Talash (1969)

A big thank you for all your kind and encouraging responses to my previous blog post, its very much appreciated, and it means a LOT to me. Talash is my second O.P. Ralhan movie and it does have a lot of goodness going for it but like most O.P Ralhan movies I've seen so far, you need to be patient and pay attention right till the end

Raju (Rajendra Kumar) is a high achiever with huge aspirations, he leaves his little town to make it big in Mumbai , his mum (Sulochana) tells him no matter what he should stay true to his heart

He gets a job as a typist with a big company headed by a very suave Ranjit Rai (Balraj Sahni). At first Raju fumbles making errors which threaten to cost him his job, but after a dressing down from Ranjit he smartens up and works very hard, its not long till he's promoted and even when corruption comes his way he sticks to his conscience

On a break away from the city, he meets Gauri (Sharmila Tagore) who rescues him from a fall, they both fall in love (as you do) & he promises to come back & marry her under his mother's blessing

His friend Lacchu (O.P. Ralhan) falls for cabaret artist Rita (Helen), her dad however refuses their love

When Rita asks her dad (Sajjan) why he's stopping her marriage to the one she loves, he explains how he had murdered a friend Chand (Jeevan) who had tried molesting his wife Rosie, as a result of trying to conceal the murder, he had lost all his wealth due to an ongoing blackmail from Peter (Madan Puri) who was present at the scene, he's afraid that if Rosie gets married (which would mean she stops her dancing) there will be no more income to keep Peter quiet

Cut back to Raju and he's now leaving the hills, he promises to come back and marry Gauri. When he gets back to Mumbai he's promoted and given a 25% stake in Ranjit's company (why all this promotion all of a sudden?)

Well as we all know nothing is for free (there's always a catch), Ranjit wants Raju to marry his daughter Madhu who's just returned from Europe, Raju is dumbstruck when he finds out his daughter is a doppelgänger of Gauri whom he had left behind in the mountains

Should Raju refuse Ranjit's offer to marry his daughter he faces losing all he's worked hard for, as well as his stake in the company

Back at the mountain Gauri has promised to kill herself if Raju does not return. Will he return in time or will she kill herself

Back in Mumbai, watch as things are heating up between him and Madhu? Will he stray or will he stay true to his love Gauri? Are Gauri & Madhu long lost twins? If not, why do they look so much alike? Will Rita get the chance to marry Lacchu? Watch Talash to find out

O.P. Ralhan's films often have a great theme but his way of delivering them can be a bit shabby, also his insistence to cast himself in his films i find quite grating as i find him quite annoying as an actor.

I was about to write this whole film off as a disjointed melodrama of sorts, but the ending brought it all together rather nicely, it gets quite melodramatic plus there were some unnecessary paddings/filler scenes which could have been edited out, but do persevere to the ending, it was well worth it. Overall Talash is a wonderful film with its major theme being staying true to your heart.

I have nothing but Pyar for Rajendra Kumar and i totally loved him in this, sexy chemistry between him and Sharmila too, they made an awesome Jodi.

Sharmila was superbly gorgeous as usual, she undoubtedly looked her best in the 60's

Now i'm not that much of a cinophile to pick out long shots to framing aspects etc. and i don't really look out for such things in films, but Talash had sharp cinematography and uber fab interiors

From the fab office columns & murals

Lovely painting in the background

Helen's Fab cabaret sets

Sharmila's fab wardrobe, so fab i've included a video of it

A cool villain's den with a windy staircase leading to an upper floor room with see through glass panels and a mini cut out glass ceiling

as well as Some cool gadgets like Madhu's chalice firelighter

and her vintage record player

Overall great work from the Art director Shanti Dass who won the filmfare Best Art Director award for his work in Talash

The costume and style of the movie were awesome from Helen's showgirl outfit (Never has she looked so Hot)

to Sharmila's embellished Sari's

Overall there's much eye candy to be had from this movie as well as excellent songs by the legendary S.D. Burman including 'Meri Duniya teri maa' sang by the man himself, a wonderful Rafi/Lata number 'Palkon ke peeche', a wonderful cabaret number with Helen 'Mera kya sanam' a lovely tribal song 'Aaj ko junili raat ma', a Manna Dey gazal 'Teri Talash mein' my two favourites are the sensuous ballad 'Kitni akeli hai'

and the gorgeous 'Karle pyar karle' with a very Sexy Helen, check out the pep talk at the begininng, what a tease she is

Paisa Vasool Rating: 7/10

Buy the Dvd here

Farz (1967)

Kicking off the 7 day Jeetendra Extravaganza is Farz (Duty) the first commercially successful spy movie modelled after the James Bond craze of the 60's, today also happens to be his birthday (Happy Birthday Jeetendra). Unlike most James Bond films of the era this bollywood take on the 60's espionage type thrillers much to the annoyance of one reviewer online comes complete with dance numbers, the said reviewer ranted at the fact that there was a song and dance in a spy (Sorry mate, its bollywood what do you expect).That said though, Farz is a cult classic or should i say has a cult following due to its James Bond type theme and its honour of being India's first commercially successful spy thriller. Farz itself is said to be based on the Telugu film Gudachari 116, which imdb describes as the first Bond-era secret agent movie made in India (does anyone know if there were secret agent type Indian films before the Bond-era?)

When Amarnath aka Agent 303 an undercover government spy takes pictures of enemies who are a threat to the India's safety, he's killed by the traitors, unknown to them is the fact that he had handed over the evidence to a photo developer

Gopal (Jeetendra) aka Agent 116 (who just so happens to be romancing & doing star jumps in the hills with his girlfriend) is given the task of recovering the pictures and exposing the traitors

Agent 116 hopes information from Agent 303's sister Kamla would help in his investigation towards finding the pictures

Kamla however is visited before Agent 116 gets there by Damodar (Sajjan) who claims to be her brother's friend, he twists her mind into believing Agent 116 is a villain, who's after the camera for his own gains, he urges her not to lash at at him but should rather join him in a cunning game that would lead Agent 116 to him

Agent 116 turns up and introduces himself but she's cold towards him due to Damodar's tactics, Agent 116 manages to get the location of the film and develops it, the pictures reveal a car with a plate number which he sees his love interest Sunita (Babita) driving

He later finds out Sunita's father Damodar is the owner of the car, Gopal becomes suspicious of him and links him to the traitors who had murdered Agent 303, when Damodar realises Agent 116 is suspicious of him he tries cutting a deal with him by offering Sunita's hand in marriage to him provided he quits his job as a spy, Gopal gives him his own condition too saying he (Damodar) would have to quit his own business too

Will they be able to reach a compromise? Will Sunita ever find out about her father's shady deals? Will Kamla ever realise Gopal is indeed innocent?

Added to the mix is a brain squeezing Gadget

60's style interiors

An evil bond style villain with the name Supremo

Overall Farz ends up being just a moderately enjoyable camp thriller, it could have been so much entertaining had the director cut down on the excessive dross in the form of tedious comic side plots which weren't too grating but still fell very much out of place. The major highlight for me were the songs and Jeetendra, his Gopal character i found very likable, he might not have had James Bond's suaveness or sex appeal, but he sure had a few smooth lines for the ladies, check out this line which he uses on Sunita

"I do not know what your parents named you but you're a true Mohini (Celestial beauty)' Now thats a chat up line you might want to try guys/gals

I loved his 60's style fashion too, skinny suits and pointy toe boots

As well as some truly hilarious ones especially this hat worn by Kamla

It actually reminds me of the Hat worn by Aretha Franklin at the President Obama's Inauguration

This was the first movie i saw Babita in and i really had to do a double take to ensure i wasn't watching Karisma, the resemblance is striking to say the least

Other points worth noting is the Patriotism Farz exudes, from its name alone which translates as 'Duty' one can invariably conclude Duty to motherland or Duty for nation, a great point Keith at teleport city makes in his extensive write up of the film is below in quotes

"Farz takes its nationalism far more seriously than Bond or any of the Eurospy films would have ever dared. While Europe had entered a phase in which such flag-waving patriotism was considered silly, at best, India was still pretty serious about it. That said, however, Farz is hardly a deadly serious film"

Fabulous music by Laxmikant Pyarelal is what makes this film extremely memorable in the minds of many including me, the catchy 'Dekho Dekhoji sochoji' the fun peppy 'Mast baharon ka', the lovely 'tum se haseena' and the wonderful 'Hum to tere asshiq' some of you might remember it as one of the songs in the antakshri medley from 'Maine Pyar Kiya', and seeing as its Jeetendra's birthday today what better way to celebrate than ending with the the superb 'Bar bar din ayee (Happy Birthday to you)' long live Jeetu-ji

Paisa Vasool Rating: 5.5 /10

Farz is available in 15 parts with English Subtitles on YouTube