After a long period of inaction in terms of Dharmendra movies, it finally seems like things just might be looking up for me. After a long wait, I finally got my ‘Chupke Chupke’ DVD, although I haven’t had time to watch it yet, and might not get round to it for a while. It’s great to know I have it, though.
By sheer happenstance, I recently also found (during one of my random DVD/VCD raids near my office) a copy of ‘Jugnu’, another Dharmendra film from way back. I watched a few minutes of it last night. ‘Jugnu’ stars Dharam, Hema Malini, Prem Chopra and the Pran-tastic one. I quite like Pran, his roles are always fun to watch. Anyway, from what I saw of ‘Jugnu’ last night, hmm… this just might be a bad movie. I posted a quote on this blog a while back from a Hema Malini interview, in which she said she regretted not making more movies with Dharmendra (and establishing themselves as a romantic couple). Maybe she was wishing they could have done more with films like ‘Jugnu’.
I loved Dharam and Hema as a couple in ‘Sholay’ and ‘The Burning Train’ (the film which made me fall in love with Dharmendra)… but I gotta say it’s not looking too promising for ‘Jugnu’. I’m only like 20 minutes in, but the film just seems to fall flat. Dharam is playing the clever conman and master of disguise that we’ve seen done in really good old movies like ‘Do Aur Do Paanch’ and newer ones like ‘Bluffmaster’ and ‘Bunty aur Babli’, but… he doesn’t seem to be doing it that well. He just seems really naff and a bit annoying.
Hema, looking very beautiful as always, is playing the independent, headstrong tomboy stereotype, and she seems to be doing ok… but it’s not really working for me. So far, the parts that are supposed to be clever and funny are just… not. They’re just silly, and not even in an interesting or amusing way. The film appears to be really badly scripted – the story is making absolutely no sense and the scenes are just plodding along. I really hope things pick up in ‘Jugnu’, otherwise I might just have to write this one off as a bad Dharam movie, which would be sad... although, hey, at least I'd have one more movie to add to my list of the Dharam movies I've seen.
On the plus side, ‘Jugnu’ features music by S. D. Burman… which I’m looking forward to because I recently heard about him from Carla. So far, the background music has been mildly interesting, and I’ve listened to only one full song, which Dharam’s character does with a group of schoolchildren on Independence Day. I didn’t really notice whether the song was good or not, because the picturization was so cheesy and… not very likeable. Hopefully, I’ll enjoy the music more when I watch the rest of the film over the next few days.
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6 comments:
Where did you get Chupke Chupke? I decided I few days ago that I want to buy it, but none of the online stores where I usually order seem to have it.
Oh, and in my experience, films that start badly don't tend to get much better later on, sorry :/
Hey Maja, you're right, for some reason Chupke Chupke is quite hard to find. I eventually got a copy from a rather unreliable but very cheap (for older movies) US-based retailer called www.dvdunlimitedonline.com. I had to wait until they had it in stock (this took a few months - as I said, they're not very reliable.) Using a US based retailer is complicated for me, because to avoid the high postage costs, I get it mailed to family who live there, who then have to find a way to send it to me (through a friend/relation who's coming home for a visit or something)... which is why it took so long for me to get it.
As for UK sites, I just found Chupke Chupke here (they have all three editions): http://www.bollywooddvds.com/searchmenu.aspx?s=E&g=language&pgst=1&pged=5&t=hindi&iCode=&cP=5&ss=C
Sorry, don't know how to 'link' it - so please just cut and paste.
Oh thanks a lot! I haven't seen this site before, I'll go look. I prefer not to order from the US as well because it's much more expensive.
First of all: delighted to see an entire blog dedicated to Dharmendra - he's my favourite Hindi oldie actor, definitely.
Second of all: I think Jugnu is a very typical, goofball, plot-makes-little-sense type of 70's masala. I enjoyed it and its comedy, and the Dharam-Hema chemistry extremely but a lot of it had to be enjoyed on that "it is unintentionally funny!" manner. It's just one of those things. I think the fact I've seen some Dharam movies (and Dharam-Hema) movies way worse than Jugnu. In fact, after coming off SAG and Sholay, some movies appeared VERY mediocre to me - Dream Girl was one example.
But either way, I love Jugnu, great masala mishmash of things, fantastic Hema dancing in songs and Dharam doing comedy. That's enough for me. :)
Hope you can find Chupke Chupke! I got it from Nehaflix when it was still in stock.
Hey Sanni, thanks for dropping by!
I watched a bit more of 'Jugnu' last night, and I am actually liking it much more than I did when I started. There is a really great Hema Malini dance (the one on stage with Dharam watching happily) - she's always a great dancer to watch. And the chemistry between her and Dharmendra is definitely starting to 'come out' more. I like.
The comedy I am still not 'getting', but thanks for giving me some much needed context. Will definitely bear it in mind when I get back to the film.
And oh no... there are worse Dharam/Hema movies than this one? I think I will steer clear of 'Dream Girl' (well for now anyway).
Thanks again for the comment!
Got my copy of Chupke Chupke from Nehaflix as well. It's been a long time, so I don't recall alot of details about it.
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