The Burning Train (1980)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Ravi Chopra

Writers:

Ravi Chopra (story)
Kamleshwar (dialogue)

Release Date:

20 March 1980 (India)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Plot:

Vinod Verma is an employee of the Indian Railways, who always had a dream of making the perfect and fastest train in India...

Plot Keywords:

Remake

Cast

Asrani	...	Col. P.K. Bhandari
Parveen Babi	...	Mrs. Sheetal Vinod Verma
Urmila Bhatt	...	Mrs. Jagmohan (Randhir's mom)
Chandrashekhar	...	Railway Board Member
Danny Denzongpa	...	Randhir
Dharmendra	...	Ashok
Simi Garewal	...	School-teacher
Nasir Hussain	...	Mr. Verma (Vinod's dad)
Iftekhar	...	Railway Board Chair Jagmohan
T.P. Jain	...	Passenger
Jankidas	...	Passenger
Jeetendra	...	Thief
Padmini Kapila	...	Ritu
Ravindra Kapoor
Satyendra Kapoor	...	Madhu's dad
Padma Khanna
Vinod Khanna	...	Vinod Verma
Sujit Kumar	...	Catholic Priest / Police Inspector Ranbir
Hema Malini	...	Seema
Manmauji	...	Passenger
Vinod Mehra	...	Rakesh
Mac Mohan	...	Mac (Laborer)
Indrani Mukherjee	...	Padmini (Rajaram's wife)
Keshto Mukherjee	...	Passenger in toilet
Mukri	...	Kanhaiya
Rajendra Nath	...	Pandit Shambhunath
Navin Nischol	...	Doctor
Paintal	...	Passenger in toilet
Gufi Paintal	...	Indian Railways' employee
Nana Palsikar	...	Seema's Mamaji
Yunus Parvez	...	Maulana Abdul Rahim
Payal	...	Rakesh
Madan Puri	...	Ashok's dad
Jagdish Raj	...	Tango
Ranjeet	...	Chander
Shammi	...	Passenger
Ramesh Sharma
Romesh Sharma	...	Udesh
Om Shivpuri	...	Rajaram
Neetu Singh	...	Madhu
Dinesh Thakur	...	Usman Ali
Komilla Wirk	...	Razia (as Komila Virk)

Runtime:

USA:142 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

India:U | UK:15 (DVD rating) (2000) | UK:PG (video rating) (1988)

Filming Locations:

Film City, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company:

B.R. Films

Movie Connections:

Remake of The Cassandra Crossing (1976)

Soundtrack:

The Burning Train

I love...love...love this movie (and the lead actors too)!!

"The Burning Train" is a very nicely put together, entertaining action thriller. The film is a tribute to India's railways, and to sacrifice and heroism. The sacrifice made by the heroes of the film in trying to save the 'burning train' is nicely mirrored by the sacrifices they make in their personal lives, often with less than happy results.

The movie is also a very satisfying story about relationships (particularly the friendship between Vinod (played by Vinod Khanna) and Ashok (played by Dharmendra), envy, betrayal, redemption - and love.

Dharmendra(whom I love love love - that was 3 loves) and Vinod Khanna (whom I love love - that was 2 loves) are excellent in this movie (as always),putting in brilliant performances. They are very effective and complimentary leads, and they're also quite funny (the scenes where they try to snag their girlfriends by tricking them are great).

Hema Malini is excellent as well (I always love the energy between her and Dharmendra - see the classic 'Sholay', although Malini's character in this movie is very different from Sholay's 'Basanti'). Parveen Babi (in a smaller but very effective role) is good too. There are parallels between their roles and relationship in this movie, and the roles they played in 'Do Aur Do Paanch'. That's not a criticism, though - if it ain't broke, why fix it? I think they make a great pair.

Danny, who plays the villain ('Ranvir') does quite a good villainous face, I must say! With his pitiful 'wannabe great but know I ain't' demeanour (supplemented by even more pitiful hair), you can't help but feel sorry for the guy. Nice portrayal of how a villain can still manage to be really pathetic.

All the other performances (Jeetendra, Neetu Singh and the others - the scene when they all sing on the train is another highlight of the film) are fantastic as well.

The film is really well scripted...it never drags on and maintains a nice brisk pace. It's kept to a nice length as well. I also love the opening scene, which introduces the main characters perfectly. I had to go back and watch it after the movie was over.

The big-budget (for that time) special effects in this movie also deserve a mention. Despite a couple of forgivable poor shots of a model train, the 'burning train' of the movie's title is very realistically portrayed. You almost feel as though you're on the train tracks. Very nice work.

I also have to mention the lovely song sung by Vinod Khanna, Dharmendra, Hema Malini and Parveen Babi near the beginning of the movie (ok, I know it wasn't sung by the actors but by Asha Bhonsle, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar etc, but you know what I mean). Captures the mood perfectly - the bliss of love and friendship (sorry if that's not actually what the song was about - I don't understand Hindi and the song wasn't subtitled - so just guessing here)... just before life (as it usually does) jumps up and bites you in the behind. I love the song and the choreography.

By the way, if you don't like a healthy dose of sentimentality (in which case you probably don't like Bollywood movies in the first place), then this movie is not for you.

Anyhow, I think I've said enough...all that's left to say is this is a great, entertaining movie for the family. It has action, thrills, romance, comedy, everything. I wish there were more like this.