Mera Gaon Mera Desh

There was time when in Bombay during ganpati festival we use to have road shows of movies for whole ten days, how eagerly we use to wait for this all the year. MGMD was one of the movies we watched sitting on ground in open air enjoying the dacoits. There was a time in bollywood when movies were made on dacoits on horses and that was so much of fun. Today's generation must be wondering what it must be all about. MGMD can be said one of the best dacoit movie made except Sholay which is a magic completely incomparable. Here we had Vinod khanna dashing handsome equally good compare to hero Dharmendra. Asha parekh as usual is good with her typical village girl costumes which was her trade mark. Location was different interesting, action compare to that period is terrific, music is good but here two songs "mar diya jai... " " Hai sharmau... " Is block buster and even today people remember it, mar diya jai.. Is well choreographed. After watching as a kind I wonder who this girl is, latter came to know she was laxmi chayya who will be remembered for years for this songs. Sadly she is no more. Dharmendra as usual looked dashing and this movie can be said will be one of his best movies. Even the song " Aya aya ataria... " Is well choreographed it can be said one of the best item numbers of 70's. If you want to enjoy bollywood dacoits dont miss it.

okay, lets just put it this way: if you enjoyed sholay, you will definitely love this movie. if you watch the film you will see many similarities with sholay. sholay is considered to be one of the all time great indian movies because of its successful adaptation of a spaghetti western, great performances by the two main characters, and a super villain in amjad khan(gabar singh). this movie is also an "indian western", but instead of two heroes it only has one, dharmendra. his characters personality is a blend of veeru, and jai in sholay. this movie also has a villain, played by vinod khanna, in one of his finest performances, who is incidentally named "jabbar singh". may not be as good as sholay, but comes extremely close. if it were made after sholay, you would think of it as a nice rip off; however, it was made before sholay, therefore it is a trend setter. by the way this movie is complete on all accounts of indian cinema: it has a great story, excellent performances, and great music. satisfaction is guaranteed. also for some reason pratiggya, another super "indian western" is not listed in IMDB, check it out also.

This film is pure fun. In fact this is the picture on which great 'Sholay' was based. If Sholay had Gabbar Singh, this movie has Jabbar Singh as villain and that is Vinod Khanna, who looks every inch a bad man. Film is shot in a realistic manner and there is hardly any scope for superfluous dance sequences. Whatever music is there, is hummable. A song 'Maar diya jaye ya…'performed by Laxmi Chhaya near the end is one of the most popular melodies in Indian movie history.

Film has a good tight script, performances are also nice. The climax shot where hero Dharmendra stands in the heart of the village and challenges Jabbar Singh is scintillating. Camera work there is wonderful. Director Raj Khosla deserved to be among the very best of Bombay filmmakers of his era, it's a pity that he wasn't given his due. He has left an impressive body of work, though last few films of his career failed, yet his mark was there. This film is among his very best.

And a few words about great Laxmi Chhaya. This film has the best performance from her. She had a regrettably short film career and is not even remembered today. But see her here and you will never forget her. What a natural she was...

9 out of 10.

Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) : Brief Review -

"High Noon" meets Spaghetti Western!" A dacoit drama that knows nothing but to fulfill its duties to its genre. Some films are so rooted and so honest in their themes and genres that you feel like you are living in their worlds for those 2 hours. Films like Ganga Jamuna and Mughal-E-Azam were fine examples of such filmmaking, where the locations, costumes, accent, and overall production everything looked to have immersed itself in that specific world. Mera Gaon Mera Desh is one such film that immerses itself in that dacoit's world, which we have seen many times and sometimes better, but yet it feels close to reality. Except for that introduction scene in the jail, which was needed to transfer the main character from that world to this world, the entire film is set in a village, and every single frame speaks about its volumes of filmmaking. The only problem is that the storyline is very similar to the old Hollywood western or the newly formed westerns (in the 60s), which makes it a very predictable affair. My father has seen it in a theater, and he often watches this film on TV and loves it. He sometimes skips a few scenes, but he never skips the songs and the climax. I agree too. "Kya Kehta Hai Saawan," "Apni Prem Kahaniyaan," and "Maar Diya Jaye" are super hit songs and are ageless. MGMD can be noted as one of Vinod Khanna's most impactful performances ever because the screen presence he creates as a brutal dacoit and an antagonist takes this film a notch higher. Dharmendra is a criminal turned into a savior, and he gets enough of his own scenes. The entire climax portion, which includes gunshots, chase, and that last belt treatment scene, is elevated by Dharmendra's macho image. Asha Parekh and Laxmi Chhaya both add "beauty with brain" term and make this one a glamorous affair for villagers. Regardless of a weak plot, Raj Khosla creates a massy and engaging dacoit drama that is true to its identity. Overall, a good film boosted by super hit songs.

RATING - 6.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Music, Locations, Cinematography, Acting....... Super movie. Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna at their best.