Desi Train

Gems…movies which will never age. Movies which have and will often be copied but their freshness will never die and the copied/inspired ones will never make a dent on the original. Gems…movies which were enjoyed by our parents and elders in the family, then by us and in all possibility will be enjoyed by the future generations. Timeless, ageless movies. They may or may not be classics, but they will never miss striking the right chords of our hearts, each time…every time.

1. Anand (1970); Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee

“Babu moshai” – who can forget that loving call of Rajesh Khanna to strangers and specially to Dr. Bhasker Banerjee – a young Amitabh Bachchan. Directed by one of the best story tellers in Hindi cinema, Hrishikesh Mukherjee – Anand is one of the most sensitive stories ever told to us by Bollywood. Mukherjee makes it evident right from the beginning that Khanna is terminally ill and will die before the movie ends, but does that in any way set a depressing tone to the movie? Until the scene where Khanna and Bachchan realize this could be the end of Khanna’s life – until that scene, not once does Mukherjee let the viewer slip from his grasp, not once do you have this feeling of depression (that Khanna will die) – on the contrary Mukherjee engages you into the life of Khanna and Bachchan, his friends (Ramesh and Seema Deo), his love interest (Sumita Sanyal) and all those lovable characters who fall in and out of their lives. Anand impresses upon the viewer the joys of life one can experience even while standing on the platform of death.

Mukherjee had his hand on your pulse. He most often has. You felt overjoyed when Anand escapes from the hospital right from under the nose of the strict but loving Nurse D’Souza (Lalita Pawar), and as if Mukherjee read your heart’s wish – Anand lands up at Bachchan’s house begging Bachchan to let him stay at his house instead of the hospital. How you feel the pain when Anand looks at the sunset from the porch of Bachchan’s house and sings the oh so beautiful Kahin door jab din dhil jaye.., and when he succeeds to bring Bachchan and his girlfriend together, they walk on the beach and Anand with those balloons in his hands, letting them go and fly towards the sky, while singing – Zindagi, kaisi hai paheli…hai… – Anand was one complete movie which was written with your and my heart in mind. It’s an ageless movie. Try watching it even today (for the 67th time) and you will not feel bored for one second. Try watching an average hit movie from the 80s, 90s and in all probability you may get tired in 10 minutes flat. Not Anand or similar gems. Anand is a gem which even our great grandchildren may mostly likely enjoy watching.

2. Aandhi (1975); Director: Gulzar

If sudden weird forces of nature, make me land in a producer’s office who says “Make any movie you want and I will produce it, but the movie must be a remake of a past hit…” – Aandhi is what I will choose. Aandhi is one of the rare gems from Bollywood for a number of reasons, beginning with….the late Sanjeev Kumar (J.K.), no one, absolutely no one could AND CAN match the histrionics of Kumar when it came to acting in sensitive roles. No one. And ofcourse Gulzar’s brilliant tightly scripted story of an ambitious woman politician who leaves her family to pursue her career in politics. And last but not the least – the towering presence of Suchitra Sen as Aarti Devi the daughter of Rehman (K.Bose) the king/queen maker in politics. Let’s start with the least common denominator – Rehman (besides A.K. Hangal who played the lovable Brinda). Watch any of Rehman’s movies – besides the impressive voice, here was an actor who acted … ”naturally”. Rehman is one of the most natural actors, I’ve ever seen. Rehman had in total 2 to 3 scenes in the movie. But that was enough for this late actor of exceptional brilliance to portray to the viewer the three facts in his personality – (1) He was a man of power in politics and always got his way (2) His dream to see his daughter in politics and his power of influence over her (3) His disapproval yet resisting acceptance of his daughter’s love interest.

Gulzaar – the director, had already established himself first as Bimal Roy’s assistant, writing, lyrics and then making movies like Mere Apne, Parichay (Sound of Music inspired – if this is what inspiration is – then please GOD give us more and more of these), Koshish (if you think Black was good – you haven’t seen nothing), Achanak (Vinod Khanna as the army captain who murders his wife for infidelity and then runs from the cops), Mausam (can love and the story beyond love get any better than this) and Khushboo. Gulzar will always have a special place in my life with respect to arts and entertainment. Here is one person who took the emotion called- sensitivity – held it in his hands and then pulled out each thread, each layer from this emotion – did a freaking PHD on each layer, reached the core of this emotion and redefined it for mere mortals, everyday people like you and me. No longer do we have to have a Shakespearean or Ghalibian hold over the English or Urdu language, no longer do we have to have Philosophy or Pschology as our majors in college to understand the depths and range of human emotions portrayed in print or on screen. I still think we in general have not yet opened our eyes to the actual impact Gulzar has had on generations from the sixties till present through his movies, stories and his poetry.

Aandhi flows in flashback and present (a Gulzar patent), beginning with the arrival of Sen and her entire entourage at Kumar’s hotel to campaign for the upcoming elections. Notice the wide range of emotions in Sanjeev Kumar, portrayed brilliantly (and unsurpassed) through his facial expressions and his body language (does any freaking actor today know the importance of using body language at that depth which Kumar did?..sadly the answer is NO). The first meeting of Kumar and Sen and flashback to their days 10 – 12 years ago when a drunk young Sen arrives at the hotel desk asking for a room and the story takes off.

The cutest of scenes in Hindi cinema where Kumar starts whistling walking back to the hotel door while tearing and throwing away the business card of Sen which she had just a few moments ago passed on to him before driving off…suddenly Sen’s car drives in reverse back to Kumar – Sen pulls her hand out and asks for the card back as she had given Kumar someone else’ card by mistake. Kumar again with his exceptional face expressions and body language (except Kamal Hassan, no one comes even close to him) – acts as if he’s misplaced the card. Sen then pulls out another of her cards, gives it to Kumar and says smilingly “Don’t tear it this time”- and drives off. Can the emotion experienced on watching the scene get any more pleasant than this?

Gulzar so seamlessly ties the story moving back and forth, making the viewer beg for more. And another Gulzar patent of talking about a character all through out the movie, but the viewer never gets to see that character. In this case Sen’s and Kumar’s daughter. Gulzar was so good at feeding a drop of the best wine in the whole world on your tongue and stop…and now that you long for more, he starts teasing you and plays with you- a typical Gulzar stamp of film making. And ofcourse the Gulzar – R.D.Burman combination seen here in its full force - Tere Bina Zindagi se shikwa..to nahin..…or my favorite Tum aa gaye ho…noor aa gaya hain, nahin to chiragoan se lauj aa rahi thi... A complete story told in the most lucid style possible…eternal and a classic – that’s Aandhi for you.

3. Choti si baat (1975); Director: Basu Chatterjee

The world today is full of gurus, books, teachers, tv/radio shows for the lonely, single guy or woman, who want to go out and …..Date…yes I’m talking about dating. We are not born with the knowledge about the ins and outs of dating. So this blog writer in his initial years in the land of the U.S. had a tough time getting dates. And this led him to gurus, books etc. which taught him the secrets of dating. And thankfully because of the advise, this humble blog writer has been making the most of it, sometimes squeezing the juices out of those passed on secrets like dating one for breakfast, another for lunch and a third one for dinner (I know it was evil evil evil). But what happened to people like me in the years in and around of 1975….

There was still hope for such people. Because there was Colonel Julius Wilfred Nagendranath Singh – an ex armed forces veteran who was a famous dating guru plus confidence guru plus success guru plus what have you guru – living in beautiful Khandala Hills (about 3 hours from Bombay). And then far away from Khandala in a Bombay suburb there was me…sorry…Amol Palekar who was the simple straight forward, meek, lacking in confidence person who would time his move from home to office based on the time Vidya Sinha would arrive at the bus stop to catch her bus for work. The introductions in the movie start with Palekar and how he longs to get to know and date Sinha, but doesn’t have the confidence to do so. How at his office he is made fun of and taken for granted by his collegues and how as if his problems were not enough, there is Asrani a sly confident bastard of a guy who has eyes for Palekar’s dream woman – Sinha. Notice the contrast in personalities Chatterjee brings about between Palekar and Asrani, and every time Palekar notices a trait which is different between him and Asrani – his heart sinks further down. Asrani is flamboyant, Palekar isn’t; Asrani has a scooter and is not hesitant to offer Sinha a ride to the office, poor Palekar rides the bus; Asrani plays table tennis, a sport which Sinha enjoys, Palekar doesn’t know how to hold the table tennis bat; Asrani is sly, Palekar isn’t – check out the scene wherein while having lunch together Asrani finishes his food and takes Sinha off to a movie and has Palekar paying the check (and the lunch invite was from Asrani!)…until one day Palekar can’t take it anymore and is off to Khandala to meet the Colonel (a lovable Ashok Kumar). Right on his arrival – and talking to Colonel, Palekar realizes that he already failed the Colonel’s first test. Arrow signs pointing to Colonel’s residence are placed at the railway station and direct the gullible Palekar incorrectly all over the town. And then the training and eventual transformation of Palekar just gets to you. Palekar goes back to Bombay and turns the tables on all the people who messed with him and ofcourse wins back his girl. Heart warming songs like Na Jane Kyon hota hain yeh zindagi ke saath…achanak yeh mann, kisi ke jane ke baad, kare phir uski yaad, choti choti si baat, or the mischievous Janeman janeman, tere do nayan…are a collector’s item.

Chatterjee makes it very clear right from the beginning – look guys, I’ve made a fun movie which you should watch after keeping your brains aside and not think about how, what, why. That way you will have fun and enjoy the movie. But did he do that. For me even with the brains set aside, a movie has to hit your heart. It has to be acceptable in terms of entertainment on some sub conscious emotional level. You don’t laugh or enjoy every joke or incident told to you. But when one does hit the right chord, you burst laughing your heart out. Choti si baat does exactly that for you. Chatterjee gave us this gem, the contents of which are ageless, spanning beyond generations.

4. Chupke Chupke (1975); Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee

If there is one movie in which every scene can make all – granpa, granma, mom, pop, sis, brother, you, dog, cat, bird, neighbours – all of them – laugh at the same time then that movie has to be Chupke Chupke. Mukherjee again gives us a laugh a riot of a movie. Following his tried and tested principle of building a story and characters, a common man can identify with and then adding crazy events and moments, twists and subplots to completely knock the viewer off his seat, Mukherjee created a gem of a movie with Chupke Chupke. Seventies was the time which saw Mukherjee and other directors in his league (Basu Chatterjee, Gulzar, Sai Paranjpe and others) in full force. What happened after that? What happened in the 80s and 90s which impacted Bollywood so much that we are dished out crap after crap after the seventies right upto the present.

One reason could be – and this is my opinion – the directors and especially the writers of the nostalgic 1970s – all of them came from the Indian countryside, the villages and small towns. They had lived and absorbed in their experiences a range of human emotions, a wide span of small town life joined together with innumerous stories which they saw or personally lived, and above all had a deep insight in the human life and human emotions with a strong affinity to works of Tagore, Premchand, Tolstoy among others. Hence by the time they came to Bombay they had so much to show, tell and give to the movie-goer – which would take a lifetime. But once this generation moved on – retired or passed away – the new breed of writers and directors of the 1980s to the present were people who had lived in the big cities – Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta etc. lived the same cookie cutter life, heard the same news, experienced the same stuff and when they started making movies – what did they have to offer – the same repetitive stuff they all had experienced which was common to each of them. Most directors and writers growing up in the seventies and early eighties saw the same news in newspapers – corruption, gangs, mafia, bang bang…and they dished that stuff out to us. The vital element of experiencing a wide range of lifestyles, different views of life and the people, the stories and lives of people living in places which was NOT A BIG INDIAN CITY – all these elements were missing. Plus I don’t think many went beyond reading comics and pulp fiction paperbacks. That led to the demise of gems being made anymore in Bombay. Bombay Talkies was now Bollywood.

Chupke Chupke is an extremely funny slapstick family comedy which starts with the meeting and eventual marriage of a Biology student (Sharmila Tagore) with a famous Biology professor (Dharmendra) who then has to deal with the GREAT tales of the GREAT brother in law (Omprakash) of Sharmila. Determined to prove he is one better than Omprakash (they have never met each other), Dharmendra disguises as a pure Hindi speaking driver and lands at Omprakash’s doorstep. What follows is laugh each minute incidents which get further complicated when Dharmendra gets his English Professor friend – Amitabh – to act as Sharmila’s husband and come to Omprakash’s family. But no, Mukherjee was not yet satisfied with the complications and adds another twist and a further headache for Omprakash by making Sharmila and Dharmendra run away before Amitabh arrives (part of Dharmendra’s plan to harass Omprakash). Now from Omprakash’s point of view – his sister in law’s husband is coming to town and his sister in law has run away with his…ahem..hindi speaking driver. Is this comedy of situations or what? Who needs actors who in the name of comedy make faces, fall on the floor, and render crude jokes to make us laugh. This was a simple, full of life comedy – a comedy which comes out of the story and not anything else. Watch the scene where Omprakash interviews Dharmendra before making him his driver. Dharmendra talking such classic pure Hindi and Omprakash’s face going “Huh? What language is he fucking speaking in…” and Omprakash’s wife (Usha Kiron - correction provided by Ardra Vamshi) cutting in to explain a pure rarely used Hindi word to Omprakash – and Omprakash snapping back “Maloom hain” (I know)…the comic timing of that scene is unbelievable. How all the three characters actually played the scene right to not just get their own timing right but the comic timing of the entire group exactly as required…kudos to Mukherjee.

Chupke Chupke was shown umpteen times on DD and other channels while I was in India. I suspect it still is shown on tv today. This movie will always have a special place in every movie lover’s heart. It brought out the warmth of love and family life and the mischievous joys of playing pranks on members of the family. The comedy came from the story, the situations and complications. Sadly with the family culture becoming more and more atomized, this movie always reminds me that living together could also be so much fun.

5. Victoria No.203 (1972); Director: Brij

Hey you Bollywood crap makers….for the last 20 years you have not given us one decent crime thriller. You wanna know what a crime thriller should be? Watch Victoria No. 203. The story starts with a don, played by the late Anwar Hussain (Nargis’s brother and Sanjay Dutt’s uncle) who plans and executes a robbery of diamonds. One of the thugs who executes the robbery hides the jewels at a secret place with the address of the location in a locker and the key to locker…well had to go to the don, but with complications lands up with two small time getting old crooks Raja (Ashok Kumar) and Rana (Pran). They have the key but don’t know what it is for, though they are sure it is for something very important…and thus their adventures begins with the story taking one twist after another.

The chemistry between Ashok Kumar and Pran is one of the best ever seen in Bollywood. There you are watching a crime thriller, glued to your seat, heart beating fast, anticipation in what’s gonna happen next and suddenly Kumar and Pran end up on your screen with key in hand and starting a riot which gets you laughing till they make you fall off your chair. The song Do bechare, bina sahare… clearly pinpoints the helplessness of their state. And ofcourse the climax which is now oft repeated in Bollywood movies where in his den, every time the diamonds get into his hands, Anwar Hussain gets a gun pointed to his head by a new person who snatches his diamonds. And you literally have tears in your eyes while laughing at a frustrated Hussain screaming “Tum log phir aa gaye” (You guys have come back again), when both Kumar and Pran jump back into his den inspite of his countless attemts to kill both of them.

There were other typical Bollywood elements like Navin Nischol and Saira Banu and the mystery of Pran’s lost son. But the show belonged to Ashok Kumar, Pran and ofcourse Victoria No. 203. Crime thriller couldn’t get better than this. Unfortunately this movie was the only gem given to us by the director – the late Brij, who did make movies before and after 203 but never could achieve anything close to it. Tragically in 1990 I heard in the news that Brij passed away after shooting members of his family and then himself. His son Kamal Sadanah now acts in movies.

To be continued:

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 8th, 2005 at 10:11 am and is filed under Bollywood, Superhit Posts.
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