70's week: And everything else...

So what else did the 70's have to offer besides the brilliance of Parvarish which I think has now been captured adequately?

Of course, early 70's were as I understand it, the height of Rajesh Khanna mania. I haven't figured out why yet! Dude's a nice actor, can be charming .. but letters in blood, really? Here he is in Sachaa-Jhutha as a kind-hearted simpleton.

Helen item numbers is something that Parvarish lacks and that I haven't therefore discussed. Here she is, trapping a fly in Inkaar. That foxy woman!

70's was also a time for different cinema, or I should say, not-totally-batshit-actionpacked-masala. Here's a screencap from Achanak, which I really need to rewatch because it's very short and is a poetic, interesting Gulzar movie about taking lives and the paradoxes of it. Young Farida Jalal as Vinod Khanna's nurse was suberbly adorable in this. For more on Gulzar, I refer you to Old is Gold's 70's week post about the director/lyricist.

This quote appears ahead of Mera Gaon Mera Desh, and reflects the change from the gentler films of the past to the more violent, action-filled masala of the 70's. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, what would you think about being quoted to fuel the career of Bollywood's He-man, Dharmendra?

Well, I'm sure greater crimes have been made citing Gandhi. Speaking of Dharam, check out DG's post about his 70's career.

And so we ride off into the sunset..

--but wait, you Hindi film-centric nuisance, you may yell! What about Tamil/Telugu/Malayalam etc films?

Sad to say I haven't seen a single 70's film in languages other than Hindi. I have seen one Tamil film from 1968 and one Telugu film from the early 80's but that's about it. The films are barely available with English subtitles, to find recommendations is difficult and as fascinated as I am with Sivaji Ganesan, I'm not ready to take the plunge and just buy a bunch of his movies...

Did you know 'veracious' means 'truthful'? Sachaa Jhutha.

This is an extremely tired, picture-focused review of a 70's Manmohan Desai film I watched and screencapped on Friday. Apologies in advance.

In Geva Color! Now there's something you don't see everyday.

Rajesh Khanna ...with Salman Kha-- no, wait, Rajesh Khanna again. This is Rajesh Khanna ka Don, except Don came out 8 years after Sachaa Jhutha, so I guess Don would be Amitabh Bachchan ka Sachaa Jhutha. You know the drill. One character honest, humble, kind of a simpleton but with a good heart, the second character evil and Westernized and evil.

Yes, you have seen this bit in Om Shanti Om. Instead of Deepika, we get Mumtaz shakin' it as she's undercover to catch the Bad Rajesh, being actually portrayed by the Good Rajesh character in this song. I'm not a huge fan of Rajesh, to watch anything with two of him expectedly somewhat bored me, but the film still has its moments; Rajesh as a villain was awesome, Mumtaz was cute, it is Manmohan Desai and of course..

Oh look, Vinod! Playing a cop also trying to nab Bad Rajesh.

Heart-shaped table!

Vinod.

Vinod!


I think that about covers everything I had to say here.