Farz review :
Much before Agent Vinod (1977) or Gunmaster G9 (1979), Bollywood got its own James Bond in jumping jack Jeetendra playing Agent 116 in Ravee kant Nagaich's Farz.
Jeetendra plays a secret agent out to foil the evil plans of Sajjan who wants to destroy India. Eventually, we discover that Sajjan is a mere pawn in the game and main villain is a poker faced Chinese Supremo who speaks only in monosyllables. Yea, it was 60s and India was freshly out of the China war and hence quite a few espionage film of that era depicted Chinese as the antagonists. Dharmendra's Ankhen (1968) for instance..
Jeetu was his usual self rollicking in "Mast Baharon ka aashiq" and later romancing the pretty Babita in "Hum toh tere aashiq hain sadiyon purane". He earned the nickname Jumping Jack with this film. His portrayal of desi style Bond was not bad at all. The "Q" team here was however a group of comic actors including Agha Saahab, Mukri and Mohan Choti. They were clear misfit in their roles.
Laxmikant Pyarelal's music became a super hit and topped the Binaca Geetmala charts that year. The "Happy birthday to you Sunita" is still a party favorite.
In one of his later interviews, Jeetendra admitted that Farz had actually started slow at the box office and he had "fed" the movie for a couple of weeks before it picked up to become a hit.
And that's how India got it's own James Bond!!
