Kohinoor

Directed by: S. U. Sunny

Starring: Dilip Kumar, Meena Kumari, Jeevan

Released: 1960

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

A delightful film sprinkled with comedy, romance and action, wrapped in pleasant visuals and stuffed with pretty songs. There is that certain naivity you have to accept, and when you do nothing can really prevent you from enjoying the movie. Kohinoor is unique because it showed the two people best known for their brilliant suffering on screen in a completely different light. Well, in Meena Kumari´s case the tragic part of it was not completely abandoned, but still. The film also proved to be exactly and literally what doctor prescribed to depressed Dilip Kumar, who had previously portrayed the eternal alcoholic looser in Devdas and found himself unable to just let go of him for some time.

Dilip Kumar (as handsome as you can imagine!!!) is a Prince, who in spite of everything refuses to be over-dramatic. And that there would definitely be reasons for having a fit or at least a nervous breakdown! Attacks on his life are made – until even he gets suspicious and when he finds out that it is actually his seemingly faithful minister, who has been blinded by greed and sees himself on the throne already, the Prince is forced to leave his kingdom. But no worries, no time for moping – after all, he soon crosses the path of Princess Meena Kumari, with whom his marriage had been planned, and they promptly fall in love fall in love. Unfortunately there is someone else, malicious and sneaky, who is lusting after the beautiful Princess! 

To see Dilip and Meena in such a film was sheer joy. Especially he gets an opportunity to tune into other than the mopy and depressing mood (which he previously crafted into perfection). And I really don´t think there has been an actor more handsome in Bollywood, ever, with possible exception of very young Sunil Dutt (I think by this point you get that Yusuf Khan is my Khan of all seasons). He handles comedy extremely well. I loved how chilled his character was! You just tried to kill me? Whatevs man, I have a girl to impress. You just shot me in the arm? Ain´t nobody got time for that, let´s sing a happy song. We are trapped in a building full of enemies? Here, darling, why don´t you handle them yourself, I´ll collect you later.

Meena Kumari too proved that she was capable of much more than just bringing tears into our eyes. She could make us laugh as well! Although I was bit irritated with the stereotypical character naive girl who doesn´t recognize her lover just because he put a fake beard on. There were moments in the second half where I was afraid the film has deserted the comic track and decided to go into full-blown drama, which at that point was the last thing I wanted. I had way too good a time being entertained! Fortunately our Princess soon realizes that fainting at every occasion gets her nowhere and starts throwing everything that she finds at everyone that she sees!

The villain turned out to be a very familiar face – Jeevan. He may not have the exaggerated English accent in this, but I just kept going back to „Raabert“ from Amar Akbar Anthony in my mind, every time he appeared on the screen. But he was good nontheless. And it was not his fault that he made such an impression on me in AAA, that I will forever see him in that role. After all, Kohinoor happened a long time before AAA.

The film definitely won me over. Favourite moments? Many! For example a hysterical princess beating everyone over their heads with a stick, and the absolutely hilarious "missing mirror" scene between the hero and the intoxicated antagonist! Oh – did you know Dilip Kumar actually learned how to play a sitar just so he could do so in one of the songs?

Chaudhvin Ka Chand

Directed by: Mohammed Sadiq

Starring: Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, Johnny Walker

Released: 1960

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

Even in black and white the visual beauty of this movie is astounding. The costumes, the sets - and of course the heroine - all is just overwhelmingly gorgeous. Wonderful camera work that takes into account the magic of light and shadow managed to capture even the smallest details. As a result Chaudhvin Ka Chand reminds one of a long lost fairytale or a dream long ago forgotten, but all the more familiar once before our eyes again. And once the films switches to colour for a little while, during the iconic title song, you could just faint at all the beauty. Interestingly enough having only that one song in colour while the rest of the film is in black and white, only ads to the magic overall. Sadly, the story itself let me down. When Pyare (Rehman) sees a beautiful girl at a market, he is completely besotted and immediately falls in love.

I so don´t blame you Pyare.

However soon he looses her in the crowd. Fortunately for him the very same girl attend his sister´s birthday celebrations, and so Pyare entrusts a servant with a task to find out her name and whereabouts. The servant indeed does have a name for him after a while, but unknown to Pyare, she got mistaken and identified another girl for him. Without checking anything or asking anyone (least of all his own sister), Pyare has a marriage fixed, and the only thing that seems to be between him and his love is his mother insisting he marries a daughter of a priest and family confidant. Pyare thus seeks help with his best friend Aslam (Guru Dutt), and wants him to marry the priest´s daughter in his stead, to save his own happiness. And Aslam, a good friend he is, readily agrees.

Without even looking at his friend´s new bride, that he himself drove into his arms, Pyare is in for a nasty shock, as he realizes the girl he is supposed to marry is not the one he´s been looking for. And it shall remain unknown to him for a long time after that still, that it was actually Jameela, a daughter of the priest, who now has found her home with Aslam, who too has fallen madly in love with her. Till now I was absolutely charmed. However as much as I loved the first half, that much I was shaking my head over the second. Yet again we deal with sacrificing love on the altar of friendship, a concept, as I understand, this movie actually made popular, however in this particular case it is all worse because one of the friends already married the girl in - and yet he still is trying to find way to to push his wife into somebody else´s arms. I was genuinely frustrated by the character of Aslam for doing everything stupid just to ensure his friend be happy, while in the process he is destroying himself AND the woman he loves, without giving her any explanation. Why is he so unable to tell his friend the truth, I might understand, but why he is equally as unable to share the secret with his wife? Especially after he must have realized she is not leaving him in spite of anything? The scene in which he tells her a story about a precious stone that a friend unknowingly gave him, in spite of wanting it himself, made me want to scream that this was no inanimate object he was speaking about, it was his own wife, and to compare her to a thing, no matter how precious, was just completely off-putting.

In the end I was seriously mad as selfish Pyare, for whom the whole world obviously needed to make a sacrifice, and I was rather miffled with Aslam, who goes nearly mental by the end of the movie. At the same time I did feel sorry for his plight, which I guess has a lot to do with Guru Dutt´s ability to portray a complete disintegration of a personality with such conviction. Johnny Walker as the third friend has way too much screen time for my liking, fortunately his character was not so completely over the top as usual, and so I could tolerate him. 

Waheeda Rehman is a stuff of legends. It was definitely not enough of her in this film, that ultimately is more about the two friends than love between husband and wife (which is a pity because her scenes of marital bliss with Guru Dutt were the highlight of the film for me), however she was an appropriate choice for a film like this, because apart looking as breathtaking as if she has just stepped out of the pages of a Tolkien´s book, she is one of the few actresses who just needs to be in the frame and she completely draws attention to herself and leaves audience in awe and wanting more, in other words exactly the kind of a woman that could make others fall in love at the first sight so passionately.

While the plot and the story were disappointing for me, the technical aspects of the film win some points, as already mentioned. Also - some of the scenes are just wonderful examples of love and romance. Aslam scaring his shy bride describing how hideous he is until she panics and throws the veil away from her face to look at him, when he finds her asleep by the door, waiting for him and carries her to her bed, even a little scene near the very end, when he stops her going into the room Pyare just died and silently draws a veil over her face, the very face which was the reason of that death – all that and more made me fall in love with the love Aslam and his wife shared. All I wanted was for Aslam to come to his senses, and after some impuls stand up for his love, rather then mope and making her suffer for the sake of a selfish friend. Yes, there was a scene like that, however unfortunately it did not lead to a finish I would have preferred. So did I like the film or not? Looking back I did, however I realized I pretty much erased all the scenes that made me fume with frustration from my memory. All that I remember and that I dearly love is the beauty - of the costumes, the sets, the music, Waheeda and her loving moments with Guru Dutt.

Mughal-E-Azam

Director: K.Asif

Starring: Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Nigar Sultana

Released: 1960

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

Once upon a time in India there lived a mighty and wise Emperor, who united the country and overcame the differences between the various religions, that had rooted in his country. He was known as Mughal-E-Azam, the Greatest of the Mughals, and his name was Akbar the Great. Seemingly having all, there was one thing he did not possess and no pearly, diamonds and other riches could ever buy it. Because Akbar the Great was childless. So the Emperor forgot all his pride and on foot he made a long pilgrimage to a sacred place, where he was assured his Queen Jodhaa would surely give a birth to a child. And indeed several months later Prince Salim was born into a golden cradle. However the love he had been given turned him into a spoilt and selfish person. For a long time his atrocities were being overlooked, but after he disgraced the sacred Scales of Justice, his father finally found the will to punish him. Sending him away from the palace, he ordered his son to be raised by soldiers on battlefields. For fourteen years Salim lerned and grew as a warrior, he gained respect and discipline.

The time came for him to return to his parents. After a grand welcome he is given a rather curious gift. A statue, at whose feet according to its maker a warrior will lay his sword, a king his crown and a person his heart. The beauty of the statue is truly breathtaking and Prince is deeply impressed. And looses his heart almost instantly, when the statue actually moves and says: „I´m not an angel. I´m a human being.“ With this sentence begins a story of Salim and Anarkali, that will almost destroy the future of the great Mughal empire...

Princes and maids never had it easy...

If there is any movie that can be labelled as „legendary“ it is without a shadow of doubt Mughal-E-Azam. Its breath-taking visual glory, moving and sensitive love story, excellent acting – everything is pure genius. The man of vision here was the perfectionist very much passionate about the project – K. Asif. This man was planning Mughal-E-Azam for almost sixteen years and the shooting itself lasted another nine. The story is based on a popular legend about turbulent young years of Emperor Nur-ud-din Salim Jahangir, that supposedly took place at the end of the 15^th century. It was not made into a film for the first time. In 1928 there was a movie called „Loves of a Mughal Prince“ and in 1953 it was „Anarkali“. However none of these can match up to the epic Mughal-E-Azam, into which so much effort, love and pain was invested. All you need to do is to look here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054098/trivia and you will understand some of the reasons why this film is extraordinary.

What to say about acting here? Every single one of the actors built a monument for themselves, be it the dignified Prithviraj Kapoor, charismatic Dilip Kumar or the eternally beautiful Madhubala. Add to it a wonderful music, enchanting costumes and sets, beautiful cinematography, script chisselled to perfection – what do you have? A timeless story on the verge of fairytale, but still realistic enough, that manages to charm even 50 years after it first came to the theaters. 

Salim and Anarkali - eternal lovers