A cute fairy-tale of a movie, elevated by the presence of Sanjeev Kumar and Shashi Kapoor.
Durga Devi (Nadira) is a rich widow with a stepdaughter, Shanti (Vidya Sinha), and a daughter, Roopa (Moushumi Chatterjee). She treats Shanti like a servant and is so ill-tempered that she can’t keep an actual servant around for very long. So long-suffering, patient Shanti is perpetually left with all the work.
This movie is owned by Vinay Pathak. He is just fantastic as Bharat Bhushan, a tax auditor with no social skills and a penchant for singing old film songs at the drop of a hat. But he is ably supported by Rajat Kapoor (whom I last saw as the creepy pedophile uncle in Monsoon Wedding) as Ranjeet Thadani, an arrogant, self-absorbed music studio executive.
Ranjeet is married to Sheetal (Sarika), a singer. He has a standing Friday night dinner date with some of his friends where they bring an “idiot” they’ve met to compete in a “talent” competition. The competition among the friends is really to see who has found the biggest loser of the week. Sheetal doesn’t approve of this mainstay in Ranjeet’s life but he refuses to give it up. Bharat is brought to Ranjeet’s attention by a car salesman friend who has been subjected to Bharat’s attentions on a bus trip from Pune (yes, Bharat is singing to him even though he is clearly trying to talk on the phone):
This is not a Hindi film per se but falls into the “crossover” genre; most of it is in English and it was filmed by a mostly American crew, although it stars some of the brightest stars of Hindi cinema. And I must confess that for the first half hour of this film, I was pretty bored.
I thought: I need masala like a crackwhore needs crack!
But I stuck with it, and by the end was glad I had watched it all the way through.
Karz was a smash hit in India when it was released. It has those ever-popular elements of reincarnation, deep spiritual connection to one’s mother, revenge and bad disco music. It also has a grandiose plot very characteristic of its director, Subhash Ghai. You might think from these comments that I did not care for the film, but I found it strangely enthralling. It veers crazily from one genre to another — is it a disco movie? a romance? a murder mystery? a supernatural thriller? — the answer of course is yes, all that and more besides!
The story begins with a courtroom judgment being delivered in favor of Ravi Verma (Raj Kiran) and against a mute sinister figure (Premnath), whose name is referred to variously throughout as
and 
Everyone who knows me knows that I love Shammi Kapoor more than any other actor, even SRK. Many people don’t get it, and I can understand why, because I did have to see a few of his movies before it clicked. But once it clicked — it really clicked. I would rather watch Shammi in a bad movie than many other actors in good movies. I am not saying that Shammi didn’t make good movies — he did! he did! but even his bad ones enthrall me.
Vishal Bhardwaj is a genius. He writes lovely music, compelling screenplays and makes wonderful movies. So I was thrilled to see that a movie he made in 2005 (before Omkara) was finally out on DVD. It is based on a novella by Ruskin Bond, and takes place in a small village in Himachal Pradesh—the scenery is breathtaking and of course the cinematography does it full justice. And the music doesn’t suck either. The film has been billed somewhat as a children’s story but it’s really for anyone who enjoys a good story and a beautiful film.
This is a perfect rainy-day movie about true love and reincarnation. Bimal Roy uses weather to great effect in this film, setting the mood and atmosphere for each plot development, and enhancing the emotional impact of the story.
It begins in the pouring rain with a car wending its way along a dark, steep, winding road. Inside the car, Devendra (Dilip Kumar) and a friend are on their way to the railway station to meet Devendra’s wife and child, who have cabled to say they are on the way. Although Devendra is clearly anxious to get there, they are forced to stop by a landslide which has blocked the road. The driver goes for help, and tells them to go to a nearby haveli for shelter.
The haveli has been long abandoned and is full of dust and cobwebs; but Devendra feels he has been there before. As the rain continues pelting down and thunder rolls outside, he asks the old caretaker about things the house used to contain. He finds a portrait that he remembers painting himself in a former lifetime (not as crazy in the movie as it sounds here). He begins to tell the story of his former life there…
A visual feast of a movie—another Vijay Anand fun-filled frolic, with beautiful scenery, fabulous fashions and an engaging plot that moves along at a good clip. It has Hema Malini at her gorgeous best, Dev Anand as smooth as ever, and—best of all—Vijay himself in a role he clearly relished. Bad guys Ajit, Prem Chopra and Premnath are as baaaad as only they can be. It’s obvious that a good time was had by all in the making of this film.
It was filmed in Himachal Pradesh, and the landscapes are breathtaking:
In the end, I had to choose the new SRK biography over the new Harry Potter (sorry, beloved sister)…
Anupama Chopra’s book is not just a biography of Shah Rukh Khan. It is an interesting look at the world of Hindi cinema and India’s emergence into the industrialized world as mirrored by Shah Rukh’s career. She draws parallels between the changing Indian economy and culture and Shah Rukh’s film characters, who usually exemplified the best of both East and West—western “cool” with traditional Indian values. It’s an interesting behind-the-scenes look at how the movie industry changed as India’s economy grew and the film-going audience became increasingly urbanized and international in character. Shah Rukh was really the right man in the right place at the right time.
I’ve recently had myself a little Gulzar festival. I started with Koshish two weeks ago, and continued with Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein (directed by Gulzar’s assistant Mr. Meraj) and Parichay this weekend. All three movies are sweet, simple, wholesome entertainment. I have a few more of his movies in my stack to watch (and he’s still working!) but it’s time for another post for the two or three people who read this blog.
Parichay is The Sound of Music meets Hindi cinema, with Pran as Captain Von Trapp and Jeetendra as Maria Ravi the tutor hired to tame five wayward children. Pran is actually the children’s grandfather in this Indianized version, who was alienated from his son (Sanjeev Kumar) but took in the children when his son died. He gives a very good performance as a man whose rigid pride and code of ethics has caused a lot of suffering, to himself most of all.
He doesn’t exactly bond with the children:
MemsaabStory 
