HINDI FILM REVIEW

Bhole Shankar- Mithun Chakraborty's first Bhojpuri film

Some climax scenes of film Bhole Shankar were shot recently in Kamalistan Studio of Mumbai. Mithun Chakraborty, who is acting for the first time in any Bhojpuri film participated in the shooting and was very happy with the story line and working of debutant director Pankaj Shukla.

Commenting on his experience of his first Bhojpuri film, Mithun said, "I keep on doing regional films, and Bhole Shankar is also one among them. But, yes, this is for the first time that I am doing a Bhojpuri film. The language that is called Bhojpuri in Hindi films is quite different from the original Bhojpuri. This I came to know in this film only. Pankaj was very helpful for me in getting the right accent for this film."

When asked about his role in the film, he said, "I play Shankar an underworld don who also happens to be big brother of Bhole, played by Super Star of Bhojpuri Cinema, Manoj Tiwari. The scene that we are shooting today is the climax of the film where Bhole's girl friend Gauri, played by Monalisa, gets kidnapped. Bhole's friend Santram, played by Gopal Singh, informs Shankar about this and then Shankar raids villian's den and saves the girl."

Raghvendra Mudgal, Crime Reporter fame, makes his debut as main villain in the film. On selection of Raghvendra Mudgal, director of the film Pankaj Shukla said, "Raghvendra has a very huge fan following across the nation. He has acted in plays and short films, and was waiting for a right script to make his debut on big screen. He is a trained NSD actor and he has delivered what I wanted from him."

On the other hand Raghvendra looked pretty happy to face movie camera for the first time in his career, "I know Pankaj Sir since the time he was looking after programming in Zee News. He is a real Jauhari, and I am thankful to him that he gave this chance to act in films. Having done more than 600 episodes of Crime Reporter on TV, films were the only next thing to happen."

Bhole Shankar's heroine Monalisa was also very happy to share the screen with The CULT STAR of Indian cinema, Mithun Chakraborty. Disclosing her role in the film she said, "Its very rare that one gets such a role in Bhojuri cinema. Pankaj Sir has created a role that fits me. I play Gauri who is a self dependant girl. She is not just the show piece. She is instrumental to encourage Bhole to achieve what he was lounging for his whole life."

Writer-Director Pankaj Shukla who has earlier directed many hit and trend setter shows on TV is very confident about his film. He said, "Bhojouri Cinema has a very large audience but people have taken this audience for granted. Vulgarity will never sell in the long run for Bhojpuri Cinema and my film is on the lines of Rajshri films. It is a clean family entertainer with right dose of action, emotion and comedy, that one can watch with whole family."

When asked, how he managed to rope in Mithun Chakraborty for Bhojpuri film after he had refused same offers even from Balaji Telefilms and Adlabs, Pankaj revealed with smile, "For me Mithun Da is an icon of humanity. I know him in person for so many years and he is a man of his words. He had promised me long back to work in a Bhojpuri film if I make one. And when I started Bhole Shankar, he did not even think for one second in saying Yes. He did not even ask for the rest of the cast and other things. I can assure you that Bhole Shankar will be a path breaking film for Bhojuri audience."

Produced by Gulshan Bhatia, Bhole Shankar also has SAREGAMAPA finalists Raja Hasan, Mauli Dave and Poonam Yadav singing for the first time as play back singers. A song is also picturised on Mithun Chakrabory which is sung by his screen voice of 80's, Shailendra Singh.

Source : http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=69023

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DISCO DANCER

i am going to be very candid and critical in my opinion of this overwrought ,glitzy melodrama which was made in 1983 as a disco epic in ludicrously bad taste by the director from hell who employed the worst extras and the most nauseatingly disgusting sets to launch mithun as indias disco dancer champion while the rest of the world had forgotten about donna summer and boney m ,notwithstanding the fact that hollywood disco movies are any way superior to this rags to riches story which is filled with outrageously bad costumes ,the most absurd villains and very poor technical support if any at all ,since the music by bappi lahiri is inspired from multiple sources and the cameraman has no clue as to where to place his equipment ,the result is a ripoff which is so earnest and sincere in disco worship that you almost want to like it ,but alas the whole thing is only held afloat barely due to mithuns talent as an actor and a dancer ,though earnestly he is not even near his normal self in either department ,yet how do you explain its immense popularity despite its silly pretentions to be a disco movie when its more of a kungfu vendetta by jimmy [mithun ].

since the 60s when shammi kapoor decided to be the elvis presley lookalike clown and then jetendra turned himself into a jumping jack in 70s ,bollywood had never even encountered a decent male dancing star ,so after travoltas grease and saturday night fever the bollywood producers were looking for an adroit replacement to make a typical spicy dish to make the masses happy ,after suraksha mithun had proven he had ample dance potential and kungfu talents to both outdo the female leads like kim and beat the white baddies such as vasco and the other foreign villains employed by bollywood in the eighties ,while his art classics like mrigya were ignored by the mainstream ,he was catapulted to superstardom by the simple equation that allthe other superstars of the day could not even touch him as far as dance and action were concerned ,mr bachan knew about two steps which he repeated in all his epics equivalent to dharmendra and vinod khanna who could not dance if their life depended on it ,just watch movies like lawaris ,shaan ,amar akbar anthony and dharamveer and you will realise what i am insinuating is absolutely true ,

so the bollywood writers came up with a plot where a poor little boy jimmy takes on the music mafia ,who viciously insult him and his mother and then he wreaks a terrible revenge on them by means of disco dancing his way to the top ,when he is not busy punishing the white imported villains with his kungfu skills .the female lead is only around to be abused as the daughter of the master villain [om shivpuri ]and is also the target of jimmys affections .this is vendetta by disco and it tries to settle every score and put every wrong to right by disco dancing ,yet the naivety becomes uniquely sincere and affective despite being ludicrously goofy and preposterous offensive .

well all is not lost as mithun does manage to give a convincing performance as the sulking ,sultry dancer who also manages to rescue some decent dance sequence from the lahiri score which is raucously deafening with flashing strobe lights which will give you epilepsy even if you were perfectly healthy ,

so here we have a bollywood superhit which is a cult classic with the mumbai officionados but was about five years too late in the making as far as the rest of the globe was concerned ,

yet its popularity in the soviet block and east europe stems from the fact that mithun infuses it with a raw dynamism which no indian or world star posseses and possibly will never be able to muster in my lifetime ,so who am i to criticise a movie which is still a rage and despite all the negative criticisms heaped on it remains a cult candy classic in india and abroad ,across the globe ,a coveted position enjoyed by very few bollywood movies and all this due to the forthright fortitude of mithun who could give a sincere performance in a movie with an absurd plot and crap direction ,where his mother is killed by a guitar by the loathsome villains ,and he is very credible as the sorrowful bereaving son ,if you have the talent to pull off that sequence convincingly alone ,then you deserve to be called a brilliant actor .

By : Usman Khawaja

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PREM PRATIGYA

this casually complex love affair between a destitute ,helpless working girl and a local henchman who both live in a shant town in mumbai suburbs works mainly secondary to the chemistry between its two lead stars who both come up with spontaneous performances .

madhuri as the vulnerable young woman who works as a domestic maid finds herself a prey in a pedantically sexist society after her fathers sudden demise ,she is totally convincing from the frivolous young working class woman to the bereaving daughter and the angry young woman who is a victim in a male dominated society

the only person who offers her protection is a local gangster brilliantly played by mithun who is simultaneously torn apart by his empathy and attraction to the damsel in distress,he potrays himself with subtle restrain and his speechless performance is the hallmark of the movie where he converts the scornful woman who loathes his illegitimate lifestyle to a young woman who starts to initially respect and ultimately love the very pinnacle of her hate.

the conversion is mutual and very lyrical as it is expressed by cinematic language instead of words and the movie evolves through some of the best acting seen on indian screen between the two main characters sharing the screen .

the final outcome is of no consequence as the theme is about mutual respect in a relationship earning ultimate love rather then simple physical attraction and infatuation and the script and acting succeed in conveying the message .

its a deligh tosee the screen chemistry between two great natural artistes like madhuri and mithun and it is both rewarding and refreshing tosee a bollywood movie where a mature love affair is described in a totally natural environment rather then the fairy tale classics with huge mansions and gucci dresses endorsed wit porsches and swiss locales

for once this love live almost pulls it off but is marred by a silly and totally irrelevant comedy track between devan verma -aruna irana which can be easily edited out as it deserves to be chopped out of this love classic by the direcor who seems to have been under pressure to include it for commercial demands ,its totally disgraceful and irritating in a movie which can easily be called a love classic minus the silly intervention .

definitely a watch for the thawing affections bestowed by madhuri on the callous and savage gangster ,mithun who is smitten with love and inspired by faith and honesty of a vulnerable young woman to a rehabilitation only true love can aspire to,this movie treads a love line scorching with fire and succeeds in crossing it without getting burnt or blistered ,which is a rare achievement for bollywood ,

a love story from the shanty towns of india between two veru unlikely characters which will thaw some cynical critics yet a tribute to both mithun and madhuris talents captured simply without any indulgent melodrama or production numbers .

By : Usman Khawaja

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“MINISTER FATAKESHTO”

Mithun Chakraborty MLA turned Home Minister calls for discipline and pro-people attitude although has few co-ministers against him. With his usual dialogue “ Marbo ekaney , Lash podbe soshane”( shall hit you here , but your body will fall at crematorium) bashes the goons right , left and middle. With his lady reporter reporting everything in “Star Ananda” a TV channel run by The Telegraph .

Chief Minister(Soumitra Chatterjee) is in favor of Fatakeshto . With 4000 Cores loss in Finance Department, Mithun the Home Minsiter vows to take Finance Ministry and recover the loss in 7 days time. CM also bestows duty to Mithun removing the FM(one of the goons). With lot many hurdles on the way Mithun recovers almost 3700 Cores loss by booking ministers for their misappropriation of funds but is left out with 300 Cores balance.

In the meantime the arch villain calls all his group and plans to finish Fatakeshto.. Further he also calls for 48 Hours “Bangla Bandh” which Mithun stops with his muscles. Arch Villain finally mixes dangerous germs in mineral water bottles and kills around 50 children in Bengal. This forces Mithun to bow down in front of the arch villain and request for life saving medicine lying with him to save the suffering children. With someone reporting about the mineral water mischief , Mithun gets the arch villain arrested for crime soon.

In the final show down, the left out 300 Croes is being collected through public donations dropped in big mud hundies(Lakshmi Badh). The villain comes out of jail on bail and loots the booty and takes it to an unknown destination to make Mithun responsible for the theft. One of the ministers who was with the villain somehow changes mind and informs Fatakeshto(Mithun) the location where the booty is hidden at. CM requests Mithun to go back to his role of GOONDAGARDI to recover people’s money. Finally Mithun wears “KRRISH” type dress and jumps into the den La’ Hrithik Roshan . He fights around 200 to 300 karate masters and finally kills the villain and captures the booty. The lost money is being returned to CM and the film ends.

As usual Mithun Chakraborty as Minister Fatakeshto excels in the role dancing, bashing goons and dialogue bazi all around. The title song is attractive but others are not worth mentioning. The film opened to 100 collection on day one all over West Bengal.

Rs.2 Cores have been spent on the film for the first time ever and this is the first sequel film in Bengali Film Industry too . This may give berth to lots of sequels from now on. The film is expected to collect the spent money in its 2 weeks run all around Bengal. Me and Lord watched the shooting of the film. Dada wears the white shirt and pant all through the film. We too interviewed Mithun in the same dress shown in the film and he took photograph with us too in the same dress which he had worn in the film.

By : T.R.Anand

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A Triumphant Doll

Cast: Pran, Mithun Chakraborty, Nandana Sen

Director: Goutam ghose

Duration: 140 minutes

Released: 1998

Language: Urdu/Hindi

This forgotten gem from Indian cinema was a worthy tribute dedicated to ray by its maker, it works as a political satire but above all it’s an emotional drama which captivates you with its trivial details.

It is also the last great performance by Pran as khan sahib, the great legend who is one of the most versatile actors on Indian screen, along with the great Mithun, playing the central character as Johnny, this subversive political satire becomes an un-miss able movie in every context.

It will be an understatement to say sparks fly when the two great actors rub shoulder on screen, the chemistry between the duo is scintillating, to say the least and they are perfectly cast as an aging Muslim pathan ventriloquist and a young angry man who comes to be his pupil, learning the trade from the master who has devised a giant sized puppet doll as a showcase for passing satirical comments on politics and religion.

This seems to be inspired by real life theatrical events from Mumbai where the Parsi community used to perform these kind of plays and it seems they were very popular at one time as well, I don’t know the details however the puppet is dressed and acts like a chaste young Muslim girl, dressed in virginal white and seems to be a cultural symbol singing ghazals and acting as an Umrao Jaan, its delightful to see it sing and dance as well as mock the society in a subtle way.

The artist who has invented the doll is dying of a terminal illness and bequeaths his cherished puppet to Mithun, who becomes obsessed with the Gudia, so much so that his girlfriend starts feeling neglected and jealous of the doll, the sequences where Nandana Sen tries to adopt the look of the doll act like her to get more attention from her boyfriend are very gripping yet essentially reflect on the feminine nature.

The doll assumes a real identity thanks to the masterful script and the directors skills and its fascinating to see Pran and Mithun adorably dressing her and decorating her to make her look more beautiful then ever and her mannerisms and the lines she utters are charming, yet devastatingly satirical of our social and political system, Johnny reinvents the doll with modern clothes and pop music to attract an audience and his efforts pay off in a big way..

Nevertheless the act gets very real with Mithun in charge and the local politicians are alarmed by the popularity and start seeing it as a threat to their ambitions, as the doll questions the political morality of our system and her remarks start to stir popular unrest amongst the ordinary people, it almost starts a rebellion.

This is not acceptable to the beaurucracy and as Mithun turns down their bribes to tone down the show they instigate a riot with the help of some local gangsters where the doll is symbolically stripped and raped, while Mithun and the audience are beaten mercilessly, the shameless act while comprising the climax is so relevant to our prevalent culture where nothing except naked greed is sacred.

The scenes where Mithun is shown holding the desecrated doll and weeping are memorable as are the dialogues and expressions of this great actor in that sequence alone.

I wonder why despite movies like Mrigya and Gudia, Mithun never got the acclaim he deserved from Hindi cinema, indeed this movie is proof enough that his second to no one else.

The direction, makeup and background score help to make this a haunting experience and the camerawork with the giant doll and the ventriloquistic details is a triumph in itself, a difficult act to accomplish but made to look seamlessly natural ,thanks to the cast and crew

This is essential viewing for all who enjoy meaningful well made cinema which is entertaining as well as realistic, a virtue fast disappearing from cinema world over

The movie was deserved acclaimed at festivals world over and is a cult classic.

Rating: * * * * *

By : Usman Khawaja

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