Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro

Plot synopsis:
Professional photographers Vinod Chopra (Naseeruddin Shah) and Sudhir Mishra (Ravi Baswani) open a photo studio in the prestigious Haji Ali area in Mumbai, and hope to make enough money to keep it running. After a disastrous start, they are given some work by the editor of "Khabardar", a publication that exposes the scandalous lives of the rich and the famous. They accept it and start working with the editor, Shobha Sen (Bhakti Barve), on a story exposing the dealings between an unscrupulous builder, Tarneja (Pankaj Kapoor), and corrupt Municipal Commissioner D'Mello (Satish Shah). During their investigation, they find out that another builder Ahuja (Om Puri) too is involved in this dealing.
While working on their story, Sudhir and Vinod decide to enter a photography contest that carries a prize money of Rs. 5000/-, and take a number of photographs all over the city. On developing their pictures, in one of the photographs they see a man shooting someone. Upon enlarging it, they realize that the killer is none other than Tarneja. They immediately return to the park where they had shot that picture and realize that the body is lying behind the bushes. Before the duo get to the body, it disappears, but they manage to retrieve one of a pair of gold cuff links. Sometime later, they attend the inauguration of a bridge dedicated to the memory of late Municipal Commissioner D'Mello who is supposed to have died of a terminal disease. It is there that they discover the other cuff link. They return at night and dig up that area and unearth a coffin containing the dead body of D'Mello.
The duo take a number of photographs of the corpse, and wheel it with them with the hopes of exposing Tarneja. Suddenly the body disappears. Later they find out that the body is with Tarneja's rival, Ahuja who had, in an inebriated condition, carried the coffin tied to his car to his farm house. They provide this information to Shobha, who in turn starts blackmailing Tarneja. He invites her and her associates to crack a deal, and plants a bomb to kill them. Unfortunately, the bomb explodes right in the face of Tarneja and his henchmen, and the trio escape from the scene. Later, the duo realize that Shobha and Ahuja are up to no good, and so they take the corpse, and wheel it with them, but not before Tarneja, Ahuja, the new Municipal Commissioner Srivastav (Deepak Qazir), Shobha and others also get involved, resulting in a series of comic mix-ups including one with some burkha-clad women.
The climax is set upon a stage dramatization of the Mahabharata, particularly the enactment of the Draupadi Cheer-Haran episode, which is turned on its head with the duo and the group following them inserting themselves into the scene. The corpse plays Draupadi and the vile Duryodhana, who orders the disrobing in the original version, ends up pledging to save Draupadi's honour at any cost. To make things even more hilarious, a new act - that of the ill-fated romance of Salim and Anarkali - is introduced, with the corpse playing Anarkali.
In the end, the police arrives and Vinod and Sudhir present their evidence to the police officer, and it seems as though Tarneja will be arrested. Srivastava, being the Assistant Municipal Commissioner tells the officer to wait a few minutes before arresting Tarneja. Tarneja tells Ahuja and Shobha that if he goes to jail, he would make sure that their malpractices are also exposed. In a twist ending, they all come to an agreement and Srivastava manages to pin the murder of Commissioner D'Mello and the collapse of the bridge on Vinod and Sudhir. In the final scene, Vinod and Sudhir are shown several months/years later released from prison, still in their prison clothes. They turn to the camera and make a cut-throat gesture, signifying the death of justice and truth in an age of corruption.

Tags: cult, comedy, satire, murder

Review:
A lot of comments about this movie have centered on the apparently slapstick comedy, ignoring its usage to lend a sense of the grotesque in what is a essentially a masterful farce, and beneath the surface, more of a tragedy.This movie centers around the two young protagonists, full of ideals and the will to win against the powers of endemic and ubiquitous corruption, a corruption that is so manifestly present that the others do not seem to question its existence, but implicitly assume it and use it to serve their own ends.
Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor and many others deliver stellar performances in this tragi-comedy which is one of finest pearls produced by the New Wave movement in Indian cinema.Regretabbly, comprehension of the movie requires intimate knowledge of the background, something which you would only have if you have lived in India, where corruption is as natural as breathing, and if you are familiar with the turbulent times when New Wave Cinema was taking off, a time of discontent and idealism among youth, a time of unemployment and the times of the angry young man (as typified by Amitabh Bachchan in many commercial films from this era).However one can still enjoy it for it is a comedy worth watching.
This was a wonderful comedy, no cheap humor, no poor jokes, just a simple inexpensive movie made with a great script, good jokes and wonderful actors.
Quite apart from its social satire, unimaginably ahead of its time for the dour early '80's Delhi, JBDY managed to bring together a slew of talent, Shah(s), Baswani, Kapoor, and of course the inimitable Puri 'Ahuja'.
More than its concluding 'Draupadi vastraharan' scene, symbolic of the wretched disrobing of the Indian polity however, the film managed to make me cry out loud with laughter even as an impressionable twelve year old, merely for its slapstick content.
Once involved they try to expose everyone involved but the question is 'will they survive?' Performance wise, everyone from Naseer to Ravi Baswani to Pankaj Kapoor to Satish Shah to Satish Kaushik to Om Puri have given brilliant performances, probably amongst their best.
Two simple photographers, trying to eke out an honest living, caught in a web of scandal and deceit.Fantastic direction, outstanding plot, brilliant script, phenomenal casting and amazing acting.
This is one of India's best comedy movies.
It's bizarre but it works because of the stellar performances of the lead cast and some bitingly clever writing by Kundan Shah.The film takes its central idea from Antonioni's Blow Up and explores the investigation of two struggling photographers Vinod (Naseeruddin Shah) and Sudhir (Vinod Baswani) who in their desperation accept the offer of a local self-serving tabloid editor Shobha Sen (Bhakti Barve) to photograph a clandestine meeting between the corrupt Municipal Commissioner D'Mello (Satish Shah) and the real estate developers who intend on bribing him to get the best deal in town.
Case in point: the scene in which the entire entourage of Tarneja and Ahuja, including the city commissioner, unabashedly usurp the play of Mahabharata because Vinod and Sudhir have hidden the dead body that could serve as the proof of the builder's wrongdoing and our heroes' innocence somewhere in that production.
And this is where the blackness in this comedy works so wonderfully.Despite a more somber theme, Kundan Shah and team have done a great job in keeping the tone of the movie light.
Movie which every Indian will watch any time is been shown....
Nasiruddin Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Bhakti Barve, Satish Kaushik, Neena Gupta and above all, Satish Shah playing his unarguably best roll of his life..
Who can forget dialog like "Thoda khaao Thoda pheko" And scenes like Drunkard Om puri talking to Satish Shah who is in Coffin and Om puri thinks that He is in some sports car.
Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Vaswani play photographers caught in a messy affair involving corrupt politicians, wicked businessmen, canny journalists (and some hammy actors).
Giving director Kundan Shah (who has, surprising, gone on to the make some of the most awful films of the last decade) the chance to unleash his brilliant satire.
Satish Shah is hilarious as a dead body on roller skates, and the 'Disrobing of Draupadi' scene in the theatre is one of the funniest ever shot.
Unfortunately, innovative scenes, unforgettable dialogues, tickling backdrops and excellent acting were not enough to save this movie from bombing at the box-office.Although I've seen this movie more than seven times, it has never failed to amuse me.
I feel a real spoilsport, when so many have thoroughly enjoyed this Indian farce, that I couldn't go beyond the first hour.The film looked promising (I'm a photographer, for starts) but the broad, base humour jarred after a while and whilst I could see that it might be neatly meshing social comment, satire and slapstick, I could take no more!Maybe it's because I'm non-Indian, in an older age group or just wasn't in the mood.
I had hard a lot about 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro' and Kundan Shah happens to be one of my favourite Indian directors.
Now the film does look quite dated at times and some of the jokes feel a little old but things get funnier as the story moves along.
Many seem to have been impressed by the in-your-face slapstick humour which is abundant in 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro' but what made this a better comedy for me was the underlying satire regarding the cynicism of corruption in India.
Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Ravi Baswani, Pankaj Kapur, Bhakti Barve and Satish Shah deliver hilarious performances.
I don't know if this movie is best Indian movie but I also don't know if there is any Indian movie better than this.(1)This movie has the best casting in Indian movie history including Naseeruddin, Om puri, pankaj kapoor, Ravi Baswani(a surprise and great performance from him), Satish shah, Satish Kaushik, Deepak Qazir(another surprising performer), Bhakti Barve, Rajesh Puri - All at their best.
(3)Arguably the best comedy movie I have ever seen(may be Andaz apna apna is a close contender in Hindi cinema).
This is by far the best black comedy movie I have ever seen.Truly an Indian Masterpiece!.
worth watching again n again n again .i never got tired n guaranteed neither will any1 who watches.this is a legendary one.this one puts todays comic era to shame no doubt about it.the cinematography the live wired performances.the background score ditto to story the darkness behind the comic lines,friendship,betrayal,business debacle,corrupt law and order,stupidity to its tenth category,dead talking stageplay turns into firing dialogue shadowing the mythological and todays generation,workshop menace,forging documents,spying on the bad,revealing you are the spy and getting chased with a dead man on skates!!!man this is truly awesome to ears what a treat to your senses imagine.go now and grab a copy if you totally want to brainwash your ribs ha ha ha...!.
I had watched the movie years ago and thought it was funniest film I had ever seen.
Somehow the grand Moghul also makes an entrance - these 15 minutes are worth the price of the DVD and will have you in stitches.But in the end this is a real commentary on corruption that is rampant in the country, and is actually a rather sad tale.Naseeruddin Shah is great as the serious photographer, has reasonably comedic moments, but it is Ravi Baswani as the petrified sidekick that steals the show.
Om Puri is great at the drunk contractor type and Satish Shah is brilliant as the "corpse".Early parts of the film are a bit slapstick but this is rewarding fare indeed, so go watch it..
This may be one of Kundan Shah's earliest movies but is without doubt amongst his very best.
And what an effort it turned out to be.The story revolves around two photographers(Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani)who are starting their career by opening a photo studio.
Add to that some amazing and memorable performances by Naseer, Ravi, Om Puri, Satish Kaushik, Satish Shah and Pankaj Kapur.
Its a total laugh riot from the start till the end.A special mention must be made of the penultimate 'Ram Lila' scene which is so well shot and executed that it is difficult to find a better comic sequence in the entire Hindi movie database.That one could make such a brilliant movie in the first attempt speaks volumes for Kundan's ability.
What started of as a first time attempt involving fresh graduates (the movie included in various roles some of Kundan's peers at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune; Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sudhir Misra who later became top directors in the Mumbai film Industry), actually turned out to be cult movie, an attempt that was never before experimented in the Indian film circuit.
I have seen the movie more than a dozen times and it still makes me laugh like a kid.Definitely 10 on 10..
It is made by a phenomenal team: Kundan Shah, Sudhir Mishra, Nasrudeen Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Satish Shah ...The story packs in a good deal of 'social message' laced through this otherwise funny movie.
It is a cult classic and the one of the funniest movies Indian cinema has produced.
Naseer,Ravi Baswani ,Pankaj Kapoor Satish Shah ,Satish Kaushik and Om Puri have given brilliant performances.
Although the plot is simple where two aspiring photographers got caught up in the dirty world of politics ,builders etc,somehow everything clicked and worked for this movies storyline.I wish they had produced some more movies like this during the hay days.
I really enjoy some scenes like Mahabharat Scene(The shooting of this scene is done in Sahitya Sangha Mandir at Charni Road Station, Mumbai), Dual Conversation on telephone, Chase of Nasaruddin and Ravi with Satish shah's dead body, all scenes of Om Puri.
So far best comedy movie ever made in India !!!!!!!.
However I am amazed how many people have not seen the film despite the fact that we live in an age where, on any given day we have at least 100 films that are aired on various channels.Another thing that does not fail to amaze is the fact that this movie actually flopped.
One of the Best comedy films I've ever seen.
This film is a must see for all those who like good comedy.
The movie has some of the best actors in India (and also one of the very best in the world, Om Puri): Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapoor, Bhakti Barve, Satish Shah, Nina Gupta, Ravi Vaswani, Deepak Qazir, Rajesh Puri and, in one of his best performances till date, Satish Kaushik.Anyone who saw this movie probably remembers the great comic aspects of it.
For the non-Indian viewers the lack of context may make the "Mahabharat" episode slightly less funny but, like other cinematic greats, the rest of the movie should not be lesser for the dubbing or subtitling.Some of my favourite not-strictly-comic moments from the movie were: the Tarneja press conference on top of a sky-scraper, the brush with the police constable on top of the bridge and the following scene on the railway station, and the other, earlier, scene at the (same?) railway station.
Satire, farce, dark comedy, suspense and slapstick are all bundled up into one big beautiful mess in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron.A highly ambitious, wildly irreverent and slyly subversive slice of Indian Independent Cinema, the film embodies the anarchic spirit of the 60s.
This film always makes u laugh the times u see it...People call Andaz Apna Apna as a cult comedy but this film deserves this attention and the former one doesn't.
Must watch it if u haven't seen it...A classic gem forever and had some of the best comical scenes I have ever witnessed in a flick like this....
I did got into the one of the groups, but decided at last to be in between both of them, while writing this review.Released back in 1983 and again in 2012, the film has its own share of success and fame and becoming cult classics but most importantly, it is remembered for its particular The Mahabharata scene, which according to me, is also one of the biggest highlights when culminating the film and its comedy and seriousness; the dark and bleak representation of India at its 80's where the story of the film, is based on real bridge mishap and also takes cues and tributes to Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 Blow-Up, which also tells similar story.Plus, gone are the today when you could have clean and pure subtle comedy without being to open about what you are joking of and this in reference goes to this film like many of Indian films before 2000 especially of Gulzar saab and Hrishikesh Mukherjee saab.
And this excels at it while also tributing to Charlie Chaplin works and Cartoons of 80's and 90's.And, about the performances, i believe there can be no word said to judge or criticize them, since they have acted purely on their own caliber and experience since as in of the written interviews with the director Shah said that there was no particular script and actors mostly have to come up with and improvise on it, to make it look it that way.
What he created with this movie, has parallels spanning decades in the future.However, as a film in itself, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro succeeds at providing entertainment, as well as telling a clever plot that plays out seamlessly as a grounded and well thought-out story, using effective symbolism and (huge plus point) NO SONGS!!!This dark satire is one of the greatest ever put to film.
All the Stalwarts of Indian Cinema like Nasseruddun Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur are in this movie and it was a pleasure watching them.
My favorite scene from the movie is the pre- climax; the Mahabharat play sequence which was Hilarious.
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron Is A Comedy Drama Directed By Kundan Shah ...Written By Kundan Shah & Sudhir Mishra...The Script Is Very Interesting....Screenplay is Again Funny ....The Story Revolves Around Two Friends, Attempting To Start-up Their Own Photo Studio, But It Doesn't Work...Finally They Get An Assignment From The Editor Of The "Khabardar" News Publication...They Come Across Shady Dealings, Corruption & Murder,They Decide To Fight To Bring The Guilty To Light...Naseerudin Shah & Ravi Baswani As Photographers Are Very Funny...Especially Naseerudin Shah He Does Better...The Editor Bhakti Bharve The Multi Layer Character Is Amazing...She Does Well...Satish Shah The Corrupt Commissioner...Is Marvelous ...Then We Have Likes Of Pankaj Kapoor & Om Puri The Corrupt Builders ...Pankaj Kapoor is Excellent ...Others Have Done Fine....In Terms Of Music ...There Are No Songs...The Back Ground Music Is Fine.....There Is Only One Song They Sing When They Feel Low...
To Motivate Them Self...That is "Hum Honge Kaamyaab Ek Din".Overall A Classic Movie...Movie Might Be Very Funny ...But The Story More Deals With Corruption In The Country...Seems Like Nothing Can Be Done...Lets Hope For Better Tomorrow ...Must Watch :).
Definitely the funniest Hindi movie I've seen, this is the story of two friends, (Vinod - Naseeruddin Shah and Sudhir - Ravi Baswani) attempting to start-up their own photo studio.
Shobha, feeding the simple-minded duo a spiel about righteousness and honesty, assigns them the job of spying/photographing the shady dealings between Police commissioner D'Mello (Satish Shah) and property builder Tarneja (Pankaj Kapoor).
What follows, and is pretty much the rest of the movie, is a long, extended chase (and what a chase - meanders into the oddest of places) with the bad guys (Tarneja, and Co.) and the good guys (Vinod and Sudhir) chasing the corpse.This is a short, slickly directed film, and has a cast of excellent actors.
Pankaj Kapoor, Satish shah and Om Puri adequately represent the bad guys, with Kapoor and Puri responsible for some great comic scenes.
Best (Indian) Comedy Movie I Ever Seen ...
I think, it is a movie of highest standard and can be compared even with any Hollywood classic comedy film.
To me, only two comedy movie so far can be considered as a masterpiece in Indian/ Hindi cinema for their "First to Last" pure entertainment ...
Best of All time Hindi Comedies.
All in all,the old times of the movie is good and makes u laugh all the more since all seems realistic though it is not.
When I say its overrated, I mean to say that its still a very good movie, much much ahead of its times, but its not as great as its made out to be.I will just outline some of the negatives that may or may not have been pointed out by prior reviewers.
May be the film was made in a hurry.Another thing is, when you watch the movie now, the humor doesn't work much.
This movie is satire on corruption in India.
This movie is satire on corruption in India.
Kundan Shah has directed the movie really well.
This is indeed one of the best comedy movies in Hindi language .
A must watch Bollywood movie...Great story line with awesome star cast...
After 20 years I watch this film again and again and I get something new every time.
The best thing I like about this film is its unique narration i.e. to find out the dead body Sudhir and Vinod enact the whole scene.
I have no idea if one can write this kind of a script on a paper.This movie is unparalleled as far as great actors in one film is concerned.
Kundan Shah debutted with this film which was ahead of it's times, It was a satire on the corruption and how common man are used by business magnates, The film starred no big stars, had no songs, it was made on a shoestring budget of 7 lakhs.
Bhakti Bharve is superb in her chameleon type character, her voice was dubbed by Anita Kanwar Satish Shah is perfect in his part, Om Puri one of the best actors proves his versatility too, surprisingly in the same year he starred in another cult status film Ardh Satya.