A Prakash Mehra, Salim-Javed combo with music by Kalyanji Anandji! Then it has to be an Amitabh Bachchan flick for sure. Wrong! This hit com...
A Prakash Mehra, Salim-Javed combo with music by Kalyanji Anandji! Then it has to be an Amitabh Bachchan flick for sure. Wrong! This hit combo had also teamed up for this superhit film which released on August 30, 1974 starring Randhir Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini, and Simi Grewal.
A remake of a 1959 film Do Ustad starring Raj Kapoor and Sheikh Mukhtar,
Haath Ki Safai was the usual Bollywood masala potboiler based on the lost and
found formula of two brothers getting separated who run away from their village
and reach Mumbai. While Raju (Randhir) turns into a pickpocket under Usmanbhai,
Shankar (Vinod) becomes Kumar a crime boss. He is married to Roma (Simi) who is
unaware that he is a gold and diamond smuggler under the guise of being a hotel
owner. Raju runs into Kamini (Hema) who has come to Mumbai for a dance show, whose
purse he helps retrieve from another pickpocket but steals her expensive
necklace. When he comes across a newspaper advertisement promising a reward for
whoever manages to find her, Raju tracks her down and entices her to an
isolated bungalow where Kamini confessed her love for him. She is heartbroken
when Raju instead trades her off to Shankar but Kamini manages to escape
landing in Shankar’s house. By now a pregnant Roma gets to know about her
husband’s misdeeds and attempts suicide. Does she survive? How do the brothers
unite and do Raju and Kamini reconcile forms the rest of the story.
Incidentally, Vinod Khanna who looked simply dashing in the film, won
the Filmfare award for Best Supporting Actor, the only nomination the film got
that year.
Haath Ki Safai was later remade as Manushulu Chesina Dongalu (1976) in
Telugu and as Savaal (1981) in Tamil.
Every song in the film was a hit be it the romantic Hum ko mohabbat ho
gayee hai tumse, Oopar wale teri duniya mein, the whiskey-soaked Peene wale
peena ka bahana chahiye or the jazzy Tu kya jaane wafaa. The soulful Lata-Rafi
duet Vaada karle sajana is the most popular track of the film even today.
An excellent masala movie with all the necessary ingredients to thrill and entertain you for a repeat viewing.
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