Tag Archives: Hindi

Baton Baton Mein

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Made in 1979, I found Basu Chatterjee’s Baton Baton Mein more interesting as a portrait of generational change than as a somewhat dated romantic comedy.

Apologies – the DVD and my laptop are refusing to communicate so there are no screencaps forthcoming. I will over compensate with video clips. Anyway, seeing the polyester in motion really lets you know it’s the 70s!

Nancy (Tina Munim) lives with her widowed mother Rosie (Pearl Padamsee) and little brother Sabhi (Ranjit Choudhary). She catches the train to her office job each morning, commuting from Bandra with Uncle Tom (David Abraham). Nancy is a modern girl, wearing immaculate 70s fashions and makeup. One morning, Uncle Tom notices an equally stylish young man noticing Nancy. Tony Braganza (Amol Palekar) is a caricaturist at a city advertising agency. Tony and Uncle Tom pass notes back and forth to Nancy’s embarrassment and the delight of fellow commuters. Tom decides they should all be introduced and they hop off the train at Churchgate and chat over cool drinks.

Nancy lives mostly in her own head. She spends her time listening to western music and reading in her room. She has been disappointed in love before, having been jilted by a co-worker. I am not sure I really bought that prior relationship as it seemed fairly one sided and may have been exaggerated in her imagination. But Nancy is determined she will hold out for the right kind of man, which she says is no man at all. She is caught between being her mother’s little girl and being a more independent young woman. Tina Munim is very pretty and often that seems to be all that she needed. She does try to show the tension between the judgemental and childish side of Nancy and the warmer and more spontaneous young woman she could be, so I warmed to her character over time. Her rapport with Amol Palekar is nice and in the scenes where Nancy is less reserved, Tina lights up with her beautiful smile.

Tony is a bit weak, self-centred and unwilling to commit or work too hard at anything it seems. He is plausible and charming, much like a used car salesman, and breezes by on a smile and a compliment. His mother is domineering and thinks her son is both too good for anyone and not good enough by half and that undermines Tony’s ability to get motivated. Amol Palekar hits a perfect mix of average guy and dude who has tickets on himself. He can’t believe Nancy would fail to fall for him but at the same time he won’t take their relationship beyond seeing each other at her family home. Tony’s brash confidence sparks some fun moments, especially when Philomena Aunty (Leela Mishra) has him in her sights. But he is all mouth and trousers, and when it comes to making a commitment he is found wanting. If Tony wants Nancy he has to grow up a bit and say so, but he shies away from marriage. Will he ever grow up? Not if his Ma can help it. Tony’s dad (Arvind Deshpande) is the quiet henpecked type, but offers his son some advice when he most needs it. Please enjoy Tony moping around in his PJs to Kishore Kumar’s lovely vocal.

The romance didn’t really interest me that much, but the family tensions and arguments rang true. The younger generation were trying to be more independent while still respecting their elders’ wishes and traditions, and struggled to articulate what they wanted. Rosie wanted Nancy to get married, Tom thought Nancy at 19 or so was already leaving her run a bit late, Tony’s parents had an eye to social status in their future daughter-in-law and Nancy’s aunt Philomena was just scandalised by everything. Rosie was a blabbermouth, vulgar but kind, and Mrs Braganza (Piloo J Wadia) wasn’t impressed with her son’s duplicity or her potential in-laws. Snobbery and social rules caused all manner of drama, some very funny and some quite moving. It was deftly done, and the good natured feel of the film carried through even in the confrontational scenes. The ladies in particular carry off their characters with great humour and excellent comic timing.

Both Nancy and Sabhi belittle Rosie in many ways. They find their Ma embarrassing and vulgar and often tell her not to make a fool of herself. It isn’t motivated by spite, but it shows the change from Rosie’s homemaker generation to the younger educated ones who have different aspirations and challenges. And Nancy and Sabhi are teenagers after all. But when the chips are down, family rallies for family and they have that rock to rest upon. Basu Chatterjee shows the negative aspects of his characters but doesn’t judge them harshly. It adds a welcome tang of realism in what is otherwise a very sweet film.

Sabhi is one of my favourite characters. He is such a boy; grumpy, self absorbed and so very dramatic. He observes the goings on and can’t see why people make such a big deal of things. He adds sarcastic commentary, sometimes via his violin, and the odd theatrical tantrum. His gig at a local hotel provides an excuse for this parade of 70s style and terrible dancing (to the tune of ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again’).

Often when a girl is introduced as a Christian in modern Hindi films it is code for ‘slut’, which I find quite peculiar. Or alternatively a Christian girl might be portrayed as so sheltered that she is virtually a nun. Again – bizarre to me. I enjoyed this depiction of Bombay Christians as middle class people with lives in which religion was one of many factors.

The sets created a strong sense of how people lived. Rosie was a widow but kept her own neat, comfortable home. No one seemed to pity her or think she was just waiting to join her husband in the hereafter. The Braganzas were a bit more affluent, but not really posh. The issue of money came up when it was revealed that Nancy was currently earning more than Tony, but he had greater earning potential down the track so that was dealt with. People were pragmatic without being greedy or grasping. It was all very relatable.

The supporting actors are well cast although I couldn’t see the point of a couple of characters. Asrani makes a very small appearance. Uday Chandra plays poor Henry, a boy who pines after Nancy for the whole film. Tun Tun appears in an imagined sequence and is her usual over the top self. They don’t add much but neither do they detract from the story.

The soundtrack is perfectly in keeping with the styles of music the characters listen to, which means lots of western influenced easy listening sounds and nothing terribly exciting.  I don’t know how Rajesh Roshan got the idea of using ‘Polly Wolly Doodle’ as the basis for Uthe Sabke Kadam, but it left me giggling and singing along, almost as tunelessly as Rosie.

Baton Baton Mein is a sweet slice of life romantic comedy that gives a nice sense of Bombay back in the day. See it for the charming performances, the glimpse of 70s public transport, and as a pleasant and engaging comedy. 3 ½  stars!

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.