Hum Paanch

Bapu's first Hindi film, remake of Puttannna Kangal's ‘Paduvarahalli Pandavaru’ (1978), derived from a popular Mahabharata legend set in feudal UP. The villanious zamindar Veer Pratap Singh (Puri) is Duryodhan, his sidekick Lala (Kanhaiyalal) is Shakuni and their opponents are the drunken holy man Krishna (Kumar), Bhima (Chakraborty), Arjun (Babbar) etc. The good and the bad perform with straightfaced conviction (which prevents the film from becoming a comedy) a story reduced to a series of action thrills. In many respects this feudal drama ironically echoed Benegal's Nishant (1975), a resemblance reinforced by the presence of Puri, Azmi and Shah.