Mera Gaon Mera Desh review: Before Sholay (1975), there was Raj Khosla’s dacoit thriller starring Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna

A former criminal, a terrorized village, a fearsome dacoit — it all sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But this isn’t Sholay (1975), it’s another film, made in the same genre, that arrived a few years earlier. Known for the strong performances by its leading men, the melodious music of Laxmikant-Pyarelal and the direction of Raj Khosla, the film was forever eclipsed by the cult classic directed by Ramesh Sippy. But the similarities between the two are too hard to ignore.

The dacoit saga opens with an interesting quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “If I have to choose between cowardice and violence, I choose violence.” Straight away, the film sets the tone for what comes next. The one-armed Havaldar Major Jaswant Singh (Jayant) is instrumental in putting away a petty thief Ajit (Dharmendra) and, surprisingly, when Ajit serves out his prison sentence, he is the one to call him to his ancestral village in Rajasthan.

Jaswant Singh hires him as a farmhand and soon Ajit is seen drinking with the villagers and romancing his pretty neighbour Anju (Asha Parekh). But Jaswant’s motivation for recruiting Ajit is different. Their small village has been terrorized for years by dacoits, and their current leader Jabbar Singh (Vinod Khanna) doesn’t even hesitate while pulling the trigger on a small boy.

Anju’s father, the mukhiya or village head, decides to testify against the dacoits and he too is murdered by Jabbar out in the open. None of the villagers even comes to his aid. Jaswant and Ajit rush over to the scene from the fields, but they are too late.

Ajit decides then and there that he will defend his adopted village, his new home, until his dying breath. Not many are on his side, but he takes on his new mission of decimating the dacoits, even enlisting the help of Munni (Laxmi Chhaya), who he believes is a former victim.

Munni acts as a double agent until she realizes that she must aid Ajit. But the crazed Jabbar is out to destroy Ajit and the village for daring to go against the dacoits in their constant tussle as they evade the police. Who will eventually survive, and can one man actually take on a dacoit gang?

Khosla’s Mera Gaon Mera Desh featured Dharmendra and Khanna at their peak. Like in Sholay, Dharmendra plays a roguish, reformed criminal who is changed by the bonds he forms in the village. Jaswant, in particular, becomes the father he never had, and the widow Laali Mausi (Purnima), who lost her son to the dacoits long ago, keeps mistaking him for her son. Ironically, Jayant’s son, Amjad Khan, would go on to bag the role of the villain, Gabbar Singh, in Sholay.

Jabbar Singh doesn’t have the same memorable introduction that Gabbar got years later, but Khanna plays him with fervour and menace. This was one of the few villainous roles the actor played before moving on to hero roles and more stardom.

The film also features a hit song sung at the dacoit’s lair, where the protagonists have been captured. Laxmi Chhaya and Lata Mangeshkar made the song ‘Maar Diya Jaye’, written by Anand Bakshi, an instant hit. Most of the film’s songs were romantic numbers, but ‘Apni Prem Kahaniyaan’ sung by Mangeshkar had a proper narrative purpose, being set in a mela (village fair) where the disguised dacoits and the police officers finally confront each other.

While the dialogues by Akhtar Romani seem clichéd in retrospect, the camerawork by Pratap Sinha, especially the tense finale, is laudatory. One shot, in particular, sees Ajit seemingly surrounded as dacoits make their way from all directions into the narrow village lanes.

The film’s storytelling lags in places, shifting between comedy and romance, probably to ease out the drama between Ajit and Jabbar. The two have a marvellous showdown to settle matters once and for all, in front of an angry mob of villagers, who finally give the dacoits their just deserts.

While the feature lacks the finesse and sheen of Sholay, which had a bit of everything and remains a cult favourite for many, Mera Gaon Mera Desh still has the classic tropes of good versus evil, right versus wrong, them versus us. Which is always worth revisiting.