Category Archives: My Reviews

Munimji (1955)

My Reviews,

My introduction to Munimji (meaning accountant) was because of its songs, primarily Jeevan ke safar mein raahi which appears in 2 versions. The movie was made under the prestigious Filmistan banner, directed by Subodh Mukherjee. Nasir Hussain is credited with the screenplay and dialogues, who became a successful producer and director with films like Tumsa Nahi Dekha, Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai, Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon and Teesri Manzil. Starring Dev Anand, Nalini Jaywant, Nirupa Roy and Pran, the film stays afloat because of its star power and music.

The Plot

The first 30 minutes are complicated as the film tries to set the tone. The opening scene shows the police discussing the whereabouts of a dacoit known as Daaku Kala Ghoda and his gang. They are planning to set up a police chowkey near the edge of the jungle. Inspector Sharma is assigned this job. In the very next scene we see the dacoits looting the helpless villagers. Helping them is a young girl Bela (a very young Ameeta), who entertains the crowd with her dancing (reminded of Mera Saaya: Jhukma Gira Re?) while the dacoits attack and loot the unsuspecting crowd. The leader of the dacoits is Kala Ghoda (Pran) and the girl Bela is his wife. He has a tattoo of her face on his hand. Later, Kala Ghoda gets shot by the police and he arrives at his hideout injured.

The scene moves to a house. Malti (Nirupa Roy) is a servant at the house of Captain Suresh. She is worried that the Captain’s son Ratan had gone hunting and not returned for 2 days. It’s his birthday the next day. Ratan is actually Pran, who is also the dacoit Kala Ghoda. A man with 2 identities.

The Captain has got a watch as a gift for Malti’s son Amar, who is celebrating his birthday that day. Malti had totally forgotten about her son’s birthday. Apparently, she has been showering all her affection on Ratan, treating him as her own son. Ratan’s parents have passed away and the Captain has brought him up as his own son. Ratan has been made the factory manager and is engaged to the Captain’s daughter Roopa. Captain leaves for the factory after informing Malti that Roopa will be arriving tomorrow. She and her brother Shekhar have been staying abroad for some time.

Time for the “munimji” to enter. This is Amar (Dev Anand) who is Malti’s son and works as a munim in the Captain’s factory. He has a very unattractive appearance and speaks in a boring tone.

Malti hands him the watch and he admonishes her for forgetting his birthday. He accuses her of caring and worrying about Ratan all the time. Ratan has been ill treating Amar right from their childhood. Malti never scolded Ratan. It was Amar who had to bear the brunt and get punished. Ratan is a spoilt brat and treats Malti as a servant and nothing else.

The boys have grown up but Malti is not ready to leave Ratan’s house. Amar offers to seek a job elsewhere and take Malti with him but she is not agreeable. Why?

There is a reason for Malti’s behaviour. It’s flashback time. We see Captain and his friend Ramlal talking. Ramlal’s wife has passed away leaving their infant son in his care. As is common in Hindi movies, Captain promises that if he has a daughter, she will marry Ramlal’s son. The Captain leaves and Malti enters carrying a child. It seems Ram had married Malti but is not ready to accept her or her (i.e. their) son now. He calls her a neech aurat and throws her out of the house. But she returns with a plan for the sake of her son.

She manages to enter Ram’s house and switch the 2 babies. Ramlal comes to know the truth and threatens to kill her. She refuses to hand over his son. In the commotion, a snake bites Ram and he dies on the spot. Captain Suresh decides to take care of his dead friend’s son. Seems he employs Malti as a maid. Thus Malti became Amar’s mother (who was Ram’s son) and the servant of her real son Ratan.

Flashback over. Malti comes to know that there was a dacoity in the jungles of Neelgaon where Ratan had gone hunting. She begs Amar to go and search for him. He admonishes her again that she doesn’t care for Amar’s safety but wants him to bring Ratan home at any cost.

A reluctant Amar goes to the jungle and meets his (pet?) elephant. (He even has a pet monkey!). Amar dresses up as a sadhu and ventures to find Ratan. He comes across the police, who are in search of the dacoits and the injured Kala Ghoda. Amar meets Kala Ghoda alias Ratan (quite easily) and discovers his true identity. The injured Ratan (who had been shot earlier) is brought home and a doctor needs to be called immediately. Ratan has lost a lot of blood and Malti is ready to donate all the blood she can to save him. A doctor called “Dady” is brought to remove the bullet and do the blood transfusion. Ratan is saved. He is super angry when he comes to know that a servant has donated her blood and insults Amar and Malti. Malti is taken aback at Ratan’s behaviour.

It is next day and Roopa (Nalini Jaywant) arrives with her brother Shekhar (Madan Mohan). Captain Suresh welcomes his children. Also welcoming her on behalf of Ratan is Amar, the munim. He hands her a necklace sent by Ratan as a welcome gift. She is impressed by Ratan’s action but irritated by the munimji’s ramblings.

She decides to drive home in her own car and tells Amar to take back Ratan’s car. (As expected), Roopa’s car breaks down. She asks Amar (who had been following her) to repair the car and bring it home. She leaves in Ratan’s car. At this point, Amar removes his munimji disguise and we see a normal Dev Anand for the first time. He calls himself Raj.

He fixes Roopa’s car and overtakes her. She doesn’t recognize him in his handsome avatar as he has shed his munimji look. She thinks he is a thief and tries to follow him. But her car hits a tree and she gets thrown out, thankfully without injury. Amar/Raj explains that he fooled her servant munimji easily and “borrowed” the car. The poor munim has to walk all the way home.

Left with no option, Roopa is forced to travel with Raj. Raj, being the hero, sings a peppy song – Jeevan ke safar mein raahi.

Huff! That’s only half an hour into the movie. What happens next is not so unpredictable. Roopa is engaged to Ratan but gets drawn to Raj. When Malti comes to know this, she requests Amar to make the ultimate sacrifice – of giving up his love Roopa for the sake of Ratan. And he agrees for the sake of his mother! Ratan remains as he is. As Kala Ghoda, he even plans to rob his own father with the help of Bela.

The Music

The songs hold the movie together and appear as relief. S.D. Burman teams up with Sahir and Shailendra. Jeevan ke safar mein raahi appears in 2 versions – happy Kishore and a sad Lata version. There is a birthday celebration song – a dance performance Shivji bihane chale by Hemant Kumar depicting the marriage of Lord Shiva. The choreography by Sachin Shankar is impressive.

Geeta Dutt and Hemant Kumar team up in the funny song Dil ki umange hain jawaan. Geeta Dutt also sings a dance number Zindagi hai zinda.

The rest are Lata Mangeshkar songs. A light composition Ek nazar, bas ek nazar jaane tamanna dekh idhar. Then there is Nain khoye khoye signalling the love between Raj and Roopa. This is followed by Ghayal hiraniya main ban ban dolu (raag Mishra Kaafi) which is a classical masterpiece. The sad Aankh khulte hi tum chhup gaye ho kaha is a song of loneliness depicting the separation of the romantic couple.

My Thoughts

The movie relies heavily on its stars and music rather than its plot which has some ridiculous elements. Dev Anand performs both roles nicely. One of the helpless and irritating munim (Amar) and the normal Raj. Apparently he disguises himself as the munim because Ratan does not like him to look good and dress up smartly. Nalini Jaywant plays the rich and classy girl convincingly. Her chemistry with Dev Anand is good and she does well in the lighter teasing scenes as well as the emotional ones. Pran is in his usual element. How he becomes a daaku is not revealed. And strangely, the shrewd Captain is unaware of all this.

Nirupa Roy’s Malti is the most problematic character. She is ready to go to any extent to keep Ratan happy. It’s possible that her actions might have led to Ratan being what he was! She doesn’t realize she is mistreating Amar who is also her late husband’s son. Nirupa Roy was quite young when she did this role (and younger than Dev Anand, Pran and Nalini Jaywant!). She won the FilmFare best supporting actress award.

Madan Mohan (yes, the music director) appears in the small role of Nalini Jaywant’s brother but doesn’t have much to contribute.

Lekin (1990)

My Reviews,

The year was 1990-91 and there was a buzz around the Hindi movie Lekin. Produced by Lata Mangeshkar and directed by Gulzar, it won 5 National awards. Its music was famous and Yaara Seeli Seeli became synonymous with the movie. Lekin draws its inspiration from Rabindranath Tagore’s story Kshudhit Pashaan (Hungry Stones) and can be termed as a ghost/wandering soul story. I finally got the opportunity to watch this movie recently and write about it. (Incidentally, 08 June is Dimple Kapadia’s birthday, who played the protagonist in Lekin.)

The Plot

Lekin is set in Rajasthan and begins with the song Kesariya Balmaa playing during the title credits with views of the desert.

Vinod Khanna plays a Government officer Sameer Niyogi. He seems to be an avid collector of antique objects as is evident from his house full of such stuff. He is busy admiring his latest possession – a 200 year old lock when his superior Dr Sen calls him regarding an assignment. Sameer is to visit an old palace in Jasor, Rajasthan.

Thakur Amar Singh was the last Raja of this princely state, who went to England and settled there. His brother Param Singh took charge but was not an able administrator. The state had lost most its riches by the time it was integrated in 1948 after the country’s independence. Apparently, Param Singh went missing and the palace was sealed. After 40 + years, the Government was now seeking to open the palace and catalogue its items. That will be Sameer’s job.

Sameer boards the train to Rajasthan and settles in his first class compartment. The train stops at a station which is all wet due to rains, a rare occurrence in Rajasthan. The train is about to move when he sees a woman (Dimple Kapadia) clinging to the door. He invites her inside. She is dressed in rural attire and doesn’t speak a word but keeps looking at him. He asks her to relax and get down at next station to go to her compartment. He dozes off and gets up to find her gone. He notices she has got off a station called Puniya. He has a glimpse of her as the train departs.

The train reaches Jasor. He meets Shafi Siddiqui (Amjad Khan) who is the local collector. Shafi is his old friend and has a joking nature. His wife is Sharda (Beena). Shafi invites him to stay in his house. Sameer says he will be staying in the circuit house assigned to him.

Sameer and Shafi visit the palace to get a feel of the place. It has been opened after 40 odd years. Sameer has a feeling it has been lived in but Shafi rubbishes the claim. From the terrace, Sameer notices a group of banjaras (gypsies) have occupied the neighbouring land. He requests Shafi to clear the area.

Its time for Dimple’s entry again. She wanders around the palace singing a song of separation- Yaara Seeli Seeli. Sameer meets her in the palace. She has lit a fire and is cooking bajra rotis. He admonishes her for cooking in the palace grounds. The wall has turned black because of the flames. He recognizes her as the woman in the train and thinks she is one of the banjaras but they have already left the area. She says she is alone and offers him roti and gud (jaggery) which he accepts. It seems she has also opened the palace door which was supposed to have been locked.

A puzzled Sameer enters the palace. Its like stepping into a different era. The woman shows him around and he sees visions of a torture chamber, chains and blood on the wall, a girl being brought by the guards. The woman vanishes and he finds himself locked in the palace. He breaks the glass and manages to come out injured. Sameer is thoroughly puzzled. There is no trace of the woman. The place where she was cooking, including the wall is totally clean. Who is this mysterious woman? Is she is a ghost or a soul who wanders around the palace? He doesn’t even know her name.

Shafi and Sharda are puzzled as well when Sameer shares his experiences with them. They are worried about him. They visit a banjara basti to try and find the girl and do some investigation which doesn’t help much. Meanwhile work continues in the palace. A painting is found belonging to Param Singh.

That night Sameer finds he has lost the way to the circuit house when he meets the woman again. She asks him to light her lantern, he obliges. She shows him the way. He asks her about her vanishing act the other day. She said she herself is lost in the palace, with its so many doors. There is history all around, even the music of those times is buried there. She disappears again but leaves the lantern behind. Sameer finds out that the lantern is from the palace and part of the catalogued items. He is further intrigued. How did she get it? Who is she really?

Shafi and Sharda are worried. Sharda makes him wear a taveez (amulet/charm) to ward off the supposedly ghostly influence. Shafi asks the police to deploy some personnel near the palace.

Sameer is doing his own research and goes to Jaipur to get books on para psychology, rebirth etc. In the bookshop he coincidentally meets Prof B. N. Mathur (Manohar Singh) who is an expert in these areas. We come to know that Sameer had a girlfriend Pammi and they had separated a few years back. Prof Mathur is Pammi’s uncle.

Prof. Mathur takes Sameer to his house for discussing his case. Pammi (Moonmoon Sen) also comes in. Prof. Mathur explains that Sameer might be meeting the soul of a woman who is kind of stuck in time. She is seeking his help to be free. Till then she will keep wandering. She might be related to him in an earlier birth.

Meanwhile the soul sings another song Main ek sadi se baithi hoon. Sameer meets her again, this time in the desert. He praises her singing. She says she has learnt music from Ustad Meraj Ali (Alok Nath). Her village is across the desert. She is waiting for someone called Mehru who will help her to cross the desert. He had gone to Puniya. The shadows in the desert trouble her and do not let her pass. He offers her the taveez for protection, which she accepts.

Later, one night he sees a woman carrying a lantern. He is unable to trace her and he goes to the palace to find if the lantern has gone missing again. He is all alone in the palace. This time he hears someone singing and the woman comes forward. She tells him its her elder sister singing. The elder sister is Tara (Hema Malini). And her own name is Rewa. Thus the woman’s name is finally revealed.

We are treated to the song Joothe naina bole saachi batiya performed by Ustad Meraj Ali and Tara in front of Param Singh. After the song, Param Singh (Vijayendra Ghatge) asks Tara to stay in the palace for the night. Ustad realises his intentions are not clean. He goes to Tara and Rewa’s father and asks them to take the daughters and leave immediately. The camels are waiting outside. They will be safe once they cross the desert. They hurry and do as advised but are unlucky. Param Singh’s soldiers follow and attack the camels. Rewa’s camel manages to run away but their father and Tara are captured.

What follows is their father’s merciless torture and he is left to die in the desert. Ustadji and Rewa are imprisoned in neighboring cells. Param Singh is waiting for Rewa to grow up so he can fulfil his desire. Ustad and Rewa pass their time by practicing music and singing compositions like Rasool Allah, Jaa Jaa Re and Suniyo Ji Araj Mhariyo.

8 years later, Rewa grows up into a beautiful woman (Dimple Kapadia) and Ustadji fears for her safety. He designs a plan to rescue her from the clutches of Param Singh. He has sent word to a trusted aide Mehru to come and arrange Rewa’s escape.

Will Ustad Meraj Ali be successful? What happens to Rewa – why is her soul wandering all these years? And where does Sameer fit into all this?

The Music

With lyrics by Gulzar and music by Hridaynath Mangeshkar, the music has achieved cult status. It is said that the deteriorating quality of the music in 1980s motivated Lata Mangeshkar to make the movie, with music and lyrics being a strong focus. Lata Mangeshkar, Gulzar and Hridaynath won the National award for their efforts.

Lata Mangeshkar lends her voice to Yaara Seeli Seeli, Kesariya Balmaa, Main Ek Sadi Se, Suniyo Ji, and Jaa Jaa Re (a duet with Hridaynath Mangeshkar). Joothe Naina Bole, the dance number is sung by Asha Bhosle and Satyasheel Deshpande. The only male solo Surmai Shaam is picturized on Vinod Khanna with vocals by Suresh Wadkar.

My Thoughts

Overall, Lekin is a “heavy” movie. You need patience for the things to settle and enjoy. It is sluggish and picks momentum only when Rewa starts narrating about her family. But the story is engaging and maintains its mysterious tone throughout. It keeps hovering between the supernatural elements and reality. There are small details which are nicely tied up later. Gulzar’s poetic touch is evident in the direction. Music, of course is the winner. Rajasthan’s picturization adds it’s own charm.

Performance wise Dimple steals the show. Right from her first appearance to the unfolding of her character, her expressions and dialogue delivery are to the point. She delivers a convincing wandering soul character. This will rank as one of her best performances along with Rudaali. Vinod Khanna looks aged but is a good performer. Amjad Khan, Beena, Manohar Singh, Vijayendra Ghatge are all good. Alok Nath is in his usual character and Hema Malini appears in an effective guest appearance. Moonmoon Sen doesn’t add much and speaks Hindi with a fake accent.

Escapade in Japan (1957)

My Reviews

Escapade in Japan is a charming story of 2 young boys (one American and one Japanese) who run away from home and spend time traversing across Japan. Escapade means an adventure involving danger. Set in post world war Japan, it was made by RKO Radio Pictures; produced and directed by Arthur Lubin.

The Plot

At the beginning, we see the Manila international airport. A young boy Tony Saunders (Jon Provost) is travelling alone to join his parents in Tokyo. His parents are Dick Saunders (Cameron Mitchell) and Mary Saunders (Teresa Wright). His father has transferred to Tokyo after spending 2 years in Manila. Apparently the real reason of the transfer is marital discord. Dick had got involved with another woman in the Philippines while Mary was in the U.S.. Mary wants to clear up things with her husband before Tony joins them. She is planning to leave Dick and return to the United States with Tony.

Tony is enjoying his flight by reading comics and dozing. The plane develops a mechanical fault suddenly and begins descending. An emergency is declared. The plane is set to make a ditch i.e. an emergency water landing. After that the plane loses contact and it is not clear what whether it crashed, the passengers are safe etc. The U.S. air force has deployed nearby ships to search for the missing plane as its exact location remains known.

Tony’s parents arrive at the airport and come to know about the unexpected development. They go back home and wait impatiently for the plane’s and Tony’s whereabouts. Mary blames herself for leaving him alone in Manila.

But Tony is safe and sound! He is floating in the water on a life raft, wet and hungry but otherwise fine. Its a foggy morning. Tony’s raft is sighted by a young Japanese boy Hiko (Roger Nakagawa). Hiko is on a fishing boat with his father Kei (Susumu Fujita) and mother Michiko (Kuniko Miyake). The family is out fishing in the sea. They bring Tony on board, make him warm and feed him. Luckily, Hiko speaks English and starts conversing with Tony. Both the boys soon become friendly. There is a fun scene when Tony is hungry and “learns” the use of the chopsticks, courtesy Hiko.

After the fishing is done, the family returns to their home in the village. Hiko overhears his father telling his mother that he will inform the police to take Tony away. Hiko misundertsands the intention of calling the police. He tells Tony that the police will take Tony to jail and he will not be able to meet his parents. A worried Tony pleads Hiko to help him. A quick decision is made. Hiko decides to run away with Tony. They start their journey on a tempo loaded with vegetables with the intention to reach Tokyo where Tony’s parents have been stationed.

The village is some 3 hours away from Tokyo. After receiving news from the police and the air force officers, Tony’s parents arrive in the village to find the boys have gone. Tony as well as Hiko’s parents share the same difficult situation and try to pacify each other. They are all trying to comprehend what made the boys leave so suddenly.

The parents wait impatiently for the Japanese police to find the boys. It is night time and the boys are hungry. Hiko interacts with an elderly couple and gets food. Next day, they hop on a goods train. Hiko doesn’t know if the train goes to Tokyo but the intention is to get away from the police. Unfortunately, they are caught and asked to get off the train. They do so to find they have landed in Kyoto which is far off from Tokyo.

Thus begins their Kyoto tour and getting a slice of Japanese city life. They visit a couple of entertainment shows including a Geisha performance. After the show, they are met by a friendly Geisha. Hiko tells her that they are not lost but hungry. She asks them to come with her.

She takes them to the Geisha residence. Here the boys enjoy a luxurious bath and delicious food. Further they are entertained with a baseball themed dance. But Tony being Anerican has attracted attention. Later, Hiko overhears that the police will be called for in the morning and informs Tony. Its time to flee.

Next day in Kyoto, they see a bus full of school children. Apparently, its the children’s day out and they are undertaking the Kyoto city tour. Tony and Hiko join them and spend the day with the students and their teacher. They are enjoying the tour. Unfortunately, Tony’s picture has been published in the newspaper. Hiko shows it to Tony and they run away again. Meanwhile, Tony’s parents have reached Kyoto (the police had been informed by the Geisha). The hyper school teacher meets them and explains the situation.

The boys reach the railway station and manage to get in without tickets. They randomly board a train to Nara. We see the train to Tokyo on the neighbouring platform! The adventure continues leading to an exciting climax and reunion with the parents.

The Music

The music by Max Steiner is impressive and carries the mood of the movie. The Japanese music adds its own charm.

My Thoughts

The film is set in the post world war period when US forces continued their presence in the country. It does not make any political commentary but presents the Japanese in a positive light. In one scene, it is made clear that Japanese boys don’t have a habit of running away, nor do children get kidnapped. This points to the children being safe and taken care of even if they are alone, which is depicted in the movie.

There are some funny interactions between the 2 boys. The English language is hilariously termed as “American” by Hiko. In one scene, Tony is impressed that Hiko is learning English but ponders why he is not being taught Japanese. The boys wonder why cant everyone converse in one language, it would be so easy.

The story is kept simple and the boys do not encounter obstacles in the form of a villain as is commonly shown. The acting is casual. The pace is slow and you get a bit bored in the middle. There are many Japanese dialogues and it would have been interesting if they had subtitles to get a flavour of the conversation. The parents don’t have much to do except worry and wait but provide good support. The show stealer is undoubtedly Japan. Right from the the fishing village to the scenic country side and city shots capture 1950s Japan in its Technicolor splendour. Come and indulge…