I know it's not fair, but I'm laying the blame for the epic dullness of Bandhe Haath right at the (stylish) shoes of the Big B.

"Why?" You may well be asking. "Why blame the Big B? And aren't you scared that he will post a detailed rebuttal on his blog now that he is so taken with the Internet?"

Ha! I welcome any behind-the-scenes information Mr. B has to share. Until then, let me spell out the crimes of Bandhe Haath:

* Too much use of the voice-over = internal monologue convention. I can live with a little voice-over. I always appreciate the voice-over reading of a letter, for instance, so that the words are translated for those of us who cannot read. I also enjoy opening narration, so we don't have to waste too much time in setting up the plot. What I cannot stand is Wonder Years-style voice-over every scene where nobody is talking.

Here's an example where Bandhe Haath falls flat in this way: ( Illustrative example )

* Amitabh tries his best smouldering Dharmendra impression and ends up just looking kind of constipated. ( You know you care about Bandhe Haath... )

I'm going to be honest and admit that I couldn't finish this, even the music is boring. And my last O.P. Ralhan film... why didn't he direct?! Hmm? This could have been so good. Ah, well, I'm going to go start my letter writing campaign for a DVD release of Pyaas.

From Bandhe Haath, which is turning out to not be quite as good as some of O.P. Ralhan's other works, although Mumtaz is deliciously plump and wonderful. Maybe part of the problem is that Ralhan didn't direct this one or perhaps Amitabh doesn't have it within him to capture the earnestness/angst over being good person yet being a criminal of a Dharmendra (Phool aur Patthar) or a Rajendra (Gehra Daag) or a Zeenat (Paapi) which make Ralhan's other films work so well. Amitabh in this era was more angry than contrite.

I was really taken with this song-dance from Gehra Daag. The choreography makes really effective use of the chorus dancers with Rajini. She has such an energy that is only enhanced by all of the sweeping shots of her running between the rows of the chorus and ducking out of the frame at last second.




Ralhan knows how to pick his item dancers!

Gehra Daag (1963) was interesting for me coming after a week of colorized, cotton-candy late 60s and 70s Ralhan. All of the pieces were in place for later films, they were just a lot more muted.



The unquestioned star of Gehra Daag is Rajendra Kumar. He plays Shanker, who is sentenced to 14 years of prison for manslaughter. See, what happens is that some dope offends Shanker's sister and Shanker gets into a fight with the guy that escalates out of control when the dope brings out a huge claw-type weapon and Shanker kills him with it. He made a mistake and paid his debt to society. Will people be able to forgive him his crimes or will he suffer forever for one mistake?

( More Gehra Daag under here! Click me! )

All of the later O.P. Ralhan trademarks are here in embryonic form -




1. A comedy sub-plot involving Tun Tun as the maid of Lalita Pawar's sister!

2. The theme that crime is separate from criminals. Crime should be stopped, but not by eliminating the people who commit crimes, who are human. This running theme makes me wonder about O.P. Ralhan's personal life. I wonder if he had a friend or relative go to jail and then come out changed and unable to find a job or be treated fairly. *indulges wild speculation*

3. Excellent camera work/direction by Ralhan. We get some nice long panning shots and effective cuts - not quite as nice in black and white, however. He works better in color, I think. Black and white doesn't suit his pop art style.

4. Strong female characters - from Mala Sinha, a confident and forgiving young woman, to Shanker's sisters, Lalita Pawar and Tun Tun - no doormats here.

I also want to add that the film is built on Rajendra Kumar's performance as Shanker, and he really sells it. There isn't much plot and much of the film is taken up in little household moments and vingettes, which would flop if not anchored by strong performances - especially by Rajendra who is really a compelling figure on-screen.

I'm not sure I would recommend this for anybody except those who are curious - like I was - about early O.P. Ralhan or for huge Rajendra Kumar buffs. It was a very sweet film, but also very slow-moving: Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! with a leftie-liberal social conscience and less comedy.

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... )