T he film “Kartavya” represents a genre in mainstream Hindi cinema which is not very common — wildlife adventure. If one were to scan the horizon for such films, the count will not go beyond a handful, discounting B or C grade movies with titillating content which are often passed off in this genre. Even “Kartavya” is a remake of the hit Kannada film starring Dr. Rajkumar (“Gandhada Gudi”) which was subsequently made in Telugu (“Adavi Ramudu”) with NTR as the leading man.
Not surprisingly, the film is confined within the narrow structure allowed by the industry, which curtails flexibility for the director or his story writer to manoeuvre the track. Thus, despite the film dealing with very vital issues of animal poaching by venal poachers and plundering of forest cover by land sharks, there is also a half-baked love angle interspersed with a plethora of songs, besides two other irrelevant tracks which unnecessarily dampen the otherwise swift narrative with agile editing.
Directed by the veteran Mohan Sehgal and written by S. Ali Raza, “Kartavya” was an out and out Dharmendra flick, who straddles it like a colossus to an extent where other notable performances, including Rekha as the leading lady, are eclipsed. Sehgal, who started his stint in the early fifties, was most prolific in the 60s and 70s when he delivered a series of successful films at the box-office. For “Kartavya”, he had the solid support of Raza, who had scripted blockbusters like “Andaz”, “Aan”, “Mother India” and “Reshma Aur Shera” amongst others.
The script is absolutely one-sided, with maximum screen space reserved for Dharmendra, who neither lets down his director nor his legion of fans. As Vijay, an upright and fearless forest officer who single-handedly takes on a deadly mafia of poachers, he is exemplary. He gets to showcase his brawn in bare handed encounters with wild cats (tiger and lion — in present times this will raise the hackles of animal rights activists and will call for several disclaimers) gone amok, as also innovatively executed action sequences. With his vulnerable facial expressions, he is a treat to watch. His fitness and aura becomes all the more praiseworthy when one realises that at this point he was 44, and launched his elder son, Sunny in “Betaab”, just four years later.
Rekha, who, by now had completed her phenomenal transformation from the plump Bhanurekha to the sultry and sensuous Rekha does not get enough screen time to showcase her repertoire, which she had established till now, in critically acclaimed films like “Ghar” and commercial hits like “Muqaddar Ka Sikandar”. If only Sehgal had added more punch to her role, it could have only raised the film’s profile by several notches.
The film starts when an upright Range Officer Vijay (Dharmendra) volunteers to take a tough assignment in a forest area which has been the bane of several officers in the past and where no other officer is willing to take a posting. When Vijay reaches the office, he finds it to be decrepit and defunct, with all staff indulging in dereliction of duty, from the forest guards (comic/clowns) to the nasty jeep driver, Jacob (Ranjeet in a weird wig, with most buttons of his shirt open and speaking in an accent that is supposed to be spoken by all Christians as per the strange rules of the Hindi film industry, is good).
More shock awaits Vijay when he reaches the Forest Officer’s bungalow and finds that it is already occupied by a Nita (Rekha), an expatriate who works for a wildlife magazine and sends them photographs from the forest. He also comes across Lacchhi (Aruna Irani), a saperan whom Vijay takes under his wings as his sister. He encounters overtures from Dushyant (Vinod Mehra) who with a funny mole on his cheek and almost unbuttoned shirt turns a performance as competent as he can manage. Son of Dewan Dhanpati Rai (Utpal Dutt), Dushyant tries to bribe Vijay so as to take it easy on their nefarious activities which have been going on in the area for a long time. But Vijay, upright to the core, spurns all efforts, and instead sends a show-cause notice to the Dewan for encroaching on large tracts of Government forest land.
Meanwhile, Vijay has several skirmishes with the poachers (dressed in lungis, their bodies smeared in oil ) in which he manages to recoil them. Meanwhile, love blossoms between Vijay and Nita. But actually Nita is a mole planted by the wicked Dewan and Dushyant to keep a tab on Vijay and inform them of his plan to purge the system. Even Lacchhi is working for them. Why are the two ladies working for the Dewan leads to the dénouement, in which it is also revealed that in fact Vijay and Nita’s fathers were close friends and had bestowed the two in matrimony when the two were children. Even Vijay and Dushyant are brothers, who were separated due to the Dewan, who had killed their father in a gory encounter witnessed by their hapless mother (Nirupa Roy, in a role she had perfected) and had kidnapped Dushyant, leading him to a path of crime.
For those who have seen Utpal Dutt in a negative character in “Amanush” will remember the gravity of his effort. But alas, in “Kartavya” he is nothing more than a caricature — with only intermittent screen space — which does not allow him to get under the skin of the character, at which he is otherwise very adept. In fact, both Vinod Mehra and Ranjeet, get more screen time than Utpal Dutt, who, ostensibly is the main villain.
Another unnecessary distraction is the introduction of a relationship between Vijay and the young grand-daughter of a forest guard (Shivpal) — a relationship whose only contribution to the film is the song “Chandamama Se Pyaara Mere Mama” (two versions — happy and sad, both sung by Mohammad Rafi and Usha Mangeshkar to lyrics by Varma Malik). The music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal is good, and they use only Rafi as the male background voice, ignoring Kishore Kumar. Other songs which make the mark are “Chaila Babu Tu Kaisa Dildaar Nikla” and “Doori Na Rahe Koi, Aaj Itne Karib Aao” (lyrics: Kafil Azar sung by Lata Mangeshkar).
APS MALHOTRA
