I couldn’t resist this film when I saw it: Randhawa! I figured Dara Singh’s brother (and Mumtaz’s brother-in-law) would not star in a film that didn’t have men in tights wrestling with each other. I did not expect (and did not get) world-class acting, but I did hope for a fairly entertaining swashbuckler and enough large half-naked men grappling with each other to keep me happy. And in that, the film does deliver in spades. Randhawa is even more wooden than his brother (and somehow less charismatic), but he is equally excellent eye candy. The story is as cartoonish and silly as anyone could hope for, and the songs (by Anu Malik’s underrated father Sardar Malik) are oodles of fun. Madhumati and our beloved Laxmi Chhaya provide dancing entertainment—that in itself is worth the price of admission.
The film opens very promisingly, with an injured soldier riding hell-for-leather through the gates of a fortress.
He has a message for the King’s senapati (army chief):
But alas! The senapati is in cahoots with Sangram. The King is overthrown, although he manages to escape after a thrilling chase.
Sangram takes the throne and gets to work immediately oppressing his people.
Poor Tingu (sorry, but I don’t have a clue who most of these actors are) loses his sister to some lecherous soldiers, and his brave friend Raja (Randhawa) promises to help him get vengeance. More peasants are killed and threatened when they cannot pay their new taxes. The soldiers even take away their water pots!
We are constantly reminded that the soldiers are cruel, possibly because the filmmakers realized that they look more like buffoons than anything. In any case, the villagers quickly run to large, kind-hearted Raja for help. As the days pass, he interferes everywhere the soldiers go, thereby gaining Sangram’s attention—and wrath.
Sangram has a sister named Chandralekha (Parveen Choudhary). Parveen is one of those perennially second-fiddle actresses who always catch my attention; I think she’s very pretty in an unusual way.
Sangram ups the ante by increasing the size of his army. Lots more footage of paunchy men with cardboard helmets and swords making off with water pots ensues. The humanity! I wonder if water pots are all these poor villagers have? It would seem so. Some people try to hang on to theirs, resulting in brutal beatings.
Meanwhile, the traitorous senapati is trying to romance Chandralekha, without much success.
When he thrashes a small boy for stealing an apple, Raja and Tingu appear on the scene and stop him. Chandralekha isn’t nice to Raja either, but that doesn’t stop him from lecturing her.
Pretty soon Raja and Tingu are joined by other guys who want to keep their water pots: Balwant (some wrestler), Birju (Shyam Kumar), and Kalu (some other guy).
And so our five brave gems set out to restore peace and harmony to the kingdom. They are eventually aided by the return of the actual rightful King, who hides his true identity beneath an awesome shawl! I would kill to see it in color.
There is plenty of edge-of-your-seats action:
Raja makes stern speeches at Chandralekha until she can’t help but fall in love with him.
Madhumati channels Helen as only she can:
And the lovely Laxmi is at her wide-eyed best. If I’d seen it, this song would have made it into my last post! Can anyone identify the other dancer? Jeevankala or Aruna were others credited; and she kept up nicely with Laxmi, whoever she is (see how it all starts?). Here’s the song:
I don’t know why so much goodness is called a “B” movie. I think it’s just differently enabled.
MemsaabStory 