Sridevi and Mithun were co-stars in only four films together, and three of them were the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s in Bollywood;
- Jaag Utha Insaan (1984)
- Watan Ke Rakhwale (1987)
- Waqt ki Awaaz (1988)
- Guru (1989)
Just four movies... but four decades of gossip! The tabloids had a field day with their off and on-screen screen chemistry. Much ink has been spilled about them, but as Mumbai media, esp the tabloid journalism of the 1980s, is highly questionable (veracity, authentication, fact checking was all but nil), we don't really know what happened between the two. Both stars have refrained from commenting on the other. So we will too.
The best film they did together was their first venture Jaag Utha Insaan (1984). A modern day parable on the ills of caste system with exquisite acting, dialogues, music and dance. In a classic case of diminishing returns, the quality of the films went downhill drastically soon after! The more they worked together, the worse their wardrobe, music, dialogues, film was! They went on to star in Watan Ke Rakhwale (1987), Waqt ki Awaaz (1988) and Guru (1989). All their films were super successful...except the first one, Jaag Utah Insaan is easily one of the best movies. But the 80s were a strange decade; awful films did well at the box-office and the most jarring movies made the most money. Watan ke Rakhwale as a movie is cringe-worthy when you watch it now, but it made so much money back in '87, it was in the Top Ten money maker list. Go figure!
In the last film Sridevi did with Mithun Chakraborty, Guru had a record-opening - the largest of either star at the time - and made millions at the box-office. To top it all, it still has a great fan following.... mostly in Russia it seems! As we keep reading up on the box-office report of that era, its amazing how much money these sub-par films made for film producers.
The songs were fun and Sridevi was her usual bubbly self. The costumes, the makeup, the wigs... they don't look grand in hindsight.
Was scrolling through the credits and found this, the glam squad for the movie included Madhav's Men's mode, Kachin's, Rikku Fashion, Xerxex, Sabiha Designs and Leena Daru! This is before proper credits so we don't know who did what, when and where! Sridevi's fashion and looks in the movie is all over the place, reflecting the team behind-the-scenes.
Below: Sridevi, Mithun, Sreelatha, the team of Guru at an event... guessing the audio launch of the film.
No comments:
Post a Comment