Yamla Pagla Deewana Movie Review: The Deols are back again

One of the surprises of 2007 in Hindi Cinema was a film called Apnedirected by Anil Sharma and starring the Deol family members –Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol. Considering that both Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol were going through a bad patch and also that Dharmendra hadn’t been appearing in too many films those days, the box office response was certainly a surprise. What was also surprising was that Anil Sharma, more known for his over the top movies like Hukumat, Tehelka, Gadar etc had managed to keep Dharmendra and Sunny Deol both in control for a major part of the film. So after 3 years when the trio from the Deol family announced that they were coming back again with a film called Yamla Pagla Deewana ( YPD from hereon ), there were eyebrows raised out of interest. But there was no mass hysteria initially as YPD was being directed by Samir Karnik, whose filmography included films likeKyun! Ho Gaya Na,Nanhe Jaisalmer, Heroe’s and Vaada Raha- certainly nothing meriting attention.

But when the promo of the film came out things completely changed. The promo of YPD was one of the most well received promos in recent times and thus set the expectations very clearly for the film. YPD begins with a look into the life of Paramvir Singh (Sunny Deol ) in Canada. Paramvir is married to a Canadian, Mary (Emma Brown) and lives along with her, their 2 sons and his mother (Nafisa Ali). Param’s mother is still missing her husband Dharama ( Dharmendra ) and younger son Gajodhar ( Bobby Deol ) who got separated from them when Paramvir was still a child. Thanks to some people Paramvir and his mother realise that his father and brother are in Varanasi and making a living by conning people. Paramvir promises to bring back his father and brother and sets off to Varanasi. After a couple of funny encounters Paramvir manages to inform his father the truth but Dharam refuses to acknowledge their relationship. But Gajodhar convinces Dharam to enlist Paramvir in their team, impressed by his brute force.

In the meanwhile Gajodhar falls in love with Sahiba ( Kulraj Randhawa ), a girl from Punjab who visits Varanasi to write a book. After some initial drama and egged on by Paramvir, Gajodhar manages to win the heart of Sahiba. But just as things start getting rosy, Sahiba’s brothers forcibly take her away back to Punjab. Unable to see Gajodhar’s plight, Dharam then acknowledges the relationship with Paramvir and thus begins the journey to Punjab to unite Gajodhar with Sahiba. And what happens later is what the rest of the story is all about. No prizes to anyone for guessing the film’s outcome. While there is nothing remarkable about the story, what is interesting is the way the screenplay develops in course of time and helps in sustaining the interest levels of the audience. Usually in such films the 2nd half of the film typically gets very predictable and hardly has any sting. But here is where the writing byJasvinder Singh Bath needs to be specifically commended.

So what makes the 2nd half interesting and what makes the 1st half pale in significance? Well the answers to both the question are the same- Bobby Deol . Most of the 1st half is dominated by Bobby Deol as he’s initially playing the Varanasi ka bhaiyya and trying to con people and then later on playing the lover boy as well. In both the avatars Bobby doesn’t appear convincing, after all it takes more than just colourful clothes and eating paan to pull of the U.P wale bhaiyya ( a la AB sr in Don ). Coming to the 2nd half what makes it interesting indeed is that apart from the dialogues there are also a whole host of characters who make their presence. And of course Dharmendra and Sunny Deol have a little more work to do as well post interval. Anupam Kher as Joginder Singh, the eldest brother of Sahiba and Mukul Dev as Gurmeet, another brother of Sahiba are the one’s who make the maximum impact among the additional characters introduced in the 2nd half.

Talking about Dharmendra I must admit that the veteran is still out there having fun in YPD. Though age has caught up with him, it still doesn’t deter him from him giving it his all in the company of his sons. Sunny Deol has his moments as well and is sure to make his fans rejoice finally. Kulraj Randhawa who has earlier done a few Punjabi films and also seen in Chintuji gets a good platform with YPD and does what is expected of her. The soundtrack is of a mixed variety with Charha De Rang (Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shweta Pandit, Mahalakshmi Iyer ) being the best of the songs. There’s the now popular song – Tinku Jiya to keep the masses happy and thankfully by the time the remix of the yesteryear hit “ Yamla Pagla Deewana” ( Sonu Nigam, Nindy Kaur- remixed by RDB with the original song composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal in Pratigya ) appears on the screen, the audience is seen to be relatively pleased and having a good time.

For those wondering if all this indicates that YPD is flawless, I’d say that it’s certainly not the case. Not only is the plot quite old styled, there’s also the added issue of Bobby Deol taking up more of the screen time (and not doing enough justice for the same). But a more than reasonably engaging 2nd half with some fine cameo’s along with the chance to see Dharmendra and Sunny Deol in good form makes this worthwhile enough. Well the promo had indicated that the movie would be a complete entertainer and the end result shows that the makers have indeed tried hard to live up to the expectations set up by the promos. So for those who still enjoy a good masala film once in a while, YPD is not bad indeed.

Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/yamla-pagla-deewana-movie-review-the-deols-are-back-again/

Yaari Hai Imaan Mera, Yaar Meri Zindagi- Friendship as depicted in Bollywood Films

On behalf of Ashwin I dedicate this post to Vrushali, who according to Ashwin is the best friend in the world.

Friendship is an integral part of our emotions and friends occupy an important part of our lives. In some cases friends often are given the same status as that of family members when it comes to certain crunch situations. For someone who has been brought up over a staple diet of Bollywood movies, friendship as depicted in these films has always fascinated me. This post is a simple attempt to illustrate how friendship is shown in Hindi films and mention a few movies in particular for they way they have gone about illustrating the same. And of course in my own small way I wish to thank a lot many people for, their friendship has certainly been quite valuable to me.

In the earlier days (at least in the 50’s and 60’s) life was considered to be a lot simpler than it is now. There were lesser complications that existed in those days. But even then friendship could take different dimensions as shown in 2 well known movies, both of which incidentally released in the same year- 1964. The films in question being Dosti and Sangam. Dosti was an ideal example for the fact that not all films need big stars to succeed. In fact the movie starred a couple of relatively new actors in the main lead- Sudhir Kumar and Sushil Kumar as a blind boy and a cripple respectively. It was a movie which was basically based on the friendship between these two boys who roam the streets of Bombay (as it was known then) singing songs and earning their livelihood. One of the biggest strengths of the movie apart from the very natural performances of the 2 male leads was the melodious music given by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, one of their earliest successful films.

While every song was a gem (Rahi manwa dukh ki chinta, chahoonga main tujhe shaam savere and many more) the song in particular which probably epitomizes friendship is“Koi jab raah na paaye, mere sang aaye, ke pag pag deep jalaye, meri dosti ,mera pyar”.Such is the intensity of the song that it leaves you completely at peace. Friendship as shown in Dosti is truly divine. Moving on to Raj Kapoor’s Sangam, well the movie was about 3 childhood friends played by Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar & Vyjayantimala. It won’t require any special insight to know that the story turns out to a romantic triangle. It was a movie which placed a lot of emphasis on male bonding and tried to distinguish between the thin line between friendship and love. It also showed how love could result in anguish for someone. This was again a musical with Shankar-Jaikishan in brilliant form with scores like Yeh mera prem part padh kar,Mere man ki Ganga, Main kya karun Ram mujhe budda mil gaya and many more but the anguish & pain in friendship and love is aptly described in this song-
“Dost dost na raha, pyaar pyaar naa rahaZindagi hamein tera, aitbaar na raha, aitbaar na raha”

In the year 1973 a sensation happened. Prakash Mehra came out with his Zanjeer with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead. The movie went on to become a path breaker in many ways. It was the first blockbuster in the career of AB, it paved the way for a long relationship between Prakash Mehra, AB & the writer jodi of Salim-Javed and of course the ‘angry young man’ persona which AB went on to successfully symbolize in movie after movie started off with this movie. But amidst all this the element of friendship is also something that the film focused upon. And here the friendship was special- it was the friendship between a cop and a criminal (Pran) who is influenced by the cop and gets reformed. And therein begins the deep friendship between the two. The song“Yaari hai imaan mera, yaar meri zindagi” composed by Kalyanji-Anandji summarises the friendship in the best way possible.

Well,when we are talking about friendship in Hindi cinema, would it be prudent not to talk about Sholay? Jai and Veeru today are probably the best known friends in the entire history of Hindi cinema. Yes Sholay is a classic and probably everything that matters in the movie was a highlight, but certainly one of the biggest positives of the movie was the bonding between Jai and Veeru. Be it the early scenes in the jail when the jodi tries to have a blast in taking a dig a the jailor ( Asrani ) or in the scenes when Veeru is trying to woo Basanti ( Hema Malini )- there is an inherent sense of humour that is prevailing throughout the movie. The song “yeh dosti, hum nahin todenge,Todenge dum magar, tera saath na chhodenge” symbolizes the free spiritedness of their friendship the best. The Jai-Veeru bonding went on to even be an inspiration for the similar bonding of Govinda and Sanjay Dutt seen in movies like Haseena Maan Jaayegi,Jodi No.1 and Ek Aur Ek Gyarah.

When a film’s title is Dostana what else can the movie symbolize but friendship? Both the popular movies with this title, one a 1980 release and the other a recent 2008 release had a strong undercurrent of friendship running throughout the film. Let’s look at Dostana (1980) to begin with. This was a classic tale of friendship between Vijay (who else but Amitabh Bachchan ) and Ravi ( Shatrughan Sinha ) who are best friends in spite of their work getting into the way. Even when both fall in love with the same girl, Sheetal ( Zeenat Aman ) they still manage to retain their friendship with Vijay trying to sacrifice his love. But that’s when their friendship gets fractured on the basis of a misunderstanding created by the villain,Daaga ( Prem Chopra ). The movie was a resounding success and the music by Laxmikant- Pyarelal was certainly a big boost too. My pick of the lot among the songs is definitely –“Bane chahe dushman zamana hamara, salamat rahe dostana hamara”.

Well, in the 70’s and 80’s there were hundreds of Hindi films which stressed on the friendship angle, but in most cases the movie would again go on to become a romantic triangle and the exceptions would be limited to the odd movie like Khudgarz. Just when I thought the topic had almost lost its impact, there came a movie in 1994 which ushered in a fresh wave- Andaz Apna Apna .Amar ( Aamir Khan ) and Prem ( Salman Khan ) begin as rivals fighting to marry a rich heiress and wanting to become rich overnight. Due to turn of circumstances they join hands and then begins the mad comedy of errors. For the way the two characters are shown as fun loving, bumbling characters- the movie can be seen endlessly. There is always an underlying current of one-upmanship between the two and that was certainly refreshing.

There was a movie which came a few years before AAA and which tried to explore the angle of friendship between a boy and a girl. The movie was the trendsetting Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) which along with QSQT is credited to have broken the trend of the mindless action movie of the 80’s. Here the two friends are Prem (Salman Khan) and Suman (Bhagyashree ) who try to portray that after all friendship can exist between a boy and a girl too. The innocence shows in the form of symbols like the ‘friend’ cap which went on to became a rage across the country. But of course all good things come to an end. This was after all a romantic film and yes the situations eventually lead to them falling in love with each other. Nearly a decade later (1998) the angle was explored again in Karan Johar’s directorial debut ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ as you had Kajol and SRK playing best friends.Of course friendship eventually turns to love here too.

If there was ever a movie to symbolize friendship between 2 women I would probably think of movies like ‘Dor’ and ‘Filhaal’. In case of Filhaal the story tackles the emotions running through the friendship between 2 childhood friends Rewa ( Tabu ) and Sia ( Sushmita Sen ) and brings in the element of surrogate motherhood between the 2 friends. Dor on the other hand is a sensitive portrayal of friendship between 2 women( Gul Panag and Ayesha Takia )of completely different spectrums yet who go on to share a bond- of friendship, that is extremely genuine.

The coming of age when it applies to human emotions and portrayal of friendship, can be seen in the form of Dostana (2008). Here Kunal (John Abraham ) and Sameer ( Abhishek Bachchan ) pretend to be gays to share an apartment with Neha ( Priyanka Chopra ). Though predictably both of them fall in love with Neha and try their level best to spoil her relationship with Abhimanyu (Bobby Deol ), they do end up realizing ultimately that the friendship between the three of them is what matters the most. Probably the best thing that Bobby Deol does in the entire movie is to tell Priyanka in the climax that the 2 of them (John-Abhishek) are truly her best friends.

Duniya Dilwalon Ki (1996- Kadhal Desam in Tamil) takes a slightly unconventional look at friendship again. Both Vineet and Abbas who are best friends are in love with the same girl –Tabu. When it becomes clear to her that both her friends are in love with her, she decides to give predominance to friendship over love and choses to remain friends with both of them forever rather than marrying one of them and losing a good friend in the bargain.

Well, talking about friendship and while discussing current trends how can I not talk about OLLO (Oye Lucky Lucky Oye). OLLO brings a fresh and unconventional approach to friendship. Lucky (Abhay Deol ) the protagonist and Bangali ( Manu Rishi ) are childhood friends who become partners in crime as well. Theirs is a typical tale of friendship as they do most of things in tandem, just when it looks like a regular tale of friendship there occurs a chilling betrayal and the friendship crumbles in a heap. This is a very contemporary take on friendship. As we are all aware life has got a lot more complicated in the recent past and to see such an event happening is but fairly natural.

And maybe another movie which I must mention here is Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Gulaal’. I felt that the friendship portrayed between Ransa ( Abhimanyu Singh ) and Dileep Singh ( Raj Singh Chaudhary ) was impressive enough for the simple reason that it clearly shows how a bold and colorful personality can influence an otherwise mild mannered person.

This was not a comprehensive list of Hindi movies which explored friendship. Rather I have gone on to just look at a sample list of a few films all of which look at facets of friendship different from each other. I would certainly like to know which are your favorite Hindi movies depicting friendship and your take on the movies mentioned here by me.

P.S- originally published in PFC.Check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/yaari-hai-imaan-mera-yaar-meri-zindagi-friendship-as-depicted-in-bollywood-films/