Keechak Vadh (1959)

My Reviews

The Marathi movie Keechak Vadh (meaning the assassination of Keechak) is based on a tale from the Mahabharata. The movie showcases events during the Pandavas’ final year of exile and eventual killing of the central character Keechak. The producer is P K Pathak and direction by Yeshwant Pethkar.

The Plot

After spending 12 years in exile, the Pandavas need to complete the final year in disguise. It means if they are recognized, they will need to repeat the 13 years. They decide to spend the last year in the kingdom of Matsya, ruled by King Viraat. Thus begins the movie. We are introduced to different traits of the Pandavas which will enable them to assume their roles in disguise. For example, Bheema will be a cook, Arjuna a dancer and so on.

On the way to Matsya, they come near a temple in the forest. Next to the temple is a shami tree where they decide to hide their weapons. As they are getting ready to leave, they hear someone approaching and remain hidden in the temple. We are introduced to Senapati Keechak, who is returning to Matsya with his army after winning the kingdom of Trigarta. Soon a horse rider arrives and calls out Keechak. He is Chatur, a spy of Duryodhana on the lookout for the Pandavas. Upon reaching Matsya, the victorious Keechak is greeted and felicitated by the king Viraat and queen Sudeshna (who is Keechak’s sister).

Meanwhile the Pandavas are ready to undertake their fake roles. Through proper planning and posturing, Nakula & Sahadeva become Granthika and Tantipalaa respectively to tend the horses and cattle. Draupadi becomes Sairandhri Malini, Queen Sudeshna’s maid cum beautician. Arjuna too impresses Sudeshna with his dancing skills and becomes the dance teacher Brihannala to princess Uttara. Yudishthira becomes a brahmin Kanka bhat, an advisor and teaches dice to the king. After a dramatic event, Bheema is employed as a cook Ballava in the palace kitchen. Thus all of them settle down to spend one year without detection of their true identities.

Coming back to Keechak. He is the queen’s brother and the real power behind the throne. Even the king is scared to defy him. Brave, ruthless and a womanizer. He crosses paths with the Pandavas when he spots the beautiful Draupadi/Malini and lusts after her. The queen knows Malini is married and saves her initially. But Keechak’s insistence and stubbornness wins. One day Sudeshna sends Malini to get a special drink (madira) from Keechak. Left with no choice,  the helpless Malini goes to meet Keechak. But she somehow manages to run away and approaches the king in his court for justice. She appeals to the king but its of no use. The Pandavas too are unable to come to her rescue as they are forced by compulsion to remain silent to protect their identities.

A frustrated Draupadi then meets Bheema and lectures him to teach Keechak a lesson. Bheema agrees inspite of the risk of being recognized. The plan is made. Draupadi plays coy and agrees to meet Keechak in the ntrityashala that night.

Keechak is impressed and arrives for the romantic encounter! Draupadi and Bheema are waiting for him. This leads to a thrilling  climax and Keechak is killed by Bheema.

The Music

The movie has 7 songs written by G D Madgulkar and composed by Master Krushnarao. All songs are melodious but the 2 which have attained evergreen status are Asa nesun shalu hirva (by Sudhir Phadke and Lata Mangeshkar) and Dhund madhumati raat re (Lata Mangeshkar).

My Thoughts

The story is straightforward. Inspite being a mythological, there are no special effects or rather this story does not have the scope for special effects! The sets look rich. The main characters played by known faces Sumati Gupte, Shobhna Samarth and Baburao Pendharkar are adequate. But the acting may seem dramatic at times.

There are some unwanted songs and a couple of unnecessary sequences. One is a south Indian dance performance and other is a long wrestling competition scene involving Bheema. The ending is a bit abrupt and we don’t know what happens to the Pandavas after Keechak’s assassination and whether they complete the exile successfully.

Manchali (1973)

My Reviews, ,

Manchali is a light comedy drama Hindi movie based on a novel “Swayamber” by Satyendra Sharat, directed by Raja Nawathe. Its a fun film starring Sanjeev Kumar and Leena Chandawarkar in lead roles.

The Plot

The Manchali here is Leena (Leena Chandawarkar), who is a bold, beautiful and adventurous girl. Leena stays with her uncle “chachaji” (played by Krishnakant) and aunt “chachiji” (played by Nirupa Roy) in Shimla. Leena has come of age and is supposed to receive her father’s inheritance. But there is a catch. Leena needs to get married before her uncle can complete the transaction. It is important to note the uncle and aunt are genuinely concerned about Leena’s happiness & wellbeing. They have selected a groom for Leena and want to go ahead with the marriage at the earliest. Leena also cares for her uncle who has suffered 2 heart attacks and doesn’t want to antagonize him.

Leena has no plans to get married soon and lose her independence but is compelled to do so in order to get the money. She would prefer to select her husband herself. Her best friend Pushpa (Nazima) has placed a matrimonial ad and brought the mail responses from eligible grooms. This is a funny scene where Pushpa reads out the applications. After much deliberation, Leena is impressed by one Sushil Kumar from Dehradun. He has sent his photo and is ready to meet her. The condition being she needs to come alone. For easy identification, he will be wearing a red suit and holding a bouquet of flowers.

Leena cooks up a story and informs her chacha and chachi about her decision to marry Sushil Kumar as the husband of her choice. They are of course against this plan. But adamant Leena runs away and boards the train to Dehradun. Arriving in Dehradun, she is aghast to find an old and stooping Sushil Kumar waiting for her on the platform. He is not the young and impressive man in the photo. Undecided on what to do next, she gets down the train and climbs up the opposite platform. Here she meets a talkative coolie Sanjeev Kumar.

He is a smooth operator. He gets friendly with Leena and manages to get rid of Sushil Kumar and arrange a hotel room. Apparently he is an educated man knowing multiple languages. Leena is worried about her next move. She will be a laughing stock if she goes back to Shimla without a husband. Leena is impressed by Sanjeev Kumar and tells him her unfortunate story. He suggests she take a fake husband with her and divorce him as soon as she receives  the inheritance. Leena agrees but doesn’t know where she can find a “temporary” husband at short notice. Sanjeev Kumar confidently offers to play the role of the fake Sushil Kumar for Rs 25,000. And the deal is settled.

They reach Shimla and things don’t really go as Leena had planned. The over smart fake Sushil impresses her uncle, aunt and other members of the family. He is also a hit with her friends especially Pushpa. Leena makes plans to forcibly send Sushil with a pehelwan Sher Singh and hold him in Delhi till the divorce papers are signed.

However Sushil fights with Sher Singh and returns to Shimla. Leena is concerned when she sees an injured Sushil and for the first time develops feelings from him.

Sushil keeps acting randomly to Leena’s chagrin. She feels romantically involved with him but is unable to express her feelings. Sushil leaves no chance to make her angry and jealous. He even arranges a big party for Pushpa’s birthday and flirts with her in front of Leena.

Finally the day arrives when chachaji is ready to pass on the inheritance. Leena is shocked to find that she and Sushil have been made joint owners of the property. Will Leena be able to accept the reality? Will the fake Sushil return as per the divorce agreement? Things are sorted at the end with a satisfying ending.

The Music

Anand Bakshi and Laxmikant Pyarelal do full justice. The title song O manchali kahan chali, Gham ka fasaana ban gaya achcha and Tan man dhan sab hai tera fit the situations and are enjoyable.

My Thoughts

The story is dramatic and the dialogues are witty. Sanjeev Kumar is most effective as the supposedly fraud temporary husband. He is at his irritating best when he interacts with Leena. His catch phrase..pichli saat pushton se..talking about the “contributions” of his family’s last seven generations is enough to annoy Leena. Great coming timing without being over the top. Leena provides good support as the dominating but helpless “wife.” Nazima is impressive. Overall, Manchali is a funny and entertaining movie.

Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche (1972)

My Reviews, ,

The Ramsay brothers are synonymous to the horror genre in Indian cinema. Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche (meaning Two yards under the ground) was the first such full fledged horror movie from this group. Made on a shoestring budget with minimum production values, it was a huge hit which set the tone for many more to follow. The movie is full of loopholes but fun to watch for all the absurdity going around.

The Plot

The film opens with a graveyard scene. Rajvansh (Surender Kumar) has come to offer flowers to his dead wife’s grave who passed away a year ago. He is a rich widower staying in a big house with 2 servants for company – Ramdas (Dhumal) and Chanchal (Smita). He is also a chemist constantly experimenting in his laboratory set up in the house. One day he is collecting plant samples near the forest, when he sees a girl screaming and goons running after her. Being the hero, he tackles them easily. The girl is Anjili/Anju (Shobhna) who is staying far away in Khandala. She has a mother and uncle (mamaji).

Rajvansh brings her home for the night. She settles down by wearing his dead wife’s clothes and has dinner with him. Later in the night she gets scared of sleeping alone in her room and goes to Rajvansh’s room and lies down quietly. He gets seduced by her and they end up spending the night together. In the morning, Rajvansh is repentant of his actions and agrees to marry Anju and demonstrate he is a “shareef” man. Anju readily agrees as this is all a plan of her mamaji (Satyen Kappu) to entrap Rajvansh and enjoy his wealth. She is already married to Anand (Imtiaz Khan) but this is (obviously) not revealed to Rajvansh.

They get married and mamaji is a frequent visitor to their house. He always leaves with a wad of money under the pretext of sending it to his sister i.e. Anjili’s mom. Why Rajvansh keeps giving him money is never explained. The mother is never shown to come and meet her daughter or vice versa. Rajvansh is frustrated with his wife and her uncle but seems helpless.

Enter heroine no. 2 Meena (Pooja). Out of nowhere, a young girl Meena comes singing a song about being a free bird etc. As the song ends, she slips and falls into the lake. The always chivalrous Rajvansh rescues and takes her home. He seems to have a habit of saving young women (Anjili taunts him on this point too!). It is revealed Meena is a nurse working in the neighbouring town and is related to the servant Ramdas.

Meena is recovering and spends a few days in Rajvansh’s house. She sings a Krishna bhajan. Anjili insults her as she suspects Meena is after her husband. One day, Rajvansh is experimenting in his lab. He does not realize the water in the lab is contaminated and drinks it. Unfortunately this leaves him paralyzed. Meena offers to take care of him. Interestingly Anjili does not allow Rajvansh to be taken to the hospital. She has arranged a specialist doctor to come and stay with them to treat Rajvansh.

The doctor is none other than Anjili’s husband Anand. He reluctantly agrees to be part of the plan. Mamaji further plots to inject poison and kill Rajvansh. Anand is against the plan of murder but agrees on Anjili’s insistence. The plan is carried out and Rajvansh’s body is placed in an old trunk and buried do gaz zameen ke neeche.

But the three plotters realize they are unable to find the keys to the Godrej safe where Rajvansh used to keep the money and valuables. They even dig up the body but the keys are not to be found. Surprisingly they are found in mamaji’s pocket and Anand suspects mamaji of planning to keep the money for himself. They open the safe but its empty except for blood inside which is taken as a bad omen. However they find Rajvansh’s diary which reveals some important details.

Things here take a twist. As per Rajvansh’s diary, he had instructed Ramdas (Dhumal) to transfer the money from the Godrej safe to a safer place. Also, he was studying about American zombies and how the soul ( aatma ) can make a dead body walk. He had been successful in finding this formula.

And soon Rajvansh’s dead body returns to take revenge of his murderers. Will he be successful? Did the formula work? How will all this end?

The Music

The movie does not have scope for any songs and Sapan Jagmohan’s music is wasted. There are 3 songs including an item number of Helen.

My Thoughts

While being a pioneering movie, it is as bad as it can be. And that makes it hilarious too. It seems to be shot completely on location in Mahabaleshwar; the rooms are typical hotel rooms. The movie is a sequence of random things happening. The background music is suspenseful even when the scene is not.

Among the actors, Surender Kumar has personality but the two ladies Shobhna and Pooja are lacking. Imtiaz Khan (Amjad Khan’s younger brother) is impressive.

The concept of a full horror movie, that too with an adult rating would have been a novelty at that time. And credit to the Ramsay brothers, for identifying the opportunity and making a successful movie. It could have been a better movie with better actors, better budget, better direction, …almost better everything. But yes, in spite of its flaws, the movie went on to become a cult classic and served as a template for many more horror flicks in India.