar) who inserts plastic bullets into a gun Dharma intends to use in carrying out a raid, Dharma ends up being held by police but manages to escape

Following his escape he kills his betraying friend Bhairon Singh and while escaping from the cops a bullet hits his wife Parvati, as a result she and his son Suraj go missing. To avenge his missing wife and son, Dharma goes to Ajit Singh's (Ajit) house and then kidnaps his daughter, during a chase by the cops he throws her off the horse only for her to be picked up by a Madam

Years go by and Dharma Singh is now a high flying bandit known as Chandan, he also disguises as Nawab Sikandar in order to gain secrets from the cops through his friendship with Ajit Singh

Pran as Chandan

Pran as Nawab Sikander

His son Suraj now called Raju (Navin Nischol) joins Chandan's crew to help in carrying out heists, Chandan however has no idea Raju is his long lost son, as he thinks his family are deceased

Raju meets and falls for Radha (Rekha) who is a courtesan, but he doesn't know this

During a police chase following a stealing operation that goes wrong, Chandan & Raju seek hostage in a Kotha (Courtesan's residence) where he Raju sees Radha performing her courtesan acts

As usual in filmi scenarios like this, she explains she might be a courtesan but her honour is still intact(Is that so, how come???). When Chandan (Pran) thanks her for hiding them while the cops came searching, he asks her to request whatever she wants

she asks for a respectable life and home much to the dislike of her mistress in charge Jamnabai who had raised and trained her, Chandan promises to arrange this for her

Once she's left the Kotha she focuses her attention on reforming Raju, by getting him to quit his crime jobs and get on the straight and narrow

Meanwhile Chandan becomes wanted when a camera captures his face during a heist that goes wrong

Also on Chandan's heels are Chaman (Ramesh Deo) whose father Chandan had killed, joining him his is father's sidekick Mangal (Madan Puri)

When Mangal discovers that Parvati (Anjali Kadam), Dharma's wife is still alive, he hatches a plan to deceive her by pretending Chaman is her long lost son he had been caring for

Meanwhile, Ajit Singh while visiting his friend Nawab Sikandar (Pran), comes across Radha who just so happens to have a strong resemblance to his wife Asha

Will he realise she's his long lost daughter? Will Raju ever return to the world of crime? Will Dharma finally be exposed and caught by the police?

Dharma is a must watch for all Pran fans, this is one of the few films that relied heavily on him as no other person could have just pulled it off the way he did, Pran takes centre stage here and all the other characters wane in comparison to his. Dharma is a fun camp masala fare made extra enjoyable by Pran's fierceness, make sure you track this down if you're a Pran lover. Also his den is to die for check it out in the clip below

Some other Eye Candy

Bindu in her qawwali gear

Rekha dearest

This one's for you bollyviewer, i know how much you love Navin

The songs by Sonik Omi are fab too, from the sweet 'Sada teri umar' to the mujra 'Main teri Guneghar hoon' and 'Yaar Nighaon mein' a cabaret number with the who of who of Hindi film vamps, it starts with Helen and then Faryal, Sonia Sahni, Jayshree T and then ends with Bindu to my utmost favourite, the awesome qawwali 'Raaz ki baat kahedu toh' that takes place between Pran and Bindu, I've included the video with English subtitles, push play, Sit back, relax and enjoy

Paisa Vasool rating: 6/10

Jaisa Ko Taisa (1973)

When the title of a film translates into Tit for Tat, you just know there'll be lots of fun to be had, which i did while watching Jaise ko Taisa, this film mixes doppelgängers, great songs, wicked family members & lots of whipping in equal measure for a fun watchable film

Vijay(Jeetendra) a high achiever who's just been awarded medals at college has his joy cut short when is mum is diagnosed with cancer, he's told by the doctor that her illness is treatable for R3000

In a desperate bid to cure his mother Vijay breaks into a wealthy mansion in a bid to steal the money needed for his Maa's treatment, while stealing the money he's caught red handed by an exact look alike of himself who lets him have the money

The two form a friendship and are puzzled by the striking resemblance they share, however

Vinod is the subject of abuse by his cousin Pashi (Ramesh Deo) and uncle Shyamlal (Anwar Hussain) who whip him and give him drugs that will make him timid, with the hopes of them inheriting the riches his father left behind for him

When Vijay learns how Vinod is being ill treated, they swap places and its not long before Vijay now in Vinod's place starts giving Pashi a taste of his own medicine

Vinod on the other hand is revelling in the joys of motherly love and enjoying his break from his wicked family members, things take a turn for him when he stars getting haunted by the ghost of his lover Radha who had committed suicide as he had been a coward in accepting he was her lover

While living in the mansions as Vinod, Vijay meets and falls for feisty village belle Roopa

In a strange case of coincidence Roopa happens to be Radha's sister, when her father catches her romancing Vijay he mistakes him for Vinod admonishing Roopa not to see him anymore has he had caused her sister Radha's death, the R word (Revenge) is now on Roopa's mind as she hopes to get justice for her sister but will she realise in time that Vinod & Vijay are different individuals

Also how long will Vinod & Vijay go unnoticed for in their respective environments? Will they be sussed out? Is Radha really a ghost or is it all an illusion? Will the secret diary containing all the riches to Vinod's father wealth ever be found?

An enjoyable colourful camp camp extravaganza, is how i'd describe this film, its a must for all Jeetendra lovers, plus the songs are really good too, the story doesn't drag on endlessly & the acting is by all means hammy in a fun way

I loved Reena Roy in this, she had just the right amount of fierceness, this was one of her early films and i totally adored her village belle looks, check out all those colours on her outfit as well as her uber fab beehive

Some fab stately mansions

i love the art work in the background

I'm taking a picture of this cake to my bakery, i need a cake like this for my birthday

colourful and it definitely looks yummy

the songs by R.D. Burman is another reason why this film is a keeper for me, there's the haunting 'saajan kahan' , a lovely song on motherhood 'Kaun hai', the fun 'chalte chalte' & the colourful & vibrant 'Bhaiya re Bhaiya'. My two favourites are 'Ab ke sawan mein' which is one of my favourite rain songs with sensuous lyrics such as "Pitter Patter rain drops making me wet, has set my passion aflame" not to mention the sexual chemistry between Reena & Jeetendra

and the superb 'Jaise ko taise na mila' never has whipping been so much fun, and Jeetendra sure looks like he's having a blast cracking that whip

Jaise Ko Taisa - Jaise ko Taisa
Uploaded by kandigee. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Paisa Vasool rating: 6/10