Sho shweet! This awkward situation isn’t Jagdeep’s fault; he really did buy fiance Helen1 an expensive sari on a whim, and his humorless boss really did appropriate it on the way home as a gift for his own wife instead. With the circumstances explained and the ruffled feelings smoothed over, one might imagine Helen not merely keeping the humble article, but cherishing it as a symbol for the kind sentiments involved. Hence my surprise and bemusement when a quartet of card-playing goondas took notice of said humorless boss– –and started tailing him with malicious intent– –said handkerchief pr ..read more

My third-hand impression of Pasand Apni Apni had been that it was 1) a comedy 2) based on Happy Go Lovely. That was enough to recommend the film to me (someone who periodically rewatches only the flashback chunks of Ghajini to form a charming, if abruptly concluded romance). It turns out I was missing a crucial third fragment of information: it is also a Basu Chatterjee film. Pasand Apni Apni turned out to be neither as silly as I had expected nor as insightful as Chatterjee’s best movies, but with expectations appropriately adjusted I found it a pleasant viewing experience. The screenplay is ..read more

Shatru in Ab Kya Hoga, or me on Ab Kya Hoga? Having just finished Naalayak, I felt frustrated. The film had such little substance that I despaired of properly writing about it, even in a negative tone. Yet it is also a less-remembered production about which minimal information is available on the internet. My stop-gap solution—one that I expect will bear future repetition—is to group Naalayak together with a few other movies that inspired the same sentiment when I first saw them over the past year or so. All are films that I found unenjoyable, but also in some fundamental way uninteresting. Th ..read more

A confection that may not suit all palates. Although my own was initially satisfied, it was frustrating to discern the outlines of a near-classic here, restrained from real excellence by a few peculiarities of storytelling style plus a poorly handled heroine. Faryal is done no favors here. As soon as one thinks up a better way for things to have shaken out, what one has been handed no longer satiates. Ah, well! The rest was still a delight. Krishan Chander and Ram Kamlani wrote the screenplay from a story by O. P. Datta; Kamlani produced and directed the film for Gope Productions. Rajan (Shas ..read more

What a sweet film! When I accidentally deleted my notes after seeing it the first time (sigh), I watched it over a second near-immediately and without any decrease in enjoyment. This script feels unusually thoroughly crafted, perhaps because it was adapted from P. L. Deshpande’s play Sunder Mi Honar. (Though my Marathi Googling skills were insufficient to uncover when the play had first been written, I can confirm that it remains both in print and in the repertoire today.) Akhtar-ul-Iman wrote the Hindi screenplay. Not only does Aaj Aur Kal retain the largely constrained settings of a stage pl ..read more

Readers will be unsurprised to learn that Rekha’s birthday is something of an annual holiday in my household. Elaan was the entertainment on offer during this past year’s festivities. I found it a freewheeling, pleasantly louche delight for the senses—untidy, perhaps, but supremely enjoyable. Though it drags in the middle, to complain about such a film would mark me an ingrate. There are adorably strange science-fiction-y elements, a heroine whose response to her father’s murder is to become a spy about it, not one but two luxuriously decorated murder lairs, and (most of all, by my lights) Vin ..read more

Ujala is constructed on the model of the classic ’50s social film a la Shree 420 or Jagte Raho. Unfortunately—aside from the fundamental disgrace of marooning Shammi Kapoor in what clearly wants to be a Raj Kapoor movie—it lacks both the heart and the political heft that lend such films their capacity to move. Left with little sympathy for its caviling hero, I found myself waiting increasingly impatiently for the next song. Ujala was produced by F. C. Mehra for Eagle Films. Its screenplay is by Qamar Jalalabadi from a story by director Naresh Saigal, with dialogues by Manohar Singh Sehraj. Ra ..read more

Apart from the Three Aces that emblematize its resident den of sin, Aarop reveals its cards exceedingly slowly. It took some faith to make it to the end. The first half is undoubtedly enjoyable, both in its development of the various romance tracks and in the glamorous fun to be had with Bindu’s character. After that, the film comes off the rails a little bit. I’ve decided in retrospect that it found its way home; as the second half was actively unfolding, though, I mostly made confused noises and distracted myself by admiring Saira’s saris. I think that Aarop was produced and directed by Atma ..read more

Following some unanticipated travel and my obligatory changing-of-the-seasons bout of illness, I am unfortunately reporting for the Buster Keaton Blogathon late. With concomitant apologies, I present the promised offering: a discussion of two Indian adaptations of Keaton’s 1923 feature Our Hospitality. When the Telugu film Maryada Ramanna appeared in 2010, it sparked off a series of subsequent remakes in other language industries: in Kannada as Maryade Ramanna (2011), in Bengali as Fande Poriya Boga Kaande Re (2011), in Hindi as Son of Sardaar (2012), in Tamil as Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham ..read more

Although I doubt I will rewatch Khel Khel Mein, I am glad that I stuck with it. It opens as an unfunny comedy; it later becomes a mystery that, while not particularly mysterious, is psychologically compelling. Individual moments, scenes, and songs—especially in that latter half—occasionally rise to the level of the transcendent. And if, like me, you are easily swayed by mid-’70s character actors or easily distracted by go-go boots, it should not take too much mental resolve to make it through the unpleasant bits. One warning is in order: this film features some stunt-casting. That fact is well ..read more