Gumnaam has so many of the things I love about Bollywood, which I shall detail below, but the number one thing about Gumnaam that really epitomizes Bollywood for me is this: the mystery doesn't matter, what matters is how the characters react to the mystery. For that reason, this review is going to remain spoiler free for those who haven't seen it yet and want to be surprised.




Here is one thing I will spoil for you: Ted Lyons & His Cubs + Laxmi Chhaya = Awesome. When I get my inevitable book deal, I'm going to pitch a coffee table book of photos of item numbers and item girls - giving due to ladies like Laxmi and Padma Khanna! Who wants a copy?

( More screencaps under here! )

The mystery is wrapped up neatly, but it doesn't really matter because that was never the point. It's too bad that the people over at Lost haven't figured this out. That show could have - and did for a bit in the first season - work like Gumnaam. Meaningless clues, red herrings, and Ted Lyons are a lot more fun than overly complicated plots that have to conform to "reality."

Ah... Aruna Irani at her best! Enjoy the long and lazy circular tracking shots that emphasize her stumbling, drunken walk!

Well, I suppose it's official: I am a Manoj Kumar fan.



(I'm making this face right now.)

While watching Roti Kapada aur Makaan, I had such sympathy for Manoj Kumar, beyond sympathy for his character, who was quite nice and broody. Seeing the effort and detail that goes into a Manoj Kumar production, I was overcome with a sense of outrage that Farah Khan would mock him so meanly in Om Shanti Om. That was when I knew I was an official Fan (tm). Where are the earnest young (handsome) men making films like this today? Politics, romance, melodrama, action, and some wonderful songs all wrapped into one package. Rang de Basanti comes close to a Manoj Kumar production. I need to rewatch that, I think.

Roti Kapada aur Makaan is a wonderfully intricate story of a guy named Bharat (natch!) who can't get a job in 1974. The story spreads out to encompass Bharat's brothers and his sister and his lady friends, but leaving out the parents in a very modern way.

( Follow me for more Manoj Kumar plus The Shashinator in some excellent 70s suits. )

It's not raining anymore today, but I thought a rain song would be nice anyways. How Manoj Kumar resists running out into the rain is beyond me....

Purab Aur Pachhin, as well as it's director Manoj Kumar, is an easy film to mock for the many details that are just not cool to our 21st century eyes. Our hero, Bharat, whose mother is named - wait for it - Ganga - is an idealistic, nationalistic, dutiful, and forgiving man. And the challenges he faces don't make him waver from his convictions one bit. The whole film pivots around Bharat and how everyone (in the West) changes for coming into contact with him.

Rather than East vs. West, the real match up here is between materialism and spirituality. Characters in London constantly question why they would want to go live in India where there are no houses, food, or clothes there. ( More ramblings under here. )

The treatment of women in the film could be an essay all of its own. I'll have to pick it up again at a later date. Saira Banu proves again that she is actress of considerable force.


( Or you can just skip to the pictures of Saira Banu in a mini-skirt smoking a cigarette. I wish Saira still made movies. )