IMTIHAN

Stars:Vinod Khanna,Tanuja and Bindu
Genre:Drama
Year: 1974
Released in May 1974,IMITHAN features one of Vinod Khanna's best performances.Its a pity he didn't get more roles like this to play and played tough guy macho roles in most of his movies.I am sure if he had done(or got) more roles like these he would have been a much popular actor than he actually ended up being.This movie came at a time when Khanna was making a transition from playing villians and supporting roles to leading man in movies and some of the films he got to play the hero in are timeless classics,Mere Apne and Achanak readily come to mind and truly showcases his real talent.In all these movies he got to play sensitive roles.
In Imtihan Khanna plays Professor Pramod Sharma who leaves his father's wealth behind to stand on his own feet.Needless to say he is an idealist.Pramod gets a job of professor in a prestigious college where he had applied for the job.Although prestigious,the college has its share of bad seeds like         (Abhijeet Sen),a college bully who is in involved in every possible negative activity and Rita(Bindu) a semi nympho arrogant girl who immediately develops a crush on Pramod.Pramod with his positive attitude quickly gains the respect of students but at the same time he has to quell Rita's advances.Besides this he has to handle other student related activities like student groups and their rivalries,cheating in exams,intimidation from Rakesh etc.
One day Pramod visit's the house of  Principal Shastri(Abhi Bhattachariya) and neets Madhu(Tanuja).Madhu is a very sad girl who also walks with a limp.Pramod asks Shastri the reason for her sadness.He tells Pramod that Madhu was once a fun loving bubbly and cheerful girl and a great student of arts and painting.She was in love with an Airforce pilot but when she got the the news of his sudden death she went into a shock and fell from the college stairs and injure herself.From that day she is in a state of mourning.Shastri also tells Pramod that physically Madhu is fine and her limp is due to psychological reasons.Pramod feels sorry for her and decides to help her get out of this present stae of hers.He asks for Shastri's permission who agrees.
Pramod slowly starts helping Madhu who is at first reluctant to take his help but later agrees.Madhu begins to show improvement and her behaviour and outlook towards life becomes positive.She also starts going out to the college to meet Pramod.This makes Rita jealous and one day during a picnic Rita directly confronts Madhu and insults her.She also tells Madhu to stay away from Pramod.Madhu is shattered and the depression again takes over.She confines herself to her home and doesn't tell Pramod the reason for the resurgence of her sadness(during the picnic Pramod had been with the boys and had no idea what had happened between Rita and Madhu).In between all this Pramod breaks a nude college girl photos ring being run by      .
It is during these days that the college arranges an educational tour to         for the students.Pramod asks Madhu to come with him but she refuses.The students go to      and have a campfire with dancing and singing.The movie then cuts back to the college where students are protesting and asking for Pramod's removal from the college.All this is happening because Rita accuses Pramod of trying to rape her at    .Pramod denies it but nobody believes him.Dejected he decides to leacve the college but Madhu comes forward and persuades him to stay in the area and clear his name.She also tells Pramod that she loves him.Pramod stays back and in the end manages to clear the name.What actually happened that end?Well you have got to watch the movie to find out.
Imtihan is a terrific entertainer with superb performances by the entire cast.The story is different and the dialogues are crisp which means that the screenplay is compact.The songs are a mixed bag.Half of them are good and the other half not so good.But overall its a very entertaining movie although the main villian is annoying and with a dreadful fashion sense!
Rating:7/10

KHUBSOORAT

Stars:Ashok Kumar,Rekha and Rakesh Roshan
Genre: Family drama
Year: 1980

Khubsoorat is another beautiful film by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.He is known for making some of the best family films in Bollywood from the 50's right upto to the mid-eighties.This movie came out when he was at the peak of his career.Just the prevous year he had scored a big hit with Gol Maal(which is still popular amongst cinegoers) and Naram Garam was to follow the next year.Khubsoorat,itself was a box office success.
The story is a simple family based affair.The film starts with scenes from the Gupta household which includes Mr.Dwarka Prasad Gupta(Ashok Kumar),his wife Nirmala Gupta(Dina Pathak),their 4 sons(Amarnath,Vijay Kishore,Rakesh Roshan and Ranjit Chaudhary).The eldest son is married and the second one is about to be married.The household is very conservative and is ruled with an iron fist by Nirmala Gupta.She has stiff rules for everything and every family member.The eldest son runs his own business,the second one is a lawyer,the third a doctor and the youngest is in school.
Nirmala is looking for a girl for his second son for marriage.A family friend suggests the elder daughter of Mr Ram Dayal.The younger daughter is Manju(Rekha).
The Gupta family goes to see the girl and are some what shocked to see the easy going behaviour of the Dayal family.They are the complete opposite of the Guptas.But they like the girl and the marriage date is arranged.At this occasion both the hero and heroine also meet for the first time.Both are trying to one-up the other,hence there is tension between them.
The marriage takes place and the story then picks up six months later with the Dayal family still saddened by Anju's departure.Manju is very close to her sister thats why she is more sad than the others.Their servant suggests that they go visit Anju but Mr Dayal refuses to go but agrees to sending Manju their.
Manju arrives at the Gupta's house unannounced.This perturbs Mrs Gupta but she says nothing directly to Manju.But from the moment manju arrives at the house,the lives of all the members of the Gupta household are turned ipside down.She touches the lives of each member of the family and teaches them small things to remain happy in life and spread that happiness amongst each other.The family members of Mrs Gupta are all nice and good people but they are too afraid of Mrs Gupta to fully express their feelings.But Manju changes all that.During her stay she falls in love with Inder(Rakesh Roshan),the third son.
One day while Mrs Gupta is away on a personal visit,Manju arranges a tableau for the entire family on the rooftop of the house.But they are caught doing that when Mrs Gupta returns before her scheduled return.She gets furious at all the family members.The family apologizes but she doesn't listen.She also asks Manju to leave.The next day the family has to leave for another city to attend a family wedding.Only Mr and Mrs Gupta alongwith Manju stayback.Mr Gupta tries to persuade Mrs Gupta to forgive Manju but she is adamant.During their argument Mr Gupta suffers a heart attack and this sends Mrs Gupta into panic.Manju takes control of the situation and immediately calls a doctor.After the doctor leaves,Manju takes care of Mr Gupta.During this time Mrs Gupta also softens up and she really start to like Manju.After a couple of days the family arrives but Manju leaves immediately without saying goodbye to anyone.
But just as she is about to board the train for her hometown,Mrs Gupta alongwith Inder arrive at the station and stop her from going.
The movie cuts to a happy household where Manju is now married to Inder and the movie ends with the entire Gupta family enjoying a nice evening together.
The acting in the movie by all the actors is brilliant.Rekha shines in her lead role but Ashok Kumar  and Shashikala(in a rare positive role) are also terrific.The script,dialogue and story are virtually flawless.They are bound to be flawless when the dialogues are written by Gulzar sahab.I guess the only weakness of the movie are its songs.Apart from this weakness their is nothing wrong with the movie.Rekha won the filmfare award for best lead actress for this movie.It was her first win.The movie itself won the filmfare award for best picture of 1980.Khoobsurat is a great family entertainer not to be missed.Watch it if you haven't seen it as yet.You won't be disappointed.
Rating:7.5/10