BEFORE ‘DEEWANGI DEEWANGI’…

…there was ‘John Jaani Janardhan’, from ‘Naseeb’ (1981). For ‘John Jaani Janardhan’ Manmohan Desai (who also directed ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’), managed to assemble a small galaxy of stars for a fun music-and-dance number. He didn’t round up quite as many stars for the number as Farah Khan did for Om Shanti Om’s ‘Deewangi Deewangi’, but he did manage to reel in some pretty impressive fish. There was the iconic Raj Kapoor, along with his brother Shammi, and his son Randhir. There was my beloved Dharmendra, Simi Garewal, a very cute Sharmila Tagore, Mala Sinha, Vijay Arora, Dev Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Bindu and Rakesh Roshan (back in his acting days), along with some lesser-known stars (who knew there was a Simple Kapadia? Dimple I know, but Simple?). And of course there was Amitabh Bachchan, playing the character of the song’s title, John Jaani Janardhan.

I love this number – I especially love the end of the song where the stars all break into a freestyle dance… Raj moves into a graceful waltz, the ladies shimmy prettily, and Dharmendra does this really bad but oh-so-cute strut thingy – he looks like a total wally, but a cute one. Mr. Bachchan is great in this song – he makes it such OTT and silly fun, just as much fun as his equally memorable ‘My Name is Anthony Gonsalves’ from ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’.

Unlike ‘John Jaani Janardhan’, though, the rest of ‘Naseeb’ does not quite equal the superb craziness of its 1977 predecessor, ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’. The gags are not quite as funny, the structure of the film is not quite as tight, a few parts of the plot fall a bit flat, and it doesn’t have quite as much overall charm. But it’s a fine and thoroughly engaging masala film nonetheless, with a fabulous, bubbly and fun soundtrack by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. I had lots and lots of fun with ‘Naseeb’ – I found it really entertaining.

There are loads (as in LOADS) of similarities between ‘Naseeb’ and ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ – I’ve already mentioned the fact that in both films Amitabh Bachchan is the star of a song that’s all about the character he plays in the film. Also, in both films there’s a drunken monologue by Amit ji (in AAA, he speaks to his reflection in the mirror, in ‘Naseeb’ he speaks to a bottle – the monologue in AAA was way funnier).

Both films explore the theme of unity among three religions – Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. This is evident in Bachchan’s character’s name, John Jaani Janardhan (‘Johnny’ for short). It’s also evident in the insignia on the three rings worn by Johnny’s father, Namdev, played excellently by the actor I love to call the Pran-tastic one, whom I always just adore watching for his sheer and utter… camp-ness. The religious tolerance theme is also reflected in the role of the kindly Mrs. Gomes in the lives of Johnny and his brother Sunny (who is played by an adorable and simply on-point Rishi Kapoor – I am very much in the minority on this one, I know, but I think he’s a wonderful actor – the mid-to-late ’80s were not at all kind to him, but at the time of this film I think he was at the top of his game – but I digress). It’s also evident in the relationships of the film, both ‘fraternal’ and romantic; as well as (repeatedly) the imagery and sets.

The similarities between ‘Naseeb’ and AAA go on and on…there are three male leads in both films, and in both films the three male leads must find and win their respective lady-loves. In both films, there are storylines involving past and continuing battles among the fathers of the three male leads, and in both films the fathers are separated from their sons…. And of course, both films share some of the same cast… Amitabh Bachchan, Pran and Rishi Kapoor are back for ‘Naseeb’. Even the funny character called ‘Zebesko’ is back!

IMDB tells me that Desai had hoped to cast Vinod Khanna, the third member of the AAA trio, in ‘Naseeb’, as Johnny’s best friend Vicky. Khanna wasn’t making films at the time, though – so the role of Vicky went to Shatrughan Sinha, whom I think did a good job. His character was a bit ridiculous, but hey, a lot about this film (and this is another similarity between it and AAA) is very ridiculous indeed. Ridiculous… but such fun.

Like the character of ‘Don’, played by an impeccably-coiffed but very evil Amrish Puri. Watching ‘Naseeb’ reminded me that there’ll simply never be another Amrish Puri – who else could play evil so gleefully and with such stylish abandon? I thought this line was funny, especially in view of Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Don’, which was released three years before ‘Naseeb’.

Speaking of movie references, there are loads in ‘Naseeb’, and trying to spot them was one of the fun things about the film. Desai directed the classic film ‘Dharam Veer’ (starring Dharmendra) in 1977, and it’s referenced in ‘Naseeb’ – during the song ‘John Jaani Janardhan’. There are also some lovely references to Raj Kapoor’s classic film ‘Awaara’; from the set of the song ‘Chal Mere Bhai’ (with Amit ji and Raj Kapoor), which is reminiscent both of the opening credits of ‘Awaara’ and the song ‘Awaara Hoon’, to the Charlie Chaplin costume worn by Rishi, Raj’s son, in the show-stopping number ‘Rang Jamaye Jamake’ (which is reminiscent of the excellent number ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ from AAA). I noticed one other filmi reference that escapes me right now (I think it might have been a reference by Rishi's character to ‘Mera Naam Joker’), and there may have been others that went over my head on this viewing…

The story of the film is fun and pretty straightforward (in a very roundabout way) – a lot the script makes absolutely no sense or stretches the bounds of ‘coincidence’ (and credulity) to the point where it’s completely absurd, but then that’s unsurprising for a film like this one. It’s meant to be ridiculous, over the top and little nonsensical – and it all works, thanks to the performances. But back to the story – basically, the entire drama begins over a lottery ticket that four friends agree to share… greed and selfish interest intrude, and two of the four friends are cheated out of their rightful winnings…. Naturally, years later, the opportunity to gain revenge arises…

‘Naseeb’ has a little bit of everything. Unlike AAA, there is loads of action in the film, with lots of memorable baddies, and the fight scenes are very stylish, detailed and well-choreographed – you can tell that a lot of work went into putting the sequences together. It’s obvious that this film was made on what must have been a mammoth budget for that time – of course the special effects and stunts look a bit crude now, but they were really impressive for the time at which the film was made. But along with the slick action, there’s also a lot of random weirdness and goofiness (which I loved); from the skilfully-staged fencing in Don’s lair, to the hilarious revolving restaurant (which reminded me of Pushp Villa in Agra), to Namdev’s spiffy white suit worn with MASSIVE black gloves, to the very, very disturbing salute given by the criminals’ lackeys, to Don’s straight-backed piano-playing skills.. and just when you’ve seen every bit of weirdness one film could possibly offer, out pop Eliza Doolittle (in the outfit made famous by Audrey Hepburn in ‘My Fair Lady’) and Charlie Chaplin!

Can I just say how much I loved Hema Malini in this movie? How gorgeous is she? She looked so beautiful – I know she always does, but sometimes I was just gobsmacked, watching her in this film. And apart from looking lovely, her portrayal of the strong, spunky, vibrant and independent Asha is absolutely spot-on for me – I loved her performance in this film. She was just excellent.

One thing I really liked about ‘Naseeb’, actually, is the ‘kickass-ness’ of the female co-stars. Along with Hema ji, who plays Johnny’s love-interest Asha; the beautiful Kimi plays Sunny’s love interest Kim, while the lovely Reena Roy plays the somewhat tragic Julie, Vicky’s love interest (I wasn’t at all fond of the resolution of the Vicky/Julie storyline – not the outcome but the way they got there – but I guess that’s Bollywood for you). Anyway, as I was saying, I loved how ‘un-helpless’ and proactive the female leads were – there’s nothing hotter than three beautiful ladies flying through a window on a motorbike to save their men. Hot stuff, I tell you. I absolutely loved that moment.

Watching Amitabh Bachchan opposite Hema ji in this film helped me understand why she came in third in my recent Amitabh leading-lady poll. They are so great together in this film – lively, fun, bold, interesting… great chemistry. Totally loved them together.

So ‘Naseeb’ was great fun. Based on its star cast (apart from the special appearances in ‘John Jaani Janardhan’ and the lead roles, there’s also Amjad Khan, Shakti Kapoor, Om Shivpuri, and others) and the fact that it was made by Manmohan Desai, I had expected it to be a good watch, and it certainly was…

…unlike another film I recently watched…in theory it looked great… in the lead roles, there were three actors whose work I usually love– Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Sharmila Tagore. The film was scripted by the brilliant Gulzar, who is probably my favourite Hindi-film writer (for movie scripts as well as song lyrics)… but despite all that… well, I guess that’s a story for another day. I’ll be back to talk about that film soon… but (hopefully) before then I’ll (finally) be posting Bollywood-related pictures and commentary from my trip to India...

Couldn't resist one more random pic of the very pretty Hema Malini...