Satte Pe Satta

Bollywood has always ripped off, sorry paid homage to Hollywood films and here its the turn of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers to get the Bollywood treatment.

Amitabh Bachchan still in his pomp plays Ravi the more educated and cultured eldest brother. The other brothers are what might be termed as 'junglee' living in the jungle.

When Ravi gets married his wife Indu sets about straightening the brothers and getting them spruced up and tidied up.Soon the brothers are also looking to get hitched.

Of course Bollywood films have long running time and in amongst the singing and the dancing, there has to be a dastardly villain.

The second half of the film introduces a conspiracy plot line. Indu's wheelchair bound friend is an orphan under the care of her uncle played by Bollywood's favourite bad guy Amjad Khan who wants her money.

Khan hire an ex-con Babu (Amitabh Bachchan in a dual role) who kidnaps Ravi and enters the house impersonating Ravi and hopefully do away with Khan's niece.

The thriller element sits uneasily with the first part of the film but this is how the Bollywood formula works.

The 'seven brothers' part is a lot of fun, this is a good showcase of Bollywood circa early 1980s and of course a chance to see a younger Amitabh, then the equivalent of Robert Redford/Paul Newman in India.

This film was released just before he had a serious health issue and I believe he never reached the height of his popularity after he recovered.