Movie Reviews - Filmy Town

ARDH SATYA (1983)

A hard hitting cop drama directed by Govind Nihalani which catapulted the careers of Om Puri and to some extent Shafi Inamdaar and of course Sadashiv Amrapurkar. Ardh Satya was Nihalani’s second outing with Puri after the dark Aakrosh of 1980. It released on 19th August 1983. Initially Amitabh was roped in to play the role of the cop but could not and it fell in the laps of Puri. The movie’s title - Ardh Satya is derived from the Marathi poem by Dilip Chitre which is also referenced in the movie and changes psych of the main character and the flow of the movie. After the socials of ‘60s and the soft romantic and experimental movies of the ‘70s the Rajesh Khanna variety it was the era of Amitabh Bachchan in the ‘80s with his angry young man and compelling movies. Ardh Satya was one such movie which catered to the art movie sensibilities and well as mainstream cinema dramat ....
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JAANE BHI DO YAARO (1983)

It was a satire on the murky happenings in a big city. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro explored the nexus between the big business men, the politicos and the press who would go all out and are ready to stoop to any level, back-stab or front stab for that matter, to get their own pound of flesh. The city in question is none other than Amchi Mumbai here. Adorned with the class actors of the then art cinema world, the cast of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro is led by Nasseruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Om Puri, and Ravi Baswani and not to forget the dead meat Satish Shah because of whom the whole mad bungle in concrete jungle happens. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro was a story by Sudhir Mishra and the talented Kundan Shah who also directed it. It seemed the story developed itself as it was being filmed, with incidents happening one after the other in sequence and taking the story forward at good pace infused with dry humor, dark ....
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ANGOOR (1982)

This 1982 movie is a delightful Indianised adaptation of Shakespeare's play 'Comedy of Errors'. Angoor is a remake of 1963 Hindi film Do Dooni Char with two sets of twins. It is a superb subtle comedy with great artistes like Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma. Directed efficiently by Gulzar and released on 5 March 1982, it is a genuine comedy of errors as both the sets of twins do not know about each other, no lying and no impersonation. Angoor was a comedy of different caliber rarely viewed on Indian cinema screens. It was in the league of comedy like Pyar kiye jaa and Padosan the evergreen comedy classics. Mr and Mrs Raj Tilak (Utpal Dutt and Shammi) have twins and due to some convoluted logic, name them both as Ashok, and as luck would have it they adopt a set of twins and name them both Bahadur as per the same logic. Shortly after fate intervenes and each parent is separated with o ....
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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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SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM (1978)

SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM- ABOUT LOVE AND THE SPIRITUAL AWAKENING Based on the Hindu spiritual philosophy of Satyam Shivam Sundaram which means Satya or truth itself is the absolute divine Shiv which is the most beautiful in itself. This film is a story of rediscovering of truth, love and passion and difference between physical and spiritual love. It was Raj Kapoor’s opus which is remembered not so much for its content and message but more for Zeenat Aman’s sensuous portrayal in a blouse-less wet sari and under the waterfall. This movie did make a furor, even housewives discussing Zeenat’s bold look. This social themed film was released on 24th March 1978. What is hard to believe is that this role was developed keeping Lata Mangeshkar in mind. A heavenly voice which does not match with physical beauty, as written in the book 'Raj Kapoor Speaks' by Ritu Nanda. It is also believed ....
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HERO (1983)

This movie out and out belonged to the hero of the film, a new face. A bit of background of HERO is warranted here. Subhash Ghai the self-proclaimed showman of the film industry (a title earlier enjoyed by Raj Kapoor), wanted a replacement for Sanjay Dutt with whom he had a difficult time during the shooting of ‘Vidhataa’ after a search he zeroed in on Jaikishen Kakubhai Shroff or Jackie Shroff as we know him today and who is also lovingly called Jaggu Dada. Before this movie which catapulted Jackie and the heroine of the film Meenakshi Sheshadri (Miss India 1981) to unprecedented fame, both had done forgettable roles in ‘Swami Dada’ and ‘Painter Babu’ respectively. This blockbuster hit and third highest grosser of the year was released on 16th December 1983. It was refreshing to see new faces in a slightly different narrative while the Big B still ruled the roost in the ....
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EK DUUJE KE LIYE (1981)

This was a novel concept in Hindi movies and it was handled beautifully. Ek Duuje Ke Liye was a launch vehicle for Kamala Hassan in the Hindi film Industry. A rare phenomenon where a southern star acted in a Hindi film and the movie was a blockbuster hit. This paved way for many a real life love stories of North meets South and falls in love at the time. ‘Two States’ came much later. The film explored the North-South divide, or shall we say romance, in perspective. Released on 5th June 1981, Ek Duuje Ke Liye was green lighted by the famous South Indian Film Industry moghul L.V. Prasad who himself had acted in the first Indian Talkie ‘Alam Ara’ and also produced many a Hindi movies including ‘Milan’ to the last one being the period film ‘Jay Vijay’ most of his movies were directed by Southern directors like this one by the Dadasaheb Phalke award winner from Shri K. Bala ....
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AWARA (1951)

This was the first attempt by Raj Kapoor to model himself on the Charlie Chaplin act in the film Awara, which got more prominent in his later films like ‘Shree 420’. It was a trendsetter of sorts, an iconic movie at the time. Awara is produced and directed by Raj Kapoor himself and it was written by the R.K. loyalist K.A. Abbas who went on to write and also direct many socials. It was a landmark movie which juxtaposed good with the bad. Many of the Kapoor family graced the movie apart from the Protagonists- R.K. (Raj) himself and his father Prithviraj Kapoor, his Grandfather Diwan Basheshwarnath Kapoor and his younger brother Shashi played R.K’s younger self. Awara was released on 14th December 1951, it is considered a path-breaking film for Hindi cinema as it was a huge success not only in India but also abroad in South Asian countries and an overwhelming success in the Sovi ....
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DILWALE DULHANIYA LE JAYENGE (1995)

First look at the movie - Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge did not evoke the response that it actually got at the hustings. It was a simple tale of young love with the underrated actors namely Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, under-rated because untill then though Shah Rukh had done some hits but was far from the romantic image that he has carved for himself today and was developing more in the villainous mold and Kajol though around for some time had no breakthrough movie to her credit. That the film will create history with its unprecedented run at the Box-Office was unthinkable at the time, it is all in hindsight now. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge has created history and how… it has had a twenty year run at a single theatre-Maratha Mandir a whopping 1000+ weeks, a record, and we thought that Sholay could never be repeated. The audience fell to the trap of now famous open arms of Shah Rukh st ....
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