Sholay

title: Sholay (1975)
language: Hindi
DVD

synopsis: Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) are well known thieves. They end up being caught by police inspector Thakur Baldev Singh, go to jail, and later meet with him once again. Only this 2nd time, Thakur hires them to find and capture notorious bandit Gabbar Singh for a money reward, feeling they are the only two men capable of doing this. As the story progresses, you find out who Gabbar Singh is and why the inspector wants him captured so badly. Veeru and Jai accept this offer only to find out this request isn't as easy as they thought.

The Good
+ Loved how the comedy fit well with the action. The movie was never too serious or never too silly. An equal balance of both.
+ Despite the long running time (just over 3 hours), it filled up each and every minute. Sure, some of it might've been slightly excessive (but what Bollywood isn't like this?) but it never got overwhelming or too boring.
+ Each of the main characters were well fleshed out and developed.
+ Gabbar Singh, probably one of the few movie villains not afraid to do his evil-doings. He doesn't waste time.

That Bad
+ Basanti, played by Hema Malini, was annoying at times, but you couldn't help to like her anyway. Gorgeous, peppy, a good dancer - what's there not to like. Just she talked a bit too much.
+ 70's clothes, what can we say? Not the best era for fashion.
+ I always loved how old movies, whenever someone got shot/hurt, there was so little or no blood at all.
+ One scene was a bit ridiculous. "Dance or I will shoot him!" I'm not so sure how I feel that my life is in the hands of a girl dancing... Entertaining nevertheless.

Final Thoughts: Was this movie worth watching? YES! This was a fantastic film! No wonder it's often referenced and considered a "must see". It really did have a very nice balance between comedy and action... I was expecting it to be all action and was worried about it being so long but it really wasn't that bad (then again, I did watch it over 2 days). Also it was kind of fun seeing 2 well-known movie couples: Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri, Dharmendra and Hema Malini. And seeing the actors so young! Wow!

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Song: Yeh Dosti - funny video, nice song, nice friendship between the two characters.


From the Wikipedia page, I thought this was a nice photo of the main male characters.

Kabhi Kabhie

Film: Kabhi Kabhie (1976)
Language: Hindi
netflix streaming


Synopsis: 2 people in college fall in love and want to get married. Girl finds out she's arranged to be married with some other guy. Amitabh angsts and decides to quit writing poetry. Fast forward 20-ish years, and another wild college party a boy and girl fall in love and want to get married. Girl finds out a huge family secret and decides to go sort things out, boy follows her because he's in love. And all the characters connect somehow and chaos ensues.

That description fails on so many levels, but I didn't want to give spoilers.

This is what Netflix had to say: "Forced apart by their families, poet Amit (Amitabh Bachchan) and his true love, Pooja (Rakhee Gulzar), marry other people. But years later, when Pooja's son Vikram (Rishi Kapoor) falls in love with a girl named Pinky (Neetu Singh), their connection forces everyone to reexamine the past. As secrets are revealed, Amit and Pooja must come to terms with their history in this romantic Bollywood drama directed by Yash Chopra."

ANYWAY...

The Good
+ the 70's goodness, from the awful clothes to the awful hair
+ pretty scenery
+ good storyline
+ So many hilarious moments. I'm not sure if they were intentional, but most likely not.
+ over the top acting at it's best

The Bad
+ the 2 young girls were annoying.
+ the music... ear-piercing. Make sure you turn volume down. Apparently the music was a big deal, according to Wikipedia, but I'm sure this was typical music for the time.
+ length: 2hr45min

Final Thoughts: Was it worth watching? Yes! Despite watching this over a course of a week, I really enjoyed it. I was curious how things were going to play out, and when I thought some things would never be answered, they did at the end. Also, if nothing else, the last 20 minutes rivals Dhoom in ridiculous-ness. Like I said, there were so many hilarious moments (and if you find the scene where it goes from summer to winter in a matter of frames, kudos to you! That really threw me off and I had to rewind the video to do a double take). I was curious to see an older film, and I liked it alot.

Rating: 3.5/5

Interesting facts/thoughts:
+ Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh were love interests in this film and for a few others. They later got married. (I find that so cute with couples in films ending together... well, in Bollywood world, I do. Not so much American because they're typically going to divorce in about 5 or less yrs).
+ There's moments of Amitabh where you can really see resemblances of Abhishek.

Favorite Song Chahe Chale Churiya

Paa

Film: Paa
Language: Hindi
youtube links


Synopsis: Boy & girl meet in college, fall in love, and someone forgets a condom. Girl is preggers, boy tells her to abort the baby, but she aborts him and keeps the baby. Years later, Progeria!Amitabh impresses some political figure with art and becomes popular in the news, causing drama. Drama indeed ensues especially when the truth comes out about political figure and Progeria!Amitabh's momma.

The Good
+ excellent acting by Abhishek & Vidya
+ good storyline/message
+ movie was roughly 2hr10min. It fit the time perfectly and never really dragged too much, at least I felt it didn't.

The Bad
+ a couple awkward moments
+AMITABH OMG, WHO PICKED HIM FOR THIS ROLE!? I hated his character! They should've had a normal kid, or if they really wanted to do the whole Progeria thing, to NOT have picked Amitabh. It was hard to take him seriously when they didn't try manipulating camera angles to actually make him look like a kid. Seriously a 6ft man is hard to take serious towering over these children and stuff.
+ lack of songs

Final Thoughts: Worth the watch? Yes and no. I liked the story & acting, but Amitabh really ruined the film for me. I know I'm being like the worst Bollywood fan ever for saying that, but he really did. They should've casted a real kid in the role.

Rating: 2/5

Favorite Song Mudhi Mudhi Iteffaq Se