{"id":330,"date":"2021-05-27T08:28:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T12:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/?p=330"},"modified":"2021-05-27T08:28:27","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T12:28:27","slug":"mogambo-khush-hua-mr-indias-most-iconic-villain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/2021\/05\/27\/mogambo-khush-hua-mr-indias-most-iconic-villain\/","title":{"rendered":"Mogambo khush hua! Mr. India’s most iconic villain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on April 28, 2017.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m almost late to the party, but finally turned up my copy of\u00a0Mr. India<\/strong>\u00a0in order to put together\u00a0my contribution to\u00a0the Great Villain Blogathon<\/a>, a celebration of all things villainous, hosted by\u00a0Silver Screenings<\/a>,\u00a0shadowsandsatin<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Speakeasy<\/a>. Be sure to check out all the great villains!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MrIndia003\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Before he went to the West to make movies about England\u2019s Virgin Queen, director Shekhar Kapur made some art house type films in India.  But in the middle of all of *that*, he also made what has become one of Indian cinema\u2019s most beloved films, the 1987 science-fiction\/fantasy film Mr. India<\/strong>.  The film itself is a festival of all that is great about commercial Hindi-language cinema, from its excellent writing (it was the last film written by the screenwriting duo Salim-Javed, whose twenty-four films together include some of the finest ever made, Sholay<\/strong> and Deewar<\/strong> to name but two), to its brilliant music (songs and score) by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.  The gorgeous and talented Sridevi served as the film\u2019s heroine, Seema \u2013 Sridevi was one of the rare women in the industry to be able to carry a film at the box office and brought her considerable talents to the role of the investigative journalist with a talent for undercover work (Her \u201cMiss Hawa Hawai<\/a>\u201d and Charlie Chaplin<\/a> routines are not to be missed).  Anil Kapoor (probably best known in the west for his turn as the villainous game show host in Danny Boyle\u2019s Slumdog Millionaire<\/strong>) played the film\u2019s titular \u201cMr. India\u201d \u2013 his Arun Verma is a gentle, mild-mannered music teacher who gives a home to a ragtag bunch of orphans in order to give them the joys of childhood that he \u2013 also an orphan \u2013 missed out on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film also gave the world one of the most iconic villains in Indian cinema \u2013 three years after he freaked us all out as Mola Ram in Steven Spielberg\u2019s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom<\/strong>, veteran actor Amrish Puri created the uber-villian Mogambo, with his slightly mad eyes and his catchphrase \u201cMogambo khush hua\u201d (\u201cMogambo is pleased\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before unpacking our villain, let\u2019s have a summary of the film:  the evil villain Mogambo (Amrish Puri) has a mad desire to rule all of India.  He commands an unwavering loyalty from those around him, including his two henchmen Daaga (Sharat Saxena) and Teja (Ajit Vachani), who carry out the bulk of his plans, which include adulterating food and alcohol and making sure to provide weaponry to the Indian masses to make sure they pretty much destroy themselves.  It\u2019s the latter that has him ordering his henchmen to find a location on the Bombay coast through which they can smuggle arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The perfect location, it turns out, is a house rented by Arun, in which he and his army of orphans reside, along with their cook Calendar (Satish Kaushik).  Pressure is put upon Arun to pay his rent or vacate the premises \u2013 with the baddies assuming that Arun will have no choice but to move out.  Arun decides to take on a \u201cpaying guest\u201d \u2013 his trip to the newspaper to place the ad has him meeting reporter Seema, in need of a quiet place to work, since her current landlords have \u2013 horrors \u2013 noisy children.  Seema asks Arun if he has children of his own \u2013 a question to which he answers truthfully:  he\u2019s not married, but after he is, then he\u2019ll have children.  Seema is happy at the prospect of the quiet room that looks out over a balcony that fronts a garden that looks out to the seaside, and Arun \u2013 when he realizes that Seema isn\u2019t happy about *any* children in the house, downplays their existence in order to pay his bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MrIndia001\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I have never been interested much in cosplay, but if I were, I’d definitely build myself one of these nifty invisibility gadgets.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to wanting to rule India \u2013 or, indeed, as a means to that end \u2013 Mogambo also wants to find the mythical \u201cformula\u201d for invisibility, a formula developed by none other than Arun\u2019s scientist father, who was killed when he would not give up his secret.  Arun, though, manages to find the device his father created \u2013 a bracelet gadget that, when activated, allows the wearer to become invisible \u2013 except in the presence of red light. The bracelet allows Arun \u2013 that mild-mannered everyman \u2013 to become the titular Mr. India, a hero who begins by righting the social injustices instigated on a suffering population by Mogambo and his crew \u2013 and eventually allows Arun to defeat the formidable villain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve seen Mr. India<\/strong> many, many times, but it was in watching it in preparation for the Great Villians Blogathon that I realized that one of the greatest villains of all time actually has very little screentime (compared to other characters), especially in the film\u2019s first half.  Despite that, Mogambo is utterly unforgettable as a villain, his place firmly cemented in the Villain Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a number of factors, I think, contributing to Mogambo\u2019s formidable presence as an iconic villain.  The film\u2019s screenwriters, Salim-Javed, were no strangers to creating great villains and baddies of all sorts \u2013 and in addition to Mogambo, they gave Hindi cinema at least two other memorable villains:  Sholay<\/strong>\u2019s Gabbar Singh and Shaan<\/strong>\u2019s Shakaal.  Like the latter, Mogambo has a marvellous villain lair (complete with an acid pit); like the former, he has an iconic bit of dialogue:  \u201cMogambo khush hua\u201d (\u201cMogambo is pleased\u201d). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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