Dalal No. 1

Dalal No. 1... translated into English means, Pimp No. 1. Imagine a movie being named that! But when you consider the way the director has dealt with the movie as a whole, the title fades away into insignificance. The movie tries to analyze the plight of prostitutes in the city, but ends up glamorizing the flesh trade.

The movie starts off with a raunchy song in a brothel (read kotha), where prostitutes, sing, dance and entertain their customers in any way they please. But the songs are so jarring; it is a wonder that any of the customers chose to return. Then, you have a prostitute called Roohi, who is apparently the best looking of the lot. The others are so horrendous to look at; they shouldn’t have qualified for the job in the first place.

Roohi’s lover, while attempting to rescue her from that place, is killed. The brothel managers, a pair called Monica and Murali, are worried because of Roohi’s lack of cooperation, and so decide to bring a new good looking girl. They send Shakti (Shakti Kapoor), one of their best dalaals, to fool a village girl’s father, marry her and bring her to the kotha.

He does as instructed and brings an unbelievably innocent and diabetically sweet Chandni as his bride, to the kotha. Then you are treated to horribly cliched dialogues about the Pati Parameshwar concept. Roohi supports Chandni, and all the while Monica International (that’s what Shakti calls her... ha ha ha!) and Murali are looking for a customer who can pay well for Chandni, Roohi tells all to Chandni. Then Chandni goes about trying to win over Shakti’s heart, as he is her ‘husband’.

Shakti who is a cold blooded villain throughout the movie, has a change of heart in the last scene, and arrives in time to save Chandni’s izzat.

The dialogues are atrocious, with every alternate dialogue having an overt reference to mothers and sisters. The performances are hammy at their best. The overflow of sentiments and glycerin does tend to drown you. The songs grate on your nerves, inducing a migraine or two.

The movie is a through and through farce, trying to speak against the flesh trade, but attracting audiences with an excessive display of flesh.