DESH DROHI {1980}

DESHDROHI {1980}





Directed By – PRAKASH MEHRA



Starring: Navin Nischol, Saira Banu, Rakesh Pandey, Pran, Ranjeet, Dev Kumar & Padma Khanna.



Music – Kalyanji Anandji



Genre- Mystery / Thriller

Memory of the film: I love Prakash Mehra’s films and for me his combo with Amitabh Bachchan was fantastic. But besides Big B – Prakash Mehra films {Post Zanjeer} there were few films which were good, but rest all were nowhere near the Super Combo films. After completing all Big B – Prakash Mehra combo films I started to watch other films by the maker {Post Zanjeer}, films like Hath Ki Safai, Jwalamukhi, Mohabatt Ke Dushman, etc. I along with many other my age friends had never heard about the film – Desh Drohi. It was some three four years back someone asked me about this film and I was totally zapped. Later I came to know that this was a Suspense Thriller and that too in early 80’s, and thus the hunt for this film started.

Hunt for the film: I asked almost all collector friends of mine about this film, sadly no one had it. Only few claimed that they had seen it when the film was released. After inquiring in India, Pakistan, Germany, UK, USA, Dubai etc I finally gave up for this film. But deep in heart wanted to see this film desperately just for a single reason – Prakash Mehra. Suddenly I came to know that a friend of mine in Mauritius has traced a VHS of this film. I contacted that friend who first refused to part with this film as had paid a heavy price for this film. But later agreed to share it with me, http://i52.tinypic.com/adozrs.jpg as he knew my mad passion of Hindi movie watching. It took some time to get hold of the film and when I got, for firs t time I dint waste any time and directly viewed it.

Impact in today's time: After Mammoth expectation and having watched all films of Prakash Mehra, initially was feeling bit odd while watching the film. The film was a Suspense Thriller {sadly someone had already revealed the Suspense to me earlier} and stuck to its theme from first shot till the end. It hardly went hay way in between, but the flow was bit slow and also the plot later resembled quite similar to S.Ramanathan’s ‘Dial 100’. Also the whole 70’s era style, lifestyle, etc dint blend with the backdrop of British era. Songs were nice but nothing in comparison with Mehra’s other flicks, still Kishore song along with a cabaret number impresses you. I was looking for Prakash Mehra’s unique style in the film and somewhere I found it lost in the film. But in the climax time I got to witness some unique stuff, the whole climax was shot in graveyard. Mehra gave the film bit of Ramsay type touch and created the whole Suspense-Mystery darker in the end. The visuals, Shots, Suspense were nice and still hold you to watch this film.

Mehra tried to capture the Victoria 203 pair in this film, but the pair lacked the chemistry it had in the earlier super hit film. Saira Banu looked bit old and the grace was missing. Navin Nischol did a decent job. Dev Kumar with his Fake Iron Hook hand reminded of all the Bond movies. Ranjeet, Asrani, Yunus Pervez, Madan Puri did their part. Pran in special appearance had some good get ups in the film. Padma Khanna’s cabarets were entertaining.

My Verdict – For all Prakash Mehra and Hindi Suspense Thriller fans , you got to see this film. Kalyanji Anandji’s musical score is also a reason for watching this film. For rest I guess let’s stick to Prakash Mehra - Big B combo only.