Himmatwala (1983)

Following the massive flop of Deedar-E-Yaar, this film did magic for Jeetendra's career and catapulted him into the high realms of bankable stars in 80's bollywood. Directed by K.Raghavendra Rao, Himmatwala (Bravery) was a remake of the directors Tollywood film 'Ooriki Monagadu', these southern type melodramas (mostly remakes of southern films) became a winning formula in 80's bollywood with Jeetendra starring in almost every single one of them alongside Sridevi & Jaya Prada, coupled with dialogues written by Kader Khan as well as folky disco type music from Bappi Lahiri. Himmatwala is a typical example of this genre of films that became blockbusters

Ravi (Jeetendra) returns to the village of Ramnagar after completing his Engineering education in the city, he is disheartened when he finds his mother & sister living in dire conditions

He finds out about his mother Savitri's (Waheeda Rahman) sacrifice to get him educated & learns how his father Dharmamurti (Satyendra Kapoor) had been framed for rape by the village tyrant Sher Singh (Amjad khan), as a result his father was driven out of the village never to be found again, a furious Ravi promises to avenge his father's disgrace and gain back his father's honour by bringing Sher Singh to justice

Also taunting or should i say terrorising the villagers with her pranks is Sher Singh's daughter Rekha (Sridevi)

Better don't mess with Rekha or you'll be lashed

Unfortunately for both father & daughter they finally meet their match in the form of Ravi who squares up to them, he's met with admiration and respect by the local villagers who begin looking up to him

When he's given the contract to build a dam in the village, Sher Singh tries to bribe him into choosing his own plot of land for the project, when Ravi refuses Sher Singh sets out to get him

He manages to make Rekha see the error of her ways in a taming of the shrew kind of way, she falls hard for him & joins him in his quest to bring down her father's tyranny

Himmatwala is a silly film with a barely there plot which manages to stretch itself out for 2.5 hours, i'd be lying if i said i didn't enjoy it in spite of its silliness, these southern type films were widely panned by the critics, which didn't stop them becoming massive hits. Himmatwala of the two southern type melodrama's i've seen so far is not overly melodramatic like Tohfa, its charm lies in the charisma of Jeetendra and campness of Sridevi and the supporting cast, i think the rather simple and relate-able surroundings the film appears to have been shot in, as well as its themes on forgiveness and love for humanity coupled with visuals that felt very Indian perhaps made the film a hit amongst audiences

There's a certain Indian aesthetic to this southern type films that i admire, for example the 'Nainon mein sapna' number ranks as one of my all time bollywood song picturisatons, with its Bugsby Berkely style arrangement of props and dancers as well as the use of colours, it just packs so much of a raw Indian aesthetic which i just couldn't help but love. The 'Nainon mein sapna' song is the major reason i bought this film, i refuse to get tired of it, its one of my all time favourite bollywood songs, Why is this so, allow me to recap

massive area of land with carefully arranged clay pots and dancers

Sridevi in southern style dance poses

Cheerful looking dancers in colourful outfits with colourful dusters

Jeetendra and his colourful dusters

a giant glittery sun shaped prop

Perfectly synchronised dance steps

(see the video to this legendary song at the bottom of the post)

Himmatwala took Sridevi's career to new heights, i've read posts on various bollywood forums describing her effect on the filmi world as that of an earthquake hitting a town, upon the release of Himmatwala

What a long way she has come, i'm amazed that despite being older now, she looks half the size of what she looked like back then. She was curvy in this film, and seems she was given every opportunity to flaunt those curves at us, the cameraman perhaps in a case of perviness or perhaps to make the film more commercially viable gives lots of closeup shots of her thighs and posterior

lots of body close ups

The music by Bappi Lahiri is what makes Himmatwala a winner for me and one of the major reasons i shall be re watching it again, there's the fun 'ladki nahin tu' with lyrics such as "You simply aren't a girl, you're a wooden pillar" as well as 'taki o taki' a joy to behold for the perfectly synchronised dance steps of Jeetendra and Sridevi. My favourites include the highly infectious 'Wah wah khelu shuroo ho gaya' for its electro disco sounds

and the wonderful 'Nainon mein sapna' the major reason i bought this film

Paisa Vasool Rating: 6/10 (Extra points for the songs, props & Nainon mein sapna)

Buy the dvd here

Deedar-E-Yaar (1982)

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

Deedar-E-Yaar - Idd ka din from Bollywood Deewana on Vimeo.

Paisa Vasool Rating: 7/10 (Extra Points for the beautiful songs)

Buy the dvd here

Bidaai (1974)

First of all a round of applause to the costume designer of this film, never have i seen anyone pull off a Jack and Queen of Hearts outfit, it's so well made and a lot of attention has been paid to detail. Secondly apologies for my quick end to my 7 day Jeetendra Extravaganza i was dragged by my friends for a weekend in Manchester, I'm back home now so i shall i continue blogging properly

Prabhakar (Satyendra Kapoor) leaves his struggling family behind in the village to relocate to the city, left behind are his mother Parvati (Durga Khote) his younger brother Sudhakar and his sister Gauri

years later when his family are being hounded by Mangal for rent, a grown up Sudhakar (Jeetendra) moves to the city where he takes up a job as a cab driver to make ends meet

While working as a cab driver he meets a wealthy girl Padma (Leena Chandavarkar) and the two fall in love, they get married and they move back to the village to live with Sudhakar's mother

Rich Padma however finds life in the village very hard to bear and demands they move back to the city, she also becomes jealous of the immense attention Sudhakar pays to his mother and nags him endlesssly

Parvati eventually decides Sudhakar move back to the city much to his dislike, he agrees reluctantly, not wanting to disobey her

Upon getting to the city he sets out to teach Parvati a lesson on the importance of a mother's greatness following the birth of their baby. I've captured the hilarious dialogues that ensue between Padma & Sudhakar in the screencaps below

Really?? LOL

So will Sudhakar allow Padma to breastfeed their baby? Will she learn the importance of motherhood?

Overall Bidaai is quite an enjoyable movie, the whole importance of motherhood the film advocates is done with so much melodrama and is a bit too much over the top to be taken seriously, but you do get the message

Bidaai also earned Durga Khote her only Filmfare award as the Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Parvati, which i would describe as the self sacrificial; all suffering mother

Jeetendra was fun to watch, hearing him deliver the breastfeeding dialogues had me cackling, and of course i have nothing but pyar (love) for Leena, she is undeniably cute, any recommendations on what films to look out for her in

And great work from the costume designer,none other but the great Bhanu Athaiya, i have never seen anyone pull off the Queen of hearts and Jack outfit as much as they did

Good music from Laxmikant Pyarelal, my favourites are the fun 'mera sasura bada paisewala' 'maine tum sang' & the superb 'Dekho dekhoji' picturised on a giant card sets with Jeetendra and Leena in the King of spades and Queen of hearts outfit

Paisa Vasool Rating: 5/10

If you're into fashion or costume designing, I'd recommend Bhanu Athaiya's The Art of Costume Design book, based on her experiences as a costume designer for numerous bollywood films like Teesri Manzil, Reshma aur Shera, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam amongst others, unfortuantely it seems to be only available in India though (why is this?) its definitely worth collecting

Read the book review here

Order the book from India if you can here, but i think i'll wait for a friend who's going to India to get mine for me