Qurbani Review

Having watched this recently I thought i'd write a post about why this film is possibly one of the greatest reasons why you dont fuck with people in the 1970's. One of the best masala films of all time, Qurbani blended together some great, if amusing action, some romance, friendship and a case of the worst road rage ever filmed. The opening funk filled credits are typical of the time zooming over explosion filled screens reminding us why Kalyanji-Anandji were one of a kind in music direction.

Our villains of the piece open the film up, when Rakka (Amrish Puri with hair) refuses to drop charges against his ex-wife's (Jwala - Aruna Irani) brother, Vikram (Shakti Kapoor) after he tried to kill him in retaliation for seducing Jwala and taking all her wealth. Not a very nice guy is he Rakka - he's also not nice to a crippled beggar who tried to clean his car. BUT - all is okay, the beggar gets righteous assistance in the form of hairy chest exposing all round bad ass action dude - Rajesh (Feroz Khan). Why? Because he wears his shirt open to his waist, a medallion round his neck AND a cravat! After trashing Rakka's car he's off to see his girl....the luscious and oh so sexy Sheela (Zeenat Aman) picturising a song that needs no introduction - Nazia Hassan's Aap Jaisa Koi, music by Biddu.

At 16 years old Nazia Hassan's career started here with this song. Known as the sweethart of Pakistan, she passed away on August 13th 2000 from lung cancer aged 35. Along with this song and Boom Boom, she was the reason I got into music of this era. She is sorely missed and will always be remembered.

Rajesh is a professional thief, an occupation he keeps hidden from Sheela for obvious reasons and after being captured by Inspector Amjad Khan, is sent to jail. I have to mention the fight scene between Rajesh and Amjad, although they lack any kind of fighting skills and the obvious presence of trampolines below the view of the camera, this does not stop this fight from being both amusing and exciting. Amjad Khan makes a pretty useless role into a memorable one and the film subsequently revived his career. The banter between both of the Khans are a joy to watch and very amusing. The second hero of the piece is Amar (Vinod Khanna), who lays some serious indian kung fu to some thugs harassing the lovley Sheela in a cafe - while carrying his cute daughter on his shoulder. WTF?! Rajesh and Amar become best friends, and show this by touching, hugging and winking at each other....a lot...and eventually overcome the evil of Jwala and her psychotic brother. The ending was both touching and satisfying. Amar dying and reaching out to his dost Rajesh without a single word being uttered....well it made me a have a lump in my throat and eyes a tad watery.

The whole movie is tight and the story flows quite nicely along, and is refreshing to watch a film that does not involve family melodramatics. Having a caused some controversey with Zeenat Aman in a skimpy bikini running out of the sea, man, see some of the stripper shows now! I have the greatest of admiration for Feroz Khan for producing a film that respects the maturer audience and delivers a fast paced, slick, fun action movie. Only he can produce a film that has both class AND cheese. Each role has presence and character, and its this character which I think is sorely missing in modern Bollywood. You try and replicate this film with a modern cast, there's no way it would hold up. The script has some cracking and poingant lines that still hold up today. The only donwside to the film are some of the comic relief moments, although welcoming, are not as funny, but slightly annoying. The soundtrack ranks as one of the best, each song is a classic and to this day are still fondly remembered by all. The favourite for me is Laila, possibly the best introduction with its crescending drum beats to Kanchans vocals.

The highlight for me though was the worst case of road rage mentioned at the start, where Vikram is blocking the road talking to Rajesh. Amar by typical Bollywood coincidence behind blowing the horn wanting to get past. Vikram obviously doesn't like this and curses at him. Remember when I said you dont screw with guys from this era, well what happens as a result is Amar shoving Vikram through every window of his car. Nice.

I was brought up with this film, I continue to watch this film every year at least twice and will continue to do so and I will even force my kids one day to watch this! It contains my favourite singer, my favourite song and my favourite music director. Mr Feroz Khan - I salute you!

Memorable quotes:

"Shut up you bastaaaard.."

"Am I following you, or are you follwing me!!!???"

"Well you certainly arent God, and are not acting like a man, and Im not afraid of the devil"

"Helloooo Sheela, kya sex hai teri awaz, sexy body, sexy le..."..."BASTARD...mere bhi kya khayal hai...DO YOU FIND ME SEXY?!"