Torture Reloaded
iView Author: Amborish (New Delhi, India)
Email: amborish [at] gmail [dot] com
Torture Reloaded
Oz beleives 80s in the worst ever period in the history of Indian cinema. I beg to differ - but only a wee bit. My early film viewing experience is mostly spread across late 80s- early 90s so I could safely say I’ve had the best (or worst) of both the decades.
The 80s had indeed reached the nadir of the trash that Hindi Film Industry could possibly offer. But the point I’m trying to make here is that the trend carried on well into the 90s, and continues even today, the muiltiplex ‘revolution’ notwithstanding. And it has also never been all that bad always, either. Aamir and Salman Khan debued as commercial leads in ‘88 and ‘89, respectively (though both had been around for some time), and both the films packed quite a bit of punch, nearly as popular today as they were then. Shyam Benegal gave us Kalyug and Arohan in the early years of the decade. Govind Nihalani came into the scene with a bang, and brought out those wonderful gems like Akrosh, Vijeta and Ardh Satya. Ketan Mehta gave us a fantastic film called Mirch Masala, and a fantastic actor by the name of Aamir Khan (Holi). Basu Chatterjee, as usual, was busy with his smaller but by no means inconsequential work (Shaukeen, Hamari Bahu Alka, Kirayedar, Lakhon ki Baat). And of course, ol’ Hrishida was doing what he did best (Khubsoorat, Jhooti, Bemisaal, Naram Garam, Kissi se Na Kehna). And those were also the heydays for Gulzar-R D Burman collaborations (Namkeen, Masoom, Ijazat, Angoor).
With the onset of the 90s came a new crop of actors/directors. The age of ‘action’ heroes. Enter Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, and Sunil Shetty. Kumar debued with Saugandh, and Shetty with Balwaan, both must-see films for the camp film enthusiast. In comparison, Devgan’s Phool Aur Kaante was more bearable, and at some level, interesting. These three greats then deluged us with those never before action classics and “violent love stories”. Sunil Shetty’s Balwaan, (they shoulda’ really considered him for The Incredible Hulk and save out on the cost of all that CGI to ‘create’ the giant) Anth (truly a cult classic, so many of my friends love it!), Takkar, Gaddar, Raghuveer, and of course, Gopi Kishan (two sunil shettys! greats films!). And our very won Desi Bruce Lee Akki Baba was omnipresent with his somersaults and high kicks and ‘real’ stunts: Saugandh, Mr. Bond***(Akki as, need I say who? Are you reading this, Mr. Craig?) Kayda Kanoon**, Sainik, Ashaant***, Jai Kishen* (two Akkis: one thief and the other, a blind Lee who avenges the death of their father) Paandav**….[Note: * means 'please watch', ** 'please, please watch', and so on and so forth]. And how can we forget Mr.Devgan? His punches n kicks were by no means any less conspicuous: Jigar*** (if you have seen Bloodsport and love Van Damme, I beg of you, grab a disc TODAY and see this), Platform, Shaktiman, Gundaraj, Haqeeqat, Vijaypath** (Driver’s son becomes blind while saving master’s kid, kid donates eyes to him before dying, driver’s son vows to wear dark glasses all day (and night) till he ’sees’ the killer and….revenge!). Imagine the sparks when the three of them came together in various permutations and combinations of each other : Hum Hain Bemisaal, Suhaag, Mohra, Dilwale (sample this: Rami Reddy throws a sword at Devgan who dodges it, and Shetty kicks it: the sword changes direction, heads straight towards Reddy, and gets lodged firmly in his belly….and who said Hindi films are not original?).
Another shining star of the decade was Sunny Deol, who teamed up with a certain Mr. Stallone and ‘ripped the world apart’ (Ghayal). Sadly, one of his best films marked his downfall. Probasbly got tired of the sensitive guy of Sunny, Betaab and Arjun, and decided to spend the rest of his life in ripping the world and digging out tube well pumps (Gadar) and screaming at the top of his voice, which incidentally, even won him a National Award (Damini).
And then there were The Others: Sumit Saigal (Bahar Aane Tak, Nyay Anyay), Hemant Birje (Ajooba Kudrat Ka, Aaj Ka Samson), Ronit Roy (yeah yeah the same TV guy, gave us gems like Jaan Tere Naam, Bomb Blast, 15th August), and The Great Avinash Wadhwan (Ayee Milan Ki Raat, Balmaa, Geet, Meera ka Mohan). Govinda, on the other hand, was at the pinnacle of his career with Bhabhi, Aankhen, Saajan Chale Sasural, Raja Babu, Dulara, Khuddar, Ekka Raja Rani, Coolie No. 1, Hero No. 1, Aunty No.1, Anari No. 1, …pant,pant,pant!
So, what’s worse, eh, Oz Sir, Mawaali with “Jhopdi me charpai” or Raja Babu with “Sarkailo Khatiya”? Jokes apart, the banal and the idiotic has always been and will always be an integral part of Hindi Film viewing experience. As far as the theaters are concerned, the penetration of multiplexes in small towns or even in the metros is to a large extent overestimated - a large part of the audience still watches films in the same torn and tattered structures….
Still feel we are done with that kind of crap and it’s not possible today? Watch out for Desh Drohi
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ayyila Bomb Blast…ehehe…first good rap in hindi cinema..goes like this
” Lets have a heart to heart talk about you and me, why dont say baby, baby, you love me
I’ve been thinking of you since the time i met you, (am) gonna get you by hook or crook, just give me chance, just give me a look..gimme gimme giimme a chance oh baby..gimme gimme gimme a look
Love Rap..its a Love Rap”
Dhinchak Dhinchak
Amborish..good reply to 80’s oz..ehehee..i am with you here
Both are right in their perspective…80’s and 90’s had enough of trash and few of good films (very few and most of which amoborish could cover in the article). So its better that torture series target specific films instead of saying whole 80 and 90 were trash…
Amborish,
Good post.Would just like to add that Indra Kumar (Raja, Beta, Mann, Dil etc.), Darmesh Darshan (Mela, Ishq) were some of the greatest trash kings of the 90s.
Hey this is awesome.. brought back so many memories of the early nineties. It was the time when cable television had just entered Indian TV watching. The cable wala’s used to put any new movie that used to release and fridays/w’ends used to be like a treat for all us kids… sitting at home without any VCR/VCP we could watch a new movie. This was the time when video pirating had started as fresh business. People like Gulshan Kumar were making buying audio-video cassettes easy for common man. He even launched some (torturing) fresh talents (including Krishan Kumar - Bewafa Sanam) and produced some torturous movies..
90’s carried forward the “legacy” that was started in 80’s by Mithunda,Govinda,Shatrughan Sinha and the like.But the downfall of Sunny Deol is really sad.Infact I think Ghayal,Ghatak and Damini are some of the best action films with tight story and screenplay.Sunny’s talent was well tapped by Rajkumar Santoshi.But soon he became over confident and his “image” started taking precedence over the script.I still believe Sunny as an actor is good(wayyy better than his brother whom he is busy promoting all the time).The early 90’s was bad but things started improving in the latter part with actors like Aamir Khan,Ajay Devgan cutting down on the number of films and concentrating on quality.
Please check out Desh Drohi. Please. Trailer link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhWatrG4WTI&feature=related
Watch out for the new ’star’ on the horizon: Kamaal Khan…beleive me guys, he’s the BAAP of ‘em all!!!
Thanks Amborish, for the wave of nostalgia. One request: Let both 80s and 90s win the race! timeless that both eras are!
Aayi milan ki raat…such a visual treat. The best scene undoubtedly being the one in which Avinash’s mom offers him nashta but the clock strikes six (time to turn into a snake) and Avinash has to excuse himself shying away, hands covering face as the tongue pops out like a lizard - (the first symptom of the transformation) KODAK moment!
Gopi kishan is a CLASSIC!!. i still roll with laughter just thinking about the scene where the kid keeps on saying “mere do do baap .. mere do do baap”
Super stuff, Ambarish !! Brought back memories of those bunked classes, dusty afternoons and stinky theatres.
Some more camp classics of this period:-
DHAAL (Shetty and Vinod Khanna),
JUNG (Devgan, Mithunda and the gr8 T Rama Rao),
SAINIK (Akki returns from the dead),
ZAALIM (Akki’s sister raped and avenged in good ol’ manner of 80s),
JUNOON (Rahul Roy removing bits of flesh from his teeth with a toothpic. BTW you left him out of the list. Think of PYAR KA SAAYA, GAZAB TAMASHA, DILWALE KABHI NA HAARE, GAME etc)
DIL KI BAAZI (Akkia and Wadhavan. Fall from grace for Anil Ganguly)
PREM QUAIDI (Southie boiled potato Harish. U left him out too. Think of JAWAAB, TYAAGI, RAVAN RAAJ, AASHIQ MASTANE etc)
DO MATWALE (Sanju Baba and Chunkie. First movie of my life where I thought of leaving the theatre midway)
SURYAVANSHI (Sallu Bhai in a golden wig and Amrita Singh howling like a rabid jackal. First movie of my life I actually abandoned in interval)
VISHWASGHAT (Shetty duped by Anupam Kher)
GUDDU (Worst film of SRK ever. He and Manisha sing a song while floating with a hot air baloon or something)
NISCHAY (Sallu Bhai and Karishma’s romantic scene. Sallu is praising Karishma’s beauty. He says “Tumhare ye kaale kaale baal. Tumhare yeh laal laal hoth. Tumhare yeh… 2… bade bade…” on which Lolo freaks out “Sharm nahi aati aisi baat karte hue?” Sallu innocently replies “Arre main to tumhare inn bade bade haatho ki baat kar raha tha” Lolo is convinced and a song follows)
YUDH PATH (Hamster Sudesh Berry and hamster Siddharth in a completely crappy college gang movie. This Siddharth was V Shantaram’s grandson. He is not the one in RANG DE BASANTI.)
By the way, why did 90s directors make such heavy and annoying use of blue back light in action scenes?