Sunday, July 22, 2001		On the sands of time

1975: Year that produced cinematic gems
M.L. Dhawan

GULZAR’S Aandhi created a political storm for borrowing sheafs from Indira Gandhi’s life. The film showed its heroine Suchitra Sen coming to her constituency to fight an election. Hell breaks loose when she is espied at a deserted place with the owner of a hotel, Sanjeev Kumar, who plays her estranged husband. Opposition parties blew up the issue to make political capital, but finally truth triumphs and she wins.

The Yash Chopra-directed Deewar revolved around two brothers, Shashi Kapoor, an honest cop, and Amitabh, an outlaw, anti-social element. When Amitabh flaunted his ill-gotten wealth and taunted Shashi, "Kya hai tumhare paas? ", Shashi was quick to point out, "Mere paas maa hai." Salim-Javed were at their best in the film.

In Gulzar’s Mausam, a repentent doctor, Sanjeev Kumar, atoned his sins by not only rescuing ‘his’ daughter, a prostitute, from a brothel, but by bringing her back into the mainstream of society.

In Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay, Sanjeev Kumar—the policeman-thakur with an iron will, controlled rage, furious demeanour, smouldering eyes and missing arms — played a pivotal role. The scene-stealer, Amjad Khan, as the tobacco-chewing Gabbar Singh, became the most dreaded character ever created in Hindi films so far.

Shyam Benegal’s Nishant delved into one of the oldest problems — casteism. But the real issue in the film was not that one caste oppresses another. It was more about attitudes which resist change. Dusky, different and dynamic, Smita Patil displayed good histrionics.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Mili was the tragedy of terminally ill Jaya Bhaduri, who despite her ailment, succeeded in reforming an angry young man, Amitabh Bachchan, who was at war with himself and the world at large and suffering for the sins of his parents.

Dharmatama, inspired by Hollywood’s Godfather, was a blockbuster. Every frame of the film spoke volumes about the style and panache of Feroze Khan as a film-maker. Prem Nath performed his career’s best.

Singer Sulakshana Pandit got the Filmfare Best Playback Singer (female) award for rendering Tu hi saagar hai tu hi kinara in Sankalp.

In Rajshri Productions’ Tapasya, Rakhee gave a heart-wrenching, soul-stirring and tear-jerking performance as a devoted, dedicated daughter who sacrifices her all to bail out her family from dire straits.

In Jai Santoshi Maa, Satyavati, a devotee of Goddess Santoshi, was severely tested by three envious Goddesses. Goddess Santoshi came to the rescue of her devotee. Her fury makes the envious trio see reason. As a mark of respect to the Goddess, audiences removed their footwear outside cinema halls that screened the movie.