Classic Revisited – Chashme Baddur – 1981
iView Author: Dr.MANDAR V. BICHU (Sharjah, UAE )
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Classic Revisited – Chashme Baddur – 1981
Chashme Baddur
Year: 1981
Dir: Sai Paranjape
Cast: Farooque Shaikh, Dipti Naval, Ravi Baswani, Rakesh Bedi
In the 1980s, the mainstream Hindi cinema was rapidly going downhill. Amitabh’s best years were gone and his career was largely going through the rut of ‘Angry Young Vijay meets Funny Guy Anthony’ repetition. His only real contender Jeetendra was dishing out his terrible ‘Ta Thaiya Ta Thaiya Ho Ho’ hits like Himmatwala, Mawali and Tohfa. Even though I was still not old (or mature) enough to understand or analyze ‘Why’, I had started to get disenchanted with Bollywood. (It hadn’t even got that sobriquet back then!) I was slowly getting weary of watching the same old ‘Ghise Pite’ plots rehashed to death.
Those were the days and that was the mind-frame, when I had first watched Chashme Baddur in some run-down theatre in central Mumbai. But right from that first viewing, I got hooked on to the film. It was such a refreshing change from the films I had been watching till then. New faces, fresh ideas, great comedy, pleasing romance, good music- the film had everything going for it. That initial fascination for Chashme Baddur might have been slightly tampered by the passage of years but still that film remains one of my personal favourites and in my opinion, an all time classic! Recently I watched the film again on the DVD and I was struck once again by how fresh the film feels even today and (judging from my two young daughters’ reaction!) how well it still connects to the new audience.
Chashme Baddur starts off as a tale of three bachelor friends sharing the same flat. Two of them (Ravi Baswani and Rakesh Bedi) are utterly shameless yet endearing rascals! Failing in exams, unsuccessfully wooing the fairer sex and remaining penniless comes naturally to them and what separates them from mere mortals is their ability to take nothing seriously! In total contrast to them is their flatmate (Farooque Shaikh) who is the ultimate serious, sincere, ‘Seedha Saada Sharif’ guy. He is a gold-medallist Economics M.A. who doesn’t look beyond his boring books. ‘Girls’ for him, is a perfect enigma.
The fun starts when the two scoundrels see a pretty girl (Dipti Naval) near their building and try their luck in wooing her. Both fail miserably in their attempts but somehow cover up their failures with tall tales of taking the girl out on a romantic date! Somehow through some comical coincidence that same girl falls for the ‘Sharif’ guy. The jealous rascal-duo first sour that love-story by poisoning their simple friend’s mind but later realize their folly and try for damage control- again with comically disastrous consequences! How will the separated lovers unite?
The superbly natural performances from the main cast- a far cry from the ‘dialogue-spitting’ filmi characters is the first thing that wins you over. The male bonding chemistry of the three friends is just plain out of any college hostel. The posters on the wall, the perpetual tea-sessions, the half-burnt cigarette stubs, the towel-clad roaming around, the constant cash crunch, the rose-tinted romantic dreams, the hopeful street-struts and the unabashed tall tales- oh, it is just spot on! Then there is the street-corner Paanvaala Lallan Miyan (Syed Jaffri)- a lovable simpleton who verbally keeps lashing the trio for not paying up his bills but still gamely puts up with their excuses!
The budding hero-heroine romance is equally charming with the shy bike-lifts and Tutti-fruity and coffee meetings! But how that romance begins with an unforgettable ‘Miss Chamko scene’ is definitely the highlight of the film! The way that entire scene is built up is something to be seen again and again!
As a director, of course this film is under Sai Paranjape’s command and what a fine job she has done. The thing that particularly struck me on this viewing is the subtle, clever self-deprecating parody she uses time and again, when she has to use the clich'©d commercial elements like the hero-heroine running around the trees in public garden, singing perfectly rhyming spontaneous songs with a 40-piece orchestra; the villain toting a gun in the captive heroine’s face with a wicked exaggerated laughter; the heroine screaming ‘Bachao’ and the hero jumping onto the goons from an impossible height! She even does a collage of old songs replacing the original romantic pairs with the hero-heroine pair and believe me, she gets her choreographer to evoke a perfect period feel. Remember that this is done much, much before similar efforts in Om Shanti Om and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and almost as effectively despite working on a meager budget!
Rajkamal’s music comes up with some real beauties like Kaali Ghodi Dwar Khadi and Kahan Se Aaye Badra but perhaps one or two other songs from the film could have been chopped to improve the pacing.
In the 80s, Chashme Baddur was one big triumph for the small, meaningful, intellectual cinema and this it could only do because it never overlooked one major (but often looked down upon) goal of film-making – to entertain the audience!
Tags: Chashme Baddur, Dipti Naval, Farooque Shaikh, Himmatwala, Kaali Ghodi Dwar Khadi, Kahan Se Aaye Badra, Mawali, Om Shanti Om, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Rajkamal, Rakesh Bedi, Ravi Baswani, Sai Paranjape, Syed Jaffri, Tohfa
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
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Spot on….loved this movie when first saw it on DD back in 80s……..love it even now.
One thing which particularly strikes me is the beauty of Delhi, perfectly captured by Sai, no traffic jams and sometimes not even traffic for that matter…..huh must have been good biking around in those days(read winters)
i watched this movie first on DD, was enchanted by it, (along with another classic – Katha), and later on, when started working, realised that the industrialist father of Deepti Naval played by Vinod Doshi was our Chairman & MD. tht gave me a different reason to watchit all over agn. Not tht this fact aded any brilliance to the movie, coz i personally think it is one of the classics of hindi cinema.
btw, on a different note, Vinod Doshi was attached to another classic of that era, kalyug, and the factory & offic scenes ofthe movie were shot on-location in our company’s premises. even tht palatial bunglow of raj babbar is actually the Director’s Bunglow of our factory.
I saw this on DD a few weeks back and loved it!
Satyendra Jha: That bit of info about Vinod Doshi is interesting! He has played the role very well!
That parody of songs in masala movies is just awesome with people ridiculing them for singing and dancing in the park like it is done in movies! :D
as everybody else, i too saw it on DD first and it was amazing. i loved the sher-o-shayari tat rakesh bedi indulges in, especially with those day-dreaming sequences:
“dil mei kisi ki raah kiye jaa raha hoon mai
kitna haseen gunah kiye jaa raha hoon mai”
and many more gems like this.
ravi baswani was hilarious and sayeed jafri also did a gr8 job as panwadi. farooq sheikh was such a fantastic perfromer who cud carry off the serious roles like ‘garam hawa’ and the flambouyant ones like ‘chashme baddur’ and ‘katha’; just superb. deepti naval was another versatile actress, miss.chamko was such a brilliant sequence. just when they r waiting for the 5 min timespan the radio plays the song ‘hum-tum ek kamre mei band ho’ and instantly farooq sheikh opens the door with a shy grin….gr8 cinema
i dont think we will ever get to see such movies being made these days
My favorite movie of the 80’s.
I have never really been able to share the kind of magic that people associate with Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron… But this one was truly amazing…”Katha” too was so so wonderful..
A simple sequence like the one where Rakesh Bedi tries to kick-start the scooter is done with such amazing skill. There’s no special effort to please. Just a distanced observation that becomes funny when played to the audience..
I fall off everytime I watch that scene. I guess he stands on the “kick” and then jumps up and down or something… What is Sai Paranjpe doing these days?
Hahaha Sree… I love the chamko sequence… Awesome!
Great post Mandar!
Chashme.Baddoor to me is anyday anytime film… have seen it umpteen times.. It is a big tragedy and loss for Indian Cinema that Sai could not make lot of films due to budget constraints.. Katha was another exceptional comedy (simply one of the best in Hindi Cinema).. Sparsh is yet another heartwarming tale… I think the bad experience with stars in high profile Bichchhu (With Dharmendra) made her walkout from mainstream cinema but she came back with yet another small and beautiful one -Disha. It was a loss for Hindi Cinema much more than anyone.. I think this is the right time for her to comeback.. specially the last couple of years have shown a way for such film makers.. W2S is a good example..
Spotboys, Limelights and NDTVs.. Are you listening?
Mandar-thanks for making me think about one of my all time favourite hindi movies.Chashme Baddur is a fundoo movie & no doubt about it.Be it the chamko scene, the parody song ( Ravi Baswani & Deepti Naval), park scene ( Rakesh Bedi), Saeed Jaffrey’s panwala act & the two songs mentioned by you – brilliant & watchable again & again.
@ Satyendra Jha
That was some interesting news about Vinod Doshi.So you were working for Premier Automobiles?
@ Sethu: yeah, i am still with Walchand group, in Pune. in fact, if u will go thru the acknowledgement credits in the beginning of Kalyug, u will find the first credit for Walchandnagar Industries Ltd.
to draw a parlance b/w chashme buddoor & katha, and to see the versatality of farookh shaikh, chk out how simple and down to earth he is in the former, and how street-smart and suave he has played in the latter. he never got the due recognition, coz he was caught b/w amol palekar mould and naseer/om puri during tht time. his efforts to play the romantic lead in Noorie also didnt work.
btw, anybody noticed the similarities in appearance b/w farookh’s character in CB and that of Late Sanjay Gandhi? was it intentional or just a fad for the ‘intellectuals’ to dress tht way, which Sai paranjpe adopted for tht character?
Jha- thats some nice piece of info regarding your organisation.Yes I do agree Farooque Sheikh never really got his due.Towards the end he was playing silly roles in movies like Toofan.But in T.V & theatre he has got the right kind of respect which he deserves.Good observation- Farookh’s character vs Sanjay Gandhi- I guess it was more of a fad then.
whenever we talk ofthe light comedies of 70’s & 80’s, we come across Leela Mishra / Dina Pathak. I think they redefined the typical mother of ‘Nirupa Roy / Sulochana’ and brought a fresh vivacity to these movies. these wudnt have been half as good without them. whether its CB, Katha, Golmaal, Parichay or many other such; they stand out with their brand of congeniality.
ratnakar / sethu: any post coming on the changing roles of mothers being portrayed in indian cinema over the years? include reema lagoo & beena in the list as well.
heart-warming film..the things that stay with me frm this film are – the way Lodi Road in Delhi was captured..the trio’s room(& its walls)..Ravi Baswani,Rakesh Bedi,the Miss Chamko sequence & of course Farooque Shaikh.
Jha-
You’ve given me an interesting thought for a post.Just through with one post – sent it a couple of hrs back.Have 3 more to write.One of which is comitted to Anand & the other to you
(Prakash Raj).So will work on it after I’m through with these.
BTW have any of you noticed Sai Paranjpe’s daughter- Winnie in a miniscule role in the movie?she is the one who gets a lift on the bike from Ravi Baswani who gets all too excited only to see her going to meet her boyfriend?
@ Sethu: hey, honestly thx buddy for taking my views seriously, and committing to write on them. tht itself is a recognition for a cinephile like me. i owe u one whn u come nxt to pune.
yeah, winnie paranjpe was the one who is standing at bus-stop whn both bedi & baswani r out on tafreeh, and baswani shakes off bedi to line-maaro winnie..
@ Dr. Mandar: doctor saheb, the more u dissect this movie, the more layers of humor u will find. each scene is worth a separate post. thx doc for giving this post and making many of us nostalgic.
CB is the DCH of old times. I love it so much. (it does not hurt though)
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Ravi B and Rakesh B were so endearing as Jhomo and Omi. The line “Jhomo, Shikaar!” is so funny.
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Btw, one of the girl who dumps Omi in the park is Winnie Paranjpe, Sai’s daughter. She had a bigger role in Katha. I have not seen her otherwise except in serials.
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Sai P also directed few serials. One of them was Hum Panchhi Ek Daal ke (about families in Chawl). That was nice one.
Vishesh-
I’ve mentioned Winne in my comment # 15
I guess we do think alike @ times
One of Farooque Sheikh’s best role was in the Indian adaptation of Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister,As the minister Satyaprakashji,he was simply awesome
,and ably supported by Jayant Kripalani :D
What a co-incidence!! I had not read this topic, and was thinking about writing a post on Mirch Masala. That, in turn, got me thinking on Dina Pathak and her terrific underplayed contribution in changing the entire definition of Maa/Senior ladies. Sadly it has come back to loud Kirron Kher today after rising from eternally sad Nirupa Roy during Dina Pathak to Reema Lagoo era!
Also, wasn’t Chashme Baddoor an adaption of a South Indian movie? Can’t remember if it was Tamil or Telugu or Malyali.
Tejas – cant use the word adaptation but yes it has lots of commonality with a tamil movie called
“Indru Poi,Nalai Vaa” ( today you go & come tomorrow) which had Bhagyaraj & Radhika in the lead.That was also a wonderful movie- a fun riot actually.
Chashme-Baddoor is perhaps the one film I’ve seen the maximum number of times – despite never having the opportunity to see it in theatres when it first came around (too young!).
I could never give it a miss when it was shown on TV – it is one of my all time favourite films.
The casting is near perfect – and I believe these are Ravi Baswani and Rakesh Bedi’s first film roles.
Farouque and Deepti are such an adorable pair – in every film they brought such sincerity to their performance.
And this is the Delhi of my childhood – green, unpolluted, laid-back and charming. The Delhi University Ridge is beautifully shot.
There are also some Delhi Doordarshan regulars like Vinod Nagpal and Keemti Anand.
By the way, does anyone know what restaurant it is where Farouque and Deepti end up for their date (where Keemti Anand is the waiter)? Is that the Lodi Garden restaurant?
Happy New Year. Visiting PFC after 3 days of holidaying. Good to see such wonderful nostalgia evoked through this post! Thanks to all who appreciated the article especially Sethumadhavan and Ravptor.
Satyendra Jha-sahab, it is true what you said about finding something new everytime we try to dissect this film! But isn’t it true for most good films!
BTW- the title should have been spelt ‘Chashme Baddoor’ and not ‘Chashme Baddur’!
Sai Paranjpe directed a DD serial which was quite popular few years back.I think Aashish Vidyarthi got recognition through that serial
This is one of my favorite movie.. I never got a chance to watch this movie before and i saw this movie only after i completed my studies.. It reminds me of those days.. Iam sure there are lot of hostelites who would relate to lot of scene in this movie.
Udhari ki cigrette..Shikar pe jaana..triple seat on bike.. Searching for cig in the ashtray.. Churan dena about girls..
Omi tumne merese 10 Rs liye the laundry ke liye..
As some one rightly said, CB was DCH of old time..
What a Movie…
@Dewi
I believe Rakesh Bedi’s first film was Ahsaas (1979)
CB remains an all time favourite….amazing direction, great script, superb acting, lovely songs……
A favourite scene…when Dadi (or was it Ms. Chamko) comes visiting and Jomo and Omi instead of opening the door run and hide on the ledge.
CB Rocks!
A great review and a great film.Ravi Baswani and Rakesh Bedi have done a good job.Also watched Sai’s another film ‘Katha’ and intersting thing about this one is that Farooq plays diammetrically opposite character in Katha where he is a flirt and villain where as in CB he is a Seedha Saada type.Great portrayals by a versatile actor.Naseer was also simply superb in ‘Katha’