NAGINA (1986) : Not just another Ichhadhari-Nag(in) flick
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After roaming in a world of Vampires, Werewolves and Werebeasts etc. in Hollywood movies for a long time, the need was to get acquainted with some supernatural beings in Hindi movies. These don’t include those Junoon types, directed (ghost?) by Mahesh Bhatt and clearly lifted from Hollywood movies like ‘The Wolf’ and ‘An American Werewolf in London’. In this ‘inspired’ and clichéd world of Bollywood I was looking for something original which was solely an Indian stuff.
My search took me to those snake movies made in 70s and 80s which were quite successful as well, after all what more original could be than the snakes and the snake charmers which became the identity of our country in the West for a long time, now replaced by the slums though. I thought of revisiting some already seen the old Snake-movies and also adding a few unwatched ones in the list. This post of Subrat on PFC provided me the required impetuous.
I started with the most famous of them and also most successful. That was the Sridevi and Rishi Kapoor starrer movie Nagina, directed by Harmesh Malhotra. Had seen this movie sometime back in my childhood but couldn’t recall anything except the music which haunted me then as I believed that it was the favourite tune of the snakes. There were some prejudices with this movie and I had this idea that no matter how good it is, things are going to be predictable but here was the surprise, as I continued watching the movie, my mind kept changing at different instances, while all my notions about the movie were broken and in the end I found a complete entertaining package served in an intelligent way. Here is the synopsis of the movie and also brief account of my struggle with myself while watching this movie:
So, here is the movie Nagina, successful in 86, must be good.
Meh! Late 80s snake flick, musn’t be more than a half baked food.
*Movie starts, Rajiv (Rishi Kapoor) comes from London, assisted by Munshiji (Jagdeep) and Thakur Ajay Singh (Prem Chopra)*
Prem Chopra! He must be a rogue.
But, the situations are such that would provoke,
Anybody to turn hostile,
Shedding loyalty, starting to beguile.
*Rajiv’s mother (Sushma Seth) wants Vijaya (Komal Madhuvakar), daughter of Ajay Singh to be her daughter-in-law but Rajiv who once saw a woman named Rajni (Sridevi) in the ruins, wants to marry her (Rajni). He talks to his mother about this*
Hmm! Looks like a hackneyed plot,
Mother won’t agree no matter what.
Much to my surprise, she does comply,
Rajiv happily makes Rajni, his ally.
*They get married and start living together. One day Bhairav Naath (Amrish Puri) arrives in Rajiv’s mansion, he smells something fishy and leaves the house. Meanwhile, Ajay Singh wants to take revenge on Rajiv and his family for not marrying his daughter, he attacks him with the help of some goons but is bitten by the snake and dies in the middle of the movie*
Geez! I was expecting he’ll be the major villain,
Who has hired Bhairav Naath for his personal gain.
Both are independent evil-doers, you see.
With no connections whatsoever it may be.
*Bhairav Naath sends his snake acolyte to kill Rajiv who is in hospital due to his encounter with Ajay Singh. Here we see Rajni transforming into a snake directly, for the first time*
Huh! Not very surprising a twist this was.
Certainly, the title itself suggests, it’s not candy floss.
*The mother meets Bhairav Naath, he tells her that Rajni is a snake. One night she sees Rajni’s transformation and meets Bhairav Naath again*
Ah! There must be a back-story, things are still mysterious.
Now, you’re getting way too serious,
It’s a 80s Indian movie, keep that in mind.
Won’t be surprised if director forgets to unwind.
Dude, while watching, keep your eyes open.
See the fabrics are so nicely woven.
*The plot does have a good background story. Bhairav Naath comes to the house again to capture Rajni, she escapes in the ruins and confronts him, Rajiv comes there too and they both fight. Bhairav Naath is defeated and he is about to die*
Oh! Well, the movie was engaging, I didn’t feel sleepy,
But a person married to a snake is still creepy.
See, how dying Bhairav Naath does a good deed.
He prays to Lord Shiva that the lady should be freed,
From her previous avatar of being a snake,
That she may live with her human mate,
Happily Ever After…
The movie is backed by good performances of Sridevi, Rishi Kapoor, Amrish Puri, Jagdeep, Prem Chopra and Sushma Seth and some good direction by Harmesh Malhotra. Special mention to the performance of Sridevi. This movie entirely belongs to her, while with her family members and Rishi Kapoor, she looks vulnerable like a typical female but in the scene where she confronts Amrish Puri, in the song ‘Main Teri Dushman’ and towards the end she has also shown her aggression and tremendous command on acting. One gets the feeling of her being a snake when she writhes and gyrates so gracefully. No wonder that director Harmesh Malhotra became a loyal to her and tried to grab her in all his succeeding movies including it’s sequel Nigahen.
The comedy track of Jagdeep doesn’t roam too far from the main plot and overall it comes out as quite coherent in the movie. The music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal is well suited to the eerie ambiance of the movie and is haunting as well. No one can forget the popular Nagina tune. The song ‘Main Teri Dushman’ is nicely picturised and choreographed. The expression, dance and the body postures of Sridevi just leave an indelible impression on viewer. There are some brilliant scenes. The naturally big eyes of Sridevi, endearing otherwise, looks frightening while in the aggressive mode and it is hard too keep eyes on them for long. The tussle of snakes in the hospital can give anybody creeps while the fight of Rishi Kapoor and Amrish Puri with tridents in the climax is also well executed. Overall, the movie took me aback which was unexpected. Just after finishing Nagina, I watched (again) another multistarrer hit Ichhadhari Nagin flick Nagin (1976) but the latter could not outdo the effect of the former one.
The trend of making a good movie with Ichchadhari Nags should have continued after the tremendous success of Nagina but it gradually started dying a slow death, with its sequel Nigahen (decent though, as I recall), Naag-Nagin, Naache Nagin Gali Gali, Sheshnaag (Jeetendra again), Nagmani and the likes of Aayi Milan Ki Raat and Tum Mere Ho etc. and the final nail in the coffin was Jaani Dushman : Ek Anokhi Kahani. The movie does remind once again that our shapeshifter snakes can also stand against other supernaturals but they need the right treatment. Unfortunately the Anokhi Kahani of Jaani Dushman has done enough damage which will prevent any sane mind from venturing in this territory again, for a long time.
There is Jennifer Lynch’s forthcoming movie Hisss, with Mallika Sherawat playing the female snake. Though it’s a Hollywood production, it’ll be interesting to see it’s effect and performance which may decide the fate of these films in the future.
Tags: 1986, amrish puri, Harmesh Malhotra, Jagdeep, Nagina, Prem Chopra, Rishi Kapoor, Sridevi
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
ahhh …. another cult in indiam movies… the ones that went beyond liking and disliking for a lot of us … nagina is completely etched in indian cinema.. the reason why Sridevi will always be regarded as one step above Madhuri Dixit… (mads is huge, but choli ke peeche is the her most memorable performance… ) … Nagina was the end of the Rishi kapoor era of a solo hero … it was the beginning of the Villian as big as the hero if not bigger era… the movie had everything in place to be one of the most memorable movies… and as is the case with all cults… harmesh malhotra never set out to create a classic, and never realised he had something as big as sholay …. Nagina did to sridevi what Sholay did to AB, to Amrish puri what sholay did to amjad khan … it raised a new levels.. all unintentionally… even living on royalities, Harmesh Malhotra could have had a decent liiving….
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Not sure about the villain part. Villains were integral part of the commercial films earlier as well. They were also getting the important roles but what came in the next 10-15 years was that they were replaced by grey shaded characters. I think Nagina was fairly ahead here because Amrish Puri does not play a truly evil character. Surely he has his agenda but he is a learned person. That’s why in the end he cures Sridevi.
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And, in the new millennium the baddies are being glorified at least Dhoom series and Don etc. movies do so.
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PS- about Sridevi being regarded one step above Madhuri- thats something debatable.I would put them on the same pedestal.They were both equally popular, reached the zenith,acted with most top heroe’s of their time, did performance oriented movies too and overshadowed their heroes in some of their movies.In fact Mads was the perfect successor to Sridevi to the No.1 spot.Actually after Sridevi and Madhuri there have been no clear domination by anyone.
Juhi and Karisma showed promise but still werent that successful as Sri or Mads.Same goes to Kajol too.even now there’s no clear No.1 and its unlikely that atleast in the near future there would be anyone filling up the space of Sri & Mads.
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Well, sirjee. I didn’t want to start a pointless debate on this matter so I never replied to this part of his comment. You said true that it is debatable. Also, I think it depends upon how one perceives. I personally like Madz so I’ll go for her.
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Since 50s (every 10 or 15 years) one Nag/Nagin film has been making a good success. and each of these successful films has been giving atleast one good song and dance sequence which indian females pick up to use at social functions or at school or college level functions. Mein Teri Dushman was one such song and dance sequence.
Saroj Khan tasted big success in her choreography career with this song. Apart from Ichchhadhari nagin angle Nagina gave Sridevi ample scope to act in a film where she had a bigger and stronger role than any of the male characters present in the film and she fully enjoyed it.
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The list of Nag-Nagin films, which you have quoted in the post, also contains the name of an Akshay Kumar film, where he had played Ichchhadhari Nag?
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true.. and it is with the build ups over all these years that mai teri dushman and nagina has become this huge cult cinema.. surprisingly it could never be followed up in the coming decades… cant recollect any top song with a the snake charm beat in the last 10 years… following Nagina, Sridevi became an actress who could carry a movie on her shoulders, share equal space with the main lead heros, like lamhe and chaalbaaz, in terms of not only acting space but promotions, marketings… she was billed as big as any star opposite her, even if that was AB in Khuda Gawaah … the same Sri looked like a one song prop in Andhaa kanoon (I gues.. the one with ‘gori ka sajan’ song) …. the movie elevated her platform big time…
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If I’m correct about Sri, this was the first movie of hers that elevated her above the male lead and that continued in movies like Nigahen, Chaalbaaz, Chandni(??) Sherni, Gumrah, Laadla, Army etc. but none were as successful as Nagina. Not sure whether the voice in Nagina is hers or it is dubbed. I think she started using her own voice from Chandni.
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It does not contain any Akshay Kumar movie. The movies listed are till 90-91 (except Jani Dushman). Akshay debuted in 91-92 with Saugandh and his first 2-3 movies does not contain Ichhadharis.
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Before Chandni she might have used her own voice in other films. I may be wrong as have not seen it again in last 20 years or so but I think she had dubbed dialogues in her own voice in Mr India also. That was atleast two years before Chandni came out.
She was in such a great form after mid 80s that it was not possible to always undersuse her in male dominated films. She deserved many films centralized on her character and she got few of them. Even she did only 3 films with AB in 8 years. Inquilab in 84, Akhiri Rasta in 86 and Khuda Gawah in 92. She was quoted once that there was nothing much for an actress to do in his films of that time.
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Perhaps Akshay Kumar’s film came around mid 90s. He was Ichchhadhari Naag there.
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@Rk and Jahanpanah: yes, its true that there was a big noise of sridevi dubbing channdni all by herself. but its also true that she had used her own voice in previous movies too, as pointed by Rk
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the reason why there was a big noise is that, sridevi was skeptical about dubbing in chandni since it had long dialogues and soliloquoys. she was not confident that she would pull it off. in previous movies where she had used her voice, there is a distinct south-indian tone and her previous movies had spurts of lines…not continuous strings of words…short phrases… watch chaalbaaz and you will know it.
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for chandni, she had to rehearse the dialogues even before the dubbing so that the words are pronounced correctly. especially because it was an out-and-out romantic movie, pronunciation can make or mar the situation…kill the mood….
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similarly, hemaJi was in a similar situation in sholay where she had to play a motor-mouth. even now, some of her hindi words are not pronounced correctly…worst of them being in jamai raja :(.
but in sholay, she was awesome
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Also as far as I know, the Vyajayanthimala starrer Nagin in 1954 (her breakthrough in Hindi movies) and the above mentioned Nagin (1976) were big hits. There should be a few more in between.
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Nagin, Naagmani in 50s and then Naag mandir in 60s. and there should be some more mythological films.
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Talking about mythological films apart from Nag-Nagins that were hits were Sati Anusuya, Jai Santoshi Maa etc. There may be others from early 50s and 60s. With the advent of TV the mythological tales shifted there. The quality had to be degraded.
While other eastern (China, Japan, Taiwan etc.) countries may be making good, critically acclaimed movies based on their myths and history (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, Curse of the Golden Flower etc.), India has long abandoned them.
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One of the Reena Roy-Jeetendra flick had a lot of heroes Feroz Khan, Sunil Dutt, etc. That one had a good scene when Sunil dutt sees Rekha in the mirror and the reflection is a snake.
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That movie was Nagin (1976). I’ve mentioned it in the post.
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Is nagina really that good ?
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Depends. For that you’ll have to see yourself to find out. I think it was good as I watched it without any expectations. Most people also found it good and so it went on to become a hit. Mind that back then fate of movies did not depend upon first 3 day collections. So, of course the movies which were really better than others used to be a hit.
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Great post, it makes me want to watch Nagina ASAP, i saw it ages ago and the only things i remeber is the main tera dushman song and the snake having lipstick on in one of the scenes (am i wrong). I always prefered Reena’s Nagin for some reason though, as it was just full of campness, action, thrills, body doubling etc Plus such a pity her dance sequence as a nag in the Jungle is always getting trumped by Sri’s main tera dushman, i prefer the latter as the choreography was just appropriate to the setting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4ZzFnA2hJw
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Thanks bollywooddeewana. My situation was also like you as I remembered only that song and nothing else. Don’t remember the lipstick part though. Well, someone once told me that Nagin is the best snake movie while I was insisting for Nagina. And so, after watching Nagina I watched Nagin for the comparison and I found Nagina to be better. To each his own.
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i meant to say the ‘former’ not ‘latter’ meaning Reena’s one in nagin
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There was a movie called “Tum Mere Ho (1990)”…Starring Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla; lead pair were not snakes but there were two icchadari nagins playing villainous roles…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0173369/
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