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Refreshing it was to listen to some melodious songs composed by Shankar-JaiKishan in this movie, especially, after listening to all the hip-hop junkie songs of recent Indian cinema. It's altogether a different topic as to where the Indian music industry is headed for. Nasal singing seems to be at its pinnacle of success.
All I crave for is 'Ek baar aaja, achcha gaana sunaaja, Ek baar aaja, aaja,...' ;).
The movie starts with all time hummable song 'Sajan re jhoot mat bolo' and you are left admiring Mukesh's voice and wonder if India has got talent like that hidden some where. The beauty of the music is how it blends in the movie without fading away singer's voice.
Anyways, coming to the story, a simple one with not a very rich screenplay to back it up. Basu Bhattacharya has done an average job on the directorial front.
Story: Hiraman (Raj Kapoor), a bullock-cart driver, is addressed as 'Mita' (one who shares same name as other person) by Hirabai (Waheeda Rehman), a theatre-artist. The story revolves around Raj Kapoor's character and is all about his simplicity. He has already been forced by fate to take 2 vows. Enter Hirabai into his life, and things take a turn. He seems to be developing passion, love towards Hirabai. Hirabai reciprocates too but nothing is verbal and then comes a point, where fate forces Hiraman to take his 3rd vow. Is it easy to forget your 1st love?
As said earlier, Shankar-JaiKishan has done a very good job (deserving a rating of 4.0) but the movie's pace, not-slick direction, poor screenplay makes the movie a stretchful and stressful watch. The music album is worth a collection but the movie itself is a passe.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
Why? Yes, this is the question I asked myself. Why did I order this movie on netflix? Indeed, it was 'Order Diya Dard Liya'.
I had heard/read somewhere long back that the movie was very sentimental and all the female audience carried multiple handkerchiefs to the theatre. But alas, I would say the movie was anything but 'senti'-mental. There's nothing about the movie that I could even write - script, songs, direction, etc. - all a big disappointment. Though, the actors did put in a decent performance.
If the UI of a product sucks with no value to add, no one pays attention to the fact that the buttons/controls in UI worked wonderfully. Similarly, the performance of the various actors involved go in vain.
As mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, looks like AB talking to God asking him for answers and all (Mr. Natwarlal, Deewar, etc.), has been copied from this 1966 release.
If you are still interested, here is the story...
Story: Shankar (Dilip Kumar), grandson of some king, grows up as an orphan as his parents die on a stormy night in some water body. Shankar is adopted by a rich seth, who dies of a heart-attack, leaving behind his children - Ramesh (Pran) and Roopa (Waheeda Rehman). Ramesh is a wicked personality since childhood who abhors Shankar and starts treating Shankar as a servant of their house. Roopa and Shankar are in love, as expected. Another set of childhood friends - Rehman and his sister - ask Ramesh for Roopa's hand in marriage for the former.
Shankar is thrown out of the house wherein, he finds his long last heritage and turns into a prince overnight. He returns to find Roopa engaged to Rehman. He turns evil - tortures Ramesh, who dies eventually. He seeks emotional vendetta from Roopa too but after all it's a hindi movie - all ends well. There are turns and twists where Shankar fakes love to Rehman's sister as a part of his revenge.
As I said, too complex and not digestable plot makes me rate this movie very poorly. Not that I am not a Dilip Kumar fan, but you can choose to read a totally different perspective.
Rating: 1.5/5.0
The first Indian movie on the concept of dual roles - and trust me, the concept has not changed much since then - See Sita aur Gita or Chaalbaaz or Kishan Kanhaiya. And this is the movie I chose to entertain myself this week.
This movie, if seen even today, is an out and out entertainer. The music is good but not block-buster material either. But as far as story and screen play is concerned - brilliant is the term that defines it. And what stands above all this is Dilip Kumar(aka Yousuf Khan)'s acting. Before Amitabh Bachchan, I guess Dilip Kumar was the one who made it felt that style-personified dialogue delivery is an important aspect of acting. Though a hard-core Amitabh Bachchan fan, I do tend to agree with folks of the opinion that AB copies Dilip Kumar's acting style/persona quite a few times.
Apparently, this movie is one of the last hits of Dilip Kumar's reign as Bollywood's hero no. 1. "Last but not the least" aptly describes the acting prowess of Dilip Saab.
The story: Ram, introvert and mentally challenged to some extent, is coping with life with lot of difficulties whereas Shyam, a filmi-buffoon, enjoys every moment of life. Fate has them interchange their positions in life and both of them enjoy their instincts till they wait for Pran (their evil brother-in-law) to reveal the truth.
Highlights: Comic timing of Dilip Saab. The classic scene: Where street-smart Shyam enters a restaurant to eat like a glutton and escapes without a word... the same Dilip Kumar now entering as Ram, scared and hungry, asking for a cup of tea and being forced to pay 20-30 rupees for the food. Another scene: Where Shyam is eating food at Waheeda Rehman's place - the cuteness with which he says, "Khaane do na gareeb ko, duaaen denga" - is just uncherishable. Oh, you really got to see the movie to feel the punch. :)
It would be a grave injustice to not mention Waheeda Rehman and Pran's contributions. Waheeda Rehman, in the 1st half of the movie, before she falls in love with Shyam, is different from her usual roles of 'Sati Savitri' kind. Pran, an actor par excellence, conveys another winning performance.
A must watch reco is given to this movie. Namaste, Shabba-khair, Sasriyakaal ... till next time :)
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Finally, the time had come when another classic was under my belt. Yep, I managed to see "Kaagaz ke phool". Apparently, a flop in its time, this movie is supposed to be a classic. A movie very close to Bachchans, who have gone to the extent of saying BLACK was a marvelous piece of work, very close to KKP. I would tend to disagree here though - BLACK deserves its own credit.
KKP is a story about a film director (Guru Dutt as Suresh Sinha) with a wife who has left him, a daughter he cannot parent - a loner. Fate has him meet another poor loner (Waheeda Rehman as Shanti) who doesn't want to act but finds herself convinced by Suresh. And love blossoms, only to find Shanti sacrificing it for Suresh's daughter. The film ends in an usual Guru Dutt style. (I believe Pyaasa was the only exception of all his movies I have seen so far).
So, why did KKP fail to impress its audience? Was it because of a theme bold for its time? Or was it because of a weak screenplay, or songs like "Dekhi zamane ki yaari..." bearing a striking resemblance to Pyaasa's "Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh...", ...? Though, KKP has it's own strengths too - solid performances, hit music ("Waqt ne kiya kya haseen..."), the movie still bombed at box office. It lacked something which audience could attach to, something audience could hold on to - the movie's start gives an impression that there's much to be told even after the flashback but it has an abstract ending.
The movie was Guru Dutt's semi-autobiography too. This movie was different from other Guru Dutt starrers - Pyaasa, Chaudhvin Ka Chand - it was different in that the characters of this movie were not very well laid out. KKP was abstract at a lot of places, lot left for the audience's imagination. This is where a novel and a film differ. The former allows for imagination from the beginning. And if the latter allows for imagination intermittently, it becomes hard to fill in gaps.
Though Guru Dutt did not rock as a director, he gave a pretty good performance. Part of it could be perhaps associated to the fact that he himself could identify so much with the story owing to his well known affair with Waheeda Rehman at that time. In one of the scenes, Shanti is dressed up with lot of fancy - reminds me of Rohini Hattangadi in Chaalbaaz. But there was a difference, the former did not intend comedy like the latter did.
The movie is different for its time. KKP is not a must watch but something you could watch to complete your filmi knowledge.
That was KKP from your apna filmi chatter box. Keep watching till next time ;)
Rating: 2.5/5.0
