Ameer Nawaz Pai Khelvi New Album HD

1. Sadi Gali Wichun.mp3
2. Rang Rangeeli.mp3
3. Raba Yar Mila Dey.mp3
4. Raatan Lambian.mp3
5. Nazar Lag Jaey Gi.mp3
6. Men Charkha Katan.mp3
7. Meda Dhola.mp3
8. Khali Khali Kamrey.mp3
9. Kaunr Hey.mp3
10. Kali Qameez Wali.mp3
11. Jag Jag.mp3
12. Jadoo Bharian.mp3

Azaad (1955)

Directed by: SM Sriramulu Naidu
Music: C Ramachandra

Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan
Starring: Dilip Kumar, Meena Kumari,

Pran, Om Prakash, 

Raj Mehra, Shami

A remake of Malaikallan (MGR / Bhanumathi), a Tamil blockbuster that had released the year before, Azaad proved to be thundering success when it released, making it the biggest box-office hit that year. It was remade in Telugu (Aggi Ramudu) with NT Rama Rao and Bhanumathi the year after, and also in Malayalam (Thaskara Veeran), in Kannada (Bettada Kalla), and in Sinhalese (Soorasena).

A swashbuckling tale of thieves and kidnappers and straight garden-variety villains, written by the famous Tamil poet Namakkal Ramalingam Pillai, it was inspired by Mask of Zorro and Robin Hood. Dilip Kumar looks like he is having the time of his life, Meena Kumari aids and abets him in his madness, C Ramachandra is truly inspired, what more can you ask for? 

This was Dilip Kumar's first movie with a  South Indian production house. In fact, he was very amused by the fact that a Tamil film producer whom he had never met before should come all the way to Bombay to sign him for a movie. 

Shobha (Meena) is an orphan, brought up by her father's friend and his wife. They dote upon her, their own son having been abducted in childhood.

Now that she is a young lady, her foster parents are on the look out for a groom. But unlike most filmi parents, they are fairly democratic about the whole process.

Shobha has a suitor, the wealthy Sunder (Pran), but neither she, nor her parents are very interested in proceeding with the alliance. In a conversation between the foster parents, it turns out that their only son, Kumar, had been abducted when he was a child, and the mother (a very young looking Achala Sachdev), mourns that if he hadn't been, then they would not have had to look around for a groom for Shobha.

(The number of children who seemed to be misplaced / abducted / separated in the hindi films of yore!)

Their collective dislike of Sunder has some basis, though they are unaware of the fact - he is the mastermind behind the nefarious activities of the dacoit Chander (S Nazir - with well-curled and oiled sideburns and mustache).

In fact, Sunder is not going to allow small things like Shobha's dislike and her parents' disapproval to stop him from marrying her - so he sends Chander off to kidnap her. 

The area seems to be suffering from a surfeit of dacoity and the police have been delinquent in their duty, and so, a new inspector has been sent to do something, anything; the problem is, as the harried constable Motilal (Om Prakash), who is only referred to as 441, informs his superior, there are not one, but two dacoits causing trouble; but are they two different people, or just one person in different guises? Hmm...

The inspector (Raj Mehra), under pressure from *his* superiors, is insistent that Motilal help him solve the open cases; Motilal, with two wives and nine children is hard put to take care of his own life, much less worry about work!

As if to prove how right Shobha and her parents were NOT to trust Sunder, comes Janki (Shammi), a girl from Shobha's mother's village - she was seduced by Sunder's promises of marriage, but when she runs away from home to meet him, he turns her away. Now she has nowhere to go; an indignant Shobha and her mother promise to help her get married to Sunder. Wait. Whaa-aat?? Never mind.

A fearful and reluctant Motilal is sent off to investigate both Azaad and Chander. He decides to go meet Khan Saheb, a wealthy aristocrat, taking the inspector with him. And while the inspector is making his acquaintance,

And then Shobha gets abducted. And then, she gets abducted again. It's all very complicated. You see, first, Chander and his men kidnap her. - it's an audacious attempt, since she is kidnapped right from her bedroom. There they are, lugging her along, cot and all, when a second gang beat up the first lot (but not before two of the enterprising gang strip all her jewellery) and take her along. 

In the interim, her father has come back with the parents of a prospective groom and is astonished to find no one at the station to receive him. They go home, to find...

Shobha is tired of being picked up and taken along like a sack of potatoes, but like a sensible girl, feigns a lack of consciousness. The leader of her rescuers (or are they also abductors?) is an old man.

She pleads to be taken home to her parents. The old man tells her it is not safe for her to go home now as Chander's men may be waiting - she thinks that over, and decides that he is right. 


The next morning, there is still danger around; by now, Shobha seems to have decided to enjoy herself, because she doesn't demur - not when the old man takes her on a long trek through hills and across rivers, not even when a leopard attacks them but inexplicably decides to fight a wild boar instead; indeed, not even when the old man places her in a decidedly shady contraption that heaves and shakes its way across the ravines.

They reach the oldman's hideout, cunningly(?) disguised to look like the mountainside. Inside, she is introduced to his family. An aunt, who looks younger than the old man, and two girls, who promptly whisk Shobha away.

When they return, Shobha is introduced to a handsome young man, Azaad whom she doesn't recognise; he has to change his voice for her to do so. Azaad is dashing, debonair and charming, but she is not very impressed.

In the meantime, her father (Badri Prasad) is overwhelmed by his daughter's disappearance, and not at all impressed with the police help (or lack of it) and so he seeks the help of his friend and neighbour Khan Saheb. 


Back at the mountain hideout, Shobha disproves the saying that eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves. Azaad's family is very impressed with her, though he claims that she has teeth and claws. In fact, so impressed are they with her that Azaad's father is all set to marry them off. 

And Shobha herself doesn't seem too averse to the idea, though she thinks Azaad is a dacoit and a murderer. The next morning, Shobha takes a walk, and sees how the members of Azaad's gang keep themselves fit. Later, she is entertained by Gopi and Chanda, the two girls. 

Forget bored, Shobha doesn't seem to be in any hurry to go home, though she asks Azaad about it on a regular basis - there she is, singing another song, and flirting with her handsome abductor / rescuer. (Well, if it is a choice between going home and being abducted by a hirsute villain on the way, and flirting with a presentable young man, which would you choose??) Their flirtation ends in some shyness on the part of the heroine, and a rather pleased look in Azaad's face, he takes off,

but Shobha continues to wander around the jungle and is faced with another of those pesky animal fights - this time, it is a tiger fighting a bear. It is interesting that none of these animals seem the least interested in humans.... and why are they there in the film in the first place??

Our intrepid heroine climbs a tree...

until she is 'rescued' (again!) by Azaad.  Grateful, she sings and dances (again?! I'm beginning to worry about this girl.) and Azaad is to-tully besotted. But he promises to escort her home, and does so; of course, it is important to while away the journey...

In the meantime, Khan Saheb has come under police suspicion. His carriage has been seen going toward the forest, and the police are keeping a keen watch on it. So are Chander and his men. A melee ensues, and in the confusion, the carriage goes amiss -but Sunder is in for a surprise himself.

The police are hot on the tracks of the carriage, and Sunder is forced to think on his feet. His explanation, which does not convince the inspector one bit, is that he found the horse wandering around and decided to tie it up before setting out to let the police know.

Shobha, meanwhile, has finally reached home. The next morning, when the police arrive and tell her father that they think she is a prisoner in Sunder's house, they are taken aback to see here large as life and twice as natural. 


The inspector is nothing if not tenacious. He comes back to meet Shobha and ask her for details about her abduction. She promptly disabuses their mind about her having been abducted. And no, she doesn't know where Azaad's hideout is, thankyouverymuch, because she was blindfolded all the time she was there. Hasn't she heard Jhoot bole kauva kaate??

The inspector is sceptical, and after hearing Shobha's story is even more  suspicious about Khan Saheb. The latter is very polite and uppercrust, but insists that Azaad (who is a good friend of his) is NOT a thief, a murderer, what have you.

In fact, he promises to bring proof of Azaad's innocence, and the inspector decides to give him a long rope to hang himself.

Azaad is back in his hideout; his father is not well, and he cannot go to the city to meet Shobha, so he sends Gopi and Chanda to find out how she is. Which they do. Shobha is troubled. There has been no news of her father for three days. Aunt Paro promises to let Azaad know.


You haven't forgotten Sunder in all this confusion, have you? Well, he is still eager to marry Shobha, and tricks Janki (Ha! forgot her, didn't you?) into bringing her to his house. But Janki is still an obstacle. Sunder summarily disposes of that! However, Shobha needn't despair - help is on the way. And quite a dishy 'help' at that!

After doing his good deed for the day, Azaad makes his way to his father's bedside. He is followed by Sunder and his chamchas, who try their darndest to stop Azaad from crossing the valley. But good always triumphs over evil, my friends, and Azaad reaches in time -

- his father wants him to marry Shobha (now if all deathbed wishes were so attuned to what one wants!) and to renounce the life of crime. (Why? He seemed perfectly happy to live that life until then...)

Azaad uses Khan Saheb to return the stolen goods, but there still remains the pesky matter of some murders...

and of the missing Charandas, Shobha's father. You haven't forgotten Sunder again, have you? Well, the man doesn't know the meaning of 'Give Up' (that explains the perfect smoke rings).

And sensible too. He decides that if abducting the daughter did not work, then it might make sense to abduct the father and threaten him with his daughter's life instead. But Khan Saheb warns the police and Azaad deals with Sunder...

And yes, the murders... well, the 'corpses' were rather too lively to be dead.

Azaad is innocent! So is Khan Saheb.

Now there is a small matter of getting Azaad and Shobha married. Her parents are appalled at the idea of their daughter marrying an erstwhile thief.

But who will Shobha marry? Will her parents accept Azaad? And who is Khan Saheb? What about Kumar? And how does Sunder blow such perfect smoke rings? Will Motilal be promoted because of the successful conclusion of the case(s)? Picture abhi bhi baaki hai, mere dost!

C Ramachandra composed all nine songs for this film in one month, and the title sequences were some wonderful shadow paintings. The Meena-Dilip pairing that had worked so well in Kohinoor, worked superbly in this movie too. Their bickering, the chemistry, everything was perfect. Now, only if the comedy track hadn't been so long, and inserted in all the wrong places!

Aa Gale Lag Jaa (1973)

Directed by: Manmohan Desai
Music: RD Burman
Starring: Shashi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, 
Shatrughan Sinha, Om Prakash, 
Master Tito, Sulochana, Ruhee Berde

I was going to review 'The Four Hundred Blows' by Truffaut. I swear I was. And then, half asleep, I made the mistake of watching Aa Gale Lag Jaa. Urk! I once read a review by Madhulika over at dustedoff where she went 'What the..' 'Why the...' 'How the..'  ever so often. I know exactly how she felt. I am less polite, I must admit. I went 'What the...' (feel free to fill in your choice of expletive here) frequently the first 45 minutes of this film. 

After that, it was the usual masala, so I could (and did) forgive coincidences popping up left, right and centre, melodrama, bad father / good hero, even Sharmila's bouffant. The rest of the movie did make for better viewing, so if you can sit through the first 45 minutes, you will be rewarded with masala Manmohan Desai style.

Prem (Shashi Kapoor) is a salesman when the film opens. Within the first five minutes, he has fallen hard for Preeti (Sharmila), lost his job, and dropped everything (literally) to go chasing after her. And because he has been struck by lightning (twue luvvv - awww), it follows that Preeti must fall down and worship at the feet of Cupid too. Only, she not only does not do that, she actually makes her displeasure known. When has that stopped a Hindi film hero, huh? So, off Prem goes to make himself obnoxious - he follows her everywhere, insists she must be in love with him (and the slaps he gets from countless other women in the process do not swerve him from his focus), and does not go away even when he is asked. His behaviour borders on stalking, but of course, he is a hindi fillum hero and so that is called 'persistence'. And we all know persistence works wonders.

Anyway. Prem finally runs her down at the local skating rink, which is hosting a fancy dress competition. She is dressed as Laila, he is dressed as a Pathan, and while she refuses to dance with him because they are not sympatico, he does not take 'No' for an answer. (There is a lot of that where he is concerned.)

So he sings a lovely song, insists on pawing her around ('Why the...' doesn't she slap him?), gets a photographer to snap a compromising picture of the two of them together, even tears his shirt to show off a hairy chest and his absolute affinity for the role of Majnu and all-in-all makes a pest of himself. And the pair win the competition. 'What the...' moment drives my sleep away. Preeti is nonchalant. She walks away with the trophy (she does offer him the base, though), and when he is still following (stalking!) her, she decides to make use of him - she and her friends have come to Shimla to intern at a hospital; they need people to be guinea pigs at one of their classes; she cons him into coming to the hospital the next day (all for love of her). 

Prem shows up, is promptly disrobed and put on slabs of ice - the students are learning about hypothermia and how to deal with it. Second 'What the...' moment - heck, which college / hospital is going to do live experiments with hypothermia? What's next? They get a guinea pig to drink poison so they can learn how to treat a case of poisoning?! (And I'm looking for logic??) Once I pushed my eyeballs back in, I learnt that Preeti at least knew what to do in case of hypothermia (she mentions the names of two injections - I hope they were the right ones; I have my doubts); one of the other students ask the professor what they should do if the injections were not at hand - the doctor says try brandy and hot water bags. Preeti chimes in: what happens if nothing is available? The doctor says, in that case, you need to take the patient into your arms (That, by the way, was my third 'Whaa..?' moment.) and use your body heat to warm them! By this time, my eyebrows are in danger of vanishing into my hairline. 

(I must be a masochist. I still continued to watch.)

After this sage bit of advice, the doctor dismisses the class; and Prem leaves to get dressed and collect his money. He informs the cashier that he has to come back the next day, and the day after and the day after that. The cashier asks him whether he has become a permanent employee; Prem replies that Dr Preeti is so in love with him that she thinks up excuses to get him over to the hospital every day. Unbeknownst to him, Preeti's father Seth Heerachand overhears Prem's bragging, and is not too pleased. Preeti is the least bothered; she asks her father to ignore Prem. Her father has come to take Preeti back to Bombay with him; she begs leave to do some shopping before they return. Her father agrees and tells her that he will wait for her at the hotel. 

Preeti takes the jeep and goes off; on the way, she is joined by Prem, who clutches onto her jeep on his roller skates; Preeti is irritated, but treats him like she always does - very matter-of-factly. They have an accident on the way, and Preeti is forced to walk back to the hotel. Prem offers to carry her and roller-skate all the way; though she initially refuses, she finally agrees. He picks her up, and sings a song. And she falls in love with him. (Whaaa...?) When the song ends, Prem trips and drops Preeti, who goes rolling over the snowbank into the freezing waters of the lake. Prem pulls off his roller skates and pulls her out. (Preeti looks like she is standing in waist deep water - near the banks. Why she cannot climb out is beyond me!) Prem carries her to his friend's cottage and sends his friend off to fetch the doctor. Preeti is falling into a doze and Prem remembers his medical lessons - she must not be allowed to fall asleep. Must. Not. Be. Allowed... 

He discovers that his matches are damp, he manages to break the one lantern, there is no fire (Why is he is not suffering from hypothermia too? My comprehension must be beyond feeble!), and Preeti continues to shiver. So Prem is forced to undress her and wrap her in a blanket. He rubs her feet and hands but nothing seems to work. And of course, they have neither the injections nor brandy nor hot-water bags. So what can a guy do under such conditions? Why, undress and get into bed with the woman of course. (Whaaa...? Why...?) And he makes love to her (I think if I were unconscious and incapable of consent, I would call it rape, but hey, that is me!) so she will be warm. (Huh?)

The next morning, he is all dressed and repentant. Preeti is rather confused (and who can blame her) but not maudlin. As is her wont, she accepts rather matter-of-factly that there was nothing else he could do (Whaat?) and is neither crying over her lost izzat nor blaming him. What next, she asks. Prem is having a 'Whaaa...?' moment of his own. 'You mean you don't mind?' he asks. She grins, he is happy, they pledge their troth, and then Preeti says, 'Well, Daddy dearest (DD) will have to agree too.'  Prem doesn't think that will be a problem.

Huh, no? 

DD is furious! All this is Prem's ploy to get his grubby hands on Preeti's wealth, he fumes. Prem is holier-than-thou - 'We can live as well on my love,' he exclaims. DD is not impressed. Neither am I. Prem is sure Preeti will stand by him, and leaves DD to deal with daughter; he will wait for her in the hotel lobby, he states proudly. 

While there, he is called away to his ailing mother's bedside; he leaves a note for Preeti, which DD palms, replacing it with a note of his own concoction. Preeti is livid when she reads it; she doesn't even bother to question why Prem would write such a letter. And no, she doesn't want to see him again, and would DD please write a reply to him? Yes, dear, DD would be glad to. And so he does, and loving hearts are torn asunder. Back in Bombay (or is it Delhi?), DD announces Preeti's engagement to Dr Aman (Shatrughan Sinha), before he leaves for further studies abroad. Preeti is trying to move on from her heartbreak and acquiesces without much of a fight. As they see him off at the airport, she faints (and we all know why a heroine would faint, right?).

I like Preeti as a character; there is no rona-dhona even when she learns she is pregnant. Her father is bothered about his izzat? Well, then, he can decide what she is to do, but she is keeping her baby! DD is busy playing games again - he takes her to his friend's hospital at Khandala, where she will stay until she gives birth. And then what? asks Preeti. Well, we will see then, says DD. So off they go. 

And who is already there? Prem has just brought his mother to the hospital for treatment; she has a heart ailment. He is leaving for Bombay where he might get a job. Preeti and Prem miss each other by a whisker - he is leaving when she arrives.

Who is going to be Preeti's companion while she is there? Well, Prem's mother, of course. (Whaa? Whhh? How?) Prem comes there just as Preeti is being taken into the labour room (of course!) and stakes a claim on his child. DD has no qualms about handing the kid over - on condition that Prem never meet Preeti again, nor tell anyone the truth about the kid's conception. After all, he says, Preeti never wanted her rapist's kid. Can't argue with that logic. And Preeti gives birth eventually, but she is told the child is still-born.

And so, Prem leaves with the child. One song and six years later, father and son (Master Tito) are in Bombay where father is teaching roller skating at a rink. The owner even provides accommodation. The son, Rahul is now six years old, and is handicapped. One assumes he is polio stricken but one never knows. One of Prem's students is a young girl, Tikki (Roohi Berde), who obviously has a crush on him. Hindustani ladki ek baar kisi ka haath pakadta hai, to chhodti nahin she tells him. To which Prem retorts: Aur hindustani mard ek baar shaadi karke phir doosri ladkiyon ke baare mein sochta bhi nahin. (Cringe!) Tikki is friends with Rahul, hoping that the friendship will help her become his stepmother.

Preeti and her father are also in Bombay; they go with Tikki to receive Aman at the airport. Rahul tags along and meets his grandfather for the first time. It is not a pleasant meeting.

Aman has obviously made the most of his studies abroad. At the very first meeting, he is sure that he can cure Rahul. Wah, doctor ho to aisa.  Tikki has organised a coming-home party for her brother, just so she can invite 'Masterji' and Rahul. 

Prem and Preeti meet again. Aman is challenged by Rahul - many doctors had examined him but have failed in curing him; what makes Aman think he can succeed? Aman is quick to pick up the gauntlet - he pledges to not marry until Rahul is cured. Rahul gets everybody to play musical chairs, which leads to some amusing tête à tête between Tikki and her masterji, between Rahul and his dadaji, between Prem and Preeti, between Prem and Sethji, between Aman and Prem. Rahul wins the musical chairs competition and Tikki asks him to sing. And Preeti is shocked when Rahul sings their song. 

Sethji is worried at the growing fondness between Rahul and Preeti. Prem is bitter that Preeti wants to spend time with his son. Tikki is worried about the growing closeness between her bhabhi-to-be and her beloved Masterji. Rahul and Aman are the only people who are not worried.

Will Prem and Preeti ever learn how they were manipulated? Will Preeti learn that her son is alive? What will happen when Aman learns of Preeti's past? Will Sethji ever be able to accept Rahul as his grandson? And Tikki? What will she do when she learns her sister-in-law-to-be is her Masterji's former lover?

It is not a bad film on the whole; or maybe I was so shocked the first 45 minutes that anything seemed better after that. But I did like Preeti's character - I liked that she was not given to wringing her hands in despair over her luti huyi izzat nor in apportioning blame; I liked that she accepted the consequences of her action even if she assumed that the man she loved had only loved her for her money. I also liked that once her relationship with Prem ended, she moved on with her life, and seemed if not ecstatically happy, at least moderately content with her engagement to Aman. My only quibble was 'Why couldn't she just ask Prem instead of believing the note?' Especially if she believed the note. 

I hated everything about Prem - the bordering-on-creepy stalking, the insistence on her loving him, the rape (for that was what it was, never mind the pretty words) - after all, the doctor only said to use your body warmth to warm the person suffering from hypothermia. He didn't say you had to make love! Projecting much, maybe? I also hated that he takes a unilateral decision to walk away with the child, and later, to deliberately lie because 'he couldn't destroy Aman's life'. Balderdash! So it was okay to destroy Preeti's, I suppose! 

So, yes, I have mixed feelings on this one. As you can see. I won't say 'Don't watch it', but on your own head be it! At the very least, go in prepared to mutter your own version of 'What the...', 'Why the...' and 'How the...'.

Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)

1977
Directed by: Manmohan Desai
Music: Laxmikant-Pyarelal
Starring: Pran, Nirupa Roy, Jeevan, Rishi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan,
Vinod Khanna, Parveen Babi, Shabana, Neetu Singh, Azmi, Mukri

Like Sholay, this is another of the movies from the 70s that has not only weathered well, but has became so famous that I’m sure everyone knows some of the dialogues, if not the story (now that can be confusing!). 

Amar Akbar Anthony was inspired madness. This was entertainment at its silliest best. Three brothers, three girlfriends, three religions; two villains (well, one not-so-villainish), a blind mother, a suicide letter; multiple blood donations and Easter eggs. Throw in a cobra, a miracle, a locket, and more than enough plot twists to fuel an entire year of masala films. Add cart loads of fun. Forget the plot – there wasn’t any. Or perhaps, there was too much of it. It had a little bit of everything for everyone, and Manmohan Desai pinned it all to the anchor of Amitabh’s Anthony Gonsalvez (if you will forgive the mixed metaphor). 

Kishenlal (Pran) is released from jail and goes home to find his children hungry and his wife Bharati (Nirupa Roy) suffering from tuberculosis. He had taken the rap for his boss, Robert (Jeevan at his stylised best), with the latter promising to take care of his family. When he goes to Robert for restitution, he is humiliated and rebuffed. Infuriated by the callousness, Kishenlal tries to kill Robert but is forced to run for his life. When he comes home, he finds that Bharati, unwilling to be a burden on him, has left their three children behind and gone away to commit suicide. (She does leave him a note, though.)

Kishenlal has no time to mourn her; he picks up his children and using one of Robert’s cars as a getaway vehicle leaves home. Leaving his children in a park (under Gandhiji’s statue, on August 15 – nice touch!) in his eldest son’s care, he tries to lead his pursuers away from his children. In the ensuing chase, the car crashes, and Kishenlal is presumed dead.

In the meantime, the children have separated – the eldest, Amar, knocked down by a car, is adopted by a police inspector (Kamal Kapoor); the middle one, Anthony, running through the rain to seek help, finally faints outside a church, and is taken in by the large-hearted Catholic priest (Nasir Hussain); the baby left under the statue in the park, is picked up by a kind Muslim tailor (Shivraj), who also rescues Bharati, who had been struck by a tree in the storm and is now blind.  When Kishenlal, who has escaped the crash, comes back to look for his sons, the park is empty. The disintegration of the family is complete. 

Cue to twenty two years later (Idle comment no.1: No one seems to be sure just how many years have passed. Kishenlal says 20, Anthony (and the priest) say 22, and Jenny says 25 - I suppose it is not important!): Bharati, now a flower seller, has fainted outside the church and is taken by Anthony (Amitabh Bachchan), the bootlegging Robin Hood of the neighbourhood, to hospital, where Akbar (Rishi Kapoor) is busy romancing Dr Salma Ali (Neetu Singh). Inspector Amar (Vinod Khanna) comes to the hospital to check on the accident case, and we see all three giving blood (at the same time!) to the woman who is their mother… only none of them know her, or each other.

 

And all this happens pre-credits! (Probably the longest pre-credit sequence in the history of cinema.)

If you have been confused by the story so far, just wait, and you will be confused a lot more.

Akbar and Anthony are friends, and Anthony is invited to the former’s quawwali programme. He comes along bringing Bharati with him. And we are treated to the energetic Purdah hai purdah. Salma is there with her father and his harem. Akbar takes the opportunity to proudly and publicly declare his love for her, much to her father’s annoyance.

 

Meanwhile, Inspector Amar, tracking a highway robbery case, comes across Lakshmi (Shabana Azmi) who is being forced by her stepmother (Nadira in a guest appearance) and stepbrother Ranjeet (Ranjeet) to act as decoy.

 

The wheel of fortune has turned for both Kishenlal and Robert; the former gets his start in life with the smuggled gold that was in Robert’s car; the latter, his daughter having been kidnapped by Kishenlal has now come down in the world. But it doesn’t take long for fickle fate to change sides; the police arrive on the scene and in the ensuing chaos, Robert escapes with a crateful of Kishenlal’s gold. (Idle comment no.2: Why are people so casually careless with their property? Everyone seems to be misplacing a crate or two of gold all the time. And why is it that the gold is so awfully light that they can just tuck a crate under their arms and run?) 

While escaping, he runs into Anthony, who insists that he has only seen men run in this fashion for two reasons. 

Inspector Amar is on the lookout for the man who shot his foster father; word comes in that Robert was seen with Anthony. And so Amar goes to visit Anthony. 

 

Alas, that doesn’t end well for Anthony.

 

On the way to court, Anthony is kidnapped; he meets a man who asks him about Robert. A handful of chilli powder, a whirring fan, a quick fight later, Anthony is back in jail. But he is puzzled. 

 

Learning that Robert had shot the Superintendent of police (Amar's foster father) Anthony is quick to take Amar to his hideout under the Church. Only, Robert has flown the coop, and the Father is very angry with Anthony. He advises Anthony to find a good girl and settle down. Even as Anthony is telling the priest what sort of a girl he would like to marry, Robert’s daughter Jenny, who has been brought up by Kishenlal, is arriving in Bombay. 

And Anthony, meeting her in church, falls head over heels in love with her.

 

He even woos her with a song; only she is guarded by Zebisco, a man who takes ‘body' guard a bit too literally. Leading to what is possibly the best comedy scene of all time…

Soon the brothers are singing and romancing their respective lady loves – in a boat, in a horse chariot, on a train, on the beach, in the garden…

 

But Taiyab Ali has Akbar beaten up by thugs; Zebisco is intent on marrying Jenny, and is willing to broker a deal with Robert toward that end; and Ranjeet is still at large; in fact, he has joined Robert’s gang. Meanwhile, Bharati is under the impression that her husband and sons are dead; Kishenlal presumes Bharati is dead, and his sons missing. Jenny, Robert’s daughter, considers Robert her father’s murderer, but learns that the man she is marrying is one of Kishenlal's missing sons. The brothers are merrily crossing paths with each other, and with their parents without knowing who they really are.

Anthony gets to become a scarecrow and a fake priest, while Akbar gets to pretend to be his own uncle. And Amar stands in for an entire wedding band. Confused much? (Idle comment No.3: It says much for Manmohan Desai's firm grip over the direction and Prayag Raj's writing ability that the many disparate strands eventually became a cohesive whole.)  

 

Will Kishenlal reunite with Bharati and his sons? Will Jenny go back to her real father and hate Kishenlal for abducting her? Will Taiyeb Ali allow Akbar to marry Salma? Will son punish his father for his foster-father's death? And will someone tell me who thought up the plot line (such as it is)?  

This was a film that demanded that you not only suspend disbelief, but also forget what ‘logic’ meant. With a frontline cast of Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan (the heroines, Parveen Babi, Neetu Singh and Shabana Azmi were mere eye candy), Manmohan Desai took the audience on a rollicking rollercoaster ride of implausibility. But it was so quick-paced, and the editing (Kamlakar) so controlled, that you had no time to say ‘Huh, what?!’ before all hell breaks loose in a madcap finale, to the musical accompaniment by Akbar – talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burnt.

Vinod Khanna had the most sedate role as Amar, but it was important because his sobriety balanced Amitabh’s over-the-top Anthony. However, he gets to exhibit his fun side in the climax when he proceeds to show up as a one-man band, playing in accompaniment to the brothers' song. 

Rishi-Neetu’s Akbar-Salma pairing was probably the cutest love story in the mix. Akbar, as the entertainer, also had the pick of the film’s songs – from the foot-tapping quawwali Purdah hai purdah to the (real) eunuch-accompanied Taiyeb Ali pyar ka dushman  to the mellifluous Sai Bhajan Shirdi waale Sai Baba. (Idle comment no.4: Please watch the twin flames emanate from Saibaba’s eyes and proceed toward Bharati’s without falling over laughing.)

Akbar wore colourful lungis and floral shirts and prayer caps with such insouciance that he made it fashionable. A thread-like mouche and chewing paan had never looked so cool before.

But the film truly belonged to Amitabh Bachchan. He legitimised, nay, celebrated the use of Bambaiyya Hindi, and his characterisation gave Hindi films one of its most enduring (and endearing) characters – Anthony Gonsalvez. Whether it was his jack-in-the-box impersonation out of an Easter Egg (dressed in a caricature of formal tails and white gloves) or his Father Anthony, complete with grey beard, cassock and rosary, his loud wooing of his Jenny (a beautiful Parveen Babi) or his sympathetic bandaging of his reflection in the mirror – Amitabh was beyond awesome! No one ever scaled those heights of slapstick quite so seriously before. And he fought well (and only lost to his older brother), and danced, and romanced, and cried a little bit too.

The film crowned Amitabh Bachchan as an ‘One Man Variety Show’ as Ramesh Sippy called him. He was no longer the ‘Angry Young Man’ alone. His flair for comedy had been exploited before, most notably by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, but it was Manmohan Desai who gave him a vehicle that revealed his flair for absurdity. Amar Akbar Anthony was a comedy of errors – on high speed. 

Add Pran, Nirupa Roy, Jeevan, and Helen in a cameo, a plethora of hummable songs, including the completely absurd My name is Anthony Gonsalvez interspersed with even more absurd English dialogues, and you had a ‘to-tul taime pass’ film on your hands. 

Call it improbable, implausible, impossible even, but the absolutely escapist fare left the audience gasping breathlessly in the aisles – if this was mindless entertainment, then ladle out some more!

Trivia: Rishi Kapoor shopped for his famous see-through shirts and netted vests at Bombay’s Fashion Street, and for chappals from Linking Road, Bandra, to become the young Muslim quawwal Akbar Illahabadi. 

Parveen Babi was in splits when a journalist, accompanied by a photographer from Filmfare went to interview her during the shooting. A combination of his first name and the photographer’s last name was the name of Mukri’s character in the film – Taiyeb Ali.

Amitabh’s comic monologues in the middle of My name is Anthony Gonsalvez were his own creation, and his idea. The original character was named Anthony Fernandez, and based on a man whom director Manmohan Desai knew in his youth. Somehow the name didn’t catch anyone’s fancy, and when Laxmikant-Pyarelal were scoring the music, it was their suggestion that the last name be changed to Gonsalvez – thus paying tribute to Pyarelal’s old violin teacher, and an important, but unknown film musician, the real Anthony Gonsalvez.

ps: I’m sorry to inform bollyviewer that Nirupa Roy was at the heights of carelessness in this film; she misplaced not one, not two, but three children!

pps: Some shots of the eyecandy; sorry, heroines. 

 

And some of the glorious yesteryear men’s fashions. (Did I mention they were ‘cool’?)