Jugnu (1973)

I'm not going to come right out and say that any movie with Pran, Dharmendra, and Hema Malini is worth watching, because I'm pretty sure there's some movie out there that would prove me horribly wrong. Still, I'd say it's a pretty good start!

Shyam (Pran) is a freedom fighter in pre-Partition India. His father (Nazir Hussain) disapproves, and in their argument over the subject, Shyam's father disowns him. Shyam defiantly retorts that "Only the weak hide behind their father's names." Before Shyam gets a chance to storm off, the police show up to arrest him.

Thanks to the quick thinking of Shyam's wife, Parvati, and also to some remarkable athletic stunts of his own (he does a flip into the air and dives three stories, landing sitting on his motorcycle), Shyam escapes.

Shyam is that blur high in the air. Impressive, no?

Several years later finds Parvati living with her son, Ashok. Parvati had separated from her father-in-law at the time of Shyam's disappearance and had moved during Partition. Shyam has not located them, but coincidentally, Shyam's father is the one handing out awards at school (and Ashok gets many). He asks Ashok his father's name and is taken aback when he hears, "Only the weak hide behind their father's names."

That day as Ashok heads home, he sees his mother being assaulted by Mr. Ghanshyam Das. He rushes to her rescue, beats the man, and starts to leave. Unfortunately, Ghanshyam shoots at him; Ashok's mother steps in front of Ashok and takes the bullet in the heart. Enraged, Ashok bludgeons Ghanshyam to death before escaping on his horse.

Witnessing the scene is the trusted accountant of Ashok's grandfather, and he figures Shyam's inheritance is now up for grabs. He introduces a kid named Ramesh to Shyam's father, telling him that Ramesh is Shyam's son, and Ramesh is warmly accepted. Spoiled by his adopted grandpa and looking forward to inheriting a fortune, Ramesh (Prem Chopra) grows up to be a drunken dissolute.

Ashok grows up to be Ashok Roy (Dharmendra), a respectable philanthropist who runs an orphanage. He funds his philanthropy by also being Jugnu, a patriotic, mustachioed bandit who steals from bad guys.

Running from the police one day with a suitcase full of diamonds, Ashok runs into the beautiful Seema (Hema Malini) out target shooting. Ashok hides his suitcase in the trunk of her car, so when she drives away he follows and uses a Jugnu disguise to get into her house and retrieve the suitcase (and flirt).

Dharmendra is hysterical in his Jugnu disguises, especially when he's with Seema. Ashok keeps running into Seema, and after a lot of flirting -- and after she finds out he's super rich -- Seema falls for Ashok. Yay! They are super cute together, whether Seema's with Ashok or Jugnu.

Ashok has a prestigious position in society, a pretty girlfriend, and a fun moonlight superhero job, but suddenly his luck changes, and he sees no way out.

In his heartbreak he turns to his one friend, Mahesh (Mehmood), to help him. Mahesh spends half his time helping Ashok and the other half running away from his ringmaster father-in-law who wants him to help train the tigers.

One final heist, Ashok decides, will settle everything . . . .

It's kind of a fun movie, mostly because of Dharmendra's hilarious Jugnu scenes, his chemistry with Hema, and Hema's gorgeousness.

Seriously, how come I don't look like that?

Andaz (1971)

I turned this movie on a couple weeks ago because I was still not feeling well, and Shammi fixes everything.

Okay, so I didn't feel completely well afterwards, but I felt happy! What a fun movie!

We start with a willful little girl named Munni (Baby Gauri) being picked up from school by the mute, buff, and totally adorable Gangu (Randhawa), her family's servant. She insists that instead of going home they go to find her father, Ravi (Shammi Kapoor). They find him, and poor Gangu loses out with everyone as Ravi and his Munni have a face-off ending in a song.

Awww!

Eventually, Ravi runs into Munni's super-attractive new teacher, Sheetal (Hema Malini). He has kept telling his mom (Achala Sachdev) that he doesn't want or need to bring home a new daughter-in-law, but he seems to reconsider that stance when he meets Sheetal. He flirts outrageously with her, Shammi-style.

 

By the end of the night, she sure looks like she's enjoying it.

 

A few days later Ravi takes Munni to Sheetal's house to sort out some school issues and finds Sheetal singing a lullaby to a little boy, Deepu (Alankar Joshi). Ravi is shocked to discover that she is a mother, a widow.

He leaves the kids with her and heads off to work, but Munni and Deepu wander off and get lost in the jungle before school. Sheetal comes to Ravi to help her find them, and after a tense run through the jungle, they discover them soundly sleeping in an abandoned house.

 

Relief at finding their children safe and sound brings another level of closeness to their relationship, and Sheetal begins to tell Ravi a little about Deepu's father, Raj (Rajesh Khanna).

 

Girls, if you're ever out wandering around trees with Rajesh Khanna and it starts to rain, run the other direction. You'll end up pregnant, and he'll die before he gets around to publicly saying that he's married you. It just gets ugly. (Like happens in Aradhana, too.)

Don't hesitate to wander around with him when the weather's nice, though. Look how much fun they're having!

 

Raj's mean dad has nothing to do with Sheetal, and she has had a tough time of it. Ravi is sympathetic to Sheetal's story, and he continues to make friends with her. Little Munni and Deepu make fast friends, too. We also get a flashback of Ravi with his dead wife, Mona (Simi Garewal), whom he misses, but he's not as conflicted as Sheetal. In her grief and isolation, Sheetal has never really let Raj go, never really accepted his death, and consequently, she now has trouble accepting or comprehending her new feelings for Ravi.

Sheetal couldn't be the only one interested in Ravi. A beautiful village girl named Mahua (Aruna Irani) does everything in her power to get Ravi's attention, frequently vehemently swearing to various ailments in order to get him to give her a ride in his jeep.

In spite of these shenanigans, Mahua is really a sweet girl, who likes Ravi more because he's noble and good than because he is rich and handsome. And to make this triangle into a Shakespearean Midsummer's Night Dream quadrilateral thing, Sheetal's mute servant Gangu loves Mahua. Every day he brings her a beautiful yellow rose from far over the hill for her to wear in her hair. I love Gangu! This side story is sad and sweet.

Meanwhile, Ravi's debauched younger brother in the city, Badal (Roopesh Kumar), has been supposed to be going to school but is instead running through money at an alarming rate. Ravi has finally convinced his mother to stop sending Badal so much cash, and Badal now comes home, a big chip on his shoulder against Ravi, whose adoption into the family he has always resented. As it turns out, he is also armed with gossip about Sheetal, and he is not shy about emptying his spite on her.

Not only does he bet on horses, he hangs out with blonde girls. Evil.

This is a lovely, bittersweet film about second chances, with steady pacing and a sweet and even tone. The music is awesome, the characters are (mostly) realistic and totally adorable, the ending does not veer off into Crazyland, and the characters (except Badal and his buddy) act pretty rationally throughout. Yay!

But, nothing; you should see it.