Sridevipalooza project: random video #3


part 15 of Mawaali (1983)


Wow. My random number generator does not seem to want me to see Sridevi doing much. In this clip, she, Jayaprada, and Jeetendra comically harass Aruna Irani, Kader Khan, and a Hitler mustache-wearing Shakti Kapoor

With a chandelier for Shweta!

and make them do household chores while they mock them.




Their chores over, the evil trio licks their wounds and discusses their past evil deeds

while the spunky trio tapes their conversation. When Kader Khan discovers the recording - and this is where I decided I would definitely investigate the plot of this film - he summons some henchmen called "Section A" recruited out of the chorus of the Lawrence Welk show.

After a cartoon-sound-effect-backed skirmish, Sectin A and the evil trio kidnap the spunky heroic trio

Sri does get to dishoom a bit!
and tie them up in a villain lair, where they are tortured with the help of the more nefarious and menacingly-dressed Section C.

Wha? I didn't see that coming! The clip of the song at the beginning of this video is so chipper that I would never have expected things to go so quickly from youthful romp to being dangled upside down over a fire. Fortunately, there's a detailed writeup at Passion for Cinema if you want to know more, though I do not think it explains the identity of this mysterious man looking in the window at Section A's attack on the spunky trio.

Me? I'd rather focus on the lair. You know how I love villain lairs! What this one lacks in bombastic decor it makes up for in actual menacing techniques. This first picture shows the location Kader Khan calls when he brings in Section A, so I assume this might be the formal, more public area of Evil HQ

while the actual torturing takes place in the less finished basement or garage?

Sigh. A homeowner's work is never done.
Jayaprada is tied up and left to scream "Nahiiiin!"

as Jeetendra is suspended from the ceiling,

and Sridevi is put on a wheel that a henchman then spins.


As the Passion for Cinema writer points out, it's not clear what harm this actually does her, though Section C, crack torturers that they are, pull out a scalpel and cut her arm.


I wish I could tell you what happens at the end of this clip; my best guess is that Sridevi chokes down the physical pain of the wound

and says something to disrupt Kader's plans, because he comes up to her and they talk further.

Meanwhile, Aruna gets up from a chair from which she's been watching the proceedings and argues with him.

At least the torture area is equipped with booze (to the left of Aruna's arm). They may not have added psychedelic carpets and the rest of the cobra statues, but they've got their priorities in order.

Comments

VLoveMovies said…
The torture wheel and devices by the same torture equipment manufacturer seems to be a very popular device in the 1980s.

Similar devices appear (with Sridevi again!) in the awesome climax of Watan Ke Rakhwale (which you can -- and MUST -- see here: http://youtu.be/AtzaZXYmZ8s ).
memsaab said…
I've seen that wheel before. I think the benign-ity (?) of it is the actual torture. Like Python's Comfy Chair. Well, that and Sridevi's pants.
Temple said…
you know, I own this film and yet I haven't watched it. You really have to question my motivation sometimes.
sparkle h said…
ASridevi looks great these days. She's long overdue for a comeback, don't you think?

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