Sometime last year I watched two old Amitabh Bachchan films – ‘Kasme Vaade’ and ‘Pukar’. Both were directed by Ramesh Behl, and Randhir Kapoor co-stars with Amit-Ji in both as well. The legendary R.D. Burman does the music for both movies – and while there are definitely some duds in there, I think he does a fairly good job. In ‘Kasme Vaade’, Rakhee plays AB’s love interest, in ‘Pukar’ it’s Zeenat Aman. Also, in both movies, Amitabh tries out a moustache – not cute at all.
Randhir Kapoor (above doing his Portuguese thang) is interesting to watch, mostly because he reminds me of a teddy bear and it’s hard to take him seriously, especially in ‘Pukar’ where he’s trying to be all freedom-fighter-ish. It was much easier to enjoy his performance in ‘Kasme Vaade’, because he was just playing a funny-looking happy-go-lucky youth who eventually is forced to grow up.
‘Kasme Vaade’ is an alright movie. It’s not that good, actually, but I like it for three reasons. 1. AB is very, very cute as a strict and principled teacher (less cute as a criminal – in the same film). 2. The music is lovely – one song in particular (‘Aati Rahe Gi’) – the title song is good too. 3. There is loads of fugliness, thanks to AB and Neetu Singh (look here if you’re interested). Oh, and Rakhee’s craziness (she's good at doing crazy) had me transfixed for a few minutes.
As for ‘Pukar’, I just do not get it. What kind of movie is this, really? It’s just… bizarre. I mean, it has to be seen to be believed. It’s definitely interesting though. I think Ramesh Behl was trying to give a whole exotic, Portuguese, beachy, summer-y feel to the film (it's set in Goa), while at the same time being very Indian, while at the same time also being rather artsy. I'm not sure it works, but it's something to see, that's for sure. AB plays ‘Ronnie’, a career criminal running away from his traumatic childhood. Zeenat is ‘Julie’, his moll who eventually turns against him, because he won’t support the freedom fighters in Goa. AB is so OTT in this film – it’s a bit sad really, I’m like, you don’t have to jostle for attention, you’re the Baadshah of Bollywood, relax! But no, he’s all over the place – he even sings (in his own voice) a song or two (ermm, it’s, uh, not very good – best to leave it to the playback singers, A.B). He is sooo OTT (he’s like ‘Ronnie is the best! Ronnie is on top of the world!’ – or something like that)… but it certainly makes for an… interesting watch. Here he is with his live Portuguese band doing his dance-licious thang:
But this was the really crazy part for me. Zeenat sexily splashing around… par for the course.
Amit-Ji jumping out of nowhere and doing a very frantic song and dance for Zeenat… a bit odd but still par for the course in Bollywood.
But then there’s this – some strange poses - oh so very French arthouse…. Or not.
And the ending is so… silly seems too irreverent a word to use for all the ‘Jai Hind-ness’… but it’s the only one that comes to mind. The army marching in just in the nick of time? How could they end it that way? And the colours of the flag magically appearing on a headband? Hmm. My goodness, as you can probably tell I’m short of words – this movie has to be seen to be believed – and even then you won’t believe it.
