The 1980's Box Office Topper Challenge.

I was clicking around the wonderful timewaster that is BoxOfficeIndia, and it suddenly hit me: I still remained largely uneducated when it came to 1980's Hindi films. Of course, I'll be the first person to admit my ignorance towards certain large portions of Indian film history and the reasons why that is - I watch what I like, and don't believe in watching classics just because they're classics (classics I'm curious to see I'll naturally watch). So I spend my time delving deep into filmographies of favourites but not so much the actors who I haven't really become a fan of.

Fans, critics and academics alike tend to be in agreement that the 1980's was not a very fruitful time in mainstream Hindi film. The stars of the 70's were getting old, but still making films. There were new stars, too, but in terms of film makers, the stories they chose to tell, or the genres they told them in, just weren't very fresh. The real generation change happened in the late 80's; Maine Pyaar Kiya with Salman Khan, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak with Aamir Khan. Of course, it'd also be a gross exaggeration to say that 80's commercial Hindi films are universally hated or looked down upon. There are gems during any decade, and fantastic new talent, too. It's perhaps more the fact that creative energy wasn't so abundant as to give the 80's Hindi films their own, distinct look. 70's had interesting, socially conscious masala, and 90's brought on a wave of fluffy family entertainment. What's the 80's "mold"? Out-and-out action?

Whatever it may be, I got curious, thinking about this gap in my own knowledge, and decided to launch my own investigation into the top grossers from each year of the decade (based on the figures from BoxOfficeIndia.com). The list is, as follows:

1980 - Qurbani (Vinod Khanna, Feroz Khanna)

1981 - Kranti (Dilip Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Hema Malini)

1982 - Vidhaata (Dilip Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Amrish Puri)

1983 - Himmatwala (Jeetendra, Sridevi)

1984 - Tohfa (Jeetendra, Sridevi)

1985 - Ram Teri Ganga Maili (Rajiv Kapoor, Divya Rana)

1986 - Karma (Dilip Kumar, Sridevi, Naseeruddin Shah etc)

1987 - Hukumat (Dharmendra)

1988 - Tezaab (Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit)

1989 - Maine Pyaar Kiya (Salman Khan, Bhagyashree)

I've already sought out most of these, and two of them I own (Qurbani and MPK). It'll be an interesting ride, and I'll try to watch and blog about all of these before the end of the year. A fair warning: I may have to watch a lot of these without the help of English subtitles, which will naturally colour my views and overall understanding of the film.

But I'm willing to take the plunge, so hey, bring on the 80's!

Pinnilavu - dipping my toe into Malayalam waters..

There are moments when you realise how overwhelmingly vast this simple thing called "Indian film industry" is. I've seen around 50 Tamil films and consider myself a fan of them, but those 50 films are not enough to cover any sort of range where I'd recognise all the key players - in those relative terms, I'm still very much a newbie. Hindi films are a ground which I've mastered walking on by now; I know stars both past and present and even though I've got gaps in my knowledge, I'm relatively well-versed by now.

To jump into Malayalam films, which I mostly know through the Hindi remakes, was not scary, though. I considered it more a great opportunity, and I am eternally grateful that I know somebody in my own home town who can borrow me some of her DVD's. Sadly, this friend (let's call her Stimpy by her online pseudonym) was still going through a move and didn't yet have her DVD collection in order, so I ended up taking home a rather random selection of Malayalam films, rather than just films she would've recommended.

So it happened that my first 'commercial' Malayalam film was Pinnilavu (1983), a family drama starring Mammootty as the wayward son of Madhu. 

To see Mallu films' biggest star in his young, still fit-looking avatar, was quite interesting. However, I subsequently discovered that the Golden Age of Malayalam cinema only began in 1984 or so - clearly this film was not a classic, and it showed. The role Mammootty plays is rather simplistic. The son, Unni, enters medical school and starts hanging out with the wrong crowd, who use their money to get alcohol, lounge around reading dirty books and magazines, and playing cards. The father obviously disapproves of this, as does Unni's beloved, played by Poornima Jayaram. That's about the extent of the plot.

The problem I found with the film was precisely the simplicity of this central dilemma. The actions of Unni and the disapproval from his father are so downright understandable - they're not just your typical generational misunderstandings. Unni neglects his studies, rather than just having fun in the way that university students normally have fun amongst themselves, and behaves very disrespectfully in all accounts. The lack of greys here really does the story a disservice.

Mohanlal's role as the leader of this gang of young men living irresponsibly is smaller, and not too important; I suppose this was from his period of playing mostly negative characters. He gets to dance in a song sequence, with immoral drinking! Terrible!

There aren't too many songs in the film, but the first one is a legend in and of itself; it is the only song where Mammootty dances! And oh dear oh dear, what moves he possesses:

The elbow dance!

This is the gif you'll want to save, and savour. (You're welcome.)

This is perfection. 

(Note: I do not post these to mock the man. He's obviously a popular actor well worth his reputation. I can understand why he chose not to dance in later movies .. and obviously most of the blame lies with the choreographer. Sometimes all dance, no matter how lacking in skill, can be enjoyable. So I absolutely cherish this number!)

Pinnilavu certainly ended up an underwhelming film experience, but of course, I'm going to keep watching Malayalam films. I want to see a decent amount - maybe something will catch my interest further than just this academic interest in discovering a regional industry, its tropes, styles and stories. I believe my taste is pretty similar to that of my friend's, so when I get to see some of her favourites, I'll probably know whether I am into Mallu films on the whole or whether Tamil remains my favourite Southie industry.

One thing I did notice was the relative smallness of this industry. It's clear that it's not big in terms of budgets or even story - Pinnilavu was a small story about family, no sweeping epic. The locations were also limited and seemed very ordinary, in a sense. 

And yes, while Mammootty and Mohanlal do conform to the stereotype of Southie heroes being older and pudgy, unlike the handsome, often physically fit Hindi heroes, I am over this prejudice. In the end, what matters is the acting, and whether they impress me with that. Hopefully, in the future, they or other Malayalam actors do!

I'm not sure why I uploaded this screencap of a shirtless Mammootty but I suppose it's as good as any a note to end on.

Nayagan, and a treatise on the Maniratnam biopic.

Nayagan (alternative spelling Nayakan, Hindi dubbed version titled Velu Nayakan) is often called one of the greatest Maniratnam and indeed one of the greatest Indian films of all time (it even earned a mention on TIME magazine's 100 Best Films of All Time), so it's rather odd that I get to this film so late in my film-watching career. It's even lauded as India's answer to Hollywood legendary The Godfather. Nayagan, in short, is an epic tale of criminal glory throughout generations, a story of an orphan boy, who ends up a hero for the poor community Tamil-speakers in Mumbai, regularly discriminated by various people in power. It's a tale of good and evil, and the hopelessness that drives people to cheat the system, and the contradictions of this criminality.

I suppose it makes sense that I only got around to watching this film now, because I've recently realised how strange my relationship is to Maniratnam (or Mani Ratnam, if you prefer). I began watching his films, thoroughly impressed with every aspect - the wild visuality that usually accompanies gorgeous A.R. Rahman songs, the strong, performance-driven stories, and the popular tackling of certain, heavier subjects. I was shocked by Dil Se, moved to tears by Bombay, and adored Alaipayuthe madly. Then something happened. I liked Guru, but did not love it; I was certainly impressed by Iruvar, but again, it didn't make it into my favourites; Kannathil Muthamittal was pretty good, I suppose, but I was just kind of lukewarm about it.

It's as if I moved from feeling Maniratnam's stories on a purely emotional, raw level to just appreciating the competent film-making from him. There are good performances in the films that did not make it into my favourites - I love Aishwarya in Guru and Iruvar, Madhavan was great in Kannathil Muthamittal, Prakash Raaj in Iruvar blew my mind - but overall I would rate none of these as favourites. Out of all these films, I think I like Raavanan the best, and even so, I think what I appreciate most about it are the performances, and the way its cast play off one another. The story is good, but could be better, and somehow ends up secondary.

So where does Nayagan fit in, then? While watching, I suddenly realised that this was where Maniratnam's real life inspired biopic career began, and also understood what binds all the male protagonist-centric biopics that he's done so far: the hero who breaks the law, but wins people over. There is a scene in Nayagan, where a police officer is eager to nail the main character, Velu, who's risen up the underworld rank to be a don of sorts, so he interviews those ordinary people closest to Velu. The common people won't betray Velu, however; he is their hero. Contrast this to the scene in Raavan/an where the exasperated Dev  hears from villagers how amazing Veera/Beera is in their eyes - the similarity is crystal clear. In Guru, Abhishek's character may be corrupt, but this corruption helps him succeed, so it is not condemned by the film's narrative.

Maniratnam's heroes are folk heroes, not revered by the institutions of the state, but by the people - there's an almost naive populism to them, but at the same time you can't fault him. The characters are all based on real people, who are also held up as heroes despite their crimes. Perhaps, instead of thinking about any kind of moral message woven into these stories, one should instead admire the lack of moralism - for better or worse, the films all present both sides of the story.

So I didn't fall in love with Nayagan, but was instead fascinated by this common thread that the film started in Maniratnam's career. There are other interesting things, too, though. Kamal Hassan, who I've always found charming and a good actor, does excellent in the role of the steadfast criminal, torn at times by his understanding that what he does is against the law. I've never been the biggest fan of Kamal, but in here he is at his very best: commanding the screen with such a presence that it's impossible not to pay close attention. The portrayal of the Tamil community is interesting as well - the sense of being outsiders in Bombay, despite being in their homeland, and the discrimination that comes from this, as well as their poorness, helps explain why Velu does become such a revered hero to them.

The songs are gentle and lovely Ilayaraja compositions and P.C. Sriram's cinematography showcases Bombay beautifully. Karthika, the Malayalam actress playing Velu's daughter Charumani, was a definite stand-out, so I was surprised to see the actress having a film career shorter than five years, retiring at a time when her career was reaching its peak. Sigh, the choices actresses have to make between a marriage and a career..

Another interesting performance was by a very young Nasser, as the police officer doing his damnest to catch Velu in the later parts of the film. Every bit as intense as Nasser's later performances!

Nayagan is a classic, but it is another one of those films I'd be forced to recommend purely on the strength of the performances. This film just didn't quite move me, didn't quite speak to me - I understand it might have a different appeal to different people, for different reasons. As such, I merely liked it, and would rate it among Maniratnam's best films - however, I'd still prefer the gut-wrenching Bombay, or the beautiful, equally well-made biopic Raavanan over it. These are purely personal picks, admittedly. 

Pushpak(a Vinamam) - the silent movie that speaks.

The title for this review comes from the boast written on my VCD's cover - one that was sent to me by Ramsu, who I am indebted to for telling me about this film in the first place and later providing me with a copy.

The boast is about right, for Singeetham Srinivasa Rao's Pushpak (occasionally going by its full title Pushpaka Vimanam) does manage to convey volumes without any dialogue. It's a black comedy with a social conscious, and though it contains a couple of symbolic moments that aren't precisely subtle, it all the same manages to entertain and provoke thought. The title card comes up in Telugu, as do the credits, but as the film is silent, it's essentially without language, relying on background music indicating certain things and gestures to work as primary communication between characters.

The title also has a Hindu mythological meaning, for pushpaka vimanam or "flowery chariot" is the flying chariot that Raavan stole and eventually rode on. Inside the film, there's a titular luxury hotel with the same name - a hotel whose owner used to just run a tea stall, the film seems to imply.

The nameless unemployed young man (Kamal Hassan) seems rather fed up with his existence when he stumbles upon a drunkard millionaire. In a rather twisted turn of events, he holds the millionaire captive in his small apartment while he lives it up at the Pushpak hotel, in room 3035, using the millionaire's money to make himself more presentable to a girl he likes (Amala), a magician's daughter. He's blissfully unaware that a hitman has been hired to kill the man who rooms in room 3035 of the Pushpak hotel..

Young Kamal is in this as I usually find him: absolutely effortless in his acting, rather likable and charming, but still not quite to push him into the category of favourites in my eyes. He is perfect for the role, though - starting out a little pathetic, then flamboyant in his rich turnabout. The romance with magician's daughter rather adorable, but the best part is the magician himself, whose little tricks kept me laughing out loud. The killer was also bizarrely hilarious. I won't name his weapon of choice, but it's really quite priceless.

If I had to level a criticism at the movie, it's slow-moving at times. This is probably a feature of the era more than a deliberate choice, though.

The social consciousness that the film possesses is of a world where money matters. We see Kamal's character hopelessly seeking a job in a market where there are only a few available, and a mass to vie for those available positions. Money buys him temporary status, but it's a rather hollow one. The character of the beggar, pictured here, is central to this motif. Much like the other well-remembered 80's black comedy with a social consciousness, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, this film lives in a rather grim world.

The dichotomy is strange, but interesting: the film pushes you to consider all these things, but at the same time provides pure entertainment.

Naseeb - or thoughts on various negative factors.

Naseeb, a 1981 Manmohan Desai masala has it all, like a typical Desai masala would - the name means destiny, and there's a heavy sense of that, familial bonds breaking and being tied back together, epic dosti, lots of messy love and villains galore. There's Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor, Hema Malini and Shatrughan Sinha. There's funky fashion, kickassery, cool women and people falling out of windows onto two-decker busses:

Yeah.

The plot goes a little something like this; Daddy'O (played by Pran, not the character's actual name but work with me here, I'm lazy) gets screwed over by his two friends (Amjad Khan, Kader Khan) and framed for murder. His friends become rich villains with evil sons, lairs and fancy stuff. Daddy'O flees the country, assumed dead or something. Amjad Khan's son Vicky (Shatrughan) is a successful businessman who is returning from London to India to meet his father and his friend Johnny (Amitabh), incidentally Daddy'O's son. The friends fall for the same girl, Asha (Hema Malini), while Vicky's childhood friend (Reena Roy) is hopelessly infatuated with him. Meanwhile, Johnny's younger bhai Sunny (Rishi Kapoor) romances Asha's younger sister, villains plot away, Amrish Puri makes an appearance.

But even though I liked the movie, and all it's zany components, I wasn't in love with it. So what gives?

By Hercules and his tight velvet vest, I can't figure it out. Then I screencapped the movie and it hit me - the DVD just may be really crappy. The BABA DVD makes all the colours look drab, and the film appear more meandering and dull than it actually was.

Or maybe it is the period? This is early 80's, not late 70's and in Hindi films, that can actually make a world of difference. Maybe the film, as it was shot, was not as full of colour and exciting visuals, somehow darker in tone (literally, not metaphorically).

Because try as I might, I can't say there's anything particularly wrong with the film. Hema's character is pretty fun, Amitabh's is a little too Anthony throwback-like but then again, who cares? Rishi plays far too small a role but is still good and the plot has enough drama and twists in-tact.

And the amount of classic villain actors in this movie is mind-boggling! Amrish Puri, Pran, Shakti Kapoor, Amjad Khan, Kader Khan, oh my. Desai loves his plentiful villains (see also: Dharam-Veer) and I love him for it!

And in the first song we get the proto-type of Om Shanti Om's Deewangi Deewangi (ie. star guest appearances galore!), where Amitabh's character learns the First Rule of Dharmendra - Don't mess with Dharmendra.

And you got fashion like Shatrughan fishing in cowboy gear (what all sophisticated Englishmen do), or ..

Hema being excessively sparkly.

Okay, so maybe the problem doesn't lie with the fact that this movie is unexciting on the Desai Masala-meter, but rather that it just doesn't fall in line with some of my other overwhelmingly amazing Desai favourites, like Dharam-Veer or Parvarish or AAA. And it's not really so much a flaw as it is a shame - I'll rewatch this movie but mostly for the songs.

But seriously, if you can avoid it, don't buy the BABA DVD of this. It makes me sad to think the bad DVD might've affected my Desai enjoyment and I don't want that to happen to anybody else!

Kyyhkyläiset - the lovebirds. Maine Pyaar Kiya.

Voi väärin perustein tuomittu kahdeksankymmentäluku. Olihan sinullakin hetkesi. Kun ensimmäisen kerran kahlasin tämän klassisen melodramaattisen sokerihötön läpi, oli keskiyö ja viittä vaille syntymäpäiväni. Muistaakseni imeskelin piparminttukarkkeja ja kylvin Maine Pyaar Kiya:n (1989, suomeksi "Rakastuin..") juhlaisassa kasarimeiningissä aamukolmeen asti. Joskus hyviin synttäribileisiin tarvitaan vain itse sankari ja paidaton Salman Khan. [Oh the 80's, so mistakenly judged. You too had your moments. When I first waded through this classic, melodramatic sugarfluff, it was midnight and some minutes before my birthday. If I recall correctly, I was sucking on peppermint candy and bathing in the festive 80's happenings of Maine Pyaar Kiya (1989, trans: I fell in love..). Sometimes in order to have a great birthday bash all you need is the celebrant themself and a shirtless Salman Khan.]

Elokuva alkaa epäluontevasti suomennettavalla lauseella, "Jokainen rakastuu johonkuhun ... jotenkin ..." mutta on mietteen epämääräisyydestä huolimatta myönnettävä, että näinhän se on. Porukka rakastuu. Suman (Bhagyashree elämänsä roolissa, koska raukka ei oikein muuta tullut tehneeksi valkokankaalla) pääsee viettämään aikaa köyhän isänsä ystävän luona, ja eikös ystävysty itsekin perheen pojan Premin (nuori Salman Khan!) kanssa. Prem on tietty kaikkien yleisten sääntöjen mukaan siisti, moderni jätkä, ja Suman hieman perinteisemmin kasvatettu tyttö. Ken arvaa mitä tapahtuu seuraavaksi? [The film begins with a sentence very awkwardly translated into Finnish, but despite its vagueness, it's a true enough statement. People fall in love. Suman (Bhagyashree in the role of her life, since the poor thing didn't really get up to much more on the silver screen) gets to spend time with the friend of her poor father, and happens to befriend Prem (young Salman Khan!), the son of the family herself. Prem is of course, according to all conventions, a cool, modern dude, and Suman a little more traditionally raised girl. Who can guess what happens next?]

Ystävyydessä ei legendaarisen lausuman mukaan ole anteeksipyytelyä tai kiittelyä. Näin filosofisista pohdinnoista päästään tietty raiskaajapahiksen (Mohnish Behl) julmaan yleistykseen, etteivät tytöt ja pojat voi ikinä olla vain ystäviä keskenään, vaan jotain makuuhuonemenoa on pakko olla (ja miksi ketään kiinnostaa tän äijän näkemykset maailman asioista? se ampuu kyyhkysiä huvikseen ja raiskaa muijia bileissä! oikeesti, hei!). Premia ja Sumania nolottaa lievästi, koska eroottisin asia mitä he ovat tähän mennessä puuhailleet on jonkun voiteen levittäminen kipeälle nilkalle. Niinpä Prem päättää lähteä pois (tai jotain) ja Suman joutuu halailemaan kyyhkystä noin kuuden minuutin laulun verran. [In friendship, according to the legendary saying, there is no saying sorry or thank you. From these philosophical musings we come to the cruel generalization of the baddie-rapist (Mohnish Behl), that girls and boys can never be friends with one another, there's always something in the bedroom department (and why does anybody care what this guy thinks about matters of the world? he shoots pidgeons for fun and rapes girls at parties! really, now!). Prem and Suman are pretty embarrassed, because the most erotic thing they've done so far is spreading some cream on a hurt ankle. So Prem decides to go away (or something) and Suman has to embrace a pidgeon for one six minute long song.]

No ei nyt sentään. Kyyhkyskaveri tietty lähtee pois, vie kirjeen ja rakastetut löytävät hetkellisen onnen (2-3 laulun ajaksi), kunnes pahikset syyttävät Sumania onnenonkijaksi ja hänen on palattava isänsä luo. Isä tuntee itsensä häväistyksi (jaahas), Prem ilmestyy paikalle todistelemaan rakkauttaan, ja jo tunnin kuluttua elokuva loppuukin mukavasti. [Well, not really. Pidgeonbuddy naturally goes away, delivers the letter and the lovebirds find momentary happiness (for the duration of 2-3 songs), until the baddies accuse Suman of being a gold-digger and she has to return to her father. Father feels dishonored (righto), Prem appears to prove his love, and in an hour's time already the movie ends nicely.]

Voisin tiivistellä juonta enemmänkin mutta on painavampia asioita käsiteltävänä! Kuten... [I could sum up the plot some more but there are things of more imporance to go through. Such as...]

Paidaton Salman! (Aika helmi kollaasi tuolla seinällä. Sisustusprojekti!) [Shirtless Salman! (What a gem of a collage on that wall. Home deco project!]

Hikipannat! [Sweatbands!]

Pidän MPK:sta oikeasti tosi paljon. Se on ainoa Rajshri -elokuva, jossa perinteisiä perhearvoja ei tuomiteta aivoihin sähkövasaran avulla, vaan annetaan nuorten hahmojen rakkaustarinan voittaa puolelleen ja sitten revitään heitä melodramaattisesti erilleen juuri sopivasti. Suman on ehdottomasti perinteinen naishahmo, jolle siveys on kaikki kaikessa, ja vanhempien kunnioitus, uskonnollisuus ja muut tähän hahmotyyppiin kuuluvat piirteet ovat selkärangassa, ja pahikset ja hyvikset tunnistaa juuri näiden arvojen kautta. Pahis on länsimaalaistunut, joka juo ja polttaa ja on tuo itseään ilmiselvästi seksuaalisesti esiin. Hyvis, varsinkin naispuolinen sellainen, on seksuaalisesti pidättyväinen; he ovat äitejä ja siveitä tyttäriä. [I genuinely like MPK a lot. It's the only Rajshri movie where the traditional family values aren't delivered to your brain using an electric hammer, but the love story of the young characters wins you over and then the lovers are torn apart melodramatically, just the right amount. Suman is definitely a traditional type of female character, to whom chastity is everything and respecting elders, piety and other traits of this archetype are in her backbone, and bad guys and the good guys can be recognized clearly through these values. The baddie is westernized, who drinks and smokes and blatantly brings our their sexuality. The goody, especially female such, is sexually demure; they are mothers and chaste daughters.]

Voisi kuvitella, että näin ollen rakkauden lihallinen puoli loistaisi poissaolollaan, mutta tässä kohdin vähemmän hienovarainen symboliikka astuu kuvaan. Koko ajan Prem hiplaa Sumanin kasvoja jollain esineellä kuin Mughal-e-Azamissa ikään, oli esine sitten kukka tai jääpala. Toisella katselukerralla oikein yllätyin tästä elokuvan puolesta. [You would think that because of this, the carnal side of love would be non-existant but in this instance, not-so-subtle symbolism steps into frame. Most of the time Prem is feeling Suman's face up with some object like this is Mughal-e-Azam, whether the object in question is a flower or an ice cube. On the second viewing I was quite surprised by this aspect of the film.]

Hyvin mielenkiintoinen on myös kohta, jossa Suman omaksuu rakastuneen naisen identiteetin pukeutumalla sariin ja päästämällä pitkät kutrinsa avoimeksi hiusmassaksi. Se kuvaa yhtä lailla kasvamista tytöstä naiseksi kuin myös valmistautumista vaimon rooliin, joka on tietysti myös seksuaalinen. [The bit where Suman assumes the identity of a woman in love by wearing a sari and letting her hair loose into a mass of hair against her back, is also very interesting. It depicts growing up from a girl to a woman as well as preparing for the role of the wife, which is of course also sexual.]

Toisaalta saatan vain olla jonkinlaisessa häiriintyneessä hormonitilassa. Puolustukseni on sanottava, että kemia pääosien esittäjien välillä yksinkertaisesti toimii. Sinänsä vain hyvä, että elokuva jäi Bhagyashreen ja Salmanin ainoaksi yhteiseksi; harvinainen yhdistelmä jää ansaitusti legendaariseksi. [Of course this could just be me in some sort of disturbed hormonal state. In my defence I have to say that the chemistry between the leads simply works. It's actually kind of good that the movie was the only one they did together; the rare combination remains a deservedly legendary one.]

En kyllä voi edes teeskennellä, ettei koko elokuvan ajan ajatuksieni kaava mennyt jotenkin näin: nuori Salman! Salman nuorena! nuori! Salman! Salluuuu! nallekarhujen keskellä! tanssimassa suht kehnosti! nuori Salman! Salmaaaan! [I can't, however, pretend that the pattern of my thoughts during the whole movie wasn't something like this: young Salman! Salman as a young man! young! Salman! Salluuuu! among teddy bears! dancing somewhat badly! young Salman! Salmaaan!]

Mutta mitään pahaa ei voi sanoa Bhagyashreestä, päinvastoin. Sievä näyttelijätär, jolla on upea hymy, söpön pieni ääni. Hänellä olisi ollut täydellinen potentiaali tulla Juhi Chawlaksi Juhi Chawlan paikalle; näyttelijätär, joka valaisee valkokankaan pelkällä läsnäolollaan. [But nothing bad can be said about Bhagyashree, quite the opposite. Pretty actress, who has a gorgeous smile and a cutely small voice. She had the perfect potential to become the Juhi Chawla to replace Juhi Chawla; an actress who lights up the screen just by being on it.]

Musiikki on totta kai loistavaa, alkaen ensimmäisestä biisistä, joka mainostaa "ystävyyden vuodenaikaa" ja katolla tanssittavasta Final Countdown-kopiosta, unohtamatta antakshari-kohtausta, sekä "Dil deewana"-biisin kaikkia muotoja. Kaikki liikehdintä on aika kasaria, mutta osittain aivan täydellisellä tavalla. Aivan ikimuistoinen hetki on Salmanin tanssahtelu vakavana temppelin edessä, pyytämässä jumalalta jotain apua rakkauden puolustamiseen. Loistavaa. [The music is of course brilliant, starting from the first song that advertises the "season of friendship" and the roof top dance number that rips off Final Countdown, not to forget the antakshari-scene or all forms of Dil deewana. All the choreography is pretty 80's, but partly in a perfect way. One unforgettable moment is Salman's dancing seriously outside a temple, asking god for some help to defend his love. Brilliant.]

Joku mystinen hienous tässä elokuvassa on. Sinänsä koko teos on vanhasta puusta veistetty mutta samalla tulee selvästi tunne, että jotkut aineksista ovat oikeastaan muodostuneet kliseiksi vasta reilusti tämän elokuvan jälkeen. Kasarinaurettavuuskin on omalla tavallaan täydellistä viihdettä, nuoret näyttelijät toimivat pääosissa, musiikki on hyvää, vaatetuskaan ei oikeastaan ole niin kamalaa, eikä edes kolmen tunnin pituus puuduta niin paljon kuin mitä voisi olettaa. [This film has some mystic greatness to it. In a way the whole work is carved out of old wood but at the same time you get a distinct feeling that some of the ingredients have actually formed as cliches only after this film. The 80s cheese is in its own way perfect entertainment, the young actors work in the leads, the music is good, the fashion's not that bad, and even the 3 hour length isn't as numbing as one might think.]

Tietysti on ihan täysin makuasia, kiinnostaako paidattoman Salmanin uran alku, hattaramainen rakkaustarina melodramaattisilla höysteillä ja uppoaako katolla tuulikoneen kanssa pelehtiminen alkuunkaan. Omalla kohdallani on pakko vastata, että kyllä, kyllä, ja totta helvetissä. Ainakin tietyssä mielentilassa. [Of course it's entirely a matter of taste whether you're interested in the beginnings of shirtless Salman, the fluffy love story with melodramatic trimmings and whether fooling on the roof with a wind machine is your thing in the least. Myself I have to answer, yes yes and hell yes. At least when the mood strikes.]

PS.

Nuori Salman! [Young Salman!]


***

Woot, my first bilingual review. God this is all over the place, I'm glad most of you don't know Finnish. The translations are pretty hastily done because it's getting late and I just wanted to get this friggin' done. It's tough for me to review movies in Finnish, I noticed. My style is a little bit of this and that in Finnish, I can't quite work out whether I should write casual or more formal or tongue-in-cheek or more serious-like, and I can't quite work out my stylistic choices like I can in English. Goddammit. I suck at my own mother language.

Oh well. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks to everybody who voted on the poll. MPK won 50% of the votes, hence the pick.

Fun fact: "kyyhkyläiset" (trans: lovebirds) comes from the word "kyyhky" meaning pidgeon. Kabutar ja ja ja! :)

Another fun fact: I couldn't find an English trans to Finnish "syntymäpäiväsankari" (birthday hero, ie. whose birthday is celebrated). Hence why the end of the first paragraph is kinda awkward.

Third installment of mini-reviews.

(For those who missed them the first two times; typical writer's block post fodder; randomized list of all the Indian movies I've seen to work through; as the name suggests, bite-sized reviews.)

21. Saamy (2003) - This is a pretty solid Tamil action masala starring Vikram that I saw as my third or fourth Vikram film. I remember being mildly disappointed that the plot had its draggy bits but overall not a bad film and I adored Vivek's comedy track in this. Trisha was cute, too.

22. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) - Juhi's debut! Aamir's debut! Both of them so young and freshfaced and adorable! I remember really liking this movie, but also not enjoying it fully because the plot is violent and full of family rivalries of the bloody sort. I was a newbie when I saw it, so that kind of stuff was too much for me at that point - I only wanted fluff. Thankfully, this film had plenty of that, as well.

23. Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005) - Has anybody even seen this? Anupam Kher plays a man who starts thinking he was the one who killed Gandhi and Urmila Matondkar plays the daughter who has to deal with her father's mental imbalance. Quite an okay drama, though the ending was incredibly heavy-handed. As far as films that hammer in the message of Gandhi and how Indians shouldn't forget it, I much prefer Lage Raho..

24. Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) - Um, remind me to rewatch this and properly review it because while not amazing, this is a memorable 70's film starring Dharmendra, Asha Parekh and of course, Vinod Khanna as the hottest, filthiest, most vile villain ever. If some of the other legendary villains are disturbing, then Vinod's character Jabbar Singh (check the year! not ripping off Sholay, vice versa rather!) is disturbingly hot. My brain is shortcircuiting just by looking at the screencap above (not mine, by the way, I think I took it from the great bollywood501. com). Oh, Vinod.

25. Salaam-E-Ishq (2007) - I talked about this here. Nikhil Advani's sprawling romantic magnum opus that sort of loses you on some couplings and wins you over with some. Oddly enough, the not-too-available nearly 4 hour long cut of the movie is the best one - the one that made it on DVD is okay, too, though. Excellent music, if nothing else.

26. Race (2008/I) - Worst film of 2008. I can't believe some people found this a fun popcorn thriller. I've not seen a recent Hindi movie be this stupid and attempt to be so serious at the same time. Cringeworthy on all accounts. I'm sure in 10 years' time I can hail this as a campy so-bad-it's-good masterpiece. Right now? Die die die in a fire, stupid movie.

27. Ghulam (1998) - Aamir classic! Aati kya khandala? I quite liked this, a typical 90's romp with the cheesy violence and whatnot, but well worth a watch. I wish Rani and Aamir would star together again. They're always so good together.

28. Sangamam (1999) - One of the most amazing AR Rahman soundtracks ever belongs to this sadly mediocre Tamil movie about a pair of dancers in love. The real tragedy of the soundtrack is that the main dude (whose actor's name my memory has blocked out by now) was just a dreadful dancer. But seriously, the soundtrack, oh my. Carnatic music on speed. Buy the record, go listen to it on a streaming site, just do it!

29. Jaan-E-Mann: Let's Fall in Love... Again (2006) - I reviewed this one already but let's recap: spoofy, goofy, batcrap insane romantic comedy that encapsulates a crazy universe. It's a little fourth-wall breaking, it's plenty funny, it features sympathetic performances by Preity Zinta, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar alike but. It's just not quite solid enough to be called flawless, and the director threw a hissyfit after being critisized. So it's with some sadness I say goodbye to whatever film could've followed up Jaan-e-Mann's type; perhaps better than JEM itself did.

30. The Burning Train (1980) - A disaster movie! A multi-starrer with some of 70's finest (Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, Neetu Singh!)! Nutty and entertaining and actually with some really interesting dramatic scenes! I liked this, not quite enough to own on DVD but liked it all the same. Vinod and his romantic interest Parveen Babi's romance was an interesting ride - you see their marriage fall apart because of his workaholism. This film is also worth mentioning as the first film where I really liked Jeetendra.

Right, now to answer comments and then work on a blog review index..

My Achilles' heel: Hema-Dharmendra

If you ask me whether I have seen some uber-popular all-time classic and I reply "no", you can only blame the obsessive nature of yours truly, as well as the causal effect that instead of seeking out these Mother India's, these Pakeezah's and and Guide's, I've been watching films with my favourite stars and especially my favourite star jodis, regardless of quality.

A lot of my early and so-far watching of oldies has been influenced by the fact the first oldie that I absolutely loved was Sholay and thanks to it, I just wanted more of Hema Malini, and more of Dharmendra, and quite simply, that's what I ended up watching. While the numbers are not huge (out of the 42 shared projects IMDb lists with the two, I've seen a mere 11 so far), it's quite a lot considering the overall number of oldies I've seen is not grand. So seeing as how I love this jodi so much, I thought I'd review three of their films in one go.

The above two stills are from Jugnu, one of the most delightful Hema-Dharmendra ventures alongside such classics as Sholay and Seeta aur Geeta. It was one of the first true-and-blue 70's masala films I saw, complete with double identities and car chases, and thus taught me the meaning and value of this crazy genre I later grew to love. There were a number of fantastic traits in the film; Dharmendra plays Jugnu, a mysterious man of virtuous deeds and a master of disguises, and in those disguises he gets to do a couple of very funny comedy scenes. Hema plays a girl who falls in love with his real life identity, Ashok, but her run-ins with Jugnu are less favourable, though all the more hilarious. Added to this, we have awesome villains and beautiful songs. After seeing a few mediocre Hema-Dharmendra films (yes, such exist), this was a true breath of fresh air, and I truly should rewatch it and buy it on DVD soon.

One of those sadly mediocre flicks was 1980 Alibaba aur 40 Chor, the Soviet-Indian co-production (not that there is much Soviet to be seen - on the outside it pretty much looks like your typical Hindi film from this time period), which is a re-telling of the classic Arabic tale. Certain things are changed in this version compared to the one I first heard as a child, but the core elements (Alibaba, cave, 'open sesame!') stay more or less the same. I watched this also pretty early on in my oldie-expeditioning, and maybe because of that it was kind of a letdown. The plot moved slowly and there was a lot frankly quite boring action. On the plus side, the film included Zeenat Aman who I adored as the strong girl avenging her father's death. Dharmendra-Hema sparkled as usual and the songs were all visually spectacular. Especially memorable is the female duet where Hema and Zeenat protect themselves by pretending to battle over men's attention - "Saare shaher mein". And of course, must not forget Zeenat's song in the treasure cave, with the psychedelic disco floor - "Khatooba khatooba". I don't own this one on DVD either, but just for the songs, I frankly could!

Maa contained some offensively bad fashion, tons of mother love, tons of animal abuse and at the end of the day .. an elephant.

That's right. An elephant.

Without the elephant I would've not hesitated calling Maa one of the worst oldies I've witnessed. Boring, eye-roll inducing melodrama and overflowing mother love almost made me turn off the movie despite it having two of my big favourites. Thankfully I stuck through Dharmendra battling wild animals as the hands-on hunter, whose mother dislikes his profession because he separates animal children from their mothers. Three guesses what happens and how his mission on the second half of the movie shapes up to be re-uniting a baby elephant with its mother. Now sure, that sounds cute, and admittedly was cute, but this was unfortunately only for the second half. You know that "no animals were harmed" disclaimer you get in front of movies? This one didn't have it. And I really, really wish it had, considering what kind of stuff happens in the movie.

But to quote one song from Alibaba, "jaadugar jaadu kar" - the magician does magic! - and somehow it remains that even though they've done some unimpressive films together, I'll still gladly keep exploring the vast catalogue of Hema-Dharmendra films out there. I don't have any on the horizon right now but I hope to watch at least Pratiggya, Kinara (providing I ever find this on DVD!), Naya Zamana and Aas Paas.

Recommendations are welcome! My Dharmendra-Hema list so far is:
Alibaba aur 40 Chor
Dillagi
Dream Girl
Jugnu
Krodhi
Maa
Patthar aur Payal
Seeta aur Geeta
Sharafat
Sholay
The Burning Train

I want to learn Tamil in 30 days or; Ek Duuje Ke Liye.

I admit to prejudice; the more classic 80's films I watch, the less I think the decade as a barren wasteland of cinema. I mean certainly it was the time when the formula of the 70's was falling apart; the violence got gorier, the angry young men got meaner and the cheese went stale and turned moldy. But nevertheless, it had it's moments, as witnessed in Maine Pyar Kiya, a cute late 80's romance and in K. Balachander's Ek Duuje Ke Liye, from 1981.

Of course, the film is a remake of the same director's Telugu film Maro Charithra (1978), also starring Kamal Hassan. I guess whenever the North runs out of ideas, it's easy to turn to the South, and I'm sure the Southie stars were happy to debut in Bollywood with such a fun little film.

EDKL tells a story of inter-lingual love. Goan girl Sapna (Rati Agnihotri) whose family speaks Hindi, lives next door to a Brahmin Tamil family. Her mother often gets into arguments with the father of the Tamil family, over various neighborly issues. One afternoon Sapna runs into Vasu (Kamal Hassan), the other family's son, and despite the fact he doesn't understand Hindi, they fall in love. The families, as you can imagine, aren't happy with this but Vasu arranges a deal - if they can stay apart for one year and still remain devoted to their love, their parents will agree to their marriage.

Instead of focusing too much on the hate between the families like many, many movies that came after Ek Duuje Ke Liye, the film keeps it light and romantic. The connection between Vasu and Sapna is youthful, they play silly games, and especially the scenes where they teach each other one another's languages are memorable. The chemistry between Rati Agnihotri and Kamal Hassan is dead-on and they are, to put it simply, adorable. Love blossoms between them despite the differences in language and they find many nonverbal ways to communicate and express that love.

Then of course there are the actual language studies they partake in, as referred to in the title of the film. Tamil in 30 days sounds a little unattainable, but oddly enough I do have a tiny booklet called "Learn Tamil in a Month". I've owned the book for months and haven't learned Tamil yet, so there goes that promise.

I'm really happy about this being only my second Kamal Hassan film. The other one was a Telugu film called Sagara Sangamam, where he plays a classical Bharatanatyam dancer, and it was also from the early 80's/late 70's. It's great to see him, not at an already established point in his career, but the classic early films he was in that made him the legend he is today. His Vasu is simply adorable, fun and carefree but not without depth - perfect romantic lead, in other words. I also realized while watching exactly how much others have learned from his acting; for example, his antics as a romantic hero can be seen reflected in Aamir Khan's romantic roles. I'm not sure if Aamir has ever cited Kamal as an influence, but the similarities were there for me at least.

The soundtrack is lovely, especially as picturizations; my biggest favourite of them is this one, where Vasu and Sapna sing a song composed entirely of Hindi film titles of the past, titled "Mera jeevan saathi". Brilliance!

But the movie is not without flaws, the execution of the ending included. Don't get me wrong, as an ending I liked it; but the way the happenings were carried out, let's just say, could've been done so much better.

Regardless, get your hands on this! It's a classic you won't want to miss out on.