Junoon (1978)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Shyam Benegal

Writers:

Shyam Benegal (writer)
Ruskin Bond (story)

Plot:

The movie chronicles the period of 1857 to 1858 when the soldiers of the East India Company mutinied...

Awards:

7 wins

Cast

Jalal Agha	...	Kader Khan
Nafisa Ali	...	Ruth Labadoor
Tom Alter	...	Priest
Shabana Azmi	...	Firdaus (Javed's wife)
Benjamin Gilani	...	Rashid Khan
Karan Kapoor
Kunal Kapoor
Sanjana Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor	...	Javed Khan
Geoffrey Kendal
Jennifer Kendal	...	Mrs. Mariam Labadoor (Ruth's mom)
Kulbhushan Kharbanda	...	Lalal Ramjimal
Deepti Naval	...	Rashid's wife
Pearl Padamsee	...	Bitter woman
Sushma Seth	...	Javed's chachi
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Javed's Brother-in-law, Sarfaraz Khan

Also Known As:

A Flight of Pigeons
Possessed
The Obsession

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Film-Valas

Excellent

"Junoon" means obsession and this is exactly what was portrayed in this movie. Based on the book, "The Flight of The Pigeons," which is based during the "Great Indian Mutiny" of 1857 and the aftermath, this shows of what really had happened in terms of the setting of the background - the mutiny and the aftermath. The mutiny now has been considered to be the first Indian war of independence, Javed Khan, a Pathan, comes into the town that he lives and sees a man making a prophecy of what is to come but en route to his house he sees an English girl, Ruth and becomes obsessed with her to such an extend that he keeps on staring at her whenever he sees her. This naturally frightens her and she informs her father about this. He tells her to ignore. But in the meantime, Ruth's grandmother, who is an Indian, is informed by their servant that he thinks that no one should go to church the next day as he has heard there will be a raid by the mutineers. But this is ignored and Ruth and her father go to church the next day and get involved in a blood bath that follows.

Adopted and Directed by Shyam Benegal, written and based on the book by Ruskin Bond and produced by Shashi Kapoor, this is a well researched based story, which shows the brutality of the soldiers of the British East India Company and of those who fought against them. The movie consists of a superb cast: Shashi Kapoor, Jennifer Kendal, Shabana Azmi, Tom Alter, Benjamin Gilani, Kunal Kapoor, Karan Kapoor, Pearl Padamsee, Geoffrey Kendal, Sanjana Kapoor, Khulbhushan Kharbanda and Naseerudin Shah. The movie is in Urdu, which is similar to Hindi, and in English.

"Junoon" brings out the real meaning of the word "obsession" which is mixed in with violence and historical background. This is a movie that is worthwhile watching. The song that is most enchanting is the one at the beginning.