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Reviews
Raat Aur Din (1967)
Nargis has never been better
Nargis carries the movie on the strength of an astonishingly good performance. Astonishing, because I have always considered her a below average actress, beautiful of course, but with largely the same expression whether she be talking to father, husband, son or brother and whether as Bharatiya naari or western educated aaj ki naari. Her role in Mother India being a standout good performance.
This was a daring performance for the risqué clothes (by 60s standards) and free lifestyle. She pulled off the dance sequences with aplomb that would put her on par with any of todays actresses with all their training. Her acting is effortlessly natural.
Full credit to director Satyen Bose who doesn't take a step out of turn in the entire movie except in one or two scenes. The story is gripping with the suspense not revealed until the final 15 minutes, which is the hallmark of a great suspense movie. His expert hand is evident in bringing out an award deserving performance from Nargis.
Pradeep Kumar in the lead role is convincing except for his reaction to Nargis's strange behaviour and Feroze Khan's presence in the scenes post the party is quite unnecessary and he could easily have been dispensed with.
A brilliant suspense movie where a fairly outré topic is handled with finesse that remains relevant till date. Very good music numbers, eminently hummable. A must watch, and well worth its place in your collection.
Billy Jack (1971)
Moral superiority ruins what could have been a great movie
For a proud 'Okie from Muskogie' like me, this movie took some understanding. I concede that it has a special, time transcending message and it should be seen in that light. Seen in the hippie context, this is definitely a dated movie, but the message of peace, mutual respect for different people is as relevant today world as it was back in the 70s.
I won't deny that many elements in the movie put me off. For a start I am tired of seeing solid, conservative folks painted with the 'bigoted redneck' brush and the free living, hash smoking, loose morals, no rules crowd playing the cool card. It's just too hard to swallow and just too glibly done. But place this in the same bracket of Easy rider and it starts making sense. It's one thing to frown at people who dress, live differently and another thing entirely when disapproval crosses the line and turns to burning hatred and that is what those townspeople stood for. Hatred!
Coming to characters, Billy's is beautifully etched. As a big admirer of American Indian culture and heritage, this is one of the most satisfying Injun roles I have seen. I loved him and had I been Injun (I actually am Asian Indian) a poster of Billy Jack would have adorned my living room.
The movie makers achieve perfection with the female roles. All the women really excelled in their pacifist roles. They were so convincing, their inner strength coming through and almost, though not quite, overshadowing their physical beauty.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the men playing the pacifist roles. It's a tragedy what they did to that nice Injun boy Martin. The girls completely emasculated him. Very rarely do pacifist men shine whether in reel or real life. It doesn't matter which era you live in, if a man cannot or does not want to defend his women against danger, he has no business chaperoning them. And that spiel he gave Barbara in the stable about wanting her to sleep with him for love rather than for the excitement was a little too much to digest.
Bernard the villain of the piece was dealt a poor hand. In the first scene, he gives the impression of that rare inner strength which movie rednecks uniformly lack. He openly defies his rotten father and refuses to shoot the helpless mustangs. But after that first shot, in scene after scene he descends lower and lower on the humanity ladder until he is finally killed like a dog. In complete contradiction to scene one he is totally comfortable shooting a crippled Martin and has no problem taking orders from his father either, later on in the movie. Even after the attempted and successful rape scenes, it still is difficult to hate him because he is not convincing as a baddie. What were they thinking?!? It's like the makers started out giving him an angle that would let him throw in his lot with the goodies in the end but half way through they changed their minds. The way his role panned out made the first scene a waste of time.
Barbara's father, the Sheriff's deputy had the rottenest deal in the movie. How, according to the pacifists, was he expected to react to his daughter announcing that she got knocked up by different people of several races and has no clue who the father of her child is? Was he supposed to pat her on the back and say "Now Now" or send her to bed without supper? Granted that he was corrupt and weak but any normal parent may have done the same, especially with the insolent manner she announces it. So she runs away from her father and the pacifist group help hide her. I don't care what your political leanings are but promiscuity especially in a minor cannot be condoned. And when he gets shot in the gun fight, the girl doesn't turn a hair. One cannot help feeling irritated with Barbara who defies her father for no good reason other than to cause him pain and anger. A rebel without a cause.
Sheriff Cole was awesome in the Atticus Finch like role. He reminded strongly of John Wayne.
Delores Taylor was very convincing in parts but recedes into a teary eyed nag in the end. And there is a little too much of in-your–face moral superiority from the pacifist brigade for this movie to work today.
And I have heard of hunters but it seems really odd that anyone would herd animals into a corral and shoot them for 6¢ a pound. That would fetch roughly $40 for an adult horse. Bernard's dad is surely too rich to be taking all that trouble for collecting dog meat? So this scene just made no sense to me. And as some one remarked in a review, they really were rotten to the horses during the shooting.
To summarise, this movie scores high from Injun pride, beautiful scenery, original music scores and raw natural acting from the cast but the social message gets blurred somewhat halfway through.
From Noon Till Three (1976)
A rare surprise for Charles Bronson fans
I like Charles Bronson, always have always will, so some could say I am biased. So be it. Of course watching Death wish and all the sequels at one go, one sleepless night almost killed the liking, but not entirely. I knew nothing about this movie made on my birth year, except that it came highly recommended. I certainly had no clue what to expect and so what came to me took me by complete surprise. We all know Charles Bronson the actor and the character of the roles he plays. The unsmiling, wooden expression, the complete lack of humour and so on, so half an hour into the movie when he's ripping Amanda's dress off I was pinching myself in disbelief. I was also furious with my friend for recommending this to me. A Charles Bronson playing an ex confederate gentleman soldier, not doffing his hat to a lady, forcing himself on an unwilling woman, this was definitely not the Bronson we knew. No siree that ain't the Bronson I know and I was also willing at that moment to say, "I rode with George Dorsey myself and he is nothing like you". By then the Jack Daniels had dulled my otherwise perspicacious nature and I was swept away with the currents of the song about impossible love.
The second time around when I watched the movie I was ready for it. It had me in splits most of the time, with Bronson pretty much hamming away the parts where he deceives the starchy widow. This role does explore depths to his acting character making me wish we had seen Bronson in more different roles than the ones he has always played. I don't know whether it was because I knew they were a real life pair, but their 3 hour romance was totally believable and very much up there with the classic love stories. I doubt if Hemingway could replicate two people falling in love so tempestuously as George and Amanda did in those three hours. Many lines in the lovely waltz can be closely identified with by anyone who has experienced that one heady feeling of being in love, albeit for a day or two. A love that remained unexplored or unfulfilled. This is the first time I saw Jill Ireland in a role and made me think that if this was how she looked and acted, why the deuce haven't we seen them together more often or even just her? What a loss!
On the flop side though there is too little attention to detail. Bronson playing a destitute ex-confederate soldier has no southern accent. Sam and Edna, presumably the freed slaves too, have nothing remotely close to an accent.
One wonders why Bronson waited until so long to experiment with roles and once he did, why he didn't do this more often. For story line, character building, some pretty good acting and lovely music, I give this 8 out of ten.
Savage Harvest (1981)
Unbelievable-in more ways than one
I was six when this movie released in 1981. Despite the fact that my folks believed in taking us kids for wildlife movies, they decided to sit this one out for the violence quotient. I had earmarked it though for one of the movies I needed to watch once I grew. And grow I did but could never find the movie until last night. And I sat through the night watching it. First, it realistically conveys the picture of a white family in Zimbabwae (then Rhodesia) or some such place where white can afford to have plenty of black servants.
I don't care if this is based on a true story, the movie was a series of howlers from the word go. I am truly amazed at the rave reviews the movie has been getting. First sign of violence, the black panthers, for Chrissake. Two of them surrounding the van when it broke down, so they are supposed to know its broken down eh? And then clawing their way through the metal body to get at the driver? Give me a break.
Then the ridiculous scenes with the lions laying siege to the villa, climbing down the chimney I almost cracked my sides laughing. And despite all the shooting, the father son pair never seemed to hit a single lion. And what was the black maid doing using the term 'memsahib'. This was supposed to be Africa not India. Anyway it got so ridiculous that I saw it was pointless wasting my sleep further and switched it off. The same story, a lot of expendable black servants die and the white family escapes. There is of course some token arm wringing over some faithful childhood nurse being dragged away but nothing to lose sleep over.
The lions were like overgrown kittens and stole the show with their cute tricks. Sorry they didn't scare me one bit and I feel sorry for generations of people thinking that's how lions behave.
My final verdict, want to watch a lot of trained cute lions romping around with their trainers go for this movie. If you want to see a frightening movie about lion man eaters, go for for ghosts and the darkness.
I give it 2 mainly because it was nice to see a period film depicting what people think life in white Rhodesia used to be like. Watch it anyway for the laughs and the nostalgia factor, though for some genuine nostalgia go for hatari. Much better movie with far better cast.
Paa (2009)
Emotional blackmail
Watched it last night. What irritated me first was how the movie watching public, has been emotionally blackmailed into raving about this movie which, is quite simply, a scarcely disguised attempt to foist the Bachchan family onto us. We were spared old man Harvansh Rai largely due to the fact that he is no more. Why we weren't treated to Aishwarya remains a mystery, but for this small mercy, I am grateful.
To be fair, the opening scene with Mrs Bachchan reading the credits is quite original and one must say she has lost little of the giggly charm that captivated the audiences since her Sholay days.
The plot. The entire 2 ½ hour plot revolved around one basic premise. The entire justification, the emotions, the drama, the pathos, everything and the audience buying all this revolves around one question. Are you pro or anti-choice.
If you are a sanctimonious, rabid anti-abortionist, to whom the very thought of abortion, leave alone a logical discussion on the topic, is anathema, if you believe that going ahead and having a child irrespective of whether or not one is ready for it is the only choice for a pregnant woman, Then this is the movie for you. It's brilliant, its moving, its brimming over with subtle emotions, the courage and determination of this single woman to bring forth a bastard child, is a testimony, a tribute to motherhood across the world.
If you are a pragmatic, reasonable person who follows logical reasoning, then the whole story is nauseating.
The actual movie. It starts with a young Indian couple played by Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan, presumably modern liberated souls, following their respective post grad studies in the US, meeting by chance and getting into a romantic relationship. The smaller details are all glossed over with a Bollywood song, but it ends in her discovering that she is pregnant. It is apparent from their mutual surprise and consternation, that it was unexpected. Here Vidya undergoes a dramatic metamorphosis that snatches this modern presumably liberated young woman and replaces her with a wimpish 17th century Bharat Mata. The male lead Abhishek until now a young, idealistic, good guy, becomes the villain for daring to suggest that neither of them are ready to get married and have a child and they should abort the foetus.
So repulsed is she by his suggestion, that she storms out of the discussion and cuts off all contact with him, returns to India and supported by her mother, who is another glowing tribute to Indian motherhood, goes ahead and has the child. In a sneaky twist of irony, which is unfortunately lost on everybody including the mother in question, the child is born with a rare congenital defect, which leaves him with a healthy mind and a rapidly, prematurely ageing body. Progeria.
Fast forward 13 years later and the mother and father meet over the ailing child's hospital bed and the mother throws her self assumed martyrhood in the biological father's face. All but accusing him of desertion and 'walking out' on them. The suitably chastened Abhishek makes his obsequious apologies and the appeased Vidya eventually and with utmost reluctance, helped with liberal doses of emotional arm twisting, from the dying child who wants his parents to re-unite, relents and while the child dies, presumably the parents re-unite.
Critical assessment: There is little use denying that Amitabh plays the role in masterly fashion. He is excellent, restrained and dignified as always. Vidya Balan is beautiful and acts her neurotic martyr role quite well. Abhishek is hugely convincing as the young idealistic politician, Arundathi Naag as the Vidya Balan's mother plays a Jekyl and Hyde. In her opening scene she comes across as strong and forceful, independent yet sensitive. For the rest of the movie she looks and behaves like the housemaid. I actually mistook her for one in the second scene. Paresh Rawal, otherwise a good actor, sadly has been given a poor role to play and while he makes the most of a bad job, leaves no impact.
To conclude, I will repeat. Ask yourself, are you pro choice? Do you follow logical thinking? Then you will not like this move. If you are anti-abortion, a dyed in the wool mother who oozes Mamta from her every pore and an unabashed Amitabh Bachchan fan, then you will love this movie.
It's a difficult choice really. If you don't like this movie, that makes you a heartless insensitive boor for not lapping up the pathos of the diseased child. My rating? 3 out of 10.
The Emerald Forest (1985)
unforgettable
I saw this movie years ago as a 13 year old and I can say without exaggeration that no other movie has had such a strong and lasting impact on me. While I was aware of the sacrilege going on in the Amazon, this opened my eyes to it like never before. Shortly after this I ran away from home with a friend, with the intention of going to Brazil, mobilising the Indians into a guerrilla band and killing the loggers. It took our families all of two days to track us down at a port city : )
But I never forgot the lesson this movie taught me and today I work for a conservation organisation. Some of the Indian quotes from the movie are truly tear jerkers. "When we were young the end of the world(the limits of the forest) was very far away, but it gets closer and closer each day" or something to that effect. As an idealistic kid I saw no flaw in this movie and cheered at the improbable climax where the rains destroy the dam and the captured Indian women throw away their cheap clothes and return to the forest. This movie is a must watch