THE DECADES OF DHARAM: THE 80s

This post is the third part of my ‘Decades of Dharam’ series – here are my posts on the 60s and 70s... this part has been a very long time coming because... the 80s were not at all the greatest period of Dharam’s career, in my opinion. I really think that he did his very best work in the 60s and 70s, and although there are some definite gems in his 80s filmography, there seem to be a lot of... less-than-stellar films there too.

Also, I have to say that I am, generally speaking, not a huge fan of 80s Bollywood. Growing up in the 80s in Lagos, Nigeria, I watched (and enjoyed) a few classic 80s Bollywood films... Disco Dancer and Mard are the ones I remember best... they were crazy and ridiculous, but also fun and entertaining. Since re-discovering Bollywood movies in 2005, though... I’ve definitely come across a good number of Hindi films from the 80s that I just adore (both loopy, fun films and more serious ones), but I’ve also seen many that have just... really, really annoyed me. And I’m sure that in seeking to avoid those bad 80s movies, I have also missed out on some of the decade’s better fare. This is why I love bloggers like Bollystalgia and Bollywood Deewana that celebrate a lot of the fun, freedom and entertainment that 80s Bollywood offers. (There’s a great post on this over on Shahrukh is Love, by the way).

All this means, of course, that I have seen only very few of Dharmendra’s 80s films (although I recently purchased a few more and will probably watch them sometime this year), and so I feel hugely unqualified to write this post (and so will really need you all to help me out in the comments section as always)... but anyway here goes....

The 70s ended fairly well for Dharmendra, as I noted in my previous post in this series... he finally married his paramour, Hema Malini, and although his output declined a little, the films he did make were modestly successful. He started out the 80s with 5 films released in 1980: Chunaoti, The Burning Train, Ram Balram, Shalimar and Ali Baba Aur 40 Chor. (He also made a special appearance in Insaaf Ka Tarazu.) Shalimar and Ali Baba Aur 40 Chor were lavish productions – Shalimar, famously billed as a Hollywood-Bollywood collaboration, featured British actor Rex Harrison, alongside Dharmendra and Zeenat Aman (Zeenat would turn out to be one of Dharmendra’s more frequent leading ladies in the early to mid 80s) in a story about international jewel theft. Despite the enormous expense that apparently went into making the film, it was very poorly received, but has since become something of a cult classic. Ali Baba Aur 40 Chor, based on the popular legend, was another international collaboration – this time with Russian partners.

Like Shalimar and Ali Baba..., The Burning Train (also known to me as The Film That Made Me Fall In Love With Dharmendra), was a massive production, an ambitious thriller about a train headed for the destruction and how the lives of 3 men are linked to the train and its fate. I LOVE this movie, and not just because of Dharmendra. It has EXCELLENT music (some of RD Burman’s best work, in my opinion), a great star cast (Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Vinod Khanna, Parveen Babi, Danny Denzongpa, Jeetendra, Neetu Singh, Vinod Mehra and others), and a really good storyline. Unfortunately, Indian audiences seem to have been less than impressed, as the film did not fare particularly well at the box office. It did very well elsewhere though... although I never saw it growing up, it was one of the more popular Bollywood movies in Nigeria back in the 80s – I knew the melody of ‘Teri Hai Zameen, Tera Aasman’, the schoolchildren’s prayer from the film, years before I ever saw it myself.

Ram Balram, another 1980 release, was notable for reuniting Dharmendra with his Sholay co-star Amitabh Bachchan in a film about two brothers, ‘ek chor, ek sipahee’. Dharam played the crook of course, and Amitabh the cop, while Ajit played their abusive and controlling uncle. Zeenat Aman (again) and Rekha co-starred as their love interests. Ram Balram is really not a good film in my opinion, but I found it watchable – mostly for Ajit’s camp performance and the way Dharam and Amitabh hilariously cower away from him at the slightest threat. Quite amusing. The film is a bit boring though, the storyline is full of holes, Dharam and Zeenat’s chemistry falls a little flat, and the attempt to recreate the magic of ‘Yeh Dosti’ was manful but just not good enough. For what it is though, it’s not too bad.

So, although a couple of Dharmendra’s 1980 releases did not live up to their blockbuster billing, it was a good year for him movie-wise – a good start to the decade. Moving on to 1981, and Dharmendra’s more notable releases included Aas Paas (one of his more noteworthy romances opposite Hema Malini – also notable for having Mohammed Rafi’s last recorded song on its soundtrack) and Professor Pyarelal, which Memsaab reviewed wonderfully here. He also had a fun, dance-y cameo in the ‘John Jaani Janardhan’ song from Naseeb (the inspiration for Farah Khan’s ‘Deewangi Deewangi’ number from Om Shanti Om).

In 1982, Dharmendra’s releases included the kitschy but very entertaining Ghazab (opposite Rekha), wonderfully reviewed by Bollywood Deewana here, the epic Rajput (with Rajesh Khanna and Vinod Khanna), and the dramas Teesri Aankh (with Shatrughan Sinha and – again – Zeenat Aman) and Badle Ki Aag (with Sunil Dutt, Jeetendra and Reena Roy).

Dharmendra’s first release of 1983 was Razia Sultan – notable for many things, one of which is the sensual ‘Khwaab Bankar Koi Aayega’, picturised on Hema Malini and Parveen Babi with hints of same-sex eroticism. It was also the last film to be written and directed by Kamal Amrohi, who also wrote and directed the classic tragedy Pakeezah. In one of several films in which he had his skin darkened (I might do a post on that sometime...), Dharmendra played Yakut, the dark-skinned, lowborn love interest of Razia Bano (played by Hema Malini). It has been speculated that Kamal Amrohi cast Dharmendra in this role to humiliate him, as payback for Dharam’s treatment of Amrohi’s late wife, legendary actress Meena Kumari (I talked about this briefly in my post on Dharmendra’s 60s career). I have no idea how true or false this is (and I don’t really think Dharmendra was humiliated by his role in Razia Sultan), but I do know that despite the huge budget of this lavish production, and its truly magnificent music, Razia Sultan didn’t resonate with audiences, and was not a hit.

Jaani Dost, reviewed by Bollystalgia here, was also released in 1983, as was Naukar Biwi Ka, which I really dislike, but which has some really fun songs. I should also mention that in 1983, Dharmendra’s first son launched his career. With Betaab, Sunny had a very successful debut and went on to make loads of well-received movies.

In 1984, Baazi, a revenge/action flick with Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborthy and Rekha, was released, and by this time, Dharmendra’s penchant for law enforcement roles in action flicks, which he would take into the 90s as well, was pretty well-established. In 1985, there was the star-studded and very successful Ghulami, in which Dharam, along with Smita Patil, Reena Roy, Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborthy and Kulbushan Kharbanda, sparkled in JP Dutta’s debut commercial production.

Sultanat, which marked Juhi Chawla’s debut, was released in 1986. Apparently, it’s not a great film (I refer again to Ness's awesome post), but I’d still like to see it, just to see Juhi in her first movie, and also because I love Sridevi, and she's in it too. As Dharmendra moved into the late 80s, director Anil Sharma (who would turn out to be quite the Deol favourite) gave him a hit with Hukumat (1987), and his other 1987 releases (including Watan Ke Rakhwale, which reunited Dharam with Sunil Dutt and Mithun) did quite well too.

I won’t bother talking much about Dharmendra’s 1988 and 1989 films, especially as I haven't seen them, but from all accounts, they were pretty standard 80s fare and not exactly riveting stuff. One must bear in mind though, that by the mid-to-late 80s our dear Dharam was well into his 50s... and still playing the action hero in many of his films... perhaps that says it all. I haven’t seen most of Dharam’s films from this period (the late 80s), and I really can’t confess to any particular longing to do so, especially since I still have quite a lot of his older work to look forward to. Being a little crazy about the guy though, I suspect that I will eventually get to even the most obnoxious 80s stuff, and I also suspect that I will even find a way to enjoy some of it, just because it’s Dharam. Not just yet, though.

So, we leave Dharam at the end of the 80s in his mid-50s, a little the worse for wear and rough around the edges, and possibly, finally (resilient though he was) starting to feel the after-effects of all that 'life'.... His loyal fans were still enjoying his movies, as shown by his hits in 1987, and he was still churning out movies that were very much in keeping with the cinematic style of 80s Bollywood.

In his personal life, his oldest child had joined him in the movie-making business, and his second wife, Hema Malini, had given birth to two daughters, Esha (born in 1981 – or 1982, depending on the source) and Ahana. By the way, Hema, interestingly, kept acting right through the 80s (unlike many other ‘star wives’) and had a very decent run that decade (especially with her successful, sparky jodi opposite Amitabh Bachchan in films like Naseeb, Satte Pe Satta, Nastik and Desh Premee) which was perhaps not all that surprising – she was still so young, vivacious and beautiful in the 80s, and plenty of people still wanted to watch her.

The film I’m picking as my Dharmendra-related reference point for this decade has to be The Burning Train, of course, with a fit, 45 year old Dharam looking years younger and saving lives with noble humility and all the calloused sensitivity of a broken heart. Such melodrama, such angst, such... Bollywood-ness. I love it!

As always, I would love to hear from you, especially if you have a different (and perhaps less bleak?) perspective with respect to Dharmendra’s 80s filmography. I would love to hear about which of Dharmendra’s 80s films you’ve particularly enjoyed (or not). As a matter of fact, one of the pleasant surprises I encountered when preparing this post was these comments on Bollywood Deewana's blog by Dharmendra fan GKK, who assures me that I'm totally wrong about Dharmendra's 80s films, and that he did some of his best work in the 80s. The truth is, as GKK rightly says, I really haven't seen enough of Dharam's 80s films to categorically dispute this. Perhaps I really am just parroting the conventional wisdom. And I am rather hoping that GKK is right, really... on this occasion, I would love to be proven wrong!

I’m taking another break from the Decades of Dharam series now, but I will be back soon with another Deol Dhamaka post. I am absolutely loving the month of March!!

MY FAVOURITE FEMALE BOLLYWOOD STARS OF THE 70s

I'm doing 2 more posts for 70s Week, and they are about my 10 favourite actors from the Hindi films of the 70s… I’ve chosen 5 men and 5 women whose movies I particularly enjoyed in that decade. My all-time favourite Hindi film actors are all listed on my sidebar and show up all the time in my reviews, so these picks will come as no surprise to previous visitors to this blog. But I thought this would be a good excuse to talk about why exactly I love them so much, and of course to put up lots of gratuitous screencaps of each of them!

So I’ll start with the ladies today, and then my post on the men will be up tomorrow. I think the 70s were the last decade that women got really meaty roles in mainstreamHindi cinema (although to be fair, they got plenty of rubbish ones too). But things really nosedived for women in Bollywood in the largely trashy 80s (especially after 1983), and I think the industry is yet to fully recover from that lull when it comes to female roles. A shame. There were some great heroines in the 70s: sassy, spunky, feisty women with minds and voices of their own, and the power to make their own decisions. I miss them.

I cheated a little on the women for this list – I picked 6 instead of 5 actors, because I found it impossible to leave any of them off my list. They each, in various ways, embodied the spirit of the 70s – style, attitude, vivacity, colour, passion, adventure, glamour. Here we go, in no particular order:

• Jaya Bhaduri

I adore this woman’s acting, and although I’ve raved about her about a gazillion times on this blog, I’ll never stop raving. This award-winning actress had the extraordinary ability to disappear into the characters she played, infusing them with a life of their own that was just magical to see. She was at her best playing strong women facing down their destinies, and I just love her older performances, and for me, she is definitely the most talented Bachchan.

I’m on a quest to see all of Jaya’s movies… so far, from the 70s I’ve seen ‘Guddi’, ‘Bawarchi’, ‘Parichay’, ‘Zanjeer’, ‘Abhimaan’, ‘Shor’, ‘Kora Kagaz’, ‘Mili’, ‘Sholay’ and ‘Chupke Chupke’, and will soon watch ‘Koshish’. I’ve loved her in every one of these films, whether she was playing a street urchin, or an infatuated schoolgirl, or an unhappy wife, or a traumatized widow. She made each role memorable. In view of her prodigious talent, it saddens me that she decided to largely give up films in order to be a full-time mother, although she seems happy with her choice (see Filmi Girl’s interesting 70s Week post on Jaya for an alternate view on this).

Much as I wish Jaya had done more films in her younger days, I think she accomplished an extremely impressive body of work in her youth – absolutely great and impactful performances – and I’m grateful for that.

• Hema Malini

Hema rocked out the 70s with graceful dancing, vibrant onscreen presence and gorgeous smile. Always a classy lady, she exuded a unique confidence, elegance and poise onscreen. She wasn’t the most talented actor ever, but as a competent professional, she went for roles that played to her strengths, and she made the most of them. Apart from more conventional seedhi-saadhi heroine roles, she also took on some really fun and feisty roles in the 70s too, like her roles in ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’, 'Sholay' and ‘Jugnu’.

• Sharmila Tagore

Sharmila is an actor I admire more than I love, although I do love her. I admire her stylish, glamorous looks, her great figure, and her ability to convey just about any emotion in the world with those ultra-expressive eyes and that dimpled smile. Her eyes could exude anything – from femme fatale allure, to baby-sweet cuteness, to everything in between. I admire her distinctive beauty, and I admire her strength, individuality and sophistication, and how she didn’t try to portray a false goody-goody image, either as an actress or a person. Regardless of the outcome, she did things her way, even after marriage (which may, sadly, not be true for some of the other women on my list).

To me, she was above all a style icon of the 70s (the 60s too – in fact, the 60s more than the 70s) – always so great to look at. But she was also a pretty good actress, and I’ve always found her very believable in her roles. In the 70s, from her memorable role opposite Shashi Kapoor in the masala flick ‘Aa Gale Lag Jaa’ to the challenging ‘Mausam’, Sharmila held it together and made her mark.


• Neetu Singh:

How much do I love Neetu??!! She always makes me smile, with her own beautiful smile. She was so gorgeous, sassy, fun, cute and feisty in her 70s roles. I love the fact that she had curves and owned those curves! You never got the feeling that she wasn’t comfortable in her body. I love how she attacked her roles with such gusto and vivacity. I just. plain. LOVE. Neetu.

From the adorable Veera of ‘Deewaar’ to the feisty Neetu of 'Parvarish' to the sweet young doctor of ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’, Neetu was always such fun to watch onscreen. As with Jaya, I do wish she’d kept working after marriage, but I’m grateful to still have her past work to enjoy.

• Zeenat Aman:



More than any of the other actors on my list, I think Zeenat embodied the attitude of 70s cool. She was effortlessly cool, effortlessly stylish, effortlessly funky, effortlessly everything. Sharmila, as I mentioned before, was more about 60s chic, and my other picks didn’t really ‘own’ the unique look and ‘feel’ of the 70s. Zeenat totally did. Totally.

There always seemed to be something rebellious and restless lurking just behind Zeenat’s eyes, and that’s so 70s. No matter how cool, calm and ‘together’ she looked outwardly, you could sense a little inner turmoil, and that made her perfect for her roles in films like the hippie drama ‘Hare Raama Hare Krishna’ and of course, the iconic ‘Don’. I just loved her as Roma in ‘Don’, with her million-and-one hairdos, fabulous wardrobe, and great attitude. Just loved her. Plus (obviously) she was sexy and gorgeous (as most famously seen in 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram', a film in which I do think Mr. Raj Kapoor deployed Zeenat's potent sexiness in a very negative way). Anyway, however you look at it, 70s Zeenat just rocked.

• Mumtaz

I love Mumtaz – she was a magnificent dancer, a lushly stunning woman, and brought such irrepressible spirit and warmth to her roles. And as Memsaab has noted, she had great chemistry with just about any leading man, from Rajesh Khanna to Dharmendra. She was great in her 70s films, especially the ones she did opposite Rajesh Khanna in the early 70s.

Shabana Azmi almost made this list – she did some great masala films in the 70s, like the fun ‘Fakira’, ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ and of course, ‘Parvarish’. She also made great art films like ‘Ankur’ and ‘Junoon’. But I would much rather rave about her powerful and iconic performances in the 1980s, which really established her as an excellent actor.

So that’s it for the female actors (as, incidentally, Shabana Azmi would call them – she dislikes the word ‘actress’) I loved in the 70s. Who are your favourites? Will be back to talk about the guys tomorrow….

THE DECADES OF DHARAM: THE 70s

This is Part 2 of the Dharam’s Decades series… Part 1 (on the 60s) is here….

I realize that I am very much in the minority on this, but my favourite decade when it comes to Dharmendra movies is definitely the 1970s. This is possibly because I’ve seen a fair number (but by no means most) of his 70s films, and not too many of his films from the 60s (the films which most people tend to prefer). It’s also possibly because I (again, this is a minority view) personally find him more handsome in the 70s (especially the period from 1970-75). There’s no denying that Dharam was absolutely gorgeous in the 60s, but I tend to prefer his more mature, slightly rougher, more buff 70s look… in the 60s (and the early 60s in particular), he was sometimes a little too smoothly beautiful for me, if that makes any sense. By his mid 30s, he was still devastating but had a little more 'character' in his face.

I also think that by the 70s, Dharmendra had really hit his stride as an actor – he was more confident and self-assured, and that definitely came through in his demeanour. He had a little strut and swagger going. I like that. Another reason why this decade is my fave when it comes to Dharam's work is that in keeping with the general spirit of the decade, he made such fun films in the 70s. I know he made some fun flicks in the 60s (particularly the late 60s), but there's no question about his 70's movies being more fun and less serious. Nothing against serious movies, they can be absolutely awesome, but it's the fun ones that tend to keep me coming back for more.

But enough about my personal predilection for 70s Dharam… let’s take a look at his body of work in that decade. Dharam ended the 60s well, and by 1970 he was still riding that high, despite the mania that had erupted over a certain actor by the name of Rajesh Khanna. I think it's a mark of how consistently good his work was that Dharmendra was definitely one of the biggest Hindi movie stars of the 70s, despite the Rajesh-frenzy that began in the late 60s with 'Aradhana' (1969) and continued well into the 70s.

In 1970, Dharmendra’s first film of the decade, ‘Sharafat’, was released. This is a notable film because it marked his first encounter with a beautiful young actress by the name of Hema Malini, who was just beginning her own illustrious career in the movies. Dharmendra’s meeting with Hema would have a lasting impact not only on his career, but on his entire life… but more on that later. For more on 'Sharafat', which I haven’t seen, please check out Veraciously’s thought-provoking review….

In 1970, other Dharam releases included a cameo as the dashing ringmaster in Raj Kapoor’s bloated, overly self-indulgent opus, ‘Mera Naam Joker’; the wonderfully, wonderfully romantic ‘Jeevan Mrityu’ (opposite a luminous Rakhee - definitely worth seeing if you haven't - check out Memsaab's review); and the fun caper 'Kab? Kyoon? Aur Kahaan', reviewed by bollywooddeewana here. Dharmendra also made another 1970s release opposite Hema Malini, 'Tum Haseen Main Jawan', a fun masala flick about a baby on a navy ship (amongst other things). With these films, Dharmendra had begun the 70s in grand style.

In 1971, ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh’, co-starring Asha Parekh, a feisty Laxmi Chhaya and a ridiculously hot Vinod Khanna, was released. Although Dharmendra does a great job and Asha is good, I think Laxmi and Vinod are the real stars of this show, a tale of a reformed criminal saving a village from the terrors of a terribly evil (but oh, so sexy) dacoit, Jabbar Singh, and his gang. ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh’ is a great foreshadowing of a classic film that Dharmendra would star in just a few years later, a fact which the fabulous Sita-ji explores in her great post here.

Another great film from 1971 that featured Dharmendra was Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s delightful ‘Guddi’, but it would be wrong to call it a Dharmendra film. A young and utterly captivating Jaya Bhaduri completely ruled this one, with a beautiful performance opposite Utpal Dutt. Dharmendra had an extended cameo as himself, the object of Guddi’s schoolgirl obsession, and he pulled it off with great class and charm. I love this film.

In 1972, Dharmendra and Hema co-starred in the engaging ‘Raja Jani’, and Dharmendra played second fiddle (a very cute and funny second fiddle, though), to Hema Malini, who totally owned ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’, a very fun remake of Dilip Kumar’s ‘Ram Aur Shyam’. In it, Hema gave a wonderfully memorable performance as the eponymous twins of the title, one timid and one feisty.

Dharam’s 1973 releases included 'Kahani Kismat Ki' and ‘Yaadon Ki Baarat’, a lost-and-found-siblings tale best known for the classic tune ‘Churaliya Hai Tumne’, picturised on a gorgeous Zeenat Aman (and a harp). ‘Yaadon Ki Baarat’ also featured a pint-sized Aamir Khan. In the same year, the utterly, wonderfully romantic ‘Black Mail’, directed by Vijay Anand, was released, in which a dreamy Dharam co-starred with a radiant Rakhee. This film has gorgeous music, gorgeous stars, gorgeous romance… it’s all just gorgeous.

Another 1973 release for Dharam was the fun caper ‘Jugnu’, opposite Hema Malini, in a role that maximized her considerable talents as a leading lady. Hema was much more than a pretty face in her prime – she had it all: looks, comic timing, screen presence, dancing ability; and she did some really great feisty roles… but I’m veering off topic! Back to ‘Jugnu’… I was actually largely underwhelmed by it and am planning to watch it again soon to see if my views change… but there are plenty of people that love it and have written about it.

In 1974, Dharam’s releases included ‘Patthar Aur Payal’, ‘Pocket Maar, ‘Dost’ and ‘International Crook’, the theme tune to which is now indelibly imprinted upon my brain. (Thanks, Memsaab!)

Two of my very favourite Dharmendra films were released in 1975. I ADORE Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s romantic comedy ‘Chupke Chupke’, in which Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore star as an adorable married couple playing naughty little games with each other (who can blame them though?), all under the pretext of pulling off an elaborate hoax on an uncle (yeah right!) ‘Dharmila’ do a great job with this one – they charmed my socks off and made me laugh endlessly.

One of my favourite movies. I also think Dharam is so gorgeous in this film….

‘Sholay’ is a film on which volumes have been written, and very deservedly so. It has everything you could want in a movie – bromance, romance, dance (on shards of glass, no less), and lashings (and lashings) of angst. Brilliantly scripted by the genius team of Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan, tautly directed by Ramesh Sippy, and lovingly set to music by the great RD Burman, ‘Sholay’ is a meal well worth savouring over and over. Dharam gets to show off his considerable comic talents opposite a sparky Hema Malini (as the talkative Basanti). To round off the main cast, Amitabh Bachchan hands in a brilliantly intense performance as Jai, Amjad Khan is utterly spine-chilling as Gabbar Singh (none of the sexiness of Jabbar Singh from 'Mera Gaon Mera Desh' here), Sanjeev Kumar is great as the tortured Thakur, and Jaya Bhaduri is hauntingly pitch-perfect as Radha.

Rumour has it that, although there was a mutual attraction between them almost from the get-go, Dharmendra and Hema really fell in love (although they seem to have initially fought it) while working on 'Sholay'… there was a lot happening on that set, wasn’t there? Jaya, Amitabh's wife, was pregnant with daughter Shweta, Dharam and Hema were falling in love, and poor Sanjeev was no doubt pining for Hema….

Dharam's relationship with Hema Malini grew stronger on both sides, until their eventual marriage in 1979. They went on to have two daughters together, Esha and Ahana. This was all rather scandalous at the time, of course, as Dharmendra was a very married man, and had been so since before his acting career began. He also had 4 children by this time. Bigamy is not permitted in his religion, and so it is said that he and Hema carried out bogus conversions to Islam in order to legally marry, changing their names to Dilawar Khan and Aisha Chakraborty to facilitate this.

I don't think anyone was very surprised that Dharmendra became involved with Hema when it all began - he was the stereotypical young, hard-drinking 'man's man' living and working in the glamorous world of 70s Bollywood, and I think he (along with every other young virile superstar) was 'expected' to cheat on his wife. He had after all already been linked with Meena Kumari and other women, and he acknowledged openly in interviews that he was not a faithful husband (the whole eyeroll-inducing 'men are naturally not monogamous, yada yada' spiel).

But Hema Malini on the other hand.. now she was a young, angel-faced, never-married woman, with a squeaky-clean reputation. The famous 'Dream Girl' of Hindi cinema, she had a very 'India's sweetheart' image, by all accounts, and in the 70s she ruled the Indian box office as a leading lady, without being involved in any untoward controversies. Hema had millions of men eating out of her hand, and she could have had just about any man she wanted - including charming movie stars like Sanjeev Kumar (who, the story goes, never married because he remained deeply in love with her until the very end) and Jeetendra. Sanjeez and Jeetendra both proposed, and Jeetendra seems to have been in with a chance for a while - Hema is rumoured to have almost become Mrs. Ravi Kapoor - there's a story about Dharmendra swooping in and spiriting her away at the last minute, but I have no idea how true this is.

Understandably, the public probably wasn’t particularly thrilled that their ‘Dream Girl’ was consorting with a married man. Closer to home, Hema’s family was also horrified at her involvement with a married man. In her authorized biography, Hema revealed that her father was so violently opposed to her marriage to Dharmendra that she only went through with it after her father’s death. Her mother, Jaya, who Hema worked closely with in shaping her acting career, was deeply hurt by the marriage, Hema also revealed.

Ironically, though, Hema also says that it was Dharmendra’s similarities to her mother that drew him to her – she loved the fact that he was ‘strong and silent’, like her maa. She also noted that he did not woo her with ‘roses or moonlight drives’, but ‘made her feel special’ just by looking at her. Whatever it was, Hema couldn’t resist it, and facing down all the opposition, married her man in August 1979.

Dharmendra never divorced Prakash Kaur, who he married as a teenager, although of course, Prakash and Hema live separately. I remember writing about the Dharmendra/Hema marriage in the early days of this blog and receiving a few strongly-worded responses condemning the couple in no uncertain terms and telling me not to call Ms. Malini 'Dharam's wife'. I think the fact that people still feel so strongly about this is an indication of what the reaction must have been like back then. I find the virulence of the reaction really interesting, as I guess I am less fazed by polygamy than a lot of people, because although I'm very much opposed to it personally, it's really not considered a 'big deal' in my culture and society (this is slowly changing, though).

Anyway, however much Hema and Dharmendra's relationship may have angered people, it did not spell doom for their respective careers. If anyone's career was at greater risk, it would have been Hema's - as the younger party with much of her career still ahead of her, she had a lot more to lose. and of course, society being as prejudiced as it is, she would have suffered more just for being the female party. Thankfully, this didn't happen. Hema continued to do very well and had some big hits even after marrying Dharmendra, and even if Dharam's career graph did experience a dip by the late 70s, I don't think this is directly attributable to his second marriage.

Anyway, before I move on from this topic, please check out these scans, graciously provided by Karen, of a 1976 interview in which Dharmendra and Hema speak (very frankly indeed!) about their feelings for each other. It’s all very passionate and romantic, the stuff of filmi forbidden-love stories, but you can’t help but wonder how Prakash Kaur has dealt with all this – all you can do is wonder though, as she and her children are (wisely, in my opinion) fiercely protective of her privacy.

Now, moving on from Dharam’s love life… Dharmendra’s other 1975 releases included the fun ‘curry western’ ‘Pratiggya’, reviewed by Memsaab in hilarious detail here, renowned for the song ‘Main Jatt yamla pagla deewana’, which showed off Dharam’s trademark dance steps (if they can be called that!), and ‘Apne Dushman’.

After the big, star-studded productions of ’75, Dharmendra’s 1976 releases were a little less exciting – there was ‘Maa’, ‘Charas’ and a few others. In 1977, things picked up again, with ‘Dream Girl’, the film which earned Hema a lasting sobriquet; the Manmohan Desai masala masterpiece ‘Dharam Veer’, ‘Khel Khilari Ka’ and a few others.

By 1978, Dharmendra was making fewer movies and getting less exciting roles. His age (a very well-preserved 43) was starting to show, the younger Amitabh Bachchan was dominating the box office, and after almost 2 decades of ‘active duty’, Dharmendra was looking just a teeny tiny bit out of date.

There were still a few memorable Dharmendra movies in these last few years of the 70s though – I really like Basu Chatterjee’s comedy ‘Dillagi’ (1978), in which Dharam plays Swarnkamal, a college professor in love with Phoolrenu, a seriously uptight schoolteacher (played by Hema Malini). Dharmendra’s age may be showing a little in this one, but he’s still very dishy, so my big question while watching this was why Swarnkamal was even interested in the boring and repressed Phoolrenu. Between Hema’s sourpuss act in this and Dharam’s constant phool-sniffing, this movie wearied me a bit, but there were enough fun, comedic bits in it to keep me nicely in the loop.

So, at the end of the rocking 70s, we leave Dharam at a rather low ebb, not the peak we left him on at the end of the 60s. Oh well… one must consider that he’d had two long decades in film at this time, and some of those movies were truly unforgettable. He’d had a pretty good run. And hey, even if he didn’t own the box office and hadn’t received the critical acclaim he so deserved for some of the great performances he delivered in the 60s and 70s, from ‘Anupama’ to ‘Sholay’, at least he had the gorgeous and graceful Hema Malini firmly esconced in his arms by the end of the 70s. (In 1979, the year of their marriage, a measly two Dharmendra films were released!) I can’t imagine that he was too badly bummed out.

To sum up, Dharam's 70s flicks were a nice masala mix of comedy, action, thriller, romance and adventure... as I mentioned before, he did a lot of 'typical' fun masala 70s flicks, and far fewer serious ones than he did in the 60s. Hema Malini was definitely his most notable heroine in this decade, despite the fact that she's lamented not doing as many films with him as she would have liked (greedy greedy! LOL) because they were 'so much in love'. But Dharam also did memorable work with other actresses in the 70s, from Asha to Mumtaz to Rakhee to Sharmila to Tanuja to Zeenat.

This has been a long post, and I didn’t even mention some of Dharam’s notable films from the 70s, like ‘Rakhwala’, ‘Do Chor’, 'Loafer', 'Jheel Ke Us Paar' and ‘Naya Zamana’. But I hope I gave a decent flavour of what the 70s were like for Dharam. Next in this series… the mostly cringeworthy 80s, by far my least favourite decade of Dharam.

Before I get there though, I will linger a little longer in the fun 70s, with another 70s week post coming up before the week runs out….

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...