Ittefaq (1969)

Yash Chopra's murder mystery Ittefaq is certainly a rare Hindi movie experience for its time. It has absolutely no songs, it doesn't have any subplots or attempts at comedy, it takes place mostly in one house during one night, and so it is only one hour and 45 minute long, an exception for Hindi films of that time. This helps to create a consistently gripping, interesting and focused picture, which gives the viewer an opportunity to concentrate on the proceedings without breaks. The script is well-written and taut, and Chopra's direction is very good. His attention to detail is quite impressive throughout (although there's a slight lack of it at times), and the film is enjoyably tense, chilling and suspenseful.

The film totally belongs to Nanda who is excellent as the ambiguous and highly appealing Rekha. Whether she is a lonely wife, a terrified captive, or a seductress, she is throughly convincing, but not less important, she is so smashing hot. I don't remember any leading lady of those times looking so effortlessly sensual. She wears only one saree throughout the film (which is also quite unusual), and yet she looks more and more attractive and alluring with each new scene, without ever being vulgar. Towards the end, when the truth is uncovered, her character is the one I personally ended up feeling the most for. Sadly, today people hardly give this talented actress the recognition she deserves.

Rajesh Khanna, on the other hand, is not consistently credible. He is very good at some scenes, but then quite terrible at others, struggling with a role that seems to be too demanding for him. The very first scenes of the film when he is accused of his wife's murder are quite an example to that, as he just shouts and screams very unnaturally that he is innocent. The supporting cast, however, is very good. Unsurprisingly, Iftekhar is the most impressive of the lot, getting a role that is more lengthy and substantial than the ordinary blink-and-miss parts he used to play in other films, and playing it with restraint and style. Bindu, Gajanan Jagirdar, Shammi, Sujit Kumar, among others, are all very good in smaller parts.

Towards the end the film does drag a bit, as it starts losing its sense of uncertainty and becomes rather predictable. The final sequences are more of a courtroom drama only that they take place in this very house. The ending discloses all the secrets and resolves all the conflicts in just a few shots, working a lot on convenience and being quite contrived. There are also some really cheesy dialogues which could have been avoided and this whole portion of the film feels too sugarcoated. That said, I frankly didn't expect something else because I had seen several of B.R Chopra's thrillers (who's the film's producer) and they had the same kind of ending. Ittefaq is overall a memorable and highly watchable suspense thriller.