Reincarnation Magic

Ever since commercial Bollywood cinema has been around, two themes have found favor with the audience over time- Separation and re union of lost brothers; and reincarnation. When one evaluates the reincarnation dramas of all times, Subhash Ghai’s 1980 classic “Karz” stands out- the reason being that it has little bit of everything- love, betrayal, death, reincarnation, Mother- son drama, Sister- brother drama, revenge, item number, haunting music, the works…

Karz is the story of an orphaned musician Monty Sharma (Rishi Kapoor) who falls for Tina (Tina Munim), an innocent school girl, at first sight and follows her to Ooty. As soon as he lands there, he starts getting hallucinations and dreams about his previous birth- a birth in which he was Ravi Verma (Raj Kiran), a rich heir who is betrayed by his lover- turned wife, Kamini (Simi Garewal). 21 years later, Monty finds Kamini as Rani Sahibaan, the owner of the palatial house and the Tea Estate that was owned by the Verma family earlier. He finds out Ravi’s mother (Durga Khote) and sister, and with the help of Kabira (Pran), a local thug, Monty finally manages to seek revenge for the death of Ravi Verma.

The story is ordinary and predictable; the direction is also nothing out of the world. What make the movie special are the performances and the supreme music (Anand Bakshi- Lakshmikant- Pyarelal and that inimitable Kishore Kumar!). Rishi Kapoor has this ability to make anything believable. He looks his best and is extremely camera- friendly! Giving him competition scene-by- scene, dialogue-by- dialogue, is Simi Garewal. Kamini is the character that Simi is being remembered for even after 28 years of its release and has sort of become a legendary vamp in the history of Bollywood!

And the songs- whether it is the haunting “Ek Hasina Thi”, the lilting “Dard- e- Dil”, the foot tapping “Om Shanthi Om” or the playful “Mein Solah Baras Ki”; the lyricist- music director- singer team have a ball and the audience is not complaining- not even after 28 years!!!

Karz is definitely a one of its kind movie which has been inspiring generations and generations of film makers (Farah Khan’s recent “OSO” being a perfect tribute to the movie). However, the sad part is that Satish Kaushik is now remaking Karz as “Karzzzz” with Himesh Reshammiya playing the lead! I am very sure that Kaushik will not be able to match up with Ghai and to even think that Himesh would fit into Rishi’s shoes is criminal! The silver lining is that Urmila Matondkar is playing Kamini, the role immortalized by Simi. It will be interesting to see how Urmila interprets and performs this most liked vamp of all times, but if that goes for a toss, there is every chance for the audience to go to sleep and that would justify the extra z’s in “Karzzzz”