You are here
Home > Movie Reviews (Page 12)

Category: Movie Reviews

Aandhi - 1975
Movies are generally a source of entertainment, with some carrying a social or moral message while there are movies which used to be called art movies in late 70’s and early 80’s in INDAIN CINEMA which showed the stark realities of life. Aandhi is one such movie written by Kamleshwar and directed by Gulzar. Though India has changed a lot since then. Now those very art films are termed as contemporary and are not all depressing but also do have a funny take to them. The movies do show the ethos of the Nation at those times and can be instrumental in creating public opinion or at least validating a point of view. Aandhi was a movie of its own kind it was a political commentary on the state of affairs on the back of a very unlikely love story. It is said to have been loosely based on the life of the then Prime Minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi and though it was released on 13th Fe ....
Read More
 
Anand 1971
Released on 12th March 1971, Anand is an endearing story of a terminally ill patient who brings joys in the life of complete strangers. It was both funny and tragic. It showed that despite the progress we have made thru science we still have no control on certain diseases where death is a foregone conclusion. Anand was produced and directed by the well-known maker of social and moralistic drama exploring the lighter side of life Hrishikesh Mukherjee or Hrishida as he was fondly called. It was one of the 17 consecutive hits of Rajesh Khanna and his first collaboration with Amitabh Bachchan. That Amitabh was able to hold his own and define his character in the movie laid down the path for him to succeed as superhero after Khanna. It was a runaway hit at the box-office. T This movie Anand, being evergreen is still viewed with rapt attention whenever it is played on TV. It is a movie o ....
Read More
 
Deewar (1975)
Another iconic movie released on 24th January 1975, a few months before Sholay was Deewar - a tale of two brothers on opposite sides of the law. It explored the relations between siblings who grew up under the shadow of their father’s unfortunate disrepute and how each of them took that slander and grew in two opposite directions, one who cannot forget and forgive, becomes a street smart, law-breaker and the other who moves on with the times and is an educated person on the right side of the law. The title - Deewar thus suggesting the wall of ideology drawn between them. This movie was iconic as it was released before Sholay and after Zanzeer and firmly established Amitabh Bachchan as the new superstar of that era and confirmed his image of the ‘Angry Young Man’. With this movie he established an enduring partnership with Shashi Kapoor with this duo giving many subsequent hits t ....
Read More
 
Hare Rama Hare Krishna 1972
Released on January 14 1972, Hare Rama Hare Krishna is written, produced and directed by Dev Anand and it is one of his finest movies. Starring apart from Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman there are Mumtaz, Prem Chopra, Kishore Sahu, Rajendra Nath and others. The movie was set in Nepal against the background of the hippie culture, which was very much prevalent in those time. Hare Rama Hare Krishna is about rebels with no cause, about the youth who has given up everything, all hope and is lost in their own world of sex, drugs, merry making and indulging in petty crimes for the upkeep of their lifestyle. The title comes from the popular movement that was going on at the time in America of God consciousness under the auspices of Swami Prabhupada of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON for short, it was a 'bhakti movement' which many in the West had misinterpreted for the ....
Read More
 
Aradhana (1969)
Late sixties and seventies was a defining period of Indian cinema which cultivated many memorable movies. Indian cinema was moving from family dramas, social and moral tales towards stories of friendship and love. Aradhana was one such movie which changed the lives of many of those associated with it.  (Image courtesy YouTube). Released on 27th September 1969 it was a defining movie which gave birth to the first Indian Superstar- a phenomenon called Rajesh Khanna, he had been around for a couple of years before this (even had some hits ) but something in this tale caught the eyes of the audience and specially the fair sex . This was the start from where he gave 17 consecutive hits, a record which still stands to this day. This was the movie which resurrected the playback singing career of Kishore Kumar. It is rumored that before doing the playback of Aradhana Kishore wanted to mee ....
Read More
 
Amar Akbar Anthony review by Pawan Gupta
This blockbuster  - AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY was released on 27th May 1977. By then the stars of this movie were well known and stars in their own rights but one among them was more than the proverbial first amongst the equal. He was none other than Amitabh Bachchan, who had by then attained stardom and though this movie was a multi-starrer, it firmly entrenched him as the new superstar his ‘angry young man’ image was already accepted but with this movie he added one more facet to his acting skills i.e. comedy. Till that time most movies had a full time comedian in the form of Mehmood, Jagdeep or someone to provide comic relief but this movie changed all that with the hero also donning the role of comedian. His contemporary and also in race for superstardom, Vinod Khanna was also in this movie, but this movie took Big B (as Amithabh is fondly called) leagues ahead. 1977-78 was one o ....
Read More
 
Sholay (1975)
Sholay (1975) was not just a movie, but a full scale audio and visual experience which was absolutely new to the Indian audience in the seventies and it was not just about achieving perfection in all departments. Be it casting, acting, direction, a balanced story, fantastic screen-play and out of the world dialogues, but it had something absolutely novel to offer the Indian audience for the first time, a wide screen experience. Indian cinema was hitherto been confined to a 35MM screen almost squarish and no one had experimented with the 70mm visual delight it just created magic. The year was 1975 and Sholay was released on 15th August, the Independence Day. It’s first week was dull as in those times the dacoit films was an oft repeated formula. It is also rumored that it was a sort of remake of a 1971 dacoit drama Raaj Khosla’s ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh’ with even the name of th ....
Read More
 
Taanashah movie review
Chitrakoot and the surrounding dense forests have been realistically captured in TAANASHAH - the Dacoit film which is inspired by true events. It has also been critically acclaimed at several International Film Festivals. If you are the types who likes realistic cinema, then Taanashah is worth once a watch. It creatively captures the earth and soul of rural areas which still witness the oppression of the lower caste people. Dilip Arya plays the protagonist Shiva whose father and sister are killed by the village Thakur, hence to avenge their death, Shiva kills the Thakur's clan which leads to the police gunning for him. In his journey hiding from the cops, he comes in touch with a gang of dacoits. Taanashah is loosely based on the life events of famous bandit Shiv Kumar Patel or Dadua. Shiv ruled the jungles of Bundelkhand uninterrupted for 28 and more years and by the time he was k ....
Read More
 
Knives Out poster
A successful author of mystery books is found dead in his attic study in mysterious circumstances with his throat slit right after his 85th birthday celebrations, leaving behind a big fat bank balance and estate and his quibbling family. Knives Out movie review... It looks like a suicide but someone does not seem to think so and mysteriously hires an eccentric ace detective to solve the death puzzle, the inquisition that follows a la Agatha Christie style points at every member of the family as suspect as each could have a motive and are lying through their rich pompous noses. There's the younger son who it seems has been fired by the old man and is unable to cope with it , the daughter's husband is playing Rasputin behind her back and the elder son's widow is skimming on the old man's generosity all in all everyone of them had had a run in with the old man just before celebrations ....
Read More
 
Raghu CNG movie review
A simple auto-richshaw driver turns into a psychopath killer and a kidnapper. Raghu CNG is the thriller Gujarati film that begins with this ordinary looking auto rickshaw driver turn into a maniac with cold bloodily crushing another individual to death with a stone. Full credit is to be given to the writers Jay Parmar and Sanjay Marvaniya to have penned a gripping thriller. More so to the director Vishal Vada Vala for giving the right treatment to this gradually picking up suspense thriller. And more so because it is one of the rare Gujarati films to have explored this genre. Dhawal is a young businessman who is kidnapped and tortured by the rickshaw driver Raghu (Ethan). While the Police is investigating into the kidnapping case, they are ridden with another kidnapping of a US-return lady who is also reported missing from the station of a small town near Rajkot. While the vi ....
Read More
 
1 … 10 11 12 13 14 … 89