Films on Crime Reform

This movie made in 1957 was departure from V Shantaram's usual style of making films. But it made such raves that it was being appriciated world wide. The film is a message based and the message it conveys is termed modern even today. The message is about the reform of the criminals that fill the jails all across the country and talks about the human sides of the law breakers. It's something Kiran Bedi tried with the Tihar jail criminals and her work had won her many prizes and recognitions. I am sure somewhere down the line this movie must have motivated and inspired the 'iron lady' of India to bring about such a reform. After all it reflects the human side of all the 'humans' even if they are hard core criminals.

The movie is about a jailer played by V. Shantaram who wants to reform the lives of six criminals. These are not just any criminals but are charged with brutal murders. The jailor takes them to a barren land and the only aim of their lives is to turn the land into lush green Eden. Thus begins the jailor's experiment with these outlaws and the battle he has to undergo to keep them working. He is faced with a lot of opposition from his seniors, but his faith in the human spirit makes him take that risk. Very soon his efforts turn fruitful with the six of the criminals growing vegetables and fruits from what was once a barren land.

The only female element of this movie is Sandhya. She's a toy seller and many a times a victim of the criminals' eve-teasing. There is a lot of gaanaa-bajana whenever she's around but in the end, after the jailer dies, she seems to carry his dream forward. There isn't any romantic element involved but the movie doesn't have any dull moments at all. Infact the scenes are inacted so well that one truely understands what film making is all about. And yes the songs of the movie add value to all the characters especially the 'Aye Maalik tere bande hum' song extends the jailors view to be that of a wish from heavens.

SOME EXCEPTIONAL SCENES: There is lot of ill filling between the six of them when the jailor decides to let a son of one of the criminals stay with them. And there is a lot of fight between the criminals and other people who despise of them, not because they are criminals but because they are able to sell their vegetables at a lower cost. Again there's one scene when a blind mother comes to see her crimial son and blesses the jailor for letting them meet. But she is too poor to pay back the jailor. So she gives him a little sweet she had brought with her. This particular gesture exemplifies her faith in the jailor and her faith in his mission even more.

THE BEST SCENE: Towards the end of the movie the jailor learns that all the six criminals are lying unconscious and that they are about to be attacked by a a raging bull. He fights the bull single handedly and eventually succumbs to the injuries he sustains in the battle. Now here is one person who gives away his life for people who are charged with murders. This for sure can turn even the brutal, inhumane criminal into a caring and loving human being.

Last but not the least you cannot miss the unusual style of Sandhya's dancing. It gave yet another unusual angel to a topic which was not so usual in those days.

DO AANKHEN BARAH HAAT:This is one is a true epic. The symbolism of Do aakhen of the jailer and barah haath of the six criminals is brought about wonderfully. It's the eyes of the jailer that those twelve hands of those six hoodlums fear the most. The scene when all of them run away, but eventually each one them returns back because of the fear of the eyes of the jailer that brings them back to the farm again. It's surprising to know that all six of them are afraid of only one man, they could have run away easily, even killed him. But the faith of the jailer in them is so deep that they dare not betray him. 'Mujshe tumpe bahrosa hain' is the single line that changes there lives forever.

Do Aakhen Barah Haath sure could have won an oscar had it been made in recent times. But I think it's good that it didn't, for it is beyond any awards!!

Karma (Hindi:कर्मा) is a 1986 Bollywood film directed by Subhash Ghai and featuring an ensemble cast including Dilip Kumar, Nutan, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor,Naseeruddin Shah, Sridevi and Anupam Kher. The film reunites Subhash Ghai and Dilip Kumar after the success of their last film together Vidhaata (1982). The film also marked the first time Dilip Kumar was paired with veteran actress Nutan.

When Jailer Vishwa Pratap Singh (Dilip Kumar) slaps captured terrorist Dr. Michael Dang (Anupam Kher), he does not realize he has re-shaped his life forever. Soon after his two sons, (Shashi Kiran, Satish Kaul), and daughter-in-law (Beena) are mercilessly killed by Dang's army of men who set Dang free from prison. Vishwa Pratap Singh's only surviving youngest son (Jugal Hansraj) is crippled and his wife, Rukmani (Nutan) loses her vocal cords from the shock of losing her two sons.

Now calling himself Dada Thakur, he is determined to get revenge on Dang and recruits three notorious prisoners on death-row, Baiju Thakur (Jackie Shroff), Johnny/Gyaneshwar (Anil Kapoor), and a former terrorist Khairuddin Chishti (Naseeruddin Shah) to assist him in his private war against Dang. However, Dada Thakur does not realize that his army of three have only agreed to join him, so that they could enjoy freedom.The movie starts with Din Dayal(Ajit) who is supposedly an honest rich man and a clean-hearted guy.However all this is a facade as he is a terror called LION in the world of crime.He is the man under whom black-marketing,smuggling and robberies flourish.No-one has an idea about his evil

deeds.Not even his close friend I.G.P.N.Khanna(Prem Nath).Khanna is very worried at the sorry state of affairs in the city and state.He requests the government to bring back Inspector Prabhakar(Shatrughan Sinha) to the city as he is an honest and fearless cop.Prabhakar comes to town and starts cracking on the criminals with an iron hand.Prabhakar is a widower who has 2 small children.Besides them I.G.Khanna loves him like his own son and treats the children as his grandchildren.After making substantial raids Prabhakar comes to know that Din Dayal is a corrupt man and a demon for the society.He plans to spill the beans infront of everyone but is killed by Din dayal's men. Khanna is heart broken and he loses hope in life Due to a friend(David) he comes to know that there is a ferocious prisoner KALICHARAN Shatrughan Sinha)in a jail who resembles Prabhakar.Khanna visits him but finds him a beastly figure.Still in an attempt to trace the criminals he gets

him released and takes him to a hill station where he attampts to transform him.But Kalicharan is a tough nut to crack.However after sometime it is Prabhakar's sister who wins the heart of the fugitive.Kalicharan was in prison as he had murdered the people who had raped his sister.He was still in search of the main culprit Shetty(Shetty) who was a fellow shooter with Kalicharan in a circus but wanted to enrope his talent in killing a man.Kalicharan makes peace with Khanna and slowly but steadily transforms into a police inspector.He manages to win the heart of Sapna(Reena Roy) and even the kids of Prabhakar accept him as their father.He finds the truth behind the Prabhakar's murder and brings Din Dayal to the hands of law.In the process he manages to win friend like Shaaka(Danny Denzongpa) and eliminate his old enemy Shetty..Kalicharan also gave Shatrughan Sinha's carrier a major leap and he made the transition from a popular villain to a popular hero effortlessly.Such a transition is virtually imposible in Hindi cinema and barring Vinod Khanna no-one has been able to do this except Shotgun.Kalicharan is out and out a Shatrughan Sinha movie.He surprises plays the part of Prabhakar with amazing self-restraint and underplays it. It is a rare performance from the otherwise loud-mouthed actor,perhaps the only other performance where he has underplayed himself is in Shaan.Infact

the concept of hiring a sharp shooter of a circus for a murder again reappeared in Shotgun's role in Shaan.However if Kalicharan is Shatrughan Sinha's best performance it is due to his portrayal of Kalicharan.Ghai gives him ample scope to go loud mouth,speak amazing dailogues and earn the sympathy and love of audience as a fugitive turned honest man.Shatrughan Sinha should owe his carrier as a hero to Kalicharan. Following Kalicharan Ghai and Sinha again teamed alongwith Prem nath and Reena Roy in Vishwanath which was although a hit but not in the same league as Kalicharan.Another high point of this movie is that Shatrughan Sinha-Reena Roy pair which became a front-benchers favourite in the 80-s. But I take this opportunity to say that Kalicharan would not been the same if Ajit was not there.As LOIN-thats the way he pronounces LION and should be held responsible for making millions of Indians pronounce the word wrongly,Ajit simply blazes the screen.He is at his villainy best and it is undoubetdly one of the most famous villanous roles of all time.It is interesting to see the portrait of young Ajit-which was from his earlier movie Dharti-beaing hung in his drawing room.The dailogue-''saara Shahar Mujhe LOIN ke naam se janta hai'' is still popular.The concept of LION being mistaken for NO17 is also great.I guess Ghai should have repeated Ajit in Vishwanath instead of making Prem nath the main villain.Prem Nath is at his best in Kalicharan.The actor who was famous for hamming and going over the top acts in a very dignified manner and became a Ghai fav.He starred in Vishwanath,Gautam Govinda and Karz later..Danny shines in a cameo.David is adequate and Shetty is menacing.The action sequences are first rate but the temple sequence and the fight between Shatru and Danny stand out.Infact the fight between Shatru and Danny were copied years later in Lal-Badshah.The background score is great and the movie is very well shot.The music is hummable and ''Jaa Re Jaa'' is one of the most famous songs of that era.It now re-appears as a popular remix.Its interesting to note that although Ghai made a winning team with Laxmikant Pyarelal,it is Kalyanji-Anandji who gave the hit score in Kalicharan.Ghai's fascination of vague villains which became a trademark of his in later movies also began with his debut where we have strange looking guys as Ajit's henchmen.

Shatrughan Sinha later tried to repeat the magic of Kalicharan in Dhokebaaz where again he starred in a dual role but the movie flopped badly.It was sad for Sinha that Ghai after making the first 3 movies of his like with him never worked again with him.The last movie of the combination was Shashi-Shatru flop Gautam-Govinda and that marked the end of the team.It is a strange co-incidence that after that movie Karz came and Ghai became a Top director from a Hit director.This was repeated with Sinha when Rakesh Roshan broke his team with the actor even after delivering 2 super-hits Khudgarz and Khoon Bhari Maang and later became a top slot director.Too bad for Sinha.Still if one watches Kalicharan one gets to know that Shatru was really different in his hey days.