Ek Namard (2004)
Cast:  Sapna, Amit Pachori, Shyam Bahadur
Director: Kanti Shah
Nutshell:  A tale of innocence and delayed sexual awakening, desire, sinful carnal relations and exploitation.
Review by Omar Khan

 

Strange how things work sometimes. Having watched Kanti Shah's epic Duplicate Sholay and been dazzled by the mesmerising Sakina, I spent the best part of a day trying to identify the actor responsible for that memorable performance. The internet contains numerous cast listings for Duplicate Sholay, but none seems particularly trustworthy. Most repeat the names of familiar Kanti Shah regulars, often with little regard for accuracy. Joginder is widely listed as the actor playing Sakina, yet it was perfectly obvious from watching the film that he was not the person behind that extraordinary persona. And so began my hunt. One lead sent me in one direction, another somewhere else. I consulted various friends, none of whom could provide a definitive answer, and eventually it came down to a session with Chat AI. Through a process of elimination, the name Shyam Bahadur emerged. There appeared to be no useful photographs of the actor online, so I decided to watch a film in which his name featured prominently, and within seconds of it starting, I had my answer. It was indeed Shyam Bahadur who had played the saucy siren Sakina, Gabbar Singh's moll in Duplicate Sholay. The film I had started watching purely to solve this mystery was called Ek Namard. Yet, even after finding the answer I was looking for, its opening was intriguing enough that I found myself compelled to watch the whole thing.

The film begins in a village, with a wealthy Thakur family living comfortably amid the trappings of traditional privilege and, naturally, burdened by a reputation that must be upheld within the community. There are three brothers. Two are upright pillars of society, while the third, Bhola, has reached the age of 22 and remains a considerable embarrassment to the family and its ancestors. Played by Shyam Bahadur, Bhola is physically an adult but behaves like a particularly idiotic child. He rides around on the back of his manservant, playing "horsey," spends his days immersed in infantile games, and shows absolutely no interest in growing up or in behaving like what his brothers consider a proper man. The two elder brothers are at their wits' end, trying to find a way to snap Bhola out of his arrested development, and eventually decide that the only possible solution is marriage. Their theory is that if Bhola can be paired with a suitably alluring woman, she might awaken his dormant manhood and shock him out of his regressed mental state.

The elder brother knows just such a woman. Her name is Sapna, and she works in Mumbai—the big, bad city—at a business run by an older woman who happens to be a voracious, man-eating sex machine. The Lady Boss routinely finds herself new young men, latches onto them until she becomes bored, then discards them in favour of the next conquest. Sapna observes her employer's uninhibited lifestyle while the other workers gossip freely about the woman's predatory ways, her appetite for younger men and her willingness to use money to satisfy her lust. Then Sapna receives a call from Bhola's elder brother. She owes him a favour, and he asks her to come to the Thakur haveli and attempt the seemingly impossible: seduce Bhola, awaken his manhood and transform him into something resembling a functioning adult. Sapna dutifully accepts the challenge. The theory is that sexual arousal will somehow bring about a miraculous transformation in Bhola, and Sapna is considered precisely the woman capable of achieving it. She even goes a step further and agrees to marry the fool.

When the sultry siren arrives at the haveli, she is immediately confronted with local hunk Raja (Amit Pachori), complete with muscled physique and boyish charm. He is the sort of man any woman might find difficult to resist, but Sapna keeps her composure, wards him off and concentrates instead on fulfilling her promise to rescue Bhola from his disastrous state of arrested development. She begins by studying the Kamasutra and attempts to interest Bhola in its sexual imagery and descriptions. Bhola would rather play games. Next, she tries showing him sexy films, but he squirms in horror and flatly refuses to watch dirty movies. Increasingly frustrated by her lack of progress, Sapna finally resorts to wearing next to nothing and throwing herself at him in the hope that sheer physical temptation might finally provoke a response. Nothing works. Bhola remains spectacularly unmoved.

Defeated, Sapna tells the elder brother that she is making absolutely no progress and should perhaps return to the city and resume her career. He appeals to her sense of duty, insisting that the family's honour rests on her success, and so she soldiers on. Sapna repeatedly throws herself at Bhola, but without effect. Meanwhile, Raja tells her she is wasting her considerable energies on a hopeless case and might be better advised to devote some attention to him instead. After all, he possesses everything Bhola appears to lack, and together, he assures her, they could extinguish one another's flaming urges to perfection. Sapna is tempted, but for the moment remains admirably committed to her mission. Unfortunately, Bhola continues to resist every attempt at seduction, until one night the randy Raja finally finds his way into Sapna's chambers. The pair are furiously making out when Bhola secretly witnesses them, and for the first time something stirs inside him. It is not quite a sexual awakening, but there is obvious jealousy and resentment. Sapna is supposed to be his wife, yet here she is, giving another man the attention that should, in theory, belong to him. Bhola does not immediately snap out of his childlike state, but something has undeniably shifted.

Raja and Sapna's one-night indiscretion soon develops into a torrid affair. Eventually, Sapna throws in the towel and tells Bhola's brother that she must return to Mumbai. She has tried everything she can think of, nothing has worked, and she sees little point remaining married on paper to a man who appears entirely uninterested in her. She returns to the city, and Raja follows behind like a lusting puppy. Unfortunately for him, he soon discovers that in Sapna's life he is little more than a convenient piece of flesh. He does not work. He sits in her flat while she goes off to earn a living, waits impatiently for her return, and then resumes their energetic affair. Before long, cracks begin to appear. Raja starts asking Sapna for money, prompting her to accuse him of being interested in little more than what he can extract from her financially. Then matters become considerably more complicated when Sapna's perpetually lustful Lady Boss spots Raja and is immediately captivated by his astonishing sexiness. Predictably, the two embark on their own torrid affair, carrying on behind Sapna's back while she is away at work.

Meanwhile, back in the village, something extraordinary has happened to Bhola. One morning he wakes up and refuses to play Horsey or Donkey with his servant. Even more astonishingly, he begins speaking in a grown-up voice. Bhola announces that he misses his wife, that he has finally become a man and that he wants Sapna back. He is prepared to do whatever is necessary to win her. Letters are sent to the city informing Sapna of his miraculous transformation. Unfortunately, while Bhola is discovering manhood, Sapna's Boss and Raja are discovering one another almost daily. The Lady Boss lavishes Raja with gifts and money, and he appears perfectly happy with his new role as her kept toy boy. Sapna eventually catches a whiff of trouble after hearing gossip about Raja's extracurricular activities. She confronts him, and, naturally, he denies everything, but shortly afterwards, he is caught red-handed with the Lady Boss, leaving Sapna furious.

Bhola, meanwhile, prepares to travel to the city and win back his wife. Sapna is alarmed by the prospect, fearing that the innocent and childlike Bhola will be swallowed alive by Mumbai. The brothers reassure her that the Bhola she remembers no longer exists. He has awakened, matured and is finally prepared to fulfil his responsibilities as a husband. Whether this miraculous transformation will survive contact with the big city is another matter entirely. Will Bhola find Sapna and forgive her dalliances with Raja? Can the pair start again and live happily ever after as husband and wife? Will Raja return to wreck everything? And is Bhola genuinely cured, or is his newfound maturity merely a temporary phase before he slips once again into his infantile ways?

Along the road to the conclusion there are, naturally, several saucy musical numbers to enjoy: one or two featuring Sapna during her early attempts to coax Bhola out of his slumber, and later another involving the Lady Boss in full vixen mode with her lover Raja. Ek Namard is a considerable departure from the usual Kanti Shah masala movie. It marks a drastic shift from his Bashir Babbar-dialogued action romps featuring Sapna as a dacoit, jungle queen or avenging warrior. EK Namard is a far simpler tale of innocence, lust, love, morality and sexual awakening. Beneath all that, of course, it is essentially a straightforward sexploitation film packed with enough flesh and steamy encounters to encourage the morning-show crowd to part with their rupees in return for 90 minutes of sexcitement.

Shyam Bahadur, so brilliant in drag as Sakina in Duplicate Sholay, is again impressive here, particularly during Bhola's spectacularly moronic early incarnation. Ironically, he becomes considerably less interesting once Bhola finally grows up. The two brothers remain earnest and serious throughout. Despite the constant suspicion that one or both of them might eventually pounce on Sapna themselves, they behave impeccably. The ravenous, flesh-hunting Lady Boss is a fascinating creation, while Amit Pachori throws himself enthusiastically into the role of professional toy boy. There are no great twists or surprises. The film presents itself as a cautionary tale about morality, marriage and responsibility while doing a rather poor job of concealing the fact that it is, in reality, a sexy exploitation picture designed for the drooling morning-show crowd.

For a few tantalising moments during the early stages, one wonders whether Ek Namard might develop into something resembling The Baby from the early 1970s. Still, alas, it has no such ambitions. Still, at barely 90 minutes, the film never becomes boring and entertains perfectly well on the most basic level. Far from being one of the more memorable entries in Kanti Shah's sprawling catalogue, Ek Namard remains perfectly serviceable fodder for the masses—and, thanks to Shyam Bahadur, the unexpected solution to one of the great mysteries of Duplicate Sholay.