Sridevi, Jeetendra and Jaya Prada in Mawaali (1983): Film Review

...with Kader Khan, Shakti Kapoor and Aruna Irani

The cast of Mawaali (Rogue); Sridevi, Jeetendra and Jaya Prada were the leads with supporting cast of Kader Khan, Shakti Kapoor and Aruna Irani. Fun times in Bollywood in the 1980s! This was the sixth biggest box-office hit of 1983.

Released 4 November, 1983.

Click on images above to see large postcards from the film's publicity stills.

Below rare colour stills of Jeetendra and Sridevi on the sets of Mawaali. 

Left: Some rare, rare pictures of Sridevi on the sets of the film. Many thanks to fans who are posting on social media, photographs of Sridevi from the 1980s

Left: Fan review of Mawaali published in Jan 1984 in Filmfare. Excerpt:

"It all began with Himmatwala, followed by Jaani Dost, Justice Chaudhury and now Mawaali - all mindless entertainers made in the South. 

The opening scene of Mawaali itself, in which Jaya Prada and gang are forced by Jeetendra (who is an engineer) to part with their clothes, is a prelude to more titillating (for front-benchers) things to come.

Jaya Prada is next shown singing a duet with Jeetu, both dancing briskly. She wears just a petticoat and blouse. You see, she is helpless, as her sari floats away when she falls off her bicycle. But lo and behold, it reappears when the duet is over. 

The other Jeetendra (who is the mawaali) is paired with Sridevi. The duo, predictably, spend their time singing nonsensical songs to the accompaniment of what seem to be lesson in physical exercises. 

K. Bapaiah may be the official director of the film but Kader Khan, its dialogue writer, directs the course of events on the screen. Kader Khan has a dimwitted son (Shakti Kapoor) who aspires to Jaya Prada's hand in matrimony along with who will come, automatically, her millionaire father's wealth. So all the intrigues. 

Mawaali gives on  he impression that its maker has never come across the saying 'haste makes waste'. The film lacks organisation and planning. The dubbing is so awful that one can hardly grasp the dialogue (anyway, there isn't anything worth grasping). 

There's much hue and cry over the cut-throat rivalry between the two Southern belles, Jaya Prada and Sridevi.  Mawaali, incidentally their first [Hindi] film together, proves beyond double that comparing Jaya Prada to pretty Sridevi is like holding a lamp to the sun. 

Smita Agrawal, Varanasi. 

Best write-up: Rs 75! 

Filmfare: January 1-15, 1984