GPSohal Reviews

Kalyug (1981)

An Immensely Boring and Disappointing Film

[3/10 · 18 September 2007]

If I had not known that this film was based on the 'MahaBharat', I would not have been able to sit through this film. The 'MahaBharat' is one of India's greatest epics, and was also made as a very successful TV series. The story is quite lengthy, and I did not expect the makers of this film to include everything into this film. However, I did not expect them to make such a slow-paced and boring film either.

I was left wondering how you could condense such an action-oriented epic story into a three-hour sleep-fest. The motivations of the characters were not clearly stated, and the enmity between them seemed forced.

Some of the scenes which should have been emotion-wrenching, left you ice-cold. There was an unnecessary scene in a pub-disco that lasted for about 10 agonizingly long minutes.

Shashi Kapoor was one of the bright spots of the movie, giving a controlled and restrained performance. The rest of the cast, save for Anant Nag, Om Puri and Victor Bannerjee, were there for window dressing.

The pace was slow, any sympathy for the characters was non-existent, and the editing was awful.

Overall, the film is unable to fulfill even the most meager of expectations, and I would recommend this film to be given a miss.

Darling (III) (2007)

Interesting concept, disappointingly slow pace

[5/10 · 7 September 2007]

The movie starts out well, but around the middle part starts to falter. You realize that the director had a thread-bare plot which he tries to stretch out to the maximum, causing the film to feel begrudgingly slow.

The performances are okay. Fardeen Khan does well as the man in over his head. Esha Deol was interesting and a convincingly good antagonist. Isha Koppikar, unfortunately, was not up to the mark. Fardeen's friend, Sameer, had an interesting role, but it feels like his role was chopped up at the editing table.

The two police characters - Bhaskar Reddy and Malti - were terrific every time they were on screen. He the talkative one, she the stone-faced silent one.

I wasn't exactly bored by the film, but I was aware of the slow pace.

Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007)

Disappointing remake

[3/10 · 31 August 2007]

Ram Gopal Verma has proved himself as a very innovative and competent director. He had done a remake/reworking of Godfather with Sarkar, and succeeded tremendously. Ditto for Lolita which he made as Nishaabd.

Sholay is been the movie he repeatedly says has inspired him the most. Unfortunately, he has managed to make a disappointing and ultimately boring remake.

The acting ranged from decent to very good, with Amitabh Bachchan being suitably menacing as the villain Babban.

The songs were awful and forgettable. The Mehbooba Mehbooba song came off as a second rate music video.

The worst part was the pacing, and the dialogues - which were forgettable.

Watching the movie in a theatre, I found myself waiting for the intermission, and then for the ending. Some viewers were wise not to wait, and were seen leaving throughout the duration of the film. Ultimately, one of the worst movies made by Ram Gopal Verma.

Naseeb (1981)

Classic Bollywood Mainstream

[10/10 · 6 December 2006]

This is one of Manmohan Desai's best films ever, an amalgam of many film genres. Tragedy, Comedy, Romance, Family, Drama, Acton, Crime, Friendship, Revenge, etc. The film boasts of some great songs, and in one of the songs, Manmohan Desai managed to include almost the entire film industry.

Manmohan Desai worked with the 'lost-and-found' plot in all of his movies, but made it seem fresh every time around, and this film came as a winner all around.

Amitabh Bachchan carried the film, but with ample support from Shatrughan Sinha, Rishi Kapoor, Hema Malini, Pran,and Amjad Khan. I have seen this film a dozen times and will be watching it again many times more.

Ghatak: Lethal (1996)

A superb movie, excellent acting and directing, relentless action.

[9/10 · 8 March 2001]

This is one of the better action films to come out of Bollywood. After 'Ghayal' and 'Damini', the Santoshi-Sunny team has done it again. The idea for the movie came from a quote of Mahatma Gandhi in which he says that if he had to choose between cowardice and violence, he would have chosen violence.

Beginning with Om Puri's character getting killed by the henchmen of Katia(Danny Denzongpa) in Bombay, we go to Banaras, where Kashi(Sunny Deol) is a wrestler and dutiful son. His father(Amrish Puri) has a throat problem so they go to Bombay to treat it. Once in Bombay, the two face a culture shock. Kashi is amazed at the people's apathic attitude.

Due to circumstances, Kashi ignites the enmity of Katia and his six brothers.

The action in the movie is fast paced and relentless. You can feel the escalating tension on screen. Performances are superb, the direction is tight (although it took 5 years to complete this movie).

Sunny Deol has given one of the more powerful performances of his life in this movie. Amrish Puri has given a great performance, comedic for the first half-hour of the film. Danny is menacing, however his get-up could have been better(his hair is silly). Meenakshi gave a decent performance. The songs are good and are mercifully few in number.

All in all, it is a great action movie.

Enjoy!