Naturally, in a (Manmohan Desai) movie, you'll have a lost and found kid, at least one revenge story, and many twists and surprises. The villains are like James Bond ones; classy, living in lavish lairs, and killing in strangely sophisticated ways. The street girl is loyal and funny pickpocket. The cop is young, and easy to fool. And there is, always and forever, time for 2 lovers, sometimes 4 or 6, to sing in anywhere! The cadres are so colorful, the music is so Hindi, and everything is elegant. The action is directed like a musical number, and the musical number is directed like an action. You'll never get board or confused despite how many the storylines are. The melodrama, the action, the music, the romance, and yes the comedy all are present and in one balanced formula where the performance can't be over the top, maybe over the enjoyment.
What I like about (Desai)'s movies, aside from being so "movies", is that the melodramatic stories are nothing but what all the old legends told us, yet in modern, catchy, and commercial movie. Forget about it as ordinary movie. It's a folk story with dazzling cinematic images, vivid atmosphere, and good escapist production, where there is no hard violence or sexiness, and the pure love and justice will triumph at the end.
(Parvarish) assures that genes got nothing to do with being a criminal or else. It says that in amusing story about the son of the officer who was raised by the criminal to be a criminal, and the son of the criminal who was raised by the officer to be an officer. It's explicit message about how the upbringing, the title's meaning, is the main - if not the only - reason why for someone to be a criminal or not. But, this time, the meaning is said al a' masala.
All of the aforementioned elements are available and nicely done. The climactic sequence in a submarine was ambitious, Bond himself did something like it in (The Spy Who Loved Me) strangely in the same year of (1977). True it wasn't as huge as what other cinemas could do, but it was fair considering that we're in 1970s's Bollywood. Among some recurring elements of (Desai), there are the electronic walls in villas that open suddenly to hide the cars; watch him reusing that, 4 years later, in (Nesseb). Or the mud that swallows people like quicksand; it would play dangerous role, 9 years later, in (Mard).
I liked the calm acting of the 2 male leads, especially (Bachchan) who maybe his baritone voice wasn't discovered yet, so his vocal performance was so cinematic, and totally out of exaggeration. And (Amjad Khan) did a wonderful job as the evil man who ran soft at the end.
The movie's melodies bewitch me. (Hum Premi Prem Kar Na Jaane) is a piece of magic. While being originally a drama song, it could be sung and remembered more than any - say - romantic one. Plus no contemporary Indian song can hold a candle to it, which forces me to ask; was the music's cleverness a phase that ended in Bollywood? Other songs like (Bandh Aankh Se Dekh Tamashathen), (Sab Janta Ka Hai Yethe), or else, make this movie enjoyable and immortal indeed. It's a sin talking about the soundtrack without mentioning the presence of singer (Kishore Kumar). He used to lend his voice to most of the Indian cinema's stars as a playback singer during 4 decades, from 1946 to 1987, through something over 600 movies; for instance in 1977 he made, else Parvarish, 41 movies! However, still his ever charming singing is an enough legacy for being legendary.
I can't find something that could be bad, or rather representing any dissonance in this harmonic formula. Maybe things like how (Vinod Khanna) managed to hide his secret life as a tiptop criminal for 20 years! Though there is no where to even ask a rational question like this, it's totally silly to be that meticulous in a well-meaning well-made dream. Therefore, when it comes to things like how fast (Khanna) got out of prison at the end despite his long history with crime.. sure you'll work it out in the back of your mind, since it's made for the sake of the lovely happy end which overwhelms it quickly later. Simply I believe with that amount of solid enjoyment, you may forgive slight points like this anyway. I just didn't like that strange, totally unnecessary, number of (Aahiye, Shoukh Se Kahiye), in the hotel room, which seemed put there to provide a bit of erotic time, no matter how inserted and forced the setup of it was. Moreover, the shadow dancers at the lair with their uninterrupted dancing; that was unbelievable to highly comic extent!
(Desai) made 20 movies as a director. 13 of them were super hits. In 1977, he was the happiest man in India, making 4 of the highest grossing movies for the year: (Dharam Veer), (Chacha Bhatija), (Parvarish) and (Amar Akbar Anthony). The man wasn't Mr. lucky inasmuch as a moviemaker who knew how to move the audience, play with their feelings, excite their ardor, and overpower their emotions to the max of satisfaction. (Parvarish) is a delightful little example that gives a quick idea why so many critics, before usual viewers, call him: The Master.
