Naya Zamana (1971)

Apologies for the abrupt end in Dharmendra week, that thing called Zindagi (life) interrupted but i'm back on form and i'll fulfill my promise and complete the last few movies i had chosen to review over the next few days. In Naya Zamana ( New World) our hero stars as a revolutonist/rational angry young man

Anup (Dharmendra) is a revolutionist who speaks out against the oppression of the poor and fights for the cause of the poor, he's also a writer who's trying to get published but his writings and criticisms of the oppression of the poor are considered controversial, thereby rendering his work unpublished


Anup is directed to Mr Rajen (Pran) for a job as a publicist, Mr Rajen happens to be a typical example of the kind of Rich people Anup speaks out against, despite Anup taking a stand and voicing his opinion on the oppressive ways of the rich, Rajen takes a liking to him and gets him to write his political speeches



When Anup realises Rajen's family had been behind a humiliating experience his sister Rekha (Aruna Irani) had experienced, he quits his job as a publicist to Rajen


Rajen goes to Anup's house apologising to the wrong done to his sister, Anup is not around but Rekha and her mother (Lalita Pawar) accept his apology, Rekha tells Rajen about Anup's desire to be a writer, he promises he can help fulfill Anup's dream by publishing his book


When Anup finds out his book has been given to Mr Rajen without his consent he's displeased, and goes to confront him, when he gets to Rajen's house, he sees Seema (Hema Malini) singing a poetry from his book


Anup is impressed and his affections towards Seema's change as she had come across as an arrogant, self centred rich girl the last time they met


She tells him how his book 'Naya Zamana' which she had picked from her brother Rajen's library had changed her views of the poor. She tells him how she wishes to change things and asks him to give her a tour of life in the slums


While in the slums she comes acoss a bill passed by her brother Rajen for the slums to be shut down to make way for new buildings, Seema disrupts the bill and prevents the slums from being knocked down


Rajen challenges her authority to which Seema acknowledges Anups writings in 'Naya Zamana' as having changed her , she dares him to read it and not come out thinking as a different man


Rajen sees this as the perfect opportunity to publish Anup's book, on the day of the release Seema as well as Anup's family are shocked to see Rajen credited with Anup's writings


When Anup finds out Rajen's deed he's hesitant to expose Rajen as he had donated all the profits from the book to a handicapped home plus Anup feels if the oppression of the poor is being heard, the author shouldn't matter


Despite publishing a book on the oppression of the poor Rajen continues with his plan to destroy their living area when his plans are interrupted by Anup he bribes Sitaram a local slum dweller to ignite fire in the slums. Sitaram out of greed sets the whole slum on fire, Anup's mother gets injured in the process


When word gets out that Rajen was responsible they set out to burn his factory down, Anup tries calming the villagers down telling them burning down Rajen's factory won't solve the issue, he's accused of being a sell out andsiding with the rich



Words also gets out in the press that Anup is using Seema as a bait to her father's millions millions, as a result her father stops her from seeing Anup


Daaadaa Moniiiiiii (I love this man)


Naya Zamana (New World) reflects the attitude of the common man against the establishment in 70's india and a hope/call for more equal opportunities for the poor, I enjoyed this film very much, it kept me entertained all the way through and i liked the way it highlights the double trappings of capitalism and oppression, on one hand you have the frustrated workers who are tired by the oppressive actions of the rich, their anger leads them to attempt burning down the factory, on the other hand if they do burn the factory they'll be left unemployed thereby making them even more destitute



Dharmendra doing the couture pose (hand on hips check, pouty lips check)
Loved Dharmendra's portrayal of the Angry young man in this one, rational, nuanced, not at all violent and not over the top as the image of Angry young man later became

And of course he and Hema made a wonderful pair as usual in this one


She was drop dead gorgeous in this


Mehmood was also hilarious as a hippie


Loved the songs from S.D. Burman, 'duniya o duniya', 'wah re naujaman' where Mehmood pokes fun at the hippie lifestyle, Lata's beautiful vocals on 'aaya mein Laya' and 'o champa o chameli' my two favourites though are 'Rama Rama Ghazab'




and 'choron ka saare nazar'





Total Score: 7/10

EK Mahal Ho Sapnon Ka (1975)

The third film in line for Dharmendra week is one where we get to see him as a Zakhmi Aadmi (Wounded Man), if you like your melodrama in gigantic soap opera size proportions, you'll love this film

Vishal (Dharmendra) is a talented poet but he's also a slacker , his girlfriend Aruna (Sharmila Tagore) wants him to get and stay in a steady Job but he's content leaving off the profts of two small business he runs



When Aruna is almost raped by a work colleague, Vishal is afraid of her safety and urges her to stop working, promising he would get a job and ensure she never lacks anything


When Aruna learns she'll be losing her sight in 6-7 months due to an eye disease, she starts avoiding Vishal, hoping not to become a future burden on him



She even tries committing suicide and is saved by her boss Anand (Ashok Kumar)who admonishes her, she had planned her suicide to avoid being a burden on Vishal as he already has a handicapped mother to look after


Aruna reveals that she wants Vishal to hate her so the pain/burden will be less harsh on him when she goes totally blind. Anand comes up with a plan for a false marriage with him, saying 'only the two of them and a few friends would know its a fake one


Aruna agrees and she breaks up with Vishal on the fact that he's a slacker and how she needs a rich man to take care of her, all this is put up of course and she succeeds in making him angry and broken hearted


Following his break up with Aruna, Vishal becomes a misognist and a wild playboy



Mr Anand's daughter Sonia (Leena Chandavarkar) arrives from America where she had been studying Journalism she is shocked to find Aruna as his new wife but he explains to the situation to her


While out in town one night, Vishal offers her a lift thinking she's a slut, when he gives out details of his Hotel and how much he would pay her she threatens to jump out of the car and commit suicide. Vishal calms her down and drops her at home



She attends a Mushaira (Poetry Recital) the next day and is surprised to see him there, she's told he's a famous poet


She's taken aback by his talent and sets out to know more about him, she offers him a lift and soon finds out his attitude to women and his debauched lifestyle stems from a bitter break up with a woman he loved so much


He forgets his book of poems in her car, Sonia takes it home and reads the entire book, she falls deeply in love with him. When she goes to his house the next day to hand over his book, his mother tells her Vishal wasn't this way before and a bad relationship experience had embittered him


Sonia becomes even more determined to get him back on the straight and narrow


She confronts him about his attitudes and self destructive ways but Vishal doesn't want to hear a word but with time Sonia's words start having an effect and he falls in love with her too


Aruna on the other hand (or should i say Miss Self Sacrifice) discovers her blindness was a false alarm, delighted she rushes to reveal the truth to Vishal


She finds him in the arm of Sonia and is deeply hurt. She later approaches Vishal asking him to marry Sonia, Vishal is bitter towards her and sends her away



Sonia hears their conversation and confronts Aruna who begs her not to reveal what she's heard to Vishal


She begs Mr Anand to get them married but Anand too had become aware of her past with Vishal and refuses to allow Sonia marry him asking her to stop her unnecessary self sacrifice

listen to him Aruna Listen

She is adamant and after a car crash leaves Mr Anand dead and Aruna with minor injuries she asks the doctor to lie that the accident had caused her to lose her sight, just so Vishal and Sonia can get married


Will her fake blindness be discovered? Will Vishal realise the real reason behind her decision to break up their relationship? Who will win Vishal's heart or rather whowill Vishal go for between Sonia and Aruna?

Overall Ek Mahal Ho Sapnon Ka (mansion of dreams) is an enjoyable film of kingsized soap opera melodramatic proportions, the ending left me a bit disappointed, i wished the ending was more thought out and they had emphasised more on the importance of being honest as seen through Aruna's deceit to deflect Vishal's affections for her.

I also wished they had honed in on the importance of holding onto and appreciating what you have, all in all i wanted a strong moral message considering the way the whole storyline had been set


Dharmendra is on fine from here as the Zakhmi aadmi (wounded man) you feel his emotions and sympathise with his heart break over Aruna


A big shout out to Leena Chandarvarkar for a standout performance which was partly due to the script and dialogues she was given as the feist Sonia, i loved the way she delivered her

dialogues with gutso albeit in a campy soap opera kind of way, she was refreshing as opposed to Sharmila's self sacrificial act which got tiring and rather annoying

I love Sharmila but her character in this film was rather annoying, the picture below best sums up how i felt about her


She was gorgeous as usual though


loved some of the interiors too, especially this fab windy staircase and the two tone sofa


Good muscic from Ravi as well all the songs here are all romantic and heartbreak type melodies
there's the sweet title track 'ek mahal ho sapno ka' and the heartbreak song 'dekha hai zindagi ko' the spoof y jovila paisa paisa paisa

my favourites are 'dil mein kisi ke'


there's also a female version by Lata

and 'zindagi guzaarne ko' which is my favorite daaru song of the moment






Total Score: 6/10