Cast: Mehmood, Achi Manorama, Bharati, Macky Ali, and a galaxy of stars in special appearances One of the best films from Mehmood's di...
Cast: Mehmood, Achi Manorama, Bharati, Macky Ali, and a galaxy of stars in special appearances
One of the best films from Mehmood's directorial ventures, Kunwara Baap turned 50 this year on November 23. The film is a tear-jerker with the usual Mehmood comedy thrown in. Mehmood excels in this adaption of Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin's 1921 film The Kid (Mehmood too sports a toothbrush moustache). The film was made to raise polio awareness as his son Macky Ali (who played the main lead as Hindustan) was a polio-affected child himself. Not only does Mehmood make the audience laugh (his usual routine though), but he also makes them weep especially in two scenes- when he carries his polio-stricken son to the finish line in a sports competition when his son couldn't even take a step forward and in the other scene he has handkerchiefs out of the audience's pocket is his death scene where his son is singing 'aariya ja nindiya' (Lata Mangeshkar).
Radha (Bharati) abandons her newborn child in the steps of a mandir as she is deserted by her husband (Vinod Mehra in an extended special appearance). A rickshawala Mahesh (Mehmood) rescues the boy and brings him to his shanty. The boy develops polio making Mahesh feel guilty when chided by a doctor (Sanjeev Kumar in a special appearance). Mahesh promises to take care of the boy as his own child and names him Hindustan. In the meantime, the boy's actual parents reconcile and take the help of their police officer friend Ramesh (Vinod Khanna also in an extended special appearance). When they meet Mahesh, he reluctantly agrees to part with the child for the latter's better future and treatment. In the end, when Hindustan comes to visit Mahesh is about to die.
Mehmood in the end talks about the ill effects of polio and the importance of getting children vaccinated.
The film boasts of a whole lot of other special appearances: Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Yogita Bali, Dara Singh, Master Lucky Ali, Lalita Pawar, Maruti, Minu Mumtaz, Anwar Ali and Mumtaz Ali. All the stars descended in this film because of Mehmood's goodwill in the industry.
The other major plus was the music by Rajesh Roshan who created such gems like 'Main Hoon Ghoda' (sung by Kishore Kumar and was inspired by 'Faqir ki jholi' from Shatranj picturized on Mehmood himself), 'Jai Bholenath' (Kishore, Lata), 'Aariya Ja Nindiya' (Kishore, Lata & Mehmood). But the song that became the biggest hit and has attained cult status is the hijra song 'Saj Rahi Gali Meri Maa' (sung by Mohd. Rafi, Mehmood & hijras). Rajesh Roshan became a much sought-after music director after this film.
The film is still good for a revisit after 50 years.
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