Cast:
Rajesh Khanna (Dilip Roy), Nanda (Rekha), Bindu (Renu), Sujit Kumar (Inspector Diwan), Madan Puri (Public Prosecutor Khanna), Gajanan Jagirdar (Dr. Trivedi), Iftekhar (Inspector Karwe), Jagdish Raj (Inspector Khan), Shammi (Basanti), and Alka (Sushma Roy) Directed by Yash Chopra.
Review:
Admittedly, the scope of Indian cinema is vast, but some features take time to get around to, particularly since my understanding of the country in film or about Bollywood isn't exactly vast (there is exactly one example of Indian cinema on Movie Night, and it was Nayak). For one, I didn't really know that the term of "Bollywood" is a popular one to refer to Hindi cinema (of course, it all refers to a capital city formerly known as Bombay), which takes up a good chunk of Indian cinema alongside other regions of the nation such as Tamil or Telugu (which have their own "-wood" nicknames). All of this is window-dressing for the real interest at hand in saying that sometimes it is a family affair when it comes to making films. Yash Chopra (born and raised in British India) started his career as an assistant director to both his brother B.R. Chopra and I. S. Johar before he became a director in 1959 (Dhool Ka Phool was produced by his brother while his other brother Dharam shot the film). He made his mark in the Bollywood drama with films such as Waqt (1965), which was the biggest hit of its year. He continued to direct all the way into the 2010s before his death in 2012 at the age of 80. Apparently, the inspiration of the film is two-fold: it is based on both a Gujarati play called Dhummas and an American film called Signpost to Murder (1965). The film was shot in just under a month, which was due to the fact that production on his film Aadmi aur Insaan had to have been paused when a lead actor broke their leg. A remake of Ittefaq was done under the same name in 2017, with direction by Abhay Chopra, the grandson of B.R. Chopra.
On a dark and stormy night is a thriller about a man on the run trying to bring out his innocence as a man of coincidence (okay, that last line is actually inspired by the English translation of this title). The film is relatively fine, although one might be forgiven for asking about it being a landmark "Bollywood" film when it comes to not being a musical. I think there are a few elements that do work out well in tension, but its attempt at basically being a double mystery winds up making a ham-handed result rather than something with more bite to it. I actually kind of like the idea of a berserk leading actor, one who you might not be able to trust in their word when it comes to finding bodies or proving innocence. Khanna actually is known as the first superstar of Bollywood, which included a number of successful of films in such a short time, with a popularized streak of successful films with him as star, and this is labeled among there. He dominates the film among all else for a worthy benefit that involves plenty of snappy energy that clearly keeps you guessing in just what seems real and what isn't there. Nanda is the other side of the equation in coincidences and fear that works to an extent when it comes to vulnerability. The rest do fine in relative procedural aspects. Honestly, I thought the climax was supposed to be taken like a joke, because it actually ties everything up in the strangest of bows and melodrama rather than a spiffy thriller. At a certain point, you can only take so much with a grain of salt when it comes to overnight coincidences, especially when it comes to the gradual pacing of an investigation. As a whole, the folks who are familiar with Hindi cinema and world cinema in general will likely find something quite compelling here with this film and select scenes that show useful tension and presences that surely made Hindi cinema proud enough.
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
Next up: At last, the Dutch.
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