Long before Ghajini..there was Jalwa!
1987. Those days I was doing Hotel Management in Hyderabad. The Vidyanagar campus used to be a sweatshop then. Literally! So, the escape was to Kachiguda where Maheshwari, Padmavati, Venkatramana and other such notable cinema places used to welcome yours truly with open arms, A/C splendour and only Rs. 20 features.
Even the braindead will have deciphered by now that I watched “all” movies. So, armed with rented Fimfares, Star and Style and Screen (from a shop near Shivam X road) I used to keep track of all films coming, release dates, reviews and performances at the Box Office. If you thought, I was interested only in Intelligent cinema, I actually sweated over the fortunes of Pataal Bhairavi! In this scenario, I spotted a movie that was being made by the Karamchand director Punkaj Parashar. This was a film to see. Earmarked. Slotted. I began to follow all of its creative and non creative process.
News came in that Naseeruddin Shah, then a complete art house film actor, had been signed up for the lead. Pankaj Kapoor was also signed up to be his mate in uniform. Man, I thought this was awesome casting straightaway. (Remember, this was 1987 and the Torture series of Indian cinema was at its zenith!). For someone to do this sort of a casting in itself was fabulous. Oh! But Punkaj did not rest there. He got the then unknown Cyrus Broacha as the younger brother of the heroine, Archana Puran Singh of Mr. ya Mrs. fame (That was a serial in DD at that time where she did the Mrs. role and Jayant Kripalani did the Mr. role). These were unconventional, unheard of and pretty much bold, to say the least!
Then an array of talents – Satish Kaushik in that unforgettable cameo as Ramu Ghadiali, Dalip Tahil as the freak villain, Johnny Lever as the maalishwala from the Goan beaches, Rohini Hattangadi, Saeed Jaffery and Tejeshwar Singh, a news reader from DD as the villain. I was truly stumped by the casting.
Then, the music released and what music. There were songs of all kinds. I remember buying the cassette and playing it all day long in my hostel. My room mates had to give up on the “Walk like an Egyptian” and “Part time Lover” to listen to “Dekho Dekho Yeh hai Jalwa” over and over again.
By then news came in that Naseer had to redo his physique at the Talwalkar’s to match the persona created for him by the script. Of course, the script was a straight lift from Beverly Hills Cop but that hardly mattered to us laymen Indians then. The first look photographs of Naseer bare chested came in and what a physique it was! I even bought a leather wrist band just like him after I saw that poster for the first time.
The kind of euphoria the cast, look and feel of the movie then created was extra ordinary for a film as unconventional as that. Then, the movie released. The hall (I think I saw it in Sangeet the first time) was choc a bloc with college ‘pottas’ and ‘pottis’. Something like what Dev D, Ghajini and a few others have witnessed in recent times. The guys whistled when Naseer showed up on screen. The Rajani pranks with Basu Chatterjee by Pankaj and Naseer got good applause. Then, the pace kicked in and we were at the edge of our seats for practically all of the film. The camera work, by Sunil Sethi, if I remember correctly (where is he, BTW?) was mesmerizing. I saw floor level shots for the first time in Indian cinema. Hand held shots of chases were breath taking. Naseer was awesome with his comic timing and his body language. Amitabh Bachchan appeared as himself and brought the house down. Then, the small appearances by Javed Khan as a Taxi driver, Akash Khurana as an inpector and Viju Khote as a constable were enjoyable too. Pankaj Kapoor in that small role of his just reiterated his class and walked away.
The locales that the film was shot in were new and very pleasing to the eye. The hotel locale was Cidade de Goa and I became such a fan of the location that I ended up working for five years in that hotel. Talk about dedication towards films! But the best locale was the rocky location near Anjuna where “Dekho Dekho yeh hai Jalwa” was shot. Breath taking!!
I went back to see this gem of a thriller 5 times continuously before many other times on VCR, TV and CDs. Punkaj Parashar made a semi decent Chaalbaaz and then a very bad Rajkumar before he faded out. Of course, He made Peecha Karo the earlier year and that was history in itself. I think there is a post on Peecha Karo somewhere in PFC here.
But, for me Jalwa was a Ghajini of those times!
Tags: Indraneel, jalwa, punkaj parashar
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agree with you wholeheartedly…i saw the film a long time back on a late night show in DD…it was amazing…i remember the action sequences (some shooting sequences were brilliant)….i was a big fan of pankaj kapoor at that point of time (because of Karamchand :D)…
Totally agree with you Indraneel… I was in my 2nd year of Engineering at MNIT, Jaipur. All shows in the first week at a cinema hall close to our college remained packed with MNITians… a very different visual experience that was in those days
@Arijit..Thanks..we were all fans of Pankaj Kapoor..still are
@Gajendra..remember the styling of the actors?
This was one of the few 80’s movies that i saw in a theater without rushing out midway, and actually gripped me to the end. My cousin, who otherwise hated Hindi movies, reccoed this movie to me. Though it was a remake of Beverly Hills Cop, i actually loved this more than the original. After having watched such epics like Nagina, Hukumat, Insaaniyat Ke Dushman, this was such a refresher. There was a slickness, a cool factor to this, missing in the standard Bolly flick.
Great music by Anand Milind, especially the title track and “Feeling Hot Hot”. My parents who otherwise never really watch Hindi movies much, bought the video casette just for sake of Naseer, and boy they loved it, in fact we had repeated viewings in our home, at least 5-6 times of this movie.
Loved the action scenes too, and much before heroes began to take their shirt off, and build the 6 pakcs, Naseer actually started the trend of looking the role. I mean watching pot bellied actors, with longish hair, play the cop, it was a delight to see Naseer looking like a cop. And Archana Puran Singh, was so freaking hot, that i had a major crush on her for some time.
Indraneel- nice write-up & took me on a nostalgic ride.It was one amazing movie, be it the artistes, the songs, the locations, everything was simply mindblowing.I was actually amazed to find Nasser doing an action hero’s role as I was used to seeing more serious movies of his at that time.Of course I was a kid & not even a teenager then but the passion for cinema was already in me by then
“The hotel locale was Cidade de Goa and I became such a fan of the location that I ended up working for five years in that hotel.”-Just imagine,such is the effect of Hindi films on us filmlovers.Jai ho!!!
great post indraneel da. i was in kolkata then, hardly a teen, mayb in my 6th standard, and remember bunking school en masse to watch it in Elite. we boys simply took upto those dumb-bells, to show-off the way naseer holds them in the promo posters, archana puran singh in tow.
i have always been shit-scared of snakes, and i remember that scene where a snake is left to slide thru the door by the villains to take care of naseer. man, how i jumped on my seat. still scares the daylights out of me.
the title track by remo was already a rage, and that was the first time i heard his name. so much so, that later, when remo did that ad for pepsi, we would feel connected to tht ad simply on the strength of jalwa…the other songs weren’t much to talk abt, at least i didnt like them, and it was much later whn they showed the adult & famous Cyrus on MTV remembering his role in jalwa, tht i realised it was him.
it was also thrilling to see the DD English newsreader Tejeshwar Singh playing the dreaded villain’s role so convincingly. i used to show him to my dad, whenever he wud come next on the news, who was very fond of his baritone voice and composure.
its such a trip down memory-lane. thx for reliving my childhood…
@Ratnakar – Naseer was hot according to my then classmate who I shall not name here. In fact, she urged me to take her to Jalwa the second time..Neki aur pooch pooch!!
@Sethu – Uske baad we saw him Tridev again…
@Anindya – Jai Ho!!
@Satyendra – Thanks..I did not know Jalwa was so famous among us school and college goers. Came to know of it in the ensuing years!
And Elite – Oye, Kitne dard bhare kisse yaad dilaya yaar!
Sir,80s revisted!Jalwa was something else.
can you give me some idea, how many times have you seen Jalwa? I’m at 64 and counting.
Thanks, Indraneel. It was about time someone revisited Jalwa.
@sourav..thanks
@oz..14 times till now and counting
@joyjeet..yeah, it was about time..yeah!
Nice post. I remembered those days. it was so good coolest day of my life when i saw jalwa on t.v i was not aware about the film. film starts dark night scene a old man selling some drugs then bang here we gooooooo……. its Nassruddin Shah in his real avatar, Inspector Kapil. wow….. what a movie guys. just amazing. and remo’s music simply superb. whenever his classic(i mean his fast forward voice plays that tune of jalwa) i feel great. and still whenever i see that movie same feeling comes to me. Thanx for making this movie. & Thanx for remind us about the movie.
About 10 times for me. Count has not improved as my VHS is back in Bombay and don’t have a copy. Left it about 10 years back. Will get the DVD next week and restart the count.
Indraneel, thanks for the memories.
Jalwa was an awesome movie. I was still in school those days, and found Jalwa really refreshing, among the other relases in those years.
Saw it 5-6 times since then, and magic is always the same. Amazing.
I watched it on video for the first time in 1990 with my relatives in Shivaji Park. The relatives had bought the movie just to see the novelty of Naseer, the art film stalwart act in a masala movie.
The film shocked me just bcause I never knew action films could be so cool. Just weeks ago, I had watchd “Bhrashtachar” the usual 80s style action film. Jalwa was a huge culture shock for me.
Jalwa watch count – 17.
Jalwa was one of those rare angrezi film rip offs that ended up much better than the originals. Only others that I can think of are Satte pe satta and Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar. I remember the mid day review that said that if this film works, it can change the standards of comedy in Hindi films. Sadly it didn’t:(
Sunil Sethi is still around, lurking on PFC, coz last time someone asked that question (in the kahan gaye woh log series) he popped up and raised his hand and said that he is working on his next film. (he directed Sunny, naseer, Shipa Shetty and Tabu starrer torture Himmat)
BTW, I still didn’t get the connection between Ghajini and Jalwa.
Wonderful article…
IMO Jalwa was better than ghajini as unlike Jalwa Ghajini stands nowhere compared to Memento.
I was in 9th then and Satish Kaushik and his filmfare fan colleague were my favorites. As far as I remember they tried to recreate the magic with Hero Hiralall and Maalamaal but it did not worked to that extent.
@Mitesh..Thanks
@Muzzy..Welcome
@Dhananjay..Bhrastachaar was made by Ramesh Sippy, it was pits..and had a leering Anupam Khar as a villain as a VP Singh look alike..URGHH!!
Jitesh..Jalwa did the six pack thing originally and marketed it too successfully
Hi Indraneel, cinematographer of JALAWA was Sunil Sarma, a FTII grduate, probably contemporary to Pankuj Parashar. Pamkaj did wonderful in PEECHA KARO, better in ASMAN SE GIRA AND his best I found an TV interview after ASMAN SE GIRA.
Very good post. Thanks. Satish Kaushik humour is unforgettable…’Can you say…’ me was his takia qualam. But you forgot Johny Lever comedy. At that time he mimiced Ashok Kumar’s Hum Log fame style and remaining I don’t remember. But in those days mimcri was great entertainer. Now a days, it has become normal. Everybody does it.
@Utpal..you are right..that needs a correction..
@Jaywant..Satish Kaushik is brilliant!!
Pankaj Parashar also made a flick called Ab Aayega Mazaa which was a decent comedy-thriller :D
Sunil Sharma – The unknown man brought a new life to cinematography in India. Will any body tell me where he disappeared who he actually was???