Gambler
My review of Gambler (1971) It was Dev Saab all the way. Released three months after JMN, the movie Gambler completes 50 years of its release this week. It did a reasonably good business but it was no…
Gambler
My review of Gambler (1971) It was Dev Saab all the way. Released three months after JMN, the movie Gambler completes 50 years of its release this week. It did a reasonably good business but it was nowhere compared to JMN. Dev Saab carried this movie entirely on his shoulders. His charm, energy , and style made the movie a success. Credit should also be given to Neeraj's pen and Sachinda's tunes which are hummed even today. The weak point of the movie is its story. While JMN was first of its kind based on a new formula and very stylish characters, Gambler was based on a twenty-year-old formula of a rich and influential man dumping a sidha- sadha woman after making her pregnant. The doomed from birth child is left to fend for himself or brought by villains. In this case, Jeevan turns the hero( Dev Anand) into a gambler who plays in his club to dupe the unsuspecting players. The hero's love for an idealistic woman ( Zahida) is the motivation for him to leave Jeevan, and he makes a place for himself in the society by backing the right horses and ponies. Zahida is very beautiful and she has inherited the family charm in abundance. If Nargis was ten out of ten, her niece Zahida could be rated as seven or eight. But in the acting department, if Nargis was ten out of ten, Zahida could score only about three. In Gambler, her performance can be downgraded to two. She plays a social worker( the khadi exhibition type), detests the hero right from the beginning, tolerates him for a while in romantic songs, and dumps the hero at the slightest pretext as if she was determined by the destiny to do that. Her aunt Nargis had given a wonderful performance in a similar situation in Awara where the heroine was an adopted daughter of a judge, and a lawyer herself, in love with a criminal. We see nothing of that kind from Zahida in Gambler. The movie has another heroine, Zaheera, who looked very beautiful. All I can say for Zaheera is that she could have become another Saira Bano if she had got the right mentors and worked on her Hindi. Rashid Khan plays a compulsive gambler who always loses. Because of his poverty, his son Sachin is forced to work for the villain and ends up stabbing a policeman.The way Sachin is killed is totally unrealistic. He is in a juvenile home , where we also see an adult criminal who carries a pistol waiting for an opportunity to kill Sachin.For the reasons best known to them, the writer and director eliminate almost entire khandaan of Rashid Khan who commits suicide, wife dies of tuberculosis, and the son is killed by a criminal in a juvenile home. The only one left is his daughter Zaheera who gives moral support to the hero during his rough times.We also see Shatrughan Sinha as the rival gambler whose role in the movie grew in its importance to keep up with his growing popularity. Iftekhar is there too., but there isn't much for him to do except that he knows about the hero's murky past. For a change, Manorama got a positive role as Zahida's never failing, good hearted aunt. We can see this movie again and again because Dev Saab is not only at his charming best, he has also given a superb performance through out the film. There are excellent songs, particularly the romantic ones. Many viewers were of the view that if there was Hema Malini with Dev Saab in the songs like Churi Nahi Mera Dil Hai, and Apne Hothon Ki Banshi, the movie could have become the top grosser of the year. ( The names of the actors mean the parts played by them in the movie)
Gambler
Crime,Romance,Thriller
Film Details
My review of Gambler (1971) It was Dev Saab all the way. Released three months after JMN, the movie Gambler completes 50 years of its release this week. It did a reasonably good business but it was nowhere compared to JMN.
Dev Saab carried this movie entirely on his shoulders. His charm, energy , and style made the movie a success. Credit should also be given to Neeraj's pen and Sachinda's tunes which are hummed even today.
The weak point of the movie is its story. While JMN was first of its kind based on a new formula and very stylish characters, Gambler was based on a twenty-year-old formula of a rich and influential man dumping a sidha- sadha woman after making her pregnant. The doomed from birth child is left to fend for himself or brought by villains.
In this case, Jeevan turns the hero( Dev Anand) into a gambler who plays in his club to dupe the unsuspecting players. The hero's love for an idealistic woman ( Zahida) is the motivation for him to leave Jeevan, and he makes a place for himself in the society by backing the right horses and ponies. Zahida is very beautiful and she has inherited the family charm in abundance.
If Nargis was ten out of ten, her niece Zahida could be rated as seven or eight. But in the acting department, if Nargis was ten out of ten, Zahida could score only about three. In Gambler, her performance can be downgraded to two.
She plays a social worker( the khadi exhibition type), detests the hero right from the beginning, tolerates him for a while in romantic songs, and dumps the hero at the slightest pretext as if she was determined by the destiny to do that. Her aunt Nargis had given a wonderful performance in a similar situation in Awara where the heroine was an adopted daughter of a judge, and a lawyer herself, in love with a criminal. We see nothing of that kind from Zahida in Gambler.
The movie has another heroine, Zaheera, who looked very beautiful. All I can say for Zaheera is that she could have become another Saira Bano if she had got the right mentors and worked on her Hindi. Rashid Khan plays a compulsive gambler who always loses.
Because of his poverty, his son Sachin is forced to work for the villain and ends up stabbing a policeman.The way Sachin is killed is totally unrealistic. He is in a juvenile home , where we also see an adult criminal who carries a pistol waiting for an opportunity to kill Sachin.For the reasons best known to them, the writer and director eliminate almost entire khandaan of Rashid Khan who commits suicide, wife dies of tuberculosis, and the son is killed by a criminal in a juvenile home. The only one left is his daughter Zaheera who gives moral support to the hero during his rough times.We also see Shatrughan Sinha as the rival gambler whose role in the movie grew in its importance to keep up with his growing popularity.
Iftekhar is there too., but there isn't much for him to do except that he knows about the hero's murky past. For a change, Manorama got a positive role as Zahida's never failing, good hearted aunt. We can see this movie again and again because Dev Saab is not only at his charming best, he has also given a superb performance through out the film.
There are excellent songs, particularly the romantic ones. Many viewers were of the view that if there was Hema Malini with Dev Saab in the songs like Churi Nahi Mera Dil Hai, and Apne Hothon Ki Banshi, the movie could have become the top grosser of the year. ( The names of the actors mean the parts played by them in the movie).