Flashback Film Review – Dost (1974)
I’ve always felt that if one is hell-bent on re-making a film from a by-gone era, it shouldn’t be a beloved classic like Don or Sholay, but rather one of the many hidden gems of yesteryear, which may not be sitting constantly at the forefront of our filmy memories.
Besides the obvious benefits restoring and upgrading a classic to the modern era and exposing the new generation to some of our cinemas classic stories, one could simultaneously accomplish 2 goals: First, re-introducing concepts, characters and sensibilities sorely lacking in the “fast food/fast forward” cinema we’re conditioned for today, while in many cases also modifying or even rectifying some of the areas where the narrative could have greater impact.
“Dost”, the 1974 film by Dulal Guha (starring Dharmendra, Shatrughan Sinha and Hema Malini), has always been an ideal candidate for a modern day makeover.
Now please don’t get me wrong here, I love the film and have grown of a fan of its central theme of two friends, at polar opposites of the morality spectrum, each trying to pull the other to their side of the line. It’s a simple yet grand concept, and it’s given an adequately rustic, earthy treatment so that us commoners can easily relate to the mindsets driving each of the characters motivations.
Manav (Dharmendra), the adopted son of a Priest, has been raised with unbreakable values of honesty and virtue. Though he’s freshly graduated with his Masters, he’s told to always remain a student of life and pick up on its lessons at every step of the way. Lesson #1, always be TRUE (not even just true to yourself, but TRUE through and through in every possible sense of the word). This philosophy is only good for the books, or the “raddi kitaben” as Gopi (Shatrughan) sees it. He’s tried the honest man’s life, at one time an experienced and rather talented blue-collar worker in a lock factory. But when “locked out”, he quickly learned that one cannot feed their families with honesty and hard work. The most practical and pressing need of the hour was to find a way to get food, and to solve that basic problem he took up a life of petty crime. Even though the decision cost him his young son and wife (as he puts it “us ke ser par be sachaiyi ka bhoot sarwar tha”), he was convinced that he was on the right path, the path where he would never need to see hunger or struggle again. His goal was simply survival, and he simply took what he needed to survive.
Most of this is just the back-story of our two lead players, as the real story begins to unfold when Manav and Gopi become friends despite their differences in outlook. Of course, a clash was inevitable and soon enough the two men would be conflicted over maintaining a friendship when both were so passionately against the others way of life.
In true 70’s filmy style, rather that simple dissolving the dosti and going their separate ways, Gopi proposes a contest: Manav has a mere 15 days to prove to Gopi that one can still make a life for themselves through honesty and hard-work in these dark days of kalyug (or as Gopi animatedly remarks “Aaj kal to zamaana hai villain logo ka, dishkyan dishkyan!”) by simply finding a job. If Manav succeeds, Gopi would have to give up his life of crafty crimes and give an honest lifestyle another chance. However if Manav loses he would have to admit that his ideals were in fact severely misplaced, blinding him from the real world, and he therefore give up on living with integrity and surrender to Gopi’s nefarious ways.
The results of the contest are very interesting, however they don’t quite lead to an equally interesting 2nd half. The film, which up to this point was a well-crafted blend of philosophy and masala entertainment, quickly takes a turn for the worst and heads into no mans land (well, no-cohesive-story-land to be more accurate).
Of course the loser of the contest must now make the efforts to change his ways, that’s still the premise which is supposed to carry forward, but that issue is resolved rather quickly and then starts a whole other film. This one’s a convoluted continuation of the films first half hijacked by a poor yet honest man in love with a rich, spoilt yet clean-hearted girl (Kaajal, played over the top yet endearing in a style only the inimitable Hema Malini could). The second film in this “Dost doubleheader” is alright, it has a few great moments, but it doesn’t quite match up to the grand good vs. evil film we started out with.
What salvages the film is its dynamic mix of concept and character, a thoroughly engaging and entertaining first half, and some incredibly strong performances. Shatrughan Sinha easily steals the show with his vibrancy and some amazing comic timing. Even in the emotional and dramatic scenes he turns it up a few notches without losing sight of Gopi’s most endearing qualities. One of Shatrughan’s finest performance from his entire career, ”Dost” is worth a watch just for him. Dharmendra pulls off the staunch, upright character skillfully, walking that fine line between displaying high levels of integrity without falling into those dangerous pitfalls that could’ve easily left audiences rolling their eyes. After all it’s a character that’s constantly preaching on morality, and so it’s a miracle Dharmendra manages to give Manav just the right dose of that down-to-earth human touch that we can somehow still empathize, even relate with him.
(BTW this is yet another performances which showcases Dharmendra’s amazing range. It still perplexes me how some people labeled him as just a macho action hero and completely turned a blind eye to films like this one and Satyakam and many others… but I guess that’s another post for another time…)
Don’t be fooled by the screechy, ditzy, hyper brat Kaajal. It’s a deceptively complex character and as mentioned earlier, Hema Malini somehow reigns her in just enough that it doesn’t annoy the shit out of us, and even infuses emotional life at precisely the right moments. Despite the fact that Kaajal’s character is clearly the 3rd runner in this two-man race, Hema Malini manages to connect with audiences and have the character stand out.
Did I mention Amitabh Bachchan has a power-packed 2 minute cameo? Watch for it, it’s a great little scene which contributes immensely to the rising drama in the 1st half.
Who could ever forget the wonderful, thought-provoking songs! The musical score by Laxmikant-Pyarelal provided a classic backdrop for Anand Bakshi’s most enlightening lyrics.
Sample this:
“Kaise nadaan hai woh, gham se anjaan hai jo,
Ranj na hota agar, kya khushi ki thi kadar…
Dard khud hai Maseeha doston, dard se bhi dava ka doston,
kaam liya jaata hai..
Aa batadenge tujhe kaise jiya jaatha hai…”
Of course this post could not be complete without highlighting this evergreen gem…
“Dekho woh Rail, bachchon ka khel, seekho sabak jawaanon
Sar par hai bojh, seene mein aag, lab par dhuaan hai jaano…
Phir bhi yeh jaa rahi hai, nagmein suna rahi hai…
Gaadi bulaa rahi hai, seeti bajaa rahi hai
Chalna hi Zindagi hai, chalti hi jaa rahi hai…”
It’s this level of poignancy that I miss in the lyrics, heck even the stories of today. Perhaps this is why a film like “Dost” could be an ideal candidate for a modern day adaptation. A strong premise with an inherently strong conflict due to its diametrically opposite characters. In fact, besides the basic concept and of course the great “hook” of “contest” between good verses evil, there’s so much scope to take this film to a whole new level by simply transporting it all in a modern day setting.
What would the Manav’s and the Gopi’s of today, realistically, be like? For that matter, how would a Manav be able to hold on to his ideals with such conviction in today’s cynical times? How would a Gopi influence him? Would today’s Gopi have more success in luring Manav away from his ideals? Even more intriguing would be the opposite, would Manav have any influence at all over the Gopi in today’s cold-hearted, self-centered world?
I for one would be very interested to see what innovation and creativity the right writers and directors of 2009 could bring to such a film without diluting its core concept.
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
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Oh, this was a wonderful film..I saw this first in a very dark and dingy hall in Coimbatore..would you believe..and simply enjoyed the antics of Shotgun Sinha..
As I have mentioned earlier (http://passionforcinema.com/salaamat-rahe-dostana-hamara/) it was an interesting script but I wish the film shopuld have been directed by someone like Hrishi da, as Dulal Guha despite an interesting premises, couldn’t take it beyond average flick.. The highlight of the film was a memorable performance by Shatru bhaiyya in different shades and makes it memorable one… and not to forget Gaadi ki Seeti
“aate hain log, jaate hain log, paani ke jaise rele
jaane ke baad, aate hain yaad, guzre huye vo mele
yaadein mita rahi hai, yaadein bana rahi hai”
Thanks for Posting Dost!
Indraneel: Damn you’ve got a pretty good memory! Yeah Shatrughan was awesome here!
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Pavan: I agree, a stronger directory like Hrishida or Gulzar could have done wonders with this concept. The film does lose its way in the 2nd half and becomes a rather over done kitsch. Mind you, I’m not sure if the blame for that could rest entirely on Dulal Guha as I personally found the first half and portions of the 2nd half to be very well directed. I think the issue here is an uneven (Sachin Bowmick).
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All that being said I would highly recommend this film for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
Loved it when i saw it. And still remember many key scenes and of course the fantastic songs. Does anyone remember Amitabh Bachchan in a very very brief role?
it was a great movie.,,,I have seen it for many times and still like to watch it..,the song ‘gaadi bula rahi hai is my most favorite song.it effects on my heart..the theme of this film and this song is very admirable..its composed by the music directors laxmikant pyarelal. the great singer Kishore kumar ji gave his soulful voice to add more the shine of this song..,and the dharmendra ji acted very well in this film …I can’t forget the line–”aate hain log jaate hain log,paani ke jaise rele”.
Sriram, sorry for such a late reply. Any favorite scenes? I’m asking because in Johnny Gaddar you showed an penchant these 70’s films in the way creatively weaved scenes from them throughout your own narrative. And yeah, Amitabh was just explosive in that one 2 minute scene.
Navjot, yeah the idea behind the film, and the running theme in many of the songs, was quite admirable. Like I’ve stated in the post, I think its a lost quality. Its like we ourselves have deemed society as degenerating far too much in its collective morals to value anything this earnest…