The B. Subhash Legacy

...BABBAR SUBHASH aka B. SUBHASH

Anyone in India who had their childhood in the late 70's to 80's period and had some access to video could not have missed at least a few of these paradigm-setting classics made by B. Subhash

Disco Dancer (1983) / Kasam Paida Karnewale Ki (1984) / Dance Dance (1987)

This trilogy of films can be regarded as the cornerstone of Babbar Subhash's illustrious career and the comet-like rise of Mithun Chakraborty as the Akbar of Hindi camp cinema and Bappi Lahiri as his Tansen. Of course these films have been watched and dissected all so often that there is quite likely nothing one can add, but for the benefit of the future generation, a few words...

Disco Dancer was the first and most famous of the Dance trilogy. The story is about how Mithun rises from poverty to become the nation's most famous Disco Dancer with his slinky-kinky moves. Of course given that his major competition is Karan Razdan (who later gained household fame as the whatsisname husband of TV's Rajni) who spends the bulk of his movie time like the proverbial lounge lizard, Babbar Subhash's writers had to come up with ingenious schemes to challenge the hero, like his mother's death by shock from electric guitar leading to the medical condition of 'Electric Guitarophobia' from which he is rescued in the end by Rajesh Khanna showing early signs of zombie-fication.

See beautiful detailed review of Disco Dancer here.

KPKWK, the least of this trilogy, is a revenge story with a plot...that could be from just abouts any quirky revenge story of that time. Son Mithun takes revenge for father Mithun and Smita Patil is the mother...mother of the son, that is. It's the little details that count here: Son Mithun is a Disco Dancer Drummer, a 'Travolta meets Bill Ward' type and Salma Agha, that super-glossy blob of fat tissue from the 80's with voice like a mill siren is, we're to believe, a pop star.

Dance Dance restored luster to the trilogy. Apparently B. Subhash had this very life-changing experience when having halva at a road-side stall and being accosted by a beggar child. Hence this classic commences with an urchin girl telling her brother that if he wants halva he must dance, and not just dance but DANCE DANCE! Mithun cavorts through the film in full force, even singing odes to the vendor of the magical mystery halva, Amrish Puri hams it up gorgeously as a rape-fetishist talent scout, and Smita Patil features again, this time as Mithun's sister and oppressed wife of his band's drummer Shakti "Mitch Mitchell" Kapoor. Owoo!

Commando (1988)

In those glorious days of VHS rentals, most kids would have seen Where Eagles Dare. A few more nerdy ones like yours truly saw American Ninja (a camp classic in itself). Credit Babbar Subhash for coming up with this tasteful blend of the two, also borrowing a title from a 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Commando's main claim to coolness comes from it being virtually the only Bollywood film to feature Ninjas. NINJAS, bitch! And they're given so much respect and recognition, all perennial B. Subhash baddie Amrish Puri needs to say is "Operator, mere dost Ninja ko phone lagao" (Operator, ring up my friend the Ninja) and he's put right through. The Ninja is played by Danny Denzongpa, Hindi cinema's only chinky till Manisha Koirala came along. Lots of other fun moments abound in this latter day classic.