There's an obvious influence of Italian peplums here which were apparently very popular in India, with many scenes seeming extremely familiar, though I doubt you would ever have found Steve Reeves' Hercules living with his mother or wearing a worrying bright pink leopard-skin leotard (actually I was never able to fully ascertain if the pink was the actual colour or a victim of the rather day-glo VCD print available, but the bright red knickers underneath are in no doubt).
You certainly get your money's worth on the monster front, with a motley bunch of rubbery creations lifted randomly from the Ulysses and Perseus catalogues, including a dancing multi- headed hydra, a bunch of Amazons led by the lovely Helen (who dances like her life depended on it), 2 King Kong's (both the giant monkey and the wrestler), some jolly green (and red) giants who laugh maniacally, something that looks like a giant inflatable salamander but it probably said dinosaur in the script, and an old crone with a disturbing dwarf servant who may have been supposed be a Medusa and who transforms into a Cyclops!
I probably missed some of the finer plot points since the review copy had no subtitles, but the gist of it has Hercules battling an evil ruler to restore the rightful heir to the throne by completing a number of tasks accompanied by a bunch of nelly sidekicks, and this being a Dara Singh movie at least 50% of these involve wrestling, lots and lots of wrestling.
The sets, costumes and "special" effects are bright, cheap and cheerful, the action is pretty relentless negating a necessity for subtitles, and like all the Singh catalogue it's highly enjoyable in it's silliness for kids of all ages.
You certainly get your money's worth on the monster front, with a motley bunch of rubbery creations lifted randomly from the Ulysses and Perseus catalogues, including a dancing multi- headed hydra, a bunch of Amazons led by the lovely Helen (who dances like her life depended on it), 2 King Kong's (both the giant monkey and the wrestler), some jolly green (and red) giants who laugh maniacally, something that looks like a giant inflatable salamander but it probably said dinosaur in the script, and an old crone with a disturbing dwarf servant who may have been supposed be a Medusa and who transforms into a Cyclops!
I probably missed some of the finer plot points since the review copy had no subtitles, but the gist of it has Hercules battling an evil ruler to restore the rightful heir to the throne by completing a number of tasks accompanied by a bunch of nelly sidekicks, and this being a Dara Singh movie at least 50% of these involve wrestling, lots and lots of wrestling.
The sets, costumes and "special" effects are bright, cheap and cheerful, the action is pretty relentless negating a necessity for subtitles, and like all the Singh catalogue it's highly enjoyable in it's silliness for kids of all ages.
