Do aur do paanch (1980)

दो और दो पाँच

Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Hema Malini, Parveen Babi - sounds like a foundation for a great masala film.  Unfortunately, Do aur do paanch ("Two and two are five"), apart from a handful of top-notch moments - driven by the talent of its two leads - fails to measure up to its whimsical promise.

Vijay (Amitabh) and Sunil (Shashi) are competitive crooks.  Wherever one goes, the other is always at his heels, vying for the same heist.  They hate each other, and they take their adversarial rage with them even into jail.  After their release, Sunil's uncle - a standard-issue masala-film villain who lurks in an elaborate lair surrounded by an army of incompetent goons - engages Sunil to kidnap a rich man's son.  But Vijay wants the boy, too - the promise of a king's ransom is too good to resist.  With Vijay posing as Ram, a gym teacher, and Sunil passing himself off as a music teacher, Laxman, both men secure positions at the boy's school, and the race is on.  With a series of wacky pranks and clever ruses each tries to outwit the other and snatch the boy away from the protective gaze of his teacher Shalu (Hema Malini) and the headmaster's daughter Anju (Parveen Babi). 

That plot is less complicated than other masala films of the era, and that is part of what makes Do aur do paanch considerably less satisfying than its more ridiculous kin, like the delightfully absurd Namak halaal.  Still, Do aur do paanch does sport a few interesting features.  Amitabh and Shashi are always a treasure; even in a relatively weak film like this one, their unparalleled and starkly contrasting charm lights up the screen, and their antics as each tries to one-up the other with pranks and deception are definitely the most enjoyable part of the film.  The pseudonyms that Vijay and Sunil take on for their stint at the school, their teacher-avatars - Ram and Laxman - hint at the brotherhood that ultimately grows between the rival rogues, and there is some pleasure in watching that develop.

On balance, though, despite a few outlandish moments - Sunil skinny-dipping in a river as an angry Shalu (prodded by Vijay, of course) runs away with his clothes; a bizarre song featuring more than a dozen actors in animal suits - Do aur do paanch is just too much "dishoom dishoom" and not enough silly.  Hema Malini is utterly wasted - after a promising entrance in which she tosses sundry obstacles in the way of the bad guys' cars, she gets virtually nothing to do.  Not even the songs provide the over-the-top sparkle that the movie lacks.  The title song is a good solid exemplar of its Amitabh-Kishore pairing, and its reprise on a hoarse but triumphant Shashi is fun too.  Beyond that, though - apart from the odd song with the dancing mascots - there's not too much that is memorable. 

(Do aur do paanch is available for download from Jaman.)

Comments

[Beth]

The good moments were good enough for me, but, even with the benefits of a much stronger Shashi presence, it's no Shaan.

[Daddy's Girl]

Very nice review. I'm very, very fond of this film and think it had some great moments, but I definitely see what you mean. I think the beginning and the middle were a lot more fun than the resolution. The bit with all the kids getting poisoned (and Shashi singing that sad, boring 'do not sleep, my children' song) was really too disturbing and traumatic for me, and I really wish they hadn't deemed it necessary to put that in the script. This is one thing I find in a lot of Bollywood films - they sometimes just seem to randomly go off on a tangent near the end. I still haven't figured out why 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram' (have you seen it?) had to suddenly become a disaster flick near the end. I guess I might be missing something.

[Nina]

I watched this recently and was left with much the same impression: the Shashi-Amitabh interaction was great, but I was left wanting. I put it down to the wasted female roles; without anything stronger to balance out the boys, the film had only 1 leg to stand on. Cutting the girls out entirely might have worked just as well, but as it was their story introduced a lot of weakness to the film. (As did the poisoned kids interlude, as Daddy's Girl has pointed out).

I was particularly amused/impressed by the 'Pink Panther' opening credits, where the cartoon Shashi and Amitabh set the scene, and probably spared us a longer introduction to the plot!

[carla]

Daddy's Girl and Nina - thanks for the thoughtful comments. As much as I love the masala format, I am still not always ready when the dark twists pop up. The poisoned kids are a great example of this.

*Satyam shivam sundaram* is in my collection and I'm eager to watch it soon. I'm not too surprised to hear that it gets over-the-top too. For me, in some films going all-out works, and in others it's too jarring. It may even depend upon my mood as much as anything else.

Re: opening credits - I agree with you, Nina, that these were a real treat. *Chalti ka naam gaadi* also had a delicious title sequence. I love it when filmmakers put attention into funny little details like these.

[Sanket]

I really love this movie - about 35% of it. When we watch it thesedays the fast forward button on the DVD player is nothing short of a godsend. When I first saw it - the cursing in Hindi (at the beginning of the movie) by my hero Amitabh was music to my adolescent ears. The gangster thing is WAY silly but the interplay between our two heroes, the running joke of 'Suresh' with Parveen Babi and the breaking down of the 3rd wall by Amitabh in the cafeteria sequence all are reasons why this movie remains one of my favorites. Maybe I just knew deep down that they wouldn't kill any children in a Bollywood movie, thus back then the poisoning sub-plot didn't bother me or my parents for that matter. Looking back now it's a bit creepy. BTW - great point about the cartoon opening sequence in 'Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi' :)

[yves]

Hi Carla,

I'm using this location to post this message in answer to your commentary about Amitabh. Yes, I know, my "experience" of Bollywood is so recent I still don't know much about the oldies. And I haven't seen the films you speak about, although I've heard about them. I'll definitely write about them as soon as I start! I somehow feel, nevertheless, that Amitabh can't have changed much, and that what is perhaps missing in the roles of his recent films is the youthful energy that he must have deployed.

Thanks for making me discover your blog, it looks amazing!
Yves

Yves

Old Amitabh movies worth watching are Anand/ Namak Haram/ Shakti/ Don/ Deewar/ Dostana/ Abhimaan/ Zanjeer/ Trishul/ Namak Halal

I think watching these will keep you very busy !

cheers

Meera

[Akshay SHah]

DO AUR DO PAANCH was definetly missing something, it felt like a half hearted effort at times. I'm a huge fan of Bachchan's YAARAANA-a masala classic of sorts, and one of Bachchans lighter films.

A.Shah

[Free Hindi Songs]

I like this film and watch it many times..