Ah yes, foreign Jaws “rip-offs”, my favourite blend of shark trash.
I’m leaving the Turkish Çöl for another time, as we’re tackling one of the most featured ones in such lists (and prominent for obvious alphabetical reasons), the Indian Aatank, which itself had a troubled production history, being shot in the 1980s but not released until 1996, and being the last film appearance of a beloved Hindi actor (and politician), Dharmenda.
at least according to most sources, i can’t really corroborate from experience.
Though it’s worth being upfront in how this is another case where it being labelled a “Jaws rip-off” is mostly misleading, though kinda of a necessary evil to lure in people that wouldn’t have bothered at all if i didn’t say shit like “Bollywood Jaws”.
This is not to say that it’s random and unfitting, the movie has a killer shark in it…. but technically the same could be said of Back To The Future Part 2 due to the “Jaws 19” hologram.
(FIY, most of the screenshots are taken from the Youtube uploaded rip i found there, hence they still have the channel watermark, i wasn’t able to find clean HQ screenshots in time, and for that i apologize)
Being more correct, there is a killer shark subplot.
And it is just that, a subplot that comes at the end, even if it opens up with shots of the shark’s jaws and even the original Indian poster features the shark clearly.
being a masala film, you get a poutporri style approach so it does feel like 3 films meshed into 1 for maximum “bang buckage”, and it just happens they figured out to cash into the Jaws craze a little during production so why the fuck not, we’re doing Jaws in the last 10 minutes of the film.
I’m not an expert in this kind of cinema, but i did encounter a similar situation when i tackled 1962’s Shikari, a Hindi King Kong rip-off that for good measure throws in a rip-off of Schoedsack’s Dr Cyclops titular evil scientist, so i’m not surprised per sé.
it’s basically three plots in one, with the first act being more of a melodrama about two boys, Jesu and Peter in a fishing village oppressed by a gangster named Alphonso, then when they find black pearls in a nearby spot it becomes an action thriller as years later Jesu is a local hero fighting against Alphonso and its goons trying to take control of all the black pearls business, Jesu even gets a romantic interest but that too is shortlived as the gangster affairs have upset the balance, and as human body parts are find ashore, it becomes clear there’s a giant killer shark on the loose.
There’s actually bit more as government agents become involved and go undercover to try and dismantle Alphonso’s operation, but that’s about it, all “glued together” via the expected multiple Indian style song and dance numbers, which can go from being just 3 minutes to 8 or more, so if you don’t like musical interludes… don’t bother.
To be honest even leaving aside liking or not the musical numbers there’s already way too much plots crammed into 113 minutes, i don’t mind too much but the fact every subplot moves at X3 speed in itself might alienate casual viewers… though if you’ve come to read of a Hindi masala film about a killer shark, you most likely ain’t exactly “generic audience member n°689”; still, keep in mind the pacing is basically on hyperdrive by “western standards”, so immediatly after Jesu is adopted by Peter’s mother (after Jesu saves Peter from falling into a hole) we jumpcut to Peter’s mother on her deathbed dying of some illness.
And minutes after that Jesu shows up again as beefed up full grown man fighting off Alphonso’s lackeys with his brawn, there’s no real time cut to imply some time has passed, we’re now in action movie territory with Jesu soloing the goons attacking him with bamboo poles and oars.
Say anything you like about these films, they’re definitely not boring and a lot of stuff happens…. arguably too much too quickly, the fights are about as well coregraphed as one of those ’70s turkish rip-off films like “Turkish Rambo/Rampage” (watch out for obvious off screen trampoline usage), characters that you’d think would be important like Peter fuck off and then show up years later just to get married and later eaten by a shark, but i’ll gladly take that over getting bored.
But in terms of what you’d want to hear, the shark subplot stuff, and in a way, it’s worth it.
Aside from the obvious scenes ripping off more or less directly the original Jaws, we get them saying “FUCK IT” and figure they might as well rip-off Jaws 2 with the shark attacking a helicopter, leading to an incredible so-bad-it’s good sequence of events that sees Jesus harpoon mid-air the villain Alphonso. Amazing stuff.
I say shark, but i mostly mean some very obvious, very cheap toys and very laughable miniatures, aside from the full-sized mock up head of the shark used for close up shots, and honestly even knowing this was shot in the 80s and then released only more than a decade later….there’s no denying the special effects are plain laughable, because they are.
As are some blonde wigs that remind me of a frigging Godfrey Ho flick, it’s edited in a similar fashion, too.
I would be surprised by the effect but i remember the aforementioned 1962 Shikari also not being arguably less technically savvy than the original 1933 King Kong, so i do expect these Hindi exploitation films of yore to be technically arretrated, regardless of what decade they were made.
Again, mileage may vary depending on your exposition (or lack there of) to old fashion Hindi masala films, and yes from a western prospective they’re super messy, but this one it’s definitely a fun curiosity in the annals of shark film history, even if Aatank basically decides to become one only in its last 20 minutes, basically on a whim, because when production started Jaws had just came out 5 years earlier and spawned many rip-offs.
Okay, maybe not in the last act, since its almost 1 hour in when the sharks appears to close off Peter’s spouse musical number, by eating her while she’s swimming… but Peter was drunk, didn’t actually see his wife being eaten by the shark, and the plot now sees the police chief suddendly being aware that Alphonso de facto rules the village so they report to him instead than going to the police station, switching to having an undercover agent in Alphonso’s rank that that reports of such a lack of actual law in the place (which we already established in the previous scene alone, but whatever), so the shark will have to wait a bit… kinda.
Again, the plot it’s all over the fuckin place, so it’s not really surprising even the shark subplot makes little sense or feels stiched on there more than an integral part of the plot.
Still, i would be lying if i didn’t point out it took more than one sitting to get through, the spice mix density is a bit too thick for my tastes (it does feel like watching 2 or 3 movies squished and blended together, as said before, at least from a non-Hindi prospective), still, but i did enjoy it.
And while it’s basically out of print in whatever western release it had, you can find the entire film on Youtube with English subtitles, and it might be on some streaming platform, none that officially has it for my region, but it is more available than you’d expect.
Sure as hell it’s easier to find than the Brazilian Jaws spoof, Bacalhau, was years ago.
Wise Cafe (International) 