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?

Sawaal (1982)

Cast:
Earnest and boring police officer: Inspector Ravi Malhotra (Shashi Kapoor)

His innocent baby-faced girlfriend: Sonia Mehta (Poonam Dhillan)

Her effervescent brother: Vicky Mehta (Randhir Kapoor)

Vicky's fiancee: Reshmi (Swaroop Sampat)

Vicky and Sonia's mom: Anju Mehta (Waheeda Rehman)

Their evil smuggler dad: Dhanpathrai Mehta (Sanjeev Kumar)

His evil co-smuggler (and Reshmi's brother): Shamsher Singh (Prem Chopra)

A smuggler team man who wants to go straight: Madan Puri

I have never seen any actor as bored with his role as Shashi is in this movie, and it's no wonder, because his part must be unbearably dull to play. He is a "serious" police officer, who never smiles and runs around capturing bad guys and giving dialogues filled with righteous indignation.

He fights evil.

And he has a girlfriend.

And apparently a dad? (who shows up for about ten minutes as a plot device and then never appears again, in spite of being left in the hospital the last we see him?)

But essentially Shashi only plays the foil to Sanjeev Kumar's wonderful wickedness. Sanjeev even gets better theme music. And a really cool icon collection.

The other noteworthy things: Prem Chopra shows off his eyebrow skills. (And he dances a little bit. I think this is the first time I've seen the bad guy dance. Usually you can tell who's actually a good guy by whether they hop up and join the dancing. Don't let this fool you; Prem stays evil-evil-evil.)

As you might have noticed from the cast descriptions, there is a potential conflict between Ravi, the super-righteous and humorless police officer and Dhanpathrai, his super-evil prospective father-in-law. And yup, that is a problem. Eventually, Dhanpathrai realizes he has to choose between his career and his kids.

The ending seems pretty abrupt to me, like they realized nothing was going to save this and they might as well cut it short. Still, it's not that bad, and if you're a Sanjeev Kumar fan, this film might be worth watching for you -- his part is pretty cool. Or if you have an unusual love for Prem Chopra, he gets a lot of screen time. But if you're a Shashi fan, don't bother.