Title: 5 RiflesYear: 1974
Cast:Rakesh Khanna, Shahi Kapoor, Ambika Johar, DK Sapru, IS Johar, Anil Johar.
The plot itself is simple enough:
A royal family from some random Indian state wages incessant war against the British. Defeated and separated, the king (DK Sapru), queen (Veena!), and his twin daughters (Ambika Johar) and a son (Anil Johar). While everyone has been separated, and the parents do not recognize their kids, they are all freedom fighters :)
Of the 2 daughters, one is actually found by the king and appointed princess, ruling the kingdom. The other is bought up by Harfan mama (IS Johar), and turns a petty thief/revolutionist.The princess is wooed by Rakesh Khanna (A Rajesh Khanna look-alike), while the thief is wooed by Shahi Kapoor (A Shashi look-alike- not a good one).
Does the family unite? Do they defeat the British?
What do you think? :D
Notes:1- The acting is despicable, the script bad, the movie simply insane- it is but a Bollywood-ized Monty Python, if you dig that kind of stuff- I love it!
2- I love Veena in nutty movies- and she does it again here!
3- Kudos to IS Johar for directed and producing this madness- I am sure he lost a lot of $ in it, but this is perhaps the first Bollywood spoof (take that Farah Khan) and he made it happen!
4- The Rajesh Khanna and Shashi Kapoor look-alikes were very sketchy- didn't work very well except to supplement the camp value of the movie.
5- The quwwali song "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom" became insanely popular, and is played to this day in India- so much so that it was used to title a movie that bombed last year :D
Random Trivia:
To confirm your suspicions, yes Ambika is IS Johar's daughter, who acted in 5 movies in her entire acting career, of which 3 were made by her dad. She was really rather pretty here, but not very talented. On the other hand Anil, IS's son, exhibited no talented at all :)
9 comments:
I can only imagine how my life outside Hindi movies (yes there is still a marginal one) would go all to hell if I had Indian cable.
This is exactly why. Bollywood Monty Python??? Look-alike actors???? I must see it!
I love Veena and IS Johar too--although the only film I've seen that he directed was Nastik, which was a pretty serious (and good) movie.
This isnt serious at all.
While the basic plot is what I have outlined, the whle thing is strung together with weird gags- everything from 3 monkeys on a motorbike to fake-pretend white women (a indian in a bad blond wig) whipping the good indians.
It was almost tiring in its madness- so much so that I took breaks watching "Law & Order" reruns on the side to gain some sanity.
Hey is that smooch in the poster for real? In 1974, too! Never knew what movie 'jhoom barabar jhoom' was from - it was pretty popular in its time, I guess. I only heard it in long-distance buses in India and developed a special dislike for qawwalis which I have only just gotten over!
IMDB has '5 Rifles' listed as a Shashi Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna movie! Was actually on the lookout for the DVD - now I neednt bother. :-)Thanks a lot for the info!
Rofl- I know- hilarious isnt it? I like quawalis myself,since I am from UP, and u really cant escape them there, even if u tried :D
The names are funnier than the actors who play them "Shahi" Kapoor indeed :)
My head is spinning! I was confused enough by the posters - in the top one, it really does look like Shashi, but in the second one...oog. I too am tempted by your description of it being Monty Python-esque, something I truly love. Woweee!
I think you should bring it to the meetup.... :)
The 1st hour is pretty awesome- and then it begins to grate a bit. there is absolutely no sense to the movie at all :D
What I think is really important about it is that it is the oldest known spoof made in Bollywood, which was probably a huge risk taken by Johar.
I'll try to find a copy for sure :)
OMG!!! OMG OMG OMG!!!
I am OMGing for 2 reasons:
1. They're LOOKALIKES?!! As BV noted, IMDb lists this as a genuine Shashi/Rajesh movie. OMG. Lookalikes. This I absolutely 100% MUST SEE.
2. And THIS is the movie JBJ comes from!?!
Too freaking cool. I HAVE to get my hands on this. 100%.
(And JBJ bombed? I loved it!)
The look alikes are fun, even though the posters make the resemble stronger than it was in the movie- they just dont get enough screen time. Dunno whats w/ IMDB on that- maybe I should post a rebuttal at their site? :)
JBJ bombed badly, yep, even though they went blue in the face denying it:)
fair warning if u do see the movie- the gags get really insane, and sometimes have no connection with the movie at all- I had to walk away several times just to clear my head! heeh
i heard that rakesh khanna ( the so called hero of this movie ) was a rickshaw puller in meerut ( U.P )when Johar saab saw him and picked hip up to sign for his movie....!
No news of this man after the movie, whatsoever !!
( no no...he also acted in Johar's next film "Nasbandi" alongwith ...shahi kapoor , sev anand, and amitaav vachan )
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