Hrishi Da and Amitabh Bachchan : Bemisal Jodi
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Hrishi Da was able to use his actors in a very constructive manner and that is why many of them gave few of their best performances in his films. Very good directors also need very good actors to create remarkable things on the screen.
This can be seen via Hrisha Da’s own films also.
In the era of mid 60s when coloured films had become a common phenomenon, he had made a B&W film Biwi aur makaan. Many situations there in this film are very similar to the situations later shown in Chupke Chupke but Chupke Chupke became a landmark film for Hrishi Da also because here he had got the support of superior actors like Dharmendra, Om Prakash, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, Asrani and David.
Mahmood was absolutely brilliant in Biwi aur Makaan and Hrishi Da had very effectively used Biswajit and Keshto Mukharjee in the get ups of women but still Biwi aur makaan does not stand anywhere close to Chupke Chupke.
Better actors do make a difference. Better directors do make a difference. When better directors work with better actors then overall quality of the films is improved tremendously. Actors and directors are interdependent entities in the field of filmmaking. Very good and experienced actors may still give a shining performance under the very average direction of a less capable director but then they look like Taat mein makhmal ka paiband and appear differently in a film.
Hrishi Da’s cinema (and cine-making vision) has been strongly adhered to the society and needs of human being. His cinema always kept the humanity on the forefront and yet it has been very entertaining. His cinema is all about relationship among human beings. Characters are never extremely isolated from the human beings. Even if a character is away from family he is associated with Ramu Kaka (Anand, Mili etc) or like Dharmendra becomes associated with the watchman of the guest house and even sends him as his elder to to talk to David to make a proposal for his marriage with Sharmila Tagore . Bawarchee is completely based on this theme to feel association with other people. Great friendship among Asrani, Dharamnedra and AB is shown in Chupke Chupke. AB , Asrani and Bindu are friends in Abhiman and David plays an affectionate elder to all of them. David follows similar pattern in Golmal and takes care of Amol Palekar and his younger sister as they do not have parents. All his films keep focus on the human beings and their mutual relationships and that too in a good and optimistic manner.
Watching Hrisha Da’s cinema one gets a feeling that s/he has to have faith on other people and he has to be in a relationship with others and he is also a part of humanity. His cinema is optimistic. and full of life and even if Anand dies in the end but Babu Moshai w’d say, Anand mara nahin, Anand marte nahin.
Amitabh Bachchan has been that capable actor who has capacity to perform on a very convincing level even in situations which look awkward or impossible and he has been having talent to make it look feasible. His association with Hrishi Da has been having a very successful and fruitful journey and together these two great artists have given us some 8 films and in each of these films they have created something extraordinary. Hrishi Da has always created a different and interesting character for Amitabh Bachchan and AB also has never disappointed him and rather he has always uplifted the level of the films by his devoted performances. Their journey with each other is very interesting journey as this association has gone ahead in a very natural way and Amitabh has grown up while doing Hrishi Da’s films.
(1) Anand (1971) : Amitabh plays a shy, introvert but a man of principles. He is an honest doctor. He can not work in a fashion in which most of the common people do in day to day life and hence he lives as per the discipline decided by his self chosen principles. He is protected by these principles and hardly anyone may know about this man from outside. One can not make an accurate observation about this person. They may make opinion that since he speaks less and keeps a concern only with his work so he is a dry kind of person who may create boredom around him but it’s an outsider’s observation because we see that as soon as Anand enters in his life and disrupts the system of his self chosen way of functioning, he is also changed. He does not want any intrusion in his life which has been going on a single track but he is unable to stop Anand who is hell bent upon breaking the monotony of his life and slowly he too joins the flow of time streamlined by Anand’s lively energies. He is in to a bond with Anand. Anand forces him to accept that he had liked a girl in the past. Anand forces him to reveal that he had inclination towards writing. Anand revives the writer inside him. A new Babu Moshai emerges, who is quite sensitive and who smiles and who wants to enjoy the life though he is still shy to express his inner feelings. Inside Babu Moshai is also a weak and emotional person but before Anand’s entry in to his life he was able to own a shell over his real persona but Anand’s sickness melts that shell and forces Babu Moshai to stand in a bare stage where there is no cover on his soul.
Hrishi Da created a very interesting character for Amitabh Bachchand which was quite suitable to his persona of those days. It was during early phase of his acting career and he had not tasted yet any success which brings a much required confidence and his contemporary conditions of those times might have helped him playing this complex character in such a masterly way. Thousands of films have been made after Anand but whoever has seen this film can never forget Anand ( all, the film, Rajesh Khanna and his character) and Babu Moshai.
Character’s emotions and mental phases were deftly portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan. Everything was so realistic and effective. If he was angry on Anand then it was so real on screen because he knew that he w’d be in trouble if he allows Anand to enter too deeply in to his life as being a doctor he knew that Anand could not survive for longer and when he was frustrated that inspite of being a doctor he was unable to save his most dear person then also he lit the screen with his powerful performance. Batein karo mujhse …. was screaming very loudly that a real actor has emerged on the horizon of hindi cinema who w’d rule this cine world in coming years.
(2) Abhiman (1973) : Hrishi Da did not create a star like character for Amitabh here because that takes away the dynamics from a character. He is an upcoming singer in the beginning. He is full of optimism and energy while singing Meet na mila re man ka.
He marries a singer (Jaya Bachchan) and almost forces her to sing with him. His ego and temperamental and selfish nature all things are going to create a problem in his married life and a conflict creates a distance between him and his wife. For his wife his ego is inflated and he does not mind insulting his old friend and secretary Asrani but he is still not self dependent and he takes shelter in the company of his another old friend Bindu, who had silent love for him. His ego does not stop him to surrender here. Very realistic situations were created by Hrishi Da in this film and all his actors fulfilled his vision in a very competent manner and Amitabh Bachchan very effectively played the various shades of his characters. He gave a very good performance.
(3) Namak Haram (1973) : Amitabh gets the role of a rich person Vicky here who understands he has two families. He lives with his rich businessman father, Om Shiv Puri and his second family is the family of his childhood friend Shomu, played very effectively by Rajesh Khanna. Shomu belongs to a poor family but he has no worries because he and Vicky live like soul mates. They don’t know the life outside of their narrow world which is limited to each other’s families. Being poor Shomu is little bit more familiar with the bitter truth and limitations of the life but Vicky is completely ignorant to any kind of limitations. Money can buy any kind of materialistic comfort for him and his emotional needs are fulfilled by Shomu, his sister and mother. What else he needs? He thinks that life w’d pass like this only.
Life is unpredictable and an event creates a turmoil in his otherwise easy going life. His lack of practical experience in a real world makes his ego deeply wounded and he is unable to digest the fact that he had to ask forgiving of a poor worker of his factory.
Audiences have to watch AB’s condition where as a wounded person he comes to meet Shomu. His eyes are filled with tears because he finds it difficult to digest his insult. He has faced such a situation first time in his life and thus unable to cope with it. Shomu is the only person who can bring an emotional balance in him. Friendship has to become pro active here and Shomu declarers that he will take revenge from that old union leader because he was the reason behind the humiliation of Vicky. Shomu is transplanted in a different set up and now lives of Vicky and Shomu have to pass through new changes which they have not thought in advance because their minds are too occupied with their pre-conceived plans. New changes affect deeply their respective lives. Shomu is the doer and Vicky is at receiving end so naturally emotional turbulences affect Vicky more. He does not know the life beyond Shomu and his family. He is not matured and independent enough to handle these things and he thinks that Shomu is ditching him. Outside he scolds Shomu and calls him a treacherous but inside he can not stop loving Shomu and his family. Two scenes are very important scenes in the entire acting career of Amitabh Bachchan.
In first scene Vicky is having a verbal spat with Shomu and gets to know that Shomu’s mother and sister are coming there at new house of Shomu and Vicky warns Shomu that if he tells anything about this conflict between them to mother and sister then he will not spare him.
In second similar scene Vicky gets to know that his own father has ordered to harm Shomu and he threatens his father,”Dad agar Shomu ko kuch ho gaya…..”.
These two scenes are the solid witness why this actor became one of the legendary actors of Hindi cinema. Perfectly in the skin of the character and yet carrying the performance level at such a height. All factors, his spoken words, his silent expressions and his body language etc are great and audiences are mesmerised. Audiences can not resist this overpowering effect of AB’s powerful performance. Amitabh Bachchan got to play yet another interesting character here. And top of this his and Rajesh Khanna’s roles were easily exchangeable and both could have given equally brilliant performances in any of the characters.
(4) Mili (1975): Amitabh got to play another complex character here. He is forced to become a loner because of his family conditions and he does not want to meet with anyone. He is not an evil person but completely closed as far as outside world is concerned. He has everything, health, wealth, talent and refined taste but stigma on his family forces him to live under frustration and he starts suffering from the paranoia that whole world is laughing at him and they are ridiculing him and his family.
His character goes through a complete transformation. Like Anand brings a change in the life of Babu Moshai in Anand here Mili brings a change in the life of a recluse person, Shekhar and shows him how to open a window in a castle completely closed from all sides and enjoy the cool breeze in summer and warm and loving sun rays in the winter and flowery scenery in the spring and trickling touch of drizzling rains in the monsoon. His sad and closed heart used to sing badee sooni sooni hai…. and Mili teaches him to learn the art of searching life in the smiles of small kids and Mili’s entry in to his life makes a complete overhauling in his stale system and makes him realise that he too is a human being. From bitterness to pleasant openness to sadness and then to rock like solid determination, if Hrishi Da weaved every phase of the character in a beautiful manner than Amitabh Bachchan too decorated that vision with his highly competent performance.
(5) Chupke Chupke (1975), Shades of shyness, ego, anger, frustration, sadness etc were deftly played by Amitabh Bachchan in the past films of Hrishi Da and now it was the turn of comedy and he was pushed in to the arena where Dharmendra, Om Prakash, Asrani and David like proven champions of comedy were already playing the game and Amitabh Bachchan made audiences realise that he was good there too. Here he did not have chance to emerge as the overall winner because film is basically a competition between Dharmendra and Om Prkash and there also one can not decide who defeated whom as both have got many scenes which can be said uniquely their scenes on individual basis. Amitabh Bachchan too has few scenes which could be said his scenes like one scene where he compels Dharmendra to visit the office of Asrani and tries to make Dharmendra and Asrani realise his complex situation.
(6) Alaap (1977), In Namak Haram Vicky could not leave the world of his rich dad to support the causes of Shomu because his Dad’s conspiracies worked against this wish but here in Alaap Alok (AB) is a true follower of music and hence he does not feel any hesitation to leave the house of his dad and he revolts against his father and marries the poor girl Rekha. Amitabh Bachchan had become super star by 1977 and certainly it would have been quite astonishing to see him playing such a character in that era. Character has many shades and Hrisha Da and Amitabh have given a low profile take to this character unlike Amitabh’s other films of that era.
(7) Jurmana (1979), Amitabh had not played a negative shaded character in real sense in any of his past associations with Hrishi Da and he got this opportunity in Jurmana. First half of Jurmana is absolutely fantastic and Amitabh plays the role of a flirt in a very fascinating manner. He literally overshadows every other actor in every scene. He plays a highly confident character in first half and truly lives the nature of such a character. He brings required mental conflict in the second half and brings authenticity in his efforts to atone his wrong doings.
(8) Bemisal (1982), Hrishi Da had preserved a very different character for Amitabh Bachchan in their last association. On surface his character is flirt, extrovert, extremely confident and to some extent he is a glib but he has a mysterious side also hidden inside him. Amitabh plays this complex character in such a skilled manner that for the lovers of great performances it overshadows his past associations with Hrishi Da, as far as his performances are concerned.
The way Amitabh Bachchan’s character handles Rakhee’s character was amazing. Hrishi Da created an entirely different relationship between them. Those who have never seen this film they have to see it just for the scenes between Amitabh and Rakhee.
Rakhee to AB: par jab tumne Sheetal ko hathon mein utha rakha tha to wo cheekhi kyon nahin?
AB: kyonki mainse uska munh band kar rakha tha
Rakhee: par tumhare haath to…
AB in a menacing way : Are Sakhee, jab dono haathon se kisi ko utha rakha ho to kaise kisi ka munh band kiya ja sakta hai.
Rakhee: tumhara matlab…. Mein soch bhee nahin saktee thee tum itanee neech harkat karoge…
Sheetal is fiancée of AB’s old friend Deven Verma. First time DV introduces her to AB, AB holds her hands in an unusual manner and after that he starts a secret affair with her.
Nobody had developed such a character for Amitabh Bachchan before. One side of him is completely negative for his close people but there is a secret behind his well thought negative doings.
Amitabh skilfully plays with the different shades of his character.
How there can be a difference between pair of a director and his actor and another pair of a director and his actor, while they are creating similar situations in their respective films, can be understood by the examples of Bemisal and OLLO.
OLLO takes a scene from Bemisal. Abhay Deol is holidaying at some hill station and there some overenthusiastic uncontrolled guys throw snow on his younger brother and Abhay goes to fight with them.
Now see the original scene in the Bemisal where Amitabh, Rakhee and Vinod Mehra come to an open air restaurant and few people sitting on an adjacent table make vulgar remarks against Rakhee. People have to witness Hrishi Da’s direction and Amitabh Bachchan’s actions in this scene to know how great scenes are created on screen and what is the difference between an Amitabh Bachchan and other actors and what makes him a super actor cum star.
Story and screenplay wise Bemisal wanders here and there and double role of AB, Sheetal angle and Deven Verma angle could have been handled more skilfully and more attention could have been given to the abortion angle but as far as characterization of Amitabh Bachchan’s character is concerned it was quite a new approach and Amitabh elevated it with his good performance.
Bemisal is the film of almost last phase of film career of Hrishi Da and weaknesses are there but for the sake of his association with Amitabh Bachchan, it’s still a significant film.
Hrishi Da and Amitabh Bachchan’s association has given us 8 good films and if any of the film is not very good in over all manner even then the portions, where these two brilliant creators have collaborated, have become great pieces of cinema.
Note: Prequel (” Director and Actor “) to this post will be published soon.
Tags: Abhay Deol, Abhiman, Alaap, Amitabh Bachchan, Anand, Asrani, Bemisal, Biswajit, Biwi aur makaan, Chupke Chupke, david, Deven Verma, dharmendra, Hrishikesh Mukharjee, Jurmana, Keshto Mukharjee, Mahmood, Mili, namak haram, OLLO, Om Prakash, Om Shiv Puri, Rajesh Khanna, Rakhee, Rekha, Utpal Dutt
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
Amitabh is only actor with whom Hrishida collaborated maximum no. of times. This itself says something about their mutual understanding. When AB was doing movies with the likes of Manmohan Desais and reinforcing his angry young man image, his films with Hrishida certainly helped him grew as an actor.
AB on Hrishida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wRj3BC6yuk
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@Jahanpanah,
Different roles under a very good director should certainly help an actor to improve his craft and when it happens during initial years of career then it provides a tremendous help as it brings a strong confidence in an actor that he is actually capable to play so many different roles and a good director actually believes in him. Director too is very happy and lucky to get a good actor who is open to new ideas and who is ready to accept new challenges and who is ready to learn new things.
Thanks for this nice link. great tribute to Hrishi Da by AB,, Jaya Bachchan and Amol Palekar.
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Another AB film coming up…
http://boundscript.blogspot.com/2009/04/beginnings.html
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@al4din,
only 1 film is coming up?
normally his 3-4 films have been releasing every year.
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Rk: beautiful work…thanx…
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i think bemisaal and jurmana are two of the most under-rated movies of theirs. amitabh’s smouldering anger in both movies were brilliant. and the way hrishi da handled the hospital abortion scam was so real. only bigB could have pulled off such a controversial and sensitive theme with so much elan and humane look. i get the goose-bumps even to this day when i watch these two movies.
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anand has this line which amitabh says ‘ek maraa nahi, ek aur paida ho gaya marne ko’ … he says it with so much disdain, apathy and yet it brings out his concern and disillusionment so well
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he is so good, ki jitna bhi likho kam hai. he is my fave actor, issliye ab tak amitabh ke baare mei kuchh likhne ki himmat nahi huyi
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@crazyrals,
thanks for comment. Both Jurmana and Bemisal are character driven films unlike popular films of AB of that era. Here he is not presented as all rounder performer who would entertain audiences with every possible dose of entertainment in the form of comedy, emotion, action etc etc.
He has followed a character in these two films. But this is also a fact that Hrishi Da got comparatively weak scripts (especially in second half in both the films) and tightness of his other successful films is not present throughout in these two films. In these two films one feels that they could be far more better films as themes were too good.
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what a detailed post! awesome! am enriched. thanks!
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@Magic,
Thanks for the comment
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Rk: great tribute to the great combo. guess i totally missed out on their collaboration in my post on director-actor combo. thanks for the details.
bemisaal remains one of my most fav AB movie for his versatality.
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@Satyendra Jha,
Thanks for comment. This is true, Amitabh gained a lot as an actor from Bemisal. He got to play a mysterious and too complex a character which he had not done before.
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Rk- well written post on the bemisal jodi. I can’t write anything more on the films already mentioned by you. But would like to point out that even in a very brief cameo in Golmaal, Amitabh was well utilized. For such a big star to accept a role like this is a big thing & only Hrishida could have pulled it off well.
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@Sethumadhavan,
Thanks for comment. Amitabh has been appearing in 2-3 minutes role in many films. Dost, Golmal, Chhoti si baat, Chasme baddur, Jalwa, Hero Hiralal, etc etc. He has many guest appearances to his credit. Rather in his early 90s film, Insaniyat, first it was popularized that his was a guest appearance but when film was released his role was stretched too long and he was there atleast in half of the film. Perhaps director and producer were not confident about BO credentials of Sunny and Chunky Pande at that time so they increased the length of role of AB.
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@ RK jee
Thanks a ton for this article.
This post talks about my most favourite actor and my most favourite director. What more could i ask for?
am yet to watch Bemisaal, Alaap and Jurmana. Will do that soon.
One of my fav hrishida-AB scenes is the one mentioned where AB tries to explain Dharmendra and Asrani his predicament in Chupke Chupke..
“Magar yeh kambakht jo parimal hai”
Absolutely brilliant.
Wonderful tribute to a wonderful Jodi
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@ashwini,
whenever get an opportunity watch these films also and if not whole of the films you would love the portions of AB. Bemisal especially may bring you surprises.
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for me, the most endearing scene in chupke chupke wud b the way AB keeps pushing his glasses up his nose, esp when he is mighty concerned abt losing “Sudha” in the whole melee.. worth its weight in gold…
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@4 crazyrals I agree with you on that.We always hear about Anand,Chupke Chupke,namak haram but very few people actually discuss Bemisal and Jurmana.I think they did decent business.But since those were the years of Amar Akbar Anthony,Lawaris,Muqaddar ka Sikandar…both were overshadowed.Also Rakhee’s character in both the films were done very well.She is shown to be married to Vinod Mehra but has a silent love to Amitabh also(I think it was Jurmana). Considering it was 70’s that was quite bold.
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@Anindya,
In Jurmana she loves AB though Vinod Mehra is her silent lover. In Bemisal she marries Vinod Mehra in the very begining of the film and she does not love AB as a lover but as a close friend. In the begining it was possible for AB to love/marry her if Vinod Mehra also would not have fallen in love with her.
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Ashwini sahab, aap kahaan the itne din !! Yet to see these 3 movies ? I am simply dumbfounded
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“Tumhari to har cheez se mujhe matlab hai sakhi,” and “yakeen mano Prakash se zyaada khusi mujhe hogi.” I was awestuck watching these two scenes. I know, the scene where AB says,” tab to woh galati tumhare saath bhi karni hogi” is the high point but these two scenes shows his command over everuthing that is called acting…gosh!! When he says tumhari har cheez, every one is around, yet without sounding obvious or vulger he conveys-subtley as well as hurtingly-what’s in his heart for Rakhee. amazing!!And in when he says “yakeen mano,” just observe his face–zamane se kuchh milaa nahi, jo ek milnewala tha use bhi dost ke hawale kar diya, jaante hue ki us-se peechhaa chhootna namumkin hai–all these expressions in one single sentence, just beautiful!! Bemisaal andJurmana are my all time fav from Hrishida-AB combo. Truely speaking, whenever both came together it was always a masterpiece–its really difficult to pick and point out as the best…thanks RK for bringing back memeories.
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@Satya,
Thanks for detailed comment. Amitabh in Bemisal can become a tutor to many actors trying to improve their skill of acting. Rather many so called super stars can learn how to portray such a complex character who is burning inside because of his past and in present he is in love with two of his closest friends but he can not share with them also about his secret feelings. His dark side has some reason.
First time audience will be shocked to see AB holding hands of Sheetal in their first ever meeting and expressions in his eyes and on his face. Audience at that time will have no idea why he is flirting with her and at same time he is so friendly with Deven Verma and then his sting operation.
interersting sequences.
His on screen relation with Rakhee in Bemisal is unique in entire history of Hindi cinema.
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RK, what a fantastic post. Would love to contribute more here ( since this subject is one of my weakest points of Hindi Cinema ) :
HM was very close to Raj Kapoor. Hrishida always imagined him as “Anand”. RK’s love for HM was so much that HM wanted the character to lovingly call his friend “Babumoshaai”. Hence he based Bhaskar’s character as a Bengali. And you are right – HM says himself that he was an “introvert, shy and had spurts of anger” !
Amitabh always wanted a briefing since he was a newcomer ( while Rajesh Khanna was somewhat like Anand himself ) Once when HM was at home ( arthritis ), K A Abass had brought AB along. HM saw his sunken cheeks and eyes. Tall and gawky and HM had to strain his neck to see him ! Something clicked as AB looked different – serious with lot of intensity. HM did not want a chocolate hero.KAAbbas assured of the talent and AB was in.
For Abhimaan, Jaya approached HM and asked to make a film with AB. HM already had a family friend’s true story in his mind and narrated the story to Jaya, to which she agreed. I dont
know who this Pavan Kumar (producer) is. I think it is produced by Jaya ( Amaya productions or something like that ? not sure)
For Namak Haram HM did not reveal the end to both of them ( RK & AB ). he wanted it to be a secret. Gulzar saab had a slight idea about the end. On the shooting day AB was very much disappointed. he did not speak with HM for several days ! Inspite of many people (Mangesh Desai, Jaya, etc ) telling AB that he was brilliant in the film, AB did not believe. He felt that he had screamed too much in the end.
HM did not want AB and Jaya in Chupke Chupke and wanted some newcommers ( I think it is right. I also do not like AB “much” in the film – timepass ke liye theek hai ). Both of them said that they did not mind playing a second fiddle and atleast the film recovers its money. During the shooting of the song Saregama..it was the turn of Dharmendra being pissed off….he was not on time and HM concentrated on AB and Jaya more :-)
Mili for me is intense characterization at its height. HM’s most fav scene was when AB breaks the glass and says “Bahut dinon baad daant padi hai”
In the original version of Alaap, Amitabh does not die. But HM turned pessimistic during the making and decided the opposite.
Jurmana’s last scene shooting was delayed because of the accident of Koolie. It was shot after a few months
During the shooting of Bemisaal, Amitabh was shooting for one more film and travelled 95 kms everyday without delays on both shoots !! Sincerety ho to aisi warna na ho. Bemisaal remains a very favourite of mine. It was sad that HM died the same day when I was watching the film on VHS at home :-(
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@kcp,
thanks for so many anecdotes.
Chupke Chupke’s making has generated many anecdotes. Hrishi Da was perfect for stars. Director ho to aise ho. A talented person working with Bimal Roy, Dilip Kumar etc in his early phase of learning can not bear nonsense tantrums of stars and this should happen all the time only then films can have qualities.
I think you meant to write Sharmila in Sare ga ma and not Jaya Bachchan.
In a way AB’s was first attempt in such kind of comedy in Chupke Chupke and stress was more on Om Prakash and Dharmendra. and things are belonging to characters also. For example, Jaya who was brilliant in Guddi and Mili in comedy was not playing comedy here and she had only 2-3 small scenes of comedy once she gets to know the truth and she played it well. AB was also supposed to play comedy buit within a boundary and his character was not following a comedy with heroic trait. whereever he got the chance to flourish (like teaching lessons in the garden and this scene at the office of Asrani, he encashed the opportunity to shine).
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@kcp,
re. ending of Namak Haram,
in those years on screen death was understood as good thing to gain sympathy and heroes were supposed to die in may stories and side heros used to live. Anand’s case was fresh. That could be the reason behind Amitabh’s sulkiness. These were his formidable years. Cant say how much is true but in Sholay also Dharamendra was bit upset knowing that Jai w’d die and Veeru has to shed tears on his death.
It is interesting to know such feelings among stars in a certain era because their minds were following a pattern
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oops thanks RK for correcting. Its indeed Amitabh and Sharmila in Saregama.
All my anecdotes are from an interview of HM – so they are all from the HM
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@kcp,
yes I remember reading many anecdotes about Chupke Chupke. One related with that scene where Dharmendra (in Driver’s get up) is coming out of bed room of Sharmila Tagore at the house of Om Prakash in Bombay. Dharmendra was late and Hrishi Da did not wait for him and when he came he was asked simply to give this last scene where he turns back and closes the zip of his trouser. Hrishi Da knew how to utilize the valuable time of shooting. His funda, why to wait for anybody if work can be done without him also was good. He was an editor also so he knew what to use finally without affecting the overall narration and quality of film.
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wow…very interesting anecdotes up here….
@kcp
guilty as charged!!
was not even aware of these three movies few years back. They dont play it on TV also. Will get hold of the vcd’s.
@Rk
eagerly looking forward to the prequel of the post.
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thanks RK!
if it were not your lovely artical I would have missed a great film like bemisaal.
Just saw it and am watching it again as I write this comment.
I would like to say that having watched all of anurag kashyap movies, could not find any of his actors even talented as kay-kay match with Amitabhs performance in bemisaal!
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@chets,
Amitabh has been in a different league which includes the actor cum star category where an actor rises to the stardom in the roles of a hero or leading man. He has done regular hero’s roles in his own way and has earned THE place for him. He has got a wide range. People w’d love him doing an intense role and doing a very light role and even playing a buffoon and dancing and romancing with a woman on screen in a very regular hindi cinema way. He is acceptable in variety of roles and he has proved that he has been a befitting actor in all the situations. An uneducated rusitic and a highly qualified and refined and polished person can be played by him with equal competency. His competency in variety of roles also suggests that as an actor he accepts all the situations and he is at ease in different roles. So his honesty in accepting and then playing the characters is visible on screen.
There have been very good actors who are very good but in certain areas. They are not for all the areas. First they have reservation about doing certain roles like Balraj Sahni had reservation on doing usual romantic roles or song dance pattern based scenes so he opted for selective roles and he is respected in his specialised areas.
Sanjiv Kumar, opted for little more wider range of roles but still you can not imagine him doing My name is Anthony Gonsalves or Nain lad jaye hain to manva mein kasak hoibe karee or doing scenes : Mein aaj bhee phenke hue paise nahin uthata, or peter ye tala to mein ab tumharee jeb se chabi nikal kar hee kholunga and where man starts fighting with 10 gudas. anjeev Kumar did not care about his physical fitnes therefore he would look awakward in doing so many things and he made him limited in certain areas but he is highly respected in his specialised areas.
These highly competent actors give their best in the roles where they feel comfortable and hence we have to accept that they have certain specialised area and we have to say IF hindi cinema might have opted this and that route then these guys could have ruled the industry like super stars. This IF says about some limitations and dependence.
And problem is that in mainstream or commercial cinema since begining Motilal, Ashok umar, and later Raj-Dev-Dilip and after them AB and now to some extent Hritic Roshan have been existing who can give high quality performances while maintaining their super star status. They can work in both the scetors.
This is about younger days when one can play variety of leading roles as at later age, super stars and super character actors come at same platform and anyone can give competetion to others. As Rishi Kapoor has knocked the door with Luck By Chance and Delhi 6. Now AB, Naseer, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor all are at same platform as they all have to play character roles and box ofice succss does not come in between the good quality performance.
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KK is a very nice actor but seldom he has played leading character. It can be market factor or simply luck factor. He can not be compared with the league of Ashok Kumar, Raj-Dev-Dilip and AB. With more diversity in the roles he plays, he can enter in to the club of Balraj Sahni, Sanjeev Kumar etc. Same is true with Irfan Khan.
And KK should be a fan of Sanjeev Kumar as lot of Sanjeev Kumar can be seen in his way of peforming. Though he is not copying him as few other actors do. He has his individuality but somewhere his inspiration should be found in Sanjeev Kumar. He admits it or not is a different matter.
I sincerely believe that in character driven films he will give some extraordinary performances in coming years. Every actor needs faith of director/s and audiences and he is a capable actor and brings satisfaction to the audiences. This faith factor affects a lot an actor in early 10-12 years of the career. I have to see Gulaal but he was quite good in certain scenes of Black Friday, For example his first scene where an old man is trying to fetch his attention by repeating his story that how he saw the scooter and informed police etc. and KK as ACP stops his utterance and asks him to go away, Aap bhee jaiye and few other scenes. This particular performance in the scene of scooter has been very special.
Paanch will suggest more as this was the film which KK did in his relatively younger phase. This wil suggst whether he has lost some opportunitis or he has improved in real sense. Let us wait and watch Paanch in near future.
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Great Chets !! Bemisaal is also one of my most fav movies of AB. Agree of Amitabh’s acting capabilities. He is simply the best hero ever, in Hindi Cinema.
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Have to watch Abhimaan, Alaap, Bemisaal, Jurmana. Will watch as soon as I can. Thanks for the post. It was amazing.
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