Among the Anand brothers, Chetan Anand had his own distinct identity. Not a flamboyant superstar like Dev nor a very popular director like Vijay , Chetan neverthless managed to carve out his own distinctive identity. His very first debut as a director was with an offbeat movie called Neecha Nagar( 1946) scripted by K.A.Abbas. In 1954 he directed brother Dev in a noirish crime flick Taxi Driver, which also had some great songs, following it up with Funtoosh in 1956 kind of a black comedy. He also came up with one of the best Indian war movies, in Haqeeqat(1964) featuring an ensemble cast of Balraj Sahni, Dharmendra, Sanjay Khan, Jayant, Vijay Anand and Priya Rajvansh. Heer Ranjha in 1970 was a landmark movie, in the sense that the entire movie was shot in verse form, with dialogues written by Kaifi Azmi, and a fabuluous musical score by Madan Mohan. Hanste Zakhm in 1973, had a decidedly bold theme for its time, and Saheb Bahadur in 1976 was a Bollywood adaptation of Gogol’s play The Inspector General, starring brother Dev and Chetan’s love Priya Rajvansh, who would appear in almost every movie of his from Haqeeqat onwards.
Chetan Anand also directed the debut movie of Rajesh Khanna, Aakhri Khat, and in 1981 both of them teamed up together for Kudrat. The movie also starred Chetan’s muse Priya Rajvansh, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini and Raaj Kumar. Set in Shimla, the movie begins with the arrival of the heroine Chandramukhi( Hema Malini) there for a vacation. In Shimla she meets Dr. Naresh Gupta( Vinod Khanna), a pyshciatrist and the son of her mother’s friend. Both Chandra and Naresh, fall in love with each other, and every thing seems fine. Until Chandra starts to have a series of nightmares where she finds herself chasing a man. Also she roams around Shimla with Naresh, she finds something familiar in all the sights and sounds. Naresh tries his best to get her back to normal stage, even hypnotizing and trying to make her recall her childhood days, and past life, but to no avail. At the same time, Mohan Kapoor( Rajesh Khanna) , arrives to take charge as Public Prosecutor, and also meets his benefactor Chaudhury Janak Singh( Raaj Kumar), a wealthy and highly respected person in Shimla. Chaudhury had financed Mohan’s education, and also raised him, for which he is eternally grateful to him. He is also set to marry his fiance Karuna Singh( Priya Rajvansh), Choudhury’s daughter and an advocate herself.
Interestingly Priya Rajvansh, who played the romantic lead opposite Raj Kumar in Chetan Anand’s Heer Ranjha, now plays his daughter. Generally in Bollywood, it is the other way around, where heroines find themselves playing mama to the same hero, opposite whom they played the romantic lead( Rakhee in Shakti playing Amitabh’s mother). The only other such example i can recall is Saira Banu who made her debut as a heroine opposite Shammi Kapoor in Jungle, and then later played his daughter in Zameer.
Anyway comming back to the movie, one fine day, Chandra happens to see Mohan, at the Mall in Shimla, and that immediately sends her into a flashback. In a well shot scene, where Chetan Anand, skilfuly depicts the transition between present and past, we see Mohan and Chandra in a totally different avatar. In their past life Mohan was Madho, and Chandra was Paro, both of them working as servants on the sprawling estate of Chaudhury who is then an officer in the British Army. There seems to be a Devdas reference here,considering Hema’s names in the movie Chandramukhi/Paro. In the flashback, we see that Madho and Paro are deeply in love with each other, giving rise to two lovely songs, “Tune O Rangeele Kaise Jaadu Kiya” by Lata and of course that unforgettable Kishore da classic “Humein Tumse Pyaar Kitna”. End of flashback and Mohan is surprised to see Chandramukhi holding on to him.
The movie takes on a turn here, with Chandra clearly remembering every detail of her past life, and recognizing Mohan aka Madho as her lover from pichle janam. Naresh meets Mohan and explains to him about Chandra’s condition. Initially dismissive about it, however succesive meetings with Chandra begins to convince Mohan, that what she is telling is the truth. Mohan is now slowly falling in love with Chandra, which does not go down well with Chaudhury, who accuses him of getting influenced by a paagal ladki. Karuna however decides to step aside, and invites Chandra to her home, on the very day, Chaudhury is supposed to announce her engagement with Mohan. At the party, Chandra lets out a terrified scream on seeing Choudhury, and flees from the party, shocking every one.
Is Chaudhury the same person responsible for the rape and murder of a local girl called Paro some 20 years back? Would Mohan go against his own benefactor and prosecute him? What is the truth behind the nightmare Chandra is having? Well would not want to give away too many details of the plot, but do watch the movie to know more.
Kudrat was clearly one of the better movies released in the 80′s. There are many scenes that do grip your attention in the movie.
The scene where Vinod Khanna tries to make Hema Malini reveal her past life.
Hema listening to Aruna Irani, singing “Humein Tumse Pyaar Kitna” in a concert, and running out scared.
Rajesh Khanna confronting Raj Kumar and accusing him of being the culprit.
The final courtroom scene where Priya and Rajesh Khanna face off in court.
Hema taking Rajesh Khanna around and trying to make him remember their past life.
Also the screenplay is tight, and does not meander too much. Chetan Anand mingles a reincarnation drama with a thriller format, and does a really good job of it. We are kept wondering till the end, what would be happening next.
The movie also has a great background score by R.D.Burman, a kind of haunting score, especially every time when Hema sees something connected to her past life.
Kudrat i think is the only movie of Chetan Anand for which Pancham scored, and he comes up with an album that is really first rate. Great lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri too.
1) The title song by Mohd Rafi is a background song, which is played at the beginning of the movie, and at certain stages in the movie.
2) Chodo Sanam by Kishore is a peppy club song, which is picturized on Vinod Khanna, when he tries to cheer up Hema.
3) Saawan Nahin Bhaado Nahi is a Himachali folk song kind, again picturized on Vinod Khanna and Hema Malini.
4) Humein Tumse Pyaar Kitna- Clearly the best song of the movie. And one of the best songs from Pancham-Kishore. The opening musical interludes, wonderfully recreate the folk ambience, and also the way Pancham builds up the tension with the tabla beats in the musical interludes. And the lyrics by Majrooh are a delight for any romantic
“sunaa gam judaee kaa, uthhaate hain log
jaane jindagee kaise, bitaate hain log
din bhee yahaa to lage,
baras ke samaan ”
And Kishore da’s singing is of highest quality here. The 80′s was the period when Kishore Da was at the peak of his singing abilities, and if you can forgive and overlook his Jeetu special numbers, some of his best songs came during this period.
It is no wonder that Jhankaar Beats paid a tribute to this song, which would always go down as one of RD’s best.
There is also a female version of this song, by Parveen Sultana, which is a total classical number.
5) Tune o Rangeele Kaisa Jaadu Kiya- Sweet romantic number by Lata here. Loved the way Pancham, makes use of the instruments here to create a wonderful rythm. Lovely lyrics too here
“O mere saajan, kaisi ye dhadkan
Shor machaane lagi man mein
Jaise leheraaye nadiya ka paani
Laher uthe re mere tan mein
Mujh mein samaake ye kya kiya, o re piya ho ho”
Kudrat also has some great performances from the main actors.
Raj Kumar as the arrogant Colonel and later on as the benevolent rich respected person, gives a fine performance, especially in the scene when Rajesh Khanna accuses him.
Rajesh Khanna does well as the young advocate, who is forced to turn against his mentor, while Chetan’s favorite Priya Rajvansh, is really effective, as the woman who fights to save her father’s name. Hema Malini however with her accented Hindi and hammy expresssions, is a disappointment, while Vinod Khanna gives good support as the doctor.
Kudrat also has some effective supporting performances, notably from A.K.Hangal as one of the key witnesses to the murder, a change from the usual hapless father roles he plays, and Aruna Irani as Hema’s friend Satto in her past life.
Kudrat had everything going for it, an interesting storyline, good performances from the lead actors, a lovely soundtrack and a good screenplay. But somehow the movie did not work at the box office, even though the theme of reincarnation was quite popular at that time. All the same i would still recommend you to watch this movie, which though a mainstream movie, is still much better than the standard Bollywood fare.
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