Rounding off the segment of significant films maybe not so much for their content but their soundtrack is this cult classic movie with a much sought after pre-disco Bappi Lahiri soundtrack. I love Bappi Lahiri in whatever shape or form and I know many tend to prefer this pre-disco era of Bappi, but I love the man in all forms, both in his pre and post disco era.
Our story begins with Gita (Simi Garewal) who confronts a young man whom she calls Anil claiming to be his wife. However the young man who she claims to be Anil is adamant he's not her husband, and states he is Ravi Kapoor (Vishal Anand)
She persuades him to come home with her, where she claims she has pictures of both of them as a married couple. Ravi (or should I say Anil) reluctantly agrees to go home with her and true to fact, right there in her home is a picture of Gita and a doppelganger of Anil
Despite all of her claims as well as proof of a picture taken of both of them, Anil still insists he's Ravi Kapoor
Gita later finds out her beloved Anil is also in a relationship with Asha (Nazneen)
Not one to take no for an answer, Gita breaks into Anil's house & continues pestering him, he eventually declares furiously that he's not Anil and never will be, Gita is shattered and embarks upon committing suicide
She's rescued on time but cops keep Anil in custody till they get a statement from Gita who's awaking from a coma, He's eventually bailed out by Asha his girlfreind and Gita is diagnosed as mentally ill
During treatment by psychoanalysis, she reveals how she had met a young man named Anil, fell in love, and then got married, only for him to be murdered on their wedding night
Did Anil really die? If not why is Ravi who looks exactly like Anil claiming he's not Anil? Are they Related?Will Gita recover from her mental illness? For this and many more reasons, feel free to dip into Chalte Chalte
To call this film camp or campy would be paying it way too much of a compliment, this is a badly directed and badly written film with plot holes aplenty and a very incoherent story line, generally I don't seek after well rounded characters or good scripts when I'm selecting my movies as I love escapist fares, but this film just felt shoddy and lacked the finesse that might have made the plot holes and other mishaps forgiveable.
That said there are numerous things i enjoyed, like Simi Garewal's wacky and hammy act as Gita, her act as the deranged obsessive lover really puts Sharukh's act in Darr in the shade, her hammy acting actually helped me enjoy this film, plus she wore some interesting outfits which you can find over at my other fashion blog here
Nazneen the supporting actress was rather restrained in this amidst all the hammy performances, very little is known about her as I could barely find out anything about her from my research. She had some lovely clothes too which you can see here
And as for Vishal Anand who played the hero in this, I felt his resemblance to Dev Anand was uncanny and true enough when I did some research, I found out he is indeed Dev Anand's cousin, he even has some of his uncle's mannerisms (see images below) but alas he lacks the acting skills of Dev Anand.
Notice their identical hand gestures
His act as Anil/Ravi was extremely wooden but one thing I'm grateful to him for, is for having one of the
snazziest collection of shirts I've ever seen on a bollywood hero, see them over at my fashion blog here
Also quite impressive was the Art direction in some scenes like those I'e screen capped below, J'adore!!!!
I love the design on that door
And of course what really makes this film memorable is Bappi Lahiri's unforgettable score from the popular title track 'Chalte Chalte' which is mostly wrongly titled as Kabhi alvida na kehna to the fun 'pyar mein kabhi kabhi' to my two favourites the seductive 'Door door tum an rahe'
and the breezy 'Jana kahan hai'
Now head over to Veen's blog to get the music of this film
This is the film that almost or should i say put Jeetendra's account in the red for sometime, he had invested heavily in this Muslim social only for the film to flop, leaving Jeetendra with a debt of R2.5 crore, thankfully his account survived the woes this movie thrust upon it with the subsequent hits he had afterwards
Nawab Akhtar (Jeetendra) & Javed (Rishi Kapoor) are best buddies, Javed falls in love with the gorgeous Firdhaus (Tina Munim) the daughter of a wealthy Nawab Changezi (Shreeram Lagoo)
Nawab Akhtar too meets her and falls in love with her, not knowing she's the same girl his best friend Javed is in love with
Firdhaus on the other hand feels more affection towards Javed and when she realises both are friends she keeps quiet (why would she do this you might ask, Ah things have to get dramatic after all, otherwise we'd have no story)
When Nawab Akhtar's sister's marriage falls on hard times due to her husbands frequent visits to Lucknow's top courtesan Husna (Rekha), he visits her to quote a price that would stop her from seeing Nawab Jehangir his sister's partner
Husna is smitten by Nawab Akhtar & She agrees she would stop dancing for Jehangir provided Nawab Akhtar comes to visit her every evening, Nawab Akhtar agrees, Husna is thankful and hopeful this encounter might lead to marriage with Akhtar which would eventually lead to her being rescue from her disgraceful profession
When Firdhaus's father (Shreeram Lagoo) disapproves of her marriage to Javed due to a taint on his family honour, Akhtar in a silly and rather dramatic move decides he'll marry the woman in question for Javed's sake, and then divorce her, Akhtar thinks her family who would not want anything to taint their honour, would then be forced to marry her off to Javed
Following his decision to marry he goes to Husna one last time, telling her he won't be seeing her again as he's getting married soon, Husna is heartbroken but puts on a brave face
On the of the wedding he realises he's married none other than his beloved, Firdhaus
Will he divorce her or keep her to himself? Will Javed & Akhtar friendship withstand the strain? What will be Husna's fate, will she be able to endure the heartbreak?
So why did this film fail? This film is directed by none other than the great H.S Rawail who directed Muslim Socials like 'Mere Mehboob' & 'Mehboob ki Mehndi', surely one would think this would have given the film some status, or perhaps a Muslim social with bits of dishoom dishhoom factor thrown in just didn't sit right with audiences we would never know. As over dramatic and a bit silly Deedar E- yaar (Seeing my beloved) is, its enjoyable and it keeps your attention (well if you're into melodrama) if not for the plot then for the songs at least
still there's a lot to admire in terms of set designs, the Lucknow type interiors and outfits
Lovely Chandeliers
Palatial Interiors
Marble Tiles
Romantic Fountain
One of my favourite bollywood divas Reena Roy also makes a cameo appearance
And Rekha brought some serious drama, i particularly love this scene beow, thank God i didn't watch this film as a kid, i'm sure i would have made an attempt to reenact the scene, i know its just something i would have tried doing, check out how the camera revolves around her towards the end
The songs by Laxmikant Pyarelal i would have thoughT would have elevated the film to be a hit as they're all classics from the lovely 'Tum ko dekha to' the wonderful 'Jaana jaana jaldi' & 'aayee phoolon ke' a rafi & Kishore duet 'mere dildar ka'. My two favourites though is the romantic 'Sarakti jayen Rukh se'
and the awesome qawalli 'idd ka din hai' where Rishi really proves no one can work a qawalli any better than him
Kicking off Dharmendra week here on this blog is one of my favourite Dharmendra films, i watched this again the other day and had a new found respect and admiration for Dharmendra the actor and man. Yes it does contain some of the cliches of 80's bollywood but this film was well directed and is greatly entertaining. Greed, ghosts, possession, a incredible hulk type transformation, tongue cutting, mental shocks and evil evil villains, this film has it all. Even if you're not a fan of the revenge fare's bollywood churned out in the 80's by all means watch this one
Ajay (Dharmendra in a wig and humoungous front teeth) is a mentally retarded happy go lucky guy who lives with his wealthy father Vikram Singh ( Shereeram Lagoo) in a huge tea estate, his father wants him to learn how to run the business when he dies but all naive and fun loving Ajay wants to do is romance Jamuna (Rekha) and play with her brother Raju all day Goofily cute Dharam
When Vikram Singh uncovers his disloyal workers headed by Arjun Singh (Ranjeet) using his tea industry as a base for the distribution of Heroine, he threatens to report them to police. on his way to the police staion he has an accident as a result of Arjun and his evil workers snapping off his car brakes
Unsure of what will be the outcome of his accident he tells Ajay of a twin brother and Mother (Seema Deo) in Bombay, he explains how they had separated when he had married another woman and as a result they had each taken one of the twins
He tells him to tell NO ONE and TRUST no one and that he should go to Bombay after his death to bring them back so they can help him in run the tea estate.Vikram Singh is murdered by Arjun (Ranjeet) who fears Vikram will reveal their deeds to the police
Ajay is devastated by his fathers death, but naively trusts Jatashankar (Madan Puri) with the secret his father had revealed to him about his mother and twin brother Vijay in Bombay, unknown to Ajay however is the fact that Jatshankar is dishonest and along with Arjun he plans on taking over the family property. He tells Ajay he would go to Bombay and help bring them over to the estate, naive or should I say silly Ajay is pleased
Jatashankar tells Arjun Singh and they come up with a plan to hire actors to play his mother and brother in the form of Narveri (Arunai Irani) and Karbadi (Jagdeep). Ajay is delighted and believes them to be his real mother and brother
Ajay is disappointed when he hears plans being made by Arjun Singh, Jatashankar & co. to kill him so that they can inherit the Tea estate. Ajay locks them in and threatens to report them to the police
They manage to break the lock and beat him black and blue, after which they push him off a rock leading to his death
Jamuna enters a state of shock upon witnessing the murder
her brother Raju's tongue is snipped off to prevent him from blabbing to the cops is that a peace sign Ranjeet
Following his death (and i kid you not), Ajay's Ghost goes to Bombay in search of his brother Vijay and his mum Laxmi
When he finds Vijay he starts talking to him which scares the hell out of Vijay, who starts thinking he might be hearing voices in his head
He makes himself known and Vijay as one would be is in awe , he tells of his ordeal & makes Vijay promise to avenge his death as well as that of their father, so that his own soul can be at rest
When Vijay goes back with Ajay they come across Jamuna who is now mentally ill and a mute Raju
When Vijay returns to his father's house he's taken as a ghost
Will Vijay be able to get revenge or will he suffer the same fate as his father and brother? Will Jamuna gain her memory back?
Other reasons to watch Ghazab include a deliciously evil Ranjit
The greatest ghost possession incredible Hulk transformation ever seen on screen (see it HERE) which i have to say is very similar to a scene from the 2010 film dabangg
This is a fun delightful action packed movie and is A MUST SEE FOR ALL DHARMENDRA FANS, great acting as well as excellent comic timing from Dharmendra as Ajay (a stand out scene include him challenging his dead father to a blinking competition) and action packed hero as Vijay. This film really does showcase Dharmendra as a multi faceted and versatilte hero. This movie became the craze or is still the craze among many bollywood loving Nigerians, Ghazab is a Nigerian bollywood classic Super gorgeous Dharmendra, he was in his late 40's here
Great acting from the supporting cast as well, Ranjit was deliciously evil, he was on top form as the greedy villain Arjun
And Rekha was beautiful as always, i loved her Jamuna act
The songs of from Ghazab by Laxmikant Pyarelal are EXCELLENT, i have said it before and i'll say it again Laxmikant Pyarelal are amongst my top 3 hindi film composers there's the lovely 'Ghar se chali' and 'aage se dekho, peeche se dekho'
My two favourites however are 'Ye hawa' Lata's voice is on top form as usual and Rekha's dance moves are just so graceful
Followed by arguably my favourite Dharmendra song of ALL TIME 'Jaaneman, Jaane Jigar' this song also became the craze among bollywood loving Nigerians and remains immensely popular even till today when one talks to any red blooded Nigerian bollywood lover
Edited to add: According to Ramesh (Thanks for the tip) Ghazab is a remake of the 1979 Tamil movie Kalyanaraman starring Kamal Hassan and Sridevi, from this youtube clip right here, it would seem Dharmendra is playing Kamal Hassan's part and Rekha that of Sridevi in the tamil version
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