Archive for the ‘Mafia’ Category
Patthar Ke Phool (1991)
On July 04, 2008 in Mafia, Song, Video, Police, Crime, Bollywood, Romance, Action, Movie
Patthar Ke Phool was a movie released in 1991. It was the debut movie of Raveena Tandon and one of the earlier movies of Salman Khan; and unlike some of Salman’s earlier movies, this was not exactly a hit. Some of the other characters in the movie were Vinod Mehra, Kiran Kumar, Reema Lagoo and Manohar Singh. Vinod Mehra passed away before the movie could be released, and the movie was dedicated to his memory. The movie was directed by Anant Balani and produced by GP Sippy. Music for the movie was by Ramlaxman, and the movie was written by Salim Khan.
The movie was about this young police officer fighting an underworld gang. He is also in love with Kiran (Raveena Tandon) who is actually the daughter of the leader of the gang, and about whose real activities she is unaware.
Raveena won the Filmfare Lux New Face Award for this movie.
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So what happens when the duty of Suraj (Salman Khan) leads him to fight against the activities of his beloved’s father ? Her father is also against this relationship, and the movie is about this conflict.
Imtihan (1994) - Saif, Sunny and Raveena
On May 25, 2008 in Song, Drama, Revenge, Video, Mafia, Crime, Bollywood, Music, Romance, Action, Movie
Imtihaan was a movie released in 1995, starring Sunny Deol, Raveena Tandon, and Saif Ali Khan. Saif was relatively young in the movie industry at that point of time, and it showed on screen (he comes across as a gangly youth, moving with energy, but still to show his renowned acting abilities that he showed in later movies). The movie was directed by Harry Baweja, and had music by Anu Malik. The movie did average business, but the songs were a big hit.
The movie had one selling point, it had an element of suspense, something not always well executed. However, and maybe people who saw this movie for the first time would feel, the suspense is not always the type of suspense you see in American movies, since a lot of people in the audience were able to predict as to what would happen when the suspense breaks, and here too, the story was predictable.
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Prahaar: A great movie by Nana Patekar
On May 06, 2008 in Crime, Mafia, Video, Action, Classic, Movie, Bollywood, Society
There are times when you watch that is so impressive that you don’t mind watching it again. I found Prahaar to be one such movie. The movie was released in 1991, and it has been quite some time, but it can’t take away the topical nature of the movie. The movie was directed by Nana Patekar and produced by Sudhakar Bokade. The movie had music by Laxmikant Pyarelal and lyrics by Mangesh Kulkarni.
Nana Patekar showed a commendable amount of skill in extracting good performances from the cast of characters that included Dimple Kapadia and Madhuri Dixit (there was a story floating around the time when the movie was made that he wanted a natural look, and so when one of the female leads reported to the set in make-up, he asked her to wash the make-up off). The movie does not have a direct villain, but there is a struggle against many kinds of bad elements, whether it be terrorists, or the normal city ruffians and hoodlums who take hafta (extortion money), or even of the normal population who have been so terrorised that they have lost some of their sense of right or wrong. The movie also has some good performances from the second tier of characters such as Gautam Joglekar (who plays Peter D’Souza).
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Omkara (2006) - A great interpretation of Othello
On March 04, 2008 in Song, Mafia, Culture, Revenge, Video, Character, Crime, Bollywood, Politics, Romance, Action, Movie
Omkara (release in 2006) was a much awaited movie. Director Vishal Bhardwaj had earlier made a name for himself with Makdee and Maqbool (starring an incredible performance by Irfan Khan), and his Hindi interpretation of Shakespeare’s Othello had already lead to much anticipation, with the prospect of Saif Ali Khan playing a baddie’s role being much awaited.
The movie delivered, but not too much as Vishal would have thought. It won a great amount of critical acclaim, and extreme kudos for the 2 best performances of Saif Ali Khan and Konkona Sen. Vivek Oberoi and Kareina Kapoor won praise, while the performance of Ajay Devgun could have been better - much more is expected out of an actor who has given a performance like Gangajal.
Krantiveer (1994) - Nana Patekar all the way
On March 04, 2008 in Mafia, Patriotic, Song, Character, Crime, Politics, Action, Movie
Krantiveer was a movie released in 1994; an all and out commercial movie released by the movie-maker who has made other patriotic movies (Mehul Kumar), it was also a movie that seeked to portray the transformation in one man when faced with evil. Even though the main character has been depicted as a person who is selfish, uncaring about others (other than his immediate family), a transformation is shown based on 2 major incidents that affect his life - the murder of his adopted father, and the riot in his locality that caused normal people to transform into murderers and brings out communal feelings.
Krantiveer was a role essayed brilliantly by Nana Patekar, turning the movie into a commercial as well as critical success. He puts forth some intense emotions into the movie, so you can believe him when he is essaying the role of a normal guy in the chawl who could not care less about the efforts of the journalist, or when he he suddenly becomes violent at the cremation ground of his adopted father. He is equally at ease taking out money from his father’s safe and not caring about the repercussions, or the reaction of his mother and grandfather when they find him being delinquent and turn him out. However, it is transformation that is riveting.
Song: Chak de Fattey - Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006)
On February 14, 2008 in Mafia, Song, Revenge, Comedy, Classic, Movie, Middle Class, Bollywood, Society
Chak De Fatte is an exceptional song from the stable of Dhruv Dhalla, with lyrics by Jaideep Sahni (who is also the scriptwriter, the dialogues writer; he is also credited with the story). The song (sung by Kailash Kher) is a very peppy song, and have been remixed a lot. It is still incredibly popular; and of course, the movie is also very popular. The movie, Khosla Ka Ghosla, cannot be called an unknown movie, since it has stars of the like of Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Ranvir Shourey, Tara Sharma, and others.
What the movie did achieve was that of a dream run, with the classic tale of a low budget movie that went to get some spectacular word of mouth publicity, and then become a hit; as well as a cult status. People who have seen the movie claim that it so much resembles reality, and especially from Delhi believe that it portrays life and people in the city exactly as they are (not very flattering for people in Delhi, but that is how things are). You see the character, and they seem so life-like, and you are sure to believe that this is how the land mafia will behave. You find yourself urging on the fight-back by the normal middle class people, while identifying with the timidity of the father.
Welcome - Another Akshay Kumar hit
On January 31, 2008 in Romance, Mafia, Comedy, Music, Bollywood, Movie
Akshay and Katrina have already done 2 movies together - Humko Diwana Kar Gaye and Namastey London. Namastey London was a hit, and the pair did feel good on-screen. Welcome just takes the pair to their best hit so far, and does so in style. The movie is styled as an out and out comedy, the kind that you go and watch, and whether you like it or not, you really don’t think too much about it afterwards. Welcome must have been difficult to put together, what with so many different stars, different locales, and the need to put so many gags into one movie, but director Aneez Bazmi seems to have managed that. And Welcome has been a big hit, more so overseas.
I was very enthused about the movie when I went in, but a trifle disappointed with the movie when I came out. It could have been far better in my opinion. I liked another comedy from the same producers (Nadiadwalas) much better, which was Mujhse Shaadi Karoge ? That was an all out comedy in which the comic bits never flagged, while in this movie there were times when I was not laughing, it seemed so forced.
A great movie: Gangster (2006)
On November 16, 2007 in Mafia, Song, Melody, Revenge, Police, Crime, Bollywood, Despair, Classic, Action, Movie
A typical urban gangster movie of the 70’s and 80’s (thus excluding the rural dacoit movie such as Sholay) was all about the larger than life character, fighting against the police, and maybe reforming or dying. It was the odd movie such as Deewar which tried to look into the mind of a gangster, but these were still movies about larger than life characters. It was films like Vaastav & Satya that tried to break into the basic characters mind, and show the goings on around them, along with the overall despair that involved such criminals (and make no mistake, no matter the circumstances, the new age of movies display them as criminals even when showing their sequence of steps to becoming a gangster).
A refreshing new movie in this regard is the movie called Gangster (directed by Anurag Basu for Mahesh Bhatt). The movie pulls no punches, showing the old game of gangster vs. police through the eyes of a young woman forced to make her choices. The movie is truly a different movie, able to de-glamorize the whole gangster-moll and romance bit. The movie does have some unrealistic parts as well, such as the alcohol-sunken portrayal of a bar dancer by Kangana Ranaut in a great debut role. With some excellent roles given to both Shiney Ahuja and Emraan Hashmi, this movie is also a good example of a movie doing well on the basis of story and performances (and some good music).
Song: Tere Bin Main Kuch Nahin
On October 06, 2007 in Mafia, Song, Melody, Culture, Crime, Masala, Bollywood, Music, Classic, Action, Movie
This is a song from the movie Naaraz (also spelled Naraaz or Naaraaz) that was directed by Mahesh Bhatt and released in 1994. The movie starred Atul Agnihotri, Mithun Chakraborty, Pooja Bhatt, Sonali Bendre and Gulshan Grover. This song was sung by Sonu Malik.
NARAAZ is about the story of two friends who are from opposite backgrounds. AJAY (Atul Agnihotri) is a son of a well to do family & DEVA (Mithun Chakraborty) is from a low caste poor family. Ajay’s Jagdamba Uncle does not like their friendship & sends him to London. Ajay grows up in London & become a writer of a look titled “DEVAA”. He returns to village Bharatpur to meet his childhood friend Deva. He is accompanied by a London born Indian Journalist Sonali (Sonali Bendre). He takes up the cause of providing drinking water for the villagers. In the process he clashes with his Jagdamba Uncle who is in politics who causes death to scores of village people as they want to use the temple water. When Deva takes up this issue, he is branded as a terrorist and cop are sent to arrest him. To escape from the police, he lands up in a ship which was leaving for Malaysia. In Kulalumpur he joins the gang of TAO-KI (Gulshan Grover) and meets SONIA (Pooja Bhatt). In saving Sonia from the TAO-KI he becomes a rival gangster and drug peddler. Ajay with Sonali finally arrives at Kulalumpur to take Deva back to his people. There is a dramatic confrontation between the two loving friends who are both angry with the society following opposite paths. In Kulalumpur Deva finishes the gang of TAO-KI and gets himself killed. But before he dies, with the help of Ajay & Sonali his dreams are fulfiled of bringing water in his village.
Ghulam: The rise of the slave
On August 20, 2007 in Character, Mafia, Crime, Action, Bollywood, Movie
Ghulam was a movie that won accolades for both Aamir Khan and Rani Mukerji. I was watching it again when it was coming on TV for the Nth rerun, and there are many scenes that are very gripping. It is somewhat different from the normal romance brand of movies. Released in 1998, and directed by Vikram Bhatt, the story of a Mumbai tapori had a charm in its own sense.
The title of the movie is played in 2 ways, one is about Aamir no longer remaining a slave and breaking free, and the second is when this rebellion finally inspires the long-subjugated and yet somewhat rebellious nukkad (neighborhood) to finally join Aamir in his rebellion against the local thug.
The movie is essentially about these 2 brothers, Jai (Rajit Kapoor) and Siddharth (Aamir) who live in a local basti (neighborhood). They are the sons of a former freedom fighter who has tried to bring them up with morals, but who has hidden a terrible guilt about betraying his former friends to the British under duress. When Siddarth was young, his father was visited by a former colleague who berated him for this treachery, and this caused him to commit suicide.
Now, both of them work to some level for the local goonda and former boxer, Raunak Singh (Sharat Saxena). Jai advises him in a financial and strategic way, since Raunak wants to get out of this low level earning stream, and enter the world of executing contracts for the state, something that will catapult him into a higher league of earnings altogether. For this, he needs that there should be no controversy around him now, but he is essentially of a hard and ruthless nature who brooks no opposition. Siddarth is an aspiring boxer who does odd work for Raunak Singh, but is otherwise a good for nothing guy.
One day, he comes across the motorcycle gang of Deepak Tijori and defeats him in a game of death, a famous sequence where they have to run against an oncoming train, and the person who jumps aside the last wins. He also gets attracted to Rani Mukherjee, who also starts falling for him. There is a famous song called ‘Aati Kya Khandala’ that became the rage after this movie.
Then he meets the person who eventually causes a change in his life. He meets a guy called Hari, who is a social worker, and becomes friendly with him. Hari starts coming in the way of Raunak Singh, and eventually they use Siddarth’s friendship to call Hari for a meeting, and then kill him. This creates a sense of guilt in Siddarth’s mind over his own role, further inflamed when he learns that Hari is Rani’s brother and she is grief-stricken.
The rest of the movie is essentially about how he works up the courage to confront his own guilt, break the chains of slavery that bind him to the don (even when his brother confronts him), and eventually loses his brother as well. Mita Vashisth, who plays a social worker, plays a strong role in trying to get him to do what is right.
The movie finally culminates in the final confrontation, also for me, the favorite part. There is a fight in the end where Siddarth has to confront Raunaq, and also inspire the locality to fight back. Sections of this part seem a bit unbelievable, and the make up on Aamir’s face (blood, etc) seem a bit over-done, but for me, this is the essence of the movie. The slave, when awakened, fights back with a ferocity not seen otherwise.
