Reviews

The movie has the familiar caste issue as its theme and the same story of lovers belonging to different castes and their struggles against the heavy odds. But what makes this movie different is its absolute grace in handling the hackneyed story line , be it the romance between the protagonists or their lovers' quarrels. The music is absolutely brilliant, in all its aspects - the background score, the songs. The photography, the locale etc are perfect and adds to the thrill and beauty of the movie. Above all, it is the characters , the hero ( Akash ) and the heroine ( Rinku ) who stand out and whose thespian skills are amazing. There is no melodrama or loud histrionics - for which such movies are well known - and there are no emotion laden dialogues. The characters have considerable depth and each character is unique and a stand out. Even the side characters like the friends circle of the hero and heroine like Salya, Balya and Mangya convey a lot of finesse and depth especially in the context of an Indian movie that too of the commercial genre. The director Nagraj has to be commended on his work especially the characterization and the setting up of thrilling scenes. The ending is a bit horrific and so sudden that it somewhat reduces the pleasant impact of the movie up until that moment.

When you come out of the movie theater, you have a feeling of time well spent, even though on further analysis you feel that the movie has nothing new to offer, no novelty or creativity in its making, as the theme is quite beaten and over used. But still, something about this movie makes it offbeat, worth watching and that is where the credit is due to the unique handling by the director. Also, perhaps this is where you have to be aware of the saying: Analysis leads to paralysis.

A very finely made movie with an unusual story line. Gripping, suspenseful showing the dark side of life in Bombay - now Mumbai. Real movie with real characters with a touch of unreal-ness that cuts a movie apart from its contemporary run of the mill ones. The actors have played their parts to a T. Wonderful acting by Rehana, Sanjeev and everyone else. The music by MM lends a mysterious touch to the dark world of the protagonist. The depth of characters is relatively superior to the ones depicted in the movies of its times. Rajinder Singh Bedi translates the power of his pen into a celluloid masterpiece as only a writer can do. This movie is as good as it can get for the story line.

Incidentally, this movie won the national award for the best music. A fit addition for a connoisseur's collection. Powerful direction from the first time director Rajinder Bedi.

A movie badly made bad in all respects, and has a poor sense of humor. The theme is so old , that of the tamil-Hindi cultural divide which has been exploited fully by many artistes before like Mahmood etc. This movie is supposed to be a big box office hit. That shows the sad state of Indian art. But somehow I can't believe this. I refuse to have such a low opinion of the Indian taste. I strongly suspect the media published figures about a movie's box office collections. I think the figures are fixed designed to show the movie as a box office hit though it may not even be a normal hit. The subject is outdated. Why can't the Bollywood come out of it's egg shell or is it just the problem of SRK who is out of tune. The movie's poor taste comes out in the form of showing the tamils in poor light. Who is SRK fooling? In the name of praising Tamils , he has caricatured tamils and ridiculed their culture. How could Rajni ever have blessed this movie? May be he just okayed without even crossing the movie titles. What nonsense? Tamils don't even speak Hindi like this anymore. BTW can SRK identify TN on the Indian map? Pathetic. Could not even bear watching this movie for more than 20 mts. What self righteous arrogance that this movie displays?

This movie is way ahead of its times.

Chaplin's initial foray into sound films and what an inauguration! Call it a start with a bang. The final speech by the Jewish barber is the crowning glory of this movie. The greatest words ever spoken and ever heard by the human species. The collective aspirations of humanity through the ages crystallized into a wonderful speech, is sure to render one speechless. A speech that is a judgment and an indictment of all that has gone wrong in the world.

The movie is a spoof on Hitler and his Nazi party. The insanity of his times and the helplessness of the people in the face of such evil, makes this movie even more ominous. A speech that seeks to chart out the future course of human progress, only if humanity and her uncaring leaders care to listen.

From the start the movie builds a thrilling storyline, the characters entering into relationships that are doomed to tragic ends, the protagonist torn between loyalties to two opposing interests and what have we: all the ingredients of a classic thriller. The actors, especially Oldman as Jackie, deserve special mention. The movie delivers and keeps you stuck to your seat. A trivia is that the movie's storyline is so similar to "Parinda" a Bollywood thriller but with a slightly different twist to the plot. It ought to be that this movie lifted the theme from the Bollywood one, as that ( Hindi) movie was released in 1989.

No words.. Absolutely brilliant. This was the movie that set Guru Dutt's movie career up, that was sagging at that time. Kudos to the absolutely sweet melodies by OP- Rafi- Geeta combo. Shamshad has sung the title song so well. What songs ! The picturization is absolutely brilliant. The photography by Murthy deserves special mention. The star cast is perfect. Guru, Shyama, Shakila, Johnny Walker all of them play their roles perfectly.

Above all, it is the Mumbaikars - erstwhile Bombayites - who will be thrilled beyond all by this movie. The locations are all from down town old Bombay. To people who live abroad and have lost contact with their home town Bombay , this is a trip down memory lane. Hornby road, Flora Fountain, VT station, Army & Navy Building, Marine Drive, Colaba, you name it and you have it in this movie. It is all made easy by the protagonist of this movie being a taxi driver. And so pretty and peaceful, that was when Bombay was Bombay as we know it, not over crowded, less frenzied and relatively slow paced. Pure nostalgia. A Hindi Bete-Noire classic.

A very good movie with a strong storyline. A remnant of the old Hindi filmi era. Good performances by all concerned. Sadhana, Balraj- of course expected of him- and including Sanjay. Well not many have a high opinion of Sanjay as a thespian- but his looks were impeccably dashing. The songs were all great hits. As my Rumanian friend observed rightly good movie compared to the nonsense being churned out of Bollywood nowadays- though a few are OK. That is purely because of the nice story and good songs - the latter one important especially for Indians. Music by Ravi is an important part of the movie. This movie was telecast on the DD TV of the old days, when the TV was state run. Nostalgia.

Not a well made movie. The director Karan Johar thinks, by spending millions of dollars ( not rupees ) , he can pass on any worthless piece as a work of art. Sorry Karan, your slip is showing. Stick to your usual routine of making senseless fantasy movies. Now coming to the more serious part, the movie's motives are suspect as it bases its story on some insidious lies. There was hardly any serious fallout because of the 911 incident. The American govt and the Americans handled the situation remarkably well. But the US govt took care, and still does to ensure that such an evil act of terrorism does not repeat itself. Any govt worth its name should do that. For an unfortunate event of such nature like 911 , the fallout was virtually negligible. And to base your story on a twisted representation of this vital truth , gives away the false bona-fides of this movie. Karan will do well, instead to make a movie about Gujarat where just because some 40 odd Hindu devotees were brutally murdered - an unfortunate event no doubt - the whole state was virtually on fire with communal riots breaking out in every nook and corner of Gujarat, and with the govt being mute spectators. As to the aesthetic merits of the movie- SRK and Kajol are loud , garish and have overacted, and the rest of the cast, nothing much to talk about them. Music is about OK . In a nutshell a solid disappointment. One last word : Karan don't do an Aamir, stick to your natural self.

Speechless.. Yes that's the word that can describe the beauty of this movie. Oh wait, even that cannot, nothing earthly , be it words spoken or written can describe the splendor of this movie. Ray raises the art of movie making to ethereal levels. The human relationships and their subtleties portrayed in this movie have no parallels. The music suits the moods of the movie perfectly . Every person involved in the making of this movie - ranging from the cameraman to the actors - has put in the performance of his or her life time. Kudos to all ! Again words fail me in describing one of the best movies of the world. Apu the protagonist, his sister, his mom , his dad , his granny and their lives in the small village make the world in this movie. One has to see this movie to appreciate the nuances in this world consisting of fallible humans and their helplessness. Poverty and its effects are convincingly and realistically shown unlike most movies that seek to make drama out of poverty. This movie is etched in my memory forever. There is not much dialog in this movie and that adds to the beauty of this movie.

The score by Madan Mohan is the stand out feature of this movie. Rafi's song " Yun rooto na hasina" and it's picturization on Shashi Kapoor is one of the highlights of this movie. The movie is unusual in one respect : This is about Indian Muslims about their culture and lives. The actors are all Hindus, Shashi Kapoor , Nanda and so on. A truly secular movie and was a hit in those days. Shashi and Nanda's youthful enthusiasm is one of the best points about this movie. Omprakash portrayal as hajam Nawab is quite humorous. Balraj Sahni gives a subdued performance. This movie also enshrines the principle of equality of all humans and the differences made out among humans are all man made and artificial.

This movie is of great nostalgic value to the reviewer.

This movie was a block buster when it got released in 1961. Dilip and Vyjanthi reached dizzy heights . This movie came in quick succession after "Madhumati" another mega hit starring the same pair Dilip - Vyjanthi.

Curiously and interestingly , I , a movie buff, missed out on watching this movie for so long, though I have a heard a lot about it. Somehow that did not happen so far. Thus in my mind a kind of mysterious aura got built around this movie , and this movie was high on my list of to be watched movies. This is the first time I watched this movie and my expectations were not totally belied. This movie is a trend setter of sorts because in my opinion it has the right amount of masala, melodrama and whatever else that defines a Bollywood masala. This trend continued well into seventies and eighties , and ensured a fail-safe formula for hits. For instance movies like Deewaar, Amar Akbar Anthony etc that defined Amitabh had essentially the same theme of two brothers on the opposite sides of law. One driven by circumstance takes to crime and the other again driven by similar circumstances takes the side of law and a clash becomes inevitable.

The movie is made very well, considering the fact that the resources available for making such movies in those days were very limited . The technical stuff of this movie is quite beyond it's times like photography , lighting effect etc.

The movie's background score by the legendary Naushad, absolutely blows your mind and adds to the thrill. Now coming to the acting part, Dilip is too good and plays the role of Ganga very realistically, sometimes though he tends to overact. The role of Jamuna is played fairly OK by Nasir Khan as I find his face lacking in expression sometimes. But somehow Nasir manages to lend a quiet dignity to his role. Vyjanthi scores , throughout the movie as her role as Dhanno also is tailor-made for histrionics. The pair Dilip- Vyjanthi really hit it off together. Direction by Nitin Bose is commendable.

One disconcerting aspect of the movie though are the songs. They pop up when least expected and least wanted. The songs are one too many and very distracting to the main plot. But others may have a different view altogether about this. The songs are by themselves are OK but bursting into the movie in the most unwelcome moments and junctures. Iam compelled to deduct a star on this count alone.

Well in one word : This movie defined the phrase " time pass masala " in Bollywood's context.

A thoroughly watchable movie specially for the weepy types. The direction , the cinematography are very good considering the times. The lighting and other cinematic effects are technically a cut above the rest for those times. Guru Dutt puts in his best for this movie , both in the fields of acting and directing, and the product doesn't fail the viewers expectations, rather it greatly exceeds them. The songs and the background score are composed by SD and one of the highlights of the movie.

Everything has come together very well for this movie and Dutt has left no stone unturned to make this movie a masterpiece. This movie was released in the same year as "Mother India" another block buster, but Pyaasa managed to hold its own.

The only drawback, if at all it can be called one, is the philosophy of the director cum hero. Dutt wallows in self sympathy throughout this movie, and views the world in an extremely negative light. If you are looking for to cheer the resilience and ultimate triumph of the human spirit then this one is not meant for you.

But again this movie is a tribute to the forgotten art of poetry and the pearls of poetry are born out of the extreme pain and misery of the poets imprisoned in these shells.

With this movie Bollywood has stepped into a glorious chapter in it's history.

There is nothing more to be told about the theme and story of this movie , because other readers comments says it all. In a nut shell, this is a story about the relationship between a child with some learning disabilities and his creative and sensitive teacher. Very poignantly told and very beautifully portrayed.

Aamir Khan is very controlled in his expressions , his direction is very sensitive but above all it is the kid who steals the show. A great debut for a great actor turned director and a splendid debut for a child actor.

The screen play, the music especially the title song and everything else about this movie is measured, lacking in any melodramatics and minus any distractions , that are usually the bane of Bollywood movies.

We finish viewing this movie with a feeling of pity for those innumerable gifted children who don't seem to fall in line with the rest of the world , who don't have any Ram Nikumbhs to save them and who ultimately fall on the wayside without anyone lending them a helping hand.

What a tragedy but it is the world that loses in the bargain !

A real movie dealing with real problems. This is a movie with no frills and no cheap thrills. A movie is a tad slow at times, but no masala is added to make it more palatable.

The story is a bit novel, and deals with the agonies and pains of a NRI engineer. SRK is the NRI engineer who is caught between a luxurious life in US and the calls of his motherland. The way this theme has been handled is quite commendable. There are no efforts to brush the trash under the carpet in the movie. The bleak realities in India are shown very openly , unlike many pseudo Bollywood movies that seek to hide and paint a very misleading picture of the truth.

ARR's music adds to the glory and all the songs are quite good. The background score is very apt but sometimes gloomier than the situation warrants. The director Gowariker just excels . SRK acts very well , and is controlled in his expressions. The actress Joshi is quite OK and natural in her acting. The locales are quite beautiful and the village scenes are quite good.

But some slight flaws still exist like the weaver who changes his profession to farming and is punished for that. The problem of man vs machine is quite old and somehow village economies have coped with that. This is a slight exaggeration. Are there villages where no one is aware of the internet? I heard that in every village in India you have mobiles now. But the reviewer may be wrong. SRK comes with his caravan and how does he get water for his caravan van and what about electricity and power for his super-sized vehicle ? Again Iam not an automobile expert and maybe Iam wrong.

But brushing these slight defects aside , the movie comes out as a great creation of Bollywood. Personally it would have touched many NRIs hearts as they would have immediately identified with the theme of the movie. The pangs suffered by SRK seem so real when one is placed in a similar situation.

To summarize a great movie worth a watch

I just finished viewing this movie and Iam all praises for this one. A great actor and a great director get together and the rest is history.

The movie is all about a middle aged man and a young beautiful girl, set in a village, and the romance that blossoms between them. This leads to trouble as the elderly man, played by Sivaji, is a big wig in the village and he is already married though unhappily. He carries a dark secret in his bosom which is revealed at the end of the movie.

The songs are great, set to folk tunes, the direction is excellent sensitive and portrays human emotions beautifully. The natural locales are very pleasing to the eyes. Kudos to the Raja duo - Bharathiraja and Ilayaraja. Now coming to the acting part and that is the essence of this movie. Sivaji carries this movie solely on his able shoulders. His acting makes up at least seven stars of the total ten. As to the criticism leveled against him that he "overacts", this movie is a smashing rebuttal. The adage that you are capable of 'overacting' only if you are capable of acting, is proved by his movie. Sivaji's histrionics are controlled and measured. Every scene explodes with his brilliance. No words to describe his talent. He arguably is India's greatest actor . This movie is a proof of the fact that how a great actor like Sivaji in the hands of a great director like Barathiraja can make movie-magic. The storyline is quite unique for its times, though there are some distracting sub plots. This is inevitable especially in those days where the director is forced to keep an eye on the box office jingle.

To summarize a great movie worth watching at least thrice !

Recently when I watched this movie, I was spell bound. So perfect was the histrionic talent of the great thespian chevalier Sivaji. Interestingly when I watched this movie as a kid , almost everyone came down heavily on this movie. Sivaji's acting was dubbed as loud and garish and termed as 'overacting'. I shared that opinion too as I was a kid and knew nothing better.

Sivaji plays double role in this movie as uncle and nephew. One is the egoist atheist uncle and the other the humble, god fearing nephew. Both are lawyers and the movie has some dramatic turns. Right from the first frame of the movie until the very end Sivaji delivers. No words to describe his talent. The nine stars of this movie are for Sivaji and Sivaji alone. This movie is an instructive lesson in acting. Some of the songs are quite tuneful and apt to the scene.

Absolutely enjoyable !

A great movie. This movie more than anything defined Rajni ,as he is known today. Nearly thirty years have passed since it was released but even today it is very watchable. The movie is about the ego clash between a city bred Engineer Sarathbabu and an uncouth villager Rajni. The movie takes interesting turns and has some sterling performances given by the late actress Shobha as Rajni's wife, Rajni and Sarathbabu. Rajni sizzles, and he is packaged in this movie with his trade mark style, punchlines and everything else that is Superstar Rajni. The songs are just superb and Ilayaraja was in his peak form those days. The camera-work and the direction is flawless considering the times. Director Mahendran achieved great fame with this movie. Above all, this movie is of great nostalgic value.

A tear jerker. Gemini Ganeshan acts as the disappointed lover and his love is Saroja Devi. Saroja sacrifices her love for the sake of her sister's happiness as her sis ( Vijayakumari ) loves the same person. Then the story takes some unexpected turns. The story depends upon several forced hapenings and coincidences. The morals and ethics enshrined in this movie are quite outdated and may seem weird to us now.

The highlight of this movie is the comedy part by Thangavelu. He just sizzles and the scenes where he ( thangavel ) acts , the movie turns into a laugh riot. And it is all good, clean fun, which is quite remarkable. The songs and the background score are quite OK. Gemini does a great job. This movie was a box office hit of it's times and the director Sridhar established his name and fame with this movie. Saroja devi is very pretty and turns in a fairly OK performance.

All in all, a movie worth watching at least once.

An absolute classic !! The direction is flawless , the acting is just superb. Words fall short for this great work. The most definitive movie on Mumbai Police. This movie has stood the test of times.

Om Puri gives a stellar performance, Smita Patil no less. All the actors have done their best and the movie races on thrilling you at every moment. This movie shakes your whole being badly and forces you to rethink about many issues that confront our society.

This is the story of a cop (Om Puri ) who starts out in his career as a honest man but ultimately degenerates into a killer. The first attempt in Bollywood to get behind the scenes and expose the depressing truth about Mumbai cops. Kudos to Nihalani !!

After this movie a slew of Bollywood movies got released that exposed the criminal-politician-police nexus. Thus this movie was truly a trend setter. This trend dominated the Hindi movie scene for more than a decade.

This movie was a moderate box office hit.

A must-see for discerning movie fans.

In my opinion, this movie will rank as the greatest movie ever made in the world. Everyone concerned with this movie has put in a performance of his or her lifetime. The direction, the photography,the storyline and everything else about this movie are cinematic achievements and no other movie could ever come close to the standards set by this one. The chariot race shown in this movie and the crucifixion of Jesus in the grand finale will forever be etched in our hearts and minds. This movie undoubtedly was made with a missionary zeal. Watching the last scene where Jesus is put on trial, sentenced and then paraded through the streets is a hair rising experience. The decadence of Roman times and Christ's message of universal love are sharply contrasted against each other. The music adds to the thrilling effect and the sets created for this movie truly take you back about 2000 years. To consider that all of this was done without the aid of any computer or graphics is even more unbelievable and should be a humbling experience to all the present day movie makers.

This movie is quite different and handled very uniquely. The theme, storyline and everything about this movie is so refreshingly new that you are charmed by these. The entire movie is a laugh riot and the acting by the main character Bharat Bhushan ( Vinay Pathak )is just exhilarating. Others including Rajat kapoor, Milind Soman and Sarika have done very well.

The movie is about the entire stretch of a night and how a man pays for his mischief that he intended to play on others. A very light hearted comedy and very enjoyable.

Then why just 6 stars ? Well reading through some others reviews on this site I find that this movie is a copy of the french movie "Dinner Games" . To verify this I checked on the plot of the original and I found that indeed it is true. This requires that the director should acknowledge this fact in the titles but I don't remember having seen that in the movie titles.

Well apart from this fact ( though a very embarrassing one ) the movie's direction is flawless and the story is very humorous.

This is a decent movie with very good performances by the actors concerned. Some of the scenes are memorable like the last scene and the scene where Amitabh tames the child Michelle. The child's acting is absolutely memorable and it nearly brought me to tears.

Amitabh has done a fairly good job though sometimes I feel that he is a bit affected. The same goes for Rani. Well again to emphasize, the young Ayesha kapoor's performance is outstanding and mature. The music suits the mood of the film but it appears to be a straight lift from several Hollywood movies.

Coming to the directorial talent of Bhansali. He has done a remarkable job. His style is grandiose, and he generally conjures up a fairyland and a mythical age in his movies. This movie is typical of his style. Before I used to get irritated by this but slowly Iam beginning to appreciate this creative style of movie making.

This movie deserves 7 stars only because it is supposed to be based on the movie 'Miracle Worker'. I don't know this for a fact but I go by the general public opinion. I have not seen the Hollywood original. If this is true, I believe at least the movie should have recognized this fact in the titles.

In a nutshell, a moving experience..

Overall this movie is just about average . Some scenes are really humorous like Rani and Abhishek meeting at the rail station. Rani as usual sizzles and Abhi gives a fairly OK performance. Amitabh is not in his element except for the dance sequence "kajrare". Somewhat his performance can be termed as overacting. This man ( Amitabh ) is overworked and his age shows. He is burning at both ends. It is high time he slows down a bit.

And now the piece de resistance of the movie : That is the music. The music is very good and all the songs are quite hummable. The music is quite experimental and unique.

The story is plagiarized from a number of Hollywood movies, chief of which is "Catch me if you can". The plot is not detailed enough . For example the way the duo ( Rani and Abhi )dupe their victims , seems childish and there are many gaps in their schemes. But anyway the viewer can take all this in his stride, for after all this is a Bollywood movie and they are notoriously not meant to be perfect in their plots.

All in all a passable fare..

This is a badly made, poor remake of Bimalda's classic Parineeta. The story is based on Sarat Chandra's book of the same name and it is a distortion of the original. Well one can appreciate some degree of creativity but not sham creativity. The acting by everyone is affected and the entire movie is a sham. Shekar's father's choice of words in abusing Lolita ( Balan ) sounds cheap and morbid and destroys the spirit of the original story. Again the scene where Shekhar ( Saif ) slaps Lolita is quite out of place with the flow of the movie and the characters, is quite jarring to the senses, and could have been easily avoided. Similarly the sex scene between Saif and Balan is quite unbecoming the movie and a cheap gimmick to attract the audience. When a creative work is not faithful to the original and destroys it's spirit, the work falls apart. The song "piyu bole" is quite OK. Another silver lining in the dark cloud of this movie is the scene where Saif stands up for himself and rebels against his father. This is a positive departure from the original and deserves credit. On these counts this movie deserves 3 stars. The song and dance by Rekha smacks of artifice and it is a put on. The song is tuneful but I remember having heard it somewhere before and if Iam not mistaken the tune appears to have been plagiarized.

Well, agreed the times have changed from then to now. But then this movie is not even reflective of the modern times.

This is what happens when the modern Bollywood film makers get increasingly obsessed with impressing the NRIs and grabbing the lucrative NRI entertainment market. Such movies end up neither belonging to India nor to any other part of the world.

This movie ranks as one of the finest movies made in the world. Gary cooper's acting lifts this movie to great heights. His acting is very simple minus any dramatics but still the effect is so powerful. The movie itself is very simple but the message is so powerful. The selfishness and the nobleness in human nature are very sensitively pitted against each other. How the rank cowardice of human beings leaves a bitter taste in the hearts and minds of high minded people is very beautifully shown. Ultimately, the good people are overcome with disgust and throw in the towel. ( The last scene where Gary Cooper drops his tin star ). How many times have we witnessed this in real life ? Watching this movie one can easily figure out how tyrannies are made in this world.

In my opinion this movie is noteworthy for its effects on the art of movie making itself. According to me Kurosawa's classic "The seven Samurai " is deeply influenced by this movie. This movie triggered a spate of movies all over the world whose plots pit cowardice against tyranny and how a few brave men come to the rescue of the not so innocent victims. Though, the negative message in 'High Noon' may not be shared by all of these movies but you can see very clearly the influence. In that context this movie is an instructive lesson in simple movie making with a powerful message. Thus the message in this movie cuts across various cultures and climes and yet retains its power.

One last line for the song: the background song 'Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin' elevates the thrilling effect of this movie.

All in all a great cinematic experience.