The general line of inquiry when an older film is appropriated for a new generation is an apoplectic “But how could they?” With Himmatwala, though, we’re more likely to wonder, “But why did they bother?” The sole cultural cachet of the 1983 blockbuster comes from its birthing the No.1 female star of the era. Otherwise, the film is an awful embarrassment, a compendium of bad-filmmaking clichés that we’ve worked hard over subsequent decades to forget (though one could argue that no one can easily erase from their mind those stiff-jointed dance routines, which played like Nazi rallies amidst earthenware). At least Farah Khan, whenever she references that era of cinema, toys with the tropes. She recognises them as kitsch, and she ups the ante by kitsching it up further, with a hefty wink. Sajid Khan, on the other hand, seems to be – heaven help us! – serious about the whole thing.
And when you remake, with all earnestness, a bad movie, how can you not end up making a bad movie? Khan is so determined to pay homage to his boyhood memories that he even sets his Himmatwala in 1983, and he recycles the melodramatic subplot involving the hero’s sister who is tortured by her husband and father-in-law. For added measure, he throws in an attempted rape, as if to remind us that, in those days, this was one of the reasons the hero had a sister. And then he spoofs the shower scene in Psycho, right down to the matching dissolve between the bathtub drain and the victim’s eye. Did I mention that there’s a tiger somewhere, which cannot seem to make up its mind whether to dine on hapless villagers or inflict divine retribution on villains who threaten these very villagers? The bewildered creature’s Hamlet-ish indecision – to devour or to defend, that is the question – may be the most touching thing Sajid Khan ever put on screen.
So once again we have Ravi (a joyless Ajay Devgn) walking into a village ruled by a despot (Mahesh Manjrekar, reprising Amjad Khan’s comic-villain routine, and taking it one level further with a joke about his pillow-soft buttocks). Once again, he tames a shrew (Tamannaah Bhatia, as unremarkable here as she is in her Tamil outings). And once again, he overcomes forces of evil. I perked up during a flashback when Ritesh Deshmukh, who plays Ravi’s friend, summons up a meta moment by suggesting that they watch Jeetendra’s Himmatwala. Imagine the possibilities. Ajay Devgn steps into a theatre to watch Jeetendra play the same character, and then, The Purple Rose of Cairo-style, Jeetendra steps out of the movie and begins to have a conversation with Devgan, as Sridevi looks impatiently at her watch, getting late for a Justice Choudhury schedule where she is to shoot the Mamma Mia Pom Pom number. But before any of this can happen, Deshmukh comes under a truck. It could have been worse. He could have ended up watching Himmatwala.
Copyright ©2013 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Hithesh
March 31, 2013
Well, would this qualify under the “take your friends to the movie and laugh at how bad the film making is”. ?
I was planning on going with a gang of friends and have a few laughs 😀
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venkatesh
March 31, 2013
Clearly you saw this film completely sober – how can you do something like that ? Fortify yourself appropriately and then approach the film i say.
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Nidhi
March 31, 2013
The number of people rooting for this film to flop is amusing. Have you seen Sajid’s interview with Rajeev Masand?
Masand looked like he wanted to hit Sajid on the head. Enjoy!
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Nidhi
March 31, 2013
Ok.. galti se mishtake ho gayi. 😀 This is the correct link
[removed]
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Raj Balakrishnan
March 31, 2013
Yes sir, well said. Why the hell did they bother to remake that rubbish. However, I would want to watch it only for naino me sajna and thaki re thaki. Have you seen shakti kapoor’s take on thaki in andaz apna apna. That was terrific.
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vijay
March 31, 2013
Himmatwala, really you are, for taking this one up head on.Glad though that you still managed to retain your sense of humor.
At the very least bad 80s movies had a couple of songs where you can sigh at a skimpy Sridevi or Jayaprada . Tamannah? Please.
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Srikanth Mantravadi
April 1, 2013
“Death of Kitsch” would also be a good title perhaps. 🙂
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Anu Warrier
April 1, 2013
*Grin*
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Bunny
April 1, 2013
Rangan, I thought you were huge fan of the “unfairly ostracized” masala movies of the ’80s.
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brangan
April 1, 2013
Hithesh: I doubt even inebriated friends could help make the experience more enjoyable 🙂
Bunny: Oh I am. But there’s a difference between good masala and bad masala, no? The Padmalaya films were the worst, and today whenever people trot out the “80s were the worst movie era” ever, I think they refer to these films for the most part.
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Nidhi
April 1, 2013
Facepalm .. excuse me while I go learn how to do copy-paste.
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Jerina
April 1, 2013
Ha ha ha…” But before any of this can happen, Deshmukh comes under a truck. It could have been worse. He could have ended up watching Himmatwala.” It’s at time like this that I don’t envy you your job.
But what makes me worried is that movies made by, excuse my language, “jokers” like Sajid Khan is that they are here to stay. People who read blogs like yours and other similar minded reviewers are still very very small when compared to the mass who enjoys these types. I remember trying to smother a yawn at a particular flat joke in Housefull 2 (and boy there were many. I need to think in leisure, why I even went for it) when I was roused by the loud guffaws from every one else around me. I was so shocked. And when this happened through out the movie, I was left with the sinking feeling that this was just the beginning. Look at the list after that…Rowdy Rathore, Singham, Son of Sardar, Khiladi 786 etc. (Shudder)
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Pranesh
April 1, 2013
Nidhi, Sajid Khan looks much more sincere and truthful than Rajeev Masand in that video.
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Apu
April 1, 2013
Awesome awesome review. The only redeeming fact about the movie is that it gave me a chance to read a review like this one. As usual, your humor is impeccable…still laughing!
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sai16vicky
April 1, 2013
BR how did you forget AVM ? They also had a major share of bad masala movies in the 80s.
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vikram
April 1, 2013
Excellent review_ the title and the Hamlet-like Tiger….awesome 🙂
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venkatesh
April 1, 2013
BR: “The Padmalaya films were the worst, ” – I am affronted by your effrontery. You see this :
and tell me that Padmalaya is not owed a huge debt of gratitude for bringing Her Highness Sridevi in this garb to hindi cinema and lets not forget Princess Jayapradha as well. I for one am waiting for Mawaali to be remade.
Nidhi: Thanks for that link , i am now a bona-fide fan of Sajid Khan, the person , not the movies. The person. He is absolutely clear about what he wants and how he goes about it. Brilliant.
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Nidhi
April 1, 2013
venkatesh, Pranesh: I don’t watch his movies, so I have no comment to make about them (and clearly they seem to be terrible re: review above) but he’s oozing arrogance in that video and I find it amusing . In any case, arrogance and sincerity aren’t mutually exclusive. 🙂 I mean, he probably sincerely believes that he is the only director with his finger on the pulse of his audience.
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venkatesh
April 1, 2013
Nidhi : Well, he has earned the right to be arrogant – look at his track record. And to be fair i don’t think he is being arrogant, he is just being very forthright about what he thinks his film will do and how much it will make. He might not make “good” movies but he is clear on what he is making , who his target audience is and what they can expect from his films. That to me is very commendable.
I wish more filmmakers were like that. Save me from the “Hamari film zara hatke hai” crowd.
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Anu Warrier
April 1, 2013
Nidhi, seconding the arrogance/double standards part of Sajid Khan. When he was hosting a show reviewing films, he tore down the very same genre that he is now endorsing as ‘what the people want’. Much what Khalid Mohammed did until he made Fiza and then realised that criticising films (with silly rhymes) and making sensible films are two different kettles of fish.
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Pranesh
April 2, 2013
Nidhi: Same here, I haven’t even heard of him, and I have watched one non-Aamir hindi movie in the last three years (Dabangg 2). But I have to agree with Jerina about the audience, they were laughing like mad at the jokes, and I had no idea why. Fortunately or not, these guys really have their finger on the pulse of the audience, and people like us are a tiny minority. I would kill to have his confidence and authority in my field! He guarantees x crores and seems to deliver it every time 🙂
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Hithesh
April 2, 2013
Time to take my enemies to a movie and walk out as the title cards roll in 😛
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Nidhi
April 2, 2013
@venkatesh and Pranesh ( “He guarantees x crores and seems to deliver it every time”)
Not this time, from the looks of it. Nobody can guarantee box office, not even Sajid Khan 😀
Anu: I have dozens of friends who became Sajid’s fans because of his tv show and turned on him after he started making films and became so smug. He answers this in the video though- that he is tired/scared of failure. Okay, go make terrible films and make money, but do you always have to be so annoying, man?!
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Shankar
April 2, 2013
So, somehow the South is responsible for all this! Earlier, it was the films made by the studios (Padmalaya etc.) and the export of buxom heroines and now it’s export of “punch” films…Rowdy Rathore, Singham, Priyadarshan factory etc! Rascala!! 🙂
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venkatesh
April 3, 2013
Nidhi: “Not this time, from the looks of it. Nobody can guarantee box office, not even Sajid Khan” – its not done yet – lets wait and watch. I do like him though , he is fine in my books.
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Pranesh
April 3, 2013
Nidhi: Yeah, looks like he didn’t strike gold this time. Never thought I would follow Hindi box office collections and all.
One positive takeaway is that actresses like Tamannah won’t “step down” to do more Tamil films, after acting in Bollywood and all.
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Rahul
April 3, 2013
This sounds like the philosophy of Heraclitus – no one can step in the same river twice – because the river is constantly flowing and changing itself.
Heraclitus’ non- corollary for the Indian box office – no one can make a 100 crore film using the same formula twice – because the audience is constantly evolving.
p.s. non – corollary = the corollary that could have been but didn’t.
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meera
April 3, 2013
Any thoughts on ebert?
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venkatesh
April 5, 2013
RIP Mr. Ebert.
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