Deewar [1975]

Thoughts on a wall on Mother’s Day

Growing up in Bombay as a small kid in the 1970s meant knowing your Sholay [1975] and Deewar. I had allegedly seen Sholay, but I couldn’t remember a single frame of it. It is quite possible that this was again a trick by my siblings to console me since they often went to films without me. After all who would like a eight years younger brother tagging along. I never had a chance to see Deewar. All the same I think I knew all the dialogues of both the films. One just couldn’t escape them. One thing all the same always rankled me that I hadn’t seen Deewar, this fact was remedied by the post on Parveen Babi, where in the comment section, pacifist provided me with the link to the movie (bless her!).

In this post, I will just write down some thoughts to this landmark film and not write much about the story, I think many of my readers know it. If some don’t, Anu has given an excellent (nearly frame to frame) narration of the plot on her blog. Good insight in the film has also been provided by Philip Lutgendorf and at Upperstall. All three articles make good reading.

Possible Spoilers Ahead

 

Happy Birthday, Parveen!

My ten favourite Parveen Babi songs

Parveen Babi would have turned 63 today (4th April). She was a wonderful actress and a beautiful one at that. Born in Junagadh, Gujarat, she made her film-debut with Charitra [1973] opposite the cricket player Salim Durrani (is he related to G. M. Durrani, the singer?). I couldn’t find any video from Charitra but here is a song and here another one from her second film Dhuen Ki Lakeer [1974] opposite Ramesh Arora. Both the films flopped but she got noticed and had her major hit with Amitabh starrer Majboor [1974]. From then on there was no looking back. She not only had looks and sex-appeal but also good acting skills. If it were not for her impulsiveness and her illness, she would have reached heights, which other actresses could only have dreamt of. Instead she got reduced to playing the seductress and heroines in multistarrers like Shaan [1980], Do Aur Do Paanch [1980], The Burning Train [1980] and Mahaan [1983] or playing bit roles in Kranti [1981] and Razia Sultan [1983]. Nonetheless she left a big impression on the viewers and is still remembered for her mesmerizing looks and fabulous screen-presence.

I won’t go on about her sad end to her life and other tragic details of her life. These things can be read about in internet. Here is a post dedicated to this exceptional actress. Ten of her solo songs, which I like. Enjoy!