Ajit- Iconic Villain

 Nobody who watched Hindi films in the 70s and eighties can forget Ajit. He was suave, well-dressed and had a way with dialogue delivery.

He became a legend because of his lackeys and moll. That means, unlike some contemporary villains, he was inclusive. Only Gabbar after him can claim some credit for mentioning his team members in dialogues.

He was known for Jokes which were partly driven by real stuff from his films, but many were made up. Nobody knows which are which, after so many years.. 

Voltage badhao was one which was real, while torturing someone in his den. I think.

Michael tum saikal lekar jao. Probably this too-

"Ise liquid Oxygen mein daal do. Liquid use jeene nahi dega, aur Oxygen use marne nahi dega."

Raabert (Robert, in his inimitable style) was the other regular in his stable. And of course, Mona Darling!

Some dialogues/jokes that are probably made up, include-

"Mona, tum Tony ke saath mat sona, nahi to monatony ho jayegi." 

Or this dialogue,

"Boss, ye to mar gaya. Iska kya karen?"

""Isko le jaake dafna do. Aur uske side mein ek sui bhi laga do. Phir pulice ise Sui-cide samjhegi."

Great fun!

Happiness or Long Life?

What is your goal? Is it to be happy or to live long? Or something else?

One must try and achieve whatever goal one has. If you want to be the owner of your own island, you have to try and generate wealth so you can own one. Like one of those Bond film villains who all seem to live on an island-could be just a correlation, and not causation! Also, Bond could come and destroy it all, so think carefully.

But the point is, if you want quick money, you can try and trade in something that has the potential to get you there (with the downside being that it may wipe out what you have got)- real estate, stocks, commodities, or any other legal methods of gambling (include Las Vegas trips, and lotteries).

If you want long life, you should not go out on the road, because given our traffic, anyone can kill you in a minute -it's dangerous out there. I can vouch for it-I nearly got killed a few months ago. But seriously, you may have to get into watching what you eat, and exercise (why do I see a frown on your face?) and so on.

If you want to be happy, all you need to do is smile a lot, read funny stuff (Wodehouse, Woody Allen, Bill Bryson, Dave Barry etc..) and generate smiles around you. Sounds easy? Then try it-but only if that's your life goal.

Kitnay Admi Thay- Book Review

Yes, this is the title of a book. About Bollywood's follies. Celebrating them. The author, Diptakirti Chaudhuri, is apparently a fellow-blogger too. Another reason to like his book.

There are chapters about the mother-son cliches. And brother-sister cliches. The mothers (Nargis, Nirupa Roy especially), the mothers-in-law (Lalita Pawar et al).

The hero's sidekick. The heroine's confidant, the daughter-father arguments, the rich-poor divide, the running around trees and how it is environment-friendly ( I just made that up).

And of course, the villains, the dialogues that made them famous (Mogambo khush hua?)- the book's title being one case in point.

And lots of trivia- completely useless, as the book's cover proclaims-that will leave you wondering why you haven't read this book so far! There are also some futuristic cliches that we might see in the future.

A must-read if you love Bollywood in spite of all its foibles. If we can love people with all their flaws (ourselves included), why not Bollywood? After all, all of the TV serials can't hold a candle to its larger-than-life entertainment.

Pran- A Tribute to the Gentleman Villain

There are villains and there are villains. The stylised K.N. Singh, Jeevan with the hain hain hain dialogue-utterance, the leching Manmohan, the gun-toting MacMohan aka Sambha, the leering Prem Chopra, the rapist Ranjit, and the one with lots of Mona-Sona one-liners yaane ke Ajit, but there was a guy who was a class apart-Pran. These are my memories of him, in tribute. He passed away last night.

I think I clearly remember him from a few films, in which he was really bad. Brahmachari starring Shammi Kapoor and Rajshri was one of them. There were a lot of other films from that era. He was, I remember, always well-dressed, and might give a complex to some of the tapori heroes of today.

The next I remember of him was the role he played with such elan in Zanjeer. He was ther perfect foil for the angry young man of Amitabh, and I doubt if the film would have worked without him. His song was also a rage in a movie that had no good song situations. Yaari hai imaan mera is well-recognised even today-one of Manna Dey's best. He had also turned a leaf from his villainy by now.

Don was another classic pot-boiler brought alive by a good script (rare in India) and brilliant acting by Pran and Amitabh. His dialogue delivery was at times better than Amitabh's in the movie, and that's saying a lot. His song in another Amitabh film, Majboor 'Phir na kehna Michael daru peeke danga karta hai' also was a rage, and I still remember it.

One more fun film of his was Victoria no.203, where he and Ashok Kumar brought the house down with their antics, and the song 'Do Bechare bina sahare dekho pooch pooch kar haare'.

Johny Mera Naam where he played Dev Anand's brother, and Des Pardes where he reprised that relationship, this time with an NRI angle to it (he migrates to England, starts a pub and goes missing) were two other memorable roles. He also had a good one in Amar Akbar Anthony, and sang a song "Hum bolega to bologe ke bolta hai' in Kasauti.

The King of Bad Times

I thought I should give some competition to Mr. Vijay Mallya. This is not about beer, but the villains I have watched in Bollywood movies. Who is the best of them all? My vote for the king of bad times is for Ajit, with Pran a close second. Ajit, because he looked so cool, always under control, with a fun element even in the most brutal villainy. Like boiling people in acid baths or electrocuting them or whatever. He also generated jokes that will live with us for a lifetime, some real dialogues and some made up by his fans. Mona and Michael are also immortal, thanks to him.
Pran also was a gentleman villain, usually suave, well-dressed and mostly, well- behaved too. Prem Chopra was a baddie who looked like a leach, Amrish Puri was too loud for my taste, and Manmohan, Sujit Kumar etc. made no impact. Of course, Gabbar's career as a villain was short-lived, though he made a powerful debut in Sholay. Vinod Khanna also played villain in his early days, and so did Shotgun Sinha. I remember in a movie where Shatrughan had some powerful dialogue as villain, the audience even clapped for him against the hero, who was probably Randhir Kapoor.