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

Saagar (1985)

My first contribution towards the ongoing Kapoor Khazana which is going on around some of the bolly blogosphere is this much lauded love Triangle which left me, well we'll see in a minute

Raja (Kamal Hassan) and Mona (Dimple Kapadia) have been friends since Childhood, now that they're grown up Raja finds it hard to express his feelings to Mona

Mona on the other hand is very casual about matters between them, Raja adopts this stance too when in fact matters of his heart are otherwise

In comes Ravi (Rishi Kapoor) the son of a wealthy industrialist who falls for Mona, he also becomes good friends with Raja

Raja hopes Ravi will help him learn how to be more expressive of his feelings towards Mona, he does this not knowing of Ravi's feeling towards Mona

When Ravi finds out about Raja's feelings towards Mona, rather than be upfront that he likes her too, he agrees to do the talking for Raja

(bollywoodeewana's note: Why Ravi himself could not be upfront about his feelings is way beyond me, senseless self sacrifice all in the name of being buddies I guess)

Ravi lets Mona know about Raja's feelings but then, Raja sees Mona and Ravi cuddling which leads him to deny any feelings when Mona comes to ask how he really feels (perhaps she feels the same, or is confused the film doesn't make this explicitly clear)

Raja chickens out and calls the whole thing a prank rather than be honest about his feelings (perhaps his honesty might have helped Mona examine her feelings closely)

Thus Ravi and Mona start dating until Ravi's wealthy Mother Kamladevi (Madhu jaffrey) decides Mona isn't up scale enough to be her daughter in law, Ravi is having none of it and decides Mona would be his bride

While Ravi is away on a business trip, Kamladevi cuts a deal with Mona to choose either between her son or the livelihood of her local townsfolk, whose businesses she threatens to buy out

What will Mona do, Will she sacrifice her love for the sake of her townsfolk? Will Raja ever get the girl of his dreams?

This much lauded classic of course marked the reunion of Raja (Rishi Kapoor) and his Bobby (Dimple Kapadia) who had eloped 12 years earlier in that 1973 classic Bobby, but for me i found it really hard to appreciate this classic say apart from the songs by R.D Burman, I felt zero sympathy for the characters.

Kamal Hassan's character i found way too pitiful and lacking in conviction especially in the way he dealt with expressing matters of his heart, as well as his deceit when he was confronted by Mona about his feelings. I also could not overlook the ending which in this case, like many other love triangles (see here) someone dies just so the decision making process can be made easier, I'd have liked Saagar even more if the female lead, in this case Mona (Dimple Kapadia) really got to examine her heart and make her choice rather than end up with one of her potential suitors just because the other potential Mr Right was killed off.

Smouldering Dimple!!!

Overall watch Saagar mostly for the songs and then for the actors if you're a fan of anyone here, acting wise everyone puts in a good job but the classic love triangle trope just killed things for me, needless to say I 'd rather Dimple was awarded the Filmfare Best actress award for Zakhmi Aurat where i felt her acting prowess, the same goes for Kamal Hassan who was awarded the Filmfare Best Male actor for his role in this, I'd rather he won it for Ek Duuje ke liye than this

And of course this film is famous for Dimple's towel dropping act which occurs in a blink and you'll miss it second, but pay attention to the rather fabulous dreamy sequence below where the camera just ogles at Dimple

Excellent music from R.D Burman on here with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. Favourites are the lovely 'Chehra hai ya' the fun 'Yunhi gaate Raho' which sees kamal & Rishi get all buddy buddy whilst also doing the can-can with Dimple and the lovely ballad 'Saagar Kinare'. My two favourites on here though are the Goan style wedding song 'Oh Maria'

Saagar - Oh Maria by kandigee

and the oh so seductive 'Jaane do na' where a wet Rishi and Dimple dressed in a wet Ghagra choli blouse and sari roll around seductively on the grass

Paisa Vasool Rating: 5/10

Nagina (1986)

Ok so i know the whole woman shifting into a snake thing is corny and down right out ridiculous but i just love these movies, they are different and if the story is well told like it is in this case, they are down right out entertaining. So hold on to your knickers dear ones, we're in for a saas-bahu-saap (Mother in law/daughter in law/ snake ) affair

The movie opens with a shot into a massive mansion with the obligatory winding staircase which seemed to be a sign of wealth in many 80's bollywood flicks

Sushma is awaiting the return of her son Rajiv (Rishi Kapoor) from England after 15years of travelling there following some disturbances in his childhood

He's welcomed by Ajay Singh (Prem Chopra) the family business proprietor and his daughter Vijaya (Rupini), plans are made for both Rajiv & Rajini to get married by his mother and Ajay

While out and about trying to familiarise himself to his surroundings Rajiv finds himself being drawn to an old haunted mansion, there he meets Rajini (Sridevi) who tells him they were childhood lovers he becomes infatuated with her and they both fall in love (aahhhhhh)

When Rajiv rejects the family's choice Vijaya, her father Ajay Singh isn't too pleased and decides on getting even

Ahh poor Vijaya, i feel your pain girl

Rajiv introduces Rajini to his mother, she's won over by Rajini and plans are made for the two to get married. Ajay still furious that his daughter Vijaya was given the cold shoulder sends his men to bump Rajiv and Ragini off, on their way they are disrupted by two angry looking cobras (Why is this)

The snakes stop the goondas from attacking the newly married couple, and seeing as his frst attempt to kill Rajiv & Rajini has failed, Ajay then refuses to hand over the family business to Rajiv, a bothered Rajiv comes home lamenting to Rajini who eases him down by revealing where the said files are (Hmm how did she know this, isn't there something fishy about this Rajini)

Alas our suspicions are confirmed when a sage Bhairon Nath (Amrish puri) comes by the family house one day and reveals to Rajiv's mother that there is a poisonous snake lurking around the house, he reveals her bahu (Daughter in law) is a snake which leaves her in shock of course, he tells her to be observant

True enough Rajiv's mom observes rajini and turns out she is indeed a snake catch this dramatic moment below

Rajini' confesses to Rajiv's mother that she is indeed a snake and tells her not to be afraid affirming she's harmless & then warns her mother in law to beware of the sage, that he is out to destroy her family

What will be the effect of this revleation to Rajiv & Rajini's marriage? Is Rajini really as harmless as she makes out? How and why did Rajini become a snake?How true are her claims of her and Rajiv being childhood buddies, Plus who is the sage and what are his motives?

Ok so I know the story seems a little bit out there to most of you but this is an entertaining female centred film, which is something we don't get a lot of in bollywood.


The first thing that came over me after watching this film, no matter how ridiculous it sounds is,

"what would i do if i found out my daughter in law is a snake?"

In fact ask yourself that question, what would you do if you found out your daughter or son in law were a snake? If you're not one (i.e a mother in law or father in law) just imagine ...LOL

Nagina's strength lies in the director Hamesh Malhotra's style of storytelling, it draws you in and holds your attention, plus there's a bit of suspense, yes we all know Rajini's a snake (duh!! from the Dvd cover) but its the reason as to why she is one, as well as her motives that keeps us at the edge of our seats.

Decent performances from all the cast here but Sridevi steals the show and lets not forget Amrish Puri he was a treat as Bhairon Nath, Rishi wasn't given much scope to shine as the whole film centres around the grand diva of 80's bollywood 'Sridevi', she just owned this film.
Check out those eyes (it musn't have been easy to wear contact lenses back then)

Overall Nagina remains one of my favourite flicks, there's a certain Indianness to this film, from the story to the execution that i love, something i miss so much in bolywood these days, i love all these movies where Indians just did their own thing without caring about the western audience, only bollywood could pull off all this snake woman sagas

If you're very squirmy about snakes you might want to avoid some Scenes in Nagina like this ridiculous one below, PETA will definitely not be happy after watching the clip above, the directors just can't claim no snakes were harmed in the making of this film

Of the snake movies Ive seen so far Nagin (1976) still remains my favourite, so camp, so colourful and so deliciously thrilling. I love Nagina too but not on the same level as Nagin, perhaps Malika's Hissss (see end of post) might trump them both

Good soundtrack from Laxmikant Pyarelal highlights are 'bhooli bisri ek kahaani', 'tune bechain itna', 'aaj kal yaad kuch' my favourites are the lovely 'Balma' with beautiful vocals from kavita Krishnamurthy, check out how Sridevi teases Rishi in the clip below


and in what has to be one of the campest song picturisations ever 'Main tera dushman' (see it below)

Paisa Vasool Rating: 7/10

Buy the dvd here



Malika's fothcoming film Hissss which is based on the legend of the snake woman makes a return to our cinema's this August, it's directed by Jennifer Lynch and features A Grade Make up and special effects, see the trailer below