Big B Movies

[coffee_rules]

3 hours ago, Mariyam said:

It's a very meh movie. Generally AB keeps you engrossed by his screen presence, but this one wasn't watchable.

Isn't the plot line very formulaic and predictable?

The only redeeming factor was AB's unintentionally? clumsy dance in the song Gori ka Saajan, Saajan ki Gori.

Lost in translation. Original Kamalhassan Tamil movie (Oru Kaithiyan Diary) was a classic directed by Bharathiraja. Bhagyaraj  messed it up in Hindi. . Anupam Kher was cringe 

[zen]

4 hours ago, Mariyam said:

It's a very meh movie. Generally AB keeps you engrossed by his screen presence, but this one wasn't watchable.

Isn't the plot line very formulaic and predictable?

The only redeeming factor was AB's unintentionally? clumsy dance in the song Gori ka Saajan, Saajan ki Gori.

This one is not a top tier AB film but I tend to like films with AB in multiple roles - Don, The Great Gambler, Mahaan, etc. 

 

This one was about the old AB. The screen presence usually comes from a young AB but here the angry young man was playing the 2nd fiddle. The angry old man had some nice scenes including the confession one and of course the kills with the best being the finale, which was not the regular dhisum-dhisum.  
 

I skipped the songs for most parts (Songs are not memorable in this film) but did watch a bit of Gori ka Saajan. 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by zen

[ravishingravi]

I don't think I can ever actually assess AB with any level of detachment. Its like he was with me from the time I was here. I am not sure how I can ever judge or see the man's work clearly. 

 

But if I had to choose, I would choose Silsila. In my view, he wasn't acting there. They were in a moment. And its pretty rare that stuff like this is captured in movies. Although the movie was mediocre overall.

[zen]

I thought about watching Aakhree Raasta after I rewatched I Confess ... I Confess is about a priest who gets accused of a murder that was confessed to him by the killer. The film is more about whether he will reveal the truth or abide with his faith to keep the confession a secret ... That also reminded me of AB's confession scene in Aakhree Rastaa and made me want to revisit this one too. Glad that I did! 

[coffee_rules]

On 7/24/2021 at 11:19 AM, Mariyam said:

@zen @coffee_rules @maniac @Jimmy Cliff @Gollum@ravishingravi

Have you guys seen AB's "Main Azaad hoon"?

 What are your views on the movie? 

Ahead of its time? Or confirming to the socialist zeitgeist?

 

I think the ideas on display in the movie have some commonalities with the rise of AAP as an ideology. Minus the martyrdom part ofcourse.

 

I watched it finally. I was kind of avoiding it. Not bad, didn’t disappoint me. AB, KK Raina,  and Shabana acted well. Yes, a lot of similarities to AAP movement before it turned political. It would have been good to come out now adding the TV debates, will make a better story. For current times.
 

Couple of  gripes  - BGM is so bad for the story. It was like Bappi Lahiri type of music, stuff of the time, very jarring. Also, the writing  was too matter-of-factly.
 

I also Saw the original “Meet John Doe”, was more touching and real. It was more comical than this movie. They didn’t put in the romantic angle here and deliberately spoiled the ending. But, not a bad movie, a honest effort to Indianianise the story for the 1980s.  Surprisingly from Tinnu Anand

Edited June 14, 2022 by coffee_rules

[Mariyam]

9 hours ago, coffee_rules said:

I watched it finally. I was kind of avoiding it. Not bad, didn’t disappoint me. AB, KK Raina,  and Shabana acted well. Yes, a lot of similarities to AAP movement before it turned political. It would have been good to come out now adding the TV debates, will make a better story. For current times.
 

Couple of  gripes  - BGM is so bad for the story. It was like Bappi Lahiri type of music, stuff of the time, very jarring. Also, the writing  was too matter-of-factly.
 

I also Saw the original “Meet John Doe”, was more touching and real. It was more comical than this movie. They didn’t put in the romantic angle here and deliberately spoiled the ending. But, not a bad movie, a honest effort to Indianianise the story for the 1980s.  Surprisingly from Tinnu Anand

Have to agree with you re: BGM but I thought the writing was top notch.

 

The song Itne bazu itne sar was penned by Kaifi Azmi. It was the 'krantikaari' song of the times when the leftists had an ideology. And a pulse.

The song is very catchy and fits well with the theme of the movie.

 

Haven't seen/heard of Meet John Doe, so there was a novelty factor for me when I saw the movie.

 

@zen try watching this movie when the time permits!

Edited June 14, 2022 by Mariyam

[zen]

14 hours ago, Mariyam said:

 

@zen try watching this movie when the time permits!

Edited 13 hours ago by Mariyam

 

Checked it out ... Don't recall when I last saw this ... Liked the "common man" speech where AB is in form! ... In the late 80s, AB had gained weight, he looks in better shape now. Though I am not sure if this was a perfect role for AB. If AB is cast in such films, it is probably a good option to have a comedy theme (the story can be told with sarcasm and humor as well) ... Shabana is definitely cast well.

 

I saw it on YT where the film is uploaded by Goldmines. For some reason, they tend to change the aspect ratio of old films to 2:39 (black bars at the top & bottom) when the films could be shot in a different aspect ratio. This results in the image being stretched out slightly, therefore characters (and other objects) appear a little fatter/wider than they are. When watching old Bollywood on YT, I try to look for older prints which could be in their original aspect ratio ... Goldmines, don't change the original aspect ratio!

 

 

[coffee_rules]

11 hours ago, zen said:

 

Checked it out ... Don't recall when I last saw this ... Liked the "common man" speech where AB is in form! ... In the late 80s, AB had gained weight, he looks in better shape now. Though I am not sure if this was a perfect role for AB. If AB is cast in such films, it is probably a good option to have a comedy theme (the story can be told with sarcasm and humor as well) ... Shabana is definitely cast well.

 

I saw it on YT where the film is uploaded by Goldmines. For some reason, they tend to change the aspect ratio of old films to 2:39 (black bars at the top & bottom) when the films could be shot in a different aspect ratio. This results in the image being stretched out slightly, therefore characters (and other objects) appear a little fatter/wider than they are. When watching old Bollywood on YT, I try to look for older prints which could be in their original aspect ratio ... Goldmines, don't change the original aspect ratio!

 

 

The original Meet John Doe is more comical and also adds in the romantic angle. This movie was made political which didn’t work in 1989. AB had a mainstream image, this movie was neither off-beat with serious music nor mainstream. Govind Nihalani would have made a better political movie than Tinnu Anand. The movie wasn’t bad, had some good moments, like the speech (thought SB acted well in that scene) , needed a better director .  But the same song overused multiple times lost its novelty value. I hate to see those wide aspect ratio movies on YT

Edited June 15, 2022 by coffee_rules

[rkt.india]

Big B is a great actor but most of his superstar days films of 70-80s are highly overrated. I like Sholay more because of Sanjeev Kumar than him.

Edited June 15, 2022 by rkt.india

[zen]

2 hours ago, rkt.india said:

I like Sholay more because of Sanjeev Kumar than him.

 

Sanjeev Kumar had one of the key roles in Sholay ... In fact, Ramesh Sippy brought the two leads of Seeta & Geeta in Sholay ... Thakur, who was driving the story, & Veeru were the main characters, along with Gabbar Singh. Sanjeev Kumar was considering playing Gabbar too but probably not encouraged as he had a history of playing good characters on screen. Dharmendra had the choice to play either of the two roles. He liked Thakur's role but is said to have chosen Veeru's to play the romantic interest of Hema Malini (and there was a tussle b/w Hema & Sanjeev as well, maybe because Sanjeev had proposed to Hema) ... For Jai's role, Ramesh Sippy did not want a big star (the film already had Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar). AB was recommended by Dharmendra if I am not wrong (they worked or were working on Chupke Chupke). Salim-Javed had written Zanjeer & Deewar which had AB as well so they may have played a part too ... However, Deewar was released before Sholay to turn AB into a major star ... In short, the main positive roles in Sholay were Thakur & Veeru, so credit to AB for making Jai's character's memorable too!

Edited June 15, 2022 by zen

[coffee_rules]

7 hours ago, zen said:

 

Sanjeev Kumar had one of the key roles in Sholay ... In fact, Ramesh Sippy brought the two leads of Seeta & Geeta in Sholay ... Thakur, who was driving the story, & Veeru were the main characters, along with Gabbar Singh. Sanjeev Kumar was considering playing Gabbar too but probably not encouraged as he had a history of playing good characters on screen. Dharmendra had the choice to play either of the two roles. He liked Thakur's role but is said to have chosen Veeru's to play the romantic interest of Hema Malini (and there was a tussle b/w Hema & Sanjeev as well, maybe because Sanjeev had proposed to Hema) ... For Jai's role, Ramesh Sippy did not want a big star (the film already had Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar). AB was recommended by Dharmendra if I am not wrong (they worked or were working on Chupke Chupke). Salim-Javed had written Zanjeer & Deewar which had AB as well so they may have played a part too ... However, Deewar was released before Sholay to turn AB into a major star ... In short, the main positive roles in Sholay were Thakur & Veeru, so credit to AB for making Jai's character's memorable too!

They almost shot Jai surviving and a happy ending. Also , Ramesh Sippy convinced Dharam to play Veeru and not Thakur, so he gets Hemamalini in the end.

 

https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/bollywood-features/sholay-45-years-things-you-didnt-know-about-amitabh-bachchan-dharmendra-hema-malini/amp/

[Mariyam]

22 hours ago, zen said:

 

Sanjeev Kumar had one of the key roles in Sholay ... In fact, Ramesh Sippy brought the two leads of Seeta & Geeta in Sholay ... Thakur, who was driving the story, & Veeru were the main characters, along with Gabbar Singh. Sanjeev Kumar was considering playing Gabbar too but probably not encouraged as he had a history of playing good characters on screen. Dharmendra had the choice to play either of the two roles. He liked Thakur's role but is said to have chosen Veeru's to play the romantic interest of Hema Malini (and there was a tussle b/w Hema & Sanjeev as well, maybe because Sanjeev had proposed to Hema) ... For Jai's role, Ramesh Sippy did not want a big star (the film already had Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar). AB was recommended by Dharmendra if I am not wrong (they worked or were working on Chupke Chupke). Salim-Javed had written Zanjeer & Deewar which had AB as well so they may have played a part too ... However, Deewar was released before Sholay to turn AB into a major star ... In short, the main positive roles in Sholay were Thakur & Veeru, so credit to AB for making Jai's character's memorable too!

Danny Denzongpa was slated to play Gabbar Singh. But he refused. Gabbar's role was based on Vinod Khanna's Jabbar Singh ( Mera Gaon mera Des) and Danny didn't want to play a character that was already famous. The writers Javed Salim (who had earlier hinted to Ramesh Sippy that AB was apt for the role of Jai) recommended Amjad Khan.

 

the rest is history.....

[zen]

7 minutes ago, Mariyam said:

Danny Denzongpa was slated to play Gabbar Singh. But he refused. Gabbar's role was based on Vinod Khanna's Jabbar Singh ( Mera Gaon mera Des) and Danny didn't want to play a character that was already famous. The writers Javed Salim (who had earlier hinted to Ramesh Sippy that AB was apt for the role of Jai) recommended Amjad Khan.

 

the rest is history.....

 

From what I recall, Danny had schedule conflict as he was shooting for Dharmatma ... Amjad Khan was the backup and he prepared himself my reading a book on dakus ... Jiske naseeb mein jo hota hai, woh usko milta hai!

[zen]

This year in May, Zanjeer will celebrate its 50th anniversary

 

 

[Mariyam]

On 3/9/2023 at 9:20 PM, zen said:

This year in May, Zanjeer will celebrate its 50th anniversary

 

 

Also, Zanjeer was the start of the Angry young man AB and writer duo Salim-Javed working together.

The combo did numerous films after this.

 

Majboor, Deewar, Sholay, Imaan Dharam, Trishul, Kaala Pathhar , Don, Shakti

[zen]

Abhimaan (1973)

 

Overall, a good film with good songs. Jaya Bhaduri performs well. In comparison, AB was relatively monotonous. Many times, he came across as "comical" in scenes that were supposed to convey petulance, jealousy, anger, etc. Jaya relies on pauses and cadence when she is delivering dialogues. On the other hand, AB mostly spits the dialogue out in one tone (shouting on many occasions). A positive was some of the shirts (NOT the pink one worn with a red blazer) that AB was wearing. Asrani portrays the jovial friend nicely. 

 

 

 

[coffee_rules]

30 minutes ago, zen said:

Abhimaan (1973)

 

Overall, a good film with good songs. Jaya Bhaduri performs well. In comparison, AB was relatively monotonous. Many times, he came across as "comical" in scenes that were supposed to convey petulance, jealousy, anger, etc. Jaya relies on pauses and cadence when she is delivering dialogues. On the other hand, AB mostly spits the dialogue out in one tone (shouting on many occasions). A positive was some of the shirts (NOT the pink one worn with a red blazer) that AB was wearing. Asrani portrays the jovial friend nicely. 

 

 

 

AB played an immature, insecure celebrity while JB was the mature one , they both grew up differently. She fro a smnall town and he is fron the city. Yes, AB played it loud, hammed his way through. Bindu had a good role in the movie as well, quite contrary to the roles she usually played in that era. I liked the movie overall.

[zen]

49 minutes ago, coffee_rules said:

AB played an immature, insecure celebrity while JB was the mature one , they both grew up differently. She fro a smnall town and he is fron the city. Yes, AB played it loud, hammed his way through. Bindu had a good role in the movie as well, quite contrary to the roles she usually played in that era. I liked the movie overall.

yeah, Bindu was refreshing in the positive role. 

[Gollum]

@zen great reviews for Big B's performance in Kalki. You watched it yet?

[zen]

14 minutes ago, Gollum said:

@zen great reviews for Big B's performance in Kalki. You watched it yet?

Not yet.