Do Aur Do Paanch

Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor's most iconic film together was the gritty Deewar but this tends more towards the comedy genre.

They both play two ex-cons who end up at the same school with the same conflicting aims. This leads to series of comedic situations, especially in the middle of the film which is quite enjoyable.

Sadly, the build up is slow and so is the last half which is quite cliched and predictable. Add to it songs which haven't aged at all well and you have a quintessential eighties Hindi film.

The female leads had less heft to them compared to the male ones and even then, Parveen Babi manages to mess her role up. But then, she was mostly used for eye candy purposes then and rarely for her acting skills (which one could argue, were quite lacking). I actually preferred Shashi Kapoor's role in this to Bachchan's. The villain's role by Kader Khan is lacking. Having seen folks like K N Singh and Pran essaying the negative role, Kader Khan doesn't rise up to their standards.

Amitabh Bacchan is the one of favorite of all generation. Amitabh & Shashi is the superb & best stars in Bollywood of this season. Both made number of films together in Bollywood Cinema. 2+2=5 is very entertaining movie full of drama & comedy with hit music. Just watch movie on GetFirstCut

I've enjoyed most films, like 'Do Aur Do Paanch', 'Suhaag' and 'Namak Halaal', with the Amitabh Bachchan-Shashi Kapoor duo. Although I did not like 'Deewar' or 'Kala Patthar', the duos strong essence is felt. 'Do Aur Do Paanch' starts off as a comedy with a lot of slapstick, cussing, situations and wit. Bachchan and Kapoor are back providing us with several laugh out loud moments. The director does a good job in presenting the story with its comedic twists. However, towards the ending it becomes a little melodramatic with less comedy. The dialogues are good and the performances are competent. Amitabh Bachchan is hilarious. His knack for comedy is clearly evident. Shashi Kapoor too leaves his mark even though Amitabh has the better lines. Hema Malini as the strong-minded but gullible teacher is fun to watch and Parveen Babi is quite glamorous and shares a great chemistry with Bachchan. I don't think Amitabh has had a better chemistry with any of his other leading ladies and that includes Rekha and Jaya Bhadhuri. Kader Khan is good as the evil Uncle. Child actor Bittoo hams it up. Rajesh Roshan's music is a mostly okay. The title songs (sung by the legendary Kishore Kumar) are laugh inducing as they got me chuckling all the time and Asha Bhosle's soothing 'Kya Kehti Hai' is very romantic. But, the rest of the songs are forgettable. Agnihotri and Bhowmick deserve credit for their writing which eventually gave us this fun film. I remember having seen 'Do Aur Do Paanch' decades ago and I watched it again last night. For me, it stood the test of time as the humour does not feel outdated. Even the action sequences which are of the dishum dishum sort have a touch of comedy. Perhaps it would have been more fun if there was just a little more comedy towards the end which gets a tad too dramatic. Nonetheless this is one film which dares to teach us that 2 + 2 does not equal 5.

Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor make the most amazing on-screen pair of heroes on Indian screen ever.If they were at their dramatic best in Deewar u have to watch this movie to see their comic timings and excellent chemistry.

The movie starts with a comic strip which comes alongwith the credits.We come to know later that Amitabh and Shashi are 2 small time thiefs who are sworn enemies.Later,the real plot of the movie comes in.A millionaire(Dr. Shreeram Lagoo) is a millionaire and has a son Bittu whom he loves dearly. However an old enemy called Uncle(Kadar Khan with black goggles and overcoat) wants to kidnap Bittu to avenge some age old rivalry.The father thus puts his only son to a boarding school under the able guidance of his teacher Shalu(Hema Malini) and principal(Sajjan).Now both the small time thiefs want to have a big loot by kidnapping Bittu and in this effort both of them enter the boarding school with Amitabh as the P.T. instructor and Shashi as the music teacher.The principal's daughter Anju(Parveen Babi) falls in love with Amitabh and Shalu falls for Shashi.What follows is a series of comic situations where both the heroes try to outwit each other till they become friends and destroy Uncle's evil plan.

The movie maintains a fast pace throghout its length. Director Rakesh Kumar who had assisted Prakash Mehra made some huge hits when he turned director himself.Incidentally all 4 Khoon Pasina,Mr. Natwarlal,Yaarana and ofcourse Do Aur Do Paanch starred Amitabh.The direction of the film is good and its much more classy than Khoon Pasina and Mr. Natwarlal.However,after few years he went into oblivion for some unknown reasons. The story and screenplay are very well placed. Kadar khan's dailogues fit the bill.music by Rajesh Roshan is good and the title song 'Jo Sonche Jo Chaahein...' is popular to this day. Now for the performances,Amitabh bachchan is excellent. His comic timing and dailogue delivery are outstanding.He gets full support from Shashi Kapoor who also gives a commendable performance.However,in a rare serious scene when both of them get drunk and try to tell their sad tale Bachchan towers over Kapoor.The chemistry between Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor in this film is out of the world. They look terrific whenever they are together in the film. The sequence when Shashi forcibly asks the students to give food to masterji(Amitabh) when the latter has already had his full is brilliant.Amitabh's continous reminding of an imaginary character SURESH to Parveen babiis hilarious. So is the pseudo tragedy of Shashi kapoor in order to woo Hema Malini. Parveen Babi and Hema Malini also do their part well. Dr.Shreeram Lagoo and Kadar Khan are good.

Do Aur Do Paanch when released in 1980 was not a HUGE hit.Still it did quite well and now is considered one of the best movies of Amitabh and Shashi. I sincerely hope that any current pair of heroes can give us even 50% of such an amazing chemistry which both of them had.It is for both Bachchan and Kapoor that the film becomes a MUST watch.

Do Aur Do Paanch review :

Amitabh Bachchan made a great pairing with Shashi Kapoor giving blockbusters like Deewaar (1975), Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Trishul (1978) and Namak Halaal (1982). Do Aur Do Paanch, released in early 1980, was not so successful collaboration of theirs but nevertheless remains memorable for the masti mazaak and the amazing chemistry they shared onscreen..

Bachchan and Kapoor played small time crooks who are at loggerheads with each other for stepping on each others toes in every crime they commit. They end up as fake teachers in a hill-station school with intention to kidnap a wealthy guy (Sreeram Lagoo)'s son. Hema Malini and Parveen Babi are their colleagues at work who eventually become their love interests. Kader Khan, called Uncle for most part of the movie, was the main baddie.

Do aur Do Paanch was a perfect blend of comedy and action with both the stars getting ample scope to outwit the other. It was fun. It was entertaining. And yet it was called a box office flop. Actually in those days, Amitabh was off press and the press was totally against Amitabh. Thus, every film which fell even slightly below expectations was conveniently labelled a flop. This film also bore that brunt of his press boycott..

Later, most of these so-called Bachchan flops were revived with new titles particularly from late '80s till early '90s and they had successful re-runs at the box office. So The Great Gambler (1979) became Sabse Bada Juaari and Do Aur Do Paanch was released again as Do Ikke. I saw Do Ikke at re-run favourite cinema Paradise at Mahim and remember the show being housefull with the noisy crowd cheering and whistling at every dialogue of Amitabh Bachchan. Such was his charisma and star power!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.