Some retro Bollywood classics deserve a revisit/ rewatch specially on a lonesome afternoon, revisiting five suspense drama films from the bygone era with that classic Bollywood touché
Bees saal baad(1962) by Biren Nag
Biswajeet Chatterji, Waheeda Rehman, Madan Puri and Manmohan Krishna.
When you watch it you’ll realise it’s inspired from the west, no points for guessing the original but the Hindi remake has its plus points. A series of murders take place during chilling nights in a village, the beautiful Biswajeet Chatterji visits the crime scene only to be pursued murderously by the killer. The Lata Mangeshkar haunting melody ‘Kahin Deep Jale’ only added more intrigue to the mystery factor. This thriller turned out to be the highest grossing blockbuster of that year.
Woh kaun thi(1964) by Raj Khosla
Manoj Kumar, Sadhana, Praveen Choudhary and Prem Chopra.
A young man driving through a rainy stormy night attends to a lady in white who asks for a lift. She gets down at a cemetery and vanishes! He’s haunted by her and a murder spree begins. There’s also a lookalike of the mystery lady, the complexities of the well etched script are resolved during the blood shed climax. Gorgeous Sadhana played the mystery girl to perfection with her fringe and sardonic smirk adding the much needed charm. Lata’s haunting songs ‘Lag Ja Gale Se’ ‘Naina Barse Rimjhim’ ‘Jo Humne Dastaan Apni’ are popular even today.
Kohraa (1964) by Biren Nag
Biswajeet Chatterji, Waheeda Rehman and Lalita Pawar and Abhi Bhattacharya.
Did you say ‘Rebecca’? Nah its Waheeda here along with Biswajit. A young bride shifts to her husband’s palatial mansion only to be haunted by the memories of the man’s dead wife. ‘Jhoom Jhoom Dhalti Raat’ ‘Yeh Nayan Dare’ ‘O Beqarar Dil’ smoothly carry the mysterious tale forward with their lilting melodies. It’s the veteran Lalita Pawar delivering a hard core chilling performance.
Gumnaam(1965) By Raja Nawathe
Manoj Kumar, Nanda Karnataki, Mehmood, Helen, Pran and Tarun Bose.
The title track of this suspense thriller is still Hummed across the globe so is the foot tapping club song ‘Jaan Pehchan ho’. A group of strangers win a trip abroad but get isolated on a haunted island when the plane breaks down. Soon they are murdered one by one and finally we realise ‘And then there were none’! Pran and Mehmood essay their parts with perfection and the lovely Helen charms with her sex appeal and beachside cabaret.
Dhund (1973) by B R Chopra
Sanjay Khan, Zeenat Aman, Navin Nishchol, Danny Dengzongpa
If you find the concept similar to an Agatha Christie story then we ain’t complaining. Adaptation is excellent here, an eccentric handicapped man is brutally murdered, the suspects include his family members who were ill treated by him including his sexy young wife. An investigation begins leading to several dark secrets from the past popping out like skeletons from the cupboard. Navin Nishchol and Sanjay Khan looked gentlemanly and sex symbol Zeenat Aman managed to stay expressionless but it was Danny Dengzongpa in a career defining breakthrough performance towering over everyone else.
It’s a pity we don’t get to see such spine chilling suspense movies today, that atmosphere of a fog filled hill station, stormy night, women in white, characters displaying fear anxiety and anger through their kohl lines eyes and above all those haunting melodies! Almost extinct like the dinosaurs today.
Comments
Post a Comment