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Saturday, May 31, 2008

Khel Khel Mein (1975)

The cute boy in Bobby went to college, found love and fell right in the middle of a Hitchcockian mystery thriller! Thats a one-line summary of Khel Khel Mein (All in play) but it doesn't even begin to tell you how awesome this teen thriller is. I have just finished watching it and am still under the spell of R. D. Burman's music and Rishi-Neetu's cuteness!
Ajay (Rishi Kapoor) is new in college and falls prey to the class dude Vicky's (Rakesh Roshan) practical jokes. Matters soon come to a head and the two have a free-for-all in the college canteen. Having cleared the air with some well-aimed punches, the two become fast friends. Ajay begins to hang out with Vicky and his friend Nisha (Neetu Singh).

Being the smart lad that he is, Ajay soon figures out that Nisha is the light of his eyes and the moon of his nights. The lovelorn youth makes various attempts to convey his heartfelt sentiments to the his beloved but is unable to utter the three magic words - I Love You. Nisha finally steps up and does the job. Their love is joy to behold - it finds expression in the best love duet in moviedom!
Didnt know love could be expressed in head-shakes?
Vicky is happy for his friends but doesnt let their new-found feelings for each other interfere with their practical jokes. For their latest joke, they write to the miserly jeweller, Ghanshyamdas (Janakidas), threatening to kill him unless he pays up Rs 50,000 to the "Black Cobra". To the trio's surprise, the intimidated Ghanshyamdas leaves the money at the place appointed in the letter.
Faced with an unearned fortune, their first instinct is to return the money. But Vicky thinks that returning Rs. 50,000 to its rightful owner is a delicate task and calls for a subtle approach. They decide to sleep on the problem but the morrow brings trouble - Ghanshyamdas has been murdered during the night and the police suspect that the murderer is the writer of their extortion note! The police are scouring the town for the typewriter that typed the note and the friends worry that Nisha's typewriter may falsely implicate them in murder.
Their practical joke has landed them bang in the middle of a mystery-thriller that Hichcock might have envied and they are absolutely clueless! From here on things get more tangled and the hapless trio get sucked deeper into murder - they are followed by a mysterious stranger, people around them start getting murdered and the police gets uncomfortably close to implicating them in this frightening round of murder and extortion.
I cant tell you anymore without ruining the suspense. Suffice it to say that the d'enouement is satisfyingly surprising and climactic.
Reasons to watch the movie:
1. Very high cuteness quotient - did I mention how cute Rishi-Neetu were?
2. Great thrill value - didnt know how frightening graveyards can be? Rishi-Neetu and the mysterious stranger will enlighten you. Cant remember when the tabla was used to scarify before, to such good effect!
3. The fashions - from Rakesh Roshan's lovely cross-on-a-chain to Lalita Pawar's shorts and the trio's great costumes, the movie is a veritable fashion delight. From beautiful to fugly - you get them all!
4. The songs - Humne tumko dekha, Haaye din pyaar ke aaye, Ek main aur ek tu, Khullam khulla pyaar karenge, Sapna mera tut gaya - bouncy and fun numbers that you can still dance to. RD rocks!
Reasons not to watch the movie:
1. I am thinking about it...
2. Nope, cant come up with any!

7 comments:

  1. Ooh, this looks fab! "...cleared the air with some well-aimed punches..." LOL!

    OMG look at Rakesh Roshan's crosses. And look how young he looked!

    Love Rishi's hair in the fistfight pic. Why didn't he let it fly free? Hmm.

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  2. Look at Rakesh Roshan's WIG!

    This does look most excellent :-)

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  3. Ooh, canary yellow suit + fake mustache=ajnabi loving this movie already!

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  4. @ppcc: Not sure why Rakesh was wearing a cross. It was the only overt religious symbol in the movie. And Hindi movies have really rigid codes about cross wearing - cross=Christian. Maybe it implied that Rakesh was playing a Christian character! And yes, Rishi's hair rivaled Shashi's at their curly best!! :-)

    @memsaab: I havent seen young Rakesh Roshan for a long time and had forgotten that he was the only Bollywood leading man (that I know of) who always wore wigs!

    @ajnabi: The fashions were super as I mentioned. I went mad taking screen caps! :-)

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  5. I love it!
    I honestly think Rakesh was just making a madly-attempted fashion statement -:D heeh

    On a completely disconnected note- I've just realised my staff sitting across from me this v moment, though of CHinese extraction looks like the spitting image of a young Rakesh Roshan- I'm a bit scared. Rofl.

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  6. Hi Bollyviewer,
    Don't know how I could not have come before and read your insane comments on all those carefully selected caps! Great work! It's a swell thing you made me remember you! Now I'll definitely adopt your "cuteness-quotient" criterion in the future!!
    cheers

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  7. Shweta are you sure its "madly-attempted" and not "badly-attempted" fashion statement?!! Re your colleague - Rakesh was one of the good guys here so you dont need to be worried about his look-alike either! ;-)

    Yves, thanks for stopping by and I am glad you enjoyed my caps. Maths and Movies do seem to have a lot in common: the cuteness quotient, the co-efficient of hotness, and the beauty constant!

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