Tag Archives: Helen

Trip to Moon (1967)

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trip-to-moon_1967Chand Par Chadayee or Trip to Moon is a 1967 space opera featuring Dara Singh and Anwar Hussain along with a bevy of lovelies (Ratna, Padma Khanna, Helen, Kanchanamala to name a few). Director T.P Sundaram didn’t let lack of technology or the laws of science stop him. On those rare occasions when Dara Singh takes a break from wrestling, there are loads of fab songs by Usha Khanna.
It’s a long but engaging interplanetary caper complete with super special effects. Well done to Neo Filmo Crafts (credited with the set properties) and the design team! And yes, there will be lots of screencaps.

I saw this on an unsubtitled VCD so I have made up a lot of the story but I do not feel a void where the details were missed. I wish there had been a void where the ‘Friends’ logo obscured much of the picture.

Trip to Moon_eminent scientistTrip to Moon_Padma

Eminent scientist fellow (S Nazir I think) leaves the top secret research tent to follow a bright light – clearly a torch in someone’s hand as they run behind the papier mache rocks. He is taken aback when a vampy lady appears and sings a typical filmi nightclub song, and also surprised when she transforms into Padma Khanna as a moon girl with a ray gun. There is a nice touch of Marvin the Martian at Christmas about her outfit. He is abducted in a cardboard spaceship and never seen again.
In response, the government calls on their best agent – Captain Anand (Dara Singh). You know he is the best man for the job because he wanders around the office wearing this:

Trip to Moon_Anand at the office
After thoughtfully going home to tell his Ma he is off to space on a mission, he and unfortunate comic sidekick Bhagu (Master Bhagwan) arrive at their own cardboard spaceship only to find moon men trying to sabotage it – by pushing it over. The fight begins like this:

Trip to Moon_at the rocket site
And ends like this:

Trip to Moon_after the fight
And that establishes an enduring costuming theme.
Anand and Bhagu are taken to the Moon (where they were going anyway) as prisoners.

Trip to Moon_its a trapTrip to Moon_Barahatu and the balcony of destruction

They pass by another planetary base (maybe Mars) where Barahatu (Anwar Hussain) fires missiles from his balcony. Fancy flying – hard when you’re piloting something as aerodynamic as a cupcake- sees the ship safely to the moon where Anand meets Shimoga (Ratna).

Trip to Moon_Ratna and balloon treesTrip to Moon_matching outfits 1

The moon has balloon trees! After a bit of slow motion moonwalk (the Neil Armstrong kind), the locals put special anti-comedy soles on the Earthmen’s boots and they can walk normally.
Anand and Bhagu are jailed and forced to wear matching romper suits.

Trip to Moon_Shimoga visits the prisonersTrip to Moon_Space gorilla

Shimoga visits Anand in jail but he refuses to cooperate. After a tribunal hearing of some sort, Anand is sentenced to trial by Space Gorilla Wrestling, followed by being dragged by (space) horses. Of course Anand wins, and Princess Shimoga is delighted.
It turns out Barahatu wants to marry Shimoga and is at war with the Moon people. Space becomes just a backdrop for a standard two guys fighting over a girl story. There is also a fair amount of moon lady interest in Captain Anand and they are not shy about showing their mettle.

Trip to Moon_Dance offTrip to Moon_dance off 2

Dance offs including that thing where they make a portrait with their feet!

Trip to Moon_Duel

DUELS!

There is double crossing, slapstick, jetpacks, kidnapping, guys in animal suits, more kidnapping, robots and fights galore. People casually hop in and out of rockets and nip across space with no more effort than catching a taxi. It all plays out as you would expect although not always exactly as logic might dictate.

Trip to Moon_matching outfits 2Trip to Moon_Dara and Padma
Among many highlights, Dara wears some fetching outfits. He has many many many wrestling scenes.

Trip to Moon_space rhinoTrip to Moon_robot
Some are more surprising than others.

Trip to Moon_Barahatu and Shimoga
Barahatu is not totally evil. He seems to want Shimoga to like him, or at least accept marriage (I think). Unfortunately he takes advice from Master Bhagwan( in a duplicate role as Barahatu’s comedy sidekick) so success is not likely. He gets Helen in to do the twist, in a mistaken belief that what gets him in the mood will work on her.

Trip to Moon_photo1Trip to Moon_photo2
And I enjoyed this photoshop effort when Barahatu was having a tantrum over Anand and Shimoga getting cosy.

Trip to Moon_Shimoga and AnandTrip to Moon_space dance

The lovely Shimoga (Ratna) also has lots of fetching outfits and makes the most of the fab Usha Khanna soundtrack. Shimoga is a determined young lady so she doesn’t just sit around waiting to be rescued. She goes after Anand and I think points out that if he marries her he can ensure peace between worlds, but whatever.

Trip to Moon_SimiTrip to Moon_bad girl
Padma Khanna is lots of fun as Simi, the scheming sidekick to Barahatu. She seems keen on Anand and wants to help Barahatu get Shimoga so she can swoop on the lone earth man. I may have made that up but she did seem to take extra care when drugging him unconscious. She kidnapped Anand’s mother and sister so that may have hurt her prospects. But really – her ‘disguise’ screamed bad girl so Ma should have been suspicious.

Trip to Moon_Palki and her menagerie

She shares a lot of scenes with Palki (Kanchanamala). Poor Palki ends up married to Bhagu and is instrumental in saving the world. It’s tough being a female sidekick in space, even if you do get to keep a zoo in your bathroom (or at least a lion and a leopard). She and Simi have a knock down drag out scrag fight in a pivotal scene. They really tried to get wrestling in as much as possible.

Trip to Moon_Master BhagwanTrip to Moon_Bhagu
Bhagu gets silly hats and a comedy song with excellent outfits. Master Bhagwan is fairly amusing but the slapstick was repetitive and the film is already a bit too long. But I liked that he and Anand depended on each other and he helped more than he hindered.
The Moon King gets some great outfits too.

Trip to Moon_KingTrip to Moon_King in his club clothes

 

 

 

 

 

The set design is charming in that almost everything looks like it was designed to be in another film –a nightclub, a grand house, a castle dungeon, an office chair – but they tried very hard to ‘space’ it up. I really loved Anand’s secret space hideout.

Trip to Moon_Moon rocket baseTrip to Moon_control roomTrip to Moon_the ships controlsTrip to Moon_technology 2Trip to Moon_technologyTrip to Moon_secret hideout

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trip to Moon is highly entertaining even if the fights are repetitive. T.P Sundaram gave Dara Singh a range of wrestling scenarios and wasn’t stingy with the song and dance either. If you enjoy films with likeable characters, good music, a dedicated hat department and lots of miniature spaceships and buildings, this is for you! 3 stars!

Trip to Moon_happy ending

Behroopiya (1971)

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There wasn’t a lot of information around on Behroopiya – but I knew it was snakey, featured Helen, Faryal, Madhumati and music by Usha Khanna so it had to be worth a look. I watched this on unsubtitled VCD and it was certainly worth the ninety three cents I paid even if I did have to make up half the story. I don’t know why there is so little written online about this film – Rajesh Nanda has delivered a gem!

I’m not sure I have the cast names right as IMDB was little help and the opening credits were not much better. (I was mildly surprised to see ‘Heleln’ makes an appearance.)

There is a villainous prince Ranjeet (Hiralal), who augments his household staff with an evil guru. His younger brother is the good guy. Ajay (Dheeraj Kumar) is a jack of all trades and seems to spend most of his time hanging around a fitness club, training a gang of schoolgirl ninjas/vigilantes.

Well, not really ninjas as they do lack speed and stealth, but they make up for it by being well accessorised and are handy in a slow and careful fight sequence. Ajay lives with his sister-in-law (played by Chitra) and her son Bharat (Jr Mehmood). Ranjeet has been in prison, and doesn’t seem at all happy to have his wife and son greet him on release. However, the boy takes a seat in his father’s lair and does his best to disrupt operations. Bharat is a sanctimonious little git so I think he and Ranjeet deserve each other. The prince has a prisoner, a young girl he kept after his plans to molest her mother went awry. Nothing like planning ahead, Ranjeet.

Padmini (Snehlata) escapes one day, only to be rescued by Ajay but then recaptured. Our hero falls for the mystery girl and decides he has to save her and possibly the world. Ajay, master of disguise, teams up with Bharat, master of annoying, to thwart Ranjeet’s plans.

The guru uses Padmini to assassinate folk for Ranjeet. His method is fascinating – he has her bitten on the tongue by a snake and then makes her dance until, in a frenzy, she bites the victim. I like the way Padmini turns blue when she reaches peak venom levels – an excellent visual clue to her victim’s impending fate.

Based on the criteria in the Filmi Snake Spotter’s Field Guide I don’t think she is actually a snake despite the excellent eyeliner and headgear etc. There are lots of mentions of a nagin but I got the impression that they were referring to the snake state rather than her being one. The guru seems to need a milk and venom drink at regular intervals but she is afraid of his the snake so it was a bit confusing. Snehlata’s outfits in the snake dances are excellent and she accessorises quite well when off duty.

 

Ajay’s idea of romance includes badminton, table tennis and other endeavours that allow him to wear short shorts or mesh t-shirts or both.

 

Dheeraj gets full run of the dressing-up box as he impersonates various henchmen, the guru, and even Ranjeet.

Padmini’s brother Ramu (Ram Kumar) and the troupe (which includes Madhumati, Daisy Irani and Faryal) try to rescue her too. They are performers so that allows for lots of dances and sparkly costumes.

There are jumps between scenes and I think it is just to avoid explaining. The attitude is ‘right, let’s keep moving on!”  – e.g Jr Mehmood being thrown from the roof but next seen stepping out of a blanket as though he had been caught, or Jr Mehmood kicking the pilot out of a plane before somehow learning to land it himself or Jr Mehmood humping Faryal’s leg in a fairly inappropriate song before stealing a herd of camels before… Hmmm. Maybe the issue here is Jr Mehmood!

The songs are delightful which is just as well since most are reprised several times. I like this version of Ooi Ma that has Faryal doing what I assume is meant to be a classy item dance for the rich folk while Madhumati and Daisy Irani shake it for the peasants.

The nefarious doings of Ranjeet include such spy classics as “Hello hello Bombay speaking’ secret communications. Lured to Bombay by Ranjeet, Ajay and the ninja gals dance with HELEN!!!! In go-go gladiator outfits!

And to top it off, the girls rescue Ajay from another of Ranjeet’s inefficient assassination attempts.

The performances are not exactly brilliant but they are enjoyable nonetheless. Dheeraj grew on me as the film progressed, although I think he thinks he is rather something. He has a dorky enthusiasm for the silliness, and that makes Ajay amusing rather than insufferable, especially when he ‘dances’. Hiralal is over the top, and makes Ranjeet appropriately revolting. Jr Mehmood is eerily like a scale model Mehmood and quite entertaining even though I wanted to slap his character. Chitra was the weeping wife who will not leave her lying cheating murdering rapist husband so as you may imagine, the Tight Slap Administrator would have been working overtime.

Snehlata managed to look picturesque and miserable as poor Padmini and deliver an excellent Look as required. The ninja schoolgirls were background only but I liked their different characters as evinced through the choice of beehives and bows.

Raja the excellent anipal (and his not even vaguely similar stunt dog) does a wonderful job too.

There are double crosses, disguises, daring stunts, camel chases and buckets of glycerine tears along the way. The film ends in a gloriously mad sequence that has almost certain death, a rescue attempt by the item girl squad and Jr Mehmood in drag, and yet another camel chase. Will Ranjeet triumph? Will Ajay be incinerated? Will any of it make sense? You’ll have to watch to find out.

Irresistible! 4 stars!

Shikari (1963)

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I like to be entertained by films, whether they’re thrilling, provocative, dramatic, poignant or purely for fun. Just don’t bore me. Shikari may not be a work of genius but it is wildly entertaining – garishly colourful with a cast committed to ignoring the WTFery, packed to the brim with visual delights, lots of good dancing and a pleasing array of ‘special’ effects.

Mr Kapoor (Bir Sakhuja) owns a circus that is on the brink of financial ruin. They simply cannot compete with ice skating chimps and Russian Ballet on ice.

His business partner Jagdish (Madan Puri) suggests they go and capture King Kong, thus ensuring their financial success. It’s a simple plan. What could possibly go wrong?

Jagdish, Kapoor and his daughter Rita (Ragini) are joined by comedy Professor Sharma and Chandu the clown. After a pit stop at the Malabar Hotel which allowed for a dance item by Madhumati and Rani, they head off in search of a guide called Ajit so he can take them in search of Otango.

 

Taking a range of increasingly smaller boats, which did flag a logistical problem in the event they caught the giant ape, the plucky and garishly dressed group make their way into the jungle.

Rita falls out of the bucket in which she is crossing a river and swims away determinedly is swept away from her father and crew. She lands in what appears to be a private zoo with a small but geographically diverse collection. Surviving a river misadventure only to be swept into the jaws of a cranky tiger. Poor Rita! But not for long.

Love blooms between Rita and her rescuer, timber plantation owner, hunter and all round bloke’s bloke Ajit (Ajit). Unfortunately that leads to excessive romantic dueting on mountains, near waterfalls and the like. For whatever reason, Ajit’s high pants and gumboots don’t say ‘soul of romance’ to me. Ragini is lots of fun as Rita and despite a tendency to simper she usually seems to be the most competent of the town folk.

Let them be happy while they can. We’re still in search of King Kong! Thanks to the jungle drums everyone finds everyone else and off they go.

They meet friendly villagers who make Rita dance in a fabulously eclectic tribal kitsch setting.

They get caught up in a fight with brightly painted tribal folk who accessorise with fluffy arm bands and feathers.

The preferred fighting style of almost everyone, Rita included, is ‘hit them with a stick’ so the dishoom sound effect department were working overtime.

Apart from that, they do a lot of walking around pointing at things.

Finally, while crossing a river of lurid pink lava they see Otango. Rita is startled and falls, dangling perilously close to the molten lava.

Luckily Ajit is there to save her again. I really do think she has a subconscious death wish. She certainly looks horrified after being rescued, but that may be because she has caught sight of her pants.

Just because you work in a circus … Rita packed an impressive wardrobe for a giant gorilla hunting expedition.

Finally, they are taken into the compound of DR CYCLOPS!

His lair includes a well appointed lab and series of caves. Dr Cyclops (KN Singh) was a reputable scientist who faked his own death so he could continue working on his dubious experiments.

The film loosely combines King Kong with the Island of Dr Moreau, even including some philosophical conversation about the role of science in bettering humanity. But do not fear – it doesn’t stay sensible for long. How could anyone think deep thoughts when the decor includes a pathway framed in giant ribs and mushrooms, a man/gorilla experiment, a giant lizard (man in dodgy plastic suit) and so much more!

HELEN!

Helen is Dr Cyclops’ daughter Shoba. She is a nice girl, given to over accessorising in lieu of having anything like a life. She knows her father is bad news and is a bit sweet on Ajit so decides to help the hunting party escape. I always like seeing Helen with more than just an item to explain her presence in a film. Rita misinterprets the nature of the affection between Shoba and Ajit so does a bit of flouncing. It was all rather silly except that in her angsty concussed state she dreamt up this fantastic dance off with Helen!

Jagdish wants the money and Otango and nothing less will do. Dr Cyclops, an expert biologist, has recognised that he has certain wants of his own and decides to marry Rita. He and Jagdish collude to achieve their goals and foil the group’s escape attempt.

Rita in approved heroine style insists she would rather die. Dr Cyclops has anticipated this and will not kill Rita – opting to either shrink her father to a mere 6 inches tall (demonstrated in a ‘here’s one I prepared earlier’ scene) or throw him into the snake pit. It is a very well appointed lab!

Despite all the good guys being tied up and all the baddies being free to roam, you know it’s only a matter of time. Shoba distracts Jagdish as only Helen can, and Ajit frees the captives. They set off to stop the forced wedding and encounter those pesky painted tribals again. Is it just me, or does Ajit look a bit bored by the whole situation?

But just as the comedy sideplot dudes finally do something useful, Otango arrives to do his jerky zombie shuffle of destruction.

Can it be the end? Don’t be ridiculous! But do watch the movie to find out how, what and who. I will just say – karma has some big gnarly toes. Know what I mean?

Mohammed Hussain directed the screenplay by Vrajendra Gaur and the film rattles along in a joyful parade of crazy. GS Kohli’s dance songs are lovely and the picturisations made excellent use of Helen and Ragini. It is the perfect B movie – low budget, committed to entertainment and not too fussed about the details. 4 stars for fun, entertainment, and colour and movement!

Download it with subs via Memsaab Story or watch the unsubtitled version on Youtube.