Many Bollywood reincarnation thrillers begin with a lengthy
prologue thoroughly detailing the circumstances which lead to the hero’s
original demise; often, the hero doesn’t get around to dying until the
intermission. Karz (1989), by contrast, gets straight to the
point: Wealthy landowner Ravi Verma (Raj Kiran) has just won a lawsuit
against the villainous Sir Judah (Prem Nath, also known as “that guy who
looks like Leo McKern”), who is possibly English but definitely mute,
and can communicate only by using his long fingernails to tap out
messages in Morse code which are then interpreted by his loyal henchman
(the always reliable Mac Mohan.)
Ravi is in love with Kamini (Simi Garewal) and doesn’t realize that she’s secretly evil. (And a smoker!) Sir Judah, on the other hand, does realize this, so he summons her to his lair and taps out an offer: If she will marry Ravi, kill him, and then sign over all of his property to Sir Judah, she’ll be given a generous stipend and the big house in Ooty and allowed to play at being queen for the rest of her life. On the other hand, if she marries Ravi, kills him, and then keeps the property for herself, she’ll be brutally murdered. After thinking it over for all of two seconds, Kamini chooses option A. She marries him, and as he’s driving her to the ancestral home in Ooty to meet his mother (Durga Khote) and sister (Abha Dulia), his jeep stalls, and she takes the opportunity to “accidentally” run him over. Repeatedly.
Years later, Monty (Rishi Kapoor) is an orphan turned hugely successful pop singer so starved for parental affection that he calls his chilly, controlling manager G. G. Oberoi (Pinchoo Kapoor) “daddy.” When Monty brings old friend Dayal (Jala Agha) home for dinner, the Oberois have other plans, so he allows Dayal to drag him off to a party. There he catches a glimpse of the lovely Tina (Tina Munim) working in the kitchen. He falls for her instantly, and after the party he sends a drunken Dayal into the kitchen to find her, only to learn that she’s not a servant at all, she’s a schoolgirl from Ooty who had been visiting a friend from her village, and she’s already gone home.
With no hope of locating Tina, Monty falls into a pleasant romantic melancholy, and writes some new songs. He doesn’t have much time for brooding, however; while playing the guitar on stage he’s suddenly confronted by visions of a man being run over by a jeep. Sensibly, Monty goes straight to the hospital. While the tests are inconclusive, his doctor advises him to take some time off and go find somewhere quiet to relax. Somewhere like, for instance, Ooty.
Once in Ooty Monty is quickly reunited with Tina. (Why didn’t he go to Ooty before? No idea.) Tina, it turns out, is just as smitten with him, and he quickly wins over her guardian, local strongman Kabir (Pran). He’s also haunted by strange memories of another life and death, and when Tina introduces him to her patron, Kamini, it all becomes clear - he is Ravi Verma reborn!
Monty wants revenge on the woman who killed him. He plans to shoot her, but Kabir points out that he’ll just be arrested. Instead, he suggests that Monty convince her to confess her crime by worming his way into her affections and then scaring her with familiar music, hints about her past crimes, and men dressed as skeletons doing aerobics.
Karz is widely regarded as a Bollywood classic, for one simple reason - the movie is hugely entertaining. The prologue delivers only the information we need to know, and any other details about Ravi’s life are reserved for flashbacks. As a result, instead of boring exposition, there’s something interesting happening on screen all the time, whether that something is a huge dance number or a gratuitous fight or sappy romance or ominous scheming or Kabir just being awesome.
The movie does have flaws, of course. Some of the “ghost” scenes are downright silly, especially the aforementioned Jazzercising skeletons. Tina is witty and strong-willed in Bombay, and turns into a ninny immediately upon returning to Ooty. Dayal doesn’t do much, and then promptly vanishes from the narrative. And Kamini may be written too well; she’s clearly a bad person, but she’s portrayed with such clarity that it’s hard not to sympathize with the aging beauty who made a horrible bargain in her youth and is unaware that her new chance at happiness will only lead to betrayal and pain. It means that Monty comes off as a bit of a bully, and that’s more moral ambiguity than I was expecting. The movie is relentlessly watchable, though, flaws notwithstanding. Karz is one classic that deserves the title.
Ravi is in love with Kamini (Simi Garewal) and doesn’t realize that she’s secretly evil. (And a smoker!) Sir Judah, on the other hand, does realize this, so he summons her to his lair and taps out an offer: If she will marry Ravi, kill him, and then sign over all of his property to Sir Judah, she’ll be given a generous stipend and the big house in Ooty and allowed to play at being queen for the rest of her life. On the other hand, if she marries Ravi, kills him, and then keeps the property for herself, she’ll be brutally murdered. After thinking it over for all of two seconds, Kamini chooses option A. She marries him, and as he’s driving her to the ancestral home in Ooty to meet his mother (Durga Khote) and sister (Abha Dulia), his jeep stalls, and she takes the opportunity to “accidentally” run him over. Repeatedly.
Years later, Monty (Rishi Kapoor) is an orphan turned hugely successful pop singer so starved for parental affection that he calls his chilly, controlling manager G. G. Oberoi (Pinchoo Kapoor) “daddy.” When Monty brings old friend Dayal (Jala Agha) home for dinner, the Oberois have other plans, so he allows Dayal to drag him off to a party. There he catches a glimpse of the lovely Tina (Tina Munim) working in the kitchen. He falls for her instantly, and after the party he sends a drunken Dayal into the kitchen to find her, only to learn that she’s not a servant at all, she’s a schoolgirl from Ooty who had been visiting a friend from her village, and she’s already gone home.
With no hope of locating Tina, Monty falls into a pleasant romantic melancholy, and writes some new songs. He doesn’t have much time for brooding, however; while playing the guitar on stage he’s suddenly confronted by visions of a man being run over by a jeep. Sensibly, Monty goes straight to the hospital. While the tests are inconclusive, his doctor advises him to take some time off and go find somewhere quiet to relax. Somewhere like, for instance, Ooty.
Once in Ooty Monty is quickly reunited with Tina. (Why didn’t he go to Ooty before? No idea.) Tina, it turns out, is just as smitten with him, and he quickly wins over her guardian, local strongman Kabir (Pran). He’s also haunted by strange memories of another life and death, and when Tina introduces him to her patron, Kamini, it all becomes clear - he is Ravi Verma reborn!
Monty wants revenge on the woman who killed him. He plans to shoot her, but Kabir points out that he’ll just be arrested. Instead, he suggests that Monty convince her to confess her crime by worming his way into her affections and then scaring her with familiar music, hints about her past crimes, and men dressed as skeletons doing aerobics.
Karz is widely regarded as a Bollywood classic, for one simple reason - the movie is hugely entertaining. The prologue delivers only the information we need to know, and any other details about Ravi’s life are reserved for flashbacks. As a result, instead of boring exposition, there’s something interesting happening on screen all the time, whether that something is a huge dance number or a gratuitous fight or sappy romance or ominous scheming or Kabir just being awesome.
The movie does have flaws, of course. Some of the “ghost” scenes are downright silly, especially the aforementioned Jazzercising skeletons. Tina is witty and strong-willed in Bombay, and turns into a ninny immediately upon returning to Ooty. Dayal doesn’t do much, and then promptly vanishes from the narrative. And Kamini may be written too well; she’s clearly a bad person, but she’s portrayed with such clarity that it’s hard not to sympathize with the aging beauty who made a horrible bargain in her youth and is unaware that her new chance at happiness will only lead to betrayal and pain. It means that Monty comes off as a bit of a bully, and that’s more moral ambiguity than I was expecting. The movie is relentlessly watchable, though, flaws notwithstanding. Karz is one classic that deserves the title.
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