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Kahan Gaye Woh Nag
I miss my evening snakes (Gujju pun unintended) and entertainment. I mean where are the ichchhadari nags and nagins these days? And those legends that surround them. Like so many other trivial details, I remember the day when I saw my first snake. To be factually correct, I barely saw its tail but I vividly recollect the conversations around me as the senior boys from Grade 5 milled around me. The whole brouhaha was about whether the Nagin had spotted any of them in which case she would have captured their mugs in her eyes and will later wreak vengeance on them. As a 7 year old, this left an indelible impression on me and led me to believe all nag-nagin sagas that Hindi film industry churned out for the next 5 years. I must admit that those 5 years of mid to late 80s were the most (re)productive nag-nagin times in Bollywood and I was privileged to watch them with complete credulity. So, my dear readers, this post is a tribute to all the snake sagas down the years. Bring on the samosas!
Before we start, two obligatory snake PJs (please add if you have more).
Q. Which movie had the story of a few poor snakes who worked their way up to wealth and prosperity?
A. From Nags to Riches
Q. Which rom-com had a nagin go undercover to write an article on today’s snake high schools while being swayed by the Sapera’s ‘Been’?
A. Never ‘Been’ Kissed
For the more academically oriented, snake sagas can be categorized into 2 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive groups, namely, the Ichchhadhari and the Saral-Saanp family of movies. This piece is possibly the first comprehensive study of the nag-nagin cinema, so, please pay solemn attention.
The Ichchhadhari category deserves the highest score for originality in a script. Take the concept of uninhibited transformation of forms from human to snakes, add a dash of revenge, season with some corny special effects and garnish with songs playing on ‘been’ music and voila, you have Rajkumar Kohli’s Nagin (1976). I keep getting questions from aspiring script writers and film-makers on how to make a good Ichchhadhari Nagin movie. Based on my deep analysis of Nagin (1976), I can provide the following pointers to succeed in this genre:
1. Ichchhadhari and punar-janam are two sides of the same coin. When one is around, can the other be too far?
2. Svelte ichchhadhari nagins seek revenge on a lifetime of fad diets by transforming into a buxom actress in human form
3. Ichchhadhari nags and nagins have natural affinity to music and dance especially to one really long song which keeps playing through generations. The Nag displays a worrying propensity towards wearing skirts in these songs
4. Coitus interruptus is a surprisingly common phenomenon among them which is often perpetrated by a careless human and invariably leads to the Nag kicking the bucket
5. The photogenic Nagin always has a photographic memory
6. Don’t forget to incorporate the state-of-art special effects and the obligatory evil tantrik
Nagin had all of the above supported by a cast of actors who compete with one another to ham it up. So you had Sunil Dutt, Feroz Khan, Sanjay Khan, Vinod Mehra, Kabir Bedi and Jeetendra (in the skirt) out-hamming each other while Reena Roy took turns in transforming herself into Rekha, Yogita Bali and other assorted actresses while doing the seductress routine. Years later, Rajkumar Kohli, updated Nagin with Matrix-like special effects and a Manisha Koirala gone wild on martinis and mashed potatoes to create Jaani Dushman – Ek Anokhi Kahani. Following the template of Nagin closely, Jaani Dushman had Arman Kohli (remember Virodhi) and Manisha doing the nag-ngain routine while the whole unemployed aging Bollywood star brigade come together in an ensemble cast of college students. Jaani Dishman requires a full post to do complete justice to it so I will leave you with its piece de resistance, the Sonu Nigam ditty ‘Javed bhai so re le.’
The other seminal contributor to the Ichchhadhari genre is Harmesh Malhotra who made it a rage in the 80s. The first of the movies was called Nagina which blended the Ichchhadhari and the Naagmani streams. Amrish Puri puffed his cheeks and played the ‘been’ to such effect that future generations would scarce believe that such a sapera in flesh and blood walked on earth. Sridevi writhed and swayed through the movie with some wildly coloured contacts to ensure that she became imprinted in our mind as the Nagin to beat all Nagins to come. Harmesh bhai then came back with a sequel a few years later titled Nigahen: Nagina Part II with Sunny Deol and Sridevi while Anupam Kher plays Amrish Puri’s disciple who is still chasing the elusive Naagmani. Sunny Deol looked a little lost since the ‘been’ wasn’t an effective instrument to beat Anupam Kher with.
I will leave the Ichchhadhari genre with a mention of two of its best (I know I am doing a disservice to others of the ilk like Aayi Milan ki Raat, Naagmani and Naag Nagin but I don’t want to poison your fun). First, let’s turn our attention to ‘Naache Nagin Gali Gali’ where Meenakshi Sheshadri did the eponymous act and danced gali gali for Nitesh ‘Krishna’ Bharadwaj while Sadashiv Amrapurkar did the damaged goods routine on the couple (including the coitus interruptus bit as well). Finally, we come to Nagin Aur Lootere which is my definition of an under-rated classic. Any story which can bring together punar-janam, nag vs human conflict, police and daaku, two-timing and a murder mystery deserves its place in the sun. Some day, we will live in a fair world, the meek shall inherit the earth and Nagin and Lootere will be taught at film schools (including Whistling Woods).
Let’s switch genres and move to the Saral-saanp stream of movies. In this stream, the Nags and Nagins do not transform into men and women but remain firmly within the Genus Naja and Species Saggitefera. The first of these movies is the mother of all saanp movies Nagin (1954) where two warring tribes compete with each other to bring Nags and Nagins under their ‘vash’ and collect their venom. Somewhere in this the director gets a Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet angle with the Bengali Bhadralok Pradeep Kumar doing a Romeo to Vyjanthimala’s Juliet.
But my all time favorite saral-saanp movie is Doodh Ka Karz. The story requires some elaboration. In some remote village there’s a Snake temple with a devout Pujariji within it (the intelligent reader will discern the Nastik template without the son). One rainy night, a run-of-the-mill Sapera arrives there with his pregnant wife (Aruna Irani) and his pet saanp seeking refuge. Chhote Thakur, Amrish Puri, in the meanwhile, was planning to loot the temple jewels to tide over some short-term working capital problems. The Pujariji catches them in the act and gets a khooni khanzar in his back. The snake charmer reaches the scene and in true Hindi film style is accused of the murder. The Thakur and his henchmen beat him to death while Aruna Irani, the pet snake and the newly born kid make good their escape. Hungry, harassed and homeless, the trio reaches some jungle nearby and then in one of the most original scenes written in Hindi cinema, Aruna Irani makes the snake and the kid karzdaar of her doodh (don’t ask me how). All this while, the amazing title song played in the back which went (and I’m not making this up), ‘O, mere munna, sun mera kehna, mere doodh ka karz nibhana, mere doodh ka karz nibhana.’ Eventually, Aruna Irani asks the pet snake to cut loose since she can’t tend to him and he goes back to the same Snake temple as the Azim-o-Shaan Shahenshah of snakes. The kid grows up to be Jackie Shroff, an expert sapera, who falls in love with the anglicized Neelam, the daughter of the Thakur. Aruna Irani delivers the news to Jackie about Neelam being of the same khaandan which finished off his dad and exhorts him to repay the doodh ka karz.
In parallel, the Azim-o-Shaan Shahenshah of snakes learns that the temple jewels are being sold off to Bob Christo and other relics of the East India Company and the Thakur khaandan is the one that he also has scores to settle with. The climax is not for the faint-hearted amongst you and features flying snakes, flayed limbs and an awesome ‘been’ contest between Jaggu dada and Raza Murad. In my humble opinion, this unparalleled bit of genius at the climax of Doodh Ka Karz almost killed any budding film-makers desire for saanp movies. I mean what chance you have to surpass such mastery unless you answer to the name of RGV and try remaking Sholay. Doodh Ka Karz marked the end of the really great saanp movies. While a few others attempted the genre (notably Vishkanya which had Pooja Bedi deliver venom through kiss) they had to contend with the legacy of such tour de forces as Nagin (1976) and Doodh Ka Karz.
As usual, I am worried about this dying quintessential Indian story-telling format. I hope the next generations of script writers and film-makers are reading this. I am always available for any help that you might need, just send me a good ‘been’. A Nag-Nagin film can never be a ‘has-been’.
39 Responses to “Kahan Gaye Woh Nag”
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just finished
the killer
by john woo
pure bollywood
:x
Is Awwarapan (imran hashmi) copied from The killer?
Hi Shailesh, Awarapan is copied from a korean fil- I can’t remember the name though….and Jaani Dushman is one helluva howlarious film- the song Aaja Aajaa is priceless and so is the rest of the movie- never miss it on TV!!
Nagin (1976)and nagina are my favourite of all time nag-nagin movies.
donnon abt Awaarapa but the killer of imran hasmi was copied from collateral:)
@ subrat -
u best believe what I am saying next.
the first screenplay I wrote was a superhero film where the hero was a regular dude that can speak in the voice of God due to a celestial accident (inspired from The Preacher graphic novels).
His sidekick was an Ichadhari Nag that had lived for a few centuries. He had attained his human form after 100 years of Naghood, but was a snake in the day and human after sundown, with his human to snake ratio increasing as the film progressed.
He also had superhuman strength and was trying to figure out what it meant to be human. I wrote a scene where he watches Nagina in a cinema and laughs throughout the movie. I also debunked every snake myth from bollywood.
Half way thru the movie, he steals the HERO’s girl (who is a bar girl turned Hitwoman) in true saanp style, and becomes the hero while the hero becomes the villain. I already had Yamraj (in pursuit of original hero, but later siding with hero turned villain to fight God since God made him capture human souls for a living) and an evil ex-army Commander intent on a nuclear armageddon between India and pakistan as bad guys, and I threw in the hero as villain on top of that.
I made the rounds of producers in mumbai in 2004 and the producer of waisa bhi hota hai part 2 told me, as he laughed his ass off reading my script, mythologicals don’t work, and no one has made a saanp movie in 15 years. I said, Yeggjactly.
I overcame budget issues by having only one money shot. The snake-human transformation was saved for the climax.
I am yet to find the source for the original ichchadari nag folklore, and where Bollywood found inspiration. If some writer dude created this superhero and genre, that is awesomeness crystallized. There is a passsing mention of snakes that can become human in the mahabharatha.
this shit is ripe for total, unashamed and totally unabashed exploitation. The producer gave me Anurag’s number to have him write hindi dialogues for this film. I never called.
the film was called Kalyug.
Someone should write detailed ananlysis of
N(r)agkumar Kohli’s Jaani Dushman (2002).
i kept laughing throughtout the film. =))=))=))=))
“Someone should write detailed ananlysis of
N(r)agkumar Kohli
Sridevi - is the first name which comes to my mind whenever a nagin film is mentioned! I have an impression that she has done most Nagin film…
I miss that been tune! but, you can still hear that tune in Navaratis.
also add Sheshnaag (jeetendra, Reklha) and
Ej Sapera Ek lootera (Feroz Khan) in your list.
Awarapan is a copy of the acclaimed Korean film Dalkomhan Insaeng(A Bittersweet Life)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bittersweet_Life
jahan, visrant,
a dhansoo article on John Woo movies
http://www.hkfilm.net/woobio.htm
Refreshing and hatke article,Subrat.
Yeah,we’re missing those nag-nagin movies.They don’t make them anymore.
With dinasours,gaint lizards and gorillas running amok on our screens,who would watch our desi snakes in action:d
With SRK announcing a 100cr special effects movie about kids who wish for bad things, and are granted these too, we might see the return of nags and nagins in Bollywood.
What about the dialogue? “Mein Tujhe Shraap Deta Hoon ke tum saat jaaanam tak Nagain…”
“then in one of the most original scenes written in Hindi cinema, Aruna Irani makes the snake and the kid karzdaar of her doodh (don
Killer sense of humor as always. Am I the only one who wants more of these articles between your wheel of time series?
i think amir khan player role or Sapera in Tum mere ho
that Aamir film had Juhi Chawla, did not it? The love story between aadvasis and thakurs.. something like that.. there is a shraap on Aamir - a snake is going to kill him - something like that..
i can remember title track
“jab se dekha tumko yaara, dhadkan boli dil pukara… tum mere ho (2 times)… sadiyon se mere ho”
don’t remember much but the film had snakes involved in the story.
doodh ka karz seems to be even better than snakes on a plane!
Congratulations, this article was superbly written.
PJ:
Who amongst the current bollywood crop of directors is best suited to inherit the legacy of Nag Nagin movies?
…NAGesh Kuknoor!
lol! I remember watching Doodh ka Karz on DD. In the climax when Jackie is is the villain’s den getting beaten up or something, everyone(viewers) is waiting for nag bhai ki entry…was truly a nail-biting climax :D
PJ:
what does naagin say to nag after having been kissed by him…?
…zeher hai ki pyaar hai…tera chumma…
ha ha ha…great post,subrat!!!
aruna irani is back with nag-nagin on small creen though. if m not wrong, she has a serial on zee tv. its called naagin,aruna irani is the producer. And supposdly its during great. the trps are very good. have seen the promos. not sure if its saans,bahu aur naagin or something else. looks like some she still has some naag karz/gene with her.
N what a coincidence…last week only we were discusing a series on things bollywood has lost…piano/accordian playing heroes, judwa bhais, evil step-moms, naag-nagins n much more…
jaane woh kaise
naag they jinko
nagin ka pyaar mila
humne to jab
naagin ko ghura
naag ne jhat tasveer utara…
Anyone remembers Aayi Milan Ki Raat? It had Shaheen (2-3 film wonder) romancing a snake by the night, who then turns into Avinash Wadhwan every morning,who romances Shaheen, now a snake by the day. This is all because of a ’shraap’ by a ’sapera’ Paresh Rawal, so that the two never meet in the same form, or else he will die (lol). Now here’s a masterpiece! The songs however, were a rage back then, as far as i recall …
Subrat, You are a true Nagina of PFC..
I have a faint childhood memory of a B&W film called NaagMani where the Naag lok is shown under the sea in Patal lok.. a childhood fantasy
Some other Naag movies I solely care for are for some soulful songs like beautiful rafi song from Nag Mandir, “Khamosh zindagi ko aawaaz de rahe ho” or kishore-lata duet from Naag Panchami “Main nadiya ki dhara”
Coming back to color Doodh Ka Karz is indeed a classic.. can you make out the meaning of a great shabbir kumar song from the film?
“Rasta to mil gaya hai, Manzil ko dhoondh loonga
Main qatl hoke apne qaatil ko dhoondh loonga”
There was a classic naag devta song in another Jeetender, Rajnikanth film probably Tamacha
Jaago mere naag devta mere man ki bujhe aag devta.. I bet you cant forget that one as that was a Chitrahaar favourite..
and Jaani Dushman Two was Jaani Dushman : Ek Anokhi Hasya Kahani..
There was another Nitish “Naagraj” Bhardwaj film titled “Prem Shakti” with Govinda and Karishma Kapoor.. Karishma was terrific in one of her career lively and best role ( as she had to play a wooden dummy/mannequin in a departmental store)
BTW does South too produces modern day (non.mythologicals) Naag Nagin stories?
All Nag-Nagin aficionados - thanks for all valuable additions here
Dabba@6: You remain the Great Brown Hope!!
Ichchhadhari Nag watching Nagin will make for a great scene.. So what happened to the script? Have you dumped it?
Subrat mate…..
that was a rollicking fun read….
some more like these between the wheel of time mate!!!!
DPac: Thou delivers back-handed compliments!! Pray, I beseech you whilst you give Wheel of Time a miss, doest so with a 5 star rating. Fragile ego seeks a boost :)
what a delightfully NAAG-turnal post in this mundane SAP-era, any day better than watching ‘DUSS’ kahanaiyaan, and not to mention, the great HISS-torical doing the ’round’s of our mindspace off late.
saanp yahaan aaye kisliye….
oh do I need to do the Naag Punch me and Cobra ka bhai again? don’t think so.
whenever I hear any slitherine fang-club tails, I am strangeky reminded of this none relation whatsoever song from Ustad….
bambi naagin
chhaya aangan…
nazrein chhan chhan
aasha man
jism damakta…
may be its just my been bag talk.
happy sunday.
Tushar: in the same vein, what’s a nag-nagin family entertainer called?
Ans: Hum Saanpke Hain Kaun
@ subrat 30 -
you mean wheatish don’t you?
the script is lying around like a khopche ka abortion.
Meenakhsi Sheshadri is one of the most elegant actresses of bollywood films of the 80s and 90s. She was well educated and the good conception of the roles had helped her to understand the characters she had played.
[...] week apna Subrat encouraged the mavericks of apni Filmi Industry to bring the old skool Nagin storytelling back to the silver screen. And this week I would like to encourage RGV factory (and RGV is Back - he soon will be!) to come [...]
is nagmani a reality or a myth
wanna clear it
read
‘from caves and jungle of hindostan’
by blavatsky
here is the book
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6687
[-o<
Have you seen Rudraksha ? It is not a Nagin film.. but it is that sorta film.