By the Strangest coincidence, I found that
Memsaab and I had been watching
Apraadh almost at the same time, and it was a wonderful chance to post about it simultaneously!
Title: Apradh
(trans: Crime)
Year: 1972
Cast: Feroz Khan, Mumtaz, Prem Chopra, Iftekhar.
This was Feroz's 1st directorial venture, and you immediately recognize the styling he would go on to develop over the years- we begin with a long drawn out Grand Prix, with Ram (Feroz) obviously winning...
Meanwhile in Germany, the heart-stopping Rita (Mumtaz) is out in style...
... she is part of a gang of thieves, one of whom is serving as a watch-dog - dig the sweater folks- all the supporting actors in this movie are fabulous, and he is only the first one we meet.
Rita steals a priceless necklace and runs for the border, in a gorgeous golden jacket- you have to wear camouflage when you run from the police you know (head nodding wisely).
While Rita is off with the necklace, her boss is waiting with his gang in his den.
You HAVE to love his moll, Faryal- I adore this woman- so vampy, such fabulous eye makeup- I covet it!
Also check out Mukri, who is in the gang- he is never seen again after this scene though....
Meanwhile, Rita's car's broken down, and she needs to bring the stolen necklace out of the country. What follows is my favorite "girl-meets-boy" sequence till date. She get out of the car in her gold-jacketed, short-shorts glory.....
And the next car that stops by carries none other than the drool-worthy Ram, who appears stunned by her beauty....
What man wouldn't? Look at that lovely smile....
Yup, Ram is losing his mind...
... but they warm up to each other....
... gosh they are just gorgeous! The chemistry between them is great, and they seem at perfect ease with each other- their friendship is pretty obvious here.
Now that I've stopped gushing over my fav scene, we can proceed further into the movie :D Ram of course brings Mumtaz over the border, but steals her necklace. Rita's gang is holed up at the same hotel, and we find that Rita's real name is Meena, and she is being pressured by this gang to do all the stealing.....
I love how color and fashion coordinated the gang and their den is- all red and gold. The guy in the sun glasses never does take them off...
... not even later, when Ram discovers the truth and is fighting with them to save Meena. Note how his sweater clashes with Meena's...
Having been beaten by Feroz, the gang decides to kill Faryal in the bath. This is the last we are going to see of any of them....
... because Ram and Meena are leaving Europe to go back to India. Ram has a brother there, and they plan to live happily ever after.
... but not all plans go smoothly. Iftekhar and his police team catches Ram before he leaves the airport and he is accused of smuggling.
Turns out his brother Harman (Prem Chopra) is a smuggler, and has a red den of his own, with music by a guy in a sombrero and dancing blondes lead by a white spangled swim-suit wearing Helen!
Prem's den is really cool- that white statue's base holds alcohol, so that when you tip the statue, it pours your drink!
Ram doesn't stay a word about his brother, and despite being innocent, spends jail time. He comes out and decides to work in a factory, and Mumtaz and he again show some amazing chemistry. I don't understand why he doesn't do race car driving again- more money in there, no?
I also want to know how a guy working at a ordinary factory and his girlfriend can afford these really amazing swimsuit fashions....
The happiness is not due to last long however. Ram is visited one night by Harman and his goons, including MB Shetty (love!)
The goons have a worse plan though. Unknown to Harman, they decide to kidnap Ram and make him help them in a heist at his factory.
So of course Iftekhar comes back and blames poor Ram for the whole thing :(
... but Harman comes to rescue Ram in the ever-useful doctor disguise....
An outlaw now, Ram has no choice but to join Harman's gang...
... where sleepy-looking blondes and roulette wheels abound....
.. and Helen tries to entice Ram with the power of her blue eyeshadow and orange braids.
So will Ram get used to the alcohol-spewing statue? Will he forget Meena by the power of Helen's Halloween colors? Will Harman and Ram live happily smuggling ever after? Watch Apradh already to know!
Notes:
1- Prem Chopra did a really great job, and this role was different from the majority of negative roles he has done. I liked how he really loved his brother and tried to protect him, in his own way.
2- Every supporting actor was brilliant- on the top of my list are Faryal, the guy in the glasses (what IS his name?) and the sombrero man.
3- Mumtaz' fashions in the first half are so fun- I'd have liked to see more of them.
4- Feroz was so manly and dreamy- and so naughty and courteous and adorable- I'm in love ;)
10 comments:
Love it! Thanks for posting. I addied to my netflix queue, but then noticed there were no English subtitles, so I removed it. I WILL find it though. I am compelled to find it after your post. I especially love gori extras and the roulette scene is a real winner. :)
All the best!
Sita-ji
My copy had subtitles- I think it depends on the DVD. I think you will like this one- it was really a lot of fun :)
I have three copies of this film, and only got subs on the third try (the Eros version). It's worth buying (Nehaflix has it right now, although it's often out of stock)...so forget Netflix, go straight to the shopping cart!
So Shweta: where do we begin? I too loved Feroz and Mumtaz' meeting, esp. when he thought she was European and called her an ulloo in Hindi. They had such great chemistry. And Prem C. was great in this, I loved that he had a more nuanced character than usual. I don't always appreciate him, but I did in this completely. Well, plus I want that nightclub. MUST HAVE IT. Esp. if it comes with Helen and Sombrero Man, the new object of my OCD!
I think the sunglasses cracked-out guy is played by Kuljeet, b/c he was in Blackmail too and Kuljeet was in both. Plus I've seen him elsewhere and he's listed as being in other films I've seen too. I loved Mumtaz' hair in the first half---the braids tied into a bow! And I thought Faryal was just wonderful, especially when Ram takes the necklace from her and then Nath and crack guy come to kill her. Very good acting on her part! And Shetty! Who played Ranjeet (the one who leered at Mumtaz so that Ram had to thrash him)? He had such delicious gold chains and high-waisted pants hauled up over his paunch. So...ewwwww-inducing! *happy*
Thanks for the lovely screen caps. Had me rolling with laughter on some of them. Mumtaz looks so gorgeous. Gotta go get this for her! Like sita-ji, I have to find a copy with subtitles.
Memsaab: Prem Chopra truly had a really good part here. His, as well as the treatment of the supporting actors is encouraging me to try and revisit all of Feroz's directed movies- he must have been doing a good job with all his movies, only it took "Apradh" to make me realise it! Thank you for IDing Kuljeet- he was so crazy! I am not certain about Ranjeet's real name- It may be Brahma or Bhushan, but I cant be sure- guess I need to see more movies and then confirm. I also found one of the supporting actors is called Khursheed Khan- which completely tickles me- its my grandma's name! I am trying to ID Khursheed now, so I may show my family :)Re: the nightclub: you can have it, just let me operate the rotating bar- I NEED to pour drinks out of statues for everyone :D
Nicki: Mumtaz is so great! Her Eros and my Moserbaer copies both have subtitles.
Could Ranjeet be Shyam Kumar? That seems to ring a bell for me....
Although Bhushan Tiwari is on the cast list. So it could be him...sigh.
and the other Feroz-directed (and produced) films I've seen I also loved: Dharmatma and Qurbani.
Will need to see more of them too!!!
I saw Dharmatma too long ago- obviously must see again. I think I am going to try googling all the unitentified actors listed on the cast list- may help resolve the Ranjeet issue.
Is this the film with the song 'Aye Naujawaan, Hai Sab Kuch Yahaan'?
And boy you're on a roll! Or maybe it's just me having a hectic life :P
I'm kidding! I plan on wasting winter hols on movies so you'll see more of me around ;)
You are absolutely right on the song! Yeah I seem to have posted quite a bit this month- it was all the new movies that came out- whut to do.
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