I am feeling the love for Rajesh Khanna (especially paired with Mumtaz) here these days. Better late than never! Apna Desh is total paisa vasool, as well. It’s two distinctly different but equally good films for the price (and viewing time) of one! The first is a solid social drama about corruption with a bit of romance thrown in; the second a totally crack-tastic masala film complete with disguises, blackface, fabulous outfits and sets, and two of RD Burman’s (and Asha Bhosle’s) most glorious songs.
Seth Dharamdas (Om Prakash) is a high-ranking politician who presents a pious and charitable face to the world.
In reality, however, he is corrupt and greedy, always scheming to make more money off the backs of poor people. He is assisted in these nefarious endeavours by Sevaram (Kanhaiyalal), a shop owner who dilutes his grains with stones and milk with water; and Satyanarayan (Madan Puri), a contractor who uses too much sand in his cement, causing his buildings to collapse pretty quickly, crushing children and the like.
They are not above murdering an employee who threatens to turn them into the police, either, and have a corrupt doctor in their pay who will attribute death to “natural” causes.
We hate them!
Luckily there are still good guys in the world: honest Aakash (Rajesh Khanna) and his equally honest brother Dinanath (Manmohan Krishna). Dinanath works for Dharamdas, and is completely fooled by his public facade. He is married with two children, and Aakash lives with them too. Aakash works for the city municipality, where he refuses all attempts to bribe him.
One day he meets a coconut vendor named Chanda (Mumtaz). When he goes to pay her for his coconut, he realizes that his wallet has been stolen. She doesn’t believe him.
“Loafer” is another of those Hinglish terms that I love, by the way. He gives her his watch as security and promises to pay her the next day, but that night Chanda’s drunkard of a brother (Satyendra Kapoor) takes the watch and sells it to buy liquor. Horrified, Chanda works extra long hours doing yucky odd jobs to earn the money for a new watch. When she gives the money to Aakash, he buys her a sari instead and their romance begins.
At work, Aakash runs afoul of Satyanarayan when he helps some slum dwellers whom Satyanarayan wants to displace illegally for a new building site. Satyanarayan gets him fired. Aakash’s friend Shambhu (Jagdeep—have I mentioned that I love Jagdeep? I feel sure I must have…) quits and leaves alongside him.
An old schoolmaster who hasn’t been paid in 10 months is thrown out when he goes to Dharamdas to plead for his and the other teachers’ salaries. Aakash finds him dying on the road, and takes him to the hospital but it’s too late. Incensed, Aakash goes to Dinanath’s house and overhears the three partners plotting another scam to rip off the poor.
He rips into them, but when he gets home he finds his brother very angry with him. Dharamdas has called Dinanath to complain about Aakash’s behavior, and Dinanath—still believing that Dharamdas is a good man—demands that Aakash apologize. Aakash naturally refuses, and Dinanath throws him out of the house.
Chanda finds him sleeping on a bench and takes him home to the basti with her. The slum dwellers convince him to run for elected office on their behalf. He does so, and wins, and then goes on to win Dharamdas’ chairman’s seat from him. He and Chanda get engaged.
Good times!
But Dharamdas and his cronies aren’t down for long. Aakash’s honesty is not appreciated by other corrupt politicians and he quickly loses the chairmanship.
Then Dinanath discovers Dharamdas’ true nature. He takes a briefcase containing a large sum of money and a very valuable temple necklace (which Dharamdas has stolen because nothing is sacred to that man) in order to return it all to the rightful owners. He manages to hide the briefcase just before Dharamdas and his men catch him and take him prisoner.
When Aakash discovers that his brother is missing, he knows that Dharamdas is at the bottom of it. He comes up with an elaborate plot to bring down Dharamdas, Sevaram and Satyanarayan—using their greed as bait, and with the help of Shambhu and Chanda. Hindi films really do not get any more entertaining than this. I’ve gone way overboard with screen caps, but believe me—I edited.
Aakash poses as a wealthy, vaguely middle-eastern gold smuggler. Shambhu is his assistant Ali Baba, and Chanda is his wife Madame Popololita.
His hospitality is lavish, and served up by girls in ballet dresses and Mary-Jane shoes.
He is an “international figure”…
as illustrated by all those telephones. And pretty much everything in his house is made of gold.
But not this sublime lamp with a “hidden” camera:
Madame Popololita is a Zsa Zsa Gabor-esque beauty:
We are all treated to one of RD Burman’s best songs ever, “Duniya Mein Logo Ko”:
Aakash and Popololita stage a breakup scene to further entrap Dharamdas. Her firangi Hindi accent is even more hilarious than mine (hers is also purposeful, unlike mine).
She seduces Dharamdas with another fabulous song, “Aaja O Mere Raja” while Shambhu keeps watch (now in blackface posing as her servant):
He steps in when necessary.
I could go on and on, but really you need to see this movie. Pictures alone cannot capture the true essence of its insanity.
Yup, I pretty much love Rajesh Khanna now.
MemsaabStory 