Needs some re-casting (Holi Ayee Re)

Harsukh Jagneshwar Bhatt must have been seriously cashstrapped. Or else, why would he squander away a reasonable good script by casting some absolutely unknown faces in his Holi Ayee Re. The best he can manage are some famous character actors who salvage the film from the brink of disaster. But I feel, this 1970 romance-cum-family drama would have done fairly well if we would have had a better

Peetering out (Shaadi ke Baad)

Generally I'm quite predisposed towards any film from the L V Prasad stable, but something about Shaadi ke Baad kept nibbling at me after a point of time. The cast was good, the story was fun, the performances were just and the songs were in place. But something, which I'm yet to pin-point correctly, left me quite dissatisfied. Was it the rambling turn of events after intermission, the lack of

Love, after all the trouble (Blackmail)

It's quite funny that one song from Vijay Anand's Blackmail is celebrated as being one of the most erotic melodies of those times. Given the situation that the song is played in, and the circumstances the leads find themselves in, on any given day, one might be more than ready to sight it as signage of consummation. But then, for me, this song is certainly not one that will melt me into a

Toying with melodrama (Khilona)

There are times when I'm game for a film where I wouldn't have to put in much thought and reasoning. I'd only have to go with the flow of the story, the ups, downs, drama, melodrama, songs, sequences and inanities. These are the times when I am lazy, tired or rather bored. These are times when one can surely watch the film Khilona. Yes, I did too. There's nothing much to say about the film except

Watch just for the fun (Naram Garam)

Sometimes I wonder whether Utpal Dutt got pigeonholed into playing the same kind of character when he signed a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film. Look at his roles in Golmaal, Naram Garam and Kissi Se Na Kehna. You'll find that his persona borders on the same lines. He is loud and prone to committing verbal faux pas at the drop of a hat, is always suspecting people for tiny little things, is acting in