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Reviews
ABCD (1999)
Another Badly Confused Director
Is the movie in ENGLISH? I have seen a lot of Hindi films, and although I am not Indian, I found them easier to understand than this movie. The actors' accents are so horrendous that I couldn't understand 1 word in every 3. Also since it is supposed to be in `English', no subtitles were provided. I have traveled to India several times and never had a problem with their English accent. I find the accent quite sexy actually. But this movie, WOW.... couldn't they find people that actually could speak English?
I find that even Hindi movies without subtitle are easier to understand, for a non Hindi speaker, than this movie
1 word is enough to describe this movie: CONFUSED.
The whole plot characters, story line, narrative arc goes nowhere.
As evilmill said: ` I wasn't Confused until I actually saw this movie! '
I enjoyed movies like American Desi and Leila. Those movies where about Americans finding back their Indian roots. This movie feels more like confused Indians trying hard to be American abd making a bad job out of it.
Yet, there is a sort of off-beat quality to the movie. The confusion of their life appears on the screen and story. I think it was intentional that the movie plot went nowhere. The movie was built as a metaphor of their lives.
The only way I can appreciate this movie, is as a non Indian movie, a non-desi movie. It is an art house, low budget, flick that portrays existentialist angst.
Dil Vil Pyar Vyar (2002)
Love, with a serious theme.
Nice movie. 3 love stories inter-woven together. The movie also approaches serious themes like ego wounds and deep love wounds. The pace and editing is well done and the different stories bled well together.
SPOILER
the loves stories represent a varied range. The first one is a love story involving different castes, social status. It is treated differently than usual. The second one is between an already married couple who love for each other is put to test by events. The other 2 stories are on 1 theme. Falling again in love when the previous woman they loved has died. It shows how different people deal with their loss and how they manage to get over their grief and fall in love again.
SPOILER
IMHO, the best love story is what happens between the married couple. A young musician couple, and singing team, loves each other dearly. The tension arises when the wife becomes a star overnight. The husband is very happy at first, but progressively becomes jealous of the success of his wife. He is wounded in his ego, since he can no longer be a traditional husband. As a wife, she earns immensely more than him and as an artist she is a star while he is still unknown. This theme is extremely well treated. There is a huge conflict between his ego and his love.
Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999)
a classic
I have seen this movie without any expectations. I haven't yet seen Hum Apke Hain Koun, and the only actress I knew is Karishma Kaapoor. I loved this movie. Though I am not Indian, I find that this movie reflects well Indian traditional values. I have seen the movie, on DVD, 12 times so far, and the only other movie I have seen more often is K3G. Although they are quite different, I find those two movies very similar. I have read various comments from users that find that this movie lacks focus, and starts after 2 hours. I disagree; I find that the family brake down is only a sub plot. The main thing is the exploration of the individuals that form the family and more particularly their respective love story. I find that the six actors play well balanced and equally important parts. Granted some have more lines than others but they are equal in their story importance or screen time. It is much harder to act without lines, only with expressions which is the case for Tabu, Sonali, and Salman. It is only on the superficy that some actors play a real dominant role. In my first viewings I was under the impression that sapne (karishma) stole the light, she has such a screen presence and energy that it is hard for any actor to compete. But, in later viewings I learned to appreciate more the importance of all the other characters. I particularly love the minimalist, face acting of Tabu, a true `rani' as, Sooraj Barjatay, wanted her to be. All together it is a great family movie, full of love and traditions. I particularly liked the love stories in relation of their divine archetypes in the songs that links the 3 brides to be. I find that this is the point of that movie. I also keep going back to the humorous presentation of the family to the new bride. Some of the music is great and all the songs help to advance the story instead of being the typical Bollywood silly costumes parades in the Swiss Alps. I rate this movie a 10.