Category Archives: My Reviews

Swarg (1990)

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Rajesh Khanna, fondly known as the first superstar of Hindi cinema was born on 29 December 1942. He saw unprecedented success followed by an unfortunate bad phase, accompanied with fading stardom. But he continued to act in movies irrespective of their fate at the box office. Today’s movie is perhaps his last hit where he plays a central character. Swarg is directed by David Dhawan This was before his entry into the comedy genre for which he is more famously known.

The Plot

Swarg means heaven and here it is the name of a mansion like house owned by Kumar (Rajesh Khanna). Kumar lives with his wife Janki (Madhavi). The other occupants are his 3 step siblings – Ravi (Dilip Dhawan), Vicky (Raja Bundela), and Jyoti (Juhi Chawla). Ravi’s wife is Naina (Neena Gupta). Kumar had promised his dying stepmother (Shammi) that he and Janki will shower all their love and care on the 3 siblings. In order to avoid complications(!), they decide not to have children. Kumar sells the old house they were living in and sets up a garment business with the money. He achieves success through his hard work and becomes a rich and respected businessman.

Their is one more occupant in Swarg – Krishna (Govinda), an orphan. Kumar had met the young boy Krishna is a temple and brought him home. Krishna grows up as a servant in the house but he is a servant only in name. He worships Kumar and can go to any extent to ensure his happiness and well being. Krishna also has some light hearted moments with the college going Jyoti. Krishna is a movie buff and crazy about acting. He likes to sing songs and mimic well known actors. His dream is to become a successful hero.

Kumar has received a substantial business order and needs a loan of Rs 50 lakhs. He has approached Chowdhary (Vikas Anand) for the loan. It is agreed that Swarg will be kept as mortgage and the loan is sanctioned. All is going well.

But where there is heaven, there is bound to be hell. In the Mill Owners Association’s election, Kumar defeats his rival Dhanraj (Paresh Rawal), who was the president for many years. Dhanraj is the opposite of Kumar. He is a corrupt businessman and is afraid that his misdeeds in running the association will be exposed by Kumar. He tries to bribe Kumar, who slaps him in public, warning him not to try such antics.

Kumar and Janki arrange Jyoti’s engagement with Choudhary’s son. The engagement day arrives, celebrations are in full swing. Then disaster strikes. Kumar gets a call that his factory has caught fire. The whole factory is gutted and life takes a turn for all.

Money lenders arrive at Kumar’s house requesting him to pay their debts. Kumar seeks money to rebuild his business and requests his siblings to act as guarantors. Apparently, they have their own businesses. They blatantly refuse his request. Kumar manages to use his savings and satisfy the debtors. Jyoti’s engagement is broken.

Ravi, Vicky and Naina start showing their true colours. Kumar asks them to not indulge in avoidable expenditures like arranging a grand party for Naina’s birthday but he gets insulted. Vicky goes to the extent of stealing Jyoti’s wedding jewellery and put the blame on Krishna. Surprisingly, Kumar believes Krishna is the culprit and asks him to leave the house. Krishna is shocked and has no option but to leave.

Janki admonishes Kumar, who explains to her that he did not want Krishna to live in this polluted atmosphere and had to send him away with a heavy heart.

Krishna heads to Mumbai. After a dramatic encounter with a local goonda, he befriends a film production manager with a funny name Airport/ Adda (Satish Kaushik). Airport offers him accommodation and the job of a spot boy in the film studio. Krishna is a hard worker and one day luck shines upon him unexpectedly. He gets a chance to perform a movie scene when the actor performing it keeps on bumbling leading to multiple retakes. Krishna accepts the challenge and performs the scene brilliantly. He gets cast in the role. He gradually becomes a celebrated actor.

And Kumar? Life is hell. His step brothers are against him. Dhanraj arranges for Swarg to be auctioned to further humiliate Kumar. Janki can’t bear this and commits suicide. Ultimately Kumar leaves with Jyoti and start leading a poverty driven life.

A rich and successful Krishna arrives in Swarg to find it locked. He comes to know the shocking events and changes that have taken place since he left and plots revenge from Dhanraj, Ravi and Vicky. He hatches a plan with Airport to destroy them financially and teach them a lesson. Will he succeed? Will he be able to reunite with Kumar and take him back to his “Swarg”?

The Music

The lyrics are by Sameer and music by Anand Milind. The songs have the typical late 1980s and early 90s vibes. Govinda gets to dance in most of them like Filmon ke saare hero, Bam bam bam bam Bambai, Tum sajana ke ghar and the love duet Kaise kate din. One song is a sad song Ae Mere Dost picturised on Rajesh Khanna after Govinda leaves the house.

My Thoughts

Swarg’s plot is stale and can be seen in many multi starrer movies made during this period. A well to do family falling on bad times, there is separation, sacrifice and ultimately time for reunion. Rajesh Khanna hams at times but performs well in the emotional scenes. Govinda shows his acting mettle in the initial scenes where there are light hearted moments and later when he becomes a star and starts planning revenge. There is the inevitable love angle between Krishna and Jyoti which thankfully is very short and portrayed through a song. Paresh Rawal is effective as the scheming Dhanraj. So is Satish Kaushik as Krishna’s friend and co-plotter.

Overall, though predictable, David Dhawan succeeds in weaving a cohesive and entertaining story. Its strange he stopped making such movies eventually and stuck to the comedy genre.

Satyakam (1969)

My Reviews

Lets’s begin with some trivia today. What’s special about 8 December? Its Dharmendra’s birthday. Its also Sharmila Tagore’s birthday. Frequent co-stars, they have starred together in multiple movies such as Anupama, Devar, Mere Humdum Mere Dost and Chupke Chupke. And Satyakam, on which today’s post is based upon. Satyakam is regarded as a masterpiece of director Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

The Plot

The movie begins with a voiceover by Narendra/Naren Sharma (Sanjeev Kumar). He is narrating the mythological story of Jabala and her son Satyakam. Satyakam goes to Gautam. He requests Gautam to accept him as his disciple. Gautam asks him what’s his “gotra“. When Satyakaam asks his mother, she replies he was born after she serviced several men and she cannot confirm who was his father. But her name is Jabala and his name is Jabal Satyakam. When Gautam hears this from Satyakam, he proclaims Satyakam is a real brahmin as he had the guts to speak the truth. Naren then then starts narrating the story of the modern Satyakam.

It is pre-independence time. Naren and his best friend Satyapriya (Sath) Acharya (Dharmendra) are engineering students, awaiting their results. Satyapriya, true to his name is a stickler for honesty. The results are out and both are now engineers having cleared the exams successfully. The college students are traveling back home. Unfortunately, the bus meets an accident and they lose one of their friends in the tragedy. Sath and Naren escape with minor injuries.

Recovering from the tragedy, they are looking forward to start their careers with the promise that physical separation will not affect their long term friendship. Sath spends time with his grandfather “Dadaji” Satyasharan Acharya (Ashok Kumar) who is a high caste Sanskrit scholar and runs a gurukul. Dadaji wants Sath to get married soon.

Sath clears an interview with United Paper Mills in Mumbai. The managing director Shyam Sunder (Rajan Haskar) interviews him. Ananto Chatterjee (Rabi Ghosh), the overseer is his colleague. Sath comes to know from Chatterjee that there is no work in the office. He has joined a couple of months back and waiting for work to be allotted. Sath is uncomfortable hearing this. Being the “principled” employee, he cannot earn money by sitting idle.

There is a board meeting and he is introduced to the company’s owner Kunwar Vikram Singh (Manmohan) of Bhawanigarh, a princely state in central India. Sath openly questions him about the commencement of his work. Kunwar informs that Sath’s work is to survey land in his state as they are planning to open a new mill there. The next day, Kunwar & Shyam Sunder along with Sath and Chatterjee leave for Bhawanigarh.

Its June, 1947. At this point, through a radio announcement, the movie incorporates the topic of the annexation of princely states in the soon to be independent India. Kunwar is listening to the radio and is not happy as he awaits his own fate and that of Bhawanigarh.

Sath, Chatterjee and Shyam Sunder are staying at the guest house. The caretaker is Rustom (David). They are served by a young girl Ranjana (Sharmila Tagore). Ranjana’s mother had run away with a driver. Apparently, Ranjana is the driver’s daughter. Kunwar has his sights on her and she entertains him with a song when he is alone in his suite.

Next day onwards, Sath and Chatterjee begin the land survey. They are waiting to be provided with important equipment like theodolite but only get assurances. Sath is restless as he believes in the output and value of his work. Its July, 1947 and Chatterjee tells Sath that they should run away because the future of Kunwar and Bhawanigarh is unclear. Sath convinces him to stay and continue their work. But other circumstances are going to interfere soon and change Sath’s life forever.

One night, Rustom pushes Ranjana and forces her to spend the night in Sath’s room. Sath maintains his distance from her. The next morning, Rustom tells Ranjana’s story to Sath. Due to the unpleasant reputation and deeds of her mother, Ranjan’s fate is bleak. Who will marry such a girl? Her life will be spent entertaining characters like Kunwar. Sath comments generally that anyone will be happy to marry such a beautiful girl. Rustom challenges him if he will do it. Sath realises he cannot. It is easier to talk than commit.

Further, Rustom tells him to take care of Ranjana for a few days as he will be going to Bhopal. She starts accompanying Sath to the survey site and spends time with him. She begs him to take him away from this place; she is ready to serve him as a servant but he tells her it is not possible. A situation arises after Ranjana is raped by Kunwar. It is further revealed she is pregnant and there are questions around the father’s identity. Sath makes the hard decision to marry her in spite of knowing all the background.

Kunwar’s true intentions in employing Sath also get disclosed. He wanted an engineer urgently to sign the land survey document for submitting to the registrar. Seems he wants to exploit the land for other reasons. But Sath is not ready to be bribed.

Sath and Ranjana marry and settle down. They have a son called Kabul (Sarika). Dadaji refuses to accept Ranjana because of her questionable past and Kabul, as he is not Sath’s son.

Due to Sath’s principled nature, he is not able to hold on to a job for long. He encounters corruption at every stage that demands him to make compromises in some form, which are not acceptable to him. Thus they keep moving around. Ranjana accepts this meekly.

A time comes when Naren and Sath meet again. But this time Naren is Sath’s boss. Naren is taken aback by Sath’s attitude towards honesty and inability to bend for practical reasons. There is a corrupt contractor Mr Ladia (Tarun Bose) who wants Sath’s signature on some documents which will benefit Ladia hugely. As expected, Sath refuses. Naren asks him to be realistic but Sath sticks to his stand.

Thus Sath’s life continues with more hardships on the way. One day, Naren comes to know Sath is in the hospital and being treated for last stage cancer. Mr Ladia is supporting the family. Sath is worried about Ranjana and Kabul’s future. Ladia is willing to help to seal the family’s future by giving Rs 25,000 only if Sath agrees to forget his principles and sign the pending documents that Ladia was chasing him for. He shares this proposition with Ranjana and requests her to convince Sath and get his signature.

Ranjana contemplates Ladia’s offer and lectures Sath that he never thought about them before. What will they do once he is dead? Will he be happy if she becomes a prostitute like her mother and what about Kabul’s future, where will the money come from? This leaves Sath in a dilemma. His one and only compromise will secure his family’s future but will he do it?

The Music

There are only 3 songs which are forgettable. Lyrics by Kaifi Azmi and music by Laxmikant Pyarelal.

My Thoughts

While an unconventional subject, Hrishikesh Mukherjee handles it deftly. The movie avoids being preachy. Mukherjee resolves Sath’s dilemma effectively and ties up the climax with the original story of Jabala and Satyakam. There are some lighter touches which are a trademark of Mukherjee’s direction. Sath’s unwavering stand on principles may seem a bit far fetched but he has a position that one has to start somewhere for honesty to prevail in the society. Even the independence of the country did not help to change things and that’s his regret. The dialogues by Rajinder Singh Bedi are impactful (he won the Filmfare award for this movie).

This is definitely one of Dharmendra’s finest performances. Too bad, he did very few of such characters in his long career. Sharmila Tagore, Sanjeev Kumar and Ashok Kumar are all good in their roles. Interestingly, Sanjeev Kumar is credited as “and Sanjeev Kumar” in the titles.

Duniya Kari Salaam (1979)

My Reviews

Duniya Kari Salaam (The World Salutes) is a Marathi movie based on the famous Hindi proverb Duniya jhukti hai, jhukanewala chahiye meaning “the world bows, we need the one who makes that happen.” Directed by Anant Mane, the movie makes an attempt to share a social message wrapped in an entertainment package.

The Plot

Amol (Ravindra Mahajani) and Arun (Ramesh Bhatkar) are 2 unemployed postgraduates. They are looking for soft and cushy jobs and not ready for any hard or physically draining work. One day, after another unsuccessful interview, they are sitting dejected at a restaurant when they are joined by an old classmate Anand (Ashok Saraf) who had been rusticated from college. Anand joins the conversation stating hard work does not earn money. Money can be earned only by fooling people. The friends do not agree. He gives them a couple of demonstrations to show how people are gullible and it is not difficult to fool them. The title song follows.

He then takes them to a jeweler who is known to buy smuggled gold. He makes a fake deal with the jeweler to supply him gold in exchange of cash. The jeweler sends his two men in the night in a secluded area to complete the transaction. Amol and Anand complete the exchange. They get the cash but give a bag of stones in return. The 2 men attempt to chase and beat Amol and Anand. Arun, wearing a police uniform blows the whistle and the jeweler’s men are forced to run away empty handed. Anand convinces his friends that people are waiting to get fooled and they can make the most of it (i.e. get rich).

Next day, they are sitting at the same restaurant thinking of a plan. They are joined by Amol’s classmate Padma (Ranjana). Ranjana is a rich modern girl who has become a disciple of Acharya Bhajneesh. She calls herself Bhogini “Popins” and is trying to follow the path of spirituality. The 3 friends get a warning letter from the jeweler to return the money or be ready for the consequences. Anand hatches a plan to run away from the city and set up an ashram posing as sadhus (godmen). The others have no choice but to agree. Padma volunteers to join but Anand tells her she will be called later once they have settled.

So they come to a village and scout for an ideal location to set up the ashram. There is a lavani performance (Raghucha tapun basalay thawa) at the local temple in the night. The next day, the trio arrive outside the temple dressed as sadhus. They are Swami Parmanand (Amol), Swami Shivanand (Anand) and Swami Swanand (Arun). The priest and villagers approach them. They make up a story that the temple’s premises need to be purified after the song and dance performance as a sin has occurred. Anand performs a so called purification test to confirm a sin has indeed been committed and repentance is required.

The priest (Suhas Bhalekar) and villagers are convinced and they go to the Sarpanch (village head), but the Sarpanch (Jairam Kulkrani) refuses to believe them. He thinks the 3 sadhus are imposters. The 3 sadhus share an elaborate plan to complete the temple purification obviously involving a lot of expenditure. They continue to demonstrate (so called) miracles to gain the villagers’ confidence and they succeed.

Rich people start visiting the ashram, to meet and seek blessings from the godmen. Their “voluntary” contributions are most welcome.

One day, they have an unexpected visitor in the form of Anand’s wife Jyoti. The debtors are chasing her and she has no money. Anand gives her money and asks her to leave. She is adamant and he lets her stay in the ashram as a so called disciple.

The Sarpanch is not happy with the success of the sadhus. He approaches the lavani dancer Maina (Usha Naik) to entrap one of the sadhus and expose their real faces. Maina sings a song Ya dhagana laal laal and catches the attention of the sadhus. But she is unsuccessful in her mission as the sadhus are alert and are not influenced by her seducing charms. Maina is repentant of her actions and decides to join the ashram and serve the sadhus.

Meanwhile, Padma/Popins has contacted the trio and arrives in the village to a grand welcome. There is a boisterous celebration song on the occasion of Guru Pournima, Bhagawan aa raha hai. The Sarpanch is not impressed. He goes to the police station to complain about the ashram.

The sadhus have begun a new scheme where devotees are invited to confess their sins. The confessions will get recorded and the confidential information can be used to extract money from the confessor. The corrupt start arriving and confessing to their ill gotten wealth. This includes builders, doctors, government officials etc. The sadhus decide to target such corrupt people who loot the society. They begin with a builder who has stashed Rs 7 lakhs in his bathroom. The sadhus disguise themselves as income tax officers and raid the builder’s house and loot the cash. Unfortunately, the builder passes away due to shock the same night. The police come investigating and find a digging tool left behind by the robbers.

The police investigations bring them closer to the truth and they suspect the ashram and its inhabitants. They send a spy (Jyoti Chandekar) to the ashram. Will the police be able to raid the ashram and catch the perpetrators? Who will win in the end?

The Music

Veterans Jagdish Khebudkar (lyricist) and Ram Kadam (music director) share the music credits. Somehow the songs are not that effective compared to their more famous songs. The songs are quite situational. Dev jagavegala ho, dev jagavegala is melodious.

My Thoughts

Among the performances, the focus in mainly on Ashok Saraf, Ravindra Mahajani and Ranjana and they are entertaining. The others including Ramesh Bhatkar, Roohi and Usha Naik seem like supporting characters.

The film’s plot is good but fails somewhere in its execution. Right from the initial scenes, it is shown how easy it is to fool people. And the protagonists get out of tight situations very easily which is not really believable. Their transition from fraudsters to Robin Hood like sentiments is abrupt and not very convincing. As if they suddenly remembered there is a social message to be passed to the audience. It could have been a better film with the all the talent and known faces.