coffee_rules Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 19 minutes ago, Jimmy Cliff said: This ending is cannon as far as I am concerned. They had to change it because of Emergency Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted July 18, 2021 Author Share Posted July 18, 2021 (edited) Sholay can be released in Director's Cut to include the original ending. Talking about the two AB films from 1975, Deewar and Sholay, the former has not aged well relatively, while the later continues to hold attention. One of the reasons is that Sholay is sleek and to the point. For e.g. when Thakur asks Jai-Veeru since when are they doing chori and stuff, they respond - "Jab se hosh sambhala hai tab se." That is it. When you look at Deewar, it spends its first hour in showing the circumstances. That 1 hour allows Sholay to develop interesting segments and characters. Films like Sholay and Qurbani are on the button most of the time to make them age well so far. Not to overanalyze Deewar but since it was considered as an important film with a strong script - Businesses which are giving jobs are generally shown as villainous. The mine owner is a villain, the guy who gives Nirupa Roy (the mom) a job is bad, those who take Shashi Kapoor's interviews are callous. Even the laborers at the mine are bad as they tattoo a kid's arm with nonsense. Therefore, in a way, institutions where employees find respect are mainly police and gundas. Shashi is directed to police by his future father-in-law (and he applies because there is no sifarish) and AB because of favorable circumstances created, presumably, by the "lucky" billa, which brings no harm to him in the fights that he picks. In fact, everytime his life is attacked, he is saved by the billa, which also takes a bullet. On the occasion where he loses his billa, he is gone. The writing esp. of what is considered right in Deewar is generally off too from today's perspective. Deewar is an old film so we know how it ends. With that information when we revisit Deewar, the opening award ceremony is off putting as Shashi shot his brother. Not many would accept an award if the situation involved shooting a family member or a friend for whatever reasons. While Nirupa Roy is shown to be serious, Neetu Singh is shown to be happy. Talking about Nirupa Roy's scenes. In one of them, she is shown crying after she leaves AB's home. Shashi sees that and offers to take her back to AB. To create an unnecessary drama and impression of some kind of sacrifice, the script made her tell Shasi that she has always loved AB more but will stay with him. In M-e-A, there is a scene where Akbar is to go to the battle to get Salim. Per pre-battle tradition, Jodha is to give him the sword. However, Jodha refuses. Akbar creates a situation that forces her to give him the sword. It appears as if in Deewar, the script writers wanted to incorporate a similar concept (but used in an opposite way), so we see Nirupa Roy willingly providing a gun to Shashi, who is going to catch AB by any means, and then heading to temple to pray. In M-e-A, it makes sense for a mother to not give the sword. In Deewar, it makes little sense for a mother to give a gun (that too willingly with pride) and for a son to even ask for it. The characters in general lack the right motivation. For e.g. AB says that he has amassed wealth for his mom. But when the mom leaves, he stays with the wealth. At the bridge, he even goes on to say to his brother - "Aaj tum kahan ho aur mein kahan hoon. Mere paas bangla hai, gaadi hai, ...". Shashi 's motivation is to do his duty, which is a file involving his brother but appears to be excluding likes of Sawant (if a different file were given to him, ...) ... And you can go on and on with what is wrong with Deewar. Edited July 18, 2021 by zen Mariyam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted July 24, 2021 Author Share Posted July 24, 2021 (edited) Amar Akbar Anthony ... A film that was highly rated in the past but now appears more like a timepass. First let's get the good things out of the way. You would watch this film to see some of the top actors on screen together. It has fun sequences such as Anthony talking to himself in front of a mirror, many of Akbar and Taiyab Ali sequences, and many scenes involving Pran and Jeevan. The last segment at Jeevan's den/house has hilarious moments too. The songs are excellent - in Humko Tumse Ho Ho Gaya Hai Pyar you get to hear Kishore, Mukesh and Rafi, along with Lata ... In the version that I saw on Prime, it appears as if Helen's implied torture at the hands of Ranjeet, which felt unnecessary in the first place in such a film, is cut. I don't prefer to dig deep into cons of out and out masala films but this one has a few glaring, along with some minor ones. Let's briefly get into some of the cons: Background score: In most of the sequences, it sounds 60s-ish. Nothing wrong with that except that AAA is a late 70s film which saw many films with superb background score. TV movie feel: The film is by and large shot with a telephoto using straight forward camera angles giving it a relatively TV movie feel. Growing up part: I am not a fan of this segments in Hindi films. The segments with Jeevan and Pran are still good, but the background score makes this segment appear worse than it is. Nirupa Roy's role: Her character is not written that well. At first she has TB, then she gets blind, and gets her eyesight back. At the hospital when Pran is in the operating room, she is banging the door to give flowers which looks stupid (but done in film as a convenience to create a reason for her to eventually get kidnapped). Inconsistencies: After the AB-VK fight, AB's face has injuries. When Pran's gang kidnaps him, the injuries are gone. When AB is back in the cell, the injuries are back ... Zebisko transforms from a bodyguard into someone with his own gang holding Jeevan's brother (Jeevan in double role) ... Nasir Hussain, the priest, is killed off against the run of play (so may be AB can speak some dialogues to God), which does not align with a film sporting hardly any violent scenes with death ... After Rishi asks VK to look into his father's whereabouts, VK-Pran meet, but they probably do not still see Nirupa Roy and Rishi. At Jeevan's place VK-Rishi meet as if they are meeting as brothers for the first time (I had lost some interest by this point to care for any missed details). Action and car chase sequences: Nothing stands out. There is an AB-VK fight where dialogues are good. Bushy underarms: Talking about VK-AB fight, it shows bushy underarms (AB's in particular). Overall with reasonable expectations, AAA still remains a timepass film for the ensemble of actors, a few good sequences and excellent songs. Edited July 24, 2021 by zen Mariyam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 (edited) ^^^^This is a very stringent audit of the film. The film was supposed to be a feel good movie celebrating India's plurality. The song Parda hai parda, anhoni ko honi kar de and shirdi wale are top notch. The dialogues are catchy too. Especially those by AB's character. Some of the scenes are hilarious. @zen You see, the whole country of the system is juxtapositioned by the haemoglobin in the atmosphere because you are a sophisticated rhetorician intoxicated by the exuberance of your own verbosity… Edited July 24, 2021 by Mariyam coffee_rules, nevada, zen and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 (edited) I agree with @zen the movie could have been better. AAA sounds like a battery. Manmohan Desai should have included more communities. It should have been called AAAAAAA. To account for the Sikh, Parsi, Jain and Buddhist groups too. Amar Akbar Anthony Amandeep Ardeshir Arihant Ambedkar This could be a possible star cast: Amar- Vinod Khanna Akbar- Rishi Kapoor Anthony- Amitabh Bachchan Amandeep - Shashi Kapoor Ardeshir- Rajesh Khanna Arihant- Firoz Khan ( just for @zen) Ambedkar- Dharmendra How cool would that be? Edited July 24, 2021 by Mariyam coffee_rules 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 (edited) @zenFor a movie made for 8 year olds, you have written a thesis worthy of a PhD. This is a quintessential masala caper which needs you to not only leave your brains at home and watch the movie in a theatre , but also asks you to forget that you ever had one. Things I noticed in the movie - Big burly cars, looks like MMD put the old cars for hire to best use. Most are 60s model Chevrolet Impala cars , he even smashed couple of them which would have been refurbished just for the movie - Movie shot in old Bombay, might have been the last in interiors of Bombay (notice that I don’t call it Mumbai) - Established BigB as a superstar. You can see his role given most importance than all, gets a meaty role, I see it now, he has hammed parts of his role, Rishi Kapur is feisty and exuberant - Hindu’s role is the most unattractive of the three. Amar gets a lame role, lame ass heroine and no good scenes Found this joke on WA Edited July 24, 2021 by coffee_rules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, Mariyam said: I agree with @zen the movie could have been better. AAA sounds like a battery. Manmohan Desai should have included more communities. It should have been called AAAAAAA. To account for the Sikh, Parsi, Jain and Buddhist groups too. Amar Akbar Anthony Amandeep Ardeshir Arihant Ambedkar This could be a possible star cast: Amar- Vinod Khanna Akbar- Rishi Kapoor Anthony- Amitabh Bachchan Amandeep - Shashi Kapoor Ardeshir- Rajesh Khanna Arihant- Firoz Khan ( just for @zen) Ambedkar- Dharmendra How cool would that be? Nana Patekar or Sanjeev Kumar would do a good Ambedkar I would add another A to the title for an Atheist. Aamir Khan could do that role Edited July 24, 2021 by coffee_rules Mariyam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 (edited) 9 minutes ago, coffee_rules said: Nana Patekar or Sanjeev Kumar would do a good Ambedkar I would add another A to the title for an Atheist. Aamir Khan could do that role That would stand out as an anachronistic pick. You have to cast an actor from that era! Edited July 24, 2021 by Mariyam coffee_rules 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 (edited) @coffee_rules Amar got to beat up Anthony in the movie. Typical bullying of minorities normalized in mainstream cinema. And "lame ass heroine"? Shabana Azmi is the most accomplished of the three heroines in the movie! Edited July 24, 2021 by Mariyam coffee_rules 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 7 minutes ago, Mariyam said: @coffee_rules Amar got to beat up Anthony in the movie. Typical bullying of minorities normalized in mainstream cinema. And "lame ass heroine"? Shabhana Azmi is the most accomplished of the three lead heroines in the movie as an actress! She’s dull in the movie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 3 hours ago, coffee_rules said: She’s dull in the movie She did that intentionally. She was under instructions from her atheist Hindu hating husband Javed to portray Hindu characters as dull and insipid. That way people identify more with the Muslim/Christian characters in the movie and are subconsciously drawn away from their own religion towards monotheism. Bollywood Jihad is just a small part of our wider world domination strategy. Gihahahahahaha *evil laugh* coffee_rules 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 @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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 8 minutes ago, 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. No Yam, haven't seen many Big B movies, among the old ones probably none. Don't judge me but I am yet to complete Sholay, tried watching it at least twice but gave up after 20 odd minutes. Good meme material, gifs etc. in that movie, that is the extent of my knowledge. Mariyam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Cliff Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 19 minutes ago, 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. Yet to see it. I generally avoid Big B's late 80s-early 90s output unless it's directed by Mukul Anand. coffee_rules and Mariyam 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted July 24, 2021 Author Share Posted July 24, 2021 @Mariyam Appears as if Manmohan Desai may have used your concept of multiple As in Desh Premi where he has a group of people from different religions/regions battling each other until Big B says "mere desh premiyo aapas mein prem karo desh premiyo" - Link ... To not leave any stone unturned, MD also seeks inspiration from Benhur to turn Sharmila Tagore in to a leper. @coffee_rules Good points buddy. Amar's role is indeed linear. VK sleepwalks through it. coffee_rules and Mariyam 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maniac Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 59 minutes ago, 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 when I was a kid on VHS. I remember my mom and sister thinking it was a great movie and a break from the regular Masala stuff. I was bored out of mind. Might revisit but now thanks to @coffee_rules @Yoda-esque @Jimmy Cliff and Pratik Borade don’t know if I can watch it with a clear mind Mariyam, Jimmy Cliff and coffee_rules 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Cliff Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 2 minutes ago, maniac said: I watched it when I was a kid on VHS. I remember my mom and sister thinking it was a great movie and a break from the regular Masala stuff. I was bored out of mind. Might revisit but now thanks to @coffee_rules @Yoda-esque @Jimmy Cliff and Pratik Borade don’t know if I can watch it with a clear mind Pratik Borade is on another level. He is the only person who cheers for Bhairav Singh while watching Udaan . coffee_rules and maniac 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maniac Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Jimmy Cliff said: Pratik Borade is on another level. He is the only person who cheers for Bhairav Singh while watching Udaan . I have stopped watching so many movies and shows that I was originally looking forward to thanks to him but then again don’t want to unsubscribe. The world needs him Edited July 24, 2021 by maniac Jimmy Cliff and coffee_rules 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 30 minutes ago, maniac said: I watched it when I was a kid on VHS. I remember my mom and sister thinking it was a great movie and a break from the regular Masala stuff. I was bored out of mind. Might revisit but now thanks to @coffee_rules @Yoda-esque @Jimmy Cliff and Pratik Borade don’t know if I can watch it with a clear mind An exposition re: Pratik Borade would help! The age you watch it at determines your overall bias to the film. I saw it circa 2012/13 and liked it.Saw many parallels with Anna Hazare movement. coffee_rules 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 28 minutes ago, Jimmy Cliff said: Pratik Borade is on another level. He is the only person who cheers for Bhairav Singh while watching Udaan . I cheer for Bhairav Singh urf Bhujang of Tridev! Jimmy Cliff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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