Disco Dancer review :
1982 was the year of Asian Games.
1982 was year of Carlos the Jackal
....
....
And most important,
1982 was the year of 'Disco Dancer'
A film which introduced pop culture to Bollywood, made Mithun Chakraborty an overnight dancing sensation and took Indian cinema international from south east Asia to Russia.
I kid you not!! I visited Russia recently and was pleasantly surprised to know that while the older generation Russians associate Raj Kapoor with India, their next gen know us as the land which produced Disco Dancer.
Prabhuji (which means God), as Mithunda is still referred to in the interiors of North India, started his illustrious career with the offbeat 'Mrigaya' (1976) for which he won his first National award but hit real box office gold with this B. Subhash directed musical.
Disco Dancer had some superlative tracks by Bappi Lahiri. 'Krishna dharti pe aaja', 'Koi Yahan Nache Nache' and of course the title song ' I am a disco dancer' is still potent enough to influence Rohit Shetty to do a parody of it with the older Mithunda in 'Golmaal 3' (2010). Superstar Rajesh Khanna was roped in a special appearance to hum 'Goron ki naa Kaalon ki, Duniya hai Dilwalon ki'. Remember this was almost a decade before Michael Jackson told the world that it doesn't matter if you are black or white.
The story was simple - a street urchin turns big when his talent is identified and groomed by a manager of a fading arrogant dancer. The rag to riches disco dancer manages to settle score with the baddie who had insulted his mother but loses a lot of his own in the bargain.
Today, the plot may appear clichéd; almost laughable but the movie hasn't lost its spirit and spunk.
Kim played the heroine to Prabhuji but I personally loved the sexy Kalpana Iyer who made her presence felt in the one song and few scenes she appeared in. The portly Om Shivpuri played an unconvincing villain while Karan Razdan was the unintentional comic relief.
I revisited 'Disco Dancer' on DVD last night. It brought back pleasant memories of an era best known for films of "so bad they are good" type. The great grand excessive 80's we know of. Sometimes I actually miss those unpretentious times.
Koi lauta de mere woh beete huye din...
Regards,
Sumeet Nadkarni.
