Social issue based films

Dilli Kaand – movie review

Dilli Kaand as the name suggests somewhat means - a conspiracy in Delhi. However the core of this film is loosely based on the Nirbhaya gang rape incident that occurred about a decade ago. That is just the first part of the story. Much has been written about the Nirbhaya incident about what is the background and the torture that girl had to face and then the court proceedings and so on. What the debutante director Kritik Kumar has attempted is that the nature of power games played in the capital city of India. Therefore the film's story can be broken into two parts. As regards to the first part, it is Kaashvi Kanchan who hogs the limelight with her cheerful and chirpy college student. She has displayed a variety of emotions that of a loving daughter of her parents, a dedicated college student and then her individuality that of a student who falls in love with her college mate. Kaas ....
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UPKAR (1967)

It is said that Upkar. the movie was inspired by no less than the Prime Minister of India at that time Shri Laal Bahadur Shastri, in a meeting with the film fraternity being impressed by film Shahid's special screening, a story of Bhagat Singh's exploits in the Indian freedom struggle. He had given the slogan of Jai Jawaan Jai Kisaan due to the prevailing circumstances in India which had just come out of the 1965 war with Pakistan on one side and dearth of food grains on the other. This underlying motto within the slogan was picked up by Manoj Kumar and he wrote the storyline on the train while returning from Delhi to Bombay. This was the advent of Manoj Kumar as Bharat on the silver screen. Upkar was his first film as director and also this led the way for him to go on to direct and act in many movies with patriotism as it's central theme. Manoj Kumar was the person ....
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Yehi Hai Zindagi – 1977

There is something unique about this movie - Yehi Hai Zindagi, as it was the first time that an interaction between an ordinary common man, that too an atheist and Lord Krishna himself was shown on the silver screen. A low budget film, it is an unsung movie of 1977, though may not have been a high grosser like the other Bachchan movies of the era and might have even been overshadowed by other big budget movies. Every human being who is living in this world has some desire or the other and when their desires don't get fulfilled they look up to the Lord and complaint to him that he has been unfair, but the Lord never appears and one just quarrels with Him in his own mind. This story is on the similar premise but there is a twist and what follows is very beautifully told and summarised on the screen. We endeavour to take this movie in our list of top hundred retro gems because of its ....
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SADHNA (1958)

Though Madhumati was a bigger hit of the year 1958 than this movie, we preferred to review this movie - Sadhna which had a controversial topic at the time. It also had a social message and was very well received by the audience and was also declared a hit as it made twice the money. Though there were no takers for the story because of its content, B.R. Chopra took it upon himself to make it as like most of his movies this also had a message and posed a question for the society to answer . Sadhna took up the cause of rehabilitation of prostitutes and though Vyjanthimala was nominated for the Filmfare best actress award for both Madhumati and Sadhna she ultimately received the award for this movie and not Madhumita thus confirming critical acclaim of the movie and the depth of the social message which reached the masses. Vyjantimala was a comparative new comer to Bollywood and only 2 ....
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DO BIGHA ZAMIN (1953)

Do Bigha Zamin was a ground-breaking movie which reflected the true ground realities of rural India of the time and features in many an all-time great movies list of India. Though India was free but young India was still grappling with the colonial and zamindari mindset which made the zamindars the absolute owners of the rural India and even controlled the lives of the small and distressed farmers. Though instruments of justice were in place but they were heavily loaded in the favor of the rich and the powerful as they could bend things as they liked, even playing with the lives of the peasants and farmers who were dependent on their compassion and help for even small occasions in their lives as they were totally unprepared for any incidental or expenses as they had no fallback income of their own and were self-sufficient to the extent of producing and consuming their own food but loo ....
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Mother India (1957)

This magnum opus from Mehboob Khan was a remake of his earlier movie Aurat released in 1940. Mother India is an all time classic and is what defines Indian cinema. It describes the village life in the backdrop of agriculture, which at that time was very much dependent on rainfall with 70% of the Indian population living in the villages and also dependent on agriculture. It was released on 25 October 1957. Mother India captures the Indian ethos of the time. A woman has a prime place in Indian culture and are revered as goddesses. Mother has a special place in every child's life especially in India and this movie celebrates that. The title was deliberately chosen so, as it was also the title of a book by an American author denigrating the Indian ethos and with this Mehboob Khan wanted to put paid to that by showing that the opposite was actually the truth and Indian women had enough gri ....
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Dushman (1972)

Though it was a super hit of its time (not to be confused with Kajol's Dushman), this is one of Rajesh Khanna's lesser celebrated films. Released on January 7, 1972. It can be called an experimental film of sorts due to the subject of the film which was explored earlier in V Shantaram's Do Aankhen Barah Haath but was much different in the tone and tenor. Directed by Dulal Guha, Dushman has Rajesh Khanna who was at his peak when he took up this role of an over confident reckless truck driver sentenced to work for the family of his victim, a willing risk which he took being in pole position then. He pulled off this role with aplomb. He was a romantic star at the time, and here it was sort of a de-glamorization for him. He changed quite a few things, his body language, style, facial features to look the part which he was every inch of. It was also one of the last performance of Meena Kum ....
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Fairr in Love – movie review

Being mocked and jeered by a woman's mother-in-law for not bearing a child is the core of Fairr in Love which sees the Bollywood debut of Firoz Khan, Kanupriya Sharma, Dolly Arya. Fairr in Love movie review... Alpana (Kanupriya Sharma) and Dev (Firoz Khan) are a young happily married couple whose closest friends are Lisa (Dolly Arya) and Yash (Ashwin Dhar). Dev and Yash are childhood friends with Yash treating Dev almost as close to him as his brother. Lisa is a modern, outgoing lady who is in a live-in relationship with Yash, while Alpana is comparitively conservative and culture-minded. Despite the fact that Alpana and Dev cannot have a child due to Dev's infertility, Alpana loves her husband so much that she doesn't let it be known to the others in the society. In particular she doesn't even let her mother-in-law know about Dev's problem and prefers to be an i ....
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I am Singh – movie review

The film is inspired by real people and events. I am Singh is about the Sikhs who were victims of mistaken identity and hate crimes post 9/11. It also deals with the pride and honor of a Sikh's turban. Not only were the Sikhs mistaken to be some other community, they were mistaken to be terrorists and they were a target of racist and communal violence from the American society. People belonging to the Islamic community experienced this similar treatment. Due to the unfortunate happenings of 9/11 and the culprits involved being Muslims, the entire Islamic community was being targeted in America. I am Singh is about how a young man caught in the middle of a conspiracy, stands up to attain justice for his family, for his identity of being an Indian, of being a Sikh. The movie also tries to clear the mistaken identity of the people of America who are misinterpreted by people around ....
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Rivaaz – movie review

A young handsome man Rahul (Manoj Bidwai) is traveling with his friend, Amar Singh to his village for attending Amar Singh’s sister Supriya’s marriage. Rivaaz movie review... While on the way, passing through a village, he sees a young woman and instantly falls in love with her. Rahul is informed that the girl Bela (Ritisha Vijavargya) is from a particular community that has a ‘Rivaaz’ (tradition) where she is destined to be a prostitute, and even the local police intervene and help procure young women for the wealthy landlords. It has been a tradition for the girls of this community to enter flesh business whether they like it or not. Rahul cannot get her out of his mind and so he through a pimp he finds out her name is Bela, who lives with her mother, Paro (Deepti Naval), and father, Mangatram (Rajendra Gupta). He is unaware that her parents are all set to sell her to ....
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