Movie Info: The movie was released in 1984, directed by Rabindra Dharmaraj (Unfortunately he died before the release of the film). Starring Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Ranjit Chowdhry (Baton Baton Mein, Khatta Meetha). Smita Patil won National Award for her role in this movie.

Plot Summary: Amma (Smita Patil) and her son Benwa (Ranjit Chowdhry) move to Bombay’s slum-dwellers when her husband killed a moneylender who tried to rape her. The husband was then shot trying to steal some tin to build a hut. In Bombay she live with the vain pimp and petty crook Lukka (Naseeruddin Shah) , Benwa’s idol. Lukka is banned from Bombay by the police and Benwa marries the young Chenna (Anjali Paigankar). Amma acquires another lover Anna (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), a truck driver and become pregnant. Lukka reappears, ravaged by syphilis and drugs; he kills a chemist to feed his habit and hides in Amma’s hut. The cops find him and arrest both him and Benwa, beating them up in the process. Amma has a miscarriage in the scuffle. In the end, bulldozers arrives to flatten the entire slum place.

Source - Wikipedia

The movie mainly tries to show the life people living in the slums and how their life just roams around in the circle (Chakra). The movie focuses on more on the lives of Anna and her son Benwa. Smita Patil once again gives superb performance. I was totally impressed by her acting. On the other hand, Naseeruddin Shah was excellent in the role of Looka. Ranjit Chowdhry too impresses again. The role in this one was very different from his earlier movies (Khatta Meetha, Baton Baton Mein) but he played it very well.

I know, I am just saying good and excellent but these actors are so good that you just can’t find any fault in their acting.

Another best thing in the movie was, direction. Though the main focus of the movie was on Anna and her son but the director very well covered other characters too. It was all balanced, in short.

Okay, I will never stop praising these guys. Overall, the movie was pretty good. It was a pretty offbeat movie but it is a must watch for movie gores.

I would rate this movie Rating:

This one was released in 1974, directed by one of my favorite directors, Basu Chatterjee and starring Amol Palekar and Vidya Sinha.

The movie is about Deepa Kapoor (Vidya Sinha) who is in love with Sanjay (Amol Palekar). Deepa leaves for Mumbai for the job and she gets to meet her ex-boyfriend Naveen (Dinesh Thakur) there. Now this makes her life difficult. On one side, she wants to be with Sanjay.. who gave her everything and loves her madly. And on the other side, her past, Naveen for whom she still has got soft corner. She finally makes the decision. But to know more, get the DVD and watch it.

The movie is mainly focusing on the actress, Vidya Sinha than the actors. The whole story roams around her. Director has done very good job showing 2 sides of the Deepa’s mind. On the acting side, Amol Palekar was excellent as usual. (haha, He is one of my favorite actors, after all) I personally liked the scene when Sanjay goes for the movie and incidentally Deepa is also there in the theatre. The whole scene was just too funny and natural. Vidya Sinha suits perfectly for the role of Deepa. Saree clad woman, always looking at her best. All the actors were infact so natural.

The best part of Amol Palekar (or Basu Chatterjee) movies is, they make movies based on real lives of people. There is no one with million dollar property nor anyone with super power to fight all villains. Their movies are simply about people like you and me. And that is what makes their movies evergreen. You always enjoy to watch them anytime.

Okay, to sum it up. The movie is definitely a worth watch.

I would rate this movie: Rating:

This one was released in 1984 starring Amol Palekar, Deepti Naval, Dr. Shreeram Lagoo and Dina Pathak. It was directed by Amol Palekar himself. The movie also won national award in the same year.

Let’s move on to the movie..

Story: (Partially taken from the DVD cover)

An astrologer (Shreeram Lagoo), who prides himself on never being wrong with his predictions. And when he predicts his son’s (Amol Palekar) future, he fervently prays, that he could be wrong. He predicts that his son will get married twice. His first wife die within 9 months. His son, having full faith in his predictions, loves one woman (Devika Mukherjee), but marries another (Deepti Naval) thinking she will die within 9 months and he will get married to her lady love. Rest of the things are to watch.

The movie is based on a very sensitive topic of science and superstition. It shows how since wins over superstition and superstition can ruin someone’s life.

No doubt this was one of the very good movies of Amol Palekar but here Deepti Naval wins the heart by her excellent acting skills. On the direction front, I found Amol Palekar bit on the weaker side. No major issues but some roles of the characters, few things could have been placed in a better way. For example, the character of Indu’s father was not that impressive, actually the actor was not suiting well. Few other things like adding comedy in the serious scenes was kind of bad attempt. (When Nandu goes to the bar for a drink). Another bad thing was, the music. I have no idea if it was considered as hit  or not. But the songs were just about OK.

To sum up the whole thing, the movie was good, specially because of the topic. All the actors did their job very well, Deepti Naval was the best of all.

It is a must watch and I would rate it Rating:

I seriously have no words to praise this movie. Just superb !! I really don’t know why our new generation movies does not have this kind of magic. I mean, when you watch these old movies, you feel them, you feel each and every character, you feel the pain, you feel the joy.. but in new movies, it has become rarity.

I will let Channel4.com handle storytelling

DK (Shah) and Indu (Azmi) Malhotra and have a perfect life. They love each other, their work and their children. They have great friends and are much in demand socially. This comes to a dramatic halt when DK receives a telegram from an old school-master who tells him that the woman he had a brief affair with nine years ago has just died leaving their son, Rahul (Jugal Hansraj) in his care. Indu is, needless to say, less than happy about the idea. The family struggles to deal with the situation and its implications.

The most amazing part of the movie is, the expression of the characters. You can feel the pain just by looking into eyes of Rahul. The expression says it all, no words needed. One of the very touching scene would be when  Rahul hurts his hand and runs around in the house shouting for his Mom (who is actually no more), he stops near Indu and realizes that his mother is no more. Indu looks at him in anger and shouts, I am not your Mummy. Weeping Rahul silently hides his hand. Just superb, very touching scene. There are many other touching scenes in the movie where you ask yourself, what is the fault of the child?

Acting by Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi is just A Grade. Hats off. Jugal Hansraj shines as Rahul. DK and Indu’s daughters were impressive, specially the younger one.

The music by RD Burman is of top class. Everything was just perfect, be it direction (Shekhar Kapur) Dialogues (Gulzar), Music or Acting.

I know I am praising this movie so much but it is certainly worth all the praise. Certainly a must watch.

I would rate it Rating: No scope of giving anything less than 5.

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