100*

This is my 100th post.
Don't clap yet. Mad Momma did 100 posts in the first 56 days of 2007! It took me more than 2 years of official and 10 months of active ( by my standards!) blogging.

So, I thought I should give a Hundred theme to this post. And came up with all the Hindi movies with 100 / Sau in their names that I could think of!

100 Days
This was a scientific exploration of extra sensory perception (ESP) and its impact on human behaviour. Madhuri Dixit has ESP as special power, Jackie Shroff as husband and Moonmoon Sen as sister. In fact, the movie opens with Ms Sen drying her hair after a bath in a frilly blue negligee.
Okay, let me carry on for the benefit of the ladies since all the men have left to get the VCD...
Well, the ESP is not enough to stop her sis from getting murdered and entombed in a wall. She was too busy singing nursery songs with Javed Jaffrey to make use of her powers. Imagine, the world is getting destroyed by Lex Luthor and SuperWoman is singing with George Clooney - "Gabbar Singh yeh kehkar gaya, jo dar gaya woh mar gaya..."
But she redeems herself completely in the extended climax by escaping the clutches of a bald-headed villain called Jagmohan, who chewed up lit cigarettes when angry! Jackie Shroff has a suitably non-entity role as Madhuri dances, prances, shrieks, shrills and hogs the limelight.
The film was directed by Partho Ghosh - whose other credits include Agnisakshi (Manisha Koirala and Nana Patekar in a remake of Sleeping with the Enemy), Dalaal (Mithun's stellar role as a pimp singing the lyrical gem "Gutur Gutur"), Teesra Kaun (a murder mystery with Rituparna Sengupta as the victim) and Ghulam-e-Mustafa (in which Nana Patekar - a hitman - falls in love with Raveena Tandon in his usual deadpan ways).
Oh - by the way, the movie gets its title from the fact that the climax happens on the 100th day of Jackie and Madhuri's marriage.

Sau Din Saas Ke
The mother of all monster-in-laws - Lalita Pawar - plays one of her most ball-breaking roles where she is used to riding roughshod over her elder daughter-in-law (a docile Asha Parekh). Then her younger son (Raj Babbar in yet another wimpish role) marries and gets Reena Roy into the household. This babe is not used to one-eyed harridans messing with her life, so she delivers the ultimatum of the title - 100 days to reform or go bust! After that, it is an orgy (not in that sense!) of lashing hunters, clanging utensils, poisoning conspiracies and burgeoning domestic politics.
In their first round of 'It's Different' commercials, Javed Jaffrey and Pankaj Kapoor mention a spoof of the name - Sau Din Sauce Ke! Different? You bet!
While on the theme of MIL-DIL clashes, another film heartily recommended is Salman's first film - Biwi Ho To Aisi - in which Rekha tames her mother-in-law (Bindu) with an entertaining mixture of English, drunken acting and an obedient devar (the aforementioned Salman). Bindu's signature line - "Secretary, follow me!" - remains one of the favourite Hindi movie dialogues in our family!

Sau-ten
Mickey Mouse is to Walt Disney what Sauten (a.k.a. Souten) is to Saawan Kumar Tak.
He started way back in the early 1980's with an ageing Rajesh Khanna (in a bob cut!) romancing Tina Munim. Tina invites him to tea presumably because her mom is thinking of her marriage.
(Hit song: Shaayad meri shaadi ka khayaal dil mein aaya hain / Isi liye mummy ne meri tujhe chai pe bulaya hain...).
Anyway, the film was a hit and Mr Tak became ballistic as he made (or threatened to make) a full Souten series - Souten ki Beti, Souten ki Souten, Souten Comfort and Souten Meets Monty Python. Okay, I made up the last one. And the one before that as well!
Midway through the making of Souten ki Souten is the protagonist herself which was a bit of reductio ad absurdum so he abandoned it then and there.
Souten ki Beti had Rekha and Jeetendra in a bathtub in one scene and serious commentators have speculated that Jeetendra was wearing his trademark white shoes in that scene as well. Less serious viewers just escaped from the ordeal!

Sau Crore
This is one of the long list of films Dev Anand acted/directed/produced/wrote/designed. It was reported that for the first day first show of his latest film - Mr Prime Minister - there was a solitary viewer. Just one. So, maybe Dev Anand is the only who watches his own films as well.
Sau Crore is an allusion to the population of this country, which I remember from an interview of his. The film was meant to awaken the youth of the country to understand the true potential of the country and harness it for growth and prosperity.
The youth, obviously, took his advice for as Dev-saab's audience reduced to one, the growth rate grew to 9%! We have finally moved to productive pursuits.

Sau-dagar
Probably, the last of Subhash Ghai's high-voltage, high-octane, high-glycerine potboilers. He produced bigger hits than this one but this was the last time he just let himself loose for the benefit of the Delhi / UP / Punjab crowds. After this, he paid too much attention to the overseas audience and churned out crap like Kisna and Yaadein.
A sweeping saga of friends turned foes - Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar - the film had rocking music, lavish photography, packed star cast and whistling-in-the-seat-dancing-in-the-aisles dialogue! Kamlesh Pandey, an ex-copywriter, came up with lines that rivalled the best of Hindi cinema. For example, when given a gun to kill Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar says, "Hum tumhe maarenge. Aur zaroor maarengey. [Pause]. Lekin. [Pause]. Woh bandook hamaari hogi, goli bhi hamaari hogi aur. [Pause]. Waqt bhi hamaara hoga." *Rest of the lines lost in wild whoops*
(Trivia: Kamlesh Pandey's other credits include Tezaab, Aks and Rang De Basanti - no flash in the pan, samjhe?)
Anyways, to get back to Saudagar, it is only fair that such an epic should have an apocryphal story of its making...
Well, there came a rumour during the making of the film that Raaj Kumar has been diagnosed with cancer (which was false, like most Bollywood rumours). But Ghai broke into a cold sweat. Imagine your lead player dying after 75% of the film is shot! So, he mustered enough courage to go and ask the man himself. Knowing Raaj Kumar's fabled temper, this was not an easy task. After a whole of chit-chat, drinking Raaj Kumar's Scotch and squirming, Ghai managed to blurt out, "Sir, sunne mein aaya aapko cancer hain..."
Raaj Kumar fixed him with a glare, took a sip of whiskey and said, "Subhash, Raaj Kumar ko jab hoga, cancer hi hoga. Zukaam thode hi hoga?"
Awesome. And to think, Kamlesh Pandey did not write these lines!

And finally, the last of the Sau-s whose Bollywood connection needs to be explained a bit...

Sau-rav
India's World Cup campaign starts tomorrow.
If I asked you 6 months back, who is the one Indian sure NOT to go to West Indies, his would have been the name. Today, he is tipped to be India's surest match-winner ahead of even Sachin Tendulkar.
If that's not straight out of a Bollywood film, you tell me what is?