Dhund

Having seen several of B.R. Chopra's movies, I can see he was very interested in making movies of this sort. Dhund is another murder mystery cum courtroom drama made by him, and he does it well. There's nothing particularly surprising about the way it is made, and while watching I actually waited for some unexpected twists which would turn the film upside down. Having said that, this is definitely not a bad thing because overall Dhund is interesting and very well scripted. At times I was very impressed by how taut it was, and even though it is well contrived, it does not look like that at all and is thoroughly intriguing. The movie is by no means flawless, but why should one care about that as long as it provides entertainment and is interesting to watch? During the courtroom scenes, which were presented with a great share of humour, I tried to figure if they were intended to be comic or dramatic, but they still were effective. The film stars several famous actors, and all of them do well. Those who impressed me the most are Madan Puri, Sanjay Khan, and Navin Nischol, who turned in greatly restrained performances. Zeenat Aman is a good choice for this part, and although it's not demanding, she is amazingly beautiful and attractive. Danny Denzongpa was a bit annoying and over-the-top but then he was supposed to be a hot-tempered type and it's okay, although I felt it could have been a bit reduced. Ashok Kumar is wonderful in a special appearance as the sharp lawyer, and Deven Varma also gives a noteworthy comic performance as the servant of the house. The film's music was not very necessary for the film, although the songs came in appropriate portions. I wish Chopra had stuck to what he did in Kanoon, which is known to be the first songless Hindi film. Anyway, I enjoyed watching Dhund, and I definitely recommend it for lovers of Hindi films.

A gripping plot especially for a old movie, the plot leverages on the characteristics of Danny's role in order to justify the reasons behind his killing. Danny's acting is stupendous and over-whelming, so as to generate enough hatred by the audience for his role and at the same time develop awe for his acting. The dialogues spoken by Danny are so powerful that literally create a shaken and threatening feeling. The cool as cucumber and always helpful and cordial Navin Nischal cushions the plot very well. Deven Verma's very little cameo also adds a tinge of humour to the overall serious movie. The episode of killing is described very intriguingly with crafty usage of collectivism of the environmental noises, shooting noise and the regular habit of Danny to shoot at birds. The movie mentions of suspicions of killing towards many salient roles, by convincingly justifying the supposed reasons behind the killing by every suspect. The highlighting theme was the constant anger and wrath of the daunting Danny, which is nicely spread throughout the movie, with his physical disabilities in no way alleviating his nature even slightly.

The title song is wonderful and helps in building up on the suspense plot, but my special appreciation for the synergy between how the movie starts and how the movie ends. And special mention of the fact that the movie's plot is highly intelligent, which forms the foundation for this to be a good movie.

I gave it 8 stars directly for its storyline and stars performance!

The narrative of DHUND 1973 commences with the body of a lifeless man - so who actually murdered this man - his step mother who depended on him for her sustenance - his wife who was mentally n physically brutalized by him - her paramour who wants to safeguard her at all costs - an outsider who enters the house to make a phone call - this is a whodunit which definitely needs to be appreciated - good performances by the entire cast - zeenat aman looks smashing - the opening track, by mahendra kapoor, is a major plus - rating 3/5.

A good/intelligent suspense thriller. As someone rightly put it: :grippingly successful attempt at suspense, a genre rarely attempted by Hindi cinema. The movie was made in 1972 and we have gone through 30 odd years and yet no one has come out to make something like Dhund in Bollywood. Amazing, 30 years Bollywood and still no intelligent suspense thrillers. The ending could have done with a little better fine-tuning and --SPOILERS-- except for the fact how easily the murderer walks inside the house via the "open at night main-door" {most people I know, sleep at night with their doors locked :-) } , the movie was watertight and gripping. Equally good performances by Zeenat and Sanjay.

A must see for every Hitchcock fans.

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