The James Bond series is one of the most famous and long running film franchises in Hollywood. Hindi cinema was quick to be inspired by the series and come up with its desi versions. Farz (1967) was one of the first movies to do so. Jeetendra played the Indian secret agent and the film’s success made him a dependable star. (Farz was actually a remake of Gudachari 116 (1966)), a Telugu film!)
Many years later, Jeetendra starred in Bond 303, where he plays the patriotic secret agent and tackles the enemy of the nation. Unfortunately, the film didn’t achieve the same success as Farz but had its entertaining moments. The film was produced by B C Devra and took many years to complete. Ravi Tandon was the director.
The Plot
The first scene starts with a murder, supposedly in Goa. A girl Julie is killed by Moses (Dev Kumar) under the orders of their boss Tiger. Tiger’s gang is involved in various anti-national activities like smuggling etc. Julie’s brother Tony also works for Tiger. He is shaken when he sees Julie being killed in front of him. He phones the police and informs them about a consignment of fake medicines and drugs that has arrived in the country. The police raid the location (Miramar Beach).
Tiger’s deputy(?) is Shakti (Prem Chopra). He is furious at the police raid. This has never happened in the organization. He is sharing this information with other gang members like Moses, Dr Ranjit (Satyen Kappu), his wife Lily (Helen), Mac (Mac Mohan), and Vikas (Vikas Anand). Suddenly the overhead lights start blinking and they hear Tiger’s voice. Tiger announces that Tony is the traitor and needs to be eliminated immediately. The task is assigned to Ranjit, who drives a truck and crushes Tony.
Shakti welcomes the delegation of Cosmos led by Tom (Tom Alter). Shakti mentions that Cosmos will help them in ensuring that India remains an under developed nation, and is sponsoring their effort in achieving this. Dr Ranjit gives a demo of the proposed plan. On 13th February in Anjanapur, the Government of India is planning a huge exhibition showcasing its military strength. Dignitaries and scientists etc will be arriving there. Tiger’s gang has developed a bomb, stored at a launching site 500 km from Anjanapur. Once launched, it will destroy the city and seriously dent the country’s security and morale. Cosmos is happy with the demo and ready to work with Tiger’s organization.
Shakti informs the other members to get into action. They will introduce the fake medicines in the market, and destroy the infrastructure by bombing bridges, sabotaging the railway network and so on. This will ensure the police and defense forces’ attention is diverted and their focus will stay away from Anjanapur. The actions are executed causing destruction across the country.
The police commissioner (played by Iftekhar) is keeping a close watch. He has summoned Ajay (Jeetendra) also known as agent Bond 303 to meet him. Bond is currently on vacation and flirting and singing with a bevy of girls.
Meanwhile, the editor of Daily Samachar K. K. Verma (Shreeram Lagoo) is tracking the deaths caused by fake medicines and covering the matter in his newspaper. He meets the IG (Chandrashekhar) and warns him that he will continue to highlight the situation in his paper and blame the authorities. It is shameful that the authorities are unable to handle the situation and find the perpetrators.
Bond is forced to curtail his vacation and meet his boss. He enters in style and first flirts with Mary, the commissioner’s secretary. He has brought a gift for her. The secretary admonishes him for not bringing her a nail polish for her toes. (This is actually a coded message for him which will be useful later.) She asks him to enter the commissioner’s office.
Apparently, he has to pass through a huge room/ vacant space before entering the office. As Bond is passing, he is attacked by a group of men. He tackles them all and enters the boss’s office. The men were sent by his boss to test his fitness. Bond assures him that he is fully fit and ready for the job. The boss explains him about the recent spate of criminal activities and thinks the source is in Mumbai. He has received some inputs from another agent Aslam (Deven Verma) in Mumbai. Bond is to go to Mumbai for investigation. Mary will join him too.
Bond thanks him. As he is about to leave, he sees a science magazine with a photo of outstanding student of the year and is impressed by the beautiful girl (Parveen Babi) in the photo. The scene shifts to a college laboratory in Mumbai.
We meet Kavita (Parveen Babi) and her friend Salma. Seems she is a science student studying in Mumbai. Kavita tells Salma she has invented an injection for reducing tension(!). She tests it on 2 professors (a male and a female). After getting injected, they generate romantic feelings for each other much to Kavita’s delight. She decides to try it on a random person and test its effectiveness. (We can very well guess who that is going to be!)
Bond arrives in Mumbai and is welcomed by Aslam. He is driving a vintage car which stops in the middle of a forested area. Kavita and Salma are conveniently hiding nearby. They manage to inject both Bond and Aslam. The men seem to forget their tension and follow the girls and sing a romantic song. Later, Bond and Aslam go to their hotel to meet Mary. But they are greeted by her corpse. As Bond is searching her body, he remembers the coded message and checks her toe nails. He find a film clip stored there. It has the photo of a graveyard. Aslam identifies the place. This is where Moses (one of the criminals) was buried 5 years ago. Bond suspects Moses’s grave may give them some clue and probably Mary had found out something.
In the graveyard, they are attacked by dogs but Bond manages to kill them. They stumble upon a secret chamber next to Moses’s grave. This leads them to a godown/warehouse where fake medicines are being stored. There are statues all around. This is a well shot scene. The statues are actually Tiger’s gang members, ready for attack. Later, Moses arrives. Seems he had faked his death. He tries to kill Bond and Aslam but gets killed himself.
Shakti is furious when hears about Moses’s death and Bond being responsible. Mac informs him that Bond is looking for Tony’s sister Julie (who was killed by Moses earlier). Shakti tells Lily to go and meet Bond posing as Julie. She does so. Later, she and other members try to kill Bond, but he gets away skillfully.
Circumstances lead him to meet Kavita again, this time in a health club. They fall in love. Through the police records, Bond comes to know about Lily’s true identity. She is Dr Ranjit’s wife and he suspects Ranjit is part of the same gang that is trying to kill him. He takes Kavita’s help to visit Ranjit’s laboratory and do some investigation. Bond follows Ranjit and gets the required proof. Ranjit tries to kill Bond but gets killed in the action.
Tiger orders Shakti that they have to get rid of Bond immediately or it will jeopardize their big plan. It is revealed that Kavita’s uncle is the editor K. K. Verma. Verma invites Bond to his house for his son’s birthday party. The son is none other than Shakti Verma (Prem Chopra) who is after Bond’s life. Once again, there is an attempt to kill Bond by placing him in a coffin and throwing it in the water. But Aslam saves him in the nick of time.
Shakti brings in 4 scientists from abroad who will carry on Dr Ranjit’s work to execute the 13th February plan. There is a party arranged for the scientists. Bond, Aslam and Salma pose as dancers and perform at the party. At the end of the song, Bond reveals himself and shoots at Shakti, who gets injured. Bond manages to abduct the scientists.
At this time, Tiger’s identity is revealed. He is none other than K. K. Verma, Shakti’s father and Kavita’s uncle.
Tiger has his plans ready. There is a further twist by introducing Kavita’s twin sister Suzianna who stays in Italy with their mother (played by Shammi). All this leads us to 13th February and Anjanapur, where the disaster is set to happen.
Will Tiger be successful by bombing the area? OR will Bond 303 be successful in saving the country? Watch with bated breath as the action unfolds.
The Music
Music is the weakest link here. In general, a spy / secret agent movie may not have much scope for romantic or other songs. But this needs to be thought of properly as in the case of say Farz or Ankhen which had great music but did not seem put of place. Unfortunately, the songs are a dampener in this movie in spite of Gulshan Bawra and R. D. Burman’s efforts. Probably worth mentioning is the Helen song Main hoon Lily (by Asha Bhosle) where she tries to pass on a message to Bond secretly.
My Thoughts
The film has a fast pace throughout and things keep happening continuously. In that sense, it keeps the viewer engaged. The film tries hard to incorporate the original Bond movie elements. We have a so called larger than life villain with grand plans of destruction. The identity revealing of the villain is a bit disappointing. The set of the rocket launch site is nicely done including shots of the rocket loading and unloading. We see those typical control room panels with switches, blinking lights and telephones which are a staple of spy movies! Then we have those fancy gadgets like a watch which is also a communication device.
Acting wise, Jeetendra tries hard to play the sauve and debonair Bond but has limitations. Parveen Babi’s Kavita character is confusing. She hardly looks or behaves like a serious student engaged in chemistry experiments or do something outstanding. Her “invention” sounds silly. She is more convincing as the stylish and ruthless twin sister Suzianna. Unfortunately, the voice of both characters is dubbed as the actress was not available for dubbing. Deven Verma’s character is too frivolous to be believable as a secret agent. The villain gang contribute as expected. The songs and romantic track do not add much value.
Cine Gaurav 