JAWAAN (2023) : review

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And finally the much hyped, much awaited Jawaan saw light of the day ! Big stars, big budget( humongous budget actually), big music composer, everything super large. But does it meet the expectations of the average viewer? No it goes not. Read on.  A decorated jawan locks horns with a criminal called Kaali, this is in 1986 ( the year movies like Aakhri Raasta released, just for reference). Kaali gets him eliminated and send the pregnant wife to jail. The baby born in jail grows up to become the hero (look alike of the father) and decides to avenge the misdeeds done to his innocent patriotic parents. Well, isn’t it a masaaledaar full on Bollywood- Tollywood drama subject ?  And then the director Atlee also borrows ideas and references from various retro movies, some idea from Sholay (1975) as the hero assembled a gang of jailed Qaidis in order to form a team to nab the villain, then there’s an entire episode borrowed from Dhartiputra (1993), and the basic theme is copy pasted from Kaml
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RETRO BOLLYWOOD HALLOWEEN

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RETRO BOLLYWOOD HALLOWEEN : with Halloween fever round the corner, revisiting five retro horror movies from the Ramsay house that deserve a reviewing. 

Guest House(1980): set in a chilling hill station with a spooky guest house at its premise, there’s a chopped hand on a killing spree that keeps the cops on a hot trail. The murder count keeps increasing and the lead hero joins the investigation. Chilling, mysterious and deadly! Ramsay’s in their great form, with veteran Premnath lending his ‘hand’ along with Vijendra Ghatge and the voluptuous Padmini Kapila adding some spark. Bappi Lahiri added some melodious non disco music to the horror proceedings. 
Cast/ Vijendra Ghatge, Prem Kishen, Padmini Kapila, Premnath, Madhu Kapoor, Komilla Virk, Narendranath, Neelam Mehra & others. 

Hotel (1981): what happens when a group of selfish builders build an hotel on a cemetery? The spirits rise and how ! The hotel gets haunted and the occupants run for their lives, with apparitions arising out of all corners its mayhem time. This time the music by usha khanna was really hummable, the cast comprising the good (Navin Nishchal, Rakesh Roshan), the bad(Ranjeet) and the ugly(the countless ghosts) did a fine job. There’s a repetitive comedy angle that is best ignored. 
Cast/ Navin Nishchal, Rakesh Roshan, Bindiya Goswami, Ranjeet, Prem Kishen, Rajendranath, Prema Narayan, Neelam Mehra & others. 

Dak Bangla(1987): a manager moves into a mansion along with his family as a part of his new job, not realising that the bungalow has a deadly dark secret hidden in its dungeon, a preserved mummy thirsty for human blood! Marc Zuber with his British accent marvels in his role, with an overdose of graphic violence and sex the fast forward button was a blessing in video days. The climax was very well conceptualised by the director Keshu Ramsay. While Rajan Sippy and Swapna romanced on screen, Ranjeet excelled in his stereotyped lecherous villain role. 
Cast/ Marc Zuber, Rajan Sippy, Swapna, Nazneen, Ranjeet, Mazhar Khan, Leena Das, Bhakti Bhansali, Sujit Kumar, Imtiaz Khan & others. 

Purani Haveli(1989): a group of college students visit a Haveli for picnic, a monster who’s held captive is set loose by one of the students and a bloodbath starts leading to a dramatic climax in a church. Deepak Parasher, Amita Nangia and their group of listless college kids look dull in comparison to the bloodthirsty monster played by Manek Irani. There was an alternate comedy track involving Satish Shah in a double role and thankfully it wasn’t irritating. 
Cast/ Deepak Parasher, Amita Nangia, Tej Sapru, Vijay Arora, Shehnaaz, Satish Shah, Tina Ghai, Sikander, Manek Irani, Neelam Mehra, Anil Dhawan, & others 

Bandh Darwaza(1990): remember the vampire Nevla from Kaali Pahadi with his blood red eyes hunting for a victim? Anirudh Agarwal exuded just the right amount of fierce and murderous streak needed for his role. Action, romance, comedy, and generous emotional quotient made this horror fare watchable. Music by Anand Milind was passable but a strong cast (Vijendra Ghatge) helped the content to smooth progression. 
Cast/ Hashmat Khan, Manjeet Khullar, Vijendra Ghatge, Anirudh Agarwal, Satish Kaul, Kunika, Aruna Irani, Johnny Lever, Anita Sareen, & others. 


All the above (except Dak Bangla) are directed by Tulsi Ramsay and Shyam Ramsay. Dak Bangla is directed by Keshu Ramsay. 

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