A full-throttle flashback: Apradh

Feroz Khan's directorial debut was an early FI film that put Bollywood in the fast lane

- Poonam Saxena

s Fl: The Movie rocks the box office, I am reminded of a film from over 50 years ago: Bollywood's first movie to feature professional car-racing, the ritzy 1972 release Apradh.

Feroz Khan's directorial debut, it featured the flamboyant star in the role of a race-car driver. The opening credits consisted of four-and-a-half minutes of real racing footage from Nurburgring, Germany. (Khan is said to have bought the footage froma local TV channel.)

Tremember thinking it slightly curious that Khan would choose professional carracing as the backdrop of his first movie, ata time when there was hardly any public awareness of the sport in India. But then this was an actor known for his cool Western style. He had a personal fondness for leather boots and cowboy hats. The heroines in his films wore miniskirts and short shorts.