Okay, okay, I know it's been O.P. Ralhan fanatic month, but seriously, Paapi is a wonderful 1970s masala film. Who would have thought that I would ever find the Sanjeev Kumar/Zeenat Aman jodi so burning hot or desire to see more of Padma Khanna....

Backed with a killer soundtrack by Bappi Lahiri - and I mean a killer soundtrack - Pappi tells the story of Ranu, an orphan, who is separated from her brother at a young age when their older sister/caretaker is raped and killed by an Evil Thug in an amazing sequence where we cut back and forth between Ranu's didi struggling for her life and a religious devotional song in the building next door. Ranu's brother falls in a deep puddle trying to get help and Ranu assumes that he's dead, too. She runs off afraid that Evil Thug is going to kill her, too! Her bhai survives and is taken in by a kindly policeman and grows up to be a Tough On Crime Cop (Sunil Dutt, looking scarily like Sanju) and Ranu becomes Rani, a Master Thief (Zeenat Aman). ( Read more about Pappi and then watch the movie so you can discuss it with me! )So, there is the basic set-up. Some of the things I loved:

* The film is packed full of wonderful tension between Dr. Sanjeev's admiration of Zeenat - his ability to see beyond her crimes to the sweet person within - and Zeenat's longing for some kind of release from her life of crime. She doesn't feel worthy of him and wants to protect him from himself. *swoon* ( screencaps under here... )

* Sanjeev Kumar's character was really well done. What could have been a whiny, impractical doofus of a guy is instead extremely sympathetic. ( A couple of spoilerly screencaps... )

* I was also really pleased with the depiction of female friendship between Padma Khanna as Miss Kitty and Zeent Aman. Instead of having the secondary female lead be a stereotypical vamp who is after the hero, Padma Khanna's character has her own story where she grows from being frozen in a life that she hates to taking action against the men who have trapped her there, with a little courage borrowed from Zeenat. ( spoilery screencaps under here... )

* Reena Roy's saree in this scene was divine. I want one, too!



In the end, what strikes me most about Paapi is how it takes the masala conventions and just does them better. Instead of the tired two-hero film, we get a two-hero film where one of the heroes is Zeenat Aman. Instead of the vamp who dies for the hero's love, we have a vamp who is totally kick-ass and best friends with the female hero. And O.P. Ralhan fits in some great commentary on crime and the criminal element. In short, I don't see how it gets any better than this. Why is Paapi not mentioned up there with Don and Johny Mera Naam as a great 70s masala film?

( A final image... )

Talash tells the story of two best friends, Rajendra Kumar (hero) and O.P. Ralhan (comic relief). There were so many wonderful things about this film that I watched it twice yesterday. TWICE!

First a quick plot run-down - Raj Kumar is a spoiled college graduate. He wants to become a wealthy man more than anything else. (O.P. just wants to chase ladies around.) ( Every film needs a nice romance... )
This is merely the skeleton from which Talash is built, but it's a strong one. The story hits a number of things that I like and are kind of unusual as far as 60s films go. For one thing, the woman is the agressor in the main story. She spots him, sees the potential, and then sets the hoops he has to jump through for him to earn her as his life partner. She always has the upper hand. He is totally at her mercy, but he doesn't come across as less than masculine for being so. He's manly, but not macho. It's a nice combination. Plus, Sharmila and Rajendra have very good chemistry. ( And here are the two best Sharmila/Rajendra scenes, in my opinion... )



The female as agressor motif was also used in the beginning as a horde of women - can someone help identify all of them - chase after Raj when they mistake his name (Raj Kumar) for his title and think he is a prince. ( One of the ladies is Nadira and I think Daisy Irani is another... )
Along with the Sharmila/Rajendra scenes of wonderful romantic angst, O.P. Ralhan won my heart forever with his Helen subplot. ( How many screencaps of Helen could I possibly have, you ask? Ek lakh? Ek crore? )

O.P.'s Helen subplot had a sub-sub-plot involving O.P.'s father trying to set him up in an arranged marriage. ( Does it get better than this? )

Talash had so many of the things I adore in films, from the money can't buy happiness plots to hilarious sight gags. O.P. Ralhan focuses on what is important and glosses over the rest - in the finest masala tradition. Raj's business career is gloriously undefined. We don't find out what the company does nor does it matter. His rise through the ranks takes place in about 3 minutes complete with something like 5 star wipes to move things along. The sub-sub plot regarding O.P.'s arranged marriage, on the other hand, has a hugely detailed set-up. Priorities are important!

The one complaint I had was with the subtitles.



The subtitler must be a frequent txt messager because "U" was constantly substituted for "you" and "Ur" for "your." That got very old very fast.

After the wonderfulness of Phool aur Patthar and Talash, I've got Hulchul and Pappi coming from Netflix in the next week or so. I cannot wait!