1990: Still A Love Story

A long time back, I had written about all – well, almost all – the films released in the year I turned 18. The sequel (prequel, to be precise) was a long time in the making but a lot of fun!

Here are all the films of 1990 – the year I turned 16, a two decades in the making blockbuster. Like the earlier time, I have depended on my memory only and that explains the large holes in the narrative. Please feel free to add your tidbits.  

1. Aaj Ka Arjun – Amitabh Bachchan was on bit of a soft wicket as he never managed a real superhit after Shahenshah in ’87. And KC Bokadia’s tale of a village simpleton turning into a vigilante against Amrish Puri did not look like a winner. But it turned out to be a sleeper hit as AB serenaded Jaya Prada to Bappi Lahiri’s tunes and leaped off rooftops as screams broke out in theatres. 
2. Aaj Ke Shahenshah – I don’t know what you say. I don’t know what to say.
3. Aashiqui – Mahesh Bhatt crossed over to the ‘dark side’ with his first unabashedly filmi love story starring two newcomers who were as wooden as an Ikea store. What a comedown it would have been from Arth. Read all about Mahesh Bhatt’s films here.   
4. Agneepath – One of the many movies I love to death. Illogically. Don’t tell me you haven’t read this post.  
5. Amba – Shabana Azmi played Anil Kapoor’s mother in this tale about simple villagers trying to fight for their survival in the big, bad city. What else?
6. Anjali – The dubbed version of Mani Ratnam’s Tamil tearjerker classic had Raghuvaran and Revathy angsting over their youngest daughter’s terminal illness. The film was loaded with precocious children on a rampage and the three main ones won National Awards for their roles. 
7. Apmaan Ki Aag – Can say this with a fair degree of confidence: This movie did not release in Calcutta.  
8. Awaaragardi – This was a love triangle involving Kimi Katkar. I know this for certain. The rest, even Kimi doesn’t know.  
9. Awaargi – Who better than Govinda and Anil Kapoor to play roles in a film called Vagabonds? Add a love triangle with Meenakshi Sheshadri and you have an eminently forgettable Mahesh Bhatt film. Ho gaya? Chalo, ab aage badho. 
10. Awwal Number – A classic of the ‘so bad that its actually good’ genre has made repeated appearances on this blog (and my book), most notably as an iconic sports movie as well as a relic from Aamir Khan’s pre-ponderous age. It had him, Aditya Pancholi and Dev Anand battling terrorists, Australia and each other. They could have called this movie – with no irony – 3 Idiots! 
11. Bahaar Aane Tak – A person by the name of Tariq Shah followed illustrious filmmaker-actors like Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor as he directed himself in this film, also starring Moonmoon Sen and Roopa Ganguly. He also had a sidekick in the form of Sumit Saighal. Sigh! I would give a lot if somebody could erase these memories from my brain and create some free space. 
12. Bhabhi – Bhanupriya was Govinda’s bhabhi in this movie. Or was it Madhavi? Then what was Juhi Chawla doing in this film? Could she have been the title role? Oh – fuggedaboudit! 
13. C.I.D. – Long before Inspector Pradyuman came on to the scene, we had CID Inspector Vinod Khanna taking up arms against underworld dons like Kiran Kumar. Juhi Chawla and Amrita Singh were both in the film but I forget who the heroine was and who died in the crossfire. I only remember Aftab Shivdasani as a child actor.      
14. Deewana Mujhsa Nahin –In Aamir Khan’s only bespectacled role, he was fashion photographer who did a bloody good job of stalking supermodel Madhuri Dixit good-naturedly. While she was oblivious of his presence, he was convinced of their eventual marriage. Yawn! 
15. Dil – Another Aamir-Madhuri starrer, which brought back Aamir from the dead! Box office death, I meant as he explained to Madhuri – since it is topical now – the difference between ‘fake rape’ and ‘real rape’.   
16. Disha – An arthouse film about villagers moving from poverty in the village to poverty in the city. One character (Nana Patekar?) had two sons called Jeetendra and Amitabh!
17. Drishti – Govind Nihalini’s film about a woman’s (Dimple Kapadia) extra-marital affair also starred Shekhar Kapur and had mind-blowing music by Kishori Amonkar. A bit slow in development of plot but quite interesting all the same.    
18. Dushman – Long before Kajol, Mithun starred in a movie called Dushman. And to kill all the dushmans in the world, his name in the film was 
19. Ghar Ho To Aisa – Actually, koi bhi ghar aisa nahin hona chahiye. Bindu the evil mother-in-law gave her docile daughter-in-law (Deepti Naval) hell while her son (Raj Kiran) looked on balefully. The younger son (Anil Kapoor) – when not romancing Meenakshi Sheshadri – tried to correct the injustice, with limited effect. When we said ‘social’ in the 1990s, we meant silly movies like this one.   
20. Ghayal – This film proved two things about Sunny Deol. One, he can carry off revenge roles very well. Two, his nostrils are wide enough for Frontier Mail to pass through. Rajkumar Santoshi’s first major hit had Sunny Deol shifting from a Lambada-singing youth to a muscle-flexing retributionist. A role, which Filmfare felt, was a better display of histrionics than Amitabh Bachchan in Agneepath. Sigh!
21. Gunahon Ka Devta – I haven’t seen this film and the next one. I don’t remember anything about them either. But if they don’t star Mithun, I will change my name to Himesh.  
22. Humse Na Takrana – see above.
23. Izzatdaar – Dilip Kumar was falsely implicated in a murder and sent to prison by his son-in-law Raghuvaran. He came out and started to take revenge, was assisted by a general tapori (Govinda). Govinda also romanced Madhuri Dixit in his ample spare time.  
24. Jamai Raja – Just when Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit were being touted as the It Couple, came this film where the masala became Anil’s super-filmi verbal duel with his mother-in-law, Hema Malini. I don’t remember anything except the film except this hilarious exchange where the entire dialogue was constructed out of films starring Anil and Hema!    
25. Jawani Zindabad – Aamir Khan with Farah, Javed Jaffrey and assorted college-goers. An anti-dowry message in the mayhem.   
26. Jurm – One more from Mahesh Bhatt’s assembly line copies of Hollywood, this one also had a copy of the 500 Miles song. Meenakshi Sheshadri coped with Vinod Khanna’s shenanigans with Sangeeta Bijlani while murders happened all around them.
27. Kafan – If anyone can prove conclusively that this movie released in Calcutta, I will change the name of this blog to Calcutta Kafan. (*terms & conditions apply)
28. Kali Ganga – Dimple was a wronged woman, who became a dacoit. Suresh Oberoi was a police officer but fell in love with her. They sang a song in the rain. Is this that movie or am I confusing with something else?  
29. Karz Chukana Hai – While this movie starred Govinda and Juhi, it actually belonged to Kader Khan. He played a crooked, kaamchor alcoholic who spent his entire life living off others but eventually reformed to chukao his karz and die a valiant death. Yeah, I know – crap!
30. Kasba – In a vague bid to enhance his reputation, Shatrughan Sinha (in the late 1980s and early 1990s) acted in a few art films like Gautam Ghosh’s Antarjali Yatra and this one. And for all his efforts, we only remember that Mita Vashisht had a topless scene in this film!    
31. Kaun Kare Kurbani – Who cares who starred in this movie? I know – with 100% confidence – that this was directed/produced by Arjun Hingorani who took Rakesh Roshan and Karan Johar’s K fixation to the third degree. His other movies are Kab? Kyon? Kahaan?, Kahani Kismat Ki, Katilon Ka Katil, Khel Khiladi Ka and Kingkong Ka Karnama. (Snigger.)  
32. Khilaaf - Poor boy (Chunky Pandey) falls in love with rich girl (Madhuri Dixit) who was about to married off to some villainous brat by her father. Ho hum. 
33. Kishen Kanhaiya – Yet another film about long-lost twins growing up to be diametrically opposite characters. The aggressive Anil Kapoor wooed Madhuri Dixit in filmi style. The docile one stared at Shilpa Shirodkar’s cleavage with a hangdog expression. And don’t forget the hit song – Suit boot mein aaya Kanhaiya band bajaane ko!  
34. Krodh – You have two musclemen (Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt) pummeling goons, escaping from prisons and hanging from the chassis of trucks and all I remember is Amitabh Bachchan singing (in Mohammed Aziz’s voice!) – Mohammed Rafi tum bade yaad aaye!
35. Lekin – Gulzar wrote the lyrics for the haunting music by Hridaynath Mangeshkar in a film produced by his elder sister. Vinod Khanna was the surveyor who ran into an ethereal beauty (Dimple Kapadia) in some ruins and went into history with her. When you realize that Dimple never blinked during the entire movie, you also wake up to the fact that the ethereal beauty is not real. 
36. Mahasangram – Mukul Anand directed this supposed big budget saga. But then, how big budget can you get with Govinda and Vinod Khanna?
37. Nakabandi – For fans of adrenalin, I give you this. Dara Singh was the father of Dharmendra. And they were truck drivers. And their sworn enemy was Amrish Puri. Kaboom!  
38. Paap Ki Kamaai – Screw it. I am getting Govinda vibes from this one. Or am I confusing this will Halaal Ki Kamaai? Oh, screw it.
39. Pati Patni Aur Tawaif – This is one of the worst films I have ever watched. Enough said. Read about it here.   
40. Patthar Ke Insaan – WTF? WFT? FWT? FTW? TWF? TFW?
41. Patthar Ke Phool – Everything Salman touched at this point was supposed to turn into gold. Add to that a brilliant discovery called Raveena Tandon and you had a sure-fire winner. SP Balasubramaniam screamed out hits like Tum ko jo dekhte hi pyaar hua kabhi Linking Road, kabhi Peddar Road but somehow this film never hit box-office gold as it was expected. And Ravi + Veena Tandon’s daughter had to wait till Mohra for her first superhit!
42. Police Public – Raaj Kumar was a CID officer, who travelled to murder locations with his Alsation perched on his car’s roof! Naseeruddin Shah was the corrupt, local cop. A politician’s daughter-in-law had been murdered and there was bombastic dialogue all around. If you want high-quality detection, go read Agatha Christie.   
43. Pratibandh – Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi debuted in Hindi as the foul-mouthed, orphaned police officer who was brought up by an idealistic school-teacher (who went on to become the Chief Minister). The film was an orgy of violence starring the Most Unexpressive Villain in Cinematic History – Rami Reddy playing Spot Nana. Juhi Chawla tried to bring in a bit of cheer but she died as did everybody else.    
44. Pyar Ka Devata
45. Pyar Ka Karz
46. Pyar Ke Naam Qurban - Pyaar, pyaar, pyaar… chahiye thoda pyaar, thoda pyaar chahiye! Three killer movies of which I have no recollection. So I tried to bring in a bit of a musical interlude.
47. Raaizaada - Okay, make that four killer movies of which I have no recollection. 
48. Roti Ki Keemat – What Vijay is to Amitabh and Raj/Rahul is to SRK, Shankar is to Mithun. Mithun was again Shankar who provided roti for street kids by stealing, ably assisted by the considerable assets of Kimi Katkar till he was disturbed by the ever-dependable-in-these-circumstances Sadashiv Amrapurkar. Adding masala in the fray was Police Commissioner Pran who was the separated-at-childhood father of one of the three characters mentioned above. Guess who?     
49. Sailaab – A contract killer with amnesia. A doctor who treats him. And Madhuri Dixit in a yellow fisherwoman’s costume. What would you rather remember? 
50. Shandaar – One nos. rocking movie with Mithun-da in which Yaadon Ka Baaraat met Deewaar met Ilaka met 90s cookie-cutter. While this movie will not qualify as a multi-starrer under any circumstances, it would be worthwhile to note it had THREE heroines – Mandakini, Juhi Chawla and Meenakshi Sheshadri – in a triveni sangam of Barbie meets Savitri emotions.  
51. Sher Dil – Dharmendra. Was this one of those movies in which Dharmendra just looked for an excuse to get cosy with Anita Raaj?  
52. Swarg – Much before AB did Baghban, Rajesh Khanna got thrown out by his kids after his business tanked and there was only a servant (Govinda) who helped him. And to give Govinda a legitimate reason to dance, he was turned into a filmstar (who managed to do that with his master’s help) wearing shiny pants, silver shoes and Juhi Chawla on his arm.   
53. Taqdeer Ka Tamasha – Memory Ka Tamacha. Kuch yaad nahin aa raha hai.
54. Thanedaar – One of the last milestones of the brothers-separated-at-birth theme, this had Jeetendra and Sanjay Dutt as the two brothers. Just in case the story felt a little too thin for the three-hour running time, they added a mistaken identity twist as well. To get cover pages of filmy mags, the affair between Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Dutt was leaked. And in one final twist, Bappi Lahiri cried blue murder when Hum (to be released next year) also copied the same song as he did. He had to be explained “I copied it first” was not going to be a valid reason to stop Jumma Chumma. Anyhow, Tamma tamma loge turned out to be quite a chartbuster by itself! 
55. Thodasa Rumani Ho Jaye – Amol Palekar directed this film about a stranger (Nana Patekar) who comes to a town and starts performing miracles. He romances Anita Kanwar and is all milk and honey but there is a niggling doubt that all is not well about him. Is this the real story or am I making it up?

 Okay, I am done. There are so many movies I could not remember. Any takers for them?