Vijay – Aaj mere paas building hai, property hai, bank balance hai, bungalow hai, gaadi hai. Kya hai tumhari paas.
Ravi – Mere paas mai hai
– A famous dialog from Yash Chopra’s blockbuster hit Deewar
After watching the old Amitabh Bachchan blockbuster Deewar (1975), the first thought that came to mind was that a key reason why most Bollywood movies are crap is because the people involved in them – the actors, story/screenplay writers, directors, producers et al are not hungry (there’s of course the matter of many of them lacking any talent whatsoever).
Most of the current lot in Bollywood (Abhishek Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Tushar Kapoor, Fardeen Khan et al) either come from film families or like Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan and Akshay Kumar have tasted enough success/fame to last several lifetimes.
In either case, they lack the hunger for money, fame and success that drives talent (even of the middling kind) to soar to great heights.
Directed by Yash Chopra, Deewar was made when Amitabh Bachchan had still not reached his prime. And that shows in his fine performance.
If Amitabh Bachchan is remembered for just one film in his long career, it’s for his solid portrayal of a negative role in Deewar.
Kudos to director Yash Chopra for delivering a great entertainer.
Amitabh’s co-star in the movie Shashi Kapoor was born in the film world and had little hunger to rise high. And that shows in his pathetic performance in the film. What a buffoon.
Mercifully, Neetu Singh and Parveen Babi have small roles and are completely irrelevant to the film. Both are plain awful.
As for the late Nirupa Roy, who plays the mother to Amitabh Bachchan and Shasi Kapoor, the less said about her performance the better.
Like many movies in the 1970s, Deewar is the story of two brothers Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor).
They grow up amidst much tribulations and, as fate would have it, end up on different sides of the law.
One of them becomes a smuggler and the other a policeman setting the stage for the buildup of high tension and the inevitable denouement.
Famous Dialogs
Some of the most famous dialogs in Hindi movies, yes, we said most famous, are from Deewar.
Who can forget little Vijay (working as a shoeshine) telling one of his customers:
Saab, hum boot-polish karte hain. Koi bheek nahin mangta. Paise utakar hath me dho (I polish shoes. I don’t beg. Pick up that coin and hand it to me).
Or the conversation between the grownup Vijay and Ravi in the dark, under the bridge and on the pavement that was once their home:
Vijay – Aaj mere paas building hai, property hai, bank balance hai, bungalow hai, gaadi hai. Kya hai tumhari paas.
(I possess buildings, property, bank balance, bungalows and cars, what do you have)
Ravi – Mere paas mai hai
(I have mother)
Sadly, in the above confrontation between the two brothers, Shashi Kapoor is completely inadequate. As he is in the entire movie.
It’s Amitabh’s performance as the angry-young man, seared badly by the fire of his childhood memories, that salvages this movie.
R.D.Burman’s music is not bad but definitely not stellar.
Maine tuje and Kahedu tumhe were our favorite songs.
More than three decades after its release, Yash Chopra’s Deewar is still worth a deko.
If you live in the U.S., Deewar is available on Netflix.
Yash Chopra’s Deewar – Hunger Makes for Fine Entertainment added by SearchIndia.com on
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give 99 a watch. Its a lot of fun.Kunal Khemu,Boman Irani,Amit Mistry.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We’ll watch it today .
Valid point about hunger and the lack of it.
In Deewar, several years after the boot polish incident, when Davar (Iftekhar) tosses a bundle of cash notes at Bachchan, Amitabh responds:
Mein aaj bhi phenke hue paise nahi uthata.
Watch Shakti (1982), when Bachchan had become a superstar.
Watch it for Dilip Kumar, who had not lost his hunger even at 70.
And watch Anand (1971) if you havent already.
This is a must watch movie, and if it has not yet got a place in your Bachchan film festival, then your festival is as complete as any traditional Indian festival without a feast.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: In Deewar, several years after the boot polish incident, when Davar (Iftekhar) tosses a bundle of cash notes at Bachchan, Amitabh responds:
Mein aaj bhi phenke hue paise nahi uthata.
True although this incident (which happens after Vijay joins Davar’s gang) lacked the drama of the earlier one.
But in this instance, we get a glimpse of Iftekar’s decent acting capabilities in the subtle changes in his facial expression after Amitabh makes the Mein aaj bhi phenke hue paise remark.
Otherwise, Iftekar has always been ignored, relegated to the role of cop (most famously in Don) or bad guy (can’t remember which ones).
Will watch Shakti and Anand.
another movie that was remade into a Rajini movie.. Thee.. not sure how it fared. Not as big as Billa for sure.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Interesting. We were not aware that Deewar was remade in Tamil as Thee.
When it comes to making movies, the cross-pollination between languages is higher in India than we thought.
THEE was filmed in Sri Lanka (maybe partly. There was big hype at that time. It ran 100 days in a Colombo theatre (Capitol Cinema).
First week we saw full guerilla style storming at the ticket counters. There were superheroes who went for the first show and talking proudly of their achievements. We were small kids then, when we go to school we’d pass by the cinema and we could see people standing in the morning to get tickets for the 10:30 am show. Funny days. But, cinema was really dominating the family entertainment area.
We had first TV station in 1979 which was seen as a threat to the cinema industry. Soon after, the TV replaced cinema as the prime family entertainer although 75% of the programmes aired were pure garbage, even now.
Good cinema cannot be beaten by 1000 garbage TV programmes. I’m talking about the good Hollywood movies, though. The industry that is trying to keep the “Cinema” true to its real meaning and for the real entertainment.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Interesting.
You write: Soon after, the TV replaced cinema as the prime family entertainer although 75% of the programmes aired were pure garbage, even now.
We’ve never been great fans of TV, not when we used to live in India and certainly not in the U.S. Much of it is junk.
Even the news channels are garbage, regurgitating two-day-old New York Times stories.
Most anchors probably have IQ around 75 and we rarely see investigative pieces.
Sorry, I wish to disagree. While Deewar is certainly one of Amitabh’s best films, Agneepath is perhaps his best films. Plenty of good dialogues, I liked this one especially, “Apun ko Mauth Ka Saath Appointment Hey, Mauth ka Saath” (I have an appointment with death).
And this film was made in the early 1990s with a tamil heroine in the lead. Watch it and you’ll agree.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Added Agneepath to Netflix but there’s a ‘short wait’ for the movie…might take a few weeks for us to get it..
We like the well-endowed Madhavi…seen her in Tik Tik Tik, Raja Paarvai et al. She lives somewhere around here.
I think Thee was an average grosser for Rajinikanth. Can’t remember much about this film except for the fact that the villain tattoos the words “Yenga appan oru Thirudan” on the young Rajini’s hands.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
The Hindi version has the tattoo Mera baap chor hai.
Having seen several movies featuring both, we think Amitabh Bachchan is a better actor compared to Rajinikanth.
I missed to point out the aggresiveness of the fans who come to see their hero’s movie.
You know in the 70’s, 80’s cinema halls have some unique ticket queue arrangements. You get decent entry to the Balcony and ODC classes. But, for the Gallery, 1st Class & 2nd Class have the real street fighter queues. Closer to the counter “hole” you get cage-like enclosure extending to the exterior walls of the cinema for about 50 metres long. The queue can snake through it running into the street pavement and the funny thing is, the thug type guys just force their way thru climbing up the mesh that fully covers the cage and over the heads of the people who are standing they would crawl in commando style to get the ticket first. Nobody talks anything. You hv to bend down making way for them to go thru. Such is the enthusiasm for them to see their idols. We enjoy watching these funny things and talking about it with our friends.
Tamil crowd pullers were, MGR, Rajini & Kamal. Hollywood Arnold, Stallone, James Bond, above all Bruce lee. Hindi – Amitabh Bachchan (70’s & 80’s)
Nowadays, Vijay, Ajith, Kamal, Dhanush, Vikram….etc.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
In Tamil Nadu, we’ve never watched a movie sitting in the 3rd class/Gandhi class although we’ve done so in some of the other states we’ve lived in.
We’ve also watched movies in ‘tents’ in TN and other states. Not sure if they are around anymore.
Watching a Hollywood movie in an American theatre is an antiseptic ‘rinse-your-mouth-with-listerine’ experience.
BTW, there used to be a theatre with continuous shows (can’t remember now if it’s in India or the U.S.) where you could walk in and walk out at any time or watch as many shows as you want for one fixed price. Been there once. Or are we dreaming? Who knows?
SI: In Tamil Nadu, we’ve never watched a movie sitting in the 3rd class/Gandhi class …
…neither have I. We used to get Royal treatment since my father was a famous figure in the cinema theatre circle because he was working in a theatre (it’s a hollywood movie exhibitor) So, all the other theatre guys reached out to my father to get service passes-Free to see best hollywood movies. In turn we got treated the same way. It was a privilege those days. We get reservations free. Good old days.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
True, anything free has an added flavor to it. 😉
SI Said: “We were not aware that Deewar was remade in Tamil as Thee.”
There were many Amitabh movies made into Rajini films which basically helped him cement his stardom further. Here is a list (Amitabh’s movies on the left, Rajini’s on the right)
Deewar- Thee
Don- Billa
Amar Akbar Anthony- Shankar Salim Simon
Trishul- Mr. Bharath
Khoon Pasina- Siva
Kasme Vaade- Dharmathin Thalaivan
Laawaris- Panakkaaran
Namak Halal- Velaikkaran
Khuddar- Padikkadavan
Mard- Maaveeran
Hum- Badsha
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Boy, that’s quite a lot.
Last night, as were sorting our DVDs we found Velaikaran in one of those 3 movies-in-1 DVDs. Must watch it.
Another famous Hindi movie (albeit, a non-Amitabh Bachchan film) remade in Tamil – Nalai Namathey (Yaadon Ki Barat)
SI Said: “Another famous Hindi movie (albeit, a non-Amitabh Bachchan film) remade in Tamil – Nalai Namathey (Yaadon Ki Barat)”
In that case, I can think of a few more Rajini movies that were non-Bachchan starrers
Gol Maal- Thillu Mullu
Qurbani- Viduthalai
Khudgarz- Annamalai
Malamaal- Arunachalam (the latter half of the movie is all Malamaal, although Malamaal is itself a copy of Brewster’s Millions).
I also realized that ‘Shankar Salim Simon’ was again remade in Telugu as ‘Ram Robert Rahim’ with Rajini playing Vinod Khanna’s role instead of Amitabh’s.
P.S. Where’s the “Dev D” review, mates? Been a long time now. You also owe me a review for “Ab Tak Chhappan.”
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Dev D & Ab Tak Chhappan in Aug.
Hard to conceive of Qurbani in Tamil. Decent movie in its day.
amala is scrumptious is Velaikkaran
Nice list, Lad
Naan Vazavaipen – Majboor in which Rajini is there, but doesn’t play bigB’s role.. it was played by fat & old Sivaji Ganesan..
http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/moviedetail.asp?mid=T0000737
Endanponnvannamae is a good song
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Amala is one of the rare actresses in South Indian films with grace.
Endanponnvannamae playing in the background.
i have a vague memory of having heard that the climax of Viduthalai was tweaked to spare Rajini’s life and Vishnuvardhan gets killed instead.. not sure if that’s true
we can find out in http://www.desiscreen.com/Movies-list/Viduthalai! And your favorite Madhavi is in it.
And she is doing an item number immediately after the gaudy titles got over.. will watch it some other day.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
The item number is a disgusting piece of shit.
The woman (Madhavi) is a graceless monstrosity.
Camus said: “Naan Vazavaipen – Majboor in which Rajini is there, but doesn’t play bigB’s role.. it was played by fat & old Sivaji Ganesan..”
Fat and old Sivaji Ganesan also played Amitabh’s role in the following movies:
Muqaddar Ka Sikandar- Amara Kaviyam
Naseeb- Sandhippu (his son, Prabhu played Rishi Kapoor’s role as his brother in the movie :D)
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Muqaddar was a big hit in its day..had some nice songs O Saathi Re…
Camus said: “i have a vague memory of having heard that the climax of Viduthalai was tweaked to spare Rajini’s life and Vishnuvardhan gets killed instead.”
I thought Rajini played Feroz Khan’s role and Vishnuvardhan played Vinod Khanna’s role, who does get killed in the original. The original is Feroz’s home production so there’s no way he was getting killed.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
At the time of Qurbani’s release, a lot of buzz was in the brand new Merc that Feroz Khan was supposed to have smashed in the chase scene.
Those days the Mercedes had a lot more cachet than it does now.
SI Said: “a lot of buzz was in the brand new Merc that Feroz Khan was supposed to have smashed in the chase scene.”
Yep, that he did. It’s the “Lagi aath aane ki?” (Bet you for 50 paise?) scene where he bets Amrish Puri that he can drive his Mercedes, smashes it, and then hands him a whole rupee- 50 paise for the bet and 50 paise for the repairs.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Qurbani was very slick movie for its time.
Even in the hinterlands of Tamil Nadu, the song Ap jaisa koi was popular. The Tamil equivalent Ragam Nane is horrendously bad.
Only one another Hindi song achieved that kinda popularity in Tamil Nadu – Hum Tum from Bobby (unlikely it was remade in Tamil or was it).
SI Said: “Qurbani was very slick movie for its time.”
Yep, it sure was slick with foreign locales (the climax scenes shot in UK), great songs (Aap jaisa koi, Laila O Laila, Hum tumhe chahte hain aise, Tujh pe qurban meri jaan), and Amjad Khan’s role as a gum-chewing, comical cop was vastly different from the usual cop-roles at the time and well received.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
The ne plu ultra of Feroz Khan’s movie career.
i remember when i was a kid, that song – ‘oh saathi re’ used to come on El Tv & the way the little girl sang would annoy me so much and i always felt like scratching the boy’s face.
but now i can appreciate the song – the grown up version.
wow, no idea so many Rajini movies were remakes of Amitabh’s.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You keep coming (now, now not the way your dirty mind thinks) at all the wrong moments.
We were watching 99 and Boman Irani has just placed his bet on India. So far so good.
On O Saathi Re, both versions of the song are nice.
watched Aamir tonight.. ridiculous plot, but music and cinematography were terrific.. and the length was just 95 minutes.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Will watch it one of these days.
We recommend 99.
Did you watch Masoom? Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Jugal Hansraj and Co? Thats a nice one, too
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, many years back in Goa.
This one was a lift of Erich Sehgal’s Man, Woman and Child, wasn’t it?
Our first glimpse of Urmila Matondkar.
Camus said: “watched Aamir tonight”
Aamir is supposedly ripped off from a 2005 Filipino movie, Cavite
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428303/
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We’ll watch Cavite first. Let’s see.
Oh yeah, it is. Read that book many years ago.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
So, how was Love Aaj Kal?
Hmm..
I get reminded of one more film that was remade into tamil from Hindi – even before that Naalai Namathe. It is ‘Yaar Nee’ by JaiShankar and Jayalalithaa, which was a remake of ‘Woh kaun thi’ came in 1960s.. It even had songs with the same score.
‘Inspirations’ came even before that. ‘Chandralekha’ (1940s/1950s) – which was a big hit in that time, had a famous song in which big drums would be used. On top of them the heroine would be dancing, in front of a prince. Towards the end of the song, soldiers would emerge from each of the big drums tearing them down [Trojan horse] and win the battle against the prince. [In fact, the war is between two princes for that dancer girl – probably tweaked from troy-sparta episode].
Ok, Wiki has this piece of info – for Yaadon Ki Baaarat -“Ananda Mitra, professor and chair of communication at Wake Forest University, views Slumdog Millionaire (2008) as a modern-day retelling of 1970s Bollywood films, citing Yaadon Ki Baraat in particular”
🙂
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. Many years back our relatives used to talk about Woh Kaun Thi (Can’t remember why…must have been popular with the Hindi crowd).
2. The more Hollywood and foreign movies we see, the less respect we have for the crappy Kollywood and Bollywood movies.
Our people are rank amateurs.