Sometimes we come across certain films from which we just don't expect ANYTHING. But by the time it's flashed 'The End', we are simply left awestruck! Manmohan Krishna's sole directorial venture 'Noorie' is easily one such little gem.
Being totally unacquainted with this film in my lifetime, I showed the stupidity of judging it from the 30-sec trailer aired on Doordarshan last year. Besides lacking in star-quotient, the low-budget feel had also put me off. Having missed it twice in the last year, I finally happened to give it a chance this Sunday... and it was certainly a case of being better late than never!
The film has almost no element of the famous 'glamour quotient' that Bollywood came to be associated with in the 1970's. A shoestring budget (25 lakh!), below-par picture quality, inferior production values, lack of much scenic beauty inspite of being picturised in Kashmir and the poverty-stricken ambiance of the mountainous village was in stark contrast to the rich and glamorous setting of the big budget Bollywood flicks of those times. The star-cast wasn't big either. Barring 'Chashme Baddoor' I didn't have much memory of Farookh Shaikh; while Poonam Dhillon was best remembered for playing the 4th lead heroine in Yash Chopra's classic 'Trishul' (1978). The banner was big; but that made it all the more puzzling. What was YRF doing with a small budget film like this?
The music by Khayyam was good, especially 'Aaje Re'; but there were still a couple of songs too many for a short-duration film like this.
But the sole reason that made this film such a gripping watch was the wonder dog 'Khairu'. I have seen far too many Bolly-flicks to be caught off-guard with any routine plot-twists. But this one left me stumped; for until the final 5 minutes I had no idea that it's the dog who's gonna turn out to be the real 'hero' of the film!
A main reason for this surprise was the unconventional plot-structure. Unlike other animal-films like 'Haathi Mere Saathi' (1971) or the recent 'Entertainment' (2014) where the animals are in focus from the start, this film doesn't give the audiences any inkling of it being an animal-centric film at all. The dog is always portrayed as a supporting character with the humans hogging all the limelight. It's only in the last half-an-hour that it appears the dog is going to play a bigger role. But even then I had expected it to be Farookh Shaikh who would play the typical hero by vanquishing the villain. So imagine one's surprise when the hero gets killed by the villain; but it's the dog who avenges the death of his mistress and turns out to be the last 'man' standing at the end!
Although everyone in the cast deliver credible performances, the dog is easily the show-stealer. Be it in the scene where 'he' goes and lies in his master's graveyard or searches for some food in his forlorn hut, he touches the heart-strings of the viewers with such ease that no human actor can ever dream of. This is why animal-films are such arresting stuff!
But the script is flawed at the base. Films like this should essentially be targeted towards the children. But the content of the film is such that no conservative parent would ever dare to show it too his/her child. This alone has robbed the film of a huge viewership which could have made it a humongous grosser like 'Haathi Mere Saathi'. That an experienced campaigner like Yash Chopra also didn't intrude on this is hard to understand. Perhaps he wanted to lend unconditional support to the new breed of formula-breaking film-makers, just like he himself! That he was vindicated goes without saying as the film still became a 'super hit', which shows how much the film was loved by the adults themselves!
One feels if the script was focused more on 'Khairu' and his revenge, then it could have been a much more captivating experience. But in that case it would have robbed the film of its 'shock-value' which was easily the biggest takeaway of the movie.
Those were the times when superstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Shashi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, etc would join forces to set the cash-registers jingling. But here it was a 'wonder canine' who had alone set the box-office on fire!
Being totally unacquainted with this film in my lifetime, I showed the stupidity of judging it from the 30-sec trailer aired on Doordarshan last year. Besides lacking in star-quotient, the low-budget feel had also put me off. Having missed it twice in the last year, I finally happened to give it a chance this Sunday... and it was certainly a case of being better late than never!
The film has almost no element of the famous 'glamour quotient' that Bollywood came to be associated with in the 1970's. A shoestring budget (25 lakh!), below-par picture quality, inferior production values, lack of much scenic beauty inspite of being picturised in Kashmir and the poverty-stricken ambiance of the mountainous village was in stark contrast to the rich and glamorous setting of the big budget Bollywood flicks of those times. The star-cast wasn't big either. Barring 'Chashme Baddoor' I didn't have much memory of Farookh Shaikh; while Poonam Dhillon was best remembered for playing the 4th lead heroine in Yash Chopra's classic 'Trishul' (1978). The banner was big; but that made it all the more puzzling. What was YRF doing with a small budget film like this?
The music by Khayyam was good, especially 'Aaje Re'; but there were still a couple of songs too many for a short-duration film like this.
But the sole reason that made this film such a gripping watch was the wonder dog 'Khairu'. I have seen far too many Bolly-flicks to be caught off-guard with any routine plot-twists. But this one left me stumped; for until the final 5 minutes I had no idea that it's the dog who's gonna turn out to be the real 'hero' of the film!
A main reason for this surprise was the unconventional plot-structure. Unlike other animal-films like 'Haathi Mere Saathi' (1971) or the recent 'Entertainment' (2014) where the animals are in focus from the start, this film doesn't give the audiences any inkling of it being an animal-centric film at all. The dog is always portrayed as a supporting character with the humans hogging all the limelight. It's only in the last half-an-hour that it appears the dog is going to play a bigger role. But even then I had expected it to be Farookh Shaikh who would play the typical hero by vanquishing the villain. So imagine one's surprise when the hero gets killed by the villain; but it's the dog who avenges the death of his mistress and turns out to be the last 'man' standing at the end!
Although everyone in the cast deliver credible performances, the dog is easily the show-stealer. Be it in the scene where 'he' goes and lies in his master's graveyard or searches for some food in his forlorn hut, he touches the heart-strings of the viewers with such ease that no human actor can ever dream of. This is why animal-films are such arresting stuff!
But the script is flawed at the base. Films like this should essentially be targeted towards the children. But the content of the film is such that no conservative parent would ever dare to show it too his/her child. This alone has robbed the film of a huge viewership which could have made it a humongous grosser like 'Haathi Mere Saathi'. That an experienced campaigner like Yash Chopra also didn't intrude on this is hard to understand. Perhaps he wanted to lend unconditional support to the new breed of formula-breaking film-makers, just like he himself! That he was vindicated goes without saying as the film still became a 'super hit', which shows how much the film was loved by the adults themselves!
One feels if the script was focused more on 'Khairu' and his revenge, then it could have been a much more captivating experience. But in that case it would have robbed the film of its 'shock-value' which was easily the biggest takeaway of the movie.
Those were the times when superstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Shashi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, etc would join forces to set the cash-registers jingling. But here it was a 'wonder canine' who had alone set the box-office on fire!