Kanti Shah-- The true Baadshah of B-grade Bollywood

Now I have been a big fan of Kanti Shah's cinema. He knows his target audience very well even more than people like Bhansali, Anurag Kashyap, Raj Kumar Santoshi. Of course I wouldn't like to consider myself to be part of his TA but I can't disown this master film-maker whose cinema has just entertained me profusely on lonely Sunday afternoons.

I think his Gunda is probably the best and ultimate B-film of all time. Just too amazing for words. If you can watch it plz do so or else check out the following link for some youtube fun... http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=qZcURBogNlA Dont you just love a hamming Ishrat Ali. "Kundaaaaannnnn... Marne ka Nai Marne Ka Naaaaaaiiiii..." Do check him out in Aatank Hi Aatank (DVD available on Moser Baer Home Video for Rs. 34) as well.

The villains intro in the film is hilarious.
Mukesh Rishi- "Mera naam hai Bulla, karta hoon main sabka khulla." Now I might be wrong but after hearing that rather than sounding like a bad ass I feel he gives blowjobs to his posse.

Shakti Kapoor's name is Chutiya. (The word is uncensored. You have to love the double standards of our dumb Censor Board)

Harish Patel is Ibu Hatela. (I think Harish pulls off an Ibu. Don't know what it means but the name suits him.)

For the mere mortals reading this piece, Gunda still has a huge dedicated fan following and it's DVD is sub-titled in English, French, Dutch and German (No jokes).

Apart from that I have seen Kanti Shah's Loha a million times on television. Dharmendra is in his hamming and whamming best. There is a scene in the film where the bad guy Rami Reddy shoots his gun at him. Dharmendra just catches the bullet and says "Teri goli shareer ko phaad sakti hai magar LOHE ko nahi." Wah Wah!! Excellent!! Now we know that Sunny's super-human strength is genetic.

There is an item song by Govinda and Manisha Koirala which cleanses your heart and touches your soul- "Teri Behna Se Dosti, Tere Bapu Se Jagde..." is an instant classic.

Another movie of Kanti bhai which I liked is Duplicate Sholay. I gifted the VCD of the film to my friend Krushant on his birthday. Don't know if he ever saw it. If he didn't then it's his loss. Duplicates of Amitabh, Dharmendra, Sunny, Mithun, etc. do a good job in hamming. One scene which really gets me rolling on the floor is when duplicate Sunny screams 'Main Indian Hoon Indian' and goes to whack the Rs. 100 per day extra but surprise surprise he ends up over-powered as the villain creams him and says 'Main Bhi Indian Hoon.' Clearly this one didnt have his dhai kilo ka haath.

And then there is Kabhi Kranti Kabhi Jung. Cable zindabad. Again full of duplicates (including one of Parvez Musharraf) and they also play a cricket match. Was interesting in bits but definitely not on the level of other Kanti Shah classics.

Now I havent seen his Munnibai but I recall it being a super hit in the interiors. Still remember reading a trade article in Stardust magazine a decade ago which said... "Munnibai has struck gold in the B and C centres. Trade Pundits still haven't been able to figure this one out." Believe it or not, this film actually outdid Madhur Bhandarkar's Trishakti which released around the same time.

Love him, hate him, ignore him but he will strike back again and again. Kant stop Kanti!!

Also check out Moses Navgire's article on one of Kanti's other film Marna Zaroori Hai... http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/features/2006/06/23/1312/index.html