Great Indian Movies - LOHA . Review on Loha

Loha. Iron. Chemical Formula Fe. Atomic number 26 . A heavy ductile magnetic metallic element; is silver-white in pure form but readily rusts; used in construction and tools and armament; plays a role in the transport of oxygen by the blood.

Loha. Bollywood Potboiler. Released 1987. Formula - 3 heroes, 3 half clad heroines. 2 villains. 1child artiste. One attempted rape. A heavy dose of action, drama, tragedy and some unintentional comedy; was multi-colour in original form but has rusted over the last 20 years. If watched without caution, plays a role in restricting the transport of oxygen by the blood.

Why did I watch it anyway? Well, I had no other option. I had recently been to the rural areas of Bihar – my home state for a function. And since the Air Deccan is yet to fly there, I had to travel inside a ‘Video Coach’ on the dusty kuchcha roads. Since I had my own family traveling with me along with a few other ladies(FYI -In common lingo, even a single female is called ‘ladies’ in North India), we had the privilege of occupying the front seats. No sooner had we settled down in our seats and the journey started, the hammer effect of LOHA started right above my head.

As soon as I realized that it was LOHA, my memory went back 20 years when the posters of Hindi potboilers regularly screamed titles like ‘Jeene Nahin Doonga’, ‘Doodh ka karz’, ‘Chudail ka aataank’ and had guns totting heroes and cleavage revealing heroines popping out of it. The heroes weren’t named Raj or Rahul. Nor were heroines named Simran or Tia or Jia or whatever. I also recalled that this movie was also in the news because of Shashi Kapoor’s son Karan Kapoor’s firangi looks and accent. Leave aside Dharamender and Shatrughan Sinha who managed to carry their pot bellies tucked inside leather jackets. But I remembered the movie was a decent hit when it was released. So, my curiousity raised and I sat straight to enjoy the movie for the next 3 hours.

I won’t give you the storyline because I had several naps in between and lost track of it. But here is what its all about. Dharam paaji is hired to rescue kidnapped passengers of a bus. The demand of the kidnapper’s sardar(Shera – played by Amrish Puri who lives in his den which seemed like the rented accommodation provided by an ageing Gabbar Singh) is that the police release 25 prisoners who are ‘Shera ke aadmi’. The bus passengers also include a saree clad Mandakini with a blouse underneath.

Elsewhere, we have a widower Qasim played by Shotgun Sinha who has a teenage son(played by masoom Jugal Hansraj) and having a shady past. He is tracked down by Dharam Paaji in the process of the master plan to rescue the kidnapped passengers. Karan Kapoor in a cowboy look joins them soon and the trio is on their way to a Arnold Shwarzenegger  starrer ‘Predator’ inspired rescue operations. Somehow, Qasim’s lad is also dragged into a dungeon by Shera’s aide Kader Khan. The deal is simple – Give us ALL the 25 prisoners or pay with the price of your son. Somehow, the trio manages to dupe the jailors and havaldaars and slips into the jungle with ALL 25 of the khatarnaak qaidis in chains. I said WOW!, if we had such brave soldiers in our country we would already have all our 1971 Prisoners of War(POWs) back in their homes.

So, inspired by our own old classic ‘Do aankhein Baarah haath’, the trio carries the 25 through the jungles on their way to Shera’s den. In between, Madhavi and Mandakini in Jiah Nishabd Khan kind knickers join the men too. Don’t ask me how and why. They bathe in the waterfalls. They dance to keep the 25 bhookhe darindes intact. With a lot of hardships, they finally manage to reach Shera’s den. If you are still eager to know what happens in this nail biting, heart wrenching emotional drama, you have two options: Contact me on M2M to get the details of the bus I traveled in so that you can also travel in the same ‘Video Coach’ and watch it for your eyes only. Or, rent a DVD/VCD at home this Sunday and watch the bewildered look on the VCD/DVD shop owner on why on earth you would like to watch it at all!

Performances

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Dharam Paaji: He is in great form. Just watch him mouth the kutte kameene dialogues with utmost ease. The He-man unfortunately dies in the end(sorry for the spoiler for those who are keen to take my advice to watch this flick!).

 Shatru Bhaiyya: Ah! Apna Bihari Babu. With his 9:15 clocked moustache in place and trademark gesticulations, he gives you a delightful performance.

 Karan Kapoor: He had quite a fan following when this movie was released. His Tom Alter kind dialogue delivery would give you a feeling of watching a firangi actor in dubbed version of a Hollywood flick. But he entertains you well.

 Mandakini and Madhavi: They are mere props. Cutting down on costumes, they saved a lot of money for the producers. Madhavi – oh what a waste after that great performance in ‘Ek duje ke liye’. Mandakini – she was dating Dawood around the same time this movie was released. Alas! Her potential remained untapped. She couldn’t reveal more of herself. Dawood should also be charged with snatching away one of the most challenging heroines of bollywood.

Amrish Puri and Kader Khan: **The bad men. Lecherous. Dangerous. They are all what you expect out of a villain in apna bollywood of 80s.

Direction

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Raj N. Sippy . A ‘B’ grade Manmohan Desai. No relation with the Sippys of the Sippy Films. He made some of the movies with Big B too like ‘Satte Pe Satta’. LOHA was one of his few hits in his career.

Thanks for reliving the golden…ooops.sorry, the ‘iron-ical’ era of the Indian cinema. You can go ahead and book your tickets for a ‘Tara Rum Pum’ and enjoy the feel good factor and let this iron-ical classic rust in peace.