The Rajiv Rai’s Trilogy
Recently I’ve come across many trilogies by great directors, like the Color trilogy, death trilogy, some zombie trilogy, some vampire trilogy and there are many more which I’m unaware of. When we look for trilogies coming from India, the first one that comes to mind is the Apu trilogy. I am sure Shyam Benegal also has a trilogy, but to be honest I’ve seen very few of his 70-80’s era movies.
But I grew up with the Rajiv Rai trilogy. Hahaha. Sounds like a big joke, right? Believe me, it isn’t. I very strongly believe Rajiv Rai completed a trilogy with Mohra. Please don’t laugh. I confess. I am a tru-blu fan of Mr. Rajiv Rai.
So after that pretentious start to the blog, lets get started, really started.
So as you must have guessed by now the Rajiv Rai trilogy consists of TRIDEV, VISHWATMA and MOHRA.
TRIDEV
3 angry men in happier times
The tagline reads ‘A volcanic saga of Three Angry Men’. Haha.Lol.
Tridev provides the perfect so-bad-its-good experience. It is ridiculous, hilarious, exciting (Thanks to Viju Shah) and a perfect example of the late 80s early 90s blockbuster movie. And as the masala potboiler cliché goes “It has action, comedy and romance in the right doses”. It had a superb hyperlinked plot connecting the 3 angry men with each other through the villain. And the villain is Bhujang. Oops! “Kal ka Bhairav singh aur aaj ka Bhujang”
The movie kick starts with a volcanic explosion with Naseer saab’s voice over in background
“Paap se dharti fati..ati..ti
Adharm se aasmaan..smaan…maan..aan
Atyachaar se kaanpi Insaaniyat, Raaj kar rahe haivaan..aivaan..vaan
Jinki hogi taakat apporav, jinka hoga nishaana abhed..bhed..hed
Jo karenge unka sarvanaash, woh Kehlaayenge Tridev…Tridev.. TRIDEV”
Techno music kicks in.
CUT TO
EXT. DOCK
Mr. Don is unloading some maal, maybe sone ke biscut
PRICELESS!!!
I’m laughing my ass off while writing this. Tridev is hilarious from the word go. There are hilarious elements throughout. Jackie’s scarf, the hanging body of the judge, the 2 sons of Bhujang eyeing Sonam with infinite tharak, the bank robbery, the interval scene (a special mention follows), Bhujang’s den with a giant clock, the jail break sequence, sad version of Tirchi topiwaale and the explosive climax at the den. Tridev is a non-stop so-bad-its-awesome entertainer.
Special mention for the interval scene.
Sunny Deol rises (literally) from the burnt debris and stands in rapt attention (the armywala attention) and delivers
“Ab desh ke dushman, mere jyaati dushman bangaye hai”
to whom? The audience. And the screen splits in 3 parts to showcase the 3 angry men. PRICELESS again.
As I think now about the whole movie, I realize it was a perfect comic book movie. Fast and furious, snappy dialogues throughout, action packed and a super comic-bookish villain Bhujang. It was indeed a comic book laid bare on screen. Maybe the best comic book adaption of all time, if there was a TRIDEV comic book ever ;P
Lets move on.
VISHWATMA:
This one was probably the weakest of the trilogy, which by no way means it isn’t a great movie. It is a more slicker and sophisticated version of Tridev. In Tridev characters rarely stepped out of the sets. But here it is all outdoor. It is all Kenya. Jaambo.
The villain here is Ajgar Jurrat, who has a son named Naagdans. Lol. They make a deal for procuring an INR printing die with Neelu brothers. Lol, The die is cleverly stolen by Prabhat and Akaash and leave Ajgar Jurrat yelling in frustration “Muje Die chahiye..DIE.ie.e”. Lol.
And this is just a subplot. It makes you want more. Right?
Tapasvi Gunjal, Ajgar’s saala, is genuinely funny. The scene where the disguised Prabhat and Aakash teach him to count is genuinely hilarious. Then there is ‘Saat samundar par’ and ‘dil le gayi teri bindiya’ along with the love angles of the 3 heroes. And still there is so much more. The special mention scene here will be the die-breaking one.
Prabhat and Aakash audaciously walk into Ajgar’s den to negotiate the die. But the heroes know, that the die is priceless and is too dangerous for the country. So what do they do?
Prabhat throws it high in the air towards Ajgar “Ye lo”. Rajiv Rai captures the moment with reaction close-ups of every single character watching the die go up in the air. Prabhat takes out his gun and shoots the die to chithdaas infuriating Ajgar to infinite levels. Superb editing and BG score elevate this moment to roof-breaking heights.
The culmination
MOHRA
I am the biggest fan of Mohra on the earth. It is a superbly written taut screenplay, spiced with badass characters and dialogue pe dialogue.
Inspecter Amar Saxena vs Vishaal Agnihotri vs Jindaal. Boy!!! Explosive, thrilling and mind-blowing. Add Tyson, Jibraan, Kaashinaath Sahu, Kaamdev Kulkarni and Kraanti to it and you get one of the best ensemble movies in Bollywood.
Mohra is a multi-layered thriller. The characters are pitted against each other forming an intricate web of ego clashes, which is tore apart by the man Jindaal, who gives everyone else a common motive, VENGENCE, to fight against him. Jindaal is one of the most badass villains to come out of bollywood. He is infact the smartest and the fittest (check out him fighting Amar and Vishal singlehandedly with ease) of all the characters. It takes the combined power of Amar, Vishal and the police to finally nab him.
The twist, when Jindaal unmasks himself, will send any viewer for a spin. Superbly plotted and deftly executed. All the while the viewer thinks Tyson and Jibraan are the baddies, but wait. Aila! It’s the blind man Jindaal who shows a giant middle finger to all the characters when he removes the dark glasses. KICKASS.
The tharak here is oozed by Raveena Tandon. She seduces Amar with Tip Tip barsa Paani and Jindaal with Main cheez badi hoon mast mast.
“Maine in aankhon se tumhe piya hai Roma”
Jindaal sighs.
The funny guy here is an extremely hilarious Paresh Rawal. He delivers the one liners like only he can. Here are a few.
“Woh baar baar phone laga rahi hai aur Sir baar baar kaat rahe hai, Main toh saal wrong number bhi nahi chodta” (When Roma tries to flirt with Amar)
“Nassebwalaa hai, chaar pahiye pe arthi jaa rahi hai, aur saath mein kriya karam bhi ho gaya” (When one of Jibraan’s men is in a car which comes crashing and burning down the cliff)
“Yeh toh shortcut se neeche aaya” (When one of the Tyson’s men is thrown out the window of a high rise building).
When I watch Mohra today, I feel surpised. It is so fuckin layered man! Not emotionally, of course. (Everyone is on an adrenaline shot. Lol. ). I’m taliking about the dense plot. And everything comes together in such an unbelievably thrilling manner, that you are left dazed. Along with the usual so-bad-its-good experience, it also provide the oh-so-typical bollywood thrills with maximum impact. Talking of Rajiv Rai’s filmography, this is on par with Gupt, the best whodunit of bollywood.
So now, what makes them a TRILOGY?
If you still haven’t got it, lets go through the similar elements. Super villains, three main protagonists (Mohra turned this element on its head and made the 3rd protagonist a super villain. A masterstroke), THE item songs (Oye oye, saat samundar, tu cheez badi hai mast mast), naseerudin shah and the vengeance is written all over the 3 movies.
Rajiv Rai loves his villains. He gives them great dens. He gives them cool dialogues. They keep on showing the middle finger to the heroes, right till the end. He gives them songs to have fun with the heroines. The Amrish Puri jigs in Tridev and Vishwatma are for the keeps. Naseer DOES Raveena. He doesn’t rape her like other chavanni-chaap baddies, he injects her with some wild drug.
“Yeh injection Roma ke badan mein intni garmi paida karegi, ki woh apni sharm haya chodke saari hadein paar kar degi”
Boy! Thirkee villainy at his best.
Even the Jibrans and Tysons are slick and stylish in their own way. The green-eyed twins played their thirkee best in the songs of Tridev and Vishwatma.
All the main protagonists, in these 3 films have their separate origin stories. They aren’t best friends or blood brothers, they are initially pitted against each other before realizing their common goal. They kick each others ass before realizing that the villain is laughing at them and then team up to kick his ass.
Another common element which deserves a post of its own, is Viju Shah. He along with Rajiv Rai are responsible for changing the BG score in mainstream bollywood. Viju Shah has his sources of inspiration, but still, the score he comes up with is magnificent.
Whoa!! That was a long and deserved homage to the auteur Rajiv Rai. I love him and respect him. I went and watched Asambhav first day, just for him. I came out disappointed, but wasn’t sad for long. I came home and Set MAX was playing Mohra. And I saluted him once again.
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
I am not much of a fan of Rajiv Rai and his films save for the villains and the music. Kalyanji Anandji’s music for Tridev is one of my all time faves. The whole nation was rocking to ‘Nazar ne Kiya hai ishaara’ and the ‘Oye Oye’ in between. To see the dangerous Amrish sing oye oye is an experience that only movies can provide us. I havent seen mohra yet and dont intend to either – inspite of very provocative praise laid out by you!!!
As you must figured out from the post, Mohra is Rajiv Rai’s best (of course at par with GUPT). I think the overall tone and the acting may not be upto your sensibilities, but the story, screenplay, the twists and how everything comes together at the end, is really good. It isn’t dumb like tridev. It is smart and snappy. The breakneck speed will not let u get bored for a minute.
PS: Please overlook the over the top origins story of SHETTY :P
Come to think about it, Rajiv Rai trilogy were the last of those 80’s chhap masala movies that became phenomenal hits (may be barring Vishwatma – a fact that he made up for with Gupt). We haven’t had such true-blue masala films since, and our kids probably will always be deprived of such outstanding works. (No pun here – Rajiv Rai trilogy were as entertaining as it could get. Not one of those Torture series)
Thats the smartness of Rajiv Rai. All the movies have the so-bad-its-good elements, especially Tridev, which was a complete so-bad-its-awesome showing. But he never veers into the torture territory. 2 reasons I can think of:
–He rarely goes into the sappy romantic territory. It is always the Hero vs the villain or the Hero vs the other Hero. Of course the movies have few sappy scenes, but they are just used functionally, to upgrade a conflict, or to just move the proceedings further. They are gotten rid off in a jiffy.
–The pace of the movie never ever slackens. Its always high on adrenaline.
They had catchy numbers and cool names like..Ajgar Jurrat..:D
Ajgar Jurrat was the most cool sounding character, but the most badass character award has to go to Jindaal. I’m his fan!! ;P
Oh man I love Rajiv Rai movies.. Tridev and Mohra are my favourites..
I remember watching Mohra back in the 90s as a kid, and I was expecting the film to end when Suniel Shetty manages to get Gulshan Grover’s team and Raza Murad’s team kill each other. Thats how films used to be back then, kill the villain and its over. So I was in for a huge shock when Naseeruddin Shah showed Suniel Shetty whose boss. A great thriller no doubt.
Oh and Tip Tip Barsa Paani…what a song..I need to take out my Mohra dvd now…just for that song :P
Same here FR!!!
Believe it or not I was in 5th std when I watched Mohra in theater. And those were the days when we used to pray for the hero to make an entry when someone was getting raped (as we grew up, we hoped, the villain wasn’t disturbed.;)). But the baddies raped Shetty’s sister in and out. And that was quite shocking at that age.
Whenever me and my frds see Rajiv Rai (I am in LA and Rajiv keeps visting one of the Indian store
we start discussing tridev 
. I was amzed by the movie when it was released. waited for almost 2-3 hours to get the first day first show ticket then. Now when i watch it i find the movie very funny. But i have throughly enoyed his movies
What???!!!! My holy goodness!!! You see Rajiv Rai often!! Plz Plz convey my saashtaang namaskaar to him. And somehow make him realise, that many people here in India, miss the TRIMURTI FILMS prastoot action thrillers.
Do read a short mini biography of the man himself @ http://www.trimurtifilms.com/about/rajiv.htm
ohhh mann i completely agree with you. i miss those kind of films, they were sooo entertaining lol and amazing music.
I think Rajiv Rai is an amazing director! He so far has had 2 flop films: Pyar Ishq Aur Mohabbat and Asambhav, The other film which was a hit was Gupt, I thought it was a well wrtitten thriller, Now going back to Rajiv Rai, I havent seen Tridev, But Mohra and Vishwatma were superb, especially Mohra, all the songs were amazing and Raveena Tandon was awesome in it!
According to http://www.trimurtifilms.com/about/rajiv.htm he only has 3 hits, i mean 3 super hits. So I guess Yudh and Vishwatma were flops. How can Vishwatma flop?? It must have been above average at least. :(.. please tell me it wasn’t a flop :(
Yudh was semi hit and yes Vishwathma was a flop as was sold for very high price
V.P Jaiganesh, U must see mohra, the songs the acting and the story was really gud!
i loved Mohra thoroughly.. was quite a shocker when Jindall reveal his true self.. one of the best action / thriller / suspense / masala movie… paresh rawal was funny, “mujhe award nahi, reward chaiye”
“Yeh khabar main agar police ko baataoon, toh mujhe puraskaar milega. Lekin muje award nahi, aapka reward chahiye” :D
An engrossing post Gaurang. Somebody please tell RR what he is best at so that we can get another clash of three angry men.
Ah!Gaurang good to read this.I’ve personally liked all the 3 movies with Mohra being the best.I still remember the day when I was in B.School and rifling through my huge MP3 collection & on impulse played the tracks of Tridev.to my horror I realised that my close friend & roomie was also present.Now he was completely into rock & alternative music and I thought he would freak out.to my utter surprise he started going into raptures when ‘raat bar jaam se ‘ started playing.Thats when he said Tridev was his childhood guilty pleasure too
I also liked Rajiv Rai’s Yudh & Gupt.I think Yudh and Vishwatma made decent money but were not big hits like Tridev,Mohra&Gupt.Loved the music in all his movies including that of Pyar,Ishq aur Mohabbat.
But was disappointed with Pyar Ishq aur Mohabbat and Asambhav.hope he goes back to making movies in style like before with kick ass music from Viju Shah once again.
Same thing happens to me when I see a tridev song on any of my friends PC. I just cant stop myself from listening to it for at least the mukhda.
On this year holi, I brought my tape recorder in our society compound, where we planned to play colours and dance. While going through my cassetes, I saw the tridev one. My eyes sparkled. I played the cassete, A side ekdum starting. The dhamaka starts.
“Paap se dharti fattii..” all of us then joined Nasser saab till the end “… woh kehlayenge Tridev”. Ethreal expreince, I tell u :D
@gaurang,
I was waiting for this article for a long time.
Rajiv Rai is one of my fav director.
Unofortunately Vishwaatma was a flop.
More than Asambhav, it was disappointing to see him direct Pyaar,Ishq aur Mohabaat.
He lost his prime years because he moved out of country,after underworld attacks.
Hopefully he will come back with great kick ass action movie.
Infact, till half time Asambhav was well on course, but then everything went haywire. And that Sharat Saxena smooch was a shocker…hehe… insane Rajiv Rai!!!
Gali gali mein firta hai tu kyun banke banjara… aa mere dil mein bas jaa mere aashiq aawara… still plays on my ipod… yes, priceless!
p.s. sunny and madhuri had great chemistry in tridev…
Jackie tosses an end of the scarf on other shoulder with a jhtaka “tera pyaar hai ek sone ka pinjra, oh shehzaadi, mujko apne jaan se pyaari hai apni aazaadi”
..
I was just 4 yrs old when Tridev release in theatres but I’m sure the scarf must have been trend setting :D
Oz should have written the trilogy
I too wish that!! Jab Oz likhega, tab poora justic hoga!!
Yaar! Mohra or Tridev ki to casette ghis di thee humne…….Ab Bollywood mein aisi filmein kyon nahi banti. Ahhh Those were the days….!! Mujhe fir se asli waala bollywood chaiheye…
Bhai.. new wave cinema ka daura chal raha hai :P aur masala movies pe toh Akshay kumar ne kabza le liya hai, namastey london tak theek the Akki, lekin abhi nahi saha jaata. Ab toh bas Mohra ke Akki (woh lambe baal, woh round kicks) ko dekhne ko aankhe taras rahi hai ;)
He he. True. Became an instant fan, when I saw him do the stunts in Khiladi. Then became a fan again because of his comedy histrionics.
But right now his films are a pain. Had a lot of expectations from 8X10. But even that failed. Guess it will be upto Abbas Mustan to reinvent Akki!
8X10 actually showcassed Akki’s lack of acting skills. IMO even Bobby would have done a better job in a film like 8X10.
And yea you are right… Only Abaas mustan can reinvent Akki and even the genre. RACE tried to do that, but fell flat. Saif’s acting skill just doesnt suit Abbas mastan’s school of film-making. Rather both AKs together would have created some sparks. What say??
I’m loving this new look :-)
I love Tridev, not in the ‘it’s-so-bad-it’s-good’ sense but because I enjoy it in an ‘involved’ way.
BTW, is it ‘Gajar ne kiya’ or ‘Najar ne kiya’ ?
The giant alarm clock bole toh Gajar..lol
gr8 post Gaurang …i was too a crazy fan of all actions movies..my fav is mohra…it was indeed a good thriller…i also remember a news article in which a sunil shetty fan had set a record of listening the song of mohra “Na Kajre ki dhaar” some ten thousand times. I dont know whether it was fake or not
If he’s a Shetty fan, then anythings possible.
But still ‘Na kajre ki dhar..’ ten thousand times!! hehe..lol.
When the song “Tip tip barsa paani” started, I was still an innocent boy; by the time it ended, I was wide-eyed, stirred and shaken – I was never the same again.
Remember Akshay’s hairy torso in that movie – they don’t make heroes like them anymore.
Ankur- You remember Akki’s hairy torso from that song?! What’s wrong with you man?!
Great post, i love Rajiv Rai as well, he gave us very Memorable paisa vasool movies and all his movies apart from Asambhav and Pyar ishq mohabbat which i’m yet to see all have pulsating music. One of my fave bollywood tunes is Gali gali mein (see blow) wicked bassline and rhythm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rROvtRdZ9_c
great post Gaurang… i use to liston paap se dharti phati… continously on my philips stereo… and sometime use to sing it again and again…and my god the feeling that was genarated during paap se dharti phati…cant be told…it only can be feel…Lol.. vishvatma was also a good movie and its background score was very good something like..h..h..h.. but the best is mohra…kya film thi..ek dum mast..the jail scene where raveena went to meet sunil shetty and sunil’s biceps were shown in full swing…kya lagti thi boss and then there was jindall and his blue eyes..wht to say naam hi kaafi hai.. and u r right Gaurang that sons of villians were very tharki in RR films…RR was master of masala films…I have seen his movies how many times i dont know…miss those days…want them back…
Oh!!! I very vell remember the vishwatma BG score. Cant be conveyed in writing ;).
And yea.. shetty’s bulging bisceps while picking up the logs in the jail. baap re.. He is the only Balwaan of bollywood!!!
Hehe.. hilarious post..
Yeaahhhh now I am going to listen to cheez badi hai mast mast..
its there in my mobile..as i write this I have plugged in my earfones.. :D
One thing unmentioned here is, the movies not only had great music, but the BACKGROUND MUSIC WAS ALWAYS KICKASSSSSS!!!! Scenes that might have gone crappy are always supported by excellant fast paced peppy loud background music throughout the movie, keeping you at the edge of minds always… something Alfred hitchcock always spoke of (”Afred Hitchcock” spoils the fun when talking of masala movies, but he def was a punter who knew what he was talking and Rajiv Rai proved it over n over… even asambhav background was always slick!!!
eeks, the last word is sleek…
GAURANG
HEY R U TRYNG TO MAKE FUN OF RAJIV RAI MOVIES
BY CALLING THEM SO-BAD, HILARIOUS
WANNA TELL U ONE THNG ONLY U R COMPARING THOSE THREE MOVIES WITH TODAYS FILM MAKING SITUATIONS
THE TIME WHEN THOSE THREE SUPERB MOVIES WERE MADE THEY WERE FAR AHEAD OF THEIR TINES
WATCH NQY OTHER THRILLER OF THT TIME U WILL GT BORED OR LAUGH BT THIS IS NT THE CASE WTH RJIV RAIS MOVIES
Hiren
If you still think this is some kinda sarcastic post, let me get this out of the way, I am a fan of Rajiv Rai. And as clearly mentioned towards the end of the post “I love him and Respect him”.
Now, I have grown up watching Tridev Vishwatma and Mohra. So I am very well aware of the milieu in which they were made. And yea, the action thrillers of those times are unwatchable today. But even today, I can watch Rajiv Rai’s movies. I too have grown up now, and the movies are no doubt ridiculous and unintentionally funny at many places. Tridev is the only film which is ridiculous from start to end. But this doesn’t mean, I laugh at them with contempt. I love them. They manage to tickle even after my infinite viewings. So there of course is something to be applauded in the movies. The style, the brisk pace, the BG score, the whole tone of the movie aand the actors in it. As I’ve mentioned it, it was perfectly comic bookish. Comic books operate totally on a different level/tone. It has dialogue pe dialogue. It is cheesy. But still we love it, dont we.
Mohra on the other hand had a solid well-knitted screenplay along with the usual Rajiv Rai elements. So the credit should be given where it is due.
Thanks Hiren for questioning my stance on Rajiv Rai. In the process of justifying myself I’ve understood much better my love for the auteur.
Great work man. . .One of my favorite filmmakers. I have seen all his movies first day first show which was very difficult at that time as I was a child. Totally idolised everything in rajiv rai;s movies. . . especially Mohra. Man, I had those shades that ridiculous dress that akshay kumar wore in tu cheez badi hai mast mast. . .grooved to it every time. My brothers and I had like 20 -30 casettes of the music and also used to rent the VHS a lot of time. . Pure unadulterated Entertainment which we dont see right now … thses days the so called entertainers are chutyapa and in the new wave subtlety has taken over…I like it but i would also love pure masala movies not half way ones again…awesome quotable dialogues, badass villains and badasser heroes, unapologetic running around trees, in the rain, ridiculous party songs, gret comedy, awesome ridiculous action. Well I think a Rajiv Rai marathon is in the offing for me. Hope u all do the same.
I have seen only two Rajiv Rai films-Mohra and Gupt..Gupt is definitely better one..One of the best whodunts among Hindi films..Inspite of both of them hero centric it is Naseerudin Shah and Om Puri who steals the show in both films..May be one of greatest performances by these two in hardcore commercial films..
so-bad-its-awesome write-up!
add one more paresh line in mohra – haai ma, kaun sa giraa
Very nice article.
Damn good post.
Tridev was a total paisa vasool entertainer. The songs were a hit too.
The audio cassetes used to sell like hot cakes. Even the cassette had that “paap se dharti phati” dialog.
sabko yaad ho gaya tha vo dialog.
Awesome man. Am impressed. I love Rajiv Rai’s work. Have seen Mohra like a hundred times, and it still entertains to the core. Now that’s what cinema is. fantastic piece about a fantastic but not so appreciated film maker.
Rajiv Rai was one of the last few cool guys around, ofcourse sorely missed in these sad times…
Had totally forgotten this film somehow….and this slow version of tirchhe nainowaali…amit kumar…what a nice sequence. and yes, I don’t think its ‘hilarious’.