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Trimurti (1995)
Not as bad as its reputation but could have been so much more considering the talent involved
Trimurti was much hyped before its release as it had two successful directors coming together and an all star cast. Subhash Ghai was on a winning streak after one hit film after another in the 1980s such as Vidhata, Meri Jung, Karma, Ram Lakhan, Saudagar and Khalnayak. This time he decided to produce Trimurti and have visionary director Mukul Anand directing the film.
Next was the star cast Subhash Ghai had assembled to play the three brothers of the title. He started with his favourite Jackie Shroff, rising star Shahrukh Khan and finally Sanjay Dutt. Unfortunately during filming, Sanjay was given a prison sentence and despite filming most of his scenes except the climax, he was replaced by Ghai's other favourite Anil Kapoor. The villain was played by Mohan Agashe and supporting roles played by Priya Tendulkar, Saeed Jaffrey, Tinnu Anand, Anjali Jathar and Gauthami.
After finally hitting theatres, Trimurti turned out to be a colossal disappointment and bombed at the box office. Critics and audiences were so disappointed by how the film turned out and labelled it the worst film for every actor who was involved in it.
I finally got to see the film in full recently after seeing bits and pieces of it previously whenever it aired on television. My final verdict is the film is nowhere near the disaster that it is made out to be. It definitely has a lot of flaws specifically the weak script and the over the top hammy acting. It can be moderately entertaining thanks to the performances of Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor who are the positive aspects of the film. The duo are always excellent whenever they are paired together like in Ghai's previous hits "Karma" and "Ram Lakhan."
The first half of the film moves at a very slow pace and only livens up with a few funny scenes with SRK. Anil Kapoor steals the film with his performance in the second half after the interval and livens up the rest of the film. Priya Tendulkar and Saeed Jaffrey lend good support in their roles. Gauthami and Anjali Jathar don't have much to do. There are two good songs in the film "Very Good Very Bad" and "Pyar Karo Mujhe Pyar Karo."
The weak aspects are unfortunately Shahrukh Khan and Mohan Agashe. Shahrukh's character is written to be very childish and naive and his over the top performance irritates. His romance with Anjali Jathar is written weakly and there is a lack of chemistry between them. There are a few comedy scenes involving SRK dressed in drag and he has good chemistry with Shroff and Kapoor. It is however his over the top performance that brings the film down. Mohan Agashe is one of the most over the top villains ever seen in Bollywood. Definitely not a scary villain, he is more like a cartoon villain brought to life.
Direction by Mukul Anand is weak although it is probably not entirely his fault as he was directing from a weak script written by Subhash Ghai. Mukul was capable of so much more as evident by his brilliant films like Khuda Gawah, Hum and Sultanat to name a few. Unfortunately this would be his final film as he died during the making of "Dus" which could have been the comeback film for him after the failure of this film. Its like both Ghai and Anand's heart was really not in this film while it was being made. Otherwise this could have been an epic blockbuster like their previous works.
Overall Trimurti is just about an average film worth watching for Anil Kapoor in particular. Considering the talent involved in the making of this film, it could have been so much more.
Maha-Sangram (1990)
average movie but worth watching for Aa Bahon Mein Aa and Aditya Pancholi
Maha-Sangram is the typical 1980s style movie with all the usual ingredients action, romance and drama. What made me curious to see this was for the brilliant song featured in the film "Aa Bahon Mein Aa" which I had listened to on a cassette long time ago. The song is one of my favourite classic songs from Bollywood in the 90s and i never tire of listening to it even now. The film is nothing special but is entertaining and worth a one-time watch.
The basic story is Arjun (Govinda) falling in love with Pooja (Shaheen Banu, niece of Saira Banu in her debut and first of only two films she ever made) who is the daughter of the wealthy Thakur Godha (Amjad Khan) and sister of the always angry Suraj (Aditya Pancholi in his best performance). Godhas are also enemies of Vishwaraj (Kiran Kumar) who decides to end his life long feud with Godha by getting his son Prakash (Sumeet Saigal) married to Pooja and daughter Neelam (Sonu Walia) married to Suraj. When the Godha family and Vishwaraj find out about Arjun and Pooja, they send Baba Hyderbadi (Shakti Kapoor) to kill both Arjun and Pooja which he does or does he?. Arjun's elder brother Vishal receives a telegram that his brother is dead and immediately travels to Bombay to find out who killed his brother. He meets Jhumri (Madhuri Dixit) who helps him discover the truth about what happened to Arjun.
The TWIST is that Arjun and Pooja are actually alive and well and together with Vishal and Juhumri as per the title of the film meaning "The Big Battle" the scene sets for a violent showdown with the Godhas and Vishwaraj families.
Performances are good from all the cast. Vinod Khanna stands out with his dramatic performance, Govinda has never given a bad performance and is also good here. Shaheen Banu is not a very good actress and there is no chemistry between her and Govinda which was important for the romance is the central plot. Its no surprise that she only ever did one other film after this. Madhuri looks beautiful and is sizzling in her song "I Love You". Sumeet Saigal is nothing special, Sonu Walia is OK, the villains Kiran Kumar, Aditya Pancholi and Amjad Khan fit their roles. Aditya stands out of all the actors with his powerful angry performance.
Aan (1952)
A brilliant classic of the golden era of Bollywood
Aan is one of the most brilliant films that has ever been produced in the history of Indian cinema. It was a very unique film in the sense that it resembled the classic Hollywood costume adventure films of the 1940s such as Jungle Book (1940) and The Thief of Bhaghdad (1940) or the classic swashbuckling films of Errol Flynn. The producer and director Mehboob Khan had spent lavishly on this film and it shows in every frame of the film with its beautiful scenery, costumes,the re imagination of what India would have been like over 5 centuries ago with the Maharajas, the extraordinary palaces etc.
The basic plot overview is; Dilip Kumar plays Jai Tilak, a village peasant. Nadira, a newcomer actress at the time is fantastic in the role of a arrogant Princess Rajshree whom Jai character falls in love with. At first sight Rajshree shows an instant disliking for Jai but Jai continuously tries to woo her. The chemistry between Kumar and Nadira is very electric and convincing. Nimmi plays a village belle Mangala who has loved Jai since childhood but her love has never been reciprocated. Premnath plays the villainous Shamsher Singh, stepbrother of Rajshree who wants to gain control of the Kingdom of the Maharajah played by Murad who is Rajshree's older brother.
When Mangala is killed by Shamsher Singh, Jai kills him and then kidnaps Rajshree when she tries to avenge her brother's death. Jai kidnaps Princess Rajshree makes her live the life of poor villagers just so she can feel what it is like to live a life like a village peasant and not have all the luxuries of being a princess. Eventually Rajshree realises her feelings for Jai but her dead brother Shamsher Singh returns for revenge against Jai.
Overall Aan is excellent in every way. It has romance, swashbuckling action, beautiful scenery, wonderful songs sung by Mohammed Rafi, memorable performances by the entire cast, lots of comedy moments provided by Mukri and a vivid capture and feel of the classic swashbuckling movies of Hollywood. Aan is truly one of its kind in Bollywood. This together with Mughal-E-Azam is one of the best films in Bollywood's golden era.