Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) User Reviews

Before Sholay there was....

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 24 August 2013]

With a friend's Birthday coming up in a weeks time,I felt that it was the perfect time to search around on Ebay for any rare Dracoit (an Indian word for bandit) "Curry Westerns" .Getting pasted pages filled with DVDs of Ramesh Sippy's 1975 Dracoit Curry Western Sholay, (easily the most famous Bollywood Western of all time)I was astonished to notice right at the very end of a page,a DVD of a forgotten Bollywood Western,which along with pre-dating Sholay,also excitingly,appeared to have directly influenced Sippy's future classic.

The plot:

Released from prison after serving 6 months for stealing a wallet,Ajit is told by the main warden that a stranger has asked Ajit to pay him a visit at his local farm.Traviling to the outskirts of the village,Ajit is shock to discover that the kind stranger who has invited him to stay at his farm,is actually the man who went to court as the lead witness,and caused Ajit to be sent to jail:Jaswant Singh.

Amazed at the identity of the stranger,Jaswant tells Ajit that due to him having served his full time for his stupid mistake,Singh believes that Ajit should be given a second chance in life,and offers him the opportunity to become a farm hand.Despite fearing that he may be up to some sort of trick,Ajit decides that due to there being nothing else on offer for him,that he will accept Jaswant's offer.

As time goes on,Ajit begins to feel that he may have finally found his place in the world,with Jaswant revealing himself to be a father like figure to Ajit,and a woman in the village, (whose son "disappeared" 18 years ago when he was kidnapped by some bandits)treating him like a son.Along with the new parental bond that he is building,Ajit also finds himself become very interested in a fellow farm hand called Anju.

Using all of his charms,Ajit soon gets Anju's attention,which leads to both of them quickly deciding that they want to get married.Thrilled over his daughter becoming engaged,Anju's dad begins to plan for an epic wedding.Sadly for Anju's dad,his wedding plans are completely stopped in their tracks,when a leading Dacoit of the village called Jabbar Singh decides to pay a visit so that he can talk about a shooting that he "may" have witnessed.

Refusing to back down from Jabbar's threats,Singh decides to show the full power that he has over the village,by not only killing Anju's dad,but also her young brother.Furious over the cold blooded murders that Jabbar and his gang has committed,Ajit is shocked to discover that all of the towns people are terrified to fight back,due to Singh having spent decades building an image for him and his gang as unstoppable monsters.With no one in the village being prepared to take him on,Ajit decides that the only way he can destroy Singh's grip on the village,is if he takes on Jaabar Singh and his gang all on his own.

View on the film:

Surprisingly staying away from side stories for most of the films 2 and a half hour running time,the screenplay by G.R.Kamath and Akhtar Romani instead smartly decides to gradually show Ajit's connection to the people of the village grow,with Ajit going from being very detected due to finding himself in a weird,isolated village,to feeling determined enough to fight for the people of the village by taking on the ruthless Jabbar Singh.

Along with showing Ajit's changing view on the village residents,Kamath and Romani also lay out an astonishing blueprint which would be directly followed years later,with Kamath and Romani making the final 30 minutes extremely intense by making Ajit's and Jabbar's final face off be a David V Goliagh final face off,as Ajit discovers that he is the only thing stopping Jabbar and his gang from crushing the village apart.

Despite some of Waman B.Bhosle editing skills making the movie look much more battered than it should have been,director Raj Khosla expertly reveals a sharp eye for creating a burning hot Western atmosphere.Wisely keeping the use of modern transportation to just one short shoot out scene,Khosal shows the wild west village to be one that is afraid of taking on outsiders in order to protect its grand traditions,with the only thing saving the village from outsider bandit Dacoit Jabbar Singh (played by a devilish Vinod Khanna) total rule in the explosive action scenes, being the determination of outsider cowboy Ajit (played by a dashing Dharmendra).

Final view on the film:

An explosive,sadly overlooked Western,which lay down the blue print for others to follow.

Awesome

[silvan-desouza · 6/10 · 17 September 2014]

Dharmendra was a star in 60s and 70s and mostly starred in romantic films earlier and later he turned towards action films. MGMD is sort of a prequel to SHOLAY as it is almost similar. The similarities include: Both film having Dharmendra in the lead, even the villain name is Jabbar Singh which sounds like Gabbar Singh, while both films are set in villages, both films have a retired ex police inspector(here a retired fauji) who is armless(though here it's only one end) however the story is not exactly the same. In that film Thakur brought both to catch Gabbar while here slowly Dharmendra starts the movement against Jabbar. The film is a good entertainer keeping in mind it's times. The scenes between Dharmendra and Asha Parekh are well handled while the scenes which show Dharmendra gaining conscience is well handled too The film was a big hit and some of it's songs are still popular

Direction by Raj Khosla is great Music is superb by LP, Kuch Kehta Hai Yeh Sawan became famous, it's a superb song by Rafi and Lata, even Sona Laija Re and Maar Diya Je are still remembered

Dharmendra is excellent in his role and plays it superbly Asha Parekh is good too, Jayant is good as Fauji, Laxmi Chaya is good in her role, Vinod Khanna who those days started as a villain is superb as Jabbar Singh, Asit Sen provides funny moments rest are okay

satisfaction guaranteed

[sajid-1 · 10/10 · 17 April 2001]

okay, lets just put it this way: if you enjoyed sholay, you will definitely love this movie. if you watch the film you will see many similarities with sholay. sholay is considered to be one of the all time great indian movies because of its successful adaptation of a spaghetti western, great performances by the two main characters, and a super villain in amjad khan(gabar singh). this movie is also an "indian western", but instead of two heroes it only has one, dharmendra. his characters personality is a blend of veeru, and jai in sholay. this movie also has a villain, played by vinod khanna, in one of his finest performances, who is incidentally named "jabbar singh". may not be as good as sholay, but comes extremely close. if it were made after sholay, you would think of it as a nice rip off; however, it was made before sholay, therefore it is a trend setter. by the way this movie is complete on all accounts of indian cinema: it has a great story, excellent performances, and great music. satisfaction is guaranteed. also for some reason pratiggya, another super "indian western" is not listed in IMDB, check it out also.

Fun all the way

[sandeepjoshi9-1 · 9/10 · 8 January 2007]

This film is pure fun. In fact this is the picture on which great 'Sholay' was based. If Sholay had Gabbar Singh, this movie has Jabbar Singh as villain and that is Vinod Khanna, who looks every inch a bad man. Film is shot in a realistic manner and there is hardly any scope for superfluous dance sequences. Whatever music is there, is hummable. A song 'Maar diya jaye ya…'performed by Laxmi Chhaya near the end is one of the most popular melodies in Indian movie history.

Film has a good tight script, performances are also nice. The climax shot where hero Dharmendra stands in the heart of the village and challenges Jabbar Singh is scintillating. Camera work there is wonderful. Director Raj Khosla deserved to be among the very best of Bombay filmmakers of his era, it's a pity that he wasn't given his due. He has left an impressive body of work, though last few films of his career failed, yet his mark was there. This film is among his very best.

And a few words about great Laxmi Chhaya. This film has the best performance from her. She had a regrettably short film career and is not even remembered today. But see her here and you will never forget her. What a natural she was...

9 out of 10.

Review of mera gaon mera desh

[varunmehta · 10 September 2011]

Dharmendra has given one of the finest performances of his career in this movie.Its a hidden fact that Sholay, the epic of Indian cinema was partially copied from this movie. Mera gaon mera desh is a complete movie in itself including music, dialogue, story and action. I am die hard fan of Indian cinema and have not restricted myself to new movies only but love old movies as well. Trust me,this is a great movie. The songs of this movie were super hit during those days. The coin sequence of Sholay was originally taken from this movie. take my word and enjoy this movie. Once you will see this movie you will realize how much under rated Dharamendra was in terms of his acting.People loved his Greek Gods looks and considered his acting skills as above average. But after watching this movie and his other classics like pratigyaa, yakeen,aankhein, anupama,chupke chupke etc you will realize how versatile an actor he was.

Must watch

[amadeepnrattu · 10/10 · 18 August 2021]

Music, Locations, Cinematography, Acting....... Super movie. Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna at their best.

Khan Review - watch it in 2022 to experience bollywood dacoits

[zkzuber · 10/10 · 19 October 2022]

There was time when in Bombay during ganpati festival we use to have road shows of movies for whole ten days, how eagerly we use to wait for this all the year. MGMD was one of the movies we watched sitting on ground in open air enjoying the dacoits. There was a time in bollywood when movies were made on dacoits on horses and that was so much of fun. Today's generation must be wondering what it must be all about. MGMD can be said one of the best dacoit movie made except Sholay which is a magic completely incomparable. Here we had Vinod khanna dashing handsome equally good compare to hero Dharmendra. Asha parekh as usual is good with her typical village girl costumes which was her trade mark. Location was different interesting, action compare to that period is terrific, music is good but here two songs "mar diya jai... " " Hai sharmau... " Is block buster and even today people remember it, mar diya jai.. Is well choreographed. After watching as a kind I wonder who this girl is, latter came to know she was laxmi chayya who will be remembered for years for this songs. Sadly she is no more. Dharmendra as usual looked dashing and this movie can be said will be one of his best movies. Even the song " Aya aya ataria... " Is well choreographed it can be said one of the best item numbers of 70's. If you want to enjoy bollywood dacoits dont miss it.