Khoon Bhari Maang turns 35: Sorry Rekha, this film belongs to the dog, horse and crocodile

First things first: Khoon Bhari Maang is about an avenging woman, who is empowered only after her transformation from ordinary to alluring, modern, and fashionable.

It starts like this — the rich father (Saeed Jaffrey) is killed by his house help Hiralal (Kader Khan). Aarti (Rekha), his only daughter, goes from being widowed to being orphaned too. Enter Sanjay Verma (Kabir Bedi) with his sinister plan to get rich quickly. All it needs is to ‘pataao‘ the daughter, marry her and then kill her. And, it is not at all difficult when the daughter is as naïve as Aarti. She takes the word of her two children, who are not even 10, on Sanjay’s ‘sharaafat‘ (good heart). Sigh!

This is a strange movie. But, perfectly timed at 2 hours and 26 minutes. You may have the constant ‘Whatt???’ expression on your face, but you are never bored, as the story moves quickly. Sanjay, in no time, convinces Aarti’s children, and by extension, her, to marry him. He also doesn’t take long to get to work and murders Aarti on their honeymoon. The newly married couple go to a farm owned by Aarti’s first husband for their honeymoon. They have the company of her children, the caretaker of the house, a pet horse, and Aarti’s best friend and Sanjay’s secret lover, Nandini (Sonu Walia). Make sense of that if you will.

Actors Sonu Walia and Rekha in Khoon Bhari Maang. (Express archive photo)

Of course, I went into the movie to escape reality but I didn’t sign up to watch a person being devoured by a crocodile. At first, a crocodile swimming towards their small boat excites Aarti so much that she jumps and starts taking pictures (Another what??? moment). It leaves Aarti on the shore after chewing off half of her face. Probably the crocodile was not that hungry and was only up for some snacking. Saved by an old man, a vengeful Aarti seethes in ‘badle ki aag’ and undergoes dramatic physical transformation. Mr. Roshan, I get the lure of plastic surgery thread, but the squeamish me would have either done without its graphical representation or would have at least appreciated a graphic warning to close my eyes in time.

Seeking revenge, Aarti returns with a new name – Jyoti – a new look and a new face. The birthmark on her face is gone and she is ‘unrecognisable’, but only to humans. The animals in this film are smart enough to not be fooled by coloured contact lenses. Aarti’s dog Jumbo hugs her the moment he sees her. He even helps her in taking revenge. Even her horse Raja knows its owner well and becomes her biggest support in getting Sanjay to be eaten by the same crocodile who spared her.

Her children do not recognise their long lost mother because now she is a supermodel with fancy dresses replacing her cotton sarees and a funky hairstyle replacing her simple plaits.

The writing of Mohan Kaul and Ravi Kapoor feels outdated and predictable 35 years later. But everything comes together with such panache and good performances, especially from Rekha, Kabir Bedi and Kader Khan, that you don’t feel like complaining. At least not too loudly. Also, if you look at the times when Khoon Bhari Maang was released, it was ahead of its contemporaries where women were never the heroes, they were either the arm candies or the bechaaris.

This film gave the viewers a female hero who need not be saved by a man. Rekha’s Aarti/Jyoti learns the hard way that being a good girl surrounded bad people will not take her anywhere. Thus, she cuts loose and does bad things by killing the murderers of her father instead of waiting for the judicial system to bring justice. I was also pleasantly surprised that Jyoti/Aarti did not fall in love with JD (Shatrughan Sinha), the photographer who gave her the job of a supermodel. Probably, she realised that her and her children’s lives could be good without a man too.

Film star Kabir Bedi and Sonu Walia in Khoon Bhari Maang. (Express archive photo)

Will I watch it again even? I won’t mind it on a bad day that would need to be rescued by some senseless, no-brainer drama. Otherwise, it is just too much of melodrama to devour on a regular day.