Bulandi (2000) : When panchayat becomes a penchant

bulandi

Bulandi is one of my biggest guilty pleasure film  to date along with Clerk and Gaon humaara shaher tumhara. I have seen it multiple times, visited it recently  and each time it is just as enjoyable because there is so much to decipher in every scene. The film celebrates male chauvinism at danke ki chot and takes extreme pride in it in a very earnest way. It is about a thakur family which has a history of making disastrous decisions.

Each time a thakur makes an entry on his ghoda -gaadi, there is an epic BMG which resembles the Bane chant from The dark knight rises. You have no option but to get mesmerised each time anil/rajni as thakur walks in slow motion . Rajnikant but naturally has more flair here. He doesnt light stick by rubbing it on match box but instead rubs the match box on the stick to light his cigar. Since that day i always lighted the match stick in my chemistry lab in same fashion. such is the impact of that scene. If during an argument in panchayat, someone doesnt agree with Rajni and tries to fight back, rajni just moves his gamcha and no one dares speak a word after it. The movement of gamcha on his shoulder signifies apocalypse. It is another matter that once the gamcha movement is over, then rajni is vulnerable and can be shot dead by a tamancha by ranjit.But during the godly moment of gamcha, he is invincible.

Dialogues are rejuvenating and always leave goosebumps in me.a sample scene is when  raveena plays a proud educated city girl and misbehaves with older  anil and anil explains her the dharm of an indian wife – “patni ka dharm hai ki pati ki daasi ban ke seva, kare,maa ke tarah use khilay pilyae”. raveena calls rekha an uneducated women and rekha defends herself saying she is a graduate from alllahabad university (may be referring to amitabh here). It doesnt impress raveena all that much. Eventually Raveena starts respecting thakur family only when she gets a reality check of their bank accounts.Fair enough i suppose.

Shakti kapoor plays the villian and mostly he is semi nude in the film. he wears dhoti in the manner of speedos which looks pretty gross. He is banished from the village as he had raped a SC/ST woman 18 years ago. So in oldboy style, he counts each year by making a mark on his body with hot iron rod.

Like in all south films and in general with such unpretentious and enjoyable cheesy masala films, the senior actors become superheros as they get older. so harish (that small gay south hero of the 90s who debuted with karishma in prem qaidi) who is 20 years younger to shakti is no match for him but anil who is in late 50s has the aglity and strength that can put Micheal Jai white to shame.In the climax scene, during a fight , anil shows he is not just about the brawns. He turns a bullock cart into a maternity ward room .

In the tradition of thakur dynasty,they die only when they want to and same is the case with anil. But raveena has just given birth to a new legacy in the bullock cart turned maternity ward. Younger anil takes over as the next thakur with the bane chants and the legacy continues….

 

 

Full movie here:

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7 Comments
  1. cr7 10 years ago

    LOL baba . Hilarious review . Good one .

  2. sputnik 10 years ago

    LOL. Good review Baba.

  3. Tulmul Memender 10 years ago

    Rajni Saaaaaaaaaaaaaar Zindabad !!!

  4. Manish Kumar 10 years ago

    hahahhahah good one Baba Ji 🙂 u shd spend time on this rather than wasting time on some fools … u r good in this …

    BTW its guilty pleasure for me as well 🙂

    • Baba 10 years ago

      it may look like i am making fun of the film going by the post but trust me i love the film. its a very earnest and unpretentious film i enjoy it for so many reaosns.i think anil did this film bcos he got acclaim in virsat. another south remake. anil has the same look which he had in the second half of virsast. there are similar stick-fight scenes in this too

  5. Suprabh Bajpai 10 years ago

    I understand it Baba

    • Baba 10 years ago

      suprabh – yes you will understand it. I think you enjoyed himmatwala the same way 😉 In the climax of bulandi, there is a reason why the final showdown between shakti and anil coincides with raveenas delivery. it is to show that in the time of crisis, thakur men fight for honour while the duty of the women are to deliver baby boys so that the legacy can go on

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