A GULZARY INTRODUCTION ( PARICHAY )

   This movie remind me of Hollywood oldies,"To Sir, With Love" in the lines of teacher eventful struggles to counter beastly students. However I saw Parichay long before than TSWL. Like every other movie from the bouquet of Sampooran Singh Kalra i.e Gulzar Saheb, this movie is also soothing & refreshing just like melodious narration of a nicely-written poem. When you're sitting under the tree watching the clouds having pen in hand and winds of ideas inside your head, you create movies like these. I mean he always leave that Gulzary-impact in all his movies.

Parichay is inspired from Hollywood movie Sound of the music, but not an exact copy of original. And still you can easily feel the Gulzary-soul inside every frame of Parichay. His movies has a simplicity like Hrishikesh Mukherjee & Literary-colors like Basu Chatterjee's creations. But apart from that, they have their whole new universe of beautiful moments captured within the vicinity of 70 mm screen celluloid. He'd been choosy in selecting the canvas for portraying his cinema, and created gems like Angoor, Aandhi, Khooshboo, Ijaazat etc.


   Well, my favorite one is undoubtedly Angoor. Though it was also an adaptation of Shakespeare play Comedy of Errors. And one more important thing about his movies, that he was not making movies but always tried to tell the stories. And thats the mark of a good storyteller, you dont crib for making hotch-potch hero-heroine dramas. His stories has always been the real hero of his movies. But if you'll like to chose the actor, the common player was ofcourse legendary Sanjeev Kumar. I've never seen Sanjeev Kumar so engrossed in the charachters as in Gulzar movies. In Parichay, he did a guest apperance role, but what a lasting impression his unmatched expressions and refined dialogue delivery has left. Truly, a genius of cinema.

   Well, Talking about Parichay, the movie is about the Parichay(introduction) of a strict Old Man Rai Saheb (Pran) to his ultra-naughty grand childrens. Rai Saheb was a retired military person, an aristocratic man of principles. Pran really played this charachter with Panache. And the classy introducer who led this inroduction was none other than Jumping-jack Jeetendra. Well, in this movie he has not been involved in his dancing histrionics. And interestingly, he used to have his "Second Track" always switched on for humour. In that second track he use to have parallel thoughts running inside his head in contrast to the situation faced by him. In this movie, he played a Tutor to the army of these pranksters students. The Army consists of Jaya Bhaduri as Rama, the eldest one among the devils. Rest, there were two teenage kids Ajay & Vijay, with two cute little ones, Meeta & Sanju.

I think the youngest one Sanju played by Master Raju was the best treat among the rest. I still remember that I first watched this movie with my family on Doordarshan way back in early nineties, and even then it was a similar treat for me. Especially the histrionics of Rai Saheb's servant Asrani, who use to tell Ravi about the strict rules of Rai Saheb's mansion. That nobody should sing songs, laugh aloud, or even avoiding noise of shoes, hilarious. His funny one-liners like "Hasna ho to Jungle ki taraf nikal liyo" was really a pot-boiler & even today pings waves of laughter in my belly.

 So the attitude of kids was the major problem for ageing Rai Saheb, as they had decided to drive away every teacher who tried to make them learn something. Underneath this arrogance and indisciplinary behavior of kids, was buried an indigestible truth about Rai Saheb's son Nilesh's death. Children thought Rai Saheb to be the prime reason for their father's untimely death under the petty circumstances of poverty.Nilesh (Sanjeev Kumar) was a talented musician, who always got criticism from his father for his chosen profession. And ultimately this led to his making distance from his strict father. And he left the home for studying in the city and pursuing his dream for music.

   Nilesh returned from city marrying his Guru's daughter due to the demise of his Guru. But he didn't received a good reception from his father and was asked to make life on his own, with his own money. Rai Saheb clearly states, that in his house, he has to live according to his rules. And heart-broken Nilesh left the home for making life of his own. After that, Father & son only met once that also through a letter, 17 years later. Nilesh died of cancer, and children were sent to their paternal grandfather Rai Saheb. But Rama always had that vengeance against Rai Saheb for not taking care of his ailing son in his last moments.

And that fueled fire in her rebellion approach towards every rules & discipline of Rai Saheb Empire. With her, all the other ones followed blindly. They also had to suffer corporal punishments for their acts by their Aunt Sati Devi(Veena) every now & then. The ferocious kids never allowed any one to enter into their space, not even the rapid changing teachers, who were always driven away by their scary pranks. The movie started with a prank with their teacher Ceshto Mukherjee, who ran away from the mansion due to the ghost-prank using Candle-on-a-tortoise in dark, it was damn funny bathed in its own Ceshto-flavour.

  Finally, Rai Saheb somehow found a solid answer to the children in form of Ravi(Jeetendra). He was in need of good job, but no good job was coming his way. Then his maternal uncle, AK Hangal wrote him about a job in Rai Saheb house to teach these kids. His friend Amit (Vinod Khanna) suggested him to take this job till he finds the right one. And thus, in order pay their bills, and to sustain their dwelling in Lodge, Ravi decided to fetch this job with both hands. Then the audience gets blessed with a eternal Kishore Kumar-gem of a song, Musafir Hoon Yaaron, composed beautifully by Gulzar Music Chief Shri RD Burman !!

 
So, Ravi traveled to his Uncle's town to accept this job offer. Even though his Aunt, played by funny Leela Mishra warned him to not accept this dangerous job offer, he was able to prove her wrong. He was smart enough to cope up with the kids series of painful annoying pranks, and he kept patience till he broke the ice with them through his gentle manner & intelligent approach of handling their feelings. And to do that he started with the commander of the army, Rama. They eventually fallen in love with each other. Ravi played a major role in introducing the real self of children to Rai Saheb, and real self of Rai Saheb to children. Rai Saheb finally laughed & enjoyed after so many years. Salute to a classic movie made by a classy poet.

Ratings: 8/10

                                                Musafir Hoon Yaaron(Parichay): Great Song by Kishore !

DOUBLE DEV DRAMA- (HUM DONO 1961 )

    

   
       This film is undoubtedly blessed with one of the most mesmerizing songs of the century, and I've no qualms in admitting that this movie is a rare species where music overtakes every other aspect of the movie by storm. I mean who can forget the age-old classic "Mai Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya". This song is deep engraved into my soul with all its wisdom of lyrics withheld in it realms. It shows the way to live life at the fullest, and to portray this, who could be the better choice than the legendary Dev Anand himself. In a way, we can sum up the greatness of this movie by only this song, and we have no obligation to touch the other songs or aspects of this classic. The way this song was picturized on Dev Sahab, truly impeccable & flawless. And Mohd Rafi's voice, lyrics of Sahir Ludhianvi & music of Jai Dev were proved to be an eternal combination. I mean no words for Sahir sahab, hats off to this God of lyricism. The Film was released in 1961, and both technically, and execution wise, ahead of its time. One thing I observed about Navketan banner, their penchant for War theme, and working with almost the same team, Like Sahir Ludhianvi & musical team, Gajanand Jagirdar who played important charachter Bhola in Guide, is totally different here as a rich Industrialist. Even Rashid khan, who was literally in every movie of Dev Anand I recall of 50s, whether it's Taxi Driver, Nau Do Gyarah, or Hum Dono. He always played small cameo in Navketan banner. Let's come back to HD- Hum Dono.

      The story starts with another gem of a song, "Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar", which lovers even till date recites to stop their beloved ones. A charming bachelor Anand was a jobless Romeo of the beautiful Rich Juliet, Meeta (Sadhana). He was educated but still searching for jobs giving interviews every now & then. But his real focus was on this sweet simple girl, who was quite grounded and has no signs of rude elites. She was the only daughter of this Rich Industrialist(Gajanand Jagirdar), who has built the Empire from the scratch. And he wasn't happy with Meeta choosing jobless Anand as her life partner. So to ensure the same, he get ready to meet the young lad. Poor Anand came all prepared, neatly-dressed (he was looking awesome), even leaving his interview for the meeting with her father. Old man explained the vast difference between Meeta & Anand fortunes in typical heroine-dad style. He insulted Anand on the very account of Love for which he was bargaining, by mentioning how the love for same Meeta, inspired him to create the whole empire, and he cannot even fetch a job of 100 Rs for the same. Shocked & totally down Anand leave the mansion immediately and get drowned into deep introspection, which was shown as Dev Anand walking fast-paced with head down only to look up to the board with his new course of life written, JOIN ARMY.

     That was the period of Second World War, and hiring for Burma Campaign was going on, there might be some anachronism with the setup & treatment of Army scenes which looked more of the time of China war. But still, Belonging to an army family myself, I could relate to all the setup used by Navketan Production, quite believable and impressive as per that time.The news of Anand joining Army spreads in the town, and reached his Mother, who broke into sorrow & pain of separating from his only hope, his young son, who was going to join army, which was synonym for death in those times. She tried to stop his son, but Anand was firm on his stand. I personally liked all the scenes of Leela Chitnis, an official mother of Dev Anand in nearly all the Navketan banner movies. I mean she had that loving, caring image of archetype Indian mother on-screen, which always touches me, even if some considers all that melodramatic. Well, She was a great actress, Ashok Kumar was a huge fan of her, and often quoted as learnt art of speaking with eyes from her. She is also widely known as first endorsee of popular Lux brand. Again coming back to HD, Anand left his home for eventful Army training experiences and get transformed into more matured gentleman. Then this class masterpiece of Mohd Rafi angelic voice arrives, Mai Zindagi ka sath nibhata chala gaya, which suited well to Anand attitude of moving on with life in the movie. After the song completes, he found a purse of Major Verma, who was his mustache look-alike. He found Maj Verma in Div Head quarters having whiskey with collegues. Initially, everyone thought it's a hangover. Same faces, Same structure, and both in Army, both gelled well right from the start and struck friendship.



         Both shared their respective past to each other, Especially about how they're missing their loved ones amidst military war-life, and then yet another song appeared as a gift to the viewers, "Kabhi Khud Pe Kabhi Halat Pe Rona Aaya".. Marvellous !! Dev Anand maintained the difference  between the two characters so beautifully, Infact his Maj Verma gestures & style was intense and bit funny. Their friendship grew, Maj Verma told everything about his house, wife, etc which later came handy to Anand. During Burma campaign, when Maj Verma was Missing in Action(MIA), he was believed dead, Killed in Action (KIA) during the battle. Anand was asked to convey this news to his family. But on reaching back home, he himself got the blow in form of his mother's death. He remembered his mother words that Army person's mother went mad or died waiting for their sons who never came, and if he'll go she'll never be able to see him again. Anand fall back into memory lanes of grief, and then understood how important is to convey the news of death of Maj Verma to his mother. He left for Major's home right away leaving tensed Meeta behind.


     One of the other unique features of Dev Anand movies was mental turmoil & confused state of protagnist. You take Guide, Kala Bazaar, Gambler, Bombai Ka Babu, or Hum Dono. The protagnist is fighting a psychological war with himself. The hero of Dev Anand movies behave just like normal human being committing sins & crimes himself, and finding redemption from dilemmas, confused between different path to choose, standing at road diverging into two parts. It happened quite in a gripping way in this one also. Major Verma home had already became temple of prayers, especially via Ruma(Nanda), his wife totally heart-broken due to his missing husband. She was praying everywhere for his safety & well-being. "Allah tero Naam" a solo by Asha Bhosle was iconic in all respects. Anand went to Major's house and straight away got misunderstood as Major Verma by his mother (Lalita Pawar)  & wife Ruma. And after seeing the condition of both his mother & wife, he was compelled to hide his identity by the family Doctor too, due to Ruma's weak heart condition. Now Anand was trapped in the web of responsibilities & mishappenings, completely justifying the tensed nail-biting drama. And the twist in the tale comes with dramatic return of Major Verma from the jaw of death, but with a loss of a leg. Problems for Anand became more & more weirder. He was misunderstood badly by Meeta who saw him with Ruma, and now think him as an infidel boyfriend, a cheat. All those friends who were visiting Verma's house since his return, now have a serious doubt over his charachter as he was living with a married woman since past few days just like husband. Though Anand was always smart enough to avoid Ruma's physical inclination towards him, and now he had to prove his purity not just to Meeta & Society, but to Major Verma himself who had already decided to take revenge from Anand after hearing about what happened behind his back. He chased Anand and even tried to kill him, but Anand after overpowering him, described him the real picture and asked for his patience to let him prove his innocence.

   Next day he called Major Verma to the temple, where he called Ruma & Meeta also. And one by one, he cleared the thick air of doubt & mistrust from everyone's mind. And at last, the same trademark melodious tune of Lighter, Meeta's gift for Anand, played. Well what an incredible gift it was, I wish I could have one lighter like that, So what if I didn't smoke ? A gift engrossed with the love of girlfriend like Meeta, is priceless. very recently the movie was screened in color print exactly after 50 years of its release. And why not ? Movies like these can be screened again & again, i have no issues, but remaking them really piss me off. But why should I get angry, Har Fikr Ko Dhue Mein Udaata chala gaya. Gum or Khushi Mein Fark Na Mehsoos Ho jahaan, Mai Dil Ko Us Mukaam Pe Lata Chala gaya. Again seem to influenced from Geeta, a proper state of Stithapragya. And not just this, whether It's Nau Do Gyarah's song -Dard bhi humein Qabool, Chain Bhi Humein Qabool ! Or, Guide, Wahaan Kaun hai tera, and Hum Dono. He have not left any chance to spill wisdom through his movie songs. We need songs like these so badly in Bollywood today. Haina?

RATINGS: 8.9/10

                                          Song: Mai Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya !

JOURNEY TO SALVATION ( THE GUIDE 1965)

     This movie satisfies my inner inclination towards being recluse at times. Road to Vairagya, or ultimately to salvation, was really a bumpy ride for the protagnist Raju, a freelance guide by profession. The film as we all know was based on RK Narayan's novel by the same name. So it has the well-structured storyline contrary to some of the movie of that time, or even nowadays cinema. Guide is inimitable, just like any other classic, as these gems were created keeping no filmy-formulas in mind. So the outcome of such movies may or may not be profitable but they will always be honored with highest tributes, whenever showcased.The movie songs play an integral part in the movie storyline & screenplay, as they're not as obstacles, but they carry forward the story beautifully. Music was carved nicely by legendary SD Burman, and Shailendra lyrics were fabulous.

            

        The story revolves around this popular, culturally well-versed charming guide, who was good in what he does. Apart from being a guide he had his small shop on railway stations where he'd placed a minor to handle the shop. He had one good friend, Gaffoor, who use to help him with the transportation for the visitors for sight-seeing in his jeep. Once an archaeologist Marco comes to the town for some cave research with his beautiful wife Rosie. He was an aged wealthy man who has married Rosie, a daughter of courtesan. He hired Raju for exploring caves, and eventually had one discovery within caves. But as always, he continued neglecting Rosie and treated her so badly at times that she decided to kill herself, and rescued many times by Raju. She had a passion for dancing, for which she often stole some time with Raju to exercise this hobby during the visit. Raju had a deep sympathy for Rosie, and he applauded her talent many a times to motivate her to choose life over suicidal behavior. In the process he fallen in love with her and shown her a dream of freedom from agonies & pain, to follow her penchant for dancing where her true potential lies.

       After rescuing her from Marco, he took her to his home. And he was criticized by one & all for his move. He had to confront with each and everyone for his illicit relationship with a married woman. He had to break all the relationship to keep his love-life with Rosie alive. Away from his home, he made her a dancing sensation countrywide by building influential nexus in the high societies. But later on Raju started living lavish lifestyle on the money of Rosie. He used to convince her for signing cheques for even gambling, much to the dismay of Rosie. In the meanwhile, Marco published his book on the caves, and gifted one copy to Rosie, which Raju hid deliberately to avoid any spark in Rosie's heart for Marco and he didn't wanted to lose her to Marco's ambitions of wooing her. But Marco kept on trying to meet Rosie, always blocked by Raju. He legally granted all the jewels in his account to Rosie for which she had to sign on some papers. But Raju, in his move to avoid Rosie getting flattered by such attraction from Marco, used fake signatures of Rosie to get rid of the issue. Inspite of all these, the distance between the two started building leaps & bounds, picturized beautifully in the song Din Dhal Jaaye. Rosie had somehow built a firm wall between Raju & her. He was shocked & at the same time depressed by her rude behavior towards him, and decided to leave her house & theatre to go back home.

                

And then in his absence his fake signature issue came back rocking upon him when he was at home. His own friend, a policeman came to arrest him in his village. He requested him to see Rosie once before going to jail as he was astonished by the fact that complaint was lodged by her. When he did visit her in the theatre, he was taunted well by Rosie through a beautiful song Saiyaan be-imaan. Raju was unable to explain his intent behind his act, that he was doing all this for her only. He was again down into sorrow.

 


He was sentenced 2 yrs imprisonment. He was released early due to his good conduct, but he chose to forbid his family, love & city for totally unknown place. This happens just in the beginning of the movie, with a masterpiece song, Yahaan kaun hai tera musafir. And all the story continues in the flashback. This movie has one of the perfect beginning. Even after knowing the fate of Raju in the very start, we tend to enjoy and stay curious for the upcoming incidents due to nicely weaved treatment by Vijay Anand, the Director of the movie. My high regards to him, he was good as director. Even though he was not willing to direct Guide initially, he presented the best out of him.

Raju travelled a lot forgetting every attachment, every near & dear one. He reached one remote village where he was misunderstood as saint by villagers,especially Bhola. Even he liked the idea, as his words of wisdom were accepted whole heartedly by one & all. He use to tell them stories of wisdom. He told them once how one saint kept fast for 12 days for rain. Once a famine hit the village, and due to some misinterpretation by an idiot in the village he was emotionally blackmailed to do the same. He just wanted to stop villagers from fighting each other for hunger, but now his own life was in danger, So he tried to convince them that he is no different from them and is just as sinful & ordinary as them.

 

But villagers were not ready to lose faith on him. And he tried to ran away from the village but returned. Initially, he felt tortured by the fast and felt deep longings for food, but gradually his belief on the fast & the devotion behind the same grew dramatically. He now wanted to continue fast to answer his own spirtual queries with ultimate Godhood. He became popular worldwide, and people from far across the world started flocking on village to have glimpse of Swami Raju. Eventually all his forbidden loved ones cam running to meet him. His mother, friends & Rosie all found him in this new surprising tragic phase of life.


    Often questioned by his self about the vitality of fast after his reunion & acceptance by loved ones, Raju didn't got distracted and stayed firm on his fast. And finally he found salvation after going through the crossroads of pain in form of Aatma-rahasya. He reached self-actualization stage wherein he could ruled out the mortal body for the attainment of the absolute immortal AATMA. He felt the presence of the Almighty within his reach and also felt drained by the showers even before they arrived. People were thrilled to have rains after months, but Raju was mo more in his body to share this happiness of villagers & loved ones.

But the superb lines of wisdom echoed once again, seems to be captured from Geeta,  Na Sukh hai Na Dukh hai, Na Din Na raat, Na Deen Na Duniya, Na Insaan Na Bhagwaan, Bas mai hun, Mai hun, Mai hun !!!

Ratings: 9.9/10

                                           SD Burman Gem of a song: Waha Kaun hai Tera !