Hum Paanch (1980)

Tyrannical and wealthy Veer Pratap Singh, rules over a small town - ruthlessly. Whoever opposes him is crushed. He is attracted to women, and has a lengthy affair with Soundariya, and even ... See full summary »

Director:

Bapu

Writers:

S.R. Puttana Kanagal (short story), Venkata Ramana Mullapoodi (screenplay),

Stars:

Sanjeev Kumar, Shabana Azmi, Mithun Chakraborty

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sanjeev Kumar	...	Krishna
Shabana Azmi	...	Sundariya
Mithun Chakraborty	...	Bhima (as Mittun Chakraborthy)
Deepti Naval	...	Lajiya
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Suraj (as Nasiruddin Shah)
Raj Babbar	...	Arjun
Uday Chandra	...	Swaroop
Gulshan Grover	...	Mahavir
Amrish Puri	...	Vir Pratap Singh
Aruna Irani	...	Nishi
Roopesh Kumar	...	Vijay
Gita Siddharth	...	Vir Pratap's Sister (as Geetha Siddharth)
A.K. Hangal	...	Pandit
Kanhaiyalal	...	Lala Nainsukh Prasad Srivastav
Sunder

Storyline

Tyrannical and wealthy Veer Pratap Singh, rules over a small town - ruthlessly. Whoever opposes him is crushed. He is attracted to women, and has a lengthy affair with Soundariya, and even has a secret marriage ceremony with her. When Soundariya gets pregnant, he asks her to abort the child. When she refuses, he shuns her, and denies ever having married her or even being intimate with her. Her brothers attempt to get justice, but are dealt with ruthlessly by Pratap Singh's bodyguard, Bhima. Soundariya then must garner support of herself, and must find someone who can stand up to Veer Pratap Singh and end his tyranny, in a town with men who have been subdued for eons by Veer Pratap Singh and his men for eons.

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Plot Keywords:

remake

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Family

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

27 November 1980 (India)

Also Known As:

We Five

Filming Locations:

Essel Studios, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

S.K. Films Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

163 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Remake of Paduvarahalli Pandavaru (1978)

User Reviews

Enjoyable but not without its flaws

I have often said in previous reviews of Indian movies that I am certainly no expert. Having not grown up in India, it's not surprising that I only began watching Indian films in the last 10 years or so. That's because they just weren't readily available here in the States. But, because so many wonderful films are made in India, it's not surprising that sooner or later they'd make their way over here.

Veer Pratap Singh is the beloved lord of his town. As the film begins, the townspeople are having a HUGE party to celebrate the lord's birthday and to thank him for his benevolence. However, a young man interrupts the party and announces that Singh is a tyrant. At first you think the guy might just be a nut as EVERYONE loves the lord. However, as the film progresses you see more and more signs that the master of the town is indeed a total jerk-face--and not only is a crook and liar, but he mocks the gods. And, again and again, you think as you watch 'this guy is gonna get his real soon...."--but it sure takes a while. In the meantime, the hatred of the wicked lord has spread slowly and only five men, one woman (who the lord has impregnated) and an odd character who is a mystical brother of Singh stand up against them. What's to happen? See the film.

I enjoyed watching "Hum Paanch" very much--it kept my attention from start to finish. However, at the same time I can understand its very ordinary current rating of 6.0, as the film has a couple problems compared to the more modern Indian films I have seen. The most obvious is when the characters sing. Compared to the more modern Indian films, the sound quality is horrible and sounds, literally, like they are singing into tin cans! It sounds very fake and there isn't a lot to enjoy about these interludes. Normally, I really LIKE the songs--here in "Hum Paanch", I didn't. Second, the story took way too long to resolve itself. While you knew what must happen in the end, this ending just took too long and had too many diversions. Now I know that at a little under three hours "Hum Paanch" is actually shorter than most Indian films today, but in most of these longer ones I've seen, the film maintains its momentum. Here, it dragged a bit. Enjoyable but far from a must-see.