Jeetendra turns 80, Aakhri Daao

Happy Birthday 

Ravi Kapoor..

Known better as Jeetendra or Jumping Jack in White , turns 80 today.

Jeetendra survived successfully the onslaught of Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan and then on.

In case of career longevity he is second to few.

He after Sanjeev Kumar was an actor who did not hesitate to play White or Grey hair roles even in his prime.

He is known for his serious roles with Gulzar and also his action roles .

He in his career did only one film with Amitabh Bachchan Gehri Chaal and just one with Salim Javed Too.

Let's look at the latter

1975 film Aakhri Daao which released exactly a week before Sholay.

This is a simple thriller and the narrative is linear. Safecracker Ravi (Jeetendra), who works as a freelancer to help companies improve their safe designing, somehow gets involved in a terrible crime with Robert (Danny ) in an attempt to help a woman Julie (Padma Khanna). He runs away from the city to a remote hilly area to become manager in an woods estate owned by (Satyen Kappu), and his daughter, Reena (Saira Banu). Everything goes well and he falls in love with Reena, improves the prospects of the estate and manages everything to the best of his capacity - until the day Robert lands at his doorstep. He wants Ravi to crack a safe, and a refusal means he will divulge his crimes to the local cops. Watch the movie to know what happens next.

A fantastic script by Salim-Javed means 2 hrs 25 minutes fly by. Jeetendra is spot-on in his act, and Danny turns in another excellent villainous act. Watch the scene where Jeetu punches Danny and he rises from the ground and warns him never to do this again. Simply a class act.

Jeetendra fits the role like a glove and is aided ably by the beautiful, charming and slightly comical Saira Banu. Padma Khanna is amazing too, and Iftekar is best in yet another cop act. The rest of the cast, comprising of Satyen Kappu, Ramesh Deo and Ranjeet, are excellent.

I am taking out two stars for the inferior music. Only the track Aisa Na Hoke In Waadiyon Me by Mohammed Rafi stands out. The rest by LP are really average compositions. Stronger music would have made this thriller a perfect 10. Direction by A. Salaam is tight but not enough to do justice to the script . Production values (M.M. Malhotra) are fantastic. Watch it at night, and you will love to revisit the movie.  No super human acts from the hero or wild leaps in the story. A simple thriller, nicely told.

Adapted from a Hindi Novel of the same name by Bhagwati Charan Verma (which was adapted from the James Hadley Chase " Come Easy Go Easy").

The film was good but was bulldozed by Sholay and even though it flopped made no difference to the popularity of Salim Javed.

Aakhri Daao also proves that filmmaking is a collaborative effort. With the advantage of hindsight, some analysts often claim the kind of taut and explosive scripts Salim-Javed wrote, any filmmaker with a basic understanding of the medium would have delivered. It is when you watch an “Akhri Dao” that you realise the value of a Ramesh Sippy and a Manmohan Desai.

Jeetendra Excelled in this role and the flopping of this movie made no difference to his standing.