Khandan

I had so many expectations from this film, but as they say, great expectations, great disappointments. There were so many reasons I was excited about this film. First it had a cast that included Sunil Dutt, Nutan, Lalita Pawar and Mumtaz. It had music composed by Ravi. And most importantly, it is a film of the 1960s (Hindi cinema's golden era). And then I watched it, and frankly, I wish I hadn't. Even if the story of Khandan had been good or at least decent, it couldn't have been more than average given the poor writing. The film is overly melodramatic and contains all the possible clichés a film could have. The dialogues are cheesy and therefore most of the actors are not able to deliver memorable performances. But wait, the film is not a total waste of time. I do admit that I found it completely unwatchable at some points, but there are some pluses as well. First, Ravi's soundtrack is fantastic, so the songs are actually the sequences which did not ask for a FF effect. Then, Nutan. In a melodramatic fare like this, thank God for a Nutan, who always manages to hold her own with her natural acting which seems to be completely unaffected by the exaggerated proceedings. The same cannot be said about Sunil Dutt, who, though playing a fairly challenging role with noted sincerity, suffered from the poor script which made his character look annoyingly self-victimising. Lalita Pawar was fine, and that's because she was an actress of rare ability to make any hysterical mother likable and funny. It also had Mumtaz who was really attractive but whose acting was weak for the reasons mentioned above. Anyway, if you have not watched it yet, I don't recommend it to you, but if you still want to catch it, then don't expect much because you will be disappointed, maybe as much as I was.

The story is average and it is based on joint family values. The acting by Sunil Dutt and Om Prakash is significantly good but Nautan steals the show with her graceful, resilient and evocative charisma. The touchstone of this film is the song "Tumhi mere mandir" which is beautifully sung by Lata Mangeshker and remarkably acted by Nautan. The sweet and soothing music as composed by Ravi Shankar adds glory to its rhythmic intensity. There are certain latently vibrant feelings that accompany the flow of the song as it progresses and Nautan seems to be so comfortable in exuding the required talent that it seems that no other actress could have risen beyond her remarkable performance.

Khandan (1965) : Brief Review -

Too much family drama to handle, but that's what 60's entertainment was all about. The 60s saw many South remakes in Hindi cinema, and most of them were taken from successful movies and became successful as well. Khandan came from the Tamil movie Bhaaga Pirivinai, which was directed by A. Bhimsingh, and he sat on the director's chair for the Hindi remake as well. Needless to say that it becomes easier to recreate your own work rather than somebody else recreating it with his own vision. Bhimsingh's Khandan is a melodramatic affair, and I was kind of expecting that from it. However, the melodrama was over the top and one level higher than what I expected. The elder son Govind becomes paralysed by one hand and one leg, and his aunt despises him for that. Her brother returns from Singapore and starts dividing the house. With his conspiracy, this happy, big family and house are scattered into pieces. There is too much melodrama, too many nuances that play a major role in proving the "karma" factor right, too many villains to hate, but Pran is just amazing. Govind is paralysed, but his son is normal, whereas Sunder is normal, but his wife gives a birth to a paralysed son. Now that's too much drama, and it's too conflicting. I don't see any logic in that or the way Govind is ready to get humiliated every time as if he were a duffer, but maybe that's what the 60's entertainment was all about. People hardly care about the logic and went mad over the high-voltage drama that became dated soon. Sunil Dutt, Pran, Nutan, Lalita Pawar, Manmohan Krishna, and Om Prakash have delivered superb performances. This film doesn't feel crap because of them. The songs are very situational, but the chart-scoring numbers aren't there. Badi Der Bhayi Nandlala maybe your devotional chartbuster. Overall, a highly dramatic family soap that's faded away from memories too soon, deservingly.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The song "Tumhi mere mandir" is famous and fantastic song. But the movie is very good. Acting was marvelous.

Thankfully, Sunil Dutt got filmfare for this movie, he truly deserved it not only this one but some of them too. He really put his soul into his character which he generally do.

Nutan looks very beautiful in this film. Her character portrayal was fantastic.

Last but not least, Pran Saab was evil and funny at the same time. He looks like Charlie Chaplin though but entertaining.

Some may not show that much of interest in this because thinking of that this could be a family drama. Yes, but a bit different.

This movie is a good flick showing the Joint family system in villages and there advantages and disadvantages.Sunil Dutt gives a bravo performance in the role of a physically disabled person who still wanna live the life in happiness but the society does not really want him to.This movie also won him a filmfare award and to be honest it was Om Prakash's or Sunil Dutt's performance which have carried the film on their shoulders.Nutan gives a good performance as his co-star and Om Prakash as I said also gives an excellent performance in the role of a man who is influenced a lot by his wife.The songs of this movie are also quite good therefore in my opinion this movie is a good one and should be seen.