Red Rose (1980)
Cast:  Rajesh Khanna, Poonam Dhillon, Om Shivpuri, Aruna Irani, Satyen Kappu
Director:  Bharathi Raaja
Nutshell:  A Chilling portrayal of a serial killer by Matinee Idol Rajesh Khanna
Reviewed By Sehba Ahmed

Red Rose was a movie far ahead of its time. Rajesh Khanna is the lead actor and, at the peak of his popularity, took a big risk by portraying a damaged, manipulative serial killer who woos women with a red rose and romances them.

He plays a charming businessman called Anand. Unknown to these women, however, there is a sinister purpose behind Anand's displays of affection. He seduces them and then records their physical encounters to please his father, played by Om Shivpuri, a depraved man who can only satisfy himself through voyeuristic means.

Once Anand has fulfilled his father's sexual fantasies by filming the women, he murders them and buries them beneath red rose bushes. It symbolises his love for them, yet also his unquenched thirst to hurt them because of a deep-seated childhood experience.

However, once he meets Poonam Dhillon's character, Sharda, Anand changes his modus operandi, as she refuses to consummate their relationship without marriage. Once they are married, Sharda begins discovering strange happenings in the house through a series of very eerie moments. She appears in quite a few bold scenes, including bathing, which are recorded and monitored by Anand's father.

Her innocence is what makes Anand reluctant to turn her into another victim. Her famous dialogue, "White dress, red rose," gives the movie its punchline.

Om Shivpuri, in the role of Anand's father, brings a powerfully and superbly crafted depraved, impotent and deranged character to the film. His own experiences and inadequacies are brilliantly layered into the way he manipulates his creation—Anand.

He is eventually discovered by Sharda, who slowly begins to unravel Anand's true persona.

Eventually, Sharda escapes, with Anand getting hurt in his pursuit of her. He is finally arrested and loses his memory.

This movie also dispels the notion that Shah Rukh Khan was the first major romantic hero to take on a negative role with Baazigar. Rajesh Khanna had always been experimental, and even though he was the epitome of the romantic hero, with a massive female following, it didn't stop him from challenging himself with a film like this.

Red Rose stands its ground as a remarkable psychological thriller that can hold its own alongside its noir counterparts in Hollywood.