Intaquam

Intaqam (1969) : Brief Review -

A very mid affair for a revenge drama, even for the 60s. RK Nayyar's Intaqam comes from a pre-code era Hollywood flick, Paid (1930), starring young and talented Joan Crawford. That pre-code flick was dated for its time because even Hollywood had made better revenge dramas before that, but the only "watch-out-for" quality it had was having a merciless woman on a revenge path. In Bollywood, Rekha, Madhuri Dixit, and Rani Mukherji have done similar woman-led revenge dramas later, and arguably better too, but it's just that the gorgeous Sadhana had to do it before those actresses. Even in the 50s and even back in the 30s, we had a film like "Amar Jyoti" (1936), based on a unique idea of "rebellious female pirate." Intaqam, as its title says, is about a woman's revenge, and unexpectedly, it's damn brutal about presenting the female side. She is merciless and is burning in the fire of revenge, and that's what keeps the film going smoothly, until it loses the fire in the end. The same merciless woman has a change of heart, and everything becomes so positive all of a sudden that it looks soulless and meaningless. Rita is sent to jail by her boss, Sohanlal, and after returning from prison, she decides to take revenge. She is financially and morally supported by Heeralal, who also seeks revenge from the same man, and then Rita marries Sohanlal's son, Raju, to spoil the image of the family. Meanwhile, Raju is truly in love with her, but she denies his feelings-until she has a change of heart in the end. The performances are decent, and the storytelling was quite mid-range for its time. The music also didn't hit the high, except for "Jaane Jaan," and what a super hot soup Helen looks in that number! The screenplay and storyline are strictly average, but maybe having a woman as the lead for a revenge drama might have made it a hit.

RATING - 5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

This film contains the first cabaret number sung by Lata Mangeshkar in her life, "Aa Jaane Jaan", also a rarity through her career. Lata has always refused to sing such words which are vulgar(?) in her opinion.

The song was picturized on Helen and choreographed by P. L. Raj. It also remains one of most popular dance number of Helen's career. The music was composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal with lyrics by Rajinder Krishan.

The music of this film was popular with songs like "Hum Tumhare Liye", Lata Mangeshkar was nominated in the Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer category for her song "Kaise Rahoon Chup" from Intaquam.

The film was a success at Box Office and marked the return of actress Sadhana to films after her brief illness.