I don’t feel much like writing these days so will share more of Filmindia magazine (the September 1958 issue) and Baburao’s particular brand of wit.
I absolutely love the covers on these magazines.
Poor Sulochana gets a couple of snide remarks (but I love how young she looks!):
His caption here:
Experience makes a woman’s face and vision broader. She gets more thought and thought always expands because there is fire in thought. But this expansion of Jupiter spoils the original design of Venus and a sweetheart soon begins to look like a mother. Let us see what Sulochana is thinking about in “Chhupi Police”, a detective yarn produced by Filmdom.
Not so fond of children, either, is he?
And this caption just cracks me up (especially the end of it):
Love this color ad for one of my favorite films of all time!
And again I find it necessary to say: WHY is this not on DVD? WHY????
Part of one of his more scathing reviews:
“Hum Bhi Kuchh Kam Nahin”, A Nightmare!
Pedestrian Presentation Of Overchewed PlotFilmistan’s “Hum Bhi Kuchh Kam Nahin” is perhaps one of the most idiotic pictures ever produced anywhere in the world. Hideous like a nightmare and incoherent like a lunatic’s raving, it is a telling torture for the picturegoer and a disgrace for the Indian film industry. It is also a crime in these days of severe raw film shortage to waste raw film in this manner…
The production values are disgustingly shabby. The sets are crude and ugly and unimaginative. The photography is erratic. The sound recording is far from satisfactory. The music is awfully dull. The dialogue is generally nonsensical. As to the direction, this picture does not seem to have been made with the help of a director at all…
In short, “Hum Bhi Kuchh Kam Nahin” is a stupid, rotten and disgraceful picture. It is a torture that must be avoided. It is a picture that will lose money for the most stouthearted exhibitor.
He (mostly) likes Zimbo, though, especially Pedro the Ape Bomb: I’m beginning to think that Baburao was a reviewer I would have trusted completely!
“Zimbo”, A Fair Escapist Fare
Crude But Colourful Presentation Of Tarzan Stuff
Handsomely photographed in Gevacolor, produced on a rather lavish scale and crammed with thrills, buffoonery, simian antics, human intrigues and quite a few…specimens of the Indian fauna, the picture, without being specifically intended to be so, is a nice children’s film. It can also appeal to adults who can tolerate logic being thrown overboard, be patient with some of the usual stupidities of Indian films and appreciate the epidermis of Chitra, the heroine, who displays a pretty pair of legs and round smooth shoulders. “Zimbo” of course could be much more sensible and much more thrilling but as it is, it is not bad…
The production values of the picture are quite impressive. The sets, except in places, are colourful and serviceable. The colour photography is uniformly good though the colours are screaming in places. It is however, one of the chief attractions in the picture. The sound is fairly well recorded. The dialogue is rather stupid. The music, blatantly hybrid, is pleasant enough in places. The direction on the whole does a good job of packaging juvenile entertainment…
There is little to be said about acting in this picture, Azad as Zimbo makes an acceptable if not very impressive prototype of Tarzan. Chitra as Leela proves quite a good looker in Gevacolor and air-conditioned costumes. B. M. Vyas as Biharilal seems to do as well as the role would allow. The rest deserve to be ignored except the chimpanzee who is the most entertaining in the whole cast…
This all leads me to wonder why Shemaroo’s VCD of this film is in black and white? What is WRONG with Indian video manufacturers?
MemsaabStory 