By:
Harneet
Singh
(Screen
Weekly),
IndiaFM
Friday,
October
12,
2007
Take
look
around
and
what
do
you
see?
SRK
in
side
locks
and
bell-bottoms,
Mehbooba
O
Mehbooba
playing
on
the
chartbuster
list,
a
rerun
of
Sholay
in
the
form
of
Aag
and
of
Victoria
No.
203
being
staged
somewhere
in
town!
Don't
you
feel
as
if
you've
woken
up
in
the
70's
once
again?
And
then
there
is
Johnny
Gaddaar.
Sriram
Raghavan's
throwback
to
the
pulp
fiction
of
the
70's
is
a
cutting
edge
caper
film.
Right
in
his
debut
film,
the
darkly
sinister
Ek
Hasina
Thi,
Raghavan
showed
us
what
he
is
capable
of.
In
Johnny
Gaddaar,
he
goes
a
furlong
further
as
a
technician
and
a
storyteller.
The
rats
of
Ek
Hasina
Thi
have
been
replaced
by
the
black
cat
in
Johnny
Gaddaar
but
Raghavan's
love
for
the
by
lanes
of
suburban
Mumbai
and
all
things
70's
especially
the
Bollywood
of
the
70's
shines
brighter
than
ever.
The
70's
hangover
starts
from
the
opening
credits
itself
where
Raghavan
pays
tribute
to
Vijay
Anand
and
James
Hardley
Chase
with
black
and
white
pictures
of
the
legends,
if
you
please.
The
background
score
accompanying
the
title
(in
bright
reds
and
oranges
to
gel
well
with
the
movie
feel)
is
the
familiar
Don
(of
Amitabh
Bachchan
fame)
theme.
As
the
enterprise
roles,
the
film
almost
becomes
like
a
'spot-the-movie
inspiration
game'.
If
Raghavan
expects
us
to
guess
the
next
twist
in
the
plot
then
he
also
expects
his
viewers
to
figure
out
the
movie
references.
Dharmendra
even
has
a
dialogue
to
that
effect
when
in
a
scene
where
all
the
five-gage
members
are
counting
their
share
of
the
booty,
he
laughingly
says,
“Yeh
kaun
si
picture
mein
tha?
...Haan
Scarface
mein." Great
touch,
this!
Raghavan
has
sprinkled
the
film
with
more
movie
nostalgia
like
this.
Rimi
Sen
is
shown
reading
RK
Narayan's
Guide.
Another
character
is
credited
with
this
cult
line
from
the
hilarious
dirty
old
men
comedy
Shaukeen,
“Hum
log
Shaukeen
buddhe
hai".
In
another
movie
moment,
Dharmendra
is
seen
listening
to
the
beautiful
Bandini
number
Mora
Gora
Ang
Lai
Le
-
not
surprisingly
the
1963
classic
by
Bimal
Roy
also
starred
Dharmendra.
There
is
a
huge
Amitabh
Bachchan
tribute
section
also
especially
to
his
lesser
recognized
film
Parwana.
In
face
the
major
plot
point
in
the
first
act
of
Johnny
Gaddaar
is
unabashedly
inspired
by
the
film.
And
credit
to
Raghavan
that
he
gives
the
film
its
due.
Even
the
Dev
Anand
caper
Johnny
Mera
Naam
gets
its
due.
In
face
the
first
half
of
the
title
owes
its
genesis
to
the
Vijay
Anand
film.
It's
great
to
see
a
film
that
celebrates
movies
with
such
gloriously
refined
irreverence.
For
that
reason
itself,
it'll
be
nice
to
see
how
Farah
Khan
has
treated
the
milieu
of
the
Bollywood
of
the
70's
in
her
film
Om
Shanti
Om.
In
the
song
Dhoom
Taaana
and
the
posters
of
the
film
are
any
indication
then
it's
going
to
be
nostalgia
trip
that
we
can
enjoy
with
samosas
and
chai.
The
retro
feel
of
the
film
seems
intriguing
especially
when
we
get
to
see
Deepika
Padukone
and
SRK
in
the
familiar
costumes
of
Helen-Shammi
Kapoor,
Leena
Chandravarkar–Jeetendra
and
Hema
Malini–Dharmendra.
In
the
same
vein,
it'll
be
nice
to
witness
how
Sudhir
Mishra
has
reinterpreted
Bollywood
of
the
50's
in
this
Khoya
Khoya
Chand.
For
lovers
of
Bollywood,
there
can
be
no
greater
tribute
than
this.