Deol Dhamaka!: Melodrama overload: Apne (2007)

Everyone loves to pretend that the know celebrities personally. We read about their likes, dislikes, wishes, dreams, fears, hopes, etc. and develop a relationship with them from afar. And when celebrities draw you in to their inner circle by making you feel like a part of their family, the feeling of knowing them only increases. We start to feel personally invested in these people, in their successes and failures. We start to care about not only the individual stars, but their offspring too. It's kind of messed up, actually.

So when news of the film Apne started hitting the rounds, I was very excited. Seeing Dharmendra and his two sons together on-screen? Of course I wanted to see that! It was the first time we were going to see all three Deol men together, playing family members. You could tell from the early promos that it was going to be a sappy-sweet family drama, which did make me a bit apprehensive about it (I feared another K3G), so I didn't quite go rushing out to the theatres. In fact, I didn't get around to it at all until January 2011. And it certainly was a melodrama-fest, but not as god-awful as K3G ... perhaps thanks to the fact that most of the cast (excluding Booby Deol and Katrina Kaif) can actually act.

Running toward each other in slow motion! No, not the romantic couple. The two sons running toward their father!

The story is fairly simple -- Dharmendra plays Baldev, an ex-boxing champ who was accused of cheating at the height of his career and suspended from the league. He has never gotten over the loss of his career and broods about it constantly. Before the start of the film, he had tried to train his son, Angad (Sunny Deol), to bring glory back to his family by winning the boxing championship. Though initially successful, Angad eventually quits boxing because of financial strain in the family. Baldev has never forgiven Angad for quitting on him, and their relationship is basically non-existent. A secondary strain on their relationship exists because Angad is responsible for his younger brother Karan (Booby Deol)'s disability. Karan was injured when Angad, in trying to defend his mother against goons demanding money from her, accidentally causes debris to fall on him.

They can never resist using Dharam's glamour shots in his films today. He's sooo dreamy!

Despite Karan's injury, he is a budding rock star and romantically involved with a young doctor named Nandini (Katrina Kaif). Angad is also married to the lovely and spirited Simran (Shilpa Shetty) and has a young son. Baldev's wife Raavi (Kirron Kher) and Simran constantly try to hold the damaged, fraying family together, but Baldev's bitterness affects them all deeply.

The one-handed dance!

Unable to bear Baldev's unhappiness, Karan decides to forget his dreams of stardom and bring honor and dignity back to the family by taking up boxing. His girlfriend Nandini helps him through a medical procedure for "magic hand fix" (too bad this wasn't around for Mohnish Behl's character in Hum Saath Saath Hai), and he trains hard, eventually reaching the championship level in U.S.A.

 

HAHAHA! Katrina's ACTING you guys!

He is pitted against reigning champion Luca Gracia, and does quite well until Luca cheats. Karan is seriously injured (again! This guy has worse luck than a V.C. Andrews heroine) and hospitalized, and Baldev is devastated to see what his ambition has caused.

 

Hair sweat flying in slow-mo!

When Angad realizes what happened to Karan, he challenges Luca to fight him. Baldev, already brokenhearted, tries to tell Angad not to do it. He says there is no way he can train in time for the match, but Angad refuses to listen to anyone. He trains hard and funnels all of his rage and frustration into his boxing. Will he win the championship and restore Baldev to glory? Will Karan survive and marry Nandini? And WTH, they have a sister (Divya Dutta)?

 

THOUGHTS WHILE WATCHING APNE

• I can't believe Apne was Katrina Kaif's 9th film. She is horrendously bad. She was so bad in this film that I had to actually LAUGH at her expressions. Especially her close-ups when Booby's getting the crap beat outta him.

LOL. Seriously. I was cracking up at her "acting" ...

• Booby Deol is not much better. I actually thought his acting was miserably bad in this movie.

• For some reason everyone in Apne has red-tinted hair. What was that all about? Are they the Weasleys?

• Watching Katrina try to dance in this song is hilarious, because she almost falls over:

• Booby Deol's fight scenes are excruciating to watch. He has MOOBS. And they jiggle, in slow motion.

 

• Divya Dutta is criminally underused. She is one "over-actress" that I actually enjoy.
• Sunny's character is a total masochist. Kind of like Akshay Kumar's character in Dhadkan.

• But then he transforms into CRAZYEYES!Sunny and it is awesome. Particularly when he's dropping gratuitous f-bombs. Except he doesn't quite get it right. I don't think you want to yell "I'LL F*CK YOU!" over and over to your enemy.

This is a little beyond CRAZY EYES, Sunny ...

• Besides the red, Dharam also develops a streak in his hair like Rogue from X-Men.

• Sunny and Shilpa's kid in this movie seems very ... "special" ...

• Dharam's character is one selfish baaaaastaaaard for the way he treats his entire family -- all for the sake of Eternal Glory. This ain't the Triwizard Tournament, Baldev. Interesting how in both this film and Yamla Pagla Deewana, Dharam plays a total selfish jerk that both his sons worship. Particularly Sunny, who is his punching bag in both films. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to be that guy in real life. Also, I did sincerely appreciate his acting in this film. He did indeed seem devastated; a shell of himself. And despite how selfish his character is, you do find yourself rooting for him.

• Ultimately Sunny's character Angad is the one I sympathized with the most. He is so sweet and humble, so saddened by his father's rejection of him, and so noble. His scenes of training also provide an AWESOMELY bad song.

 

All in all, despite making fun of it throughout the watching experience, I'll say I enjoyed the movie. It was heartwarming, tearjerking goodness - a shameless melodrama fest. The story itself was interesting enough in how it unfolded, and they added in little bits that I didn't expect (like Luca having his own motivations and weaknesses). Solid performances from Dharam, Sunny, Kirron and Shilpa outweighed the lackluster performances of Booby and Katrina. And ultimately, it's a celebration of family!

Thank you again to all the great friends and colleagues that made DEOL DHAMAKA such a blast. I can't believe we have over 100 links for Deol Dhamaka! Please be sure to visit the links list and check out all the fun and creativity that Deol Dhamaka inspired this month.

And I definitely have to give the renowned title of MISS DEOL DHAMAKA to one of my favorite BollyBloggers, Ness of Shahrukh is Love. Ness created a blog post for literally EVERY SINGLE DAY of Deol Dhamaka, and I think they are all brilliant and hilarious.

And much love to all the fabulous participants, all talented bloggers in their own right! The blogs below have far more to offer than just Deol Dhamaka fare, so I definitely recommend that you follow them!

• Totally Filmi
• Beth Loves Bollywood
• Shahrukh is Love
• Roti Kapada aur Rum
• Nayika Talks
• In praise of all things Dharmendra-related
• Perdue in Bollywood
• Pakhi Pakhi: Stranger in a Strange Land
• Nakhrewali's Nothing Big, Nothing Grand
• Bollywood Deewana
• My Year of Prakash Raj
• The Bombay Talkies
• Lime Reviews - Confessions of a Bollywood Addict

*if I have missed anyone inadvertently, please, please let me know!

A Deol Dhamaka Sidebar: Hema the Knife

Deol Dhamaka is ending ... and I had SO many more films that I wanted to share as a part of this month-long celebration. Alas, time flies when you are having fun and I wasn't able to get to everything.

I had initially not considered Hema Malini to be a valid part of Deol Dhamaka -- somehow I felt Hema could potentially be deserving of a blogging week of her own at some point. But several of our friends have included her, and I had two Hema songs as ear worms today so I thought I would share them as a Deol Dhamaka sidebar.

Interestingly enough, both songs feature Hema skillfully wielding knives! Danger! It's not just her nasheeli nainon that you must be wary of! As soon as I realized I had Knife-brandishing Hema songs on the brain, I knew a post was brewing. I had to juxtapose! A lovely bonus to this is that both songs are from films that feature handsome hubby Dharmendra as Hema's hero. Score!

Now we all know Hema's no stranger to knives. After all, she had knife-throwing roles in both Sapnon Ka Saudagar and Seeta aur Geeta. Even Katrina Kaif is apparently seeking knife-throwing lessons from Hemaji (read the article here).

First, from one of the earliest Hindi films I remember seeing - "Qayamat Qayamat" from Ali Baba aur Chalis Chor (1980) - one of the films I had REALLY hoped to blog about during Deol Dhamaka (I am definitely still going to blog about it at some point - it features prominently in my Bollystalgia). This film was an Indo-Soviet co-production ... something I seriously did NOT know as a child. The cast includes Dharmendra as the title role of Ali Baba, Hema Malini as Marjeena, Zeenat Aman as Fatima, and a host of both Indian and Soviet actors as the 40 thieves (Aww Mac Mohan!). A classic fairy tale obviously based on one of the most popular tales from the Arabian Nights, but spiced up with some fabulous R.D. Burman numbers! And Dharam as Ali Baba? Come on! Who wouldn't love this?

So here's Hema doing her knife wielding thing in Ali Baba ...



The 2nd song is actually from a few years earlier, and is my favorite Dharam + Hema movie - Dream Girl (1977)! I loved this movie as a child, but I must admit, I haven't seen the full movie in many, many years. We had all of the songs recorded on a VHS tape and that is what I remember most, but I do vaguely remember the storyline that featured Dharam as the rich young playboy looking for love, and Hema and Asrani as con-artists with heart (they steal to provide for their home-based orphanage - and one of their orphans is a little Padmini Kohlapuri! Also among the orphans, lovely dancer Komal from Payal Ki Jhankaar). I had hoped to also do this movie for Deol Dhamaka, but ran out of time. I remember it being fun and having a crazy climax with some killer stunts by Dharam, and also having some great comedic moments (Hema dressed as a Sanyasi, anyone?). The songs were a joy to watch, especially the title song (check out my Song of the Day post about it), "Chupa Chupi Khele Aao", and the Disneyland song. But I digress ... here is Hema in Banjaran-costume, brandishing her trusty knife in "O Raja Babu":



I sense that I am going to have some strong Deol Dhamaka Hangover, so there may be some residual posts that still make it on to the blog. But I cannot thank all the fabulous bloggers who participated in Deol Dhamaka enough! We have over 100 posts on our Deol Dhamaka links list, so I highly recommend you visit and check out some of the writings. There are some excellent write-ups that go well beyond the "OMG he's soooo hot" fare that we thought we'd have. :-)

This has been an exciting project and I am so thrilled with the participation! And stay with us ... there's still one more day in March and who knows what might happen?

Song of the Day: Abuse of Classical Dance - Yeh Pyar Kya Hai from Gupt (1997)

Ok, so I'm not the biggest Booby Deol fan around. I can't even count myself as a fan, though I'm not a hater either. But I did really love the movie Gupt when it came out in 1997. I had enjoyed the previous Rajiv Rai fare like Tridev, Vishwatma and Mohra, but none of them quite threw me for a loop like Gupt.

Gupt, which starred Booby Deol (I know, it's Bobby, but you know - ever since Stardust made that typo, I can't call him anything else), Kajol and Manisha Koirala, was a surprising murder-mystery that in a time saturated with repetitive storylines was incredibly exciting and refreshing. Booby plays Sahil, who is in love with his childhood sweetheart, Isha, played by Kajol. Sahil has a complicated and problem-laden relationship with his stepfather (Raj Babbar), who wants him to marry Sheetal (Manisha Koirala). When his stepfather surprises him by announcing Sahil's engagement to Sheetal at a party, he goes ballistic on him and threatens to kill him in front of the entire crowd. The next day, his stepfather is found dead, and Sahil is the prime suspect. From there spins a wild web of murder and suspense with Sahil on the trail to find the real killer.

Booby wasn't a revelation or anything, but the ladies made this film fun to watch (Kajol was good, but I particularly liked Manisha's character, who was calm, collected and mature about the fact that the boy she loved was in love with someone else). It's a bit difficult to watch it today because of the amazing 90s styling, but it certainly stuck in my memory all these years - though that is clearly because of the amazing soundtrack by Viju Shah. I mean come on, the guy came up with gems like "Saat Samundar" from Vishwatma, "Tip Tip Barsa Paani" from Mohra and "Aankh Maare" from Tere Mere Sapne!

I adored the soundtrack of Gupt long before the movie came out, particularly "Mere Khwabon Mein Tu" and "Mushkil Bada Yeh Pyar Hai" -- but by FAR my favorite song was "Yeh Pyar Kya Hai" which uses the beautiful flute intro from "Yashomati Maiyya" (Satyam Shivam Sundaram) set to a techno-ish beat. It works. I love it.



What I DON'T love and what drives me crazy about this song's picturization is the total rape and abuse of classical dance. They have a full stage set of dancers in four of the traditional classical dance costumes of India - Kathakali, Manipuri, Kathak and Bharata Natyam. While they are wearing the costumes, the dancing they are doing is anything BUT. I will go so far as to say the dancing is atrocious and an absolute insult to the costumes they are wearing. The Kathakali dancers might use an actual move or two from the dance style, but they are performed so awkwardly that I was cringing. The Kathak and Manipuri dancers are just flailing about, but I am most disturbed by the Bharata Natyam dancers - since I AM a Bharata Natyam dancer, obviously.

First, their costumes are the versions wore by little girls that don't have bosoms yet. Adolescent dancers and older always wear an additional piece called the dhaavani or melaakku across the torso. Seeing adults not wearing that piece is basically vulgar in my eyes. And then the dancing ... oh god, it's awful. Their feet are yards apart, there's absolutely no technique, it's just SO bad. And I just can't understand why people insult the costume, thinking that it just looks cool to wear it and you don't have to have any respect for the actual art itself.

I know I'm getting unnecessarily upset about this, but it's just so representative of how our own people treat classical dance, and traditional arts in general. Why dedicate yourself to 8-10 years of training and discipline? Just throw on a cool looking costume and shake your hips! It's what I see at all these college and community so-called cultural shows, and it pisses me off. Kids think that doing a Bollywood/Hip Hop/Fusion dance means they are in touch with their culture. There's usually 20 of those items, and then one token "classical" dance that usually has very little classical content to it - and everyone applauds them for making classical dance "interesting" by doing it to Western or Bollywood music or doing a few basic classical dance steps (not even truly doing one style, but mixing moves from Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi and Odissi) and then waving their arms around all over the place.

END RANT.

That aside, I love the song. I LOVE the crazy, totally 90s dance moves Booby, Kajol and Manisha are trying so hard to do. I dig the weird hairstyle on Manisha and I really want to know if Kajol's wig is attached to the beret. I love how Manisha can't dance to save her life (can you say HOT MESS?) and Booby almost falls over doing some of these moves in his tight jeans, while Kajol just looks awkward and uncomfortable but is still trying to rock it out (you go girl).

And I do give credit for the concept! If they had REAL classical dancers doing ACTUAL dance steps, I think I would have found it quite beautiful and interesting. The classical dance costumes are incredibly fascinating (particularly Kathakali, with those elaborate masks, makeup, crowns and dresses) and the idea of all the classical dances presented on one stage is very exciting. If they had just taken the time and effort to hire real dancers and choreographers, I would have absolutely loved the final effect.

Image of Kathakali costuming by Rahul Sadagopan

All in all and my personal issues aside, it's a great song from a movie I really enjoyed when I saw it!

For more Deol Dhamaka goodness, visit our links!

Deol Dhamaka: Happy Holi from Gharam Dharam!

Because it's time to celebrate Holi - I thought what better way to celebrate it than with Dharamji???

Holi Ke Din - Sholay


Piya Sang Kheloon - Phagun


Layi Hai Hazaaron Rang - Phool aur Patthar


Bhagi Re Bhagi Re - Rajput


Kar Gayi Mast Mujhe - Dillagi


HAPPY HOLI!!!!

Deol Dhamaka: Na Tum Jaano Na Hum (2002) ... Esha got the shaft

Since Esha Deol has largely been ignored in the blogosphere's celebration of DEOL DHAMAKA (except for Ness's delightful review of Yuva), I decided to throw her a bone and check out one of her films. And I'm pretty pleased that I did, honestly.

Na Tum Jaano Na Hum takes it's title from the popular song from Kaho Naa Pyar Hai, capitalizing on the success of Hrithik Roshan's debut film. Unfortunately it did not work in the case of this film, which was pretty much a flop. However I think the failure of this film has more to do with the timing of it's release. Though not a wildly original concept, this film's formula was a fairly successful one in the late 90s. Someone on the YouTube comments suggested that unfortunately by the time Na Tum Jaano Na Hum released, audiences had already seen the likes of Dil Chahta Hai and Lagaan, and a different type of film was emerging - something that embraced new cinematography and modern, exciting lifestyles. Still, I found the storyline to be remarkably close to Mujhse Dosti Karoge which released only a few months later and did okay.

Anyway, I found the movie to be surprisingly cute, albeit saccharine. Esha Deol plays a sweet, simple young girl named (surprise, surprise) Esha who finds a love poem in a college textbook. She falls in love with the writer of the note, and dedicates a song to him on the radio. The writer of the note, Rahul (SRK Hrithik Roshan) happens to hear the same radio show and also calls in to say a message to her. They begin corresponding via P.O. Boxes and fall in love through their letters.

We also meet Rahul's best friend Akshay (Saif Ali Khan), a wealthy playboy who serial dates and cannot understand Rahul's romantic notions. Akshay's parents want him to settle down and get married asap.

As luck would have it, Esha and her grandfather hire Rahul as a photographer for their business, and though Rahul initially declines to come to their hometown of Dehradun, he eventually calls back and accepts the job. Esha has a large, warm family and they welcome Rahul into their fold immediately. Rahul and Esha share several adventures together and become friends, but Esha is still in love with her anonymous penpal. Meanwhile her family is working hard to convince her to agree to marry a family friend's son -- who turns out to be (dun dun dunnnnn) Akshay! Esha finds out that Rahul only agreed to the job and befriended her to "scope her out" for his best friend! Akshay, who is extremely hesitant about marriage, has finally been convinced that this girl is perfect for him by his best friend. And when he meets her, he is instantly charmed and falls in love.

Esha and Rahul's friendship cools off, but she is still waiting for her penpal lover. She sends him her favorite childhood stuffed toy, a little Paddington Bear. He, in exchange, sends her his favorite toy plane. I sort of throw up at the cutesyness, but it's still kind of adorable. They finally decide to meet -- on the day of Esha's engagement to Akshay! Hidden in the shadows, Rahul spies Esha and realizes that his penpal lover is marrying his best friend!

Your classic love triangle with the bromance thrown in for extra melodrama - but it's still an enjoyable film. It's a family-friendly, chaste, romantic film with lovely moments and cringeworthy ones too. Nothing spectacular or awe-inspiring, but your average cheesy Bollywood extravaganza -- with one saving grace. The friendship between Rahul and Akshay. Somehow the interaction between these two was something I really had fun watching. Their playful jibes and open affection was really sweet. The scenes between them really made the film a tad better than just ok for me.

Hrithik does his usual earnest performance. I usually find him a bit prone to overacting, but for some reason I didn't mind it as much in this film. I credit the director, Arjun Sablok, for giving him so many subtle moments that allowed me to truly appreciate him for once. I'm not a person who finds Hrithik "hot" ... he's ok but there's something about him that I find a bit plastic usually. I thought he put in a good performance here and didn't get as annoyed with him as I did in Mujhse Dosti Karoge or Yaadein, or especially Kabhi Nonsense Kabhi Dumb.

Saif Ali Khan did a great job with his role. I think he got typecast as a player for a long time, but in this case he's mostly a good guy, he just wasn't ready to get married. He's definitely an awkward dancer, but it certainly seems that he worked really hard on his steps in "Leke Pyar Ki Chunariya" ... it's kind of sad, actually. But he has this moment towards the end of the film, the moment where he realizes that his best friend was in love with his fiancee and sacrificed his love for him -- it's really lovely! I was moved ... and you could see glimmers of the brilliance he shows in later films like Parineeta and Omkara.

And now for Esha Deol ... oh, how do I sum this up? I want to say that I think the industry has unfairly written Esha off. She's really not THAT bad. I mean, she's not that GOOD either, but I really strongly feel that she's no worse than the other popular actresses of today. I would definitely put her on par with Sonam Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone. Especially Deepika, who I think Esha resembles quite a bit at times. The issue with Esha is that she sometimes tends to go a bit blank in the eyes - she looks a bit vacuous.

Hello??? Anyone home???

 She also has a tendency to look slightly grumpy, getting a little bit of the Sourpuss-Jaya-Bachchan face. But, in her defense, I think it's just how her lips are, and I would NOT want her to go do something stupid like plumping her lips. But in terms of acting talent, she's no worse than the those ladies who are getting plum roles in Bollywood today. So why did Esha get the shaft? It doesn't seem quite fair. She had a bit of a revival after her glam makeover in Dhoom, but honestly I really liked her as she was in this movie. She was simple and pretty. Although the girl playing her younger sister TOTALLY outshone her -- that girl was awesome. Why isn't she a heroine now?? I don't know who that girl was but I feel like I should.

This girl should be a STAR

Anyway, yeah, Esha. I don't think she's terrible. There are certain shots that she looks so glazed over it's almost creepy, but then, she had some cute moments too.

I had to giggle when Esha had a special scene where she danced around to Dharmendra's popular song "Mein Jatt Yamla Pagla Deewana" from Pratigya. It was really, really cute!

And she does resemble her super gorgeous mother at times, at certain angles or with certain expressions. And they had a really cute montage of real shots of young Esha in the beginning. It was really fun to see how totally NORMAL she looked as a kid and young teen!

It was also nice to see yesteryear actresses like Moushmi Chatterjee and Rati Agnihotri make an appearance. Rati, in particular, looked absolutely stunning.

In all, it's not a movie for the weak-stomached ... if you can't handle sappy romances then this isn't going to be your cup of tea. But if you like an occasional Yash Raj film, you might like this one - it's in the same vein. And I thought it was worth watching for the Hrithik-Saif bromance. And I don't think Esha is THAT bad. I have hopes for her, I really do!

To check out all of our DEOL DHAMAKA madness, visit our links!

DEOL DHAMAKA: Aap to Antaryaami hai ... Dushman Devta (1991)

Dushman Devta (1991) is set in a small, defenseless village plagued by bandit attacks. We're introduced to the sweet, innocent residents by a singing village belle, played by Dimple Kapadia (who is of course, gorgeous, but just past the age where she can pull off this type of character). She's not the only belle in town though ... a scantily-clad Sonam is also prancing around town shooting sheep and horses with her tranquilizer darts and aggressively pursuing town hunk Suraj (Aditya Panscholi). It's a good thing too because "animals" (Ahem! Dacoits in bad gorilla costumes) are apparently also terrorizing the villagers. Sadashiv Amrapurkar and Gulshan Grover are around doing their usual shady dealings as the local corrupt thakur Raja and his Number Two.

Enter Dharmendra as surly, rogue-ish Shiva! He arrives near the village with Master Dina Nath (Dr. Shreeram Lagoo), who tells him about his sad past. He tells Shiva that he considers him to be like his son and wants him to help protect their village. Suddenly Dina Nath is shot by Number Two (Gulshan Grover). Shiva goes to take the body back to his family, and Dina Nath's wife - who had gone pagal after her son was killed - receives him enthusiastically as her son. Unfortunately Suraj and gang come along and believing Shiva to be Dina Nath's murderer, attack him. The villagers all argue that he couldn't be the killer, and try to revive Shiva. In a series of events, the villagers come to believe that Shiva is a living incarnation of Lord Shiva and fall at his feet, swearing their undying devotion. Dharmendra has a past of his own he needs to escape, and reluctantly agrees to stay in the village. This is where things get fun!

While this certainly isn't highbrow cinematic art and is guilty of the 80-90s cliches of rapeyness and gaudy costuming, this movie stuck in my memory for being unapologetically silly and fun. It doesn't seem like anyone was really trying all that hard in this film, except for maybe a few of the background extras.

Dharamji's Shiva is a gruff, embittered drunkard who is ultimately inspired to protect the village that constantly chants to him "Aap to Antaryaami hai!" (the line that cracked me and my sisters up while watching this). He's absolutely hilarious and gets to show off his dry humour. This is pretty late in his career as a hero, but it works well for the character. He reminds me quite a bit of Sunny today. Or I guess I should say Sunny reminds me of him? Anyway, their father-son resemblance never struck me as much as it did in this movie.

Dimple as either Gori or Gouri (I never figured out which one) is feisty and loudmouthed. She may be a bit too mature to play the village belle, but she still gets some wonderful scope here to angrily rile up the sheep-minded villagers.

And speaking of sheep (or shooting them with darts) -- Sonam is one tough cookie too. Her tranquilizer darts come in very handy when she flips the damsel-in-distress situation to save her man, and later towards the climax too. Sonam is an interesting actress to me. She's obviously not a GOOD actress, so I'm not sure why I like watching her in films (I also loved her in Tridev, Chor Pe Mor and Ajooba). There's something strangely admirable about her lazy approach to acting, something irreverent ... it just doesn't seem like she cares very much about acting and is just doing it for a lark. And I think she was only 15 when she did Tridev, so she was probably around 16 in this. It shows. She's mostly in this movie for skin show, but I thought she was sort of kickass.

Aditya Panscholi is ehhh to me. As he usually is.

The soundtrack is cute and mostly forgettable, except for two numbers that completely STUCK in my head for YEARS (I haven't seen this movie since 1992). One is the obviously lifted tune "Hojaye Hoja" (a villain's lair dance!) that I've had pop into my head now and then but had forgotten that it was from this movie. The other is the completely awesome Usha Uthup number "Udi Udi Baba" picturized on Sonam and Aditya. It's completely random and weird and my sisters and I fell in love with it when we saw it on a song compilation video. It's the reason we rented the movie and watched it. You can watch it here (scan to about 1:50 in):



This is by no means a must-see film, but it IS sort of funny and decent timepass. It certainly stuck in MY memory all these years!

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