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Showing posts with the label retro Bollywood

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 ...
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Flashback# Retro Bollywood Suspense Dramas

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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...
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Revisiting Jai Santoshi Maa(1975)

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Jai Santoshi Maa(1975) revisited  Little known facts related to the sleeper hit Jai Santoshi Maa(1975) being revisited during the auspicious occasion of Navratri.  Made on a shoestring budget with almost unknown actors the movie made a net adjusted profit of ₹5 crore at that time 1975-76. Calculate the equivalent as on today.  This small budget mythological family drama was released on 15- August 1975 the same day as Sholay.  That year the movie ranked second as the highest grossing blockbuster after Sholay.  It leaped ahead in terms of profit and overall business accumulated as compared to big budget movies like Dharmatma, Deewar, Sanyasi, Do Jhoot and Pratigya that year.  Produced by moneybags Sathram Rohara, he laughed all the way to the cash counters making bumper profit.  The music was a chartbuster that year and is still played at NavRatri Utsav and DUSSEHRA. Composed by C Arjun the songs were sung by Lata Mangeshkar’s under-utilised little sist...
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(Temporary Backup) Sankoch (1976) revisited

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SANKOCH (1976) revisited  Director- Anil Ganguly  Cast- Jeetendra, Sulakshana Pandit, Om Shivpuri, A K Hangal, Vikram, Aruna Irani, I S Johar, Jankidas, Preeti Ganguly.  Ganguly is known for his women centric path breaking movies like Kora Kagaz(1974) and Tapasya(1976) among others, Sankoch(1976) is one of his rare classic tale adapted from the 1914 published novella ‘Parineeta’ penned by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay(whose movie adaptations I’ve savoured the most during April lockdown).  The story has the fragrance of innocent blooming love, deceit, one sided silent love, regret, loyalty and the poignant heartbreak. Ganguly has beautifully woven these emotions around a pleasantly romantic storyline. The childhood sweethearts Shekhar and Lolita exchange garlands and innocently declare themselves man and wife, unknowingly to the drastically unexpected turns their love story would encounter due to an age old family ‘transaction’ between the elders. There is also the boy...
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