Meri Jaan Tirangaa Hai
Caught the umpteenth re-run of that cult classic called Tirangaa a couple of days back. This is one movie I simply cannot miss, and HAVE to watch all the way through every time I catch an infinitesimal glimpse during my glazed, semi-hallucinated channel surfing sprees (Yes, I LOVE complex sentences…). This movie stars Raj Kumar as Brigadierrrrrrr Surrrryadeo Singh, and the ever dependable Nana Patekar as Inspector Shivajirao Wagle, as the good guys, and Deepak Shirke as (hold your breath, choke and die if you don’t know this) Pralaynath Goondaswamy (lovingly called ‘Gendaswamy’ by the good Brigadier throughout the opus) as the baddie to beat all other baddies 
hollow.
What makes the movie so special? Take the numerous sub-plots…there’s ‘Half-Chaddi’ Harish as I like to call him (name no ring bell? I try…he was the dusky beauty with the downy upper lip in Prem Qaidi) whose pop (Suresh Oberoi) is a cop, and gets murdered by Pralaynath while they are horse-riding.
Trivia (full of corn and very very nutritious) – Pralaynath wears a helmet while riding his horse. The purpose was for identity concealment I thought initially, but now I’m not so sure, since he lifts the visor after his dirty deed, and cackles menacingly (cynics say like a geriatric gander) at Harish. I think he must have read that helmet-less horse riding fatalities were on the rise lately on the mean streets, sorry beaches, of Mumbai. Don’t hurt to be safe than sorry, do it? (or should it be don’t it?)
Anyways, Harish manages to get falsely implicated in a rape case along with three other plastic friends. He has to be saved.
Then there are the baddies. Pralaynath is the kingpin of all anti-national activities, right from smuggling grenades hidden in hollowed out raw mangoes (yeshhh you read right. And you are sober!), to planning the total destruction of all the four corners (namely ‘isht’, ‘waysht’, north and south) of India, by deploying missiles intriguingly named Pralay – 1, Pralay – 2, Pralay – 3, and Pralay – 4. In his team is a 'Minister' called Jeevanlal Tandel (intoned as 'Jiwwunnlaal' by Pralaynath) who acts as his agent of destruction. It’s up to our heroes to save the day. And how.
For starters, the missiles run only when they are fitted with desi Kryptonite called ‘Fuse Conductors’. When I first saw the movie, I was in the 8th standard. I probably thought I’d learn more about this as I sleepwalked through future education. 4 years after graduation, I still don’t know what this is about. Such bleeding edge technology. And cynics say our movies are not scientific/realistic enough. Bring them to me, I say!!!!
Needless to say, good triumphs over evil in the end. And the dialogues along the way are PRICELESS.
Samples –
“Na goliyon ki boucharrr se…
Na talwarrr ki dhaarrrr se…
Bandha darrrrta hai,
To sirrrf parrrwarrrdigarrr se”
(This is Raj Kumar’s ‘entry’)
“Hum tumhe aaj maarne nahi aaye hain Gendaswamy, hum to aaj sirf tumhare gardan ka maap lene aaye hain”
“Humara commando bada hi chaalak hai Gendaswamy, patta hilne se pehle hi pedh kaat deta hai”
(Trivia again – these commandos all wear BSC Corona type canvas shoes in the movie. Help in making quick getaways.)
The climax lives up to it’s name (gives me one every time at least) and takes place on 15th August.
Half-Chaddi and miscellaneous family members are tied up and kept inside what su
spiciously look like Port-A-Potties. (minus the commodes of course. Would have taken away the menace element). The Pralay missiles are about to be launched.
Raj Kumar peacefully smokes his pipe (almost a peace pipe, as you will soon see) as Pralaynath rants like a Virar resident going home at 7.00 pm. Irritated, he wrenches the pipe from the Brigadier's hands and flings it away. Lo and behold, there’s dense Jeetendra – Rama Naidu type smoke all over the place. The Brigadier calmly does a kaltaax, rips out the fuse conductors from all the four ‘meesiles’ thus rendering them sterile, and saves the day, the nation and quite possibly the world. The look on poor Gendaswamy’s face, as he frantically works his remote control, and barks into his walky-talky is pure platinum (bechaara Gendaswamy, he had even worn his best pair of super safed, band-master cotton gloves for the occasion. It was really a big day for him). Trust the Brigadier to do this with his bare hands, without a single piece of visible equipment. Add to that the following line
“Yeh to sirrrrf hamarrrre pipe ka kamaal tha, shukarrrr hai tumne hamare rrrrumaal ko haath nahi lagaaya, nahi to wahin dherrrr ho jaate.”
Thank God he didn’t give him the rumaal first, we would have been so much more the poorer. The bedlam that ensues is paisa vasool, with both the heroes pasting everybody in sight.
After the usual fights and gunfire, it’s time for our heroic duo to end it on the following note
“Dekha sir? Pehle laat, fir baat, fir zaroorat pade to mulakaat”
“Nahiiii Nahiii Wagleeyyyy, pehle mulakaat, phirrrrr baat, phirrrr zaroorat pade to laat”
“Ha Ha Ha” (Baritone)
“Ha Ha Ha” (Graveltone)
A must-see if you want a dose of refreshing and light-headed entertainment. You also lose a little part of your permanent touch with reality. Which is actually a very good thing.
hollow. What makes the movie so special? Take the numerous sub-plots…there’s ‘Half-Chaddi’ Harish as I like to call him (name no ring bell? I try…he was the dusky beauty with the downy upper lip in Prem Qaidi) whose pop (Suresh Oberoi) is a cop, and gets murdered by Pralaynath while they are horse-riding.
Trivia (full of corn and very very nutritious) – Pralaynath wears a helmet while riding his horse. The purpose was for identity concealment I thought initially, but now I’m not so sure, since he lifts the visor after his dirty deed, and cackles menacingly (cynics say like a geriatric gander) at Harish. I think he must have read that helmet-less horse riding fatalities were on the rise lately on the mean streets, sorry beaches, of Mumbai. Don’t hurt to be safe than sorry, do it? (or should it be don’t it?)
Anyways, Harish manages to get falsely implicated in a rape case along with three other plastic friends. He has to be saved.
Then there are the baddies. Pralaynath is the kingpin of all anti-national activities, right from smuggling grenades hidden in hollowed out raw mangoes (yeshhh you read right. And you are sober!), to planning the total destruction of all the four corners (namely ‘isht’, ‘waysht’, north and south) of India, by deploying missiles intriguingly named Pralay – 1, Pralay – 2, Pralay – 3, and Pralay – 4. In his team is a 'Minister' called Jeevanlal Tandel (intoned as 'Jiwwunnlaal' by Pralaynath) who acts as his agent of destruction. It’s up to our heroes to save the day. And how.
For starters, the missiles run only when they are fitted with desi Kryptonite called ‘Fuse Conductors’. When I first saw the movie, I was in the 8th standard. I probably thought I’d learn more about this as I sleepwalked through future education. 4 years after graduation, I still don’t know what this is about. Such bleeding edge technology. And cynics say our movies are not scientific/realistic enough. Bring them to me, I say!!!!
Needless to say, good triumphs over evil in the end. And the dialogues along the way are PRICELESS.
Samples –
“Na goliyon ki boucharrr se…
Na talwarrr ki dhaarrrr se…
Bandha darrrrta hai,
To sirrrf parrrwarrrdigarrr se”
(This is Raj Kumar’s ‘entry’)
“Hum tumhe aaj maarne nahi aaye hain Gendaswamy, hum to aaj sirf tumhare gardan ka maap lene aaye hain”
“Humara commando bada hi chaalak hai Gendaswamy, patta hilne se pehle hi pedh kaat deta hai”
(Trivia again – these commandos all wear BSC Corona type canvas shoes in the movie. Help in making quick getaways.)
The climax lives up to it’s name (gives me one every time at least) and takes place on 15th August.
Half-Chaddi and miscellaneous family members are tied up and kept inside what su
spiciously look like Port-A-Potties. (minus the commodes of course. Would have taken away the menace element). The Pralay missiles are about to be launched.Raj Kumar peacefully smokes his pipe (almost a peace pipe, as you will soon see) as Pralaynath rants like a Virar resident going home at 7.00 pm. Irritated, he wrenches the pipe from the Brigadier's hands and flings it away. Lo and behold, there’s dense Jeetendra – Rama Naidu type smoke all over the place. The Brigadier calmly does a kaltaax, rips out the fuse conductors from all the four ‘meesiles’ thus rendering them sterile, and saves the day, the nation and quite possibly the world. The look on poor Gendaswamy’s face, as he frantically works his remote control, and barks into his walky-talky is pure platinum (bechaara Gendaswamy, he had even worn his best pair of super safed, band-master cotton gloves for the occasion. It was really a big day for him). Trust the Brigadier to do this with his bare hands, without a single piece of visible equipment. Add to that the following line
“Yeh to sirrrrf hamarrrre pipe ka kamaal tha, shukarrrr hai tumne hamare rrrrumaal ko haath nahi lagaaya, nahi to wahin dherrrr ho jaate.”
Thank God he didn’t give him the rumaal first, we would have been so much more the poorer. The bedlam that ensues is paisa vasool, with both the heroes pasting everybody in sight.
After the usual fights and gunfire, it’s time for our heroic duo to end it on the following note
“Dekha sir? Pehle laat, fir baat, fir zaroorat pade to mulakaat”
“Nahiiii Nahiii Wagleeyyyy, pehle mulakaat, phirrrrr baat, phirrrr zaroorat pade to laat”
“Ha Ha Ha” (Baritone)
“Ha Ha Ha” (Graveltone)
A must-see if you want a dose of refreshing and light-headed entertainment. You also lose a little part of your permanent touch with reality. Which is actually a very good thing.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, October 29, 2005 at 11:03 PM.
5:51 PM, November 08, 2005Dude...must say a grt read....the highlight : "Half Chaddi with the miscallaneous family members" cudnt get better than this :)
7:41 AM, November 10, 2005
Amaaaaaaaaaaazing one !!!
But you forgot to mention Famous Nana Patekar dialogue....
'Main Shivajirao Wagle... Maratha... Maratha marta hai ya marta hai !'
But seriously , great work done on the review !! good read !!
12:46 PM, November 16, 2005
good yaar...should have also commented on their individual background music.
6:45 PM, November 17, 2005
try coolie on for size. 'accident ho gaya' is a timeless classic :)
science ? believe it, drinking causes kidney failure. genealogy ? guess who is who's relation in the movie.
plus of course amitabh's classy last scene with 3 bullets in him, and the world praying.
i would talk of jaani dushman(the 2002 one) too, but i'm still tryin to get the words to describe the movie.
7:00 AM, June 05, 2006
awesome boss....half chaddi harish and jiwuuunlal were crackin hilarious
1:14 PM, May 31, 2007
Hey how come Khabri Lal with his awesome take on being an 'informer' did not get a mention? This is Rosh's friend Ravi, btw. you might like this kvltsite.com.
6:59 PM, October 07, 2007
wow....
its gr8.. thanks for making such a good effort.. n i really like it....
but can u plz send me the song of tirangaa... the title song...
i will b thankful to you....
3:25 AM, June 15, 2009
i want song of these tirangaa film where i will get
3:13 PM, June 10, 2010
This post left me in splits. I too make it a point to watch this movie whenever it's aired. It never loses its charm. But I must say, I loved Raj Kumar's typical swagger and drwal.The man definitely had style...
Have been going through all your Mithun-Movie reviews. Great work...Have already watched the mind-blowing (like, literally) movie Gunda and will definitely watch the rest.
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