As there was no rewiew here, I think it would be good to put some words about this quite unusual movie.
First of all - I saw this movie with subtitles, since i couldn't find voiced version. With a rare movies from 'talkies' era like this it's quite common. At some moments i had the feeling that subtitles may be more or less incomplete and did not reveal all details of sophisticated language, but still i found dialogues interesting and the overall story was easy to understand.
The movie focuses on indian campaign of Alexander the Great, and depicts it more from indian perspective - meaning at some point we can see Alexander more like invader and king Porus like idealised protector of homeland. From the very beginning we see impressive decorations of palace settings - I was very surprised to see such good depiction of foreign costumes in an indian movie (although in closer look a nimble eye can see fakeness of all greek armors). Visuals are the stongest side of the movie - although camera work isn't so impressive and sometimes diminishes the aestetic effectiveness of scenery. Battle scenes in movie - they are different... Sometimes depiction is nominal and sometimes we can see an elephant charge through infantry made without any special effects - absolutly mindblowing!
Although the story is not very complicated, the movie has very slow pace. Some simple dialogue scenes are more several minutes long. Its good to show character's deepest motivations, but in the middle of the film we know motivations of every character quite well - and neverthenless movie has this slow temp to the end.
Few words about characters - there is some very distinct and interesting ones. Alexandr is depicted always optimistic and joyful neverlosing young conqueror - pretty realistic in my opinion. Rukhsana is just adorable in her youth and passion. Aristotle showed here very astere and cold but later we see, that there is still humanity beneath logics of the wise. And of course Porus - an idealized near-chakravarti (ideal ruler in buddhism) in this movie, still has a stong bit of charm in his all-about-virtues attitude of mind.
What an indian movie without songs? There is some (not too much), and they are pretty lovely, although one song choice still make me scratch my head - a greek soldiers, singing 'Life is all about love' while marching on conquest? That must be some bad translation or maybe here comes that long expected cultural difference?..
First of all - I saw this movie with subtitles, since i couldn't find voiced version. With a rare movies from 'talkies' era like this it's quite common. At some moments i had the feeling that subtitles may be more or less incomplete and did not reveal all details of sophisticated language, but still i found dialogues interesting and the overall story was easy to understand.
The movie focuses on indian campaign of Alexander the Great, and depicts it more from indian perspective - meaning at some point we can see Alexander more like invader and king Porus like idealised protector of homeland. From the very beginning we see impressive decorations of palace settings - I was very surprised to see such good depiction of foreign costumes in an indian movie (although in closer look a nimble eye can see fakeness of all greek armors). Visuals are the stongest side of the movie - although camera work isn't so impressive and sometimes diminishes the aestetic effectiveness of scenery. Battle scenes in movie - they are different... Sometimes depiction is nominal and sometimes we can see an elephant charge through infantry made without any special effects - absolutly mindblowing!
Although the story is not very complicated, the movie has very slow pace. Some simple dialogue scenes are more several minutes long. Its good to show character's deepest motivations, but in the middle of the film we know motivations of every character quite well - and neverthenless movie has this slow temp to the end.
Few words about characters - there is some very distinct and interesting ones. Alexandr is depicted always optimistic and joyful neverlosing young conqueror - pretty realistic in my opinion. Rukhsana is just adorable in her youth and passion. Aristotle showed here very astere and cold but later we see, that there is still humanity beneath logics of the wise. And of course Porus - an idealized near-chakravarti (ideal ruler in buddhism) in this movie, still has a stong bit of charm in his all-about-virtues attitude of mind.
What an indian movie without songs? There is some (not too much), and they are pretty lovely, although one song choice still make me scratch my head - a greek soldiers, singing 'Life is all about love' while marching on conquest? That must be some bad translation or maybe here comes that long expected cultural difference?..
